Second Seed Eala, Eddie Herr Champion Bielinskyi Fall in Second Round at JA Orange Bowl; Top Seed Ousted in Girls 16s; Australian Open Junior Acceptances

©Colette Lewis 2021-
Plantation FL--

Kristyna Tomajkova made her first trip outside Europe to play the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl this year, and today the 16-year-old from Prostejov Czech Republic picked up the best win of her junior career, beating No. 2 seed and ITF World No. 3 Alexandra Eala of the Philippines 6-3, 6-3 on a warm and sunny day at the Veltri Tennis Center.

Tomajkova did not know Eala's game, but wasn't troubled by the power of the 16-year-old left-hander.

"I played well. I think she was the favorite, but I did everything right, and I just went for it," said Tomajkova, who reached the third round of the Eddie Herr. "It's an incredible win for me, it's the first time I played against that good of a player."

Tomajkova said the clay in the United States is a bit different from what she is used to in Europe, and she also likes hard courts, but believes clay brings out the strengths of her game.

"I think my style is better on clay, because I have good movement, and this is one of my strengths," said Tomajkova, who also pointed to her drop shot as another skill enhanced by the clay. "That is my strength too, I like it. Especially my backhand drop shot. I used that today and actually that worked."

Tomajkova will face No. 15 seed Liv Hovde, one of two American girls remaining in singles, after Hovde defeated Mao Mushika of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. 

Two other seeded girls lost in Wednesday's second round, with Evialina Laskevich of Belarus beating No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia 7-5, 6-4 and Mia Kupres of Canada defeating No. 13 seed Alina Shcherbinina of Russia 6-0, 6-2.

Eddie Herr ITF champion Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine looked to struggling a bit physically yesterday in his 7-5, 6-3 win over qualifier Landon Ardila, and today he could not summon the requisite energy to hold off Ryan Colby. Playing in his last junior tournament, Bielinskyi came to the court with his torso heavily taped, and his serve, never a huge weapon, had no heft at all. After dropping the first set 6-2, Bielinskyi retired after Colby held to start the second set.

 

Colby, who is also playing in his last junior event before starting college at USC next month, had an idea that Bielinskyi, the No. 4 seed this week, was not at his best physically.

"I heard he served underhand a little bit in his match yesterday," Colby said. "I didn't know how bad it was though, until the second set, when he just kind of gave up. I heard that he gets every ball, and he's got to be tired after winning Eddie Herr the week before, so I just thought if I could fight harder than him, I could win. I knew he was a little hurt, so I just kept pushing on him."

Colby, who won the USTA 18s Clay Court Championships this summer, said he prepared for the Mexico Grade A and this tournament at his home base at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park Maryland. 

"It was like 40 degrees, but we were still outside playing on the clay," said Colby, who much prefers the heat of South Florida. "I love hitting my forehand, so I just run around it all the time, so the slow courts help a lot. I've been playing well, just had one bad match (in Merida), but I'm feeling really good and ready for my match tomorrow."

Colby will play Henrique Rocha of Portugal in Thursday's third round.

After losing top seed Samir Banerjee yesterday, two more Top Four seeds lost today, Bielinskyi and No. 3 seed Mili Poljicak of Croatia. Poljicak, the Merida JA champion, lost to Kalin Ivanovski of Macedonia 6-4, 7-6(5).  Qualifier Preston Stearns defeated No. 13 seed Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico 6-4, 6-4.  Colby and Stearns are two of the four US boys remaining, with No. 2 seed Bruno Kuzuhara and unseeded Alex Michelsen also advancing with straight-sets wins Wednesday. 

The girls 16s draw lost its top seed today, with Yichen Cindy Zhao of China losing to Michela Moore 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in a four-hour battle. There are now only four seeds remaining in the girls 16s round of 16: No. 2 Alexia Jacobs of Canada, No. 15 Anya Murthy and Italy's Vittoria Paganetti[14] and Noemi Basiletti[16].

Top boys 16s seed Joseph Phillips had a second straight marathon, defeating Juan David Velasquez of Colombia 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(3). No. 2 seed Alexander Frusina beat Mitchell Lee 6-4, 6-4.

The Australian Open Junior Championships are on for 2022 and the acceptance list has been posted. 2019 girls champion and ITF Junior No. 1 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra has entered, along with No. 7 Diana Shnaider of Russia and No. 10 Petra Marcinko of Croatia. 

Bruno Kuzuhara, No. 9 in the ITF junior rankings, is the only Top 10 boy in the field.

American boys on the main draw entry list are Kuzuhara, Ozan Colak, Aidan Kim, Cooper Williams and Yannik Rahman. American boys accepted into qualifying are Leanid Boika, Kurt Miller and Nicholas Godsick. The cutoff ranking for boys was 121.

The US girls on the main draw entry list are Clervie Ngounoue, Liv Hovde, Alexis Blokhina and Qavia Lopez. American girls accepted into qualifying are Krystal Blanch, Mia Slama, Gracie Epps, Ava Krug and Olivia Lincer. The cutoff ranking for girls was 99.