Pacheco Mendez Ends Junior Career with Third Straight Title, Sonobe Wins all-IMG Academy Final at Eddie Herr ITF J300; Orange Bowl J500 Begins Monday with Radulov, Samsonova Top Seeds
©Colette Lewis 2023--
Bradenton Florida--
The ATP and WTA qualifying wild cards now attached to the boys and girls singles titles at the Eddie Herr ITF J300 may prove to be an important carrot for future entrants, but the first recipients, Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez and Wakana Sonobe, did not compete in this week's tournament with that incentive on their minds.
In fact Sonobe wasn't aware of the wild card until after she had claimed the girls title on a steamy Sunday morning at the IMG Academy's Har-Tru Stadium Court.
The left-hander from Japan, seeded No. 6, defeated fellow IMG student Teodora Kostovic of Serbia, the No. 5 seed, 6-3, 6-1, to earn her second J300 title. The final ended in bizarre fashion when Kostovic took a bathroom break after being broken serving at 1-2 in the second set; as she left the court she was informed she had only 25 seconds, the amount allotted between points.
Although the restrooms are nearby, Kostovic was gone long enough hand Sonobe her service game without hitting a serve, by virtue of a time violation for each additional 25-second increment Kostovic was absent from the court. Kostovic protested briefly when she returned to the news that she had lost four points and the game, making the score 4-1, but ITF Supervisor and tournament referee Scotty Moore explained that he had warned her when she left the court that the rules don't allow official toilet breaks unless they are between sets.
After that trip to the restroom, Kostovic won only one point before the end of the match, losing her service game at love with a flurry of errors that continued until Sonobe served for the match at 40-0. Kostovic stayed in the first match point long enough for Sonobe to miss a smash at the net, but lost the next point went her return went just wide, as confirmed by the chair umpire.
"So I was focusing on fixing my strings, looking back at the fence, breathing," Sonobe said through her translator, Ryuji Hirooka, who works with the Japanese Foundation players training at the IMG Academy. "I was trying to control what I can control rather than the opponent, or outside."
Although Sonobe said she wasn't nervous to start the match, the level of the first few games was not what she had displayed in her wins over top seed Laura Samsonova in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Tyra Grant in the semifinals.
"I was not playing my best tennis at the beginning, but I was able to find ways to win points and games, so that was good," said Sonobe, who turns 16 in January.
Unsurprisingly, Sonobe said she had never won a game without hitting a ball, but given that next week's Orange Bowl is her third consecutive tournament and she had several grueling matches this week, she's happy to have claimed the title in less than two hours.
As for the qualifying wild card at the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi in February, Hirooka expects she'll take advantage of the opportunity to play her first WTA level match once they work out Sonobe's schedule for 2024.
Kostovic was devastated after the loss, her first in her three ITF J300 finals, and the 16-year-old sobbed at her chair for several minutes after the match. She recovered after a few minutes away from the court and participated in the trophy ceremony, but was overcome with emotion several times during her speech and was unable to talk about the match afterwards.
Kostovic, who is a member of the ITF Grand Slam Player Development Programme team, did provide me with written remarks a few hours later; it should be noted that she took a medical timeout after the first set, with the trainer attending to her left leg.
"Firstly, I want to express my gratitude to all of you who have been here supporting me throughout this incredible journey. Today didn't go the way I had hoped, and losing in the Eddie Herr final was undoubtedly tough for me. Physically, I couldn't give my absolute best, and my opponent capitalized on that.
"But in defeat, there's a valuable lesson. I've learned so much from this experience, and I'll carry those lessons into the next final. I know now what I can do better, how I can improve, and I am determined to make those adjustments."
Kostovic is also expecting to play the Orange Bowl next week; Eddie Herr finalists always receive Tuesday starts in Plantation.
Top seed Pacheco Mendez of Mexico ended his historic junior career with a third consecutive title, beating unseeded Theo Papamalamis of France 6-2, 6-3 Sunday afternoon.
Pacheco, who in May became the first player from Mexico to be ranked No. 1, had hoped to finish the year as the ITF World Junior Champion, but he didn't collect the doubles titles he needed at the last two events, in addition to the three singles titles he did claim. With the 2022 Orange Bowl finalist not defending his 350 points next week, he will fall 50 points short of Joao Fonseca of Brazil, but he was happy to finish his junior career on the high note of a 17-match winning streak.
"It was a really good ending for a junior career," said the 18-year-old left-hander, who has a commitment for an exhibition late next week in Mexico. "I would love to play the Orange Bowl, to keep playing like this, to keep winning, but everything is planned from a long time ago, so if I cancel now it would be tough for them and tough for me. I would love to be No. 1, I think I'm playing the way to be No. 1, but I'm not complaining about anything, I'll just keep working."
Papamalamis would not dispute Pacheco's claim to No. 1, having lost to him twice in the past two weeks.
"He's just not missing any ball," said the 17-year-old, who has reached his goal for participating in these North American tournaments of a main draw spot in the Australian Open Junior Championships. "Forehand, he goes with power, with a lot of lift, high on my backhand, so it's very difficult. He serves good, he doesn't miss any balls, he's just too good."
Papamalamis, who beat three Top 8 seeds this week, provided the crowd of 100 or so spectators watching from the shady side of the Stadium Court with plenty of entertainment with his variety and creativity on offense and his speed on defense. He found some success early in the match by bringing Pacheco to the net, but the effectiveness of that strategy declined as the match wore on.
"It was working very well, but in the end, he knew I was going to do that, so it was more easy for him," said Papamalamis, who has official visits to Texas A&M and South Carolina scheduled after the Orange Bowl. "I tried to make the points shorter. In Zapopan(a semifinal loss), I tried to do the same, but it doesn't work."
Pacheco acknowledged that Papamalamis had the skills to make that strategy effective, at least in the short term.
"He won most of those points, because from the baseline, I think I am much better," said Pacheco, who played Davis Cup for Mexico in their September World Group II tie with China. "So he tried to do something different. He had really good volleys, good drop shots, he's pretty fast, but it's pretty tough to play like this all the match."
Papamalamis, who held serve only once in the first set, got off to a better start in the second set, winning his first three service games, saving two break points to take a 3-2 lead. But Pacheco dialed up his A game, winning 16 of the last 17 points to close out his junior career with his 15th ITF Junior Circuit singles title.
"It's really exciting, it's good for play and it's a good opportunity," said Pacheco, who is the first Eddie Herr ITF champion from Mexico since Bruno Echagaray in 2001. "It's in the beginning of January, so we will see how it's going to go."
The first round of Orange Bowl 16s began today at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, and 18s qualifying was completed, with J500 18s main draw beginning Monday.
Both top seeds in the 16s, Zhang-Qian Wei of China in the girls draw, and Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey in the boys draw, are through to the second round with straight set victories.
The Americans qualifying in the boys 18s are Maximus Dussault and Mikel Anderson. US girls qualifying are Sophia Webster, Trinetra Vijayakumar and Christasha McNeil.
The seeds for the J500 are below, with girls No. 1 Laura Samsonova taking on wild card Monika not before 11 am Monday.
Boys No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia, who has won two $15Ks in the past month, including one today in his home country, did not play the last three weeks on the junior circuit, but is expected to make the trip to Plantation for a Tuesday first round match.
For live scoring, information on live streaming, draws and order of play, see ustaorangebowl.com.
Orange Bowl ITF J500 Seeds
Boys:
1. Iliyan Radulov, Bulgaria
2. Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, Bolivia
3. Nicolai Budov Kjaer, Norway
4. Rei Sakamoto, Japan
5. Alexander Frusina, USA
6. Adhithya Ganesan, USA
7. Sebastian Eriksson, Sweden
8. Maxim Mrva, Czech Republic
9. Kaylan Bigun, USA
10. Charlie Camus, Australia
11. Lasse Poertner, Germany
12. Roy Horovitz, USA
13. Reda Bennani, Morocco
14. Viktor Frydrych, Great Britain
15. Timofei Derepasko, Russia
16. Charlie Robertson, Great Britain
Girls:
1. Laura Samsonova, Czech Republic
2. Kaitlin Quevedo, USA
3. Alena Kovackova, Czech Republic
4. Iva Jovic, USA
5. Hannah Klugman, Great Britain
6. Tyra Grant, USA
7. Teodora Kostovic, Serbia
8. Wakana Sonobe, Japan
9. Iva Ivanova, Bulgaria
10. Luna Cinalli, Argentina
11. Alisa Oktiabreva, Russia
12. Elizara Yaneva, Bulgaria
13. Gloriana Nahum, Benin
14. Rositsa Dencheva, Bulgaia
15. Mika Buchnik, Israel
16. Monika Stankiewicz, Poland
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