My Eddie Herr ITF Preview; Qualifying (Almost) Complete with Bellis and Chung Top Seeds; Fritz Defeats World No. 1 Rublev for Yucatan Cup Title

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Bradenton, FL--

My preview of the 18s ITF Grade 1 Eddie Herr tournament has been posted today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. My preview of the 12s, 14s, and 16s divisions of the Eddie Herr International was posted on Friday.

Qualifying was completed in the boys 16s Sunday morning, on another perfect day for tennis at the IMG Academy.  The 18s qualifying was scheduled to finish the second and final rounds today, and the girls qualifiers have all been decided, but two boys matches were not completed before darkness arrived and those third sets will be finished Monday.

Of the eight boys to qualify in the 16s, seven are from the United States, with the eighth Sean Huynh of Canada.  The US qualifiers are:
Pietro Rimondini
Caleb Chakravarthi
Christopher Ephron
Aleks Huryn
Maxwell Mendelsohn
Davey Roberts
Matthew Rodriguez

 

The girls qualifiers in the ITF tournament include three Americans: Kyle McKenzie, Jessica Livianu and Taylor Russo, none of whom were seeded.  McKenzie was originally scheduled to play the top seed in qualifying, Olesya Pervushina of Russia, but Pervushina moved into the main draw, leaving McKenzie against a qualifier.  The 16s USTA champion lost only one game in that match and only six in her two wins Sunday, beating Jenna Dean 6-2 6-0 and Abigail Desiatnikov 6-3, 6-1.

"I was prepared for a tough match, because I knew she was a really good player," McKenzie said of Pervushina. "It was a little surprising because I found out just as I was going on to the court, so I had to change my mindset a little bit. But I'm playing well, so it's been good."

McKenzie, who is only 15 herself, admitted that playing the 13-year-old Desiatnikov presents some challenges.

"She's a great player and it definitely puts a little more pressure on you when you're on the court, maybe a little more tension," said McKenzie, who said she practiced a few days on clay at the Carson facility before her trip here Wednesday night with the USTA. "But that's something I've definitely gotten better at, so I don't think it affects me quite as much as it used to."

The other qualifiers in the girls draw are Veronica Miroshnichenko, Karine Sarkisova and Aleksandra Pospelova of Russia, Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland and Ema Lazic of Great Britain.

Two US boys reached the main draw, with Vincent Lin defeating top seed Igor Ribeiro Marcondes of Brazil 6-3, 7-6(6) in the second round and Chase Burton 6-2, 6-0 in the final round of qualifying.  Emil Reinberg completed his straight-set route through the qualifying with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Dane Dunlap of Canada.  Kentaro Mizushima of Japan, Christian Sigsgaard of Denmark, Jack Van Slyke of Canada and 14-year-old Yshai Oliel of Israel are the other boys qualifiers.  Ricardo Roberto of Italy and Enrique Asmar of Colombia are 4-4 in the third set of their match, and Lucas Koelle of Brazil leads Juan Hernandez Serrano of Mexico 5-1 in their third set.

CiCi Bellis and Yunseong Chung of Korea are the No. 1 seeds, and both are in action on Stadium court on Monday. Chung is first up at 8: 30 a.m. against wild card Jacob Hansen, while Bellis will follow that match on court, against 2013 16s Orange Bowl champion Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada.  The first round is split over Monday and Tuesday.

The ITF boys top 8 seeds:
1. Yunseong Chung (Korea)
2. Michael Mmoh (USA)
3. Seong Chan Hong (Korea)
4. Corentin Denolly (France)
5. Alex Rybakov (USA)
6. Mikael Ymer (Sweden)
7. Chan-Yeong Oh (Korea)
8. Hubert Hurkacz (Poland)

The ITF girls top 8 seeds:
1. CiCi Bellis (USA)
2. Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic)
3. Anna Kalinskaya (Russia)
4. Fannie Stollar (Hungary)
5. Gabriela Ruse (Romania)
6. Naiktha Bains (Australia)
7. Dalma Galfi (Hungary)
8. Sandra Samir (Egypt)

The draws and order of play can be found at the tournament website.

The first round in all the younger age divisions are being played Monday, starting with the boys 12s at 8 a.m.

Boys 12s top 8 seeds:
1. Zane Khan (USA)
2. Viktor Jovic (Serbia)
3. Dawid Taczala (Poland)
4. Nicholas Garcia (USA)
5. Ilya Tiraspolsky (Canada)
6. Faris Khan (USA)
7. Spencer Brachman (USA)
8. Noah Gampel (USA)

Boys 14s top 8 seeds:
1. Marko Miladinovic (Serbia)
2. Egor Noskin (Russia)
3. Sebastian Baez (Argentina)
4. Karlo Suevich (Croatia)
5. Christian Alshon (USA)
6. Tomasz Dudek (Poland)
7. Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva (Brazil)
8. Roscoe Bellamy (USA)

Boys 16s top 8 seeds:
1. Sam Riffice (USA)
2. Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros (Mexico)
3. William Tutecky (Canada)
4. Alberto Lim (Philippines)
5. Nathan Perrone (USA)
6. Vasil Kirkov (USA)
7. Eli Ogilvy (Canada)
8. Jesus Santiago Suarez Rivas (Mexico)

Girls 12s top 8 seeds:
1. Himari Sato (Japan)
2. Luisa Meyer auf der Heide (Germany)
3. Victoria Hu (USA)
4. Alina Charaeva (Russia)
5. Ekaterina Vinnik (Russia)
6. Gabriella Price (USA)
7. Nina Gulbransen (USA)
8. Gianna Pielet (USA)

Girls 14s top 8 seeds:
1. Anastasia Potapova (Russia)
2. Olga Danilovic (Serbia)
3. Maria Carle (Argentina)
4. Ekaterina Makarova (Russia)
5. Valentina Ivanov (New Zealand)
6. Caty McNally (USA)
7. Sabina Dadaciu (Romania)
8. Nicole Conard (USA)

Girls 16s top 8 seeds:
1. Seira Shimizu (Japan)
2. Sofia Sewing (USA)
3. Sofia Munera Sanchez (Colombia)
4. Dominique Schaefer (USA)
5. Mimi Levine (USA)
6. Shweta Sangwan (India)
7. Anjana Suresh (Canada)
8. Katarina Kopcalic (Canada)

Taylor Fritz with Yucatan Cup trophy (photo via tournament website)

Late last night at the Yucatan Cup, No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz avenged his two losses to World No. 1 Andrey Rublev of Russia, winning the ITF Grade 1 title by a 6-4, 6-3 score. Fritz, who took a wild card into the tournament in Mexico this week, had lost to Rublev in the semifinals of the Grade 1 in Roehampton on grass and in the round of 16 at the US Open, so for Fritz to post a straight-set win on his least favorite surface is probably doubly satisfying for the 17-year-old California.

Fifteen-year-old Sofya Zhuk of Russia took the girls title, winning 7-6(3), 6-4 over Luisa Stefani of Brazil. Jaqueline Cristian of Romania and Dalma Galfi of Hungary won the girls doubles title with a 1-6, 7-5, 10-5 victory over Stefani and Akvile Parazinskaite of Lithuania.