Wimbledon Men's Qualifying Begins Monday for 11 Americans; Bellis and Rybakov Take ITF International Grass Court Titles in Philadelphia; Pro Circuit Update

Wimbledon qualifying begins for men Monday at Roehampton, with 11 Americans in the 128-draw.

They are: Jack Sock(2), Wayne Odesnik(4), Denis Kudla(6), Tim Smyczek(8), Rhyne Williams(12), Bobby Reynolds(27) Alex Kuznetsov, Michael Yani, Robby Ginepri, Donald Young and Bradley Klahn.

Alex Kuznetsov has drawn 19-year-old British wild card Joshua Ward Hibbert, who was slated to go to Texas A&M before deciding to turn pro instead. Klahn also gets a 19-year-old wild card opponent, 2012 Wimbledon and US Open boys champion Filip Peliwo of Canada.  Sock plays Mischa Zverev of Germany, who reached the quarterfinals of the ATP event in Halle before losing 6-0, 6-0 to Roger Federer.  Smyczek has drawn Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain; Ginepri plays No. 19 seed Simon Greul of Germany; Yani meets Denys Molchanov of Ukraine; Young plays Agustin Velotti of Argenina; Odesnik faces Thiago Alves of Brazil; Reynolds meets Jorge Aguilar of Chile; Williams plays Victor Crivoi of Romania and Kudla has drawn Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France.

One of the players in qualifying, Ukraine's Oleksandr Nedovyesov, is going straight from the clay Challenger in Prague, which he won today, to the grass of Roehampton. But the former Oklahoma State cowboy, who beat Javier Marti 6-0, 6-1 to win his first Challenger title, is fourth on Monday's schedule, so perhaps he'll find a grass court to practice on early in the day.

For more on Nedovyesov's win today, see this account, with photos, at Tennis Alternative.

The United States trails just two countries in number of players in the men's qualifying, with Germany and France both placing 12 in the draw.

Wimbledon announced today that Alison Riske has received a main draw wild card after she reached the semifinals of the WTA event in Birmingham.  There is still another women's main draw wild card to be distributed.  The current list is here.

The ITF International Grass Court Championships, held annually in Philadelphia, concluded yesterday despite a week of wet weather forcing a change of venue midweek, although the finals were played at the Merion Cricket Club, near the site of this weekend's US golf Open.

Alex Rybkov, the top seed, won the boys singles title, defeating unseeded David Wilczynski 6-2, 6-4. It was the 16-year-old Floridian's third ITF Grade 4 title of the year.

Fourteen-year-old CiCi Bellis won her first ITF title, defeating No. 2 seed Kaitlyn McCarthy 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in the final, after Bellis had beaten top seed Johnnise Renaud 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Aron Pierce and Emil Reinberg won the boys doubles title when they were given a walkover by Stefan Cooper of Great Britain and Shaquille Taylor of the Bahamas.  Taylor Ng and Christina Rosca won the girls doubles championship, beating Sophie Chang and Jessica Golovin 6-4, 1-6, 10-5. None of the doubles teams in the finals were seeded.

In the finals of the $10,000 Pro Circuit events today, University of Florida freshman Brianna Morgan won her first title, with the wild card entry defeating top seed Jessica Moore of Australia 7-6(3), 6-3 in Bethany Beach Delaware.  At the Indian Harbour Beach Futures, No. 7 seed Jesse Witten won his first title in four years, defeating Mitchell Frank 6-1, 6-4.

Other titles won by familiar faces to those following college and junior tennis in the United States include NCAA champion Blaz Rola taking the $10,000 Mexican Futures, Bjorn Fratangelo winning the $15,000 Netherlands Futures, and 17-year-old Hyeon Chung of Korea claiming his first pro title at the $10,000 Korea Futures.