Pro Circuit Update
At the $15,000 Futures event on clay in Canada, former Florida Gator Jesse Levine, the No. 3 seed, defeated Jordan Cox, the No. 5 seed, 6-2, 6-2 to win his second ITF men's circuit title of the summer. Levine is the No. 3 seed this week at the $15,000 hard court Futures in Toronto, which is filled with current and former college players, including Rhyne Williams, Chase Buchanan, Sekou Bangoura Jr., and Tennys Sandgren and Hunter Callahan. Junior Filip Peliwo of Canada, who qualified at the US Open Junior Championships in New York and reached the third round, won his first round match as well.
Former UCLA Bruin Michael Look of Australia won the $15,000 tournament in Alice Springs, Australia. The No. 5 seed beat No. 2 seed Ben Mitchell of Australia, the 2010 Wimbledon boys finalist, 6-4, 6-4.
Connie Hsu, who spent her freshman year at Penn before turning pro, won her second ITF Women's circuit title of the summer last week in Turkey. The 19-year-old, who was seeded No. 3, beat No. 2 seed Christina Shakovets, a 17-year-old from Germany, 6-4, 6-0 in the 10K final. Former Northwestern Wildcat Samantha Murray won the doubles title last week in the ITF Women's Circuit $25,000 tournament in Alice Springs.
The ITA had a comprehensive recap of the performances of all the former college players at the US Open in this post. My friend and colleague Josh Rey, who now works for the ITA, has been very diligent in keeping tabs on the former college players in the pro ranks, and wrote regularly about them during the US Open.
There are three Pro Circuit events in the United States this week, with a $25,000 women's Challenger in Redding, a $10,000 men's Futures event at Claremont and a $50,000 Challenger in Tulsa. Steve Johnson is the top seed in Claremont, and he won a tough 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 match over qualifier Kyle McMorrow of the University of Washington today in his opening round match.
Another Southern California product, Sam Querrey, is the top seed in Tulsa and he is through to the second round. Querrey is returning from elbow surgery and will be playing Challengers to try to boost his ATP ranking, which has fallen to 125. Jack Sock was given a wild card at Tulsa and lost his first round match to Alex Bogdanovic of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4. Dan Kosakowski, who left UCLA after his freshman year, is into the quarterfinals in Tulsa.
Camila Giorgi of Italy tops the Redding field, which includes current collegians Allie Will of Florida and Ellen Tsay of Stanford, both of whom have advanced to the second round. For more on Will's win over No. 7 seed Tammy Hendler of Belgium, see this article from the Redding Record Searchlight.
For more results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
3 comments:
When was it announced that Connnie left Penn and turned pro. That is a surprise! Seems like so many college players are not hanging around for more than a year or two!
And to give up that Ivy League education...boy, I don't know!!!!
Connie has not left Penn. She is exploring her options and one of them is returning to Penn for the spring semester and playing on the Penn tennis team. While she is playing in several pro tournaments in Turkey this month, she has not lost her college eligibility. As long as she only accepts winnings that cover her expenses, she is eligible to play at Penn next semester. She is still listed on the Penn tennis team roster and is ranked #19 on the ITA rankings. I hope she comes back to Penn. While she won a $10,000 tournament last week, she lost in straight sets in the semi-finals yesterday. Maybe a good strategy would be for Connie to come back to Penn tis spring and do the same thing next year. She would then complete 2 years at Penn and have a good idea whether it is advisable to turn pro full time or stay at Penn. I do think that with 2 years at Penn she would eventually get her degree, although I would have preferred for her to stay a full 3 years would have been in a better position to get her degree. itale
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