Katerina Stewart

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From 32 to 8, Charlottesville’s @TinsleyClassic on Track for Exciting Weekend Finish

Posted by Admin on April 27, 2018
Posted in: Charlottesville, ITF, USTA, USTA Pro Circuit, Virginia, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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When the weather cooperates, the Boyd Tinsley Women’s Tennis Classic in Charlottesville, VA, is one of the best tennis experiences in the world. I’ve been through monsoons here and I’ve been through beautiful spring days. And Thursday was a beautiful day on the Har-Tru at the Boar’s Head Sports Resort. 16 first round matches and 8 second round matches were on order due to Wednesday’s rainout. It was perfect for the fans and for the dogs. I saw more dogs today at a tournament than I have ever seen before. It’s called “growing the sport.”

Conditions were a little doggy for the players in the early going. For the first players on the courts on Thursday, the surface played very slow. After Allie Kiick beat Louisa Chirico before 11 a.m., she told me that “we were both hitting” dropshots and that “for two whole games, we had nothing but dropshots.”

Jen Brady and Allie Kiick needed three sets to open the day, with both staging comeback wins over Irina Falconi and Louisa Chirico respectively. In the 2nd round, it was all Jen Brady from the start and she advanced to a quarterfinal match today against Katerina Stewart.

Camilla Rosatello needed little time to dispatch Olga Ianchuk, who immediately went behind the court and sobbed into a phone call after the match. Cheer up, Olga! Mariana Duque-Marino spoiled my debut of Iga Swiatek 7-6(3), 6-3, and in the nightcap, Duque-Marino proved the tougher competitor in  a 6-2, 6-3 sweep of Rosatello. She’ll face the plucky Grace Min today for a spot in the semis.
As for Min, she beat an error-prone Jamie Loeb yesterday morning before taking out Sophie Chang in the nightcap. Chang continued to impress since Charleston with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Victoria Duval earlier in the day.

Top seed Madison Brengle looked out of form, in all of her talking to herself idiosyncratic ways and plaintively looking at her mother in the stands all day. She wasted little time taking out American Maria Sanchez in straights in the first round and then completely fell apart in the round of 16, losing 6-2, 6-1 to Mari Osaka. Osaka plays Anhelina Kalinina later today.

Speaking of dogs: Ashley Kratzer celebrated with her dog, Koa, after a win over Lizette Cabrera in the morning. In late afternoon, she faced Sesil Karatantcheva. That’s when Krasher’s real dog days began. Karantantcheva advanced to play Taylor Townsend, 6-2, 7-6(5).

And then there’s Taylor Townsend. Inching ever closer to the Roland Garros Wild Card, she made another big step forward yesterday to make the quarters at this $80,000.00 event. The window is closing on other Americans to step up and make it a race. With Brady, Stewart and Min the only other Americans still standing at Charlottesville, a semis showing here should nearly wrap it up for Townsend. She showed yesterday that she is heads above the talent field at this level and it’s good to see her succeed.

—S. Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic

 

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Rain Suspends Play @USTAProCircuit Charlottesville Thursday; Friday Order of Play

Posted by Admin on April 30, 2015
Posted in: Charlottesville, ITF, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

RAIN SUSPENDS PLAY ON THURSDAY AT 14th ANNUAL BOYD TINSLEY WOMEN’S CLAY COURT CLASSIC

Katerina Stewart

Katerina Stewart

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 30, 2015 – Mother Nature cut things a tad short during Thursday’s round at the 14th Annual Boyd Tinsley Women’s Clay Court Classic, the USTA Pro Circuit event being held this week at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. Rain began to fall in the afternoon, cutting a few matches short. The matches are scheduled to be resumed on Friday.

Seven of the eight singles second-round matches were completed, with only one seeded competitor remaining heading into the quarterfinals. No. 3 seed Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal took care of American Caitlin Whoriskey, 6-4, 6-3. The other seeded player that made it through to the second round, No. 6 Paula Ormaechea, was knocked off by fellow Argentinean Florencia Molinero, 6-3, 7-5, on Thursday. Molinero will next face Usue Maitane Arconada, who defeated fellow American Julia Boserup, 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-2.

Larcher de Brito, ranked No. 133, will await the winner between American Jessica Pegula and the lone qualifier still standing, Ukraine’s Elizaveta Ianchuk. Their match was suspended due to weather midway through the deciding third set, tied at 3 games apiece.

2013 Tinsley singles runner-up Allie Kiick survived a tough Thursday challenge from Brazilian Paula Cristina Goncalves, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Up next for Kiick is a quarterfinal matchup against Russia’s Irina Khromacheva, who outlasted Brazil’s Gabriela Ce in three sets on Thursday.

The other singles quarterfinal matchup pits Katerina Stewart of the United States against Canadian Francoise Abanda. Each eliminated a qualifier on Thursday, as Stewart downed American teenager Nicole Frenkel and Abanda bested Storm Sanders of Australia.

Only one doubles quarterfinal match was completed on Thursday, as second-seeded Chieh-Yu Hsu of Taiwan and Justyna Jegiolka of Poland ended the run of Americans Louisa Chirico and Grace Min, 6-2, 6-4. Hsu and Jegiolka needed just two points to clinch the match, but first had to wait out a 30-minute lightning delay.

The match between Samantha Crawford & Emily Harman and Ce & Jessica Moore was suspended in the second set and is scheduled to resume on Friday. The other two doubles quarterfinal matches did not get started on Thursday, as play was officially called at around 4:15 PM.

On Friday, Abanda and Stewart will kick things off on Stadium Court at 10AM (weather pending), with Larcher de Brito’s match to follow after appropriate rest for the winner between Pegula and Ianchuk. That match will resume at 10AM on Court 7 before Arconado and Molinero take the court. Kiick faces Khromacheva in the first match on Court 1, with the three remaining doubles quarterfinal matches to follow later in the day on Courts 1 and 3.

Please see below for Friday’s complete schedule and full results from Thursday.

The 14th Annual Boyd Tinsley Women’s Clay Court Classic features 32 singles players and a 16-team doubles field. The tournament is held at Boar’s Head Sports Club, 200 Wellington Drive in Charlottesville, Virginia. Admission to the tournament is free and the event is open to the public.

This year’s event will again be included in the three-week Har-Tru Wild Card Challenge, which awards one American man and one American woman a wild card into the main draw of the 2015 French Open, which begins in late May. Points will be added to the top American finishers in Charlottesville’s tally, with next week’s tournament in Indian Harbour, Florida marking the last chance to earn points toward the French Open.

Again this year, the Boyd Tinsley Classic will be streamed live at http://www.procircuit.usta.com.

With more than 90 tournaments throughout the country and prize money ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. Last year, more than 1,000 men and women from more than 70 countries competed on the USTA Pro Circuit for approximately $3.2 million in prize money and valuable ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour ranking points.

14th Annual Boyd Tinsley Women’s Clay Court Classic
Thursday, April 30
At Boar’s Head Sports Club
Charlottesville, VA
Purse: $50,000
Surface: Clay-outdoor

Singles – Second Round
Michelle Larcher de Brito, Portugal [3] def. Caitlin Whoriskey, United States, 6-4, 6-3
Florencia Molinero, Argentina def. Paula Ormaechea, Argentina [6], 6-3, 7-5
Katerina Stewart, United States def. Nicole Frenkel, United States, 6-3, 6-0
Irina Khromacheva, Russia def. Gabriela Ce, Brazil, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
Francoise Abanda, Canada def. Storm Sanders, Australia, 6-4, 6-2
Usue Maitane Arconada, United States def. Julia Boserup, United States, 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-2
Allie Kiick, United States def. Paula Cristina Goncalves, Brazil, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Jessica Pegula, United States vs. Elizaveta Ianchuk, Ukraine, susp.

Doubles – Quarterfinals
Chieh-Yu Hsu, Taiwan / Justyna Jegiolka, Poland [2] def. Louisa Chirico, United States / Grace Min, United States, 6-2, 6-4
Samantha Crawford, United States / Emily J. Harman, United States vs. Gabriela Ce, Brazil / Jessica Moore, Australia, susp.
Paula Cristina Goncalves, Brazil / Florencia Molinero, Argentina [1] vs. Francoise Abanda, Canada / Maria Sanchez, United States, ppd.
Olga Ianchuk, Ukraine / Irina Khromacheva, Russia [3] vs. Jacqueline Cako, United States / Vojislava Lukic, Serbia, ppd.

Schedule for Friday, May 1

Court 3/Stadium, starting at 10:00 AM
Francoise Abanda, Canada vs. Katerina Stewart, United States
After Rest, Time TBA
Jessica Pegula, United States or Elizaveta Ianchuk, Ukraine vs. Michelle Larcher de Brito, Portugal [3]
After Rest, Time TBA
Paula Cristina Goncalves, Brazil / Florencia Molinero, Argentina [1] vs. Francoise Abanda, Canada / Maria Sanchez, United States
After Rest, Time TBA
Olga Ianchuk, Ukraine / Irina Khromacheva, Russia [3] or Jacqueline Cako, United States / Vojislava Lukic, Serbia vs. Chieh-Yu Hsu, Taiwan / Justyna Jegiolka, Poland [2]

Court 1, starting at 10:00 AM
Allie Kiick, United States vs. Irina Khromacheva, Russia
Followed by
Samantha Crawford, United States / Emily J. Harman, United States vs. Gabriela Ce, Brazil / Jessica Moore, Australia (completion of suspended match)
After Rest, Time TBA
Olga Ianchuk, Ukraine / Irina Khromacheva, Russia [3] vs. Jacqueline Cako, United States / Vojislava Lukic, Serbia

Court 7, starting at 10:00 AM
Jessica Pegula, United States vs. Elizaveta Ianchuk, Ukraine (completion of suspended match)
Followed by
Usue Maitane Arconada, United States vs. Florencia Molinero, Argentina

—S. Radcliffe

Dothan Do-Over Featured Today @USTAProCircuit in Charlottesville

Posted by Admin on April 29, 2015
Posted in: Charlottesville, ITF, USTA, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Dothan Do-Over Featured Today @USTAProCircuit in Charlottesville
Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic

The Americans

An American Tweet-Up

Qualifying concluded at the Boyd Tinsley Women’s Classic in Charlottesville yesterday, and the seeds better be scared. Qualifiers Storm Sanders, Nicole Frenkel, Vojislava Lukic and Elizaveta Ianchuk put in very strong performances that they hope will propel them beyond the first round. Frenkel is the lone American qualifier and she’ll be ready to jump into the Har-Tru Wild Card Challenge after her 6-2, 6-1 victory over Angelina Gabueva of Russia. Gabueva was a lucky loser, and she’ll get a chance to redeem herself in a match against the seemingly ever-vulnerable Michelle Larcher de Brito today.

But today is all about the Dothan Do-Over. Wild Card challenge leaders and Dothan finalists Katerina Stewart square off today. The match is the third of the day on Stadium Court and the winner may take an upper hand in the race for the reciprocal wild card to the French Open awarded by the USTA. A Chirico loss today would certainly shake things up in the standings and put the pressure on Stewart to continue to win in Charlottesville.


And there will be plenty of others on court today trying to snag wild card points. Of 11 matches today, only three won’t have an American on court. Top seed Sachia Vickery will be on Stadium Court prior to the Dothan Do-Over looking to advance past Julia Boserup. Second-seeded Grace Min will be the feature match on Court 7 against Gabriela Ce in what I call the “The Cage”. It’s the only court in Charlottesville with a tall fence in front of it, so it reminds me of going to watch a friend play at a middle-school court.

And Tornado Alicia Black against Francoise Abanda? Yes, please. They kick things off on Court 1 in just a few minutes.

Vickery and Abanda

Vickery and Abanda

I’ll live-tweet the Dothan Do-Over and then leave the tournament, relying on the live stream to keep me informed for the rest of the week. Whether it’s the Men’s Pro Challenger in the fall or this event in the spring, the Boar’s Head Resort is a must-see for tennis fans. Fans and bloggers are basically embedded in the café, which serves as a de facto player’s lounge so you get to watch them kill time between matches in real time. You can’t help but overhearing their jokes and stories and I promise you it’s more fun than watching paint dry. You also get an immediate sense of the real personalities of the assembled athletes. Danielle Lao has to be the happiest American on tour as she has had a permanent smile for three straight days. And I personally nominate Jennifer Elie as the funniest American on the tour. I even called her “American Petko” to her face. She had everyone in stitches joking about a certain college football standout who had been in trouble for stealing crab legs. With your laundry in your bag, and not sure where your next stop is going to be, laughter is a great medicine to get through the tour.

Brady, Embree, Stewart & Halbauer Awarded Wildcards @USTAMacon50K

Posted by Admin on October 17, 2014
Posted in: USTA, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Brady, Embree, Stewart & Halbauer Awarded Wildcards @USTAMacon50K

Lauren Embree

Lauren Embree


MACON, Georgia, (October 17, 2014) Main draw wildcards were awarded on Thursday for the 2014 Tennis Classic of Macon.

Those receiving wildcards are Americans, Jennifer Brady, Lauren Embree, Katerina Stewart and Ellie Halbauer.

Here are the wildcard recipient’s capsules:

Jennifer Brady
Brady completed her freshman year at UCLA last year, where she was a member of the 2014 NCAA championship-winning team. Earlier this month, she won her first USTA Pro Circuit singles title, at the $25,000 event in Redding, Calif., while also taking the doubles title. Brady also won two doubles events in 2011.

Lauren Embree
Embree completed her stellar college career in 2013 at the University of Florida by being named the National College Player of the Year. Embree went 26-3 in her final year for the Gators at the No. 1 singles spot, and she compiled a staggering 117-16 singles record during her college career. As a pro in 2013, she won her second USTA Pro Circuit singles title at the $10,000 event in Fort Worth, Texas, and reached the second round at the $50,000 event in Lexington, Ky. She won her second career doubles title at the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Redding, Calif., this September and reached the singles final of the $25,000 event in Rock, Hill, S.C., this October.

Katerina Stewart
Stewart, was victorious ar the USTA Girls’ 18s National Clay Court championship this past July in Memphis. That capped a 34-match winning streak in junior and pro matches, during which she won three USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 clay court events (Orlando, Fla.; Bethany Beach, Del.; and Charlotte, N.C.). She was awarded a wildcard into qualifying of the US Open and won her first-round qualifying match over Yuliya Beygelizimer, a former Top 100 player.

Ellie Halbauer
Halbauer, a highly regarded junior player from South Carolina won the USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 event at Hilton Head last fall. Halbauer has played the qualifying draw at the WTA’s Family Circle Cup in Charleston.

A new presenting sponsor in The W.L. Amos Sr. Foundation means the tournament moves up to a 50K event and will take place October 19-26 on the USTA Pro Circuit calendar at Stratford Academy. This is one of the three fall events where U.S. players can earn points for the USTA’s wildcard into the first major of 2015.

Additional 2014 Tennis Classic of Macon facts:

Headlining this year’s Macon 50K field is veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who defeated Venus Williams to win the WTA event in Quebec City, last month. Americans, Madison Brengle and defending champ Anna Tatishvilli are also scheduled to return to Middle Georgia. Also in the field are three players with Georgia connections in Melanie Oudin, Irina Falconi and Grace Min.

Even Brian Earley, Director of the USTA Pro Circuit is impressed with what could be Macon’s field.

“The USTA Tennis Classic of Macon will feature one of the strongest fields on the USTA Pro Circuit, with at least four women in the top 100 players on the WTA computer. Due in equal parts to its timing (after the WTA season has concluded), geography and the fact that the Americans are playing for a possible spot in the main draw of the Australian Open, we love that the winner in Macon will have earned the title over some of the best players in the world.”

Players will compete in singles and doubles and a 32-woman qualifying event will start on Sunday, October 19,

Hayes says once again the tournament will host a pro am where local tennis players can play against the pros. A “players party” will also be held this year at Twangs, a local restaurant.

Live streaming of the USTA Pro Circuit can be viewed on the USTA Pro Circuit’s website at http://www.procircuit.usta.com.

Tickets are available, and volunteers will be needed once again. Call Mercer tennis coach and tournament director Eric Hayes at (478) 301-2269.