Domijan beats No. 1 at OB tennis
December 12, 2008
Alex Domijan, a 17-year-old from Wesley Chapel, won one of the biggest matches of his career in the Boys’ 18s draw of the Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships on Thursday in Key Biscayne.
The 110th-ranked junior upset No. 1 Tsung-Hua Yang of Chinese Taipei, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Domijan is coming off a title at the Eddie Herr Invitational and playing some of the best tennis of his young career. He survived the third set despite facing a match point and being down a break at 4-5.
”I’m sort of speechless right now,” said Domijan, who also won the Pan-American Championships in October and reached the semifinals of a USTA Pro Circuit Futures tournament in November. “This has to be the best match I’ve ever played.”
With the win, Domijan, who is riding a 14-match winning streak, sets up a quarterfinal against Austria’s Nikolaus Moser, who is ranked No. 26. Moser rolled past Ecuadorian qualifier Emilio Gomez, 6-1, 6-3.
”I can’t rest on these laurels,” Domijan said, “because it doesn’t get any easier from here. This was a great win today, but I’ve still got to get two more.”
On the girls’ side, Lauren Embree, a 17-year-old from Marco Island, outlasted 16-year-old Pompano Beach qualifier ChiChi Scholl 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals in the Girls’ 18.
Embree, the No. 11 seed and 46th-ranked junior in the world, is also coming off a win at Eddie Herr.
”That was a really tough match,” Embree said. “I’d never played her before, so the unfamiliarity was a little unnerving, but I’m pretty confident in my game right now and one of the most important parts of that is knowing how to win — knowing how to close out an opponent. I’m glad I was able to do that today.”
The tournament runs through this weekend at the Tennis Center of Crandon Park. The 16s finals are Saturday at 11 a.m. and 18s finals are Sunday at 11 a.m. Admission is free.
