Top Four Seeds Advance to Quarters at Women's US Open National Playoff; King Reaches Singles Quarters and Doubles Final in Godfrey

The Women's US Open National Playoff began yesterday, with four matches played, and today the first round was completed, leaving eight players still alive for the U.S. Open qualifying wild card, including all four seeds. Yesterday No. 1 seed Alina Jidkova beat Eleanor Peters 6-4, 6-3, Kaitlyn Christian downed Samantha Powers 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, No. 3 seed Brittany Augustine defeated Belinda Niu 6-4, 6-1 and Evangeline Repic got past Jan Abaza 6-3, 7-6 (2). For more details on Wednesday's matches, see this story from usopen.org.

In today's action, Jessica Pegula won over Megan Falcon, 6-0, 6-4, No. 4 seed Courtney Dolehide defeated Rachel Kahan 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, Maureen Diaz beat Katerina Sevcikova 6-2, 6-3 and No. 2 seed Alexandra Mueller downed Romana Tedjakusuma, 6-2, 6-3. More detailed coverage of the matches can be found at gvtnews.com.

The two $10,000 Pro Circuit events in Godfrey, Ill. and St. Joseph, Mo. produced some interesting results for those preparing for the upcoming USTA Nationals.

Qualifier Evan King beat 2009 Kalamazoo 18s champion Chase Buchanan 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 and in Friday's quarterfinals will face wild card Rhyne Williams, who today defeated No. 7 seed and 2008 Kalamazoo 16s champion Jordan Cox 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Austin Krajicek saw to it that recent Kalamazoo champions were not shut out in Godfrey, as the 2008 18s winner took out No. 5 seed Alex Domijan 6-1, 7-6(1). Krajicek plays Blake Strode in the quarterfinals.

King and Cox, who played many a doubles match together as juniors, teamed up this week in Godfrey and have reach the finals. They beat Buchanan and Sekou Bangoura 7-6(0), 6-3 and will meet Texas Longhorns Jean Andersen and Josh Zavala, who defeated another accomplished former junior team, Krajicek and Jarmere Jenkins, 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 in today's semifinals.

In the women's event in Missouri, juniors Ellen Tsay, Grace Min and Kyle McPhillips advanced to the quarterfinals, with McPhillips and Min playing each other on Friday. McPhillips, who is playing the 16s division in San Diego, defeated No. 2 seed Liz Lumpkin 6-3, 6-1. McPhillips and Catherine Harrison reached the doubles semifinals, where they will play Tsay and her partner, Maria Sanchez of USC.

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

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Pro Circuit, US Open National Playoffs, Evan King, Colette Lewis

Junior Davis Cup Qualifying in Israel: Live Report

David Marcus, one of the proprietors of sponsor OTZ Sporting Goods, is in Israel this week, and is attending the European Qualifying for the ITF's Junior Davis Cup. He filed this report on the action, and it sounds as if Serbia will continue to be part of the tennis conversation for many years to come.

I will post briefly later tonight on the results of the first round of the Women's US Open National Playoffs and notable Pro Circuit results today.

Junior Davis Cup/European Qualifying
report by David Marcus

Wednesday marked the start of the qualifying tournament for the European Junior Davis Cup on the clay courts in Herzliya, Israel. Teams from Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Israel, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine are competing for the top two spots. The top two teams will advance to the European Junior Davis Cup championship next month in France. The winning teams of the tournament in France will play in the World Junior Davis Cup Championship in Mexico in September. This is the first time Israel has hosted this event and more than 500 tennis fans and the mayor of Herzliya came out to cheer the teams and watch some outstanding junior tennis players.

One of the most watched players in the tournament is Miki Jankovic, 16, from Serbia who is ranked No. 2 in Europe and already carries an impressive ITF ranking of 106 for the age 18 and under category. Sporting a powerful serve and great touch at the net, Jankovich played an impressive clay court match to easily defeat Dominic Weidinger of Austria 6-1, 6-1. Miki’s teammate Pedja Krstin, is ranked no. 3 in Europe and easily beat Austrian Johannes Schretter 6-2, 6-1. The Serbian team is seeded No. 1 in the competition.

Next up the No.2 seeded Israeli team defeated No. 3 seeded Belarus. In the first match Israel’s Igor Smilansky (ranked No. 17 in Europe) crushed first serves and powered inside out forehands to defeat a game Aliaksei Tarada 6-2, 6-4. Not to be outdone, Or Ram-Harel (ranked No. 11 in Europe) followed suit with a smooth all court, error free performance to defeat Yersh Maskim 6-0, 6-3. Tomorrow’s final will be the showdown between the two top teams Serbia and Israel.

Tags: junior tennis, ITF Junior Davis Cup, Miki Jankovic, OTZ Sporting Goods, Colette Lewis

Wild Cards For USTA National Championships Announced

The USTA National Championships begin a week from Friday here in Kalamazoo, with the tournaments at the other locations getting underway Saturday or Sunday. Here are the wild card recipients for those events:

Boys 18s:
Harry Fowler
Alexios Halebian
Hunter Harrington
Mousheg Hovhannisyan
Matthew Kandath
Evan King
Zachary Leslie
Alexander Petrone

Boys 16s:
Eric Brinzenskiy
Luca Corinteli
Joseph Di Giulio
Daniel Kerznerman
Nikko Madregallejo
Spencer Papa
Konrad Zieba
Shane Vinsant

Boys 14s:
Kevin Lee
Jonathan O’Neal
Francis Tiafoe
Ziqi Wang

Boys 12s:
Alafia Ayeni

Girls 18s:
Jan Abaza
Kelsey Laurente
Sarah Lee
Jamie Pawid
Jessica Pegula
Kayla Rizzolo
Shelby Rogers
Reserved

Girls 16s:
Ekaterina Bure
Erin Gebes
Victoria Robertson
Jwany Sherif
Deborah Suarez

Girls 14s:
Jessie Lynn Paul
Ariana Rodriguez
Carolyn Xie

Girls 12s:
Kenya Jones
Gaby Pollner
Maya Smith

USA's World Junior Tennis Teams; Youth Olympic Games; McEnroe's Academy Decides Girls Scholarships; McHale Wins, Johnson Loses

Although the USTA has not yet sent out a release, the U.S. teams for the ITF World Junior Tennis competition 14-and-under tournament have been selected. Gabrielle Andrews, Brooke Austin and Taylor Townsend will be the United States' girls team, which is seeking its fourth consecutive world title. Jordan Belga, Stefan Kozlov and Noah Rubin are the boys who will be competing for the U.S. in Prostejov, Czech Republic beginning next Monday. Kathy Rinaldi and Mike Sell are the USTA National Coaches making the trip. The list of countries participating can be found at the ITF junior website.

Monica Puig, who plays for Puerto Rico, is the only U.S. player scheduled to compete in the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games, which begin on August 15th in Singapore. The fact that the USTA National championships end on the day the tennis competition begins probably accounts for the limited interest on the part of the U.S. juniors, although Grade A points are being given. The fields are very strong, however, with India's Yuki Bhambri, Wimbledon boys champion Marton Fucsovics of Hungary, Brazilian Tiago Fernandes, the Australian Open Junior champion, and Great Britain's Oliver Golding among the boys expected to contend. World No. 2 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is entered, as are No. 3 Puig, No. 4 Timea Babos of Hungary and No. 5 Sachie Ishizu of Japan. In all, there are six Top 10 boys and five Top 10 girls scheduled to compete. The complete list can be found here.

Last week, John McEnroe's tennis academy in New York held tryouts for the girls scholarships. Sabrina Xiong, 12, of Fresh Meadows, Queens was the full scholarship winner. For the names of the other girls who received partial scholarships, see this release at Global Village Tennis News. The Wall Street Journal met with McEnroe to discuss his academy last week. That article can be found here.

In the ATP's Farmers Classic in Los Angeles today, Somdev Devvarman beat USC's Steve Johnson, a fellow qualifier, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round. The former NCAA champion from Virginia will next play No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

At the WTA's Bank of the West Classic, Christina McHale defeated Kai-Chen Chang of Taiwan 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 in another first round battle between qualifiers. McHale plays top seed and French finalist Samantha Stosur of Australia in the second round.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, ITF World Junior Tennis, Youth Olympic Games, John McEnroe, Steve Johnson, Somdev Devvarman, Farmers Classic, Christina McHale, Bank of the West Classic, Colette Lewis

Other Clay Champions; Strode Wins US Open Qualifying Playoff; USC's Johnson, McHale Qualify For Pro Tour Events

I've just returned to Kalamazoo, where the 80 degree temperatures are a pleasant change from the long string of hot and humid days last week in Memphis. I'll have a recap of the girls 18s Clays for the Tennis Recruiting Network and a slide show here later this week, and then it will be just a matter of days before the focus turns to the National Hard Courts.

Here's a brief rundown of the finals of all four age divisions of the Clay Court Championships:

Girls 12s: Cristina Rovira (6) def. Sofia Kenin (1) 6-2, 7-5
Boys 12s: Anudeep Kodali (3) def. Nathan Ponwith (7) 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(6)
Girls 14s: Tornado Ali Black def. Maria Shishkina (14) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4)
Boys 14s: Daniel Kerznerman (1) def. Benjamin Tso (9) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Girls 16s: Hayley Carter def. Jamie Loeb (3) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
Boys 16s: Michael Redlicki (8) def. Gordon Watson (5) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Girls 18s: Caroline Price (13) def. Whitney Kay (1) 6-3, 6-3
Boys 18s: Bjorn Fratangelo (1) def. Alexios Halebian 6-4, 7-5

For complete results, including the doubles finals, see the release at usta.com.



Also over the weekend Blake Strode, the former Arkansas all-American and 2009 NCAA semifinalist, won the Men's US Open National Qualifying Playoff, defeating Cecil Mamiit, the 1996 NCAA champion from USC 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) in Atlanta. For more on that match, see this article from usta.com. The women's tournament will be played in conjunction with the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford beginning on Wednesday. For the biographies of the 16 participants, click here.

In the Futures event in Joplin, Mo., former Ole Miss star Robbye Poole won the singles title over qualifier Joel Kielbowicz, who played at UNLV. For an article about Poole's win, click here. The University of Texas team of Jean Andersen and Joshua Zavala took the doubles title. In the women's 10K in Evansville, No. 4 seed Gabriela Paz beat unseeded Chichi Scholl 6-4, 6-0 to take that title. Juniors Brynn Boren and Sabrina Santamaria won the doubles championship.

In the Lexington Challenger, top seed Carsten Ball defeated No. 5 seed Jessie Levine 6-4, 7-6(2) to win the men's singles, and top seed Karumi Nara beat No. 2 seed Stephanie Dubois 6-4, 6-4 to win the women's singles. Raven Klaasen and Izak Van Der Merwe won the men's doubles, with former Cal-Berkeley Bears Christina Fusano and Bojana Bobusic, the No. 4 seeds, taking the women's doubles.

For complete results, and the draws for this week's two $10,000 events, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

Today in Los Angeles, Steve Johnson of USC won his final qualifying match and is into the 28-player field at the ATP Farmers Classic. A wild card into qualifying, Johnson defeated Chris Guccione of Australia 6-3, 6-3 for one of the four qualifying berths. Somedev Devvarman and Tim Smyczek also qualified.

At the Bank of the West Classic, the WTA event at Stanford, Christina McHale defeated Jamie Hampton 7-6(2), 6-0 to qualify for the main draw.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, USTA National Clay Court Championships, US Open National Playoffs, Blake Strode, Pro Circuit, Steve Johnson, Christina McHale, Colette Lewis

Caroline Price Claims Girls 18 Clay Court Title

©Colette Lewis 2010--
Memphis, TN--

When Caroline Price defeated longtime rival and top seed Whitney Kay 6-3, 6-3 Sunday morning at the Racquet Club of Memphis to earn the 2010 USTA Girls 18s Clay Court championship, it wasn't her fourth gold ball or having her name engraved on the outsized trophy or her wild card into qualifying at the Club's WTA event that was foremost in her mind.

Instead, it was the promise her traveling coach Matt Walker of the Racquet Club of the South made to all the students of his high performance program in February: he would cut off his lengthy locks if any of them won a gold ball, an ITF Grade A event or a $10,000 Pro Circuit tournament.

"It was a pretty big motivation, to shave his head if I won it," said an ebullient Price a few minutes after the trophy presentation was complete. "Someone brought a razor, so we're about to do that."

On yet another steamy Memphis morning, Kay and Price, both 17-year-olds who live in suburban Atlanta, played tentatively in the opening games of the match. Price, the No. 13 seed, took a 2-0 lead, but surrendered it in her next service game, the first of four straight breaks. The left-handed Price wasn't getting a high percentage of first serves in during that stretch, but she was staying with Kay off the ground with her backhand, normally her less potent side. The strengthening of that shot was the silver lining of an injury cloud this spring.

"Easter Bowl this year I tore my (left) wrist and I was put in a cast for almost three months, so while I was in a cast, we worked on my righty forehand, so that when I came back, my backhand would be stronger. My backhand used to be my weakness, but now I feel a lot more comfortable with it. It was sort of like a blessing in disguise."

Price held for 5-3 in the first set, and Kay wasn't able to overcome two double faults in the next game, dropping serve for the fourth time in the set. She had come back from the loss of the first set twice this week however, and when she broke Price to open the second set, then held, it appeared she could force a third set, as she had done in the 2009 Easter Bowl final against Price.

Trailing 0-2 and 0-30, Price got a crucial hold in the third game of the second set, and her first serve began to provide her with opportunities to put away short balls. The only point she lost in the next three games was on a double fault, and any tentativeness she may have displayed early in the set was long gone.

"Caroline played really well, and I feel I was a little off my game," said Kay, who had beaten Price 7-5, 6-3 at a Southern Designated in February. "When I played her last she missed more than she did today, and I was making a few more errors today. She was hitting her backhand well."

After Kay held to make it 5-3, Price stepped to the line to serve out the championship, a scenario she admits she has not always handled well in the past.

"I've had a problem with getting close and then letting down, letting them come back a little bit, and I'll either lose or end up winning a tiebreaker or 7-5," Price said. "So today, you could even ask the ball kids, I was talking to myself. It's not over, just focus one point at a time. She's a great player, she could have pulled out some big shots."

Price was obviously overeager on her first match point, sending a forehand six feet long, but got the job done on the second, when Kay's return went long.

Her loss to Kay prior to her injury wasn't a primary motivating factor for Price.

"It helped, but I wasn't even trying to think about her," said Price. "I was just trying to enjoy the game, I love it. My motivation was to make Matt shave all his hair off."

Walker, who grew up in Memphis and played at the Racquet Club, was willing to keep his end of the bargain.

"The goals are important, and they came up with it," Walker said. "So I'll do it. I agreed to it."

In addition to the shearing of Walker, Price had another celebration in mind.

"We found this huge fountain nearby, and my mom said I could go run through that if I win, so I think I'm going to head over there to cool down."

In the third place match, No. 5 seed Catherine Harrison defeated No. 8 seed Gabrielle Andrews 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. No. 4 seed Kyle McPhillips won the consolation tournament with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over unseeded Whitney Ritchie. Emina Bektas was named the winner of the USTA Sportsmanship Award.

For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.

Tags: junior tennis, Matt Walker, Caroline Price, USTA National Clay Court Championships, Colette Lewis