Pavlyuchenkova & Radwanska Win on Wimbledon's Opening Day; Four U.S. Juniors Remain at Roehampton; Chris Brandi Named Men's Assistant at Wake Forest
Last year Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia was given a wild card into the main draw at Wimbledon, granted due to her position as the ITF's top junior in 2006. Her debut didn't go well, as the then 15-year-old won only one game from Daniela Hantuchova, and in the juniors, she lost to eventual champion Urszula Radwanska in the quarterfinals.
Since last year, Pavlyuchenkova has moved her WTA ranking up to 136, earning a spot in the Wimbledon qualifying, and three victories later she was ready for her main draw match against France's Alize Cornet. Cornet's rise in the rankings has been much faster, and now in the top 20, the 18-year-old Frenchwoman was seeded 17th at Wimbledon. But those old junior rivalries die hard, and Pavlyuchenkova took out Cornet, the 2007 French Open Junior champion 7-6(6), 7-6(4). Wimbledon.org has this story about their match. Poland's Radwanska, who received a wild card into the main draw for her Wimbledon junior title last year, also advanced to the second round, defeating Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4. The 17-year-old's task gets much tougher in the second round, where she will meet Serena Williams. For complete draws, see Wimbledon.org.
The ITF Grade 1 at Roehampton is the major junior warm-up for Wimbledon, and the U.S. contingent has not had a great deal of success. Melanie Oudin, the No. 1 seed in the girls event, has had two straight-set wins, and unseeded Coco Vandeweghe has also advanced to the round of 16, but Mallory Burdette and Alexa Guarachi both fell in today's second round action. Bradley Klahn of the U.S., the No. 13 seed, is one of only five seeds remaining in the boys final 16 and Jarmere Jenkins dropped the No. 11 seed today to advance to the third round. The top seeded boy, reigning French Open Junior champion Tsung-Hua Yang is out, as is the second seed in the girls, Arantxa Rus, the 2008 Australian Open Junior champion. For complete draws, visit the ITF junior site.
In college news, Wake Forest has announced that former Florida player Chris Brandi, who had been coaching with his father Andy at the Harold Solomon Institute, has been named assistant for the Demon Deacons' men's team, replacing Andrew Simpson. For more, see the Wake Forest website announcement.
5 comments:
Levine is rolling along against Young right now.
Wish ESPN would've bothered to show a little of that match. I don't think they've even talked about the result and considering how poorly the US men have done thus far, you'd think they would've brought it up. Unless I missed them talking about it. Anyways, great win for Jesse. Melzer took out Ljubicic so it's another lefty vs. lefty matchup and I like Jesse's chances.
That whole quarter that Levine is in is weak vs. the others. Would be cool to see him get on a run and do some damage.
I seriously do not think ESPN even uttered one single word about those two playing each other, at least not as of 1235pm central time. I was somewhat baffled by it. The two biggest up-and-coming American men (Querrey has been around) that will shape the next decade of mens tennis for our country and it was like it didnt exist. It got to the point where I was laughing about it each time a set finished and they didnt say anything about it. Not even Luke Jensen courtside, nothing. Very strange.
Considering how PMac goes out of his way to talk about American tennis, and the fact that it was 2 Americans playing, it really was pathetic on ESPN's part to not even mention the match or show a freakin highlight. I don't know if there are cameras out on court 5, but there were no cameras out on Isner's court and they still found a way to show some of his match. Just very disappointing when the US network covering the event doesn't even mention the Americans. Maybe the Tennis Channel coverage tonight will have something, though I doubt it.
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