U.S. Goes For History Sunday in Mexico; Lipman and Fuller Win in Atlanta
The Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup titles are just one win away for the U.S. teams, with both sailing into Sunday's final on the basis of 3-0 sweeps again today. Neither U.S. team has surrendered a point in four matches at the San Luis Potosi competition, with the doubles rendered meaningless on all eight occasions.
In today's action, Christina McHale, playing No. 2 singles, downed Zsofia Susanyi of Hungary 6-2, 6-0 and at No. 1 singles, Kristie Ahn took out Timea Babos 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 to give the No. 1 seeds the victory over No. 5 seeded Hungary. McHale and Sloane Stephens won the doubles for good measure, 7-5, 6-3.
The No. 3 seeded U.S. boys faced No. 2 seeds India, and after Evan King had given his team a 1-0 lead with a routine 6-2, 6-0 decision over Saurabh Singh at No. 2 singles, the tension rose for the Yuki Bhambri - Denis Kudla match at No. 1. Kudla had lost a tough three-setter to Bhambri in the first round of the U.S. Open junior championships, but he reversed that result today, overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the final set to post a 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4 victory over the ITF's 18th-ranked junior player. King and Sarmiento took the final point with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win in doubles.
In the finals, the U.S. girls will meet Great Britain, the fourth seeds, who took out eighth-seeded Belarus 2-1. Tara Moore is playing No. 1 and Heather Watson No. 2, and neither has lost a singles match this week. In the 14-and-under ITF World Junior Championships last month, the U.S. girls defeated Great Britain 2-1, even with Wimbledon champion Laura Robson (who lost in three sets today in the semifinals in the $75K event in England) representing the Union Jack. For more on Great Britain's semifinal win, see the LTA website.
The U.S. boys will face Argentina, the fifth seeds, who surprised the No. 1 seeded Russian team today 2-1. Although Australia captured three of the four ITF team junior titles last year (both 16s, and the boys 14s), no country has ever won all four in the same year.
For more coverage, including some outstanding photos of the U.S. players by Susan Mullane, see the ITF Junior website.
The ITF Grade 4 in Atlanta was completed today, with Ryan Lipman and Kate Fuller taking the singles titles. Fuller teamed with fellow Atlanta-area resident Grace Min for the doubles championship. On Friday, Dan McCall and Nathan Pasha earned the boys doubles title. For complete results, see the TennisLink site.
5 comments:
I have a couple of questions (totally off topic, sorry, but I unfortunately haven't been able to log onto Zootennis for a while :)) that follow up the very interesting "Coaches Q and A" article of June 18 (http://tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/2008/06/coaches-q-and-how-does-european-clay.html).
1- Are there any American clubs/academies that have European red clay courts?
2- How come American court-builders do not offer European red clay courts in their products?
This may sound naive of me, but with all the junior and pro tournaments in Europe played on red clay, plus Roland Garros, I assume that many American players would benefit from practicing on red clay courts "at home" ...
Thank you very much for enlightening me.
does anyone know when yourgameface is posting the kalamazoo/ clay pics for buying?
pierrick--
I believe the Westside Tennis Club in Houston had imported red clay, but it was extremely expensive and for that reason it is not a viable alternative for most clubs.
There is one red clay court at IMG/Bollettieri's, but I'm not sure of its provenance.
Maybe others will comment if they know of other red clay courts in the U.S.
The West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens has red clay courts
Ok, thanks a lot Colette and Tom C!
Have a good day.
Pierrick
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