May Aces; Fritz and Paul Meet in First All-American French Open Boys Championship Match; Doubles Finals in Paris for Two US Teams

Tommy Paul is featured in my May Aces column at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with his two Futures titles last month impressive accomplishments regardless of his results at the French Open Junior Championships this week.

The 18-year-old has hasn't missed a beat however, running his record to 18-1 on European clay in the past four weeks, and he will face Taylor Fritz in Saturday's boys final, the first between two Americans in the nearly 70 years the tournament has been played.

Once Fritz, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 4 seed Corentin Denolly of France, the historic final was inevitable; the question was which American would be across the net, No. 13 seed Paul or No. 6 seed Michael Mmoh.

Fritz had lost to Denolly in straight sets last month in the Grade A in Milan, but in Friday's match he did not face a break point in his 46-minute 6-1, 6-2 victory over the left-hander from France, who turns 18 Saturday.

Paul took a 3-0 lead over Mmoh, but he was unable to hold on to that break when serving for the first set at 5-4. Mmoh, who got only 38% of his first serves in in the opening set, surrendered another break in the next game however to give Paul the first set.  Paul did not face a break point in the second set, breaking Mmoh in the eighth game and closing out the 6-4, 6-3 victory with a love hold.  That he converted his first match point is notable, because Paul had a match point in each of his two losses to Mmoh last fall--at both the Pan American Closed Grade B1 and the Eddie Herr Grade 1.

Paul and Fritz, both of whom have won all their matches this week in straight sets. met in the semifinals of a Futures in Spain last month; Paul went on to win the title after beating Fritz 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.  They had also met back in 2011 in the third round of USTA 14s Nationals in San Antonio, with Paul winning 6-1, 6-4.

"Taylor used to be not really good,'' Paul is quoted as saying in this ESPN.com article about the boys upcoming final. "But recently, he got really, really good."
Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's final, the first junior slam final for either boy, Fritz will take over the top spot in the ITF junior rankings come Monday, the first American boy since Donald Young in 2005 to be World No. 1.

The girls final will feature No. 12 seed Paul Badosa Gibert of Spain and No. 16 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.  Badosa Gibert took out top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6(8) and Kalinskaya rolled past No. 4 seed CiCi Bellis 6-2, 6-1.  Kalinskaya, who had not had much success this spring on clay, lost her first set of the tournament 6-0 to Canadian qualifier Bianca Andreescu, but she has found her form since then.

Two American teams have reached the doubles final, with Paul playing for a sweep of the junior titles Saturday.  He and William Blumberg, the No. 4 seeds, advanced to the final with a 7-5, 6-2 win over unseeded Franco Capalbo and Geronimo Espin Busleiman of Argentina. Paul and Blumberg, who have not lost a set in the tournament, will play the unseeded Spanish team of Alvaro Lopez San Martin and Juame Munar, who defeated unseeded Tim Sandkaulen of Germany and Mate Valkusz of Hungary 4-6, 7-5, 10-4.

No. 6 seeds Caroline Dolehide and Katerina Stewart will play top seeds Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova for the girls doubles title Saturday. Dolehide and Stewart defeated No. 5 seeds Usue Arconada and Argentina's Nadia Podoroska 6-1, 7-6(0), while the Czech team got by Jil Teichmann of Switzerland and Shilin Xu of China, an unseeded team, 6-4, 7-5.

The finals are all scheduled for Saturday, and both singles finals are at the same time, on courts 1 and 2.  Playing the finals simultaneously is not usually the case at the French, and never done at the Australian Open or Wimbledon, where the juniors are given a chance to experience Rod Laver Arena and Court 1 respectively.  Even the US Open, which had long scheduled simultaneous junior finals on small show courts, changed their approach last year, using Court 17 and providing streaming for the Sunday championships. Keeping pace with the other slams, yes even regarding juniors, is important, and Roland Garros seems to be getting lapped right now.

Complete draws can be found at the tournament website, but no coverage of the junior tournament appears there, which is sadly not unusual for Roland Garros.

For additional articles on the finals, see Tennis Shorts and USA Today.

US Boys Mmoh, Fritz and Paul Make Historic Run at French Open Junior Championships, Bellis Reaches Girls Semifinals; Men's ITA Kickoff Draft, All-America Teams Announced.

For the first time since 1978, three US boys have reached the semifinals at the French Open Junior championships, with Michael Mmoh, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz advancing with straight set wins Thursday in Paris.

The French junior event for boys dates back to 1947, but draws are not available from the ITF prior to 1978, so I can't eliminate the possibility of it happening before that.  At any rate, it's been a very long time, if ever, and only Corentin Denolly of France stands in the way of the first ever all-American boys final.

No. 4 seed Denolly will play No. 2 seed Fritz in a rematch of the semifinals of last month's Grade A in Milan, which Denolly won 7-6(4), 6-3.  Denolly advanced with a 6-0, 7-6(6) win over Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina, while Fritz defeated No. 10 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile 6-3, 6-4. Fritz served only 45 percent first serves, but still faced only one break point in the match, when he was serving for the match at 5-2 in second set.  The 2014 Wimbledon semifinalist is into his second junior slam semifinal and has a chance to take over the ITF No. 1 ranking with a win.

Sixth seed Mmoh avenged two losses to unseeded Reilly Opelka in the past nine months, claiming a 6-4, 6-4 win. Mmoh was up 4-0 to start the match, with Opelka throwing in five double faults in his first three service games. But despite Mmoh getting just 37 percent of his first serves in during the set, he held on. He broke just once in the second set, in the fifth game, but it was enough, as he closed out the match to reach his first junior slam semifinal.

Mmoh will face No. 13 seed Tommy Paul, who defeated unseeded Manual Pena Lopez of Argentina 6-3, 6-1.  Like Mmoh and Fritiz, Paul has yet to lose a set in the tournament.  Paul and Mmoh have played twice, both last fall, with Mmoh winning both, but each time Paul had match points.  In the quarterfinals at the Grade B1 in Tulsa, Paul had two match points at 5-4 in the third before losing 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) and one match point in his 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5 loss to Mmoh in the third round at the Eddie Herr. That match point was downright fluky, with Mmoh's scrambling shanked forehand turning into a lob winner.

CiCi Bellis is the last American girl remaining after a quick 6-2, 6-1 win over unseed Jil Teichmann of Switzerland. Bellis, who is into a junior slam semifinal for the first time, will play No. 16 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia. Kalinskaya won the only three-set match in the junior singles quarterfinals Thursday, defeating unseeded Fanni Stollar of Hungary 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-2.

Top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic reached the semifinals for the second straight year, eliminating unseeded Astrid Bowl champion Katharina Hobgarski of Germany 6-3, 6-2. She will face No. 12 seed Paul Badosa Gibert of Spain in the semifinals.  Badosa Gibert, seeded based on her WTA ranking of 270, defeated No. 3 seed Katarina Stewart 6-2, 6-2. Badosa Gibert recently qualified for the WTA's Madrid Premier event, and prior to that she had won two rounds in the main draw at the Miami Open as a wild card.  Vondrousova won their previous junior meeting last year in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

In addition to the four American juniors in the singles semifinals, there are five in the doubles semifinals.  Tommy Paul is the only player in both; he and William Blumberg, seed No. 4, are the lone seeds remaining in the boys doubles draw, after Fritz (with Orlando Luz of Brazil, the top seeds) and Mmoh (with Akira Santillan of Japan, the No. 3 seeds) losing in today's quarterfinals. Paul and Blumberg will play unseeded Franco Capalbo and Geronimo Espin Busleiman of Argentina in the semifinals.

In the girls doubles, the sixth-seeded team of Caroline Dolehide and Stewart advanced to the semifinals with a 7-5, 4-6, 10-5 win over No. 3 seeds Dalma Galfi and Stollar of Hungary.  They will play No. 5 seeds Usue Arconada and Argentina's Nadia Podoroska, who beat No. 2 seeds Katie Swan of Great Britain and Sonya Kenin 6-7(2), 6-2, 10-5. Top seeds Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic defeated Francesca Di Lorenzo and Brazil's Luisa Stefani 6-2, 6-4, to set up a semifinal contest with the unseeded team of Teichmann and China's Shilin Xu.

All semifinals in singles and doubles are on Friday's schedule.  Draws are here.

The ITA completed its Kickoff Weekend draft with the men today. Unlike the women's Team Indoor, the men's attracts all the top programs.  The 15 schools and who they are hosting can be found here. Bobby Knight at College Tennis Today has further analysis of the men's draft.

The ITA also announced its Division I All-America teams, although by their criteria*, all those named were known when yesterday's final rankings were revealed.  It's nice to see Virginia's Mitchell Frank and Mississippi's Nik Scholtz get that honor a final time in their senior years after all they've meant to their programs.

*A player must meet any of the following criteria to earn ITA All-America honors:

Singles - Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championship; reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles Championship; finish in the Top 20 of final Oracle/ITA National Singles Rankings

Doubles - Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Championship; reach quarterfinals in NCAA Doubles Championship; finish in the Top 10 of final Oracle/ITA National Doubles Rankings

Opelka Beats Top Seed Luz; Four US Boys, Two US Girls in French Open Junior Quarterfinals; UCLA's Anderson, Oklahoma's Alvarez Finish No. 1 in Final ITA Rankings

Reilly Opelka has always said he loves playing on clay, and the 6-foot-10 17-year-old now has even more reasons to feel affection for the surface after defeating World Junior No. 1 Orlando Luz of Brazil 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 today in the third round of the French Open Junior Championships.

Opelka dominated on serve in the first set, never facing a break point and taking advantage of the first two Luz provided him at 15-40 5-6. Luz however, was not about to panic, having lost the first set in his previous two matches, then winning the third sets of those 6-1 and 6-0.

Opelka's first serve percentage dropped and he was broken in the fifth game, with Luz hanging on to that break to level the match.  Opelka was again broken in the fifth game of the set in the third, and again Luz served for the set, and this time the match, at 5-4. He never got to match point, broken at 15-40, and after Opelka held at love for the second straight service game, Luz found himself down 0-40.  He saved two match points, but not the third, as Opelka closed the match with a down-the-line backhand winner, according to this article from Opelka's hometown newspaper.  Sandra Harwitt talked to Opelka about the match for the ITF junior website.

Opelka's opponent in the quarterfinals is one of the four American boys to reach the final eight, No. 6 seed Michael Mmoh, who needed only 40 minutes to defeat No. 12 seed Theo Fournerie of France 6-1, 6-0.  Opelka and Mmoh last played in the Eddie Herr final last December, on Har-Tru, with Opelka winning 6-4, 6-4.  They also met in the semifinal at the Grade 1 International Hard Courts in College Park, Maryland last year, with Opelka taking that 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The third American still alive in the top half of the draw is No. 13 seed Tommy Paul, who had no difficulty with Djurabeck Karimov of Uzbekistan, coasting to a 6-1, 6-2 win. Paul will play unseeded Manuel Pena Lopez of Argentina, who needed more than three hours to eliminate No. 11 seed Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-8.

The fourth American boy to advance to the quarterfinals is No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz, who avenged his Orange Bowl loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-3, 6-2.  Fritz served for the match at 6-3, 5-0, having won eight straight games, but let three match points slip away.  He had two more in the next game, 15-40 on Tsitsipas' serve, but converted neither of those. Serving for the match again at 5-2, he was up 40-15, only to see those two match points, his sixth and seventh, come and go. He then had to save two break points, but Fritz finally converted on his eighth match point. He will play No. 10 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile, who beat unseeded Alex Molcan of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1.

In the only boys match not featuring an American, unseeded Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina will meet No. 4 seed Corentin Denolly of France.

CiCi Bellis and Katerina Stewart, seeded No. 4 and No. 3 respectively based on their WTA rankings, both have advanced to the quarterfinals.  After saving a match point in her second round win on Tuesday, Bellis had an easier time with No. 13 seed Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic, taking a 6-2, 6-4 decision.  Stewart dropped her first set of the tournament, but got by No. 14 seed Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-1, 5-7, 6-1.

Bellis will play unseeded Jil Teichmann of Switzerland after Teichmann defeating Great Britain's Katie Swan, the No. 8 seed 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.  Stewart meets no. 12 seed Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain, who beat No. 6 seed Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada 6-3, 6-3.

Unseeded Caroline Dolehide fell to No. 16 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 7-5, 6-3. Kalinskaya faces unseeded Fanni Stollar of Hungary, who beat Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Top seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic will play unseeded Katharina Hobgarski of Germany in the quarterfinals. Hobgarski, who won the Grade 1 warmup tournament in Belgium last week, beat 15-year-old Olesya Pervushina of Russia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to advance.

The US juniors have also had success in doubles, with nine of them still in as the tournament moves to the quarterfinals.  Fritz (with Luz, the top seeded team) advanced to the quarterfinals today as did Usue Arconada, Sonya Kenin and the team of Dolehide and Stewart, who saved a match point in their 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 win over Gabby Ruse of Romania and Bolsova Zadoinov.

All singles and doubles quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday.  The draws are here.

The ITA released the final individual rankings this year, with UCLA's Robin Anderson and Oklahoma's Axel Alvarez finishing at No. 1.  The Baylor team of Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano claimed the No. 1 ranking in men's doubles, and the two-time NCAA champions from Alabama, Erin Routiliffe and Maya Jansen, ended the year No. 1 in the women's rankings.

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

The men's singles Top 10:
1. Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma
2. Ryan Shane, Virginia
3. Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA
4. Julian Lenz, Baylor
5. Noah Rubin, Wake Forest
6. Soren Hess-Olesen, Texas
7. Quentin Monaghan, Notre Dame
8. Andrew Harris, Oklahoma
9. Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, Louisville
10. Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt

The women's doubles Top 5:
1. Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, Alabama
2. Carol Zhao and Taylor Davidson, Stanford
3. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
4. Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies, Clemson
5. Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips

The men's doubles Top 5:
1. Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano, Baylor
2. Austin Smith and Ben Wagland, Georgia
3. Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese, Tennessee
4. Roberto Quiroz and Yannick Hanfmann, Southern Cal
5. Luca Corinteli and Justin Shane, Virginia

The complete rankings can be found at the ITA website.

The draft for next year's Kickoff Weekend started today with the women, and top 20 teams opting out of the draft, and therefore the ITA Team Indoor Championships, include Southern Cal, Florida, Stanford, Baylor and Clemson.  The completed draft can be found on the ITA website.  The men's draft is Thursday.

Bellis Saves Match Point, Joins Six Other US Juniors in French Open Third Round; Pro Circuit Main Draw Action Underway in Bethany Beach and Winston-Salem

Andrey Rublev and CiCi Bellis at ITF Champions Dinner Tuesday night
(photo via ITF Twitter account)

The annual ITF Champions dinner tonight in Paris features the 2014 world junior champions. Andrey Rublev of Russia and CiCi Bellis were both in attendance, but I imagine it was a happier occasion for Bellis than it might have been after she saved a match point to beat Sofya Zhuk of Russia 4-6, 6-1, 8-6 in the second round at the French Open Junior Championships.

According to the Bellis quote in the ITF Junior website article by Sandra Harwitt, the match point, with Zhuk serving at 6-5, 40-30 in the third set, could have gone either way. "That match point, I actually hit the net, the ball skimmed the net but went over," the fourth-seeded Bellis told Harwitt. Bellis won the next two points to even the match, but she had to save four break points in the next game to stay in front. Serving at 6-7, Zhuk had four game points, but Bellis again took the last three points on Zhuk's serve to record the win.

Bellis is joined in the third round by No. 3 seed Katerina Stewart, who had no difficulty with qualifier Priscilla Hon of Australia in a 6-4, 6-2 victory.  Caroline Dolehide is the third US girl in the round of 16; she advanced on Monday and had Tuesday off. Stewart will play No. 14 seed Anna Blinkova of Russia Wednesday and Bellis faces No. 13 seed Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic, who she beat in the second round of the Orange Bowl last year 6-1, 7-6(3).

No. 7 seed Usue Arconada lost to Aliona Bosolva Zadoinov of Spain 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2.  No. 5 seed Dalma Galfi of Hungary lost to 15-year-old Olesya Pervushina of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 and No. 15 seed Julieta Estable of Argentina was beaten by Emily Arbuthnott of Great Britain 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Four US boys advanced to the third round. No. 6 seed Michael Mmoh defeated Mate Valkusz of Hungary 6-3, 6-3, No. 13 seed Tommy Paul cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Felipe Cunha-Silva of Portugal and No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz beat Tim Sandkaulen of Germany 6-3, 7-6(4), coming from 5-3 down in the second set to end the match in two sets.  Reilly Opelka defeated No. 14 seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden 6-4, 6-4 and will play top seed Orlando Luz of Brazil on Wednesday. For the second day in a row, Luz lost the first set, and in today's second round against Gian Marco Moroni of Italy he trailed 6-3, 3-1 before finding his form for a 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-0 victory.

Mmoh's opponent Wednesday is No. 12 seed Theo Fournerie of France, who is seeded based on his ATP ranking of 514. Paul faces unseeded Djurabeck Karimov of Uzbekistan, who took out No. 3 seed Seong-chan Hong of Korea 6-2, 6-3.

In the only boys third round match between players who have played before, Fritz faces No. 16 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. Tsitsipas defeated Fritz 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Orange Bowl last year, en route to the final.

No. 5 seed Viktor Durasovic of Norway, seeded based on his ATP ranking of 465, went out, in just under three hours, to Argentina's Manuel Pena Lopez by a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 score. Although not technically an upset, No. 15 seed Casper Ruud of Norway took out unseeded 2014 finalist Jaume Munar of Spain 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

US boys losing in the second round were Alex Rybakov, Ulises Blanch and Nathan Ponwith, all unseeded.

All 16 third round singles matches are scheduled for Wednesday, as are the remaining second round matches in doubles.

In the double matches played Tuesday, Sonya Kenin and Katie Swan of Great Britain, the No. 2 seeds, won their first round match, while Francesca Di Lorenzo (with Brazil's Luisa Stefani) won her second round doubles match.  Michaela Gordon (with Canada's Charlotte Robillard-Millette, the No. 4 seed) lost to Jil Teichmann of Switzerland and Shilin Xu of China 6-1, 2-6, 10-8.  No. 6 seeds Dolehide and Stewart and Arconada(with Argentina's Nadia Podoroska, seeded No. 5) play their second round matches Wednesday, as does Kenin.

No. 3 seed Mmoh (with Japan's Akira Santillan) and No. 4 seeds William Blumberg and Paul, advanced to the quarterfinals with straight-set wins today. Fritz (with Luz, seeded No. 1) plays his second round doubles match on Wednesday.

The draws are available here.

After a break at the end of May, the USTA Pro Circuit is back, with a $10,000 women's event in Bethany Beach, Delaware.  And although not a part of the USTA Pro Circuit, an ITF $15,000 Futures event is being held for the first time at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Eighteen-year-old Ana Paul Neffa de Los Rios is the top seed in Bethany Beach, with Jacqueline Cako (Arizona State) the No. 2 seed. Qualifiers included 14-year-old Abigail Desiatnikov, making her main draw debut in a Pro Circuit tournament.

At Wake Forest, former Princeton All-American Matija Pecotic of Croatia is the top seed, with former Kentucky All-American Eric Quigley the No. 2 seed. 2015 NCAA finalist Noah Rubin, who is unseeded, won his first round match today.

For a comprehensive look at all the current and former college men playing in ITF and ATP events around the world, see College Tennis Today.

Eleven US Juniors Reach Second Round of French Championships, Dolehide Advances to Round of 16; Tennis Recruiting Network's Ranks Stanford Women, Georgia Men No. 1 in 2015 Recruiting Classes

The first round of the French Open Junior Championships was completed today, with 11 US juniors through to the second round. One, Caroline Dolehide, played her second round match today, and she advanced to the round of 16.

After picking up two first round wins on Sunday, US boys claimed five more today, with only two of them in straight sets.  No. 6 seed Michael Mmoh defeated Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-2, 6-3 and No. 13 seed Tommy Paul managed to avoid a third set against Jumpei Yamasaki of Japan with a 6-2, 7-6(3) win.  Nathan Ponwith had just won the second set from Germany's Louis Wessels Sunday night when play was called for darkness, but the delay didn't help Wessels, as Ponwith jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and closed out a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Alex Rybakov found his form for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over Aziz Dougaz of Tunisia and Reilly Opelka got by Alvaro Lopez San Martin of Spain 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-3.  Opelka and Lopez San Martin were holding serve regularly, with the first break going to the Spaniard with Opelka serving at 3-4 in the second set. Serving for the match, Lopez San Martin was broken at love, a highly improbable occurrence given the way the match had been going. Opelka won the second set tiebreaker, and got the only break he needed early in the third set to post his second junior slam win.

No. 9 seed William Blumberg could not record his second junior slam win, falling to Alexander Bublik of Russia 3-6, 7-6(3), 9-7.  Blumberg had a match point at at 5-6, 30-40 in the second set, but Bublik held, won the tiebreaker, then took a 2-0 lead in the third set. Blumberg fought back, breaking and holding for 2-2, then went up 4-3 and 5-4, but was himself broken back each time. Serving for the match at 5-4, he won only one point in the game, but held his next two service games. After Bublik held for 8-7 however, Blumberg was broken at love to end the match.

The US girls had mixed results. No. 4 seed CiCi Bellis defeated Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-1, 6-1 in under an hour, but Raveena Kingsley and No. 11 seed Sonya Kenin both fell in three sets.  Kingsley's match with top seed Marketa Vondrousova was continued from Sunday, with Kingsley taking the first set 7-5, but Vondrousova holding a 4-1 lead in the second. Kingsley won only three more games when play resumed, with Vondrousova pulling away for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory.  Kenin played Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia, who was the highest ranked player not seeded, and Kenin was broken at love in the final game to given Zidansek a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory.

In addition to Kenin, the only other seeded girl to fall in Monday's first round action was Australian Open champion Tereza Mihalikova, who went out to Fiona Ferro of France 6-3, 6-1.

For reasons unclear to me, four girls second round singles matches were played today, while two first round girls doubles matches were not.  Caroline Dolehide was one of the four advancing to the round of 16, with the 16-year-old from Illinois beating wild card Margot Yerolymos of France 6-3, 6-3. Yerolymos had beaten No. 2 seed Shilin Xu of China on Sunday. Dolehide will play No. 16 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the third round.  Jill Teichmann of Switzerland cruised past No. 9 seed Gabby Ruse of Romania 6-1, 6-2 and will play Australian Open finalist and No. 8 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain, who beat Canadian Katherine Sebov 7-5, 7-5.

The doubles began today with most Americans in action advancing. Usue Arconada(No. 5 seed with Nadia Podoroska), Michaela Gordon(No. 4 seed with Charlotte Robillard-Millette), Francesca Di Lorenzo(with Luisa Stefani) and Dolehide and Katerina Stewart(No. 6 seeds) have all reached the second round in girls doubles.

Taylor Fritz (No. 1 seed with Orlando Luz), Mmoh(No. 3 seed with Akira Santillan) and Blumberg and Paul(No. 4 seeds) all reached the second round with straight-set wins today.

Sixteen boys singles and seven boys doubles matches (three first round, four second round) and 12 girls singles and six girls doubles matches (two first round, four second round) are on Tuesday's schedule.

Draws are available here.  For more on today's action, see the ITF junior website.

The Tennis Recruiting Network has published its 2015 Recruiting Class rankings, with the Stanford women and Georgia men taking the top spots in the voting.  I participate in the voting twice every year, recognizing that it is subjective and not especially predictive, but the poll does provide an opportunity for everyone to see most of the incoming recruits in a big picture kind of way, and it provides marketing material for SIDs who search for ways of promoting their schools' programs.