Kalamazoo Videos; Anderson Beats Top Seed, Advances to Landisville $25K Final, Krajicek Still in Hunt for US Open Wild Card

As promised, the videos from the Kalamazoo 16s and 18s finals are up and embedded below.

The 18s videos contain some impressive points, and with the notable exception of the Frances Tiafoe forehand winner at 4-4, 30-all that gave him a break point in the fifth set, the key ones are included. (See my coverage of the final here).

The point early in the match (in retrospect), where Tiafoe collapsed on the ground after losing a kitchen-sink point to Stefan Kozlov would have been the highlight had he finished the match off in straight sets. But he didn't, we got more: the point Kozlov won with Tiafoe serving at 4-3 in the third, in which he got two overheads back in play, the first match point Kozlov saved with Tiafoe serving for it a 5-4 in the fifth, the "touch" point that wasn't on break point in that same game, the ace that set up the second match point, and the match point.

ITA Player of the Year Robin Anderson, who finished her senior year at UCLA in May, has reached her second $25,000 final, and the first since 2013, by defeating top seed and WTA 101 An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium 6-2, 6-4 in Landisville, Pa.  The 22-year-old from New Jersey, a qualifier, will reach a new career high regardless of the outcome of Sunday's final against unseeded Naomi Broady of Great Britain. Anderson's win over Mestach is not her best, ranking-wise, as she had previously recorded a top 100 win against Russian Evgeniya Rodina, then No. 83, in the first round of the 2011 WTA New Haven qualifying.

Since finishing school, Anderson has reached a $50,000 quarterfinal, and the semifinal in the $25,000 tournament in El Paso, and now the final in Landisville.  Anderson only other singles title on the Pro Circuit came in 2011, when she won at Landisville, then a $10,000 event. Her four losses (two in qualifying) were all in three sets; she has 13 win this summer so far, in qualifying and main draw.

At the $15,000 Futures in Champaign, Kevin King(Georgia Tech) has reached the singles final for the second straight week on the Midwest Pro Circuit swing. After beating top seed Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 6-2, 6-2 today, the No. 4 seed will take on unseeded Richard Gabb of Great Britain, who beat lucky loser Justin Shane(Virginia) 5-7, 7-5, 4-1, ret.  Shane did get a title however, partnering his younger brother Ryan to beat No. 4 seeds Kevin King and Evan King, last week's Futures doubles champions, 6-1, 7-6(4) in the final.

Cincinnati qualifying did not go well for three of the Kalamazoo 18s semifinalists, with Stefan Kozlov, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul all losing in the first round, to Yen-Hsun Lu, Nicolas Mahut and Denis Kudla, respectively. Paul was the only one of the three to take a set.  Irina Falconi (over Jennifer Brady), Christina McHale and Nicole Gibbs did pick up first round qualifying wins, as did Steve Johnson. Qualifying is still going on, but update results can be found here.

At the $100,000 Aptos Challenger, No. 7 seed Austin Krajicek defeated No. 4 seed Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 7-6(2) to keep his hopes for the US Open main draw wild card alive. If Krajicek defeats top seed John Millman of Australia in Sunday's final, he will win the USTA's Wild Card Challenge. If he loses, Fratangelo will get it based on more points over two tournaments.

My Kalamazoo 18s Recap, Slideshow

My recap of the memorable Kalamazoo 18s final Sunday is now available at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I've seen many tense and dramatic matches in junior tennis over the years, but given the circumstances--the big crowd, the players' friendship, the physical and emotional twists and turns in the match, and the US Open main draw wild card on the line--none have risen to that level.

I still have videos to process from the finals, in addition to the ones I posted on Sunday, and I've captured a couple of amazing points, so check back for those tomorrow. Videos of the 16s are also forthcoming.



This album can be viewed on mobile devices here.

Feed-In Food For Thought

The draw boards at Kalamazoo

No topics produce as much discussion--and anger--in junior tennis as wild cards and back draws, known in USTA tournaments as consolation or feed-in tournaments for the 16s and 18s divisions. (The 12s and 14s age groups typically have compass draws in their national tournaments).

I'll save the wild card discussion for another time, but it's probably a good time for me to add my two cents on the back draw controversy, which has produced comments both reasonable and emotional to a previous post last week.

But before I provide my thoughts on the more subjective facet of the issue, I'd like to start with some numbers.

In the 187 feed-in matches scheduled in the 16s during the 2015 Kalamazoo tournament, 10, or 5.3%, were not played. In the 187 feed-in matches in 18s this year, 28, or 15%, were not played.

At random, I selected two other years for comparison, to see if this year's numbers are higher, possibly representing a trend. The answer is yes. In 2000 and 2010, the number of 18s feed-in matches not played were both 14, or 7.5%. In the 16s, the number of feed-in matches not played were 5 in 2000, and just 3 in 2005.

Obviously, from this admittedly less than rigorous research, the 16s value the points and the matches the feed-in provides more than the 18s do. In my experience, there are as many reasons for withdrawing from the feed-in tournament as there are players, but here are several common ones.

1. an injury suffered during a main draw match
2. a chronic injury that may be aggravated by two matches a day
3. onset of illness or an illness that began during main draw and worsened over the course of the tournament
4. a player in his last year at Kalamazoo who is heading to college in a few days or weeks
5. high school classes have begun in a player's community
6. travel considerations, including expenses associated with staying
7. family emergency
8. a desire to focus on doubles, particularly in main draw if singles loss is late in the tournament

When I first began working at the tournament as a volunteer in 2000, I had the same stance I'm hearing from many of you on this issue. No player should pull out unless they were basically in a cast, walking on crutches to see the tournament doctor who was, and is, required to sign their medical release.

But sometime seven or eight years ago, I spoke to one of the best player development coaches I know about playing consolation matches (at the Junior Orange Bowl event, which has far more walkovers, with international players returning to their home countries for the Christmas holiday). He said something so simple and wise that I've never forgotten it: "It's another match in your development."

Sam Riffice 18s 6th place, Zeke Clark 18s 5th place

I now look at a withdrawal from the back draw through that prism, thinking, I guess John Doe or Mary Smith didn't need that match for his or her development.  That relieves me from judging the legitimacy of their injury/illness and allows me to instead focus my attention on and appreciation for the players who have deemed the back draw a place where their development can be enhanced.  Players like No. 9 seed Sam Riffice, who played nine matches after losing in the second round, winning eight of them, and No. 16 seed Zeke Clark, who won nine matches after also losing in the second round.  Players like Danny Thomas, who was in the 16s doubles final, but played two back draw matches the day after he finished as the runner-up in doubles. Players like unseeded Sean Hill, who accepted a wild card into the 16s and finished fifth in the tournament.

Danny Thomas 16s, sixth place

Those players recognize that the back draw has something to offer them, as it did 2015 finalist Stefan Kozlov, who two years ago, after losing in the third round as the No. 3 seed in the 18s, finished in fifth place, posting eight victories. Or Mitchell Krueger, who in 2012, as the No. 1 seed, lost in the quarterfinals, but played three good matches, including one against Kozlov, to win the back draw and finish in fifth place.  And if there was ever a candidate to skip out on the back draw, it was Donald Young in 2004. Young, already hyped as the next great US player and already a pro, played the back draw after losing to Clancy Shields in the fourth round in his Kalamazoo debut.  He ending up losing to Mykyta Kryvonos in the quarterfinals, but did win four feed-in matches.

I hear often that college coaches look at the back draw to learn about a potential student-athlete's competitiveness, concentration and commitment. (It's ironic, and I'm sure disappointing to them, that many of their recruits, once signed, are no longer interested in competing in the back draw).  I've narrowed down participation in the back draw to this: an indicator of who really enjoys playing tennis and competing, without all the carrots and the sticks that may obscure that simple desire to just play.

Sean Hill, 16s fifth place

The trend against competing in the back draw, if we can presume that exists, is troublesome.  After all, the tournament provides the officials, courts, balls and infrastructure based on the assumption that these matches are desirable and useful for the player and will be played. Those costs provide no benefits if the majority do not value the opportunity. I do not think the current numbers suggest major changes are needed, if only because I do not think more rules like the ones the USTA introduced in 2013 (i.e. you must play in your sectional tournament to be eligible for the Nationals) had any positive impact, and in fact, are usually harmful in the federation's goal to promote the sport. Perhaps a fee for withdrawing from the back draw would help recoup some of the costs associated with continuing to hold it, but I can't come up with an incentive that would be likely to increase participation, although I would welcome any ideas.

Major league baseball, or baseball at any level, is different from the days before pitch counts, when a starter went out every four days and tried to pitch a complete game.  The possibility of overuse injuries in tennis must be taken into account now, and match counts must be monitored, particularly when a major tournament is just weeks away. Professional players are all about optimizing their schedules to peak for major tournaments, and there's nothing wrong with top level juniors and their coaches doing that as well.

That's a long-winded way of saying that sport science evolves, and in the end, except for the notable and important exception of doubles, tennis is an individual sport. The drawbacks of the lack of a team infrastructure are many--cost not the least of them--but one of the benefits is a player/coach/family's authority to make the final determination if a competition is productive or detrimental.  Those decisions may not always match our own personal perspectives and values, but they must be respected, as they are the ones accountable for the consequences.

To correct a few of the misconceptions out there regarding players who are coached by the USTA. None of their expenses were paid by the USTA for this tournament, and no USTA coaches were responsible for any of them while they competed in Kalamazoo. (This might not strictly apply to the newly organized Team USA members, many of whom played in the 16s). Wild cards pay tournament entry fees, just like any other competitor, at all tournaments.

I do think the USTA should insist that wild cards they select for USTA national tournaments play the back draw as a condition of receiving that opportunity, and would hope the player's failure to do so would be considered when receiving requests for future wild cards from that player.

And one final suggestion: get rid of the 18s third place match in San Diego and Kalamazoo. It's a relic of an earlier time, when the Hard Courts marked the end of the junior tennis season. And after losing out on a trip to the US Open, neither player needs another match, and one of them certainly doesn't need another loss.

Pro Circuit Update; My Guest Appearance on No Challenges Remaining Podcast

My usual routine in following Pro Circuit tournaments gets disrupted during Kalamazoo, or any junior tournament I'm covering live, actually, so this post will be my attempt to catch up on the results from last week on the USTA Pro Circuit.

Only two tournaments were played last week in the US, with a $10,000 event for women in Fort Worth, Texas and a $15,000 Futures tournament for men in Decatur, Illinois.  Neither produced an American singles champion, but two college players, Vanderbilt rising senior Frances Altick and former Georgia Tech star Kevin King, reached the finals, and both doubles champions were Americans with college ties.

Both Altick and the eventual champion Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway were qualifiers, with the 22-year-old Eikeri winning three qualifying matches, and Altick, because she was unseeded, four.  In the heat of Texas in August, that's a tough route, with Eikeri helping herself by winning all her matches in straight sets, although she did not face a seed in the main draw.  Altick needed three sets in her final round qualifying match and was into a third set in the quarterfinals against No. 4 seed Zoe Hives of Australia when Hives retired. She defeated the No. 5, No. 4 and No. 6 seeds en route to the final.  Eikeri took the final by a 6-3, 6-1 score.

The 21-year-old Altick has gone 19-5 this summer, including qualifying, in USTA Pro Circuit events and will debut in the WTA rankings next week.

Two other current Division I players claimed the doubles title, with Cal's Maegan Manasse and Florida's Josie Kuhlman teaming for a 6-4, 6-4 win over incoming Duke freshman Jessica Ho and Giuliana Olmos, the Southern Cal rising senior. Both teams were unseeded.

In Decatur, No. 5 seed Kevin King fell short in the singles final, losing to top seed Luke Saville of Australia 6-4, 6-4, but he claimed the doubles title with Evan King, the former Michigan All-American. The No. 4 seeds breezed through the draw without dropping a set, beating No. 3 seeds Tom Jomby(Kentucky) and Gregoire Barrere of France 6-0, 6-2.

Jonathan Kelley of On The Rise was in Decatur prior to making his way to the Nats at the Zoo and asked many of the Americans competing there for their memories of Kalamazoo in this video production.

This week has three USTA Pro Circuit events on the schedule. The women are in Landisville, Pennsylvania for a $25,000 event, which features the return of Vicky Duval to competition after more than a year away after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Ben Rothenberg provides an update on Duval's recovery and plans for the rest of this summer for the New York Times.

Qualifying for the tournament was completed today, with Robin Anderson(UCLA), Aleksandra Mally(Louisville), Ema Burgic Bucko(Baylor) and teens Sophie Chang and Nicole Frenkel among those earning places in the main draw.

Duval, who received a wild card, is scheduled to play Chang in the first round on Wednesday.

The men have the $100,000 Challenger in Aptos that will decide the USTA's US Open wild card challenge, with Bjorn Fratangelo, who won his first round match, leading that race.  Taylor Fritz received a wild card and served for the match at 5-4 in the second set of his first round match against qualifier Mischa Zverev today, but lost 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-3. Jared Donaldson and Mitchell Krueger also received wild cards, with Donaldson winning his first round match and Krueger losing his. Live streaming of the tournament can be found here.

Three of the top seven seeds in Kalamazoo are in the main draw of the $15,000 Champaign, Illinois Futures tournament this week, and two of them won their matches today.  Alex Rybakov defeated Jared Hiltzik 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 and Tommy Paul, the No. 6 seed, beat wild card Ryan Shane, the NCAA champion from Virginia, 6-4, 6-3.  Reilly Opelka, who received a wild card, will play NCAA semifinalist Quentin Monaghan of Notre Dame, who came through qualifying, in a first round match Wednesday.

The recent success of American junior boys has not gone unnoticed by the tennis media, and with the field in this year's Kalamazoo one of the most accomplished ever, I was invited to join Courtney Nguyen (formerly of Sports Illustrated and now with the WTA) and Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times as a guest on their weekly podcast, No Challenges Remaining.  I was thrilled to be asked, as I listen to their thoughts on pro tennis every week, but I had no idea we would end up talking about junior and college tennis for more than an hour. The time flew by and I enjoyed answering their questions and getting their opinions on the issues surrounding the level of tennis that I cover.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download it via iTunes.

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.

Tiafoe Claims 18s Kalamazoo Title in Five-Set Thriller Over Kozlov; Kypson Takes 16s Crown

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

Compiling an account of all the plot twists of top seed Frances Tiafoe's 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4 win over Stefan Kozlov in the final of the USTA Boys 18s National Championship is nearly as daunting as it must have been to participate in their memorable encounter Sunday at Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium.

After his semifinal win Saturday over No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz, Kozlov had promised a war with Tiafoe, saying, "all the friendship goes away and it's just battling until you fall."

Kozlov did fall, both literally, when cramps set in during the fourth set, and figuratively, when he could not hold on to his 3-1 lead in the final set and lost the match.  But an enthusiastic crowd, most of whom stayed for the entire four hour and twenty-four minute match on a cool and overcast afternoon, did not consider either player a loser, giving both rousing ovations after the tense conclusion of the first five-set final in Kalamazoo since 1992.

Tiafoe cruised through the first two sets in the same form that he had displayed all week, using his forehand to keep Kozlov on the defensive and his serve to bail him out of any tight spots.  Up two sets and leading 4-2 in the third, a routine win, if any best-of-five match in the juniors can be considered routine, was a handful of points away.

"I knew in the back of my head he was going to keep fighting, and he did," said Tiafoe, a 17-year-old from College Park, Maryland. "He set the tone when he got a couple of overheads back, and me not winning that point, he breaks me, and the next thing you know we're playing three hours later and I'm down a break in the fifth and about to lose my mind. Two sets to love, and I'm going to lose this match? Oh my god."

Serving at 4-4 in the third, Kozlov saved two break points and was in no way discouraged. "Fight, fight, fight man, fight," he said to himself at deuce and when he took a 5-4 lead with a hold, added, "way to fight man, one more game."  As good as his word, Kozlov broke Tiafoe at 30-40 after Tiafoe had saved two set points with aces, coming forward to put away a volley and secure the set.

After a 10-minute break between the third and fourth sets, there were two routine holds to start the fourth. In the third game, Kozlov saved four break points for 2-1 but the first sign of his cramps appeared at the end of that game, and his left leg locked up in Tiafoe's service game. He received a medical timeout for treatment, which Tiafoe vehemently protested, but allowable under USTA rules.  Kozlov had received treatment earlier for a knee problem, but his cramping was a separate condition. After treatment, Kozlov broke Tiafoe and managed to hold serve, with Tiafoe remarking that Kozlov was serving better while cramping than when he wasn't suffering.

Tiafoe got the break back, going from 1-4 to 4-4, but again got down 0-40 serving at 4-5 in the fourth.  He again saved two set points, but netted a forehand on the third, and the match was all even at two sets apiece.

Tiafoe bounced his racquet and the ricocheted bounce came close to hitting a linesperson moving from her position, but there was no contact, so Tiafoe received only a point penalty for racquet abuse.  The crowd, which had mostly supported Tiafoe up until that point, did not hold that display of temper against him, and after a medical time out for Tiafoe and a bathroom break for Kozlov, his second, Kozlov served to start the fifth set up 15-0. 

Since 1971, no player had ever forced a fifth set after losing the first two sets, so Kozlov was in uncharted waters. Saving two break points to take a 2-1 lead, Kozlov broke for a 3-1 lead with a great return. The lead didn't last long however, as he was broken in the next game on a double fault and Tiafoe held to make it 3-3.

Tiafoe alternated brilliant shots with sloppy errors, but he showed few of the signs of physical fatigue that plagued Kozlov.  Kozlov's cramps returned, and although he could still have changeover treatments (two more are allowed, after the first MTO), Kozlov was not able to receive assistance when he collapsed after double faulting at 15-all.  Meanwhile, Tiafoe was jumping up and down in pogo stick fashion while Kozlov tried to collect himself.

"That was sending him a message I was fine, which I wasn't," said Tiafoe. "On the way down, I felt a little something and thought wow, that could have been stupid. But I was trying to put pressure on, let him know that I'm staying here. It was better when he was trying though, because when he was limping around, I couldn't really play, I was missing a lot."

Kozlov held when Tiafoe missed three makeable shots after getting the game to 15-30, and Tiafoe followed with a hold for 4-4.

Kozlov had a game point serving at 4-all, but double faulted at 40-30. He earned another game point, but a Tiafoe forehand forced an error.  At the second deuce, Tiafoe hit the shot of the match, a lethal running forehand pass that gave him a break point, and he converted it with a backhand putaway at the net.

"I saw it open," Tiafoe said of that forehand. "At that point, you're so tired. Everyone anticipates the cross on the pass, but it's a shot you have to go for. If you miss it, so what, but you have to go for it. I pretty much hit it as hard as I could, with some spin though, and it dropped in. After that, I'm running on adrenaline, the crowd was going wild."

But Kozlov continued to fight and with Tiafoe serving for the match a great forehand return winner at 30-all gave Kozlov a break point. Despite indifferent results at the net late in the match, Tiafoe didn't shy away from it, and saved the break point with an almost casual forehand drop shot winner. Kozlov's forehand caught the tape on the next point to give Tiafoe his first match point, which Kozlov saved in a crowd-pleasing point that was the last of many throughout the match.

A double fault gave Kozlov a second break point, but Tiafoe saved that with a backhand putaway so violent that he eventually ended up in the crashing into the net. The chair was ready to call a touch, but the Darrell Davies, the referee, ruled the point was complete before Tiafoe made contact with the net. That decision earned Davies a high five from Tiafoe and a subsequent ace gave Tiafoe another match point. A big forehand gave Tiafoe his opportunity and he moved forward, with the tournament's last point a backhand volley winner.

"I couldn't really make a first serve, I had no legs that last game," said Tiafoe. "After that ace on deuce point, I pretty much knew it was over. I was going to come to the net the very next point with some forehand and just get in."

After coming all the way back, Kozlov was disappointed, but even with such a crushing final set, he told the crowd he was happy for Tiafoe, and within 20 minutes they were signing autographs and joking as if the final was a distant memory.

 "It felt good being in a fifth set," said Kozlov, a 17-year-old from Pembroke Pines, Florida. "As a kid growing up, you dream about being in a fifth set at a slam or at Kalamazoo. So it was a lot of fun, it gave me a lot of adrenaline as you saw. Up 3-1 in the third, but I was battling with my body the whole match, just trying to play another point. I was almost ready to stop."

Kozlov said getting ahead of himself, as he has found himself doing in finals prior to this one, was not an issue today.

"That split second, that one point, changes the whole match," Kozlov said of his loss of concentration in previous finals.  "But today, I don't think that happened. I just think that it was just a battle, two competitors playing. Trust me, I would have been very, very happy if I had won that match. It took a long journey to get it back from two sets to love down to get it to a fifth. It felt weird when the match was even. When he went up two sets to love, it was like we both won a match, if we didn't play three out of five. He won the first two, I won the next two. So it was a lot of fun."

Tiafoe receives a main draw wild card to the US Open, with Kozlov receiving a qualifying wild card as the finalist.

"I really just came here for that," said Tiafoe, who received a USTA wild card after not entering by the deadline. "I'm happy that I did it. I wasn't thinking this was going to be easy, in fact I knew it was going to be very tough, especially when I saw the draw. It's unbelievable that I finally got through and the US Open's definitely going to be great."

Vesa Ponkka, the Director of Tennis at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, where Tiafoe learned to play, believes the match was indicative of the bright future in store for American men's tennis.

"This is my 25th year in Kalamazoo and it was worth waiting for, a match like that," Ponkka said. "It was so tough, not only physically, but mentally, and both guys handled it extremely well. It's so great for US tennis. I'm so impressed with this age group. Something good is going to happen, there's no question about it."

In the 16s, No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson had said earlier in the week that the championship was in reach, and he collected it Sunday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 4 seed Alexandre Rotsaert.

Kypson, who had an emergency appendectomy in June and was just getting back to competitive tennis last month after an infection kept him in a Miami hospital for 12 days, was pleased with his fast start in the championship match.

"I was always on the offensive in the first set," said Kypson, who will be 16 in October. "I broke him at 3-2 and took that momentum and pretty much ran through the rest of the match, didn't really let him dictate. If you let him dictate, it's a lot harder, so I was happy with the way I played. That was the biggest thing. I won the first set. And I knew after I broke him in the first game of the second, all I had to do was hold serve and that'd be that match."

On the rare occasion when Kypson got in trouble, his serve got him out of it.

"I think that was a really big factor, when I needed it," said Kypson, who is from Greenville, North Carolina. "I got broken serving for it, but that was mostly nerves. My serve was really good today, I used it pretty effectively."

Kypson had two match points with Rotsaert serving at 1-5 in the second set, but couldn't convert them, and Kypson failed to serve out the match at 5-2, making errors and double faulting in his worse game of the match.

Even with defeat so close, Rotsaert never showed anything other than positive body language and still believed he could turn the match in his favor.

"I try to stay positive," said Rotsaert, who also will be 16 in October. "I still thought I could. I thought I would raise my level when it mattered, but I wasn't able to do it."

Kypson will play the ITF Grade 1 tournaments in Maryland and Canada later this month, then will make his US Open debut with the wild card he earned with the 16s title in Kalamazoo.

Rotsaert, who was the 18s finalist at the Clay Courts last month, will also play in the two upcoming North American Grade 1s, and he said, "hopefully, somehow, the US Open."

In the 18s feed-in final, Zeke Clark(16) took fifth place with a 7-6(10), 6-3 win over No. 9 seed Sam Riffice. Both Clark and Riffice lost in the second round of the main draw, so their trip to the tournament's final day was a long and arduous one.

In the 16s feed-in final, unseeded Sean Hill defeated No. 7 seed Danny Thomas 6-3, 6-4 to take fifth place.

Third place in the 16s went to JJ Wolf(1), who beat No. 8 seed Kyrylo Tsygura 6-2, 6-0.

The Wes Richards Feed-In Sportsmanship award went to Riffice and the Bobby Kaplan 16s Sportsmanship award was given to Wolf.

Complete results can be found at ustaboys.com.

Jonathan Kelley has more coverage of this year's tournament at his blog, On The Rise.

At the girls 18s USTA Nationals in San Diego, No. 3 seed Sonya Kenin earned a US Open main draw wild card with a 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 win over top seed Tornado Alicia Black, who was also the runner-up last year.

I will have more on the other National championships and the World Junior Tennis finals on Monday.

Tiafoe, Kozlov Advance to Kalamazoo 18s Final; Kypson, Rotsaert to Decide 16s Championship; Fritz and Opelka, Pereira and Thamma Win Doubles Titles

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

Top seed Frances Tiafoe and No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov are good friends, and have spent many hours playing practices matches against each other.

On Sunday, the friendship and the previous results will be put aside when they take the George Acker Court at Stowe Stadium in the USTA National 18s final, with a main draw wild card in the US Open to the winner.

Kozlov defeated No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz 7-6(3), 6-3 in the longer of the two semifinals, while Tiafoe ousted No. 4 seed Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-2.

Kozlov broke Fritz in the first game of the match, but Fritz broke right back, only to be broken for the second time in the third game. Kozlov had two set points serving for the opening set at 5-4, but couldn't convert and Fritz was back in the set.

Fritz double faulted at 15-40 in his next service game, giving Kozlov an opportunity to serve out the set a second time, but he was broken at love, meaning a tiebreaker would decide it.  With Kozlov leading 4-3, Fritz was unable to win either point on his serve and Kozlov finally secured the set when Fritz's backhand went wide.

"It was tough," said the 17-year-old from Pembroke Pines, Florida. "I was having a lot of trouble on my service games today. I always lose confidence on my serve with him because he's so long, and he gets a lot of serves back. I was hitting normal second serves and he was just punishing them, which makes you lose confidence in your serve quickly. That's why I began throwing in double faults. I've never played him and served well, to be honest. He's a tough returner, one of the best honestly, in the tournament."

Kozlov held to open the second set and Fritz signaled he was not going away by coming back from 0-40 and saving a fourth break point in the four-deuce game to hold.  He then asked for a trainer, who worked on his leg while Fritz lay prone on the court for four or five minutes.

"It was kind of weird because I was really angry with myself that I didn't break the game before," Kozlov said. "I was kind of steaming. I don't know if he did that on purpose, or if his knee was actually hurting. But I thought it worked well for both of us. We had some long games; I needed it. I took that break and I was like, yeah, thanks. I think I really executed well from that medical timeout until 4-1, 0-30. I should have kept pushing, but he served some big serves and I let go a little bit."

After his difficulty serving out the first set, Kozlov was determined not to make the same mistake in the second. Serving at 5-3 in the second, he missed a forehand at 30-all, giving Fritz a chance to get back on serve, but Kozlov played a signature point. A big Fritz backhand had him on the defensive, but he sensed a drop shot coming, tracked it down and guided a winner past an approaching Fritz.

"It was how deep I dug on that point," Kozlov said, who at first characterized himself as lucky to win the point, but then amended that to determined. "I wasn't going to give that point away. I'm not sure if it's my instincts, but I ran to the line to cover that backhand and then ran forward, because he's obviously going to drop shot, it's just common sense, for me at least."

A short-angle backhand gave Kozlov a match point, which he converted when Fritz, who was not nearly as sharp as he was against Michael Mmoh in the quarterfinals, netted a forehand.

By the time Kozlov was up a break in the second set, Tiafoe had posted his sixth consecutive straight-set victory, this one over the French Open boys champion Paul, after defeating the Wimbledon boys champion Reilly Opelka in the quarterfinals.

"Today I didn't make many mistakes off both sides," Tiafoe said. "Tommy's dangerous, he has a big game, so I just wanted to stay solid, hit the ball deep and when I have my opportunities, dictate. When I'm rushing people, that's when I'm pretty comfortable and that's what I did today. I didn't give him any breathing room."

The only hiccup in a nearly flawless match came at 5-1 in the second set, when Tiafoe was broken serving for a place in the final, but he came up with a great lob with Paul serving at 2-5, 30-all and Paul, who has been ill all week, double faulted on match point.

Tiafoe said he was a bit nervous to start because his pre-match routine is full of superstitions.

"I haven't been warming up here at all," said Tiafoe, who is 10 days older than his fellow 17-year-old Kozlov. "I've been warming up at the [Portage] Northern High School courts and the courts were wet, so I was freaking out. I'm really superstitious and Rybo (Alex Rybakov) was like, we have to hit [at Stowe], we can't hit on these courts, we might get hurt. I was losing it, but then I go out and play great."

Although he may be worried about keeping the same routine before every match, Tiafoe is not a player to avoid looking at the draw.

"I saw my draw and I was like, God," said Tiafoe. "Nathan [Ponwith, his fifth round opponent] is good, I played him here last year. Reilly's won Wimbledon, Tommy's won French Open, if Fritz wins, I play the world No. 1 junior, if Kozlov wins, I play the Wimbledon boys [2014] finalist, you name it. But it's a great group, and you can only expect to see good tennis. Obviously, I've had a really good year so far, but it's not easy for me to come out, I'm supposed to beat these guys, even though they've had good years in the juniors. I'm supposed to win these matches, but if I lost, I wouldn't be too upset. Tommy's won Futures this year, Reilly's been playing well, so it's tough. I've got to be really dialed in. I can't play any loose points."

Tiafoe has played a best-of-five match previously, having won a USTA wild card that got him a place in the French Open main draw, but Kozlov will be playing his first in Sunday's final.

"I'm super excited, tight, it's weird," said Kozlov, who lost to Tiafoe in the Orange Bowl final in 2013, the last time they played in sanctioned competition.  "I've never played three out of five. All I know is it's going to be long. Obviously, we're very good friends, but it's going to be a war on the court tomorrow. All the friendship goes away and it's just battling until you fall."

The boys 18s final will be played immediately following the 16s singles final, which will not feature the No. 1 seed, thanks to No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson's 6-3, 6-4 win over top seed JJ Wolf.

Kypson fell behind 2-0 in the opening set, but almost expected he would be in that scenario.

"I wasn't expecting to get broken the first game, but I knew he was going to come out hitting the ball really hard," said the 15-year-old from North Carolina. "But I got on the board with a good service game and slowly kind of chipped away and made him hit a lot of balls."

Wolf's wild forehand at 3-4, 30-40 gave Kypson the chance to serve out the first set, and he didn't waiver, finishing with a good first serve and a confident forehand winner into the open court.

In the second set, it was Kypson who got an early break, but he held on to his in a four-deuce game in which he saved four break points, making it 3-1.  Kypson got an insurance break, which came in handy when he was unable at serve out the match at 5-2, but he didn't falter in his second chance.

"I didn't really play much offense today, but I was good on the defense," said Kypson. "I kind of got lucky, because he missed some on big points, but mentally I stayed in the match every point, so that was good."

Kypson's opponent in the final is No. 4 seed Alexandre Rotsaert, who defeated No. 8 seed Kyrylo Tsygura 6-3, 6-4.

Rotsaert finished both sets with a break, which was a testament to his mental toughness in the second set, when two unusual events led to his being broken serving for the match at 5-3.

He was called for a foot fault on his second serve to open the game and went down 15-40 after missing an overhead. Rotsaert saved one break point, but Tsygura broke a string and went he went to get a new racquet, the one he selected didn't have an overgrip, so he began wrapping it before the umpire gave him a time violation warning.

"I got a little nervous serving for it," said Rotsaert, 15. "I got a couple of bad calls, that foot fault was a little at the wrong time. I got a little nervous, he broke a string and the umpire gave him a little too much time, I thought I should have gotten that point. But it is what it is, and I was able to come back, read my notes and get back positive, play a positive match again."

Tsygura didn't give Rotsaert any pace to work with, but with a recent win over Tsygura at the Team USA playoffs in Boca Raton last week, Rotsaert was prepared for Tsygura's strategy.

"At the end, I started coming more to the net and I started finishing more and that's the game plan to beat him," said Rotsaert. "He's a very good player, he gets a lot of balls back, but the way to beat him is to overpower him, or move him side to side and come into the net. If you can successfully do that, you have a good chance of winning."

Kypson has beaten Rotsaert in their last two meetings, both in three sets on clay in May's Florida ITF tournaments.

"The first time we played he was up a set and 5-3, and I came back and won 6-1 in the third," said Kypson. "In Plantation, he was up a set and 4-1 and I came back and won 7-6 in the third. So I'm hoping to get a little better start tomorrow."

The 16s boys doubles champions, No. 8 seeds Ivan Thamma and Bryce Pereira, dropped the opening set in both their semifinal matches on Friday and in the final against No. 7 seeds Danny Thomas and William Howells.  The Southern Californians attributed that to the stage they were playing on, and once they adjusted, they cruised, beating Jackson Allen and Carson Haskins 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Friday and Howells and Thomas 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in Saturday afternoon's final.

"My dad always tells me to check out the atmosphere, but I think we checked it out a little too much," Pereira said. "We got a little tight. But Ivan and I were telling each other, we've just got to get the ball in play and just focus on trying to embrace the moment."

"I was definitely nervous in the semi and final," said Thamma. "After the first, the nerves just went away and we started playing our game, relaxed and focused. We'd never been in such a big place, but after the first set losses, got ourselves back together and started playing."

"After we were down 5-0 and we won the two games, I was like, Bryce, the nerves are done," said Thamma. "Let's play some tennis now."

Thamma and Pereira have played together as far back as the 12s, and in all the USTA Nationals this year, while Howells and Thomas were playing together for the first time this week.

"We played in every Super National," said Thamma. "We won the Easter Bowl title and then at Clays, I got injured and I had to pull out of doubles, so I had to make it up to Bryce in Kalamazoo."

Thamma and Pereira used the memorabilia on display at the Markin Center for inspiration this week.

"Every match we warm up on the indoor courts and we pass the display that has Agassi, Sampras, Ashe, they're all there," Pereira said. "I remember looking at Ivan and saying, we're going to be up there some day."

Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka will make their US Open main draw debuts next month after winning the 18s national doubles title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Parker Wynn and Joshua Sheehy.

Fritz and Opelka, the No. 2 seeds, did not face a break point in the late afternoon contest at Stowe Stadium against the No. 6 seeds.

"Today he served well and I served really well," said Opelka, who was also in the Wimbledon boys doubles final with another partner a month ago.

"As a team, that was probably the best we've served," said Fritz, who won the 16s title two years ago with Anudeep Kodali. "I'd say only 20, 30 percent of the serves came back."

"I hit my spots well," said Opelka. "It definitely took pressure off, especially at the end."

At 4-4 in the second set, Sheehy was broken and Opelka was ready to serve it out in the next game.

"Starting with an ace wide, then a service winner, then another ace here, it definitely helps," said Opelka, who had the crowd gasping at his serves and overheads.

"It was almost impossible to return their serves," said Sheehy. "They were just nailing the corners every time. I would just look up at the radar gun to see how fast it was every time I got aced. I saw a 128.
We held our serves good most of the time, but it was pretty much a serving battle to see who would win the match."

The two left-handers from Texas have been playing together for more than two years, and although they don't practice doubles together often, their teamwork impressed Opelka and Fritz.

"They really play textbook doubles," said Fritz, who has played with Opelka twice before but hadn't won a match with him until this week.  "Serve and volley, how you're supposed to play doubles, and it's scary playing people like that."

"They're probably the best doubles team in the tournament," said Opelka. "We were just the best servers, and returners, actually."

"We returned a lot better than we thought we would," Fritz said.

Wynn and Sheehy have another chance to win a main draw wild card into the US Open in two weeks, when they participate in the US Open National Playoff finals in Connecticut.

"We won our sectional qualifier in Arlington a couple of weeks ago," said Wynn. "We go to New Haven at the end of the month, and hopefully we can convert on that second opportunity. We have another shot, and we'll take it."

Although seeded No. 2, Fritz and Opelka gave themselves little chance to actually win the title.

"You can't be thinking that when you've never won a match together," said Fritz. "No chance," added Opelka.

Keeping with the self-deprecating theme, Opelka and Fritz feel the same about their odds against the field in New York.

"Some team's got a really easy first round," Fritz joked. "Hopefully not the Bryans," Opelka said. "I want to stay far away from them."

Bronze balls matches saw No. 7 seeds Brandon Holt and Riley Smith take third place with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over No. 12 seeds Oliver Crawford and Johnathan Small in the 18s.  Third place in the 16s went to unseeded Cody Lin and Andrew Ton, who beat No. 14 seed Jackson Allen and Carson Haskins 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-2.

Brandon Holt was named the recipient of this year's Allen B. Stowe Sportsmanship for the 18s.

The feed-in final for fifth place in the 18s will be between No. 9 seed Sam Riffice and No. 16 seed Zeke Clark.  Due to Danny Thomas playing in the 16s doubles final, the 16s semifinals in feed-ins, as well as the final, we be played on Sunday.

The 16s singles final is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, followed by the 18s singles final. Live streaming is available here.

Complete results are available at ustaboys.com.

The girls 16s tournament concluded today in San Diego, with unseeded Abigail Desiatnikov defeating No. 15 seed Whitney Osuigwe in the final 6-1, 7-6(2). Top seeds Natasha Subhash and Ann Li won the doubles title, beating No. 5 seeds Anna Brylin and Clarissa Hand 6-0, 6-2.

The girls 18s final is Sunday, with No. 1 seed Tornado Alicia Black facing No. 3 seed Sonya Kenin.  Black defeated No. 16 seed Sara Daavettila 6-1, 6-2 and Kenin got by No. 5 seed Raveena Kingsley 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Top seeds Black and Ingrid Neel won the 18s doubles title and a US Open main draw wild card with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 2 seed Ena Shibahara and Jessie Aney.

Complete results are available at the TennisLink site.

Fritz and Kozlov Join Tiafoe and Paul in 18s Semifinals at Kalamazoo; Tsygura and Rotsaert Reach 16s Final Four

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz and No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov picked up straight-set quarterfinal victories on a beautiful Friday afternoon at Stowe Stadium, joining No. 1 seed Frances Tiafoe and No. 4 seed Tommy Paul in Saturday's semifinals.

Kozlov defeated No. 12 seed Eduardo Nava 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals for the second consecutive year, while Fritz overpowered No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh 6-2, 6-3.

Kozlov needed all his variety and savvy to keep Nava at bay, having no previous experience with Nava, who trains in Spain.

"Not let him hit big every ball," was Kozlov's answer to the question of how to play someone like Nava, who hits out on every ball. "Try to make him hit bad a little bit, throw in a couple of slices. I think I served really well today, and he couldn't return anything. I had to keep him thinking a lot, because if I just gave him forehands up the middle, he's going to blow me off the court. We didn't have that many long rallies to be honest, because he would miss, or he would hit a winner. I was just trying to be a wall and get everything back."

Kozlov beat Fritz last year in the 18s quarterfinals, but lost to him in the quarterfinals of a California Futures in January 6-4, 6-4.

"It should be a good one," said Kozlov. He's obviously the World No. 1 junior, he's playing well, he's got a lot weapons. I'm kind of the underdog here. At the Los Angeles Futures and he played a great match. That was one of his best matches, he told me after the match he played really well. We're pretty good friends, so it should be a good one."

Fritz and Mmoh, who is currently the No. 3 junior player in the world, had never played before either, making their match a highly anticipated one. Fritz broke in the second game of the match and never trailed, playing first-strike tennis on the quick hard courts of Stowe Stadium.

"I played well, I played a very good match," said Fritz, who injured his knee in his first match last Saturday, but has been able to play through any discomfort. "It [the knee] was off and on, some shots it hurt on in the first set, but in the second set, it felt great. I wasn't bending low on my serve or anything like that, but it's definitely getting better every day. Yesterday, I actually saw an improvement in it, and I was doing lunges on it, thinking oh my gosh, this is great."

In the second set, Fritz had to work hard for his first hold, giving Mmoh hope that he could advance to the semifinals for the second straight year. But Fritz broke in the fourth game, and played his aggressive baseline game, while also coming forward to end points.

"Mmoh's so fast that I have to come in to finish some points," said Fritz, who credited his recent three-week stint with the San Diego Aviators of World Team Tennis with improving several aspects of his game. "With Mmoh you've got to come in, because he's going to get the extra shots back."

Mmoh fought off three match points serving at 2-5, and two more with Fritz serving for it, after a forehand winner, a backhand winner and an ace gave him three match points.  Fritz missed a forehand on the fourth match point and Mmoh outlasted Fritz in a long rally on the fifth, but the sixth match point ended it, with Fritz going behind Mmoh for a forehand winner.

Fritz doesn't expect the previous two meetings to have much impact on Saturday's semifinal.

"Last year I rolled my ankle and I just should have defaulted," Fritz said of his quarterfinal loss last year. "I was just limping around the court."

As for the January Futures win, "he definitely didn't play his best," Fritz said. "It was kind of a weird match, because I played the exact opposite of my game. I really pushed the ball the whole time. We were pushing backhands crosscourt the whole match. I don't know how this one is going to go. I think it's definitely going to be very close."

The 16s division produced the only three-set match of the day, with No. 4 seed Alexandre Rotsaert coming from a set and a break down to defeat No. 5 seed Sean Sculley 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Rotsaert, who said reaching the 18s Clay Court final last month gave him confidence coming into the tournament, was down a break at 4-3 in the second set and 2-1 in the third set, but each time he immediately broke back.

"I had to stay positive," said the 15-year-old, who lived in England as a child, before returning to the US, with his most recent residence in Boca Raton, Florida. "I was a little nervous at the start, making a lot of unforced errors. The courts are a little fast and I wasn't used to that. I had that problem in the last match I played in the round of 16, but I told myself I was going to fight. I thought of my game plan, going back to basics, one point at a time, and slowly, slowly I started playing a little better and by the end I was actually playing some pretty good tennis."

Sculley's tennis went in the opposite direction, with his forehand, usually so reliable in putting away short balls, began to go off. Whether due to fatigue or Rotsaert's improved play, Sculley's errors began to pile up and he lost the final five games of the match.

Rotsaert's performance this year has made up for a disappointing Kalamazoo debut in 2014.

"Last year, I came here, beat a seed, and I had to withdraw because of my back," Rotsaert said. "It was really a heart-breaker for me, so I'm really, really happy to be here. It's awesome. It's such a prestigious event."

Rotsaert suffered his back injury last year when he was playing his semifinal opponent this year, No. 8 seed Kyrylo Tsygura, who advanced with a 6-0, 6-3 win over No. 16 seed Jason Lui Friday morning.

 Tsygura won the first eight games of the match, but Lui got it back to 2-2 in the second set, which provided a few minutes of concern for Tsygura, a 16-year-old from Maryland.

"In the second set, when he made it 2-all, I kind of felt a little bit of pressure, and I faced a break point at 2-all," said Tsygura, whose nickname is K-Money. "But I just stuck to my aggressive game plan the whole match, so I just came in an hit a volley winner. This is definitely one of the best matches I've ever played played in my life."

Tsygura believes his variety is a key factor in his success.

"I don't give two of the same balls to my opponent," Tsygura said. "Max two balls of the same. I just change it up and they always have to hit different shots and it can eventually frustrate them and they'll start going for too much. I've always been pretty crafty, and I'd say it's the best part of my game, that I can do different shots."

At last month's Team USA playoffs on clay in Boca Raton, Rotsaert defeated Tsygura 6-2, 6-1, and he is confident going into Saturday's match.

"I think it's all up to me," Rotsaert said. "I think if I play my brand of tennis, trying to come in, try aggressive and not let the other person dictate, I think I have a very good shot."

 The doubles finals are set for Saturday.  In the 16s, No. 7 seeds William Howells and Danny Thomas will play No. 8 seeds Bryce Pereira and Ivan Thamma.  Howells and Thomas defeated unseeded Cody Lin and Andrew Ton 6-3, 6-4 in Friday's semifinals and Pereira and Thamma came back to eliminate No. 14 seed Jackson Allen and Carson Haskins 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The boys 18s doubles final, with a main draw wild card into the US Open men's doubles tournament on the line, will feature No. 2 seeds Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka against No. 6 seeds Joshua Sheehy and Parker Wynn.  Fritz and Opelka defeated No. 7 seeds Brandon Holt and Riley Smith 7-6(3), 6-2 and Sheehy and Wynn beat No. 12 seeds Oliver Crawford and Johnathan Small 6-4, 7-6(6).

Complete results are available at ustaboys.com.

Saturday will begin with both boys 16s semifinals (Patrick Kypson and JJ Wolf advance to the semifinals with wins on Thursday) at 9:30 am, followed by both 18s semifinals as the 16s finish. Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul reached the semifinals with wins on Thursday. 

The 16s doubles final will begin at 1:30 pm, followed by the 18s doubles final.

Live streaming is available through a link on ustaboys.com.

Tiafoe and Paul Book Semifinal Meeting in Kalamazoo 18s; Wolf and Kypson to Face Off in 16s; US Girls Reach World Junior Tennis Final

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

Form held in the top half of both the 16s and 18s draws Thursday, with 18s top seed Frances Tiafoe and 16s No. 1 JJ Wolf advancing to Saturday's semifinals with straight-set wins.

Tiafoe defeated No. 6 seed and Wimbledon boys champion Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-6(3) in front of a crowd of over 1,000 fans enjoying a cool and partly cloudy day at Stowe Stadium.

"It was unbelievable," said Tiafoe, who the week prior to Kalamazoo had played a main draw match against Australian Sam Groth at the ATP tournament in Atlanta. "It was way more people than in Atlanta. Atlanta crowds are getting better over the years, still not great, and also I'm a wild card, not from Atlanta, but way more people here. And this has been the most since I've been here. I guess people were really looking forward to this match, and that's when I play better. I like when there's a lot of people there. I interact with the crowd, I was talking to Reilly's dad a lot; George[Opelka's father] is a great guy."

The match could hardly have started worse for the 6-foot-10 Opelka, as he dropped the first game on serve, and was unable to pressure Tiafoe on his serve.

Opelka slowed down in the second set, and held serve throughout, although he was not as dominant on serve as Tiafoe was.  Using his slice to coax errors from Opelka, Tiafoe made very few of his own, cruising through most of his service games.

"I didn't break in the second, but I knew, after playing Groth last week, I knew the importance of holding serve," said Tiafoe. "His serve is going to be one of the best when he gets older. But I returned well, served well. The guy's so tall, you want to keep the ball low. I got a lot of errors from the slice, and I wanted to play with a lot of variety to keep him moving a lot. I didn't let him take too many big cuts today, which is good."

Tiafoe went up a mini-break to open the tiebreaker, but immediately lost his two points on serve.

"I was a little tight after I went down 2-1 in the breaker with him serving," said Tiafoe, who won the next two points when Opelka double faulted and missed a volley. "That's never good when you're playing a big server, but he dropped in a couple of doubles in the breaker rushing, and that's what I was hoping for. Reilly does that a lot, especially when he gets nervous, starts rushing, starts playing mindless tennis, and that's what I was waiting for. But I played solid today, really served well and I'm happy to get through."

While Tiafoe was closing out Opelka, who had beaten him the last two times they'd played in 2013 and 2014, Paul was deep into the second set with No. 7 seed Alex Rybakov. Unlike Tiafoe, Paul couldn't recover from a few loose points in a second-set tiebreaker, but went on to record a 6-3, 6-7(3) 6-1 win.

Paul had won four straight games after trailing 2-1 in the first set, and overcame his recent difficulties in serving out a set, although he did need to save three break points to do it.

Both players held serve throughout the second set, but a 3-3 at the change of ends, it was Paul who lost the plot, hitting a forehand long and making two backhand errors to give Rybakov three sets points, the first of which he converted.

Paul, who has been struggling with an illness all week, said he finally felt better today, and in the third set he demonstrated it, dictating points and keeping Rybakov on defense.

"In the third, I just told myself, all right, we're going to get his serve back and try to play deep and hard, make him take balls on the rise and move me," said the reigning French Open boys champion. "I though I did a pretty good job of keeping him on the run."


Tiafoe defeated Paul in three sets at the Weston Futures in January of this year, but it's a match in Kalamazoo when Paul won the 16s title in 2013 that immediately came to mind.

"Two years ago, same exact day, semis," Paul recalled of his 6-2, 6-4 win. "We'd played six times before that match and he'd beaten me all six times. And before the match, he was talking so much crap, and I was like, no, Frances, this time I'm going to let you talk all the crap you want, but right before we shook hands, I said I've got this one. And he got so mad. It'd be nice if it goes that way again, but it's going to be tough. He's playing very good tennis right now, but you never know what to expect with him, he can come out playing really well, so you've got to expect him to play his best tennis."

After dropping the first set he played in Kalamazoo as the 16s top seed, JJ Wolf has cruised in his next four matches, including Thursday's 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 25 seed Trent Bryde.

"I think I just had to get the nerves out, said the 16-year-old from Cincinnati. "The first round is always very tough, but I've just tried to have fun and play my game. I playing these matches, but not specifically trying to win them. I'm trying to build my game for the future. So every match I'm improving a little bit and that's helped me a lot."

Wolf said he knew that Bryde had won a qualifying match last month in the ATP event in Atlanta, calling it "really impressive," but he wasn't intimidated by that.

"I try not to think about him too much, just focus on myself," said Wolf, who learned tennis at the same club as last year's 16s champion John McNally.

Wolf opened up a 3-0, two-break lead in the first set, but Bryde got one break back to get on the board. Bryde couldn't dent the consistency that  Wolf demonstrated, which he says is definitely new facet of his game.

"When I was little, I was very impatient and that's what I've been working on lately, being more what my coaches and I like to say relentless," said Wolf. "Not giving up any points and hitting to the bigger spots and that's helped me a lot the past few years."

As so many of the fans and other players and coaches here this week, Wolf has watched the stellar 18s field with interest.

"I do like to watch them," said the 16-year-old Wolf. "You can see that their tennis minds have matured a lot. They know their game, they know what they need to do to win. So when you have a specific game plan like that, you're usually pretty successful. And they're all very talented also."

Wolf will play No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson, who defeated No. 15 seed William Howells 6-3, 6-2.

Kypson and Wolf last met in the back draw of of the Kalamazoo 16s last year, with Wolf winning 6-4, 6-3.

"He beat me pretty easily, in straight sets, but I'm playing pretty well right now," said the 15-year-old, who is just returning to competition after a ruptured appendix kept him in the hospital for 12 days in June. "If he plays well, he's going to win, if I play well, I'm going to win and if we both play really well, it's going to be a good match."

Kypson mostly scouts his opponents himself.

"Pretty much everyone here, I know exactly how they play, everything they do well, everything they don't do too well," said Kypson, who trains both at home and with the USTA in Boca Raton. "I just like watching tennis so I pick a lot up off from that."

As for Wolf, Kypson has gotten advice from his father and his coach Chris Cloer, as well as his own observations.

"He's really solid from the ground, really good when you put the ball in his strike zone," said Kypson, who, like Tommy Paul, is from Greenville, North Carolina. "But I think once you get him on the defense, that's how I'll play most of the match. It's going to be hard, because he starts out the point pretty solid, a good serve and when you put it in play, he goes for it, so I'm going to have to mix up the paces, try to get him on the defense. If I can do that, I can play a good match."

Friday's quarterfinals will decide the semifinalists in the bottom half of both draws.  No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz will play No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh and No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov faces No. 12 seed Eduardo Nava in the 18s.  In the 16s, No. 5 seed Sean Sculley will meet No. 4 seed Alexandre Rotsaert and No. 8 seed Kyrylo Tsygura will play No. 16 seed Jason Lui.

The 16s doubles quarterfinals were played Thursday afternoon, with the semifinals in both divisions scheduled for Friday afternoon.

No. 14 seeds Jackson Allen and Carson Haskins defeated unseeded Arnav Dhingra and Trey Hilderbrand 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 and will play No. 8 seeds Bryce Pereira and Ivan Thamma.  Pereira and Thamma beat No. 4 seed Zummy Bauer and Cotter Wilson 6-2, 6-4.

In the bottom half, unseeded Cody Lin and Andrew Ton advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 12 seed Blake Croyder and Joseph Gandolfo. They will play No. 7 seed Howells and Danny Thomas, who beat unseeded Alexander Brown and Brady Draheim 6-2, 7-5.

Complete results of the day's action can be found at ustaboys.com.

At semifinals of the girls 16s and the quarterfinals of the girls 18s in San Diego are set for Friday. Full draws are at the TennisLink site.

G16s quarterfinal results:
Natasha Subhash (1), Fairfax, Va., def.  McCartney Kessler (17), Calhoun, Ga., 6-2, 6-2
Marlee Zein, Sugar Land, Texas, def.  Victoria Flores (2), Fort Dodge, Iowa, 7-5, 6-4
Abigail Desiatnikov, Atlanta, def. Clarissa Hand (6), Moorestown, N.J., 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
Whitney Osuigwe (15), Bradenton, Fla., def. Hannah Zhao (10), San Diego, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2

G18s Round of 16:
Tornado Ali Black (1), Boca Raton, Fla., def. Kelly Chen (14), Cerritos, Calif., 6-1, 6-2
Usue Arconada (2), Rio Piedras, P.R., def. Jada Hart (17), Colton, Calif., 6-3, 6-2
Sofia Kenin (3), Pembroke Pines, Fla., def. Kennedy Shaffer (17), Rossford, Ohio, 6-1, 6-3
Raveena Kingsley (5), Fulton, Md., def. Kayla Day (9), Santa Barbara, Calif., 6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-4
Kylie McKenzie (17), Anthem, Ariz., def. Francesca Dilorenzo (6), New Albany, Ohio, 6-3, 6-3
Ingrid Neel (7), Bradenton, Fla., def.  Ena Shibahara (11), Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., 6-1, 7-5
Claire Liu (8), Thousand Oaks, Calif., def. Taylor Russo (17), Deerfield Beach, Fla., 7-5, 6-4
Sara Daavettila (16), Williamston, Mich., def. Brienne Minor (17), Mundelein, Ill., 6-1, 4-6, 7-6( 5)

At the ITF World Junior Tennis competition in the Czech Republic, the US girls have advanced to Saturday's final against Russia with a 3-0 win over Poland in today's semifinals.  The US boys lost to Spain 2-1, losing both singles matches. Spain will play Korea in the boys final.  For more on the semifinal action, see the ITF junior website.

Seven of Top Eight Seeds Reach 18s Quarterfinals at Kalamazoo; Lui Saves Three Match Points to Advance in 16s; Both USA Teams Advance to World Junior Tennis Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

It wasn't easy, with both No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh and No. 6 seed Reilly Opelka needing three sets, but seven of the Top 8 seeds in the 18s division of the USTA National Championships have reached the quarterfinals.

The sole player outside the Top 8, No. 12 Eduardo Nava, had the easiest day of the eight, with No. 22 seed Brandon Holt retiring with a hamstring injury down 2-1 in the first set of their round of 16 match.

Mmoh's 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 20 seed and 2014 16s champion John McNally required an adjustment from Mmoh, the third-ranked junior player in the world.

"He really caught me by surprise," said Mmoh, who is now on a nine-match winning streak after his title at the Godfrey Futures two weeks ago. "He was staying on top of the baseline and just penetrating through the court. I hadn't really played a guy that was that consistent hitting big balls through the court so it was definitely tough for me to adjust. I thought he played really well today, stuck with his game plan, being aggressive and dictating from the baseline."

Mmoh said that he found coming forward worked well for him in Godfrey, so he has continued that strategy this week.

"I wasn't feeling too comfortable in the baseline exchanges," Mmoh said. "At the Futures, my kick serve was bouncing really high so I was coming in, and it was working really well. These courts are really fast, so I knew I could do the same and it would be effective. Definitely, my serve and volleying and coming to the net won me the match today."

Opelka blinked on a volley in the second set of his 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over No. 30 seed Nathan Perrone and Perrone seized his opportunity.

"That killed me, that volley," Opelka said of his miss at 4-4 in the second. "But also that game was pretty sloppy as well. I double faulted twice at deuce so I was lucky to still have a chance to win that game. But that volley, you can't miss it, especially at that time. But, oh well."

His frustration at losing his serve led Opelka to toss his racquet, forgetting that there is no warning for racquet abuse in the USTA rules, as there is in ITF and ATP rules.  With Opelka assessed a point penalty for it, Perrone needed to win only three points to send the match to a third set, and he got them.

Opelka got a break to open the third set, which relaxed him a bit, although Perrone kept it close.

"It got interesting," Opelka said. "I think there was a 30-all game at 4-2 me serving, he had a chance in that game, but other than that it was pretty comfortable in third set."

Opelka said he knew he only previous meeting with Perrone, a 6-0, 6-0 win, would not be repeated today on George Acker Court in Kalamazoo.

"I was expecting it to be a lot different today," said the Wimbledon boys champion. "It's just different now. But he played well. He didn't miss many backhands and he looked to move his forehand around. He just made it tough for me to attack him. He didn't do anything special, just played a high-quality neutral ball and moved me around a lot, so it was difficult for me to find a ball that I like to hit and move forward."

Opelka's opponent in Thursday's quarterfinal, one of two that will be played in the 18s, is top seed Frances Tiafoe, who beat No. 10 seed Nathan Ponwith 6-2, 6-2.

"I played him once last year at a Futures and won 6-4 in the third," Opelka said. "Tough match, clay. I haven't played him in a while on hard. We've had plenty of battles for sure, and he's obviously a completely different player now than last year, and so am I. It should be interesting. He's the favorite for the tournament, the guy to beat."

Opelka said despite Tiafoe's recent success, his peers are not intimidated.

"We think we can beat anyone," Opelka said. "We all have beaten him, so that helps. But obviously. he's tough. He's not Top 300 ATP for no reason, especially now. He's playing really well and he wants to win, wants to play in the main draw of another grand slam, just as bad as anyone else, which makes it even tougher. I'm going to have to play well tomorrow, really well."

The other 18s quarterfinal will feature No. 4 seed Tommy Paul, who defeated No. 11 seed Oliver Crawford 7-6(3), 6-3, against No. 7 seed and close friend Alex Rybakov, who beat unseeded Logan Smith 6-4, 7-6(5).

Jonathan Kelley of the On The Rise blog is in Kalamazoo, and he wrote this feature on Rybakov after talking with him today after his win over Smith.

The Friday quarterfinals will feature Mmoh playing No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz in a first-ever meeting, after Fritz blitzed No. 13 seed Dennis Uspensky 6-0, 6-1, and No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov facing Nava.

Kozlov defeated unseeded Michael Genender 6-4, 6-4, the fourth consecutive match in which he has won the same number of games in each set.

Kozlov led 4-1 in the final set, but Genender fought back to pull even before the 17-year-old from Florida broke to take the match.

"The guy started playing really well," said Kozlov. "We all saw what he did with those volleys and I got a little defensive.  I went up 4-1 and he started playing better, but I regrouped and won."

Kozlov played his first junior match of the year on Saturday, having spent the rest of the year on the ATP and ITF Pro Circuits.

"It's different," said Kozlov, a semifinalist last year. "Obviously I enjoy playing but the first couple of matches are challenging. It's a lot different than Futures and Challengers and stuff and like that. Here I just feel everyone I play just plays unbelievable the first couple of games. I'm kind of over the pressure, I've already lost second round here, so I'm getting mature, dealing with the pressure a little bit better, but it is tough, not to be nervous when you come out here and it's packed and you have all these people watching you. You want to impress everyone, so that's how it goes."

The top half of the 16s draw will also have two quarterfinal matches on Thursday, with top seed JJ Wolf meeting No. 25 seed Trent Bryde and No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson against No. 15 seed William Howells.

Wolf, who lost his first set of the tournament on Sunday, has had not trouble since and he eliminated No. 22 seed Kevin 6-3, 6-1 Wednesday morning.  Bryde defeated unseeded Zummy Bauer in a rare match between two players from the same city, in this case Suwanee, Georgia, 6-4, 6-1.

Kypson overcame No. 11 seed Brian Cernoch 7-5, 6-2 and Howells ousted No. 7 seed and 16s Clay Court champion Danny Thomas 6-1, 6-4.

No. 16 seed Jason Lui will have an extra day to savor his 6-7(0), 6-1, 7-5 win over unseeded Keenan Mayo, who had eliminated No. 2 seed Jake Van Emburgh in Tuesday's fourth round.  Lui was down 15-40 serving at 4-5 in the third set but some brave tennis got him out of that predicament.  He hit a backhand winner and a good first serve to get it to deuce, but Mayo got a third match point opportunity after Lui made an unforced error. Again Lui went for his shot, crushing a forehand winner, and two points later he had weathered the storm.  Mayo double faulted on game point to give Lui a chance to serve out the match, and he did, converting his second match point when Mayo's forehand went long.

"I just listen to what my coach says," said Lui, a 16-year-old from Bellevue, Washington, who trains with Brian Park at Sand Point in Seattle. "He tells me to focus on what I need to do, not the outcome. I just kind of let it go, and didn't think about losing the match, all the other what-if stuff. I just played my game, but i got kind of lucky at the end, with his double faults."

Lui had never played on Stowe Stadium's George Acker court, while Mayo had beaten Van Emburgh there on Tuesday.

"This is my first time, to play on one of these stadium courts, and I've never played with a crowd like this before," said Lui.  "So I was a little bit tight, but I got more comfortable as the match went on. I'm really relieved right now. I was really nervous the whole third set to be honest."

Lui will play No. 8 seed Kyrylo Tsygura on Friday, after Tsygura defeated unseeded Sean Hill 6-1, 6-3.

"I've never played him in a singles match, just a doubles match," said Lui. "But that was a long time ago. I'm just going to have to play my game and see how his is and adjust to it in the match as it goes."

The other quarterfinal on Friday will be between Alexandre Rotsaert, the No. 4 seed, and Sean Sculley, the No. 5 seed. Sculley defeated No. 9 seed Carson Haskins  6-4, 6-3 and Rotsaert downed No. 26 seed Trey Hilderbrand 6-4, 6-2.

The semifinals are set in the 18s doubles, after the Dinner at the Nats quarterfinal session was completed Wednesday night.

No. 6 seeds Joshua Sheehy and Parker Wynn defeated No. 9 seeds Rybakova and Nava 6-1, 7-5 and will meet No. 12 seeds Crawford and Johnathan Small, who beat Liam Caruana and Sameer Kumar, the No. 16 seeds, 6-3, 7-5.  No. 6 seeds Holt and Riley Smith defeated unseeded Blaine Boyden and Grey Hamilton 6-1, 6-4 and will face No. 2 seeds Fritz and Opelka, who beat No. 15 seeds Martin Joyce and Gianni Ross 6-3, 6-0.

The 18s doubles semifinals are scheduled for Friday, with the 16s doubles quarterfinals on Thursday.

The complete draws are available at ustaboys.com.

At the girls 18s in San Diego, top seeds Tornado Alicia Black and Usue Arconada have reached the round of 16, but No. 4 seed and Wimbledon quarterfinalist Michaela Gordon was eliminated, with Brienne Minor, a 17 seed, beating her 6-2, 6-4.  The 16s quarterfinals are set, with top seeds Natasha Subhash and Victoria Flores still alive. The TennisLink site has all the results.

In the Czech Republic, both of the USA's 14-and-under teams have advanced to the semifinals of the World Junior Tennis competition by winning their round robin groups.  For more on the final day of round robin competition, see the ITF junior website.