Mestach, Sant'anna Win Titles at Casablanca Cup; Last Chance to Vote in Baseline Awards; Honor Roll Change for 2011
The two top seeds reached the finals of the Grade A Casablanca Cup in Mexico today, but only An-Sophie Mestach left with the winner's trophy. The 16-year-old Belgian defeated No. 2 seed Caroline Garcia of France 7-6(5), 6-2 to earn her first Grade A singles title, and she and partner Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands also won the doubles crown. Mestach and Schuurs have now won six major (Grade 1 and above) junior doubles titles in the past year. Prior to teaming with Schuurs, Mestach played often with compatriot Sofie Oyen, now a freshman at Florida, who teamed with Allie Will to take the USTA/ITA Women's Indoor in November.
Boys top seed Oliver Golding of Great Britain was upset by unseeded Bruno Sant'anna 7-6(2), 6-0. The 17-year-old Brazilian came into the tournament ranked 130 in the world to Golding's 15, and lost in the first round at the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, but he now has his second ITF singles title, after winning a Grade 5 on clay in October.
The winners of the boys doubles was also a surprise, as William Kwok and Michael Rinaldi of the U.S. took the title. Playing together for the first time, the pair beat top seeds Golding and Julien Cagnina of Belgium in the semifinals 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-6, then took out the unseeded Chilean team of Matias Sborowitz and Benjamin Ugarte 6-3, 6-2 in the finals.
For complete results, see the ITF Junior website. The tournament's website has articles about the matches, which can be translated into English by clicking on the Union Jack flag. There is also an extensive photo gallery on the site. The story puts the attendance for the boys final at 1500, certainly one of the largest crowds any junior is likely to play in front of, save perhaps Kalamazoo and Wimbledon.
A final reminder to vote in the On The Baseline 2010 awards, by clicking on the logo at left. Monday is the last day of voting, and zootennis has been nominated for best tennis blog, but there are many other categories you may want to weigh in on.
A small change, and I hope an improvement, to the site for 2011 will be the addition of girls in the "Honor Roll." Because I live in Kalamazoo, I initially focused on boys junior tennis, but it's been several years since I've expanded to include girls equally. Somehow I never moved away from listing just the boys' accomplishments, but decided I would this year. The honor roll will continue to recognize 18-and-under Americans who win a Grade 1 or above ITF Junior event (singles or doubles), an ITF Professional Circuit title (singles or doubles), and ITA/NCAA title, a USTA National championship (singles only), or another major international junior event (such as Les Petits As).
12 comments:
Is that all you have on winter nationals? No doubles or notable info? And they did not use tiebreaker for third set in most age groups - you can see the scores you posted. What a skim of such a big event. It always seems you are only interested in who you already know - you appear as biased as USTA and look where that has got them in the last 20 years. No vote from me, you aren't catching anything new, just the obvious I can get off the tourny page. No real value to this blog. Sorry, I just expected something besides a score recap from the tournament page.
I have to disagree with No Vote. I think the job Colette does with this blog is nothing short of amazing. Thanks for all you have done for tennis and especially junior tennis in the USA and the world.
I also have to disagree with No Vote. The first hand coverage of the events she can get to is amazing. This is a blog, not CBS with a staff of thousands.
i completely agree with bobby.
I could not disagree more with no vote. As I understand it Colette does not get paid a penny for her unwavering devotion to junior tennis and provides reporting on a variety of junior events almost daily, taking only a few days off if that. It is the true definition of a labor of love. Colette can’t be everywhere all the time and provide those details for every junior tournament. So if a tournament every now and then is more of a recap than a blow by blow account that is to be expected, but then again bloggers who were there can fill in the details. Personally I don’t see how she does it day in and day out.
No Vote.. I can only assume that you were trying to be funny just to see what kind of responses you would get. If not shame on you.
I disagee "no vote". This is the only place I find interesting tidbits about junior tennis. I like how Colette's always noting other tennis links like the "Tennis Mom" who gives a different more subjective viewpoint.
I'm just curious to know where "no vote" goes most frequently to get his/her tennis information.
If there are much better sites, etc, please share.
Keep your vote...majority rules. You're probably alone on this one. Colette Rules!! Give her a break, she damn near spent a month in Fl. can't go coast to coast especially during the holidays. "no vote" for you this time.
I think we all have met people who share no vote's attitude. The kind of very unhappy (if not clinically depressed) person who always complains no matter what and who always seeks out the negative.
My advice: seek counseling or save your negativity for those who really deserve it. Perhaps the USTA but not Colette who has always been fair even with those who don't agree with her which sometimes includes me.
To give just one obvious example of her fairness: she chose to post no vote's message even though it unfairly criticized her. Many others in her shoes would decline to post it.
another example of her fairness:
it seems colette is also fair enough to publish dogma from people who give a medical diagnosis to those that simply disagree with them
Nice try 3.O. (or should I say "no vote?"). I was obviously being facetious and that was a parenthetical speculation on its face in any case.
My point was that if "no vote" can complain about Colette's efforts that she does primarily as a volunteer then he is likely to complain about just about anything.
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