©Colette Lewis 2024--
Bradenton FL--
Before I get to today's action at the IMG Academy International Championships, it's time to look back on the top performances of November in
my monthly Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network. With the Junior Davis and Billie Jean King Cups, the NCAA individual championships and the ATP and WTA finals, it was a climatic end to the season for the sport, which starts up again before this month is over in the pros, with college tennis taking a longer break, and the juniors still with another three weeks to go.
Wednesday was the coldest morning of a chilly week so far, with temperatures in the 40s for those with 8:00 a.m. matches, but the sun was never obscured by a cloud, so the warmth built throughout the day and the third layers and knit caps could be shed.
The trend of the boys seeds losing and the girls seeds advancing continued in the ITF J300 event on the green clay, and although No. 1 seed Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic did get through a second round match with Moise Kouame of France 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-3, two Top 4 seeds were eliminated.
No. 3 seed Hoyoung Roh of Korea, the reigning Osaka Cup J500 champion, fell 6-1, 6-4 to American Dominick Mosejczuk, who, in his third week on the North American clay circuit, is finding the conditions in Bradenton to his liking.
Mosejczuk hadn't played Roh before, but had done some scouting and was prepared for the pace that Roh employs.
"I watched a couple of videos of him yesterday, he's a big hitter, definitely," said the 17-year-old from New York. "But I knew I had to stick with my game, stay confident, really rip through the ball, because he would take advantage on any slower ball, any shorter ball, so everything had to be pinpoint. I played loose, I had nothing to lose, he was the third seed, I'm the underdog here so I just played freely, played confident throughout the match and it worked out."
Mosejczuk made the semifinals at the J300 in Zapopan Mexico two weeks ago, and reached the third round last week at the J500 in Merida, both on red clay, but in vastly different conditions.
"The first week was in very high altitude and the bounces weren't the greatest there, every ball just flew," Mosejczuk said. "In the J500, no altitude, so I could swing freely, which was really nice, but I was still a bit used to the altitude. But now I'm very confident in my game again, not just rolling balls, scared that it's going to go out. But I definitely feel my game's developing these past few weeks."
Mosejsczuk is the reigning Orange Bowl 16s champion and will be aiming for back-to-back titles in Plantation next week, which will be four consecutive weeks of tournament play. But Mosejczuk says two and a half weeks in, his body is holding up well.
"I'm feeling amazing; being training fit and match fit are two different things," Mosejczuk said. "I feel like I've been recovering, doing the things I need to do after the matches very well. Obviously I didn't have that much time between tournaments, because I did go at least to the middle of the tournaments, so had a two or three to get used to the next surface, which I feel is the perfect amount of time. My body's feeling good, and I'm feeling confident."
Mosejczuk will play Valentin Garay of Argentina in the third round Thursday, a rematch of their second round match last week in Merida, which Mosejczuk won 6-3, 6-4.
No. 4 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain was beaten by Jamie Mackenzie of Germany 6-3, 6-4
The other four American boys advancing to the round of 16 are No. 5 seed Jagger Leach, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over qualifier Rafael Botran Neutze of Guatemala; No. 9 seed Jack Kennedy, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over qualifier Jack Satterfield, No. 12 seed Maxwell Exsted a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Niels McDonald of Germany and wild card Abhishek Thorat, who beat No. 14 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Thorat, who will play Mrva Thursday, was one of two IMG Academy wild cards to reach the round of 16, with other, Sasha Colleu of France, following up his first round win over No. 2 seed Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic with a 6-1, 6-4 victory today over lucky loser Francisco Castro of Ecuador. He will take on No. 16 seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over wild card Ronit Karki.
The top five seeds in the girls draw, four of them Czechs, advanced in straight sets, with top seed and 2023 finalist Teodora Kostovic of Serbia beating Ava Rodriguez 6-2, 6-0.
The only qualifier remaining is 15-year-old Zaire Clarke, who defeated No. 11 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 6-2 1-6, 6-2. Clarke is one of just two US girls to advance to the round of 16, with No. 7 seed May Iyengar, a 6-2 6-2 winner today over Sofie Hettlerova of the Czech Republic, the other. No. 15 seed Shannon Lam lost to Flora Johnson of Great Britain 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
The longest girls match of the day, nearly three hours in length, was No. 12 seed Yoana Konstantinova's 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(4) win over Capucine Jauffret.
Konstantinova, a member of the ITF Grand Slam Player Development Touring Team, said that Jauffret's defense and the well-worn balls made the second and third sets especially difficult for her.
"It was much better in the first set, because the balls were new and my shots were flying much faster and I could win points easily," said the 17-year-old from Bulgaria, who won the J300 in Zapopan Mexico two weeks ago. "Second set, the balls got bigger and everything got slower and it was tough for me to finish points."
The third set, with new balls, didn't provide Konstantinova with the same boost she felt in the first set, and after losing an early break, she was serving to stay in the match at both 4-5 and 5-6. But after taking a 6-0 lead in the third set tiebreaker, she was unable to convert her first four match points before finally breathing a sigh of relief when she won the fifth.
"We were both tight, but she was moving very well, playing very good defense, she didn't miss and we had long rallies," Konstantinova said. "At the end it was a bit of pressure, and I was like, come on, come on, you have to win the point. I was a little bit rushing I would say. But that's why our sport is so interesting all the time, because anything can happen."
After today's second round of doubles, there are no seeded teams remaining in the boys draw. Top seeds Bonding and Leach lost to Yeonsu Jeong of Korea and Kriish Tyagi of India 6-3, 6-7(4), 10-7, with the No. 5 and 8 seeds also joining the five seeded teams who lost in the first round yesterday. In the girls doubles draw, five of the eight seeds remain, including the top two seeds.
The 12s, 14s and 16s divisions lost their first top seed today in the boys 12s, with unseeded Haruto Tamaki of Japan defeating No. 1 seed Ethan Jake Frans of Indonesia 7-5, 6-4. In the girls 12s, No. 2 seed Shina Okuyama of Japan lost to Shangran Cai of China 7-6(6), 6-4 and No. 3 seed Lucy Dupere of the United States lost to Fangqiao Zou of China 6-1, 6-2. Top seed Nikol Davletshina of the United States survived a tough battle of Emilia Henningsen of Denmark 7-5, 7-6(5).
IMG International quarterfinals:
B12s:
Haruto Tamaki(JPN) v Georgii Abushenko(RUS)
Daniel Gardality[3](USA) v Saku Agui(JPN)
Mingeon Choi(KOR) v Christian Pohoski[9](USA)
Aleksandr Kharkov[5] v Novak Palombo(AUS)
G12s:
Nikol Davletshina[1](USA) v Ayul Kim[16](KOR)
Seohyeon Kim[4](KOR) v Ana Maric[9](AUS)
Minori Sato(USA) v Fangqiao Zou(CHN)
Ayaka Iwasa(JPN) v Shangran Cai[12](CHN)
B14s
Ethan Domingo[1](AUS) v Qi Hongjin[7](CHN)
Daniil Berezin[4](USA) v Dharma Pantaratorn[8](THA)
Dylan Meineke(USA) v Junseo Jang(KOR)[12]
Carter Jauffret[13](USA) v Victor Pignaton[14](USA
G14s
Tea Kovacevic[1](BIH) v Amy Shen(CAN)
Sofiia Bielinska[3](UKR) v Alisa Terentyeva[8](RUS)
Tori Russell[14](AUS) v Daniel Baranes(ISR)
Maria Valentina Pop(ROU)[15] v Baotong Xu(CHN)
The top 3 seeds in the boys and girls 16s have advanced to the third round; tomorrow the 16s, who play their finals on Saturday, will play both the third round and the quarterfinals in singles.