Hovde Captures Wimbledon Girls Title, Earns Congratulations from Djokovic; Gorzny and Michelsen Extend Winning Streak with Boys Doubles Title; Surprising and Historic Girls Doubles Champions; Ngounoue Advances to Boys 14U Final

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Wimbledon--

Liv Hovde started her quest for a junior slam as a wild card at the US Open last September. But since losing in the first round in New York, Hovde has been a quick study, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of Roland Garros this year to arrive in Wimbledon as the top girls seed. Now the 16-year-old from Texas is a junior slam champion, defeating Luca Udvardy of Hungary 6-3, 6-4 on a perfect summer Saturday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Despite her experience in Melbourne and Paris this year, Hovde admitted that the roughly eight thousand fans who turn out every year for the junior finals in London made for a  "nerve-racking," first few games.

Hovde did managed to earn quick 2-0 and 4-1 leads, but Udvardy, the first Hungarian girl to reach the Wimbledon singles final, was determined to fight through her early miscues.

With the support of the crowd, who clearly favored seventh-seed and underdog Udvardy, the Hungarian held for 4-2 and broke to get back on serve. But she wasn't able to convert her game point and was broken again, giving Hovde a chance to serve for the set. It was another close game, but at 40-30 Hovde crushed her signature backhand for a winner, claiming the first set.

Udvardy held to open the second set, and had three break points in Hovde's first service game, but was unable to convert them. That began a string of five straight breaks, but Hovde finally held serve at 4-3 to force Udvardy to hold to stay in the match.

The crowd gave an encouraging round of applause as Udvardy stepped to the line to serve at 5-3, and buoyed by their support, she held to force Hovde to serve out the championship.

"It is an extra motivation to play in front of so many people," said Udvardy, who, like Hovde, turns 17 later this fall. "Obviously I was really happy. I was trying to focus on the court, but of course I heard so many people say, let's go and come on, heard them cheering for me. I was really happy, it meant so much to me."

Hovde had experienced some difficulty closing out matches early in the week, primarily when her first serve deserted her, but in the biggest service game of her junior career, she summoned her best four points of the match, hitting a forehand winner, a devastating backhand and two good first serves.

"She has a really good game; she was playing with really good depth also, going for every shot," Udvardy said. "Especially in the last game, she hit three really good serves in a row.'

Hovde, the first American girl to win the title since Claire Liu in 2017, said the crowd's preference for an Udvardy comeback didn't affect her.

"I was just trying to focus on my side, wasn't really focused on what the crowd was saying or anything." said Hovde, who, like Udvardy, had twice as many unforced errors as winners. "I tried to block them out as much as possible just to focus on myself."

Hovde, who survived a match point thanks to a successful Hawkeye challenge in her third round victory over Canadian Kayla Cross, said the lack of ITF Junior Circuit points at this year's tournament wasn't going to keep her from making her Wimbledon debut.

"Well, I didn't play it last year because I couldn't get in," said Hovde, who trains in Keller Texas with Phil Dent, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 1977. "Now I got to play it this year, and having me be the 1 seed, it's a really cool experience. The points are just a bonus. But this time they didn't have points, and that's okay."

Another bonus for the juniors is the opportunity to rub elbows with those at the top of the WTA and ATP tours, and Hovde got that experience when she received congratulations from defending champion Novak Djokovic.

"We had a conversation," Hovde reported when asked about it at her main room press conference. "He was really nice. He asked me, like, how I felt. He's a really nice guy, so it was really cool. Then we took a photo together, so it was really cool."

But that doesn't necessarily mean she is supporting Djokovic in Sunday's men's final.

"I've seen Nick Kyrgios around, and I hope to go see him play tomorrow," Hovde said. "That would be really fun. He's really fun to watch."

As to whether this title will change her life, Hovde recognizes that her stated wish to return to Wimbledon as a professional is still a few years away.

"I think it's a great step, but I still have a little bit to go to get to the pros, big stage," said Hovde, who has yet to decide if she will attend college or turn pro.

The big stage could be this year in New York, as Hovde is planning to play the USTA National 18s in San Diego next month with a women's main draw wild card on the line. 

"Well, if it happens, then great," Hovde said of the prospect of earning a wild card into the US Open. "But if it doesn't, that's okay, too."

After winning the Grade 1 in Roehampton last week, Hovde has proven she has the game to excel on the surface, and so too have Americans Alex Michelsen and Sebastian Gorzny. In today's boys doubles final, the unseeded pair defeated No. 5 seeds Paul Inchauspe and Gabriel Debru of France 7-6(5), 6-3 to extend their winning streak to 15 matches.

Michelsen and Gorzny, who won the Easter Bowl JB1 in Indian Wells this spring before taking the title last week at Roehampton in their first tournament on grass, saved two match points in their 6-7(6), 6-1, 11-9 semifinal victory Friday night over No. 7 seeds Pedro Rodenas and Martin Landaluce of Spain. That close shave only emphasized just how small the margins are at the top of the junior game.

"We could have easily lost that match," said the 17-year-old Michelsen, who reached the final of the Australian Open boys doubles this year with Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay. "Guys come out hot, get a set, win a breaker and you're out first round. Things happen quickly and you just have to be ready, especially in doubles."

Gorzny and Michelsen, who were not broken in either the semifinal or the final, managed to convert the only break point of the second set, with Inchauspe, a rising Princeton freshman, contributing two double faults when leading 40-15 at 4-3. Two points later the Americans had the break, and Gorzny served out the championship.

"We have great communication," said the 18-year-old Gorzny, who will begin his freshman year at TCU, the alma mater of Wimbledon men's semifinalist Cameron Norrie, next month. "We stay humble, stay positive. We know we can lose every match, but that we can also win."

"We play pretty similar, I'd say," said Michelsen, who is committed to the University of Georgia for 2023. "We're both pretty big boys, 6-4, cover the court well, serve well. We volley well. We have friendship, and our chemistry on the court is very, very good."

Michelsen and Gorzny are planning to play together at Kalamazoo next month and at the US Open Junior Championships in September.

While Michelsen and Gorzny have known each other for years on the Southern California junior circuit, girls doubles champions Angella Okutoyi of Kenya and Rose Nijkamp of the Netherlands  had never played together until this week.

That didn't keep them from an improbable Wimbledon title, with the unseeded pair saving a match point against longtime Canadian partners Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko, the No. 4 seeds and Roehampton champions, to earn a 3-6, 6-4, 11-9 victory.

Nijkamp was initially only accepted into qualifying, so when Okutoyi agreed to play with her prior to the tournament, there was no guarantee they would make the draw. Once Nijkamp moved into the main draw prior to the start of play, they were ready, earning two straight-sets victories to reach the quarterfinals. They saved a match point at 8-9 in the match tiebreaker in their 6-7(5), 6-4, 11-9  quarterfinal win over Linda Klimovicova and Dominika Salkova of the Czech Republic, the same stage of the match tiebreaker when they were called on to save a match point today.

Although they could have been happy just to make the final, after defeating No. 3 seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia and Nikola Daubnerova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4 in Friday's semifinals, Okutoyi and Nijkamp came into the championship match with no pressure and growing confidence.

"We were not afraid, we couldn't lose anything, so we just go for it. We believe in ourselves," said the 16-year-old Nijkamp.

"We had nothing to lose," echoed the 18-year-old Okutoyi. "We were there, we were confident, and we believed we can take these girls, with the teamwork we have together."

"We are so positive and we always go for every shot," Nijkamp said. "We are never mad at each other, ever."

"It's a great accomplishment," said Okutoyi, the first player from Kenya in history to win any slam title. "It's great for her, this is her first grand slam and we won doubles. And for me, this will inspire a lot of players in Kenya and also in Africa, which is quite a good thing. This will prove to them that no matter where you come from or your background, you can also achieve it."

The semifinals in the 14-and-under tournament were played this afternoon, with No. 3 seed Carel Ngounoue of the United States defeating No. 2 seed Matei Torodan of Romania 3-6, 6-4, 11-9 to reach Sunday's final. Ngounoue built a 9-5 lead in the match tiebreaker with some outstanding serving, but Torodan won four straight points when Ngounoue didn't get his first serve in. But Ngounoue earned his fifth match point with another good first serve and then blasted a return that Torodan couldn't handle to close out the match.

He will face No. 5 seed Se Hyuk Cho of Korea, who also won a tense match tiebreaker to advance to the final, beating top seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria 7-6(5), 1-6, 11-9.

Two Romania girls will meet for the girls title, with top seed Alexia Ioana Tatu playing No. 5 seed Andreea Diana Soare. Tatu beat Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 6-0, 6-3 and Soare defeated unseeded Isabelle Britton of Great Britain 6-0, 7-5. 

The finals are scheduled for Show Court 12 Sunday afternoon, with the girls first, followed by the boys.

The boys final between Michael Zheng of the United States and Mili Poljicak of Croatia is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Court One.