The 2009 Eddie Herr International is underway in Bradenton, USA, with a host of British youngsters competing in the event that is widely recognised as the largest international junior tennis tournament in the world with competitions in 18 & Under, 16 & Under, 14 & Under, and 12 & Under divisions.
Jack Carpenter has made a solid start to the boys’ 18U campaign by inflicting the fourteenth singles defeat of the year on Dovydas Sakinis (LTU).
The British Junior No.3 won 6-2, 6-1 over Sakinis and will now meet tournament No.1 seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA).
The pair are separated by seventy five places in the rankings, with the ITF Junior No.10 recovering from losing the first set of his opening match 0-6, to edge out qualifier David Sofaer (AUS) 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(6).
Elsewhere in the boys’ event, James Marsalek defeated wild card entrant Garik Yedigarian (USA) 6-1, 6-2 to set up a second round clash with No.3 seed Marton Fucsovics (HUN).
British Junior No.1 Oliver Golding joins Carpenter and Marsalek in the second round after winning 6-2, 6-2 against Cedrik Commin (FRA). Golding has been drawn against No.10 seed Junior A. Ore (USA) in his next match, a player who boasts a win to loss ratio of 34:15 in singles matches this year.
Tom Allen and Ashley Hewitt failed to reach the second round after losing to Mark Verryth (AUS) and No.9 seed Raymond Sarmiento (USA) respectively.
Allen was narrowly defeated in three sets, 7-5, 2-6, 1-6 whilst Hewitt lost 2-6, 5-7 to a player ranked 160 places higher than the Briton in the rankings.
Allen and Hewitt will both now concentrate their efforts on the doubles event as Allen pairs up with fellow Briton Carpenter against Stefan Micov (MKD) and Ivan Turudic (CRO).
Hewitt joins forces with Golding to play the Russian pairing of Mikhail Biryukov and Alexander Rumyantsev whilst Marsalek and Arthur De Greef (BEL) play Rodney Carey (BAH) and Nikolai Haessig (CAN).
Liam Broady is the other British player in doubles action in the boys’ event, as he faces the Brazilian pairing of Tiago Fernandes and Bruno Semenzato with partner Vasile-Alexandru Ghilea (ROU).
Following on from her first round win in the girls’ U18 singles yesterday, British Junior No.1 Heather Watson competes in the doubles event in Bradenton. Watson, who was last week shortlisted for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year, teams up with Magda Linette (POL) against the American pairing of Lauren Herring and Grace Min.
Elisha Gabb and her partner Melis Sezer (TUR) will play the tournament No.3 seeds Daria Gavrilova and Irina Khromacheva from Russia, whilst Francesca Stephenson and Joanna Henderson will play the Venezuelan pair of Adriana Perez and Daniela Vidal.
After being defeated in their opening singles matches, Danieka Borthwick and Jessica Ren will be hoping to bounce back as they compete together in the doubles against Paula Kania (POL) and Katarena Palivets (CAN).
Find out more about Heather Watson's BBC Young Sports Personality nomination
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