Eddie Herr Slideshow, Videos

As promised, here is the Eddie Herr slideshow of semifinalists in singles and finalists in doubles and videos of seven of the eight singles champions. Due to so many finals going on at once, they are generally even shorter than usual, and I did not get any videos of the boys 16s final. I was watching the third set of the boys 18s final and the match between Kang and Arconada started and ended during that time.

Due to some frustrating internet problems today at the hotel, I wasn't able to process or upload videos of the finalists, so those will be posted to the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel next month.

For my recap of the tournament, see this Tennis Recruiting Network post.

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USTA Playoffs for Boys 14s European Trip Underway in Boca Raton; United States Defends Its Master'U BNP Paribas Championship in France

Before we headed south to Coral Gables, where the Junior Orange Bowl 12s and 14s begins with qualifying on Friday, we stopped by the USTA National Training Center at Evert Academy in Boca Raton.

Since 2007, the USTA has held a competition to determine two of the four 14-and-under boys who will travel to the Teen Tennis and Les Petits As next month.  There are two round robin groups of four, with the top two in each advancing to the semifinals. Both finalists will be named to the team, with two other selections captain's picks also going.

The boys competing this year are:
Roscoe Bellamy
Alex Del Corral
Vasil Kirkov
Patrick Kypson
Noah Makarome
Sam Riffice
Gianni Ross
Sangeet Sridhar

Play continues on Tuesday, with the semifinals on Wednesday. I will pass along the results later this week. The girls do not have a similar competition.

I was amazed at how many high level players were training this afternoon in Boca, playing practice matches or hitting with coaches.  Here is a partial list of those I saw just in the few hours I was there:

Jamie Hampton
Mallory Burdette (pictured, during a practice match with Glatch)
Alexa Glatch
Allie Will
Madison Keys
Lauren Davis
Rebecca Marino
Ajla Tomljanovic
Vicky Duval
Jennifer Brady
Chalena Scholl
Nicole Frenkel
Tornado Black
Tennys Sandgren
Rhyne Williams
Bjorn Fratangelo
Mitchell Krueger
Chase Buchanan

Burdette, Glatch, Keys, Buchanan, Williams and Sandgren are all playing in the Australian Open Wild Card Playoff, which begins Friday. The complete list of competitors and the schedule can be found at the tournament website.

The United States team of Lauren Embree of Florida, Zoe Scandalis of USC, Jacqueline Cako of Arizona State, Jarmere Jenkins of Virginia, Evan King of Michigan and Raymond Sarmiento of USC won the Master'U BNP Paribas Championship international collegiate team championship yesterday in France, defending the title they won last year. Greg Patton of Boise State, who also coached the team last year, and Amanda Augustus of Cal were the coaches for this year's team.

Unlike their 4-3 win over France last year, there was no dramatic finish necessary for the US team this year, as they swept the singles from Germany to clinch the win before the doubles began. The United States has now won three championships at this competition in the past four years.

For Patton and Augustus' entertaining blogs from the trip, see usta.com.

Konjuh and Djere End Grueling Two Weeks With Orange Bowl Championships; Andrews and Townsend, Garin and Jarry Earn Doubles Titles

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Plantation, FL--

Ana Konjuh of Croatia and Laslo Djere of Serbia ended a stretch of 12 singles matches in 14 days Sunday with Orange Bowl titles, summoning all their mental and physical strength on a warm and brutally humid South Florida day to end their years with the coveted Grade A titles.

Konjuh, who won the Eddie Herr International Grade 1 title last week, and Djere, who reached the final in Bradenton, managed to survive the smothering conditions at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center by winning in straight sets. The seventh-seeded Konjuh eliminated No. 2 seed Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2, while No. 10 seed Djere downed No. 12 seed Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-4, 6-4.

The girls final was first up on Stadium Court, and Siniakova got off to an awful start, trailing 5-0 in the opening set before winning the next three games.  Points were short, even when Konjuh wasn't hitting aces, with Siniakova unable to find the court with any of her shots in the first five games.

Konjuh, who said she relaxed a bit with the big lead, failed to convert on four set points serving at 5-1. The 14-year-old right-hander collected herself after Siniakova put together a strong service game to make it 5-3 however, putting away a backhand volley at 40-15 to claim the first set.

Both girls took a bathroom break after the first set, needing a change of clothes in the drenching humidity that drove the several hundred spectators into any available shade.

The break didn't change the tenor of the match however, with Konjuh taking a 4-0 lead in the second set, using not just her impressive power, but her slice and her drop shot to keep Siniakova off balance.

Siniakova, who had lost to Konjuh in a close three-setter in the Eddie Herr semifinals, said she was not expecting to deal with the slice.

"I wanted to play different, but she played different too," said Siniakova, 16. "She played more slice, and I couldn't make something with it. We know each other, but it was a little bit different than the last match."

Siniakova also conceded that nerves may have led to some of her errors.

"I made a lot of mistakes," Siniakova said. "Last match she made lots of winners, but this match it was my fault a little bit more."

Konjuh again saw her concentration waiver up 4-0, but again she recovered, winning a long game to break Siniakova for 5-2. She served out the match without any difficulty, again showing impressive variety for someone with her power, including a drop shot winner that gave her match point.

"I have to mix it up," said Konjuh, the first Croatian to win an Orange Bowl title. "She's really good, so I had to play drop shot, slice, go to the net."

Konjuh's coach Kristijan Schneider believes, barring injury, she is capable of reaching the WTA Top 5, but with the age restrictions she faces at that level, she is planning to play all the junior slams next year, and may even play a few ITF Grade A tournaments, in addition to Fed Cup in February.

But first, Konjuh is looking forward to resting. She will spend a couple of days relaxing at the Nike Junior Tour International Masters in Port Saint Lucie, a tournament she won last year before heading back to her hometown of Dubrovnik.

"I'm sure I have a lot of confidence right now, but I'm also tired and I have to relax a bit right now," said Konjuh, who joins Lauren Davis as the only player to win the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl in the same year since 1993.  "I played a lot of matches. I'm going to go home, spend a lot of time with my family, practice and prepare for Australia."

Konjuh, who lists her tennis idols as Roger Federer and the recently retired Kim Clijsters, doesn't have anything in particular on her Christmas list, or on her wish list for her birthday, which is two days later. Nor does she have a celebration planned for her two major junior titles, which have raised her profile dramatically among those looking for the next women's tennis star.

"I just want to spend time with my family," said Konjuh, who trains in Zagreb. "There's a lot of us, so we just want to hang out together, spend some quality time together."

Unlike Konjuh, Djere had something to prove to himself in the final. At the Eddie Herr, he was unable to close out Christian Garin of Chile in the final, despite a 6-0, 4-1 lead, so he was determined to seize his chances against Ymer.

"It would be a bad feeling to lose two finals," said the 17-year-old right-hander. "I give my best to win this final."

Djere, who had beaten Ymer in the Eddie Herr semifinals, took advantage of Ymer's inexperience serving at 4-5 in both sets.

In the first set, with Ymer serving at 4-5, 30-30, Djere hit a forehand on the line to give himself set point. He controlled that point, standing much nearer the baseline than Ymer, and when he got a weak reply on one of his ground strokes, he approached the net and put away the forehand volley.

The second set saw neither server surrendering so much as a single break point until Ymer again was forced to serve down 4-5. Two unforced errors and a return winner quickly put Djere at match point. He didn't convert the first, but drew another error from Ymer on the second to claim the Orange Bowl championship.

"I was just so focused at that moment," said Djere, who will leave Monday to return to Serbia for the holidays. "I knew that I have to win in two sets, because the third set would be really tough. It's so hard to breathe, it was the hottest day, and I was not really prepared for this conditions, but it was the same for him. I did it better today." Ymer detected some fatigue in Djere by late in the second set, and even earlier both boys were conceding drop shots and not running down overheads or volleys. "In the second set, 4-all, we were both I think very tired," said the 16-year-old Ymer, who was given a warning for racquet abuse in that game. "Maybe that's why I showed some emotion." Ymer's forehand is smooth and powerful, and his two-handed backhand is solid, but he felt those shots were trumped by Djere. "His backhand is for sure better," said Ymer, who thought Djere played smarter than he did when it mattered. "It's been two pretty good weeks--semis at Eddie Herr and finals at Orange Bowl. I hope I can next year come again." Djere is unlikely to return, although he is planning on playing the junior slams as well as Futures and Challengers qualifying in 2013. Like Konjuh, rest at home is on his to-do list, although he said the adrenaline immediately following the match kept him from feeling any fatigue. "I'm very happy and excited," said Djere. "Right now I don't feel that I'm tired, but after a few hours, I will be tired." Djere's longtime coach, Miklos Palagi, said he knew Djere would come through this time in the final, because he had learned from his experience at the Eddie Herr. "When you are a set and 4-1 up, you just play," said Palagi. "You relax and just play, don't think about the score, the title. Just play, just play, just play. When I saw his footwork today, I knew he would make it."

Two unseeded doubles teams collected trophies today, although both were certainly favored given their previous accomplishments. Australian and US Open girls doubles champions Gabby Andrews and Taylor Townsend of the United States ended their year the way they began it, with a Grade A doubles title, beating No. 8 seeds Victoria Rodriguez and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 6-4, 7-5. Andrews and Townsend, who lost in the Eddie Herr final last week, won the first set on a deciding point with Rodriguez serving, courtesy of a perfect forehand volley by Townsend. The Americans were down a break throughout most of the second set, but won the final four games of match to take the title. "We tried to remain positive, that was our main goal for the match," said Andrews. "We just kept on being aggressive, and like we usually do, when one's down, the other's picking her up." Andrews and Townsend saved two match points in their quarterfinal win Friday night, then won two matches in straight sets to give Townsend what she wanted from the tournament.

"I've played Orange Bowl like four times and never gotten a bowl of oranges," said Townsend, who clinched the ITF World Junior Champion designation this week. "And I finally got to take a picture with Obie."

In the boys doubles final, Christian Garin of Chile and Nicolas Jarry of the US won their third straight final, adding an Orange Bowl title to their wins at the Yucatan Cup and Eddie Herr ITF Grade 1 tournaments. Garin and Jarry defeated the unseeded team of Lukas Mugevicius of Lithuania and Alexander Vasilenko of Russia 6-2, 7-6(3). "We're happy, a little bit more than after the Eddie Herr," said Jarry, who is the grandson of former ATP star Jamie Fillol of Chile. "We can't be happier." Although Townsend and Andrews will not be defending their title in Australia, Garin and Jarry plan on taking their 15-match ITF winning streak to Melbourne next month, but they probably won't be seeded there either. The ITF combines the two players' overall ranking and divides by two, with the lowest number the highest seeded teams. "I'm still not at a good ranking right now," said Jarry, currently at 159 in the junior rankings. "Probably we'd have to have a little bit of luck." They certainly didn't need any of that commodity the past three weeks. For complete draws, see the tournament page at usta.com.

Konjuh Defeats Townsend in Orange Bowl Semifinals, Goes for Florida Sweep Against Siniakova; Djere and Ymer Meet Again, This Time in Final; Liang and Rublev Claim 16s Championships

©Colette Lewis 2012--

Plantation, FL--

Saturday's marquee match between newly anointed 2012 ITF World Junior Champion Taylor Townsend of the United Sates and Croatian 14-year-old Ana Konjuh, who is making a name for herself with her scintillating play during the Florida ITF Junior swing, drew fans of all sizes and ages to the the bleachers surrounding the grandstand court at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center.

Although a few of them may have left disappointed that the American girl wouldn't be advancing to the final, none left disappointed in the level of play in Konjuh's 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Konjuh's big serve and penetrating shots kept Townsend on defense more than she is accustomed to being, and once the seventh-seeded Konjuh began to get a feel for her left-handed opponent's serve and patterns, she took control of the match.

Although Konjuh used the drop shot effectively, she was trying to hit winners with it, not set up the next shot with it.

"I like to keep her on the baseline, because she has really good volleys," said the well-spoken right-hander, who turns 15 later this month. "She's really good at the net, so I was trying to play angles, so she can't come in."

After losing her serve twice after leading 4-3 in the first set, Konjuh showed no signs of frustration or panic. She began to hit returns for both outright winners and to set up the next baseline blast, which helped her take the second set quickly.

"She was serving well and was more aggressive than I was," said Townsend. "She was putting a lot of pressure on me to hold serve, and was breaking so she had more freedom to go after her serve, and was acing me left and right."

Konjuh took a 2-0 lead in the final set, and Townsend could not overcome that deficit.

"I didn't make enough adjustments," Townsend said. "She was controlling the points and moving me around, hitting flat and taking everything early, and she was rushing me for time. She played very well."

Konjuh admitted to being physically tired after winning Eddie Herr last week and reaching the final this week, but she has not let her mind acknowledge it.

"I have self-confidence now so that really helps," Konjuh said. "Yes I'm tired, but mentally I'm strong right now, so I just hope that will help."

In Sunday morning's final, Konjuh will play No. 2 seed Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, who was still in the running for the World Junior Champion title before falling in the doubles quarterfinals Friday. That loss, coupled with Townsend's tense third-set tiebreaker win over Carol Zhao, mathematically eliminated the 16-year-old Czech's chances at the year-end No. 1.

Siniakova defeated No. 6 seed Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals, and will be looking to avenge her 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Konjuh in the Eddie Herr semifinals last week.

"Her backhand's her better shot," said Konjuh. "She's really moving well, so I'll mix in the drop shot, some slice. I hope to make a good strategy tomorrow."

Another rematch from the Eddie Herr is set in the boys final, with No. 10 seed Laslo Djere of Serbia facing No. 12 seed Elias Ymer of Sweden. Djere, who beat Ymer in the Eddie Herr semifinals 6-3, 6-3, reached the Orange Bowl final by beating No. 9 seed Thai Kwiatkowski of the US 6-4, 6-4.

Djere's physical game kept Kwiatkowski retrieving rather than dictating, and Djere's backhand down the line was lethal on the big points.

"The courts are really heavy and he's a really strong guy physically," said Kwiatkowski, who had a cheering section of local Vietnamese after they read of his heritage, which is three-quarters Vietnamese and one-quarter Polish. "He was able to take the heavy balls and push me back deep, make me move around the court. I wasn't able to do that to him, so that was pretty much the difference."

Kwiatkowski was broken at 4-4 in the opening set, and Djere held to secure the first set.

Djere saved a break point serving at 3-2 in the second set, hitting a perfect drop shot that Kwiatkowski couldn't touch.  Kwiatkowski was broken in the next game, but Djere couldn't close the door, losing his serve at love. When Kwiatkowski held at love to put the pressure back on Djere, the 17-year-old Serb simply regained his focus, won the first three points of the game, and hit a signature down the line backhand winner on the first match point.

"At 5-2 he won two games, but then I was concentrating a bit more when it was 5-4, and I won the game easy," said Djere, who didn't let his loss from 6-0, 4-1 up in the Eddie Herr final to Christian Garin affect his play this week.

"I came here and the tournament was starting, so I had to forget that, and to be focused on this tournament," Djere said. "If I was thinking about that, I wouldn't be in the final."

Against Ymer, Djere said he knows how he has to play against the 16-year-old Swede, who is coached by former ATP No. 2 Magnus Norman. "He also knows me and my game," said Djere. "So it will be a tough match, I think."

The 18s doubles finals will also be Sunday, with none of the singles finalists in the championship matches.

Unseeded two-time junior slam winners Gabby Andrews and Taylor Townsend of the US will play No. 8 seeds Victoria Rodriguez and Marcela Zacarias in the girls final. Andrews and Townsend defeated No. 6 seed Katy Dunne of Great Britain and Christina Makarova of the US 6-2, 6-3.  Rodriguez and Zacarias earned their spot in the final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over unseeded Jennifer Brady and Jamie Loeb of the US.

Christian Garin of Chile and Nicolas Jarry of the United States are aiming for their third straight title in the boys final. The Yucatan Cup and Eddie Herr winners received a walkover into the final due to an injury to Gianluigi Quinzi, who was partnering Filippo Baldi.  Garin and Jarry will play unseeded Lukas Mugevicius of Lithuania and Alexander Vasilenko of Russia, who defeated No. 2 seeds Ymer and Borna Coric of Croatia 6-4, 6-3.

Canadian Gloria Liang made it two straight titles for her country with a 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 16 seed Chloe Ouellet-Pizer of the US.  

The 16-year-old from Mississauga Ontario was down 3-0 and two breaks in the second set before coming back to join Erin Routliffe, the 2011 champion, on the winners' list.

"She's actually one of my really good friends," Liang said. "We were in the room last night, and she said, if you win, it's going to be two Canadians, so I was like, I'd better do that, so it was good."

Liang expected Ouellet-Pizer to use an array of high looping balls, and was ready for it.

"I actually knew she was going to do that, so I was prepared," said Liang. "But she changed in the end, so it was a good match."

Ouellet-Pizer, who had used that strategy successfully against Lisa Ponomar of Germany in the semifinals on Friday, said those were the wrong tactics against Liang.

"I went out with the wrong game plan," said the 15-year-old from North Carolina. "I didn't start playing more aggressively until the second set, and that worked a lot better. I wish I wouldn't have kept with the high ball strategy so long in the first set. If I had played aggressively from the beginning, maybe I could have won, worn her down."

Liang dropped only one set all week, to No. 3 seed Madison Bourguignon in a marathon quarterfinal match, and she said she played well all week long.

"At Eddie Herr, I didn't play that well," said Liang, who prefers hard courts, but has access to training on clay at the National Tennis Centre in Montreal. "But I practiced and I think it clicked afterwards. I'm not that good at sliding, but it's fun."

No. 4 seed Andrey Rublev became the first Russian boy to win the 16s title, defeating No. 12 seed Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-4.

The 15-year-old, who trains in Moscow with his mother Marina Marenko, used his powerful first serve to control points, and wasn't broken until late in the second set, when he had an insurance break for a cushion.

"Today it was not so easy to play," Rublev said. "Sometimes he would make easy shots, winners, and sometimes easy mistakes, so it's tough to adapt. I just take the break and keep my serve."

Paul said he was nervous at the start of the match and wasn't able to shake those nerves until the start of the second set. He also gave credit to Rublev for his play.

"He hit some pretty big serves on some pretty important points," said Paul, a 15-year-old from North Carolina who now trains at L'Academie de Tennis in Boynton Beach, Florida. "I didn't play my best, and he played well."

Rublev has a reputation for emotional outbursts on the court, but in the final, he only occasionally showed that side, with a few loud soliloquies in Russian.

"Two years ago, I was absolutely crazy," Rublev said. "I broke two racquets in one match. But now it's better."

Although Rublev referred to the win as "just another trophy," he does plan to return to Russia with another trophy he's coveted for some time.

"I'm going to buy iPhone," he said. 

For complete draws and the order of play for Sunday, see the tournament page at usta.com.

Townsend Survives Zhao in Orange Bowl Quarterfinals, Clinches Year-End ITF World Junior Champion Title; Ouellet-Pizer, Paul Reach 16s Finals

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Plantation, FL--

Top seed Taylor Townsend looked on the verge of tears when she shook hands with No. 5 seed Carol Zhao after their three-hour, forty-nine minute match Friday afternoon in the Orange Bowl quarterfinals.

On a picture-perfect afternoon at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center, Townsend had seen a 5-1 lead in the third set slip away. But somehow she gathered herself to come away with a 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(2) victory, and with it, the title of ITF World Junior Champion.

"I was emotionally spent, definitely," said Townsend. "The match was so up and down, there were so many shifts in momentum, shifts in everything. At the end, I was just kind of praying for it, 'please god, help me'. I was up 5-1 and just cruising, and she started playing better and I started playing worse. There was a lot of things going on, and I was just happy that I was able to pull it out."

Townsend's first serve, usually reliable, was nowhere to be found when she failed to serve out the match at 5-1 and 5-3. She had two match points at 5-1, but double faulted on the first and netted a volley on the second.

Townsend had two more match points at 5-3, but Zhao saved one with a winner and Townsend wasted the fourth with a backhand slice long. Zhao held to win her fourth straight game to make it 5-5, and Townsend finally reasserted herself, making several first serves, which allowed her to control the points. At 5-6, Zhao confidently held to 15, making all her first serves and forcing the tiebreaker with an ace on game point.

As the crowd gathered around court 1 for the final tiebreaker, no one would dare predict how it would end, especially if they had seen the previous 36 games.

The first five points went to the server, with Townsend getting the first mini-break with the drop shot, which she had used throughout the match. The speedy Zhao picked it up, but sent her reply wide to make it 4-2 at the change of ends.  Townsend broke Zhao again when she picked up a Zhao drop shot and guided the reply past the Canadian. Even with a 5-2 lead, there was no expectation that Townsend could finish it, given her struggles earlier, but the next point sealed it for her. Townsend was at Zhao's mercy at the net, but anticipated where Zhao would go with her second pass attempt and hit a forehand volley winner of her own.

Although Townsend had trouble with her serve in the final two sets, her overhead was as solid as always, and she converted her fifth match point with an overhead winner.

Zhao and Townsend had played a similar match in the second round at the French Open junior championships this year, so Townsend wasn't surprised by what happened Friday.

"It was about three and a half (hours) at the French," Townsend said. "So I knew it was going to be a grind, especially on clay. She's a good player."

Zhao said she felt fine physically, but losing another close one to Townsend was difficult.

"It's not just long, but tough, every single game, every single set, lots of deuces," Zhao said. "But it's really disappointing to lose this kind of match. I don't think anyone can think about what can happen at 5-1, but I was just keeping my head down and working. It got me back in the match and I had a shot at it in the end, but it's tennis, so anything can happen."

With the win and No. 2 seed Katerina Siniakova's loss in doubles, Townsend clinched the ITF World Junior Championship for 2012, the first American to do so since Gretchen Rush in 1992.

"It's definitely in the back of my mind," Townsend said of finishing the year as No. 1. "I try to push it back, try to focus on my matches. When I step on the court, I just play tennis. If I play well, and do what I know I can do, everything else will take care of itself."

Townsend's semifinal opponent is No. 7 seed and Eddie Herr champion Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who beat No. 4 seed Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Konjuh, who was in the crowd watching Townsend and Zhao, spent considerably less time on the court, having already lost in doubles, while Townsend was on the court until 7:30 p.m. in her doubles quarterfinal.

"I'll be fine," said Townsend, who, with Gabby Andrews, saved two match points in a 6-2, 3-6, 11-9 win over Sweden's Rebecca Peterson and Indonesia's Aldila Sutjiadi. "I just need to get a good meal and stretch a lot and take a hot shower, and I'll be fine. Get the joints real loose."

The other girls semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Siniakova, a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 winner over No. 8 seed Chalena Scholl of the US, against No. 6 seed Marcela Zacarias of Mexico. Zacarias defeated unseeded Natalia Vajdova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4.

While the girls top seed survived, the boys top seed did not. Gianluigi Quinzi of Italy was beaten by Eddie Herr finalist Laslo Djere of Serbia in another long match 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-1.  No. 10 seed Djere's semifinal opponent is No. 9 seed Thai Kwiatkowski, who won the only two-setter in the boys quarterfinals 6-2, 6-2 over fellow American Deiton Baughman.

The bottom half semifinal is between No. 8 seed Filippo Baldi of Italy and No. 12 seed Elias Ymer of Sweden. Baldi trailed No. 3 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 4-1 in the final set, but took the final five games of the match for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory.  Ymer dropped his first set of the tournament to No. 2 seed Frederico Silva of Portugal, but  recovered for  6-1, 1-6, 6-1 win.

The 16s finals are set for Saturday, with No. 12 seed Tommy Paul of the US playing No. 4 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia for the boys title, and No. 8 seed Gloria Liang of Canada playing No. 16 seed Chloe Ouellet-Pizer of the US.

Paul took the first set of his semifinal match with unseeded Sameer Kumar of the US 6-0, but the second set was a battle. Kumar served for the second set at 5-3, then Paul served for the match at 6-5, lost that game, and lost the final three points of the second set tiebreaker after serving up 5-4.

"I got broken the first game (of the third set) and I thought oh my god, but I broke him back and I was okay, and I just kept playing," said Paul, 15. "I was kind of like on the edge. I thought I was going to tank the third set, but I didn't."

"I just played like unreal in the first set," said Paul who now trains at L'Academie de Tennis in nearby Boynton Beach after a stint at the USTA National Center in Boca Raton. "I played so well. Then in the second set, he started playing better. I don't think I really lost focus, he just started playing better."

Rublev defeated No. 14 seed Dennis Uspensky of the US 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 in the other boys 16s semifinal.

Ouellet-Pizer was a semifinalist at the Junior Orange Bowl 14s last year, but she is surprised to find herself in the final of the Orange Bowl 16s 12 months later after a 7-6(6), 7-5 win over unseeded Lisa Ponomar of Germany.

"I didn't think I was going to get through a round before this tournament," said Ouellet-Pizer, 15. "First I missed the deadline, so I had to get a wild card, and I didn't really think I was going to get it, but when I did, I was like, okay, I just want to win a couple rounds."

Ouellet-Pizer pointed to her win over Eddie Herr 16s champion Marie Norris in the third round as a turning point.

"I had a really tight second match, and then I feel like I just started playing better and better," said Ouellet-Pizer, who will face Liang in the final after Liang's 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 4 seed Usue Arconada of the US. "When I played Marie Norris, I had just played her at Eddie Herr and lost 0 and 1, and that was a tough match, and after I got through that it gave me some confidence."

Ouellet-Pizer and Ponomar played several 50 ball rallies with Ponomar serving at 5-6, and twice, on match point for Ouellet-Pizer, a ball came on their court from the Paul and Kumar match, meaning they had to play a let.

"I was just trying to stick with my game plan," said Ouellet-Pizer, who saved two set points in the first set. "I was just trying to keep it up high, because she really takes advantage of the low ball. I thought maybe she would bail first and go for the winner."

Ponomar, who was up 5-3 in the second set, showed admirable patience as match surpassed the two hour mark, but eventually the heat and Ouellet-Pizer's high looping balls did her in.

Ponomar did end her day and tournament on a high note, however, as she and Johnisse Renaud of the United States captured the doubles title 6-0, 6-1 over Marie-Alexandre Leduc and Liang of Canada.

Renaud, who was the No. 1 seed in singles, said she and Ponomar got together at the Eddie Herr, where they reached the quarterfinals in the 18s.

"It was a good warmup and we were pretty confident coming into this tournament, even though it was only our second time playing together," said Renaud. "We're both really aggressive players, pretty solid at the net, and we have a good chemistry together."

Ponomar agreed.

"It's just perfect. She's good at the net and I'm good at the baseline."

The boys doubles champions are Lamar Remy of the US and Alejandro Tabilo of Canada, who defeated top seed Sumit Nagal of India and  Uspensky 6-3, 6-3.

Remy and Tabilo, who train together at the IMG Bollettieri Academy and began playing together in October, have now won 15 matches in a row and their third straight title, adding the Orange Bowl to their title at the Atlanta and Evert Grade 4 ITFs.

"We're pretty good friends and we understand each other on the court," said Tabilo.

"Communication is key in doubles," said Remy. "Today we communicated well, and that's what got us the title. That and reacting to the ball today and our volleys at the net. Commanding the net was the biggest key point."

Remy and Tabilo anticipate continuing their partnership, and hopefully their winning streak, but not until next year.

"In January or February, we're going to start again," said Remy. "We've got a little time off now."

For complete results, including all the 18s doubles quarterfinals, see the tournament page at usta.com.

Eddie Herr Recap

For those of you who found my daily coverage of the Eddie Herr too lengthy (and I sensed from a few remarks by Brad Gilbert that he is in that category), a condensed version of last week's tournament can be found today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

A slideshow and videos will have to wait until next week, when I am in between tournaments.