Antonius Defeats No. 3 Seed Wazny to Reach ITF J300 College Park Semifinals, Cvetkovic Battles Past Yodpetch; Eight Americans Reach Final Round of Qualifying at US Open, Men's and Women's Singles Draws Revealed

©Colette Lewis 2024--
College Park MD--

Another day of clouds, cool temperatures and occasional drizzle extended through Thursday's singles and doubles quarterfinals of the ITF J300 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, but all matches were completed outdoors.

The boys top half semifinal Friday will feature two surprises, with unseeded Matei Todoran of Romania and Michael Antonius of the United States guaranteeing an unseeded finalist after three-set victories today.

Todoran, 17, ended the run of Tanishk Konduri, who had taken out top seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland Wednesday, with a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-0 quarterfinal victory. 

Antonius, playing on Stadium Court for the first time, dropped the first set in a tiebreaker, but used some of the advice from his USTA coach Sylvain Guichard to rebound for a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 3 seed Alan Wazny of Poland.

"He said a few things that really helped me," said the 15-year-old from Buffalo New York, who had access to Guichard's coaching today because chair umpires were being used for the first time in the tournament. "He doesn't say much and sometimes it's more mental than tactical, but today he said, 'don't rush it, he's getting tired, just keep the match physical.' And that's what I do pretty well generally. He also said 'play to win.' If my opponent's playing a little bit passive I need to convert on that opportunity. It doesn't mean hitting winners, it doesn't mean going for the kill immediately, but I need to stand up in the court and not play passive as well."

Wazny, who has won the last two junior slam doubles titles, has great touch, and was able to use his drop shots effectively early, but once Antonius began to hit more aggressively and deeper in the second set, Wazny had less opportunities to be creative.

"I started returning really well in the third set, deep and heavy, quality returns," Antonius said. "Keeping him back, that really helped, because then he had to go for broke a bit and wasn't able to use his hands. That was another thing Sylvain said, 'he's trying to play fancy, you play boring'. That really worked."

Antonius and Todoran have not played, with both seeking their first appearance in a J300 final.

In the bottom half semifinal, doubles partners Ryo Tabata of Japan and Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania will face off in the morning prior to playing in the doubles semifinal in the afternoon.

Tabata, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 5 seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia 6-2, 7-5, while Alexandrescou beat No. 8 seed Keaton Hance 6-3, 6-2. The two 17-year-olds have played once before, in the round robin stage of the Junior Davis Cup last November, with Alexandrescou winning in three sets.

The girls semifinals will feature three seeds and qualifier Kristina Liutova of Russia, who continued her march through the field with a 6-1, 6-2 win over unseeded Nancy Lee. Liutova, who has lost no more than three games in a set in her four victories, will face another 15-year-old in Xinran Sun of China, the ninth seed, who beat No. 4 seed Beatrise Zeltina of Latvia 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

In the top half, No. 3 seed Laima Vladson claimed her third consecutive three-set victory, beating No. 6 seed Yushan Shao of China 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. She will play No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia, who defeated No. 14 seed Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand 7-6(8), 6-2.

Cvetkovic had posted two routine wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, but she was pushed to the limit in the first set by Yodpetch, who had beaten top seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina Wednesday. The start-stop-start-again interruptions due to the drizzle were also challenging.

"We played 2-1 first set, then rain and then break," said the 17-year-old, who is in the United States for the first time. "Then again coming to the court and again break. It's tough for my mind."

Down 5-0, 6-2 and 7-6 in the first set tiebreaker, Cvetkovic fought back, giving Yodpetch nothing when down five set points.

"The first set was amazing, unbelievable," Cvetkovic said. "I was saying, be positive, I can do it, play every point, every ball, full focus. I didn't miss one ball, so she needs to do something, and she missed some balls."

Cvetkovic was less impressed with the level of tennis in the second set.

"Second set, both of us is tired, so it was, not bad, but not like the first set," Cvetkovic said. "I'm proud of myself, after the tough first set and everything."

Seventeen-year-olds Cvetkovic and Vladson are both traveling to the United States as members of the ITF Grand Slam Touring Team, but did not know each other previously and haven't played before.

Six of the eight singles semifinalists will also be competing in the doubles semifinals Friday afternoon.

No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Ksenia Efremova of France will face the third-seeded team of Sun and Shao. Cvetkovic and Efremova defeated No. 6 seeds Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India and Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 6-2, 6-3, while Sun and Shao beat unseeded Jordyn Hazelitt and Raya Kosteva 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-6. No. 4 seeds Yodpetch and Ruien Zhang of China, who beat Lani Chang and Lee 6-2, 7-5, will face the unseeded team of Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann and Karlin Schock. Drenser and Schock beat Isabelle DeLuccia and Anita Tu 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.

Antonius and Andrew Johnson, the only unseeded team in the semifinals, beat Nicolas Pedraza and Erik Schinnerer 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 and will play No. 8 seeds Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode in an all-USA semifinal. Cozad and Goode beat Connor Plunkett and Czech Oliver Sanders 6-2, 6-2.

No. 2 seeds Alexandrescou and Tabata will play No. 6 seed Savva Rybkin of Russia and Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey in the other semifinal. Alexanderescou and Tabata defeated No. 7 seeds Linus Lagerbohm of Finland and Todoran 6-3, 6-4. Rybkin and Yilmaz beat Nicholas Mekhael and Agassi Rusher 6-2, 6-3.

All four semifinals are scheduled for 10 a.m., with the doubles semifinals following not before 12:30 p.m. Links to live streaming and live scoring can be found at the JTCC tournament page.

Eight Americans have advanced to Friday's final round of qualifying at the US Open, including three who received wild cards into qualifying.

Thursday's second round results of Americans:

Dalma Galfi[4](HUN) d. Fiona Crawley[WC] 6-2, 6-2

Katie Volynets[7] d. Amelia Honer[WC] 6-2, 6-7(4), 1-0 ret.

Hina Inoue d. Simona Waltert[24](SUI) 6-3, 6-2

Claire Liu d. Maddison Inglis(AUS) 6-3, 7-5

Ayana Akli[WC] d. Harriet Dart(GBR) 7-6(4), 6-1

Ella Seidel[21](GER) d. Sachia Vickery 6-1, 6-2

Dino Prizmic[19](CRO) d. Murphy Cassone 6-3, 6-2

Daniel Galan[32](COL) d. Patrick Maloney[WC] 6-4, 6-2

Pablo Llamas Ruiz(ESP) d. Andres Martin[WC] 6-4, 6-4

Jerome Kym(SUI) d. Michael Zheng[WC] 6-3, 6-4

Martin Damm[WC] d. Benjamin Hassan(LBN) 7-5, 7-6(5)

Zachary Svajda[24] d. Beibit Zhukayev(KAZ) 6-3, 7-5

Garrett Johns[WC] d. Oliver Crawford(GBR) 7-6(4), 6-3

Mitchell Krueger d. Andrea Collarini(ARG) 7-6(4), 7-5

Friday's final round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Garrett Johns[WC] v Leandro Riedi(SUI)

Zachary Svajda[22] v Marc-Andrea Huesler(SUI)

Martin Damm[WC] v Yuta Shimizu(JPN)

Mitchell Krueger v Jesper de Jong[2](NED)

Katie Volynets[7] v Jana Fett(CRO)

Ayana Akli[WC] v Oksana Selekhmeteva(RUS)

Hina Inoue v Lucrezia Stefanini(ITA)

Claire Liu v Veronika Erjavec[32](SLO)

The men's and women's singles draws were released this afternoon, with USTA National 18s champions Darwin Blanch and Alyssa Ahn learning their opponents for their slam debuts. Blanch will face a qualifier or lucky loser, while Ahn has drawn No. 19 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.

USTA Collegiate Playoff winners Stefan Dostanic and Valerie Glozman also will be making their slam debuts, with Dostanic playing fellow wild card Eliot Spizzirri and Glozman facing Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands.

Julieta Pareja plays No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, while Clervie Ngounoue faces No. 29 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

Play begins on Sunday this year for the first time.