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Top U.S. juniors to compete in Junior Davis/Fed Cup

Sally Milano | September 26, 2016


Six of the top junior players in the country, including 2016 French Open girls’ singles finalist Amanda Anisimova, 2016 Wimbledon girls’ doubles champion Claire Liu and 2016 USTA Boys’ 18s National Clay Court champion Sebastian Korda, will represent the United States this week in the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup Finals.

 

The prestigious 16-and-under world team competitions, taking place Sept. 27-Oct. 2 in Budapest, Hungary, will feature teams from 16 nations competing first in round-robin groups, then in a knockout bracket to determine the winner.

 

Joining Anisimova and Liu on the girls' Junior Fed Cup team is 15-year-old Caty McNally of Cincinnati. Sixteen-year-olds Keenan Mayo of Roseville, Calif., and Sangeet Sridhar of Glendale, Ariz., will compete alongside Korda (pictured above) on the boys' Junior Davis Cup team.

 

Current world No. 4 Anisimova, a 15-year-old from Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., reached the French Open girls’ singles final in May to rise to No. 2 in the world junior rankings at the age of 14. Liu, a member of last year’s runner-up Junior Fed Cup team, is now the No. 10-ranked girl in the world following a summer in which she teamed with Usue Arconada to win the girls' doubles title at junior Wimbledon, where she also reached the singles quarterfinals. The 16-year-old from Thousand Oaks, Calif., also swept the singles and doubles titles at the International Hard Court Junior Championships this year. McNally is currently the second-youngest player ranked in the Top 50 of the world junior rankings, at No. 38.

 

She finished runner-up to Liu and Arconada in the Wimbledon girls’ doubles championships.

 

The U.S. girls are seeded second in this year's event. They will compete in Group D with the sixth-seeded Czech Republic, New Zealand and Peru. The winner of Group D advances to the semifinals to compete for the 2016 Junior Fed Cup title. Top overall seed Russia leads Group A, with No. 4 Poland leading Group B and No. 3 Japan pacing Group C.

 

Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open men's singles champion Petr Korda, was one of a group of U.S. junior boys to train with Ivan Lendl last year through a USTA Player Development initiative. A 16-year-old from Bradenton, Fla., he won the USTA Boys’ 18s Clay Courts national title and reached the round of 16 at the US Open Junior Championships earlier this month. Mayo and Sridhar both reached the quarterfinals of the USTA Boys’ 16s National Hard Court Championships in August.

 

The American boys are the No. 4 overall seeds and the top seeds in Group B, where they are joined by No. 5 Czech Republic, Switzerland and Brazil. The other Top 4 seeds are No. 1 Canada (Group A), No. 2 Russia (Group D) and No. 3 China (Group C).

 

In 2014, the U.S. swept both titles for the second time in seven years. Last year, the U.S. girls finished a close second to the Czech Republic, while the boys finished in seventh place overall.

 

The U.S. has won three Junior Fed Cup titles (2008, 2012, 2014) and three Junior Davis Cup titles (1999, 2008, 2014). Former U.S. junior international team members include Jim Courier, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Lindsay Davenport and Sloane Stephens. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have also represented their respective countries in junior international team competition.

 

For complete tournament information, click here.

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