At The Open
With Marcia Frost...

Monday, September 5th
Junior Championships, Day Two

There were a number of upsets today in the boys draw, but the one that has to stand out in everyone's mind is Carsten Ball's loss to Ryan Sweeting. The number twelve seed, who has reclaimed his Australian ties and no longer plays for the United States, had an astounding five match points in the third set before losing to Ryan Sweeting of the Bahamas. After giving up the match points, Carsten was able to hold his serve and bring the score up to 6-6, but he could not get his mind together and easily gave up the breaker. The final score for Ryan was 2-6,6-3,7-6(1).

Another upset was a match I had thought would be exciting and therefore was there from the beginning. It was American Holden Seguso, whose parents are both former junior stars and now playing the senior events here, against Belgium's Neils Desein. Neil's was the No. 8 seed and among his accomplishment's this year was gaining a win against No. 1 Donald Young. Though he came into the match extremely nervous, wildcard Holden quickly regained his composure. With a powerful serve among his weapons, he broke and held for a 6-4 first set. In the second it went on serve until 4-4 when Holden again broke and took the final on the first match point.

I did not see the match between American Matt Bruch and No. 15 Andre Miele of Brazil, but I do know that it must have been exciting as the qualifier took out the seed, 6-4,4-6,6-1. Peter Polansky, another qualifier, was not so fortunate as he fell to No. 4 Santiago Giraldo, 6-2,6-2.

There were only two seeds that fell today on the girls side. Olga Govortsova of Belarus took out No. 12 Ayumi Morita of Japan, 6-4,6-4 and Julia Cohen of the United States eliminated No. 16 Amina Rakhim, 6-1,7-5. I don't know that I would really call the latter an upset, as Julia has been top 15 in the ITF rankings over the past year, but has fallen due to injuries and time off to play the pro tour.

I watched an exciting match between wildcard Gail Brodsky (a New Yorker who now trains in California) and Dominice Rupoll of Germany. One spectator described Gail as "feisty" and I would have to agree. She was pumped up throughout the match and kept the momentum (and the winners) coming to a 6-1,6-4 finish. I also saw the U.S.'s Lindsay Burdette go against qualifier Johanna Larsson of Sweden. Lindsay's game was just not there today as she went down rather quickly, 6-3,6-1.

It was nice to end my tennis watching day with a match that not only showcased talent but also displayed sportmanship. It was clear from the beginning that Kellen Damico and Tim Smyczeck (above) had much more experience playing doubles than Rupesh Roy and David Simon. Despite this, all four boys kept up their smiles and their skills. In the end they shook hands like they meant it and all walked away without regret as Tim and Kellen recorded a 6-3,6-0 win.

I probably shouldn't say this, but it's strange being at the U.S. Open Junior Championships without rain! The first round singles schedule has been spread all the way through to tomorrow and, for the first time in years, I have the opportunity to see lots of different players. I look forward to catching some more tomorrow.

• Boys Singles Draw
• Girls Singles Draw
• Boys Doubles Draw
• Girls Doubles Draw

CLICK HERE FOR COLUMNS
FROM OTHER DAYS & FEATURE STORIES
FROM THE 2005 US OPEN