Boogaard Defeats Ngounoue in Les Petits As Final, Stusek Claims Girls Title; Women's Field Set for ITA Team Indoor; Pro Circuit Results Include Titles for Mandlik and Holt

Thijs Boogaard and Julia Stusek
photo courtesy Les Petits As/Richard van Loon
toptennis.photos

Thijs Boogaard doubled the number of Dutch Les Petits As winners today at Les Petits As, joining 1996 men's Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek on that list with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Carel Ngounoue of the United States.

Boogaard, the No. 3 seed, and Ngounoue, seeded No. 10, had partnered for the doubles title on Saturday, so the final was unlikely to present any surprises or disputes. Instead, the match demonstrated the commitment to playing their aggressive games, while keeping the emotions the 13-year-olds were no doubt feeling in check.

After two breaks to open the match, with both games going to multiple deuces, Boogaard and Ngounoue settled their nerves and held for 4-3.

Boogaard was the first to blink, hitting a double fault and netting a forehand from deuce, and Ngounoue had what would turn out to be his second and last break of serve in the match. He held easily to take the set, and Boogaard took a bathroom break before the start of the second set.

Ngounoue was broken at love serving at 1-2, but had three opportunities to get the break right back, with Boogaard making rare unforced errors to fall behind 0-40. But Ngounoue's second serve return let him down and Boogaard won five straight points to maintain his lead. 

Serving at 2-5 in the second, Ngounoue hit two double faults, including on set point, and it was his turn for a toilet break, although it was noticeably shorter than Boogaard's after the first set.

Boogaard went up 3-0 in the third set, although Ngounoue had break points in both of Boogaard's service games during that stretch. Ngounoue got on the board, hitting an ace on game point, then had two break points at 15-40. But Boogaard's depth and court positioning continued to payoff, as he won four straight points to maintain his lead at 4-1. Three holds, with Boogaard finally playing a service game without facing a break point, made it 5-3, and Boogaard had a chance to serve for the match.

In keeping with the theme of the third set, Boogaard went down 15-40 after a double fault, but he again recovered hitting a big forehand that forced an error to save the first and a well executed backhand volley to save the second. Ngounoue was back on his heels in the long rallies, hitting shorter and shorter, with Boogaard stepping in to get into position to blast his forehand. On his first match point, Boogaard hit a forehand just long, but earned a second on the next point with forehand putaway at the net. Ngounoue's net cord winner brought the score back to deuce and Ngounoue earned a third break point when Boogaard's backhand reply to Ngounoue's return went wide.

But another putaway earned from Boogaard's commitment to moving forward saved that break point, and  a forehand winner gave him a third match point, which he converted when Ngounoue's backhand found the net. 

Ngounoue, who went 0-7 on break points in the that third set, matched his sister Clervie's accomplishments of two years ago in Tarbes with a doubles title and a singles final, while Boogaard ends a drought for the Netherlands that extends back to Krajicek's win in 1985, the third year of the tournament's existence. 

In the girls final, No. 3 seed Julia Stusek of Germany also ended a lengthy streak of frustration for Germany when she defeated unseeded 12-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-3, 6-3.

Stusek, 13, was able to handle Klugman's pace without retreating, and Klugman could not find a service hold when she needed it. Down 3-0 and two breaks in the second set, Klugman got a break, but couldn't hold, a pattern that continued after the next two Stusek's service games. The only hold of the set for either girl was Stusek's in the second game but it was enough, as she broke Klugman for the title.

A German boy has never won the Les Petits As singles title in the tournament's 40-year history, and the last time a German girl claimed the title was in 1990, when Heike Rusch defeated Lindsay Davenport in the final. Anke Huber in 1988 was the first German girl to win the title.

Completed draws can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament site.

The field is set for next month's ITA Women's Team Indoor in Madison Wisconsin after seven more teams earned their spots in ITA Kickoff Weekend action today. The big story of the day was the win by Old Dominion, a No. 4 seed, who beat top seed Georgia Tech 4-3 on Saturday and No. 3 seed Mississippi 4-3 today to qualify for the tournament for the first time in history. A total of six women's teams hosted but did not advance: UCLA, Baylor, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Central Florida and Duke.

The qualifiers:

Texas

Oklahoma

Ohio State

Georgia

Texas A&M

Florida

Auburn

North Carolina

Virginia

North Carolina State

Cal

Southern Cal

Washington

Pepperdine

Old Dominion
Wisconsin(host)

Below are the results from the seven Saturday/Sunday regionals. For the Friday/Saturday regional results see this post.

Women Saturday/Sunday:

Duke[1] d. Nebraska[4] 4-0

Oklahoma[2] d. Furman[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Oklahoma[2] d. Duke[1] 4-2

Ohio State[1] d. Oklahoma State[4] 4-1

Tennessee[3] d. LSU[2] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Ohio State[1] d. Tennessee[3] 4-0

Florida State[1] d. Illinois[4] 4-3

Florida[2] d. Florida International[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Florida[2] d. Florida State[1] 4-0

North Carolina State[1] d. Penn State[4] (alt for Iowa State) 4-0

Wake Forest[3] d. Northwestern[2] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL:

North Carolina State[1] d. Wake Forest[3] 4-0

Old Dominion[4] d. Georgia Tech[1] 4-3

Mississippi[3] d. Michigan[2] 4-1 

SUNDAY FINAL:

Old Dominion[4] d. Mississippi[3] 4-3

Pepperdine[1] d. Columbia[4] 4-0

Notre Dame[2] d. Colorado[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Pepperdine[1] d. Notre Dame[2] 4-0

Texas A&M[1] d. Princeton[4] 4-1

Texas Tech[3] d. South Carolina[2] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Texas A&M[1] d. Texas Tech[3] 4-0

There are still three spots in the men's 16-team field up for grabs on Monday; even in the unlikely event the No. 1 seeds all lose, they still would not have as many hosts losing in the regionals as the women. Just two have failed to advance so far: North Carolina and Mississippi State.

MEN:

First round Sunday results, with hosts in bold:

Baylor[1] d. William and Mary[4] 4-0

Miami[2] d. Clemson[3] 4-1

Georgia[1] d. VCU[4] 4-1

South Florida[2] d. Virginia Tech[3] 4-2

Central Florida[1] d. Louisville[4] 4-3

Stanford[2] d. Tulane[3] 4-0

Men Saturday/Sunday

North Carolina[1] d. Northwestern[4] 4-0

Ohio State[3] d. Arizona State[2] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Ohio State[3] d. North Carolina[1] 4-0

Virginia[1] d. Ball State[4] 4-0

Georgia Tech[2] d. Middle Tennessee State[3] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL: 

Virginia[1] d. Georgia Tech[2] 4-0

Mississippi State[1] d. Arkansas[4] 4-1

Kentucky[2] d. Alabama[3] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Kentucky[2] d. Mississippi State[1] 4-2

South Carolina[1] d. LSU[4] 4-1

Duke[2] d. Liberty[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

South Carolina[1] d. Duke[2] 4-3

Texas[1] d. Columbia[4] 4-0

Oregon[3] d. Oklahoma State[2] 4-0 

SUNDAY FINAL:

Texas[1] d. Oregon[3] 4-0

Florida[1] d. Princeton[4] 4-0

Florida State[2] d. UNC Wilmington[3] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Florida[1] d. Florida State[2] 4-1

Southern Cal [1] bye (Denver[3] drops out, no replacement)

Harvard[4] d. Pepperdine[2] 4-3

SUNDAY FINAL:

Southern Cal[1] d. Harvard[4] 4-0

TCU[1] d. Portland[4] 4-0

Tulsa[3] d. Wichita State[2] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL:

TCU[1] d. Tulsa[3] 4-0

Texas A&M[1] d. UCLA[4] 4-0

Arizona[2] d. Texas Tech[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Texas A&M[1] d. Arizona[2] 4-1

Mississippi[1] d. Oklahoma[4] 4-1

North Carolina State[3] d. Illinois[2] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL:

Mississippi[1] d. North Carolina State[3] 4-2

The three USTA Pro Circuit events concluded today without any American singles champions. At the ATP Challenger 80 in Columbus, No. 3 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan defeated Dominic Stricker of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 for the title. Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) and Mikael Torpegaard(Ohio State) of Denmark won the doubles title, beating Luca Margaroli of Switzerland and Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 in a final between two unseeded teams. 

At the $60,000 Women's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Orlando, No. 2 seed Qinwen Zheng of China defeated unseeded Christina McHale 6-0, 6-1 in today singles final. Hailey Baptiste and Whitney Osuigwe, the No. 4 seeds, won the doubles title with a 7-6(7), 7-5 win over the unseeded team of former Southern Cal teammates Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes.

At the $25,000 Men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Weston, top seed Eduard Esteve Lobato of Spain took the title, beating former Tennessee standout Timo Stodder of Germany 6-3, 7-5 in today's final. Top seeds Dennis Novikov(UCLA) and Ruan Roelofse(Illinois) of South Africa defeated unseeded Abraham Asaba of Ghana and Guy Orly Iradukunda(Florida State) of Burundi 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 in the doubles final Saturday.

Elsewhere, Elli Mandlik won her second $25K title in a row today in Brazil. Mandlik, the 20-year-old daughter of Hana Mandlikova, won two matches today, defeating top seed Elina Avanesyan of Russia 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals, then beating unseeded Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4 in the final. 

Brandon Holt(USC), the son of Tracy Austin, won his second straight $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour men's title in Cancun this week. The 23-year-old Holt, who like Mandlik, was unseeded, defeated unseeded Luis Patino of Mexico 6-0, 6-3 in today's final. Holt is 10-0 to start 2022.

And congratulations to Rafael Nadal for earning his record 21st men's slam title in Australia with a 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win over Daniil Medvedev of Russia. In the women's doubles final, former Florida Gator Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and her partner Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil fell to top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4. For more on that final, see this article from the Australian Open website.