U.S., Britain to compete in 2012 Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy

August 21, 2012 03:21 PM
The USTA and The Lawn Tennis Association of Great Britain announced their teams for the 36th Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy, held August 23-24 at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale in New Haven, Conn. The tournament, which is being played in conjunction with the New Haven Open at Yale, an Emirates Airline US Open Series event, is a yearly competition between the best female tennis players age 18 and younger from the United States and Great Britain.

Playing for the United States are Victoria Duval, 16, of Bradenton, Fla., who won the 2012 USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship and received a wild card entry into the 2012 US Open main draw; Jennifer Brady, 17, of Boca Raton, Fla.; Katerina Stewart, 15, of Miami; Tornado Alicia Black, 14, of Boca Raton, Fla.; and Nicole Frenkel, 14, of Winchester, Mass. The United States will by coached by USTA National Coaches Freddie Rodriguez and Jay Devashetty.

Competing for Great Britain are Katie Boulter, 16, of Loughborough, England; Anna Brogan, 15, of Glasgow, Scotland; Harriet Dart, 16, of London; Eleanor Dean, 16, of Yorkshire, England; and Katy Dunne, 17, of Hemel Hempstead, England. Great Britain will be coached by Lucie Ahl, Claire Curran and Judy Murray, the mother of Olympic gold-medalist Andy Murray and Great Britain Fed Cup Captain.

The teams will play a total of 12 matches – eight singles and four doubles – over Thursday and Friday. All singles matches will be best-of-three sets with a tiebreak in the final set. Doubles matches will be two sets and a match tiebreak.

The Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy, held the last two years in Eastbourne, England, was started in 1973 by the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation and Mrs. Frank Jeffett 20 years after Connolly won all four Grand Slam events and four years after her death. In its history, the competition has included American players such as Sloane Stephens, Pam Shriver, Kathy Jordan, Zina Garrison, Amy Frazier and Lisa Raymond and British players Laura Robson, Jo Durie and Sue Barker. The United States currently leads the all-time series, 24-11.

"We are very pleased to be working with the USTA on this historic event," said Elizabeth Jeffett, event chair and trustee, MCB Tennis Foundation. "This is a great opportunity for our competitors to play for their respective countries."
 

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