Qualifier Lyutova, No. 9 Seed Mayew Stay Undefeated in 2024 ITF Junior Circuit Play with Second Round Victories at ITF J300 in Indian Wells

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Indian Wells CA--

Fourteen-year-old Christina Lyutova and 17-year-old Ian Mayew have yet to suffer a loss in ITF Junior Circuit play this year, extending their winning streaks with wins today at the Fila International Junior Championships, a J300 tournament held in conjunction with the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Lyutova, the 2023 USTA Nationals 16s champion, has stuck to Southern California this winter, winning three consecutive J30 tournaments in a three-week stretch in January and February. Stepping up to the J300 level, Lyutova saved a match point in the final round of qualifying Sunday to reach her first J300 main draw, and after a win over Annika Penickova yesterday, earned her biggest win yet, beating No. 5 seed Aspen Schuman 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to extend her streak of victories in ITF junior competition to 24.

Twenty-five minutes into the match on Practice Court 16, the score was 1-1, 30-all, with neither girl getting any advantage during the long and physical points that featured deuce after deuce. Schuman closed out the 64-minute first set, but never led after that, with Lyutova making a subtle adjustment to her game after dropping that first set.

"I started to be more patient, not rush for the ball," said Lyutova, who also won a UTR Pro Tennis Tour $20K in Long Beach at the beginning of the month. "I kept it in the corners, and really started to fight, because I wanted to win so badly. I don't like to lose; No, I love to win" Lyutova said, correcting herself.

Lyutova admitted that six titles in the past six months at lowest levels of the ITF Circuit have helped her trust her game when competing against more experienced competitors.

"I feel like I'm getting more confidence when I'm playing many matches," said Lyutova, who is from Russia, but has lived in the Pacific Northwest for several years. 

That confidence began to build in the second set, which was 66 minutes long, and Lyutova took control early in the third to keep the match under three hours in length, although just barely.

Lyutova has been awestruck being on the grounds with the ATP and WTA professionals competing in the BNP Paribas Open.

"It's incredible," Lyutova said, her eyes wide when describing the proximity to the biggest names in the sport. "When you start serving and you hear the chair umpire from the stadium say Carlos Alcaraz, you're like where am I?"

Despite her limited experience at the top levels of the juniors, Lyutova is setting a big goal for herself.

"I want to win to this tournament," said Lyutova, who will play No. 9 seed Ariana Pursoo in the third round Thursday.

While Lyutova's victories were confined to Southern California, Mayew went to Costa Rica and Colombia this winter and won back-to-back J300 titles to move from outside 250 in the ITF junior rankings to inside the Top 50.

Although he didn't play after those two weeks, Mayew now has 15 consecutive wins at the J300 level, beating wild card Lachlan Gaskell 6-4, 6-3 Tuesday morning. 

Mayew won the Costa Rica J300 after coming through qualifying, then got a special exemption into the main draw the following week in Barranquilla, a grueling stretch of 14 matches. But it was his ten wins in the consolation draw in the Kalamazoo 16s last year that prepared him for that success.

"I didn't quite have the ranking to get into main draw in Costa Rica, because I didn't play too many ITFs last year, but I believed in myself the whole way through and believed I could go the distance physically," said Mayew, who has verbally committed to North Carolina for the fall of 2025. "I had a really good run in the back draw in Kalamazoo last year, so I knew I could hold up even if I played two weeks back to back, that I could go the distance in any match."

Gaskell, who was the 16s finalist last year in Kalamazoo, pushed Mayew throughout, but Mayew's ability to finish at the net provided the advantage he needed. Despite letting two match points slip away serving for it at 5-3, Mayew continued to play aggressively, hitting a stop volley winner to earn a third match point and closing with a serve-and-volley combination.

Mayew said the size and space of the courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden make his net play even more effective, despite the relatively slow and high bouncing surface.

"These courts are a lot bigger than what we usually play on so I can kind of catch people standing back there a lot," Mayew said. "They like to use the whole court, but I want to close points early and keep the body as fresh as possible.  When you have the big points, you've got to play big, you can't be scared, slow the racquet down, you've just got to keep going."

Mayew had never been to Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open until this year, and, like Lyutova, he was excited to see the top level up close.

"It's really cool to see all the pros around at practice," said Mayew, who plays No. 5 seed Tianhui Zhang of China Thursday. "Medvedev was a couple courts down when I was practicing. It's cool to just see those guys right next to you."

Mayew was one of eight boys seeds in action today, with five advancing to Wednesday's third round, including top seed Kaylan Bigun, who beat Calvin Baierl 6-1, 6-1.  No. 3 seed Alex Razeghi lost to Bernardo Munk Mesa of Spain 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; No. 11 seed Noah Johnston was beaten by wild card Rudy Quan 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and Jordan Reznik defeated No. 15 seed Maximus Dussault 6-1, 7-5.

Four of the eight girls seeds who played Tuesday lost; in addition to Schuman, No. 7 seed Christasha McNeil, No. 11 seed Claire An and No. 16 seed Maya Dutta were defeated.  Orange Bowl 16s champion Leena Friedman beat McNeil 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in a two-hour and 59 minute battle; McNeil had held a match point on WTA Top 100 player Bernard Pera in the first round of women's qualifying last week. Olivia Center defeated An 6-2, 6-2 and Dune Vaissaud of France beat Dutta 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5).

Top seed Teodora Kostovic defeated wild card Elizabeth Ionescu 6-3, 6-3.

The bottom half of both girls and boys draws play their second round matches Wednesday, with defending champion and No. 2 seed Cooper Woestendick playing qualifier Keaton Hance and No. 2 seed Iva Jovic facing qualifier Alyssa Ahn.

The first round of doubles was played today, with the seeded teams in action for the first time Wednesday.