Kalamazoo Videos; Anderson Beats Top Seed, Advances to Landisville $25K Final, Krajicek Still in Hunt for US Open Wild Card
As promised, the videos from the Kalamazoo 16s and 18s finals are up and embedded below.
The 18s videos contain some impressive points, and with the notable exception of the Frances Tiafoe forehand winner at 4-4, 30-all that gave him a break point in the fifth set, the key ones are included. (See my coverage of the final here).
The point early in the match (in retrospect), where Tiafoe collapsed on the ground after losing a kitchen-sink point to Stefan Kozlov would have been the highlight had he finished the match off in straight sets. But he didn't, we got more: the point Kozlov won with Tiafoe serving at 4-3 in the third, in which he got two overheads back in play, the first match point Kozlov saved with Tiafoe serving for it a 5-4 in the fifth, the "touch" point that wasn't on break point in that same game, the ace that set up the second match point, and the match point.
ITA Player of the Year Robin Anderson, who finished her senior year at UCLA in May, has reached her second $25,000 final, and the first since 2013, by defeating top seed and WTA 101 An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium 6-2, 6-4 in Landisville, Pa. The 22-year-old from New Jersey, a qualifier, will reach a new career high regardless of the outcome of Sunday's final against unseeded Naomi Broady of Great Britain. Anderson's win over Mestach is not her best, ranking-wise, as she had previously recorded a top 100 win against Russian Evgeniya Rodina, then No. 83, in the first round of the 2011 WTA New Haven qualifying.
Since finishing school, Anderson has reached a $50,000 quarterfinal, and the semifinal in the $25,000 tournament in El Paso, and now the final in Landisville. Anderson only other singles title on the Pro Circuit came in 2011, when she won at Landisville, then a $10,000 event. Her four losses (two in qualifying) were all in three sets; she has 13 win this summer so far, in qualifying and main draw.
At the $15,000 Futures in Champaign, Kevin King(Georgia Tech) has reached the singles final for the second straight week on the Midwest Pro Circuit swing. After beating top seed Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 6-2, 6-2 today, the No. 4 seed will take on unseeded Richard Gabb of Great Britain, who beat lucky loser Justin Shane(Virginia) 5-7, 7-5, 4-1, ret. Shane did get a title however, partnering his younger brother Ryan to beat No. 4 seeds Kevin King and Evan King, last week's Futures doubles champions, 6-1, 7-6(4) in the final.
Cincinnati qualifying did not go well for three of the Kalamazoo 18s semifinalists, with Stefan Kozlov, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul all losing in the first round, to Yen-Hsun Lu, Nicolas Mahut and Denis Kudla, respectively. Paul was the only one of the three to take a set. Irina Falconi (over Jennifer Brady), Christina McHale and Nicole Gibbs did pick up first round qualifying wins, as did Steve Johnson. Qualifying is still going on, but update results can be found here.
At the $100,000 Aptos Challenger, No. 7 seed Austin Krajicek defeated No. 4 seed Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 7-6(2) to keep his hopes for the US Open main draw wild card alive. If Krajicek defeats top seed John Millman of Australia in Sunday's final, he will win the USTA's Wild Card Challenge. If he loses, Fratangelo will get it based on more points over two tournaments.
23 comments:
Great coverage of a great tournament.
Austin Krajicek should still be awarded the US Open Main Draw Wildcard even if he loses in the final today. We will see how much Love the USTA PD gives former College Tennis players. He is only 25 years old.
Last year Austin was ranked about 200 in August, so tremendous climb and improvement in the rankings. His ranking on Monday will be around 115 in the World and the 1st American not in the Main Draw. He will be in the Top 10 of American Ranked guys.
The US Open WIldcards should be:
1- Frances Tiafoe - Kalamazoo Winner
2- Ryan Shane - NCAA Singles Title Winner
3- French Open reciprocal
4- Australian Open reciprocal
5- Bjorn Fratangelo / Austin Krajicek - USTA Pro Circuit Challenger Winner
6- Bjorn Fratangelo / Austin Krajicek - whoever doesn't win Pro Circuit Challenge
7- Jared Donaldson
8- Noah Rubin / Ryan Harrison
Please no Kozlov or Krueger, or any other junior (Fritz, Opelka, Paul, Mmoh, etc).
Congrats to Bjorn Fratangelo for winnning the US Open Wildcard Challenge….
Ryan Shane won the 2015 NCAA Championship in Waco 3 months ago.... Not his brother Justin...
@FYI-thanks, I've corrected.
I do not believe Harrison deserves anymore WC, I can see Kozlov getting QWC, I would give Rubin WC over Harrison.
Mmoh, Opelka, and Kruger can go in qualies, although Krueger has had a good year with steady improvement.
Kozlov is guaranteed a qualifying wild card by reaching the 18s final in Kalamazoo
Austin Krajicek is 113 in the World this week. He definitely deserves an At-Large Wildcard into the US Open Main Draw!
Jared Donaldson with the second At-Large Wildcard.
The 3rd wildcard is going to be interesting: 1) Ryan Harrison; 2) Noah Rubin; 3) Mitchell Krueger; 4) Stefan Kozlov.
I believe that if you are not in the US Open qualifying on your own merit then you do not deserve the Main Draw At-Large wildcard.
What the hell has Rubin accomplished for him to be deserving of a WC? Agree, the USTA does everything they can to push the young kids at the expense of those that have been grinding away earning points the old fashioned way.
WV Moonshine, Rubin was grinding away in college this past year, so he wasn't able to earn as many points as he could have if he had gone pro. He did have a really strong freshman year in college and came up one set short of winning NCAAs. Tough to penalize a kid because he wanted to get an education, if he has been putting up results....
....but Rubin has had mixed results at the pro level, and I do tend to agree that Harrison's case for the final WC spot is stronger. Harrison's combination of on-court behavior and disappointing results have led to a seeming decline in his popularity among posters, but his ranking and relative youth still make him the best candidate for a WC spot after Donaldson and Krajicek.
I would contend Harrison should lose his WC with his childish behavior in Cincy losing in Qualies and fighting with TK.
The USTA PD will always favor those players who are in their program. They need validation for their existence.
With Mitchell Krueger and Stefan Kozlov currently being coached by their staff, I would not be surprised if one of them get, not earn, the last remaining wildcard.
Ryan Harrison left the USTA program after bad results. His behavior has always been short-tempered and immature. He has received multiple US Open wildcards before and probably the best deserving on the last wildcard of a weak remaining list.
Noah Rubin served for the match for the NCAA title. I do not think he deserves a Main Draw wildcard but he will be considered.
There will be more cons than pros for the last wildcard as I do not think anyone deserves the last wildcard. It would be a serious crime to give one of the juniors a wildcard.
If Ryan Harrison, Austin Krajicek and Jared Donaldson gets the 3 wildcards into the US Open then all USA players in the ATP Top 200 would be in the main draw.
Sounds fair
Interesting comment there Dave -
If Rubin wanted to "get an education" then why did he elect to turn pro after only one year in college. It appears to me he's not interested in an education. either that or Wake Forest is an easy place to get a one-year diploma.
For those who missed the exchange with Ryan Harrison and Aussie, THANASI KOKKINAKIS….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGtDaE1kssk ……..at cincy qually
Give the 3rd Wildcard to Michael Russell !!!!!!!!!!
Maybe semantics here WV, but he did receive an education the one year he was at Wake. Less of an education than if he stayed four years, but more than if he hadn't gone at all. Point is, he wasn't able to play a full ATP schedule as a student athlete, so his ranking is not as high as it likely would have been.
Noah Rubin… Sept 2014-May 2015…. Noah played the US Open last August, and lost first round. He then played all the Fall Challengers on the USTA Pro Circuit, and then he played Delray Beach in Feb 2015. Did he attend Wake Forest in the Fall of 2014? Were they online courses? Or did he start attending in the second Semester, starting in Jan 2015? One semester…one and done? http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?PlayerID=100171841 http://www.itatennis.com/AwardsAndRankings/Results_Entry/LatestResults.htm
His Fall Challenger results are listed above as well as his Collegiate Career…US Open Wildcard?…
I'm surprised no one mentioned Novikov potentially for a main WC, obviously he's next in line if someone doesn't take one or something happens. The 3rd WC is tricky though, one side Ryan is the next American out who isn't in after Donaldson, Austin, and Bjorn got wildcards but he has gotten so many over the last 5 years and only won a total of 2 matches in those 5 years which isn't great. Then the next highest ranked is Novikov, which out of everyone you listed Kreuger, Rubin, fritz etc, Novikov has the best chance of winning an actual round or two as he did a few years back, yes he's only 200, but out of all those guys he has the most top 100 wins, as he qualified at Indian Wells beating two top 100 guys who are in the 60s now. So the third WC is a tricky one. One hand you want to give someone else a chance but other hand Ryan is closest ranking to get in and no one else really stands out.
Just the facts and WV, Rubin was one of the top 2 players in college tennis and an American. In recent years, the USTA has given at least one Qualifying WC to one of the top Americans in that year's college tennis season. Rubin finished the season on a 17 match winning streak before losing a close NCAA final indoors. Last season, Mitchell Frank received a Qualifying wildcard as did UCLA's MacDonald. Rubin also played a competitive match(es) nearly every week from the end of January through early June with little break. Now, if you want to question the quality of the highest levels of college tennis . . . that's a different story
College Fan, for you to say Rubin deserves a MAIN draw WC over Novikov is ridiculous. Name me someone Rubin has beat that proves he even has a sliver of a chance of possibly winning a round because honestly for anyone it's tough not saying anyone is guaranteed to win a round. But I do agree Ryan was the right choice based on ranking over Novikov. But Novikov should have been in the discussion is all I'm saying and above the rest of the names you listed. I personally am pleased with this years choices as I can actually see there was some thinking behind these choices and not giving to randoms.
Tennis2010, I don't think I mentioned Main Draw and certainly didn't mean for that to be your interpretation. I was referring to a Qualifying WC.
College Fan,
I apologize then as I thought that was what you were saying, he did receive a qualifying WC which is why I assumed you weren't speaking in regards to him getting into Qualies.
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