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2010 US Open National Playoffs Update

The following is the first of weekly updates on the 2010 US Open National Playoffs that will include recaps of the Section Qualifying Tournaments that just concluded and highlights of interesting player stories in the next week’s SQTs. The updates will include a list of the men and women who advanced to the US Open National Playoffs - Men’s and Women’s Championships. For more information on each SQT, click on the links in the body of the message or the section name in the list of winners.

Last week’s recap:

Five US Open National Playoffs Sectional Qualifying Tournaments were completed last week, advancing five men and five women to the US Open National Playoffs - Men’s and Women’s Championships in Atlanta (men) and Stanford, Calif., (women). The men’s and women’s winners at the US Open National Playoffs - Men’s and Women’s Championships will receive a wild card into the main draw of the 2010 US Open Qualifying Tournament in Flushing, N.Y. Winners of last week’s Sectional Qualifying Tournaments included juniors, teaching pros, former collegians, USTA Pro Circuit players and former touring professionals. Complete results are linked below (including the results from the USTA Eastern event held in April).

Notable matches from last week included a quarterfinal matchup at the USTA SoCal tournament where men’s winner Cecil Mamitt, a former NCAA singles champion and Pan-American Games silver medalist, faced former U.S. Olympian and 1999 French Open doubles finalist Jeff Tarango. Mamiit prevailed, 6-2, 6-0, and both Mamiit and Tarango competed in the qualifying draw of the USTA Pro Circuit Carson Challenger a week later. At the USTA NorCal tournament, Kelly Pace, a member of two NCAA championship teams at Texas, who competed in the US Open qualifying draw in 1996 and also played on the LPGA Tour, faced Cristina Visico, a former standout for University of California - Berkeley, in the quarterfinals. Visico edged Pace, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3, in the closest match of the tournament. The USTA New England event included a rematch of friends - Ionut Hurduc, a former top junior in Romania, and Michael Thompson, a recreational player from Connecticut. Hurduc and Thompson met in the final of the Stamford Open in Stamford, Conn., the week prior, with Hurduc taking the title. In the Sectional Qualifying Tournament, Hurduc again defeated Thompson, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

This week’s events:

The next two US Open National Playoffs Sectional Qualifying Tournaments will be hosted by USTA Florida in Bradenton, Fla., May 29-June 2, and USTA Southwest in Surprise, Ariz., June 1-3.

Players competing in the USTA Florida Sectional Qualifying Tournament include:

• Eric Eriksen, 45, of Bradenton, Fla., who was a six-time national Norwegian junior champion in swimming
• Mehdi Tahiri, 38, of Morocco, who ranked Top 400 on the ATP Rankings and played on Morocco’s Davis Cup team
• Chantal Igherighe, 26, from Tampa, a model and business owner
• Deja Kitchiner, 14, of Citrus Springs, Fla., who has used YouTube and Facebook to display her tennis
• Tom Killean, 46, of Holiday, Fla., the lead singer of a rock band

Players competing in the USTA Southwest Sectional Qualifying Tournament include:

• Blake Strode, 22, of St. Louis, a product of his local National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) program in Missouri, who deferred Harvard Law School after playing at the University of Arkansas, and who won his first professional title last summer at the USTA Pro Circuit Futures event in Joplin, Mo.
• Brittany Augustine, 18, of Carson, Calif., a junior standout who now competes on the USTA Pro Circuit

US OPEN NATIONAL PLAYOFFS SECTIONAL QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Posted on May 27, 2010
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