Nine Seeds Fall in First Round at ITF Grade 1 Hard Courts; 29 Americans in US Open Qualifying; Jorovic Loses Opening Round at Youth Olympic Games

©Colette Lewis 2014--
College Park, MD--

I arrived at the Junior Tennis Champions Tennis Center in College Park this afternoon in time to catch quite a few first round singles matches, but I missed most of the upsets, either because they were early matches or were at the second site at the University of Maryland.

No. 4 seed Evgeniya Levashova of Russia was beaten by Ellyse Hamlin 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 and No. 8 seed Vera Lapko of Belarus lost to Ingrid Neel 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. (If I don't reference a player's country, they are from the US).  Jessica Ho, the No. 6 seed, retired after losing the first set to qualifier Jessica Livianu.  Two upsets I did see were Andie Daniell's 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win over No. 10 seed Olivia Hauger and Jessica Golovin's 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over No. 15 seed Emilie Francati of Denmark.

No. 5 seed Nicolae Frunza of Romania lost to qualifier Kyle Seelig 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 and No. 6 seed Pedro Iamachkine of Peru was beaten by Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-6(3).  No. 12 seed Jake Delaney of Australia went out to Jack Barber 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Tommy Paul defeated No. 15 seed Teeradon Tortrakul of Thailand 6-3, 6-4.

Top boys seed Michael Mmoh won his first round match over Emil Reinberg 7-6(1), 6-4 and top girls seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia got though a tough first round, beating Kelly Chen 6-1, 6-4.

The viewing is excellent for all eight courts at the JTCC, and there are name cards on court identifying every player and their country. But matches are not chaired at this stage, and after four months of watching only chaired matches at the NCAAs, Wimbledon, the Clay Courts and Kalamazoo, I'd forgotten just how contentious player line calling can be, and how much time is spent arguing about calls and seeking out a roving umpire.

No. 2 seed Tim Van Rijthoven of the Netherlands was agitated about line calls throughout his 6-3, 7-6(3) win over wild card Brian Cernoch, but Cernoch, a 14-year-old who trains at the JTCC, didn't let the delays and questioning bother him. The pace both boys displayed led to some very entertaining points, drawing frequent applause on the stadium court 17, but it was the 17-year-old who was a bit less error-prone on the big points.

Another surprise was the sheer number of college coaches at the tournament. I had expected most would wrap up their recruiting at the National championships two weeks ago, or at least take a break before the US Open junior qualifying, but that certainly didn't seem to be the case, with many major schools represented on site today.

Two sites will still be used on Tuesday, with the start of doubles play again requiring additional courts.    For complete results and the order of play for Tuesday, see the tournament website.

 The draws for the US Open qualifying, which begins on Tuesday, are out.

There are 14 US men and 15 US women hoping to win three matches and one of 16 places in the main draw.   The 14 US men are:

Chase Buchanan
Ernesto Escobedo(WC)
Taylor Fritz(WC)
Rhyne Williams
Rajeev Ram(28)
Mackenzie McDonald(WC)
Collin Altamirano(WC)
Tennys Sandgren
Alex Kuznetsov
Francis Tiafoe(WC)
Austin Krajicek
Michael Russell(14)
Mitchell Frank
Stefan Kozlov(WC)

Five of the above are in action on Tuesday, with Escobedo playing No. 24 seed Somdev Devvarman(UVA), Buchanan facing top seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, and Sandgren, who is back after hip surgery, meeting No. 10 seed Peter Polansky of Canada. Russell plays Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain and Kuznetsov faces Taro Daniel of Japan. 

The 15 US women are:
Jennifer Brady(WC)
Katerina Stewart(WC)
Tornado Alicia Black(WC)
Caitlin Whoriskey(WC, won US Open National Playoffs, along with Sanam Singh(UVA), who won the men's qualifying wild card)
Melanie Oudin(26)
Asia Muhammad(WC)
Ana Tatishvili(7)
Julia Boserup
Samantha Crawford(WC)
Bernarda Pera(WC)
Irina Falconi
Louisa Chirico
Allie Kiick(28)
Sachia Vickery(31)
Maria Sanchez(WC)

Nine women are on Tuesday's schedule, with Falconi playing Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, Stewart facing Yuliya Beygelzimer of Ukraine, Boserup meeting Tatjana Maria of Germany, Chirico against Maria Irigoyen of Argentina and Black against Naomi Broady of Great Britain.  Pera faces No. 13 seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia, Kiick plays Paula Kania of Poland, Vickery meets Arina Rodionova of Australia and Sanchez plays Erika Sema of Japan.

Tuesday's order of play is here.  Draws are here.

The first round of the girls singles at the ITF Grade A Youth Olympic Games in China produced a major surprise, with top seed and world No. 1 Ivana Jorovic of Serbia going out to Simona Heinova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6(3).  Sofia Kenin, the sole US representative in the girls draw, lost her first round match to Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, the No. 8 seed, 6-2, 7-6(4). Alex Rybakov and his partner Luis Valero of Colombia lost in the first round of doubles to No. 4 seeds Francisco Bahamonde and Matias Zukas 7-6(8), 6-3.

Giron Qualifies at Winston-Salem, Rubin Falls Just Short in ATP Debut; Gordon and Whoriskey, Singh and Dadamo in US Open National Playoffs Finals; Nguyen Takes Calgary Title; Mmoh Top Seed in ITF Grade 1

At the Winston-Salem Open, reigning NCAA champion Marcos Giron qualified for his first ATP main draw, winning three qualifying matches Saturday and Sunday.  Today former UCLA Bruin Giron defeated Mate Pavic of Croatia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will play another ITA Player of the Year in the first round of the main draw, Alexsandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan, who played for Oklahoma State.  Giron has had a difficult summer, failing to win a main draw match on the Challenger level in five attempts, but he seems to be finding his form at just the right time, with his US Open debut a little over a week away.

Kalamazoo champion Noah Rubin made his main draw ATP debut tonight in Winston-Salem, with the 18-year-old wild card falling to 2010 NCAA champion Bradley Klahn(Stanford) 6-2, 0-6, 7-6(5).  Rubin trailed 4-1 in the final set, won four straight games to serve for the match, but was broken at love. Rubin forced the third set tiebreak serving down 5-6, but lost both his serves leading 3-2 in the tiebreaker, and Klahn won all the points on his serve to close it out.

The singles finals for the US Open National Playoffs are set for Monday, with 15-year-old Michaela Gordon playing Caitlin Whoriskey for the women's qualifying wild card, and defending champion Jeff Dadamo facing Sanam Singh for the men's qualifying wild card.

Gordon has been romping through her opponents the past two days. After losing just two games to No. 3 seed Jennifer Elie, Gordon beat No. 5 seed Jacqueline Cako 6-1, 6-2 today to reach the final. Former Tennessee Volunteer Whoriskey, who like Gordon is unseeded, reached the final with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over No. 4 seed Ashley Weinhold.

Top seed Singh, who played college tennis at Virginia, defeated No. 4 seed and rising North Carolina sophomore Ronnie Schneider 7-6(4), 6-1, while second seed Dadamo, who won the NCAA doubles title in 2011 while at Texas A&M, defeated former Kentucky All-American Jesse Witten 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Due to the Nationals last week, I neglected to note the Pro Circuit winners, with rising Virginia senior Mitchell Frank winning his second Futures of the summer at the $10,000 tournament in Edwardsville Illinois.  The unseeded Frank beat top seed Yuki Bhambri of India 7-6(5), 6-2 in the final.

There are no Pro Circuit tournaments the rest of this month in the United States, but many Americans are playing in Canada.  Daniel Nguyen, the former USC Trojan, won his second Futures title in the past month, at a $15,000 tournament in Calgary, Canada.  Nguyen avenged a recent Futures quarterfinal loss to Bjorn Fratangelo, taking the title with a 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-4 victory over the 21-year-old American, who was also unseeded.  North Carolina teammates Jack Murray and Brayden Schnur won the doubles title 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 over Dennis Nevolo(Illinois) and Bulgaria's Dimitar Kutrovsky(Texas).

At the ITF Grade A Youth Olympic Games, the first round of the boys singles and the first round of the girls doubles opened the competition Sunday.  Alex Rybakov, the only US boy in China for the tournament, lost to Lloyd Harris of South Africa 7-6(10), 6-4.  Sofia Kenin, the only US girl in China, is playing doubles with Mexico's Renata Zarazua, and they advanced to the quarterfinals, beating French Open girls champions Ioana Ducu and Ioana Rosca of Romania 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.

The draws are out for the ITF Grade 1 in College Park, Maryland, where I'll be traveling on Monday.  Michael Mmoh is the top boys seed, Anna Kalinskaya of Russia is the top girls seed.  Draws and Monday's order of play can be found at the tournament website.

Grade A Youth Olympic Games Begin Sunday; Wild Cards for ITF Grade 1 in College Park; Gordon Reaches Semifinals of US Open National Playoffs

The Youth Olympic Games were introduced in 2010, and just as their much more established adult counterpart, they are scheduled for every four years (the same schedule as the Winter Olympic Games).  The tennis competition, which is administered through the International Tennis Federation, begins on Sunday, with the current world No. 1s Andrey Rublev of Russia and Ivana Jorovic of Serbia the top seeds.

The United States has sent two players to Nanjing China--Sofia Kenin and Alex Rybakov--but with the US Open qualifying and junior championships right around the corner, it's understandable that other top American juniors declined the opportunity. The fields are strong, as befitting a Grade A tournament, and the results next week will have a major impact on the seedings for the US Open junior championships, which begin on August 31st.

The draws have been released and can be found here. The ITF's Olympic tennis site is the place to go for coverage of the event.

While the Olympics will garner most of the international attention in junior tennis this week, I'll be covering the ITF Grade 1 Prince George's County International Hard Court Championships in College Park Maryland beginning Monday.  Qualifying for the tournament began today and will continue through Sunday.  For draws and order of play, see the tournament website.  The main draw wild cards awarded for the tournament:

Boys:

Trent Bryde

Matt Kuhar

Brian Cernoch

Yancy Dennis

Patrick Kypson

Sam Riffice

Girls:

Kayla Day

Kylie Mckenzie 

Ingrid Neel

Alexandra Sanford 

Jada Robinson

Elizabeth Scotty

Ines Vias

The US Open National Playoffs in singles are underway in New Haven Connecticut, with the first round of play completed Friday.  With Asia Muhammad receiving a women's qualifying wild card last week, she withdrew from the tournament, so there was no No. 1 seed in the women's event.  No. 2 seed Denise Muresan (Michigan) lost to 15-year-old Kelly Chen 6-3, 7-5, but the other three seeds in the women's draw and all four men's seeds, advanced to Saturday's quarterfinals.  Friday's results are here.

In Saturday's quarterfinals, Michaela Gordon (who may not be playing in the College Park ITF after all, if she wins in New Haven tomorrow) defeated No. 3 seed Jennifer Elie 6-1, 6-1. No. 4 seed Ashley Weinhold and No. 5 seed Jacqueline Cako also advanced to the semifinals, where she will meet Gordon. Weinhold will play unseeded Caitlin Whoriskey(Tennessee), who played two matches yesterday--one in the WTA Connecticut Open qualifying draw and one in the National Open playoffs. Today she defeated Chen in two tiebreakers to reach the semifinals.

Top seed Sanam Singh(Virginia), No. 2 seed  and defending champion Jeff Dadamo(Texas A&M), No. 3 seed Jesse Witten(Kentucky) and No. 4 seed Ronnie Schneider(North Carolina) make up the men's semifinals Sunday.

The mixed doubles National Open Playoffs, for a place in the main draw of the US Open, begins on Wednesday, also in New Have.

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.