There have been a lot of interesting
comments posted recently on whether the Junior Orange Bowl or Les Petits As is the most prestigious title for 14-and-under tennis players. I'm leaning toward Les Petits As myself, although I've never been there, just because Hanna Orlik felt that she needed to play it, even though she won the Eddie Herr and Junior Orange Bowl back-to-back last year.
To no one's surprise, Orlik is through to the round of 16, as are all four U.S. girls who made the trip to Europe--Grace Min, Nicole Gibbs, Ellen Tsay and Sloan Stephens. Min, a qualifier, upset the third seed Wednesday in straight sets, while Tsay, who also qualified, took out the 15th seed, losing only two games in the process. Stephens, seeded 12th, and Gibbs, at No. 8, also posted easy wins on Wednesday. Gibbs and Stephens are paired in doubles, and the No. 4 seeds advanced to the quarterfinals with a straight set win on Wednesday.
Emmett Egger and Christian Harrison, who lost in the doubles final at Teen Tennis last week, have also reached the quarterfinals in doubles and the round of 16 in singles. Egger, seeded 7th, and Harrison, seeded 8th, have recorded straight-set victories the past two days in singles and survived a third set super tiebreak in their first round doubles match. The sixth seeds won in straight sets Wednesday to set up a quarterfinal clash with the third seeded team from the Czech Republic on Thursday.
The tournament's website is
here. 
