Adams Earns First ATP Point in Brownsville Futures; Blue Gray Draws Revealed; Barty Beats Top Seed in Australia 25K; Tennis Europe's Team Indoor
Not too many players earn their first professional point in their first try (it's actually not even possible for girls, who must play three events before being ranked), but Harrison Adams will be on the ATP computers in a couple of weeks after a victory today in the $15,000 Brownsville Futures. The 16-year-old Adams, a wild card who trains at Newcombe's Tennis Academy, beat former UNLV Rebel Joel Kielbowicz, a qualifier, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1). On Thursday, Adams will play former Orange Bowl and Australian Open boys champion Yuki Bhambri of India, the No. 8 seed, who beat Great Britain junior Oliver Golding in the first round. The other juniors in the main draw, wild card Shane Vinsant and qualifers Christopher Haworth and Marcos Giron, lost their first round matches today. UCLA recruit Giron and Eric Johnson, who has committed to USC, won their first round doubles match and will play No. 3 seeds Devin Britton and Greg Ouellette in Thursday's quarterfinals.
Complete results can be found at the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
At the $25,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Australia, Ashleigh Barty, the 14-year-old who is held in very high regard by knowledgeable observers in that country, beat top seed Kumiko Iljima of Japan in the first round. Barty, a wild card, beat the 28-year-old, ranked 214 in the world, 6-3, 6-3. The tournament is one of the few ITF events played on grass. American Gail Brodsky is also in the draw there, and won her first round match. TennisAustralia posted this article on the results there.
For complete draws, see the ITF Women's Circuit website.
While visiting that website, I noticed the article posted today on Monica Puig's win in the Surprise $25,000 event last week. It links to an explanation of the junior exempt program, which also features a list of the ranking cutoffs for all the ITF-supervised tournaments in previous years. This is valuable information for determining where a young player with only a few WTA points might be able to receive entry without a wild card.
Because the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic moved from its traditional mid-March place in the calendar, I won't be able to attend this year (I was able to make the finals of the last two tournaments immediately following the USTA 18s Spring Nationals), which is disappointing, because the tournament will feature both men and women this year in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of 16 men's teams, there will be eight men's and eight women's teams, including, as usual, the Alabama and Auburn teams. Texas Tech is the top seed in the men's tournament, with Pepperdine No. 2. Virginia is No. 1 in the women's event, with Notre Dame No. 2. The tournament begins on Friday and runs through Sunday. For complete draws, see the tournament website.
The 14 and under and 16 and under National Team Indoor Championships were held in Europe last weekend. The winners were:
Boys 16s: Great Britain
Boys 14s: France
Girls 16s: Czech Republic
Girls 14s: Russia
For more on the tournaments, see the Tennis Europe website.
8 comments:
Collete way too much hyperbole over Adams winning his first ATP point. He had a particularly easy first round, especially for a 15K, and took advantage of it. Not really worth a headline unless he wins tomorrow then I will be impressed.
@getreal:
Thanks for the feedback. I don't feel I indulged in any hyperbole. In my limited experience, it is unusual for a 16-year-old to win his very first match at the Futures level, regardless of the circumstances.
Getreal, way way too much hyperbole over Colette's informative mention of an up-and-coming 16 year-old American receiving his first pro ranking point.
New ranking rules for WTA in 2011. As long as you have earned 10 points from a single event, you earn a ranking. Both Barty and Maria Sanchez earned their rankings through that. Lindsay Davenport and Chelsey Gullickson cracked the top 200 in doubles with just 2 tournaments each.
I haven't seen Barty play but she must be really good! Kumiko Iljima is twice her age but she managed to defeat her! www.tennisround.com
@tennisbuddy12:
Thanks for mentioning that change. I had a long twitter conversation about it with Pete Holtermann but somehow forgot about it.
Harry has had some really good results lately. Colette just reported one. Give him and her a break and be happy for him.
I wonder if other countries hype their up and coming juniors as much as the U.S? I am talking the U.S in general, not just this site. (usta included, Bolleterri included). Then, when some bad results, combined with perhaps pressure occurs..they are dropped like a bad habit from the realm of conversation, and then on to the "next one". I love this site when there is even keel reporting on the results of a individual match, or a college match. I do agree with "getreal" here though. What purpose does it serve to hype a 16 year old, even if he beat Roddick? They read their own press clippings, the expectations get higher, and instead of letting pure talent, good fortune, and "chips falling where they may"..the young kids need to deal with "next great thing" implications. Just my opinion, no offense toward most likely the majority of thinking!
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