Future Trojan Morazzi Defeats No. 6 Seed Omarkhanov at ITF J300 Bradenton, Upsets Few in Girls Draw; No. 1 Seeds in 12s, 14s and 16s Advance at IMG Intl; USTA National Indoor Finals Results; ITA D-I Fall Rankings

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Bradenton FL--

Matteo Morazzi came into his first round match with Amir Omarkhanov at the ITF J300 at the IMG Academy as the underdog, and he was content with that role. Even when the 18-year-old from Spain was down 15-40 at 5-5 in the third, three hours into the match, he kept his belief, emerging with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory.

"I was not the favorite, but things went well at the beginning," Morazzi said. "Second set, he played a very good level of tennis and I lost it. In the third, I had chances to go 5-2 up but I wasn't able to hold, so things got complicated."

Serving at 4-all Morazzi was able to win the final four points of the game after trailing 0-30, but Omarkhanov, a 17-year-old from Kazakhstan, held easily to make it 5-all. Morazzi again went down 0-30 on serve, but this time it got even stickier, with Omarkhanov earning two break points with some great defense and an athletic backhand overhead finish. That's when Morazzi raised his level, hitting an overhead winner to save the first and a good first serve to save the second, and he put the pressure back on Omarkhanov by holding for 6-5.

"I think after that game he wasn't mentally prepared to play another one after losing that one and I played a very good game at the end," Morazzi said. "It was important for me to get that 5-all game, because being 5-6 down and returning is not ideal."

Morazzi agreed that he produced his best points when he was behind.

"It's easier to play aggressively when you're losing, because you have to change something," Morazzi said. "And when you're winning, things get tighter, so I was brave enough, let's say, today to be able to hit good shots and get the important points. He did semis last week(in the J500 Merida), came on the court as the favorite, and I took that as an advantage, to take the pressure off myself, and it went well."

Morazzi also recorded a doubles win later in the afternoon, with he and good friend Nathan Trouve of France defeating wild cards Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance 6-4, 6-1. 

Morazzi and Trouve have spent the past seven years together at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain and they will continue to share their tennis training next month when they join the University of Southern California team for the spring semester, a step they had not expected to be taking.

"Randomly, out of nowhere, he was in Mexico at a tournament and I was in Spain training," said Trouve, an 18-year-old from France. "We received a call from Gustavo Marcaccio, our coach, that said he had received a call from Brett Masi and Marc Lucero saying that they wanted us to join USC in the spring of 2025, so we looked at the offer, talked to each other for a couple of days, because it was a big change and completely unexpected, and we were both really against going to college. But this offer came up and we're like, maybe we give it a try. We spoke to the coaches and the discussions were good, so why not?"

Although they were not really looking to go to college, the opportunity to join the same team was a significant factor.

"A big thing was that we always got separate offers, from opposite sides of the country," Morazzi said. "Going to the other side of the world is not easy and to be able to have someone you care about there is going to be helpful, makes everything easier. So we said, look, we don't lose anything to give it a try for a year, and we go year by year, if we make the jump to the ATP, we leave, or it may take a bit longer, and we might stay for four years. But we're excited."

Morazzi will face Glib Sekachov of Ukraine in the second round Wednesday.

Timofey Derepasko of Russia was the only other boys seed, aside from Omarkhanov, to exit today, with the No. 15 seed losing to Ognjen Milic of Serbia 7-6(4), 6-2.  The girls draw lost only two seeds in the first round, both today. Merida J500 champion Elizara Yaneva of Bulgaria, the No. 6 seed, withdrew from singles, and because no lucky loser signed in this morning, Emma Dong received a walkover into the second round. Yaneva did play doubles today with Deniz Dilek of Turkey, but the No. 3 seeds lost to Kristina Liutova and Anna Perelman of Russia 6-3, 6-2.  No. 16 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina lost 6-2, 6-4 to Ksenia Efremova of France.

The top seeds in doubles both advanced, with Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding defeating Mikael and Nicolas Arseneault of Canada 6-4, 6-2 and the Kovackova sisters Alena and Jana defeating Agustina Grassi of Argentina and Kayla Moore 6-4, 6-1.  The No. 2 boys seeds, Jan Kumstat and Jan Klimas of the Czech Republic, both of whom lost in singles yesterday, dropped their first round doubles match today, with Maximus Dussault and Dominick Mosejczuk beating the Wimbledon boys doubles finalists 7-5, 2-6, 13-11.

The No. 1 seeds in the younger age divisions have all advanced (list of seeds can be found here), with the 12s and 14s moving into the third round after today's action, while the 16s will play their second round on Wednesday. But the first Top 4 seeds fell today, with B14s No. 2 seed Gadin Arun losing Arjun Krishnan 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in an all-US second round match, and B12s No. 4 seed Cavan Donnelly of the US losing to Seung Yu Hong of Korea 6-3, 7-5. 

Draws for the 12s, 14s and 16s can be found here.

The USTA Level 1 National Indoor Championships concluded Monday at eight sites in the Midwest and Northeast. The results of the singles and doubles finals are below. Links to the complete draws can be found by clicking the headings.

USTA National Indoor Championships finals results:

B18s:

Singles:

Mark Krupkin[9] d. Brody Nejedly Krall[9] 7-6(7), 6-4

Doubles:

Jonah Hill and Malhar Patel d. Woodson McMillin and Drew Hedgecoe 8-6

G18s:

Singles:

Karlin Schock[14] d. Kaya Moe[5] 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

Doubles:

Kaya Moe and Carrie-Ann Hoo[3] d. Sobee Oak and Aria Abalos 8-3

B16s:

Singles:

Safir Azam[11] d. Shaan Patel[1] 6-4, 6-3

Doubles:

Miguel Rooney and Harrison Kemp[6] d. Wesley Cotton and Jacob Hewitt[7] 9-8(4)

G16s:

Singles:

Anna Bugaienko d. Aya Manning[6] 6-4 6-3

Doubles:

Olivia Dartawan and Autumn Xu[1] d. Chloe Zigliara and Elana Zaretsky[6] 8-3

B14s:

Singles:

Daniel Malacek d. Eli Kaminski[1] 6-4, 6-4

Doubles:

Antanas Daugis and Daniel Malacek[3] d. Maddox Iliescu and Aryan Ponugoti[2] 9-8(4)

G14s:

Singles:

Emery Combs d. Sylvana Jalbert[2] 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

Doubles:

Teaghan Jou An Keys and Sammie Mercer[1] d. Grace Hong and Evelynn Kwak[3]  8-2

B12s:

Singles:

Davidson Jackson[8] d. Pranav Vignesh[4] 6-2, 6-3

Doubles:

Brishan Paul and Pranav Vignesh[4] d. Jason Ye and Evan Fan[5] 8-2

G12s

Singles:

Tara Guhan[2] d. Capri Butera[7] 6-2, 6-3

Doubles:

Capri Butera and Mary Podkhyneychenko d. Isha Manchala and Piper Yea[2] 8-5

The first published Division I rankings following the fall individual season were released today, with both NCAA singles champions moving to No. 1, but the NCAA doubles champions are both at No. 2. The full rankings are available by clicking on the headings.

ITA Division I Men's Rankings, December 3, 2024

Top 10 Singles:

1. Michael Zheng, Columbia

2. Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

3. Timo Legout, Texas

4. Carl Emil Overbeck, Cal

5. Colton Smith, Arizona

6. Jay Friend, Arizona

7. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

8. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

9. Corey Craig, Florida State

9. Pedro Vives, TCU

Top 5 Doubles:

1. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego

2. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

3. Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen, Baylor

4. Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow, Wake Forest

5. Gavin Young and Benjamin Kittay, Michigan

ITA Division I Women's Rankings, December 3, 2024

Top 10 Singles:

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. DJ Bennett, Auburn

3. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

4. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

5. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

6. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

7. Sofia Johnson, Old Dominion

8. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

9. Theadora Rabman, North Carolina

10. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

Top 5 Doubles:

1. Susanna Maltby and Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina

2. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

3. Rachel Gailis and Alicia Dudeney, Florida

4. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA

5. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

Davis Cup Stint Helps Exsted to Marathon Win, No. 2 Kumstat Upset at ITF J300 Bradenton; Few Surprises in 12s, 14s, 16s Divisions at IMG Intl; Faurel and Yaneva Claim Merida J500 Titles; Two ITF J100 Titles Last Week for Americans

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Bradenton FL--

Since moving his training to the Rafa Nadal Academy this summer, Max Exsted has had the opportunity to hit with the legendary founder half a dozen times. So while the No. 12 seed was grinding out a 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 win over  Nicolas Arseneault of Canada in just under three and a half hours in the first round of ITF J300 at IMG Academy, he had the inspiration of the 14-time Roland Garros champion to draw on.

"I hit with him maybe six times, this was before he played his last match, throughout the summer," the 17-year-old from Minnesota said. "It was an incredible experience to hit with him."

More recently, Exsted served as the practice partner for the US Davis Cup team in Malaga Spain, and that also gave him an opportunity to learn from the sport's top players.

"Being around Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Bob and Mike Bryan, take some pointers, that was really fun," Exsted said. "Everybody stayed in the same hotel, all the physios, the massage therapists, we were all eating together. I was practicing with the guys, after dinner we'd play cards, just being around them was fun. I'm just the little guy, I haven't made it yet or anything, and I was really blessed to be able to hit with them."

Exsted admitted there was some pressure in that situation, as he was expected to return some of the sport's best serves and stay in rallies with ATP Top 20 players. 

"I didn't want to make a bad impression, or have them think, 'what is this guy doing, he's not making anything,'" Exsted said. "Returning was definitely difficult, but I did my best and I was playing pretty good there."

Conditions for his match today were far from ideal, with temperatures in the low 50s and a swirling winds, but Exsted went into it knowing it was likely to be a long, physical battle. He and Arseneault had already met twice this year, with Exsted coming back from dropping the first set to win both matches, a pattern that continued today.

"The first set was not a great set for me," Exsted said. "In the second set, I started to find my rhythm, served at 5-3, but he saved a couple of set points and we ended up going to the breaker and I pulled that one out."

In the final set, Exsted got a break in the fifth game and managed to hold it, although he had to save a break point at 4-3 to keep the advantage. Arseneault held to force Exsted to serve it out, and given his hiccup in the second set, Exsted knew he needed a better finish.

"Every time you're in that position it's not going to be easy," Exsted said. "But I stayed calm, just tried to be solid but aggressive, move him around. I played a really good game, so I'm just really happy to fight this one out."

Exsted will play Niels McDonald of Germany in the second round Wednesday.

No. 2 seed Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic was given the Stadium Court assignment, or rather his opponent, wild card Sasha Colleu of France was, as he trains at the IMG Academy. The 17-year-old Colleu was playing in only his second ITF J300 tournament, with the first coming last month in Mexico, but he looked much more comfortable than the 2024 Australian Open boys finalist while rolling to a 6-1, 6-1 upset. Colleu is 276 in the ITF rankings, while Kumstat, also 17, is currently No. 9.

Kumstat wasn't the only boys seed to fall today, with No. 10 Nathan Trouve of France losing to Haydar Gokpinar of Turkey 6-3, 6-4; No. 11 seed Ian Mayew falling to Daniil Sarksian of Russia 6-2, 7-6(5); and No. 13 seed Jan Klimas of the Czech Republic losing to Valentin Garay of Argentina 6-2, 6-2. 

Boys top seed Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic defeated wild card Keaton Hance 6-3, 6-3; girls top seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia plays her first round match tomorrow against Marie Slamenikova of the Czech Republic.

Americans advancing to the second round today are wild card Abhishek Thorat, Dominick Mosejczuk, Jack Kennedy[9], Jagger Leach[5], wild card Ryan Cozad, wild card Ronit Karki, Ava Rodriguez, Shannon Lam[15], Capucine Jauffret, Maya Iyengar[7] and wild card Victoria Osuigwe.

The 27 remaining first round singles matches will be played Tuesday, followed by the first round of doubles. 

Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding are the top seeds in boys doubles; sisters Alena and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic are the top seeds in doubles.

Matches are still in progress in the IMG Academy International Championships 14s and 16s divisions as of 9 p.m., but so far all the Top 5 seeds in the 12s, 14s, and 16s have advanced to the second round. First round matches in 16s will also be played Tuesday.

Draws with times can be found here. For a list of all seeds, see my post from Sunday. 

The ITF J500 in Merida Mexico concluded late Sunday night, with Thomas Faurel of France and Elizara Yaneva of Bulgaria taking the singles titles.

No. 8 seed Faurel defeated No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-3, 6-1 and Yaneva beat unseeded 15-year-old Luna Vujovic 6-4, 6-3. The 18-year-old Faurel, who didn't lose a set all week, moves up to No. 12 in the ITF junior rankings, which leaves him in excellent position to finish Top 20 and secure his entry into the ITF/ATP Accelerator Program. Yaneva, 17, moves to her career-high 15 in the ITF junior rankings; she is the No. 6 seed this week in Bradenton; Faurel is not playing in Bradenton this year.

Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan won the boys doubles title in Mexico, with the No. 3 seeds beating top seeds Charlie Robertson of Great Britain and Petr Brunclik of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Top seeds Alena and Jana Kovackova won the girls doubles title, beating Victoria Barros of Brazil and Teodora Kostovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

Two Americans captured ITF J100 titles last week, with Reiley Rhodes adding a J100 title in Peru to the J60 title she won two weeks ago there. The unseeded 15-year-old from Maryland defeated No. 4 seed Daniela Gonzalez of Peru 6-4, 6-3 in the final, running her streak of straight-sets wins in Peru to 10.

Sixteen-year-old Zavier Augustin won his second ITF Junior Circuit singles title at the J100 in France. The No. 4 seed defeated unseeded Simone Massellani of Italy 6-2, 6-0 in the final. Augustin and Michael Antonius reached the doubles final, with the No. 3 seeds falling to the unseeded team of Massellani and Raffaele Ciurnelli 6-1, 6-4.

Mrva, Kostovic Top Seeds at ITF J300 Bradenton, Ten Americans Qualify Sunday; IMG International Championships Seeds for 12s, 14s, 16s; United States Team Wins Fifth Straight Master'U International Collegiate Championships

©Colette Lewis 2024--

Bradenton FL--

The qualifying is complete and the draws are out for the ITF J300 Bradenton, with Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic and 2023 finalist Teodora Kostovic of Serbia receiving the top seeds. Both were No. 1 seeds at this week's J500 in Merida Mexico and both lost early, so they should not be dealing with the frantic travel schedules after late night matches that come with deep runs in the Yucatan Cup. 

The first round of singles is split between Monday and Tuesday, with 37 matches on Monday's schedule and 27 on Tuesday, plus the entire first round of doubles.

ITF J300 Seeds:

Girls:

1. Teodora Kostovic(SRB)

2. Jana Kovackova(CZE)

3. Alena Kovackova(CZE)

4. Tereza Krejcova(CZE)

5. Julie Pastikova(CZE)

6. Elizara Yaneva(BUL)

7. Maya Iyengar(USA)

8. Reina Goto(JPN)

9. Luna Maria Cinalli(ARG)

10. Laima Vladson(LTU)

11. Kanon Sawashiro(JPN)

12. Yoana Konstantinova(BUL)

13. Nellie Taraba Wallberg(SWE)

14. Deniz Dilek(TUR)

15. Shannon Lam(USA)

16. Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi(ARG)

Boys:

1. Maxim Mrva(CZE)

2. Jan Kumstat(CZE)

3. Hoyoung Roh(KOR)

4. Oliver Bonding(GBR)

5. Jagger Leach(USA)

6. Amir Omarkhanov(KAZ)

7. Oskari Paldanius(FIN)

8. Henry Bernet(SUI)

9. Jack Kennedy(USA)

10. Nathan Trouve(FRA)

11. Ian Mayew(USA)

12. Maxwell Exsted(USA)

13. Jan Klimas(CZE)

14. William Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE)

15. Timofei Derepasko(RUS)

16. Andres Santamarta Roig(ESP)

The United States will have 22 boys and 18 girls in the main draw, after a successful final day of qualifying, with six of the eight boys  four of the eight girls qualifiers from the USA. All the players listed below won two matches today to reach the main draw.

Mikael Arseneault(CAN)

Joaquin Blanco(USA)

Nischal Spurling(USA)

Jacob Olar(USA)

Jack Satterfield(USA)

Gus Grumet(USA)

Nathan Blokhin(USA)

Rafael Botran Neutze(GUA)

Zaire Clarke(USA)

Brooke Wallman(USA)

Anna Perelman(RUS)

Kristina Liutova(RUS)

Ireland O'Brien(USA)

Addison Comiskey(CAN)

Kayla Moore(USA)

Havana Kadi(CAN)

Three lucky losers also received entry:

Anastasia Pleskun(USA)

Francisco Castro(ECU)

Allan Gatoto(BDI)

Gatoto, the No. 9 qualifying seed, was beaten in the final round of qualifying this afternoon by 18-year-old Floridian Nathan Blokhin 6-2, 6-4. Blokhin, who has been concentrating on his application to Harvard the past few months, prepared for his last two ITF junior tournaments with a training block that paid dividends today.

"The last few weeks I've been running at 5 a.m. with my friend, then three hours training 7 to 10, and then we go back at 1:15 for another hour, so it's not too bad if you're doing that in practice, this is actually kind of easier, other than the nerves," said Blokhin, the younger brother of Stanford junior Alexis Blokhina. "You obviously get a little more tired, but I still feel good right now, I'm ready to play a third match."

Blokhin trains regularly with Marcus Fluitt at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, but prepared for these tournaments at the Sanchez Casal Academy.

"I did a good block there because my parents were traveling and Sanchez Casal has dorming there so it was easier. That was the last two weeks," Blokhin said. 

After a long wait to get on court for his first match Saturday, Blokhin saw his level improve with each subsequent match.

"I'm definitely getting better match by match," Blokhin said. "I played good in the first round, but it was off and on. Today, this morning, it was pretty solid throughout and just now I think I played really well, without a lot of dips in the level. The guy(Gatoto) was pretty big, serving well, so I couldn't afford to give him any lackluster service games. I tried to stay locked in and yeah, I'd say I'm playing pretty good, some of my best level. I think I was broken only once or twice."

Blokhin said he is in the late stages of the admissions process at Harvard.

"I recently committed," Blokhin said.  "I'm going through admissions right now, I'm towards the end. I got my Common App, I did my interviews, so it's looking good and I should know pretty soon."

Blokhin qualified for the ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada at the end of August, which was his last ITF Junior Circuit event.

"I haven't been playing too much, studying for the SAT a little bit, doing a lot school, playing UTRs near my house, so I'm excited to get out here and do well on the ITF tour."

The draws are out for the 12s, 14s and 16s division of the IMG Academy International Tennis Championships this week. Below are the seeds including their countries, which is a tough trove of information to assemble.

The USTA tournament site is having technical problems, but the draws can be accessed via pdfs on the Overview tab.

B12s Seeds:

1. Ethan Jake Frans(INA)

2. Novak Palombo(AUS)

3. Daniel Gardality(USA)

4. Cavan Donnelly(USA)

5. Aleksandr Kharkov(USA)

6. Reita Yamanaka(USA)

7. Sebastian Lavorato(AUS)

8. Camelot Carnello(USA)

9. Christan Pohoski(USA)

10. Liam Dent(USA)

11. Michael Rybak(USA)

12. Koo Ming Kevin Leung(HKG)

13. Max D Smith(USA)

14. Ethan Cyrus(USA)

15. Evaan Mohan(USA)

16. Patrick Paun(USA)

B14s Seeds:

1. Ethan Domingo(AUS)

2. Gadin Arun(USA)

3. Rafalentino Dacosta(USA)

4. Danill Bererzin(USA)

5. Lucas Han(AUS)

6. Tabb Tuck(USA)

7. Qi Hongjin(CHN)

8. Dharma Pantaratom(THA)

9. Anurag Shourya Kallambella(INA)

10. Heaton Pann(AUS)

11. Wu Junze(CHN)

12. Jang Junseo(KOR)

13. Carter Jauffret(USA)

14. Victor Pignaton(USA)

15. Hruthik Katakam(INA)

16. Har Abir Sekhon(AUS)

B16 Seeds:

1. Jordan Lee(USA)

2. Jerrid Gaines Jr(USA)

3. Luis Andres Flores Avila(MEX)

4. Emilio Camacho(ECU)

5. Maksim Nekrasov(RUS)

6. Agassi Rusher(USA)

7. William Zhang(USA)

8. Felix Triquart(GER)

9. Matthew Shapiro(USA)

10. Lucas Smith(USA)

11. Mason Vaughan(USA)

12. Achyuth Binu(USA)

13. Anthony Dry(USA)

14. Joshua Adamson(CAN)

15. Maddox Bose(USA)

16. Samim Filiz(TUR)

G12 Seeds:

1. Nikol Davletshina(USA)

2. Shina Okuyama(JPN)

3. Lucy Dupere(USA)

4. Seohyeon Kim(KOR)

5. Jacqueline Nick(USA)

6. Christina Li(USA)

7. Inie Toll(USA)

8. Agneshka Markina(USA)

9. Ana Maric(AUS)

10. Srishti Kiran(INA)

11. Aimee Peng(USA)

12. Shangran Cai(CHN)

13. Emilia Henningsen(DEN)

14. Mia Fedus(USA)

15. Cataleya Brown(USA)

16. Ayul Kim(KOR)

G14 Seeds:

1. Tea Kovacevic(BIH)

2. Baotong Xu(CHN)

3. Sofia Bielinska(UKR)

4. Sim Siyeon(KOR)

5. Camilla Kostik(USA)

6. Jiayi Lu(CHN)

7. Jinling Shi(CHN)

8. Alisa Terentyeva(RUS)

9. Vibha Gogineni(USA)

10. Sakino Miyazawa(JPN)

11. Emilie Chen(CAN)

12. Sara Park(USA)

13. Jiali Dong(CHN)

14. Tori Russell(AUS)

15. Maria Valentina Pop(ROU)

16. Anna Scott Laney(USA)

G16 Seeds:

1. Aisha Bisht(USA)

2. Isabelle DeLuccia(USA)

3. Olivia Traynor(USA)

4. Kennedy Dresner-Hagmann(USA)

5. Lyla Kessler(USA)

6. Paige Wygodski(USA)

7. Katerina Shabashkevich(USA)

8. Alyson Shannon(USA)

9. Ariana Ikwueme(USA)

10. Londyn Mccord(USA)

11. Yui Watanabe(USA)

12. Hanne Estrada(MEX)

13. Ahniya Vustsina(USA)

14. Tanika Saravanan(USA)

15. Delaney Letzel(USA)

16. Alanna Ingalsbe(USA)

The United States team won its fifth straight Master'U BNP Paribas international collegiate team competition today in France, beating Great Britain 4-1. Gavin Young(Michigan), Sebastian Gorzny(Texas), Michael Zheng(Columbia), Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) and Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) defeated Germany 4-1 in the quarterfinals, and France 4-1 in the semifinals in the three-day event in Riems. 

For more on the final, see this article from Tennis Recruiting Network, with comments from Gorzny and Young, who clinched the win in doubles.

Qualifying Complete in 12s, 14s and 16s Divisions at IMG Academy International Championships; Kennedy Advances in ITF J300 Qualifying; Grant Wins W50 in Italy; USA Reaches Master'U BNP Paribas Collegiate Team Final

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Bradenton FL--

The final day of qualifying for the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions of the IMG Academy International Championships started with temperatures in the low 50s and a chilly breeze, but there were certainly no complaints from the 48 players who made it through to the main draw. Below is the list of qualifiers, with their countries, which is now impossible to ascertain from the draws. The Asian contingent is strong again this year, as has traditionally been the case at these late year Florida tournaments. A full list of main draw wild cards, which also are not identified as such on the draws, can be found in my Friday post.

Tomorrow is an off day for the qualifiers, all of whom won three or four matches to reach the main draw. Monday is the first day of play in the 12s, 14s and 16s. Due to damage around the seven hard courts on the north side of the IMG campus, the 16s were moved to to clay for this year, and they will have to split the first round over two days and double up later in the week in order to finish on Saturday. They will be playing primarily on the new Legacy Hotel courts on the west campus for at least the first three rounds, which are lighted.

B12s qualifiers: 
Rei Sakai(JPN)
Jingheng Cao(CHN)
Liu Lv Yang(CHN)
Tajesh Reddy Bomma(USA)
Minchan Kwon(KOR)
Julian Toshev(USA)
Tyler Tani(JPN)
Seung Yu Hong(KOR)

B14s qualifiers:

Luka Radosavljevic(CAN)

Yida Liu(CHN)

Jaime Gomez Lopez(USA)

Zhantore Sanzharyly(KAZ)

Simon Stoyanov(CAN)

Max Becerra(CHI)

Antonio Costantini Marques(ESP)

Thomas O'Neill(CAN)

B16s qualifiers:

Charles Pettinelli(USA)

Qi Ao(USA)

Kurt Sayan(USA)

Bernardo Tedesco(BRA)

Eldar Greinert(UKR)

Eita Mishima(JPN)

Noa Cakaric(USA)

Lucas Hoyos(COL)

G12s qualifiers:

Alexie Duclair(CAN)

Ana Paula Vega Alvarez(DOM)

Uma Malika Ngo Bogso(CMR)

Siyun Xiao(CHN)

Yeonkyung Lim(KOR)

Hartley Milne(USA)

Jingyue Zhang(CHN)

Fangqiao Zou(CHN)

G14s qualifiers:

Montserrat Temprana(MEX)

Amina Nurmakhan(KAZ)

Maja Sobiesiak(POL)

Kuzivaishe Charlene Chapepa(ZIM)

Tamina Saken(KAZ)

Mia Tanasoiu(USA)

Eve Thibault(CAN)

Camille Michel(CAN)

G16s qualifiers:

Asia Sundas(ITA)

Chukwunoneeru Smarty(USA)

Clara-Marie Priemer(GER)

Leyla Kilgour(USA)

Zixin Lyu(CHN)

Charlotte Ballarin(USA)

Payton Seidle-Lubowitz(USA)

Daniela Shubianok(USA)

I spent the day watching the first round of ITF J300 qualifying, putting names with faces I've seen in draws throughout the year. In this scenario, I don't watch any match start to finish, but I did see the end of two matches that were memorable, for different reasons.

In the first, Joanna Kennedy was playing the No. 13 seed in qualifying Ichino Horikawa of Japan, on the Stadium clay court, with the deciding tiebreaker in lieu of a full third set just beginning. Kennedy had lost the first set 6-3, but adjusted to Horikawa's depth and pace, taking the second set 6-1.

"I think she started missing more, but I started pressurizing her more in the second set," said the 16-year-old from Colorado, playing in just her fourth ITF junior event. "I wasn't playing super powerful in the first set, I could have started faster and she started big, she was playing well. I think she also trains here, so I knew she was going to be comfortable in the environment. I wasn't pleased with the slow start but I'm happy I could pull out the win."

Kennedy took an early lead in the tiebreaker, with the 17-year-old Horikawa unable to win her first four points on serve. But despite Kennedy's mostly error-free play, she couldn't quite pull away, and it was 7-5 at the second change of ends. Kennedy held her serve for 8-5, but on the point, Horikawa had fallen, scraping her leg. With the roving umpire on the court encouraging her to towel off the leg, Horikawa did clean up the scratch, but before the point could start the umpire detected blood, so play was stopped and a trainer was called to tape the leg.

Kennedy returned to her chair during the wait for the trainer and then the treatment, but she said she had been in a similar situation before in a match tiebreaker and knew how to handle it.

"I think you just have to stay mentally positive, keep energized," said Kennedy, who had played the vast majority of her junior matches on the USTA circuit, which features many match tiebreakers in lieu of the third set. "Stay focused on your game and not worry too much what's going on with them. It wasn't ideal, but I was just focused on getting those two points, playing my game."

Horikawa lost the next point to give Kennedy four match points, but she escaped the first when Kennedy made a rare unforced error. But with two serves coming, Kennedy could stay aggressive and eventually her pace and depth drew a forehand error from Horikawa that ended the match.

Kennedy will face Sophia Cedeno of Florida next, with two wins necessary Sunday to advance to the main draw.

All of the awnings and bench areas on each court were damaged by the recent hurricanes and removed, so umbrellas are now taking their place, making for a more wide-open feeling on the nine clay courts outside the Stadium court. The four red clay courts are the only practice courts available onsite, so that area was always buzzing with players waiting for the matches before theirs to finish, hoping to time their warmup well. That wasn't possible for the players last on court 7, where the third match on that court was still in the second set six hours after the first match had gone on that court at 8:30 a.m.  I decided to end my afternoon there for no other reason than a vacancy on a bench to sit on, and the quality of the match between Luiz Felipe Silva of Brazil and Iker Ibarrondo Suarez of Spain rose and fell throughout the second set that I watched. 

Ibarrondo had taken the first set 7-5 and Silva the second 6-2, but the tiebreaker was riveting, with the level, which although still uneven at times, peaking on occasion. Silva looked to be in the best position when he took a 10-9 lead with two serves, but he lost both serves. He recovered however to save that match point, and they changed ends for the fourth time at 12-12. Silva produced a double fault, the only one of the tiebreaker, to give Ibarrondo another match point, but he couldn't convert it. With both players obviously exhausted as the match ticked past three hours, Ibarrondo had another match point at 15-14, but lost it. He hit the balls back to the other side, perhaps instinctively knowing there should be another change of ends, but he did not move towards the chairs.  The roving umpire on the court told him he had another serve, and he took it from the same end, won it, then won the next when Silva tried a desperation serve and volley which he could not execute. 

Whether Ibarrondo can win two matches on Sunday after that ordeal will be one of the more interesting questions answered at the end of qualifying tomorrow.

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant is not competing on this Florida junior swing, staying in Europe after the Junior Billie Jean King Cup title to compete in ITF women's World Tennis Tour events. 

Today she won her second title on the women's WTT, coming through qualifying to earn the championship at the W50 in Italy. Grant is known for her prowess on clay courts, with her W15 title in March coming on that surface, but this was indoor hard, and against much stronger competition.

Grant won close match after close match in her seven wins, advancing via third-set tiebreakers in both the quarterfinals and semifinals. It today's final, against No. 9 seed and former University of Washington standout Stacey Fung of Canada, Grant  fought back to claim a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win in the two-hour and 44-minute final. 

At the Master'U BNP Paribas international collegiate team competition in Riems France, the defending champion United States team has advanced to the final, where they will play Great Britain. The US team of Michael Zheng(Columbia), Gavin Young(Michigan), Sebastian Gorzny(Texas), Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) and Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) will take on the British team which features some familiar names to those who follow Division I tennis: Amelia Rajecki(NC State), Esther Adeshina(Tennessee), Eliz Maloney(Loughborough) Jake (Finn) Bass(Baylor), Johannus Monday(Tennessee) and James Story(South Carolina).

There is live scoring, but no draws or any results archive that I can find.

IMG International Wild Cards; ITF J300 Bradenton Qualifying Begins Saturday; Tu, Iyengar and Willwerth Reach J500 Merida Quarterfinals; Three Americans Qualify for ATP Next Gen Finals

The main draw wild cards for the IMG International Championships, which begin Monday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida, are listed below. This list is obviously fluid, with late withdrawals likely to result in some of these wild cards getting in on their own.

Note that 2023 J300 Bradenton finalist Teodora Kostovic of Serbia is among them. Had she entered on time, she would not have needed one, as the ITF's ninth-ranked junior. 

B12s

Jingsong Tao
Sid Beers
Nanato Agui
Kajus Seliukas
Daniel Deng
David Oganesian
AJ Williams
Ormond Keighery

G12s

Emilia Matruglio
Yan Xinran
Alina Zhou
Quinn Kennedy
Serena Coleman
Mercedes Laub
Maria Cristina Edjoo
Lerong Yao

B14s

David Cercel
Xiaohan Jiang
Kazuki Nakajima
Leonardo Raphael Freitag
Max Neumann
Christian Rohrberg
Behleu Fomukong
Santiago Salazar

G14s

Josephine Ante
Maxime Ante
Isabella Gonzalez
Penelope Parrott
Jessa Arant
Mehar Kaur
Chen-Yun Tsai
Tessa Puente

B16s

Luca Sevim
Petru Cotoman
Nick Mertgens
Emilio Camacho
Andrej Markovic
Elijah Johnson
Ethan Chen
Jake Khera

G16s

Tingyu Fu
Lea Kaemena
Aiko Jackson
Lisa Anzai
Hanne Estrada
Janica Bo
Oleksandra Revina
Camille Chellas

B18s

Sasha Colleu
Joseph Oyebog
Abhishek Thorat
Bernardo Vialle
Andrew Johnson
Jack Secord
Keaton Hance
Ryan Cozad

G18s

Victoria Osuigwe
Teodora Kostovic
Sara Shumate
Hadley Appling
Anita Tu
Margaret Sohns
Hannah Ayreault
Lani Chang

Qualifying for the ITF J300 begins Saturday, with one round Saturday and two rounds Sunday. Qualifying for the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions finishes Saturday, with a day off for those players before the main draw begins for all age divisions Monday.

It's always been difficult to follow the Yucatan Cup, due to the Thanksgiving holiday and the late night matches there, so this post will be outdated when they finally post the results from today's quarterfinal matches. The event, which was formerly a J300 and is now a J500, saw massive upsets early this week, with unseeded Americans taking out both top seeds. Benjamin Willwerth defeated Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3 in the second round, and Anita Tu ousted Teodora Kostovic of Serbia 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2 in the third round.

Maya Iyengar, the No. 12 seed, also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating qualifier Riuen Zhang of China 2-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5).

The Yucatan Cup's tournament website has a recap (in Spanish) of each day's action.

The field is set for next month's ATP Next Gen Finals, with three Americans making the eight-man field: Alex Michelsen, Learner Tien and Nishesh Basavareddy. 2023 US Open boys champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil was announced as the final participant today. There is still speculation that Arthur Fils of France, currently No. 20 in the ATP rankings, might pull out; if that happens 2022 US Open boys champion Martin Landaluce of Spain would take his place at the event, December 18-22 in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. 

The other competitors are Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, Luca Van Assche of France and Jerry Shang of China, who I anticipate I will see next week training at IMG. For more on each of those qualifying for the Next Gen Final, see the news page on the tournament from the ATP.

My Interview with Texas Freshman Maya Joint; Seeds, Draws for USTA National Indoor Championships Beginning Friday; Happy Thanksgiving!

I was happy to have an opportunity to speak with University of Texas freshman Maya Joint earlier this month in Midland. It had been just over a year since I had spoken to her, after her two titles at the ITF J300 Pan American Regional Championships in Houston in September of 2023. Joint's decision to retain her collegiate eligibility, leaving over $140,000 in prize money earned at the US Open unclaimed, garnered the attention of the media in New York, so that was obviously addressed in our conversation. We of course spoke about her rapid rise, her US Open experiences, and why she was so determined to attend college for this article at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The USTA Level 1 National Indoor Championships begin Friday at eight locations in the East and Midwest. Seven of the eight draws have been posted; if the boys 14s is posted late tonight, I'll try to add the seeds here tomorrow.

I know we have all been patiently waiting for the World Tennis Number to have some influence on the seedings for events like these, but that has not happened yet, as you can see from my comments on some of the seeds below. There are obviously still problems with the accuracy of the WTN, which the posting of the WTNs on the draws makes clear.

USTA National Indoor Championships seeds, links to draws:

Boys 12s: Flushing Meadows NY*

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/ustanationaltenniscenter/Tournaments/draws/0754D366-3807-4D81-A9CA-521104008531

1. James Borchard

2. Blount Williams

3. David Bender

4. Pranav Vignesh

5. Jason Ye

6. Keita Iwata

7. Stanley Oriala Jr

8. Davidson Jackson

9. Udham Singh

10. Olie Rosa Hall

11. Selwyn Olufemi-Owoeye

12. Mateo Vincens

13. Evan Fan

14. London Slaton

15. William McGugin

16. Brishan Paul

Girls 12s: Manchester MA*

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/manchester-athletic-club/Tournaments/draws/836874AC-688B-4EDA-B592-1F639195F44C

1. Isha Manchala

2. Tara Guhan

3. Anna Kapanadze 

4. Harshitha Thirugnanam

5. Gabrielle Villegas

6. Capri Butera

7. Kareena Cross

8. Josephine Zhou

9. Danielle Han

10. Nicole Blanco

11. Chloe Wang

12. Ilinca Gusatu

13. Kate Liu

14. Piper Yea

15. Chloe Anthony

16. Glori Caldwell

B14s Chicago IL

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/midtownathleticclub00/Tournaments/draws/8B1EE200-6470-4E7A-832C-98FF99400835

1. Eli Kaminski

2. Zesen Wang

3. Aayush Vartak

4. Daniel Malacek

5. Maddox Iliescu

6. Antanas Daugis

7. Aleksandar Doskovic

8. Akshath Hemanth

9. Joshua Dolinsky

10. Manas Kondapalli

11. Damian Guthheil

12. Takuto Goh

13. Zander Abrams

14. Mason Menyhart

15. Joseph Kim 

16. Smyan Thuta

G14s Toledo OH

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/TwosAthleticClub/Tournaments/draws/93EE4700-FACB-4DB9-B775-D7C191952576

1. Michelle Lee

2. Sylvana Jalbert

3. Adelyn Gross

4. Shristi Selvan

5. Savannah Schmitz

6. Olivia Lin

7. Teaghan Jou An Keys

8. Sofia Kedrin

9. Alexandra Grilliot

10. Evelynn Kwak

11. Masha Semenova

12. Natalie Frisbie

13. Anya Arora

14. Emerson White

15. Heidi Polasek

16. London Evans

B16s Chicago IL*

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/xs-tennis-inc/Tournaments/draws/22FDB77E-53A1-41EA-87FD-0746C6C4BF89

1. Shaan Patel

2. Yashwin Krishnakumar

3. Lixing Jiang

4. Artem Dmytrenko

5. Magnus Weng

6. Owen Guistwite

7. Alexander Suhanitski

8. William McEwan

9. Theo Hegarty

10. Colin McPeek

11. Safir Azam

12. Louis Anderson III

13. Joseph Nau

14. Anish Poojari

15. Benjamin Berger

16. Rafael Lopez

NOTE: Marcel Latak has the fourth best WTN in the field; the three players with better WTNs are the top three seeds; he is unseeded.

G16s Minneapolis MN*

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/usta-northern/Tournaments/draws/69A87546-B9E3-4E5E-BD30-C9E3CDEC3F93

1. Kohana Darroch

2. Kara Garcia best 20.25

3. Carolina Castro

4. Kayden Johnson

5. Sasha Miroshnichenko

6. Aya Manning

7. Emi Dowdell

8. Jensen Diianni

9. Sophia Budaczek

10. Raina Kim

11. Cassandra Li

12. Sophia Miller

13. Lauren Nolan

14. Claire Macedo 23.93

15. Aarini Bhattacharya

16. Helena Klooster

NOTE: Seven of the nine girls with WTNs in the 20.xx range are seeded, Anna Bugaienko 20.49 and Julia Seversen 20.26 are not.  Eleven players with WTNs of 21.xx and higher are seeded.

B18s Overland Park KS

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/OPRC/Tournaments/draws/425A9B9D-5D9C-480B-9FD5-02F8837F34FD

1. Prathinav Chunduru

2. Braeden Gelletich

3. Nicholas Patrick

4. Nolan Balthazor

5. Blake Anderson

6. Arnav Bhandari

7. Drew Fishback

8. Joshua Lamm-Bocharov

9. Houston Jacques

9. Winston Lee

9. Tej Bhagra

9. Mark Krupkin

9. Sibby Rodi

9. Bryan Assi

9. Woodson McMillin

9. Brody Nejedly Krall

NOTE: Six of 8 players with 15.xx WTNs are not seeded, while 2 with 17.xx WTNs are seeded.

G18s Indianapolis IN

https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/indianapolisracquetclubdean/Tournaments/draws/7EE13C24-AC4F-4BCF-917E-28F3E661AE60

1. Sophia Holod

2. Thara Gowda

3. Kayla Chung

4. Ashley Kurizaki

5. Kaya Moe

6. Calla McGill

7. Katie Spencer

8. Carrie-Anne Hoo

10. Alaina LiSanti

11. Chloe Qin

12. Amiya Bowles

13. Alexandra Wolf

14. Karlin Schock

15. Blair Gill

16. Andra Braicu

NOTE: No. 3 G18s seed Kayla Chung's WTN of 15.84 is better than the top seed in the B18s, Prathinav Chunduru, whose WTN is 16.55

*Electronic Line Calling sites

photo by Joanna Kosinska at unsplash.com

I'm taking tomorrow off for Thanksgiving, but I'll be back on Friday, from the IMG International Championships in Bradenton, where qualifying for the 12s, 14s and 16s age divisions is already underway.