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.

NCAA Individual Tournament Slideshow, Videos

Wrapping up the NCAA Division I championships with a slideshow featuring all the singles quarterfinalists and doubles semifinalists and two videos from the singles final.  There are just two videos, due to the simultaneous finals and the move indoors, which made appropriate vantage points difficult.




Access to the album from mobile devices is available here.

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.

ISC Carson Videos; A Look at the ITF Junior Rankings; Paul Qualifies for Savannah Challenger

Videos of the International Spring Championships winners are below, with additional videos of the finalists available at the Tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

Miomir Kecmanovic, ITF boys finalist

Fanni Stollar, ITF girls finalist

Andrew Fenty, 16s boys finalist

Victoria Flores, 16s girls finalist

There's never really a break to stop and reflect on the ITF junior rankings, but now that the major US ITF spring events are in the books, and the European clay season just beginning, I thought now might be a good time.

With William Blumberg moving into the ITF Top 10 for the first time in his career, the US has four boys in that elite group, all of them 17 years old. Only Fritz is in his final year of ITF junior competition. In all the US has 14 boys in the Top 100, the most of any nation; Japan in second with eight. Russia's Andrey Rublev, who qualified into this week's ATP event in Barcelona, remains No. 1.

The US boys in the ITF Top 100, with their current rankings:

3. Taylor Fritz*
5. Stefan Kozlov
7. Michael Mmoh*
10. William Blumberg*
30. Reilly Opelka
37. Ulises Blanch
40. Alex Rybakov
41. Nathan Ponwith
59. Emil Reinberg
79. Hady Habib
84. Sam Riffice
90. Catalin Mateas
95. Frances Tiafoe
96. Sameer Kumar

*career high

There are 13 US girls in the ITF Top 100 this week, with Russia leading all countries with 17.

The US girls in the ITF Top 100, with their current rankings:

4. CiCi Bellis
7. Usue Arconada
13. Sonya Kenin
29. Michaela Gordon
31. Raveena Kingsley
40. Ingrid Neel
41. Caroline Dolehide
42. Francesca Di Lorenzo
46. Claire Liu*
59. Kayla Day
65. Tornado Alicia Black
71. Alexandra Sanford
92. Mia Horvit

*career high

The cutoffs rankings for Roland Garros and Wimbledon vary from year to year, but Top 60 is usually a safe bet for the main draw. The entry deadline for the Roland Garros junior championships is two weeks from tomorrow.

Two US juniors who do not have to worry about their ITF junior rankings are Katerina Stewart and Tommy Paul. Stewart, who is ranked 276 by the WTA, would be admitted to the main draw of the junior slams if she enters (400 in the minimum ranking) as would Paul, who at ATP 720 is inside the requirement of a 750 ATP ranking for boys.

Stewart received a main draw wild card into the $50,000 Dothan Pro Circuit event this week, which starts the women's USTA Har-Tru Wild Card Challenge for the French Open wild card. Paul won three matches to qualify for the $50,000 Savannah Challenger, the second of three men's tournaments that count toward the Wild Card Challenge.

His contest with No. 2 seed Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium will be the 17-year-old's first match in the main draw of a challenger. Jared Donaldson, Mitchell Krueger and Bjorn Fratangelo all picked up wins in first round action Monday. Wild card Stefan Kozlov drew top seed Tim Smyczek and wild card Frances Tiafoe drew Vincent Millot of France.

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.

Create a Free Slideshow

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.

Opelka Defeats Mmoh for Eddie Herr ITF Title; Galfi Beats Ruse in Girls Final; Riffice, Sewing Claim 16s Championships

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Bradenton, FL--

Usually when an unseeded player reaches the final against the No. 2 seed, he can count on the crowd's usual support for the underdog. But at 6-foot-10, Reilly Opelka isn't playing David to anyone's Goliath, especially against IMG's own Michael Mmoh, who drew a large group of Academy students and employees to Court 1, hoping to cheer him on to a title in the tournament's first all-American ITF final.

Mmoh played well, but Opelka used his serve and his touch to earn a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the streaking 16-year-old, who won both the Grade B1 Pan American Closed and the Grade A Abierto Juvenil Mexicano, as well as a $15,000 Futures tournament in the past two months.

Opelka didn't drop serve in the first set, hitting three aces in a row in his second service game and breaking Mmoh at love for a 3-2 lead, which held up, as he served out the set at love.

Mmoh, who had lost in three sets to Opelka in the semifinals of the Grade 1 International Hard Courts in August, battled through a difficult first game in the second set, and had four break points in the second game, but couldn't convert. Opelka had some luck, with one break point saved with a net cord winner, but he continued to hit the ball aggressively and move forward, even when he was on the verge of dropping serve.

"It was part of the plan to come in," said Opelka, a 17-year-old from Palm Coast, Florida, who did not drop a set in the tournament. "Making volleys is part of it. Even missing it is no big deal, because if I'm finding my way to the net, there's constant pressure on him. Making passing shots on the run, especially in big points in the match, continuously is not easy to do. If he can, then that's too good. That's the mentality I had."

Mmoh actually did break Opelka once with that very running forehand pass, but he was already down a break when that happened, and immediately was broken in the next game, when Opelka made a clever cross court pass after Mmoh had moved in to finish the point.

After each held, Opelka served for the match at 5-4, and the hundreds of fans who had surrounded the court, with standing room only even with the extra temporary seating added for the final, couldn't have asked for a more exciting finish.  Opelka, who was nearly perfect with his volleys, opened with a backhand volley winner, but Mmoh countered with a backhand passing winner for 15-15.  Opelka showed great hands in winning the next point, a cat-and-mouse exchange at the net that ended with a volley winner by Opelka.

"I guessed," Opelka said of what appeared to be his uncanny anticipation during the point. "It was pick a side and get lucky, and I got lucky. And not only did I guess right, but I might make that volley two out of ten times. It was lucky, a hundred percent."

Undeterred, Mmoh stepped up and ripped a running forehand pass on the next point to make it 30-30. On the next, Opelka missed his first serve, but hit an excellent second one and moved forward for an easy putaway.  At that stage, Mmoh said "the guy doesn't miss a volley, what can I do?", and the answer wasn't obvious, when Opelka hit a great first serve out wide to close it out.

"He was playing really well in the big points," said Mmoh, who lost for just the second time in his last 27 matches. "He was volleying really well, putting a lot of pressure on me and playing a lot more aggressive than me on the big points. It was tough for me to do anything, especially in his service games."

Both Mmoh and Opelka will head to Plantation for the Grade A Orange Bowl, but Opelka will make a stop first at a nearby Great Clips, where USTA National Coach Brad Stine will make good on a promise to shave his head if one of the three players he was with this week (Opelka, Tommy Paul and Alex Rybakov) won the tournament.

The girls final, played prior to the boys on an overcast and cool morning, saw No. 7 seed Dalma Galfi of Hungary defeat No. 5 seed Gabby Ruse of Romania 6-4, 7-5 to earn her second major junior title in three weeks.

The early games of the first set were lengthy, with neither girl establishing any dominance. Both saved break points but held serve until Ruse served at 3-4 and was broken at love. Serving for the set, Galfi was broken at love, mostly due to her unforced errors rather than any great play by Ruse.

Ruse, who had beaten Galfi in their last meeting in the Grade 1 Canadian Open in August, went up 40-15 in the next game, but her normally reliable backhand let her down and after saving a set point, she double faulted to give Galfi another and an unforced forehand error gave Galfi the set.

In the second set, Ruse started with a break of serve and held, but in the fourth game she appeared to suffer some sort of injury to her left thigh that hampered her side-to-side movement. After she lost the game, the chair umpire asked if she needed a trainer immediately, but she said she would wait for the changeover.  But at 30-all, Ruse again pulled up in pain and a trainer was called immediately.  She received treatment laying on a towel on the court and continued to play without any more apparent pain.

Galfi held serve in that game and Ruse held for 3-3, but Galfi was broken to give Ruse a 4-3 lead, and hope. But she lost a six-deuce game to put the set back on serve and Galfi began to find the range on her ground strokes and get more first serves in play.

Serving at 5-6 to reach a tiebreaker, Ruse double faulted and when Galfi blasted a backhand winner, it was 0-30.  Whether it was due to her injury or to Galfi's more aggressive play, the points were shorter, and Ruse hit a backhand wide early in the rally to go down three match points. Eliminating any drama from the final game, Galfi hit a backhand return winner, initially called out but overruled by the chair umpire with no complaint from Ruse, to claim the championship.

Galfi believes that her great results in the past two months, with two $10,000 Futures titles and the Grade A championship in Mexico City, stem from a better attitude.

"It's more mentally," said the 16-year-old Galfi, who is coached by Csaba Babos, father of current WTA pro Timea Babos, and credits him with her improved results. "I was really weak mentally there in Canada, I don't know why. And I'm a little bit more confident now, after the two $10Ks and Mexico. That helps."

Ruse admitted that Galfi played much better than in their previous encounter and that she was unable to summon the game that had resulted in her quarterfinal win over top seed CiCi Bellis.

"My form was not good today," said the 17-year-old Ruse. "She played better, her backhand was better today, and I couldn't play my backhand because it was hurting my leg."

Ruse hopes to recover fully for the Orange Bowl, while Galfi will have plenty of time to enjoy her Eddie Herr title, the first title for Hungary in 18s since Aniko Kapros won it in 1999, as she is not playing the Orange Bowl.

After three straight weeks of competition, in which she won two singles titles, reached the semifinals in the Grade 1 Yucatan Cup last week and won the doubles, Galfi is going home to Hungary before heading to Australia for the Grade 1 and Australian Open Junior Championships next month.

"It feels really good," said Galfi, who didn't lose a set in taking the title. "I didn't expect to win, so it's a surprise for me also. So I'm really happy."

In the younger age divisions, US players captured both the 16s titles, but the three US finalists who played international competition came up short.

In the girls 12s, the only division not to feature a US player, No. 1 seed Himari Sato of Japan became the first from her country to win the girls 12s title, beating Helene Pellicano of Malta 6-0, 7-6(5).

Unseeded Jungwon Park of Korea became the third Korean to win the boys 12 title, joining Hyeon Chung(2008) and Duckhee Lee(2010). Park beat No. 1 seed Zane Khan of the US 7-5, 6-2.

Colombia had never had an Eddie Herr champion in any age division until today, when No. 12 seed Nicolas Mejia defeated American Brian Shi 6-3, 6-3 in the boys 14s final.

Russia's Anastasia Potapova won the only three-set final of the day, defeating No. 6 seed Caty McNally of the US 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. The top-seeded 13-year-old won the 12s title last year and is the first player to win those two divisions back-to-back since Great Britain's Laura Robson did it in 2006 and 2007.

Fifteen-year-old Sofia Sewing also collected her second straight Eddie Herr title. After winning the 14s championship last year, No. 2 seed Sewing became the first player in tournament history to win the 16s the following year with her 6-2 7-6(5) win over doubles partner and friend Dominique Schaefer, the No. 4 seed, also of the US.

"I was playing against my good friend, so it was exciting and tense," said Sewing, the sixth straight American girls 16s champion. "I feel more relaxed when you're playing a friend. You have these intense points, and you want the best for the both of you. So it was nice."

Sewing said the Eddie Herr is her favorite tournament, and she will go for the 18s ITF title next year, but as far as comparing her title last year to this one, she isn't sure she can.

"It's the same feeling, but last year was the first time and I was so excited," said Sewing, who trains full-time with Robert Gomez at the Metropolia Tier One Academy in Coral Gables, Florida. "This is just amazing. Winning this two years in a row is really unbelievable, and I'm very happy."

Sam Riffice became the third No. 1 seed to collect an Eddie Herr title this year, coming back to defeat unseeded Patrick Kypson 76(3), 6-1.

"He came out really hot and went up 3-0 and 5-2," Riffice said of his fellow 15-year-old. "It was a really good first set, we had really good points.  In the second set, I think he might have hurt his ab a little bit, so it wasn't as physical, but it was a really good match I thought."

Riffice said his decision to play 16s rather than 18s wasn't really a decision, as his ITF ranking only shot up after the acceptance deadline, with two Grade 4 titles this fall.

"Honestly, I didn't think I'd get my ranking up high enough to get into the 18s so I didn't sign up," Riffice said. "But 16s were still really tough. There were a lot of close matches and I could have easily lost before the finals, and I'm happy to have won. It's amazing."

Riffice, who will start play in the Orange Bowl 16s as the No. 2 seed on Monday, credits USTA National Coach Sylvain Guichard with his recent success.

"At the beginning of the year it was pretty tough for me, I wasn't doing great, and he just kept believing in me and working with me. Without him I wouldn't be anywhere near where I was. I'm really thankful for having him."

Complete draws can be found at the tournament website.

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.

Coric Takes Challenger Title, Barty Takes Break; Gosea, Jenkins Earn Futures Titles, Tatishvili Wins Albuquerque $75K

Croatia's Borna Coric, who won't turn 18 until November, won his first Challenger title today in Turkey, defeating top seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-4 in the final of the €106,500 tournament. The 2013 US Open boys champion showed some mental toughness in the third set after letting five match points slip away in the second set, including a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker.

Josh Meiseles, who it the ATP's resident Challenger expert, reports in this article that this is one of just four years when more than one 17-year-old has won a Challenger (Alexander Zverev of Germany is the other this year).   Coric is one of five teenagers to win a Challenger this year joining Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, Hyeon Chung of Korea and Zverev.  With the title Coric will break into the ATP Top 150.

While one junior grand slam champion is moving into the spotlight, another is walking away from it.  Australia's Ashleigh Barty, who won the Wimbledon girls title in 2011 and reached three senior slam finals in doubles last year, is leaving the game, according to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Only 18, Barty has not given any time frame for a return, saying in a statement only that "it is best for me to take a break from professional tennis."

University of Illinois senior Farris Gosea won his first title on the ITF men's circuit today at the $15,000 Futures in Canada.  Gosea, who is from Wales and competes under the Great Britain flag, defeated No. 6 seed Phillip Bester of Canada 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-4.  For more on Gosea's victory, see this article from the University of Illinois website.

2013 NCAA singles finalist and doubles champion Jarmere Jenkins won his third Futures title, defeating Dennis Novikov, formerly of UCLA, 6-4, 6-2 in the $10,000 event in Costa Mesa, California. Novikov had beaten Jenkins in their previous meeting in a Futures final last summer, but the former Cavalier won a rematch the following week in the quarterfinals, and including the NCAA team finals in 2013, is now 3-1 against Novikov.

“I don’t think he played his game today, by far,” Jenkins told Joel Beer, the media liasion for the tournament. “I just got some breaks early and that helped me keep up my momentum.”

Jenkins earned $1,440 for the victory and will pick up 17 points toward his world ranking. He entered the event ranked 280th in the world.

The next five weeks, his focus with be playing Futures events in Australia.

“The circuit in America is usually the top American players beating up on each other, so it’s good to get away and see different players in a new atmosphere,” Jenkins told Beers.

The title will no doubt help Jenkins feel a little bit better about this fall, which took place yesterday in his semifinal match with Tennys Sandgren. Jenkins linked to it on his twitter account, and ESPN has noted it for its Not Top Ten feature.

Former Texas A&M player Junior Ore and former San Diego State player Jeremy Hunter Nicholas won the doubles title in Costa Mesa, defeating current UCLA teammates Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.

At the $75,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Albuquerque, top seed Anna Tatishvili defeated Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-4 in the singles final. Melanie Oudin and Jan Abaza won the doubles title, defeating No. 4 seeds Nicole Melichar and former Gator All-American Allie Will 6-2, 6-3.

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.

Noah Rubin Defeats Defending Champion Altamirano for Kalamazoo 18s Title; McNally Claims 16s Championship

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Kalamazoo MI--

With his 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win over defending National Champion Collin Altamirano Sunday afternoon at Stowe Stadium, Noah Rubin capped off a summer to remember, adding the Kalamazoo 18s singles title the doubles championship he won Saturday and the Wimbledon boys title he captured last month.

Rubin returns home to Rockville Centre, New York with two US Open main draw wild cards in his bag but the 18-year-old has competition in the Most Successful Summer sweepstakes by 16s champion John McNally.

McNally, the top seed, defeated No. 9 seed Connor Hance 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday's 16s final to pick up his second gold ball of the weekend, joining his 12-year-old sister Caty in sweeping singles and doubles, with Caty's victories coming in the 14s division in Georgia.

Although he appreciates being on the long list of great players who have been Kalamazoo champions, McNally is especially excited by the prospect of playing in the US Open Junior Championships late this month with the wild card that goes to the 16s winner.

"It's awesome to get in," said McNally, who has now adjusted his dream of getting in to a junior slam to a dream of winning a round. "I'll be playing with guys like Stefan Kozlov and Michael Mmoh and Jared Donaldson, all those guys are going to be playing, I'm sure. And then you have me. John McNally. I don't really belong in there. But it's going to be a great experience, I can't wait."

McNally won the coin toss in Sunday's final and elected to receive, thinking Hance might be nervous, with a large crowd beginning to assemble behind court 1 on the fifth straight warm and sunny day of the tournament.  That proved be a smart choice, as he broke Hance in the first game--the only break of the set.

In the second set, Hance looked as if he would get the first break when McNally fell behind 0-40 serving at 3-4, but McNally won the next five points, four of them with forehand winners. In the next game, which went to deuce three times, Hance had two game points, but it was McNally who won it, giving him an opportunity to serve for the match.

With McNally serving at 5-4 30-30, Hance netted a forehand but McNally double faulted on his first match point. Eerily, this is exactly the same score and scenario, right down to the double fault, in the 2013 14s Easter Bowl final between the two, with Hance winning the game and going on to a 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 victory.

"I'm sure everyone was thinking, oh my god, it's like the Easter Bowl, 6-4, 5-4, 40-30, the same exact score," said McNally, a 15-year-old from Cincinnati, Ohio, who won the 16s Clay Courts  singles championship last month. "But I wasn't really thinking about it, wasn't really nervous. I'd gotten this far, I might as well win it."

Although there was no comeback for Hance, he kept pushing McNally, saving two more match points and getting a break point after the third one, only to see McNally save it with confident overhead. After Hance netted a backhand, McNally got his fourth match point and this time a good first serve sealed the victory, his 64th in 2014, against one loss.

Hance, who dealt McNally that one loss in the July Intersectionals, wasn't disappointed in his level, despite the loss.

"I played pretty well today," said Hance, a 15-year-old from Torrance, California. "But to beat John I would have to play a lot better. He was taking advantage of my short balls and finishing every time, and I couldn't do anything about it. He's really good at taking the ball early, and he hits really deep and hard. He was just a little more solid than me today, and his serve was probably a little better. That's what did it for him."

Hance said he was happy with his week, and called Kalamazoo his favorite tournament "by far" and said he might play the 16s again next year to try to get his name on the champions honor roll.

McNally now has his sights set on adding his name to the 18s list of champions.

"To be on a list like that is unbelievable," McNally said. "There's so much history at this tournament. I'm just lucky to get my name on the bowl, and I'm going to try to win 18s one year."

Seeded third, Rubin was making his fourth attempt at a Kalamazoo title, playing here once in the 16s and three times in the 18s. His 2012 and 2013 attempts stalled in the semifinals, but on Sunday he put those disappointments behind him, dominating the fifth seed and defending champion with his court positioning, speed and belief.

"It was pure mental toughness," said Rubin. "I changed my game plan because it was five sets and I knew I couldn't run down every ball, I'd be exhausted. So I tried to shorten the game, stay on top of the baseline, and that was in my favor. I took the angles away from him. He's a great ball mover, I know that, and he kind of takes players out of their game, so I thought stepping up first would be a good idea."

Both players held their first service game, but Altamirano was broken the second time he served and never entirely recovered from that. After playing very precisely against Stefan Kozlov in the semifinals, Altamirano was unable to execute against Rubin, often missing the finishing shot when he had succeeded in getting Rubin out of position.

In both the first and second sets, Rubin went up two breaks, and although he gave one of them back both times, serving for the first and second sets at 5-2, he held in his second attempts, with Altamirano becoming increasingly angry and demonstrative as the match continued.

"I felt like he believed and I didn't," said Altamirano, despite having the experience of winning the title last year as the first unseeded player in the tournament's history. "At 2-1 in the first set, I don't know what was going on in my head, but I was worried, and the whole time I was trying to convince myself to turn it around, turn it around, but I just couldn't do it."

Altamirano looked as if he had calmed himself down after going down 2-0 in the third set, winning three straight games to take the lead for the first time since the first game of the match. Rubin stayed focused however, and won the final three games to become the first player since Van Winitsky in 1977 to win both the Wimbledon boys title and the Kalamazoo 18s championship in the same year.

"I knew in the bottom of my heart it could have gone four or five (sets), but after that second set I had the confidence," Rubin said. "Putting myself in his shoes, it's tough to win three sets. Even if he wins two sets, it's still another set."

As the runner-up this year, Altamirano receives a wild card into the men's qualifying draw at the US Open.

"I'll look at the bright side," said Altamirano, who lost in the first round of the main draw last year to Philip Kohlschreiber of Germany. "Qualies isn't bad. It's an opportunity. It'll be fun and I'm looking forward to it."

Rubin, who earned a main draw doubles wild card with Stefan Kozlov on Saturday, is not sure who he'd like to draw as his first round singles opponent in New York.

"It's both ways. I feel like I have a chance against anybody, I've seen these guys play, played guys 100 in the world, but would Fed in a night match be awesome? Yes," Rubin asked and answered. "But winning first round of the Open would be nice also. But really anything--I'm playing the Open, in my own backyard, let me just enjoy myself."

Rubin will be heading to Wake Forest this fall, and joked with Demon Deacon head coach Tony Bresky that nothing would change his mind about attending school, not even reaching the final of the US Open.

"If I win the Open, maybe not," said Rubin. "But anything less than that, I'm going."

"I'll cheer for you all the way until the finals," joked Bresky, who was also at Wimbledon for Rubin's title run there. "Then it's 'Let's Go Fed.'"

"But no, this doesn't change anything," said Rubin. "I still need that year (at school). Tony's a great coach and he's really going to help me through this first year."

Bresky saw Rubin's ability to come through when the stakes were high in his two singles titles this summer.

"Noah played his best tennis in both tournaments at the end, which is what I think every tennis player aspires to," said Bresky. "It was pretty impressive stuff. I'm excited, my coaching staff is excited, my athletic department is excited. I think the university and the community is excited, the guys on the team are excited. Noah's a great kid, and he's obviously going to be a great ambassador, not only for our program from a tennis perspective, but for the university as well."

Bresky credited Rubin's coach Lawrence Kleger at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy and Rubin's father Eric with preparing his recruit for these accomplishments.

"So now all the pressure is on us, to make sure he keeps developing and getting better," Bresky said. "We welcome that, and we're excited to have him."

In the third place singles matches played Sunday morning, Gianni Ross won the bronze ball in the 16s, defeating Oliver Crawford 7-6(3), 6-4. William Genesen won the feed-in consolation tournament, defeating Kyle Seelig 6-3, 1-6, 10-7.

Stefan Kozlov won the bronze ball in 18s singles, via a walkover from Michael Mmoh.

Seelig was the recipient of the Wes Richards Sportsmanship Award for Feed-ins, and Aron Hiltzik joined his brother Jared as a Dr. Allen B. Stowe Sportsmanship award winner for the 18s division this year. Jared won the award in 2012.

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.