US Girls Continue to Impress at US Open Juniors; Krueger and Aragone Upset Seeds in Boys First Round Action

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

There are 32 girls remaining after the completion of the first round at the US Open junior championships and 14 of them have USA after their names in the draw.

Unseeded Grace Min made the biggest splash on a day when rain threatened but never materialized, taking down No. 2 seed and Wimbledon girls finalist Irina Khromacheva of Russia 7-6(5), 6-4. Min, who has played a combination of professional and junior events this year, entered the ITF Grade 1 in Canada last week, but lost in the first round, so her confidence was not exactly high coming into New York.

"The whole point of last week was to get matches and I didn't get any matches, so it didn't go as planned," said Min, 17. "But I just hit the practice courts and really tried to find my game, worked on a few things, and they showed up here, so I was happy with that."

Serving for the match at 5-4, Min got down 15-40, but she got a couple of errors from the 16-year-old Russian, the second on a forehand just wide to save them. Min hit a forehand winner to earn her first match point, and she completed the victory with the combination of a big forehand and a backhand volley winner.

"I'm pretty confident at net, so I knew I didn't have to finish the point on that forehand," said Min, who acknowledged the importance of winning that game. "I don't know if I expected it to come back, but I was ready for it. I knew I didn't have to put so much pressure on putting away the forehand, because I knew I could hold my ground at the net."

Sachia Vickery and qualifier Nicole Gibbs both had easy wins. Gibbs took less than an hour to beat Patricia Iveth Ku Flores of Peru 6-1, 6-1 and Vickery needed only 42 minutes to dismiss Iva Mekovec of Croatia 6-0, 6-1. Kimberly Yee, the second American qualifier to reach the second round, beat Basak Eraydin of Turkey 6-3, 6-4.

The other two American girls to advance on Monday had considerably more difficulty. Vicky Duval trailed 3-0 30-0 in the third set against qualifier Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico, but won the final six games of the match for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory. No. 12 seed Madison Keys won the first set against Emily Fanning of New Zealand easily, but couldn't shake her fellow 16-year-old, dropping the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6(1). Keys dropped the opening game of the third set, broke back, lost her serve again and broke back, but she pointed to one particular shot that restored her confidence.

"It was 1-2 15-40 and I had a forehand up the line," said Keys. "After I hit that winner, I pumped myself up. I got my negative emotions out, and I was back in the match."

Keys admitted she was relieved to get out of the match, noting the difference between playing in the women's draw and the juniors draw.

"In the women's, I didn't have any pressure on me," Keys said. "I could just go out and it was a good experience for me. But now, people kind of know who I am and I have more pressure when I go into matches. But it's still a tournament, I'm still playing the US Open, so the nerves are the same, just a little more pressure. I'm just excited to play this."

The US boys trail the girls in numbers, with only six remaining of the 15 who began the tournament, but they led in upsets today, with both Mitchell Krueger and JC Aragone taking out seeds.

Krueger defeated No. 7 seed Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-2, which evened his record against the Austrian. Krueger had beaten Thiem on hard courts earlier this year, but then lost to him twice on clay this summer, so the surface definitely had a role in his victory today.

"Definitely the surface played a big part, and I knew it would," said Krueger. "He's unbelievable on clay. He's still good on hard, and I thought I played really well today. I served really well, hit quite a few aces, no double faults, a high first serve percentage. I was playing pretty aggressive I thought, but with a lot of margin. I never really gave him much of a chance to get into the match."

For Krueger, who had lost to No. 3 seed Tiago Fernandes of Brazil 6-0, 6-1 in the first round last year, this victory was particularly sweet.

"I was thinking a little bit about it, trying not to do it again, so I guess I redeemed myself, got some redemption."



JC Aragone, was, like Krueger in 2010, a wild card, going up against a seed. The 16-year-old Californian was making his junior slam debut against No. 8 seed Mate Pavic of Croatia and quickly lost the first set. But Aragone worked through his nerves and fought all the way back for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory against the lanky 18-year-old left-hander.

"I thought I was playing great in the first set, I was just double faulting a lot because I was nervous," said Aragone, who received congratulations from his coach Jeff Tarango in the media center after the match. "But as soon as I got a rhythm going, got my serves in, I started playing great and he let up a bit, and I took my chances. Next thing I know I'm in the third set."

Aragone, whose ITF ranking is 1094, compared to Pavic's ranking of 8, wasn't discouraged when he saw the draw.

"Everyone here's pretty good, so either way I would have had a tough match. I was expecting one. But I liked the way this one played out, as soon as I started hitting."

Marcos Giron got the third win for the US boys Monday, defeating qualifier Enzo Couacaud of France 7-6(1), 6-4. Couacaud, the European 16s champion this year, showed a solid game, breaking Giron early in the match, but his youth showed on the important points.

"He definitely came out playing well," said Giron, who had heard of Couacaud, but had never played him. "I heard he had a weaker forehand than backhand, so I tried to attack that. My returns weren't good today, but I felt from the baseline I played well, and in the tiebreaker I really stepped it up."

Next up for Giron is top seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, who beat Vladyslav Manafov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1.

"We played a couple of years ago in Junior Davis Cup, and I lost in three sets," said Giron. "I lost in three sets, but the altitude got to me and I really got super tired in the third. He's a big guy, a big lefty serve, but I feel I'm playing well."

The weather forecast for Tuesday is not good, but so far the rain forecast for the area has stayed away from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Complete draws can be found at usopen.org.

US Girls Take Eight of 12 Matches in Opening Round of US Open Juniors

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

The question of who's next in American women's tennis has been on everyone's lips this year at the US Open, and with the performance of Christina McHale, Irina Falconi, Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens, that question appears to have been answered. The theme of promising young women emerging continued Sunday in the first round of the junior championships, where eight of the 12 US girls in action won their opening matches, dispatching three seeds along the way.

Taylor Townsend, the 15-year-old from Atlanta who will be playing her third round match in women's doubles on Monday, had way too much game for No. 15 seed Jesika Maleckova of the Czech Republic. Townsend hardly missed a ball in the first set, which she won 6-1, and although she came off the boil a bit in the second set, her combination of power and touch overwhelmed the 17-year-old.

"I did a good job of putting my patterns together and making her work," said Townsend, who planned to watch her friend Donald Young's match after she finished with her interviews. "Honestly, I didn't have to do much to make her miss. I did a good job of not overplaying the ball, just hitting good solid shots and come in and stick them off. And I also served very well."

Townsend is juggling her schedule which includes singles and doubles in the juniors and the women's doubles, but she likes the status of continuing to compete in the latter.

"It's cool, because everyone's in the junior locker room, and I can go in the women's locker room, and distance myself from everyone," she giggled. "It's good. It's a way to keep my level of play really high."

Townsend's partner in women's doubles is Jessica Pegula, who won her match even more easily, defeating Petra Rohanova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1 in 40 minutes. The 17-year-ol Pegula, the No. 14 seed, received entry and seeding based on her WTA ranking, and she looked like a women playing a girl today.

Another comprehensive win came from wild card Krista Hardebeck, who defeated No. 8 seed Natalija Kostic of Serbia 6-1, 6-1.

"I played pretty well," said Hardebeck. "The first game of the match, I served, and it was a really close game, so I had a good mindset. She held her serve, and that kept me on, and helped me play better."

The third player to take down a seed was wild card Hayley Carter, who was making her grand slam debut. The 16-year-old from South Carolina held her nerve in a very tight match to defeat No. 7 seed Montserrat Gonzalez of Paraguay 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Gonzalez served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but although she saved four break points, she never had the advantage, and Carter broke for 5-5. Carter, who has one of the biggest first serves in junior tennis, struggled with it in the next game, although she did start with a service winner and an ace. Gonzalez was not able to capitalize on her looks at second serves later in the game however, and Carter held for a 6-5 lead.

Carter didn't have to do more than keep the ball in play in the final game, as Gonzalez couldn't rely on her backhand. At 30-15, she hit one way long, and when her backhand went wide on the next point, Carter had a match point.

Gonzalez got a strong first serve in, but Carter's return was even better, and a bit stunned by the force of the return, Gonzalez hit her backhand wide. The dozens of Carter supporters in the stands erupted in cheers, and Carter was obviously excited to have come through on such a big stage.

"I always thought I would be okay handling a big moment, but when you get out there it's a lot more nerve-racking than you ever imagined," said the 16-year-old from South Carolina. "But I figured I didn't really have anything to lose coming here, I'm not expected to go out and beat the seventh seed, so I could play without any pressure. I have a lot of friends and family here supporting me so it was a very fun moment."



The day's most dramatic match involved American Kyle McPhillips and Romanian Elena-Teodora Cadar. Cadar took the first set 6-1, and although McPhillips couldn't hold on to a 4-1 lead in the second set, she did manage to win a tiebreaker in the second 7-6(4). McPhillips then took a 5-0 lead and was serving for the match, but Cadar stormed back winning the next five games. This was not a case of McPhillips choking, as nearly every point in that stretch was won with a winner, and Cadar did not miss a ball in the 15-to-20-ball rallies. McPhillips had two match points serving at 5-4, but Cadar, whose lefty backhand was rock solid in the final games, brushed those aside, and McPhillips missed a couple of backhands to make it 5-5.

Cadar committed two unforced errors, which may have been the only two she made in the previous five games, to give McPhillips two break points, but again McPhillips was unable to convert. On the fourth break point, McPhillips ran down a drop shot and hit a winner, which meant she would serve for the match for the fourth time. She wasn't successful in that attempt either, dropping her serve at 15 to force a tiebreaker to decide the match.

Again there were long, scintillating points, with the tension building each time the ball passed over the net. McPhillips got the first mini-break to take a 5-3 lead, and coaxed an error from Cadar on a good sliced backhand to make it 6-4. But match point No. 3 eluded McPhillips when she didn't play a forehand near the baseline and there was no call from the line judge. The chair concurred with the line call, and McPhillips, who had shown absolutely no signs of frustration when game after game slipped away from her, briefly quizzed the chair umpire before returning for match point No. 4. A forehand wide from McPhillips made it 6-6, but again no frustration or emotion came out from either player. McPhillips hit a forehand winner for match point No. 5, but Cadar put away an overhead to save that too. At 7-7, Cadar brought McPhillips to the net with a drop shot, but the strategy backfired when McPhillips got there and surprised Cadar, who netted a backhand.

Match point No. 6 finally resolved the match, as Cadar's forehand went long after another multi-shot rally. The line judge signalled the shot good, but the chair umpire firmly announced it was out, and Cadar did not argue. Both players received appreciative applause from the several hundred fans gathered around Court 8 for the final few games, both for the quality of play and the attitudes they displayed throughout the intense competition.

Other US girls to win their opening round matches were Samantha Crawford, who defeated Viktoria Malova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3, Stephanie Nauta, who beat Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-2 and Gabby Andrews, who downed Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4.



The big story of the day on the boys side was the opening round loss of Wimbledon champion Luke Saville of Australia. Saville fell to Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5, who had beaten him last week in the second round of the Grade 1 Canadian Open.

"I couldn't believe it," said the 16-year-old, when asked about drawing Saville again. "I played so good. It was a tough match with him. I was so nervous."

Pavlasek served for the match at 5-4 and was broken, but in the next game, Saville double faulted twice at 30-30 to give Pavlasek, playing in just his second grand slam, another chance to serve it out, and this time he didn't stumble.

French Open champion Bjorn Fratangelo of the US, the other boys junior slam winner in action today, had a better first match, beating Benjamin Ugarte of Chile 6-1, 6-3. It was Fratangelo's first win in New York in his sixth match, including junior singles and doubles and men's qualifying.

"It feels good to finally get past the first round here in something," said No. 3 seed Fratangelo, who admitted his inability to win at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was starting to weigh on him. "Including the qualies I played here last week, I'm like 0-5 in singles and doubles, so to get a win here feels pretty good right now."

Other American boys were not as fortunate, as six of the nine in action lost their matches on Sunday. The two other winners were Alexios Halebian who took down No. 5 seed Thiago Monteiro of Brazil 6-3, 6-7(4) 7-5, and Connor Farren, who beat Diego Hidalgo of Ecuador 6-4, 6-4.

The remaining first round singles matches in the juniors will be played on Monday, with some junior doubles also on the Labor Day schedule.

Complete results at usopen.org.

Four US Qualifiers Join Thirty-One Other Americans as US Open Juniors Kick Off Sunday; Young US Teams Make Mixed Doubles Quarterfinals

Kimberley Yee, Nicole Gibbs, Julia Elbaba and Michael Redlicki made it through US Open junior qualifying Saturday, and they will have plenty of company from other Americans in the main draw which begins on Sunday.

Yee, a wild card into qualifying, beat top seed Maria Ines Deheza of Bolivia on Friday, then earned her first junior slam berth with a 6-1 6-4 win over Valeria Salazar of Mexico today. By contrast, Gibbs, the Stanford sophomore, is playing in the main draw of the US Open juniors for the fourth straight year after a tough 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over fellow American Jennifer Brady. Elbaba, who qualified last year as well, beat fellow American Blair Shankle 6-2, 6-2 in the final round this year.

Michael Redlicki received a main draw wild card last year by virtue of his Kalamazoo 16s title. This year, he received a qualifying wild card and took out No. 7 seed Hassan Ndayishimiye of Burundi 6-2, 6-1 Friday and Luke Bambridge of Great Britain 6-3, 6-4 today to earn his way back into the main draw.

My "What to Watch" Sunday for the New York Times Straight Sets blog can be found here.

The complete draws for the juniors can be found at usopen.org.

The order of play for Sunday, which includes half the field (none of the qualifiers and none of the Canadian Open Grade 1 finalists), is here.



There were some surprising results in mixed doubles action today, with two young American teams taking down reigning Grand Slam champions. First it was the wild card team of Irina Falconi and Steve Johnson, who beat No. 2 seeds and Australian Open mixed doubles champions Daniel Nestor of Canada and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 on Court 7, with Johnson hitting a service winner to clinch the win for the 21-year-old Americans, who are playing in their first Grand Slam mixed doubles competition.



Shortly after Falconi and Johnson completed their upset, the wild card team of Melanie Oudin and Jack Sock took the court against 2010 US Open mixed doubles champions Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan, the top seeds. When I arrived at the new Court 17, I was surprised to find it standing room only, and by the time I found the media seating, Sock and Oudin were well on their way to losing the first set 6-2. But the huge and noisy crowd, who were decidedly favoring the young underdogs, saw a big change in momentum in the second set, when up a break, Huber couldn't find her serve, while Sock and Oudin began to eliminate their unforced errors, and win deciding points in the no-ad format.

After the teenagers took the second set 6-3, and received an enthusiastic ovation from the crowd, it still seemed unlikely they would prevail over the more experienced Huber and Bryan, who have 24 grand slam doubles titles between them. But trailing 4-1 in the match tiebreaker, everything started to go right for Sock and Oudin. Oudin covered for Sock on a point and won it, and that seemed to buoy their confidence. Sock won both his serves at 4-5, and leading 6-5, Sock blistered a forehand return winner off Huber's serve to make it 7-5. Huber missed a volley to make it 8-5, and on Oudin's serve, Sock poached for a clean winner to give his team four match points. They only needed two. Sock missed an easy volley at net on the first, grasping his hair in disbelief, but Huber missed on the next point to render that error insignificant.

The fans seemed more excited for Sock and Oudin than they were for themselves, and when I left a few minutes after the match, Sock, Oudin and Bryan were all still signing the giant tennis balls and programs that dozens of fans were extending to them.

With all the upsets, and two second round matches left to play, there are only two seeded teams remaining in the mixed doubles draw.

Sock and McHale Bow Out on Ashe Friday Night

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

As I mentioned last month when I went to Cincinnati, I don't see much of the highest level of tennis live. Tonight, due to no more than luck, since I'd bought my plane tickets long before there was any inkling who might be playing the Friday night matches on Arthur Ashe, I got to see two young Americans, who I'd watched play countless matches in the juniors, perform on the biggest stage in tennis.

Both Christina McHale and Jack Sock lost, with McHale losing to No. 25 seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-2, 6-3, and Sock falling to No. 21 seed Andy Roddick 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, but it took very good tennis from their more experienced opponents to beat the teenagers.

McHale stayed in most of the points, but Kirilenko approached the net to finish with more regularity and lost her serve only once all night, when McHale converted her only break point of the match with Kirilenko serving for the first set at 5-1. The Russian certainly wasn't overpowering on serve, but she made few errors when it mattered, and was willing to come to the net and finish the points. McHale didn't serve particularly well and stayed on the baseline, but her defense was outstanding and she forced Kirilenko to hit another shot, which unfortunately for McHale, she did.

I didn't see the first couple of games of the Sock - Roddick match, because I was watching Taylor Townsend and Donald Young finish their mixed doubles match (they lost to Natalie Grandin and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-7(6), 6-2 10-8, but Young had won his singles match against Stan Wawrinka in a fifth set tiebreaker, and Townsend and Jessica Pegula had advanced to the third round of women's doubles, so they still had a very good day). I heard Sock had gotten off to a good start and had break points against Roddick early, but missed one forehand in particular that kept him from taking an early lead.

Sock looked comfortable and served well, hitting 130, 132, and 134 mph on the radar gun during the match, but he converted only one of his 7 break points, and that was in the third set. Roddick on the other hand, was 5 for 5 on break points.

In the press conference afterward, Sock said he enjoyed the match, calling it the best tennis experience of his life, but seemed frustrated by Roddick's ability to serve his way out of trouble. Sock said he felt he was dictating a lot of the points, and getting the forehands he wanted, but Roddick was too steady and got too many balls back.

After two sets, Sock adjusted his tactics slightly, coming into the net more often and playing more touch shots, but although it made for some very entertaining points, it never shifted the balance of power to his side of the court.

In two hours flat, it was over, and as the two shook hands, Roddick invited Sock to train with him in Austin later this year, an invitation Sock said he would probably accept.

Roddick, who has extended that invitations to dozens of US players over the past several years, was full of praise for Sock, who won the US Open boys title last year, just as Roddick had done in 2000.

Asked what impressed him about Sock's game, Roddick replied:

"Serve's gotten a lot better. I think he's grown about a foot in the last year. His forehand's got some serious rpms on it. You can't teach that. You can't teach 135 in your arm. You can't teach the ball jumping off the court. So that's good. He's going to have to learn some of the subtleties in the game. But, you know, those are things that you can teach and can learn. Between him and Ryan (Harrison), I think we got a couple of legit prospects. Like I said the other night, my favorite thing about them is that they compete. They really, really, really compete."

The final round of qualifying in the juniors is set for tomorrow and among the 16 boys vying for the eight qualifying spots are Michael Redlicki, Emmett Egger and Noah Rubin. Nine US girls are still in contention, with two assured spots as Julie Elbaba and Blair Shankle play each other, as do wild cards Jennifer Brady and Nicole Gibbs. Wild cards Chalena Scholl and Kimberly Yee advanced to the final round with wins today, as did Lauren Herring, Tristen Dewar and Natalia Maynetto.

The order of play is available at usopen.org.

The results from today's first round of qualifying can be found here.

Tomorrow's night match on Arthur Ashe will feature Sloane Stephens against No. 16 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

My US Open Junior Preview

I'm heading to New York today to cover the US Open junior championships, so this early post is simply to direct you to my annual preview for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Live scoring is available for the junior qualifying, which begins today, at usopen.org.

USO Junior Qualifying Draws Posted; Stephens Beats Peer to Reach Third Round at US Open

Qualifying for the juniors begins Friday, and the draws are available now at usopen.org. In keeping with the theme of the young American women breaking out at this US Open, there are 14 US girls in the 32-player qualifying draw, only five of which are wild cards. It looks as if the special exempts from the Canada ITF were cleared, with the two "next in" on the acceptance lists not appearing in the qualifying draws.

The US girls in qualifying are: Kimberly Yee(WC), Kelsey Laurente(14), Natalia Maynetto, Katrine Steffensen, Lauren Herring(3), Jennifer Brady, Nicole Gibbs, Tristen Dewar(15), Jamie Loeb(WC), Chalena Scholl(WC), Catherine Harrison(WC), Denise Starr(WC), Blair Shankle and Julia Elbaba(13).

There's a much smaller representation of US boys in the qualifying draw, with only Emmett Egger and Alex Petrone joining the five wild cards: Nikko Madregallejo, Spencer Papa, Martin Redlicki, Michael Redlicki and Noah Rubin.

Brett Clark and Thai Kwiatkowski are the final two recipients of wild cards in the boys main draw. For the initial list of wild cards, see this post. Hannah King has received the wild card that Allie Kiick was originally granted and did not need.

The order of play for junior qualifying can be found on Thursday's schedule.

You may also notice the two night matches at Arthur Ashe on the schedule with Christina McHale playing Maria Kirilenko and Jack Sock taking on Andy Roddick. I arrive in New York tomorrow, so if the travel schedule doesn't get out of sync, I may be able to see a bit of those two matches.

A quick note from Canada's Grade 1. Qualifier Sachia Vickery has reached Friday's semifinal, where she will meet 14-year-old Canadian Francoise Abanda, the No. 15 seed. The other semifinal is No. 2 seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada against No. 5 seed Indy de Vroome of the Netherlands. In the boys semifinals, top seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic will face No. 15 seed Julien Cagnina of Belgium. Great Britain's Oliver Golding, the No. 10 seed, will play the winner of tonight's match between Liam Broady of Great Britain and Filip Horansky of Slovakia. Draws and results are available at the tournament's website.


Today, 18-year-old Sloane Stephens added to the US Open excitement generated by Christina McHale's and Irina Falconi's upsets Wednesday, beating No. 23 Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2, 7-6(4). Stephens served very well in the opening set, and Peer was making a lot of unforced errors. The commentators on the usopen.org stream thought Peer might have taken Stephens lightly, but after a few games, Peer knew she had to pick up her level, and in the second set she did. She served for the second set after breaking Stephens at 3-4, but never got a set point, hitting a routine rally ball wide at 30-40. Stephens gave Peer a chance in the next game, but at deuce Peer made two forehand errors on consecutive points to make it 5-5. After two easy holds, it was on to the tiebreaker, and although it didn't produce a lot of scintillating winners, it was interesting to see how the inexperienced Stephens and the veteran Peer reacted to the pressure. Stephens didn't get many first serves in, but was steady on her second serve, and she showed great patience in many of the points. Peer made two backhand errors to give Stephens a 6-3 lead and three match points. Stephens sailed a forehand way wide to give one away, but on the next one, she stroked a forehand winner to set up a meeting with No. 16 seed Anna Ivanovic of Serbia.

Vania King also beat a seed today, taking out No. 29 seed Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 6-2, 6-0. That gives the US five women in the third round, the most since 2004, when there were eight.

There was a lot of doubles action today, with mixed results for the NCAA champions. Texas A & M's Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek lost to the Colombian team of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(2), 6-4, while Stanford's Hilary Barte and Mallory Burdette beat another US wild card team, Alexa Glatch and Jamie Hampton 6-4, 6-4.

In mixed doubles, Steve Johnson and Irina Falconi teamed for a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Horia Tecau of Romania. Jack Sock and Melanie Oudin also won their first round match in mixed doubles, saving a match point in the deciding tiebreaker to beat Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-4, 0-6, 11-9.

Draws can be found at usopen.org.