2019 USTA National Doubles Championships
Rainy Opening Day
August 23, 2019

Rain wreaked havoc on the opening day of the 2019 USTA National Doubles Championships, as only one round was contested in the 14s and 16s age divisions. The boys’ and girls’ 18s did see their main draws move through to the quarterfinal round, while no consolation action made it to the courts in any division on Friday.
All eight seeds remain in the main draw in the boys’ 14s competition, with none of the top eight teams dropping a set. Just two sets were closer than 6-3, as the fourth-seeded duo of Declan Galligan (West Des Moines, Iowa) and Danny Radke (Saint Charles, Mo.) dismissed Jax Kirby (Maryville, Tenn.) and Carter Pate (Daniel Island, S.C.) 7-6(4), 6-2 while No. 8 seeds Matteo Antonescu (Mountain View, Calif.) and Alex Fuchs (Los Altos, Calif.) got past Miles Kennedy (Stamford, Conn.) and Calvin Wellman (Delray Beach, Fla.) 7-6(6), 6-0.
The boys’ 16s division was much more competitive, as two seeded tandems were upset with two more pushed to a third set. The Southern pairing of William Baly (Goose Creek, S.C.) and Robert Bauer (Suwanee, Ga.) took down No. 4 seeds Jeffrey Etterbeek (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Andrew Immink (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) 6-2, 6-3; Jack Wong (East Brunswick, N.J.) and Julian Wu (Tenafly, N.J.) representing the Eastern Section battled their way past sixth seeds William Kesterson (New Braunfels, Texas) and Brayden Michna (Taylor, Texas) 7-5, 6-2. Third seeds John Lasanajak (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Matthew Pitts (Greer, S.C.) could not close out Tommy Czaplinski (Orland Park, Ill.) and Gabriel Sardo (Oswego, Ill.) in straight sets but eventually prevailed 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3. No. 2 seeds Hudson Beaudoin (New York) and Teddy Truwit (Darien, Conn.) found themselves a couple of points from defeat before bouncing back to beat Wayne Nelms (Baltimore) and Charles Wood (College Park, Md.) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Even though the round of 32 and round of 16 were played in the boys’ 18s draw, seven of the eight seeds eased their way into the quarterfinals. Not moving on was the fourth-seeded team of Caden Moortgat (Plano, Texas) and Jake Sweeney (Hilton Head Island, S.C.), who won their first match of the day before falling to Peyton Gatti (Whispering Pines, N.C.) and JonBrann Reid (Claremont, N.C.) 7-6(2), 6-4 in the last match to finish. All other seeds have yet to drop a set, although No. 2 Jameson Corsillo (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Logan Zapp (Fleming Island, Fla.) were challenged by Brian Garcia (Sarasota, Fla.) and Ryan Rajakar (Nokomis, Fla.) in a back-and-forth 7-6(6), 7-5 match.
In girls’ 14s action, Sunshine State duo Selena Bird (Miramar, Fla.) and Olivia Bustos (Doral, Fla.) turned in the lone upset in the first round, as they rallied back to get by sixth seeds Anna Nguyen (Reading, Mass.) and Linda Ziets-Segura (New York) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Top seeds Alice Otis (Charleston, S.C.) and Piper Charney (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) were also tested, but found a way to cross the finish line with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Regina Alcobe-Garibay (Miami) and Chelsea Bluestein (Naples, Fla.).
A trio of upsets, all in the top half of the draw, highlighted the girls’ 16 competition. Akari Matsuno (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and McKenna Schaefbauer (Normal, Ill.) were thorough in their 6-1, 6-2 defeat of No. 7 seeds Kassandra Di Staulo (Weston) and Paige Herremans (Orlando) while Madeline Atway (Powell, Ohio) and Danielle Schoenly (Powell, Ohio) held off the fourth-seeded team of Marcela Lopez (Frisco, Texas) and Katherine Wurster (Wichita Falls, Texas) 7-6(2), 6-2. Getting through in a three-set battle was Mai Nguyen (Atlanta) and Kayleigh Yun-Thayer (Alpharetta, Ga.), as they secured the 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win over No. 8 Emily Parkerson (West Roxbury, Mass.) and Sahana Raman (Acton, Mass.).
It was mostly smooth sailing for the girls’ 18s seeds, although seventh-seeded tandem of Finley Kalinic (Delray Beach, Fla.) and Lena Kovacevic (Boca Raton, Fla.) could not hang on to their lead in a 3-6, 7-6(8), 7-5 marathon loss to Juliana Mascagni (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Lindsay Tulenko (Bogart, Ga.) in the first round. Mascagni and Tulenko went on to record a 7-6(7), 6-3 victory in their second match of the day to set up a clash with top seeds Carly Briggs (Calhoun, Ga.) and Adeline Flach (Alpharetta, Ga.). Sixth seeds Katie Andreini (Cary, N.C.) and Sophia Strugnell (Summerfield, N.C.) could not have started their weekend off any stronger, sweeping aside their opening round opponents 6-0, 6-0; however, they quickly dropped the opening frame against Minorka Miranda (Delray Beach, Fla.) and Maya Rukosuev (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) in the round of 16 before storming back to win 2-6, 6-1 10-5.
Saturday’s action will get underway at 8:30 a.m. For more information on the 2019 USTA National Doubles Championships, click here.