Nike Junior Tour Crowns Champions; Coaching Changes; Capra Defeats Brengle
The Nike Junior Tour is one of the premier international events for 12s and 14s, and this year the finals were held for the first time in the United States, Port St. Lucie Fla., to be specific. Although there were no U.S. players in the four finals, it is an opportunity to become familiar with some of the names that will no doubt surface in the upcoming Eddie Herr and Junior Orange Bowls.
The boys 14s winner was unseeded Carlos Bautista of Spain, who beat No. 1 seed Kevin Kaczynski of Germany 6-4, 6-4. According to this article on the Nike Junior Tour website, his performance was a surprise to nearly everyone who knew Bautista from European competition. The girls 14s winner was No. 2 seed An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium, a semifinalist at Les Petit As, who beat top seed Petra Uberalova of Slovakia 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4.
The boys 12s champion is 11-year-old Bollettieri student Gianluigi Quinzi of Italy, who was a semifinalist at last year's Eddie Herr. Quinzi, the No. 1 seed, defeated unseeded Omar Salman of Belgium 6-1, 1-0, ret. inj. The girls 12s winner was unseeded Yan Wang of China, who downed unseeded Virginia Pena of Spain 6-4, 6-3. 
A few bits of coaching news to report from my conversations in Tulsa. Pat Harrison will be leaving the John Newcombe Academy in New Braunfels, Texas for the IMG/Bollettieri Tennis Academy beginning next month. The entire family is planning on settling in Bradenton. Ryan is not playing in any of the major junior tournaments in the next few months, however. He has a stress fracture in his back and is not expected to play competitively until next year.
USTA High Performance coach Mark Merklein, who was traveling with James Blake, is back with the juniors, and he was shepherding the 1993 birth year players in Tulsa. Mike Sell was with the 1992s. Whether this is permanent probably depends on the still evolving elite development scene. Jose Higueras and Patrick McEnroe are in Boca Raton now for the twice-yearly coaches meetings. The U.S. is not the only Grand Slam country to lose its head of men's tennis in the past two weeks. Paul Hutchins of Great Britain will vacate his position at the LTA by year's end. Neil Harman of the Times reports on this development, as well as Laura Robson's three-set loss to Iveta Benesova in Luxembourg.
In Augusta today, ITF Pan-American champion Beatrice Capra continued her excellent play, battling past No. 4 seed Madison Brengle 7-6(5), 6-4 in the $25,000 Pro Circuit's first round. Pan-American singles semifinalist and doubles champion Lauren Embree also won, defeating No. 6 seed Agustina Lepore of Argentina, ranked 249th, 6-2, 6-0. The two wild cards played doubles together, but lost, to Brittany Augustine and Tiya Rolle, 3-6, 6-3, 14-12.
For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page on usta.com.
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