California Junior Fortnight Begins Monday
We're in Los Angeles this week for the International Spring Championships, the sixth year of the tournament held at the USTA Training Center West at the Home Depot Center in Carson. Next week it's the Easter Bowl in Palm Springs, where the 14s age division are added to the mix.
The draws are up (except for the girls 18s, which I had to get from the ITF junior site) and Monday's order of play has been posted, with all of the 16s and half of the 18s on the schedule; although there are no doubles, it is always a very long day with 96 singles matches on 15 courts. There is a threat of rain Monday morning, although it is not supposed to linger. First round matches that I will be having a look at tomorrow include No. 2 seed Dennis Novikov against wild card Spencer Newman, Dan Kosakowski, the boys 18 Winter Champion, against No. 5 seed Alexis Carlos of Mexico and boys 18 Spring Champion Bjorn Fratangelo versus No. 7 seed Diego Acosta of Ecuador.
In the girls 18s, I will be keeping an eye on No. 13 seed Rachel Kahan versus wild card Krista Hardebeck, who won the 16s title last year, and Claremont ITF winner Sabrina Santamaria, a wild card, versus Kyle McPhillips. Thirteen-year-old wild card Gabrielle Andrews will play No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula, who just reached the Grade A Copa Gerdau final in Brazil.
In the 16s, Tyler Gardiner and Brooke Austin are the top seeds. The 18s top seeds--Katarena Paliivets of Canada and Raymond Sarmiento of the U.S.--are not scheduled to play on Monday.
For the order of play, see the ISC website at usta.com. For the 18s draws, see the ITF junior website.
For a preview of the International Spring Championships by Steve Pratt, click here.
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