TENNIS in DEPTH.

French tennis continues on the crest of a wave as top seeded Kristina Mladenovic and Gianni Mina booked their tickets for the semifinals at the Dunlop Orange Bowl.

World number one Mladenovic blasted her way past American Madison Keys to take her place in the semis. 14-year-old Keys began very well and snatched the first set on a tiebreak but Roland Garros champion Mladenovic, who can boast an excellent WTA ranking of 201, used all her strength and wisdom to came back in the second, clinching a three-set victory 67 75 61. “I expected a very difficult match against Keys,” said Mladenovic, “because she’s a good player and very athletic.”

In the top half of the girls’ draw, the French player will now meet sixth seed Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia, who stopped third seed and US Open champion Heather Watson with a straight sets 62 63 victory. Tomljanovic is aiming to lift her second Grade A trophy following her Casablanca Cup feat earlier this year. Mladenovic and Tomljanovic have never met before on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski is the only unseeded semifinalist in the girls’ draw as she outplayed Adriana Perez of Venezuela with a 75 64 win. Dabrowski has been going through an exciting period in the last two months as she reached the final round at the Yucatan Cup and the semifinal at the Eddie Herr last week. Number eight Nastja Kolar of Slovenia, who won the Grade 1 Perin Memorial in her homeland last September, ended American hopes of a girls’ champion at the Dunlop Orange Bowl by defeating wild card Robin Anderson 64 36 64.

In the boys’ event, top seed Gianni Mina advanced to the semis in style with an emphatic 62 63 victory over Junior Ore of the USA. His next opponent will be unseeded Justin Eleveld of the Netherlands. 17-year-old Eleveld outplayed American Johannes Van Overbeek in a hard fought match, 63 67 62.

In the bottom half of the draw, Arthur De Greef of Belgium saved a match point in the second set against his opponent., American Sekou Bangoura, but managed to secure a 63 75 victory on the hard courts of Crandon Park. In the semifinals he will now face Mitchell Frank, the last American player competing for a singles title. Yucatan Cup champion Frank saw off his compatriot Jack Sock 64 76.

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