Lingua Lavallen lodges big US Open win
Seedings tend to be an indicator of how a player has done prior to the event at hand, but in no way serves as a guarantee as to who will win a match.
There’s certainly great respect for those who have achieved, but the competition at every level of the game is deeper and broader and the juniors is no exception.
So it shouldn’t be considered any type of shock that the top seeds in the junior boys’ and girls’ event at the US Open, as well as the second seeds, have all been ushered to the exit.
On Wednesday, Alejo Lorenzo Lingua Lavallen of Argentina had a lot to prove against top seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan and he met the challenge. The 39th-ranked Lingua upset the reigning Wimbledon junior boys’ champion 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 in a second-round encounter.
Mochizuki did receive on-court treatment for a left leg injury that started to bother him around the second game of the third set, but by then Lingua had the momentum in his corner.
“It was an incredible match and I’m so happy now,” Lingua said. “He’s No. 1 in the world. In the second set I played better and in the third set he seemed hurt, so I was sorry for him because he is my friend, but I played good to win the match.
“In the court I don’t think about this (he’s my friend). I think you have to play in the match.”
On Tuesday, girls’ top seed Emma Navarro of USA fell to 33rd-ranked Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round. Also gone are second seed Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune of Denmark, the reigning Roland Garros boys’ champion, and the second seed Diane Parry of France in the girls’ competition.
The 18-year-old Lingua arrived at the US Open having never won a Grand Slam singles match in two previous attempts. He fell in this year’s opening round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
He’s corrected that shortcoming here at the US Open by moving into the third-round where he’ll play 14th seed Valentin Royer of France, who dispatched of Czech qualifier Andrew Paulson 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.
Lingua believes this to be his last junior tournament and from here he’ll move onto playing Futures and Challengers. Nevertheless, he admits that decision could be subjected to change dependent on his outcome in New York.
“If I won here, or made the semifinals, maybe I would gain entry into the Junior Masters,” said Lingua, of the now renamed prestigious ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals, to be held Oct. 23-27 in Chengdu, China.
For young players having a smart and capable coaching voice offering guidance is important. The left-handed Lingua has that advantage as he trains with former world No. 8 Alberto Mancini of Argentina.
“I feel very good with him,” said of Mancini. “It works.”
Lingua believes being left-handed is more notable because of the success of Rafael Nadal, who is in the hunt for a 19th career Grand Slam trophy here at the US Open.
“They talk about lefty-handers because of Rafa, who is incredible,” he said. “But for me it is the same because I’m always left-handed. And for me there’s also [fellow Argentine] Guido Pella who plays lefty and is now playing so good.”
Of course, for someone from Argentina there’s one southpaw who reigns supreme among all others - Guillermo Vilas. The first South American man to ever win a Grand Slam title, Vilas won four majors in his career: the French and US Opens in 1977, and the Australian Open in 1978 and ’79.
“Ah, Guillermo Vilas, the best,” said Lingua, smiling. “Yeah, I know him. I drink a coffee with him one time. It was incredible to drink a coffee with him because he was the best in the world and a monster. We talked about my tournaments and my tennis. And yeah, yeah, I practiced with him in Buenos Aires.”
Wednesday delivered two upsets in the boys’ draw with sixth seed Toby Alex Kodat of USA and seventh seed Harold Mayot of France departing. Kodat went out to Milan Welte of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (4), and Mayot was bounced by Tristan Schoolkate of Australia 6-3, 6-4.
Second-round winners in the boys’ draw include: No. 4 Jonas Forejtek of Czech Republic defeating Luca Nardi of Italy 6-3, 6-2, No. 9 Gauthier Onclin of Belgium defeated William Grand of USA 6-2, 6-3, No. 11 Brandon Nakashima of USA defeated Leandro Riedi of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, and No. 16 Peter Makk of Hungary defeated Govind Nanda of USA 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Second-round winners in the girls’ draw include: No. 4 Maria Camila Osorio Serrano of Colombia defeated Katie Volynets of USA 6-4, 6-4, No. 7 Kamila Bartone of Latvia defeated Elvina Kalieva of USA 6-0, 6-1, No. 12 Sohyun Park of Korea defeated Ana Geller of Argentina 6-4, 6-4, No. 13 Abigail Forbes of USA defeated Bai Zhuoxuan of China 6-3, 6-4, and No. 15 Polina Kudermetova of Russia defeated Savannah Broadus of USA 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-5.