Kim Claims Junior Orange Bowl Boys 12s Title; Kennedy Meets Ivanov in Boys 14s Final; Lyutova Gets Second Shot at Girls 12s Title; Klugman and Lachinova Advance to Girls 14s Final

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Coral Gables FL--

Korea has its first Junior Orange Bowl Boys 12s champion since 2009 after Dongjae Kim completed his march through the tournament's top seeds with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 2 seed Tabb Tuck of the United States.

After three days of threatening weather, conditions were perfect for the Monday morning final at Salvadore Park and Tuck started well, breaking for a 3-1 lead in the first. 

But the ninth-seeded Kim, who earned straight-sets wins over top seed Taiki Takizawa of Australia in the semifinals and No. 4 seed Tomas Laukys of the United States in the quarterfinals, got his powerful game warmed up, winning the next nine games of the match to take a 4-0 lead in the second set.

"He was just on fire today," said Tuck, a 12-year-old from Birmingham Alabama. "Even at 3-1, he was missing a few shots, but once he started making them, I really couldn't do anything; he was hitting so many winners."

Tuck said he couldn't find a counter to Kim's biggest weapon, which became even more productive when he transitioned to the net to put away a volley.

"His forehand is just lethal," said Tuck, who had beaten Kim 7-5, 6-0 in the third round en route to the Eddie Herr final. "He can put it anywhere he wants, deep, short, angle, anywhere; it's really effective. Usually on my serve I get some free points, but he was hitting every return really deep in the court so I couldn't really do much off it."

Tuck, who had lost only 14 games in his first six matches, wasn't accustomed to having to adjust his game, but he tried to find ways to bring Kim back down to earth.

"I tried whatever I could, I really wanted to win," said Tuck, who watched Kim pass him when he tried coming in, and didn't get the ball he was looking for when attempting his own offensive forays. "He was just hitting everything for winners."

Kim, speaking via interpreter Chang Hun Yoo, a Korean federation official, said the difference from the Eddie Herr loss to this win was "more confidence in my forehand. I was a little nervous but after the bad game I changed my mind."

Kim said he didn't expect this title, but is happy about winning a prestigious international championship like the Orange Bowl. Kim, a member of the Korean federation's 12-and-under team of four boys and four girls making this Florida junior swing, trains with the federation four hours after school each day as well as fitness for another 90 minutes. According to his coach Chang Bok Lee, Kim is a tireless worker.

"He's always thinking about tennis," Lee said via Yoo's translation. "Physically and tactically he is good, and he practices so much every day so he can do more and more."

Although Kim is the first Korean to win the boys 12s title since Hyeon Chung and Seong Chan Hong won back-to-back championships in 2008 and 2009, his was quick to identify his current favorite player from another part of the world: "Alcaraz," he said, of the current ATP No. 1, who is just 7 years older than Kim.

Third place went to Takizawa, who defeated No. 3 seed Tavish Pahwa of India 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.  

The consolation champion, who finishes fifth in the tournament, is unseeded Sulaiman Syed of Pennsylvania, who beat Advay Singh of Texas 6-3, 4-6, 11-9.

While Kim was making his debut at the Junior Orange Bowl, Girls 12s top seed Christina Lyutova, was in an entirely different position. The Russian immigrant, now living and training in Redmond Washington, reached the final last year, losing 6-3, 6-1 to Leila Belibova of Moldova and was determined to reverse that loss this year.

After defeating No. 4 seed Yui Komada of Japan 6-3, 7-6(4), Lyutova will have her chance Tuesday against No. 2 seed Yeri Hong of Korea, the Eddie Herr champion.

After coasting through her first five matches, never losing more than three games in a set, Lyutova faced a major challenge in Komada. 

With Komada stepping up her level of play in the second, Lyutova was in the unusual position of being behind, although she was not down a break. After Komada held to go up 6-5, Lyutova gave herself a pep talk.

"I was like, ok, starting now, let's go," said Lyutova.

After losing both her serves at 3-2 in the second set tiebreaker, Lyutova stepped up her level, crunching a backhand winner to get one of the minibreaks back, and breaking Komada again to go up 5-4. Sensing the chance to end it without a third set, Lyutova avoided any tentative strokes and on her first match point hit a forehand approach that forced an error from Komada.

Lyutova was able to empty her head in the late stages of that tiebreaker.

"I just was not speaking to myself," said Lyutova, who won the USTA Girls 14s National Indoor Championships late last month in Toledo Ohio. "I was just focused, like this," she said, extending her arm straight in front of her body. "Nothing, just focus, and keep the ball in."

Lyutova opted to play the Indoors rather than the Eddie Herr because she trains indoors most of the year at the Gorin Academy, but there was never any doubt she would compete in Coral Gables again this year.

"It's a great experience to be here, to play against your age group, to see how they play," said Lyutova, who expressed her determination to finish her 12s career as an Orange Bowl champion. "I just said after last year, I will come back next year and I will win."

Hong knew she would be facing a tough opponent in the No. 3 seed Haniya Minhas of Pakistan, after defeating her 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 in the semifinals of the Eddie Herr. Up 6-2, 5-2, Hong let the second set slip away 7-6(5), then found herself down a match point with Minhas serving at 5-4 in the third set. But Minhas double faulted, lost the game after a second deuce, with Hong holding to put the pressure back on Minhas, who went down 0-40, saved one match point, but hit a forehand long to put Hong in another major final.

"I was more aggressive than her," Hong said via interpreter Yoo. "I wasn't nervous and I had the confidence to win again."

The boys 14s semifinals were straightforward affairs, with No. 3 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria defeating Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan 6-0, 6-1, and No. 6 seed Jack Kennedy taking down Weiyi Kong of China 6-4, 6-2.

Ivanov's uncomplicated win over the No. 7 seed was a direct contrast to his three-hour 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(13) victory over Jack Secord of the United States in Sunday's quarterfinals.

"I don't really know, but it was something like five," Ivanov said of the match points he saved in that marathon. "It was not the best day yesterday, but we still fight. We got the win, not the best way, but today I showed myself, and I will continue to improve."

Although he felt little of it today, Ivanov said those tight situations bring out the best in him.

"This is my love, the pressure of long matches, the thing that makes me alive" said Ivanov, who trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy, but has yet to hit with the legendary champion. 

Ivanov's opponent Kennedy saw the draw open up for him with the last-minute withdrawals of No. 2 seed Matei Torodan of Romania and No. 4 seed Carel Ngounoue and he has taken full advantage of it, advancing to the final without dropping a set.

Today he outmaneuvered No. 17 seed Kong, fighting through the disappointment of failing to serve out the first set at 5-3.

"He played a really good return game, but I definitely felt the nerves trying to close out the set," said the 14-year-old from New York. "But I forgot about that game and moved on."

Kennedy took the set with a textbook play of bringing Kong to the net on his terms, although he had to execute a a difficult backhand volley take the first set.

"I served for it at 5-3 and that's a tough one not to close out, but to break at 5-4, someone who has a good serve, it take a lot of mental toughness, and that's what I've been working on with my coach, and off-court with everyone."

In the second set, Kennedy fought off two break points serving at 3-1, at which point Kong called for a trainer for his hip.

The 3-minute delay didn't disrupt Kennedy's concentration, as he won his next service game to go up 5-2 and then broke Kong for a place in Tuesday's final.

"I knew at that point he was struggling physically, and I definitely felt the confidence come rushing back," Kennedy said.

Ivanov, the first Bulgarian boy to make a Junior Orange Bowl 14s final since Grigor Dimitrov in 2005, said he was looking forward to playing Kennedy in the final. "Jack Kennedy is one of my friends, but I don't really know how he play. I know he like to attack."

Kennedy acknowledged their friendship but was adamant that it wouldn't affect him on court Tuesday.

"We're pretty good friends, have fun off the court, have a pretty good relationship," said Kennedy, the reigning USTA 14s Clay Courts champion. "He's a great player, I can't wait for that, it's going to be exciting, but I'm going to try to win. He's a big hitter, so I've got to be ready for that. It's a big forehand, but nothing I haven't handled before."

The girls 14s final will be a rematch of a contest at the 2022 ITF World Junior Tennis 14U team championships, with Hannah Klugman of Great Britain coming back to beat Adelina Lachinova of Latvia 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the first day of round robin group play in the August event.

Klugman came into her match with No. 3 seed Emerson Jones having won her previous two matches 6-0, 6-0, but the Australian, No. 40 in the ITF Junior Circuit rankings, was not about to go that quietly and she tested the top seed in her 6-2, 6-3 loss.

Klugman took an early lead and held on for the first set, but was in a bit more trouble throughout the second, getting broken to go down 3-2, but getting the break back immediately before holding for 4-3. Emerson, who hits groundstroke winners in bunches when she is on, didn't find the consistency she needed against Klugman. 

"My opponent played really well today," said the 13-year-old from Wimbledon. "She's an amazing player. It was such a tough battle, it could have gone either way, but I felt like I played really solid, keeping in the rallies as long as I can against a player like that, and it turned out all right."

Lachinova is a counterpuncher that can handle the biggest hitters in the 14s, as she proved today in her 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over No. 2 seed and Eddie Herr champion Yihan Qu of China.

Up 4-0 and serving at 40-0, Lachinova wasn't able to put the first set away, and Qu, who had won two three-setters earlier in the tournament, has shown that she is hard to stop once she finds her range on her booming lefty ground strokes. But Lachinova, who squandered two set points with Qu serving at 4-5, showed no sign of frustration, and never trailed in the tiebreaker. 

"I always knew I would win the tiebreak, that's why I had an advantage," Lachinova said via translator Egor Semichin, a family friend. "A lot of times I'm going in that situation and that is a good side of me."

Lachinova said there were several rain delays in the match with Klugman this summer, but now that she has an opportunity to play her again, she will be calmer, not as prone to anger and errors as she was then while concentrating on holding her serve.

"She[Klugman] has a good serve, so I want to hold my serve better than before."

Lachinova would be the first girl from Latvia to win a Junior Orange Bowl title if she beats Klugman on Tuesday.

The two girls finals are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at the Kerdyk Biltmore Tennis Center Tuesday, with live streaming available here. The boys final will be played at 11 a.m. and will also be streamed live.

The Girls 14s consolation final, also beginning at 9 a.m., is between Maria Aytoyan of the United States, a No. 9 seed, and Ksenia Efremova of Russia, the No. 6 seed. 

The Girls 12s consolation final, featuring Anastasiia Nikolaieva of Ukraine, a No. 9 seed, and Ye Seo Park of Korea, a No. 17 seed, is also at 9 a.m.

The Boys 14s consolation final, at 11 a.m., is between two No. 9 seeds: Liam Alvarez of the United States and Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania.

Draws are available here.