ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Louisa Chirico, From Qualifying to a Semifinalist in Madrid

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The magic ride in Madrid got even more stunning on Thursday as Louisa Chirico swept Daria Gavrilova of Australia in the quarterfinals 7-6, 6-2. The 19-year-old who is having a career best tournament will now face Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the semifinals on Friday. She couldn’t be having this boost of confidence at a better time with the French Open at the end of the month where she will probably need to battle through the qualifiers to take part in the main event.

On the men’s side Sam Querrey was eliminated by #5 Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-4, 6-2, no real surprise there, while Jack Sock lost to Joao Sousa of Portugal 1-6, 7-6, 2-6. Both men’s doubles teams won in tiebreakers. #5 Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan defeated the Polish team of Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski 7-5, 2-6, 10-8. #8 Sock/Vasek Pospisil (Canada) defeated Treat Huey of the Philipines and Max Mirnyi of Belarus with a little less stress in the tiebreaker, 4-6, 7-6, 10-4.

The women’s doubles team of Vania King/Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) reached the semifinals after a 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 win over #4 Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei. They will face #1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India in the semifinals on Friday.

In addition to the two women’s semifinals the Bryan brothers will take on #1 French duo Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut while Sock/Pospisil (Canada) take on #4 Ivan Dodig (Croatia) and Marcelo Melo (Brazil).

Previous Mutua Madrid Open Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
Day 4 Update
Day 5 Update

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Six Americans Will Take Part in the Giro d’Italia

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One of the three grand tours of the UCI season starts Friday, the Giro d’Italia. Featuring 21 stages and over 2,000 miles of riding this is a big one. Only six Americans are entered in the field and while none of them have a top 25 finish this year Nathan Brown has come the closest with his 29th place finish in the recently completed Tour de Romandie. Joe Dombrowski and Larry Warbasse both have top 40 finishes from when the finished 37th and 38th in the Volta a Cataluyna earlier this season. The other three in the field are Chad Haga, a season high 69th in the Tour de Romandie, and Ian Boswell and Joey Rosskopf. Boswell has not raced on the tour since he did not finish the Volta a Cataluyna. Things start off in the Netherlands (where else did you expect it to start?) on Friday with a 6 mile time trial.

Previous UCI World Tour Coverage:
Tour de Romandie Recap

Cycling, UCI Women's WorldTour

Two Americans to Compete in Tour of Chongming Island

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Only two Americans will be taking part in the Tour of Chongming Island in China this weekend. The three day event held in Shanghai on, you guessed it, Chongming Island will feature three stages. Alison Tetrick and Erica Zaveta will be in the field for the US. Zaveta will be in her first Women’s World Tour event of the year while Tetrick has a season best finish of 66th in the Tour of Flanders. 

Previous UCI Women’s World Tour Coverage:
La Fleche Wallonne Recap

Modern Pentathlon, UIPM World Cup

Lucas Schrimsher Top American After Fencing at UIPM World Cup Final

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Thursday was the fencing competition at the UIPM World Cup Final in Sarasota and Lucas Schrimsher was the best of the Americans competing. Schrimsher won 19 of his 35 matches to place tenth. His brother Nathan Schrimsher placed 28th winning 15 matches. As you can tell there were a lot of competitors right around .500 with 23 of the 35 competitors scoring between 15 and 20 wins. On the women’s side Margaux Isaksen was the top American with a 17th place finish and 17 wins while her sister Isabella Isaksen was 19th with 17 wins as well. Samantha Achterberg had 14 wins and placed 30th.

The rest of the women’s event will be Friday while the men’s event is Saturday.

Previous UIPM World Cup Final Coverage:
Preview

Diamond League, Track and Field

Diamond League 2016 Kicks off Friday in Doha

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The 2016 version of the Diamond League will get started on Friday in Doha, Qatar with competition beginning in half of the 32 events that will be held throughout the year. Friday’s schedule will feature 200m, 400m, 1500m, 110m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, high jump, triple jump, and discus on the men’s side. The women will compete in the 100m, 800m, 3000m, 400m hurdles, pole vault, triple jump, shot put, and javelin.

27 Americans will be taking part in the competition including. The US has a trio of men competing in both the 200m and the 400m races. The 200m will feature Walter Dix, Isiah Young (5th in 2015), and Ameer Webb while the 400m will feature Tony McQuay, David Verburg (5th in 2015), and Lashawn Merritt (2nd in 2015). Three more US men, David Oliver (1st in 2015), Aries Merritt, and Spencer Adams, will take part in the 110m hurdles. The final US men to compete will be Jesse Williams and Erik Kynard in the high jump and Christian Taylor (1st in 2015) in the triple jump.

On the women’s side Tori Bowie (3rd in 2015), Jeneba Tarmoh, and Mikele Barber will compete in the 100m with Chanelle Price and Molly Ludlow in the 800m. The final track competitors are Tiffany Williams, Jernail Hayes, and Cassandra Tate (5th in 2015) in the 400m hurdles. The US has three women competing in the pole vault, Katie Nageotte, Mary Saxer, and Sandi Morris, as well as three competing in the shot put, Felisha Johnson, Tia Brooks (4th in 2015), and Michelle Carter (2nd in 2015). Brittany Borman will take part in the javelin event.

Wrestling

Six American Wrestlers Face Last Chance to Qualify for Rio

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For the six winners of the US Olympic Trials who have yet to qualify for the Olympics this weekend in Istanbul is their only hope. They must finish in the top two in their weight class to qualify which means that a loss before the final will eliminate them. The good news is that the field will not contain anyone already in the Olympics, so competition is lighter than previous competitions and most of the six Americans were eliminated in previous qualification attempts by competitors who won’t be part of this event.

Friday competition begins with the Greco-Roman event and that is where the US has the most athletes still competing. Jesse Thielke, RaVaughn Perkins, and Joe Rau will all be trying to claim an Olympic spot. Perkins missed out on an Olympic spot in the last qualifying tournament by one spot while Rau lost his opening match, but to one of the Olympic qualifiers. Thielke lost a close opener but by comparing who lost to who and by how much you wouldn’t suspect he has a great shot this weekend.

The two US women looking for a spot compete on Saturday while the only US men’s freestyle wrestler yet to qualify will have his chance on Sunday.

Previous Wrestling Coverage:
First Olympic Qualifying Recap

Futsal, Soccer

USA Blows 3-0 Lead Against Canada in First Game of Futsal Playoff

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Things were going so well for the US Wednesday night in San Jose, Costa Rica as they lead 3-0 with just ten minutes left in the first leg of their playoff against Canada. Goals from Franck Tayou, Patrick Healy, and Nelson Santana over the previous ten minutes had given them the lead. Canada scored in the 30th minute but even with five minutes left the US still had a good 3-1 lead heading towards the halfway point of the playoff. Then Canada erupted for three quick goals to take a 4-3 lead and all the US could do was salvage a tie with a late Daniel Mattos goal. With the scores level after the first leg it’ll all come down to game two tonight. The US has never missed out on a CONCACAF Futsal Championship.

Previous CONCACAF Futsal Championship Coverage:
Preview

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Weightlifting

Two Olympic Spots to be Decided at USA Weightlifting National Championships

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The USA Weightlifting National Championships are this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah and two Olympic spots will be up for grabs on the women’s side. On the men’s side they will be vying for spots at the Pan American Championships where Olympic qualifying can be achieved.

The US women successfully qualified three spots for the Olympics by placing 14th in a combination of scores from the last two world championships. One of those spots has been awarded to Jenny Arthur based on her finishes in the last two world championships (14th in 2014 and eighth in 2015). The other two spots will be determined this weekend based on a fairly simple formula.

The formula is to compare the top lift of their potential athletes to the average third place score in that weight category at the world championships and Olympics over the last four years. The top two ratios (Competitors lift/average third place lift) will decide the Olympic qualifiers. The results from the 2015 World Championships, 2015 America Open Championships, and the 2016 National Junior Championships count in this format so unless they are topped this weekend they will decide the qualifiers. Currently the top two from the US are Sarah Robles, with a 96.207% ratio from the world championships, and Mattie Rogers with a 92.824% ratio from the national junior championships. Robles competed for the US in the 2012 Olympics and finished seventh.

On the men’s side the formula to determine team spots is slightly different. The score being compared to is the average for each of the top 25 places over the last couple years. Athletes are ranked based on how high they would have theoretically finished with the tiebreaker being whoever was closest to moving up a spot. 2012 Olympian Kendrick Farris is one of the top two for the US in this ranking currently and is expected to compete for an Olympic spot at the Pan American Championships.

The competitors for the Olympic/Pan American spots will not go until Sunday afternoon. Until then competition begins on Friday and runs through Sunday with each weight class competing separately. Most of these classes will see their national champion awarded to someone competing in the Sunday afternoon competition but in some cases there is no one competing on Sunday in that weight class. Friday kicks off with the men’s 56kg, 62kg, and 69kg divisions, along with the women’s 48kg, 53kg, and 58kg divisions. The men’s 56kg and 62kg do not have anyone competing on Sunday so the national champions will be decided Friday.

Judo, Judo Grand Slam and Grand Prix

Nine Americans to Compete in Judo Grand Slam Event in Baku

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The second of five Judo grand slam events is this weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan. The US will have nine competitors in the field although none have advanced past the round of 16 at a grand slam or grand prix event so far this year.

On Friday competition will begin and the US will have Angelica Delgado competing in the women’s -52kg division and Aaron Kunihiro and Adonis Diaz both competing in the men’s -60kg division. Things will continue on Saturday and Sunday with the other six Americans competing.

Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Samsun Recap

ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Walkover Gives Louisa Chirico a Quarterfinal Berth

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Obviously it was a big break for qualifier Louisa Chirico when her third round opponent, #4 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, was forced to withdraw from the Madrid Open with a back injury and Chirico automatically advanced to the quarterfinals. But for the 19-year old who has never won a grand slam match and who just won her first WTA Tour match last year it won’t matter why the chance to play in a WTA Premier Mandatory quarterfinal will be special.

Chirico won’t be joined by any Americans in the women’s quarterfinals after both Christina McHale and Madison Keys were knocked out in the third round. Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania came from behind to defeat McHale 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 while qualifier Patricia Mia Tig of Romania took out her second young American of the tournament when she defeated Keys in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

On the men’s side Sam Querrey advanced 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 against qualifier Lucas Pouille of France and Jack Sock only needed two sets to defeat Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-4, 7-6. Qualifier Denis Kudla had the much tougher draw but held up well forcing #9 David Ferrer of Spain to a third set before losing 4-6, 6-4, 4-6. In men’s doubles action Rajeev Ram/Raven Klaasen (South Africa) put up a great fight against#4 Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil but did drop it in a tight tiebreaker 5-7, 6-3, 10-8.

Thursday the women’s doubles team of Vania King/Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) will have their quarterfinal match against #4 Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei. Joining them on the doubles court in their first match of the tournament are #5 seed Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan who will face the Polish team of Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski. Sock will also get onto the doubles court joining Vasek Pospisil of Canada to form the #8 seeded doubles team and take on Treat Huey of the Philipines and Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

In singles action Querrey takes on #5 Rafael Nadal of Spain in a difficult third round match while Chirico is in the quarterfinals taking on Daria Gavrilova of Australia. Those are two pretty big opportunities for the Americans.

 

Previous Mutua Madrid Open Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
Day 4 Update

Covering America's Athletes