Goldstein Named Men's Coach at Stanford, Fendick-McCain Resigns at Texas; Rubin Top Seed in Wimbledon Junior Qualifying; Bellis, Fritz Reach Roehampton Semifinals

There's plenty of news today, both in college tennis and on the grass courts of Wimbledon and Roehampton.

Goldstein was a three-time singles champion in Kalamazoo

Paul Goldstein, who played for Stanford from 1994-1998, winning four NCAA team titles, has been named head coach for the Cardinal, replacing John Whitlinger, who retired last month.  The 37-year-old from Rockville, Md. played on the ATP tour for ten years, reaching a career-high ranking of 58 in 2006. Goldstein, who was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Men's Hall of Fame in 2013, has been working at a Bay Area energy company for the past six years.  For more on Goldstein, see the Stanford website's release.  I spoke with Goldstein back in 2009 in this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network (subscription required for full article.)

Another big college job opened today with the announcement that University of Texas women's head coach Patty Fendick-McCain is retiring after nine years in Austin.  A two-time NCAA singles champion at Stanford in 1986 and 1987, Fendick-McCain also won an Australian Open doubles title with Mary Joe Fernandez and was ranked in the WTA Top 20.  Given the size and the athletic department budget of Texas, this ranks as the most significant coaching change on the women's side this year.

The Wimbledon junior qualifying begins Thursday at Roehampton, with just three US players participating. Top qualifying seed Noah Rubin is the only US boy, and if he gets through his two qualifying matches, he will be seeded in the main draw thanks to his ATP ranking of 539. Both Taylor Fritz and Dennis Uspensky, who were next in the main draw, must have gotten in, as neither are in qualifying.  Fritz may have gotten in on a special exemption, since he reached Thursday's semifinals at Roehampton, but I'm sure the method of reaching the main draw isn't important, as long as he's in.

The US girls in qualifying are Raquel Pedraza and Michaela Gordon. Pedraza has been in Europe for some time, but the 14-year-old Gordon, if you recall, won the Northern California US Open Playoffs over the weekend, so she hasn't had much time to acclimate herself to the grass. She is the No. 5 seed in qualifying, with Pedraza the No. 11 seed. Olivia Hauger was third out of the main draw, and with Katie Swan from Great Britain most likely getting a wild card, she may have avoided qualifying, as she is not in the girls draw.

The Wimbledon junior draws and the order of play for Thursday are available at the LTA website.

At the Roehampton Grade 1, CiCi Bellis and, as mentioned, Taylor Fritz have reached the singles semifinals.  The unseeded Fritz defeated Seong Chan Hong of Korea 7-6(5), 6-4 and will meet top seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in the semifinals.  Bellis, the top girls seed, reached the semifinals with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 12 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain. Bellis will play No. 5 seed Kristina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in Thursday's semifinals.  The Roehampton draws and order of play are also available at the LTA home page.

At Wimbledon, Venus Williams and Lauren Davis collected second round wins, and Sam Querrey is 9-9 in the fifth set with No. 14 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.  In addition to the completion of the Querrey-Tsonga match, Serena Williams, Alison Riske, Madison Keys, Jack Sock, Denis Kudla, John Isner and Vicky Duval are on Thursday's singles schedule.

My Preview of American Collegiate Invitational at 2014 US Open; Duval, Keys, Sock & Kudla Among US Winners at Wimbledon; Two US Juniors Reach Roehampton ITF Grade 1 Quarterfinals; Lucky Losers and Bad Draws

A new tournament spotlighting American collegiate players will be introduced this year at the US Open, and I had the opportunity to write about it for the Tennis Recruiting Network after speaking with Tournament Director Bill Mountford, as well as chairman, president and CEO of the USTA Dave Haggerty.  The tournament will certainly raise the visibility of American collegiate players, who, except for the NCAA champions, aren't much in evidence at the US Open.

The results have been mixed for US players at Wimbledon, especially on the men's side, but four men advanced today--qualifier Denis Kudla, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and No. 9 seed John Isner.  Kudla defeated fellow qualifier Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 7-6(3), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, Sock beat qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4 and Querrey resumed serving for his darkness-suspended match against Bradley Klahn, closing out a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 victory. The University of Georgia's Isner, who defeated wild card Dan Smethurst of Great Britain 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in today's first round, was asked about the college tennis pathway in his post-match interview, an excerpt from which is below:

Q.  Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm going to flog it a little bit.  Four of the top seven Americans have some college experience.  Can you talk about that for a minute?  Do you think that's a more viable path to the pros now?             JOHN ISNER:  Yeah, I think so, especially because given the landscape of men's professional tennis, how there are very few teenagers lighting it up. You see guys coming into their own at 25, 26.  Wasn't like that 10, 15, 20 years ago.  College was perfect for me, and seems like it's working for a lot of other players as well. Mainly because you have to be very mature at this level in order win matches and get consistent on tour.  I think a lot of the college guys are showing that. Q.  Do you think you're going to see guys look at that as an example in the years ahead and say, That could work for me?             JOHN ISNER:  I think so, especially American guys.  When you go to college and you're winning a lot of matches, that gives you a lot of confidence.  Even though it's at the college level. So we're seeing it now, and I think we'll still see is quite a bit in the future. Q.  You're an exception as someone that's been to college and in the top 10.  Do you think it's still the path for really top prospects, a straight jump to the pros or...             JOHN ISNER:  Yeah, I mean, I am not ‑‑ I kind of went against the grain there going to college for four years and making the top 10.  You probably won't see that that often. I think especially for American players coming up, I think college is a good choice.  Maybe the very minimum for one or two years.  For other guys around the world, could be very different.  Maybe they're already more mature at 18 and can hang with these guys at an earlier age. I think for Americans especially going to college is a good way. In other college news, Martin Redlicki, who originally signed an National Letter of Intent to attend Duke before his brother Michael was suspended from the team this spring, has been released from his commitment to Duke and will play for the UCLA Bruins this fall. On the women's side at Wimbledon, both Alison Riske and Vicky Duval defeated seeds in Tuesday's first round, with Riske downing No. 26 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 4-6, 7-5. 6-1 and Duval eliminating No. 29 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.  Eastbourne champion Madison Keys defeated Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-3, her first win over Puig in three attempts, and Serena Williams and Varvara Lepchenko joined Monday first-round winners Lauren Davis, CoCo Vandeweghe and Venus Williams(30) in the second round. Wild card Taylor Townsend, who did not play a grass warmup tournament, lost to No. 31 seed Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2. 2013 NCAA champion from Ohio State Blaz Rola of Slovenia plays defending champion Andy Murray on Court 1 on Wednesday. For complete draws, see the Wimbledon website. At the Grade 1 ITF junior tournament in Roehampton, two US players have made it to the quarterfinals--top seed CiCi Bellis and unseeded Taylor Fritz.  Bellis beat No. 13 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-2, 6-2, while Fritz picked up his best career result in ITF junior play, defeating world No. 4 and Roehampton No. 3 seed Jaume Munar of Spain 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.  Fritz and Logan Smith also advanced to the doubles quarterfinals, the only US team to do so.  The draws and Wednesday's order of play can be found at the LTA website. Ben Rothenburg of the New York Times published an informative article on how the lucky loser designation is arrived at--which is different depending on whether the qualifier lost in a standard WTA or ATP event and a slam--and why that policy was instituted. As it applies to the USTA summer gold ball nationals, which have qualifying the first time this year, the procedure requires using the ATP/WTA highest ranking procedure, not the ITF Grand Slam lottery. And for those who have had a gut feeling that Christina McHale is getting easy draws and Ryan Harrison difficult draws in majors, Carl Bialik, writing for the Fivethirtyeight blog, confirms those suspicions with some actual data.

Travel Day, US Open National Playoff Update

An early post today, ahead of a long day of travel for me. After a few vacation days in Germany, I'll move on to London to start onsite coverage of the Wimbledon Junior Championships, which begin on Saturday, June 28th. 

I'm not sure what my access to internet will be the next several days, but I will try to post if I can, primarily about what's going on with the Americans at Wimbledon and with the US juniors at Roehampton.  There are two Futures events again this week for the men--one a $10,000 in Rochester, NY and one a $15,000 in Oklahoma City--and a $10,000 Pro Circuit tournament in Charlotte, NC for the women. 

The Sectional Qualifying for the US Open National Playoffs are wrapping up this month, and here are the results since my previous update.

New England:
Men's singles: Jesse Witten d. Anton Protsnenko   6-4, 6-1
Women's singles: (2) Caitlin Whoriskey d. (1) Lena Litvak    6-3, 7-6
Mixed doubles: Max Schnur & Riza Zalameda d. Jordan Vaughan & Jesse Witten 6-2, 6-2

Eastern:
Men's singles: Phillip Simmonds d. Gary Kushnirovich 6-3, 6-2
Women's singles: Rima Asatrian d. Petra Januskova 1-6, 7-5, 6-4
Mixed doubles: Hleb Maslau & Simona Weymar d. Liz Kobak & Cory Parr 6-4, 6-3

Florida:
Jeff Dadamo d. Terrance Whitehurst    6-3, 6-2
Liz Jeukeng d. Emma Decoste    6-3, 6-2
Brittany Dubins & Billy Federhofer d. Star and Noah Makarome 6-3, 6-1

Northern California:
David Hsu d. Joshua Pompan    6-4, 6-3
(2) Michaela Gordon d. Giuliana Olmos    6-3, 2-6, 6-3
Ena Shibahara & Shuhei Shibahara d. JT Nishimura & Alex Poorta 6-4, 6-3

Northern:
Wyatt McCoy d. Jesse Ruder-Hook    6-2, 6-0
Jessie Aney d. Alexis Nelson    6-3, 7-5
Heather Nobler & Zachary Northey d. Ross Greenstein & Mira Ruder-Hook 6-3, 6-2

The Midwest and Middle States tournaments are nearing completion, with Texas, Southern and Missouri Valley finishing by the end of the week.  A more biography of the recent winners can be found at this page on usta.com.  Links to the individual TennisLink sites and the full list of winners can be found in the results section on that same page.

Donaldson Claims Second Straight Futures Title, Stewart Wins Bethany Beach; US Juniors Post Mixed Results in First Round at Roehampton

Seventeen-year-old Jared Donaldson and 16-year-old Katerina Stewart gave the United States two winners on Sunday in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Bethany Beach, Delaware.

Seventh seed Donaldson, who won a $10,000 Futures in Turkey earlier this month, defeated top seed and 2013 NCAA finalist Jarmere Jenkins 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the $15,000 Tulsa Futures final, after trailing 3-0 in the third set.  Donaldson, a finalist in the Kalamazoo 18s last year, has now won ten straight Futures matches on two continents, on both clay and hard courts.

Stewart, also a No. 7 seed, did not lose a set in her five wins at the $10,000 tournament in Bethany Beach, and conceded only four games total in her semifinal and final wins. Stewart, who won the $10,000 Pro Circuit event in Orlando in March, defeated unseeded Jose Kuhlman 6-0, 6-3 in today's final. 

At the Buffalo $10,000 men's Futures, No. 2 seed Ashley Hewitt of Great Britain came back to defeat No. 3 seed Henrique Cunha of Brazil 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to take the title.

Louisa Chirico fell short in her attempt at a second consecutive $25,000 ITF Women's Circuit title, losing to Australian Open champion Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 7-5, 6-2 in today's final in Switzerland.

The first round of play at the ITF Grade 1 Nike International in Roehampton was not a particularly good one for the US juniors warming up for Wimbledon, with the boys going 3-4 and the girls 5-4. Two seeded US players, No. 8 Michael Mmoh and No. 14 Sofia Kenin lost, Mmoh to Marc Polmans of Australia 6-4, 6-1 and Kenin to Eddie Herr champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 6-3. No. 4 seed Stefan Kozlov defeated Jordi Arconada 6-1, 6-3 and No. 5 seed Francis Tiafoe squeezed by Joao Menezes of Brazil 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(3). Taylor Fritz was the third US boy to advance to the second round.  Alex Rybakov, Logan Smith and Henrik Wiersholm lost their openers.

Top seed CiCi Bellis and No. 2 seed Tornado Alicia Black advanced in straight sets, and qualifier Raquel Pedraza also reached the second round.  Kaitlyn McCarthy trailed Easter Bowl finalist Katie Swan 5-2 in the third set, with Swan serving for the match, but won the final five games to earn a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory. McCarthy had beaten Swan 6-2, 6-1 at the Carson ISC Grade 1 back in April.  Usue Arconada, the No. 16 seed, won a thriller, beating Tami Grende of Indonesia 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(12). 

In addition to Kenin, Katrine Steffensen, Dasha Ivanova and Raveena Kingsley lost their first round matches today.

A total of five boys seeds lost, including No. 2 seed Orlando Luz of Brazil, who was beaten by Lucas Miedler of Austria 6-2, 7-6(5).  No. 3 girls seed Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov of Spain was one of only two girls seeds to fall, beaten by 15-year-old Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov 6-2, 6-0. 

Because I am leaving for Europe on Monday, and spending a few days in Germany visiting friends before flying to London to cover the Wimbledon Junior Championships, I won't be following the Roehampton tournament (or the first week of Wimbledon, for that matter) as closely as I usually do. But the draws can be found at the LTA home page, and there is live scoring available at this site.

The order of play for Monday's start at Wimbledon can be found here. Twelve of the 23 Americans are scheduled to play Monday: Ryan Harrison, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Alex Kuznetsov, Bradley Klahn (v) Sam Querrey, Vania King, Steve Johnson, Donald Young, Lauren Davis, CoCo Vandeweghe and Varvara Lepchenko.

ITF Grass Season Begins for 16 US Juniors Sunday at Roehampton; Keys, Vandeweghe Win WTA Titles; Chirico, Donaldson Reach Finals on Pro Circuit, Stewart Faces Kuhlman at Bethany Beach

Although the US ITF Junior Circuit does have a Grass Court tournament, held earlier this month in Philadelphia, it's a Grade 4, meaning the only two major grass tournaments for the 18-and-under set are the next two weeks in London with the Roehampton Grade 1 (now sponsored by Nike) and the Wimbledon Junior Championships.  I will not be at the former, just the latter, but most of the same players will be at a both, including world No. 1 junior Andrey Rublev of Russia.

Rublev, who won the French Open boys title earlier this month, is, of course, the top seed in both events.  Serbia's Ivana Jorovic, who took over the No. 1 spot after reaching the French Open girls final,  will be the top seed at Wimbledon, but she is not playing Roehampton, which leaves second-ranked CiCi Bellis as the top seed.

Bellis is one of four US girls seeded, with Tornado Alicia Black No. 2, Sofia Kenin No. 14 and Usue Arconada No. 16.  The other five US girls in the 64-player draw are Katrine Steffensen, Raveena Kingsley, Dasha Ivanova, Kaitlyn McCarthy and Raquel Pedraza, who qualified.

Three of the seven US boys in the draw are seeded: No. 4 Stefan Kozlov, No. 5 Francis Tiafoe and No. 8 Michael Mmoh.  The other four are Alex Rybakov, who will play Rublev in the second round if they both win, Taylor Fritz, Henrik Wiersholm and Logan Smith.  Argentina's Jordi Arconada, who trains at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., qualified and will face Kozlov in the first round.

For the draws and Sunday's order of play, see the LTA home page.  For an interesting look back at the past 13 years of Wimbledon junior champions, see this AFP article. (My response to the headline is well, duh, but it's worth reading).

The US juniors are dreaming of having a week on grass the two slightly older Americans had last week, with qualifier CoCo Vandweghe and unseeded Madison Keys both picking up their first WTA titles with victories today.  The 19-year-old Keys became the youngest woman to win a Premier WTA title since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009 when she defeated No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the final at Eastbourne, England.  Vandeweghe, 22, defeated Zheng Jie of China 6-2 6-4 in the final of the WTA International-level event in 'S-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, and her serve was the star throughout the tournament. According to this WTA article about the final, Vandweghe won 27 of 28 first serve points and never faced a break point in the championship match. She hit a total of 81 aces in her seven matches.

At the Tulsa $15,000 Futures, 17-year-old Jared Donaldson will play top seed Jarmere Jenkins(Virginia) in Sunday's final.  Jenkins defeated unseeded 17-year-old Ernesto Escobedo 6-3, 6-1 in today's semifinal, while Donaldson, the No. 7 seed, beat unseeded Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) 6-3, 7-6(1). Donaldson won a Futures title earlier this month in Turkey on clay, but this is his first hard court final. Donaldson, who has now won nine straight Futures matches, has reached at least the quarterfinals of his last eight Futures played in 2014.

Eighteen-year-old Louisa Chirico is also on a streak. Last week Chirico won the $25,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Italy, her first at that prize-money level and she has continued that form, reaching the final of the $25,000 tournament in Switzerland, also on clay.  The unseeded New Yorker will take on reigning Australian Open girls champion, 18-year-old fifth seed Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia, in the final.  Chirico has a title in hand already, however, as she and Sanaz Marand(North Carolina) won the doubles title. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds  Su Jeong Jang of Korea and Justyna Jegiolka of Poland 6-3, 6-4.

At the Bethany Beach $10,000 women's Pro Circuit event, Katerina Stewart aims for her second title at that level when she takes on Jose Kuhlman in the final.  No. 7 seed Stewart, who won the Orlando $10K in March, breezed past No. 6 seed Peggy Porter 6-0, 6-1, while Kuhlman, into her first final, defeated wild card Ingrid Neel 6-3, 6-1.  Top seeds Alexandra Mueller and Lena Litvak(Harvard) won the doubles title, beating Stewart and Rima Asatrian 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

At the Buffalo $10,000 Futures, former Duke star Henrique Cunha of Brazil, the No. 3 seed, will face No. 2 seed Ashley Hewitt of Great Britain in the final. Cunha beat wild card Nathan Pasha(Georgia) 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-0 in today's semifinals, with Hewitt downing No. 8 seed Daniel Nguyen(8) 7-6(12), 7-6(3).  Connor Smith(Ohio State) and Jean-Yves Aubone(Florida State) won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Luke Bambridge and Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-3, 2-6, 10-6.

Wimbledon Draws Released; Keys, Vandeweghe Reach WTA Finals; Teens Shine in Tulsa and Bethany Beach Futures

The Wimbledon draws for singles and doubles were released this morning, with 10 US men and 13 US women learning who they will play on the opening two days of competition next week.

There are only two all-American matchups, with Bradley Klahn playing Sam Querrey and top seed Serena Williams facing Anna Tatishvili, who recently changed her nationality from Georgia to the US.  Here are the other first round matchups involving US players:

Christina  McHale v Chanelle Scheepers(RSA)
Alison Riske v No. 16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)
Vicky Duva(Q)l v No. 29 Sorana Cirstea(ROU)
Taylor Townsend(WC) v No. 31 Klara Koukalova(CZE)
Madison Keys v Monica Puig(PUR)
CoCo Vandeweghe v No. 27 Garbine Muguruza(ESP)
Varvara Lepchenko v Tsvetana Pironkova(BUL)
No. 30 Venus Williams v Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor(ESP)
No. 18 Sloane Stephens v Maria Kirilenko(RUS)
Lauren Davis v Alisa Kleybanova(RUS)
Vania King v Yvonne Meusburger(AUT)

Steve Johnson v No. 27 Roberto Bautista Agut(ESP)
Alex Kuznetsov(Q) v No. 16 Fabio Fognini(ITA)
Ryan Harrison(Q) v No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov(BUL)
Donald Young v Benjamin Becker(GER)
Michael Russell v Julian Reister(GER)
No. 9 John Isner v Daniel Smethurst(GBR)(WC)
Jack Sock v Pierre-Hugues Herbert(FRA)(Q)
Denis Kudla(Q) v Marsel Ilhan(TUR)(Q)

The complete draws can be found at the Wimbledon website, with the doubles draws also posted.  The ITA has posted their update on former college players at Wimbledon, and that can be found here.

Both CoCo Vandweghe and Madison Keys have had great weeks warming up for Wimbledon.  Vandeweghe, who beat her Wimbledon opponent yesterday in the WTA tournament in the Netherlands, reached the finals with a 6-4, 6-2 win today over No. 8 seed Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic, who will be Townsend's Wimbledon opponent. Vandeweghe plays Zheng Jie of China in Saturday's final, the second WTA final of Vandeweghe's career.  The 19-year-old Keys, playing at the WTA event in England, reached her first WTA final, defeating Great Britain's Heather Watson 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals today.  Keys will play Angelique Kerber of Germany in the final.

Both Vandeweghe and Keys are tall, but this article in the New York Times offers a counter to the conventional wisdom that height is now a necessary requirement for tennis success. I've read Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, so I don't need convincing there is a place at the highest reaches of tennis for any size player, but I often do hear others insist that height matters.

At the USTA Pro Circuit events in Bethany Beach, Delaware and Tulsa, Oklahoma, seven of the eight semifinalists are American teenagers.  At the women's $10,000 event in Delaware, 18-year-old Jose Kuhlman, a Florida recruit, will take on wild card Ingrid Neel, the 16-year-old who just won the ITF Grade 4 Grass Courts title, in one semifinal.  The other semifinal will feature 16-year-old Katerina Stewart, the No. 7 seed, against 18-year-old Florida recruit Peggy Porter, the No. 6 seed.  Kuhlman defeated top seed Alexandra Mueller in the first round and hasn't lost a set yet, but neither have the other three teens.

At the $15,000 men's Futures in Tulsa, 19-year-old Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) will face 17-year-old Jared Donaldson(7) in one semifinal, after McDonald defeated No 2 seed Dimitar Kutrovsky(Texas) and Donaldson downed No. 3 seed Sanam Singh(Virginia) in the quarterfinals today.  Seventeen-year-old Ernesto Escobedo defeated Raymond Sarmiento(USC) to set up a meeting with the only non-teen left, top seed Jarmere Jenkins(Virginia). Dennis Novikov(UCLA) and Eric Quigley(Kentucky) won the doubles title in Tulsa, with the top seeds defeating Donaldson and Farris Gosea(Illinois) 7-6(5), 6-3 in the final.

At the $10,000 Futures in Buffalo New York, no teens remain, but three of the four semifinalists have college ties. Unseeded wild card Nathan Pasha, a rising senior at Georgia, will play No. 3 seed Henrique Cunha, the former All-American at Duke in one semifinal.  No. 8 seed Daniel Nguyen(USC) will play No. 2 seed Ashley Hewitt of Great Britain in the other semifinal.