Eddie Herr ITF Recap; Drama Dominates at Orange Bowl with No. 1 Seeds Falling; All-American 16s Finals Set for Saturday; 16s Doubles Champions Crowned

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Plantation FL--

The Eddie Herr International J300 always provides great storylines coming into the Orange Bowl, which has served as the season's finale on the ITF Junior Circuit calendar. This year's champions, Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico and Wakana Sonobe of Japan, had special runs last week for several reasons, which are highlighted in my recap, posted today, at the Tennis Recruiting Network. My review of the Eddie Herr 12s, 14s and 16s divisions final, published yesterday, is available here. 

Drama--umpire hindrance, a third-set tiebreaker, an unfortunate third set injury--made several appearances today at the Veltri Tennis Center, in the ITF J500 Orange Bowl quarterfinals and the 16s semifinals.

The three American girls who advanced to the semifinals all managed to do so in straight sets, with No. 4 seed Iva Jovic defeating qualifier Jeline Vandromme of Belgium 6-3, 6-1 and No. 6 seed Tyra Grant ending the Orange Bowl winning streak of 2022 16s champion Alexis Nguyen 6-1, 6-1.

As well as both Jovic and Grant played, they were outshone by wild card Akasha Urhobo, who defeated No. 2 seed Kaitlin Quevedo 6-4, 7-6(1).

Urhobo had played for over three hours in both her previous matches, but against a player as solidly consistent as Quevedo, the 16-year-old from Fort Lauderdale knew she had to revise her approach.

"I had a big pep talk with my dad yesterday about going in and getting it done, sticking to my game plan right from the jump," said Urhobo, who trailed 3-0 and saved two set points serving at 4-5 and 5-6 in the second set. "As everyone could see, my last three matches were very tight, so I wanted to break the curse."

Quevedo, who reached the final of the last tournament she played, the J500 in Merida two weeks ago, was not able to engage Urhobo in long baseline rallies, with Urhobo mixing in serve and volley points, and employing her drop shot with great success.

In the final four games, Urhobo had four clean drop shot winners, two of them in the tiebreaker, the first to take a 5-1 lead and the second on match point.

"Yes, it was part of my plan," said Urhobo, who also displayed her defensive skills when necessary. "I like to bring the drop shots to every match."

Urhobo will play Grant, whom she beat 6-2 4-1 ret. in the final of a J100 on clay this past April in Delray Beach.

"It's been a while, so I'll have to see how her game's changed, how my game's changed, see what I can bring to tomorrow's match," Urhobo said. "I'm going to have to do my best and stay on top tomorrow."

The other girls semifinal will be a first meeting between Jovic and 14-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain. Klugman saved a match point in her 7-6(2), 0-6, 7-6(2) win over top seed Laura Samsonova of the Czech Republic, a stark contrast to the last time they played, in the 2023 US Open quarterfinals, with Klugman retiring with an ab injury trailing 6-0, 3-0.

The first set was on Samsonova's racquet, with the 15-year-old serving at 5-4, 40-0. But Klugman, seeded No. 5, fought back to take the set, rising her level in the tiebreaker, only to see Samsonova blitz through the second set. 

Samsonova again had the upper hand in the third set, breaking Klugman to take a 5-3 lead, but she was unable to serve it out, with Klugman breaking at 30-40 to get back on serve.

Down a match point serving at 4-5, Klugman went big, hitting a huge first serve and a forehand winner, as both girls continued to play aggressively on offense and effectively on defense to keep the points long regardless of who was serving. Klugman admitted that being down 5-3 in the third set wasn't as daunting after what she had done in the first set.

"That was definitely the biggest key to the match actually," said Klugman, who reached the quarterfinals of a ITF women's $100K in October. "I was 5-4, 40-love down and came back and won it, so in the third, I was like, you can do this again. Trust yourself, put it all out there, this is the last tournament of the year and I really wanted to finish on a high, and I definitely have, but let's go for more."

Klugman dominated the tiebreaker, with Samsonova making a crucial unforced forehand error to give Klugman two minibreak lead. Samsonova got one back with a forehand winner of her own to make it 5-2, but got no closer as Klugman won the final two points with Samsonova serving to end the two-hour and 56 minute battle.

Samsonova had company in her loss, as boys top seed Iliyan Radulov of Bulgaria fell to No. 7 seed Sebastian Eriksson of Sweden 6-4, 6-2.

Eriksson had lost to Radulov 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr last week and also back in January, but he was the more consistent competitor today.

"I think I played better than last week for sure, less mistakes, more consistent," said the 18-year-old right-hander. "Maybe he played worse, but I won today and that's what matters."

With their two previous meetings, Eriksson knew what to expect and that a better level was necessary if he was to advance.

"He's very solid, so you need to be focused on every point, he doesn't give anything for free," said Eriksson, who won the J500 in Offenbach this spring as a qualifier. "But I think I did that good today."

Eriksson will face unseeded Luca Preda of Romania, who defeated No. 5 seed Alex Frusina 7-5, 6-3. Preda also reach the semifinals of the Eddie Herr last week.

The bottom half of the boys draw will also feature an unseeded player, with Danil Panarin of Russia facing No. 9 seed Kaylan Bigun. 

Panarin, who will be joining the Vanderbilt team next month, breezed past Hoyoung Roh of Korea 6-2, 6-0, just one day after Roh had stunned No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia.

This week Bigun has played three matches of over three hours, including today's 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 win over No. 3 seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway.

Having saved five match points in his first round match Tuesday, Bigun wasn't about to get rattled when, on match point, the chair umpire called a let on a serve that landed in the box. 

This happens on occasion, with lets played in juniors, but not in pro tennis, where many of the chair umpires spend the majority of their time, but it's certainly magnified on such a significant point.

Bigun made his first serve and hit a forehand winner, on the replayed point, so no harm was done, but the umpire hindrance certainly added to the tension.

"I told myself, we're out here for three hours and we're tired, so the ref's probably tired as well," said the recent UCLA signee. "If the match wouldn't have gone my way starting from that call, I definitely would have been pretty upset, but I just told myself no problem."

Bigun is convinced that his recent training blocks helped him close out today's match.

"I feel like I can go out there three hours, four hours still feel fresh after," said the 17-year-old left-hander. "Tennis is only becoming more physical so I spent a lot of time in gym and on the court. He was getting tired, so I tried to keep my energy up, keep my legs moving, and today it worked out."

As for his first round escape, Bigun doesn't spend too much time thinking about how he got out of that dilemma.

"Sometimes I scratch my head, I don't know how that happened," said Bigun, who lost first round three-setters in both the Merida J500 and last week's Eddie Herr. "But, ultimately, I'm here now, so I can't do too much thinking about it."

Panarin and Bigun have not played, although they know each other well and have practiced together.

In the 16s, only one of the semifinals were played, with No. 2 seed Leena Friedman defeating No. 6 seed Polina Sleptsova of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-1. No. 3 seed Thea Frodin advanced to the final via walkover, with Aoife Kuo unable to play due to injury.

Friedman and Frodin played earlier this year in the first round of J300 in San Diego with Frodin taking a 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 decision.

That match was on hard courts, and although Friedman said she likes all surfaces, she is particularly fond of clay.

"I love clay, but in New York, you have to get used to playing on all different kinds of surfaces, because there aren't that many courts available, especially indoors and in the winter," the 16-year-old said. 

Not only is Friedman excited to be in the final, she is relishing the opportunity to face Frodin again.

"It was really close, a three or four hour match, but it did not go my way," said Friedman, who hasn't lost a set this week. "So I'm happy tomorrow to get another chance."

The boys 16s final will also feature two Americans, with No. 2 seed Dominick Mosejczuk facing No. 8 seed Ronit Karki.

Mosejczuk defeated unseeded Gavin Goode 6-1, 6-3, with Goode suffering a bad fall early in the match that led to a quick first set. 

"I feel each day throughout the tournament, I'm getting my groove," said the 16-year-old from New York, who saved a match point in his third round win over Ryan Cozad. "He took a little tumble in the first set, which I think affected his play, but in the second set he looked like he was moving a little better. But I think I stuck with him a little longer, he made some mistakes and broke him and took control of it."

Mosejczuk has been training at the BTT Academy in Spain since the beginning of the year. 

"What other place to go than to Spain to learn to grind on the dirt," said Mosejczuk, who also trains at the Cary Leeds Center in the Bronx. "I've been playing hard court for most of my life, so it's definitely a difficult transition, a new game style of course, but I feel I'm making smart decisions, better decisions, staying in rallies longer. I've developed a lot, not only as a player, but as a person."

Karki found himself in a difficult situation in the third set of his 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over unseeded Jack Satterfield, the recent Eddie Herr 16s champion. Satterfield aggravated a back injury reaching for a forehand up 3-1 in the third and was forced to serve sidearm and underhand from then on, in obvious pain.

Down 4-1, Karki won the next four games, and was serving up 30-0 at 5-4, but Satterfield won the next four points to get even.

"I tried to just focus on what I'm doing on my side of the court and not let it affect me," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the Gooding-Todero Academy in Orlando. "But it was very hard to adjust and I got very tight the first few games I had to play when he got hurt."

Karki said he wasn't surprised that Satterfield continued to play through the injury. 

"I knew he was a fighter, and it's so deep in the tournament, he was going to want to give it his all in the third," Karki said. "So I expected him to leave it all out there."

Satterfield went down 0-40 in his next service game, won four straight points, but could not convert his game point and Karki broke to serve for the match the second time. This time he finished it, but he was subdued about the circumstances of reaching the Orange Bowl final.

"It feels good and I'm definitely proud of myself for getting this far, but it's hard," Karki said. "Considering that Jack was playing very well and if he didn't get hurt he would have had a very good shot at winning today. It's a little underwhelming, but it's a new match tomorrow and I've got this far, so I've got to be very hyped."

Karki and Mosejczuk have played frequently, because, although both are training elsewhere now, they grew up playing in the Eastern section.

"We're from the same section, so I think we've played each other seven times," Karki said. "But I haven't played him in a while, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I think like the first four times I lost to him, when we were younger, and then I caught up to his level a little bit and we started having some really good battles, kept going back and forth."

The 16s doubles championships were played Friday afternoon, with a veteran team and a newly formed one claiming the titles.

No. 5 seeds Ryan Cozad and Yannik Alvarez, this year's Easter Bowl 14s champions, defeated No. 6 seeds Simon Caldwell and Zachary Cohen 6-3, 6-3, to capture the title without dropping a set.

"That's two gold balls and two silver, I think," said Alvarez, who lives in Atlanta, and represents Puerto Rico on the ITF Junior Circuit. "We've played together too many times to count," said Cozad, who trains at the GA Academy in Atlanta, with Alvarez's father Gilberto.

"We've played really well all week," said Cozad, 15. "We're just able to be more aggressive than the other teams for most of the tournament, actually, and it paid off for us. We were serving well and hitting our targets, so were able to hold serve most of the time."

"I'm usually better at the net, more aggressive, and he's amazing at the baseline," said Alvarez, also 15. "So if he gives me a deep ball, I just poach right there. He sets me up really well."

Cozad and Alvarez both characterized their Orange Bowl run as "amazing," and Cozad has a special celebration in mind.

"Now I can have my Chik-fil-A milkshake, cookies and cream."

The girls 16s doubles champions had never played together before but No. 3 seeds Aleksandra Kyselova of Ukraine and Zhang-Qian Wei of China found their way through three match tiebreakers to reach the final, where they defeated unseeded Anna Bennett and Emerey Gross of the United States 6-3, 6-4.

"She messaged the first day of qualies," said the 16-year-old Kyselova, who was the top seed in qualifying. "I said I don't know if we'll get in, but yeah, and I ended up getting in as a lucky loser. From the first match, I felt our games worked well together."

Although they had two 11-9 match tiebreaker wins, Kyselova said they never faced a match point. 

"We were in control in most of those matches, and the same thing today," said Kyselova, who trains with Gabriel Trifu. "It was really good today."

Wei gave Kyselova credit for keeping her on track in tight moments. 

"Sometimes when I'm not focused, she's focused, and she will help me," said the 15-year-old Wei, who lives and trains in China. "I really like our energy, because sometimes I can get pumped up and it's too much, so that's where we had a good balance," Kyselova said. "She was always calm."

As for a celebration, both girls are not planning anything in particular. 

"It's the last tournament of the year, and that's celebration enough for me, maybe eat some oranges," said Kyselova. "I will go back to China, have a rest, and keep on training," Wei said.

The 18s doubles finals are set for Saturday, with two unseeded teams meeting in the boys final.

Eddie Herr finalists Atakan Karahan of Turkey and Roh will face Andrew Delgado and Matthew Forbes of the United States. Karahan and Roh defeated Bernardo Munk Mesa of Spain and Panarin 6-0, 6-4, while Delgado and Forbes beat No. 3 seeds Budkov Kjaer and Lasse Poertner of Germany 5-7, 6-3, 10-4.

2022 Orange Bowl champions Grant and Jovic will defend their title, with the No. 3 seeds facing top seeds Alena Kovackova and Samsonova in the final.

Grant and Jovic defeated No. 2 seeds Quevedo and Klugman 6-4, 6-3, while Samsonova and Kovackova, the Wimbledon girls doubles champions, defeated unseeded Kaitlyn Rolls and Norway's Emily Sartz-Lunda 6-3, 6-3.

Draws and the order of play for Saturday are here.  Live scoring is here.