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Impressive win for Fish
While so many of his fellow Americans (other than Andy Roddick and Jesse Levine) are being sent packing from Wimbledon, Mardy Fish continues to impress.
Facing Janko Tipsarevic, who upset Roddick in last year's Wimbledon en route to his second straight appearance in the fourth round, Fish emerged with a solid four-set win to set up a third-round showdown with Novak Djokovic.
Fish, the first player to commit to play in the 2009 Pilot Pen, is in the third round at Wimbledon for just the third time in seven career appearances. He has been the victim of some brutal draws recently, falling to 10th-ranked Richard Gasquet in the first round in 2008 and losing his opener to then second-ranked Rafael Nadal in 2007. Among the other men's players punching their tickets in the third round today were fellow Pilot Pen commit Tommy Robredo and Marin Cilic, the 2008 men's singles champion in New Haven.
Taylor Dent, the only other player who has been announced as a committed player for the men's Pilot Pen field, put up a gallant effort before falling 6-4 in the fifth set to Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver in a first-round match which was completed today. Fellow Americans Sam Querrey and Vince Spadea suffered second-round losses today. Who would have thought that Levine would be the third American men still in the field ahead of James Blake, Robby Ginepri and Querrey? The other question is how long will U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe stay with Blake as his No. 2 singles players considering the struggles Blake has faced in the last two Grand Slams?
Dominika Cibulkova, one of three players committed to the women's New Haven field, rolled to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Urszula Radwanska. Cibulkova will play Russia's Elena Vesnina in the thrd round.
TOP JUNIORS HEADED TO NEW HAVEN
The New England Junior Sectionals, one of the crown jewels on the USTA summer schedule, will begin tomorrow with doubles play while the singles competition will start on Friday at the upper courts at the Connecticut Tennis Center.
The Junior Sectionals is an event featuring the brightest stars in New England(outside of Greenwich which aligns itself with the New York USTA section). The top 32 players, based on their 32 rankings, are invited to compete. Massachusetts and Connecticut typically dominate the event and this year figures to be no different as 64 singles players seeded, 35 are from Massachusetts and another 22 hail from Connecticut.
Leading the way are the Paige brothers of Fairfield. Nolan, who recently wrapped up a brilliant freshman season at Hopkins, is the top seed in the boys' 16 singles draw and seeded second in doubles along with Aaron Revzin of Needham, Mass. Sayer Paige is the top seed both in the boys' 12 singles and doubles events. It is a bit ironic that Nolan Paige drew his Hopkins teammate Brian Astrachan in the first round of singles.
Other No. 1 singles seeds hailing from Connecticut are Weston's Kimmy Guerin (girls' 14s), Southington's Kim Przeszlowski (girls' 16s) and Stamford's Vanessa Petrini (girls' 18s). At least one Connecticut player in on five of the eight top-seeded doubles teams.
The doubles draws are set to wrap up on Friday while the singles championships will be crowned on Tuesday. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate.
Speaking of events at the Connecticut Tennis Center, the Yale Summer Championships will be held there with the winners of the men's and women's open singles titles again receiving wild cards into the Pilot Pen qualifying draws. The deadline to register is July 5. Nine players have already registered for the men's open event while there are 10 applicants for the women's open field.
It should be noted that Christina McHale, a two-time winner of the women's open event, doesn't figure to defend her Yale Summer Championships title considering how her career has taken off since last year. She is entered in the juniors' draw at Wimbledon and had a strong run to the third round in the French Open juniors' event and also won the girls' juniors doubles title at the Australian Open along with Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia. The 17-year-old McHale is ranked 10th in the latest International Tennis Federation world junior rankings. Something tells me she could in line with a qualifying wild card into the Pilot Pen.
The Yale Summer Championships will run from July 9-12.
Facing Janko Tipsarevic, who upset Roddick in last year's Wimbledon en route to his second straight appearance in the fourth round, Fish emerged with a solid four-set win to set up a third-round showdown with Novak Djokovic.
Fish, the first player to commit to play in the 2009 Pilot Pen, is in the third round at Wimbledon for just the third time in seven career appearances. He has been the victim of some brutal draws recently, falling to 10th-ranked Richard Gasquet in the first round in 2008 and losing his opener to then second-ranked Rafael Nadal in 2007. Among the other men's players punching their tickets in the third round today were fellow Pilot Pen commit Tommy Robredo and Marin Cilic, the 2008 men's singles champion in New Haven.
Taylor Dent, the only other player who has been announced as a committed player for the men's Pilot Pen field, put up a gallant effort before falling 6-4 in the fifth set to Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver in a first-round match which was completed today. Fellow Americans Sam Querrey and Vince Spadea suffered second-round losses today. Who would have thought that Levine would be the third American men still in the field ahead of James Blake, Robby Ginepri and Querrey? The other question is how long will U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe stay with Blake as his No. 2 singles players considering the struggles Blake has faced in the last two Grand Slams?
Dominika Cibulkova, one of three players committed to the women's New Haven field, rolled to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Urszula Radwanska. Cibulkova will play Russia's Elena Vesnina in the thrd round.
TOP JUNIORS HEADED TO NEW HAVEN
The New England Junior Sectionals, one of the crown jewels on the USTA summer schedule, will begin tomorrow with doubles play while the singles competition will start on Friday at the upper courts at the Connecticut Tennis Center.
The Junior Sectionals is an event featuring the brightest stars in New England(outside of Greenwich which aligns itself with the New York USTA section). The top 32 players, based on their 32 rankings, are invited to compete. Massachusetts and Connecticut typically dominate the event and this year figures to be no different as 64 singles players seeded, 35 are from Massachusetts and another 22 hail from Connecticut.
Leading the way are the Paige brothers of Fairfield. Nolan, who recently wrapped up a brilliant freshman season at Hopkins, is the top seed in the boys' 16 singles draw and seeded second in doubles along with Aaron Revzin of Needham, Mass. Sayer Paige is the top seed both in the boys' 12 singles and doubles events. It is a bit ironic that Nolan Paige drew his Hopkins teammate Brian Astrachan in the first round of singles.
Other No. 1 singles seeds hailing from Connecticut are Weston's Kimmy Guerin (girls' 14s), Southington's Kim Przeszlowski (girls' 16s) and Stamford's Vanessa Petrini (girls' 18s). At least one Connecticut player in on five of the eight top-seeded doubles teams.
The doubles draws are set to wrap up on Friday while the singles championships will be crowned on Tuesday. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate.
Speaking of events at the Connecticut Tennis Center, the Yale Summer Championships will be held there with the winners of the men's and women's open singles titles again receiving wild cards into the Pilot Pen qualifying draws. The deadline to register is July 5. Nine players have already registered for the men's open event while there are 10 applicants for the women's open field.
It should be noted that Christina McHale, a two-time winner of the women's open event, doesn't figure to defend her Yale Summer Championships title considering how her career has taken off since last year. She is entered in the juniors' draw at Wimbledon and had a strong run to the third round in the French Open juniors' event and also won the girls' juniors doubles title at the Australian Open along with Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia. The 17-year-old McHale is ranked 10th in the latest International Tennis Federation world junior rankings. Something tells me she could in line with a qualifying wild card into the Pilot Pen.
The Yale Summer Championships will run from July 9-12.
posted by Jim Fuller at
4:38 PM
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