US Open Junior Winners News; Pro Circuit Returns from Hiatus; Cecil Qualifies in Quebec

A smooth travel day, but still tired from nine days at the Open, so this will be short. Heather Watson is getting her well-deserved time in spotlight after becoming the first British girl to win the U.S. Open Junior title. If I remember correctly, there was much more of a British press frenzy over Murray's junior win five years ago, but perhaps that's more a function of the decline in the number of employed journalists than anything else.

The Daily Mail gets predictions from LTA head Roger Draper on Robson and Watson's professional prospects in this article, and the Guardian talks to Nick Bollettieri, who says in this story that he is going to start to work more with Watson now.

Darren Walton, an Australian reporter covering the U.S. Open for the Australian version of AP, filed a story on Sunday that I linked to on Twitter yesterday, saying that Tomic was leaving Bollettieri's Academy in Bradenton, although Tomic's agent, Lawrence Frankopan of IMG, told me it wasn't necessarily a permanent departure. Tomic is returning to Australia later this month however. Walton wrote this story on Tomic's win over Buchanan, although he incorrectly says that Tomic didn't face a break point. Buchanan had four break points in Tomic's second service game.

The Pro Circuit restarts after a four week break at the Tulsa Challenger and the Claremont Futures. There are many former college players in the Tulsa draw, and some current college players and juniors in the Claremont draw. See the usta.com Pro Circuit page for draws.

The juniors are at the ITF Grade 1 in Lexington, Kentucky this week. See the ITF junior website for qualifying results and draws.

NCAA champion Mallory Cecil qualified for the WTA event in Quebec this week. See the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour website for results and draws.

Tags: junior tennis, college tennis, Heather Watson, Bernard Tomic, Mallory Cecil, Colette Lewis

Tomic and Watson Capture US Open Junior Titles

©Colette Lewis 2009--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

Heather Watson had a secret weapon when she took the court Sunday against Yana Buchina of Russia in the championship match of the U.S. Open Juniors--her nail polish.

"I did my nails the same color, because I thought it was good luck," said the first British girl to win the girls title in New York, presenting her navy blue nails for examination. "No one believed me, but it did work."

It wasn't just luck that led the No. 11 seed to the title, however. It was a dominating performance of three matches in two days that culminated in a 6-4, 6-1 victory over the hard-hitting Buchina.

"My first round, I think was my only three-setter, and after that I've just been playing really, really good tennis," said the 17-year-old Watson, who is from the island of Guernsey, but currently trains at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy in Florida.

Watson pointed to her decisive quarterfinal win over Wimbledon girls champion Noppawan Lertcheewakarn as the match that propelled her to the title.

"I felt really solid that game. I was stepping in and hitting everything, and I (had confidence) I could keep it going."

Against the unseeded Buchina, Watson fell behind early, but quickly adapted to the ferocious pace of the powerful 17-year-old from Moscow, using top spin to Buchina's backhand to force errors. In her semifinal match against Watson's compatriot Laura Robson Saturday, Buchina was able to recover from the loss of the first set, but the six sets and five hours of tennis she played took their toll Sunday.

"I had cramps in my legs and it was hard way to move around the court," said Buchina. "Yesterday was too tough matches and now I don't feel anything, you know. I'm not sad, I'm not happy, I'm just a little bit shocked."

In the second set, Watson got an early break, and Buchina simply couldn't keep enough balls in the court to challenge her. Buchina's signature inside out forehand was erratic, and Watson refused to give her any short balls that might increase her confidence. It was a very assured performance by a girl playing her first junior slam singles final, but Buchina was not impressed.

"She's not doing something fantastic, not so strong shots, not so good serve," Buchina said. "She's playing just normal, nothing special and for me that's no problem to play against such good players like Robson, Capra, Tomljanovic. They have very good shots and I had tough matches with them, but today I just couldn't do a thing because of my health, because of everything."



In the boys final, Bernard Tomic of Australia added a second junior slam title to his list of accomplishments, defeating unseeded wild card Chase Buchanan of the U.S. 6-1, 6-3.

Tomic, the No. 3 seed, saved four break points serving at 1-1 in the first set, but some effective slicing and unforced errors by Buchanan got the 16-year-old from Queensland out of trouble.

"It was the turning point of the match, I think," Tomic said. "You know if he had got that game, it would be totally different. I hit the right shots at the right time and got that game...he wasn't really serving big, and I figured out what I had to do...and after that I cruised through the first set and it gave me big confidence."

Hitting the right shot at the right time is an apt description of Tomic's style, and although he can put pace on the ball, he appears to prefer winning points with placement not power.

"That's my game, the way I'll play anyone," Tomic said. "I tend to hit hard and then soften it up for a bit. It works a lot against these guys because they don't like the low sort of bounce on these surfaces, which I don't mind really."

In the second set, both held serve until 3-3, when Buchanan, who got very few first serves in that seventh game, was broken. He couldn't dent Tomic's confidence after that, and the match ended when Buchanan was broken for a second time, hitting yet another forehand long.

"He honestly did what I expected him to do," said Buchanan, who had defeated top seed Yuki Bhambri and No. 8 seed Gianni Mina in the quarterfinals and semifinals on Saturday.

"I just didn't do what I needed to do. Once you get your chance and get the right ball, you pin him to a corner and run him side to side. But I didn't hit my shots, I missed them, and I definitely got a little flustered. I felt it was so within reach and I was so capable of doing it, but I was missing so much. I don't really know what happened."

Tomic was aware of Buchanan's strategy and sensed frustration when he was unable to execute it.

"He was going into the phase of rushing a lot and trying to hit winners," Tomic said. "I think that was his plan--to move me and just go for a big winner. I think I handled it pretty well."

Tomic wasn't sure how he would celebrate his second junior slam title, but he said several times that it would be his last junior match and he was committed to shifting his focus to his professional ranking, now at 324.

"It definitely will be in my head for a few weeks and I'm definitely happy to win it. I had a bad exit last year, I was disappointed," said Tomic of his first round loss to qualifier and eventual finalist Devin Britton. "But I really worked hard for it, and I got it in the end."



Both the doubles finals were decided in match tiebreakers. The unseeded girls team of Valeria Solovieva of Russian and Maryna Zanevska of Ukraine surprised 2009 French Junior champions and No. 3 Elena Bodgan of Romania and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand 1-6, 6-3, 10-7. Lertcheewakarn was defending her Open title, won last year with Sandra Roma of Sweden.



The boys doubles champions are Marton Fucsovics of Hungary and Cheng Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei, who defeated another unseeded team, Julien Obry and Adrien Puget of France 7-6(5), 5-7, 10-1.

Tags: junior tennis, Heather Watson, Bernard Tomic, Valeria Solovieva, Maryna Zanevska, Marton Fucsovics, Cheng Peng Hsieh, Colette Lewis

Buchanan Faces Tomic in US Open Boys Final; Watson and Buchina Vie for Girls Crown

©Colette Lewis 2009--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

Chase Buchanan had been looking forward to attending the Ohio State - University of Southern California football game Saturday evening. He ended up watching it on television instead, because he's still in New York, where he'll be competing for the US Open Junior Boys title against Australian Bernard Tomic on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Buchanan, who received a wild card into the junior tournament for winning the USTA boys 18s title in Kalamazoo, played for his hometown Buckeyes this spring, helping them advance to the NCAA team final. On Saturday at the Sound Shore Indoor Tennis center in Port Chester, NY, Buchanan played as if he didn't want to miss the kickoff, defeating both No. 1 seed Yuki Bhambri of India and No. 8 Gianni Mina of France in straight sets.

As the steady drizzle continued outside, quarterfinals and semifinals in singles were played on four courts, with doubles semifinals in between. Buchanan and Bhambri were the last pair to begin a quarterfinal match, after Yana Buchina of Russia and Beatrice Capra of the U.S. took nearly two and a half hours to decide their match, which went to Buchina 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Buchanan played nearly flawless tennis in the first set against Bhambri, taking it 6-3, and went up 2-0 in the second, only to see Bhambri even it with a break at 2-1. There were no other breaks, and in the subsequent tiebreaker, it was Bhambri's forehand that let him down. Four errors on that side gave Buchanan four match points at 6-2 and he converted on the third to set up a semifinal meeting with Mina. Mina, the Gael Monfils look-alike who plays a similarly elastic style, had come back to defeat No. 16 seed Denis Kudla 2-6, 7-6(4) 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Whether it was that effort or other physical issues (Mina twice had treatment from the trainer), the 17-year-old from France couldn't match Buchanan's consistency, although he certainly had some brilliant stretches during the 6-3, 6-3 win by Buchanan.

"My plan was to make him hit shots on the run," said Buchanan. "When he's running and I'm running, I think I'll win the point. In the end, I just broke him down a little bit."

Tomic had no difficulty in the quarterfinals with unseeded Tiago Fernandes of Brazil, posting a quick 6-1, 6-4 victory there before facing another unseeded player, Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France. Herbert, who had taken out Raymond Sarmiento 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, also got off to a slow start against the 16-year-old Australian, but he made a match of it in the second set before falling 6-1, 7-6(5).

"I was lucky to get through that semifinal, that second set," said Tomic.
"He even told me in the locker room that it took him a while to figure out my game. Once he picked up everything I was lucky to get through that."

Tomic and Buchanan have never played, but both are well-known players on the junior circuit. Tomic won the Australian Open boys title in 2008, while Buchanan, a U.S. Open junior quarterfinalist last year, will be playing in his first Grand Slam junior final, a difference in experience that Tomic believes favors him.

"I always play well in finals of any tournaments," Tomic said, "and hopefully when I come out, I can play aggressive, because that's the way I think I'll win."

Buchanan is simply looking to savor the moment in his last junior match.

"I just want to play it and have fun," he said. "I wanted to test myself against those my age, so I’m going to play free and enjoy it and I think I’ll do fine."

"If I can turn the match into a more athletic contest, I can win," Buchanan said. "He's a good ball striker who takes care of his service games, but I think I have an advantage in athleticism."

The girls championship match will feature two unexpected finalists: the unseeded Buchina and No. 11 seed Heather Watson of Great Britain.



Watson had the easier day of the two on Saturday, breezing past No. 2 seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-1 and No. 9 seed Daria Gavrilova of Russia 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals.

"These are definitely the best two matches I've played," said Watson, 17. "I was just very consistent, but aggressive as well. I was just banging winners, getting tough balls back, today I was just really on my game."

The 17-year-old Buchina prevented an all-British final by defeating Laura Robson, who had reached the semifinals with a hard-fought 6-2, 6-3 win over Lauren Davis. Buchina was down a set before she realized what was happening, but she got her second wind to record a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.

Robson was up 3-1 in the final set, but could not keep the advantage, and serving at 5-5, the errors she had avoided for most of the day began to surface. Buchina never let up, winning the battle of the punishing forehands, and was proud of the mental and physical strength she displayed in her sixth set of tennis.

"I played more than five sets, like a professional men's player," Buchina said, smiling. "In the third set of my second match, I didn't feel like I was tired or anything. I just tried to play ball by ball. Sometimes when I'm playing a third set or tiebreak, I'm really excited, because it's hard, but this match, I never think about it. I just hit everything in, and it was just my day."

Watson and Buchina played last year in the quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr, with Watson winning easily.

"I don't think she was playing her best," said Watson, who reached the finals of the Eddie Herr. "I know her forehand is definitely her strength--it's a killer shot--so I'll have to watch out for that tomorrow."

The only U.S. doubles team remaining was defeated in the semifinals, with unseeded Matthew Kandath and Jack Sock falling to Julien Obry and Adrien Puget of France 6-4, 6-7(6), 10-5. Obrey and Puget will play another unseeded team, Marton Fucsovics of Hungary and Cheng Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei. Hsieh won the Australian Junior boys doubles title this year with Frances Alcantara of the Philippines.

Lertcheewakarn will be seeking her third consecutive Grand Slam junior doubles title, and four of the past five, when she and Elena Bodgan take the court against Valeria Solovieva of Russia and Maryna Zanevska of Ukraine. Lertcheewakarn and Bogdan won the French title this year, Lertcheewakarn won Wimbledon with Sally Peers of Australia in July, and last September, Lertcheewakarn won the U.S. Open girls doubles with Sandra Roma of Sweden.

Play begins at noon on Sunday.

For complete results, visit usopen.org.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Chase Buchanan, Heather Watson, US Open Junior Championships, Colette Lewis

Talking with Great Coaches on a Rainy Day; Plans for Saturday

©Colette Lewis 2009--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

With the persistent rain, I had an opportunity to do a story for the New York Times Straight Sets blog that I would ordinarily not have had time to write while covering a major junior tournament. I'm posting it here in its entirety, because it hasn't yet been put up there.

Because girls between 14 and 18 are restricted in the number of tournaments they can play by the ITF and WTA, it's more common to see those with high professional rankings in the junior majors, while boys, who face no such restrictions and mature later, aren't as highly ranked. Ksenia Pervak, who won the Australian Open Juniors this year, was ranked around 150 by the WTA at the time.

I spoke to three outstanding coaches today about the pros and cons of playing junior and pro events: the famous Nick Bollettieri, Laura Robson's coach Martijn Bok and Lauren Davis's coach Rich Mostardi. The conversations were of course much longer than the quotes in the story, and in fact, I will be doing an additional post devoted specifically to Lauren Davis and the training plans Mostardi has for her in the coming months given her breakthough here, but it was interesting to talk to them about a complicated issue. It is similar to the "playing up" question, just a little more dramatic than whether to play 14s or 16s.

The Saturday plans are similar to last year's, when the singles semifinals were moved to the Sound Shore Indoor Tennis in Port Chester New York. This year there are twelve more matches to be played (the doubles were completed on Friday last year) so it will be a long day, and I'm not expecting any internet access, as there was none last year. I will tweet for as long as my battery holds out, so please sign up to follow me on twitter or check the feed to the left.

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Junior Girls Face Balancing Act

In any of the girls Junior Championships at the four majors there will be girls like Irina Khromacheva of Russia, a 14-year-old prodigy who has yet to play a professional event, and American Gail Brodsky, an 18-year-old who has played 16 events on the International Tennis Federation and Sony Ericsson Women’s Tour. What brings such diverse levels of tennis experience together four weeks each year is not just the prestige of playing for a Grand Slam title, but the opportunity to play period.

From the day she turns 14, when she becomes eligible to compete in professional tournaments, until her 18th birthday, there are strict limits to the number of tournaments a girl can play, a rule enacted to try to stem the tide of injury and burnout.

Seeking additional competition, junior girls with SEWTA rankings as high as the Top 200 can be found in the draws of junior slams. It isn’t for financial reasons--there is no prize money in junior tournaments—but it may be a chance to snare an endorsement contract if already a professional, or perhaps more support from the country’s federation if still an amateur.

Stepping in and out of the worlds of junior and professional tennis has it perils however, according to longtime coaching legend Nick Bollettieri.

“For some people it’s very confusing, to play with the pros and play with the juniors,” Bollettieri said.

“If you’re doing well on the ladies tour and you go backwards and don’t do well (in the juniors), that has an effect on getting wild cards and also a psychological effect. So that’s a tough call that the individual coaches and families have to make.”

But, Bollettieri adds, those girls who do opt to play juniors after having success on the professional level are also sending a message about their confidence.

“If you put yourself back down in juniors, that means you have so much confidence that you can whip the juniors.”

For Timea Babos, a 16-year-old Hungarian who has played three ITF Women’s Circuit events this year, winning one and making the final in the other two, competing in this year’s U.S. Open Junior Championships is a way to keep working on her game.

"Because of my age I can play only 12 tournaments, so that’s why I have to play a lot of juniors,” said Babos, the world’s third-ranked junior. “I think the younger players need more matches, so that’s why we still play juniors, that’s really important.”

Fifteen-year-old Laura Robson, the 2008 Wimbledon girls champion who had immediate success in professional events and won two women’s qualifying matches at the Open two weeks ago, is playing the U.S. Open juniors for the first time this year.

“It’s very important to keep playing junior tournaments to keep the right balance between winning matches and feeling confident,” says Robson’s coach Martijn Bok. “The senior tournaments are good of course, to see what still can be improved on, and measure themselves with the bigger players, but junior tournaments are still important to keep their confidence going and get the matches.”

Bok believes the psychology of playing on two levels can help a junior girl’s development, but acknowledges that Robson, Brodsky, Kristie Ahn and other U.S. Open junior competitors who have already played main draw Grand Slam matches don’t face the same pressures against seasoned professionals.

“I think they definitely play with a different mindset in the seniors when they play up, way up,” said Bok. “They have nothing to lose and play freely. Then when they go back to the juniors, they feel like they need to win a certain match, but that’s also a very good experience for them.”

“What happens in the juniors, if the player becomes good, is the exact same thing that happens on the WTA tour.”
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Tags: junior tennis, Nick Bollettieri, Martijn Bok, Rich Mostardi, US Open Junior Championships, Colette Lewis

Vinsant, Fratangelo and Giron to Represent USA in Junior Davis Cup

The three boys representing the United States in the BNP Paribas Junior Davis Cup competition September 29 through October 4 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico:

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The U.S. girls did not qualify for this year's competition. Both the boys and girls won the titles in Mexico last year.

Tags: junior tennis, Bjorn Fratangelo, Marcos Giron, Shane Vinsant, Colette Lewis

Five U.S. Players Still Contending for Singles Titles At Junior Championships

©Colette Lewis 2009--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

The cool temperatures and gusty winds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center were a constant reminder Thursday that summer is drawing to a close, but seven American juniors aren't quite ready to leave New York and head back to school.

Chase Buchanan, Denis Kudla, Raymond Sarmiento, Lauren Davis and Beatrice Capra have reached the singles quarterfinals, while Matt Kandath and Jack Sock will play Friday for a spot in the boys doubles final.

Buchanan was the only player to get through in two sets, with the 18-year-old wild card defeating Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 6-2, 6-3.

"It was very bad conditions, but it really didn't affect me at all," Buchanan said. "It's not easy to play in that kind of wind. I served really good--I don't think he had a break point all match."

Buchanan reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open juniors last year, losing to champion Grigor Dimitrov, so he is hoping to improve on that showing this year. His opponent Friday is top seed Yuki Bhambri of India, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament and on Thursday defeated wild card Jack Sock of the U.S. 6-4, 6-3. Bhambri beat Buchanan two years ago in the US Open junior qualifying, the only time they have played.

"He's a solid player, he doesn't make a lot of mistakes," Buchanan said of Bhambri. "He's the kind of player who sticks around, puts a ton of balls in the court. He's a smart player, he's good. It'll be a tough match."



Kudla reached his first junior slam quarterfinal with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Arthur De Greef of Belgium. Kudla, who admitted to being thrilled with the result, used his experience in Kalamazoo against Ryan Lipman to avoid a loss.

"Even though I lost the first set, I had plenty of chances to break serve," Kudla said. "It took me back to Kalamazoo, when I played Ryan Lipman it was 6-4, really close, and then I ended up losing the second 6-0. And my coach said you should have stayed with things; you did everything right, it was just a couple of points...so that's what I had in my mind, and it worked."

Kudla admitted that handling his nerves in the final game was a challenge, but he drew from lessons taught him by Melanie Oudin this week.

"They all say the reason that she's winning so much is that she's not afraid to win, she's not afraid of the moment, and that's something that's hurt me in the last few months in big matches. So I thought this was my chance to prove myself."

Kudla drew on his improved serve for an assist, hitting an ace at 5-4 30-30, and then seized his first match point with a backhand winner down the line.

Across the net from Kudla in the quarterfinals will be No 8 seed Gianni Mina of France, the French Open finalist this year.

"It should be a good match," Kudla said. "It looks like he's interesting to play against."


The third American boy in the quarterfinals, Sarmiento, got there by downing unseeded Sebastian Lavie of New Zealand 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

"It was like a whirlwind," Sarmiento said of the gusty conditions. "But then in the third set, I got a rhythm with the wind, and started using the wind more to my advantage." Sarmiento took control in the third set, and he credits his improved serving with much of his recent success. Lavie couldn't put much pressure on Sarmiento's serve in the final set, and the early breaks gave Sarmiento the luxury of playing relaxed tennis.

In addition to his parents and cousins, Sarmiento had a some fans that he didn't know in his cheering section, with local people of Phillipine heritage adding their support.

"They just came out," he said. "You know a friend of a friend, like that. But there were some relatives that live here."



In the girls action Thursday, No. 16 seed Beatrice Capra overcame the first-set nerves, compounding by playing on Louis Armstrong Stadium, to dismiss wild card Asia Muhammad 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. Capra's defensive skills were much in evidence as usual, but her return of serve also a key, as she did not let Muhammad play first strike tennis.

"It was definitely a streaky match," said Capra, who lost the last four games of the first set. "I told myself to make her play, because toward the second set, she was making a lot of errors, and it was really windy. I was more consistent, and I felt like I was the smarter player in the wind."

Capra kept the ball out of Muhammad's strike zone, and by the middle of the second set, it was obvious that the match was being played on Capra's terms.

"She kind of went away after five balls," Capra said. "So just keeping one more ball in play was how I won."

Match point typified that, as Capra returned one overhead smash by Muhammad, who put the second into the net.

"I read the ball really well, it's not because I'm fast. I wish I was fast," Capra said. "I just went to the open court, trying to make her play, and after she hit the ball in the net I was just, oh my god. I was so happy."

Capra plays unseeded Yana Buchina of Russia in the quarterfinals.



Lauren Davis is accustomed to winning and she has not lost a junior tennis match since falling to Lauren Embree in the third round of the Carson Grade 1 ITF in April, a streak that is now at 38. Few, if any, of the players she has beaten have been smaller than she is, and it certainly wasn't the case Thursday against 2008 French Open finalist Elena Bogdan of Romania, who is six feet tall.

The 5-foot-2 Davis defeated Bogdan 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, and it was a dramatic win. Davis took a 5-1 lead in the third set, saw it melt away when Bogdan stepped up her return game and eliminated her errors. But if the 2008 European Junior champion was expecting to see dismay and fear in Davis, she couldn't find it, with Davis, looking at her strings, concentrating and getting ready for the next point.

Davis broke Bogdan at love, and serving for the match the third time, she finished it, putting a backhand on the baseline for the victory.

"I actually wasn't too nervous," said Davis. "In the third set, all I tried to do was keep my composure, and at 5-all I just tried to stay aggressive and take the ball early."

That Davis's model is Melanie Oudin is no surprise.

"We're both kind of not too tall," Davis said. "We just have a lot of heart--that's what I'm best at. Before this tournament, I won a ton of Nationals, but no one really ever noticed me, and I guess this is a great tournament to show them what I've got."

Next up for Davis is Laura Robson, who will also have a decided advantage in height and weight if not speed and footwork.

No. 4 seed Sloane Stephens was defeated by No. 14 seed Jana Cepelova of Slovakia 4-6, 6-1, 6-0, leaving Wimbldeon champion and No. 2 seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, the only one of the top four seeds remaining.

In the doubles quarterfinals, three of the four U.S. teams were defeated, but unseeded Matthew Kandath and Jack Sock have reached the semifinals. They defeated unseeded Sandro Ehrat of Switzerland and Alexandros Georgoudas of Germany 7-6(2), 7-5, winning the final four games of the match.

For complete results, see usopen.org.

Tags: junior tennis, Chase Buchanan, Denis Kudla, Raymond Sarmiento, Beatrice Capra, Lauren Davis, US Open Junior Championships, Colette Lewis