Team USA made history with six Americans reaching the last sixteen of the World Junior Men’s and Women’s Individual Championships for the first time, Wednesday, July 19, in Melbourne Australia.
The U.S. contingent made a strong start in the opening rounds of play, producing a clean slate of twelve first round wins, and ten of twelve Americans reaching the third round.
All six American women–including Sonya Sasson, Emma Trauber, Caroline Eielson, Caroline Fouts, Riya Navani and Madison Ho–reached the third round courtesy of 3-0 victories.
Thomas Soltanian and Arhan Chandra both recorded first round wins before falling against higher seeded opponents in the second round.
All five seeded Americans fulfilled their seedings and reached the round of sixteen. Varun Chitturi was one of just two unseeded men’s players to reach the last sixteen, upsetting Ireland’s 9/16 seed Dylan Moran in five games to set up a match up against Egypt’s 3/4 seed Mohamed Zakaria.
Team USA’s 9/16 seeds Hollis Robertson and Rishi Srivastava both prevailed in five-game encounters against Ecuador’s Javier Lopez and Pakistan’s Huzaifa Ibrahim, respectively. Both players will play higher seeded opposition to reach the quarterfinals, including Robertson facing Holland’s defending world champion Rowan Damming.
After first and second round wins, Zane Patel exited the main draw at the hands of England’s top seed Jonah Bryant.
9/16 seeds Navani and Ho both fulfilled their seedings without dropping a game. Navani will play Egypt’s 3/4 seed Malak Khafagy, while Ho will take on Egypt’s 5/8 seed Zeina Kareem Zein El-Din.
After two 3-0 wins, 5/8 seed Caroline Fouts will aim to reach the World Juniors quarterfinals for the first time against South Africa’s 9/16 seed Savannah Ingledew.
Trauber, Sasson and Eielson will all continue their individual tournaments in consolation play after exiting the main draw against seeded opposition.
Find streaming times, draws and more information below:
Live Stream Schedule Thursday, July 20
(All Times ET)
Glass Court:
9:00pm, Wednesday: Varun Chitturi (USA) vs. [3/4] Mohamed Zakaria (EGY)
1:00am: [9/16] Riya Navani (USA) vs. [3/4] Malak Khafagy (EGY)
3:00am: [9/16] Hollis Robertson (USA) vs. [2] Rowan Damming (NED)
Court 9:
12:20am: [5/8] Caroline Fouts (USA) vs. [9/16] Savannah Ingledew (RSA)
1:00am: [9/16] Rishi Srivastava (USA) vs. [5/8] Salman Khalil (EGY)
3:00am: [9/16] Madison Ho (USA) vs. [5/8] Zeina Kareem Zein El-Din