Tennis Against Breast Cancer; First Round Futures Wins for Juniors
The annual Tennis Against Breast Cancer Pro-Am fundraiser is this weekend in New York and it's an event that deserves all of our support. For information about this particular event or other ways you can help, please visit their website at tennisabc.org.
When I was in Tulsa, I wondered why all the boys from the 14-and-under World Junior Competition were there, but none of the girls (who won the gold at that ITF team event), and I soon heard that they were on their way to Brazil to compete in a ITF women's event there on clay. A reader alerted me to the success they were having, and since there has been a lot of interest in the 92s and 93s on the boys' side, I thought I'd mention it here. Nicole Gibbs and Sloane Stephens qualified and won their first round matches, Christina McHale and Allie Will also won first round matches (Gibbs and McHale play each other in the second round). Only Beatrice Capra lost, but she teamed with Gibbs in doubles and they won their first round match. McHale and Will beat the top seeded team in the first round of doubles. It's obvious that this isn't a strong field, and the only international junior I recognize is Tatiana Bua of Argentina, who is 32nd in the junior rankings and lost to Sloane Stephens in Kentucky last month. But as long as the girls are aware that the tournament doesn't represent the normal Pro Circuit event in the U.S., I think the experience will help them.
For complete draws for this event, see the itftennis site.
The men's Pro Circuit in the U.S. is in Mansfield, Texas, and Austin Krajicek, Jarmere Jenkins and Chase Buchanan are in the main draw (Krajick qualified). Buchanan and Krajicek don't play their first round matches until Wednesday, but Jenkins, a wild card, today again defeated Vlad Ignatic, the ITF's top-ranked junior, 6-4, 6-4. Michael McClune is in the field, seeded 4th, and he beat Michael Venus, who I hear will be eligible to play for LSU in January. Qualifier Alexei Grigorov, a 17-year-old, who like Ignatic, trains at Roddick Total Tennis in San Antonio, defeated No. 7 seed Peter Shults in the first round. For complete results, see the Texas76ers website.
3 comments:
the brazil tournament is also a good chance for the girls to get some wta ranking points so they can get into tournaments or qualies in the US without needing wc's.
As a Longhorn, Im not happy we lost Venus as well as Helgeson, cos a top three line-up of Helgeson, Venus and Damico would have given the NCAA's a real shake. Jamie Hunt, a Texas native would have capped it all off but he goes and signs with, surprise, surprise, Georgia.
So, what's Venus' status, is he American or from New Zealand? Everything I see lists him as American but he played in the last New Zealand National Championships.
Congratulations to Pat Harrison for bringing along Mike Venus as well, he is training
Will Spencer along with his own boys, so maybe the USTA should think about hiring him. He obiviously is the best junior coach right now.
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