Top B14 Seeds Advance to Round of 16 at 50th International Tennis Championship

By: Michael Seff
As has been the theme through the first three rounds of the Junior Orange Bowl championship in the Boys 14 & under field, the seeded players bent but did not break, withstanding valiant efforts from their counterparts.

Top-seeded Bogdan Borza of Romania actually found the third round to be his easiest yet, as it was the first time in three days he did not need three sets to dispose of his opponent. Borza had much less of a struggle in his 6-3, 6-2 victory over Taiwan's Chien-Hsun Lo.

“I was very relaxed at the start because I didn't think he was going to play so well,” Borza said afterwards. “The first game wasn't great but then I started to play better. Today my backhand was a little better, especially in the second set.”

Borza will take on No. 16 Tommy Paul of Greenville, N.C., who advanced by defeating Aleksandre Bakshi, 6-1, 6-4.

Elsewhere, San Jose's Cameron Klinger, the No. 2 seed, battled for a 6-1, 6-4 win over Karlo Lozic, while No. 8 Francis Tiafoe of Maryland needed three hard-fought sets to outlast Arturo Schmidt, 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4.

“I'm going to enjoy this win, get a good night's sleep and go back to work tomorrow,” an tired Tiafoe said following his match.

The girls U14 field featured one major upset, with No. 2 seeded Maria Shishkina of Bradenton succumbing to Los Angeles' Emma Higuchi in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. A pair of No. 9 seeds fell in Ndindi Ndudna and Jaqueline Cristian, but the rest of the seeded players moved on.

That included Boca Raton's Ali Tornado Black, the top-seeded player who was forced out of last year's field due to injury, continued her dominance with a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Meredith Xepoleas.

In the boys U12, the two top seeds, No. 1 Artem Dubrivnyy of Russia and No. 2 Alexander del Corral of Doral, advanced with straight set wins over Aleksandar Petrovic and Trent Bryde, respectively. Dubrivnyy won his match, 6-0, 6-2, with del Corral winning, 6-1, 6-2.

Third-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia needed three sets to oust Philipp Klimov, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

And in the girls U12, six of the eight No. 1 seeds advanced, with the exception of Dominique Schaefer and Ryan Peus.

Sofia Zhuk of Russia needed won in straight sets but was taken to the limit in both, 7-6 (10), 7-5.

The round of 16 will be played tomorrow, with the finals for the boys 14 & under, girls 14 & under, and girls 12 & under being held at the University of Miami Tennis Center on December 23 at 9:00 a.m. Salvadore Park will host the boys 12 & under finals.