EDWARDSVILLE - Singles top seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain was the only seeded player to go through to the semifinals, while qualifier Quinn Vandecasteele upset second-seeded Naoki Nakagawa of Japan on a very hot day five of the Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament, presented by the EGHM Foundation, on Friday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
It was the hottest day of the summer in St. Louis, with the official high reaching 101, while Edwardsville temperatures nearing 100 with heat index readings almost hitting 110. The doubles semifinals were moved back to 7 p.m. from their original start time of 6 p.m. in order to avoid the heat, but only one ended up being played.
In the singles quarterfinals, played in the morning before the heat came in, McHugh defeated Learner Tien 7-6 (9-7 in the tiebreak), 5-7, 6-2, while Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan won over Vito Tonejc of Croatia 7-5, 6-2 in the upper half of the draw. In the lower half, Ozan Baris defeated Kareem Al-Allaf 7-5, 6-3 and Vandecasteele upset Nakagawa 6-4, 6-1 to go through to the last four.
Only one of the doubles semifinal matches ended up being played on Friday night, and it was Al-Allaf and Colin Markes winning over Pranav Kumar and Pierce Brazil Rollins 6-4, 5-7, 11-9 to go through to the final on Saturday.
The excessive heat warning for the St. Louis area slips into Saturday, the next-to-last day of the tournament, with the singles semifinals, pitting McHugh against Mitsui and Baris playing Vandecasteele, being played at the same time, with action beginning at 9 a.m. The second doubles semifinal between top seeds George Goldhoff and Mac Kiger playing against Yuki Mochizuki and Takeru Yuzuki of Japan takes place after the singles semifinals, with the winner going into the final against Al-Allaf and Markes on Saturday afternoon, with the time to be determined.
Day Four: Top Two Seeds Advance, Qualifier Vandercasteele Also Advances In Singles, Second Seeded Doubles Team Eliminated In Day Four Of Futures
The top two singles seeds, Great Britain's Aidan McHugh and Japan's Naoki Nakagawa, along with qualifier Quinn Vandercasteele, advanced to the singles quarterfinals and the second-seed doubles team, Trey Hilderbrand and Noah Schachter. were knocked out in the quarterfinals in the fourth day of the Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament, presented by the EGHM Foundation, on Thursday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
It was wall-to-wall sunshine at the Center, with temperatures reaching 98 degrees and a heat advisory issued for the area, but the tennis went very well as the second round of the singles and two doubles quarterfinals matches were played.
In the upper half of the singles bracket, top-seed McHugh won a close match over Colin Markes of the United States 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, while Learner Tien won over seventh seed and qualifier Michael Zheng 6-3, 6-1. Vito Tonejc of Croatia eliminated third seed Yuki Mochizuki of Japan 6-7 (4-7 in the tiebreak), 6-4, 6-2 and in another three-set match, Japan's Shunsuke Mitsui defeated Jaimee Floyd Angele of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
In the lower half of the draw, Ozan Baris eliminated sixth seed Cannon Kingsley 5-7, 7-6 (7-2 in the tiebreak), 6-4 and Kareem Al-Allaf won over qualifier Daniel Milavsky 6-4, 6-4. In the final two second-round matches, Vandercasteele won over Cooper Williams 6-3, 6-4 and Nakagawa defeated American Micah Braswell 6-4, 6-4.
In the two doubles quarterfinal matches played on Thursday evening, fourth-seeded Mochizuki and Takero Yuzuki defeated Milavsky and Williams 3-6, 6-2, 10-7 and Hilderbrand and Schachter were eliminated by Al-Allaf and Markes 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals.
The singles semifinal winners from Saturday advance to Sunday morning's finals, with the match being live-streamed on Riverbender.com.
More like this:
