Kostovic Erases Memory of 2023 Final with ITF J300 Bradenton Title; Santamarta Roig Overwhelms Top Seed Mrva in Boys Final; Klugman Begins Orange Bowl Title Defense as No. 4 Seed, Sonobe and Mrva No. 1 Seeds
©Colette Lewis 2024--
Bradenton FL--
After her 6-3, 6-1 loss to Wakana Sonobe in last year's ITF J300 final, a match that included a game penalty for a mid-set bathroom break, Teodora Kostovic was so distraught that she was barely able to attend the trophy ceremony and was unavailable for a post-match interview.
In Sunday morning's final, the top seed's broken heart was mended with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over No. 4 seed Tereza Krejcova, and she marked the occasion by drawing a heart on the Bollettieri Stadium's green clay court with her racquet, then adding the letters IMG squarely in the center.
In her trophy ceremony comments, Kostovic acknowledged her often volatile on-court demeanor, which has shown a marked improvement over the past 12 months.
"I know it's not easy to work with me," said the 17-year-old from Serbia, who went on to thank her coach Jorge Gonzalez, her trainer Nadia Perez and her mental coach Becca Thomas along with several other IMG employees. "This is not only my title, this is title of you guys, my team, everybody who supports me and who was working with me for this moment."
After her title at the European Championships, Kostovic was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot, but she took the opportunity to work on channeling her emotions more positively.
"You can't do anything with a stress fracture, so it was very hard time for me," Kostovic said. "I just tried to stay positive and work on my mental game and do physically whatever I can. I'm doing this because I love tennis so much. Sometimes when you compete you forget why you are doing this, and for me it's because I love tennis."
The anguish of last year's final provided Kostovic with a motivation to change, and her transformation was obvious after she lost the first game of the final, broke back for 3-all, then lost serve again, with her shots not finding their targets.
Kostovic showed no frustration when Krejcova took 4-3 lead, and immediately broke back. She began to find her rhythm in the ninth game, saving five break points to take a 5-4 lead, then crushed a forehand winner to break Krejcova for the third straight time.
That forehand started a string of 12 straight points, with Kostovic taking a 3-0 lead in the second set. Krejcova stopped the momentum with her first hold since the fourth game, but Kostovic displayed all her variety, with her offense and her defense equally impressive.
"In the second set I played unbelievable tennis," Kostovic said. "It was amazing."
girls
Krejcova agreed that her options were limited with Kostovic playing at that level.
"I played not good, not bad," said the six-foot 16-year-old, who admitted that nerves were a factor in her second J300 final. "It's a very hard match because Teodora is a very good player and I didn't play perfect. She plays very aggressive tennis, so it very hard. But it was a very good week, and my performance, I'm proud of myself."
Kostovic earned a wild card into the qualifying of the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi in February, and she is excited about the prospect of competing at that level after playing the Australian Open Junior Championships.
"I didn't think about that in the match, but I'm very happy for that," said Kostovic, who is the second Serbian girl to win the title, after Ana Ivanovic in 2002. "I will try to prepare and who knows? maybe I'll win tournament there."
The boys final that followed was completed in 55 minutes, with No. 16 seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain dominating top seed Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1 to become the first boy from Spain to capture the ITF J300 Bradenton title.
Mrva had been playing well throughout the week, particularly in his 6-3, 6-1 semifinal victory over Dominick Mosejczuk Saturday, but the level of his serves, forehands and backhands that he was so pleased with in that win deserted him today, while Santamarta brought out his best in his second J300 final.
Down two breaks in a matter of minutes, Mrva showed some life in the the fourth game, getting one of the breaks back. But Santamarta immediately broke again, keeping Mrva defending with his devastating inside out forehand.
The first set lasted 25 minutes, and the five-minute bathroom break that Mrva took didn't cool off Santamarta. Mvra did get his lone hold of the match in the second game, but Santamarta countered every strategy that Mrva employed, including serve-and-volley. That proved futile, with Santamarta passing Mrva regularly, or putting the ball at his feet with no chance at a winning volley.
"He's a player that likes to make drop shots, volleying, I think it's just his kind of playing," said the 17-year-old, who is coached by Sergio Gallego at the GTennis Academy in Valencia. "I played quite comfortable, for the entire match. I was focused, with energy, tried to be consistent, I played really good, and I'm really happy."
Santamarta had dismissed his loss to Mrva in the second round of Wimbledon after his semifinal win over Jagger Leach Saturday, and his performance in today's final proved that confidence was warranted.
"At Wimbledon, on grass, everything was much faster," said Santamarta, who lost that match 6-4, 6-2. "The point were just serve volley, serve drop shot, serve forehand. Here on clay we have the opportunity to play longer rallies and I think that's positive for me."
Mrva told Santamarta during the trophy presentation that "I had no chance against you today. But being in the final, it means a lot, and I really enjoyed the tournament."
Santamarta will be offered a wild card into the qualifying of the ATP 250 in Hong Kong the last week of this month, but he is not sure if he'll be accepting it.
"They told me one of the first days, and I thought they were joking about it," said Santamarta, who is planning to play the Australian Open Junior Championships in January. "So I just forgot about it. I don't even know when's the tournament."
In next week's Orange Bowl, Santamarta will be unseeded, and he is in the opposite half from Mrva, the top seed. He could face No. 2 seed Charlie Robertson of Great Britain in the third round.
Final draws from the ITF J300 Bradenton can be found here.
The Orange Bowl seeds are below, with the 16s beginning their first round today, and the 18s starting tomorrow, although both first rounds are scheduled over two days.
US Open finalist Wakana Sonobe of Japan is the top seed, with defending champion Hannah Klugman of Great Britain seeded No. 4. Klugman reached the quarterfinals of the W50 this week in Tampa, losing 6-3, 6-4 to eventual champion Caty McNally.
Four of the seeded American girls did not play in Bradenton last week: Kristina Penickova, Thea Frodin, Aspen Schuman and Annika Penickova.
Boys 16s:
1. Zavier Augustin (USA)
2. Jordan Lee( USA)
3. Agassi Rusher (USA)
4. Jerrid Gaines Jr.(USA)
5. Ford McCollum (USA)
6. Xingyu Chen (CHN)
7. Samim Filiz (TUR)
8. Roberto Perez Socas (ESP)
9. William Zhang (USA)
10. Luis Andres Flores Avila (MEX)
11. Matthew Shapiro (USA)
12. Erik Schinnerer (USA)
13. Navneet Raghuram (USA)
14. Bercel Sandor Takacs (HUN)
15. Sean Grosman (USA)
16. Omar Rhazali (USA)
Girls 16s:
1. Hanne Estrada (MEX)
2. Welles Newman (USA)
3. Isabelle DeLuccia (USA)
4. Xiaotong Wang (CHN)
5. Reiley Rhodes (USA)
6. Nicole Okhtenberg (USA)
7. Shaya Jovanovic (USA)
8. Ophelia Korpanec Davies (GBR)
9. Sophie Triquart (GER)
10. Brooke Wallman (USA)
11. Montserrat Marron Baruqui (MEX)
12. Olivia Traynor (USA)
13. Victoria Lopez Ocampos (PAR)
14. Kalista Papadopoulos (USA)
15. Oliwia Sybicka (POL)
16. Sena Yoon (USA)
B18s:
1. Maxim Mrva (CZE)
2. Charlie Robertson (GBR)
3. Jan Kumstat (CZE)
4. Hoyoung Roh (KOR)
5. Miguel Tobon (COL)
6. Thomas Faurel (FRA)
7. Amir Omarkhanov (KAZ)
8. Oliver Bonding (GBR)
9. Jagger Leach (USA)
10. Petr Brunclik (CZE)
11. Oskari Paldanius (FIN)
12. Henry Bernet (SUI)
13. Jack Kennedy (USA)
14. Nathan Trouve (FRA)
15. Ian Mayew (USA)
16. Maxwell Exsted (USA)
G18s
1. Wakana Sonobe (JPN)
2. Teodora Kostovic (SRB)
3. Kristina Penickova (USA)
4. Hannah Klugman (GBR)
5. Elizara Yaneva (BUL)
6. Alena Kovackova (CZE)
7. Jana Kovackova (CZE)
8. Tereza Krejcova (CZE)
9. Julie Pastikova (CZE)
10. Thea Frodin (USA)
11. Luna Cinalli (ARG)
12. Maya Iyengar (USA)
13. Reina Goto (JPN)
14. Aspen Schuman (USA)
15. Annika Penickova (USA)
16. Laima Vladson (LTU)
Qualifying for the 18s concluded today with the following players advancing to the main draw:
18s Qualifiers:
Stefan Haita (ROU)
Dmitry Bessonov (RUS)
Haydar Gokpinar (TUR)
Nathan Blokhin (USA)
Nicholas Mekhael (USA)
Iker Ibarrondo Suarez (ESP)
Rafael Botran Neutze (GUA)
Luc Wieland (SUI)
Lucy Oyebog Atang (USA)
Krisha Mahendran (IND)
Amelie Hejtmanek (CZE)
Irem Kurt (TUR)
Alyssa James (JAM)
Kristina Liutova (RUS)
Marie Slamenikova (CZE)
Isabella Svahn (SWE)
Links to all 16s and 18s singles draws and Monday's order of play can be found at https://www.ustaorangebowl.com/draws
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