Naples' April Sullivan stretches to return a Wiesbaden shot in a doubles semifinal at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Sullivan and teammate Amy Stutzman fell to Melissa Pritchett and Shelby Albers 6-2, 6-3. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Naples' April Sullivan stretches to return a Wiesbaden shot in a doubles semifinal at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Sullivan and teammate Amy Stutzman fell to Melissa Pritchett and Shelby Albers 6-2, 6-3. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein's Amanda Daly, right, hugs teammate Megan Stretch after beating SHAPE's Nikola Janigova and Maria Rebream 6-0, 6-2 to advance to Saturday's doubles final at the DODEA-Europe tennis championships in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Wiesbaden's Shelby Albers returns a serve against Naples in a doubles semifinal at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Albers and Melissa Pritchett advanced to Saturday's final after beating Amy Stutzman and April Sullivan 6-2, 6-3. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
American Overseas School of Rome's William Hsia slams the ball over the net for a point in a doubles semifinal match at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Hsia and teammate Federico Sarti beat Stuttgart's Bradley Roxbury and Bradley Russell 6-1, 6-0 to advance to Saturday's final (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein's Jordan Liebig returns a shot against SHAPE's Gregor Vargyas in a doubles semifinal at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Liebig and teammate Grady Gallagher lost to Vargyas and Seth Banken 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
SHAPE's Gregor Vargyas makes a play at the net as he and teammate Seth Banken beat Ramstein's Grady Gallagher and Jordan Liebig 4-6, 7-5, 62 at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Bahrain's Chloe McHenry returns a shot against Vicenza's Catherine Gulihur in a semifinal match at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. McHenry lost 6-0, 6-0. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza's Catherine Gulihur slams the ball back across the net in her 6-0, 6-0 semifinal win against Bahrain's Chloe McHenry at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. She will face Wiesbaden's Charlotte Kordonowy in Saturday's championship match. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein's Cami Carswell returns a shot in her 6-2, 6-0 semifinal loss to Wiesbaden's Charlotte Kordonowy at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Wiesbaden's Charlotte Kordonowy returns a shot in her 6-2, 6-0 semifinal victory over Ramstein's Cami Carswell at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. She will face Vicenza's Catherine Gulihur in the final. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Stuttgart's Zach Snow reaches to make a return against SHAPE's Noah Banken in a semifinal at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Snow lost 6-0, 6-3. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
SHAPE's Noah Banken slams a forehand across the net in his 6-0, 6-3 semifinal win over Stuttgart's Zach Snow at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Banken will face defending champion Mathias Mingazzini in Saturday's final. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern's Mark Butler returns a shot in his 6-1, -60 semifinal loss to Marymount's Mathias Mingazzini at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Marymount's Mathias Mingazzini returns a shot from Kaiserslautern's Kevin Butler in his 6-1, 6-0 semifinal win at the DODEA-Europe tennis finals in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Mingazzini will try to defend his title against SHAPE's Noah Banken, Saturday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
WIESBADEN, Germany — The second day of the 2017 DODEA-Europe tennis championships went just about exactly as the seeding committee predicted – all the top seeds advanced to Saturday’s finals matches, and only one of those finalists even dropped a set Friday.
Newcomers to the tournament dominate the singles brackets – only Marymount’s Mathias Mingazzini remains of participants from last year’s knockout rounds. Mingazzini defeated Kaiserslautern’s Mark Butler 6-1, 6-0 and will face newcomer Noah Banken, who looked impressive in downing Stuttgart’s Zach Snow 6-0, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
Banken said he’s focused on remaining consistent in his play heading into the finals against defending champion Mingazzini.
“It’s been a tough battle, although there have been some easy and some hard matches, you have to play well every match,” Banken said. “I’ve been very consistent throughout the tournament and I’m just hoping I’ll perform tomorrow.”
On the girls’ side, the story was similar – both semifinal winners looked dominant, portending a high-level showdown in the finals. Charlotte Kordonowy of Wiesbaden, a freshman, will face Vicenza’s Catherine Gulihur, a senior in her first DODEA tournament. Kordonowy knocked out Ramstein’s Cami Carswell – runner-up in last year’s tournament – 6-2, 6-0, while Gulihur blanked Bahrain’s Chloe McHenry 6-0, 6-0.
Kordonowy said she hopes to be able to counter Gulihur’s powerful approach and service game. “One of my strategies is to make sure I hit the ball back, and not straight to her, so the main goal is to make her run, especially,” she said. “I also want to try something new, get my serve good so she doesn’t slam it back at me, because she has a lot of power.”
Wiesbaden and SHAPE will be represented in doubles action, as well, with Wiesbaden’s Shelby Albers and Melissa Pritchett in the girls’ final against Ramstein’s Amanda Daly and Megan Stretch, and SHAPE’s Gregor Vargyas and Seth Banken – Noah’s brother – in the boys’ final against American Overseas School of Rome’s Federico Sarti and William Hsia.
Albers and Pritchett downed Naples’ Amy Stutzman and April Sullivan 6-2, 6-3, while Daly and Stretch overcame SHAPE’s Nikola Janigova and Maria Rebrean 6-2, 6-0.
AOSR’s Sarti and Hsia were easy victors over Stuttgart’s Bradley Roxbury and Bradley Russell 6-1, 6-0. In the only match of the day to go the full three sets, Ramstein’s Grady Gallagher and Jordan Liebig surprised top seeds Vargyas and Banken with a first-set win before the SHAPE pair recovered to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
“For me the problem was returning some of the serves…we lost the first set and everything went upside-down,” Vargyas, a senior, said. “I was able to serve well after that and whenever they returned, Seth instantly poached and that’s how we got most of our points.”
It’s set up for an intriguing final day, with all finalists undefeated thus far. Something will have to give in each match, with new champs guaranteed in at least three of four contests.
Twitter: @DKS_Stripes
