Eight U.S. Girls Advance in USO Qualifying
The complete results from today's qualifying are available at the TennisLink site and of the ten American girls competing, eight advanced to Saturday's second (and last) round of qualifying. The 14-year-olds were particularly impressive. Nicole Gibbs defeated No. 2 seed Isabella Holland of Australia in three sets, and Stephanie Vidov, who, with Gibbs and Sloane Stephens won the ITF World Junior Tem Competition a few weeks ago, rolled over No. 1 seed Misaki Doi of Japan 6-1, 6-2. Stephens couldn't quite get past fellow American Julia Boserup, but she did win a set.
Chelsey Gullickson, Alexa Guarachi, Lauren Embree, Allie Will and Kim Couts also advanced and on Saturday there is an opportunity for all eight to make it into the main draw, as none play each other. Kristy Frilling was the lone American girl to lose to a foreign player on Friday.
Australia's girls had a tough day, with Holland losing to Gibbs, No. 13 seed Alison Bai losing to Couts, and No. 6 seed Sally Peers falling to Embree. Unseeded Alenka Hubacek also lost, leaving the Australians with no chance for a qualifier and with only two girls in the main draw.
And yes, I'm shocked that Paz did in fact lose, in three sets to the Japanese wildcard Chinami Ogi. If Ogi wins on Saturday, I will be making a point to see her main draw match.
The boys results are now also complete, and of the ten U.S. boys in qualifying, six have already lost. Bradley Klahn defeated No. 2 seed Brendan McKenzie of Australia and Devin Britton beat fellow American Adam El Mihdawy. Dennis Nevolo outlasted Jarmere Jenkins and Frank Carleton upset No. 5 seeded Australian Mark Verryth.
With Giacomo Miccini and Bernard Tomic both winning today, it sets up a rematch of the 2004 Eddie Herr 12s final, the first time I saw either one of them play. Tomic won that match easily; tomorrow's will be an interesting yardstick for both of them.
The Canadian Open, the ITF Grade 1, finishes Saturday, and the girls title will be between Canadian wild card Rebecca Marino and Great Britain qualifier Jade Curtis. The boys champion will be either No. 8 seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania or No. 9 seed Guillermo Rivera Aranguiz of Chile. Berankis defeated top seed and No. 1 ranked Vlad Ignatic today, avenging his loss to Ignatic in the Wimbledon semifinals (and Roland Garros quarterfinals).
Inside the grounds at the U.S. Open (the junior qualifying takes place outside the gates), there weren't too many surprises. I was glued to the Djokovic/Stepanek match for most of the day, and after the Blake/Santoro contest last night, there was no claiming the first week was dull.
Wayne Odesnik went down in straight sets to Juan Ignacio Chela in singles second round action today, but in doubles, Jesse Levine and Alex Kuznetsov pulled off an upset, taking out Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France, the No. 7 seeds, 7-6, 6-4.
My next post will be from Flushing Meadows, where they are expecting great weather and huge crowds for the Labor Day weekend.
7 comments:
OK. Egger, the topic of mnay blogs on his choice of a WV, got a total of 2 games againt Miccini who is just 6 months older. He clearly was out of his league at te open juniors as we all had said and what a waste of a WC as the US boys so far have not faired well at all. At least the UTSA should have handed it to someone who could be at the very least competitive, maybe not win but competitive. There is clearly a reason why USTA high performance is striking out.
C'mon, dont you get it? This event is a showcase for America's brightest prospects, not for older U.S players that could have competed on par or better with this competition. The World now knows that USTA High Performance feels that Egger is one of our future hopes. He will get taller, stronger, and his serve and volley game will come around in a few years. I am not being sarcastic. I agree with another post on the 70+ thread, he WILL be a good player, maybe better. Its time to realize that this is how the USTA operates. They know about tennis more than us! They know when an older kid has no chance at top 250 or better, so why put him in this tournament? What benefit is it? This way, the rest of the world gets a glimpse of the future. OK, I am being sarcastic, not about Egger's prospects, but of the warped, arrogant way that the USTA treats young players, and the way once a player hits an "age/birth year" red flag..the kid is doomed in their eyes...not even worth letting them have a "chance" at a good result in this tournament. I would venture to say that in the backrooms of Carson/Key Biscayne-Evert , these kids are hardly even called by name. Instead, its probably the "91's", or the "93's" etc.. If Younes El Aynaoui were American, and had listened to this crap, he would still be driving a bus at Nick B's. Yes its one shining example of an older player becoming successful, and I'm sure the research out there may suggest something as to why the USTA operates this way, but bottomline..this event should have the best U.S players at this moment.
That's a nice win for Carleton. Verryth is the fourth highest ranked 1991-born player in the ITF rankings.
On a side note, does anyone have anything nice to say about the USTA? I don't think I've read one positive comment about the USTA on this site. The amount of contempt for the organization is unbelievable.
Vidov actually won 7-6 in the first set (and was down 5-1).
Earlier anonymous said that the USTA "knows more about tennis than us". He must mean some of us not all. It is clear that they continue to make mistakes in evaluating juniors. One thing that they have no way of measuring is the size of a players heart. Many of the kids they select are "soft". Then they allow them to hide behind ITF's. They need to make them play National Opens and put them in a position where they are supposed to win, and then we will find out what they are really made of.
The USTA is hated in the way Congress is hated. It's a political organization that makes its "decisions" based upon politics and compromise, instead of what is best for tennis (save what is best for high performance and junior development).
Ok, there is a good reason there is so much contempt for the USTA, they have a lousy track record in recent years and giving Egger a WC into the quallies is just another example of this. If the USTA feels Egger may be the future of US tennis they will continue to fall short. It’s just too soon to tell one way or the other but what is clear is what out of his league at the OPEN jrs and a waste of a WC. Also, the two best hopes (aside for Young) for the pros, Isner and Querry , were NOT picked up by the USTA as juniors, another example of how they can’t pickem. The USTA ‘s problem is they focus on a few and let rest fend for themselves. An example of that would be they put thousands and thousands into Blake Davis from texas who at 16 can’t even win a 16s national open and even more money into Buchanan who is struggling and didn’t even give Tennys Sandgren a hello until his game took a big leap this year. Also the have knee jerk reactions like giving Formento (SP?) a WC into the main open juniors because he won the Easter Bowl. He should have played the quallies while King should have been given the main. But bottom line a little country like France spends significantly more on jr development than the US. There is that old expressions, follow the $$$$$$$. More to the point, the US should nurture a group of players rather than the anointed few, especially with boys as it is not clear who will break through till much later on.
Post a Comment