Japan's Crossley and Korea's Campana Lee Make Orange Bowl History with First Titles for Their Countries

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Plantation FL--

History is made in different contexts, and so it was Sunday at the ITF JA Orange Bowl finals at the Veltri Tennis Center. Top seed Gerard Campana Lee of Korea defeated No. 2 seed Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 to become the first boy from his country to take the 18s title, while unseeded Mayu Crossley upset No. 5 seed Clervie Ngounoue of the United States 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 to complete the Eddie Herr/Orange Bowl double and win Japan's first girls 18s title in the tournament's 76-year history.

The girls final began with Ngounoue dominating, winning the first seven points and taking a 3-0 lead, with her strength and power on full display. But Crossley held in her second service game and began to adapt to the pace she was facing, while also eliminating many of her errors. Although she dropped the first set in just 23 minutes, Crossley made Ngounoue work in the final game, and the 16-year-old, playing in her first JA final, showed no indication that she was discouraged.

Crossley began timing her returns consistently and broke, then saved four break points in a six-deuce game to take a 3-0 lead, signaling her intention to concede nothing. With a second break and a 5-1 lead, Crossley may have relaxed a bit, failing to serve out the set on her first attempt, but won four straight points from 0-30 down serving at 5-3 to even the match.

After a Ngounoue bathroom break, both held serve and were broken to start the third set. Ngounoue began to double fault more frequently with two in both her second and third service games, while her forehand also was more apt to produce an error than a winner. Crossley held without much drama for 4-2 and 5-3 leads, and Ngounoue made two unforced errors at 30-30 to hand the title to Crossley.

Crossley, always stoic on the court, showed almost no emotion throughout the match, but once Ngounoue's ball sailed out, she began crying as she made her way to the net for the handshake.

"I was a little bit nervous the whole match," said Crossley, who also won the the Eddie Herr J1 title a week ago. "I was surprised when I won, I was like, How? I was so happy."

Crossley's coach Jacopo Tezza has seen the progress Crossley has made since she arrived at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton 18 months ago, and not just in her tennis.

"Inside, she's very emotional, but she doesn't show very much," Tezza said. "But one of the areas she's improved the most is how she's handled her emotions. She's been a little bit more steady throughout the match. Yes, you can have some moments when you play better than others, but overall she believes in herself, and winning helps with the confidence."

Although Crossley began to feel the fatigue from all her success in the past two tournaments midweek, she had extra motivation to get through to the final, with her father arriving from Japan Saturday in attendance at Sunday's final.

Crossley, who didn't drop a set all week until the final, said she is still processing the accomplishment of being the first Japanese girl to win the title.

"I can't believe it," said Crossley, who was ranked outside the ITF junior Top 100 when the Eddie Herr started two weeks ago. "I just can't believe it."

Crossley's mother is arriving from Japan tomorrow to spend the holidays with family living in Florida, and with two major ITF junior titles now in hand, the Crossleys will have even more to celebrate.

Ngounoue said she never felt out of the match, but her level wasn't consistent enough to overcome her erratic serve, which she identified as a problem all week.

"I came on the court confident, and I think throughout the match I never really dipped in confidence," said Ngounoue, who trains with Jermaine Jenkins at the USTA. "I felt like I was on her the whole time, I just didn't execute today."

It was a second Orange Bowl finals loss for Ngounoue, who was runner-up in the 16s tournament in 2019, yet the 16-year-old from Orlando was philosophical about the disappointing result.

"She played great, I like her game," said Ngounoue, who won the Grade A in Merida two weeks ago. "I was expecting a challenge and that's what we had on court today. I know I'm going to learn from it and hopefully we can meet soon in the next year, and going into the pros."

That could come as soon as late next month, with both planning to play the Australian Open Junior Championships.

Ngounoue has a WTA ranking of 587, while Crossley has competed in just one ITF World Tennis Tour women's event, this fall, when she reached the quarterfinals of a $15,000 tournament in Cancun.

"I want to try more WTA tournaments," Crossley said. "I played one, but I still don't have a point."

With the rapid improvement she's shown in these past two weeks, it may not take long for her WTA ranking to take a similar trajectory.

The boys final, which followed the girls championship match, was a grueling contest that spanned three hours and four minutes, although it may have been decided in the first set, when Campana Lee came from 5-3 down, with Pacheco Mendez serving for the set, to win it in a tiebreaker. 

Campana Lee was the superior player in that 13th game, hitting a forehand winner, a backhand winner and a lob winner for a 4-2 lead, and when it ended, after 73 minutes, he was definitely the player with the momentum.

For Pacheco, who had beaten Campana Lee in the Grade A Merida final two weeks ago 6-3, 6-2, the failure to serve out the set at 5-4, despite three set points, was discouraging. Although he took the second set by winning an opportunistic and controversial set point with Campana Lee serving at 4-5, 30-40, Pacheco began to feel the effects of the two hours and 22 minutes he had been on the court.

"For me it is difficult to get it in the third set because my fitness is not the best, I am so skinny and I sweat so much," said the 17-year-old left-hander, who trains with Alain Lemaitre in his home town of Merida. "I always have problems in the third set, and I knew I had to win the match in two sets, because he's a really strong player, he never gets tired, always moving so fast. I always fight, but sometimes my level goes down; his level is always the same. I think if I won that first set, maybe I win in straight sets, we don't know, but probably I have a lot of chances. In the end, I was cramping on serve and I was so tired. I didn't find the ball in good position, because my legs wasn't responding like in the beginning. But it's ok, I'm still happy."

Campana Lee agreed that Pacheco's odds of winning the match decreased after he lost the first set.

"I think he knew he had to win the first set, not had to, but it would be better for him," said the 18-year-old, who trains with Alejandro Miglio at Next Level Academy in Barcelona. "He's a very tough player, and it's very hard to keep up with his forehand, because he plays really deep to your backhand and it's uncomfortable for everyone. I knew if I won the first set, I'd have more chances to win the second."

On the break point and set point that ended his opportunity for a straight-sets win, Campana Lee thought Pacheco had hit the ball twice after racing forward to get a drop shot, with the ball going over to Campana Lee's side of the net.

"He got it, but the problem is he hit it twice," Campana Lee said. "He hit it with the frame, and then hit it again with the strings. Two swings. I told him, because he's a really nice guy, but he thought he hit it with one swing, I thought he hit it with two, so it's something the referee didn't see, but it's all good. A big point, that's why I was so mad, but I told the referee I'm sorry. So much adrenaline in the match, so many emotions. It's ok, he can also make mistakes, his point of view, my point of view."

Campana Lee opened the third set with a break, and wasn't threatened on his serve until the first deuce game of the set, with Campana Lee serving at 4-3. Facing a break point, Campana Lee saved it with a forehand that forced an error, and one of his many successful lobs gave him the advantage. When Pacheco made an unforced error on his forehand, at the three-hour mark of the match, the end was near, and Pacheco was broken for the championship when he sent an overhead long.

Campana Lee is the rare junior who finishes his career with a title, and he will now head off to begin his professional journey.

"I'm going to rest now, because it's been a very hard three months," said Campana Lee, who went 28-1 in top level ITF Junior Circuit events since the US Open Championships in September. "I'm human and I have to rest. I'm not a machine yet. Then I'll do offseason, play Futures and try to get up there with the pros."

Campana Lee and his coach had looked at the champions board on display at the Veltri Tennis Center and noted the lack of a Korean champion on the list, which dates back to 1947.

"I looked at the board and I said, you know what?, it would look good, the Korea name up there," Campana Lee said. "Maybe I can win. And now I've won the tournament, and I'm just so happy. Winning this match is really special, because there are so many emotions at the end. You travel a lot, you train a lot, you sacrifice a lot, so winning this kind of tournament is very special."

Draws for the Orange Bowl Grade A event can be found at the ITF junior tournament site.