Jodar and Robertson Meet for ITF J300 Boys Title; Frodin and Kostovic Play for Girls Championship Saturday in College Park

©Colette Lewis 2024--
College Park Maryland--

No. 12 seed Thea Frodin of the United States and and No. 14 seed Charlie Robertson of Great Britain will be looking to avenge earlier losses this year when they face No. 2 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia and No. 5 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain in Saturday's finals at the ITF J300 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center.

Both reached the finals with three-set victories on a clear and comfortable Friday; Frodin took out unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Robertson defeated No. 11 seed Thomas Faurel of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-0.

Robertson admitted he had a mental lapse that cost him the second set.

"I got off to a good start and then relaxed a bit too much and thought, no way this guy comes back," sais the 17-year-old from Scotland. "I just completely switched off, wasn't very good, but I reset and I'm happy with the way I finished."

Robertson didn't see any change in Faurel's level in the second set, so was confident he'd prevail if he could eliminate his errors.

"When I was serving well, being solid and when I was aggressive, I always hit a winner, he couldn't do much," said Robertson, who has a fan club of young players who train at JTCC. "All he had against me in the second set was I just missed. He didn't do anything, it was just all me. So I just flipped that around, was more patient, and when I had the opportunity I went with bigger margins and it worked."

Robertson garnered his fans with his third round win over top seed Rei Sakamoto, and they have continued to support him in his next two victories.

"When I won that match on Center Court, there were a lot of kids supporting me," Robertson said. "I went up to them, let them know I appreciated it and now they're all here and I'm absolutely loving them, it's so nice."

Robertson has been taken under the wing of another Scottish player, the recently retired Andy Murray.

"I got to spend time with Andy, which is pretty cool, and we've built a relationship," Robertson said. "He's a very generous guy, he's been helping me a lot. During the grass season I was hitting with him, obviously he was still playing, and I just got to be around him, it was cool to see how he works. He's an incredible player, obviously, and an incredible guy, so it's cool to be around him and take things I can fit into my game also."

Robertson will be looking to avenge his loss in the only other J300 final he's played, falling to Jodar 7-6(7), 6-4 two months ago at Roehampton.

Jodar earned his fourth trip to a J300 final, finishing as champion in his first three, with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over No. 4 seed Jagger Leach.

The margins were exceedingly thin in the first set, with Leach failing to convert two break points in the only deuce game of the set, with Jodar serving at 3-3.

With both players serving well and ending points with winners, there was no clear advantage to either, but when Jodar earned his first break point, with Leach serving at 5-6, he converted it with a backhand winner, a shot that is as dangerous as any in junior tennis right now.

Jodar held in a deuce game to open the second set, and again was able to convert his first break point in the second game of the set to take a 2-0 lead. Jodar began to find his rhythm on return and by continuing to keep his big groundstrokes deep, he gave Leach little opportunity to attack.

Leach eventually did break Jodar, but the 17-year-old from Spain led 4-0 by that time and broke Leach for the fourth time in the match to end it.

"I handled the important moments very well and I'm happy with my level today," said the 17-year-old, who is expected to join the Virginia Cavaliers in January.  "In the first set, it was just one chance and I made it. I knew from the first that it was going to be very tough match, because he served really well. I was just trying to get the return in."

Jodar's win over Robertson in the Roehampton final was indoors, after rain forced the move from the grass.

"We had to go indoors, so it's going to be a different match," Jodar said. "The same opponent but different conditions, so we'll see how it goes."

Frodin has dropped the first set in her last three matches, but she's shown her resilience each time, including in her 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France. 

The two 15-year-olds were at 4-4 in the third set, with Efremova serving, when the drama began to build. Efremova had three game points to take a 5-4 lead, but Frodin saved two with forehand winners, while Efremova made an unforced error on the forehand on the other. After one long rally, Efremova walked to her chair for no discernable reason, taking a drink before returning to her position, but didn't appear to have been given a time violation by the chair umpire, although one was clearly warranted.

Frodin appeared completely unbothered by the pause, perhaps grateful herself for the chance to reset after the grueling point, but she was also determined not to display any emotions that might fuel Efremova.

"I strongly believe that if I overreact, I just give her more than she's already taking from me," Frodin said. "In the moment it's tough to hold yourself composed, but as much as I want to let out how I'm feeling I know that if I at least pretend I'm not bothered by it, it almost helps me believe it."

After the fourth deuce, Efremova double faulted, then made a backhand error, giving Frodin the chance to serve for the match.

The game started with a double fault, but Frodin got it to 40-30, only to have Efremova deny that match point with a backhand winner and earn a break point with a good return. But Frodin hung tough, hitting forehand winner to save it, and getting a error from Efremova when she had earned another break point. A good first serve gave Frodin a second match point, and this time she converted it with her forehand forcing an error from Efremova.

"I realized at the end that she was waiting for me to miss," said Frodin, who has advanced to her second J300 final with the win. "So if I could keep the ball in play until I had the right shot, I'd be all right. Most of the points she had towards the end was because I was going for too much, or I was missing. So I tried to put the ball in the court in the beginning of the point until I found a ball to really go for it on."

Frodin has been working on her mental game and is proud of how it has held up under pressure.

"She can get in your head, but honestly, kudos to her," Frodin said. "She finds every way to win, and that's tennis and that's what you have to do. She's a super good player, she grinds and fights until the end, so I think you have to be tough, mentally strong to play her. It takes a lot to get to that point."

Frodin will play Kostovic for a second time, having lost to her 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells in March. 

"I like to think I've improved since the last time I played her," Frodin said. "But I'm going to watch a couple of her matches from the past, see how I want to go into it."

Kostovic is going into the final with confidence, with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 3 seed Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria, who had beaten her in their two previous meetings.

"The last time, it was semifinal J300 also, in Bulgaria, but I am working very hard on my mentality and my tennis game. Today I was very focused from the first point, and that's the only way to beat players like her, good on the baseline, put every ball back in the court, I feel sometimes I am playing against the wall."

Dencheva got very few first serves in, which gave Kostovic the opportunities she was looking for.

"Her serve is same as two years ago or one year ago," Kostovic said. "But you need to approach that serve, you need to be aggressive, because if you're not aggressive, she'll take the ball and move you around, so you need to take action."

Kostovic didn't know she would be facing Frodin again, but was not concerned about her opponent in the final.

"For me it doesn't matter," said Kostovic. "I'm focused on my game and what I can do on the court, not on the opponent, not on the referees, just on myself. I improve a lot, physically, mentally, but especially mentally and I'm proud of that. A lot of people have come to me and told me that and I'm very happy about that."

The doubles finals are set, with three seeded teams advancing to the championship matches Sunday.

In the girls doubles final, No. 4 seeds Maya Iyengar of the United States and Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Kazakhstan will face the unseeded team of Alanis Hamilton and Claire An for the title. Iyengar and Zhiyenbayeva defeated top seeds Emerson Jones of Australia and Kostovic 6-0, 6-3, while Hamilton and An took out another unseeded American team, Eva Oxford and Isabelle De Luccia 6-2, 6-2.

Wimbledon boys doubles champions Alex Razeghi of the United States and Max Schoenhaus of Germany will try to extend their winning streak, after the No. 3 seeds beat No. 2 seeds Faurel and Rei Sakamoto of Japan 6-3, 6-2. Since their title in London, Razeghi also has won the USTA 18s Nationals, with Nikita Filin, and will be playing next week in the men's main draw at the US Open.

 

Saturday they will play No. 5 seeds Robertson and Oliver Bonding of Great Britain, who defeated the unseeded Canadian team of Mikael and Nicolas Arseneault 6-7(6), 6-2, 10-7.

Live streaming of the singles finals, which begin at 10 a.m. with the boys final, will be available at the JTCC ITF 300 YouTube channel. The links to live scoring, draws and the order of play can be found at the JTCC ITF tournament page.