November Aces; Kuzuhara Beats Williams, Sierra Ousts Top Seed Dmitruk at Eddie Herr ITF J1; Americans Face Off in G12s, B12s and G16s Finals; ITF JA Orange Bowl Qualifying Draws Released

©Colette Lewis 2021--

Bradenton FL--

Before I get to the recap of a busy day at the Eddie Herr International Championships at the IMG Academy, I wanted to post a link to my November Aces column at Tennis Recruiting Network. Sixteen players are featured, nearly evenly divided between current and recently graduated collegians and junior competitors. 

A heavy early morning fog Friday set back the 12 singles and doubles semifinal matches in the 12s, 14s and 16s division for about 90 minutes, but when it moved out, another perfect day of weather was in store.

The ITF J1 Eddie Herr Championships are played on Har-Tru, the green clay that is ubiquitous in Florida, which means they were not affected by any of the damp spots that delayed play on the hard courts.

The feature match on Court 1 today was the all-American quarterfinal between top seed Bruno Kuzuhara and unseeded Cooper Williams, and the dozens of fans watching from the soon-to-be demolished porch overlooking the court were treated to some excellent tennis from both players. Williams led 5-3 and had two set points in the first, but Kuzuhara raised his level to claim a 7-6(1), 6-2 victory.

Both players appeared nervous to start the match, with three straight breaks before Williams held for a 3-1 lead. He nursed that lead, using his forehand to keep Kuzuhara on defense for a 5-3 advantage, but with Kuzuhara serving at 3-5, 15-40, Williams did not take advantage of his opportunities. On the first set point, Kuzuhara hit a good first serve, but on the second set point, he failed to get a first serve in, yet didn't pay for that, with Williams putting a forehand return into the net. 

From that point on, Kuzuhara took control, with Williams losing his serve without getting to a set point to make it 5-all. In the tiebreaker, Williams couldn't get a first serve in, and Kuzuhara didn't waste that advantage, dictating those points to close out the set in just under an hour.

"I played my best tennis definitely towards the end of the first set," said the 17-year-old from Florida. "From breaking him at 5-4 through the breaker, I'd say I played really clean. I took my chances really well. I made the adjustment at the 5-4 game and it really paid off in the second."

Kuzuhara took a 4-1, two-break lead in the second set, with Williams pressing and Kuzuhara giving him no unforced errors. Serving at 4-1, Kuzuhara played a sloppy game to get broken, but Williams couldn't convert his 40-30 point in the next game to stay close, and Kuzuhara broke for the third time in the set to give himself additional breathing room.

"I started veering off my game plan, didn't play as well as I was, just mentally," Kuzuhara said. "But after I got broken, the light switch came back on."

In their previous encounter, five years ago, Kuzuhara had beaten Williams 6-0, 6-0 in a USTA 12-and-under tournament, a result they both refer to often.

"I remember that match very clearly," Kuzuhara said. "We still joke about it a lot. Cooper was 10, I was 11, and that score doesn't reflect how he's playing now."

In Saturday's semifinals, Kuzuhara will face No. 16 seed Killian Feldbausch of Switzerland, who defeated No. 8 seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(7) in a three-hour contest. Feldbausch, 16, and Kuzuhara have not played before.

In the bottom half, No. 2 seed Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine continued his march through the draw, defeating No. 9 seed Olaf Pieczkowski of Poland 6-4, 6-2. Bielinskyi will play unseeded Dino Prizmic of Croatia, who advanced when No. 3 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic retired trailing 7-5, 1-1.  Mensik served for the first set at 5-4 and had two set points in the seven-deuce game, but once Prizmic earned that break, Mensik's play deteriorated, and he announced he could not continue. Then, while still on court, he immediately unwrapped all the physio tape he had wrapped around his torso before returning to his chair to pack up his bags. Prizmic and Bielinskyi are meeting for the first time on the ITF junior circuit.

While the boys top seed was able to advance, the girls No. 1, Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus, was not so fortunate. No. 6 seed Solana Sierra of Argentina, who had had nothing but drama in her second and third round matches, coming back from a set down in both, brought her A game to Friday's quarterfinal match with the US Open girls finalist to earn a 6-3, 7-5 victory. 

Using her backhand to dictate and finish points, Sierra was able to avoid the errors that had given her previous two opponents hope.

"I think I was down three match points in those two matches," said the 17-year-old, who is traveling with the ITF Junior Development team these two weeks, as she did for the 2021 junior slams. "I played very better. First set I feel very good with my game; she started playing very well in the second set, but I played good too."

Sierra said she needed to adjust her mindset after struggling in her previous matches.

"I think my mentality, my intensity, I changed that," Sierra said. "When I am intense on the court, I play better."

Dmitruk had an opportunity to put more pressure on Sierra after breaking to take a 4-3 lead in the second set, but she immediately lost her serve and could not come up with the winners that Sierra produced on the big points. At 5-6, 30-40, Sierra stepped into a big forehand that Dmitruk had no chance to return, to set up a third meeting with Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic in Saturday's semifinals.

The third-seeded Fruhvirtova, who defeated No. 12 seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia 6-2, 6-1 in this afternoon's quarterfinal, defeated Sierra in straight sets in the first round of the French Open this year, and last week in the quarterfinals of the JA in Merida Mexico.

Brenda Fruhvirtova, the No. 5 seed, advanced to semifinals with a 7-6(3), 4-1 ret. victory over No. 16 seed Evialina Laskevich of Belarus. The 14-year-old from the Czech Republic will face No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia, who posted a quick 6-1, 6-1 victory over unseeded Mia Kupres of Canada. The two have not met previously on the ITF junior circuit.

The doubles finals are set for Saturday, with the top two seeds in the girls draw vying for the title.

Top seeds Shnaider and Petra Marcinko of Croatia defeated Ciric Bagaric and Johanne Christine Svendsen of Denmark 6-2, 6-2 to set up a final against the second-seeded Fruhvirtova sisters. The Fruhvirtovas avenged their loss last week in Merida to Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada, the No. 8 seeds, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in the evening match that closed the ITF J1 action for the day.

The boys doubles final will feature the unseeded team of Michael Zheng and Benjamin Kittay, who beat Gianluca Ballotta of Peru and Leanid Boika, also unseeded, 6-1, 6-4, and No. 4 seeds Aleksander Orlikowski and Pieczkowski of Poland. Orlikowski and Pieczkowski defeated the wild card team of Juncheng Jerry Shang of China and Alex Frusina 6-3, 6-2 in this afternoon's semifinals.

Three Eddie Herr singles champions will be Americans, with the Boys 12s, Girls 12s and G16s finals to be contested by players from the United States. All six finals, which will be play simultaneously Saturday at 9:30 a.m., have a least one American player.

Below are the results of today's semifinals, with the matchups for Saturday afternoon's doubles finals also posted below. The complete draws can be found here.

Eddie Herr singles semifinals results:

B16s:

Lorenzo Carboni[WC](ITA) d. Andrew Delgado[WC](USA) 6-1, 7-6(1)

Rudy Quan[WC](USA) d. Rei Sakamoto[2](JPN) walkover, pc

B14s:

Max Exsted[1](USA) d. Shion Itsusaki[12](JPN) 6-3, 6-1

Timofey Derepasko[3](RUS)d. Andrea de Marchi[2](ITA) 6-2, 6-3

B12s:

Jordan Lee[4](USA) d. Navneet Raguram[1](USA) 6-4, 4-6, 10-2

Teodor Davidov[2](USA) d. Cho Minhyuk(KOR) 6-1, 7-5

G16s:

Brooklyn Olson[3](USA) d. Piper Charney[1](USA) 7-6(4), 6-1

Kate Kim[4](USA) d. Reya Coe[10](USA) 6-1, 6-3

G14s:

Rositsa Dencheva[1](BUL) d. Wakana Sonobe[3](JPN) 0-6, 6-1, 6-4

Eva Oxford[2](USA) d. Maya Iyengar[4](USA) 6-3, 7-6(4)

G12s: 

Anita Tu[5](USA) d. Lia Belibova[1](MDA) 6-4, 6-4

Kristina Penickova[3](USA) d. Ana Avramovic[11](USA) 6-1, 3-0, ret. inj

Doubles finals:

B16s:

Tygen Goldammer/Ilyas Fahim[7](USA) v. Tanner Povey/Paris Pouatcha[2](USA)

B14s:

Maxwell Exsted/Maximus Dussault[1](USA) v Benjamin Willwerth/Yubel Ubri(USA)

B12s: Juan Miguel Bolivar(COL)/Naveet Raghuram(USA)[1] v Jae Jun Shin/Seung Jun Yu(KOR)

G12s:

Ji Yun Oh/Ye Sung Choo(KOR) v Anita Tu(USA)/Bela Martinez(PUR)[2]

G14s:

Lira Kosaka/Kiko Inoue(JPN)[6] v Jo Leen Saw(MAS)/Rositsa Dencheva(BUL)[2]

G16s: My-Anh Holmes/Mia Yamakita(USA) v Noemi Basiletti/Vittoria Paganetti[3](ITA)

Qualifying for ITF JA Orange Bowl begins Saturday, with the draws now posted. Brayden Shick, the NC State sophomore, received a wild card and is the No. 1 seed. The girls qualifying draw did not fill, and while the boys did not have any byes, several players without ITF junior rankings got in. 2020 Orange Bowl 16s champion Valeria Ray did not receive a wild card into the 18s, and is the No. 8 seed in qualifying. Draws can be found here.

Kuzuhara Meets Williams for Spot in Semifinals at ITF J1 Eddie Herr Championships; US Girls 16s Champion Guaranteed with Semifinals Set for 12s, 14s, and 16s; Orange Bowl 16s Qualifying Draws Released

©Colette Lewis 2021-- 

Bradenton FL-- 

One of the two Americans to reach the quarterfinals of the ITF J1 Eddie Herr International Championships will be eliminated Friday, when top seed Bruno Kuzuhara and unseeded Cooper Williams meet for the first time since the 12s.  The 16-year-old Williams is looking for a better showing this time around.

"I think I got beat 0 and 0, or 0 and 1," Williams said. "It was over in like 35 minutes. Hopefully I'll do better this time."

Williams was happy with his level in his third round match today, which was played on the Academy Park courts, a tram-ride from the main tennis area at the IMG Academy. Williams defeated unseeded Maxim Shin of Uzbekistan, who had taken out No. 7 seed Alexsander Orlikowski of Poland in the second round, 6-0, 6-2.

"He had a good win yesterday," said Williams, who won the first 10 games of the match. "I just came out playing solid, making the guy uncomfortable, attacked his backhand the first couple of games and kind of ran with the match. I played solid, didn't make a lot of errors, came forward well, dropshotted well, used my forehand to his backhand. I played a near perfect match."

Williams, who played the J1 in Guadalajara and last week's Grade A in Merida, losing to the finalists in both tournaments, had closed out second round opponent Lennon Roark Jones of Japan 6-0 in the second set, an indication of his dominance this week.

"I've come into my own on clay," said Williams, a high school junior who recently gave a verbal commitment to Harvard. "I came here pretty confident with the way I was playing. I've definitely performed pretty well and am looking forward to keeping it up."

Like Williams, Kuzuhara has also been impressive in his first three matches. The 17-year-old cruised past No. 14 seed Adam Jurajda of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2.

Williams is one of two unseeded boys to reach the quarterfinals, with the other Dino Prizmic of Croatia, a semifinalist at last week's JA in Merida. Prizmic will face No. 3 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czerch Republic, who needed three hours to beat wild card Sebastian Gorzny 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(3).  Gorzny led 4-2 in the final set, but Mensik's drop shot proved to be the difference. Mensik could not find a way through Gorzny with his serve or groundstrokes, but his drop shots were successful throughout the late stages of the third set and in the tiebreaker.

No. 16 seed Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland took out No. 4 seed Leo Borg of Sweden 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2 in another lengthy third round match. He will face No. 8 seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania, who beat No. 12 seed Bor Artnak of Slovenia 6-4, 7-6(6).

No. 2 seed Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine defeated wild card Michael Zheng 6-2, 6-4 and will face No. 9 seed Olaf Pieczkowski of Poland, who beat Merida champion Mili Poljicak of Croatia 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Only one unseeded girl reached the quarterfinals, with Mia Kupres of Canada earning another routine win. Kupres defeated Kristyna Tomajkova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1 and will meet No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia for a spot in the semifinals. Shnaider prevented an all-Canadian quarterfinal when she defeated No. 15 seed Victoria Mboko 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.

No. 4 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia withdrew from singles with an illness, giving No. 16 seed Evialina Laskevich of Belarus a walkover. Laskevich, a semifinalist at the 2019 Eddie Herr as a 15-year-old, will take on 14-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic, who came back to defeat No. 11 seed Laura Hietaranta of Finland 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Top seed Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus has dropped just nine games in her three matches, beating Baylor freshman Alina Shcherbinina of Russia 6-2, 6-0 in today's third round. Dmitruk's quarterfinal opponent will be No. 6 seed Solana Sierra of Argentina, who beat No. 10 seed Celine Naef of Switzerland 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. Naef served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Sierra, who had pulled off a similar comeback in the second round yesterday, found her way to victory once again.

No. 3 seed Linda Fruhvirtova blanked Mao Mushika of Japan to advance to a meeting with No. 12 seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia, who took out No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia, a Eddie Herr 12s finalist in 2019, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2.

The doubles semifinals are set for Friday, with three unseeded teams still alive for the boys title.

Gianluca Ballotta of Peru and Leanid Boika got a walkover from No. 6 seeds Luka Mikrut of Croatia and Borg, due to a Borg injury.  They will face Benjamin Kittay and Zheng, who defeated France's Paul Inchauspe and Feldbausch 6-4, 7-5.

Wild cards Alexander Frusina and ITF World No. 1 junior Juncheng Jerry Shang of China advanced to the semifinals with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over No. 8 seeds Prizmic and Vilius Gaubas of Lithuania. Frusina and Shang will play No. 4 seeds Orlikowski and Pieczkowski, who beat No. 5 seeds Butvilas and Jordan's Abedallah Shelbayh 6-2, 6-7(5), 10-7.

All four girls doubles semifinalists are seeded, and only the 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-6 win by No. 8 seeds Kayla Cross and Mboko over No. 3 seeds Dimitruk and Hietaranta kept the top four seeds from advancing.

Marcinko recovered enough to play doubles, pairing with Shnaider, and they defeated No. 6 seeds Laskevich and Shcherbinina 6-4, 3-6, 12-10. Their opponents in the semifinals will be No. 4 seed Ciric Bagaric and Johanne Svendsen of Denmark, who beat No. 5 seeds Andreeva and Annabelle Xu of Canada 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.

Cross and Mboko, the Merida JA champions, will play the second-seeded Fruhvirtova sisters in the semifinals. They defeated the Czech pair in the quarterfinals last week.

The semifinals are set in the 12s, 14s and 16, all for 8 a.m. Friday morning.  After two rounds of singles today in the Girls 16s, all semifinalists are Americans, and whoever claims the title will be the fifth straight US girl to do so.  Below are the results from today's quarterfinals, in draw order.  Complete draws are available here.

B16s:

Lorenzo Carboni[WC](ITA) d. Juan David Velasquez Ariza[1](COL) 6-2, 6-2 

Andrew Delgado[WC](USA) d. Asror Ismoilov[13](USA) 6-2, 6-0

Rudy Quan[WC](USA) d. Lucas Silva[9](BRA) 5-7, 6-1, 6-2

Rei Sakamoto[2](JPN) d. Amir Milushev[5](UZB) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

B14s:

Max Exsted[1](USA) d. Avner Wong[13](USA) 6-4, 6-4

Shion Itsusaki[12](JPN) d. Benjamin Saltman[10](USA) 6-4, 6-1

Timofey Derepasko[3](RUS) d. Shu Ota(JPN) 6-2, 7-5

Andrea de Marchi[2](ITA) d. Alaa Trifi[9](FRA) 6-3, 6-1

B12s:

Navneet Raghuram[1](USA) d. Juan Miguel Bolivar[6](COL) 6-3, 6-0

Jordan Lee[4](USA) d. Jerrid Gaines[5](USA) 6-3, 6-2

Cho Minhyuk(KOR) d. Vihaan Reddy[3](USA) 7-5, 1-6, 11-9

Teodor Davidov[2](USA) d. Mark Mrcela[WC](USA) 2-6, 6-3, 10-4

G16s:

Piper Charney[1](USA) d. Vittoria Paganetti[13](ITA) 7-6(4), 6-3

Brooklyn Olson[3](USA) d. Mayu Crossley[7](JPN) 7-5, 6-0

Kate Kim[4](USA) d. Brooke Lynn Schafer[16](USA) 6-2, 6-0

Reya Coe[10](USA) d. Kinaa Graham[2](USA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3

G14s:

Rositsa Dencheva[1](BUL) d. Tahlia Kokkinis[7](AUS) 6-3, 6-3

Wakana Sonobe[3](JPN) d. Ichino Horikawa[13](JPN) 6-3 6-1

Maya Iyengar[4](USA) d. Jo Lee Saw(MAS) 6-2, 4-6, 5-1, ret. inj.

Eva Oxford[2](USA) d. Maria Aytoyan(USA) 6-2, 6-1 

G12s:

Lia Belibova[1](MDA) d. Joyce Geng[8](CAN) 6-1, 6-3

Anita Tu[5](USA) d. Ann Bugaienko[4](USA) 6-4, 6-3

Kristina Penickova[3](USA) d. Ye Sung Choo(KOR) 6-3, 6-2 

Ana Avramovic[11](USA) d. Bela Martinez[7](PUR) 6-4, 6-4

The qualifying for the 16s Orange Bowl begins Friday morning in Plantation, with draws now posted at the tournament site.

Four US Boys, No US Girls Advance to Eddie Herr J1 Round of 16, Top Seeds in Boys Doubles Ousted; Quarterfinals Set for 12s, 14s, 16s Divisions

©Colette Lewis 2021--

Bradenton FL--

The top seeds continued to progress through the draw Wednesday at the ITF J1 Eddie Herr International Championships, with 13 of the 16 girls seeds and 10 of the 16s boys seeds advancing to Thursday's third round.

The only seeded girl to lose today was No. 14 seed Alexis Blokhina, who retired to Mao Mushika of Japan trailing 6-0, 1-0.  Only four US girls had reached the second round, and all four lost today; in addition to Blokhina, Elisabeth Jones, Ariana Pursoo and Gracie Epps lost in straight sets.

Top seed Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus defeated wild card Sayaka Ishii of Japan 6-3, 6-3, and No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia beat Anastasiya Lopata of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1. The girls seed in the biggest trouble was No. 6 Solana Sierra of Argentina, who eked out a 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 win over University of Arizona recruit Reece Carter of Canada.

While all US girls have been eliminated, four American boys remain in contention for the Eddie Herr title: top seed Bruno Kuzuhara, wild cards Michael Zheng and Sebastian Gorzny, and unseeded Cooper Williams.

Kuzuhara defeated Luka Mikrut of Croatia 6-3, 6-3 to set up a round of 16 encounter with No. 14 seed Adam Jurajda of the Czech Republic. Williams took out Lennon Roark Jones of Japan 6-3, 6-0 and Gorzny defeated Alexander Blockx of Belgium 6-3, 6-1. Zheng, who eliminated No. 15 seed Gerard Campana Lee of Korea 7-6(3), 6-2, said he got stronger as the first set was drawing to a close.

"It was a tough first set, very back and forth," said Zheng, a 17-year-old from New Jersey. "We were both breaking each other a lot, it was tough to hold. In the tiebreak, the beginning was close and then I started pulling away, hit a few good shots."

Zheng, who recently made a verbal commitment to Stanford for 2022, then took control.

"In the second set, I got an early break and he had chances to break back, but I just played solid," said Zheng, who didn't drop serve in the second set.

Zheng said he practiced on indoor clay prior to this tournament, but admitted that adjustments were still necessary once he got to the Har-Tru courts of the IMG Academy. 

"The clay here is really, really slow and the balls don't help here either," Zheng said. "The balls don't really help; they get super fluffy in the second set and the ball doesn't go anywhere. I'm used to playing indoor hard, fast, but it's good for me, just to get into longer rallies and use my legs a little bit more. I've had pretty good results on clay, so I'm not really complaining."

Zheng will face No. 2 seed Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine Thursday for a place in the quarterfinals.

"I heard he's very solid, obviously a very good player, highly ranked," Zheng said. "I haven't had a chance to see him play, but I'll talk to the coaches and players and get their feedback. It's always fun playing these highly ranked players."

Campana Lee was one of three seeds to lose today. Dino Prizmic of Croatia, a semifinalist last week at the JA in Mexico, defeated Vilius Gaubas of Lithuania 6-3, 6-0 and Maxim Shin of Uzbekistan beat No. 7 seed Aleksander Orlikowski of Poland 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

There was a major surprise in the second round of boys doubles, with top seeds Kuzuhara and Croatia's Mili Poljicak falling to Leanid Boika and Peru's Gianluca Ballotta 3-6, 7-6(4), 11-9.

Wild cards Zheng and Benjamin Kittay closed out the day's action as the sun set over the IMG campus, beating No. 7 seeds Bor Artnak and Sebastian Dominko of Slovenia 7-6(5), 4-6, 11-9.

In girls doubles, only one unseeded team advanced to Thursday's quarterfinals, with Qavia Lopez and Switzerland's Chelsea Fontenel defeating No. 7 seeds Celine Naef of Switzerland and Amelie Van Impe of Belgium 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-4.

The quarterfinals are set for Thursday in five of the six younger divisions, with the matchups below:

The girls 16s, which fell behind due to early morning wet courts on Monday, will catch up with two rounds on Thursday. All the top 8 seeds listed below have advanced to the round of 16; in fact, 15 of the 16 seeds are still alive.

Complete draws are here.

B16s:

Juan David Velasquez Ariza[1](COL) v Lorenzo Carboni[WC](ITA)

Asror Ismoilov[13](USA) v Andrew Delgado[WC](USA)

Lucas Silva[9](BRA) v Rudy Quan[WC](USA)

Amir Milushev[5](UZB) v Rei Sakamoto[2](JPN)

B14s:

Max Exsted[1](USA) v Avner Wong[13](USA)

Benjamin Saltman[10](USA) v Shion Itsusaki[12](JPN)

Shu Ota(JPN) v Timofey Derepasko[3](RUS)

Alaa Trifi[9](FRA) v Andrea de Marchi[2](ITA)

B12s:

Navneet Raghuram[1](USA) v Juan Miguel Bolivar[6](COL)

Jordan Lee[4](USA) v Jerrid Gaines[5](USA)

Cho Minhyuk(KOR) v Vihaan Reddy[3](USA)

Mark Mrcela[WC](USA) v Teodor Davidov[2](USA)

G16s:

Round of 16 and Quarterfinals on Thursday

Top 8 seeds:

1. Piper Charney, USA

2. Kinaa Graham, USA

3. Brooklyn Olson, USA

4. Kate Kim, USA

5. Noemi Basiletti, ITA

6. Claire An, USA

7. Mayu Crossley, JPN

8. Krisha Mahendran, USA

G14s:

Rositsa Dencheva[1](BUL) v Tahlia Kokkinis[7](AUS)

Wakana Sonobe[3](JPN) v Ichino Horikawa[13](JPN)

Jo Lee Saw(MAS) v Maya Iyengar[4](USA)

Maria Aytoyan(USA) v Eva Oxford[2](USA)

G12s:

Lia Belibova[1](MDA) v Joyce Geng[8](CAN)

Ann Bugaienko[4](USA) v Anita Tu[5](USA)

Ye Sung Choo(KOR) v Kristina Penickova[3](USA)

Bela Martinez[7](PUR) v Ana Avramovic[11](USA)

Top Boys Seeds Advance as Eddie Herr J1 First Round Concludes; Razeghi Defeats Brown in Kalamazoo 16s Rematch; Shang and Frusina Beat No. 2 Seeds to Open Doubles Play; Top Three Seeds Still Intact in 12s, 14s, 16s Divisions

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Bradenton FL--

The weather was perfect again Tuesday, as were the seeds, with the remaining 22 first round singles matches of the ITF Eddie Herr International J1 providing no surprises.

Top seed Bruno Kuzuhara needed barely an hour to defeat qualifier Dominique Rolland of France 6-0, 6-1, while No. 2 seed Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine stopped qualifier Ellis Short 6-3, 6-2. All 16 qualifiers and two lucky losers were in action Tuesday, but only two managed to post wins: Teddy Truwit, who beat Luca Hotze 6-4, 6-2 and South Africa's Gabriella Broadfoot, who defeated wild card Luciana Perry 7-5, 6-2.

Last week's champions at the JA in Merida, both No. 5 seeds this week, continued their winning streaks, with  Mili Poljicak of Croatia beating Timothy Phung 6-4, 6-0 and Brenda Fruhvirtova defeating Lara Smejkal of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4. No. 3 seed Linda Fruhvirtova, who lost to Brenda in the final, defeated Emma Charney 6-1, 6-2.

The rematch of the 2021 Kalamazoo 16s final between Texans Alex Razeghi and Lucas Brown didn't produce a different result, with the 15-year-old Razeghi again getting the better of Brown, now 17 years old. The Kalamazoo score was 6-3, 6-2, today's score was 6-1, 6-3, but Razeghi said this one was more difficult.

"It was way tougher than the last time I played him," Razeghi said. "His backhand was better than the Kazoo final. I was just more physical than he was, won more of the important points."

Razeghi expected Brown to change tactics after the opening set, which he did.

"He looked pretty tired and he started dropshotting a lot," Razeghi said. "I couldn't get to most of them, so he was hitting a lot of winners on drop shots."

The key game in the second set came with Razeghi serving at 2-3. Brown could be heard chastising himself for not taking his "golden opportunities" to get a break lead.

"He had a lot of chances, so once I got out of that game, I knew that I had momentum," Razeghi said. "That was a really tough game, and I knew I wanted to break, because he was down, that was his game. I did that, held easily, which was big."

Brown kept fighting to stay in the match, but Razeghi eventually held to win his fourth straight game, and the match.

"That last game was pretty tough," Razeghi said. "I had like five match points and the guy just did not miss on my match points at all. I had to earn every single one, until the one I won it on, he finally missed."

Razeghi will face No. 14 seed Adam Jurajda of the Czech Republic in Wednesday's second round.

The first round of doubles was nearly completed today, with two girls matches unfinished due to darkness. The match between qualifier Valeria Ray and No. 13 seed Alina Shcherbinina of Russia, won by Shcherbinina 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3, extended into mid-afternoon, pushing back their first round doubles matches, which will be completed early Tuesday afternoon.

Top seeds Diana Shnaider of Russia and Petra Marcinko of Croatia earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Sayaka Ishii and Ena Koike of Japan, but the Fruhvirtova sisters, seeded No. 2, were taken to a match tiebreaker before beating Ariana Pursoo and Ahmani Guichard 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.

Kuzahara and Poljicak, the top-seeded boys team, beat Brown and Preston Stearns 6-1, 6-2. The No. 2 seeds, Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic and Coleman Wong of Hong Kong, were beaten by the wild card team of Juncheng Jerry Shang and Alexander Frusina 6-4, 2-6, 10-5.

All second round singles and doubles matches are on Wednesday's schedule.

The seeds in the younger divisions have held up well throughout the first two rounds, with none of the top three seeds in any of the eight draws exiting.

The first round of the girls 16s singles was completed today, after rain overnight Sunday caused a two-hour delay that eventually led to one half of the first round matches being canceled Monday night. 

In boys 16s, 15-year-old wild card Rudy Quan defeated No. 4 seed Tanner Povey 6-0, 6-0 last night and lost only one game in his second round match today. Quan, who went 41-2 in the 12s and 14s in 2018, winning the 12s Easter Bowl, Clay Courts and Nationals, has played very little since 2019 due to injuries.

Complete draws for the 12s, 14s and 16s can be found here.

Michelsen Defeats No. 6 Seed Wong, Top Girls Seeds Roll at Eddie Herr ITF J1; Few Upsets in Eddie Herr 12s and 14s Divisions; USTA National Indoors Final Results

©Colette Lewis 2021--

Bradenton FL--

Twenty-two seeded players began their quest for the Eddie Herr ITF J1 titles Monday on the Har-Tru courts at the IMG Academy, with 17 of them posting victories.

The top two seeds in the girls draw, No. 1 Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus, the 2021 US Open girls finalist, and No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia, breezed through their opening matches under partly cloudy skies. Dmitruk defeated Ava Krug 6-0, 6-1 and Shnaider eliminated Tatum Evans 6-2, 6-2 on the courts of the main site, while No. 4 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia also advanced in straight sets, beating Madeleine Jessup 6-0, 6-3 at the Academy Park courts.

No. 8 seed Clervie Ngounoue, one of only two seeded American girls, lost to Canadian Mia Kupres 5-1, ret. The other seeded US girl, No. 14 seed Alexis Blokhina, barely survived, winning the last three games of her two-hour, 45-minute, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory, after Canadian Kayla Cross had served for the match at 5-4 in the third.

No. 9 seed Johanne Christine Svendsen of Denmark lost to Kristyna Tomajkova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5.

Three seeded boys lost Monday, including No. 6 seed Coleman Wong of Hong Kong. Alex Michelsen, one of the last players to receive entry into the main draw, pulled off the upset, despite the 200 places in the ITF Junior rankings separating them.

Michelsen, who is from Southern California, is playing just his second event on clay this week.

"I played on clay two days before I came out here," said the 17-year-old right-hander. "This is my second ever clay tournament. I played the USTA Clay Courts this year in July for the first time. The courts here are pretty quick, which I like. The clay courts back home, they're terrible in California, it's too dry, but it was good preparation. These courts are quick, so it helped."

Michelsen said he was able to control the match in classic clay court fashion.

"I made a lot of balls, I didn't miss much," said Michelsen, a junior who recently made a verbal commitment to the University of Georgia. "I just kind of waited for him to miss. I don't think he played his best, to be honest, he was spraying some balls, so I just tried to keep it in play on every point, didn't go for too much, played smart tennis."

Michelsen said he gained a lot of confidence from his run to the final of the UTR Pro Series event in Newport Beach two weeks ago, while also noting the impact of his college decision.

"It's a weight off the shoulders for sure," Michelsen said. "I feel like it's helped me play a little better. I've been playing well since I committed; I think it's helped a lot actually."

The other two boys seeds who lost were No. 11 Abedallah Shelbayh of Jordan, the University of Florida freshman, and No. 13 seed Sebastian Dominko of Slovenia. Lennon Jones of Japan defeated Shelbayh 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-1 and Alexander Blockx of Belgium beat Dominko 6-3, 7-5.

With 42 first round singles matches played today, just 22 are on the schedule for Tuesday, but they include the top two boys seeds: Bruno Kuzuhara and Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine, both of whom take on qualifiers.

I'll be taking special note of the match between qualifier Lucas Brown and wild card Alexander Razeghi, which is a rematch of this year's Kalamazoo 16s final, which Razeghi won 6-3, 6-2.

Most of Tuesday's action in the J1 will be in doubles, with all 32 first round matches on the schedule.  Kuzuhara and Mili Poljicak of Croatia are the No. 1 seeds, with Wong and Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic the No. 2 seeds. Wong and Mensik will take on the wild card team of Juncheng Jerry Shang of China and Alexander Frusina. ITF junior No. 1 Shang, who trains at the IMG Academy, has won three $15,000 tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit since reaching the US Open boys final. After playing the Puerto Vallarta Challenger last week, he returned to Bradenton and decided to ask for a wild card for the J1 doubles.

The top seeds in the girls doubles are Marcinko and Shnaider, with Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic the No. 2 seeds.

Unexpected rain overnight led to a two-hour delay in the start of the tournament for the 12s, 14s and 16s, which are played on the IMG Academy's hard courts. As of 9 p.m., 16s matches were still being put on court, but the 12s and 14s are complete. The top seeds all advanced, with the exception of B14s No. 4 seed Calvin Baierl, who lost to Roben Gavani of Bulgaria 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-4. and No. 5 G14s seed Katie Rolls, who lost to Ishika Khune 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Draws for the 12s, 14s and 16s can be found here.

The USTA National Indoor Championships concluded today, with results of the singles and doubles finals below. To view the full draws, click on the heading.

B12s:

Singles: Colin McPeek[1] d. Michael Antonious[2] 6-3, 7-5

Doubles: Colin McPeek/Izyan Ahmad[1] d. Mateo Pouso/Tanishk Konduri 8-2

B14s:

Singles: Nicholas Patrick[1] d. Ronit Karki[2] 6-1, 6-3

Doubles: Adrien Abarca/Jon Gamble[2] d. Nicholas Patrick/Dominick Mosejczuk 8-6

B16s:

Singles: Stephan Gershfeld d. Ian Bracks 6-1, 6-3

Doubles: AJ Mercer/Matthew Forbes d. Joshua Mandelbaum/Oliver Narbut[2] 8-6

B18s: 

Singles: Alexander Visser[1] d. Dean Kamenev[9] 6-4, 6-4

Doubles: Cooper Woestendick/Nikita Filin d. Alexander Aney/Jason Shuler 8-2

G12s:

Singles: Sophie Suh[3] d. Kalista Papadopoulos[12] 7-6(3), 6-0

Doubles: Carrie-Anne Hoo/Nancy Lee[1] d. Aubrey Meis/Sydney Barnhart[2] 8-2

G14s:

Singles: Kenna Erickson d. Leena Friedman[4] 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Doubles: Kinley Vanpelt/Emerey Gross[2] d. Summer Chandler/Ahniya Vustsina[7] 8-5

G16s:

Singles: Erin Ha[10] d. Amber Yin[1] 6-2, 6-2

Doubles: Savannah Webster/Olivia Center[8] d. Natasha Rajaram/Jessica Bernales[3] 8-4

G18s:

Singles: Daria Smetannikov[9] d. Gayathri Krishnan 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-1

Doubles: Stephanie Yakoff/Kaitlyn Carnicella[2] d. Shannon Lam/Daria Smetannikov 8-4

Eddie Herr Seeds, Draws Revealed with First Round Action Monday for 12s, 14s, 16s and ITF J1; Brenda Fruhvirtova, Poljicak Win JA Titles in Merida

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Bradenton, FL--

The qualifying for the ITF J1 Eddie Herr International Championships was the only competition going on today at the IMG Academy, with the 12s, 14s and 16s having a day off before their first round play begins on Monday. But with two rounds of qualifying, there was plenty of action all day, with the players below earning their places in the main draw.

Boys:

Ellis Short[1], USA

Preston Stearns[2], USA

Dominique Rolland[14], FRA

Learner Tien[10], USA

Federico Bondioli[13], ITA

Ty Switzer, USA

Lucas Brown[11], USA

Teddy Truwit, USA

Girls:

Akasha Urhobo, USA

Gabriella Broadfoot[2], RSA

Elizabeth Tindera[3], USA

Isabella Chhiv[13], USA

Valeria Ray[5], USA

Bridget Stammel, USA

Sophia Wang, USA

Yujin Kim[8], KOR

Learner Tien defeated No. 4 seed Jack Loutit of New Zealand 6-4, 7-6(2) in the final round of qualifying after dropping only two games in his first and second round qualifying matches. The left-hander from Irvine California, who turns 16 next week, didn't panic when Loutit, also a left-hander, broke him to take a 6-5 lead in the second set.

"I was kind of expecting to go into a match tiebreaker, but at the same time, I was fairly confident I could break him," Tien said. "I had broken him two or three times earlier, in both sets actually, so I was just hoping he would play a looser game."

Loutit berated himself for his shot selection at 30-all in that game, after missing a backhand down the line, and Tien took advantage on the next point to force the tiebreaker. 

"I got a pretty good start, and after 1-all, 2-1, I got a lot of momentum," said Tien, who made no mistakes in the last six points, all of which he won.

Tien, who won the J4 in Corpus Christi this fall, said he decided to skip the 16s division at the Eddie Herr and the Orange Bowl this year.

"I talked with my parents and my coaches about that, and I just don't think I'll get anything out of it really, except purely matches," Tien said. "I feel like I get a lot more out of playing a higher age group. There are no really easy matches now. If you go out there and are not feeling your best, every match is loseable. In a lower age group, I could get away without playing well."

Tien, as a qualifier, will have a day off on Monday, with his first round match Tuesday.

Fourteen-year-old Akasha Urhobo does not have an ITF ranking, with her previous appearances on the ITF Junior Circuit ending in the qualifying or first round. But after three wins this weekend, including a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jasmin Makela in the final round of qualifying, she will compete in the main draw of a J1 for the first time.

Urhobo said her mental game was a key to advancing.

"I would say what led me to the main draw was trying my best to keep my composure," said Urhobo, who has been playing tennis for as long as she can remember, with her father a coach at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center in Fort Lauderdale. "Just letting one point get to me could ruin the whole game, and then that moves on to the set and the whole match."

Growing up in Florida Urhobo is comfortable on the green clay, but is looking to improve some of the physical aspects of her game the surface demands.

"I could improve my endurance,," Urhobo said. "After a few points, especially really long points, I find myself gasping for air sometimes. If I could just fix that, I think I would be ok."

Urhobo said it wasn't a given that she would play tennis, despite her father's occupation.

"He played on tour, and then he became a coach and he didn't really want the drama that goes in between to happen for me," Urhobo said. "But I guess, in the end, he allowed me to start, and I'm happy that he did."

The younger age divisions, which finish on Saturday, will play one round a day beginning Monday. The 12s, 14s and 16s draws, with times, can be found here. Below are the top eight seeds in all eight divisions:

Eddie Herr Top 8 Seeds:

ITF Boys:

1. Bruno Kuzuhara, USA

2. Viacheslav Bielinskyi, UKR

3. Jakub Mensik, CZE

4. Leo Borg, SWE

5. Mili Poljicak, CRO

6. Coleman Wong, HKG

7. Aleksander Orlikowski, POL

8. Edas Butvilas, LTU

B16s

1. Juan David Velasquez Ariza, COL

2. Rei Sakamoto, JPN

3. Chase Fralick, USA

4. Tanner Povey, USA

5. Amir Milushev, UZB

6. Maxim Michaels, USA

7. Thanaphat Boosarawongse, THA

8. Emmett Potter, CAN

B14s

1. Maxwell Exsted, USA

2. Andrea De Marchi, ITA

3. Timofey Derepasko, RUS

4. Calvin Baierl, USA

5. Boxiong Zhang, CHN

6. Yubel Ubri, USA

7. Thijs Boogaard, NED

8. Benjamin Willwerth, USA

B12s

1. Navneet Raghuram, USA

2. Teodor Davidov, USA

3. Vihaan Reddy, USA

4. Jordan Lee, USA

5. Jerrid Gaines, USA

6. Juan Miguel Bolivar, COL

7. Tam Sin Hang, HKG

8. Gadin Arun, USA

ITF Girls

1. Kristina Dmitruk, BLR

2. Diana Shnaider, RUS

3. Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE

4. Petra Macinko, CRO

5. Brenda Fruhvirtova, CZE

6. Solana Sierra, ARG

7. Mirra Andreeva, RUS

8. Clervie Ngounoue, USA

G16s

1. Piper Charney, USA

2. Kinaa Graham, USA

3. Brooklyn Olson, USA

4. Kate Kim, USA

5. Noemi Basiletti, ITA

6. Claire An, USA

7. Mayu Crossley, JPN

8. Krisha Mahendran, USA

G14s

1. Rositsa Dencheva, BUL

2. Eva Oxford, USA

3. Wakana Sonobe, JPN

4. Maya Iyengar, USA

5. Katie Rolls, USA

6. Aurora Nosei, ITA

7. Tahlia Kokkinis, AUS

8. Amelie Justine Hejtmanek, GER

G12s

1. Lia Belibova, MDA

2. Rin Ito, JPN

3. Kristina Penickova, USA

4. Anna Bugaienko, USA

5. Anita Tu, USA

6. Abigail Gordon, USA

7. Bela Martinez, PUR

8. Joyce Geng, CAN

The JA in Merida Mexico finished late Saturday night, with 14-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova, the No. 4 seed, defeating her 16-year-old sister Linda, the No. 3 seed, 7-5, 7-5 to claim the girls singles title. Linda had beaten Brenda in the final of the J1 a week ago in Guadalajara Mexico.

In the boys final, No. 4 seed Mili Poljicak of Croatia defeated No. 6 seed Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 for the title. 

Vallejo is the only one of the four finalists who is not playing this week's Eddie Herr.

With many American juniors taking the week off for Thanksgiving, and playing the National Indoors or Eddie Herr, there was only one title for the US on the ITF Junior Circuit this week, at the J5 in Panama. Top seeds Roy Horovitz and Stefan Regalia won the boys doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Luis Fernandez and Chile's Piero Fernandez Moreno 6-4, 7-6(5) in the final.