Saturday 9th December 2006
Allie and Grigor blow away the competition; Last Americans out of the singles championships
by Annie Paton
American wild card, Allie Will (14) and Grigor Dimitrov (5) of Bulgaria hoist the 16s championship trophy: a traditional crystal bowl full of Florida oranges.

"It's a huge accomplishment and a lot of wonderful athletes and professionals have done this," said Allie about winning the championships. "It's a real honor."

Grigor echoed the sentiment. "It feels great," he said. "Last year I played 14s final and I really wanted to win the tournament so I gave my best. Everyone tells me if someone wins the Orange Bowl he has to be a pretty good player, so I am just very happy that I won."

Allie defeated fellow Floridian, Lauren Embree in a wind swept girl's final on stadium court. Despite the 25 mph gusts and her opponent racing ahead to a 4-1 lead, Allie weathered the storm and came back with a string of nine games in a row. Armed with a set and 4-0, was not about to allow her opponent to catch up. Leading 5-1 she attacked the serve and won the championship on her second match point, when her opponent's backhand volley skimmed into the net, to win 6-4; 6-1.

"It was a bit of a struggle at the beginning," said Allie, admitting to some nervous jitters. "She came out and didn't make many errors. I wouldn't say I played that badly but I had a little trouble closing off the points. After 4-1 though I started playing a lot more consistently, but it was a huge accomplishment for me the whole match."

How did she cope with the wind today? "Footwork!," she said emphatically. "There were times in the match I didn't move as well and missed the put away shot so I reminded myself to keep moving and not plant."

Grigor also battled the wind and a surprise unseeded opponent, David Thurner from Germany, however, he was the strong favorite to win the boy's 16s singles championship, after he upset the number one seed, Cesar Ramirez (MEX) in the quarterfinals. When asked about the match today, he said: "The weather was bad ... unplayable. It wasn't that good but you have to play and forget about it." However, once he won the first set and leveled at 6-games-all, Grigor won every point of the ensuing tiebreak for the championship. "I was pretty motivated," said the top ranked ETA player. "This guy made me play and it was tough but I knew that I am going to win the tiebreak."

The crowd were anticipating the boy's would split sets as unseeded, David Thurner was ahead 4-3 and 5-4 in the second set, but it did not go the German player's way. "The wind wasn't very good today and my serve was not so good because my timing was affected," David reflected. "But it's a big achievement to reach the final of the Orange Bowl."

Allie has a double reason to celebrate. Her father flew in from Oakland, California this morning, on the red eye, especially to watch her play. She has not seen him for five months! "I told her yesterday I was coming, whether she won or not," said Duncan Will, who works full time in Sacramento, CA, in order to support his daughter at the academy. She trains at the Harold Solomon International Institute at the Tennis Club of Fort Lauderdale since the beginning of the year and she credits her performance on her coach of five years, Andy Brandi. She also credits her mom for all her success. "I couldn't have done it without her," she smiled, also not forgetting her older brother Danny, who is at Boston University. "He has had a huge part too."

Grigor, who trains at the Weil Tennis Academy in Ojai, California when he is not traveling, is showing no sign of slowing down. Last week he won the boy's 16 singles championship at the Eddie Herr International. "In tennis you shouldn't be tired," he said. "It's true I won two weeks in a row and there was no time to rest but I am thinking of the future. In the pros, in the ATP there are a lot of tournaments also, so you have to be prepared every single week."

The talented player from Sofia, who is trained by his father, has set his sights on the next level: "I am looking for a professional coach with a lot of ATP experience," he said. Meantime he will go back to his native Bulgaria for a family Christmas, before embarking on a 18s ITF event in Sweden.

Allie will celebrate tonight by eating ice cream. 'I think my fitness instructor will be alright with that," she laughed. "I love Ice cream and I don't usually eat that way but today I shall eat some Cake Batter."

In the boy's 18s semifinals, Nicolas Santos (1) (BRA) stopped the US Open finalist, Peter Polansky (CAN), 6-3; 6-4. "I think the wind was better for me," said Nicolas, who outsteadied the player from Ontario, Canada. "I tried to be very consistent in the wind and let Polansky make all the mistakes." This will be Nicolas's second trip to a grade A final, one of which he hopes he can convert this time. A year ago he made it to the final in Mexico at the Copa Casablanca, losing to the current number one ranked Thiemo De Bakker.

The much anticipated rematch between Petru Alexandru Luncanu (4) (ROM) and Donald Young (2) (USA) had spectators clamoring for seats. Games were on serve in the first set, when at 4-3 Donald had a break point opportunity but the Romanian thwarted it with a forehand down the line winner. Donald went down 0-40 on his service game, but came back with some big serving, including an ace at 30-40. At 5 games all they both swapped breaks. Then in the tiebreak Donald saved a set point at 6-5, but at 7-6 the return clipped the net and rolled over and just died, making it impossible to retrieve.

"I think he gave up in the second set," said Petru. "I knew it would be a tough match. After I played him in Yucatan in the final last year I got used to his game. I knew what I had to do to beat him. I think he wanted to beat me because he wanted revenge, but I was very motivated and that was the most important thing that got me to the finals."

He compared this to the time he played Donald in Yucatan before. "There was no wind then but it was under the lights at night. It was hot and more humid, but I think the wind was worse than the humidity, because you have to move a little bit more and you have to concentrate more on your shots."

Meanwhile meeting Nicolas Santos in the final, Petru said: "He's a good player, he doesn't make any mistakes, and he fights for every point, but be sure I am going to do my best in the final so I can win a title here."

In the girl's semifinals, Nikola Hofmanova (9) (AUT) defeated Madison Brengle (12) (USA 7-6(1); 3-6; 6-2 for the second time in as many weeks. Today Nikola erased a set point at 5-4, 40-30 in the first set before bringing it to a tiebreak. While last week at the Eddie Herr international, she saved a match point at 5-2 in the third set before winning it 7-5. "If you start thinking what should I do now because it's set point you won't make the point," said Nikola, in a matter of fact manner. "I didn't have any special tactics against her; I just played my game."

The Czech born player beat some heavy hitters to reach the final. "They are all on the WTA tour, around 400 or 500, so it was a very tough draw for me," she said, happy to reach the final. "I played here last year in the 16s quarterfinals and I never thought I would come back and play in the 18s final."

Now she meets Ksenia Milevskaya (2) (BLR) who she beat at Wimbledon in the first round. Ksenia edged past Sharon Fichman (3) (CAN) 6-4; 4-6; 6-0 earlier, but she expressed a little disgust at herself for not playing a perfect match. "I am not proud because I was expecting it to be two sets," said the 2nd seed. "I got angry because I was up. I was mad at myself and that's why I lost this set." With anger channeled in a more positive way, Ksenia romped to a love third set to reach the final.

Disappointed, Sharon said, "I started off pretty well and I had my chances in the first set, but she fought hard. I didn't come out as strong in the third set as I should have and she kept maintaining energy."

Grigor Dimitrov


Ilija Vucic &
Xander Spong (5)


Nicolas Santos


Ksenia Milevskaya