©Colette Lewis 2008--
Carson, CA--
Top seed Melanie Oudin was up 6-1, 5-1 in her quarterfinal match with No. 6 seed Valeria Solovieva Friday afternoon, with another routine victory for the world's third-ranked junior all but in the books.
It turned out to be anything but, as the 15-year-old Russian fought back to take the second set in a tiebreaker and serve for the set in the third before falling 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-5.
Oudin's game definitely went off the boil in the second set, and Solovieva took full advantage, keeping the ball in play until Oudin missed. Serving for the match at 5-2 and 5-4, Oudin never got close to a match point, making four unforced errors in the tenth game to hand it to Solovieva. Both held in their next service games, Solovieva much more easily than Oudin, to reach the tiebreaker. Oudin gave up an early lead in the tiebreaker and a key overrule of the baseline judge by the chair umpire that went against Oudin proved critical, making the score 3-3 instead of 4-2. Solovieva played flawlessly after that point, even when missing her first serve, and after Oudin saved one set point with a backhand winner, Solovieva forced a backhand error from Oudin to even the match.
In the third set, the spectators at the Home Depot Center, who had been watching the other five singles matches, began to gather around court 5, to see if Oudin could extend the match long enough to find the game she had displayed all week. After Solovieva took a 2-0 lead and stopped Oudin's comeback to take a 5-3 lead, Oudin's prospects looked bleak. There was rhythmic clapping on changeovers from her friends among the players watching the match, and if she ever feared losing, it wasn't evident in her demeanor. Adjusting her strings, quickly moving on when a line call went against her, Oudin held at 5-3, to force Solovieva to serve out the match.
At 5-4, 30-15, an overrule by the chair umpire on the far sideline this time benefited Oudin, keeping Solovieva from two match points. Oudin then crushed a backhand winner down the line for a break point, and when Solovieva's backhand caught the tape on the next point, the match was even again.
Oudin struck another backhand winner at 40-30 to take a 6-5 lead, and when Solovieva took a 40-15 lead in the next game, a third-set tiebreaker loomed. But Oudin, who had difficulty getting the ball by Solovieva, even with her most forceful shots, blasted a forehand winner to make it 40-30 and made an jaw-dropping stab volley to bring it to deuce. Although Solovieva didn't show any signs of wilting, maintaining her positive body language, perhaps a bit of latent disappointment crept in, as she missed a backhand wide on the next point, to reach the first match point of the nearly three-hour-long match. Solovieva got her first serve in, but it was Oudin who took control of the point, hitting a huge forehand into Solovieva's backhand corner that she got to, but couldn't get back over the net.
"I wasn't going to think back, to say, Oh my gosh, I should already have won this match," Oudin said. "Because I think that was a little bit what I was thinking when I got down 5-3, that I should already be off the court. But then I thought, you're still on the court, and you can still beat her. I'm still playing, I still have energy, I'm okay. She started to make just a couple of errors, and I wasn't missing as much, and finally I ended up playing like I was in the beginning when I was winning."
"After 5-3, I started anticipating a lot better, hit some good volleys, and it started coming together. I believed I could beat her and I told myself I wasn't going to come off the court until I beat her."
Boys 18s top seed Alexei Grigorov of Russia couldn't find that same determination, as he fell 6-2, 6-4 to No. 10 seed Chase Buchanan. Grigorov didn't hold serve until Buchanan led 3-1 in the second set, and although there were many long points and games in the two-hour contest, Buchanan played much more consistent tennis.
"I just stayed on him the whole match," said Buchanan, who had lost in straight sets to Grigorov in the first round at last year's International Spring Championships. "You press him, he gets nervous, double faults and then slaps, so that was basically the game plan."
Buchanan will face friend and USTA Boca Raton training partner Jarmere Jenkins in the semifinals Saturday. The fifth-seeded Jenkins withstood a spirited challenge from unseeded Raymond Sarmiento before earning a 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3 victory over the 15-year-old, who also trains at Boca Raton.
The other semifinal will have No. 2 seed Bradley Klahn against No. 4 seed Borut Puc of Slovenia. Klahn defeated doubles partner Milos Raonic of Canada, the No. 8 seed 6-3, 6-2, while Puc dropped his first set of the tournament, but came back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over unseeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.
Oudin will meet No. 3 seed Gabriela Paz of Venezuela in Saturday's semifinals, the fourth time in the past eight months the two have met in ITF junior events, with Oudin winning the previous three in straight sets. Paz got past unseeded wild card Stacey Tan 6-3, 7-6(6) in Friday's quarterfinal.
Unseeded qualifier Danielle Lao continued her impressive play, taking out unseeded Missy Clayton 6-4, 6-4, to win her seventh straight-set match since last Saturday. Lao, who said she was lucky to even get into the qualifying given that she goes to regular school and doesn't play ITF events, had to contend with a second set strategy change by Clayton to close it out. Clayton, who couldn't dent the Lao fortress with pace, took to moonballing.
"I think she was really smart to do it," said Lao. "Especially with this wind. It has been done to me before, so I reflected back on how I handled those matches and I just decided to take the ball a little earlier, push her for time."
Lao will meet unseeded Jacqueline Cako in the semifinals. Cako overcame deficits in both sets to defeat unseeded Sloane Stephens 7-5, 6-3. Lao and Cako played recently in a Pacific Life Open prequalifying event, with Lao winning in straight sets.
The finals are set in the 16s division. Meeting for the boys title on Saturday will be top seed Christian Harrison and unseeded Dante Terenzio. Terenzio rolled past No. 2 seed Shane Vinsant 6-1, 6-2, while Harrison took out unseeded Shahak Bazrganian by the same score. The girls finalists are No. 8 seed Jennifer Kellner and No. 15 seed Gabrielle Desimone. Kellner took out top seed Chanelle Van Nguyen 6-3, 6-4, and will hope to repeat her win over Desimone in the Winter Nationals consolation draw. Desimone, a finalist in the 16s last year, defeated Amelia Herring 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in Friday's semifinal action.
The 16s boys doubles will feature No. 3 seeds Dan McCall and Nathan Pasha against the unseeded team of Skyler Davis and Arthur Karagaezian. The girls 16s doubles will be decided between top seeds Chanelle Van Nguyen and Caitlyn Williams and second seeds Jennifer Kellner and Manuela Velasquez.
The No. 1 seeds in both boys and girls 18s have reached the finals. Bradley Klahn and Milos Raonic take on unseeded Alexei Grigorov and Ryan Noble for the boys title Saturday, while Gabriela Paz and Valeria Solovieva also will face unseeded opponents, Jessica Alexander and Lauren Embree.
For complete draws and results, see the usta.com website.
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