Les Petits As Entry Lists; Graham, Mautner Win USTA National Open Titles in New York

The entry lists for Les Petits As are out, with the Fruhvirtova sisters among the entries although this is prior to the withdrawal deadline, so Linda, the older of the two, may still decide to instead play the ITF J1 in the Czech Republic, which is the week before. Brenda, just 11, will be competitive in spite of her age, as her Eddie Herr 14s title earlier this month demonstrated. As of now, Clervie Ngounoue is not on the entry list; she is going to France to train next month and told me after the Junior Orange Bowl that she wasn't sure if she would be playing Les Petits As.  Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion Melisa Ercan of Turkey is currently listed in qualifying for some reason, which is not appropriate given her record this year in the 14s.

The US girls in the draw are Kaitlyn Carnicella, Liv Hovde, Katherine Hui and Qavia Lopez, the latter replacing Meera Jesudason, who qualified in the October tournament in New Jersey organized by the Les Petits As tournament, but decided not to make the trip. The USTA is not sending a National Coach to Bolton and Tarbes, as it has always done in the past, so players and their families are on their own for this trip. The US boys on the entry list, determined at a similar qualifying tournament as the girls, are Cooper Williams, Learner Tien, Joseph Phillips and Kyle Kang.

See the tournament website for more information on qualifiers from Asia and local pre-qualifying.

Alexa Graham

The USTA's Men's and Women's National Open Championships concluded today at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York with titles for North Carolina junior Alexa Graham and Penn senior Kyle Mautner.  Mautner, the No. 2 seed, did not have to hit a ball, with defending champion and top seed Blaine Boyden(North Carolina) withdrawing from the final with an injury. 

Graham, also seeded No. 2, defeated No. 4 seed Jessica Livianu, a junior at St. John's, 6-4, 6-2 for the women's title. She had lost in the final to Julia Elbaba(Virginia) last year. Livianu defeated top seed Elbaba in the semifinals this year 6-3, 7-5.

Top seeds Christina Rosca, a Vanderbilt junior, and Marcela Cruz, a Vanderbilt recruit, won the women's doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Anna Brylin, a Wake Forest freshman, and Anna Ulyashchenko, a Wake Forest senior, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in the final.

Robert Kelly, a recent UNC grad and Boyden, a senior at UNC, won the doubles title, with the top seeds beating No. 5 seeds Ethan Nittolo(Buffalo) and Matt Kuhar(Bryant) 6-4, 7-6(3). 

The mixed doubles title went to the brother-sister pairing of Karl Poling, a Princeton freshman, and Lillian Poling, a Boise State junior, with the No. 2 seeds defeating top seeds Ulyashchenko and Justin Natale(Brown) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the final.