Stewart, Kenin and McCarthy Reach Gainesville $10K Semifinals; Arconada, Di Lorenzo into Semifinals at ITF Grade 1 Banana Bowl

Six of the remaining eight players still competing at the $10,000 Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Gainesville, Florida are American teenagers after Friday's singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals.

Seventeen-year-old top seed Katerina Stewart will attempt to avenge her loss in last year's Gainesville final when she takes on No. 4 seed Katerina Kramperova of the Czech Republic Saturday.  Stewart defeated lucky loser Ingrid Neel 6-4, 6-3, while the 26-year-old Kramperova downed former Florida Gator Sofia Oyen of Belgium 6-2, 6-1. 

Two qualifiers will meet in the other semifinal, with 17-year-old Kaitlyn McCarthy taking on 16-year-old Sonya Kenin.  McCarthy beat another teen qualifier, Alexa Graham, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2, while Kenin downed Ellie Halbauer 6-3, 7-5. 

Kenin and Marie Norris, who qualified for the doubles main draw, will play Neel and Fanni Stollar of Hungary in the championship doubles match.

At the ITF Grade 1 Banana Bowl in Brazil, top seed Usue Arconada and No. 9 seed Francesca Di Lorenzo have reached the semifinals. Di Lorenzo is in a Grade 1 semifinal for the first time with her 7-6(2), 6-1 win over Beatrice Torelli of Italy, last week's champion at the Grade 1 Asuncion Bowl in Paraguay.  Di Lorenzo will next face No. 10 seed Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, who beat No. 13 seed Kayla Day 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Arconada defeated No. 12 seed Emilie Francatti of Denmark 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-0 in the quarterfinals and will play No. 3 seed Seone Mendez of Australia in Saturday's semifinal.

Di Lorenzo and her partner Luisa Stefani of Brazil, the No. 3 seeds, earned a place in the doubles final, where they will play No. 4 seed Cristian and Maia Lumsden of Great Britain.

The US boys did not fare well again this week, with only Anudeep Kodali winning a match. He won two to reach the quarterfinals. The semifinalists in the boys draw are top seed Orlando Luz of Brazil, unseeded Renta Tokuda of Japan, unseeded Igor Marcondes of Brazil and No. 7 seed Juan Jose Rosas of Peru.

At the Grade 3 Costa Rica Bowl, No. 6 seed Zeke Clark and unseeded Gianni Ross have reached the boys semifinals, while qualifier Morgan Coppoc has advanced to the last four in the girls draw.

The main draw is now underway at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, with several young US players collecting victories. Taylor Townsend, the ITF 2012 World Junior Champion, beat fellow wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 last night, and Steve Johnson, Jack Sock (back from hip surgery), Donald Young, Sloane Stephens and Varvara Lepchenko(26) were other Americans picking up wins today.