©Colette Lewis 2007--
Miami, FL--
Seventeen-year-old Mike McClune hasn't played many junior events in the past year, concentrating instead on the Futures circuit, and it paid off for him against top seed Fernando Romboli in Wednesday's quarterfinal match at the Luxilon Cup. McClune used an aggressive strategy to crush the Brazilian 6-4, 6-0 on a warm and sunny Wednesday afternoon on Key Biscayne.
"I knew he was going to get a lot of balls back," said McClune of the ITF's third-ranked junior. "And I'm not really a grinder, so I can't really hang with him there. So I felt my only chance was coming in and looking to move forward."
In the first set, McClune secured an early break, then another to take a 5-1 lead. Romboli made it interesting by thwarting McClune when he was serving for the set at 5-2 and holding in the next game, but the Californian played a strong service game to grab the set.
When Romboli, who was a finalist at last week's Grade A on clay in Brazil, couldn't hold his first service game of the second set, it seemed to deflate him, and with McClune getting 69% of his first serves in, there wasn't much hope that he would get the break back. McClune, who had a total of nine aces, continued to press the 18-year-old Brazilian, and closed out the second set quickly.
"I'm really happy right now," said McClune. "Just the way I played--no matter who it is--I just want to go off the court feeling good about the way I played, how I closed it out."
While the boys' No. 1 seed was an upset victim, the girls top seed, Sorana Cirstea of Romania, avoided the same fate, easing by 15-year-old Julia Boserup 7-6 (1), 6-1.
The key game in the match, with Boserup serving at 5-4 in the first set, saw Cirstea fail to convert nine break chances in the nine-deuce game, but she finally pulled even when Boserup double faulted on the tenth.
"After I won that game, I tried to be more confident," said Cirstea, who turns 17 next month. "In the second set, I was happy about my game. My serve was going like usual. In the first set, I was missing too much, wasn't feeling the ball too well."
Boserup, who had one set point in that tenth game of the first set, didn't crumble, holding at 5-6 to force a tiebreak, but it was the more experienced Cirstea who stepped up her game, while Boserup chipped in with several unforced errors.
"I let down a little bit," said Boserup of her performance in the second set. "I wasn't feeling that great, I didn't have as much energy, my left leg was feeling off. But I need to keep on working on what I'm doing, so even if it's a tough first set, I can keep it going in the second and take it to the third."
There was only one third set in Wednesday's eight matches, and it wasn't completed. Jamie Hampton of Alabama moved into the semifinals when No. 2 seed Naomi Cavaday of Great Britain retired, giving Hampton a 3-6, 6-4, 2-1 victory. Cavaday, suffering from a fever prior to the match, decided to take the court, and outhit Hampton in the first set. But in the second, Hampton began to get her all-court game on track, took an early lead and held on to force a third.
Hampton, 17, will meet No. 3 seed Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia in Thurday's semifinal. Pivovarova, 16, defeated Floridian Allie Will 6-4, 6-4. Cirstea meets Petra Martic of Croatia, who dismissed Tammy Hendler of Belgium 6-3, 6-1, in under an hour.
McClune's opponent on Thursday is Gastao Elias of Portugal, who, like McClune, is unseeded. Elias, 16, eliminated No. 3 seed Guillermo Rivera of Chile 6-3, 6-3. The bottom half of the draw has gone more according to form. The No. 4 seed, Kei Nishikori of Japan, was a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Arizona's Tyler Hochwalt, and will face No. 2 seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. Berankis didn't face a break point in his 6-3, 6-4 win over Devin Britton of Mississippi.
For full draws, see the Sony Ericsson website.
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