My Kalamazoo 18s Recap; Isner Downs Donaldson to Reach Cincinnati Semis; Wild Cards Announced for ITF Grade 1 in College Park

The Tennis Recruiting Network completed its review of all last week's National Championships, and as has been the case for many years, I contributed the articles on the Boys 16s and the Boys 18s from Kalamazoo.  Today's article recounts the run of Patrick Kypson, who added the 18s title to the 16s title he won two years ago and he will make his ATP level debut at the US Open late this month.

I am currently in Cincinnati for the Midwest Section's semi-annual meeting, where I will be receiving the Fred Burns media award at a luncheon tomorrow. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to attend the Western & Southern Open for the first time in several years, and I was able to watch the quarterfinal match between John Isner and Jared Donaldson, as well as the Bryan brothers match with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France.

Donaldson stayed with Isner throughout the first set, but two double faults and an unforced error from Donaldson in the tiebreaker gave Isner the first set 7-6(4). Isner continued to serve well--he had 25 aces and I saw one that hit 140 on the serve gun--but he couldn't shake Donaldson until 5-5, when he converted his first break point of the match thanks to a Donaldson backhand into the net.  The final game was a formality, with Isner ending it with an ace.

I had an opportunity to chat with coach Mark Bey prior to the Bryan brothers match. Bey, who usually does the commentary for the live stream of the Kalamazoo finals, was not able to make it this year due to two of the girls he coaches being the doubles semifinals in San Diego. So we had a lot to share about the respective National Championships and many other topics.  Bey was inducted into the USPTA Midwest section's Hall of Fame on Thursday night and was an on-court presenter this morning at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, in addition to helping coach the Bryans this week. I'm sure he was as disappointed as the thousands of fans on Stadium Court 3 Friday night when the Bryans twice failed to consolidate breaks in the second set and lost to Herbert and Mahut 4-6, 7-5, 10-8.

From Cincinnati, I will be heading to the ITF Grade 1 Prince George's County International Hard Court Championships in College Park Maryland, which I'll be covering for the fourth straight year. The wild cards for the tournament have been announced, with the qualifying beginning on Saturday.

Boys main draw wild cards:
Finn Garner, Wild Card Challenge winner
Saud Alhogbani
Brandon Perez
Trinity Grear

Alex Lee
Cannon Kingsley
Siem Woldeab
Tyler Zink

Girls main draw wild cards:
Lauren Anzalotta
Lexi Merrill
Malkia Ngounoue, Wild Card Challenge winner
Mackenzie Clark

Katie Volynets
Cori Gauff
Sedona Gallagher
Abigail Forbes