Easter Bowl Slideshow; Tiafoe, Donaldson Advance to Savannah Challenger Quarterfinals

Below is the slideshow from the Easter Bowl, with the singles semifinalists in all eight divisions and the doubles finalists.  (For viewing on a mobile device, go to this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/100541051847349613453/EasterBowl2015?authuser=0&feat=directlink)



On the Pro Circuit today, Frances Tiafoe reached his second straight Challenger quarterfinal, defeating No. 6 seed Frank Dancevic of Canada 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the $50,000 tournament in Savannah. Tiafoe has made a habit of coming from a set down--he mentioned his knack for problem-solving in an interview with the USTA's livestream's Mike Cation--and his ability to come up with an unexpectedly great shot when he needs it has served him well the past two weeks. Tiafoe's quarterfinal opponent will be Mitchell Krueger, who pulled off a stirring comeback of his own tonight against Liam Broady of Great Britain, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. Krueger was thoroughly outplayed by Broady in the first set, and trailed 4-2 in the final set, but he stayed in every point, kept his emotions in check and was rewarded with his first berth in a Challenger quarterfinal.

Broady and Krueger played in the final of the Eddie Herr 12s back in 2006, with Krueger winning that match 6-0, 6-1. The photo of the two them with former Eddie Herr tournament director Rick Workman, which I tweeted before their match tonight, is below.

Jared Donaldson also came from a set down to advance to the quarterfinals in Savannah, defeating Facundo Arguello of Argentina 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. Donaldson served for the match at 5-2 and had some anxious moments in the final game, but held on for the win. He will play Bjorn Fratangelo, who had no difficulty with qualifier Tommy Paul, winning 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour.

Those two all-American quarterfinals will be played on Friday. Top seed Tim Smyczek and Tennys Sandgren will play thir second round match on Thursday.

The first round is now complete at the $50,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Dothan, Alabama, with six US players advancing. Top seed Grace Min was defeated by wild card Alexandra Stevenson 6-1, 7-6(8), and No. 3 seed Sachia Vickery also lost her first match 6-4, 7-6(4) to Gabriela Ce of Brazil. Samantha Crawford and No. 4 seed Louisa Chirico won Tuesday, with Bernarda Pera, Jessica Pegula and wild card Katerina Stewart picking up wins today.

International Spring Championships Slideshow; Southern Cal Women Claim Pac-12 Title; Buchanan Defeats Tiafoe, Takes Early Lead in USTA French Open Wild Card Race

My recap of the International Spring Championships went up last week at the Tennis Recruiting Network, but because the Easter Bowl follows that tournament immediately, I wasn't able to get the slideshow from Carson processed until today.  I also will have short videos available of the eight finalists in the next few days.



(All photos copyright 2015 zootennis.com All rights reserved)
For viewing on a mobile device, use this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/100541051847349613453/ISC2015?authuser=0&feat=directlink)

Last night in LA, the Southern Cal women avenged an earlier 4-3 loss to UCLA, and this one counted in the Pac-12 standings, clinching the Pac-12 title for the Women of Troy.  UCLA won the doubles point and went up 3-0 with wins by Robin Anderson at line 1 and Catherine Harrison at line 5. Zoe Scandalis won the only straight-set match over Chanelle Van Nguyen at line 3 to put USC on the board, and Meredith Xeopoleas at 6, Giuliana Olmos at 2 and Madison Westby at 4 all came from a set down to post wins, with freshman Westby clinching the match with a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over Kyle McPhillips.

Somehow in all the chaos, the Pac-12 conference trophy ended up in pieces, but that probably barely registered in the euphoria of such a win.

The complete account of the match can be found at the USC website.

The USC men traveled to UCLA yesterday and also came away with the win, beating the Bruins 4-2.  Stanford can still win the Pac-12 regular season conference title with a win over Cal on Saturday, and unlike the women, the men also play a conference team tournament, next week in Ojai.  For more on yesterday's match, see the USC website.

At the $100,000 Sarasota Challenger, former Ohio State star Chase Buchanan defeated Frances Tiafoe 6-0, 6-3 to reach the semifinals, where he'll face No. 6 seed Facundo Bagnis of Argentina.  Tiafoe had all sorts of difficulties in the opening set, with foot faults and net cords adding to the frustrations that his errors were causing him.  Buchanan played well, facing only one break point and saving that, and while Tiafoe put a bit of pressure on him in the second set, the 17-year-old was unable to find the form that had helped him win five matches this week. With Jared Donaldson's 6-2, 6-3 loss to No. 2 seed Federico Delbonis tonight, Buchanan is now in first place by himself in the Har-Tru Challenge for the USTA's French Open wild card.

The next tournament in the Challenge is next week in Savannah, and the tournament announced today that Tiafoe and Stefan Kozlov have been award main draw wild cards. The third and final tournament in the Challenge is another $50,000 Challenger, in Tallahassee.

Junior Orange Bowl Recap, Slideshow, Videos

Although I still have my December Aces column for next week, this Junior Orange Bowl recap for the Tennis Recruiting Network concludes my onsite tournament coverage for 2014. It's been quite a year in junior tennis, and I'm looking forward to an even better one in 2015.

As with the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, I will post the videos of the finalists next month, but all four champions can be viewed below.

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Metropolia Orange Bowl Recap, Slideshow, Videos

Before I head out for third round action at the Junior Orange Bowl, it's time to wrap up last week's Metropolia Orange Bowl. My recap for the Tennis Recruiting Network is available now. The singles quarterfinalists and doubles semifinalists are featured in the slideshow, and videos of the champions are also below. As with the Eddie Herr finalists, those videos will be posted early next month.

Eddie Herr Slideshow, Videos

All Eddie Herr semifinalists and doubles finalists appear in the slideshow, and despite the finals all being played simultaneously, there is at least a short video of all the champions. My recap of the tournament for the Tennis Recruiting Network was published last Friday. Videos of the 16s and 18s champions are below, with links to the 12s and 14s champions' videos here:

Boys 12s: Jungwon Park
Girls 12s: Himari Sato
Boys 14s: Nicolas Mejia
Girls 14s: Anastasia Potapova

I will be posting the videos of the Eddie Herr and Metropolia Orange Bowl finalists next month, when I return home and have more time.

ITF B1 Pan American Closed Recap, Slideshow, Videos

My synopsis of last week's ITF Pan American Closed Championships is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. After finishing the tournament on Saturday, champion Michael Mmoh went straight to the $15,000 Mansfield Texas Futures, where, after a win over Jeff Dadamo(Texas A&M) today, he has reached the quarterfinals, his second career quarterfinal at a Futures tournament. In addition to Mmoh, three current college players also have reached the quarterfinals: TCU's Cameron Norrie, who beat Dennis Novikov(UCLA) 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-0; Virginia's Mitchell Frank and Oklahoma's Andrew Harris.

Pan Am finalist Claire Liu went straight to Florence, South Carolina and, without any rest, won three qualifying matches in the $25,000 tournament there before losing in a third-set tiebreaker yesterday. CiCi Bellis beat No. 5 seed Miharu Imanishi of Japan 6-4, 7-5 to post her seventh straight win at the $25,000-level. Tornado Alicia Black gave a walkover to Greece's Despina Papamichail.

Below is the slideshow of the singles quarterfinalists and the doubles semifinalists. Also below are short videos of the four finalists in the championship matches.

US Open Junior Championships Recap; Slideshow

My recap of last week's US Open Junior Championships is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. If you couldn't follow my daily coverage here on ZooTennis, you can get the condensed version there.

As I try to do for every US Open Junior Championships, I have compiled a slideshow including every US player who played in the singles main draw, with the round they lost noted on the caption.  Along with the 39 of them, the slideshow also features the singles quarterfinalists and doubles semifinalists. Due to restrictions imposed by the US Open, there is no video for this tournament.

International Hard Courts Recap, Slideshow, Videos; NCAA Champion Collins Test Halep, Falls in Three Sets at US Open

My recap of last week's ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships, with details on Russia's Anna Kalinskaya and Florida's Reilly Opelka winning their first ITF titles is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Even with the rainy weather, I enjoyed covering the tournament for the first time, and am glad another Grade 1 tournament is now available in the United States, after the loss of the Lexington Grade 1 that used to follow the US Open.


Below is the slideshow of those reaching the singles quarterfinals and the doubles semifinals. The videos of the two champions are below, with the videos of the finalists available by clicking on the links below:

Tim Van Rijthoven

Gabby Ruse

NCAA champion and wild card Danielle Collins put a scare into WTA No. 2 Simona Halep today in a US Open first round match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The rising junior from the University of Virginia came from 4-2 down in the opening set to force a tiebreaker, which she dominated, before eventually succumbing 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-2.



It's easy to say a 20-year-old with no WTA ranking has nothing to lose in that situation, but it's much harder to perform as if you truly believe that, which is what Collins did. In the first set she hit out on every ball, served well, kept the ball deep and played with conviction, despite playing only one match since she underwent wrist surgery at the end of May. To be fair, Halep wasn't playing her best, but part of that was due to the relentless pressure Collins put on her. Collins wasn't able to sustain the level she showed in the second and third sets, with her serve most noticeably dropping off, but she did prove that her top level is competitive with the world's best. Whether she can play at that level consistently is of course the important question, but that was an impressive performance in a slam debut.

For more on the match, see the WTA's website.

Video highlights from the match can be found at usopen.org.

A transcript of Collins' post-match press conference is here

Although not mentioned in the press conference, Collins is expected to return next week to New York, as she will be competing in the inaugural American Collegiate Invitational beginning next Thursday.

The US Open Tuesday schedule is out, with NCAA champion Marcos Giron playing John Isner second on Arthur Ashe. Kalamazoo champion Noah Rubin, who plays Federico Delbonis of Argentina, is also second on Tuesday, on court 13. Taylor Townsend gets a night match on Ashe against top seed Serena Williams, after the men's night match, which starts at 7 p.m. Jared Donaldson plays No. 20 seed Gael Monfils of France not before 5 p.m. on the Grandstand. CiCi Bellis is also on Tuesday's schedule, but her match with No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia is on Court 6, which is not televised.

In all, there are 21 Americans in singles action on Tuesday, and seven in men's doubles, with Peter Kobelt and Hunter Reese, Chase Buchanan and Tennys Sandgren, Donald Young and Nick Monroe and Eric Butorac (with South Africa's Raven Klaasen) playing their first round matches.

Kalamazoo 18s Recap, Slideshow, Videos; Rubin Awarded ATP Winston-Salem Open Wild Card; Take USTA Junior Survey

My recap of Noah Rubin's sweep of the titles at last week's USTA Boys 18s National Championships is available now at the Tennis Recruiting Network.  Earlier today, Rhiannon Potkey provided a look back at CiCi Bellis' championship run at the Girls 18s in San Diego.

In addition to the two main draw US Open wild cards he received for winning the singles and doubles in Kalamazoo, rising Wake Forest freshman Rubin has now received a main draw wild card to the ATP's Winston-Salem Open next week.  Kevin Anderson and Ryan Harrison have also received wild cards, with one main draw wild card still to be named.

Also, Lisa Stone at Parenting Aces has provided a link to the USTA survey for players, parents and coaches regarding their experience with USTA tournaments, the competitive structure and changes they'd like to see.  The deadline for responses to this survey is Monday, August 18th, so please go to Lisa's site for the link and take the time to provide your input.

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My Recap, Slideshow and Videos of Kalamazoo 16s; Fields Announced for American Collegiate Invitational at US Open

My recap of the 16s National Championships in Kalamazoo is available now at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I'm trying something new this year, doing separate slideshows for each age division, with the 18s coming on Friday, when my 18s recap is published at Tennis Recruiting Network. Make sure you check out all the coverage from the other age divisions, with links available here.

The USTA today released the names of the 16 participants--eight men and eight women--who will play in the inaugural American Collegiate Invitational September 4-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

On Monday, the USTA released the names of those on the 2014 USTA Collegiate Team, who are automatically included in the ACI field. The women are: Jamie Loeb(North Carolina), Jennifer Brady(UCLA), Robin Anderson(UCLA), Kristie Ahn(Stanford), Danielle Collins(Virginia) and Julia Elbaba(Virginia).  The men's team consists of UCLA's Clay Thompson, Marcos Giron and Mackenzie McDonald, Ohio State's Peter Kobelt, Virginia's Mitchell Frank and Pepperdine's Alex Sarkissian.  All six of the men's team members are in the ACI field, but Anderson is not in the women's field, replaced by Hayley Carter of North Carolina.

The additional two participants for each competition must have completed their collegiate eligibility, although I've been told that might change next year. NCAA regulations require that some of the competitors no longer be eligible for college competition. This year, only one woman on the USTA National Collegiate Team--Kristie Ahn--has exhausted her eligibility, but four of the men had, with Thompson, Kobelt and Sarkissian all graduating and Giron deciding to turn pro.

In any case, the criteria for this year's event states the additional two participants, taken from the ITA final rankings, must have completed their eligibility, with Raymond Sarmiento of Southern Cal, Greg Andrews of Notre Dame, Olivia Janowicz and Alex Cercone of Florida receiving entry via that method. 

The 12 participants will receive the same player credentials as participants in the men's and women's tournaments and the USTA is paying for their transportation, meals and accommodations. The winners have an opportunity to get US Open wild cards based on their WTA/ATP rankings at the 2015 cutoff for entry. From the release:

The winners of the American Collegiate Invitational will receive main draw wild card entries into 2015 US Open, if the men’s champion is ranked No. 250 or better and the women’s champion No. 150 or better. Otherwise, the winners will receive 2015 US Open qualifying wild cards. The champions will also get wild cards into two USTA Pro Circuit events, while each runner-up will get one.

Girls 18 USTA Clay Courts Recap, Slideshow and Videos

In less than a week, qualifying for the Boys and Girls 16s and 18s National Championships will begin, but before we start anticipating that, it's time to take a final look back at last week's USTA Clay Court championships. My review of the Girls 18s in Memphis is up this afternoon on the Tennis Recruiting Network, but make sure you read all eight articles on one of the three individual gold ball events remaining in the USTA junior tournament structure. Links to all eight articles can be found at the bottom of my recap at TR Net.

A slideshow of the top performers in Memphis and videos of finalists Katerina Stewart and Kennedy Shaffer are below.

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NCAA Individual Championships Slideshow, Videos

I'm closing the 2013-2014 college season with this slideshow featuring the singles quarterfinalists in singles and doubles semifinalists in the Division I Individual Championships last month in Athens, Georgia, as well as brief videos of the singles finalists. For a written recap of the tournament, see my article for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

NCAA Individual Recap and All-Tournament Team Slideshow; Rubin and Kingsley Qualify for French Open Junior Championships

My recap of the NCAA Division I individual tournament titles won by Marcos Giron of UCLA, Danielle Collins of Virginia and the doubles teams from Alabama and Tennessee can be found today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

For more on the NCAAs in Athens, check out Lisa Stone's thoughts at Parenting Aces. Stone covered the NCAA tournament as credentialed media and wrote this piece on what she learned during her long days there.

As is often the case when I'm doing back-to-back tournaments, the slideshows and recaps get a bit out of sync, but I will have the individual tournament slideshow and videos up in the next week or two. Below is the All-Tournament Team from the Men and Women's Team Championships.

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In French Open main draw action today, wild card Taylor Townsend was beaten by No. 14 seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-2, yet she got the attention of most of the established tennis press. Here is Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim on Townsend, with a direct discussion of her body type. Chris Clarey of the New York Times contents himself with a passing reference to her "fitness," while Peter Bodo of tennis.com addresses and more or less dismisses it as a factor in her tennis. There's been talk of a main draw wild card for Townsend at Wimbledon now, and after reaching the girls final there last year (and winning the girls doubles the year before), she has proven herself on grass, which obviously suits her game. But as long as she gets into qualifying (she's four out of qualifying right now), Townsend might be better served playing that, unless she gets additional matches in grass events in the coming weeks.

In the French Open junior qualifying, Noah Rubin and Raveena Kingsley earned places in the main draw with wins today. Rubin, who was unseeded in qualifying, getting in due to his ATP ranking, lost a grand total of two games in qualifying, today beating No. 11 seed Makoto Ochi of Japan 6-0, 6-0.

Kingsley, the No. 7 seed, defeated French wild card Alice Rame 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to earn her spot in the main draw. Kingsley, 15, also qualified for the US Open junior championships last year, losing to ITF No. 1 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the first round.

Both Taylor Fritz and Katrine Steffensen lost their semifinal matches today at the Grade 1 Astrid Bowl in Belgium.  The unseeded Fritz was beaten by No. 13 seed Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus 6-3, 6-3. Chrysochos will play No. 2 seed Duck Hee Lee of Korea, who received a walkover from No. 4 seed Bradley Mousley of Australia. Steffensen, the No. 15 seed, lost to No. 14 seed Helen Ploskina of Ukraine 6-4, 7-5.  Ploskina will play No. 3 seed Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus in the final.