Archie Watson has reached the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships, after saving two set points in his quarter-final match against Robert Blizzard at Seacourt on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Jonah Serotta locked in a rematch of the British Junior Open Under 18’s final against Max Warner, while the top seeds in the girl’s competition progressed untroubled.
Local wildcard Dan Morgan was first on court, playing the American fourth seed Jonah Serotta. Despite his impressive win over Saussier the previous day, the quality of Serotta’s play was too much for Morgan. The Philadelphian was composed, keeping the pace out of his strokeplay and focusing instead of placement and precision. Morgan fought all the way through, with his most productive strokes coming from boasting the ball into the dedans. Even so, Serotta controlled the match from start to finish, using it as an opportunity to test out some serves for the tougher matches to follow later in the week, cruising to a double-bagel victory.
The most anticipated match of the round was between third seed Robert Blizzard and fifth seed Archie Watson. Watson was defensively solid, barely giving away a chase over the opening exchanges to break out an early lead. Blizzard’s attacks were neturalised, eventually resulting in him overextending and opening the door to a Watson counterattack. Blizzard was apoplectic that a shot he’d thought he’d struck into the grille was declared to have struck the bandeau, giving Watson a key advantage in the set. With advantage to Watson, a chase worse-than-2 was declared a chase off, but Blizzard graciously conceded the point, and a 1/4 deficit, to Watson. The lead proved decisive, with Watson forcing his way to take the set.
Watson was more the aggressor in the second set, pressing hard against the tambour and making Blizzard have to fight ro every point. Though Blizzard’s retrieval off the tambour was strong, it was rarely enough to wrestle back control of the reste. From the service end, however, Blizzard, was increasingly strong: setting up each point with a tight drag serve and covering the court exceptionally well. The sixth and seventh games saw some of the best rallies of the tournament so far, with desparate defending from both players at both ends of the court. They battled to a draw, passing through 3-all and 4-all. Blizzard broke away first, beating a short chase to bring up a couple of set points, but missed the final conversion by a foot on the floor on the next chase. Watson used the service end to send the set into a deciding game instead. Blizzard lay two chases early, but at last gallery and a hazard they were straightforward for Watson to attack. He won both, then sealed the match with a main-wall dedans, sending him into the semi-finals.
The afternoon saw first seed Max Warner take on the unseeded American Paul Nieuwerburgh. Warner was a class above, putting Nieuwerburgh immedaitely under pressure with his unrelenting strokeplay. Nieuwerburgh used his long reach to good effect, keeping the ball in play longer than his handicap suggested he had any right to, but he was never able to find any reliable counterplay to Warner. The American picked up a game in each set, but Warner’s progression was never in doubt, locking in a semi-final against Serotta in a rematch of the British Junior Open Under 18’s final.
The last of the boy’s quarter-finals was between Frankie Binns and second seed Algernon Nottingham. Nottingham was looking to attack wherever possible. He was not overly concerned about serving tactics or positional play, meaning Binns was able to stay in the early contest by some excellent retreiving and dead-weight volleys, pouncing on any inaccuracy from Nottingham. Binns had points for a 4/3 lead but couldn’t convert, before Nottingham struck a vein of short underartm twists to take the decisive lead in the set. Nottingham gained the upper hand for the second set, barely letting Binns serve as he quickly built a four-game lead. Binns pared back a game but it was too little, too late. Nottingham secured a semi-final match-up against Archie Watson, a rematch from the quarter-finals of the previous edition.
The evening session saw the start of the girl’s competition, with Rosie Kay taking on second seed Riya Bharwad. Although it was a nervous start, with the first game passing through six deuces, Bharwad quickly settled into a better rythmn. Her serving was key, extracting multiple aces with her railroads and side-walls, and she extract plenty of success with her backhands low over the center of the net. Kay had to battle for her solitary game, coming in the back half of the second set. Even so, it could not stop Bharwad marching into the quarter-final.
The last match of the day saw Eva Thomas take on first seed Katherine Carney. There was little Thomas could do against the very experienced Carney, who dominated the match throughout. Her grille hitting was the highlight from the service end, while her hitting to length was impressive from the hazard end. Carney secured a quick an easy victory, hardly making an error in the match.
Play continues on Thursday with the remaining girl’s quarter-finals. The semi-finals for both competitions takes place on Saturday, with plate matches filling the intervening time.
Match results:
9:00 AM: Daniel Morgan lost to Jonah Serotta (4) 0/6 0/6
10:30 AM: Robert Blizzard (3) lost to Archie Watson (5) 2/6 5/6
12:00 PM: Max Warner (1) def Paul Nieuwerburgh 6/1 6/1
1:30 PM: Frankie Binns lost to Algernon Nottingham (2) 3/6 1/6
4:15 PM: Rosie Kay def Riya Bharwad (2) 6/0 6/1
5:30 PM: Katherine Carney (1) def Eva Thomas 6/0 6/0
Order of play for Thursday:
10:15 AM: Martha Raitt vs Isabella Wylie
11:30 AM: Zoe Neville vs Georgia Toosey