Sunday, October 19, 2014

Best USA result for the week of October 13?

The week of October 13, 2014, will not go down in the annals of tennis history as the crowning glory that one country's players have ever achieved.  But it wasn't The Worst Week Ever either, by any means.  Some really nice results, including several titles.

The players in this week's poll all had results with significant career implications for them:
  • Jarmere Jenkins won his second straight singles title in the Australian Pro Circuit, which included winning a first-round match in which he was down 0-5 in the 3rd and saved match point. That will move him, in another week, back near the Top 250. Oh and he won his second doubles title in 3 weeks, with Mitchell Krueger. Oh and he rode in a helicopter.
  • Jack Sock reached his 7th ATP quarterfinal of the year, knocking off Jeremy Chardy in the process, and will make his Top 50 debut. He also took Grigor Dimitrov to the limit ... and hit two returns SO HARD that Dimitrov had no choice but to respond with trick shots that landed them both at the top of SportsCenter's Top 10. Oh and he reached the doubles final with Treat Huey.
  • Sock's loss in the final was to the team of Raven Klaasen and Eric Butorac, who solidified their hold on the #8 spot in the race to London (which still may not be enough, as either Sock/Pospisil or Lindstedt/Kubot are guaranteed one of the spots as major champions). Interesting trivia: Butorac's last 4 titles (over three years) have all come indoors. Fun fact: the World Tour Finals are ... INDOORS!!
  • CiCi Bellis (last week's runner up in the "Best Week" poll), followed up her maiden win in Rock Hill, SC with another $25K title in Florence. The 15.5 year old is truly on a tear.
  • Michael Mmoh, at 16 years old, reached his first pro semifinal, which may not sound as significant as the other 4 results, but coming on the heels of his Junior Davis Cup win and the Pan Am win in Tulsa, shows us that the "forgotten" American junior is ready to make some statements of his own.
A few honorable mentions - Maria Sanchez (won the $50K doubles title in Tampico, Mexico with Petra Rampre), the above-mentioned Krueger, and Jamie Loeb & Sanaz Marand (won doubles in Florence) - were left off the list but you're welcome to nominate them, and anyone else, in comments!

NB: Apologies on the poll. Obviously Butorac won Stockholm with Raven Klaasen. Thanks to John Smith for the correction

What was the best USA result for the week of 10/13/2014?

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