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U.S. Girls Capture Junior Title

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The United States girls’ teams continued its string of dominance at the 2010 World Junior Tennis Finals, winning its fourth consecutive title at the 14-and-under version of Fed Cup and Davis Cup, in Prostejov, Czech Republic, August 2-7. It is the first time in the history of the event that one country has captured four straight titles. The U.S. boys’ team, which won the 2008 title, finished in 8th place.

The boys’ and girls’ divisions each had 16 nations which were split into groups of four with round robin play used to determine the semifinalists. The U.S. teams qualified for the World Group Finals in May at the North/Central American & Caribbean Regional Championships.

The top-seeded U.S. girls’ team dominated its round robin group, winning each and every set through nine matches in pool play en route to beating Austria, South Africa and the No. 8 seed South Korea by 3-0 scores. After losing its first match of the tournament in the semifinals against No. 3 China, the doubles team responded with a three set victory to defeat the Chinese 2-1, and the doubles team won another three-setter to secure a 2-1 victory over No. 6 Ukraine in the final.

The U.S. World Junior Tennis girls’ team was comprised of Brooke Austin (Indianapolis), who also competed on last year’s title-winning team, reigning USTA Girls’ 14s Spring National Champion Gabrielle Andrews (Pomona, Calif.), and reigning USTA Girls’ 14s National Clay Court doubles champion Taylor Townsend (Stockbridge, Ga.).

The second-seeded U.S. boys’ team went 2-1 in round robin play and 2-3 overall, losing to Australia to finish in 8th place. The boys’ team was comprised of Jordan Belga (Elk Grove Village, Ill.), Stefan Kozlov (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Noah Rubin (Merrick N.Y.).

Some of the players who have helped the U.S. girls win four straight World Junior Tennis titles include reigning Wimbledon and Roland Garros girls’ doubles champion Sloane Stephens and future Stanford Cardinal Nicole Gibbs in 2007, current USTA Girls’ 16s No. 1 Kyle McPhillips in 2008, and reigning girls’ 16s Eddie Herr champion Sachia Vickery, who helped lead the U.S. to the 2008-09 titles.

Former U.S. junior international team members include James Blake, Jennifer Capriati, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Lindsay Davenport, Taylor Dent, Mardy Fish, Robby Ginepri, Ashley Harkleroad, Lisa Raymond, Andy Roddick and Chanda Rubin.

Posted on August 11, 2010
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