Cako and Kudla Take Grade 2 Titles in S. Carolina; Bhambri and Lertcheewakarn Win Asian Closed; Orange Bowl Acceptances
Seventh seed Jacqueline Cako and third seed Denis Kudla claimed the ITF Grade 2 titles in Lexington, South Carolina today. Cako defeated unseeded Alexandra Cercone 6-1, 6-4 today and didn't lose more than four games in any set throughout the tournament. Kudla downed No. 2 seed Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 6-3 in the final, but had a much tougher week than Cako. In a rematch of the Pan-American semifinal, he met top seed Ryan Lipman again in the semifinals, and lost the first set 6-4. Kudla was leading 5-3 in the second set when Lipman retired due to injury. Lipman didn't play in the doubles semifinals later that day. Kudla and JT Sundling, seeded seveth, took the doubles title, scraping past No. 3 seeds Evan King and Raymond Sarmiento 7-6 in the third. The girls championship was also decided in a third set tiebreaker, with top seeds Hanna Orlik of Belarus and Karina Pimkina of Russia getting the win over No. 5 seeds and Pan-American champions Jessica Alexander and Lauren Embree of the U.S. For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.
It is in keeping with the ITF rules to play out all doubles matches in Grades 2-5, but Grade 1s are supposed to be no-ad with match tiebreakers. In the Asian-Oceania Closed in Indonesia, a Grade B1, they did not use the format mandated by the ITF, and in the girls doubles it could have made a difference. Jessy Rompies and Beatrice Gumulya of Indonesia defeated Miyabi Inoue of Japan and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand 7-6 in the third. In singles, Lertcheewakarn, the Wimbledon finalist and the No. 1 seed in the tournament, defeated Rompies, the No. 2 seed, 6-4, 6-2. Boys top seed Yuki Bhambri of India won his second straight ITF event, defeating No. 3 seed Liang-Chi Huang of Chinese Taipei 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. For complete draws, see the ITF junior site.
The acceptances for the Orange Bowl are out, and the girls field looks very strong. Three of the four junior slam winners are entered with Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands (Australian Open), Laura Robson of Great Britain (Wimbledon) and CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S. (U.S. Open) heading the competitors. Only Simona Halep of Romania, the French Open girls champion, will not be there. On the boys side, the French Junior boys champion Tsung-Hua Yang of Chinese Taipei is the only slam winner entered, with neither Grigor Dimitrov (Wimbledon & U.S. Open) nor Bernard Tomic (Australian Open) appearing in Key Biscayne this year. For the acceptance list as of October 30, please see the Dunlop Orange Bowl page at usta.com.
It's a busy week coming up on the Pro Circuit, with a Men's $15,000 Futures in Hawaii, a Men's $75,000 Challenger in Nashville and a Women's $50,000 Challenger in Auburn, Ala. Qualifying is underway at all three events. For results, see the usta.com Pro Circuit page.
The ITF tournament this week is a Grade 4 at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton. The TennisLink site is here.
3 comments:
Lots os US players made in main draw in the Orange Bowl:
Chase Buchanan, Ryan Lipman, Alex Domijan, Devin Britton, Tennys Sandgrens, Jamere Jenkins, Harry Fowler, Bob Vanoverbeek, Jordan Cox, Evan King. That''s 11. Not bad showing. Saw Denis Kudla opted to play 16s, interesting.
I didn't know where to ask this, but has anyone seen Carlos Cueto of Florida play? Or know anything about him? He's had a very good fall for the Gators and beat Hochwalt today to win the Seminole Invitational at FSU, without dropping a set. Florida's roster hasn't been updated with his info, other than he's a freshman from Spain.
OFF TOPIC :
Let's take this day to reflect, and set aside our various point of views in the sport that we all so love .
Don't forget to go to the polls tomorrow . Make sure that your VOTE counts ! It could make a difference even in tennis !!!
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