Junior Champions Fall in Straight Sets Tuesday
Michael McClune and Ashley Weinhold, who won USTA 18s titles a few weeks ago and earned their wildcards into the US Open main draws, couldn't continue their junior streaks today in Flushing Meadows. McClune lost to No. 20 seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 while Weinhold also came up short against a seed, dropping a 6-1, 6-1 decision to No. 6 seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia.
After all the excitement of Monday's wins by Donald Young and John Isner, things were a bit more subdued today in the Next Big Thing Dept. In addition to McClune and Weinhold, wildcard Madison Brengle also went out in straight sets to fellow American Bethanie Mattek 6-4, 6-1, and Jamea Jackson lost in three, leaving Ahsha Rolle, who upset No. 17 seed Tatiana Golovin of France last night, as the only women's wildcard still in the draw.
Wayne Odesnik did pull out a fifth set tiebreaker today against Thailand's Danai Udomchoke to become the third American male wildcard to reach the second round. Ryan Sweeting hasn't played his first round match yet, nor has Australian wildcard Alun Jones, who has the unenviable task of facing Nadal Wednesday.
Steve Tignor of Tennis.com had some interesting comments after watching wildcard Alex Kuznetsov's match Monday. I really admire Tignor's ability to dissect a player's game and I also appreciated his observation about the difference in the atmospheres between Kuznetsov's match and Isner's.
And for more on the new USTA Evert training center in Boca Raton, the New York Times has a story on Chris Evert's role in and thoughts on the project.
11 comments:
Collette,
Tingor might be able to dissect a player's game but the first paragraph of his article was not only in desperate need of a fact checker and an editor (to excise the parochialism and xenophobia), it was down right insulting to those of us who don't have USA stamped on our passport.
If you happen to see Steve, could you let him know that the rest of the world says 'hi'.
I doubt this new academy will have any impact on junior tennis. It will simply be a new breeding ground for USTA wild cards. There's really very little else to say about the subject.
Good article by Tignor. I watched Kuznetsov's 3rd set. He hits his groundies well. His crosscourt forehand is very good, down the line is erratic. However, on big points, he would spray the ball and hit out after a series of groundstroke exchanges. He does look like he's working his tail off out there and a bit desperate. Juniors who want to skip college should have been at this match. This would provide a realistic look at the grind and what it entails- playing on an outside court where most people don't even know that you're an american and down 2 sets in what might be your last wild card into the Open.
It should be noted that McClune had 5 set points in the third set, all on Chela's serve -- 0-40 at 4-5 and 15-40 at 5-6.
Is Rhyne Williams playing US Open Juniors, or is he still injured?
Can't believe McClune puked the 3rd set.
I think it's time to do something on Wayne Odesnik, he has had a really good summer.
Donald Young is on his way.
Sam Querrey, flat out pathetic the final two sets. I have no clue what that was about.
Amer Delic is in quite a slump right now. I think he should play a Challenger and get some confidence back.
Jessie Levine hopefully can do some damage on the Challenger circuit this fall, he has had a rough summer, sans Dubai with Fed.
I'd be very interested in hearing a description of McClune's game. I don't think I've ever seen one. Marcia Forst at collegeandjuniortennis.com said that he impressed the crowd, despite the score, so he must have displayed some promising talent. Anybody have an opinion about McClune's future?
I saw the first set of the Levine-Davydenko match. Levine actually looked pretty good. He has great speed and showed a willingess to occasionally come to net, which was nice to see. I have no clue what happened in the last two sets, but his level of play must have dropped considerably.
Querrey's performance was by far the most disappointing part of round 1 of the U.S. Open. Like you, Austin, I can't explain that one. He looked pretty bad out there.
Young was a pleasure to watch. Guccione was badly outclassed, frankly. I just hope we're not saying that about Young after his match with Gasquet. I think it'll be respectable, but it's hard to say with Gasquet. When he's on, he's awfully tough.
yeaah it was unfortunate what happened to querrey.. was definately nottt expecting that.
but on a lighter note, did anyone else happen to catch Denis Kudla on tv for the Arthur Ashe Kids Day event? He is a ballllerrr!! haha
FYI, the Junior U.S. Open acceptance list was updated today, and Donald Young is still on it. Rhyne Williams is still on it as well, so I'm guessing that he's recovered from his injury.
Also, Ryan Lipman has gotten into the qualifying draw. Adam El Mihdawy is the second alternate.
The last qualifying WC is still reserved, leading me to believe that it's being reserved for El Mihdawy.
anyone got news on Mike Shabaz? is he still set to play for Virginia this year??
I can't decide whether I am disturbed by Querrey's attitude in the press conference or happy about it. He was all smiles and didn't seem to be too torn up about it. He mentioned a few times how he was dissapointed, but it was fairly hard for me to believe him. However, I do like how he didn't act like the world had just ended and had a positive outlook about it. I guess I still don't know which way to think about it.
Donald Young said he IS playing the juniors after his match against Guiccione. I guarantee things change if he beats Gasquet though.
Congrats Isner and let's go Odesnik!
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