Neither Rain nor Radwanska Can Stop Oudin's Streak

©Colette Lewis 2007--
Key Biscayne, FL--

The first showers to dampen the Crandon Park courts at this week's Orange Bowl didn't rain on Melanie Oudin's parade as the 16-year-old from Marietta, Ga., defeated top seed and ITF world No. 1 Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-0 in Friday's quarterfinals to extend her junior winning streak to 26 matches.

Oudin, seeded eighth, took control of the first set, winning six straight games, and Radwanska was visibly and audibly unhappy with her own play and some of the calls made by the chair umpire. But the Wimbledon Junior Champion, celebrating her 17th birthday, broke Oudin to start the second and held for a 2-0. At that stage, a 10-minute stoppage was no more than a nuisance, but a deluge soon followed, sending the players scurrying to the lounge to wait out a two-hour delay.

"The little one we had, I was down 2-0 in the second, and as soon as we came back I got up 3-2," Oudin said. "So that actually helped me a little bit, it took her momentum away a little bit. After we came back at 3-2, I got up 4-2, but then it was 4-4. But I knew I was playing well enough, and I was doing the right things."

Although Radwanska was still talking to herself loudly in Polish, her play picked up in the final stages of the second set, and she played a exemplary tiebreaker, pushing Oudin to the court's edges and finishing at the net. The momentum seemed to be squarely on her side as the third set began, but Oudin roared to a 4-0 lead.

"In the third I came out trying to forget about the second set," said Oudin, who made only six unforced errors in the final set. "I was so close to finishing. But I didn't do anything different. I think I got a little tight at the end of the second and I wasn't hitting the ball, letting her go for the shots. But in the third I came out hitting the ball and going for my shots and it was working."

Radwanska's drop shot is among the best in junior tennis, and she went to it early and often against Oudin. But she might have been better off saving it for a more crucial stage in the match, as Oudin, who is extremely quick, began to see it coming.

"In the third she only hit a couple, but in first she did hit good drop shots," Oudin said. "In the beginning she was winning the points with them, but then I began reading them a lot better, and I was able to get there and put them away."

After such a milestone win and the strain of so many singles and doubles matches in the past two weeks, Oudin might want to relax, but it probably won't be on Saturday, when she must gear up to face her friend and doubles partner Mallory Cecil. Cecil, the No. 15 seed, overcame a tough challenge from wild card Alison Riske, earning a 6-4, 7-5 decision. Oudin and Cecil still plan to engage in their usual morning warm up, and after their singles semifinal is decided, will team up for the doubles semifinals Saturday afternoon.

The other girls 18s semifinal will find unseeded Aranxta Rus of the Netherlands against No. 9 seed Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal. Larcher de Brito, the only player to finish before the rains came, dismantled No. 2 seed and defending Orange Bowl champion Nikola Hofmanova of Austria 6-3, 6-0, while Rus scored an even more decisive victory over No. 3 seed Ksenia Pervak of Russia Friday afternoon, taking it 6-1, 6-0.



Jarmere Jenkins is the lone American representative remaining on the boys' side, and the No. 14 seed, who escaped a third set tiebreaker in his opening match, has been impressive since, particulary today, when he ousted Eddie Herr champion Gastao Elias 6-4, 6-4.

Playing on Stadium Court, Jenkins and Elias were for a few games the only attraction, as matches on the adjacent courts were being dried, with the whine of blowers filling the air. In the first set, Jenkins was up a break at 4-3 and gave it back for 4-4; in the second set, he came close to that same pattern. But at 4-3, 30-40, Jenkins surprised both Elias and himself with perfect serve and volley execution.

"I have no idea," Jenkins responded to a question asking what brought him to the net there. "I said 'don't do anything stupid'. I don't really come to the net a lot, but that was the right time."

When one of Elias's many unforced errors gave him a 5-3, lead Jenkins could breathe a little easier, and despite not getting a first serve in on either of his match points serving at 5-4, he held on for the win.

Elias, who has had only one day off in the past eleven days, looked less energetic in the hot and humid conditions than Jenkins, who did not play the Eddie Herr.

"I train with Wayne Odesnik now," Jenkins said. "He's crazy on fitness, so I'm not getting tired."

The semifinal could have been a more significant version of the practice matches Jenkins has been playing at the USTA National Training Center in Boca Raton against Chase Buchanan, but Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania would have none of that, flattening Buchanan 6-0, 6-1 to avenge his loss at the Eddie Herr last week.

The other boys' semifinal will pit No. 16 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria against No. 9 seed Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. Dimitrov, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, defeated No. 8 seed Radu Albot of Moldova 6-2, 6-3; Janowicz, the U.S. Open Junior finalist, overcame 15-year-old Ryan Harrison's challenge 6-7(5) 6-4, 6-3.

Lily Kimbell, a wild card entry, continued to make her mark in the 16s, taking a 6-3, 6-4 decision from unseeded Stephanie Cornish of Great Britain, to earn a spot in Saturday's final. Kimbell, who will also play in the doubles final with partner Zoe DeBruycker, faces Canadian Katarena Palivets, who defeated U.S. wild card Elizabeth Begley 6-3, 6-3.

Top seed Bernard Tomic of Australia will seek his third Orange Bowl title, this one in the 16s division against unseeded Brazilian Jose Pereira (who played the Eddie Herr under the name of Jose Silva). Silva downed Eddie Herr 16s champion Pablo Carreno of Spain 6-4, 6-4; Tomic advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over unseeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.

TECHNICAL ADVISORY:
I have had no internet access at my hotel since Friday, and likely will have to find alternatives for today's story.

TAGS: tennis, Colette Lewis, junior tennis, Melanie OUdin, Jarmere Jenkins

Dimitrov Keeps Berankis in Hunt for Year-end No. 1 by Defeating Ignatic Again

©Colette Lewis 2007--
Key Biscayne, FL--

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria kept alive his hopes for a second consecutive Orange Bowl with another victory over ITF Junior World No. 1 Vlad Ignatic of Belarus, and he also gave life to No. 2 Ricardas Berankis's hopes for the top spot in the year end rankings.

Dimitrov beat Ignatic in the quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr last week, in a dramatic and suspense-filled encounter. Thursday's round of 16 contest between Dimitrov, the No. 16 seed, and Ignatic, the No. 1 seed, was less emotional, only because it wasn't as close, with the 2006 Orange Bowl 16s champion taking it 6-2, 6-4.

With Ignatic unable to reach the semifinals, he can't clinch the year-end title unless US Open Junior Champion Berankis fails to win the tournament. With his 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1 victory over No. 13 seed Yuki Bhambri of India, Berankis, seeded second, kept the top spot in his sights, although the 17-year-old Lithuanian wasn't dwelling on that.

"It's a good feeling that you still have some chances to reach No. 1, but I'm not focusing on that too much," said Berankis. "We'll see how it goes. If I'm one, I'm one."

Berankis made it difficult on himself, dropping his serve at 5-3 in the second, when he could have put the 15-year-old from New Delhi away in two sets.

"I made a couple of bad unforced errors there and the tiebreak was the same," said Berankis. "I lost my momentum then, but I took him early in the third. He wasn't making too many winners or pressuring me, but sometimes I was just too anxious."

With the win, Berankis now gets another chance at wild card Chase Buchanan, who overcame big-serving Milos Raonic of Canada 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4. Buchanan ousted Berankis from the Eddie Herr in the second round, in a third set tiebreaker, and Berankis is looking forward to the rematch.

"It is good motivation, to take the revenge," he said, remarking that Buchanan plays a large number of three-set matches.

After his third set tiebreaker win over Mirza Basic on Wednesday, Buchanan probably would have liked a quick one against Raonic, but the solidly built 16-year-old kept Buchanan on the defensive. When the Canadian feathered a perfect drop volley on set point in the first, he demonstrated the finesse that accompanies his power, and Buchanan had to dig in to get to a third set. Up 3-0 in the third with Raonic cramping, Buchanan looked to be in command, but serving for the match at 5-3, Buchanan was broken, double faulting on break point.

Serving at 4-5, Raonic made a couple of volley errors and at 30-30 Buchanan clocked a backhand passing shot that gave him match point. He didn't have to hit another shot, as Raonic double faulted to end it.

Two other U.S. boys advanced to the quarterfinals, with No. 15 Ryan Harrison taking a 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 4 Ricardo Urzua-Rivera of Chile and No. 14 Jarmere Jenkins blasting by unseeded Alexei Grigorov of Russia 6-4, 6-1. The fourth American boy in the round of 16, Rhyne Williams, seeded 11th, lost to No. 8 seed Radu Albot of Moldova 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

The seven American girls remaining in the 18s were whittled down to three and due to the luck of the draw, eliminated each other in three of Wednesday's matches. Melanie Oudin continued her domination of juniors with a 6-1, 6-0 win over unseeded wild card Christina McHale. No. 15 seed Mallory Cecil was down a set and 3-0 to No. 4 seed Madison Brengle before winning ten of the next 11 games for a 4-6, 6-4, 4-0 ret. victory. Brengle was complaining of dizziness and was said to be coughing up blood at that point in the match, but she was able to take the court for her doubles match a few hours later.


Wild card Alison Riske is having an impressive tournament, coming out on top Thursday after a two-and-a-half hour battle with Ohio's Kristy Frilling. With her 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 win, the 17-year-old Pennsylvanian earned a quarterfinal berth in only her third ITF tournament, but it required overcoming a 3-4 deficit in the final set.

"She was beating me with her shots," said Riske. "She tried to mix it up with me today instead of pound with me, and I think it really worked to her advantage. But I just tried to stay confident and not let my emotions get to me too much, because it was warm out and she's a great player. So I just tried to stay calm and make some more first serves."

Riske's next opponent is Cecil, while Oudin takes on World No. 1 and Wimbledon Junior Champion Urszula Radwanska, who held off Coco Vandeweghe of the U.S. 6-1, 7-5 on the Californian's 16th birthday. It will be the first meeting in both cases.

The girls 16s, which featured an All-American final in 2006, can deliver another one in 2007, if unseeded wild cards Lily Kimbell and Elizabeth Begley win their semifinal matches Friday. Kimbell eliminated No. 13 seed Amandine Hesse of France 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, while Begley upended Grace Min 7-5, 7-5. Kimbell meets unseeded Stephanie Cornish of Great Britain, while Begley draws the only seeded girl remaining, No. 5 Katarena Palivets of Canada.

The boys 16s will not be won by an American, as the last three, Matt Kandath, Alex Domijan and Junior Ore, were beaten Thursday. Top seed Bernard Tomic of Australia faces unseeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in one semifinal; in the other, Eddie Herr 16s champ Pablo Carreno faces Jose Pereira of Brazil (a/k/a Jose Silva). Both are unseeded.

For complete draws, including 16s doubles semifinal and 18s quarterfinal matchups, see usta.com.

TAGS: tennis, Colette Lewis, junior tennis, Alison Riske, Vlad Ignatic

November Aces; Harrisons Sign with IMG

With all the tennis I've seen played since the first of November, it seems like the ITA Indoor in Columbus was months ago, but the winners there lead off my monthly Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

I recently spoke to Pat Harrison and IMG's Ben Crandell, who now represents the Harrisons, and they confirmed that the brothers have signed with IMG. This unsigned story at juniortennisnews.com was the first public mention of it I've seen.

TAGS: tennis, Colette Lewis, junior tennis, The Tennis Recruiting Network, Ryan Harrison

Herring Upends Bartnik in 16s; Buchanan Wins Another Third Set Tiebreaker Wednesday at Orange Bowl

©Colette Lewis 2007--
Key Biscayne, FL--

The cooler temperatures and stronger breeze helped keep the bug bites to mere nuisance levels, and the same could be said of the upsets. There were a few, but not as many as in the earlier rounds.

One of the biggest was 14-year-old Lauren Herring's 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 2 seed Nicole Bartnik in an 8 a.m. match Wednesday morning. When I arrived Herring was down 4-2 in the second set, and at 5-2, it looked as if a split was inevitable. But Herring began to play more aggressively, especially when Bartnik didn't get her first serve in.

"I was looking to attack her second serve," said Herring, of Greenville, NC. "Put pressure on her, maybe come in behind it, so it worked."

Bartnik had difficulty maintaining her usual baseline consistency because Herring would disrupt her rhythm with a serve and volley or an angle or a slice. And as the match began slipping away, Bartnik found herself unable to control points with Herring stepping inside the baseline on returns and hitting effective first serves.

"I didn't really know how she played," said Herring, the 14s Easter Bowl champion. "So I just went in there to play my game. I haven't been playing my best the last few month; we've been making a lot of changes in my game, so it feels good that it's finally coming together."

In addition to Herring, four other U.S. girls have reached the quarterfinals. USTA 16s champion Lily Kimbell, C.C. Sardinha, Elizabeth Begley and Herring's doubles partner, 13-year-old Grace Min.

In boys' 16s action on Wednesday, No. 3 seed Denis Kudla of the U.S. was upset by Eddie Herr semifinalist Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-2, 6-4 and with Junior Ore of the U.S. taking out No. 4 seed Julien Uriguen of Guatamala 7-5, 7-5, there is now only one seed left--top seed Bernard Tomic of Australia. Tomic needed to come from behind against unseeded Raymond Sarmiento of the U.S., who showed both touch and power in taking the first set from the 15-year-old Australian. Sarmiento couldn't sustain that level however, and Tomic recovered from an early break in the third set to take the final six games of the 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 decision.

Next up for Tomic is Matt Kandath of the U.S., who defeated Alessandro Colella of Italy 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Alex Domijan cruised to another 6-1, 6-2 victory and faces Basilashvili, while Ore meets Eddie Herr champion Pablo Carreno of Spain.

The girls 18s draw is loaded with Americans, but all seven are in the top half of the draw, with none in the bottom. Kristy Frilling, who received a special exemption from qualifying due to her doubles success at the Eddie Herr, upset No. 6 seed Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 7-6 (3), while wild card Alison Riske of Pittsburgh, Frilling's next opponent, recorded another straight set win. Wild card Coco Vandeweghe, who dropped only four games in her win over Johanna Konta of Great Britain, will celebrate her 16th birthday on Thursday by playing world No. 1 Urszula Radwanska of Poland, who lost the first two games of her second round match against Romana Tabakova of Slovakia and then won the next 12.

No. 8 seed Melanie Oudin recorded her 24th straight ITF junior win, taking out fellow American Ashley Weinhold, a wild card, 6-2, 6-3, and will face 15-year-old Christina McHale on Thursday. No. 4 seed Madison Brengle scored an easy win over Morocco's Nadia Lalami to set up a meeting with No. 15 seed Mallory Cecil, whose victory over unseeded 14-year-old Nicole Gibbs was anything but easy. Cecil took it 6-4, 7-6 (6), but Gibbs, who last week won a $10,000 Women's Circuit event in Mexico, had two set points in the tiebreaker and suffered the misfortune of a net cord ricochet winner for Cecil on match point.


The boys 18s match of the day featured Mirza Basic of Bosnia and Chase Buchanan of the U.S. Basic, who received a special exemption from qualifying because he reached the semifinals at the Eddie Herr, had won his first round match against Bradley Klahn in a third set tiebreaker, but on Wednesday afternoon he was on the wrong end of a 5-7, 6-0 7-6(10) score.

Buchanan, a wild card, took a 4-1 lead in the first set, but lost four of the next five games, and at 5-5 was broken, giving Basic an opportunity to serve for the set. Buchanan earned several break points and there were multiple deuces, but after an error on one of them, Buchanan angrily berated himself, was given a code violation for an audible obscenity and with that point, the set was over.

The 16-year-old from Ohio didn't get angry, but instead got "motivated", as he said after the match, and played flawless tennis in the second set. Using both power and touch, he never gave Basic an option on any shot, and quickly the match was even. His level dropped in the third set, after the adrenaline began to ebb, but there were no breaks, as each player protected his serve.

Buchanan earned his initial match points when he took a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker, but Basic cracked a service winner on the first and Buchanan hit what he called a "tight" forehand on the second. On the second change of ends, Buchanan made a shirt change, as if he suspected that the match wouldn't be ending with the next two points. A crisp backhand volley earned Buchanan his third match point, but another forehand long evened it at 7. When Basic closed and put away an overhead to earn his first match point, it was his turn to make an error, with his forehand finding the net. A mishit forehand winner gave Buchanan his fourth match point, but Basic brushed that away with a service winner and another change of ends was in order. Basic earned his second match point with a vicious backhand pass that landed on the baseline, but he couldn't handle Buchanan's next serve and the score stood at 10-10. Basic's backhand return on the next point sailed well long giving Buchanan his fifth chance to finish it, and with a slightly framed drop volley winner, he did.

"On my serve I was pretty confident that I could hit a serve he couldn't get," Buchanan said. "So I kind of did that a few times. On his serve, I kind of knew where he was going to go, but I wasn't hitting my returns aggressive enough. If I had hit my returns more aggressively, probably the whole third set would have been different."

Buchanan, who had upset U.S. Open Junior champion Ricardas Berankis in the second round of the Eddie Herr, drew a parallel to that match last week.

"It was kind of like the Berankis match--I had a whole bunch of break points in the third set that I couldn't capitalize on."

Should both win on Thursday, Berankis and Buchanan will meet again in the quarterfinals. Three other U.S. boys reached the round of 16, and all made it by defeating other Americans: No. 11 seed Rhyne Williams, who defeated fellow Tennessean Bo Seal 7-5, 7-5, No. 15 seed Ryan Harrison, a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 victor over roommate Wil Spencer and No. 14 seed Jarmere Jenkins a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Tennys Sandgren.

For complete draws, see usta.com.

TAGS: tennis, Colette Lewis, junior tennis, Lauren Herring, Chase Buchanan

Upset Bug Bites at Orange Bowl

©Colette Lewis 2007--
Key Biscayne, FL--

The bug infestation at the Orange Bowl showed no sign of abating on Tuesday, but several seeds felt the sting of defeat as well as the itch of the no-see-ums.

In the girls 18s, qualifier Kerry Wong, who will be attending Clemson next fall, used her stylish game to bounce No. 10 seed Elena Chernyakova of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and Coco Vandeweghe steamrolled No. 13 seed Tammy Hendler 6-3, 6-4. Julia Cohen, the No. 5 seed, will end her junior career with a loss, as she went out to Aranxta Rus of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2. Fifteen-year-old qualifier Santa Shumilina of Russia overcame No. 7 seed Julia Glushko of Israel 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to round out the 18s first round upsets.


The girls 16s second round also saw the exit of several seeds. After a shaky start, Ester Goldfeld, 14, took out No. 3 seed Aleksandrina Naydenova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-2, Lily Kimbell eliminated No. 6 seed Petra Jurova of Slovakia 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 and 13-year-old Grace Min defeated No. 14 seed Monica Yajima 6-3, 7-5.

The boys 18s finished their first round Tuesday and no surprises surfaced on a cooler and less humid day at Crandon Park. New Yorker Adam El Mihdawy, fresh off a semifinal showing at an ITF Men's Futures event in Israel, took Eddie Herr champion Gastao Elias of Portugal to three sets before falling 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, but the other contests were straightforward affairs, quite a contrast to Monday, when four boys 18s matches went to third set tiebreakers.

For novelty alone, the match of the day in boys 16s was 6-foot-6 Alex Domijan versus five-foot Christian Harrison. Harrison had scored an upset in the first round over No. 5 seed Adrian Puget of France, and the 13-year-old did everything he could to fight the size disparity, but Domijan was too much for him, taking the match 6-1, 6-2.

Only three seeds made it through to the round of 16 in the boys 16s, but they are No. 1 Bernard Tomic of Australia, No. 3 Denis Kudla of the U.S. and No. 4 Julien Uriguen of Guatamala. Uriguen had to stave off a match point in the second set tiebreaker after leading it 5-0 in his match against Eddie Herr 16s finalist Sekou Bangoura Jr., but he used that momentum change for a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0 victory.

Doubles matches, especially of boys 18s, were conducted under the lights Tuesday evening. For complete results, see usta.com.

TAGS: tennis, Colette Lewis, junior tennis, Orange Bowl, Ester Goldfeld, Kerri Wong

Orange Bowl 18s Underway

©Colette Lewis 2007--
Key Biscayne, FL--

When we arrived at Crandon Park early Monday afternoon, the first obvious change from last year's Orange Bowl was in color. The courts are now Sony Ericsson purple, and the new presenting sponsor, Dunlop, has prominent orange signs on every court. There is more canopied bleacher seating on the back courts, but not everything was an improvement. The "no-see-ums" have occasionally annoyed in years past, but tonight they were so prevalent and persistent that spray pumps of Off and Cutter were passed from spectator to umpire to player to coach. Another irritant was the lack of a results board, and with the draws not currently updated, I won't be able to give precise scores in this post. (They are now up--click here.)

The girls' 18s were finishing as we arrived, but I did have an opportunity to talk to wild card Alison Riske about her straight set win over No. 12 seed Simona Halep. Riske said she went into the match unaware of Halep's junior ranking (26) and her semifinal showing at the Eddie Herr, and just played. The mid-80 temperatures and no wind aren't typical conditions, but Riske didn't know it, as it was her first time there.

I wandered around, reacquainting myself with the court numbers (now much easier to identify with new banners) and met Joshua Rey, who is writing about the Orange Bowl for usta.com. He seemed full of enthusiasm and tennis knowledge, so I recommend you follow his coverage all week.

My timing wasn't bad today, as I saw Rhyne Williams, seeded 11, close out his 6-4, 7-5 win over Xander Spong of the Netherlands with a late break. Ryan Harrison, the No. 15 seed, got revenge for his first round U.S. Open junior loss to Slovenia's Borut Puc with a straight set win. Ryan Noble gave No. 5 seed and Tennessee Volunteer John-Patrick Smith of Australia all kinds of trouble but couldn't get an early break in the third set back, losing it 6-4. Wild card Bob Van Overbeek lost in three sets to Mikhail Birykov of Russia and Ty Trombetta couldn't slow down No. 16 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Dimitrov used his drop shot to maximum effect during the games I saw. I missed all of Wil Spencer's two-set win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada, but I did see wild card Tennys Sandgren take a medical timeout down 3-0 in the second set against Alin Constantin of Romania for foot pain. He couldn't save that set, but he reverted to his first set form to win the third 6-1.
Mateusz Kecki won the first set tiebreaker from Poland's Jerzy Janowicz, the U.S. Open Junior finalist, but he lost the next two sets.

As darkness descended, the court lights came on and the bugs got really bad, things got really interesting. No. 14 seed Jarmere Jenkins needed a third set tiebreaker to get past Silvio Dadic of Croatia. At 5-5 in the tiebreaker, a Dadic shot landed just wide and Jenkins made the most of his first match point opportunity, cranking an unreturnable serve to earn a spot against Sandgren in the second round.

Wild card Dennis Nevolo had cruised in his first set against Poland's Szymon Tatarczyk 6-0, but when I arrived at the Stadium Court, the second set tiebreaker had just begun. Neither player seemed nervous or tentative, but Nevolo made almost no unforced errors to take a 6-3 lead. Even a net cord winner then by Tatarczyk couldn't discourage Nevolo and when he avoided a third set, he let out a shout of triumph mixed with relief.

The next tiebreaker I saw was in the final set of the match between Bradley Klahn and Eddie Herr semifinalist Mirza Basic of Bosnia. Klahn had gotten an early break in the third, but Basic got it back to 3-3 and he squeaked by Klahn in the tiebreaker 7-5.

There are matches beginning at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, so it's time for some rest.

TAGS: tennis, Colette Lewis, junior tennis, Orange Bowl