Zheng Wins Final Set Tiebreaker to Reach Wimbledon Boys Final; Hovde Seeks Girls Title Saturday; Gorzny and Michelsen Save Match Points to Advance to Doubles Final; Ngounoue Reaches 14U Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2022-
Wimbledon--

Michael Zheng and Mili Poljicak

New Jersey isn't generally considered a tennis hotbed, but two unseeded boys from the Garden State have found homes on the lawns of Wimbledon the past two years, with Samir Banerjee claiming the title last year, and Michael Zheng positioning himself to do the same after a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) semifinal victory over No. 10 seed Martin Landaluce of Spain.

Landaluce was the favorite in the match, having won titles the previous two weeks at the Grade 1 tournaments in Nottingham and Roehampton, but he was not particularly sharp to open the match, letting a 2-0 lead slip away, as Zheng won five straight games. Zheng closed out the first set without incident, but a six-minute bathroom break helped the 16-year-old from Madrid reset, and he began dictating more points and putting pressure on Zheng's second serve. The only break point of the set went to Landaluce with Zheng serving at 1-2, 30-40, and that was all he needed to even the match.

In the third set, Zheng had leads of 2-0 and 4-2, but each time Landaluce broke back. At 4-4, Zheng had to save three break points, but was unable to recall exactly how he extricated himself from that perilous position.

"I actually don't remember," said the 18-year-old, who is heading to Columbia this fall. "I think he might have missed on one or two, and we had one long point, but I said, I'm going to be a wall, I'm going to make him earn it, and if he does, too good."

Serving at 5-all, Zheng saw his 40-0 lead slip away, but held after two deuces and went up 0-30 on Landaluce's serve. But the precocious Spaniard elevated his game, hitting a great second serve, a forehand winner and two good first serves to force the tiebreaker.

None of the previous boys singles matches the past seven days had gone to the new match tiebreaker all the slams adopted this year, but the first one would decide the finalist.

Zheng went up 2-0, but Landaluce got the minibreak back and the next six points went to the server. But serving at 5-all, the placid Landaluce inexplicably decided to try a drop shot, which didn't come close to clearing the net, giving Zheng a 6-5 lead with two serves.

"I felt a sigh of relief," said Zheng of that choice of shot by Landaluce. "He was hitting his forehand huge the entire match and then he decided to go for that. It was a huge point, and once I got the 6-5 point, I knew I was that much closer to securing the match."

Down 8-5, Landaluce won his next two serves, but Zheng had the match on his racquet. He missed his first serve, but drew a backhand error to earn two match points, and finished it with a great first serve.

"I think I'd made one first serve the entire tiebrealk," Zheng said. "I thought, I'll try to make the big first serve here to close it out, because he's taking the second serves early. I made the first serve, he missed it."

Zheng said that although his first serve percentage hasn't been good this tournament, he's been able to find it when he needed it. 

"When I need a first serve, it's usually there," Zheng said. "And even when I miss the first serve, on the crucial points I'm hitting the second serve well. And even if the first serve isn't there, I'm doing a good job during the rallies as well."

Zheng, who finished with 28 winners and 25 unforced errors during the two-hour and 35-minute match, called it the best performance of his career.

"I think I brought my A game and I think he was playing really well," Zheng said. "It's definitely one of the highest quality matches I've played in my young career."

Zheng admitted that had he been told a week ago that he would be in the final he would have thought that "you're talking a lot rubbish."  But with the example of Banerjee, who had already congratulated him on his win by the time Zheng did his media conference, Zheng knew it was possible.

"I grew up training with him, practiced with him a lot, and last year when he won obviously he gave everyone in New Jersey a lot of confidence that our level is right there. We beat each other back and forth in practice, so that gave us a lot of confidence that he won last year."

Zheng's opponent in the final will be No. 3 seed Mili Poljicak of Croatia, who defeated unseeded Pedro Rodenas of Spain 7-5, 6-2. 

Zheng defeated Poljicak 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the second round of Roland Garros, a victory he believes will help him in Sunday's final.

"I know some of his tendencies and all, but it's a very different surface and I think he's going to have a different game plan coming in," Zheng said. "But it's good to have played him before, get the mental part out and focus on just having a good match."

Poljicak, who was ill the night before his quarterfinal match Thursday, will be happy to have Saturday off to recover, although he said he felt much better today.

"I had some stomach problems, but I'm ok now," said the 17-year-old, who retired from his doubles quarterfinal Thursday with soreness in his hip. "The physio said my hip is sore, but I think that is because I didn't sleep, I was throwing up, and I played three sets then had one and a half hours rest before doubles, so I was completely dead, my body was out of energy.  It was a tough week, so it's good to have a day off before the finals."

Poljicak is the first Croatian to reach the Wimbledon boys final since Mario Ancic in 2000.

Liv Hovde and Luca Udvardy

After reaching the Australian Open semifinal in January, 16-year-old Liv Hovde is now one step closer to a junior slam title after defeating Victoria Mboko of Canada 6-4, 6-3. 

Hovde went up 5-1 in the opening set, but could not convert any of her three set points when serving for it, with her forehand suddenly going awry. Hovde then lost her serve again trying to close it out at 5-3, but the 15-year-old Canadian could not take advantage of the unforced errors, with Hovde eventually converting her seventh set point.

The second set started with four consecutive breaks, and while Hovde did manage to hold twice, Mboko was broken in all four of her service games, giving Hovde her third victory over Mboko since last October.

Hovde has played just four junior slams, with last September's US Open her first, but she has made great strides since losing in the first round there.

"It's obviously better to win the semis, so it felt really good to finally make a final," Hovde said. "I felt I played very well today, and so did Vicky."

Hovde has taken to grass from the beginning of these two weeks, winning Roehampton and now is one victory away from completing the junior grass double, as Claire Liu did in 2017. 

"Grass is great, I like it," said Hovde, who showed off some drop shots that she's been working on recently. "I'm just playing my game. You have to have all shots. But it's just instinct when to do it."

As the top seed, Hovde has played on Court 18 and, in her quarterfinal match Thursday, on Court 2, but Saturday's final will be in front of a big crowd on Court One.  Hovde said Court 2 was just another court, but implied that Court One could be a different experience.

"I'm just going to have to block it out," Hovde said. "I just focus on myself. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I think just playing my matches helps me improve."

Hovde will play No. 7 seed Luca Udvardy for the title, after Udvardy defeated No. 16 seed Linda Klimovicova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. 

Udvardy was not expecting a performance quite at this level, after losing in the third round at Roehampton, but she is excited to be the first Hungarian to reach the girls singles final at Wimbledon.

"I'm so shocked about it," said the 16-year-old, who is the younger sister of WTA Top 100 pro Panna Udvardy. "I'm really, really happy. I still need to wait a bit and think about that I'm playing a grand slam final, but I'm really happy. Every tournament, the goal is to win, but because I was seven seed, I was like, ok, I really want to go to the quarterfinals."

Udvardy, who trains in Budapest with Gabor Punyi, has a set of routines that she sticks to during a tournament, include specific warmup, stretching and cool down programs. She also eats the same breakfast every day as long as she keeps winning.

"Two eggs, potatoes, tomato, toast with the salty food, and then one toast with butter and honey," Udvardy. "That's for this week."

Udvardy will be facing Hovde for the first time, but recognizes it will be a challenge. 

"I saw her in some other tournaments, I know she likes to attack," Udvardy said. "I know she's a good player, and it's going to be a hard match for sure. But I will love it for sure. I will try to enjoy every moment."

In the boys doubles semifinals, the unseeded team of Alex Michelsen and Sebastian Gorzny saved two match points in their 6-7(6), 6-2, 11-9 victory over Landaluce and Rodenas, the No. 7 seeds.

Although they dominated in the second set, Michelsen and Gorzny trailed from the second point of the match tiebreaker and were down two minibreaks at 5-2. Landaluce immediately double faulted to give one of them back, but Gorzny and Michelsen could not get the second one back. Down 8-5, Michelsen held both his serves, but when Landaluce landed a good first serve, the American pair trailed 9-7. Landaluce then double faulted again, and Michelsen angled off a perfect volley with Gorzny serving to save the second match point. Gorzny hit a great first serve to put his team up for the first time at 10-9, and when Rodenas shanked a third-shot forehand, Gorzny and Michelsen had extended their ITF junior doubles winning streak to 14 matches.

They will play No. 5 seeds Gabriel Debru and Paul Inchauspe in Saturday's final, after the French pair defeated No. 6 seeds Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic and Olaf Pieczkowski of Poland 3-6, 7-6(4), 12-10.

The girls doubles final will feature the fourth-seeded Canadian team of Mboko and Kayla Cross and the unseeded team of Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands and Angella Okutoyi of Kenya. Cross and Mboko, who won the title last week at the J1 in  Roehampton, defeated top seeds Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic and Celine Naef of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4. Nijkamp and Okutoyi defeated No. 3 seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia and Nikola Daubnerova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4.

Carel Ngounoue is through to the semifinals of the 14U tournament after winning his round robin group with two victories Friday. Seeded No. 3, Ngounoue will play No. 2 seed Matei Torodan of Romania in the semifinals Saturday. Keaton Hance won both of his matches today 6-0, 6-0, but he lost to Torodan on Thursday, so could not advance.  The other boys semifinal features top seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria and No. 5 seed Se Hyuk Cho of Korea.

The girls semifinals, also Saturday, will feature No. 5 seed Andreea Diana Soare of Romania versus unseeded Isabelle Britton of Great Britain, and No. 1 seed Alexia Ioana Tatu of Romania against unseeded Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina.

Round robin results from the last two days can be found here.