Tournament Summary
Second Orange Bowl Title for Andreescu, Kecmanovic Claims Boys Championship
by
Colette Lewis, 18 December 2015
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Rain early in the tournament and on the final day made the 2015 Metropolia Orange Bowl tough on players and officials alike, but when the final point was played after dark last Sunday, No. 9 seeds Bianca Andreescu of Canada and Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia had claimed their first Grade A titles.
Andreescu's 7-6(7), 6-4 win over American
Kayla Day in the final was her 12th consecutive win in Orange Bowl competition at the
Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Florida. The 15-year-old captured the 16s title last year, becoming the first girl since Mary Joe Fernandez in 1984-85 to win the 16s and 18s championships back-to-back.
Andreescu had her share of tough matches, with unseeded Claire Liu serving for the match in the second set of the quarterfinals before the Canadian came back for a 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-4 victory. The win over Liu was Andreescu's second of the day, with the 18s playing both their third round and quarterfinal matches on Friday due to rain earlier in the week.
In the semifinals against US Open girls champion and No. 2 seed Dalma Galfi of Hungary, Andreescu also needed a comeback, taking that match by a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 score.
The sixth-seeded Day's journey to the final was less arduous, with two straight-set wins on Friday over unseeded players Alexandra Sanford of the US in the third round and Anastasia Detiuc of Moldova in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Day lost her first set of the tournament to 14-year-old Anastasia Potapova of Russia 7-5. Late in the second set Potapova fell, injuring her hand, and retired a few games later, after Day had won the second set 6-3.
The first set of the final was a long and challenging one, with gusty winds making every service toss and ground stroke an adventure.
It was Day who got the first break of the match, at 5-5, but she was unable to get to set point serving for the set. Andreescu took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker, but Day won the next three points. It was then that Andreescu began to take charge with her forehand, and she earned set points at 6-5 and again at 7-6. Day survived both of those only to double fault, giving Andreescu set point No. 3. This time, it was the backhand that came through for Andreescu, with Day unable to get a racquet on the winner.