Showing posts with label Black. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black. Show all posts

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Volynets wins girls 12 nationals; Bellis gains 18s final

   Top-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek won the USTA Girls 12 National Championships, dominating sixth-seeded Sedona Gallagher of Henderson, Nev., 6-0, 6-3 on Friday in Alpharetta, Ga.
   Volynets never lost more than three games in a set in her seven matches.
   In the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego, Catherine (CiCi) Bellis of Atherton advanced to the final with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory over 15th-seeded Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines in a matchup of 15-year-olds.
   Bellis will face fifth-seeded Tornado Alicia Black of Boca Raton, Fla., today. Black, 16, ousted top-seeded Louisa Chirico of Harrison, N.Y., 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. Chirico, a quarterfinalist in last month's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger, is the 219th-ranked woman in the world.
   Bellis and Black are the second- and fourth-ranked juniors in the world, respectively. But Black leads the head-to-head series 2-0, overwhelming Bellis twice on clay last year. The San Diego tournament is played on hardcourts.
   In the boys 18s in Kalamazoo, Mich., fifth-seeded Collin Altamirano, 18, of Sacramento and top-seeded Jared Donaldson, 17, of Glocester, R.I., renewed their rivalry in the quarterfinals. However, Donaldson retired with an abdominal injury while leading 4-2.
   Altamirano beat Donaldson 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in last year's best-of-five-set final to become the first unseeded player in the tournament's 71-year history to win the title.
   But Donaldson routed Altamirano 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 Oklahoma City Futures in June en route to the title.
   Donaldson is the 309th-ranked man in the world, and Altamirano is No. 846.
   Altamirano will play fourth-seeded Stefan Kozlov, 16, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., for the first time today. Kozlov, the second-ranked junior in the world, reached the boys singles final at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.
   The boys and girls champions in singles and doubles in the USTA National Championships will receive wild cards into the men's or women's main draws of the upcoming U.S. Open.
   Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Sam Riffice of Roseville lost a heartbreaker to top-seeded John McNally of Cincinnati 0-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the boys 16 quarterfinals in Kalamazoo. Riffice led 4-0 in the third set in the battle of 15-year-olds.
USTA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Results of Northern Californians only)
Boys 18
In Kalamazoo, Mich.
Singles quarterfinals
   Collin Altamirano (5), Sacramento, def. Jared Donaldson (1), Glocester, R.I., 2-4, retired.
Doubles quarterfinals
   Collin Altamirano, Sacramento, and Deiton Baughman (1), Carson, def. Daniel Kerznerman, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Nathan Ponwith (6), Scottsdale, Ariz., 3-6, 6-3 [10-6].
   Michael Mmoh, Temple Hills, Md., and Francis Tiafoe (4), College Park, Md., def. William Griffith, Fresno, and JT Nishimura (5), San Jose, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).
Girls 18
In San Diego
Singles semifinals
   Catherine Bellis (2), Atherton, def. Sofia Kenin (15), Pembroke Pines, Fla., 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
Boys 16 
In Kalamazoo, Mich.
Singles quarterfinals
   John McNally (1), Cincinnati, def. Sam Riffice (6), Roseville, 0-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Girls 12
In Alpharetta, Ga.
Singles final
   Katie Volynets (1), Walnut Creek, def. Sedona Gallagher (6), Henderson, Nev., 6-0, 6-3.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Gold River champ Hibi loses in U.S. Open girls semis

Mayo Hibi, seeded 11th, fell to No. 2
Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.
Photo by Paul Bauman
   Second-seeded Ana Konjuh of Croatia defeated 11th-seeded Mayo Hibi of Japan 6-3, 6-3 today in the junior girls semifinals of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Hibi, 17, won the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area in July. She was born in Japan but has lived in California, first in Foster City in the San Francisco Bay Area and now in Irvine, since she was 2 1/2.
   Konjuh, who won the Australian Open girls singles and doubles titles in January, will play wild card Tornado Alicia Black of Boca Raton, Fla., for the title on Sunday in a matchup of 15-year-olds.
   Black downed seventh-seeded Antonia Lottner of Germany 7-5, 6-3. Lottner had ousted top-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the quarterfinals.
   Bencic, 16, won this year's French Open and Wimbledon girls titles, defeating Lottner and Taylor Townsend, respectively, in the finals. Townsend, 17, played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in July.
   Sylvester Black, an African American, hopes to mold his daughters, Ali and 12-year-old Tyra, into the next Venus and Serena Williams. Sylvester nicknamed Alicia "Tornado Ali" because of her quick feet and Tyra "Hurricane Tyra" for her aggressive style.