Day one of the 2019 USTA Florida August Level 5 Championships was impacted heavily by rain, as matches were barely on court for 30 minutes to start the morning before a delay of over six hours. Due to the weather, all divisions play just one round with the exception of the girls’ 18s.

All seeded players safely advanced to the round of 16 on Saturday in the boys’ and girls’ 12s draws. On the boys’ side, No. 5 Nicholas Rizzo (Sarasota) was extend to a match tiebreak by Andrew Shkotkin (Palm Coast) before prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 10-5 while seventh-seeded Tadevos Mirijanyan (Palm Coast) held off Ethan Everk (Cape Coral) 6-2, 2-6, 10-5. None of the girls’ seeds dropped a set, with fifth seed Yael Saffar’s (Plantation) 6-4, 6-3 victory over Dagny Andreae (Punta Gorda) being the closest call.

Each half of the boys’ 14s draw saw one seeded competitor stumble. In the top half, No. 4 Ian Perl (Aventura) was upset by Anton Betita (Saint Petersburg) 6-4, 6-2; Alessandro Munoz disrupted the bottom half by taking out No. 6 Yusuf Elmenayer (Tampa) 6-2, 6-2. Meanwhile, the girls’ 14s lost three seeds on opening day, including two due to walkovers. Both sixth-seeded Hayley Roberts (Bradenton) and No. 8 Sofia Balsera (Tampa) were forced to pull out before taking the court. Additionally, fourth seed Manuela De Lorenzo (Palm Coast) was sent to the consolation draw after coming up short in a 7-6(1), 4-6, 10-3 contest versus Maria Layrisse (Tampa).

The boys’ 16s was one of the more adventurous divisions on Saturday, as three seeds fell while top-seeded Adrian Pawlowski (Sarasota) was just a few points from defeat before coming through 4-6, 6-0, 10-7 versus Nicolas Galligan (Port Saint Lucie). Just one seed – No. 4 Samuel Frizelle (Lutz) – remains in the bottom half. No. 2 Luis Fernandez (Doral) was defeated by Edmund Bennett by a tough 7-5, 6-4 score line while sixth seed Juan Mendoza (Vero Beach) came up short against Adam Lynch (Jacksonville) 7-6(1), 6-2. Rounding out the upsets was No. 8 Noah Van Dyke, who was bested by Carson Cerejo (Wellington) 6-2, 6-3.

Far less excitement was produced in the girls’ 16s draw, where Cade Cricchio’s (Gainesville) extended 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 victory over eighth-seeded Ava Grnja (Hollywood) was the lone upset. All other seeds moved through in straight sets except No. 2 Francesca Salvato (Miami Beach) who battled her way to a 6-4, 6-7(6), 11-9 victory over Kiana Thompson (Boynton Beach) in one of the longest matches of the day.

A quick look at the boys’ 18s draw would seemingly tell you it was a fairly uneventful day, with only second seed Nicholas Garcia (Hollywood) going down when he was forced to retire with Chase Cerejo (Wellington) was up 6-5 in the opening frame; however, things were a bit more adventurous. No. 1 David Burns (Fleming Island) needed to put together a rally to defeat Myles Decoste (Stuart) 4-6, 6-2, 12-10. Fourth-seeded Rohan Kale (Tampa) and No. 6 Pranav Ikkurthy (Boca Raton) both saw their leads evaporate before prevailing in match tiebreaks  by identical 10 points to seven margins, with Kale slipping past Alexey Timokhine (Orlando) and Ikkurthy holding off Brett Blair (Sarasota).

For the lone division completing two rounds on the day, the girls’ 18s got off to a fairly straightforward start. All eight seeds reached the round of 16 in comfortable fashion with the exception of fifth-seeded Isabela Thornhill, who shook off a slow start to get by Paradise Traub (Bradenton) 1-6, 6-1, 10-3. The bottom half held true to form moving into the quarterfinals as well, but the top half saw a couple of significant results to close out the night. Jingyi Li (Bradenton) took command right away and never looked back in stunning top seed Kaheao Companion (Saint Cloud) 6-2, 6-1. Also, in a set that lasted long than some full matches, No. 3 Ava Ignatowich (Wellington) gave a valiant effort before retiring with an injury against Juanita Cabrera (Orlando).

First matches on Sunday will get underway at 8 a.m. For more information on the 2019 USTA Florida August Level 5 Championships, click here.