 Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 19 Mar 2008 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 19 Mar 2008 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 19 Mar 2008 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 19 Mar 2008 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 19 Mar 2008 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 19 Mar 2008 |
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| 19 Mar 2008 - Helen McFetridge | |
| Bad day for USA in Brazil; top seeds come through |
Five seeds crashed out of the Grade A Gerdau Cup in the opening round, including all four seeded Americans. Boys’ top seed Marcelo Arevalo had no such problems, however, coming through a difficult first round match-up with Banana Bowl runner-up Filip Krajinovic.
The encounter between world Arevalo, of El Salvador, and Serbian Krajinovic was the pick of the first round matches on the boys’ side, with Krajinovic one of the fastest rising stars on the ITF Junior Circuit. The 16-year-old Serbian started playing on the circuit in September, and since then has compiled an impressive 39-5 record including wins over top-ten ranked Bernard Tomic and Ryan Harrison. Many felt that an upset might be on the cards, but although Krajinovic managed to stretch Arevalo to a tie-break in the first set, the top seed eventually came through 76(3) 63.
The highest seed to fall in the boys’ singles was number four Ty Trombetta (USA), who went down 75 62 to Ashley Watling (GBR). Gilad Ben Zvi (ISR), seeded nine, was the other seeded casualty as he lost in three sets to another British player, Neil Pauffley.
There were no problems for Banana Bowl champion Juan Vazquez Valenzuela (ARG), seeded third, or second seed Alexandre Folie (BEL), as they had straight sets wins over Harry Fowler (USA) and Matthew Short (GBR) respectively.
Trombetta’s fellow American seeds did not fare any better in the girls’ singles, with all three falling at the first hurdle. Mallory Burdette, seeded seven and a semi-finalist at last week’s Banana Bowl, lost a tough battle to Nastassja Burnett (ITA) 75 in the third set. Alexa Guarachi, the 13th seed, lost 76(3) 63 to qualifier Bistra Otashliyska (BUL), while 16th seed Nadia Gilchrist was defeated in three sets by Alyona Sirotkina (UKR).
The top three seeds in the girls’ event all made it through safely to round two, with Bojana Jovanovski (SRB), Cindy Chala (FRA) and Johanna Konta (AUS) dropping just eight games between them. Fourth seed Ana Bogdan, the Banana Bowl champion from Romania, struggled to put away qualifier Camila Silva (CHI), but eventually came through 75 64.
You can see live action from the Centre Court at the Copa Gerdau here
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