Tien Beats Quinn, Advances to San Diego J1 Final Against Kang; Unseeded Crossley Takes on Top Seed Hovde for Girls Title; Controversial End to Boys Doubles Final

©Colette Lewis 2022--
San Diego CA--

Although there were four boys in the field at this week's ITF Grade 1 International Open of San Diego who had won Grade 1 titles, none of them have advanced to Sunday's final after No. 12 seed Learner Tien defeated top seed and defending champion Ethan Quinn 6-4, 6-2 and wild card Kyle Kang cruised past No. 5 seed Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 6-1.

Tien, a 16-year-old from Irvine California, had reached a semifinal at the last tournament he played, losing to Gorzny at the J1 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica in early January. After that loss, he identified several areas he wanted to improve, and didn't play again until this week.

"I had quite a lot of time to practice, work on some things that I feel were holding me back a little bit, my serve and point construction," said Tien, who did not drop serve in his semifinal win today. "But mainly my serve, so it wasn't such a liability during matches. It's definitely an improvement from before, when even when I did get a break, I struggled to hold serve consistently. So I'm really happy with how I'm playing now."

Tien got an early break to start the match, and held on to it, saving a break point serving at 4-3. Tien had three set points in Quinn's next service game, and although he couldn't convert those, he took advantage of two unforced forehand errors from Quinn at 5-4, 30-30 to secure the first set.

The second set was similar to the first, with Tien getting an early break and going up 4-2. This time Quinn lost serve again, from 40-15 up to give Tien a chance to serve it out, and he did, hitting an ace on his first match point.

Although he had not played Quinn in many years, Tien sensed that he was feeling the effects of his run to the semifinals at the $25,000 tournament in Bakersfield last week and his long matches throughout this week.

"I know he's been a bit tired coming off a couple of long tournaments," Tien said. "It didn't seem as if he's at his best right now. But I played a solid match, took care of the things I could control. Yeah, I'm really happy with how I'm playing now."

Tien needed less than 90 minutes to get his semifinal victory, but Kang outdid him, taking just an hour to advance to his first Grade 1 final.

"I just knew from the start that I had to be ready for every point," said Kang, a 17-year-old from Fullerton California. "Especially against a guy like him, when I'm up that much I still knew he could come back at any time. 4-1, I was facing a tough service game, but I knew if he got the break I was in trouble. I was just focused on every game and I wasn't worried about the score, but I guess it went pretty quickly."

Kang said it has been a long time since he's won a tournament, so just getting to the final feels like a big step forward.

"It's a first final in a while," Kang said. "I haven't won too many tournaments recently, or even made it this far, so hopefully I can get it done tomorrow."

Tien and Kang were at a loss to remember the last time they played.

"It must have been the 12s," Kang said. "But I know him pretty well, we're both SoCal kids, so it should be a fun final."

The girls final will feature two players who know little about each other: top seed Liv Hovde, who defeated wild card Katie Codd 6-2, 6-2 and unseeded Mayu Crossley, a 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-2 winner over No. 5 seed Alexis Blokhina. 

Hovde, who had yet to lose more than four games in a set this week, stayed on that level against Codd, who despite possessing a strong first serve, held it only once in the match.

Codd broke Hovde serving for the first set at 5-1, but Hovde's power and depth eventually tipped most of the points in the ITF Top 10 junior's favor.

"She does have a really good serve," said Hovde, who won last year's Easter Bowl JB1 title on the same Stadium Court where she claimed her semifinal win today. "But I was really timing the ball well and feeling the ball today. I just love these courts, I feel so comfortable on them."

Hovde took a 4-0 lead in the second set, lost her serve and failed to break for the only time in the match in the next game, but the 16-year-old from Texas held and broke to reach her third Grade 1 final, all in the past 12 months.

While Hovde's win was straightforward, Crossley's was anything but. The 15-year-old, who came to the United States from Japan last September, came from a break down twice in the first set, immediately breaking back both times, after having saved a set point on her own serve at 4-5.  Blokhina served for the set at 6-5, but never reached set point, and in the tiebreaker, Crossley executed all her shots, dominating the 18-year-old left-hander from Florida.

As in the first, the second set featured an early break by Blokhina that Crossley got right back, but serving at 4-5, Crossley played one of her worst games of the match, going down 0-40, with Blokhina handing Crossley her first loss of a set this week on her third set point.

Crossley said she was not discouraged after that poor game; instead, she played as the underdog she was.

"She's a good player, so I didn't have pressure," said Crossley, who defeated No. 3 seed Qavia Lopez 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals Friday. "I could play relaxed."

Blokhina held in the first game of the set, but was broken the next three times she served, to give Crossley some insurance, which she ended up not needing as she closed out the two-and-a-half hour match.

Crossley, who said she decided to move from Japan to the United States for the chance to experience nicer weather and better coaching, has limited exposure to many of the top international juniors.

"I don't know anyone," said Crossley, who is coached by Jacopo Tezza at the Evert Tennis Academy.

But she does know the Barnes Tennis Center, having won the Grade 5 here last November.

"I like this place, these courts match my tennis," Crossley said.

Hovde said although she doesn't know Crossley's game at all, her results this week indicates how dangerous she is.

"I'll have to figure it out, play my game," Hovde said. "I never underestimate anyone."

The doubles finals closed out the action on a cool and sunny afternoon in San Diego, with No. 4 seed Jonah Braswell and Canada's Jaden Weeks defeating unseeded Lucas Brown and Landon Ardila 6-3, 7-5.

Although the ITF rules require a chair umpire for the semifinals and finals in a Grade 1, there were no chair umpires for the doubles finals (or semifinals yesterday). That led to a heated argument on a deuce point/set point in the boys final, with Lucas Brown serving. Brown's forehand hit near the baseline with Weekes hitting his reply. After a  pause, Braswell, on the service line raised his finger to indicate Brown's shot was out. A roving umpire watching the match off court said he did not hear or see a call and awarded the point to Brown and Ardila. Braswell argued loudly that he had called it out, and continued to state his case while Ardila and Brown walked to their seats to prepare for the match tiebreaker. Shortly thereafter the ITF Supervisor Marc Bell came on to the court to discuss the issue with the roving umpire, and determined that, because the umpire was not on the court, he could not make the call he had made. The deciding point went to Braswell and Weekes and they went on to win eight of the next nine points to take the title.

"There's going to be close calls in tennis all the time and whether it's in or out, I'm just going to go with what I see," Braswell said. "I'm going to call what I see, no matter what the opponent says."

"We both saw it out, everyone else did," said Weekes. "It was unfortunate how it ended, but we are happy we got it done, stayed focused to get the win."

Weekes and Braswell were playing together for the first time this week, although they knew each other from international competition in the 12s and 14s. 

"I think we set each other up well," said the 17-year-old Weekes. "We have great teamwork and great chemistry. It took a bit of time in the first round, but as the tournament went on, we kind of built up and we figured out how to play together, and at the end of the tournament we were playing our best."

"I think we play both similar in some ways and also a little bit different, which helps as well, makes us a good team," Braswell, 18, said. "It may sound a little cheesy, but we play really well together, and our games really mesh."

The girls doubles champions also were playing in their first tournament together, with Lara Smejkal of Slovenia and Sophie Williams defeating Codd and Maddy Zampardo 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in a battle of unseeded teams.

"In the first set, we were struggling with their serves, because they both have such great serves," said Williams, an 18-year-old from Charleston South Carolina. "We knew we needed to serve well to have a chance, and our service games started out rocky, so that made it a little tough."

"In the beginning, we were just tight to begin with," said Smejkal, a 17-year-old from Boca Raton. "Also pressure of the opposing team made me feel I had to play more than I should have. I think in the second set, we both relaxed and that was how we were able to close it out."

Smejkal and Williams broke Zampardo to open the second set, and had no difficulty holding serve, with two love holds putting all the pressure on Codd and Zampardo. Zampardo was broken to end the set, with Smejkal slamming a volley winner at 30-40, and they took a 5-1 lead in the match tiebreaker.

But Codd and Zampardo fought back, winning the next five points to get back in it.

At 8-all, Smejkal dug out what should have been a Codd winner to give her team a match point, then closed out the title with an overhead.

Smejkal was on the verge of pulling out of doubles after injuring her hamstring in her first round singles match and retiring from it, but Williams would not let her withdraw from doubles.

"I was like, you are not pulling out; I'll play singles, just serve and get off the court," Williams said. "I felt so bad, I told here I didn't know if I could play," Smejkal said. "She said, 'you just get on the court, I'll play, you just stand there.'"

"Every match we played better together," Williams said, "so hopefully it's not the last time we play together."

Neither of the champions will play the Easter Bowl as a team. Weekes, as a Canadian, is not eligible for the B1 Closed event; Smejkal, who does have the requisite immigration status, is instead heading to Europe to compete.

Both singles finals are scheduled for 10 a.m. Pacific time Sunday. There is no streaming or live scoring.