July Aces; Bouchard's Streak Continues at WTA CitiOpen; US Women Impress at Vancouver Challenger; Southern vs. SoCal for Girls National Team Championship

My monthly Aces column is up at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with 14 players singled out for their achievements last month.

One of them, Wimbledon girls champion Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, appears to have forgotten how to lose. After winning Roehampton and Wimbledon (12 in a row), the 18-year-old from Montreal won five more matches in taking the Granby $25K title. As a wild card into the WTA CitiOpen in Washington DC this week, Bouchard has now won two more, reaching her first WTA quarterfinal with today's 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over No. 8 seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus. Bouchard now plays fellow teen Sloane Stephens, the No. 3 seed, for a spot in the semifinals. Will she hold to her plan to play the US Open junior championships next month? I think that's getting less likely with every win.

Out at the $100,000 Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, the young US women are having an outstanding tournament, particulary those associated with Stanford University.  Wild card Mallory Burdette defeated lucky loser Sherazad Benamar of France 6-1, 6-2, never facing a break point in her victory. Benamar took the place of N0. 7 seed Grace Min.  Burdette's teammate Nicole Gibbs, who qualified Monday, defeated No. 5 seed Madison Brengle of the US 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 today, and incoming freshman Krista Hardebeck, due at the USTA Girls Nationals this weekend, defeated fellow qualifier Ashley Weinhold 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the second round. Hardebeck will play No. 8 seed Madison Keys Thursday, having beaten Keys in their previous meeting at the Rancho Santa Fe $25,000 tournament back in January of this year.

With Jessica Pegula's 6-3, 7-5 win over top seed Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, Pegula's first top 100 victory, there are only two seeds remaining in the second round, Keys and No. 2 seed Olivia Rogowska of Australia.

Former USC All-American Maria Sanchez rolled past Heidi El Tabakh of Canada 6-2, 6-1, and she is joined in the second round by two other young Americans, Julia Boserup, who plays Gibbs next, and Chi Chi Scholl.

Things didn't go as well for the young US men in the draw in Vancouver, with both Denis Kudla and Jack Sock losing their second round matches. Kudla lost to No. 7 seed Danai Udomchoke of Thailand 6-2, 7-5, and Sock was beaten by No. 5 seed Franck Dancevic of Canada 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Wild card Bradley Klahn is the sole US player in the men's draw. He plays his second round match against No. 6 seed Sergei Bubka of Ukraine Thursday.

In Claremont, top seed Southern California will take on No. 3 seed Southern for the Girls National 18s Team Championships.  Southern Cal beat No. 4 seed Eastern 5-2, and Southern beat No. 2 seed Midwest 5-2. See the TennisLink site for complete results.