Wild Card Gaines ousts No. 2 seed Paldanius, girls top seed Vladson in first round of ITF J300 Bradenton; Miguel and Kovackova claim Merida titles; Arora wins J100 in India; All results from the USTA National Indoor Finals

It didn’t take long for a major upset to register, with ITF No. 93 Alisa Terentyeva of Russia beating top seed and ITF No. 12 Laima Vladson 6-3, 6-3 on Clay Court 1.

Vladson, who now represents Uzbekistan after playing this year’s junior slams under the Lithuanian flag, arrived late to the court, albeit within the 15 minutes allowed under ITF rules. The powerful 18-year-old never developed any rhythm on her basic strokes and Terentyeva took advantage of the unforced errors she received.

Vladson was one of four seeds to lose in the top quarter, with Anita Tu beating No. 14 seed Maja Pawelska of Poland 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 in three hours and 13 minutes; wild card Allison Wang defeated No. 10 seed Ha Eum Lee of Korea 6-3, 6-2 and Alyssa James of Jamaica defeated No. 7 seed Nadia Lagaev of Canada 6-4, 6-3, meaning an unseeded semifinalist is guaranteed after just one round.

Wang, a 14-year-old from Northern California, has little experience with green clay but saw it as a developmental tool for her game.

“Clay improves my game, it helps my movement,” Wang said. “Even when I go back to the hard court, it feels easier to play.”

Wang considered playing the 16s tournament, but was encouraged by the USTA coaches to accept a wildcard into the ITF tournament.

“At first I wanted to play the 16s on hard courts, not the 18s, since there are no clay courts in NorCal,” said Wang, who reached the third round in the ITF J300 Pan Am in Houston in October, losing to eventual champion Chukwumelije Clarke. “The USTA said I had to play this one, so I applied for a wild card and I got it.”

Wang had a chance to train at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona ahead of the tournament, so she had reason to feel comfortable on the surface even as she drew a seed in the first round.

“I know I’m the underdog, so I don’t have that much pressure,” Wang said. “The only pressure I feel is to do my best.”

With Vladson’s loss and the late withdrawal of No. 2 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil, who lost in last night’s final to Merida, No. 3 seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina is the top remaining seed; she defeated Karlin Schock 6-2, 6-3 in the first round today.

Top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania will play his first-round match on Tuesday, with No. 2 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland the lone seed to fall to Jerrid Gaines Jr. in the boys’ first round on Monday. with 7-6(4), 6-1.

Wild card Gaines, ranked 273rd compared to Paldanius at 11, never wavered as he edged closer to the best win of his junior career. The 16-year-old, who reached the 14s quarter-finals two years ago and the 16s semi-finals last year, watched as the more experienced Paldanius crumbled at the end of the tiebreak, double-faulted on set point and then immediately lost his serve to open the second.

“I just focused on the basics of what I wanted to do,” said Gaines, who won a J60 in Texas in September and a J100 in Georgia in October. “I didn’t want to think too much, just keep playing. He got a little frustrated and I didn’t want to beat myself. I’ve had some experiences where I couldn’t convert those moments, I would crack mentally, but mentally I’m a lot better, and it was definitely a big stepping stone.”

Gaines knew he had to keep playing aggressively when he got a 3-0 lead in the second set, and he did just that. He made gains and stayed on every rally to keep the pressure on Paldanius, who could find no nerves or tentative play to exploit.

“I have prepared a lot for this tournament and am currently playing at a very high level,” Gaines said. “Obviously, I’m very excited and very happy to be moving on to another play.”

Gaines, who will not play singles on Tuesday, will face the winner of Tuesday’s first-round match between qualifier Kamil Stolarczyk and Canada’s Dan Szabo on Wednesday.

Another setback loomed when Agassi Rusher, who was the last player in the main draw, took the second set from No. 8 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-1 after dropping the first 6-3. Sesko managed to survive the third set 6-4, but he admitted that the green clay was still a mystery to him.

“It’s my first time on the American clay; I’ve never played on the green clay before,” said the 17-year-old right-hander, who is traveling with the ITF Junior Touring Team, which arrived from Merida on Saturday. “It’s something different. You need some time to get used to it. The bounces are lower than on the red clay, European clay, so I’m glad I got through it.”

No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland was also pushed to his limits before edging past Norway’s Johan Oscar Lien 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles starts Tuesday, with Nadia Lagaev and Laima Vladson topping the girls’ draw, with J500 Merida champions Yannick Alexandrescou and Ryo Tabata at No. 1.

The first round of the 16s is still going ahead from 9pm, but the 12s and 14s only had one major setback in the first round. Zichen Li of China defeated Boys 14 No. 2 Kazuki Nakajima of Japan 6-1, 7-5.

The USTA National Indoor Championships concluded today, with results from the singles and doubles finals below. Click on the headings to see the draws.