Unseeded Jagger Leach Among Five Americans Advancing to Junior Championships Round of 16 as Sunshine Returns to Wimbledon; 14U Tournament Round Robin Play Begins Thursday
©Colette Lewis 2024--
Wimbledon--
Jagger Leach is enjoying his first Wimbledon as a competitor, although as Lindsay Davenport's son, this is not his first trip to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and the 17-year-old pronounced it his favorite place in the world.
His comfort level here was evident in his 6-4, 7-6(6) second round victory in the Wimbledon Junior Championships, when he withstood a barrage of 14 aces from Australian Open boys finalist and No. 6 seed Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic to record a 6-4, 7-6(6) victory.
Although Leach saw seven match points come and go, he stayed calm, riding the roller coaster that comes with Kumstat's power tennis.
"I was maybe starting to get a little uncomfortable towards the end," Leach said. "But I went to my tools, I've been working on that, so I fell back on my training in the big moments and it helped me."
Leach took an early lead in the second set and held on to it, while Kumstat's errors kept him from putting any pressure on Leach. Down 3-5 in the second, Kumstat played a service game that exemplified the challenges he presented. After three unforced errors gave Leach a 40-0 lead, Kumstat proceeded to hit three consecutive aces and went on to win the game.
"He hit four aces in that game, three back-to-back-to-back," Leach said. "But that's where I felt like there was nothing I could do, so I had no regrets. But at 5-4, I didn't totally go for my shots and got a little passive and a little bit tight, when I had my match points on my serve, so I was a little bit bummed after that game because I wasn't playing the points on my terms, but hoping for an error."
After failing to convert his fifth and sixth match points, Leach ran out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker, but Kumstat got in back to 5-all by eliminating his unforced errors.
At 5-all Leach hit a shot that was called out, but the line umpire's call was overruled by the chair umpire, and Leach went on to win the replayed point to give himself a seventh match point.
With no Hawkeye challenge available in their match, there was nothing Kumstat could do once the chair overruled the call, and the random nature of who gets Hawkeye and who doesn't in junior matches remains a sore spot for all juniors.
"I don't completely understand it because there have been pro matches on all the courts," Leach said. "My first match we didn't have it to start, and then when we came back (the next day) to finish it, we did. I don't understand the system, maybe it's a huge hassle if it's a junior court and it's a lot of money, and I just don't know. I almost feel like it would be better not to have the challenge system at all than to have it for one set and not the other. There were a few today where I would have liked to have had a challenge and a few that I'm maybe happy my opponent didn't have a challenge."
On his seventh match point, Leach missed a backhand just wide, but broke Kumstat with a backhand winner to earn No. 8 and found a first serve on that one, with Kumstat's return going just long.
Leach will face qualifier Flynn Thomas of Switzerland on Thursday, with Thomas beating wild chard Charlie Swaine of Great Britain 6-2, 7-5.
Top seed Kaylan Bigun defeated Thomas Faurel of France 6-3, 6-4, and No. 15 seed Cooper Woestendick came back to beat Daniele Rapagnetta of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Woestendick fell behind 5-1 in the first set, but began to work his way back into the match, and kept his mental state positive, even after going down a break to open the second set.
"I broke right back, and from then on I raised my level and it was pretty good tennis from then on," said the 17-year-old from Kansas. "I think mentally he broke a little bit, which was fantastic for me. My mental state was locked in throughout the whole match, which is one thing I've been happy with; realistically that's how I got to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, I was super tough."
Woestendick, who qualified last year, had match points in his first round match but didn't convert them, attributing that disappointment to nerves.
"Everytime I would serve, I was shaking on the way up, looking at Centre Court in the background" Woestendick said. "This year, I just feel so much more comfortable in general, I didn't put any pressure on myself at all to do well, and it's making me play better, emotionally more stable, which will ultimately lead to better results."
Woestendick was careful to say he wasn't looking beyond his first two matches, but is eager to play No. 2 seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, who defeated Tianhui Zhang of China 6-2, 6-4.
"I'm excited," Woestendick said. "Obviously I take it match by match but when I saw I was in his section, the goal was to have a shot at him."
ITF J300 Roehampton champion Rafael Jodar of Spain continued his grass court mastery, beating No. 14 Reda Bennani of Morocco 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Jodar, who will be joining the University of Virginia Cavaliers in January of 2025, has surprised himself with all the success he's had on a surface alien to him, although he can see why his game is thriving on it.
"Roehampton was my first time on grass," said the lanky 17-year-old, who is now up to 21 in the ITF junior rankings. "I came three days before Roehampton, but I adapted very, very quickly. I have a good serve, and that helps me a lot to build the points. And my forehand and backhand are flat. I thought before coming here it was going to be tough, with it my first time, but I'm very happy with my level."
Jodar decided on Virginia after also considering Duke and TCU.
"I decided to go to UVA because of the coaches, the facilities, everything was incredible, amazing," said Jodar, who didn't consider college in the United States as an option until he began to hear from Division I coaches. "Many coaches called to say they are there if I want to go their universities, and I'm very happy that many coaches wanted me."
In addition head coach Andres Pedroso, recent UVA graduate Inaki Montes was another Cavalier helping to persuade Jodar to come to Charlottesville.
"I've been talking with him a lot since the first time Andres talked with me," Jodar said. "When I was there in October, visting the facilities and everything Inaki was with me, introducing me to the team and the coaches, so it's good. With me, Keegan Rice, Stiles Brockett, and Roy Horovitz, there are many players, so I am very happy with the job Andres did."
In addition to the three US boys advancing, two US girls have made the third round, with both No. 6 seed Iva Jovic and No. 4 seed Tyra Grant returning after starting their matches last night. With drizzle sending them girls home Tuesday night with no matches completed, it was a relief to finally have a rain-free day, with partly cloudy skies allowing all second round singles and all but two first round girls doubles matches to be completed.
Jovic won the first set over Chara Esquiva Banuls 6-0, but trailed 0-2 when play was suspended Tuesday. Jovic immediately got back on track, and went on to win six more games in a row for a 6-0, 6-2 victory.
Grant was down 3-5, with Mayu Crossley of Japan serving for the first set when their Tuesday evening match was suspended. Crossley closed out that set, but Grant found her form, posting a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
"Today it was just like playing one game, starting a new match," said the 16-year-old, who is now training with Jean-Rene Lisnard at the Elite Tennis Center in Cannes France. "Let's see what happens, just play every game, take what happened in the first and use it in the rest of the match."
The long wait on Tuesday took its toll on Grant, although not having to play until later Wednesday gave her time to reset.
"Yesterday we were there ready to play from 11 and we ended up starting at 6:30 and ended up going back (off) at 8," Grant said. So today I had time to relax mentally and pace myself and even though I still lost the first set, it was way better in the second and third mentally. I was less tired mentally, ready to rally more, just play a full match."
Grant will play unseeded Vandula Valdmannova of the Czech Republic, who beat No. 14 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile 6-3, 6-2.
Wednesday's first round results of Americans:
Sonja Zhenikhova(GER) d. Kristina Penickova[9] 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4
Tyra Grant[4] d. Mayu Crossley(JPN) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Jeline Vandromme[10](BEL) d. Annika Penickova[Q] 6-3, 7-5
Iva Jovic[6] d. Charo Esquiva Banuls(ESP) 6-0, 6-2
Kaylan Bigun[1] d. Thomas Faurel(FRA) 6-3, 6-4
Matthew Forbes d. Naoya Honda(JPN) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Jagger Leach d. Jan Kumstat[6](CZE) 6-4, 7-6(6)
Federico Cina[3](ITA) d. Kase Schinnerer[Q] 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-2
Cooper Woestendick[15] d. Daniele Rapagnetta(ITA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Thursday's third round matches featuring Americans:
Kaylan Bigun[1] v Amir Omarkhanov[13](KAZ)
Jagger Leach v Flynn Thomas[Q](SUI)
Cooper Woestendick[15] v Nicolai Budkov Kjaer[2](NOR)
Tyra Grant[4] v Vendula Valdmannova(CZE)
Iva Jovic[6] v Wakana Sonobe[11](JPN)
The first round of doubles competition featured several upsets, with boys No. 2 seeds Petr Brunclik of the Czech Republic and Jangjun Kim of Korea falling to Andrea De Marchi and Rapagnetta of Italy 6-4, 1-6, 12-10, and 2023 girls finalists Hannah Klugman and Isabelle Lacy losing to Rositsa Dencheva and Elizara Yaneva of Bulgaria 6-3, 1-6, 10-7.
The last American in the men's or women's Wimbledon singles, Taylor Fritz, lost in the quarterfinals today to Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
The 14U tournament begins Thursday with two rounds of round robin play for the girls and one round for the boys, with the reverse of that schedule on Friday.
Thursday's 14U round robin matches featuring Americans:
Maggie Sohns v Daniella Britton(GBR)
Maggie Sohns v Zoe Doldan(PAR)
Welles Newman v Sijia Zhang(CHN)
Welles Newman v Claudia Chacon(VEN)
Raya Kotseva v Liv Zingg(GBR)
Raya Kotseva v Tori Russell(AUS)
Michael Antonius v Takahiro Kawaguchi(JPN)
Jordan Lee v Taiki Takizawa(JPN)
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