Klahn and Thacher Lose at SAP; Falconi Beats Keothavong at DC; Smash Junior Cup Entries Close Sunday, G18s Winner Gets Family Circle Qualifying WC
I watched the second round SAP Open doubles match between Stanford's Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher and Xavier Malisse and Alejandro Falla this evening via the free livestreaming at veetle.com, but unfortunately it was a lopsided match. Malisse and Falla won 6-0, 6-2, and although I would say that Malisse in particular played brilliantly, Klahn and Thacher never got their games going. Whether it was nerves or lack of experience, the Stanford team missed volleys, returns and first serves and never truly pressured Malisse and Falla. There were only two deciding points, both won by the professionals, and it was over very quickly.
It was a much better evening for another recent college player as former Georgia Tech Yellowjacket Irina Falconi took out No. 4 seed Anne Keothavong of Great Britain 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the featured evening match at the Dow Corning Tennis Classic. In Friday's quarterfinals, Falconi will play fellow American Madison Brengle who completed an upset of her own this afternoon, defeating No. 5 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 5-7, 7-5. There are now as many qualifiers remaining in the draw as seeds, with Ahsha Rolle, a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Michelle Larcher de Brito and Alexandra Stevenson, who beat Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0, 6-7(4), 6-3, earning their fifth victories in the past five days. Stevenson will play No. 2 seed Rebecca Marino Friday. Marino beat 15-year-old Vicky Duval 7-6(1), 6-4, Thursday, but Duval is probably pleased with her improvement in the scoreline, as she had lost to Marino 6-0, 6-1 a year ago in Memphis qualifying. Rolle will play the other remaining seed, No. 7 Ksenia Pervak of Russia. The fourth match will feature 2009 champion and 2010 finalist Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic against Germany's Sabine Lisicki.
Falconi's win means she will continue to write her blog for usta.com. Here is the most recent edition.
For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
The SMASH Junior Cup will take place February 19-21, and it is a sectional tournament with national interest due to the wild card earned by the girls 18s winner. The Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina awards a qualifying wild card to its tournament in April, with past champions including Mallory Cecil, Alison Riske and Shelby Rogers. This year entries close on Sunday the 13th, but already Kaitlin Ray, Caroline Price, Lauren Herring, Catherine Harrison and Jessica Pegula have entered. For more, see the TennisLink site.
And for those of you interested in the Futures, don't miss the recent posts over at Challenger Tennis, who covered last week's Palm Coast event in person and is probably the only person in the world reporting exactly what Wayne Odesnik said after his victory.
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