The Road to THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 2024
Jul 21: USTA Boys & Girls 14U & 18U Flighted, Bethesda
Angela Wang entered her first Tennis Central event at the Flighted 14U USTA Girls this weekend and finished with the most dramatic final of the day. Earning eighty ranking points from the knockout field of thirteen players, Wang just edged Emma Hou---also a Tennis Central 14U newcomer---in a tight 6-4 set to win the championship.
While Wang knocked off the top seed and dominated her early matches, Hou had a somewhat turbulent journey en route to the showcase match. She met the challenges of Beatriz Pilotti and second seed Olivia Boling in close bouts before needed a 6-4 set of her own in the semifinals against Tour No. 67 Sydney Pounds (who moved all the way up to No. 39 after this performance).
Three other tournaments took place within the USTA Flighted at Holton Arms. Twelve boys went after the 14U Flighted title in a single elimination draw, with Spencer Cappolla outlasting Macallan Briton in the final, 6-4. Cappolla also had to contend with Nigel Killingham in the semifinal, which the champion won in a tiebreak, interestingly the only one of the afternoon.
Both Wang and Cappolla begin their quests in the Top 50 of the rankings.
Returning from a yearlong hiatus on the 16U Tour, Britton reached the final on the back of his upset of No. 1 seed Roger Zhang, who had his hands full in the opening round before slipping past Alexander Shin 6-4. Reaching the quarterfinals, Shin added to previous success to improve thirteen places to No. 35.
Quentin Cole took care of the five-man 18U singles group in style, going 24-5 in games played with only Spencer Weiss, silver medalist, able to win as many as three games from him.
Weiss himself secured second place as the only other player with a winning record at 3-1 when he grabbed a 6-3 victory over Haonan Wang. He moves up from No. 11 to No. 7 on the 16U leaderboard, entering the Top 10. But perhaps an even bigger splash is the result of playing his first 18U event. With his previous points and this silver medal, he lands at No. 6 on the 18U Tour.
Meanwhile, the champion Cole already counts himself among the Top 25.
All five girls who contested the 18U Girls Flighted, in a similar group stage format, were making their Tennis Central debuts. Giselle Snowden bounded to the finish line with even more dominance than Cole did. Snowden went unbeaten and an impressive 24-2 in her games and is tied on points with Cole at position No. 22.
Lila Briskin-Watson also improved three places in the rankings on the 14U Tour, making her the highest-ranked mover of the weekend on that leaderboard. Despite holding two events within the age group, none of the Top 25 moved a muscle.
Next weekend Holton Arms plays host to the 10U and 12U's best while beginning a stretch of a tournament each weekend until Labor Day.
2024 Points Change
A change to the points applied to higher-level tournaments from lower levels should reflect ages and skills better from now on. It used to be that all points were halved when applied to a higher age group's rankings. Now, the points are halved each step up the ladder, not just once.
So a player can no longer earn 80 points at 10U and count them as 40 at 16U. They would be halved at 12U (40 points), again at 14U (20 points), then again at 16U (10 points). It provides the incentive without disrupting the older players' earnings too much.
However, a younger player earning points in an older tournament, much as Arnav Nadikatla did in this Tour Championship edition, is still a sure way to rise faster in those rankings.
Remember the newly added feature to the rankings: the Plus / Minus, which will tell you how far up or down the player has moved within the last week.
The full tables now look like this.
Each weekend this spring and summer, Tennis Central is bringing you USTA and UTR tournaments at Holton-Arms School. Earn points for advancing through each round, just like on the pro tours, and qualify for the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP at season's end.
Bigger events offer more points, with the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP offering the most, as well as prizes.
Check here for updates each week to the Tennis Central Tour Rankings, a 52-week points system based on the pro tours, as well as recaps of all the action and photos. We'll post the 2024 schedule soon!
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