Special from
Zoo Tennis
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit tournament last week began with rain and ended in bright sunshine, with top seed Lautaro Midon and No. 5 seed Sara Saito adding to their Grade 1 title counts. Midon defeated No. 5 seed Joao Fonseca 6-2, 6-3 to collect his third, and Saito earned a 6-1, 6-1 victory over unseeded Ava Krug to earn her second.
Boys Singles Champion Lautaro Midon
© Zoo Tennis
A shower late on the first day sent nine singles matches to the indoor courts at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, but the rest of the week was dry, save for another late day shower that forced the doubles quarterfinals inside. The late August weather is reliably hot and humid in the Washington DC area, and while there were a couple of stifling days, no heat break was necessary, as it had been in previous years.
Midon, an 18-year-old from Argentina, encountered his toughest test in the third round, when Marko Mesarovic of the United States served for the match at 5-4 in the third set and had a 3-1 lead in the final set tiebreaker before Midon escaped with a 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) victory. In the quarterfinals, Midon ended the run of local favorite and JTCC student Stiles Brockett 6-2, 6-4 and reached the final with a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 4 seed Hayato Matsuoka of Japan.
