Baughman, Vickery Take Pro Circuit Titles; Ruud, Levashova Win at Grade 1 Copa Gatorade; Fritz Reaches Traralgon

Teenagers Deiton Baughman and Sachia Vickery claimed their first career pro titles in singles today on clay courts a few miles from each other in South Florida.  The 18-year-old Baughman, who was unseeded, won his fifth consecutive three-set match, beating No. 8 seed Benjamin Balleret of Monaco 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in today's $10,000 Sunrise Futures final.  It was the fourth match Baughman won this week after losing the first set. After reaching the semifinals of the first Futures in Plantation last week, the Carson, California resident received a special exemption into the main draw this week, and he once again will receive a special exemption into next week's $10,000 Futures in Weston.  Baughman has one doubles title on the Pro Circuit, but this is his first singles title.

Vickery, the No. 3 seed, beat fellow 19-year-old Samantha Crawford 6-3, 6-1, winning nine of the last ten games in the final of the $25,000 tournament in Plantation. Vickery, the 2013 National 18s champion, has also won a doubles title on the Pro Circuit, with Crawford, but this is her first singles title. The Sun Sentinel covered the final.

At the $15,000 Futures in Long Beach, Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe won his sixth Futures title, but first since 2013, beating No. 6 seed Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4. Steve Pratt has more on the qualifier's long, tough week which began with two straight days of rain.  At the $10,000 women's event in Martinique, Gloria Liang of Canada beat 16-year-old Alexa Graham 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the final.

In ITF junior events, Casper Ruud of Norway collected his second straight Grade 1 title at the Copa Gatorade, defeating No. 13 seed Yshai Oliel of Israel 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final.  The girls title went to top seed Evgeniya Levashova of Russia, who defeated No. 3 seed Mira Antonitsch of Austria 6-2, 6-2 in the final.  Levashova lost only eight games in her five victories.  Ruud, who won the Coffee Bowl title last week, and Levashova are the No. 1 seeds this week at the Grade 1 in Colombia.  Americans in the draw are: Luciana Rabines, Meghan Kelley, Alexa Bortles, Francesca DiLorenzo(7), Sofia Sewing, Maria Mateas(14), Ndindi Mwaruka, Anna Dollar, Jakub Wojcik, Emil Reinberg(5), Liam Caruana(13), Jake Gabay, John Jorgeson, Sami Kirberg, Ulises Blanch(3), Catalin Mateas(8) and Hady Habib(13).

In the Czech Republic, No. 9 seed Michal Dembek of Poland beat unseeded Ewan Moore of Great Britain 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3 in the final to claim his first Grade 1 title. In the girls draw, 14-year-old Olesya Pervushina of Russia won her first Grade 1 title, beating No. 15 seed Karola Bejenaru of Romania 6-2, 6-4.

No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz is the only US junior still alive as the Grade 1 in Traralgon Australia completes its third round. He will play unseeded Sumit Nagal of India in Tuesday's quarterfinals.  Sameer Kumar and No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh were beaten in Monday's third round.

At the Nike Junior International Teen Tennis in Bolton, all five US 14-and-under players in action won their first round matches: William Grant, Andrew Puscas, Leighton Allen, Anton Matusevich and Whitney Osuigwe.  The seeded players, who had byes, will play their first matches on Monday.

Smyczek, Russell and Tatishvili Qualify for Australian Open; Baughman, Graham Reach $10K Finals; Vickery and Crawford Meet for $25K Plantation Title; Teen Tennis Starts Sunday

The fields are now set for the Australian Open, with the qualifiers placed in the draws and the schedule for Monday (Sunday night in the US) released as the tennis world takes the day off in preparation.

Two US men and one US women advanced to the main draw with wins last night.  Tim Smyczek, Michael Russell and Anna Tatishvili won their final round matches, while Alexa Glatch, Chase Buchanan, Jarmere Jenkins and Alex Kuznetsov lost theirs.

Only six of the 24 Americans are on Monday's schedule, which begins at 7 p.m. Eastern time in the US, but that includes both Smyczek and Russell.  Smyczek will play Australian wild card Luke Saville, one of eight Australian Open boys champions in the draw, while the 36-year-old Russell has drawn No. 20 seed David Goffin of Belgium.  The four US women on Monday's schedule are Grace Min, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Christina McHale and Alison Riske. Min, who plays No. 14 seed Sara Errani of Italy, is seeking her first slam victory in her fifth main draw appearance, her first in Australia. Mattek-Sands plays wild card Ying Ying Duan of China, who received Tennis Australia's last wild card, and Riske plays Oceane Dodin of France, who received the French federation's reciprocal wild card. McHale will play qualifier Stephanie Foretz of France.

The schedule can be found at the tournament website.

In the tournaments being played here in the United States, Deiton Baughman has reached his first Futures final at the $10,000 Sunrise tournament, and there will be an all-American final at the women's $25,000 tournament in Plantation, featuring Samantha Crawford and Sachia Vickery.

The unseeded Baughman beat qualifier Samuel Bensousson of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, his fourth three-set victory this week and the third in which he's come from a set down.  He will play No. 8 seed Benjamin Balleret of Monaco, who beat qualifier Francis Tiafoe 6-3, 6-0. Balleret has already captured the doubles title with countryman Romain Arneodo. The top-seeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Connor Smith and Emilio Gomez 6-2, 7-5.

The unseeded Crawford and the No. 3 seed Vickery play doubles together often as they did this week, but their only previous meetings were in the juniors, with Crawford beating Vickery en route to her 2012 US Open girls title after Vickery had beaten her the year before at the Yucatan Cup in Mexico.  Neither has been in a Pro Circuit final in more than two years, so their wins today were especially important. Crawford defeated unseeded Elise Mertens 7-5, 6-3, while Vickery edged Russian qualifier Darya Kasatkina, the reigning French girls champion, 7-6(4), 7-6(4). For more on Vickery and Crawford, see this Sun Sentinel article, which includes the news that Crawford is now working with Michael Joyce at the MW Tennis Academy in Charleston, South Carolina.

Top seeds Asia Muhammad and Irina Khromacheva of Russia won the doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Sanaz Marand and Jan Abaza 6-2, 6-2.

The final in the $15,000 men's Futures in Long Beach will see qualifier Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe play No. 6 seed Frederik Nielsen of Denmark. Garanganga beat No. 3 seed Jason Jung 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4. Nielsen also needed three sets in his semifinal win, beating unseeded Alex Sarkissian 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

In the $10,000 women's ITF Circuit event in Martinique, 16-year-old wild card Alexa Graham has reached the final. Graham had won three matches total in her six previous main draw appearances in $10,000 tournaments; she's already exceeded that number this week alone. After beating No. 4 seed Laura Pigossi of Brazil in the first round, Graham went on to defeat No. 5 seed Alexa Guarachi, the former Alabama All-American, in the quarterfinals, and today she upset top seed Irina Ramialison of France, No. 277 in the WTA rankings, 7-6(5), 6-1.  She will play unseeded 18-year-old Canadian Gloria Liang in the final. Liang, who won the 16s Orange Bowl title in 2012, beat No. 6 seed Naomi Totka of Hungary 6-1, 6-4.  

The draws are out for the Nike Junior International Teen Tennis tournament in Bolton, England, where 11 Americans are competing. William Grant won a spot through qualifying, with Andrew Puscas, Nathan Han(12), Cannon Kingsley(16), Anton Matusevich, Govind Nanda(8) and Leighton Allen in the 48-player draw.  Jack Draper of Great Britain is the No. 1 seed.  Four US girls are in the main draw: Amanda Anisimova(8), Hurricane Tyra Black(14), Whitney Osuigwe and Caty McNally(2).  McNally's nemesis Anastasia Potapova of Russia is not in the field, with the No. 1 seed going to Oona Orpana of Finland. For her part, Potapova is in the final of the ITF Grade 4 this week in Austria. 

At the Grade 1 Copa Gatorade in Venezuela, the last two Americans lost in today's semifinals.  No. 14 seed Andrea Kevakian was beaten by top seed Evgeniya Levashova of Russia 6-0, 6-0, while No. 4 seed Emil Reinberg lost to No. 13 seed Yshai Oliel of Israel 6-3, 6-1. Oliel will get another crack at Casper Ruud of Norway, last week's champion at the Coffee Bowl, who beat Oliel  6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals in Costa Rica. No. 3 seed Ruud reached this week's final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 10 seed Nuno Borges of Portugal.  

Kevakian and Ndindi Mwaruka, the No. 6 seeds, lost in the doubles final 6-1, 6-2 to top seeds Levashova and Brazilian Thaisa Pedretti. The boys doubles title went to No. 6 seeds Geoffrey Blancaneaux and Ugo Humbert of France, who beat Ruud and Jay Clarke of Great Britain, the No. 3 seeds, 6-1, 6-7, 10-7. 

At the Grade 1 Loy Yang in Australia, three US boys have made the third round: Taylor Fritz(3), Michael Mmoh(5) and Sameer Kumar. Madison Bourguignon is the only US girl to advance to the second round, with Raveena Kingsley, Jessica Ho, Mia Horvit and Raquel Pedraza losing their openers. Top seed Orlando Luz was beaten 6-2, 6-4 in the second round by Andrea Pellegrino of Italy.

My Eight Intriguing Questions for 2015; Tiafoe, Baughman Reach Sunrise Futures Semifinals; Nine US Juniors in Grade 1 in Traralgon Australia Main Draw

It's an annual tradition for me, to sit down in January and come up with eight questions I'm eager to have answered in the upcoming year. I had no difficulty coming up with what I'm looking forward to learning in 2015, and you can read all about it at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

I'll be recapping the final round of qualifying action at the Australian Open in tomorrow's post, with Sunday a day off prior to the start of the main draw.

At the $10,000 Futures in Sunrise, Florida, 18-year-old Deiton Baughman and 16-year-old Francis Tiafoe have reached the semifinals. Baughman, who received a special exempt into the tournament after making the semifinals last week in Plantation, won his third straight match 7-5 in the third, this time beating qualifier Young Seok Kim of Korea 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.  He will meet another qualifier Saturday in Samuel Bensousson of France.

The other semifinal will feature yet another qualifier in Tiafoe, who, like Bensousson, has now won seven matches: four in qualifying and three in the main draw.  Tiafoe, playing in his first tournament since last September, defeated No. 7 seed Markus Ericsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-2 and will play No. 8 seed Benjamin Balleret of Monaco, who at 32, is twice Tiafoe's age. Balleret beat No. 3 seed Connor Smith (Ohio State) in today's quarterfinal, but Smith will have a chance for revenge in the doubles final, when he and Emilio Gomez(USC), the No. 2 seeds, face Balleret and his partner Romain Arneodo, also of Monaco.

At the $15,000 Futures in Long Beach, Stefan Kozlov lost to No. 6 seed Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-0. Nielsen will play 2014 NCAA finalist Alex Sarkissian(Pepperdine) in one semifinal, while the other semifinal will feature No. 3 seed Jason Jung(Michigan) against qualifier Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe.  The doubles title went to No. 3 seeds Eric Quigley(Kentucky) and Nick Meister(UCLA), who beat last week's LA Futures champions Dennis Novikov(UCLA) and Dimitar Kutrovsky(Texas), the No. 4 seeds, 6-3, 6-2.  Steve Pratt has more on today's action in this article.

The semifinals of the $25,000 women's tournament in Plantation are set, with Samantha Crawford playing Elise Mertens of Belgium in the top half, and Sachia Vickery, the No. 3 seed, playing Russian qualifier Darya Kasatkina, the reigning French Open girls champion.

The first round of the Grade 1 in Traralgon Australia is underway, with five US girls and four US boys on Saturday's schedule.  Raveena Kingsley(8) and Jessica Ho have lost their first round matches, Madison Bourguignon has won hers, with Raquel Pedraza and Mia Horvit yet to play.  The US boys in the draw--Taylor Fritz(3), Michael Mmoh(5), William Blumberg and Sameer Kumar--will play later tonight.  Orlando Luz of Brazil and Jil Teichmann of Switzerland are the top seeds.  This Tennis Australia tournament site updates scores throughout the day.

Australian Open Draws Released as Qualifying Winds Down; Tiafoe, Baughman, Kozlov Reach Futures Quarterfinals; ITF Junior Update

The draws for the Australian Open were released this evening, with five US men and 16 US women in the fields.  The US men--John Isner(19), Donald Young, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson and wild card Denis Kudla--are all in the top half of the draw, with Kudla the only one of the unseeded four to draw a seed. He will play No. 12 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain. Young, Isner and Johnson play qualifiers, while Querrey has drawn Canadian Vasek Pospisil.

The US women in the draw are: Serena Williams(1), Nicole Gibbs, Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Madison Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe, wild card Irina Falconi, Madison Brengle, Lauren Davis, Venus Williams(18), Varvara Lepchenko(30), Shelby Rogers, Alison Riske, Grace Min, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Christina McHale.  Townsend drew No. 8 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who just beat her in the second round in Auckland, and the winner of that match plays the winner of two-time champion Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens, neither of whom are seeded this year.  Brengle, who plays in her first WTA semifinal tonight in Hobart, has drawn No. 13 seed Andrea Petkovic and Grace Min has drawn No. 24 seed Sara Errani.

Complete draws can be found at the tournament website.

Meanwhile, qualifying is proceeding with at least five US men into the final round of qualifying.  On Friday night (Saturday in Australia), Chase Buchanan, Michael Russell, Alex Kuznetsov, Tim Smyczek and Jarmere Jenkins will play for a place in the main draw and a minimum of the $34,500 that goes to a first round loser this year. Wayne Odesnik has not yet begun his second round match, nor have Alexa Glatch and Anna Tatishvili, who won their first round matches last night in the women's qualifying.

On opposite coasts and in opposite fashions, 16-year-olds Francis Tiafoe and Stefan Kozlov advanced to the quarterfinals of Futures events, as did 18-year-old Deiton Baughman.  At the $10,000 tournament in Sunrise Florida, qualifier Tiafoe defeated Tommy Mylnikov of Canada 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) to advance to the quarterfinals against No. 7 seed Markus Eriksson of Sweden.  Baughman came back to defeat No. 6 seed David Vega Hernandez of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. He will play 19-year-old qualifier Young Seok Kim of Korea, who surprised No. 1 seed Christian Lindell of Sweden 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Kozlov, who reached the quarterfinals last week in the Los Angeles Futures, cruised past top seed Dennis Novikov 6-0, 6-1 in the $15,000 Futures in Long Beach to again reach the final eight. He will play No. 6 seed Frederik Nielsen of Denmark Friday. Yannick Hanfmann, the USC senior who qualified, defeated former teammate Daniel Nguyen, the No. 2 seed, 6-4, 6-3.  For more on today's matches, see this article from Steve Pratt.

At the $25,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Plantation, qualifiers Robin Anderson and Kristie Ahn advanced to the quarterfinals, as did Sachia Vickery and Samantha Crawford. Reigning French Open girls champion Darya Kasatkina of Russia, another qualifier, upset No. 2 seed Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany 6-3, 7-5.

At the Grade 1 Copa Gatorade in Venezuela, Emil Reinberg(4) and Ulises Blanch have reached the third round, as have Anna Dollar(13), Andrea Kevakian(14) and Ndindi Mwaruka(8).  At the Grade 1 in the Czech Republic, Kayla Day, the No. 8 seed and the only American in the draw, has reached the quarterfinals.

The final round of qualifying for the Grade 1 in Traralgon Australia is tonight(Friday in Australia). Just two Americans were in the qualifying, with Julia Fisch losing in the first round, and Stephanie Hazell(15) winning her first round match. The main draw begins Saturday (Friday night here in the US).

Four US Women Start Australian Open Qualifying; Novaks Named Junior Tournament Directors of the Year; Tiafoe Beats Second Seed King in Sunrise Futures

The women's qualifying at the Australian Open has begun, with just four Americans in the 96-player draw, but with 16 US women in the main draw, that's no cause for alarm.  In action today are Alexa Glatch, Julia Boserup, Louisa Chirico and No. 24 seed Anna Tatishvili. 

Nine US men won their first round matches Wednesday. Advancing to the second round are Jarmere Jenkins, Tim Smyczek, Alex Kuznetsov, Bradley Klahn, Wayne Odesnik, who will play their second round matches Friday (Thursday night here in the US), and Jared Donaldson, Michael Russell, Austin Krajicek and Chase Buchanan, who are playing tonight (Thursday in Australia).

Live streaming is available here.  Qualifying draws are here.

Lorraine Novak, center, helps draw teams for the 2014 USTA event in Mobile

Lisa Stone at Parenting Aces announced her website's first annual award for top junior tennis tournament director of the year. Mobile's Scott and Lorraine Novak were the winners, and you can read about their philosophy in Stone's post. My husband and I have gone to Mobile every spring for ten years, and we have always been impressed by their commitment to improve. Also please read all the names of the other tournament directors nominated. These are people who have enhanced junior tennis, and should be congratulated on doing it so well that someone took the time to provide Lisa with a nomination.

The weather has cooperated at the three Pro Circuit tournaments in the US, with the first rounds completed today.

At the $25,000 women's tournament in Plantation, 19-year-old Samantha Crawford ousted top seed Michele Larcher de Brito of Portugal 6-1, 6-3. Qualifier Robin Anderson, a senior at UCLA, beat No. 4 seed Allie Kiick, a wild card, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 and qualifier Kristie Ahn, the recent Stanford grad, defeated former UNC start Sanaz Marand 6-3, 6-0. 

In nearby Sunrise, at the $10,000 Futures, Francis Tiafoe, who won four qualifying matches, went down in the first set to No. 2 seed Darian King of Barbados 6-0.  But the 16-year-old, playing in his first competition since the US Open Junior Championships, came back to win the match 7-6(7), 6-3.  He will play fellow qualifier Tommy Mylnikov, the 19-year-old Canadian, for a place in the quarterfinals. Recent Northwestern graduate Raleigh Smith picked up his first ATP point, beating No. 5 seed Chuhan Wang of China 6-3, 6-4.

At the $15,000 Futures in Long Beach, Stefan Kozlov beat qualifier Karim Hossam of Egypt 6-3, 6-1 to advance to a second round meeting with top seed Dennis Novikov.  USC's Yannick Hanfmann joined teammate Eric Johnson in advancing to the second round, as did UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald.