Tuesday marked the fourth day of action for the 2019 USTA National Winter Championships, part of the USTA adidas Junior Championship Series, on the grounds of the USTA National Campus.

Unseeded players made a strong push on the day in the boys’ 16s singles, as they make up half of the remaining field of 16 competitors remaining in the main draw. Headlining the charge was No. 17 Michael Ross (Charleston, S.C.), who turned in a comprehensive performance to upset top seed Louis Cloud (San Antonio) 6-2, 6-1; Ross has now dropped 11 games in three contests. No. 2 Daniel Schmelka (Hinsdale, Ill.) was also sent to the consolation draw, squandering an impressive opening set in a back-and-forth 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) loss to Peter Hatton (Syracuse, N.Y.), while No. 8 Lucas Brown (Plano, Texas) came up short versus Jonah Braswell (Sarasota, Fla.) by a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 margin.

The highest remaining seed in the boys’ 16s division is No. 3 Michael Zheng (Montville, N.J.) after his quick 6-2, 6-2 victory against No. 17 Noah Hernandez (Hinsdale, Ill.). He has yet to lose a set and will next take on Zane Ford (Butler, Pa.). Meanwhile, fifth seed Kurt Miller (Los Gatos, Calif.) just narrowly escaped defeat, outlasting Aadarsh Tripathi (Pleasanton, Calif.) 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. No. 6 Ethan Quinn (Fresno, Calif.) continued to ease his way past the competition with a 6-1, 6-0 victory, which now gives him miniscule seven games lost so far.

Order was restored in boys’ 18s singles action, as the eight competitors securing a spot in the quarterfinals are all top 16 seeds. Furthermore, just two matches on the day were even extended to a final set.

One of those contests involved No. 1 Logan Zapp (Fleming Island, Fla.), who found himself locked in a battle for the first time in the tournament. He was able to rise to the challenge, fending off Brandon McKinney (Marietta, Ga.) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. No. 13 Gavin Young (Apple Valley, Minn.) also got through in three sets, rallying past Quinn Snyder (Delran, N.J.) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Next up for Zapp is No. 16 Samir Banerjee (Basking Ridge, N.J.) after he ousted sixth seed Thomas Paulsell (Seattle) 6-1, 6-4; Young will be up against No. 4 Benjamin Koch (Abbeville, La.).

In the other quarterfinal matchups, No. 3 Welsh Hotard (New Orleans) is set to clash with 12th-seeded Keshav Chopra (Marietta, Ga.), who defeated his doubles partner Coy Simon (Charleston, S.C.), and No. 2 Leighton Allen (Austin, Texas) will be across the net from eighth seed Ben Shelton (Gainesville, Fla.). Allen has been perhaps the most dominant player in the division thanks to his fourth 6-0 set in his 6-4, 6-0 win over Bruno Krenn (Calabasas, Calif.).

For the girls’ 16s round of 16, all matches will feature an unseeded hopeful and a seeded competitor. The owners of the major upsets in the top half of the draw continued to advance, including Eileen Wang (Buffalo, N.Y.), who backed up her upset of the top seed by defeating No. 17 Rylie Hanford (Chesterland, Ohio) 7-5, 6-3. Additionally, Alice Xu (Chantilly, Va.), Lindsey Hofflander (Las Vegas), and Abby Nugent (Springboro, Ohio) all took down No. 17 seeds to stay in the main draw, while 10th-seeded Tomi Main (Seaside, Calif.) is the highest seed in that half.

No. 5 Stephanie Yakoff (Fort Lee, N.J.) turned in another easy win, this time coming through 6-0, 6-2 over Julia Xiao (Chapel Hill, N.C.); she has surrendered a mere eight games for the tournament. Fourth seed Kida Ferrari (Fairhope, Ala.) also found herself in a familiar position when she fell behind by a set to Piper Charney (Mount Pleasant, S.C.), only to storm back to win 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. No. 2 Katie Codd (Carlsbad, Calif.) continued to cruise along by defeating Helena Huff (Alpharetta, Ga.) 6-4, 6-0.

Top girls’ 18s seed Sarah Hamner (Fort Collins, Colo.) was a handful of points from being relegated to the consolation draw before she pulled off a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 12 Sophia Fornaris (Pinecrest, Fla.). Her next opponent will be eighth seed Allie Gretkowski, who survived a 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3 contest with No. 17 Anessa Lee (San Marino, Calif.). The unseeded players from the Golden State won again on Tuesday, with Muskan Mahajan (San Ramon) getting by No. 17 Angel You (Chantilly, Va.) 7-5, 7-5 and Katherine Hui (San Diego) downing sixth seed Brooke Killingsworth (Rogers, Ark.) 6-1, 7-5; those results set up a showdown between the two individuals.

Fourth-seeded Gianna Pielet (El Paso, Texas) had lost only five games in her previous three matches, but found herself in a tiebreak in the opening frame versus No. 11 Casie Wooten (Torrance, Calif.). Once she got through that eight points to six, she sprinted to the finish line with a 6-0 second set. Her next foe will be No. 5 Emma Staker (Sand Springs, Okla.), while 15th seed Lara Schneider (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) and No. 17 Emma Shelton (Gainesville, Fla.) are next up for each other.

All doubles draws with the exception of the girls’ 16s were at the quarterfinal stage by the conclusion of play Tuesday night. While the top two seeds in the boys’ 16s singles were upset, it was a much different story in doubles. The No. 1 pairing of Brown and Aidan Kim (Milford, Mich.) made quick work of their round of 16 contest, advancing 6-2, 6-1, to go along with the second-seeded team of Cloud and Sebastian Gorzny (Fountain Valley, Calif.) prevailing 6-4, 6-4. Plenty of drama took place in the boys’ 18s draw, where top seeds Blake Kasday (Las Vegas) and Trey Stinchcomb (Olney, Md.) fell to Texas duo Riley Odell (Plano) and Garrett Skelly (The Woodlands) 6-3, 2-6, 10-7; No. 2 seeds Hotart and Koch were as close to elimination as possible, battling their way to a 4-6, 6-1, 14-12 victory. Third seeds Aryan Chaudhary (Santa Clara, Calif.) and Zapp along with the No. 4 seeds Chopra and Simon also advanced.

A round behind the rest, few of the favorites have been knocked out in the girls’ 16s doubles division, although the sixth-seeded tandem of Hanford and Akari Matsuno (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) did fall short versus Abigail Platt (Dallas) and Katherine Wurster (Wichita Falls, Texas) 2-4, 4-1, 10-8. Addtionally, top seeds Natalie Block (Plantation, Fla.) and Aubrey Nisbet (Wilmington, Del.) needed a match tiebreak to get past Priya Nelson (Sacramento) and Madison Weekley (Alamo, Calif.) 2-4, 4-2, 10-2.

For the girls’ 18s doubles, the top four seeds all found their way into the quarterfinals, as did four unseeded teams. Of the seeded duos, only No. 2 Julia Fliegner (Clarkston, Mich.) and Schneider were pushed to three sets; all three of the unseeded pairings in action on the day needed a match tiebreak to secure the victory.

Matches continue Wednesday beginning at 9 a.m. For more information on the 2019 USTA National Winter Championships, click here.