TENNIS in DEPTH.

French top seed Gianni Mina enjoyed a straightforward 62 61 victory over Slim Hamza of Tunisia to reach the quarterfinals of the Dunlop Orange Bowl, the last Grade A event of the year. World number five Mina had a fine clay season in 2009, winning both the tournaments of Istres and Beaulieu sur Mer and reaching the final round at the Luxemburg Junior Open, Banana Bowl and Roland Garros. In the hope of equalling Guy Forget’s feat of winning the 1982 Orange Bowl, he will now try to claim his first junior trophy outside his homeland.

Mina will next meet twelfth seed Junior Ore of the USA, who dropped the first set and battled back in the second before his opponent, sixth seed Guilherme Clezar of Brazil, was forced to retire with cramps in the fifth game of the decisive set, trailing 46 62 31. In the top half of the draw, unseeded Johannes Van Overbeek from Boca Raton, Florida, required three sets to overcome Jack Carpenter of Great Britain after the American wasted two match points in the decisive set, eventually winning 64 26 75. The boys’ competition saw the upset of the day when Eddie Herr champion, seventh seed Denis Kudla of the USA, lost to unseeded Dutch Justin Elevend. As also happened to Brazilian Clezar, Kudla was forced to retire with cramps in the third set while trailing 36 75 20.

In the bottom half of the draw, European Championships semifinalist and eighth seed Arthur De Greef of Belgium came from behind to earn victory over Dutchman Jannick Lupescu, 46 63 64. No 15 Sekou Bangoura of the USA gave the American fans a match to remember, surviving a tough encounter against big-hitting George Morgan of Great Britan. Having lost the first set, 18-year-old Bangoura came back to win the following two, but he frittered away two match points on his serve at 5-3 in the third set and had to fight hard in a dramatic tie-break before winning 46 62 76. Yucatan Cup champion, American fifth seed Mitchell Frank dispatched Oliver Golding of Great Britain with a straight sets victory, 75 75, and will play his compatriot Jack Sock, who advanced into the fourth round with an easy victory over fellow-countryman Dennis Novikov, 75 61.

In the girls’ competition, world number one 16-year-old Kristina Mladenovic of France showed her impressive form as she dismantled No 14 Valeria Solovieva of Russia 64 61. The Roland Garros champion, who has an excellent forehand, will now meet unseeded Madison Keys of the USA in a rematch of the Banana Bowl semifinal. 15-year-old Keys, who claimed the title at the Coffee Bowl last January, produced the major upset on Day 4 at Crandon Park as she knocked out last week’s Eddie Herr champion Daria Gavrilova of Russia, winning 63 46 63. Third seed Heather Watson of Great Britain continued her run with a three set win over No 13 Saisai Zheng of China, 61 36 63. Sixth seed Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia also advanced to the quarterfinals but she needed three sets to overcome aggressive Yulia Putintseva of Russia, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Croce sull’Arno. Casablanca Cup champion Tomljanovic lost the first set but managed to dig herself out of trouble with a powerful ground game and an excellent serve, triumphing 57 60 61. In the bottom half of the girls’ draw, Adriana Perez of Venezuela outplayed Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand 06 64 63 and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada won against American Ellen Tsay, 61 62. No 8 Nastja Kolar of Slovenia continued her great campaign in Key Biscayne as she beat Lauren Davis of the USA 62 63 and moved into the quarterfinals without losing a set. She will now face wild card Robin Anderson from Matawan, New Jersey, who defeated compatriot Nicole Gibbs for the first time in her career.

Related Posts:

• Top seeded girls survive the heat in Miami.
• Young Madison Keys makes an impressive start.
• Top Juniors headed to Miami’s Orange Bowl.

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