All-Canadian Boys Final and All-USA Girls Final on Tap at ITF JB1 Pan American Closed; No Seeds Make Men or Women's ITA All-American Semifinals
©Colette Lewis 2022--
Nicholasville Kentucky--
Canada has produced plenty of pro tennis stars lately, and they have come from the major metropolitan areas of the country. The two juniors who will be playing for the ITF JB1 Pan American Closed title on Saturday at the Top Seed Tennis Club call less likely places home, with Keegan Rice from Saskatchewan and Liam Drover-Mattinen from Newfoundland. Although they may not be from tennis hotbeds, they have proven themselves this week in suburban Lexington, with neither dropping a set en route to the final.
The unseeded Drover-Mattinen, who has now beaten four seeds, including top seed Rodrigo Pacheco of Mexico in the third round, took out No. 14 seed Roy Horovitz 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.
"I'm playing good," the 17-year-old said. "I'm just staying solid, not missing and staying with what I know. It seems to be working out, and I'm playing with a lot of confidence."
Drover-Mattinen and Horovitz had a number of lengthy rallies, but the American wasn't able to win many of them, especially in the second set.
"I think in general I just broke him down," said Drover-Mattinen, who trains in Quebec. "Lack of mistakes, and whenever he put it short I was allowing myself to come in and put some pressure on him. I think that started to wear on him, he started making more mistakes and it snowballed from there."
Drover-Mattinen did lose his serve once in the match, serving for the first set at 5-2, but immediately broke Horovitz to claim the set, and once he got a break to go up 3-1, cruised to the finish line.
Drover-Mattinen and Rice will be meeting for the sixth time this year, with Rice holding a 3-2 advantage, so Drover-Mattinen is very clear on what is required of him in the final.
"I've got to keep it deep," said Drover-Mattinen, who has lost just four games in each of his past three victories. "He's the kind of guy who plays really close to the baseline. He takes his shots early, moves you around, so you've got to keep it deep, get it out of his strike zone and get him on the run so he doesn't have that chance to move you."
Rice has also dominated the opposition this week, although as the No. 12 seed, he has played just four matches to reach the final. In today's 6-3, 6-4 semifinal victory over fellow wild card Eli Stephenson, Rice got a break at at 2-3 and served out the first set with no problems.
Agitated by several line calls, Stephenson dropped served in the opening game of the second set, but he composed himself and got the break back to make it 3-3. Rice didn't take long to assert himself again however, breaking for a 4-3 lead, saving a break point to hold for 5-3 and serving it out with no drama.
"I was really happy with my serving and he was serving exceptional as well," said the 16-year-old, who is coached by Marek Nehasil in Regina. "It came down to a couple of better returns. I had chances, he broke me back, but then I was able to fight back mentally and finish the match off."
Rice wasn't planning to play this event, but after a J2 title in Montreal last month and a final at a J3 in Quebec the next week, Tennis Canada lobbied for a wild card on his behalf.
"One of my travel coaches with Tennis Canada in Montreal and Quebec thought it would be a great opportunity if I could play this tournament, just for my ranking. So he was able to contact Tennis Canada and get me a wild card. I'm very lucky for that."
Rice hasn't been back to Saskatchewan in a while, with his appearance in three ITF Junior Circuit finals since mid-September, but he doesn't miss the courts there.
"We play on like multi-purpose rubber courts," Rice said. "We make the best of what we have and it's working. Outdoors, we have some courts, but indoors it's just rubber. But I play tournaments on other courts enough so they are regular to me, and going back home is different."
Rice beat Drover-Mattinen 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals in Montreal last month before defeating Horovitz in the final.
"It was a close one last time, so I'm sure it will be a good one tomorrow as well," Rice said. "We know each other pretty well, we're good friends, we warm up together, so it will just be who can play better that day."
The girls final will also feature a pair of compatriots who will be competing in their first Grade 1 final, after Maddy Zampardo ended the run of qualifier Jessica Bernales 7-5, 6-2 and No. 2 seed Tatum Evans defeated Alanis Hamilton 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Zampardo got off to a slow start and was trailing 4-2 before she got her power game in gear against the wily Bernales.
"I thought she started out really strong," said the 17-year-old from Michigan. "She takes the ball really early and I felt like I had less time than I normally do, so it took me a little bit to get used to that. She started off stepping on the gas and was playing really well."
Zampardo was determined not to be thrown off by Bernales' variety.
"It was unpredictable," said the North Carolina State recruit. "I just tried to focus on what I could do, get to every ball."
Zampardo took the lead in the second set at 3-2 and broke Bernales in her next two service games to secure her place in the final, a run that has not surprised her, despite a lack of ITF Junior Circuit experience.
"My serve has been good, I've made a lot of first serves this tournament," Zampardo said when asked about the keys to her success this week. "My ability to move the ball around the court and hit to smart targets, really just play my game. It's pretty simple."
For the second consecutive day, Evans found herself in a grueling first set, with the 17-year-old from Virginia needing over 70 minutes to take it 6-4 from 15-year-old Alanis Hamilton. Hamilton was able to change her tactics, and made her one break stand up in the second set, although she needed to save a break point to close it out at 6-3. Evans responded in the third set, taking a 4-0 lead and breaking Hamilton a third time before closing out the match 6-1.
"In the first set almost every game went to deuce, long and competitive games, and I felt like most of that set was mental," said Evans, who trains with Bear Schofield at Pass Academy in McLean. "It was all about playing the big points the right way and we both did a good job of not getting complacent on the big points."
Evans said she needed time to adjust to the changes Hamilton made in the second set.
"I was a little bit caught off guard," Evans said. "She was coming to net almost every point, and she had very good volleys, so I had to take a step back and understand what was going on. It was a fun match, because you could think about strategy. It wasn't a match where balls were flying, but it was 'what do I need to do to set up the point'? That was really enjoyable."
In the third set, Evans focused on what she needed to do to keep Hamilton from continuing to take control of the net.
"I had to figure out how to get her a little farther off of the net," Evans said. "It finally clicked for me in the third set."
Evans had reached the quarterfinals of the $25,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit in Austin last week, but she never considered pulling out of this event.
"The competition was a really high level and it was really fun to play in that and do well," Evans said. "But I played that to get match play; this was my main tournament, that was kind of for fun. I really like indoor hard, and I was definitely going to play this tournament no matter what."
Evans and Zampardo played in the second round of the Easter Bowl ITF JB1 this spring, with Evans recording a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
The doubles finals are set, but only three of the four doubles semifinals were played today, with No. 4 seeds Ariana Pursoo and Brooke Lynn Schafer getting a walkover from Hamilton and her partner Claire An. Pursoo and Schafer have won only one match to reach the final, as they also received a walkover in the second round.
Bernales got some measure of revenge on Zampardo in this afternoon's doubles semifinal, with Bernales and Maren Urata defeating Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa 6-2, 3-6, 10-6 in a battle of unseeded teams.
In the boys doubles semifinals, No. 4 seeds Nikita Filin and Alexander Razeghi defeated unseeded Rohan Belday and Drover-Mattinen 6-3, 6-1. No. 3 seeds Luis Alvarez Valdes and Armando Sotelo of Mexico beat No. 2 seeds Preston Stearns and Leanid Boika 3-6, 6-1, 10-8.
All four finals will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The semifinals are set at the ITA All-American Championships, and none of the players to reach the final four are seeded.
The women's tournament in Cary North Carolina is right in the backyard of the North Carolina Tar Heels and they have certainly made themselves at home, with three UNC players reaching the semifinals after four had made today's quarterfinals.
Sophomore Carson Tanguilig defeated graduate transfer Abbey Forbes 6-2, 6-3 in the only all-UNC quarterfinal. Junior Fiona Crawley came back to take out Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 and senior Anika Yarlagadda beat Rebecca Mertena of Tennessee 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. In the only match not featuring a Tar Heel, LSU's Kylie Collins defeated Miami's Alexa Noel 7-6(5), 6-0.
Crawley and Tanguilig will play for a place in the final; with Collins trying to prevent an all-UNC championship match Sunday. For more on North Carolina's success today, see this article from goheels.com.
The men's tournament in Tulsa Oklahoma will feature two Georgia Bulldogs, with Phillip Henning and Ethan Quinn each picking up two wins today. Fifth-year senior Henning took out Micah Braswell[9-16] of Texas 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals, while freshman Quinn beat North Carolina graduate student Ryan Seggerman 6-2, 6-1. Henning's opponent in the semifinals is Stanford sophomore Max Basing, who defeated No. 4 seed Luc Fomba of TCU 6-1, 6-4. Quinn will play Texas senior Eliot Spizzirri, who defeated Garrett Johns of Duke 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
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