The Official Teenage Tennis Talent Thread

[Sysyphus]

The Big Kozlovski retires down 5-7 0-2 to Bhambri. Hopefully it's not a recurrence of his shoulder problems again. He was up a break twice in the first set but gave both of them back and one more for the set.

Seems more than likely

 

[stringertom]

Ruud lays up as well, retired at 0-3 third set. Can Opelka avoid the trifecta in the Red Cross Derby???

Hopefully Los Cabos is more pleasant for Tiafoe.

 

[stringertom]

Opelka goes out in a third set TB to Medvedev and Tiafoe is down a set to The Big Kokk, also in a TB. No breaks halfway through the second set.

 

[stringertom]

Tiafoe is out too, losing a second TB 10-12 when he had several SPs including one at 10-9 on his own serve.

Teenage bloodbath.

 

[gogo]

Yikes! Come on guys!

OK, let's turn our attention to Segovia for better news on the teens. Taberner (1 week left as a teen) is into R2 as is De Minaur. ADM faces a very beatable opponent, in 26 yo #283 Egyptian Maamoun. Taberner, on the other hand, faces the winner of the closely-contested, suspended match of Granollers/Garin.

 

[stringertom]

Yikes! Come on guys!

OK, let's turn our attention to Segovia for better news on the teens. Taberner (1 week left as a teen) is into R2 as is De Minaur. ADM faces a very beatable opponent, in 26 yo #283 Egyptian Maamoun. Taberner, on the other hand, faces the winner of the closely-contested, suspended match of Granollers/Garin.

Taberner is an 8/8 guy...he can do it!

 

[stringertom]

THF is playing Kukushkin 1R ATP250 Cabo right now and is on serve 5-5 first set, saving 4 BPs along the way but making no headway on Borat's serve (6 points won in 5 return games). Another BP and he loses it to go down 6-5.

 

[stringertom]

Kecmanovic is through to the QFs at the Chengdu Challenger with another straight set win. He will probably play the Challenger King Rendy Lu, the #1 seed who is up early in his 2R match.

Another 17-year-old, Yibing Wu has also advanced to the QFs there, winning in a 3rd set TB over veteran fellow Chinese Zhe Li. The kid hit 15 aces and just one DF while holding serve 16 of 18 games in the 6-2 6-7(5) 7-6(5) win.

 

[stringertom]

Fritz broke back to force a TB! 3-3 at the change.

 

[stringertom]

THF goes down a set 6-7(5).

 

[stringertom]

Fritz gets the opening break in the second set on his third chance!

 

[stringertom]

Taylor blasts two aces in a hold at 15, 2-0.

 

[stringertom]

Fritz grabs another break and is serving 4-1, then holds for 5-1 from 0-30 down.

It's happening!!!

 

[stringertom]

Taylor takes the second set 6-2. He lost just one point on first serves but his percentage was low at 50% with his 3 aces countered by 2 DFs.

Gotta be strong in this third set. It's been a while since an ATP level win...1R Miami.

 

[stringertom]

Taylor gets a break in the third set and is up 4-2 with easy holds in his three service games. 67% first serves, three aces, zero DFs and just three points lost on serve.

Another break now for 5-2 and he will serve FTW.

 

[stringertom]

Chop chop, Taylor holds at love for the 6-7(5) 6-2 6-2 win going away!

He plays #3 seed ARV in 2R, the lefty Spaniard's first taste of HCs after months on clay, grass and clay again. There is no h2h but they actually played dubs together at W-S last summer. ARV is just 2-5 on HCs this season.

I can see him troubling ARV, maybe an upset.

 

[stringertom]

Max Purcell has advanced into the Lexington Challenger QFs with a tight 3-set win over #8 seed Blaz Rola.

Purcell is a surname rich in Kentucky tennis success. Longtime former ATP pro Mel Purcell (no relation) is from The Bluegrass State. The top 21 pro is currently coaching in his hometown of Murray KY at Murray State University.

 

[okdude1992]

Recent graduate of this thread Tommy Paul just beat Giles Muller (#21) after beating #17 Pouille previously. Two big scalps back to back.

 

[stringertom]

At Chengdu, Kecmanovic kept things close with Lu the Challenger King in a first set TB 6-7(8) but retired down 0-3 in the second set. No word on his issue that forced him out.

At Segovia, Taberner got whacked 1&4 by another veteran, Marcel Granollers. ADM won and is in the QFs there. He will play Dutchman Griekspoor.

At Lexington, Mmoh has also advanced to QFs. He plays Daniel Nguyen while Aussie teen goes against countryman Millman in the QFs.

 

[stringertom]

Sad that Fritz busted out in Cabo250 QFs to The Kokk, 6-7(5) 2-6.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Tommy Paul moves on to the quarters at Citi Open! He on track to probably will double his points or close to that! What a break through tournament for this young American! Wow!

 

[stringertom]

Tommy Paul moves on to the quarters at Citi Open! He on track to probably will double his points or close to that! What a break through tournament for this young American! Wow!

His 90 points brings him to 294 total so he would have to win his QF match to approach doubling his previous points. Kei stands in his way though...a tough task for our recent graduate from teenage tributes.

 

[stringertom]

ADM has made the Segovia Challenger final and plays Nadal protégé Munar on Sunday. Could have a DC tie feel to it, no?

 

[stringertom]

Opelka has won his 1R qualies match at Montreal ATP1000.

Canadian Ben Sigouin is up on court later vs Aussie Mattie Ebden.

 

[Joseph_K]

Almost no luck for the Canucks today in the qualifying for the men's singles event at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. They were 1-7 in matches at the end of the day, the sole survivor being 32-year-old Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls.

18-year-old Vancouver native Ben Sigouin started well against Aussie Matthew Ebden, but was beaten in the end by the score of 6-3, 6-1. Also beaten was 23-year-old Filip Peliwo, another Vancouver native, who went down against the Frenchman Vincent Millot, 7-6(5), 6-1. Peliwo had a great junior career, but has not been able to crack the top 200 at the main tour level.

J.

 

[stringertom]

Opelka into main draw at Montreal!

 

[Swan Song]

Mmoh won Lexington.

 

[Max G.]

Good for Reilly to get some wins! Not quite ATP level wins, but still!

In R1 of Montreal, Shaps plays Dutra Silva, Tiafoe plays Lorenzi, and Opelka plays Schwartzman. Honestly, those are about as good of draws as you can get at Masters 1000 events. Still, Dutra Silva, Lorenzi, and Schwartzman are experienced journeymen, and the teens are definitely underdogs.

 

[stringertom]

Mmoh won Lexington.

And de Minaur was beaten by Munar in the Segovia final.

 

[Max G.]

0 for 1 in Montreal main draw for the youngsters so far, with Opelka losing a tough three-setter to Schwartzman.

He's had quite a few tough close losses like that recently at the ATP level. Still needs that little extra something in his game to become better than this kind of journeyman.

 

[stringertom]

And Tiafoe DFs at 3-6 in the TB to fall behind a set to Oldtenzi.

I'm wondering who plays more extra frames, TBlev or TBiafoe???

 

[Deleted member 743561]

.

 

[stringertom]

An interesting question. An even more interesting one: any particular reason we've yet to hear from Metamucilville?

It is so one-sided, this race to Metamucilville that they dropped the race. Kinda like Young Zedi Warrior dominating the Milan race, fedr is destroying Lorenzi and Lopez, etc.

 

[Deleted member 743561]

.

 

[stringertom]

An interesting question. An even more interesting one: any particular reason we've yet to hear from Metamucilville?

TBlev has played more and done betterer... this year it's 13-9 vs now 6-13 for TBiafoe. That last number is scary bad.

 

[Deleted member 743561]

.

 

[stringertom]

At Montreal: Tiafoe out, Shapo advances.

At Aptos: Ruud out, Fritz advances.

At Potoroz (Slovenia): A Spanish WC Jaime Fermosell Delgado upset Slovenian #1 Lukas Lacko 6-4 3-0 ret. Teenage fratricide happened as Tsitsipas mauled Segovia finalist ADM 2&3.

At Jinan (China), spank me for missing a whole bunch but let's get caught up: it's Wednesday there already and in 2R action already completed we have Duckhee Lee and Soon Woo Kwon advancing to the QFs but Kecmanovic had a rough draw and lost to Challenger King YH Lu.

Shapo is back on court Wednesday vs JMDP.

Fritz will play Austin Krajicek.

Tsitsipas faces Luca Vanni; Fermosell Delgado plays Ilya Ivashka; a Slovenian WC, Sven Lah, who upset very old Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo on Monday will battle Franko Skugor.

 

[TripleATeam]

Shapovalov takes out Juan Martin Del Potro in the R32 in Montreal! He advances to face the winner of Nadal/Coric in the R16. Big win for Shapovalov, particularly since he took it in 2 sets.

 

[stringertom]

Lost in the shadows of the bright spotlight of Shapo's heroics:

In Jinan, the two Korean teens bowed out in straight sets to the eventual finalists Lu and Betankis.

In Potoroz, Tsitsipas has advanced to the SFs and plays Stakhovsky today.

In Aptos, Fritz has advanced to the QFs and plays some tennis vs Tennys Sandgren tonight.

 

[stringertom]

Happy 19th birthday to Stefanos Tsitsipas! It is an off day after his 5-7 third set loss to Stakhovsky in Potoroz.

Fritz is through to the Aptos SF. He plays Liam Broady.

Opelka and Russian Currency lost in qualies at TRS; Opelka was edged in a 3rd set TB. Money was burned badly by Ernests, 2&4.

Now it's up to The Hat...can he make the Montreal final???

 

[heninfan99]

Watching Fritz right now in Aptos. He's on serve against Broady.

Broady takes set one in tie break.

 

[Joseph_K]

After the events of this week, there have been some significant developments in the NextGen rankings. Following his success in Montreal, Alexander Zverev, who is no longer a teenager, has become the first player to qualify for the inaugural edition of the NextGen tournament. He is so far ahead of every other NextGen player in the rankings it almost seems unfair that he is still part of that particular race.

After his semi-final appearance on home soil in Montreal, 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov leaps seven places up to no. 4 in the NextGen rankings. Only 20 points separate him from the no. 3 ranked player, 20-year-old Borna Coric, who owes his high ranking to a great extent to his victory at the Marrakesh tournament in mid-April of this year. Since then Coric has won only five main draw singles matches, three of them in Madrid in May.

One player making slow but steady progress up the rankings is the Italian Matteo Berrettini, who turned 21 in April of this year. Yesterday he played the Ukrainian veteran Sergei Stahkovsky in the final of the Portoroz Challenger (aka the Slovenian Open). Although he led 7-6, 3-0, the young Italian was caught and eventually beaten in three close sets, 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3. His success this week sees Berrittini move up to jo. 16 in the NextGen rankings.

J.

 

[stringertom]

Nicola Kuhn will make his first start after winning his first Challenger title last month at Braunschweig. He received a WC into main draw at another German red clay Challenger tournament in Meerbusch. He will play 1R probably on Tuesday vs Frenchman Sadio Doumbia and could face #2 seed Steve Darcis in 2R.

 

[stringertom]

After the events of this week, there have been some significant developments in the NextGen rankings. Following his success in Montreal, Alexander Zverev, who is no longer a teenager, has become the first player to qualify for the inaugural edition of the NextGen tournament. He is so far ahead of every other NextGen player in the rankings it almost seems unfair that he is still part of that particular race.

After his semi-final appearance on home soil in Montreal, 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov leaps seven places up to no. 4 in the NextGen rankings. Only 20 points separate him from the no. 3 ranked player, 20-year-old Borna Coric, who owes his high ranking to a great extent to his victory at the Marrakesh tournament in mid-April of this year. Since then Coric has won only five main draw singles matches, three of them in Madrid in May.

One player making slow but steady progress up the rankings is the Italian Matteo Berrettini, who turned 21 in April of this year. Yesterday he played the Ukrainian veteran Sergei Stahkovsky in the final of the Portoroz Challenger (aka the Slovenian Open). Although he led 7-6, 3-0, the young Italian was caught and eventually beaten in three close sets, 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3. His success this week sees Berrittini move up to jo. 16 in the NextGen rankings.

J.

There will be lots of potential movement in the Milan race this week at TRS in Cincinnati and possibly some more at Challengers in Vancouver, Meerbusch, Cordenons and Santo Domingo:

Six of the top nine in The Race, including the lone teenager Tiafoe are in main draw at TRS.

In Vancouver, 1R action may include teenage fratricide between Soaring Shapo and stumbling fumbling Fritz, who couldn't close again at Challenger level in Aptos with his SF loss to underdog Broady. Scratch that matchup...Shapo has pulled out. Milan racers Halys (#11), Ofner (#15), Bonzi (#21) and Rubin (#28) as well as pure teens Duckhee Lee (#32) and Benjamin Sigouin also play.

At Santo Domingo, Ruud (#13) is a seed and drew a Dominican WC ranked above #500 in 1R. His top seed in the bottom half is #2 Almagro making a return from injury. A possible tasty SF.

At Cordenons (ITA), there are the lone teen Mikael Ymer in main draw as an alternate and plays #4 seed RCB in 1R. Racers in the draw include Kolar (#33), Munar (#34), Quinzi (#41),brother Elias Ymer (#43) and WC Italian Pellegrino (#117).

At Meerbusch (GER), teen Kuhn takes a WC and looks to continue his win streak on German red clay. He is #29 in the Milan race. Also, a 16-year-old German WC is Henri Squire, who faces Steven Diez. Perhaps he continues the tradition of defeating Diez on clay in Deutschland as a WC teenager...last year at Hamburg ATP500, WC teen Louis Wessels first accomplished the feat.

I guess that's about it. Anyone can add in stuff I may have omitted.

 

[Joseph_K]

Link to a pic of Nico Kuhn with a player old enough to be his fatherer:

www.instagram.com/p/BHFb1ZhgEn2/?hl=en

J.

 

[gogo]

Link to a pic of Nico Kuhn with a player old enough to be his fatherer:

www.instagram.com/p/BHFb1ZhgEn2/?hl=en

J.

Ha ha! Actually, Kuhn has an aged look, considering his tender years.

I can't wait until he gets going full steam on the pro circuit. I'll be cheering for him.

 

[gogo]

After the events of this week, there have been some significant developments in the NextGen rankings. Following his success in Montreal, Alexander Zverev, who is no longer a teenager, has become the first player to qualify for the inaugural edition of the NextGen tournament. He is so far ahead of every other NextGen player in the rankings it almost seems unfair that he is still part of that particular race.

After his semi-final appearance on home soil in Montreal, 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov leaps seven places up to no. 4 in the NextGen rankings. Only 20 points separate him from the no. 3 ranked player, 20-year-old Borna Coric, who owes his high ranking to a great extent to his victory at the Marrakesh tournament in mid-April of this year. Since then Coric has won only five main draw singles matches, three of them in Madrid in May.

One player making slow but steady progress up the rankings is the Italian Matteo Berrettini, who turned 21 in April of this year. Yesterday he played the Ukrainian veteran Sergei Stahkovsky in the final of the Portoroz Challenger (aka the Slovenian Open). Although he led 7-6, 3-0, the young Italian was caught and eventually beaten in three close sets, 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3. His success this week sees Berrittini move up to jo. 16 in the NextGen rankings.

J.

While I recognize that this is a "teen" thread, I have been curious about Berrettini and his considerable progress recently on the Challenger circuit. I'll have to find some videos of him playing. Does anyone think he has potential as a somewhat later developer?

 

[Joseph_K]

Matteo Berrettini has a very solid game. It's a bit surprising that he hasn't been higher than no. 140 (his new best singles ranking as of this week). He must have been very disappointed after the final in Portoroz as he was two points from victory at 7-6, 5-4, 30-30, on Stahkovsky's serve, and again at 6-6 in the second set tiebreak, after coming back from 3-6 down.

Berrettini's serve was broken at 2-1 in the third set, at which point he gave his racket a good smashing. But that didn't help because he then went 1-5 down. Although he pulled back 3-5, the deficit was too much in the end.

J.

While I recognize that this is a "teen" thread, I have been curious about Berrettini and his considerable progress recently on the Challenger circuit. I'll have to find some videos of him playing. Does anyone think he has potential as a somewhat later developer?

 

[stringertom]

While I recognize that this is a "teen" thread, I have been curious about Berrettini and his considerable progress recently on the Challenger circuit. I'll have to find some videos of him playing. Does anyone think he has potential as a somewhat later developer?

Race to Milan thread, no?

@Red Rick approves!

 

[Red Rick]

Race to Milan thread, no?

@Red Rick approves!

Le me, when I get tagged by @stringertom in this thread

I know no Race to Milan but Il Corsa Rosa.