November Aces

Before the Eddie Herr International quarterfinals begin this morning, here's a look back at some of the top performances of November in my monthly column for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Mmoh Saves Match Point to Reach Eddie Herr ITF Quarterfinals; Bellis, Dolehide and Kingsley Among Girls Final Eight

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Bradenton, FL--

Tommy Paul was ready to celebrate a hard-earned victory over Michael Mmoh in the third round of the ITF Grade 1 Eddie Herr International Thursday at the IMG Academy's Har-Tru Court 1.  After a heartbreaking defeat to Mmoh in the quarterfinals of October's ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed in Tulsa, where Mmoh saved three match points, Paul had just closed the net and put a forehand into the deuce corner with Mmoh serving down 30-40, 4-5 in the third set.

Mmoh, who had lost control of the point several shots earlier, scrambled to attempt a forehand passing shot, but mishit it.  Ready to pump his fist, Paul had to turn to see the forehand float over him and land inside the baseline. After a momentary look of disbelief, he did manage a wry smile at his bad luck and Mmoh's good fortune.

"Honestly, it was kind of a mishit," said Mmoh. "When I hit it, it didn't feel very good and it looked like it was going out, but it just dipped in. Tennis is all about luck. I've played matches where the same thing has happened to me. It's unfortunate for him, because both times I've played him, he's had match points and lost. That's definitely going to be tough for him."

In Tulsa, Paul had gotten to a third set tiebreaker under similar circumstances, but he couldn't negotiate that in Thursday's match, double faulting away game point at 5-5 to give Mmoh an opportunity to serve it out. With his first serve--erratic during the second and third sets--reappearing for the final game, Mmoh held at love for a 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5 win that took just over three hours.

Paul served for the first set at 5-4, but played a horrible game, committing four unforced errors. A shanked forehand at 5-4 in the tiebreaker proved to be his undoing in that opportunity, but Paul came back strong in the second set.

"In the beginning he was missing a lot more, random balls, but second set, he played a flawless set," said Mmoh. "He didn't miss much and he was hitting from both sides really well. I was trying to outhit him and he's obviously very good. Tommy Paul is super talented."

Mmoh was down 3-1 in the final set, but got the break back in the next game, leaving the drama to build until the match point.

"I'm just happy with the way I competed," said the 16-year-old Mmoh, who has now won 23 of his last 24 junior and Futures matches. "I thought I fought really hard and was mentally strong."

Mmoh will play unseeded 16-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the quarterfinals. Tsitsipas beat Chan-Yeong Oh 6-2, 6-0.  The other quarterfinal in the bottom half will feature No. 3 seed Seong Chan Hong of Korea against No. 6 seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden, a rematch of the Grade A Abierto Juvenil Mexicano semifinal, won by Hong 6-0, 6-2. Hong saved three match points against No. 13 seed William Blumberg, who led 6-3, 5-2, only to lose 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.  Ymer defeated Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-4.

The other US boy in the quarterfinals is Reilly Opelka, who defeated No. 5 seed Alex Rybakov 6-2, 7-6(3), his third straight-set win over Rybakov in the past month, with the previous two in Futures tournaments.  Opelka's opponent on Friday will be No. 14 seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, the Eddie Herr 14s champion last year, who defeated No. 4 seed Corentin Denolly of France 6-3, 6-2. Top seed Yunseong Chung of Korea will play No. 8 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

In the girls draw, an American semifinalist is assured, after both Caroline Dolehide and Raveena Kingsley advanced to play each other in Friday's quarterfinals.

Wild card Dolehide beat Emma Higuchi 6-2, 6-1, while No. 9 seed Kingsley got by unseeded Maia Lumsden of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2.

Kingsley hasn't played since winning the Pan American Closed in October, and now that she is training at Dent Academy in California, her access to clay courts has been limited, but she is adjusting.

"There's no clay at all, I had to come here a week early," said the 16-year-old. "I feel like I've been playing pretty good. I've had some rough starts in the matches, but eventually get going."

Kingsley and Dolehide last played nearly two years ago in a USTA event, with Dolehide winning 6-4, 6-3.

"We played in a 16s indoor tournament a long time ago," said Kingsley. "I lost, and I remember missing a lot of forehands, making a lot of errors. But now I feel more confident and ready to play her."

The other quarterfinal in the bottom half has No. 7 seed Dalma Galfi of Hungary playing No. 15 seed Evgeniya Levashova of Russia. Galfi downed Katarina Jokic of Serbia 6-1, 6-0 and Levashova beat Claire Liu 6-0, 1-6, 6-2.

Top seed CiCi Bellis looked to be headed for her first three-set match of the tournament when she fell behind wild card Ingrid Neel 5-0 in the second set, but she won the final seven games of the match for a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

The 15-year-old Californian admitted that letting the second set go occurred to her.

"I was thinking if I really get down in the 5-0 game, I'll just coast until the third set," said Bellis. "But I kind of got on a roll after that, started playing a lot better and thought, yeah, I can come back if I keep playing like this, so I just kind of went for it."

Neel, who has trained for several years at the IMG Academy, served for the set at both 5-1 and 5-3, but double faults began to surface at inopportune times, including on game point at 5-3. Bellis had regained the rhythm she lost early in the second set, and Neel was just not able to stay in many of the long rallies in the second half of the set.

Bellis, who won two $25,000 Pro Circuit events in South Carolina in October, says there are adjustments to make on returning to junior competition.

"It's different, It's definitely a lot more pressure," Bellis said of the juniors. "When you're in the pros, you're thinking, okay, let's see how far I can get in this tournament. While in juniors, it's do you think you can win this tournament. I think the pressure is definitely more in juniors because you should win in some matches, but you have to deal with it."

Bellis will play No. 4 seed Gabby Ruse of Romania in the quarterfinals. The other quarterfinal in the top half has No. 4 seed Fanni Stollar against unseeded Katie Swan of Great Britain. Stollar eliminated the last qualifier, Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland, 7-6(5), 7-5, while Swan defeated No. 12 seed Sonya Kenin 6-2, 6-3.

The doubles semifinals are set for Friday.  In the boys draw, the unseeded team of Opelka and Paul will play No. 6 seeds Domagoj Biljesko of Croatia and Alejandro Tabilo of Canada. Unseeded Alfredo Perez and Bjorn Thomson of Ireland will play top seeds Chung and Hong.  A US team is guaranteed for the finals of the girls doubles, with Kelly Chen and Emma Higuchi playing No. 8 seeds Kenin and Jessica Ho. The other semifinal has No. 4 seeds Naiktha Bains of Australian and Luisa Stefani of Brazil against No. 2 seeds Levashova and Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

The quarterfinals in the 12s, 14s, and 16s divisions will also be played on Friday, with Americans in all of them.  Zane Khan(1), Spencer Brachman(7), Faris Khan and Nicolas Garcia(4) are still alive in the boys 12s. Victoria Hu and Charlottle Owensby are still in contention in the girls 12s. Jaycer Calleros, Roscoe Bellamy(8),  Steven Sun and Brian Shi are the US boys in the 14s quarterfinals and Nicole Conard(8) and Caty McNally(6) are still in the girls 14s.  Sam Riffice(1), lucky loser Danny Thomas, Patrick Kypson and Vasil Kirkov(6) are in the 16s quarterfinals. The draw with the most Americans remaining is the girls 16s, with Victoria Emma, Dominique Schaefer(4) (ITF Peru), Mimi Levine(5), Madeline Meredith and Sofia Sewing(2) in the quarterfinals.

For complete draws and orders of play, see the tournament website or the TennisLink site. Scores are posted throughout the day on the 12s, 14s, 16s at the TennisLink site.

Five US Boys, Seven US Girls Reach Eddie Herr ITF Round of 16; Top B16s Seed Riffice Advances to Quarterfinals with Comeback Win

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Bradenton, FL--

The top eight boys seeds in the Eddie Herr International Grade 1 ITF have moved into the third round, but three of the girls top eight were eliminated on Wednesday, with No. 2 seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic  and No. 3 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia falling to Americans Claire Liu and Emma Higuchi.

In matches played on the clay courts at Academy Park, a tram ride away from the main complex of hard and clay courts, wild card Higuchi topped Kalinskaya 6-3, 7-5 and Liu defeated Vondrousova 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. It was Liu's second win over Vondrousova in the past 12 months, with the 14-year-old Southern Californian also prevailing in the final of last December's Junior Orange Bowl.

No. 6 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia lost 6-4, 6-4 to Great Britain's Katie Swan, and the other seed from Australia, No. 13 seed Seone Mendez, was ousted by wild card Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 6-2.

Dolehide, who has been training for the past week at the IMG Academy to prepare for the tournament, went up 4-0 to start the match.

"I played really well in the beginning, but then I let off a little bit," said the 16-year-old from Illinois, a semifinalist at the US Open junior championships this year. "She came back to 4-3, then I closed it out with my serve. The second set was a lot better. I felt a lot more comfortable and it was forehand to forehand and I pushed her deep in the court until she hit it short, and then I put it away."

Dolehide will play Higuchi in Thursday's third round match, with the other all-American contest also featuring another wild card, Ingrid Neel, who defeated No. 14 seed Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-4, 6-3. Neel will play top seed CiCi Bellis, who won an exceedingly tough and well played first set from 14-year-old Destanee Aiava of Australia, then cruised to a 7-6(7), 6-0 victory.  Liu will play No. 15 seed Evgeniya Levashova of Russia, who put an end to the run of qualifier Kylie McKenzie 7-6(6), 6-0.

Raveena Kingsley, the No. 9 seed, will play Maia Lumsden of Great Britain. Kingsley defeated lucky loser I-hsuan Cho of Taiwan 6-2, 6-2 and Lumsden avenged her third round Wimbledon loss to Michaela Gordon 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.  Sonya Kenin, the No. 12 seed, advanced over Russian qualifier Karine Sarkisova 6-2, 6-2.

Four of the five US boys remaining play each other in Thursday's third round. No. 2 seed Michael Mmoh defeated Lian Yu Richard Lin of Taiwan 6-4, 6-4 to set up another meeting with unseeded Tommy Paul, who beat lucky loser Sami Kirberg 6-2, 6-4. When they last met, in the quarterfinals of the ITF B1 Pan American Closed in Tulsa back in October, Mmoh saved three match points in a 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) win and has lost only one of his next 18 matches, both in juniors and Futures, since then.

The other third rounder between two Americans will be an even more recent rematch, with Reilly Opelka taking on No. 5 seed Alex Rybakov for the third time in a month. Opelka won both matches in straight sets against Rybakov in the second round of the two November Futures in the Florida Panhandle, and he certainly had the easier time in advancing on Wednesday, beating No. 9 seed Sora Fukuda of Japan 6-1, 6-0.

Although Opelka dominated the scoreline and served well, he thought the match was closer than it appeared.

"He had many chances in games," said Opelka, who lost only one game in his first round match Tuesday. "He had game points, break points, in at least four or five games. Momentum could have changed, and I had had some good holds basically, that kept momentum on my side."

Opelka has always liked clay and the 6-foot-10 17-year-old believes the surface can benefit players of his size.

"I think clay for bigger guys, I see it as a big advantage," Opelka said. "You have more time. I move better on it. And if I'm hitting my spots on my serve, it doesn't matter the surface. I don't think they're going to make more returns because of the surface."

Rybakov was down 5-3 in the third set against Tung-lin Wu of Taiwan, but thanks to some nerves by Wu and more effective aggression by Rybakov, he took the final four games of the match in a 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 victory.

The only US boy not playing a friend Thursday is William Blumberg, who will take on No. 3 seed Seong Chan Hong of Korea. Blumberg, the No. 13 seed, defeated qualifier Jack Van Slyke of Canada 6-1, 6-1, and Hong took out Youssef Hossam of Egypt 7-5, 6-0.

The best tennis I saw all day wasn't in the 18s, but in the 16s division, where top seed Sam Riffice and No. 10 seed Trent Bryde met in the third round on the hard courts.  The two 15-year-olds, friends and training partners, played focused, serious tennis, particularly in the second set, before Riffice claimed a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory.  Riffice was down 6-1, 3-0 before winning the final six games of the second set, but Bryde showed no signs of discouragement or disappointment as the games slipped away. Points were long and physically demanding, with many of the rallies going 20 or 30 shots, with a winner or forced error ending them.  Backhands, forehands, slices, volleys--all the shots were used and executed well.  The third set was bound to be anticlimactic, and it was, with Bryde's game faltering a bit as the physical demands grew too much for him, but the many spectators who gathered around court one and witnessed the second set, often gasping and profanely exclaiming over the quality on display, are unlikely to forget it.

"It was a crazy match, really physical," Riffice said. "I started to feel it a little bit at the end, just right after the point. But by the next point, I was ready to play."

The friendship was set aside, which isn't easy.

"We're really good friends," said Riffice. "We train together most of year, stay together a lot. When he came out he was just killing me, but I brought my level up a little. But it was a match where he played really well. I'm just happy to come out on top."

The No. 1 seeds still remaining in the younger divisions all advanced to the quarterfinals today and will have tomorrow off from singles, as the bottom half plays their third round matches.  Boys 12s top seed Zane Khan, girls 12s top seed Himari Sato of Japan and girls 14s top seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia all advanced to Friday's quarterfinals with straight-set wins.

For complete draws in the younger age divisions, see the TennisLink site.

For the ITF draws and order of play, see the tournament website, where a link to the live streaming for some of the matches in the younger age division can be found.

Eddie Herr ITF Second Seed Mmoh Survives Qualifier in Three Sets; Seven Qualifiers, Two Lucky Losers Reach Second Round

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Bradenton, FL--

Second seed Michael Mmoh is in the habit of winning. The 16-year-old IMG Academy student-athlete has won two major ITF Junior events and a Futures tournament since October, with only one Futures semifinal loss in 21 matches played.

After he failed to serve out the first set against qualifier Christian Sigsgaard of Denmark in Tuesday's first round at the Eddie Herr International, dropping the final five points of the subsequent tiebreaker, Mmoh didn't panic. He made adjustments and took control of the match earning a 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Mmoh admitted his recent success on the court has helped him focus more in tight situations like the one he found himself in today, as a large crowd of IMG friends, coaches and employees gathered around court 1.

"You're not as worried and you're not as nervous," said Mmoh, who won the Grade A Abierto Juvenil in Mexico City two weeks ago. "It gives you more room to think, to try to figure out what you're doing wrong, why he's beating you, rather than thinking about losing the match, getting caught up in that. It helps so much that I've won a lot of matches recently, especially in this match, because he was playing really well."

The 17-year-old Sigsgaard played nearly flawless tennis in the last five games of the first set, prompting Mmoh to ask loudly if there was an agent available to sign him on the spot. Often incredulous at the shots Sigsgaard was producing, Mmoh admitted he was caught off guard by the Dane's level.

"He was playing really well in the first, and I didn't really expect it," said Mmoh, who accepted congratulations from Nick Bollettieri after the match. "It wasn't like I was playing terrible either, but I was hitting the ball a little short, I gave him time to take big cuts at the ball and he was missing at any time."

Mmoh attempted to pick on Sigsgaard's one-handed backhand, but that produced no advantage, as Sigsgaard used it aggressively when he had the opportunity and also served well on the big points.

In the second set, Sigsgaard began to experience problems with his serve, holding only once, in the first game.  After dropping the second set, Sigsgaard had a long medical timeout for treatment on his right shoulder, and held his first two service games. But by then, Mmoh had sensed the finish line and kept his level high, while the Sigsgaard unforced errors, nonexistent earlier in the match, multiplied.

Mmoh closed out the match with a hold at love, and will go for his eighth straight win on clay against Lian Yu Richard Lin of Taiwan on Wednesday.

"It's definitely not my favorite surface, but I can play on it," Mmoh said. "I'm pretty athletic, move decent on clay, but definitely hard court suits my game better. These courts though are pretty poorly maintained, a lot of bad bounces. And I prefer red clay, a lot more."

In addition to Mmoh, four other US boys advanced to the second round. Reilly Opelka won 6-1, 6-0 over qualifier Enrique Asmar of Colombia, No. 5 seed Alex Rybakov downed qualifier Lucas Koelle of Brazil, qualifier Vincent Lin defeated Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(0) and lucky loser Sami Kirberg ousted No. 15 seed Domagoj Biljesko of Croatia 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.  Three other qualifiers won their opening round matches, with 14-year-old Yshai Oliel of Israel beating wild card David Mitchell 6-2, 6-2, Kentaro Mizushima of Japan defeating Hady Habib 6-2, 6-3 and Jack Van Slyke of Canada beating Nicolas Moreno De Alboran of Spain 7-5, 6-2.

All the seeded girls in action on Tuesday won, although two had very long tough matches on the Academy Park courts. No. 5 seed Gabby Ruse of Romania barely survived qualifier Aleksandra Pospelova of Russia 7-6(1), 4-6, 7-6(4).  And in an unfortunate first round rematch of Saturday night's Yucatan Cup Grade 1 girls final Sofya Zhuk of Russia defeated Luisa Stefani of Brazil for the second time in four days, this time by a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 score.

American girls advancing on Tuesday were Jessica Ho, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Ema Lazic of Great Britain, wild card Ingrid Neel, who won 6-4, 6-4 over Lucie Wargnier and qualifier Kylie McKenzie, who continued her impressive play with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Emily Smith of Great Britain.

In addition to McKenzie, two other qualifiers made the second round, with Karine Sarkisova of Russia outlasting wild card Maria Shishkina 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, and Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland defeating wild card Francesca DiLorenzo 7-6(2), 6-0. Lucky loser I-hsuan Cho of Taiwan advanced on Monday with a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Adeliya Zabirova of Russia.

The first round of doubles today saw the top girls seeds fall, with CiCi Bellis and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic losing to Anna Blinkova and Olesya Pervushina of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 11-9.  The No. 2 seeds in the boys draw, Hubert Hurkacz of Poland and Chan-Yeong Oh of Korea, lost to Casper Ruud of Norway and Mikael Ymer of Sweden 5-7, 6-4, 10-2.

Complete results and Wednesday's order of play can be found at the tournament website.

In the younger age divisions, a brief rain shower around 1:30 this afternoon caused an hour's delays as the hard courts dried, but all second round singles matches were completed.  Boys 12s top seed Zane Khan, girls 12s top seed Himari Kato of Japan, girls 14s top seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia and Boys 16s top seed Sam Riffice all advanced to round of 16 matches on Wednesday.  The bottom half of the 12s 14s and 16s third round will be played on Thursday.

Chen Survives Four-Hour Match at Eddie Herr ITF; Gordon Ousts 2013 Finalist Samir; Top Seeds Bellis, Chung Cruise in Openers

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Bradenton, FL--

It took an hour and a half to complete the first set, and nearly four hours to finish the match, yet Kelly Chen, who beat Olesya Pervushina of Russia 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(6) in the first round of the ITF Grade 1 Eddie Herr International, remembered a similar match in her recent past.

"It was last year, in San Diego, and I played Jessica Failla," said the 15-year-old from Cerritos, California. "On hard court. So I knew I could do it."

Pervushina, who is 14, saved a match point serving at 4-5 in the third set, with two of her shots in the rally clipping the netcord but staying in play as the crowd gathered around Court 6 held their collective breath. Chen eventually netted a backhand and a deft lob winner gave Pervushina a game point, which she converted by forcing a backhand error.

Chen was broken at love in the next game, with Pervushina hitting three winners, including another one via the lob. Serving for the match, Pervushina made an unforced backhand error, double faulted and missed a drop shot attempt badly. At 0-40, Chen hit a forehand winner, and three hours and 40 minutes from its start, a tiebreaker would decide the match.

With Chen leading 4-3 and serving in the tiebreaker, Pervushina broke a string early in the rally and came to the net, drawing Chen in with a volley. After a half dozen attempts by each girl to get the ball by her opponent, Chen finally put it out of Pervushina's reach and even indulged in some rare emotion, yelling "c'mon, let's go."

Chen then got a net cord winner on the next point, giving her three match points at 6-3, but Pervushina stayed with her, winning both points on her own serve when Chen made errors. Serving at 6-5, her fourth match point, Chen sent a backhand wide and Pervushina looked as if she might escape. But she sent a forehand approach wide to give Chen a fifth and final match point, with a Pervushina backhand going wide to end it.

"That girl's really good," said Chen. "I know she's younger than me and there's some pressure on my side, but overall, I thought I played well. In the second set I was a bit down, my hamstring started to get tight, and I was a bit slower. But I just kept telling myself to keep fighting."

Three other matches, all on the boys side, ended in third set tiebreakers.  Sixth seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden defeated Ulises Blanch 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3), Lian Yu Richard Lin of Taiwan defeated Aziz Dougaz of Tunisia 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(3), and Tung-lin Wu of Taiwan defeated Franco Capalbo of Argentina 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(5).

The top seeds had no difficulty in beginning their quest for an Eddie Herr title. Boys No. 1 Yunseong Chung of Korea beat wild card Jacob Hansen 6-0, 6-0 and girls No. 1 CiCi Bellis followed him on stadium court, posting a 6-1, 6-3 win over Canadian Charlotte Robillard-Millette.

Last year's finalist Sandra Samir of Egypt, the No. 8 seed this year, was defeated by 15-year-old Michaela Gordon 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.  Gordon had also defeated Samir earlier this year at Wimbledon.  No. 9 seed Raveena Kingsley and No. 12 seed Sonya Kenin advanced in straight sets, but the fourth seeded American girl, No. 11 Usue Arconada was beaten by 2010 Eddie Herr 12s champion Katarina Jokic of Serbia 7-6(5), 6-0. Wild cards Caroline Dolehide and Claire Liu were other US winners on Monday, with the US girls going 7-7 on the day. Seven more are in first round action on Tuesday.

The US boys were decidedly less successful, with a 3-10 record on the day. Number 13 seed William Blumberg and No. 16 seed Sameer Kumar won easily, as did unseeded Tommy Paul.  Three US boys, Nathan Ponwith, Anudeep Kodali and Robert Levine, retired from their matches.

Tuesday's schedule has eight US boys in first round singles action, including No. 2 seed Michael Mmoh, who plays qualifier Christian Sigsgaard of Denmark.

Doubles will begin on Tuesday, with Chung and Seong Chan Hong of Korea the top boys seeds and Bellis and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic the top girls seeds.

The first round of singles in the younger age divisions were played today, and the top seed in the boys 14s is already out.  Texan Jaycer Calleros defeated No. 1 Marko Miladinovic of Serbia 6-0, 6-7(2), 6-2.

Draws and order of play are available at the tournament website.

For scores of the 12s, 14s, and 16s, posted throughout the day, see the TennisLink site.