Bryan Twins Lead LA Open Charge
Fan favorites and four-time LA Tennis Open Presented by Farmers Insurance Group doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan will return to the tournament this year. After missing the ‘08 event while earning a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, the Bryans come back to LA in search of their third straight title at the tournament and fifth overall.
In addition to playing during the tournament, the Bryans will be busy off court during the week. Among their non-match appearances will be a headlining role in Kids Day along with their father Wayne on Thursday, July 30. The tournament will be held July 27-Aug. 2, at the LA Tennis Center at UCLA.
French Open semifinalist Fernando Gonzalez leads the 28-player singles field. Joining the Chilean are former champions Tommy Haas (2004 and 2006), Radek Stepanek (2007), two-time Grand Slam winner Marat Safin, 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, and Americans Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey.
In addition, the 2009 tournament will feature a special exhibition match on opening night, called the “Millennium Challenge” that will feature Safin against Pete Sampras in a rematch of the 2000 US Open.
SoCal Maze Cup Team Wins Again
The SoCal dominance continued at the 35th annual Maze Cup as the locals beat their Northern California rivals 14-6 at the Bakersfield Racquet Club.
Southern California has now won the event 20 consecutive times. In the boys’ 16s on the first day of play, Marcos Giron and Dennis Mkrtchian both casino online won singles matches and then Giron and Spencer Simon paired up to win another point online casinos in doubles.
In the girls’ 16s, Lorraine Guillermo won her singles and then matched up with Ashley Dai to win in doubles. In the boys’ 18s, the SoCal’s top three players swept their way through without dropping a set as John Hwang and Zachary Leslie won in singles and then teamed up to win in doubles.
In the girls’ 18s, Krista Hardebeck got the only win on Day 1. Giron and Dai won singles matches on Day 2 as did Leslie, Hwang and Hardebeck.
Jim Buck once again served as the SCTA Maze Cup captain, with Hank Pfister and Paul Settles assisting him as coaches.
Spencer Named Head Coach at Maryland
Maryland announced it has hired former USC doubles All-American Kyle Spencer, an award winning assistant for the Baylor men’s team, as its new head coach. Spencer, 33, was named the ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year last month and was an All-American doubles player at USC (1995-1998). Last summer, Spencer coached the 2008 USTA Summer Collegiate Team, an elite training program for the top American collegiate tennis players that began in 1996 and is funded by the USTA
