Krueger Advances to Boys Semis at Roland Garros; 2012 College All-Americans Announced; Coaching Vacancies Filled

Of the four American juniors in singles quarterfinal action today in Paris, Mitchell Krueger was the only one to advance. The No. 8 seed, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament, defeated Max de Vroome of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-1 and will play No. 6 seed Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium in Friday's semifinals. The two have never met.
For more on Krueger's win, see this New York Times Straight Sets blog entry. John Martin spoke with Krueger after the match. Also check the Tennishorts website for more junior coverage. Sandy Harwitt featured Noah Rubin, who lost to Canadian Filip Peliwo 6-4, 6-1 today in the quarterfinals, yesterday.

In the other boys semifinal, Peliwo, the No. 5 seed, will play No. 11 seed Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic. Pavlasek avenged his 2012 Australian Open semifinal loss to Luke Saville, the top seed, with a 6-3, 6-3 decision in today's quarterfinals.

The girls semifinals feature two Germans, qualifier Antonia Lottner and No. 2 seed Annika Beck. Beck defeated Chalena Scholl 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and will play Orange Bowl champion Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, the No. 12 seed, in Friday's semifinal. Kontaveit beat Allie Kiick 6-0, 6-3.  Lottner's semifinal opponent is unseeded Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia, who defeated No. 5 seed Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-5(5), 3-6, 6-1. Schmiedlova has now beaten the No. 13, No. 1 and No. 5 seeds this week.

Taylor Townsend is the only US junior remaining in the doubles. She and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, the top seeds, will play No. 6 seeds Montserrat Gonzalez of Paraguay and Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in Friday's semifinals.

For more on today's action, see the ITF junior website.  For the draws, see the tournament website.

The ITA announced the Division I All-American teams today, a day after the final rankings were posted.  If a player meets any of the following criteria, he or she earns the title of All-American:

Singles
1.) Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championships, or
2.) Reach Round of 16 in NCAA Singles Championships, or
3.) Finish in the Top 20 of the final Campbell/ITA Rankings

Doubles
1.) Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Championships, or
2.) Reach Quarterfinals of NCAA Doubles Championship, or
3.) Finish in Top 10 of final Campbell/ITA Rankings   


The complete list of All-Americans can be found here.

The women's Kickoff Weekend draft was completed yesterday, and the most popular site was Nebraska, which finished the year ranked 16th. They will host Notre Dame, 19; Georgia Tech, 20; and Tennessee, 24.  For the complete draft, see the ITA website.

I also need to apologize for not posting anything on the Division II and Division III championships, although I think I did tweet links in a timely fashion while I was covering the Division I championships.  The Emory men and Williams women won the Division III championships in Cary, NC.  The Williams women have outdone the USC men, winning their fifth consecutive title this year, while the Emory men finished a perfect 25-0.  Dillon Pottish of Emory, a finalist in 2011, won the men's D-III singles title, and Gabrielle Clark gave Emory a third NCAA title last week, winning the women's singles title. 

In Division II, Armstrong Atlantic State took both the women's title, and the men's title. Both teams were undefeated this year.

Many of the college coaching vacancies are being filled now, with former NCAA champion Laura Granville taking the Princeton women's head coaching job, and Jay Udwadia, formerly of Fresno State, accepting the men's head coaching job at Oklahoma State.  The Alabama and Florida men's positions have not yet been filled, and now of course, there is an opening at Fresno State. Don Barr recently announced his retirement from coaching the men's team at the University of South Florida, so that job is also open. Dominic Modise has been named women's head coach at Southern Mississippi, and at another Conference USA school, Patrick Sullivan has been named women's head coach at Houston.