Ahn Wins Again, This Time in Houston; Van't Hof to Coach Vandeweghe; Rus Signs with IMG
Sixteen-year-old Kristie Ahn won her second $10,000 Pro Circuit event, and unlike her win in Pennsylvania last month, when she was a wild card, this time she won three matches in qualifying. The college women were playing the NCAAs during that first win, but not this week in Houston, where Ahn took out Duke's Ellah Nze, NCAA champion Amanda McDowell of Georgia Tech and Sanaz Marand of UNC, all in straight sets. Her win today in the final was a tough one, but she beat No. 1 seed and 269th-ranked Chin-Wei Chan of Chinese Tapei 7-6(7), 0-6, 7-6(2). Ahn has now played the requisite three tournaments for a WTA ranking (winning two of them) and will have her own ranking by the time Wimbledon is over.
And speaking of juniors with impressive wins over veteran collegians, Raymond Sarmiento, the 15-year-old Californian, has beaten Virginia's Ted Angelinos and Ruben Gonzales of Illinois in his first two qualifying matches at the Pro Circuit Futures event in Rochester, New York, with both wins coming in straight sets.
For complete Pro Circuit results, see the new usta.com Pro Circuit results page.
Charlie Bricker of the Sun-Sentinel has this report on Lindsay Davenport's successful attempt to get her former coach, Robert Van't Hof, to work with Coco Vandeweghe. Vandeweghe is eligible for the Wimbledon junior qualifying, courtesy of her top 500 WTA ranking, and she will begin her attempt to qualify on Thursday.
And earlier this month, IMG announced the signing of Australian Open Junior champion Arantxa Rus, of the Netherlands. Rus, 17, is currently ranked third in the ITF juniors and 282 by the WTA. She is scheduled to compete in the Wimbledon juniors.
7 comments:
hey Colette. Do you sell pictures, or have a site with all the junior pictures. I am a parent.
I do sell photos occasionally, although I do not have a website specifically for that purpose. Please email me directly at clewis[at]zootennis[dot]com if you have a particular photo you are interested in.
Nine former collegians in the men singles draw at Wimbledon this year: Kevin Kim, Vince Spadea, Bobby Reynolds, Izak Van der Merwe, James Blake, Jessie Levine, Ben Becker, Kevin Anderson and John Isner.
Isner, Becker and Van der Merwe all spent four years in college, Reynolds and Anderson three years, Blake two years, I believe Kim was also there two years, then Spadea (Miami for one year, right?) and Levine lasted one year, well Levine was actually one semester.
So far they are 0-2 as the two old guys have lost already.
Austin:
Spadea didn't go to college. You might be getting him mixed up with Michael Russell, who did spend a year at Miami.
I just saw that Greg Ouellette rolled Nate Schnugg 1&1 last week in the first round at the Sacramento Futures. That's somewhat surprising, not the win, but the score. Ouellette has done well so far this summer.
Harrison and Buchanan lost in the first round at Roehampton. Disappointing. Jenkins and Fowler won. Klahn beat Britton 1 & 1. Youch. I wonder how much time these kids got to train on grass in advance of the England trip. I know all but Britton chose not to play in Philly.
Great choice by Vandeweghe. Not only is Robert super-knowledgeable. But, he's like school on Monday...all class! He really is.
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