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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Crawford, Klahn and Krueger Get USO Qualifying Wins; Quarterfinals Set at International Hard Courts

There was some rain today at the US Open, with the schedule calling for the remainder of the first round qualifying matches to completed. It took until after 10 p.m to finish all the matches, but Thursday's second round matchups are now set, and they include

I was disappointed the Samantha Crawford - Irina Khromacheva match wasn't on TV, even though it was on Court 11, which is one of the two courts CBS Sports Network is covering. But it was the first match on that court so too early for their 1 p.m. start time, and it wasn't a long match, with 17-year-old American Crawford beating the 17-year-old Russian 6-4, 6-1. Crawford was down a break in the opening set, but she took charge shortly after, and cruised to the win. Unfortunately, after such a good day yesterday, the US women didn't have the same success today. Alexa Glatch, seeded No. 31, won one of the day's last matches, beating Junri Namigata of Japan 6-3, 6-2, and Madison Keys had a convincing win over Madison Brengle by the same score, but that was the extent of the victories. Grace Min battled back from a horrendous start but fell to No. 3 seed Jana Cepelova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. Gail Brodsky, Julia Boserup, Ashley Weinhold, Alexandra Mueller, Allie Kiick, Jill Craybas and Brengle all lost, meaning just 10 of the 21 US women who started the qualifying reached the second round.

Only 13 US men began the qualifying, and after today's action eight remain.  Dan Kosakowski picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jesse Huta Galung of the Netherlands and will be featured on Court 17 during Thursday's broadcast window, which begins at 5 p.m, against No. 3 seed Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia.  Tim Smyczek and Wayne Odesnik(20) picked up straight-set wins, as did two wild cards: Bradley Klahn and Mitchell Krueger.

I saw parts of both matches, with Klahn looking very confident in his 6-3, 6-2 win over Diego Junqueira of Argentina, and Mitchell Krueger closing out the CBS Network coverage with his 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 23 seed Martin Alund, also of Argentina. Krueger looked nervous at the start, then Alund made error after error and Krueger capitalized. After Kreuger took a 3-0 lead in the third set, Alund had to save break points to keep from going down two breaks. Once Alund did that, analyst Taylor Dent said he thought the next game was key, and Krueger was broken quickly, more due to some amazing winners by Alund rather than any missteps by Krueger.  Alund held for 3-3 and Dent predicted a tough go for the 18-year-old Krueger, but he kept his composure, Alund went off the boil and Krueger broke at 3-4 and held without much drama to post the win.

Klahn plays another unseeded Argentinian Thursday, Marco Trungelliti, while Krueger faces unseeded Rik DeVoest of South Africa.

For the complete draws and schedule, see the tournament website.

The main draw is announced at noon on Thursday, so watch my twitter account for updates on who Nicole Gibbs, Steve Johnson, Mallory Burdette, Dennis Novikov and Vicky Duval draw as first round opponents.



The quarterfinals are set for the ITF Grade 2 International Hard Courts in College Park, Maryland Thursday, and today there were three"upsets" that probably weren't, with unseeded Caroline Doyle, Maria Shishkina and Jamie Loeb posting straight set wins.


Doyle beat No. 4 seed Laura Ucros of Colombia 6-2, 6-1 and will play qualifier Maria Shishkina, who beat No. 7 seed Ilze Hattingh of South Africa 6-2, 6-0. Loeb defeated No. 5 seed Zarah Razafimahatratra of Madagascar 6-1, 7-6(4) and will play No. 15 seed Rasheeda McAdoo in the quarterfinals.

On the boys side, four US boys also remain: Josh Hagar, No. 9 seed Martin Redlicki, No. 14 seed Jared Donaldson and No. 2 seed Thai Kwiatkowski.

Thanks to Steve at Tennis East Coast, who was on the grounds today and supplied these photos.

For the complete results, see the ITF junior website.


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