College News

I'm only now getting caught up on the official college tennis releases, although I heard quite a few rumors during the Eddie Herr and the early stages of the Orange Bowl.

This one I missed; Matt Brewer, who I knew had left Memphis, will be joining the Tennessee Volunteers in January. Baylor's release on Attila Bucko's January start is here, and Stanford's announcment on Alex Clayton's September 2007 commitment can be found here.

Brian Wilson, an NCAA doubles champion for Illinois in 2003, has signed on as volunteer assistant at UNLV according to this release.

And speaking of retired NCAA champions, Jeff Morrison, the singles champion in 1999 for Florida, has indeed put away the racquets, but was much in evidence at the Eddie Herr and the Orange Bowl, exploring the possibility of pursuing a career as an agent.

The ITA coaches convention begins tomorrow evening at the Doral, and I'm hoping to get over there for a few sessions. The National Team Indoor bids have been released, and the men's are listed here and the women's are here. The only schools sending both men's and women's teams (not to the same venue) are Baylor, Miami, Notre Dame, Pepperdine, Stanford and UCLA.

TAGS: tennis, Matt Brewer, Alex Clayton, Brian Wilson, Jeff Morrison, ITA Team Indoor

Whew!

Monday was my first day off, after 16 straight days of junior tennis coverage. I did laundry, wrote my SMASH column and unpacked for the eighth time since leaving Michigan.

It was decidedly strange to have an unscheduled day, but it won't be long before the Junior Orange Bowl begins!

I ran across this story by Linda Pearce at The Age, who is keeping close tabs on the player development changes in Australia. I'm still not convinced that athleticism and technique are paramount, but at least Craig Tiley and Steve Wood have a plan and criteria.

The most recent Inside Junior Tennis podcast centered on the Eddie Herr, is now available through this link. You do not need an iPod to listen to it, just a computer connected to the internet. Kevin McClure has also recently posted an interview with Intercollegiate Tennis Association Executive Director David Benjamin.

TAGS: tennis, Craig Tiley, Steve Wood, Inside Junior Tennis Podcast, Kevin McClure, David Benjamin, Intercollegiate Tennis Association

Hofmanova and Luncanu Make History at the Orange Bowl

©Colette Lewis 2006--
Key Biscayne, FL--

Austria's Nikola Hofmanova and Petru Alexandru Luncanu of Romania claimed upset wins at the Orange Bowl Sunday morning, getting historic victories for their countries in the prestigious Grade A ITF event.

The Czech-born Hofmanova, seeded ninth, defeated No. 2 seed Ksenia Milevskaya of Belarus 7-5, 6-3 in a topsy-turvy match at the Crandon Park courts on Key Biscayne, to become the first Austrian girl to win a title in the tournament's sixty years.


Hofmanova ran out to a 5-2 lead in the first set, but Milevskaya countered, winning the next three games. Serving at 5-6, however, the 16-year-old from Minsk played a loose game, and unforced errors cost her the set.

"I wasn't confident today at all, I don't know why," said Milevskaya, who lost to Hofmanova in the first round of Wimbledon this year. "After the first set, I was getting mad at myself, and didn't play well."

Hofmanova gave Milevskaya an opening, losing her serve at love in the first game, after Milevskaya had returned from a trip to the restroom, and twice more down a break, at 2-1 and 3-2, But as Milevskaya observed after the match, being down a break isn't unusual.

"Girls tennis is not about serves, it's about how you're playing," she said. "If you serve good it helps you a lot, but not too many girls can do it."

"In the beginning (of the second set), I only looked at how she's playing," said the 15-year-old Hofmanova, who has been playing tennis for 11 years. "But then I started to play my game again."

Asked to describe her game, Hofmanova, whose family moved to Austria when she was two, was quick to respond. "I'm playing aggressive, taking the balls early, and try to make the point, not waiting for the opponent to make the mistake. Normally I try to play more from the net, but that didn't work so much today."

Hofmanova managed to win the Orange Bowl without playing her best tennis in the final, and she spoke with amazement at how far she had come in a year's time, when she was seeded second in the 16s and lost in the quarterfinals.

"Last year I was looking at the 18s girls that were playing, thinking, 'oh my god, they are so good', so it's a great feeling."

When asked how she would celebrate, she spoke of waiting until she returns to Austria on Sunday to celebrate with her family, but after thinking a moment, another idea came to her.

"I'm going to the Dolphin Mall shopping this afternoon," she said. "If I see something and I like it, I'm going to get it, no matter what."


Luncanu had no time for shopping, or anything else, as Romania's first Orange Bowl boys' Champion had a plane to catch for the Yucatan Cup immediately after his 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 upset of top seed Nicolas Santos of Brazil. Had the No. 4 seed known he would be in the finals of the Orange Bowl, he may have skipped the final Grade 1 on the ITF calendar, but his results in 2006 gave little indication that a Grade A title was in the offing.

But after an early round loss at the Eddie Herr, Luncanu had time to prepare for the Orange Bowl, and it showed in his five straight-set victories, leading to the final clash with the 2006 Eddie Herr champion. On a warm and sunny Sunday, for more than two and a half hours, the 17-year-old from Bucharest attacked, attacked and attacked again, knowing it was his only chance to beat the ultra-consistent Brazilian.

"I have to try to do this because it was the key that I could beat him," said Luncanu, who is known as Alex to both his friends and the Romanian fans in the Miami area who came to cheer him on. "He doesn't make many mistakes, so I had to try to go to the net and finish the points."

In the first set, Luncanu did just that, and also hit his share of forehand winners from the baseline, which made his delicate drop volleys all the more effective. Although Santos, serving down 2-5, saved the first set point with a spectacular running backhand down-the-line winner, he succumbed to a perfect Luncanu drop shot, and then just missed the sideline during a rally. Giving Luncanu the chance to start the second set serving first didn't hurt Santos however, as he broke immediately and hung on to take the set.

"I didn't think about too much, because I knew there was one more set coming," said Luncanu. "I tried to forget it and tried to play again like the first set--to be more aggressive."

After Luncanu took a 1-2 deficit and turned it into a 5-2 lead in the third set, the voluble Santos talked to himself incessantly in Portuguese, often ending the soliloquy only a moment before Luncanu was ready to serve. What might have unnerved a less experienced player didn't bother the Romanian.

"He always does like this," said Luncanu. "He always screams, making those things he does on the court," Luncanu said, referring to the many fist pumps and vamoses. "I wasn't thinking too much about what he was doing, just be focused on my game."


Santos acknowledged that Luncanu was the better player on Sunday, although he expressed no disappointment that his 11-match winning streak was at an end.

"I played my best tennis in these two weeks," said Santos through his coach and interpreter Luis Faria. "And today Luncanu really deserved the win. He played very aggressive, winner shots all the time and he changed the direction of the ball very often."

Santos, who never looked anything but energetic during his run through the Eddie Herr and the Orange Bowl, wasn't even interested in taking a break before he played in the final match of the day, the boys doubles finals. After the ceremony, the photographs, interviews and an Orange Bowl T-shirt launching by both players, Santos was right back on the court, with partner Fernando Romboli, also of Brazil. But the day didn't end any better than it started for him, as the fourth seeds were defeated by Roman Jebavy of the Czech Republic and Daniil Arsenov of Russia, the third seeds, 6-2, 6-4.

The girls doubles title, played concurrently with the two singles finals, went to the No. 2 seeded team of Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea of Romania and Urszula Radwanska of Poland. They downed the top-seeded team of Canadian Sharon Fichman and Czech Katerina Vankova 6-3, 6-1.

TAGS: tennis, Orange Bowl, Nikola Hofmanova, Alex Luncanu, Ksenia Milevskaya, Nicolas Santos

Will Wins Girls 16s Orange Bowl Title; Dimitrov Takes Rare Double; Young, Brengle Fall in Semis

©Colette Lewis 2006--
Key Biscayne, FL--

Allie Will hasn't been playing tennis for long, but on Saturday she grabbed one of the most prestigious titles in junior tennis, that of Orange Bowl champion, defeating Lauren Embree 6-4, 6-1.

While growing up in California, Will played all the major sports and was good enough to win the shortstop position as the only girl on a boys' baseball team. But once she got a tennis racquet in her hand, at age 10 1/2, she'd found the perfect sport for her.

In Saturday's match, the gusty winds gave both players trouble. Will, the No. 14 seed, chose to receive and broke Embree, but then lost the next four games.

"In the wind it was hard to hit my flat first serve," said Will, 15. "I was spinning in a lot of second serves."

Embree took advantage of that early, aggressively returning any second serves, but when Will got accustomed to conditions, she began taking control of the match.

"At first I was a little nervous, and I had trouble closing out the points," said Will, who missed several overheads and volleys early.

"But toward the end of the first and the whole second set, I started closing out the points better and putting away the volley. If I sat back and waited for her to make an error, we'd still be playing."

The unseeded Embree, also 15, has a reputation for comebacks, but on Saturday, Will had no difficulty closing out the quick counterpuncher.

"I know that she's a fighter and that's she never going to give up," said Will, who has a 4-1 record against Embree with Saturday's victory. "She's got a very good game, so you've got to close it out, and I'm happy I did."

Will, who is coached by Andy Brandi and Harold Solomon at their recently formed academy in Lauderdale, has plans for a big celebration.

"I don't get to have desserts and stuff very often," she said. "Fitness is hard, and even harder if you don't eat properly. But I'm going to let my fitness instructor know that I'm having some ice cream tonight."

The flavor? Cake Batter from Cold Stone Creamery.



Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov swept his second consecutive major junior title in as many weeks, following his Eddie Herr 16s championship with one from the Orange Bowl, defeating Germany's David Thurner 6-3, 7-6 (0). Dimitrov is believed to be the only player to have won both the 16s championships, and is certainly the only to have done it on hard courts, as the Orange Bowl was played on clay until 1998.

Playing in his second consecutive Orange Bowl final, Dimitrov, the only seeded player in the semifinals at No. 5, didn't care for the blustery conditions.

"The weather was bad, really bad, unbelievable," the 15-year-old said. "I dropped my serve, but you have to play, to forget about it."

Dimitrov didn't falter when he had his chance to close out Thurner.

"I was pretty motivated," said Dimitrov, who will begin playing 18s in 2007. "I knew I was going to win the tiebreak. I was just sure."

After winning twelve straight matches, Dimitrov admitted to being tired, but looks at it as training for the future.

"Anyone who wants to be an ATP player, there's a lot of tournaments in a row, so you have to be prepared every single week."

Dimitrov also mentioned that he is looking for a coach to replace his father, one with ATP experience, who will travel with him and help with the transition from the junior game.

But right now Dimitrov will rest, returning to Bulgaria for the holidays before he starts 2007 with an ITF Grade 3 in Sweden.

"It sounds really good," he said with a smile.

The semifinals in the 18s were not kind to U.S. players, as Delaware's Madison Brengle, the 12th seed, dropped a 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-2 decision to No. 9 seed Nikola Hofmanova of Austria.

The crafty right-hander fought off a set point serving at 4-5 in the first set, and played flawlessly in the tiebreak.

"I missed an easy backhand," said Brengle of that set point, perhaps also remembering a match point in their previous meeting, which Hofmanova also won. "I'll remember that one for a while. It will only mildly haunt me."


"In the first set, we both played very good," said Hofmanova. "In the second set I made too much mistakes, and she played good, more aggressive than me. In the third set, I was the one who did not make so much mistakes, and she put every third ball out, made a mistake."

When asked what makes the rail-thin 15-year-old so tough, Brengle summed it up quickly.

"Her ball is really hard to read off her racquet," Brengle said. "Normally I get a good first step, but I'm a step slower when I play her."

Hofmanova will face No. 2 seed Ksenia Milevskaya of Belarus in the final. Milevskaya defeated No. 3 seed Sharon Fichman of Canada 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.



"I was up 4-3 in the second set," said the 16-year-old from Minsk, who has won five ITF Grade 1s in 2006, and led her team to the Junior Federation Cup. "But I got a little tight to finish the match, because it's semifinals and she's a good player."

But after a bathroom break, Milevskaya returned with renewed focus.

"I was confident and concentrating, and I was lucky. She didn't play so well in the third set."

Hofmanova is approaching her meeting with Milevskaya with optimism.

"I played against her many times, and I lost every time," said Hofmanova. But that changed this year at Wimbledon, when she upset Milevskaya in the first round. "To beat her was good for me."

Top seed Nicolas Santos of Brazil will attempt to duplicate the feat of Dimitrov, winning back-to-back titles at the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl in 2006. Santos earned the chance to become the first player since Andy Roddick in 1999 to win both in the 18s with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over unseeded Peter Polansky of Canada.

"Yes, I'm tired," said Santos, via his coach and interpreter Luis Faria. "But on the other hand, it's a lot of motivation for the finals."

Santos was serving for the match at 5-3, and had three match points, but couldn't shake Polansky. When Polansky, a 2006 U.S. Open junior finalist, finally got the break to get back on serve, there was an opportunity to turn the match around. But Polansky was unable to hold, and Santos converted on his fifth match point.

"I think the wind bothered him more than me," Santos, 18, said. "He takes all the risks, and I start to play very solid."

The anticipated final between No. 1 seed Santos and the No. 2 seed Donald Young was derailed on Saturday by Petru Alexandru Luncanu of Romania, who beat his fellow left-hander 7-6 (6), 6-2.



"The first set was tough because I had to get in a rhythm with him," said Luncanu, who has beaten Young in their only two meetings. "But I found the key, to go over the ball, attack every time, push him to make unforced errors."

Young often is able to ramp his game up at crucial stages of a match, but the tiebreak slipped away from him when he committed a double fault and two forehand errors.

"I think after the first set he quit a little bit in games, he did not try as much," said Luncanu, 17.

"He played well, I didn't play so well," said Young. "When you have wind you have to play it all different. He played it better today than I did."

The 17-year-old from Atlanta admitted that he wasn't as aggressive as he needed to be.

"I should have come in a lot more," said Young. "The times I came in, I won the point. That's what I've been doing all tournament, coming in and putting pressure on people, but I didn't put any pressure on him today."

The doubles schedule had to be reworked due to rain on Friday and players still in singles. The boys' 16s doubles title went to No. 5 seeds Xander Spong of the Netherlands and Ilija Vucic of Serbia 7-5, 6-0 over Nikolaus Moser of Austria and Gilad Ben Zui of Israel.



In the girls 16s doubles final played Saturday evening, Embree and partner Jessica Alexander, downed the Canadian team of Gabriela Dabrowski and Brittany Wowchuk 6-3, 6-2/


For complete draws, see usta.com.

TAGS: tennis, Orange Bowl, Allie Will, Grigor Dimitrov, Nikola Hofmanova, Ksenia Milevskaya, Nicolas Santos, Petru Alexandru Luncanu

Young, Brengle Represent U.S. in 18s Semis; Girls 16s Final is All-Florida

©Colette Lewis 2006--
Key Biscayne FL--

On a chilly, damp and breezy day at Crandon Park, Donald Young and Madison Brengle advanced to the semifinals at the Orange Bowl, while the girls 16s finalists, Allie Will and Lauren Embree, will play for Florida bragging rights.

Young, the second seed, has not lost a set in the tournament and was at his best in the second set of his quarterfinal match with No. 10 seed Daniil Arsenov of Russia.

"His game, when it's on, is amazing, and it was on in the first set," said Young, the 2003 16s Orange Bowl Champion. "It was on in the second set but I got a couple of them back and was moving him around, making him hit shots in places he didn't want to hit them."

Arsenov, 17, can pound the forehand and serve big, but like most tennis players, he's not comfortable adjusting on his backhand.

"He didn't like it high to his backhand, or low," said Young. "The two extremes he didn't like. He wanted it right there in the pocket. I tried not to give it to him."

Next up for Young is No. 3 seed Petru Alexandru Luncanu of Romania, who defeated Lebanon's Bassam Beidas 6-3, 6-4, and Young has revenge on his mind.

"He beat me last year in the finals of the Yucatan," said the 17-year-old from Atlanta. "It should be a good match, two lefties. He's been playing well this tournament."

Also playing well is Eddie Herr champion and top seed Nicolas Santos of Brazil, who blew through his quarterfinal match with unseeded qualifier Brennan Boyajian 6-0, 6-1. Santos played nearly error-free tennis, and a quick match was welcome, as he has now played ten singles matches and nearly as many doubles matches in the past two weeks.

Santos will take on unseeded Peter Polansky of Canada, who outlasted No. 5 seed Pavel Chekhov of Russia, 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4. The first set took over an hour and a half to play, making the brevity of the second set surprising. Polansky served for the match at 5-2 and was broken, but he had the luxury of a second break. After a brief rain delay at 5-4, when the sprinkles finally accumulated on the lines, Polansky tried again to finish it off.

"After that I just went out there and tried to slap a couple of serves, and the first one went in," he said with a smile. "So I won the point and was able to hold that game."

Santos and Polansky have never played, but the 18-year-old from Thornhill knows that the Brazilian is solid from the baseline and is showing no signs of fatigue. "Hopefully I can win tomorrow; it should be a good match," he said.

Polansky is not the only Canadian in the semifinals as No. 3 seed Sharon Fichman also prevailed in three sets in her quarterfinal match with No. 10 seed Reka Zsilinszka of the U.S. As she did on Thursday, the 16-year-old from Toronto lost the first set, but roared back for the victory.

"I thought I played pretty well today," said Fichman. "Reka was playing the way I didn't expect her to play, and it was frustrating, but I hung in there. I kept saying to myself, 'I'm going to win this, I'm going to win this,' and I did."

Fichman will play No. 2 seed Ksenia Milevskaya of Belarus, who came back from a 5-1 deficit in the second set to eliminate No. 11 seed Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (6). Pivovarova took two medical timeouts, one after dropping the first game of the second set, and one after Milevskaya had mounted her comeback.

"I'm not sure if she really needed it," said the 16-year-old from Minsk. "Some girls do it even if they don't need it."

In the tiebreak, Pivovarova jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but both girls returned much better than they served, so it wasn't the advantage it appeared to be. Pivovarova saved two match points, but Milevskaya's willingness to close the net paid off with a volley winner to end the match.

Fichman and Milevskaya have played three times in 2006, with Milevskaya holding a 2-1 advantage, including a straight set victory in the final of the Canadian Grade 1 prior to the U.S. Open.


In the other half of the girls draw, Madison Brengle, the No. 12 seed, and unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia were engaged in a tight battle, having split sets. The first went to Brengle 6-3, the second to Martic 6-4, and with Martic leading 2-1 in the third set, disaster struck the 15-year-old from Split. On her way to the chair on the changeover, she rolled her ankle and was unable to continue playing, suffering a sprain that is expected to take several weeks to heal.

"The first two sets we were fighting hard and everything," said Brengle, 16. "It was a good match, and I don't like ending matches like that--ever. That's not how I wanted it to end."

Brengle now gets an opportunity to avenge her recent three-set loss at the Eddie Herr to Nikola Hofmanova of Austria, a loss in which Brengle held a match point.

"I was up 5-2, 40-30 in the third set and I lost," said Brengle of that round of 16 defeat. "She fights hard."

No. 4 seed Julia Cohen won't argue with that. She was on the wrong end of a three-hour match that required several visits from the trainer. No. 9 seed Hofmanova, playing with a heavily taped right leg, managed to eke out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win.

The girls 16s saw one short match and one long one.

No. 14 seed and wild card Allie Will from Boca Raton had no trouble with unseeded Kristie Ahn of New Jersey, earning her place in the finals with a 6-3, 6-0 win.

"I served very well," said the athletic 15-year-old who has been playing tennis for only five years. "Overall it was probably the best match I've played all tournament. I didn't let up when I got up--I kept going."

In Saturday's final, it will be Marco Island's Lauren Embree across the net. The unseeded Embree has lost the first set in her past three matches, and against Cristina Mitu of Romania, she was down 4-2, 40-15 in the third set before pulling it out 7-6 (6).

"I just kept fighting and it worked out my way," said Embree, 15. "She is really good," Embree said of the hard-hitting, go-for-broke 15-year-old from Bucharest, "but I just tried to play my best and kept fighting."

Will holds a 3-1 edge in their matches, and both are anticipating a close contest in the final.

"They're always back-and-forth. We're evenly matched," said Embree. "The times that we've played, it's always a battle," said Will. "Always great matches. It'll be a fun one to watch that's for sure."

In the boys 16s, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria has reached his fourth final in the past two years in Florida. In 2005, he won the Eddie Herr 14s and was a finalist at the Junior Orange Bowl 14s. Last week he won the Eddie Herr 16s and will now face unseeded David Thurner of Germany for the Orange Bowl 16s championship.

The late afternoon rain has forced some juggling of the schedule. Please see usta.com for more information.

TAGS: tennis, Orange Bowl, Donald Young, Ksenia Milevskaya, Peter Polansky, Sharon Fichman, Madison Brengle, Allie Will, Lauren Embree

Boyajian Rolls On in Orange Bowl 18s; Will Survives Three-Hour Marathon in Girls 16s

©Colette Lewis 2006--
Key Biscayne FL--

Qualifier Brennan Boyajian of Weston, Fla. joins Donald Young as the only Americans remaining in the boys 18s singles at the Orange Bowl, while three U.S. girls advanced to the quarterfinals with straight set wins on Thursday.

Boyajian, who turned 17 in September, made quick work of fellow qualifier Pedro Zerbini of Brazil, needing just over an hour to put a 6-2, 6-2 win in the books.

"I just played really well; kept every ball deep, and converted my chances when I had them," said Boyajian, who won the Easter Bowl, Clay Courts and Kalamazoo in the 16s this year. "I love these courts--they're so slow and the balls get so fluffy and dead by the third game. It helps me a lot."

Boyajian's game doesn't have the raw power of some of his opponents, but he has figured out how to use his other talents to frustrate them.

"After the first four games, he just started trying to hit winners," Boyajian said of Zerbini, a finalist at the ITF Grade 2 in South Carolina last month. "I like when they get impatient, because if I just keep the ball deep, they are going for shots that are low percentage."

Boyajian's next opponent is top seed Nicolas Santos of Brazil, who advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 decision over Russian Vladimir Zinyakov. The other top half quarterfinal pits U.S. Open Junior finalist Peter Polansky of Canada against Russian Pavel Chekhov. The unseeded Polansky defeated No. 14 seed Rupesh Roy 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.

Young, seeded second, crafted his third consecutive straight-set victory, downing 16-year-old and No. 16 seed Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-3, 6-2. Young faces No. 10 Daniil Arsenov of Russia, who eliminated Mateusz Kecki 6-3, 7-6 (4). The fourth match features No. 9 seed Bassam Beidas of Lebanon against No. 4 seed Petru Alexandru Luncanu of Romania. Beidas earned a 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-1 victory over wild card Wil Spencer, while Luncanu, who has lost only seven games in three matches, continued rolling with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Fernando Romboli of Brazil.

The girls 18s quarterfinals features only one unseeded player, 15-year-old Petra Martic of Croatia, who easily defeated No. 16 seed and 2005 Orange Bowl 16s winner Oksana Kalashnikova 6-1, 6-2. Next up for Martic is Delaware's Madison Brengle, the No. 12 seed, who defeated Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday. No. 4 seed Julia Cohen survived a stiff challenge from fellow American Melanie Oudin, taking the match 6-4, 6-4, and next faces the No. 9 seed Nikola Hofmanova of Austria. Hofmanova upset No. 5 seed and recent Eddie Herr finalist Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea of Romania 7-5, 7-5.


The third American remaining is Reka Zsilinszka, the no. 10 seed, who deflated No. 6 seed Katerina Vankova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-1.

"The first set was tough, she was really trying" said Zsilinszka, who has committed to attend Duke next fall. "I was hitting really good passing shots, doing my thing, my serve was on. The second set, she did really not play well. I think I broke her down and she got really frustrated."

With her moonballs, change of pace, slices and defensive lobs, even Zsilinszka's easy wins take time. But she finished in plenty of time to watch the end of match that would decide her opponent, as No. 13 seed Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia and No. 3 seed Sharon Fichman fought through three sets before the Canadian won, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Serving at 4-4 in the third set, Fichman won a long difficult game that featured rain-making moonballs and crisp volleys and everything in between. Exhausted by that effort, Mrdeza crumbled serving at 4-5, double faulting at 15-30 and approaching the net for volleys on the next two points. She won one of them, but netted the second, giving Fichman the victory.

"I don't know how it is to play against me," said Zsilinszka, who was pleased just to have won a round at the Orange Bowl, after falling in the first round or in qualifying in her previous four appearances. "I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Sharon plays a lot like me. You might want to schedule about five hours for that match," she said with a laugh.

The fourth match will feature No. 2 seed Ksenia Milevskaya of Belarus and No. 11 seed Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia. Milevskaya had no difficulty with U.S. wild card Mallory Burdette, winning 6-1, 6-1, while Pivovarova ousted No. 7 seed and Eddie Herr champion Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-2. Pivovarova was soundly beaten by Radwanska at the Eddie Herr last week, winning only three games against the Pole, but she made Radwanska's 16th birthday a less than happy one by dominating Thursday's match.

In the 16s, three U.S. girls have reached the semifinals, and only Kristie Ahn of New Jersey did so quickly. The unseeded Ahn took out Brooke Bolender 6-2, 6-2, but Lauren Embree and Allie Will's victories were of the three-set, three-hour variety.
As she had on Wednesday, the unseeded Embree dropped the first set, but turned it around against No. 6 seed Sarah Guzick, taking a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 decision.

Allie Will, who on Wednesday defeated top seed Valeriya Solovieva in straight sets, again was booked for stadium court, but her 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over No. 7 Charlotte Rodier of France was a struggle. Playing in the hottest part of an unseasonably warm and windless day, the 15-year-old from Boca Raton gave credit to her coaches for preparing her for such a battle.

"My training at the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute has gotten me into the best shape I can be," said Will the 14th seed. "I couldn't have lasted this long without that. I think it was an advantage to me playing in these conditions, because she doesn't live here, but she did a great job of holding up during the rallies."

Will mentioned her serve and inside-out forehand as keys to taking the first set, but was pleased with all her shots during the three hours she spent on the court.

"Overall, everything today was a positive thing," she said.

While the Ahn-Will semifinal guarantees an American finalist, the other semifinal winner is guaranteed to be unseeded. Embree will meet Cristina Andreea Mitu of Romania, who has not dropped a set in the tournament, and on Thursday defeated No. 5 seed Adeline Goncalves of France 6-1, 6-0.

On of the most compelling matches of the day was in boys 16s singles, when top seed Cesar Ramirez of Mexico met No. 5 seed and Eddie Herr champion Grigor Dimitrov. During the latter stages of the two tiebreak sets, both won by Dimitrov, dozens of fans gathered to watch the very high quality tennis. Dimitrov is the only seeded player to reach the semifinals. He will face unseeded Lorenzo Papasidero of Italy, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Rafael Camilo of Brazil. David Thurner of Germany meets Guido Pella of Argentina for the other berth in the final.

For complete draws, including doubles, see usta.com.

TAGS: tennis, Orange Bowl, Brennan Boyajian, Reka Zsilinszka, Allie Will