ITA Summer Circuit - Week 4 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its fourth of six weeks with ten different sites hosting regionals. Below are the singles winners and you can view the doubles winners through each draw link. Here are the series points race through the third week and once these week four results are added in Northwestern's Jason Seidman will be in first place by one point after a regional for the third week in a row. Wake Forest commit Sean Hill also won his third regional in four weeks and finished as runner-up the other week.

Alabama - Draw Size W-45 ; M-60
M - Michael Durham (Auburn commit) d. [11] Jackson Wood (HS Class of '17) 6-4, 6-1
W - [1] Kourtney Keegan (Florida) d. [2] Kylie Wilcox (Boston College commit) 6-3, 6-3

Ben Dunbar Gets Promoted at New Mexico & Davis Cup Group 3 Results

New Mexico Vice President of Athletics Paul Krebs announced the hiring of Ben Dunbar as New Mexico's new men's head coach. Dunbar, who played at New Mexico from 2008 to 2012, was an assistant coach at New Mexico for the last two seasons. Dunbar replaces Bart Scott who resigned last month after two years at the helm of the Lobos.

Joao Monteiro Wins In Portugal, Di Lorenzo Sweeps Winnipeg, Torpegaard with a Huge Davis Cup Clincher

Joao Monteiro (Virginia Tech '16) capped off a weekend of firsts by winning pro singles title No. 1 with a straight set win over #608 Hugo Grenier at the $10K Idanha-A-Nova, Portugal, F8 Futures (Hard). Monteiro had break points on each of Grenier's four first set service games and broke on two of them to take the opening set 6-3. Monteiro broke from 15/40 to go up 2-1 in the second set and then broke again at love to go up 5-2. Monteiro served out the match at love to take it 6-3, 6-2. 

Hanfmann Takes Austria, Monteiro and Musialek into finals in Portugal and France

#500 Yannick Hanfmann (USC '15) won his second singles title this year and fourth of his career with a straight set win over #357 Stefanos Tsitsipas at the $10K Kramsach, Austria, F2 Futures (Clay). Hanfmann broke Tsitsipas to start the match and made the break lead hold up to take the opening set 6-4. Hanfmann broke for 2-1 in the second and made that break hold up as well to close out the 6-4, 6-4 win in 1 hour and 8 minutes. 

South Carolina Makes Some Additions, Women's Doubles Success, Davis Cup Scores, Pro Circuit,

South Carolina men's head coach Josh Goffi announced the hiring of Kyle Bailey as the Gamecocks new assistant coach. Bailey, who was the head coach at Monmouth last season, replaces Ryan Young who left two weeks ago to take the assistant job at Clemson.

South Carolina women's head coach Kevin Epley announced that Mia Horvit (UTR 11.32) has signed a National Letter of Intent to play at South Carolina next season. Horvit was ranked as high as No 5 in her high school class as a sophomore and junior per The Tennis Recruiting Network and was ranked No. 11 last season.

Coaching Updates, Davis Cup, Pac-12 Network/Twitter, Pro Circuit Update

Duquesne Athletic Director Dave Harper announced the hiring of Vanessa Steiner as the Dukes new Director of Tennis (Men's/Women's Coach). Steiner, who had been the women's assistant the last two seasons, replaces Rob Gregoire who resigned on March 1st which was in the middle of his second year on the job. Steiner graduated from Boston University in 2011 but played at Duquesne in 2012 since she had a year of eligibility remaining.

Paige Madara was named as the new men's and women's head coach at Grinnell College (D3) in Grinnell, Iowa. Madara replaces Andy Hamilton who was recently promoted to Director of Athletics and Recreation after serving as the men's coach for the last 21 years and the women's coach for the last 9 years. Madara played at Wash U STL from 2009 to 2013 and was most recently the women's assistant coach at Washington and Lee.

Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is back on the schedule this week with several current and former college guys playing for their respective home countries.  Below is a look at who is playing and where.

World Group Quarterfinals

John Isner (Georgia '07), Mike Bryan (Stanford '98), and Bob Bryan (Stanford '98) will represent the United States versus Croatia.

Dominic Inglot (Virginia '09) will represent for Great Britain versus Serbia. 

Ashley Fisher Gets the Nod at South Florida & Mauricio Antun is Named Head Coach at Belmont

South Florida Athletic Director Mark Harlan announced that assistant coach Ashley Fisher has been promoted to men's head coach. Fisher, who is a 1998 TCU graduate, played professionally for 14 years and coached for several more before becoming South Florida's assistant coach this past January after Brandon Wagner departed to go coach in the private sector. Fisher replaced Matt Hill who had an extremely successful four-year run before leaving to take the Arizona State men's job.

ITA Summer Circuit - Week 3 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its third of six weeks with eight different sites hosting regionals. Below are the singles winners and you can view the doubles winners through each draw link. Here are the series points race through the second week.

Colorado - Draw Size W-18; M-26
M - [1] Casey Ross (HS Class of '17) d. Ignatius Castelino (Denver) 7-6 (3), 6-2
W - [1] Rebecca Weissmann (LSU commit) d. [2] Julieta Dalmau (Tulane commit) 7-5, 6-0

Nick Crowell Heading to Norman; Rob Hubbard to Sam Houston State, Wurtzman Adds 2 More at IU

Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione announced the hiring of Nick Crowell as the Sooners new men's head coach. Crowell, who is a 2000 Texas graduate, spent the last 13 years at Florida State with the first five as an assistant coach and the last eight as an associate head coach. Crowell will have some big shoes to fill after John Roddick took the Sooners to three straight NCAA finals and won 153 dual-matches in the last seven years. Crowell's first task will be attempting to replace both Axel Alvarez and Andrew Harris which is going to be awfully tough to do on short notice.

Ellen Perez Pulls Off The Double in Belgium, Farah Just Misses Out at Wimbledon, Cameron Norrie & Aleks Vukic Qualify in Winnipeg

Sunday capped off a terrific week for Georgia rising junior Ellen Perez as the Australia native won a total of 12 matches in route to sweeping both the singles and doubles titles at the ITF $10K in Brussels, Belgium. Since Perez entered the week unranked she had to play singles qualies and after winning all three of those matches in straight sets she mowed down the competition in the main draw. Perez didn't drop more than 5 games in any main draw match which included today's championship match against #673 Kimberley Zimmermann.

Vorster Wins In Harare & Doubles Success In Several Places

$106.5K Braunschweig, Germany Challenger (Clay) - James Cerretani (Brown '04) and Phillip Oswald won a Challenger for the second week in a row with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 1-0 (2) win over Mateusz Kowalczyk and Antonio Sancic. Kowalczyk and Sancic served for the match twice but Cerretani and Oswald broke both times to force a second set tiebreak. Cerretani and Oswald went down an early mini-break but quickly regained the upper-hand and took both the second set and third set supertiebreak to win it all. It was Cerretani's fourth title this year and 26th overall.

Pro Circuit Update, Week 3 ITA Summer Circuit, Buffalo Signing Class

Friday was a pretty slow news day so I'll mainly just have a pro circuit roundup today.

$42.5K Bastad, Sweden, Challenger (Clay) - Virginia commit Carl Soderlund had a great week but his run came to an end today after falling to #115 Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 6-0. Soderlund entered the week ranked 611 but should rise inside the top 480 with the semifinal showing.

Johan Brunstrom (SMU '03) and Andreas Siljestrom (Middle Tennessee State '07) moved into the finals in Bastad after defeating Thomas Fabbiano and Jurgen Zopp 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(7). Brunstrom and Siljestrom will be seeking their fourth doubles title this year when they meet Isak Arvidsson and Fred Simonsson.

Huey and Ram Fall at Wimbledon, Szabo Named Assistant at Texas Tech, Pro Circuit Update

Treat Huey (Virginia '08) and his doubles partner Max Mirnyi made it to the doubles semifinals at Wimbledon but they came up just short falling 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 to the top seeded team of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Huey and Mirnyi got broke while serving at 4-4 in both the fourth and fifth sets.

Rajeev Ram (Illinois '03) and Raven Klaasen also saw their run at Wimbledon come to an end after falling to Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(5).

Browning Promoted to HC at GW, Mosley to Appalachian State, Clark Steps Down at UTC, Pro Circuit Highlights

Two more head coaching openings were filled today while another one opened up.

George Washington Athletic Director Patrick Nero announced that Torrie Browning has been named as the new women's head coach. Browning served as the interim head coach of both the women's and men's programs for the majority of last season after Greg Munoz resigned five matches into the season. Browning guided the men's team to an Atlantic 10 Championship and a NCAA Tournament berth while the women's team finished 8-15 and lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament. As a side note I just noticed that Munoz is now a tennis coach and personal fitness trainer in Indonesia.

Koniecko to UCF, Camerota Gets Promoted at CSU, Britton New Assistant at Ole Miss

Two more head coaching positions were filled today with Central Florida announcing that Bryan Koniecko had accepted the women's head coach position while Colorado State promoted assistant coach Jarod Camerota to head coach.

Koniecko, who was a five-time All-American at Ohio State from 2006 to 2009, had been the men's head coach at Brown for the last two years after being the assistant women's coach at Ohio State the two years prior. Koniecko replaces Stephanie Nickitas who announced her retirement back in April after going 105-80 over the last 9 seasons.

ITA Summer Circuit - Week 2 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its second of six weeks with eight different sites hosting regionals. Below are the singles winners and you can view the doubles winners through each draw link.

Cal State Northridge
M - [2] Ben Goldberg (UCLA Commit) d. [4] Sean Hill (Wake Forest Commit) 4-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10)
W - [2] Zoe Katz (USC) d. [1] Angela Kulikov (USC Commit) 7-5, 7-6(5)

Cameron Norrie Wins In Wichita

Cameron Norrie's summer just keeps getting better as the TCU Horned Frog won his 10th straight match on Sunday by beating recent Illinois graduate Jared Hiltzik to claim the $25K Wichita, Kansas, USA F23 Futures. The match started off with five consecutive breaks before Norrie fought off a pair of break points to hold for 4-2. After a Hiltzik hold, Norrie would take the next five games to close out the opening set 6-3 and go up 3-0 in the second set. It was all holds the rest of the way with Norrie fighting off a break point to hold in a one-deuce game to close it out 6-3, 6-3.

Norrie has now won back-to-back Futures events after taking the singles title last week in Tulsa. Sunday's win brings Norrie's record in singles finals to 3-1 with the wins in Wichita, Tulsa, and Mansfield and the lone loss coming back in 2014 in Israel.

Steve Johnson Rocks On At Wimbledon, Quiroz Rules Colombia, J. Hiltzik/Norrie Will Meet in Wichita Finals

Wimbledon (Grass) - Steve Johnson advanced to the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the first time in his career after taking out #37 Grigor Dimitrov in four sets. The match started on Friday and Johnson was serving up 4-3 in the first set when the rain came and suspended the match for the rest of the day. When play resumed today Johnson held for 5-3 but Dimitrov held and then broke from 15/40 to even it at 5-5. The set went to a tiebreak and Johnson had a set point up 6-5* but Dimitrov took the next three points to take the set 7-6(6).

The second set was break-free but Johnson rolled through the tiebreak 7-3. Johnson jumped out to a double-break 3-0 lead in the third set and despite giving one break back he'd take the set 6-4. Johnson broke Dimitrov to start the fourth set and then broke again at love to go up 5-2. Following another rain delay Johnson served it out after fighting off three breaks points to win it 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2.

Kelcy McKenna to Wisconsin, New Assistant at NCST, Jackson State Probation, Pro Circuit Update

Wisconsin Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced the hiring of Kelcy McKenna as the Badgers new women's coach. McKenna spent the previous four years at New Mexico with the first three as an assistant/associate before taking over as the head coach last season (went 15-7). McKenna replaces Tina Samara who resigned after three seasons to take the Pacific job.

Audra Cohen Goes to Oklahoma, Isner & Johnson Roll at Wimbledon, Koepfer Upsets Krueger

Oklahoma filled one of its two openings on Thursday by announcing the hiring of Audra Cohen as its new women's head coach. Cohen won a NCAA singles championship as a player at Miami in 2007 and spent the last five seasons in Jacksonville as the head coach at North Florida. Cohen's North Florida teams won almost 75 percent of its matches in that five-year period and made four NCAA Tournament appearances. Here is the full release from Oklahoma on the hire and here is North Florida's release as well.

Clemson head coach John Boetsch announced the hiring of Ryan Young as the Tigers new assistant coach. Young played at Clemson from 2004 to 2007 and spent the last three years in Columbia as Josh Goffi's assistant coach at South Carolina.

Matt Hill Heading To Tempe & Pro Circuit Update

For the second time in two weeks Arizona State has a new men's head coach with South Florida's Matt Hill chosen to jumpstart the program just five days after Adam Steinberg's announcement that he would not take the job and would remain at Michigan. Hill had done a tremendous job at South Florida over the last four years accumulating a 73-33 (21-9, 21-7, 19-7, 12-10) record and leading the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three years. Hill guided South Florida to its first-ever trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 during the 2014-15 season and this past season they hosted a Kick-Off Regional for the first time in school history.  Here is the full release from Arizona State with more information about Hill. In my opinion this is an A+ hire so now we'll have to see who South Florida gets to fill Hill's shoes.

McNamara Back at Yale, Novikov Wins Opener at Wimbledon, Assistant Hires, Konfederak Feature

Who says you can't come home again - certainly not Danielle McNamara after she named as the new head coach at Yale. McNamara was the head coach at Yale from 2006 to 2014 before leaving for personal reasons and then ending up at Texas. She spent one year at Texas, going 10-11 and finished ranked #37, but missed out on the NCAAs due to the dreaded .500 rule. Shortly after the season she resigned to go back to Connecticut to start Little Rockets Tennis. Her resignation at Texas was partly and possibly largely due to the lack of a facility and the penny pinching that was going on under now former Athletic Director Steve Patterson.  For full details on the hire you can check out Yale's release.

US Open National Playoff Recap

All 15 sectionals of the US Open National Playoff have been completed so now those winners will meet in another tournament to determine who gets wild cards into the 2016 US Open. The tournament will take place in New Haven, Connecticut during the WTA's Connecticut Open from August 19-27. Each draw will have 16 entries so that means at least one sectional runner-up will make it in.

The Men's and Women's Singles Championships will take place August 19-22 with the winners earning wild cards into the US Open Qualifying Tournament.

Below are the 15 men's sectional winners sorted by Universal Tennis Rating (UTR). Jesse Witten, Martin Joyce, and Henry Craig were the three repeat winners though Witten won a different section last year. Witten won last year's tournament but fell in the opening round of qualies 7-6, 6-1 to former Tennessee Vol JP Smith.

Pro Circuit Wrap Up - Norrie Bags #2 & Lots of Doubles Success

It was a tremendous week on the pro tour with four guys winning singles titles and another nine winning doubles titles. If you forgot to check out my Saturday recap may sure you give that a read to see how Steve Johnson, Benjamin Lock, and Roberto Cid won singles titles and Nate Lammons and Dane Webb won doubles titles.

$25K Tulsa, OK, USA F21 (Hard) - TCU rising junior Cameron Norrie won his second career Futures singles title with a quick 53-minute win over Ryan Haviland (Stanford '02). Haviland held in a three-deuce game to start the match but Norrie won the next nine games to take an insurmountable 6-1, 3-0 lead. Haviland held from 40/30 to pull within 3-1 but Norrie won the next three to close it out 6-1, 6-1. (Will post a picture if I see one)