Eddie Herr ITF Recap; Unseeded Canadians Cross and Kupres Post Big Upsets in Third Round of Orange Bowl; Kuzuhara, Colby Reach Boys Quarterfinals

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Plantation FL--

Last week the Fruhvirtova sisters dominated the conversation at the Eddie Herr International ITF J1, but finals day ended up belonging to the boys. My coverage for Tennis Recruiting Network is available here; the recap of the Eddie Herr 12s, 14s and 16s finals will be available on Friday.

After another warm and sunny day at the Veltri Tennis Center, the ITF JA Orange Bowl is moving into its final stages, without either of the top seeds. Boys No. 1 Samir Banerjee lost in the first round on Tuesday to Kilian Feldbausch, and in today's third round, girls No. 1 Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus was ousted by unseeded Kayla Cross of Canada 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Cross said her underdog status helped her stay aggressive, but closing out a win over the US Open girls finalist and ITF's No. 2 junior, is hardly routine. 

"Obviously I played very well to beat a player like that," said the 16-year-old left-hander. "It was a very intense match, around three hours long, very physical. I went into it with no pressure, she has all the pressure, but when you get to the end, when everyone's like yeah, she's about to beat the No. 1 seed, that's running through your mind. In the third set, I just went out and said I have to win this match, I can't play not to lose, because she will take the advantage if I do that."

Cross has been disappointed in her singles play this summer and fall, but she recognized that she was competitive in the losses she took.

"I wasn't doing the  best, but I kept up my doubles, and I was really close in a lot of singles, I was just losing in the third set, third set breakers, 7-5, 6-4," said Cross, who beat 2020 Orange Bowl champion Ashlyn Krueger at the J1 in San Diego, but hadn't had a win of that stature since. "It's nice to get that big, top win again."

Although Cross recognizes that Canadians are expected to be good indoor hard court players, clay is her preferred surface. 

"Honestly for me, I like clay the best, I grew up on clay even though I was in Canada," Cross said. "All the summers, I played on clay, I personally love clay the best. I just like to be able to slide; you get to show your style a little more. I come to the net, can drop shot, for me it's a little funner."

Cross will face No. 5 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia, who defeated No. 11 seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia 6-2, 6-1.

Cross is one of four Tennis Canada junior girls traveling together, competing around the world. Victoria Mboko and Annabelle Xu have the slightly better rankings after their year and a half of ITF Junior Circuit travel, but it was Cross and Mia Kupres who made the big splash at the Orange Bowl.

Kupres, an unseeded 17-year-old from Edmonton, ended the possibility of a fourth straight final between the Fruhvirtova sisters, beating No. 4 seed Brenda Fruhvirtova 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. 

"I came out knowing I was the underdog," said Kupres, who recently signed a national letter of intent with Texas A&M for the fall of 2022. "I went out hitting my shots freely, and I thought I played pretty smart, using my weapons to my advantage: my forehand, and I served well."

As with Cross, Kupres admitted that the pressure increased in the third set, although she was aware that Fruhvirtova was having problems with her shoulder and called for a trainer early in the final set. 

"Towards the end, of course, when it started getting close, I was getting a little nervous, but I just kept with my game," Kupres said. "I've had a couple of pretty good tournaments, so I was confident. Toward the end of the third set, I could definitely notice on her serve, she couldn't really swing at it because of her shoulder."

Kupres is partial to a hard indoor surface, but feels her game also translates well to clay.

"Clay courts suit my heavy ball," Kupres said. "And I've been working a lot on my serve, using my serve to get the upper hand in the point, and I think I used that well today."

Kupres will face No. 12 seed Laura Hietaranta of Finland, a semifinalist at last year's Orange Bowl. Hietaranta defeated No. 8 seed Clervie Ngounoue of the United States 6-3, 6-3. 

Kristyna Tomajkova of the Czech Republic, who defeated No. 2 seed Alexandra Eala on Wednesday, eliminated the other American still in the girls draw, defeating No. 15 seed Liv Hovde 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Tomajkova will face No. 10 seed Celine Naef of Switzerland, who avenged her Eddie Herr loss to Solana Sierra of Argentina, the No. 7 seed this week, 6-3 6-3. Naef had held match points in her third round loss to Sierra last week. 

The fourth quarterfinal will feature No. 3 seed Linda Fruhvirtova against No. 6 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia. Fruhvirtova defeated Victoria Mboko of Canada 6-4, 6-3, while Marcinko fought back to take a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Evialina Laskevich of Belarus. Fruhvirtova and Marcinko played at Wimbledon and at the JA in Merida this year, with Fruhvirtova winning both matches in straight sets. 

Two Americans have advanced to the boys quarterfinals: No. 2 seed Bruno Kuzuhara and unseeded Ryan Colby. 

Kuzuhara was moved from a show court to one of the outer courts due to the length of the 16s match on his original court, so only a few of the local fans were able to track his 6-3, 6-2 win  over No. 16 seed Olaf Pieczkowski of Poland. Kuzuhara will face No. 10 seed Coleman Wong of Hong Kong, who took out No. 8 seed Gonzalo Bueno of Peru 6-4, 6-1. 

Colby didn't play badly in the first set of his 0-6, 7-6(3), 6-0 win over unseeded Henrique Rocha of Portugal. Rocha was on fire, hitting winners at will, but once he cooled off, Colby took control and cruised to his first JA quarterfinal. He will face No. 6 seed Leo Borg of Sweden, the son of Bjorn Borg, who defeated unseeded Hynek Barton of the Czech Republic 6-3 2-6, 6-4. 

Eddie Herr finalist Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland defeated qualifier Preston Stearns 7-5, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal against No. 7 seed Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay. Vallejo came back to defeat qualifier Alex Michelsen 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3.

The fourth quarterfinal will feature two unseeded players with Gerard Campana Lee of Korea taking on Kalin Ivanovski of Macedonia. Campana Lee defeated No. 5 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3, while Ivanovski beat No. 15 seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania 7-6(4), 7-6(3).

The singles and doubles semifinalists in the 16s division have been determined after both the third round and the quarterfinal in singles were played today.

The girls 16s champion will be unseeded, with the two seeds remaining in the draw losing in today's quarterfinals. Olivia Center won two three-setters, beating Reya Coe 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the third round and No. 15 seed Anya Murthy 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Center will face Stephanie Yakoff, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, beating Clara Zou 6-2, 6-1 and No. 14 seed Vittoria Paganetti 6-4, 6-3. 

Eddie Herr champion Kate Kim defeated Kavya Karra 6-4, 6-3, then outlasted Piper Charney 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3). Kim will face the only international player still alive in the girls draw, Alessandra Teodosescu of Italy. Teodosescu defeated No. 2 seed Alexia Jacobs of Canada 0-6, 7-5, 6-1 and wild card Pearlie Zhang 6-3, 6-1.

The boys 16s semifinal in the top half will feature Eddie Herr finalist Lorenzo Carboni of Italy, the No. 14 seed, against No. 4 seed Quang Dong of the United States. Carboni defeated top seed Joseph Phillips 6-3, 6-4 and unseeded Lucas Andrade Da Silva of Brazil 7-5, 6-3.  Duong had no trouble with Rafael Botran Neutze of Guatemala in the third round, winning that match 6-3, 6-1, but he had his hands full with Chase Fralick, who was physically compromised by his earlier 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 marathon win over No. 10 seed Adhithya Ganesan. Fralick was cramping in the third set, and eventually Duong claimed a 7-6(11), 3-6, 6-3 victory.

No. 2 seed Alexander Frusina had to come from a set down in the third round, beating Cooper Woestendick 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. He then downed No. 7 seed Stefan Regalia 6-3, 6-2. Frusina will face unseeded ZhengQing Ji of China, who defeated No. 15 seed George Lazarov of Bulgaria 7-5, 6-3 and unseeded Andrew Delgado 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3.

Singles semifinal play in the 16s is expected to begin around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, with the doubles semifinals not before 2:30 p.m.  The 18s division begins with all singles quarterfinals at 10:00 a.m., with doubles not before 1 p.m. 

Live scoring, via the iOncourt app will be available for the singles matches Friday. For live scoring in a browser, click here. The live scoring is being done manually, and not by officials, so it may be by game only, not point by point.