Fifteen-year-old Eala Claims First ITF Pro Title; Rinderknech Wins Istanbul Challenger; Four More Teams Qualify for ITA Team Indoor Championships

Fifteen-year-old Alexandra Eala of the Philippines won her first ITF women's pro circuit event today, in just her sixth tournament on the Circuit. Eala, currently No. 3 in the ITF Junior rankings, played five tournaments last year, four at the $15,000 level and one at the $25,000 level. Most have been in Spain, because she has been training for some time at the Rafael Nadal Academy, and this week's $15,000 tournament was held on her home courts.  

Using a junior reserved spot for entry, the unseeded Eala defeated top seed Seone Mendez of Australia 6-4, 6-1 in the second round, and No. 5 seed Carole Monnet of France 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 in the quarterfinals. In today's final, she again came back from a set down, defeating unseeded 28-year-old Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers of Spain 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. 

Another prominent ITF junior won the doubles title, with 18-year-old Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia partnering with Angela Fita-Boluda of Spain to claim her fourth pro doubles title. The No. 4 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Ylena In-Albon and Valentina Ryser of Switzerland 6-1, 4-6, 10-5 in the final. 

Two young Danish stars also won titles this weekend, Holger Rune of Denmark taking a $15,000 tournament in France and Clara Tauson claiming the title at the $25,000 tournament in United Arab Emirates. I'll have more on those two titles in my January Aces column at the beginning of next month.

Former Texas A&M star Arthur Rinderknech of France won his third Challenger title since leaving College Station, taking the ATP 125 in Istanbul Turkey as a qualifier. Rinderknech defeated unseeded Benjamin Bonzi of France 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(3) in today's final, to move his ranking to a career-high of 134.  The ATP provides a thorough recap of Rinderknech's career to date and his title this week in this article.

Another former collegian won the doubles title, with Cal graduate Andre Goransson of Sweden partnering with David Pel of the Netherlands for the championship. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded pair of Lloyd Glasspool(Texas) and Harri Heliovaara of Finland 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. 

Four more teams booked their spots in next month's ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships, with five more attempting to earn their places on Monday during the Kickoff Weekend.  When exactly the eighth men's team will be decided is currently not known, with the final between Baylor and Texas A&M postponed today at the Michigan regional, due to a shutdown of all University of Michigan athletics implemented Sunday morning due to a student-athlete's positive test detecting the recently discovered and more contagious strain of Covid-19. The Michigan women's team, at the Georgia Tech regional, were recalled without playing their consolation match.  Fortunately, Baylor and Texas A&M are in close proximity, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem getting that match played in the next week or so.  

The most exciting final of the day saw Georgia Tech defeat Duke 4-3 after dropping the doubles point. Freshman Ava Hrastar clinched at the No. 2 spot, beating Georgia Drummy 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3). Several first round matches are still being played; I will update those later tonight.

Teams in bold have qualified for the Team Indoor Championships.

Friday

WOMEN:

North Carolina Regional:

Mississippi[2] d. Old Dominion[3] 4-2

North Carolina[1] d. Notre Dame[4] 4-0

Final:  North Carolina[1] d. Mississippi[2] 4-1

Saturday:

Texas Regional:

Texas[1] d. Iowa[4] 4-0

Baylor[3] d. Arizona State[2] 4-2

Final: Texas[1] d. Baylor[3] 4-0

Ohio State Regional

Ohio State[1] d. Syracuse[4] 4-0

Virginia[2] d. Tennessee[3] 4-1

Final: Ohio State[1] d. Virginia[2] 4-2

Georgia Tech Regional

Georgia Tech[1] d. South Carolina[4] 4-3

Duke[2] d. Michigan[3] 4-1

Final: Georgia Tech[1] d. Duke[2] 4-3

UCLA Regional(rained out Saturday, moved to Sunday)

UCLA[1] v California[4]

Texas A&M[2] d Washington State[3] 4-1

Final(MONDAY):

Pepperdine Regional (rained out Saturday, moved to Sunday)

Pepperdine[1] d. Wisconsin[4] 4-0

USC[3] d. Denver[2] 4-1

Final(MONDAY):

Sunday:

NC State Regional

NC State[1] v Northwestern[4]

Wake Forest[2] d. Central Florida[3] 4-3

Final(MONDAY):

MEN:

Friday

Ohio State Regional

Ohio State[1] d. Middle Tennessee State[4] 4-0

Virginia[3] d. Iowa[2] 4-0

Final: Virginia[3] d. Ohio State[1] 4-2

NC State Regional

NC State[1] d. Alabama[4] 4-2

Tennessee[2] d. Mississippi[3] 4-2

Final: Tennessee[2] d. NC State[1] 4-1

Texas Regional

Florida[2] d. Arizona[3] 4-2

Texas[1] d. Liberty[4] 4-1

Final: Texas[1] d. Florida[2] 4-3

Saturday:

USC Regional

USC[1] d. UNLV[4] 4-0 (moved to Sunday)

UCLA[2] d. California[3] 4-0

Final(MONDAY):

Michigan Regional

Baylor[4] d. Michigan[1] 4-0

Texas A&M[2] d. Pepperdine[3] 4-0

Final: TBD

TCU Regional

TCU[1] d. Denver[4] 5-0

Oklahoma[3] d. Wake Forest[2] 4-0

Final: TCU[1] d. Oklahoma[2] 4-0

Sunday:

North Carolina Regional

North Carolina[1] d. Northwestern[4] 4-0

South Carolina[3] d. Duke[2] 4-1

Final(MONDAY):

Slama, Visaya Sweep Titles at Costa Rica Grade 4; Unseeded Gureva, Lajal Claim Ukraine Grade 1 Championships; No. 1 Seeds Fall in ITA Kickoff Weekend Action

Mia Slama and Azuma Visaya each captured both singles and doubles titles at this week's ITF Grade 4 in Costa Rica. The singles finals today were both all-USA contests, with Slama, the top seed, defeating unseeded Sophie Llewellyn 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and No. 3 seed Visaya beating qualifier Jonah Braswell, the Orange Bowl 16s champion, 7-6(5), 6-0. 

For the 17-year-old Visaya, it's a third ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the previous two coming in 2019.  The 14-year-old Slama, who won her first three ITF singles titles in November, is now 22-1 in her last five tournaments on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Visaya and Lucas Brown, the top seeds in doubles, defeated No. 2 seeds Timothy Carlsson Seger and Michael Minasyan of Sweden 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 for the boys doubles title; Slama and Llewellyn had already teamed for the girls doubles title before they met in today's singles final, with the unseeded pair beating top seeds Ana Candiotto and Carolina Xavier Laydner of Brazil 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-4 in the final.

At the ITF Grade 4 in India, Rutuja Chaphalkar reached the singles final and won the girls doubles title with Hrudaya Shah of India. The No. 4 seeds defeated top seeds Reshma and Suhitha Maruri of India 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final.

Both singles champions at the ITF Grade 1 in Ukraine were unseeded, with 15-year-old Anastasiia Gureva of Russia and 17-year-old Mark Lajal of Estonia collecting their first Grade 1 titles. Gureva, who won three three-setters this week, defeated No. 7 seed Polina Iatcenko of Russia 6-4, 6-4 in the final, while Lajal beat No. 2 seed Aleksander Orlikowski of Poland 6-4, 6-3.  

Lajal also took the doubles title, with Matthew William Donald of the Czech Republic. The No. 3 seeds defeated wild cards Erik Arutiunian of Belarus and Ilya Maksymchuk of Ukraine 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final. No. 2 seeds Natalia Szabanin of Hungary and Sabina Zeynalova of Ukraine won the girls doubles title, beating the unseeded team of Yaroslava Bartashevich of Russia and Alina Granwehr of Switzerland 6-2, 6-1 in the final.

A busy day for the ITA Division I Kickoff Weekend, with twelve regionals scheduled, although rain caused the first day of UCLA and Pepperdine women's regional action to be moved to Sunday. Oddly, the men's Southern Cal regional is underway, although with a lengthy delay.

In one of the four regionals concluding today, defending women's champion North Carolina had no difficulty returning to the ITA Team Indoor, beating Mississippi 4-1, but two men's hosts and No. 1 seeds--Ohio State and North Carolina State--will not be among those in Champaign next month after falling today.  Michigan, another men's No. 1 seed, lost in the opening round to No. 4 Baylor in what was expected to be the most competitive of the men's regionals.

Ohio State lost to Virginia 4-2 and Tennessee defeated North Carolina State 4-1. The third men's final today, in Austin, has had multiple rain delays, and the match between Florida and Texas is delayed, with Texas leading 3-2.

Below are the results from Friday and Saturday that I currently have; I will update this later tonight with the West Coast scores. Teams in bold have qualified for the Team Indoor Championships.

Friday

WOMEN:

North Carolina Regional:

Mississippi[2] d. Old Dominion[3] 4-2

North Carolina[1] d. Notre Dame[4] 4-0

Final:  North Carolina[1] d. Mississippi[2] 4-1

Saturday:

Texas Regional:

Texas[1] d. Iowa[4] 4-0

Baylor[3] d. Arizona State[2] 4-2

Ohio State Regional

Ohio State[1] d. Syracuse[4] 4-0

Virginia[2] d. Tennessee[3] 4-1

Georgia Tech Regional

Georgia Tech[1] d. South Carolina[4] 4-3

Duke[2] d. Michigan[3] 4-1

UCLA Regional(rained out Saturday, moves to Sunday)

UCLA[1] v California[4]

Texas A&M[2] v Washington State[3]

Pepperdine Regional (rained out Saturday, moves to Sunday)

Pepperdine[1] v Wisconsin[4]

Denver[2] v USC[3]

Sunday:

NC State Regional

NC State[1] v Northwestern[4]

Wake Forest[2] v Central Florida[3]

MEN:

Friday

Ohio State Regional

Ohio State[1] d. Middle Tennessee State[4] 4-0

Virginia[3] d. Iowa[2] 4-0

Final: Virginia[3] d. Ohio State[1] 4-2

NC State Regional

NC State[1] d. Alabama[4] 4-2

Tennessee[2] d. Mississippi[3] 4-2

Final: Tennessee[2] d. NC State[1] 4-1

Texas Regional

Florida[2] d. Arizona[3] 4-2

Texas[1] d. Liberty[4] 4-1

Final: Texas[1] d. Florida[2] 4-3

Saturday:

USC Regional

USC[1] v UNLV[4](moved to Sunday due to rain)

UCLA[2] d. California[3] 4-0

Michigan Regional

Baylor[4] d. Michigan[1] 4-0

Texas A&M[2] d. Pepperdine[3] 4-0

TCU Regional

TCU[1] d. Denver[4] 5-0

Oklahoma[3] d. Wake Forest[2] 4-0

Sunday:

North Carolina Regional

North Carolina[1] v Northwestern[4]

Duke[2] v South Carolina[3]

See College Tennis Today for links to scoring and streams and check out the Cracked Racquet Red Zone coverage on YouTube.

Brantmeier Sweeps Titles, Razeghi Wins Second Straight at New Jersey Grade 5; Rahman Claims Grade 4 in Kenya; Semifinals Set at UTR $25Ks; First Results from ITA Kickoff Weekend

Sixteen-year-old Reese Brantmeier swept the titles today at the ITF Grade 5 in Medford New Jersey, while 14-year-old Alexander Razeghi got a double of his own, adding a second title to the one he claimed last week at the Grade 5 in Connecticut.

Brantmeier, the top seed, defeated No. 6 seed Elisabeth Jones 6-1, 6-3 to claim her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. Brantmeier, currently No. 82 in the ITF Junior World rankings, won her first ITF Junior Circuit title last month, and it was a big one, partnering with Kimmi Hance for the Grade A Orange Bowl doubles title. 

Brantmeier's second title of day was less straightforward than her singles victory, with she and Brooklyn Olson, the top seeds, defeating No. 2 seeds Gracie Epps and Aubrey Nisbet 7-6(2), 2-6, 10-8.

Razeghi, who captured his first ITF Junior Circuit title last week with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Louis Cloud, earned his second with another victory over Cloud, the No. 6 seed, this time by a 6-4, 6-2 score. Razeghi, who received a wild card for both tournaments, is now on a ten match winning streak. 

The boys doubles championships was claimed by unseeded Preston Stearns and Nicholas Godsick, who won the 16s Orange Bowl doubles title last month. Stearns and Godsick defeated top seeds Cloud and his partner John Kim 6-1, 6-4 in the final. 

Yannik Rahman also has an ITF Junior Circuit 10-match winning streak going after taking the boys singles title at the Grade 4 in Nairobi Kenya. The second-seeded Rahman, who won the last ITF junior event he played last month in Costa Rica, defeated unseeded Yua Taka of Japan 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in today's final. 

The semifinals of this week's $25,000 UTR Pro Tennis Tour events will begin on Saturday, after the completion of the round robin stage of the tournament today.

In the top half men's semifinal in Naples Florida, top seed Matija Pecotic, the former Princeton All-American, will face former Northwestern star Strong Kirchheimer, while No. 2 seed JC Aragone(Virginia) will take on Cristian Rodriguez Sanchez in the bottom half. Rodriguez Sanchez reached the final of the $25K in Naples last month; all four semifinalists went undefeated in their groups. 

The top two seeds advanced to the women's semifinals in Newport Beach California, with No. 1 Kayla Day set to face 16-year-old Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and No. 2 seed Ana Sofia Sanchez taking on former Dartmouth star Taylor Ng. Day lost one match in the round robin stage, while the other three went undefeated. 

The first day of the ITF Kickoff Weekend saw eight matches played, although overnight rain at the men's regional in Texas pushed back the start there and top seed Texas is still playing its match against No. 4 seed Liberty.  The winners play Saturday for a place in the ITA Team Indoor Championships. Friday's results are below.

Women:

North Carolina Regional:

Mississippi[2] d. Old Dominion[3] 4-2

North Carolina[1] d. Notre Dame[4] 4-0

Men:

Ohio State Regional

Ohio State[1] d. Middle Tennessee State[4] 4-0

Virginia[3] d. Iowa[2] 4-0

NC State Regional

NC State[1] d. Alabama[4] 4-2

Tennessee[2] d. Mississippi[3] 4-2

Texas Regional

Florida[2] d. Arizona[3] 4-2

Texas[1] d. Liberty[4] 4-1

Bobby Knight has posted links for live streaming and live scoring throughout the weekend (and into next week) at College Tennis Today.

Cracked Racquets is providing Red Zone coverage from several venues on its YouTube Channel.

ITA Kickoff Weekend Begins Friday; Rematch at New Jersey Grade 5 for Boys Title; Top Seed Shnaider Out at Ukraine Grade 1; Brooksby Signs with UOMO

Men's host sites on left, women's host sites on right

The Division I "Road to Indoors" begins Friday, with the ITA Kickoff Weekend scheduled for ten sites across the country. Seven men's teams and seven women's teams will earn their spots in the National Team Indoors, scheduled for next month at Oklahoma State for the women and Illinois for the men. Although the number of participating teams has been cut in half this year, due to the pandemic, the host teams still are receiving an automatic bid. 

After several teams withdrew earlier this week and were replaced, no other withdrawals were announced today. The Iowa women are replacing LSU in the Texas Regional, moving Baylor to the No. 3 seed, while Iowa is now No. 4 and will play host Texas. Baylor's opponent is now No. 2 seed Arizona State.

As you can see from the graphic above, the four teams are hosting both men's and women's competitions: North Carolina, North Carolina State, Texas and Ohio State. 

The ITA has a new page for links to times, rosters, and live scoring. Cracked Racquets has secured rights to provide a NFL-like RedZone on its YouTube channel from several of the locations, with their coverage beginning at noon on Friday. 

The finals are set for the ITF Grade 5 in Medford New Jersey with the boys championship match the same as last week's final in Connecticut. Fourteen-year-old wild card Alexander Razeghi will take on No. 6 seed Louis Cloud for the title, with Razeghi having won his first ITF Junior Circuit title last week with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Cloud. In today's semifinals, Razeghi defeated qualifier Preston Stearns 6-3, 6-4 and Cloud ended the run of lucky loser Kase Schinnerer by a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 score. 

In the girls final, top seed Reese Brantmeier will take on No. 6 seed Elisabeth Jones after Brantmeier rebounded for a 4-6, 7-5(2), 6-1 victory over No. 7 seed Olivia Lincer, and Jones defeated unseeded Maya Joint 7-6(4), 6-2.  Both Cloud and Brantmeier are also through to the doubles finals.

At the Grade 1 in Ukraine, top seed Diana Shnaider of Russia was beaten by unseeded 15-year-old Anastasia Gureva of Russia 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. Gureva will face wild card Mariia Hlahola of Ukraine for a spot in the final. The other semifinal features No. 7 seed Polina Iatcenko of Russia against unseeded Ksenia Zaytseva of Russia. 

Fifteen-year-old Vojtech Petr of the Czech Republic is into the semifinals, where he will play unseeded Mark Lajal of Estonia. No. 8 seed Matthew Donald of the Czech Republic will face No. 2 seed Aleksandr Orlikowski of Poland in the other boys semifinal. 

Brandon Nakashima, the only American competing in this week's ATP Challenger 125 in Istanbul, lost his second round match today to former Texas A&M star Arthur Rinderknech of France 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-4. Italian Lorenzo Musetti, another teenager in the spotlight, also fell in the second round, to Benjamin Bonzi of France. Robert Galloway and Alex Lawson have advanced to the doubles semifinals. 

2018 Kalamazoo 18s champion Jenson Brooksby has signed an endorsement contract with UOMO, a clothing brand based in Los Angeles. The full release from Wednesday:

On this Inauguration Day, UOMO Sport is excited to announce the signing of native Californian and rising American star Jenson Brooksby to a multiyear agreement. Brooksby, coached by Joe Gilbert, turned professional late last year after leaving Baylor University early to make the transition to ATP Tour. Brooksby, the 2018 Kalamazoo 18's Champion, was the #1 recruit nationally for his graduating high school class and has a win over former top 10 player Tomas Berdych when he qualified and won his first round at the 2019 US Open. In 2021, Brooksby played and won the UTR Newport Beach Men’s event without dropping a set en route to the title.

 “I’m excited to join the UOMO family as I make the jump to pros. Steven's [Uomo Founder] vision for the clothes are inspirational and I’m honored to wear his line. He has believed in my game for a long time and I look forward to growing with Uomo on and off the tennis courts”

UOMO, based in California, is a Luxury Italian men's tennis apparel, combining class and innovation fabric for the ultimate performance.  Brooksby joins an elite roster of international players and coaches highlighted by Canadian Brayden Schnur, Germany’s Cedrik Marcel Stebe, Brazil’s Thomas Belucci, grand slam champion coach Brad Stine & legendary coach, announcer and former Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash.  UOMO’s 2021 line is honoring the grand slams and is available at select high end clubs around the world.

Petr Takes Out Top Seed at Ukraine ITF Grade 1; Razeghi Extends Win Streak, Reaches Grade 5 Semifinals; UTR Announces Pro Series in Europe

Vojtech Petr, photo ©Richard van Loon 2019

The 2019 Les Petits As, 15-year-old Vojtech Petr of the Czech Republic, lost to Maks Kasnikowski of Poland in the first round a Grade 2 in Poland when returning to the ITF Junior Circuit last year in September after the long pandemic layoff. Today, the 2019 European 14s champion avenged that 6-3, 6-2 loss, defeating top seed Kasnikowski 1-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 in the second round of the ITF Grade 1 in Ukraine.

Petr, who is already 134 in the ITF rankings despite the limited opportunities for earning points in 2020, won his first ITF title, a Grade 4, last September. No. 3 seed Max Westphal of France also lost today, so the top half contains just one seed, No. 7 seed Orel Kimhi of Israel.  Boys No. 2 seed Aleksander Orlikowski of Poland did make it through to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Derrick Chen of Great Britain. 

Girls No. 2 seed Natalia Szabanin of Hungary also fell in today's second round action, with Ksenia Zaytseva of Russia posting a 6-4, 6-0 win. Top seed Diana Shnaider of Russia again dropped the first set, but earned her place in the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over American Isabelle Kouzmanov. Seven of the eight girls quarterfinalists are from Russia, with the eighth a wild card from Ukraine.

At the ITF Grade 5 in New Jersey, the semifinals are set for Thursday, with 14-year-old wild card Alexander Razeghi looking for his ninth consecutive win in the past two weeks. Razeghi, who won the Grade 5 in Connecticut last week, defeated qualifier Hudson Beaudoin 6-0, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals. Razeghi will face another qualifier, Preston Stearns, Peyton's younger brother, on Thursday. Stearns defeated Zane Ford 7-6(5) 6-2 today.  In the bottom half of the boys draw, No. 6 seed Louis Cloud will play lucky loser Kase Schinnerer for a place in the final. Cloud defeated No. 4 seed Kian Vakili 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 and Schinnerer took out qualifier Nicholas Steiglehner 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. Schinnerer is a high school freshman who played his first ITF tournament last week in Connecticut, losing in the final round of qualifying, as he did this week. But he now has his first three wins on the ITF Junior Circuit. 

The girls semifinals feature three seeds, with No. 1 Reese Brantmeier playing No. 7 Olivia Lincer. Brantmeier beat wild card Maddy Zampardo 6-3, 6-2, while Lincer defeated No. 4 seed Emma Charney 6-0, 6-3. In the bottom half, No. 6 seed Elisabeth Jones will play unseeded Maya Joint after Jones beat No. 3 seed Gracie Epps 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 and Joint defeated Kathryn Treiber 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. 

UTR sent out a press release today regarding the European segment of its Pro Tennis Tour, which is currently underway here in the United States and in Australia. 

Beginning next week in Spain, the events are similar to those elsewhere, with a $25,000 financial commitment/$20,000 in prize money and a round robin competition to determine the knockout round. After several weeks of men's and women's events in Spain, the tour moves to Bulgaria in late March, in Romania in April and to the Czech Republic in June. For the list of tournaments in Europe, see this UTR page. 

Covid Forces ITA Kickoff Weekend Shuffling; Top Seeds Ousted at New Jersey Grade 5; Nakashima Advances at Istanbul Challenger; ATP's Tiafoe Feature

The first restructuring of this coming weekend's ITA Kickoff Weekend, which will determine the seven teams advancing to next month's Team Indoor Championships, took place last month, when Stanford announced its men's and women's teams would not be participating. The Wisconsin women and the Alabama men stepped into their slots, with Pepperdine taking over the hosting duties for the Stanford women and no other teams pulled out for the next month. 

But beginning last Wednesday, that changed, with the Washington women dropping out of the Ohio State regional, replaced by Syracuse. A few days later, the Kansas women pulled out of the UCLA regional and were replaced by Cal. 

Yesterday, two men's teams bowed out, with Central Florida replaced by UNLV in the USC regional and Texas Tech replaced by Middle Tennessee in the Ohio State regional.

With all testing needing to be completed by Wednesday, more withdrawals were expected, and today we had the Oklahoma State men and the LSU women pulling out. The ITA has not yet named those two replacements, but when they do, the update will be here.

Oklahoma State women's schedule interrupted due to Covid

The Oklahoma State women took over the hosting duties for the Team Indoor next month when Washington couldn't swing it, automatically qualifying for the Team Indoor. It's fortunate for them that they do not have to play in a regional, since they have had to cancel three matches scheduled for this week.

Qualifiers had impressive results today in the second round of the ITF Grade 5 in New Jersey, with Hudson Beaudoin taking out top seed Rohan Belday 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3 and Nicholas Steiglehner beating No. 2 seed Nicholas Godsick 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. Beaudoin will take on wild card Alexander Rezaghi, who won last week's Grade 5 in Connecticut, in the quarterfinals, while Steiglehner will face lucky loser Kase Schinnerer. Only two seeds remain in the boys last eight, and they play each other Wednesday.

The girls No. 2 seed also went out today, with Kathryn Treiber beating Brooklyn Olson 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3. Top seed Reese Brantmeier advanced 6-2, 6-2 over lucky loser Bianca Molnar. Last week's Connecticut champion Mary Stoiana, who beat Brantmeier in the semifinals there, lost in the first round last night to qualifier Bojana Pozder.

With most pros in Australia quarantining, the biggest event this week is an ATP Challenger 125 in Istanbul Turkey.  Brandon Nakashima is the only American competing in singles, with the 19-year-old Californian staying in that part of the world after failing to qualify for the Australian Open. He won his first round match today, beating wild card Cem Ilkel of Turkey 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Nakashima's second round opponent will be former Texas A&M star Arthur Rinderknech of France, who qualified, then advanced to the second round when No. 5 seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India retired trailing 6-4, 3-2.  Three American doubles teams are competing in Istanbul, with Robert Galloway and Alex Lawson winning their first round match, Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons losing theirs and Evan King and Nathan Pasha playing their first round match Wednesday.

The ATP caught up with Frances Tiafoe, who turns 23 Wednesday, with the young American admitting that he was in a bad place mentally when the pandemic shut down the sport. 

“I looked at the guy in the mirror [and asked], ‘Why are you here? What are the things you need to change and what are the things you need to keep building on?’ It helped me a lot. There were a lot of deep conversations with my guys and I wouldn’t have made it to the second week of the US Open without that.”

For more on Tiafoe's new approach to the game, see this article.