Played under the threat of rain for the majority of the day at the USTA National Campus, matches were never halted as the full schedule was completed to kick off action at the USTA Florida March Level 4 Championships. The four divisional main draws have been whittled down to the final eight heading into Sunday.

Six of the eight seeds safely navigated their way to the quarterfinals of the boys’ 16s draw, with No. 6 Matthew Hewitt (Tampa) and No. 8 Valentin Vazquez (Boca Raton) both being eliminated from the top half. Hewitt won his first round match before falling to Zane Ensminger (Port Orange) 6-1, 7-5 in the round of 16 while Vazquez was outlasted by Alexander Di Staulo (Weston) 4-6, 7-5, 10-8 to begin the day; Di Staulo secured a quarterfinal berth thanks to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow unseeded competitor Andres Wolf (Aventura). Top seed Tygen Goldammer (Estero) was not challenged on the day, dropping just four games, to go along with No. 2 Nikita Deev (Las Vegas) giving away only six games in reaching the final eight.

Half of the boys’ 18s seeds were tripped up over the first two rounds of play. Third seed Edmund Bennett (Saint Augustine) lost in his first match as Valentin Riveros (Miami) prevailed 7-6(4), 6-3; Riveros would back that win up with a 6-1, 6-1 effort over Martin Schwartzman (Weston). No. 5 Max Lindstrom (Satellite Beach) fell by a slim 7-5, 6-4 margin to Kahaka’ioikamalie Companion (Saint Cloud) in the opening round, giving Companion the path to reach the final eight after he fought back to defeat Tyler Leaird (Ocala) 2-6, 7-6(7), 10-8. Seventh seed Zak Vince (Clermont) also failed to get out of the first round thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 result going in favor of Ninad Raut (Wesley Chapel); Raut was edged out 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 by Daniel Berenblit (Ormond Beach) later in the day. No. 6 Aayush Kishore (Sarasota) claimed one win before losing 6-3, 6-4 to Sebastian Munoz (Miami). Second seed Logan Haga (Zephyrhills) was the most dominant player in the draw, dropping just six games in his two victories.

While the top two players in the girls’ 16s division – Carla Pacot (Boca Raton) and Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev (Naples) – had a quick day on court, seeds three through eight found the going much tougher. Following victories to begin play, No. 3 Natalie Outcalt (Ponte Vedra Beach), fourth-seeded Oliva Bustos (Doral), No. 5 Alexi Cleveland (Boynton Beach), and sixth seed Aleksandriya Dzheneva (Melbourne) were all relegated to the consolation draw. Outcalt was beaten in straight sets by Delanie Tribby (Boca Raton); meanwhile, the other three upsets occurred in match tiebreaks, with Maria Araoz-Gosn (Parkland) besting Bustos, Jordan Fenton (Biscayne Park) rallying past Cleveland, and Juhnyee See (Coconut Creek) taking her matchup with Dzheneva. No. 7 Anna Maria Fedotova (Lake Worth) and No. 8 Michaela Landry (Fort Lauderdale) did manage to move through to the quarterfinals, each needing a match tiebreak to do so.

The favorites owned the day for the most part in the girls’ 18s draw. Brooke Dugarte (Miami) is the only unseeded player among the quarterfinalists after she won a pair of straight-set contests; Dugarte, next up for No. 3 seed Jasmin Makela (Boca Raton) capitalized on Jolie Miller (Brooksville) upsetting sixth seed Hudson Herzog (Delray Beach) in the opening round. The only other seed to even lose a set over the course of Saturday was No. 7 Mary Boyce Deatherage (Maitland), who battled her way through two match tiebreaks. Top seed Sophia Wang (Saint Petersburg) produced two 6-0 sets and No. 2 Anslee Long (Saint Petersburg) saw a mere eight games slip away as they both cruised.

Sunday’s schedule of play is set to get underway at 8:30 a.m. For more information on the USTA Florida March Level 4 Championships, click here.