Kozlov Defeats Harrison for First Challenger Win; Qualifying Underway at ITA All-American Championships
Sixteen-year-old Stefan Kozlov received a wild card into the main draw of the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger, and he made the most of it, defeating Ryan Harrison 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in a first round match today. Kozlov had won a qualifying match this year at the US Open, beating Mitchell Frank of Virginia in the first round, and he had won a qualifying match at the Lexington Challenger this summer, but he had not posted a main draw win above the Futures level in his career until today.
Harrison, who lost to 17-year-old Jared Donaldson last week, is in a terrible slump, having won only two matches since April-one in the Nottingham Challenger and one in the Winston-Salem 250. His ATP ranking, at 106 this time last year, has fallen to 183.
Kozlov's second round opponent is the winner of Tuesday's match between JP Smith(Tennessee) and Bradley Klahn(Stanford). In the final round of qualifying today, Mitchell Frank and Alexander Ritschard of Virginia lost, with Liam Broady, Eric Quigley(Kentucky), Dimitar Kutrovsky(Texas) and Marcos Giron(UCLA) reaching the main draw. Other first round winners were Denis Kudla, James Magee(NC State) and Rhyne Williams(Tennessee). Sam Querrey and Tim Smyczek, last week's finalists in Napa, are the top two seeds again this week in Sacramento.
The only women's Pro Circuit action in the United States this week is the $10,000 tournament in Hilton Head. Qualifying is still underway there, but the draw is out, with 20-year-old Jessica Pegula making her first appearance of the year after being out due to knee surgery. She is the No. 4 seed.
Prequalifying finished yesterday for the ITA Riviera All-American in California and the St. Francis All-American in Oklahoma, and the men began their qualifying today, with a 128-draw that will produce 16 qualifiers by Wednesday. The pre qualifying draw was 256, with some of the competitors required to win four matches in two days just to get into the qualifying. Eleven of those 16 went on to win their first qualifying match today, and they will be right back on the courts Tuesday for another round. Three of the top four qualifying seeds lost in today's first round: No. 1 Jeremy Efferding(Texas A&M), No. 2 Max DeVroome(USC) and No. 4 Ben Wagland(Georgia). Wayne Montgomery, who was not seeded but had been undefeated in his brief career at Georgia this fall, lost to Ben Lott of Drake.
Complete draws can be found at the ITA hub page.
The women's draw is smaller, with a 64-draw for the pre qualifying, but no byes for seeds. Of the eight pre qualifiers on the women's side, only one, top seed Lynn Kiro of Texas Tech, managed to win three matches over the weekend to earn a spot in the qualifying. The women had today off, with their three rounds of qualifying starting on Tuesday. Two matches will be played Tuesday and the final round will be Wednesday, with eight qualifiers reaching the main draw. The women's main draw is a 32-draw; the men's is 64. Ronit Yurovsky of Michigan and Taylor Davidson of Stanford are the top two seeds in qualifying.
Complete draws can be found on the ITA hub page.
13 comments:
Oh my Harrison's game is spiraling out of control. It's bad enough to get beat by Donaldson, who's weak second serve down the middle of the court is a joke, but to also lose to Kozlov is truly demoralizing. Looks like he needs a long vacation away from tennis.
Hate no ad scoring. Can't believe we are here again. Takes away so much away from the game, invalidates results, rankings, everything is skewed from here on out.
Nice win for Kozlov. Watched some of the match, and was impressed by his composure. I wouldn't get too ahead of ourselves here because he did lose to Kyle McMorrow in futures last week. And he's only 16. That said, he seems like a great guy and I hope to see on the ATP level in a couple of years.
Harrison played well in the second set, but was too inconsistent. I think it's just a matter of confidence for him. He was playing really well in Winston Salem before the injury. Hope he takes some time off and comes back stronger next year.
Colette, you could expand it (from 3/4) and say 5 out of the top 6 seeds lost first round in the Tulsa qualies
The confusing part about the no ad scoring is how does this prepare anyone for the pro tour? Now it's being played at all the matches this fall. It's just a different game and I wonder why anyone will play college tennis if they actually have pro aspirations. So puzzling.
The USTA is pushing kids to play college tennis, but then they agreed that no ad scoring is a good thing. The only smart kid here is Donaldson who is just skipping the latest experiment to ruin tennis, and is pushing himself on the tour.
Two things in play for unpredictable results in Tulsa. No ad - after so many years of being dis'd and just when college tennis was getting credibility as a path to pros, they destroy it with this move. Second, some colleges are in their first week of classes, some on quarters haven't even started classes yet, and others that began in August are in midterms. Different players are dealing with different things and missing a week of school at this point is killer for some of them. I always expect odd results here.
Please stop crying about no ad. There's maybe 5 or 6 total players out of the current 5000 division 1 student athletes with legit pro potential. Of those maybe 1 or 2 will reach the top 100. Who cares if it prepares them for the pro tour?
Agree w/ who cares. I do think you are being generous by saying 5 or 6 have pro potential but I do agree that 1 or 2 will reach the top 100, or legit pro potential. My own opinion on that matter is that men's tennis is a one-off D1 sport and any format that can get more fans is a plus. Also, what is going on with Ryan Harrison? He had better results as a 15 year old. Have not seen him play lately. Is it his temper or no temper and lack of fire?
No ad devalues the game and it will not bring any more fans, period. I don't think of it in terms of pro/college at all, it just cheapens the sport. And who is this person that says over and over that college is not a breeding ground for pros? Broken record dude. I am thinking it is a parent bitter cause their kid didn't make it? And for the record, there are virtually no American pros that didn't go to college making it as a pro either. I think the stats are pretty much a wash between going or not going to college and "making it" which is of course subjective. So should we all just quit and watch another sport? I can only assume all the bitterness toward hard working college players is from people that never achieved anything near what these college players do. My guess is they are taking out the frustration with their 3.5 league team on these college players. Would be better to support all of the players regardless of their path.
Get Real, was thinking the same thing. Harrison had better results at 15 and a much more well rounded game with plenty of weapons. He seemed to have no weaknesses in his game then, now hits everything hard with no variety and can't even keep the ball in play. Attitude is still a major problem as well and doesn't compete good at all any more.Still breaking rackets and cursing. Needs to grow up soon as it is almost too late.
To Play Nice- Look fyi - I don't have a dog in this fight. No kids played college tennis and I played Ivy League D1 tennis years ago, which makes my experience irrelevant. Tennis is not a revenue generating sport, several programs have already dropped the sport, so tennis needs to find some way to generate more interest. I have no idea what your point is directed at me….”only assume all the bitterness toward hard working college players is from people that never achieved anything near what these college players do.” Hey dude, college is not the real work in terms of achievements (even for those of us who graduated summa which is no small feat) and a lot of students work very hard. Isn’t that the point of college. What is the point is that for all of us who enjoy the sport, we want to see that it stays relevant and a part of D1 programs, generate more fans and maybe shortened venue will do that
Just joining in conversation here, but the last post pretty much validated what Play Nice said. Thanks for the laugh summa. I do know if a person hasn't had a player in college tennis in the last decade, there is a lot about it they will never understand. It is easy to say "make it better for the guy just sitting in the stands and watching." They are jerking this sport around so much on daily whims. No ad will not bring in the crowds. It is so much bigger than that.
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