Daavettila's Golden Season; US Open National Playoff Update; Day Defeats Top Seed in Charlotte $10K

When I interviewed Sara Daavettila back in February for this article on her commitment to North Carolina, she told me she wanted to play another year of high school tennis, although she had already won a singles title as a sophomore at Williamston High School.
Daavettila's decision to play again led to an unimaginable accomplishment.  She went through the entire high school season without losing a game.

A golden set, extremely rare in tennis at any level, is one player winning every point, 24 in a row. When the player wins 15 or 16 points to start, I'm sure the pressure mounts, but that suspense is over in a matter of minutes.  Daavettila dealt with it for weeks and weeks, and then came into the state high school championships, not only to defend her title, but to try to achieve a form of tennis perfection.

Although this Mlive.com article about Daavettila and the Division III tournament displays a maddening lack of tennis knowledge, I think any credibility it may lack is counterbalanced by Daavettila's high school coach, who is obviously in a position to know.

"I've never been nervous in a 6-0, 5-0 match before, but I was nervous," coach Nate Schwarzbek is quoted as saying in the article. "But other than that, she plays well -- her opponents play her well too, but she just wins the crucial points."
Daavettila is in action this weekend in Midland, where the Midwest section's US Open National Playoffs are being held.  She is the No. 1 seed.

Four of the USTA sections have completed their USO National Playoff tournaments.  This year there is a main draw wild card in both men's and women's doubles up for grabs for the first time.  The singles wild cards are for qualifying, the mixed doubles wild card is for the main draw.

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

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

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

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

Articles on each section's tournament can be found at the US Open website.

Qualifying was completed today and first round action began at the $10,000 Charlotte, North Carolina women's Pro Circuit event.  Four seeds were in main draw action today and three of them lost.  Fifteen-year-old wild card Kayla Day defeated top seed Ana Neffa de los Rios of Paraguay, who is only 18 herself, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.  Day has played only four Pro Circuit tournaments over the past two years prior to this week, advancing out of qualifying once and winning a round, but she doesn't yet have a WTA ranking.  Caroline Price, a recent UNC graduate, defeated No. 3 seed Rianna Valdes, the USC incoming freshman 6-0, 6-4.  Andie Daniell, the incoming Alabama freshman, defeated No. 6 seed Maria-Fernanda Alves of Brazil 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Easter Bowl Videos; Ojai Results; Rubin Sweeps ACC Men's Awards

Finally finished processing all the videos from the Easter Bowl over the weekend. Below are videos of all eight champions. Videos of the eight finalists can be found by clicking on their names below.

Jameson Corsillo
Emma Jackson
Jaycer Calleros
Alexa Noel
Brian Cernoch
Natasha Subhash
Sam Riffice
Katie Swan

The complete results from the Ojai tournament are below.  For more on unseeded UCLA Bruin Catherine Harrison's win at the Pac-12 women's individual tournament, see this article from the UCLA website.

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH RESULTS FROM THE 115TH (2015) OJAI TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Men’s Open Singles: Philip Bester (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada) d. Lester Cook (Los Angeles, CA), 7-5, 6-4.

Women’s Open Singles: Ena Shibahara (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) d. Emma Higuchi (Los Angeles, CA), 7-5, 3-6, 6-4

Men’s Open Doubles: Quinn Borchard/Calle Hansen (Newbury Park) d. Jochem Hoefnagels (Azusa)/Peter Lucassen (Rolling Hills), 6-4, 6-3

Women’s Open Doubles: Jada Hart (Colton, CA)/Ena Shibahara (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) d. Kaitlyn Christian (Rancho Cucamonga)/Amy Zhu (Newark, DE), 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3

Pac-12 Men’s Championship: No. 2 USC def. No. 1 Stanford, 4-3

Pac-12 Women’s Singles Championship: Catherine Harrison (UCLA) d. Klara Fabikova (Cal), 6-4, 6-0

Pac-12 Women’s Doubles Championship: Taylor Davidson/Carol Zhao (Stanford) d. Caroline Doyle/Ellen Tsay (Stanford), 7-5, 6-2

Pac-12 Women’s Singles Invitational: Meredith Xepoleas (USC) d. Terri Fleming (UCLA), 6-2, 6-3

Pac-12 Women’s Doubles Invitational: Gabriella DeSimone/Zoe Katz (USC) d. Capucine Gregoire/Riko Shimizu (Washington), 8-4

CIF Boys’ Singles: Michael Genender (Harvard-Westlake HS) d. Bjorn Hoffmann (Corona del Mar HS), 6-1, 6-4

CIF Boys’ Doubles: Bradley Cummins/Alex Kuperstein (Palm Desert HS) d. Keegan Smith/Ivan Thamma (Point Loma HS), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)

Girls’ 18s Singles: Ryan Peus (Santa Barbara, CA) d. Seira Shimizu (Ojai, CA), 7-6, 6-7, 6-4

Girls’ 18s Doubles: Madison Hale/Mattea Kilstofte (Santa Barbara, CA) d. Kelsie Bryant (Carpinteria, CA)/Sophia Whittle (Nipomo, CA), 6-4, 6-4

Boys’ 16s Singles: Matthew Tsolakyan (Glendale, CA) d. Connor Rapp (Rancho Mirage, CA), 6-3, 6-3

Girls’ 16s Singles: Alexa Ryngler (Calabasas, CA) d. Rika Tanaka (Tokyo, Japan), 6-2, 6-2

Boys’ 14s Singles: Miles Jones (Marina del Rey, CA) d. Jacob Bullard (Calabasas, CA), 6-1, 4-6, 6-1

Girls’ 14s Singles: Delanie Dunkle (Arroyo Grande, CA) d. d. Hina Inoue (Huntington Beach, CA), 6-3, 6-3

Men’s Independent College Singles: Brendan Aguilar (San Diego Christian) d. Adrian Legarreta (Grand Canyon), 6-2, 6-2

Men’s Independent College Doubles: Adrian Legarreta-Mitchell Maroscher (Grand Canyon) d. Alexander Roggenkamp-Felix Schueller (Grand Canyon), 6-4, 7-5

Women’s Independent College Singles: Erin Walker (Abilene Christian) d. Brittney Reed (Abilene Christian), 6-1, 7-5

Women’s Independent College Doubles: Lucile Pothier-Erin Walker (Abilene Christian) d. Kaysie Hermsdorf-Brittney Reed (Abilene Christian), 7-6 (10-8), 6-1

Men’s Division III West Singles: Warren Wood (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) d. Skyler Butts (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4

Men’s Division III West Doubles: Skyler Butts/Daniel Morkovine (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) d. Joe Dorn/Warren Wood (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), 1-6, 6-4, 6-2

Men’s California Community College Athletic Association Championship: Irvine Valley def. Foothill, 5-2

Men’s California Community College Athletic Association Singles: Hironori Koyanagi (Ventura) def. Corentin Haener (San Diego Mesa), 6-2, 6-3

Men’s California Community College Athletic Association Doubles: Valentin Baize/Maxime Rumeau (Irvine Valley) d. Simon Guillin/Guillermo Ucelay (Irvine Valley), 6-4, 6-1

Women’s California Community College Athletic Association Championship: Mt. San Antonio def. Modesto, 5-4

Women’s Community College Athletic Association Singles: Mayra Jovic (Santa Monica) d. Chieko Yamada (Shasta), 6-1, 6-2

Women’s Community College Athletic Association Doubles: Mayra Jovic/Izabel Nazdracheva (Santa Monica) d. Polina Gorshinina/Van Nguyen (De Anza) 6-2, 7-5

The ACC has announced its men's award winners, with Noah Rubin of Wake Forest claiming both Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year honors, the first time in conference history those awards have gone to the same player in the same year. Virginia Tech's Jim Thompson was named Coach of the Year. For a complete list of the all-ACC teams, see this article.

BNP Paribas Wild Cards Announced; US Open Adds Main Draw Doubles Wild Cards to National Playoffs This Year; Pacific Coast Doubles Championships This Weekend; Smith, Bellis Features

The BNP Paribas Open, which begins next week in Indian Wells, announced its wild cards today.

Serena Williams had announced she was accepting a wild card last month. Women receiving main draw wild cards today are: Americans Nicole Gibbs(Stanford), Grace Min, Taylor Townsend, Louisa Chirico, Sachia Vickery and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Croatia's Donna Vekic also received a main draw wild card.

Women's qualifying wild cards went to Julia Boserup, Maria Sanchez(Southern Cal), Alicia Tornado Black, Allie Kiick and Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei. Another will be given to the winner of the pre-qualifying challenge underway now.

Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, returning from another wrist surgery, received a men's main draw wild card.  Americans received the other four wild cards: Austin Krajick(Texas A&M), Tim Smyczek, Ryan Harrison and Denis Kudla.

Men's qualifying wild cards were given to Yannick Hanfmann(Southern Cal), Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) and junior Taylor Fritz. Last year five qualifying wild cards were awarded, so in addition to the pre-qualifying challenge winner, one more is still available.

The tournament's complete release is available here.

The US Open today announced its sixth annual National Playoffs, which provide any USTA member an opportunity to complete for a qualifying wild card through a sectional event that leads to a national playoff this summer.  Registration begins March 15th.

The big news in today's release is the addition of men's and women's doubles competition, which will earn the winners a main draw wild card. Mixed doubles competition, which also has awarded a main draw wild card to the winners the past five years, will continue.

The Pacific Coast Doubles tournament, one of the oldest tennis competitions in the United States, begins Thursday in La Jolla, California, with Southern Cal's Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz the top collegiate seeds and Denis Kudla and John Kelly are the top non-collegiate seeds.

Southern Cal head coach Peter Smith is seeded No. 3, with 2008 NCAA doubles champion Kaes Van't Hof, leaving his sons Riley and Tanner to find other partners.  This article by Josh Rey, on Smith and his family, includes the competition that exists between the teenagers to secure their father's services for the USTA Father and Son Nationals.

The draws can be found at the TennisLink site.

CiCi Bellis and her family have been wary of too much publicity surrounding her success at such a young age, but Doug Robson was able to uncover some of her strengths and challenges while going easy on the hype in this article for tennis.com.

Travel Day, US Open National Playoff Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Interview with ITA Rookie of the Year Brayden Schnur; Division III Final Rankings, All-Americans Revealed; Stewart, Langmo Win Florida Championships

At last month's NCAA tournament, I interviewed several coaches and student-athletes for an article I'm writing on college tennis for the US Open program.  I spoke to North Carolina freshman Brayden Schnur, who I thought would provide some perspective from outside the US college sports culture, and I was particularly interested in his decision to enter college even after he had success on the Futures circuit last summer.  I was impressed with his long term view, and I was also surprised by the support for college tennis at Tennis Canada, where Schnur trained prior to attending North Carolina.  The question and answer session with one of the new stars of college tennis is available now at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The Division III final rankings and All-America teams have been announced, with no surprises.  The Emory women and Amherst men, both of whom won the team championships last month,  ended the year at the top spot.  Both singles champions also finished atop the rankings, with Emory's Gabby Clark and Amherst's Joey Fritz closing out their careers with two NCAA titles.  The list of the Division III All-Americans is here.  For the release with the links to the rankings, see the ITA website.

The Bobby Curtis Florida State Championships ended today, with Katerina Stewart and Christian Langmo winning the 18s divisions.  It was Stewart's fourth title, putting her in elite company, with Luanne Spadea the most recent girl to accomplish that, back in 1987. Chris Evert, who won five, and Evert's sister Jeanne, who won four, are also in that select group.  Stewart, the No. 9 seed, defeated No. 6 seed Gaby Pollner 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

No. 8 seed Langmo, who will starting at the University of Miami in the fall, won his first state title, beating top seed Dan Stefan in a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(7) thriller.

For more coverage of the tournament, including photos of all the champions in the 12s, 14s, 16s and 18s divisions (and some of Bobby Curtis himself), see this article from the USTA Florida website.

Complete draws for the 16s and 18s are at this TennisLink site.  Draws for the 12s and 14s are here.