The round of 32 delivered plenty of excitement, featuring intense battles and a few upsets. Team Selkirk's Tama Shimabukuro earned a big victory in men's doubles, while Kiora Kunimoto and Catherine Parenteau cruised through their respective divisions.
The Shimabukuro Takedown
Fifteen-year-old Tama Shimabukuro had a big win yesterday, taking down former World No. 1 Tyson McGuffin in three games in singles. Today, Shimabukuro played McGuffin again — this time in doubles. On paper, Shimabukuro and partner Yuta Funemizu were the underdogs as the No. 25 seeds compared to McGuffin and Max Freeman, who are the No. 8 seeds.
Shimabukuro’s skills really shone in the kitchen, where he out-dinked, out-countered, and fired off incredible aggressive dink winners. After taking game one with ease, Shimabukuro/Funemizu ran into some trouble in game two before taking over in game three. With an 11-3, 2-11, 11-1 win over the No. 8 seeds, Shimabukuro/Funemizu move on to the round of 16, where they will play No. 10 seeds Collin Johns and Jaume Martinez-Vich.
Parenteau breezes into round of 16
Catherine Parenteau took care of business today with straight-game wins in all three divisions. In singles, Parenteau faced rising talent Albie Huang and earned an 11-7, 11-8 victory. She’ll have a challenge tomorrow when she goes up against No. 9 seed Judit Castillo.
In doubles, Parenteau paired up with her usual partners, Gabe Tardio and Rachel Rohrabacher. Parenteau/Tardio downed Donald Young and Hannah Blatt, 11-3, 11-2, in a quick 25-minute match. They’ll play Parenteau’s former Mad Drops teammate Hunter Johnson and Alix Truong next.
The No. 2 seeds, Parenteau/Rohrabacher, continued to build on their partnership with a strong 11-4, 11-4 win over Paula Rives and Mya Bui. They’ll face Lauren Stratman and Zoey Weil for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Kunimoto moves on
Another day, another pickle earned for 18-year-old Kiora Kunimoto. Kunimoto needed less than 20 minutes to defeat Brittni Tonnessen in the round of 32, 11-0, 11-3. She’ll play No. 8 seed Liz Truluck in a first time match up.
