New Men's Coach for Clemson; Rubin Signs with Lagardere; Fritz Earns Second Round Meeting with Federer; Pac-12 Men's Awards Announced; Desiatnikov, Osuigwe Qualify at Bethany Beach $10K

Although the job was not known to be open, Clemson has a new men's head coach, with associate head coach John Boetsch taking over for Chuck McCuen. McCuen, who was head coach for the past eight years and an assistant for six years prior to that, will stay on as Director of Tennis Operations.  For more on Boetsch, who played at Clemson in 2003-04, see the Clemson website.

Lagardere Sport's Senior Vice President of Tennis Julien Cassaigne announced today that the agency has signed an agreement to represent Noah Rubin. The 20-year-old Rubin, who turned pro a year ago after reaching the finals of the NCAA singles tournament, had not previously been with an agency, although he did have a clothing endorsement deal with Under Armour. The complete release is here.

Taylor Fritz saved a match point today in the first round of the ATP event in Stuttgart, beating qualifier Fabrice Martin of France 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-1. Fritz had 19 aces, which is probably one reason he prefers grass to clay.  On Wednesday, the 18-year-old will face top seed Roger Federer, who had a first round bye. A few of Fritz's thoughts on facing Federer can be found here.  Denis Kudla advanced to a meeting with No. 7 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber by beating Dusan Lajovic of Serbia, whom he had lost to in the first round of the French Open, 6-0, 6-2.

Long after all the other conferences and the Pac-12 women released their conference awards, the Pac-12 men finally announced their top performers for 2016.

Singles Player of the Year:  Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA

Doubles Players of the Year: Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki, UCLA

Freshman/Newcomer of the Year: Logan Smith, Southern Cal

Coach of the Year: Peter Wright, Cal

The all-conference teams can be found here.

Qualifying is complete for the women's USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 tournament in Bethany Beach, Delaware, with 14-year-old Whitney Osuigwe and 15-year-old Abigail Desiatnikov among those advancing to the main draw.  Osuigwe beat Joelle Kissell 6-4, 6-1 to earn her first main draw spot in a Pro Circuit event. In her first Pro Circuit event last week in Buffalo, Osuigwe lost in the second round of qualifying to eventual champion Caroline Dolehide. She has another tough draw tomorrow, facing top seed Gabriela Ce of Brazil.  Desiatnikov, who reached the quarterfinals last week in Buffalo and should enter the WTA rankings next week, beat Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, the rising North Carolina sophomore, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to earn a place in the main draw. She will play another rising ACC sophomore, Duke's Kaitlyn McCarthy, Wednesday.  Fifteen-year-old wild card Ann Li won her first career match on the Pro Circuit today in the first round, beating Mara Schmidt(Purdue) 6-1, 6-3.