ZooTennis

D-I Jacksonville University Drops Men's and Womens Tennis; Virginia Tops Women's Recruiting Class Rankings; Saville Hopes for Wimbledon Wild Card

2012-01-31T18:51:00.005-05:00

Although there's no mention of it on either the University's main website or athletic website, this USTA Florida sectional tennis briefing contains the unfortunate news that Division I Jacksonville University is dropping both its men's and women's tennis programs after this year. Jacksonville University, in Jacksonville, Florida, is a member of the Atlantic Sun conference.

President Kerry Romesburg is quoted as saying: "Tennis is a program in which we invest a substantial amount of funding based on the roster size, and our recommendation has nothing to do with dissatisfaction with our program, our coaches, or our student-athletes. It is driven completely by the rising cost of athletics in general, and an attempt to better focus our limited athletic resources. We realize this is a difficult and unpopular decision, especially since there are many advocates for the program and very few detractors. However, it is the best decision for our university."

Although this isn't the jolt the Maryland men's tennis program's elimination sent through the collegiate tennis community, it is depressing nonetheless and it's hard to think we've seen the end of these announcements.

The Tennis Recruiting Network's women's recruiting class rankings were revealed yesterday, with the University of Virginia coming out on top in a very close race with Georgia Tech, who also received commitments from three blue chips and a five-star. Following Virginia and Georgia Tech in these initial rankings are North Carolina, Stanford and Vanderbilt. Another set of rankings for the 2012-13 class will be released after the spring signing period.

Australia's Luke Saville is one of the rare juniors to hold two slam titles at once, but because of Bernard Tomic's success, he has been able to avoid much of the frenzy that often surrounds a "next big thing" during his country's grand slam. In this article Saville talks about the other Australian teens having success on the professional level, and in this one, about his hope for a Wimbledon main draw wild card. As the Wimbledon junior champion, he will certainly receive one into the qualifying, but I believe he's correct in saying he will have to win quite a few professional matches between now and then before standing a real chance for a main draw wild card. There is no reciprocal wild card between Wimbledon and the other slams, but they do not necessarily allocate all their wild cards to British players either, feeling that process has resulted in a lack of work ethic among some of the regular recipients.

And for those of you patiently waiting for my response to the Wayne Bryan letter to the USTA, it's coming tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's what John McEnroe had to say about the historic lack of Americans in the second week of the Australian Open.

Fields Set for ITA Team Indoor Championships; Pro Circuit Update

2012-01-30T20:20:00.006-05:00

When you consider that the draft for the ITA's Kickoff Weekend takes place right in the summer, long before the new school year starts, it amazes me that there aren't more upsets. The host teams are chosen by final rankings, but those ranked (roughly) 16-65 select where they want to play. Although travel time and cost are certainly considerations, teams outside the Top 15 hope to select a 4-team regional that gives them the best chance for an upset of a higher-ranked team, and a place in the ITA Team Indoor next month.

The toughest region on the men's side was hosted by Georgia Tech, with four teams inside the Top 20; Tech(19), Illinois(15), North Carolina(18) and Auburn(20). It was there that the only men's seeded upset occurred, with No. 4 seed Auburn beating Georgia Tech in the first round and North Carolina in the final, both by 4-1 scores.

There were some close calls for the top-seeded host team, with Tennessee just squeezing by No. 3 seed Ole Miss 4-3 this evening, after the Rebels had beaten No. 2 seed Oklahoma in another very tough region. Texas A&M also came through by a 4-3 score over Mississippi State, with Baylor winning 4-3 over Florida State, a No. 3 seed.

On the women's side, there were three host teams and No. 1 seeds who failed to reach Charlottesvile, the site of both the women's and men's team indoor championships. Texas, a No. 2 seed, beat host Vanderbilt 4-1; USC, a No. 2 seed, beat host Arizona State 6-1, and Ole Miss, a No. 3 seed, defeated host Florida State 4-3.

Ole Miss, who hadn't sent their women's team to the Indoor since 2000, wasn't the only team earning their spot by the narrowest of margins. Northwestern beat Nebraska 4-3 to win their regional, while in the match I'm covering for Tennis Recruiting Network, Michigan got by Yale by that same slim margin.

In order of their current rankings, here are the teams who have qualified for the Team Indoor Championships:

MEN:
1. USC
2. Virginia(host)
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. Florida
6. Stanford
7. Kentucky
8. Baylor
9. UCLA
10. Duke
11. Texas A&M
12. Pepperdine
13. Cal
17. Texas
20. Auburn
24. Tennessee

WOMEN:
3. Duke
4. UCLA
5. Baylor
6. Georgia
7. Cal
8. North Carolina
9. Virginia(host)
10. Michigan
11. Miami
12. Northwestern
13. Georgia Tech
14. Clemson
15. Texas
16. Southern Cal
19. Tennessee
37. Ole Miss

The ITA has provided an easy-to-read compilation page of all the results from the Kickoff Weekend here.

The only Pro Circuit events in the United States last week were on the men's side, with a $10,000 Futures in Weston and a $50,000 Challenger in Hawaii. Brian Baker continued his comeback by winning the singles title in Weston, beating 18-year-old Jason Kubler of Australia 7-5, 6-3 in a battle of unseeded players. Recent collegians Rhyne Williams and Jeff Dadamo, a qualifier, made the semifinals. The doubles title went to Dennis Novikov and Daniel Kosakowski, who beat Vahid Mirzadeh and Michael Shabaz 6-4, 7-6(4) in another all-unseeded final.

In Hawaii, top seed Go Soeda of Japan beat unseeded Robby Ginepri 6-3, 7-6(5) to take the singles title. Unseeded Amer Delic and Travis Rettenmaier won the doubles, defeating No. 3 seeds Nick Monroe and Jack Sock 6-4, 7-6(3).

Austin Krajicek and Devin Britton captured their first doubles title as a team, winning the $15,000 Futures in Mexico last week. Dimitar Kutrovsky, the former Texas All-American, won his first Futures singles title in Turkey.

The women are back in action this week, at a $25,000 tournament in Rancho Santa Fe, while the men are in Palm Coast for another $10,000 tournament on clay.

American Tiafoe Completes Sweep of Boys Les Petits As Titles; Cristian Defeats Black for Girls Championship

2012-01-29T20:57:00.006-05:00

I've just returned from Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan women squeezed past Yale 4-3 to win the ITA Kickoff weekend regional and a place in the Team Indoor next month in Charlottesville. I'll have a complete account of the match for the Tennis Recruiting Network later this week, and on this site tomorrow, I'll try to wrap up all the results from the sites around the country. Several do not finish until Monday, if they hosted both men and women.

Today in Tarbes, France, American Frances Tiafoe completed his sweep of Les Petits As titles, winning the singles final from William Blumberg of the US 6-0, 6-2. Tiafoe, who turned 14 during this USTA-sponsored European trip, won the Teen Tennis singles title in Bolton last week, so he came into Les Petits As as a favorite, and a target. although he was only seeded No. 4. His toughest match came in the semifinals against fellow American Nathan Ponwith, the No. 10 seed, with Tiafoe dropping his only set of the tournament before recording a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win. Tiafoe won the doubles title on Saturday with partner Michael Mmoh of the US, beating Ponwith and Blumberg in another all-American final.

Tiafoe, who trains at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, is the second consecutive American boy to capture the prestigious 14-and-under tournament. Henrik Wiersholm won the championship last year. This year's all-American final was only the second time the tournament's 30-year history that it featured two players from the same country. The previous one, in 2003, also was between two Americans, with Donald Young beating Leo Rosenberg. This year the United States made history with all four semifinalists, which had never been done.

In the girls final, 13-year-old Jacqueline Cristian of Romania, upset No. 4 seed Tornado Ali Black of the US 6-2, 6-3. Cristian, the No. 11 seed, hadn't had nearly as much success in the international junior tournaments in Florida last month that Black enjoyed, but the Bucharest resident brought her A game to France this week. For the 13-year-old Black, it was another disappointing performance in a final. In her last three major 14-and-under tournaments--the Junior Orange Bowl, Teen Tennis and Les Petits As--she has lost the final in straight sets, and although reaching three straight finals is a remarkable accomplishment, she hasn't been able to perform her best at the last hurdle.

Black did reach two singles finals and win two doubles titles with Nicole Frenkel on the trip, so she is just slightly behind Tiafoe on that scorecard.

For complete results, see the tournament website, which also includes an outstanding photo gallery.

Townsend Wins Australian Open Girls Championship; Tiafoe and Black Aim for Sweeps at Les Petits As

2012-01-28T17:47:00.007-05:00

Taylor Townsend added the Australian Open girls singles title to the doubles championship she won on Friday, beating No. 4 seed Yulia Putintseva of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 Saturday at Rod Laver Arena.

The 14th-seeded Townsend dominated the first set, but those of us who know Putintseva's game knew the match was far from over, as she frequently falls behind, which motivates her to start playing better. Although Townsend played well during that stretch, and didn't show any sign of nerves in her first junior slam final, it was Putintseva's errors that kept the score from being close. Townsend didn't use her serve and volley game with any regularity, but with Putintseva spraying balls all over the place, she didn't need to, and the 15-year-old from Atlanta had the first set in less than 25 minutes.

Putintseva immediately turned the match around in the second set, taking a 4-0 lead, and firing herself up with assorted shouts in various languages. Townsend looked a bit flat, but it might have been a conscious attempt to keep Putintseva's histrionics from affecting her play. Townsend began to get back into the set in the next game, when she broke Putintseva to make it 4-1, and she forced the 17-year-old Russian to play well to hold in the next two games, which evened the match.

Townsend went down a break immediately in the third set, but Putintseva gave it right back. In the third game, Townsend displayed some of her volleying skills with a doubles-like exchange at the net, and although it took her three more ads after that to secure the game, she did take the lead 2-1. With Townsend holding at love to make it 4-3, Putintseva couldn't afford a sloppy game, but a double fault and a backhand error put her in a 0-30 hole, and a forehand winner by Townsend gave the American two break points. She didn't convert the first, with her defensive shot drifting long, but Putintseva sliced a backhand into the net on the second, and Townsend would serve for the championship.

She lost the first point of the final game, when Putintseva attacked and put away an overhead, but Townsend's serve withstood the pressure. She hit an ace to go up 30-15, and another good first serve resulted in Putintseva netting a return. A third well-executed first serve gave Townsend the match, and she dropped to her knees on the court to allow the reality to sink in. Within a few seconds, both girls were in tears, one in happiness and one in disappointment.

With the win, Townsend is the second American girl to hold an Australian Open girls title. The first was Kim Kessaris in 1989. According to the USTA, she also becomes the first American girl to sweep the singles and doubles at a junior slam since Lindsay Davenport accomplished that at the US Open in 1992.

For more on Townsend's win, see the Australian Open website, Sandra Harwitt's piece for ESPNHS, and Ben Rothenberg's post for the New York Times Straight Sets blog. Steve Tignor of tennis.com is in Australia too, and he had this post on Townsend for his Concrete Elbow blog.

The boys final also went to three sets, with top seed Luke Saville of Australia avenging his loss to Canadian Filip Peliwo in the Grade 1 the previous week, taking a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory. Saville, who reached the final in Melbourne last year, now holds two of the four junior slam titles, having won Wimbledon last July, and will be difficult to dethrone at the top of the ITF junior rankings for the remainder of 2012.

For more on Saville's win, see the Australian Open website and the ITF junior website.

The finals are set at Les Petits As, with three young Americans attempting to add their names to the conversation of US junior champions that Townsend started on Thursday, when she and Gabby Andrews won the Australian girls doubles title.

Tornado Ali Black, the No. 4 seed, reached the final with a 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 16 seed Maia Lumsden of Great Britain, who had beaten Black in the Teen Tennis final just a week ago. Black will play No. 11 seed Jacqueline Cristian of Romania in the final, looking for a sweep of the girls events. Black and Nicole Frenkel won the doubles title today with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over compatriots Emma Higuchi and Raquel Pedraza.

In the boys final, Francis Tiafoe, the No. 4 seed, will play No. 15 seed William Blumberg, in only the second final featuring players from the same country in the tournament's 30-year history. Tiafoe beat American Nathan Ponwith, the No. 10 seed, in today's semifinal 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, while No. 15 seed Blumberg surprised No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh of the US 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Mmoh was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third, but Blumberg prevailed.

Tiafoe and Mmoh won the doubles title today over Blumberg and Ponwith 6-2, 6-1, giving Tiafoe, who won the singles and doubles titles last week at Teen Tennis in England, the opportunity to win all four titles on this European trip. CORRECTION: Blumberg and Ponwith won the Teen Tennis boys doubles.

For the draws, and live scoring, see the tournament website.

Townsend Reaches Australian Singles Final, Wins Doubles; Historic Day for USA at Les Petits As; ITA Kickoff Weekend Underway

2012-01-27T15:52:00.006-05:00

Taylor Townsend defeated Krista Hardebeck Friday 7-6(3), 6-4 to advance to the final of the Australian Open junior championships, where she will play No. 4 seed Yulia Putintseva of Russia. Townsend, the No. 14 seed, is playing in just her second junior slam (although she did play the US Open junior qualifying, losing in the first round, in 2010), while Putintseva is competing in her eighth.

The two met in the semifinals of the Eddie Herr last month, and here is my account of that three-hour battle. Putintseva has the advantage in experience, being more than a year older, but she won't take Townsend lightly after that match, especially with the faster surface in Melbourne favoring Townsend's net game. The match will be held on Rod Laver Arena and will be streamed live at the Australian Open website at 9 p.m. Eastern time tonight.

Against Hardebeck, Townsend fought off two set points serving at 4-5 in the first set and went on to win the tiebreaker. She fell behind 3-1 and 4-2 in the second set, but took the final four games of the match to avenge her quarterfinal loss to Hardebeck at the Loy Yang Grade 1 in Traralgon last week. For more on Townsend's win over Hardebeck, see this ESPNHS article by Sandra Harwitt and this one by Karen Pestaina of Tennis Panorama News, both of whom are in Melbourne.

Putintseva beat No. 2 seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada 7-5, 6-1 Friday to advance to her second junior slam final.

The boys final will be a rematch of the Traralgon final, with No. 1 seed Luke Saville of Australia hoping to avenge his three-set loss to Filip Peliwo of Canada. Saville had surprisingly little trouble with No. 10 seed Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic, who had beaten Saville in their previous two meeting back in September. Saville, the 2011 finalist, posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Pavlasek, who is now one of the world's most famous juniors due to his romantic relationship with Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Peliwo, unseeded in Melbourne, beat qualifier Mackenzie McDonald of the US 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinal. There were only four breaks in the match, with McDonald dropping serve in the opening game of each set. He got the break back in the second set, converting his only break point of the match, but lost serve at 4-4, and Peliwo closed it out. For more from the boys semifinals, see this article from the Australian Open website.

Townsend and Gabby Andrews, who were unseeded, won the girls doubles title, beating top seeds Irina Khromacheva of Russia and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 5-7, 7-5, 10-6. Andrews and Townsend lost to Khromacheva and Demi Schuurs in the final of the US Open girls doubles last year by the similar score of 6-4, 5-7, 10-5.

Orange Bowl champions Liam Broady and Joshua Ward-Hibbert of Great Britain won the boys doubles championship, with the No. 6 seeds defeating unseeded Pavlasek and Filip Veger of Croatia 6-3, 6-2.

Last year Henrik Wiersholm won the boys title at Les Petits As, the pinnacle of 14-and-under tennis tournaments in Europe. A year later, Wiersholm was winning a USTA 18-and-under tournament (see my recap of the Tennis Plaza Cup for the Tennis Recruiting Network), and the United States is already assured of another boys champion, with all four American boys reaching the semifinals.

This is unprecedented in the tournament's 30 year history, according to TennisEurope, and the only other time two players from the same country met in the final, it was also the United States making history, with Donald Young beating Leo Rosenberg for the title.

In one semifinal, No. 10 seed Nathan Ponwith will play No. 4 seed Francis Tiafoe; in the other, No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh will face No. 15 William Blumberg.

The only US girl still remaining is Tornado Ali Black, the No. 4 seed, who will get her rematch with Maia Lumsden of Great Britain, who beat her in the final of Teen Tennis last week, in the semifinals. Unseeded Gabriella Taylor of Great Britain will play Jacqueline Christian of Romania in the other girls semifinal.

They could hold the doubles finals back in the United States if they wished, as all four US teams are in the two finals. Black and Nicole Frenkel will play Emma Higuchi and Raquel Pedraza for the girls championship, while Mmoh and Tiafoe will play Blumberg and Ponwith.

Complete results can be found at the tournament website.

The ITA Kickoff weekend is underway today at various sites across the country, with 15 men's and 15 women's teams earning their spots at the Team Indoor championships next month.

The ITA has a very thorough preview of all 30 regionals going on this weekend on their website, where you can also find the individual sites' information, live scoring and occasionally, live streaming.

Hardebeck, Townsend and McDonald Reach Australian Open Junior Semifinals; Quartet of US Boys in Les Petits As Quarterfinals

2012-01-26T17:14:00.006-05:00

Americans have been notably absent from the second week of the Australian Open in the men's and women's draws, but the juniors have more than made up for that, with three Americans in the singles semifinals and a doubles team in the final.

Unseeded Krista Hardebeck beat World No. 1 and top seed Irina Khromacheva of Russia 6-3, 6-3 Thursday to claim her first junior slam semifinal berth. Hardebeck has not lost a set in Australia, winning the Grade 1 in Traralgon last week as a qualifier, thereby earning a special exemption into the main draw in Melbourne.

Hardebeck's semifinal opponent will be No. 14 seed Taylor Townsend, who had a much tougher quarterfinal match. The 15-year-old left-hander beat No. 12 seed Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, blowing a 3-0 lead in the third set, losing four straight games, then winning the last three games to move into the semifinals against Hardebeck. The two Americans met last week in the quarterfinals in Traralgon, with Hardebeck taking a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Townsend also reached the doubles final with Gabby Andrews, with the unseeded 2011 US Open girls finalists cruising through the draw all week. They have lost only 10 games in their four wins, and will have extra motivation against the top-seeded team of Khromacheva and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro in Friday's final(Thursday night in the US). Khromacheva was half of the team (with Demi Schuurs) that beat Andrews and Townsend in the girls doubles final in New York.

With Townsend and Hardebeck playing each other, an American girls finalist is assured for the first time since 2007, when Madison Brengle lost in the championship match to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Mackenzie McDonald's win over unseeded Robin Stanek of the Czech Republic is one of the most memorable matches I've ever watched via live scoring. McDonald, who qualified for both Traralgon and the AO, was down 6-0, 4-0, 30-0 before coming back for a 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 win. I have no idea how he did it, and would have loved to see it live; a turnaround like that in a junior slam, or anywhere for that matter, is extremely rare.

McDonald will play unseeded Filip Peliwo of Canada, who won the Grade 1 in Traralgon, and beat McDonald 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Pan American Closed last October. Peliwo has also shown the ability to comeback during the tournament, so no matter what the score, it's safe to say that a prediction is risky.

The other boys semifinal will feature top seed and 2011 finalist Luke Saville of Australia against his nemesis Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic. Pavlasek beat Saville in back-to-back weeks at the Canadian Grade 1 and US Open juniors, so the No. 10 seed may be an underdog by seeding only, not in reality.

The second girls semifinal has No. 2 seed and 2011 semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard of Canada against No. 4 seed and Eddie Herr champion Yulia Putintseva of Russia. Bouchard is seeking her first junior slam singles final, while Putintseva reached the 2010 US Open girls final.

The singles semifinals and doubles finals are later tonight in the US, and I will be staying up to watch the live scoring and tweeting. There will be no live stream for the semifinals. The junior draws can be found at the Australian Open website.

In Tarbes, the US boys continue their impressive showing, with all four of them in the quarterfinals for the second straight week. Nathan Ponwith(10), William Blumberg(15), Michael Mmoh(5) and Francis Tiafoe(4) all advanced in both singles and doubles at Les Petits As and with all four in different quarters, could all advance to the semifinals.

Raquel Pedraza and Tornado Ali Black(4) remain in the girls draw, both in the top half, while Black and Nicole Frenkel and Pedraza and Emma Higuchi are also in the doubles semifinals.

For complete draws and live scoring, see the tournament website.

USA Today's Robson Looks at Lost Generation of American Tennis Players; Capra in College Spotlight; Men's Recruiting Class Rankings

2012-01-25T17:09:00.004-05:00

Doug Robson has written an excellent article for USA Today about what happened to the young American men, born in 1986 or 1987, who decided to turn pro rather than go to college. Dubbing them the "Lost Generation," Robson talks with Brendan Evans, Scott Oudsema, Phillip Simmonds and Alex Kuznetsov, who signed with sports management agencies and went out on the pro tour.

Back in 2004, I wrote a similar piece, although it focused on Oudsema, who is from Kalamazoo, where I live. Reading it again, I'm struck by how certain everyone was that Oudsema was making the right choice, that he would be a successful professional. Current Australian Open director Craig Tiley, then the head men's coach at the University of Illinois, put Oudsema's odds of success at "100 percent." I'm also struck by how few of the people I quoted seven years ago still are working in the jobs they had then. USTA coach David Nainkin may be the only one, although Walker is still a prominent junior development coach in the Kalamazoo area, just at a different club.

But the issues addressed in both articles haven't changed much, and like James Blake and Todd Martin before him, John Isner has served as a shining example of the advantages of college tennis. Robson quotes Isner:

While Evans and his peers struggled, a few others of similar age that chose to spend time in college have generally had more success, none more so than John Isner.

The 26-year-old, who spent four years at the university of Georgia, reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals last year. He is at a career-high No. 17.

"I think they thought it was going to be easier than it was," says the nearly 6-10 Isner, who rode his serve into the top 100 within a few months of going pro in 2007. "For me, I went to college. I didn't put any pressure on myself. I had the experience of college tennis under my belt. I won a lot, whereas these guys early in their career didn't. When I left college I was ready to go."

Robson understands that there is no right answer in what will remain a difficult decision for all elite level American juniors.

"Still, it's dangerous to generalize." writes Robson. "The decision to go to college or turn pro is influenced by many factors from physical maturity to financial situation.

Some players are better off jumping to the pros and grinding it out while others are better served by spending time in the more structured environment of college."

Robson's article is about young men, but a current young woman faced a similar choice a year ago. Beatrice Capra, who reached the third round of the US Open in 2010 as a wild card, is now a freshman at Duke University. I wrote this article for Tennis Recruiting Network about Capra's decision early last year, but she tells it very well herself in this USTA college spotlight.

The first of two men's recruiting class rankings is out at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with Stanford topping the list, followed by Virginia, Duke, Georgia and Texas A&M. The women's list will be released on Monday.

The second ITA team rankings of 2012 were released yesterday, with USC men and Florida women remaining on top. Some teams have not even played a dual match yet this year, so there weren't a lot of dramatic changes in the rankings. The North Carolina women fell from 4 to 8 after a loss to Texas, who climbed from 21 to 15, and the Florida men, previously No. 8, beat No. 5 Baylor 6-1 Sunday, with the two schools switching places in the rankings.

For the complete rankings, see the rankings page at the ITA website. Dual match results are available at the ITA website as well.

Six US Players Aim for Australian Open Junior Quarterfinals; Frenkel Upsets No. 2 Seed at Les Petits As

2012-01-24T17:33:00.006-05:00

I've returned to Michigan from South Florida and after two days at Pro Circuit events and three days covering the USTA Level 3 Plaza Cup, it's time to catch up on what's happening in the two junior "majors" this week: the Australian Open and Les Petits As.

In Melbourne, six Americans--five girls and one boy--have reached the round of 16 and play Wednesday(Tuesday night in the US) for a place in the quarterfinals.

Qualifier Mackenzie McDonald, pictured above, plays No. 6 seed Andrew Harris of Australia in the third round. The 16-year-old McDonald had an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Mathias Bourgue of France in the second round.

Krista Hardebeck, who won the Grade 1 Loy Yang Traralgon last week as a qualifier, kept her 2012 winning streak going with a surprisingly easy 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 9 seed Saisai Zheng of China in the second round. Zheng received main draw entry and her seeding based on her WTA ranking, which is currently 282. Hardebeck, who has yet to drop a set in Australia, now plays No. 8 seed Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia in a rematch of the Traralgon final, which Hardebeck won 7-5, 6-4. No. 14 seed Taylor Townsend will play Orange Bowl champion Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, the No. 3 seed in another Loy Yang rematch. Townsend had beaten Kontaveit 6-1, 7-6(3) in the third round last week before falling to Hardebeck. No. 16 seed Kyle McPhillips takes on doubles partner and No. 4 seed Yulia Putintseva of Russia Wednesday, while Samantha Crawford meets No. 12 seed Sabina Sharapova of Uzbekistan. Christina Makarova, who reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open junior championships last year as a 14-year-old, plays No. 2 seed Eugenie Bouchard in the third round.

Townsend and Gabby Andrews, the 2011 US Open junior doubles finalists, have reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne, as has the team of McPhillips and Putintseva.

For more from the American girls, see Sandra Harwitt's article on the ITF junior website, which also contains photos of Hardebeck and McDonald in competition.

Top seeds Irina Khromacheva of Russia and Luke Saville of Australia have also reached the third round. For live scoring of tonight's third round matches, see the Australian Open website.

In Tarbes, Les Petits As first round is complete, and unseeded American Nicole Frenkel has upset No. 2 seed Karine Sarkisova of Russia 6-4, 6-3 to join the three other US girls on the trip in the second round. Tornado Black, the No. 4 seed, Emma Higuchi, the No. 14 seed, and unseeded Raquel Pedraza all won their opening matches in straight sets.

After their impressive showing at Teen Tennis, when all four made the quarterfinals, the American boys all received seeds at Les Petits As. Nathan Ponwith(10), William Blumberg(15) Teen Tennis finalist Michael Mmoh(5) and Teen Tennis champion Francis Tiafoe(4) all won their opening round matches in straight sets. Like the girls No. 2 seed, the boys No. 2 also went out in the opening round, with Denys Klok of Ukraine falling 6-1, 6-0 to Samuel Ferguson of Great Britain.

The top seeds are the same for Les Petits As as they were at Teen Tennis last week, with Kenneth Raisma of Estonia and Olga Fridman of Ukraine tabbed as No. 1s.

For complete results, and also live scoring throughout the day, see the tournament website.

Unseeded Wiersholm and Daniel Surprise Seeds to Take Tennis Plaza Cup Titles in Boys 18s and Girls 14s; Thirouin Claims Boys 14s Title

2012-01-23T17:03:00.008-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Coral Gables, FL--

Fourteen-year-old Henrik Wiersholm went from second alternate to champion, winning the Tennis Plaza Cup boys 18s title Monday morning with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 victory over No. 2 seed Ognjen Samardzic.

Wiersholm dominated the championship match from the outset on a warm and breezy morning at Salvadore Park, even though the Pacific Northwest native plays and trains more often on indoor hard courts than the Har-Tru court surface of this tournament.

"I've never had very good results on clay," said Wiersholm, who has just begun living and training at the USTA's Boca Raton Center. "But for the last couple of weeks I've been able to train on it and I'm getting used to it. It's a big difference, but I like it. It's tough, it's physical."

Although both finalists had tough three-setters in their semifinal matches Sunday, it was the older and bigger Samardzic who seemed to feel the effects of the four matches in two days. The 16-year-old from Bradenton, Florida had a difficult time sustaining rallies, and at one point said, "I guarantee my mom could make more balls in the court."

Wiersholm, who needed two players to drop out to get into the tournament, kept his level of play high. Even the erratic play of Samardzic didn't cause his own level to drop, and he won the first ten games of the match before dropping his serve to give the 2011 finalist his only game of the match.

"I think he was a little bit tired from his last match," said Wiersholm, who a year ago at this time was winning the Les Petits As title. "That definitely helped me out when I came out to a strong start at the beginning. I was a little bit tired, but I told myself if I could get an extra boost of energy at the beginning, I could sustain that, which is what I did."

Samardzic mentioned the fall he took in his 7-6 in the third semifinal win over Jake Albo may have contributed to his poor play, although he was careful not to use that as an excuse.

"He deserved to win, props to him," said Samardzic, who lost to Brett Clark in last year's final. "Physically, I'm not one-hundred percent, but that's not an excuse. In tennis you have that all the time. He played much better than me today. There's not much to say. No excuses, he beat me pretty bad."

The jump from the 14s to the 18s is, not surprisingly, a large one, according to Wiersholm.

"Players are much more physical," said Wiersholm, who turns 15 in March. "You're not going to be able to beat them just off of technique. You have to beat them physically also. Guys are going to get to balls that kids aren't getting to in the 14s, and you have to realize that and prepare for it to happen."

Wiersholm couldn't be happier with his level of play throughout the tournament, his second in the 18s division.

"I played well," he said, then repeated, "I played well."

In the girls 14s final at the USTA Level 3 National tournament, unseeded Jaeda Daniel upset top seed Sofia Kenin 6-2, 7-6(4), earning her first win over her Florida rival.

"I was playing my game and being aggressive," said the 12-year-old left-hander. "It's exciting."

Kenin usually also plays an aggressive game, but the petite 13-year-old was making many more unforced errors than usual, especially in the first set. She gradually reduced those in the second set, only to see her serve go seriously haywire serving a 3-4. Kenin double faulted three consecutive times to give Daniel the opportunity to serve for the match, but Daniel couldn't convert, double faulting herself at 30-40 to get Kenin back on serve. Kenin held for 5-5, saving a match point when Daniel hit a second serve return long. She won her third straight game when Daniel was unable to get her first serve in during the next game.

Although she didn't double fault, Daniel missed six straight first serves, and Kenin began pouncing on the harmless second serves Daniel gave her, and broke to go up 6-5.

The breeze picked up midway through the match, but Daniel said that wasn't the reason she was having difficulty serving.

"It wasn't that so much," said Daniel. "It was mostly me, and that's something I have to work on."

Kenin made her first serves in the 6-5 game, but she was unable to keep the ball in the court, making three unforced errors, while Daniel forced another. In the tiebreaker, Kenin's serve problems resurfaced with two consecutive double faults and Daniel took a 4-1 lead. Kenin never led but she did get within one point at 4-3 and 5-4, only to make errors that gave Daniel a two-point cushion.

At 6-4, Kenin got her second serve in, but after a short rally, Daniel took a chance on a big down the line forehand, and it was too big for Kenin, who couldn't reach it.

The 12-year-old Daniel is now planning on playing more 14s tournaments, but hasn't yet decided on her schedule.

Jean Thirouin is the only top seed to earn a championship at Salvadore Park, after he collected a come-from-behind victory over No. 2 seed Michael Kuznerko to claim the boys 14s title.

Thirouin served for the opening set, lost it in a tiebreaker, but took control midway through the second set to post a 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-0 victory.

"I got a little tight," Thirouin said of his failure to serve out the opening set at 5-4. "I played too flat and too safe. He also started playing better and controlling the points."

Thirouin, who just began training full time at L'academie de Tennis in Boynton Beach, Florida, lost to Kuznerko at a National Open last July, so his ability to overcome the loss of the first set was especially satisfying.

"In the third set I had lots of energy," said the 14-year-old, who is from Houston, Texas. "I played really, really well, compared to the other two sets. I kept the ball in play and played safe. I'm pretty happy with the way I played."

Another top seed prevailed in the boys 12s, with Boris Kozlov defeating No. 2 Antonio Mora 6-1, 6-4 at the Biltmore Tennis Center.

Rather than feeling the pressure of the top seeding, Kozlov looked at the positives of the number 1 after his name.

"It kind of makes you want to win more," said Kozlov, the 11-year-old brother of Stefan Kozlov. "You feel more confidence when you go out on the court. So I don't think it's pressure, it's more like confidence."

Mora had numerous game points that he failed to convert in the second set, and down 5-2, began resorting to moon balls to try to change his fortune. It worked for two games, but not a third, as Koslov held off the challenge in the final game.

"He had a lot of chances," Kozlov said. "But he didn't take them, and I played pretty good."

Kozlov will continue playing some 14s tournaments in Florida, his home section.

"I'm going to to start playing more 14s, because the tournaments here are starting to get easy, and I'm winning almost every one," said Kozlov, who won a Florida 12s designated tournament earlier this month. "Not to sound cocky or anything, but my dad wants me to start playing more in the 14s."

The results from the finals in the other divisions:

Girls 18s: Johnnise Renaud(7) def. Sherry Li(3) 7-5, 6-4.
Boys 16s: Tommy Mylnikov(1) def. Alexandru Gozun(2) 7-5, 6-2.
Girls 16s: Mia Horvit(3) def. Jessica Golovin(8) 6-1, 6-4.
Girls 12s: Amanda Anisimova(8) def. Alyvia Jones(1) 6-2, 7-5.

For complete results, including doubles, see the TennisLink site.

Samardzic and Wiersholm Reach Tennis Plaza Cup Boys 18s Final; Unseeded Daniel Plays Top Seed Kenin for Girls 14s Championship

2012-01-22T18:54:00.007-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Coral Gables, FL--

Last year, Ognjen Samardzic reached the Tennis Plaza Cup boys 18s final as an unseeded 16-year-old. This year, Samardzic has again reached the final, as the No. 2 seed, and taking over his role as unseeded underdog is 14-year-old Henrik Wiersholm.

Neither boy had an easy time in his semifinal match, which in these USTA National Level 3 Regionals, is played on the same day as the quarterfinal. Samardzic defeated No. 4 seed Jake Albo, a longtime Florida rival, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5), with an unusual delay with Samardzic at 6-5, match point, in the tiebreaker.

Serving a 3-4, Samardzic took a tumble near the service line, with Albo passing him to take a 5-3 lead. At 5-4, Albo had the match on his racquet, but missed a defensive volley just wide, so close that Samardzic asked the roving umpire to confirm the call. She did, but she also noticed that Samardzic had scraped his knees in the fall, and she left to ask the chief umpire if it was bad enough to warrant a stoppage in play. In the meantime, Albo lost his third straight point, when the drop shot he had used so effectively on numerous occasions late in the match floated harmlessly into Samardzic's strike zone and he put it away, giving him match point.

The referee determined that Samardzic needed to leave the court to clean up his knees, and he returned several minutes later to play what turned out to be the final point. Albo got a good look at a forehand pass, but hit it wide, and Samardzic had overcome the disruption to reach the final for the second straight year.

"It actually happened to me once before," said Samardzic, who said he had played Albo nine or ten times and had only lost once. "It wasn't match point, but it was 5-4 in the third and I was bleeding and I asked if I could continue play. That umpire said she would pretend she didn't see it, so I got away with it that time, so I was hoping for the same, but didn't get it this time."

Wiersholm, playing in his second 18s tournament, lost the first set to Sam Swank, who had beaten top seed Grant Solomon in the second round Saturday, but quickly took a 5-0 lead in the second set. Things got really interesting then, with Wiersholm losing five straight games before taking the set in a tiebreaker and going on to take 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 decision.

"I had three set points at 5-0," Wiersholm said of the second set. "And I ended up having seven set points before I won the set. Mentally I don't know where I am. I was a little bit surprised that it was that close and a little bit surprised that I won."

Wiersholm and Samardzic have never played, but Nikola Samardzic, Ognjen's younger brother, does have a victory over Wiersholm.

"At clays three years ago, my younger brother beat him, so it's a bit of extra pressure," Samardzic said. "It's an awkward situation. I know him only through (Stefan) Kozlov, they're pretty much the same generation. He's improved a lot, but that's all I know."

The girls 14s final will feature No. 1 seed Sofia Kenin against unseeded Jaeda Daniel. The 13-year-old Kenin, who has yet to drop a set in her four victories, took a 7-5, 6-3 decision from No. 5 seed Adriana Reami 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals, while Daniel eked out a 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 6-4 win over unseeded Madeline Meredith.

The 12-year-old Daniel said she was fortunate to come through with the win.

"She's a really good player and it's always hard to beat good players," said Daniel. "It was interesting, there were a lot of long rallies, but there wasn't a lot that I could do to hurt her. So it was just bad luck she lost."

Daniel, who won the Florida Closed in the 12s, and was a semifinalist at the Eddie Herr 12s last month, is just beginning to make the transition to the 14s age division.

"It's a tough transition," said Daniel, who is from Wesley Chapel, Florida. "The players are a lot better, tougher so it's going to be hard. It's fun, it's different, and I'm looking forward to it."

The boys 14s final, which will be played Monday morning at Salvadore Park, along with the girls 14s and boys 18s, is a matchup of the top two seeds.

Top seed Jean Thirouin overcame No. 3 seed Kaden Funk 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals, while No. 2 seed Michael Kuznerko defeated unseeded Pietro Rimondini 6-3, 6-2.

Numbers 1 and 2 will also meet in the boys 16s finals at Biltmore Tennis Center, with top seed Tommy Mylnikov playing No. 2 seed Alexandru Gozun. In the girls 16s final, No. 3 seed Mia Horvit, who beat top seed Marie Norris in the semifinals, takes on No. 8 seed Jessica Golovin, who ousted unseeded Jeannez Daniel, Jaeda's older sister, in the semifinals.

In the girls 18s, which are being played at the Riviera Country Club, No. 3 seed Sherry Li will face No. 7 seed Johnisse Renaud for the championship. Li defeated unseeded Katerina Stewart 6-3, 6-4, while Renaud took out No. 2 seed Alanna Wolff 7-6(4), 7-5.

Stewart had toiled for just over four hours to defeat top seed Frances Altick 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals, saving a match point when Altick served for the match at 5-4 in the third, while Li needed barely an hour to get past Emily Groeneveld 6-0, 6-0.

In the boys 12s, top seed Boris Kozlov will play No. 2 seed Antonio Mora for the championship. In the girls 12s, top seed Alyvia Jones will play No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova.

Draws and results are available at the TennisLink site.

Swank Takes Out Boys 18s Top Seed Solomon at Tennis Plaza Cup

2012-01-21T21:15:00.004-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Coral Gables, FL--

Grant Solomon, the top seed in the boys 18s at the Tennis Plaza Cup, a USTA National Level 3 Regional tournament, won his opening round match this morning against Lucas Dages 6-0, 6-0. But as a beautiful day in South Florida transformed into a lovely night, Solomon found himself in a much tougher battle with fellow 16-year-old Sam Swank, and when the match finally ended, after nearly three hours of play on the Har-Tru courts of Salvadore Park, Swank had the upset 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.

Swank, from Bedford, New York, served too well for Solomon in the first set, with the top seed having difficulty getting returns in play. Swank held on to his break until serving for the set at 5-4, but was broken at love.

"I choked. I was playing well, serving well and then at 5-4 I choked, didn't make any first serves," Swank said. "But I'm a always a fighter, so I always try to dig in."

Swank had four chances to serve for the set again when Solomon went down 0-40 and then add out in the next game, but some excellent serving on the Texan's part, including two service winners and an ace got him out of that mess.

With his forehand continuing to give him trouble, Swank was broken at love again in the next game, but any frustration he felt at the missed opportunities didn't erupt to the surface.

In the second set, he took a 4-0 lead, which he attributed to Solomon relaxing a little too much.

"He eased up, and that happens a lot after winning the first set," Swank said. "I got a big lead in the third, and that was it."

Although Swank did lead 4-1 in the third set, it was only one break, and Solomon got it back to 4-3, only to be broken in the next game. At 30-40, a long and often brilliant point ended with Swank finally putting away his second overhead, and he would serve for the match. Asked if the disaster of the first set went through his mind, Swank was philosophical.

"One thing I've learned about tennis is that you can't dwell in the past," Swank said. "I messed up that first set, but I cleared it out of my mind, and I have enough belief in myself that I can do it for sure."

Swank fell behind 15-40 in that final game, but hit an ace to save one break point, and a soft touch volley off an awkward net cord to save the second. At deuce, Solomon netted a backhand pass to give Swank his first match point, and he converted it with a forehand volley winner.

Swank said he believes he has underachieved on the national stage.

"I was playing really well in my section, but when I would get to the national level, I would struggle. It's something I'm focusing on, to play more of these tournaments, get more experience."

Stefan Kozlov was in the draw as the No. 3 seed but was still competing in the Grade 1 in Colombia and so was replaced by an alternate. No. 2 seed Ognjen Samardzic and No. 4 seed Jake Albo won both their matches today.

In addition to the boys 18s, the boys and girls 14s are also being played at Salvadore Park. Top seeds Sofia Kenin and Jean Thirouin had byes in the opening round, and advanced to the third round with routine wins this afternoon.

The girls 18s are being played at the Riviera Country Club, and the top seed there, Frances Altick, is through to the third round, where she will play Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion Katerina Stewart. The unseeded Stewart beat No. 8 seed Natalia Janowicz 6-2, 6-3 in today's second round.

In the 16s, at Biltmore Tennis Center, top seeds Tommy Mylnikov and Marie Norris are through to the quarterfinals, as are 12s top seeds Boris Kozlov and Alyvia M. Jones at Tropical Park.

Full draws at the TennisLink site.

Tiafoe Wins Teen Tennis; Hardebeck Takes Traralgon Grade 1; Four Americans Qualify for Australian Open Junior Championships

2012-01-20T16:10:00.006-05:00

Francis Tiafoe gave himself quite a 14th birthday present today, beating Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-3 in the all-American Aegon Junior International Teen Tennis 14-and-under tournament in Bolton, England. Tiafoe, the No. 15 seed, had reached the semifinals in the tournament last year. He won every match in straight sets, and beat the No. 7, No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in his final three wins.

The news was not as good for the US in the girls final, with Great Britain's Maia Lumsden, the No. 5 seed beating No. 8 seed Tornado Ali Black 7-5, 6-1 to claim the girls championship.

The US claimed three of the four titles in Bolton, the boys and girls doubles and the boys singles, and the eight players now cross the Channel for the Les Petits As, in Tarbes, France. All eight are in the main draw there, but the qualifying for the prestigious event has begun. For the qualifying draws and other information, see the tournament's website.

For the complete results at Teen Tennis, see the Tennis Europe website.

For more on the finals at Bolton, see usta.com.

In Australia, qualifier Krista Hardebeck of the US won the ITF Grade 1 Loy Yang in Traralgon, beating No. 6 seed Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia 7-5, 6-4 in the final. Hardebeck received a walkover from An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium, the 2011 Australian Open girls champion, who will not defend her title due to a recurring wrist injury, in the quarterfinals, so she had to win "only" seven matches to take her first junior title since the Easter Bowl Grade B1 in 2010. Hardebeck beat four seeds, not including Mestach, in her run to the final, and received a special exemption into the Australian Open junior championships.

No. 16 seed Filip Peliwo of Canada surprised top seed and world No. 1 Luke Saville of Australia in the boys final, saving two match points to take the championship 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. Nick Kyrgios of Australia and Wayne Montgomery of South Africa won the boys doubles; Ilka Csoregi of Romania and Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia won the girls doubles.

Four Americans qualified for the Australian Open junior championships Friday, with Julia Elbaba, Catherine Harrison, Trey Strobel and Mackenzie McDonald earning spots in the main draw, which begins Sunday (Saturday night in the US). The draws should be out early Saturday morning here in the US, and can be found at the ITF junior website.

I spent a few hours today back at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center, where the Orange Bowl was held last month, watching the quarterfinals of the $25,000 women's pro circuit event there. I was particularly interested in the match between Elizaveta Ianchuk of Ukraine, who had played the Orange Bowl, and American Lauren Davis, who I had last seen winning the 2010 Orange Bowl at Crandon Park.

Davis, who still occasionally suffers symptoms related to the concussion she got last spring when a piece of TV equipment fell on her head as she prepared for an interview, looked in great form, quickly taking control of the match from Ianchuk. Ianchuk, like Davis 18 years old, barely had a game point on her serve in the entire match, and the only game she won was a break of Davis in the fifth game of the first set of the 6-1, 6-0 clinic. Davis served well, hit both her forehand and backhand with great depth and pace, and also found some impressive angles. She will face an entirely different opponent in the semifinals against veteran Ahsha Rolle of the US, who uses her touch and volley skills relentlessly, even on the Har-Tru surface. Davis also reached the semifinals of the $25,000 tournament in Innisbrook last week, before falling in three sets to Grace Min. The other semifinal in Plantation will feature the only seeded player to make the quarterfinals, No. 5 Gail Brodsky, who beat Heidi El Tabakh of Canada 7-5, 6-3. She faces Johanna Konta of Australia, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Alexandra Stevenson of the US.

At the $10,000 Futures just north of Plantation, Jack Sock beat Andrea Collarini 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals, where he'll play No. 7 seed Nicholas Devilder of France. Sock has yet to drop a set in his eight wins to start off 2012. No. 6 seed Pedro Sousa of Portugal will play unseeded Olivier Patience of France, who breezed past American Brian Baker 6-1, 6-1 today.

Former University of Illinois player Ruben Gonzales and Chris Kwon won the doubles title, beating Sekou Bangoura and Ed Corrie 6-3, 7-5.

For all results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

I will begin coverage of the National Level 3 Regional this weekend in Coral Gables, the Tennis Plaza Cup, tomorrow. Grant Solomon and Frances Altick are the top seeds in the 18s; Tommy Mylnikov and Marie Norris are the top seeds in the 16s. For the seeds in all four divisions, and the draws, see the TennisLink site.

Sock, Baker Reach Quarterfinals in Pro Tennis World Futures

2012-01-19T18:49:00.006-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Sunrise, FL--

There wasn't much drama in either of the second round wins posted by Brian Baker and Jack Sock Thursday at the Pro Tennis World $10,000 Futures at the Sunrise Tennis Club; that would be provided by others. The 26-year-old Baker, coming back from five different surgeries in the past four years, beat qualifier Ed Corrie 6-2, 6-2, and Sock, who won the first US Futures of the year last week, defeated No. 5 seed Matwe Middelkoop 6-1, 6-1.

Sock needed less than an hour to down the 28-year-old from the Netherlands, whom he had beaten last week on his way to the Plantation title.

"It's always nice playing a guy the week before," said Sock, who is traveling with his new fitness trainer Farhad Zarif. "Knowing his tendencies, weaknesses and all that. I was just trying to make the points long and play every point hard, and I think I did that again, and wore him down a little bit."

Middelkoop has a good serve and a powerful forehand, but his shot tolerance was low, with Sock's chances of winning a point increasing with every stroke he could make. Middelkoop also seemed incredulous most of the match, but whether that response was to his own poor play or some of Sock's more stunning winners was hard to say. Sock employed the drop shot effectively in the first three games on the Har-Tru courts, mostly for outright winners, and he also won the majority of the net exchanges with his touch and reaction. He also hit a jumping forehand winner, which is commonly seen on the two-handed backhand side, but rarely used on the forehand; the dozen or so people watching broke into applause, not for the first time.

After losing nine straight games from 1-0 in the first set, Middelkoop got on the board, but never threatened to change the tenor of the match, and Sock easily closed out his seventh straight win to start the year.

"My fall obviously wasn't great," said Sock, who has accepted wild cards into the ATP events in San Jose and Memphis. "I didn't play many matches at all compared to a lot of the players out there. So I just wanted to come here to hopefully play a lot of matches, get some wins, get the confidence where it needs to be. I need to work on my game, play a lot of tennis."

In addition to the ATP events, Sock may play next week's Challenger in Hawaii and is also hoping to play at the Dallas Challenger next month; he would need wild cards for both events.

Baker also has Dallas and Memphis in his sights.

"You have to start here," said Baker, of Nashville, Tenn. "That's what everyone has to do. Even though I've done this when I was 16, 17, 18, now I have to do it again. Hopefully I can play well enough to get out of [the Futures] sooner rather than later. I'll have to play the qualies in Dallas, and then I'll play the qualies of Memphis."

The first five games between Baker and Corrie, the former University of Texas standout from Great Britain, went to the server, but Corrie had difficulty holding after that, broken the next three times he served and then in the match's final game. There were many long rallies, but once he got comfortable with his footing, Baker was able to come forward and play more offensive tennis. Corrie was especially vulnerable on his second serve, with Baker's return resulting in many outright winners.

Baker who is 21-5 (including qualifying wins) since returning to the tour last July, will play Olivier Patience of France, also unseeded, in the quarterfinals. Patience beat qualifier Sekou Bangoura 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in a match that found both players struggling to hold serve. At 2-3 in the third set, Bangoura was broken, which started a string of five consecutive breaks of serve. Patience served for the match at 5-3, but didn't get to match point. Bangoura couldn't get to game point in the final game however, and with a well-executed backhand volley on his second match point, Patience moved past the former Florida Gator.

Sock will meet unseeded Andrea Collarini of the US, who defeated qualifier Rhyne Williams 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 in a match that took three hours and fifteen minutes to complete. Collarini, the left-hander who spent his formative years in Argentina, was up a set and serving at 5-2, when Williams began his comeback. Collarini was broken at 15 at 5-2 and at love at 5-4, with his first serve the primary culprit, although Williams did play error-free tennis during this stretch. Collarini, 19, didn't make a single first serve in that tenth game, double faulting once, and all the momentum was with Williams, who promptly lost his serve at 15 in the next game. With Collarini serving for the match for the third time, he did get to match point, but he wasn't able to convert it, with Williams passing him with a crosscourt forehand to save it. Two Collarini errors later it was 6-6, and Williams, the 2011 NCAA finalist while at Tennessee, ramped up his serving in the tiebreaker, hitting two aces and controlling the points on his serve with other effective first serves.

The weather was sunny, with a slight breeze, but there was no humidity, and both players looked fresh as the match approached the two-and-a-half hour mark. Although loudly bemoaning his fate at times, Williams kept his cool when he was in deep trouble, even when the chair umpire overruled himself not once but twice on Williams service winners with Williams serving at 1-2. Rather than getting the points, Williams had to win them again, but even though he did lose one of the replayed points, Williams did hold on to take the game and didn't let the bad luck send him off the rails.

Collarini got the first break of the final set, with Williams double faulting at 30-40 at 2-3. Collarini served for the match at 5-3, but again did not get to match point, and was broken for 5-4. Williams led 40-0 in the next game, but then his backhand began to cost him points, with a slice netted and a two-hander wide to make it 40-30. Collarini made a great return on the next point and never relinquished control of it, putting away an overhead after a long rally to make it deuce. Williams had two more game points he couldn't convert, and when he netted a forehand, Collarini had his second match point, more than an hour after his first. Williams' backhand pass handcuffed Collarini and he netted the volley, but he earned match point number three with a perfect forehand volley and ended the struggle with a crosscourt backhand winner.

Collarini and Sock played in January last year in the Tamarac Futures final round of qualifying, with Collarini winning 7-6(3), 6-3.

The other two quarterfinals will feature No. 4 seed Boy Westerhof of the Netherlands against No. 6 seed Pedro Sousa of Portugal and unseeded Morgan Phillips of Great Britain against No. 7 seed Nicolas Devilder of France.

The doubles final is set with No. 4 seeds Bangoura and Corrie against No. 3 seeds Chris Kwon and Ruben Gonzales.

Complete draws can be found at the Pro Circuit results page at usta.com.

My Australian Open Preview; Teen Tennis Boys Championship Match Again Features Two Americans; Black in TT Girls Singles Final, Wins Doubles

2012-01-19T17:30:00.005-05:00

I spent the day at the Pro Tennis World Futures in Sunrise today, and I'll have more on the second round matches in a separate post later tonight, but I wanted to pass along a link to the Australian Open Junior Championship preview I wrote for the Tennis Recruiting Network. Last night, after I submitted the story, qualifier Krista Hardebeck beat Russia's Yulia Putintseva, the No. 3 seed, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the final of the Grade 1 in Traralgon. She will play No. 6 seed Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the final Friday (Thursday night here in the US). Top seed Luke Saville of Australia will play No. 16 seed Filip Peliwo of Canada in the boys final. For draws, see the ITF Junior website.

I also wanted to update everyone on the results of today's action at the Teen Tennis 14-and-under tournament in Bolton, England. For the second consecutive year, two American boys will meet in the final, with Michael Mmoh, the No. 3 seed, playing No. 15 seed Francis Tiafoe for the title. Last year, Stefan Kozlov beat Henrik Wiersholm in the final. Mmoh beat Nathan Ponwith of the US 6-0, 6-3, while Tiafoe, a semifinalist last year, eliminated top seed Kenneth Raisma of Estonia 7-6(3), 7-5. The unseeded American team of William Blumberg and Ponwith won the doubles title over the two singles finalists however, beating Mmoh and Tiafoe 3-6, 7-5, 10-7.

Although seeded No. 8, Tornado Ali Black of the US had no trouble with top seed Olga Fridman of Ukraine, taking a 6-2, 6-1 decision to reach the final. She will no doubt be tested by the British crowd, who will be supporting their own Maia Lumsden, the No. 5 seed, who beat No. 11 seed Emma Higuchi of the US 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the semifinals.

Black has already secured one Teen Tennis title, as she and fellow American Nicole Frenkel, the No. 4 seeds, beat No. 3 seeds Lumsden and Jazzy Plews of Great Britain 6-2, 5-7, 10-6.

For complete draws, see the Tennis Europe website.

Top Seeded Estonian and Three Americans in Teen Tennis Boys Semis, Black and Higuchi in Girls Semis; Australian Open Junior Qualifying Draws

2012-01-18T19:29:00.004-05:00

The USTA teams at the Aegon Junior International Teen Tennis in Bolton continued to find success, with three boys and two girls reaching the semifinals. Michael Mmoh, the third seed in the boys event, was the only player seeded to reach the semifinals. Francis Tiafoe, the 15th seed, advanced today with a 7-6(6) 7-6(3) win over No. 7 seed Daniel Bennett of Great Britain, and unseeded Nathan Ponwith took out No. 2 seed Samuel Sippel of Germany 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. William Blumberg, the fourth American boy on the trip, lost to top seed Kenneth Raisma of Estonia 6-4, 6-3. Tiafoe and Raisma will play in one semifinal, with Ponwith and Mmoh the other.

The boys doubles champions will be Americans, with No. 4 seeds Mmoh and Tiafoe taking on unseeded Blumberg and Ponwith in the final.

Tornado Ali Black, the No. 8 seed, and Emma Higuchi, the No. 11 seed, won through to the semifinals today. Black defeated No. 4 seed Aleksandra Pospelova of Russia 6-3, 6-0 and Higuchi downed No. 2 seed Simone Alipieva of Denmark 6-4, 6-3. Black and Nicole Frenkel will play for the doubles title, taking on Great Britain's Mai Lumsden and Jazzi Plews.

For complete results, see the Tennis Europe website.

On the other side of the globe, qualifier Krista Hardebeck beat fellow American Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Grade 1 in Traralgon, thereby earning a special exemption into the Australian Open junior championships. At least that's my guess, since she doesn't appear in the Australian Open qualifying draw that was released on Wednesday.

US girls in qualifying are Catherine Harrison, Elysse Graci and Julia Elbaba. The US boys in qualifying are Trey Strobel, Harrison Richmond and Mackenzie McDonald.

The qualifying draws are posted at the ITF junior website.

All Four US Boys Reach Teen Tennis Quarterfinals; Townsend and Hardebeck Meet in Traralgon for Semifinal Spot; Stephens Talks About New Generation

2012-01-17T18:56:00.005-05:00

We're heading to Florida tomorrow for a couple of days at the Futures in Sunrise and Plantation and then down to Coral Gables for the National Level 3 Tennis Plaza Cup, which is Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I don't get to many Futures during the year, but these early ones in Florida have been on the itinerary for many years, and it is always an opportunity to reconnect with some of the junior and college players I've gotten to know over the years. Qualifiers for the $10,000 men's Futures in Sunrise are: Daniel Yoo, Rhyne Williams, Laslo Urrutia Fuentes, Antoine Benneteau, Sekou Bangoura, Guillermo Gomez-Diaz, Ed Corrie and Yoshihito Nishioka. The qualifiers for the $25,000 women's event in Plantation are: Danielle Collins, Allie Kiick, Gabriela Paz, Courtney Colton, Iveta Gerlova, Jovana Jaksic, Elizaveta Ianchuk and Federica Grazioso. For complete draws, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

At the Teen Tennis tournament in Bolton, England, all four US boys who made the trip reached the quarterfinals: Michael Mmoh(3), Francis Tiafoe(15), Nathan Ponwith and William Blumberg. They are all in separate quarters, with Blumberg playing the top seed and Ponwith the second seed tomorrow. They have also all reached the doubles semifinals, with Ponwith and Blumberg one team and Mmoh and Tiafoe the other.

The two seeded US girls, Tornado Ali Black(8) and Emma Higuchi(11), reached the quarterfinals. Nicole Frenkel lost today to the top seed, while Raquel Pedraza lost in the second round. Black and Frenkel are in the semifinals of the doubles competition. Complete draws can be found at the Tennis Europe website.

In Australia, the quarterfinals of the ITF Grade 1 Loy Yang at Traralgon are this evening (Wednesday in Australia). Taylor Townsend will face Krista Hardebeck for a spot in the semifinals after both advanced yesterday. Hardebeck, who qualified, received a walkover from the much-injured Belgian An-Sophie Mestach, while No. 13 seed Townsend beat Orange Bowl champion and No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-1, 7-6(3). Townsend is the subject of this ESPN High School feature by Sandra Harwitt, who is currently in Australia, and I'm sure will keep an eye on Townsend's progress in the junior championships.

Kyle McPhillips, the No. 15 seed, advanced to the quarterfinals when top seed Eugenie Bouchard retired trailing 6-2, 3-3. Bouchard later posted a tweet mentioning food poisoning. McPhillips will play unseeded So-Ra Lee of Korea in the quarterfinals.

The only US boy in the main draw, qualifier Mackenzie McDonald, lost in the second round to Borna Coric of Croatia, although he is still alive in doubles with Portugal's Frederico Silva.

For complete draws, see the ITF junior website.

At the Australian Open, Sloane Stephens and Christina McHale have reached the second round for the second consecutive slam (third straight actually for McHale) and they are joined by qualifier Jamie Hampton, Vania King and, of course, Serena Williams. For more on the next generation of US women, see this Associated Press article, which quotes Stephens on the budding rivalries.

USC Men Dominate Sherwood Cup; USC Women Take Two Titles; Rossi Wins Coaches SEC Indoor Championship; Australian Open Junior Wild Cards

2012-01-16T21:50:00.007-05:00

I usually need to go to several sites to track the individual tournaments that dot the college landscape this time of year, but tonight usctrojans.com was the place for one-stop shopping.

The three-time defending NCAA champion men dominated the Sherwood Cup, which featured players from Baylor, Stanford and UCLA, with five of the eight quarterfinalists and all four semifinalists wearing the cardinal and gold. Steve Johnson extended his collegiate win streak to 40 with five wins over the weekend, the toughest of which came against UCLA's Nick Meister in the quarterfinals. After beating Emilo Gomez in the semifinals, Johnson defeated Daniel Nguyen 6-2, 6-2 in the final, but Nguyen triumphed in the doubles final. He and Raymond Sarmiento, who had lost to Nguyen in the semifinals, beat Johnson and freshman Yannick Hanfmann 9-7.

Those looking for reasons to favor a team other than USC for the NCAA title in May didn't find anything to support their case this weekend.

The USC women have been absent from the NCAA Sweet 16 the past three years, but have hopes of ending that streak with a fine freshman class, which has already made waves nationally. Newcomer Sabrina Santamaria won the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate doubles championship with Kaitlyn Christian last fall and freshman Zoe Scandalis won the Freeman Invitational this week, beating eighth-ranked Robin Anderson of UCLA, the tournament's No. 2 seed in the semifinals, and top-ranked Mallory Burdette of Stanford, the No. 1 seed in the tournament in the final. According to the twitter reports, No. 5 seed Scandalis was down a set and two breaks before beating Burdette 6-7(8), 7-6(5), 6-3. USC's Danielle Lao won the La Quinta tournament, defeating top seed Emily Fraser of Virginia 7-6(5), 6-0.

For more, see the USC website.

At the Coaches SEC Indoor tournament, Kentucky's Anthony Rossi took the title on his home court, beating Georgia's Sadio Doumbia 6-4, 6-3 in the final. The Thiemann twins, Marcel and Chris, won the doubles title with a 8-3 decision over Georgia's Wil Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux, and they were hardly the only Ole Miss success story. Freshman William Kallberg beat Wil Spencer of Georgia to reach the quarterfinals, With freshman Nik Scholtz and junior Jonas Lutjen reaching the semifinals. For complete results, see the tournament page at the Kentucky website.

The wild cards for the Australian Open junior championships have been announced, with no big junior names requesting wild cards. I believe all the recipients of main draw wild cards are Australian. Sara Tomic, Bernard's 13-year-old sister, received one, as did Naiktha Bains, who just turned 14 last month. The complete list is here (pdf).

Min, Sock and Krajicek Claim Titles; Bergevi, Salnikova Win Grade 1 in Venezuela

2012-01-15T19:50:00.006-05:00

It was a very successful day for US Open junior champions and Kalamazoo champions, with Grace Min, Jack Sock and Austin Krajicek claiming titles on the ITF men's and women's circuits.

Sock, who won the Kalamazoo 18s title in 2010 and 2011 and the US Open boys championship in 2010, won his first Futures singles title since November of 2009, beating 18-year-old Jason Kubler of Australia 6-1, 7-6(5) in the $10,000 Futures in Plantation, Florida. The 19-year-old Sock, seeded eighth, didn't drop a set all week on the Har-Tru, the same surface as his previous Futures title in 2009, in Amelia Island.

Recent Texas A&M graduate Austin Krajicek, who won Kalamazoo in 2008, captured his first singles title as a pro in the $15,000 China Futures, beating top seed Ze Zhang of China 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4). The 21-year-old, who won the NCAA doubles championship with Jeff Dadamo last year, reached the final in last week's Futures in China, and this week, he and 2009 NCAA champion Devin Britton advanced to the final of the doubles tournament. Sock also reached the doubles final in Plantation with Nick Monroe, losing to University of Virginia's Jarmere Jenkins and Drew Courtney.

The third American to take a title today is Grace Min, the 2011 US Open girls champion, who won her first professional title (she is still an amateur) today in the $25,000 event in Innisbrook Florida. Min, 17, qualified for the tournament, and beat No. 2 seed Gail Brodsky 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in final for her eighth consecutive win. It was a great rebound for Min, who had lost 6-0, 6-0 to Alison Riske in the first round of the USTA's Australian Open wild card tournament in her hometown of Atlanta last month. Brodsky had beaten Riske in that same tournament to advance to the final, where she lost to Madison Keys.

For complete draws from the Florida Pro Circuit events, see usta.com.

An the ITF Grade 1 in Venezuela, No. 7 seed Filip Bergevi of Sweden defeated No. 12 seed Christian Garin of Chile 6-4, 6-2 to claim his first Grade 1 title. Noah Rubin and Stefan Kozlov of the US were originally scheduled to play in the tournament, but did not make the trip. The girls singles title at the Copa Gatorade went to No. 7 seed Daria Salnikova of Russia, who defeated No. 11 seed Petra Uberalova of Slovakia 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Christina Makarova of the US, the No. 3 seed, lost to doubles partner Uberalova in the quarterfinals, but the pair reached the doubles final before falling to Domenica Gonzalez of Ecuador and Laura Pigossi of Brazil 3-6, 6-3, 10-7. The boys doubles title went to Bergevi and Jeroen Vanneste of Belgium, who beat the Russian pair of Fedor Andrienko and Anton Desyatnik 6-2, 6-4.

Teen Tennis Begins Sunday; Five Americans Qualify at AO; Grade 1 Loy Yang Underway in Australia; Min vs Brodsky, Sock vs Kubler in Pro Circuit Finals

2012-01-14T20:13:00.006-05:00

The draws for Aegon Junior International Teen Tennis Bolton, which I'll shorten to Teen Tennis, came out today, and each of the boys and the girls 14-and-under draws have four US players, two of them seeded. Tornado Ali Black, known as Alicia Black in the draw, is seeded No. 8 and wild card Emma Higuchi is seeded No. 11 in the girls 48 player field, while Michael Mmoh is seeded No. 3 and Francis Tiafoe No. 15 in the boys. Nicole Frenkel, Raquel Pedraza, Nathan Ponwith and William Blumberg are the unseeded Americans, and they will begin play on Sunday, while the seeds have first round byes. The top-seeded girl is Olga Fridman of Ukraine and the No. 1 boys seed is Kenneth Raisma of Estonia. I am a little surprised at how low Black is seeded, but she won the Eddie Herr 16s as an unseeded wild card, so it's not as if it will seriously damage her chance of winning.

The complete draws can be found at the Tennis Europe website.

Five Americans reached the main draw of the Australian Open through qualifying on Saturday. Denis Kudla will make his main draw debut at a slam against Tommy Haas on Monday after beating Australian Carsten Ball 7-6(1), 7-5. Alex Kuznetsov beat Yuichi Sugita of Japan 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and now faces No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal on Monday. In the unlikely event that they both win, Kudla and Kuznetsov will play each other in the second round. The women's qualifiers are Alison Riske, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Alexandra Panova of Russia, Jamie Hampton, who beat Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 7-5, 6-4, and Varvara Lepchenko, who defeated Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-1, 6-2. Laura Robson of Great Britain also qualified, but Irina Khromacheva of Russia fell one match short.

Lepchenko drew No. 20 seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, Riske will play Urszula Radwanska of Poland and Hampton meets Mandy Minella of Luxembourg.

Complete draws can be found at the Australian Open website. And for more on the men's qualifying, see this blog post from Shank Tennis.

The qualifying is complete at the ITF Grade 1 Loy Yang in Traralgon Australia, with three Americans making it through to the main draw: Krista Hardebeck, Catherine Harrison and Mackenzie McDonald. Other US players in the draw, which is always strong due to the tournament's timing right before the Australian Open juniors are: Kyle McPhillips(15), Samantha Crawford, Gabby Andrews, Sachia Vickery(16) and Taylor Townsend(13). Connor Farren is in Australia, but not playing this tournament, resting a sore wrist in hopes of being able to compete in Melbourne.

In the $25,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Innisbrook, Grace Min beat Lauren Davis 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5 in today's semifinal to claim her seventh straight win. She will play No. 2 seed Gail Brodsky, who defeated Lauren Embree 7-6(3), 6-0. It is Min's second Pro Circuit final; she lost in the final of the $25,000 Rock Hill event last October. Brodsky won a $25,000 event in Spain in July for her first championship above the $10,000 level.

Jack Sock reached the final of the $10,000 Plantation Futures, advancing when No. 5 seed Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands retired trailing 6-3, 4-1. The eighth-seeded Sock will play unseeded 18-year-old Jason Kubler of Australia, who won back-to-back Futures events on the same Har-Tru surface as Plantation last October and November. Kubler beat No. 6 seed Nicolas Devilder of France 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(4).

For complete draws, including the qualifying draws of the two Florida Pro Circuit events next week, see the page at usta.com.

Black Signs with Octagon; A Look at 10-and-under Tennis; Four US Women in 25K Pro Circuit Semis

2012-01-13T20:31:00.004-05:00

The sports agency Octagon has announced the signing of Tornado Ali Black to a representation contract. The 13-year-old Black, who reached the finals of the 12s and 14s at the Eddie Herr in 2009 and 2010 and won the 16s division last year, is currently in Europe for Teen Tennis and Les Petits As. Black, who lives in Boca Raton, trains at the USTA National Center.

Tom Perotta of the Wall Stree Journal published this article on the ITF/USTA initiative on 10-and-under tennis. I'm sure you've seen the many advertisements proclaiming "the rules of tennis have changed," which seems a bit melodramatic to me, but the smaller courts, nets, racquets, and most of all, the different balls, must now be used in all sanctioned federation 10-and-under tournaments. Perotta gives plenty of space to the objections to the format, although I must admit I had not heard the injury concern voiced until I read this story. Nick Bollettieri and Patrick McEnroe come out in favor, while others, including Tennis Australia, are not exactly all-in on the concept.

I don't have any expertise from which to address this issue, as I don't follow or cover much of the 12-and-unders, let alone the 10-and-unders, but I do see some 10-year-olds who play in the 12s, which is perfectly acceptable to all federations, so I'm not sure how it holds the very top players back. I confess that I don't see the need for sanctioned 10-and-under tournaments, but again, I haven't studied the issue closely and don't understand most of the objections. Other sports have no trouble attracting players with altered rules and dimensions more suitable for the very young, so I don't see why tennis would consider itself above that concession.

Will this somehow stunt the growth of the sport? I simply don't see how, so on balance, I think helping bring more success to younger players is worth the cost of the disruption we're going through now.

In the $25,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Innisbrook, four Americans have advanced to the semifinals. Qualifier Grace Min defeated Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-3 today and will face unseeded Lauren Davis in Saturday's semifinal, which will be a rematch of the 2010 Orange Bowl final, won in three sets by Davis. In the other semifinal, qualifier Lauren Embree, a junior at the University of Florida, will play No. 2 seed Gail Brodsky.

In the $10,000 men's Futures in Plantation, No. 8 seed Jack Sock has reached the semifinals, beating No. 3 seed Benjamin Balleret of Monaco 6-3, 6-1 in today's quarterfinal. Sock and partner Nick Monroe, the No. 2 seeds, lost the doubles final today to the unseeded University of Virginia team of Drew Courtney and Jarmere Jenkins 7-6(3), 7-5.

For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

Eight Intriguing Questions for College and Junior Tennis in 2012; British Boys Raise Hopes for ATP Success

2012-01-12T19:49:00.003-05:00

This is the time of year I look ahead, eager to find out how the college and junior tennis world may change in the months to come. And although 90 percent of my work for the Tennis Recruiting Network is tournament recaps and previews, recruiting profiles and coaching interviews, they have always welcomed this speculative and subjective piece. And if anyone has any other evidence to suggest that Beth Herr is not the last junior slam winner to go to college before turning pro, please let me know. There is no place to go for that kind of information, so I spent a lot of time putting names into google to come up with that particular tidbit. Beth Herr is still very much involved in tennis, as she is married to Steve Bellamy, the founder of the Tennis Channel, and is a dedicated tennis mom to their four boys.

With all their success recently on the international junior tennis stage, the British are hopeful it will translate into success on the professional tour, so Andy Murray isn't their sole ATP Top 100 player (James Ward is their only other Top 200 player).

This article from The Telegraph gives the rundown on eight boys, settling on US Open boys semifinalist Kyle Edmund as the most promising. I'm sure Greg Rusedski has much to add in helping prepare these boys for what's ahead, but I do wish their lifelong coaches were given more recognition for their development work.

Laura Robson, who has gotten this sort of media scrutiny for years, beat Melanie Oudin 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of women's qualifying at the Australian Open Thursday, but as this New York Times Straight Sets blogpost reveals, it was far from the routine win the score would suggest.

Sherwood Cup, SEC Coaches Indoor Start Friday; Laura Robson vs. Melanie Oudin in First Round of Australian Open Qualifying

2012-01-11T19:04:00.005-05:00

Dual matches have not yet begun, but many college tennis players are back on campus preparing for the start of the spring season. Several individual tournaments are on the schedule for this weekend, including the Sherwood Cup, which will mark the return to college competition of NCAA champion Steve Johnson of USC. Although he is not ranked nationally, he is the top seed, with teammates Raymond Sarmiento and Daniel Nguyen right behind him. The Trojans have five of the eight seeds in the 32 singles draw, which includes players from UCLA, Stanford and Baylor. Stanford's Bradley Klahn, the 2010 NCAA champion, has been injured and is not in the draw. UCLA's Nick Meister, who had hip surgery and could not compete last season, has returned to the Bruins for his senior year, and is seeded fifth. For a link to the draws, and also information on the Freeman Invitational, where the UCLA women are competing this weekend along with many other top women's players, including No. 1 Mallory Burdette of Stanford, see the UCLA athletic website.

The Stanford Daily previews the Cardinal women's team here, while the Daily Trojan focuses on the return of Johnson here.

The SEC men are in Lexington for the Coaches Indoor tournament, another prestigious tournament. Georgia's Wil Spencer won the title last year, beating Kentucky's Eric Quigley in the final. The draws are not yet posted, but the tournament page is up at the Kentucky athletic site.

Although bad weather continues to cause problems at the Australian Open qualifying, the women's tournament is scheduled to begin tonight (it's already Thursday in Australia). There are 12 American women in the qualifying draw: Melanie Oudin, Madison Brengle, Ashley Weinhold, Alison Riske (17), Julia Boserup, CoCo Vandeweghe(7), Julia Cohen, Chichi Scholl, Vavara Lepchenko(11), Jill Craybas, Tetiana Luzhanska(18) and Jamie Hampton(23).

Oudin is scheduled to play one of the few juniors in the draw: Laura Robson of Great Britain, who turns 18 later this month. Oudin has been unable to find the form she showed in the summer of 2009, and has not played since losing to Gail Brodsky in the first round of the USTA's Australian Open wild card tournament. Robson, who hasn't played a junior event since the 2010 US Open, has not competed much in the past few months, and was unable to play any warmup events this month due to an injury. For more on Robson, who is the 14th seed in qualifying, see this article from the Australian Open website.

Other juniors in the draw include 2011 girls champion An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium, who was awarded the traditional junior wild card, but has been out for months with an injury and has not competed since May. Irina Khromacheva of Russia received a qualifying wild card for the second year in a row. This time it actually makes sense, as she is now the ITF World Junior Champion and ranked 342 by the WTA, but it's still unconventional to award a wild card outside the country to any but the previous year's junior champion. The other two juniors are Australian wild cards: Viktorija Rajicic and Storm Sanders.

It was announced last night that former Cal player Bojana Bobusic was given a main draw wild card, and she will be making her grand slam debut next week.

See the AO website for the women's qualifying draw, and the results of the men's matches that were completed Wednesday.

New York Times Features Grace Min; Bodo Explores the Future of Unconventional Ingrid Neel; Australian Open Qualifying Begins

2012-01-10T18:42:00.003-05:00

Grace Min, who beat Arizona State's Jacqueline Cako in today's final round of qualifying at the $25,000 Pro Circuit event in Innisbrook Florida, is the subject of this feature story in today's New York Times. Min's game style and personality are examined, as is the USTA's commitment to full-time boarding academies, since Min has spent several years there. USTA Player Development General Manager Patrick McEnroe and head of women's tennis Ola Malmqvist discuss Min's prospects, while Min reveals how she copes with disappointments like her 6-0, 6-0 loss to Alison Riske at the USTA Australian Open wild card tournament.

Min is 17, and still faces the difficult decision of going to college or turning pro. Thirteen-year-old Ingrid Neel's parents are at a different crossroads, deciding where to move to further their daughter's tennis development. Complicating the issue is Neel's desire to play a different style of tennis, and Peter Bodo at tennis.com carefully lays out all the factors the family is weighing in selecting the right academy for a serve-and-volleyer who admires the game of John McEnroe.

Unlike the Mins, the Neels are not considering the USTA's academy, with Ingrid's mother Hildy believing the current philosophy espoused by the USTA's Jose Higueras is too defensive. Patrick McEnroe denies that, and he has told me that several times in different words, but he is quoted by Bodo as saying, "Any player who's going to try to serve-and-volley his or her way to the top is preparing for a game that is not being played. Today, if you can't rally for 30 hits, you have no shot—no shot—at making it."

I'm not sure where Taylor Townsend fits into this conversation, but she belongs in here somewhere. The 15-year-old, now the second youngest player in the WTA Top 500 at 429, is not exclusively a serve-and-volleyer, but she is the closest thing to it that I've encountered among junior girls, and she has continued to develop her unique style at the USTA's Boca Raton facility. Even with the trend to slower courts, tennis still allows for innovation and creativity, and as Mats Wilander said, "Coaches have to listen to kids, and kids, you need to know, how do you want to play tennis? What makes me happy? What makes me passionate about trying? What kind of game makes me want to give 110 percent?"

Here's hoping Neel finds the academy and coaches who understand the wisdom contained in that quote.

The first matches of men's qualifying at the Australian Open have been delayed by weather in Melbourne, but some are being streamed live when the rain stops, so check out the website for updates.

There are six American men in qualifying: Robby Ginepri, Michael Yani, Denis Kudla, Tim Smyczek, Rajeev Ram(21) and Alex Kuznetsov. There are 14 former NCAA college players by my count: wild cards Michael Look, JP Smith and James Lemke, and Amer Delic, Roman Borvanov, Izak Van Der Merwe(6), Yani, Ludovic Walter, Andre Begemann, Connor Niland, Robert Farah, Peter Luczak, Ram and Arnau Brugues(15).

Juniors in qualifying are all wild cards from Australia: 16-year-old Nick Kyrgios, ranked 16th in the ITF world junior rankings, 17-year-old Luke Saville, No. 1 in the junior rankings and 17-year-old Andrew Harris, No. 7 in the junior rankings.

2011 World Junior Champion Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic also received a wild card into qualifying based on his boys championship in Melbourne last year.

The men's qualifying draw is here. The women's qualifying draw will be out Wednesday.

Show Up and You're In at Guadeloupe 10K; Jenkins Downs Domijan in Plantation Qualifying; Fanning Now New Zealand's Prime Hope

2012-01-09T18:19:00.005-05:00

It's not cheap to travel to the Caribbean this time of year, but if you bought your plane ticket and signed up for the $10,000 ITF Women's Circuit event there this week, you didn't have to worry about having a WTA ranking to get in. While it's not unusual to receive entry into the qualifying draw without a WTA ranking for many $10,000 events in the far-flung outposts of women's tennis, it is rare to get into a main draw without one. Only 31 women signed up for the Guadeloupe tournament, however, so there was no qualifying required, and top seed Yasmin Schnack, the former UCLA All-American, got a bye into the second round. There are two other $10,000 events this week, in Great Britain and Turkey, and while their fields aren't strong, they did have enough entries to hold a qualifying tournament. It's a great opportunity to pick up points of course, but back-to-back tournaments with fields this weak (next week's $10K there is equally shallow) aren't likely to survive long-term.

The qualifiers have been determined for the $10,000 Futures this week in Plantation, and no juniors made the final cut. Alternate Gabriel Moraru of Romania, who turns 30 this month, would have easily made the main draw had he entered, but he did get the confidence that four wins brings. Current collegians Dennis Nevolo(Illinois), Blaz Rola and Chase Buchanan(both Ohio State) won their final round qualifying matches today, as did former collegians Guillermo Gomez(Georgia Tech), Ed Corrie(Texas) and Antoine Benneteau(Florida). In the all-University of Virginia showdown, Jarmere Jenkins defeated Alex Domijan 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3. The main draw has been posted, with Mitchell Frank and Rhyne Williams getting wild cards. Jack Sock is the No. 8 seed this week. For complete draws and results, see Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

Last week it was revealed that Sacha Jones was changing her nationality from New Zealand to Australia, and Jones' decision to affiliate with the country of her father was met with the usual dismay. Although New Zealand has recently acquired their top two men's players via this same route (Artem Sitak was Russian and Michael Venus was USA), the sting of losing Jones was evident by the number of article written about it in the New Zealand press. This piece explains some of the backlash, along with the interesting tidbit that it costs $60,000 to stage a $25,000 ITF Women's Circuit tournament in New Zealand. It also puts the burden of New Zealand's future in women's tennis squarely on Emily Fanning, who is 16 and has an ITF ranking of 51. Fanning has had limited success at the highest levels of junior tennis, but was impressive in a first round loss to Madison Keys at last year's US Open Junior Championships.

Vickery, Rubin Win Grade 1 Titles in Costa Rica; Vesely Downs Krajicek in China Futures; 2012 Pro Circuit Underway in Florida

2012-01-08T18:46:00.009-05:00

Sachia Vickery and Noah Rubin won all-American finals last night at the ITF Grade 1 Copa del Cafe in Costa Rica. Vickery, the No. 5 seed, beat No. 3 seed Christina Makarova 7-5, 6-1, and the unseeded Rubin downed No. 5 seed Connor Farren 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Vickery, who received a walkover into the final from Sweden's Rebecca Peterson, the No. 8 seed, dominated throughout the tournament, recording two double-bagel wins, and, until the final, didn't surrender more than three games in any other set.

She and Makarova played a close first set, with many long points. Makarova excels in counterpunching and misses very little, and while Vickery plays more aggressively most of the time, she was content to rally with Makarova throughout the lengthy first set. Vickery took control in the second set and it resulted in her first ITF junior tournament title since back in 2008, when, as a 13-year-old, she won two Grade 4s and a Grade 5. Vickery is heading to Australia, where she recently moved up to the main draw of the Australian Open Junior Championships. She is also entered in the Grade 1 Loy Yang Traralgon, the warmup for the Australian Open Juniors, which begins next Sunday.

Rubin's win over Farren wasn't a surprise, as he had beaten the 17-year-old Northern Californian 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Pan American Closed back in October, but it was obviously much more competitive than that match had been. Farren came in often, served and volleyed regularly and did anything he could to disrupt Rubin, but the 15-year-old New Yorker never looked flustered or discouraged, even when he was broken to go down 2-0 in the final set.

Rubin's first ITF event was the qualifying of the US Open juniors in September of 2011, and making good use of his wild cards, has won his first ITF title in just six tournaments, and will break into the Top 100 when the rankings are released on Monday. Rubin is not joining Farren in Australia; he will move from Central to South America for the Grade 1 Copa Gatorade in Venezuela next week. Other American boys on the entry list there are Stefan Kozlov and Jordan Daigle, with the American girls in the main draw also few: Makarova, June Lee and Katrine Steffensen. Makarova is entered in the Australian Open, but not in Traralgon.

For the complete results, including doubles, where Vickery also reached the finals, see the ITF junior website.

American Alexandria Stiteler played an ITF Grade 3 in Spain last week and although unseeded, she reached the final, where she lost to No. 4 seed Camilla Rosatello of Italy 6-4, 6-2.

In the only Futures tournament in the world this week, unseeded American Austin Krajicek reached the final in the $15,000 event in China, losing to ITF World Junior Champion Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, also unseeded, 6-4, 7-5. Krajicek, who completed his eligibility at Texas A&M last spring, beat the top seed in the first round. For the complete draws, see the ATP website.

The qualifying is underway for the first two Pro Circuit events of 2012 in the United States: the $25,000 women's event in Innisbrook, Florida and the $10,000 men's Futures in Plantation, Florida. US Open girls champion Grace Min took a wild card into the qualifying and is the top seed in the 64-player qualifying draw. The men's qualifying draw is 128, meaning four wins are necessary just to get into the main draw, and as is usually the case with the first Futures of the year, the draws are full of college players, a great many of whom made it to the final round of qualifying today. One interesting qualifying match finds Virginia teammates Alex Domijan and Jarmere Jenkins playing each other for a berth in the main draw.

I'm still having trouble getting the usta.com site to load, so I'm suggesting either the ATP site (link above) or the ITF men's and women's sites for the qualifying draws and results of these two events in Florida.

Fed Cup Nominations Include Prominent Juniors; Kevin King in College Spotlight; Koz Interviews 18s Winter Champions

2012-01-07T15:10:00.003-05:00

Fed Cup nominations for the Europe/Africa Zone Group I, Americas Zone Group I, and Asia/Oceania Groups I and II were announced by the ITF Friday, with juniors throughout the world among the women selected to represent their countries. Donna Vekic(Croatia), Anett Kontaveit(Estonia), Laura Robson(Great Britain) and Ellen Allgurin(Sweden) are 18-and-under players in the Europe/Africa Zone I competition, which will be held in Israel February 1-4. In the Americas Zone Group I, Simone Pratt of the Bahamas and Montserrat Gonzalez of Paraguay are included on their countries' teams, competing in Brazil, January 30-Feb. 4.

In the Asia/Oceania Groups I and II ties, held in China Feb. 1-4, So-Ra Lee of Korea and Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan are among the competitors. Venise Chan, who recently completed her All-American career at the University of Washington, will play for Hong Kong, and former Clemson star Ani Mijacika is on the Croatian team.

For the complete list of nominations, see the Fed Cup website.

Georgia Tech senior Kevin King is in the USTA's College Spotlight this week, and in his interview discusses the improvements in his game, the advantages of attending college close to home, his favorite class as a mechanical engineering major and the importance of time management for a student-athlete.

Dave "the Koz" Kozlowski did audio interviews with 18s Winter National champions Jamie Loeb and Jared Hiltzik. To listen to the interviews, go to the Tennis Channel's website. For Loeb's interview, click here; for Hiltzik's interview, click here.

American Champion Assured at Costa Rica Grade 1; Jabeur Aims for WTA Top Ten; Young Ready for 2012

2012-01-06T16:40:00.005-05:00

The ITF Grade 1 in Costa Rica will feature two American girls in the final, although who will face Sachia Vickery has yet to be decided. The fifth-seeded Vickery, who lost a total of seven games in her first four matches, received a walkover into the final from No. 8 seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden. This evening, No. 3 seed Christina Makarova will play No. 6 seed Jennifer Brady for the opportunity to face Vickery, and that match will be streamed live, as will the two boys semifinals. Connor Farren of the US, the No. 5 seed, will play unseeded Christian Garin of Chile, followed by unseeded American Noah Rubin against No. 4 seed Markos Kalovelonis of Greece.

I watched some of Farren's exciting 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(5) win over unseeded Vasco Mensurado of Portugal last night, and it's hard to overstate how impressive the tournament atmosphere is. The stands are packed, there are full line crews and ballrunner teams, the logos would do any professional tournament proud. There are televised post-match interviews and kids bearing giant tennis balls asking for autographs. I have a deep and abiding regard for the Kalamazoo experience, but I must say that I doubt any American boy who has played a night match in Costa Rica would be intimidated by the Kalamazoo scene.

Farren broke Mensurado to serve for the match at 6-5 in the third, but he was broken at love in the next game, and fell behind 5-2 in the tiebreaker. Mensurado failed to win either of the next two points on his serve, and it appeared that the call on a Farren volley, initially ruled out and giving Mensurado two match points, was overturned by the chair, making it 5-5. Farren won the next two points, making it five straight, to move into the semifinals.

Even if you don't watch a complete match, I encourage you to check out the stream, and let me know if you've ever seen a similar atmosphere at a junior tournament. I don't travel much outside of the US, so I would love to hear of others that might compare. I imagine Les Petits As being similarly impressive, and Wimbledon, when there's a British junior in the final, but I would never have thought the Copa Cafe in Costa Rica would be on this type of short list (with Kalamazoo, of course).

The live stream link and the draws can be found at the tournament's website.

A couple of junior slam winners were in the news today.

Ons Jabeur, the Tunisian 17-year-old who won the girls championship at the French Open this year, was named the winner of the Emerging Arab Athlete award this week, which led to this article in The National. There's no mention as to why she hasn't played since August (her last junior match was a first round loss at Wimbledon), but she is now training in Belgium and it sounds as if she will get wild cards at the two big WTA tournaments coming up in February in Doha and Dubai. The first article on Jabeur I linked to on twitter quoted her as saying that Nadal and Federer had won French junior titles, which was incorrect, as neither did. This article quotes her as saying, more generically, "I know that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have won juniors (grand slam) titles," which, while closer, is only half right. Federer won the Wimbledon boys title in 1998, but Nadal never won a junior slam, and in fact, only played one, as a wild card. He lost to Lamine Ouahab of Algeria in the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2002.

Donald Young is also a former Wimbledon boys champion, a title I saw him win in 2007, but he struggled mightily to earn a secure place in the Top 100 in the years since. This article in the New Zealand Herald does not add any startling revelations to his well-known career path, but it does solicit some interesting comments from Young on his difficult transition from the juniors. Young, ranked 39th, will be seeded in the Heineken Open, which starts with qualifying Saturday.

December's Aces; Welcome to New Advertisers IMG Academies and Tecnifibre

2012-01-05T16:23:00.007-05:00

The 2011 tennis season is officially complete for me now that I've filed my monthly Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network, featuring all 14 winners of last month's major junior tournaments in Florida (Dominic Thiem and Artem Dubrivny won tournaments during the month). With so many aces in that one month, I couldn't feature everyone (Australia's Ashleigh Barty comes to mind), but I had to find room for Jesse Levine and Madison Keys, who won the USTA's wild card playoff for the Australian Open.

I'm pleased to welcome my two new direct advertisers for 2012, Tecnifibre and IMG Academies, and I hope you're noticed (and clicked on) their advertisements. Although I do use google's Adsense program, I much prefer to know who my advertisers will be on a daily basis, and am always delighted when a product that directly relates to tennis and my readership inquires about placing ads on my site. IMG Academies has a strong internet presence, and their tennis website features a wealth of information about their program and tennis in general. Please click on the ad above for more on the IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy, as they have coded the ad so they know it comes from my site.

Tecnifibre began advertising back in November, and, as you can tell from the banner to the left, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia is the company's top ATP endorser. Tecnifibre has made a push for young American men recently, with Denis Kudla, Devin Britton, Bjorn Fratangelo and Mitchell Krueger among those using their racquets. I have known Josh Hausmann, Tecnifibre USA's College Sales Manager and Player Development Director, since his days as an assistant to Kenny Thorne at Georgia Tech, so I was excited to team with his company in its marketing push in the United States.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank OTZ Sports for continuing its sponsorship of zootennis.com. They have been a loyal advertiser for several years now, and if you are in the market for vibration dampeners or sunglasses, please check out their website.

Teen Tennis, Les Petis As Acceptances Posted; Allie Kiick Stars in new Gatorade Advertisement

2012-01-04T19:37:00.003-05:00

The first major 14-and-under tournaments of 2012 start in less than two weeks, with the Aegon International Teen Tennis and Les Petits As scheduled for back-to-back weeks beginning on January 16th in England.

The eight players--four boys and four girls--selected by the USTA are identified in the slideshow below. Last year three American boys, Stefan Kozlov, Francis Tiafoe and eventual champion Henrik Wiersholm, were in the quarterfinals in Tarbes, with Julia O'Loughlin making the quarterfinals in the girls draw at Les Petits As. The boys finished 1,2,3 (Kozlov, Wiersholm, Tiafoe) at Teen Tennis and O'Loughlin finished fourth there.

Tiafoe and Nicole Frenkel are making their second trip to these two tournaments this year. Kozlov, who is still age-eligible, decided against participating for the third straight year.

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The complete list of acceptances for Teen Tennis and Les Petits As can be found by clicking on the tournament name, which takes you to the Tennis Europe site.

As I was watching the Fiesta Bowl the other night, I saw what I had read was a new advertisement for Gatorade, using its new theme, "Win from Within." Having seen Allie Kiick play many, many tennis matches over the past four years, I was certain she is the featured tennis player (Serena Williams is seen, very briefly, at the end)--the body language alone looked very familiar to me. Having confirmed it is Kiick, I'm including it below. It's great to have tennis included, especially with the focus on the less glamorous side of the sport.

NCAA Team Champions Start Season at No. 1; Burdette, Frank Top ITA Singles Rankings, Johnson Not Ranked

2012-01-03T18:42:00.006-05:00

The ITA's first team rankings since June and the first individual rankings since September were released today, and there were no real surprises in the team rankings, with women's NCAA champion Florida and men's NCAA champion USC voted No. 1. The 2011 NCAA finalists, the Stanford women and Virginia men, are predictably in the No. 2 position. Most of the rankings follow teams' season ending rankings, with Tennessee men the most notable exception. The Volunteers finished fourth in the final 2011 poll, but with the loss of Smith, Williams, Sandgren and Conkic, have been dropped to 13th in the first poll of 2012. The women didn't have any team with that dramatic a drop, although Miami went from No. 7 to No. 11.

Things get a bit more interesting in the individual rankings. Junior Mallory Burdette of Stanford, who played No. 2 last year and did not win either of the fall tournaments, is No. 1 to start the spring season. Indoor Intercollegiate champion Marta Lesniak of SMU, who may have challenged Burdette for the top spot, is not ranked, and I believe she graduated in December and will not use her final semester of eligibility. SMU is still without a head coach, after Lauren Longbotham Meisner left this fall to take the women's head coaching position at Auburn. Allie Will of Florida, who won the All-American title but played mostly professional events this fall, is third, behind 2010 NCAA champion Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia. The reigning NCAA champion, Jana Juricova of Cal, is ranked fifth, and she is the only international player in the Top 10.

With Virginia's Mitchell Frank winning both the All American and the Indoor Intercollegiate you wouldn't think there would be any controversy around the freshman's No. 1 ranking, and there's no question he was the best player in college this fall. The elephant in the room however is NCAA champion Steve Johnson of USC, who is returning for his senior dual match season, but is not ranked. I understand why players who start school in January are not ranked, but this circumstance seems to warrant an exception. The ITA's FAQs on rankings (always worth re-reading this time of year) doesn't address this particular issue, but it does say that for the first ranking of the year, the committee can adjust two players rankings per region if they are significantly out of line. The problem for Johnson is that he doesn't have a regional ranking either. Given that he ended the 2011 season on a 35-match winning streak in college and is currently ranked 372 on the ATP computer, it just doesn't feel right that he isn't ranked to start 2012.

The top spot in men's doubles is held by Ohio State's Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola, who won both the fall majors. Burdette and Nicole Gibbs of Stanford, who won the All-American in October, are at the top of the women's doubles rankings.

See the ITA pages for men's and women's rankings for the complete lists of team and individual rankings.

2012s First USTA Champions from Winter Nationals

2012-01-02T19:25:00.004-05:00

Congratulations to the eight players shown in the slideshow below, who won singles gold balls at the USTA Winter Nationals in Tucson and Phoenix yesterday and today.

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The results from the finals:

Boys 12s: Noah Makarome(1) def. Sam Riffice(3) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5

Girls 12s: Anna Bright(3) def. Riley McQuaid(4) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Boys 14s: Francis Tiafoe(1) def. Michael Genender(4) 7-6(4), 6-2

Girls 14s: Kenadi Hance(2) def. Raquel Pedraza(11) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1

Boys 16s: Paul Oosterbaan(2) def. Marshall Sharp(12) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Girls 16s: Jessica Ho(3) def. Allison Miller(12) 6-2, 7-6(3)

Boys 18s: Jared Hiltzik(2) def. Kristofer Yee(1) 6-2, 6-3

Girls 18s: Jamie Loeb(5) def. Mayo Hibi 6-4, 2-6, 6-4

I can't really comment on the tournament, because I wasn't there, but nearly every final looked competitive. The seeds acquitted themselves well, with no unseeded players in any of the eight finals, and all finalists were at least top 16 seeds.

Noah Makarome and Sam Riffice had just played in the quarterfinals of the Junior Orange Bowl 12s, and although the surface was clay, the final score was nearly identical to their championship match on the Arizona hard courts, with Makarome winning 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in Florida.

Jared Hiltzik avenged a 7-6 in the third loss to Yee in the third round at Kalamazoo this year, and the Illinois recruit has barely lost a match since.

Jamie Loeb is the only player to repeat as Winter National champion. The 16-year-old from New York won the 16s title last year, and she also picked up the doubles title this year.

The gold ball winners in doubles are:

G18s: Madeline Lipp and Jamie Loeb
B18s: Brendan McClain and TJ Pura
G16s: Lindsay Hodge and Allison Miller
B16s: Nicholas Crystal and Chase Perez-Blanco
G14s: Brienne Minor and Zoe Spence
B14s: Chase Colton and Francis Tiafoe
G12s: Katie Chang and Claire Liu
B12s: Ryan Seggerman and Ivan Thamma

The (still slow) TennisLink sites for full draws: 12s & 14s and 16s & 18s

Kulichkova and Napolitano Win First ITF Grade A of 2012; Farren Takes Doubles Title in Mexico; Australian Open Acceptances

2012-01-01T18:33:00.006-05:00

The International Tennis Federation's first Grade A of 2012 was completed today. with Russia's Elizaveta Kulichkova and Italy's Stefano Napolitano taking the singles titles at the Abierto Juvenil Mexicano in Mexico City.

The 15-year-old Kulichkova, seeded third, defeated No. 5 seed Varvara Flink, also of Russia, 6-2, 7-6(7) in the final. Kulichkova had lost in the second and third rounds of the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl respectively, but may have found the red clay and altitude of Mexico City more to her liking. It is Kulichkova's first title at a Grade 1 or Grade A. The best showing by an American girl came from Kyle McPhillips, the No. 4 seed, who reached the semifinals before falling to Flink. McPhillips and partner Jennifer Brady, the No. 3 seeds, lost in the semifinals in the doubles to the eventual champions, Laura Pigossi of Brazil and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico, the No. 7 seeds.

The 16-year-old Napolitano also was in his first Grade 1 or Grade A final, although he had played on his country's Junior Davis Cup team, which reached the final, losing to Great Britain, in October. Napolitano, the No. 10 seed, surprised No. 3 seed Frederico Silva of Portugal 6-4, 6-4 in today's championship match. Connor Farren, the No. 5 seed, had the best showing of the American boys, reaching the quarterfinals in singles and winning the doubles with Silva. Farren and Silva, the top seeds, beat Italians Matteo Donati and Napolitano, the No. 7 seeds, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 in the final.

The ITF Grade 1 in Costa Rica, which begins tomorrow, is always popular with US players, and this year is no exception. Farren, Thai Kwiatkowski, Austin Siegel, Trey Strobel, Noah Rubin, Stefan Kozlov and Jordan Daigle are in the main draw for the boys, and the US girls in the main draw include Christina Makarova, Brady, Blair Shankle, Denise Starr, Sachia Vickery, Nadia Echeverria Alam, Peggy Porter, Johnnise Renaud, June Lee, Alexandra Morozova, Mia King and Vitaliya Alkhovik. Spencer Papa, Luca Corinteli, Josh Hagar and Martin Redlicki are in the boys quailfying.

The Australian Open Junior acceptances were posted last month with defending champion An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium on the list of entries. Mestach, who had hoped to return from injury in time for November's Eddie Herr, has not played since May of 2011. ITF World Champion Irina Khromacheva of Russia, who has yet to win a junior slam singles title, has entered, as has Ashleigh Barty of Australia, who won the wild card tournament for a place in the women's main draw. Eddie Herr champion Yulia Putintseva of Russia is also entered. Although many players enter and do not end up making the trip, the following US girls are on the acceptance list in the main draw:
Taylor Townsend
Samantha Crawford
Christina Makarova
Stephanie Nauta
Gabby Andrews
Kyle McPhillips
Sachia Vickery is the next player in.

Australia's Luke Saville, the 2011 Australian Open boys finalist and Wimbledon boys champion, has entered, but the boys' field is not as strong as the girls' this year. With Alexios Halebian's recent withdrawal, Connor Farren is the only American boy in the main draw.

2011 Honor Roll

2011-12-31T23:38:00.000-05:00

December 2011
Katerina Stewart, 14s Junior Orange Bowl
Claire Liu, 12s Junior Orange Bowl
Jennifer Brady & Kendal Woodard, ITF G1 Eddie Herr International (dbls)
Tornado Ali Black, 16s Eddie Herr International
Mariya Shishkina, 14s Eddie Herr International
Dominique Schaefer, 12s Eddie Herr International

November 2011
Luca Corinteli & Thai Kwiatkowski, ITF G1 Yucatan Cup (dbls)
Chalena Scholl, ITF Women's Circuit 10K, Montego Bay, Jamaica

October 2011
Mitchell Krueger, ITF B1 Pan American Closed
Taylor Townsend, ITF B1 Pan American Closed
Breaunna Addison & Catherine Harrison, ITF B1 Pan American Closed (dbls)
Danielle Collins, Pro Circuit 10K, Williamsburg, Va
Allie Kiick, Pro Circuit 10K, Amelia Island, Fla.
Jennifer Brady & Kendal Woodard, Pro Circuit 10K, Amelia Island, Fla. (dbls)

September 2011
Grace Min, US Open Junior Championships

August 2011
Jack Sock, 18s USTA National Championships
Lauren Davis, 18s USTA National Championships
Ronnie Schneider, 16s USTA National Championships
Peggy Porter, 16s USTA National Championships
Cameron Klinger, 14s USTA National Championships
Lauren Goodman, 14s USTA National Championships
Alex del Corral, 12s USTA National Championships
Catherine Bellis, 12s USTA National Championships

July 2011
Alexios Halebian, 18s USTA Clay Courts
Gabrielle Andrews, 18s USTA Clay Courts
Luca Corinteli, 16s USTA Clay Courts
Peggy Porter, 16s USTA Clay Courts
Reilly Opelka, 14s USTA Clay Courts
Madison Bourguignon, 14s USTA Clay Courts
Connor Hance, 12s USTA Clay Courts
Catherine Bellis, 12s USTA Clay Courts
WIlliam Kwok, ITF Grade 1 Casablanca (dbls)
Grace Min, Wimbledon Junior Championships (dbls)

June 2011
Kyle McPhillips, Pro Circuit 10K, Cleveland, Ohio
Noel Scott, ITF Women's Circuit 10K, Mexico
Stephanie Nauta, ITF Grade 1 Offenbach (dbls)
Bjorn Fratangelo, French Open Junior Championships

May 2011
Robin Anderson, Pro Circuit 10K, Landisville, Pa

April 2011
Marcos Giron, ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl
Kyle McPhillips, ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl
Mitchell Krueger & Shane Vinsant, ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl (dbls)
Gabrielle Andrews & Taylor Townsend, ITF Grade B1 (dbls)
Caroline Doyle, 16s USTA Easter Bowl
Gage Brymer, 16s USTA Easter Bowl
Ernesto Escobedo, 14s USTA Easter Bowl
Mariya Shishkina, 14s USTA Easter Bowl
Alex Del Corral, 12s USTA Spring Nationals
Sofia Kenin, 12s USTA Spring Nationals
Samantha Crawford, ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships
Marcos Giron, ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships
Yuki Chiang, 16s International Spring Championships
Noah Rubin, 16s International Spring Championships
Gabrielle Andrews & Taylor Townsend, ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships (dbls)
Mitchell Krueger & Shane Vinsant, ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships (dbls)
Yuki Chiang & Alexis Pereira, 16s International Spring Championships (dbls)
Robbie Bellamy & Gregory Garcia, 16s International Spring Championships (dbls)

March 2011
Zack McCourt, 18s USTA Spring Nationals
Danielle Collins, 18s USTA Spring Nationals

February 2011
Jack Sock, Pro Circuit Futures, Palm Coast (dbls)

January 2011
Henrik Wiersholm, Les Petits As
Stefan Kozlov, Teen Tennis
Stefan Kozlov & Henrik Wiersholm, Teen Tennis, (dbls)
William Kwok & Michael Rinaldi, ITF Grade 1 Coffee Bowl, (dbls)
William Kwok & Michael Rinaldi, ITF Grade A Casablanca Cup, (dbls)
Eric Johnson, 18s USTA Winter Nationals
Gabrielle Andrews, 18s USTA Winter Nationals
TJ Pura, 16s USTA Winter Nationals
Jamie Loeb, 16s USTA Winter Nationals
Stefan Kozlov, 14s USTA Winter Nationals
Maria Smith, 14s USTA Winter Nationals
William Blumberg, 12s USTA Winter Nationals
Sofia Kenin, 12s USTA Winter Nationals

Putintseva Wins $50K Title in Russia; Puig Through to Final Round of Qualifying in Auckland; Last Days to Vote in OTB Annual Awards

2011-12-31T18:21:00.002-05:00

Eddie Herr champion and Orange Bowl finalist Yulia Putintseva of Russia won the $50,000 ITF Women's Circuit event this week in Russia, her fourth title of the year and the second $50K. The 16-year-old from Moscow didn't lose a set in her five wins, and in the final, beat 17-year-old Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, the 2010 Roland Garros girls champion, 6-4, 6-2. When I spoke to Putintseva after her win at the Eddie Herr, she said she played the two major junior events in the US primarily because there weren't many significant tournaments going on during that time, and she was close to her maximum of WTA/ITF events, which are limited due to her age. With her current WTA ranking of 246, she is not currently in the Australian Open qualifying, but she certainly would be a threat if she were to gain entry.

Eighteen-year-old Monica Puig of Puerto Rico is much closer to entry into the Australian Open qualifying, with her WTA ranking of 211, and she is already in the area, playing qualifying for the WTA Auckland event, which begins on Monday. Puig, a wild card, has won two rounds in qualifying, beating Bibiane Schoofs of the Netherlands in the first round, and taking out the fourth seed and No. 78 ranked player in the world, Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, 6-3, 6-1 in the second round. Puig will play the winner of the match between Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and wild card Claire Feuerstein of France for a place in the main draw. Americans Jamie Hampton, Irina Falconi, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Alison Riske have reached Sunday's second round of qualifying.

Zootennis has been nominated for Best Tennis Blog again this year by On The Baseline, the women's tennis news website. The voting for this and many other categories closes on January 2nd, so head on over to their site and choose your favorites. I appreciate the recognition and hope it helps spread the word that there's more to tennis than just the professional circuit.

Junior Orange Bowl Recap, Slideshow, Videos

2011-12-30T17:02:00.003-05:00

Although the December Aces are still to come, I'm closing out my coverage of 2011 tournaments today, with my recap of the Junior Orange Bowl for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The slideshow of the top six finishers in each of the four divisions is below, and I'm embedding the brief videos of the four champions, with links to the videos of the finalists, which can be found at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

Catherine Bellis video
Albert Lim video
Tornado Ali Black video
Stefan Kozlov video

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USTA's Year in Review for Junior and College Tennis; Witten Teaching, Undecided About Return to ATP Tour; Brisbane Qualifying Begins

2011-12-29T16:03:00.004-05:00

The USTA has published its annual "year in review" summaries at usta.com, with the junior version coming out last week and the college version this week.

They are in the form of photo slideshows, a format change that I like, as readers of this blog would probably guess. I will be posting my Junior Orange Bowl slideshow and videos on Friday.

The only problem I have with the slideshow for the juniors (other than what I think are incorrect ages and home towns for a couple of players) is that it appears to have been put together prior to this month's tournaments, although Madison Keys' win at the Australian Open wild card tournament was mentioned. Katerina Stewart's and Mariya Shishkina's recent titles weren't mentioned and Tornado Ali Black didn't get any recognition for her Eddie Herr title. The 12s are basically ignored; whether that was due to lack of photos, I couldn't say. Certainly Catherine Bellis deserved mention for her Clay Court and Hard Court titles and Alex del Corral for his two gold balls in singles at the Spring Nationals and Hard Courts.

I was also disappointed that ITA All-American champions Mitchell Frank and Allie Will weren't given recognition for capturing those majors, and that there was no mention of college tennis teams or players outside of Division I. I know however that I am guilty of that bias too, so I understand the difficulties in trying to included everything.

I haven't yet had an opportunity to go back and catch up on what I missed in the tennis world while I was covering the Eddie Herr, Orange Bowl and Junior Orange Bowl, but I did stumble upon this article about Jesse Witten's current situation. Although the Naples News is reporting that the former University of Kentucky All-American has not yet decided whether he is going to retire, he doesn't appear to be training, and is teaching at the Tough Tennis Academy in Naples.

And the ever-so-brief off-season in tennis is coming to a close, with the women's qualifying for Brisbane beginning on Friday. Fifteen-year-old Ashleigh Barty of Australia received a wild card into qualifying and will play Vania King of the US, the top seed, in the first round. Former University of California standout Bojana Bobusic also received a wild card into the qualifying. Sloane Stephens and Chichi Scholl join King as the only Americans in the qualifying draw.

Golding Writes About US Open Junior Title; Ivy League Athletic Admissions Explained

2011-12-28T16:08:00.004-05:00

A few days ago, the Telegraph published a first-person account by British 18-year-old Oliver Golding, which is centered around his US Open boys championship in September. Golding did not play a junior event after winning the title in New York, concentrating instead on the Futures circuit, where he has had notable success in doubles, winning four titles in the past four months with four different partners. His ATP ranking is now 643 in singles and 477 in doubles.

Although I don't recall hearing about it at the time, Golding reveals that his coach, Gustavo Perino, was killed in an auto accident in Mexico during Wimbledon, which understandably cost him his concentration during the junior event there. He reveals he had food poisoning early in the tournament in New York--for the second time in three years--but because of the all the rain, had sufficient time to recover. And he had another close call with his orthodontic plate, needing to go to the hospital when his tongue got caught in it, making for a very dramatic couple of weeks for the former child actor.

He doesn't have anything good to say about the trip out to Sound Shore, where two rounds were played on Thursday, calling the organization "shambolic" (a popular British word for chaotic). Golding doesn't quite have all his facts straight however, saying that if he had won at the Grade 1 in Canada the week before the US Open Juniors, he would have had to play consecutive days. The finals are on Saturday there, and although the USO juniors do start on Sunday, the finalists are always given Monday first round matches.

Golding also interpreted the indoor move to his advantage, saying his third round opponent, Bjorn Fratangelo is from Miami and probably had never seen an indoor court before, while Fratangelo, who winters in Naples on the other side of Florida, grew up in Pittsburgh, playing indoors.

He's been playing in Turkey recently, and has little good to say about the conditions there, which probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone who regularly attends ITF Men's Circuit tournaments, although I think the Pro Circuit Futures here in the United States are likely to be superior to those in less affluent and established tennis countries.

And speaking of affluence, the New York Times published an interesting piece today by Bill Pennington on intercollegiate athletics in the Ivy League (thanks to @ustacollege10s for the heads up on this article). I have heard about the mysterious "AI" before, but this is the first detailed explanation I have ever read, and I probably need to read it again to truly understand it. Because it is very specifically related to the admission standards for athletes, including tennis players of course, as all the Ivies field men's and women's teams, it doesn't delve into the cost. The Ivy League offers no athletic scholarships, but their financial aid packages are often superior to any athletic scholarship, and I've heard Division I men's college coaches say it is often more expensive for a player to go to a public university than to an Ivy League school if the parents are typically middle class.

First Junior Tournaments of 2012 Underway

2011-12-27T13:07:00.001-05:00

Christmastime often revolves around traveling to a tournament for many national and international players, with two big tournaments that start in 2011 and finish in 2012, now underway.

The first ITF Grade A tournament of the 2012, the Abierto Juvenil Mexicano, previously known as the Casablanca Cup, began yesterday in Mexico City. The top boys seed is Nikova Milojevic of Serbia, who did not play the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, and Yoshito Nishioka of Japan, who did, making the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively before falling to eventual champion Dominic Thiem of Austria.

The top girls seed is Ganna Poznikhirenko of Ukraine, a semifinalist at the Eddie Herr, with Zarah Razafimahatratra of Madagascar the No. 2 seed. Razafimahatratra struggled in the two tournaments last month, winning only one match at the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, and the change to clay from hard courts, a last-minute switch announced by the ITF last month, probably did not enhance her prospects this week.

Five US boys qualified: Nikko Madregallejo, Luca Corinteli, Dan Kerznerman, Julian Zlobinsky and Martin Redlicki, with Farzin Amiri receiving entry as a lucky loser. Other US boys in the draw include No. 5 seed Connor Farren, Thai Kwiatkowski, Jordan Daigle and Trey Strobel. Daigle lost his first round match 6-4, 5-7 7-6(3) to No. 3 seed Fredrico Silva of Portugal, with Strobel winning his, over No. 6 seed Moos Sporken of the Netherlands, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5. Farren also advanced to the second round with a win on Monday.

There was one US girl who qualified, Lynn Chi, and she advanced to the second round with a win on Monday. Kyle McPhillips, the No. 4 seed, won her first round match in three sets, as did Blair Shankle. Jennifer Brady, the No. 7 seed, moved into the second round, as did Denise Starr and Vitaliya Alkhovik. Katrine Steffensen and June Lee, the other two US girls in the draw, haven't played their first round matches.

For the ITF's preview of the tournament, see the junior website.

The USTA Winter Nationals begin today in Tucson, Arizona for the 12s and 14s, and in Scottsdale, Arizona for the 16s and 18s.

The top two seeds in the boys 18s are Kristofer Yee and Jared Hiltzik, and the top two seeds in the girls 18s are Francis Altick and Mayo Hibi. An exceedingly tough section of the boys draw features No. 4 seed and Kalamazoo champion Ronnie Schneider, unseeded competitiors Jack Murray and Ryan Smith, and No. 17 seed Quentin Monaghan, who had the misfortune to draw Smith in today's first round.

The girls draw features a possible third round encounter between No. 9 seed Kimberly Yee and Julia Elbaba, a No. 17 seed, which would be an unexpectedly early exit for one of them.

The top seeds in the 16s are Gregory Garcia and Paul Oosterbaan in the boys draw, and Dasha Ivanova and Shanon Hudson in the girls draw.

In the 14s, Emma Higuchi and Kenadi Hance, both of whom played the Junior Orange Bowl, are the top two girls seeds, with Francis Tiafoe and Sameer Kumar the top two boys seeds. Tiafoe and Kumar just played in the consolation final of the Junior Orange Bowl on Friday, with Kumar winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Noah Makarome, who finished fourth at the Junior Orange Bowl, is the top seed in the boys 12s, with Noah Schachter the No. 2 seed. Ryan Peus and Kayla Day, both of whom played Junior Orange Bowl, are the top seeds in the girls 12s, with Junior Orange Bowl champion Claire Liu seeded No. 6.

The TennisLink site has been revamped recently and while the design change isn't a problem, the loading time is. I estimate that it now takes three to four times longer to load a page, which cannot be construed as an improvement for anyone using it. I hope this frustrating loading time issue is being monitored and addressed.

If you have the time to spare, here is the link to the 12s and 14s site. The 16s and 18s site is here.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T17:08:00.001-05:00

After a month of covering international junior tennis in Florida, I'm heading home to Kalamazoo for the holidays. I'll be taking a couple of days off, but I think you'll find plenty of content to review from the three big tournaments. And if you missed it earlier this week, here's the link to the interview with USTA National Lead Coach Mike Sell that I did for Tennis Recruiting Network.

Liu, Stewart and Hong Claim Junior Orange Bowl Titles

2011-12-23T21:56:00.010-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Coral Gables, FL--

Miami’s Katerina Stewart is known as Killer Kat to her friends and family, who wore T-Shirts specially designed by her aunt to announce their allegiance in the girls 14s Junior Orange Bowl championship match.

Stewart, the No. 6 seed, proved the nickname is apt, upsetting top seed and Eddie Herr 16s champion Tornado Black 6-1, 6-3 in an impressive display of ruthless tennis on a warm and sunny morning at the University of Miami’s Schiff Tennis Center.

The 14-year-old Stewart, who trains at her father’s academy in Miami, showed no sign of nerves despite the big occasion, although she admitted after the match that the T-shirts embarrassed her a little.

“I love to have people watch me, so it really helped,” Stewart said of the several dozen supporters, who cheered loudly after her frequent winners. “I was anticipating a harder match, so it was a little surprising, but I stayed in the moment and played my game, and I won.”

Black opened the match with a hold, but Stewart played nearly error-free tennis in the games that followed, and Black could not find any rhythm. Black’s serve is not a weapon, but rather a point-starter, and Stewart was able to keep the rallies neutral, no easy task against the usually rock solid ground strokes of Black. Stewart broke Black in her next three service games, taking the first set with the last break.

In the second set, Black came out firing, holding easily and breaking Stewart to take a 2-0 lead. But rather than signaling a comeback, the lead quickly evaporated, and once again Stewart seized the momentum, winning five games in a row, the fifth a break of Black, who had a 40-0 lead in the game.

Serving for the match at 5-2, Stewart had her only stumble, saving one break point but not the second, as she sent a forehand way long.

“I was getting a little bit tight,” Stewart admitted. “But then I relaxed in the next game.”

Black made a critical error at 30-30, with her slice finding the net, giving Stewart her first championship point. It was the only one she would need, with Black putting a backhand into the net to give Stewart the coveted title, the third straight for an American girl.

“It means everything,” said Stewart, the first Miami girl to win a Junior Orange Bowl 14s title since Mary Joe Fernandez in 1983. “I’ve trained for this for so many years, and I’ve finally won it.”

Black acknowledged that she didn’t play particularly well, but credited Stewart.

“She played really well,” said the 13-year-old from Boca Raton, who admitted to fatigue after her long semifinal match with Ivana Jorovic of Serbia on Thursday. “I didn’t really play my best but I felt I had a really good attitude.”

Black will rest for a few weeks before heading to Teen Tennis and Les Petits As as a member of the USTA’s travel team.

The girls 12s champion, Claire Liu, doesn’t have the luxury of a long rest. The unseeded 11-year-old, who upset fellow Californian Catherine Bellis 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Friday morning’s final, is heading to the USTA Winter Nationals in Tucson in just a few days.

Liu, who trains at the USTA’s National Center in Carson, looked nervous and unsure of herself in the opening set against the 12-year-old Bellis, who is the reigning USTA Clay Court and Hard Court champion, but she fought back to take control of the match.

“I wasn’t really that focused and I wasn’t hitting the ball that much, I was just playing her speed, and I needed to play my speed,” Liu said.

That all changed in the second set, when Liu eliminated her unforced errors and began attacking.

“She was being more aggressive,” said Bellis, who will be competing the 14s at the Winter Nationals next week. “Claire played very well.”

Liu agreed that her level rose in the final two sets, and that losing the first set might have actually helped her.

“I just started relaxing a little bit more,” Liu said. “Since I had already lost the first set, I had nothing to lose. I like to hit on the rise and attack, come into the net and I played more aggressively in the second and third set.”

Liu got a late break to take the second set, and in the third maintained her edge, using short angles to Bellis’s backhand to great effect.

With Liu serving for the match at 5-3, she fell behind 30-40, but she didn’t back off or play tentatively. She kept the usually balanced Bellis lunging to her backhand side, forcing errors as she collected the final three points of the match.

“It feels really good,” said Liu, the second consecutive unseeded American to win the girls 12s Junior Orange Bowl title, following Nicole Frenkel's title in 2010. “I don’t know yet how I’m going to celebrate,” she added, although she did indulge in one of the oranges in her winner’s bowl.

Seongchan Hong of Korea collected his second winner’s bowl Friday, beating Stefan Kozlov of the US for the second time in three years in a Junior Orange Bowl final.

In the boys 12s final in 2009, Hong won in straight sets, but Friday’s 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4 win taxed the physical and mental resources of both players. The pair battled for over three hours in 80-degree temperatures under the midday sun, and it wasn’t until Hong saved two break points at 4-4 in the third set that the match tilted in his favor for good.

The ninth-seeded Hong, with his right knee wrapped, came up with three impressive forehands after Kozlov had hit a perfect lob winner to get a second break point. On the deciding game point, Hong hit a tough forehand angle that Kozlov’s considerable anticipation skills could not detect, and Hong had the lead.

The match often resembled a Davis Cup tie, with several dozen Korean juniors assembled to support Hong, with Korean flags and orchestrated cheers with rhythmic clapping. The fourth-seeded Kozlov, who grew up in South Florida, also had his share of supporters, who waved small American flags while a much larger one countered the Korean flags hanging from the railings.

Kozlov said after the match that the Korean contingent didn’t bother him, but during a tough service game at 3-4 in the third set, he hit a winner and shouted “be quiet” in their direction. Whether they understood him or not is debatable, but they certainly didn’t comply, with their cheers continuing throughout the four-deuce ninth game.

Serving to stay in the match, Kozlov had a lengthy conversation with the chair umpire after he had called a ball long, but continued to play, ultimately losing the point. The chair said he didn’t hear Kozlov’s call, so the point went to Hong, and after a forehand error, Kozlov was suddenly down two match points. Hong missed the first, hitting his finishing volley into the net, but he came up with an overhead winner on the second match point.

With the win, Hong becomes the first 12s winner to take the 14s title since Australia’s Bernard Tomic accomplished that feat in 2004 and 2006, with Tomic also defeating the same opponent—David Souto of Venezuela—in both finals.

After trailing 3-0 in the opening set, down two breaks, Kozlov fought back, winning the tiebreaker, but he lagged in the second set.

“In the second set, I don’t know, I sort of lost all my energy,” said the 13-year-old. “I just wasn’t stable enough and I missed too many free points. Key points, I didn’t play well.”

Hong admitted that he was beginning to cramp, but he didn’t sense any fatigue on Kozlov’s side of the net.

“I didn’t notice that,” said Hong, who trains at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton. “I just focused on my playing.”

Although many points were played in the style of boys 12s, there were many others that displayed the quick reflexes, dazzling court sense and speed of both players. Hong said he had believed he had to be aggressive to win.

“If I approach the match defensive, I lose one hundred percent,” he said. “I was trying to be aggressive today.”

Hong also noted that Kozlov’s style had changed since they last played.

“Two years ago he was really defensive,” said Hong, who led Korea to its first ITF World Junior 14-and-under team championship in August. “Now he can hit the ball hard sometimes and it’s very tough to control that ball.”

Hong reached the Eddie Herr final and won the Nike Masters International the weekend prior to the Junior Orange Bowl, so he is ready for a break from tennis. But although he is tired, he was very pleased with his second Junior Orange Bowl championship.

“It’s better than two years ago,” he said. “I’m really happy.”

Sasha Zverev of Germany finished in third place in the boys 14s when Canadian Alejandro Tabilo did not play. Ivana Jorovic of Serbia took third place in the girls 14s with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 win over Chloe Ouellet-Pizer of the US. Fifth place in the boys 14s went to Sameer Kumar of the US, who beat Francis Tiafoe, also of the US, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 Mathilde Armitano of France took fifth place in the girls 14s, beating Shilin Xu of China 6-3, 6-0.

In the girls 12s, Riley McQuaid of the US finished third, with a 6-4, 6-2 win over American Nicole Conard. Anna Bright of the US finished fifth, beating Andreea Bosca of Romania 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.

For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.

Hong & Kozlov Meet Again in Boys 14s Final; Girls 12s & 14s Feature All-American Finals; Dubrivny Adds Junior Orange Bowl Title in Boys 12s

2011-12-22T15:14:00.007-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Coral Gables, FL--

Thursday's boys 12s final didn't include a United States player, but it's the only Junior Orange Bowl championship match without one. Friday's girls 12s and 14s are all-American affairs, and Stefan Kozlov will attempt to capture the Junior Orange Bowl title that eluded him two years ago against the same opponent, Seongchan Hong.

Hong captured the 2009 boys 12s title, beating Kozlov 6-4, 6-2, a measure of revenge for the Korean, who had lost to Kozlov in the Eddie Herr final just weeks before.

After convincing wins on a partly cloudy and warm day at the Schiff Tennis Center at the University of Miami, the two will meet again for the first time since that final to decide the boys 14s championship.

Kozlov, the No. 4 seed, beat No. 7 seed Sasha Zervev of Germany 6-1, 6-1, while Hong rolled past No. 6 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Canada 6-1, 6-0, avenging his loss to Tabilo in the Eddie Herr final.

After playing a four-hour match against friend and compatriot Henrik Wiersholm Wednesday afternoon, Kozlov was surprised and delighted to have such an easy semifinal.

"I felt sore and tired," said the 13-year-old from Pembroke Pines, Florida, who now lives and trains at the USTA National Center in Boca Raton. "But with just one match a day, it's not that hard for me."

Zverev fell behind early, as Kozlov had no trouble with the German's pace and was able to redirect it to his advantage throughout the match.

"I thought it was going to be a lot closer," Kozlov said. "But I just played for every game and took the match easy."

Kozlov is expecting a more mature style of play now that the pair have two more years of physical growth and game experience.

"Tomorrow is going to be a different game, we're going to be attacking more," he said. "It's not going to be the counterpunching stuff, it's going to be more coming in, and whoever fights harder is going to come through."

Hong denied Kozlov the Eddie Herr - Junior Orange Bowl double two years ago, but this year Artem Dubrivny of Russia claimed both titles, as the top seed defeated unseeded qualifier Albert "AJ" Lim of the Philippines 7-6(3), 6-1 Thursday morning at Salvadore Park.

Dubrivny struggled with Lim's power in the first few games of the match, falling behind 3-1, but he recovered and began to use more strategy. Dubrivny began to use drop shots with regularity, and the much bigger Lim struggled moving forward.

Whether it was his 11 matches in nine days, his nerves or his opponent, Lim also didn't serve as well as he had in his previous wins, and Dubrivny also attacked the second serves well.

The 12-year-old from Moscow played a much steadier tiebreaker, with Lim making several costly unforced errors. Dubrivny discovered short cross court angles to Lim's forehand were especially effective in producing errors, and he built a 5-0 lead in the second set, although all those games were close ones.

"Because he is so big, I have to move him a lot around the court," Dubvriny said, with translation provided by one of his coaches, Katya. "That's the way to beat him."

Dubvriny wasn't familiar with Lim, who did not play the Eddie Herr, watching him play for the first time on Wednesday. But his strategy worked to perfection and he became the first Russian boy to win a Junior Orange Bowl title, although records are incomplete prior to 1998.

"I did not know I was the first," said a smiling Dubrivny. "It feels great."

Another Eddie Herr champion will be going for a Junior Orange Bowl title Friday when 16s winner Tornado Black meets Katerina Stewart in the 14s championship match.

Stewart, the No. 6 seed, set up her first meeting with Black by defeating No. 8 seed Chloe Ouellet-Pizer 6-4, 6-0, Stewart's sixth consecutive straight-set win.

"I'm playing very well," admitted Stewart, who is from Miami, and considers the Junior Orange Bowl her home tournament. "I love playing at home and I like the atmosphere."

Stewart started slowly against Ouellet-Pizer, which she attributed to nerves.

"I was a little bit nervous in the beginning, so I wasn't thinking one hundred percent," she said. "But once I got used to her ball, and I started playing my game, it was over after that."

While Stewart's match was less than ninety minutes long, top seed Black got her first real test of the tournament from Ivana Jorovic of Serbia. Black prevailed 6-2, 7-5, but it took her two-and-a-half hours and four match points to do so.

The first set, although long, was relatively straightforward, but Jorovic began to dial in on her backhand and serve more effectively in the second set. Serving at 2-3, Black was facing a break point when she asked for the trainer during the game, which Jorovic and her supporters did not believe was within the rules. Black's request was granted however, and the trainers gave her ice and liquids before she resumed play.

Jorovic won the next point, taking a 4-2 lead, but Black got it back in the very next game and held for 4-4. That was the last hold for a while, as Jorovic was broken, and serving for the match, so was Black.

The 13-year-old from Boca Raton had a match point at 40-30, but netted a backhand, a rare error from her, and Jorovic hung tough taking the next two points to make it 5-5. Jorovic couldn't build on that opportunity however, losing the next game with a costly double fault and two forehand errors.

Although Jorovic's backhand is every bit as solid as Black's, the American had the advantage on the forehand side, and once Black maneuvered the rallies in that direction, she was usually able to force an error.

Serving for the match for the second time, Black took a 40-15 lead, but she missed an easy volley on the first match point, second overall, and netted a forehand on the second. Another forehand to forehand rally ended in Black's favor for match point No. 4, and this time Jorovic framed a backhand, putting Black in her first Junior Orange Bowl final.

Black's older sister Nicole Pitts won the Junior Orange Bowl title back in 2000, and she was in the stands on Thursday, although Black said she kept her advice to a minimum.

"Having my sister's support is really great, I appreciate it," said Black, who is now training at the USTA's Boca Raton Center. "She cheers me on during my match and always tells me to go out and do my best."

Pitts, who will be starting medical school next year, also told Black to finish the large bottle of Pedilyte sitting in front of her, part of the preparation for Friday's meeting with Stewart.

"It doesn't really matter, my opponent," said Black, who is comfortable with the top seeding and the target that makes her. "I'll just go out there and fight. I was seeded three last year, so I kind of know what that feels like, and I don't really feel any pressure, I just ignore it all."

The girls 14s final is an all-Florida contest, while the girls 12s is all-California, with Northern California's Catherine "CC" Bellis against Southern California's Claire Liu.

Liu, from Thousand Oaks, handled another unseeded American, Riley McQuaid, taking a quick 6-0, 6-0 decision Thursday morning at the University of Miami. Bellis, a No. 1 seed, had more difficulty with 11-year-old Texan Nicole Conard, but came through with a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Conard and Bellis had had a tough semifinal match at the USTA Clay Courts this summer, which Bellis won in three sets.

"I knew it was going to be a hard match, so I knew I had to play really well to win," said the 12-year-old Bellis, who lives in Atherton. "My shots go a little bit further on hard courts, but I think I played well."

Bellis, who won the gold balls at both the Clay Courts and the Nationals, is playing in her first Junior Orange Bowl, and only her second international tournament, but she hasn't found the competition level to be much different from a USTA event. She lost only ten games in her first five matches, and she had an impressive 6-1, 6-0 victory over Eddie Herr finalist Sofya Zhuk of Russia in the quarterfinals.

"It's pretty much the same," Bellis said. "Some are better, some are worse."

Bellis and Liu have never played, but Bellis has a strategy.

"I need to get it deep, get heavy balls to her backhand, and wait for the short ball," Bellis said.

The schedule for Friday is for both girls finals at 9 a.m. and the boys final at 10:30 a.m.

In the boys 12s, third place went to No. 6 seed Ergi Kirkin of Turkey, who beat Noah Makarome of the US, a No. 9 seed, 7-5, 6-4. The consolation title, which is fifth place, went to Sam Riffice of the US, a No. 9 seed, who beat Benjamin Sigouin of Canada 5-7, 7-5, 10-5.

Complete results are available at the TennisLink site.

Qualifier Lim Meets Top Seed Dubrivny for Boys 12s Title: Seven US Girls in 12s & 14s Semis: Kozlov Outlasts Wiersholm in B14s at Junior Orange Bowl

2011-12-21T17:15:00.005-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Coral Gables, FL--

Qualifier Albert Lim of the Philippines has won ten matches in the boys 12s division in the past eight days, but he showed no signs of tiring in his two matches today at Salvadore Park. The 12-year-old from Manila cruised past two the top 12-year-olds in the United States today, beating No. 2 seed Alex del Corral in the quarterfinals and Noah Makarome, a No. 9 seed, in the semifinals, with both wins by 6-2, 6-1 scores.

Makarome had battled fellow American Sam Riffice for more than two-and-a-half hours in the morning before coming away with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 quarterfinal victory, so his energy reserves for the semifinal were bound to be depleted, while Lim had a much shorter match against del Corral.

Lim, a powerfully built right-hander with serious pace on his serve and forehand, will face top seed and Eddie Herr champion Artem Dubrivny of Russia in the final. Dubrivny was tested in his quarterfinal match with unseeded Juan Otegui of Argentina, pulling out a 7-5, 7-5 win in the morning match, but he needed less than an hour to defeat No. 6 seed Ergi Kirkin of Turkey 6-1, 6-0 in the afternoon's semifinal.

At the girls 12s at the Biltmore Tennis Center, there was much better news for the United States players, as all four Americans in the quarterfinals won their matches and advanced to the semifinals, assuring the US a second straight Junior Orange Bowl Girls 12s champion, after Nicole Frenkel's win in 2010. Like Frenkel was last year, three of the girls are unseeded, with only Catherine Bellis receiving one of the 16 No. 1 seeds.

Bellis disposed of Eddie Herr finalist Sofya Zhuk, also a No. 1 seed, 6-1, 6-0, and will play Nicole Conard in the semifinals. Conard downed Andreea Rosca of Romania 6-4, 7-6(4) in Wednesday's quarterfinals. The other semifinal, which also will be held at the University of Miami's Schiff Tennis Center on Thursday, will feature Claire Liu and Riley McQuaid. Liu beat Ana Biskic of Croatia, the recent Little Mo International 12s champion, 7-5, 6-2, while McQuaid took out Vanessa Wong of Canada, a No. 1 seed, 6-4, 6-3.

The girls 14s quarterfinals, which moved from Key Biscayne to the University of Miami on Wednesday, produced three winner from the United States. Top seed Tornado Ali Black again rolled past her opponent, beating American Marie Norris, a No. 9 seed, 6-0, 6-0. Black will play the only international girl still in the Junior Orange Bowl, No. 7 seed Ivana Jorovic of Serbia, who surprised No. 3 seed Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-1, 6-4.

Local favorite Katerina Stewart of Miami, the No. 6 seed, also had no difficulty advancing to the semifinals, beating unseeded Ye Qiuyu of China without the loss of a game. She will face No. 8
seed Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, who defeated unseeded Ellie Halbauer of the US 6-2, 6-3.

Ouellet-Pizer, a semifinalist at the Easter Bowl this year, wasn't expecting to find herself in the same position at this year's Junior Orange Bowl.

"I was kind of surprised I was seeded eighth," said Ouellet-Pizer, of Chapel Hill, NC. "Last year I only won one round in the back draw and I had to qualify, so this year we just wanted to get into main draw. But I'm doing really good this year."

Ouellet-Pizer knew she had to find a way to counter the heavy hitting of Halbauer.

"Ellie's a really good player, she hits the ball really hard," the left-hander said. "I had to make her hit a lot of balls, because she can miss. When she's on, she can go on fire, so I just had to stay really solid on her loose games."

Ouellet-Pizer enjoyed being on the Sony Ericsson courts at Key Biscayne, but the move to the more intimate University of Miami site provided her with extra incentive.

"Key Biscayne is really pretty, but I like it here, because I like having an audience for my matches," Ouellet-Pizer said. "I think it's cool to play on the same courts as these great college players play."

With most of the matches in the boys and girls 14s brief, the only audience that really gathered was for the all-American boys 14s quarterfinal between No. 5 seed Henrik Wiersholm and No. 4 seed Stefan Kozlov on court 6. Wiersholm and Kozlov battled for just over four hours before Kozlov came away with a 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4 victory.

Wiersholm had four set points in the opening set, with Kozlov serving at 3-5, but couldn't covert them and Kozlov secured the first set with two straight breaks. After trailing 3-1 in the second set, Wiersholm not only got the break back, but served for the set at 6-5. He was unable to convert two set points in that game however, and in the tiebreaker, let two more set points slip away after taking a 6-3 lead. But with Kozlov serving at 5-6 in the tiebreaker, Wiersholm came up with a big forehand that Kozlov couldn't handle, and two-and-a-half hours after the match started, the two took a 10-minute break before beginning the third.

Part of the reason for the length of the match was the number of deuce games and prolonged points. Each player held his first three service games, with Kozlov getting the first break to take a 4-3 lead. The 13-year-old Floridian gave it right back however, as Wiersholm pounced on a second serve at 30-40 to make it 4-4.

Wiersholm, who had called for a trainer early in the second set, may have been tiring, as he was broken for a second straight time in the next game, with unforced errors the primary culprit.

Serving for the match, Kozlov took a 40-0 lead with a lovely slice lob winner, but was unable to get a first serve in on the next two points, which ended with errors from Kozlov. When he missed a volley to make it deuce, it looked as if the match might make it into its fifth hour, but Kozlov redeemed his previous miss with a volley winner to give himself a fourth match point. A good first serve and a forehand volley winner gave Kozlov the win, an emotional one over a longtime rival and friend.

"It was pretty tough," said Kozlov, who now trains full-time at the USTA National Center in Boca Raton. "On the tennis court you can't really have friends. We're friends after the match, but it's really tough, I don't know how he's going to take the match--negatively or positively."

Kozlov was surprised to hear that he and Wiersholm had been playing for four hours.

"That's how much I've improved physically," Kozlov said. "I used to die at three hours, and now I've played for four hours and I have energy still after the match. I had no idea it was four hours, I thought it was three or two and a half hours."

Next up for Kozlov is No. 7 seed Sasha Zverev of Germany, who beat No. 2 seed Cameron Klinger of the US 6-1, 6-4.

"I've never played him, but we practice sometimes," said Kozlov, who admitted he needed some real rest this evening in preparation for Thursday's semifinal. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow and hope I can succeed again."

The other boys 14s semifinal is a rematch of the Eddie Herr final. No. 6 seed Alejandra Tabilo of Canada beat unseeded Socrates Tsoronis of Australia 6-4, 6-4 to set up another contest with Seongchan Hong of Korea. Hong, a No. 9 seed, defeated No. 16 seed Tommy Paul of the US 6-3, 6-4 and will attempt to avenge his 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 loss to the Canadian left-hander in the Eddie Herr final.

For complete results, see the TennisLink site.

My Interview with Mike Sell

2011-12-21T08:02:00.002-05:00

Before I begin a busy day, which includes both the quarterfinals and semifinals at the Junior Orange Bowl boys 12s, here's a link to the recent interview I did for the Tennis Recruiting Network with USTA Lead National Coach Mike Sell.

Paul Beats Top Seed in B14s at Junior Orange Bowl; Four US Girls and Three US Boys in 12s Quarterfinals

2011-12-20T19:39:00.007-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Coral Gables, FL--

Top seed Bogdan Borza of Romania had been living on the edge in the boys 14s Junior Orange Bowl competition this week at the University of Miami, but he met his match Tuesday afternoon in No. 16 seed Tommy Paul of the US, who came back to defeat the European 14s champion 1-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5).

Borza had saved five match points in his first round match with lucky loser Kaden Funk of the US, and when Paul was unable to convert either of his two match points with Borza serving at 4-5 in the third set, it looked as if the slender left-hander might once again wriggle free.

On the first match point, Borza came up with a forehand winner that was simply too good, but Paul had reason to regret the second, when he was in control of the point, only to miss a volley.

Paul then faced down a break point of his own, serving at 5-5, when Bogdan badly missed a forehand return of a second serve. Paul went on to hold, as did Borza, and a tiebreaker would decide who would move on to the quarterfinals.

At 4-4 in the tiebreaker, Paul somehow got to a very good drop shot and scooped it back over the net, and a stunned Borza, already mentally depositing the point in his account, netted his forehand reply.

"I didn't think I was going to get to it," admitted Paul.

Borza was so upset by the outcome of the point that he threw his racquet to the other side of the net, but was not penalized by the roving official watching the match. Borza recovered his composure and won the next point to make it 5-5, but it was then that Paul came up with the biggest shot of the match, a down-the-line forehand winner that Borza had no chance to get a racquet on.

"I told myself, I've got to be aggressive here," said Paul, who trains at the USTA's Boca Raton National Center. "If I lose the point, I can still serve my way out of it."

Paul was aware of Borza's Houdini-like escapes, so he knew he couldn't squander his third match point.

Paul got his first serve in, Borza made the return, but with his next shot caught the net with a forehand, giving Paul one of his biggest wins.

"It's probably at the top, with Zverev," said Paul, who had beaten Germany's Sasha Zverev in a third set tiebreaker in the third round of the recent Eddie Herr. "It's one of my best wins, I think, so far."

Paul will play No. 9 seed and Nike International Masters champion Seongchan Hong of Korea in Wednesday's quarterfinals. Hong beat No. 8 seed Francis Tiafoe of the US 6-0, 6-4. Paul and Hong have never played in a tournament, but do have some competitive history.

"I'm at the USTA and he's at Evert, so we do practice matches sometimes," said Paul. "We know each other's games, and the matches are usually pretty close."

The other boys 14s quarterfinal match in the top half has unseeded Socrates Tsoronis of Australia against Eddie Herr champion Alejandro Tabilo of Canada, the No. 6 seed. In an all-American quarterfinal, No. 5 seed Henrik Wiersholm will face No. 4 seed Stefan Kozlov, and in the bottom quarterfinal, No. 7 seed Zverev will play No. 2 seed Cameron Klinger of the US, the USTA National 14s champion. Klinger had his toughest match of the tournament this afternoon, but managed to subdue qualifier Basil Khuma of India 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

The boys 12s quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Wednesday on the Har-Tru courts of Salvadore Park. Top seed and Eddie Herr champion Artem Dubrivny dropped his first set of the tournament to Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina, a No. 9 seed, but roared back to take a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-0 decision. He will play another Argentinian, unseeded Juan Otegui in the quarterfinals. No. 3 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia will meet No. 6 seed Ergi Kirkin of Turkey in the other quarterfinal in the top half.

All three Americans are in the bottom half, with Sam Riffice and Noah Makarome, both No. 9 seeds, playing each other for a spot in the semifinals.

Makarome took out No. 4 seed Patrick Kypson of the US 7-5, 6-4, while Riffice beat Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-3, 6-1.

Riffice is from Northern California, where clay courts are few, but he did get an opportunity to practice on the surface before heading to Florida for his first Orange Bowl.

"One of our friends has a clay court in their backyard, so they let us use it a couple of times of week," Riffice said. "So that was pretty helpful."

Riffice has lost only ten games in his four matches, and is pleased with his level of play, rating an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. He and Makarome played at the Winter Nationals a year ago, with Makarome winning 6-4, 6-2.

"I played him on hard court and lost, so I'm happy to play him again," said Riffice.

The fourth quarterfinal will feature qualifier Albert Lim of the Philippines against No. 2 seed Alex del Corral of the US. Del Corral advanced over Great Britain's Dominic West, 6-4, 7-6(5), in a match that was every bit as close as the score would suggest.

In the girls 12s, there are four US girls remaining, all in different quarters of the draw.

Unseeded Riley McQuaid will play Vanessa Wong of Canada, a No. 1 seed and unseeded Claire Liu will play unseeded Ana Biskic of Croatia in the top half. In the bottom half, unseeded Nicole Conard of the US will face unseeded Andreea Rosca of Romania. Two No. 1 seeds will meet in the fourth quarterfinal with USTA 12s champion Catherine Bellis playing Sofya Zhuk of Russia, the Eddie Herr finalist.

In the girls 14s, which will move from Key Biscayne to the University of Miami on Wednesday, five US girls remain in contention for the title.

Top seed Tornado Black will play Marie Norris, a No. 9 seed, in one of the all-American quarterfinals. The other will feature No. 8 seed Chloe Ouellet-Pizer and unseeded Ellie Halbauer. American Katerina Stewart, the sixth seed, faces unseeded Ye Qiuyu of China, and Croatia's Ana Konjuh, the No. 3 seed, will meet No. 7 seed Ivana Jorovic of Serbia.

Eddie Herr Champions Shishkina and Schaefer Fall in Junior Orange Bowl Third Round

2011-12-19T20:20:00.005-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Coral Gables, FL--

Both boys Eddie Herr champions are still alive in their quest for back-to-back titles, with 12s winner Artem Dubrivny of Russia and 14s champion Alejandro Tabilo of Canada cruising through in straight sets in their first three matches. But on a breezy Monday in South Florida, both Eddie Herr 14s champion Mariya Shishkina and 12s winner Dominique Schaefer of the US lost three-set battles, ending their dreams of an Orange Bowl title.

The No. 2 seed, Shishkina lost to Emma Higuchi of the US 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Although I saw only parts of the second set, it was obvious that Higuchi was capable of staying with Shishkina in the long rallies and was able to withstand the pressure of the three or four consecutive well-struck balls that Shishkina relies on to get errors from her opponents. Higuchi, who trains at the USTA National Center in Carson, will play another American in the round of 16 Tuesday, Ellie Halbauer, who beat American Ndindi Ndunda, a No. 9 seed 6-3, 6-1. The whole bottom quarter is made up of Americans, already assuring a semifinalist. Usue Arconada beat Romanian Jacqueline Cristian 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 and will play No. 8 seed Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Star Makarome.

In addition to those four, there are six other Americans still in the girls 14s draw. Top seed Tornado Ali Black had no trouble with Meredith Xepoleas of the US, taking the match 6-1, 6-0. With her win at the Eddie Herr in the 16s division, the 13-year-old Black is on the must-see list of anyone interested in junior tennis, but today's match simply wasn't close enough to keep the fans attention. Black doesn't make many unforced errors, and Xepoleas, today at least, did which combined to produce the lopsided score.

Black is joined in the round of 16 by Americans Marie Norris and Mia Horvit, No. 9 seeds, qualifier Bridget Forster, No. 6 seed Katerina Stewart and Maria Smith.

One of the favorites in the draw, No. 3 seed Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who just won the Nike Junior International Masters title, struggled in her match with Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia, but got through by a 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4 score. Konjuh failed to convert on four set points in the opening set, and up 6-3 in the tiebreaker, lost five straight points, but still managed to maintain her composure to come back in three sets.

The boys 14s round of 16 doesn't have quite as many Americans as the girls 14s, but still has an impressive number with seven. All six US boys seeded have advanced with No. 2 seed Cameron Klinger, No. 4 seed Stefan Kozlov and No. 5 seed Henrik Wiersholm getting through today's third round in straight sets. No. 8 seed Francis Tiafoe, No. 12 seed Sameer Kumar and No. 16 seed Tommy Paul also reached the fourth round, as did qualifier William Blumberg.

The US could have had exactly half of the boys remaining had 12s Junior Orange Bowl champion Michael Mmoh been able to close out qualifier Basil Khuma of India. Mmoh couldn't convert his set points in the opening set, which Khuma won in a tiebreaker 7-8(8). Khuma served for the second set at 5-4, but Mmoh broke, held and broke to send the match into a third set, and he had a 2-0 lead to start the final set, but Khuma hung tough, despite the disappointment of again failing to serve the match out at 5-4 in the third. Using some deft drop shots and uncannily accurate lobs, Khuma served for the match for a third time after breaking Mmoh for a 6-5 lead. Again Khuma, who trains at the IMG Bollettieri Academy, as does Mmoh, fell behind when attempting to serve it out, but he survived a long rally at 30-40 when he combined a drop shot with a passing shot to bring it to deuce. Mmoh missed a return to give Khuma his first match point, and he converted it with a down the line backhand winner to claim the victory, which ended under the lights, three and a half hours after it began.

In the girls 12s, Schaefer lost to qualifier Shweta Sangwan of India 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. There are only six seeds remaining in the girls 12s, including two Americans: Catherine Bellis and Jaeda Daniel. Other Americans to advance to the round of 16 are Riley McQuaid, qualifier Sofia Sewing, Claire Liu, Nicole Conard and lucky loser Polina Kiseleva.

The boys 12s has the fewest Americans remaining with only five in the round of 16, all of them seeded: No. 2 Alex del Corral, No. 4 Patrick Kypson and No. 9 seeds Alexandre Rotsaert, Sam Riffice and Noah Makarome.

For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.

Keys, Levine Earn Main Draw Wild Cards to Australian Open

2011-12-18T21:53:00.003-05:00

Madison Keys and Jesse Levine won main draw wild cards in to next month's Australian Open today at the Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, Georgia.

The sixth-seeded Keys, who also won the US Open wild card tournament back in August, beat No. 5 seed Gail Brodsky 6-3, 6-4, while No. 2 seed Levine streaked past No. 4 seed Robby Ginepri 6-0, 6-2, 6-1.

At 16, Keys will not be the youngest player in the draw however, as Australia's Ashleigh Barty, just 15, won a similar tournament last week in Australia.

For a complete review of the final matches, see Steve Pratt's story for the USTA.

Top B14s Seed Borza Survives Another Tough Test; US Girls Continue Strong Showing in Junior Orange Bowl 12s

2011-12-18T19:58:00.002-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Coral Gables, FL--

After boys 14s top seed Bogdan Borza of Romania had saved match points in the first round, the likelihood of more drama from the European champion probably wasn't high, but I wanted to see him play, and I knew American qualifier Aron Pierce would present some problems for him in Sunday afternoon's second round match.

I spent an hour watching the boys 12s at Salvadore Park, with top seed Artem Dubrivny looking very strong again in a 6-0, 6-2 win over Alex Rushin of the US, so I decided to go to the University of Miami to watch Pierce and Borza before heading to Key Biscayne to see some of the girls 14s.

The match, which fortunately was played on court 1, which provides ample seating, great viewing and some shade, was close from the start, with seven straight holds. Pierce got the first real opportunity in the eighth game, with two break points in the three-deuce game but he missed a return and then a forehand and the Romanian lefthander held. Pierce was broken in the next game, giving Bogdan a break point with a double fault, and Bogdan immediately converted, hitting a great return on an excellent first serve that Pierce couldn't handle. Bogdan held to take the first set 6-4.

Pierce's serve was the biggest shot on the court, and he probably averaged two free points a service game when he got it in. With that ability to hold serve Bogdan was immediately in trouble when he lost his first service game of the second set to go down 2-0. Pierce wasn't holding at love in his service games, but he was able to come up with big serves when he needed the, and he hit one running forehand passing shot that brought appreciate applause from the spectators scattered around the court. He held on to take the second set 6-3.

Bogdan showed some good court speed and instincts but didn't have a shot that was as effective as Pierce's serve. In the third set, Bogdan seemed to be increasingly agitated, talking to himself loudly when he missed a shot, and the level of play from both players dropped. Errors began to shorten points, and Pierce's first serve percentage began to drop. When Pierce, a 14-year-old from Houston, was broken serving at 2-3 in the third, it looked like Bogdan would survive, but it wasn't quite that easy.

Bogdan faced two break points at 15-40 serving at 4-2, but Pierce made two forehand errors, and Bogdan won the next two points to claim a 5-2 lead. Pierce couldn't get his first serve working in the final game, and was broken at 15 to give Borza a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win, in just over two and a half hours.

"His serve is very good, his serve is unbelievable," said Bogdan, who admitted two long matches in consecutive days was not ideal for energy conservation. "When he served his first serve it was very hard for me to return. The second serve, sometimes I knew how to return it."

Bogdan, who trains in Bucharest, was relieved to have survived again.

"It's better to play very short match, so the end of the week I'm okay," he said. "But it's okay. The important thing is that I won."

Due to the length of that match and the storm clouds looming over Key Biscayne, I did not go out to Crandon Park. I missed what I had anticipated would be a very good second round match, and by the looks of the score it was, with American Jessica Ho defeating No. 4 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. Mariya Shishkina, the No. 2 seed, did not have to face Eddie Herr finalist Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine in the second round after all, with Kalinina having withdrawn before the tournament began, but somehow a lucky loser's name was not inserted into the draw in her place until today. Shishkina advanced to the third round, as did top seed Tornado Ali Black.

After watching Henrik Wiersholm, Stefan Kozlov, Reilly Opelka and Michael Mmoh advance to the B14s third round, I returned to the Biltmore Tennis Center, where there were still a few girls 12s matches on under the lights. Kayla Day was in a third set with Inci Ogut of Turkey, and although it was much more difficult than her 6-1, 6-0 win in Saturday's first round, she again came through, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The day's last match saw American Madeline Meredith defeat Julia Logtenberg of Spain, a No. 1 seed, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Other US girls advancing to the third round were Riley McQuaid, Kariann Pierre-Louis, Ryan Peus, Rachel Papavasilopoulos, Sofia Sewing, Mallory Gilmer, Claire Liu, Anna Bright, Polina Kiseleva, Danielle Quevedo, Nicole Conard, Jaeda Daniel, Catherine Bellis and Dominique Schaefer. That's exactly half of the 32 girls remaining.

All six of the seeded Americans remaim at the boys 12s, with Alex del Corral(2), Patrick Kypson(4), and Vasil Kirkov, Noah Makarome, Sam Ruffice and Alex Rotsaert (all 9 seeds) advancing today.

For complete results, see the TennisLink site.

Keys vs. Brodsky and Levine vs. Ginepri Play for USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Sunday

2011-12-17T21:05:00.003-05:00

Sixteen-year-old Madison Keys, seeded sixth, defeated No. 2 seed Alison Riske 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in Saturday's semifinals and will play No. 5 seed Gail Brodsky for the USTA's Australian Open wild card. Brodsky beat top seed CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 3-6, 9-7. Keys won the US Open wild card tournament last August, which included a victory over Brodsky, and went on to win a round in the main draw.

The men's final will be between No. 2 seed Jesse Levine and No. 4 seed Robby Ginepri. Levine beat Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-2 and Ginepri took out Rhyne Williams by the same score.

For a complete recap of the day's action, see this article from Steve Pratt for the USTA>

Top Seed Borza Saves Match Points in B14s Junior Orange Bowl Opening Round; Day Ousts Japan's No. 1 in Girls 12s

2011-12-17T19:46:00.005-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Coral Gables, FL--

It was a beautiful day in South Florida for the start of the Junior Orange Bowl main draw, and I began my tour of three sites (the girls 14s at Key Biscayne wasn't on Saturday's itinerary) at the boys 12s, which are on the Har-Tru courts of Salvadore Park this year.

Top seed and Eddie Herr champion Artem Dubrivny of Russia was dominating Kyrylo Tsygura of the US when I left to head to the girls 12s at the Biltmore, and he posted a 6-1, 6-1 first round win. Not all the seeds had it quite as easy. No. 3 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia needed three sets to get past Timur Chelmodeev of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, while No. 5 seed Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina didn't survive, losing to qualifier Albert Lim of the Philippines 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. Later in the day, No. 2 seed Alex del Corral and No. 4 seed Patrick Kypson of the US advanced in straight sets.

At the Biltmore, I watched several young American girls make quick work of their opponents, with Riley McQuaid taking top honors, defeating Haruka Otaya of Japan in less than forty minutes. Kylie McKenzie and Kariann Pierre-Louis also posted quick wins. There is often a disparity in the level of play between the seeds and those not seeded in the 12s division, but today Kayla Day turned that observation on its head. The left-handed Californian completely dominated Mei Ishimura of Japan, who was one of 16 No. 1 seeds, 6-1, 6-0.

I spent most of the afternoon at the University of Miami, where I watched most of the seeded US boys advance. No. 4 seed Stefan Kozlov, No. 5 seed Henrik Wiersholm and No. 2 seed Cameron Klinger all advanced in routine fashion, as did last year's 12s Junior Orange Bowl champion Michael Mmoh, who beat Filip Grbic of Serbia 6-1, 6-2. The unseeded Mmoh, who is now training full time at the IMG Bollettieri Academy, showed a stronger serve and defended well against his hard-hitting opponent.

I missed the most notable result of the day, with top seed Bogdan Borza of Romania saving match points after trailing lucky loser Kaden Funk of the US 6-4, 5-3 (thanks to @chalkflewup's tweets for that info). Borza survived 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.

Another dramatic match that finished before I arrived saw Alfredo Perez of the US defeat Marko Osmakcic of Switzerland 6-4, 5-4 def. point penalty. Apparently there were several scoring disputes in the match, and according to the roving umpire, Osmakcic was asked three times to say the score before serving, which he failed to do. He was given a point penalty, and then accused the umpire of cheating him out of the match, which resulted in another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, this one a game penalty that ended the match.

There were several girls 12s matches going on court around 6 p.m., but I expect the complete results will be uploaded soon at the TennisLink site

Williams Upsets Reynolds in USTA's Australian Open WC Tournament; Eddie Herr G14s Final Rematch Possible in Second Round at Junior Orange Bowl

2011-12-16T21:01:00.006-05:00

The USTA Australian Open Wild Card tournament began today with No. 6 seed Madison Keys' upset of No. 3 seed Jamie Hampton by a 3-6, 6-4, 9-7 score later overshadowed by No. 8 seed Rhyne Williams' 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 win over top seed Bobby Reynolds. The former Tennessee Volunteer, a finalist at the 2011 NCAAs, was down a set and a break before rallying to take the three-hour-plus contest. Last year Williams lost to eventual champion Ryan Harrison in the semfinals 4-6, 6-2, 9-7. For more on the Williams win, see Amanda Pruitt's article at utsports.com. Williams will play Robby Ginepri in Saturday's semifinal, after Ginepri downed Steve Johnson 7-6(4), 6-0. Denis Kudla advanced with a win 3-6, 7-6(4), 5-4 ret. win over Jack Sock and will take on Jesse Levine in the semifinals. Levine defeated Dan Kosakowski 6-2, 6-4.

Keys, who saved a match point in her win over Hampton, will play No. 2 seed Alison Riske, who beat Grace Min 6-0, 6-0. No. 5 seed Gail Brodsky downed No. 4 seed Melanie Oudin, playing at her home club, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Brodsky will meet top seed CoCo Vandeweghe, who beat Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-4.

For Steve Pratt's extensive recap of the day's action for the USTA, click here.

The Junior Orange Bowl main draw begins Saturday morning, with the final two rounds of qualifying completed today. The draws are posted, although without the qualifiers placed, and the best two first round match that I noticed were both in the girls 14s, with unseeded Marie Smith of the US playing No. 5 seed Iryna Shymanvich of Belarus, and unseeded Kenadi Hance of the US taking on No. 7 seed Ivana Jorovic of Serbia.

There are a couple of second rounders that I am already anticipating in the girls 14s, with No. 2 seed Maria Shishkina of the US and Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine likely to reprise their exciting Eddie Herr final, in which Shishkina saved six match points. I could have sworn Kalinina was seeded initially, but she is not seeded now and that rematch would probably worth the drive out to Key Biscayne to see. Another dynamite second rounder would put Orange Bowl 16s quarterfinalist Jessica Ho of the US against No. 4 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia.

I will probably stay in Coral Gables on Saturday, where I hope to see a few players I have heard about, but not yet seen play, including Ryan Peus, Michaela Gordon and Catherine Bellis in the girls 12s, and Cameron Klinger and Nathan Ponwith in the boys 14s. Ponwith plays Sumit Nagal of India, which is surely one of the best matches between two unseeded players on the schedule Saturday.

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald provided this preview of the Junior Orange Bowl today.

For the draws, see the TennisLink site.

Orange Bowl Recap, Slideshow, Videos; USA Today Feature on Boca Training Center; AO Wild Card Tournament Starts Friday

2011-12-15T09:08:00.008-05:00

My recap of the Orange Bowl is available now at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I have been asked how I feel about the new venue and from my perspective, it is an improvement over Key Biscayne for several reasons.

1. It feels like a junior tournament. Players congregate on the patio, and there is much more intimacy than at the sprawling Crandon Park site.
2. The hotels and restaurants are much closer to the site.
3. Both 16s and 18s are together throughout the tournament.
4. It is more centrally located for the South Florida tennis fan base.

I thought the tournament went well in its first year at a new site, and I expect the few glitches that did occur will be fixed when it returns to the Veltri Tennis Center in 2012, which I understand is a certainty.

And on my Christmas list for this year for every junior tournament I cover is a flat screen display that contains every result of the day. So far, it's unique to the Orange Bowl, and much appreciated, by fans, media and players alike.

Below is the slideshow from last week's Orange Bowl, and videos of the four champions. The finalists videos can be found by clicking on the player's name, which will take you to the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

View Photo Slideshow

Dave "the Koz" Kozlowski interviewed Kontaveit after her win at the Orange Bowl, and that audio file can be found at the Tennis Channel. Actually, Kontaveit is still 15, not 16 as the caption says. She will turn 16 on Dec. 24.

Diego Pedraza
Katie Boulter
Yulia Putintseva
Patrick Ofner

I was pleasantly surprised to see, given the general lack of junior tennis coverage in print media, Taylor Townsend's picture on the front page of USA Today this morning when I picked up the paper from outside my hotel door. Townsend is part of a feature story Nicole Auerbach wrote about the USTA's National Training Center in Boca Raton.

For the story on Townsend, click here. For the story on the Player Development Headquarters in Boca Raton, click here. My favorite quote:

"Do any of us have a crystal ball and can see who the next great one is?" USTA national coach Kathy Rinaldi said. "No."

Amen to that Kathy.

The USTA's Australian Open wild card tournament begins Friday at the Racquet Club of the South. Eight men and eight women are competing for the USTA's reciprocal wild card with Tennis Australia. Townsend will kick off the action in a match with No. 1 seed CoCo Vandeweghe. For the draws and schedule, see the tournament website. A livestream will be available here.

Tiafoe, Ponwith Win Playoff for Europe U14 Winter Trip; Ross Wins Nike Junior Tour International 12s Title; Vesely, Khromacheva ITF Junior Champions

2011-12-14T18:19:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, the USTA held its annual boys tournament in Boca Raton to decide two of the spots on the 2012 team that will travel to the Teen Tennis tournament in Great Britain and Les Petits As in France.

Francis Tiafoe, who reached the semifinals of both European events this year as a 13-year-old, won one of the round robin groups, and Nathan Ponwith secured the other.

Other participants in the tournament were: Alex del Corral, Michal Kusznerko, William Blumberg, Brenden Volk, Evan Zhu and Mwendwa Mbithi.

The remaining two spots are "captain's picks" and are generally named near the end of the Junior Orange Bowl. Stefan Kozlov would be eligible to return for another year if he wishes, as he will not be 14 until February.

The Nike Junior Tennis Masters International event concluded yesterday at Club Med Sandpiper in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Rain caused all sorts of delays in the first three days, and the scoring format was changed to match tiebreakers in lieu of the third set in order to complete the tournament on time. It still required three matches yesterday for the 14s, but it didn't keep top seed Seongchan Hong of Korea from taking the title. Hong defeated No. 2 seed Bogdan Borza of Romania, who is the top seed in the upcoming Junior Orange Bowl 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

The girls 14s title went to No. 3 seed Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who defeated unseeded Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Konjuh defeated top seed Mariya Shishkina of the US 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals, while Grammatikopoulou took out No. 2 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia in a match tiebreaker in the semifinals.

Gianni Ross, who won the United States' tournament back in September to qualify for the International, wasn't seeded, but won the boys 12s championship anyway. Ross beat No. 8 seed Matias Soto Carmona of Chile 6-3, 6-1 in the final. Eddie Herr 12s champion Artem Dubrivny of Russia, the top seed, was upset in the third round by unseeded Patrik Rikl of the Czech Republic.

The girls 12s title went to No. 4 seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who defeated No. 2 seed Anastasia Nefedova of Russia 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 in the final. Top seed Sofya Zhuk of Russia, the Eddie Herr finalist, was upset by Xinyu Jiang of China in the third round.

For stories about each final, including quotes from the winners, see the tournament's news section. Complete draws are also available on the home page.

The ITF announced the world junior champions for 2011 today, with Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic and Irina Khromacheva of Russia claiming that prestigious honor. Khromacheva did not win a grand slam singles title, but was still able to hold on to the top ranking, helped in no small part by her double prowess. Vesely won the Australian Open boys singles and doubles titles this year, and although Wimbledon champion Luke Saville of Australia appeared to be trying to catch Vesely this fall, he wasn't able to do it.

The two American junior slam winners this year--Bjorn Fratangelo and Grace Min--finished No. 5 and No. 6 respectively in the year-end rankings.

The ITF article on Vesely and Khromacheva is available here.

Eddie Herr Slideshow, Videos

2011-12-13T17:38:00.006-05:00

Thanks to a cooperative hotel ISP, I was able to upload videos of all the Eddie Herr finalists today. I have embedded the videos of the champions, and the finalist videos can be found on the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel or by clicking on the player name at the bottom of this post. My Eddie Herr recap for the Tennis Recruiting Network can be found at this link, and the slideshow of all singles semifinalists and doubles finalists is below.

Create a Free Slideshow

Patrick Ofner
Victoria Kan
Andrew Schafer
Alyssa Smith
Seongchan Hong
Anhelina Kalinina

I posted the videos from the Eddie Herr 12s finals on Friday.

US Team Wins Master’U BNP Paribas Event in Dramatic Comeback over France; Barty Wins Australian Open Wild Card Tournament; Nevolo in USTA Spotlight

2011-12-12T19:54:00.005-05:00

The United States captured the Master’U BNP Paribas competition in France this past weekend taking a 4-3 win over 2010 champion France in dramatic fashion. Georgia's Wil Spencer fought back from a 4-1 deficit in the final set of his singles match to win it in a tiebreaker, after both Florida's Lauren Embree and Duke's Beatrice Capra had lost their singles matches. Virginia's Jarmere Jenkins lost his singles match, meaning the US had to sweep all three doubles matches, but they proceeded to do just that, with Capra and Embree winning the women's doubles, Jenkins and Daniel Nguyen of USC winning the men's doubles and Nguyen and Arizona State's Jacqueline Cako clinching the victory in mixed doubles.

France and the United States have met in the final the past three years, with the US winning in 2009 and 2011.

For more, see the coach and player blogs on usta.com. The results for the entire weekend of play can be found at the tournament's website.

In other college news, USTA/ITA Indoor finalist Dennis Nevolo of Illinois was in the College Spotlight last week, discussing his typical day, the toughest crowd to play against and why he chose Illinois.

Also over the weekend, Tennis Australia completed its wild card tournaments for spots in the men's and women's main draw. Marinko Matosevic won the men's event, which featured 24 players in a knockout format, for the second consecutive year, but the big news was 15-year-old Ashleigh Barty's triumph on the women's side. The women played a round robin, a format they chose by vote, and Barty, who received a wild card into the tournament, won all of her matches in straight sets. Her most impressive win was probably her first, when she beat top seed Casey Dellacqua 6-3, 6-3. Dellacqua had been on fire in ITF Women's Circuit events in Australia, winning six tournaments and 30 matches in a row this fall.

For more on Barty's win in the final over second seed Olivia Rogowska, see the Tennis Australia website.

Thiem, Kontaveit Win Orange Bowl Championships on Soggy Sunday in Plantation

2011-12-11T17:05:00.009-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Plantation, FL--

Eddie Herr boys champion Dominic Thiem of Austria finished his junior career in impressive fashion, winning his final 18 matches, including Sunday's 6-1, 6-0 win over compatriot Patrick Ofner in the Orange Bowl championship match. Eddie Herr girls champion Yulia Putintseva of Russia felt the sting of revenge, however, as she fell in the girls final 6-2, 6-2 to Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, whom she had beaten in the Eddie Herr quarterfinals.

Prior to the Orange Bowl final, Thiem's most important match may have been in August, when he beat Austrian tennis legend Thomas Muster in an ATP event in Vienna, a match that signaled the end of Muster’s attempted comeback at age 43.

“It was really, really difficult for me,” Thiem said of his 6-2, 6-3 win at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. “It was indoors, with 8,000 people watching and most of them were for Muster, because he’s such a legend in Austria.”

Thiem, the top seed, faced none of that drama in Sunday's rain-interrupted final, but with his quick victory over No. 7 seed Ofner, he did make history, becoming the first boy from Austria to win an 18s Orange Bowl championship.

Thiem and Ofner had played in the final of the Eddie Herr last Sunday, but Thiem didn’t expect to win again by exactly the same score.

“I expected a tough match,” said Thiem, who seemed unaffected by a 40-minute rain delay after the first game of the second set.

“I played very well last week and he was a little bit injured last week, but I was expecting a tough match today. I think we were both tired from the last weeks, but I think I played very aggressive and made no mistakes, while he made more mistakes.”

Thiem made the daunting task of winning three tournament titles in three weeks easier by winning all but two of his 18 matches in straight sets. Last year Thiem’s attempt at the Yucatan Cup-Eddie Herr-Orange Bowl triple was halted in the quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl, when he retired against Joris De Loore of Belgium, but he believes he’s gotten stronger in the past 12 months.

“Last year I had very tough matches at the Eddie Herr, I think three three-setters,” said the 18-year-old French Open boys finalist. “It was a very big difference this year that I won the Eddie Herr without dropping a set so I could make it through this one.”

Ofner had beaten Filip Peliwo of Canada in a long three-set semifinal contest Saturday, and he believed that played a role in another lackluster performance in the final.

“I was very tired today,” said Ofner, who has known and played Thiem since they were 10 years old. “I think it was the match of yesterday—it was very hot and nearly three hours. I was only tired today, can’t move anymore and I didn’t play any balls in the court, so congratulations to him.”

From Ofner’s perspective, Thiem’s successful run the past three weeks is the result not only of his potent forehand, but of improved play on his backhand, which is one-handed.

“His forehand is very strong and he can apply a lot of pressure on his opponent, and make a lot of points,” said Ofner. “But he’s also improved his backhand in the last month.”

Thiem will spend the next week vacationing in South Florida before he begins his preparations for the professional tour, which he is approaching with understandable confidence.

“The first two tournaments (the Yucatan Cup and Eddie Herr) I felt a lot of pressure, but now it’s easier because I know when I play good, it’s very difficult to beat me.”

Kontaveit, seeded fifth, had lost to No. 2 seed Putintseva 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 just ten days ago, but her big hitting was too much for the feisty Russian on Sunday.

"I was more aggressive, playing really well also, and I really did attack every ball," said Kontaveit, who turns 16 on Christmas Eve.

Putintseva got off a to a very slow start, trailing 5-1 in the first set, but often the 16-year-old Russian is more comfortable playing from behind, and can raise her game when she needs to.

Kontaveit was hitting with more power however, and Putintseva, unusually subdued throughout the first set, couldn't find a pattern to disrupt Kontaveit's rhythm. Kontaveit was closing the net when she sensed Putintseva was in a defensive position, and her volleys were confident and effective, although Putintseva did earn one opening early in the second set.

After a long bathroom break, Putintseva broke Kontaveit in the first game, but after a long game was broken back, just as the skies opened again, this time with little warning and drenching rain. It was two hours and 15 minutes before play could resume, and it looked as if that delay was going to be the momentum change Putintseva needed when Kontaveit hit two double faults and played lethargically to fall behind 2-1. Putintseva had two game points to take a 3-1 lead, but Kontaveit's two winners and a costly double fault marked the beginning of the end for the Russian.

Kontaveit held at love to take a 3-2 lead and then began hitting winner after winner, breaking Putintseva and holding for a 5-2 lead. With Putintseva serving to stay in the match, Kontaveit refused to ease up, and with a punishing forehand winner on her first match point, Kontaveit had her first Grade A title.

Putintseva beat her racquet on the Har-Tru several times, crumbling the frame with the violent impact. She shook hands with Kontaveit, then went to her bag, where she continued to bludgeon the smashed racquet.

Kontaveit was well aware of Putintseva's inclination to dramatize every point, but she was not about to get involved in a battle of wills and words.

"I just try to think about my own game and not focus too much on what she is doing," said Kontaveit, who still attends a regular school in Estonia, and takes her books with her when she is on the road.

Kontaveit could also look to several Estonian supporters in the crowd during her rare lapses, as a tennis coach she knows from Estonia brought along several friends with big neon pink poster-sized signs, each containing a letter of her first name.

"They are some Estonian coaches who came here to vacation," Kontaveit explained. "And of course, support helps."

Putintseva didn't think the advice she received from her coach worked for her in the rematch.

"My coach said I have to play more aggressive, but this way doesn't work with her," said Putintseva, whose ITF junior winning streak was snapped at 11. "Last time I was trying to move her more, but this time I was doing what my coach said, playing more aggressive, and that's why I lost today. And she was playing good today."

Kontaveit returns to Estonia on Monday, but unlike Thiem, she will not be leaving junior competition behind after capturing the Orange Bowl title.

"I will play both juniors and Futures," said Kontaveit, who has already won three events on the ITF women's circuit this year.

But for now, she will savor this unexpected victory.

"I didn't see that win coming," she said in her excellent English. "I was hoping to get some good matches, I really did not have big expectations. I'm just really happy."

In the doubles finals, Thiem fell short in his attempt to sweep both titles, as he and Robin Kern of Germany, the top seeds, were beaten by Liam Broady and Joshua Ward-Hibbert of Great Britain 6-4, 6-3.

Playing in only their second tournament together, Broady and Ward-Hibbert, the No. 4 seeds, took all five of their victories without dropping a set.

The win was especially sweet for Broady, who had fallen in the Orange Bowl doubles final last year, when playing with Slovenian Nik Razborsek.

"Last year I was in the finals of the doubles, so I really wanted to push it a bit further this year," said Broady. "We play well together, so it feels good."

Ward-Hibbert gives credit for their chemistry to Broady.

"I think we complement each other," said Ward-Hibbert. "Liam's got good returns, I've got a good serve, so he helps me out where I'm weaker."

Although they didn't need the match tiebreaker that decides doubles matches in ITF junior competition, Broady described all their victories this week as tough ones.

"You need to keep so much focus, especially in doubles," Broady said. "A few odd shots and the game's gone away from you.

Thiem and Kern know what he means, as having fought off one match point, a deciding point on Ward-Hibbert's serve at 5-2, they had no chance on the next one on Thiem's serve, when Broady's shot clipped the tape and landed in the alley well behind them.

Eddie Herr champions Jennifer Brady and Kendal Woodard of the US had won a thrilling 18-16 tiebreaker in the semifinals against American Allie Kiick and Carol Zhao of Canada, but their magic ran out against No. 2 seeds Victoria Kan of Russia and Ganna Poznikhirenko of Ukraine. With the Americans constantly charging the net, Kan and Poznikhirenko hit perfect lob after perfect lob to come away with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over the unseeded Brady and Woodard. Like Broady, Poznikhirenko had also lost in the Orange Bowl final in 2010, but with a new partner, succeeded in taking home the winner's bowl of oranges in 2011.

For complete results, see the tournament page at usta.com.

Chung, Routliffe Claim Orange Bowl 16s Titles; Thiem, Putintseva Meet Familiar Foes in 18s Finals Sunday

2011-12-10T19:02:00.005-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Plantation, FL--

At last week's Eddie Herr, Erin Routliffe lost 6-0, 6-0 in the first round, to eventual champion Tornado Ali Black. This week the 16-year-old from Toronto swept both the singles and doubles titles at the Orange Bowl, giving Canada its first champion in the 16s division.

Routliffe defeated No. 2 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain 6-4, 6-3 Saturday morning at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center, using her serve to maximum effect throughout the match. Routliffe was broken only once, in the third game of the match, and she immediately broke back. Routliffe broke Boulter for the first set, and Boulter was unable to dent the Routliffe serve in the second set.

"She's a great player and she has a very big serve," the 15-year-old Boulter said. "I found it quite hard to return serve today, and that was where I lost the points and games. I tried a mix of things--tried to step in and hit it and try to be slow, but it didn't really work. It was one of those things when it wasn't my day."

Serving from behind in the second, Boulter paid the price when she was broken at 3-4, giving Routliffe the opportunity to serve out the match.

It wasn't easy, but the 6-foot-2 right-hander hit a big first serve to get to match point, then another to produce a return error that gave her the championship and a second Tiffany bowl.

"It feels great right now," said the 13th seeded Routliffe, who won the doubles title Friday night with Canadian partner Charlotte Petrick. "I'm feeling pretty confident in my game. I've adapted to clay this week and I think I've played the important points well, which is a weakness of mine. I usually lose a lot of close matches, but this week it was good."

Despite her Eddie Herr loss and little experience on the clay surface, Routliffe wasn't surprised by her run this week.

"I knew that if I played my best, I could win," said Routliffe, who has recently moved to Montreal to train at Tennis Canada's National Centre there. "And I played pretty well."

Routliffe's family, which includes two younger sisters, weren't in Florida to watch her, but she is bringing back a souvenir or two.

"My mom will be happy with the new fruit bowl," Routliffe said, then corrected herself. "Two new fruit bowls."

Unseeded Hyeon Chung of Korea claimed his second bowl of oranges too, although his first one wasn't Friday night, but rather back in 2008, when he won the Junior Orange Bowl 12s. In Saturday afternoon's 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 12 seed Diego Pedraza of Colombia, Chung trailed 4-0, but came all the way back to hold a set point in the tiebreaker. Pedraza came up with a drop shot winner to save it, however, then took the set with a strong forehand.

The toll of fighting off Chung's comeback began to show on Pedraza late in the second set. Pedraza was broken serving at 3-4, and Chung held at love to even the match. Pedraza managed to hold in the opening game of the third set, but this was his fourth three-setter of the week, including a long, tough win over No. 4 seed Hugo DiFeo of Canada Friday night, and his body was not up to the task, as he lost the final six games.

"I got off to a good start, but he kept his composure, he was always there," said Pedraza, 16. "And in the end, I think the physical part played a little role. That doesn't take anything from him, he deserves it."

Chung doesn't speak English, but said through interpreter Sky Kim that he felt his choices were few when he fell behind early.

"I was already down 4-0 in the first, so I thought, okay, I have nothing to lose, just start one by one, just build it."

As the match wore on, Chung began to notice that Pedraza's footwork was not what it had been in the first set.

"I noticed he had trouble setting up for balls," said the 15-year-old, who trains with Pedraza at the IMG Bollettieri Academy. "I tried to take it up a notch."

Chung's familiarity with Pedraza from the practice matches the two played at the Academy helped ease the pressure of the final, and he said he was "very happy," that he had given Korea its first Orange Bowl champion.

The streaks of Eddie Herr champions Dominic Theim and Yulia Putintseva continued, with each posting tough two-set victories to advance to the 18s finals.

Top seed Thiem, who has won 17 consecutive ITF junior matches, beat No. 12 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 7-6(3), 6-3 and will face fellow Austrian Patrick Ofner in a rematch of last Sunday's Eddie Herr final. Ofner fought back to take a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) decision from unseeded Filip Peliwo of Canada.

Peliwo served for the match at 5-4 against No. 7 seed Ofner, but played a sloppy game, got few first serves, and got only as close as deuce. The unforced errors continued for Peliwo in the next game on Ofner's serve, but he hit three winners in the precarious 5-6 service game to force the tiebreaker.

Ofner led 4-1 and 5-3 in the tiebreaker, but the Canadian came back to tie it at 5-5, only to make a costly unforced error when his forehand sailed way long the next point. Ofner took advantage of his first match point, driving a two-handed backhand with so much pace and depth that Peliwo couldn't control his reply.

"It was very close in the end," said Ofner, 18. "I think I was a little bit more lucky than he today, and I'm very happy to have won the match."

Although the change to clay has not been an entirely welcome one for Americans, Ofner could not have been happier about it.

"I like the clay very much," said Ofner, who doesn't detect much of a difference between the Har-Tru surface and the red clay prevalent in Europe. "I was very happy they changed the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl to clay. My favorite surface is clay, so I am so happy."

In the girls semfinals, Putintseva, the No. 2 seed, trailed American Sachia Vickery 5-1 in the second set, but fought off a set point to record a 7-5, 7-5 victory, her 11th in a row on the ITF junior circuit. Sunday's final will be another Eddie Herr rematch, this one of a quarterfinal between Putintseva and Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, which the Russian won 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. Kontaveit reached her first Grade A final when top seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada retired at 0-6, 6-4, 4-2 in Saturday's semifinal.

Kontaveit had no trouble explaining the reason for her slow start. "I was very tired from yesterday's match," said Kontaveit, who turns 16 in two weeks. "I had a really long and tough match (a three-set win over No. 3 seed Indy de Vroome), so I couldn't find that power in myself. But I started winning some points and got some confidence and got 5-0 up."

Kontaveit couldn't close out that big lead however, having only one set point in two chances to serve out the set. She broke Bouchard at 4-5 to win the set however, and was able to trade powerful ground strokes with Bouchard until the 16-year-old Canadian missed during the early stages of the third.

Kontaveit was happy with her level of play Saturday, but she was excited about the prospect of playing Putintseva again.

"I lost to her 6-4 in the third, it was really a close match," said Kontaveit, who trains in Estonia, but speaks English as if she's lived in the United States all her life. "I would like to get revenge."

Putintseva's 7-5, 7-5 victory over wild card Sachia Vickery of the US was full of loud noises, drama and breaks of serve. Putintseva and Vickey both train at the Mourataglou Academy in France, but there no camaraderie evident, quite the opposite in fact. Vickery was obviously bothered by Putintseva's celebrations and exclamations and seemed to be trying the strategy of one-upping Putintseva rather than ignoring her, which is the usual path taken by opponents.

Vickery had a set point serving at 5-3 in the second, but her usually reliable backhand failed her. She netted two in a row from 40-30, then hit a third way long to put Putintseva back on serve.

Putintseva held, broke, and with the assistance of a point penalty for racquet abuse levied against Vickery at the changeover, held to claim the victory. There was no handshake by Vickery, as she went straight to her chair to pack up her bag.

The doubles finals are set, with Theim the sole competitor going for the sweep. He and partner Robin Kern of Germany, the No. 1 seeds, will play No. 4 seeds Liam Broady and Joshua Ward-Hibbert of Great Britain. Thiem and Kern beat Jannis Kahlke of Germany and Joseph Van Dooren of Belgium 7-6(5), 6-2, while Broady and Ward-Hibbert avenged their loss in the Eddie Herr final to Belgians Julien Cagnina and Jeroen Vanneste 6-1, 6-2.

While the Eddie Herr boys doubles champions fell in the Orange Bowl semifinals, the Eddie Herr girls doubles winners advanced to the final with a 6-4, 3-6, 18-16 win. Unseeded Jennifer Brady and Kendal Woodard of the US saved five match points in the match tiebreaker against No. 6 seeds Allie Kiick of the US and Carol Zhao of Canada, with Woodard hitting two huge first serves from match point down at 15-16, then finally ending the 25 minute tiebreaker with a backhand volley winner up the middle.

Brady and Woodard will play No. 2 seeds Victoria Kan of Russia and Ganna Poznikhirenko of Ukraine in Sunday's final. Kan and Poznikhirenko defeated No. 8 seeds Christina Makarova of the US and Diana Bogoliy of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in Saturday's semifinals.

For complete results and order of play for Sunday, see the tournament page at usta.com.

Ken Thomas will be webcasting the singles finals at radiotennis.com beginning at 10 a.m. with the boys singles final.

Vickery Sole US Survivor at Orange Bowl, While Three Canadians Still in Hunt for Singles Titles

2011-12-09T22:51:00.008-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Plantation, FL--

Heavy rains drenched the Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation Friday, delaying the Orange Bowl 18s quarterfinals and 16 semifinals for seven hours. When the matches were finally begun, around 5 p.m., the air was thick with humidity, puddles were still visible on several main courts and players were sent to the far reaches of the tennis center in search of the driest courts.

It was on one of those far courts, No. 24 to be exact, that wild card Sachia Vickery closed the night's play with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over unseeded Varvara Flink of Russia. Vickery had twice served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, but was unable to finish either time, to her obvious frustration.

Loudly berating herself throughout the match, the 16-year-old from Miramar, Fla. received a point penalty for verbal abuse at 5-4 15-40 in the third set. Vickery had already received a warning for an audible obscenity earlier in the match, so when she asked the chair umpire loudly, "are you blind?" after he confirmed a checked ball mark, the game went to Flink. The 15-year-old Russian played a sloppy game when she could have seized the momentum however, double faulting on game point, but it didn't cost her the match, as she broke back to force a tiebreaker.

Vickery had overcome the loss of a 6-0 first set in her third round match on Thursday, but in that win over No. 6 seed Zuzanna Maciejewska, she had seemed calmer and less demonstrative.

"I think it was because this was a big match for me," said Vickery, who trains at the Mourataglou Academy in France. "I've never been in the semis of a Grade A before. This is not my last junior tournament, but I don't play that many and I really want to get into the slams next year and I really want my ranking to be high."

Vickery was somehow able to shake off both her failures to serve out the match, and concentrate on her final chance in the tiebreaker.

"I just kind of put it in the back of mind," said Vickery, who had more than a dozen family members and friends supporting her from the small set of bleachers near the court. "I can't carry it on; I have to do something now or I'm going to lose. So it was just like, forget it, make the tiebreaker count and get a good start. And I did."

Vickery's opponent in the semifinals is No. 2 seed Yulia Putintseva of Russia, who beat Samantha Crawford of the US 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 on the court next to Vickery and Flink. Vickery has confidence she can post another win over Putintseva.

"It'll be tough, but I did beat her in Canada two months ago," Vickery recalled. "Hopefully I can go with the same strategy. It's not going to be easy, but I'm sure I can win if I play my best."

The other semifinal will feature top seed Eugenie Bouchard, who again had little difficulty advancing, beating No. 7 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-3, 6-2, against No. 5 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Kontaveit outlasted No. 3 seed Indy de Vroome of the Netherlands 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 on another remote court.

Top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria extended his junior winning streak to 16 matches with a quick 6-1, 6-1 win over Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium. The Yucatan Cup and Eddie Herr International Champion will play No. 12 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in a rematch of an Eddie Herr quarterfinal, which Thiem won 7-5, 6-2. Nishioka beat unseeded Martins Podzus of Latvia 6-1, 7-5 in Friday evening's quarterfinal.

Another Austrian reached the semifinals, with Patrick Ofner, the No. 7 seed and Eddie Herr finalist, beating Janis Podzus, Martins' twin brother, 6-2, 6-0. He will play unseeded Canadian Filip Peliwo, who ousted No. 6 seed Julien Cagnina of Belgium 6-1, 6-4.

"I had a quick first set, played pretty much flawlessly," said Peliwo, who has prepared for the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl tournaments by training on the new Har-Tru courts at the Canadian National Training Center in Montreal. "He took a long bathroom break after that set, and came up with some changes I wasn't ready for. He started making more balls playing heavy, instead of going for his shots, and I wasn't expecting it. I started to go for it a bit more than I should have and went down a break 4-1 and 15-40. But I got my game together and came back, which was really a big relief."

Canada's Erin Routliffe, seeded 13th, earned a spot in the girls 16s final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 14 seed Rasheeda McAdoo of the US. Routliffe will take on No. 2 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain, who ended unseeded American Kimberly Yee's run of come-from-behind victories with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win.

In the boys 16s final, unseeded Hyeon Chung of Korea will take on No. 12 seed Diego Pedraza of Colombia. Pedraza beat No. 4 seed Hugo Di Feo of Canada 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, and Chung survived an equally grueling contest with No. 5 seed Brayden Schnur of Canada before pulling out a 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4 victory. Whether Pedraza or Chung wins, he will be the first Orange Bowl champion from his country.

The 16s doubles titles were also decided on Friday evening, with No. 5 seeds Charlotte Petrick and Routliffe of Canada defeating the unseeded American team of Hadley Berg and Mary Closs 6-4, 6-3.

Routliffe won the Eddie Herr doubles title last week, with another partner, but she and Petrick quickly adjusted to each other this week.

"We learned a lot here," said Routliffe, who goes for the title sweep on Saturday. "How to work together more on the court, use each other, pump each other up."

Against the surprise finalists from California, the Canadians didn't stumble, and were happy not only with the prestigious title, but with the prize that goes with it.

"I'm really excited," said Petrick. "I really wanted that Tiffany bowl. My friend was telling me how great it is on her kitchen table, with all her fruit in it, so I was really motivated tonight to go get it."

That friend is Canadian Carol Zhao, who won the 16s doubles titles last year with France's Estelle Cascino.

In the boys 16s doubles final, the unseeded Brazilian team of Lucas Guitarrari and Marcelo Tibet Filho, playing their first tournament together, defeated the No. 3 seeded team of Alexander Sendegeya of Great Britain and Franz Sydow of the Netherlands 7-5, 7-5.

"I just want to thank Lucas for all the friendship we had all this week," said Tibet Filho. "I'm so happy. It was the best experience, all this week."

Guitarrari and Tibet Filho received strong support from a dozen or so friends and fellow Brazilian tennis players, all in the area to compete in tournaments. Hearing the huge cheers on every key point, Guitarrari and Tibet Filho felt it made a big difference in the match.

"Thanks to all the friends who came here," Tibet Filho said, looking at the celebration still underway among the players and coaches. "Special thanks to them."

For complete draws and Saturday's order of play see the tournament website.

Ken Thomas of radiotennis.com will be webcasting the finals this weekend.

Eddie Herr Recap

2011-12-09T08:23:00.005-05:00

Before the start of the 16s semifinals and 18s quarterfinals today at the Orange Bowl, here's my look back at the Eddie Herr for the Tennis Recruiting Network. I usually like to have the videos and slideshow prepared to go along with a tournament review, but it's not possible with these two major tournaments coming back-to-back. I'll try to get them up early next week.

NOTE: With today's rain delay at the Orange Bowl, I did have the opportunity to upload the Eddie Herr videos of the 12s, which are below:

Crawford, Vickery Keep US Hopes for Orange Bowl Girls Title Alive; Top Seeds Bouchard and Thiem Reach Quarterfinals

2011-12-08T19:49:00.007-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Plantation, FL--

The weather changed from hot to brisk on Thursday, and the prospects of an homegrown Orange Bowl champion also chilled, with only two American girls remaining in the 18s competition. Unseeded Samantha Crawford and wild card Sachia Vickery advanced to the quarterfinals, but both US boys in action Thursday suffered losses on the Frank Veltri Tennis Center's Har-Tru courts.

Crawford was in control throughout her 6-3, 6-0 win over compatriot Nadia Echeverria Alam, a wild card who had battled through two long three-setters Tuesday and Wednesday. As is the case with any player across the net from Crawford when her serve and forehand are on, Echeverria Alam was hard-pressed to have much of an impact on the match. Although Echeverria Alam had survived a similar power onslaught from Maci Epstein on Wednesday, she was unable to make any inroads against the 6-foot-2 right-hander.

"I thought I played really well," said Crawford, who lives and trains at the USTA Center in nearby Boca Raton. "I thought I was moving well and was being consistent setting up points, and overall just played well."

Despite her classic big American hard court game, Crawford has no objections to playing one of the country's most prestigious tournaments on clay.

"Boca has clay and hard courts, so I play a good amount on clay," said Crawford, who is originally from Atlanta. "I think it's good to play on clay."

Next up for Crawford is Eddie Herr champion and No. 2 seed Yulia Putintseva of Russia who beat her 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of the US Open juniors at the South Shore Indoor courts. Puntintseva beat unseeded Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-3.

The other American in the quarterfinals is Vickery, who overcame a miserable start to beat No. 6 seed Zuzanna Maciejewska of Poland 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.

"It was one of those days when I don't even know what happened, I was so confused," Vickery said of her poor start. "I was just telling myself to try to find a way to comeback, because I didn't even know what was going on."

The 6-foot-3 Maciejewska, a foot taller than Vickery, initially was able to keep the 16-year-old Floridian defending rather than attacking.

"She doesn't give you any rhythm," said Vickery, who trains at the Mouratoglou Academy in France. "She has a big serve and it was either a winner or a mistake, and in the first set she was hitting winners off of everything. I just kept trying to put as many balls in corner to corner, knowing I'd have a chance if I did."

Vickery has been working with five-time Grand Slam winner Martina Hingis at the Mouratoglou Academy in recent weeks, and Vickery's genuine appreciation for the opportunity is obvious in her tone of voice.

"About a month ago I was practicing with her about two weeks, back to back," said Vickery, who is hoping to get her junior ranking high enough to play all the slams in 2012. "She's just great, such an inspiration. And she still plays unbelievable after everything she's been through. She's such a great person and I can't wait to work with her some more."

Vickery will play unseeded Varvara Flink of Russia in Friday's quartefinals, after Flink upset No. 4 seed Ilka Csoregi of Romania 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Top seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada was the last player to reach the quarterfinals as darkness, as well as a few sprinkles of rain, began to fall. Bouchard's 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 13 seed Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia earned her a quarterfinal match against No. 7 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia.

No. 3 seed Indy de Vroome of the Netherlands advanced with a tight 6-4, 7-6(5) win over No. 16 seed Taylor Townsend of the US late Thursday afternoon, and will play No. 5 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the quarterfinals.

Top seed Dominic Thiem ran his ITF junior winning streak to 15 Thursday, defeating No. 16 seed Hassan Ndayishimiye of Burundi 6-1, 6-4. He will play No. 10 seed Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium in Friday's quarterfinals.

The Podzus twins continued their breakthrough(s), as the 17-year-old Latvian qualifiers both advanced to the quarterfinals. Janis upset No. 2 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain 7-6(5), 6-4, while Martins defeated unseeded Kevin Kaczynski of Germany 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. The only other ITF junior tournaments the pair have played this year were the European Championships, but they did compete in the Amelia Island Pro Circuit Futures tournament last month, only to face each other in the first round of qualifying. Janis went on to qualify, but lost in the first round of the main draw.

Janis will play No. 7 seed and Eddie Herr finalist Patrick Ofner of Austria, who beat wild card Noah Rubin of the US 6-2, 6-1, and Martins will play No. 12 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.

One of the most intense matches of the day was unseeded Filip Peliwo's 7-6(7), 6-7(6), 6-3 win over No. 13 seed Alexios Halebian of the US.

Peliwo owned two wins over Halebian in the past 19 months, beating him in May of 2010 with a spot in the Junior Davis Cup world competition on the line, and again last fall at the Pan American Closed in Tulsa. So despite Halebian's higher ranking, he was the player with something to prove.

Played on the Stadium court, the match attracted the attention of USTA Player Development General Manager Patrick McEnroe, Director of Coaching Jose Higueras and Stanford Boster, a USTA National Coach now working with Halebian in the Boca Raton National Training Center.

There was plenty of pace in the rallies and exceptional court coverage by both players, and only the slimmest of margins separated the two 17-year-olds in the first two sets. But Peliwo took control early in the third set and held on to again defeat the 2009 Orange Bowl 16s champion.

Peliwo's opponent in the quarterfinals is No. 6 seed Julien Cagnina of Belgium.

The 16s semifinals will kick off Friday's play, with two American girls still in the running for the title.

Unseeded Kimberly Yee got off to her usual slow start but again found her form in recording a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Jessica Ho, also of the US. Yee will play No. 2 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain, who beat No. 9 seed Josie Kuhlman of the US 6-4, 7-6(4).

The other semifinal will feature No. 13 seed Erin Routliffe of Canada against No. 14 seed Rasheeda McAdoo of the US. Routliffe beat Caroline Doyle of the US 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, while McAdoo overcame a early deficit to top unseeded American Lexi Borr 7-5, 6-2.

The boys semifinals feature two Canadians, but neither are Eddie Herr champion Tommy Mylnikov. Mylnikov lost to fellow Bollettieri Academy student Diego Pedraza of Colombia, the No. 12 seed, 7-6(5), 6-4. Pedraza will play No. 4 seed Hugo Di Feo of Canada in one semifinal, while No. 5 seed Brayden Schnur of Canada meets unseeded Hyeon Chung of Korea, who beat No. 3 seed Fedor Andreienko of Russia.

The 16s doubles finals are on Friday's schedule, with No. 5 seeds Charlotte Petrick and Erin Routliffe of Canada going against surprising finalists Hadley Berg and Mary Closs of California, who were unseeded and lost in the first round of singles qualifying and the first round of main draw singles respectively.

The boys 16s doubles title will be contested by No. 3 seed Alexander Sendegeya of Great Britain and Franz Sydow of the Netherlands against the unseeded Brazilian team of Lucas Meirelles Guitarrari and Marcelo Tebet Filho, both of whom qualified for the main draw in singles.

For the complete draws and order of play, see the tournament website at usta.com.

Routliffe Upends Top Seed Renaud in Orange Bowl Girls 16s Third Round Action Wednesday; Thiem Tested, Bouchard Breezes in 18s Second Round Play

2011-12-07T19:19:00.002-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Plantation, FL--

No. 13 seed Erin Routliffe's Florida swing got off to a rocky start at the Eddie Herr, where the 16-year-old lost 6-0, 6-0 to Tornado Ali Black in the opening round.

Routliffe, who won the 16s doubles title at the Eddie Herr, now has a much better result to dwell on--a 6-4, 6-2 win over top seed Johnnise Renaud of the US in third round play Wednesday.

Routliffe attributed her loss to Black last week to a combination of factors.

"I was super nervous and I didn't play very well at all," admitted the 6-foot-2 right-hander. "But Tornado's good. She ended up winning the tournament, so I didn't feel too bad, but I will say it wasn't the greatest."

Against Renaud, Routliffe used her serve and forehand well, but the straightforward score doesn't tell the entire story. Multiple deuces marked nearly every game, with many, many ball mark checks by the chair as each girl went for the lines with their big groundstrokes.

"It was a lot closer than the score looked," said Routliffe, who prefers hard courts, but says she is adapting to clay. "I'm just realizing how to play and how to win on it with my style, which is pretty aggressive--a big serve, big shot and I'm always trying to come to the net. I like to be the aggressor, not counterpunch."

Routliffe is one of only two international players still alive in the girls 16s draw. The other, No. 2 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain, reached the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over American Shannon Hudson. Boulter takes on No. 9 seed Josie Kuhlman, while special exempt Jessica Ho faces Kimberly Yee in an all-American battle. Yee trailed 5-0 in the first set against Maria Smith, but reeled off seven straight games to take the first set and finished with a 7-5, 6-2 win. Ho, who qualified and reached the quarterfinals at the Eddie Herr, beat No. 5 seed Alexandra Morozova of the US 6-2 6-3.

Routliffe will play unseeded Caroline Doyle of the US, who avenged her Eddie Herr semifinal loss to Alyssa Smith with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win.

Rasheeda McAdoo, seeded 14th, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-1 win over lucky loser Terri Fleming, a victory that was witnessed by her father, Bob, an NBA Hall of Famer who now is an assistant coach for the Miami Heat. McAdoo will play unseeded American Lexi Borr, who upset No. 8 seed Madison Bourguignon, also of the US 6-1, 7-6 (10).

There are no American boys in the 16s quarterfinals, with the last three remaining--Jared Donaldson, Joseph DiGuilio and Shane Monroe--losing to Tommy Mylnikov, Hyeon Chung and Diego Pedraza respectively.

The top seeds in the 18s made their way to the third round in contrasting fashion, as girls No. 1 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada breezed past Deborah Kerfs of Belgium 6-0, 6-1, but boys No. 1 Dominic Thiem of Austria needed to mount a big comeback to post a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Lukas Mugevicius of Lithuania.

Mitchell Krueger, the No. 4 seed and tops among Americans, served for the second set against Martins Podzus of Latvia, but lost four straight games and the match 6-3, 7-5. Martins twin brother Janis, the left-hander, also reached the third round, beating No. 15 seed Stefan Vinti of Romania 7-6(6), 6-3.

The two Americans in the boys 18s round of 16 are No. 13 seed Alexios Halebian, who beat Konstatin Gerlakh of Russia 7-6(4), 6-3 in a late afternoon match, and 15-year-old Noah Rubin, who defeated Thien Nguyen Hoang of Vietnam 6-1, 6-1.

The news is better in the girls 18s, with four Americans advancing to the third round. No. 16 seed Taylor Townsend trailed 3-1 at the start of each set in her match with qualifier Petra Uberalova of Slovakia, but she came away with a 6-4, 6-3 victory to earn a shot at No. 3 seed Indy De Vroome of the Netherlands on Thursday. Wild card Sachia Vickery advanced with a 7-5, 6-1 win over fellow American Stephanie Nauta, and unseeded Samantha Crawford moved into the third round after a 7-5, 6-3 win over Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova.

Awaiting Crawford in the next round will be wild card Nadia Echeverria Alam, who, for the second day in a row, was on the court more than three hours before claiming her victory. Echeverria Alam, 16, defeated qualifier Maci Epstein 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) in a physically and emotionally draining three hours and 20 minutes in the heat of the day.

"There was a point in the match, when I was down like 3-2 in the second set, when I thought I was going to lose," said Echeverria Alam, who had beaten No. 8 seed Ellen Allgurin of Sweden in a grueling first round match Tuesday. "She was playing so well, not giving me a chance at all in the first set. I was barely getting balls over the net. I tried to change my game a little bit, hit high to her backhand, get her off the baseline."

Echeverria Alam, who lives in Miami, served for the match at 5-4, and although she couldn't convert two match points then, she played an excellent deciding tiebreaker against the powerful Epstein.

"I'm pretty good in tiebreaks," said Echeverria Alam. "I guess it's because I play them so much at my academy and where I practice. I think you get used to them, and the pressure. I didn't mind going to tiebreak, I just know that every point counts."

Despite the arduous two matches the past two days, Echeverria Alam wasn't feeling any fatigue.

"I feel pretty good, actually," she said. "I don't feel tired. I've been doing a lot of fitness lately, so this is basically like a normal practice for me. I hope I can do good in my next round, that I won't be tired."

The first round of doubles is complete in the 18s, and there was one major upset, with top seeds Bouchard and Allgurin losing this afternoon to Krista Hardebeck and Chalena Scholl of the US 6-4, 6-4.

For complete results, see the tournament website at usta.com.

Donaldson Upsets Top Seed in Orange Bowl 16s Second Round; Let Call Ends McDonald's Upset Bid in 18s

2011-12-06T19:19:00.014-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Plantation, FL--

I've seen a lot of tennis matches in my ten years on the junior and college circuit, but today was the first time I'd seen a chair umpire call a let but not order the point on which the let was called replayed.

That it happened on match point in American Mackenzie McDonald's 8 a.m. match with No. 7 seed and Eddie Herr finalist Patrick Ofner of Austria made the call more than just a novelty.

McDonald was up a break in the final set at 4-3, but lost that advantage in the next game and Ofner held for 5-4. Serving in the next game, McDonald saved two match points, and also was required to replay a point after he had hit a winner, when the chair umpire called a let from a ball rolling over from the adjacent court. McDonald won the replayed point in that instance, and after two more deuces, held for 5-5. Ofner held for 6-5, and McDonald called for the trainer at the changeover, who stretched him out on a nearby bench, but the delay was brief.

Serving at 5-6, McDonald won the first point with Ofner missing an overhead, but the 16-year-old Californian double faulted and made two forehand errors to give Ofner two more match points.

After a short return from Ofner, McDonald wound up to hit a forehand, as a ball bounced over from the next court, and the chair umpire loudly called "let." McDonald finished the stroke, but hearing the let call, went back to collect the balls to serve again. But before McDonald could serve again, Ofner circled a mark just beyond the baseline. The chair umpire bounded down to look at it, put his finger up to signal out, and called game, set and match.

The several dozen spectators, most of the them admittedly friends and supporters of McDonald, but also college coaches and others with more objectivity, were stunned for a moment, but then began yelling "you called a let." McDonald himself said that several times to the chair umpire, who didn't deny calling the let. He asked if McDonald wanted to call the tournament referee, and McDonald said he wasn't leaving the court, so the chair used his walkie talkie to call, not the tournament referee, but an assistant. There was a short conversation between the assistant and the chair, which wasn't audible to those of us in the stands on the other side of the court, but according to McDonald there was no discussion of the reason why the point wasn't replayed when the assistant referee came onto the court.

"[The assistant referee] just said he was going to do what the umpire said because he didn't see it," said McDonald. "I guess the umpire said I hit the ball before he called the let, which I disagree with and the whole crowd seemed to disagree with too."

Eventually McDonald accepted the decision, and shook hands with Ofner, but the crowd's boos, extremely rare in junior tennis, reverberated for some time after.

Individual umpires are not allowed to speak with the media, and my request for a explanation from tournament referee Brad Taylor had not been answered as of 6 p.m. tonight. If I receive one on Wednesday I will pass it along.

And that was just the first match of the day. There was plenty of drama, especially in the 16s, after that.

Eddie Herr 16s champion Tornado Ali Black was up 4-1 and serving in the first set against Caroline Doyle, but she lost 11 of the next 12 games and Doyle came away with a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

"She had a set point at 5-3," said the 15-year-old Californian, who trains at the USTA's Boca Raton National Center, as does Black. "But I was still trying to step in, not let her take control of the points."

Black was playing in her eighth match in eight days, and Doyle, who reached the semifinals at the Eddie Herr, was playing her seventh.

"It was pretty physical especially in the first set," said the thin left-hander. "We had a lot of long games, coming back (from behind), you're so stressed and fired up, it takes a lot of energy. I just tried to stay upbeat and keep moving my feet."

After the long first set, Doyle took a 5-0 lead in a hurry.

"Feeding off the momentum of the first set, I came out really strong and she made a couple more errors," said Doyle, the 16s Easter Bowl champion.

Doyle failed to serve out the match at 5-1, but she broke Black in the next game to post the victory, and earn a rematch with Alyssa Smith, who defeated Doyle in the semifinals at the Eddie Herr.

Top girls 16s seed Johnnise Renaud was down a set and a break to qualifier Karoline Kurz of Austria, but fought back to record a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

The top seed in the boys 16s was not as fortunate. Anton Desyatnik of Russia squandered five match points, falling to American wild card Jared Donaldson 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-5.

Donaldson, who trains in Argentina and has the red clay-stained shoes to prove it, was serving at 2-5, 0-40 in the third set, but saved those three match points and two more in that lengthy game. Desyatnik, a very mature looking 16-year-old, played a sloppy game serving for the match at 5-3, with unforced errors and a double fault putting him in a 0-40 hole he couldn't climb out of.

Donaldson, a 15-year-old from Rhode Island, had no trouble with the pace Desyatnik was sending his way, and Donaldson hit his share of winners on both the forehand and backhand sides in holding for 5-5 and breaking for 6-5.

Finally ahead and serving for the match, Donaldson had a 40-15 lead, but two forehand errors sent the game to deuce. Desyatnik saved a third match point with a backhand winner, but two good first serves on the next two points gave Donaldson the win in the nearly three-and-a-half hour battle.

"Down love-forty I think I hit two aces, and a third service winner," said Donaldson. "I started serving really great and that's what got me back in the match."

Donaldson had requested a wild card into the Orange Bowl, but was initially denied one.

"Thursday night I was ready to pack it up and go home, but somebody from USTA called me and said you have a wild card, can you play? So I almost wasn't even in this."

Donaldson's decision to train in Argentina, where he spent the first half of 2011 and several months this fall, was based on a couple of factors.

"I'm in Rhode Island and it's cold there, and indoors," said Donaldson. "I felt like I needed to get out of there and play on red clay. My movement was suffering and I needed to have some point construction, and I went to Argentina and I got a lot of that. I've improved immensely over the past months."

Next up for Donaldson is Eddie Herr champion Tommy Mylnikov of Canada, who beat Gregory Garcia of the US 6-3, 6-2.

The top seeds in the 18s advanced to the second round, with Dominic Thiem of Austria beating Luke Bambridge of Great Britain 7-5, 6-1 and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, showing effects of the abdominal strain that saw her retire from her opening match at the Eddie Herr, beating wild card Peggy Porter of the US 6-0, 7-5.

There were upsets however, as No. 10 seed and Eddie Herr finalist Victoria Kan of Russia lost to Elizaveta Ianchuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3; No. 8 seed Ellen Allgurin of Sweden lost to Nadia Echeverria Alam 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 and No. 9 seed Kathinka Von Deichmann of Lichtenstein was beaten by Stephanie Nauta of the US, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Marco Aurelio Nunez of Mexico, the 14th seed, was the only 18s boys seed to lose in Tuesday's first round action, falling to Kevin Kaczynski of Germany 7-5, 6-1

For complete results and Wednesday's order of play, see the tournament page at usta.com.

Wild Card Adams Beats Third Seed, Woodard Saves Match Points in Third Set Tiebreaker Win as Orange Bowl Gets Underway

2011-12-05T20:55:00.005-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Plantation, FL--

Because he didn't know if his request for a wild card would be granted, Harry Adams hadn't even practiced on clay, the surface of the Orange Bowl this year. Instead, the 17-year-old Texan spent last week practicing with Ryan Harrison and that proved to be even more valuable. In his first round match Monday against big serving Robin Kern of Germany, Adams beat the third seed 6-0, 6-7(6), 6-2.

"Before this tournament I got to hit with (Harrison) the whole week, so it definitely helped me returning (Kern's) serve," said Adams, who also works in Austin with Grant Doyle, the coach Harrison just hired for 2012. "It's always good to hit with people better than you, because you realize how hard you have to work and how much better you have to play to get to the next level."

Adams dominated in the first set, but although he wanted to get a good start, Adams couldn't take complete credit for the score.

"He made a few more mistakes than I was expecting, that's for sure," Adams said. "He handed me a few balls I wouldn't ordinarily get, I'm sure. But I played well, made a lot of returns. Against most people I guess his serve pretty much dictates the point, but I made him play."

The second set was obviously much closer, but even though he lost the set after having a match point, Adams maintained his focus. He broke in the first game of the third set, and although it's usually his forehand that produces the winners, Adams had another big advantage. He never dropped serve, and never faced a break point.

"I rely on my second serve, but my first serve percentage is usually pretty low," said Adams. "But I went back down to work with Grant Doyle and we really worked on that for three weeks solid and that's really paid off, as this match told."

Adams will play Canadian Filip Peliwo in the second round.

Other American boys winning on Monday were Connor Farren, who beat Vlad Cornea of Romania 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and Noah Rubin, who upset No. 9 seed Karim Hossam of Egypt 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Six American girls won their first round matches on a warm and breezy Monday at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center, with the most dramatic victory posted by Kendal Woodard.

Woodard, who received a special exemption from Orange Bowl qualifying because she was still playing doubles at the Eddie Herr, saved two match points in a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(8) win over Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic that started in mid-afternoon and ended under the lights.

Woodard had two break points with Siniakova serving at 5-5, but errors on both points cost her an opportunity to serve for the match. Siniakova held, and Woodard managed to serve her way out of a tough deuce game to force a tiebreaker.

The first match point belonged to Woodard, who used a serve and volley winner combination to take a 6-5 lead. Siniakova put away a forehand winner to save that match point, and hit a slice backhand pass to earn her first match point. She worked her way to an easy forehand sitter, but somehow missed it wide to make it 7-7. Woodard was approaching the net on nearly every point, and she missed a forehand volley long to give Siniakova another match point, but the 15-year-old Czech double faulted to make it 8-8. She missed a drop shot to give Woodard her second chance, this time on her own serve, and she took it, hitting a good first serve and a stretch forehand volley winner to finish.

Despite her net-rushing game, the 6-foot-2 17-year-old likes playing on clay.

"I like sliding around, and I do pretty well on clay, because with my reach, and sliding into balls, it's hard to pass me," said Woodard, who won the Eddie Herr doubles title with Jennifer Brady on Saturday. "Courts like these, with a lot of clay, my serve kicks high. I may not be able to hit the flat one as much, but I can go slice and kick."

Woodard's double partner also advanced in three sets. Brady beat No. 14 seed Carol Zhao of Canada 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Other American winners included Samantha Crawford, who dominated No. 11 seed Zarah Razafimahatratra of Madagascar 6-0, 6-3, Christina Makarova, who beat Abbie Myers of Australia 7-6(3), 6-2, Julia Elbaba, a 7-5, 6-0 winner over Katy Dunne of Great Britain, and wild card Sachia Vickery, who beat Diana Bogoliy of Ukraine 6-0, 7-5.

Wild card Hayley Carter won the first set 6-0 in her match with Deborah Kerfs of Belgium, but rolled her ankle trailing 2-4 in the second set and was forced to retire.

Top seeds Dominic Thiem and Eugenie Bouchard will play their first round matches on Tuesday.

For complete results. including the 16s singles and doubles, and Tuesday's order of play, see the tournament website.

Thiem Makes History in 18s; Third Time's a Charm for Black in 16s; Shishkina Saves Six Match Points to Take 14s Title at Eddie Herr International

2011-12-04T16:21:00.016-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Bradenton, FL--

The hundreds of local tennis fans who annually make the trip to the Eddie Herr International tournament at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy not only enjoyed great weather and great drama on Finals Sunday, but also could claim familiarity with many of the 12 finalists.

Two academy students, Tommy Mylnikov and Maria Shishkina earned titles, much to the delight of their fellow students and area residents, while three finalists from 2010 took home winners trophies Sunday afternoon.

Dominic Thiem of Austria was one of those finalists, the only one to have won in 2010. With his straightforward 6-1, 6-0 victory over countryman Patrick Ofner, the top seed became the only two-time boys 18s winner in tournament history.

"For me it's really a dream," said the world's No. 8 junior. "I know all the great players who have won it, and I can't believe that I'm the first to win it two times."

The 18-year-old grew up on red clay and doesn't find it much different from the Har-Tru surface the 18s division played on this year for the first time. It wasn't, however, the only reason he chose to come back to the Yucatan Cup, which he also won in 2010, the Eddie Herr, and the Orange Bowl.

"I like these tournaments," said Thiem, who joked that December tournaments were his favorites. "I had to defend points from last year, and I like clay."

Ofner, who had upset No. 2 seed Liam Broady in Saturday's semifinal, suffered from an injury in the final, which Thiem acknowledged contributed to the lopsided score. But Ofner, the sixth seed, didn't make any excuses.

"Something hurts, but I don't know what it is," said Ofner. "It may have (affected me), but he was better. He's a good player."

Russia's Yulia Putintseva had lost in the final in 2010, to American Lauren Davis, but she denied that was any motivation in returning for another try.

After defeating Victoria Kan, also of Russia, 6-3, 7-6(4) to win the championship, Putintseva admitted that the absence of ITF Women's Circuit events this time of year contributed to her decision to play both the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, especially since both are now on clay.

"At 16, I get to play only 12 (professional) tournaments, and in December there are just maybe a few, in Chile, or somewhere," said Putintseva, who is ranked 244 on the WTA computers and plans to go to Australia for women's qualifying for the Australian Open next month. "And we didn't think to play Eddie Herr, just Orange Bowl, because it was on clay, but when we heard Eddie Herr was clay too, we decided to come."

Against Kan, Putintseva was able to start well and although she failed to serve out the match at 5-3 in the second set, she came up with a big shot when in mattered in the tiebreaker.

After double faulting to make it 4-4, Putintseva hit a drop shot winner. In the next point, she outlasted Kan in a lengthy rally, inducing a backhand error from the 16-year-old to give herself two match points. She only needed one, as again it was Kan who erred first, and Putintseva could celebrate a title.

Known for energetic and exaggerated celebrations, even when it's 15-0 at 2-2 in the first set, it was hard to imagine how she would mark a championship point, but she didn't disappoint. Putintseva threw her racquet straight up into the air and jumped up and down a half-dozen times, yelling "c'mon, let's go" in English before retrieving her racquet.

"She played very good," Putintseva said of Kan, who she hadn't played before, despite their similar age and nationality. "I was a little bit better in some small ways today, but maybe some day we can play in the US Open final."

Tornado Ali Black was the runner-up in the 12s in 2009 and in the 14s last year, but this year the 13-year-old Floridian did not have to settle for second place, defeating Alyssa Smith 6-1, 6-2 in the girls 16s final.

"I really wanted to win, I didn't want to be a finalist three years in a row," said Black, who lives in Boca Raton and trains with the USTA there. "This year, I just wanted to win."

In the past two years, Black's trouble controlling her emotions have contributed to her rare losses, but she showed little of that volatility in Sunday's final.

"You can't be a good role model with a bad attitude," said Black, who credits a sports psychologist at the Evert Academy with helping her mental game. "I'm just a whole different person now."

Black, a wild card, led throughout the match, which despite the routine score, still took over ninety minutes to complete due to many long deuce games. Smith, a 16-year-old who trains at the USTA Carson facility, struggled with her serve throughout the match, with the three games she won coming on breaks of Black's serve.

"I don't feel I served my best at all, really," said Smith, who had lost to Black in the South Carolina ITF last month. "I was having difficulty with foot faults, thinking about where my feet were. The wind was moving my toss around, so I was hitting it all different sorts of places. But you can't really change the wind, and she had to deal with it too, so it's not like it's a one-way thing."

Although Black and Smith were playing on the Stadium Court, a substantial number of fans had their attention on Court 1, where local favorite Mylnikov was playing qualifier Andrew Schafer. Mylnikov, who turned 16 last month, was playing in his sixth Eddie Herr, and he had substantial support from other Bollettieri students and coaches as he took a 7-5, 6-2 decision from Schafer.

"The home crowd was helping me out," said Mylnikov, who has lived at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy for six years. "They got me pumped up when I was down, and it's a good help playing at my house."

Mylnikov was born in Israel, where his grandmother still lives, and his Russian parents reside in Canada, but "his house" is definitely in Bradenton.

His dozens of supporters had plenty to cheer about with Schafer serving at 5-6 in the first set. At 15-40, Mylnikov had two set points. He netted a forehand on the first, but with Schafer transitioning to finish at the net, Mylnikov hit a forehand topspin lob that landed inches from the baseline to take the set.

"I saw that he was really close to the net, so I decided to go for a lob," said Mylnikov, who won the Academy Wild Card tournament to earn a place in the draw. "The wind was with me, so I thought it was going to go out, but at the last second, it just dipped in. I was really excited to see that go in and get that first set."

Schafer, who won three qualifying matches, admitted to some fatigue in the final.

"I was a little tired. I've been down here for a week and a half," said Schafer. "But he played really well. His forehand was just overpowering, and it was a little tiring running after every winner he was about to hit."

Schafer also said he learned a bit about playing in a partisan environment.

"Tommy was on his home courts, so playing against a big crowd kind of helps you mature a little," said Schafer. "I learned the crowd's not cheering against you, but for him."

The tournament ended with the 14s championships, with both going three sets. Mariya Shishkina, the 2009 12s champion, provided the Stadium crowd with all the drama it could ask for, saving six match points in the second set in her 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 6-3 win over No. 6 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine.

It was a back and forth match, with countless service breaks, so few spectators were comfortable predicting a winner at any stage of the match. Shishkina, 13, saved her first match point serving at 5-6 in the second set. She smashed a service winner to save it and won the next two points on some stunning defensive play against the much bigger Kalinina.

With Kalinina leading 4-2 at the first change of ends of the tiebreaker, an unfortunate spill, in which she appeared to turn her right ankle, resulted in Shishkina cutting the lead to 4-3. Kalinina didn't ask for the trainer, and although she still limped between points in the tiebreaker, she won the next two points when Shishkina failed to handle her serve.

This gave Kalinina three match points, but she netted a return and then missed her world class backhand to make it 6-5. The next point was full of great offense by Kalinina and great defense by Shishkina, with one her defensive lobs seemingly destined to sail long before the wind pushed it back in the court. Kalinina finally got a short ball, but as she ran forward, she swung just a bit too hard and her overhead was centimeters deep. Kalinina missed a forehand way long on match point number 5, and on number 6, her powerful backhand landed just wide. She then double faulted, giving Shishkina her first set point. Unlike Kalinina, Shishkina seized her opportunity, evening the match when Kalnina's backhand was long.

After a bathroom break, the players returned to the court, and continued to play excellent tennis, but the tension that had been released at the end of the second set never quite returned. Shishkina broke an increasingly erratic Kalinina at 2-3, and held the next two service games, the last one at love. With an emphatic backhand winner, over three hours after the match had begun, Shishkina had her second Eddie Herr title.

"I was putting a lot of pressure on her I guess, because I was saying c'mon and let's go," said Shishkina. "I was jumping like I wasn't tired. I didn't think about (being tired), I just was thinking you have to get through this match and after that I can have a whole three days off."

Shishkina, who saved a match point in her semifinal win against No. 2 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia, attributed her comeback to consistency and what she called her heart and spirit.

"I just said to myself, be consistent, don't give her free points, and don't give up."

Shishkina will now play the Nike Junior Masters Tournament before competing in the Junior Orange Bowl 14s later this month.

The boys 14s championship went to No. 16 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Canada, who beat No. 9 seed Seongchan Hong of Korea 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Hong dominated the first set, but Tabilo, a strong left-hander, began to find his range and execute his strategy.

"He played some great tennis, I've got to admit," said Tabilo, who began training with Tarik Benhabiles at L'Academie de Tennis in Boynton Beach, Florida just a few months ago. "But as the match went on, I was able to get in a rhythm, and find his weaknesses. And keep the ball in the court."

Few 14-year-olds have found any weaknesses is Hong's game, but Tabilo said he focused on moving the Korean and hitting high heavy balls so he wouldn't have a comfortable shot to attack on.

As the match went to the third set, it was Tabilo who began dictating points, standing on the baseline, while Hong was forced well behind it, defending, not playing aggressively. Tabilo's confidence obviously grew with each game he won, and he had the luxury of his first match point on Hong's serve at 2-5 in the third.

Tabilo used that to hit a perfect drop shot, which Hong retrieved, but couldn't keep in the court, giving him an Eddie Herr title in his first year playing the tournament.

"It's a incredible feeling just knowing that a lot of my idols in the pros have played this tournament," said Tabilo, who was born in Canada of Chilean parents. "Being able to win this tournament means a lot to me."

For complete draws, see the Tennis Information site. For more photos and stories, see eddieherr.com. The 18s draws are available at the ITF junior website.

Thiem Goes for Second Straight Eddie Herr 18s Title, Putintseva Back in Final; Qualifier Schafer in Boys 16 Championship; Shishkina Reaches 14 Final

2011-12-03T17:50:00.018-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Bradenton, FL--

Defending champion Dominic Thiem of Austria and 2010 finalist Yulia Putintseva of Russia are back in 18s championship matches at the ITF Grade 1 Eddie Herr International after contrasting victories Saturday at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy.

The top-seeded Thiem breezed past No. 4 seed Mitchell Krueger of the US 6-0, 6-2, giving him the edge in their five-match junior rivalry. The 18-year-old Austrian has won all three of their matches played on clay, the previous two on red clay, but Thiem has looked just as comfortable this week on the Har-Tru. Last year Thiem won the Grade 1 Yucatan Cup the week prior and the Eddie Herr, and he is now just one match away from duplicating that feat. He will play countryman Patrick Ofner, the No. 6 seed, who upset No. 2 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-2, 6-3.

The second-seeded Putintseva, who lost to American Lauren Davis 6-3, 7-5 in last year's final, will also play a compatriot, No. 9 seed Victoria Kan, who defeated No. 11 seed Ganna Poznikhirenko of Ukraine 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Putintseva lists clay as her favorite surface, but she started out slowly in her semifinal with American Taylor Townsend, the No. 13 seed, but came back to take a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over the 15-year-old after over three hours of play. Townsend, a left-hander who plays a game more suited to faster surfaces, took a 4-0 lead in the opening set, and had the 16-year-old from Moscow engaging in long soliloquies in her native language as her frustration mounted.

Once she lost the first set and was warned by the chair umpire that her father could not continue to talk to her in Russian, Putintseva appeared to calm down a bit and began to eliminate the unforced errors that had plagued her in the opening set. She served for the second set at 5-4, but Townsend played an aggressive game, breaking her with a forehand volley winner at 4-5. Townsend lost her edge in the tiebreaker however, going down 5-0 with sloppy play including a double fault. Putintseva couldn't stand the prosperity however, blowing three set points on unforced errors and putting Townsend back on serve. After she had hit what she thought was an ace to tie the set at 6-6, the chair checked the mark at Putintseva's request and the ball was ruled out. Townsend then double faulted and the Russian was back even.

In the third set, both girls played well as the tension began to mount. With Townsend serving at 2-3, 15-15, she hit a perfect drop shot and celebrated with a "come on," but Putintseva still had a play on the ball, although she was not likely to have tracked it down. The umpire awarded Putintseva the point based on the same hindrance rule that caused Serena Williams' outburst in this year's US Open women's final. Unlike Williams, Townsend protested only briefly, looking more confused than upset, but the call didn't effect the match, as Townsend won the next three points to make it 3-3.

Townsend broke Putintseva in the next game with a couple of impressive forehands, taking a 4-3 lead, but she was immediately broken back, with her first serve, balky all day, deserting her again. Putintseva held at love to make it 5-4, and in the next game Townsend had three game points to make it 5-5, but she didn't convert. After Putintseva had Townsend running from corner to corner and finally forced an error, it was deuce. Townsend missed an overhead to give Putintseva her first match point, the only one she would need. When Townsend's backhand went long, the Russian screamed loud and long, pumping both fists in a celebration so extensive that the spectators watching from the sidelines were left chuckling at its exuberance.

Thiem and Putintseva aren't the only familiar faces in the finals. Mariya Shishkina of the US, who won the 12s in 2009, saved a match point against No. 2 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia to 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-5 victory and a place in the 14s final against No. 6 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine.

Shishkina was up 3-2 in the final set, but Bains began blasting forehand winners to get the break back. Bains held at love to make it 4-3, and Shishkina began to look discouraged, especially when she went down 15-40 in her next service game. But Bains failed to capitalize and it was 4-4. Bains saved a break point in the next game when Shishkina's forehand was wide, and Bains held for 5-4.

The power advantage that Bains enjoyed was most evident in the next game, when she attacked the Shishkina serve with abandon. At 40-30, Bains cracked a forehand return winner for deuce, then hit another cannon shot forehand return for match point. Shishkina missed her first serve, and Bains had the second serve she wanted. She bashed another forehand return, but this time it caught the top of the tape and bounced wide. Shishkina hit a first serve winner for her ad, and when Bains netted a forehand it was 5-5.

Bains didn't show any signs of discouragement, but her game lost its edge and her forehand, so potent throughout the match, began to produce errors, not winners. When she netted a backhand volley at 15-40, Shishkina had her break. The 13-year-old Bollettieri protege took a 40-0 lead in the last game, but a Bains backhand winner and a Shishkina netted forehand left her with only one more match point. Bains stayed aggressive, but her swinging volley went long and Shishkina was through to her second final in three years.

Wild card Tornado Ali Black is hoping her third final in three years will finally result in an Eddie Herr singles title, Black, who lost to Shishkina in the 2009 12s final and to Francoise Abanda in last year's 14s final, defeated Dasha Ivanova of the US 6-2, 7-5 in Saturday's 16s semifinal. She will play American Alyssa Smith, who beat Caroline Doyle of the US 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Andrew Schafer has already won eight matches at the Eddie Herr, but the qualifier will need one more if he is to claim the boys 16s title.

The 16-year-old, who trains at the Smith-Stearns Academy in Hilton Head, beat No. 9 seed Jordi Arconada of Argentina 7-6(3), 6-1 in Saturday's semifinals.

"I'm playing really well right now," said Schafer. "I haven't played any ITF's and that's how you get into this tournament. My school schedule didn't really allow me to miss whole weeks, so I just competed in the USTA, got into qualies and fought my way through."

Schafer attributes his success this week to his serve and his play on big points.

"I've played I think four or five tiebreakers in five matches," said Schafer, who won all four tiebreakers he played in the main draw. "When it's come down to pressure points, I've been pretty straight on. I haven't really missed many shots in tiebreakers."

Schafer will play Tommy Mylnikov of Canada, who trains at Bollettieri's and won his way into the draw via an Academy Wild Card tournament. Mylnikov, who beat No. 15 seed Andrei Apostol of Romania 6-2, 6-2 in Saturday's semifinal, is no stranger to Schafer.

"I've played him two times, I've won once and he's won once, so it'll be a fun match. We played in May in a National Open in Georgia and I won, and we played at Kalamazoo in August and he won."

The boys 14s final will feature No. 9 seed Seongchan Hong of Korea against Alejandro Tabilo of Canada. Hong defeated compatriot Duckhee Lee, the No. 5 seed, 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals, while Tabilo downed Chan Yeong Oh of Korea 6-4, 6-2.

The doubles champions were all crowned on Saturday, with unseeded Kendal Woodard and Jennifer Brady of the US taking the girls 18s title with a 3-6, 6-2, 11-9 victory over No. 5 seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Zuzanna Maciejewska of Poland.

Brady had reached the Eddie Herr doubles final last year with Lauren Herring, but the pair had lost 10-8 in the match tiebreaker to An-Sophie Mestach and Demi Schuurs. That result was on Brady's mind as she and Woodard prepared to play the match tiebreaker Saturday afternoon.

"I told Kendal I didn't want it to be like last year," said Brady. "It feels a lot better to be on this side."

The 6-foot-2 Woodard isn't accustomed to seeing a taller player opposing her on any tennis court, but she was looking up to the 6-foot-3 Maciejewska today. Woodard takes advantage of that size however, serving and coming in, and poaching often.

"I just feel that if I hit two or three forehands, she'll poach," said Brady. "She's pretty tall and covers a lot of court."

In the tiebreaker, the Americans started slowly and trailed 4-2 at the first changeover, but got it to 6-6 and the next change of ends. Woodard put away a volley to give them their first match point at 9-8, but she missed a return on the next point, which meant another change of ends. Woodard pouched after a couple of Brady forehands and put away the volley for another match point, and when Maciejewska went for a forehand winner that found the net, Woodard and Brady had the title.

"I think we mesh really well together," said Woodard, who has reached the National 18s doubles final with Brady this year, and won a $10,000 Pro Circuit title with her as well. "Coaches always tell me to serve and come in, don't stay back, and I like that better than staying back anyway."

The boys 18s doubles final went to the No. 3 seeded Belgian team of Julien Cagnina and Jeroen Vanneste, who defeated the No. 4 seeded British team of Liam Broady and Joshua Ward-Hibbert 6-4, 7-6(5). Broady and Ward-Hibbert had two set points with Vanneste serving at 4-5 in the second set, one of them the deciding deuce point, but they couldn't convert either. In the tiebreaker, Broady and Ward-Hibbert stayed close and tied it at 5-5, but Cagnina hit a backhand volley winner to earn the first match point, and Vanneste finished with an overhead winner for the championship.

The boys 16s doubles title went to No. 2 seeds Aleksandr Spirin of Russia and Julian Zlobinsky of the US, who defeated top seeds Hugo Di Feo and Brayden Schnur of Canada 4-6, 6-3, 10-7.

Canadians did capture the 16s girls title, with No. 8 seeds Joulia Likhanskaia and Erin Routliffe winning over unseeded Dasha Ivanova and Alyssa Smith of the US 6-3, 6-0.

In the boys 14s, No. 2 seeds Andrey Rublev of Russia and Alexander Zverev of Germany won the championship with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over top seeds Sahil Deshmukh and Sumit Nagal of India.

The girls 14s title went to No. 4 seeds Ivana Jorovic of Serbia and Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who beat No. 8 seed Mia Horvit and Rachel Rohrabacher of the US 6-0, 6-1.

For complete draws, see the Tennis Information site. For more photos and stories, plus Sunday's finals schedule, see eddieherr.com.

Schaefer, Dubrivny Take Eddie Herr International 12s Titles; Krueger and Thiem Meet for Fifth Time in B18s Semis Saturday

2011-12-02T18:26:00.009-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Bradenton, FL--

Artem Dubrivny of Russia made his first visit to the Eddie Herr a memorable one, taking the boys 12s singles championship 6-2, 6-3 over American Alex del Corral on a cool and crisp morning at the IMG Bollettieri Academy. Dominique Schaefer of the United States prevented a Russian sweep of the 12s titles however, taking out Sofya Zhuk 7-5, 7-5 to claim the girls singles championship.

Dubrivny said after the match he wasn't nervous, and the second seed roared out to a 5-0 lead with del Corral struggling to counteract the pace and transition game of the athletic Russian.

Despite Dubrivny's outstanding play during that stretch, del Corral still had opportunities, and was in every game, but the occasional untimely error kept him off the board. The 12-year from Miami began to find his form in the sixth game, holding for the first time and breaking Dubrivny, who found the net several times during that stretch.

Serving at 2-5, the top-seeded del Corral fought off three set points and had three games points in the five-deuce game, but Dubrivny eventually forced an error from del Corral with one of his many aggressive points.

The American broke to start the second set, and took a 3-1 lead, but Dubrivny held and broke with a stunning forehand pass. The Russian speaks little English, and needed his coach to provide translation in the post-match interview, but when that angled forehand landed in, he shouted "Let's go" in English. After saving a break point in the next game, Dubrivny led 4-3, and del Corral was broken after a slew of unforced errors early in the rallies.

Serving for the match, Dubrivny had a match point at 40-30, but double faulted, which he later admitted was due to nerves. A topspin forehand winner over del Corral's head gave him another match point however, and although he missed his first serve again, the nerves didn't reappear. Putting his fist to his mouth after del Corral's return went long, Dubrivny then raised both hands and his face skyward in celebration of seventh consecutive straight-set victory.

Dubrivny said his power was a factor in his victory, as well as his ability to handle del Corral's high topspin, but he wasn't entirely happy with his level of play throughout the match. Asked how he would rate his performance on a scale of 1 to 10, Dubrivny said. "It would be five. I didn't play my best game today."

Del Corral was impressed with his opponent's performance however.

"He's fast, and it's hard to close out points against him," he said. "He overpowered me, so I tried to change the game against him in the second set, but he still came out with great shots."

While the boys final featured the first and second seeds, there was a decided underdog in the girls final, with the unseeded Schaefer against the No. 7 seeded Zhuk, already a client of IMG.

The 12-year-old Californian started well, taking a 2-0 lead, but then lost four straight games as Zhuk began to force a few errors from Schaefer.

But as quickly as Zhuk took control of the set, she lost it, as Schaefer refused to get into a hitting contest with the Russian, a strategy Schaefer had formulated after watching Zhuk play.

"I saw how she played, and saw she didn't really like the high ball," said the 12-year-old, who trains at the Weil Academy in Ojai, California. "So I just kept hitting high until she gave me an easy ball, so I could just hit it, or mix it up, but not just hit hard, hard."

Schaefer won five of the next six games employing that strategy, breaking Zhuk to take the set 7-5, but fell behind 4-1 in the second set, with Zhuk serving to take a 5-1 lead. Schaefer broke to make it 4-2 instead, and she knew she had a chance to come back for the straight-set win.

"I wanted to win, but I didn't know I could come back in that second set," Schaefer said. "When it was 1-4, I got kind of mad, but when it was 2-4, I thought I could come back."

Zhuk served for the set at 5-4 and had two set points, the second of which Schaefer saved with her quickness and touch. After the ball clipped the net cord and fell over to her side, Schaefer ran full speed to get it, then angled a perfect forehand along the net to the opposite sideline, a shot that had the dozens of spectators blinking with disbelief.

Schaefer went on to break, held her serve and continued to pressure Zhuk, who couldn't find a way through her opponent's defenses. At 15-40, Zhuk's backhand went wide and Schaefer had won the biggest tournament of her young career.

"I been working really hard for this, training for these tournaments, the Eddie Herr," said Schaefer. "It feels really good to win this, amazing."

Zhuk pointed to Schaefer's variety as a deciding factor in the match.

"She did more drop shots, played more volleys," said Zhuk, who turned 12 on Thursday. "Drop shots, flat shots, other balls, and for that she win. She played very good in this match. I can play better, but she played better than me this match."

Schaefer also picked up the girls doubles title later in the afternoon, when she and Anna Bright, the No. 4 seeds, beat No. 7 seeds Ekaterina Antropova and Polina Golubovskaya of Russia 6-2, 6-4.

Dubrivny fell short of matching Schaefer's twin titles, as he and Alexei Popyrin of Australia, the top seeds, lost to unseeded Juan Otegui and Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina 6-4, 6-3.

While the 12s singles finals were being played on Court 15, Mitchell Krueger, a former Eddie Herr 12s champion, was battling in the 18s quarterfinals for a chance at a second Eddie Herr title five years later. The fourth-seeded Texan served for the match against unseeded Kevin Kaczynski of Germany at 5-4 in the second set, couldn't convert, lost the set in a tiebreaker, then fell behind 4-2 in the final set before pulling out a 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) victory.

"I wasn't even thinking about being down 4-2," said Krueger. "Because I was serving it wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn't really until after the match that I realized I was down 4-2. I told myself at the changeover I just needed to play one good return game to get back in the set, and that next game I broke him."

Krueger had a match point with Kaczynski serving at 5-6, and although he wasn't able to convert that one, he dominated the tiebreaker to finish the three-hour plus match with a victory.

His opponent in Saturday's semifinal is a familiar one, top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, who beat No. 12 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Jpan 7-5, 6-2.

Thiem and Krueger have played four times in the past 20 months, splitting those encounters.

"Round five," said Krueger, who beat Thiem 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the US Open juniors in September. "I've beaten him both times on hard, he's beaten me both times on red clay. I think we're both pretty comfortable with that match, we've been there so many times."

The other boys 18s semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain against No. 6 seed Patrick Ofner of Austria.

Taylor Townsend is the sole American girl remaining in the draw after her 6-4, 6-0 win over Kelsey Laurente of the US. Townsend will play No. 2 seed Yulia Putintseva of Russia, the 2010 Eddie Herr finalist, in one of Saturday's semifinals. The other will have No. 11 seed Ganna Poznikhirenko of Ukraine playing No. 9 seed Victoria Kan of Russia.

An American winner is assured in the girls 16s, with all four semifinalists from the US and none of them seeded.

In Saturday's semifinals, Alyssa Smith will play Caroline Doyle and Dasha Ivanova faces wild card Tornado Ali Black, who was a finalist in the 14s last year.

The only American still in the boys 16s is qualifier Andrew Shafer, who has already won seven matches this week. Shafer will play No. 9 seed Jordi Arconada of Argentina, who trains at the Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, Georgia. The other semifinal will pit wild card Tommy Mylnikov against No. 15 seed Andrei Apostol of Romania.

The boys 14s final is certain to have a Korean finalist, when No. 5 seed and 2010 12s champion Duckhee Lee meets No. 9 seed Seongchan Hong. The third Korean in the semifinals, Chan Yeong Oh, will play No. 16 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Canada.

The girls 14s semifinals will feature No. 6 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine versus No. 4 seed Ana Konjuh of Croatia, and Mariya Shishkina of the US against No. 2 seed Naiktha Bains of Australia.

Play begins with the semifinals in the 14s and 16s at 9 a.m. Saturday. The boys 18s semifinals begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by the girls 18s semifinals. The girls 18s semifinals in doubles do not feature any players still in singles, so the doubles final will also be Saturday. Jennifer Brady and Kendal Woodard are in the semifinals, as is Christina Makarova and her partner from Ukraine Diana Bogoliy. Although it is on the schedule, it is unlikely the boys doubles final will be played on Saturday, since all four boys in singles are still in the doubles too, meaning that would be three matches in one day for at least one player, no matter what the outcome of the semifinal matches.

For the 18s draws and results, see the ITF junior website. For the other divisions, see the Tennis Information site. For more photos and stories see eddieherr.com.

November Aces

2011-12-02T07:40:00.002-05:00

Before the Eddie Herr 12s finals get underway, with the boys at 9:00 a.m. and the girls at 10:30, I wanted to post the link to last month's aces. My monthly column for the Tennis Recruiting Network can be found here.

United States vs. Russia in Both 12s Finals at Eddie Herr International; Top Seeds in 16s Lose to Unseeded Americans

2011-12-01T18:49:00.010-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Bradenton, FL--

The United States versus Russia, even in the post-Cold War climate, still adds a little edge to competition. On Friday, the Eddie 12s division championships will feature two Americans against two Russians, although it's doubtful any of the quartet of 12-year olds competing in the finals have any familiarity with that political history.

The boys final will feature No. 1 seed Alex del Corral of the United States against No. 2 seed Artem Dubrivny of Russia, while the girls final has No. 7 seed Sofya Zhuk of Russia against unseeded Dominique Schaefer of the United States.

Neither Dubrivny nor del Corral had lost a set prior to the semifinals, and they continued their domination on a clear and chilly morning at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy. Dubrivny spoiled the prospects of an all-American final when he defeated Patrick Kypson of the US 6-1, 6-1, and del Corral made equally short work of No. 3 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia by a 6-2, 6-1 score.

The two girls semifinals were not nearly as straightforward.

Zhuk and American Jaeda Daniel battled for just over an hour before Zhuk broke with Daniel serving at 4-5 to take the first set. The length of the set wasn't due to any moonballing, but rather the long points and deuce games. The unseeded Daniel, who like Zhuk had not lost a set prior to the semifinals, had no trouble keeping up with the Russian in the pace department, but a few untimely unforced errors late in each set led to a 6-4, 6-4 win for Zhuk, who was celebrating her twelfth birthday today.

In the adjacent semifinal, it looked as if Schaefer's impressive run would end when she quickly dropped the first set to No. 9 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada 6-1. But the rail-thin Californian took a 5-2 lead in the second set, only to see that advantage disappear. In the tiebreaker, Schaefer showed no sign of nervousness or anxiety, waiting very patiently for Sebov to go for too much or to leave a spot on the court uncovered. Schaefer continued her dominance in the third set, and even a point penalty by a roving umpire for a third overrule couldn't distract her for completing the 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 upset.

The 12s doubles finals are also on Friday, after the singles, with Dubrivny and Popyrin, the No. 1 seeds, playing unseeded Juan Otegui and Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina in the boys championship match, and Schaefer and Anna Bright, the No. 4 seeds, facing No. 7 seeds Ekaterina Antropova and Polina Golubovskay of Russia.

The quarterfinals of the 14s , 16s and 18s division are set, and in the 16s division, neither No. 1 seed advanced to the final eight.

Qualifier Jessica Ho has already won six matches in the girls 16s draw, with her biggest coming today, when she defeated top seed Valeria Bhunu of Zimbabwe 6-1, 6-1. Ho joins six other American girls in the quarterfinals, and only one of those is seeded, No. 9 Josie Kuhlman. Alyssa Smith, Caroline Doyle, Dasha Ivanova, Mariana Gould and Tornado Ali Black all defeated seeded players in today's third round. Black beat No. 2 seed Johnnise Renaud of the US 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.

The boys 16s top seed Hugo Di Feo also was eliminated today, with Gage Brymer of the US taking a 6-1, 6-3 decision from the Canadian. Brymer, who is not playing the Orange Bowl, is making the most of his opportunity in Bradenton.

"I like travel," said Brymer, one of the few Southern California players who made the trip. "I don't travel out of the country a lot, which I would like to start doing, play some more ITFs."

Brymer thought Di Feo's game matched up well with his, and he was comfortable from the beginning.

"He hits a pretty solid ball, well into my strike zone, so I felt like I was hitting pretty well," said the 16s Easter Bowl champion, who hadn't faced Di Feo before. "I felt good the whole time, solid."

Brymer's quarterfinal opponent is another Canadian, unseeded Tommy Mylnikov, who received entry into the main draw by winning the Bollettieri academy wild card tournament.

A third Canadian, No. 2 seed Brayden Schnur, was a point away from joining his doubles partner on the sidelines, but managed to squeeze past No. 16 seed Abhishek Alla of India 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-6(6).

On other American has reached the quarterfinals, qualifier Andrew Schafer, who beat No. 10 seed Alexander Sendegeya 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 today.

In the boys 14s, No. 4 seed Francis Tiafoe of the US is the highest seed remaining in contention for the title, and he will play 2010 12s champion Duckhee Lee of Korea in Friday's quarterfinal. The other American in the quarterfinals is No. 7 seed Tommy Paul, who won a tense 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) battle with No. 10 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany. Serving at 5-6, 0-30 in the third set, Paul played some phenomenal defense, winning six straight points to take a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker. Zverev came back to make it 4-4, but Paul put away a forehand after a long and well-played point to take a 5-4 lead. On the next point Paul kept the rally going until Zverev netted a backhand and converted on his first match point, when Zverev's shanked forehand went 30 feet in the air before coming down well behind the baseline.

In the girls 14s, the top two seeds, Renata Zarazua of Mexico and Naiktha Bains of Australia, have reached the quarterfinals, where they are joined by Americans Katerina Stewart, the fifth seed, Maria Shishkina and Ndindi Ndunda.

The biggest upset in the 18s today was posted by lucky loser Elena Maltseva of Russia, who beat No. 3 seed Indy De Vroome 7-6(4), 6-2. No. 15 seed Taylor Townsend of the US had no trouble with No. 4 seed Ilka Csoregi of Romania, taking the match by a 6-2, 6-2 score and extending her ITF junior winning streak to nine. Townsend will play unseeded Kelsey Laurente of the US, who beat Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The third American girl in in the quarterfinals is Stephanie Nauta, who continued her outstanding play this week with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kyle McPhillips of the US.

Fourth seed Mitchell Krueger is the sole American boy still in contention in the 18s. Krueger beat Thai Kwiatkowski of the US 6-2, 6-3, while No. 13 seed Alexios Halebian of the US fell to No. 2 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-0, 6-1. Top seed and defending champion Dominic Thiem of Austria saved a set point in the opening set and went on to beat Laslo Djere of Serbia 7-5, 6-2.

For the 18s draws, see the ITF junior website. For the other divisions, see the Tennis Information site.

Unseeded American Girls, Seeded American Boys Reach 12s Semifinals at Eddie Herr International; Few Upsets in Second Round of 18s Action

2011-11-30T20:46:00.005-05:00

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Bradenton, FL--

The chilly weather that descended on the Eddie Herr International Wednesday didn't cool off two unseeded American girls, who reached the 12s semifinals with straight set victories on the hard courts of the IMG/Bollettieri Academy.

Dominique Schaefer and Jaeda Daniel continued their straight-set march through the draws with wins over seeded Americans today, with Schaefer beating No. 10 seed Abigail Desiatnikov 6-2, 6-2 and Daniel downing No. 8 seed Nicole Conard 6-2, 6-2. Daniel, who reached the quarterfinals last year as an 11-year-old, will play No. 7 seed Sofya Zhuk of Russia in one semifinal, while Schaefer plays No. 9 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada.

The boys 12s have gone much more to form, with the top four seeds reaching Thursday's semifinals. Top seed Alex del Corral beat fellow Floridian Vasil Kirkov 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinal and will meet No. 3 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia. Popyrin had by far the most difficult match of the quarterfinal winners, saving multiple match points in his 5-7, 7-6(7), 6-3 victory over unseeded Dimitriy Voronin of Russia. The second American in the semifinals is No. 4 seed Patrick Kypson, who beat No. 11 seed Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina 6-4, 6-1 to set up a meeting with No. 2 seed Artem Dubrivny of Russia, a 6-4, 6-2 quarterfinal winner over No. 12 seed Noah Makarome of the US.

After three straight years with a Korean in the boys 12s final, their absence in the quarterfinals this year feels distinctly odd. But there are three still alive in the 14s round of 16, including last year's 12s winner Duckhee Lee. Lee, the No. 5 seed and unseeded Michael Mmoh of the US reprised the 2010 final this afternoon on Stadium court, and again it was Lee coming out on top over the 2010 Junior Orange Bowl 12s champion, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Chan Yeong Oh of Korea beat top seed Sahil Deshmukh of India 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, and in the second of his two wins Wednesday defeated Alfredo Perez of the US 6-3, 6-2. Due to rain on Monday, the 14s played two matches today to get back on schedule.

The biggest surprise in the boys 16s was No. 7 seed Stefan Kozlov's 7-5, 6-3 loss to qualifier Filip Obucina of Canada. The 13-year-old Floridian had been one of the pre-tournament favorites due to his success in ITF tournaments this summer and fall. Obucina joins fellow Canadians Hugo Di Feo(1) and Brayden Schnur(2) in the round of 16.

The girls 14s action extended well past 9 p.m. tonight, and the top two seeds, Renata Zarazua of Mexico and Naiktha Bains of Australia won both of their matches, as did the surprisingly unseeded Mariya Shishkina of the US.

For complete results, see the Tennis Information site.

The 18s second round of singles and first round of doubles was completed before dark Wednesday, a rare occurrence this week. Top boys seeds Dominic Thiem of Austria and Liam Broady of Great Britain advanced in straight sets, as did No. 3 seed Robin Kern of Germany. Fourth seed Mitchell Krueger of the US seemed in trouble when he dropped the opening set to Kai-Wen Lai of Taiwan, but he won 11 games in a row in recording a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Krueger's next opponent is fellow American Thai Kwiatkowski, who advanced with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over qualifier Johan Skattum of Norway. Kwiatkowski, 16, received a special exemption into the main draw after winning the doubles title with Luca Corinteli in last week's Yucatan Cup, which is played on hard courts.

The transition to clay gave Kwiatkowski a bit of trouble in his first round match Tuesday, and he dropped the opening set to Tendai Tapfuma of Zimbabwe before recovering for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory. Today against Skattum, Kwiatkowski served for the first set at 5-2, then lost the next four games, but that streak was more a credit to Skattum's improved play than any lapse from Kwiatkowski.

"At the beginning of the match he was making a lot of unforced errors," said Kwiatkowski, who trains at the USTA's Boca Raton center. "It's not that I changed my game style, he just started playing better and shots that he was missing he started making."

Skattum, who was required to finish the last set of his first round match with No. 15 seed Stefan Vinti of Romania, couldn't recover from the loss of the tiebreaker.

"Yesterday was a big relief for me," said Kwiatkowski. "It kind of got my feet under me and I think today I was able to play a little more free. I think every match that I play will be a little better, so hopefully I can play well against Mitchell tomorrow."

The only other American boy in the round of 16 is Alexios Halebian, the No. 13 seed. Halebian beat lucky loser Krittin Koaykul of Thailand 6-4, 6-1 and will play Wimbledon boys finalist Liam Broady on Thursday.

There are six US girls remaining, and two of them will face off on Thursday for a place in the quarterfinals. Kyle McPhillips beat Alejandra Cisneros of Mexico 6-4, 7-5 and Stefanie Nauta beat Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-0 to set up their meeting.

Other US girls advancing to the round of 16 are Kelsey Laurente, Taylor Townsend(15), Allie Kiick(14) and Danielle Collins, who beat No. 10 seed Zarah Razafimahatratra of Madagascar 6-1, 6-2. Razafimahatratra, No. 12 seed Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia and No. 8 seed Kathinka Von Deichmann of Liechtenstein were the only girls seeds to lose in Tuesday's second round.

For complete draws, see the ITF junior website.