Thirteen-year-old Andrews Upsets Fourth Seed in Dunlop Orange Bowl Girls 18s; Quarterfinals Set in 16s Division
©Colette Lewis 2010--
Key Biscayne, FL--
Posting a win over a Top 10 player is a significant rite of passage for a competitor looking to her make her mark in the tennis world. Gabrielle Andrews, who doesn't turn 14 for another two weeks, has now achieved that, beating No. 4 seed Irina Khromacheva of Russia 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in Tuesday's second round play at the Dunlop Orange Bowl.
Andrews, a wild card entry from Pomona, Calif., is playing in her sixth ITF 18-and-under tournament, but there is no question that her win over Khromacheva, who has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the world by the ITF, is her best result.
"I didn't really pay attention to that," said Andrews, who was on the U.S. team that won the ITF 14-and-under World Junior Tennis team championship in August. "It's just a number. I could be playing Serena, and I wouldn't get intimidated." Andrews then reconsidered that statement. "Just a little bit," she said with a giggle.
Andrews made it difficult for Khromacheva by holding serve at 4-4 in the third set, putting all the pressure on the 15-year-old Russian to stay in the match.
"It was really important to hold that game," said Andrews. "I was getting a little tight, and I could see that she was getting a little flustered. I just wanted to keep my composure throughout the whole match."
Khromacheva continued to show her frustration in the final game, and with much calmer conditions than in the past two days, it was her own errors and what she considered errors by the chair umpire that were the primary contributors.
Andrews agreed that playing in the 18s is easier for her than staying in the younger age divisions.
"I like playing the older girls a lot, because it's less pressure," Andrews said. "It's not like playing in the 14s, and you know, I'm supposed to win this match," Andrews said. "So I just go out there and hit out."
Catherine Harrison, who is 16, decided to play that age division again, despite reaching the semifinals in last year's tournament.
"I really didn't want to go through qualifying," said Harrison, who would have needed to receive a wild card or qualify to make the main draw in 18s. "I'd just gotten back from Eddie Herr, and it was kind of logistically difficult."
Unseeded in the 16s, Harrison reached the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 2010 Eddie Herr 16s champion Samantha Crawford. Crawford looked a bit weary during her ninth match in nine days, and Harrison, who lost in the second round of the 18s at the Eddie Herr, had her two-handed forehand and backhand in fine working order.
"I knew she was playing well, and I had to come out expecting a tough match," said Harrison, of Germantown, Tenn. "And golly, if she got a hold of that forehand, I pretty much lost the point every time. I tried to mix it up, hit some slices and more angles, so she really couldn't get a rhythm. Thankfully, it worked."
Harrison will have revenge on her mind when she faces top seed Christina Makarova in the quarterfinals. The 14-year-old Californian beat Harrison 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 at October's ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed in Tulsa.
"I know she really wants to win," said Makarova, who beat Alyssa Smith 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday to set up the rematch. "She thought she was supposed to win that (previous match). I'm sure she's going to try to get me to be inconsistent, and hope that my passing shots aren't so good, because I did quite a few of them against her in that match."
The other girls 16s quarterfinals feature No. 3 seed Ayaka Okuno of Japan against European 16s champion Silvia Garcia Jimenez of Spain; No. 5 seed Christine Kandler of Austria against Alexandra Kiick; and Taylor Townsend against No. 2 seed Carol Zhao.
One of the boys 16s quarterfinals finds two Americans, No. 10 seed Maxx Lipman and Harrison Adams, facing off for a spot in the semifinals. 
Lipman need two hours and forty-five minutes to get by No. 5 seed Vasco Mensurado of Portugal. With Mensurado serving at 5-5, 15-30 in the third set, Lipman came up with two big shots, a drop volley winner and a powerful forehand winner to earn the break, and serving for the match, got just the start he would have wished for.
"I started off with an ace, so that really helped," said Lipman, who turns 16 next week. "I just kind of went for my shots, knowing if I did get broken I was fine going into a tiebreaker, because I felt confident in my game."
At 30-30 in the final game, Lipman got a favorable let cord, and put it away with a topspin forehand, and closed out the match with another forehand winner.
"We had a great match, and I'm happy with the way I played and how I closed it out," Lipman said.
Adams earned his spot in the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over wild card Ryan Smith.
In the three other boys 16s quarterfinals, top seed Luke Pouille of France will play No. 8 seed Luke Bambridge of Great Britain; No. 13 seed Thien Nguyen Hoang of Vietnam faces Niko Madregallejo of the U.S.; and No. 7 seed Laurent Lokoli of France meets No. 16 seed Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland.
For the second match in a row, top seed Daria Gavrilova of Russia once again found herself in a do-or-die situation, this time against wild card Jan Abaza of the U.S., and once again she scraped through, 6-0, 3-6, 7-5. Although Gavrilova committed a large number of unforced errors, she survived on her instincts and willingness to win points in different ways. She served and volleyed, she lobbed, she hit drop shots, and Abaza was never sure just what might come off the World Junior No. 1's racquet. On the point that ended the lengthy contest, Gavrilova served and volleyed, with Abaza just able to return the volley with a defensive lob that floated long.
Gavrilova's opponent in the third round is unseeded Vicky Duval of the U.S., who defeated qualifier Liz Jeukeng, also of the U.S., 7-6(2), 7-6(3). No. 8 seed Lauren Davis cruised past wild card Anna Mamalat 6-3, 6-0, but No. 16 seed Madison Keys had her hands full before squeezing by qualifier Chichi Scholl of the U.S. 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Keys will play Andrews in the third round. Two unseeded Americans beat seeds in second round play, with Ashley Dai taking out Daria Salnikova of Russia 6-3, 6-4, and Lauren Herring coming back for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 12 seed Hao Chen Tang of China. Grace Min, also unseeded, defeated Jessica Ren 6-3, 6-1. Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, the No. 3 seed, rolled to a 6-1 6-1 victory over Ekaterina Semenova.
Two American boys advanced to the final 16, with No. 14 seed Shane Vinsant earning his spot with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Patrick Ofner of Austria. Vinsant will play No. 3 seed Mate Pavic of Croatia, who beat Vinsant 7-6(3), 7-5 last week at the Eddie Herr. Alexios Halebian, who defeated top seed Juan Sebastian Gomez of Colombia on Tuesday, kept his hopes for two consecutive Orange Bowl titles alive with a 6-4, 6-7(4) ret. inj. win over Luis Patino of Mexico. Patino went down with a cramp on the first point of the third set and was unable to continue. Halebian's opponent on Thursday is a familar one. Karue Sell of Brazil lost to Halebian 6-4, 6-4 last year in the 16s semifinals.
Two boys seeds lost on Wednesday, with No. 16 Bjorn Fratangleo dropping a 6-4, 6-3 decision to Dimitar Kuzmanov of Bulgaria, and No. 10 Liam Broady falling to to Nik Razborsek of Slovenia 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Marco Nunez of Mexico.
For complete results, see dunloporangebowl.com.
15 comments:
Who is Gabby Andrews' coach? I hope they also realize the importance of winning at her own age level, and learning to overcome that pressure.
not in Woman's tennis. if she is going to be great, she needs to keep winning at this level at this age and continue to get better and better results very soon.
Yes, the boys and girls mature at different ages. A top boy should without a doubt play his age and learn to dominate with the pressure. Playing up is usually an excuse for ducking the pressure and peers. But as tennis said, the women's game is different. By 13-14 girls are at their peak in physical maturity according to research. After that they only gain experience. A well trained 14 year old girl is just as fast and strong as a 25 year old women where a 25 year old man is vastly stronger than a 14 year old boy. That being said, I would expect that Gaby's coach puts her under 'pressure' in other ways in practice situations.
To Jon...
From what research did you get the info about physical maturity at 13-14? Lots of girls do not stop growing until 18-19, and physical strength gets built by more years after that. There was some talk recently about the lack of teenagers in top 100 WTA, mainly due to the lack of physical maturity.
Jerry, I am sorry but you are not correct. The research is outlined by Dr. Jozef Drabik in "Children and Sports Training".
Girls gain no strength or speed after age 14....they flat line from 14-19 and in fact they begin a gradual decline by age 20. If you had equally trained girls, one 16 and one 20, the 16 year old would be slightly faster. Very few people know this and thus the confusion.
This is the total opposite of males, where a 16 year old male is no where near as strong or fast as an equally trained 20 year old.
The small growth in height some girls may experience from age 14 through 18 or 19 is not relevant to speed and strength. It in fact harms them many times....Sharapova was much faster at age 17 before she grew to 6'2". Those at IMG who have seen Maria through the years will tell you she was a better athlete at 14-17 than she is today.
There are a lack of teens in the WTA because the rules were changed 12 years ago to not allow teens to play pro events. They can only phase in a few pro events but mostly play juniors, which stunts the prodigies development.
Lastly jerry, in regards to strength. It is all about the training with girls, but a 14 year old girl has slightly higher testosterone than a 20 year old. (still much less than a male though)
If a 16 year old girl had been power training for 2 years she would be slightly stronger than a 22 year old who had also trained for 2 years.
The reason older women may be stronger is just due to the fact that most females do not strength train until they are older.
Go look at the musculature of Maria Shishkina, almost 13 years old, been strength training for years now. She will start to flat line soon and after about age 16 not be able to get any stronger. In fact her strength will start to decrease very gradually....just like an older male who has lifted since his teens.
It is all about when testosterone levels off and declines. This happens at very different ages for men and women.
I suggest you see Dr. Drabik's book, the studies he cites are immense and numerous.
Well, with all that said...
Gabby is impressive!
Jon, you are so far off. Girls like boys all mature different, NOT every girl matures physically or mentally at a young age and there are girls who keep growing at 17-19 age. The tall girls who are late bloomers can learn how to develope into great athletes if they are willing to put time and effort. Maybe doing to much at to young of an age will cause burn out or injuries. You must becareful with boys and girls when the growth plates are still open in the amount of training they do. Just because a book with there statistics say it, does not make it true. Tennis is not as popular as it use to be and the $$$ is not there for all families to spend in every aspect in creating a great female or male player. Go watch some of the girls matches instead of reading about what the statistics say!!!!
To Jon...
In addition, tennis is also an endurance sport, perhaps even more important than "brute force".
You need to be fast and strong, but most of all you need to last 3 hours...
I suppose it will be similar to running, when youngsters do well in sprints (muscles), but middle and long distances are dominated by older athletes. Musculature is only a part of it (citing your example of Shishkina), for every S. Williams there is few J. Henins. Strength and weights training in early age is not a very good idea (in support of 'basic's' statement), I'd think there is research to that respect.
I Gabby has to get used to being interviewed by the media. When she stated the reason she likes playing in the 18's is because there is no pressure. Truth is, Gabby has won just about every 14 and under tournament there is to win, being the #1 seed and usually winning in straight sets.The reason why she play 18's is for development of her game to reach her full potential whatever that is. If brook or Gabby were to play the 14's it would not help them at this point. Check record in 14 and under please.
Brooke didn't even play Eddie Herr or Orange Bowl. And while I agree that Gabby has been pretty dominant against girls her own age, to say she has won everything there is to win, is quite the exaggeration.
Jerry, sorry but it is you who are not correct. No girls mature in regards to speed after age 12-14.
In fact the rare girls who grow a lot after age 14 see decreases in speed.
But lets talk specifics, Gaby will not and can not increase her speed enough to be significant.
basic....women's tennis is not an endurance sport. A marathon is an endurance sport. Womens tennis is many very short but intense bursts of energy. It is an anaerobic sport, not aerobic.
Jon, you make Gabby seem to be this awful mover, slow as molasses. You couldn't be the player she is today (beating Keys and Khromacheva) with that movement.
"Gaby will not and can not increase her speed enough to be significant."
Stop. This girl is 13.
Josh sure it's an exaggeration. One viewer commented,"gabby needs to feel the pressure of playing in her own age division." I was just trying to get a point across. Gabby won the Winter Super Nationals as well as the Easter Bowl against some of the top fourteen year olds in the country without hardly loosing a set.check her record in the fourteens dating back to 2009. So what Gabby should have told the media was, by playing up in the 18's, she wanted to develope her game and challenge herself as well. And not focus so much on winning. If she continued to play the fourteens (without appearing arrogant),she probably would win most matches here in the States. She and Brook Austin would not improve.
Jon in pbg, you are still extremely wrong, tennis is endurance, you need to be able to out last your opponent in a 4hr a match in 90 degree weather. i do not know if you play or coach, but i do suggest to get your nose out of the books and go experience the sport. to the average non athlete you might convince. but to others you make no sense
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