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Top Seeds Kayla Day and Gianna Pielet Advance at USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s & 18s National Championships

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TOP SEEDS KAYLA DAY AND GIANNA PIELET EASILY ADVANCE AT
USTA BILLIE JEAN KING GIRLS’ 16s & 18s NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Third-Seeded Cori Gauff Moves into Girls’ 18s Fourth Round

SAN DIEGO – (August 7, 2018) – It was an impressive day for the No. 1 seeds at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s & 18s National Championships as Kayla Day of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Gianna Pielet of El Paso, Texas both won straight-set matches to advance to the next round.

Day, the No. 1 seed in the Girls’ 18s division, needed only 40 minutes to get past unseeded Esther Lovato of Austin, Texas, 6-0, 6-0. Day, who dropped only four points on her serve, advances to a fourth-round match against unseeded Camille Kiss of Redlands, Calif., on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Pielet, the top seed in the Girls’ 16s division, moved into the Round of 16 with 6-2, 6-1 victory over 17th seeded Rebecca Lynn of Newport Beach, Calif.  She will take on 33rd seeded Hailey Stelse of Scottsdale, Ariz., at noon on Wednesday.

In other third-round matches in the Girls’ 18s division, third-seeded Cori Gauff of Delray Beach, Calif., took 74 minutes to eliminate 33rd seed Nicole Mossmer of La Jolla, Calif., 6-1, 6-3 on Tuesday afternoon on Stadium Court.

After winning the first set in 34 minutes, Gauff fell behind 2-0 in the second set but staged a strong comeback as she broke Mossmer three times in winning five straight games to take a 5-2 lead. Despite losing her serve in the eighth game, Gauff, the No. 1 ranked junior in the International Tennis Federation rankings, closed out the match when she broke Mossmer’s serve at love in the final game.   

“I was familiar with her (Mossmer) game. I kind of knew what she was going to do. I was pretty prepared for the match. She gets a lot of balls back and she likes to hit it pretty high. I was prepared to play long points,” Gauff said following her victory.

“My expectation is to keep doing better every round and keep improving. My goal is to be the best that I can be,” she added. “You can’t play the best tennis every match, but mentally I just want to be the best. It’s possible to be mentally at the top every match.”

The 14-year old Gauff advances to the Girls’ 18s fourth round, where she will meet 33rd seeded Carly Briggs of Calhoun, Ga., on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

For updated tournament draws in each division, please go to: https://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=208363#&&s=7

This past April, the USTA renamed the USTA Girls’ 16s & 18s National Championships to honor tennis icon Billie Jean King, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. King is scheduled to attend the final two days of the tournament.    

All tournament matches played on Stadium Court at the Barnes Tennis Center will be streamed live on the tournament website through Friday, August 10. The link is available at www.ustagirlsnationals.com/

The Tennis Channel schedule for the final two days of the tournament will be as follows:

Saturday, August 11
Girl’s 18s Singles Semifinals – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT (2 to 6 p.m. EDT)
Girl’s 16s Singles Final – 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. PDT (7:30 to 9:30 p.m. EDT)

Sunday, August 12
Girl’s 18s Singles Final – 1 to 3 p.m. PDT (4 to 6 p.m. EDT)

Over 400 of the top junior tennis players in the country, aged 16 and 18 and under, are competing for the title of National Champion, as well as a wild card entry into the Women’s Singles main draw of the 2018 US Open (for the 18s Champion) and a wild card into the 2018 US Open Junior Championships (for the 16s Champion).  The 18s Doubles Champions will also receive a wild card into the US Open Women’s Doubles main draw.
 
The updated starting times for each day of the tournament will be as follows:
Wednesday, August 8 through Sunday, August 12 — 9 a.m.
 (Starting times subject to change)
               
Early-round tournament matches will also be played at the Balboa Tennis Club, 2221 Morley Field Drive, San Diego, CA 92104 through Wednesday, Aug. 8.

Admission and on-site parking at the Barnes Tennis Center is free each day of the tournament. For fans watching matches at the Balboa Tennis Club, admission and parking is free.

USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s & 18s National Championships
Barnes Tennis Center
San Diego, Calif.
Tuesday’s Results

Girls’ 18s Singles
Third Round
Kayla Day (1), Santa Barbara, Calif., def. Esther Lovato, Austin, Texas, 6-0, 6-0
Cori Gauff (3), Delray Beach, Fla., def. Nicole Mossmer (33), La Jolla, Calif., 6-1, 6-3
Vanessa Ong (17), Oklahoma City, def. Jaedan Brown (33), Granger, Ind., 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Dalayna Hewitt (10), Pepper Pike, Ohio, def. Jennifer Gadalov (33), Los Angeles, 6-4, 6-3
Natasha Subhash (12), Fairfax, Va., def. Sydney Lee, Oakland, Calif., 6-1, 6-1
Camille Kiss, Redlands, Calif., def. Jayci Goldsmith (33), Dripping Springs, Texas, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
Gabriella Price (11), New City, N.Y., def. Sophia Hatton, Syracuse, N.Y., 6-2, 6-0
Hadley Doyle (33), Colleyville, Texas, def. Kolie Allen (17), Lombard, Ill., 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
Chelsea Kung (17), Fort Worth, Texas, def. Addison Guevara, Keller, Texas, 6-1, 6-1
Peyton Stearns (14), Mason, Ohio, def. Amanda Chan, Pasadena, Calif., 6-2, 6-1

Girls’ 16s Singles
Fourth Round
Gianna Pielet (1), El Paso, Texas, def. Rebecca Lynn (17), Newport Beach, Calif., 6-2, 6-1
Valencia Xu (2), (Livingston, N.J., def. Ellie Pittman (33), Indianapolis, Ind., 7-6 (4), 6-4
Fiona Crawley (3), San Antonio, def. MariaCecilia Aguiar (33), San Juan, P.R., 3-6, 6-0, 7-5
Hibah Shaikh (8), Teaneck, N.J., def. Tara Malik, East Rutherford, N.J., 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
Hailey Stelse (33), Scottsdale, Ariz., def. Perene Wang, New York, N.Y., 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
Lauren Anzalotta (16), Trujillo Alto, P.R., def. Gavriella Smith, New Orleans, 6-2, 6-1
Victoria Mulville (17), Hoschton, Ga., def. Amber Marie Lee (9), Orinda, Calif., 6-4, 6-2
Bridget Stammel (17), Dallas, def. Ava Catanzarite (10), Pittsburgh, 6-4, 6-4
Kylie Collins (15), Savannah, Ga., def. Kimberly Hance (17), Torrance, Calif., 6-4, 7-5
Vivian Ovrootsky (33), San Jose, Calif., def. Julia Andreach, Rochester, N.Y., 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Misa Malkin (17), Tucson, Ariz., def. Elise Wagle (33), Niskayuna, N.Y., 7-5, 6-1
Elaine Chervinsky (33), Boca Raton, Fla., def. Madison Sieg (5), Greenwich, Conn., 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
Daniella Benabraham (33), New York, N.Y., def. Sanyukta Gawande, Bradenton, Fla., 6-3, 7-5
Hina Inoue (33), Huntington Beach, Calif., def. Carmen Corley (17), Albuquerque, N.M., 6-4, 0-6, 6-3
Maribella Zamarripa (33), Saint Helena, Calif., def. India Houghton (6), Belvedere Tiburon, Calif., 6-4, 6-3

For complete scores and results, go to: https://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=20836-3#&&s=8Results0
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