Four All-American Quarterfinals on Tap Sunday in Junior Orange Bowl 14s; Two All-USA Quarterfinals in 12s Division

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Coral Gables FL--

I made my way out to Key Biscayne's Crandon Park today, to get my first look at the boys 14s and girls 12s, as they played their fourth round matches. Both divisions will also play their quarterfinal matches there on Sunday, before moving to the Biltmore Tennis Center for the semifinals on Monday and the finals on Tuesday. 

Just two of the boys 14s matches went to three sets, with a full third set resuming today after two days of match tiebreakers due to the rain delays from the first day of the tournament.  Top seed Max Exsted defeated Carel Ngounoue, a No. 9 seed, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the only match of the eight featuring two Americans. Exsted went from 2-3 down to 2-0 up in the second set, but then Ngounoue had his surge, winning six of the next eight games to force a third set before Exsted took control of the match and closed it out.

Exsted will face No. 6 seed Calvin Baierl in an all-USA quarterfinal Sunday, after Baierl avenged his first round Eddie Herr loss to Roben Gavani of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3.

The other two Americans remaining in the boys 14s also face off Sunday after both won tight two-setters today. No. 8 seed Maximus Dussault defeated No. 9 seed Alaa Trifi of Tunisia 6-2, 7-6(1) and No. 3 seed Darwin Blanch beat unseeded Alvaro Jimenez Roman of Spain 6-4, 7-6(3).

Seven of the eight main draw matches in the boys 14s finished before a rain shower halted play around 2 p.m., with only No. 2 seed Timofey Derepasko of Russia and unseeded Nicolas Arseneault of Canada still on court, midway through the third set. Derepasko, the Eddie Herr champion, came through after play resumed, taking a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 decision.

B14s Quarterfinals:

Maxwell Exsted[1](USA) v Calvin Baierl[6](USA)

Thijs Boogaard[9](NED) v Alejandro Arcila[5](COL)

Maximus Dussault[8](USA) v Darwin Blanch[3](USA)

Valentin Garay(ARG) v Timofey Derepasko[2](RUS)

The match of the day in the girls 12s was between top seed Christina Lyutova and No. 9 seed Sydney Barnhart battling for three hours before Lyutova came up with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory. 

The all-US quarterfinal in the girls 12s will pit No. 4 seed Anita Tu against No. 8 seed Zaire Clarke. Tu defeated Anna Bugaienko, a No. 9 seed, in a contentious contest 7-6(7), 6-1, while Clarke had no trouble with Sumomo Yoshino of Japan, a No. 9 seed, beating her 6-2, 6-1.

G12s Quarterfinals:

Christina Lyutova[1](USA) v Ye Sung Choo(KOR)

Anita Tu[4](USA) v Zaire Clarke[8](USA)

Julieta Pareja[6](USA) v Lia Belebova[3](MDA)

Nancy Lee[9](USA) v Yui Komada[17](JPN)

The girls 14s quarterfinals at Biltmore Tennis Center Sunday morning will feature two all-USA encounters. Top seed Iva Jovic rolled past the last qualifier in any of the four divisions, Sabrina Lin, 6-1, 6-0 to set up a meeting with No. 5 seed Claire An. An defeated unseeded Eden Mayorkes of Israel 6-4, 7-6(3).

No. 4 seed Shannon Lam, who had lost only five games in her first three matches, lost more than that in the first set against Sydney Jara, the No. 9 seed, but Lam came through 7-6(4), 6-4. She will face No. 7 seed Katie Rolls, who beat yet another American, No. 9 seed Claire Zhang 7-5, 6-1. 

The upset of the day was Canadian Emma Dong's 6-1, 6-3 win over No. 3 seed Eva Oxford, who was a finalist at the Eddie Herr, while No. 17 seed Nina Costalas defeated No. 8 seed Neus Torner Sensano of Spain 7-5, 6-3.

G14s Quarterfinals:

Eva Jovic[1](USA) v Claire An[5](USA)

Emma Dong[9](CAN) v Nina Costalas[17](USA)

Katie Rolls[7](USA) v Shannon Lam[4](USA)

Hannah Klugman[6](GBR) v Rositsa Dencheva[2](BUL)

The boys 12s had the most competitive day overall, with three of their eight matches going to three sets, including No. 5 seed Jordan Lee's 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) win over Tanishk Konduri, a No. 9 seed, in one of the three all-USA round of 16 matches.

Navneet Raghuram had breezed through his first three matches, but the No. 2 seed had all he could handle from Mark Mrcela, a No. 17 seed, setting up a match with Lee when he battled past Mrcela 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Top seed Teodor Davidov defeated Tam Sin Hang of Hong Kong, a No. 9 seed, 6-4, 6-4 and will play another No. 9 seed, Juan Miguel Bolivar of Colombia. Bolivar beat No. 7 seed Vihaan Reddy 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. Davidov was the subject of a feature today in the Miami Herald, written by Harvey Fialkov.

No. 17 seed Felipe Mamede of Brazil defeated No. 4 seed Colin McPeek 6-2, 6-4 and will play No. 8 seed Jerrid Gaines, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Daniel Patsula, a No. 9 seed. 

B12s Quarterfinals:

Teodor Davidov[1](USA) v Juan Miguel Bolivar[9](COL)

Felipe Mamede[17](BRA) v Jerrid Gaines[8](USA)

Mark Ceban[9](GBR) v Svit Suljic[3](SLO)

Jordan Lee[5](USA) v Navneet Raghuram[2](USA)

Complete draws can be found at the USTA's PlayTennis site. The forecast for Sunday includes a 50% chance of rain, so the 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. for the quarterfinals could change.

My Review of Historic ITF JA Orange Bowl; Eddie Herr Champion Penickova Falls in Third Round of Junior Orange Bowl, Other Top Seeds Survive in Third Sets or Match Tiebreakers

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Coral Gables FL--

Last week's Orange Bowl featured several surprises during the week, and although not shocking, the titles won by Petra Marcinko of Croatia and Danny Vallejo of Paraguay were another reminder that sports aren't scripted. My coverage of those titles, as well the doubles championships, can be found at the Tennis Recruiting Network. A separate recap of the 16s tournament can be found here.

Another day without rain helped the Junior Orange Bowl get back on schedule, although the girls 12s and 14s and the boys 14s all played a match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set for the third round today, as they had done in all four age divisions on Thursday. The boys 12s, played on clay at Salvadore Park, was on schedule with the consolation draw, so they returned to the regular format today.

Two of the top seeds found themselves in those tense match tiebreakers today, with boys 14s No. 3 seed Darwin Blanch beating Evan Sharygin, a No. 17 seed, 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 and girls 12s top seed Christina Lyutova getting by Aoi Watanabe of Japan, a No. 17 seed, 6-4, 3-6, 10-4, in matches at Key Biscayne's Crandon Park.

Three of the four Eddie Herr champions still have an opportunity to add a Junior Orange Bowl title to their resumes, but not girls 12s winner Kristina Penickova, who is the No. 2 seed here. Penickova was convincingly defeated by Yui Komada of Japan 6-0, 6-2. Two unseeded players remain in the girls 12s: Ye Sung Choo of Korea and Briley Rhoden.

Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria, the No. 2 seed here after her title in Bradenton, won two matches today, beating Nicole Okhtenberg 6-4, 7-5 this morning in a match held over from Thursday and Meritxell Teixido of Spain 6-1, 6-4, this afternoon. Top seed Iva Jovic defeated Marcella Roversi 6-3, 6-0. There are three unseeded players in the fourth round in the girls 14s: qualifier Sabrina Lin, Eden Mayokes of Israel and Sara Conde of Argentina.

Timofey Derepasko of Russia, also a No. 2 seed this tournament after winning the Eddie Herr two weeks ago, advanced to the round of 16 this evening with a 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 17 seed Zachary Cohen. Top seed Max Exsted, who lost to Derepasko in the Eddie Herr final, defeated Nicholas Rizzo 6-1, 6-3.  There are three unseeded players in the round of 16: Alvaro Jimenez Roman of Spain, Valentin Garay of Argentina and Nicolas Arseneault of Canada.

After spending all day Thursday at the girls 14s, I watched all Friday's round of 16s matches for the boys 12s today at Salvadore Park, and Eddie Herr champion Teodor Davidov again found himself in a tough contest, as he had in the first round. Against No. 17 seed Oluwajomiloju Aminu of Great Britain, Davidov found himself down 5-1 in the second set, after taking the first set 6-3. Aminu, nearly twice Davidov's size, served for the set at 5-1, and 5-3, but couldn't close either time. A marathon game with Davidov saving set points serving at 4-5 appeared to be the turning point, and the 11-year-old from Bradenton closed out the tiebreaker for a 6-3, 7-6(1) victory.

Davidov didn't need a third set, but No. 3 seed Svit Suljic of Slovenia did, coming back to claim a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Emilio Comacho, a No. 17 seed from Ecuador, who had not lost a game in his first two matches. Comacho trailed 4-1 in the opening set before winning six of the next seven games. Suljic kept his leads in the second and third sets, but the match was in doubt until the final game.

All 16 boys remaining in the main draw are seeded, with the top eight intact. No. 2 seed Navneet Raghuram extended his streak of matches with a 6-0 set to three, beating Damian Tabuteau 6-0, 6-1. 

I am planning to spend Saturday at Crandon Park to watch the girls 12s and boys 14s round of 16 matches, if the weather cooperate.

Complete draws can be found at the USTA's PlayTennis site. The consolation matches in the girls 12s and 14s and the boys 14s began with the score 2-2 to allow two rounds to be completed Friday.

My Orange Bowl 16s Recap and Latest Cracked Racquets Podcast Appearance; Junior Orange Bowl's Top Seeds Advance on Rain-free Day Two; Klugman Survives First Round Challenge from Urhobo

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Coral Gables FL--

The 16s Orange Bowl tournament in Plantation was an unqualified success for Americans, with players from the United States winning all four titles. My recap of the singles championships by Quang Duong and Kate Kim, and the doubles championships won by Tanner Povey and Andrew Delgado and Piper Charney and Anya Murthy is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. 

I also had an opportunity to join Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets on his Mini-Break podcast, where we discussed the Eddie Herr, the Orange Bowl, the college recruiting scene at both, and several other topics of interest in college and junior tennis.

The good news for the Junior Orange Bowl Thursday was the lack of any rain disruptions. The bad news was that, even with match tiebreakers in lieu of a third set for round two, eight girls 14s matches and one girls 12s match could not be completed, with those pushed to Friday morning.

Being in the top half of the draw is an definite advantage in this scenario, and all four No. 1 seeds are safely through to the third round. Iva Jovic, the top seed in the girls 14s, defeated Juliana Singeorzan 6-3, 6-2 and will play unseeded Marcella Roversi at noon at the Biltmore Tennis Center. Boys 14s top seeed Max Exsted advanced to a meeting with unseeded Nicholas Rizzo, after beating Mikael Arsenault of Canada 6-1, 7-5. That match, also scheduled for noon, is at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne.

In the 12s, top seed Christina Lyutova downed Natalie Augustyn 6-0, 6-2 and will face No. 17 seed Aoi Watanabe of Japan at noon at Crandon Park. At the boys 12s at Salvadore Park today, Teodor Davidov had a less fraught second round match than his 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 first round win over Charlie Riley of Ireland, beating Chase Peirce 6-1, 6-3. Davidov will play a No. 17 seed, Oluwajomilojo Aminu of Great Britain, at noon on Friday. 

I stayed at the girls 14s all day today, determined to see the match between No. 6 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain and Akasha Urhobo. For some reason Urhobo, who qualified at the J1 Eddie Herr two weeks ago, was not given entry into the main draw despite a UTR similar to Klugman's, and she had to qualify. It was an unfortunate first round draw for both players, but it was great for tennis fans to have such an exciting matchup so early in the tournament, and the grounds were buzzing with anticipation in the hours before they took the court. When Klugman emerged with a 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2 victory two and a half hours after the match began, most of the industry reps, agents, coaches, players and fans agreed that it had lived up to expectations.

The 12-year-old Klugman, who made the semifinals of the Les Petits As in September as an unseeded wild card, took a 4-1 and 5-2 lead in the first set, and had the easier service games, but Urhobo's aggressive game began to fall into place. When Klugman failed to serve out the set at 5-4, Urhobo seized the momentum, holding and breaking at love for a 6-5 lead. Then, when the 14-year-old from Ft. Lauderdale seemed to have figured out the most effective patterns against Klugman, the errors of the first half of the set resurfaced and she was broken. Klugman got a mini-break early in the tiebreaker and made it stand up, hitting an ace for 6-3 and closing out the set when Urhobo sent a backhand long.

The second set started well for Klugman, who went up 2-0, but a five-deuce service game that she lost was the turning point, and Urhobo reeled off six straight games to send the match to a third set. 

Once again Klugman took the lead to open the final set, going up 4-1 and then 5-1, as Urhobo's first serve percentage dropped and her overhead, problematic all day, continued to let her down. Klugman was unable to serve out the match at 5-1, but she broke Urhobo for the third time in the set to end it.

Klugman was one of 16 players in the girls 14s draw who had their second round matches postponed until Friday morning. She will face Kiko Inoue of Japan in that match, scheduled for 8 a.m.

There was one top eight seed eliminated today, with boys 14s No. 4 seed Nicholas Patrick falling to Alexandru Hebhang Balan of Canada 6-1, 2-6, 10-4.

Draws are available at the USTA's PlayTennis site.

NOTE: Players are from the United States unless another country is referenced.

Rain Pushes Scores of Junior Orange Bowl First Round Matches to Thursday; B12s Top Seed Davidov Comes from Behind to Advance

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Coral Gables FL--

Rain overnight Tuesday delayed the start of the Junior Orange Bowl Championships and just as matches were beginning to get called to courts, another heavy shower arrived. This led to another delay, with 8 a.m. matches at the two sites I covered today not starting until after 11 a.m. in the case of the girls 14s at the Biltmore and noon for the boys 12s at Salvadore Park.

I watched top seed and 2021 Easter Bowl 14s champion Iva Jovic win her first set at the Biltmore Tennis Center before I headed seven blocks north to Salvadore Park to watch boys 12s top seed and Eddie Herr champion Teodor Davidov. I had brought my folding chair to Court 5, and I was glad I did, as the 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 match between Davidov and Ireland's Charlie Riley took more than three hours to complete, not counting another rain delay of an hour in the third set.

Davidov dropped his serve to open the match and was behind throughout the first set. Riley served for the set at 5-4, but was broken, although he did manage to hold to force a tiebreaker.

Riley didn't seem bothered by Davidov's unusual technique of switching the racquet from his right hand to his left hand so that he never hits a backhand. Instead, Riley played an aggressive baseline game, stayed with Davidov in the rallies until he hit a winner or Davidov made an error.

Leading 4-3 in the tiebreaker, Davidov lost both of his serves, and Riley won the next two points to take it. 

Although Davidov was visibly upset by all the errors he was making, he seemed confident at the start of the second set, although the first few games were long, with sloppy points and well-constructed points alternating. Davidov took a 4-2 lead in the second set, but gave it right back, the first two breaks in a streak that extended to five.

Riley went up 40-0 serving at 4-5, but lost the next four points. Davidov couldn't convert that first set point, with Riley's forehand forcing him into an error, but Davidov's left-handed putaway on his next ad evened the match.

The 10-minute break between the second and third sets (unlike the Eddie Herr, which plays third-set match tiebreakers in the 12s, the Junior Orange Bowl's format is the standard best-of-three) seemed more helpful to Riley, who broke Davidov twice, with a hold sandwiched in between to take a 3-0 lead.

It wasn't an ideal time for a rain shower, unless, of course, you are the player trailing 3-0.

After a little over an hour, play resumed, and this time, unlike the set break earlier, Davidov's level improved dramatically. Hitting deeper, with fewer errors, Davidov broke, held and broke, leveling the match at 3. He wasn't out of the woods entirely, double faulting on game point at 3-all, but undeterred, he broke Riley again, held for 5-4, then broke Riley for a fourth time in the set to take the match, four and a half hours after it had started.

Davidov said being the No. 1 seed was part of the reason for his uneven play in the first two and a half sets.

"Unintentionally I put pressure on myself," said the 11-year-old, who lives in Bradenton Florida now. "It's the first time I've been the one seed in a level 2 or a level 1. It's kind of new to me."

But Davidov's father, who is his primary coach, helped him put those concerns aside.

"My dad talked to me, just told me to be calm, relaxed, whatever happens, happens," Davidov said. "Obviously that helped me. I definitely played better; I was way more relaxed and calmer."

Davidov said he is careful not to underestimate his opponents, but definitely was expecting an easier match in the first round.

"He had a really good forehand and backhand down the line," Davidov said. "He was really good off the corner of the court. Normally when I play people, they just pop it up and I finish the point, but he hits a better shot when he's stretched out."

Davidov leans to hard courts as his favorite surface, but has been practicing on clay since the Eddie Herr and likes the Salvadore Park courts.

"I think my better surface is hard, but still, I like clay," Davidoff. "Since Eddie Herr I've been practicing on it. These courts are good actually. I thought they were going to be worse, because in a public park I thought they would be worse, but they're good."

The other No. 1 seeds, all from the United States, had the advantage of getting their first round matches completed, with Jovic beating lucky loser Carrington Brown 6-1, 6-3 in the girls 14s. Max Exsted defeated Tim Vaisman of Israel 6-1, 6-0 in the boys 14s, and in the girls 12s, Christina Lyutova defeated Pepper Rickert 6-1, 6-0. 

More than half of the first round matches were not completed and Thursday's schedule will begin at 8 a.m. with the hope the first round can be completed by mid-afternoon Thursday and the second round can at least begin. Unfortunately, the weather forecast currently shows a greater than 65% chance of rain on each of the next five days.

Results and match times can be found at the USTA's PlayTennis site.

Harvey Fialkov, formerly a sportswriter at the Sun-Sentinel, is providing coverage of the tournament for the Junior Orange Bowl website. He talked to many of the famous tennis (and basketball) players' offspring at registration yesterday.

Americans Top Seeds in All Four Divisions as Junior Orange Bowl Begins Wednesday; Shang, Marcinko Named ITF Junior Champions; McDonald Named ATP Comeback Player of the Year; Lew Brewer's Orange Bowl Memories

The 60th Junior Orange Bowl begins Wednesday at three sites in the Miami area, with Americans dominating the list of top seeds.

The girls 12s and the boys 14s will be played at Key Biscayne's Crandon Park through the quarterfinals, while the girls 14s site is the Kerdyk Tennis Center at the Biltmore Hotel, which will be the host of the semifinals and finals of the girls 12s and 14s and the boys 14s. The boys 12s play on the Har-Tru courts of Salvadore Park in Coral Gables, so all their matches will be there. All draws are 128, with a backdraw, but no doubles. All draws can be found at the USTA's Play Tennis site.

The weather, which was so wet the last time this tournament was held in 2019, is forecast to be rainy again each of the first five days of the seven-day tournament.

The top eight seeds:

Girls 12s:
1. Christina Lyutova, USA
2. Krstina Penickova, USA
3. Lia Belibova, MDA
4. Anita Tu, USA
5. Ciara Harding, USA
6. Julieta Pareja, USA
7. Harper Stone, USA
8. Zaire Clarke, USA

Girls 14s:

1. Iva Jovic, USA
2. Rositsa Dencheva, BUL
3. Eva Oxford, USA
4. Shannon Lam, USA
5. Claire An, USA
6. Hannah Klugman, GBR
7. Katie Rolls, USA
8. Neus Torner Sensano, ESP

Boys 12s:
1. Teodor Davidov, USA
2. Navneet Raghuram, USA
3. Svit Suljic, SLO
4. Colin McPeek, USA
5. Jordan Lee, USA
6. Andrew Johnson, USA
7. Vihaan Reddy, USA
8. Jerrid Gaines, USA

Boys 14s:
1. Max Exsted, USA
2. Timofey Derepasko, RUS
3. Darwin Blanch, USA
4. Nicholas Patrick, USA
5. Alejandro Arcila, COL
6. Calvin Baierl, USA
7. Boxiong Zhang, CHN
8. Maximus Dussault, USA

The International Tennis Federation announced today that Juncheng Jerry Shang of China and Petra Marcinko of Croatia are the 2021 ITF World Junior Champions after finishing atop the ranking list after last week's tournaments, the final ITF junior events of the year.  Both are the first ITF World Junior Champions from their countries. See this article from the ITF for more on their results from 2021.

Former UCLA star Mackenzie McDonald was named the ATP's Comeback Player of the Year today, with the 2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion rebounding from hamstring surgery in June of 2019 to a spot in the ATP Top 60 now. For more on McDonald's road back from injury, see this ATP article. 

Following the retirement announcement Sunday of USTA Director of Junior Competition Lew Brewer, comes this article from the USTA about his 23 years as the Orange Bowl tournament director. Brewer reminisces about past champions and his favorite years.

Draxl, Inoue Win $15Ks in Cancun; Eastern Kentucky Reinstates Tennis; Pouatcha Takes Title at Costa Rica J5; USTA Claims America's Cup 14U Team Event; Lugones, Ahn Receive ATP, WTA Year-End Awards

After a busy fortnight at the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, I have a couple of days until the Junior Orange Bowl begins in Miami, giving me a chance to review other tennis results from last week.

The USTA Pro Circuit is done for the year, but Americans continue to travel, many to Mexico, to compete in ITF World Tennis Tour events. 

At the $15,000 events in Cancun, University of Kentucky junior Liam Draxl won his first ITF World Tennis Tour men's tournament and 18-year-old Hina Inoue earned her first ITF World Tennis Tour women's title. Draxl, a 20-year-old Canadian, seeded seventh, defeated top seed Christian Langmo(Miami) 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in three hours and 29 minutes Sunday.

Inoue, who is being privately coached by Pat Harrison in Bradenton, has played only $15Ks this year, although she is still eligible to compete in junior events in 2021. After reaching the semifinals at the $15K in Cancun the week before, No. 6 seed Inoue defeated top seed Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico in the quarterfinals, then took out No. 3 seed Pamela Montez(UCLA) of the United States in the semifinals. In the final, she faced Madison Sieg, the 18-year-old USC signee, who entered based on her ITF world junior ranking, currently at 24. Like Inoue, Sieg, a semifinalist in an October $15K in Cancun, was contesting her first final, with Inoue coming out on top 6-2, 6-2.

Good news on the college tennis front, with Eastern Kentucky reinstating both its men's and women's tennis programs beginning next fall. Tennis Recruiting Network has the details in this article.

Paris Pouatcha reached the Eddie Herr 16s doubles final, with Tanner Povey two weeks ago. The pair split for the next week, with Povey winning the Orange Bowl 16s title with Andrew Delgado, while the 15-year-old Pouatcha headed for the ITF J5 in Costa Rica, where he took the singles title, his first on the ITF Junior Circuit. The unseeded Pouatcha beat the top three seeds en route to the title, although he didn't have to hit a ball in the final against No. 1 seed Julian Lozano of Costa Rica, who retired.

Calvin Wang won the boys doubles title with Cesar Cruz of El Salvador. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Amor Jaskia of Australian and Wil Jenkins of Great Britain 6-7(0), 6-4, 12-10 in the final. It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for the 15-year-old Wang.

Max Dussault, Joseph Oyebog Jr., Max Exsted, Jon Glover, Carel Ngounoue
(photo via Facebook)

The USTA holds a team tournament for 14 and under boys at its  National Campus between the Eddie Herr and the Junior Orange Bowl called the America's Cup. This year the United States took the title, beating South America 7-2, Central America 8-1, and in the final, Canada 5-4. USTA National Coach Jon Glover served as team captain. The boys are identified left to right, in the caption of the photo below.

The ATP and WTA have begun announcing their year-end awards and two former collegians were honored for 2021.  Former Stanford star Kristie Ahn received the WTA's Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award, an award voted on by her peers on the Tour, for the second time. 

Facundo Lugones, who played for TCU from 2012-15, was named ATP Coach of the Year for his role in the rise of former teammate Cam Norrie. Teammates for the 2014-15 season, Norrie, from Great Britain, and Lugones, from Argentina, have been working together since 2017, with Norrie starting the year at 277 and ending it at 114. Steady progress in the next three years earned him a place in the Top 100, and in 2021 Norrie went from 71 at the end of last year to a career-high of 12 now.  For more on Lugones' career path (he is just 29 years old), see this article from the ATP.