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Sunday, June 26, 2011

McPhillips Wins 10K in Cleveland; Winnetka Challenger Qualifying; Other Pro Circuit Updates


This is Wimbledon's middle Sunday, which means no play for juniors or anyone else at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, so it's a good time to catch up on the Pro Circuit results this week in the United States.

At the women's $10,000 tournament in Cleveland, local favorite Kyle McPhillips claimed her first professional title (as an amateur). The unseeded 17-year-old didn't lose a set in her five wins, and in the final, defeated qualifier Li Xi of China 6-3, 6-2. Brooke Austin and Brooke Bolender, also unseeded, captured the doubles title with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over No. 3 seeds Dianne Hollands of New Zealand and Shikha Uberoi of India.

In the $10,000 men's event in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., top seed Jesse Levine won his first title in over three years, beating five current or recently graduated collegians, all in straight sets. In the final, Levine beat qualifier Jeff Dadamo, the 2011 NCAA doubles champion from Texas A&M, 6-4, 6-4. The doubles title went to the unseeded pair of Mohd Assri Merzuki of Malaysia and Gabriel Moraru of Romania, who beat unseeded Antoine Benneteau and Artem Ilyushin 7-6(6), 3-6, 10-7.

At the $50,000 women's challenger in Boston, unseeded Petra Rampre of Slovenia took the singles title, beating No. 2 seed Tetiana Luzhanska of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7 6-4. No. 2 seeds Luzhanska and Alexandra Mueller of the US beat top seeds Sharon Fichman and Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada 7-6(3), 6-3.

The qualifying for the men's $50,000 Challenger in Winnetka began with two rounds today, and Monday's final round of qualifying features some interesting matchups. The past three NCAA champions will be in action with 2009 winner Devin Britton against 2010 champion Bradley Klahn. Steve Johnson, the 2011 champion, will play Michael Shabaz less than a month after their semifinal encounter at the NCAAs, which ended with Shabaz retiring after he received a point penalty for ball abuse.

Denis Kudla will play Michael McClune for a spot in the main draw, and in the only match that doesn't feature American vs. American, Laurynas Grigelis of Lithuania will play Luka Gregorc of Slovenia.

The main draw also begins on Monday, and wild card Jack Sock will play former University of Florida All-American Greg Ouellette in one of the six first round matches scheduled.

Qualifying is also underway at the $10,000 men's event in Innisbrook, Fla. and the $10,000 women's tournament in Buffalo, NY.

For complete draws, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

The Wimbledon junior championships resume tomorrow with the remainder of the first round singles matches. Americans Shane Vinsant, Dennis Novikov, Gabby Andrews, Catherine Harrison, Vicky Duval and Christina Makarova are hoping to join Marcos Giron, Alexios Halebian, Madison Keys, Krista Hardebeck and Stephanie Nauta in the second round. There are also a few doubles matches scheduled but those are in the "to be arranged" category.

For Monday's schedule, see wimbledon.com.

1 comments:

birdword said...

It should be noted that Jesse Levine has had a freakishly unlucky run of injuries the last 18 months. Shoulder, elbow, groin, dental and, most importantly, knee injuries have conspired to take a kid who at 20 and 21 was ranked in the year-end top hundred down to a ranking in the 300s. Previously, he had been injury-free and now he's healthy again. It's clear that because of his work ethic (and his record against Harrison and Young), as well as his Grand Slam results, that he can be a top 100 player again. Maybe even top 50.