The ITF Junior season came to an end last Sunday with the Florida Campaign, featuring Eddie Herr (grade 1) and Orange Bowl (Grade A, awarding bonus points and so, together with the Italian Open, the most prestigious Grade A).
As usual I will mainly focus on girls (and no jokes are allowed on this): this choice could be justified by the fact that the major upsets occurred in the girls’ tournaments, while the boys’ really went as expected, with Kecmanovic (maybe also thanks to the absence of his strongest rivals) dictating his own laws.
So, just a few lines on the boys before turning to the girls’ events: I will limit myself to say that Kecmanovic (n. 1 ITF) dominated Eddie Herr, losing just one set in the whole tournament and beating in the finals Benjamin Sigouin (seed n. 2 and occupying spot 9 in ITF ranking ) 6-2 6-1; immediately after he even more easily dominated Orange Bowl (he was the defending champion), winning the tournament without losing any set, even though it happened that from time to time he lost some games: in the finals he easily defeated seed n. 2 Wu, from China (ITF ranking 9), winning the match with the score of 6-3 6-1.
Girls: this year’s edition of Eddie Herr seemed to be criticised in forums due to poor attendance. Some comments defined this edition as the weakest one of the last years. I think attendance was not super but not even that poor: Russian players were missing, true, and there was no top ten player (Anisimova withdrew at the last minute); nevertheless, three top 20s attended the event and several top 50s have played. First three seeds were Xiyu Wang, Kaja Juvan and Ellie Douglas. Apart from Juvan, I was particularly interested in the performances of two youngsters: Helene Pellicano, from Malta, who is only 14 and ranks already 163 in the junior ranking: she trains in Italy with Lavazza (not the coffee brand). The other player I was spotting was rising Ukrainian star Marta Kostyuk, another 14 year old girl who at the time ranked already in 42 position in ITF. Wow. Pellicano lost pretty honourably in the first round in three tight sets against American Carson Branstine (44 ITF) whilst Kostyuk confirmed to be already a really competitive player by reaching the quarter finals: she was then defeated by Cantos Siemers (59) in three sets.
As for the first three seeds the tournament was… not good. Nope. Wang lost in second round against Cantos Siemers, in straight sets; Douglas lost in the third round against 102 ranked Nicole Mossmer and Juvan lost in the second round against Sewing (71 ITF), in three tight sets. Juvan’s loss was really disappointing: after Milan’s finals in Bonfiglio Juvan basically always lost in first or second round in every junior tournament she played, often against players ranked well below her (though, in September she performed really well in two 10k ITF pro tournaments in Bol). Someone who was instead quite happy, I guess, about Juvan’s poor result was Argentinian Maria Lourdes Carle, 12 seed, who managed to spoil extremely well the hole left by Juvan in the draw: she reached the semi-finals, in which she beat Branstine in three sets, and then the finals, winning in three sets (2-6, 7-5, 6-3) against the 6th seed, Russian Gracheva and winning, so, the Eddie Herr.
Then, time came for the big ending of the season: the famous Orange Bowl. Attendance was of course top notch: top seeded players were n. 1 ITF Potapova, and the Americans Amanda Anisimova and Claire Liu. Potapova reached the finals winning comfortably each match and never losing a set; by contrast, Anisimova and Liu did not perform well, the former having lost in second round in straight sets against Daniela Vismane (50 ITF), the latter having lost by Branstine in third round. As for the other players mentioned above, Pellicano fell again in first round, against Sofia Sewing; in any case, she proved again to be able to take a fight against strong players, despite her young age: final result of the match was 7-5 6-4, of course in favour of the American. Kostyuk played again a fantastic tournament reaching the quarter finals (due to that, she ranks now 32 ITF, and she is only 14!!), in which she was beaten by one of the greatest surprises of the tournament: 14 year old wild card American Whtney Osuigwe, who was though easily dismissed in the following match by Kaja Juvan, 6-1 6-3.
As for Juvan, at the beginning of the tournament I was hoping, notwithstanding the disappointing early exit in Eddie Herr, she would have performed decently, reaching maybe the quarter finals: my hopes were grounded by the good status of form and improvements in her game she showed in Bol. Things went for her quite better than I expected, since she won the tournament, losing just one set in the second round against lower ranked opponent Lahey, and winning all the other matches with ease. The turning point for Kaja in my opinion was the win against the strong Serbian, 6th seed and 15 ITF, Olga Danilovic: after many losses in a row in junior tournaments, Kaja finally managed to win again a match against a real strong opponent (6-4 6-0 was the final result). I think that this was the game which boosted her confidence and made her able to reach the finals, after having beaten in the quarters M. L. Carle, the winner of Eddie Herr and, as said, 14 year old Osuigwe in the semis.
My bet on the finals was 70% Potapova as winner, even if in the only former H2H between the two, held in Milan, Juvan managed to beat her opponent in three set: in my opinion the only way Juvan could have won the match was by insisting on variations and never allowing the strong Russian to hit two similar balls in a row: she could not for sure afford to challenge Potapova on rhythm and power.
This time I did not see the match between the two, so I can’t tell if Juvan adopted such strategy; but for sure the Slovenian girl started on fire: she took a 5-0 lead in the first set, which she won by 6-1: hoping I did my maths correctly, I counted only seven points gained by Potapova during the first set, which lasted about 20 minutes. But Anastasia is not n. 1 by chance, and in the second set gave much more of a fight: after having been broken immediately, she took a 2-1 lead and Juvan had to save one or more break-balls (I can’t recall exactly), before equalising at 2-2. Juvan managed then to take a lead to 5-2, but again Potapova came back to 5-4, with Juvan managing twice to arrive at two points from the championships. Even if under pressure, Kaja was able to recollect and easily win the last game, holding the serve without dropping a point: she conquered as such her first grade A title. This achievement leads the Slovenian girl to 6th spot in the junior ranking, qualifying her for the Junior Masters to be held in China in April 2017.
Juvan and Potapova have reached the finals also in doubles, respectively paired with Lea Boskovic and Olga Danilovic. The finals have been interrupted on 1-0 and serve for Juvan/Boskovic and heavily delayed. Potapova and Danilovic easily won the first set 6-2, but their opponents managed to gain the second set by 6-3. Potapova-Danilovic finally won the long tie break (however one should call that) by 10-8, coming back from 7-8.
Let’s close this brief resume of the Florida Campaign by honouring the undisputed n. 1 Potapova, who indeed deserves, due to all the great results she reached and the consistency she showed throughout the year, the first spot in the ranking she is currently occupying: I learned reading a blog (http://tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.it/2016/12/kecmanovic-records-double-double-at.html) that this one against Juvan could be the last match of her junior career; after so many successes this year she feels ready to fully step in the Pro Tour (within the limits imposed by age constraint), and she may have taken the right decision: indeed, she would have not much more to win at Juniors’ level. The same article indicates that Juvan too will miss the Australian Open to concentrate on some Pro events; though, it is expected that she will be back on ITF Junior for the Italian Campaign, during which I hope to see her again and stuff her with an awful lot of tiramisù, the dessert she most likes, to celebrate her fantastic win in Orange Bowl.
Tommy Hemp
2 comments
Riporto interessante commento di un certo Paolo, facendo copia e incolla dal sito del Tafano (correttezza vuole lo si dica):
“Ancora meglio hanno fatto le under 14, sempre negli USA con la vittoria di Lisa Pigato nel torneo Whole Foods Junior Championship. Finale anche nel doppio per i nostri colori raggiunta dalla stessa Lisa Pigato in coppia con Matilde Paoletti. La stessa Paoletti è arrivata fino alle semifinali anche nel singolare, sconfitta dalla Dimitrova. Anche nella settimana precedente la Pigato si era ottimamente comportata all’Eddie Herr, superando i tre turni di qualificazione e le prime due partite del main draw prima di arrendersi agli ottavi di finale. La prossima settimana sarà impegnata all’Orange Bowl under 14.
Bene dunque, queste notizie sono molto interessanti. Anch’io cercavo di sapere ma il sito dell’USTA è un disastro e fa perdere la pazienza. Dicevo appunto tempo fa se c’era la Pigato e se ci sarebbe stata: come si diceva a scuola Lisa è un anno avanti. Attendiamo il vero Oranbge Bowl per baciare altre arance.