Frances

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Francis Tiafoe (@FTiafoe) Nabs Main Draw Wild Card @CitiOpen

Posted by Admin on July 25, 2014
Posted in: Citi Open, Maryland, Washington. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

FRANCIS TIAFOE AWARDED WILD CARD ENTRY TO CITI OPEN® TOURNAMENT MAIN DRAW
Three Other Top Juniors Receiving Wild Card Entries to Qualifying Rounds

Francis Tiafoe

WASHINGTON — Francis Tiafoe, the No. 6 ranked junior in International Tennis Federation, has received a wild card entry to the main draw of the Citi Open® Tournament. It will be the College Park, Md., native’s first foray into an ATP World Tour tournament’s main draw.

Tiafoe, 16, won the Citi Open® Wild Card Challenge in June and earned his spot with a wild card entry in the qualifying rounds. Tournament officials, however, decided that main draw play would be more fitting for the hometown player.

“We’re excited to watch Francis in his first main draw match,” said Jeff Newman, tournament director. “This is his hometown and this is where he trains, so we expect a great crowd to come out and support him.”

Francis Tiafoe

Tiafoe trains at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, one of the leading training programs in the country. In 2012, he became the youngest winner of the Orange Bowl Championship, and earlier this year, played at both French Open Juniors and Wimbledon Juniors.

“I’m so excited to play in my first main draw ATP event and I can’t imagine a better place to play than in front of my hometown crowd,” Tiafoe said. “I’m so thankful to the Citi Open® for giving me this great opportunity.”

Citiopen Official Site

Three other juniors will receive a wild card entry into the qualifying rounds, beginning Saturday, July 26. Stefan Kozlov, 16, the current No. 2 ranked junior in the world, reached the finals of both Australian Open Juniors and Wimbledon Juniors this year. University of Virginia junior Ryan Shane, 20, helped the Cavaliers win the NCAA championship in 2013, and was recently named “Player to Watch” by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Jordi Arconada, 17, the runner-up in the Wild Card Challenge, will take Tiafoe’s place in the qualifying rounds.

—S. Pegarido, Citi Open

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Tiafoe, Arconada Win Inaugural @CitiOpen Wild Card Challenge @TheJTCC

Posted by Admin on June 18, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Citi Open, Junior Tennis Champions Center, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Tiafoe, Arconada Win Inaugural @CitiOpen Wild Card Challenge @TheJTCC
Stephan Fogleman, Tennis East Coast

Usue Arconada (Photo: S. Fogleman)

Usue Keeps Busy during MTO

Usue Keeps Busy during MTO

Last month, when the Citi Open announced that the Junior Tennis Champions Center would host their first annual Wild Card Challenge, the JTCC trotted out their big names as marquee participants. Francis Tiafoe and Usue Arconada headlined the event, and the JTCC didn’t disappoint. Yesterday, Tiafoe and Arconada nabbed qualifying wild cards to the Citi Open in Washington next month, and they both did it in straight sets on a scorching day on the blue hard courts on which they train.

Arconada & Morton

For Arconada, it’s a return trip to Washington. Last year, she became the second-youngest player in WTA history to win her debut qualifying match. Last year, she was given a wild card. This year, she earned it by besting Skylar Morton 7-6(4), 7-5 in the final of a 29-player tournament. Morton was noticeably affected by the heat in the second set of yesterday’s final, wherein she got sick right before serving for set point of the second set.

“I had a pretty nice run. I had some good matches. Had a good match against Skylar today and that was great. We had a long match in the sun. It was really hot out there, but I got it through.”

As far as the heat, Arconada said that “Skylar had a little trouble with the heat. She’s been training here for the past 6 months while she’s taking a break from college. I was feeling a little nauseous after she threw up. I did not like seeing that”.

And what’s it like playing against a friend like Morton in a meaningful match?

“It’s pretty hard, but when you step on the court, you don’t think about your friendship”, she said.

Tiafoe also defeated a friend yesterday to win the Wild Card Challenge, and it happened to be Usue’s brother, Jordi Arconada. Tiafoe showed off his dazzling forehand in the 6-1, 7-6 win. This will be Tiafoe’s first time as a player at Citi Open, a tournament he’s been attending as a fan since he was five years old.

Look at you, JTCC. Looking strong!

Francis Tiafoe

Francis Tiafoe

Nakagawa, Bellis Capture 18s Singles Titles At USTA International Spring Championships

Posted by Admin on April 6, 2014
Posted in: Junior Tennis, Junior Tennis Champions Center, USTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Nakagawa, Bellis Capture 18s Singles Titles At USTA International Spring Championships

Naoki Nakagawa (JPN)

Naoki Nakagawa (JPN)

CARSON, Calif., (April 6, 2014) – At 5-all in a third-set tiebreaker, No. 2-seeded Naoki Nakagawa knew he had to play the final two points like he had been the entire match: “patient yet aggressive.”

And that’s exactly what the Bradenton, Fla., resident from Fukuoka, Japan, did on Sunday as he went the distance to beat top-seeded Francis Tiafoe to capture the Boys’ 18s singles title, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5), on the final day at the 10th annual USTA International Spring Championships, an ITF level Grade 1 event played at the StubHub Center.

“I was really tight but I knew I had to go for it,” said Nakagawa, who took a second serve from the forehand side for a cross-court winner to go up 6-5 in the breaker. He then hit a powerful serve down the “T” that Tiafoe could only manage to hit into the net.

Tiafoe said he played an “unbelievable” game at 5-all to break Nakagawa’s serve and then had a chance to serve out the match. But Nakagawa returned some tough Tiafoe first serves to break back sending the match into a tiebreaker, the first time it’s gone that far in the event’s 10-year history. In fact, in the first nine Boys’ 18s finals before Sunday, only twice had a match gone to three sets.

“It could have gone either way,” said Tiafoe, the ITF world-ranked No. 7 player from College Park, Md. “I hit a bad second serve and for him to go for that at 5-all was pretty clutch, and you got to give that to him. Then he hits a big serve at match point so there’s nothing you can do there.”

Nakagawa, 17, is in his fifth year training at IMG Bolettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla. He calls current world ATP Tour Top 20 player Kei Nishikori a good friend. “Yeah, we train together and sometimes I go to his house and we play games,” said Nakagawa.

Tiafoe headed straight for the desert two hours east after his match where he will take tomorrow off before his first match in the ASICS Easter Bowl. He said he won’t dwell on the loss for long, and that there is no pressure on him this coming week. “It’s not like it’s going to matter to me to play the Slams this summer,” he said. “It obviously hurts because I wanted to win but it’s not going to carry over to this week.”

In the girls’ 18s final contested at the same time, No. 5-seeded and 14-year-old CiCi Bellis of Atherton, Calif., made short work of 15-year-old and No. 9 Raveena Kingsley of Fulton, Md., 6-3, 6-0. Kingsley had beaten Bellis in their only prior meeting at the 12s USTA Spring Nationals back in 2011.

Catherine Cartan Bellis (USA)

Catherine Cartan Bellis (USA)

Kingsley, who trains out of the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., had a tough three-set semifinal on Saturday and said she felt mentally and physically tired before the final. “And it’s my first Grade 1 final, so maybe that helped her confidence, that she’s been here before,” said Kingsley, who was coached by Frank Salazar all week.

Bellis was cheered on by her hitting partner and one of her coaches Jelena Pandzic, a former junior prodigy from Split, Croatia, who reached as high as No. 135 in the WTA World Tour rankings.

“I will rest the rest of today and maybe have a light hit tomorrow,” said Bellis, who turns 15 on Tuesday. “I really want to win the Easter Bowl. It’s going to be really hard because everyone in the draw is really good.”

In 2012, Bellis was a finalist in the Girls’ 14s at the ASICS Easter and last year she won the Girls’ 16s.

For a complete look at all the final draws, log onto the website at www.usta.com/isc.

SUNDAY’S FINAL SCORES

Boys’ 18 Singles

Naoki Nakagawa (2) (Japan) def. Francis Tiafoe (1) (College Park, MD) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5)

Girls’ 18 Singles

CiCi Bellis (5) (Atherton, CA) def. Raveena Kingsley (9) (Fulton, MD) 6-3, 6-0

—Steve Pratt

Shibahara Takes Two Titles, NY’s Loeb Advances to Final @USTA_ISC Spring Championships

Posted by Admin on April 6, 2013
Posted in: International Spring Championships, Junior Tennis, USTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

Ena Shibahara Pulls Out Two Titles, NYs Jamie Loeb Advances to Final

 

At USTA International Spring Championships

 

Shibahara/ Photo: Cynthia Lum/USTA 

 

CARSON, Calif., (Saturday, April 6, 2013) – They came from all parts of the United States and even countries like Japan, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Argentina and Venezuela, but on the final day of the 16-and-under division at the USTA International Spring Championships on Saturday, a player from Pete Sampras’ childhood hometown just eight miles up the hill from here captured both the singles and doubles titles.

Ena Shibahara, 15, of Rancho Palos Verdes swept past 12-year-old Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks, 6-1, 6-2, to win the girls’ 16s singles title, and then teamed with Savannah Slaysman to capture the doubles at the prestigious event being played at the Home Depot Center.

“She sure doesn’t look 12,” Shibahara said of Liu, who trains at the USTA Training Center West in Carson three days a week. “She had a little more power than I thought.”

Shibahara trains with her father and coaches Oliver Messerli and Kimberly Po-Messerli near her home at the Peninsula Racquet Club. Po-Messerli was a successful WTA player winning the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2000 with Donald Johnson and made it all the way to the Australian Open quarterfinals in 1997.

Shibahara said winning a gold ball at the USTA Winternationals helped boost her confidence over the last few months.

Liu said she picked a bad time to play her worst match of the tournament, especially with USTA coach Adam Peterson looking on. “He just said I played well in the rounds before and just learn from it,” Liu said.

You can’t get much closer than boys’ 16s singles finalists Jake Devine and Catalin Mateas have been this week as the two USTA National Training Center practice partners shared a room during the entire week.

Using his booming serve to get him out of several tight spots throughout the match, the No. 4-seeded Devine of Boca Raton, Fla., beat Mateas No. 7 from Braintree, Mass., 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

 

“I don’t think we’ve ever played a match in a tournament where it hasn’t gone three sets,” said Devine, who blamed nerves on his slow start. “It was kind of a pattern for me in this tournament. I started slow and it took me awhile to find my game and I finally started to hit my forehand.”

 

With Devine serving leading 3-2 in the final set, Mateas had a break-point chance to get it back on serve, but missed an easy down the line passing shot just wide. “I had a chance there, but I just couldn’t convert,” he said. “Every chance I had he came up with a big serve.”
In a battle of 15-year-olds in one 18s semifinal, No. 2-seeded Stefan Kozlov of Pembroke Pines, Fla., came up with the bigger shots against Francis Tiafoe of College Park, Md., 6-3, 6-4.

 

It marks a return trip to the final for Kozlov, who as a 14-year-old lost to Mitchell Krueger in last year’s final. “Last year in the final I wasn’t playing my game and attacking, I was playing more defense and letting him dictate the points,” said Kozlov, ranked No. 21 in the ITF junior world rankings.

 

He faces 16-year-old Henrik Wiersholm of Kirkland, Wash., in the 9 a.m. Sunday final. Wiersholm trains with Kozlov at the National Training Center in Boca. “It hasn’t been much of a rivalry because I have never beaten him,” said Wiersholm, calling Kozlov one of the smartest players in junior tennis. “I’m hoping to change that in the final.”

 

Loeb

Loeb

 

In the girls’ 18s final the same time as the boys, Jamie Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., will take on Irvine’s Mayo Hibi. Loeb ended Kimberly Yee’s run, 6-2, 6-4. Yee, who trains at Mike Agassi’s No Quit Academy in Las Vegas, was a qualifier who was riding a seven-match winning streak entering the match. Hibi beat top-seeded Christina Makarova of San Diego, 6-4, 6-1.

 

Loeb and Redondo Beach’s Maegan Manasse downed Hibi and Denise Starr for the 18s doubles title, 6-3, 6-3, while Tommy Mylnikov and Naoki Nakagawa beat Spencer Papa and Alexander Zverev, 6-4, 7-5, for the 18s boys’ title. In the boys’ 16s doubles final, Taylor Fritz and Daniel Gealer beat Chase Colton and Kyle Seelig, 6-2, 6-3.

 

For a complete run down of Saturday’s scores and updated draws, log onto the website at www.usta.com/isc.

 

Boys’ 18 Singles (Semifinals)

 

Henrik Wiersholm, Kirkland, WA   def.  Naoki Nakagawa (4), Japan  6-4, 6-3

 

Stefan Kozlov (2), Pembroke Pines, FL   def.  Francis Tiafoe (14), College Park, MD   6-3, 6-4

 

 

Boys’ 18 Doubles (Final)

 

Tommy Mylnikov / Naoki Nakagawa (2)  def.  Spencer Papa / Alexander Zverev (3)  6-4, 7-5

 

 

Girls’ 18 Singles (Semifinals)

 

Jamie Loeb (5), Ossining, NY   def.  Kimberly Yee, Las Vegas, NV  6-2, 6-4

 

Mayo Hibi, Irvine, CA   def.  Christina Makarova (1), San Diego, CA  6-4, 6-1

 

 

Girls’ 18 Doubles (Final)

 

Jamie Loeb / Maegan Manasse  def.  Mayo Hibi / Denise Starr (7) 6-3, 6-3

 

 

Boys’ 16 Singles (Final)

 

Jake Devine (4), Boca Raton, FL   def.  Catalin Mateas (7), Braintree, MA   2-6, 6-3, 6-4

 

 

Boys’ 16 Doubles (Final)

 

Taylor Fritz / Daniel Gealer (8)  def.  Chase Colton / Kyle Seelig (5)  6-2, 6-3

 

 

Girls’ 16 Singles (Final)

 

Ena Shibahara (13), Rancho Palos Verdes, CA   def.  Claire Liu, Thousand Oaks, CA   6-1, 6-2

 

 

Girls’ 16 Doubles (Final)

 

Ena Shibahara / Savannah Slaysman  def.  Caroline Dolehide / Alexis Nelson (8)  7-6(1), 6-2

 

—S. Pratt

 

 

Qualifier Yee Surprises, Tiafoe-Kozlov Showdown Set @USTA_ISC Spring Championships

Posted by Admin on April 5, 2013
Posted in: International Spring Championships, Junior Tennis, USTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Kimmie YeePhoto: Cynthia Lum/USTA

Kimmie Yee
Photo: Cynthia Lum/USTA

Qualifier Yee Turns Tables On Porter

At USTA International Spring Championships

Tiafoe, Kozlov Headed for Showdown

 

CARSON, Calif., (Friday, April 5, 2013) – Getting stronger and stronger as each round progresses, Las Vegas qualifier Kimberly Yee won her seventh match in seven days on Friday, exacting some revenge against Dallas’ Peggy Porter in convincing fashion, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the girls’ 18s semifinals at the USTA International Spring Championships being played at the Home Depot Center.

 

Just last week, Yee fell to Porter in the quarterfinals of the Claremont ITF. “I just felt more confident today, I was the attacker,” said Yee, 16. “She was making a few more errors but it was because I was forcing them.”

 

Yee feels fortunate just to be alive in the tournament as she has won two third-set tiebreaks, including one in the quarterfinals on Thursday where she faced a match point, and in her second-round qualifying match last Sunday when she overcame two match points. Later that day she qualified for the main draw with a straight-set win before a much needed day of rest on Monday.

 

Yee will next face No. 5 seeded Jamie Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., who needed nearly three hours to defeat No. 2-seeded Victoria Rodriguez of Weston, Fla., 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

 

In the other 18s semifinal, top-seeded Christina Makarova will face unseeded Mayo Hibi of Irvine, as both were easy straight-set winners on Friday.

 

In the boys’ 18s, two 16-year-olds and a pair of 15-year-olds all won big matches Friday to make the Final Four weekend. Henrik Wiersholm, 16, of Kirkland, Wash., upset top-seeded top Noah Rubin of Rockville Centre, N.Y., 6-4, 6-3. Just like Yee’s revenge win, the same was true for Wiersholm, who fell to Rubin in their only other meeting at the ITF Pan American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., last fall.

 

“The ’97 and ’98s (years born) are coming through here,” Wiersholm said. “We all train together and push each other a lot so when we come to big events like this it really shows.”

 

Wiersholm is a former winner of Les Petits As, a prestigious Under-14 event played in France, and he’s joined in the semifinals by another former Les Petits As victor, 15-year-old Francis Tiaofe of College Park, Md.

 

Tiafoe, the No. 14 seed who is No. 114 in the ITF world rankings, won his second consecutive third-set tiebreak match, and said afterward that he doesn’t fear anyone in the draw, including his semifinal opponent, fellow 15-year-old Stefan Kozlov.

 

“He’s considered the best from ’98 in the U.S., and I put myself at No. 2,” Tiafoe said of Kozlov. “He’s an unbelievable player, Top 15 in the world. I’ve never been able to beat him and he’s gotten the better of me the three or four times we’ve played.”

 

Tiafoe said his confidence level is at an all-time high. “I know I can beat anyone in the draw,” he said. “You can never be too confident. Every match I play I believe I can win.”

 

In the girls’ 16s final, 12-year-old Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks will face No. 13-seeded Ena Shibahara of Rancho Palos Verdes. It’s a home match for Liu, a seventh-grader who trains three days a week at the Carson site which is the home for the USTA Training Center West. Shibahara beat No. 12-seeded Samantha Martinelli of Denver, Colo., 6-2, 6-1.

 

In the boys’ 16s final, No. 7-seeded Catalin Mateas of Braintree, Mass., will face No. 4-seeded Jake Devine of Boca Raton, Fla.

 

For a complete run down of Friday’s scores and updated draws, log onto the website at www.usta.com/isc.

 

Boys’ 18 Singles (Quarterfinals)

Stefan Kozlov (2), Pembroke Pines, FL   def.  Spencer Papa (6), Edmond, OK   6-2, 6-2

Naoki Nakagawa (4), Japan  def.  Alexander Zverev (11), Wesley Chapel, FL   2-6, 6-3, 6-3

Henrik Wiersholm, Kirkland, WA   def.  Noah Rubin (1), Rockville Centre, NY   6-4, 6-3

Francis Tiafoe (14), College Park, MD   def.  Daniel Kerznerman (10), Brooklyn, NY   3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3)

 

Boys’ 18 Doubles (Semifinals)

Tommy Mylnikov / Naoki Nakagawa (2)  def.  Walker Duncan / John Mee  6-2, 6-2

Spencer Papa / Alexander Zverev (3)  def.  Luca Corinteli / Martin Redlicki (1)  3-6, 6-4, 10-4

 

Girls’ 18 Singles (Quarterfinals)

Christina Makarova (1), San Diego, CA   def.  Madison Bourguignon (8), Boynton Beach, FL   6-3, 6-2

Mayo Hibi, Irvine, CA   def.  Alejandra Cisneros Gomez (3), Mexico  6-1, 6-1

Kimberly Yee, Las Vegas, NV   def.  Peggy Porter, Dallas, TX   6-1, 6-2

Jamie Loeb (5), Ossining, NY   def.  Victoria Rodriguez (2), Weston, FL   5-7, 6-3, 6-3

 

Girls’ 18 Doubles (Semifinals)

Mayo Hibi / Denise Starr (7)  def.  Alejandra Cisneros Gomez / Victoria Rodriguez (1)  6-4, 2-6, 10-6

Jamie Loeb / Maegan Manasse  def.  Brooke Austin / Kimberly Yee  6-2, 6-1

 

Boys’ 16 Singles (Semifinals)

Catalin Mateas (7), Braintree, MA   def.  Kalman Boyd, Rancho Santa Fe, CA   7-6(3), 6-1

Jake Devine (4), Boca Raton, FL   def.  Kyle Seelig (12), Hatfield, PA   7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1

 

Boys’ 16 Doubles (Semifinals)

Chase Colton / Kyle Seelig (5)  def.  Grayson Broadus /  Jean Thirouin (2)  6-2, 6-4

Taylor Fritz / Daniel Gealer (8)  def.  Emil Reinberg /  Brian Tsao (6)  6-3, 2-6, 10-8

 

Girls’ 16 Singles (Semifinals)

Claire Liu, Thousand Oaks, CA   def.  Caroline Dolehide (14), Hinsdale, IL   7-5, 6-0

Ena Shibahara (13), Rancho Palos Verdes, CA   def.  Samantha Martinelli (12), Denver, CO   6-2, 6-1

 

Girls’ 16 Doubles (Semifinals)

Caroline Dolehide / Alexis Nelson (8)  def.  Madison Appel / Rebecca Weissmann (1)  6-1, 6-3

Ena Shibahara / Savannah Slaysman  def.  Paulina Ferrari /  Jada Hart (6)  6-1, 6-2

—S. Pratt