King Wins Champaign Futures; Anderson Falls Just Short in Landisville; Fratangelo Clinches US Open Main Draw Wild Card; Bencic Claims Toronto Title

Kevin King, photo courtesy iphotonews.com 

Kevin King won his third career Futures title and first of 2015 today in Champaign, taking out unseeded Richard Gabb of Great Britain 6-3, 6-1 in the final. No. 4 seed King, whose previous two titles were back-to-back at $15,000 Futures last spring in Mexico, saved match points in his 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(8) quarterfinal win over Tommy Paul, but won his semifinal match over top seed Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 6-2, 6-2 and had a similarly convincing win today.  When the points from this week are added a week from Monday, the 24-year-old Georgia Tech grad will be back in the Top 300.

At the women's Pro Circuit tournament in Landisville, Pennsylvania, qualifier Robin Anderson fell just short of her first $25,000 title, losing to unseeded Naomi Broady of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).  The 25-year-old Broady had 17 aces and just one double fault in the match, while the recent UCLA graduate was 3 and 0 in those categories.

In the doubles final, Ivana Jorovic of Serbia and Jessica Moore of Australia beat Brynn Boren(USC) and Nadja Gilchrist(Georgia) 6-1, 6-3 in a final between two unseeded teams.

At the $100,000 ATP Challenger in Aptos, seventh-seeded Austin Krajicek lost to top seed John Millman of Australia 7-5-, 2-6, 6-3 in the final, meaning that Bjorn Fratangelo will win the USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge.  Krajicek will, I'm sure, be considered from one of the three wild cards not yet designated by the USTA. 18s champion Sonya Kenin and Wild Card Challenge winner Samantha Crawford are guaranteed main draw wild cards, and NCAA champion Jamie Loeb is expected to receive one (it's not guaranteed however), plus the two reciprocal wild cards traded with Australia and France leave the number remaining at three.  Frances Tiafoe, Bjorn Fratangelo, Ryan Shane (again not guaranteed, but customary) leave three others to be handed out. That announcement should come out early this coming week.

This week's Pro Circuit action is in Canada, at the $100,000 events for men and women in Vancouver. Qualifying is underway, with UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald through to the final round of qualifying.  Main draw wild cards were given to Laura Robson of Great Britain, Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, Vania King and Samantha Crawford for the women's draw and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, Dennis Novikov and Alex Sarkissian are the men's main draw wild cards.

The Western and Southern Open, the joint ATP/WTA tournament in Cincinnati, has finished its qualifying, with Americans Denis Kudla, Christina McHale and Lauren Davis earning places in the main draw.  Two former junior slam winners, 2014 Australian Open boys champion Alexander Zverev of Germany and 2013 Australian and US Open girls champion Ana Konjuh of Croatia also qualified.  Zverev will play fellow 18-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia in the first round, with Coric holding a 1-0 edge in ITF junior play. In the 2013 US Open Junior championships, Zverev was the top seed, but lost in the semifinals to Coric, the No. 4 seed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Coric went on to beat Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who also qualified in Cincinnati today, in the final 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The former junior slam champion who made the biggest splash today however was Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, who beat world No. 1 Serena Williams in the Toronto semifinals Saturday and world No. 3 Simona Halep of Romania today in the final 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 3-0, ret. having beaten Genie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki, Sabine Lisicki and Ana Ivanovic earlier in the week.

Bencic, who two years ago, at age 16 won the French and Wimbledon junior titles, will move to No. 12 in the WTA rankings with the title. Her rise has been notable for its consistent but not spectacular trajectory, and although she struggled a bit during the clay season this year, once she got on grass and won her first WTA title in Eastbourne, she has been playing outstanding tennis. Her confidence and competitiveness, on display throughout her junior career, are genuine, as seen in her results this week.

For more on all the "firsts" Bencic earned today, see this article from the WTA website.

Kalamazoo Videos; Anderson Beats Top Seed, Advances to Landisville $25K Final, Krajicek Still in Hunt for US Open Wild Card

As promised, the videos from the Kalamazoo 16s and 18s finals are up and embedded below.

The 18s videos contain some impressive points, and with the notable exception of the Frances Tiafoe forehand winner at 4-4, 30-all that gave him a break point in the fifth set, the key ones are included. (See my coverage of the final here).

The point early in the match (in retrospect), where Tiafoe collapsed on the ground after losing a kitchen-sink point to Stefan Kozlov would have been the highlight had he finished the match off in straight sets. But he didn't, we got more: the point Kozlov won with Tiafoe serving at 4-3 in the third, in which he got two overheads back in play, the first match point Kozlov saved with Tiafoe serving for it a 5-4 in the fifth, the "touch" point that wasn't on break point in that same game, the ace that set up the second match point, and the match point.

ITA Player of the Year Robin Anderson, who finished her senior year at UCLA in May, has reached her second $25,000 final, and the first since 2013, by defeating top seed and WTA 101 An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium 6-2, 6-4 in Landisville, Pa.  The 22-year-old from New Jersey, a qualifier, will reach a new career high regardless of the outcome of Sunday's final against unseeded Naomi Broady of Great Britain. Anderson's win over Mestach is not her best, ranking-wise, as she had previously recorded a top 100 win against Russian Evgeniya Rodina, then No. 83, in the first round of the 2011 WTA New Haven qualifying.

Since finishing school, Anderson has reached a $50,000 quarterfinal, and the semifinal in the $25,000 tournament in El Paso, and now the final in Landisville.  Anderson only other singles title on the Pro Circuit came in 2011, when she won at Landisville, then a $10,000 event. Her four losses (two in qualifying) were all in three sets; she has 13 win this summer so far, in qualifying and main draw.

At the $15,000 Futures in Champaign, Kevin King(Georgia Tech) has reached the singles final for the second straight week on the Midwest Pro Circuit swing. After beating top seed Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 6-2, 6-2 today, the No. 4 seed will take on unseeded Richard Gabb of Great Britain, who beat lucky loser Justin Shane(Virginia) 5-7, 7-5, 4-1, ret.  Shane did get a title however, partnering his younger brother Ryan to beat No. 4 seeds Kevin King and Evan King, last week's Futures doubles champions, 6-1, 7-6(4) in the final.

Cincinnati qualifying did not go well for three of the Kalamazoo 18s semifinalists, with Stefan Kozlov, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul all losing in the first round, to Yen-Hsun Lu, Nicolas Mahut and Denis Kudla, respectively. Paul was the only one of the three to take a set.  Irina Falconi (over Jennifer Brady), Christina McHale and Nicole Gibbs did pick up first round qualifying wins, as did Steve Johnson. Qualifying is still going on, but update results can be found here.

At the $100,000 Aptos Challenger, No. 7 seed Austin Krajicek defeated No. 4 seed Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 7-6(2) to keep his hopes for the US Open main draw wild card alive. If Krajicek defeats top seed John Millman of Australia in Sunday's final, he will win the USTA's Wild Card Challenge. If he loses, Fratangelo will get it based on more points over two tournaments.

My Kalamazoo 16s Recap; Three Kalamazoo Quarterfinalists Reach Futures Final Eight, Finalists Receive Cincinnati Qualifying Wild Cards; NCAA Approves No-Ad for Division I 2016 Championships;

Championship week is in full swing at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and my recap of Patrick Kypson's remarkable 16s title in Kalamazoo is available today. My wrap-up of the memorable 18s tournament will come out Friday afternoon.

Three of the Kalamazoo 18s quarterfinalists have reached the same stage at this week's $15,000 Futures tournament in Champaign, Illinois.  Wild card Reilly Opelka defeated Aleksandar Vukic of Australia, a rising sophomore for the University of Illinois, 6-3, 7-6(6) in today's second round. Tommy Paul, the No. 6 seed, defeated Evan King(Michigan) 6-4, 6-1 and Alex Rybakov, who Paul beat in the Kalamazoo quarterfinals a week ago, upset No. 2 seed and former Virginia star Sanam Singh of India 6-3, 7-5.

Opelka's quarterfinal opponent is lucky loser Justin Shane(Virginia), while Paul faces No. 4 seed Kevin King(Georgia Tech) and Rybakov takes on unseeded Richard Gabb of Great Britain.

No. 4 seeds Evan and Kevin King (no relation) will play brothers Justin and Ryan Shane in the doubles final on Friday.

Vicky Duval won her second match at the Landisville $25,000 Pro Circuit tournament, but then withdrew with an injury from doubles, so her status going forward is uncertain. Qualifiers Robin Anderson, the ITA Player of the Year, and 17-year-old Nicole Frenkel have advanced to the quarterfinals, where they'll play fellow Americans Alexandra Mueller and No. 2 seed Shelby Rogers.

In Aptos, the two Americans into the quarterfinals at the $100,000 Challenger are No. 4 seed Bjorn Fratangelo and No. 7 seed Austin Krajicek, who are the only two players still in the running for the US Open wild card given in the USTA Challenge. Krajicek would have to win the tournament to pass Fratangelo.

The Cincinnati ATP Masters and WTA Premier event has announced its wild cards, with Kalamazoo 18s champion Frances Tiafoe and Kalamazoo 18s finalist Stefan Kozlov receiving qualifying wild cards. Main draw men's wild cards were given to Mardy Fish, Fratangelo, Jared Donaldson and Rajeev Ram.  Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, CoCo Vandeweghe and Allison Riske received the women's wild cards.

In addition to Tiafoe and Kozlov, Ryan Harrison, Vicky Duval, Taylor Townsend, Sachia Vickery, Alexa Glatch, Louisa Chirico and Nicole Gibbs received qualifying wild cards. One more men's qualifying wild card is to be announced.

The full announcement is here.

The NCAA announced today that the format used in the ITA National Team Indoor Tournaments in February will be adopted for the 2016 NCAA Championships in Tulsa. This is a six-game no-ad set for three doubles matches, and best-of-three tiebreak sets with no-ad scoring for six singles match singles. The individual championships will also be played best of three with no-ad scoring, and in lieu of a third set in doubles, a match tiebreaker will be played as is done on the ATP and WTA tours.

As I detailed several times in the past year, I will not be providing any on-site coverage of these events due to my dislike of the no-ad tennis format, but I will continue to follow tournament results from home and write about the college game and players.

The men's and women's Division III NCAA championships are in Kalamazoo in 2016, so I will be providing on-site coverage of that event.

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.

Top 16s Seeds Wolf and Van Emburgh Survive Close Calls in Kalamazoo Second Round; Di Lorenzo Wins Austin $10K; ITF World Junior Tennis Competition Starts Monday

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

JJ Wolf and Jake Van Emburgh, the top two seeds in the 16s, staved off major upsets Sunday in the second round of the USTA Boys Nationals at Stowe Stadium, with Wolf defeating Drew Baird 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 and Van Emburgh beating Lucas Biondi 4-6, 6-3 7-6(0).

Although the temperature reached 90 degrees and the winds gusted over 25 mph later in the afternoon, the swirling breeze was mostly just a nuisance when Wolf and Van Emburgh took on Baird and Biondi on show courts 2 and 3.

Wolf saved a break point at 4-4 in the third with a good first serve, then held with a world class down the line backhand winner, putting the pressure squarely back on Baird.  Serving at 4-5, Baird couldn't find his first serve, and a couple of errors made it 30-all. A big Wolf forehand into the corner forced an error from Baird to set up match point, and when Baird missed a short forehand putaway wide, Wolf had the victory.

"I knew I was going to have to fight," said Wolf, a 16-year-old from Cincinnati. "He was such a good player, I knew it could go either way. He hit the ball really cleanly, so it was tough on the faster courts of Kalamazoo."

Wolf said he worked out his nerves after the first set, but soon discovered attacking his 14-year-old opponent's one-handed backhand was not productive.

"I tried to go there, but he stepped up and hit it pretty well," said Wolf, who won the 16s Winter Nationals in January. "So I wasn't going to go out of my way to hit it to his backhand. I just hit my crosscourt shots and did what I could."

As precarious a position as Wolf was in, his doubles partner Van Emburgh was in even more danger. Down 3-1 in the final set, he won four straight games to serve for the match, but then double faulted at 30-40 to make it 5-5.  Biondi, who hadn't held serve since the first game of the set, held at 15 to make it 6-5 and Van Emburgh needed his second hold of the set just to force a tiebreaker.

After Biondi missed a forehand in the first point of the game, Van Emburgh finally found the rhythm on his serve, hitting three consecutive aces to send the match into a tiebreaker.  Biondi, a 16-year-old from New York, netted a forehand on the first point and Van Emburgh took it from there, with a combination of his winners, including another ace, and Biondi's errors giving him the next six points as well.

"Those aces definitely gave me a huge jump into the tiebreak," said Van Emburgh, who has recently relocated to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where his father has taken a coaching position. "I had some doubts there at the end when I couldn't hold my serve serving for the match, and I thought here we go. But then I found it, and once I got up 3-0 in the breaker, I was, okay, I've got this match, this is my match."

Van Emburgh said he felt nauseous throughout the match and also turned his ankle, which required a medical timeout for taping by the trainer.

"I don't know what was wrong," Van Emburgh said of his queasy feeling throughout the match. "I never get tired, or sick so it was like a first thing for me. I felt really crappy the whole time. So I was lucky to be able to hang in there and fight my way through."

Van Emburgh, who turns 17 next month, was confident his doubles partner would do the same, when he looked over to see Wolf trailing in his match.

"I was surprised when he lost the first set, but I knew he wasn't going to lose the match," said Van Emburgh. "It's just how he is."

Although the top two seeds survived, nine seeded 16s players did not. No. 13 seed Andrew Fenty lost to William Grattan-Smith 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, No. 17 seed Kevin Ma was beaten by Jeremy Yuan 6-3, 6-1 and No. 18 seed Robert Maciag was defeated by Andrew Ton 6-4, 6-4. No. 19 seed Abhijeet Joshi was defeated by Sean Hill 7-5, 7-6(1), No. 20 seed William Peters lost to Caleb Chakravarthi 6-4, 6-4 and No. 21 seed Jaycer Lyeons was beaten by Matthew Rodriguez 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. No. 29 seed John Speicher lost to Arjith Jayaraman 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, No. 30 seed Ajai Shekhera was defeated by Bryce Pereira 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and No. 32 seed Cotter Wilson lost to Keenan Mayo 6-3, 6-4.

The second round of 16s doubles saw top seed Van Emburgh and Wolf and No. 2 seeds Trent Bryde and Patrick Kypson advance in straight sets.

The only 18s action on Sunday was the third round of doubles, with the top three seeded teams of Michael Mmoh and Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul and Henrik Wiersholm all advancing in straight sets at the windswept courts at Western Michigan University.

Complete results and draws are at ustaboys.com.

Monday will feature third round singles play for both divisions, with the 16s beginning at 8 a.m. and the 18s starting at 12:30 p.m.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Francesca Di Lorenzo, who will start this fall at Ohio State, won the $10,000 Pro Circuit event in Austin, Texas, beating Lauren Herring, the recent Georgia grad, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in Sunday's final.  Di Lorenzo is scheduled to play in the USTA Girls 18s Nationals in San Diego on Monday at 10 a.m.

Evan King won the $15,000 Futures in Edwardsville, beating Clay Thompson 6-4, 6-3.  Bobby Knight has full coverage of the former Michigan Wolverine's win over the former UCLA Bruin at College Tennis Today.

The ITF's 14-and-under World Junior Tennis Championships get underway on Monday in the Czech Republic with the Russian girls and Korean boys the top seeds.  The USA teams (the players representing the US are here) are both No. 1 in their round robin groups, meaning they are expected to advance to the semifinals.  The ITF Junior website article about the draw is here.

Kalamazoo Draws Posted; Black Top Seed in San Diego, Seeds in 12s and 14s Posted; Ryan Shane Feature

The draws for the Kalamazoo tournament, which starts on Friday, are now available at ustaboys.com.  With such a strong group of seeds there was always going to be some tough, tough quarterfinals, and No. 2 Fritz versus No. 5 Mmoh and No. 1 Tiafoe versus No. 6 Opelka are certainly two of them, provided they all make it that far, of course.

Last year the top eight seeds in the 18s all reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 1976. Could it happen two years in a row after a nearly 40-year gap?

The draws for the other age groups are not yet posted--I'm told the San Diego draws will be out Thursday--but the seeds have all been announced.  Below are the Top 16 seeds in the 12s, 14s, and the girls 16s and 18s.  The 17-32 seeds are available via a link back to the TennisLink site. All 32 of the Kalamazoo 16s and 18s seeds are here.

Girls 18s:

1  Tornado Alicia Black

2  Usue Arconada

3  Sofia Kenin

4  Michaela Gordon

5  Raveena Kingsley

6  Francesca Dilorenzo

7  Ingrid Neel

8  Claire Liu

9  Kayla Day

10  Alexandra Sanford

11  Alexa Graham

12  Ellyse Hamlin

13  Ena Shibahara

14  Rebecca Weissmann

15  Mia Horvit

16  Kelly Chen

17-32

Girls 16s

1  Natasha Subhash

2  Victoria Flores

3  Hannah Lairmore

4  Nicole Mossmer

5  Elysia Bolton

6  Clarissa Hand

7  Taylor Johnson

8  Anna Brylin

9  Carson Branstine

10  Hannah Zhao

11  Victoria Emma

12  Caroline Dunleavy

13  Meg Kowalski

14  Ally Bojczuk

15  Whitney Osuigwe

16  Sydney Jones

17-32

Girls 14s

1  Alexa Noel

2  Katie Volynets

3  Victoria Hu

4  Lea Ma

5  Angelica Blake

6  Reilly Tran

7  Kacie Harvey

8  Chloe Beck

9  Maggie Cubitt

10  Emma Navarro

11  Naomi Cheong

12  Hailey Baptiste

13  Addison Guevara

14  Gabriella Price

15  Cori Gauff

16  Lauren Stein

17-32

Girls 12s

1  Brooke Theis

2  Kenadee Semenik

3  Jenna DeFalco

4  Emma Jackson

5  Rachel Arbitman

6  Bridget Stammel

7  Sydni Ratliff

8  Maria Rizzolo

9  Tyra Richardson

10  Tara Malik

11  Hibah Shaikh

12  Madison Sieg

13  Elise Wagle

14  Ellie Pittman

15  Carrie Beckman

16  Katrina Scott

17-32

Boys 14s

1  William Grant

2  Cannon Kingsley

3  Daniel Sharygin

4  Nathan Han

5  Ronan Jachuck

6  Connor Nisbet

7  Harry Yang

8  Stefan Leustian

9  Evin McDonald

10  Leighton Allen

11  Hunter Heck

12  Andrew Dale

13  Nicholas Garcia

14  Spencer Gray

15  Richard Bell

16  Thomas Yu

17-32

Boys 12s

1  Hugo Hashimoto

2  Karl Lee

3  Saud Alhogbani

4  Phillip Deaton

5  Benjamin Kittay

6  Griffin Daehnke

7  Samuel Landau

8  Eric Perkowski

9  Daniel Dunac

10  Nishesh Basavareddy

11  James Delgado

12  Sam Reichbach

13  Andrew Chang

14  Tonmye Nirundorn

15  Gavin Young

16  Teddy Truwit

17-32

NCAA champion Ryan Shane of Virginia is back competing after an injury layoff following his title in Waco in May.  After going 1-1 in the Lexington Challenger qualifying, Shane will be in action this weekend at the qualifying for the ATP event in Washington DC.  In anticipation of that, Kelyn Soong wrote this feature on Shane for the Washington Post, which contains some interesting background on how Ryan and older brother Justin started playing the sport.

In other University of Virginia news, assistant men's coach Dustin Taylor will be accompanying the USTA Collegiate Team to Italy for two $15,000 Futures events there beginning next week. 

The Aptos Challenger, a $100,000 event that begins in two weeks, could decide the US Open men's Wild Card Challenge. Here's a preview from the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

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.

Mmoh, Herring, Dome and Jones Win Pro Circuit Titles; Bondar and Ymer Claim European Championships; USTA Girls 18 Team Event Underway

Four Americans collected singles titles today, three in North America and the fourth in Egypt.

Julia Jones, a recent Ole Miss graduate, won her first pro title at an $10,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Egypt, after reaching the finals in singles and doubles the previous week as a qualifier. The unseeded 21-year-old, who received a special exemption into this week's tournament, defeated the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds en route to the final, where she beat unseeded Giada Clerici of Italy 6-3, 6-4.  Jones talks about her victory and her decision to play pro tennis after graduation in this article from the Ole Miss website. Jones, who was not initially named to compete in the American Collegiate Invitational, may be receiving the remaining wild card, although I'm not certain if that's the competition the article is referring to.

Another No. 1 player in the SEC last season, Georgia's Lauren Herring, claimed her first Pro Circuit title since 2010 at the $10,000 tournament in Evansville, Indiana. Herring, a qualifier, defeated Alabama incoming freshman Andie Daniell 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in today's final.  Herring, who had reached the finals in singles and doubles at the $10,000 tournament in Charlotte last month, won eight singles matches to take the title in Evansville, while also reaching the doubles final.

At the Godfrey, Illinois $15,000 Futures, No. 6 seed Michael Mmoh won his second career title at that level with a tough 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Illinois rising senior Jared Hiltzik, the No. 8 seed. Mmoh, who also won a $15,000 Futures in Texas last fall, will now break into the ATP Top 500 when the points are added in two weeks.  Bobby Knight of College Tennis Today was at the final, and he has promised a report on the final, which featured (according to Knight's twitter feed) a rain delay, a medical timeout, a conceded point by Hiltzik, and a shirt-tossing celebration by Mmoh when it was all over.

At the $15,000 Futures in British Columbia, former Cal Poly All-American Andre Dome has also assured himself a place in the ATP Top 500, winning the title with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 decision over top seed Matt Reid of Australia.  The 24-year-old No. 2 seed also captured the doubles title with former Pepperdine star Finn Tearney of New Zealand. Those two titles now give Dome the fourth and fifth of his career, three singles and two doubles, all earned this year.

The European Championships ended today, and at the ITF Grade B1 in Switzerland the boys champion was no surprise, while the girls champion was unexpected.

Wimbledon finalist Mikael Ymer, who won the European 14s title in 2012 and was runnerup last in the 16s, added the 18s title to his resume. The 16-year-old, seeded No. 2, beat unseeded Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

The girls title went to Anna Bondar of Hungary, an 18-year-old playing in her first junior event of the year.  The unseeded Bondar defeated No. 12 seed Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the final. Teichmann had taken out top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals.

Vondrousova and her partner Miriam Kolodziejova won the doubles title, avenging their Wimbledon semifinal loss to Hungary's Dalma Galfi and Fanni Stollar, a loss that ended the Czech pair's quest for a Grand Slam.  Vondrousova and Kolodziejova, the No. 2 seeds, beat Galfi and Stollar, the No. 3 seeds, 6-4, 7-5 in the final.

The boys doubles title went to the German team of Tim Sandkaulen and Louis Wessels, with the No. 3 seeds beating unseeded Alexander Erler and Matthias Haim of Austria 7-6(4), 6-1 in the final.

The 16s titles both went to Czech players. Top seed Patrik Rikl defeated No. 8 seed Artem Dubrivnyy of Russia 6-4, 6-1 in the boys final, and unseeded Anna Slovakova beat No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina of Russia 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 in the girls final.

Unseeded Iga Swiatek of Poland, a 2014 Junior Orange Bowl 14s semifinalist, won the girls 14s title, beating top seed Taisya Pachkaleva of Russia 6-2, 6-1 in the final. No. 8 seed Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia won the boys 14s title, beat No. 4 seed Filip Jianu of Romania 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. 

Complete draws can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament page.

I mentioned the USTA Boys 18 Team Championships in yesterday's post. The USTA Girls 18 Team Championships began today in Claremont, California, with the TennisLink site here.  Results can be found by selecting Flight (there's only one), Round (1 was today) and match.

Mmoh vs Hiltzik, Daniell vs Herring in Pro Circuit Finals; Bryde and Paul Win Qualifying Matches at BB&T Atlanta Open; USTA Boys 18 Team Event Underway

Michael Mmoh has reached his second career Futures final at the $15,000 Pro Circuit event and will face Jared Hiltzik in Sunday's final in Godfrey, Illinois.  Mmoh, the No. 6 seed, beat No. 7 seed Evan King 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday's semifinals, while No. 8 seed Hiltzik, a rising senior at Illinois, defeated Clay Thompson 6-2, 6-3 to reach the first Pro Circuit final of his career.

At the $10,000 women's event in Evansville, Andie Daniell reached her first Pro Circuit final, with the 17-year-old incoming Alabama freshman winning a grueling 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 decision from No. 7 seed Alexa Graham in Saturday's semifinals.  Daniell will play qualifier Lauren Herring, the Georgia All-American who is in her second $10,000 final since graduating in May.  Herring defeated Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the other semifinal Saturday.

Herring and teammate Kennedy Shaffer lost in the doubles final Saturday, with the unseeded pair falling to top seeds Nicha Lertpitaksinchai and Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand 6-2, 6-3.

Wild card Brooke Austin defeated Robin Anderson in Friday night's quarterfinal at the $50,000 Sacramento tournament, but lost to No. 8 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 7-5, 6-1 in the semifinals.  Kalinina will play top seed An Sophie Mestach of Belgium in Sunday's final. By advancing to the semifinals, Austin now ties Sanaz Marand for the top spot in the USTA US Open Wild Card Challenge with one more tournament this coming week in Lexington, left to decide it.

At the Binghamton Challenger, top seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain will take on No. 2 seed Bjorn Fratangelo in the final after Edmund defeated qualifier Sekou Bangoura 6-3, 7-6(4) and Fratangelo downed Brydan Klein of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2.

In the first round of qualifying for the BB&T Atlanta Open, 15-year-old Trent Bryde and Tommy Paul picked up victories.  Bryde defeated Catalin-Ionut Gard 7-6(4), 6-2 to advance to a second round match against top qualifying seed Denis Kudla.  Paul defeated fellow wild card Walker Duncan 6-3, 7-6(9) and will play No. 8 seed Sugita of Japan in the second round.  The fourth wild card, Reilly Opelka, lost to unseeded Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan 6-4, 6-4.  Jared Donaldson also reached the second round of qualifying with a win today.

The Atlanta main draw has been posted, with wild card Frances Tiafoe drawing Sam Groth of Australia and wild card Christopher Eubanks, a rising sophomore at Georgia Tech, playing Czech veteran Radek Stepanek.

The USTA's Boys 18s Team Championships got underway today at the University of Illinois.  The draw is here, and the rosters for each section are here. Live streaming is available at a cost of $19.99 for the event.

USA's World Junior Tennis Teams Named; Mmoh Reaches Godfrey Futures Semifinals; Daniell, Graham Advance in Evansville

The teams that will represent the USA in the ITF's World Junior Tennis 14-and-under team competition have been announced, with no changes in the teams that represented the USA in North American qualifying in Boca Raton several months ago.

Caty McNally, Hurricane Tyra Black and Amanda Anisimova will travel to Prostejov, Czech Republic for the girls competition among 16 nations, which begins August 3rd and ends August 8th.  Adam Neff, Brandon Nakashima and Govind Nanda will be one of 16 boys teams in Prostejov.  Both teams went undefeated in North American qualifying, and I anticipate the girls will be among the top seeds when the draw is made. Kathy Rinaldi will coach the girls team and Eric Nunez the boys team.

At the $15,000 Godfrey Futures, Michael Mmoh has reached the semifinals, the fourth time in his career that the 17-year-old has gotten that far (he has one Futures title). Mmoh, the No. 6 seed, beat Ben McLachlan of New Zealand 6-3, 6-1 today, and will play No. 7 seed Evan King, who took out wild card Nick Chappell by the same score.  The top half of the draw will be a rematch of the 2013 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate men's final, with Clay Thompson facing No. 8 seed Jared Hiltzik. Thompson, who beat Hiltzik 6-4, 7-5 in New York, defeated qualifier Kyle Koch 7-6(2), 7-6(4), while Hiltzik came back to beat qualifier Gonzales Austin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.  King and Thompson have both won Futures titles this year. Hiltzik is hoping to reach his first Futures final with a win Saturday.

Jordi Arconada of Argentina and Dominic Cotrone, the No. 4 seeds, won the doubles title in Godfrey, beating unseeded Fred Saba and John Lamble 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

At the women's $10,000 Pro Circuit event in Evansville, 17-year-old Alexa Graham and 18-year-old Andie Daniell have advanced to the semifinals, where they will play each other. Graham, the No. 7 seed, defeated qualifier Frances Altick 6-1, 6-1 and Daniell ousted No. 4 seed Francesca Segarelli of the Dominican Republic 6-3, 7-6(4).  Daniell, who will be starting at Alabama this fall, is through to her first Pro Circuit semifinal in singles. Graham has reached two finals at $10,000 events this year.

The other semifinal will feature qualifier Lauren Herring, the recent Georgia graduate, against Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway.

The Binghamton Challenger will feature two Americans, with qualifier Sekou Bangoura meeting top seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain in one semifinal and No. 2 seed Bjorn Fratangelo facing No. 6 seed Brydan Klein, also of Great Britain, in the other.

The qualifying draw of the BB&T Open in Atlanta is out, with Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka, Walker Duncan and Trent Bryde receiving wild cards.  Paul and Duncan, who were to be teammates at Georgia before Paul turned pro this summer, meet in the first round.

Smith, Rohrbacher Capture New Balance High School Titles; Auger-Aliassime Wins Again in Granby Challenger; Teens Reach Quarterfinals in Sacramento, Granby, Godfrey and Evansville

The New Balance High School Tennis Championships concluded today in Boston, with Keegan Smith and Olivia Rohrbacher winning the titles.
From the tournament:

Keegan Smith of San Diego defeated Jaird Meyer of Los Angeles 6-1, 6-3 to win the boys’ title. Keegan was able to get off to a quick start early in the match. After that he used his big game to dictate play throughout to get the victory.

Olivia Rohrbacher of Sandusky, OH defeated Jenna Moustafa of Los Angeles (a finalist last year as well) 6-4, 6-4 to win the girls’ title. Olivia and Jenna had a very tight match, but Olivia came up big on some important points  throughout. She moved up on her return of serve and was dictating the points early in play to close it out.

In addition to the titles, Smith and Rohrbacher also receive wild cards into the ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships in College Park Maryland next month.  Complete draws are at the tournament's TennisLink site.

Fourteen-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada defeated ATP No. 205 Darian King of Barbados 7-5, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Granby Challenger. Auger-Aliassime, who turns 15 in two weeks, is the youngest player to ever reach an ATP Challenger quarterfinal.  He will play No. 4 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who, at 19, is a seasoned veteran compared to Auger-Aliassime.  

Former Florida State star Jean-Yves Aubone, who lost to Auger-Aliassime in the final round of qualifying, got into the main draw as a lucky loser and has advanced to the first Challenger quarterfinal of his career.  Eric Quigley, the 2012 NCAA finalist from Kentucky, has also reached a Challenger quarterfinal for the first time, beating Peter Polansky of Canada tonight 6-3, 0-6. 7-5.  

Overshadowed by Auger-Aliassime is another Canadian teenager having a breakout tournament in Granby.  Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Robillard-Millette, who received a wild card into the $50,000 ITF Women's event in Granby moved into the quarterfinals with a 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) win over No. 8 seed Amandine Hess of France.  Eighteen-year-old Ellie Halbauer has reached her second quarterfinal at the $50,000 level, beating Laura Robson of Great Britain 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Robson had been injured and out of competition for more than a year until last month, but regardless of the circumstances, that's a great win for Halbauer.

Sixteen-year-old CiCi Bellis and 19-year-old Brooke Austin have advanced to the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Sacramento. Bellis, the No. 3 seed, defeated Asia Muhammad 2-6, 6-1, 6-1, while Austin beat No. 2 seed and WTA 165 Eri Hozumi of Japan 7-5, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of a $50K for the first time in her career.  Austin will play fellow wild card Robin Anderson, who just returned from the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, where she received her ITA Player of the Year Award.  Anderson defeated teammate Jennifer Brady, the No. 5 seed, 6-3, 6-2 to pick up her second career win at the $50,000 level, with her opening round victory over Lauren Embree having been her first.  Bellis will play No. 8 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, the 2014 US Open girls finalist, in the quarterfinals.

At the $50,000 Binghamton Challenger, the teens fared less well. Frances Tiafoe lost to No. 2 seed Bjorn Fratangelo 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, while wild card Tommy Paul was beaten by Mitchell Krueger 7-5, 6-4.  Noah Rubin took the second set from top seed Kyle Edmund in a tiebreaker and they were at 1-1 in the third set when play was suspended due to darkness. 

At the $15,000 Futures in Godfrey, Illinois, Michael Mmoh reached the quarterfinals. No. 6 seed Mmoh, the only quarterfinalist without college ties, will face former Cal star Ben McLachlan of New Zealand on Friday.

The $10,000 women's event in Evansville saw its top two seeds eliminated Thursday, with qualifier Frances Altick (Vanderbilt) taking out No. 1 seed Bianca Botto of Peru 6-2, 6-2 and North Carolina recruit Sara Daavettila defeating No. 2 seed Naomi Totka of Hungary 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

DeVine, Smith Win Wild Card Tournaments, Entry into Nationals; Paul Advances at Binghamton. Joins Bryde in ATP Event in Atlanta; Kentucky's Gomez Beats Baghdatis; Are Spain and Switzerland Heading for Men's Tennis Decline?

The inaugural USTA Wild Card tournaments for entry into the 18s Nationals were completed today in Arlington, Texas, with Jake DeVine and Maria Smith earning their places in Kalamazoo and San Diego.

DeVine, the No. 2 seed, defeated unseeded Erik Kerrigan 6-2, 6-4 in the final. DeVine, who reached the final of the Kalamazoo 16s in 2013, losing to Tommy Paul, won all five of his matches in straight sets. 

Smith, also a No. 2 seed, needed only three victories to earn her wild card, with a bye and a walkover in her first two rounds.  The 18-year-old from Texas beat top seed Olivia Hauger 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the final.

The complete list of Kalamazoo wild cards:
18s

John Jorgeson

Eduardo Nava

Dennis Uspensky

Vasil Kirkov

Mwendwa Mbithi

Logan Smith

Frances Tiafoe

Jake DeVine

16s

Sean Hill 

Alexandre Rotsaert 

Matthew Rodriguez

The complete list of San Diego wild cards:
18s                                                      
Helen Altick
Summer Dvorak
Dasha Ivanova
Kaitlyn McCarthy
Maria Smith

16s       
Alexandra Angyalosy             
Emma Decoste
Abigail Desiatnikov              
Elvena Gevargiz
Britt Pursell
Stephanie Taylor

Today in Binghamton, Tommy Paul joined Frances Tiafoe in the second round of the $50,000 Challenger, defeating Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador 6-3, 7-5.  Paul has received a qualifying wild card into next week's BB&T Atlanta Open, the first ATP event in the US Open Series.  Fifteen-year-old Trent Bryde won a wild card challenge playoff today in Atlanta, earning a qualifying wild card with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kyle Montrel of Xavier University of Louisiana.  Tiafoe was awarded a main draw wild card into the tournament last month.

At the women's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger, wild cards Brooke Austin, Jamie Loeb and Robin Anderson won their first round matches, as did Kristie Ahn and No. 5 seed Jennifer Brady. UCLA teammates Brady and Anderson will play in the second round Thursday.

After Alex Sarkissian picked up his first ATP win last night in Bogota, former Kentucky star and qualifier Alejandro Gomez of Colombia came up with an even bigger victory there tonight, beating No. 5 seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(3). Gomez, who completed his senior year in 2014, is ranked 698, while the former Australian Open finalist is No. 45 in the ATP rankings. For more on Gomez's win, see this article from the University of Kentucky website.

ESPN.com's Kamakshi Tandon looks at the men's talent pipeline in Switzerland and Spain and asks if those two countries are prepared for the seemingly inevitable decline they face as their superstars move closer to retirement.

Tiafoe, Rubin Win Opening Round Matches at Binghamton Challenger; Auger Aliassime, 14, Reaches Second Round at Granby $100K; Sarkissian Posts First ATP Victory

It was a busy day in the Americas, with noteworthy wins from Canada to Colombia.

Frances Tiafoe, who has struggled a bit since his Challenger run this spring, picked up his first main draw win since May in the opening round of the $50,000 Challenger in Binghamton, New York. He defeated Gregoire Barrere of France 6-4, 7-6(1) today to set up a second round match against No. 2 seed Bjorn Fratangelo, who he beat back in April during the run that secured the USTA's French Open wild card.

Wild card Noah Rubin picked up his second Challenger level win, defeating Omar Jasika of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in a battle between two recent junior slam champions.  Rubin will play top seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain in the second round Thursday. Edmund beat Ernesto Escobedo 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1.

Wimbledon champion Reilly Opelka lost his Challenger debut to qualifier Sekou Bangoura 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after leading 4-2 in the final set.  Bangoura held and broke to pull even in the third set, and then a huge wind gust tore the wind screen from the fence, which basically made the court unplayable. After the storm passed, the players returned to the court and Bangoura held (from deuce), then broke Opelka for the win.

No. 5 seed Jared Donaldson had just completed his 6-3, 6-2 win over Takuto Niki of Japan when play was suspended. Due to the delay, Tommy Paul's match with Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador was postponed until Wednesday.

At the $15,000 Futures in Godfrey, Illinois, the top two seeds are out. Clay Thompson advanced over top seed Deiton Baughman 3-6, 7-5, 3-0 retired, and Fred Saba, the former Duke star, beat No. 2 seed Kaichi Uchida of Japan 6-4, 6-1.  Nick Chappell, the recent TCU standout, defeated No. 4 seed Harry Bourchier of Australia 7-5, 6-3.

The top two seeds in the women's $10,000 tournament in Evansville, Indiana--Bianca Botto of Peru and Naomi Totka of Hungary--will begin play on Wednesday. A host of US college and junior players are in the draw, with wild card Sara Daavettila collecting her first professional level main draw victory. No. 7 seed Alexa Graham, Daavettila's future teammate at North Carolina, defeated Francesca Di Lorenzo 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.

Qualifying for the women's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger was completed today, with Michaela Gordon moving into the main draw with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Jacqueline Cako. Nicole Frenkel defeated Kelly Chen in the final round of qualifying, but both reached the main draw, with Chen taking a lucky loser spot.  Gordon will play wild card Brooke Austin and Chen will meet wild card Jamie Loeb, with Frenkel drawing No. 6 seed Mayo Hibi of Japan.  In first round action today, No. 3 seed CiCi Bellis, No. 8 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine and No. 2 seed Eri Hozumi of Japan advanced to the second round with straight-set wins.

In Granby, Canada, at the $100,000 men's Challenger, Felix Auger-Aliassime recorded his first Challenger victory, beating fellow qualifier Andrew Whittington of Australia 6-3, 6-2.  Auger-Aliassime, who turns 15 next month, made a big splash in March when he qualified for the Drummondville Challenger, but an injury forced him to withdraw before he could play his first round match.  In Granby qualifying, he beat fellow Canadian teen Jack Lin and Jean-Yves Aubone to advance to the main draw.  Auger-Aliassime's ITF junior ranking is not high enough to get him into the junior slams, and, although he has had good results this summer in ITF events on European clay, he has yet to win an ITF tournament above a Grade 3. He will play No. 8 seed Darian King of Barbados in the second round, after King defeated qualifier Raymond Sarmiento 6-2, 6-3.

Young Canadians Katherine Sebov and Charlotte Robillard-Millette are playing the women's $50,000 tournament in Granby, with Sebov qualifying for the main draw and Robillard-Millette getting a first round win.  Qualifier Ellie Halbauer advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over wild card Erin Routliffe of Canada, a two-time NCAA doubles champion at Alabama.

At the ATP 250 in Bogota, Colombia, 2014 NCAA finalist Alex Sarkissian won his first ATP-level match tonight, defeating ATP No. 97 John Millman of Australia 6-3, 6-3.  The former Pepperdine star will play No. 7 seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia in the second round.

The Tennis Recruiting Network has begun its Clay Courts Championship Week coverage with recaps of the 12s tournaments. The article on Saud Alhogbani's title is here, and Elvina Kalieva's championship is here.

The USTA's New Balance High School Championships began on Monday in Boston, and the draws can be found here.

Ram Wins Second ATP Title in Newport; Rublev Delivers in Davis Cup; Binghamton and Sacramento Challengers, European Championships on Tap

Rajeev Ram won the second ATP title of his career today, defeating No. 2 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(2) in the final of the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode Island.  Ram, who played on the 2003 NCAA championship team at Illinois, won his first ATP title in 2009, also in Newport.  Ram defeated top seed John Isner in the opening round, saving a match point, and saved two match points in his win over No. 5 seed Adrian Mannarino of France in the quarterfinals. Ram, currently ranked 161, will move inside the ATP Top 90, assuring himself a spot in the main draw of the US Open.  For more on the final, see the ATP website.

The final day of Davis Cup play provided plenty of drama, with Australia coming back from 2-0 down against Kazakhstan to reach the semifinals against Great Britain, with veterans Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt getting the two single wins Sunday.  Argentina beat Serbia 4-1 and will meet Belgium in the other semifinal, after Belgium shut out Canada.

Russia claimed the second comeback from 2-0 down of the weekend, defeating Spain in Zone Group I Playoffs to earn a place in the September World Group Playoffs.  2014 ITF World Junior Champion Andrey Rublev had lost in straight sets to Tommy Robredo to open the tie, but in the fifth rubber, the 17-year-old beat ATP No. 32 Pablo Andujar 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3 to seal the win.   For all results, see the Davis Cup website.

The $50,000 Stockton Challenger, the first of three tournaments designated for the USTA's US Open wild card challenge, featured two international players in the final, with No. 5 seed Nao Hibino of Japan defeating top seed An Sophie Mestach of Belgium 6-1, 7-6(6).  Sanaz Marand reached the semifinals in singles to take the lead in the Wild Card Challenge, with two more tournaments, in Sacramento and Lexington, remaining.  No. 4 seeds Marand and Jamie Loeb, both stars at North Carolina, won the doubles championship, beating former USC standouts Danielle Lao and Kaitlyn Christian 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

The men's wild card challenge begins tomorrow at the $50,000 tournament in Binghamton, New York.  Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul and Noah Rubin received wild cards into the main draw, as did Great Britain's Kyle Edmund, who is the top seed. Frances Tiafoe received entry based on his ranking. Opelka plays a qualifier, Paul faces former Texas Tech star Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador, Rubin meets 2014 US Open boys champion Omar Jasika of Australia and Tiafoe's first round opponent is Gregoire Barrere of France.  Bjorn Fratangelo(2), Jared Donaldson(5), Daniel Nguyen(7), Dennis Novikov, Mitchell Krueger, Dennis Nevolo and Ryan Sweeting are the other US men in the draw, as well as Marco Giron and Sekou Bangoura, who qualified today. Austin Smith(Georgia) and Ernesto Escobedo will decide the third American qualifier tomorrow, and Nick Meister can join them with a win over Great Britain's Luke Bambridge in their final round qualifying match.

The first round of qualifying for the women's tournament in Sacramento is underway, with the main draw yet to be released.

After a couple of weeks on grass, the ITF Junior Circuit in Europe returned to clay. At the Grade 1 in Austria, No. 7 seed Ugo Humbert took the boys title in an all-French contest, beating unseeded Evan Furness 6-4, 6-3.  No. 14 seed Georgia Craciun of Romania took the girls title, beating unseeded qualifier Anastasia Zarytska 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the final. Nada Dimovska of the US qualified and reached the third round, beating the No. 7 seed in the second round.

The European championships begin in three different locations on the continent next week. The ITF Grade B1 is in Switzerland, with Corentin Dennolly of France and Mikael Ymer of Sweden the top two boys seeds, and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic and Dalma Galfi of Hungary No. 1 and No. 2 in the girls draw.

The 16s division is in Moscow, with Patrik Rikl of the Czech Republic the top boys seed and Olesya Pervushina of Russia the No. 1 girls seed.

At the 14s division, held in the Czech Republic, Timofey Skatov of Russia is the No. 1 boys seed and Taisya Pachkaleva of Russia is No. 1 in the girls draw.

Links to the draws and order of play for all three age divisions is available at this Tennis Europe website page.

Boys USTA National Junior Team; Novikov Takes Bronze at PanAm Games; Opelka, Paul and Rubin Receive Binghamton Challeger Wild Cards; Can PlaySight Help Discourage Cheating?

One of the important competitions I was unable to cover sufficiently when I was at Wimbledon was the Team USA Playoff for boys that was held last week in by the USTA Boca Raton.

The team, which is modeled on the USTA Junior Davis Cup teams of the 1980s, is for players born in 1999 or 2000. By the criteria set out in this document, Sam Riffice and Vasil Kirkov were selected for the team prior to the camp/playoffs.  Six other places on the team were available via the round robin playoff, with 16 players invited to compete.  Trent Bryde, Alexandre Rotsaert, Gianni Ross and Oliver Crawford earned places on the team in qualifying matches, while those who lost in qualifying matches played off for the final two spots, with William Howells and Brian Shi securing the final two places on the team.  The summer travel schedule for the team includes this week's Clay Courts, Kalamazoo, the College Park ITF, Canada and the US Open.

Qualifying matches:
Trent Bryde def. Brian Shi 6-2,6-2
Alexandre Rotsaert def. Kyrylo Tsygura 6-2,6-1
Gianni Ross def. William Howells 6-3,6-3
Oliver Crawford def. Alafia Ayeni 6-4,6-3

Playoff of second place finishers for remaining two spots:
William Howells  def.  Alafia Ayeni  4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Brian Shi def.  Kyrylo Tsygura 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

The complete results from the round robin stages, as well as the home towns and personal coaches of the team members can be found here.

The girls Team USA was selected in May and consists of CiCi Bellis, Claire Liu, Carson Branstine, Kylie McKenzie, Kelly Chen, Kayla Day, Michaela Gordon and Alexandra Sanford.  More information on the girls playoff and selection can be found here.

The men's portion of the Pan Am Games are complete, with former Kalamazoo champion and UCLA star Dennis Novikov taking the bronze medal.  Facundo Bagnis of Argentina won the gold over Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia by a score of 6-1, 6-2. Novikov defeated Guido Andreozzi of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 in the bronze medal match today. Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico will play Mariana Duque Marino of Colombia for the women's gold medal. Monica Puig of Puerto Rico and Lauren Davis of the US are in the bronze medal match.   Stanford's Carol Zhao will play for the gold in women's doubles with fellow Canadian Gaby Dabrowski against Rodriguez and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico.  Full tennis results can be found here.

The Binghamton Challenger kicks off the USTA's Men's US Open Wild Card Challenge, and today the wild cards were announced, with US teens Wimbledon boys champions Noah Rubin and Reilly Opelka and French Open boys champion Tommy Paul, as well as Great Britain's Kyle Edmund, getting spots in the main draw. Ben Rothenberg wrote about the new crop of American hopefuls in this article for the New York Times.

A junior tournament in New Jersey is experimenting with the use of the PlaySight system to discourage cheating.  This ESPN article explains why CourtSense founder Gordon Uehling believes it could be a solution to the cheating that can surface when players are responsible for line calls in a match.