Johnson, Klahn Named Davis Cup Hitting Partners; Anderson Wins at USO Sectional Qualifying; Wimbledon Qualifying, Update on British Men

The US Davis Cup team takes on Spain next month in Austin, and although the players for the teams have not been announced, Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and the Bryans are expected to compete, as is World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Given that the tie begins only five days after Wimbledon ends, six time zones away, Nadal's participation may contain an element of doubt. But in any case, Bradley Klahn of Stanford and Steve Johnson of USC have been selected as the hitting partners for the US team, and will spend the week in Austin assisting the team in preparing for Spain. All the reports I've gotten from those who have been with the Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams as hitting partners have been glowing in their praise of the experience, so I'm sure Klahn and Johnson are thrilled to be included in this high profile tie. For more on the possible matchups, see this Austin American-Statesman article.

Three more US Open Sectional Playoffs were completed last week, and UCLA recruit Robin Anderson earned her spot in the National Playoffs by winning the Middle States sectional with the loss of only 4 games. Nathan Healey won the men's tournament and teamed with Boston College's Veronica Corning to win the mixed title. In the Pacific Northwest, Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada and Aleksandar Vlaski of Serbia won the women's and men's tournament and partnered for the mixed doubles title as well. In the Intermountain section, Vasilisa Bardina and Angelo Faustino were the women's and men's winners, with Miika Keronen, and Yana Ruegsegge winning the mixed competition. For the complete list of winners, see the usopen.org website.

Registration for the final sectional qualifying, in the Southern section, closes next Monday, June 20.

The third day of Wimbledon qualifying saw three American women advance to Thursday's final round: Irina Falconi, Alexa Glatch and Lindsay Lee-Waters. They join Ryan Harrison, who is the only American man reaching the third and final round of qualifying. Falconi beat Romanian's Elena Bogdan 6-2, 6-2 today, and Guy McCrea spoke with her after the match for his daily Wimbledon podcast. He asked her about her college experience and she mentioned again one of the points she brought up in a press conference in Midland this year--that she knew she would get another match after a loss, and still have a scholarship. Falconi plays No. 13 seed Junri Namigata of Japan in the final round of qualifying.

The complete order of play can be found at wimbledon.com.

News of British tennis always spikes this month, and BBC Sport is looking for Andy Murray's successors, even though he's only 24. James Ward, Dan Cox and Dan Evans are discussed with LTA's Leon Smith, and so are the junior boys, particularly Oliver Golding and George Morgan.

It was revealed today that 17-year-old Laura Robson has parted ways with Patrick Mouratoglou, with whom she had been working only since the end of last year. Robson's ranking hasn't kept pace with Heather Watson's, who is 20 months older, and now at No. 93 in the WTA rankings. Both received main draw wild cards into Wimbledon.