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Sunday, December 6, 2020

Last Two Girls Slam Champions Seeded 1 and 2 at Orange Bowl; Crawford Takes Dominican Republic $15K Title; Sinha and Frusina Claim ITF Junior Circuit Championships

The draws are out for the start of the 2020 Orange Bowl, the only ITF Junior circuit tournament above the Grade 4 level held in the United States this year.

French Open girls champion Elsa Jacquemot of France, currently No. 1 in the ITF Junior rankings, and Australian Open girls champion Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, currently No. 2 in the ITF Junior rankings lead the girls draw. Given the circumstances, the girls field is outstanding, with 2019 finalist Jana Kolodynska of Belarus seeded No. 7. Kolodynska is one of four girls from Belarus who are seeded. I'm not sure what happened to Alexa Noel, who was not shown as withdrawn at the freeze deadline, but is not in the draw.

The boys draw does not have any Top 25 players this year. With the reduced draw size this year, none of the seeded players are in action on Monday.

The 18s girls seeds:

1. Elsa Jacquemot, France

2. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, Andorra

3. Kristina Dmitruk, Belarus

4. Matilda Matuvdzic, Great Britain

5. Diana Shnaider, Russia

6. Sofia Costoulas, Belgium

7. Jana Kolodynska, Belarus

8. Elvina Kalieva, USA

9. Aliona Falei, Belarus

10. Ellie Coleman, USA

11. Madison Sieg, USA

12. Oceane Bable, France

13. Natalia Szabanin, Hungary

14. Evialina Laskevich, Belarus

15. Radka Zelnickova, Slovakia

16. Petra Marcinko, Croatia

The 18s boys seeds:

1. Peter Fajta, Hungary

2. Dali Blanch, USA

3. Lukas Neumayer, Austria

4. Jack Pinnington Jones, Great Britain

5. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, France

6. Sean Cuenin, France

7. Bruno Kuzuhara, USA

8. Alexander Bernard, USA

9. Rafael Alfonso De Alba Valdes, Mexico

10. Jack Anthrop, USA

11. Marko Topo, Serbia

12. Juncheng Shang, China

13. Toby Samuel, Great Britain

14. Mehdi Sadaoui, France

15. Aidan Mayo, USA

16. Zsombor Velcz, Hungary

Qualifying concluded today, with five of the six girls reaching the main draw coming from the United States. Katja Wiersholm[12] defeated top seed Kailey Evans 6-4, 6-4, Mary Stoiana beat No. 2 seed Mio Mushika of Japan 6-1, 6-3 and North Carolina freshman Fiona Crawley took out No. 3 seed Kylie Blichev of Great Britain 6-1, 6-3. Charlotte Owensby[5] and unseeded Kimmi Hance advanced to the main draw, as did No. 7 seed Chelsea Fontenel of Switzerland.

Just two US boys qualified: No. 4 seed Azuma Visaya and unseeded Masato Perera, who beat No. 3 seed Fnu Nidunjianzan of China 6-1, 7-5. UCLA signee Karl Lee lost a tough one to top qualifying seed Alvaro Guillen Meza of Ecuador 6-7(5), 7-5, 11-9.

Qualifiers did well in the first round of 16s singles played today, with all six qualifiers in the boys draw into the second round. Gianluca Ballotta of Peru didn't play today, because he is seeded No. 6 in the main draw, meaning he must have failed to enter by the deadline and so was required to play qualifying. US qualifiers winning first round matches today are: Sean Daryabeigi, Alexander Aney, Maxim Michaels, Quang Duong and Jonathan Irwanto.  Four of the six girls 16s qualifiers reached the second round, all from the US: Kate Kim, Taylor Goetz, Lexington Reed and Morgan Pyrz.

Play begins Monday at 9 a.m., and live scoring was up and running today. Links to the draws can be found here.

Unseeded Oliver Crawford collected his second career ITF World Tennis Tour title and his first as a professional, with the 21-year-old former Florida Gator defeating No. 2 seed Alex Rybakov 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the $15,000 tournament in the Dominican Republic. Crawford, who turned pro this spring after his junior year in Gainesville, converted 5 of 6 break points in the one hour and 15 minute match. Crawford, who beat the No. 3, No. 1 and No. 2 seeds this week, had previously won a Pro Circuit title in the fall of 2018 at a $25K in Texas. He is entered in another $15K in Santo Domingo next week, as is Rybakov. 

The doubles title went to 2019 Wimbledon boys champion Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan and his partner Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic. The No. 3 seeds defeated unseeded Gonzalo Lama of Chile and Antonio March of Ecuador 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Although most American juniors are in Florida for the Orange Bowl, not all returned to the United States, with four players from the US claiming ITF Junior Circuit titles elsewhere. 

Adit Sinha won the Grade 4 in Turkey, with the 17-year-old from New Jersey, seeded No. 6, winning his first ITF Junior circuit singles title with a 6-1, 6-1 decision over qualifier Melchior Delloye of France. Sinha defeated top seed Leo Borg, Bjorn Borg's son, 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. Isabelle Kouzmanov won the girls doubles title in Turkey, partnering with Diana Lemanova of Russia. The No. 4 seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Mei Hasegawa and Tomoko Kato of Japan 3-6, 6-2, 10-7 in the final. 

Alexander Frusina, who turns 15 later this month, won his second ITF Junior circuit singles title, both since the restart, at the Grade 5 in Colombia. Frusina, the No. 6 seed, defeated unseeded Thomas Cardona Herrera of Colombia 6-4, 6-2 in the championship match. 

At the Grade 5 in Costa Rica, Sage Loudon and her Canadian partner Martyna Ostrzygalo won the girls doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Ana Grubor of Canada and Ana Carmen Zamburek of the Dominican Republic 6-0, 6-3 in the final. 

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