Seven American Juniors Reach Quarterfinals at US Open
©Colette Lewis 2008--
Flushing Meadows, NY--
It was a four-shirt day at the U.S. Open Thursday, with the heat index approaching 100 degrees, but when it was over, seven Americans had advanced to the quarterfinals of boys and girls singles at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
On the boys side, it started with an crisply played contest between qualifer Devin Britton and No. 13 seed Bradley Klahn and ended with a grueling three and a half hour war of attrition between wild card Rhyne Williams and No. 9 seed Ryan Harrison, with Chase Buchanan's 6-3, 7-6(7) win over Great Britain's Daniel Cox somewhere in between.
Britton, the qualifier who had taken out No. 2 seed Bernard Tomic in the first round, played virtually flawless tennis in a 6-4, 6-3 victory. He didn't face a break point in the entire match, breaking Klahn twice, at 4-5 in the first and the next time he served in the second.
"I was serving very well, he was serving pretty well, and in the first few games, he was hitting his ground strokes unbelievable," Britton said. "I was a little worried about that. But when he was serving down 4-5, he had a few unforced errors there, gave me a little more confidence. After that I was serving much better and he was starting to go for a little bit more."
Britton conceded that Klahn's ground strokes are a "different level" than his, but his commitment to serving and volleying led to many a quick point. When you don't face a break point, the pressure is on the returner, and as the match wore on, Klahn began to go for more on his returns.
"It's always nice not to have to make that first volley," he said. It's also nice to make six first serves when serving for the match, which Britton did, ending it as he did against Tomic, with an ace.
"Devin just played too well," said Klahn, who will be starting school at Stanford later this month. "I tried everything. I played pretty well, just two sloppy games on my serve, and he got the break and just ran with it. He was serving well, hitting his serves in the corners, and even when I was hitting good returns, he was coming up with volleys that I didn't have any chance to pass him on."
Buchanan's victory over Cox was not nearly as smooth, with an overrule on match point when he was serving for it at 5-4 in the second that gave Cox new life.
"I served, got in a two-shot rally, got the forehand that I wanted, went inside-in and it sort of curved off the (base)line," Buchanan recalled. "The guy (Cox) didn't get to it, he kind of stopped, the crowd started yelling, I got pumped up, and then he (the chair) overruled. It's kind of hard to cope with something when you think you've won a match. The next game I was furious--I hit a ball to the back fence in the middle of a point. But the next game I got over it, served well. It took something out of me emotionally, when something like that happens it kind of tires you out."
Down 6-2 in the tiebreaker, Buchanan looked to be facing a third set, but he managed to raise his level, while Cox's forehand mostly deserted him. The British 18-and-under champion did manage one winner off that side to give himself another set point, but Buchanan won a long and increasingly tense point when Cox netted a forehand, and Buchanan's service winner gave him his first match point since the overrule. But this time Cox's forehand was indisputably long, and Buchanan had advanced to the quarterfinals of a junior slam for the first time.
Williams has also reached his first junior slam quarterfinal taking an often sloppy but hotly contested 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3 win over Ryan Harrison. Harrison served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but he was broken at love, and was unable to recover, dropping his serve again, and winning only one point on it, to bring Williams even. Harrison's racquet cracking reaction to those two late breaks earned him a point penalty, which carried over to the third set. Williams, who struggled with cramping and received medical attention at 3-2 in the second set, opted for the ten-minute heat break he was offered.
"If you wanted it, you could do it," said Williams, who found a way to express his frustration by kicking, tossing and bouncing his racquet numerous times without drawing a warning. "He said no, but I said why not, I'm dying."
With Harrison facing a game penalty (he had been given a ball abuse warning earlier in the match), he was much more subdued in the third set, earning the first break on the final set at 2-2. But Williams immediately broke back, and then hit what he agreed was one of the top three shots of his life--a tweener winner--on his way to breaking Harrison again to go up 5-3.
Serving for the match, Williams was down 15-40, but an ace and a drop volley winner brought him to deuce. Harrison then just missed a service return when it clipped the net and fell back on his side, and a serve up the T, which Harrison disputed to no avail after he lost the point, gave Williams his first victory over Harrison.
Standing during the post-match press conference due to his lower body discomfort, Williams attributed his win to luck on several occasions.
"Today I just fought really hard and somehow won, just found a way I guess," said Williams, who is now training with Jeff Morrison, the former NCAA champion and ATP professional. "I'm happy that I could, but I wish I would have saved my legs a little more for tomorrow."
One player who got on and off the court quickly was No. 2 seed Melanie Oudin, who avenged a recent loss to doubles partner Asia Muhammad by recording a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
"I got killed by her last time," said Oudin of her 6-2, 6-3 loss in a Pro Circuit qualifying match in April. "So out there today I was really, really focused, wanting to play really confident and not let her get ahead of me. I definitely played much better than last time."
Next up for Oudin is Madison Brengle, who defeated Christina McHale 6-4, 6-0 today. Remarkably, Brengle and Oudin have never played, despite the similar WTA rankings and junior successes.
Wild card Gail Brodsky has taken advantage of her section of the draw, which saw No. 1 seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands fall in the first round, defeating unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-1, 7-6(1). Wild card Coco Vandeweghe also advanced to the quarterfinals, defeating Katarzyna Piter of Poland 7-6(3), 6-1.
The doubles are down to the semifinals, and with the advancing Tropical Storm Hanna, the plan is to complete both remaining rounds on Friday. There are no U.S. boys doubles teams in the semifinals, with the last remaining pair, Matt Kandath and Ryan Lipman falling to No. 6 seeds Peerakit Siributwong and Kittipong Wachiramanowong 6-4, 4-6, 10-7. Mallory Burdette and Sloane Stephens are the lone U.S. girls team still in doubles. They advanced past Chanel Simmonds and Bianca Swanepoel of South Africa 7-5, 6-2.
FFor complete draws, see usopen.org.
For addtional coverage, visit Marcia Frost's collegeandjuniortennis.com.
27 comments:
I was really disappointed in the attitude and sometimes the behaviour of our junior boys today. Chase played well and did everything right but the overruled shot was clearly out and the umpire was right to correct it. He did good to get his head back but I hope his coach spoke to him about the unimpressive way he acted for a few games there.
What I didnt get with Williams and Harrison is how they both weren't given penalties. Racquets were going all over the place and that should have been more than enough for them to be penalised. Harrison got a warning but he and Williams both deserved a lot more than that. The officials should do a lot more to crack down on this sort of stuff while they're juniors because when they get into the pros it could end up costing them money they can't afford.
Williams showed a lot of courage to hang in when his body started to trouble him, I'll give him credit for that. Britton's being too modest, he treed the entire match. Watching it I was waiting for him to come back to earth, but he never did. Kind of like Muller in the men's draw (least till he played Fed).
Melanie, Madison, Gail and Coco: the amazing quartet of awesome. No one of them is perfect, I’m not sure any of them is actually more talented than the others (maybe Mel). They are all so awesomely amazing, how can I choose between them?
I have a couple of questions for all of you, guys:
Who do you think has more chances to win the Us Open? Who do you think has more chances to succeed in pro-career and why?
It is a little surprising, but very encouraging that Patrick McEnroe was so candid in Thursday's New York Times article.
"He highlight the current crop of 14- to 15-year-old girls and noted the talent in the boys' 13-to-16-year old bracket. But he conceded that the pool of 17-to-20-year-old men was somewhat shallow. Can i look you in the eye and say there's a clear-cut top-five out of this crowd? I couldn't say that. But it doesn't mean it's not going to happen."
It is great to have someone like Mr. McEnroe bringing his experience, focus and intensity to US player development. It will take a few years, but if the talent is there, we can be confident it will be developed.
Live,
Could you provide a link to that story?
I found the "injury" drama in the Williams v Harrison match to be very interesting. Williams' medical schtick really wasn't much different than Djokovic in his match against Robredo. Williams did not limp at all until after he lost the first set tiebreak. At that point his use of the exaggerated limp, medical timeout and massages at changeovers clearly took Harrison out of his rhythm and changed the momentum of the match. Kudos to Williams for doing whatever it took to win. Regarding the racket tossing, it mostly looked very controlled and was really more humorous than angry. And again all credit to Mr. Williams for his skill in repeatedly tossing, throwing and kicking his racket in such a way that he never broke a racket incurring a point penalty. It may not have seemed professional in a tennis sense, but it was very professional in a Broadway sense. And, hey, we are in New York City.
Live provided this link to the NY Times McEnroe story. I can't say I agree, as Williams, Buchanan and Britton are all 17, but I suppose if you frame it as "Top Five," a smart person will always be doubtful and be right 99% of the time.
Roddick was doing a little racquet bouncing himself last night....so why wouldn't the juniors expect to get away with it also? My son does more than his share: he bounced it so hard once that it came back up and hit him hard in the mouth...and his tooth went through his lip, it was not pretty...and he didn't bounce it quite as hard in the future...lol!!
To American Man and Realist, and for that matter Patrick Mc
I know a little about tennis. I was one of two on this blog who picked the winner of the Boys 18 in the Zoo, and recently said Britton could do some real damage (won again yesterday against Klahn) at the Jr. Open but didn’t pick a winner for the boys because there is too much depth and potential for upsets. It was not to long ago Britton was struggling and probably written off by the USTA despite his blistering serve and huge upside potential, but I am sure they are noticing now. Saw parts of the "match of the drama queens" between Williams and Harrison. I'll I say is both still belong in juniors. It was no-excuses ridiculous, especially at the US Open. Also agree (and I said it before) there is way too much hype around Ryan Harrison and his younger brother Christian. Both are very talented but no-one knows how that will play out, and too soon to crown either as the future of US tennis, which is even being promoted by Patrick M.
Most important, it’s high time for USTA High Performance to look at the broad picture and financially help a group of all our 1990-1992 promising top juniors “equally and fairly” in a meaningful way, and let the chips fall where they may, as all have potential. Forget the camps as all have their coaches and give them funds to them to travel and compete, both ITF and futures, that is what they need to do at this point. The USTA is the wealthiest federation so there is no logical reason/excuse why they don’t step up to the plate big-time to help these players play the tournaments they need to play, especially since the US Open was so well attended this year. I have never seen the place so crowded.
For starters, any US player who qualies for the Australian Open Jr. Main should be financially supported to go and play the warm up tournaments or else the US showing will be miserable just like last year.
And those juniors who go on their own dime for the qualies should get the “full” support of the USTA coaches when there. Heard the other day that US players who went to the French and Wimbledon for the qualies and not a part of the USTA team there were not included in any of the USTA practices, or watched/advised by the USTA coaches. To me that is “unacceptable” as a federation and reflects very poorly on the USTA. .
Here is my list of promising players and my guess is a few receive the bulk of support, and some receive none or little. Not sure if the 93s and 94s need to do extensive international travel yet or play futures so don’t have any recommendations on those players yet, but it is key to give the below players every opportunity to develop their games at this point in their development and not just focus on two or three.
Here is my list of 15 boys in age groups 1990-1992, not a lot considering its over 3 years and not in any particular order. If I didn’t include someone it was that I don’t know the player as I was looking at players who compete with results either in ITFs or futures.
Here is my list:
Ryan and Christian Harrison (should get less support as both already signed lucrative contracts w/ IMG and have more resources that the others)
Chase Buchanan
Bradley Klahn (not sure as he will be in college next year)
Jamere Jenkins
Evan King
Jordan Cox
Raymond Sermento
Nathan Pasha
Denis Kudla
Alex Domijan
Bob VanOverbeek
Junior Ore
Devin Brittan
Tennys Sangrens
Harry Fowler
Mat Kandath
Ty Trombetta
Rhyne Williams
Sekou Bangoura
as an official, I have hard time speaking kindly at all of Roddick, his comment of smashing rackets as a strees reliever essential sets a bad example for the juniors that follow him. Unfortunately it appears many juniors are following his lead with their attitudes and racket tossing/breaking talents. This is not a good thing.
Also check out the racket abuse article on Yahoo Sports and see that the article talks about the pros but also prominently mentions 14 y.o. Christian Harrison. Not quite the pub I would be excited about if I was the USTA.
By the way, interesting Yahoo!! Sports article on racquet abuse...Such a racket! Stars, teens pound away at US Open
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news;_ylt=AkdYYwroI.gVxmx85zJ_yLI4v7YF?slug=ap-usopen-sucharacket&prov=ap&type=lgns
Interesting how things have panned out in the boys draw. Of the originally granted USTA qualifying wildcards (Bangoura, Berman, Pasha and Ore) none made it through qualifying. Britton got into the qualifiers on his own when people dropped out, otherwise he would have gotten the last WC there. He is now in the MD semis.And to think he was made to qualify 2 years in a row when players not yet ready to compete in a Grade A are given MD WC's. Kandath, at the last minute, got the last qualifying WC; he got through the qualies and knocked off Giacommo Miccini 1st round MD before losing to Britton. Without the last minute WC into qualies he may have been a spectator at the Open.
In the main draw,USTA wildcards Sarmiento, Kudla, King, Van Overbeek and C. Harrison were out in the first round as was qualifier Fowler and LL Seal. Cox, who earned his wildcard, Domijan, and qualifier Kandath each won a match. Kandath also went to the quarters in doubles, with Ryan Lipman, who probably should have gotten at least a qualie WC in singles and didn't. Williams was rightly upgraded to a main draw WC when Krajicek dropped out; he made it to the MD quarters.
When you look at the results on paper it seems to back up the opinion of the bloggers who feel that the USTA is wasting their wildcards on players that are less ready to compete at this level than other players that are being left out. A US Open semifinalist (Britton-so far) had to qualify, a US Open quarterfinalist (R. Williams)was originally asked to qualify and a US Open doubles quarterfinalist team was composed of a player who almost didn't get into even the singles qualifier (Kandath) and one(Lipman-who recently won a Grade 3 and was a finalist at another Grade 3) who wasn't in the singles at all.
Wouldn't it be something if Britton won it all?
To analyst...
Did you see any of the matches? Agree with much you said except for Fowler. He also earned his Jr. Open qualy spot on ITF ranking, qualifed, and barely lost to a top 30 ITF player in 3 sets with two tie-breakers. Saw the macth and he would have won if not for his low first serve percentage. Also Cox had a dream first round getting a Lucky Loser. FYI Fowler and VanOverbeek have wins over Maccini as well as Kandath. So, it not so black and white like you put it. So much of these tournaments is the draw you get and maybe Kandath's results would have been different if if had played the same players as King or Kulda. Agree with you about Brittin, he knocked off a bunch of top players and is now the last American in the draw.
Yahoo Sports put it this way:
Then there was Chris Harrison.
"He slung so many rackets during a first-round loss that a tennis official was dispatched to Harrison’s court with a message: Stop! You’re damaging the signs of the corporate sponsors!"
If anything that shows the kid was not ready to play the main draw of the US open juniors.
All of this wildcard talk baffles me. First of all--Wildcards should be banned. There should be no wildcards, because that only means that a player didn't earn a spot in the draw based on his/her own merit and should have to qualify. However, if there are going to be wildcards, then that is up to the discretion of whoever has the wildcards. Whether it's the USTA, Tournament Directors at every level, Agents, Sponsors, etc. EVERYONE has a fair chance to get into the draw on his/her own merit. If you are good enough, then you will win matches and get in on your own. Let your play do the talking.
This may not be the popular or "proper" thing to say, but I encourage racquet abuse and yelling over being quiet and courteous. Now Im not saying whining and smashing your racquet after every point, thats just stupid, but if you want to yell and toss the ole stick go ahead. If its not during the point it isnt affecting your opponent. Id rather watch someone who lets me know they really care as opposed to someone who im trying to figure out if they have any fight in them. All that I just said should be taken in moderation. If you do this while winning a match then you need to get it under control. A broken racquet should only occur if you are down at least a set and playing horrible. Some may not say so, but a lot of people have no problem with it.
As Charles Barkley said, "I am not a role model."
I watched Harrison's match with Llompart. I don't remember him throwing his racquet at all. Did he do it after he lost? If he did, I didn't see it. And if he did it after he lost, why would an official be dispatched to the court? It would be too late at that point.
Can anyone confirm the story? I think it's fishy.
(The USTA officials got Christian's name wrong on the scoreboard: "Chris Harrison." Christian asked the officials to change his name to Christian, and they did. I don't know why the writer made the same mistake. The name was correct on the scoreboard for the entire match.)
Did the AP writer mean Ryan Harrison? I didn't see his match with Ryne Williams.
I watched the whole llompart and Christian Harrison match. Christian never said a word and the racket never left his hand. They got him mixed up with his brother Ryan who clearly has trouble with his mental game.
To tennisparent and Wildcard_nonsense:
I don't think it is black and white at all. Certainly many times results have to do with luck of the draw, etc. And some of the WC's who lost had close, competitive matches. But---it is clear that the USTA does not try to make objective decisions with regard to the WC's. Otherwise a player like Ryan Lipman who has won a Gr3 ITF should be given a WC into at least the qualies. And Rhyne Williams who has won a Futures would be given one (from the start) into the main draw. Where is the objectivity in giving a WC to Sean Berman, for example? There is none. It upsets people because it is not based on results, or rankings or any other objective measure. And to say that a player need only go out and play enough ITF's to earn their way in shows you have little insight into the whole system. Many of the kids who are given WC's, who have not earned THEIR way in, have also been given many more opportunities to play ITF's at USTA expense. For kids who might be doing this without USTA support, the cost of traveling to ITFs either in the US or especially outside the country, makes earning your way to a high ranking very very difficult. Check out how many ITFs some of the kids have played enroute to their ranking.You can buy world ranking points just like you can buy USTA points by traveling to countless tournaments, sometimes in other countries where the draws are supposed to be less competitive than here. If the USTA uses some formula to determine who gets WC's then they should let players know what that is. As an example, say there are 6 MD wildcards available. One goes to the Kalamazoo 18 runner up, one goes to the 16's winner, 1 goes to the 1990 birth year player with the best ITF ranking that didn't get in on their own, 2 go to 1991 players with the best ITF ranking that don't get in on their own, and 1 goes to the 1992 birth year as above. For the qualies, similar standards are set, with the birth year going down to 1993 for example. Maybe leave one or 2 that are purely discretionary. At least then players know what they need to do to get in. If you think that players should simply earn the ranking that will get them in, then why are the USTA favored few exempt from that philosphy? Sure, wildcards are discretionary, but is it too much to ask that your tennis federation act objectively and responsibly when awarding these? Even if you only agree about DEvin Britton--what a huge shame it would have been if he had not gotten through the qualies (say he ran into an in form Kandath who had beaten him a few weeks before in Canada). Think about that.
The whole problem with the wild cards is that they are given to the same people all the time. It's always the same kids. eventually you should be able to get in on your own. The USTA should hve some kind of policy in regards to the number they are allowed to give out to one particular player per year. I don't understand why a little hard work in the qualies is such a big deal. Congrats to Britton for doing so well. He played two qualifier matches prior to the main draw. That may certainly contributed to his great results. There's a lot less pressure on players during the qualies and it gives them time to acclimate to their surroundings. In addition the assumption that qualifiers are not as good players as the main draw players is just plain stupid. Certainly on the junior level but also on the ATP level. Look at how many relative unknowns did well at the Open. No one came out of the womb a superstar.
This guy ought to be fired for false reporting and citing false specific would be facts. i.e.(tournament official coming to the court and saying not to damage the advertising signs). He clearly did not do his homework or see the match. I saw it from start to finish and there was never anything said or done. He could not have mixed Christian up with Ryan as he was right about him losing 1st rd. and being 14. The racket never left Christian's hand and he never yelled or said anything. I would be very upset if I were Christian. This is not misinterpretation. This is straight up false reporting. He needs to be held accountable.
To Analyst:
A player doesn't need to play only ITF's to gain entry into the US Open Jrs: they can win Kalamazoo (16s or 18s) or be top 500 ATP. A player doesn't need to travel around the world to gain ITF points. Kentucky, Tulsa, Easter Bowl, South Carolina, Eddie Herr, Orange Bowl, Spring Champs should be enough. Based on your example for determining qualifying wildcards, Sean Berman would get a wildcard, being the top ranked ITF-1993. It would be interesting to hear other people's list of WC's because I'm sure those lists would get just as much criticism.
I agree with you that there should be more automatic wildcards given. We can debate the wildcard topic for years to come. The USTA are hosting wildcard tournaments for the Australian and French Opens (Pro's). Maybe they should do that for the US Open Jrs. wildcards as well.
"Day 13: Saturday, 6 September
Junior singles semifinals are planned to be played off-site"
Colette,why would they be playing juniors off site when there are so many court there? Where are they playing the juniors?
It sounds like the AP needs to run a correction.
Due to the expected storm, the plans are to play the semifinals indoors at Sound Shore Indoor Tennis in Port Chester, NY
The indoor courts at the BJKNTC are not yet ready for play.
What times are scheduled for juniors at Sound Shore, they don't have any times at the US Open site? Thanks, Collette.
Indoors should be an advantage for Britton's S&V game.
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