South Carolina’s Ryan Haviland closed out the first day of play at the 2025 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships USTA Pro Circuit event Monday with a 7-5, 7-6 (3) win over Facundo Bermejo of Argentina at dusk, just in time before the match could have been postponed due to darkness. Haviland, at age 44 and ranked No. 1636 in the world, is the oldest ranked singles player on the ATP computer. His opponent Monday afternoon is 20 years his junior, but with one less ATP ranking point (1 point) and a ranking of No. 2012. Haviland will play his final round qualifying match Tuesday not before 12:30 pm on Court 7.
Jagger Leach, the 17-year-old son of former U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Olympic champion Lindsay Davenport, was forced to withdraw from this year’s tournament with an elbow injury. Leach had been struggling with pain in his elbow for the last few weeks and was advised by a doctor to take several weeks off. Leach will hope to be ready to play at the Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior championships and the USTA National Boys’ 18 Championships at Kalamazoo before heading to Texas Christian University in the fall.
Ilija Palavestra of Lake Worth, Florida, the runner-up at the Mardy Fish “Wild Card” event at Sea Oaks in February was impressive in earning his first ever win in qualifying at an ITF World Tennis Tour event beating No. 1284 ranked Mikael Arseneault of Canada 6-1, 6-2. Palavestra will play his final-round qualifying match not before 12:30 pm Tuesday. Abihishek Thorat, the winner of the pre-qualifying tournament, lost to former LSU and Michigan State standout Ronnie Hohmann 6-0, 6-2.
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