2011 U.S. Open National Playoffs Update
Former doubles world number two-ranked Ellis Ferreira won the mixed-doubles title at the 2001 Australian Open and the men’s doubles title at the 2000 Australian Open, and reached the final of the U.S. Open men’s doubles in 2000. He is now one step closer to returning to the U.S. Open after winning the mixed doubles title at the USTA Florida Sectional Qualifying Tournament at IMG/Bolletieri Academies in Bradenton, Fla. Ferreira of Holmes Beach, Fla., and partner Amanda Rodgers of Bradenton, Florida, defeated Tiffany Davis and Milos Koprivica, 6-4, 6-3, in the final. As a former pro, Ferreira captured 18 career ATP doubles titles and, following retirement, founded the Eagleton/Ferreira Tennis Academy in Longboat Key, Fla. Rodgers will be playing for Syracuse University in the fall and trains with Ferreira at his academy.
In women’s singles action in Florida, 16-year-old Caroline Dailey of Sarasota, Fla. lost just 11 games in four matches en route to winning the title. Dailey is a two-time high school state champion in Florida and received a wild card into the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Osprey, Fla. in April, where she lost in three sets to a top 200 player. In men’s singles, Russian-born Oleg Dmitriev of Dania Beach, Fla., captured the title. Dmitriev is a local teaching pro and briefly played in ITF-level tournaments once he turned pro in 2000.
Seventeen-year-old Skylar Morton became the second person and first woman to sweep the singles and doubles titles at a Sectional Qualifying Tournament, joining 2010 U.S. Open National Playoffs champion Blake Strode, who captured the New England titles last month. Morton won the singles and mixed-doubles title at the USTA Mid-Atlantic Sectional Qualifying Tournament at the Tennis Center at College Park in College Park, Md. In the women’s singles final, Morton faced Spencer Liang, of Potomac, Md., who had played a nearly three-hour singles semifinal and a mixed doubles semifinal earlier in the day. In the end, Morton defeated Liang, 6-0, 7-5. Morton returned to the courts with her partner from Patrick Daciek, 21, of Severna Park, Maryland, to pull out a quick win against brother-sister duo Tara & Venkat Iyer, winning the mixed doubles title, 6-0, 6-1.
Prior to the tournament, Morton & Daciek, a standout player for Virginia Tech, had never played doubles together, but they knew each other from years of training together in Maryland. Morton trains at the USTA Regional Training Center in College Park and reached the final of the International Grass Court Junior Championships last year.
In men’s singles, Damon Gooch of Bethesda, Md. captured the singles title, 6-4, 7-6(4), over David Emery of Fairfax, Va. Gooch is a former junior standout from South Africa, who came to the U.S. to compete for the University of Elon, where he played at the number one position on the team. He started training at the Tennis Center at College Park at the beginning of this year and has competed on the USTA Pro Circuit and in ITF-level events.
The U.S. Open National Playoffs for Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles Championships will be held during the New Haven Open at Yale, an Olympus U.S. Open Series women’s event in August. The U.S. Open National Playoffs mixed-doubles champions receive a main draw wild card into the 2011 U.S. Open. The U.S. Open National Playoffs men’s and women’s singles champions again earn a wild card into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament, held the week prior to the U.S. Open.
Next Events
The next two U.S. Open National Playoffs Sectional Qualifying Tournaments will be hosted by USTA Hawaii-Pacific, in Honolulu, June 2-5, and USTA Midwest in Cincinnati, June 4-8.
Players competing in the USTA Hawaii Pacific Sectional Qualifying Tournament include:
â–ºFormer doubles number 32 Mark Keil of Honolulu, who captured five career ATP doubles titles and defeated Pete Sampras at the Queen’s Club in 1991; Keil also directed and produced a film documenting life behind the scenes for a tour professional titled, “The Journeymen.”
â–ºAngelo Niculescu of Lake Oswego, Ore. who won the USTA Pacific Northwest Sectional Qualifying Tournament last year; a top junior growing up in Romania, Niculescu played for the University of South Carolina and now serves as a head tennis pro in Gresham, Ore.
â–º Erik S. Nelson-Kortland of Marina del Rey, Calif. who defeated Olympic skier Bode Miller in the first round of the USTA Hawaii-Pacific Sectional Qualifying Tournament last year and who played for Sacramento State.
â–ºFormer University of Southern California standout and 1998 Easter Bowl finalist Maureen Diaz of Glendale, Calif., who won this USTA Midwest Sectional Qualifying Tournament last year and regularly competes on the USTA Pro Circuit.
Players competing in the USTA Midwest Sectional Qualifying Tournament include:
â–ºUniversity of Kentucky standout Eric Quigley of Pewee Valley, Ky., who won this USTA Midwest Sectional Qualifying Tournament last year and was one of three male players to represent the United States at the Master’U BNP Paribas in Poitiers, France, an international college tennis competition in December 2009.
â–ºFormer world number 82 and current USTA Pro Circuit player Romana Tedjakusuma, who competed for Indonesia as a member of their Olympic team and Fed Cup team; she reached the third round of the Australian Open in 1994 and holds one WTA doubles title.
â–ºTwenty-year-old Christian Roehmer of Mount Pleasant, Mich.,a standout player at Michigan State, whose 53-year-old dad is also competing in the tournament
Upcoming registration deadlines
â–ºRegistration for the U.S. Open National Playoffs USTA Southern California Sectional Qualifying Tournament closes on Thursday, June 2. The tournament will take place at The Claremont Club in Claremont, California., June 13-17.
â–ºRegistration for the U.S. Open National Playoffs USTA Northern Sectional Qualifying Tournament closes on Sunday, June 5. The tournament will take place at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., June 23-26.
â–ºRegistration for the U.S. Open National Playoffs USTA Texas Sectional Qualifying Tournament closes on Monday, June 6. The tournament will take place at the Arlington Tennis Center in Arlington, Texas, June 20-25.
US OPEN NATIONAL PLAYOFFS SECTIONAL QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Section Men’s Winner Women’s Winner Mixed Doubles Winners
Eastern Steve Erickson Petra Jurova Beatrix Bielik/Darren Cohen
Age: 23 Age: 18 Ages: 30/27
Southwest Bojan Temunovic Sylvia Kosakowski Nicole Melichar/Sam Harrison Age: 22 Age: 24 Ages: 17/18
New England Blake Strode Lena Litvak Whitney Jones/Blake Strode
Age: 23 Age: 22 Ages: 24/23
Florida Oleg Dmitriev Caroline Dailey Amanda Rodgers/Ellis Ferreira
Age: 27 Age: 16 Age: 18/41
Mid-Atlantic Damon Gooch Skylar Morton Skylar Morton/Patric Daciek
Age: 24 Age: 17 Age: 17/21
