November 30th, 2015

Florida’s Kenin, 2015 Girls’ Slam Champs Headline Orange Bowl Tennis

Junior Tournaments
Girls' 18s USTA Nationals winner Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Sofia Kenin after claiming the Girls’ 18s USTA Nationals title

Defending champion and US Open girls’ finalist Sofia Kenin (17, Pembroke Pines, Fla.) headlines a talented Girls’ 18s field at next week’s Metropolia Orange Bowl that includes 2015 Grand Slam junior champions Dalma Galfi (US Open; Hungary), Sofya Zhuk (Wimbledon; Russia) and Tereza Mihalikova (Australian Open, Slovakia), along with a surplus of top American prospects.

The 69th Metropolia Orange Bowl, featuring hundreds of premier 18-and-unders from around the world, will be played Dec. 7-13, 2015 at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Fla.

Regarded as the longest-running international junior tennis tournament in the world, 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 for the fifth straight year. Boys’ and Girls’ 18s qualifying begins on Sat., Dec. 5.

Also in the Girls’ 18s field will be top Americans such as the 2014 Orange Bowl Girls’ 18s finalist Ingrid Neel (17, Rochester, Minn.), Top 10 world-ranked junior Usue Arconada (17, College Park, Md.), 2015 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Michaela Gordon (16, Los Altos Hills, Calif.), 2014 US Open semifinalist Caroline Dolehide (17, Hinsdale, Ill.), 2014 USTA Girls’ 16s National Champion Kayla Day (16, Santa Barbara, Calif.), and Claire Liu (15, Thousand Oaks, Calif.), the youngest player in the Top 600 of the WTA rankings.

Top college-bound American boys in the 18s division will include TCU recruit Alex Rybakov (18, Coral Springs, Fla.) and Georgia recruit Nathan Ponwith (17, Scottsdale, Ariz.).

Founded by Eddie Herr in 1947, the Orange Bowl quickly became one of the premier international junior events in the world and an annual showcase for the global scope of the game. Players from more than 50 countries have competed in the tournament, and champions have emerged from 28 different nations. A number of Orange Bowl champions have used the occasion to announce plans to turn professional.

Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18-and-under singles title who have risen to the world No. 1 ranking include Chris Evert (1969-70), Bjorn Borg (1972), John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Jim Courier (1987), Roger Federer (1998), Andy Roddick (1999), and Caroline Wozniacki (2005).

For more information visit www.orangebowltennis.org.

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