©Colette Lewis 2007--
Mobile, AL--
Thursday started and ended at the three makeshift indoor courts at the Mobile Convention Center, but the skies cleared long enough to allow the quarterfinal singles matches to be completed outdoors at the Mobile Tennis Center courts.
All eight matches were played at the same time, and none of the eight needed a third set to decide it, so there wasn't much opportunity for tension to build, or have all the attention focus on one match.
Sixth seed Brennan Boyajian of Florida was first off, thoroughly dominating No. 4 seed Nick Meister of Southern California 6-1, 6-2. The first three points of the match featured dozens of strokes, but after that, everything fell quickly into place for Boyajian. Meister, who came back from a set down in his previous two matches, couldn't find the energy or the consistency to repeat his recent win over Boyajian at the Winter Nationals. Boyajian is the only single digit seed remaining on the boys side.
Less than a minute later, No. 12 seed Dennis Nevolo of Illinois had earned his place in the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Alex Domijan of Florida. Domijan hadn't lost a set in his first four matches, but Nevolo used his variety to keep the tall 15-year-old from finding a rhythm, using drop shots and short balls to draw Domijan in, then passing him. It looked as if Domijan might get back in the match when he took a 3-0 lead in the second, but Nevolo won five of the next six games.
The other two boys' semifinalists are 17 seeds--Wil Spencer and Eric Quigley. Spencer, who lives only a couple of hours from Mobile in the Florida panhandle, had a much tougher match with No. 8 seed Will Guzick than the 6-4, 6-1 score would indicate. But after South Carolina's Guzick doublefaulted on set point serving at 4-5 in the first, things started to unravel for him, and Spencer kept the pressure on to close out the win. Spencer and Boyajian will meet in an all-Florida semifinal, but despite being the same age and from the same section, they haven't met in a tournament in many years.
Quigley, from Kentucky, took out No. 9 seed Stevie Johnson of Southern California 7-6 (7), 7-5, after Johnson had won his previous four matches in straight sets. Very little separated the two players, and although Quigley doesn't mind approaching the net, the outcome was decided primarily on the baseline with power tennis from both.
The girls' quarterfinal results feature some lopsided scores, but only one upset, with No. 9 Alison Riske of Pennsylvania cruising past No. 5 seed Chelsea Preeg 6-3, 6-2. The other three semifinalists met expectations, as No. 1 Melanie Oudin, No. 3 Asia Muhammad and No. 4 Lauren Embree join Riske in the Final Four.
Oudin, of Georgia, was on the court for nearly an hour and a half against New York's Stacey Lee, and although the score was 6-2, 6-1, every game was a battle. Asia Muhammad of Nevada had her hands full with No. 7 seed Keri Wong of Mississippi in the first set, but she began to force errors and play more relaxed in the second, taking the match 7-5, 6-0. Oudin and Muhammad's semifinal contest is guaranteed to produce some scintillating groundstroke rallies.
Florida's Embree, like Oudin, had to earn her 6-2, 6-1 win, but Carolyn McVeigh of Connecticut couldn't find a way around Embree's consistency. Riske, looking ahead to her encounter with Embree, said that she thought she might call her friend Emily Gelber for advice on how to beat Embree. The unseeded Gelber upset Embree in the finals of the Winter Nationals in January.
When the skies opened around 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, there were only two doubles quarterfinals complete. Top seeds Brennan Boyajian and Zach Hunter defeated unseeded Drew Courtney and Daniel Stahl 6-4, 6-0; the No. 7 seeded team of Tyler Davis and Quigley upset No. 3 seeds Johnson and Andrew Kells 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
The first matches in girls consolation were completed indoors Thursday morning and the remainder of the doubles were completed indoors on Thursday night. For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.
For additional coverage by Marcia Frost, visit collegeandjuniortennis.com.
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