KALAMAZOO, Michigan – The doubles finals and singles semifinals in both divisions are set after day eight of the 2019 USTA Boys’ 18 & 16 National Championships.

In 18 singles, Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, California) continued his dominance by not allowing more than three games in a set as the 2018 finalist rolled over No. 31 Blaise Bicknell (Miami, Florida) 6-1, 6-1. He will face No. 6 Zachary Svajda (San Diego, California), who defeated No. 33 Cash Hanzlik (Portland, Oregon) by the same score. The other semifinal will feature No. 5 Govind Nanda (Cerritos, California), who defeated No. 4 Cannon Kingsley (Northport, New York) 6-7 (8), 6-1, 7-5, against No. 25 Ronan Jachuck (Boca Raton, Florida), who defeated No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri (Greenwich, Connecticut) 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3.

In 16 singles, which played its quarterfinals on Thursday, top seed Alexander Bernard (Bonita Springs, Florida) and No. 4 Aidan Mayo (Torrance, California) both advanced via straight-set victories in the quarterfinals. Bernard will meet No. 7 Ben Shelton (Gainesville, Florida), who edged No. 3 Samir Banerjee (Basking Ridge, New Jersey) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Mayo will face No. 19 Alex Finkelstein (Raynham, New York), who upset No. 2 Luke Casper (Santa Cruz, California) 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-2.

In 18 doubles, No. 1 Martin Damm (Bradenton, Florida) and Toby Kodat (Bradenton, Florida) overcame a first set loss to advance to the finals 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 over No. 15 Phillip Jordan (Spartanburg, South Carolina) and Andres Martin (Flowery Branch, Georgia). They will meet No. 3 Nakashima and Nanda, who defeated No. 14 Kinsley and Robert Cash (New Albany, Ohio) 6-4, 7-6 (3).

In 16 doubles, three of the five total sets played in the semifinals were decided via a tiebreak. No. 7 Benjamin Kittay (Potomac, Maryland) and Hugo Hashimoto (San Jose, California) won their match 7-6 (5), 0-6, 6-4 while No. 11 Aidan Kim (Milford, Michigan) and Lucas Brown (Plano, Texas) edged No. 2 Thomas Paulsell (Seattle, Washington) and Frank Thompson (Blacksburg, Virginia) 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7).

Tomorrow (Saturday) features the semifinals of 16 singles in the morning, the semifinals of 18 singles in the late morning/early afternoon and both doubles finals in the afternoon. 

Source: Mitch Blankespoor