50th JOBC International Tennis Championship Underway
Posted on 19. Dec, 2011 by alex.markel
in Tennis Championship
By: Michael Seff
Several top seeds were tested at the 50th Junior Orange Bowl championships in Coral Gables in Saturday's opening round of the Boys 14 & under before prevailing.
Top-seeded Bogdan Borza of Romania was taken to a third set by Chile's Rodrigo Budnik, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, while eighth-seeded Francis Tiafoe of Maryland also needed the maximum amount of sets to advance, 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.
Things went a little bit smoother for last year's U12 champion Michael Mmoh, also of Maryland. Unseeded this year, he ousted Serbia's Filip Grbic in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
“I have the same approach this year as last year,” Mmoh said afterwards. “Obviously the competition will be tougher because I'm competing with people older than me. I prepared much better this year than last year.”
Another seeded American worth watching in this year's tournament is Indianapolis' Sameer Kumar, who cruised into the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Canada's Harrison Scott. Kumar trains in Indianapolis with last year's U14 girls winner, Brooke Austin.
“I was trying to stay up on the baseline and get good returns, then the get the forehand and put it away,” Kumar said. “It's definitely going to get tougher each round.”
