Vijayakumar Ends Lyutova's Winning Streak, Top Seed in Boys Qualifying Falls in First Round at Eddie Herr ITF J300; Quevedo Reaches ITF J500 Merida Final, Ganesan Suffers First Loss in Five Tournaments

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Bradenton Florida--

I rarely watch a qualifying match from start to finish, with the first priority checking out as many matches as I can to put names with faces. But on the first day of the Eddie Herr ITF J300 qualifying, I had circled the match between Trinetra Vijayakumar, the No. 12 seed, and 13-year-old Christina Lyutova as one to watch and I wasn't disappointed, with Vijayakumar ending Lyutova's 18-match ITF Junior Circuit winning streak with a 3-6, 6-1, 10-4 victory.

I had taken the shuttle from the main tennis site on East Campus to the six Legacy Hotel courts, which are by the entrance to the West Campus. The viewing is much improved from the former alternate site at the closer Academy Park area, but there are no benches or awnings on the courts and no bleachers for any spectators. I was able to find a folding chair and within 20 minutes of my arrival, the match had begun.

The last time I had seen Lyutova was almost a year ago, when she won the Junior Orange Bowl 12s title, so I was eager to see the improvements she had made in the past 11 months that contributed to her titles at the USTA 16s Clay Courts and USTA 16s Hard Courts this summer, as well as the three consecutive ITF J60 titles she won this fall.

Lyutova started well, with the hitch that was a part of her service motion less obvious, while the depth and placement of her ground strokes kept Vijayakumar from taking control of points. Lyutova doesn't hit many first-strike winners, but she got the only break of the first set to take a 3-1 lead and was able to close out her next three service games without facing a break point.

Vijayakumar took a bathroom break after the first set, and when the 17-year-old from Maryland returned, she committed to a new strategy.

"My game plan going in just didn't seem to be winning a lot of points and I wasn't necessarily confident in what I was doing," Vijayakumar said. "I realized later in the first set I needed to be a lot more aggressive and take the girl's time away, just be more decisive when the short balls came."

Vijayakumar held to open the second set, and then broke on her third opportunity--her first three chances in the match--in the next game. Vijayakumar made good on her decision to go more aggressive and her unforced errors actually decreased, while Lyutova, who had played a very clean first set, began to donate more. Part of that was due to her first serve percentage dropping; although she defends her soft second serve well, Lyutova isn't able to dictate from a second serve return, and on several occasions Vijayakumar hit outright winners.

Vijayakumar got herself an insurance break at 4-1 with her forehand doing most of the damage, then closed out the set with a couple of backhand winners.

Vijayakumar had learned what she had to do to make Lyutova uncomfortable and was determined to go into the deciding match tiebreaker with the same mindset.

"In the tiebreak, it's anyone's game, so I just took it one point at a time and made sure that I just kept pressure on her," Vijayakumar said. "She's great on the run, she gives good quality balls back on defense and that makes it harder to get on offense, but you have to really take your time and keep constructing points."

The match tiebreaker was 3-3 at the first change of ends, but Vijayakumar's forehand produced three straight winners and Lyutova never recovered from dropping her two service points. Two more unforced errors by Lyutova on her next two serves made it 9-4 and Vijayakumar finished it on her first match point, with her shot appearing to skip off the baseline and handcuff Lyutova. She called it out, but the roving umpire immediately declared the ball good and confirmed it by checking the mark, or the absence of one.

While Lyutova no doubt entered the match with confidence, having won the J60 tournaments in Corpus Christi, Atlanta and Boca Raton, Vijayakumar also had success this fall, winning the J100 in Zapopan Mexico earlier this month and playing the past two weeks in the major ITF junior events in Mexico.

"This is my fourth week, so I'm definitely acclimating to the surface more and more," said Vijayakumar, who has not yet announced her college commitment for 2024. "If you get more time on clay courts, it's much easier for me on Har-Tru. It definitely helps."

Vijayakumar only began playing ITF Junior Circuit tournaments regularly this February, and is experiencing the Eddie Herr for the first time this year.

"I started late compared to a lot of my friends," Vijayakumar said of her recent transition to more international competition. "Every match seems to mean so much to every player on the ITF Circuit. It's a lot of good matches, because what's at stake, even at a small ITF makes a difference as to how kids play."

Vijayakumar will face Alden Russell in the second round of qualifying Sunday, with the third and final round also scheduled for Sunday.

The top girls qualifying seed had no trouble today, with Christasha McNeil defeating wild card Taylor Monfils 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour this morning, but the Stadium Court wasn't as kind to boys No. 1 seed Rafael Segado Esteve of Spain this afternoon. Hayden Khoo Menon of Malaysia, who won the Boca Raton J60 earlier this month, defeated Segado Esteve 6-4, 6-3, breaking at 3-4 and holding serve easily for the win.

The match of the day in the boys qualifying saw Bruno Kokot of Poland defeat Jacob Olar 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 17-15. Most qualifying matches are expected to finish in less than two hours, but Kokot, who plays Menon next, needed almost three to complete that marathon victory.

The final round of qualifying for the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions will also be played Sunday, on the IMG Academy hard courts. The forecast is calling for a chance of rain in the afternoon, but the last matches to go on are scheduled for 9:30 a.m., so they may finish before any rain arrives. Results and draws with times are here.

Another lengthy ITF Junior Circuit winning streak was halted today at the J500 in Merida Mexico, with No. 5 seed Adhithya Ganesan losing to No. 3 seed Nikolai Budov Kjaer 6-2, 7-5 in their rain-delayed quarterfinal. Ganesan had won four consecutive ITF events--three J200s and one J100--in Asia in the past five weeks.

No. 2 seed Kaitlin Quevedo has advanced to the final, beating No. 3 seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 6-4 in today's semifinal. Quevedo will face top seed Laura Samsonova of the Czech Republic, who beat 2022 Merida finalist Ariana Pursoo 7-6(10), 6-1. 

Due to the rain Friday night, the boys finals in both singles and doubles are not yet set, but No. 3 seeds Alexander Razeghi and Roy Horovitz are into the boys doubles final, awaiting their opponents for a late night final. Razeghi and Horovitz defeated unseeded Thomas Faurel and Theo Papamalamis of France 6-7(4) 6-1, 10-7 in a rain-delayed match completed this morning. Quevedo and her partner Hannah Klugman of Great Britain have advanced to the girls doubles final; they are scheduled to play their final tonight as well, but don't yet have an opponent. Pursoo and her partner Laura Brunkel of Denmark had their Friday night semifinal match with top seeds Samsonova and Kovackova called after just one game.