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[tommyfr]

Orange bowl is sometimes called worldchampionship for young juniors. OBowl for 16 and 18 already finished last week, no filipino participants.

Ongoing is jr Orange Bowl for 12 and 14U;  and most interesting is filipino Albert Lim. He is in the qualies and won so far first 3 rounds, very convincingly. He needs one more win in order to join the 128 field main draw.

And there he has a chance to reach rather far. After seeing last years winner on youtube, I think he could possibly even go all the way.

Its a massive tournament with 350 + players in boys 12U, coming from US, south america, europe, etc.

[smiley]

AJ won his 4th qualifying match easily. just saw it from usta website.

here's the link of his rounds, pick DRAW, choose the event BOYS 12Q, and he's with the 129-160 group.
http://tennislink.usta.com/TOURNAMENTS/TournamentHome_New/Tournament.aspx?T=97645

[tommyfr]

Lim won his first round in main draw, played an Argentinian boy. After losing first set he won 6-1, 6-1.
Jerome Romualdez on the other hand lost his first round match. Tomorrow Lim play an opponent from Portugal.

Anyone with more inside info?

[billyd]

Very interesting posting.. Massive tournament indeed. After 256 qualifying draw Albert is one of 16 qualifiers to reach Main Draw which is 128.. Albert wins 1st round over 5th seed Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina in 3 sets, 3-6, 6-1 6-1 to advance to round of 64.. As tommyfr notes with his form he is now positioned to make a run to go deep into the draw.. Thanks smiley for heads up to link.. sorry no inside info other than you guys.. heh heh..

[Tennis King]

Meanwhile, Vince Tabotabo lost his first round match 3-6;3-6 against 3rd seed Andrey Rubley of Russia.

Meredith Jones also advanced 6-0;6-0.

[Tennis King]

Result:
Round of 64 Albert Lim beat Francisco Catulo 6-0;6-0

[Fabs]

no match, bwahahah!!!

[Tennis King]

Result:
Albert Lim beat Omer Kefetz 6-2;6-1. Lim will play Barnaby Smith of Great Britain in the Round of 16.

[Fabs]

grabe ang galing

[tommyfr]

Albert Lim won today again, his 7th straigth win in this tournament. In total he has lost just about 16 games over those 7 matches. Now he is among the final 16 players.

Next round waits a player from Great Britain and a possible quarter final against number 2 ranked player, from US.

Lim plays a very unusual(for this age group) attack tennis from baseline. His focus is the second ball, that he always try to make very aggressive, if not a winner. Especially his forehand is powerful, like a strong 18 year old player.
Since a number of years he practies something like 4 hours per day.

[Tennis King]

Not seen him play yet but I'm not surprised with his results... he was a loosing finalist in the 18-under division at this years PCA beating some of our 18-under top players, so for an 12 year old that says a lot.  

[Tennis King]

Albert Lim beat Barnaby Smith 7-5;6-0 to enter the quarterfinal round wherein he will face 2nd seed Alexander Del Corral of the USA. Del Corral should be a tough oponent having a record of 79 wins against 14 losses in the 12's and 14's, he is also a lossing finalist at the recently concluded Eddie Herr International Championship.

[smiley]

yahoo! another great kid is in the making!

Go AJ! Beat them all! 

[cypher]

I heard from a very reliable friend of mine, that the Father of AJ Lim recently contacted Coach Manny Tecson of TAPF and is showing interest in joining the TAPF team composed of Jeson Patrombon, Marc Reyes and Marinel Rudas.

I think he will be in very good hands and will be guided through his early junior years to become a potential contender in the juniors, and if ever he gets in he will join lots of juniors competition like what happened to jeson in his junior years.Cong Jalosjos is a very good sponsor too, if Coach handles him next year and be sponsored by Jalosjos he will have a great opportunity ahead of him.what do you think?

[DASMA BOY]

Good news yan! Mapunta lang si AJ na naman sa mga coach sa tabi ng tabi ng Pilipinas yan...sayang yung bata...

[smiley]

I heard from a very reliable friend of mine, that the Father of AJ Lim recently contacted Coach Manny Tecson of TAPF and is showing interest in joining the TAPF team composed of Jeson Patrombon, Marc Reyes and Marinel Rudas.

I think he will be in very good hands and will be guided through his early junior years to become a potential contender in the juniors, and if ever he gets in he will join lots of juniors competition like what happened to jeson in his junior years.Cong Jalosjos is a very good sponsor too, if Coach handles him next year and be sponsored by Jalosjos he will have a great opportunity ahead of him.what do you think?

I had a chat with AJ's Dad 2 weeks ago during the PCA tourney, he's hoping to land a sponsorchip from bouletteri academy and this junior orange bowl that he's talking about since summer will be a great benchmark if he could get that marvelous opportunity.

AJ is a cool and humble kid, hope he be handled by a good coach whoever would be. 

[Fabs]

Good luck AJ!!! take the orange bowl 2012!!

[SLP888]

cypher and Dasma,

Good Luck for AJ.....He is a nice and strong kid.

[tommyfr]

aj should have a good chance in quarterfinal. He will meet the US #1, top ranked 12 U boy, Corall. But that guy is a def retriever, and i dont think that will work against Lim.

If he then wins Semi he will probably meet the Russian no 1 ranked, and that will be difficult. Also a power player like Lim, and probably more stronger in the movement area.

Of course both Bollettieri and Jalosjos/tecson would be great. For me I would go for Bollettieri, if it is all free. Who can afford 60.000 US per year?

[Tennis King]

AJ Lim beat Alexander Del Corral 6-2;6-1 ... lang nagawa yung US No. 1.

Hopefully somebody who actually watched the match posts a match report!

[billyd]

Yehey.. AJ thru to the finals.. By impressive score lines too.. And both the quarters and semis were played yesterday virtually back to back (Quarters at 9:30am and Semis followed at 2:30 pm).. If my calculations are right that means he's played something like 10 matches in 9 days so far.. Wow tough kid.. Wish someone had a courtside report..

[Tennis King]

Yes he is in the finals after a 6-2;6-1 victory over Noah Makarome. He will face Russian Top Seed and Eddie Herr Champion Artem Dubrivnyy in the finals. Good Luck! Manalo sana.

[Tennis King]

Here is a short clip of the match between AJ lim and Del Corral

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgna6tudEfI&list=UUPuN9uOfMEfkB935cZXFlBg&index=1&feature=plcp

[Fabs]

good luck in the finals!

youtube is block from where i am, argghh!!!

will check it out asap

[Fabs]

i saw the video luphet ng groundies niya hehe binabalik na lang nung kalaban hehe

[SLP888]

Hope He will win......Orange Bowl champion !

[tommyfr]

This is a bit of tennis history. I dont think Philippine ever had a finalist in Orange Bowl.

Any other national tennis association would take this opportunity for pr, journalists, tv, radiom internet. PHILTA is probably not doing anything. Can you believe, they dont even have a web page.
Poor management. Pity.

[Tennis King]

It is not even in the news here... pitiful. Pero pag nanalo yan siguradong maraming makikisawsaw.

[Tennis King]

AJ lost 6-7;1-6... good effort though sana mag tuloy tuloy ang development nung bata!

[DASMA BOY]

sayang...at least finals si AJ, not bad at all...expect big things to come from Jeson and AJ in the future, specially as they start training and playing tournaments for the coming year...

[Fabs]

good job AJ!!!

[smiley]

good job AJ!!!

yeah! i agree!

AJ was up the 1st set 3-1, but the russian found a way to come back.
Click the link for the story.
http://tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/

[tennisfan]

This is a bit of tennis history. I dont think Philippine ever had a finalist in Orange Bowl.

Any other national tennis association would take this opportunity for pr, journalists, tv, radiom internet. PHILTA is probably not doing anything. Can you believe, they dont even have a web page.
Poor management. Pity.

Sir Tommyfr tama ka history nga ito, even if Aj is not a Filipino. Unlike in the men's grandslam, you only play 3 qualifying matches, compared to Aj’s 4, and if i'm not mistaken, the farthest a qualifier in the men’s that made it deeper is only in the semifinal.

Based on the report, Dubrivny and his team, with a little luck, really know what to do to win, and it’s not like Aj’s team do not. Dubrivny, while trailing, only made a success when he started using drop shot with regularity, and for Aj, this is like putting a salt to an injury. Not only that Aj, is big, but after playing 10 matches in as little as 8 or 9 days, I am sure, he’s, not only exhausted mentally but also physically as well, and a drop shot is surely the last thing he needs, besides disrupting his rhythm and sometimes, limiting the use of his powerful groundstrokes. I may have mistaken, but Aj’s team may even probably haven’t prepared the scenario of him going all the way to the final and were caught by surprise, as he is up against not only very good but experienced players.

He may have lost this time, but I’m sure it would be a different story next time around when the circumstances are different.

A feat as huge as this coming from a homegrown talent who is up against great talents worldwide and who do not compete as extensively as the top players, is unbelievable and a testament that we can actually produce some world class talents.  Although we’re talking here of 12 and under, and the gap in the level of competition would become wider as age bracket becomes higher.

For me, another thing to note here is the difference between choosing to play a powerful and aggressive style against being a retriever. In my opinion, Aj’s style of play is really the key why he went all the way to the final as mostly the kids in this age group are retrievers and do not possess a powerful ground strokes yet as compared to him. It’s also the reason why like Federer, he finished matches so quickly with fewer games and save so much needed energy in order to survive down the road. Can you imagine if he’s playing like the style of Nadal and plays 11 grueling matches with a lot of rallies in as little as 10 days?

[tommyfr]

hi tennisfan,

I agree with most of your points, but i dont think he was physically exhausted. Of his 11 matches he won 7 by 6-1-6-2, incl quarter and semi or even double bagel. that is less than an hourof play. And as he practices 5 hrs per day, so this in not physically taxing for him at all.

If the surface had been hardcourt, I think would have been advantage for Lim.

And I am sure he was taken by surprise with the dropshot and wide angles to his forehand tactic. AJ is not superfast. He is a BOOM, BOOM player that want to finish the rally asap.

[smiley]

I think AJ was surprised to lead in the 1st set and he thought it will go all the way going for his shots. He's a boom-boom player and he really wants to finish the points with a winner. Sometimes, he's inpatient.

Actually, AJ lost also in the 18u boys final of the recent PCA tourney. He beat all experienced players but to Verdad. Fritz played lugaw-lugaw lang, and he easily prevailed in straight sets. But to those consistent and good college players, he beat them all in straight sets and some are zeroed.

With this result, he'll be our next philippine tennis idol! 

[smiley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG7JktvpjR0&feature=related

just saw this one, naka 3 set points pala AJ sa 1st set. pati, sa highlights, di mabalik ni AJ ung mga short cross angles,

anyway, we can't discount what AJ did. Conrgrats to him! and to all coaches and sponsors! Good job! 

[PRO-porma]

i saw the vid frou utube...i had numerous opportunities to see Aj practice at alam ko na talgang an galing niya pero katuwa din makita na kapwa ka-age niya eh ganun din pumalo heheh katakot cla pareho congrats on reaching the finals:)