My Orange Bowl ITF Recap; Eddie Herr Champions Fall in Second Round at Junior Orange Bowl

©Colette Lewis 2016--
Coral Gables, FL--

My recap of last week's ITF Grade A Metropolia Orange Bowl is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with a separate article on the 16s coming on Friday afternoon. The videos and slide show from both events will be posted when I return home.

Maxi Duncan

I spent most of the second day of the Junior Orange Bowl, which was much more seasonable than the hot and humid first day, at the girls 14s at the University of Miami. I watched Alexa Noel defeat Alexandra Yepifanova, who recently earned a place on the USTA's Bolton/Les Petits As team, 6-2, 6-4.  Unfortunately, top seed Noa Krznaric of Croatia was put on Court 11, which is not a show court, and three courts away from any viewing.  By the time I realized Krznaric, who was in the 12s final last year, was still playing against Amber Fuller, Krznaric had just won the second set, and she took the third as well, but her 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory was not easy, taking nearly three hours. Fuller's forehand was the most dangerous shot on the court and she defended well, but in the final set, Krznaric just didn't miss, while Fuller's unforced errors began to multiply.

No. 2 seed Holly Fischer of Great Britain, who finished her match under the lights at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, had much less difficulty than her counterpart at the top of the draw, defeating Maria-Cecilia Aguiar of Puerto Rico 6-1, 6-0.

Two of the top eight seeds lost, with No. 8 Ana Geller of Argentina retiring to Jada Bui of Canada trailing 4-6, 6-1, 3-1 and Eddie Herr 14s champion Gianna Pielet, the No. 5 seed, eliminated by Maxi Duncan 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Duncan was up 5-1 in the third set, but Pielet got back on serve only to be broken in the final game.

"I stayed cool and made sure I stayed focused, even if the line calls were a little bit shaky," said Duncan, a 14-year-old left-hander. "I was making sure I was aggressive, even though I was missing so many match points. I think I had like, nine."

Duncan, who won a gold ball in doubles at the 14s Nationals this summer with Jamilah Snells, said her mental game and her willingness to attack Pielet's second serve were the keys to her win.

"I made sure I had a good attitude," said Duncan, who trains at the Spearmans Club's Tennis Club at Monarch Beach with Hector Chairez. "I thought I was going to lose, but I made sure I went out and tried my best, and I ended up winning."

At the girls 12s, No. 5 seed Dasha Plekhanova of Canada, the Eddie Herr champion, was beaten by Stela Peeva of Bulgaria 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(5). It was a brutal second round draw for both players, with Peeva having reached the semifinals at the Eddie Herr earlier this month.

No. 7 seed Robin Montgomery also was ousted, losing to Reece Carter of Canada in another close decision, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

The boys 12s, who lost half of their Top 8 seeds in the first round, did not lose any of those remaining today. Top seed Dino Prizmic of Croatia defeated wild card Nicholas Godsick 6-2, 6-2 and No. 2 seed Haesun Lee of Korea beat Rafael Botran of Guatemala 6-1, 6-1.

At the boys 14s, top seeds Bu Yunchaokete of China and Alex Lee advanced, as did No. 5 seed and Eddie Herr champion Zane Khan. No. 3 seed Alexander Gaponenko of Israel was beaten by JJ Tracy 6-2, 6-3.

Complete draws are available at the TennisLink site.  Below I've included how the Top 8 seeds in the four divisions have fared in the first two rounds (three rounds for B14s).

G14s:
1. Noa Krznaric (CRO)
2. Holly Fischer (GBR)
3. Qinwen Zheng (CHN)
4. Victoria Hu (USA) (withdrew)
5. Gianni Pielet (USA) out 2nd rd
6. Jimar Gerald (CHI)
7. Emma Raducanu (GBR)
8. Ana Geller (ARG) out 2nd rd

G12s:
1. Katerina Dimitrova (BUL) out 1st rd
2. Cori Gauff(USA)
3. Vivan Ovrootsky (USA)
4. Katrina Scott (USA)
5. Dasha Plekhanova (CAN) out 2nd rd
6. Katja Wiersholm (USA)
7. Robin Montgomery (USA) out 2nd rd
8. Tatiana Muzykantskaya (RUS)

B14s:
1. Bu Yunchaokete (CHN)
2. Alex Lee (USA)
3. Alexander Gaponenko (ISR) out 3rd rd
4. Santiago de la Fuente (ARG)
5. Zane Khan (USA)
6. Han-Chih Lin (TPE)
7. Daiki Yoshimura (JPN)
8. Nicholas-Davis Ionel (ROU) out 3rd rd

B12s:
1. Dino Prizmic (CRO)
2. Haesun Lee (KOR)
3. Victor Lilov (USA)
4. William Jansen (GBR) out 1st rd
5. Evan Wen (USA)
6. Jose Maciel Neto (BRA) withdrew
7. Lun Obrul (SLO) out 1st rd
8. Patrick Brady (THA) out 1st rd