USTA Press Release, August 15, 2017
Top American juniors Patrick Kypson, of Raleigh, N.C., and Ashley Kratzer, of Newport Beach, Calif., won the USTA Boys’ and Girls’ 18s National Championships this past weekend, each earning wild cards into the main draw of the US Open and headlining the annual USTA National Championships that took place last week.
The nation’s top junior tennis players competed in eight USTA National Championships across America. In addition to the US Open main draw wild cards awarded to the 18s singles and doubles champions, the singles runners-up in the Boys’ and Girls’ 18s divisions are traditionally offered wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, while the Boys’ and Girls’ 16s champions earn wild card entries in to the US Open Junior Championships.
Kypson, 17, beat 18-year old Ohio State sophomore JJ Wolf (Cincinnati; Coaches: Ty Tucker, Jeff Wolf, David Kass), 6-7(1), 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich. Kypson, who is coached by Mat Cloer and Leo Azevedo, won the Boys’ 16s title in 2015, and has worked with Ivan Lendl over the past several years through USTA Player Development. The duo of Vasil Kirkov (18, Tampa, Fla.; Coach: Stoyan Kirkov) andDanny Thomas (17, Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Coaches: Kelly Story, David Kass) will play in this year’s US Open doubles main draw after winning the USTA Boys’ 18s doubles title.
Kratzer, 18, defeated fellow Californian Kelly Chen (18, Cerritos, Calif.; Coach: Debbie Graham), 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. Kratzer, who is ranked No. 341 and coached by Chris Tontz and J.D. Owen, will make her Grand Slam singles main draw debut at the US Open and will look to follow predecessors Kayla Day (2016), CiCi Bellis (2014) and Sachia Vickery (2013) as USTA Girls’ 18s national champions to win their first round matches. The women’s doubles main draw wild card went to Wimbledon girls’ champion Claire Liu (17, Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Coach: Chris Tontz) and Taylor Johnson(17, Redondo Beach, Calif.; Coaches: Rosie Casals, Erik Kortland).
Brandon Nakashima (16, San Diego; Coach: Woody Blocher) and Angelica Blake (16, Boca Raton, Fla.; Coaches: Nick Saviano, Eric Riley) won the USTA Boys’ and Girls’ 16s National Championships singles titles, and will receive wild cards into the US Open Junior Championships.
Blake and Lucas Brown (12, Plano, Texas; Coach: David Miller), in the Boys’ 12s, were the only two players to sweep the singles and doubles titles in their respective age divisions.
