Florida Jr. Profile: Doral’s Sofia Sewing Moving Up ITF Rankings

By Colette Lewis, USTA Florida junior tennis writer

Since late August, 17-year-old Sofia Sewing from Doral has won one International Tennis Federation singles title and three doubles titles, with her ITF world junior ranking rising to a career high of No. 61 as a result.

Sewing started her run with the doubles title at the Grade 1 tournament in College Park, Md., playing with Wimbledon girls doubles champion Claire Liu. Although they were not seeded, Sewing and Liu took home the winners’ trophies with victories over three seeded teams.

In late September, Sewing swept the singles and doubles titles at the Grade 2 tournament in Canada. The No. 4 seed in singles, Sewing defeated No. 3 seed Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the final, a day after Sewing and Portillo Ramirez had captured the doubles title as the top seeds.

This month at the Grade B1 Pan American Closed in Tulsa, Sewing won her third doubles title with her third different partner, Californian Kayla Day, the ITF’s top-ranked junior.

From left: Sofia Sewing and Kayla Day

Day, who won the US Open girls singles title and was a doubles finalist in New York, reached out to Sewing about the possibility of playing together for the first time.

“I knew she was a good doubles player,” Day said. “We keep it fun, and we have good chemistry.”

Sewing and Day, the top seeds, did not drop a set until the final, where they encountered defending champions Ann Li and Natasha Subhash.

“I’m good friends with them and I know they play really well together,” Sewing said of Li and Subhash, who fell 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 to Sewing and Day. “It was a hard match. I think we were aggressive on the court, but we let each other play how we usually play, so it was good.”

Sewing is hoping her impressive results continue, with her goal to qualify for the main draw at the junior slams in 2017, her last year of ITF junior competition.

“Lately I’ve been playing really well,” said Sewing, who trains in Miami with private coach Wilson Usina. “I haven’t played that many ITFs this year, so I’m trying to play some more, so I can play the slams. I’ve been training hard and playing well, so I’m happy.”

Sewing will play the four major tournaments in Mexico and Florida to close out 2016: the Grade A in Mexico City, the Grade 1 in Yucatan, the Grade 1 Eddie Herr in Bradenton and the Grade A Metropolia Orange Bowl in Plantation.