Basavareddy Picks Up First Junior Slam Victory, Colak Advances to Second Round at Wimbledon Juniors; Nakashima, Fritz Reach Wimbledon Men's Round of 16; 14-year-old Jovic Makes Los Angeles $15K Final

©Colette Lewis--
Wimbledon 2022--

With only two of the 18 Americans competing in the main draw of the Wimbledon Junior Championships on Saturday's schedule, and neither of the No. 1 seeds in action, there was still plenty of interest in the younger set as big crowds thronged to the outer courts on a pleasant summer day at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

No. 5 seed Nishesh Basavareddy posted his first victory at a junior slam, defeating  Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

The 17-year-old from Indiana had never been inside the gates at AELTC until this morning, when the juniors were first allowed access, and he found it to be all he had expected.

"As soon as you walk in, you can feel the history and understand why people say that it's their favorite slam," Basavareddy said. "The surroundings are amazing, the fans are amazing; it feels really good playing in front of a lot people."

Basavareddy was down 3-0 in the second set, got it back to to 4-all, but wasn't able to finish it in straight sets, with several crucial calls in his 4-5 service game going against him, after three Hawkeye challenges resulted in points for Dietrich.

"It was probably like a millimeter," Basavareddy said of one of the calls. "I was really frustrated, because I thought I was playing a little better, but I just reset in the third, started out playing pretty well and took it from there."

Although he got 81 percent of his first serves in the third set, Basavareddy did have to save a break point at 2-3 and went down 15-30 at 3-4, but that's when he managed some of his best serving.

"I think my first serve percentage in the first two and a half sets wasn't that high, but at the end I was finding a little more, especially on the bigger points, which is nice," said Basavareddy, who won the final ten points of the match.

After losing in the first round in his last two tournaments--Roland Garros and at last week's Grade 1 warmup in Roehampton--Basavareddy was happy to end that streak.

"To get through the first round, get back in the groove, it's nice to get through this and I hope I can play better and better each round as the matches get tougher."

Unlike Basavareddy, Ozan Colak had experience to draw on as he took the court today against Olaf Pieczkowski of Poland. The 18-year-old from Michigan started a little slowly, but found his form at the end of the second set and rolled to a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

"Last year everything was new," said Colak, who reached the round of 16 here in 2021. "Even walking to the courts, I didn't know the way. This year I feel much more comfortable; I knew what to expect: the balls, the conditions. I just think it's a big advantage mentally more than anything, because I know there's going to be tough times, but you know the place, and it's a lot easier to do it then."

Colak did start slowly, falling behind 3-1 in the first set, but was not troubled by those opening games.

"It was more about establishing my game, and what I wanted to do," said Colak, who will begin his college career at Michigan State this fall. "I was sure that once I started feeling it, I would be in the right position. I calmed myself down, and I was able to lock in my serve, and once I got that going, everything fell into place."

Colak was able to use his slice, both forehand and backhand, to his advantage throughout the match.

"Unfortunately it's sometimes a disadvantage on other surfaces, because I tend to rely on it, because I know I have that skill," Colak said. "But on the grass, it works very well for me, so it's more finding my game and mixing that in as well, because on grass, it's very effective."

Although No. 1 seeds Gabriel Debru of France and Liv Hovde do not play until Sunday, both No. 2 seeds advanced, with Celine Naef of Switzerland defeating British wild card Sarah Tatu 6-1, 6-3 and No. 2 seed Jakub Mensik beating British wild card Henry Searle 6-4, 7-6(4).

With the new schedule this year, which includes play on middle Sunday for the first time, the 16 boys who won today won't play singles again until Tuesday. Doubles begin on Monday for the boys, Tuesday for the girls. Naef and Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic are the top seeds in the girls draw. Roland Garros  champions Mili Poljicak of Croatia and Edas Butvilas of Lithuania are No. 1 seeds in the boys draw. Butvilas won the boys doubles title last year at Wimbledon with Alejandro Manzanera Pertusa of Spain. 

Four of the final 16 men remaining in singles are Americans, after Taylor Fritz and Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) joined Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round. Amanda Anisimova is the only American woman remaining in women's singles.

Third round results of American men and women Saturday July 1:

Amanda Anisimova[20] d. Coco Gauff[11] 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1
Petra Martic(CRO) d. Jessica Pegula[8] 6-2, 7-6(5)

Cristian Garin(CHI) d. Jenson Brooksby[29] 6-2, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4

Taylor Fritz[11] d. Alex Molcan(SVK) 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(3)

Brandon Nakashima d. Daniel Elahi Galan(COL) 6-4, 6-4, 6-1

Jason Kubler(AUS) d. Jack Sock[Q] 6-2, 4-6, 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 

Fourth round matches featuring Americans Sunday July 3

Tommy Paul[30] v Cameron Norrie[9](GBR)

Frances Tiafoe[23] v David Goffin(BEL)

First round results for American juniors Saturday:

Nishesh Basavareddy[5] d. Dylan Dietrich(SUI) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

Ozan Colak d. Olaf Pieczkowski(POL) 7-5, 6-1

First round singles matches featuring American juniors Sunday:

Liv Hovde[1] v Ranah Stoiber(GBR)

Sonya Macavei v Isabella Kruger[Q](RSA)

Mia Slama v Johanne Svendsen[11](DEN)

Alexis Blokhina v Sandugash Kenzibayeva[Q](KAZ)

Qavia Lopez[8] v Denislava Glushkova(BUL)

Kaitlin Quevedo[Q] v Hayu Kinoshita(JPN)

Aidan Kim[Q] v Hayato Matsuoka(JPN)

Michael Zheng v Hayden Jones[Q](AUS)

Jonah Braswell[Q] Coleman Wong(HKG)

Learner Tien v Jack Loutit[Q](NZL)

Alex Michelsen v Edward Winter[Q]

Nicholas Godsick v Gilles Bailly[7](BEL)

Leanid Boika[Q] v Kilian Feldbausch[6](SUI)

Cooper Williams v Ignacio Buse[12](PER)

Sebastian Gorzny v Viktor Frydrych[WC](GBR)

Alex Frusina v Lennon Jones[Q](JPN)

Fourteen-year-old Iva Jovic, who received a wild card into her first pro tournament this week at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit event at her home club in Los Angeles, is through to the final, after defeating No. 6 seed Kimmi Hance(UCLA) 7-5, 6-3 in today's semifinal. She will face another wild card, USC All-American Eryn Cayetano, who beat top seed Ya Yi Yang of Taiwain 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

At the $25,000 women's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Columbus, NCAA champion Peyton Stearns(Texas), the No. 4 seed, defeated top seed Katherine Sebov of Canada 7-5, 6-0, and will face No. 2 seed Katrina Scott in the final. The 18-year-old Scott defeated Taylor Ng(Dartmouth) by the same score, with just one minute's difference in the duration of the match.

The doubles final was between two Ohio State wild cards, with Irina Cantos Siemers of Germany and Sydni Ratliff defeating Madeline Atway and recent USC transfer Danielle Willson 6-2, 5-7, 10-4.