Rojer Into US Open Doubles Final; US Open Juniors Update; American Collegiate Invitational; PlaySight Additions; William Boe-Wiegaard New Sacred Heart Coach; Pro Circuit Recap (Last Week)

Tagged with: American Collegiate Invitational, Axel Geller, Elysia Bolton, JeanJulien Rojer, Oliver Crawford, PlaySight, Pro Circuit Weekly Totals, Sacred Heart, US Open (2017), William BoeWiegaard

Former UCLA Bruin Jean-Julien Rojer (’00-’02) advanced to his first US Open doubles final after he and his doubles partner Horia Tecau came back from a set down to oust the top seeds John Peers (Baylor ’11) and Henri Kontinen. Peers and Kontinen won the opening set 6-1 in just 22 minutes and then the second set would see 12 straight holds to set up a tiebreak. Peers and Kontinen won the first three points of the tiebreak and ultimately led 5-3 but Rojer and Tecau won the next four points to take it 7-5.

In the third set, Rojer and Tecau led 3-1* but Peers and Kontinen won the next three to go in front 4-3. Rojer and Tecau retook the lead at 6-5, after breaking from 15/40, and then they served it out at love to win it 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5. Rojer and Tecau, who won their first grand slam at Wimbledon in 2015, will face Feliciano and Marc Lopez (no relation) in Friday’s final which begins at noon eastern.   

 

Incoming Stanford freshman and top seed Axel Geller moved into the quarterfinals at the US Open Junior Championships with a 7-6(2), 6-2 win over Florida freshman Duarte Vale. Geller was only broken once in the match, at 5-5 in the first set, but he managed to break back and pull away in the tiebreak. Geller (14.76) will face Japan’s Naomi Tajima (14.07) after Tajima defeated Wake Forest commit Menelaos Efstathiou 6-0, 6-7, 6-3. 

Florida freshman Oliver Crawford only needed 52 minutes to move into the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Korea’s Uisung Park. Crawford won 90% of the points on his first serve and 57% of the points on Park’s serve. Crawford (14.04) will face the second seed China’s Yibing Wu (14.63). 

Trey Hilderbrand (2018 UCF commit) and Sam Riffice (2018 Florida commit) both lost in the third round with Hilderbrand falling 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 to the tenth seed Argentina’s Sebastian Baez while Riffice lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori. 

Elysia Bolton (2018 UCLA commit) advanced to the quarterfinals of the girls draw with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over Russia’s Sofya Lansere. Bolton will face Colombia’s Emiliana Arango on Friday after Arango ousted Duke freshman Kelly Chen 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. 

 

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The American Collegiate Invitational got underway on Thursday with eight guys and eight girls trying to lock up a qualifying wild card into next year’s US Open. Stanford senior Tom Fawcett defeated the NCAA singles champion Thai Kwiatkowski 7-6(5), 6-4 and will now play Alfredo Perez after the Florida junior defeated TCU junior Alex Rybakov 7-5, 6-3. USC sophomore Brandon Holt was off the court in exactly an hour after defeating Kentucky senior William Bushamuka 6-2, 6-2. Holt will meet Mike Redlicki in the semifinals after the former Razorback defeated Georgia Tech senior Chris Eubanks 6-2, 6-4. 

On the women’s side, Ohio State junior Francesca Di Lorenzo rolled over North Carolina sophomore Sara Daavettila 6-1, 6-2 and will now face Ena Shibahara after the UCLA sophomore defeated NCAA singles champion Michigan junior Brienne Minor 6-1, 6-3. Recent Vanderbilt graduate Sydney Campbell edged North Carolina sophomore Alexa Graham 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) and will meet Ingrid Neel after the former Florida Gator rallied past North Carolina graduate Hayley Carter 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. 

The men’s and women’s champions will receive main-draw wild cards into the 2018 US Open if either is ranked No. 120 or better by the US Open entry deadline next summer. Otherwise, the winners will receive wild cards into the US Open Qualifying Tournament. The champions will also receive wild cards into three USTA Pro Circuit events, while each runner-up will get one.

 

 

PlaySight announced that six more schools have added PlaySight technology for the upcoming season with five of those offering live streaming capabilities. Texas, Florida, Arizona, William & Mary, and the University of the Ozarks are the five to add live streaming while Brown will have the PLAY product. Check out PlaySight’s release for more details plus to see a list of all the schools that currently have PlaySight live streaming see this attachment. 

 

 

Sacred Heart University announced the hiring of William Boe-Wiegaard as its new men’s and women’s head coach. Boe-Wiegaard played collegiately at Bates College from 2002 to 2006 and won the NCAA Division III Singles Championship during his senior year. Boe-Wiegaard replaces Mike Guastelle who stepped down after 23 years to take a full-time administrative role at Sacred Heart. Below are a few quotes from Sacred Heart’s release:

“We are excited to welcome William to the Pioneer family,” said Deputy Director of Athletics Brad Hurlbut. “The success he saw as a collegiate student-athlete, coupled with his professional playing experience, makes him an excellent role model and leader for our tennis program’s.”

“I am honored to be entrusted the men’s and women’s tennis programs at Sacred Heart University,” said Boe-Wiegaard. “I am thankful to Bobby Valentine and Brad Hurlbut and the University administration for this opportunity and look forward to being part of the Pioneer family.”

 

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Below are a list of last weekend’s winners and runner-ups on the pro circuit.