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Monday, April 6, 2009

Mulholland Beats Cako; Kudla and Sandgren Survive Tough Openers


©Colette Lewis 2009--
Carson, CA--

The sun has set here after a warm and sunny day in Los Angeles, but the matches are continuing with several boys 16s contests likely to finish well after any of you in the Eastern time zone have gone to bed. Two courts were unavailable for play due to some repair work that needed to be completed today, so the first day, which is always a long one, went even longer.

Most of the 18s actions was completed this morning, and if you followed my tweets, you know I watched No. 9 seed Sloane Stephens against Kaitlyn Christian. Stephens, who is now training at Carson, looked very comfortable in her surroundings, and her domination of Christian was as complete as it was surprising. Christian is an excellent defender, but she had no answer for Stephens's power and depth. Stephens stayed close to her baseline and forced Christian six feet behind hers, winning the geographic battle and giving Christian no time to react or create.

Stephens's doubles partner Mallory Burdette followed her on the same court, and Burdette, the No. 8 seed, also had a tough opening match, facing Courtney Dolehide. I didn't see enough of the match to comment on it, but Dolehide won it 6-3, 6-3.

I heard that No. 7 Jacqueline Cako and Annie Mulholland were in a third set, some three hours into their 8:00 a.m. match, and when I got to their court, in the upper level, they were just starting the tiebreaker that would decide it. Mulholland ran out to a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker, as Cako wasn't connecting on her first serve, but Cako pulled even at 5-5. On that next key point, Cako missed an easy putaway, hitting it way wide, to give Mulholland a match point, but Cako hit a first serve winner to make it 6-6. Mulholland, who trains at Bollettieri's, earned a second match point when Cako made a backhand error and converted it when Cako again couldn't find the court with her backhand. The final score was 2-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(6) and the match between the two Pacific Northwest players lasted more than three and a half hours.

From there I returned back to the show court, Court 4, where boys top seed Denis Kudla had dropped the first set to Mousheg Hovhannisyan 6-1. Kudla took a 3-0 lead in the second set, and Hovahannisyan was unable to convert his opportunities to pull even and dropped that set 6-3. In the final set, each player held his first two serves, but then three straight breaks put Kudla up 4-3. He saved a break point in the next game to take a 5-3 lead, and Hovahannisyan couldn't stay in the points long enough in the final game, giving Kudla a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 win.

No. 2 seed Tennys Sandgren also had his hands full against Dane Webb, but Sandgren, who reached the final of the Grade A Copa Gerdau in Brazil a week ago, pulled out a 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 win over the 16-year-old from Texas.

For the ISC TennisLink site, click here. For the USTA ITF page, click here.

For more on Madison Keys's win today on the WTA Tour, see this story by Charlie Bricker, writing for Bob Larson's Tennis News.

11 comments:

justthefacts said...

This is no offense to Mulholland, but coming out of the PNW many years ago, she was not a physically gifted talent. It just goes to show that if you combine a hard working, and focused player with Bolletttieri Academy, the result is very predictable, because a setting such as that really provides no excuses for a willing and dedicated kid. Was reading a previous entry on another thread saying 95% of kids at IMG looked like your local park, while only 5% had talent and potential. I disagree with that. Yes, not everyone training there is going to make $$ playing tennis, but the majority of that other "95%" are going to become pretty darn good tennis players.

John said...

It really irritates me when folks (even Colette!) talk about an "upset" using the USTA or ITF rankings as the barometer. I'm not saying those are worthless, but everyone knows their flaws.

Yesterday Dolehide d. Burdette, but that was expected based on head-to-head rankings where Dolehide is ranked #21 and Burdette is #40. But it's "good press" to call it an upset......

FWIW.....

work-hard-tennis said...

John, it bugs the heck out of me too. I second that for sure.

Justthefacts, it is interesting to see a somewhat average player turn out to be quite good with the right dedication, training, and money. What is Bolletieri's--$50,000.00 per year for training alone, and $70,000.00 for boarding too? Who can afford that?

Colette Lewis said...

@John:
I think I am very judicious in my use of the word upset.
Given the difference in the two girls' international background and experience, I did consider Dolehide's win over Burdette to be an upset, although far from a shocking one.

justthefacts said...

"Work Hard Tennis" Not sure of the price there, I think in the 40's?, but you are correct in your assumption. No one knows for sure, but had someone the caliber of Mulholland NOT have had the opportunity at Bollettieri, I doubt she would have been as successful. But on the flip side, I would bet that very physically gifted athletes have been given that chance, and have squandered it, due perhaps not having the "intangibles" that this girl has. She has obviously "wanted" it. But I do see your point. LOTS of other kids out there in the 11's and 12's with her comparable ability who will never get that chance.

John said...

Colette - no doubt Burdette has more international experience; but again, based on head-to-head performance, Dolehide has better relative results....so not an upset from my perspective.

Same thing holds true for Davis over Puig yesterday.....Davis was the much better (yet unseeded) player and got the win. Did notice you didn't call that one an upset :-))

work-hard-tennis said...

Hey Justthefacts, Interesting note...I just found out that Cako was up a set and 3-1 in the second, and then pulled a back muscle in that match.

So maybe it was an injury after all that helped Mulholland win that match?

Don't know for sure, just heard that through the grapevine.

Colette Lewis said...

I confirmed with Cako that she did indeed injure her back in the Mulholland match when up a set and 3-1.

curious said...

Does the fact Cako injured her back somehow diminish the win by Mulholland? Winning the match in two tiebreakers, obviously it was quite a fight.

get real said...

I think now it is starting to come down to real talent verses rankings. Alot of the kids have funding to travel to itfs out of the country and have success, verses the kids who do not have that extra funding. Once again the rankings are flawed, but look at Davis and others who went and eliminated some of the highly ranked itf players. It appears to me, that alot of the kids who are traveling out of the country and have some success, come back to the States and are dumping 1st or 2nd round. Either the pressure is getting them or maybe we do have some good U.S. players coming up.

McLovin said...

In a points based system, you can always pay for a meaningless ranking. It's head to head at majors that mean anything, just like the pros.