Notes From All Over

Time for a grab bag of items that have shown up in my inbox or twitterfeed in the past couple of weeks.

Tuesday's match between 18-year-olds Alexander Zverev of Germany and Borna Coric of Croatia was even better than anticipated with Coric taking 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5) victory. Steve Tignor, writing for tennis.com, took note in his account of the match.  Having watched both boys since they were 11 years old, I have a different perspective from someone who is just now taking notice.  I don't disagree with any of Tignor's observations, but do feel compelled to note that Coric's mental stability was not as exemplary in those early years. The moral? Some players never change, and some do.

Chris Oddo also watched the match closely, and wrote this piece for TennisNow.

Also at TennisNow, this interview with Frances Tiafoe, in which he says he is not the "leader" of the current crop of rising American boys. Although confident, he reiterated that point several times in interviews at Kalamazoo.

The USTA released its annual "What's New at the US Open" announcement, and the item that was most interesting to me involved the second Thursday, September 10. The two women's semifinals are on Ashe in the evening, so the day session will be free of charge, with no grounds pass required for entry.  Men's, women's and mixed doubles will be scheduled for the day, and if singles is your thing, the juniors round of 16 and the opening round of the American Collegiate Invitational are also on tap.  Just two years ago, fans could have seen Zverev, Coric,  Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Ana Konjuh of Croatia in junior competition that day. It's a great opportunity to see the best college players as well, with both NCAA champions, Jamie Loeb and Ryan Shane, scheduled to play the American Collegiate Invitational. (The list of ACI participants is in this post, with Jared Hiltzik of Illinois and Julia Jones of Ole Miss receiving the two wild cards.)

Denis Kudla and his coach, former Illinois player Billy Heiser, are the subject of this article by Josh Meiseles on the ATP website.

Allie Kiick revealed the distressing news that she has a rare form of melanoma via twitter yesterday. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Stephanie Myles has an update on 15-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who did not receive a wild card, even into qualifying, at the recent Rogers Cup in Montreal.  Instead, he's sticking to juniors for the foreseeable future.  As the top seed in the Canadian National 18s championships, he lost to No. 2 seed Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 6-2 in today's final. Bianca Andreescu, the top seed in the girls draw, beat No. 2 seed Vanessa Wong 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the final.

The NCAA Team Championships' Most Outstanding Player Astra Sharma of Vanderbilt is the subject of this feature by Stefano Berlincioni at Last Word on Sports.

A new website focusing on professional tennis stars off the court, outsidetheball.com, has produced its second webshow, and is currently featuring an interview with Great Britain's Heather Watson.

Own The Zone, a longtime sponsor of Zootennis.com, has announced a partnership with Mats Wilander and his company WOW for the EcoGrip. Wilander's endorsement of the biodegradable grip can be found in this release, and orders can be placed here.

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.

USTA National Champions; US Teams Take Silver and Bronze at World Junior Tennis Competition; Pedraza, Lee, Paulus Win ITF Tournaments

Congratulations to all the 2015 USTA National Champions, with results from the singles and doubles finals and the bronze ball matches listed below. Full draws can be found by clicking on the Division name, which will send you to the TennisLink site.  The Tennis Recruiting Network will have coverage of all eight tournaments this week, with my 16s and 18s recaps available there on Thursday and Friday. A few thoughts that occurred to me while I was compiling these results:

Frances Tiafoe(B18s) is the only No. 1 seed to have won a singles title.

Saud Alhogbani(B12s) is the only player to have won both the Clay Courts and the Nationals this year.

Katie Volynets(G12s and G14s) is the only player to have won Nationals titles in consecutive years.

None of the singles champions won a doubles title.

Abigail Desiatnikov and Patrick Kypson receive main draw wild cards for the US Open Junior Championships next month.

Sonya Kenin and Frances Tiafoe receive singles wild cards into the US Open main draw, as do the doubles teams of Tornado Alicia Black and Ingrid Neel and Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz.

Boys 12s
Singles
Saud Alhogbani(3) def. Benjamin Kittay(5) 6-3, 6-0
3rd place: Hugo Hashimoto(1) def. Gavin Young(15) 6-2, 1-6, 6-4

Doubles
Kittay and Karl Lee(1) def. Alhogbani and Samuel Landau(9) 6-4, 6-4

Girls 12s
Singles
Nikki Yanez(17) def. Rachel Arbitman(5) 7-5, 7-6
3rd place: Emma Jackson(4) def. Sydni Ratliff(7) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5

Doubles
Arbitman and Kenadee Semenik(1) def. Ellie Coleman and Ellie Pittman 6-4, 6-4

Boys 14s
Singles
Nathan Han(4) def. Ronan Jachuck(5) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
3rd place: Jacob Bullard(17) def. Evin McDonald(9) 6-3, 6-0

Doubles
Jachuck and Nicholas Garcia(5) def. Jacob Bullard and Alan Yim(11) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Girls 14s
Singles
Katie Volynets(2) def. Naomi Cheong(11) 6-3, 6-1
3rd place: Lea Ma (4) def. Angelica Blake(5) 7-5, 3-1 Ret (ill)

Doubles
Ma and Kacie Harvey(5) def. Christina Hand and Chidimma Okpara(4) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3

Boys 16s:
Singles
Patrick Kypson(3) def. Alexandre Rotsaert(4) 6-3, 6-3
3rd place: JJ Wolf(1) def. Kyrylo Tsygura(8) 6-2, 6-0

Doubles
Bryce Pereira and Ivan Thamma(8) def. William Howells and Danny Thomas(7) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1

Girls 16s:
Singles
Abigail Desiatnikov def. Whitney Osuigwe(15) 6-1, 7-6(2)
3rd place: Natasha Subhash(1) d. Marlee Zein 6-1, 6-2

Doubles
Subhash and Ann Li(1) def. Anna Brylin and Clarissa Hand(5) 6-0, 6-2.

Girls 18s:
Singles
Sonya Kenin(3) def. Tornado Alicia Black(1) 6-2, 5-7, 7-5
3rd place: Raveena Kingsley(5) def. Sara Daavettila(16) walkover (inj)

Doubles
Black and Ingrid Neel(1) def. Jessie Aney and Ena Shibahara(2) 6-3, 6-3

Boys 18s:
Singles
Frances Tiafoe(1) def. Stefan Kozlov(3) 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4
3rd place: Taylor Fritz(2) def. Tommy Paul(4) walkover (ill)

Doubles
Fritz and Reilly Opelka(2) def. Joshua Sheehy and Parker Wynn(6) 6-3, 6-4

At the ITF's 14-and-under World Junior Tennis finals, the United States girls took the silver medal, losing to defending champion Russia 2-1. Both Caty McNally and Hurricane Tyra Black lost their singles matches, clinching the win for Russia, led by Anastasia Potapova.

The US boys lost to Spain in the semifinals, but beat Canada 3-0 to finish in third place.  Korea won the boys title, coming from 1-0 down to win No. 1 singles and the deciding doubles match to beat Spain 2-1.

Complete results are available at the ITF junior website.

Eight Americans claimed titles on the ITF junior circuit last week.

At the ITF Grade 3 in Mexico, Raquel Pedraza, the No. 2 seed, beat Alexandra Sabe, the No. 7 seed, 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-2 in an all-American final.  Sabe and her partner, Daniela Morales Beckmann of Mexico, the No. 2 seeds, lost to top seeds Camila Romero of Ecuador and Phillis Vanenburg of the Netherlands 5-7, 6-2, 10-4 in the doubles final.

Jason Legall and Evan Zhu won the boys doubles title. The unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Alafia Ayeni and Alan Rubio Fierros of Mexico 5-7, 7-6(5), 10-6 in the final.

At the ITF Grade 5 in St. Lucia, 17-year-old Justin Lee won his first ITF title in just his second appearance in an ITF junior tournament main draw.  Lee, who won three qualifying matches, defeated four seeds in his five matches, with a 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over No. 3 seed Ryan Mueller of Guatemala sealing the title.

Fifteen-year-old Kate Paulus won the girls title in St. Lucia. The No. 3 seed defeated Kianah Motosono, the No. 2 seed, 6-4, 6-1 in another all-American final.  It was Paulus's second final and first title on the ITF junior circuit. Unseeded Dakota Fordham and Elizabeth Mandlik won the doubles title with a 6-4, 7-5 decision over Motosono and Anaelle Roch of Guadeloupe.

In the boys doubles, Cole Lacap of Canada and Jack Pulliam won the title, with the No. 3 seeds beating the unseeded team of Mueller and Salvador Bolanos of El Salvador 7-6(6), 7-6(1) in the final.

Top 16s Seeds Wolf and Van Emburgh Survive Close Calls in Kalamazoo Second Round; Di Lorenzo Wins Austin $10K; ITF World Junior Tennis Competition Starts Monday

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

JJ Wolf and Jake Van Emburgh, the top two seeds in the 16s, staved off major upsets Sunday in the second round of the USTA Boys Nationals at Stowe Stadium, with Wolf defeating Drew Baird 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 and Van Emburgh beating Lucas Biondi 4-6, 6-3 7-6(0).

Although the temperature reached 90 degrees and the winds gusted over 25 mph later in the afternoon, the swirling breeze was mostly just a nuisance when Wolf and Van Emburgh took on Baird and Biondi on show courts 2 and 3.

Wolf saved a break point at 4-4 in the third with a good first serve, then held with a world class down the line backhand winner, putting the pressure squarely back on Baird.  Serving at 4-5, Baird couldn't find his first serve, and a couple of errors made it 30-all. A big Wolf forehand into the corner forced an error from Baird to set up match point, and when Baird missed a short forehand putaway wide, Wolf had the victory.

"I knew I was going to have to fight," said Wolf, a 16-year-old from Cincinnati. "He was such a good player, I knew it could go either way. He hit the ball really cleanly, so it was tough on the faster courts of Kalamazoo."

Wolf said he worked out his nerves after the first set, but soon discovered attacking his 14-year-old opponent's one-handed backhand was not productive.

"I tried to go there, but he stepped up and hit it pretty well," said Wolf, who won the 16s Winter Nationals in January. "So I wasn't going to go out of my way to hit it to his backhand. I just hit my crosscourt shots and did what I could."

As precarious a position as Wolf was in, his doubles partner Van Emburgh was in even more danger. Down 3-1 in the final set, he won four straight games to serve for the match, but then double faulted at 30-40 to make it 5-5.  Biondi, who hadn't held serve since the first game of the set, held at 15 to make it 6-5 and Van Emburgh needed his second hold of the set just to force a tiebreaker.

After Biondi missed a forehand in the first point of the game, Van Emburgh finally found the rhythm on his serve, hitting three consecutive aces to send the match into a tiebreaker.  Biondi, a 16-year-old from New York, netted a forehand on the first point and Van Emburgh took it from there, with a combination of his winners, including another ace, and Biondi's errors giving him the next six points as well.

"Those aces definitely gave me a huge jump into the tiebreak," said Van Emburgh, who has recently relocated to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where his father has taken a coaching position. "I had some doubts there at the end when I couldn't hold my serve serving for the match, and I thought here we go. But then I found it, and once I got up 3-0 in the breaker, I was, okay, I've got this match, this is my match."

Van Emburgh said he felt nauseous throughout the match and also turned his ankle, which required a medical timeout for taping by the trainer.

"I don't know what was wrong," Van Emburgh said of his queasy feeling throughout the match. "I never get tired, or sick so it was like a first thing for me. I felt really crappy the whole time. So I was lucky to be able to hang in there and fight my way through."

Van Emburgh, who turns 17 next month, was confident his doubles partner would do the same, when he looked over to see Wolf trailing in his match.

"I was surprised when he lost the first set, but I knew he wasn't going to lose the match," said Van Emburgh. "It's just how he is."

Although the top two seeds survived, nine seeded 16s players did not. No. 13 seed Andrew Fenty lost to William Grattan-Smith 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, No. 17 seed Kevin Ma was beaten by Jeremy Yuan 6-3, 6-1 and No. 18 seed Robert Maciag was defeated by Andrew Ton 6-4, 6-4. No. 19 seed Abhijeet Joshi was defeated by Sean Hill 7-5, 7-6(1), No. 20 seed William Peters lost to Caleb Chakravarthi 6-4, 6-4 and No. 21 seed Jaycer Lyeons was beaten by Matthew Rodriguez 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. No. 29 seed John Speicher lost to Arjith Jayaraman 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, No. 30 seed Ajai Shekhera was defeated by Bryce Pereira 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and No. 32 seed Cotter Wilson lost to Keenan Mayo 6-3, 6-4.

The second round of 16s doubles saw top seed Van Emburgh and Wolf and No. 2 seeds Trent Bryde and Patrick Kypson advance in straight sets.

The only 18s action on Sunday was the third round of doubles, with the top three seeded teams of Michael Mmoh and Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul and Henrik Wiersholm all advancing in straight sets at the windswept courts at Western Michigan University.

Complete results and draws are at ustaboys.com.

Monday will feature third round singles play for both divisions, with the 16s beginning at 8 a.m. and the 18s starting at 12:30 p.m.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Francesca Di Lorenzo, who will start this fall at Ohio State, won the $10,000 Pro Circuit event in Austin, Texas, beating Lauren Herring, the recent Georgia grad, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in Sunday's final.  Di Lorenzo is scheduled to play in the USTA Girls 18s Nationals in San Diego on Monday at 10 a.m.

Evan King won the $15,000 Futures in Edwardsville, beating Clay Thompson 6-4, 6-3.  Bobby Knight has full coverage of the former Michigan Wolverine's win over the former UCLA Bruin at College Tennis Today.

The ITF's 14-and-under World Junior Tennis Championships get underway on Monday in the Czech Republic with the Russian girls and Korean boys the top seeds.  The USA teams (the players representing the US are here) are both No. 1 in their round robin groups, meaning they are expected to advance to the semifinals.  The ITF Junior website article about the draw is here.

All Top 10 ITF Boys and Girls Entered in US Open Juniors; Southern Cal Wins USTA Boys 18 Team Championship; Donaldson, Kudla Advance in Atlanta

The acceptances for the US Open Junior Championships were released today, and all players in the ITF top 10, and all but one of the top 15, girls No. 15 Julieta Estable, have entered.

Nine US girls have received direct entry: Usue Arconada, Sonya Kenin, Michaela Gordon, Raveena Kingsley, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ingrid Neel, Claire Liu, CiCi Bellis and Katerina Stewart.  Kayla Day is the first alternate, with an ITF ranking of 56.  Alexandra Sanford and Tornado Alicia Black, the 2013 US girls finalist, are in qualifying Stewart, a semifinalist in New York last year, received entry based on her WTA ranking, currently 158.  Magdalena Frech of Poland, 378 in the WTA rankings, also received her entry by that method.

Caroline Dolhide, ranked No. 16 and a semifinalist last year after advancing through qualifying, has not entered and is not playing the G18s Nationals in San Diego either. She played earlier this month at Wimbledon and reached the third round there.

Seven US boys have received direct entry: Taylor Fritz, Michael Mmoh, Reilly Opelka, William Blumberg, Tommy Paul, Nathan Ponwith and Ulises Blanch.  Sam Riffice has already assured himself of a wild card into the main draw by winning the 18s Clay Courts.

The cutoff for the boys is 45, extremely high for the US Open, but not unusual for the French.  Five players received entry via their ATP rankings, with South Africa's Lloyd Harris (609), Argentina's Juan Pablo Fichovich(706) and two Spanish 18-year-olds: European Championships finalist Bernabe Zapata Miralles(708) and Pedro Martinez Portero(691).  The fifth is 14-year-old Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime, who became the youngest player ever to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP Challenger last week in Granby. Those results moved his ATP ranking up to 749, which is one spot better than necessary for main draw acceptance.  It will be his first junior slam
appearance.

The USTA Boys 18 Team Championships finals were today in Champaign-Urbana, with the Southern California section defeating the Eastern section 5-2.  Eastern's No. 1 player William Blumberg won all his matches during the tournament, including today's over Austin Rapp, but it wasn't enough to counter the depth of coach Barry Horowitz's team.  The results of today's final are below:

The girls 18 final Wednesday gives Southern Cal an opportunity for a sweep of the USTA Team championships. They will play defending champion Southern for the title. The TennisLink site for the girls competition has all the results.

At the ATP event in Atlanta, Jared Donaldson defeated fellow qualifier Somdev Devvarman 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the second round, where he will play No. 7 seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.  Another US qualifier, Denis Kudla, outlasted wild card Ryan Harrison 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) to set up a second round metting with No. 3 seed Jack Sock. Sock and Kudla have played five times, including, of course, in the US Open boys final in 2010, with Sock winning three, but Kudla has won their last two meetings, though those were in 2012.

No. 6 seed Steve Johnson advanced with a 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-2 win over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia. Qualifier Austin Krajicek fell to No. 5 seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, and Frances Tiafoe saw his attempt at a first ATP-level win thwarted by Australia's Sam Groth 7-6(3), 6-4.   Mardy Fish and Donald Young both suffered straight-set losses.

Georgia Tech rising sophomore Christopher Eubanks, who received a wild card, plays his first round match against Czech Radek Stepanek on Wednesday.  For more on Eubanks, and his friendship with Donald Young, see this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Talking with ITF Junior No. 1 Taylor Fritz; Ayeni Sweeps ITF Grade 4 Titles in Dominican Republic; Donaldson Qualifies for BB&T Open in Atlanta

As the No. 1 ranked ITF junior boy, Taylor Fritz was a popular interview subject at Wimbledon this year, and I spoke with him several times during the junior tournament.  Although many of his peers have turned pro this spring and summer, Fritz has not yet made that decision officially. But from this article I put together for The Tennis Recruiting Network based on those interviews, it appears unlikely that he will attend college.

All the major sports management agencies are interested in Fritz, so his choice will be a story this summer (he says by the end of the US Open). But it's not as if it is a lifetime commitment.  Jack Sock, who signed with CAA initially, has moved to IMG, it was announced today.

Olukayode Alafia Ayeni, who turns 16 next month, won his first two ITF titles last week at the Grade 4 Copa Merengue in the Dominican Republic. Ayeni, seeded No. 11, beat the No. 7, No. 4 and No. 1 seeds to reach the final, where he defeated No. 2 seed Salvador Mijares of Venezuela 6-2, 6-1.  Ayeni and Robert Loeb won the doubles title, with the No. 3 seeds taking a 7-6(8), 7-5 decision from No. 4 seeds Valentino Caratini and Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina.

At the $50,000 Sacramento women's Pro Circuit tournament, which finished late last night, 2014 US Open girls finalist Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, the No. 8 seed, beat top seed An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. It's the third Pro Circuit title for the 18-year-old, but the first at the $50,000 level.

Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey(Tennessee) won the doubles title, beating another unseeded pair, Nao Hibino of Japan and Rosie Johanson of Canada, 6-4, 3-6, 14-12 in the final. It's Whoriskey's ninth pro doubles title, but her first at a $50,000 tournament and her first with Weinhold as a partner.

The third and final tournament in the USTA's Women's US Open Wild Card Challenge is this week in Lexington.  As you can see from the standings chart, it's still anyone's wild card, although Brooke Austin lost in the first round of Lexington qualifying to Jamie Loeb, so she can't accumulate any more points. Loeb is one of five Americans in Tuesday's final round of qualifying.

The men's Lexington Challenger is just the second of their three tournaments, and next week at Aptos is a $100,000 event, so there is a very long way to go in that race. Noah Rubin qualified for Lexington with three wins, including a win over No. 2 seed Frederik Nielsen of Denmark and today's victory over Dimitar Kutrovsky(7) of Bulgaria. Alex Kuznetsov also qualified, putting a total of eight Americans in the main draw.

Rain has stopped play at the BB&T Atlanta Open today, but Jared Donaldson, Austin Krajicek and Denis Kudla won their final qualifying matches to join nine Americans already in the main draw. Donaldson, who was unseeded in the qualifying, beat Gastao Elias of Portugal in the first round, No. 5 seed JP Smith of Australia in the second round and No. 2 seed Guido Pella of Argentina in today's final round of qualifying. Kudla, the No. 1 seed, won both his qualifying matches in straight sets, as did No. 3 seed Krajicek.

The lower level Pro Circuit events this week are a $15,000 Futures for the men in Edwardsville, Illinois, and a $10,000 tournament for women in Austin, Texas.

Mmoh, Herring, Dome and Jones Win Pro Circuit Titles; Bondar and Ymer Claim European Championships; USTA Girls 18 Team Event Underway

Four Americans collected singles titles today, three in North America and the fourth in Egypt.

Julia Jones, a recent Ole Miss graduate, won her first pro title at an $10,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Egypt, after reaching the finals in singles and doubles the previous week as a qualifier. The unseeded 21-year-old, who received a special exemption into this week's tournament, defeated the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds en route to the final, where she beat unseeded Giada Clerici of Italy 6-3, 6-4.  Jones talks about her victory and her decision to play pro tennis after graduation in this article from the Ole Miss website. Jones, who was not initially named to compete in the American Collegiate Invitational, may be receiving the remaining wild card, although I'm not certain if that's the competition the article is referring to.

Another No. 1 player in the SEC last season, Georgia's Lauren Herring, claimed her first Pro Circuit title since 2010 at the $10,000 tournament in Evansville, Indiana. Herring, a qualifier, defeated Alabama incoming freshman Andie Daniell 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in today's final.  Herring, who had reached the finals in singles and doubles at the $10,000 tournament in Charlotte last month, won eight singles matches to take the title in Evansville, while also reaching the doubles final.

At the Godfrey, Illinois $15,000 Futures, No. 6 seed Michael Mmoh won his second career title at that level with a tough 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Illinois rising senior Jared Hiltzik, the No. 8 seed. Mmoh, who also won a $15,000 Futures in Texas last fall, will now break into the ATP Top 500 when the points are added in two weeks.  Bobby Knight of College Tennis Today was at the final, and he has promised a report on the final, which featured (according to Knight's twitter feed) a rain delay, a medical timeout, a conceded point by Hiltzik, and a shirt-tossing celebration by Mmoh when it was all over.

At the $15,000 Futures in British Columbia, former Cal Poly All-American Andre Dome has also assured himself a place in the ATP Top 500, winning the title with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 decision over top seed Matt Reid of Australia.  The 24-year-old No. 2 seed also captured the doubles title with former Pepperdine star Finn Tearney of New Zealand. Those two titles now give Dome the fourth and fifth of his career, three singles and two doubles, all earned this year.

The European Championships ended today, and at the ITF Grade B1 in Switzerland the boys champion was no surprise, while the girls champion was unexpected.

Wimbledon finalist Mikael Ymer, who won the European 14s title in 2012 and was runnerup last in the 16s, added the 18s title to his resume. The 16-year-old, seeded No. 2, beat unseeded Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

The girls title went to Anna Bondar of Hungary, an 18-year-old playing in her first junior event of the year.  The unseeded Bondar defeated No. 12 seed Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the final. Teichmann had taken out top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals.

Vondrousova and her partner Miriam Kolodziejova won the doubles title, avenging their Wimbledon semifinal loss to Hungary's Dalma Galfi and Fanni Stollar, a loss that ended the Czech pair's quest for a Grand Slam.  Vondrousova and Kolodziejova, the No. 2 seeds, beat Galfi and Stollar, the No. 3 seeds, 6-4, 7-5 in the final.

The boys doubles title went to the German team of Tim Sandkaulen and Louis Wessels, with the No. 3 seeds beating unseeded Alexander Erler and Matthias Haim of Austria 7-6(4), 6-1 in the final.

The 16s titles both went to Czech players. Top seed Patrik Rikl defeated No. 8 seed Artem Dubrivnyy of Russia 6-4, 6-1 in the boys final, and unseeded Anna Slovakova beat No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina of Russia 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 in the girls final.

Unseeded Iga Swiatek of Poland, a 2014 Junior Orange Bowl 14s semifinalist, won the girls 14s title, beating top seed Taisya Pachkaleva of Russia 6-2, 6-1 in the final. No. 8 seed Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia won the boys 14s title, beat No. 4 seed Filip Jianu of Romania 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. 

Complete draws can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament page.

I mentioned the USTA Boys 18 Team Championships in yesterday's post. The USTA Girls 18 Team Championships began today in Claremont, California, with the TennisLink site here.  Results can be found by selecting Flight (there's only one), Round (1 was today) and match.

USA's World Junior Tennis Teams Named; Mmoh Reaches Godfrey Futures Semifinals; Daniell, Graham Advance in Evansville

The teams that will represent the USA in the ITF's World Junior Tennis 14-and-under team competition have been announced, with no changes in the teams that represented the USA in North American qualifying in Boca Raton several months ago.

Caty McNally, Hurricane Tyra Black and Amanda Anisimova will travel to Prostejov, Czech Republic for the girls competition among 16 nations, which begins August 3rd and ends August 8th.  Adam Neff, Brandon Nakashima and Govind Nanda will be one of 16 boys teams in Prostejov.  Both teams went undefeated in North American qualifying, and I anticipate the girls will be among the top seeds when the draw is made. Kathy Rinaldi will coach the girls team and Eric Nunez the boys team.

At the $15,000 Godfrey Futures, Michael Mmoh has reached the semifinals, the fourth time in his career that the 17-year-old has gotten that far (he has one Futures title). Mmoh, the No. 6 seed, beat Ben McLachlan of New Zealand 6-3, 6-1 today, and will play No. 7 seed Evan King, who took out wild card Nick Chappell by the same score.  The top half of the draw will be a rematch of the 2013 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate men's final, with Clay Thompson facing No. 8 seed Jared Hiltzik. Thompson, who beat Hiltzik 6-4, 7-5 in New York, defeated qualifier Kyle Koch 7-6(2), 7-6(4), while Hiltzik came back to beat qualifier Gonzales Austin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.  King and Thompson have both won Futures titles this year. Hiltzik is hoping to reach his first Futures final with a win Saturday.

Jordi Arconada of Argentina and Dominic Cotrone, the No. 4 seeds, won the doubles title in Godfrey, beating unseeded Fred Saba and John Lamble 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

At the women's $10,000 Pro Circuit event in Evansville, 17-year-old Alexa Graham and 18-year-old Andie Daniell have advanced to the semifinals, where they will play each other. Graham, the No. 7 seed, defeated qualifier Frances Altick 6-1, 6-1 and Daniell ousted No. 4 seed Francesca Segarelli of the Dominican Republic 6-3, 7-6(4).  Daniell, who will be starting at Alabama this fall, is through to her first Pro Circuit semifinal in singles. Graham has reached two finals at $10,000 events this year.

The other semifinal will feature qualifier Lauren Herring, the recent Georgia graduate, against Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway.

The Binghamton Challenger will feature two Americans, with qualifier Sekou Bangoura meeting top seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain in one semifinal and No. 2 seed Bjorn Fratangelo facing No. 6 seed Brydan Klein, also of Great Britain, in the other.

The qualifying draw of the BB&T Open in Atlanta is out, with Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka, Walker Duncan and Trent Bryde receiving wild cards.  Paul and Duncan, who were to be teammates at Georgia before Paul turned pro this summer, meet in the first round.

Ram Wins Second ATP Title in Newport; Rublev Delivers in Davis Cup; Binghamton and Sacramento Challengers, European Championships on Tap

Rajeev Ram won the second ATP title of his career today, defeating No. 2 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(2) in the final of the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode Island.  Ram, who played on the 2003 NCAA championship team at Illinois, won his first ATP title in 2009, also in Newport.  Ram defeated top seed John Isner in the opening round, saving a match point, and saved two match points in his win over No. 5 seed Adrian Mannarino of France in the quarterfinals. Ram, currently ranked 161, will move inside the ATP Top 90, assuring himself a spot in the main draw of the US Open.  For more on the final, see the ATP website.

The final day of Davis Cup play provided plenty of drama, with Australia coming back from 2-0 down against Kazakhstan to reach the semifinals against Great Britain, with veterans Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt getting the two single wins Sunday.  Argentina beat Serbia 4-1 and will meet Belgium in the other semifinal, after Belgium shut out Canada.

Russia claimed the second comeback from 2-0 down of the weekend, defeating Spain in Zone Group I Playoffs to earn a place in the September World Group Playoffs.  2014 ITF World Junior Champion Andrey Rublev had lost in straight sets to Tommy Robredo to open the tie, but in the fifth rubber, the 17-year-old beat ATP No. 32 Pablo Andujar 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3 to seal the win.   For all results, see the Davis Cup website.

The $50,000 Stockton Challenger, the first of three tournaments designated for the USTA's US Open wild card challenge, featured two international players in the final, with No. 5 seed Nao Hibino of Japan defeating top seed An Sophie Mestach of Belgium 6-1, 7-6(6).  Sanaz Marand reached the semifinals in singles to take the lead in the Wild Card Challenge, with two more tournaments, in Sacramento and Lexington, remaining.  No. 4 seeds Marand and Jamie Loeb, both stars at North Carolina, won the doubles championship, beating former USC standouts Danielle Lao and Kaitlyn Christian 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

The men's wild card challenge begins tomorrow at the $50,000 tournament in Binghamton, New York.  Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul and Noah Rubin received wild cards into the main draw, as did Great Britain's Kyle Edmund, who is the top seed. Frances Tiafoe received entry based on his ranking. Opelka plays a qualifier, Paul faces former Texas Tech star Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador, Rubin meets 2014 US Open boys champion Omar Jasika of Australia and Tiafoe's first round opponent is Gregoire Barrere of France.  Bjorn Fratangelo(2), Jared Donaldson(5), Daniel Nguyen(7), Dennis Novikov, Mitchell Krueger, Dennis Nevolo and Ryan Sweeting are the other US men in the draw, as well as Marco Giron and Sekou Bangoura, who qualified today. Austin Smith(Georgia) and Ernesto Escobedo will decide the third American qualifier tomorrow, and Nick Meister can join them with a win over Great Britain's Luke Bambridge in their final round qualifying match.

The first round of qualifying for the women's tournament in Sacramento is underway, with the main draw yet to be released.

After a couple of weeks on grass, the ITF Junior Circuit in Europe returned to clay. At the Grade 1 in Austria, No. 7 seed Ugo Humbert took the boys title in an all-French contest, beating unseeded Evan Furness 6-4, 6-3.  No. 14 seed Georgia Craciun of Romania took the girls title, beating unseeded qualifier Anastasia Zarytska 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the final. Nada Dimovska of the US qualified and reached the third round, beating the No. 7 seed in the second round.

The European championships begin in three different locations on the continent next week. The ITF Grade B1 is in Switzerland, with Corentin Dennolly of France and Mikael Ymer of Sweden the top two boys seeds, and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic and Dalma Galfi of Hungary No. 1 and No. 2 in the girls draw.

The 16s division is in Moscow, with Patrik Rikl of the Czech Republic the top boys seed and Olesya Pervushina of Russia the No. 1 girls seed.

At the 14s division, held in the Czech Republic, Timofey Skatov of Russia is the No. 1 boys seed and Taisya Pachkaleva of Russia is No. 1 in the girls draw.

Links to the draws and order of play for all three age divisions is available at this Tennis Europe website page.

Clay Court Champions Crowned; Pierre-Louis Sweeps Titles at ITF Grade 4 in Jamaica; Bobby Reynolds Joins Roddick at Oklahoma; The Lighter Side of Junior Tennis

Rain hampered several USTA Clay Court finals today, but all champions have been decided (result of boys 12s doubles final posted Sunday morning). Two top seeds won singles titles: Sam Riffice in the boys 18s and Alexa Noel in the girls 14s. Riffice, 16, has earned a US Open Junior championships main draw wild card with his victory over Alexandre Rotsaert.  Girls 18s champion Ellyse Hamlin, who like Riffice, won singles and doubles titles today, beat fellow Duke recruit Kaitlyn McCarthy in the singles final. Hamlin is not eligible for the US Open junior wild card, because she turns 19 in November, making her too old by the ITF calendar-year system of eligibility.

Boys 18s:
Sam Riffice(1) def. Alexandre Rotsaert (17) 7-6, 6-3
Vasil Kirkov and Riffice(2) def. William Genesen and Johnathan Small(8)  6-3, 6-4

Girls 18s:

Ellyse Hamlin(6) def.  Kaitlyn McCarthy(17) 6-7(8), 6-1, 7-5

Katherine Fahey and Hamlin(2) def. Madison Battaglia and Victoria Flores 7-6(4), 6-0

Boys 16s:
Danny Thomas(17) def. Aleks Huryn(17) 6-2, 6-4
Blake Croyder and Bradley Frye def. Aleksandar Kovacevic and Robert Maciag 7-6, 6-4

Girls 16s:
Samantha Martinelli(2) def. Natasha Subhash(1) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
Subhash and Ann Li(2) def. Anna Brylin and Clarissa Hand(4) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2

Boys 14s:
William Grant(7) def. Jenson Brooksby(4) 7-6(2), 6-3
Garret Johns and Scott Sculley(9) def. Connor Fu and JanMagnus Johnson(7) 5-7, 6-0, 6-1

Girls 14s:
Alexa Noel(1) def. Hailey Baptiste(17) 6-4, 6-3
Chloe Beck and Reilly Tran(2) def. Carmen Corley and Katelyn Thomas(9) 6-1, 6-3

Boys 12s:

Saud Alhogbani(12) def. Karl Lee(4) 6-1, 6-4

Evan Lee and Thomas Navarro(10) def. Benjamin Kittay and Lee(2) 7-6, 5-7, 6-4

Girls 12s:

Elvina Kalieva(9) def. Charlotte Owensby(1) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
Owensby and Rachel Arbitman(2) def. Savannah Broadus and Kenadee Semenik(1) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

Kariann Pierre-Louis remained undefeated in ITF junior play this month, sweeping the singles and doubles titles at a Grade 4 for the second week in a row.  The 16-year-old from Miami, seeded No. 1,  lost only 15 games in her five singles victories in Jamaica, beating No. 2 seed Rika Tanaka of Japan 6-1, 6-4 in the final.  Last week Pierre-Louis won the doubles with Naomi Waters, this week she partnered Safiya Carrington, and the No. 3 seeds defeated unseeded Y-kit Tan of Singapore and Elysia Bolton 7-5, 7-5 in the final.  Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina swept the boys titles, with the No. 6 seed beating No. 2 seed William Tutecky of Canada 6-3, 6-4 in the singles final. In the doubles final, Ugo Carabelli and fellow Argentine Valentino Caratini, the No. 3 seeds, beat unseeded Andrew Fenty and Tristan McCormick 7-6(2), 2-6, 10-6.

There has yet to be an official announcement, but former ATP Top 100 player Bobby Reynolds has accepted the men's assistant coaching position at Oklahoma.  Reynolds takes over for Bo Hodge, who is now the men's associate head coach at Georgia. Reynolds, who turned 33 yesterday, spent three years at Vanderbilt, leading the team to the NCAA championship match in 2003 and finishing No. 1 in the singles rankings that year. He turned pro after his junior year, but returned to complete his degree at Vanderbilt this year after retiring from the tour last year.

This post by Avery Shackelford at mytennislessons.com, entitled "Fifteen Things You'll Understand if You Played Junior Tennis", is a humorous look back at some of the experiences that make the competitive side of the sport so memorable for a young competitor. 

My Wimbledon Recap; USTA Clay Court Finals Set; Nedovyesov Tops Kyrgios in Davis Cup; Zhao Wins Pan Am Gold

My recap of the Wimbledon Junior Championships is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Although Sunday was a bit bleak, in general the weather was outstanding, the best I've experienced in my four trips.  And it's always a plus for me when US juniors do well which they certainly did this year: six quarterfinalists and a singles champion and doubles finalist in Reilly Opelka.

Because Wimbledon was a week later this year, I was unable to cover the Girls 18s Clay Courts in Memphis after being there the previous seven years. All finals in the four age divisions are scheduled for Saturday. The results of today's semifinals, with full draws available by clicking the link contained in the age division heading.

Boys 18s:
Sam Riffice(1) def. Nathan Perrone(17) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

Alexandre Rotsaert(17) def. (9) Vasil Kirkov(9)
7-6, 6-1


Girls 18s:

Ellyse Hamlin(6) def. Mia Horvit(5)

6-2, 7-6(3)

Kaitlyn McCarthy(17) def. Meible Chi

(8) 6-4, 7-5

Boys 16s:

Aleks Huryn(17) def. Kyrylo Tsygura(6) 6-3, 6-4

Danny Thomas(17) d. Robert Maciag 6-3, 6-3

Girls 16s:
Samantha Martinelli(2) def. Nicole Mossmer(4) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Natasha Subhash(1) def. Hannah Lairmore(3) 6-3, 6-4

Boys 14s:
Jenson Brooksby(4) def. JanMagnus Johnson 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-3
William Grant(7) def. (17) Stefan Leustian(17) 6-1, 6-2

Girls 14s:
Hailey Baptiste(17) def. Victoria Hu(8) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
Alexa Noel(1) def.  Alana Wolfberg(4) 6-2, 6-1

Boys 12s:

Saud Alhogbani(12) def. Alexander Bernard(8) 6-4, 6-3

Karl Lee(4) def. Hugo Hashimoto(1) 7-6(4), 6-3

Girls 12s:

Elvina Kalieva(9) def. Ellie Pittman(17) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1

Charlotte Owensby(1) def. Rachel Arbitman(17) 6-2, 6-3

Davis Cup is underway, and Bobby Knight has all the results involving current and former collegians from World Group to Group III competition at College Tennis Today.  The biggest win for a college player was that of former Oklahoma State star Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan. Nedovyesov defeated Nick Kyrgios 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 to give Kazakhstan a 2-0 lead over the Australians in a World Group quarterfinal in Darwin.

Also playing Davis Cup this week is 16-year-old Hady Habib, who is representing Lebanon in its relegation playoff with Sri Lanka. Habib, currently 91 in the ITF world junior rankings, is a regular on the ITF circuit here in the United States.

Other international tennis competitions concluded today, with gold medals decided at the Pacific Games and the Pan American Games.  Papua New Guinea's Abigail Tere-Apisah, the former Georgia State All-American and 2014 NCAA semifinalist, collected four gold medals, winning singles, doubles, mixed and team events.

At the Pan American Games in Toronto, the women's doubles gold went to the Canadian team of Carol Zhao(Stanford) and Gaby Dabrowski. They defeated the Mexican team of Victoria Rodriguez and Marcela Zacarias 6-1, 4-6, 10-5.  Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia won the singles gold medal, beating Rodriguez 6-4, 6-4.  Monica Puig of Puerto Rico took the bronze with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Lauren Davis.

Boys USTA National Junior Team; Novikov Takes Bronze at PanAm Games; Opelka, Paul and Rubin Receive Binghamton Challeger Wild Cards; Can PlaySight Help Discourage Cheating?

One of the important competitions I was unable to cover sufficiently when I was at Wimbledon was the Team USA Playoff for boys that was held last week in by the USTA Boca Raton.

The team, which is modeled on the USTA Junior Davis Cup teams of the 1980s, is for players born in 1999 or 2000. By the criteria set out in this document, Sam Riffice and Vasil Kirkov were selected for the team prior to the camp/playoffs.  Six other places on the team were available via the round robin playoff, with 16 players invited to compete.  Trent Bryde, Alexandre Rotsaert, Gianni Ross and Oliver Crawford earned places on the team in qualifying matches, while those who lost in qualifying matches played off for the final two spots, with William Howells and Brian Shi securing the final two places on the team.  The summer travel schedule for the team includes this week's Clay Courts, Kalamazoo, the College Park ITF, Canada and the US Open.

Qualifying matches:
Trent Bryde def. Brian Shi 6-2,6-2
Alexandre Rotsaert def. Kyrylo Tsygura 6-2,6-1
Gianni Ross def. William Howells 6-3,6-3
Oliver Crawford def. Alafia Ayeni 6-4,6-3

Playoff of second place finishers for remaining two spots:
William Howells  def.  Alafia Ayeni  4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Brian Shi def.  Kyrylo Tsygura 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

The complete results from the round robin stages, as well as the home towns and personal coaches of the team members can be found here.

The girls Team USA was selected in May and consists of CiCi Bellis, Claire Liu, Carson Branstine, Kylie McKenzie, Kelly Chen, Kayla Day, Michaela Gordon and Alexandra Sanford.  More information on the girls playoff and selection can be found here.

The men's portion of the Pan Am Games are complete, with former Kalamazoo champion and UCLA star Dennis Novikov taking the bronze medal.  Facundo Bagnis of Argentina won the gold over Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia by a score of 6-1, 6-2. Novikov defeated Guido Andreozzi of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 in the bronze medal match today. Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico will play Mariana Duque Marino of Colombia for the women's gold medal. Monica Puig of Puerto Rico and Lauren Davis of the US are in the bronze medal match.   Stanford's Carol Zhao will play for the gold in women's doubles with fellow Canadian Gaby Dabrowski against Rodriguez and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico.  Full tennis results can be found here.

The Binghamton Challenger kicks off the USTA's Men's US Open Wild Card Challenge, and today the wild cards were announced, with US teens Wimbledon boys champions Noah Rubin and Reilly Opelka and French Open boys champion Tommy Paul, as well as Great Britain's Kyle Edmund, getting spots in the main draw. Ben Rothenberg wrote about the new crop of American hopefuls in this article for the New York Times.

A junior tournament in New Jersey is experimenting with the use of the PlaySight system to discourage cheating.  This ESPN article explains why CourtSense founder Gordon Uehling believes it could be a solution to the cheating that can surface when players are responsible for line calls in a match.

ITF Junior Update, Non-Wimbledon Edition; USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge; Robbye Poole's Role in Serena's Grand Slam Quest; World University Games Medal Results

While Sofya Zhuk and Reilly Opelka's Wimbledon titles highlighted last week's ITF Junior competition, plenty of junior tennis competition took place away from the purple and green of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The Caribbean is a popular destination this time of year for US players looking to collect points at lower level events, and Kariann Pierre-Louis swept the titles at the Grade 4 in the Bahamas.  The 16-year-old, seeded third, defeated No. 2 seed Hurricane Tyra Black 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the final, her second win in three meetings this year with the 14-year-old.  Pierre-Louis partnered Naomi Waters to also take the doubles championship, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seed Rika Tanaka and Saya Usui of Japan 6-0, 6-4 in the final.

At the Grade 4 in Canada, Americans Paris Corley and Michelle Wang won the girls doubles title in a walkover, with Canadians Stacey Fung and Katarina Kopcalic unable to compete in the final.

There is a Grade 1 on clay in Austria this week, with two American girls through to the second round.  Nada Dimovska qualified and won her first round match; Victoria Emma will play No. 10 seed Jade Lewis of New Zealand after winning her first round match.  Emily Arbuthnott of Great Britain in the top girls seed, with Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece the No. 1 boys seed. Sami Kirberg and Sean Hill, the two American boys in the draw, lost their first round matches.

In US Pro Circuit action last week, two-time NCAA champion Somdev Devvarman of India won the $50,000 Challenger in Winnetka, beating former USC star Daniel Nguyen 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5) in the longest final in ATP Challenger history, a three hour and 31 minute match that ended at 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning.   Jonathan Kelley covered the tournament throughout the week (although not the final) for his On The Rise blog, so check out his coverage and interviews from the only Pro Circuit event in the US last week.

This week marks the beginning of the USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge for women, which kicks off at the $50,000 Stockton, California tournament.  The best two results in three events, with Sacramento and Lexington Challengers in the following two weeks will earn one American woman a place in the US Open main draw.  For more on the Wild Card Challenge (the men's version begins next week in Binghamton, New York), see usta.com.

In today's action in Stockton, former Stanford Kristie Ahn qualified for the main draw, and Jamie Loeb, Jennifer Brady and Danielle Lao advanced to the second round.  Wild card Loeb defeated Caitlin Whoriskey 7-6(5), 7-6(4), Brady took out No. 2 seed Eri Hozumi of Japan 6-3, 6-3, and wild card Lao beat Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-1.

When I was at Wimbledon I saw former Clemson and Ole Miss star Robbye Poole at several junior matches, on the days when his new employer, Serena Williams, was not playing.  Now serving as her hitting partner, a position he first took this spring at Indian Wells thanks to a referral from John Isner, Poole will be on the inside while the world's No. 1 attempts to complete the Grand Slam in New York next month. For more on how he got the job, see this article on the Ole Miss website.

The World University Games in Korea are wrapping up, with the tennis competition completed over the weekend. The medal results are available here.  Former University of Memphis star Joe Salisbury and Darren Walsh, who played at SMU, won the gold medal in men's doubles for Great Britain, and recent Clemson standout Beatrice Gumulya of Indonesia took the bronze in women's singles.  Hyeon Chung of Korea won the men's singles gold and Kai-chen Chang of Taiwan the women's singles gold.

Reilly Opelka Wins Wimbledon Boys Title

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Wimbledon--

The wardrobe providers for Sunday night’s Wimbledon Champions Dinner may need to make a few alterations to accommodate Reilly Opelka’s 6-foot-10 frame, but the unseeded 17-year-old from Florida proved he belonged with the world’s best Sunday, defeating No. 12 seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden 7-6(5), 6-4 to claim the Wimbledon boys singles title.

Opelka’s parents and sister had booked their flights back to Palm Coast, Florida for Saturday, and when he was down a match point in the first round, several days of London sightseeing looked more likely for them than attending Sunday’s championship match on Court 1.

“It was in like a 15-, 20-ball rally, which usually shouldn’t favor me too much,” Opelka said of the match point he faced in his 4-6, 6-3, 13-11 win over Australian qualifier Alex De Minaur. “I kind of got lucky. Just kind of had to find a way. Luckily I was able to get through that. I progressed almost every single match from there on.”

In Sunday’s final, played under threatening skies that somehow never produced the predicted rain, Opelka’s serve proved to be the difference. Neither player faced a break point in the first set, and Ymer’s defense, including a lob winner over Opelka that drew gasps late in the first set, kept him in every game.

When Opelka double faulted to open the tiebreaker, Ymer had his opportunity, but he gave the mini-break back with a double fault of his own.  Two aces later, Opelka was up 3-2 and  after Ymer held for 3-3, the next point proved the difference in the set. Ymer averaged 12 mph less on his first serve during the match and after an 111 mph first serve, Opelka put away a forehand for 4-3 lead. Although he did not make a first serve in the next two points, Opelka won them both, the first with a great kick serve and the other with a forehand volley winner. Ymer saved two set points on his serve, but Opelka finished with a 132 mph first serve. Ymer returned it, and well, but Opelka was ready for it, putting away a bullet of a forehand to claim the set.

Ymer faced his first break point at 1-1 in the second set, but a bad bounce had Opelka swinging and missing on a first serve and Ymer held. Opelka continued to serve well, and at 4-4 Ymer faced two more break points at 15-40.  He saved both those and got to game point, but Opelka began cranking forehands, forcing errors that gave him another break point. This time he converted, or rather Ymer capitulated, double faulting to give Opelka an opportunity to serve out the match.  Although he failed to make a first serve in the opening three points of the final game, a second serve ace made it 30-15, and a 129 mph ace gave him two match points. Desperately, Ymer challenged both those aces, the 14th and 15th of the match for Opelka, but the calls were confirmed, and on the next point, Ymer sent a backhand wide, securing the championship.

With his only celebration a fist pump toward his family and coach Diego Moyano in the Court 1 players box, Opelka removed his cap as he strode to the net for the handshake, a routine he follows regardless of the circumstances.

Both Opelka and Ymer saw Opelka’s serve as key to his victory.

“I feel like I served well in the big moments,” said Opelka, who did not face a break point in the match. “Like 30-all and deuce, I came up with a service winner or an ace almost every time, which takes a lot of pressure off me.”

Ymer, a 16-year-old who trains at the Good To Great Academy in Stockholm, had lost to Opelka at the French Open last month and knew what he would be facing. Hoping to find a way to counteract Opelka’s serve, Ymer was disappointed in that part of his performance.

“Yeah, I think even if he served really good today I think I could have done a lot of changes in my returning position,” said Ymer. “I was expecting something from my coach, but I don't think he had anything either. Of course he's a tough opponent, especially on grass, he's tougher to return.”

Ymer said he was not as nervous as he expected playing in front of such a large crowd on the famous Court 1, perhaps because he had served as a hitting partner for men’s champion Novak Djokovic the past two days.

“We hit yesterday, and I think that helped me to not be so nervous during the game, because I was really nervous before hitting with him,” said Ymer, who got the opportunity when Good To Great Academy founder Magnus Norman arranged it by talking with Boris Becker. “It helped a little bit.”

Ymer was able to see firsthand just how consistent the world No. 1 is.

“He never misses, it's annoying. Really annoying, actually,” said Ymer. “You can play really good and it looks like only you are missing. It makes you think that you're missing too much and he's going to get pissed. Overall you're not missing, it's just that he's never missing, so it looks like you're screwing everything up. It was very fun, he's such a nice guy on and off court as well, and I was happy to get that opportunity.”

While Ymer, who with his older brother Elias is hoping to revive Swedish tennis fortunes, Opelka has much more company among junior boys in the United States.

American boys have won three of the last five junior slams, with Opelka joining 2014 Wimbledon champion Noah Rubin and last month’s French Open champion Tommy Paul on that exclusive list. He is not surprised that major junior titles are now starting to come in bunches.

“I knew that [quality] prior to the French Open, before Tommy won,” said Opelka, who has trained with Paul at the USTA for many years. “I knew that him and Taylor [Fritz], there’s a few of us that we’re capable of doing that. It’s just having someone that actually does it first, then all the other ones kind of follow, I think, push each other. It’s just kind of how it’s happened in the past.”

“It’s the best it’s been for the juniors in a while.” Opelka continued. “I mean, it’s great knowing that all the competition, like there’s a high level in the United States, that we have access to practice with each other whenever. I mean, that’s awesome.”

Knowing the level of competition he faces daily from his American peers, perhaps Opelka’s family could be forgiven for scheduling their return before the final.

“They really weren’t believing in me,” Opelka joked. “They just didn’t have confidence, I guess.”

Opelka, who signed with Lagardere management in April and now has an endorsement agreement with New Balance, is planning to play Kalamazoo next month and the US Open Junior Championships in September.

Just over two hours after securing the singles title, Opelka returned to Court 1 for the boys doubles final. A few sprinkles prior to the match brought out umbrellas in the crowd, but again there was no interruption of play. No. 4 seeds Opelka and his partner Akira Santillana of Japan fell to No. 8 seeds Sumit Nagal of India and Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam 7-6(4), 6-4.

Nagal and Ly, who is the first player from Vietnam to win a junior slam title, had never played together before this week.

“It just felt perfect, but I don’t know how,” said Nagal. “Our games suit. He likes to return from backhand side, I like to return from forehand side. We motivate each other. I was lucky to find a good partner like him.”

Although Nagal now joins Leander Paes(mixed) and Sania Mirza(women’s) as Indian Wimbledon champions in 2015, he does not consider himself a doubles player now, or in the future.

“Actually, I’m not a good doubles player,” said the 17-year-old, who trains in Germany. “I’ve played three matches in the past one year. I only play singles most of the time. I will just try to stay away from doubles. My first priority is singles.”

“They just kept playing really good, really solid,” said Santillan, who was playing with Opelka for the first time this week. “I think they just played better than us. I really thought we had the tiebreak, but a couple of loose balls from both of us and we went down really quickly in the breaker and that hurt us a bit.”

Opelka admitted it was difficult to refocus after the singles.

“It was tough,” said Opelka, who did a press conference, stretched and said he was eating a sandwich as he walking back out on to the court. “It was a quick turnaround and I didn’t get much time, which maybe could have helped, but those guys played great.”

The girls doubles champions are Dalma Galfi and Fanni Stollar of Hungary.  The No. 3 seeds defeated unseeded Vera Lapko of Belarus and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2. Galfi and Stollar had ended the Grand Slam hopes of top seeds Marketa Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic in Saturday’s semifinals 7-6(2), 6-4. Vondrousova and Kolodziejova had won the Australian and French titles.

Complete draws can be found at Wimbledon.com. Additional coverage of the boys final is here and at the ITF Junior website.

Zhuk Claims Girls Wimbledon Title Saturday; Opelka Faces Ymer in Boys Championship Match Sunday, Advances to Doubles Final

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Wimbledon--

Fifteen-year-old Sofya Zhuk may have been competing in her first Wimbledon this week, but she handled playing on Court 1 in front of a near-capacity crowd like a seasoned veteran, defeating fellow Russian Anna Blinkova 7-5, 6-4 to claim the girls title.

The eight or nine thousands fans had barely settled in on the warm and sunny afternoon when the unseeded Zhuk ran out to a 4-0 lead, but the 12th-seeded Blinkova began working her way back into the set, getting one break back for 4-1.  Zhuk served for the first set at 5-3, but Blinkova played her best game of the match, sandwiching a forehand winner between two great returns.  Blinkova held for 5-5, but made a mess out of her next service game, with a poor drop shot, a double fault and an unforced error giving Zhuk the first set.


Blinkova fell behind 3-0 in the second set, but after the trajectory of the first set, she was by no means out of the match.  Zhuk did not surrender her lead and stayed aggressive, holding her court position and also defending well, but Blinkova was not done.

Down a match point at 5-2, Blinkova took the initiative, hitting a good first serve and drilling a forehand winner. Another forehand winner and an ace, and Blinkova had forced Zhuk to serve out the match, which she could not do.

Missing five of six first serves in the game, Zhuk double faulted on game point, but Blinkova could not seize the opportunity.  She went up 40-15, but lost the next three points when Zhuk got her forehand going. Blinkova saved a second match point with a good first serve, but Zhuk won a long rally with another forehand winner, and claimed the title on her third try, when Blinkova's forehand went long.

Zhuk dropped to her hands and knees behind the baseline, her forehead to the court, which no longer featured anything resembling grass. Only the second Russian girls champion, and the first since Vera Dushevina in 2002, Zhuk took the traditional winner's lap around the court, but in addition to the excitement and happiness there was also relief.

"In middle of second set, I started to have lot of cramping in the calves," said Zhuk, who lives in Moscow, but splits her time between there and the Justine Henin Academy in Belgium.  "I was trying to stay focused because I know if I will lose the second set, third set I cannot play because I'm really dead and stuff like that."

Blinkova said she was unable to adjust to the conditions on Court 1.

"I was a bit shocked when I saw a huge court with a big crowd there, shouting," said the 16-year-old, playing in her first junior slam final. "It even looked different. When I hit the ball I didn't see the fence. It was very different. I just tried to fight for every point, fight to the end, but she was better than me. She played very powerful and very quickly and she moved me around the court. I think I hit too much in the center of the court. Unfortunately, I couldn't show my best tennis today."

Zhuk, who made her junior slam debut last month at the French Open, losing to CiCi Bellis 8-6 in the third in the second round, had an entirely different view of the Court 1 experience.

"I'm just in love when it's so much people, everyone is supporting me, they're clapping their hands when there's a good point," said Zhuk, whose celebration plans include Sunday's Wimbledon Champions Ball, but nothing else at the moment. "I don't know what's up to her, maybe she don't like it to play like that.  I was in love and it really helps me a lot."

Zhuk plans to play the US Open juniors in September, and because she doesn't turn 16 until December and is subject to the WTA age restrictions for two more years, she may play a mix of pro events and junior slams next year as well.

The doubles semifinals for both boys and girls were held Saturday, with the top seeded teams in both divisions eliminated.

Girls No. 1 seeds Marketa Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic, who had won the Australian and French girls titles, lost to No. 3 seeds Fanni Stollar and Dalma Galfi of Hungary 7-6(2), 6-4, ending their quest for a Grand Slam.

Stollar and Galfi will play unseeded Vera Lapko of Belarus and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia, who beat the unseeded wild card team of Anna Brogan and Freya Christie of Great Britain 6-4, 7-5.

Fourth-seeded Reilly Opelka and his partner Akira Santillan of Japan, who decided to team up for Wimbledon just last month at the French Open, beat top seeds Taylor Fritz and Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-4.  They will play No. 8 seeds Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam and Sumit Nagal of India, who outlasted No. 5 seeds Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway 7-6(5), 3-6, 12-10.

Before he competes in the doubles final, Opelka will take on No. 12 seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden in the singles championship match.  Both Opelka and Ymer have played outstanding tennis all week, yet were close to being out of the tournament early--Ymer before it started, and Opelka in the first round.

Ymer had forgotten to enter, and so was in the position of needing a wild card from the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which was granted.  Opelka saved a match point in his first round encounter with Australian qualifier Alex De Minaur before escaping with a 4-6, 6-3, 13-11 victory on Monday.

For more on Ymer's route to the final see Wimbledon.com.

The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Court 1 and should be available in the United States via Watch ESPN.

Opelka Defeats Fritz to Reach Wimbledon Boys Final; Russians Zhuk and Blinkova Meet Saturday in Girls Championship Match

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Wimbledon--

Up a set and a break twice in his semifinal match with fellow American and ITF World No. 1 junior Taylor Fritz, unseeded Reilly Opelka watched a 5-0 lead in the second set tiebreaker evaporate too. But on his sixth match point, the 6-foot-10 inch Floridian managed to put those missed opportunities behind him, taking a 6-3, 7-6(13) decision to reach his first junior slam final

Sunny and warm weather drew a large crowd to Show Court Court 18, but the inevitable Opelka victory when he served for the match at 6-5 and then again when he took a 5-0 lead in the ensuing tiebreaker, changed to uncertainty when Opelka made two unforced errors serving at 5-0. Fritz held his two serves to make it 5-4, but Opelka still had two serves coming. With 18 aces and no double faults, Opelka couldn't was in no position to complain about his serving stats, but again he was unable to finish it. A great forehand pass by Fritz made it 5-all and an outstanding return of a 132 mph first serve made it 6-5 for the Californian.  "Way to choke," Opelka said to himself, but it was Fritz who didn't come through on the next point, netting a makeable backhand to make it 6-6.

"It was 100 percent choking," Opelka said of his performance from 5-0 up. "He played well. It's obviously not easy to make the returns he was making, and in the big moment he made me play. But 5-0 serving to 5-6 down him serving, that's a joke."

Opelka, who saved a match point in his 4-6, 6-3, 13-11 win over qualifier Alex De Minaur of Australia, said Fritz's miss on that set point was unexpected.

"It was lucky. That's his best shot probably and I kind of got a break there," said Opelka, who will be 18 next month.

Although Fritz had two more set points, with Opelka serving at 10-11 and 12-13, Fritz thought the first was his best opportunity to extend the match.

"I really think 6-5 was my best chance to do it," said Fritz, who had a nasty scrap on his knee from an encounter with the no-longer-grassy court. "Even though I had other set points, that was the one I needed to take it on. I just didn't know what to do with that backhand."

Fritz was disappointed that he was unable to force Opelka to play a third set.

"In that tiebreaker I finally figured out some things," said Fritz, who broke back twice in the second set, when Opelka served at 3-2 and 6-5. "Toward the end of the tiebreaker, I was making every return. And I just wanted to push it to a third set so bad, because I really felt like I was on to the serve. I thought once I got the pressure off me, got a set even, I'd start serving better, but unfortunately I couldn't push it there."

Opelka was relieved that Fritz did not seize those opportunities.

"It would definitely have been tough mentally to recover and get ready to play another set," said Opelka, who reached the quarterfinals last month at the French Open. "It was definitely easier to get it done in two, but I kind of let him back in the match up 5-0 in the breaker."

Opelka's opponent in Sunday's final is No. 12 seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden, who defeated unseeded Patrik Niklas-Salminen of Finland 7-6(3), 6-3 despite a visit from the doctor before the match began.

"I think I stayed pretty cool, even though I was very dizzy in the beginning," said the 16-year-old, who was playing in his first junior slam semifinal. "Everything was spinning, I don't know what happened, that's the first time I've felt like that. But I managed to control that and I'm very happy."

Ymer lost to Opelka 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the French Open, so he knows what he's facing.

"He's a great player, huge shots," Ymer said. "I'm going to have to serve good, stay cool, take my chances. It's going to be tough, but I've talked to my team to see how I can do better than French Open, make him serve worse, so we'll see."

Opelka also knows what to expect from Sweden's top junior.

"I know he's really physical and makes a lot of balls," Opelka said. "He moves really well and he's definitely going to make me play a lot, and I just have to play my game and execute, like I did today."

The first all-Russian girls final since 2002 will take place on Saturday, with unseeded Sofya Zhuk facing No. 12 seed Anna Blinkova.

The 15-year-old Zhuk had little trouble with an error-prone Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia, needing less than an hour to post a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the qualifier.

"I had never played this girl, but I saw a couple of her matches, how she played," said Zhuk, who lives in Russia but also trains at Justine Henin's Academy in Belgium. "I knew what she was doing, so I was really ready for this match. I really pushed her from the beginning, because I know that if I go a little bit back, I let her play, she will begin to play her best tennis. But if I push her every ball, she can't do that."

Blinkova, who needed over three hours to defeat Tornado Alicia Black 1-6, 6-3, 12-10 in the quarterfinals, was poised to go three sets again when unseeded Vera Lapko of Belarus served for the second set at both 5-2 and 5-4.  Lapko began to show her nerves when she did not convert on her set points at 5-2, and was broken at love in her next opportunity.  She managed to save a match point down 5-6, but the tiebreaker was all Blinkova, who didn't have to do much to win it, with Lapko making five unforced errors, including a double fault.

"I began the match very well," said Blinkova, who will be 17 in September. "I was very aggressive, played aggressive tennis in the first set. In the second set, she began playing very well, hitting hard, hitting deep and I had some problems. I was down 2-5, but then I began fighting for every ball and somehow it went the other way and I won 7-6."

Blinkova has two ITF junior victories over Zhuk in the past two years, but their rivalry goes back farther than that.

"When we were little we played against each other and she won twice or three times," Blinkova said. "Then I won two or three times. I know her quite well. It's very good for us that two Russian girls are in the final."

Zhuk, who is playing only her second junior slam, is looking forward to getting an opportunity to compete on Wimbledon's famous No. 1 Court.

"I was there for Maria's (Sharapova's) match with Zarina Diyas, and I was like, oh my god," said Zhuk, who has yet to drop a set in tournament. "When you're coming on the court, what feelings you have, playing first time Wimbledon and playing final on the first court. I really like to play here at Wimbledon, because there'a lot of people. I'm in love with that. I'm really playing better when there's a lot of people."

The doubles semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, with at least one American boy assured of reaching Sunday's final. Fritz and Michael Mmoh, the top seeds, defeated Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France and Aziz Dougaz of Tunisia 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and will play Opelka and Akira Santillan of Japan, the No. 4 seeds.  Opelka and Santillan defeated Niklas-Salminen and Viktor Durasovic of Norway 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-2.

The other boys semifinal features No. 5 seeds Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway against No. 8 seed Sumit Nagal and Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam.  Kecmanovic and Ruud downed No. 3 seed Tommy Paul and Will Blumberg 4-6, 6-3, 9-7.

The junior girls double Grand Slam watch continues, with top seeds Marketa Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic rolling to their 13th consecutive junior slam victory.  Vondrousova and Kolodziejova, who won the Australian and the French, will play No. 3 seeds Dalma Galfi and Fanni Stollar of Hungary in the semifinals. Galfi and Stollar took out the last American girl remaining by beating Ingrid Neel and her partner Maia Lumsden of Great Britain 6-0, 6-2.

The wild card team of Freya Christie and Anna Brogan of Great Britain will face Lapko and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia in a match that scheduled for Court 1.

Complete draws are here. Saturday's order of play is here.

Additional coverage of Friday's semifinal action can be found at the Wimbledon website.