ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed Begins Monday, with Mmoh, Zarazua Top Seeds

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Tulsa, OK--

2013 semifinalists Michael Mmoh of the United States and Renata Zarazua of Mexico will be the top seeds when the main draw of the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed begins Monday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.

Mmoh, who was the top seed last year as well, is coming into the tournament on a positive note, as is No. 9 seed William Blumberg. Both went undefeated during the USA's run to the Junior Davis Cup title late last month in Mexico.  Taylor Fritz, a finalist last year, is the No. 2 seed. The boys seeds:

1. Michael Mmoh (USA)
2. Taylor Fritz (USA)
3. Sameer Kumar (USA)
4. Alejandro Tabilot (CAN)
5. Reilly Opelka (USA)
6. Nathan Ponwith (USA)
7. Kalman Boyd (USA)
8. Robert Levine (USA)
9. William Blumberg (USA)
10. Tommy Paul (USA)
11. Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
12. Catalin Mateas (USA)
13. Anudeep Kodali (USA)
14. Alexander Lebedev (USA)
15. Walker Duncan (USA)
16. Mwendwa Mbithi (USA)

The original list of wild cards changed slightly from the previous information I was given on Thursday, with Patrick Kypson qualifying instead of using a main draw wild card, Dane Dunlap of Canada not using his and Stefan Kozlov taking a special exempt into the Tiburon Challenger rather than using his wild card. Olukayode Alafia Ayeni received a wild card not previously announced, but only six were used. The three reserved girls wild cards went to Maria Mateas and Wichita Falls finalists Alexandra Sanford and Morgan Coppoc.

Zarazua, who was the No. 4 seed last year and also made the semifinals back in 2011, will play Coppoc in the first round.  Sonya Kenin, the only member of the USA's Junior Fed Cup championship team in Tulsa this week, is the No. 2 seed, and she will play Mateas.  The girls seeds:

1. Renata Zarazua(MEX)
2. Sofia Kenin(USA)
3. Raveena Kingsley(USA)
4. Katie Swan(GBR)
5. Katherine Sebov(CAN)
6. Olivia Hauger(USA)
7. Michaela Gordon(USA)
8. Raquel Pedraza(USA)
9. Mia Horvit(USA)
10. Kelly Chen(USA)
11. Ellyse Hamlin(USA)
12. Charlotte Robillard-Millette(CAN)
13. Ariana Rahmanparast(CRC)
14. Rosie Johanson(CAN)
15. Emma Higuchi(USA)
16. Helen Abigail Altick(USA)

Monday's order of play and links to the draws can be found here.

Although I've only been covering the tournament since 2007, it has been in existence, with several name changes, since 2001.  I don't have all the results from previous finals, but I did put together the list below of those from 2004 on.

2004
Donald Young d. Jamie Hunt  63 62
Andrea Remynse d. Jennifer-Lee Heinser 64 61   

2005
Ryan Sweeting d. Donald Young 16 76 64
Valerie Tetreault d. Julia Cohen 57 64 60

2006
Mateusz Kecki d. Kellen Damico 75 63    
Courtney Clayton d. Reka Zsilinszka 16 64 61

2007
Wil Spencer d. Jarmere Jenkins 26 64 62
Melanie Oudin d. Gabriela Paz 61 62

2008
Alex Domijan d. Ryan Lipman 62 46 63
Beatrice Capra d. Pamela Montez 76(2) 62

2009
Sekou Bangoura d. Mitchell Frank 64 63
Eugenie Bouchard d. Ester Goldfeld 67(7) 63 76(4)

2010
Filip Peliwo d. Shane Vinsant 60 63
Madison Keys d. Christina Makarova 62 61

2011
Mitchell Krueger d. Noah Rubin 64 61
Taylor Townsend d. Chalena Scholl 61 75

2012
Noah Rubin d. Hugo Di Feo 62 26 62
Francoise Abanda d. Carol Zhao 76(5) 46 75    

2013
Francis Tiafoe d. Taylor Fritz 63 60
Tornado Alicia Black d. Kaitlyn McCarthy 60 60