©Colette Lewis 2024--
Bradenton FL--
Matteo Morazzi came into his first round match with Amir Omarkhanov at the
ITF J300 at the IMG Academy as the underdog, and he was content with that role. Even when the 18-year-old from Spain was down 15-40 at 5-5 in the third, three hours into the match, he kept his belief, emerging with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory.
"I was not the favorite, but things went well at the beginning," Morazzi said. "Second set, he played a very good level of tennis and I lost it. In the third, I had chances to go 5-2 up but I wasn't able to hold, so things got complicated."
Serving at 4-all Morazzi was able to win the final four points of the game after trailing 0-30, but Omarkhanov, a 17-year-old from Kazakhstan, held easily to make it 5-all. Morazzi again went down 0-30 on serve, but this time it got even stickier, with Omarkhanov earning two break points with some great defense and an athletic backhand overhead finish. That's when Morazzi raised his level, hitting an overhead winner to save the first and a good first serve to save the second, and he put the pressure back on Omarkhanov by holding for 6-5.
"I think after that game he wasn't mentally prepared to play another one after losing that one and I played a very good game at the end," Morazzi said. "It was important for me to get that 5-all game, because being 5-6 down and returning is not ideal."
Morazzi agreed that he produced his best points when he was behind.
"It's easier to play aggressively when you're losing, because you have to change something," Morazzi said. "And when you're winning, things get tighter, so I was brave enough, let's say, today to be able to hit good shots and get the important points. He did semis last week(in the J500 Merida), came on the court as the favorite, and I took that as an advantage, to take the pressure off myself, and it went well."
Morazzi also recorded a doubles win later in the afternoon, with he and good friend Nathan Trouve of France defeating wild cards Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance 6-4, 6-1.
Morazzi and Trouve have spent the past seven years together at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain and they will continue to share their tennis training next month when they join the University of Southern California team for the spring semester, a step they had not expected to be taking.
"Randomly, out of nowhere, he was in Mexico at a tournament and I was in Spain training," said Trouve, an 18-year-old from France. "We received a call from Gustavo Marcaccio, our coach, that said he had received a call from Brett Masi and Marc Lucero saying that they wanted us to join USC in the spring of 2025, so we looked at the offer, talked to each other for a couple of days, because it was a big change and completely unexpected, and we were both really against going to college. But this offer came up and we're like, maybe we give it a try. We spoke to the coaches and the discussions were good, so why not?"
Although they were not really looking to go to college, the opportunity to join the same team was a significant factor.
"A big thing was that we always got separate offers, from opposite sides of the country," Morazzi said. "Going to the other side of the world is not easy and to be able to have someone you care about there is going to be helpful, makes everything easier. So we said, look, we don't lose anything to give it a try for a year, and we go year by year, if we make the jump to the ATP, we leave, or it may take a bit longer, and we might stay for four years. But we're excited."
Morazzi will face Glib Sekachov of Ukraine in the second round Wednesday.
Timofey Derepasko of Russia was the only other boys seed, aside from Omarkhanov, to exit today, with the No. 15 seed losing to Ognjen Milic of Serbia 7-6(4), 6-2. The girls draw lost only two seeds in the first round, both today. Merida J500 champion Elizara Yaneva of Bulgaria, the No. 6 seed, withdrew from singles, and because no lucky loser signed in this morning, Emma Dong received a walkover into the second round. Yaneva did play doubles today with Deniz Dilek of Turkey, but the No. 3 seeds lost to Kristina Liutova and Anna Perelman of Russia 6-3, 6-2. No. 16 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina lost 6-2, 6-4 to Ksenia Efremova of France.
The top seeds in doubles both advanced, with Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding defeating Mikael and Nicolas Arseneault of Canada 6-4, 6-2 and the Kovackova sisters Alena and Jana defeating Agustina Grassi of Argentina and Kayla Moore 6-4, 6-1. The No. 2 boys seeds, Jan Kumstat and Jan Klimas of the Czech Republic, both of whom lost in singles yesterday, dropped their first round doubles match today, with Maximus Dussault and Dominick Mosejczuk beating the Wimbledon boys doubles finalists 7-5, 2-6, 13-11.
The No. 1 seeds in the younger age divisions have all advanced (list of seeds can be found
here), with the 12s and 14s moving into the third round after today's action, while the 16s will play their second round on Wednesday. But the first Top 4 seeds fell today, with B14s No. 2 seed Gadin Arun losing Arjun Krishnan 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in an all-US second round match, and B12s No. 4 seed Cavan Donnelly of the US losing to Seung Yu Hong of Korea 6-3, 7-5.
Draws for the 12s, 14s and 16s can be found
here.
The USTA Level 1 National Indoor Championships concluded Monday at eight sites in the Midwest and Northeast. The results of the singles and doubles finals are below. Links to the complete draws can be found by clicking the headings.
USTA National Indoor Championships finals results:
Singles:
Mark Krupkin[9] d. Brody Nejedly Krall[9] 7-6(7), 6-4
Doubles:
Jonah Hill and Malhar Patel d. Woodson McMillin and Drew Hedgecoe 8-6
Singles:
Karlin Schock[14] d. Kaya Moe[5] 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Doubles:
Kaya Moe and Carrie-Ann Hoo[3] d. Sobee Oak and Aria Abalos 8-3
Singles:
Safir Azam[11] d. Shaan Patel[1] 6-4, 6-3
Doubles:
Miguel Rooney and Harrison Kemp[6] d. Wesley Cotton and Jacob Hewitt[7] 9-8(4)
Singles:
Anna Bugaienko d. Aya Manning[6] 6-4 6-3
Doubles:
Olivia Dartawan and Autumn Xu[1] d. Chloe Zigliara and Elana Zaretsky[6] 8-3
Singles:
Daniel Malacek d. Eli Kaminski[1] 6-4, 6-4
Doubles:
Antanas Daugis and Daniel Malacek[3] d. Maddox Iliescu and Aryan Ponugoti[2] 9-8(4)
Singles:
Emery Combs d. Sylvana Jalbert[2] 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
Doubles:
Teaghan Jou An Keys and Sammie Mercer[1] d. Grace Hong and Evelynn Kwak[3] 8-2
Singles:
Davidson Jackson[8] d. Pranav Vignesh[4] 6-2, 6-3
Doubles:
Brishan Paul and Pranav Vignesh[4] d. Jason Ye and Evan Fan[5] 8-2
Singles:
Tara Guhan[2] d. Capri Butera[7] 6-2, 6-3
Doubles:
Capri Butera and Mary Podkhyneychenko d. Isha Manchala and Piper Yea[2] 8-5
The first published Division I rankings following the fall individual season were released today, with both NCAA singles champions moving to No. 1, but the NCAA doubles champions are both at No. 2. The full rankings are available by clicking on the headings.
Top 10 Singles:
1. Michael Zheng, Columbia
2. Sebastian Gorzny, Texas
3. Timo Legout, Texas
4. Carl Emil Overbeck, Cal
5. Colton Smith, Arizona
6. Jay Friend, Arizona
7. DK Suresh, Wake Forest
8. Ozan Baris, Michigan State
9. Corey Craig, Florida State
9. Pedro Vives, TCU
Top 5 Doubles:
1. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego
2. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU
3. Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen, Baylor
4. Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow, Wake Forest
5. Gavin Young and Benjamin Kittay, Michigan
Top 10 Singles:
1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia
2. DJ Bennett, Auburn
3. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin
4. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M
5. Julia Fliegner, Michigan
6. Valerie Glozman, Stanford
7. Sofia Johnson, Old Dominion
8. Luciana Perry, Ohio State
9. Theadora Rabman, North Carolina
10. Elza Tomase, Tennessee
Top 5 Doubles:
1. Susanna Maltby and Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina
2. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia
3. Rachel Gailis and Alicia Dudeney, Florida
4. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA
5. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State