Ivanov secures boys’ crown while Lachinova and Lyutova sweep girls’ OB tennis titles
History was made in the USTA Junior Orange Bowl Championships on a picturesque Tuesday, but not by American hopeful Jack Kennedy.
His opponent, Ivan Ivanov, the No. 3 seed from Bulgaria, was far too powerful for the cerebral attack of Kennedy, the No. 6 seed from Huntington, New York, who fell 6-2, 6-3 in the boys’ 14 final on the hard courts at the Biltmore Tennis Center.
Ivanov, who will most likely be ranked No. 1 in the Europe-14U; became the first Bulgarian boy to win the 14s’ title in the tournament’s 61-year history. He surpassed countryman Grigor Dimitrov, a finalist in 2005, who went on to be ranked a career-high third on the ATP Tour in 2017 (now 28th).
“Of course, I’m proud but it’s nothing; it’s under 14s, so we continue,’’ admitted the 5-foot-10, muscular Ivanov, 14, who began training full-time at Rafael Nadal’s Tennis Academy in Spain in August. “Jack is a really good player but attacking is my style. I tried to make my best movement to be faster, to be stronger and I think I did it.”
It was a clean historic sweep in the 14s’ divisions for players from the ITF Grand Slam Player Development Program, who gives scholarships to 12 juniors from Europe and pays all of their expenses. Another recipient, Adelina Lachinova, the fourth seed from Latvia, became the first boy or girl from her country to win a Junior Orange Bowl 14s’ title after she stunned top-seeded Brit Hannah Klugman 6-1, 5-7, 6-3, thus avenging a loss to her in the ITF World Junior Tennis 14U team championships in August in Czech Republic.
“That was on clay; this was hard,’’ smiled Lachinova, via Russian translator Tomas Laukys, whose son Tomas Jr. reached the quarterfinals in the boys’ 12 division last week.
The usually poised Klugman seemed out of sorts from the start and a code violation for an audible obscenity handed Lachinova an early break. The Wimbledon native and resident, who owns an all-court solid attack with a formidable serve, had cruised in her first six matches without dropping a set while surrendering just 13 games.
On Tuesday, Klugman, just 13 and already ranked 489th in the ITF World Rankings for 18-and-unders, never seemed comfortable with Lachinova’s slower pace balls and was too impatient to stay in long rallies with an opponent who rarely made an error. Klugman’s powerful serve was negated by a sore shoulder, which led to several double faults and a medical timeout.
“I just didn’t play the right way,’’ said Klugman, who committed an unofficial, uncharacteristic 31 unforced errors in the first two sets to Lachinova’s 21.
“I was all over the place in the first set. … I wasn’t prepared to stay in the rallies. Obviously, she gets a lot back but taking it when you don’t have it, overplaying, which I did in the first set and the end as well. It’s a good learning experience.”
Lachinova got the critical break at 3-3 of the third set on another errant forehand from Klugman and held for 5-3. She broke Klugman again when the Brit curled a simple midcourt forehand into the net. Lachinova collapsed to the ground and seconds later let out a scream of joy.
“I can’t believe I won,’’ an emotional Lachinova said. “I’m very happy I won this tournament that [started] with 128 girls and I’m the best. I’m proud of myself.”
While Kennedy didn’t win the larger bowl of oranges in the trophy bowl, Russian immigrant Christina Lyutova, the No. 1 seed playing for the US (allowed by the USTA because she has a green card) achieved her year-long goal of winning the girls’ 12 title after losing in the finals last year with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 marathon victory over No. 2 seed Yeri Hong of Korea.
“When I was down 1-4 in the first set my [new] goal was just to focus and hit every ball in,’’ said Lyutova, 12, who lives in Redmond, Wash., where she trains at the Gorin Tennis Academy. “I wanted to win because last year I [lost] in the finals.”
Hong, 12, who was coming off a title at the Eddie Herr International Championships in Bradenton a few weeks ago, had been undefeated in her first trip out of Korea.
Utilizing a consistent attack with a wicked crosscourt backhand, Hong went up 4-1 in the deciding set before nerves set in, allowing Lyutova to win the final five games. Match point was an early Christmas gift as Hong’s wild backhand went astray.
“When she started to miss, I felt more like I can do it,’’ said Lyutova, who skipped Eddie Herr but won the girls’ 14s USTA National Indoors in Toledo, Ohio in November. “I just wanted to win so much.”
Not quite all-American, but Lyutova became the first US representative to win since Clervie Ngounoue in 2018. Next month she will move up two age levels to play the USTA Winter Nationals 16s in Orlando. Lyutova said she wanted a cat for Christmas but will happily settle for the Orange Bowl trophy.
An opportunistic Kennedy hadn’t dropped a set in his first six matches, partly because he didn’t face a seed higher than No. 17 after the second and fourth seeds withdrew at the last moment. Kennedy, who had a great month and year, won the USTA Clay Courts singles and doubles, the Herr doubles’ title and before coming to Miami was part of the winning US Team in the America’s Cup in Orlando.
“It’s definitely been an exciting month, full of ups and downs with the tournaments,’’ said Kennedy, who will head to Costa Rica in January to play ITF J4s. “This isn’t the result I wanted. … I knew he was a great player, but I was really shocked how he came out blazing in the first set.”
