Austin Tennis Academy News

August 11, 2007

Super-National Hard Courts: Weinhold, Saunders, Hagar, O'Rourke, Goertz Compete with U.S. Best

The American tennis surface is a hard court. The U.S. Open, the premier professional tennis tournament in the United States is played on a hard court. Nearly all American junior players grow up playing primarily on the hard court surface. And so, the USTA National junior tennis season climaxes annually with Super-National Hard-Courts in each age division. This year five Austin Tennis Academy earned spots in the prestigious Super-National event.

Seeded (2) in the 18s National Championships, Ashley Weinhold is used to the pressure of high expectations, and she does not shy away from it. Currently ranked 411 in the WTA/Sony Ericsson points race, the 18 year old Weinhold is seeking to win the 18s Super-National title, which carries with it a wild-card spot in the main draw of this year’s U.S. Open. Weinhold won her first four matches without dropping a set, including a 6-4, 6-2 win over (12) seeded Floridian Lauren Embree. As of this posting, Ashley will be competing in the semifinals of singles and doubles, hoping to better her performance from last year where she was a finalist in both singles and doubles. The winners of the Girls 18s Hardcourt Nationals, in addition to their USTA Gold Ball, win a wildcard into the Main Draw of the Women's event at the USOPEN. This has been Ashley's goal this year, to caputure the wildcard in both singles and doubles to the USOPEN.

In San Diego, ATA Head Coach Jack Newman watched Jill Saunders in girls 16s action. In the first round Saunders beat New York’s Olivia Pascucci 6-2, 6-4. In the second round, Saunders fell to (17) seed Britney Sanders 6-3, 6-2. In the back-draw, Saunders won again, 6-2, 6-2 over Michaela Oldani. In her final match, Jill lost two close sets to Wisconsin’s Elizabeth Ecker 6-4, 6-4. Saunders match with Ecker was a re-match of Super-National Clay Courts where Saunders won two close sets to defeat Ecker. Said Coach Newman:

Jill continues to improve all elements of her games and will be very competitive in Girls 16s winter nationals in December.

Josh Hagar practicing for Hardcourt Nationals

The boys 14s Super-National Hard Courts kicked off in San Antonio with ATA Junior Development Director Coach Brian Notis overseeing Josh Hagar, Hunter Goertz and Conor O’Rourke, in addition to ATA visiting players JP Boyd and Jacob Johnson. In his first Super-National Hard Court experience Conor O’Rourke competed hard in two matches, losing in the first round. Competing as a first year 14s, Josh Hagar won his first round match 7-5, 6-2 over Roslyn New York’s Zachary Mintz. In his second round, Josh fell to (16) seed Jack Sock in straight sets. Hagar rebounded to beat Andrew Adams in the back-draw before falling to Baltimore’s Michael Razumovsky 7-6(1), 6-0. Hunter Goertz, long-time doubles partners with Josh Hagar, picked up two main-draw wins as a first year 14s. Goertz came back from a one set defecit to defeat James Boys 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, then beat Alan Pleat in straight sets. In the back-draw, Goertz nearly upset fellow Texan Jorge Salazar, narrowly losing a battle 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(3).

ATA players next chance at this level of national competition comes in December in Arizona, which hosts the winter nationals.

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