Montgomery Sweeps Girls Titles, Unseeded Hotard Claims Boys Singles Championship at ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed

©Colette Lewis 2019--
Nicholasville KY--

No. 3 seed Robin Montgomery and unseeded Welsh Hotard captured their first ITF Grade 1 titles Saturday morning at the Pan American Closed, and although both came through in straight sets, Montgomery needed only an hour to defeat unseeded wild card Isabelle Kouzmanov 6-2, 6-0, while Hotard battled No. 8 seed Cash Hanzlik for two hours before taking a 6-4, 6-4 decision on the indoor courts of the Top Seed Tennis Club.

Montgomery and Kouzmanov had several close games to start the match, with Montgomery needing six deuces before consolidating her break to go up 3-1. But holding serve proved to be a problem for Kouzmanov, with her hold in the next game the last game she would win.

"I think it was just all the matches," said Kouzmanov, who admitted she didn't play as well as she would have liked in her first Grade 1 final. "I had a lot of three-setters and that just kind of builds up and makes you more tired. I think my energy level just wasn't at 100 percent today. My forehand wasn't going in and my footwork was making my shots go out. And she had a good day and I had a bad day."

Montgomery was prepared for her doubles partner's big groundstrokes and was determined not to let Kouzmanov's winners bother her.

"I knew in the beginning she was definitely going to come out swinging," said Montgomery, a 15-year-old left-hander from Washington DC, who was playing in her second Grade B1 final. "I knew I had to hang in there and not give her any chances. I did a pretty good job staying calm, trusting myself and not getting too concerned when she hit a really hard, amazing shot."

Although Montgomery was on court for nearly three hours in her semifinal win over top seed Alexandra Yepifanova, she said she felt fine physically.

"I was kind of lucky, because I had only one really long three-setter," said Montgomery, who noted the kinesio tape on Kouzmanov's shoulder. "I feel pretty good. My back's a bit tight, but that's what we work hard for, that we can last this long."

Montgomery did not play this tournament last year, as she was in Asia, where she made the quarterfinals of the Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup and the finals of a Grade 2 in Japan. A title at this event means she doesn't have to worry about dropping in the rankings, but she is looking forward to some time off before the Grade A in Mexico next month.

"I'm definitely glad I played this tournament now," Montgomery said. "My mom and coach made me come, but it definitely takes a load off  [the Grade A] in Merida, Orange Bowl and Aussie, when I go and play, knowing I have this to help support me. The rest of this month is going to be free because this year has been a lot of traveling. I usually like a month for my training and I haven't gotten that month yet, so I think after I go back home I'll focus mainly on fitness and getting ahead in school."

Kouzmanov is heading to a Grade 3 in Canada next month, and will then play the Eddie Herr ITF and the Grade A Orange Bowl.

"My next tournament I want to win even more," said the 14-year-old from Michigan. "I'm hungry for more. I had that in the past, but not as much."

In the boys final, Hotard was up a set and serving at 4-3, when he got a sudden case of the service yips, double faulting three times, including on game point.  The 18-year-old left-hander from Louisiana could have experienced some doubts, but he refused to let it bother him.

"I was just trying to mentally stay focused," said Hotard, who has verbally committed to Oklahoma for 2020. "I knew if I could get into that next game, I had a chance to go back up. It was in my mind for a second, but I knew I had to get it out for me to even have a chance in the next game."

Having already broken the big-serving Hanzlik three times, Hotard's positive outlook had substance, and, with Hanzlik's forehand proving unreliable, Hotard finally broke through on his third break point to take a 5-4 lead. He then took advantage of the ITF rule allowing coaching on changeovers, with former Oklahoma star Dane Webb, who was traveling with Hotard and several other players from the Lakes Tennis Academy in Dallas, providing advice from another sport as Hotard prepared to serve out the match.

"I got my coach at 4-5 and he said serve like a pitcher," Hotard said. "He said you have to mix it up, throw in different spins, I didn't need to rely on the bomb of my serve. So I went up 15-0, then I served that double and then I just tried to throw in different spins to get my serve in and it ended up working out."

Hotard hit an ace out wide to get to match point, and another first serve resulted in Hanzlik's return going well long. As the ball moved past the baseline, Hotard flung his racquet high in the air and let out a lengthy yell of "yeah" in celebration of the B1 title.

"It means a lot," said Hotard, who didn't drop a set all week. "This is like my third [Grade 1] I've played, and to play well this week and be able to win it is awesome. I thought I had a chance before the tournament; I've been training hard, practicing well, so I knew if I could keep my head straight and keep everything in check that I had a chance."

Hanzlik had said after Friday's semifinals that serving was likely to be the key to the match, and he didn't believe his held up.

"The serve just wasn't there like the other matches," said the 17-year-old from Oregon, who hadn't lost a set prior to the final. "I lost my serve four times, which is completely unacceptable. You don't deserve to win if you lose serve four times."

Although he put most of the blame on his own play, Hanzlik credited Hotard for his level.

"He played really well, and I wasn't feeling the ball like the other matches," said Hanzlik, who was also playing in his first Grade 1 final. "He controlled the angles of the court a bit better than me, but it all starts with the serve and mine wasn't there. I played a lot of good matches this week, so one match doesn't change that, and I'll take confidence from this week going into the next tournaments."

Hotard is not certain whether he will play the USTA National Indoors or the Eddie Herr late next month, while Hanzlik's next tournament is a $25,000 Futures in Orlando in November.

In doubles, two teams that got together at the last minute and had never played together before claimed the titles.

Although they looked a little weary after the day was over, Montgomery and Kouzmanov finished the tournament with the girls doubles title, beating unseeded Reese Brantmeier and Carson Tanguilig 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 in the final.  The unseeded Montgomery and Kouzmanov got together just prior to the closing time of the doubles sign in, and were not expecting much from their partnership.

"To be honest, I thought we were going to lose first round," Montgomery said. "The goal for me in doubles was just to get past the first round and get a couple of points and we just kept on winning, decently easy in the first couple of rounds, and then I was like, oh crap, we might actually have a chance to win it."

"I was just going to slap," Kouzmanov said. "That worked most of the tournament and it worked again today here."

The boys doubles title went to No. 2 seeds Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela and Aidan Mayo, who defeated No. 5 seeds Andrew Dale and JJ Tracy 6-1, 6-2.  Mayo said he was late in arranging a partner but he knew Claverie from other ITF Junior Circuit events and was glad to hear that he was also looking for a doubles partner for this event.

The pair were not taken to a match tiebreaker all week and lost only eight games combined in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, but it did take them some time to find that form.

"The first match, it wasn't bad, but it was definitely not at the level that we played at the end of the tournament," Mayo said. "It maybe took us a match and a half, two matches, but at the end of the week, we started feeling really good, playing well. We've had some good matches, for sure."