US Open College Results

Been traveling this weekend so just score updates - more to come on Sunday.

US Open Men's Doubles - Second Round (Saturday)
Robert Lindstedt (Pepperdine '98)/A Qureshi def. [10] John Peers (Baylor '11)/H Kontinen 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-3
[5] Jean-Julien Rojer (UCLA '02)/Horia Tecau def. Michael Venus (LSU '09)/Mate Pavic 6-2, 6-2
[4] Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares def. Marcin Matkowski (UCLA '03)/Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-1
Andre Sa/Chris Guccione def. [7] Rajeev Ram (ILL '03)/R Klaasen 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3

Tim Dean To Green Bay, USTA Increases Support, Shot Clock Test, US Open College Results

Green Bay Athletic Director Mary Ellen Gillespie announced the hiring of Tim Dean as the new men's and women's head coach. Dean, who is a 2011 St. Scholastica graduate, replaces Daniel Bickett who left after one season to take a volunteer assistant position at Wisconsin. Dean doesn't have any collegiate head coaching experience though he was recently the Head Tennis Pro at Oneida Country Club in Green Bay.

The United State Tennis Association (USTA) announced that it will be increasing its support of college tennis through wild cards into pro tournaments along with basing its MatchDay series at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. Stephen Amritraj (Duke '06) will take over as the Director of Collegiate Tennis for the USTA - you can read the full release here.

Tim Gray To Brown; Greenwood TC Honored, Rough Day at the USO

Brown Director of Athletics Jack Hayes announced the hiring of Tim Gray as the Bears new men's head coach. Gray most recently served as a consultant at Donovan Sports Strategies with his last head coaching job coming at Bradley during the 2013-14 season. Bradley went 3-19 in that one season and dropped the program a few months after the season. Gray also spent six years as the women's coach at Auburn, three years as the women's coach at Eastern Michigan, along with a few other stops at the D3 level. Gray replaces Bryan Koniecko who went 24-26 (.480) in two seasons before leaving to become the women's head coach at Central Florida.

US Open Day 3 Results; College Schedules Released, Coaching News

The US Open continued today with both John Isner (Georgia '07) and Kevin Anderson (Illinois '07) moving on to the third round while Stanford commit CiCi Bellis beat her second top 100 opponent to move into the third round.

US Open College Tennis Results & 8/29 College ATP Rankings

For most of the evening Steve Johnson looked down and out but the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Singles Champion showed some grit and rallied from two sets down to win in five over Russia's Evgeny Donskoy. Johnson had rocked Donskoy 6-1, 6-1 just a few weeks ago at the Rio Olympics so to see him down 4-6, 1-6, 2-5 (0-40) was surprising to say the least. Johnson fought off four match points in his 2-5 service game, broke from 30/40 to put the match back on serve, and then fought off two more match points on his 5-6 service game before rolling in the tiebreak. Johnson broke midway through the fourth set and then early in the fifth set before pulling out the 4-6, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-3 win.

Oracle/ITA Masters Field Announced; Isner Survives While Myneni/McDonald Fall

The field for this year's Oracle/ITA Masters was announced today with 28 of 31 conferences sending a representative for the October 13-16 event in Malibu, California. The full selection criteria is here but in essence the top returning player from each conference was given the opportunity to participate with some accepting and others opting out. There was originally only supposed to be one wild card in each draw but there ended up being four due to the A10, Sun Belt, and SWAC not having a men's representative while the Atlantic Sun, Horizon, and Mountain West didn't have one on the women's side.

Petr Michnev Rallies To Win Austria F7 & US Open Doubles Draws Released, NCAA Doubles Champs US Open Results

#471 Petr Michnev (Hawaii-Pacific '14) won his second singles title this year, and third of his career, with a come from behind win over #542 Corentin Denolly in the finals of the $10K Austria F7 Futures in Poertschach. Denolly broke Michnev in a two-deuce after trailing 40/0 to go ahead 3-2 in the first and then only dropped two more points on serve in route to taking the set 6-4. Michnev broke Denolly in a one-deuce game to go ahead 3-1 in the second and then he broke him again in a four-deuce game to take the set 6-2. Denolly went ahead 4-2 in the third set after breaking from 15/40 and then holding from 40/15 but it was all Michnev in the next four games. Michnev held at love, broke in a one-deuce game, held at love, and broke from 15/40 to close out the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.

King/Betkas Win USONP Mixed Dubs, Vliegen Takes Belgium, NCAA Champs US Open Track Record

It was a good day for former Michigan stars Evan King ('13) and Emina Bektas ('15) as the Wolverine duo won the US Open National Playoff Mixed Doubles Draw with a 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (8) win over Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11) and Malcolm Harrison (NW Missouri St '12). The win earned King and Bektas a main draw wild card into next week's US Open which will be the first main draw Grand Slam match for each.

Coaching Updates, US Open Qualies Wrap Up/Main Draw Released, USONP Mixed Doubles, Pro Circuit

Bucknell Athletics Director John Hardt announced the hiring of Bruce Myers as the new men's head coach of the Bison. Myers comes to Lewisburg after spending last season as the women's head coach at Longwood before departing to become the men's head coach at Delaware. Myers went 16-21 (.432) in one and half seasons at Longwood and 3-5 (.375) in his brief stay at Delaware. Myers also coached at North Carolina A&T in 2014 and prior to that was at Randolph-Macon for two seasons. He replaces Craig Schwartz who stepped down after four seasons to relocate to Boone, North Carolina, to be with his wife (Appalachian State head field hockey coach) and son.

Ritchie Takes Over At Rutgers, US Open Qualies, More Schedules Released, Holy Cross College Starting Program

Rutgers Director of Athletics Patrick Hobbs announced that Hilary Ritchie had been elevated from acting women's head coach to full-time head coach. Ritchie, who played at Iowa and Colorado State, had been the assistant coach at Rutgers for the past six years under Benjamin Bucca who recently stepped down after 13 years to become a New Jersey Superior Court judge.

David Macpherson Hired at GW, Meister/Quigley Win USONP Dubs, US Open Qualies Update, & More

George Washington Director of Athletics Patrick Nero announced the hiring of David Macpherson as the Colonials new men's tennis coach. Macpherson had been the Bryan Brothers coach since 2005 after having a successful pro career that lasted almost 20 years. Macpherson replaces Greg Munoz who resigned in the middle of his 10th season to become the Tennis Director at the Jakarta Tennis Academy in Indonesia. Torrie Browning, who recently became the women's head coach at GW, served as the interim coach and guided the team to a third straight conference title.

Cako & Lao Punch Ticket to the US Open, US Open Qualies Begin, Good Reads

Tuesday was a great day for a couple of former collegians as Jacqueline Cako (Arizona St '13) and Danielle Lao (USC '13) earned a main draw doubles wild card into this year's US Open after winning the US Open National Playoff Women's Doubles draw. Cako and Lao, who were the second seed, broke the top seed Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee '10) six times in route to a 6-2, 7-5 win in 1 hour and 23 minutes. Lao will make her Grand Slam debut while it'll be Cako's second appearance after playing in the 2014 US Open mixed doubles draw.

College ATP Rankings 8/22

Steve Johnson (USC '12) not only became the highest ranked American this week but he also became the highest ranked player with college ties. Johnson moved up two spots to 21 with John Isner (Georgia '07) staying at 22. Both Kevin Anderson (Illinois '07) and Benjamin Becker (Baylor '05) remain in the top 100 though Anderson is defending 250 points this week in Winston-Salem after winning the title last year.

US Open Qualies Draw Announced, USONP Nears Finish, Coaching Updates

The US Open National Playoff singles tournament wrapped up today with both former collegians remaining in the draw falling in the finals. Jose Statham claimed the men's title with a 6-1, 6-2 over Nick Meister (UCLA '12) while Sophie Chang took the women's title with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11). Both Statham and Chang earned wild cards into the US Open qualifying tournament, which begins tomorrow, although it doesn't look like they'll play their first round match until Wednesday.

The women's doubles tournament will be decided on Tuesday between the top two seeds as both Ashley Weinhold/Caitlin Whoriskey (Tenn '10) and Jacqueline Cako (Arizona St '13)/Daniell Lao (USC '13) pulled through today.

USONP Continues, Ellen Perez Earns USO Wild Card, Pro Circuit Recap

The singles finals of this year's US Open National Playoffs will take place on Monday with the women's final getting underway at noon eastern and the men's final starting shortly after that match finishes. Each winner will get a wild card into the qualifying tournament of this year's US Open.

Sophie Chang and Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11) both won in straight sets on Sunday with Chang defeating Nika Kukharchuk (Ole Miss '08) 7-5, 6-2 while Marand ousted Julia Elbaba (Virginia '16) 6-4, 6-4.

Nick Meister (UCLA '12) will meet Jose Statham in the men's final after Meister defeated Gage Brymer (UCLA Sr) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and Statham rolled over Evan King 6-3, 6-2.

USONP Update, Torpegaard Sweeps Finland, Eshmade Wins First Title, Begemann Wins Dubs Challenger in Italy

The US Open National Playoff is down to the final four with the top two seeds still alive on the men's side and only one seed left on the women's side. Nick Meister (UCLA '12) and Gage Brymer (UCLA Sr) both won in straight sets and will face off in the top half semifinal while Evan King (Michigan '13) will meet Jose Statham in the bottom half. Statham fought off match points in his 7-6(6) win in the third over Jesse Witten.

Three of the four semifinalists on the women's side have college ties with the bottom semifinals set to be an All-ACC affair. Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11) will meet Julia Elbaba (Virginia '16) after each won in straight sets while Nika Kukharchuk (Ole Miss '08) meets Sophie Chang with Chang winning the only three-set match of the day. Chang was originally committed to Virginia but chose to go pro instead.

US Open National Playoff Underway, Sonia Hahn To UTRGV, More Schedules Released, PlaySight adding more schools

The US Open National Playoff got underway today in New Haven with three of the four men's seeds and two of the four women's seeds advancing to the quarterfinals. The men's third seed Eric Quigley (Kentucky '12) was knocked off by UCLA senior Gage Brymer in two tiebreak sets while both the second and fourth seeds, Evan King and Jose Statham, came back from a set down to win in three sets. The top seed Nick Meister (UCLA '12) won the most lopsided match of the day 6-1, 6-1 over Philip Major.

The women's top seed Ayaka Okuno, who spent a semester at Georgia in 2013, was knocked off in straight sets by Sophie Chang while the fourth seed Ashley Weinhold lost in three-sets to North Carolina freshman Sara Daavettila. There was a Universal Tennis Rating upset as Eva Raszkiewicz rolled over Fernanda Contreras 6-3, 6-1 - Raszkiewicz's UTR was 1.52 lower but that didn't seem to bother her at all. All the results are listed in the table down below (two tabs) along with the quarterfinal matchups.

USONP, ACI, Coaching/Scheduling/Facility News

The draws for the US Open National Playoff were released today with Nick Meister (UCLA '12) the top seed on the men's side and Ayaka Okuno (semester at Georgia in 2013) is the top seed on the women's side. The doubles draws should be out soon with singles getting underway on Friday in New Haven, CT. Below are the draws with Universal Tennis Ratings listed as of 8/19.

The participants for this year's American Collegiate Invitational were release today. The tournament will take place during the second week of the US Open with the winner earning a wild card into the following year's US Open if they meet certain criteria.

Coaching Updates, ITA Summer Championships, US Open Wild Cards

New Oklahoma men's head coach Nick Crowell announced the hiring of Nate Feldman as the Sooners' new assistant coach. Feldman, who played at Minnesota from 2002 to 2004, was the assistant coach under Jay Udwadia at Oklahoma State for the last two seasons. He also has head coaching experience after leading both the men's and women's teams at Norfolk State from 2011 to 2014. Bobby Reynolds, who was OU's assistant last year, is now the head coach at Auburn.

College ATP Rankings

In the past I've done the current college player ATP rankings but I thought I'd do an update and also include all college players both past, present, and future. To view the sheet in a separate window click here. There is a tab listed for current/future college players, past college players, and both combined.

TCU's Cameron Norrie is now inside the top 300 after a run to the finals of the Aptos Challenger last weekend while Virginia commit Carl Soderlund is the only other current/future player inside the top 500.

John Isner (Georgia '07), Steve Johnson (USC '12), and Kevin Anderson (Illinois '07) are each inside the top 25 while Benjamin Becker (Baylor '05) is inside the top 100.

Mmoh Wins Big in Kzoo & Titles Galore on the Pro Circuit

Michael Mmoh came into this year's USTA Boys 18 National Championships as the top seed and he definitely lived up to the billing. Mmoh only needed about 90 minutes to win the best of five sets final over the No. 7 seed Vasil Kirkov 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. Mmoh only lost 35 games in seven matches and didn't drop a set all week. Colette Lewis has all the quotes from today's winners over at ZooTennis.  

Mmoh and Kirkov To Meet in Zoo Finals (Tale of the Tape), McNally/Wolf Win Zoo Dubs, Pro Circuit Update

The Kalamazoo Boys 18 singles final is set and it will match up the top seed Michael Mmoh and the seventh seed Vasil Kirkov. Mmoh cruised into the finals with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Trent Bryde while Vasil Kirkov came back from a 4-0 first set deficit to win 12 straight games to defeat Zeke Clark 6-4, 6-0.

Cincinnati's John McNally and JJ Wolf, the fourth seed, won the Boys 18 doubles title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over unseeded Sean Sculley and Nick Stachowiak. McNally and Wolf earned a main draw wild card into this year's US Open with the win.

Steve Johnson Wins a Bronze in Rio, Hiltzik/Koepfer Win Champaign, ITA Summer Championships

Steve Johnson (USC '12) started the day off by losing a heartbreaker to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals of the Olympics singles draw but he rebounded a few hours later in the doubles bronze medal match. Johnson, who was seeded 12th in the singles draw, dropped the opening set 6-0 to the second seed Andy Murray but Johnson fought back and nearly pulled off the upset. Johnson took the second set 6-4 and went up a break at 4-3 in the third but Murray broke back to even it at 4-4. The match went to a third set tiebreak with Murray pulling away for a 7-6(2) win.

Johnson was back on court a short while later with Jack Sock as the American duo took on Canada's Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil in the bronze medal doubles match. It only took 63 minutes for Johnson and Sock to beat Nestor and Pospisil 6-2, 6-4. Johnson became just the second USC tennis player to ever medal at the Olympics with the other being Rafael Osuna (doubles gold) in 1968. Congrats Stevie!!

Four Remain In Kalamazoo

The top seed Michael Mmoh cruised into the semifinals in Kalamazoo but none of the other top four seeds were as fortunate. The third seed JJ Wolf was knocked out on Wednesday in a third set tiebreak and on Thursday so was the second seed John McNally. Tampa's Vasil Kirkov managed to come back from a set down to outlast the 2017 Ohio State commit McNally in the only quarterfinal match to go three sets. Illinois commit Zeke Clark and Trent Bryde (#4 HS Class of '18) both won in straight sets as well and in fact both of those guys and Mmoh have yet to drop a set all week

Coaching Updates & Other News & Notes

Southern Illinois women's head coach Audra Anderson was promoted to the Director of Tennis and will now assume the role as the new men's head coach after the departure of Dann Nelson to UTRGV. Anderson has gone 140-83 (.627) in nine seasons at SIU which gives her the best winning percentage in school history. Jonny Rigby, who graduated this past May, will serve as a graduate assistant for a program that is now going year-to-year due to the financial woes in the state of Illinois. Normally I add a picture when the school puts its news release on Twitter or Facebook but as far as I can see they didn't put it on social media anywhere which is pretty poor considering how quiet things are this time of year.