Orange Bowl Grade A Recap; Four US Boys Reach Junior Orange Bowl B12s Quarterfinals; Six US Girls Advance to Round of 16 in 14s Division, Seven Americans in Girls 12s, Four in Boys 14s

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Coral Gables FL--

Before I get to Day Four coverage of the Junior Orange Bowl, here's my recap of the ITF Grade A Orange Bowl last week in Plantation for Tennis Recruiting Network. There were historic victories for Gerard Campana Lee of Korea and Mayu Crossley of Japan in singles, and a young American team was a surprising, but deserving winner of the girls doubles championship.  If you weren't able to follow my daily coverage on Zootennis.com, this is an ideal way to catch up with on what happened in the last major ITF junior tournament of 2022.

Rain overnight in Miami delayed the start of Junior Orange Bowl play on the hard courts by two hours, which actually worked out well for me. The Boys 12s, played on the Har-Tru courts of Salvadore Park, were not affected by the rain, and I was able to watch the round of 16 there before walking seven blocks south to the Biltmore Tennis Center, where they will just beginning the G14s third round.

All eight Boys 12s quarterfinalists are seeded and all four top seeds have advanced. No. 1 Taiki Takizawa of Australia defeated Junseo Jang of Korea, a 17 seed, 6-2, 6-1; No. 2 seed Tabb Tuck of the United States beat Samarth Patel of Australia, a No. 9 seed, 6-3, 6-3; No. 3 seed Tavish Pahwa of India defeated unseeded Patrick Breen of Ireland 6-0, 6-2, and No. 4 seed Tomas Laukys of United States downed compatriot Luca Queiroz 6-3, 6-3. 

Laukys, a nearly six-foot left-hander, enjoys playing on clay.

"I really like to play on clay courts, like to build the points a lot," said Laukys, who reached the quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr before losing to Tuck. "I like the way it's soft, and on a hard court, there's really not a chance if someone hits the ball hard. But on clay courts, there are more chances to get the ball back, to build points,"

Laukys was born in Atlanta, and has lived there since, but is now heading to France and the All-In Academy, with his father and coach Tomas.

"I've been there only a few weeks, but I really like there," Laukys said. "I really like the atmosphere, the people, everything there."

Laukys will face Donjae Kim of Korea, a No. 9 seed in the quarterfinals, after Kim defeated Stan Put, a 17 seed, 6-2, 6-0.

Top seed Takizawa will face Daniil Berezin of the United States, a No. 9 seed, who beat No. 8 seed Flynn Coventry-Searle of Australia 7-6(4), 6-4.

Tuck's opponent in the final is Great Britain's Aran Selvaraasan, a No. 17 seed, who beat No. 5 seed Jason Eigbedion of the United States 7-6(2), 6-3. 

Although none of the eight main draw matches went three sets today, Advay Singh of the United States, a No. 9 seed, and No. 6 seed Lucas Han of Australia, played for more than two-and-a-half hours before Singh finished off a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory.

The points were long, with both players waiting for the right moment to attack, although Singh thought he handled the pressure better at the late stages of the match, after trailing 4-1 in the second set. 

"He had a good service game at 5-all, but I think he got a little nervous at 5-6," said Singh, who lost in the first round of the main draw and the first round of back draw here last year. "He made some errors at 5-6. In the tiebreaker, I just felt I was very calm, I didn't go for shots that didn't make sense, I didn't go for broke. I was very controlled in the tiebreaker and I think that's why I won."

Singh, who trains with Dave Licker at the Lakes Academy in Frisco Texas, said he didn't have that same mindset when he competed here last year.

"Now when I'm losing, I don't whine about it or cry about it, make the level of my game go down at all," Singh said. "I don't let the person on the opposite side get in my head, because that's what happened last year."

Singh will face Pahwa for a place in Sunday's semifinals.

The Girls 14s top four seeds advanced to the round of 16, but two were definitely challenged. While No. 1 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain and No. 3 seed Emerson Jones of Australia came through in straight sets, Eddie Herr champion and No. 2 seed Yihan Qu and No. 4 seed Adelina Lachinova of Latvia had protracted battles that finished under the lights at the Kerdyk Biltmore Tennis Center.

Unseeded Bela Martinez of Puerto Rico stayed with the tall and powerful left-hander from China until 2-all in the third, when Martinez, who didn't serve well, was broken after a long deuce game. Qu quickly held and broke again, but a flurry of unforced errors kept her from serving out the match, although she broke Martinez for a third time to earn a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win.

Lachinova overcame her six-foot opponent Victoria Bervid of the Czech Republic 7-5, 3-6, 6-0.

Americans advancing to the round of 16 at the Girls 14s are Easter Bowl champion Nicole Okhtenberg, a No. 9 seed; Aishi Bisht, a No. 17 seed; Julieta Pareja, a No. 9 seed, Maria Aytoyen a No. 9 seed, unseeded Abigail Gordon and unseeded Adla Lopez.

The top four seeds in the Girls 12s have made their way to the round of 16 with no difficulty. Top seed Christina Lyutova of the United States defeated Abhinaya Balaji of India 6-2, 6-1; No. 4 seed Yui Komada of Japan beat Emma Prose of the United States 6-1, 7-6(5); No. 3 seed Haniya Minhas of Pakistan downed No. 17 seed Sophia Osipova of the United States 6-0, 6-1; and No. 2 seed and Eddie Herr champion Yeri Hong of Korea beat Emerson White of the United States 6-2, 6-4.

US girls advancing to the round of 16 in the 12s are Lytova, Maggie Sohns[7], Caroline Shao[17], Yui Watanabe[17], Sarah Ye[9], Welles Newman[9] and Hannah Ayrault[8].

Boys 14s top seed Se Hyuk Cho of Korea is the third Eddie Herr champion to make the round of 16 this week, with Cho beating Mason Taube of the United States 6-1, 7-6(1). American boys advancing to the round of 16 are Liam Alvarez[9], Sean Grosman, Jack Secord[9] and Jack Kennedy[6]. Eddie Herr finalist and No. 8 seed Keaton Hance lost to Weiyi Kong of China 7-6(5), 6-2. 

Harvey Fialkov has more from the day at Key Biscayne, including quotes from Kennedy's win over Lleyton Hewitt's son Cruz, here.

Live streaming is available on Biltmore courts 1-4 here.

Draws with times for Saturday, with the forecast showing a 70% chance of rain, are here.