Osuigwe, Anisimova, Liu Receive Miami Open Wild Cards; Chrysochos Gets ATP Top 100 Win at Irving Challenger; Few Changes in USTA College Poll
The Miami Open, which begins with qualifying on Monday March 19, announced its wild card recipients today. The last three girls junior slam champions have received main draw wild cards: Whitney Osuigwe(French Open), Claire Liu(Wimbledon) and Amanda Anisimova(US Open). Osuigwe, 15, will be making her WTA main draw debut; Liu, 17, received a wild card into the BNP Paribas Open last week and at the Stanford tournament last year, as well as qualifying for the US Open in 2017. Anisimova, 16, received a wild card into the main draw at last year's Miami Open, played the French Open with the wild card she earned in the USTA's Challenge and made the fourth round of the current BNP Paribas Open.
The other women's main draw wild cards:
Serena Williams
Victoria Azarenka(BLR)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Bernarda Pera
Alja Tomljanovic(AUS)
Roberta Vinci(ITA) (changed to qualifying wild card)
The men's main draw wild cards include former Georgia Tech star Christopher Eubanks, 2016 ITF World Junior champion Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, Nicola Kuhn of Spain, Mikael Ymer of Sweden and Nicolas Jarry of Chile.
The men's qualifying wild cards are Stanford freshman Axel Geller of Argentina, Texas A&M freshman Patrick Kypson, Michael Mmoh, Elias Ymer of Sweden, Casper Ruud of Norway and Joao Souza of Brazil.
The women's qualifying wild cards are Ann Li, Antonia Lottner of Germany, Katie Boulter of Great Britain, Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic, Allie Kiick, Emiliana Arango of Colombia and Xiyu Wang of China.
Wake Forest junior Petros Chrysochos picked up his first win over a player in the ATP Top 100 today at the $150,000 Irving Texas Challenger, beating No. 77 Thomas Fabbiano of Italy, the No. 8 seed, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. Chrysochos, from Cyprus, had previously faced a Top 100 opponent twice, in Davis Cup back in 2013, and at the Winston-Salem Open last fall. He will play Texas A&M senior Arthur Rinderknech of France, who advanced to the second round with a win yesterday over fellow qualifier Or Ram-Harel of Israel.
The USTA's Division I college poll continues to have the Wake Forest men and North Carolina women at No. 1, the same as the current ITA rankings. There are few changes from last week's poll, although it is notable that the Stanford women, still languishing outside the Top 20 in the ITA computer rankings, are No. 10 in the voting done by college tennis experts. Florida, another perennial (and reigning) NCAA champion, is No. 8 in the USTA rankings and No. 18 in the ITA computer rankings. Northwestern, No. 5 in the ITA rankings, is No. 15 in the USTA poll.
USTA Men's Division I Top 10 (previous week's ranking in parentheses)
1. Wake Forest (1)
2. UCLA (2)
3. Stanford (4)
4. Texas A&M (5)
5. Ohio State (3)
6. North Carolina (6)
7. USC (7)
8. Columbia (8)
9. Texas (T9)
10. Illinois (11)
USTA Women's Division I Top 10
1. North Carolina (1)
2. Pepperdine (2)
3. Vanderbilt (3)
4. Duke (4)
5. Texas Tech (6)
6. Georgia (7)
7. Georgia Tech (5)
8. Florida (10)
9. Oklahoma State (9)
10. Stanford (14)
6 comments:
Minor shame: Danielle Collins beats Madison Keys, reaches the 4th rd in Indian Wells and breaks into the Top 100, but other Americans with “potential” like Osuigwe and Liu receive WCs ahead of her. I wonder if the USTA has any impact at all in this event. Seems like they would want to see if Collins could continue her hot hand. Of all the times for an “up and coming” player to merit a WC, this would appear to be a good time, if for the $$ alone. Instead they play the same old method of giving Jrs a taste of the big leagues. Anisimova played great last week and certainly deserves one, but 3 Jr. WCs?
What has happened to Florida Gator, Brooke Austin? She hasn't played since October. Is she hurt or did she graduate early?
Doubles Results from the Men's Futures in Bakersfield, California....Arias B / Zeballos F defeats Emhardt C / Shropshire S 3,2
Is it a good assumption that if Petros keeps winning, hell eventually have to withdraw to make it back to Winston and play USC on Sunday?
Two wins away from that possibility, but Rinderknech played Irving and for his Texas A&M team on the same day.
The Miami Open is owned by IMG and they make all the wild card decisions.
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