Dietrich Reaches First Challenger Quarterfinal on Home Courts; Drenser-Hagmann Stays Perfect with Win at W15 in Sumter SC; Baris Versus Kim in Harlingen; Friend Documentary Coming Friday

The ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville has always been a focal point for University of Virginia players during the fall, with many taking advantage of their home courts and local support to jump-start their pro careers. While UVA sophomore Rafael Jodar has managed to make the ATP Top 200 (he's 198 in the live rankings after his first round win last night) without a boost from this tournament, Virginia junior Dylan Dietrich has received a wild card the past two years. Last year he won his first Challenger match with a win over Zachary Svajda; this year he has advanced to the quarterfinals, with the 21-year-old from Switzerland beating No. 4 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain 7-6(6), 6-2.

If Jodar, seeded No. 7 this week, wins his second round match against Saba Purtseladze of Georgia Thursday, he will face teammate Dietrich in the quarterfinals.

Former Virginia All-American Inaki Montes couldn't match Dietrich's accomplishment, falling to San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain in a match that took over three and a half hours to complete. The third set alone took over 90 minutes, with Tarvet posting a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory.

The other two players advancing to Friday's quarterfinals are No. 6 seed Martin Damm, who beat qualifier Keegan Smith(UCLA) 6-1, 7-5 and Daniil Glinka of Estonia, who beat Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany 7-6(4), 6-2.

At the W15 in Sumter South Carolina, last week's Hilton Head W15 champion Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann  stayed undefeated in pro tennis competition with a 7-5, 6-4 win over 37-year-old Tori Kinard. The 16-year-old from Michigan, now 8-0 on the Pro Circuit, will face Thea Frodin, also 16, in the second round Thursday. Frodin came from a set down in a match suspended Tuesday night, beating No. 6 seed Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1. 

Two other juniors, both of whom received entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program, will face off in a second round match, with Georgia recruit Ava Rodriguez playing Florida recruit Capucine Jauffret. Rodriguez defeated No. 3 seed Kira Matushkina of Russua 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3, while Jauffret had beaten wild card Sara Shumate 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday.

Fifteen-year-old wild card Janae Preston will play 31-year-old Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania, the No. 8 seed, in the second round after beating wild card Ciara Harding 6-3, 7-5.  Clemson recruit Harper Stone also advanced to the second round with the 16-year-old beating fellow qualifier Sofia Maria Barbulescu of Romania 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-6(5) in a four-hour marathon. The other two Americans in the second round are former collegians who came through qualifying: India Houghton(Stanford) will play Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina) for a place in the quarterfinals.

At the M25 in Harlingen Texas, No. 3 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France extended his USTA Pro Circuit winning streak to 16 matches, beating Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the second round against Kaylan Bigun(UCLA). 

In the only all-USA second round match, Michigan State senior Ozan Baris will face Ohio State junior Aidan Kim, the No. 7 seed, after Baris beat qualifier Sebastian Dominko(Notre Dame) of Slovenia 7-5, 7-5 and Kim defeated Oklahoma sophomore Orel Kimhi of Israel 6-1, 6-1. Kim beat Baris this past June in the second round of the Wichita M25 6-2, 6-4, but their meeting in Big Ten play in March went to Kim 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), with that result giving Ohio State a 4-3 win.

The ITA has a YouTube documentary coming Friday with Arizona's Jay Friend, this fall's ITA All-American champion. The trailer for the 34-minute behind-the-scenes coverage of Friend's quest for his first college major is below.

October Aces; Basavareddy and Tien Reach Charlottesville Challenger Semifinals, Rothenberg Contrasts Actual Challenger with Movie; Rogers, Two Teens Advance at W35 in Norman

My monthly Tennis Recruiting Network column on notable junior and college accomplishments is out today, looking back on Octobers best performances.  Current collegians had great success despite going back and forth between fall college events and the USTA Pro Circuit, and former collegians continue to climb up the rankings once they devote themselves full-time to professional tennis. The champions of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals played last month are featured, and girls winner Emerson Jones of Australia is building on that title. The 16-year-old has reached the semifinals of the W75 in Sydney as an unseeded wild card, her best finish in a pro tournament above the W35 level.

In addition to Jones, two other players featured in the October Aces article have advanced to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville: Learner Tien(USC), who won the Fairfield Challenger last month and Nishesh Basavareddy (Stanford), who won the Tiburon Challenger the week prior to Tien's title. Tien, the No. 2 seed and sole seed in the quarterfinals, came back to defeat Mark Lajal of Estonia 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. He will face James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan, who beat Colton Smith(Arizona) 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(4). Smith was serving up 4-3 in the tiebreaker, but Trotter won the last four points to reach his fourth Challenger final since graduating in 2023.

Like Trotter, Basavareddy was forced into a third set tiebreaker by lucky loser Chris Rodesch of Luxembourg, the recent University of Virginia graduate playing on his former home courts, before escaping with a 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) victory. After Basavareddy netted a forehand to at 4-all in the third set tiebreaker, Rodesch had the match on his racquet, but he didn't make a first serve on either point. Basavareddy hit a perfect backhand drop volley to make it 5-all and on the next point returned Rodesch's second serve deep up the middle, with Rodesch hitting his forehand reply long. Basavareddy did get his first serve in on match point and Rodesch netted his return.

Basavareddy will play Alexis Galarneau(NC State) of Canada, who defeated Ethan Quinn(Georgia) in the only quarterfinal decided by straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

The doubles final Saturday will feature 2024 NCAA champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy of Ohio State and Virginia alums Rodesch and William Woodall. Unseeded Cash and Tracy defeated unseeded Australian Pat Harper, the 2021 NCAA doubles champion while at Tennessee, and Finn Reynolds(Ole Miss) of New Zealand 6-4, 7-6(4). Wild cards Rodesch and Woodall beat Texas alums Eliot Spizzirri and Canadian Cleeve Harper, the later the 2022 NCAA doubles champion, 6-3, 6-4 in today's semifinals.

Tennis journalist and podcaster Ben Rothenberg has begun writing regularly on Substack, producing a newsletter called Bounces. While his primary focus is on the top players of the sport, he paid a visit to the Charlottesville Challenger this week, with this post the result. Contrasting an actual Challenger with how the circuit was portrayed in the recent film Challengers, Rothenberg notes that movie's notoriety has changed nothing for the players or the tournament in Charlottesville. I was particularly interested in his observation on the officiating, and surprised to hear that there were not enough officials to have more than two courts going at once.  

I know the Cary Challengers have had Electronic Line Calling pilots; it sounds as if that has to be the next enhancement to the ATP Challenger Circuit.

At the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Norman Oklahoma, No. 3 seed Anna Rogers, a former All-American at North Carolina State, is the lone American in the semifinals. Rogers defeated Maribella Zamarripa(Texas) 7-6(4), 6-2 and will face unseeded Olivia Lincer(Central Florida) of Poland. Lincer, 19, ended the run of qualifier Kristina Paskauskas, a sophomore at NC State, with a 6-2, 6-4 win in today's quarterfinals. 

No. 2 seed Sohyun Park of Korea will play 18-year-old qualifier Kira Matushkina of Russia, a sophomore at Old Dominion. Park defeated No. 7 seed Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil 6-2, 6-0, while Matushkina won her fifth match since Monday, taking out No. 4 seed Jessica Failla(USC, Pepperdine), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. 

Failla and Zamarripa may not have advanced in singles, but they will play for a doubles title Saturday. The top seeds will play No. 2 seeds Park and Makenna Jones(UNC).

Louisa Chirico[5] is through to the semifinals at the W75+H in Toronto, where she'll face qualifier Julie Belgraver of France.

Ann Li has advanced to her first WTA semifinal since January 2022 at this week's 250 tournament in Merida Mexico. Li is making a push for direct entry into the Australian Open, as she finished seventh, two spots behind Iva Jovic, in the USTA Wild Card Challenge. The four players above Jovic in the race are expected to receive direct entry.

Watch Trailer for Junior Documentary Top Class Tennis, Debuting Next Month on Amazon; USTA US Open Wild Card Challenge Begins July 1; Mullins Named CEO of ITA; Four USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments This Week

An official announcement from Amazon Prime, along with the trailer below, came today regarding the debut of the junior tennis documentary "Top Class Tennis." This documentary, part of the Uninterrupted series, was filmed at the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl championships in December 2022, following four junior players: Joseph Oyebog, Ariana Pursoo, Stephanie Yakoff and Stiles Brockett.  The four-part series will air on Amazon Prime's FreeVee, with the first installment set for July 18. 

The USTA announced its annual US Open Wild Card Challenge to distribute one of the main draw US Open wild cards it awards each year. The men will have a six-week window, beginning July 1 and lasting through the week of August 5th, with the four best results at any hard-court, $25K and above, tournament anywhere in the world. The women will have a four-week window, beginning July 15 and also lasting through the week of August 5th, with the three best results at hard-court, W35 and above tournaments, counting in the race. Last year's winners were Steve Johnson and Kayla Day.

The ITA announced its new Chief Executive Officer today, with Dave Mullins, who has been with the ITA since 2019 and has been the Chief Operating Office since 2021, selected by the board to replace Tim Russell, who announced his retirement in January. Mullins and Russell will work together as co-CEOs for the next six months, with Mullins taking over on January 1, 2025.

Four USTA Pro Circuit tournaments are underway this week, with the SoCal Pro Series $15Ks for men and women both in Rancho Santa Fe; a $25K for men is in Tulsa Oklahoma and a W35 for women is in Wichita Kansas. 

Like the men's tournament in Wichita last week, the women's qualifying also had a 64-player draw, with eight players qualifying for the 32-player main draw. Americans advancing through qualifying are Paris Corley(Arizona, LSU), Sydni Ratliff(Ohio State), Jada Robinson, 16-year-old Rachael Smith, Camille Kiss and Malkia Ngounoue. 

Victoria Hu(Princeton) and Akasha Urhobo are the top two seeds. Wild cards were awarded to Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara), Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina), Kate Fakih(UCLA) and Wichita State rising sophomore Giorgia Roselli of Italy.

Oliver Lincer of Poland, the rising UCF sophomore, received a special exemption after winning the W15 in the Dominican Republic; Fiona Crawley(North Carolina), who won the W15 in San Diego last week, has now won three consecutive USTA Pro Circuit tournaments since last fall, and will look to extend her 15-match winning streak as the No. 4 seed this week.

In Tulsa, five Americans advanced to the main draw with wins in the final round of qualifying today: Pierce Rollins (Texas A&M, Tulsa) Aidan Kim (Florida, Ohio State), Gabrielius Guzauskas (Illinois), JC Roddick (UCF, Texas A&M) and Nicolas Kotzen(Columbia).

Mitchell Krueger is the top seed, with Bernard Tomic of Australia seeded No. 2. Wild cards were given to Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State), Govind Nanda(UCLA), Jonah Braswell(Florida, Texas) and Chad Kissell(Valparaiso).  Micah Braswell(Texas), the champion last week in Wichita, received a special exemption into the main draw.

In Rancho Santa Fe, four of the eight men's qualifiers were from the United States: Colton Smith(Arizona), Aadarsh Tripathi(UCLA), Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) and Alexander Petrov(Illinois).

Learner Tien(USC) is the top seed, after taking last week off following his two consecutive titles to start the seven-week SoCal Pro Series. Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) is the No. 2 seed. 

Wild cards were given to Ethan Schiffman(Cal), William Kleege, Masato Perera(Harvard) and Trevor Svajda, who is the No. 6 seed. Svajda played Alex Frusina(Auburn), who received entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program in the first round today, with Svajda posting a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Six Americans advanced to the main draw in the women's tournament in Rancho Santa Fe: Ema Burgic(Baylor), Anne Lutkemeyer(UCLA), Gianna Oboniye(Mississippi State), Bianca Molnar(Notre Dame), Kaila Barksdale(Utah) and Elise Wagle(UCLA). 

Amy Zhu(Michigan) and Sara Daavettila(North Carolina) are the top two seeds. Wild cards were awarded to Maxine Murphy(Washington State), Filippa Bruu-Syversen(San Diego), Katie Codd(Duke) and 15-year-old Julieta Pareja. Fifteen-year-old Thea Frodin received entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program and won her first round match today over Elyse Tse(Washington State) of New Zealand 6-4, 7-5.

Bigun Moves to No. 1 in ITF Junior Rankings; ITF Junior Circuit Titles for Murray, Traynor and Mata; Chinlund and Delgado Claim ITF M15 Doubles Title; Update on Junior Tennis Documentary; NCAA Singles Finals Videos

Kaylan Bigun not only won the Roland Garros boys singles title Saturday, but when the latest ITF Junior Circuit rankings were released today, the 18-year-old Californian had risen to the top spot, from the No. 6 position he occupied after winning the ITF J500 in Milan.

Bigun bumped previous No. 1, Australian Open champion Rei Sakamoto of Japan down to No. 3, with Austria's Joel Schwaerzler, who had been No. 1 for most of the year, remaining at No. 2 after reaching the semifinals in singles and winning the doubles. 

The outstanding Roland Garros results from Tyra Grant, Iva Jovic and Kristina Penickova put all three in the Top 10. Grant stayed at No. 5 with her singles semifinal and doubles final, while Jovic, with a quarterfinal in singles and the doubles final, moved to a career-high of 7. Kristina Penickova, a semifinalist in singles, moved to her career-high of 10 from 25 a week earlier.

Australian Open champion Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia retained the top spot in the girls rankings, with a quarterfinal in singles and the doubles title. Singles and doubles champion Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic is up to a career-high of No. 4.

In addition to Bigun's Roland Garros title, there were three other Americans who collected singles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit last week.

Sixteen-year-old Ligaya Murray won the J100 in Guatemala, with the No. 3 seed defeating No. 4 seed Valentina Vargas of Ecuador 6-3, 6-4 in the final. It's Murray's second and biggest ITF singles title.  Unseeded Maria Araoz-Gosn and Isabelle DeLuccia won the doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Marianne Angel of Mexico and Carlota Balseiro of Guatemala 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Zavier Augustin reached the boys singles and doubles final, losing to top seed Cesar Cruz of El Salvador 6-3, 7-6(4) in the singles final.

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Traynor was unseeded at the J60 in Canada, but dropped only one set all week, while beating the top two seeds in the semifinals and finals. Traynor defeated No. 1 seed Anna Tabunshchyk of Canada 6-3, 6-0 in the championship match.

Thirteen-year-old Te'anna Mata, playing in her first ITF Junior Circuit tournament, won the title at the J30 in Congo, which had only 11 participants in the singles draw. Mata didn't lose a set in her three wins, beating No. 2 seed Ann Hsu of Taiwan 7-5, 6-1 in the final.

At the J30 in Uganda, 17-year-old Neha Krishnan won her sixth doubles title of the year, all in Africa, and her second with Saina Jayesh Vaidya of Singapore. The top seeds defeated Saumya Chatterjee of India and Chiu Kwan Nina Wang of Hong Kong 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

Last night at the ITF men's World Tennis Tour $15K in the Dominican Republic, 2023 Easter Bowl champion Cassius Chinlund won his first Pro Circuit doubles title, partnering with Wake Forest rising freshman Andrew Delgado. Left-handers Chinlund, 17, and Delgado, 19, defeated Lorenzo Claverie of Italy and Lucca Pignaton of Brazil 3-6, 7-6(4), 11-9 in the final. It's also the first Pro Circuit doubles title for Delgado, who won the Orange Bowl doubles championship in December with Matthew Forbes.

Ariana Pursoo being filmed for documentary in 2022

The documentary that was the subject of much speculation during its filming at the 2022 Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl appears to be near a debut on Amazon Prime, although nothing official has been announced. Here's the information the Hollywood Reporter recently provided; I wasn't aware until reading this article that Sloane Stephens was involved as an executive producer.

With Roland Garros occupying my time for the past two weeks I'm just now getting everything organized from the NCAAs, and I just finished processing the videos from the singles finals, which appear below. 

Johnston Reaches Semifinals at ITF J300 Inka Bowl; ITF J300 Pan Am Closed Returns to Houston This Fall; ITA D-I Men's Team Indoor Begins Friday Morning; Peacock Series on Tennis Family Begins Next Month

The ITF J300 Inka Bowl in Lima Peru is at the semifinal stage in singles and the final stage in doubles, with two 16-year-old American boys still competing for the titles. No. 8 seed Noah Johnston won his first match at a J300 last month in Barranquilla Colombia (he had won a match at the J500 Orange Bowl in December), so this is the first deep run for the left-hander from South Carolina at that level. He defeated unseeded Calin Stirbu of Romania in today's quarterfinals 6-3, 6-1.

Johnston will face No. 6 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden in Friday's semifinal; Vinciguerra took out top seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.  Johnston, who has already won two J300 doubles titles this year in Costa Rica and Colombia, did not play doubles this week, but Maximus Dussault is through to the final, with partner Joaquin Guilleme of Nicaragua. The No. 4 seeds will face top seeds Vinciguerra and Derepasko for the title Friday. 

No. 7 seed Maya Dutta reached the quarterfinals, but lost 6-2, 6-0 today to top seed Mayu Crossley of Japan. 

Four all-USA finals are set for Friday at the ITF J30 in Medford New Jersey, with top seed Mark Krupkin taking on No. 5 seed Sebastian Bielen for the boys singles title and unseeded Rachel Smith facing No. 6 seed Isabelle DeLuccia for the girls singles title. Smith and DeLuccia will play in the doubles final after singles, with the No. 3 seeds taking on the unseeded team of Anabelle Janczyk and Lauren Zhang.

Krupkin will play for the boys doubles title with partner Nicolas Iantosca. The top seeds will face the unseeded team of Gavin Goode and Mason Taube in the final.

The latest version of the 2024 USTA National Junior Tennis Calendar confirms what I had heard in December: the ITF J300 Pan American Closed will return to the Giammalva Racquet Club in Houston this fall. The tournament was held there for the first time last year, and although it was a late substitute for the Leftwich Tennis Center in Memphis, which had initially been announced as the site but was not completed in time, reviews were positive. Tournament director Victor Pinones was eager to bid for 2024, and with the event back to its usual place on the calendar in October, the heat may not be quite as bad as it was last September. The tournament does not yet appear on the ITF Junior Circuit calendar, but the dates and venue are listed here.

The men's ITA Division I Men's Team Indoor Championships begin Friday in New York, with eight matches on the schedule at two sites. Cracked Racquets will be providing coverage via their YouTube Channel. Links to live scoring and live streams can be found here.

Friday's schedule:
9:00 a.m.
Virginia[4] v Duke[13] at Milstein
TCU[2] v Arizona State[15] at BJKNTC

Noon
Tennessee[5] v Southern Cal[12] at Milstein
South Carolina[7] v Texas A&M[10] at BJKNTC

3:30 pm
Ohio State[1] v Alabama[16] at Milstein
Texas[3] v Arizona[14] at BJKNTC

6:30 pm
Columbia[8] v Harvard[9] at Milstein
Wake Forest[6] v Michigan[11] at BJKNTC

I'm not aware of many television series based around sporting families, but there is one coming next month on Peacock that focuses on a tennis family, with Sam Neill and Annette Bening starring as former coaches and academy owners with four adult children who also played. This article features comments from the actors on training for the tennis scenes, and closes with this quote:

Tennis, which showrunner Melanie Marnich described as a "dynamic, sexy, wonderful sport," is key to understanding the Delaneys' family dynamic — and how it may have fueled resentment between them. "When you're in a family of deeply competitive people, raised by deeply competitive people, it's in the blood, it's in the DNA," Marnich told the TCA. At what point are the Delaneys competing for the love of the game, and at what point are they competing for the love of their parents?

Four Americans Qualify for Charleston Challenger; Les Petits As Regional Qualifying Underway; Career High Junior Rankings for Pan Am Closed Finalists; USTA Girls 18s and 16s Nationals Highlight Show Now Available for Viewing

Qualifying for the ATP Challenger 75 in Charleston South Carolina was completed today, with four Americans advancing to the main draw.

Stefan Dostanic, in his fifth year at USC, posted two wins today, with his first round match Sunday with Evan Zhu(UCLA) interrupted. Dostanic won that match 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, then beat Stefan Kozlov 6-2, 6-1 to qualify for the main draw, where he'll play No. 8 seed Alexander Ritschard(Virginia) of Switzerland. Another Kalamazoo 16s finalist, Aidan Mayo, reached the main draw with a 6-2, 6-4 victory of Darian King of Barbados. Twenty-eight-year-old Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern), who has been toiling away in Futures and, lately, Challenger qualifying for six years now, defeated Elmer Moller of Denmark 6-1, 6-3 to reach the main draw at a Challenger for the eighth time this year. 2017 NCAA champion Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) qualified with a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Skander Mansouri(Wake Forest) of Tunisia, who also made the main draw as a lucky loser, with No. 2 seed Emilio Gomez(USC) a late withdrawal.

The other two qualifiers are Ernesto Escobedo of Mexico and 2022 NCAA singles finalist August Holmgren(San Diego) of Denmark.

Wild cards were given to Duke's Garrett Johns, who won his first round match today, Oliver Crawford(Florida) and Toby Kodat. 

Enzo Couacaud of France is again the top seed, as he was in Columbus; Denis Kudla, the Columbus champion as the No. 2 seed, is No. 7 this week. 2023 NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia) received entry via the ATP Accelerator Program and will face No. 5 seed Alexis Galarneau(NC State) of Canada, the finalist in Columbus last week.

The USA Playoffs for the January 2024 Les Petits 14-and-under tournament in France began this week with Regional Qualifying. UTR has partnered with Lacoste Le Mondial and Top Five Management for the five regionals, the first of which was scheduled to finish today in Houston, followed by regionals in Bradenton Florida, Fullerton California, Norfolk Virginia and Philadelphia Pennsylvania. The winners of the regionals will be among the entrants in the USA National Playoff, which begins October 30th at Tropical Park in Coral Gables Florida.

The Les Petits As website has the list of the direct acceptances into the USA National Playoffs, currently including eight girls and six boys. Two of the top 2010 boys, Michael Antonius, who won the Les Petits As consolation tournament last year, and Jordan Lee currently are among the top five 2010s in the Tennis Europe 14s rankings so they probably don't need to compete in the National Playoffs to earn spots in Tarbes.

All four of the finalists at last week's ITF J300 Pan American Closed reached new career highs in the ITF junior rankings released today.

Boys champion Alex Frusina is up to 17, with his previous high 24 just two weeks ago.  Boys finalist Alex Razeghi is now at 23, with his previous high 34.

Girls finalist Tyra Grant moved to 21, with her previous career high 22; singles and doubles champion Maya Joint is up to 31, with her previous best ranking 43.

There is no change at the top of the rankings, with Alina Korneeva of Russia and Joao Fonseca of Brazil continuing as No. 1s.

The highlight show produced about the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18s and 16s National Championships last month in San Diego, which appeared during the US Open on Tennis Channel, is now available for viewing via the ustagirlsnationals.com website. Click on the Southern California Tennis Association Foundation ad to the left to go to the website, and you'll see a button to click to watch "Breaking Barriers." The show not only features current players and champions, but also delves into the history of the event, including interviews with Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver and Kathy Rinaldi.

Make sure to enter the password BB (upper case) to view the 45-minute program.

Four Americans Selected for ITF Junior Masters Next Month; Whittle Stuns Abanda in Templeton $60K; Donaldson Reaches ATP Chengdu Quarterfinals; Christian's Role in Battle of the Sexes Film

The fields for the ITF Junior Masters next month in Chengdu China have been announced, with three US girls--Whitney Osuigwe, Sofia Sewing and Taylor Johnson--and one US boy--Trent Bryde--among the 16 competitors.  The eight-player draws are divided into two groups with the top two finishers advancing to the semifinals. A total of $160,000 of travel grants will be awarded based on where the players finish in the competition.

Both fields had to go 14 deep to get their eight participants. In the boys field, invitations were declined by Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic, the 2016 ITF World Champion, Australian Open boys champion Zsombor Piros of Hungary, French Open boys champion Alexei Popyrin of Australia, Wimbledon boys champion Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, Yuta Shimizu of Japan and Corentin Moutet of France. Wu Yibing of China, who won the US Open boys title earlier this month, is the only boys slam winner in the field.

The girls have two slam champions in the field, Osuigwe(French) and Marta Kostyuk(Australia).  Claire Liu(Wimbledon) and Amanda Anisimova(US Open) declined invitations, as did Canada's Carson Branstine, Olga Danilovic of Serbia, Emiliana Arango of Colombia and Simona Waltert of Switzerland.

The boys[current ranking in brackets]:
Wu Yibing (CHN)[1]
Axel Geller (ARG)[2]
Yu Hsiou Hsu (TPE)[7]
Jurij Rodionov (AUT)[8]
Marko Miladinovic (SRB)[9]
Sebastian Baez (ARG)[11]
Trent Bryde (USA)[12]
Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN)[14]

The girls:
Whitney Osuigwe (USA)[2]
Marta Kostyuk (UKR)[3]
Elena Rybakina (RUS)[5]
Kaja Juvan (SLO)[8]
Sofia Sewing (USA)[9]
Xin Yu Wang (CHN)[10]
Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG)[12]
Taylor Johnson (USA)[14]

Sophie Whittle at Templeton $60K   photo credit: Mike Peeples

Local wild cards are not expected to challenge any of the players in the main draw of a $60,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event, but Sophie Whittle did not get the memo. The Gonzaga junior, who lives less than an hour south of Templeton, in Nipomo California, played her first pro match yesterday, in doubles. Today, Whittle shocked WTA 114 and No. 3 seed Francoise Abanda of Canada 6-2, 6-3, one of the most unlikely results of the year on the ITF Women's Pro Circuit.

"I'm really happy," Whittle told Templeton tournament media aide Steve Pratt. "I think I played the best I've ever played, or at least the smartest I've ever played...She probably thought that she would roll over me, I don't have any ranking or anything, but I just knew that I could beat anyone if I just set my mind to it."

Serving for the match at 6-2, 5-2, Whittle went up 40-0, but Abanda won five straight points to make it 5-3. Despite that disappointment, Whittle didn't flinch, earning another match point with Abanda serving at 3-5, 30-40 and converting it to complete the upset.

Whittle, who is the first player from Gonzaga to earn an ITA ranking, will be competing in the pre-qualifying at the upcoming ITA Riviera All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, unless, of course, her improbable success in Templeton continues.

Jared Donaldson has continued to build on his impressive results this summer, reaching the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Chengdu with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 win over No. 6 seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain. Donaldson, who turns 21 next month, plays Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan next.  For more on Donaldson's win see the ATP website.

I linked to a story a couple of days ago about Kaitlyn Christian and Vince Spadea and their roles as tennis doubles in the film Battle of the Sexes, which opens nationwide on Friday.  Tennis Recruiting Network's Rhiannon Potkey has a much more detailed look at Christian's path to the silver screen: how she got the role, how much she was paid for it, what it was like working with Emma Stone, and many other interesting insider details.

Giavara, Fordham, Khan Win ITF Junior Titles; Falconi Claims Tampico $100K; Christian and Spadea as Stunt Doubles for Battle of the Sexes Movie

A busy weekend in junior and college tennis is no excuse for neglecting juniors who won titles last weekend in places other than Canada, Hungary and Malibu.

At the ITF Grade 5 in Nicaragua, Zane Khan collected his second consecutive title to run his winning streak to 10 in his first two tournaments since returning from injury.  The 15-year-old, who was seeded No. 2, defeated top seed Alan Sau Franco of Mexico 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-2 in the final.  Sau Franco and his partner Alfredo Casso, also of Mexico, won the doubles, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Niroop Vallabhaneni and Guatemala's Juan Dominguez Collado 6-0, 6-4 in the championship match.

Sixteen-year-old Haley Giavara swept the girls titles in the first ITF tournament of her junior career.  The Californian, who was of course unseeded, won the singles title when No. 3 seed Dianela Rodriguez of Mexico retired in the final trailing 5-0. Giavara and Toni Nelson won the doubles title, beating top seeds Isabella Barrera Aguirre and Mexico's Claudia Rosas Garcia of Mexico 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

At the ITF Grade 4 in South Africa, 15-year-old New Yorker Dakota Fordham swept the titles, earning her first singles title after three previous finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 4 seed Megan Basson of South Africa. Fordham was the No. 2 seed. In the doubles final, Fordham and South Africa's Maja Gledic, seeded No. 3, beating top seeds Linge Steenkamp and Lara Van der Merwe of South Africa 6-3, 6-3.

This week the ITF junior circuit returns to the United States with a Grade 5 in Austin Texas. Joshua Bode and Chloe Hamlin are the top seeds.

Late last night the $100,000+Hospitality ITF Women's Circuit tournament in Mexico concluded, with Irina Falconi beating No. 4 seed Louisa Chirico 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1 in an all-American final. The former Georgia Tech star, who was not seeded, won her first title of the year and her first since claiming the title at the WTA tournament in Bogota last April.

Caroline Dolehide won the doubles title with Maria Irigoyen of Argentina, with the top seeds defeating former USC teammates Kaitlyn Christian and Mexico's Giuliana Olmos, the No. 3 seeds, 6-4, 6-4 in the final.  Dolehide is closing in on the Top 100 in doubles; the 19-year-old is now ranked 105.

Speaking of Christian, she has been doing quite a few interviews lately with the opening (in most theaters nationwide Friday) of The Battle of the Sexes movie, featuring Emma Stone as Billie Jean King and Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs. (Easter Bowl and San Diego Hard Court Nationals tournament director Lorne Kuhle was a technical consultant on the film).

Christian, 25, was Stone's stunt double for the tennis scenes, with former ATP pro Vince Spadea the stunt double for Carell.  Christian, the 2013 NCAA doubles champion, is the rare contemporary player who resembles King in game style, but it was her similar body type to Stone that resulted in her casting.  For more on what it was like to work as tennis doubles, see this article on ESPNW.

Meyer's Commitment to Vanderbilt; Arconada Reaches Pelham $25K Final; Anisimova, Duval to Meet in $80K Semifinals; Escobedo, Vondrousova in First ATP, WTA Semifinals

While at the Easter Bowl, I had an opportunity to talk with blue chip Amanda Meyer about her commitment to Vanderbilt for this Tennis Recruiting Network article. I often ask players heading to college for their best memories of junior tennis and what it has meant to them, and Meyer articulated some of the reasons we all have such a passion for the sport.

Today's action produced a lot of firsts for young players.  Eighteen-year-old Usue Arconada has advanced to her first Pro Circuit final above the $10,000 level at the $25,000 tournament in Pelham Alabama. Arconada reached the final when No. 2 seed Amanda Carreras of Great Britain retired leading 7-6(8), 1-0. The first set alone had taken 68 minutes to decide.  Arconada, seeded fourth, will face unseeded Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway, who beat former Alabama star Alex Guarachi Mathison of Chile 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Carreras's injury was obviously serious, as she was unable to play in the doubles final, with No. 3 seeds Emina Bektas and Sanaz Marand getting the walkover from Carreras and Tena Lukas of Croatia.

Fifteen-year-old Amanda Anisimova has had very few appearances in Pro Circuit events--just three and all this year, at the $100,000 Dow Tennis Classic, the $25,000 event in Brazil and this week's $80,000 tournament at Indian Harbour Beach. She lost in the final round of qualifying in Midland, made the final as a qualifier in Brazil, and has reached the semifinals in Florida this week, after defeating 19-year-old Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-2, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. The 2016 French Open girls finalist will face wild card Vicky Duval, whose amazing comeback continued today with a 6-0, 6-3 win over top seed Genie Bouchard of Canada. Duval, who last played at 2016 Wimbledon, has spent the past months building up her health, saying her comeback at Wimbledon, after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014, was premature.

In Biel Switzerland, 17-year-old qualifier Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic advanced to the semifinals of a WTA event for the first time, defeating Kristyna Pliskova, also from the Czech Republic, 6-2, 7-5 in today's quarterfinals. Vondrousova, a former ITF junior No. 1, never reached a junior slam singles final, but she did win the doubles titles at the 2015 Australian and French Opens with Miriam Kolodziejova. Recently named to the Czech team that will face the US in the Fed Cup semifinals later this month, Vondrousova will play another Czech, top seed Barbora Strycova, in the semifinals. For more, see the WTA website.

In Houston, at the ATP's US Clay Courts, 20-year-old Ernesto Escobedo has reached his first ATP semifinal by virtue of a three-hour 7-6(6), 6-7(6), 7-6(5) win over No. 2 seed John Isner.  Escobedo, who received a wild card into the event and is playing in his first ATP tournament on clay this week, survived 35 aces by Isner.  Escobedo will face No. 8 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in the semifinals. Regardless of the outcome of that match, Escobedo is projected to move from his current ATP ranking of 91 into the 70s.

At the ATP Challenger in Mexico, ITF junior No. 1 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia has reached the semifinals, defeating No. 7 seed and former Tulsa star Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 6-3, 6-4. The 17-year-old wild card will face No. 8 seed Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain, who is 14 years his senior, in the semifinals.  For more on Kecmanovic's breakthrough this week, see the ATP website.

Jared Hiltzik, who won last week's Futures in Memphis, is through to the semifinals of this week's $25,000 Futures in Little Rock. The former Illinois All-American defeated qualifier Winston Lin (Columbia) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, setting up a meeting with No. 5 seed Philip Bester of Canada.  No. 4 seed Brayden Schnur of Canada, the former North Carolina star, beat wild card Ulises Blanch 6-7(1), 6-1, 6-1 and will face former Kentucky standout Eric Quigley, who defeated top seed Yannick Mertens of Belgium 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Qualifying Complete at USTA Pro Circuit Events in Pelham and Little Rock; Signing Week Begins at the Tennis Recruiting Network; Tennis on Campus National Championships Begin Thursday in Orlando

Usually qualifying at women's USTA Pro Circuit events doesn't finish until Tuesday, but this week there are two such events, the $25,000 tournament in Pelham Alabama and the $80,000 tournament in Indian Harbour Beach Florida, and the Alabama tournament's qualifying began on Saturday, not Sunday as usual.

Earning places in the main draw in Pelham are four Americans: Madeline Kobelt(Syracuse), Keri Wong(Clemson), Frances Altick(Vanderbilt) and Georgia Tech recruit Victoria Flores. Three of the other qualifiers have college ties: Alabama senior Erin Routliffe of Canada, former Clemson star Beatrice Gumulya of Indonesia and former St. Mary's College standout Catherine Leduc of Canada. The eighth qualifier is Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay, who is currently 106 in the WTA rankings and six months ago was No. 60. Buyukakcay took a wild card into qualifying, but unlike the ITF Men's Circuit, which waits to do the draw when such a highly ranked player is in qualifying, the Women's Circuit doesn't wait, with the result that Buyukakcay is unseeded in the main draw, where she would have been the top seed had she not been in qualifying.

As a junior, Maria Mateas had terrible luck in ITF junior circuit draws last year, drawing the number one seed in the first round at the last three Grade As she played: Wimbledon, the US Open and the Orange Bowl (for an interesting look at another player who has had bad draws this year, see this Heavy Topspin article). Although her draws have been better on the USTA Pro Circuit, where she's played exclusively this year, her luck ran out this week, and Mateas, who received a wild card, has drawn Buyukakcay.  Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal is the top seed this week, with the other wild cards given to Alexa Guarachi Mathison of Chile, Ashley Kratzer and Cameron Morra. Sophie Chang, a finalist last week in Jackson Mississippi received a special exemption. There is a lucky loser spot not yet filled that will also go to an American.

The Indian Harbour Beach qualifying will finish on Tuesday. That tournament features Genie Bouchard of Canada, who took a wild card and will be the No. 1 seed and Madison Brengle, the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Vicky Duval, who is coming back from injury, Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia and Nicole Coopersmith. This is the first of four women's Pro Circuit events that will count toward the race for the French Open reciprocal wild card the USTA distributes every year.

At the $25,000 Men's Futures in Little Rock, seven of the eight qualifiers are Americans, all with college ties: Henry Craig(Denver), Christopher Haworth(Oklahoma State), John Lamble(Santa Clara), Winston Lin(Columbia), Tim Kopinski(Illinois) and recruits Mac Kiger(Illinois) and John McNally(Ohio State).  The eighth qualifier, Alastair Gray of Great Britain, is a TCU recruit.  Junior Danny Thomas got in as a lucky loser. The top seed is Yannick Mertens of Belgium, and wild cards went to Julio Olaya, Alexandre Rotsaert, Ulises Blanch and Kevin King.

A few US women are also in Mexico for the $25,000 ITF Women's Circuit tournament there. Ellie Douglas received a main draw wild card, with Alexa Ryngler, Alexandra Riley, Desirae Krawczyk and Akiko Okuda the Americans who advanced via qualifying.

Signing Week has begun over at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and they will have several features each day, some commitment announcements, others articles that highlight an already announced choice. I will have one of the latter Friday, on Amanda Meyer's decision to join Vanderbilt this fall.

This year's USTA Tennis on Campus National Championships will be held beginning Thursday at the new USTA Campus in Lake Nona.  This competition for club teams at universities across the country has grown dramatically since its inception in 2000, with more than 35,000 students now participating.  Sixty-four teams will travel to Orlando for the Nationals; the list of those teams can be found here.

NCAA Champions Routliffe and Jansen Win US Open Doubles Wildcard; US Open Doubles Draws; Ahn Claims Winnipeg $25K Title; Althea Gibson Biography Debuts on PBS American Masters Friday

Routliffe and Jansen with head coach Jenny Mainz at 2015 NCAAs

The US Open National Playoffs concluded over the weekend, with all three of the teams earning US Open main draw wild cards having college ties.

Reigning NCAA champions Erin Routliffe of Canada and Maya Jansen won the women's title, beating Yasmin Schnack and Katsiaryna Zheltova 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Routliffe and Jansen defending their 2014 title this year in Waco, but knowing from their 2014 experience that they would not receive a wild card as NCAA champions due to Routliffe's Canadian citizenship, they entered the Southern section's qualifying and went on to earn the title.

They will play No. 6 seeds Abigail Spears (UCLA) and newlywed Raquel Kops-Jones(Cal) in the first round.

The men's doubles wild card went to Julio Peralta of Chile and Matt Seeberger, the former UC-Santa Cruz standout who won three NCAA Division III singles titles. The only seeded team to reach any of the finals, the top seeds defeated Ashley Fisher and Nathan Healey 6-4, 6-3. They will play Santiago Giraldo of Colombia and Rameez Junaid of Australia in the first round

The mixed doubles wild card went to two former University of Oklahoma stars, Anda Perianu and Andrei Daescu (that is not them pictured on the National Playoffs landing page) Perianu and Daescu defeated Jacqueline Cako and Joel Kielbowicz 6-2, 6-4 in the final. The mixed doubles draw has not yet been released.
In other doubles notes, Kalamazoo champions Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka have drawn an unseeded team in the first round, Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain.  San Diego champions Ingrid Neel and Tornado Alicia Black face the unseeded team of Karin Knapp and Roberta Vinci in the opening round.

Sabrina Santamaria and Kaitlyn Christian, the 2013 NCAA champions who were overlooked for a wild card that year in spite of both being Americans, received a wild card this year (Santamaria was out with an injury last year) and drew top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.

The US Open men's doubles draw is here and the women's doubles draw is here.

Kriste Ahn, who graduated from Stanford last year, won her second $25,000 title this week in Winnipeg, beating Sharon Fichman of Canada 6-2, 7-5.  With the win, Ahn, who was seeded No. 5 in the tournament, will climb near the WTA Top 250 for the first time.  She and Lorraine Guillermo (Pepperdine) reached the doubles final, losing to top seeds Fichman and Jovana Jaksic of Serbia.

Bobby Knight has recaps of the four former college players--Kevin Anderson, Eric Johnson, Gonzalo Escobar and Tucker Vorster--who won men's titles this week at College Tennis Today.

Today is the conclusion of Althea Week, designated in honor of the great African-American tennis pioneer Althea Gibson, who is the subject of Rex Miller's biographical film, which debuted this week in New York. Miller's film will be shown on PBS as part of the network's American Masters Series on Friday, September 4 at 9:00 p.m.  Reading the show notes will provide background on how important a figure Gibson was, not just in the tennis world, but in American culture.

February Aces; SMASH Magazine Now Online; Deadline for International Spring Championships Tuesday; Wilander to Speak at Easter Bowl

It's an early post today, as I am covering tonight's match between the Notre Dame and Texas A & M men in South Bend for Tennis Recruiting Network. My account of the match will appear on Monday.

In the meantime, check out my February Aces, the regular feature I compile each month to highlight some of the notable accomplishments of both juniors and current and former college players.

Although I no longer write for SMASH Magazine, I was delighted to hear that they've made it available online. It was always frustrating for me to contribute articles that I could not link to on this site. They have an archive of some of the most recent past issues, and you may be able to find a couple of my stories among those, but most of my writing for them was during the 2005-2008 span. This month's issue has a feature about Jack Sock (who, by the way, lost his quarterfinal match today to Matt Ebden at the Dallas Challenger 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1) and an interesting piece on an upcoming teen tennis movie this summer.

The International Spring Championships at the USTA Player Development Center in Carson are coming up in April, with the entry deadline early on Tuesday, March 8. Although this is a USTA Level 1 tournament, it is also an ITF event, so the entries are not done the usual TennisLink way. Please visit the tournament site at usta.com for more information on the entry method as it varies between 16s and 18s. I'll be covering the International Spring Championships again this year, my seventh, and will also be at Rancho Las Palmas for the Easter Bowl. The Easter Bowl has announced that seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander will be the featured speaker at a Tuesday evening event for players, coaches and parents. The Easter Bowl is now also on Twitter, search @easterbowl to follow the tournament.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Tennis Recruiting Network, SMASH Magazine, International Spring Championships, Easter Bowl, Colette Lewis

Watson Turns Pro; Courier's "Unstrung" Available on DVD; Looking to Asia for New Tennis Stars

The Times published this story about Heather Watson today, which includes her decision to forego college for professional tennis. It isn't exactly a surprising decision, (anyone have any idea who the last junior girls champion attending college was?) and I had thought she had relinquished her amateur status when she agreed to a sponsorship agreement with Sportingbet.com, but I'm far from an expert on that topic.

Bollettieri's admission that he thought she needed to attend college prior to the US Open win, but has now changed his mind, is interesting. What changed, exactly, between the first round losses at the French and Wimbledon Juniors and her impressive play barely two months later? I'm sure Bollettieri has seen this kind of breakthrough happen many, many more times than I have, and it may just be an Outliers-type phenomena. She'll now get more attention, have more confidence and be surrounded by better players, which will provide great support during her transition to the pros.

This question comes up in an interview Jim Courier did with usopen.org prior to the Open, when he talks about the seven boys featured in his movie "Unstrung," which is now available on DVD. Here's Courier's answer when he was asked if he was surprised by the path taken by any of the players he filmed four years ago:

I looked at Donald Young Jr. and he is a player with great promise still but he has somehow been challenged to translate his experience and the confidence he should have taken from his junior success into pro success. I think he has the tools. I’m not sure what is holding him back. That is something I find interesting because in our film he looks like a can’t miss prospect. His success has been rather limited at the pro level. That is a story we have seen before – that juniors have trouble translating their game to the professional ranks but when they are as successful at such a young age as Donald was it is rare that they do not fulfill that promise, so that is a story I am continuing to follow closely.

Courier then goes on to say he is particularly intrigued by the future of Greg Hirschman, who is currently a junior at Stanford.

The education vs. tennis achievement debate gets more attention in this Wall Street Journal article about Yuki Bhambri (who won the dead rubber against Old Dominion graduate Izak Van Der Merwe of South Africa in India's Davis Cup win today) and the rise of tennis in Asia. Bhambri's parents are going against the grain in allowing their son to pursue tennis as a career path, with the emphasis on education so great in that country, according to the story.

Vijay Armritraj, the Indian champion from the 1970s, said the biggest obstacles for Indians and other Asians is their size. Since they tend to be smaller and slighter on average than people in other parts of the world, they will have trouble advancing in a game where strength and power have become integral to success, Mr. Armritraj said. His culture's emphasis on education over athletics also doesn't help.

"People always ask why there aren't more great atheltes(sic) coming out of India," Mr. Armritraj said. "My answer is, you don't see a lot of great software engineers coming out of Spain."

Somdev Devvarman, who is the country's Davis Cup hero after his come-from-behind victory to clinch the tie today, is trying to have it both ways, with a college degree and a successful professional career. Fellow Cavalier Sanam Singh, a semifinalist at the NCAAs last year, is also on that path, as is Karunuday Singh, who will be attending the University of Illinois in January, according to the article.

And speaking of freshmen, there were some notable results in the rain-plagued Southern Intercollegiate Championships. Vanderbilt freshman Ryan Lipman beat Duke's Reid Carleton in a match tiebreaker, and newcomer Henrique Cunha of Duke defeated top seed JP Smith of Tennessee, also in a match tiebreaker. Tennessee freshman Rhyne Williams won a close two-setter over John Peers of Middle Tennessee State. For match results, see georgiadogs.com.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Heather Watson, Yuki Bhambri, Jim Courier, Colette Lewis

Hovhannisyan's Dream Run Continues in 18s; Sock Rolls into Semifinals in 16s

©Colette Lewis 2009--
Kalamazoo MI--

Unseeded Mousheg Hovhannisyan claimed another big win in Friday's quarterfinals at the USTA Boys 16 & 18 National Championships at Stowe Stadium, taking out No. 14 seed Bob van Overbeek 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3.

Unwilling to settle for one upset, Hovhannisyan has taken down four seeds in his march to the semifinals, and against van Overbeek he looked ready to breeze through after a very composed and error-free first set. The 17-year-old from Los Angeles was down 3-1 in the second set, but broke right back, and both players held serve the remainder of the way. Hovhannisyan took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker, but van Overbeek, perhaps remembering a similar situation in his match against Sandgren on Thursday, reeled off seven straight points to even the match. But because van Overbeek played so well, Hovhannisyan didn't panic.

"He just started hitting his shots, everything went perfect for him, I couldn't really do anything." said Hovhannisyan. "Usually I get mad when I'm up and I start losing, but he played well, I've got to give him credit. He was serving really big."

Until the eighth game of the third set, anyway, when van Overbeek double faulted three straight times to give Hovhannisyan the game and an opportunity to serve out the match.

What followed in that final game was some of the most entertaining tennis of the tournament, with long points and great patience by both players. Hovhannisyan joked that the two were pushing "like 10-year-old girls," but the dozens of times the ball went over the net on each point only heightened the tension, and the appreciative lunchtime crowd was solidly behind the underdog.

Hovhannisyan had his first match point at 40-30, but van Overbeek played aggressively and pounded an overhead winner. Match points two and three slipped away, and on match point number four, Hovhannisyan tried to end a 30-odd stroke rally with a drop shot/lob combination. When the lob drifted wide, he let out a shriek, but on the next point blasted a forehand that produced an error from van Overbeek. The final point was another lengthy rally of deep but safe ground strokes until Hovhannisyan finally got the backhand down the line he wanted and he ripped it for a winner. The fans, perhaps expecting yet another deuce, waited a beat before breaking into prolonged applause for the efforts of both players.

Hovhannisyan's next challenge is a formidable one, with No. 2 seed Chase Buchanan playing at the top of his game this week. Buchanan, who has yet to lose more than four games in a set in the tournament, got an early break against No. 7 seed Jarmere Jenkins and cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win over his longtime friend and rival. Buchanan and Hovhannisyan have never played in competition, although they know each other's games from practice matches at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton.

"I know his game from practicing down at Evert's when he was there and I was with the USTA. He's not to be underestimated--he's a hell of a player."

No. 8 seed Ryan Lipman spent his morning practice hitting session with his mother Lisa working on his running forehand and it paid off at 5-4 in the first set of his win against No. 3 seed Denis Kudla. After a seven-deuce game that lasted over ten minutes, Lipman tracked down a blistering shot of Kudla's and hit a Sampras-like running forehand to claim the set. Kudla never recovered, and Lipman continued his dominance over the 2008 Kalamazoo 16s finalist.

"It's my patience, I think," Lipman answered when asked what about his game matches up well with Kudla's. "I make him play so many balls and he's used to wearing people down, and I don't he's used to having people wear him down. The slice just irritates him, he can't really dictate points, he has to work points, which allows me to get into the match and frustrate him."

Lipman's opponent in the semifinals is No. 13 seed Raymond Sarmiento, who overcame No. 19 seed Kevin King 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Sarmiento was down 5-3 in the final set, but he didn't let it affect his mental state or his passing shots, breaking left-hander from Georgia Tech the last two times he served.

"He played a great match," Sarmiento said. "I just told myself to hang in there in each point and it fell my way. I made a lot of returns (in the first set), but I got on top of his serve more. He serves and volleys to mix it up, so it's tough to get a rhythm."

King has excellent feel around the net, a talent that Sarmiento also displayed, helping keeping King off balance. And if King didn't putaway the first volley, he was unlikely to get a chance at a second, with Sarmiento's passing shots finding their targets regularly.

Lipman, who will be 19 in October, and Sarmiento, who turned 17 last month, haven't played often, the last time in the second round of the Grass Courts in 2008, a match Lipman won in straight sets. Although Sarmiento feels he knows what to expect from Lipman, whom he described as "crafty," he knows it won't be easy.

"He does have tricks up his sleeve," Sarmiento joked.

Even an emergency root canal on Thursday couldn't throw 16s top seed Jack Sock off his game, as he rolled past unseeded Nick Chappell 6-0, 6-1 in under an hour. Sock, who had accidentally taken a putter in the mouth from his older brother Eric during a round of golf, was out practicing only a few hours after a local dentist performed the procedure, and it was Sock who was surgical Friday morning. Chappell has been consistent and powerful all week, but couldn't find the court often enough, and Sock made sure to attack when he got a high or short ball.

Sock will play No. 3 seed Bjorn Fratangelo, who has also sailed through the draw without dropping a set. Playing on court 4 on Friday, Fratangelo took out No. 7 seed Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-4, getting a late break in both sets to secure the victory.



The other 16s semifinal will feature No. 8 seed Gonzales Austin against No. 4 seed Jackson Withrow. Austin defeated giant-killer Dane Webb, seeded 29, 7-5, 1-6, 6-2, his third consecutive three-setter. But the 16-year-old from Miami, who admits that no one he meets for the first time ever gets his name in the correct order, feels he's in shape for that kind of challenge.

"I just came from Clay Courts, and I had about 10 matches there. It was in Delray Beach, where it's 95 degrees and 100 percent humidity, so I think I'll be okay here."

Withrow, who lost his opening set for the second straight match before taking out No. 21 seed Morgan Mays 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, just wanted to stay out of the back draw.

"Going into the semis, that was the goal," said the 16-year-old from Omaha. "It's a lot more of a grind, people don't want to go home in the back draw, so it's always nice to stay in the main."

The 16s doubles final on Saturday will feature No. 2 seeds Emmett Egger and Shane Vinsant against No. 15 seeds Chappell and Giron. Egger and Vinsant breezed by No. 13 seeds Ashok Narayana and Michael Riechmann 6-2, 6-0 and Chappell and Giron cruised past No. 9 seeds Tyler Gardiner and Alexios Halebian 6-1, 6-3.

The 18s doubles semifinals were much more dramatic, with a third set deciding both.
Top seeds Daniel Nguyen and JT Sundling came back for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over No. 7 seeds Mitchell Frank and Junior Ore. At one stage, Nguyen and Sundling captured nine straight games to take a 3-0 lead in the third set, but Frank and Ore fought back and hung tough until Ore was broken serving at 4-5.

Challenging Nguyen and Sundling for the title and the US Open main draw wild card will be No. 8 seeds Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Nathan Pasha, who defeated unseeded Ryan Cheung and Hovhannisyan 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the last match completed on Friday evening.

For complete results, including consolation matches, see ustaboys.com.

Tags: junior tennis, USTA Boys 18 & 16 National Championships, Kalamazoo, Gonzales Austin, Ryan Lipman, Colette Lewis

Unseeded Hovhannisyan Shocks Cox; van Overbeek Saves Match Points in Win Over Sandgren

©Colette Lewis 2009--
Kalamazoo MI--

Thursday wasn't a good day for former Kalamazoo 16s champions, with 2008 winner Jordan Cox, the sixth seed, falling to unseeded Mousheg Hovhannisyan 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and 2007 champion Tennys Sandgren, seeded fourth, eliminated by No. 14 Bob van Overbeek 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-3 in fifth round singles action at Stowe Stadium.

Cox was cruising along, up a set and a break, when Hovhannisyan, a 17-year-old from Los Angeles, decided he needed to change his tactics.

"I started out just trying to play my game, but he was stepping in early, taking all my short balls and hitting winners," said Hovhannisyan, who is planning to join Pepperdine in January. "Then I realized I had to hit it higher and make it loopier, to take time away. In the second set, when I was down 4-2, I started to doubt it, but when I broke him back I was like, yeah, I've got this match, I can take it. So I'm really happy to be in the quarters at Kalamazoo for the first time."

Cox, who was a finalist at the Wimbledon Junior championships last month and turned pro shortly thereafter, served well in the first set, but not in the third, and two double faults when he was serving at 2-4 contributed to that critical second break. Serving for the match, Hovhannisyan went up 40-15, but a forehand winner by Cox saved the first match point. On his next chance, Hovhannisyan came up with an ace, but not with a 120 mph heater.

"I've been working on that serve for a while, a kick serve out wide," he said. "It works in doubles too, and that's why we're unseeded and in the semifinals. I've got that extra couple of feet to stand."

As for being unseeded, Hovhannisyan said it wasn't just the tournament seeding committee that had low expectations for him.

"My dad actually booked a flight for Monday, this past Monday," he said. "He thought I was going to lose, he didn't have any confidence in me. So I'm thinking to myself, I'm going to show this guy--I'm going to go out and try and win the tournament. He expected me to win one round at most."

Hovhannisyan will try to extend his surprising run against 14th seed van Overbeek, who saved three match points on his way to a win over his friend Sandgren.



Sandgren served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but wasn't able to reach match point. In the tiebreaker, van Overbeek's forehand was responsible for several crucial winners, but it didn't keep him from being down 5-6. The 17-year-old from Boca Raton saved that match point with a huge first serve and a forehand behind Sandgren. Van Overbeek didn't get his first serve in on the next point, and when his forehand caught the tape, Sandgren had his second chance to end the match. But his forehand went into the net, making it 7-7. A first serve winner gave Sandgren a third match point, but van Overbeek drove him back with a forehand and then hit a short ball that Sandgren couldn't run down before it bounced twice. A van Overbeek ace gave him a set point, and he took advantage of his first opportunity, hitting a big forehand that Sandgren couldn't handle.

At 3-all in the third set, Sandgren was broken at love and van Overbeek held easily for 5-3. In the final game, van Overbeek needed three match points, but it was enough for him, and he had a rare win over his friend and frequent training partner.

"I was very excited to get that win," said van Overbeek, who was 1-4 in ITF play against Sandgren, including a recent 6-3, 6-1 loss in the semifinals of the Easter Bowl. "We're really good friends, train together, travel together a lot. It was definitely unnerving at the end, trying to close it out, but I'm really glad to get the win today."

With the classic big serve, big forehand hard court game, it isn't surprising that van Overbeek would excel on the Stowe Stadium courts, but it was actually his trip to Spain's clay courts earlier this year that helped play a role in his success today.

"During the USTA trip to Spain, defense is the thing. You can miss balls when you're attacking, but they don't want you to miss balls on defense ever. I saw immediate results from that training this spring, and then I worked on it again between the French and Wimbledon, and it obviously is coming in handy now."

The other quarterfinal in the bottom half is another edition of a longtime junior rivalry, with No. 7 seed Jarmere Jenkins facing No. 2 seed Chase Buchanan. Buchanan had his first tough set of the tournament against No. 26 seed Dan Kosakowski, but he got by the hard-hitting Californian 6-4, 6-2. Jenkins got off to a slow start against unseeded Frank Carleton, but came back to post a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win. Jenkins and Buchanan met in the consolation final in Kalamazoo last year, with Buchanan winning 6-3, 4-1 ret. inj., and the Ohio State Buckeye holds a 2-1 lead in their ITF junior encounters, but Jenkins, who is already enrolled at the University of Virginia, won their last match in the spring of 2008, on Carson's hard courts.

No. 19 seed Kevin King, who eliminated top seed Alex Domijan on Wednesday, continued his run with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 22 Sekou Bangoura Jr. and will meet No. 13 seed Raymond Sarmiento in the quarterfinals Friday. Sarmiento didn't try to hit with No. 25 seed Justin Shane, who can trade ground strokes with the best of them, and Sarmiento's variety and tactics resulted in a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

No. 3 seed Denis Kudla, following a pattern he has employed all week, broke open a tight first set and cruised in the second over unseeded Clarke Spinosa 6-3, 6-2. Kudla's quarterfinal opponent will be No. 8 seed Ryan Lipman, who subdued the dangerous Fred Saba, the No. 16 seed, 6-2. 6-2.

The 16s singles fifth round featured some very long and tense matches, although top seed Jack Sock was not tested in his 6-4, 6-0 win over unseeded Michael Rinaldi. Unseeded Nick Chappell needed almost three hours to claim a 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2 win over unseeded Alex Petrone, and will play Sock in the quarterfinals. No. 3 seed Bjorn Fratangelo has yet to drop a set in the tournament, posting a 6-4, 6-1 victory over unseeded Robert Stineman and faces No. 7 seed Marcos Giron. Giron's 6-4, 6-4 win over unseeded Daniel Ho sounds routine, but it was a very close and exceptionally long two-setter.

It took No. 4 seed Jackson Withrow a set to get on track, but he overcame No. 26 seed Ashok Narayana 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to set up a meeting with No. 21 seed Morgan Mays, who was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over No. 20 seed Keaton Cullimore.

No. 29 seed Dane Webb, who upset No. 2 seed Shane Vinsant on Wednesday, saved set points against No. 14 seed Hunter Callahan, winning the hour-and-twenty-minute first set 7-6(5), and used his momentum to capture the second set 6-2. He will play No. 8 seed Gonzales Austin, who let six match points get away from him in the second set against No. 12 seed Spencer Simon, but ultimately prevailed 6-0, 6-7(8), 6-4.

The 16s doubles semifinalists were decided on Thursday evening. Chappell and Giron, the No. 15 seeds, defeated No. 11 seeds Andrew Korinek and Jose Martinez 6-2, 7-5, and will play No. 9 seeds Tyler Gardiner and Alexios Halebian. Gardiner and Halebian beat No. 14 seeds Jason Luu and Quoc-Daniel Nguyen 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3. No. 13 seeds Narayan and Michael Riechmann came back for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over unseeded Tim Kopinski and Michael Redlicki. Their semifinal opponents will be No. 2 seeds Emmett Egger and Vinsant, who defeated Ho and Jacob Jung 7-6(3), 6-3.

For complete results, including the consolation draws, see ustaboys.com.

Tags: junior tennis, USTA Boys 18 and 16 National Championship; Bob van Overbeek, Mousheg Hovhannisyan, Kalamazoo, Colette Lewis

Junior Tennis Documentary 50,000 Balls To Air on ESPN Classic This Sunday Evening June 21

Set your Tivos and DVRs for 11 p.m. EDT Sunday night, when ESPN Classic will broadcast the junior tennis documentary 50,000 Balls.

I've seen the film many times in several versions, but I'll be recording it to see the one hour television edition, the airing of which represents the diligence and determination of TJ Pura's mother and Tom Pura's widow, Sara Weinheimer.

Tom's untimely death, just under a year ago, left Sara with the task of seeing the film get wider distribution, as Tom had just begun to shepherd it through the film festival circuit. That she was able to accomplish this while dealing with her own and her family's grief is a testament to her inspirational strength and her commitment to the project.

Centered around four boys--Joe DiGiulio, Mitchell Krueger, Mitchell Polnet and TJ Pura-- who are preparing for the 12s National Hard Courts in Arkansas in 2006, the film is a very authentic look at the subculture of junior tennis in its earliest stages. I spoke with Tom a couple of months before his death for this Tennis Recruiting Network interview, and as I reread it, the question about a sequel made me very sad, coming as it did with the realization that is unlikely to happen now.

The film he did make is an important and substantial legacy, however, and it is both entertaining and instructive. I truly enjoyed the extended interviews with Tom Gullikson, Jay Berger, Gilad Bloom, Billy McQuaid, Dave Licker, Chris Lewis and Al Parker that most certainly will not be in the version shown Sunday, Father's Day, but they are available on the DVD, which can be purchased on the website. The film will also air on ESPNU on July 3 at 10 p.m. EDT, but those are the only two air times scheduled.

The press release I received this afternoon had this quote from Mary Carillo, the respected longtime tennis commentator.

"This film takes a good, hard look at the rigors and sacrifices that are made in the name of junior tennis, not only by its young players but by their entire families. I'm the mother of two strong, athletic kids who both chose team sports over tennis. They quickly came to understand what it would take to be among the elite, and gravitated to other sports. I never tried to stop them, either--it takes a special kid to go towards such a lofty standard and goal. '50,000 Balls' gives good insights into both the joys and tribulations of junior tennis."

Tags: junior tennis, Tom Pura, Sara Weinheimer, 50, 000 Balls, Mary Carillo, Colette Lewis

AP Retracts Account of Christian Harrison Racquet Throwing; Unstrung in Atlanta; Kids Play For Good in LA

The original AP story on racquet throwing (I've always used the old-fashioned spelling; it's a style thing) that was the source of some discussion here because it included a reference to Christian Harrison, has been corrected, or at least the part of it that refers to him has. Here is the correction from AP:

Correction: US Open-Such a Racket story

Sep 8, 5:34 pm EDT

NEW YORK (AP)—In a Sept. 4 story about players at the U.S. Open abusing their rackets, The Associated Press reported erroneously that a tennis official told junior player Chris(sic) Harrison to stop hitting the sponsors’ signs. No such warning was issued to Harrison, nor was there any warning or penalty for throwing rackets.

Since I hadn't seen the entire match, I couldn't categorically say the incident hadn't happened, but I did speak to the AP's Ben Walker on Sunday in the media center to make sure he knew that there were people who did see the entire match and disputed his account. He defended his sources, but apparently he shouldn't have.

Jerry Magee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, spoke to Coco Vandeweghe's agent about her future, and he made this rather rash statement.

"The way women's tennis is being played, if you're not at least a six-footer and can't hit hard and deep and never miss, you have no chance.” Have we forgotten Justine Henin so soon?

There is a screening of "Unstrung" Wednesday, September 10th at the Georgia Tech Bill Moore Tennis Center that will also include a pro set between John Isner and Donald Young.


NOTE: THE LA EVENT MENTIONED BELOW HAS BEEN POSTPONED
And TJ Pura and Joe DiGiulio, two of the top 14-and-under players in the U.S., who starred in the documentary 50,000 Balls, are going to Rally For The Cure on Saturday, September 13th at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA, as part of the Kids Play For Good initiative. For more information about this event or Kids Play For Good, click here.

Tags: junior tennis, Christian Harrison, Coco Vandeweghe, Unstrung, Rally For the Cure, Kids Play For Good, US Open Junior Championships, Colette Lewis

Tom Pura, A Tribute

Junior tennis lost a great friend and advocate earlier this month when Tom Pura, father of junior standout TJ Pura and creator of the documentary 50,000 Balls, died suddenly in his home in Los Angeles.

I met Tom through this website, and my first chance to glimpse his generosity, curiosity and passion for junior tennis came at a dinner during the 2005 US Open. Later that year, I began seeing him at junior tournaments with TJ, and we'd exchange many ideas about junior tennis, big and small. Sometimes we would discuss a particular player, other times we would talk about the positive aspects of the sport and what it could and did teach youngsters about growing up. But Tom was a "doer," not a talker, and he began to formulate a plan to express his views on junior tennis through a documentary.

By the next time I saw him, at the 2006 Eddie Herr, the documentary footage was shot, with the bulk of it focusing on the 2006 National 12s Hardcourts in Little Rock, Ark. Tom was addressing the overwhelming prospect of whittling down 65 hours of film into something entertaining and instructive, but with diligence and determination he did so, producing version after version. I spoke with Tom about the documentary in May for the Tennis Recruiting Network, and he kept me apprised of its status as he submitted it to film festivals (it debuted at the Newport International Film Festival at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in June) and received feedback from those who had seen it.

The prospect of distributing the film widely to those who could benefit from its message was the next challenge Tom undertook, and his untimely death has left that part of the project to his wife Sara. When I spoke to her over the weekend, it was clear that she has thrown all her energy into preserving Tom's legacy through this film, and she has been working the past two weekends on wrapping up a "final" cut of the documentary, which she hopes to have available, via the film's website, by the start of the U.S. Open next month.

Tom accomplished much during his too-brief life. His generosity of spirit, his passion, his exuberance and his intelligence will be recalled in many tennis courts, in many places, when watching the seeds planted during junior competition flower into a lifelong love of the game and its lessons.

Contributions to Tom's memory can be made to:
Partnership for After School Education (PASE), 120 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10271 or Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program, 140 West 143rd Street, New York, NY 10037.

Tags: Tom Pura, junior tennis, 50, 000 Balls, Colette Lewis