2015 Review: American Teens (WTA)

A follow up on the 10 American Teens to Watch in 2015 (WTA).  How did the girls do as they tried to transition to the pro tour?

Louisa Chirico (Pic credit: @TennisAtlantic)

Louisa Chirico

Age: 19 (16 May 1996)
Height: 5-9

Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)

2015 Year End WTA Ranking: 120

2014 Year End WTA Ranking: 189

Career High WTA Ranking: 109 (11/16/2015)

2015 Highlights: The highest ranked American teen on the list, Chirico had a steady rise in 2015.  The 19 year old qualified for her first WTA tour event in Acapulco, Mexico and won her first WTA tour match in Washington, defeating Heather Watson and  Alize Cornet to reach the quarterfinals.  Chirico's title at the $50K Dothan and a runner up finish at the $50K Indian Harbour Beach secured her the USTA French Open wildcard where she made her grand slam debut.  The New Yorker also reached the $100K and $125K finals in Midland and Limoges, respectively.

May Rankings, March & April In Review

Previous Rankings: None (Skipped April, was busy).

ATP - Top 15 Americans

Notable Changes/Results

• John Isner is back inside the Top 20 with a much needed semifinal run at the Miami Masters and R16 in Monte Carlo.
• Congrats to your new American No.2, Jack Sock, on his maiden ATP in Houston.
• Also in April, Rajeev Ram won the $100K Guadalajara Challenger (defeated 1st time finalist and University of Michigan alumni Jason Jung) to become the MVP in Racket Rally during that title clinching week...thanks Raj for the court coins.
• Prior to the breakthrough in Mexico, Jung won the $15K Little Rock futures the previous week and is currently at a career high of ATP 194.
• Bjorn Fratangelo continued his good form, reaching SF and QF of Savannah and Tallahassee challengers respectively.
• Jared Donaldson also had a good start to the clay season, reaching QF of Sarasota and Savannah, as well as reaching the SF of Tallahassee.
• Congrats to former Cal Poly Mustang, Andre Dome, on his maiden title at the Thailand F2.
• Dennis Novikov broke into the top 200 for the first time after winning his 6th futures title in Calabasas, CA.

March Rankings: Young, Harrison, Fratangelo, Chirico Moving Up

Previous Rankings: February. 

ATP - Top 15 Americans

Notable Changes

•  Sam Querrey reclaims the No. 2 spot by reaching the semifinals of ATP Memphis.
• Despite dropping a spot, Stevie Johnson continues his strong 2015 campaign with back to back quarterfinal showings at Memphis and Delray Beach Open.
• Donald Young continues his rise with a semifinal at Memphis and second career ATP final at Delray Beach Open (l. Karlovic).
• Also in Memphis, Austin Krajicek reached first career ATP quarterfinal losing to top seed, Kei Nishikori, in 3 sets.
• Ryan Harrison jumps 56 spots since the last monthly ranking.  The 22 year old qualified and made the semifinals of ATP Acapulco, a 500 level tournament.  Along the way, he defeated Young, Grigor Dimitrov (1st Top 10 win in 23 tries), and Ivo Karlovic before falling to World No. 9 David Ferrer who went on to capture the title.   Harrison attributes his resurgence to the rehiring of coach Grant Doyle and the mentorship of Andy Roddick.
• Tim Smyczek reenters the Top 100 by lifting the title at the $100K Challenger of Dallas taking down fellow American Rajeev Ram.
• Bjorn Fratangelo makes his debut on the list, coming in at No. 12, after winning maiden challenger title in Launceston, Australia. The 2011 Roland Garros Boys champion defeated talented 18 year old Hyeon Chung of Korea in 3 sets.
• Jared Donaldson won his first ATP main draw over fellow wildcard, Stefan Kozlov, in Memphis. ICYMI his Q&A for us, here is the link
• The Bryan brothers won their first doubles title of the year, 104th overall, in Delray Beach.
  

Over The Weekend: Louisa Chirico, Andrey Rublev, Tim Smyczek

Over the weekend, 18 year old Louisa Chirico reached the $100K final in Midland.  The final was the biggest of her young career.  Prior to this, the teenager made three $25K finals (1-2) and won the $10K Sumter as a 16 year old.  Chirico defeated Maria Sakkari (GRE), Naomi Cavaday (GBR), Naomi Osaka (JPN) and Katerina Vankova (CZE) before falling to German No. 6 seed Tatjana Maria 6-2 6-0.  The veteran proved too experienced and crafty for the youngster at this time, but the American showed promise in her game.  With this result, Chirico is at a new career high of 149.

Louisa Chirico

2015 AO Qualifying in Pictures

Fourteen American men and four American women participated in the 2015 Australian Open qualifications, but only three successfully made it to the main draw.  Thirty-six year old Michael Russell, who declared 2015 as his last professional season,  27 year old Tim Smyczek, and the former Georgian representative, Anna Tatishvili, won three matches for a chance to compete with the best.  Nine men and three women claimed 1st round victories, six advanced to the final qualifying round including Jarmere Jenkins, Alex Kuznetsov, Chase Buchanan, and Alexa Glatch.  In the main draw, Smyczek draws wildcard and 2012 Junior AO winner, Luke Saville of Australia.  Russell gets No. 20 David Goffin (BEL) and Tatishvili opens her campaign against 44 year old Japanese, Kimiko Date-Krumm.  USA has a total of 24 players (7 men and 17 women) in the singles main events, spearhead by John Isner and World No. 1 Serena Williams.

10 American Teens to Watch in 2015 (WTA)

This is the WTA version of "10 American Teenagers to Watch in 2015 (ATP)".  I'm not as knowledgeable in this field so I inquired some names from @rrjuki and @jokelly_tennis (thanks guys!).  There were so many names and it was tough to narrow the list down to ten so I decided to exclude players who turn 20 years old in 2015.  This list focuses on the 1996 born players and younger.

Taylor Townsend

Age: 18 (16 Apr 1996)
Height: 5-7

Plays: Left Handed (Double Handed Backhand)

2014 Year End WTA Ranking: 102

Career High WTA Ranking: 102 (03/11/2014)

2014 Highlights: Since ending 2012 as the world top-ranked junior, Townsend’s ascendant to the professional rank was steady despite her weight struggle.  The former Junior Australian Open champion jumped 574 ranking spots over the span of two years to a career best of 102.  Under the watchful eyes of the 1990 Wimbledon finalist, Zina Garrison, Townsend won two $50K titles in Indian Harbour Beach and Charlottesville to score the 2014 USTA French Open wildcard.  In her grand slam debut, the 18 year old defeated fellow American Vania King and later upset World No.24 Alize Cornet (FRA) before falling to Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro (WTA 15).  She also received wildcards into Wimbledon and US Open, but fell in the first round to Klara Koukalova (CZE) and 18-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams, respectively.  Earlier this year, the powerful left hander claimed her first premier win over Italian Karin Knapp at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and made the doubles finals at the Citi Open in Washington D.C., partnering Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.