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Saturday, October 3, 2009

Great Britain Surprises France In Junior Davis Cup; Harrison Reaches Second Straight Futures Final; All-American Pre-Qualifying Underway

Sixth-seeded Great Britain upset No. 1 France 2-1 today in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and will meet No. 3 seed Australia on Sunday for the Junior Davis Cup title. With No. 1 Oliver Golding sitting out, 2007 Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion George Morgan stepped up for Great Britain. Trailing 1-0 after No. 3 player Andrew Bettles had lost to French No. 2 Mick Lescure, Morgan beat French No. 1 Cedrick Commin 6-3, 6-3, then teamed with Bettles to take a routine straight-set win in doubles. It is the first time the boys team from Great Britain has appeared in the finals. The British girls lost in the final to the U.S. last year in the Junior Fed Cup.

Australia also took a 3-0 win, with the No. 3 seeds not threatened by the No. 2 seeds from the Czech Republic. Australia has won the Junior Davis Cup five times since its inception in 1985, the last time just two years ago. Former USTA National Coach Ray Ruffels is coaching the Australian boys team.

The Junior Fed Cup will feature top seed Russia against No. 4 seed Germany, with both teams taking 2-1 semifinal decisions. Russia beat No. 3 Japan, winning the singles before dropping the doubles, while Germany, like the British boys, did without their No. 1 singles player, but still advanced over No. 2 Slovakia. Germany's No. 3 player Stephanie Wagner was the heroine, winning her singles match over Slovakia's No. 2 player Vivien Juhaszova. When Annika Beck at No. 2 singles lost to Slovakia's No. 1 Jana Cepelova, it meant the doubles would decide it, with Wagner and German No. 1 Anna-Lena Friedsam taking it 6-3 in the third.

Surprisingly, Russia has only one Junior Fed Cup title, back in 1997, when Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva led them to victory over France. Germany has two world titles, in 1989 and 1991.

The U.S. boys defeated Mexico 2-1 to reach the fifth place match on Sunday, where they will meet unseeded Korea.

For complete results, see the ITF junior website.

Ryan Harrison reached his second straight Futures final today, defeating top seed Lester Cook 7-5, 6-1 in the $10,000 tournament in Laguna Niguel. He will play No. 5 seed Richard Bloomfield of Great Britain for the title. Bloomfield prevented a rematch of last week's final when he beat No. 2 seed Michael McClune 7-6(3) 7-6(4) in today's semfinal.

The pre-qualifying for both the women's Riviera All-American and the men's D'Novo All-American are underway. The smaller women's field makes even the pre-qualifying a tough tournament. Women's seeds already gone include Morgan Frank(9), Lauren Lui(10), Alexandra Walters (16), Lauren McFarlane (12), Joanna Mather(8) and Martina Pavalec (2). Florida freshman Allie Will is the top seed in pre-qualifying. For complete draws, including doubles pre-qualifying, see the ITA tournament page.

The men's pre-qualifying is a 256 draw. For today's results, see the ITA tournament page.

1 comments:

Tennis Betting said...

Good performance by Great Britain. Lets see if they repeat the same against Australia