San Diego ITF J300 Recap; Winter National Champions Seek Second Straight USTA Gold Balls Thursday at Easter Bowl, Top Seed Grumet Saves Six Match Points to Advance to B16s Quarterfinals
©Colette Lewis 2024--
Indian Wells California--
Wednesday was another busy day in Tennis Paradise, with the 16s and 18s hitting the midway point of the FILA Easter Bowl USTA Spring National Championships and the 12s and 14s deciding their finalists on a warm and sunny day in the desert.
But before we get to those results, check out my recap, up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, of last week's ITF J300 in San Diego, with Iva Jovic and Jack Kennedy securing their spots in the junior slams this summer by claiming their titles at the Barnes Tennis Center. Kennedy is up to a career-high 26 in the latest ITF rankings, with Jovic, who has been as high as No. 8, is now at 23, as she rebuilds her ranking after missing five months with injury last spring and summer.
Jiarui Zhang, Anjani Vickneswaran and Andrew Johnson will attempt to go back-to-back tomorrow, with the recent USTA Winter National champions playing for a second straight Level 1 gold ball in singles.
No. 2 seed Zhang, who won the boys 12s title in San Antonio in January, has not dropped a set this week, with his 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 3 seed Rex Kulman in today's semifinal on Stadium Court 4 demonstrating how he has dominated the field.
"It's my power," said Zhang, a Houston resident who will turn 13 next month. "I hit with a lot of power and a some of the smaller kids really can't generate that much power. Especially in the last set, after 3-1, I started hitting cleaner."
Although they are both competing in their first Easter Bowl, Zhang will not only have the advantage over unseeded Nathan Lee in size, but also in his experience in a Level 1 final. Lee, playing in just his second USTA Level 1, defeated No. 5 seed James Borchard 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals on Stadium 5, surprising himself in the process.
"I didn't think I was going to do this actually," said the 11-year-old from Orange County California. "But my energy was high and it never really dropped and I just played my own game, didn't focus on who I had next."
Although Lee hasn't played Zhang, he did some scouting during the quarterfinals Tuesday.
"He has a very strong game and how he plays is really solid," said Lee, who won a Level 3 last week in Anaheim. "He's very hard to break because he has a big serve, big ground strokes."
Vickneswaran had a much tougher match in her quest to get to a second straight USTA Level 1 final, needing more than three hours to beat unseeded Julia Seversen 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-1.
The 14-year-old from Surprise Arizona said that winning the first set was such a relief that she lost her concentration in the second.
"I was not really in the court, just not as focused as I was in the first set," said the No. 3 seed. "I really wanted to get the first set, because I was down 2-4, so getting the first set was really good, but I slacked off a bit in the second set. But I feel in the third set, I polished my game in the third set, played really well."
Vickneswaran, a semifinalist here in the 12s in 2022, said winning the Winter Nationals in San Antonio in January was a big step forward for her.
"I definitely got a lot of confidence after Winter Nationals, I felt much better," said Vickneswaran, who turns 15 in July. "I had played a lot of L1s, but in all of them, quarterfinals, semifinals, I lost. Now I feel really good and I think I can definitely get it."
Vickneswaran will face No. 6 seed and 2023 Easter Bowl 12s champion Raya Kotseva, who defeated unseeded Kingsley Wolf 6-0, 6-4 to extend her Easter Bowl winning streak to 11 matches. Vickneswaran has defeated Kotseva twice in the past three months, both by 6-4, 6-3 scores, in the Winter Nationals quarterfinals and last month in the semifinals of a Level 3 in Long Beach.
"I'm not thinking I have to beat her because I've beaten her the last two times," Vickneswaran said. "Playing her before I was not thinking about beating her, just about playing well and that's why I ended up winning the match. I think I definitely know how to play her right now, so if I do what I need to do, I should be fine."
A third Winter National champion will be contending for an Easter Bowl title, with No. 2 seed Andrew Johnson playing doubles partner and No. 4 seed Izyan Ahmad for the singles championship, before partnering with Ahmad for the doubles title.
Johnson, who didn't lose any games in Tuesday's quarterfinal, lost just two today, beating No. 7 seed Akshay Mirmira 6-1, 6-1. Ahmad took out top seed Safir Azam 6-4, 6-2.
The girls 12s final will feature the only top seed remaining with No. 1 Nikol Davletshina taking on No. 9 seed Savannah Schmitz. Davletshina defeated unseeded Isabelle Nguyen 6-4, 6-3, while Schmitz took out No. 2 seed Nadia Poznick 6-3, 6-4 in a semifinal that lasted two hours and 30 minutes.
While all the the boys 18s round of 16 and several of the girls 18s round of 16 singles matches were played at other sites, the boys 16s were at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Way out on Practice Court 9, the drama was hidden from most viewers, when boys 16s top seed Gus Grumet saved six match points and went on to defeat unseeded Tyler Lee, Nathan's older brother, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3.
Grumet was down 2-5 in the second set, and Lee had two match points serving at 5-3, 40-15. He double faulted on the first one and lost a cross court angle exchange on the second, and Grumet hitting a backhand passing shot winner to close the gap to 5-4.
But serving to stay in the match, Grumet went down 30-40, yet managed to fight that match point off with a backhand forcing an error from Lee. With another ad, Lee had a fourth match point, but a great first serve from the left-handed Grumet saved that one. Grumet saved a fifth with a perfectly executed drop shot and pass combination, and had two game points that Lee fought off. On match point No. 6, Lee sent a backhand wide, one of the few unforced errors in the seven-deuce game, and he would not get another chance, with another unforced error and a shanked forehand giving Grumet the game.
Although Lee never changed his expression, the result of the next game suggested he was shaken by what had transpired. He served two double faults in his next game after going up 30-0 and when another forehand went astray, Grumet was serving for the set. He held at 40-15 to take the set, which did not surprise him.
"I knew the end was near, he was making a lot of errors," said Grumet, who is from Mill Valley in Northern California. "That would happen a lot. He was very on and off. He'd have strings of really good tennis, like most of the second set, and then times when he'd make a lot of errors. So I knew at 6-5, when I was serving, I'd have control and would finish off the set. I was thinking about how I would celebrate."
Grumet, who generally indulges in exhortations only on big points, had a famous Tom Brady expletive prepared and started with "Let's F.." when he caught himself before saying the word that would have been a code violation, with a roving umpire in the vicinity.
"I was like, I'm not going to say that, and then I kind of lost control," said Grumet, who basically swallowed the phrase after the F came out.
Grumet went up 2-0 in the third set, only to see Lee get back on serve, but he broke at 3-all and held for 5-3. Lee continued to go for his shots, but his first serve, which had also deserted him in the final four games of the second set, eluded him, with is only first serve in the last game an ace. At 30-40, the drama in the second set was absent, with Lee hitting a forehand long to give Grumet the match.
"In that 4-3 game, I just dug deep and made a lot of first serves," said Grumet, who will not turn 17 until November. "That's not usually my typical thing. I just felt super confident in my first serve and I believed I was going to be able to make that first serve, and I did it in the key moments."
Grumet knew he would have to play better today than he did in his first few rounds, with Lee on a 23-match winning streak since losing in the quarterfinals of the Winter Nationals.
"I heard from everybody that he was playing incredible and his game was on," Grumet said. "And so I didn't come in expecting to win. We're pretty much around the same level and I needed to be confident in my game. I didn't play well in my first two matches, I'm usually a slow starter, so I wanted to come out and play my game, so that even if I lost, I'd be happy with my performance. Being the one seed doesn't matter at this level, everyone's so strong and they're all really good."
The 16s and 18s quarterfinals are Thursday, with these matchups:
B16s:Gus Grumet[1] v Tanishk Konduri
All four of the 12s and 14s singles finals are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and as of tonight, the one match that will be streamed has yet to be determined.
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