CiCi Bellis Wins First Pro Circuit Title at Rock Hill $25K; Riske Claims First WTA Title in China; Pro Circuit Update

It's been a long travel day from Tulsa, so this is a brief post to run through the results from the Pro Circuit events that ended this weekend.

CiCi Bellis won her first ITF Women's Circuit title today in the $25,000 Rock Hill, South Carolina tournament, beating former University of Florida standout Lauren Embree 6-4, 6-0.  Bellis, who was unseeded, defeated fellow juniors Alexis Nelson and Katerina Stewart in the first two rounds, and with upsets throughout the early rounds, didn't face any seeds in her five wins.  Embree, also unseeded, beat three seeds to reach the final.

Bellis is on the qualifying entry list for the coming week's $25,000 tournament in Florence South Carolina, so she should receive a special exemption into the main draw there.  The acceptance list shows Stewart, Alexa Glatch and 2014 NCAA semifinalist Abigail Tere-Apisah of Georgia State receiving main draw wild cards.   In qualifying, which began today, Pan American Closed finalist Claire Liu advanced to meet Jamie Loeb of North Carolina.

Adam El Mihdawy, seeded fourth, won the $15,000 Houston Futures, defeating qualifier Lukas Finzelberg of Germany 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. Henrique Cunha(Duke) and Dimitar Kutrovsky(Texas) took the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating No. 3 seeds Jeff Dadamo(Texas A&M) and Evan King(Michigan) 6-4, 6-4.

The qualifying for the upcoming $15,000 Mansfield Futures is underway, with Pan American champion Michael Mmoh receiving a main draw wild card.

At the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger, top seed Sam Querrey picked up his third consecutive title in three weeks of Northern California challenger tournaments, beating unseeded Australian John Millman 6-4, 6-2 in the final. Second seeds Adil Shamasdin of Canada and Bradley Klahn(Stanford) won the doubles title, defeating unseeded Carsten Ball and Matt Reid 7-5, 6-2 in the final.

Alison Riske won her first WTA title in Tianjin China, defeating 17-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-3, 6-4 in the final. For more on the final, see the WTA website.

Also on the other side of the International Date line, Jarmere Jenkins claimed the singles championship at the $15,000 Futures in Australia. The top seed defeated unseeded US Open boys champion Omar Jasika of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to claim his fourth Futures title of 2014.

Raveena Kingsley Claims ITF Pan American Closed Girls Singles Championship, Michael Mmoh Sweeps Boys Titles

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Tulsa, OK--

A year ago, Raveena Kingsley lost in the first round of the ITF Pan American Closed, battling for over three hours before falling to to Madison Bourguignon in a grueling match that finished under the lights. This year she return to Tulsa and claimed the title, defeating unseeded Claire Liu 6-1, 6-4 on the indoor courts of the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.

Michael Mmoh was a semifinalist and doubles champion last year; his return to Tulsa resulted in not one, but two titles, taking the doubles with Taylor Fritz and beating No. 9 seed William Blumberg 7-5, 6-3 for the singles championship.

Kingsley, the third seed, had dropped only one set in her march to the final, and she played well from the beginning against the 14-year-old Liu.

"Everything that's been working for me throughout this tournament helped me in the final," said Kingsley, who went up 5-0 in the first set before Liu got on the board. "My serve started out great, sort of dropped in the middle, but then I picked it back up again."

After taking the first set in 35 minutes, Kingsley faced a tougher challenge from Liu, who fought back from 2-0 down in the second set, only to get broken the next two times she served.  Kingsley was taking advantage of Liu's frequent second serves, taking control of the point if the return wasn't an outright winner.

"I didn't really play that well," said Liu, who had lost to Kingsley in the third round of ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships back in August. "My first serve percentage was really low. I had chances, in the second set, to get even with her and I didn't convert them."

With Kingsley serving at 4-3, Liu had two break points at 15-40, but Kingsley won four consecutive points, with her serve a major factor, to stay in front.  Liu fought back from 0-30 down in the next game to hold, but Kingsley showed no sign of nerves closing out her first Grade 1 title, hitting out and going for the lines whenever she had an opportunity.

As for the strides she made in the past 12 months, Kingsley singled out her serve, but added, "everything is improved from last year. I've been working a lot on everything."

Kingsley, who turned 16 in July, is now at the Dent Academy in Southern California and she will be returning there to train next week. Although her ITF ranking, now 47, will rise substantially with this title, she is not focusing on a number now.

"It's not about the ranking for me," said Kingsley, who reached the third round of the US Open junior championships last month. "It's about me improving. I want to improve to the point where I'm doing well in grand slams and then hopefully I can gradually go into the pros. That's my goal."

Liu, nearly two full years younger, is on her way to the qualifying of the $25,000 Pro Circuit women's tournament in South Carolina, where she'll be in the qualifying starting Sunday. She is happy with her week in Tulsa, but not satisfied.

"I'm just focusing on the matches that I played well and try to learn from this one--and get better," said Liu, who beat three seeds en route to her first ITF Grade 1 final.

Although Mmoh was the top seed, he lived on the edge of defeat throughout the week. He trailed Nathan Perrone 6-4, 3-0 in his first round match, saved two match points in his 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) quarterfinal win over No. 10 seed Tommy Paul and was down a set and a break to No. 3 seed Sameer Kumar in the semifinals Friday before posting a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win.

In the final, Mmoh looked certain to go down a set against Blumberg, with Blumberg serving at 5-4 40-0 in the first.  Blumberg missed a forehand wide on the first set point and on the second, Mmoh stayed in the point until he finally took control of it, then hit an overhead winner. On the third set point, Blumberg decided to serve and volley on his second serve, and Mmoh put the return at his feet, which Blumberg couldn't handle.  A netted Blumberg backhand made it four straight points for Mmoh who roared loudly when he won his fifth, another overhead winner, to make it 5-5.

Mmoh recognized he possessed a decided psychological advantage after Blumberg lost that game.

"It's always tough," said Mmoh. "Even when we played last time in the 14s, I had two match points at 5-4 and those next two games at five-all, you can't play your game. That's what makes those top guys amazing, because they forget about it and just play. But us juniors...he just went totally off his game and I could tell he was thinking about it a lot. And because of that, I kind of put the pressure on him a little more, and it's so tough, but he did crack."

Blumberg said the level of his game in the first set was all he could have hoped, at least until those three set points.

"I was serving well in the first set, a solid first serve percentage, playing solid points, battling for points," said the 16-year-old from Connecticut. "Then 5-4 40-0, I miss every first serve, I did not battle for points. I missed a bunch of quick points just trying to end the set fast. When something like that happens, it's tough to regain, get back in that set. But credit to him, he's an unbelievable player."

After losing the first set and the first two games of the second, Blumberg could have packed it in, but he didn't, breaking Mmoh at love in the third game and holding for 2-2. But Mmoh picked up his serving, broke for 4-2 and held for 5-2 to regain control.

Blumberg saved a match point serving at 2-5 with a huge forehand winner and served out the game with two aces.  Mmoh trailed 15-30 in the final game but won the final three points to claim the title.

"I know for a fact that Will's an unbelievable competitor," said Mmoh, who recently won the ITF Junior Davis Cup team title with Blumberg. "He'll never give up. I've known him forever and seen him play a lot of matches. No matter what happens, he's always going to come back. He's playing really well, and to be honest, first set, he was playing a lot better than me. He's playing really aggressively, and it's good to see that."

Blumberg is returning home to Connecticut, but plans to play the Grade A in Mexico next month as well as Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl. Mmoh is also expected to play those junior events, but is not defending his Grade A title in Osaka Japan later this month. Instead Mmoh is heading straight to the $15,000 Futures in Mansfield Texas, where he has been given a main draw wild card.

"I'd like to finish Top 10 again, that would be really good," said Mmoh. "I'm a lot more confident now than I was earlier in the year, and I think if I keep playing my game, I should be fine."

The girls doubles title went to Canada's Charlotte Robillard-Millette and Marie-Alexandre Leduc, the No. 7 seeds who defeated No. 6 seeds Abi Altick and Ellyse Hamlin 6-0, 7-5 in the final, also played indoors.  After two walkovers in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Altick and Hamlin were understandably rusty, but they took a 5-2 lead in the second set, only to see Robillard-Millette and Leduc roar back, winning two key deciding points.

With Hamlin serving at 5-4 in the second set, Robillard-Millette and Leduc took the deuce point when Altick missed a first volley at the net. With Altick serving to force a second set tiebreaker, she and Hamlin had three game points, but the final one, the deuce point, went to the Canadian pair when Hamlin's poach didn't clear the net.

Robillard-Millette and Leduc had come back from 5-1 down in the second set in their quarterfinal match with Meghan Kelley and Gabby Pollner to win it 7-5, and they took the title without being forced into a match tiebreaker.

"We've had some pretty good comebacks this tournament," said Robillard-Millette. "We've been good under pressure, handling the pressure pretty good, so I think that was in our favor today. We focus on what we have to do, and not the score or anything, and that's what we did today."

Although they've played together previously, it wasn't until this week that their partnership clicked, according to Robillard-Millette.

"This is the first tournament where everything was falling into place," said the 16s Orange Bowl champion. "The volleys were more sharp and it's the first time we've really connected."

As for playing indoors, that required no adjustment.

"It's fine," said Leduc, who is from Quebec. "We play indoors all winter."

The boys doubles final closed the tournament, with Mmoh and Taylor Fritz, playing together for the first time, defeating No. 4 seeds Alfredo Perez and Alejandra Tabilo of Canada 6-2, 6-3.

None of the matches the top seeds played went to a third set, and they didn't surrender more than five games in any of the ten sets they won.

"I was surprised how easily we got past every single match this week," Mmoh said. "We really kept focus every single point. Returns, serves, we just really worked well together. I wasn't expecting it to go this smoothly the first time."

Fritz, who is heading to the Grade A in Osaka, which begins on the 20th, said he and Mmoh were able to build on their big games.

"I feel like when I made a good return to start off the game, Mmoh would back it up and we would just keep going," Fritz said. "I felt like we got a lot of early leads in games."

"We were just playing freely," Mmoh added. "We weren't nervous or anything, just hitting our shots. We're for sure going to play again with each other based on this week."

Complete draws can be found at the ITF junior website.

Mmoh and Blumberg to Meet in Pan American Closed Final; Kingsley and Liu to Decide Girls Championship

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Tulsa, OK--

Michael Mmoh and William Blumberg shared a special moment in their junior careers just two weeks ago, winning the Junior Davis Cup 16-and-under ITF world team title in San Luis Potosi Mexico.

On Saturday, they will meet to decide the boys title at the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed after both posted three-set victories indoors on a cool and rainy day in Tulsa.

The girls championship match will feature No. 3 seed Raveena Kingsley and unseeded Claire Liu, who advanced to the final with straight set victories Friday morning.

Mmoh saved two match points in his quarterfinal victory over Tommy Paul on Thursday, and was again in precarious circumstances today when he trailed No. 3 seed Sameer Kumar 6-3, 3-1 before completing a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 comeback.

"Sameer was playing really smart today," said Mmoh, who has won three three-setters en route to the finals. "He was really changing it up, every point he played different. He was serving and volleying, slicing, mixing up the pace a lot. He was playing pretty solid and I was playing pretty tentative, was kind of nervous. But in the third set, I feel like I really stepped it up."

Down 3-1 in the second set, Mmoh took advantage of his first break point opportunity with Kumar serving at 2-3, ad out. Kumar had served and volleyed on key points earlier, but Mmoh was expecting it, hitting a perfect offensive lob winner to break. At 5-all, Mmoh held, then broke Kumar, who was starting to make errors he didn't commit in the first half of the match.

"I wasn't really playing my game in the first two sets," said Mmoh, who lives and trains at the IMG Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla. "But he got a little nervous, but he's a great player, and he played really well."

Blumberg was broken to start his 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 win over No. 7 seed Kalman Boyd, but reeled off six straight games to take the set in just over 20 minutes. Boyd had lost the first set 6-0 to No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, yet managed to work his way back into that match, which is what he did against Blumberg, who made a slew of backhand errors.

"He's from California, so it probably took him a while to get used to the indoors, and I played a solid first set," said the ninth-seeded Blumberg, who lives in Connecticut. "I served really well in the first set as well. In the second set, I missed a lot more balls than I would have liked to. To be honest, Kalman played a really solid second set, served better and made a lot more balls, pushed me to my backhand a lot more. So I wasn't very upset, the only thing I was upset about was my errors."

Boyd started off the third set by getting broken twice, with two double faults contributing to his downfall.  He got one break back immediately, but Blumberg began getting a lot more first serves in, holding at love to make it 5-3.  After Boyd saved a match point on his serve, holding for 5-4, Blumberg went down 0-30, missing a drop shot and getting a racquet abuse warning when he dropped his in disgust.  But an ace and another good first serve brought him even, and a Boyd forehand long gave Blumberg his second match point. Blumberg didn't get a first serve in, but Boyd sent his forehand return of the second wide to put Blumberg in his first Grade 1 final.

Blumberg and Mmoh, who also were on the USA's 14-and-under World Junior Tennis team that won the title in 2012, have met once before, in the semifinals of Les Petits As in Tarbes, France in January of 2012.  Blumberg won that match 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, and although Blumberg dismissed it as "a long time ago," Mmoh remembers it well.

"I'll never forget that match," Mmoh said. "It was the first time I had ever played with a big crowd, and I had two match points, so it was probably one of the toughest losses I've had. That was a great match and I think we'll have another one tomorrow."

The girls finalists have a much more recent encounter, with Kingsley defeating Liu 6-1, 6-3 in the third round of the August Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships in College Park, Md.

Liu earned her rematch with Kingsley by defeating No. 12 seed and reigning 16s Orange Bowl champion Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada 6-2, 6-4.  Robillard-Millette was broken in the first game of each set, while Liu never dropped serve, although she was pushed to deuce often and saved a handful of break points.

"I think I played pretty well," said the 14-year-old from Thousand Oaks, California, who trains with USTA Player Development at Carson. "I played smart and didn't hit the ball harder than her. I just tried to get more balls in and move her."

Liu did admit that the left-hander's serve did pose some problems for her during the match.

"She had a really good slice out wide serve," said Liu, who had not played Robillard-Millette before, but had received some tips from fellow Carson player Kylie McKenzie, who lost to the Canadian Thursday. "She got a lot of free points off that from me."

Liu does not need any scouting reports on Kingsley, nor does she lack for motivation.

"I lost to her last time, so yeah, the next time I definitely want to beat her," Liu said.

Kingsley, who was ill after her three-set quarterfinal win over Kayla Day, said she was still feeling a bit off, but did not let it affect her during her 6-3, 6-0 win over No. 7 seed Michaela Gordon.

"It was there in the match, but I just didn't pay attention to it," the 16-year-old said. "I just focused on the match, not on that."

Kingsley was the first to surrender a break of serve, in the fifth game of the opening set, but that was the last game she lost, as she found her rhythm on her penetrating groundstrokes and began to take control of the points.

"I think I played pretty well, probably my best match of this tournament," said Kingsley, who is now training at the Dent Tennis Academy after many years at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md. "I got off to a bad start, a little slow, but as I picked it up, momentum just carried me. I think she played pretty well; there were a lot of balls coming back."

Kingsley said her focus in the championship match, her second Grade 1 final, will be on her own.

"My plan is just to play my game, do everything right," Kingsley said. "She's just a really good player; she likes to dictate and I have to be ready for that."

Both the girls and boys finals are scheduled for 9:30 on Saturday, with the cool and rainy weather in the forecast possibly forcing the finals indoors as well.

The doubles finals are set after Friday's action, with top seeds Mmoh and Taylor Fritz advancing to the championship match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over unseeded Victor Krustev and Joshua Peck of Canada.  Mmoh, who is the defending doubles champion (with Francis Tiafoe) said he is happy to be in both Saturday finals.

"It's been going really well," Mmoh said of his first time playing with Fritz. "We haven't been in any trouble all week. I think I'm playing really well in the doubles and it's good to play both."

Mmoh and Fritz will play No. 4 seeds Alfredo Perez and Canadian Alejandro Tabilo , who beat No. 2 seeds Tommy Paul and Nathan Ponwith 6-2 6-3.

For the second day in a row, No. 6 seeds Abi Altick and Ellyse Hamlin advanced without hitting a ball. Unseeded Karina Traxler and Claudia Wiktorin gave them a walkover into the final, with Wiktorin unable to compete due to illness.  Altick and Hamlin will play No. 7 seeds Marie-Alexandre Leduc and Robillard-Millette of Canada, who defeated top seeds Renata Zarazua of Mexico and Gordon 6-2, 6-3.

Complete draws can be found at the ITF junior website.

Boyd Beats Fritz, Mmoh Saves Match Points in Pan American Closed Quarterfinals; Gordon Ousts Top Seed Zarazua

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Tulsa, OK--

After three days of mostly routine results, the drama quotient increased Thursday, with two boys winners--No. 7 seed Kalman Boyd and No. 1 seed Michael Mmoh--saving match points, and Michaela Gordon coming from 6-4, 4-1 down to defeat girls top seed Renata Zarazua on another warm, breezy and humid day at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Boyd's 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over longtime Southern Cal friend and rival Taylor Fritz, last year's finalist, could have been a brief scare had Fritz converted the match point he had with Boyd serving at 4-5 in the second set.  After failing to convert his game point at 40-30, Boyd lost the next point, giving Fritz his opportunity.  But the No. 2 seed's forehand went way long, and Boyd regrouped, won the game and broke Fritz to go up 6-5 and held in yet another close game.

Such was Boyd's focus, however, that he didn't know he had saved a match point.

"Did I save a match point?" Boyd asked. "I didn't even realize that. That was how in the zone I was."

Boyd couldn't quite comprehend why Fritz was dominating him so thoroughly in the first set, saying their recent practice matches were closely contested.

"I was getting really upset, saying what's going on, we're usually closer and now that we're in a tournament he's killing me," said Boyd, 17. "I was going down the drain, but eventually said it doesn't matter. Let's just play tennis now, have fun, and that's when it turned around for me. Trying to enjoy it more, I relaxed and just got better from there."

Boyd did get angry at Fritz, who he described as his best friend, when Fritz did not concede a point in the seventh game of the second set.  Fritz, who had already conceded a point to Boyd earlier, telling the chair umpire to correct his call, did not offer the same response in this case.

"At 3-3 15-40, he hit a ball that was like two inches wide and the chair umpire didn't call it, and Taylor was like I know I missed it, but you just lost the point because nobody called it," Boyd said. "He knew it was out, that I had just won the game, and he didn't give it to me and I was really upset with him because c'mon, you're my friend just give me the point."

Once he had taken the second set, Boyd showed renewed confidence and poise, hitting winners, returning well, keeping errors to a minimum.  In the the first game of the third set, with Fritz serving, Boyd finally broke after 13 deuces, converting his eighth break point on a forehand winner to end the 20-minute game.

"It was back and forth, over and over," said Boyd, who has committed to Southern Cal for 2015. "For me, I really wasn't under any pressure at all, which was great for me. I'm supposed to lose that game, he's holding serve. And it was the first game of the set, so with that mindset, I'm very relaxed and that helped me win the game."

Fritz had opportunities to get the break back in the fourth and sixth games of the set, but couldn't convert any of the three break points, with Boyd coming up with a good serve or a forehand winner to brush them aside.

Boyd got an insurance break after saving two break points at 3-2 and served out the match with no additional drama.

"Ever since I've committed to college, it's not been about results," said Boyd, who has now reached his first Grade 1 semifinal. "It's always just been to improve, so when I get there, I can really contribute to the team, I can win matches. I'm not worried about winning the tournament or anything. I'm really just trying to get better."

Boyd will play No. 9 seed William Blumberg, who cruised past No. 4 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Canada 6-1, 6-1.

While Boyd had completed his comeback, Mmoh was nearly an hour away from finishing his 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) victory over No. 10 seed Tommy Paul.

Leading 2-0 in the final set, Mmoh lost four straight games, then pulled even at 4.  But as the match duration approached the three hour mark, Mmoh was broken for a third time in the final set and Paul would serve for the match at 5-4.

A backhand winner made it 30-15 for Paul and a forehand winner made it 40-15. A double fault on the first match point indicated the nerves Paul was feeling, but on his second match point, he went for a forehand and just missed it long.

"Honestly, I don't really know what was working for me in that match," said Mmoh, who reached the semifinals last year. "I was kind of relying on his mental breakdowns, when he just goes for something stupid. So on that point, I just decided to stay really solid and he missed a forehand a little long."

When Paul's next backhand went long,  Mmoh had a break point, which he converted with a brave and unexpected drop shot winner that Paul had no chance to reach.

Two holds sent the match into the tiebreaker, and Mmoh ran out to a 3-0 lead, only to see Paul come with four straight points, two on clean forehand winners. At 4-all Paul hit a forehand long, then missed a routine backhand wide to give Mmoh a match point. Paul missed his first serve and after a brief rally Paul's forehand sailed way long, ending the three-hour and 18-minute match.

"Surprisingly, my body's feeling pretty fresh somehow," Mmoh said after his doubles match later in the afternoon. "I was feeling really dizzy shortly before this doubles, maybe a little sun stroke, but yeah, I'm surprised I'm feeling pretty fresh."

In Friday's semifinals, Mmoh will play No. 3 seed Sameer Kumar for the first time. Kumar came from 3-1 down in the first set to win 11 of the next 13 games in his 6-4, 6-1 victory over No. 11 seed Denis Shapovalov.

Gordon didn't save match points, but she too was at the brink of defeat against Zarazua of Mexico before winning the three-hour 10-minute match 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

"I feel pretty tired, my legs are tired," said Gordon, who at 15 is in her third ITF Grade B1 semifinal. "It was so physical and the points themselves were really long too. You had to win the point. Neither one of us gave the other one anything."

Gordon adjusted when she realized Zarazua, her doubles partner this week, was getting the upper hand in heavy-hitting rallies.

"I just tried to change up the pace a little bit," said Gordon. "She was winning some of the harder rallies, so I tried to make her a little off balance. She also made a few unforced errors on important points, and that helped me a little bit."

Winning the final five games of the second set gave Gordon confidence to start the third.

"I was really happy that I was able to come back," said Gordon. "Knowing that even if I get down in the third, I can still come back, so I played a little bit more free in the third and I definitely hit my shots more, went for it a little bit more, played more aggressively, came in a little more."

Gordon will play No. 3 seed Raveena Kingsley, who defeated unseeded Kayla Day 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the day's final singles match.  Kingsley had lost to Day in three sets in the first round of the Easter Bowl this year. The victory was costly however, as Kingsley became ill after the match and was unable to compete in the doubles quarterfinals later in the afternoon.

The other two girls semifinalists had less strenuous paths to Friday's matches, with unseeded Claire Liu beating No. 15 seed Emma Higuchi 6-0, 6-1 and No. 12 seed Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada defeating wild card Kylie McKenzie 6-4, 6-3. The 14-year-old Liu and 15-year-old Robillard-Millette are making their first appearances in Grade 1 semifinals.

The doubles semifinals are set for Friday, when the warm and humid conditions are expected to give way to a much cooler and possibly wetter weather.

Top seeds Mmoh and Fritz defeated No. 6 seeds Shapovalov and William Tutecky of Canada 7-5, 6-3 to advance to a meeting with unseeded Victor Krustev and Joshua Peck of Canada. Krustev and Peck defeated Trent Bryde and Mwendwa Mbithi 6-2, 5-7, 10-5.  Second seeds Paul and Nathan Ponwith advanced over No. 7 seeds Jack Lin and Benjamin Sigouin of Canada 6-2, 1-6, 10-5. They will play No. 4 seeds Alfredo Perez and Tabilo, who beat Vincent Lin and Myles Schalet 6-1, 3-6, 10-6.

No. 6 seeds Ellyse Hamlin and Abi Altick reached the semifinals due to the illness of Kingsley, who with her partner Katherine Sebov, was seeded second. Hamlin and Altick will play unseeded Karina Traxler and Claudia Wiktorin, who beat unseeded Liu and Kelly Chen 7-6(5), 5-7, 11-9.  Gordon and Zarazua, the top seeds, will play No. 7 seeds Marie-Alexandre Leduc and Robillard-Millette of Canada. Gordon and Zarazua defeated No. 5 seeds Emma Higuchi and Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-4, while Leduc and Robillard-Millette downed unseeded Meghan Kelley and Gabby Pollner 7-5, 7-5.

The order of play for Friday is available here.

The draws are available at the ITF junior website.

Higuchi Defeats No. 4 Seed Swan, Blumberg Tops No. 5 Seed Opelka in Third Round of Pan American Closed

 

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Tulsa, OK--

Seeded players continued to move on at the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed Wednesday, with seeds taking all eight quarterfinal spots in the boys draw and five of the eight quarterfinal spots in the girls draw.

The top four boys seeds all advanced in straight sets on another warm day at the University of Tulsa's  Michael D. Case Tennis Center, but No. 5 seed Reilly Opelka fell to No. 9 seed William Blumberg 7-6(1), 6-3.

It was Blumberg's second win in two meetings with the 6-foot-9 Opelka, having collected his first in the third round of the Easter Bowl Grade B1 back in April.

"My strategy when I play Reilly is to keep him off balance a bit," said the 16-year-old from Connecticut. "I try to change up pace. Reilly is an unbelievable player--he's got an unbelievable serve and really solid ground strokes and good volleys. So if I can keep the ball up, keep him off balance, have him question what's happening, make him come to the net, make him hit some volleys, overheads, I even got a couple of lobs over his head. That was my strategy, and then I hope to get a couple of lucky breaks."

Blumberg dominated the tiebreaker, with Opelka not getting first serves in play and double faulting twice.  In the second set, the only break came in the eighth game, when Opelka netted a backhand volley to give Blumberg a break point.  In the second set, Blumberg had had success in dipping the ball low when Opelka was at the net, and on the break point he again got the result he wanted when Opelka netted a volley when trying to handle the low ball at his feet, giving Blumberg the opportunity to serve out the match.

Despite failing to make a first serve in the final game, Blumberg got to 40-0 on three Opelka errors. A drop volley winner and a backhand on the baseline by Opelka saved two of the match points, but on the third Opelka's backhand return went wide and Blumberg was through to the quarterfinals.

Blumberg, who was undefeated in Junior Davis Cup play last month in Mexico, said his success at the ITF World 16-and-under team title with Michael Mmoh and Gianni Ross has carried over into this week's tournament.

"For me, coming off Kalamazoo (where he lost in the 16s third round) was a little rough, a bit of a wakeup call," Blumberg said. "I got back to work, worked on my forehand a lot, and all I needed was some confidence. Then I went to Mexico and played a bunch of good matches, served well, and coming here felt pretty good."

Blumberg will play No. 4 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Canada in Thursday's quarterfinals after Tabilo defeated Emil Reinberg 6-2, 6-0.  In the other quarterfinal in the bottom half, No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz will play No. 7 seed Kalman Boyd. Fritz defeated unseeded Alfredo Perez 6-3, 6-4, while Boyd outlasted No. 12 seed Catalin Mateas 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the only three-set match of the day in the boys draw. 

Boyd and Mateas were both struggling physically at the end of the match and after six holds to start the third set, there were five consecutive breaks after that.  Boyd failed to earn a match point serving for it at 5-4, but at 6-5 he overcame a 0-30 start, closing it out on his second match point with a good first serve.

Top seed Michael Mmoh defeated No. 15 seed Walker Duncan 6-4, 6-4 to set up a meeting with No. 10 seed Tommy Paul.  Paul defeated his doubles partner,  No. 6 seed Nathan Ponwith 6-3, 6-3, avenging his second round Easter Bowl loss to Ponwith back in April.

The other quarterfinal will feature No. 3 seed Sameer Kumar against No. 11 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada.  Kumar downed No. 13 seed Anudeep Kodali 6-4, 6-1 after trailing 3-0 in the opening set. Shapovalov ended the run of qualifier Alex Phillips 6-3, 6-3.

The girls draw lost No. 2 seed Sofia Kenin in the first round, and No. 4 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain went out Wednesday, with No. 15 seed Emma Higuchi posting a 6-3, 6-1 win over the Easter Bowl finalist.

"She's had a great year and I was really excited to play her," said the 16-year-old from Southern California, who beat Swan in the Wichita Falls Grade 4 semifinals in 2013. "I've never really gone far in a Grade 1. Last year at Eddie Herr I got to the third round and lost, so this is my first time in the quarters, so I'm really excited. I've been a little up and down all year, so I'm really glad all the hard work is paying off right now."

Higuchi mentioned her patience, variety and serve as factors in her win, but also acknowledged Swan's role in the result.

"I don't think she played that well," Higuchi said. "I think her serve is usually a big weapon of hers, and her first serve percentage was pretty low. I was really concentrating on my returns and getting it back deep."

Higuchi meets another USTA Carson player in the quarterfinals Thursday in 14-year-old Claire Liu, who defeated No. 10 seed Kelly Chen 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the only three-set match in the girls draw Wednesday.

The other quarterfinal in the bottom half will also feature an unseeded player against a seed with No. 12 seed Charlotte Robillard-Millette facing unseeded wild card Kylie McKenzie. Robillard-Millette beat unseeded Sofia Sewing 6-4, 6-2, while McKenzie ended the run of wild card Maria Mateas, her doubles partner, 6-4, 6-3.

Top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico again had a long, tough match that isn't indicated by the score, with the 2013 semifinalist defeating qualifier Ellie Douglas 6-3, 6-1.  Zarazua will play No. 7 seed Michaela Gordon, who eliminated No. 11 seed Ellyse Hamlin 6-2, 6-2.

No. 3 seed Raveena Kingsley, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over No. 16 seed Abi Altick Wednesday, will play unseeded Kayla Day, who beat No. 5 seed Katherine Sebov 6-2, 6-1. Day defeated Kingsley 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Easter Bowl back in April.

The doubles quarterfinals are also scheduled for Thursday, with top seeds Mmoh and Fritz and No. 2 seeds Paul and Ponwith still alive in the boys draw.  Zarazua and Gordon, the girls No. 1 seeds, and Kingsley and Sebov, the No. 2 seeds, also advanced with straight-set victories Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday's order of play is here.

Live scoring can be found here.

Draws have been updated on the ITF Junior website.

My Interview with USTA National Collegiate Coach Stephen Amritraj; I Provide My Thoughts on College Tennis for Division 3 Tennis Blog

Before I get to today's matches at the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed, I wanted to link to two articles that I play a role in.

Last month, I spoke with Stephen Amritraj, the USTA's new National Collegiate Coach, about the National Collegiate Team: what's stayed the same, what's changed since he took over from Dustin Taylor. That interview is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

In the midst of all the turmoil in Division I college tennis, I was asked by the Division 3 Tennis blog if I would answer some questions they had for me about formats and Division 3 tennis in general. That interview was posted today on their blog, which is the go-to source for serious analysis of Division 3 tennis.

This week the Small College Championships, which include all the D3 regional champions in addition to Division 2, NAIA, and Junior College representatives, are underway in Sumter, South Carolina. For more on that event, see the ITA's hubpage.