May Aces; A Day at the US Open Playoff Sectional Qualifying; Grass Courts Underway; More on Fratangelo

My compilation of some of last month's notable tennis achievements is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Because I spent so much time at the NCAAs last month, there are six from that competition, but several juniors also distinguished themselves last month by winning titles on the ITF Men's and Women's circuits.

I spent the day at the Midwest section's US Open Playoff Qualifying in Cincinnati. I had thought I was going to be at the site of the Western & Southern Open, the big ATP/WTA event, where the USO sectional qualifying was last year, but due to construction there, this year's event was moved to a municipal facility in Cincinnati. I will be writing a more comprehensive article about the event for the Tennis Recruiting Network later this week, but, spoiler alert, Eric Quigley won the men's event for the second year in a row, Romana Tedjakusuma, who won the Northern California event last year, won the women's event, and locals Wil Lofgren and Sandy Niehaus won the mixed doubles title. Michaela Kissell, the Marshall standout, who finished as runner-up in both the mixed and women's event, had the toughest day, winning her semifinal match from a set down, playing and losing the mixed final, and then taking the court again in the hottest part of a very warm day to play the final against Tedjakusuma. Kissell was treated for cramps after her win over junior Amanda Lin in the morning, and looked unlikely to finish the final only a couple of games into to it, but she hung in there, playing her best tennis of the day until serving at 4-5 in the first set. She vomited over the fence at 0-15, took a medical timeout, but although she continued to play after a brief treatment, she lost that game and the next two, finally retiring.

Tedjakusuma had had a straightforward semifinal win that took barely an hour, and didn't play mixed, so she was physically fresher, and that probably was the difference.

For complete draws, see the tennislink site.

I am usually covering the ITF International Grass Court Championships in Philadelphia during this week on the calendar but won't be doing so this year. The first round was played today, and top seeds Williams Kwok and Kyle McPhillips are safely through. For the draws and results, see the ITF junior website.

Bjorn Fratangelo's French Open boys championship was news in his hometown of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published this article today, which contains additional comments from Fratangelo about the championship match.