Gibbs, Min and Harrison Advance to Semis at Les Petits As
Americans Grace Min and Nicole Gibbs will have a chance to meet in the final at Les Petits As in Tarbes France, while Christian Harrison hopes to get the opportunity to face defending champion Carlos Boluda with a victory on Saturday. Harrison and Emmett Egger have advanced to the doubles final.
Gibbs, the No. 8 seed, takes on Romanian Ingrid Radu, seeded seventh, in one semifinal. Radu squeezed by U.S. qualifier Ellen Tsay 7-5, 7-6 (3) on Friday while Gibbs defeated No. 4 seed Kristina Mladenovic of the host country by a symmetrical 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) score.
Min, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament, including her three matches in qualifying, faces a tough task in the semifinals however. She will need to depose No. 1 seed Hanna Orlik of Belarus, who not only captured the 2006 Eddie Herr and Junior Orange Bowl, but just two weeks ago won an ITF Grade 4 18-and-under event in Germany.
On the boys side, Harrison, seeded eighth, took out No. 3 seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2 in Friday's quarterfinals and will face the last French player in the draw, unseeded Sébastien Boltz. Boltz upset top seed and recent Teen Tennis champion Anton Volkov in the second round, but hasn't faced a seed since.
Like Min and Gibbs, Harrison hasn't dropped a set; that accomplishment pales however, when compared to No. 1 seed Carlos Boluda's race through opponents.
As a recent commenter pointed out, the Spaniard has lost only four games in four matches in his title defense, and that display of dominance can intimidate even seasoned competitors. Boluda's next opponent is Romanian Ciprian Porumb, the fourth seed, who defeated Emmett Egger of the U.S. 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Egger and Harrison, the sixth seeds in doubles, will face the top seeded team of Robert Rumler and Lukas Vrnak of the Czech Republic in Saturday's doubles final.
It's also noteworthy that the boys' consolation final will feature U.S. teammates Mika De Coster and Sean Berman.
The tournament website, which features live scoring, is here.
10 comments:
Colette,
Curious...what are the parameters for selection to high performance camps? Just noticed that Blake Davis was again selected for a camp w/ the 90s and 91s at Boca Raton. His record over the last year has been average, including many losses at the Texas sectional level to players his age, including Ben Chen, Thomas WIlson etc. Why not ask Bo Seal, Denis Lin, among others who have much stronger records. No wonder USTA does not produce players when ignore so many talented ones.
Any comment?
I don't know what the parameters are. I've asked the USTA about a few players before and have usually been told that the players declined to attend for academic reasons.
fyi, Blake Davis was injured for most of 06, and when healthy, has been playing up in 18's. Not to say whether the choice was right or wrong, but those facts do not diminish his potential in the eyes of the usta.
It's a big country and lots of kids have potential, very few have pro potential. It's weird that the UTSA does not re-adjust its list every year to include those w/ the strongest records. Unfortunate the USTA operates in a black box.
what do you think about the 92 group will they ever change there line up
who is on the 92 national team
cox king sarmiento bernstien
How early does the USTA decide who is on the team? Who does everybody think will make the cut for the 94 and 95 boys?
Christian Harrison is obviously the top gun for the 94s. Reo Asami and Mitchell Krueger seem like locks for the 94 team (especially Asami). After that I'm not sure. The 94 class looks to have a lot of depth, unlike the 93 class. I can't find birth dates on many of these kids, so I'm going to have to guess their birth years based on what tournaments they've played.
Gordon Watson won both the Clay and Hard Court Nationals. I think he's a 94, but I'm not positive.
John Richmond was a semifinalist at the Orange Bowl, as well as the consolation bracket winner at the Hard Court Nationals. He was also the consolation runner-up at the Clays.
Sam Bloom was a quarterfinalist at the Orange Bowl, as well as the consolation winner at the Clays.
Nick Wood didn't play the Eddie Herr or Orange Bowl, but he has a great record over the last year. He was the consolation winner at the Winter Nationals. Had good runs at the Clay and Hard Court Nationals.
Jonathan Huang has an excellent record over the past year as well. Consolation winner at Winter Nationals and Hard Court Nationals, and consolation runner-up at the Clays.
Thomas Pura was a quarterfinalist at the Eddie Herr.
As for the 95s, Joseph DiGiulio appears to be the clear #1. He was a quarterfinalist at the Eddie Herr (and doubles winner), runner-up at the Winter Nationals (lost a very close match to Reo Asami), and a quarterfinalist at the Clays and National Spring Championships. During the Eddie Herr, Colette mentioned that observers were impressed by him. It wouldn't surprise me if he's on the team that travels to Teen Tennis and Les Petits As next year.
Justin Butsch was a quarterfinalist at both the Orange Bowl and the Eddie Herr.
Thai Kwiatkowski was a quarterfinalist at the Eddie Herr (and doubles winner with DiGiulio). He was also a quarterfinalist at the Hard Court Nationals.
So those three look like the early top three for the 95s.
Watson is a 93.
My guess for the 94 team would be Asami and Harrison for sure. The next two spots would go for maybe Huang, Krueger, Rinaldi, or DiGiulio.
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