Down to the Final 8 in Kalamazoo

It took almost almost a week but a top eight seed finally went down on Wednesday afternoon in Kalamazoo. In the only match of the day that went three sets it was [26] Timothy Sah upsetting [3] JJ Wolf 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(2). According to Colette Lewis's recap at ZooTennis, Wolf served for the match up 6-5 in the third but he wasn't able to close the door and Sah marched on through to score the upset. Colette has quotes from both Sah and Gianni Ross with the latter winning in straight sets despite an upset stomach.

Kalamazoo Round 4 Results/Round 5 Schedule

The higher seeds continued to win on Tuesday with 14 of the day's 16 winners being the higher ranked of the two competitors. [29] Alafia Ayeni pulled off a seeding upset over [16] Alexander Brown 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 but Ayeni was the higher rated player in just about every other category (TRN Class Ranking, UTR, ITF Jr, ATP) coming into the match.  The other seeding upset came when [26] Timothy Sah ousted [13] Richard Ciamarra 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. Both of these two were pretty evenly matched with a just a .15 UTR difference so this was a toss-up going in.

Kalamazoo - Round 3 Results/Round 4 Schedule

Seeded players had a great day on Monday with 24 of 25 seeds moving on to the fourth round with the 15th seed William Genesen the only seeded loser. 24 of the 32 third round matches finished in straight sets with many winning rather convincingly. Full results from Monday are available here and on my spreadsheet under the 3rd round tab and below are the number of games that the winners dropped.

Game Dropped:
0 - [14] Austin Huang
1 - [1] Michael Mmoh, [3] JJ Wolf
2 - [6] Zeke Clark, [8] Trent Bryde, [30] Patrick Kypson

Weekly Pro Circuit Recap

Pro Titles/Finals Last Week:

Singles:
China (CH) - Jason Jung (Michigan)
Canada - Jennifer Brady (UCLA)
USA - Roberto Quiroz (USC)
USA - Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee)
Italy - Jose Hernandez-Fernandez (North Carolina)

Doubles:
Italy (CH) - James Cerretani (Brown)
USA - Jared Hiltzik (Illinois)/Rhyne Williams (Tennessee)
Italy - Catalin-Ionut Gard (Ole Miss)/Ruben Gonzales (Illinois)
Finland - Mikael Torpegaard (Ohio State)/Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State)
Germany - Andreas Mies (Auburn)
Latvia - Ewan Moore (Tulane commit)
Morocco - Sander Gille (East Tennessee State)

Roberto Quiroz Guts Out a Title in Decatur

After spending the day in Kalamazoo yesterday I made my way down to Decatur, Illinois, today to watch the finals of the Ursula Beck Pro Tennis Classic/USA F26 Futures. I was hoping to catch the second and possibly third sets of the doubles final but Jared Hiltzik and Rhyne Williams weren't very accommodating and finished off Nathan Pasha and Dane Webb 6-0, 6-1 in just 43 minutes. It was Hiltzik's second career pro doubles title and Williams's seventh though it was Rhyne's first since 2013.

Kalamazoo Nationals, Futures Update

All the top seeds took the court today in Kalamazoo for the second round of the Boys 18 National Championships and for the most part they had very little trouble. Each of the top 22 seeds won with 19 of them winning in straight sets however 6 of the bottom 10 were knocked out. Below were the seeded losers with college commitments listed in parenthesis.

Seeded Upsets
Aleksandar Kovacevic (Illinois) def. [23] Matthew Lord 6-7(3), 6-0, 6-2
John Carlin def. [24] Ryan Seggerman 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Robert Krill (Wisconsin) def. [25] Jason Lui (Columbia) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Kristopher Ortega (Illinois) def. [28] Maxwell Freeman 6-4, 6-1
Payton Holden (Princeton) def. [31] Brenden Volk (Northwestern) 6-1, 6-0
Galen Lee (Harvard) def. [32] Casey Ross 6-2, 6-3

Assistant Coaching News, Transfers, Kalamazoo, Futures Update

New Oklahoma women's coach Audra Cohen announced the hiring of Amy Sargeant as the Sooners new assistant coach. Sargeant played at Florida State from 2010 to 2013 and was the assistant coach at New Mexico last season. OU's previous assistant Vincent "Boomer" Saia took a job with the Vanderbilt women's program a few days ago but I haven't seen an official release yet from the school.

Nelson to UTRGV, Camper to Chattanooga, Assistant Hires, Arizona State's First Signee, Decatur Futures Results

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) announced the hiring of Dann Nelson as the Vaqueros new men's tennis coach. Nelson comes to Edinburg after spending the last 11 seasons in Carbondale as head coach of Southern Illinois. Nelson led SIU to a share of the regular season conference championship last season despite the program spending most of the season on the chopping block due to the state of Illinois's budget woes. SIU got a one-year reprieve and will be back this fall but Nelson probably made a wise decision to secure his future for many years to come.

Wooten-Quijada to New Mexico, Assistant Updates, Bucca to Court, Decatur Futures, Maryland Eastern Shore Drops Men's Tennis

New Mexico VP of Athletics Paul Krebs named Stephanie Wooten-Quijada as the Lobo's new women's coach. Wooten-Quijada, a 2009 Purdue graduate, resigned as the women's coach at UTRGV on July 24 after leading the program to an 11-11 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Wooten-Quijada replaces Kelsey McKenna who left after one year to take the head coaching position at Wisconsin.

Kalamazoo National Championships - Breakdown of the Boys 18 Field

We are just two days away from the start of the 2016 USTA Boys National Championships so just as I did last year I thought I'd give everyone a little more background on the field in the 18s division. For many of these guys this will be the end of their junior career with college on the immediate horizon. One of the most interesting things about this tournament is the fact that the winner gets a main draw wild card into the US Open so you have guys that have already turned pro that come back to play for that coveted prize.

All rounds up through the semifinals are best of three sets but the finals are best of five sets. Frances Tiafoe won it last year defeating Stefan Kozlov 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4.

Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan's Sorenson Tennis Courts will host the event with the two sites separated by just 1.6 miles.

Coaching News, Eubanks/Kennedy Win Opener in Atlanta, Roster Additions, College ATP Rankings

Florida State head coach Dwayne Hultquist announced the hiring of Ryler DeHeart as the Seminoles new associate head coach. DeHeart played collegiately at Illinois from 2003 to 2006 and then spent the five years afterwards on the pro tour. DeHeart had been the assistant coach under George Husack at Alabama for the last four years so now that means the Crimson Tide are on the market for an assistant.

St. Leo Director of Athletics Francis Reidy announced the hiring of Pablo Montana as the Lions new men's and women's head coach. Montana, who is a two-time National Coach of the Year, spent the last 12 seasons as the women's head coach of D2's California University of Pennsylvania racking up 259 wins and leading the squad to seven NCAA D2 quarterfinals. Montana replaces Chris Frusci who departed after two seasons to become the new women's assistant coach at Baylor. Frusci was named the 2016 ITA D2 National Coach of the Year after leading the men's team to a runner-up finish while the women's team made the semifinals.

ITA Summer Circuit - Week 6 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its sixth and final week with nine 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 fifth week.

Cal State LA - Draw Size W-64 ; M-64
M - [8] Josh Ortlip (Cal Poly) d. [13] Arturo Kam (HS Class of '17) 6-1, 6-4
W - [1] Ena Shibahara (UCLA commit) d. [13] Seira Shimizu (HS Class of '17) 6-1, 6-1

PlaySight - Coming To A Court Near You

As Peter Smith, USC’s Men’s Tennis head coach puts it, “In college tennis, if you don't have a SmartCourt, somebody else does." PlaySight now has SmartCourts and LiveCourts installed with close to 20 collegiate programs across the nation, including Oklahoma State, Ohio State, North Carolina, and Cal-Berkeley, among others. Winning is the name of the game in college tennis, and PlaySight is giving players, coaches, teams, and programs a performance edge – from on-court play to video review to streaming and recruiting.

Eubanks Qualifies for BB&T, Sandgren Wins Again in Illinois, Withrow/Smith Wins Dubs Title

What had already been a good week for Chris Eubanks turned into a great week after the Georgia Tech rising junior upset world #104 Thiago Monteiro to qualify for the main draw at the BB&T ATP 250 Atlanta Open. Eubanks had to earn a spot in the qualifying field by winning a Wild Card playoff over teammate Cole Fiegel and 2013 Samford graduate Zac Dunkle and then he had to beat world #210 Tommy Paul in the opening round of qualies just to get to today's match against Monteiro.

Eubanks earned the only break of the first set when he broke Monteiro's 2-2 service game to go ahead 3-2 and three holds later he had the opening set 6-4. Eubanks broke Monteiro's 3-3 service game in the second set but Monteiro broke back to even it at 4-4. Eubanks fought off a set point to hold for 5-5 and then he broke from 30/40 to go up 6-5. Eubanks went up 40/15 on his serve and held from 40/30 to win it 6-4, 7-5.

Pro Circuit Update - Plenty of Doubles Success and Libietis Wins Again

#474 Mikelis Libietis (Tennessee '15) won his tenth straight match and second straight Futures after defeating #1626 Alberto Brizzi 7-6(6), 7-6(6) in the finals of the $10K Futures in Parnu, Estonia. Libietis broke Brizzi to start the match and then held in a four-deuce game to go ahead 2-0. Brizzi took the next four games to open up a 4-2 lead but Libietis took the next two to even it at 4-4. It stayed on serve until the tiebreak and then Libietis won the pivotal 6-6 point on Brizzi's serve and then took the next point to take the opening set tiebreak 8-6. The second set started with six straight holds then Brizzi broke from 15/40 to go up 4-3. Libietis broke back at love to even it at 4-4 and then it was all holds until the tiebreak. Libietis led 6-3 in the tiebreak but Brizzi fought off three match points (two on his own serve and one on Libietis's serve) to even it at 6-6. Libietis took the last two points to close out the title.

Coaching Changes, Kentucky Planning a $20M Facility, Pro Circuit Update

Friday was a busy day for the coaching carousel with Cal Irvine, Old Dominion, and Iowa each announcing head coaching hires.

UC Irvine announced that Mike Saunders, who served as the interim men's head coach last season, has been named as the permanent men's head coach. Saunders, who is a 1990 UC Irvine graduate, took over as the interim coach last October after Trevor Kronemann, 117-126 (.481), stepped down to become the Director of Junior Tennis at the Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA). Saunders led the Anteaters to a 17-9 record last season before they bowed out to UCSB in the Big West semifinals.

Mai-Ly Tran to Drake, Sabogal New Assistant at Kentucky, Pro Circuit Update

Drake Associate Athletic Director Brian Brown announced the hiring of Mai-Ly Tran as the Bulldogs new women's coach. Tran, who played at Cal State Fullerton from 2004 to 2007, comes to Des Moines after serving as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton for the last three seasons. John Hollimon was the interim coach last season and led Drake to a 15-12 record and a semifinal appearance at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Cummings to Norfolk State, Eubanks Wins BB&T Q-WC, Massey Ratings, Matt Hill Feature

Norfolk State Athletics Director Marty Miller announced the hiring of Darryl Cummings as the Spartans new men's and women's head coach. Cummings was most recently the men's and women's coach at D3's Virginia Wesleyan during the 2014 and 2015 seasons but he's most known for his 20 years at Old Dominion from 1992-2011. Cummings replaces Worth Richardson who stepped down after two seasons to take a position at the Smith Stearns Tennis Academy.

Coaching Updates, Novikov Wins in Toronto, BB&T WC Challenge, #TheSol

As we head into August the coaching carousel should start slowing down with the beginning of the fall semester just around the corner. Two more women's positions were filled in the last few days which leaves the number of openings on the women's side in the single digits.

Bowling Green State Director of Athletics Bob Moosbrugger announced the hiring of Stephanie Damacio as the Falcons new women's head coach. Damacio, a 2011 Wichita State graduate, had been the assistant coach at BGSU for the last two seasons with the squad going 2-36 (.053) in that time frame. Damacio replaced Olga Elkin who departed for Nebraska-Omaha after a rocky two seasons which saw a slew of losses (36) and a lot of outbound transfers (7).

ITA Summer Circuit - Week 5 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its fifth of six weeks with nine 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 fourth week.  Wake Forest commit Sean Hill will take over the top spot in the men's race after a semifinal showing at the Azusa Pacific regional.

Azusa Pacific - Draw Size W-54 ; M-64
M - [6] Josh Ortlip (Cal Poly) d. [5] Robert Baylon (HS Class of '18)
W - Seira Shimizu (HS Class of '17) d. [8] Margo Pletcher (Utah) 7-5, 6-2

Sandgren, Hanfmann, and Shaffer Win Futures Singles Titles while JP Smith Wins a Challenger in Dubs

Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee '11) won his 11th career pro singles title with a straight set win over Facundo Mena in the finals of the $25K USA F24 Futures in Godfrey, Illinois. The match started just after 10 a.m. central with temperatures already approaching 90 degrees and the heat index just short of 100.

Sandgren dominated the opening set winning 29 of 41 points in route to taking a 6-0 set in 31 minutes. More than 5 of those minutes came when Sandgren took a medical timeout, after going up 3-0, due to a blister ripping open on his right hand during the opening game of the match. The opening game tied for the longest game of the match with Sandgren holding in a five-deuce ten-minute service game. Mena had one break point at 30/40 but he couldn't convert and he was unable to convert much of anything the rest of the set. Mena gave away too many points with an unforced error count that was in the double digits.

Luke Siegel Update, Bellis Commits to Stanford, Libietis and Dima Win Pro Singles Titles, Doubles Success

There was plenty of action today on the pro circuit but before I get into those results I wanted to give everyone an update on Luke Siegel who is the 10-year old son of former Texas Tech men's coach Tim Siegel. I'm sure many know the story but for those that don't Luke was involved in a golf cart accident almost a year ago (July 28, 2015) which caused serious head and chest trauma and left Luke with an anoxic brain injury. The Siegels were told that Luke would never regain the use of his limbs, eyes, or voice but he has managed to make progress over the last several months. KAMC TV in Lubbock did a story on Luke and the community support earlier this week with Tim talking about the kind of progress that Luke has made in the last couple of weeks - make sure you check out that story here.

The Lubbock and tennis community has rallied around the Siegels and raised almost $100,000 to help with medical expenses and care through this GoFundMe page. There is a Facebook page, Pray for Luke Siegel, that gives updates and posts videos about Luke's progress so if you are able to help in any way please do and make sure you keep Luke and the Siegels in your prayers.

Schnur Turns Pro, Reinberg/Ponwith Win First Title, Mariana Cobra Heading to UNF, Blumberg to UNC in January

North Carolina junior Brayden Schnur announced today that he would be foregoing his final year of eligibility and turning pro effective immediately. Schnur compiled a 49-25 overall singles record, 38-22 in dual-match play, with all but three dual-matches coming at the top spot in the singles lineup. Schnur battled injuries in each of the last two seasons but when he was healthy he was a very tough out. Brayden's top individual accomplishments came during the fall of 2014 (only fall he played) when he went 11-0 and won the prestigious USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. Brayden will make his pro debut on Saturday afternoon against Radek Stepanek in qualies at the ATP Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Chang Streaking in Godfrey, Perez Wins Another Doubles Title, Kirchheimer Gets E-Ville WC, Ole Miss Schedule

The weather in Greater St. Louis has been extremely hot and humid this week but that hasn't slowed down 2013 Rice graduate Jonathan Chang as he has blazed his way into the quarterfinals at the $25K Godfrey, Illinois, USA F24 Futures. Chang came into this week's Futures event having won just one main draw match but he's managed to come through qualies and knock off a pair off a pair of guys that spent most of last year in the ITA top 10. Chang defeated Georgia Tech's Chris Eubanks 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round then today he came back from a 5-2 third set deficit to beat recent Tulane graduate Dominik Koepfer 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5 in a match that lasted 3 hours and 2 minutes. Chang's quarterfinal opponent will be former Tennessee All-American Rhyne Williams while the other quarterfinal match in the top half of the draw will be between former Tennessee Vol Tennys Sandgren and former Georgia Bulldog Wil Spencer.

Women's Coaching Updates, Olympics, UGA Schedule, First ATP Points

Seton Hall Athletic Director Patrick Lyons announced that former UCLA All-American Riza Zalameda has been named as the Pirates new women's head coach. Zalemeda, who graduated from UCLA in 2008, has spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Columbia. Zalameda replaces Greg Wyzykowski who resigned after going 64-111 (.366) over the last nine seasons at the South Orange, New Jersey, school.