KALAMAZOO, Michigan – Day seven of the 2018 USTA Boys’ 18 and 16 National Championships proved to be a wild one as the top two seeds in 18s both fell in the fifth round on Thursday evening.

No. 1 seed and defending champion Patrick Kypson (Raleigh, North Carolina) fell victim to No. 9 Kev Zhu (Pearland, Texas) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in front of a near capacity crowd. Kypson’s loss marks the first time since 2009 (Alexander Domijan lost to Kevin King in the fourth round) that the top seed has failed to reach the quarterfinal round. 

No. 2 seed Danny Thomas (Columbus, Ohio) lost to No. 26 Stefan Dostanic (Irvine, California) 6-4, 6-3 in the fifth round, marking the first time since 1998 the No. 2 seed hasn’t appeared in the quarterfinal round. Additionally, 2018 is the first year since 1993 when both the top two seeds did not qualify for the quarterfinal round.

Zhu will face No. 6 Drew Baird (Holly Springs, North Carolina) in one quarterfinal after Baird edged No. 16 Keenan Mayo (Roseville, California) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the fifth round. Dostanic’s opponent will be No. 27 Andrew Zhang (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan).

No. 3 Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, California) will face No. 5 Tristan Boyer (Altadena, California) after both advanced to the quarterfinals with sweeps. No. 4 Jensen Brooksby (Carmichael, California) versus No. 25 Jacob Bullard (Calabasas, California) represents the final quarterfinal.

The 16 singles tournament is a round ahead of the 18s and played its quarterfinal round today. No. 1 Keshav Chopra (Marietta, Georgia) and No. 4 Zane Khan (San Antonio, Texas) will face each other in a semifinal round match played on Saturday after advancing via straight-set victories. No. 3 Alex Lee (Oak Brook, Illinois) fell victim to No. 45 Alexander Kiefer (The Woodlands, Texas) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 while No. 15 Martin Damm (Bradenton, Florida) overcame a first set tiebreak loss to defeat No. 7 Ryan Fishback (Geneva, New York) 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-2. 
 

The 18 doubles quarterfinal round matches will be played tomorrow with the top four seeds still in the tournament, including Kypson and Thomas who both lost singles matches.

All four quarterfinal round matches in 16 doubles went to a third set match tiebreak. No. 1 Chopra and Maxwell McKennon (Newport Beach, California) overcame a first set loss to defeat No. 5 Michael Andrew (Las Vegas, Nevada) and Daniel Milavsky (Needham, Massachusetts) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (7). They will face No. 9 Benjamin Koch (Abbeville, Lousiana) and Joshua Raab (Woodstock, Georgia) who won their quarterfinal round in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8).

No. 7 Lee and Niroop Vallabhaneni (Paradise Valley, Arizona) edged No. 2 Alexander Bernard (Bonita Springs, Florida) and Logan Zapp (Fleming Island, Florida) 2-6. 2-6, 1-0 (8). Bernard and Zapp will face unseeded Ben Shelton (Gainesville, Florida) and Quinn Snyder (Delran, New Jersey) in the other semifinal round match.

Day eight begins bright and early at Stowe Stadium at 8 a.m. on Friday!

Source: Mitch Blankespoor