By Sally Milano, USTA.com
The current No. 1-ranked juniors in the world – Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia and Anastasia Potapova of Russia – will lead the field of the top 18-and-under players from around the world who are set to compete at the prestigious 70th Metropolia Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships.
The Orange Bowl is the final ITF Grade A event of the year and will be held Dec. 5-11 at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Fla. Grade A events are the highest-ranking ITF junior events after the Grand Slams.
Kecmanovic, the defending Orange Bowl Boys’ 18s champion, could become only the third player in tournament history, dating back to 1947, to win consecutive Boys’ 18s singles titles, joining Billy Martin (1973-74) and Harold Solomon (1969-70).
He will compete against a Boys’ 18s field that includes 2016 Wimbledon boys’ doubles champion Kenneth Raisma of Estonia and a number of top American challengers, including former Orange Bowl Boys’ 16s champion Sam Riffice of Roseville, Calif.; Gianni Ross of Burr Ridge, Ill.; Trent Bryde of Suwanee, Ga.; Oliver Crawford of Spartanburg, S.C.; Vasil Kirkov of Tampa, Fla.; Patrick Kypson of Raleigh, N.C.; and Sebastian Korda of Bradenton, Fla. Korda is the son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda.
In addition to 2016 Wimbledon girls’ champion Potapova (pictured above), the Girls’ 18s field includes 2016 French Open girls’ singles finalist Amanda Anisimova of Hallandale Beach, Fla., and 2016 Wimbledon girls’ doubles champions Usue Arconada of College Park, Md., and Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks, Calif., each of whom are ranked in the Top 10 of the ITF World Junior Rankings – Liu at No. 9, and Arconada at No. 10. The girls' field also includes 2016 French Open girls’ doubles champion Olga Danilovic of Serbia, the daughter of former Miami Heat guard Predrag Danilovic.
The Orange Bowl features singles and doubles competition for boys and girls in 18-and-under and 16-and-under divisions. It will be played on clay – the surface on which it was played from 1947 to 1998 – for the sixth straight year.
Founded in 1947, the Orange Bowl is one of the premier international junior events in the world. Players from more than 50 countries have competed in the tournament, and champions have emerged from 28 different nations.
Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18s singles titles include: Chris Evert (1969, 1970), Bjorn Borg (1972), John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Gabriela Sabatini (1984), Mary Joe Fernandez (1985), Jim Courier (1987) and Anna Kournikova (1995). Roger Federer (1998), Elena Dementieva (1998), Andy Roddick (1999) and Caroline Wozniacki (2005) all won the event on hard courts.