Top Seeds in All Levels Advance to Finals as Play Forced Indoors at Tiger Classic

BELLEVILLE – The top seeds in all levels advanced to Sunday’s finals in day two of the Tiger Classic junior tennis tournament, played Saturday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.

Play went on as scheduled, despite rain and brief storms on in the morning and early afternoon, which cleared up as the afternoon progressed, yielding to partly cloudy skies and warm temperatures.

In the boys’ 12-and-under round-robin, in the first round, Owen Kizer of St. Louis won over Jesse Hattrup of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-4, and Chandler Nelson of St. Louis defeated Charles Randall, also of St. Louis, 6-2, 6-0. In the second round, Nelson defeated Hattrup 6-7. 6-4, 12-10, and Kizer won over Randall 6-1, 2-6, 10-4. In one match of the third and final round, it was Kizer over Nelson 6-2, 6-3.

The quarterfinals of the boys’ 14-and-under division saw Cameron Woll of O’Fallon win over Joshua Daly of Glen Carbon 6-0, 6-0, Michael Karibian of Glen Carbon defeat Bryant Smith of Troy 6-0, 6-0, and Alex Meyer of Lake St. Louis, Mo., upset second-seeded Rafay Cheema of O’Fallon, Mo., 6-2, 6-3. In the semifinals, it was top-seed Colton Hulme of Edwardsville winning over Woll 6-1, 6-2, and Karibian defeated Meyer 6-4, 6-3.

In the boys’ 16-and-under division, in the first round, it was Jonah Blanquart of Millstadt winning over Merrick Zheng of Wildwood, Mo. 6-3, 7-5, in an all-Glen Carbon match, Samuel Motley won over Josh Lombardi 2-6, 6-2, 10-4, Omar Taysi of Ballwin, Mo., defeated Harrison Feco of Edwardsville 6-0, 6-0, and Jace Ackerman of Edwardsville won over Ben Jenkins of Glen Carbon 6-3, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, top seed Michael Ji of Chesterfield, Mo., won over Blanquart 6-2, 6-1, fourth-seed Tomasz Lawrence of St. Louis defeated Motley 6-1, 6-1, Taysi won over third-seeded Mason Chyu of St. Louis 7-5. 6-2 and second-seeded Gaurav Muthusamy of St. Louis defeated Ackerman 6-1, 6-0.

In the boys’ 18-and-under draw, the quarterfinals saw Aryan Motwani of St. Louis win over Harishaan Suthan of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-0, Britt Van Antwerp of Wildwood, Mo., won over Tanner Pieri of Worden 6-0, 6-0, and Evan Potter of O’Fallon upset second-seeded Ben Blake of Edwardsville 6-0, 6-1. In the semifinals, top-seeded Andrew Bower of Alton won over Motwani 6-0. 6-0, and Potter defeated Van Antwerp 6-4, 6-1.

In the girls’ 12-and-under matches, only one quarterfinal was played, and it saw Ashley Behan of St. Louis defeat fellow St. Louisan Elisa Nunez 6-0, 6-0. In the semifinals, it was top-seed Hadley Allaria of Kirkwood, Mo., winning over Alice Kennedy of St. Louis 6-4, 6-3, and Behan defeating second-seeded Katie Woods of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-0.

The girls’ 14-and-under round robin’s first round saw Mary Kathleen Beckemeier of St. Charles, Mo., win over Anna Dunn of Chesterfield 6-0, 6-1, and in the second round, it was Beckemeier over Kasheesh Motwani of St. Louis 6-1, 6-1.

Over in the girls’ 16-and-under bracket, only one match in the first round went off, and it was Lyla Tukey of St. Louis over Emma Herman of Edwardsville 6-2, 7-6. In the quarterfinals, top-seed Laura Finnie of St. Louis defeated Tukey 6-1, 6-0, Edwardsville’s Emma Tobin won over Grace Hackett, also of Edwardsville, as Hackett withdrew due to illness, Suzanna McLellan of St. Louis won over Gabi Schram of O’Fallon 6-1, 6-1, and second-seeded Sophie Bly of St. Louis defeated Mia McIssac of Fairview Heights 6-4, 6-2.

In the girls’ 18-and-under draw, there was one quarterfinal match played, and in it, Gabriella Regalado of Edwardsville won over Emma Shearburn of St. Louis 4-6, 6-0, 10-5. In the semifinals, top-seeded Sophia McLellan of St. Louis defeated Regalado 6-0, 6-0, and second seed Nawal Cheema of O’Fallon, Mo., won over Alayna Mulvaney of St. Louis 7-6, 6-7, 10-7.

In the boys’ 14-and-under doubles round-robin, in the first round, Meyer and Cheema won over Hattrup and Karibian in a one-set pro format 8-4, and in the second round, Kizer and Nelson won over Meyer and Cheema 8-3. In the quarterfinals of the boys’ 16-and-under doubles, Motwani and Potter defeated Feco and Adrian Norcio of Edwardsville 8-0, and Chyu and Taysi won over Ackerman and Ben Jenkins of Glen Carbon 8-2. In the semifinals, it was Motwani and Potter winning over Ji and Lawrence 8-5, and Chyu and Taysi defeated Blake and Motley 8-5. In the final, Motwani and Potter won the title over Chyu and Taysi 8-1.

Because of a forecast for rain and storms on Sunday, the final day of the tournament has been moved indoors to the Kings Point Tennis Club in Belleville, with play set to begin at 9 a.m., and lasting throughout the day.

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