Riffice, Andreescu Win ITF Grade 4 Titles in South Carolina; Maria Mateas Claims Grade 3 Championship in Bolivia; Rubin Qualifies for Champaign Challenger

Fifteen-year-old Sam Riffice won his third ITF Grade 4 title and second in a row yesterday, taking the singles championship in Lexington, South Carolina. No. 3 seed Riffice, who won the championship last week in Atlanta, defeated No. 4 seed Nathan Perrone 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the final.

Fourteen-year-old Bianca Andreescu of Canada, the reigning Les Petits As champion, won the girls singles title, the third of her brief ITF junior career.  No. 11 seed Andreescu defeated surprise finalist Taylor Russo, a qualifier, 6-0, 6-2 in the final. Andreescu beat top seed Jade Lewis of New Zealand in the semifinals and No. 3 seed Alexandra Sanford in the quarterfinals.

No. 2 seeds Perrone and Trent Bryde won the the doubles, defeating top seeds Riffice and Vasil Kirkov 6-1, 6-7(6), 10-5. Top seeds Sanford
and Kayla Day defeated No. 6 seeds Andreescu and Anca Craciun, also of Canada, 6-3, 6-3 for the girls doubles title.

The third ITF Junior Circuit tournament in this series is the Grade 4 at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton.  Riffice is the top seed in the boys draw.   Top seed in the girls draw is Panna Udvardy of Hungary, who did not play the Atlanta and Lexington tournaments the past two weeks.

Fifteen-year-old Maria Mateas won her first ITF title last week at the Grade 3 in Bolivia. Mateas, who was unseeded, defeated No. 3 seed Lara Escauriza of Paraguay 6-4, 6-2 in the final.  Top seeds Olivia Hauger and Catalin Mateas lost in the semifinals.

Qualifying was completed today at the $50,000 Champaign Challenger, with Noah Rubin earning a place in the main draw with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Virginia first-year Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland. Rubin will play former Texas star Ed Corrie in the opening round Tuesday evening, and I plan to be in Champaign for that one.  Rubin was the only American to advance via qualifying.

The women's USTA Pro Circuit events have finished for the year, but in addition to Champaign, there are two more $10,000 Futures events for the men: this week in Niceville, Florida and next week in Pensacola. Former Virginia Tech player Patrick Daciek was the only American to qualify for Niceville, where former Ohio State Buckeye Connor Smith is the top seed.   Reilly Opelka received a special exemption due to his quarterfinal appearance in Birmingham, with Alex Rybakov, Spencer Papa and China's Yuanfeng Li receiving wild cards.  Former Georgia star Wil Spencer, who is a teaching pro now in North Carolina, grew up in the Florida Panhandle, and he received the fourth main draw wild card.