Qualifier Harrison Upsets No. 5 Seed Raonic, Bellis Beats Rogers to Advance to US Open Third Round

It's been a rough couple of years for Ryan Harrison, who hasn't been in the ATP Top 100 since the beginning of 2014. He's played qualifying and Challengers over that span, even made the semifinal of an ATP 500 last year, but hadn't found, partly due to injuries, the game that had gotten him into the Top 50 back in 2012.  After getting through qualifying last week at the US Open, Harrison beat Adrian Mannarino of France Monday for his first slam main draw win since the French Open in 2013.  Today Harrison, known for getting lousy draws at majors, faced a much tougher task in No. 5 seed Milos Raonic of Canada, a finalist at Wimbledon last month.  Although Harrison was a clear underdog, he did have a previous win over Raonic to boost his confidence and Raonic proved to be out of sorts physically, leading to Harrison's 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 victory.

Next up for the 24-year-old, in his first third round slam match, is Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who defeated No. 32 seed Benoit Paire of France 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

For more on Harrison's win, see the ATP website.  For a detailed look at Raonic's cramping and other physical issues, see Stephanie Myles' article for Yahoo Canada.

Other US men to reach Friday's third round with wins today are No. 26 seed Jack Sock, who blew past qualifier Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 and No. 20 seed John Isner, who needed only one tiebreaker to beat qualifier Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(10), 6-3. Sock plays No. 7 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia on Friday, with Isner getting Kyle Edmund of Great Britain, who eliminated wild card Ernesto Escobedo 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

The only US women to win today were those playing other Americans.
Seventeen-year-old CiCi Bellis made the third round of a slam for the first time tonight, coming back to beat Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Bellis, who made the second round when she received a wild card as National 18s champion in 2014, will play No. 2 seed and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber of Germany on Friday.

This year's 18s champion, Kayla Day, also won her first round match, beating veteran Madison Brengle when Brengle retired down 6-2, 4-2 on Monday, but she had no answers for the power of No. 8 seed Madison Keys, who blasted winner after winner in a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Next for Keys in Naomi Osaka of Japan.

The men's draw is here; the women's draw is here.

Doubles started today, with both USTA National 18s champions scheduled. JJ Wolf and John McNally were beaten by Chris Guccione of Australia and Andre Sa of Brazil 6-4, 6-4 and Ena Shibahara and Jada Hart lost to No. 7 seeds Sania Mirza of India and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.

NCAA men's doubles champions Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki of UCLA had a set point in the first against top seeds and Wimbledon champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France but fell 7-6(8), 6-1.  NCAA women's champions Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan of Florida play Thursday against Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend.

The men's doubles draw is here; the women's doubles draw is here.

Wednesday's second round singles results involving Americans:

Roberta Vinci(ITA)[7] def. Christina McHale 6-1, 6-3

John Isner[20] def. Steve Darcis(BEL)[Q] 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(10), 6-3

Jack Sock[26] def. Mischa Zverev(GER)[Q] 6-1, 6-1, 6-2

Ryan Harrison[Q] def. Milos Raonic(CAN)[5] 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1

CiCi Bellis[Q] def. Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

Madison Keys[8] defl Kayla Day[WC] 6-1, 6-1

Elina Svitolina(UKR)[22] def. Lauren Davis[WC] 6-1, 4-6, 6-3


Kyle Edmund[GBR] def. Ernesto Escobedo[WC] 7-5, 6-4, 6-4

Thursday's second round matches involving Americans:

Julia Goerges(GER) v Venus Williams[6]

Serena Williams[1] v Vania King[WC]

Steve Johnson[19] v Juan Martin del Potro(ARG)[WC]

Vavara Lepchenko v Timea Bacsinszky(SUI)[15]

Ivo Karlovic(CRO)[21] v Donald Young

Laura Siegemund(GER)[26] v Nicole Gibbs

Viktor Troicki(SRB) v Jared Donaldson[Q]

International Hard Courts Recap, Slideshow, Videos; Qualifier Donaldson Ousts No. 12 Seed Goffin in US Open First Round; A Comeback to Remember by Steve Johnson

I'm wrapping up last week's ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships with this recap for the Tennis Recruiting Network. With no boys final played, the spotlight is on Claire Liu's win over Xiyu Wang in the girls final, but I did talk to both champion Miomir Kecmanovic and the injured Oliver Crawford about their week in College Park.

Below is the slideshow featuring the quarterfinalists in singles and semifinalists in doubles. A link to the Google photo album is available here. Also below are videos from the girls final.

When the US Open main draw wild cards were announced, Jared Donaldson was one of the notable names missing, but the 19-year-old got through qualifying, only to draw No. 12 seed David Goffin of Belgium in the first round. Donaldson has had a fine summer on the US hard courts going 14-5 (including qualifying)in ATP-level events, while the 25-year-old Goffin is now 4-4 since Wimbledon. Donaldson dropped the first set, but he began to raise his level midway through the second set, and by the time he won the third, Goffin appeared to be out of gas, with Donaldson closing out an impressive 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0 victory. He will play Viktor Troicki of Serbia in Thursday's second round. For more on the match, see this usopen.org article.

Kalamazoo champion Michael Mmoh lost his opening round match to Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4, 6-1. Although Mmoh didn't play badly, he didn't do much to pressure Chardy, who controlled most of the points and a came up with a lot of winners. Seventeen-year-old USTA US Open Wild Card Challenge winner Sonya Kenin lost her first round match to No. 10 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-3.

The 2012 NCAA champions both picked up first round wins today, but their paths couldn't have been more different. Nicole Gibbs needed less than an hour to eliminate qualifier Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-1, 6-0, while No. 19 seed Steve Johnson, who trailed Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 6-1, 5-2, 0-40, saved six match points in his 4-6, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-3 victory in the New Grandstand.

With John Isner coming from two sets down to beat Frances Tiafoe in over three hours and Johnson doing the same tonight against Donskoy, the new facility is getting some great matches. Unfortunately, the reserved seating policy is inhibiting the kind of atmosphere the old Grandstand was known for, but hopefully that will change going forward. Johnson's reward for his comeback win is a second round match Thursday with 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.

The men's draw is here; women's draw is here.

Tuesday's first round results for Americans:  

Venus Williams[6] def. Kateryna Kozlova(UKR)  6-2, 5-7, 6-4

Serena Williams[1] def. Ekaterina Makarova(RUS) 6-3, 6-3

Janko Tipsarevic(SRB) def. Sam Querrey(USA)[29] 7-6(4), 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-3

Agnieszka Radwanska(POL)[4] def. Jessica Pegula[Q] 6-1, 6-1

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)[17] def. Louisa Chirico 6-1, 6-4

Steve Johnson[19] def. Evgeny Donskoy(RUS) 4-6, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-3

Jared Donaldson[Q] def. David Goffin(BEL)[12] 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0

Donald Young def. Jan-Lennard Struff(GER) 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5

Karolina Pliskova(CZE)[10] def. Sonya Kenin[WC] 6-4, 6-3

Daniel Evans(GBR) def. Rajeev Ram[WC] 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

Jeremy Chardy(FRA) def. Michael Mmoh[WC] 6-4, 6-4, 6-1

Nicole Gibbs def. Aleksandra Krunic(SRB)[Q] 6-1, 6-0

Paul-Henri Mathieu(FRA) def. Christian Harrison[Q] 6-0, 6-2, 6-1

Vania King[WC] d. Antonia Lottner(GER)[Q] 7-6(2), 6-3

Alessandro Giannessi(ITA)[Q] def. Denis Kudla 0-6, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-0

Varvara Lepchenko def. Shuai Peng(CHN) 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-3    

Wednesday's second round single matches involving Americans:
Roberta Vinci(ITA)[7] v Christina McHale

John Isner[20] v Steve Darcis(BEL)[Q]

Jack Sock[26] v Mischa Zverev(GER)[Q]

Ryan Harrison[Q] v Milos Raonic(CAN)[5]

Shelby Rogers v CiCi Bellis[Q]

Madison Keys[8] v Kayla Day[WC]

Lauren Davis[WC] v Elina Svitolina(UKR)[22]

Ernesto Escobedo[WC] v Kyle Edmund[GBR]
 

Day, Bellis, Escobedo Post Wins at US Open; Tiafoe Falls to Isner in Fifth Set Tiebreaker, Sock Tops Fritz in Five

The first day of the US Open brought the US drama, with John Isner defeating 18-year-old Frances Tiafoe in a fifth set tiebreaker and Jack Sock squeezing by 18-year-old Taylor Fritz in five sets after having a two sets to none lead.

The day started for me [on ESPN 3] with the first match on the new Grandstand between 2012 World Junior Champion Taylor Townsend and former WTA No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.  Townsend, a qualifier, took advantage of some sloppy play by Wozniacki to take the first set, but the Dane cleaned up her errors and got her backhand going in the final two sets for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Next on the new Grandstand came No. 20 seed Isner and Tiafoe and it was three hours and 27 minutes later when Isner finally earned a 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3) victory. Tiafoe was two points from the win in the tiebreaker in the third set, and served for the match at 5-3 in the fifth, but Isner benefited from a missed forehand at 30-40 to get the break back and played an excellent tiebreaker to get the win. For more on the match, see Steve Tignor's account at Tennis.com.

In the meantime, 17-year-old CiCi Bellis claimed a much less dramatic victory, beating Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-3.  Bellis, playing on the same Court 6 where she pulled off her upset of Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in 2014, looked extremely confident after winning three matches in qualifying last week.  In her press conference after the match, Bellis spoke of the advantages of qualifying and also of the likelihood of attending Stanford in 2017. She will play Shelby Rogers on in the second round Wednesday.

Ernesto Escobedo won his first slam match in his first attempt, advancing to the second round when Lukas Lacko of Slovakia retired at 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3.  The 20-year-old Southern Californian, who won the USTA US Open Wild Card Challenge to earn his main draw wild card, spoke to Tennis Panorama about his exciting month of firsts.

USTA National 18s champion Kayla Day's match with Madison Brengle was pushed into the evening, and, like Escobedo, she benefited from a retirement, with Brengle receiving medical attention for her hand after the first set and retiring down 6-2, 4-2.  Day, who picked up two WTA Top 100 wins in Connecticut Open qualifying last week, was playing confident, aggressive and mostly error-free tennis against Brengle before the retirement.  Day plays the winner of the late night match between Madison Keys and Alison Riske.

Sock and Fritz played in the first round of the Australian Open, with Sock winning 6-4, 3-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 and the rematch this evening on Armstrong had a similar feel, with No. 26 seed Sock taking out Fritz 7-6(3), 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 6-4.  Down 4-0 in the final set, Fritz got back on serve, saving a match point at 5-3, 40-30 with some great scrambling and a badly missed forehand by Sock.  Sock went on to double fault away the game, but Fritz couldn't take advantage of the gift, with Sock breaking to win the match.

It was a disappointing day for the NCAA champions, with their losses coming in contrasting manners. Danielle Collins could never find her game in a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Evgeniya Rodina of Russia, while Mackenzie McDonald took a two-set lead on qualifier Jan Satral of the Czech Republic, only to fall 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Below are all the results involving Americans, except for the late Keys-Riske match[update: Keys won, at 1:48, in the latest finish ever for US Open women's match.] The men's draw is here; women's draw is here.

Jack Sock[26] def. Taylor Fritz 7-6(3), 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki(DEN) def. Taylor Townsend[Q] 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

John Isner[20] def. Frances Tiafoe[WC] 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3)

Johanna Konta(GBR)[13] def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands[WC] 6-3, 6-3

Belinda Bencic(SUI)[24] def. Samantha Crawford 6-7(6) 6-3, 6-4

Federico Delbonis(ARG) def. Brian Baker 3-6, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2

Naomi Osaka(JPN) def. Coco Vandeweghe[28] 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4

Kayla Day[WC] def. Madison Brengle 6-2, 4-2 ret.

CiCi Bellis[Q] def. Viktorija Golubic(SUI) 6-2, 6-3

Ernesto Escobedo[WC] def. Lukas Lacko(SVK) 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3

Evgeniya Rodina(RUS) def. Danielle Collins[WC] 6-1, 6-2

Guido Pella(ARG) def. Bjorn Fratangelo[WC] 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Christina McHale def. Mona Barthel(GER) 6-2, 6-2

Shelby Rogers def. Sara Errani(ITA)[27] 6-4, 7-6(3)

Cagla Buyukakcay(TUR) def. Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-1

Jan Satral(CZE)[Q] def. Mackenzie McDonald[WC] 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

Lauren Davis[WC] def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich(BLR) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5

Ryan Harrison[Q] def. Adrian Mannarino(FRA) 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3

Madison Keys[8] def. Alison Riske 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2

=========================================

Tuesday's first round matches featuring Americans:

Kateryna Kozlova(UKR) v Venus Williams[6]

Serena Williams[1] v Ekaterina Makarova(RUS)

Janko Tipsarevic(SRB) v Sam Querrey(USA)[29]

Agnieszka Radwanska(POL)[4] v Jessica Pegula[Q]

Louisa Chirico v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)[17]

Steve Johnson[19] v Evgeny Donskoy(RUS)

Jared Donaldson[Q] v David Goffin(BEL)[12]

Donald Young v Jan-Lennard Struff(GER)

Karoline Pliskova(CZE)[10] v Sonya Kenin[WC]

Daniel Evans(GBR) v Rajeev Ram[WC]

Michael Mmoh[WC] v Jeremy Chardy(FRA)

Nicole Gibbs v Aleksandra Krunic(SRB)[Q]

Christian Harrison[Q] v Paul-Henri Mathieu(FRA)

Antonia Lottner(GER)[Q] v Vania King[WC]

Denis Kudla v Alessandro Giannessi(ITA)[Q]

Shuai Peng(CHN) v Varvara Lepchenko

Twenty-three Americans Play Monday in US Open First Round; Doubles Draws Posted; Poling, Ramirez Win ITF Grade 4 Titles; Grade 1 Canadian Open Underway

Thirty-nine Americans--17 men and 22 women--are in the main singles draws at the US Open and 23 of them (shown below, in italics) play their first matches on Monday.

Madison Keys[8] v Alison Riske

Jack Sock[26] v Taylor Fritz

Taylor Townsend[Q] v Caroline Wozniacki(DEN)

John Isner[20] v Frances Tiafoe[WC]

Johanna Konta(GBR)[13] v Bethanie Mattek-Sands[WC]

Samantha Crawford v Belinda Bencic(SUI)[24]

Brian Baker v Federico Delbonis(ARG)

Naomi Osaka(JPN) v CoCo Vandeweghe[28]

Madison Brengle v Kayla Day[WC]

CiCi Bellis[Q] v Viktorija Golubic(SUI)

Lukas Lacko(SVK) v Ernesto Escobedo[WC]

Danielle Collins[WC] v Evgeniya Rodina(RUS)

Bjorn Fratangelo[WC] v Guido Pella(ARG)

Christina McHale v Mona Barthel(GER)

Jan Satral(CZE)[Q] v Mackenzie McDonald[WC]

Aliaksandra Sasnovich(BLR) v Lauren Davis[WC]

Sara Errani(ITA)[27] v Shelby Rogers

Adrian Mannarino(FRA) v Ryan Harrison[Q]

Irina Falconi v Cagla Buyukakcay(TUR)

The matches between Isner and Tiafoe and Sock and Fritz are among the highest profile men's matches, of course.  Steve Tignor at Tennis.com has a preview of both matches here.

The young Americans have been the subject of many articles this past week.  Tiafoe is profiled by Great Britain's The Telegraph here.  The differing developmental paths of Fritz and Tiafoe are the subject of this lengthy article in New York magazine. And Doug Robson takes a look at the group of the 18- and 19-year-olds in this article for the Washington Post.

Bobby Knight of College Tennis Today has been researching the performance of the NCAA singles champions who have received wild cards into the US Open with the results in this post.  The US Open singles competitors with college ties are listed in this post.

The doubles draws have been released, with the men's here and the women's here.  The wild cards include the NCAA champions: Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki of UCLA and Kourtney Keegan and Brooke Austin of Florida.  McDonald and Redlicki have drawn top seeds Mahut and Herbert of France, while Keegan and Austin play fellow wild cards Taylor Townsend and Asia Muhammad.  Junior girls champions Ena Shibahara and Jada Hart face No. 7 seed Sania Mirza of India and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. Junior boys champions John McNally and JJ Wolf play unseeded Chris Guccione of Australia and Andre Sa of Brazil.

Eric Quigley(Kentucky) and Nick Meister(UCLA) won the men's US Open National Playoffs wild card and Jacqueline Cako(Arizona State) and Danielle Lao(USC) won the women's USONP wild card.

The mixed doubles draw is not yet posted, but yesterday former Michigan Wolverines Emina Bektas and Evan King won the US Open National Playoffs to earn a wild card into the main draw.

In ITF Junior results outside the US this week, Miranda Ramirez won the ITF Grade 4 in France and Karl Poling won the Grade 4 singles title in Slovenia.  The 17-year-old Ramirez, seeded No. 1, beat Emeline Dartron of France 7-6(6), 6-0 in the final for her fourth ITF singles title and the second Grade 4 title this summer.  The 17-year-old Poling, seeded No. 8, defeated unseeded Alessandro Ingarao of Italy 6-2, 6-2 in the final.  It is Poling's second ITF singles title and first this year; he won a Grade 5 in Canada in 2015.  Katie Lafrance won the doubles title at the Grade 4 in Mauritius.

The Grade 1 Canadian Open in underway outside of Montreal, with Ulises Blanch and Felix Auger-Aliassime the top two boys seeds.  The top two girls seeds are Bianca Andreescu of Canada and Olga Danilovic of Serbia.  The seeds begin play on Monday, with Auger-Aliassime taking on Sam Riffice and Danilovic facing Katie Swan of Great Britain.

Liu Sweeps Titles at ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships; Kecmanovic Takes Boys Singles with Crawford Unable to Play Due to Injury

©Colette Lewis 2016--
College Park, MD--

The final day of the ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships got off to a subdued start, with Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia and Oliver Crawford coming to the Junior Tennis Champions Center for photos and paperwork, but no match, with Crawford unable to play the final due to an ankle sprain suffered in his doubles semifinal on Friday.

So the girls final, usually played at the same time as the boys final, had the spectators' undivided attention, with No. 2 seed Claire Liu and No. 7 seed Xiyu Wang of China battling for nearly three hours before Liu emerged with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory.

Liu took an early 3-1 lead in the first set and closed out the set in just under an hour with her second break of Wang's serve.  Although Liu went up 3-1 in the second set, Wang steadied herself, immediately broke back and then earned a chance to serve out the set with a second break of serve at 4-4.  Although, as in most of the games, nothing came easy, Wang did close out the set on her third set point, and both girls headed for the air conditioning of the clubhouse for the 10-minute heat rule break.

Although both Liu and Wang possess fine serves, the third set started out with six consecutive breaks, and rarely did either player have a game point on her own serve.  Wang was winning most of the longer points with her powerful left-handed strokes keeping Liu defending and unable to use her ability to close at the net.

Down a break at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, the outlook for a Liu victory was not good, but each time she broke back, using her backhand to take control early in the rallies.

"I didn't want to lose," said Liu. "I competed well and that's what helped me get back the breaks and eventually hold. I was always being aware of my opponent and what was working and what wasn't, so when it came down to it, that really helped."

Liu finally held with a good first serve to go up 4-3, and Wang, looking a bit tired, started to lose control of her forehand, and again was broken, giving Liu a chance to serve for the match.  Even though she had been unable to hold her serve the first three times, Liu had confidence in that shot.

"The whole match I was trying to serve well, because I didn't serve well yesterday," Liu said of her three-set semifinal win over Hailey Baptiste. "I knew, against her, I needed to serve well or else she would be aggressive from the very beginning. So doing that really helped me stay in the match."

Even though Liu made four of five first serves in her attempt to close out the match, she had to save a break point at 30-40 in that final game, which she did with another good first serve.  In the next point, Liu came up with a big forehand to force an error and get to match point, which she converted with a backhand winner.

Liu, although just 16, said the extra year of experience she has over the 15-year-old may have given her the edge.

"I think mainly in the beginning and then in the third, the experience thing helped," said the Californian. "Starting off strong, even if you're not playing well, having a good attitude and good posture really helps. And when it gets tight having all those matches, yeah, that can definitely play into it."

Wang was not happy with her performance at the beginning of the match.

"First set was so-so," said Wang, who is not comfortable communicating in English. "But in the second set and final set, I played better. I played well. She played well."

Wang is heading to Canada for the Grade 1 there next week, then on to the US Open Junior Championships, where she is in the qualifying draw.  After her stellar play this week, including Friday's semifinal win over ITF No. 1 and Wimbledon champion Anastasia Potapova of Russia, Wang is ready for the big stage.

"I am now more confident," Wang said.

Liu is not playing in Canada, but instead is staying in Maryland to train for the US Open Junior Championships with a group of other US girls.

Thirty minutes after the completion of her singles match, Liu was back on the court for the doubles final, and the Wimbledon girls doubles champion earned that title too, partnering Sofia Sewing to a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 8 seeds Morgan Coppoc and Victoria Emma.

Sewing and Liu, who were unseeded, had never played together before this week, but when Sewing's partner Ellie Douglas withdrew due to injury and Liu's partner Usue Arconada received a US Open qualifying wild card, they decided to team up at the last minute.

"We've played some good matches this week, but this is probably the most consistent one," Liu said. "Before we would lose the first set or something, but we played well the whole time."

"We have good chemistry," said Sewing, a 17-year-old from Florida. "We let each other play aggressively, so that was good."

The boys doubles champions were also an unseeded pair playing together for the first time.  Danny Thomas and William Woodall won their first Grade 1 titles by defeating unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia and Sebastian Korda 6-3, 3-6, 10-6.

Thomas and Woodall took out top seeds Kecmanovic and Youssef Hossam of Egypt 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, a win that convinced them they could claim the title.

"Taking out the first seeds was pretty big for us," said Thomas, a 16-year-old left-hander from Ohio.

But they had to overcome two match points in their 6-7(4), 6-3, 14-12 victory over Crawford and Patrick Kypson on Friday, the match that saw Crawford sustain his ankle injury.

"Oliver and Patrick are a really good team, have played together for a while and I felt today would be a little easier than yesterday," said Woodall, a 16-year-old who trains at the Junior Tennis Champions Center. "I thought if we came out with really good intensity in the tiebreaker we could win, and that's what we did."

Woodall and Thomas got a mini-break for a 2-1 lead and that was all they needed, as neither lost his serve, with Woodall blasting a big service winner to close out the title.

With so much success in their first tournament together, Thomas and Woodall are hoping to team up again.

"Hopefully in the future we'll play the same tournament and we'll definitely play together," Thomas said.

Kecmanovic and Crawford are both returning home before the US Open Junior Championships. Crawford had planned to play in Canada, but his injury has made recovery in time for the US Open the top priority.

"We haven't done any x-rays or anything, but I couldn't put much pressure on it today, said Crawford, a 17-year-old from South Carolina. "There was no chance I was going to have any chance of winning, so there was no point in getting it worse. Hopefully I can get back and be ready for the Open.  I'm going to fly home today, I have a trainer I work with back home, get an x-ray and take some rest, do all the recovery stuff I can do."

"It's very disappointing," Crawford said. "It's my first Grade 1 final. This is one of the best weeks of tennis I've ever had, playing my best tennis right now and it's a shame that I couldn't play. I'm not saying I would beat Mischa, he's a very good player and I would have had to play very, very well to beat him. But he's had a great tournament and congrats to him."

Kecmanovic said he had only gotten a walkover in a final once before, in doubles, in the 14s.

"It's not really how I thought it was going to happen," Kecmanovic, who turns 17 next week."I hope he gets better fast and he can play at the Open."

Kecmanovic, who will return to the IMG Academy in Bradenton before heading to New York for the Open, is happy with his play this week.

"I've been playing pretty good this week," Kecmanovic said. "I haven't lost a set, had only one tough set and it was against some pretty good guys, some top guys and I'm happy to play that way. It's a good warmup to the US Open."

The Orange Bowl champion has yet to reach the quarterfinals of a slam, but his current level has him expressing optimism about his prospects for the last slam of the year, on a surface that suits him.

"If I play like I played this week, I think I can go deep this time," Kecmanovic said.

Complete draws and a photo gallery can be found at the tournament web page.

Wang Shocks Top Seed Potapova, Crawford Wins Three-Hour Battle but Unable to Compete in Final of ITF Grade 1 International Hard Courts; Six Americans Qualify for US Open

©Colette Lewis 2016--
College Park, MD--

Temperatures in the 90s and a heat index over 100 greeted the semifinalists Friday at the ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships, with Claire Liu and Oliver Crawford winning tough three-setters over fellow Americans to advance to Saturday morning finals.  Due to an ankle injury to Crawford in the doubles semifinal that followed his singles match, Crawford is unable to compete in the final, however, with Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic, the No. 2 seed, taking the title in a walkover.

Prior to the unfortunate injury to Crawford, No. 7 seed Xiyu Wang of China created the biggest buzz of the day's action, surprising top seed Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-2, to end the Russian's ITF junior winning streak, which stretched back to June, at 16.

The two 15-year-olds had met twice before, back in late 2013 and early 2014 at the Junior Orange Bowl 12s semifinals and Les Petits As third round, with Potapova winning both in straight sets.  Wang, who speaks little English, said she was ready for this meeting, and was not overjoyed by the win over the ITF No. 1 and reigning Wimbledon girls champion, calling it "normal."

Wang, a tall left-hander, hit with great power and depth, but usually that style doesn't pose any problem for Potapova.  On this day, however, Potapova was making bunches of unforced errors, while Wang continued to tee off on Potapova's second serves, hitting one winner after another.

After a first set to forget, Potapova was broken serving at 2-3 in the second.  The expected comeback may have hinged on Wang's next service game, when she saved two break points to consolidate the break.  In the last game, Potapova's return game totally deserted her, failing to get the ball in play three times, the last when she netted a return at 40-15.

"My body is stronger, my fitness is better," Wang said through a translator, describing the reasons she was able to reverse the previous outcomes. "My serve is very good, I think, and was good today."

Like Potapova, No. 2 seed Liu had her own difficulties today, playing unseeded 14-year-old Hailey Baptiste, but Liu somehow managed to fight through stretches of lackluster play for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

"My first serve percentage was really low," said Liu, 16. "I don't know, it was just not a good day.  Every game I served in that first set, she had a break point."

Liu went up a break twice in the first set, at 3-2 and 4-3, but was broken back both times.  Liu got a third straight break to go up 5-4, and although she was forced to save a break point, she did hold to take the lead.

"She's really good," said Liu. "She has a huge forehand. She was pounding it, and she has a really good serve, hitting her spots really well. I think she's really good, and I got a little lucky, tried to fight."

In the second set, Baptiste went up 3-0, but lost that advantage. She went up 5-3, but couldn't serve out the set, although she took it with a chip return and great lob with Liu serving at 4-5, 30-40.

After the 10-minute heat rule break, Liu was able to take control of the match, breaking Baptiste's serve three times en route to a 5-1 lead.

"In the first few points of the games it was really crucial to get ahead," said Liu. "Especially in the third, I think I did better winning the first point, to start me off better."

Liu was looking forward to playing Potapova, who beat her in three sets at Roehampton back in June, admitting to surprise at the result of that semifinal.

"I know she's a lefty, and she hits pretty hard, is aggressive," said Liu of Wang. "I think maybe I practiced with her three years ago, but I don't really know her game."

Liu, the fifth American Wang will have played this week, is just hoping to play better in the final than she did in the semifinal. "I've played better matches this week, and she[Baptiste] played well. I just tried to hang in there."

Kecmanovic started his match against No. 3 seed Youssef Hossam of Egypt an hour after Crawford took the court against Gianni Ross and finished an hour before Crawford and Ross's marathon ended. Kecmanovic, the 2015 Orange Bowl champion, needed just an hour and ten minutes to defeat Hossam 6-1, 6-2.

Crawford, seeded 16th, and Ross, seeded 12th, played for 3 hours and five minutes, with Crawford grinding out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win to advance to his first Grade 1 final.

Crawford was up two breaks in the first set, but managed to hold on to one to take the lead. He was up a break twice in the second set, but was unable to consolidate either time, with Ross breaking Crawford at love at 5-6 to claim the second set.

Another early Crawford break, this in the first game, gave him some breathing room, but although that one break held up, it wasn't easy for Crawford to protect it.

"I obviously like to play from ahead, serve first in all the sets," said the 17-year-old from South Carolina. "I like to play with a bit of a lead, makes me feel a bit more comfortable. Playing from behind is a bit more pressure, in my opinion."

Crawford had a chance to go up two breaks with Ross serving at 1-3, but Ross held, and Crawford had to save two break points serving at 4-3, 15-40. But Ross missed a backhand volley, and a forehand and Crawford held.  Ross didn't force Crawford to serve again, dropping his serve at love to give Crawford the victory.

"It's never easy to close it out, especially someone like Gianni," said Crawford. "Gianni competed all the way until the end. Someone with his game style, who makes a lot of balls and hits very heavy and plays aggressively when he's ahead in the rallies is definitely not easy to close out. I knew I had to play my best tennis all the way through the match to beat him."

The boys final Saturday will not take place however, after Crawford rolled his ankle in his doubles semifinal in the afternoon.  He continued to play, but was limping noticeably throughout the remainder of the match, which he and Patrick Kypson, the No. 7 seeds, lost to unseeded Danny Thomas and William Woodall 6-7(4), 6-3, 14-12.

Thomas and Woodall will play unseeded Sebastian Korda and Nicolas Meija, who beat unseeded Yshai Oliel of Israel and Andrew Fenty 2-6, 6-3, 10-5, in Saturday morning's boys doubles final.

The girls doubles final will be played after the girls singles final, with Liu and Sofia Sewing taking on No. 8 seeds Morgan Coppoc and Victoria Emma.  Liu and Sewing defeated No. 4 seeds Caty McNally and Natasha Subhash 1-6, 6-1, 10-8, while Coppoc and Emma took out unseeded Victoria Flores and Kate Paulus 6-3, 6-2.

Complete draws are available at the tournament page.

Twelve Americans, six men and six women, reached the final round of qualifying for the US Open, with three of each advancing to the main draw.

CiCi Bellis defeated Alison Van Uytvanck 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2, avenging two three-set losses to the Belgian back in July.  Bellis, who made her US Open debut at age 15 as the National 18s champion back in 2014, will play Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland in the first round.

Jessica Pegula, the No. 28 seed in qualifying, advanced to the main draw with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over Riza Ozaki of Japan. Pegula has drawn No. 4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.  Taylor Townsend beat fellow American Jennifer Brady 7-5, 6-4 and will face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

Both Christian and Ryan Harrison advanced to the main draw of the US Open.  Ryan, the No. 11 seed, defeated Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2 and will play Adrian Mannarino of France in the first round. Christian, who has suffered through years of injuries, illness and surgery, will make his slam debut against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France after defeating Steven Diez of Canada 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying.

Jared Donaldson, the No. 14 seed in qualifying, beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-2, 6-2 and has drawn No. 14 seed David Goffin of Belgium in the first round.

The draws were released today, with 17 US men in the main draw. Unfortunately, four of them play each other, with No. 20 seed John Isner facing wild card Frances Tiafoe and No. 26 seed Jack Sock meeting Taylor Fritz.  NCAA champion Mackenzie McDonald will play qualifier Jan Satral of the Czech Republic and Kalamazoo champion Michael Mmoh has drawn Jeremy Chardy of France in the first round.

Even with Sloane Stephens' withdrawal early today, the US has 22 women in the main draw.  As with the men, there are two all-US first round matches, with No. 8 seed Madison Keys facing Alison Riske and Madison Brengle meeting San Diego champion Kayla Day.  NCAA champion Danielle Collins got a much better draw this time around, after getting No. 2 seed Simona Halep in 2014, when she also won the NCAA title.  Collins will play Evgeniya Rodina of Russia, who is currently ranked 102.  Last year's San Diego champion Sonya Kenin, who earned a wild card this year in the USTA's Wild Card Challenge, drew No. 10 seed and Cincinnati champion Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

The men's draw is here, the women's draw is here. Play begins Monday, with the order of play for Monday likely to be posted Saturday.

Ross Defeats Top Seed Olivieri, Baptiste's Run Continues into Semifinals at ITF Grade 1 International Hard Courts

©Colette Lewis 2016--
College Park, MD--

An American finalist is assured in both the girls and boys singles draw after quarterfinal play in the ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships Thursday, with No. 12 seed Gianni Ross and No. 16 seed Oliver Crawford playing for a place in the boys final and No. 2 seed Claire Liu and unseeded Hailey Baptiste facing off in Friday's semifinals.

Crawford defeated No. 10 seed Yshai Oliel of Israel 7-6(5), 6-4 to reach his third Grade 1 semifinal of the year, while Easter Bowl champion Ross picked up one of his best junior victories, beating No. 1 seed and ITF No. 10 Genaro Olivieri of Argentina 7-6(2), 6-4.

Ross had to make an adjustment in the first set, after Olivieri's game style and favored side didn't fit with his expectations.

"I was a little surprised on the way he played at the start of the match," Ross said. "I thought he was more of a clay court-esque type of player. But he was hitting through the court, and I was like, what?  I had to adjust real quick, because my game plan was opposite of what I ended up playing. I played more to his forehand than backhand, because his backhand was cash money early, so it was a weird start."

Olivieri broke Ross for the third time in the opening set to go up 5-4, but he never got to set point, with a forehand from Ross forcing an error at 30-40.

"I actually served bad," Ross said. "I missed a lot of first serves and at times gave up mentally on first serves. I should have focused really hard and just make sure I was getting first serves, hit big to his forehand, but it was like zero percent first serves. If I had the stats, I could tell you, but it was probably below fifty for sure."

Ross's serving improved in the tiebreaker, which he ended from 5-2 up with a second serve ace and an ace.

"It was a really, really tough first set," Ross said of the 75 minutes he needed to secure it. "It wasn't slow tennis, it was like, boom, boom, boom, boom.  But neither of us is the type who is going to bail out on a point because we can just step up and hit an ace on the next point. We've got to make sure every point counts."

The second set differed from the first only in the number of breaks, with Ross getting the only one at 3-3, with Olivieri donating several points with unforced errors. Serving at 4-3, Ross needed two deuces and four game points to finally hold, but he served out the win when Olivieri netted a backhand on the second match point.

Ross could not remember the last time he and Crawford played, although he did win the third place match they played in the Kalamazoo 16s back in 2014.

"We have similar games, and it's going to be fun," said Ross, a 17-year-old from Illinois, who now lives and trains in Boca Raton, Florida. "We're pretty good friends too. I just want to go out and play my best, and hopefully he does the same."

The other semifinal will feature a clash of doubles partners, with No. 3 seed Youssef Hossam of Egypt playing No. 2 seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia.  Hossam outlasted No. 7 seed Sam Riffice 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 and Kecmanovic defeated No. 9 seed Khumoyun Sultonov of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-1. The match will be their first meeting on the ITF junior circuit.

The No. 1 seed in the girls draw has been rounding into form after two tight first round matches, and in Thursday's quarterfinal, Anastasia Potapova of Russia defeated No. 10 seed Caty McNally 6-4, 6-1 to extend her ITF junior winning streak to 16.  The Wimbledon girls champion will face fellow 15-year-old Xiyu Wang of China, after the No. 7 seed defeated No. 4 seed Maria Mateas 6-4, 6-1.

Fourteen-year-old Hailey Baptiste won her first ITF Grade 1 match on Monday and her total is now four after beating reigning USTA 16s champion Nicole Mossmer 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.   She will play No. 2 seed Claire Liu, who has lost just ten games in four matches this week, and reached the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-0 win over unseeded Alana Smith.

"I was trying to be aggressive and to pressure her," said the 16-year-old from California, whose familiarity with Smith's game was formed just this week. "One thing, later in the match, that I was focusing on, was trying to move the ball. I didn't want her in one corner, I wanted to keep her moving and I think that gave me a lot of short balls and let me come into the net."

Last year at this time, Liu was preparing for her final round qualifying match at the US Open, but although she said she'd rather be at the US Open, "results-wise, I don't think I'm doing that well and I totally agree with the wild cards they gave out. I'm not mad about that or anything."

Liu, who lost in the second round (as a seed, it was her first match) at the USTA Nationals in San Diego, sees this tournament as better preparation for the US Open Junior Championships in ten days.

"It's good for me to play this and start winning some matches to get my confidence up for the US Open," said Liu.

Liu is looking forward to playing Baptiste, who, like Liu, is more comfortable at the net than most juniors.

"She hits the ball big, has a big forehand, and she has really good hands," said Liu, who had the opportunity to play Baptiste in doubles Thursday afternoon. "She's really good."

Baptiste, who trains at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, will have her share of fans on the porch veranda that overlooks the show court, but Liu is not worried about that.

"I like playing with the crowd against me," said Liu, who has been playing internationally for more than three years. "It gets me pumped up. It'll be fun, for sure."

The doubles semifinals are set, with one seeded team remaining in the boys draw and two seeded girls teams left.

Liu and partner Sofia Sewing, who are unseeded, will face No. 4 seeds McNally and Natasha Subhash.  Unseeded Victoria Flores and Kate Paulus play No. 8 seed Morgan Coppoc and Victoria Emma in the other semifinal.

Crawford and Patrick Kypson are the only boys seeds left, with the No. 7 seeds taking on Danny Thomas and William Woodall, who beat No. 1 seeds Hossam and Kecmanovic 6-1, 6-3 in this afternoon's quarterfinals.  Sebastian Korda and Nicolas Mejia of Colombia will face Yshai Oliel of Israel and JTCC student Andrew Fenty in the other semifinal.

For complete results and Friday's order of play, see the tournament webpage.

Rain has disrupted the second round of qualifying at the US Open today, but Alexander Sarkissian and Ryan Harrison have moved into the final round of qualifying with wins earlier today. Sarkissian beat Quentin Halys of France 7-6(5), 6-2 and Harrison defeated Joris De Loore of Belgium 7-6(5), 6-4.  Christian Harrison, Noah Rubin, Jared Donaldson, Reilly Opelka and Sekou Bangoura are either still on court or yet to begin.

CiCi Bellis, Kristie Ahn, Asia Muhammad, Jessica Pegula and Taylor Townsend are now just one win away from the main draw, with Usue Arconada and Melanie Oudin interrupted in their second round matches and Jennifer Brady just getting underway as of 7 p.m.

Bellis defeated Grace Min 6-4, 6-0, Ahn took out No. 5 seed Kai-Lin Zhang of China 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, Muhammad beat Cindy Burger of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-2, Pegula downed An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium 6-4 6-3 and Townsend cruised past Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-0, 6-2.

For results and Friday's order of play, see the US Open website.

Smith, Baptiste and Mossmer Unseeded Quarterfinalists at ITF Grade 1 International Hard Courts, Crawford Ousts Fourth Seed Popyrin; Arconada Among 21 Americans Advancing to Second Round of US Open Qualifying

©Colette Lewis 2016--
College Park, MD--

Hailey Baptiste knows and likes the fast hard courts at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, having grown up on them. That level of comfort has led to a breakout tournament this week at the Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships, with the 14-year-old reaching the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles.

After defeating No. 14 seed Federica Bilardo of Italy in Tuesday's second round, Baptiste continued to impress, downing unseeded Maria Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 7-5, 6-3 in Wednesday's round of 16.

Baptiste confirmed she is not interested in long rallies from the baseline.

"I attack with my forehand, move my way into the net," Baptiste said. "A lot of first strikes, getting myself to move forward and put the point away at the net."

Baptiste's first ITF tournament was last year's tournament here, where she lost in the opening round as a wild card.

"I just came out here to have fun and I didn't expect to do anything great, because I wasn't very experienced playing international players," Baptiste said. "But the next ITFs I played, lower grades, I started doing better, getting more points and more experience and I feel over the year, I've improved my game by a lot."

Baptiste's results in the two major USTA 16s events this summer--third place at the Clay Courts and fourth place in San Diego--are a testimony to that improvement.

"Winning a lot of matches in a tournament gives you a lot of confidence," Baptiste said. "I had a lot of momentum coming into this tournament and I think was prepared. I knew how I was going to have to play to win matches."

Baptiste's opponent in the quarterfinals is the girl who won the 16s in San Diego, unseeded Nicole Mossmer, who beat unseeded Vlada Koval of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) in two hours and 48 minutes.

The girls bottom half of the draw features four Americans and yet another unseeded player, 16-year-old Alana Smith, who needed three hours to get by No. 11 seed Morgan Coppoc 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4.

Smith admitted she downed a Red Bull to keep her energy up, but after beating No. 6 seed Malene Helgo of Norway in the first round and 2015 USTA 16s champion Abigail Desiatnikov in the second round, she believed she would find a way to finish on top.

"I went into the match with a lot of confidence, a lot more confidence," said Smith, who moved from Maryland to Florida to train with Bill Adams at the beginning of the year. "I didn't let myself get in my head. Usually I get in my head a lot and end up not closing out matches. But this is the best run I've ever had."

Smith will play No. 2 seed Claire Liu, who had a bit of trouble closing out No. 16 seed Siqi Cao of China up 6-1, 5-1, but took her third straight win with by a 6-1, 6-4 score.

The top half is all seeded players, with No. 1 Anastasia Potapova of Russia facing No. 10 seed Caty McNally, who beat, by 6-2, 6-1 scores, McCartney Kessler and Elysia Bolton respectively.  Potapova and McNally haven't met in ITF junior play, but two years ago they played in the Eddie Herr 14s final and the Junior Orange Bowl quarterfinals, with Potapova winning both matches in three sets.

The other girls quarterfinal features No. 4 seed Maria Mateas and No. 7 seed Xiyu Wang of China.  Wang defeated unseeded Sabina Dadaciu 7-5, 6-4 and Mateas took out Layne Sleeth of Canada 6-4, 6-4.

The boys quarterfinals feature three Americans, with No. 7 seed Sam Riffice, No. 12 seed Gianni Ross and No. 16 seed Oliver Crawford advancing with victories today.  Riffice beat unseeded Alexandre Rotsaert 6-3, 6-2 and Ross defeated unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 7-5, 6-1.  Ross will play top seed Genaro Olivieri of Argentina, who took out unseeded Adam Neff 6-2, 6-2.

Crawford advanced with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 4 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia, avenging a loss to Popyrin on clay at the Grade 1 in Italy back in May.

Crawford likes playing big servers and the 6-foot-4 Popyrin certainly qualifies.

"He played really well break point down," said Crawford. "He saved four break points in his second service game (in the third set) and three of those were aces. But I felt if I kept in it, a few more break points would come my way and it did in the 2-3 game, and I was able to consolidate. I definitely enjoy playing big servers; I feel it's more fun to return big serves and you do get a few free points when you have some lucky returns."

With his win, Crawford will likely receive the US Open Junior Championships wild card that is being awarded after the results from this week's tournament, as he is the only US player in the quarterfinals who is not in the main draw in New York.

"I saw on your post that the best player here gets the wild card and I'm the only one who got this far, but it's not guaranteed," Crawford said. "I'm told I have a good chance of getting it, but I'm going to keep playing tennis, not to worry too much about it."

Crawford recently announced he has verbally committed to Florida, although he has yet to visit the Gainesville campus.

"People have said it's kind of a funny decision, but I know that Florida's the school," said the 17-year-old from South Carolina, who is a rising senior. "I really like the coaching staff. I don't think you can get a better coaching staff in college tennis, and I like the guys on the team. The location's very good, and I'll also be near Orlando. There's a lot of plusses going to Florida."

Crawford's quarterfinal opponent is No. 10 seed Yshai Oliel of Israel, who defeated No. 6 seed Chien Hsun Lo of Taiwan 6-2, 6-4.  Crawford and Oliel met in the final round of qualifying at this year's French Open, with Oliel winning in three sets.

Riffice will play No. 3 seed Youssef Hossam of Egypt, who beat unseeded Patrick Kypson 7-5, 6-2. The fourth boys quarterfinal has No. 2 seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia against No. 9 seed Khumoyun Sultonov of Uzbekistan.  Kecmanovic defeated No. 14 seed Trent Bryde 6-2, 7-6(4) and Sultonov outlasted No. 8 seed Juan Carolos Aguilar of Bolivia 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.  Sultonov beat Kecmanovic at the Grade 1 in Roehampton earlier this summer.

In doubles, Baptiste ended her banner day by teaming with Lea Ma to beat top seeds Potapova and Koval 7-6(1), 7-5.  Only three seeded teams remain in the girls quarterfinals, with No. 4 seeds McNally and Natasha Subhash the highest seeds left.

No. 2 boys seeds Olivieri and Aguilar also were eliminated, losing to Oliel and Andrew Fenty 6-3, 6-1.

Complete results and Thursday's order of play can be found at the tournament web page.

The first round of men's and women's US Open qualifying was completed today, with 12 US players joining the nine that advanced with wins on Tuesday.

Usue Arconada, who received a last-minute wild card, earned her first slam victory with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 decision over Ya-Hsuan Lee of Taiwan. Another 17-year-old, CiCi Bellis, advanced with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Lina Gjorcheska of Macedonia. Grace Min beat Julia Boserup 6-4, 6-2; Taylor Townsend downed Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 6-4, 6-4; Jennifer Brady overcame Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) and Melanie Oudin beat Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 6-3 in an all-US wild card battle.

US men who advanced to the second round included four wild cards: Ryan Shane, a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner over Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium; Reilly Opelka, who beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Sekou Bangoura, who defeated Gonzalo Lama of Chile 6-2, 6-1 and Christian Harrison who got by Luke Saville of Australia 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Noah Rubin won when Yan Bai of China retired trailing 3-0, and Jared Donaldson advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Eduardo Struvay of Colombia.

All 21 Americans will play their second round matches on Thursday. The men's draw is here, the women's draw is here.

Mejia Ousts No. 5 Seed Molleker, Portillo Ramirez Defeats No. 3 Seed Minca at Grade 1 International Hard Courts; Anisimova Among Americans Advancing at US Open Qualifying

©Colette Lewis 2016--
College Park, MD--

The perfect weather conditions continued for Tuesday's second round of the ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships, and so did the exit of seeds in the girls draw, with four more losing after five had been eliminated in Monday's first round.

The highest seed to fall, No. 3 seed Ioana Minca of Romania, couldn't hold off the charge of Maria Portillo Ramirez of Mexico, who took the match 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

"The first set was tough and I had many opportunities to maybe get that set, but I just kept fighting and believing," said the 17-year-old, who trains with her coach Michael Castillo in San Antonio, Texas  "She's really consistent and can move the ball really well, so you have to be really active and really explosive with your footwork, especially. She's really aggressive so it's important to take control of the point as much as you can."

Portillo Ramirez said the hard work she's been putting into her fitness and footwork the past two months is starting to show in her results. And the strength she's gained is adding another facet to her game.

"My serve really helped me today," said Portillo Ramirez, who is also playing the Grade 1 in Canada next week and the US Open junior qualifying. "I got a lot of free points from it, plus my footwork was a key."

Portillo Ramirez will face another unseeded player, 14-year-old Junior Tennis Champions Center student Hailey Baptiste, who defeated No. 14 seed Federica Bilardo of Italy 6-1, 7-6(3).

USTA National 16s champion Nicole Mossmer took out No. 5 seed Wushuang Zheng of China 6-3, 6-1 at the University of Maryland site and Canadian Layne Sleeth defeated No. 13 seed I-Hsuan Cho of Taiwan 6-7(5), 7-6(6) 1-0 retired, with Cho suffering from cramps and unable to continue.

Only one seed lost in boys action on Tuesday, with No. 5 Rudolf Molleker of Germany falling to Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-4, 6-4.

Mejia was prepared for a difficult match, remembering his 1-6, 7-6(0), 6-4 win over Molleker in the Junior Orange Bowl 12s quarterfinals back in 2012.

"We've known each other since we were really young," said Mejia, who is now training at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. "We had a really long match in the Orange Bowl, and I knew it was going to be a really tough match today, but I was able to handle it the correct way. That's one of the matches I remember my whole life, because it was so long and it was a really good match."

Mejia, whose older sister Gabriela played for the University of Miami from 2008-2012, credited his serve as a key to his win.

"I think I served well on the break points, and in the second set I was hitting really good first serves," said Mejia, who won two Grade 4s in Florida back in May and a Grade 4 in Colombia earlier this month. "I was going through the court really well, changing the direction of the ball really well, so I think I played one of my best matches, yesterday and today.  Those are the two best matches I've played in a really long time."

Mejia will face No. 4 seed Alexi Popyrin of Australia on Wednesday.

The comeback of the day goes to No. 7 seed Sam Riffice, who trailed Alexander Donski of Bulgaria 4-1 in the third set, with Donski serving, but came back to post a 6-7(9), 6-3, 7-5 victory in three hours and 10 minutes.  Riffice will play unseeded Alexandre Rotsaert next, after Rotsaert advanced when Austen Huang retired trailing 6-2, 3-0.

Top seeds Genaro Olivieri of Argentina and Anastasia Potapova of Russia had their hands full today, but both escaped with two-set victories.  Olivieri needed over two hours to get past Karl Friberg of Sweden 6-4, 7-5 and Potapova took out unseeded 13-year-old wild card Alexa Noel 7-6(4), 6-4. Noel, who trains at the JTCC, kept the world's top junior guessing with her slicing and variety, but Potapova's habit of winning, even when not playing her best, surfaced when she needed it.  She will play qualifier McCartney Kessler, who beat Malkia Menguene 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

The No. 2 seeds had much less difficulty advancing with Claire Liu beating Katya Townsend 6-0, 6-0 and Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia taking out Kyrylo Tsygura 6-1, 6-1.

The first round of doubles saw one major upset, with No. 2 seeds Maria Carle of Argentina and Zheng losing to Victoria Flores and Kate Paulus 6-4, 7-6(5).

For complete draws and Wednesday's order of play, see the tournament webpage.

Sixteen Americans were in action on the first day of US Open qualifying, with five men and four women advancing to the second round.  Kristie Ahn defeated wild card Francesca Di Lorenzo 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the only all-US battle Tuesday.  Asia Muhammad defeated Sofia Shapatava of Georgia 6-4, 6-4, No. 28 seed Jessica Pegula downed Nigina Abduraimova of Uzbekistan 6-1, 7-6(6) and 14-year-old wild card Amanda Anisimova eliminated No. 17 seed Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 6-3, 6-4.  The US men advancing to the second round are No. 13 seed Dennis Novikov, who beat Federico Gaio of Italy 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-2; No. 10 seed Tim Smyczek who defeated Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia 6-3, 6-4; No. 11 seed Ryan Harrison who got by Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 7-6(1), 6-3; Alexander Sarkissian, who beat Gregoire Barrere of France 6-4, 6-2 and Mitchell Krueger, who outlasted Nikola Milojevic of Serbia 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

The following 22 US players take the courts for their first round matches Wednesday:

Men:
Christian Harrison (wild card)
Austin Krajicek(23)
Noah Rubin
Stefan Kozlov
Tommy Paul
Daniel Nguyen
Ryan Shane (wild card)
Jared Donaldson(14)
Reilly Opelka (wild card)
Sekou Bangoura (wild card)

Women:
Sachia Vickery
Usue Arconada (wild card)
Jamie Loeb
CiCi Bellis
Grace Min
Julia Boserup(21)
Taylor Townsend
Jennifer Brady(18)
Caroline Dolehide (wild card)
Melanie Oudin (wild card)
Nicole Frenkel (wild card)
Sophie Chang (wild card)

The women's draws are here, the men's draws are here.

US Open Junior Championships Wild Cards

I received this list of the US Open Junior Championships wild cards today from the USTA, although with late withdrawals, some may not be needed and go to other candidates. The tournament begins on Sunday, September 4, 2016.

Boys

Main Draw:

Trent Bryde

Zeke Clark

Lukas Greif

Vasil Kirkov

Sebastian Korda

Gianni Ross

(One reserved following College Park)

French reciprocal – Corentin Moutet

Qualifying:

Alafia Ayeni

Jenson Brooksby

Patrick Kypson

Alexandre Rotsaert

(One reserved following College Park)

Japanese HS champion Yuta Kikuchi

Girls

Main Draw:

Carson Branstine

Nicole Frenkel

Ann Li

Nicole Mossmer

Whitney Osuigwe

Caroline Dolehide

(2 reserved following Int’l Hard Courts)

Qualifying:

Vanessa Ong

Alexa Noel

Katie Volynets

(2 reserved following Int’l Hard Courts)

Japanese HS champion Eri Shimizu

Wimbledon Girls Champion Potapova Returns to Competition with Win at Grade 1 International Hard Courts, Eight Seeds Fall in Opening Round; 38 Americans in US Open Qualifying; Fritz Tops Tiafoe at ATP Winston-Salem

©Colette Lewis 2016--
College Park, MD--

The top four seeds in the boys and girls draws at the International Hard Court Championships posted straight-sets victories Monday in the opening round of the Grade 1 tournament at the Junior Tennis Champions Center and the University of Maryland.

Ideal weather, with low humidity, partly cloudy skies and a light breeze, provided a perfect backdrop for the competition, which ended Monday evening with five seeded girls and three seeded boys eliminated.

No. 1 girls seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia was tested by 14-year-old Whitney Osuigwe before claiming a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory.

Potapova served for the first set at 5-3, but could not convert, with Osuigwe handling the pace and depth of Potapova's shots, staying in the points long enough to benefit from errors.   Osuigwe saved two set points serving at 4-5 and 5-6, with Potapova failing to get second serves back in play.

In the tiebreaker, Potapova went up 5-1, only to lose three straight points, putting Osuigwe back on serve, but Potapova earned two more set points with a backhand winner.  Osuigwe saved one with a sharply angled forehand crosscourt winner, but her backhand went long on the next point to give Potapova the set.

Potapova began to find her form midway in the second set, breaking and holding for a 4-2 lead and closing out the match with another break of serve.

The 15-year-old Russian had not played since winning the Wimbledon girls championship last month, taking a week off after Wimbledon, then spending the next few weeks training in Moscow.

"The first round is always so tough," Potapova said. "I just got here two days ago. I was trying to play my game, but I just can't do it, and my opponent today was so good, I just tried not to do mistakes."

Potapova agreed that she had played "a little bit" better in the second set, but was glad to finish in straight sets.

"Now I want to sleep so much," said Potapova, who is playing the US Open Juniors, but not the Grade 1 in Canada next week. "Because in Russia now, it's middle of the night."

In Tuesday's second round, Potapova faces another player younger than she it, in 13-year-old wild card Alexa Noel, who beat Jia Qi Ren of China 6-3, 6-2.

No. 2 seed Claire Liu advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Victoria Emma, No. 3 seed Ioana Minca of Romania defeated wild card Gabriella Price 6-2, 6-0 and No. 4 seed Maria Mateas topped wild card Ayana Akli 6-1, 6-0.

No. 6 seed Malene Helgo of Norway was beaten by Alana Smith 6-0, 6-3; No. 8 seed Zhima Du of China fell to Victoria Hu 3-6, 6-1, 6-1; No. 15 seed Natasha Subhash was beaten by Malkia Menguene 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 and No. 12 seed Maria Carle of Argentina lost to wild card Sophia Hatton 6-3, 6-2.

The fifth girls seed to fall was No. 9 Taylor Johnson, who lost to Carson Branstine 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.  The two had played in the first round of the International Spring Championships in Carson back in March, with Branstine again taking a three-set victory, with Johnson seeded eighth then.

Monday's match was again a long, tense struggle, with Branstine unable to consolidate her breaks at 2-1 and 3-2 in the third set, but serving out the match at love after getting a break at 4-all.

"I think the beginning of the match was higher quality from both of us," said the 15-year-old from Orange, California. "It was a little bit ugly from both of us, a lot of errors, doubles faults. But both of us were kind of figuring out ways to correct things we were doing wrong and today, I guess I solved the problems a little bit better."

Branstine had little reaction when Johnson's backhand went wide on the first match point.

"When it's against one of your closest friends, you don't want to celebrate too much, because of course you want the best for them," said Branstine, who finished third at the USTA 18s Nationals in San Diego. "But you want to win at the same time. So I just keep to myself how happy I was."

Boys top seed Genaro Olivieri of Argentina cruised past Nathan Perrone 6-1, 6-0 and No. 2 seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia defeated Sangeet Sridhar 6-3, 6-0.  No. 3 seed Youssef Hossam of Egypt got by Andrew Fenty 6-3, 6-2 and No. 4 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia eased past Sebastian Korda 6-3, 6-3.

Three boys seeds fell, with No. 13 seed Lingxi Zhao of China defeated by qualifier Adam Neff 6-1, 6-1, No. 11 seed Duarte Vale of Portugal lost to Alexandre Rotsaert 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and No. 15 seed Jonas Eriksson Ziverts of Sweden was beaten by Brian Cernoch 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

The second round of singles and first round of doubles is set for Tuesday.  See the tournament page for complete draws and the order of play.

Qualifying for the US Open begins tomorrow in New York, with 16 Americans on Tuesday's schedule, which features half of the first round matches.  In total 38 US players are competing for a place in the main draw, 19 men and 19 women.  Below are all those in the draws, and you'll notice a few changes from the initial wild card announcement, with junior Usue Arconada and Caroline Dolehide added in place of Jamie Loeb, who got in on her own ranking, and Raveena Kingsley, who withdrew.  Christopher Eubanks, the Georgia Tech junior, received a wild card when Mitchell Krueger moved into the qualifying on his own ranking.

Men:
Christian Harrison (wild card)
Austin Krajicek(23)
Noah Rubin
Stefan Kozlov
*Tennys Sandgren (wild card)
*Christopher Eubanks (wild card)
Tommy Paul
*Vasil Kirkov (wild card)
Daniel Nguyen
*Tim Smyczek(10)
*Alexander Sarkissian
*Ryan Harrison(11)
*Thai Kwiatkowski (wild card)
Ryan Shane (wild card)
* Dennis Novikov(13)
* Mitchell Krueger
Jared Donaldson(14)
Reilly Opelka (wild card)
Sekou Bangoura (wild card)

Women:
Sachia Vickery
Usue Arconada (wild card)
Jamie Loeb
*Robin Anderson
*Francesca Di Lorenzo (wild card)
*Kristie Ahn
*Amanda Anisimova
CiCi Bellis
Grace Min
Julia Boserup(21)
Taylor Townsend
*Jessica Pegula(28)
Jennifer Brady(18)
*Ellie Halbauer (wild card)
*Asia Muhammad
Caroline Dolehide (wild card)
Melanie Oudin (wild card)
Nicole Frenkel (wild card)
Sophie Chang (won US Open National Playoffs today)

*on Tuesday's schedule

It's somewhat surprising that none of the 19 US men have drawn another American as a first round qualifying opponent, while three all-US women matches are slated for the first round: Dolehide v. Oudin, Di Lorenzo v. Ahn and Min v. Boserup.

Women's draw is here.  Men's draw is here.

All three remaining US women lost at the WTA Connecticut Open, with qualifiers Louisa Chirico and Nicole Gibbs and lucky loser Kayla Day falling in today's first round matches.

At the ATP Winston-Salem Open, Taylor Fritz earned his first win over Frances Tiafoe, with Fritz taking a 6-1, 6-4 decision in their first round match.  Tiafoe had beaten Fritz in their previous junior meetings and in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 this March.  Bjorn Fratangelo and Donald Young have also picked up first round wins, with Steve Johnson(4) and Sam Querrey(6) getting first round byes.

Georgia's Perez Earns US Open Main Draw Wild Card; Draws for ITF Grade 1 in Maryland; Finals Set at USO National Playoffs; Day Makes WTA Debut as Lucky Loser

University of Georgia junior Ellen Perez won the US Open main draw wild card that Tennis Australia receives in trade with the USTA at a tournament held this weekend at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.  Perez defeated Naiktha Bains 6-2, 6-2 in the first round, top seed Arina Rodionova, also by a 6-2, 6-2 score, in the semifinals, and today claimed the wild card with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ashleigh Barty.  Perez has been playing $10,000 tournaments in Europe this summer (she was a July Ace for winning one singles and three doubles titles last month), so the US Open will be a huge step up for her, but the 20-year-old has previous experience at a slam, having played the main draw in women's doubles at the Australian Open this year.  Perez finished her sophomore year No. 5 in singles and No. 10 in doubles in the ITA Division I national rankings. For more on Perez, see this article from georgiadogs.com.

I'll begin my coverage of the ITF Grade 1 Prince Georges County International Hard Court Championships Monday, with the main draw getting underway at 9 a.m. at the Junior Tennis Champions Center and the University of Maryland Tennis Courts in College Park.   Wimbledon champion Anastasia Potapova of Russia is the top seed in the tournament; last year she lost here in the first round to Amanda Anisimova, who is playing US Open qualifying this week.   Potapova has another intriguing first round match this year with 14-year-old Whitney Osuigwe, who led the USA's 14-and-under team to a runner-up finish at the ITF World Junior Tennis competition in the Czech Republic earlier this month.  No. 2 seed Claire Liu plays Victoria Emma in the first round. Other US girls seeds are Maria Mateas(4), Taylor Johnson(9), Caty McNally(10), Morgan Coppoc(11) and Natasha Subhash(15).  Johnson has a tough first rounder with friend and occasional doubles partner Carson Branstine, who finished third at the recent USTA 18s Nationals in San Diego.

The top six seeds in the boys draw are international players, led by No. 1 seed Genaro Olivieri of Argentina. Sam Riffice(7), Gianni Ross(12), Trenty Bryde(14) and Oliver Crawford(16) are the US boys seeded.

Qualifying was completed today. The boys qualifiers are Zummy Bauer, Jordan Nickerson, Jaycer Lyeons, Adam Neff, Vasyl Kiselyov(UKR), Austen Huang, Boris Kozlov and Drew Baird.  The girls qualifiers are Victoria Hu, Jada Robinson, Mackenzie Clark, Abigail Forbes, Victoria Flores, Rachel Lim, Allison Bojczuk and Mccartney Kessler.

For the order of play and the draws, see the tournament website.

The singles finals are set at the US Open National Playoffs, with No. 1 seed Nick Meister taking on No. 4 seed Jose Statham of New Zealand.  Meister defeated UCLA senior Gage Brymer 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, while Statham beat No. 2 seed Evan King 6-3, 6-2.  The women's singles final will feature unseeded Sophie Chang against No. 2 seed Sanaz Marand.  Chang defeated Nika Kukharchuk 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals, while Marand eliminated Julia Elbaba 6-4, 6-4.   The men's and women's doubles competitions are also underway, with draws here.

Kayla Day lost her final round qualifying match to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-2 but with all the late withdrawals at the WTA Connecticut Open, she received a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser. She will play qualifier Ana Konjuh of Croatia.  Nicole Gibbs and Louisa Chirico advanced through qualifying, with Chirico drawing No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, and Gibbs playing Sevastova.  The fourth American in the draw, wild card Shelby Rogers, won her opening round match today, beating Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-1, 6-1.

Semifinals Set in US Open National Playoffs; Day Posts Another WTA Top 100 Win in Connecticut; Qualifying Ends Sunday at Grade 1 in College Park

Two rounds are complete in the US Open National Playoffs, with just four players in both the men's and women's events still alive in the quest for the US Open qualifying wild card that goes to the champion.

The women's draw has just one seed remaining, No. 2 Sanaz Marand, who will play Julia Elbaba, last year's finalist, in the semifinals.  In the top half of the draw, Nika Kukharchuk will play Sophie Chang for the other place in the final.

Three of the four top seeds in the men's draw are through to the semifinals, with No. 1 Nick Meister taking on Gage Brymer in a match between a former and current UCLA star. No. 2 seed Evan King will face No. 4 seed Jose Statham of New Zealand, who eliminated last year's winner Jesse Witten 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-6(6).

The women's doubles competition, with a main draw wild card on the line, started today, with the men's doubles beginning on Sunday.

Also in Connecticut, last week's USTA 18s National champion Kayla Day won her second qualifying match at the WTA Connecticut Open, beating No. 10 seed and WTA No. 60 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. In order to qualify, Day will need a third straight Top 100 win, as she faces No. 5 seed and WTA No. 52 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia Sunday.   Nicole Gibbs and Louisa Chirico have also advanced to the final round of qualifying.  NCAA champion Danielle Collins fell to No. 2 seed Annika Beck of Germany 7-5, 7-5.

In the Winston-Salem ATP event, Kalamazoo 18s champion Michael Mmoh lost his first round qualifying match 6-3, 6-4 to No. 4 seed James Duckworth of Australia. Mackenzie McDonald, Wil Spencer and Dennis Uspensky also lost. The only players with college ties still in qualifying are Wake Forest sophomore Petros Chrysochos, who advanced when Alejandro Falla of Colombia retired after losing the first set 6-4, and North Carolina State alum James McGee, who beat McDonald.

Sunday I'm on my way to College Park, Maryland for the ITF Grade 1 Prince Georges County International Hard Court Championships, with the main draw beginning on Monday.  The final round of qualifying is set for Sunday, with the order of play available here.

The main draw wild cards for the tournament:

Boys:
Christian Alshon
Michael Heller
Josh Keitelman
Trey Hilderbrand
Alexander Stater
Arvan Dhingra
William Woodall
Ian Witmer

Girls:
Alexa Noel
Lea Ma
Gabriella Price
Sophia Hatton
Nicole Hammond
Ayana Akli
Maria Adiaconitei

Kalamazoo 18s Recap, Slideshow, Videos; Collins, Day Post Top 100 Wins in Connecticut Qualifying; Mmoh, McDonald in Winston-Salem Qualifying

My recap of Michael Mmoh's title at the USTA 18s Nationals in Kalamazoo is available now at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with Rhiannon Potkey providing a summary of Kayla Day's win in the girls 18s here.

The Kalamazoo slide show and videos are below. Google finally made good on their threat to shut down Picasa and the only alternative I could locate for the slideshow today is not ideal.  I was unable to order the slideshow, so all photos are randomly shuffled, and I could not make corrections, additions either, once I titled a photo.  I hope I can find a better alternative, but I may have to return to my old, old system, which I abandoned due to poor photo quality.  For a direct link to the photos from this year's Kalamazoo, click here

In the first round of qualifying at the WTA's Connecticut Open, wilds cards Danielle Collins and Kayla Day both earned their first WTA Top 100 wins with impressive victories. Two-time and current NCAA champion Collins defeated No. 99 Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-3, while 18s National champion Day beat No. 81 Naomi Broady of Great Britain 6-2, 6-3. Collins and Day will need two more wins to advance to the main draw. The qualifying draw is here.

The qualifying for the ATP's Winston-Salem Open begins on Saturday, with Kalamazoo champion Mmoh in the 16-player draw, along with Mackenzie McDonald, Wake Forest's Skander Mansouri, Petros Chrysochos and Dennis Uspensky. Along with McDonald, Wil Spencer and James McGee are the former collegians in the qualifying draw.

Bjorn Fratangelo, Rajeev Ram and Frances Tiafoe all received main draw wild cards; Tiafoe will play Taylor Fritz in a rematch of their BNP Paribas Open meeting in Indian Wells this year, which Tiafoe won.

The Winston-Salem draws can be found here.