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Busy days ahead
The Pilot Pen Tennis tournament is still 6 1/2 weeks away but these are still hectic times for tournament organizers.
First up, the singles draws for the men's open and women's open events at the Yale Summer Championships have been released with the winners earning spots in the Pilot Pen singles qualifying draws.
On the women's side, Florida teen Brooke Bolender is the top seed. She has played in 17 ITF events and won three qualifying matches in an ITF clay court event in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida before losing to Mashona Washington in the first round of the main draw in mid May. Since only 27 players have entered the event, Bolender is one of five players to receive a first-round bye. She could face former CIAC State Open champion Tina Tehrani of New Canaan in the second round Friday at 4 p.m.
Christina McHale, a two-time defending champion who recently compete in the singles and doubles junior events at Wimbledon, is not defending her title.
On the men's side, former champion Kabelo Maleka is the top seed among the 61 entrants. Yale incoming freshman Marc Powers is seeded third and former Amity High star Ben Zuckerberg is seeded fourth. Last year's men's winner - Will Boe-Wiegaard is not entered.
Play begins on Thursday at the upper courts at the Connecticut Tennis Center with the finals set for Sunday.
On Monday July 13, rising American star Melanie Oudin, who upset former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic en route to a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon, will be in New Haven for what is being described as "a major announcement about a community
tennis project between Pilot Pen Tennis, USTA New England and the City
of New Haven."
If recent history counts for anything, Oudin will also be guaranteed a spot in the Pilot Pen singles draw as Taylor Dent was during his appearance in New Haven earlier this year. While Oudin's current ranking of No. 70 doesn't figure to be high enough to land her direct entry into the main draw, Pilot Pen tournament director Anne Worcester doesn't figure to have any reservations towards awarding one of her three women's singles main-draw wild cards to the third-ranked American (behind the Williams sisters), the third youngest player currently ranked in the top 100 and the youngest American to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1993. It should be noted that while Capriati was moving forward in the Wimbledon draw, Oudin was still a couple of months short of her second birthday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday (July 14 and 15) the men's and women's player fields for the Aug. 21-29 will be announced. Assuming Dent and Oudin each have a wild card spot guaranteed, there will be only three men's spots and two on the women's side available via wild cards. It's a safe bet that Worcester is currently burning up the phone lines and flooding e-mail in boxes with reminders to the agents of players that missing the fast-approaching entry deadline could mean missing the tournament. On the women's side, those who fail to enter on time are given a second chance by shooting to the top of the "next-in" list based on their rankings but on the men's side, any player who fails to enter on time can only get into the main draw by being given a wild card by the tournament.
Finally, play in the Pilot Pen Family Classic will be held from July 18-19 at Scalzi Park in Stamford as part of the second annual Connecticut Public Parks Tennis
Championships.
The Family Classic has Mother-and-Child and Father-and-Child events at the 18-and-under, 14-and-under and 12-and-under divisions. Children ranked Top 30 in the USTA New England junior rankings must play up one age division. There are also Open
divisions in Husband-and-Wife and Parent-Child (for children age 19 and
over). Winners in each division advance to the Pilot Pen Tennis Family Classic regional championships in New Haven July 25-26.
The deadline to register for the Family Classic is July 14.
A printable entry form is available at www.stamfordtennis.org
stamfordtennis@aol.com and should be mailed to the GSTA at 27 Revonah
Avenue, Stamford, CT 06905.
First up, the singles draws for the men's open and women's open events at the Yale Summer Championships have been released with the winners earning spots in the Pilot Pen singles qualifying draws.
On the women's side, Florida teen Brooke Bolender is the top seed. She has played in 17 ITF events and won three qualifying matches in an ITF clay court event in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida before losing to Mashona Washington in the first round of the main draw in mid May. Since only 27 players have entered the event, Bolender is one of five players to receive a first-round bye. She could face former CIAC State Open champion Tina Tehrani of New Canaan in the second round Friday at 4 p.m.
Christina McHale, a two-time defending champion who recently compete in the singles and doubles junior events at Wimbledon, is not defending her title.
On the men's side, former champion Kabelo Maleka is the top seed among the 61 entrants. Yale incoming freshman Marc Powers is seeded third and former Amity High star Ben Zuckerberg is seeded fourth. Last year's men's winner - Will Boe-Wiegaard is not entered.
Play begins on Thursday at the upper courts at the Connecticut Tennis Center with the finals set for Sunday.
On Monday July 13, rising American star Melanie Oudin, who upset former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic en route to a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon, will be in New Haven for what is being described as "a major announcement about a community
tennis project between Pilot Pen Tennis, USTA New England and the City
of New Haven."
If recent history counts for anything, Oudin will also be guaranteed a spot in the Pilot Pen singles draw as Taylor Dent was during his appearance in New Haven earlier this year. While Oudin's current ranking of No. 70 doesn't figure to be high enough to land her direct entry into the main draw, Pilot Pen tournament director Anne Worcester doesn't figure to have any reservations towards awarding one of her three women's singles main-draw wild cards to the third-ranked American (behind the Williams sisters), the third youngest player currently ranked in the top 100 and the youngest American to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1993. It should be noted that while Capriati was moving forward in the Wimbledon draw, Oudin was still a couple of months short of her second birthday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday (July 14 and 15) the men's and women's player fields for the Aug. 21-29 will be announced. Assuming Dent and Oudin each have a wild card spot guaranteed, there will be only three men's spots and two on the women's side available via wild cards. It's a safe bet that Worcester is currently burning up the phone lines and flooding e-mail in boxes with reminders to the agents of players that missing the fast-approaching entry deadline could mean missing the tournament. On the women's side, those who fail to enter on time are given a second chance by shooting to the top of the "next-in" list based on their rankings but on the men's side, any player who fails to enter on time can only get into the main draw by being given a wild card by the tournament.
Finally, play in the Pilot Pen Family Classic will be held from July 18-19 at Scalzi Park in Stamford as part of the second annual Connecticut Public Parks Tennis
Championships.
The Family Classic has Mother-and-Child and Father-and-Child events at the 18-and-under, 14-and-under and 12-and-under divisions. Children ranked Top 30 in the USTA New England junior rankings must play up one age division. There are also Open
divisions in Husband-and-Wife and Parent-Child (for children age 19 and
over). Winners in each division advance to the Pilot Pen Tennis Family Classic regional championships in New Haven July 25-26.
The deadline to register for the Family Classic is July 14.
A printable entry form is available at www.stamfordtennis.org
stamfordtennis@aol.com and should be mailed to the GSTA at 27 Revonah
Avenue, Stamford, CT 06905.
posted by Jim Fuller at
4:46 PM
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