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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Fourteen-year-old Danilovic Ousts Top Seed and Defending Champion Kenin in Orange Bowl First Round; 21 Americans Reach Second Round

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Plantation, FL--

Sonya Kenin's 2014 ended on a high note as the Metropolia Orange Bowl champion. Her 2015 season finished on the opposite end of the spectrum of tennis emotions, with a 6-0, 5-7, 7-5 first round loss to Olga Danilovic of Serbia on a call she could not accept.

Kenin had beaten Danilovic 6-2, 6-0 in the second round of the Eddie Herr last week, but on the first sunny day of the tournament in a match postponed from Tuesday,  Kenin was the one unable to win a game.

Danilovic, a 14-year-old left-hander, was hitting flat, hard and deep, and even Kenin's  superlative defensive skills were of little use.

In the second set, Danilovic broke for a 3-1 lead, but Kenin immediately broke back, and the vocal Serbian began to loudly berate herself for the errors that were creeping into her game. At 5-all in the second set, two forehand errors gave Kenin the break, and after saving a break point, she served out the set.

Danilovic was in no mood to concede the third set, taking 2-0 lead, but again Kenin got even at 2-2 and there were no further breaks. Danilovic played two flawless service games at 4-4 and 5-5, and Kenin also held easily, helped by good serving, when down 4-5.

Serving at 5-6, Kenin was not as precise.  She made two unforced errors on the forehand side, with a forehand winner by Danilovic sandwiched in between, facing two match points.  Danilovic netted a forehand on the first, but on the second, she stayed in the point, hitting it deeper and deeper, while Kenin tried to hold her ground on the baseline. One last forehand had Kenin swiping at the ball with her forehand going wide, but she maintained the ball Danilovic had hit was long. The chair umpire, calling all the lines in a first round match, came to check the mark, but signaled good, with Danilovic beginning her celebration.

Kenin kept insisting over and over again that the ball was out, and after a few fruitless pleas to the chair umpire, began sobbing. He father Alex shouted at her to call for the tournament director, and eventually the assistant referee who had been sitting courtside throughout the third set, took over. When he agreed with the chair umpires call, Danilovic went to shake the umpire's hand, while Kenin stood on the baseline, for what one observer said was seven minutes, saying over and over again "the ball was out," and even taking a photo of the mark, which was never disputed as the correct one, with a cell phone.

Eventually the court was groomed and Kenin left the court, but she was still convinced, an hour later, that the call had been incorrect.

"I think the ball was out," said Kenin, who played with her left thigh taped heavily. "It's wasn't like there wasn't a mark. He looked and changed the call (he made no call), said no, it was in. There was a clear mark, literally, I have a picture of it."

Danilovic, while acknowledging the call was close, was equally as certain that it was in.

"I was hoping it was good, and was on the line. Everyone was saying it's good, my mom and everyone," said Danilovic, who is playing in her first Grade A tournament this week. "It was a high ball or something, so I was like, please be good, and it was on the line."

Although she doesn't have the experience that the 17-year-old Kenin, the US Open girls finalist, has, Danilovic is confident.

"From the first point to the last point, I felt I could beat her," said Danilovic, who reached the Les Petits As final in Tarbes in January. Asked where that confidence comes from, Danilovic quickly answered, "my dad," former NBA player Sasha Danilovic, who played for the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks in 1995-97.

As to what had changed in a week's time, Danilovic said she learned from the Eddie Herr loss.

"I didn't know her and I didn't know how she's playing, so she attacked me," Danilovic said. "This time I know how I have to play, more aggressive, from the first point, like that."

After Tuesday's first round action saw only one seed in each of the draws exit, eight, including Kenin, went out on Wednesday.

No. 10 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada and No. 14 seed Ines Abbou of Egypt both lost to qualifiers from the US. Emma Higuchi defeated Sebov 6-2, 6-4 and Kariann Pierre-Louis beat Abbou by the same score.

Higuchi and Pierre-Louis are among 15 US girls in the second round. Kylie McKenzie, Ellie Douglas, Abi Altick, Michaela Gordon(12) and Kelly Chen won on Tuesday. Maria Mateas, Hanna Chang, Carolina Dolehide(15), Alexandra Sanford, Kayla Day(6) Abigail Desiatnikov, Claire Liun and Usue Arconada(4) recorded their first round wins Wednesday.

No. 6 seed Alberto Lim was the highest boys seed sidelined, losing to qualifier Sven Lah of Slovenia 7-6(4), 6-3. Alex Rybakov, the No. 8 seed, fell to Bojan Jankulovski of Macedonia 7-6(8), 6-3, No. 12 seed Youssef Hossam was beaten by qualifier John McNally 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and No. 13 seed Nathan Ponwith went out to German qualifier Rudolf Molleker 6-4, 7-6(2).

One seed who just escaped was Grade A Abierto Juvenil Mexicano champion Genaro Olivieri of Argentina, the No. 11 seed, who beat Patrick Kypson 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(7).  Kypson served for the match at 6-5 in the third set, after seeing a 4-1, two-break lead evaporate.  He was broken at love and went down 5-1 and 6-3 in the third set tiebreaker. The Kalamazoo 16s champion saved those three match points, and then earned one of his own when Olivieri hit a forehand long.  Kypson netted a forehand however to make it 7-7, and then netted another to give Olivieri match point No. 4, which he converted when Kypson's forehand went long.

Perhaps the only player happy with the deluge that halted play on Tuesday night was Sam Riffice, the 2014 16s champion. Riffice trailed qualifier Andres Andrade of Ecuador 6-4, 3-2 overnight, but when he returned to the court Wednesday morning he rattled off eight straight games.

"I was in a pretty tight spot last night, and I'm pretty thankful for the rain," said the 16-year-old, who returned to competition at the Eddie Herr after a hamstring injury suffered in early October. "He was playing really well and he didn't play as well in the morning, and I was able to play a little bit better."

Andrade had already played a qualifying match on Tuesday morning, making his match with Riffice Tuesday evening his second of the day.

"He must have been a little tired," Riffice said. "I know he went through qualifying, and I saw him taped up a little bit. I think that helped me."

The six US boys in the second round are Riffice, McNally, qualifier Robert Loeb, Mwendwa Mbithi, and Ulises Blanch(14) and Brandon Holt, who won Tuesday.

The first round of doubles was completed this evening, with complete results below.  No. 2 seeds Katie Swan of Great Britain and Bianca Andreescu of Canada were beaten by Monika Kilnarova of the Czech Republic and Ioana Minca of Romania 0-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Due to all the rain early in the week, two rounds of 16s singles are scheduled for Thursday and two rounds of 18s singles are scheduled for Friday, with one round of doubles each day for each age division.

The top seed in the boys 16s singles, Sangeet Sridhar, withdrew and was replaced by a lucky loser. Hanna Larimore defeated No. 3 seed and Eddie Herr 16s champion Ulyana Shirikova of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in a first round girls 16s match today.

See the tournament website for additional information and the link to live scoring.

SINGLES
First round

Boys 18s
No. 1 Casper Ruud, NOR d. Sami Kirberg, USA, 6-4, 6-4
No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, GRE d. Trent Bryde, USA, 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 Yunseong Chung, KOR d. Duarte Vale, POR, 6-3, 7-6(2)
Sven Lah, SLO d. No. 6 Alberto Lim, PHI, 7-6(4), 6-3
Bojan Jankulovski, MKD d. No. 8 Alex Rybakov, USA, 7-6(8), 6-3
No. 11 Genaro Alberto Olivieri, ARG d. Patrick Kypson, USA, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(7)
John McNally, USA d. No. 12 Youssef Hossam, EGY, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Rudolf Molleker, GER d. No. 13 Nathan Ponwith, USA, 6-4, 7-6(2)
No. 16 Denis Shapovalov, CAN d. Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine, FRA, 6-2, 6-1
Bruno Britez, PAR d. Andre Libnic, USA, 6-0, 6-0
Robert Loeb, USA d. Tomas Martin Etcheverry, ARG, 6-4, 7-6(2)
Ryan James Storrie, GBR d. Nathan Perrone, USA, 7-6(2), 1-1, ret.
Sam Riffice, USA d. Andres Andrade, ECU, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Mwendwa Mbithi, USA d. Seppe Cuyers, BEL, 6-3, 6-4

Girls 18s
Olga Danilovic, SRB d. No. 1 Sofia Kenin, USA, 6-0, 5-7, 7-5
No. 4 Usue Arconada, USA d. Jade Lewis, NZL, 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 Tereza Mihalikova, SVK d. Emiliana Arango, COL, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3
No. 6 Kayla Day, USA d. Victoria Emma, USA, 6-2, 6-3
No. 8 Tamara Zidansek, SLO d. Elizabeth Scotty, USA, 6-1, 6-1
Emma Higuchi, USA d. No. 11 Katherine Sebov, CAN, 6-2, 6-4
Kariann Pierre-Louis, USA d. No. 14 Ines Ibbou, ALG, 6-2, 6-4
No. 15 Caroline Dolehide, USA d. Melany Solange Krywoj, ARG, 6-2, 6-3
Claire Liu, USA d. Maiuka Aikawa, JPN, 6-2, 6-1
Nina Kruijer, NED d. Julia Rosenqvist, SWE, 7-5, 7-6(4)
Alexandra Sanford, USA d. Yuki Naito, JPN, 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-3
Oana Gavrila, ROU d. Kamilla Kokeladze, RUS, 6-2, 6-0
Hanna Chang, USA d. Jessica Hinojosa Gomez, MEX, 7-5, 6-0
Shelly Krolitzky, ISR d. Caty McNally, USA, 7-6(4), 6-2 
Abigail Desiatnikov, USA d. Dominique Schaefer, PER, 6-0, 6-3
Jaqueline Adina Cristian, ROU d. Clarissa Hand, USA, 6-4, 6-4

Boys 16s
Juan Ignacio Batalla Diez, MEX d. (LL) Aleksandar Petrovic, CAN, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 
No. 5 Seon Yong Han, KOR d. Dimitri Bird, USA, 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 Juan Alejandro Hernandez Serrano, MEX d. Drew Baird, USA, 6-2, 6-3
Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi, ARG d. No. 7 Brian Shi, USA, 6-2, 6-1
No. 9 Sebastian Baez, ARG d. Garrett Johns, USA, 7-6(8), 6-2
Trey Hilderbrand, USA d. No. 12 Harrison Brown, AUS, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
No. 15 Miguel Fernando Pereira, CHI d. Christian Alshon, USA, 7-5, 6-2
No. 16 Kyrylo Tsygura, USA d. Marcelo Sepulveda Garza, MEX, 6-3, 6-4
William Peters, USA d.  Roger Lyn, USA, 6-4, 7-6(2)
John Kelly, BAH d. Victor Hugo Nunez Mendoza, ECU, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
Boris Kozlov, USA d. Pratheek Mandalapu, USA, 6-1, 6-2
Nicolas Mejia, COL d. Diego Nava, USA, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
Kento Perera, USA d. Jesus Darias, VEN, 6-4, 7-6(1)
James Ignatowich, USA d. Nicolas Chan, BRA, 6-2, 6-3
Luka Pavlovic, FRA d. Jenson Brooksby, USA, 7-6(5), 7-6(3)
Steven Sun, USA d. Ryan Nijboer, NED, 6-2, 7-6(5)

Girls 16s
No. 1 Selma Stefania Cadar, ROU d. Jing Yi Peng, CHN, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 Maria Lourdes Carle, ARG d. Luba Vasilyuk, USA, 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-1
Hannah Lairmore, USA d. No. 3 Ulyana Shirokova, RUS, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
No. 7 Fernanda Labrana, CHI d. Meg Kowalski, USA, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
No. 8 Ann Li, USA d. Addison Guevara, USA, 6-1, 6-1
Anna Titova, RUS d. No. 14 Kianah Motosono, USA, 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-1
Gabriela Nicole Tatarus, ROU d. Marlee Zein, USA, 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(2)
Lea Ma, USA d. Emma Decoste, USA, 6-4, 7-6(5)
Emily Dunbar, USA d. Mell Elizabeth Reasco Gonzalez, ECU, 6-3, 7-5
Katerina Filip, SWE d. Safiya Carrington, USA, 6-4, 6-3

DOUBLES
First Round

Boys 18s
No. 1 Casper Ruud, NOR/Miomir Kecmanovic, SRB d. Sami Kirberg/Jake Van Emburgh, USA, 6-3, 6-1
No. 2 Jurabek Karimov, UZB/Stefanos Tsitsipas, GRE d. Alexandre Rotsaert, USA/Ryan James Storrie, GBR, 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 Denis Shapovalov, CAN/Mate Valkusz, HUN d. Trent Bryde/Nathan Perrone, USA, W/O
No. 4 Ulises Blanch, USA/Yunseong Chung, KOR d. Mwendwa Mbithi/Jakub Wojcik, USA, 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 Youssef Hossam, EGY/Alberto Lim, PHI d. Elliot Benchetrit, FRA/Alexis Canter, GBR, 6-2, 7-6(5)
Sven Lah, SLO/Bart Stevens, NED d. No. 6 Toru Horie, JPN/Yibing Wu, CHN, 6-3, 7-6(2)
No. 7 Kenneth Raisma/Mattias Siimar, EST d. Lucas Koelle, BRA/Chien Hsun Lo, TPE, 6-2, 6-3
Oliver Crawford, USA/Jack Mingjie Lin, CAN d. No. 8 Piotr Matuszewski/Kacper Zuk, POL, 6-2, 6-3
Alex De Minaur, AUS/Bjorn Thomson, IRL d. Gabriel Decamps/Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves, BRA, 6-2, 7-5
Yuta Shimizu/Yunosuke Tanaka, JPN d. Vasil Kirkov/Sam Riffice, USA, 7-6(2), 6-3
Tomas Martin Etcheverry/Genaro Alberto Olivieri, ARG d. Seppe Cuypers, BEL/Bojan Jankulovski, MKD, 4-6, 6-4 [10-5]
Andres Andrade, ECU/Duarte Vale, POR d. Patrick Kypson/Gianni Ross, USA, 6-4, 6-3
Zeke Clark/Robert Loeb, USA d. Bruo Britez, PAR/Benjamin Sigouin, CAN, W/O
Ergi Kirkin, TUR/Alexei Popyrin, AUS d. Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine, FRA/Alexis Galarneau, CAN, 6-0, 7-5
Alexey Aleschev, RUS/Calin Manda, ROU d. John McNally/JJ Wolf, USA, 6-4, 6-3
Alexandar Lazarov, BUL/Rudolf Molleker, GER d. Brandon Holt/Nathan Ponwith, USA, 6-4, 4-6 [10-4]

Girls 18s
No. 1 Dalma Galfi, HUN/Tereza Mihalikova, SVK d. Emiliana Arango, COL/Maria Jose Portillo Ramriez, MEX, 6-0, 6-1
Monika Kilnarova, CZE/Ioana Minca, ROU d. No. 2 Bianca Vanessa Andreescu, CAN/Katie Swan, GBR, 0-6, 6-3 [10-6]
No. 3 Charlotte Robillard-Millette/Katherine Sebov, CAN d. Mia Horvit/Elizabeth Scotty, USA, 6-3, 4-6 [10-6]
No. 4 Sofia Kenin/Ingrid Neel, USA d. Shelly Krolitzky, ISR/Jessica Livianu, USA, 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 Tamara Zidansek, SLO/Pranjala Yadlapalli, IND d. Mayuka Aikawa, JPN/Thaisa Grana Pedretti, BRA, 3-6, 7-5 [10-2]
Meible Chi/Taylor Russo, USA d. No. 6 Evgeniya Levashova/Anastasia Potapova, RUS, 7-6(8), 3-6  [11-13]
Georgia Andreea Craciun/Oana Gavrila, ROU d. No. 7 Kayla Day/Alexandra Sanford, USA, 5-7, 6-2 [12-10]
No. 8 Usue Maitane Arconada/Claire Liu, USA d. Lamis Alhussein Abdel Aziz, EGY/Tamara Arnold, SUI, 6-1, 6-1
Eugenia Ganga/Melany Solange Krywoj, ARG d. Ornella Garavani, ARG/Yuliana Monroy, COL, 6-3, 4-6 [12-10]
Jessica Hinojosa Gomez, MEX/Ines Ibbou, ALG d. Amanda Anisimova, USA/Dominique Schaefer, PER, 6-1, 6-4
Eleni Christofi, GRE/Anastasia Detiuc, MDA d. Caty McNally/Natasha Subhash, USA, 5-7, 7-6(4) [10-3]
Clarissa Hand/Taylor Johnson, USA d. Yuki Naito/Julia Rosenqvist, SWE, 7-5, 6-4
Jaqueline Adina Cristian, ROU/Michaela Gordon, USA d. Isolde De Jong/Nina Kruijer, NED, 6-3, 3-6 [10-7]
Nicole Conard/Kariann Pierre-Louis, USA d. Hanna Chang/Emma Christine Higuchi, USA, 7-6(3), 6-4
Carson Branstine, USA/Jade Lewis, NZL d. Morgan Coppoc/Maria Mateas, USA, 7-6(5), 6-4
Mirjam Bjorklund, SWE/Lara Salden, BEL d. Helen Abigail Altick/Sofia Sewing, USA, 7-6(4), 7-5

Boys 16s
No. 1 Jonas Eriksson Ziverts/Karl Friberg, SWE d. William Peters/Charlie Sharton, USA, 6-7(9), 6-2 [10-8]
No. 2 Nicaise Muamba, CAN/Brian Shi, USA d. Pratheek Mandalapu/Carsyn Smith, USA, 6-1, 6-0
No. 3 Sebastian Baez, ARG/Miguel Fernando Pereira, CHI d. Brandon Freestone/Joseph Gandolfo, USA, 6-4, 6-3
No. 4 Andrew Fenty/Tristan McCormick, USA d. Antonio Cayetano March/Victor Hugo Nunez Mendoza, ECU, 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 Juan Ignacio Batalla Diez, MEX/Sergio Luis Hernandez Ramirez, COL d. Axel Nefve/Sami Soufi, USA, 2-6, 6-1 [10-4]
No. 6 Seon Yong Han, KOR/Ryan Nijboer, NED d. Reese Daly/Felipe Hidalgo, USA, 6-3, 6-3
No. 7 Boris Kozlov/Karl Poling, USA d. Daniil Glinka, EST/Anton Levanovich, BLR, 6-3, 6-1
No. 8 Nicolas Mejia/Alejandro Hoyos Franco, COL d. Austin Di Giulio, USA/Alexander Reyna, USA, 7-5, 6-2
Trey Hilderbrand/Keenan Mayo, USA d. Harrison Brown, AUS/Vikash Singh, IND, 6-3, 6-2
Christian Alshon/Michael Heller, USA d. Mateo Barreiros Reyes/Nicolas Chan, BRA, 6-3, 6-4
Dimitri Bird/Zachary Garner, USA d. Jesus Darias/Maximiliano Jose Sanoja Alvarez, VEN, 6-3, 7-5
Diego Nava/Ethan Prost, USA d. Palaphoom Kovapitukted, THA/Petros Tstsipas, GRE, 6-4, 6-4
Evan Bynoe/Steven Sun, USA d. Nicolas Jose Prieto, COL/Victor Luis Zuniga Gutierrez, PER, 4-6, 6-1 [12-10]
Matthew Rodriguez/Noah Schacter, USA d. Aaron Diemer, CAN/Lukas Grief, USA, W/O
Gilbert Soares Klier Junior/Charles Fischer Pinheiro De B. Junior, BRA d. Jenson Brooksby/James Ignatowich, USA, 6-3, 7-5
Juan Alejandro Hernandez Serrano/Marcelo Sepulveda Garza, MEX d. Kento Perera/Jack Pulliam, USA, 6-0, 2-6 [10-2]

Girls 16s
No. 1 Emily Appleton, GBR/Selma Stefania Cadar, ROU d. Addison Guevara/Kianah Motosono, USA, 6-2, 6-2
Yekaterina Martens/Kacey Beth Moore, USA d. No. 2 Tiffany Lagarde/Brindtha Ramasamy, CAN, 5-7, 6-4 [10-3]
No. 3 Paula Baranano/Maria Lourdes Carle, ARG d. Gia Cohen/Melissa Sakar, USA, 6-4, 7-6(8)
No. 4 Ania Hertel, POL/Mihaela Lorena Marculescu, ROU d. Zana Ameti/Lauren Wich, USA, 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 Ann Li/Emma Decoste, USA d. Marcella Cruz/Alexa Noel, USA, 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 Kacie Harvey/Jimena Rodriguez-Benito, USA d. Jennifer Gadalov/Alyssa Mayo, USA, 6-3, 2-6 [10-5]
Amber O’Dell/Luba Vasilyuk, USA d. No. 7 Fernanda Labrana, CHI/Georgia Gulin, BRA, 6-1, 2-6 [10-3]
No. 8 Safiya Carrington/Jada Robinson, USA d. Lilly Elida Haseth/Elinor Storkaas, NOR, 6-4, 6-1
Anna Brylin/Rachel Lim, USA d. Flavia Gutierrez, BOL/Gabriela Nicole Tatarus, ROU, 6-2, 7-5
Hannah Lairmore/Alana Wolfberg, USA d. Samantha Alicea, USA/Isabella Tcherkes Zade, ITA, 6-2, 6-1
Nicole Mossmer/Marlee Zein, USA d. Eunhye Lee/Sohyn Park, KOR, 6-4, 6-3
Ekaterina Makarova/Anastasia Tikhonova, RUS d. Lea Ma/Shelly Yaloz, USA, 6-1, 4-6 [10-7]
Carolyn Campana/Jayci Goldsmith, USA d. Luniuska Delgado, VEN/Mell Elizabeth Reasco Gonzalez, ECU, 7-6(8), 6-3
McCartney Kessler/Emma Kurtz, USA d. Renata Lombera, MEX/Catherine Xu, USA, 6-2, 6-3
Abigail Forbes/Jessi Muljat, USA d. Anca Craciun/Ashleigh Jacobs, CAN, 6-1, 6-1

Emily Dunbar/Dalayna Hewitt, USA d. Lillian Gabrielsen/Sofie Bomark Syversen, NOR, 6-2, 6-1

1 comments:

fan said...

Good god, THAT Sasha Danilovic, starting SG for the European Champ Yugoslavia(Serbia)?!