American 12-and-Under Teams Win Coupe Le Blanc; Corley and Johns Claim ITF Titles in Mexico and St. Vincent; Austin, Lovett Take ITA Summer Championships

Owensby, Gauff, Mayo and Kittay
photo courtesy Gary Kittay

Coupe Le Blanc, a competition for 12-and-under players annually in Quebec, Canada is one of the biggest international tournaments of the year for that age group, but it often gets lost in the shuffle of the USTA National Championships and the ITF's World Junior Tennis 14U team competition in the Czech Republic, also held in August.

Unlike the 14U teams, only two players make up a country's team, and this year the USA was represented by girls Cori Gauff and Charlotte Owensby and boys Aidan Mayo and Benjamin Kittay.  As was the case in both 2013 and 2014, the US finished first in both competitions.

Gauff and Owensby defeated Canada 3-0 in Monday's final, while Kittay and Mayo took out Brazil 2-0, with the final match not played due to travel considerations.

The results from yesterday's finals are below:

Cori Gauff (USA) defeated  Daria Tomashevskaya(CAN)  6-2, 0-6, 6-1

Charlotte Owensby (USA) defeated Mélodie Collard(CAN) 6-4, 6-2

Gauff/Owensby (USA) defeated Collard/Tomashevskaya (CAN) 8-2

Aidan Mayo (USA) defeated Pedro Boscardin (BRA) walkover

Benjamin Kittay (USA) defeated João Victor Couto (BRA) 6-1, 6-4

Mayo/Kittay (USA) defeated Boscardin/Couto (BRA) 8-6

Richard Ashby of the USTA coached both teams.

For a complete list of all the countries and players who participated, see the tournament website. Under the history tab, you can see the players who have taken part in the competition, dating back to 2007.

In ITF Junior tournaments last week, four US players collected titles. At the Grade 5 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 14-year-old Garrett Johns won his first ITF title, as a qualifier.  The only set Johns lost in his seven victories came in the final, where he defeated unseeded Andrew Rozanov of Great Britain 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.  The top-seeded US team of Kianah Motosono and Zoe Spence won the doubles title, beating Isis Gill of the US and Kiana Marshall of Barbados, the No. 2 seeds, 4-6, 6-3, 10-3.

At the Grade 4 in Mexico, unseeded Paris Corley won her first ITF singles title, with the 17-year-old from Mexico beating the No. 3 seed in the second round and the top seed in the semifinals.  In the final, Corley defeated No. 4 seed Alexia Coutino Castillo of Mexico 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Another event I am not able to follow as closely as I would like given its place on the calendar is the ITA Summer Championships in Bloomington, Indiana.  The prize on the line there is a wild card into the All-American Championships this fall, but this year's women's winner, Brooke Austin, will not need hers after finishing her freshman year at Florida ranked fourth in the country. Austin didn't drop a set in her six victories, beating Maddie Lipp of Northwestern(9) 6-1, 6-3 in the final. Alabama's Korey Lovett(9) defeated Jeffrey Schorsch(9) of Valparaiso 7-5, 1-6, 10-7 to take the men's singles title.

Links to the final results and draws can be found at the Indiana website.

My Kalamazoo 16s Recap; Three Kalamazoo Quarterfinalists Reach Futures Final Eight, Finalists Receive Cincinnati Qualifying Wild Cards; NCAA Approves No-Ad for Division I 2016 Championships;

Championship week is in full swing at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and my recap of Patrick Kypson's remarkable 16s title in Kalamazoo is available today. My wrap-up of the memorable 18s tournament will come out Friday afternoon.

Three of the Kalamazoo 18s quarterfinalists have reached the same stage at this week's $15,000 Futures tournament in Champaign, Illinois.  Wild card Reilly Opelka defeated Aleksandar Vukic of Australia, a rising sophomore for the University of Illinois, 6-3, 7-6(6) in today's second round. Tommy Paul, the No. 6 seed, defeated Evan King(Michigan) 6-4, 6-1 and Alex Rybakov, who Paul beat in the Kalamazoo quarterfinals a week ago, upset No. 2 seed and former Virginia star Sanam Singh of India 6-3, 7-5.

Opelka's quarterfinal opponent is lucky loser Justin Shane(Virginia), while Paul faces No. 4 seed Kevin King(Georgia Tech) and Rybakov takes on unseeded Richard Gabb of Great Britain.

No. 4 seeds Evan and Kevin King (no relation) will play brothers Justin and Ryan Shane in the doubles final on Friday.

Vicky Duval won her second match at the Landisville $25,000 Pro Circuit tournament, but then withdrew with an injury from doubles, so her status going forward is uncertain. Qualifiers Robin Anderson, the ITA Player of the Year, and 17-year-old Nicole Frenkel have advanced to the quarterfinals, where they'll play fellow Americans Alexandra Mueller and No. 2 seed Shelby Rogers.

In Aptos, the two Americans into the quarterfinals at the $100,000 Challenger are No. 4 seed Bjorn Fratangelo and No. 7 seed Austin Krajicek, who are the only two players still in the running for the US Open wild card given in the USTA Challenge. Krajicek would have to win the tournament to pass Fratangelo.

The Cincinnati ATP Masters and WTA Premier event has announced its wild cards, with Kalamazoo 18s champion Frances Tiafoe and Kalamazoo 18s finalist Stefan Kozlov receiving qualifying wild cards. Main draw men's wild cards were given to Mardy Fish, Fratangelo, Jared Donaldson and Rajeev Ram.  Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, CoCo Vandeweghe and Allison Riske received the women's wild cards.

In addition to Tiafoe and Kozlov, Ryan Harrison, Vicky Duval, Taylor Townsend, Sachia Vickery, Alexa Glatch, Louisa Chirico and Nicole Gibbs received qualifying wild cards. One more men's qualifying wild card is to be announced.

The full announcement is here.

The NCAA announced today that the format used in the ITA National Team Indoor Tournaments in February will be adopted for the 2016 NCAA Championships in Tulsa. This is a six-game no-ad set for three doubles matches, and best-of-three tiebreak sets with no-ad scoring for six singles match singles. The individual championships will also be played best of three with no-ad scoring, and in lieu of a third set in doubles, a match tiebreaker will be played as is done on the ATP and WTA tours.

As I detailed several times in the past year, I will not be providing any on-site coverage of these events due to my dislike of the no-ad tennis format, but I will continue to follow tournament results from home and write about the college game and players.

The men's and women's Division III NCAA championships are in Kalamazoo in 2016, so I will be providing on-site coverage of that event.

Joffe Leaves Texas A&M for Texas; Neel, Mmoh and Opelka into Semifinals at Roehampton; Wimbledon Junior Qualifying Draws

The highest profile women's head coaching position open this summer has been filled, with Texas A&M's Howard Joffe leaving College Station to take over the University of Texas job in Austin.

Joffe was at Texas A&M for four years and led the Aggies to the finals of the NCAAs in 2013. Prior to his four years in College Station, Joffe was head coach at the University of Maryland and Miami of Ohio, and an assistant at Southern California, all in the women's programs.  The complete release is here.

At the ITF Grade 1 in Roehampton, all three American juniors who reached the quarterfinals won today to move into the semifinals. Ingrid Neel, who has something of an old-school grass game, defeated No. 2 seed Shilin Xu of China 7-5, 6-1 and will play No. 3 seed Dalma Galfi of Hungary in Thursday's semifinal.  Top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic will play No. 5 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain in the other girls semifinal.

No. 3 seed Michael Mmoh downed No. 6 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile 6-2, 6-3 and No. 16 seed Reilly Opelka defeated No. 12 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(5) to set up their fifth meeting since last August, with each having won twice. Mmoh defeated Opelka in the quarterfinals of the French Open junior championships last month.  The other boys semifinal will feature No. 7 seed Akira Santillan of Japan against No. 5 seed Viktor Durasovic of Norway.

Three US boys have reached the doubles semifinals.  Tommy Paul and William Blumberg, the No. 2 seeds, and unseeded Ulises Blanch and his partner Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentia will play for a place in the final.

The qualifying draws for the Wimbledon Junior Championships are out, with play beginning at Roehampton on Thursday.  Seven US juniors are in qualifying: Raquel Pedraza, Mia Horvit, Meghan Kelley, Gabby Pollner, Catalin Mateas, Liam Caruana and Emily Reinberg.  Draws and the order of play can be found at the ITF junior website.

In the men's and women's second round Wednesday, seven Americans advanced, two men and five women making the third round, with No. 21 seed Madison also finishing off her first round match against Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland. No. 17 seed John Isner defeated wild card Matt Ebden of Australia 6-2, 7-6(8), 6-4 and wild card Denis Kudla topped 18-year-old Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.

Top seed Serena Williams (d. Timea Babos of Hungary 6-4, 6-1), Venus Williams (d. Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6(5), 6-4) and Sloane Stephens (d. Lauren Davis 6-4, 6-4) all won as expected. CoCo Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands pulled off upsets, with Vandeweghe taking out No. 11 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6(5), 6-4 and Mattek-Sands outplaying No. 7 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4.

Keys, Christina McHale and Sam Querrey are the Americans on the schedule for Thursday's singles play.

The links to the draws are here.

Querrey, McHale Sole US Winners Tuesday at Wimbledon; Mmoh, Opelka and Neel Reach Roehampton Quarterfinals; William and Mary's Daub Retires

After a relatively good opening day Monday, only two Americans posted wins at Wimbledon Tuesday: Sam Querrey and Christina McHale.  No. 21 seed Madison Keys was at 2-2 in the third set of her match with Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland when play was suspended due to darkness.

Querrey defeated qualifier Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to a Thursday match with No. 2 seed Roger Federer, while McHale downed Joanna Larsson of Sweden 6-3, 6-2 and will play No. 18 seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany Thursday.

No. 31 seed Jack Sock fell to Sam Groth of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Tim Smyczek was beaten by No. 30 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.  Varvara Lepchenko lost to No. 20 seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-4, 6-1 and qualifier Sachia Vickery fell to No. 8 seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-2, 6-4.

American men in action on Wednesday include No. 17 seed John Isner (vs wild card Matthew Ebden of Australia), wild card Denis Kudla (vs 18-year-old Alexander Zverev of Germany) and Steve Johnson (vs No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria).

Six US women play on Wednesday, with two of them playing each other in Lauren Davis and Sloane Stephens. Top seed Serena Williams faces Timea Babos of Hungary and No. 16 seed Venus Williams will take on Yulia Putintseva of Russia.  CoCo Vandeweghe is up against No. 11 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands plays No. 7 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

I neglected to mention yesterday the big win for 2014 Wimbledon girls champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia on Monday. Given a main draw wild card by the All England Club (she had already earned a place in qualifying), the 18-year-old made good use of it, defeating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-0. She will play Kristina Mladenovic of France on Wednesday.



Draws are here; Wednesday's order of play is here.

The quarterfinals are set for the ITF Grade 1 in Roehampton, with three Americans advancing to the final eight in singles.  Ingrid Neel defeated No. 6 seed Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada 6-3, 6-3 and will face No. 2 seed Shilin Xu of China, who defeated No. 16 seed Caroline Dolehide 6-3, 6-4.

No. 3 seed Michael Mmoh downed unseeded Kenneth Raisma of Estonia 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with No. 6 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile.  Reilly Opelka, the No. 16 seed, took out No. 2 seed Corentin Denolly of France 7-6(6), 6-4 and will play No. 12 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.  No. 4 seed Tommy Paul lost 6-3, 6-3 to Alex Molcan of Slovakia, ending Paul's winning streak at 13 matches. Ulises Blanch fell to No. 5 seed Viktor Durasovic of Norway 6-3, 6-4.

Blanch is still alive in doubles, with Argentina's Juan Pablo Ficovic, and No. 2 seeds Paul and William Blumberg have also advanced to the doubles quarterfinals.

Tornado Alicia Black, partnering Australian Naiktha Bains, is the only US girls still remaining in the doubles competition.

A few college notes:

Peter Daub has resigned from the men's head coaching position at William and Mary after 22 years. According to the release, a national search is being conducted for his successor.

Former University of Michigan star Brooke Bolender has been named assistant coach for the women's team at Western Michigan University. Former WMU assistant Ryan Tomlinson took over the head coaching position from the retiring Betsy Kuhle at the end of the season. Kuhle has not retired from tennis however, as she continues to be active in her role as tournament director for the upcoming USTA Zonals.

Madison Harrison, the sister of Ryan and Christian Harrison, has transferred from Kansas to Mississippi State.

The ITA Summer Circuit is underway (Harrison was one of the early winners) in venues across the country.  See the ITA website for draws and entry information.

The ITA's David Benjamin will retire Wednesday, with Tim Russell taking over as Executive Director.  Dave "The Koz" Kozlowski has prepared a video tribute, which can be found here.

There are again three USTA Pro Circuit events in the US this week: a $10,000 men's Futures in Pittsburgh, a $15,000 men's Futures in Wichita and a $25,000 women's event in El Paso.

A couple of notable results from today's action:  2014 Kalamazoo 16s champion John McNally, a wild card,  picked up his first ATP point in Pittsburgh, beating No. 7 seed Collin Johns 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-0 in the first round.

In El Paso, Cal junior Maegan Manasse, also a wild card, defeated No. 5 seed Samantha Crawford 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.

Vickery, Mattek-Sands Qualify for Wimbledon; ITA Names Collegiate All-Stars, Oracle Masters Field

Qualifying was completed on schedule today at Wimbledon with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sachia Vickery advancing to the main draw.

Mattek-Sands, who has won the first two legs of a women's doubles Grand Slam with Lucie Safarova, is a veteran of the women's main draw, although she hasn't won a main draw match at Wimbledon since 2008, when she made the fourth round.  She defeated No. 11 seed Shahar Peer of Israel 6-1, 6-4 today and will learn her opponent when the draw is made on Friday.

At 20, Vickery is 10 years younger than Mattek-Sands, and she will be making her Wimbledon main draw debut. The No. 4 seed, who won the USTA 18s title in 2013, defeated Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in today's final round of qualifying.

Louisa Chirico, the No. 3 seed in qualifying, lost to Yi-Fan Xu of China 7-5, 6-3, but she drew the No. 1 lucky loser position, so if any of the 128 entries withdraw, she will get in.  Anna Tatishvili also lost in today's final round of qualifying going out to Ying-Ying Duan of China 6-2, 6-4.

For complete draws, see the Wimbledon website.

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its Collegiate All-Star Team yesterday. These are the players who have been invited to the Oracle/ITA Outing & Awards Luncheon held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, NY, on Friday, August 28, prior to the start of the US Open: (The Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award winners are also invited and are included below.)

Divison I Singles
Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma (ITA Player of the Year)
Ryan Shane, Virginia
Brayden Schnur, North Carolina
Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, University of Louisville (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)
Robin Anderson, UCLA (ITA Player of the Year)
Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
Julia Elbaba, Virginia
Lorraine Guillermo, Pepperdine University (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)

Division I Doubles
Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz, Baylor
Yannick Hanfmann and Robert Quiroz, Southern Cal
Lloyd Glasspool and Soren Hess-Olesen, Texas

Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, Alabama
Taylor Davidson and Carol Zhao, Stanford
Kyle McPhillips and Catherine Harrison, UCLA

Division II
Jan Meyer Azusa Pacific
Mark Heimberger, Palm Beach Atlantic University (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)
Dallas Zhang, BYU Hawaii
Lauren Howard, West Liberty University (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)

Division III
Warren Wood, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Tyler Carey, University of Mary Washington (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)
Eudice Chong, Wesleyan
Rebecca Curran, Williams College (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)

NAIA
Deni Zmak, Embry-Riddle
Wesley Ng, Missouri Valley College (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)
Valeria Rodda, Georgia Gwinnett
Clara Ruegsegger, Olivet Nazarene University (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)

Junior and Community Colleges
Hironori Koyanagi, Ventura
Shane Trebisky, Meridian Community College (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)
Macarena Olivares, ASA
Cassidy McWhorter, Eastern Arizona College (Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award recipient)

Today the ITA announced the field for September's inaugural ITA/Oracle Masters, a tournament in Malibu for top Division I college players. See the singles fields below.  Notable absentees from the women's 2015 final Top 10 are: Carol Zhao, Jamie Loeb, Brooke Austin and Josie Kuhlman. Mackenzie McDonald of UCLA is a Top 10 men's player not competing. The doubles teams can be found in this article from the ITA.

Five US Women Advance to Wimbledon's Final Round of Qualifying, Men Shut Out; US Girls Win Maureen Connolly Challenge; Houston Hires Steinbock; Team USA Forum Available for Download

Five of the eight US women in the second round of Wimbledon qualifying today advanced to Thursday's final round of qualifying, but for the first time in the Open era, no US man reached the final round of qualifying.

Bjorn Fratangelo, the only American of the seven entered to reach the second round, lost today to former Tennessee star JP Smith of Australia 7-6(5), 6-4.

No. 3 seed Louisa Chirico defeated Ekaterina Bychkova of Russia 7-6(1), 6-3 and will play Yi-Fan Xu of China for a place in the main draw. Xu is one of six Chinese women to reach the final round of qualifying, out of seven who made the qualifying draw.

No. 4 seed Sachia Vickery defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 and will play Jessica Pegula in the final round. Pegula advanced when Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal retired at 1-6, 7-6(7), 5-4.   No. 18 seed Anna Tatishivili defeated Nao Hibino of Japan 6-3, 6-3 and will face No. 8 seed Ying-Ying Duan of China.  Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat Stephanie Foretz of France 6-4, 7-5 and will play No. 11 seed Shahar Peer of Israel in search of her eighth appearance in the Wimbledon women's main draw.

The order of play for Thursday is here.

After losing 5-1 to Australia yesterday in the Grand Slam Nations Challenges, the US junior girls took on Great Britain in the annual competition between the two countries, the Maureen Connolly Challenge. It could hardly have been much closer. The US won the top three singles, Great Britain won No. 4 singles and both doubles matches, so a tiebreaker shootout was needed to decide the winner. Claire Liu won hers at No. 1 singles, but Sonya Kenin lost hers at No. 2 singles, so the doubles would decide it. Kayla Day and Caroline Dolehide defeated Great Britain's Anna Brogan and Jodie Burrage 10-4 to clinch the win for the US.

Australia shut out France 6-0 today and is now 2-0 in the competition. They will play Great Britain on Thursday while the US takes on France in the final day of competition.

The University of Houston announced it had hired former Oklahoma State assistant Courtney Steinbock as its women's head coach, replacing Patrick Sullivan, who stepped down last month. Steinbock, who played at Kansas, served as assistant coach at Mississippi State for three years prior to her two years Oklahoma State.  The complete release is here.

Last night the USTA held a Team USA forum, the first under Martin Blackman, who took over from Patrick McEnroe as Player Development General Manager on June 1. I will have an interview with Blackman on the Tennis Recruiting Network Friday.

The focus of the Team USA forum last night was a Player Pathway study, which attempts to track routes to the Top 100, Top 50, Top 10 by age and also provides background on junior rankings, number of matches at various levels and other data points. I'm not yet clear on how the information will be used by the USTA, and with the entire study yet to be released, I don't even know what information will ultimately be available, but I think it's safe to say there's data to support multiple ways to reach the goal of being a self-supporting tennis player.

If you are interested in viewing the forum, it is available here.

Rain Disrupts Wimbledon Men's Qualifying; 11 US Women in Tuesday's First Round of Women's Qualifying; Wisconsin Hires Westerman; ITF Junior Update

Showers that lingered into the afternoon kept 14 men's first round qualifying matches from completion on the opening day of qualifying at Wimbledon. Three US men--Ryan Harrison, Austin Krajicek and Bjorn Fratangelo--did not complete their matches, with Krajicek and Fratangelo's matches cancelled before starting and Harrison's match suspended after he took the second set from Argentina's Guido Andreozzi.

The four Americans who did finished their matches all lost, with Jarmere Jenkins falling to Evgeny Donskoy of Russia 7-6(2), 6-2, Dennis Novikov losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 and Jared Donaldson going out to Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-2.  Chase Buchanan seemed on his way to a victory over Tristan Lamasine of France, leading 6-1, 2-1, when an apparent ankle injury forced him to retire.

The women's qualifying draw was released today, with 11 US women competing in the 96-player draw. The seeded Americans are Louisa Chirico(3), Sachia Vickery(4), Anna Tatishvili(18) and Grace Min(24). The other seven are Allie Kiick, Jessica Pegula, Maria Sanchez, Alexa Glatch (who plays Tatishvili), Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Katerina Stewart.  Oudin returned to competition last week after an eye operation and heart problems kept her out all this year. Stewart, who is much more comfortable on clay, pulled out of the Wimbledon Junior championships last month, but decided to make the trip for qualifying despite her unfamiliarity with the surface.

Tuesday's complete order of play is here.

Rain also delayed Taylor Fritz's ATP main draw debut at Nottingham against Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. He is now scheduled to play at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday.

The University of Wisconsin announced the hiring of Danny Westerman as the men's head tennis coach, succeeding Greg Van Emburgh, who resigned three weeks ago.  Westerman, who coached at the University of Denver for nine years, returns to Madison after having played there from 1998-2002 and served as an assistant coach there prior to taking the Denver head coaching job.

At the ITF Grade 1 in Berlin last week, top boys seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile and No. 2 seed Katharina Hobgarski of Germany took the singles titles. Barrios Vera defeated unseeded Patrik Rikl of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 in the final; Hobgarski downed No. 4 seed Ioana Pietroiu of Romania 6-2, 6-2 in the girls championship match.

The best result from an American came from No. 14 seed Hady Habib, who lost to Barrios Vera in the third round 6-4, 7-6(4).

Habib is also seeded in this week's Grade 2 in Germany, getting the No. 4 seed. Barrios Vera is No. 1 seed again.  Habib is the only US boy in the draw, but there are four US girls there. Meghan Kelley, Gabby Pollner and Olivia Hauger have all won their first round matches; Raquel Pedraza has not yet played hers. Ekaterina Kazionova of Russia is the girls top seed.

The Grade 5 in Bermuda this week has attracted a large contingent of US juniors. Naomi Waters and Julia Goldberg are the top two girls seeds and Sebastian Mermersky is the No. 2 boys seed.

Hodge Hired as Associate Head Coach at Georgia; Fritz Receives Main Draw Wild Card into ATP Nottingham; Examinations of British Tennis Begin

Just a week after Will Glenn left his position as men's associate head coach at the University of Georgia, Bo Hodge has been named to replace him.  Hodge, an All-American at Georgia from 2001-2004, is leaving the same position at the University of Oklahoma, where he has coached since November of 2011.  Prior to that, Hodge was an assistant at the University of Alabama.

"It was a family decision to accept the associate head coach job at Georgia. I am from Athens and UGA is my alma mater. My wife and I are expecting a baby girl in November and we wanted to be closer to our families,” Hodge said in this release announcing his departure from Oklahoma.

In the release from Georgia announcing his hiring, Hodge again emphasized his interest in returning home.

"Being from Athens and playing at Georgia, it has always been a dream to come back and coach my alma mater. I also want to thank John Roddick and the University of Oklahoma athletic department. I spent the last four years at Oklahoma and learned so much from John. I'm so excited to wear the red and black again, and my wife and I are thrilled to return to the Classic City."

Taylor Fritz has received his first main draw wild card into an ATP event at next week's tournament in Nottingham. Fritz received qualifying wild card into the BNP Paribas Open in March and beat ATP No. 109 Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 6-0 in the first round before falling to ATP No. 125 Thiemo De Bakker of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. 

In Nottingham, Fritz will face ATP No. 66 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the opening round. The draw can be found here.  Connor Smith and Daniel Nguyen are in the qualifying draw, which unfortunately hasn't been posted on the ATP website yet, but is available via live scoring.

A few more Wimbledon wild cards have been given out and I've updated the post from yesterday.  Josh Meiseles of the ATP has tweeted that Denis Kudla, who is in the final of the $50,000 Ilkley Challenger tomorrow against Matt Ebden of Australia, will get the final men's main draw wild card if he wins. Ebden won last week's Challenger and already has a Wimbledon main draw wild card. Qualifying for Wimbledon begins Monday.

With Wimbledon just days away, the state of British tennis is again foremost in the minds of the media.  The BBC reported late last week that Mark Petchey, Andy Murray's former coach, believes the LTA National Centre, which opened in 2007, is a white elephant, with the money better spent on multiple small training centers rather than one big one. With the USTA's Lake Nona project underway, I'm sure they are paying close attention to what are perceived as the shortcomings of the LTA's National Centre in Roehampton.

Twenty-six-year-old David Rice is Great Britain's 12th ranked men's player at No. 421. (Jared Donaldson, the 12th ranked US player, is 158).  According to his current coach, he shouldn't be training at a multi-million pound facility with that ranking, which topped out at 283 in February of 2014.  In this article, the coach, Hamid Hejazi, explains his position, and Rice discusses why he thinks his previous high performance coaches were not getting the best out of him.

Twenty-year-old Katy Dunne, who received a Wimbledon qualifying wild card, feels she needs to leave the country to get the competition she needs, according to this article, although Dunne herself is not quoted. The article says Dunne needs sponsors in order to do this, although I can't imagine that the British No. 6 (at WTA 331) would not be providing her with funds for coaching and travel. (WTA No. 38 Varvara Lepchenko is the US No. 6).

USTA Collegiate Team Announced; Perkins Jasper Takes Position at ITA; US Open National Playoffs Update

The USTA announced the 2015 Collegiate Team, which this year consists of seven American players who have not yet completed their collegiate eligibility.

They are: Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA, Noah Rubin, Wake Forest*,
Ryan Shane, Virginia, Brooke Austin, Florida, Jennifer Brady, UCLA,*
Julia Elbaba, Virginia, Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
*Player has indicated he/she will turn pro.

When current Virginia assistant Dustin Taylor was the USTA's National Collegiate coach, the team had a set number of spots and the possibility of earning a place on the team through a summer training camp, as detailed in this Tennis Recruiting Network article I wrote back in June of 2013. It also included an opportunity to earn a place on the team with the best results in a number of designated Futures events.

With Stephen Amritraj taking over for Taylor, changes were made, including in some of the automatic criteria. In addition NCAA singles champion, ITA Rookie of the Year, ITA All-American singles champion, USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships singles champion, the highest-ranked American in the final ITA rankings was added as an automatic qualifier, and the ATP and WTA rankings were changed to Top 400 for women and Top 600 for men. (Tommy Paul with his ATP ranking of 451, would be eligible to join the team if he does enroll at Georgia this fall). I spoke with Amritraj about his plans for the program for the Tennis Recruiting Network last fall.

The college coaches traveling to USTA Pro Circuit events for the men are: Bo Hodge (Oklahoma), Derek Schwandt (Georgia Tech), and Christian Groh. For the women, the coaches are: Sara Anundsen (Davidson), Laura Granville (Princeton), Lee Taylor Walker (TCU) and Riza Zalameda (Columbia).

The ITA announced last week that Angel Prinos, the longtime Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer of the organization, would be leaving for a position at the University of Pennsylvania, and today Erica Perkins Jasper was named to succeed Prinos. Perkins Jasper was head women's coach at the University of New Mexico for the past three years; prior to that she was Senior Manager of Junior and Collegiate Competition at USTA Player Development in Boca Raton.  I interviewed Perkins Jasper about her background and USTA responsibilities back in 2010 in this Tennis Recruiting Network article. 

Assistant Kelcey McKenna will take over for Perkins Jasper at New Mexico.

 

Three more sections completed their US Open National Playoff competitions recently with the results below. It's great to see so many future and current college players begin to take advantage of this opportunity. Links to all the draws can be found here.

Midwest:
Women’s Singles: Sara Daavettila
Men’s Singles: Martin Joyce
Mixed Doubles: Tyler Faulkner and Simone Jardim
Women’s Doubles: Daavettila and Alyvia Jones
Men’s Doubles: Charlie Emhardt and Jeffrey B. Schorsch

Southern Cal:
Women’s Singles: Megan McCray
Men’s Singles: Henry Craig
Mixed Doubles: Danielle Lao and Jonny Wang
Women’s Doubles: Lorraine Guillermo and Lao
Men’s Doubles: Haythem Abid and Joel Kielbowicz (Kielbowicz also won men’s singles & mixed doubles in Southwest section competition)

Eastern:
Women’s Singles: Julia Elbaba
Men’s Singles: Nikita Kryvonos
Mixed Doubles: Rima Asatrian and Ilia Shatashvili
Women’s Doubles: Magda Okruashvili and Ketevan Okruashvili
Men’s Doubles: Daniel M. Cochrane and Phillip Simmonds

==========================================
Previous results:
Southwest:
Women’s Singles: Jacqueline Cako
Men’s Singles: Joel Kielbowicz
Mixed Doubles: Cako and Kielbowicz
Women’s Doubles: Savannah Slaysman and Allie Sanford
Men’s Doubles: Ben Newell and Zachary Newell

Intermountain:
Women’s Singles: Gail Brodsky
Men’s Singles: Chris Wettengel
Mixed Doubles: Brodsky and Brian Wilson
Women’s Doubles: Jacqueline Cako and Keri Wong
Men’s Doubles: Jordan Kerr and Travis Parrott

Missouri Valley:
Women’s Singles: Sophie Chang
Men’s Singles: Dusty Boyer
Mixed Doubles: Boyer and Julia Schiller
Women’s Doubles: Katherine Cao and Jaci Cochrane
Men’s Doubles: Julio Peralta and Matt Seeberger

Mid-Atlantic:
Women’s Singles: Nika Kukharchuk
Men’s Singles: Mikelis Libietis
Mixed Doubles: Sydney Rider and Matt Stillwagon
Women’s Doubles: Lizzie Baker and Mackenzie Clark
Men’s Doubles: Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese

Price Outlasts Herring for Charlotte $10K Title; Olmos Wins Second Straight Singles Crown in Mexico; Sandgren, Baughman Also Claim Titles; Katie Swan Feature

Caroline Price (photo via twitter)

Recent North Carolina graduate Caroline Price won her first pro title Sunday, outlasting recent Georgia graduate Lauren Herring 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the final of the $10,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The 22-year-old Price, a wild card, got a break at 3-4 in the third set of the three-hour match and held on for the win over Herring, who was playing in her eighth match in nine days, not including doubles.

It was a great week for both women, who were playing their first tournament since competing at last month's NCAAs.

Giuliana Olmos (photo via Facebook)

Price lost in the second round of the NCAA singles tournament last month, as did another of this week's champions, Southern Cal rising senior Giuliana Olmos. Olmos captured her second straight title this week in Mexico at a $10,000 tournament in Manzanillo after winning her first pro title the previous week. Receiving main draw entry via a special exemption, she beat the No. 1 seed in the semifinals, WTA No. 335 Fernanda Brito of Chile, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(4) and defeated No. 2 seed and WTA No. 363 Gaia Sanesi of Italy 6-1, 6-2 in today's final. Olmos also reached the doubles final, with Constanza Gorches of Mexico, falling to top seeds Camila Fuentes of Mexico and Francesca Segarelli (Florida State) of the Dominican Republic 2-6, 6-4, 10-5.

At the $15,000 ITF Futures in Charlottesville, Virginia, No. 3 seed Tennys Sandgren took the title, beating Ernesto Escobedo, seeded eighth, 6-4, 6-4.  Sandgren had reached three Futures finals in the past month, with this his second Futures title in 2015.

At the $15,000 Futures tournament in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 19-year-old Deiton Baughman won his second career Futures title. The No. 6 seed beat top seed Nils Langer of Germany  0-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals and in the final outlasted No. 8 seed Duje Kekez of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

This week's ITF Grade 1 in Germany is complete, with players from India claiming both singles titles.  No. 5 seed Sumit Nagal defeated No. 3 seed Mate Valkusz of Hungary 7-6(5), 6-4 for the boys championship, while unseeded Karman Kaur Thandi beat No. 15 seed Jessica Hinojosa Gomez of Mexico 6-1, 6-4 to take the girls title.

Valkusz won the boys doubles title with Tim Sandkaulen of Germany with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile and Jake Delaney of Australia 6-4, 6-3.  No. 8 seeds Olivia Hauger and her partner Jade Lewis of New Zealand fell in the girls doubles final to unseeded Jule Niemeier and Linda Puppendahl of Germany 1-6, 6-1, 10-3.

In Challengers overseas, No. 7 seed Bjorn Fratangelo fell to unseeded 19-year-old Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the €106,500 tournament in Italy, and No. 4 seed Denis Kudla lost to unseeded Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-7(4), 64, 7-6(5) in the final of the €42,500 tournament in England.

Seventeen-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia has reached her first WTA final after beating both Sachia Vickery and Alison Riske today in rain-delayed quarterfinal and semifinal matches in England. The 2013 Australian and US Open girls champion will face Monica Niculescu of Romania in the Nottingham final on Monday.

Sixteen-year-old Katie Swan of Great Britain, who lives in the US, will make her WTA debut Monday at the Premier tournament in Birmingham. The wild card, who reached the Australian Open girls final this year, will face Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.  Swan is the subject of this Daily Mail feature, which casts her in the role of Britain's top prospect among the juniors.

My Interview with Brooke Austin; NCAA Team Tournament Slideshow; Division I Coaching Changes

While I was in Waco for the NCAAs last month, I had an opportunity to talk with University of Florida freshman Brooke Austin, who, a few days earlier, had been named ITA Rookie of the Year. Austin's first year brought success both on the court and in the classroom, and she details the reasons she feels Florida was a perfect choice for her in this article at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The slideshow below is from the NCAA Team Championships. I will have another on the Individual Championships and a few videos up sooner rather than later.



The link to view album via mobile device is here.

Announcements of coaching changes begin popping up as soon as the season ends, and this year is no exception.

The University of Wisconsin men's tennis coach Greg Van Emburgh has resigned after ten years.

Danielle Lund McNamara has resigned as women's head coach at the University of Texas, after being named to the position last September.

Cristina Moros has been named head women's coach at the University of South Florida, succeeding Agustin Moreno, who was dismissed in February.

University of Houston's women's coach Patrick Sullivan has resigned after three seasons.

Damon Coupe has resigned as the women's coach at Cal Poly after four seasons.

Jamie Sanchez is moving from the women's head coaching position at Loyola Marymount into athletic administration. Sanchez, who coached the women's team at Loyola Marymount for 40 years, is the only coach the program has ever had.

The University of North Carolina-Wilmington is also looking for a new women's head coach.

Larry Ellison, Mark Hurd and Oracle's Role in Saving US Tennis, with College Tennis a Prime Beneficiary

During the NCAAs last month, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced a partnership with Oracle Corporation, a Fortune 500 computer technology company. Along with the ITA's rankings and the annual awards luncheon at the US Open now being sponsored by the company, there's a new fall tournament, starting this year at the Malibu Racquet Club.

The small private club, purchased in 2007 by Oracle's chairman Larry Ellison, an enthusiastic player who owns the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, will host the tournament September 18-20. The men's and women's draws, with 16 players in singles and eight teams in doubles, will be filled based on preseason rankings, with spots for returning Indoor champions if still eligible, although they would probably be highly ranked anyway.  The tentative selection process and schedule for the tournament:

Singles:

1 defending NCAA Champion

1 USTA/ITA NIIC Champion

12 highest ranked singles player from year end rankings

1 Oracle WC

1 ITA WC

Doubles:

defending NCAA Champion

defending NIIC champion

top 4 ranked teams

1 ITA WC

1 Oracle WC

Schedule:

1 round Friday

2 singles rounds on Saturday

Finals on Sunday

The complete ITA release on this new partnership and tournament is available here.

Ellison is well known for his involvement with tennis at the highest level, but Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd is also a staunch supporter of the collegiate version of the sport, with the Baylor University Tennis Center named after him. Hurd, who attended Baylor on a tennis scholarship, graduating in 1979, was instrumental in the Collegiate Challenge men's team event that has been held the past two years in Indian Wells.

Both Ellison and Hurd have been the subject of recent articles on Bloomburg.com.  The article on Hurd is titled "Oracle's Mark Hurd Wants to Revitalize American Tennis by Starting With Schools," and focuses on his belief that US college tennis can serve as the sport's minor league farm system.  The final paragraph implies that the Malibu tournament is just one of two tournaments Oracle will be sponsoring in the future, although the second is most likely the Collegiate Challenge.

Next year, Oracle will back a pair of college tournaments and plans to create a series of pro American tournaments with spots reserved for promising college players. Hurd and Ellison have formed deep ties with the game’s elite, including Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, in the quest to inject fresh life into the American game and produce some superstars. “We are looking at all sorts of things,” says Hurd. “We are doing everything we can to help the sport.”

In the article on Ellison, titled "Larry Ellison is Spending a Fortune to Save American Tennis," there's more on the possible new US circuit.

A new American circuit might start with a midlevel pro tournament in Los Angeles that would take place a couple of weeks before Indian Wells. Then, leading up to both events, there would be a series of 8 to 12 minor-league tennis tournaments played throughout the U.S. College players would be allotted a set number of slots in these tournaments to provide a tryout of sorts. "Either Oracle is going to sponsor it, or I am going to do it,” Ellison promises. He and Haas may also go in together on a junior tennis academy in California.

It's rare enough for one mainstream news article to mention college tennis, let alone two, so that in itself is a positive in raising the profile of the sport.  The ITA has always operated on a shoestring budget, relying heavily on member dues and the USTA for funding, so a deep-pocketed corporate sponsor with a genuine attachment to the game is a welcome development.  If Ellison and Hurd can do for college tennis what they've done for Indian Wells, now that would be something to see.

Caty McNally and JJ Wolf Take ITF Grade 4 Grass Court Titles; Rubin Leaving Wake Forest after Freshman Year; Pro Circuit Update

While most of the attention was on Paris the past two weeks, and for me, on the juniors there the past week, it's time to catch up on the other junior and Pro Circuit results.

At the ITF Grade 4 International Grass Courts, Caty McNally and JJ Wolf won the singles titles.  The 13-year-old McNally, playing in only her fourth ITF junior tournament, won her first singles title in Philadelphia. The No. 8 seed, McNally didn't drop a set, beating No. 4 seed Carson Branstine 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final.

The 16-year-old Wolf was playing in only his third ITF event, all this spring, and was not seeded at the Grass Courts, but he lost only one set all week, defeating No. 2 seed Sebastian Arcila of Puerto Rico 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Branstine and Taylor Johnson won the girls doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating unseeded Bridget Forster and Jacqueline Pelletier 6-4, 6-3 in the final. No. 4 seeds Alexaner Donski of Canada and Sebastian Mermersky beat William Peters and Karl Poling 7-5, 3-6, 10-4 to win the boys doubles title.

At the ITF Grade 4 in Costa Rica, unseeded 15-year-old Floridian Melissa Plambeck won her first ITF title, defeating unseeded Tania Aizenman Sanchez of Costa Rica 6-4, 6-2. Plambeck did not lose a set in her five victories.

Noah Rubin, the 2015 NCAA finalist, will leave Wake Forest after his freshman year, announcing that decision on Twitter Saturday.

Bobby Knight has Rubin's full collegiate record posted at College Tennis Today. Rubin went 21-4 in singles, with his four losses to Oklahoma's Andrew Harris, Duke's Nicolas Alvarez, Tennessee's Mikelis Libietis, and Virginia's Ryan Shane, the latter in the NCAA singles final.

Rubin played the $15,000 ITF Men's Futures in Winston-Salem last week, losing 6-1, 7-5 to former Tennessee All-American Tennys Sandgren in the second round.  Sandgren, the No. 3 seed, lost in the final today to former Princeton All-American Matija Pecotic of Croatia, the top seed, 6-2, 6-3.  Pecotic, an Ace last month for his two consecutive Futures titles in Nigeria, now has three titles in a row.

At the $10,000 Women's USTA Pro Circuit event in Bethany Beach, Delaware, 16-year-old North Carolina recruit Alexa Graham lost in the final, with the No. 6 seed falling to former Iowa standout Sonja Molnar of Canada, the fifth seed, 6-1, 7-5. Graham had beaten No. 2 seed Jacqueline Cako(Arizona State) 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals.

Sophie Chang (Virginia incoming freshman) and Andie Daniell (Alabama incoming freshman) won their second Pro Circuit title together in the doubles championship.  The No. 3 seeds beat unseeded Australians Ellen Perez (Georgia rising sophomore) and Belinda Woolcock (Florida, rising junior) 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

In Korea, 2014 NCAA finalist Alex Sarkissian won his first Challenger title, with the former Pepperdine star, the No. 8 seed, beating Connor Smith, the former Ohio State standout and No. 5 seed, 7-6(5), 6-4 in the $50,000 tournament's final. It's Sarkissian's first Challenger title after winning three Futures titles in his first 12 months as a professional.

In other ITF Pro Circuit events outside the United States, former Cal Poly All-American Andre Dome (like Sarkissian and Pecotic, a May Ace) won his second $10,000 Futures title in the past two months, this one in Mexico. Dome, who was unseeded, beat No. 5 seed Tigre Hank of Mexico 6-3, 6-7(7), 7-5 in the final.

Rising Florida State senior Benjamin Lock of Zimbabwe won his first Futures title in at the $10,000 tournament in Mozambique. He defeated Kentucky's rising sophomore William Bushamuka, a qualifier, 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Rising Southern Cal senior Giuliano Olmos, who grew up in the US but plays under the Mexico flag, won her first pro title at the $10,000 ITF Women's event in Mexico.  Olmos, unseeded, beat top seed Fernanda Brito of of Chile 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0 in the final. Tornado Alicia Black and Dasha Ivanova reached the doubles final before falling to Carolina Betancourt of Mexico and Steffi Carruthers of Samoa 6-3, 6-3 in the championship match.

US Boys Mmoh, Fritz and Paul Make Historic Run at French Open Junior Championships, Bellis Reaches Girls Semifinals; Men's ITA Kickoff Draft, All-America Teams Announced.

For the first time since 1978, three US boys have reached the semifinals at the French Open Junior championships, with Michael Mmoh, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz advancing with straight set wins Thursday in Paris.

The French junior event for boys dates back to 1947, but draws are not available from the ITF prior to 1978, so I can't eliminate the possibility of it happening before that.  At any rate, it's been a very long time, if ever, and only Corentin Denolly of France stands in the way of the first ever all-American boys final.

No. 4 seed Denolly will play No. 2 seed Fritz in a rematch of the semifinals of last month's Grade A in Milan, which Denolly won 7-6(4), 6-3.  Denolly advanced with a 6-0, 7-6(6) win over Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina, while Fritz defeated No. 10 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile 6-3, 6-4. Fritz served only 45 percent first serves, but still faced only one break point in the match, when he was serving for the match at 5-2 in second set.  The 2014 Wimbledon semifinalist is into his second junior slam semifinal and has a chance to take over the ITF No. 1 ranking with a win.

Sixth seed Mmoh avenged two losses to unseeded Reilly Opelka in the past nine months, claiming a 6-4, 6-4 win. Mmoh was up 4-0 to start the match, with Opelka throwing in five double faults in his first three service games. But despite Mmoh getting just 37 percent of his first serves in during the set, he held on. He broke just once in the second set, in the fifth game, but it was enough, as he closed out the match to reach his first junior slam semifinal.

Mmoh will face No. 13 seed Tommy Paul, who defeated unseeded Manual Pena Lopez of Argentina 6-3, 6-1.  Like Mmoh and Fritiz, Paul has yet to lose a set in the tournament.  Paul and Mmoh have played twice, both last fall, with Mmoh winning both, but each time Paul had match points.  In the quarterfinals at the Grade B1 in Tulsa, Paul had two match points at 5-4 in the third before losing 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) and one match point in his 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5 loss to Mmoh in the third round at the Eddie Herr. That match point was downright fluky, with Mmoh's scrambling shanked forehand turning into a lob winner.

CiCi Bellis is the last American girl remaining after a quick 6-2, 6-1 win over unseed Jil Teichmann of Switzerland. Bellis, who is into a junior slam semifinal for the first time, will play No. 16 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia. Kalinskaya won the only three-set match in the junior singles quarterfinals Thursday, defeating unseeded Fanni Stollar of Hungary 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-2.

Top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic reached the semifinals for the second straight year, eliminating unseeded Astrid Bowl champion Katharina Hobgarski of Germany 6-3, 6-2. She will face No. 12 seed Paul Badosa Gibert of Spain in the semifinals.  Badosa Gibert, seeded based on her WTA ranking of 270, defeated No. 3 seed Katarina Stewart 6-2, 6-2. Badosa Gibert recently qualified for the WTA's Madrid Premier event, and prior to that she had won two rounds in the main draw at the Miami Open as a wild card.  Vondrousova won their previous junior meeting last year in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

In addition to the four American juniors in the singles semifinals, there are five in the doubles semifinals.  Tommy Paul is the only player in both; he and William Blumberg, seed No. 4, are the lone seeds remaining in the boys doubles draw, after Fritz (with Orlando Luz of Brazil, the top seeds) and Mmoh (with Akira Santillan of Japan, the No. 3 seeds) losing in today's quarterfinals. Paul and Blumberg will play unseeded Franco Capalbo and Geronimo Espin Busleiman of Argentina in the semifinals.

In the girls doubles, the sixth-seeded team of Caroline Dolehide and Stewart advanced to the semifinals with a 7-5, 4-6, 10-5 win over No. 3 seeds Dalma Galfi and Stollar of Hungary.  They will play No. 5 seeds Usue Arconada and Argentina's Nadia Podoroska, who beat No. 2 seeds Katie Swan of Great Britain and Sonya Kenin 6-7(2), 6-2, 10-5. Top seeds Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic defeated Francesca Di Lorenzo and Brazil's Luisa Stefani 6-2, 6-4, to set up a semifinal contest with the unseeded team of Teichmann and China's Shilin Xu.

All semifinals in singles and doubles are on Friday's schedule.  Draws are here.

The ITA completed its Kickoff Weekend draft with the men today. Unlike the women's Team Indoor, the men's attracts all the top programs.  The 15 schools and who they are hosting can be found here. Bobby Knight at College Tennis Today has further analysis of the men's draft.

The ITA also announced its Division I All-America teams, although by their criteria*, all those named were known when yesterday's final rankings were revealed.  It's nice to see Virginia's Mitchell Frank and Mississippi's Nik Scholtz get that honor a final time in their senior years after all they've meant to their programs.

*A player must meet any of the following criteria to earn ITA All-America honors:

Singles - Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championship; reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles Championship; finish in the Top 20 of final Oracle/ITA National Singles Rankings

Doubles - Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Championship; reach quarterfinals in NCAA Doubles Championship; finish in the Top 10 of final Oracle/ITA National Doubles Rankings

Opelka Beats Top Seed Luz; Four US Boys, Two US Girls in French Open Junior Quarterfinals; UCLA's Anderson, Oklahoma's Alvarez Finish No. 1 in Final ITA Rankings

Reilly Opelka has always said he loves playing on clay, and the 6-foot-10 17-year-old now has even more reasons to feel affection for the surface after defeating World Junior No. 1 Orlando Luz of Brazil 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 today in the third round of the French Open Junior Championships.

Opelka dominated on serve in the first set, never facing a break point and taking advantage of the first two Luz provided him at 15-40 5-6. Luz however, was not about to panic, having lost the first set in his previous two matches, then winning the third sets of those 6-1 and 6-0.

Opelka's first serve percentage dropped and he was broken in the fifth game, with Luz hanging on to that break to level the match.  Opelka was again broken in the fifth game of the set in the third, and again Luz served for the set, and this time the match, at 5-4. He never got to match point, broken at 15-40, and after Opelka held at love for the second straight service game, Luz found himself down 0-40.  He saved two match points, but not the third, as Opelka closed the match with a down-the-line backhand winner, according to this article from Opelka's hometown newspaper.  Sandra Harwitt talked to Opelka about the match for the ITF junior website.

Opelka's opponent in the quarterfinals is one of the four American boys to reach the final eight, No. 6 seed Michael Mmoh, who needed only 40 minutes to defeat No. 12 seed Theo Fournerie of France 6-1, 6-0.  Opelka and Mmoh last played in the Eddie Herr final last December, on Har-Tru, with Opelka winning 6-4, 6-4.  They also met in the semifinal at the Grade 1 International Hard Courts in College Park, Maryland last year, with Opelka taking that 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The third American still alive in the top half of the draw is No. 13 seed Tommy Paul, who had no difficulty with Djurabeck Karimov of Uzbekistan, coasting to a 6-1, 6-2 win. Paul will play unseeded Manuel Pena Lopez of Argentina, who needed more than three hours to eliminate No. 11 seed Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-8.

The fourth American boy to advance to the quarterfinals is No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz, who avenged his Orange Bowl loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-3, 6-2.  Fritz served for the match at 6-3, 5-0, having won eight straight games, but let three match points slip away.  He had two more in the next game, 15-40 on Tsitsipas' serve, but converted neither of those. Serving for the match again at 5-2, he was up 40-15, only to see those two match points, his sixth and seventh, come and go. He then had to save two break points, but Fritz finally converted on his eighth match point. He will play No. 10 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile, who beat unseeded Alex Molcan of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1.

In the only boys match not featuring an American, unseeded Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina will meet No. 4 seed Corentin Denolly of France.

CiCi Bellis and Katerina Stewart, seeded No. 4 and No. 3 respectively based on their WTA rankings, both have advanced to the quarterfinals.  After saving a match point in her second round win on Tuesday, Bellis had an easier time with No. 13 seed Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic, taking a 6-2, 6-4 decision.  Stewart dropped her first set of the tournament, but got by No. 14 seed Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-1, 5-7, 6-1.

Bellis will play unseeded Jil Teichmann of Switzerland after Teichmann defeating Great Britain's Katie Swan, the No. 8 seed 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.  Stewart meets no. 12 seed Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain, who beat No. 6 seed Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada 6-3, 6-3.

Unseeded Caroline Dolehide fell to No. 16 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 7-5, 6-3. Kalinskaya faces unseeded Fanni Stollar of Hungary, who beat Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic will play unseeded Katharina Hobgarski of Germany in the quarterfinals. Hobgarski, who won the Grade 1 warmup tournament in Belgium last week, beat 15-year-old Olesya Pervushina of Russia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to advance.

The US juniors have also had success in doubles, with nine of them still in as the tournament moves to the quarterfinals.  Fritz (with Luz, the top seeded team) advanced to the quarterfinals today as did Usue Arconada, Sonya Kenin and the team of Dolehide and Stewart, who saved a match point in their 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 win over Gabby Ruse of Romania and Bolsova Zadoinov.

All singles and doubles quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday.  The draws are here.

The ITA released the final individual rankings this year, with UCLA's Robin Anderson and Oklahoma's Axel Alvarez finishing at No. 1.  The Baylor team of Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano claimed the No. 1 ranking in men's doubles, and the two-time NCAA champions from Alabama, Erin Routiliffe and Maya Jansen, ended the year No. 1 in the women's rankings.

The women's singles Top 10:
1. Robin Anderson, UCLA
2. Carol Zhao, Stanford
3. Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
4. Brooke Austin, Florida
5. Julia Elbaba, Virginia
6. Maegan Manasse, Cal
7. Lauren Herring, Georgia
8. Josie Kuhlman, Florida
9. Stephanie Wagner, Miami
10. Sydney Campbell, Vanderbilt

The men's singles Top 10:
1. Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma
2. Ryan Shane, Virginia
3. Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA
4. Julian Lenz, Baylor
5. Noah Rubin, Wake Forest
6. Soren Hess-Olesen, Texas
7. Quentin Monaghan, Notre Dame
8. Andrew Harris, Oklahoma
9. Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, Louisville
10. Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt

The women's doubles Top 5:
1. Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, Alabama
2. Carol Zhao and Taylor Davidson, Stanford
3. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
4. Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies, Clemson
5. Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips

The men's doubles Top 5:
1. Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano, Baylor
2. Austin Smith and Ben Wagland, Georgia
3. Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese, Tennessee
4. Roberto Quiroz and Yannick Hanfmann, Southern Cal
5. Luca Corinteli and Justin Shane, Virginia

The complete rankings can be found at the ITA website.

The draft for next year's Kickoff Weekend started today with the women, and top 20 teams opting out of the draft, and therefore the ITA Team Indoor Championships, include Southern Cal, Florida, Stanford, Baylor and Clemson.  The completed draft can be found on the ITA website.  The men's draft is Thursday.

My NCAA Individual Championships Recap; Catching Up on NCAA Division II and Division III Titles; Johnson, Stiefelmeyer Features

My recap of the NCAA singles and doubles tournaments is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and if you missed it last week, my recap of the team tournament is here.

The Raleigh News and Observer published this feature on women's champion Jamie Loeb, and the Charlottesville Daily Progress spoke with Virginia's Ryan Shane about his title.

In addition to getting behind on junior news while I was in Waco, I also was short on time to follow the Division II and Division III tournaments.

Barry won the men's Division II team title for the second time in three years, beating Hawaii-Pacific 5-3 in the final and finishing the season undefeated.

The women's Division II team championship is also the property of an undefeated powerhouse, with Armstrong State defeating Barry 5-2. The Pirates have won six of the last eight Division II women's team titles.

Warren Wood and Skyler Butts of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
photo via twitter

In Division III, which has both team and individual tournaments, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's team took the rare Triple Crown, winning the team, singles and doubles titles.  Top seed CMS defeated Middlebury 5-0 to win the team title, and Warren Wood defeated teammate Skyler Butts 6-1, 6-4 for the singles title.  The Stags also took the doubles championship, with Wood and Joe Dorn beating North Carolina Wesleyan's Robert Kjellberg and Sebastian Sikh 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.

Top seed Williams won the women's Division III team title, beating No. 2 seed Emory 5-4 for its seventh title in eight years. The Williams team of Linda Shin and Juli Raventos, who were the Ephs No. 2 team during the season and alternates into the doubles tournament won their school's second title, beating the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team of Katie Kousman and Caroline Ward 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3.  Top seed Eudice Chong of Wesleyan won the singles title, the first NCAA national title for her school, beating Joulia Likhanskaia of Bowdoin 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Sandra Harwitt is at the French Open and she caught up with Steve Johnson, who plays his third round match against Stan Wawrinka Friday, to talk about his college tennis career.

2014 ITA All-American champion Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville recently answered questions about his college tennis experience, his future, and why he chose to come to the United States to attend college and continue competing. This interview, at Smartathlete.com, is important reading for anyone looking for an honest account of a player's college tennis experience, whether you're a fan, coach, player, parent or journalist.

NCAA Division I Team Indoor Recap, All-Tournament Teams, ITA Awards

Before the start of today's NCAA Division I singles and doubles quarterfinals, which most likely will be played indoors due to rain, I wanted to post a link to my Tennis Recruiting Network recap of the team championships.

Also, below are the All-Tournament teams and the ITA's national award winners.

MEN’S ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
No. 1 Doubles: Julian Lenz/Diego Galeano (BAYLOR)
No. 2 Doubles: Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Styslinger (UVA)
No. 3 Doubles: Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (VIRGINIA)
No. 1 Singles: Ryan Shane (VIRGINIA)
No. 2 Singles: Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA)
No. 3 Singles: Collin Altamirano (VIRGINIA)
No. 4 Singles: Diego Galeano (BAYLOR)
No. 5 Singles: Spencer Papa (OKLAHOMA)
No. 6 Singles: Florin Bragusi (OKLAHOMA)
Most Outstanding Player: Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA)

WOMEN’S ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
No. 1 Doubles: Lauren Herring/Ellen Perez (GEORGIA)
No. 2 Doubles: Catherine Harrison/Kyle McPhillips (UCLA)
No. 3 Doubles: Marie Casares/Frances Altick (VANDERBILT)
No. 1 Singles: Robin Anderson (UCLA)
No. 2 Singles: Astra Sharma (VANDERBILT)
No. 3 Singles: Jennifer Brady (UCLA)
No. 4 Singles: Courtney Colton (VANDERBILT)
No. 5 Singles: Hannah King (GEORGIA)
No. 6 Singles: Ashleigh Antal (VANDERBILT)
Most Outstanding Player: Astra Sharma (VANDERBILT)

Men's award winners:
Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year: David Roditi, Texas Christian University
ITA Assistant Coach of the Year: Howard Endelman, Columbia University
ITA Senior Player of the Year: Søren Hess-Olesen, University of Texas
ITA Rookie Player of the Year: Noah Rubin, Wake Forest University
ITA Player to Watch: Andrew Harris, University of Oklahoma
ITA Most Improved Senior of the Year: Jonny Wang, University of Southern California
ITA/Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award: Mitchell Frank, University of Virginia
ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award: Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, University of Louisville

Women's award winners:
Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year: Geoff Macdonald, Vanderbilt University
ITA Assistant Coach of the Year: Aleke Tsoubanos, Vanderbilt University
ITA Player to Watch: Stephanie Wagner, University of Miami (FL)
ITA Senior Player of the Year: Robin Anderson, UCLA
ITA Rookie Player of the Year: Brooke Austin, University of Florida         ITA Most Improved Senior of the Year: Julia Jones, University of Mississippi
Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship: Lindsey Kayati, Rutgers University
ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award: Lorraine Guillermo, Pepperdine University

NCAA Division I Team Championships Begin Thursday with Men's Round of 16; Blanch Reaches Quarterfinals in Italy Grade 1; Tiafoe's Coaching Change

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Waco, TX--

After a long day of travel made longer by a weather-related flight cancellation, I'm in Waco, ready for Thursday's Round of 16 in the men's Division I team tournament.

It is currently not raining, but should the showers begin again, the six courts at SMU, in Dallas, will serve as the alternate site, much as Georgia Tech did last year when rain marred the women's first day of play in Athens.

Tomorrow's schedule, for now, is as follows:

Men’s Round of 16 matches and times Thursday (Central):

Oklahoma(1) vs UCLA(16) 9 am

Texas(9) vs Georgia(8) 9 am

TCU(5) vs Wake Forest(12) noon

North Carolina(13) vs Illinois(4) noon

Virginia(3) vs Columbia 4 pm

Ohio State(11) vs Texas A&M(6) 4 pm

Southern Cal(7) vs Duke(10) 7 pm
South Florida vs Baylor(2) 7 pm

Live scoring and video is available from the links at the Baylor website's Tournament Central.

Bobby Knight at College Tennis Today has previews of all eight matches and predictions for how each singles match will go.

The Division III tennis quarterfinals begin this weekend, with the Tennis Recruiting Network today publishing previews of those 16 matches (eight men's and eight women's).

At the ITF Grade 1 in Santa Croce Italy, Ulises Blanch is the sole American junior still alive, with the No. 6 seed reaching the quarterfinals. Blanch meets No. 3 seed and Orange Bowl finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece Thursday.  Live scoring can be found here.

In Plantation, the quarterfinals are set for the Grade 4, with six US boys and eight US girls advancing.  Junior Orange 12s and Easter Bowl 14s champion Whitney Osuigwe, who just became eligible to compete in ITF junior competition last month at age 13, defeated No. 2 seed Victoria Emma 6-2, 7-6(4) and is now 6-1 in her first two ITF tournaments. Lucky loser Brian Shi, seeded 15th,  defeated top seed William Tutecky of Canada 6-3, 6-4 in today's third round.

Frances Tiafoe's recent coaching change, detailed in this New York Times article by Ben Rothenberg, has been a hot topic of conversation in the past few days. Misha Kouznetsov, who had, in tandem with Frank Salazar, coached Tiafoe at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, was initially hired by Tiafoe after he turned pro. But Kouznetsov is now out, with the USTA providing Tiafoe's coaching.  Nicolas Todero, formerly Stefan Kozlov's coach at the USTA, is traveling with Tiafoe now, with Jose Higueras overseeing Tiafoe's development and providing coaching additional coaching.

Susan Zaro recently interviewed Higueras about his background, coaching philosophy, the American tennis culture, shielding players from media hype, among many other topics.

USTA Girls National Team Selected; Tim Russell Named to Succeed David Benjamin as Head of ITA; Where Are They Now? Wall Street Edition

Carson Branstine, Alexandra Sanford, Kayla Day, Kylie McKenzie
(photo via TeamUSA Facebook page)

Eight girls have been selected for the USTA National Team, a TeamUSA initiative revived after being discontinued by previous Player Development administrations.

Back in August of 2012, I wrote an article about the former Junior Davis Cup team for the Tennis Recruiting Network (no subscription required). In all my conversations about it, I never met anyone who didn't express dismay at its demise, so this revival, for 16-and-under players now, is encouraging news.

Four of the spots on the eight-player team were decided by a playoff, held last week in Boca Raton. Kylie McKenzie, Kayla Day, Carson Branstine and Alexandra Sanford earned their places on the team. The results from that competition are below.

Sixteen girls born in either 1999 or 2000 were selected to participate in the playoff for the 2015 Team USA National Junior Team. After three days of round robin competition, the top two players from each round robin group, named after past American female champions, squared off in a final playoff match to determine which four players made the team.

Round Robin Results:

Billie Jean King Playoff Group
Kayla Day d. Elysia Bolton, 6-0, 6-1
Victoria Emma d. Ryan Peus, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
Althea Gibson Playoff Group
Alexandra Sanford d. Emma Decoste, 7-6 (3), 6-3