Ahn Qualifies for US Open, Brodsky Turns Pro
Kristie Ahn defeated No. 4 seed and 105th-ranked Anna Lapushchenkova of Russia 6-4, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying Friday at Flushing Meadows, and joins fellow wild card Shenay Perry in the women's main draw next week. (Alexa Glatch is still on the court as I write this.) Ahn didn't lose a set in her three matches, and if my brief research is correct, she will be the youngest competitor in the main draw of singles. There are several 1991 birth year wild cards, with Melanie Oudin and Coco Vandeweghe two who are still 16, but Ahn turned 16 just two months ago.
For a recap of her match from Thursday, see McCarton Ackerman's post at Tennis Grandstand.
The U.S. men making it through qualifying are Ryan Sweeting, Robert Kendrick and Ryler De Heart, who needed a third set tiebreaker to reach his first Grand Slam main draw. Only Kendrick, the No. 4 seed, was expected to reach the main draw, so it was a good showing. As far as other countries, the Czech Republic was the big winner, placing five players in the main draw, three men and two women, without the benefit of the wild cards the U.S. had.
Tom Perotta, who is an editor at Tennis Magazine, wrote this piece on Girls 18s champion Gail Brodsky for the New York Sun, which reveals that she has decided to turn pro in advance of the U.S. Open. As a Brooklyn native, Brodsky's story is especially pertinent to the year's final Grand Slam, and despite my many conversations with her throughout her junior career, I learned quite a bit I didn't know from this story.
The updated acceptances for the US Open Juniors, available here, show that Austin Krajicek has pulled out, with Rhyne Williams getting his main draw wild card. Presumably, the reserved wild card in the boys qualifying is for Devin Britton.
And in New Jersey, unseeded Ryan Lipman won both singles and doubles (seeded one in doubles with Max Stevens), at the ITF Grade 3. For complete results, see the TennisLink site.
8 comments:
Im surprised Austin K. pulled out of what every junior dreams of, playing in the US OPEN. I assume it was because of an injury, or have you heard of anything Colette?
let the countdown begin for when Ahn is featured on the usta's junior development webpage.
Kristie, you go girl! Congrats, Go Eastern!
I see that Julie Coin qualified for the Open. Along the way she beat Karatantcheva and Baltacha, the former having made it to a quarter-final of the French and the latter having made the 3rd round of Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Obviously not as bad as people were making her out to be when McDowell lost to her (a loss that should now be put in perspective).
pretty sure Krajicek only pulled out of the Juniors portion not the Men's Draw.
Probably due to academics concerns with Classes at A&M starting on Monday.
Please tell me he only pulled out of the juniors and not the main.
USA got 9 men in on their own ranking, 6 with wildcards and 3 via qualifying, so 18 total. We had 22 in qualifying. Hopefully Kevin Kim and Alex Kuznetsov will be able to get in as a lucky loser. I think Tsonga has pulled out yet, but I expect him to by monday.
Krajicek is playing in main draw.
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