Day one of the 2018 USTA National Winter Championships, part of the USTA adidas Junior National Championship Series, turned into an extended one on Saturday at the USTA National Campus. With the country’s best competitors in the 16s and 18s divisions in action, all first round singles matches were completed. On the doubles side of the Championships, the boys’ 16s and 18s draws along with the girls’ 16s all finished their round of 64 slate of matches while the girls’ 18s was postponed until Sunday.

A number of seeds went down over the course of the day, including 10 in boys’ singles and 17 in girls’ singles. The only of the four singles draws to not lose a top eight seed on Saturday as the boys’ 16s, where Sujay Sharma’s (Eastern) 6-4, 6-1 victory over No. 9 Riley Odell (Texas) served as the biggest surprise.

Amongst the other unseeded hopefuls in the boys’ 16s to come through with a victory over a seed on opening day were Tristan Sarap (Southern California), who bested No. 17 Gabrielius Guzauskas (Midwest) 7-5, 6-1, and Matthew Pitts (Southern), who cruised 6-3, 6-3 over another of the No. 17 seeds Alex Han (Missouri Valley). Rounding out the upsets within the division was Hudson Beaudoin (Eastern) via his 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 comeback against No. 17 James Delgado (Southern). Each of the top eight seeds eased his way into the second round, winning in straight sets.

Two potential title favorites were taken out on Saturday in boys’ 18s singles play. Third-seeded Marcus McDaniel (Northern California) failed to hold onto a lead in his matchup with Ritik Sundaram (Florida), coming up short by a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 margin. Additionally, No. 6 Keshav Chopra (Southern) saw his attempt at winning the 16s and 18s in consecutive years end abruptly after he was defeated by Saiprakash Goli (Midwest) 6-4, 6-3.

A quartet of the players slotting in as No. 17 seeds in the boys’ 18s also faltered, all in two sets. Alexander Kotzen (Eastern) was absolutely dominant in knocking off Sameer Gangoli 6-1, 6-0, while Robert Shymansky (Middle States) also posted a bagel set in his 6-4, 6-0 win against seeded Bruno Serra (Missouri Valley). Jett Middleton (Intermountain) put away Alexander Richards (Missouri Valley) by a final score line of 6-1, 6-3; Karl Lee (Northern California) fought his way to victory against Henry Ruger (Middle States) 6-3, 6-4.

Despite the grand total of nine upsets taking place in the girls’ 16s draw, only one of those came at the expense of a top eight seed. That came at the expense of fifth seed Iris Gallo (New England), who was on the wrong end of a lengthy 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 battle with Eileen Wong (Eastern). The next highest seed to fall was No. 12 Justine Dondonay (Southern California), as Yuu Ishikawa (Northern California) proved too much in her 6-2, 7-5 win. Unseeed Ava Givone (Florida) also posted a 6-4, 6-4 result versus No. 16 Emily Callahan (Midwest).

A stunning six of the No. 17 seeds were also relegated to the consolation draw after opening round losses. Vivian Miller (Midwest) put the finishing touches on an impressive 6-0, 6-4 effort against Carrie Beckman (Southern), while Emma Fernald (Florida) came up with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Lucy Lu (Intermountain). Olivia Weiss (Midwest) toughed out the first set in a tiebreak before racing past Shreya Ravilla (Northern California) 7-6(4), 6-1; Isabelle Kouzmanov (Midwest) also took the first set in a tiebreak versus Meera Jesudason (Middle States) on her way to winning 7-6(3), 6-2. Needing a decisive third set to advance were Nishi Gandra (Midwest) and Akari Matsuno (Midwest), as Gandra shook off a tough first frame to defeat Sophia Strugnell (Southern) 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-0 and Matsuno outlasted Hailey Stelse (Southwest) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

Seeded fifth and sixth, respectively, Karina Miller (Midwest) and Abigail Desiatnikov (Intermountain) found themselves on the short end of opening round contests. Miller held the lead in her matchup with Cassie McLay (Florida), but quickly saw it evaporate 2-6, 6-0, 6-3; Desiatnikov suffered a similar fate, letting Allie Gretkowski (Southern) back in the match in which she eventually took in dramatic fashion, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6). No. 14 seed Kelsey Mize (Missouri Valley) was ousted by Lara Schneider (Southern) by a 7-6(4), 6-1 margin.

Carson Tanguilig (Southern) was sharp in getting by No. 17 seed Michelle Sorokko (Eastern) 6-0, 6-4, while Imani Graham (Florida) took down another No. 17 seed Lexi Kubas (New England) 6-3, 6-3. Three other players seeded 17th were included in the upsets, including Nicole Copeland (Northern), who saw Alexandra Dewire (New England) prevail in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-1. Lauryn Wu (Mid-Atlantic) stormed back to defeat Rhea Shrivastava (Middle States) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 to go along with Gibson Thomas (Eastern) taking a marathon victory against Tia Mukkerjee (Midwest) 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4 in one of the last matches to finish on Saturday.

A more moderate total of eight upsets took place across all of the doubles action. Two major upsets in the boys’ 16s division were John Kim and Jonah Tran of Northern California edging out No. 3 seeds Zachery Foster and Jakob Mosvold from Texas 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 paired with Sam Feldman (New England) and Kabir Rajpal (Eastern) slipping past the fourth-seeded team of Luke Garner (Mid-Atlantic) and Ben Shelton (Florida) 6-3, 3-6, 11-9. No. 13 seeds Ekansh Kumar (Mid-Atlantic) and John Lasanajak (Southern) also fell to New England duo Matthew Campbell and Nicholas Vroman 6-2, 4-6, 10-3.

While no major upsets took place in the boys’ 18s, three seeds were swiftly eliminated. The highest of those seeded teams was Andres Gibbons and Avi Shugar from Pacific Northwest, as they fell to Northern California pair of Karl Lee and Marshall Leung 4-6, 6-2, 10-8. Noah Berry (Texas) and Matthew Fung (Florida) got the best of Missouri Valley’s Bruno and Rafael Serra 6-2, 6-7(3), 10-2; Henry Lovett and Wally Thayne from Southern California breezed by No. 14 seeds Rian Ta (Northern California) and Joshua Williams (Eastern) 6-2, 6-2.

The two seeds to fall in the girls’ 16s draw could have been Gold Ball contenders but stumbled in match tiebreaks. Second seeds Sophia Fornaris (Florida) and Sonia Maheshwari (Southern) forced a match tiebreak versus Southern California tandem Erica Ekstrand and Katelyn Hart, with the final score landing in favor of Ekstrand and Hart 6-3, 4-6, 10-6. Mary Grace Armistead and Alexis Blokhina (Florida) held off sixth seeds Leyden Games (Southern California) and Zoe Hammond (Missouri Valley) 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.

Play picks back up Sunday morning at 8 a.m. For more information on the 2018 USTA National Winter Championships, click here.