Notes From All Over

Time for a grab bag of items that have shown up in my inbox or twitterfeed in the past couple of weeks.

Tuesday's match between 18-year-olds Alexander Zverev of Germany and Borna Coric of Croatia was even better than anticipated with Coric taking 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5) victory. Steve Tignor, writing for tennis.com, took note in his account of the match.  Having watched both boys since they were 11 years old, I have a different perspective from someone who is just now taking notice.  I don't disagree with any of Tignor's observations, but do feel compelled to note that Coric's mental stability was not as exemplary in those early years. The moral? Some players never change, and some do.

Chris Oddo also watched the match closely, and wrote this piece for TennisNow.

Also at TennisNow, this interview with Frances Tiafoe, in which he says he is not the "leader" of the current crop of rising American boys. Although confident, he reiterated that point several times in interviews at Kalamazoo.

The USTA released its annual "What's New at the US Open" announcement, and the item that was most interesting to me involved the second Thursday, September 10. The two women's semifinals are on Ashe in the evening, so the day session will be free of charge, with no grounds pass required for entry.  Men's, women's and mixed doubles will be scheduled for the day, and if singles is your thing, the juniors round of 16 and the opening round of the American Collegiate Invitational are also on tap.  Just two years ago, fans could have seen Zverev, Coric,  Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Ana Konjuh of Croatia in junior competition that day. It's a great opportunity to see the best college players as well, with both NCAA champions, Jamie Loeb and Ryan Shane, scheduled to play the American Collegiate Invitational. (The list of ACI participants is in this post, with Jared Hiltzik of Illinois and Julia Jones of Ole Miss receiving the two wild cards.)

Denis Kudla and his coach, former Illinois player Billy Heiser, are the subject of this article by Josh Meiseles on the ATP website.

Allie Kiick revealed the distressing news that she has a rare form of melanoma via twitter yesterday. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Stephanie Myles has an update on 15-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who did not receive a wild card, even into qualifying, at the recent Rogers Cup in Montreal.  Instead, he's sticking to juniors for the foreseeable future.  As the top seed in the Canadian National 18s championships, he lost to No. 2 seed Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 6-2 in today's final. Bianca Andreescu, the top seed in the girls draw, beat No. 2 seed Vanessa Wong 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the final.

The NCAA Team Championships' Most Outstanding Player Astra Sharma of Vanderbilt is the subject of this feature by Stefano Berlincioni at Last Word on Sports.

A new website focusing on professional tennis stars off the court, outsidetheball.com, has produced its second webshow, and is currently featuring an interview with Great Britain's Heather Watson.

Own The Zone, a longtime sponsor of Zootennis.com, has announced a partnership with Mats Wilander and his company WOW for the EcoGrip. Wilander's endorsement of the biodegradable grip can be found in this release, and orders can be placed here.

Pro Circuit Update; My Guest Appearance on No Challenges Remaining Podcast

My usual routine in following Pro Circuit tournaments gets disrupted during Kalamazoo, or any junior tournament I'm covering live, actually, so this post will be my attempt to catch up on the results from last week on the USTA Pro Circuit.

Only two tournaments were played last week in the US, with a $10,000 event for women in Fort Worth, Texas and a $15,000 Futures tournament for men in Decatur, Illinois.  Neither produced an American singles champion, but two college players, Vanderbilt rising senior Frances Altick and former Georgia Tech star Kevin King, reached the finals, and both doubles champions were Americans with college ties.

Both Altick and the eventual champion Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway were qualifiers, with the 22-year-old Eikeri winning three qualifying matches, and Altick, because she was unseeded, four.  In the heat of Texas in August, that's a tough route, with Eikeri helping herself by winning all her matches in straight sets, although she did not face a seed in the main draw.  Altick needed three sets in her final round qualifying match and was into a third set in the quarterfinals against No. 4 seed Zoe Hives of Australia when Hives retired. She defeated the No. 5, No. 4 and No. 6 seeds en route to the final.  Eikeri took the final by a 6-3, 6-1 score.

The 21-year-old Altick has gone 19-5 this summer, including qualifying, in USTA Pro Circuit events and will debut in the WTA rankings next week.

Two other current Division I players claimed the doubles title, with Cal's Maegan Manasse and Florida's Josie Kuhlman teaming for a 6-4, 6-4 win over incoming Duke freshman Jessica Ho and Giuliana Olmos, the Southern Cal rising senior. Both teams were unseeded.

In Decatur, No. 5 seed Kevin King fell short in the singles final, losing to top seed Luke Saville of Australia 6-4, 6-4, but he claimed the doubles title with Evan King, the former Michigan All-American. The No. 4 seeds breezed through the draw without dropping a set, beating No. 3 seeds Tom Jomby(Kentucky) and Gregoire Barrere of France 6-0, 6-2.

Jonathan Kelley of On The Rise was in Decatur prior to making his way to the Nats at the Zoo and asked many of the Americans competing there for their memories of Kalamazoo in this video production.

This week has three USTA Pro Circuit events on the schedule. The women are in Landisville, Pennsylvania for a $25,000 event, which features the return of Vicky Duval to competition after more than a year away after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Ben Rothenberg provides an update on Duval's recovery and plans for the rest of this summer for the New York Times.

Qualifying for the tournament was completed today, with Robin Anderson(UCLA), Aleksandra Mally(Louisville), Ema Burgic Bucko(Baylor) and teens Sophie Chang and Nicole Frenkel among those earning places in the main draw.

Duval, who received a wild card, is scheduled to play Chang in the first round on Wednesday.

The men have the $100,000 Challenger in Aptos that will decide the USTA's US Open wild card challenge, with Bjorn Fratangelo, who won his first round match, leading that race.  Taylor Fritz received a wild card and served for the match at 5-4 in the second set of his first round match against qualifier Mischa Zverev today, but lost 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-3. Jared Donaldson and Mitchell Krueger also received wild cards, with Donaldson winning his first round match and Krueger losing his. Live streaming of the tournament can be found here.

Three of the top seven seeds in Kalamazoo are in the main draw of the $15,000 Champaign, Illinois Futures tournament this week, and two of them won their matches today.  Alex Rybakov defeated Jared Hiltzik 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 and Tommy Paul, the No. 6 seed, beat wild card Ryan Shane, the NCAA champion from Virginia, 6-4, 6-3.  Reilly Opelka, who received a wild card, will play NCAA semifinalist Quentin Monaghan of Notre Dame, who came through qualifying, in a first round match Wednesday.

The recent success of American junior boys has not gone unnoticed by the tennis media, and with the field in this year's Kalamazoo one of the most accomplished ever, I was invited to join Courtney Nguyen (formerly of Sports Illustrated and now with the WTA) and Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times as a guest on their weekly podcast, No Challenges Remaining.  I was thrilled to be asked, as I listen to their thoughts on pro tennis every week, but I had no idea we would end up talking about junior and college tennis for more than an hour. The time flew by and I enjoyed answering their questions and getting their opinions on the issues surrounding the level of tennis that I cover.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download it via iTunes.

Talking with ITF Junior No. 1 Taylor Fritz; Ayeni Sweeps ITF Grade 4 Titles in Dominican Republic; Donaldson Qualifies for BB&T Open in Atlanta

As the No. 1 ranked ITF junior boy, Taylor Fritz was a popular interview subject at Wimbledon this year, and I spoke with him several times during the junior tournament.  Although many of his peers have turned pro this spring and summer, Fritz has not yet made that decision officially. But from this article I put together for The Tennis Recruiting Network based on those interviews, it appears unlikely that he will attend college.

All the major sports management agencies are interested in Fritz, so his choice will be a story this summer (he says by the end of the US Open). But it's not as if it is a lifetime commitment.  Jack Sock, who signed with CAA initially, has moved to IMG, it was announced today.

Olukayode Alafia Ayeni, who turns 16 next month, won his first two ITF titles last week at the Grade 4 Copa Merengue in the Dominican Republic. Ayeni, seeded No. 11, beat the No. 7, No. 4 and No. 1 seeds to reach the final, where he defeated No. 2 seed Salvador Mijares of Venezuela 6-2, 6-1.  Ayeni and Robert Loeb won the doubles title, with the No. 3 seeds taking a 7-6(8), 7-5 decision from No. 4 seeds Valentino Caratini and Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina.

At the $50,000 Sacramento women's Pro Circuit tournament, which finished late last night, 2014 US Open girls finalist Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, the No. 8 seed, beat top seed An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. It's the third Pro Circuit title for the 18-year-old, but the first at the $50,000 level.

Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey(Tennessee) won the doubles title, beating another unseeded pair, Nao Hibino of Japan and Rosie Johanson of Canada, 6-4, 3-6, 14-12 in the final. It's Whoriskey's ninth pro doubles title, but her first at a $50,000 tournament and her first with Weinhold as a partner.

The third and final tournament in the USTA's Women's US Open Wild Card Challenge is this week in Lexington.  As you can see from the standings chart, it's still anyone's wild card, although Brooke Austin lost in the first round of Lexington qualifying to Jamie Loeb, so she can't accumulate any more points. Loeb is one of five Americans in Tuesday's final round of qualifying.

The men's Lexington Challenger is just the second of their three tournaments, and next week at Aptos is a $100,000 event, so there is a very long way to go in that race. Noah Rubin qualified for Lexington with three wins, including a win over No. 2 seed Frederik Nielsen of Denmark and today's victory over Dimitar Kutrovsky(7) of Bulgaria. Alex Kuznetsov also qualified, putting a total of eight Americans in the main draw.

Rain has stopped play at the BB&T Atlanta Open today, but Jared Donaldson, Austin Krajicek and Denis Kudla won their final qualifying matches to join nine Americans already in the main draw. Donaldson, who was unseeded in the qualifying, beat Gastao Elias of Portugal in the first round, No. 5 seed JP Smith of Australia in the second round and No. 2 seed Guido Pella of Argentina in today's final round of qualifying. Kudla, the No. 1 seed, won both his qualifying matches in straight sets, as did No. 3 seed Krajicek.

The lower level Pro Circuit events this week are a $15,000 Futures for the men in Edwardsville, Illinois, and a $10,000 tournament for women in Austin, Texas.

Jake DeVine Feature; Women's Division I Team Championships' Round of 16 Begins Today

Before the first round of women's matches at the finals site begin here in Waco, I wanted to post a link to the Tennis Recruiting Network feature story I wrote on Jake DeVine, who will be joining the USC Trojans in the fall. DeVine's serious back injury kept him from competing throughout 2014, but he's been playing regularly since early this year, and is looking at his break from tennis as a blessing in disguise.

It's wet in Waco this morning, but here is the schedule for the women's matches today, all times Central:

Miami(15) vs North Carolina(2) 9 am

UCLA(7) vs Texas A&M(10) 9 am

Georgia(6) vs Michigan(11) noon

Stanford(14) vs Cal(3) noon

Vanderbilt(4) vs Clemson 3 pm

Florida(5) vs Oklahoma St(12) 3 pm

Baylor(8) vs Virginia(9)  7 pm

Southern Cal(1) vs Texas Tech(16) 7 pm

ITF Team Qualifying Recap; Oosterhout Upsets Top Seed Townsend; NCAA Final Lineups Posted; Assorted Features on Young Pros

My recap of the three days of North/Central American qualifying for the ITF team events is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. It was my first opportunity to cover an ITF team competition and although it was short on drama, I'm sure the US is happy with four first-place finishes and a chance to compete again with the other 15 teams seeking a world championship.

Qualifying was completed at the $50,000 Pro Circuit event in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, which is the third and final tournament which will decide the USTA's French Open wild card.  Louisa Chirico, one of the three women still in the running for the wild card, qualified today with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Sonya Kenin, and although she would have been seeded under the men's ITF rules, she is not seeded in the main draw, despite having the second highest WTA ranking of any of those in the main draw.  She drew Justyna Jegiolka of Poland for her first round,  and cannot meet Katerina Stewart or Allie Kiick, her two rivals for the wild card, until the finals. Kiick and Stewart could meet in the semifinals.

Chirico will not have to face top seed and defending champion Taylor Townsend, who was playing her first match since Indian Wells today.  Townsend, who won the reciprocal wild card to the French Open last year, lost to 17-year-old Harvard recruit Erica Oosterhout 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The wild card, ranked 894 to Townsend's 115, kept her composure and didn't beat herself, while Townsend looked rusty and often impatient.

Oosterhout was not the only incoming freshman with a big win today, as wild card Rianna Valdes, who will be joining the Southern Cal team this fall, defeated No. 4 seed Patricia Tig of Romania, ranked 179, 6-2, 6-3.

Live streaming of the tournament is available through the USTA Pro Circuit website.

The final NCAA Division I lineups, which have gone through the challenge process, have been posted.  The lineups for the men's teams are here.
The women's lineups are here.

Several features on young pros came out in the past several days.  Hyeon Chung of Korea, one of just two teenagers in the ATP Top 100, had a conversation with Hyung-taik Lee, the 39-year-old Korean who reached the ATP rank of 36 back in 2007, the highest ranking of any man from that country.

A detailed look on Reilly Opelka's decision to turn pro, with quotes from Jay Berger, Tom Gullikson, Lagardere's Sam Duvall and Justin Gimelstob, can be found at Flaglerlive.com.  Lisa Stone also spoke at length with Reilly's father George for her weekly blog radio show, which can be found here.

Christian Harrison is back on the court, playing points and preparing for a return late this summer, according to this article from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Few players, save maybe Brian Baker, have every dealt with so many injuries and illnesses, and they are all detailed here. Everyone who knows Christian is hoping all that is behind him and he can have a stretch of good health that will allow him to compete regularly.

Jon Wertheim spoke with Frances Tiafoe about his recent success, the French wild card, his coaching situation and Jay-Z in this article for Sports Illustrated.

Bellis Returns to Junior Fed Cup with two 6-0, 6-0 Victories; Tiafoe, Sandgren, Donaldson Reach Tallahassee Challenger Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Boca Raton, FL--

CiCi Bellis has a ITF World Junior Tennis championship and an ITF Junior Fed Cup championship on her resume the past two years, so she would expect to have experienced just about everything those two competitions had to offer when she returned for the North and Central American Qualifying for Junior Fed Cup this weekend.  But Bellis, who turned 16 earlier this month, had never before had an opponent ask for a photo with her, which happened today after her second 6-0, 6-0 victory of the day.

"I don't think any of my opponents has ever wanted a picture with me," said Bellis, who had been asked for one earlier in the day by two older gentlemen on their way to hit on the Evert Academy courts. "It was fine, they were really nice girls, and we talked to them a little bit when we were having lunch. But I don't mind, I'm getting used to it, it's fun."

Bellis, who won her singles match over Penelope Abreu of the Dominican Republic 6-0, 6-0 to give the USA Junior Fed Cup team an insurmountable  2-0 lead, said the photo requests have been common since her first round win over Dominika Cibulkova at the US Open last year, but her two victories last month at the Miami Open have also raised her profile.  Bellis lost 6-1, 6-1 to Serena Williams in the third round, an experience she thinks will be valuable to her in the future.

"It was so scary, but it was a good experience," Bellis said. "I was really nervous and I couldn't get past playing Serena. I didn't really get past it this time, but if I ever play her again, I think it will be easier."

As for returning to junior competition this week, Bellis said she enjoys the team atmosphere and believes it will help prepare her for the French Open qualifying in a few weeks.

"This is for match play before the French," said Bellis, who will make her decision about competing in the French Junior Championships based on how the women's qualifying tournament goes for her. "Canada's a really good team, and the next team, Mexico, is pretty good too, so it's match play, and practice on the clay."

As for the team format, Bellis said, "it's so much fun. We put bows in our hair and paint our faces, it's so fun."

"And being on a team, you're not playing for yourself, but obviously, for your country and I like that. And I play so much better at these things."

Because Bellis is 16, she is restricted by WTA rules on the number of tournaments she can play, so junior competition can help fill that match play void.

"I have to have it scheduled out basically for the whole year and even next year, a calendar to make sure I don't play too many tournaments," said Bellis, who will also weigh her participation in the Wimbledon Junior Championships based on her performance in the women's qualifying there.

Kayla Day and Michaela Gordon are the two other USA Junior Fed Cup players, with Day winning 6-3, 6-0 in the opening match at No. 2 singles. Gordon and Bellis won the doubles against the Dominican team 6-0, 6-0.

As impressive a performance as that was, the US boys participating in the 14-and-under World Junior Tennis competition were equally dominant, losing only two games in three matches against Guatemala.  Brandon Nakishima won 6-0, 6-0 over Jonathan Hernandez, Adam Neff won 6-0, 6-1 over Juan Sebastian Dominguez and Nakashima and Govind Nanda won in doubles 6-0, 6-1.

The US girls 14-and-under team defeated Canada 3-0, with Amanda Anisimova winning over Ariana Arseneault 6-1, 6-4 and Caty McNally beating Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-3. McNally and Hurricane Tyra Black won the doubles 6-1, 6-1.

The US Junior Davis Cup team made it 12-0 for the US, with Vasil Kirkov beating Kyle Frankel of Aruba 6-1, 6-0 and Gianni Ross defeating Patrick Sydow 6-3, 6-3.  Sam Riffice and Kirkov took the doubles 6-3, 6-2.

The other teams to win in the first round Thursday: Canada's WJT boys team, Junior Fed Cup team and Junior Davis Cup team all beat Mexico, all by 3-0 scores.  Canada did have two late substitutions with Vanessa Wong taking Bianca Andreescu's place on the Junior Fed Cup team, and Benjamin Sigouin substituting for Felix Auger-Aliassime on the Junior Davis Cup team.

The only match decided by the doubles was the girls World Junior Tennis contest between Guatemala and Mexico.  Guatemala won at No. 2 in a three-setter, Mexico won at No. 1 in a three-setter, and the doubles also went three sets, with Guatemala taking a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory.  Although all doubles in ITF Junior (and Professional) events are no-ad with match tiebreakers for a third set, these team competitions play regular scoring, best of three tiebreak sets, so that match went more than two hours, with Mexico coming back from 5-1 down in the final set to get back on serve, only to be broken in the last game to end it.

All four US teams will play Mexico in Friday's second round.

Complete results can be found here.

Three Americans have reached the semifinals of the $50,000 Tallahassee Challenger: 17-year-old Frances Tiafoe, 18-year-old Jared Donaldson and 23-year-old Tennys Sandgren.  Sandgren knocked Bjorn Fratangelo out of the USTA's Har-Tru Wild Card Challenge for the French Open wild card with a 6-2, 6-2 victory, while Mitchell Krueger was eliminated from contention with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to No. 6 seed Facundo Arguello of Argentina. Donaldson defeated Vincent Millot of France 6-4, 7-6(4), and tonight, Tiafoe downed Emilio Gomez of Ecuador 6-1, 7-6(2).  Tiafoe is now in the lead in the wild card race, but the other two Americans can win it if they claim the title Saturday. 

At the Women's Pro Circuit stop in Charlottesville, 16-year-old wild card Usue Arconada defeated Julia Boserup 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Dothan finalist Katerina Stewart downed qualifier Nicole Frenkel 6-3, 6-0 and Allie Kiick beat Paula Goncalves of Brazil 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. 

The American quarterfinalists at the $10,000 Futures in Vero Beach include Wil Spencer, Greg Ouellette, Michael Mmoh and Ryan Haviland.

My Interview with Reilly Opelka on Signing with Lagardere

I spoke with Reilly Opelka this afternoon after it was revealed last night that he had signed with sports management agency Lagardere, and therefore would be forgoing college tennis.

The 17-year-old senior from Palm Coast, Florida said he had always hoped to be a professional tennis player, but was definitely considering college tennis, with his choice narrowed down to Southern Cal or Florida, until last month.

"It was getting to the point where I had to make a decision for them," Opelka said. "They had to get moving along with their priorities, and that's kind of why the decision came now, how the timing happened. But there was no rush to sign. I would say my mind was 100 percent made up by February or March. I was all in by then, and it was kind of a process signing, getting it in writing and whatnot."

Opelka, who says he was recently measured and now is just a bit over 6-feet 10-inches in height, will be represented by Sam Duvall, who also represents John Isner.

Opelka joked that my question about his height was hardly a unique one.

"I'll be at the mall or wherever and I'll hear the question at least five times a day," Opelka said. "And I usually give five different answers. It ranges from 5'5" to 7'6", just depending on what number pops into my head first."

Opelka said he consulted with his parents and with the USTA, where he has trained for many years, before make the decision to sign.

"The USTA has guided me since I was 12," Opelka said. "The people I've had around me at the USTA I trust more than anyone--Jay Berger, Diego Moyano. Jay's been helping me out since I was 11 years old. And Tom Gullikson, he works for the USTA, and he's probably the only reason I'm playing tennis right now, and at this level. I'm lucky to have known him since I was 6 years old, and he definitely helped me and guided me. But at the end of the day, it was my decision. They were supportive for either option and left it up to me."

"I explored every option pretty well, I think," Opelka said of his decision. "I had college tennis in mind, no doubt. It's a great option for Americans, they think about college tennis more. It's such a high level now, it makes the decision tough.That's a good thing, but it's a little more stressful.  I could play Tommy Paul, Chris Eubanks, Noah Rubin, college tennis is such a high level now, it makes the decision even tougher."

Opelka, who is No. 30 in the ITF junior rankings and 1115 in the ATP rankings, said the fact that he had interest from Lagardere was not a major influence on his decision, but he is happy to have their expertise at his disposal.

"We looked at (turning pro) even before Lagardere came into play, but once they did it helped a lot," Opelka said. "Those guys know what they're doing when it comes down to this. That's what they do. And I really like Sam Duvall."

Opelka said a few nagging injuries have kept him out of competition for the past couple of months, but he is training hard now and is preparing to travel with the USTA to Spain for several Futures before playing the French Open Junior Championships. He is also planning to play Wimbledon Juniors, Kalamazoo and the US Open Junior Championships this year before concentrating exclusively on the professional circuit after that.

Neel Commits to Florida, Paul to Georgia; Tiafoe Reaches Savannah Challenger Semifinals, Stewart into Dothan Semis; Upsets in ACC Tournament

Ingrid Neel, the No. 2 recruit in the Tennis Recruiting Network's Class of 2016, has verbally committed to the University of Florida.  I spoke to Neel about her decision at the Easter Bowl and wrote this article about her choice and her aspirations for a professional career.

The No. 2 recruit in the boys class of 2015, Tommy Paul, has announced his commitment to the University of Georgia. Reilly Opelka, the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2015 , has not yet announced his decision.

Frances Tiafoe, who turned pro less than three weeks ago, has lost only one match since then.  He qualified for the $100,000 Sarasota Challenger and reached the quarterfinals; this week at the $50,000 Savannah Challenger, he received a wild card and is now into the semifinals after a 6-2, 7-6(3) win over Mitchell Krueger.  I've watched a lot of matches on the live stream this week and Tiafoe's forehand has been the most dynamic shot on display.  That and his flair for the unexpected is reason enough to tune in on Saturday, when he'll play James McGee of Ireland for a place in the final.  McGee defeated top seed Tim Smyczek 6-0, 6-3.  Tiafoe has also now taken the lead in the USTA's Har-Tru Wild Card Challenge for the French Open.  Bjorn Fratangelo, who Tiafoe beat in the second round last week in Sarasota, defeated Jared Donaldson 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-0 in the other all-American quarterfinal.  He will play No. 4 seed Hyeon Chung of Korea, who defeated No. 5 seed Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-2, 6-4.

At the Women's $50,000 Pro Circuit tournament in Dothan, Alabama, wild card Katerina Stewart defeated Samantha Crawford 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to reach the semifinals, where she'll play unseeded Paula Goncalves of Brazil. Louisa Chirico defeated Jessica Pegula 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals against Jovana Jaksic of Serbia.

In the $50,000 Santos Challenger in Brazil, 17-year-old wild card Orlando Luz reached a Challenger semifinal for the first time, with qualifier Agustin Velotti of Argentina retiring down 5-0 in their quarterfinal meeting today. Luz, currently ranked No. 2 in the ITF Junior World rankings, will play unseeded Germain Gigounon of Belgium in the semifinals.

At the $100,000 Guadalajara Challenger, an American champion is assured before the quarterfinals have finished.  Unseeded Connor Smith defeated No. 6 seed JP Smith of Australia 6-4, 7-5 to earn his first berth in a Challenger semifinal.  Smith will play Jason Jung, who defeated Adam El Mihdawy 6-3, 6-4..  No. 7 seed Rajeev Ram defeated Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 7-6(2), 6-3 and will play qualifier Kevin King in the semifinals.  King defeated top seed Adrian Menendez Maceiras of Spain 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(2).

King capped what was an outstanding day for Georgia Tech, with both the men's and women's teams posting upsets in the ACC tournament in Cary, NC.  Fresh from a 4-3 win over Duke in the final weekend of the season, the men, seeded 10th, beat Notre Dame on Thursday and today took out No. 2 seed and 14th-ranked Virginia Tech 4-3.  They will play No. 3 seed Wake Forest in the semifinals.  Top seed Virginia will play No. 4 North Carolina, after the Tar Heels got by No. 5 seed Duke 4-3.

The sixth-seeded Georgia Tech women defeated No. 3 Duke 4-3, but the real surprise came in the other other quarterfinal in the bottom half, with Florida State, seeded 10th, beating No. 2 seed Miami 4-3.

In the top half of the ACC women's tournament, No. 4 seed Virginia plays top seed North Carolina.

Di Lorenzo Saves Four Match Points in Marathon Comeback Victory over Chen; Blackman Discusses Player Development Appointment; Tiafoe Turns Pro

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Indian Wells, CA--

Monday marked the beginning of the ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl matches at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with the highlight No. 6 seed Francesca Di Lorenzo's 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over Kelly Chen.

Di Lorenzo had lost to Chen just last week at the ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships in Carson, falling  6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3 in the third round, but when she fell behind 6-4, 5-1 in Monday's match, it looked as if Chen would post her second win in five days over the left-hander from Ohio.

But Di Lorenzo managed to hold for 5-2, then broke to make it 5-3.

Serving to stay in the match for the second time, Di Lorenzo went down 0-40, but never displaying any discouragement or dismay, she saved the first match point with a forehand putaway, then saved the second when Chen missed a forehand wide. On match point No. 3, a long rally ended with Chen coming in to finish the point, but Di Lorenzo struck an amazing dipping cross court forehand to save it.  She won the next point when Chen hit a forehand wide, but a slice long, one of the few mistakes Di Lorenzo made in the game, brought it back to deuce.  Chen earned her fourth match point with a forehand pass, but Di Lorenzo again came up with a winner after a long rally, this time with a backhand volley.  Two errors by Chen gave Di Lorenzo the game, but Chen still had another chance to serve out the match.

She was unable to do it, double faulting at 30-40 to make it 5-5.  But despite the momentum, Di Lorenzo couldn't hold in the next game, double faulting at 30-40 to give Chen her third opportunity to serve out the match.  Whether it was the length of the rallies or the length of the match, then approaching the two-and-a-half hour mark, Chen's unforced errors started to increase, and she contributed four to get broken again.

That pattern continued in the tiebreaker, with Di Lorenzo keeping the ball in play long enough for Chen to make an error, although Di Lorenzo did manage a volley winner and a forehand winner to take a 6-1 lead.  Di Lorenzo double faulted on her first set point, but earned a third set on the next one, when Chen's forehand went wide.

Di Lorenzo took an early lead in the third set, and despite the midday sun, played with the same energy and commitment to her shots that she'd shown in the first hour.  When she broke Chen for a second time, with the Californian's forehand errors mounting, Di Lorenzo was up 4-1 and after each player held, she found herself in the same position Chen was in in the second set, serving for the match at 5-2.

"I never think, okay, now I have the match," said Di Lorenzo. "Especially with her. She fights so hard, anything can happen. I always think, next point, next point. It's never over, and I've learned that the hard way a few times."

The match, now well over three hours long, looked as if it might have yet another plot twist when Di Lorenzo went down 15-40 serving for it at 5-2 in the third.  A couple of errors from Chen brought it to deuce, and Di Lorenzo got her first match point, only to watch Chen save it with a big forehand.  A backhand winner by Chen gave her another break point, but she missed a makeable volley. Chen let a fourth break point get away, when a good serve by Di Lorenzo resulted in a missed return.  A long point on the fourth deuce ended with Chen missing a forehand into the net, and Di Lorenzo had a second match point, which she converted when Chen missed a forehand.

"I was thinking I just have to make her play every shot," Di Lorenzo said of her attitude when down 6-4, 5-1. "I don't want to give the match to her, I wanted to make her hit ten balls every point and I wanted to make her earn it."

Di Lorenzo admitted she was "a little shocked" when she saw the draw.

"But I guess it was good for me, because I lost to her in the last tournament, to get revenge," Di Lorenzo said. "Nobody really wants a tough first round like that, but I think it helps you throughout the tournament so you wake up."

As the physical toll of playing more than three hours, Di Lorenzo showed no evidence of it.

"I had a lot of energy," said Di Lorenzo, who couldn't recall ever winning a match from that far down before. "I think I was sleeping the first few games of the match, but once I woke up, I was ready to play. I think she may have gotten a little tired, I don't know. But she's super athletic and really in shape, so it's a battle usually when we play."

Di Lorenzo survived, but several seeds in action Monday did not.  No. 6 seed Sameer Kumar suffered his fifth straight first round loss in ITF junior play this year, falling to John Jorgeson 6-1, 6-1.   Cameron Klinger defeated No. 9 seed Liam Caruana  6-3, 6-3, and the girls draw lost No. 13 seed Mia Horvit to a withdrawal.  No. 10 seed Alexandra Sanford lost to Alaina Miller 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 and No. 15 seed Jade Lewis lost to Abi Altick 6-7(4), 6-1, 7-5.

Due to an error in which a player was mistakenly removed as a withdrawal when he had actually not withdrawn, 65 players ended up in the boys draw, so the last two qualifiers to get in, Williams Howells and Johnathan Small, had to play for the final spot in the main draw.  Small won 6-1, 6-4, and will play Trent Bryde in the first round on Tuesday.

Taylor Fritz, just a day after his appearance in the final of the ITF Junior Masters in China, was back in the United States and at Indian Wells this afternoon, admitting to some fatigue, but getting some practice in before his first round match against Caleb Chakravarthi on Tuesday.

Live streaming of Fritz's match is likely and can be found at easterbowl.com.

Complete results from all the Easter Bowl age divisions are at the bottom of this post.

I participated in the conference call with newly named USTA General Manager of Player Development Martin Blackman this morning, the complete transcript of which can be found here. The article announcing Blackman's appointment is available at usta.com. Please take the time to read both the transcript and the article and to offer your comments on Blackman's view of the position and his coaching philosophy.

In other major news in the junior tennis world today, Frances (note new spelling) Tiafoe has turned pro, signing with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation agency.

The Washington Post has more on Tiafoe's decision here.

============================================
Boys' 18 Singles (Round of 64)
Connor Hance (Torrance, CA) def. Vincent Lin (Schaumburg, IL) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
Zeke Clark (15) (Tulsa, OK) def. Brandon Holt (Rolling Hills, CA) 6-4, 6-4
Cameron Klinger (Elk Grove, CA) def. Liam Caruana (9) (New Braunfels, TX) 6-3, 6-3
Jakub Wojcik (Delray Beach, FL) def. Matthew Gamble (Webster, NY) 1-6, 6-2, 6-1
Agustin Moreno def. Evan Zhu (Irvine, CA) 6-4, 6-1
John Jorgeson (Bradenton, FL) def. Sameer Kumar (6) (Carmel, IN) 6-1, 6-1
Robert Levine (11) (Bedford, NY) def. Eric Rutledge (Fort Worth, TX) 6-0, 6-1
Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (13) (London, Surrey) def. Daniel Gealer (Los Angeles, CA) 6-3, 7-6(3)
Oliver Sec (New York, NY) def. Lubomir Cuba (Massapequa Park, NY) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
Alexander Keyser (Danville, CA) def. Victor Pham (Saratoga, CA) 6-1, 6-3
Alex Ross (La Grange, IL) def. Jake Van Emburgh (Verona, WI) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Mwendwa Mbithi (10) (Deerfield Beach, FL) def. William Genesen (Tulsa, OK) 6-4, 6-1
Sam Riffice (14) (Roseville, CA) def. Emanuel Llamas (El Paso, TX) 6-0, 7-5
Sami Kirberg (Ft Lauderdale, FL) def. John McNally (Cincinnati, OH) 6-3, 7-6(5)
Catalin Mateas (8) (Braintree, MA) def. Pietro Rimondini (Boca Raton, FL) 6-3, 6-3
Riley Smith (Long Beach, CA) def. Bjorn Hoffmann (Newport Beach, CA) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5
Tyler Schick (Short Hills, NJ) def. Wyatt Demulling (Burien, WA) 6-3, 6-3
Vasil Kirkov (16) (Tampa, FL) def. Nathan Perrone (Bluffton, SC) 6-2, 6-4
Jeffrey Wolf (Cincinnati, OH) def. Connor Garnett (Bellevue, WA) 6-1, 6-3
Hady Habib (7) (Bradenton, FL) def. Gianni Ross (La Grange, IL) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
Emil Reinberg (5) (Atlanta, GA) def. Pedro Fernandez del Valle (Wesley Chapel, FL) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Jacob Brumm (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) def. Alafia Ayeni (San Diego, CA) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3)
Boys' 18 Singles Playoff (Final Round)
Johnathan Small (Zionsville, IN) def. William Howells (Plantation, FL) 6-1, 6-4

Girls' 18 Singles (Round of 64)
Caty McNally (Cincinnati, OH) def. Melissa Lord (Bloomfield, CT) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Carson Branstine (Orange, CA) def. Savannah Slaysman (Phoenix, AZ) 6-2, 6-3
Helen Altick (Monroe, LA) def. Jade Lewis (15) (Hilton Head Island, SC) 6-7(4), 6-1, 7-5
Raquel Pedraza (Claremont, CA) def. Anna Rogers (Stamford, CT) 6-1, 7-6(5)
Christina Rosca (Princeton, NJ) def. Ryan Peus (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) 6-4, 6-4
Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, ME) def. Madison Bourguignon (Boca Raton, FL) 6-3, 6-3
Morgan Coppoc (Tulsa, OK) def. Camille Favero (Sacramento, CA) 6-2, 7-6(5)
Kylie McKenzie (Anthem, AZ) def. Nicole Kalhorn (Colorado Springs, CO) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1
Sofia Sewing (14) (Doral, FL) def. Gabriella Pollner (Boca Raton, FL) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
Taylor Russo (Deerfield Beach, FL) def. Jessica Livianu (Brooklyn, NY) 6-2, 7-5
Kayla Day (9) (Santa Barbara, CA) def. Ally Miller-Krasilnikov (Delray Beach, FL) 6-1, 6-0
Meible Chi (Weston, FL)  def.  Karina Traxler (Rockwall, TX)  6-0, 6-4
Jessie Aney (Rochester, MN) def. Sabrina Faybyshev (Marlboro, NJ) 6-2, 6-1
Caroline Lampl (Bluemont, VA) def. Dominique Schaefer (16) (Ventura, CA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
Alaina Miller (Saratoga, CA) def. Alexandra Sanford (10) (Westerville, OH) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
Ena Shibahara (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) def. Ndindi Mwaruka 6-1, 6-1
Alexis Nelson (Saint Paul, MN) def. Jenna Friedel (Mill Valley, CA) 6-3, 6-2
Francesca Di Lorenzo (6) (New Albany, OH) def. Kelly Chen (Cerritos, CA) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2
Jessica Failla (Ramona, CA) def. Andrea Kevakian (Glendale, CA) 6-1, 6-4

Girls' 18 Doubles (Round of 32)
Kenya Jones (Memphis, TN) / Ndindi Mwaruka def. Savannah Slaysman (Phoenix, AZ) / Rebecca Weissmann (Loveland, CO) 6-4, 2-6, 10-7
Summer Dvorak (Laguna Beach, CA) / Gabrielle Schuck (Colorado Springs, CO) def. Sabrina Faybyshev (Marlboro, NJ) / Darya Possokhova (San Francisco, CA) 6-3, 3-6, 10-1
Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, ME) / Gabriella Pollner (6) (Boca Raton, FL) def. Zoe Spence (Chicago, IL) / Elene Tsokilauri (Newtown Square, PA) 6-4, 6-3
Meible Chi (Weston, FL) / Taylor Russo (Deerfield Beach, FL) def. Kayla Day (Santa Barbara, CA) / Ryan Peus (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) 7-5, 6-3
Morgan Coppoc (Tulsa, OK) / Alexandra Sanford (8) (Westerville, OH) def. Kenadi Hance (Torrance, CA) / Maddie Pothoff (Tucson, AZ) 6-3, 6-0
Carson Branstine (Orange, CA) / Kylie McKenzie (Anthem, AZ) def. Helen Altick (Monroe, LA) / Raquel Pedraza (7) (Claremont, CA) 6-4, 6-2
Annette Goulak (Oak Park, CA) / Alaina Miller (Saratoga, CA) def. Anna Dollar (Lancaster, PA) / Ally Miller-Krasilnikov (Delray Beach, FL) 6-3, 7-6(6)
Caroline Dolehide (Hinsdale, IL) / Ena Shibahara (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) def. Alexis Nelson (Saint Paul, MN) / Christina Rosca (Princeton, NJ) 6-1, 6-1
Andie Daniell (Douglasville, GA) / Emma Higuchi (Los Angeles, CA) def. Andrea Kevakian (Glendale, CA) / Jaclyn Switkes (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL) 6-0, 6-1
Usue Arconada (Rio Piedras, PR) / Francesca Dilorenzo (2) (New Albany, OH) def. Amanda Anisimova (Hallandale Beach, FL) / Abigail Desiatnikov (Atlanta, GA) 6-2, 6-1
 
Boys' 16 Singles (Round of 64)
Oliver Crawford (1) (Spartanburg, SC) def. Keenan Mayo (Roseville, CA) 6-0; 6-3
Christian Alshon (Boca Raton, FL) def. Andrew Fenty (Washington, DC) 6-3; 6-1
Paul Barretto (12) (Tiburon, CA) def. Charlie Sharton (Wayland, MA) 6-1; 6-0
Alex Mascioli (Wayne, PA) def. Lucas Biondi (Purchase, NY) 6-4; 6-1
Matthew Lord (5) (Bloomfield, CT) def. Kento Perera (Santa Barbara, CA) 6-4; 6-2
Andrew Ton (Milpitas, CA) def. Brandon Stringfellow (Phoenix, AZ) 6-3; 6-3
Athell Bennett (Valley Stream, NY) def. Josh Mukherjee (Bloomfield Hills, MI) 6-1; 6-7(5); 4-1 Ret (inj)
Austen Huang (2) (Elk Grove, CA) def. Cody Lin (Thousand Oaks, CA) 6-4; 6-1
Conrad Russell (Palo Alto, CA) def. Spencer Brown (Spartanburg, SC) 6-4; 6-3
Sam Turchetta (14) (Pound Ridge, NY) def. Casey Ross (Littleton, CO) 6-4; 6-1
Chambers Easterling (Spartanburg, SC) def. Maxwell Freeman (Ashland, MA) 6-2; 3-6; 6-3
Jourdan Kast (Boca Raton, FL) def. Jonathan Dollahite (8) (Orem, UT) 7-5; 6-2
Charles Deng (Temple City, CA) def. Bradley Frye (Overland Park, KS) 3-6; 7-6(4); 7-6(6)
Brian Cernoch (11) (North Bethesda, MD) def. Adam Guo (Redmond, WA) 6-4; 6-3
Luke Ross (Sewickley, PA) def. Cotter Wilson (Shreveport, LA) 6-4; 6-2
Abhijeet Joshi (6) (Millington, NJ) def. Ben Goldberg (Pacific Palisades, CA) 6-1; 7-5
Dylan Levitt (Las Vegas, NV) def. Bill Duo (Portage, MI) 6-0; 4-6; 6-1
Jackson Suh (15) (Bellevue, WA) def. Yuval Solomon (Plainview, NY) 6-4; 6-2
Brady Draheim (Omaha, NE) def. Peter Conklin (Fairfield, CT) 7-6(2); 6-3
Sean Sculley (3) (Hilton Head Island, SC) def. Kevin Ma (San Ramon, CA) 7-5; 3-6; 6-0
Jason Lui (7) (Bellevue, WA) def. Victor Cheng (Santa Monica, CA) 6-1; 6-3
Mayson Xue (San Ramon, CA) def. Alex Wesbrooks (McKinney, TX) 7-6(1); 6-2
William Woodall (Washington, DC) def. Mac Kiger (10) (Katonah, NY) 6-4; 6-7(4); 6-2
Steven Sun (Boca Raton, FL) def. Benjamin Gajardo (Las Vegas, NV) 6-4; 6-1
Bryce Pereira (San Gabriel, CA) def. Dominic Barretto (Tiburon, CA) 6-2; 6-0
Matthew Rodriguez (9) (Highland Beach, FL) def. Wilson Hamilton (Dallas, TX) 6-4; 6-0
Danny Thomas (Pickerington, OH) def. Maxwell Mendelsohn (13) (Little Rock, AR) 6-2; 6-2
Aleks Huryn (Alpharetta, GA) def. Robert Baylon (Buena Park, CA) 6-3; 6-0
William Peters (4) (DUXBURY, MA) def. Trey Hilderbrand (Helotes, TX) 7-5; 6-3
Daunte Harris (Lomita, CA) def. Zachary Fleischman (Medina, WA) 7-6(4); 6-2
Ajai Shekhera (16) (Campbell, CA) def. Ethan Prost (Peoria, AZ) 6-1; 3-6; 6-1
Jack Katzman (Seattle, WA) def. Ivan Thamma (San Diego, CA) 6-0; 6-3

Boys' 16 Doubles (Round of 16)
Sean Sculley (Hilton Head Island, SC) / Cotter Wilson (1) (Shreveport, LA) def. Andrew Fenty (Washington, DC) / William Woodall (Washington, DC) 8-5
Brady Draheim (Omaha, NE) / Chambers Easterling (Spartanburg, SC) def. Dominic Barretto (Tiburon, CA) / Paul Barretto (2) (Tiburon, CA) 9-8; 7-6(4))
Brian Cernoch (North Bethesda, MD) / Oliver Crawford (8) (Spartanburg, SC) def. Peter Conklin (Fairfield, CT) / Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, CT) 8-4
Bryce Pereira (San Gabriel, CA) / Ivan Thamma (San Diego, CA) def. Abhijeet Joshi (Millington, NJ) / Mac Kiger (6) (Katonah, NY) 9-7
Jackson Suh (Bellevue, WA) / Danny Thomas (Pickerington, OH) def. Victor Cheng (Santa Monica, CA) / Daunte Harris (Lomita, CA) 9-8; 7-6(2))
Robert Baylon (Buena Park, CA) / Andrew Ton (Milpitas, CA) def. Kevin Ma (San Ramon, CA) / Ajai Shekhera (Campbell, CA) 8-4
Austen Huang (Elk Grove, CA) / Jason Lui (5) (Bellevue, WA) def. Ben Goldberg (Pacific Palisades, CA) / Maxwell Mendelsohn (Little Rock, AR) 8-2
Jonathan Dollahite (Orem, UT) / Dylan Levitt (7) (Las Vegas, NV) def. Trey Hilderbrand (Helotes, TX) / Alex Wesbrooks (McKinney, TX)
8-5

Girls' 16 Singles (Round of 64)
Grace Joyce (1) (Newton, MA) def. Riley McQuaid (Tustin, CA) 6-1; 6-1
Taylor Bridges (Mesa, AZ) def. Alessandra Bianco (Chicago, IL) 6-1; 3-6; 6-4
Janice Shin (9) (Houston, TX) def. Catherine Cable (Spokane, WA) 6-1; 6-1
Stephanie Schrage (Millburn, NJ) def. Jennifer Gadalov (Los Angeles, CA) 4-6; 7-6(3); 7-5
Anna Brylin (Short Hills, NJ) def. Nadia Gizdova (5) (Columbia, MD) 6-4; 6-4
Jessi Muljat (Sacramento, CA) def. Zoe Taylor (Long Grove, IL) 6-2; 6-2
Ivana Corley (Albuquerque, NM) def. Lindsay Song (Birmingham, AL) 6-2; 6-2
Samantha Martinelli (2) (Denver, CO) def. Emma Decoste (Stuart, FL) 6-4; 6-1
Jessica Aragon (Plano, TX) def. Diana Wong (Hilo, HI) 6-4; 6-1
Victoria Emma (12) (Naples, FL) def. Elena Van Linge (Menlo Park, CA) 6-1; 6-1
McCartney Kessler (Calhoun, GA) def. Clarissa Hand (Moorestown, NJ) 6-4; 7-6(3)
Carolyn Campana (Hillsborough, CA) def. Cameron Corse (6) (Baltimore, MD) 6-4; 6-4
Taylor Johnson (Redondo Beach, CA) def. Caitlin Calkins (Tulsa, OK) 6-2; 6-1
Meg Kowalski (15) (La Grange, IL) def. Madison Hwang (Frisco, TX) 6-1; 6-1
Alexandra Belaya (Melbourne, FL) def. Danielle Quevedo (Tyler, TX) 6-3; 3-6; 6-2
Salma Ewing (Long Beach, CA) def. Ally Bojczuk (7) (Franklin, TN) 7-5; 7-5
Rachel Eason (Union City, CA) def. Christina Sisti (Mount Vernon, NY) 6-3; 7-5
Hannah Lairmore (14) (Mobile, AL) def. Dalayna Hewitt (Pepper Pike, OH) 2-6; 6-2; 6-2
Delaney Nothaft (Tempe, AZ) def. Cali Jankowski (Carlsbad, CA) 2-6; 6-2; 7-6(7)
Maria Ross (17) (Lakewood Ranch, FL) def. Sydney Jones (Carrollton, TX) 6-0; 6-1
Hannah Zhao (8) (San Diego, CA) def. Sarianna Kuuttila (Albuquerque, NM) 7-5; 6-4
Stevie Kennedy (Bonita Springs, FL) def. Katya Tabachnik (San Francisco, CA) 6-2; 6-4
Natasha Subhash (Fairfax, VA) def. Rachel Lim (11) (Briarcliff Manor, NY) 7-6(0); 6-4
Andjelija Bozovic (Burr Ridge, IL) def. Jessica Anzo (Temecula, CA) 6-4; 0-6; 6-4
Caroline Dunleavy (Darien, CT) def. Isabella Lambert (Wayzata, MN) 6-2; 6-1
Isabella Lorenzini (10) (Clarendon Hills, IL) def. Madison Gallegos (Aurora, CO) 6-4; 6-4
Abigail Chiu (16) (Austin, TX) def. Elvena Gevargiz (Las Vegas, NV) 4-6; 6-1; 6-3
Tatum Rice (Hot Springs, AR) def. Kalani Soli (Carson, CA) 7-6(5); 6-1
Victoria Flores (4) (Fort Dodge, IA) def. Ann Li (Devon, PA) 1-6; 7-6(4); 6-4
Jenna Moustafa (Los Angeles, CA) def. Marybeth Hurley (Novi, MI) 6-4; 7-5
Madeline Meredith (13) (Vestavia, AL) def. Sophia Reddy (Eden Prairie, MN) 6-1; 6-3
Nicole Mossmer (La Jolla, CA) def. Jasmin Tripathy (Lubbock, TX) 6-1; 7-5


Girls' 16 Doubles (Round of 16)
Ally Bojczuk (Franklin, TN) / Madison Hwang (Frisco, TX) def. McCartney Kessler (Calhoun, GA) / Tatum Rice (Hot Springs, AR) 9-7
Cameron Corse (Baltimore, MD) / Nadia Gizdova (2) (Columbia, MD) def. Christina Sisti (Mount Vernon, NY) / Lindsay Song (Birmingham, AL) 8-3
Samantha Martinelli (Denver, CO) / Delaney Nothaft (4) (Tempe, AZ) def. Jessi Muljat (Sacramento, CA) / Hannah Zhao (San Diego, CA) 8-3
Caroline Dunleavy (Darien, CT) / Grace Joyce (Newton, MA) def. Catherine Cable (Spokane, WA) / Madison Gallegos (Aurora, CO) 8-0
Maria Ross (Lakewood Ranch, FL) / Natasha Subhash (Fairfax, VA) def. Dalayna Hewitt (Pepper Pike, OH) / Isabella Lorenzini (Clarendon Hills, IL) 9-8; 7-6(6))
Victoria Flores (Fort Dodge, IA) / Madeline Meredith (3) (Vestavia, AL) def. Jessica Anzo (Temecula, CA) / Kalani Soli (Carson, CA) 8-5
Abigail Chiu (Austin, TX) / Danielle Quevedo (1) (Tyler, TX) def. Ivana Corley (Albuquerque, NM) / Diana Wong (Hilo, HI) 8-4
Kolie Allen (Lombard, IL) / Meg Kowalski (5) (La Grange, IL) def. Alexandra Belaya (Melbourne, FL) / Emma Decoste (Stuart, FL) 9-8; 7-6(4)

Boys' 14 Singles (Round of 16)
Garrett Johns (Atlanta, GA) def. Noah Lilienthal (Princeton, NJ) 7-6; 6-2
Joshua Xu (5) (Chandler, AZ) def. Tyler Zink (11) (Lakewood Ranch, FL) 6-1; 6-2
Sebastian Korda (Bradenton, FL) def. Leighton Allen (13) (Austin, TX) 7-6; 3-6; 6-1
Jaycer Calleros (10) (San Antonio, TX) def. Jenson Brooksby (8) (Carmichael, CA) 6-3; 6-1
James Ignatowich (Wellington, FL) def. Jacob Bullard (Calabasas, CA) 6-4; 4-6; 6-1
Adam Neff (3) (Bradenton, FL) def. Ronan Jachuck (9) (Boca Raton, FL) 6-4; 6-4
Cannon Kingsley (6) (Northport, NY) def. Daniel Baturyn (San Leandro, CA) 6-1; 6-0
Brandon Nakashima (2) (San Diego, CA) def. Theodore McDonald (Bellevue, WA) 7-5; 6-3

Boys' 14 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Joshua Xu (5) (Chandler, AZ) def. Garrett Johns (Atlanta, GA) 1-6; 6-4; 7-6(1)
Jaycer Calleros (10) (San Antonio, TX) def. Sebastian Korda (Bradenton, FL) 6-2; 3-0 Ret (inj)
Adam Neff (3) (Bradenton, FL) def. James Ignatowich (Wellington, FL) 6-0; 6-1
Brandon Nakashima (2) (San Diego, CA) def. Cannon Kingsley (6) (Northport, NY) 6-1; 7-6(2)

Girls' 14 Singles (Round of 16)
Alexa Noel (1) (Summit, NJ) def. Michelle Deng (Temple City, CA) 6-2; 6-1
Sophia Hatton (Syracuse, NY) def. Tia Mukherjee (Bloomfield Hills, MI) 7-6(6); 6-4
Katie Volynets (4) (Walnut Creek, CA) def. Naomi Cheong (Las Vegas, NV) 6-2; 6-3
Lea Ma (5) (Dix Hills, NY) def. Josie Frazier (13) (Scottsdale, AZ) 7-6(3); 6-4
Kacie Harvey (6) (Braintree, MA) def. Lahari Yelamanchili (16) (Burr Ridge, IL) 6-0; 6-2
Emma Navarro (Charleston, SC) def. Abigail Forbes (3) (Raleigh, NC) 7-6(6); 3-6; 6-2
Whitney Osuigwe (14) (Bradenton, FL) def. Jillian Taggart (8) (Fair Oaks, CA) 6-2; 6-3
Imani Graham (St Johns, FL) def. Sara Choy (2) (Palo Alto, CA) 6-4; 6-4

Girls' 14 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Alexa Noel (1) (Summit, NJ) def. Sophia Hatton (SYRACUSE, NY) 6-3; 6-2
Katie Volynets (4) (Walnut Creek, CA) def. Lea Ma (5) (Dix Hills, NY) 6-2; 6-3
Kacie Harvey (6) (Braintree, MA) def. Emma Navarro (Charleston, SC) 6-0 Ret (ill)
Whitney Osuigwe (14) (Bradenton, FL) def. Imani Graham (St Johns, FL) 6-0; 6-0

Boys' 12 Singles (Round of 16)
Aidan Mayo (1) (Roseville, CA) def. JJ Tracy (9) (Ann Arbor, MI) 6-3; 6-1
Nathan Kwon (Bakersfield, CA) def. Samuel Landau (13) (Los Angeles, CA) 6-1; 6-4
Sam Feldman (3) (Brookline, MA) def. Tauheed Browning (Philadelphia, PA) 6-2; 6-1
Hunter Heck (6) (New Brighton, MN) def. Eli Gordon (11) (Highland Park, IL) 6-0; 6-1
Benjamin Kittay (7) (Potomac, MD) def. Dominick Cuchran (Bloomingdale, IL) 6-2; 6-2
Martin Damm (Bradenton, FL) def. Maxwell McKennon (14) (Newport Beach, CA) 6-4; 6-4
Alex Lin (Granite Bay, CA) def. JC roddick (5) (San Antonio, TX) 6-0; 6-3
Jameson Corsillo (2) (Boca Raton, FL) def. Alan Jesudason (Berwyn, PA) 6-4; 6-0

Boys' 12 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Aidan Mayo (1) (Roseville, CA) def. Nathan Kwon (Bakersfield, CA) 6-2; 6-0
Hunter Heck (6) (New Brighton, MN) def. Sam Feldman (3) (Brookline, MA) 6-0; 6-0
Martin Damm (Bradenton, FL) def. Benjamin Kittay (7) (Potomac, MD) 4-6; 7-5; 10-5
Jameson Corsillo (2) (Boca Raton, FL) def. Alex Lin (Granite Bay, CA) 6-4; 6-4

Girls' 12 Singles (Round of 16)
Gabriella Price (1) (Montebello, NY) def. Emma Staker (Spring, TX) 6-0; 6-0
Lauren Anzalotta (6) (Trujillo Alto, PR) def. Kristina Kirakosyan (Burbank, CA) 6-4; 6-3
Nina Gulbransen (3) (Boca Raton, FL) def. Ava Catanzarite (14) (Pittsburgh, PA) 6-4; 6-1
Jennifer Kida (8) (Wilmington, CA) def. Jenna DeFalco (10) (Tustin, CA) 7-5; 6-4
Muskan Mahajan (San Ramon, CA) def. Tyra Richardson (7) (Chicago, IL) 0-6; 6-4; 11-9
Emma Jackson (LA Grange Park, IL) def. Cami Brown (Irvine, CA) 6-0; 6-2
Maxi Duncan (Costa Mesa, CA) def. Christine Inah Canete (5) (Los Angeles, CA) 6-3; 6-3
Savannah Broadus (2) (Carrollton, TX) def. Bridget Stammel (13) (Dallas, TX) 6-2; 6-0

Girls' 12 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Gabriella Price (1) (Montebello, NY) def. Lauren Anzalotta (6) (Trujillo Alto, PR) 6-2; 6-2
Nina Gulbransen (3) (Boca Raton, FL) def. Jennifer Kida (8) (Wilmington, CA) 6-1; 6-2
Emma Jackson (LA Grange Park, IL) def. Muskan Mahajan (San Ramon, CA) 7-6(6); 0-6; 10-8
Savannah Broadus (2) (Carrollton, TX) def. Maxi Duncan (Costa Mesa, CA) 1-6; 6-3; 10-8

Rutledge Commits to Wake Forest; Blumberg, Arconada Reach Grade A Semifinals in Brazil; Liu, Kingsley Advance to $10K Semis; Tiafoe Makes Final Four in Bakersfield

During one of the many rain delays in Mobile last week, I had an opportunity to talk with Eric Rutledge about his commitment to Wake Forest.  As a Fort Worth resident, Rutledge's choice to leave Texas is not surprising, as many young people opt to strike out in new directions after high school. In this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network, Rutledge explains his reasons for going east and how a family trip to take unofficial visits after his sophomore year led him to Winston-Salem.

At the ITF Grade A in Porto Alegre Brazil, Usue Arconada and William Blumberg both reached their first semifinal at that level with straight-set victories.  No. 3 seed Arconada defeated No. 7 seed Chihiro Muramastu of Japan 6-2, 6-3 to advance to a second straight meeting with No. 2 seed Seone Mendez of Australia, whom she beat in the Banana Bowl semifinals 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3.  Mendez advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Emilie Francatti of Denmark.  It's rare for any tournament to feature the top four seeds in the semifinals, let alone a junior one, but that's the case in the girls draw, with No. 1 Julieta Estable of Argentina facing No. 4 seed Luisa Stefani of Brazil on Saturday. Stefani, who defeated No. 10 seed and doubles partner Francesca Di Lorenzo 6-3, 6-2, and Estable, who downed No. 5 seed Maia Lumsden of Great Britain 7-5 6-4, have not met in ITF junior competition before, unusual in that they are from the same continent and are the same age: 17.

Arconada and Di Lorenzo will be vying for the doubles title, although not together.  Di Lorenzo and Stefani, the No. 3 seeds, beat unseeded Emiliana Arango of Colombia and Meghan Kelley 7-5, 6-3, while No. 4 seeds Arconada and Francatti defeated No. 6 seeds Alexandra Sanford and Kayla Day 6-4, 6-4.

Blumberg reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over unseeded Catalin Mateas, and will face another unseeded player, Alex Di Minaur of Australia, on Saturday.  Top seed and defending champion Orlando Luz of Brazil will face No. 10 seed Manuel Pena Lopez of Argentina in the top half of the draw.

Luz will play for the doubles title on Saturday, with Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, whom he defeated today in singles.  The top seeds will play No. 6 seed Felipe Cunha Silva of Portugal and Alejandro Tabilo of Canada, who beat No. 3 seeds Ulises Blanch and Pena Lopez 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.

All of singles matches in Brazil were decided in straight sets today, and in Orlando, at the USTA Women's Pro Circuit $10,000 tournament, an even shorter day was in store.  Two of the four singles matches ended in retirements, and the other two in straight sets, with both doubles semifinals also completed in straight sets.

Fourteen-year-old wild card Claire Liu advanced when 17-year-old Ayan Broomfield of Canada retired trailing 6-1, 3-0, and 16-year-old wild card Raveena Kingsley advanced when Rianna Valdes retired trailing 5-2.  Liu will meet top seed Irina Khromacheva of Russia, who beat qualifier Kylie McKenzie 6-3, 6-1, and Kingsley faces qualifier Fanni Stollar, also 16, after Stollar defeated No. 2 seed Katerina Stewart 6-4, 6-3.

Stewart and Stollar will meet again in the doubles final, after she and Katerina Kramperova of the Czech Republic defeated qualifiers Jessie Aney and Michaela Gordon 6-3, 6-1. Unseeded Stollar and Ingrid Neel will play the No. 4 seeds after they beat Andie Daniell and Sophie Chang 6-3, 6-3.

In the $15,000 Bakersfield Futures, Francis Tiafoe reached his third career Futures semifinal, all of this year, defeating No. 3 seed Darian King of Barbados 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. King, ranked 271, won a $10,000 Futures in Panama in his previous tournament.  Tiafoe will now face former USC Trojan Emilio Gomez, the No. 8 seed. Gomez defeated top seed Fabiano De Paula of Brazil 7-6(5), 6-0.

Georgia recruit Walker Duncan, 18, picked up a huge win last night to reach the quarterfinals, beating No. 2 seed Gianni Mina of France 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 and is currently playing former UCLA Bruin Maxime Tabatruong of France.  Connor Farren and Tommy Paul will play later to decide the fourth semifinalist.

At the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge, Oklahoma defeated Purdue 4-0 and will play Columbia in Saturday's semifinals, after the Lions downed Cal 4-1.  Southern Cal got its revenge on Tulsa, who shocked them at home last month, cruising to a 4-0 win. The Trojans will play the winner of the Baylor-BYU match, currently in progress. Live streaming of two courts is available via Playsight, who provide the ITA Men's Indoor streaming last month.

BNP Paribas Wild Cards Announced; US Open Adds Main Draw Doubles Wild Cards to National Playoffs This Year; Pacific Coast Doubles Championships This Weekend; Smith, Bellis Features

The BNP Paribas Open, which begins next week in Indian Wells, announced its wild cards today.

Serena Williams had announced she was accepting a wild card last month. Women receiving main draw wild cards today are: Americans Nicole Gibbs(Stanford), Grace Min, Taylor Townsend, Louisa Chirico, Sachia Vickery and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Croatia's Donna Vekic also received a main draw wild card.

Women's qualifying wild cards went to Julia Boserup, Maria Sanchez(Southern Cal), Alicia Tornado Black, Allie Kiick and Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei. Another will be given to the winner of the pre-qualifying challenge underway now.

Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, returning from another wrist surgery, received a men's main draw wild card.  Americans received the other four wild cards: Austin Krajick(Texas A&M), Tim Smyczek, Ryan Harrison and Denis Kudla.

Men's qualifying wild cards were given to Yannick Hanfmann(Southern Cal), Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) and junior Taylor Fritz. Last year five qualifying wild cards were awarded, so in addition to the pre-qualifying challenge winner, one more is still available.

The tournament's complete release is available here.

The US Open today announced its sixth annual National Playoffs, which provide any USTA member an opportunity to complete for a qualifying wild card through a sectional event that leads to a national playoff this summer.  Registration begins March 15th.

The big news in today's release is the addition of men's and women's doubles competition, which will earn the winners a main draw wild card. Mixed doubles competition, which also has awarded a main draw wild card to the winners the past five years, will continue.

The Pacific Coast Doubles tournament, one of the oldest tennis competitions in the United States, begins Thursday in La Jolla, California, with Southern Cal's Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz the top collegiate seeds and Denis Kudla and John Kelly are the top non-collegiate seeds.

Southern Cal head coach Peter Smith is seeded No. 3, with 2008 NCAA doubles champion Kaes Van't Hof, leaving his sons Riley and Tanner to find other partners.  This article by Josh Rey, on Smith and his family, includes the competition that exists between the teenagers to secure their father's services for the USTA Father and Son Nationals.

The draws can be found at the TennisLink site.

CiCi Bellis and her family have been wary of too much publicity surrounding her success at such a young age, but Doug Robson was able to uncover some of her strengths and challenges while going easy on the hype in this article for tennis.com.

Q and A with Caroline Dolehide; Day, Higuchi Among Rancho Santa Fe Qualifiers; First Computer Rankings Name USC Men, UNC Women No. 1

When I was in Midland earlier this month I spoke with 16-year-old US Open Junior semifinalist Caroline Dolehide about her experience at her first high-level pro event, her thoughts on college vs. professional tennis, Novak Djokovic's influence on her game and her move to online schooling. That interview can be found at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The final round of qualifying at the $25,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Rancho Santa Fe, California is now complete, with 17-year-old Emma Higuchi and 15-year-old Kayla Day among those earn a place in the main draw.  Day, who has played only two other Pro Circuit tournaments, both last year at this time and each time losing in qualifying, beat three fellow teenagers to advance: Riley McQuaid, No. 12 seed Ellie Halbauer(both in three sets) and today, unseeded Charlotte Petrick of Canada, 6-4, 6-2.

After beating former Clemson start Kerri Wong in the first round, Higuchi took out top seed Chloe Paquet of France(WTA 375) Monday, and advanced to the main draw of a $25,000 for the second straight week, having made it through in Surprise as well, by defeating Oleksandra Korashvili of Ukraine 7-6(4), 6-1. Higuchi still has some work to do in matching her best Pro Circuit showing however, as she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier last year in Rancho Santa Fe.

Katherine Sebov of Canada, Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia and Mari Osaka of Japan are other teens who reached the main draw through qualifying.

At the $10,000 men's Futures in Sunrise, Florida, Tommy Paul and Dennis Uspensky both advanced to the second round. The 17-year-old Paul, who received a special exemption from qualifying due to reaching the quarterfinals last week in Plantation, beat Temur Ishmailov of Uzbekistan 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. The 18-year-old Uspensky beat fellow wild card Sekou Bangoura (Florida) 6-2, 6-4.  The remaining 11 first round matches will be played on Wednesday.

The first computerized team rankings were released today by the ITA, with the Oklahoma men dropping to No. 2 and Southern California retaking its spot at the top. The North Carolina women retained the No. 1 ranking they earned with their win at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. As usual, the first computer rankings provide some surprises, with the Virginia men dropping to No. 11 and the Miami women to No. 20 for example, but generally those issues work themselves out over the course of the next two months. Also check out College Tennis Today, which has discovered two errors in the ITA's calculation of the men's team rankings.

The Top 10 Men's Teams:
1. Southern Cal
2. Oklahoma
3. Illinois
4. Duke
5. Baylor
6. Texas
7. Georgia
8. Ohio State
9. Texas A&M
10. Mississippi

The Top 10 Women's Teams:
1. North Carolina
2. Georgia
3. Florida
4. Southern Cal
5. Virginia
6. Baylor
7. Stanford
8. Cal
9. Alabama
10. Michigan

Virginia has nabbed the top spots in both the men's and women's individual singles rankings.

The Top 10 men:
1. Thai Kwiatkowski, Virginia
2. Ryan Shane, Virginia
3. Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA
4. Soren Hess-Olesen, Texas
5. Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, Louisville
6. Yannick Hanfmann, Southern Cal
7. Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma
8. Nicolas Alvarez, Duke
9. Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt
10. Brayden Schnur, North Carolina

The Top 10 women:
1. Julia Elbaba, Virginia
2. Maegan Manasse, Cal
3. Robin Anderson, UCLA
4. Carol Zhao, Stanford
5. Brooke Austin, Florida
6. Lauren Herring, Georgia
7. Chanelle Van Nguyen, UCLA
8. Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
9. Josie Kuhlman, Florida
10. Stephanie Wagner, Miami

The top-ranked doubles teams are Clemson's Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies and Vanderbilt's Austin and Rhys Johnson.

For the entire list of men's and women's team and individual rankings, see the ITA website.

Daavettila Chooses North Carolina; Catching Up on Junior, Pro Circuit News; Oklahoma Moves to No. 1 after Team Indoor Title

What with the Men's Team Indoor and the Bayliss letter, I've definitely fallen behind in tracking the action outside the college realm.

When I was in Midland two weeks ago, I had an opportunity to talk with Sara Daavettila, who won the $100K wild card tournament, earning a place in the main draw.  Because Daavettila rarely plays USTA National tournaments and never plays ITF tournaments, I had only seen her play at the Michigan High School championships last spring. The gap between that level and the calibre of players in Midland is wide, but Daavettila was able to bridge it, testing No. 5 seed Anna Tatishvili in the first round before falling 6-4, 6-2.  Daavettila has verbally committed to North Carolina for the fall of 2016, explaining the reasons behind her decision in this article I wrote for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

At the Delray Beach ATP event, the news yesterday revolved around the success of a trio of teenagers, who reached the second round. ITF World junior No. 1 Andrey Rublev of Russia (d. Dudia Sela of Israel), Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia (d. Filip Krajinovic of Serbia) and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan (d. Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands) are the first three teenagers to reach the second round of a 32-draw ATP event since four made the Indianapolis tournament's second round in 2007. Rublev and Kokkinakis lost today--Rublev to Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-3 and Kokkinakis to Ivo Karlovic 7-6(4), 7-6(2)--while Nishioka plays his second round match Thursday.

Stefan Kozlov, who, like Rublev, received a wild card into the Delray Beach main draw, lost to Tim Smyczek 7-5, 6-2  in the first round, but he is still among those featured in this ESPN article on seven teenagers having success on the ATP Challenger and World tour.

I don't believe I mentioned the first Challenger title for Bjorn Fratangelo, which came last week in at the $50,000 tournament in Launceston, Australia. The 21-year-old from Pittsburgh is now at a career-high of 172 in the ATP rankings.  An article about Fratangelo's win, and the disappointment that preceded it, can be found at The Tennis Nerds website. Mitchell Krueger won his first Challenger doubles title in Launceston, teaming with Radu Albot of Moldova for the victory.

This week on the USTA Pro Circuit, a raft of juniors have advanced to second round play on Thursday.  At the $10,000 Plantation Futures, wild cards Tommy Paul and Dennis Uspensky are US teens advancing, while qualifiers Naoki Nakagawa of Japan and Orlando Luz of Brazil, along with wild card Marcelo Zormann, also of Brazil, are the international teens who earned first round wins.

At the women's $25,000 tournament in Surprise, Arizona, Kelly Chen, Duke recruit Jessica Ho, CiCi Bellis, and USC recruit Jessica Failla all picked up victories today, with Canadian Francoise Abanda joining her fellow North American teens in the winner's circle. Failla, whose WTA ranking is 1113, defeated 27-year-old Shuko Aoyama of Japan, the No. 4 seed, 6-3, 7-5.  Aoyama's WTA ranking is 182.  Abanda took out No. 2 seed Jovana Jaksic of Serbia 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-4.  Top seed Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal lost her first round match yesterday against Caitlin Whoriskey, meaning No. 3 seed Johanna Konta is the only one of the top five seeds to reach the second round.

The new team rankings came out on Tuesday, with National Indoor champions Oklahoma unsurprisingly moving into the top spot on the men's side.  The men's top 10:

1. University of Oklahoma
2. University of Southern California
3. University of Georgia
4. University of Virginia
5. Baylor University
6. University of Illinois
7. Duke University
8. North Carolina 

9. Ohio State University 

10. University of Texas

Baylor, the host of this year's NCAAs, was the big mover of the week, going from tied for 10th to 5th. The Bears do not, however, have a fan in Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim, who in his weekly mailbag today called their roster "simply unethical" regarding the number of international players on the team.

The women's rankings were little changed from last week, with the top 10 staying the same:

1. North Carolina

2. Florida

3. Georgia

4. UCLA

5. Cal

6. Baylor

7. Virginia

8. Alabama

9. Miami

10. Stanford

The ITA also released on Friday the All-Tournament team from the Indoor Championships, with Caroline Price of North Carolina named Most Outstanding Player. See this announcement for the entire team.

There were no individual rankings this week. See the ITA rankings page for the full team rankings.

Anisimova, McNally, Matusevich Reach Teen Tennis Finals; Tiafoe, Paul Make Weston Quarterfinals; Hong, Sebov Win Traralgon Grade 1 Titles; Fritz Feature

There's so much going on right now in tennis, in some wildly divergent time zones, it's hard to know where to begin.

I'll start in Bolton, England, where two American girls and one boy have reached the final of the big 14-and-under Nike Junior International Teen Tennis tournament.  No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova defeated No. 14 seed Hurricane Tyra Black 6-3, 6-2 in the all-American semifinal and will meet fellow 13-year-old Caty McNally in the final. McNally, the No. 2 seed, defeated French qualifier Loudmilla Bencheikh 6-1, 6-1.  Later in the day, McNally and Anisimova teamed up for the girls doubles title, defeating unseeded Sonay Kartal and Mae McCutcheon of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

In the boys semifinal, No. 10 seed Lodewijk Weststrate of the Netherlands prevented an all-American boys final, defeating No. 12 seed Nathan Han 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Weststrate will play unseeded wild card Anton Matusevich of the US in the final, after Matusevich defeated No. 2 seed Adrian Andreev of Bulgaria 7-6(10), 6-2.   Han lost again to Weststrate in the boys doubles final, when No. 2 seeds Weststrate and partner Nini Dica of Romania beat No. 4 seeds Han and Govind Nanda 6-1, 6-3.

Complete draws are at the Tennis Europe tournament site.

In Melbourne, nine Americans--seven women and two men--have reached the third round of the Australian Open. Steve Johnson and John Isner are the men and the women are Venus and Serena Williams, Madison Keys, Madison Brengle, CoCo Vendeweghe, Varvara Lepchenko and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who plays Simona Halep tonight. For more on the US players in the third round, see Courtney Nguyen's article for Sports Illustrated.

At the ITF Grade 1 in Traralgon, Australia, Seong Chan Hong of Korea and Katherine Sebov of Canada won the singles titles Thursday.  The unseeded Sebov defeated No. 5 seed Kimberly Birrell of Australia 7-5, 6-2, to claim her first Grade 1 title.  Hong, the No. 6 seed, defeated Tim Van Rijthoven of the Netherlands 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to win his first Grade 1 title since 2012.  Van Rijthoven did capture the doubles title, with he and Akira Santillan of Australia, the No. 4 seeds, defeating unseeded Marko Osmakcic of Switzerland and Andrea Pellegrino of Italy 6-3, 5-7, 10-5.  No. 6 seeds Vera Lapko of Belarus and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia won the girls doubles championship, beating unseeded Olga Fridman of Ukraine and Eline Nepliy of Russia 7-5, 7-5.

The Australian Open junior draws should be out later tonight, with play beginning on Saturday (Friday night in the US) and I will have a preview available Friday morning for the Tennis Recruiting Network. I did learn that Taylor Fritz is expected to play, with shoulder pain the reason for his walkover in the Traralgon quarterfinals. Speaking of Fritz, the San Diego Union-Tribune featured the 17-year-old South Californian in this article, revealing he has narrowed his choice of colleges to Southern Cal or UCLA. Fritz plans to make his decision by this summer, and hope to finish school a semester early and start in January of next year.  Fritz's father Guy provides some sound reasons for believing his son should spend some time in college before going out on the tour.

At the $10,000 Weston Futures, 17-year-olds Francis Tiafoe and Tommy Paul picked up wins today and will play each other for a place in the semifinals.  Tiafoe, a wild card, beat No. 8 seed Facundo Mena of Argentina 6-3, 6-2, while Paul, a lucky loser, ousted top seed Christian Lindell of Sweden 6-4, 6-4.  Paul and Tiafoe last met in the 2013 Kalamazoo 16s semifinals, with Paul winning 6-2, 6-4.  Former Florida star Greg Ouellette is the other US player in the quarterfinals, after he defeated Alex Rybakov 7-6(5), 6-3, and he will play No. 2 seed Darian King of Barbados on Friday.

At the $25,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Daytona Beach, Samantha Crawford is the only American in the quarterfinals, after losses today by Sachia Vickery(3), Maria Sanchez(8) and qualifier Lauren Embree.

I'll close with some sad news from the college tennis world--yesterday's passing of former Division III Gustavus Adolphus coach Steve Wilkinson, the all-time leader in men's college tennis victories. Wilkinson, who coached at Gustavus Adolphus for 39 years and won 929 matches, was one of the most respected and influential coaches in the sport throughout his career.  For more on his playing and coaching accomplishments and his legacy, see the school's website.

Kozlov, Fritz, Ponwith and Baughman Make Futures Quarterfinals; Subhash Reaches Christmas Cup Semis; US Champion Assured at G1 Coffee Bowl

The last time Stefan Kozlov and Taylor Fritz met, in the quarterfinals of Kalamazoo last August, Kozlov took a 6-2, 6-2 victory, with Fritz playing on a sprained ankle.  On Friday, they will meet for the first time in a Pro Circuit event, the quarterfinals of the $15,000 Futures in LA, after both picked up wins over players with UCLA ties.

Fritz, a wild card, defeated UCLA sophomore Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-4, saving all five break points he faced in opening set, including two serving for the set at 5-3.  In the second set, aided by two McDonald double faults, Fritz broke in the first game and had a 3-1 lead, but McDonald came back to make it 3-3.  But the 19-year-old played a dreadful game at 4-all, getting broken at love, and Fritz served out the match at love.

On the court next to Fritz, Kozlov was having more difficulty with qualifying Clay Thompson, who completed his eligibility at UCLA last spring.  Thompson was doing his usual serve and volley thing, and Kozlov was not making all his passing shots. Up 3-0 in the third set, Kozlov lost the next three games, but he regrouped to win the next three, breaking Thompson on a perfect pass at 3-4, 30-40, eventually posting a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory.

The third teen in the quarterfinals is 16-year-old qualifier Nathan Ponwith, who lost the first three games of the match to wild card Eric Johnson, a USC senior, but came back for a 7-5, 6-0 win. Ponwith, who beat No. 2 seed Daniel Nguyen on Wednesday, will play No. 8 seed Mitchell Krueger in the quarterfinals Friday.

Live streaming of Friday's matches is available here.

At the $10,000 Futures in Plantation, one teen remains, with wild card Deiton Baughman reaching the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 5 seed Patrick Rosenholm of Sweden. Baughman will play former Texas A&M star Jeff Dadamo in the quarterfinals Friday.

At the Christmas Cup in Russia, unseeded Natasha Subhash has reached the semifinals, defeating No. 3 seed Taisya Pachkaleva of Russia 6-4, 6-2. She will play No. 7 seed Damilla Rakhimova of Russia Friday.  Subhash and Kacie Harvey, unseeded in doubles, have also reached the semifinals.  For complete results, see the Tennis Europe tournament site.


At the Grade 1 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica, all four girls semifinalists are from the United States, assuring that the title, won by CiCi Bellis last year, will stay in American hands. Top seed Sonya Kenin defeated Claire Liu 6-3, 6-1 and will play No. 4 seed Michaela Gordon, who beat Jaclyn Switkes 6-0, 6-0.  No. 6 seed Olivia Hauger, a 6-2, 6-0 winner over No. 13 seed Gabby Pollner, will play No. 2 seed Usue Arconada, who beat No. 5 seed Emily Arbuthnott of Great Britain 6-3, 6-2 in a featured night match.  Speaking of Bellis, she was featured in this ESPN W article yesterday.

In the boys draw, No. 4 seed Ulises Blanch has reached the semifinals, defeating unseeded Maxime Mora of France 6-1, 6-3.  He will play No. 2 seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia Friday.  No. 5 seed Casper Ruud of Norway defeated Sami Kirberg 6-2, 6-1 and he will play the winner of tonight's quarterfinal match between Michael Genender and Israel's Yshai Oliel, the No. 16 seed.

Notes From All Over

This week is pretty quiet in the tennis world, even for the juniors.  In years past, the Grade A Casablanca Cup was going on in Mexico City, but the ITF moved that tournament to before the Yucatan, Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl tournaments, so this really does amount to an off-season on the ITF junior calendar, with only two Grade 4s, one in Sweden and one in China, this week. The ITF Pro Circuit calendar is even more sparse, with just one women's $10,000 tournament scheduled in Hong Kong.

While I was in Florida covering the Eddie Herr, Orange Bowl and Junior Orange Bowl, I obviously missed many articles I would usually link to, so in the next several days, I will be trying to catch up on what I've missed and pass on links.

The ITF announced its year-end champions, with Russia's Andrey Rublev and CiCi Bellis of the US winning those coveted titles.  They will be honored at the ITF's ceremony in Paris during the French Open.  Rublev went straight to the Dominican Republic after losing in the semifinals of the Orange Bowl and won the singles title at the $15,000 ITF Futures tournament there, beating Mitchell Krueger of the US in the final. Krueger and Sekou Bangoura(Florida) won the doubles championship.

The USTA has published its Year in Review series, with a look at Bellis' great year and the Wimbledon success of Rubin and Kozlov and a separate article on the US sweep of the Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup.

Florida freshman Brooke Austin is the subject of this feature by the Independent Alligator. (Not sure what the reference to Florida's blue clay is about).

The ATP's Josh Meiseles has written a two-part series on the rising Young Guns, with Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Dominic Thiem of Austria, Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic and Borna Coric of Croatia featured in Part 1, and Alexander Zverev of Germany, Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia, Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, Hyeon Chung of Korea and Kyle Edmund of Great Britain featured in Part 2.

2010 World Junior Champion Daria Gavrilova, who is switching her national allegiance from Russia to Australia, won the Australian Open wild card playoff.   Jordon Thompson won the men's wild card playoff for the second year in a row, defeating former Tennessee All-American JP Smith in the final.

Roger Federer discusses his parenting philosophy in this BBC interview.

Ben Rothenburg explores the ramifications of the recent ATP and ITF prize money increase announcements in this New York Times article.

Jonathan Kelley has been busy on his On The Rise blog, not only keeping his weekly career-high rankings list for Americans current, but also wrapping up the (second half of the) year in US tennis.  His look at the WTA women is here, and the ATP men is here.  Both have extensive coverage of juniors included.

In her new tennis blog, Just Drop the Ball, Lang features 10 American boys and 10 American girls to watch in 2015, and has posted a question and answer session with 18-year-old Californian Deiton Baughman.