Top Seeds Advance Smoothly at Edwardsville Futures Tournament

EDWARDSVILLE — The top four seeds in the main singles draw advanced in their opening-round matches Wednesday at the $30,000 Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament, presented by The EGHM Foundation, while the fourth-seeded doubles team of Vignesh Goginini and Gavin Young also moved on at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.

Under what organizers described as exceptionally pleasant weather conditions, top-seeded Johannus Monday of Great Britain led the way in the upper half of the singles draw with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Jonah Braswell.

Also in the upper half, Keaton Hance defeated Nayoa Honda of Japan 6-4, 6-2, Andreja Petrovic of Norway beat Kyle McNally of the United States 6-1, 7-6 (9-7), and Manuel Lazaro-Juncadella of Spain rallied past Tristan McCormick of the United States 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Third-seeded Samir Banerjee of the United States defeated Jelani Sarr of the United States 6-4, 6-4. In a match between American wild-card players, Maxwell Exsted led Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 2-0 when Gorzny retired. Oliver Bonding of Great Britain beat Jack Satterfield of the United States 6-3, 6-1, and Ozan Baris of the United States defeated fellow American Nikita Filin 6-1, 6-2.

In the lower half, Bruno Kuzuhawa of the United States beat Jerry Roddick of the United States 6-4, 6-3, while Noah Zamora of the United States defeated Emon Van Loben Sels of the United States 6-2, 6-0. Jack Anthrop of the United States rallied past Evan Bynoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Young defeated Cooper Woestendick 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

Illja Palavestra won a three-set match over Leo Vithhoontien 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), Goginini beat Justin Roberts 6-2, 6-4, Bryce Nakashima defeated Marko Miladonovic 6-3, 7-5, and Karim Bennani ousted Hiroki Sakagawa 6-1, 6-4.

In doubles, Goginini and Young defeated Lazaro-Juncadella and Sakagawa 6-1, 6-3. Brandon Carpico and Filin beat Jon Gamble and Malhal Patel 6-2, 6-3, and Anthrop and Zamora eliminated Oscar Corwin and Tyler Haddorf 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 11-9.

Second-round singles matches are scheduled for Thursday. The morning feature match is Bonding against Baris at 10 a.m. The second group is scheduled to begin at about noon, with Bennani against Nakashima as the feature match.

Doubles quarterfinals are also set for Thursday afternoon and evening. Carpico and Filin are scheduled to face second-seeded Thomas Fancutt of Australia and Billy Suarez of the United States, while Goginini and Young are set to play Anthrop and Zamora at about 2 p.m. In the evening, Cook and Vithhoontien are scheduled to meet Bowers and Okonkwo at 6:30 p.m., followed by Milandonovic and Petrovic against Exsted and Woestendick.

Thursday also includes the annual Mitch-n-Friends clinic for special needs players at Liberty Middle School, scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

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