National Championship Review; USTA Wild Card Tournament Begins Thursday in College Park, Maryland
Well, that was an ugly week of weather for the Boys 16s and 18s National Championships, but despite countless rain delays, the tournament fortunately did not have to be extended until Monday, as it did in 1990 when Ivan Baron beat Will Bull 7-6 in the fifth to win the 18s title.
I tried to keep everyone up-to-date via twitter on the other National Championships around the country, and the Tennis Recruiting Network will have recaps of them all beginning on Tuesday with the Girls 14s and Boys 12s. Below are the results of the finals. For the USTA review of the National Championships, including the doubles winners, see this release.
Boys 12s:
Alex del Corral(2) def. Nathan Perrone(1) 6-2, 6-2
Girls 12s:
Catherine Bellis(1) def. Michaela Gordon(5) 6-1, 6-1
Boys 14s:
Cameron Klinger(2) def. Jake Devine(14) 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-1
Girls 14s:
Lauren Goodman(1) def. Mia Horvit(6) 6-2, 6-2
Boys 16s:
Ronnie Schneider(2) def. Luca Corinteli(4) 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-2
Girls 16s:
Peggy Porter(3), Dallas, def. Alyssa Smith(15) 7-6(8), 6-4
Boys 18s:
Jack Sock(1) def. Mitchell Frank 6-3, 6-0
Girls 18s:
Lauren Davis(1) def. Nicole Gibbs(4) 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-4
Schneider and Porter receive main draw US Open junior wild cards, while Sock and Davis get main draw US Open men's and women's wild cards. Mitchell Frank and Nicole Gibbs receive men's and women's qualifying wild cards. For the complete list of USTA wild cards awarded for junior tournaments, see usta.com.
I had heard rumors earlier this spring that 18s National Champion Lauren Davis had suffered a freak head injury at the WTA Family Circle Cup, but never saw a reference to exactly what happened. This story from ESPN W profiles Davis and gives a few more details, with the severity of her concussion obvious. It's great to see her back on the court and winning tournaments again; in addition to the National 18s championship, she has also taken titles at two $10,000 Pro Circuit events this summer.
Pam Shebest provided her usual excellent coverage all week for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Her article on Sock's win can be found here, and her article on Schneider's win is here.
A local television station was on hand for the finals and posted their video report and interview with Sock on YouTube.
I also was invited to review the tournament for the local public radio station WMUK this morning and that interview can be found on the station's website.
Prior to winning the 18s National Championships and the US Open wild cards that go with it, Lauren Davis and Jack Sock were named as participants in the US Open Wild Card tournament, which begins Thursday at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md. With their wins there are now two additional spots, but here are the players announced:
MEN:
Denis Kudla
Alex Domijan
Bobby Reynolds
Rhyne Williams
Dan Kosakowski
(Just announced:)
Bjorn Fratangelo
Donald Young
Mitchell Frank
WOMEN:
Madison Keys
Alison Riske
Jessica Pegula
Alexa Glatch
Gail Brodsky
Jamie Hampton
2 TBD
Ticket information for the event can be found here:
14 comments:
I agree with your question about tennys Sandgren. I would have taken out Domijan who has done very little this summer: losing first round ncaa's, losing many first rounds in the futures, challenger qualies, and challengers. Sandgren, on the other hand, won back to back futures. and got to ncaa's semis.
I saw Domijan qualify and then win a first-round match at the Aptos (CA) Challenger earlier this summer.
The invitation to Reynolds surprised me--he's 29.
Did DY3 miss the cutoff for the US Open? I dont know when the deadline was, however, he was 105 in July, then fell down to the 120's for a couple weeks, then jumped back up to the Top100.
Why is Alex Domijan in this tournament? Is he going pro? If not I can think of several other college kids I would have selected before him. His own teammate who just turned pro should have gotten the nod.
Aptos was by far his best tournament. Sure he won three qualie matches and one main, but when you put that result into the context of his entire summer: Gets wild card into Binghamton Main, loses 1st round, loses 1st round legg mason qualie, retires while losing badly in 1st round at Lexington qualie, loses 1st round at Innisbrook future, loses 2nd round at Indian Harbour future, and loses 1st round at ncaa's, that's not a record worthy of a spot in the wild card tourney.
Reynolds may be 29, but he is ranked 120th which means he's played pretty darn well for the entire year. If you don't give him a shot, a guy just outside a direct acceptance, then that truly would be a crime.
Bobby is also coming back from injury, which greatly hurt his ranking, he deserves a shot.
Tennys Sandgren has replaced Alex Domijan.
http://tennismaryland.com/2011/08/15/daniel-kosakowski-and-alex-domijan-meet-in-1st-round-wild-card-playoff/
Ooops. Just want to post a correction. Domijan was leading in Lexington when he retired. Interesting that Sandgren replaced Domijan. I wonder why? Injury?
Hi Will there be live scoring or video for the wildcard playoff? It seems to be getting alot more attention this year..
how is fratengelo warranted a wc into qualies of us open, he hasn't played well on hard lately? and hasn't won a match at the US Open.
Bjorn IS the French junior champ, an accomplishment that no American has achieved since McEnroe. That, in and of itself, is worthy of a wild card. Besides that he has reached the final of the Pittsburgh future beating some notable players, won a couple of rounds of the mississauga future, and has attained an ATP ranking of 792, which is great, in my opinion, for someone who still has one year of junior status. Losing to junior ore was probably a letdown, but Junior was a great junior player who may be back on track after revamping his stroke.
russ can you remind me what surface the us open is on? Last time i checked it was hard, and all of those results you have posted have been on clay.. So that warrants my question again why does he deserve a WC? It is great and all that he won french, props to him. I understand Giron getting a WC as he has done so well on hard courts that he is warranted one as opposed to Bjorn.
US Open isn't on clay????? Gosh my bad. I guess winning a major junior championship counts for nothing in your book. I guess McEnroe and Higueras don't have a clue in their emphasis on clay court development. That they're terribly misguided increasing the number of futures on clay and decreasing the number on hard. I guess beating Zivkovic, Krajieck, and El Mihdawy on clay in Pittsburgh diminishes the achievement. I guess having a 792 ATP ranking is a fluke. So let's see who's ahead of him that didn't get a wild card: Witten (retiring), Kim, El Mihdawy (beat him), Simmonds, Cook, Strode, Levine, Shabaz, Poole, Deheart, McClune, Sykut, Zivkovic, Britton, Hochwalt, Trombetta, Martin, Ludlow, Krajieck, Dadamo, Domijan, Baker, Collarini, Buchanan, Racz. Which of those names would you give one to? And finally last year they gave wild cards to Collarini (after he finished second at the French, had a lower ATP ranking, and isn't really an American), Van Overbeek, Buchanan, Ouellette, Domijan, Cox, Jarmere Jenkins, Strode (won qualie tournament), and Steve Johnson. Finally he IS the French Junior champion and that counts plenty in my book. He belongs and he deserves it.
Btw, Mississauga is on hard.
you just proved my point, there are SO many people ahead of him who are more deserving then him. OH AND who did he beat in Canada? OH Thats Right Andrew Ochotta,Arthur Karagezian, which one has no rank at all and is honestly not very good and traveled to every junior tournament, and Arthur also traveling to almost every future and only has picked up 1 point all year... Quality players he beat there, give him a medal for that. He then played someone pretty good and lost.
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