Heart Surgery for Oudin; Eddie Herr Acceptances; Rafter Named Australia's Director of Performance; Falconi, Min, Brady Win in Captiva $50K; Top Seed Out in SC ITF

Melanie Oudin announced on twitter today that she was undergoing heart surgery Thursday, and according to this article from the Associated Press, the procedure is required due to an arrhythmia she had been noticing for more than a year. Last year at this time she was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a muscle condition, and that kept her out until the middle of March. Oudin also said she needs surgery on her eye in the coming weeks, and is understandably eager "for 2014 to be over."

The acceptances for the Eddie Herr ITF event were released today, with World No. 1 Shilin Xu of China and No. 2 CiCi Bellis both entered. Other US girls in the Grade 1 event, now played on clay, are Raveena Kingsley, Usue Arconada, Sonya Kenin, Dasha Ivanova, Michaela Gordon, Jessica Ho, Mia Horvit and Madison Bourguignon. As with the Orange Bowl, Tornado Alicia Black is not entered.

Because there are four tournaments in consecutive weeks--Abierto Juvenil(A), Yucatan(1), Eddie Herr(1) and Orange Bowl(A)--most top players are taking at least one week off during that stretch. Michael Mmoh is playing the Eddie Herr because he trains at the Bolettieri Academy and skipping the Yucatan with Bellis also not playing the Mexican Grade 1, while Taylor Fritz and world No. 1 Andrey Rublev are not playing Eddie Herr. A quick glance over the four entry lists shows the only top player entered in all four is US Open girls champion Maria Boukzova of the Czech Republic.

In addition to Michael Mmoh, other US boys accepted into the main draw are: Alex Rybakov, Henrik Wiersholm, Dennis Uspensky, Sameer Kumar, Reilly Opelka, William Blumberg, Kalman Boyd, Ulises Blanch and Tommy Paul. As with the Orange Bowl, Francis Tiafoe is not entered.

The acceptance lists for the 12s, 14s and 16s were published previously and they can be found at the tournament website. I will be providing my annual previews of the tournament for the Tennis Recruiting Network just after Thanksgiving.

Tennis Australia has named Patrick Rafter as its Director of Performance, a position similar to the USTA's General Manager of Player Development. Rafter, who is currently the Austalian Davis Cup captain, will start in February, after the Austalian Open is complete. For more from Rafter and Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley, see this article.

At the $50,000 Pro Circuit women's event in Florida, Irina Falconi, Grace Min and Jennifer Brady all kept their hopes for the USTA Australian Open wild card alive with first round wins. CiCi Bellis saw her Pro Circuit win streak end at 10 however, as she fell to Tatjana Maria of Germany 7-6(3), 6-4. I watched most of the match on the USTA's livestream, (it is available in the archives) and was impressed with Maria's variety. She moved forward often, sliced and hit drop shots, lobbed and volleyed and generally made it difficult for Bellis to know what was coming next. It also appeared that Bellis was trying out a new service motion, although it may not be new this week, since I didn't see any of her previous matches in the South Carolina $25Ks.

In the Knoxville Challenger, former Tennessee Volunteer Tennys Sandgren picked up a big win, taking out No. 4 seed and 2013 NCAA champion Blaz Rola of Slovenia 7-6(4), 6-3.  Michael Russell(6) and Denis Kudla(8) were the only other Americans to win first round matches today.

In the first round of doubles, NCAA champions Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis gave the Tennessee fans plenty to cheer about, defeating No. 2 seeds Kevin King and Juan Spir 7-6(5), 4-6, 11-9.  King and Spir saved three match points down 9-6, but Reese and Libietis kept calm and took the fourth.  Reese and Libietis are missing the ITA Indoor, which begins tomorrow morning, so a win tonight certainly makes that choice less painful.

In the men's Birmingham Futures, Reilly Opelka and Deiton Baughman advanced to the second round, with Opelka meeting Alex Rybakov Thursday and Baughman getting qualifier Julio Peralta of Chile, who advanced when No. 2 seed Connor Smith retired trailing 6-3, 4-1. Ole Miss junior Stefan Lindmark, a qualifier, beat Spencer Papa 7-5, 6-2.

At the ITF Grade 4 in South Carolina, 15-year-old William Howells, who won the Atlanta ITF doubles title last week and therefore earned a special exemption into the main draw this week, defeated top seed Emil Reinberg 7-6(5), 6-4 in the second round. No. 2 seed Mert Zincirli of Turkey had lost to Dennis Afanasev in the first round.  Both top seeds in the girls draw have advanced to the third round, with No. 1 seed Jade Lewis of New Zealand winning today in three sets and No. 2 seed Kayla Day getting through in straight sets.

Coric Hires New Coach; Rybakov Earns First ATP Point; Americans Top Seeds in Bolivia ITF Grade 3; ATP Top 100 Age Data

Croatia's Borna Coric, the youngest player in the ATP Top 100, split from his British coach Ryan Jones recently and just announced he will be working with Zeljko Krajan, the Croatian Davis Cup coach.

Krajan has coached Dinara Safina, Dominika Cibulkova, and, for a short time, Jelena Jankovic and Laura Robson. Coric's management agency Starwing posted an announcement on the hiring on its Facebook page, with Coric, who turns 18 next week, quoted as saying:

"I am happy to announce that as of immediately I will be working with Zeljko. He has a world of experience on the tour and I'm very much looking forward to spending time and learning from him. Really believe we can be a great team and hopefully achieve together big things."

Coric, the 2013 US Open boys champion, is the top seed at the €64,000+Hospitality ATP Challenger in France this week. He was the subject of this Reuters feature a few days ago, and in it he explains how he handled his emotions when playing Rafael Nadal at the Swiss Indoors last month.

At the $10,000 Futures in Birmingham, 17-year-old Alex Rybakov picked up his first ATP point, with the wild card defeating No. 6 seed Arthur Surreaux of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.  Rybakov had played 13 previous Futures, losing ten times in qualifying and three times in the first round of the main draw.  He also advanced in doubles with former Ole Miss star Catalin Gard of Romania. Rybakov may meet friend Reilly Opelka in the second round, if Opelka defeats Antoine Richard of Canada in the first round Wednesday.   In the only other singles match of the day, University of Miami freshman Piotr Lomacki of Poland also took out a seed, No. 8 Mikhail Fufygin of Russia, 7-5, 6-2. 

Qualifying is complete at the two $50,000 Pro Circuit tournaments, with three American men earning a place in the main draw in Knoxville, but no American women getting through in Captiva.  Tennys Sandgren, Eric Quigley and Sekou Bangoura, as well as Great Britain's Marcus Willis, advanced in Knoxville. In first round play today, Jared Donaldson defeated fellow wild card Daniel Nguyen 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 despite getting only 35 percent of his first serves in play.  In Florida, Jan Abaza and Katerina Stewart lost in the final round of qualifying. In first round action, Louisa Chirico beat Connie Hsu of Taiwan 7-5, 6-1. 

At the ITF Grade 3 in Bolivia, Americans Catalin Mateas and Olivia Hauger are the top seeds in the boys and girls draws.  In addition to Mateas and Hauger, several other Americans made the trip, with Brian Shi, Maria Mateas, Ally Miller-Krasilnikov(4), as well as qualifier Katie LaFrance, competing in the main draw.

I ran across this graphic breakdown of the current ATP Top 100 with research on when each of these players broke into the Top 100 and where they were ranked at age 20.  I noticed however, that Steve Johnson's age of breaking into the Top 100 is given as 25, which is not correct, since the 37th-ranked Johnson is only 24 right now.  So don't take the specifics too literally, although the theme--that every player's pace is unique--is probably still valid.

UNC's Jamie Loeb, Louisville's Sebastian Stiefelmeyer Top Seeds at Indoor Championships; Donaldson Signs with Octagon; ITF, AO Wild Card Challenge Notes

The draws have been posted for the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which begin Thursday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.  Defending champion Jamie Loeb of North Carolina is the top women's seed, with All-American champion Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville selected as the top men's seed.

The women's seeds:
1. Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
2. Chanelle Van Nguyen, UCLA
3. Hayley Carter, North Carolina
4. Brooke Austin, Florida
5. Maegan Manasse, Cal
6. Julia Elbaba, Virginia
7. Danielle Collins, Virginia
8. Viktoriya Lushkova, Oklahoma State

The men's seeds:
1. Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, Louisville
2. Yannick Hanfmann, Southern Cal
3. Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA
4. Julian Lenz, Baylor
5. Romain Bogaerts, Wake Forest
6. Axel Alvarez Llamas, Oklahoma
7. Cameron Norrie, TCU
8. Soren Hess-Olesen, Texas

The top seeds in the 20-team doubles draws are All-American champions Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies of Clemson and Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz of Southern Cal.  NCAA and All-American champions Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee are not playing, meaning they cannot complete the collegiate calendar slam in 2014.  Libietis and Reese are both playing the Knoxville Challenger this week with wild cards in singles, and they have also been given a wild card into doubles, where they've drawn No. 2 seeds Kevin King and Juan Spir, the former Georgia Tech pair.

For the singles and doubles draws, which include times, see the ITA tournament page.

Jared Donaldson, who turned pro in August prior to the US Open, has signed with Octagon, one of the major sports management firms. Donaldson will be represented by Alastair Garland.  For the complete release from Octagon, click here.  Donaldson is playing this week's Challenger in Knoxville, taking on fellow wild card Daniel Nguyen not before 1 p.m. Tuesday.  Libietis and Reese are scheduled for evening matches Tuesday. A pdf of Tuesday's order of play is here.

This week's ITF Grade 4 tournament in South Carolina got off to a wet start over the weekend, with qualifying unable to be completed until today. All first round matches involving qualifiers or lucky losers were pushed back until Tuesday.  Jade Lewis of New Zealand and Emil Reinberg are the top seeds, and both won their first round matches today, although Reinberg needed a third-set tiebreaker to survive wild card Alexandre Rotsaert's challenge.

Last week in Belgium, 14-year-old Vanessa Streng reached the final of an ITF Grade 4 there as a qualifier.  Streng, from the Atlanta area, has been training with Bart Beks in the Netherlands this year. Beks has worked with 2013 Orange Bowl champion Varvara Flink and before that, with Indy de Vroome.  Streng, who received a wild card into the qualifying, won eight matches before falling to No. 3 seed Phillis Vanenburg of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

The USTA sent out an update of Australian Open Wild Card Challenge standings today, with one more women's event and two more men's events remaining.  The current points totals are below.  Jonathan Kelley digs deeper into the women's scenarios in his On the Rise blog.

Falconi, Klahn Win Challenger Titles; Clemson's Harrington and Eidukonyte Claim USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational Titles

Irina Falconi put herself in excellent position to claim the USTA's Australian Open wild card, defeating UCLA sophomore Jennifer Brady 7-6(3), 6-2 in the final of the $50,000 New Braunfels Texas challenger today.

The sixth-seeded Falconi, who reached the semifinals last week in Macon, the first of three tournaments in the Wild Card Challenge series, managed her game well in Sunday's windy conditions. She was unable to serve out the first set at 6-5 after getting the first break of the match, but the former Georgia Tech star dominated the subsequent tiebreaker.

The game of the match came with Falconi serving at 3-1 in the second, having just broken Brady the previous game.  Falconi saved six break points in the seven-deuce game, and saved two more break points serving at 4-2, managing to keep Brady's big forehand from taking the big points.  Serving at 2-5, Brady fell behind 15-40 but saved the first match point with a penetrating forehand that Falconi couldn't handle. On her second match point, Falconi came up with something special. A short slice brought Brady in and she responded with a short angled forehand cross court just a few feet from the net.  Falconi motored to it, barely getting there before a second bounce, and flicked cross court forehand of her own at an even sharper angle, which Brady could only watch go by.   It was reminiscent of the match point when Falconi beat Dominika Cibulkova in the second round of the 2011 US Open, although the atmosphere was light years removed, of course.  It was still a huge win for Falconi however, her first ITF women's circuit singles title since 2010 and her first in a tournament with prize money greater than $10,000.

In the doubles final, the No. 2 seeded team of Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay and Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia defeated Alex Glatch and Bernarda Pera 6-0, 6-3.

Qualifying for the third women's tournament in the Wild Card Challenge is underway in Captiva Island, Florida.

Bradley Klahn, another 24-year-old American, won the rain-dealyed $50,000 Traralgon Challenger in Australia, beating Jarmere Jenkins 7-6(5), 6-1. It was the 2010 NCAA champion's third Challenger title of the year.

At the Charlottesville Challenger, James Duckworth of Australia won the title, defeating Liam Broady of Great Britain 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Qualifying for next week's Knoxville Challenger began today, with main draw play beginning on Tuesday. Malek Jaziri of Tunisia and Adrian Mannarino of France are the top two seeds.  Wild cards went to Tennessee Volunteers Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese, Daniel Nguyen and Jared Donaldson.

There is also a $10,000 Futures this coming week in Birmingham, Alabama, with Darian King of Barbados and Connor Smith the top seeds there, and wild cards to Alex Rybakov and Reilly Opelka.

Maria Sanchez fell just short in the final of the $50,000 Toronto Challenger, losing to No. 8 seed Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(7).  Sanchez served for the match twice in the third set, at 5-2 and 5-4, but didn't have a match point until 6-5 in the tiebreaker. She didn't convert it, however, and although she saved one herself at 7-6, Dabrowski too the next two points to claim the title.

The USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational was streamed this morning on ESPN 3, with Clemson players claiming both singles titles.  Unseeded junior Joana Eidukonyte beat top seed Stephanie Wagner of Miami 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the final, having defeated the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds in matches on Saturday.

Senior and top seed Hunter Harrington took the men's title, defeating unseeded Nick Crystal of Southern Cal 6-2, 6-3.

The men's doubles title also went to the top seeds, with Benjamin Lock and Marco Nunez of host Florida State beating teammates Jose Gracia and Cristian Gonzalez Mendez 7-6(8), 4-6, 10-8.

The top-seeded team of Michala Kucharova and Reka Muller of Auburn prevented a Seminole doubles sweep, beating Florida State’s Daneika Borthwick and Emily Fanning, seeded third,  7-6(5), 1-6, 14-12.

For all results, see the Florida State website.

October Aces; Shaffer, Riffice Win ITF Grade 4 Titles in Atlanta; Falconi Meets Brady in $50K Final; Sanchez Advances to Final in Toronto $50K

My look at the top performances of October is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.  Teenagers were the story of the month, whether in junior or professional tournaments.

At the ITF Grade 4 in Atlanta, Kennedy Shaffer defended her title, defeating No. 15 seed Abigail Desiatnikov 6-2, 7-6(8) in the final.  Although unseeded, she lost only one set in her six victories and defeated three seeded players.

Fifteen-year-old Sam Riffice picked up his second ITF Grade 4 title of the fall, with the No. 3 seed defeating No. 14 seed McClain Kessler 6-3, 6-2.  Riffice, who won the Grade 4 in Wichita Falls last month, didn't drop a set in his six victories.

Neither singles champion managed a sweep however.  Shaffer and her partner Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, seeded seventh, lost in the girls doubles final to wild cards Taylor Johnson and Carson Branstine 7-6(4), 7-5 .  Riffice and Vasil Kirkov, seeded third, were beaten by unseeded Williams Howells and Johnathan Small 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-7 in the boys doubles final.

At the $50,000 women's tournament in New Braunfels Texas, Jennifer Brady has reached the final, beating Mayo Hibi of Japan 6-4, 6-4.  The unseeded 19-year-old, who is taking the fall off from UCLA, served for the match at 6-4, 5-3, but at 15-all double faulted three straight times to give Hibi hope.  But Hibi, who stuck to her net-rushing strategy throughout the match, was unable to hold in the next game, with Brady hitting two forehand winners from 30-all earn her place in the final.  Brady will play former Georgia Tech star Irina Falconi, who trailed 3-0 in the first set and 2-0 in the second set against Julia Boserup, but won six games in a row each time, to post a 6-3, 6-2 win.  The winner of Sunday's final, which will be streamed here, will have the lead in the USTA Australian Open wild card challenge with one tournament remaining.

The leaders in the men's wild card challenge both lost today in the Charlottesville Challenger semifinals, with Denis Kudla falling to Liam Broady of Great Britain and Alex Kuznetsov going out to James Duckworth of Australia. There are two more men's $50,000 tournaments remaining to earn points--at Knoxville next week and Champaign the week after that.

The doubles title in Charlottesville went to former Virginia star Treat Huey and his partner Frederick Nielsen of Denmark, with the top seeds defeating unseeded Marcus Willis and Lewis Burton of Great Britain 3-6, 6-3, 10-2.  Huey--who grew up in the United States but competes for the Philippines--and former teammate Dom Inglot of Great Britain have ended their partnership (for more on that, see this BBC article). Huey has been named player/coach for the Manila Mavericks in the new International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) this fall. Andy Murray will also be competing for the Mavericks.

Unseeded Maria Sanchez defeated top seed (and doubles partner) Taylor Townsend 7-6(3), 6-3 in the semifinals of the $50,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Toronto and will play No. 8 seed Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada in Sunday's final. Dabrowski downed Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-4, 6-3 in the other semifinal. Sanchez is looking for her first singles title since 2012.

The USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational finals are set for Sunday and will be streamed at ESPN3 beginning with the women's final at 9 a.m. Top seed Stephanie Wagner of Miami will play unseeded Joana Eidukonyte of Clemson.  In the men's final to follow, top seed Hunter Harrington of Clemson will play unseeded Nick Crystal of Southern Cal, who upset teammate and No. 2 seed Max de Vroome in the quarterfinals this morning.

Host school Florida State will be represented in the men's final (both teams) and in the women's final. 

For complete draws, see the Florida State website.