Day Two: Close Matches Theme Of The Day As Higher Seeds Advance Through Qualifying Into Main Draw Of Singles, Top Doubles Team Wins
EDWARDSVILLLE - Day two of the 10th annual Edwardsville Futures presented by The EGHM Foundation saw very close matches that were decided by third-set tiebreaks in both singles qualifying and doubles matches at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
The highlight of the singles qualifying was wild card qualifier Jibril Nettles taking a close match over fifth-seeded Kalman Boyd 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 to advance into the main draw starting on Wednesday. Meanwhile, 2019 singles runner-up and doubles champion Nathan Ponwith started his doubles campaign with Reese Stalder with a 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over Axel Nefve and Elliot Spizziri. Also, Martin Damm, one of the up-and-coming players in the United States, lost with his partner Alexander Bernard in the doubles first round to Alexander Brown and Zeke Clark 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.
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In the singles' qualifying bracket, with all winners advancing to the main draw that begins Wednesday, top-seed Ryan Shane won over Toby Boyer 6-2, 6-7 (1-7 in the tiebreak), 10-7, 15th seed Siphosothando Montsi of South Africa won over second seed Alfredo Perez 2-6, 6-4, 10-5, third seed Kyle Seelig won over Ethan Quinn 6-4, 6-3, fourth seed Stalder defeated Jordan Parker 6-4, 6-0, Nettles won over Boyd, sixth seed William Griffiths won over Joshua Howard-Tripp of South Africa 4-6, 6-2, 10-3, seventh seed Chad Kissell won over Nic Meister 6-3, 6-2 and eighth seed Blaise Bicknell of Jamaica won over Preston Brown when Brown retired in the first set with Bicknell leading 3-0.
In the opening round of the doubles, top-seeded Igor Marcondes of Brazil and Evan Zhu of the United States defeated Nicaise Mumba of Canada and Jordan Parker of the United States 6-4, 6-4, Meister and Montsi won over the Spanish pair of Juan Calero Alonso and Hector Marchan 6-3, 6-3, Cannon Kingsley and Seelig defeated Peter Bertan of the Dominican Republic and Kento Takeuchi of Japan 6-7 (6-8 in the tiebreak), 6-4, 10-5, Bruno Kuzuhara and Christian Langmo defeated Nicholas Bybel and Sidharth Rawat of India 4-6, 6-3, 10-8, Brown and Clark defeated Bernard and Damm, third seeds Tristan Schoolkate and Dane Sweeny of Australia won over Jack Vance and Tennyson Whiting 6-2, 3-6, 10-8, Kissell and Alexander Richards defeated Brian Battastone and Jamie Vance 2-6, 7-6 (7-2 in the tiebreak), 10-4 and Ponwith and Stalder, the second seeds, defeated Nefve and Spizziri to advance.
The third day of the tournament starts at 9 a.m. at the Tennis Center, with the main draw of the singles getting underway, with feature matches including top-seeded Paul Jubb of Great Britain going against Clark, Spizziri playing eighth seed Zhu and Marcondes and Nettles meeting up in the opening round. At approximately 10:30 a.m., Sweeny, the fifth seed, takes on Kuzuhara and third seed Strong Kirchheimer meets Stalder. At about 12:30 p.m., Montsi plays against Bernard, Seelig meets sixth seed Langmo and seventh seed Dusty Boyer plays against Ryan Shane. Finally, at about 2:30 p.m., France's Olivier Stuart meets fourth seed Rawat, Damm goes against Cannon Kingsley, Kissell plays against second seed Felix Corwin and Ponwith goes up against Griffith.
It will also be the first annual Diversity Day at the tournament, presented by the Robert "Whirlwind" Johnson Foundation, with ceremonies being held at the Liberty Middle School courts starting at 9 a.m. Johnson was a famous player and coach who helped Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe on their way to becoming the first African-American players to win at Wimbledon. and helped blaze the trail for African-American and other minorities to become great tennis players.
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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story
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