All Four No. 1 Seeds Advance to Quarterfinals at Junior Orange Bowl

©Colette Lewis 2017--
Coral Gables FL--

The weather has been outstanding for the first four days of the Junior Orange Bowl, yet an increase in humidity caused delays for the round of 16 action played on the three hard court sites.  Condensation and little wind pushed back play up to three hours, but when fourth round matches were completed, all four No. 1 seeds were still in the running for winners' trophies.

The matches in the boys 12s division were unaffected, because they are played on the Har-Tru courts of Salvadore Park.  Top seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium dropped his first set of the tournament to Imran Hazli of Malaysia, but Blockx took control of the third set early in a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory.  He will play No. 5 seed Cooper Williams, who also prevailed in three sets, coming back to beat Aaron Sandler 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.

Like Williams, the other two Americans reaching the boys 12s quarterfinals are in the top half and will face off tomorrow.  No. 3 seed Nishesh Basavareddy, a 6-2, 6-2 winner of Andrew Delgado, will face Nicholas Mangiapane, a No. 9 seed.  Mangiapane defeated unseeded  Haitam Aboufirassi of Canada 6-4, 6-0.

No. 2 seed Juncheng Shang was unable to play his fourth round match today with unseeded Romea Hadzimehmedovic of Serbia after suffering a neck injury while he was warming up an hour or so before the match.

At the girls 12s at Biltmore Tennis Center, which had the longest delay for slippery courts, top seed Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic beat unseeded Victoria Mboko 7-5, 6-0.  Several people who saw Fruhvirtova's three-hour win over Mio Mushika of Japan on Friday remarked on the high level sustained throughout that match.  In today's match, Fruhvirtova, an Eddie Herr 14s finalist, found her form late in the second set and coasted to victory. 

Two US girls are through to the quarterfinals.  No. 8 seed Clervie Ngounoue, who has not lost more than three games in any set in her four wins, will face unseeded Sein Myoung of Koreas for a place in the semifinals.  No. 7 seed Priya Nelson, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 winner over Mao Mushika of Japan, will face No. 2 seed Sofia Costoulas of Belgium in the quarterfinals. Costoulas dropped her first set of the tournament to Sayaka Ishii of Japan, but came back for a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1 victory.

The boys 14s, which will move to the University of Miami on Sunday, also has just two Americans remaining and they will meet in the quarterfinals.  Top seed Alexander Bernard, who beat Andrew Chang, a No. 17 seed, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, will face No. 17 seed Samir Banerjee, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over No. 9 seed Tim Gauntlett of Hong Kong.

No. 2 seed Shintaro Mochizuki continued his romp through the draw, beating unseeded Benjamin Kittay  6-1, 6-2, and he will play Bjorn Borg's son Leo, a 17 seed, who beat No. 5 seed Jacobi Bain of the Bahamas 6-3, 6-3.  No. 3 seed Christopher Li of Peru was defeated by Marko Stakusic of Canada, a No. 17 seed 6-1, 6-1.

In the girls 14s, six Americans have reached the quarterfinals, including top seed Alexandra Yepifanova, who beat No. 17 seed Zongyu Li of China 6-2, 6-1.   Unseeded Elvina Kalieva will face No. 17 seed Elise Wagle and No. 9 seeds Kimberly Hance and Ellie Coleman will face off in the other all-American quarterfinal. The sixth is unseeded Calissa Dellabarca, who beat No. 2 seed Noa Krznaric of Croatia 6-3, 6-1.

For complete results from today's action and times for Sunday's quarterfinals, see the TennisLink site.

Top 8 Seed Report:

B12s
1. Alexander Blockx, BEL
2. Juncheng Shang, USA (unable to compete 4th rd due to injury)
3. Nishesh Basavareddy, USA
4. Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez, MEX
5. Cooper Williams, USA
6. Marc Majdandzic, GER (lost 3rd rd)
7. Lennon Jones, JPN
8. Learner Tien, USA w/d

B14s
1. Alexander Bernard, USA
2. Shintaro Mochizuki, JPN
3. Christopher Li, PER (lost 4th rd)
4. Francisco Lamas, VEN
5. Jacobi Bain, BAH (lost 4th rd)
6. Saud Alhogbani, KSA (lost 3rd rd)
7. Alvaro Guillen-Meza, ECU
8. Joel Pierleoni, GBR (lost 1st rd)

G12s
1. Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE
2. Sofia Costoulas, BEL
3. Alexandra Eala, PHI
4. Tsehay Driscoll, USA w/d
5. Melisa Ercan, TUR
6. Stephanie Yakoff, USA (lost 4th rd)
7. Priya Nelson, USA
8. Clervie Ngounoue, USA

G14s
1. Alexandra Yepifanova, USA
2. Noa Krznaric, CRO (lost 4th rd)
3. Charlotte Owensby, USA (lost 3rd rd)
4. Vivian Ovrootsky, USA (lost 3rd rd)
5. Clarine Lerby, NED (lost 4th rd)
6. Daria Tomashevskaya, CAN w/d
7. Kailey Evans, USA (lost 3rd rd)
8. Kyoka Kubo, JPN (lost 4th rd)