Sacramento Challenger Preview

With the Futures swing concluding in Southern California, all of the focus is now shifted on the Challenger circuit. After the first ever Napa Valley Challenger last week, the circuit now heads east to Sacramento for the $100K Challenger.

www.usta.com

In singles, the field will be headed once again by Denis Kudla. Kudla was the 1 seed in Napa Valley last weekend but ended up losing in the quarterfinals to Australian Matt Ebden. American Robert Kendrick is playing in his first tournament since playing at the Panama City Challenger last July.
Also receiving wildcards were juniors Collin Altamirano (Kalamazoo Singles Champion) and Noah Rubin (2nd Highest Ranked American Junior in ITF Juniors). NCAA Doubles Champion Jarmere Jenkins took the a wildcard spot in the singles as well. 8th seeded Donald Young is coming off his singles victory in Napa Valley and will look to carry momentum into this week, as he takes on German Peter Gojowzyk in the first round.

Here are the seeds for the singles:
1. Denis Kudla, USA
2. Tim Smyczek, USA
3. Matthew Ebden, AUS
4. Rajeev Ram, USA
5. Rhyne Williams, USA
6. Alex Kuznetsov, USA
7. Bradley Klahn, USA
8. Donald Young, USA

For the doubles, the Australian team of Samuel Groth and Chris Guiccione will lead the way as the 1 seeds. Doubles champion from Napa Valley John-Patrick Smith will not be playing with Bobby Reynolds this week, but rather with Matt Reid (Australia) and will be the 2 seeds. Reynolds will be playing with Rajeev Ram (USA). NCAA Doubles Champion Jarmere Jenkins will be teaming up with Donald Young as wildcards.

Here are the seeds for the doubles:
1. Samuel Groth (AUS)/Chris Guiccione (AUS)
2. John-Patrick Smith (AUS)/Matt Reid (AUS)
3. Tennys Sandgren (USA)/Rhyne Williams (USA)
4. Alex Kuznetsov (USA)/Peter Polansky (CAN)

There aren't any college players competing in the main draw this week with the ITA All-American Championships going on this week at Tulsa (Which my preview will be out in the next day or two).
But here are junior players competing this week in Sacramento:

Noah Rubin (USA)-The second highest ranked junior will be playing in the singles main draw against number 2 seed Tim Smyczek in the first round.
Collin Altamirano (USA)-It seems as if he will be receiving plenty of wildcards now, as he will play in the singles main draw against James McGee from Ireland.
Nick Krygios (AUS)-The 2013 Australian Junior Open Singles Champion and Wimbledon Junior Doubles Champion will play in the singles main draw against 4th seeded Rajeev Ram in the first round. He will also be playing doubles with Daniel Evans (GBR) against Ram and Bobby Reynolds in the first round.
Thanasi Kokkinakis (USA)-Wimbledon Junior Doubles Champion is in the final round of singles qualifying against Greg Ouellette (USA).

Connor Farren (USC) and Trey Strobel (Stanford) both lost in the qualifying singles.

Have a Great Day,
Fry That Chicken