Half of the top eight seeded players were eliminated from the first round of the Claremont Club Pro Classic on Wednesday, while five of eight qualifiers lived to see another day at the USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 Futures tournament taking place at the Claremont Club. 

University of Virginia sophomore Colin Altamirano provided the upset of the day as he took out former NCAA single champion and the tournament’s top-seeded player and former UCLA star Marcos Giron, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The 19-year-old Altamirano joined the Cavaliers in the spring of this past season and immediately made his presence felt. He was named the 2014-15 ITA Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year and led his team to an upset win over top-seeded Oklahoma in Waco, Texas, for the NCAA championship in mid-May. He made the all-tournament team in singles and doubles.

As a junior player, Altamirano was the 2013 USTA Boys’ 18s Kalamazoo national champion, earning a main draw wild card into the U.S. Open, where he was the youngest main draw player.

Another college sophomore will look to get revenge for Giron as UCLA’s Martin Redlicki will get his shot at Altamirano in Thursday’s Round of 16. The former Boca Raton, Fla., resident Redlicki took out fellow qualifier Bernardo Saraiva of Portugal in three sets.

Other seeded players going down on Wednesday included sixth-ranked Evan Song, seventh-ranked Clay Thompson and eighth-ranked Aleksandar Vukic. Qualifiers moving on included American’s Junior Ore, Tom Fawcett, David Wilczynski and Great Britain’s Jan Meyer. Both Fawcett and Wilczynski are Stanford teammates and both sophomores.

Claremont Club director of tennis Barry Friedman was impressed with the play of the young collegians. “Every year this tournament has some of the top college players from UCLA, USC, and this year two from Stanford have really looked good,” Friedman said. “At this tournament you get to see some of the top young American players, but also players from Australia, Russia, Mexico and Brazil. So it’s just a real good mix.”

Rain ended singles play on Tuesday, and Friedman said it was the first time in the tournament’s 20-year history a match was postponed because of rain.

He did recall that play had started at the tournament on the morning of September 11, 2001, when hijackers flew an airplane into World Trade Center South tower collapsing it. “We didn’t know what had happened and everyone was just kind of in a state of shock as the news reports started coming in,” said Friedman. “That was a week I’ll never forget.”

Wednesday’s First-Round Singles Results:

Martin Redlicki, U.S. (q), def. Bernardo Saraiva, Portugal (q), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

Jean-Yves Aubone, U.S. (3), def. Sahak Bazrgania, U.S., 6-2, 6-1

Hunter Nicholas, U.S., def. Nathan Ponwith, U.S. (wc), 6-2, 6-4

Mackenzie McDonald, U.S., def. Evan Song, U.S. (6), 6-4, 6-4

Sebastian Faneslow, Germany, def. Aleksandar Vukic, Australia (8), 6-3, 7-6 (4)

Gonzales Austin, U.S., def. Clay Thompson, U.S. (7), 6-2, 7-6 (5)

Colin Altamirano, U.S., def. Marcos Giron, U.S. (1), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Junior Ore, U.S. (q), def. Connor Farren, U.S., 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6)

Tom Fawcett, U.S. (q), def. Ryan Agar, Australia, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4)

Farzin Amiri, U.S., def. Dennis Uspensky, U.S., 1-6, 6-0, 3-0, ret.

Jan Meyer, Great Britain (q), def. Robbie Bellamy, U.S. (wc), 6-3, 6-4

Tyler Hochwalt, U.S., def. Mitchell Stewart, U.S. (wc), 6-3, 6-3

David Wilczynski, U.S. (q), def. Patrick Daciek, U.S., 5-7, 6-1, 6-3

Ernesto Escobedo, U.S., def. Benjamin Donovan (wc), U.S., 6-2, 6-1

Daniel Garza, Mexico (5), def. Nikita Matveyko, Russia (q), 6-4, 7-6 (3)

Deiton Baughman, U.S. (2), def. Alessandro-Damiano Ventre, Brazil (q), 6-4, 6-4

Wednesday’s Second-Round Doubles Results:

Sebastian Faneslow, Germany / Alejandro Moreno Figueroa, Mexico, Saxon Buehning, U.S. / Milen Ianakiev, Germany, 7-6 (5), 7-5

Junior Ore, U.S. / Hunter Nicholas, U.S. (1), def. Jan Meyer, Germany / Chun-Ming Yam, Hong Kong, 6-1, 6-2

Mackenzie McDonald, U.S. / Martin Redlicki, U.S. (4), def. Andy Chang, U.S. / Alan Chang, U.S. (wc), 6-2, 6-1

Jean-Yves Aubone, U.S. / Gonzales Austin, U.S. (2), def. Boris Bakalov, Bulgaria / Brian Battistone, U.S., 4-6, 6-3, 10-6

For more information, check on the web at:www.procircuit.usta.com, www.claremontclub.com; Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Claremont-Club/236147226396

—Steve Pratt