Junior Circuits Abroad for Indian Kids...

[jayakris]

Qualifier Aditya Govilla (IND,514) lost 46 36 to Phoenix Weir (GBR,124), so we are done in singles at Eddie Herr J1 in Bradenton.

Yuvan and Max Batyutenko (KAZ) reached the doubles R2, and so did Aryan and Reiya Hattori (JAP). Doubles don't matter at the junior level much, but more doubles play always helps tune up the skills.

[jayakris]

(I posted it in the wrong place, along with the Indian junior circuit post earlier; sorry!)

Rethin Pranav S. (IND,321) is at the prestigious JA Orange Bowl in Plantation, Florida, USA, and has reached the final qualies. He beat Siddhartha Lama (USA,1213) by a 63 63 score and then upset the 16th seed Patrick Jozwicki (AUT,260), 62 67(3) [10-6]. He plays 16 year old, 6th seed Thanaphat Boosarawongse (THA,158) next. The other Indians in the qualies, Aditya Govilla and Cahir Warik, could not repeat their good work in the J1 qualies in Florida last week, and went down in the Q1 round.

[jayakris]

Rethin went down in the Q3 to 6th seed Thanaphat Boosarawongse (THA,158), 26 46, but he made it into the main draw as a lucky loser. Really nice to make the grade-A Orange Bowl main draw just after turning 15. Orange Bowl is considered to almost be the 5th grand slam (though it is not quite that!).

In the main draw,

[R1] Aryan Shah (IND,74) vs (WC) Cooper Woestendick (USA,261)
[R1] Yuvan Nandal (IND,85) vs Jonathan Irwanto (USA,120)
[R1] (LL) Rethin Pranav Senthilkumar (IND,321) vs (9) Danil Panarin (RUS,38)

Rethin got a very tough R1 match-up, but this is great early experience for him, to gauge the level of play by the best among the 17 and 18 year old. Aryan and Yuvan (who turned 17 in Nov and July this year) will hopefully do better than they did last week in the R1 matches at the Eddie Herr J1.

Both Panarin and Irwanto were in QFs at Eddie Herr, and Cooper had upset a top-70 player to make the 3rd round there too. Irwanto is also runner-up from the prestigious Osaka Mayor's Cup Grade-A last month. These are not easy matches at all, and I will be very glad to see a win from one or two of our three guys there.

[jayakris]

It was unfortunate that no Indian girls are in the year-end J1 and JA events in the USA. Shruti Ahlawat, the only top-50 junior from India, would have made the main draw everywhere (and would be the 15th seed at the Orange Bowl), but she isn't there. I am not sure if she is not getting support for traveling (if so, what is wrong with you AITA?), or if she is still affected by some physical issue that she seems to have had for the last 3 events she played after winning the Asian Juniors JB1 in Pune in September.

[jayakris]

[R1] Yuvan Nandal (IND,85) l. Jonathan Irwanto (USA,120), 57 62 16

When he got back into it and took the second set, I kinda felt that Yuvan may not keep up that level of play. And he folded sorta like I felt he might. This is like the third or 4th match in a row against top players that he has done this. Need to keep focus, Yuvan, and keep your mind in check!

I saw Yuvan play against Campana Lee on live stream from Korea, and felt he has really good tools (as I reported above). He could've beaten top-10 Campana Lee too, and didn't... I see some hints of a RamK in him, which is good and bad. But I am high on Yuvan. I think he will get there. He is getting lots of experience from these matches, early. I guess Australian Open juniors is up next for the 17 year old.

Aryan and Rethin play their R1 matches tomorrow, at the Orange Bowl Grade-A.

[jayakris]

At the JA Orange Bowl in Plantation (Forida), USA, clay:

[R1] Aryan Shah (IND,74) d. (WC) Cooper Woestendick (USA,227), 64 36 63
[R1] (LL) Rethin Pranav SenthilKumar (IND,325) l. (9) Danil Panarin (RUS,39), 64 57 26

Oooh, a much tougher fight than expected from young Rethin against the 9th seed, who escaped from the brink. I think Rethin is playing on American Har-Tru grey clay for the first time, and it is terrific that he made it to the main draw and played such a good match, even in a loss. Aryan got past Cooper, who was also not an easy opponent. He will play the 11th seed Hayden Jones (AUS,55) in the R32 round.

[gbelday]

Good fight by Rethin and a solid win for Aryan. Cooper isn’t an easy opponent. He doesn’t have much of an offensive game but is a very crafty player. The one that misses the most loses the match Rethin seems to be the real deal.

Movement on these green clay courts is really tough (can’t slide) and different than red clay. They’ve also been doing a pretty bad job at watering the courts. Very dry and the clay flies around a lot. In Mexico, they water after every 4 games and sweep and water again after the matches. Here, they went through 6 matches and didn’t water or sweep once. Lots of players struggling with their movement, slipping and falling etc.

Rohan had a bit of a forgettable few weeks results wise but lots of positives to take back. He is a lot more comfortable on clay now (we play 7 months indoors). Has to be much for physical on clay to succeed with his game style. Good thing is that he’s not down on himself. We will mostly likely go to India, play the Delhi J2 and head to meet up family in Hyderabad after that. Hopefully, he can adapt well to the Delhi weather!

[jayakris]

^^^ Yeah, the US green clay is weird! It really shouldn't be called clay, except it is slow like clay, I guess. Good experience for the kids though, in adjusting their tennis to all these different courts. The bread and butter hard courts will feel easier later. Looks like it is time for Rohan to hit the gym and get stronger, which is a big key to go deeper in these junior events and get more matches to improve.

Meanwhile, Aryan Shah and Reiya Hattori (JPN,142), who had won two rounds to get to QFs in doubles at Eddie Herr last week, just upset the 7th seeds at the Orange Bowl to make R16. A humdinger match 64 46 [16-14] against Rei Sakamoto (JPN) and Jelani Sarr (USA). They play Atakan Karahan (TUR) and Hoyoung Roh (KOR) in the PQF. Also, Yuvan Nandal and Aayush Bhat beat Leonardo Dal Boni and Tygen Goldammer of USA, 64 76(3), and face Alexander Frusina and Marko Mesarovic of USA in the PQF.

[jayakris]

At the Orange Bowl JA in Plantation, Florida, USA (green clay), Aryan lost to the 11th seed Hayden Jones (AUS,55), 57 16... He was down a break in the 3rd game, and broke back, but got broken at 5-6 and could no longer mount a comeback.

Aryan Shah and Reiya Hattori (JPN,142) beat Atakan Karahan (TUR) and Hoyoung Roh (KOR), 76(4) 63 to reach QF, but Yuvan and Aayush Bhat went down to Alexander Frusina and Marko Mesarovic of USA, 36 46. Aryan and Hattori play the 4th seeded Bulgarian pair, Adriano Dzhenev and Iliyan Radulov in the QF.

[sameerph]

Tanish Pahwa India #1 in AITA under 12 rankings reached SF at Orange Bowl Tennis and QF at Eddie Herr QF in last 2 weeks beating some good players from Europe and US. Manas Dhamne clinched the under 12 title at Eddie Herr and reached SF at Orange Bowl in 2019.Good to see another of top junior looking good at world level.

[sameerph]

Our top juniors started their Australian tour with a J300 ( previously G1) tournament.

Yuvan and Shruti won their first round matches while Manas and Aryan lost.

At J300 Traralgon, Australia

[R1] Yuvan Nandal (IND,51) d. (Q) Iannia Miletich (ITA,177) 26 75 63
[R1] Aryan Shah (IND,39) l. Hoyoung Roh (KOR,49) 36 67(6)
[R1] Manas Dhamane (IND,69) l. (2) Alexander Blockx (BEL,10) 36 36

[R1] Shruti Ahalawat (IND,72) d. Roisin Gilheany (AUS,153) 62 36 63

Manas lost to a top 10 player but expected a better fight.

Next,

[R2] Yuvan Nandal (IND,51) vs. (5) Cooper Williams (USA,16)

[R2] Shruti Ahalawat (IND,72) vs. (5) Sakaya Isshi (JPN,13)

Tough matches next.

[sameerph]

Both Yuvan and Shruti lost in second round.

At J300 Traralgon, Australia

[R2] Yuvan Nandal (IND,51) l. (5) Cooper Williams (USA,16) 67(9) 36

[R2] Shruti Ahalawat (IND,72) l. (5) Sakaya Isshi (JPN,13) 75 16 06

[sameerph]

Asia Pacific Elite under 14 tournament was held on the sidelines of Australian open this week where top 8 under 14 players from Asia and Oceania were invited.

In the boys section, Arnav Paparkar ( who had shown some good results in team under 14 event last year) went on to win the title. He beat players from Korea, Japan and Singapore at group state to top his group and then beat a Chinese players in the SF 61 60 and a Thai in the final 63 60. Apart from wins, his scorelines in all 5 wins were impressive with him not dropping more than 3 games in any set in his 5 wins. I think I had mentioned him as one to keep an eye on after the Asian team under 14 and now he looks even more impressive.

In the girls section, 13 year Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi ( whom we talked about earlier in Indian ITF tournaments) represented us. However, she finished only third in her group losing to a Japanese who went on to win the tile and a Korean in group stage. In classification matches, she beat players from NZ and Australia to finish fifth.

This is the AITA tweet on same with photo-

[PKBasu]

Karman won a similar junior tournament at the AO in her time, IIRC. The key is to build on this over the next few years. Difficult to know what to make of these junior tournaments actually...

[jayakris]

^^^ I don't know about Arnav much, but Maya Rajeshwaran does seem to be a very good prospect so far. Enough evidence and eye-witness reports on that so far!