Rubin, Fritz and Kozlov Make History in Reaching Wimbledon Boys Semifinals

Taylor Fritz beats Filippo Baldi in three sets to advance to semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Wimbledon--

They may be missing a major summer holiday back home, but Noah Rubin, Taylor Fritz and Stefan Kozlov celebrated with fireworks of their own on the Fourth of July, with all three winning tight matches to advance to the Wimbledon boys semifinals.

The United States has had two boys semifinalists on numerous occasions, most recently in 2009, but this is the first time since 1975 that three Americans have made the final four.

Unseeded qualifier Rubin defeated unseeded Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands 7-6(6) 7-6(5) to earn his first junior slam semifinal berth. He'll meet unseeded Taylor Fritz, who won the final four games of the match against unseeded Fillipo Baldi of Italy to claim a 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5 victory.  No. 6 seed Kozlov advanced with a 6-4, 7-6(6) win over No. 2 seed and 2013 finalist Hyeon Chung of Korea, winning the final four points of the tiebreaker to advance to his second junior slam semifinal. The 2014 Australian Open boys finalist will play No. 8 seed Johan Sebastien Tatlot of France Saturday.

Rubin had beaten van Rijthoven 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying at the French Open juniors last month, but the surface change made this encounter much, much closer.

"He obviously didn't play his best on clay, but he's a big guy with a tremendous serve," said Rubin, and 18-year-old from New York. "I knew it was going to be a close one. I hit a couple of good shots, it's 0-30, and three aces. That's it, it's 40-30, and there goes the game. You just have to keep focus and know it's going to happen, understand that. And I think I did that pretty well."

Van Rijthoven had ten aces in the first set, and Rubin suffered his only service break of the match in the fourth game. Van Rijthoven held for a 4-1 lead, but Rubin got the break back in the seventh game, the last break of the match, and won a tense tiebreaker from the 17-year-old right-hander.

Noah Rubin will meet Fritz in Saturday's semifinal

The second tiebreaker also came down to just a few points, with van Rijthoven unable to capitalize on a 3-0 lead. He double faulted for only the second time in the match at 4-2 to give back the minibreak, and at 5-5 missed a simple forehand volley when he was less than two feet from the net to give Rubin a match point. Rubin converted, with van Rijthoven's forehand going long.

"There's nothing you can say about it," Rubin said of van Rijthoven's missed volley. "I've played matches in the past where I've done it. It's just one of those days. I could have lost the next point and it would have been 6-all. I knew I had to get that point, probably my last opportunity, so I just took it, and wanted to relax after that."

In facing Fritz on Saturday, Rubin faces a similar challenge, and a similar history, having defeated Fritz 6-1, 6-0 in the first round of a Futures tournament in Spain at the end of May.  But he knows the surface will again give the serve extra importance.

"A big server can come out on any given day, and that can be it," said Rubin, playing in his third Wimbledon Junior Championships.

Fritz is playing in his third junior slam, with the 16-year-old from Southern California having made his debut at last year's US Open.  He was certain that with his serve, grass would be his best surface, and after reaching the semifinals in the Roehampton Grade 1 last week, he again has demonstrated his affinity for the surface.

In his two-hour win over the 18-year-old Baldi, Fritz did not have his best serving day, despite 18 aces. He made only 52 percent of his first serves and up a break twice in the second set, he couldn't consolidate either time.

"To be up a set and up a break two different times and to get broken right afterwards, I was so mad," Fritz said. "If I break twice in a set, it's inexcusable for me not to win it. If I break once, on grass, I should win the set. But I give him credit, he caught on and was doing some very smart things on my serve. He'd hit a strategically short, low ball on the return that I couldn't do anything with. It was just very confusing to deal with."

Baldi served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but was unable to get more than one point in the game.

"I made all my returns, came up with a couple of big deep returns," said Fritz. "And then he gave me a mistake at the end, which I expected. I had heard he would make mistakes and he hadn't been missing at all, so it had to be sometime."

At 5-5 in the third, Fritz's serve didn't give him his usual lift.

"I want to say I served ten points that game and I missed all my first serves," Fritz said. "The sun was awful.  But I can't believe I held that game, I shouldn't have held."

With Baldi serving at 5-6, Fritz earned two match points at 15-40, but Baldi saved the first.

"He played a very good point," Fritz said. "I have to give him that. He came to the net, made volleys. On the match point I won, I told myself to do a little pattern change. I took it flat and went line and got him really out of position and he barely got the ball over the net. I told myself to just put it in down the line and make him pass you on the run. He just swatted at it, there was no chance," Fritz said of Baldi's reply, which sailed way long.

As for facing Rubin again, Fritz said he has already put the May loss out of his mind.

"I just struggled to put balls in the court," said Fritz. "Certain matches, you just have those days. It doesn't hurt my confidence going into playing him the next time at all."

Stefan Kozlov reaches the semifinals with win over Chung

Kozlov's win over Chung was built on a strategy of playing aggressively from the start.

"I thought that was one of the only ways I could beat him," Kozlov said of his nemesis from their younger junior days. "He's a solid player, and I knew if he took control I would be in trouble. There was a little fatigue and I didn't want to do all the running, and I thought there was a better chance for me if I played more aggressive, the way I did."

After seeing a 4-1 lead slip away in the first set, Kozlov came up with a big shot at a big time to steal the set. After Chung led 40-15 serving at 4-5, Kozlov got a gift from Chung in the form of a missed drop shot, then converted his only set point with a strong backhand forcing an error.

Trailing 3-1 in the second set, Kozlov got the break back and took a 6-5 lead, earning two match points at 15-40.  But Chung saved them both with putaways on short balls and held to force a tiebreaker.

Errors by both players kept the tiebreaker close, but Chung earned two set points at 6-4. Kozlov hit a forehand winner to save the first, on Chung's serve, then cracked one of his four aces to save the second, after the lineswoman corrected her initial call of out.

At 6-6, more aggressive hitting from Kozlov forced a forehand error from Chung to give Kozlov match point number three. Kozlov's relief was evident after Chung's forehand went long, as he fell face down on the baseline dirt and stayed there for several seconds after the 72-minute set came to a close.

"The whole match I was really emotional, to be honest," said Kozlov, 16. "I was a little nervous going into it and there were a lot of ups and downs. To come back from 6-4 down in the breaker, I was just really happy to win. I thought the match was slipping away, to be honest. I'm not going to say I got lucky; I played very well when I needed to and I'm just very happy to be through."

Tatlot, an 18-year-old who defeated wild card Joshua Sapwell of Great Britain 7-6(5), 6-1 in a featured match on Court 18, has split his two meetings with Kozlov, both on clay last year in South America.

"A lot has changed since then," Kozlov said. "I won one and lost one, so tomorrow it's just going to be whoever competes better and has a better day."

The girls singles semifinals do not feature any US players, with No. 3 seed Tornado Alicia Black and qualifier Michaela Gordon falling in straight sets today.  Black was beaten 6-3, 6-1 by unseeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who won Roehampton last week, while Gordon lost to No. 8 seed Kristina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3.

Ostapenko will meet 15-year-old Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who has reached the semifinals in the French and at Wimbledon, her first two junior slam. Vondrousova, the No. 12 seed, defeated unseeded Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain 6-3, 6-2.

Schmiedlova's opponent in the semifinals is Elena Ruse of Romania, who is playing in just her second junior slam at age 16, the first being last month's French Open.

Two Americans remain in the doubles semifinals.  Kozlov and Andrey Rublev of Russia, the top seeds, avenged their 2013 Orange Bowl finals loss to Baldi and Lucas Miedler of Austria with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory Friday afternoon.  They will play No. 7 seeds Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus and Nino Serdarusic of Croatia, who won their quarterfinal match over Rafael Matos and Joao Menezes of Brazil 6-2, 6-7(1), 9-7.

Naoki Nakagawa and van Rijthoven upset top seeds Tatlot and Quentin Halys of France 6-3, 7-6(7) to earn a place in the semifinals against No. 3 seeds Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann of Brazil.

Unseeded Usue Arconada and her partner Fanny Stollar of Hungary won their third straight three-set match, beating No. 4 seeds Katie Boulter of Great Britain and Ivana Jorovic of Serbia 7-6(5), 5-7, 9-7.  They will play unseeded Tami Grende of Indonesia and Qui Yu Ye of China, who upset top seeds Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus 7-6(3), 7-5. 

The only seeded team remaining in the girls semifinals is No. 2 Priscilla Hon of Australia and Jil Belen Teichmann of Switzerland, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Katherine Sebov of Canada and Leticia Garcia Vidal of Brazil.  They will play Maria Bouzhova of the Czech Republic and Dalma Galfi of Hungary, who defeated No. 3 seeds Black and Naiktha Bains of Australia 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

For complete draws and Saturday's order of play, see the Wimbledon website.

Top Seed Rublev Falls; Five Americans Make Quarterfinals of Wimbledon Junior Championships

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Wimbledon--

For the third day in a row, the weather was lovely and success continued for American juniors, with five--two girls and three boys-- reaching Friday's quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Junior championships.

Noah Rubin defeats Tiafoe in three sets to reach quarterfinals

Qualifier Noah Rubin, playing for the third time at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, won the only all-American battle of the day, defeating No. 7 seed Francis Tiafoe 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3.  Rubin, whose ATP ranking of 539 is among the best in the draw, proved to be more focused in the third set, while the 16-year-old Tiafoe lost his serve with a loose game at 1-1, and became increasingly frustrated trying to get it back.

"I knew that every single point I had to be in there focused, and my serve couldn't let up," said the 18-year-old New Yorker, who had 8 aces in the match. "I believe my serve got to him a little bit in the third set and put a little too much pressure on him and he felt the need to be better on his serve, and that's where I got the opportunities. I felt on some of the more important times, not in the second set, because he played well, but in some of the more important times later, I was more focused."

Tiafoe kept within reach of Rubin in the final set, holding for 4-3, but Rubin won the final eight points of the match.  Serving at 3-5, 0-30, Tiafoe, who had already received a warning for racquet abuse, bounced a ball out of the court and received a point penalty for ball abuse, giving Rubin three match points. He converted the first with a backhand winner to reach his second junior slam quarterfinal.

Tim van Rijthoven defeats top seed Rublev in third round

Rubin, who has not yet made his college choice, with Wake Forest and Virginia the two contenders, could have expected to meet top seed Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals, but the Russian was stunned by unseeded Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-5.

Rublev had beaten Rubin twice in 2013, once at the Grade A Italian Open and then in a Futures semifinal last fall, but Rubin had no trouble with van Rijthoven in the qualifying for the French Junior Championships this year, beating him 6-0, 6-2 in the first round.

"He's obviously much better on the grass," said Rubin. "He has a huge serve, a really big kid. I've become friends with him, and he's a very good player. It's obviously going to be a challenge, because he saved match points in taking out Rublev."

Thanks to Rubin and van Rijthoven's wins today, the top half of the boys draw is without any seeds.  Unseeded Taylor Fritz continued his strong play on grass, defeating Francisco Bahamonde of Argentina 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3.

"My focus was just holding serve," said Fritz, who reached the semifinals of the Grade 1 warmup in Roehampton last week. "After I lost the first set. I told myself, you know what, I stuck to my game plan, I did what I wanted to do--I never got broken. So I said I just have to come out in the second set, and if he beats me in a tiebreaker again, it is what it is, and he deserves it."

Fritz said he did make one slight adjustment in the second set.

"I feel like I just had to be more aggressive, come to net a little more," said Fritz, who is playing in just his third junior slam at age 16. "In the third set, I just stuck to holding and once I got that break, I knew I would serve it out."

That break came with Bahamonde serving at 3-4, but Fritz had had plenty of chances, seeing seven break points go by before he converted the eighth with a deep backhand that forced an error.

The point of the match was the first one with Fritz serving for the match at 5-3. After a long rally, with both boys showing off both offensive and defensive skills, Fritz, at the net, managed to reflexively stab at a passing shot, with resulting the backhand volley somehow clearing the net for a winner.

"I opened my eyes after I hit the shot, that's all I can say," Fritz joked. "Every tennis player has the instincts when the shot is there, you don't even think about it, you just do it. When I don't even think about something and do it, and that's the end result, that's the best thing about tennis."

Fritz ended the match with an ace, his 12th of the match against no double faults, to set up a meeting with unseeded Filippo Baldi of Italy. Baldi defeated Alex Rybakov of the US 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

No. 6 seed Stefan Kozlov returned to the quarterfinals for the second straight year, defeating No. 9 seed Naoki Nakagawa of Japan 6-3, 7-6(2). Kozlov started out slowly, dropping his first service game to fall behind 3-1, but recovered.

"I came out a little shaky early, but I found my way into the match a little bit better," said the 16-year-old from Pembroke Pines, Florida. "I played much better as the match went along. In the second set, I was up a break and kind of let it slip a little bit, but he started playing better.  The first point in the tiebreaker was pretty key--he double faulted, so that gave me a lot of momentum and from there I played a good tiebreak."

Kozlov said he doesn't take his success at Wimbledon for granted.

"I'm excited every time I win a match," Kozlov said. "I'm just a little tired right now after doubles. But I'm excited. I've just got to take my time tomorrow and play my best to beat this guy."

"This guy" is No. 2 seed Hyeon Chung of Korea, who cruised past unseeded Logan Smith of the US 6-2, 6-3.  Chung and Kozlov played in the final of the Eddie Herr 12s way back in 2008, when Kozlov was age 10 and Chung age 12. Chung won that match and beat Kozlov again in the second round of the 2011 Orange Bowl 16s, with Chung going on to win the tournament.

Chung sports an ATP ranking of 299 and has won three Futures titles this year, but Kozlov doesn't think that will be a factor in Friday's quarterfinals.

"I know he's doing well in the pros,' said Kozlov. "But that's not going to matter tomorrow. It's just whoever plays better tomorrow wins."

In the only boys match Friday without an American, British wild card Joshua Sapwell will face No. 8 seed Johan Sebastien Tatlot of France. Sapwell defeated lucky loser Pedro Iamachkine of Peru 6-1, 6-3, while Tatlot won a 59-minute first set from No. 11 seed Michael Mmoh of the US, and went on to claim a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Tornado Alicia Black earns third round win over Boulter

The four girls seeds are evenly divided, with No. 3 seed Tornado Alicia Black and No. 12 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic remaining in the top half.  Black rolled past unseeded Katie Boulter of Great Britain, 6-1, 6-2, with an ease Black was not expecting.

"I don't think Boulter was playing her best," said the 2013 US Open girls finalist. "I thought it was going to be a little bit better match, but I'm happy with the win."

Away from the other junior matches on Court 17, Black took the breezy afternoon conditions and Boulter's erratic play into account with her strategy.

"It was pretty tough with the wind," said Black, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament. "I was trying to play more middle and put more balls in play, because she was making a lot of errors."

Black will play unseeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the quarterfinals, after Ostapenko defeated No. 9 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2. Ostapenko, who won the title at Roehampton last week, also reached the final eight at the Australian Open, but lost in the first round of both the Italian and French Open Grade A tournaments.

Vondrousova, who turned 15 on Saturday, defeated No. 7 seed Francoise Abanda of Canada in a wild 7-6(6), 6-7(5), 6-2 match. Vondrousova lost the first six points of the first set tiebreaker, then won the next eight. She then saw a 5-1 lead disappear in the second set, but somehow recovered to eliminate her fellow 2014 French Open girls semifinalist. Vondrousova will play unseeded Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain after Badosa Gibert defeated wild card Gabriella Taylor of Great Britain 7-6(5), 6-4.

Qualifier Michaela Gordon of the US couldn't have been more excited about reaching the quarterfinals after defeating British wild card Maia Lumsden 6-2, 6-1, unless it was about playing on Court 18, which has a radar gun for serve speeds.

"It was cool because you could see how fast you were serving," said Gordon, 14. "I was serving in like the 100s. I think I served a 104 and I didn't get broken the entire match."

Although Gordon expressed confidence early in the week that she had the game to contend on grass, she did admit to some surprise at finding herself in the quarterfinals.

"I actually can't believe I'm in the quarterfinals," Gordon said. "I wasn't even going to come. I was going to stay home and practice for a month--my coaches didn't really want me to come, to go all the way to England to play qualies. But my parents wanted to go to Wimbledon, they wanted to see it, so they said just go play."

Gordon's opponent Friday is No. 8 seed Kristina Schmiedlova of Slovakia, who defeated Ioana Rosca of Romania 6-2, 6-4.  The other quarterfinal in the bottom half features unseeded Elena Ruse of Romania against No. 10 seed Shilin Xu of China. Ruse downed Greetje Minnen of Belgium 6-4, 6-2 and Xu came back to defeat No. 5 seed Jill Belen Teichmann of Switzerland 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1.

The doubles quarterfinals are also set, with just three Americans remaining--Kozlov, Black and Usue Arconada.  Top seeds Kozlov and Rublev will play Baldi and Lucas Meidler of Austria on Friday, with Black and her partner Naiktha Bains of Australia seeded No. 3, playing Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and Dalma Galfi of Hungary.  Arconada, playing with Hungary's Fanny Stollar, will play No. 4 seeds Boulter and Ivana Jorovic of Serbia after taking out No. 8 seeds Viktoria Kuzmova and Schmiedlova of Slovakia 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Friday's order of play and draws are available at the Wimbledon website.

June Aces

A busy day here at Wimbledon before the start of the third round of singles and second round of doubles, but here's a look back at the most notable accomplishments of June, in my monthly Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Four More Wins for US Boys Wednesday Puts Seven into Wimbledon Junior Championships Round of 16; Black, Gordon Remain in Girls Draw

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Wimbledon--

A second consecutive day of warm sunshine Wednesday produced another crop of wins for US boys, as all four in second round singles action advanced to the round of 16 at the Wimbledon Junior Championships.

The three seeded American boys--Stefan Kozlov(6), Francis Tiafoe(7) and Michael Mmoh(11)--were joined by Taylor Fritz in posting straight set victories Wednesday, joining Noah Rubin, Logan Smith and Alex Rybakov, who reached the third round with victories last night.

Fritz defeated No. 14 seed Marcelo Zormann of Brazil 6-4, 7-6(3) avenging a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 loss in the first round of a May Futures tournament in Spain.

"That's a match that I think was one of the biggest chokes I've ever had," said the 16-year-old from Southern California. "I was up a set, 3-1 and three break points that game to go to 4-1. I was playing so well. But I learned from that match that I couldn't let the guy back in, and that's actually what I was thinking at 5-1 in the tiebreaker."

Fritz had earned two match points with Zormann serving at 5-6, but he missed a cross court backhand after a long point on the first, and Zormann hit a forehand winner on the second, then went on to hold.

"I told myself after I lost the two match points that it is okay to lose this game, because I feel very comfortable in the tiebreaker," said Fritz, "especially since I was winning a lot more points on his serve than he was winning on mine when I was serving well."

Fritz missed only one first serve in the tiebreaker, allowing him to go for his returns, and when Zormann missed his first serve at 3-6, Fritz ripped a backhand return winner down the line for the victory.

Although he is still amazed by how far his game has come in the past year, Fritz believes the success of the other Americans on the ITF Circuit has helped him.

"I know that when one American does well, I want to do just as good," Fritz said. "I hate doing worse than the other Americans.  I just like to be at the level of everyone else, and it's not like, oh, this person is so much better than this American. I just like to go and try to prove myself."

Fritz will play unseeded Francisco Bahamonde of Argentina in the third round, after Bahamonde eliminated No. 4 seed Jaume Munar of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. 

2013 quarterfinalist Stefan Kozlov into third round

Kozlov, who reached the quarterfinals here at the Wimbledon Juniors last year, had no trouble for the second straight day, defeating Pedro Martinez Portero of Spain 6-0, 6-2.  The 16-year-old Floridian said he played one of the best matches he'd played in a while, using every manner of shot to confuse the net-charging Spaniard.

"I just didn't let him play today, to be honest," said Kozlov, who reached the Australian Open boys final back in January. "I think this is the most comfortable I've felt at a slam, I feel like I'm at home right now. Every time I get on the grass, I get so happy, there's just something about it. It's the most fun for me."

Kozlov will play No. 9 seed Naoki Nakagawa of Japan in the third round. Kozlov downed Nakagawa in the quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl last December 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

Michael Mmoh joins six other US boys in third round

Mmoh's opponent in the third round is No. 6 seed Johan Sebastien Tatlot of France, who is 3-0 against Mmoh, all on clay.

"He dictates play a lot, said Mmoh, who beat Jan Zielinski of Poland 6-3, 6-2 Wednesday. "He just likes to stand on top of the baseline and just rip all out. But when I played him last match, at Orange Bowl (in the quarterfinals), I had a lot of chances. Before that I didn't really feel comfortable playing against him at all, but after that, I have more confidence."

Mmoh admits there's motivation from the success his peers are having.

"We all look out for each other," said Mmoh, who trains at the IMG Bolettieri Academy in Florida. "And we all want each other to do well. Obviously, when you're all doing well, you don't want to be left behind, you feel that extra push to get the job done. It also adds a little pressure. But we all want each other to win."

The only third round match featuring two Americans is Tiafoe against Noah Rubin, who won his second round match on Tuesday.  Tiafoe survived the battle of the reigning Orange Bowl champions, defeating 16s titleholder Yunseong Chung of Korea 7-6(4), 6-3 to set up his second meeting with Rubin.  Back in 2012, Tiafoe fell to Rubin 7-6(5), 6-1 in the third round of the ITF Grade 1 Pan American Closed, which Rubin went on to win. The 16-year-old Tiafoe, who won the Pan American Closed the following year, knows what he's facing with Rubin.

"I was young then, and he was playing well," Tiafoe said. "I was a little disappointed after the first set, begin up 5-2, two breaks, playing great and I let that slip. He's a great competitor, he moves well, and I'm going to have to give it all I've got to win."

Tiafoe has received more publicity than the other members of his peer group, with features on him appearing at CBS This Morning, Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post and the New York Times. But he doesn't see that as setting him apart in any way.

"The publicity part doesn't really matter," Tiafoe said. "Just because I've been getting more than them doesn't mean necessarily that I'm a better player. We're all at the same level and having a group like that pushes me. If I see them winning, obviously I want to get a win. We're all competitive in our own little way and I think that helps a lot. We all support each other and help each other, and I think over the years we've all gotten a lot better, and it's showing now. I'm happy we're all playing our best tennis when it matters."

In the other third round matches featuring American boys, Alex Rybakov will play unseeded Filippo Baldi of Italy, and Logan Smith will face No. 2 seed and 2013 finalist Hyeon Chung of Korea.

The girls draw also began with nine US entrants, but only two remain after two rounds--No. 3 seed Tornado Alicia Black and qualifier Michaela Gordon.

Black defeated wild card Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-4, winning the final five games of the match to earn a third round contest against Great Britain's Katie Boulter.  Gordon served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and again at 5-4 in the third set, but finally finished off 17-year-old Isabelle Wallace 6-2, 5-7, 8-6, aided by Wallace's 15 double faults.

Gordon will play another junior with Scottish roots on Thursday, with wild card Maia Lumsden backing up her win over No. 2 seed CiCi Bellis with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over qualifier Dalma Galfi of Hungary.   With Lumsden, Boulter and Gabriella Taylor, Great Britain has the most girls in the round of 16 of any nation. 

The US lost its chance to have three in the third round when Sofia Kenin lost to unseeded Greetje Minnen of Belgium 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

The first round of doubles was completed this afternoon and evening, with Kozlov (top seeded with Andrey Rublev of Russia), Mmoh and Tiafoe, the No. 4 seeds, and Henrik Wiersholm (with Duke recruit Nicolas Alvarez of Peru) advancing to the second round in the boys draw.  

Black, playing with Naiktha Bains of Australia and seeded No. 3, advanced to the second round of doubles, as did Usue Arconada, playing with Fanny Stollar of Hungary.  Dasha Ivanova and Katrine Steffensen also won their opening round match in doubles.

For complete draws and the schedule for Thursday, see the Wimbledon website.

Wimbledon Girls Top Seeds Jorovic and Bellis Ousted Tuesday; Three US Boys Reach Round of 16

Maia Lumsden upsets No. 2 seed CiCi Bellis Tuesday

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Wimbledon--

The rain stopped Tuesday, allowing the completion of the first round of singles at the Wimbledon Junior Championships, but the surprises continued, particularly in the girls draw, with top seed Ivana Jorovic and No. 2 seed CiCi Bellis both upset victims.

Bellis, who has been in Europe for over seven weeks and compiled a stellar record, led wild card Maia Lumsden of Great Britain 4-2 in the final set of their first round match Tuesday afternoon on Court 19.  But Lumsden, a 16-year-old No. 85 in the ITF junior rankings took advantage of some uncharacteristic unforced errors from Bellis late in the match, winning the final four games of the match to post a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 victory.

"I've obviously seen her great results this year," said Lumsden, who served for the first set twice, at 5-4 and 6-5 before losing the tiebreaker. "I don't think she's lost many junior matches, so I knew it was going to be a very difficult match when I saw the draw.  But I just tried to believe that I had a chance."

Lumsden received a wild card into Wimbledon last year, but other than that precious experience, she didn't feel much of an advantage on the surface, although she did admit to being inspired by Andy Murray.

"I don't really train on grass either, so it's not much of an advantage," said Lumsden, who is also from Scotland, and has trained with Judy Murray, Andy's mother. "Just watching Andy, how well he deals with pressure, especially last year, I suppose that helps. It shows it's possible."

Jorovic was playing her second round match Tuesday evening, having defeated Kaitlyn McCarthy in three sets on Monday, and she knew she would be in for a battle against Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain. Badosa Gibert had beaten Jorovic, the ITF's top-ranked junior, when they played in and ITF women's circuit event a few months ago, on clay, but the surface change didn't bother the 17-year-old Spaniard, and she eliminated the French Open finalist 6-2, 7-5.

The other girls seeds to lose today, all in the first round, were No. 6 seed Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, No. 14 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia, No. 15 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary and No. 14 seed Sandra Samir of Egypt.

Michaela Gordon beats No. 14 seed Sandra Samir

Samir was beaten 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 by 14-year-old qualifier Michaela Gordon of the United States, who lost in the French Open qualifying, and did not play the Roehampton Grade 1, instead returning to her home in Northern California to play, and win, the US Open National Playoff qualifying tournament before arriving last week in England.

"Since I had played on clay I wanted to play a tournament on hard courts for my confidence," said Gordon, who was allowed only one more ITF junior tournament before she turns 15 next month, due to the ITF's age restrictions. "I thought grass would be a really good surface for me, and I think it fits my game really well.  Even in my first qualifying match, I played really well, and I've really been liking the surface."

Against Samir, Gordon didn't want to get into any long rallies and multiple-deuce games.

"In the first set, I played like I did in the third set, pretty aggressive," said Gordon. "In the second set, all the games went to 30-all, deuce, and she won the important points. So in the third set, I didn't want the games to be 30-all or deuce, I wanted to focus on every point and play super, super aggressive, really focused.  I didn't show any emotion at all in the third set, I was, I don't know, completely focused."

Gordon plays another Scottish player, Isabelle Wallace, in the second round Wednesday, but she isn't worried about the British fans supporting her opponent.

"The crowd will probably be on her side, but I like it more when they're on their side," Gordon said. "It gets me more fired up for every point. I don't think it will make too much of a difference."

Taylor Fritz was certain his game would translate well to grass

Taylor Fritz took on a British opponent in his first round match Tuesday, overpowering wild card Julian Cash 6-4, 6-2 on Court 4.  Fritz lost only one point on serve in his first three service games, and had only one difficult game, saving two break points to secure a 5-3 lead in the first set.

"He started staying in the point longer," said Fritz, who reached the semifinals at Roehampton last week. "And he started hitting some bigger forehands in that game, and also, I felt pretty relaxed in the game. I started to just put it in, and that's when he started ripping shots. I think I got a little too tentative on my shots."

Fritz broke Cash in the first game of the second set, and when he got a second break, with Cash double faulting at 0-40 to make it 4-1, the suspense was gone.   Fritz did need to save a break point serving for the match at 5-2, but Cash helped him out by netting a forehand and missed his next two forehands as well, giving Fritz his second win in a junior slam, on a surface he was convinced would be his best.

"I'd never played on grass before, but I always knew I was going to really like it," said the 16-year-old, whose mother Kathy May and father Guy Fritz had competed in the main draw at Wimbledon during their playing careers. "I told everyone it was going to be my best surface, that it's going to be perfect for me. I'm usually so dependent on my serving, holding serve. It's really all I focus on and I feel grass exaggerates that, so I always felt it would be my best surface."

Francis Tiafoe finally finished his first round match on Tuesday

Other US boys to advance to the second round were No. 6 seed Stefan Kozlov, who beat qualifier Rafael Matos of Brazil 6-4, 6-1, Michael Mmoh, who came back to defeat big-serving German Jan Choinski 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-1, and Francis Tiafoe, who finished his match with Martin Blasko of Slovakia, delayed by rain late Monday. Tiafoe came out leading 5-4 in the first set, and held for the lead, but dropped the second set 6-3.  In the third set, the 16-year-old Orange Bowl champion struggled to hold serve, while Blasko was breezing through his service games, until the eighth game, when Tiafoe got his first break point opportunity at 30-40 and converted it, serving out the 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 decision.

"It's not easy to return on grass," Tiafoe said. "His serve was a little tough for me to read, it was kind of weird. He had a money(serve) slice wide on the deuce side and that was getting me a lot, and the T on the ad was getting me a lot. He was serving well, and I wasn't making too many first serves."

But after waiting since Saturday to play the match, Tiafoe was just glad the match finally concluded.

"I was just happy we got to play each other, Tiafoe said. "All these days. We were joking about it a lot. Happy that we got on the court, played a good match, and I was happy to get through this."

Three US boys played their second round matches on Tuesday, and all three won in straight sets.

Noah Rubin defeated No. 12 seed Kamil Majchrzak of Poland 6-3, 7-5, while Alex Rybakov and Logan Smith were among the last matches completed as the sun set at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.  Smith barely missed a ball in dismantling Petar Conkic of Serbia 7-6(0), 6-3, and Rybakov was equally impressive, defeating Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus 6-4, 6-3.  That trio will not play singles on Wednesday, as the other four American boys--Fritz, Kozlov, Tiafoe and Mmoh--catch up with them Tuesday.

Sofia Kenin won her first round match over Leticia Garcia Vidal of Brazil 6-4, 6-2 and will join No. 3 seed Tornado Alicia Black and Gordon in the second round.  Dasha Ivanova, who won her first round match Saturday, lost in the second round 6-1, 6-2 to No. 9 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine. Dennis Uspensky lost his main draw junior slam debut Tuesday evening to lucky loser Pedro Iamachikine of Peru 7-6(4), 6-3.

Doubles begin on Wednesday, with all 32 first round matches scheduled after the completion of the second round of singles.

For complete draws and the order of play, see the Wimbledon website.