After becoming finisher in round 16 of singles and runner-up in doubles at recent “Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships”, the high profile Beatrice Gumulya from "state of the art" tennis club owned by Martina Widjaja continued on to swing her racquet at “Dunlop Orange Bowl International Championships”. This is a prestigious tourney sanctioned by ITF as Grade A same level as grand slam and it is staged at Crandon Park Tennis Center, Key Biscayne, Florida. It is often called as “Wimby" of USA, the tourney will start today and as the draw was released, Gumulya is placed as sixth seeded in the singles' main draw.
Achieving its 62nd year of competition this year, "Dunlop Orange Bowl International Junior Tennis Championships" has evolved with a rich tradition and is well-known as the oldest and largest international junior tennis tournament.
Over the past half century, this world class event has become a benchmark for eyeing pro potential, as winners are pronounced as the players most likely to excell on the professional tours. No doubt that the list of past champions is a stellar one of “Who’s Who in Tennis,” including Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Jim Courier, my fave Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Chris Evert, my "darling" Mary Joe Fernandez, Gabriela Sabatini and Elena Dementieva. The list of other participants is indeed wonderful and includes Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Gael Monfils and Novak Djokovic, among others.
In the first round (draw 64) Gumulya will begin her campaign against world ranked 88 Hannah James of Great Britain. Based on my analysis, younger sister of Sandy Gumulya will smoothly cruise into the third round (round 16) when she will face her big task. It is possible that she will have a clash with the recent winner of "Eddie Herr", Lauren Embree of USA. Embree is eleventh seed here at Orange Bowl. Gumulya was born nine days earlier than her prospective opponent Embree in January 1991, and indeed she may need to utilize her mental toughness and sound strategy if she wants to reach the quarter-final of Grade A. Leading the pack as top seed is currently ranked at ITF 5, Ana Bogdan from Romania, while second seeded is world ranked number 7, Laura Robson of Great Britain, the Wimbledon junior champion this season.
In the competition of U-16, Melissa Emile Kandinata from Jakarta crashed out instantly in the first round of qualifying. Kandinata lost to American Emina Bektas 3-6, 2-6. Her compatriot, Nadia Ravita who was scheduled to play in the same category here, did not make it into the entry list due to the careless conduct by Indonesia Tennis Association. The staff at Indonesia Tennis Association sent Ravita's entry to the wrong recipient. As consequence, Ravita maintained her training at International Tennis Academy, Delray Beach, Florida as preparation of her participation in an ITF Grade 4 tournament known as “Prince Cup”. Ravita will have to go through qualifying round which will start on December 13, 2008 in Miami, Florida.
Photo of Roddick when he won 1999 Orange Bowl is courtesy of USTA
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