Leach Defeats Top Seed Brockett in Orange Bowl Third Round B16s Action Wednesday; Eight US Girls Reach 18s Round of 16, Just One Seed Falls in Second Round

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Plantation FL--

Day Three of the Orange Bowl was again perfect in the weather department, and action was continuous on 20 of the HarTru courts at the Veltri Tennis Center. Friends, family, coaches and fans moved from court to court seeking the most exciting matches, with one morning match turning into the marquee attraction.

Stiles Brockett, the top seed in the boys 16s, was facing No. 16 seed Jagger Leach, who was coming off a semifinal showing last week at the Eddie Herr Championships. The match had countless twists and turns before Leach emerged with a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory.

The final set was something of a curiosity, particularly considering the high level of play. Brockett was broken serving at 2-1, starting a string of six consecutive breaks. None of the games went to deuce, and the server never had a game point; it wasn't until Brockett went up 40-30 and held that the string was broken. 

"It's pretty rare to see that in a high level boys match," said Leach, the 15-year-old son of Jon Leach and Lindsay Davenport, both of whom were watching the match. "But both Stiles and I were returning really well. I think we both could have served a little bit better, we taking advantage of it on returns. It was still pretty even, even though there were so many breaks."

Leach served for the match at 5-3, but went down 15-40, saved one break point, but couldn't saved the second, despite the chair umpire's confusion. After Brockett had won the 30-40 point, she called the score 30-40, despite several of the many spectators now surrounding the court attempting to correct her. 

"I was a little confused, but he won that game and broke me," Leach said. "I've been in that situation the other way, when my opponent says, 'no, it's 30-40,' but at such a crucial moment, I didn't think that would be fair to Stiles, and I'm also pretty sure my parents would have taken me off the court, if I would have said it was 30-40. I don't need that bad karma."

Leach finally managed to hold to take a 6-5 lead on his fifth game point, but not before facing a break point at 30-40.

"At 5-all, 30-all, I hit a great serve up the T, hit a really good forehand, Stiles read it and hit an amazing passing shot cross court and after that I'm thinking, 'wow, that's too good. If he hits another shot like that to break me, maybe I am going to get broken four times in a row'. But I toughed out that long game."

The match looked headed for a tiebreaker when Brockett went up 40-15, with Leach mentally preparing for that.

"I had loosened up a little bit and was already thinking about how I was going to play in the tiebreaker, but I hit some good shots, Stiles made an unforced error or two and I crept back in that game," Leach said.

At deuce, Brockett made a behind-his-back volley that somehow made its way over the net, but despite the unexpected appearance of the ball on his side, Leach got it back. A lob over the 6-foot-3 Leach was the right shot, but Brockett's attempt was a poor one, and Leach smashed it away, giving himself a match point. He converted the first one, when Brockett's backhand sailed long.

"That was fun to play," Leach said. "I hadn't played him before, but he's a great player, a great competitor. He won the [USTA 16s] Clay Courts, so I knew who he was, and was looking forward to a good match. I'm happy to get the win."

Originally from Southern California, Leach now trains at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, and with that move has gotten more comfortable on clay.

"They have a bunch of green clay courts and they've just built some beautiful red clay courts," Leach said. "Also at the National Campus, where I've trained for a few weeks, they also have red clay, so I've had a few training weeks just on the red clay, so I feel like I'm getting more used to it. I'm still kind of a SoCal player, in that I have a few slip ups from time to time, but I feel I've really improved on the clay."

Leach's opponent in Thursday's quarterfinals will be No. 7 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia.

Three other American boys have advanced to the 16s quarterfinals; wild card Matthew Forbes, Andrew Ena and No. 13 seed Prathinav Chunduru.

The girls 16s quarterfinals will feature seven Americans, plus top seed and Eddie Herr champion Hyunyee Lee of Korea, who beat No. 15 seed Leena Friedman of the United States 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Lee faces No. 10 seed Tianmei Wang; No. 13 seed Alexis Nguyen plays No. 5 seed Katerina Shabashkevich; No. 6 seed Maren Urata takes on Claire Hill, and wild cards Monika Ekstrand and Harper Stone meet in the fourth quarterfinal.

Only one seed lost in second round 18s action Wednesday, with all four girls seeds, including No. 2 seed Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic, No. 16 seed Madeleine Jessup of Taiwan, No. 8 seed Kaitlin Quevedo and No. 5 seed Clervie Ngounoue advancing in straight sets. 

Quevedo will face Maya Joint in one of two all-US round of 16 matches, with the other featuring Iva Jovic and Alexia Harmon. Wild card Alanis Hamilton will play Eddie Herr champion Mayu Crossley and Anya Murthy faces the only qualifier remaining, Lya Fernandez of Mexico. 2020 Orange Bowl 16s champion Valeria Ray will face Ela Milic of Slovenia, who saved a match point in her 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) win over 15-year-old wild card Akasha Urhobo. 

The boys still have 12 of 16 seeds in contention, including No. 1 Gerard Campana Lee of Korea and Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico. The sole seed eliminated today was No. 4 Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia, who lost to Atakan Karahan of Turkey 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4. At three hours and 11 minutes, it was the longest match of the day.

All three American boys remaining in the draw are in the top half: Preston Stearns, who plays Campana Lee Thursday, wild card Kyle Kang and No. 6 seed Cooper Williams. 

The top seeds in girls doubles were eliminated in the second round this evening, with the wild card team of Alanis Hamilton and Jessica Bernales defeating Sayaka Ishii of Japan and Tereze Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. In keeping with the theme in the girls singles, only two seeded teams have advanced to Thursday's quarterfinals. 

The boys doubles draw is also down to just two seeded teams, one of which is No. 1 Paul Inchauspe of France and Gerard Campana Lee of Korea.

Live streaming is now available on four courts, with Thursday's streamed courts 1, 2, 3, and 5. The order of play for Thursday is here. Live scoring is here.