First Batch of Wimbledon Wild Cards Announced, with 2017 Junior Champions Davidovich and Liu Receiving Qualifying Spots; Jachuck, Mandlik Advance to Third Round at ITF Grade 1 in Germany; Noel Reaches $15K Quarterfinal

Wimbledon announced many of its wild cards today, although many more are still available, especially in the men's singles. The release I received gave "later this week" as the time frame for the naming of the remaining wild cards.  The LTA is holding a men's and a women's wild card tournament beginning tomorrow, with each of the two finalists awarded qualifying wild cards. The draws for those two events are available here.

Wimbledon main draw wild cards:

Men's singles:
1 Liam BROADY (GBR)
2 Jay CLARKE (GBR)
3 Alex DE MINAUR (AUS)
4 TBA
5 TBA
6 TBA
7 TBA
8 TBA

Women's singles:
1 Katie BOULTER (GBR)
2 Naomi BROADY (GBR)
3 Harriet DART (GBR)
4 Katy DUNNE (GBR)
5 Ons JABEUR (TUN)
6 Katie SWAN (GBR)
7 Gabriella TAYLOR (GBR)
8 TBA


Most slams do not offer the previous year's junior champions qualifying wild cards, but Wimbledon usually does, and this year Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and Claire Liu of the United States have been invited to participate.

Wimbledon qualifying wild cards:
Men's singles:
1 Alejandro DAVIDOVICH FOKINA (ESP)
2 Jack DRAPER (GBR)
3 George LOFFHAGEN (GBR)
4 Anton MATUSEVICH (GBR)
5 Aidan MCHUGH (GBR)
6 Alexander WARD (GBR)
7 James WARD (GBR)
8 Wild Card Play-off place
9 Wild Card Play-off place

Women's singles:
1 Holly FISCHER (GBR)
2 Francesca JONES (GBR)
3 Claire LIU (USA)
4 Maia LUMSDEN (GBR)
5 Emma RADUCANU (GBR)
6 TBA
7 Wild Card Play-off place
8 Wild Card Play-off place

The current wild card list, which includes main draw men's and women's doubles recipients, can be found here, although, many of those are also still to be determined.

Americans who received direct entry into the main draw this year include nine men and 15 women.

The men:
John Isner
Sam Querrey
Jack Sock
Steve Johnson
Tennys Sandgren
Ryan Harrison
Jared Donaldson
Frances Tiafoe
Taylor Fritz

The women:
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Sloane Stephens
Madison Keys
CoCo Vandeweghe
Danielle Collins
Taylor Townsend
Bernarda Pera
Sachia Vickery
Jennifer Brady
Christina McHale
Varvara Lepchenko
Sonya Kenin
Madison Brengle
Alison Riske

Cici Bellis was in the main draw, but has withdrawn due to a persistent injury.

The current list of Americans in qualifying:

The men:
Mackenzie McDonald
Bjorn Fratangelo
Denis Kudla
Michael Mmoh
Donald Young
Reilly Opelka
Bradley Klahn
Kevin King
Noah Rubin
Ernesto Escobedo
Stefan Kozlov
Dennis Novikov
Tommy Paul
Christopher Eubanks
Evan King
Christian Harrison
Mitchell Kreuger

The women:
Nicole Gibbs
Caroline Dolehide
Kristie Ahn
Irina Falconi
Jamie Loeb
Lauren Davis
Francesca Di Lorenzo
Grace Min

Complete main draw entry lists are here.

With so many men's main draw wild cards remaining,  Kudla, who has reached the quarterfinals this week at the ATP 500 in Halle Germany as a qualifier, has a good chance to be given one.  Although Querrey and Tiafoe are already in the Wimbledon main draw, they have also shown good form on grass this week, with both reaching the Queens ATP 500 quarterfinals in London.  Mmoh and Rubin are still in the €127,000 Challenger on grass in Ilkley, with the champion there also a possible Wimbledon wild card recipient.

Qualifiers Kenin and Riske are still alive at the WTA International this week in Mallorca, with Kenin reaching the quarterfinals and Riske beating No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany in the first round today. Again, they both received direct entry into Wimbledon, so their results have no impact on that, just their form and ranking.

The ITF Junior Circuit's Grade 1 tournament this week in Germany is again on clay, with Elli Mandlik, last week's Grade 1 finalist, the only US girl to advance to the third round.  Mandlik, the No. 11 seed, will face No. 5 seed Marta Custic of Spain in Thursday's third round.  Unseeded Ronan Jachuck, who lost in the first round last week in Offenbach, is the only US boy to reach the third round. The Harvard recruit will play No. 7 seed Savriyan Danilov of Russia on Thursday.

Alexa Noel opted to play in a $15,000 ITF Women's Pro Circuit event this week in Italy, using her junior exemption, and has reached the quarterfinals. The 15-year-old, who has played sparingly on the Pro Circuit and had won just one main draw match before this week, will face top seed Angelica Moratelli of Italy next.

Fifteen-year-old Ma, Fourteen-year-old Gauff Qualify for Baton Rouge $25K; Chrysochos Wins Again in Winston-Salem Futures; Kingsley, Poling Qualify at Rochester Futures; Guillermo Nunez Feature

Qualifying for the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Baton Rouge Louisiana was completed today, with 14-year-old Coco Gauff and 15-year-old Connie Ma among the eight to earn their way into the main draw.  Gauff, who is back in the US after winning the French Open girls title earlier this month before heading to Roehampton and Wimbledon, had already qualified and won a round at a $25,000 tournament last month in Florida, but Ma will be making her Pro Circuit debut. Ma, who finished third at the USTA 16s Nationals in San Diego last year, played her first Pro Circuit qualifying match last week, losing to former WTA Top 35 player Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the first round. This week, the Tennis Recruiting Network's top player in the class of 2021 defeated three accomplished college players: Mary Closs of Notre Dame, LSU's Jessica Golovin, the 2018 NCAA doubles champion, and today, Texas Tech All-American Gabriela Talaba of Romania.  Ma will play No. 4 seed Emiliana Arango of Colombia on Wednesday, with Gauff facing qualifier Hayley Carter, who is returning to professional tennis after spending last year as the assistant coach for the women's program at Oklahoma State. Carter, a seven-time All-American at North Carolina explained her decision to pursue a pro career earlier this month at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Sixteen-year-old Hailey Baptiste, Duke rising sophomore Kelly Chen and Allie Will, the former Florida star, are the other Americans advancing to the main draw.  Usue Arconada, who was hoping to play for LSU this past season, but ran into eligibility issues, is the top seed. Wild cards were given to 15-year-old Alexandra Yepifanova, LSU's Ryann Foster, UCLA's Ena Shibahara and 17-year-old Hurricane Tyra Black. Black defeated Shibahara 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in first round action today.

In addition to the Baton Rouge event, many Americans have also made their way to Victoria British Columbia for the $15,000 ITF Women's Circuit tournament there. Fifteen-year-old Tara Malik, 16-year-old Anna Zhang and 17-year-old Haley Giavara are among the qualifiers. Amanda Rodgers is the top seed, with three wild cards going to young Canadians and the other to University of Oregon rising sophomore Paiton Wagner of Washington.

The men's USTA Pro Circuit is at Wake Forest again this week, for a second straight $25,000 Futures event.  NCAA champion Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus, who won last week's Futures tournament on his home courts, is not seeded, but remains a favorite to win the tournament. He defeated teammate Christian Seraphim of Germany, a wild card, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 35 matches.  Top seed Tommy Paul, making his first appearance in a sanctioned event since late January, also advanced to the second round, defeating qualifier Oliver Crawford (Florida) 6-2, 6-4.  Like Seraphim, the other three wild cards are all members of the Wake Forest team: Eduardo Nava, Skander Mansouri of Tunisia and Rrezart Cungu of Montenegro.

The second USTA Pro Circuit tournament this week is a $15,000 Futures in Rochester New York.  Several qualifying matches were delayed until today, with Ohio State recruit Cannon Kingsley, Princeton recruit Karl Poling, LSU's Shane Monroe joining Ohio State's John McNally, Virginia's Gianni Ross and Texas A&M's Jordi Arconada as American qualifiers. Top seed Mattias Descotte of Argentina, who lost in the first round last week as the No. 1 seed, has suffered another early loss this week, with Isaiah Strode earning a 7-6(3), 6-4 decision in action today.  John Speicher(Dartmouth), Andres Andrade(Florida), Ryan Goetz(Virginia) and Alex Knight(Michigan) were awarded wild cards.

The men also have a $25,000 tournament in Calgary Alberta, with 15 Americans in the main draw, including 2017 NCAA champion Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia). Canadians Steven Diez and Samuel Monette(Indiana) are the top two seeds. Diez is one of the wild cards; the other three are also Canadians: 16-year-old Taha Baadi, and Calgary residents Harrison Scott(Texas) and Joshua Peck(North Carolina).

Bobby Knight tweeted out a link to this article about recent TCU graduate Guillermo Nunez of Chile. Nunez, who was a Top 10 junior in the ITF rankings, decided not to pursue pro tennis and, now employed on Wall Street, he explains why he took the college route, while his contemporary Christian Garin went straight to the Pro Circuit and is currently 173 in the ATP rankings. The article is in Spanish, but it sounds as if his decision to begin his career is based on visa requirements as well as an assessment of the likelihood of making a living in the lower levels of tennis. Nunez is going to continue his involvement with tennis however, with some part-time work at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.

USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge Begins July 9th, with Five Weeks of Tournaments, Including WTA; ITA Announces 2018 Collegiate All-Star Team; Texas Slam Winners

The USTA announced today that its annual US Open Wild Card Challenge will begin on July 9th, with the women's events including WTA tournaments for the first time.  The men have been using points accumulated in ATP events for some time in these Wild Card Challenges, but the women have always been restricted to the USTA Pro Circuit events designated.  This year the five weeks of tournaments for women will include not only Lexington, which had previously been part of the US Open Wild Card Challenge, but four additional $60,000 events in Honolulu Hawaii, Berkeley California, Ashland Kentucky and Landisville Pennsylvania.  Points earned in both qualifying and main draw at the WTA tournaments in San Jose and Washington DC will also count toward the best two results in this five-week span.

The men have 16 events in those five weeks that can provide points, with the American with the best three results in those ATP Tour and Challenger tournaments receiving a US Open main draw wild card.

The USTA press release is below: US OPEN WILD CARD CHALLENGE TO BEGIN WEEK OF JULY 9 Main Draw Wild Cards into 2018 US Open to be Awarded to Top-Performing American Man and Woman over Five-Week Run of ATP, WTA and USTA Pro Circuit Hard-Court Events WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 18, 2018 – The USTA today announced that the US Open Wild Card Challenge, which utilizes hard-court pro tournaments to award an American man and woman a main draw wild card into the US Open, will kick off the week of July 9 and conclude the week of Aug. 6. The men’s wild card will go to the American with the highest cumulative total of ATP singles ranking points earned from their best three results during that five-week window, including results from any professional hard-court event at the ATP Challenger level and above around the world. The women’s wild card will be awarded to the American with the highest cumulative total of WTA singles ranking points earned from their best two results during those five weeks, at select $60,000 outdoor USTA Pro Circuit hard-court events (main draw only) – including four new $60,000 tournaments, in Honolulu, Berkeley, Calif., Ashland, Ky., and Landisville, Pa. – as well as qualifying and main draw results from the WTA tournaments in San Jose, Calif., and Washington, D.C. Only Americans who do not earn direct entry into the US Open are eligible. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on Aug. 13 will be awarded the wild card. All USTA Pro Circuit tournaments will be streamed live on www.procircuit.usta.com. This is the seventh consecutive year the USTA has used a wild card challenge format to award US Open wild cards for American players. The US Open Wild Card Challenge will consist of the following events: Men’s Events Week of July 9: Winnetka, Ill. $75,000; Winnipeg, Canada $75,000 Week of July 16: Astana, Kazakhstan $125,000; Gatineau, Canada $75,000 Week of July 23: Atlanta ATP 250; Granby, Canada $100,000; Binghamton, N.Y. $75,000 Week of July 30: Washington D.C. ATP 500; Los Cabos ATP 250; Chengdu, China $125,000; Segovia, Spain €85,000+H; Lexington, Ky. $75,000 Week of August 6: Toronto ATP Masters 1000; Jinan, China $150,000; Aptos, Calif. $100,000; Portoroz, Slovenia €64,000+H Women’s Events Week of July 9: Honolulu $60,000 Week of July 16: Berkeley, Calif. $60,000 Week of July 23: Ashland, Ky. $60,000 Week of July 30: San Jose WTA Premier; Washington, D.C. WTA International; Lexington, Ky. $60,000 Week of August 6: Landisville, Pa. $60,000 The USTA first used this US Open wild card format for its 2012 wild cards. The USTA also utilizes this wild card challenge format for the French Open and Australian Open. Previous US Open wild card winners include: 2012 – Steve Johnson and Mallory Burdette, both of whom reached the third round 2013 – Bradley Klahn and Shelby Rogers, with Klahn winning his first-round match 2014 – Wayne Odesnik and Nicole Gibbs, with Gibbs reaching the third round 2015 – Bjorn Fratangelo and Samantha Crawford 2016 – Ernesto Escobedo and Sofia Kenin, with Escobedo picking up his first Grand Slam win 2017 – Tommy Paul and Sofia Kenin, with Kenin reaching the third round, before falling to Maria Sharapova in Arthur Ashe Stadium The 2018 US Open main draw will be held Monday, Aug. 27, through Sunday, Sept. 9.  Information on the US Open Wild Card Challenge will be available at www.procircuit.usta.com. Follow the USTA Pro Circuit #USTAProCircuit.  The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its 2018 National Collegiate All-Star Team today.  The Division I Team is below. For the members from Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior Colleges, see the release on the ITA website. Division I Men NCAA Singles Champion: Petros Chrysochos, Jr., Wake Forest University NCAA Singles Runner-Up: Borna Gojo, So., Wake Forest University Oracle ITA National Fall Championships Singles Champion: Nuno Borges, Jr., Mississippi State  No. 1 Ranked Singles: Martin Redlicki, Sr., UCLA NCAA Doubles Champions: Martin Redlicki (Sr.) / Evan Zhu (Jr.), UCLA NCAA Doubles Runner-Up: Mikael Torpegaard (Sr.) / Martin Joyce (Jr.), The Ohio State University  Oracle ITA National Fall Championships Doubles Champion: Petros Chrysochos (Jr.) / Skander Mansouri (Sr.), Wake Forest University  Division I Women NCAA Singles Champion: Arianne Hartono, Sr., Ole Miss NCAA Singles Runner-Up: Ashley Lahey, Jr., Pepperdine University  Oracle ITA National Fall Championships Singles Champion: Andrea Lazaro, Sr., Florida International University  No. 1 Ranked Singles: Astra Sharma, Sr., Vanderbilt University NCAA Doubles Champions: Jessica Golovin (Jr.) / Eden Richardson (Fr.), LSU  NCAA Doubles Runner-Up: Vladica Babic (Sr.) / Sofia Blanco (Jr.), Oklahoma State University  Oracle ITA National Fall Championships Doubles Champion: Emily Arbuthnott (So.) / Michaela Gordon (Fr.), Stanford University

The USTA Texas Section held its big Closed tournament last week, with Trey Hilderbrand and Fiona Crawley winning the 18s singles titles.  The
singles finals results are below, with more on the tournament available at the USTA Texas website.

Boys’ 18 Singles: Trey Hilderbrand def. Reed Collier 6-1, 6-0
Boys’ 16 Singles: Andrew Chang def. Zachery Foster 6-4, 6-4
Boys’ 14 Singles: Kyle Totorica def. Charles Wood 6-2, 7-6 (4)
Boys’ 12 Singles: Alexander Razeghi def. Yuki Asako 6-0, 6-0

Girls’ 18 Singles: Fiona Crawley def. Sydney Fitch 7-5, 6-3
Girls’ 16 Singles: Bridget Stammel def. Brianna Wilbur 7-5, 6-0
Girls’ 14 Singles: Erica Jessel def. Ylan Duong 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-5
Girls’ 12 Singles: Chelsie Son def. Maya Dutta w/o (inj)

Ma Wins ITF Grade 1 in Germany; Lee Takes Grade 5 Title in Thailand; Rybakov Claims Buffalo Futures, Chrysochos Extends Winning Streak at Wake Forest $25K; Townsend Captures Sumter Title

Lea Ma won her first ITF Grade 1 singles title today in Offenbach Germany, defeating Elli Mandlik 6-4, 7-5 in the all-American girls final.  The 17-year-old Ma, who was the No. 2 seed, had reached the final of two Grade 1 tournaments earlier this year, while Mandlik, also 17, was playing in her first Grade 1 final.  The boys title went to No. 6 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, who defeated unseeded Giulio Zeppieri of Italy 6-3, 7-5.  Ma, whose previous career high in the ITF junior rankings was 37, should move into the Top 25 with her title today.

At the ITF Grade 5 in Thailand, 15-year-old Karl Lee picked up his first ITF Junior Circuit title. The Sacramento resident, seeded No. 15, defeated four higher seeds to claim the title, beating No. 5 seed Iiro Vasa of Finland 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

At the ITF Grade 4 in Guatemala, Spencer Brachman and Max McKennon won the boys doubles title, with the unseeded pair beating No. 2 seeds Guillermo Castaneda and Patricio Nieto of Mexico 6-2, 7-6(2) in the final. McKennon, who was unseeded in singles, lost in the final to unseeded Rafael De Alva Valdez of Mexico 6-2, 6-4.

Two of the three USTA Pro Circuit events had disappointing endings, with Taylor Townsend claiming the $25,000 women's event in Sumter South Carolina without winning a point.  The top seed got a retirement from No. 2 seed Alize Lim before any points were played to earn her third Pro Circuit singles title this year.  At 75 in the WTA rankings, Townsend may have played her last $25,000-level tournament for a while.  The Sumter Item has been covering the event this week; whether they will have a story about the final is unclear, but this article provides more on Saturday's doubles title, won by collegians Astra Sharma and Luisa Stefani.

TCU rising senior Alex Rybakov, the No. 5 seed, won his second career Futures title today at the $25,000 tournament in Buffalo New York, with No. 4 seed Deiton Baughman retiring down 7-6(5), 3-1. The 21-year-old left-hander was playing his first Futures event since early in January, when he made two quarterfinals in the California Futures.

A dramatic finish did play out at the $25,000 Futures at Wake Forest, with NCAA champion Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus coming from 4-1 down in the third set to defeat qualifier Michael Redlicki 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.  Rising Wake Forest senior Chrysochos was down two breaks before his surge in the third set, which kept his winning streak intact.  In my post last night, I said Chrysochos hadn't lost since January, and that's true in a collegiate context, but he did have a quarterfinal ATP Challenger loss back in March. But since then, he also has recorded three Davis Cup wins, so his winning streak, at all levels, now stands at 34, according to the Wake Forest sports information staff. Chrysochos is also entered in the second Wake Forest $25,000 Futures this coming week, which is expected to see the comeback of Tommy Paul, who hasn't played since the end of January.

Ma and Mandlik Face Off for ITF Grade 1 Title in Germany; All-US Final in Buffalo Futures; NCAA Champion Chrysochos Ends Ritschard's Win Streak at Wake Forest Futures

Two 17-year-old Americans will meet Sunday for the ITF Grade 1 title in Offenbach Germany, with the winner of the championship match between No. 10 seed Elli Mandlik and No. 2 seed Lea Ma collecting her first Grade 1 title.  Mandlik, the daughter of four-time slam champion Hana Mandlikova, advanced to her first Grade 1 final when German wild card Mara Guth retired trailing 7-6(4). 3-2. Ma, who lost the two previous Grade 1 finals she played back in January, defeated No. 11 seed Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia 6-4, 7-6(1).

The boys final will feature unseeded Giulio Zeppieri of Italy against No. 6 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic.  Zeppieri took out top seed Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 in today's semifinal, with Lehecka beating unseeded Fabrizio Andaloro of Italy 6-3, 6-2.

Ma and partner Chloe Beck, the top seeds, fell in the girls doubles final 6-3, 6-3, to No. 3 seeds Sohyun Park of Korea and Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong. The top seeds in the boys doubles also lost with Filip Jianu of Romania and Tao Mu of China falling to No. 7 seed Rinky Hijikata of Australia and Yannik Steinegger of Switzerland 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.

The $25,000 Futures in Buffalo New York will have an all-American final, with No. 5 seed Alex Rybakov facing No. 4 seed Deiton Baughman. Rybakov, a rising TCU senior, defeated unseeded Lucas Gomez of Mexico 6-3, 6-2 and Baughman downed unseeded Markos Kalovelonis of Russia 6-1, 6-3.  Rybakov will be playing for his second career Futures singles title, while Baughman hopes to secure his fourth, although he has not won a singles title since 2015.  They have played twice in Futures qualifying, splitting those decisions, but those matches were three and five years ago. Gomez and Alejandro Gomez of Colombia won the doubles title today, with the No. 2 seeds beating No. 1 seeds Matias Descotte and Eduardo Torre of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

NCAA singles champion Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus has advanced to the final of the $25,000 Futures tournament on his home courts at Wake Forest, ending the 18-match Futures winning streak of former Virginia star Alexander Ritschard with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 victory in today's semifinals.  Since Chrysochos, a rising senior, lost to Vanderbilt's Cameron Klinger back in January, the 22-year-old has won 30 consecutive college matches, including the six in the NCAA singles tournament, and now four this week in the Futures.  He will play qualifier Michael Redlicki, who advanced to his second career Futures final with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 5 seed Karue Sell. Chrysochos defeated Redlicki's younger brother Martin in the semifinals of the NCAA singles tournament last month.

The top two seeds will face off in the final of the $25,000 Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Sumter South Carolina, with No. 1 Taylor Townsend playing No. 2 Alize Lim of France. Townsend defeated qualifier Gail Brodsky 6-2, 7-6(4) and Lim ended the run of Pepperdine's unseeded Ashley Lahey 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, in another three-hour match for the NCAA finalist.   Vanderbilt's Astra Sharma of Australia and Pepperdine's Luisa Stefani of Brazil won the doubles title today, with the No. 3 seeds defeating No. 4 seeds Julia Elbaba and Shilin Xu of China 2-6, 6-3, 10-5.

Ma, Mandlik Reach Semifinals of ITF Grade 1 in Germany; Seven Americans Advance to USTA Pro Circuit Semifinals; Bobby Curtis Florida Closed Results

Elli Mandlik and Lea Ma picked up victories today to reach the semifinals of the ITF Grade 1 tournament in Offenbach Germany.  Mandlik, the No. 10 seed, defeated No. 4 seed Gergana Topalova of Bulgaria 6-2, 7-6(4) and will face German wild card Mara Guth for a place in the final. Ma, the No. 2 seed, defeated unseeded Andjela Skrobonja of Serbia 7-5, 6-2 and play No. 11 seed Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia.  Ma and her partner Chloe Beck, the top seeds, have reached the doubles final, beating No. 7 seeds Margaryta Bilokin of Ukraine and Nikki Redelijk 6-3, 7-5 in today's semifinals. They will play No. 3 seeds Sohyun Park of Korea and Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong in the championship match.

The semifinals are set at the three $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit events this week, with seven Americans still in the running for the titles.  At the women's tournament in Sumter South Carolina, three Americans have advanced to the final four, with top seed Taylor Townsend facing qualifier Gail Brodsky and Pepperdine's Ashley Lahey, the 2018 NCAA finalist, playing No. 2 seed Alize Lim of France. Lahey needed three hours and 11 minutes to defeat No. 7 seed Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals.  Brodsky beat qualifier Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 6-4 and Townsend got past No. 6 seed Maria Mateas 7-5, 6-3.  Lim prevented an all-USA semifinal lineup by defeating Robin Anderson[5] 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2 in three hours and 41 minutes. 

At the men's Futures in Buffalo New York, No. 5 seed Alex Rybakov, the rising TCU senior, advanced to the semifinals with another marathon result from today's action.  Rybakov defeated unseeded Mateo Martinez of Argentina 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-3 in three hours and 46 minutes. He will play unseeded Lucas Gomez of Mexico, who advanced in a mere three hours and three minutes over No. 6 seed Pavel Krainik of Canada.  Deiton Baughman, the No. 4 seed, is the other American man in the semifinals. He defeated No. 7 seed Alejandro Gomez of Colombia 6-4, 7-5 to set up a meeting with unseeded Markos Kalovelonis of Russia.

At the men's Futures at Wake Forest, Alexander Ritschard continued his men's Pro Circuit winning streak, picking up No. 18 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over qualifier Ryan Peniston of Great Britain. Ritschard's opponent Saturday will be Wake Forest's 2018 NCAA champion Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus, who defeated teammate Yuval Solomon 6-2, 6-1.  Qualifier Michael Redlicki will face Karue Sell in the semifinal in the bottom half.  Redlicki advanced with a 7-6(1), 6-2 win over unseeded Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland and No. 5 seed Sell of Brazil, ended the run of Brian Shi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. 

Huesler won the doubles title, with Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands. The top-seeded pair beat No. 4 seeds Trevor Johnson and Ronnie Schneider 7-6(7), 6-1 in today's final.

The Bobby Curtis State Closed in Florida ended this week, with the results below. Girls 18s winner Alexis Blokhina, at age 13, became the youngest champion in that tournament's 70 year history.  For quotes from the winners and photos of the finalists, see this article from USTA Florida.

Girls’ 18s: Alexis Blokhina (Plantation) d. (3) Sophia Edwards (Nokomis) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
Boys’ 18s: (3) David Lins (Boca Raton) d. (6) Matthew Segura (Apopka) 4-6, 7-5, 5-0 Retired (injury)
Girls’ 16s: (1) Elaine Chervinsky (Boca Raton) d. (2) Anastasia Sysoeva (Bradenton) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
Boys’ 16s: (1) Jameson Corsillo (Boca Raton) d. (2) Emilio Van Cotthem (Ft. Pierce) 6-2, 6-1
Girls’ 14s: (1) Natalie Block (Plantation) d. (2) Nikki Yanez (Sarasota) 6-3, 6-2
Boys’ 14s: (2) Yannik Rahman (Miami) d. (7) Phillip Dell (Bradenton) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
Girls’ 12s: (1) Sophie Llewellyn (Tarpon Springs) d. (11) Natalie Outcalt (Ponte Vedra Beach) 6-1, 7-5
Boys’ 12s: (2) Nathan Blokhin (Plantation) d. (3) Tanner Povey (Indian Rocks Beach) 6-4, 6-1