Blumberg, Stewart Win Titles at ITF Grade 4 in Atlanta; Townsend, Quinzi Head Lists of Eddie Herr Grade 1 Acceptances

A very long day of travel from Portland to Kalamazoo is drawing to a close, and with only one delay in four flights this trip, I can't complain too much.  But I will keep this post short, focusing on the ITF Junior action, with a Pro Circuit update, and I hope the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate draws, put off until Tuesday.

The Atlanta ITF Grade 4 was completed on Saturday, with both singles champions unseeded. William Blumberg beat fellow 14-year-old Nathan Ponwith, a qualifier, 6-3, 6-4 to take the boys title, while 15-year-old Katerina Stewart beat wild card Kourtney Keegan 6-2, 7-5 to take the girls title, her first ITF junior championship.  Keegan had beaten Stewart 12-10 in a third set match tiebreaker back in July's Girls 18s Clay Courts consolation final. Stewart won all six of her matches in straight sets.

For Blumberg, who won matches against Thomas Mayronne and Paul Oosterbaan in third-set tiebreakers, it marked his second ITF singles title; his first came in September at the Grade 4 in Waco. He was on the US team that won the ITF World Junior Tennis 14-and-under competition in August in the Czech Republic.

No. 4 seeds Lamar Remy of the US and Alejandro Tabilo of Canada won the doubles title, beating Venezuela's Andres Alfonzo Paredes and Javier Restrepo of the US, the No. 3 seeds, 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-7.  The girls doubles title in Atlanta went to unseeded Cassie Mercer and Rebecca Weissman of the US, who beat Sophie Chang and Meghan Kelley, also unseeded, 6-3, 6-2.

This week the US ITF junior circuit is in Lexington, South Carolina, for another Grade 4.  Henrik Wiersholm and Johnnise Renaud of the US are the top seeds.

The acceptances for the 2012 Eddie Herr ITF Grade 1 have been released, with world No. 1 junior girls Taylor Townsend and No. 3 boy Gianluigi Quinzi topping the lists. The US boys receiving entry in the main draw are: Noah Rubin, Mackenzie McDonald, Spencer Papa, Thai Kwiatkowski (who today announced his commitment to the University of Virginia), Martin Redlicki, Luca Corinteli and Michael Mmoh. Stefan Kozlov, who has been injured, is not on the list.  In addition to Quinzi, there are two other Top 10 boys entries: Nikola Milojevic of Serbia and Frederico Silva of Portugal.

In addition to Townsend, there are four Top 10 girls entered: Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, Petra Uberalova of Slovakia,  Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia and Francoise Abanda of Canada.

US girls accepted into the main draw are: Sachia Vickery, Chalena Scholl, Christina Makarova, Jennifer Brady, Gabby Andrews, Jamie Loeb, Tornado Black, Katrine Steffensen and Peggy Porter.

The complete lists can be found at the ITF junior website.

The fact sheet for the 2013 Australian Open Junior Championships has also been released and can be found here (pdf).