After two days of match play, six Americans have advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Dunlop British Junior Open at Edgbaston Priory Club and Birmingham University in Birmingham, England.
Of the six quarterfinalists, three exceeded their seeding to advance to the last eight. The early rounds saw twenty-three of the fifty American players advance to the last sixteen in total, including some outstanding upsets.
The U19 divisions included two surprise American quarterfinalists in the form of 9/16 seeds Elisabeth Ross and Charles Culhane.
Team USA produced three upsets in the GU19 round of thirty-two alone. Twins Haley and Claire Aube both upset higher seeds, which included an all-American match up between Haley–a qualifier–and Grace Steelman. Elizabeth Lentz pulled of one of three upsets over 5/8 seeds for Team USA on the day, defeating Egypt’s Zeina Khaled in three games. Ross would then end teammate Lentz’s run in the round of sixteen.
In the BU19, Culhane dropped just one game on his way to the quarterfinals where he will face France’s two seed Victor Crouin.
GU17 top seed Marina Stefanoni coasted to the quarterfinals with two, three-game victories. In the BU7 draw, 17/32 seed Dillon Huang knocked out a 9/16 seed, before exiting the main draw against Egypt’s two seed Mostafa Asal.
In the GU15 round of thirty-two, Natasha Pensler pulled off a 5/8 seed upset against India’s Ananya Dabka 11-9 in the fifth. Teammates and 9/16 seeds Lucie Stefanoni and Nina Mital joined Pensler in the last sixteen where all three exited the main draw.
Kushi Kukadia is the lone American in the Gu13 quarterfinals courtesy of a five-game upset against a 5/8 seed. Madison Ho, Emma Trauber and Quincy Cline all fulfilled their 9/16 seeding. In the BU13 division, Hollis Robertson and Andrew Glaser both fulfilled their 9/16 seeds before losing against top four seeds.
The U11 divisions saw two Team USA players fulfill their 5/8 seeds by reaching the quarterfinals, Eliza Schuster and Christian Capella.
Friday sees the quarterfinals play out on the third day of the tournament.
Select matches will be live streamed from the glass court at Birmingham University and courts 1-4 at Edgbastion Priory Club. For more tournament coverage, match times and locations, seedings and draws visit the British Junior Open tournament page.
