All-day rain on day two throws the Orange Bowl schedule into disarray; Registration lists for the Australian Open men’s and women’s singles released

Fort Lauderdale FL–

There was a shortage of sunshine at the Orange Bowl, with the game canceled at 3:30 PM on Monday due to rain and lightning. Tuesday’s matches started in a light drizzle with just three hours of on-court action before heavy rain ended all hopes of competition at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center at Holiday Park at 1.30pm.

This is my 20th Orange Bowl, and while rain is not unusual at this event, the usual disruption is a heavy downpour and clearing skies within a few hours. A full day of rain, steady but not soaking wet, is something I’ve never experienced at this event (Junior Orange Bowl is another story) and when it comes at the start of the tournament with so many games, the schedule becomes chaotic.

With only 22 of the 103 matches on Tuesday’s schedule completed, Wednesday’s matches will feature a wide variety of rounds and age groups. The good news today is that the boys’ 16s second round has been completed and their singles tournament remains on schedule, with their eight third-round matches scheduled for Wednesday.

The girls 16s second round and both girls and boys 18s first round, normally completed on Tuesday, now await completion on Wednesday, with the doubles also left behind due to two days of rain.

One of the players lucky enough to complete his match before the first rain delay was Boys 16s top player Mason Vaughan, who had to rush to get under the clubhouse roof as the rain intensified after his 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Sulaiman Syed.

Vaughan, who was also the top seed at the IMG Academy International Championships last week, lost a three-and-a-half-hour semi-final there on the hard courts, with just one day to prepare for the switch to green clay.

“One of the biggest things I’ve been working on this past year is having two-week blocks of tournaments and being able to reset, especially for the second one,” said the 16-year-old from Austin, Texas. “If I go deep in the first, which I did – I had about seven hours on the track one day – I have to recover. So I’ve been resetting my mind over the last few days, and it’s been about just forgetting about last week. I’m happy to be here and very happy to be in the third round.”

Switching surfaces from last week to this one wasn’t as difficult as it could have been, as Vaughan had access to both green clay and hard courts at the Brookhaven Tennis Academy.

“I train once a day on clay, and the other half on hard courts,” Vaughan said. “So for me it’s been a really easy adjustment. I have a really good balance there, but I know for others it’s definitely difficult. Orange Bowl has been one of my main goals, so I’ve really emphasized clay this year.”

Vaughan, who played the 16s at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation last year, is impressed with the newly renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center.

“That was a great site, but this site is unreal,” Vaughan said. “Definitely, much better. I haven’t had a single bad bounce, even when it hit the line. So I’m very grateful that they moved it here.”

Vaughan will play another 2025 IMG Academy International 16s semifinalist on Wednesday: No. 14 seed Colter Amey. Amey defeated Aidan Conley 6-4, 6-1 this morning. Kahven Singh, who defeated IMG Academy International champion Jang Junseo of Korea in the first round, continued his great form to defeat 2025 14s Clay Courts champion Joshua Dolinsky 6-1, 6-1 this morning.

As positive as most reactions were about the new location of the tournament, a major complaint focused on the situation on the practice field. There are no practice courts on site, as there are at Veltri, and players must book warm-ups at two other clubs, which are between 15 and 30 minutes away.

These logistics nearly led to the default of Israel’s Daniel Brand, who was not scheduled to play before 9:30 a.m. at Chris Evert Stadium against No. 8 seed Ronit Karki. After Girls 16 No. 5 Olivia de Los Reyes quickly defeated Alexandra Korneeva of Armenia 6-1, 6-1, the court was ready for use and Brand had not yet arrived at the JETC. Karki, who had warmed up at the JETC at 6:30 a.m. after arriving in Fort Lauderdale on Monday following his participation in the A Racquet at the Rock exhibition in Newark New Jersey, was ready to go, so Brand was put on the clock. The ITF has a 15-minute grace period once the match is called off before a default is declared, and Brand arrived with just five minutes to spare.

When the first rain delay occurred at 10:30 AM, Karki was 5-1 ahead, and although matches resumed between 1:00 and 1:30 AM on some courts, the Evert Stadium pitch was unplayable, and that scoreline continued into tomorrow.

The men’s and women’s Australian Open acceptances were released today, with 16 American men and 16 American women currently in the fields, including wildcards Patrick Kypson and Elli Mandlik.