USTA News
Registration Now Closed
2010-07-12 Registration for the USTA Boys' 18 & 16 National Championships have now closed.
Registration Nearing Cut-Off
2010-07-07 Registration for the USTA Boys' 18 & 16 National Championships ends at Noon EDT on Thursday, July 15. If you plan to play Doubles: whether or not you have registered online for Doubles, you MUST register in Kalamazoo at Markin Tennis Center by 5:00pm on Thursday, August 5 for 18s and by 4:00pm on Friday, August 6 for 16s.
Nationals News
2009-08-16 Top seeds Daniel Nguyen and JT Sundling are headed into the main doubles draw of the U.S. Open after defeating Sekou Coker Bangoura, Bradenton, Fla., and Nathan Pasha, Atlanta, 7-6(2), 6-3, for the boys’ 18s doubles title on Saturday.Earlier this year, Nguyen won the NCAA national team title with USC Winning the title “definitely gave me a lot of confidence,” Nguyen said. As for the U.S. Open, “Hopefully we can go out there and have a pretty solid match. I can’t even imagine if we play someone like the Bryan brothers,” said Sundling, who is headed to USC in the fall.
Nick Chappell and Marcos Giron won the 16s title, defeating the No. 2 seeds, Emmett Egger, Issaquah, Wash., and Shane Vinsant, Keller, Texas., 6-2, 6-2. This tournament is the first as a doubles team for Chappell, Indianapolis, and Giron, Thousand Oaks, Calif. Chappell contacted Giron on facebook to set up the pairing. “We struggled a little bit at the beginning (of the tournament),” Chappell said. “Our first three matches were all three sets. “Then we just clicked. Our last three matches were all straight sets.” Early Sunday morning, Chappell beat Giron 6-4, 6-3 in the feed-in semifinals.
Nationals Update
2009-08-16 Chase Buchanan played his first three-set match of the tournament, but that was good news for the Boys’ 18s second seed from New Albany, Ohio. Buchanan won the best-of-five singles championship over eighth-seeded Ryan Lipman, Nashville, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, on a sweltering Sunday afternoon. In the third set, Buchanan squandered one match point before Lipman fired a shot long, giving Buchanan the wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Open. “I stayed really calm,” Buchanan said. “Even if there were some bad games, bad points, just try to figure everything out. “I was down love-40 a few times and held, and was down 40-15 sometimes and broke.” Last year, Buchanan won the Boys’ 18s doubles title with Ryan Harrison.In Boys’ 16s, Gonzales Austin, the eighth seed from Miami, upset top-seeded Jack Sock, Lincoln, Neb., 3-6, 7-5, 6-0, to earn a wild card into the Junior U.S. Open. Late in the second set, Sock started bending over, clutching his stomach. “Weird; it comes out of nowhere,” Sock said of his ailment. “You just hit a wall. I couldn’t help it.” During the 10-minute break after the second set, Sock tried to settle his stomach, but couldn’t. Austin took advantage. “He was playing so well in the first set, I couldn’t do anything, and then second set, I had a lucky break at the end. “Then I noticed something was wrong on those last two points, so I was like, ‘OK, now’s my chance to take it to him.’”
Sunday Schedule
2009-08-15 We have invoked the "Neville Rule" for Sunday's play.The 16s and 18s Feed-In Semi-Finals will begin Sunday at 9am EDT.
Feed-In Finals will begin around Noon EDT.
3rd Place Singles Playoffs at 10am EDT.
The 16s Finals will begin at 11:30am EDT.
The 18s Finals will begin at 1:30pm EDT.
Nationals News
2009-08-15 Ryan Lipman has already played a couple best-of-five set matches and hopes to use that experience in Sunday’s boys’ 18s final against second-seeded Chase Buchanan, with the winner getting a wild card in to the main draw of the U.S. Open.On Saturday, Lipman, the eighth seed from Nashville, Tenn., pulled out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, win over No. 13 Raymond Sarmiento, Fontana, Calif., in one semifinal match. In the other, Buchanan, New Albany, Ohio, breezed past unseeded Mousheg Hovhannisyan, North Hollywood, Calif., 6-0, 6-1.
Although Buchanan has never played a best-of-five, “I definitely don’t have a problem going three sets,” he said. One of Lipman’s best-of-five matches went four sets — 7-6 in the fourth. "It was fun," he said. When Sarmiento called for a trainer early in the third set, “It just made me a little more tight because I knew if I kept fighting, he would eventually lose it,” Lipman said. “You could probably tell on his service game. I couldn't find the court. I was like, ‘Come on, Ryan, make it. Duh.’”
In 16s, top seed Jack Sock, Lincoln, Neb., was tested for the first time in the tournament before defeating Bjorn Fratangelo (3), Pittsburgh, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. “(Fratangelo) came out firing,” Sock said. “I thought if I moved him a lot, he’d try to go for broke and miss more than he made. I played too far behind the baseline, I played too defensively and let him play his own game, and I don’t know how I won.”
Sock will take on Gonzales Austin, the eighth seed from Miami, in Sunday’s final. Austin won a three-hour three-setter over Raymond Withrow (4), Omaha, Neb., 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-3 on Saturday. During the 10-minute break between the second and third sets, Austin said he didn’t have a coach with him and didn’t want to talk with his mother because she “doesn’t really play tennis, so my friend (Zach McCourt) was just keeping me pumped up because it was a close second set.”
Nationals News
2009-08-14 Second-seeded Chase Buchanan rolled into the boys’ 18s semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over his doubles partner, Jarmere Jenkins (7) on Friday, and will face unseeded Mousheg Hovhannisyan on Saturday. Hovhannisyan eked out a 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3 win over No. 14 Bob van Overbeek in another quarterfinal on Friday.In the other half of the 18s draw, Ryan Lipman (8) will face Raymond Sarmiento (13) on Saturday. Lipman eliminated third-seeded Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-0 while Sarmiento had a tougher time, pulling out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over lefty Kevin King, the 19th seed.
In 16s, top-seeded Jack Sock defeated unseeded Nick Chappell, 6-0, 6-1, to move into the semifinals without losing a set. He’ll play third-seeded Bjorn Frantangelo, who was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Marcos Giron. In Friday’s other semifinal, Jackson Withrow (4) will take on Gonzales Austin (8). Withrow lost the first set20before advancing with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Morgan Mays (21). Austin defeated Dane Webb (29), 7-5, 1-6, 6-2.
Nationals News
2009-08-12 Alexander Domijan, the top seed in boys’ 18s, was upset by Kevin King, then pulled out of the backdraw, citing an injury, on Wednesday. Two other top seeds also went out: Evan King, No. 5 in 18s, and Shane Vinsant, No. 2 in 16s. On match point, Kevin King, seeded 19th, slipped and fell, but scrambled up in time to angle a winner in his 6-7(0), 6-4, 7-6(2) win. “(In the first set) he came up with a good tiebreaker at the end, so I just knew if I kept playing my game and just kept pressuring him, I’d have a chance in the second,” King said. King had two match points before Domijan forced the tiebreak in the final set. “I was just trying to stay in there and make him beat me, try not to give him too many free points, and make him come up with some shots,” King said.Justin Shane (25), who defeated Evan King, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, said he just wanted to play his game: “Hit the corners, make him run a lot, move him around. “I knew if I kept doing what I was doing, I had a good chance to win the (second) set.”
Dane Webb (25) was very familiar with Vinsant’s game — they’re both from Texas and the two hit against each other “all the time,” he said. “We basically know each other’s games, like, perfectly. “Just whoever executes better that day (is the winner). It’s usually pretty close.” On Wednesday, it was Webb, who advanced to Thursday’s round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-2 win.,
Monday News
2009-08-11 In spite of a “weird stomach”, Jack Sock, the boys’ 16s top seed from Lincoln, Neb., defeated unseeded Quoc-Daniel Nguyen, Dunn Loring, Va., 6-1, 6-4, Monday afternoon on a day featuring 16s singles play. All main-draw 18s singles players had the day off. “My stomach felt weird and I felt uneasy,” Sock said. “It was a weird match.” Being a top seed is nothing new for the second-year 16s player who spent most of last year playing up in 18s. “I’ve been the top seed a couple times in the past, so I’m kinda used to the pressure, I guess,” he said. “I don’t feel that much pressure here.” No. 2 Shane Vinsant, Keller Texas, had an easier time, defeating Jon Pearce, Provo, Utah, 6-1. 6-1. Dennis Mkrtchian, the sixth seed from Reseda, Calif., fell to unseeded Andrew Korinek, Mansfield, Texas, 6-3, 6-1. “We played last year in the consolation (in Kalamazoo),” Korinek said. “I lost 6-1 in the third. We’re pretty good friends. I trained with him some in Carson.” In his win on Monday, “The serve was a big difference, in my opinion,” he said. “I was serving pretty good, making lot of first serves, getting a lot of free points off them.” No. 11 Ace Matias, Torrance, Calif., was also upset. Van Damrongsri, Ellicott City, Md., blew three match points, but finally won 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(1). “I just got really, really tight,” Damrongsri said. “I kind of froze up and missed a couple shots.” During the 10-minute break after losing the second set, “My coach said, Van, you’ve got to hit the ball. “I stayed more aggressive than (Ace) did throughout the match.” Third-seeded Bjorn Fratangelo, Pittsburgh, cruised to a 6-1, 6-1, win over Alex Howard, Brentwood, Tenn. Frata ngelo was unseeded last year in Kalamazoo after breaking his finger which “set me back a couple months, so my ranking slipped way down,” he said. As for being the third seed, “I had come off Clay Courts, which I won, and that ranked me up pretty high,” he said.
Player of the Day Recipients
2009-08-11 Congratulations to this year's Player of the Day recipients!Monday, August 10
16s Andrew Korinek 18s John Lamble
Sunday, August 9
16s Doubles Team: Harison Adams & Tanner Brown 18s Mousheg Hovhannisyan
Saturday, August 8
16s Doubles Team: Andrew Scholnick & Robert Stineman
Friday, August 7
18s Doubles Team: Johnathan Chang & Alex Van Velzer