Kalamazoo Wild Cards; US Open Junior Acceptances; Burdette, Harrison, Keys Advance in Lexington
The wild cards for the boys 16s and 18s at Kalamazoo have been determined by the USTA.
Boys 18s:
Shane Vinsant
Joseph DiGiulio
Jose Gracia
Ernesto Escobedo
Austin Smith
Terrell Celestine
Justin Butsch
Michael Redlicki
Martin Redlicki
JC Aragone
Mac Styslinger
Stephen Watson
Boys 16s:
Zandrix Acob
Oliver Landert
Riley Smith
Lamar Remy
Tommy Paul
Daniel Grunberger
Jordan Belga
The initial acceptances for the US Open Junior Championships have been posted at the ITF junior website. There are eight US girls and four US boys who have been accepted into the main draw.
The girls:
Taylor Townsend
Sachia Vickery
Chalena Scholl
Allie Kiick
Christina Makarova
Kyle McPhillips
Jennifer Brady
Krista Hardebeck
The boys:
Mitchell Krueger
Noah Rubin
Mackenzie McDonald
Spencer Papa
Currently, the following US juniors have been accepted into qualifying:
Girls:
Samantha Crawford
Boys:
Alexios Halebian
Thai Kwiatkowski
Connor Farren
Stefan Kozlov
Austin Siegel
There are four girls who have received direct main draw entry due to their WTA rankings inside 350:
Krista Hardebeck
Kateryna Kozlova (UKR)
Margarita Gasparyan (RUS)
Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)
Wimbledon junior champions Filip Peliwo and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada have entered, Luke Saville and Ashleigh Barty of Australia have not. 2010 finalist Yulia Putintseva, formerly of Russia, now playing for Kazakhstan, has entered and at 122 in the WTA rankings, she would be slotted for the No. 2 seed behind Townsend. Thiago Monteiro of Brazil is the only boy who has received entry based on his ATP ranking, and at 495, he would be seeded in the top eight, although those seedings would depend on their rankings as of August 20th.
Fourteen-year-old Stefan Kozlov, who will certainly get a wild card into the US Open Juniors main draw, picked up his first ATP point yesterday at the Godfrey Futures by beating fellow wild card Henrik Wiersholm, also of the US, who is himself only 15. Kozlov and Wiersholm, playing doubles together, have reached the semifinals in Godfrey after beating USC's Michael Grant and Daniel Nguyen today 6-2, 6-3. I've been a part of discussion on twitter about the youngest player with an ATP point. Currently, that now must be Kozlov, but if anyone has knowledge of a younger player winning a Futures or Challenger match, please pass it along.
For complete draws. see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
At the joint men's and women's tournament in Lexington, Ky., 18-year-old Christian Harrison, who will not, unfortunately, be playing in Kalamazoo next month, reached the quarterfinals with two victories today. In a match held over from Tuesday, Harrison beat former Florida Gator Sekou Bangoura Jr. 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, then defeated another former Gator, Greg Ouellette, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals at the $50,000 Challenger. 2012 NCAA finalist and local hero Eric Quigley won his first round match Wednesday, beating Riccardo Ghedin of Italy 6-3, 6-2.
Wild card Mallory Burdette, the Stanford rising senior, beat top seed Olivia Rogowska of Australia 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, and will take on 18-year-old Jessia Pegula of the US in the second round Thursday. (Pegula, although eligible, did not enter the US Open Junior Championships). Seventeen-year-old Madison Keys, the No. 8 seed, beat qualifier Jennifer Elie, also of the US, 6-4, 6-3.
For the women's results from Lexington, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
9 comments:
Incoming UCLA sophomore Dennis Mkrtchian wasn’t handed a wild card? With his blue chip junior credentials, and his very successful past college season, it is rather interesting they would hand it out to other players instead. He went far in last year’s Kalamazoo draw as well.
It makes me wonder if the USTA is against helping players who are already in college, and would rather help those that haven’t started college yet?
Can anyone explain why Catherine Harrison didn't receive entry into either draws of the US Open Juniors? BTW still upset she left Georgia Tech to join already loaded UCLA!!
Colette or anyone else, now that the wildcards have been given out, who of the top junior boys will not be at Kalamazoo? I know Christian Harrison, who else?
Side note, is he being given a WC into US Open main draw or something? If not, it REALLY makes no sense to not play.
Interesting
There are 4 players on that wildcard list who are going to college so there is not any discrimination about the usta and college. USTA has given wildcards to players who already spent time in college so no merit on your comment.
If Mkrtchian really wanted to play Kalamazoo he could have found a way through his section. His sectional is played during the summer and I'm sure he could have found time to play some local tournaments rather than relying on a wildcard which he cannot control. And that goes to anyone who did not gain entry on their own merit.
Potentially dumb question - how do you know that Mkrtchian was pursuing a wild card?
Would Christian Harrison be the favorite at Kalamazoo?
Who in the heck is the USTA? Who are these people?
They seem to wield alot of control over wild cards and such . Less so over their own players. ??????
I believe that Harrison would have the #1 seed and clear favorite, although a true 'wild card' in that he has almost no results against his junior peers in the last 4 years.
Socal Tennis
So your saying that instead of traveling with the team to dual matches or studying on the weekend for school, he should be playing junior sectional tournaments? There is absolutely no logic in that. Mkrtchian has also won the past 2 SoCal sectional tournaments, so maybe he thought there was no reason to defend it for a third time. Also, I know that UCLA ends in mid to late June, so maybe he wasn't even able to play it.
And why do the players that recieved wild cards deserve it more than him? Unlike Mkrtchian, they did not play a full college season and could've played local tournaments near them and have gotten endorsed.
Post a Comment