Mayo, Hashimoto fall in Orange Bowl doubles finals

   Northern California came up empty in two Orange Bowl finals today in Plantation, Fla.
   In boys 18 doubles, third-seeded Mikolaj Lorens of Poland and Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan beat unseeded Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela and Aidan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento, Calif., area 6-4, 6-4.
   In boys 16 doubles, top-seeded Daniel Rincon of Spain and Abedallah Shelbayh of Jordan dominated fifth-seeded Ozan Colak of Okemos, Mich., and Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose, Calif., 6-1, 6-2.
   Earlier today, Claverie and Mayo, 16, edged top-seeded Dali Blanch of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Thiago Augustin Tirante of Argentina 2-6, 6-4 [12-10] in the semifinals.
  The Orange Bowl was founded by Eddie Herr in 1947. It was played on clay until 1998, then on hardcourts until 2011. It has been contested on clay again since then.
   Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18s include International Tennis Hall of Famers Chris Evert (1969-70), Bjorn Borg (1972), John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Gabriela Sabatini (1984) and Jim Courier (1987).
   Winners of the tournament on hardcourts include Roger Federer (1998), Andy Roddick (1999), Marcos Baghdatis (2003) and Caroline Wozniacki (2005).

Hashimoto reaches Orange Bowl boys 16 doubles final

   Fifth-seeded Ozan Colak of Okemos, Mich., and Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose, Calif., trounced unseeded Marc Othman Ktiri of Spain and Brayden Michna of Taylor, Texas, 6-2, 6-1 today to reach the Orange Bowl boys 16 doubles final in Plantation, Fla.
   Colak and Hashimoto will face top-seeded Daniel Rincon of Spain and Abedallah Shelbayh of Jordan.
   Meanwhile, unseeded Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela and Aidan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento, Calif., area edged fifth-seeded Arthur Fery and Felix Gill of Great Britain 6-4, 2-6 [12-10] in the boys 18 quarterfinals.
   Claverie and Mayo, 16, will meet top-seeded Dali Blanch of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Thiago Augustin Tirante of Argentina.

Ovrootsky loses in Orange Bowl girls 16 quarters

   No. 10 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada outlasted No. 13 seed Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose, Calif., 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 today in the girls 16 quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla.
   Ovrootsky also fell in the quarters of last week's Eddie Herr International in Bradenton, Fla. She won the doubles title with Sarah Hamner of Fort Collins, Colo.
   Meanwhile, Northern Californians Aidan Mayo and Hugo Hashimoto advanced in boys doubles in the Orange Bowl.
   Unseeded Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela and Mayo, 16, of Roseville in the Sacramento area, upended fourth-seeded Eliakim Coulibaly of the Ivory Coast and Lukas Neumayer of Austria 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals in the 18s.
   Fifth-seeded Ozan Colak of Okemos, Mich., and Hashimoto edged fourth-seeded Gonzalo Bueno of Peru and Francisco Lamas Villarroel of Venezuela 7-5, 4-6 [10-4] in the quarters of the 16s.
   The Orange Bowl was founded by Eddie Herr in 1947. It was played on clay until 1998, then on hardcourts until 2011. It has been contested on clay again since then.
   Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18s include Chris Evert (1969-70), Bjorn Borg (1972), John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Gabriela Sabatini (1984), Mary Joe Fernandez (1985), Jim Courier (1987) and Anna Kournikova (1995).
   Winners of the tournament on hardcourts include Roger Federer (1998), Elena Dementieva (1998), Andy Roddick (1999), Vera Zvonareva (2000-01), Marcos Baghdatis (2003) and Caroline Wozniacki (2005).

Volynets wins USTA girls 18s, earns U.S. Open berth

Katie Volynets became the third Northern Californian
to win a USTA 18 national singles title in six years.
Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   Katie Volynets is headed to the U.S. Open.
   The 17-year-old resident of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeded second, beat third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., 6-2, 6-4 today to win the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets, a Walnut Creek native whose parents are Ukrainian, received an automatic wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 26-Sept. 8 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   She became the third Northern Californian to win a USTA 18 national singles title in six years, joining Collin Altamirano (2013) and Jenson Brooksby (2018). All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento.
   Volynets bolted to a 4-0 lead against Navarro.
   "The key was starting really well and maintaining the level of play like I wanted to," Volynets said in a news release. "I was really energetic and focused on court and pumped myself up constantly.
   "After I won match point, I had a surge of energy and joy. It means so much to me, and I'm excited to go play (the U.S. Open). I've been working on this for a long time."
   Meanwhile, Sacramento-area product Aidan Mayo lost a heartbreaker in the final of the USTA Boys 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla., outlasted the fourth-seeded Mayo, who now lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. Mayo had a match point at 5-3 in the third set.
   Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose won the boys 16 doubles title with Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md. Seeded seventh, they beat 11th-seeded Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Aiden Kim of Chantilly, Va., 6-4, 6-3.

Bay Area's Volynets reaches Girls 18 National final

Katie Volynets, shown earlier in the week, could become the third Northern Calif-
ornian to win a USTA Boys or Girls 18 National singles title in six years. Photo
courtesy of JFS Communications 

   Second-seeded Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area beat 13th-seeded Katrina Scott, 15, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles region 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 today in the semifinals of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets is scheduled to face third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., on Sunday at 2 p.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). The winner will receive a wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 26-Sept. 8 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Navarro, who won the French Open girls doubles title with Alexa Noel of Summit, N.J., in June, crushed top-seeded Hailey Baptiste of Washington, D.C., 6-0, 6-2.
   Volynets is 2-0 against Navarro in International Tennis Federation junior tournaments. Volynets won their last meeting 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in the Easter Bowl 18 semifinals on a hardcourt in April 2018 in Indian Wells, Calif. Volynets went on to win the title.
   Volynets could join Collin Altamirano (2013) and Jenson Brooskby (2018) as the third Northern Californian to win the USTA Boys or Girls 18 National singles title in six years. All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento.
   In Kalamazoo, Mich., fourth seed and Sacramento-area product Aidan Mayo topped 19th-seeded Alex Finkelstein of Raynham, Mass., 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the USTA Boys 16 National Championships. Finkelstein was coming off a three-set victory over second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz, Calif.
   Mayo, who now lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, will face top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla. Bernard beat seventh-seeded Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Fla., 6-2, 6-4.
   In the boys 16 doubles semifinals, seventh-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md., outlasted 13th-seeded Casper and Jameson Corsillo of Boca Raton, Fla., 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-4.
   The match ended with a game penalty against Casper and Corsillo for unsportsmanlike conduct, Colette Lewis reported on ZooTennis. A line umpire reported a threatening remark to the chair after a point had been assessed earlier in the set for comments about a line call.
   Hashimoto and Kittay will meet 11th-seeded Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Aiden Kim of Chantilly, Va. Brown and Kim surprised second-seeded Thomas Paulsell of Seattle and Frank Thompson of Blacksburg, Va., 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7).
   Aspen Schuman of Menlo Park in the Bay Area won the doubles title in the USTA Girls 12 National Championships in Alpharetta, Ga., with Haylee Conway of Bellevue, Wash. Seeded first, they beat fifth-seeded Kate Fakih of Arcadia in the Los Angeles region and Victoria Osuigwe (pronounced Oh-sig-way) of Bradenton, Fla., 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

San Jose's Ovrootsky reaches Girls 16 National semis

Second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky will meet 14th-seeded Reese
Brantmeier of Whitewater, Wis., in the semifinals of the USTA
Girls 16 National Championships in San Diego. 2018 photo by
Paul Bauman

   Second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose routed 33rd-seeded Kida Ferrari of Fairhope, Ala., 6-2, 6-2 today in the quarterfinals of the USTA Girls 16 National Championships in San Diego.
   Ovrootsky is set to meet 14th-seeded Reese Brantmeier of Whitewater, Wis., on Friday. Brantmeier outplayed 17th-seeded Gracie Epps of Norman, Okla., 6-2, 6-3.
   In the girls 18 quarterfinals in San Diego, second-seeded Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek will play fifth-seeded Connie Ma, 16, of Dublin in an all-San Francisco Bay Area matchup. Both lost in the first round of the recent $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Women's Challenge.
   Volynets and Ma advanced with straight-set victories, but 33rd-seeded Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa region lost to third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., 6-3, 6-2. Navarro won the French Open girls doubles title with compatriot Chloe Beck in June.
   In girls 12 quarterfinals in Alpharetta, Ga., third-seeded Kinley Vanpelt of Lawrence, Kan., topped fifth-seeded Alexis Nguyen of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area 6-4, 7-6 (tiebreaker score not available).
   Both remaining Northern California boys lost in the round of 16 of the 18s in Kalamazoo, Mich. Top-seeded Brandon Nakashima of San Diego dominated 33rd-seeded Ryder Jackson of Nicasio in the Bay Area 6-3, 6-0, and 10th-seeded Eliot Spizzirri of Greenwich, Conn., outlasted 33rd-seeded Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-4.
   Three boys with NorCal ties – second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz; fourth-seeded Aidan Mayo, a resident of Torrance in the Los Angeles region who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville; and 32nd-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose – reached the quarterfinals of the 16s in Kalamazoo.
   In the boys 14 quarters in Mobile, Ala., 13th-seeded Joseph Phillips of Alpharetta ousted second-seeded Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills 6-2, 6-2.

San Jose's Hashimoto earns big doubles title in boys 16s

   Sixth-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md., edged second-seeded Jack Anthrop of Orlando, Fla., and Max Fardanesh of Albany in the San Francisco Bay Area 3-6, 7-6 (2) [10-8] today to win the boys 16 doubles title at the Eddie Herr International Junior Championship in Bradenton, Fla.
   Hashimoto and Kittay won a match tiebreaker for the second consecutive day. They topped unseeded Aleksandr Kalinin of Belarus and Mark Lajal of Estonia 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5) [10-5] in Friday's semifinals.
   Four of Anthrop and Fardanesh's five matches went to match tiebreakers.
   Past competitors in the Eddie Herr include former world No. 1 players Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic. Herr, the father of international junior tennis, died in 2000 at 93.

Brooksby, 18, loses; NorCal juniors in Herr doubles final

Amateur Jenson (J.T.) Brooksby, practicing in May, lost
 in his first semifinal in a professional tournament. Photo
by Paul Bauman

   Jenson (J.T.) Brooksby, an 18-year-old wild card and amateur from the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, lost today in his first semifinal in a professional tournament.
   Brooksby, the reigning USTA boys 18 national champion, fell to unseeded Maxime Cressy of France 6-3, 6-4 in the $25,000 Waco (Texas) Futures. Brooksby, who's headed to Texas Christian, stunned top-seeded Michael Redlicki in the second round.
   Cressy, a 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) senior at UCLA, will meet unseeded Michael Geerts of Belgium in Saturday's final. Geerts, who completed his eligibility at Arizona State in May, dismissed unseeded Jacob Dunbar, a former University of Richmond star from Medina, Ohio, 6-3, 6-3.
   Eddie Herr -- A Northern Californian will win the boys 16 doubles title in the Eddie Herr International Junior Championship in Bradenton, Fla.
   Second-seeded Jack Anthrop of Orlando, Fla., and Max Fardanesh of Albany in the San Francisco Bay Area will play sixth-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md. Both teams advanced to the final by winning match tiebreakers 10-5.
   In the boys 12 singles semifinals, sixth-seeded Maximus Dussault of Leesburg, Va., edged top-seeded Rudy Quan of Roseville in the Sacramento area 5-7, 6-2 [10-6].
   Quan also lost in the doubles quarterfinals with Andrew Rundle of Simpsonville, S.C. Seeded first, they fell to sixth-seeded Asror Ismoilov of Omaha, Neb., and Atakan Karahan of Turkey 7-6 (3), 2-6 [10-3].

Kratzer wins national 18s for spot in U.S. Open

Ashley Kratzer defeated Kelly Chen 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to win the USTA
Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego. Kratzer, an 18-year-
old left-hander from Newport Beach, was the runner-up in last
month's $50,000 Stockton Challenger. Photo courtesy of USTA

   No Northern Californians won titles in last week's USTA National Championships for juniors at various sites around the country.
   But Ashley Kratzer, the runner-up in last month's $50,000 Stockton Challenger, captured the Girls 18s in San Diego to earn a wild card in the U.S. Open. The year's last Grand Slam tournament is scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 10.
   No. 3 seed Kratzer, an 18-year-old left-hander from Newport Beach, defeated No. 33 Kelly Chen of Cerritos 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the final. Newport Beach and Cerritos are in the Los Angeles area.
   Kratzer eliminated No. 6 Michaela Gordon of Saratoga, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, 7-5, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. Kratzer turned pro late last year. Gordon will enroll at Stanford next month.
   No. 8 seed Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., defeated No. 17 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek, Calif., 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the round of 16 in a battle of decorated 15-year-olds.
   Osuigwe won the French Open junior title in June. Volynets last December became the first girl to win the 16s in the Eddie Herr International Championships and Orange Bowl in the same year. The tournaments were held in consecutive weeks in Bradenton, Fla., on hardcourts and Plantation, Fla., on clay, respectively.
   In the Boys 18s in Kalamazoo, Mich., No. 1 seed Sam Riffice, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, lost to No. 5 JJ Wolf of Cincinnati 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Riffice, now based at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., has verbally committed to the University of Florida for next year.
   In the Girls 14s in Rome, Ga., No. 1 seed Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose lost to No. 16 Bridget Stammel of Dallas 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the round of 16. Ovrootsky swept the 12s singles and doubles titles at the USTA Winter Nationals in Tucson, Ariz., in January. She turned 13 on July 15.
   Other results of NorCal players who reached the later rounds:

BOYS

In Kalamazoo, Mich.

18-and-under

Doubles quarterfinals

   Nathan Perrone, Moorestown, N.J., and Jake Van Emburgh, Belleair Beach, Fla., def. Sam Riffice and Gianni Ross (4), Orlando, Fla., 6-4, 7-5.

   Oliver Crawford, Spartanburg, S.C., and Patrick Kypson (2), Greenville, N.C., def. Austen Huang, Elk Grove, Calif., and Sean Sculley (12), Hilton Head Island, S.C., 6-4, 6-4.

16-and-under

Doubles semifinals

   Will Grant, Boca Raton, Fla., and Tyler Zink (3), Bradenton, Fla., def. Robert Cash, New Albany, Ohio, and Ryder Jackson (1), Nicasio, Calif., 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

In Mobile, Ala.

14-and-under

Singles quarterfinals

   Andrew Chang (17), Trophy Club, Texas, def. Luke Neal, Mill Valley, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
   Ben Shelton (17), Gainesville, Fla., def. Luke Casper (10), Santa Cruz, Calif., 6-4, 6-4.

Singles semifinals

   Saud Alhogbani (4), Alexandria, Va., def. Hugo Hashimoto (17), San Jose, Calif., 6-4, 6-0.

Doubles semifinals

   Connor Krug and Jake Krug (1), Lakewood Ranch, Fla., def. Alex Han, Tulsa, Okla., and Hugo Hashimoto (6), San Jose, Calif., 7-5, 7-6 (6).

12-and-under

Singles quarterfinals

   Aidan Kim (1), Milford, Mich., def. Kurt Miller, Los Gatos, Calif., 7-5, 6-2.

Doubles semifinals

   Lucas Brown, Plano, Texas, and Learner Tien (1), Irvine, Calif., def. Kurt Miller, Los Gatos, Calif., and Andrew Salu (3), Sarasota, Fla., 7-5, 6-3.

GIRLS

In San Diego

16-and-under

Singles semifinals

   Angelica Blake (9), Boca Raton, Fla., def. Connie Ma, Dublin, Calif., 6-2, 6-3.

In Rome, Ga.

14-and-under

Doubles quarterfinals

   Hibah Shaikh, Teaneck, N.J., and Madison Sieg (2), Greenwich, Conn., def. Kimberly Hance, Torrance, Calif., and Yuu Ishikawa (5), Los Altos, Calif., 7-6 (5), 6-2.  

NorCal sweeps boys No. 1 rankings, earns five overall

Roger Federer posed with Sam Riffice, far left, five years
ago at the La Quinta resort in the Palm Springs area. Riffice,
12 at the time, is now over 6 feet tall. Also shown are Riffice's
coach, Amine Khaldi, second from left, and Khaldi's friend
Steve Mohibi. Photo courtesy of Amine Khaldi.

   Northern California, tennis capital of the United States?
   Not long ago, the notion would have been laughable. Now, though, NorCal can make a strong claim to that title.
   In a stunning achievement, Northern California has swept the No. 1 boys national singles rankings and earned five of the eight top spots overall.
   Even more surprising, three of the four top-ranked boys are from the Sacramento region rather than the far more populous San Francisco Bay Area.
   Heading the USTA boys rankings are Sam Riffice of Granite Bay in the 18s, Austen Huang of Elk Grove in the 16s, Stefan Leustian of Mather in the 14s and Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose in the 12s.
   Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek is ranked No. 1 in the girls 14s, and Sara Choy of Palo Alto is No. 2 in the girls 16s.
   Also, CiCi Bellis of Atherton in the Bay Area ended 2014 as the world's top junior, and the Cal women head the college rankings.
   Riffice, who will turn 17 on March 1, swept the boys 18 singles and doubles titles in the USTA Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla., last July and reached the boys 18 quarterfinals of the prestigious Orange Bowl on clay in Plantation, Fla., in December. He trains at the USTA center in Boca Raton, Fla.
   Huang won the boys 16 singles title in the USTA National Winter Championships in late December and early January in Scottsdale, Ariz.
   Leustian earned the boys 14s singles crown in the recent Les Petits As (Small Champions) in Tarbes, France, and advanced to the boys 14 singles final in the Winter Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
   Past winners of Les Petits As, for 12s and 14s, include Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang, Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters.
   Hashimoto won the boys 12s consolation singles title in the Winter Nationals.
   Volynets took the girls 14s singles crown in the USTA National Championships in Peachtree City, Ga., last August. Choy captured the girls 16s singles title in the Winter Nationals in Scottsdale.
   Other girls earning national No. 1 singles rankings were Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., in the 18s, Natasha Subhash of Fairfax, Va., in the 16s and Elvina Kalieva of Pembroke Pines in the 12s.