The Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post
A difficult day for the youngster
NEW YORK – Yshai Oliel’s US Open run was cut short Tuesday with shocking second-round upsets in both juniors singles and doubles.
In late afternoon action, the Israeli No. 6 seed lost to Uisung Park of South Korea 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, with the final set lasting only 22 minutes.
Then, under the lights and with the wind kicking up, just a few steps from Arthur Ashe Stadium where the crowd was cheering on women’s quarterfinalists Venus Williams and Petra Kvitova, Oliel and Russian Alexey Zakharov, the seventh-seeded duo, were sent packing in just 58 minutes by the unseeded team of Alafia Ayeni of the US and Jakub Paul of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4.
In singles, Oliel and Park exchanged hard hit groundstrokes from the baseline in the first two sets before Park pounced, quickly closing out the third set.
After a short rest to change clothes, Oliel was back in action for doubles, where he didn’t fare any better.
He spoke with The Jerusalem Post at the conclusion of both disappointing matches.
“They were both tough matches. In singles, I played well in the first set. In the second and third sets, I didn’t focus on my serve and he broke me both times in the first game of the set.”
Oliel felt he wasn’t aggressive enough and had a lot of pressure on himself. “He played well and I missed too much – and he was just better than me in the third set.”
The 17-year-old from Ramle felt the doubles match followed a similar script.
“They were aggressive and didn’t miss much.”
Oliel noted that the match was closer than they score may indicate.
“We had like eight deuces,” he said In juniors doubles, there is no “ad” scoring. At deuce, the one additional point is played to decide the game with the receiving team deciding which player will receive the serve.
For now, Oliel will rest, return home to Israel, and join his classmates for the start of the academic year. He was not selected to participate on Israel’s Davis Cup team, which will be hosting Ukraine September 15-17.
The team will include Dudi Sela, Jonathan Erlich, Edan Leshem and Mor Bulis.