Horovitz Takes Out No. 10 Seed, Grant Limps to Victory in First Round of Wimbledon Junior Championships as Rain Agains Derails Schedule; Eubanks and Keys Reach Second Week

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Wimbledon--

For five of the last six days rain has been been a factor at Wimbledon, with the first day of the Junior Championships Saturday not spared the disruptions and cancellations. Play was stopped several times, with a two-hour delay in the early afternoon, and another rain shower in the evening ended play well before dark.

Of the 32 junior matches on the schedule, only 18 were completed, with just two of those saw an unseeded player eliminating a seed. One of those was Roy Horovitz, who came from behind to defeat No. 10 seed Joel Schwaerzler of Austria 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3.

Horovitz played Roehampton but hadn't set foot on the courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club until this morning, but once he entered the grounds he had nothing but praise for the atmosphere.

"It's so hard to describe, it's just everything," said the 16-year-old from Florida. "Every thing, the way the courts look, the backdrop, all the people. Everything felt perfect, everything was amazing."

Horovitz was pleased with his level, especially his forehand, which he saw tested at Roehampton.

"Grass is such a different surface, and I lost a tough (second round) match there, but it helped me out so much, what to expect mentally," Horovitz said. "The ball bounces a lot higher here, compared to Roehampton, so here I was able to be a lot more aggressive with my forehand, deep in the third."

There were no breaks in the first set, and Horovitz was disappointed in his play in the tiebreaker, but he began to return better as the match wore on and he admitted to some luck on his break of the big left-hander. 

"At 3-all I got a little fortunate, hit a let cord return winner to break." Horovitz said. "I held a tight game for 5-3, and then I was able to break to win the match. A little less pressure, not having to serve it out."

Horovitz will have Sunday off, but he isn't planning to do any sightseeing in London just yet.

"I'm going to wait until the end of the tournament," Horovitz said. "Tomorrow I'll come here and get a few practices in and prepare for the next match."

No. 15 seed Tyra Grant is delighted to have a day off to nurse her right knee, which she hyper-extended in the third game of the first set, an injury which didn't stop her from posting 6-1, 6-3 win over Darja Suviodjonkova of Serbia.

"I ran for a drop shot, then hit a lob and as I was running, really close to the net, she hit it really hard and my knee just went the opposite way," said the 15-year-old from Florida. "I couldn't walk for a few minutes and I was on the verge of crying, but I just served the match out. It was crazy, I was so happy, I don't know how I managed to win."

Grant, who was limping noticeably between points, admitted that Suviodjonkova didn't do much to take advantage of her physical limitations.

"She was just trying to hit winners," Grant said. "I know her, she's a super aggressive player who goes for her shots, but she didn't change anything. She tried to get out of the point immediately, which helped me in the end."

Grant said that her serve, which is one of her strengths, helped put her on offense immediately. 

"I served great, especially in the first set," said Grant, who faced just one break point and saved that. "On my serve, the stress is more on my right than my left, so that was good."

Grant didn't get much preparation at Roehampton, losing in the first round, but she was invited to compete, along with fellow American Darwin Blanch, at a junior competition that was part of the Giorgio Armani exhibition at Hurlingham.

"I played two matches there and it was such a cool experience, it was beautiful," Grant said. "It's the best tennis club I've ever seen in my life; it was unbelievable. The pros were Novak, Ruud, Tiafoe, Rune, Zverev. I won one match and lost in the final to Renata Jamrichova; Darwin won the whole thing."

No. 2 seed Clervie Nougoune survived a late hiccup to beat Hayu Kinoshita of Japan 6-4, 6-4, her second win over Kinoshita in the past two weeks. Ngounoue was up 3-0 and two breaks in the second set, but lost her next two service games before getting another break to retake the lead and holding on.

The other seeded player to lose was No. 12 seed Nina Vargova of Slovakia, who was beaten by British wild card Hephzibah Oluwadare 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Sunday's forecast also features rain, so whether the 46 junior singles matches on the schedule are completed remains in doubt.

Saturday's first round results of Americans:

Roy Horovitz v Joel Schwaerzler[10](AUT) 6-7(5) 6-4, 6-3

Federico Bondioli[14](ITA) d. Alexander Razeghi  5-7, 6-4, 7-5

Clervie Ngounoue[2] d. Hayu Kinoshita(JPN) 6-4, 6-4

Tatum Evans leads Alessandra Teodosescu(ITA) 7-6(1), 0-4

Taylah Preston[WC](AUS) d. Theadora Rabman 6-1, 7-6(2)

Sara Saito[3](JPN) d. Mia Slama 6-1, 0-6, 6-4

Tyra Grant[15] d. Darja Suviodjonkova(SRB) 6-1, 6-3

Kaitlin Quevedo[6] v Lily Taylor(AUS) 6-6 suspended

Sunday's first round matches featuring Americans:

Cooper Williams[4] v Luca Pow[WC](GBR)

Darwin Blanch[9] v Petr Brunclik[Q](CZE)

Cooper Woestendick[Q] v Ignacio Parisca[Q](VEN)

Kaylan Bigun v Maxim Mrva[13](CZE)

Kyle Kang v Filippo Romano[Q](ITA)

Valeria Ray v Sayaka Ishii[7](JPN)

Ariana Pursoo v Daniela Piani[Q](GBR)

Alexia Harmon v Charo Esquiva Banuls[16](ESP)

Alanis Hamilton[Q] v Sonja Zhiyenbayeva(GER)

Anya Murthy v Malak El Allami(MAR)

Kaitlin Quevedo[6] v Lily Taylor(AUS) 6-6 suspended

Tatum Evans leads Alessandra Teodosescu(ITA) 7-6(1), 0-4

Christopher Eubanks and Madison Keys have moved into the second week with straight sets wins today. Frances Tiafoe's third round match with Grigor Dimitrov will continue Sunday, with Dimitrov up two sets to none. Jessica Pegula will be in action Sunday for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Saturday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Jiri Lehecka(CZE) d. Tommy Paul[16] 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 6-7(11), 6-2

Christopher Eubanks d. Christopher O'Connell(AUS) 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(2)

Madison Keys[25] d. Marta Kostyuk(UKR) 6-4, 6-1

Sunday's third round matches featuring an American:

Grigor Dimitrov[21](BUL) leads Frances Tiafoe[10] 6-2, 6-3, 1-2, suspended

Sunday's fourth round match featuring American:

Jessica Pegula[4] v Lesia Tsurenko(UKR)