Parry Withdraws from Orange Bowl, Blanch Avenges Eddie Herr Loss, Broadus Grinds Out Three-Hour Win as First Round Concludes

©Colette Lewis 2019--

Plantation FL--

The second day at the ITF Grade A Orange Bowl started with the news that No. 1 seed Diane Parry of France, who has been at the site for a couple of days, withdrew due to injury. Lucky loser Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria took her place at the top of the draw, but she was quickly dispatched 6-0, 6-1 by Barbora Palicova of the Czech Republic. Play was again delayed an hour due to wet courts, but all the remaining first round 18s matches were completed in daylight.

Six seeded girls lost in yesterday's first round matches, but today all five of the seeded girls in action picked up victories. None had a tougher time of it than No. 8 seed Savannah Broadus, who saw a 4-1 lead melt away in the first set, but managed to regroup for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Eddie Herr semifinalist Evialina Laskevich of Belarus.

"I was definitely really frustrated," said Broadus, a 17-year-old from Texas, who needed more than three hours to earn the win. "But I just told myself she has to win another set. To go up 4-1, I was playing really aggressive and solid and moving forward. To lose the set, I stopped doing that, got a little nervous. So in the second set, I just tried to stay aggressive but keep my margins pretty big. She was going to hit some good shots, but I just wanted to be able to stay more solid than she was."

Broadus is into her third week on the North American ITF Junior Clay circuit, and she made the finals in doubles both at the Grade A in Merida Mexico and at last week's Eddie Herr, winning the title in Bradenton. 

"I'm a little tired, but not too bad," Broadus said. "That match was definitely really physical but I think I can take care of my body well enough so that I won't be too burnt out."

Eddie Herr champion Eva Lys of Germany, who played nine matches in nine days, got a day off on Monday, and extended her winning streak to 10 matches with a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2 win over wild card Kimmi Hance. The second set was the first set Lys has lost in her seven main draw matches on the South Florida green clay.

Eddie Herr finalist Jana Kolodynska of Belarus took a 7-6(2), 6-1 decision from Tara Wurth of Croatia, and top seed Thiago Tirante of Argentina, who has won titles the past two weeks, kept his dream of year-end No. 1 alive with his 13th straight win. Tirante defeated Karl Kazuma Lee 6-1, 6-4 on Stadium Court today.

Tirante was one of eight seeded boys to win first round matches today, meaning only one of the top 16 seeds lost in the first two days of play. Several seeds had to come from behind: No. 6 seed Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg of Switzerland beat Kokoro Isomura of Japan 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; No. 13 seed Felix Gill of Great Britain outlasted Andrew Dale 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 and No. 11 seed Tim Legout of France won the final four games of his 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4 victory over wild card Cash Hanzlik.

No. 16 seed Dali Blanch, who reached the 16s final last year, had unpleasant flashbacks to last week, when he also met Roman Burruchaga of Argentina in the opening round in Bradenton, but this week he managed to turn the tables for a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory. 

"I was up a set and a break," said the 16-year-old Blanch of that Eddie Herr match, which he lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. "I was like, I did it once, let's not do it again."

Yet it appeared history would repeat itself when Blanch saw his 6-3, 5-2, 30-0 lead today turn into a 4-1 third-set advantage for Burruchaga, who went on to the Eddie Herr final last week.

This time it was Blanch who found the resources to finish off his opponent, taking the last five games of the match.

"At 6-3, 5-2 up, I relaxed a bit, he won the set," said Blanch, who practices frequently with Burruchaga in Argentina. "Didn't play as well throughout the third, he missed a few balls, I tried to make him miss more. I had chances and I took them. I have a lot of up and downs, I'm trying to work on that."

Burruchaga looked tired as Blanch caught and passed him.

"I knew he would be tired, but he played pretty well," Blanch said.

No. 2 seed Martin Damm started his Orange Bowl with a win, beating Mikolaj Lorens of Poland 6-3, 6-4.

The second round of 16s singles was completed on Tuesday with only three seeds, two girls and a boy, eliminated.  Top girls seed Rebecca Lynn beat qualifier Anne Moody 6-0, 6-2 and will play Eddie Herr 16s champion Ashlyn Krueger in the third round Wednesday.  Alexis Blokhina defeated No. 11 seed Violeta Martinez 6-3, 6-1 and Nikola Daubnerova of Slovakia defeated No. 8 seed Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Lucas Brown defeated No. 14 seed Aidan Kim 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 under the lights at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center.

No. 2 seed Jack Anthrop had no trouble with qualifier Emilio Vila of Mexico, winning 6-1, 6-1, and No. 3 seed Marc Ktiri of Spain advanced with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Ryan Colby. Gabrielius Guzauskas, who beat top seed Marko Andrejic of Austria on Monday, advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Michael Ross.

The first round of 18s doubles were played this evening, with top seeds Victoria Jimenez Kastinseva of Andorra and Ane Mintegi Del Olmo of Spain advancing. No. 2 seeds Robin Montgomery and France's Giulia Morlet also moved into the second round with a straight-sets win.

Top boys 18s seeds Tirante and Blanch defeated wild cards Leighton Allen and Spencer Brachman 6-1, 3-6, 10-4. No. 2 seeds Martin Krumich of the Czech Republic and Spain's Pedro Vives Marcos also advanced via a third set tiebreaker, beating alternates Jeffrey Fradkin and South Africa's Khololwam Montsi 4-6, 6-1, 10-5.

Draws and Wednesday's order of play as well as a link to live scoring is available at the tournament website.