Baylor vs. Michigan Match Report; Junior ITF, Pro Circuit Update
My account of Michigan's 4-3 win over Baylor Friday night can be found today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. It's fantastic to have TRN's support, which allows me to cover as wide a variety of tennis competition as my schedule allows. As I mentioned on Saturday, the drive to Ann Arbor was just short of harrowing with the wind and snow, but it was one of those matches that I'm glad I saw for myself. And if I could add my annual plea--do make an effort to get to a college tennis match in your area in the next two months.
I provided links to most of the big college matches of the weekend yesterday, so today it's time to catch up on what's happening in the ITF juniors and Pro Circuit.
For the second week in a row, a American girl has captured an ITF Grade 2 title on South American clay. This time it's Chanelle Van Nguyen, who after beating qualifier (and fellow Orange Bowl 16s winner) Breaunna Addison in the semifinals, upset No. 6 seed Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 6-1, 7-5 to claim the championship. Van Nguyen was unseeded in the Argentina Cup. In the boys singles, No. 2 seed Facundo Arguello of Argentina defeated No. 4 seed George Morgan of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2 in the final. For complete results, see the ITF junior website.
It was also a great week for U.S. players on the hard courts of El Salvador, as Mac Styslinger and Dhanielly Quevedo won the singles titles of the Grade 4 event there. Styslinger, the No. 2 seed, beat top seed Cesar Torres of Peru 6-3, 6-2 in the final, while Quevedo, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 5 seed Juliana Gajic of Canada 7-6(3), 6-4. For complete draws, see the ITF junior website.
At this week's Grade 1 in Paraguay, Alexios Halebian and Hunter Harrington qualified, joining Shane Vinsant in the main draw. The U.S. girls competing there are Grace Min, Van Nguyen, Lauren Davis and Beatrice Capra (addition: Jessica Pegula of the U.S. is also playing). Complete draws are here.
The Pro Circuit featured just one tournament last week, a $15,000 men's event in Harlingen, Texas. Alex Domijan reached the quarterfinals, losing to No. 5 seed Andrey Kumantsov of Russia, who went on to reach the singles final. Kumantsov was defeated there by former Tulsa All-American Arnau Brugues 7-6(2), 6-3.
This week the men remain in South Texas for another $15,000 tournament in McAllen. Brugues in the top seed and Domijan received a wild card, as did Baylor's Jordan Rux.
The women are in Hammond, La. for a $25,000 event. Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus, ranked 117th, is the top seed. Megan Falcon, the former LSU star, received a wild card, as did Kim Couts, Jan Abaza and Connie Hsu.
For complete draws, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
8 comments:
Colette, It was great meeting you at the men's ITA indoors in Charlottesville. I thought you would be interested to know that UVA will be without Sanam Singh for their home match against Texas this weekend. He is on "Davis Cup Duty." http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=88813&SPID=10610&DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=204898389
Is that the Kumantzov that played at Indiana St and TAMU-Corpus Christi? I think so?
I would be interested to know if the USTA if footing the bill for juniors to trvel to South America for these tournaments, anyone know?
i say no chance. they did before 2005 or 2006 i think, we sent like 10 kids, 9 tanked the trip, so they dont give support down there anymore. its too bad for the kids now paying for something a different group of lazy kids did 4 or 5 years ago.
to mclovin
my guess they are alll usta kids so of course the USTA is footing the bill.
The team the USTA took to South America consisted of three boys and three girls to play three tournaments - Chile, Argentina and Paraguay. The boys struggled in the first two having to qualify but playing many tough three setters. The girls so far have WON the first two. Min won Chile and VanNguyen won Argentina. This week in Paraguay, so far two of the boys qualified and won their first round in the Main. The girls are in the Main. These players are beating South American players on RED CLAY at home. The scores indicate that they are fighting every match. The experience that they are gaining is invaluable. These tournaments are G1 and G2. The Copa Gerdau and Banana Bowl G1 and GA are still to be played and more than likely the same players will not play them as each segment takes a great effort to compete.
The team that went in 2005-06 was just not prepared to compete. It seems like it is a different story now. Certainly the results show it so far.
I heard from one of the kid's parents that the 2005-06 team wasn't hitting on clay to prepare for that trip. They were intensely doing that marine corp endurance drills that was reported back then but not practicng on court so they were ill prepared and tired but tanking was not the issue.
to comment,
Success on Red Clay is what Tennys Sandgren did last year, the finals of the Grade A in Brazil. Winning a few matches in qualies with weaker players is not success on Red Clay, or gettuing beating 2-2 in the rd of 16,the best showing of the group. Like I said before, a very expensive long trip to play a few matches with kids not yet at the level to go deep into the MAIN draw. What is the point when the USTA could use the money to build a couple of red clay courts and have these younger players train on red clay in the US, not miss month of school (yes that is important their age) and make the trip to South American when they have the game to do some damage in the main draw.
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