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1994-1996 : Rubin, Kwiatkowski, Halebian, Papa, Corinteli, McDonald, Donaldson, etc.

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#1 · (Edited)
I would like to start a thread to keep track of some upcoming juniors.



Name: Noah Rubin
Birthday: 02-21-1996 (15 years old)
Junior Ranking: 42
ATP Ranking: N/A
Description: Noah recently captured his first G1 title (Copa Del Cafe 2012, hardcourt) two weeks ago and is currently at a career high junior ranking of 42 with only 5 itf starts :worship:. His ranking will continue to rise b/c of this week's play at G1 Copa Barranquilla (clay); will play in the quarterfinal. He was a finalist at the Les Petits As a couple of years ago. Noah seems to have a solid game, but he seems kinda short though when standing next to Farren Connor at the Copa Del Cafe final (Connor is listed at 5'11"). However, Noah is two years younger so let's hope that he can add some inches.




Name: Thai-Son Kwiatkowski
Birthday: 02-13-1995 (16 years old)
Junior Ranking: 84
ATP Ranking: N/A
Description: Despite the name, he is not a Thai descendent :lol: :shrug:. He is actually 1/4 Polish and 3/4 Vietnamese (from local paper). He is close to his career high in junior ranking but the last couple of weeks had him focusing on futures qualifying (not very successful thus far). He has a nice forehand. Here is an old video of him from the local news: Link

Might add more players later.
 
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#2 ·
Re: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski

Copa Barranquilla 2012

Noah RUBIN (USA) (2) defeated Jaime Ignacio BUENO TAPIA (CHI) 6-1 7-5
Noah RUBIN (USA) (2) defeated Victor HOYOS (PER) 6-3 6-2
Noah RUBIN (USA) (2) defeated Alexandre ALBARICI (BRA) 6-0 6-4
Mateo Nicolas MARTINEZ (ARG) (7) defeated Noah RUBIN (USA) (2) 7-6(5) 6-2

Lost in the quarterfinal to Martinez. Still a good week on clay. Should crack the top 30 next week. Hopefully he can play in some junior slams this year. Not sure what the cut-off date is for the FO.
 
#4 ·
Re: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski

Some tibits on other junior boys this week.

Francis Tiafoe gave himself quite a 14th birthday present today, beating Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-3 in the all-American Aegon Junior International Teen Tennis 14-and-under tournament in Bolton, England. Tiafoe, the No. 15 seed, had reached the semifinals in the tournament last year. He won every match in straight sets, and beat the No. 7, No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in his final three wins.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Re: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski

Hopefully the success of the American boys in the 14-and-under division the last two years is a harbinger of things to come. Last year's group of Stefan Kozlov, Henrik Wiersholm, Francis Tiafoe, and Eduardo Nava did great at the two major events in Europe and this year's group of Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh, Nathan Ponwith, and William Blumberg has done similarly well at Teen Tennis, making up 3/4s of the semifinalists and both finalists. We'll see how they do at Les Petits As. One of Nick Bollettieri's coaches described Mmoh as one of the most talented and promising players to enroll at their academy.

Of the kids born in 1995, Luca Corinteli is intriguing. Very big kid with a lot of power, but his results are just okay. Had an impressive straight sets win over Borut Puc this week in Futures qualifying, but then followed it up with a disappointing loss to Mico Santiago.

Overall, it seems like we have a lot of solid players in the 1993 - 1996 (birth year) age range, but nobody stands out as outstanding. Bjorn Fratangelo won the French Open but hasn't done much since. Christian Harrison is probably our greatest hope in this age range, but it's been a long road back from his bone infection and he still has a ways to go. Alexios Halebian hasn't progressed much in terms of results. Among the '95s, Corinteli, Kwiatkowski, and McDonald are not presently among the best in their age group. Rubin is doing well, but his size could be an issue. All of these guys have a chance; there's just no one you can point to as an elite prospect at this time. If not for Harrison's health issues, he probably would have been one by now, which is frustrating.

The good news is that the slightly older trio of Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock, and Denis Kudla looks promising and could buy us some time in finding other good young players.
 
#6 ·
Re: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski

Hopefully the success of the American boys in the 14-and-under division the last two years is a harbinger of things to come. Last year's group of Stefan Kozlov, Henrik Wiersholm, Francis Tiafoe, and Eduardo Nava did great at the two major events in Europe and this year's group of Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh, Nathan Ponwith, and William Blumberg has done similarly well at Teen Tennis, making up 3/4s of the semifinalists and both finalists. We'll see how they do at Les Petits As. One of Nick Bollettieri's coaches described Mmoh as one of the most talented and promising players to enroll at their academy.

Of the kids born in 1995, Luca Corinteli is intriguing. Very big kid with a lot of power, but his results are just okay. Had an impressive straight sets win over Borut Puc this week in Futures qualifying, but then followed it up with a disappointing loss to Mico Santiago.

Overall, it seems like we have a lot of solid players in the 1993 - 1996 (birth year) age range, but nobody stands out as outstanding. Bjorn Fratangelo won the French Open but hasn't done much since. Christian Harrison is probably our greatest hope in this age range, but it's been a long road back from his bone infection and he still has a ways to go. Alexios Halebian hasn't progressed much in terms of results. Among the '95s, Corinteli, Kwiatkowski, and McDonald are not presently among the best in their age group. Rubin is doing well, but his size could be an issue. All of these guys have a chance; there's just no one you can point to as an elite prospect at this time. If not for Harrison's health issues, he probably would have been one by now, which is frustrating.

The good news is that the slightly older trio of Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock, and Denis Kudla looks promising and could buy us some time in finding other good young players.
Thanks for the summary. I just recently started following juniors so I'm not really up to date with some of the players. I will keep an eye on some of the names you mentioned :wavey:. And yeah, such a shame that injury has slowed Christian's development. I still have hope for him though.
 
#7 ·
Junior Australian Open 2012

Results from AO Round 1.

Trey Strobel USA lost to Stefano Napolitano ITA (8) 4-6 3-6
Mackenzie McDonald USA defeat Temur Ismailov UZB 6-1 7-6(2)

Connor Farren has yet to play. Not many players here compared to the girls.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Re: Juniors: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, and others

Plenty of promising prospects but it's Kozlov first and foremost. If he grows to a good height and keeps improving.....
I heard of him a couple of times....and yeah he is really short (on youtube anyway). Hope that he can add some inches. But despite of his height, he seems to be doing really well for his age.
 
#13 ·
Smith and Halebian playing in the Futures USAF3

Austin Smith and Alexios Halebian both received wildcard into USAF3. Austin will play Bangoura and Alexios against Daniel Kosakowski :bigcry:. Daniel is in a serious slump, maybe Alexios can pull off a win.
 
#17 ·
Re: Juniors: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, and others

Wiersholm won the Plaza Cup today, crushing his opponent 6-0, 6-1 in the final. That's an 18-and-under tournament, folks, with a decent (though certainly not strong) field. Impressive. Wiersholm strikes me has a kid with the right stuff.
 
#18 ·
Petits As 2012

1st Round

[USA] Nathan PONWITH [10] def. [FRA] Corentin MOUTET [Q] 7-5 6-4
[USA] Francis TIAFOE [4] def. [ISR] Yankel ZEMEL [WC] 6-2 6-1
[USA] William BLUMBERG [15] def. [ROU] Calin MANDA 6-2 7-6(2)
[USA] Michael MMOH [5] def. [FRA] Geoffrey BLANCANEAUX 6-3 6-1



Keep it up boys :yeah:
 
#19 · (Edited)
Boris Kozlov's after his win at the Plaza Cup (Boys 12)

"I'm going to to start playing more 14s, because the tournaments here are starting to get easy, and I'm winning almost every one," said Kozlov, who won a Florida 12s designated tournament earlier this month. "Not to sound cocky or anything, but my dad wants me to start playing more in the 14s."
Had to chuckle :).
 
#23 ·
Re: Juniors: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, and others

Mackenzie McDonald just pulled off an insane comeback at the Australian Open. Down 6-0, 4-0, he comes back to win 0-6, 6-4, 6-2! Crazy. At one point the point total was 38-18 in Stanek's favor and McDonald was only winning 33% of his service points. The final point total was 79-73 in McDonald's favor and he won 58% of his service points. I don't know how to explain that. Hopefully someone will provide a good match recap.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Re: Juniors: Noah Rubin, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, and others

Mackenzie McDonald just pulled off an insane comeback at the Australian Open. Down 6-0, 4-0, he comes back to win 0-6, 6-4, 6-2! Crazy. At one point the point total was 38-18 in Stanek's favor and McDonald was only winning 33% of his service points. The final point total was 79-73 in McDonald's favor and he won 58% of his service points. I don't know how to explain that. Hopefully someone will provide a good match recap.
I was surprised at the result; it looked like the match was lost when I log off for the night. Hope he could keep it up.
 
#25 ·
Petite As 2012

Round 2

[USA] Nathan PONWITH [10] def. [HRV] Zvonimir ORESKOVIC 6-3 4-6 6-2
[USA] Francis TIAFOE [4] def. [GBR] Jay CLARKE 6-3 6-1
[USA] William BLUMBERG [15] def. [HRV] Nikola MIHALJEVIC 6-1 6-0
[USA] Michael MMOH [5] def. [FRA] Constant DE LA BASSETIERE [Q] 7-5 6-1

Round 3

[USA] Nathan PONWITH [10] def. [CAN] Dylan BEDNARCZYK 6-1 6-2
[USA] Francis TIAFOE [4] def. [FRA] Noe KHLIF [WC] 6-4 6-3
[USA] William BLUMBERG [15] def. [FRA] Matteo MARTINEAU [WC] 6-4 7-5
[USA] Michael MMOH [5] def. [ESP] Eduard GUELL BARTRINA 6-4 4-6 6-1

:drive:
 
#29 ·
Le Petite As 2012

Code:
Quarterfinals

[USA] Nathan PONWITH [10]    def. [FRA] Louis TESSA        6-2 3-1 Retired 
[USA] Francis TIAFOE [4]     def. [SWE] Mikael YEMER       6-3 6-0  
[USA] William BLUMBERG [15]  def. [CHE] Marko OSMAKCIC [7] 6-4 6-4  
[USA] Michael MMOH [5]       def. [CZE] Alessandro RICCI   6-0 6-0
Total dominations :yeah:. Guaranteed American winner :bigclap:.
 
#31 ·
Re: Le Petite As 2012

Code:
Quarterfinals

[USA] Nathan PONWITH [10]    def. [FRA] Louis TESSA        6-2 3-1 Retired 
[USA] Francis TIAFOE [4]     def. [SWE] Mikael YEMER       6-3 6-0  
[USA] William BLUMBERG [15]  def. [CHE] Marko OSMAKCIC [7] 6-4 6-4  
[USA] Michael MMOH [5]       def. [CZE] Alessandro RICCI   6-0 6-0
Total dominations :yeah:. Guaranteed American winner :bigclap:.
Incredible dominance. The four of them have only dropped one set in their 16 matches combined. This after last week's performance at Teen Tennis when the U.S. had both finalists, 3 of 4 semifinalists, and 4 of 8 quarterfinalists. As if to drive home their dominance over the competition, both doubles teams have reached both finals. I've never seen that before in an internationally prestigous tournament.

And to think that Stefan Kozlov was still eligible to compete at these tournaments. He's better than all of them at the moment.
 
#35 ·
Le Petite As 2012

Code:
Semifinals

[USA] Francis TIAFOE [4]     def.   [USA] Nathan PONWITH [10]  2-6 6-2 6-4  
[USA] William BLUMBERG [15]  def.   [USA] Michael MMOH [5]     6-4 3-6 7-5  


Doubles Final

[USA] Michael MMOH [1]/[USA] Francis TIAFOE    def. [USA] William BLUMBERG [3]/[USA] Nathan PONWITH  6-2 6-1
 
#37 ·
Le Petite As 2012

Congrats to Frances Tiafoe on back to back titles :yeah:.

Today in Tarbes, France, American Frances Tiafoe completed his sweep of Les Petits As titles, winning the singles final from William Blumberg of the US 6-0, 6-2. Tiafoe, who turned 14 during this USTA-sponsored European trip, won the Teen Tennis singles title in Bolton last week, so he came into Les Petits As as a favorite, and a target. although he was only seeded No. 4. His toughest match came in the semifinals against fellow American Nathan Ponwith, the No. 10 seed, with Tiafoe dropping his only set of the tournament before recording a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win. Tiafoe won the doubles title on Saturday with partner Michael Mmoh of the US, beating Ponwith and Blumberg in another all-American final.

Tiafoe, who trains at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, is the second consecutive American boy to capture the prestigious 14-and-under tournament. Henrik Wiersholm won the championship last year. This year's all-American final was only the second time the tournament's 30-year history that it featured two players from the same country. The previous one, in 2003, also was between two Americans, with Donald Young beating Leo Rosenberg. This year the United States made history with all four semifinalists, which had never been done.
 
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