Consistent rain over the course of Saturday at the USTA National Campus made for a tough opening day at the 2019 USTA National Winter Championships, part of the USTA adidas Junior Championship Series. All doubles action along with the girls’ 16s singles matches were canceled before getting a chance to take to the court. Additionally, a light shower late in the night suspended more than 20 girls’ 18s singles contests until Sunday morning.

It was a tumultuous day in the boys’ 16s division, where eight seeds were sent to the consolation draw, including four from top-seeded Louis Cloud’s (San Antonio) section. Cloud himself was nearly stunned by Dylan Tsoi (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) despite breezing through the first set 6-0; he would hang on for a 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory. Cloud’s section majorly opened up thanks to losses by No. 7 Sebastian Gorzny (Fountain Valley, Calif.), who was swept aside by Jackson Armistead (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) 6-0, 6-1, and No. 10 Ansh Shah (Oak Brook, Ill.), who fell to Chase Robinson (Henrico, Va.) 6-3, 6-3.

Also among the boys’ 16s seeds to falter on Saturday was fourth-seeded Walker Oberg (Weston, Mass.), who was forced to retire due to an illness after dropping the opening frame of his match with Nicholas Heng (Madison, Ala.). Meanwhile, No. 3 Michael Zheng (Montville, N.J.) eased his way into the second round with a 6-0, 6-2 win while second seed Daniel Schmelka (Hinsdale, Ill.) toughed out a 6-3, 6-4 result.

The favorites in the boys’ 18s division kicked off their week in impressive fashion for the most part, highlighted by all seeds in the top half of the draw prevailing. Just three seeded competitors were knocked out of the bottom half, with No. 11 Joshua Rabb (Woodstock, Ga.) the highest ranked among them; Rabb was tripped up by Bruno Krenn (Calabasas, Calif.) 7-5, 6-2. Two of the No. 17 seeds were upset, as Luke Bayliss (Clarkston, Mich.) upended Zachery Foster (San Antonio) 6-3, 6-4 and Jonah Dickson (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) outlasted Sameer Gongoli (Malvern, Pa.) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Boys’ 18s No. 1 Logan Zapp (Fleming Island, Fla.) was pushed in the second set before coming through 6-2, 6-4 over Juandedios Abboud (Laredo, Texas) 6-2, 6-4, while second seed Leighton Allen (Austin, Texas) and No. 3 seed Welsh Hotard (New Orleans) gave away a combined three games in advancing. Fourth seed Benjamin Koch (Abbeville, La.) needed three sets to take care of Noah Gampel (Malibu, Calif.) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

While nearly half of the girls’ 18s did not complete their opening round matches, among the final results from Saturday was the shocking upset of No. 3 seed Juilia Fliegner, who came up short versus Ujvala Jupalli (Parsippany, N.J.) by a 6-3, 6-4 margin. Top-seeded Sarah Hamner (Fort Collins, Colo.) also found herself in a struggle against Eleanor Schulson (Newburyport, Mass.) before taking the victory 7-6(2), 6-4.

Sunday’s schedule of play is set to get underway at 8 a.m. For more information on the 2019 USTA National Winter Championships, click here.