Gabby Andrews' Commitment to UCLA; Mmoh, Baughman Reach Quarterfinals in Brownsville; Coric to Face Nadal; Six US Women in Macon Quarterfinals

My contribution to the Tennis Recruiting Network's Fall Signing coverage this month is a piece on Gabby Andrews, who decided ten months ago that she would attend UCLA.  I spoke with her about the process and her decision this summer, and for all the the matches I've seen her play since she was 14, I learned much that I didn't know, particularly how she ended up choosing tennis. Great fun to talk to, Andrews is also obviously a phenomenal doubles partner; her coach Barry Friedman told me what makes her so outstanding, although I didn't need any convincing after watching her win so many big titles with a variety of partners.

The quarterfinals are set for the $15,000 Brownsville Futures, with 16-year-old Michael Mmoh and 18-year-old Deiton Baughman earning spots in the final eight.  Mmoh, a semifinalist at last week's Mansfield Futures,  received a wild card this week, and in his first round match Wednesday avenged that semifinal loss to Dimitar Kutrovsky(Texas) 6-3, 6-1.  Today he defeated qualifier Antoine Richard of Canada 6-4, 6-2.  Baughman, who has reached a Futures quarterfinal three times before this week, defeated No. 4 seed Fritz Wolmarans of South Africa 7-5, 6-3 in the first round and today downed Mico Santiago 6-3, 6-3. He will play former University of Kentucky standout Tom Jomby, a qualifier, for a place in his first Futures semifinal.

At the $10,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Colombia, 16-year-old qualifier Nicole Frenkel has reached her second career pro semifinal. Frenkel, now training at the JTCC in College Park, beat fellow JTCC student Usue Arconada 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1 in today's quarterfinals.

Seventeen-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia reached his second ATP quarterfinal of the year, his first at a 500-level tournament, with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan.  He will now face Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. According to Josh Meiseles of the ATP, Coric is the youngest player to make two ATP quarterfinals since Nadal in 2003. More on Coric from the ATP here.

The Macon $50,000 US Pro Circuit tournament is the first one in the USTA's Australian Open wild card challenge, and six US women have reached the quarterfinals: 17-year-old wild card Ellie Halbauer, Madison Brengle(who probably doesn't need the wild card), Sanaz Marand(North Carolina), Julia Boserup, Irina Falconi(Georgia Tech) and Grace Min.  There are two more tournaments left, with the best two results counting, so the wild card is a long way from being decided, but with four US women in the bottom half, one is assured of reaching the final this week. Live streaming is available at the USTA website.