Zootennis


Schedule a training visit to the prestigious Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, MD by clicking on the banner above

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Six Americans, 15-yo Klugman Advance to Thursday's Final Round of Wimbledon Qualifying; Georgia Tech's Martin Receives ATP Atlanta Open Main Draw Wild Card; Top Seeds Advance at LA $15Ks; New ITA CEO Talks with TRN

One US man and five US women have advanced to Wimbledon's final round of qualifying in Roehampton Thursday, with just one more win required for an opportunity to compete at the All England Lawn Tennis Club next week.

Maxime Cressy is the only American man of the five competing today to advance to the final round; the former UCLA star and 2019 NCAA doubles champion has played in the Wimbledon main draw the past two years, but last summer his ranking fell out of the top 100, and he's been competing on the ATP Challenger Tour most of this year. Grass is the best surface for his game, but he lost in the first round of the two Challenger 125s he played as warmups, so a run like this in qualifying seemed unlikely.

Five of the nine US women competing today advanced to the final round of qualifying, just two of them seeded: No. 1 Katie Volynets and McCartney Kessler[20](Florida). Amanda Anisimova, Alycia Parks and Robin Montgomery are the three unseeded US women in the final round Thursday.

Anisimova came from a set and 4-0 down to defeat No. 4 seed Hailey Baptiste, Parks and Volynets cruised, Montgomery earned a three-hour, three-tiebreak victory that featured no breaks of serve, and Kessler rebounded for a three-set victory over Texas incoming freshman Maya Joint of Australia.

For more on Anisimova's win, see this article from the Wimbledon website.

Wednesday's Wimbledon second round qualifying results of Americans:

Maxime Cressy d. Thiago Tirante[21] 7-6(9), 6-3
Maxime Janvier(FRA) d. Emilio Nava[30] 7-6(1), 6-3
Leandro Riedi(SUI) d. Patrick Kypson 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
James Duckworth[4](AUS) d. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran 7-6(6), 6-4
Hugo Grenier(FRA) d. Zachary Svajda[24] 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-5

Katie Volynets[1] d. Simona Waltert(SUI) 6-3, 6-2
Robin Montgomery d. Kamilla Rakhimova[10](RUS) 7-6(0), 6-7(4), 7-6(4)
McCartney Kessler[20] d. Maya Joint(AUS) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
Amanda Anisimova d. Hailey Baptiste[4] 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-1
Alycia Parks d. Tereza Martincova(CZE) 6-1, 6-3
Amarni Banks[WC] d. Kayla Day[26] 7-6(6), 6-3
Zarina Diyas d. Sachia Vickery[29] 3-6, 7-5, 7-5
Valentina Ryser(SUI d. Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3


There are five teenagers remaining in the Wimbledon qualifying, four of them 19 years old: 2021 US Open girls champion Montgomery; Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, the 2022 US Open girls champion; Marina Stakusic of Canada and Anca Todoni of Romania. The fifth is 15-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain, who beat 19-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. The reigning Orange Bowl champion, who is a resident of Wimbledon, was not on show court 1 for her first round win yesterday, but she was the center of attention there today, and still managed to handle the occasion. Tomorrow she will face Parks, who is on one of her unplayable runs right now. After winning the W125 on grass in Italy last week, as a qualifier, the big-serving 23-year-old has lost just six games in her two qualifying matches, while hitting 17 aces. An intriguing contrast in styles and experience makes that match a must-see.

It, as well as the men's match between David Goffin[9] of Belgium and Mattia Bellucci of Italy, is scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+.

Thursday's final round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Maxime Cressy v Felipe Meligeni Alves(BRA)
Katie Volynets[1] v Talia Gibson(AUS)
McCartney Kessler[20] v Renata Zarazua[3](MEX)
Amanda Anisimova v Eva Lys[25](GER)
Robin Montgomery v Valentina Ryser(SUI)
Alycia Parks v Hannah Klugman[WC](GBR)

The last ATP 250 in Atlanta is next month, with the tournament eliminated from the ATP calendar after this year. While it's always disappointing to lose a tournament based in the United States, it's especially unfortunate for college tennis fans, as the event always provided a main draw wild card for a collegiate player and promoted it as a part of its College Night.

Andres Martin, who just graduated from Georgia Tech, has received that college wild card the past two years, beating Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia in the first round in 2022, and he will play the final Atlanta Open as a wild card this year as well. The player list was announced yesterday, along with Martin's wild card. With the Olympics the following week, the field may be missing a few players who would normally be preparing for the tournaments in Canada, Cincinnati and the Open, but it features three top 30 players: Ben Shelton, Adrian Mannarino of France and Frances Tiafoe. 

The top seeds in the men's and women's draws at the SoCal Pro Series tournaments at the Kramer Club in Los Angeles are through to the second round. 

2017 NCAA singles champion Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) defeated Jake Van Emburgh(Oklahoma, Ohio State) 6-2, 6-2 yesterday; in today's first round action women's No. 1 seed Sahaja Yamalapalli of India defeated qualifier Elise Wagle(UCLA) 7-6(1), 7-6(4) and No. 2 seed Jessica Failla(USC, Pepperdine) beat wild card Brandy Walker(Northern Arizona) 6-3, 6-2. Men's No. 2 seed Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) plays qualifier Colton Smith tonight.

Fourteen-year-old Sophie Suh, a blue chip from Orange California, received a wild card and yesterday beat USC rising senior Parker Fry, also a wild card, 7-6(1), 6-1, to post a win in her first Pro Circuit tournament appearance.

Jessica Alsola(Cal) of Canada defeated No. 8 seed Chloe Noel(Oklahoma) of France 6-2, 7-6(7) and wild card Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) defeated No. 4 seed Kylie McKenzie 6-3, 6-0.  UCLA rising freshman Kate Fakih, who received entry via the ITF's junior reserved program, defeated qualifier Ema Burgic(Baylor) 6-4, 6-1.

Tennis Recruiting Network's Rhiannon Potkey recently spoke to new Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation CEO Dave Mullins about taking over position from Tim Russell, while addressing many of the challenges confronting college tennis right now with so much of the landscape in collegiate athletics in flux. It's the first official mention I've seen of the possibility of betting as a revenue stream for college tennis; I'm skeptical, but open to hearing more about what would be done to insure the integrity of the sport is not damaged by that association.

0 comments: