Damm and Hohmann Reach Adidas Easter Bowl ITF Boys Final; Navarro and Montgomery Play for Girls ITF Championship Sunday; Ovrootsky and Banerjee Claim 16s Titles
©Colette Lewis 2019--
Indian Wells, CA--
For the second day in a row, Montgomery came from a set down, this time against No. 5 seed Lea Ma, overpowering the world's 37th ranked junior 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to reach her first Grade 1 final.
Montgomery, seeded 14th, recognizes that her age helps keep the pressure off her and on her opponent.
"Once the first set was done, I figured I really had nothing to lose," Montgomery said. "I had lost the first set and she probably feels tighter because she's closer than me. I came out swinging, more pumped. At the beginning I was playing at her pace, walking slow, letting her take time and I think in the second and third sets, I started moving faster and made her move fast, and I don't think she likes moving fast. I probably got her out of her comfort zone."
Montgomery's pace on her ground strokes and pop on her serve--she hit 115 on the serve speed indicator on Center Court today--often put opponents on the defensive, and Ma could not find a way to get Montgomery out of her comfort zone once she found it.
Montgomery will take on No. 3 Emma Navarro, the 2017 Easter Bowl 16s champion, who beat unseeded Ellie Coleman 7-6(1) 6-2.
Navarro, who has a main draw wild card waiting for her at the WTA Volvo Open next week in her hometown of Charleston after winning last year's USTA 18s Clay Courts title, wasn't able to convert her chances to close out the first set when serving for it at 5-3, or when Coleman served at 5-6, but she dominated the tiebreaker and picked up her play in the second set.
"She was good," Navarro said of the 16-year-old Coleman, whom she hadn't played before. "It was good to play someone who doesn't hit flat and hard every shot, a good mix, and it was tough. She played good offense and defense, good from both sides."
Navarro and Montgomery met in the quarterfinals at the Grade A Orange Bowl in December, with Navarro earning a 7-6(1), 6-3 win.
"We had a really tough match last time, she played really well," said the 17-year-old Navarro. "I'm excited."
Navarro, who reached the ITF semifinals here last year, said her previous success at Indian Wells the past two years gives her confidence.
"Yeah, I'm just more comfortable, because I've been here before," Navarro said.
Montgomery said the change in surface from clay at the Orange Bowl to the hard courts here could help her against Navarro.
"I can sometimes be considered a better hard court player," said Montgomery. "It can go either way tomorrow, so I just have to come out and play my best."
The six-foot-six-inch Damm, who reached the final of the Grade A last month in Brazil, grew up with Mandlik at the IMG Academy, until Mandlik moved to the other side of the state.
"It was pretty tough," said Damm, the son of former ATP Top 50 pro of the same name. "We basically grew up with each other, we've known each other since we were six years old, we've trained together for like four years. We hung out every weekend, we did stupid stuff as little kids and now we're here. It was tough playing him, but obviously happy I got the W."
Damm was up 6-1, 4-1, but Mandlik got the break back and brought it to 4-4. Damm rebounded to hold for 5-4, closing out the game with a 123 mph serve, then broke Mandlik to win it.
"I was aware of the mental collapse I had the day before," said Damm, who dropped the second set against Andrew Dale in the quarterfinals. "He [Mandlik] fought hard and I gave it to him a little bit in the game when I was up 4-1. But he fought hard and I knew I had to finish it on my own, that he wasn't going to give it to me."
Hohmann, who has now won eight matches in eight days, fell behind early, but needed less than an hour to take out Bullard.
"He broke me first game of the match and I thought to myself, oh god, this is going to be one of those days," Hohmann said. "But once I broke back and held, I just took it to him from there. I played tremendously well. I'm not missing anything, it's crazy."
Hohmann, who averages one ITF junior event per year, said he is tired, but is happy to be playing so well.
"I wasn't even supposed to qualify, based on the qualifying seeds," said Hohmann, who was the No. 10 seed in qualifying, which began with two matches last Saturday.
With the USTA providing new ITF World Tennis Tour wild cards tied to the results at this year's Easter Bowl, Hohmann and Damm will be playing for a main wild card into an ATP Challenger event, while already securing a wild card into the main draw of a $25,000 WTT tournament as finalists. The girls ITF Easter Bowl winner will also receive a wild card into a $60,000 tournament.
"I noticed that yesterday," Hohmann said. "I didn't even notice that until yesterday when I looked on the website. So I just have to go out there and have fun in the final, just go for it."
Damm said he is familiar with Hohmann and knows he's dangerous despite his long journey to the final.
"I played a playoff with him at the USTA campus, so I know of him, know he's a very good player," Damm said. "He beat [Zachary] Svajda second round, who I personally think is a very good player as well, so obviously the kid knows how to play. He may have played eight matches, he could be tired, but he's very confident and used to these courts, so it's not going to be anything easy."
The schedule for Sunday will begin with the girls final at 10 a.m., followed by the boys final. Both matches will be streamed, with commentary by Ken Thomas, at easterbowl.com.
Ovrootsky won last week's ITF Grade 4 in Irvine, so has had only one day off, last Sunday, in two weeks, but what she lacked in rest, she made up for with confidence.
"I felt really confident heading in," said the 14-year-old from San Jose, who trains with Nick Fustar at the Eagle Fustar Academy. "I know I didn't play my best tennis in the match that I could've, but DJ was playing unbelievable tennis, her forehand was great. I just had to get through the match there, take offense when I had the opportunity and I think that's what I did."
Ovrootsky took a 5-2 lead in the first set, but she was unable to close it out on her serve in the next game, despite two set points. She converted her third set point with Bennett serving in the next game, however, with Ovrootsky taking advantage of Bennett's low first serve percentage.
"I was definitely was attacking her second serve when I had the opportunity," said Ovrootsky. "My first serve percentage wasn't that high either and she was attacking my second serve, but I feel I defended pretty well, which gave me a little edge."
"My serve wasn't the best," said Bennett, a 15-year-old who trains at Tampa's Saddlebrook Academy and wears a Roger Federer hat when she plays. "I missed a lot of first serves and I was defending a lot because of my second serves. She would be really aggressive off that."
Bennett got her first lead of the match when she broke Ovrootsky to go up 2-1, but Ovrootsky broke right back and the pair stayed on serve until the final game. With Bennett serving to stay in the match, she missed a couple of forehands to go down 15-40. She saved the first match point, but Ovrootsky crushed a second serve return winner to collect her third USTA gold ball.
Bennett's silver was her first USTA ball, so the nerves she admitted she felt during the first few games were understandable.
"I didn't really expect to get this far in the tournament," Bennett said. "I think she played great. She was really consistent. I didn't play as good as I wanted to. But I'm really happy for her."
Ovrootsky also received the USTA 16s sportsmanship award, which she did not expect.
"Last night we were at dinner, my coach and the girl I'm traveling with, and I go, if I ever win the sportsmanship award, that's just got to be the most random selection of all time," Ovrootsky said. "And less than 24 hours later, I'm holding a sportsmanship award."
Boys 16s champion Banerjee won the first set of the 2018 boys 14s final last year against Bruno Kuzuhara, but lost the next two, a scenario he did not want to see repeated.
"In last year's final I came back from a break down in the second, just like I did in this final," said Banerjee, who trailed Tracy 3-1 in the second set. "I didn't break again last year, but I broke here and I just couldn't serve it out, and then in the last game, I almost couldn't serve it out, so I'm relieved."
Tracy had his opportunity in the first set, when, after eight holds to start the match, he broke Banerjee, who donated two backhand errors at 30-30 to give Tracy an opportunity to serve out the set. Tracy played his worse game of the set however, with a double fault, a backhand unforced error and a poor drop shot.
"I tried not to rush it, and I ended up rushing it," said the 16-year-old Tracy, who trains at the Smith-Stearns Academy in Hilton Head SC. "I missed a few opportunities in the first set, that one, but he played well."
Banerjee took a 5-4 lead in the second set, but never got to match point in that service game. After earning another chance with a high backhand volley winner at 30-40 on Tracy's serve, he did get to match point, but two match points came and went, on a double fault and a backhand error. Banerjee then had to save two break points, but he eventually earned a third match point and converted it with a backhand winner.
"If I stay back too long, who knows what could happen," said Banerjee, who trains at Center Court Academy and Garden State Academy in New Jersey. "I'm comfortable at the net, so I think if they are under pressure too, they might put up an easy one that I can put away."
Banerjee, who now has two USTA gold balls in singles and ten gold, silver and bronze balls overall, has earned a wild card into a $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour tournament with the title.
"That's crazy," said Banerjee, who wasn't aware of the wild card on the line. "I did say I was looking for some stiffer competition."
Beck and Navarro beat top seeds Lea Ma and Hurricane Tyra Black 6-4, 6-4, winning four of six deciding points, including the one that decided the match.
Beck and Navarro, who have been playing together four or five years now, had lost a deciding point with Ma serving at 3-5 in the second set, but they have learned through the years not to exaggerate the importance of that point.
"It's a different feeling on a no-ad point, and we've definitely gotten better with it, doing it for a few years now," said Navarro. "It used to be, like, the most important point in the world is right now, and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, but now we've learned to relax and embrace it."
Beck said their different strengths are key to their success.
"We're the most comfortable when Emma's ripping ground strokes and I can take over the net," Beck said.
That formula worked on the final deciding point, with Navarro hitting a good first serve and Beck putting away the volley at the net.
"We decided on I formation, which was working best," Navarro said. "It's easy to be hesitant on it, especially since we already lost one deuce point match point. But what we picked worked well."
Beck and Navarro have received a main draw wild card into next week's WTA Volvo Open, so are pleased to be going into that tournament with a title.
"We've had a lot of good close matches," said Navarro, of their run this week. "We haven't played together since January, so it was good to get a little warmup tournament."
The 2017 USTA Kalamazoo 16s champions were able to put the quick loss of the second set out of their minds as they focused on the upcoming match tiebreaker.
"I think we just sort of lost that energy in the second set," Grant said. "We knew that if we just kept our energy and kept firing on all cylinders that we would have come through and it was just tight at the end."
Down 7-5 in the match tiebreaker, with Damm serving, Grant and Zink got the mini-break back, but still faced a match point with Zink serving at 9-8. Grant hit a volley winner to save it, and another to give them a match point, with Zink then hitting the volley winner that delivered the title.
"I was really nervous, honestly," said Grant. "I think that was why I was getting super pumped up. He [Zink] came up big on that point too, it just happened all so fast, so it really could have gone either way, honestly."
"Going into the match, we knew Martin was going to serve the way he does and we were just looking for our chances here and there," Zink said. "Luckily one went our way, and we really used the momentum off that to win the match."
Grant and Zink are planning to play together again at the Grade 1 in Carson next week.
The 16s doubles finals and the third place match results are below:
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| Boys 16s: Frank Thompson(Blacksburg, VA) and Thomas Paulsell (Seattle, WA) (3) def. Alex Finkelstein (Raynham, MA) and Nathan Mao (1) (Topsham, ME) 6-2, 6-2 |
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| Girls 16s: Sydni Ratliff and (Gahanna, OH) and Ava Catanzarite (Pittsburgh, PA)(1) def. Whitley Pate (Daniel Island, SC) and Sophia Strugnell (Summerfield, NC) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 |
Jake Sweeney (Fayetteville, AR) and Gavin Young (4) (Apple Valley, MN) def. Aryan Chaudhary (Santa Clara, CA) and Timothy Li (5) (Valley Village, CA) 7-5; 6-2
Third Place Boys' 16 Singles:
Thomas Paulsell (4) (Seattle, WA) def. Aryan Chaudhary (1) (Santa Clara, CA) 6-3; 4-6; 6-3
Third Place Girls' 16 Doubles:
Carrie Beckman (Louisville, KY) and Emma Charney (3) (Prospect, KY) def. Katherine Hui (San Diego, CA) and Eleana Yu (Mason, OH) 6-2; 7-5
Third Place Girls' 16 Singles:
Gracie Epps (Norman, OK) def. Daniella Benabraham (12) (New York, NY) 6-3; 6-3
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