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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Top Four Seeds Advance to Quarters at Women's US Open National Playoff; King Reaches Singles Quarters and Doubles Final in Godfrey

The Women's US Open National Playoff began yesterday, with four matches played, and today the first round was completed, leaving eight players still alive for the U.S. Open qualifying wild card, including all four seeds. Yesterday No. 1 seed Alina Jidkova beat Eleanor Peters 6-4, 6-3, Kaitlyn Christian downed Samantha Powers 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, No. 3 seed Brittany Augustine defeated Belinda Niu 6-4, 6-1 and Evangeline Repic got past Jan Abaza 6-3, 7-6 (2). For more details on Wednesday's matches, see this story from usopen.org.

In today's action, Jessica Pegula won over Megan Falcon, 6-0, 6-4, No. 4 seed Courtney Dolehide defeated Rachel Kahan 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, Maureen Diaz beat Katerina Sevcikova 6-2, 6-3 and No. 2 seed Alexandra Mueller downed Romana Tedjakusuma, 6-2, 6-3. More detailed coverage of the matches can be found at gvtnews.com.

The two $10,000 Pro Circuit events in Godfrey, Ill. and St. Joseph, Mo. produced some interesting results for those preparing for the upcoming USTA Nationals.

Qualifier Evan King beat 2009 Kalamazoo 18s champion Chase Buchanan 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 and in Friday's quarterfinals will face wild card Rhyne Williams, who today defeated No. 7 seed and 2008 Kalamazoo 16s champion Jordan Cox 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Austin Krajicek saw to it that recent Kalamazoo champions were not shut out in Godfrey, as the 2008 18s winner took out No. 5 seed Alex Domijan 6-1, 7-6(1). Krajicek plays Blake Strode in the quarterfinals.

King and Cox, who played many a doubles match together as juniors, teamed up this week in Godfrey and have reach the finals. They beat Buchanan and Sekou Bangoura 7-6(0), 6-3 and will meet Texas Longhorns Jean Andersen and Josh Zavala, who defeated another accomplished former junior team, Krajicek and Jarmere Jenkins, 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 in today's semifinals.

In the women's event in Missouri, juniors Ellen Tsay, Grace Min and Kyle McPhillips advanced to the quarterfinals, with McPhillips and Min playing each other on Friday. McPhillips, who is playing the 16s division in San Diego, defeated No. 2 seed Liz Lumpkin 6-3, 6-1. McPhillips and Catherine Harrison reached the doubles semifinals, where they will play Tsay and her partner, Maria Sanchez of USC.

For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

2 comments:

Go college tennis said...

Nice week or so for college tennis. Cox & Kudla both lose to guys who play #3 on their college team. Domijan loses to a college guy & Evan King is already in school.

So if the Zoo winner gets to play in the Main Draw, what happens to Klahn?

getreal said...

To go colleg... Domijan is heading to UVA. While I don’t have an opinion yet on whether chances to make it in the pros for men get hurt by playing D1 tennis as that seems to be evolving , I do know it’s very tough to go from top junior to a top 50 ATP men’s pro. It’s 50/50 that any of the US names we hear bantered about will make that ultimate leap but probably one will. In my opinion Harrison is the only one in the current crop with the consistent results at the junior and pro level to give it a roll of the dice. Clearly junior tennis at the highest level is so consuming for the player, the parent and coach, I am not sure any of these kids, parents or coaches have a real grasp on what the kid is giving up by turning pro at 16 or 17 without consistent results, or more to the point, probably care because these kids stop getting a real education at 15 or 16 anyway. There is no way these kids can travel almost non-stop and get a education and be prepared for college anyway unless the college has no standards for its top athletes. All I will say is that it’s refreshing to look at Jack Sock because he attends a regular high school and has always played tennis at highest level, so even if he turns pro instead of going to college at least he will have a “real” high school education.