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| 09 Dec 2006 - Tim Curry | |
| Luncanu Upsets Young in Orange Bowl Semis |
No. 1 seed Nicolas Santos of Brazil will attempt to become the first player since Andy Roddick in 1999 to sweep the boys’ singles titles at the Eddie Herr International and Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships when he faces No. 3 Petru Alexandru Luncanu in the final on Sunday. No. 2 Ksenia Milevskaya and No. 9 Nikola Hofmanova will meet for the girls’ title after both winning in three sets in the semifinals.
Santos defeated unseeded Canadian Peter Polansky, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals to win his 11th consecutive match during the past two weeks to become the first Brazilian to reach the finals here since Bruno Soares lost to Bulgaria’s Tudor Enev in the 2000 title match. Santos has won 18 of his last 19 matches on the ITF junior circuit since a first round loss at Wimbledon and has won five titles already this year.
Luncanu continued his mastery over reigning ITF World Junior Champion Donald Young in the semifinals, winning the battle between the two left-handers, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2. Luncanu won their only prior meeting nearly a year ago in the final of the Yucatan Cup in Mexico, his last title on the ITF circuit.
“It was a tough match, playing the No.1 junior in the world from last year,” said Luncanu. “I knew he wanted revenge, so I was motivated to give him a good match.”
The Orange Bowl 18s title continues to elude Young, the 17-year-old American who won the Boys’ 16s singles title here at the age of 14 in 2003. He reached the Orange Bowl 18s final the following year while attempting to become the tournament’s youngest champion (15 years, 4 months) and the first reigning Orange Bowl 16s champion to win the 18s title since Jim Courier in 1987. Last year, Young lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Robin Roshardt.
Hofmanova defeated Madison Brengle, the last only American in the girls’ semifinals, in the decisive third for the second time in as many weeks. She held off a set point 4-5, 30-40 in the opening set and went on to win the first set in a tiebreaker, 7-1. Brengle won the second but got broken three times in four service games during the final set. Last week, Hofmanova was down match point to Brengle in the third round of the Eddie Herr before winning 7-5 in the third set.
Milevskaya defeated No. 3 Sharon Fichman of Canada in the semifinals, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0. It was Milevskaya third consecutive win over Fichman since losing their first encounter on clay in Milano in May.
The Orange Bowl under 16s finished Saturday. Allie Will defeated Lauren Embree, 6-4, 6-1, in the first all-American Girl’s 16s final in 23 years at the Orange Bowl. Will, a wild card entry that upset No. 1 seed Valeriya Solovieva of Russia in the third round, joins a list of former champions that includes Chris Evert (1968), Hana Mandlikova (1977), Mary Joe Fernandez (1984) and Elena Dementieva (1996).
In the Boys’ 16s final, No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated unseeded David Thurner of Germany, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) to win his 12th match in two weeks and sweep the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl titles 16s titles, the first player to accomplish the feat since the events went to hard courts in 1998.
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