Qualifier McCarthy Wins ITF Grade 2 in Canada; Gullickson and Kosakowski Take Pro Circuit Titles in California

I spent a relaxing weekend at the Olympia Fields Invitational, a fall tournament hosted by the University of Illinois men's team, which featured players from five other teams playing on the country club's six Har-Tru Courts. I will be posting an article about the tournament for the Tennis Recruiting Network next week, but it was a great way to ease into the fall college tennis season, which begins in earnest next month in Tulsa at the ITA All-American.

There were several notable results this weekend for young American players. The youngest, 14-year-old Kaitlyn McCarthy, won her first ITF junior title, defeating 16s Orange Bowl champion Erin Routliffe of Canada 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in the final of the Grade 2 event in Canada. McCarthy was the No. 2 seed in qualifying, and only had to win one match to reach the main draw, but she did win six matches over the course of the week, beating No. 4 seed Domenica Gonzalez of Ecuador, No. 5 seed Peggy Porter of the US, No. 2 seed Ilka Csoregi of Romania and No. 3 Routliffe.  McCarthy won the 18s Southern Closed in June without dropping a set against a strong field and now she has another big title over international competition.

No. 3 seed Hugo DiFeo of Canada won the boys title, defeating No. 5 seed Brayden Schnur, also of Canada, 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, top seeds Christina Makarova of the US and Csoregi won the girls doubles title 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 over No. 3 seeds Routliffe and Charlotte Petrick, also of Canada. The boys doubles title went to Rogelio Siller of Mexico and Thomas Tenreiro of Venezuela, who beat Michael Mmoh of the US and Tommy Mylnikov of Canada 6-1, 7-5. Neither team was seeded.

In the $10,000 Men's Futures in Claremont, California, former UCLA Bruin Daniel Kosakowski collected his second Pro Circuit singles title today, defeating Prakash Amritraj 6-3, 6-1. Amritraj, the 2002 Kalamazoo 18s champion, had a terrific tournament after playing almost no tennis in the past two years due to wrist injuries and rehab, but according to Steve Pratt's release, Kosakowski was just too good today.  Devin Britton won his eighth doubles title of the year, with Reid Carleton the sixth different partner to share a title with Britton this year.  Britton and Carleton, the top seeds, beat No. 2 seeds Jeff Dadamo and Kyle McMorrow 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 in the final.

At the $15,000 Futures in Toronto, Chase Buchanan and Christian Harrison both reached the semifinals in singles, with Buchanan and Tennys Sandgren also advancing to the doubles final. 

In the women's $25,000 tournament in Redding, California, 2010 NCAA champion Chelsey Gullickson picked up her first title as a professional, and her first since winning a $25,000 Pro Circuit event in Raleigh, NC in 2008, before she started her All-American career at the University of Georgia. Gullickson, who had no WTA ranking before this tournament and had played only one tournament since completing her eligibility at Georgia in May, won two qualifying matches, then defeated Kristie Ahn of Stanford and Allie Will in the semifinals and finals. Gullickson beat Ahn 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 and Will, who recently decided to turn pro with one year of eligibility of remaining at Florida, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Arizona State's Jacqueline Cako and former North Carolina All-American Sanaz Marand, the No. 4 seeds beat No. 2 seeds Macall Harkins, formerly of TCU and Connie Hsu, who played one year at Penn,  7-6(5), 7-5  to claim the doubles title.

This week the women are in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a $75,000 event and the men are in Costa Mesa for a $10,000 Futures. Qualifying is underway in both tournaments.