November Aces; Kuzuhara Beats Williams, Sierra Ousts Top Seed Dmitruk at Eddie Herr ITF J1; Americans Face Off in G12s, B12s and G16s Finals; ITF JA Orange Bowl Qualifying Draws Released

©Colette Lewis 2021--

Bradenton FL--

Before I get to the recap of a busy day at the Eddie Herr International Championships at the IMG Academy, I wanted to post a link to my November Aces column at Tennis Recruiting Network. Sixteen players are featured, nearly evenly divided between current and recently graduated collegians and junior competitors. 

A heavy early morning fog Friday set back the 12 singles and doubles semifinal matches in the 12s, 14s and 16s division for about 90 minutes, but when it moved out, another perfect day of weather was in store.

The ITF J1 Eddie Herr Championships are played on Har-Tru, the green clay that is ubiquitous in Florida, which means they were not affected by any of the damp spots that delayed play on the hard courts.

The feature match on Court 1 today was the all-American quarterfinal between top seed Bruno Kuzuhara and unseeded Cooper Williams, and the dozens of fans watching from the soon-to-be demolished porch overlooking the court were treated to some excellent tennis from both players. Williams led 5-3 and had two set points in the first, but Kuzuhara raised his level to claim a 7-6(1), 6-2 victory.

Both players appeared nervous to start the match, with three straight breaks before Williams held for a 3-1 lead. He nursed that lead, using his forehand to keep Kuzuhara on defense for a 5-3 advantage, but with Kuzuhara serving at 3-5, 15-40, Williams did not take advantage of his opportunities. On the first set point, Kuzuhara hit a good first serve, but on the second set point, he failed to get a first serve in, yet didn't pay for that, with Williams putting a forehand return into the net. 

From that point on, Kuzuhara took control, with Williams losing his serve without getting to a set point to make it 5-all. In the tiebreaker, Williams couldn't get a first serve in, and Kuzuhara didn't waste that advantage, dictating those points to close out the set in just under an hour.

"I played my best tennis definitely towards the end of the first set," said the 17-year-old from Florida. "From breaking him at 5-4 through the breaker, I'd say I played really clean. I took my chances really well. I made the adjustment at the 5-4 game and it really paid off in the second."

Kuzuhara took a 4-1, two-break lead in the second set, with Williams pressing and Kuzuhara giving him no unforced errors. Serving at 4-1, Kuzuhara played a sloppy game to get broken, but Williams couldn't convert his 40-30 point in the next game to stay close, and Kuzuhara broke for the third time in the set to give himself additional breathing room.

"I started veering off my game plan, didn't play as well as I was, just mentally," Kuzuhara said. "But after I got broken, the light switch came back on."

In their previous encounter, five years ago, Kuzuhara had beaten Williams 6-0, 6-0 in a USTA 12-and-under tournament, a result they both refer to often.

"I remember that match very clearly," Kuzuhara said. "We still joke about it a lot. Cooper was 10, I was 11, and that score doesn't reflect how he's playing now."

In Saturday's semifinals, Kuzuhara will face No. 16 seed Killian Feldbausch of Switzerland, who defeated No. 8 seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(7) in a three-hour contest. Feldbausch, 16, and Kuzuhara have not played before.

In the bottom half, No. 2 seed Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine continued his march through the draw, defeating No. 9 seed Olaf Pieczkowski of Poland 6-4, 6-2. Bielinskyi will play unseeded Dino Prizmic of Croatia, who advanced when No. 3 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic retired trailing 7-5, 1-1.  Mensik served for the first set at 5-4 and had two set points in the seven-deuce game, but once Prizmic earned that break, Mensik's play deteriorated, and he announced he could not continue. Then, while still on court, he immediately unwrapped all the physio tape he had wrapped around his torso before returning to his chair to pack up his bags. Prizmic and Bielinskyi are meeting for the first time on the ITF junior circuit.

While the boys top seed was able to advance, the girls No. 1, Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus, was not so fortunate. No. 6 seed Solana Sierra of Argentina, who had had nothing but drama in her second and third round matches, coming back from a set down in both, brought her A game to Friday's quarterfinal match with the US Open girls finalist to earn a 6-3, 7-5 victory. 

Using her backhand to dictate and finish points, Sierra was able to avoid the errors that had given her previous two opponents hope.

"I think I was down three match points in those two matches," said the 17-year-old, who is traveling with the ITF Junior Development team these two weeks, as she did for the 2021 junior slams. "I played very better. First set I feel very good with my game; she started playing very well in the second set, but I played good too."

Sierra said she needed to adjust her mindset after struggling in her previous matches.

"I think my mentality, my intensity, I changed that," Sierra said. "When I am intense on the court, I play better."

Dmitruk had an opportunity to put more pressure on Sierra after breaking to take a 4-3 lead in the second set, but she immediately lost her serve and could not come up with the winners that Sierra produced on the big points. At 5-6, 30-40, Sierra stepped into a big forehand that Dmitruk had no chance to return, to set up a third meeting with Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic in Saturday's semifinals.

The third-seeded Fruhvirtova, who defeated No. 12 seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia 6-2, 6-1 in this afternoon's quarterfinal, defeated Sierra in straight sets in the first round of the French Open this year, and last week in the quarterfinals of the JA in Merida Mexico.

Brenda Fruhvirtova, the No. 5 seed, advanced to semifinals with a 7-6(3), 4-1 ret. victory over No. 16 seed Evialina Laskevich of Belarus. The 14-year-old from the Czech Republic will face No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia, who posted a quick 6-1, 6-1 victory over unseeded Mia Kupres of Canada. The two have not met previously on the ITF junior circuit.

The doubles finals are set for Saturday, with the top two seeds in the girls draw vying for the title.

Top seeds Shnaider and Petra Marcinko of Croatia defeated Ciric Bagaric and Johanne Christine Svendsen of Denmark 6-2, 6-2 to set up a final against the second-seeded Fruhvirtova sisters. The Fruhvirtovas avenged their loss last week in Merida to Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada, the No. 8 seeds, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in the evening match that closed the ITF J1 action for the day.

The boys doubles final will feature the unseeded team of Michael Zheng and Benjamin Kittay, who beat Gianluca Ballotta of Peru and Leanid Boika, also unseeded, 6-1, 6-4, and No. 4 seeds Aleksander Orlikowski and Pieczkowski of Poland. Orlikowski and Pieczkowski defeated the wild card team of Juncheng Jerry Shang of China and Alex Frusina 6-3, 6-2 in this afternoon's semifinals.

Three Eddie Herr singles champions will be Americans, with the Boys 12s, Girls 12s and G16s finals to be contested by players from the United States. All six finals, which will be play simultaneously Saturday at 9:30 a.m., have a least one American player.

Below are the results of today's semifinals, with the matchups for Saturday afternoon's doubles finals also posted below. The complete draws can be found here.

Eddie Herr singles semifinals results:

B16s:

Lorenzo Carboni[WC](ITA) d. Andrew Delgado[WC](USA) 6-1, 7-6(1)

Rudy Quan[WC](USA) d. Rei Sakamoto[2](JPN) walkover, pc

B14s:

Max Exsted[1](USA) d. Shion Itsusaki[12](JPN) 6-3, 6-1

Timofey Derepasko[3](RUS)d. Andrea de Marchi[2](ITA) 6-2, 6-3

B12s:

Jordan Lee[4](USA) d. Navneet Raguram[1](USA) 6-4, 4-6, 10-2

Teodor Davidov[2](USA) d. Cho Minhyuk(KOR) 6-1, 7-5

G16s:

Brooklyn Olson[3](USA) d. Piper Charney[1](USA) 7-6(4), 6-1

Kate Kim[4](USA) d. Reya Coe[10](USA) 6-1, 6-3

G14s:

Rositsa Dencheva[1](BUL) d. Wakana Sonobe[3](JPN) 0-6, 6-1, 6-4

Eva Oxford[2](USA) d. Maya Iyengar[4](USA) 6-3, 7-6(4)

G12s: 

Anita Tu[5](USA) d. Lia Belibova[1](MDA) 6-4, 6-4

Kristina Penickova[3](USA) d. Ana Avramovic[11](USA) 6-1, 3-0, ret. inj

Doubles finals:

B16s:

Tygen Goldammer/Ilyas Fahim[7](USA) v. Tanner Povey/Paris Pouatcha[2](USA)

B14s:

Maxwell Exsted/Maximus Dussault[1](USA) v Benjamin Willwerth/Yubel Ubri(USA)

B12s: Juan Miguel Bolivar(COL)/Naveet Raghuram(USA)[1] v Jae Jun Shin/Seung Jun Yu(KOR)

G12s:

Ji Yun Oh/Ye Sung Choo(KOR) v Anita Tu(USA)/Bela Martinez(PUR)[2]

G14s:

Lira Kosaka/Kiko Inoue(JPN)[6] v Jo Leen Saw(MAS)/Rositsa Dencheva(BUL)[2]

G16s: My-Anh Holmes/Mia Yamakita(USA) v Noemi Basiletti/Vittoria Paganetti[3](ITA)

Qualifying for ITF JA Orange Bowl begins Saturday, with the draws now posted. Brayden Shick, the NC State sophomore, received a wild card and is the No. 1 seed. The girls qualifying draw did not fill, and while the boys did not have any byes, several players without ITF junior rankings got in. 2020 Orange Bowl 16s champion Valeria Ray did not receive a wild card into the 18s, and is the No. 8 seed in qualifying. Draws can be found here.