Top Seed Korneeva Survives Qualifier Valdmannova to Keep Junior Grand Slam Hopes Alive at Wimbledon; Ngounoue Dominates to Reach Round of 16; Eubanks and Keys Advance to Quarterfinals

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Wimbledon--

Top seed Alina Korneeva's quest for an unprecedented third consecutive junior slam was nearly brought to an abrupt halt Monday evening in the second round of the Wimbledon Junior Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Fifteen-year-old qualifier Vendula Valdmannova, another in the seemingly endless stream of promising Czech teenagers, pushed the Australian Open and Roland Garros girls champion to the brink before ultimately falling 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

Playing on court 5, which has no Hawkeye Challenge system available and seating for less than 100 on wooden benches, Korneeva and Valdmannova began to draw a crowd by 7 p.m., when most of the other matches on the outside courts were finished. While it's doubtful they all knew the stakes for Korneeva, very few left during a match filled with twists and turns.

In the first set Korneeva went up a break twice, but couldn't hold either one, and she was broken at love to drop the first set.

The 16-year-old, one of the few Russians competing in the Junior Championships this year, raised her level in the second set and took a 5-2 lead, but Valdmannova refused to concede, saving a set point to break Korneeva to make it 5-3, only to drop serve for the third consecutive time.

At the start of the third set, as fans who had obviously enjoyed their Pimms Happy Hour began to voice their encouragement for the underdog, the games were long and arduous, but the level began to rise. Valdmannova, who occasionally went to one knee on the grass to hit her flat forehand, was broken first, going down 4-1, but she never showed any frustration. She held for 4-2, then broke Korneeva, who got all but one first serve in a the deuce game, but couldn't hold off the aggressive shots from Valdmannova. 

Back on serve, Valdmannova played her worst game of the match and was broken at love, giving Korneeva an opportunity to serve it out. Up 5-3, 30-0, Korneeva blinked, with a double fault, a good Valdmannova return and two backhand errors leading to the break.

Valdmannova got a rare easy hold to pull even at 5, two hours and 15 minutes into the match. Korneeva, who had shown frustration earlier in the match, was not indulging in any negative emotions as the end approached, and she held at 15 to take a 6-5 lead. At 4-5, 15-30, Valdmannova just missed a forehand wide to give Korneeva two match points, the first of which the Czech right-hander saved with a good first serve. But she missed her first serve at 30-40, and then, anticlimactically, the second as well, with the double fault instantly quieting the hundreds of fans standing four deep on both sides of the court. Once they realized that Valdmannova couldn't make another comeback, the crowd gave both players enthusiastic applause while  they packed their bags and exited the court with the security guards.

Korneeva will face unseeded Greta Greco Lucchina of Italy Wednesday in the third round Wednesday, with Greco Lucchina, receiving a walkover from Tyra Grant, who fractured her tibia in her first round victory.

While Korneeva needed two hours and 25 minutes to advance, No. 2 seed Clervie Ngounoue was all business, completing her 6-1, 6-1 win over British wild card Isabelle Lacy in 58 minutes.

Ngounoue was originally scheduled to play on Court 4, but was moved to show court 18, a switch that may have affected Lacy more than it did her.

"Eighteen was a bigger court, and I think Court 4 is a bit smaller, but it has people passing by," said Ngounoue, who turns 17 later this month. "So I'm not sure which one is better, having them sitting there or just having a bunch of people moving. With a court change, the bigger court, playing a British player, I knew people would say the pressure's on me, but I think I just tried to shake it off as much as possible and just play tennis."

Ngounoue missed last year's Wimbledon Junior Championships with an injury, and played only doubles in 2021, which had many restrictions due to the pandemic.

"I thought of this as my first time playing it, even though it's not," Ngounoue said. "Technically I played it 2021 (in doubles only) with the bubble and Covid, but I was so excited coming into it. Grass is not my favorite surface, but I do love the ambience here, and I'm delighted just to get a normal experience honestly, so it really feels like my first Wimbledon."

Ngounoue will face unseeded Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria in Wednesday's round of 16. 

Although Lacy was eliminated today, Great Britain still a full quarter of the girls in the round of 16: Ranah Stoiber, Mika Stojsavljevic, Mingge Xu and Hannah Klugman.

Ngounoue is the only US girl remaining, with the other four falling in extremely tight matches. 

Ariana Pursoo had three match points late in the third set in her match with last week's Roehampton J300 champion Renata Jamrichova but ultimately fell 6-7(6), 6-1, 7-6(8) to the No. 5 seed from Slovakia.

Although Pursoo led 4-1 in the final set, it was Jamrichova who served for the match after taking four straight games. But Pursoo broke back for 5-5 and held easily, putting the pressure back on Jamrichova. A Jamrichova double fault and a forced error off a return made it 15-40, but Jamrichova, who never quite found a rhythm against the ultra aggressive Pursoo, stepped up to save both match points, with a forehand winner and good first serve. Pursoo got one final chance in the four-deuce game, but missed a backhand return and Jamrichova set up the tiebreaker with two consecutive forehand winners.

It was Pursoo's turn to save match points in the 10-point tiebreaker; trailing 9-6, she hit two forehand winners to force Jamrichova to serve it out, but the 16-year-old left-hander got a first serve in, and Pursoo missed a backhand wide to end the two-hour and 41-minute contest.

Tatum Evans served for the match at 5-3 in the third set against No. 13 seed Emerson Jones of Australia, but she was broken in her next two service games, with Jones playing nearly error-free tennis down the stretch to secure a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory. 2002 Wimbledon men's champion Lleyton Hewitt was one of Jones's supporters from the benches on Court 7.

Qualifier Alanis Hamilton split tiebreakers with Ena Koike of Japan before falling 6-0 in the third set, while No. 6 seed Kaitlin Quevedo, playing her first match since she suffered an injury at Roland Garros, fell to Xu in two tiebreakers.

Monday's second round singles matches featuring Americans:

Mingge Xu(GBR) d. Kaitlin Quevedo[6] 7-6(6), 7-6(3) 

Clervie Ngounoue[2] d. Isabelle Lacy[WC](GBR) 6-1, 6-1

Ena Koike[8](JPN) d. Alanis Hamilton[Q] 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-0

Emerson Jones[13](AUS) d. Tatum Evans 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 

Renata Jamrichova[5](SVK) d. Ariana Pursoo 6-7(6), 6-1, 7-6(8)

In boys first round doubles action Monday, five US boys advanced to Wednesday second round: Kaylan Bigun, with partner Yi Zhou of China; Cooper Woestendick, with partner Petr Brunclik of the Czech Republic; No. 7 seeds Roy Horovitz and Darwin Blanch and top seed Cooper Williams, and his partner Yaroslav Demin.

The girls first round of doubles begins Tuesday, with Quevedo and her partner Lucciana Perez Alarcon of Peru the top seeds. With the withdrawal of Roland Garros champions Grant and Ngounoue, seeded No. 4, there are no other seeded Americans in doubles.

The boys second round singles matches Tuesday:

Darwin Blanch[9] v Viktor Frydrych[WC](GBR)

Cooper Williams[4] v Sebastian Eriksson(SWE)

Roy Horovitz v Nicolai Budkov Kjaer(NOR)

Kaylan Bigun v Fabio De Michele(ITA)

Kyle Kang v Tomasz Berkieta[15](POL)

While there are scores of college coaches in attendance every year at Wimbledon, they are always scrounging for ways to get into the grounds to watch the juniors, with the queue a last resort. The easiest way to gain entry is via a former collegiate player from the coach's school, and prior to Chris Eubank's match against Stefanos Tsitsipas today, I talked with former Georgia Tech star Kevin King, now an assistant coach there about Eubank's run. King has been in the player box throughout this streak with tickets from Eubank's allotment, and told me he would be around watching juniors as long as he was still in the draw.

After Eubanks defeated No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 3-6, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 King will be around Tuesday for the boys second round and beyond, with Eubanks now facing No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday. Eubanks, now up to 31 in the live rankings was the subject of this Wimbledon IBM stat of the day: 

Chris Eubanks has hit 247 winners on route to the quarter finals. This ranks 2nd highest ever in the Open Era for most number of winners hit in the first four rounds, after Wayne Ferreira who hit 255 in 1992.

Madison Keys was a point from going down 6-3, 5-1 to 16-year-old phenom Mirra Andreeva in this morning's fourth round match, but the No. 25 seed rebounded for a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 win. She will play No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka Wednesday.

No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula is the only American in singles action Tuesday, when she takes on unseeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.