Hance Beats Top Seed in Three and a Half Hour Marathon to Reach 14s Semifinals; Americans Evans, Irwanto, Braswell and Bigun Advance to ITF Quarterfinals; Orange Bowl Wild Cards

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Bradenton FL--

After warmer conditions challenged players in the first half of the tournament, cooler temperatures, lower humidity and more wind greeted them at the IMG Academy on Thursday. That change was a godsend for No. 5 Boys 14s seed Keaton Hance, who needed three hours and 30 minutes to defeat top seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3.

"Really? Wow. So that's probably my longest match," the 14-year-old from California said when told what time it was. "I feel all right, a little bit tired in the legs, but nothing besides that."

Hance recognizes that not everyone likes matches of that length and intensity, but he enjoyed himself on the court.

"It was a really high level; Ivan's a really good player and I'd never actually played him so I was really excited for this match," said Hance, who reached the semifinals of Les Petits As early this year. "I had watched a couple of his matches, so I knew how he played, how good he was. He likes to hit hard with his forehand, it's probably stronger than his backhand, so I went into the match with a grinder mentality, make a lot of balls to his backhand and be super consistent and I guess it worked out."

Although he was unaware of the length of time he was on the court, Hance, the youngest of four siblings who have played top level tennis, had already put the match at the top of his best tennis memories.

"That'll be one of the favorite matches of my life," Hance said.

Hance will face No. 7 seed Ford McCollum, another top player from Southern California, in the semifinals. McCollum also was out on the court for more than three hours, eventually defeating No. 13 seed Jake Dembo 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6).

"He'll be pretty tired tomorrow too," Hance said. "I've practiced with him a lot, haven't played that many matches in actual tournaments. I'm looking forward to it, 100 percent."

Although Ivanov lost today and Girls 16s top seed Claire Zhang was eliminated in the round of 16 Wednesday, the other four top seeds have advanced to Friday's semifinals. Results from today's quarterfinals are below; draws are available here.

B12s Quarterfinals:

Michael Antonius[1](USA) d. Tavish Pahwa[7](IND) 6-1, 6-1

Jason Eigbedion[9](USA) d. Lucas Han[8](AUS) 6-4, 7-6(5)

Tabb Tuck[4](USA) d. Tomas Laukys[6](USA) 6-3, 6-3

Takashiro Kawaguchi(JPN) d. Simon Velez(COL) 6-1, 6-1

G12s Quarterfinals:

Yeri Hong[1](KOR) d. Hannah Ayrault[7](USA) 6-3, 6-0

Haniya Minhas[3](PAK) d. Sakino Miyazawa(JPN) 6-3, 6-2

Sun Xiran[8](CHN) d. Clarice Ouvarova(USA) 4-6, 6-4, 12-10

Yui Komada[5](JPN) d. Andreea Olariu[2](ROU) 6-1, 6-1

B14s Quarterfinals:

Keaton Hance[5](USA) d. Ivan Ivanov[1](BUL) 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3

Ford McCollum[7](USA) d. Jake Dembo[13](USA) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6)

Kuan-Shou Chen(TPE) d. Hyu Kawanishi(JPN) 6-4, 6-2

Se Hyuk Cho[2](KOR) d. Weiyi Kong[6](USA) 6-3, 6-3

G14s Quarterfinals:

Emerson Jones[1](AUS) d. Nicole Okhtenberg[7](USA) 6-2, 6-1

Adelina Lachinova[9](LAT) d. Kimiko Cooper(CAN) 6-0, 6-0

Renee Alame(CAN) d. Polina Kuharenko[5](BLR) 6-4, 6-2

Yihan Qu(CHN) d. Anita Tu[13](USA) 6-3, 6-2

B16s Quarterfinals:

Maxwell Exsted[1](USA) d. Noah Johnston[8](USA) 6-1, 6-3

Abhishek Thorat[3](USA) d. Joseph Oyebog[16](USA) 6-1, 6-4

Jagger Leach[6](USA) d. Naoya Honda 6-4, 6-1

Calvin Baierl[2](USA) d. Boxiong Zhang[7](CHN) 6-3, 6-3

G16s Quarterfinals:

Ece Gencer[14](TUR) d. Amelie Hejtmanek[6](GER)  6-4, 6-1

Amy Lee[10](USA) d. Monika Ekstrand[3](USA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3

 

Rachael Smith(USA) d. Tess Bucher(USA) 6-2, 6-1

Hyunyee Lee[2](KOR) d. Allie Bittner[8](USA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

In the ITF J1 tournament on the HarTru Courts of the IMG Academy, three unseeded American boys have advanced to the quarterfinals, while just one US girl, No. 9 seed Tatum Evans, is in the final eight.

University of Florida freshman Jonah Braswell defeated unseeded Patrick Schoen of Switzerland 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to extend his junior career at least one more match on the courts where he trains. He will play No. 5 seed Danil Panarin of Russia, who defeated No. 11 seed Hayden Jones 6-1, 6-1.

Jonathan Irwanto, who experienced severe cramping after his second round match Wednesday, showed no effects of that on Thursday, although for the third match this week was required to come back from a set down. Irwanto, an 18-year-old from Miami, defeated No. 13 seed Alejandro Melero Kretzer of Spain 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. He will face No. 16 seed Tiago Pires of France, who beat Jan Hrazdil of the Czech Republic 7-6(6), 6-4.

Sixteen-year-old Kaylan Bigun has reached his first J1 quarterfinal, defeating wild card Cooper Woestendick 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. He will play No. 10 seed Arthur Gea of France, who prevented an all-USA quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 8 seed Cooper Williams.

The fourth unseeded boy in the quarterfinals is Andrin Casanova, who defeated No. 9 seed Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia 6-2, 6-4.

Just two unseeded girls remain in contention for the singles title, and they meet in Friday's quarterfinals: 16-year-old Mayu Crossley and 2021 Eddie Herr 14s champion Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria. Crossley won a long and physical battle with No. 6 seed Lucciana Perez Alarcon of Peru 4-6, 6-0, 6-4, while Dencheva also went the distance, beating Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

The other quarterfinal in the bottom half will feature No. 5 seed Ena Koike of Japan and No. 2 seed Luciana Moyano of Argentina. Koike, who won four consecutive ITF Junior Circuit tournaments in Asia in October, advanced to the quarterfinals when No. 11 seed Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz of Australia retired at 4-6, 6-2. Moyano defeated unseeded Malwina Rowinska of Poland 7-6(4), 6-3. 

Fifteen-year-old Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic continued to impress, defeating No. 15 seed Amelia Waligora of Belgium 6-1, 6-2 in her Stadium Court debut. Valentova will play No. 8 seed Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Germany, who ended the run of qualifier Piper Charney 6-3, 6-3.

Evans, the Nicholasville JB1 champion, defeated No. 7 seed Ranah Stoiber of Great Britain 1-6, 7-5, 7-5. 

Evans said that going from training on indoor hard at her home in Virginia to the green clay has been a challenge, but the 17-year-old is starting to feel comfortable.

"It was quite an adjustment for the first couple of days," said Evans, who has taken all her official visits, but has yet to decide which school she will attend next fall. "But I feel like now, I'm more settled, I understand the surface a little more, which is nice."

Although Stoiber was the one serving at 4-5 and 5-6 in the third set, and Evans broke her to win the match, Evans didn't feel that was any advantage.

"She had a very good serve, a very strong serve," Evans said. "I had to keep my composure, like nice serve, on to the next one. I couldn't take it personally. It wasn't like I was missing my returns, she was hitting aces or a forced return error."

Evans was up a break in the third set at 3-1, was broken back, then went down 0-30 at 5-all. She recovered with the help of a good first serve and two forehand winners to take a 6-5 lead, and the pressure was back on Stoiber. She double faulted to start the game, and got it back to 30-all before Evans hit a backhand volley winner in a rare net exchange to give herself a match point. Stoiber, who made only one first serve in the game, saved the first match point by forcing an error, but Evans earned another match point with a good forehand and closed it out with a forehand putaway.

"It was a really high quality match and it was really fun to play," Evans said. "It was a really fun match, where we could play freely. I really enjoyed it."

Although Evans had said her title in Nicholasville would take the pressure off her in the last two tournaments of the year, she admitted that she didn't quite convince herself. 

"I remember that conversation and I was so like, chill about these(tournaments), It'll be nice, I won't be nervous," Evans said with a laugh. "But now on the court I'm so nervous, I'm flipping out."

Evans will play No. 3 seed Sayaka Ishii of Japan, who reached the final of the Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup in October. It will be their first meeting, although they have hit together.

All eight of the ITF quarterfinals are first-time meetings on the ITF Junior Circuit. 

The doubles semifinals are set for Friday, with three Americans competing with international partners.

Cooper Williams and partner Yaroslav Demin of Russia, the No. 1 seeds, defeated No. 8 seeds Paul Barbier Gazeu of France and Thanaphat Boosarawongse of Thailand 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 in this afternoon's quarterfinals and will play No. 6 seeds Atakan Karahan of Turkey and Rei Sakamoto of Japan. Karahan and Sakamoto saved two match points in defeating wild cards Cooper Woestendick and Matthew Forbes 4-6, 7-6(9), 10-1.

In the bottom half, No. 4 seeds Andrin Casanova of Switzerland and Kevin Edengren of Sweden will play No. 7 seeds Aleksa Pisaric of Serbia and Patrick Schoen of Switzerland.

Unseeded Victoria Osuigwe and Japan's Wakana Sonobe defeated No. 8 seeds Ava Krug and Theadora Rabman 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 to advance to a semifinal meeting with top seeds Sayaka Ishii of Japan and Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic.

Unseeded Mia Slama and her Canadian partner Ellie Daniels beat Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa and Ahmani Guichard, also unseeded 7-6(9), 6-1. They will face No. 5 seeds Isabelle Lacy and Ella Mcdonald of Great Britain, who beat wild cards Jessica Bernales and Alanis Hamilton 6-4, 6-4.

Qualifying begins for the Orange Bowl 16s on Friday, with main draw for the 16s beginning on Sunday. The ITF JA qualifying begins Saturday with the main draw beginning Monday.

Wild cards as of this date:

Boys 18s Main:

Kyle Kang

Roy Horovitz

Cooper Woestendick

Nikita Filin

Mitchell Lee

Andrew Delgado

Girls 18s Main:

Shannon Lam

Alanis Hamilton

Tyra Grant

Jessica Bernales

Akasha Urhobo

Alyssa Ahn

Katherine Hui

Boys 16s Main:

Matthew Forbes

Keaton Hance

Prathinav Chunduru

Ben Wilwerth

Nathan Blokhin

Girls 16s Main:

Nina Costalas

Nicole Okhtenberg

Kenna Erickson

Ishika Ashar

Harper Stone

Boys 18s Qualifying:

Mikel Anderson

Landon Ardilla

Leanardo Dal Boni

Tanner Povey

Girls 18s Qualifying:

Amber Yin

Stephanie Yakoff

Thea Latak

Kate Kim

Boys 16s Qualifying:

Ian Miller

Jeremiah Braswell

Blake Hilsen

Girls 16s Qualifying:

Yael Saffar