Bellis, Fritz headline talented U.S. field set for US Open Juniors

August 4, 2015 01:05 PM

By E.J. Crawford, USTA.com

The US Open Junior Championships will have a strong American presence in 2015, with a host of talented, home-grown rising stars slated to compete – led by 2014 year-end No. 1 girl CiCi Bellis and current junior No. 1 boy Taylor Fritz.

The 2015 US Open Junior Championships, which feature 64-player fields for both the boys’ and girls’ singles – and 32 teams for boys’ and girls’ doubles – are scheduled to be played Sunday, Sept. 6, through Sunday, Sept. 13, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. 

It has been a fine season for U.S. juniors in 2015. In addition to the success of Fritz, the French Open boys’ runner-up and Wimbledon junior semifinalist, and Bellis, who made waves at the 2014 US Open with her main-draw upset of No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova, Tommy Paul claimed the French Open boys’ singles title and Reilly Opelka won the Wimbledon boys’ crown. Both will join Fritz (pictured at left, with Paul in Paris) in this year’s junior US Open field.

Other American boys set to compete in the 2015 Junior Championships include current world junior No. 3 Michael Mmoh, a 2015 French Open boys’ semifinalist, and No. 9 William Blumberg, who reached the boys’ singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the boys’ doubles final at Roland Garros earlier this year. Opelka and Paul are currently ranked fourth and 13th, respectively.

Bellis will be joined in the girls' field by world junior No. 7 Usue Arconada, the 2015 International Tennis Championships winner; No. 9 Sofia Kenin, the 2014 Orange Bowl and 2015 International Spring Championships winner; and No. 16 Caroline Dolehide, the 2015 French Open girls’ doubles finalist. Also scheduled to compete in the main draw are fast-rising 15-year-old Claire Liu, the 2015 Easter Bowl champion, and Katerina Stewart, the 2014 US Open girls’ semifinalist who has won three tournaments and reached five finals on the USTA Pro Circuit in 2015. 

Tornado Alicia Black, the 2013 US Open girls’ singles finalist, is entered into the junior qualifying. The qualifying rounds take place Thursday, Sept. 3, through Saturday, Sept. 5, with 32 boys and 32 girls competing for eight open spots in each junior singles main draw.

Past American winners of the US Open Junior Championships include Zina Garrison (1981), Jennifer Capriati (1989), Lindsay Davenport (1992), Andy Roddick (2000), CoCo Vandeweghe (2008), Jack Sock (2010), Grace Min (2011) and Samantha Crawford (2012).

The full list of Americans entered into the 2015 US Open Junior Championships is as follows:

Boys – Main Draw
Ulises Blanch (17, Pompano Beach, Fla.)
William Blumberg (17, Greenwich, Conn.)
Taylor Fritz (17, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.)
Michael Mmoh (17, Bradenton, Fla.)
Reilly Opelka (17, Palm Coast, Fla.)
Tommy Paul (18, Greenville, N.C.)
Nathan Ponwith (17, Scottsdale, Ariz.)
Sam Riffice (16, Roseville, Calif.)

Boys – Qualifying
Emil Reinberg (18, Atlanta)

Girls – Main Draw
Usue Arconada (16, College Park, Md.)
CiCi Bellis (16, Atherton, Calif.)
Francesca Di Lorenzo (18, New Albany, Ohio)
Michaela Gordon (16, Los Altos Hills, Calif.)
Sofia Kenin (16, Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
Raveena Kingsley (17, Fulton, Md.)
Claire Liu (15, Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
Ingrid Neel (18, Rochester, Minn.)
Katerina Stewart (18, Coral Gables, Fla.)

Girls – Qualifying
Tornado Alicia Black (17, Boca Raton, Fla.)
Kayla Day (15, Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Alexandra Sanford (16, Westerville, Ohio)


EDITOR'S NOTE: (As of Aug. 20, 2015)

Wild cards for the US Open Junior Championships have been announced. See below for the full list::
 
Main Draw – Boys
Vasil Kirkov (16, Tampa, Fla.; Coaches :Stoyan Kirkov, Sylvain Guichard)
*Patrick Kypson (15, Greenville, N.C.; Coach: Chris Cloer)
Eduardo Nava (18, Woodland Hills, Calif.; Coach: Favero Academy)
Sam Riffice (16, Roseville, Calif.; Coaches: Lori Riffice, Sylvain Guichard)
Alex Rybakov (18, Coral Springs, Fla.; Coach: Nick Rybakov)
Frances Tiafoe (17, College Park, Md.; Coach: Jose Higueras)
 
Main Draw – Girls
Tornado Alicia Black (17, Boca Raton, Fla.; Coaches: Gayal and Sly Black)
Hurricane Tyra Black (14, Boca Raton, Fla.; Coaches: Gayal and Sly Black)
Kelly Chen (16, Cerritos, Calif.; Coach: Debbie Shaffer)
*Abigail Desiatnikov (14, Sandy Springs, Ga.; Coach: Eugeny Desiatnikov)
Alexa Graham (17, Garden City, N.Y.; Coach: Anna Beilen Zavska)
Kylie McKenzie (16, Anthem, Ariz.; Coaches: Leo Azevedo, Lou Belken)
Caty McNally (13, Cincinnati; Coach: Lynn Nabors-McNally)
Alexandra Sanford (16, Westerville, Ohio; Coach: Doug DiRosario)
*Earned wild cards by virtue of winning USTA Boys’ and Girls’ 16s national titles.
 
Qualifying – Boys
Zeke Clark (17, Tulsa, Okla.; Coach: Trent Tucker)
John McNally (16, Cincinnati; Coach: Lynn Nabors-McNally)
Alex Rotsaert (15, Boca Raton, Fla.; Coach: Hafeez Hameed)
Gianni Ross (16, La Grange, Ill.; Coach: Jack Sharpe)
JJ Wolf (16, Cincinnati; Coach: David Kass and Jeff Wolf)
Yuki Mochizuki (Japanese high school champion)
 
Qualifying – Girls
Amanda Anisimova (13, Hallandale Beach, Fla.; Coaches: Konstantin Anisimov, Richard Ashby)
Carson Branstine (14, Orange, Calif.; Coach: Kathy Rinaldi)
Whitney Osuigwe (13, Bradenton, Fla.; Coach: Desmond Osuigwe)
Natasha Subhash (13, Fairfax, Va.; Coach: Bear Schofield)
Eri Shimizu (17, Japanese high school champion)

 

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