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Saturday, March 27, 2021

Wild Card Quinn, Top Seed Yepifanova Claim ITF Grade 1 International Open of Southern California Titles; Two More Top Seeds Ousted in Easter Bowl 12s and 14s Divisions, 16s Draws Posted

©Colette Lewis 2021
San Diego CA--

Top seed Alexandra Yepifanova and wild card Ethan Quinn earned titles Saturday at the International Open of Southern California Saturday, with the contrasts not only in their stature but in how the first sets of their first ITF Grade 1 finals played out.

Yepifanova saved two set points in the 74-minute first set of her 7-6(7), 6-2 win over No. 10 seed Reese Brantmeier, while Quinn needed barely 30 minutes to secure the opener in his 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 5 seed Samir Banerjee.

The girls kicked off a clear and cool finals day at the Barnes Tennis Center with an opening set both were proud to have played. Even with six service breaks, the level was high, with long rallies and big hitting the rule, not the exception.

"Today I couldn't even be in a negative mood, because the entire first set was incredible," said Yepifanova, an 18-year-old from Florida. "I wasn't even that impressed with my tennis, but I felt like we had such quality points. Whenever I gave her a short ball, she would always step in and put it away; whenever she gave me a short ball or some advantage in the point, I would use it right away. We had really good points. So I wasn't getting that excited or upset, because of the quality of the match, and because I knew that at any moment, she could step in and hit an unbelievable forehand cross."

Brantmeier served for the first set at 5-4, but few first serves plus the aggressive returns by Yepifanova resulted in a break at love. After two holds, the tiebreaker was an up-and-down affair, with Yepifanova taking a 4-1 lead, only to watch as Brantmeier recovered to take the next five points and a 6-4 lead. She dropped the first set point with a backhand error; the second ended with Brantmeier netting a backhand pass, but that was after a thrilling rally that either girl might have won but for the other's defense. Yepifanova missed her first shot at a set point by sending her backhand putaway at the net wide, but she didn't get frustrated, and converted her second set point with a big forehand winner that ticked the net but landed in.

"She played a really good tiebreak," said Brantmeier, a 16-year-old from Wisconsin, who trains regularly at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Florida. "I was happy with how I played them, just came up short. I think she carried the momentum of the first set really well into the second, got up 2-0 early. I was playing the right way, and I am happy with that, but the execution just wasn't there for me."


Yepifanova focused in the second set on continuing to keep her unforced error count low and, unlike the first set, was able to hold serve throughout.

"I was trying to limit the unforced errors, because at this level, giving points is just unacceptable," said Yepifanova, who now trains with Roger Anderson and Chani Scheepers at the Team Anderson Academy in Lake Worth Florida. "I felt like in the second set, she was kind of stuck in the first set. She couldn't really regroup as well. She was going for her shots, but it sometimes it was a little much, unlike the first set, when she was more consistent and playing a little smarter."

Brantmeier felt a better performance with her return may hold the key to getting into the win column against Yepifanova, who has won all four of their meetings.

"She served really well, but for me, putting more returns in play would have been really helpful," said Brantmeier, who won the doubles title on Friday with Kimmi Hance. "I think I gave her a lot of free points that way. There were a lot of breaks in the beginning and that could definitely have made the difference."

Yepifanova noted the progress Brantmeier has made in her game since their last meeting in July of 2020.

"I think her game, it broadened," Yepifanova said. "Even though she always used the slice, she likes to play at the net, she won doubles here. Her forehand cross was great and a few times she hit a loopier, higher ball. I don't recall her having that. She has a bigger selection of shots now, and she uses them very well."

Both Brantmeier and Yepifanova are playing the upcoming Easter Bowl, but as seeds, will likely not play until Wednesday, giving Yepifanova several days to indulge at a Southern California favorite: In-N-Out Burger.

"It's a great feeling," said Yepifanova, who starts at Stanford in the fall, and had future teammate Valencia Xu cheering her on from the sidelines. "I get to celebrate at In-N-Out and I'm really excited about it. But overall, rather than the result, I'm more proud of my performance today and in previous matches, because I could not only build, but also because all the aspects of my game that I'm working on were working well."

Quinn had every reason to be nervous, playing his first match on Stadium Court this week, and having no experience in any tournament above a ITF Grade 4 until this week.

But the 17-year-old from Fresno dominated from the start running out to a 4-0 lead with a combination of big serves, bigger forehands and a slow start from Banerjee. 

"I definitely felt pretty loose going into the match," Quinn said. "I had a really high first serve percentage in the first set, so it was pretty tough for him to get into the points, as I was serving well and getting into the court and dictating. I also wasn't making many unforced errors, and throughout the match I felt super loose. I was going for shots, and I was making them."

Banerjee had made the final last week at the Grade 1 in Colombia, but he was unwilling to assign any blame for his loss on fatigue.

"Physically I was feeling a little tired, but all credit to him," said Banerjee, a 17-year-old from New Jersey. "I don't think it was my fitness that let me down, he just played an unreal match, all credit to him. Right from the get-go he put the pressure on me, he was forcing me to hit shots I wasn't able to hit, making me uncomfortable; everything I seemed to do, he countered it and did something better."

Banerjee regrouped in the second set, reducing his unforced error count and holding serve until 4-5, although he admitted the effort he had to expend to keep up with Quinn took a toll.

"My service games were long and I really had to dig deep to hold serve, and he was kind of holding with ease," said Banerjee, who defeated top seed Bruno Kuzuhara 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in Friday's semifinals. "That's tough, when I have a long service game and he gets just an easy service game. He was serving very well, I think he made most of his first serves, followed them in, and it was tough to return against him today."

Although his serve and his forehand will win him the majority of his points, Quinn believes his ability to come to net, volley and use touch shots makes his bread-and-butter game more effective.

"The opponent's not really sure what I'm going to do," said Quinn, who trains with Brad Stine in Fresno when Stine is not on the ATP circuit with Tommy Paul. "If I'm going to serve and volley, or stay back and rip a forehand inside in or inside out. It keeps them thinking, keeps them on their toes and if they do think they've finally figured something out, I'll throw something else at them, to slow them down a little bit, even if just by a half a step."

Quinn admitted that he got "ahead of myself" on Friday night, contemplating where his ITF ranking would be with a win.

"I really want to play in the grand slams," said Quinn, who will move from 542 into the Top 100 with this week's title and an appearance in the doubles final. "So I was looking at the points, and what this tournament has done for my ranking. Right now, I'll be right up there and definitely have a good chance with Easter Bowl coming up to get into the French Open, so I'm super excited."

The round of 16 in the 12s and 14s division of the Easter Bowl produced more surprises, with girls 12s No. 1 seed Kayla Moore going out to unseeded Ashley Liang 6-3, 6-1 and boys 12s No. 1 seed Trenton Kanchankomtorn falling to No. 9 seed David Clarke 6-3, 6-4.  Girls 14s top seed Katie Rolls had lost in the second round Friday.  Boys 14s top seed Cooper Woestendick, who saved match points in his second round win Friday, defeated No. 9 seed Calvin Baierl  6-1, 6-3 to advance to Sunday's quarterfinals. 

The 16s draws were released today, with the top 4 seeds listed below. As is the case with the 12s and 14s, the champions at the USTA Level 1 Spring Individual Championships are the top seeds.

The 16s draws, plus results in the 12s and 14s are available at the TennisLink site.

B16s:
1. Emon van Loben Sells
2. Mitchell Lee
3. David Saye
4. Greyson Casey

G16s
1. Natalie Block
2. Yichen Zhao
3. Karolina Jacobson
4. Tatum Evans

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