Aragone Shocks Top Seed Farren in 16s Quarterfinals

JC Aragone thought he had blown it. Leading 16s top seed Connor Farren 4-1 in the final set of their quarterfinal match Friday at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium, the 16-year-old from Yorba Linda, Calif., missed three chances to take a 5-1 lead.

“I thought when I lost that game the match was going to slip away,” said No. 13 seed Aragone, who is making his debut in Kalamazoo this year. “He was returning really well, and it really bugged me. I had no confidence going into that last game.”

If he was nervous, Aragone didn’t show it when he stepped up to serve for the match at 5-3. Although his double fault may have been a giveaway, that came at 30-0 and he immediately shook it off by taking the next point to set up two match points. He only needed one, hitting a forehand winner behind a scrambling Farren to take a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Aragone, who moved to California from Argentina when he was 8, is in Kalamazoo without his coach or parents, but he is staying with the Hassevoort family, which provides him with a built-in cadre of supporters.

“I’ve got all the ball boys (and girls) rooting for me, so that’s good,” Aragone said. “I’m staying at the house of the lady who runs it.”



In Friday’s first 16s quarterfinal match, 16s Clay Court champion Luca Corinteli’s impressive winning streak looked to be over. No. 32 seed Stephen Watson was up 6-3, 5-4 40-30 and Corinteli didn’t see his 12th consecutive victory on the horizon.

“At 30-30 I played a bad point and he hit an easy overhead winner to make it 40-30,” said the 16-year-old Virginian, who trains at the USTA’s Boca Raton facility. “I thought, this is it, this is where my run ends, 11 matches in a row again, because I had an 11-match streak in May. But I thought okay, make him play, and I pushed him out to his forehand side and he dumped one into the net. I kind of got momentum from that.”

Corinteli recovered for a 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-2 win that took nearly three hours to complete. In the second set, there were eight straight breaks of serve, and Corinteli admitted the quality of tennis wasn’t high.

“I knew it was going to be tough, but I didn’t know I was going to play the way I played,” said Corinteli. “I don’t think he played very well either. It was a pretty ugly match, to be honest. I consider my serve one of my weapons, so to play a match like this when I’m not holding serve was kind of weird, and I didn’t know how to handle it."

Corinteli did manage to protect his serve better in the final set, suffering only one break, but he was more relieved than encouraged after the match.

“Every single one of these tournaments that have this big of a draw, you’re going to have one or two matches when you’re not feeling great, so it’s the people who get out of these matches who are the ones who win the tournament. So I’m fortunate to get out of this, and hopefully tomorrow, I can play a little bit better.”

In the first of the two 18s quarterfinals, No. 4 seed Marcos Giron fought off a tough challenge in the second set from No. 5 seed Dennis Novikov to collect a 6-0, 7-6(5) victory, his third over Novikov this year.

Giron won the first seven games of the match, with Novikov failing make enough first serves to stay competitive. Novikov held and broke to take a 2-1 second-set lead however, and had three game points for a 3-1 lead, but Giron got the break back, and both held the rest of the way.

In the tiebreaker, Giron hit a forehand winner and a first serve winner to make it 6-3. Novikov saved two of those match points, both on his serve, making it 6-5, but Giron ended the suspense quickly, hitting a serve winner out wide that Novikov barely got a racquet on.

“Most of the time you want to make sure you make a first serve,” said Giron, an 18-year-old from Thousand Oaks, Calif. “It doesn’t always work out every time that you come up with a serve like that in that situation. I’m really happy I did, because it made my life easier. You never know with Dennis. He’s tough, because you never know if he’s going to hit a winner out of nowhere. You never know what to expect.”

That’s definitely not the case with Jack Sock. The top seed reached the semifinals with his fourth consecutive 6-1, 6-1 victory, this one coming over No. 8 seed Alexios Halebian.

“It’s nice that it’s happening. I’m playing pretty well, doing the right things,” said Sock, the defending champion, who won his first match 6-3, 6-1. “It’s more just a coincidence I guess.”

Asked if a few close matches would be beneficial, Sock denied he hasn’t been pushed.

“It’s not that these aren’t challenges. The points are long, the games are close, I came back from a 0-40 game once,” said the 18-year-old from Lincoln, Neb. “The matches could easily not be 1 and 1. I just try to stay in every point, play every point as hard as I can, and it’s turned out to be 1 and 1.”

Giron and Sock last played over two years ago, in the third round of the 18s Clay Courts, which Sock went on to win.

“Someone brought that up to me, I don’t even remember playing that match,” said Sock, who usually recalls previous matches without needing any reminders. “Someone told me I won in three sets. Obviously we played then, but I didn’t remember it. It’s been a long time, and this is a hard court.”

The weather forecast for the weekend is showing a 60% chance of rain for Saturday’s semifinals and doubles finals. So there’s a possibility that indoor tennis could figure into the equation as well.

The doubles finals are set, with No. 1 seeds Yale Goldberg and Ronnie Schneider facing No. 5 seeds Joseph Di Giulio and Gregory Garcia in the 16s championship match. Goldberg and Schneider defeated unseeded Conrad Harron and Samuel Shropshire 6-4, 6-4 in one of Friday’s semifinals. In the other, Di Giulio and Garcia downed No. 12 seeds Christopher Vrabel and Anton Zykov 6-4, 6-3.

The US Open main draw wild card will go to a Texas A&M Aggie; which one will be decided on Saturday. Texas A&M’s Junior Ore, who is partnering Mitchell Frank, will play Texas A&M’s Jackson Withrow, whose doubles partner is Jack Sock.

Frank and Ore, the No. 5 seeds, beat No. 7 seeds Nick Chappell and Marcos Giron 6-2, 6-4, while top seeds Sock and Withrow got past No. 8 seeds Emmett Egger and Mac Styslinger 7-6(4), 6-4 in Friday’s semifinals. Sock and partner Matt Kandath lost in the 2010 18s doubles final to Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Nathan Pasha.

For complete results, see ustaboys.com.

Madregallejo Saves Match Points in Ousting Third Seed Rubin in 16s Quarterfinal

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Kalamazoo, MI--

The last time Nikko Madregallejo and Noah Rubin played, in the 16s final at the International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif., Rubin took the title by winning a third set tiebreaker when Madregallejo’s forehand went just millimeters past the baseline at match point.

In Thursday’s quarterfinal match in the USTA National Championships at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium, another Madregallejo shot, this one just catching the baseline, gave him new life. The result was a heart-pounding 0-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) victory and a place in Saturday’s semifinals.

The third-seeded Rubin led 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but sent his forehand return of a Madregallejo second serve well long. With Rubin serving at 6-5, Madregallejo jumped on a backhand that headed for the baseline. With a line judge sitting on that line for the first time during the tournament, all eyes went to him, and he signaled good. Rubin looked to the line judge and chair umpire but didn’t protest, and the players changed ends.

The hundreds of lunchtime spectators held their collective breath as the two players resumed their positions, neither with an advantage now after two hours of play.

Madregallejo got to his first match point, the only one he would need, with a deft backhand volley winner, an impressive shot in any circumstance and doubly so considering the score. That aggressiveness paid off on the next point, when Rubin netted a forehand, giving the sixth seed his second consecutive three-set victory.

Madregallejo, a 16-year-old from Monrovia, Calif., was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set when Rubin requested a bathroom break. When Rubin returned, Madregallejo lost his serve at love, and when Rubin held at love, Madregallejo suddenly needed to hold just to get into the tiebreaker.

“I started rushing,” Madregallejo said of his performance when trying to serve out the match. “It caused me to lose the game real quick and the game after that. Once I got another changeover, I was able to breathe and talk to myself, and hold when down 5-6.”

Madregallejo thought Rubin’s decision to take a bathroom break at that juncture was strategic.

“I believe it was, in my opinion,” said Madregallejo. “Yesterday I was up 4-1 in the third set, and my opponent called for the trainer. Yeah, things like that throw you off, but I know that I’ve just got to stay focused and I did.”

Madregallejo’s opponent in Saturday’s semifinal is No. 2 seed Ronnie Schneider, who defeated No. 19 seed Roy Lederman 6-3, 6-4 on a warm, sunny and thankfully less windy day than Wednesday.

Schneider enjoyed having line judges for the first time, but also mentioned the challenges of that adjustment, with players were calling their own lines, with chairs only overruling obvious mistakes, in the first five rounds.

“When you call it out the same time as they do, it’s like oh, whoops, my bad,” said the talkative 16-year-old from Bloomington, Ind., who also liked having ball runners for his last two matches on the front courts.
“But it’s an amazing tournament. You do this in the quarterfinals, and it’s really nice. You feel pretty special when you’re playing.”

Schneider won the last time he played Madregallejo, back in April.
“We had a great match at the Easter Bowl, in the quarterfinals,” said Schneider, who won it 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2.

The other two quarterfinal matches in the 16s will be played Friday, with top seed Connor Farren playing No. 13 seed JC Aragone and No. 4 seed Luca Corinteli taking on No. 32 seed Stephen Watson.

In the 18s, No. 2 seed Mitchell Frank again found himself down a set, and again found his way back, taking a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 decision over No. 23 seed Hunter Callahan.

As Austin Smith had done on Wednesday against Frank, Callahan came out with his forehand blazing, and Frank needed time to work out the best way to counter it.

“He came out really pumped up,” said Frank, of Annandale, Va. “I came out sluggish, and he took it to me for the first hour and a half of the match. But I’ve been in that situation a lot, and I didn’t panic. Up until a set and 4-3, any time I had a break point, he’d play a great point, so a lot of credit to him, making that tough.”



Frank’s opponent in Saturday’s semifinal is No. 9 seed Mac Styslinger, who defeated No. 29 seed Junior Ore 7-6(4), 6-4.

There was only one break in the match, which featured a pair of one-handed backhands, with Styslinger’s right-handed and Ore’s left-handed.

“I realized that he hits a lot of spin and his balls come into me on the forehand, so I had to adjust a little bit during the match,” said Styslinger, who is in his first year in the 18s. “That’s why he’s such a good player, because he has that really good lefty serve.”

Styslinger has made great strides in his game from last year, when he was seeded 31st in the 16s, to this year, when he reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open junior championships, and now the semifinals of Kalamazoo.

“I’ve gotten a little stronger, grown a little bit into my body,” said the 6-foot-4 Alabama native, who trains at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla. “The start of the year in Australia really set the tone for the rest of the year, and I think I’ve been playing well since then.”

Saturday’s semifinal will be Frank and Styslinger’s first meeting.

In the two 18s quarterfinals scheduled for Friday, top seed Jack Sock will play No. 8 seed Alexios Halebian and No. 4 seed Marcos Giron will face No. 5 seed Dennis Novikov.

The 16s doubles semifinalists were determined Thursday evening. Top seeds Ronnie Schneider and Yale Goldberg eliminated the unseeded pair of Dave Bacalla and Jeremy Bush 6-3, 7-5, but the other three victories went to the lower seeded teams.

No. 12 seeds Christopher Vrabel and Anton Zykov defeated No. 4 seeds Robbie Bellamy and Gage Brymer 7-5, 6-3; No. 5 seeds Joseph Di Giulio and Gregory Garcia beat No. 2 seeds Luca Corinteli and Spencer Papa 7-6(5), 6-4; and the unseeded team of Conrad Harron and Samuel Shropshire saved a match point in the deciding tiebreaker to down No. 6 seeds Tyler Gardiner and TJ Pura 5-7, 7-6(5), 11-9.

The semifinals in both 16s and 18s doubles are scheduled for Friday afternoon. They will be best of three tiebreak sets.

For complete results, see ustaboys.com.

Giron Survives Rain Delay; Second Seed Frank Gets First Test at Boys 18s

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Kalamazoo, MI--

The crowds at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium can be forgiven for not being familiar with No. 2 seed Mitchell Frank. The 18-year-old Virginian spent so little time on the court in his first three matches—losing only three games total—there was hardly time for his presence to register.

On a cool and breezy Wednesday afternoon, Frank got substantially more exposure however, dropping the first set to No. 15 seed Austin Smith 6-3. But he then reverted to his previous form, winning sets two and three 6-1, 6-1.

“There was no reason for me to panic, down a set and a break,” said Frank, who trailed 1-0 in the second set before winning 12 of the final 13 games. “I just stayed in the match, kept working and things turned quickly.”

“When I saw the draw and saw his name, I knew he was playing well this summer, and I knew it was going to be a tough one to get through,” said the University of Virginia recruit. “I knew he could play really well, that he has big shots. I think the wind actually helped me more than it hurt me.”

Frank identified a key moment in the match, which came early in the third set.

“I was up a break 2-1 and up 40-0 and he brought it back to deuce,” said Frank. “I ended up holding, and that was actually a huge momentum shift for me, when it could have turned either way.”

Frank will play No. 23 seed Hunter Callahan in one of two 18s quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday.

Callahan also need three sets to advance in a much lengthier Court 1 match, defeating No. 11 seed Brett Clark 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Callahan served for the match at 5-4 in the third, after Clark had requested a trainer for treatment on his right shoulder. Whether it was due to the delay or nerves, Callahan played a loose game and was broken at love. The Ohio State redshirt freshman came right back to break Clark again in the next game however, and with a second chance, served out the match at love.

Callahan is not the only double digit seed to reach the quarters, as Junior Ore, the No. 29 seed, continued his impressive run with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over unseeded Charles Depaolo. Ore meets No. 9 seed Mac Styslinger in the other 18s quarterfinal on Thursday. Styslinger eliminated unseeded Dennis Mkrtchian 6-3, 6-2.

The top half of the draw has gone according to form, with No. 1 seed and defending champion Jack Sock continuing to roll. Sock defeated Emmett Egger 6-1, 6-1, the third straight opponent Sock has beaten by that score. Sock’s opponent in Friday’s quarterfinal will be No. 8 seed Alexios Halebian, who won his second consecutive three-set match, taking out No. 14 seed Spencer Newman 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-2.

The only 18s player to have his match disrupted by an unexpected cloudburst on Wednesday was No. 4 seed Marcos Giron. Giron led No. 21 seed Hunter Reese 6-3, 2-1, but the rain actually didn’t come at a bad time for him.

“In the second set, I broke him the first game, was up 2-0, and then he ended up breaking me back,” said Giron, who will begin school at UCLA this fall. “I was a little nervous, and then it started pouring. It rained for like one minute, but just poured, so the courts were wet and we waited for like an hour.”

Giron spoke to his coach during the rain delay and was told he wasn’t swinging out as he was in practice.

“I ended up doing that and it worked out well.”

Giron’s opponent in the quarterfinal is a familiar one—No. 5 seed Dennis Novikov, whom Giron beat in back-to-back weeks at April’s International Spring Championships and Easter Bowl tournament, both of which he went on to win.

“I’m sure he’s going to come out all pumped up for the match,” said Giron, who won those two matches in straight sets. “It’s good to have tough matches, because then you’re always mentally tough. He killed Dane (Webb), who’s a really good player himself, so you know the guy’s playing well.”

Novikov was so dominating in his 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 16 seed Webb that he finished before the rain began.

In the 16s, No. 2 seed Ronnie Schneider was expecting a very tough test from No. 15 seed Thai Kwiatkowski, saying in an interview on Tuesday that he thought Kwiatkowski should have been one of the top 3 seeds in the tournament.

Perhaps that regard for his opponent helped motivate him, but whatever the cause, Schneider’s 6-3, 6-2 win was an impressive display of power and control.

“I played so well today,” said Schneider, a 16-year-old from Bloomington, Ind. “I was really moving my feet, controlling the baseline, really just ripping my forehand. I didn’t think coming in I’d be able to control the match as much as I did, and as the match went on, I just got more and more comfortable. And my forehand was just on fire.”

In one of the two 16s quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday, Schneider will play No. 19 seed Roy Lederman, the reigning Eddie Herr 16s champion. Lederman closed out the fifth round in the younger division Wednesday evening with a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 24 seed Stefan Menichella.

The other Thursday quarterfinal will be a rematch of the International Spring Championships 16s final between Noah Rubin and Nikko Madregallejo, which ended with Rubin taking a third-set tiebreaker.

Rubin, the No. 3 seed in Kalamazoo, defeated No. 14 seed Grant Solomon 6-3, 6-2, while Madregallejo had considerably more trouble dispatching No. 10 seed Yale Goldberg, posting 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Top seed Connor Farren avoided his usual slow start, but still ended up in another battle before downing No. 9 seed Spencer Papa 6-1, 7-6(7).
Papa served for the second set at 5-3, but lost three straight games, giving Farren the chance to avoid the drama of a tiebreaker. Farren was broken however, lost a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker, but ultimately converted on his third match point.

“He was playing really well the whole match, but I just got a little ahead of him on his serve,” said Farren, a 16-year-old from Northern California. “I was hitting my returns really well in the first set, and in the second set when I needed to.”

On Friday, Farren will play No. 13 seed JC Aragone, who defeated Easter Bowl champion and No. 5 seed Gage Brymer 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 in a long and hard-hitting battle of Southern Californians.

Clay Court champion Luca Corinteli, the No. 4 seed, ended the run of unseeded John Carswell, but it wasn’t easy. Corinteli saw an early first-set lead disappear, but he rebounded for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory. His opponent in Friday’s second quarterfinal will be No. 32 seed Stephen Watson, who also needed a comeback to advance. Watson defeated No. 25 seed Garrett Auproux 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Friday’s semifinals in the 18s doubles are set, and will include top seeds Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow. Sock and Withrow came from a break down in the first set to defeat No. 10 seeds Michael Redlicki and Robert Stineman 7-6(6), 6-2. Sock and Withrow will play No. 8 seeds Emmett Egger and Mac Styslinger, who beat No. 4 seeds Mitchell Krueger and Dane Webb 4-6, 7-6(1), 10-7.

Fifth seeds Mitchell Frank and Junior Ore won over No. 14 seeds Brett Clark and Trey Strobel 6-0, 6-4 to set up a meeting with No. 7 seeds Nick Chappell and Marcos Giron.

Chappell and Giron beat No. 2 seeds Bjorn Fratangelo and Alexios Halebian 6-4, 7-6(4), in the evening’s last match, which ended on a point penalty. After missing a return at 5-4 in the tiebreaker, Halebian tossed his racquet and was given code violation by the chair umpire, which gave Chappell and Giron an unexpectedly sudden victory.

The 16s doubles quarterfinals will be played on Thursday.

For complete results, see ustaboys.com.

Ore Surprises Third Seed Fratangelo in 18s; Top 16s Seeds Farren and Schneider Survive Tough Tests at Nats

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Kalamazoo, MI--

On Monday, it was Texas A&M’s Jackson Withrow who posted the day’s biggest upset, taking out 2010 National 16s finalist and No. 6 seed Shane Vinsant in the third round of the Boys 18s National Championships. Withrow’s teammate, No. 29 seed Junior Ore, recorded an even bigger win in Tuesday’s fourth round, defeating No. 3 seed and 2011 French Open junior champion Bjorn Fratangelo 6-2, 6-4.

Ore, who began his collegiate career in January, completely revamped his game after last year’s US Open junior championships.

“After the Open last year, I went down to Tampa to work with Steve Smith, and basically I just rebuilt my strokes,” said Ore, who turns 19 next month. “All I did was hit off the cone for hours and hours. I didn’t play points or anything. That’s all I’ve been doing really.”

The left-hander still has his elegant one-handed backhand however, and although Fratangelo hits a potent forehand, it wasn’t working to his advantage in the first set. Ore seemed as if he might be expending too much emotional energy with some very loud eruptions of “allez” on key points, but he managed to find the right balance.

“I’ve been away for such a long time, and I had my ups and downs,” said Ore who played No. 2 doubles for the Aggies this year. “I was at my low when I took the year off. I had no confidence and since I had to rebuild, I almost quit tennis sometimes. I knew this was an important match for me, it’s really emotional for me.”

In the second set, the pressure mounted as both players held serve in the first nine games. Fratangelo was in the precarious position of serving to stay in the match at 4-5, and he was unable to reenact his third round comeback, where he came from a set and a break down to win in three sets.

Ore has had big wins in the past, having beaten defending French Open champion Daniel Berta of Sweden, the 2009 International Tennis Federation World Junior Champion, in the first round at Roland Garros the following year, losing to the eventual champion Agustin Velotti of Argentina.

“I’ve beaten two French Open champions and I lost to one, so that’s not so bad,” said the Gaithersburg, Md. resident, smiling broadly.

Ore will play unseeded Charles Depaolo, who outlasted Dominic Cotrone, also unseeded, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) in a match that lasted over three hours.



Alexios Halebian, the No. 8 seed in the 18s, hadn’t won a main draw match in his two previous appearances in Kalamazoo, but winning the Clay Courts gold ball last month helped change that.

“I had a lot of confidence coming in,” said Halebian, who defeated No. 26 seed Harrison Adams 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a well-played and entertaining match on the backcourts at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium. “It felt good to win there and come here, even though I’d never won a match here, I had confidence, more than I usually do.”

Halebian trailed 2-0 in the third set, but got the break back early and broke Adams at 3-4 to earn an opportunity to serve for the match. Halebian saved two break points in the final game, employing his effective drop shot to finish his first match point with a winner.

“I could have kept it a little safer, but he was hanging in the match, he never went away, which was surprising, because he was getting upset,” said the 17-year-old, who recently turned pro. “But he never went away. It was a great match, I thought, both ways. I could have won, could have lost. It went my way today.”

Top seeds Jack Sock and Mitchell Frank continued their stroll through the early rounds, although No. 2 seed Frank leads the games surrendered competition, having dropped only 3 games in his three wins, compared to 8 for No. 1 Sock.

Frank defeated 2009 16s National Champion and No. 31 seed Gonzales Austin 6-0, 6-1 in just over an hour, while Sock beat No. 17 seed Anthony Tsodikov 6-1, 6-1.

Marcos Giron, the No. 4 seed, also advanced, taking out No. 19 seed Robert Stineman 6-3, 6-4. Hunter Callahan, seeded 23, surprised No. 7 seed Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 6-4 in one of the afternoon matches on the backcourts.

The longest match of the day was No. 21 seed Hunter Reese’s 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5) win over No. 12 seed Gordon Watson. Reese and Watson battled for three hours and 43 minutes before deciding who would move to the round of 16.

In the 16s, top seed Connor Farren again struggled in the opening set, this time losing it to No. 18 seed Elliott Orkin, but bounced back to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

“I’ve got to start getting off to a little better start in the next rounds. It’s got to be something about this city,” he said, adding that he was just kidding.

“He played really well in the first set, came out and didn’t make any errors, and I just wasn’t putting enough balls in play. I started playing my game more in the second set, and in the third, I felt the best I had in a while.”

In the 10-minute break between the second and third sets, the 16-year-old from Hillsborough, Calif., called his coach Sandy Mayer, who won the doubles title in Kalamazoo back in 1970.

“He told me some things,” said Farren who mentioned an increase in his energy level in the third set. “He was actually watching the match on the webcam. I had some family back home watching it too.”

Second seed Ronnie Schneider also lost his first set of the tournament, but he advanced when No. 30 seed Henry Craig had to retire with cramping down 4-3, 40-0 in the third set, having won the first 6-4 and lost the second 6-3. Craig had battled back from 3-0 deficit in the final set, with one of the games a penalty awarded to Schneider when Craig was late returning from the break.

Number 3 seed Noah Rubin had the local crowd against him when he took the court Tuesday morning, but it didn’t faze the 15-year-old, who beat Kalamazoo’s Paul Oosterbaan, the No. 31 seed 6-3, 6-2.

“I played in France in the final (of Les Petits As) and I had French people booing me,” the New Yorker said. “This is basically nothing compared to it. That was just negative. This is fine. They’re clapping for his good shots.”

Oosterbaan never served well enough to challenge Rubin, who teed off on the much bigger player’s second serve.

“I expected to just take it on the rise, and dictate the point,” said Rubin, who was surprised to see his own serve read 118 on the radar gun.
“I knew he was a big kid, so I was expecting a big serve. The clock said I was bigger, but I don’t know how that is possible.”

Unseeded John Carswell continued his impressive run, defeating his second seed in as many days Tuesday. Carswell, a 16-year-old from Wisconsin, breezed past No. 23 seed Daniel Kerznerman 6-2, 6-0, and is the only unseeded player remaining in the 16s field.

For complete results, including the doubles results from Tuesday, see ustaboys.com.

Sock's Sock Helps Doubles Partner Withrow to Upset Over Vinsant in Boys 18s

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Kalamazoo, MI--

There are plenty of benefits to having top seed Jack Sock as a doubles partner, but Jackson Withrow probably didn’t anticipate he’d need an aptly named piece of clothing from the defending champion during the third round of the USTA Boys 16 and 18s National Championships.

After dropping the opening set to the 18s division’s No. 6 seed Shane Vinsant, Withrow had more than a mental hurdle to overcome.

“I had a foot problem toward the end of the first set,” said the Omaha, Neb. native, who squandered a 3-0 lead to lose it 6-4. “I had a big, quarter-sized blister, and my sock started wear-and-tearing. I had a huge hole in my sock, and was trying to deal with that.”

Sock, who was watching his doubles partner’s match after completing his own 6-1, 6-1 victory over Austin Ansari, came to the rescue.

“Jack came out with a loose sock,” said Withrow, pointing to the two layers inside his shoe. “He’s coming big-time with his last name.”

With that repair made, Withrow went on to take the second set 6-3, and when the 10-minute break came between the second and third sets, the Texas A&M redshirt freshman didn’t feel any need to identify a third-set strategy.

“I had a good conversation with my friend from Omaha, Anthony Delcore, and Trey Daniel, from Kansas City, and we were talking about what we were going to do after the match,” Withrow said.

“My coach is back home, so I just kind of decided to relax. I felt I was in a good position, I felt like I knew what I was going to do, so I didn’t really need a game plan.”

Vinsant wasn’t sharp in the last few games, and when he was broken serving at 2-4, Withrow had the luxury of a second break. He didn’t need it, serving well in the final game to close out the 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 upset.

Withrow wasn’t unhappy about scoring his big win back on Court 11, the most remote spot at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium.

“I’m kind of the guy who likes being in the back, not being paid attention to, and then coming out of nowhere,” said Withrow, who will play unseeded Dennis Mkrtchian in Tuesday’s fourth round.



French Open boys champion Bjorn Fratangelo, the No. 3 seed, was given one of the venue’s show courts, and when he went down a set and a break to Christopher Diaz, the possibility of a major upset drew much of the lunchtime crowd’s attention.
Fratangelo recovered for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over the Ohio State recruit, who simply returned every potential winner that Fratangelo struck.

Fratangelo, who got a late break in the third set and saved three break points in the final game of the match, credited his success in Paris and on the Pro Circuit this summer with providing a reservoir of confidence that led to the win.

In the post-match interview, Fratangelo showed off his new red, white and blue shoes, custom-made for him by Adidas, which had “RG11Champ” stamped on them. But just a few minutes later, Fratangelo began to feel dizzy and nauseous, and was attended to by the tournament doctor and trainer. He did recover in time to play his doubles match a few hours later at Western Michigan University.

No. 4 seed Marcos Giron made his debut on the Stowe Stadium courts Monday after playing his opening match at WMU, and he was impressive in his 6-3, 6-4 win over Morgan Mays.

“I’m happy to have played well on these courts,” said the 18-year-old from Thousand Oaks, Calif. “I feel these courts suit my game pretty well, they’re pretty quick, so I felt good out there. I like having the crowd there, it pumps you up a little more.”
Mays played aggressively and made Giron work for his points, but Giron was up to the task.

“He’s got a good forehand, but I never really let him dictate with the forehand,” said the UCLA recruit. “I kept taking the ball early, came to net quite a few times, and had him on the defensive. He’s a very energetic guy, so you can’t let him overwhelm you.”

No. 2 seed Mitchell Frank has lost all of two games in his two victories, with his 6-1, 6-1 win over Jason Jaruvang as brief as the score would suggest.

Aside from Withrow’s win over Vinsant, there was only one other upset in the 18s division. Dominic Cotrone beat No. 13 seed and fellow Floridian Zack McCourt 7-6(2), 7-6(2).

Upsets were even more rare in the 16s division, with just one seed falling in Monday’s third round action. John Carswell of Wisconsin beat No. 11 seed Gregory Garcia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Top seed Connor Farren again survived a tough opening set, posting a 7-5, 6-2 win over Zandrix Acob after trailing 3-1 in the first set. Second seed Ronnie Schneider advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Samuel Lampman.

Local favorite Paul Oosterbaan, the 31 seed, rolled to 6-1, 6-0 win over Conrad Harron, setting up a fourth round meeting with No. 3 seed Noah Rubin.

Oosterbaan, a sophomore at Portage Northern High School, felt the crowd support was a significant factor in his win over Harron.

“He was having a little off day, so I had to take advantage of it,” said the 15-year-old right-hander. “It kind of tore him down mentally when people were clapping when I hit big shots, so it definitely helps me out a lot.”

Because of the rain delays over the weekend, there will be two rounds of doubles for the 16s division on Tuesday. In third round doubles action Monday in the 18s division, the top eight seeds, including the No. 1 team of Sock and Withrow, advanced to the round of 16.

For complete results, see ustaboys.com

Second Straight Day of Rain Doesn't Bother Top 16s Seeds Farren and Schneider

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Kalamazoo, MI--

For the second consecutive day, a midday storm produced a lengthy rain delay at the USTA Boys 16s and 18s National Championships, but it had no effect on the younger division’s top two seeds. No. 1 seed Connor Farren and No. 2 seed Ronnie Schneider, taking the Stowe Stadium courts for the first time, both posted straight-set victories just minutes before the skies opened.

Farren finished first, shaking off opening set nerves to defeat Christopher Barrus 7-5, 6-0. Turning 17 in October, Farren has played only 18s competition since last year’s Kalamazoo tournament, but despite the first set jitters, the Northern Californian is comfortable with the pressure that comes with the No. 1 seed.

“It’s great to be the top seed,” said Farren, who in the Top 70 of the International Tennis Federation’s world junior rankings. “I love it. I think it’s the first time in a USA tournament that I’ve been a number one seed, because I’ve always played up. I think I’m one of the oldest kids in the (16s) tournament.”

Second seed Schneider is actually a few days older than Farren, but he has stuck to the 16s in USTA National Championships. The Indiana resident’s reason for playing the 16s in Kalamazoo this year is simple—he wants the wild card into the US Open junior championships that goes to the winner. He took one step closer to Flushing Meadows with his 6-3, 6-0 win over Samuel Lam Sunday.

“There’s a big goal out there,” said Schneider, who finished third at last month’s USTA Clay Court championships. “Playing at the US Open juniors is a big goal of mine. I feel if I play my game and play well, everything will work out how I want it to. I just need to stay focused throughout the whole tournament.”

Schneider’s focus was directed at getting off the court Sunday morning.

“I probably got done less than five minutes before the rain started,” said Schneider. “It was sprinkling at 4-0, and I started running around the court, trying to get the match done, and thankfully I did. It was nice to get it done, so I didn’t have to wait any longer.”

Paul Oosterbaan, the No. 31 seed, who lives and trains in Kalamazoo, wasn’t as fortunate. Leading 6-3, 3-1 in his match with Brent Lett, Oosterbaan could have had his momentum stalled as he waited for an indoor court to open up at the nearby Markin Racquet Center on the Kalamazoo College campus. But the delay was brief, and Oosterbaan picked up right where he had left off, breaking Lett in the first game played indoors, and finishing the 6-3, 6-2 victory with a flurry of service winners.

Although not all of his many local supporters had followed the match to its indoor location, Oosterbaan was still very comfortable in the familiar surroundings.

“I was actually pretty happy with it,” the Portage resident said of the move indoors. “I like inside more. I’ve played in here hundreds of times.”

The 6-foot-4 15-year-old has a serve that is particularly devastating on fast indoor courts, but his defense is surprisingly good, as he demonstrated on a very entertaining point during the outdoor portion of the match.

“It was a long point, he should have won it a few times, and I had my chances to win it,” Oosterbaan said. “I hit a tweener, and I had the crowd happy about that one, so that was nice.”

Three seeded players in the 16s failed to reach the third round, with No. 12 seed Martin Redlicki the most prominent name eliminated. Redlicki, whose older brother Michael won the 16s title last year in Kalamazoo, lost to Joseph Di Giulio 6-0, 6-4 in a match played entirely outdoors.

Konrad Zieba defeated No. 27 seed Nicholas Crystal 6-3, 7-5, and Taiyo Hamanaka posted a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 29 seed Ognjen Samardzic.

No. 3 seed Noah Rubin sailed past Robert Seby 6-1, 6-1 in a match completed indoors, and No. 4 seed Corinteli also finished his 6-3, 6-3 win over Alexander Solonin at the Markin Center.

The third round of 18s doubles, originally scheduled for Sunday, was postponed until Monday afternoon at the Western Michigan University courts, and with no main draw 18s singles play scheduled for Sunday, many players had an unanticipated day off courtesy of the rain.

The third round of singles in both age divisions is scheduled for Monday at Stowe Stadium.

For complete results, including the second round of Boys 16s doubles completed this evening, see ustaboys.com.