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US Jrs finish 2nd and 3rd in 2011 Championships

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The United States girls’ team was one set away from winning its fifth straight title at the 2011 World Junior Tennis Finals, but lost to Serbia 2-1 in Saturday’s final to finish in second place at the 14-and-under version of Fed Cup in Prostejov, Czech Republic, August 1-6. The U.S. boys’ team defeated Romania 2-1 to place third for its best finish at the 14-and-under version of Davis Cup since winning the 2008 title.

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. Both U.S. teams qualified for the World Group Finals by winning the North/Central American & Caribbean Regional Championships in May.

The second-seeded U.S. girls’ team dominated its round robin group, winning all nine matches in pool play en route to beating New Zealand, Great Britain and the No. 8 seed Colombia by 3-0 scores. The U.S. won both singles matches to defeat No. 6 seed Slovenia in the semifinals, but lost the decisive doubles rubber in three sets in the final against Serbia.

The U.S. World Junior Tennis girls’ team was comprised of Julia O’Loughlin (Lighthouse Point, Fla.), who went 3-1 in singles for the U.S. (1-2 in doubles), Cristina Rovira (Boca Raton, Fla.), who won her only singles match and went 3-2 in doubles, and 2011 USTA Girls’ 14s National Clay Court runner-up Katerina Stewart (Miami), who went undefeated in seven matches (5-0 in singles).

The top-seeded U.S. boys’ team also went undefeated in round robin play, winning all nine matches against Italy, China and No. 7 seed Brazil. The team lost both singles matches to No. 4 seed Japan in the semifinals, but won the decisive doubles match on Saturday to beat No. 2 seed Romania 2-1 and secure third place.

The boys’ team was comprised of reigning AEGON International champion Stefan Kozlov (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), who went 4-2 overall (3-2 in singles), Eduardo Nava (Woodland Hills, Calif.), who went undefeated in five doubles matches, and reigning Les Petits As champion Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.), who went 6-1 overall (3-1 in singles).

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 9, 2011
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