B14s Top Seed Konduri Rolls into Round Three; Chang Collects Two Wins in First Orange Bowl Appearance; 12s No. 1 Seeds Perfect Through Two Rounds

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Coral Gables FL--

The first two rounds of the Junior Orange Bowl were completed under sunny skies and cool temperatures Monday at four sites in the Miami area, with several upsets, but the top seeds in all four divisions advancing comfortably. 

In the boys 14s at the Biltmore, top seed Tanishk Konduri, who had won his first match 6-1, 6-1 on Sunday, duplicated that on Monday, although he was less pleased with his level in his win over Julian Gaitero of Argentina.

"First match I feel like I played pretty well, especially coming back from four days of not playing at all," said the 14-year-old from Cupertino California. "Today was definitely not my best, but the goal is to play better as the tournament goes on; hopefully I can bring my best in the matches later on."

Konduri was not suprised to see his name on the top of the draw, but not because he is the reigning USTA Clay Courts and National champion in the 14s.

"I knew that I was going to be the number one seed because of the WTN(World Tennis Number) that came out a couple of weeks before," Konduri said. "But it's still a little bit of a surprise when you are the No. 1 seed, because there's a lot more pressure on you than anyone else. It's a new experience for me, a new challenge, and you just have to encounter it, similar to how you would play another match; everyone's good and you're just trying to play your best."

Konduri attributes the jump in his results this year to his coaches at the Gorin Tennis Academy in Saratoga California.

"It's really been a blessing to me," said Konduri, who started there five years ago. "I've never worked this hard ever in my life. We're just out there grinding it every day and I hope that translates into my tennis for the rest of the week. I'm coming into this tournament really confident and hopefully I can push it through."

The top seed in the girls 14s, Anna Bugaienko, who had lengthy and perilous two-set first round win Sunday, had a more routine second round victory, defeating Vanessa Kruse 6-4, 6-2.

Lani Chang, the daughter of 1989 Roland Garros champion Michael Chang and the former Amber Liu, a two-time NCAA champion at Stanford, made her Orange Bowl debut today as a No. 17 seed in the girls 14s, winning both of her matches.

Because she was in the bottom half, Chang did not play on Sunday, so had two matches Monday, defeating Rose Biria 6-3, 6-1 in round 1 this morning and Bela Martinez of Puerto Rico 6-0, 6-1 in round 2 this afternoon.

As a Californian, Chang has little experience on Har-Tru, but she felt it was important to begin testing her game against international competition.

"It's a really big tournament and it's international," said Chang, who turned 13 earlier this month. "So it's super exciting to play, because you get to see new players maybe even make new friends. It's a new experience and really fun to be a part of it."

Chang's primary coach is her father, who is with her this week, and she does recognize that he's a celebrity at any tennis tournament they attend together.

"It's actually fun to watch," Chang said. "I feel like a lot of pros get that, and I feel it's a little view into what that's like. But it's just really fun being around him. He's a really great dad and a really great coach."

Chang is looking forward to starting to play ITF events next year and is also expected to compete at Les Petits As next month in Tarbes France.

"I'm excited to start playing ITFs because to play junior grand slams you need to be on that level, and it's exciting to be on path."

Both No. 3 seeds in the 14s lost today, with Colin McPeek losing a rare battle between one-handed backhands in the second round of boys 14s to Motoharu Abe of Japan 6-3, 6-2.  G14s No. 3 seed Carrie-Ann Hoo lost to Kalista Papadopoulos 7-5, 5-7, 10-6. Boys 14s No. 4 seed Izyan Ahmad lost to Antoine Clavel of Canada 6-4, 6-7(1), 12-10.

The top seeds in the 12s have been perfect in their two matches.

Texan Tristan Ascenzo, who won his first match Sunday 6-0, 6-0, got another 6-0, 6-0 victory in today's second round over Aleksandr Kharkov. 

Eddie Herr champion Carol Shao played two matches today and didn't lose a game in either, beating Sofija Dimitrievic in the first round and Danielle Han in the second round.

Tuesday will feature two more rounds, with the boys 12s and girls 12s playing the round of 32 and round of 16 at Crandon Park. The two rounds in the boys 14s will be played at the Biltmore Tennis Center and the two rounds in the girls 14s will be at Salvadore Park. The current plan is to play both 12s and the B14s quarterfinals and semifinals at the Biltmore on Wednesday, with the girls continuing their tournament at Salvadore through the finals.

All second round matches today used no-ad scoring and a match tiebreaker, but the best of three tiebreak sets and regular scoring are returning for the round of 32 through the finals.

For the draws and times, see the USTA tournament site.