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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Querrey, McHale Sole US Winners Tuesday at Wimbledon; Mmoh, Opelka and Neel Reach Roehampton Quarterfinals; William and Mary's Daub Retires

After a relatively good opening day Monday, only two Americans posted wins at Wimbledon Tuesday: Sam Querrey and Christina McHale.  No. 21 seed Madison Keys was at 2-2 in the third set of her match with Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland when play was suspended due to darkness.

Querrey defeated qualifier Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to a Thursday match with No. 2 seed Roger Federer, while McHale downed Joanna Larsson of Sweden 6-3, 6-2 and will play No. 18 seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany Thursday.

No. 31 seed Jack Sock fell to Sam Groth of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Tim Smyczek was beaten by No. 30 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.  Varvara Lepchenko lost to No. 20 seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-4, 6-1 and qualifier Sachia Vickery fell to No. 8 seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-2, 6-4.

American men in action on Wednesday include No. 17 seed John Isner (vs wild card Matthew Ebden of Australia), wild card Denis Kudla (vs 18-year-old Alexander Zverev of Germany) and Steve Johnson (vs No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria).

Six US women play on Wednesday, with two of them playing each other in Lauren Davis and Sloane Stephens. Top seed Serena Williams faces Timea Babos of Hungary and No. 16 seed Venus Williams will take on Yulia Putintseva of Russia.  CoCo Vandeweghe is up against No. 11 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands plays No. 7 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

I neglected to mention yesterday the big win for 2014 Wimbledon girls champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia on Monday. Given a main draw wild card by the All England Club (she had already earned a place in qualifying), the 18-year-old made good use of it, defeating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-0. She will play Kristina Mladenovic of France on Wednesday.



Draws are here; Wednesday's order of play is here.

The quarterfinals are set for the ITF Grade 1 in Roehampton, with three Americans advancing to the final eight in singles.  Ingrid Neel defeated No. 6 seed Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada 6-3, 6-3 and will face No. 2 seed Shilin Xu of China, who defeated No. 16 seed Caroline Dolehide 6-3, 6-4.

No. 3 seed Michael Mmoh downed unseeded Kenneth Raisma of Estonia 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with No. 6 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile.  Reilly Opelka, the No. 16 seed, took out No. 2 seed Corentin Denolly of France 7-6(6), 6-4 and will play No. 12 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.  No. 4 seed Tommy Paul lost 6-3, 6-3 to Alex Molcan of Slovakia, ending Paul's winning streak at 13 matches. Ulises Blanch fell to No. 5 seed Viktor Durasovic of Norway 6-3, 6-4.

Blanch is still alive in doubles, with Argentina's Juan Pablo Ficovic, and No. 2 seeds Paul and William Blumberg have also advanced to the doubles quarterfinals.

Tornado Alicia Black, partnering Australian Naiktha Bains, is the only US girls still remaining in the doubles competition.

A few college notes:

Peter Daub has resigned from the men's head coaching position at William and Mary after 22 years. According to the release, a national search is being conducted for his successor.

Former University of Michigan star Brooke Bolender has been named assistant coach for the women's team at Western Michigan University. Former WMU assistant Ryan Tomlinson took over the head coaching position from the retiring Betsy Kuhle at the end of the season. Kuhle has not retired from tennis however, as she continues to be active in her role as tournament director for the upcoming USTA Zonals.

Madison Harrison, the sister of Ryan and Christian Harrison, has transferred from Kansas to Mississippi State.

The ITA Summer Circuit is underway (Harrison was one of the early winners) in venues across the country.  See the ITA website for draws and entry information.

The ITA's David Benjamin will retire Wednesday, with Tim Russell taking over as Executive Director.  Dave "The Koz" Kozlowski has prepared a video tribute, which can be found here.

There are again three USTA Pro Circuit events in the US this week: a $10,000 men's Futures in Pittsburgh, a $15,000 men's Futures in Wichita and a $25,000 women's event in El Paso.

A couple of notable results from today's action:  2014 Kalamazoo 16s champion John McNally, a wild card,  picked up his first ATP point in Pittsburgh, beating No. 7 seed Collin Johns 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-0 in the first round.

In El Paso, Cal junior Maegan Manasse, also a wild card, defeated No. 5 seed Samantha Crawford 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.

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