My Article on Lendl the Coach; Three Pro Circuit Events This Week in United States; Valkusz is New ITF No. 1

During the Orange Bowl I spoke with Ivan Lendl and three of the boys the USTA has invited to work with the eight-time slam champion. I also spoke with one of the boys' coaches and USTA head of men's tennis Jay Berger about the advantages of getting former champions to spend time with young players.  In this article, posted today on the Tennis Recruiting Network, I tried to pull together what each group--players, champion, coaches, USTA--are getting from this initiative. I hope all agree it's worthwhile to continue and expand the program in the years ahead.

There are USTA Pro Circuit events this week, with two in Florida and one in Southern California.  The women's are in Daytona Beach, at a $25,000 tournament. Shelby Rogers, WTA 151, opted out of Australian Open qualifying and is the top seed, with Grace Min No. 2.  Wild cards into the main draw went to Min, Taylor Townsend, Chiara Scholl and Ohio State freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo.  Cici Bellis(5), Asia Muhammad(6), Robin Anderson and Lauren Embree are the other US women in the main draw prior to the final round of qualifying. Usue Arconada, Brooke Austin, Ingrid Neel, Kayla Day, Jacqueline Cako, Alexis King and Ellie Halbauer can join them if they win their final round qualifying matches Tuesday.

Down I-95, in Plantation, the men start the Florida clay swing with a $10,000 tournament. Qualifying was completed today, with three Americans advancing to the main draw: Florida freshman Alfredo Perez, recent Princeton graduate Zack McCourt and recent Texas A&M
graduate Junior Ore. Wild cards into the main draw went to Tommy Paul, who is the No. 1 seed, Illinois senior Jared Hiltzik, the No. 8 seed, recent Louisville graduate Michael Lippens and University of Miami sophomore Christian Langmo.  Michael Grant(USC), Raleigh Smith and Wil Spencer(5) are the other US men in the main draw.

The second $25,000 Futures in California this month is in Long Beach, with qualifying finishing today. Americans qualifying for the main draw are Henrik Wiersholm (Virginia sophomore), Thai Kwiatkowski (Virginia junior), Farzin Danny Amiri, Liam Caruana(Texas), Ryan Lipman(Vanderbilt) and Brandon Holt(USC recruit, who is featured in the Lendl article).

Main draw wild cards were awarded to Riley Smith, Tom Fawcett, Gonzales Austin and Logan Smith.  American Nick Meister is the top seed, with Stefan Kozlov(4), Michael Mmoh, Clay Thompson, Deiton Baughman(5), Evan King(7), Jean-Yves Aubone, Ryan Shane, Eric Johnson, Raymond Sarmiento, Dennis Nevolo, Eric Quigley(3), Ernesto Escobedo(6) and Evan Song bringing the total number of Americans in the 32-draw to 24.

With previous ITF junior No. 1 Casper Ruud of Norway not defending his Grade 1 title at the Coffee Bowl, there's a new No. 1 in the rankings this week, 17-year-old Mate Valkusz of Hungary. Valkusz won two Grade 1s last year and reached the final of the Grade A Osaka Mayors Cup and the semifinals of the Orange Bowl. Ruud won three straight Grade 1s last January, so his current ranking of 3 won't last, particularly in light of the fact he withdrew from the Australian Open Junior Championships.

Fritz, Galfi Finish 2015 as World Junior Champions; ITA Convention Division I Issues Recap; Ulises Blanch Feature

The ITF released the 2015 year-end rankings today, with US Open junior champions Taylor Fritz of the United States and Dalma Galfi of Hungary finishing as ITF World Junior champions.  They will be honored at an ITF dinner in Paris held during the French Open in June.

Fritz very much wanted to win the title, and he admitted when I talked to him in Champaign last month that he was keeping an eye on who had entered the final big junior tournaments of 2015, although, after he won two Challenger titles, there was never a suggestion that he would return to junior competition.  As it happened, the players with the best chance of catching Fritz didn't play in the final clay swing, and the 18-year-old Californian ran away with the title, amassing 1356.88 points compared to No. 2 Casper Ruud's 985.00.

Fritz is the first US boy to finish at No. 1 since Donald Young in 2005.
Here are the boys ITF World champions since 2004, when the ITF first introduced its combined singles and doubles rankings:

2004: Gael Monfils, France
2005: Donald Young, USA
2006: Thiemo De Bakker, The Netherlands
2007: Ricardas Berankis, Lithuania
2008: Tsung-Hua Yang, Taiwan
2009: Daniel Berta, Sweden
2010: Juan Sebastien Gomez, Colombia
2011: Jiri Vesely, Czech Republic
2012: Filip Peliwo, Canada
2013: Alexander Zverev, Germany
2014: Andrey Rublev, Russia

Galfi's win was much closer, as the 17-year-old edged Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who did not play any junior events after the US Open.  Galfi's total of 1168.75 was just 15 points more than Vondrousova's 1153.75.  She is the first Hungarian to be named ITF World Junior champion.

The girls world champions since 2004:

2004: Michaella Krajicek, The Netherlands
2005: Victoria Azarenka, Belarus
2006: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia
2007: Urszula Radwanska, Poland
2008: Noppanwan Lertcheewakarn, Thailand
2009: Kristina Mladenovic, France
2010: Daria Gavrilova, Russia
2011: Irina Khromacheva, Russia
2012: Taylor Townsend, USA
2013: Belinda Bencic, Switzerland
2014: CiCi Bellis, USA

In addition to the prestige, there are tangible benefits for finishing first, second, Top 5 and Top 10, which I'm including below*. The Top 5 girls also benefit from "merited increases" in the number of ITF/WTA tournaments they can play, which are limited according to age.

If you look at the 2015 year-end rankings, you will not find French Open boys champion Tommy Paul or Wimbledon boys champion Reilly Opelka. That's because the ITF has strict requirements for year-end rankings which usually only about 100 players per year meet.  Here is the criteria:

To be eligible for a year-end ranking a junior must have played in a minimum of six individual junior singles tournaments, including at least three Grade A (Super Series) tournaments and including at least three ranking tournaments outside his/her own country. Each Grade A (Super Series) tournament won will count as two tournaments played. Each Grade A (Super Series) tournament won will further count as one foreign tournament played.

*The year-end number 1 ranked girl will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at one (1) ITF Women’s Circuit tournament up to and including $100,000 prize money level and two (2) ITF Women’s Circuit tournaments up to and including $75,000 prize money level. 

The year-end number 2 ranked girl will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at two (2) ITF Women’s Circuit tournaments up to and including $75,000 prize money level and direct entry into the Main Draw at one (1) ITF Women’s Circuit tournament up to and including $50,000 prize-money level. 

The year-end number 3-5 ranked girls will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at two (2) ITF Women’s Circuit tournaments up to and including $50,000 prize money level and direct entry into the Main Draw at one (1) ITF Women’s Circuit tournament up to and including $25,000 prize money level. 

The year-end number 6-10 ranked girls will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at three (3) ITF Women’s Circuit tournaments up to and including $25,000 prize money level. Should any girl(s) ranked 1-10 not wish to participate in the Junior Exempt Project, their three junior exempt places can be awarded to the next highest year-end ranked player(s) ranked 11-15. Such player(s) will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at three (3) ITF Women’s Circuit tournaments up to and including $25,000 prize-money level. 

The year-end number 1-2 ranked boys will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at three (3) ITF Men’s Circuit tournaments up to and including $15,000+H prize-money level. 

The year-end number 3-5 ranked boys will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at three (3) ITF Men’s Circuit tournaments up to and including $15,000 prize-money level. 

The year-end number 6-10 ranked boys will be offered direct entry into the Main Draw at three (3) ITF Men’s Circuit tournaments at $10,000 prize-money level. 

source: ITF Junior Rules and Regulations

Bobby Knight is attending the ITA Convention in Naples and has written up an account of some of the discussion during the Division I strategy sessions for his College Tennis Today blog.

Ulises Blanch was the subject of this Bradenton Herald feature, which explains why the 17-year-old, who trains in Argentina, is so comfortable traveling all over the world. You're unlikely to find a more global background anywhere. Clever headline too.

Blue Chip Zeke Clark to Join Fighting Illini in 2016

I spoke with Zeke Clark about his decision to commit to the University of Illinois earlier this month at the ITF Pan American Closed in his hometown of Tulsa.  Clark, who reached the semifinals at the Grade B1 tournament, is "the biggest fighter probably in junior tennis right now" according to Pan Am finalist JJ Wolf, so he a great many admirers among college coaches and therefore many options. In this announcement at the Tennis Recruiting Network,  Clark relates why Illinois was perfect for him.

They Said It: Quotes from American Juniors at the US Open

Here are a few interesting quotes from last week's US Open Junior Championships that didn't make it into my daily updates. Only the singles finalists were interviewed in Room 1, where there are transcripts and placards and microphones, but a voice recorder on a cellphone in one of the media center's cubicles can often result in a more relaxed and informative conversation.

Reilly Opelka, on any American pros that have taken an interest in mentoring him and other US boys:

Steve Johnson, he’s a great role model and a great influence on all the junior guys. His work ethic, how he acts around everyone, he’s probably the most liked player. Isner as well has been very friendly to us.

Sonya Kenin, on her first round loss to Mariana Duque-Marino in the women’s main draw:

That match wasn’t really up to me. Here, when I’m playing juniors, it’s up to me if I can play good.

Michael Mmoh, on what appealed to him about tennis when he was a child:

When I was young, I wanted to become a basketball player, but shortly later, I thought it was the best option to play tennis and I started really liking it because I really like to compete, and I felt it was what I was best at, so it gave me the best chance to compete.

Patrick Kypson on his connection with Tommy Paul growing up in Greenville, North Carolina:

His stepdad was my first coach at the club that he owned there in Greenville, Courtside Athletic Club. So I’ve known Tommy and his sister, his whole family for a long time. 

JJ Wolf on being called Jeff at the US Open:

I told them JJ, but they keep saying Jeff. They said, we’re going to go with Jeff. People were saying Jeff, and I was like, is that my dad or me?

Alexa Graham, on her decision to play ITF Women’s Circuit events rather than junior tournaments, and whether she will play college tennis at North Carolina in 2016:

It wasn’t to follow in the Williams system path. It was more if we’re going to spend the money to send you to travel, we’d rather it impact you in a way that you’re going to have that ranking to go professional. When I’m 18, the junior ranking is going to expire.

I’m doing so well right now that if I can get the financial support to go pro, that’s something I’d really love to do. I have so many colleges near my house I can always get an education and a degree, but playing professionally is something I’ve always wanted to do, so I’d love to do it right out of high school.

Francesca Di Lorenzo, on the sport she left for tennis:

When I was younger I used to play soccer, actually and I liked that way more than tennis at the time. I liked the team part of it, and I did travel soccer, and did tennis on the side. But since I have three other siblings, it was just too much driving, so my mom said I had to choose between soccer and tennis.  A week earlier playing tennis, I had beaten the top girl in our group and I was so happy. So then I was, like, I love being out there alone, I love the individual part of it, so I quit the travel soccer team, which I was pretty mad about at the time, but I guess it worked out well.

Usue Arconada, on whether she is a tennis fan and who is her favorite player to watch:

I like it more live than on TV, but it depends on the match. I watched Serena the other day, with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and [Fabio] Fognini and Nadal. I love Fognini. He’s so talented. I know he’s not a great leader for the sport, but he’s so talented.

Tommy Paul on adjusting, in the space of a week, between being an unknown underdog as a qualifier in the men’s draw and a favored veteran in the junior draw:

Definitely it’s a lot easier going out playing pros. Obviously, it’s not easier, because their level’s great but it’s a lot easier on the nerves and you get out there and play really free. When I go out and play [15-year-old Felix Auger Aliassime], I’m like, all right, I’ve really got to make sure I win this match, because, well, he’s younger and you feel you should win against younger people.

Taylor Fritz, on how he’s changed since turning pro:

I’m making better decisions with training and dieting because I have in the back of my mind, I’m a pro and I have to act like it. It’s more of a sense of doing the right thing more often. I’m eating healthier, my diet has already gotten a lot better, and I’m training harder, getting a massage, doing all the maintenance, stretching, everything I need to do to stay healthy. I wouldn’t say I’ve given anything up, but I’m going to miss going to In-N-Out as much as I do when I’m home.

Steve Johnson, asked about the current crop of American boys in the juniors, particularly Reilly Opelka:

I think we have a great group of young American kids, Reilly, Tommy, Frances, a lot of kids. They’re all good kids, they work really hard. Reilly is 6-10 and can serve massive and is probably going to get taller. The one thing I think with him, he could work a little bit more on how he presents himself on the court, but other than that, he’s 18, he has a lot of time to learn. I’m happy to help these kids any way I can. We didn’t take the same route, because he didn’t go to college, but if they want help, I’d love to help. Same thing when I was coming up, Sam, if I wanted help, he’d help, John, Mardy, you name it. It’s something you just kind of pass down from generation to generation.

Stanford's Zhao, Oklahoma's Alvarez Top Oracle/ITA Preseason Rankings; Fritz, Mmoh & Paul Fill Top Three Spots in ITF Junior Rankings; Paul Signs with Team8

The first rankings of the 2015-16 Division I season were released by the ITA today, with Stanford junior Carol Zhao and Oklahoma senior Axel Alvarez at No. 1 in singles.

The women's Top 10:
1. Carol Zhao, Stanford
2. Brooke Austin, Florida
3. Julia Elbaba, Virginia
4. Maegan Manasse, Cal
5. Josie Kuhlman, Florida
6. Stephanie Wagner, Miami
7. Sydney Campbell, Vanderbilt
8. Danielle Collins, Virginia
9. Hayley Carter, North Carolina
10. Giuliana Olmos, Southern Cal

The men's Top 10:
1. Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma
2. Ryan Shane, Virginia
3. Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA
4. Julian Lenz, Baylor
5. Quentin Monaghan, Notre Dame
6. Andrew Harris, Oklahoma
7. Nicolas Alvarez, Duke
8. Thai Kwiatkowski, Virginia
9. Brayden Schnur, North Carolina
10. Dominik Koepfer, Tulane

Bobby Knight at College Tennis Today has done a comparison between the men's Oracle/ITA rankings and their Universal Tennis Ratings. According to UTR, UCLA's Martin Redlicki, Oklahoma's Alex Ghilea and Illinois' Aleks Vukic are ranked much lower than they should be, while the ITA has Schnur, Koepfer, Cameron Norrie of TCU, and Felipe Soares of Texas Tech substantially higher in the rankings than their UTR ratings would warrant.

I'm not as proficient working with UTR as Bobby is, but if UTR ratings were used instead of ITA rankings, this would be the women's preseason Top 10:

1. Brooke Austin 12.34
2. Astra Sharma  11.99
T3. Danielle Collins 11.96
T3. Joana Eidukonyte 11.96 (Clemson)
5. Julia Elbaba 11.86
6. Carol Zhao 11.85
7. Hayley Carter 11.80
8. Maegan Manasse 11.77
T9. Catherine Harrison 11.75 (UCLA)
T9. Sydney Campbell 11.75

The newcomer rankings have US Open girls semifinalist Francesca Di Lorenzo of Ohio State as No. 1 for the women and Mazen Osama of Alabama as No. 1 for the men.

The current UTR ratings for the women's newcomers:

1. Francesca DiLorenzo Ohio State 11.90
2. Rianna Valdes USC 11.23
3. Anna Danilina Florida 11.19
4. Anna Shkudun Syracuse  11.18
5. Luisa Stefani Pepperdine 11.52
6. Ellyse Hamlin Duke 11.69
7. Andie Daniell Alabama 11.13
8. Erica Oosterhout Harvard 11.03
9. Kaitlyn McCarthy Duke 11.45
10. Melissa Lord Stanford 11.72

The Top 5 women's doubles teams:
1. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
2. Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips, UCLA
3. Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, Cal
4. Sydney Campbell and Courtney Colton, Vanderbilt
5. Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson, Texas A&M

The Top 5 men's doubles teams:
1. Austin Smith and Ben Wagland, Georgia
2. Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane, Virginia
3. Felipe Soares and Hugo Dojas, Texas Tech
4. Boris Arias and Jordan Daigle, LSU
5. Christian Seraphim and Skander Mansouri, Wake Forest

Complete rankings can be found through the ITA rankings landing page.

Also in college tennis, the Southern Intercollegiate Championships wrapped up yesterday in Athens, Georgia, with Georgia's Wayne Montgomery repeating as singles champion and Smith and Wagland taking the doubles title.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley was at the US Open last week, and the former head coach at Illinois was obviously delighted to see one of his recruits, Kevin Anderson, make his first slam quarterfinal.  Tiley spoke about Anderson and building the Illinois program, and his current position in Australia in this interview at the Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette.

The post-US Open ITF junior rankings are out, and US boys hold four of the top 5 positions, including Taylor Fritz at 1, Michael Mmoh at 2, Tommy Paul at 3. Reilly Opelka is No. 5 and William Blumberg is No. 10. Sonya Kenin is now at No. 3, a career-high, after reaching the US Open final and Di Lorenzo is up to a career-high of 15.

Paul, who turned pro when he signed with Nike after his French Open boys title, now has signed with an agency: Team8, founded by Tony Godsick, Roger Federer's longtime agent when both were at IMG.

From today's Team8 release:

In tennis, TEAM8 manages all-time great Roger Federer, as well as 2009 US Open Champion, Juan Martin Del Potro and 2014 Wimbledon Semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov. "TEAM8 is going to continue to be very selective with whom we chose to partner.  Tommy is not only a very talented and athletic tennis player, he is also an outstanding young man with a very bright future on the global tennis stage,” said Tony Godsick, President and CEO of TEAM8.  “Tommy has all of the attributes that exemplify TEAM8 clients.  We look forward to a great partnership.”  

"I am excited to partner with TEAM8," said Paul. "Their team has an incredible reputation and track record partnering with professional athletes and I believe they can really help me with their individualized approach and global expertise.”

USTA Pro Circuit Events this Week in Redding and Claremont; Menguene and Dadaciu Sweep ITF Events

Although I'm back in Kalamazoo now, I'm far from finished with the US Open Junior Championships.  I'll have a recap of the tournament for Tennis Recruiting later in the week, and my annual slideshow of all the Americans who competed in the main draw of junior singles. I also am planning to prepare a "They Said It" post, with interesting quotes from juniors that didn't make it into my daily match stories.

More to come from the US Open later in the week

I will also have more on the American Collegiate Invitational. I spoke to all 16 competitors and will provide an update similar to the one I did last year later this month.

The New York Times covers the Open from all angles and I've seen at least three articles on US juniors: David Waldstein wrote about Francesca Di Lorenzo and Michael Mmoh, and Ben Rothenburg talked to Brandon Holt, Riley Smith and Taylor Fritz about growing up as sons of accomplished tennis playing parents.

Stephanie Myles at Yahoo Canada has more on the US Open boys doubles title for Canadians Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov.

After a break for the US Open, the USTA Pro Circuit is back. There's a $10,000 men's Futures in Claremont, California, a $25,000 women's tournament in Redding, California, and a new $50,000 Challenger in Cary, North Carolina. The Challenger in Cary, as well as the Columbus Challenger next week, also new, are not part of the USTA Pro Circuit.

Tommy Paul was in the main draw of the Cary Challenger, but his run to the boys final, where he experienced some shoulder issues, has led to his withdrawal.  Former Georgia star Wil Spencer and North Carolina junior Ronnie Schneider have qualified for the main draw and North Carolina junior Brayden Schnur received a wild card. Stefan Kozlov lost to No. 2 seed Austin Krajicek 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 in a first round evening match in Cary.

There are also quite a few Americans in Canada for the $15,000 Futures in Toronto. Alex Rybakov has advanced to the second round with Adam El Mihdawy's first set retirement.

Bobby Knight at College Tennis Today has the details on the three Futures titles by former collegians last week, by Adrien Puget(UCLA), Remi Boutillier (Fresno State) and Matija Pecotic (Princeton).

In ITF Junior Circuit results, two American girls swept the titles in Honduras and Togo.

Fourteen-year-old Floridian Sabina Dadaciu, seeded No. 4, took the singles title at the Grade 5 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, beating top seed Rut Galindo of Guatemala 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Dadaciu teamed with Kacie Harvey, also 14, to take the doubles title. The No. 4 seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Mishelle Cordero Lopez and Maria Rivera Corado of Guatemala  6-1, 6-1 in the final.

Unseeded Adam Neff and Tyler Zink won the boys doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Jacob Beasley and Fletcher Scott 7-6(3), 6-3, in an all-American final.

At the Togo Grade 4, Malkia Menguene swept both titles for the second week in a row.  After winning both singles and doubles at the Benin Grade 4, beating doubles partner and top seed Alana Smith of the US in the singles final, the 15-year-old from Washington DC picked up two more titles, beating No. 15 seed Alice Robbe of France 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the singles final, while again winning the doubles with Smith.

Rybakov Chooses TCU; Witten, Elie Earn Spots in US Open Qualifying Draws; Top Seed Chung, 11 Other Seeds Fall in Grade 1 IHC First Round

©Colette Lewis 2015--
College Park, Maryland--

It was a hot and busy first day at the ITF Grade 1 International Hard Court Championships, and I'll have more about all the upsets later in the post.

My interview with No. 1 Class of 2015 recruit Alex Rybakov, who recently signed with TCU and will begin school in January, is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The US Open National Playoffs singles tournaments concluded today, with No. 4 seed Jennifer Elie and No. 2 seed Jesse Witten taking the ninth and final wild card spots in the qualifying draws.  Elie beat Virginia senior Julia Elbaba 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in a match that took three hours and 30 minutes to decide. Elie, 28, will be making her first appearance at the US Open.  Witten, 32, defeated top seed Matija Pecotic of Croatia 7-6(4), 7-6(3) to earn his qualifying wild card. His best result at the US Open came in 2009, when he qualified and reached the third round before losing to No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic in four sets.

The doubles portion of the US Open National Playoffs begins on Tuesday, with main draw wild cards on the line for the women's, men's and mixed events.

Once Elie and Witten had earned their wild cards, the US Open qualifying draws were released, along with Tuesday's schedule. Twenty-one American women and 13 American men are competing for places in the main draw and 19 of them are in action on Tuesday:
Gastao Elias (POR) vs. Dennis Novikov (USA)
Shelby Rogers (USA) vs. Grace Min (USA)
Alexander Sarkissian (USA) vs. Jan Mertl (CZE)
Tornado Alicia Black (USA) vs. Romina Oprandi (SUI)[22]
Luksika Kumkhum (THA) vs. Victoria Duval (USA)
Raveena Kingsley (USA) vs. Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)[30]
Taylor Harry Fritz (USA) vs. Luca Vanni (ITA)[19]
Claire Liu (USA) vs. Veronica Cepede Royg (PAR)
Michael Mmoh (USA) vs. Matthew Ebden (AUS)[26]
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)[15] vs. Alexa Glatch (USA)
Shuko Aoyama (JPN) vs. Jessica Pegula (USA)
Julia Boserup (USA) vs. Julia Glushko (ISR)
Edina Gallovits-Hall (USA) vs. Mayo Hibi (JPN)
Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) vs. Noah Rubin (USA)
Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) vs. Catherine Bellis (USA)
Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) vs. Jarmere Jenkins (USA)
Elitsa Kostova (BUL) vs. Melanie Oudin (USA)
Tommy Paul (USA) vs. Blaz Rola (SLO)[24]

The complete draws can be found at usopen.org.

Jonathan Kelley has more on the US players in qualifying at his On The Rise blog.

Now on to the the action at the International Hard Court Championships, where twelve seeds lost in the opening round, including No. 1 seed Yunseong Chung of Korea.  Chung, who was competing in the semifinals of a Korean Futures just two days ago (or three, depending on which date line you use) and Trent Bryde were engaged in a tough first set, with neither able to get a break.  Then with Chung serving at 5-6, he went down 0-30, and a perfectly executed drop shot by Bryde gave him three set points. He converted the first when Chung made a forehand error, and as they walked to their chairs, Chung told the umpire he was retiring.

"I'm not sure what was wrong with him," said Bryde, who is celebrating his 16th birthday today. "He seemed a little tired during kind of the whole match, but I don't think there was any physical injury.  I was really surprised. I did not see that coming. I was in shock at first. It took a while for it to sink in that I actually won the match."

Chung gave his reason for his retirement as a headache, and Bryde said he was not aware that Chung had traveled from Korea in the past two days.

"I think I heard he came in not too long ago, so he could have been tired from that; it probably had a lot to do with it," Bryde said.

Despite the abrupt ending to the match, Bryde was happy with his performance and the result, appreciating the chance to play the ITF's No. 11 junior.

"I thought I served really well and was clutch on my break points," Bryde said. "I was actually really excited, honestly. I thought it was a chance to make this one of my best birthdays, and it has been. I'm really happy."

The boys draw also lost its third and fourth seeds, with Robert Loeb defeating No. 3 seed Franco Capalbo of Argentina 6-3, 7-6(5) at the University of Maryland site, and No. 4 seed Djurabeck Karimov of Uzbekistan pulling out due to injury.  No. 8 seed Benjamin Hannesad of Denmark lost to qualifier Jake Van Emburgh 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-1, No. 11 seed Yousef Hossam of Egypt lost to John Jorgeson 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3, No. 16 seed Alexey Aleshchev of Russia lost to Alexandre Rotsaert 6-2, 6-4 and No. 13 seed Sam Riffice lost to qualifier Oliver Crawford 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5).

Riffice was serving up 4-1 in the third set and was up 5-2 in the final tiebreaker, while Crawford was struggling with a calf injury he had suffered early in the third set.

"At 1-all in the third set, I hit an overhead and came down on my left leg, and something happened there," said Crawford, who did not call for a trainer in spite of the obvious pain he was experiencing on certain shots. "I felt a little bit of cramping there, but it was mostly the pain in my left leg that was affecting some of my movement."

As for his comeback, Crawford didn't give himself much credit for that.

"I didn't change anything," said the 16-year-old from South Carolina. "His level dropped. I don't think he played his best tennis today, so I was lucky to get through that with what I was going through. He let down his guard a little bit 4-1 up, go for a little more, and I just stayed in there and tried to keep fighting."

Down 5-2 in the tiebreaker, Crawford played two aggressive points, hitting a clean third-ball backhand down the line winner on the first and coming up with a good first serve on the second to make it 5-4.  A good return caught Riffice off guard and he netted a backhand, and when Riffice lost the next point on his serve, netting a forehand, Crawford had an improbable match point. He hit a big forehand, close to the baseline, drawing another error and had secured what he called one of his biggest wins.

He also admitted that he played more aggressively than usual in the third set, due to the injury.

"I had to," said Crawford, "just because I wasn't moving as well as I possibly could, I guess. I was trying to put as much pressure on him as I could, and I was winning some and losing some, but I had to. The courts are fast, so when I was hitting out on the ball more, I felt it was helping me a lot."

Amanda Anisimova said she needed to make some adjustments for the faster surface, but once she did, the 13-year-old rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 7 seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia.

"I hit with a lot of spin, because they were really, really fast," said Anisimova, another qualifier who beat a seed in the first round. "Qualifying helped me, because these are really different courts from what I usually practice on."

Serving at 3-2 in the first set, Anisimova went down 0-40, but came back to win the game, as Potapova, a junior Wimbledon quarterfinalist, struggled to stay in the rallies.

"I started to get behind the ball and play way better," said the Floridian of that turning point in the  match. "I was thinking about what I'm going to do between points, and making my serves."

Anisimova considers Potapova a friend, having practiced with her previously and spent time with her at the ITF World Junior Tennis Team competition earlier this month, where the Russian team defeated the USA team in the finals.

"I played three, but I was happy for my teammates," Anisimova said, speaking of Caty McNally and Hurricane Tyra Black. "We had a tough loss [in the final], but we played pretty well the whole tournament."

As for beating Potapova, Anisimova called it "probably my best win. I thought it would be tougher, be a pretty hard match. Overall it was pretty tough in the games, but the score didn't show it."

Anisimova's teammate McNally also picked up a win over a seeded player. The 13-year-old wild card defeated No. 16 seed Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Black lost to No. 10 seed Deria Nur Haliza of Indonesia 6-4, 6-1.

Kelly Chen took out No. 4 seed Pranjala Yadlapalli of India 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 and Kylie McKenzie defeated No. 12 seed Georgia Craciun of Romania 6-3, 6-2.  No. 15 seed Alexandra Sanford, the only US girl seeded in the tournament, lost to Karman Thandi of India 6-4, 7-6(5).

Top seed and defending champion Anna Kalinskaya of Russia defeated qualifier Elysia Bolton 6-4, 6-0 and No. 2 seed Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia beat Juliana Valero of Colombia 6-2, 6-2.

Complete draws, including doubles draws, and Tuesday's order of play can be found at the JTCC website.

Notes From All Over

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Georgia(6) vs Michigan(11) noon

Stanford(14) vs Cal(3) noon

Vanderbilt(4) vs Clemson 3 pm

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

Baylor(8) vs Virginia(9)  7 pm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Complete results can be found here.

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

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

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

My Interview with Reilly Opelka on Signing with Lagardere

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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