Doubles upsets along with continually clear skies headlined day five at the USTA Boys’ 18 & 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo on Tuesday. The 18s doubles draw saw the No. 1 seed as well as the No. 3 seed fail to make the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Frances Tiafoe (College Park, Md.) and Michael Mmoh (Bradenton, Fla.) dropped their round of 16 match to No. 9 Alex Rybakov (Coral Springs, Fla.) and Eduardo Nava (Woodland Hills, Calif.) 6-1 7-6 (4). No. 3 Tommy Paul (Coconut Creek, Fla.) and Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) dropped their doubles match to No. 12 seed Oliver Crawford (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Johnathan Small (Zionsville, Ind.) in three sets – 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (8). The 16s doubles draw was also shaken up as No. 1 J.J. Wolf (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Jake Van Emburgh (Verona, Wis.) dropped a three-set match to No. 14 Jackson Allen (Shakopee, Minn.) and Carson Haskins (Ballwin, Mo.) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (4). No. 2 seed Patrick Kypson (Greenville, N.C.) and Trent Bryde (Suwanee, Ga.) also fell in the round of 16 to unseeded Alexander Brown (Urbandale, Iowa) and Brady Draheim (Omaha, Neb.) 6-1, 6-4. The No. 6 ranked doubles team in the 16s, Austen Huang (Elk Grove, Calif.) and Jason Lui (Bellevue, Wash.), also lost in the round of 16 to Cody Lin (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Andrew Ton (Milpitas, Calif.) 7-6 (5), 5-7, 1-0 (7). In 16s singles, No. 2 Van Emburgh, who had won his last two matches in three sets, failed to come back for the third straight day. Van Emburgh fell to unseeded Kennan Mayo (Roseville, Calif.) 7-5, 6-3. Unseeded Shaun Hill (Berkeley, Calif.) eliminated No. 12 Alexander Brown (Urbandale, Ill.) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. In 18s singles, No. 4 Tommy Paul staved off elimination. Paul dropped the first set 7-6 (6) to No. 9 Gianni Ross, but battled back to win set two 7-6 (2). After the 10 minute break, Paul continued his charge winning the decisive third set at love. No. 30 Nathan Perrone (Bluffton, S.C.) knocked off No. 14 William Genesen (Tulsa, Okla.) 7-6 (5), 6-3. Along with Paul, the other top seven seed advanced to the round of 16. Tomorrow’s matches are highlighted by the round of 16 for both 18s and 16s singles. The 18s doubles quarterfinals also play later in the afternoon.

Source: Mitch Blankespoor