US Open Junior Championships Photo Gallery; Hovde, Riffice Claim $15K Titles; Nakashima Defeats Giron for First ATP Title; Tiafoe Clinches Laver Cup for Team World

All 37 competitors from the United States who appeared in the main draw of singles at the US Open Junior Championships earlier this month are featured today in the zootennis.com photo gallery at the Tennis Recruiting Network. As always, a huge thank you to Paul Ballard for all his hard work and dedication as he photographed every player, whether American or international, who competed in the main draw this year. 

Liv Hovde, who turns 17 next month, won her first Pro Circuit event today at the $15,000 tournament in Lubbock Texas. The reigning Wimbledon girls champion, seeded No. 7, defeated No. 8 seed Carson Branstine of Canada, a senior at Texas A&M, 7-6(2), 6-1 in the final. Hovde, who did not drop a set in her five victories, had played in the main draw of just three pro events prior to this week, a $15K, a $25K and a $60K. She should move into the 700s in the WTA rankings when the points are added.

The singles title in the men's $15,000 tournament in Lubbock went to qualifier Olle Wallin of Sweden, a junior at Texas Tech, who defeated No. 2 seed Blaise Bicknell(Florida/Tennessee) of Jamaica 6-4, 6-2 in today's final. Wallin, who played one season at UNC-Charlotte, didn't drop a set in his seven victories, playing just one tiebreaker in those 14 sets.

Sam Riffice captured his second pro singles title today at the $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville Arkansas. The 2021 NCAA singles champion for the Florida Gators, Riffice took the title when No. 2 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain retired trailing 5-1 in the first set. It was Riffice's sixth Pro Circuit final and his first since 2019.

At the ATP Challenger 80 in Columbus, top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia defeated No. 2 seed Emilio Gomez(USC) of Ecuador 7-6(6), 6-2. Thompson didn't drop a set in his five victories, winning all three tiebreakers he played.

At the $60,000 women's Pro Circuit tournament in Berkeley California, 2022 NCAA champion Peyton Stearns won the doubles title, the second of her career, with Elvina Kalieva. Stearns and Kalieva defeated Stearns' former University of Texas teammates Allura and Maribella Zamarripa 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in today's final. It's the first pro title for the 19-year-old Kalieva. 

Top seed Madison Brengle won the singles title in Berkeley, defeating No. 2 seed Yue Yuan of China 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-2. 

Tonight at the ATP 250 in his hometown of San Diego, No. 5 seed Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) won his first ATP title, defeating No. 3 seed Marcos Giron(UCLA) 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Nakashima was playing in his third ATP final, having lost in back-to-back finals last year in Los Cabos and Atlanta, while 2014 NCAA champion Giron was playing in his first ATP final. Nakashima, whose previous ATP career-high was 49, will be at 48 as of tomorrow, joining eight other US men in the ATP Top 50. John Isner is the only one older than 25.

Americans also captured the doubles title in San Diego, with No. 2 seeds Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M) and Nate Lammons(SMU) defeating the unseeded Australian pair of Luke Saville and Jason Kubler 7-6(5), 6-2. It's the second ATP title for Withrow and the first for Lammons.

It's been quite a month for 2015 Kalamazoo 18s champion Frances Tiafoe, with a win over Rafael Nadal and his first slam semifinal at the US Open, and a win in Laver Cup doubles, with Jack Sock, over Nadal and Roger Federer, playing in the last match of his career. He finished the Laver Cup today, saving four match points in a 1-6, 7-6(11), 10-8 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece to give Team World an insurmountable lead over Team Europe. Europe lead 8-4 after the first two days of competition in London, but with each match worth three points today it meant Europe had to win two of the four matches, while World had to win three of four. Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada partnered with Jack Sock in doubles to start the day, and they beat Matteo Berrettini and Andy Murray 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 to make it 8-7. Then Auger-Aliassime defeated Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6(3) to give World a 10-8 lead, and Tiafoe finished the job, leaving the final match between Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud unplayed. 

It's the first time in five Laver Cup competitions that Team World has beaten Team Europe.

Hovde Reaches Lubbock $15K Final; Williams Earns First Pro Circuit Title in Doubles; Top Seeds Advance to Finals at Berkeley $60K, Columbus Challenger; Giron Makes First ATP Final in San Diego

Sixteen-year-old Liv Hovde has advanced to her first Pro Circuit final at the $15,000 women's tournament in Lubbock Texas. The Wimbledon girls champion, who turned pro a few weeks after that title, defeated wild card Mccartney Kessler(Florida) 7-6(3), 6-4 in Hovde's first Pro Circuit semifinal today. She will face No. 8 seed Carson Branstine of Canada, with the Texas A&M senior defeating top seed Martyna Kubka of Poland 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in a semifinal that lasted three hours and 6 minutes. 

In today's women's doubles final in Lubbock, No. 2 seeds Veronica Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) of Russia and Katarina Kozarov(Furman) of Serbia defeated top seeds Connie Hsu(Penn) of Taiwan and Maria Kononova(North Texas) of Russia 6-1, 4-6, 11-9.

The mens' singles final Sunday at their $15,000 tournament in Lubbock will feature qualifier Olle Wallin of Sweden, a junior at Texas Tech and No. 2 seed Blaise Bicknell(Florida/Tennessee) of Jamaica. Wallin defeated No. 6 seed Alex Michelsen 7-6(10), 6-3 and Bicknell beat Jordan Hasson(Oklahoma) of Israel 6-2, 6-3. 

Former Texas A&M teammates Pranav Kumar and Juan Carlos Aguilar, who now represents Canada, won the doubles title in a final between two unseeded teams. Kumar, now at SMU, and Aguilar, who played last season at TCU, defeated Wichita State teammates Kristof Minarik of Slovakia and Alexander Richards 6-3, 7-5. It's the fifth pro doubles title for Aguilar and the first for Kumar.

A long week of tennis in both Columbus Ohio and Berkeley California will end with the top two seeds facing off for the singles titles. 

No. 1 seed Jordan Thompson of Australia ended Ohio State senior and wild card Cannon Kingsley's run today in the ATP Challenger 80 semifinals today in Columbus, posting a 7-6(6), 6-3 victory. No. 2 seed Emilio Gomez(USC) of Ecuador came back to beat No. 8 seed Rinky Hijikata(North Carolina) of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. The 30-year-old Gomez will crack the ATP Top 100 for the first time if he wins the title Sunday.

The top seeds in doubles, Julian Cash(Mississippi St/Oklahoma St) and Henry Patten(UNC-Asheville) of Great Britain took the doubles title, beating unseeded Charlie Broom(Dartmouth/Baylor) of Great Britain and Constantin Frantzen(Baylor) 6-2, 7-5 in the final.

North Carolina State freshman Diana Shnaider had been racking up the routine wins this week at the $60,000 women's tournament in Berkeley, but she was on the other side of the equation today, with top seed Madison Brengle beating the 18-year-old Russian 6-1, 6-2 in 50 minutes. Brengle will play No. 2 seed Yue Yuan of China, who came back to beat No. 8 seed Louisa Chirico 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. 

Unseeded Peyton Stearns(Texas) and Elvina Kalieva are in the doubles final after defeating the Cal wild card team of Jessica Alsola of Canada and Valentina Ivanov of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4. They will play the Zamarripa twins, Maribella and Allura, who turned pro after their freshman year at Texas. The Zamarripas defeated Robin Montgomery and Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 6-3.

Seventeen-year-old Cooper Williams earned his first Pro Circuit title today in the doubles final at the $15,000 tournament in  Fayetteville Arkansas. Williams, a Harvard recruit, and Oklahoma State freshman Alessio Basile of Belgium defeated Arkansas teammates Adrien Burdet of Switzerland and Melvin Manuel of France 6-4, 6-3. Williams had made the doubles final of the last two Pro Circuit events he played this summer, with other partners.

2021 NCAA champion Sam Riffice(Florida) will play Blu Baker of Great Britain in the Fayetteville singles final Sunday. Riffice, the No. 7 seed, defeated Cornell sophomore Radu Papoe of Romania 6-3, 6-0, while Baker, the No. 2 seed, beat Wake Forest senior Menelaos Efstathiou of Cyprus 6-4, 6-4.

At the ATP 250 in San Diego, 2014 NCAA champion Marcos Giron(UCLA) has advanced to his first ATP final, with the 29-year-old from Thousand Oaks California defeating top seed Dan Evans 6-3, 7-5 this afternoon. Giron, the No. 3 seed, will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 5 seed Brandon Nakashima and unseeded Christopher O'Connell of Australia. O'Connell saved two match points at 3-5 in the third set in last night's quarterfinal with No. 2 seed Jenson Brooksby and went on to post a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory. (UPDATE: Nakashima defeated O'Connell 6-4, 7-6(3) to make it an all Southern California final in San Diego).

Landaluce to Lead Spain in ITF Junior Davis Cup; Shnaider Reaches Berkeley $60K Semifinals; Michelsen, Hovde Advance in Lubbock $15Ks; Kingsley Makes Semis at Columbus Challenger; Giron Moves on in San Diego

The ITF released the Junior Davis Cup teams for 16-and-under competition in Antalya Turkey November 1-6, and although he had intimated that he was moving on from junior tennis, US Open boys champion Martin Landaluce will be leading the team from Spain. 

As with its Billie Jean King Cup team, the United States is taking two players who were not on the North/Central America qualifying team this spring: Kaylan and Meecah Bigun. Alexander Razeghi, who was on the team that qualified in Mexico this spring, is also competing in the finals; the Bigun twins are replacing Rudy Quan and Nikita Filin. Jon Glover is the team captain.

In addition to Landaluce, two other ITF Top 50 players will be in Turkey: Rei Sakamoto of Japan and Joao Fonseca of Brazil. 

The complete rosters for the 16 teams are here. The Junior Billie Jean King Cup team rosters, announced yesterday, are here.

North Carolina State freshman Diana Shnaider has yet to play for the Wolfpack, but the US Open girls doubles champion is displaying the form that led to her position at the top of the Newcomer list at the $60,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Berkeley California. The 18-year-old from Russia, who is unseeded this week, advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over fellow lefty Kayla Day; Shnaider will face top seed Madison Brengle on Saturday, after Brengle defeated wild card Johanne Svendsen of Denmark 6-3, 6-0 in 59 minutes. Shnaider has never face a WTA Top 100 player; Brengle is No. 60. No. 8 seed Louisa Chirico, who defeated Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-1, will face No. 2 seed Yue Yuan of China in the other semifinal. Krueger and Robin Montgomery, the 2021 US Open girls doubles champions, defeated top seeds Alexandra Osborne of Australia and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 7-6(6), 6-4 today to advance to the doubles semifinals.

Alex Michelsen has reached his second $15,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit semifinal in Lubbock Texas after a 6-4, 6-3 win over wild card Aidan Kim. The 18-year-old from Southern California, seeded No. 6, will face qualifier Olle Wallin of Sweden, a junior at Texas Tech in Saturday's semifinals. The other semifinal features No. 2 seed Blaise Bicknell(Florida/Tennessee) against unseeded Jordan Hasson of Israel, a sophomore at Oklahoma. 

Wimbledon girls champion Liv Hovde, who reached the quarterfinals of the Lubbock $15K last year, has gone one step further this year, defeating No. 4 seed Veronica Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) of Russia 6-4, 6-4 today. Hovde, the No. 7 seed, faces wild card Mccartney Kessler(Florida) in Saturday's semifinals. The top half semifinal has Texas A&M's No. 1 Carson Branstine of Canada, the No. 8 seed, playing top seed Martyna Kubka of Poland.

2021 NCAA champion Sam Riffice(Florida) is the only American to advance to the singles semifinals at the $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville Arkansas. Riffice, the No. 7 seed, beat top seed Jack Pinnington Jones(TCU) of Great Britain 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 today and will face Cornell sophomore Radu Papoe of Romania, who beat Sander Jong(TCU) of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-4.  The other semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain and Menelaos Efstathiou(Wake Forest) of Cyprus. Efstathiou defeated Cooper Williams 6-4, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals. Williams and Oklahoma State freshman Alessio Basile of Belgium are through to the doubles final after defeating No. 4 seeds AJ Catanzarite(Texas A&M) and Jody Maginley of Antigua 6-4, 6-4. They will face Arkansas teammates Adrien Burdet of Switzerland and Melvin Manuel of France in the final.

At the ATP Columbus Challenger 80, Ohio State senior Cannon Kingsley continued his impressive run, with the 21-year-old wild card defeating No. 4 seed Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals. Kingsley will face top seed Jordan Thompson, who beat Kentucky senior Gabriel Diallo of Canada 6-2, 6-1. 

No. 2 seed Emilio Gomez, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Nick Chappell(TCU), will play Australia's Rinky Hijikata(North Carolina) in the semifinals. Hijikata, the No. 8 seed, beat No. 3 seed Dominic Stricker of Switzerland 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3, saving three match points in the second set tiebreaker.

I haven't been able to provide much in the way of coverage of the ATP 250 in San Diego this week, due to the three-hour time difference and regular night sessions, but No. 3 seed Marcos Giron(UCLA) is through to the semifinals after a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over No. 7 seed James Duckworth of Australia today. He will play top seed Dan Evans of Great Britain Saturday. Jenson Brooksby[2] and Brandon Nakashima[5] are playing their quarterfinals tonight for a chance to meet in the semifinals. Brooksby beat Nakashima three times in major junior events in 2018 (Easter Bowl, Kalamazoo 18s, US Open) and once in a $25K in 2019, but they haven't played since then.

Junior Billie Jean King Cup Teams Announced; Kim Ousts Top Seed at Lubbock $15K; Shnaider and Svendsen Reach Berkeley $60K Quarterfinals; Diallo, Chappell Advance at Columbus Challenger

In the past, the Junior Billie Jean King and Junior Davis Cups are scheduled for the end of September, but this year the ITF's two 16-and-under competitions will take place November 1-6 in Antalya Turkey. The participants for the Junior Billie Jean King Cup's 16 teams were announced today, and the United States team now has two players who were not a part of the North/Central American qualifying this spring: Clervie Ngounoue and Valerie Glozman. Ngounoue was injured at that time; Glozman had just won the Easter Bowl 16s title, but had no international experience. Her recent run to the San Diego National 18s final and a women's qualifying win at the US Open earned her a place on the team with Ngounoue and Iva Jovic, who was on the North/Central American qualifying team that included Mia Slama and Maya Joint.

Lori Riffice is the girls team captain. The boys teams are scheduled to be announced tomorrow. 

Seventeen-year-old wild card Aidan Kim earned his first ATP point yesterday, and today he defeated top seed Emil Reinberg(Georgia) in the second round of the USTA Pro Circuit $15,000 men's tournament in Lubbock Texas. Kim's 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4 victory, which took one minute shy of three hours, moves him into the quarterfinals against fellow junior player Alex Michelsen. Michelsen, the No. 6 seed, defeated Aditya Vishal Balsekar of India 6-2, 7-5. 

Kim and Lucas Brown have also advanced to the doubles semifinals, beating Francisco Rocha(Middle Tennessee) of Portugal and Bautista Vilicich(Mississippi St/UT-Arlington) of Argentina 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.

Seventeen-year-old Cooper Williams is through to his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal at the $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville Arkansas with a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2) win over No. 8 seed AJ Catanzariti(Texas A&M). He will play unseeded Wake Forest senior Menelaos Efstathiou of Cyprus in the quarterfinals. 

The two 18-year-olds who competed in the US Open Junior Championships that are in the main draw of the USTA Pro Circuit $60,000 women's tournament in Berkeley California have advanced to the quarterfinals with wins today. Wild card Johanne Svendsen of Denmark defeated No. 5 seed Robin Anderson(UCLA) 6-3, 7-5 and NC State freshman Diana Shnaider of Russia beat No. 6 seed Sachia Vickery 6-3, 4-2 retired. Svendsen gets top seed Madison Brengle next, while Shnaider faces unseeded Kayla Day. Day beat NCAA champion Peyton Stearns(Texas) 7-6(3), 7-6(3). Another 18-year-old, Ashlyn Krueger, defeated No. 3 seed Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-4 and will play No. 8 seed Louisa Chirico in the quarterfinals. 

At the ATP Challenger 80 in Columbus Ohio, Nick Chappell(TCU) advanced to his second straight Challenger quarterfinal as an alternate, defeating No. 5 seed Enzo Couacaud of France 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4. He will face No. 2 seed Emilio Gomez(USC) of Ecuador, who beat Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. University of Kentucky senior Gabriel Diallo needed three hours and 36 minutes to defeat Aidan McHugh of Great Britain, but the soon-to-be 21-year-old pulled out a 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-5 win. He will play top seed Jordan Thompson in Friday's quarterfinals. 

Semifinals Set at ITF J5 in McKinney; Shnaider Breezes into Second Round at Berkeley $60K; Kingsley Reaches First Challenger Quarterfinal; Juniors Advance at Men's $15Ks; ITA Women's D-I Texas Regional Begins Friday

Of the eight players remaining in singles at the ITF Grade 5 in McKinney Texas only two are seeded: boys No. 7 seed Brendan Boland and girls No. 4 seed Katerina Shabashkevich.

Boland, the son of former University of Virginia men's coach Brian Boland, defeated top seed Prathinav Chunduru 6-4, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals and will play unseeded Asror Ismoilov, who lives in Delray Beach and competes in USTA events, but plays under the Uzbekistan flag. Ismoilov defeated No. 4 seed Alex Khamrotau of Belarus 6-4, 6-3 today. The other boys semifinal Thursday will feature qualifier Andrew Ena, who beat Leonardo Dal Boni 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2, and Ian Bracks, who had taken out the No. 2 seed in the first round and today beat Stephan Gershfeld 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. 

Shabashkevich, a 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 winner over Alexis Nguyen today, will face unseeded Aspen Schuman, who beat Kayla Schefke 6-1, 6-4. Schuman, who beat the top seed in the first round, has yet to drop a set. The other girls semifinal has wild card Sydney Jara facing qualifier Eva Oxford after Jara defeated Vasilina Adronov of Israel 6-1, 6-2 and Oxford eliminated No. 3 seed Neha Malar Guru 6-1, 6-3. Oxford and Schuman are 15 years old, Shabashkevich and Jara are 14.

I mentioned in yesterday's post my interest in the first round match at the $60,000 tournament in Berkeley between North Carolina State freshman and ITA No. 1 newcomer Diana Shnaider and qualifier Lisa Zaar, a senior at Pepperdine, who reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA championships in May. I thought it would a good test for Shnaider, whose WTA ranking is 245, with Zaar a veteran mainstay on one of the best college teams of the past two years. If it was a test, Shnaider gets an A+, as she took out Zaar 6-2, 6-0 in an hour and 17 minutes. Shnaider will face No. 6 seed Sachia Vickery in the second round Thursday, after Vickery defeated qualifier Kylie Collins(Texas/LSU) 6-4, 6-4. 

The only qualifier to advance to the second round is Robin Montgomery, who beat wild card Rachel Gailis(Florida) 6-4, 6-3.  2021 US Open girls champion Montgomery, who turned 18 two weeks ago, is playing her first tournament since June after a wrist injury.

Ashlyn Krueger, who turned 18 in May, defeated Grace Min 7-6(6), 6-1; 18-year-old wild card Johanne Svendsen of Denmark beat Cal sophomore and qualifier Jessica Alsola 6-2, 6-3. The only seed to lose in today's conclusion of the first round was No. 7 Katrina Scott, 18, who fell to Maria Mateas(Duke) 7-5, 6-4.

Ohio State senior Cannon Kingsley is through to his first Challenger quarterfinal, after defeating 2019 NCAA champion Paul Jubb(South Carolina) of Great Britain, the No. 7 seed, 7-6(5), 6-4 this evening on his home courts in Columbus Ohio. Kingsley, who lost a 25-point game to trail 4-1 in the second set only to then win five games in a row, will face No. 4 seed Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia in the quarterfinals. No. 8 seed Rinky Hijikata(North Carolina) of Australia and No. 3 seed Dominic Stricker of Switzerland are in the other quarterfinal that has been decided. The four remaining second round matches are Thursday.

Ohio State wild cards Robert Cash and the Czech Republic's Matej Vocel, who reached the NCAA doubles final in May, defeated No. 2 seeds Nicolas Mejia of Colombia and Roberto Quiroz(USC) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-1 in first round doubles play Tuesday.

In today's conclusion of first round action at the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Lubbock Texas, 18-year-old Alex Michelsen, the No. 6 seed, advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win over qualifier Pranav Kumar(Texas A&M). Aidan Kim, who won't be 18 until November, defeated fellow wild card Franco Ribero of Argentina, a senior at Texas Tech, 7-5, 6-4. If Michelsen and Kim were to win their second round matches, they would meet in Friday's quarterfinals. 

At the men's $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville Arkansas, 17-year-old Cooper Williams advanced to the second round with a 6-7(3), 6-1, 7-5 win over qualifier Adit Sinha(Cornell) that took two hours and 41 minutes.

Most of the ITA Division I Regionals are in October, as they function as qualifying tournaments for the ITA National Fall Championships in November, but the women's Texas Regional begins tomorrow in Fort Worth Texas. Qualifying and main draws for the event can be found here. University of Texas graduate transfer Marlee Zein, who played at Florida for four years, is the top seed.

Rabman Downs No. 2 Seed for First Pro Circuit Win; Trio of Cal Bears Qualify for Berkeley $60K; Kingsley, Boulais Win All-Buckeye Challenger Matches; Reinberg, Pinnington Jones Top Seeds at Men's $15Ks

After a dearth of USTA Pro Circuit events since the US Open, there are five events this week: men's and women's $15Ks in Lubbock Texas, a men's $15K in Fayetteville Arkansas, a women's $60K in Berkeley California and the ATP Challenger 80 in Columbus Ohio.

Thea Rabman, fresh off her win at the ITF J2 in Montreal last week, received entry into the $15,000 women's tournament in Lubbock via the ITF's junior reserved program and today the 17-year-old from New York earned her first professional circuit win, defeating No. 2 seed Katarina Kozarov(Furman) of Serbia 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-2 in just under three hours. The North Carolina recruit, who is now at a career-high of 60 in the ITF World Junior rankings, will play a qualifier in the next round.

The only American to qualify today in Lubbock is Arkansas senior Kelly Keller. Wild cards were given to Texas Tech sophomore Avelina Sayfetdinova of Russia, Megan McCray(Oklahoma State) and Mccartney Kessler(Florida). Martyna Kubka of Poland is the top seed. Liv Hovde, the No. 7 seed, won her match today; Oklahoma State freshman Raquel Gonzalez Vilar of Spain, who reached the second round of the US Open Junior Championships this month, defeated No. 3 seed Connie Hsu(Penn) of Taiwan in the first round 6-3, 7-5.

At the $60K in Berkeley, the wild cards were not given to any current Cal women, although former Bear Maegan Manasse did get one of the four main draw wild cards. The others went to Florida freshman Rachel Gailis, Jenna DeFalco, who recently left Pepperdine after just two weeks in Malibu and Johanne Svendsen, an 18-year-old from Denmark, who is currently No. 16 in the ITF Junior rankings. I don't know if she's considering attending Cal, but the wild card is a little puzzling if she isn't.

Although none of the current Cal players received a main draw wild card, three will be playing in the main draw after qualifying: sophomores Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm and junior Hannah Viller Moller. Alsola will face Svendsen in the first round; Wiersholm plays No. 5 seed Robin Anderson(UCLA) and Viller Moller No. 2 seed Yue Yuan of China. 

In addition to Wiersholm, other Americans qualifying for the main draw today were Robin Montgomery, Kylie Collins(Texas/LSU), Maribella Zamarripa(Texas) and Makenna Jones(North Carolina).  Pepperdine senior Lisa Zaar of Sweden also qualified today to set up an intriguing first round match against NC State freshman Diana Shnaider of Russia.

Madison Brengle is the top seed, Yuan is No. 2 and Katie Volynets No. 3.  No. 4 seed Greet Minnen of Belgium lost to 2022 NCAA champion Peyton Stearns(Texas) 7-5, 6-1 this evening in first round action.

The first round of the ATP Columbus Challenger is spread over three days, but four of the five Ohio State Buckeyes played today, against each other. In the battle of the wild cards, Justin Boulais of Canada defeated JJ Tracy 7-5, 7-6(4), and wild card Cannon Kingsley beat qualifier James Trotter of Japan 6-4, 6-4. 

At the men's $15,000 tournament in Lubbock, six Americans qualified for the main draw with wins today: Jaycer Lyeons (Tyler JC), Pranav Kumar(Texas A&M), Oren Vasser (Miami), Nathan Chavez, Tyler Stewart(Abilene Christian/Texas Tech) and Jakub Ostajewski. 

Emil Reinberg(Georgia) is the top seed, with Blaise Bicknell(Florida/Tennessee) of Jamaica the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Aidan Kim, Jibril Nettles, and Texas Tech seniors Isaac Arevalo of Mexico and Franco Ribero of Argentina. 

At the men's $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville, Great Britain's Jack Pinnington Jones, recently added to the TCU roster, is the top seed, with Blu Baker of Great Britain the No. 2 seed. 

Americans qualifying into the main draw today are Adit Sinha(Cornell), Warren Wood(CMS) and Ryan Dickerson(Duke/Baylor). Wild cards were given to Arkansas freshman Benedikt Emesz of Austria, Arkansas juniors Adrien Burdet of Switzerland and Melvin Manuel of France and Cornell freshman Aman Sharma, who lost to No. 7 seed Sam Riffice(Florida) 6-2, 6-1 today.