Bonfiglio quali 2 and 3. Gracheva: it’s true love.

Federico Arnaboldi

I have the honour of writing this article sat next to Himari Sato, who is inspiring all the below. So, if you don’t like it, you should blame her.
2nd quali round – No great news in the second quali round, which went on during the morning, except for a bad one: Helene Pellicano was forced to withdraw due to the injury I mentioned in my yesterday’s piece. I was very sorry about this.
Besides the above, I saw Gracheva again, just for a few games, as her match against Italian Tiglea was supposed to be a formality, and so it was. The final score was 6-1 6-1 in favour of the Russian. Najah Dawson didn’t make it through to the last round, as she lost by 4-6 6-7 against Rut Galindo, ranked 160 and 11th seed in the quali draw. I haven’t followed the match though, as I focused on some others.
The first match I properly checked out was Noa Krznaric’s: she played and lost against 8th seed Krupenina. Noa played better tennis than yesterday; actually, in the games I saw, she was most of the times in the lead of the rallies; she seemed to be a bit slow, though: she outplayed her opponent as long she managed to keep the initiative and play from the centre of the court but, when she was under pressure or her opponent was able to find an effective counterattack, she became real defensive as she was not fast enough to find a good position on the hit. In such circumstances, it became easy for Krupenina to win the point; further, the latter took advantage of too many unforced by Krznaric. Eventually, Noa lost, as it happened last year (ooh… N.B.O…), in the second quali round. Though today she was more convincing than yesterday and let’s keep in mind she is a 2003: she has margins indeed and time is on her side.
Another player I saw is Ziva Falkner from Slovenia, born in 2002 and ranking around 150th spot in the junior ITF. Now, I don’t know what’s going on in Slovenia, a country counting only about 2.000.000 people that, notwithstanding its small size, is able to origin players as Kaja Juvan (former finalist here in Milan and winner of 2016 Orange Bowl), Nika Radisic, ranking around 20th spot in the junior ITF and the same Falkner. Ziva is a real solid baseliner; the pivot of her game is serve and forehands simple combination, as she can hit both shots real hard. She got rid of an unknown Italian (I won’t even name her, so she remains as such), winning by 6-1 6-1 and gaining access to the final quali round, in which she was scheduled to play against Krupenina. I’ll come back to this match (and to Ziva) later, as now I want to switch to a boys’ match (yes, I saw a boys’ match!!), i.e. the one between Italian Federico Arnaboldi and Croatian Ajducovic.
I saw the second set between the two, having decided to follow it not due to nationalistic reasons, but because 2 years ago I saw Federico Arnaboldi winning the other junior tournament held in Milan, i.e. well renewed under 16 “Torneo Avvenire” and I wanted to check how his tennis has developed in the meantime. Federico origins from a “tennis family”, as his cousin Andrea Arnaboldi reached the best ranking of 16th on the junior tour and of 150th on the pro tour. I liked Federico when I saw him in Avvenire, especially due to his solid serve and forehand and to a noticeable ability in the net game and in crafting drop-shots. I was though doubtful on his backhand, which was too light compared to his forehand and with which he produced way too many unforced.
All the above has been confirmed: in particular in these two years, his ball became heavier, of course; though his backhand remains really flat and, even if he can produce nice winners with it, he tends too often to lose control of the shot and, when attacked on the backhand side, he finds limited possibilities of defending effectively. I think this is the main reason for which Arnboldi still only ranks around 160th spot on the junior tour, whilst some parts of his game would suggest he could achieve much better results.
3rd quali round – First thing I wanted to do in the afternoon was to check how my new friend Gracheva was doing: I was indeed impressed by her game and she became a favourite of mine. As she was in the lead by 4-0 in the first set against Galindo (which she eventually won 6-0), I left her to her faith and moved to a different court, to give a glim to Dimitrova vs. Medvedeva (whilst Dimitrova has nothing to do with Dimitrov, I don’t know if Medvedeva has anything to do with Medvedev – you chose which one of the two). In the games of this match I saw, my impression was that Dimitrova is keener in trying to take control of the rallies. She doesn’t hit everything at 100% but, from time to time, she can find really impressive accelerations with her forehand. Also, her first serve, often hit flat, can be very heavy. Dimitrova’s backhand is quite lighter than her forehand, indeed she has a margin of improvement on that shot. I followed Dimitrova’s match from 4-2 in her favour in the first set; Medvedeva was than able to equalize on 4-4 and then Dimitrova broke again her opponent and managed to win the set by 6-4. The Bulgarian/American lost a bit of grip on the set I saw mainly due to her unforced errors: Medvedeva was good in defending from her opponent’s attacks and, eventually, at the fourth, fifth shot, Dimitrova ended up missing. I need to see Dimitrova more to fully judge her game, but I think she owns more tennis than Medvedeva: yes, she missed a few times, or tried winners in unnecessary situations, but my impression was that she was much keener in building up the point and trying to take advantage in the rallies, whilst her opponent was more defensive, waiting to gain on Dimitrova’s mistakes; I am sure that in little time the unforced on Dimitrova’s fifth shot will disappear and she will win more easily matches as today’s one. One more thing I can tell you: Dimitrova is a very pleasant and funny girl, and for sure she won the “Miss. Good fun” price together with my Gracheva.
It was then time to check out the match between Falkner and Krupenina; my focus was on the former. Falkner lost the first set, which I didn’t see, of by 6-0. The second one, that I watched throughout, she lost it by 6-2. Let’s forget about the severe result and focus on Ziva Falkner’s tennis: as said, Falkner is a pure baseliner and she hits with considerably heavy shots; she owns more power than her peer Dimitrova and, differently from the latter, she constantly tries to hit big, without even missing too much. For sure Falkner does not exceed in imagination, but the weight of her ball and the aggressive style she owns makes her a very interesting prospect, to be taken in serious account for the next season, if not for the final part of the current one. If there is a limit I could find in Falkner’s game is that, even when under pressure, she never slows down the rhythm or lifts a ball; she tries in any case, instead, to overpower her opponent. This leads her or to miss some defending shots (or better, what should have been defensive shots) or, if her balance is not perfect, to hit shorter balls which end up to be easier to handle than slower but deeper ones, as they leave the court open, allowing the opponent to easily close the point: Falkner indeed lacks a few variations in her game.
Finally, I went back to court 10 to check if Gracheva won the second set by 6-0 or 6-1 set and guess what: she was down 4-2, with Galindo live and kicking: Galindo owns big shots and a spectator who followed the set from the beginning told me that in the second set she started to play all take it or break it: I was a bit afraid for the girl I will definitely support in this edition, but it a good opportunity for me to eventually see the Russian against a resilient opponent. What I noticed is an outstanding ability of Barbara to convert, with her forehand, defensive situations in offensive ones: also when countering opponent’s good attacks, Varvara is able to keep depth in her shots and to find angles. In doing this, she is extraordinary. With her backhand she is less able to achieve the same result, but if she were, we would have a new Williams sister. Varvara plays 90% of the game hitting hard and pressuring her opponent; her shots are fairly flat and her forehand is just outstandingly powerful and elegant: I would account some down the lines forehands within the best shot I have seen on Bonfiglio’s courts within the last three years. Also, she owns a massive first serve. Weak points I found: a second serve which is too tender and not at the level of her other shots and her net skills do not seem to me to be supreme: in particular, sometimes she stops too early her motion towards the net and instead of hitting an easy high volley 1 metre therefrom, she plays a full swing shot from 3 metres, with doubtful (and sometimes awful…) results. I chatted a few times with Varvara, who is a noticeably modest and charming girl. I tried to make the point that these quali mathes were nonsense for a player as her and she replied that herself was the one to blame for the poor performances she delivered in the few juniors events she played before Bonfiglio, forcing herself to play the quali. I like a lot this girl and her tennis; she indeed owns a new fan. I hope to see her in the semis, which I will comment starting from next Saturday and, in any case, I will continue to follow her.
I am not sure I can follow any match during the week, but stay tuned: in case I manage to sneak out from my office I will indeed post something.