Top Seeds Cruise at Racquet Club Invite:: mywesttexas.com
Events that aren't part of the ATP or Pro Circuit still can be interesting, and this one got my attention with its unusual mix of junior and professional players. (The preview story from yesterday gives a bit of background on the tournament).
None of the juniors won, unless you consider Michael Shabaz a junior; he is still eligible for USTA junior events until he turns 19 in August, but with a 1987 birth year, he's not eligible for ITF junior tournaments. He has been playing Futures events regularly, but hasn't yet made a decision on attending college, or at least he hadn't when I spoke with him at Carson, where he was training earlier this month.
Lazare Kukhalashvili, who actually played on the U.S. 14 and under team last year, but has recently been playing under the flag of his home country of Georgia, is only 15, while Michael McClune is 16 and Chekhov is 17. A tournament like this one gives them an opportunity to play older and presumably wiser competition, and perhaps with less pressure, because there are no points to worry about.