Rain Washes Out Day Three of US Open Junior Championships; USC's Cayetano and Dostanic Top ITA Preseason Rankings; Six Titles for Americans Last Week on ITF Junior Circuit
©Colette Lewis 2022--
Flushing Meadows NY--
An all-day rain prevented even one point from being played, with all 16 second round singles and first round doubles matches on Tuesday's schedule in the US Open Junior Championships canceled before 1 p.m. The only matches played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Tuesday were those scheduled for the two courts with roofs: the four singles quarterfinals on Arthur Ashe and the five doubles quarterfinals on Louis Armstrong.
Although the weather forecast for Wednesday is currently showing a 50 percent chance of rain, additional matches have been added, with third round singles matches now also on the schedule. That means those who did not play their second round singles matches today will play twice if they win. The 16 first round doubles matches that were canceled today are scheduled for after the singles.
Wednesday's second round junior matches featuring Americans:
Nishesh Basavareddy[4] v Alexander Blockx(BEL)
Alex Michelsen v Martyn Pawelski[10](POL)
Liv Hovde[3] v Ranah Stoiber(GBR)
Clervie Ngounoue v Tatum Evans[Q]
Ariana Pursoo[WC] v Mia Kupres(CAN)
Wednesday's third round junior matches featuring Americans (others possible pending second round results):
Kyle Kang v Peter Nad(SVK)
Michael Zheng[16] v Kilian Feldbausch[3](SUI)
Iva Jovic[WC] v Victoria Mboko[9](CAN)
In the US Open women's singles quarterfinals tonight, Caroline Garcia of France defeated Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-4.
Usually I don't have time to review the ITA Division I preseason rankings, as they are always released in the middle of the second week of the US Open, but with the rain in New York, that's not a problem this year.
USC has both No. 1s in singles, with Eryn Cayetano and Stefan Dostanic at the top of the rankings. The Top 10 in singles and Top 5 in doubles, as well as the Newcomer/Freshman lists are below; the complete singles and doubles lists for women can be found here and for men here.
Women's Singles Top 10:
1. Eryn Cayetano, Southern California
2. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina
3. Daria Frayman, Princeton
4. Layne Sleeth, Oklahoma
5. Chloe Beck, Duke
6. Cameron Morra, Duke
7. Connie Ma, Stanford
8. Georgia Drummy, Duke
9. Carson Branstine, Texas A&M
10. Irina Cantos Siemers, Ohio State
Women's Doubles Top 10:
1. Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura, Georgia Tech
2. Ivana Corley and Carmen Corley, Oklahoma
3. Anna Brylin and Brooke Killingsworth, Wake Forest
4. Ariana Arsenaeault and Selin Ovunc, Auburn
5. Karolina Berankova and Georgia Drummy, Duke
Women's Newcomers:
1. Diana Shnaider, NC State
2. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina
3. Daria Kudashova, Oklahoma
4. Nicole Khirin, Texas
5. Alexis Blokhina, Stanford
6. Madison Sieg, Southern California
7. Raquel Gonzalez, Oklahoma State
8. Nicole Rivkin, Texas
9. Mia Kupres, Texas A&M
10. Anastasiya Lopata, Georgia
Men's Singles Top 10:
1. Stefan Dostanic, Southern California
2. Gabriel Diallo, Kentucky
3. Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State
4. Inaki Montes de la Torre, Virginia
5. Luc Fomba, TCU
6. Nikola Slavic, Mississippi
7. Chris Rodesch, Virginia
8. JJ Tracy, Ohio State
9. Tyler Stice, Auburn
10. Alex Kotzen, Columbia
Men's Doubles Top 5:
1. Luc Fomba and Jacob Fearnley, TCU
2. Stefan Dostanic and Bradley Frye, Southern California
3. Sander Jong and Lui Maxted, TCU
4. Charles Bertimon and Maxence Bertimon, VCU
5. Joshua Charlton and Quinn Vandecasteele, Oregon
Men's Newcomers:
1. Ethan Quinn, Georgia
2. Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford
3. Michael Zheng, Columbia
4. Pedro Rodenas, Duke
5. Sebastian Gorzny, TCU
6. Top Nidunjianzan, Princeton
7. Zsombor Velcz, Baylor
8. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego
9. Samir Banerjee, Stanford
10. Martin Breysach, Baylor
While I was focusing on the J1 in Canada and the US Open qualifying, ITF Junior Circuit tournaments elsewhere produced six American champions.
At the ITF J4 in Ghana, 13-year-old Carel Ngounoue, the younger brother of Clervie Ngounoue, won his third ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The No. 4 seed, Ngounoue defeated No. 3 seed Raphael Nii Ankrah of Ghana 6-3, 6-1 in the final and is now up to 398 in the ITF World junior rankings.
Fourteen-year-old Katerina Shabashkevich won her first titles on the ITF Junior Circuit last week at the J5 in Panama. Unseeded in singles, Shabashkevich took out fellow American Addison Iacono, also unseeded, 6-1, 6-4 in the singles final. The unseeded pair teamed up for the doubles title, beating top seeds Sofia Giraldo Zamorano and Daniela Tijaro of Colombia 6-3, 6-1 in the final.
Americans swept the singles titles at the J4 in Monterey Mexico, with top seed Max Exsted and No. 2 seed Maya Dutta earning their second ITF Junior Circuit singles titles with comeback victories. Exsted, 15, defeated No. 2 seed Sebastian Medica Sandoval of Mexico 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the boys final, while Dutta, 16, beat No. 4 seed Natalia Castaneda Guerrero of Mexico 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Dutta also reached the doubles final, where she and partner Nicole Sifuentes of Mexico lost to Castaneda Guerrero and her partner Mariana Reding of Mexico 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-5.
The sixth American title came at a J4 in India, with Pavan Uppu and his partner Pranav Karthik of India won the boys doubles. The No. 4 seeds defeated the unseeded Indian team of Vineeth Mutyala and Skandha Prasanna Rao 6-2, 6-4 in the final.
3 comments:
What methodology/inputs are used for the ITA preseason rankings? Only last year's college results? Even if that's true, hard to believe Murphy Cassone from Arizona State isn't top 10. Add in summer results, ATP ranking, UTR, anything else and his exclusion looks downright bizarre.
The preseason rankings must not taken into account summer play. Here is what Steve Pratt wrote about USC's Snow Han, ranked only 65th.
If there was a Most Valuable Player Award given to the top performer for the six men’s and women’s SoCal Pro Circuits that were completed on Sunday after seven weeks of play, it would go to redshirt USC sophomore Snow Han.
The 20-year-old Han – one of four Trojans who played among the final eight quarterfinalists at the Lakewood Open this past week – became the SoCal Pro Circuit’s only two-time women’s singles winner beating top-seeded Dabin Kim from Korea, 7-5, 7-5, at the Lakewood Tennis Center.
The No. 5-seeded Han completed the six tournaments with a 16-4 singles record notching her first ITF singles title during Week 2 at the University of San Diego, and also had three quarterfinals appearances and a first-round defeat. Han also had a final, semifinal and quarterfinal run in three doubles events.
What Pratt didn't mention is that on the way to the Lakewood title Han beat USC freshman Madison Sieg, who just the prior day upset the No. 1 player in the preseason rankings Eryn Cayetano. And Han also beat USC grad Salma Ewing who had made it to the round of 16 at the 2022 NCAAs.
The ITA does NOT factor in Summer results. Not sure why there is a ranking committee because there are too many concrete rules for preseason rankings. Players cannot moved ahead of another ranked Player to start Preseason Fall rankings if they finished below them in Final Spring Rankings - even if that player won the French Open or more realistic, a 60K or 100K.
The ITA in a nutshell - We have "committees" that gives coaches an unheard voice but we make the decisions and never take responsibility.
College Tennis is still NOT on TV. But every other sport is - even Tag, Axe throwing, and Pickleball. Tennis could be the only NCAA Olympic sport that is NOT on TV.
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