Burdette Wins Evansville Pro Circuit 10K; Klahn and Meister Qualify for ATP Farmers Classic

I'm back home from the Girls 18s Clays in Memphis, and ready to catch up on the other results of note at the assorted tournaments in the United States.

Stanford's Mallory Burdette, the 2012 NCAA finalist, won her first WTA main draw match at the Bank of the West Classic over Anne Keothavong and had set points on Marion Bartoli of France in the second round less than two weeks ago.  That one win has propelled Burdette into the Top 500 of the WTA rankings, and she will move up more, although not as dramatically, when the points from her win Sunday at the Evansville $10,000 Pro Circuit tournament are added.  Burdette lost only five games in three qualifying matches and only 15 games in her five main draw matches. In the final, she beat top seed Ying-Ying Duan of China, ranked 212, 6-1, 6-2.  In the doubles final, Duan and partner Yi-Fan Xu beat Burdette and former Tennessee all-American Natalie Pluskota 6-2, 6-3.

Burdette has received a wild card into the main draw of the $50,000 Lexington Challenger, which is a joint men's and women's event. It is one of the three tournaments for women (Yakima, Lexington, Vancouver) and four tournaments for men (Binghamton, Lexington, Vancouver and Aptos) that will decide a US Open wild card, with the best two results counted in a player's total.  There is also free live streaming  this week at Lexington, available via this USTA Pro Circuit page.

Last week's men's events were the $50,000 Challenger in Binghamton, won by former Duke star Michael Yani and a $10,000 Futures in Joplin won by Sebastien Boltz of France. The Binghamton doubles title went to Dudi Sela and former UCLA Bruin Harel Srugo, and the Joplin doubles champions are Texas teens Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant.

This week, in addition to Lexington, there are two $10,000 tournaments. The women are in New Orleans, and the men in Godfrey, Illinois.

For all the results and draws, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

Out in Los Angeles, the ATP Farmers Classic is suffering from going against the Olympics, and the top seed, Benoit Paire of France, is ranked 47.  (According to the always interesting Jeff Sackmann, who runs the blog Heavy Topspin and provides a statistics site, tennisabstract.com, that isn't even in the Top 10 of lowest No. 1 seeds in an ATP tournament). But it's an opportunity for players like Sam Querrey, a two-time champion who is seeded No. 2 this year, and other non-Olympic qualifying Americans like James Blake, Brian Baker, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, the latter three receiving wild cards.

Two more Americans, both with Southern California roots, qualified for the main draw today. Recent Stanford graduate and 2010 NCAA champion Bradley Klahn, from Poway, defeated Alex Kuznetsov 7-6(5), 7-6(2) in the final round of qualifying to set up a main draw meeting Tuesday with Italian Paolo Lorenzi, and Nick Meister, the recent UCLA graduate from Trabuco Canyon, beat Jimmy Wang of Taiwan 6-4, 7-6(3). Meister has drawn No. 5 seed Xavier Malisse for his Tuesday first rounder.  Steve Johnson, the two-time NCAA champion, will play Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands on the stadium court Tuesday night. Sock and Baker are on the stadium court later tonight, with Sock playing Italian Flavio Cipolla and Baker, the No. 8 seed, playing Rajeev Ram.