Long Island's Jack Kennedy beaten in U.S. Open junior singles

Huntington native Jack Kennedy is out of singles competition at the U.S. Open but still alive in doubles. 

The 17-year old, seeded ninth in the boys’ draw and ranked as high as 5th in the world this year as a junior, lost 6-4, 6-4 Wednesday in the third round to Luis Guto Miguel, 16, of Brazil. Miguel was unseeded at the Open but is currently 19 on the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings, fresh from a win last week at a high-level junior tournament in Canada.

“This is how I like to play, attacking every time,” Miguel said. Miguel straddled the baseline for much of the match, dictating play with a thumping forehand and breaking neutral rallies with a flat, skidding down-the-line backhand. Kennedy, playing deep in the court, was often forced to hit on the run.

The Long Islander lost earlier in the tournament in the first round of men’s singles qualifying.

“The serve definitely wasn’t there today,” Kennedy said. “I was having a hard time finding it. It gives the person on the other side of the net more confidence when they see the second serve and he’s an aggressive player, he’s starting off points [in a way] that he likes.”

 Kennedy put fewer than half of his first serves in play and Miguel feasted on the second, pushing into the court to hit returns that sometimes came back at Kennedy’s feet before he’d recovered from his serve. Miguel won 63% of Kennedy’s second serve points.

If there was a tactic here, it was simple: “Just try to don’t miss and sometimes attack the ball,” said Miguel.

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When points developed, Miguel said, Kennedy “was behind the baseline a lot. To kill the point was really tough. I started to do drop shots, higher shots, to go for the net.”

At 4-4 in the first set, Kennedy, serving for the lead, won a gut-busting 25-shot rally, sprinting from deep into the court to pick up a drop shot and volleying away Miguel’s response. But he followed with four straight errors, shrugging his shoulders in frustration or bewilderment in the direction of his camp as he walked to his chair for the changeover.

Miguel won the set on his serve and returned stronger than before, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before Kennedy threatened again, drawing to 3-4 before Miguel reasserted himself with a pair of routine holds. He finished with a 122-mile per hour thunderbolt down the T that set up his 6th and final forehand winner of the day.

Kennedy and doubles partner Keaton Hance were still alive in boys’ doubles after a 45-minute 6-0,6-3 stroll Wednesday afternoon. However that run ends, he said, his next move will be into pro tennis: playing Futures, the low-level events for young pros, and the occasional mid-level Challenger event.

Wednesday’s singles loss, he said, was “not a match where it’s going to define my fate or my career.”