Teens Fritz and Donaldson Reach Sacramento $100K Final; Collins and Lohan Meet for Women's All-American Championship, Semis Set for Men's A-A; Crawford, Douglas Win Titles at Wichita Falls ITF
Fritz, a wild card, defeated Matt Reid of Australia, also a wild card, 6-3, 7-6(4), without facing a break point in the match. Reid, who had 13 aces, was broken only once, but that was enough for Fritz. In the tiebreaker, Fritz hit two of his seven aces, including on match point, but it was his offensive lob at 3-1, which hit on the baseline, that proved to be the difference in the second set.
Donaldson defeated top seed Denis Kudla 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, withstanding a mid-match streak of seven straight games by Kudla. But Donaldson rededicated himself to more aggressive play in the third set, breaking Kudla at 2-2 with some excellent returning and kept his serving at a high level, closing out the final game at love with two good first serves sandwiched around an ace and a forehand winner.
Donaldson, who won the $50,000 Maui Challenger back in January, is into his first final at the $100,000 level. Fritz, playing in the second Challenger of his career, won his first Challenger match in the first round in Sacramento.
The match will be live streamed, with commentary by Mike Cation, here, after the doubles final, which begins at noon Pacific time.
Nicole Gibbs reached the final of the $50,000 Kirkland, Washington tournament, defeating qualifier Sabrina Santamaria 6-3, 6-0. Gibbs, the No. 3 seed, will play unseeded Mandy Minella of Luxembourg in Sunday's final.
At the $10,000 women's tournament in Hilton Head, top seed Alexa Graham will face No. 2 seed Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway in the singles final. Graham defeated fellow 17-year-old Makenna Jones in the semifinals 6-4, 6-3; Eikeri beat Alexandra Perper of Moldova 6-1, 6-3. The doubles title went to Nika Kukharchuk of Russia and Madeleine Kobelt, the No. 2 seeds, who defeated unseeded Alexa Bortles and Lauren Herring 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.
TCU sophomore Cameron Norrie is into the final of the $15,000 Mansfield Futures after defeating No. 4 seed Michael Mmoh 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, the sixth consecutive win for the qualifier. It is the second Futures final for the 20-year-old, who is from New Zealand, but plays under the Great Britain flag in ITF events. Norrie will play Alexios Halebian, who defeated Illinois sophomore Aleksandar Vukic of Australia 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. It's also the 21-year-old Halebian's second career Futures final; his first was back in May of 2013.
The finals are set at the Women's ITA/Riviera All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, California, with No. 7 seed Danielle Collins of Virginia meeting unseeded Sinead Lohan of Miami. Collins, the 2014 NCAA champion, defeated No. 3 seed Maegan Manasse of Cal 7-6(7), 6-3 to reach her second consecutive collegiate major final. Lohan defeated qualifier Ellen Perez of Georgia 6-1, 6-2 to become the first Miami Hurricane to reach the All-American final. Lohan, a sophomore from Ireland, lost to Oracle Masters champion Collins 6-1, 6-0 in the second round last month in Malibu, but she does have a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 dual match win over Collins last spring.
The doubles final will be between unseeded Whitney Kay and Hayley Carter of North Carolina and No. 2 seeds Manasse and Denise Starr of Cal.
Complete results, including consolation scores, can be found at the ITA tournament page.
The men's round of 16 and quarterfinals were played today in Tulsa, with the semifinals scheduled for Sunday. The top half semifinal features Tom Fawcett of Stanford, a No. 9 seed, against No. 3 seed Thai Kwiatkowski. Fawcett ended the run of qualifier Marko Krickovic of Auburn 6-4, 6-0 in the third round, and defeated No. 7 seed Ronnie Schneider of North Carolina 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Kwiatkowski's two wins came over unseeded Florian Lakat of Cal 6-3, 6-4, and Northwestern qualifier Konrad Zieba by a score of 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
In the bottom half, Andre Goransson of Cal, also a No. 9 seed advanced to the semifinals with wins over Aron Hiltzik of Illinois 6-2, 6-1 and Uros Petronijevic of San Diego 6-4, 6-3. He will play No. 4 seed Dominik Koepfer of Tulane, who defeated No. 9 seed Benjamin Lock 6-4, 6-4 in the third round, and saved two match points in his 3-6, 7 -5, 6-0 win over freshman qualifier Hugo Di Feo of Ohio State.
In addition to the semifinalists, Schneider, Zieba, Di Feo and Petronijevic will all receive automatic entry into next month's Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York.
For complete results, including the doubles, which have also reached the semifinal stage, see the ITA tournament page.
The ITF Grade 4 in Wichita Falls is complete, with Oliver Crawford sweeping the boys titles and Ellie Douglas winning her second straight ITF singles title.
Crawford, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 7 seed Vasileios Iliopoulos of Greece 6-1, 6-0 in the singles final. Crawford and William Woodall won the doubles title yesterday, with the No. 5 seeds beating No. 6 seeds Alejandro Hayen and Fernando Ramirez Lascurain of Mexico 6-3, 6-2.
Douglas, who won last week's Grade 5 in Austin, defeated top seed Sofia Sewing 7-6(5), 6-3 to run her winning streak to 12. She and Crawford are both entered in next week's ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed in Tulsa.
Unseeded Victoria Flores and Mia Horvit won the girls doubles title in Wichita Falls, beating No. 3 seeds Ann Li and Natasha Subhash 6-1, 6-4 in the final.
20 comments:
Now that they butchered AA dbls, naturally ITA's next target is NIIC. Will they employ 8gms as well? Their 'Munich campaign' of phasing out dbls is going well so far! I guess it has majority's support, no?? Dbls is just an ornament, prelude to or warming up for singles!! They must be pleased.
@fan....Not sure what you mean by Munich campaign, but you do realize they've been playing pro sets at the AA and NIIC since around 2001, right? You are such a huge fan of college doubles yet you didn't even notice this has been done for like the last 14 years? To answer your question, I believe they play two sets and a match TB at NIIC.
Its you who are ignorant. Check last year's draw from Qualifying. They played 2 sets. You know that USC def. DUKE in a proper 3 sets in the final a few years ago? Last year they butchered it, played match TB in lieu of 3rd. Clemson def. Stanford.
You dunno what Munich means? 1938 agreement on CZH? Same as in dbls. Getting butchered to death.
Cut 2gms from duals to mere 6 games.
NCAA dbls also eliminates 3rd set from now on.
And no ad, plus the usual clinch rule in duals.
What will you prefer to call it then lol, 'growing' the game??
This is Stanford team's results last year at AA, sorry to disappoint you lol. Check your facts straight
Qualifying First Round Doubles
Sept. 30: Doyle/Tsay d. Quinn Gleason/Monica Robinson (Notre Dame) 6-2, 4-6, 10-4
Qualifying Second Round Doubles
Oct. 1: Doyle/Tsay d. Ryann Foster/Danielle Wagland (Texas) 7-5, 6-3
Qualifying Third Round Doubles
Oct. 1: Doyle/Tsay d. Lucia Kovalova/Rebecca Pedrazzi (Wichita State) 7-5, 6-4
Main Draw First Round Doubles
Oct. 2: Davidson/Zhao d. Lina Lileikite/Stephanie Wagner (Miami) 6-7, 7-6, 10-7
Oct. 2: Doyle/Tsay d. Kourtney Keegan/Belinda Woolcock (Florida) 6-4, 6-2
Main Draw Round of 16 Doubles
Oct. 3: Davidson/Zhao d. Daneika Borthwick/Kerrie Cartwright (Florida State) 6-3, 6-2
Oct. 3: Beatrice Gumulya/Jessy Rompies (Clemson) d. Doyle/Tsay 6-7 (9), 6-2, 10-5
Main Draw Quarterfinals
Oct. 3: Davidson/Zhao d. Laurente/Lushova (Oklahoma State) 6-3, 6-1
Main Draw Semifinals
Oct. 4: Davidson/Zhao d. Giuliana Olmos/Zoe Scandalis (USC) 7-6 (5), 6-3
Main Draw Championship Match
Oct. 5: Beatrice Gumulya/Jessy Rompies (Clemson) d. Davidson/Zhao 1-6, 6-1, 10-8
@ fan - check out results 2001-13
And you know what? NIIC also plays 8 games until the semis. And a few years ago they played proper 3 sets in the semis and final. Now, likewise, match TB in lieu of 3rd set. Doubles is 'retreating', being cut, butchered, in EVERY front.
I don't get why singles and doubles get different treatment.
You remember all the ruckus against singles 3rd set match TB scheme? Coach Diaz was especially vocal as I remember.
Now, ALL doubles slams, AA, NIIC, NCAA employs 3rd set match TB. Only a few years ago AA and NIIC employed regular 3rd set. This season, next year, NCAA also ditches 3rd set.
And NO one is batting an eye.
Pros are doing it? No excuse, because unlike ITF challengers and WTA events, Slams employ AD and regular best of 3 sets.
Care to enlighten me on this one?
@fan - something has to give. There is BARELY enough interest in professional singles. The pro doubles tour is the closest thing to a welfare system that exists in professional sports. They get very few fans and no TV.
As far as college, whether you like the shortened matches or not, the doubles point is often a highlight of a dual match. It's been highlighted by being put first. Very exciting and an ideal time frame - about an hour. If you made it 2-out-of-3 you'd have 5+ hour dual matches.
As for it's place in college tournaments. Again something has to give. You often have limited courts and time and it's not uncommon for a player to play 2 singles matches and a doubles match in the same day. That's 3 hours of tennis on an easy day under the current formats - 5+ on an not-so-easy day. What other college sport requires student-athletes to compete 5+ hours in a given day? I know the old timers will chime in here and say how they'd have to play 8 hours a day in the hot sun while they were in juniors and our players are getting soft, etc, but that amount of time in a sport simply isn't worth it - there's zero fans watching and 1 percent chance they will play on the pro tour.
Colette, I think you missed my immediate response to not fan's 2001-13 post. I'll just write again;
"so you don't think this year's AA dbls is butchered? Would you phrase it as 'normalized', as in a positive sense? I've enumerated all the cutting of doubles across the board, those are facts. The overall trend here; what would you say it is? Surely it can't be 'growing' the doubles game?
----
to Enlightened; In all my years attending IW(that's about 6 years), almost every doubles matches were full. I couldn't get IN to those matches, LOTS of times. So I can't agree that doubles is unpopular. Is IW an exception?
And those full 3 sets, what I've mentioned are SLAMS; AA, NIIC, NCAA. I'm not speaking about local invites here. And how hard is it to play doubles anyway? Compared to singles. Points are mostly always shorter than doubles as well, no?
Now about DUALS, they cut 2 games from 8 games to 6, now INCLUDING TEAM NCAA. They can't even allow 8 games, how could you explain this? TV? 3-hr timeframe, so it has become a ZERO SUM game between singles and doubles, and doubles has got to give?
@fan - If that's true, then IW is the exception.
Also - reads Colette's recaps of tournaments and note how much space is devoted to singles and how much to doubles. Count the words. Almost always an afterthought and relegated to the last couple paragraphs. Please, please go through them and then berate her for the lack of coverage of doubles.
Also, both the men's and women's AA has at least one day where there are 2 rounds of singles and 1 round of doubles and I believe NIIC does too. And if your argument is "how hard is it to play doubles anyway" then you've contradicted everything you've written.
You are fighting a losing battle.
Lastly, what's a "Munich campaign"?
Not a fan;
Enlightened mentioned that doubles is exciting. I think so. Don't you?
I'm berating ITA's systematic attempts to curtail doubles in every front. THEY are doing the butchering, so naturally I should focus my ire on them, no? You DO agree to all the butcherings going on?
AA, NIIC, there are. But NOT EVERYBODY PLAYS BOTH. How about players only playing doubles; is it any fair to them, to fly hundreds or thousands of miles to play 8 games to 16 games?? And as I said, this is a SLAM we're talking about, not a local college invite.
Why am I contradicting what I've written because I say playing doubles is easier than playing singles? You cover LESS area(per player), AND the points are invariably very short, unlike singles, no?
I've already explained what Munich campaign means even mentioning the infamous 1938 agreement. You look it up. And compare CZH's fate with the current status of doubles getting butchered in every aspect.
And while at it, not a fan, why do you think they decided to cut 2 dbls games in dual matches? Even in Team NCAA. How hard is it to play extra 2 dbls games? When they even employed no ad to cut 'unneccesary' grinding lol. If they wanted to consider the 'well being' of SAs, surely cutting more taxing singles games is more logical, no?
Will it 'grow' the dbls game? You tell me.
Dbls point is shorter: the game is faster, and more exciting. You get to see their volley skills and overheads. And it's a team sport, which requires team chemistry. All of which should appeal to casual fans. Even players enjoy it, you don't see them smiling during singles matches lol. I really don't get why ITA is dismantling this fun sport. And they are doing this in the name of attracting fans no less.
If you are comparing the Munich campaign to shortening college doubles you are completely insane. I honestly feel bad for you.
Why am I insane? Surely it's similar. They sacrificed CZH to preserve the peace. ITA sacrificed doubles to preserve the sport itself, by their logic. CZH then was gobbled up step by step. Doubles, getting butchered incrementally, the same. Or do you think ITA butchering dbls is benefiting dbls? What would you compare it with then???
Of all the items I mentioned you're nitpicking THAT? Now I feel bad for you lol.
Fighting a losing battle you say. I'm at least stating the obvious fact, and I can voice displeasure anyway.
If one is disillusioned enough, surely one can find other leisure activities. Such as birding, which is one of the fastest growing leisure activities, unlike tennis. You should try it too!
may I suggest a "Snickers…" :)
When one is confronted with such a breathtaking assertion, one is at a loss to respond. One can say one's opinion is completely insane. But to say that the person him/herself is completely insane with such blithe assurance, it tells a lot about THAT person imo. Or maybe he/she doesn't know much about the Munich agreement lol.
Be that as it may, since nobody is really keen to address the obvious fact that doubles is systematically being butchered, felt the need to address it, that is all. They even pulled off butchering NCAA individual and team dbls now. What can one say, really. Tragic.
There is that same extremely immature "poster" who posted the "snickers" mantra again. Don't you realize that you're not even the least bit funny nor original? The only thing that might help explain this activity is that this poster is under the age of 12 years old. It seems quite probable. I think that would probably explain it.
I thought Betty White was spot on as I tired of the repetitive bickering where the point was swallowed up in mindless banter. Thanks Betty.
And don't forget the Opening of the movie "Goosebumps" this weekend…and double pump on that butter on the popcorn…now we are talking…:)) 12 Year Olds Rock!
Thanks for admitting that you are indeed 12 years old. Mystery solved.
Post a Comment