June Aces; Williams, Davis Win Pro Circuit Events; Vicky Duval Feature

My monthly article featuring some of the top performances from June can be found today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. After following Wimbledon so closely the past three weeks, from qualifying through the finals, some of the other accomplishments of the past month probably were overlooked, so I hope this fills some of the gaps I may have left.

A couple of those gaps that didn't make the June Aces involved two wins by American boys in ITF Junior events outside the United States. Javier Restrepo of Miami won the Grade 5 in Havana Cuba as the No. 8 seed, beating No. 5 seed Rogelio Siller of Mexico 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Jordan Daigle won the Grade 5 in Bermuda that same week, a tournament that featured four semifinalists from the US in the boys draw. The unseeded Daigle defeated Daniel Shebshayevich, also unseeded, 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

In the US Pro Circuit tournaments last week, Rhyne Williams won his first Futures singles title in four years yesterday, defeating Mississippi State's Artem Ilyushin 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Williams, who has not yet decided whether he'll return for his junior year at the University of Tennessee, won the Pittsburgh Futures as a 16-year-old in 2007. For more on Williams' win, see utsports.com.

The Pittsburgh Futures tournament, which is the only Pro Circuit event in the United States this week, features an interesting name among the qualifiers: 26-year-old Brian Baker of Nashville, whose promising pro career was cut short by injuries.

At the $50,000 Challenger in Winnetka, James Blake won the singles title with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Bobby Reynolds in the final. Reynolds and former University of Virginia star Treat Huey took the doubles with a 7-6(7), 6-4 win over Jordan Kerr of Australia and Travis Parrott of the US.

Lauren Davis captured her third ITF Women's Circuit title, but first as a professional yesterday, beating Nicole Gibbs in the final of the $10,000 event in Buffalo 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Davis, who was said to have suffered a concussion this spring when a camera fell on her while she was doing an interview at a professional tournament, returned to action in the Cleveland 10K last month, but lost in the first round. Her previous two titles, at a $10K in Virginia and a $25K in Puerto Rico last fall, came before she turned pro at the beginning of this year. For more on her win over Gibbs, who recently completed her freshman year at Stanford, see this article from the Buffalo News.

Complete draws can be found at the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

Last week at Wimbledon, Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News spoke with Vicky Duval, a quarterfinalist in the juniors there, about her family's experiences during the Haitian earthquake last year, and about their earlier decision to establish a residence in the United States for Vicky and her mother, while her father maintained a medical practice in Haiti. The 15-year-old Duval also reiterates that she has not yet decided whether to attend college or turn pro.