Historic Title for Genidy at IMG Academy International; Iftime Claims G16s Title; Junseo Wins Second Championship in Three Years; Lee vs Kisimov, Liutova vs Cvetkovic in Sunday's ITF J300 Finals; Vaughan and Bielinska Top Orange Bowl 16s Draws

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

When the dense fog cleared and the IMG Academy hard courts dried, the six finals of the IMG Academy lnternational Championships proceeded, with history on the line for the countries of Greece, Venezuela and Egypt. 

Those three countries had never had a singles champion at the prestigious tournament, formerly known as the Eddie Herr International, and the boys 14s final would elevate one and eliminate the other when top seed Mohamed Genidy of Egypt met No. 16 seed Ignacio Mejias of Venezuela.

Although no clear favorite emerged after more than two hours of play, Genidy managed to break and hold at 4-4 in third to post a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Many juniors would not be aware of the history, Genidy was well versed in his country's performance in December's major junior Florida in Florida.

"Ismail El Shafei won the Orange Bowl," Genidy said of the 1965 18s champion. "But the Eddie Herr, no one from my country did."

Genidy was able to put his slow start behind him, chalking it up to a lack of familiarity with Mejias's game.

"It was my first time to play him in singles, so it was weird for me," said the 14-year-old from Cairo. "But I handled it well, and I know how to play in the second set. I started well, but again, he is very good and when I do something good, he would play better every time."

Genidy let a 4-3 lead slip away, but he broke right back to give himself a chance to serve for the match. Facing two match points at 40-15, Mejias again raised his level, and it took two good first serves from Genidy in the next two points to deliver the historic title.

"He hit very good two forehands, and it was my second serve," Genidy said. "Two championship points down, how is he doing that? But I tried to make my first serves, it was very tough, and I did that, and two returns out

Genidy, who will play the Junior Orange Bowl in Miami next week, is making his first visit to the United States for these two tournaments.

"It's my first time in America, so this means a lot to me," Genidy said.

The girls 14s champion, No. 9 seed Ayaka Iwasa of Japan, denied Greece its first IMG Academy champion, defeating No. 5 seed Konstantina Volonaki 6-1, 6-1.

"I'm so happy to win this tournament," said the 13-year-old, who lost in the first round of the 12s as an 11-year-old in 2023, and made the quarterfinals of the 12s division last year.  "I played very good in the final, the best this week."

The boys 16s final was the last match to begin, and with long and physical games and points, No. 14 seed Jang Junseo of Korea needed two-and-a-half hours to collect his second IMG Academy title, beating No. 9 seed Artem Dmytrenko 7-6(4), 7-5.

Junseo, who won the 12s title in 2023 and reached the 14s final last year, has been training at the IMG Academy for more than a year, and had the support of his coaches and many fellow IMG students, as he broke Dmytrenko serving for the second set at 5-4 and broke again at 6-5 to claim the title.

"Last year I had seven set points," the 14-year-old recalled of his 7-6(7), 6-2 loss to Qi Hongjin of China in the final on Stadium Court. "I remembered last year, when I was playing tiebreak in the first set (today), and it was a little bit tough, but I won."

Junseo was receiving regular encouragement from one of his IMG Academy coaches, Agge Venizelos, and he drew comfort from that.

"It was helping a lot," Junseo said. "He told me to stay focused, and if I'm tired, my opponent is tired also, so I need to keep going."

Dmytrenko said he enjoyed the atmosphere, despite receiving no support from the pro-Junseo spectators.

"I love it," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the Mouratoglou Academy in Zephyrhills Florida, which merged last year with Andy Sorrentino's Academy there. "I love the crowd against me."

Dmytrenko regretted not taking advantage of his opportunities, but he didn't want to blame his loss on the three-and-a-half hour 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5) semifinal victory over top seed Mason Vaughan Friday.

"I felt it a little bit, but I must say I had some chances today, and I didn't take them," said Dmytrenko, who had not competed at this tournament before this year and decided to play it just a few weeks ago. "He's a very great player. He's young, hits the ball well, does everything well. He played his game today and some of the key points went his way and that kind of decided the match. But that's ok, we'll bounce back and do better in my next tournament."

Originally from Ukraine, Dmytrenko has been in the United States for the past two-and-a-half years, and has just signed with Louisville for the fall of 2026.

"I'm doing Ukrainian school and I'm graduating from there this year," said Dmytrenko, who is playing the Orange Bowl 16s next week. "So basically I skipped a grade here."

Two 14-year-old Americans battled for the Girls 16s title, with No. 11 seed Adelina Iftime coming from behind to defeat unseeded London Evans 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, a result that surprised her.

"I lost the previous two years in the first round, in the 12s and 14s," said the Orlando resident. "I just turned 14 in October, so I thought I could get past three rounds, but I ended up winning, so I was happy with that."

Iftime made an adjustment that helped her hand Evans her only two losses of a set in the tournament.

"I felt like I should stay more in the point," said Iftime, who trains with her father, and also with Tomas Penika, the father of  Kristina and Annika Penickova. Kristina also won a 16s championship here, in 2023. "I was going for too much and not in the good moments. So I just tried to stay calm and stay in the points longer. It was both patience and mental. I was trying to stay calm the whole match, not get angry at myself, and that helped me as well."

Iftime is playing the Orange Bowl next week and is excited about getting to play on the green clay.

"I like clay a lot more than I like hard," Iftime said.

Evans said she wasn't really feeling the ball well today, even with her fast start.

"She just kept the ball in and was waiting for me to miss," said Evans, last year's USTA Winter Nationals 14s champion.

Evans, who defeated No. 2 seed Daniella Sales 6-1, 6-0 in second round, said she had no expectations as far as results were concerned when she entered the tournament.

"Honestly I wasn't really paying attention, thinking about anything," Evans said. "I just went out there and played. I didn't look that far ahead in the draw."

Evans will play her second ITF J500 main draw next week with a wild card into the Orange Bowl, after her debut in Merida last week, but unlike Iftime, said "I definitely prefer hard." 

The fourth American in a final today, No. 5 seed James Borchard, fell to unseeded Rui He of China 6-1, 7-5.

Borchard raised his level against He, but after a clutch hold at 4-5, he couldn't quite find that form in the 5-6 game, with He breaking for the title.

"He is just physically very tough and he got to all my balls," said the 12-year-old from Southern California, who won the doubles title on Friday and reached the final today in his debut at this event. "He has a great slice too."

Borchard came out in the second set determined to put He under some pressure.

"I just started playing really aggressive," said the reigning Easter Bowl 12s champion. "I was playing really well, but in the end he got to a lot more balls than I did."

Borchard will be competing next week in the Junior Orange Bowl 12s in Miami.

The girls 12s title also went to a Chinese player, with No. 4 seed Fangqiao Zou pulling away from No. 5 seed Seungyeon Seo of Australia in the second set to earn a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

I was unable to see any of the ITF J300 semifinals today, with all of them played at the same time as the IMG Academy International finals due to the possibility of rain later in the day, which did not end up materializing. 

I was able to talk by phone to 15-year-old wild card Jordan Lee, who will go for a second straight IMG title tomorrow after beating No. 7 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Lee went up early in the first set, lost the break, but broke the 17-year-old to claim the set. 

Boogaard, ranked more than 400 spots higher than Lee, who was out for eight months with a wrist injury, served for the second set at 5-4, but Lee broke, only to lose his next service game. Boogaard then took his second opportunity to serve for the set.

"The first set went very well," said Lee, who won the 2024 16s title, which was played on clay last year due to hurricane damage to some of the Academy's hard courts.  "I feel like it was a pretty equal level and it just came out that I had won the set. Second set was the same thing; he played a very good game at 5-all in the second set and at 6-5, very solid from him and then, in the third set, I feel I had a little bit more energy."

There was only one break in the final set, with Boogaard dropping serve at 2-3 and Lee closed out the nearly three-hour contest with a hold.

Although Lee has played only three tournaments since his return from injury, he is pleased with how he has held up physically as he anticipates his first ITF J300 title on the same court where he won his 16s title last year.

"I've been working on my physicality, staying physical and working on the right things, not giving away points too easily," Lee said. "I feel I've been doing a very good job with that."

Lee will face unseeded Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, who has had a breakout tournament this week. Kisimov advanced to his first J300 final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia.

The girls final will feature No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia and unseeded Kristina Liutova. Cvetkovic defeated unseeded Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 6-2, 6-4 to reach her second ITF J300 final, which is also the case for Liutova, who defeated No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 7-5, 7-5.

Cvetkovic, 17, won the title in her first appearance in a J300 final this spring in Italy, while Liutova won the J300 in College Park in August; Cvetkovic lost in the semifinals at that event.

Cvetkovic said she is beginning to feel comfortable on the green clay, with this her first experience on it and at the IMG Academy. She has had plenty of reps on it, coming from a set down in three of her first four matches to advance.

"It's a little bit tough, but the courts are good and I'm feeling so good," said Cvetkovic, who has survived physically despite all that court time, which included five doubles matches. "This morning I was feeling so good, it's like just confidence."

Making just her second trip to the United States, with the first the College Park/US Open Junior swing, Cvetkovic has not had an opportunity to study Liutova's game. 

"This is the first time I play against her," said Cvetkovic, who is traveling with the ITF Junior Touring Team on this Florida swing. "We will see tomorrow, who will be better, who will give more."

Both ITF singles finals are scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday, with rain again a possibility.

Cvetkovic and partner Larraya Guidi, the No. 2 seeds, lost in the afternoon doubles final to No. 3 seeds Kanon Sawashiro of Japan and Xiran Sun of China 6-2, 6-4.

In the boys doubles final, played at the same time as the singles semifinals, No. 2 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland defeated No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-0, 6-4, The Roland Garros and Wimbledon doubles champions did not drop a set in their five victories this week.

Main draw play begins Sunday at the Orange Bowl, with 32  singles matches in the 16s, which is half of the draws, on the schedule, along with the final round of 18s qualifying.

As he was at the IMG Academy International Championships, Mason Vaughan is the top seed; the girls top seed is Sofiia Bielinska of Ukraine.

Draws for the 16s main draw and 18s qualifying, along with the order of play, can be found at ustaorangebowl.com