ITF Grade 1 International Spring Wild Cards; Easter Bowl Acceptances; Duval Wins Main Draw Match at Sony Open; Vickery Gets Big Win in Florida $25K

Acceptances for the ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif. were posted some time ago, with the boys field containing just three ITF Top 30 players(at the date of acceptance) and the girls just two.

Noah Rubin, who hasn't played since the Eddie Herr, is at the top of the acceptance list, with Spencer Papa and Mackenzie McDonald, who have since fallen out of the Top 30, the other two.  Because the ISC is open to all players, there is an array of international competitors, with Japan's Naoki Nakagawa, Mexico's Lucas Gomez, Canada's Tommy Mylnikov and Germany's Alexandre Zverev among them.

Christina Makarova is at the top of the girls acceptance list, and she is followed by three international players: Victoria Rodriquez of Mexico, Sandra Samir of Egypt and Alejandra Cisneros of Mexico.  Jamie Loeb and Mayo Hibi, who have been having success on the Pro Circuit, will come into the juniors with added confidence.  Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Americans Katerina Stewart, Louisa Chirico and Sachia Vickery have withdrawn, as did Thai Kwiatkowski and Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.

The ISC wild cards:

Boys 18s:
Robbie Bellamy
Walker Duncan
Ernesto Escobedo
Gage Brymer
David Hsu
Aron Hiltzik
Joe DiGiulio

Girls 18s:
Mary Haffey
Emma Higuchi
Alyssa Smith
Josie Kuhlman
Spencer Liang
Kyra Wojcik
Michaela Gordon

Boys 18s qualifying:
Tyler Lu
Garrett Auproux
William Griffith
Matthew Nardella

Girls 18s qualifying:
Yuki Chiang
Cali Fuller
Megan McCray
Daniella Moreno-Kaste

Boys 16s:
Gianni Ross

Girls 16s:
Claire Liu
Riley McQuaid
Jacqueline Pelletier
Jaeda Daniel
Ashley Lahey
Ryan Peus

Boys 16s qualifying:
Vasil Kirkov
Patrick Kypson
Noah Makarome
Roscoe Bellamy
Jacob Brumm
Iva Thamma

Girls 16s qualifying:
Kariann Pierre-Louis
Annette Goulak
Regina Pitts

More information on the tournament can be found at usta.com.

The Easter Bowl acceptances have been posted, with Chirico, Stewart and Kwiatkowski among them, although Vickery has already withdrawn. Most of the same Americans competing in Carson will be in Rancho Mirage the following week.  Please note that the ITF fact sheet has the wrong site listed for the Grade B1.  It is no longer at Rancho Las Palmas, but this year is moving to the Sunrise Country Club in Rancho Mirage, which will serve as the main site for the event.

For the 14s and 16s Easter Bowl competitors, see the TennisLink site.

Two big wins today for friends and longtime junior rivals Vicky Duval and Sachia Vickery.  National 18s champion Duval, who won a round at the WTA Memphis tournament this year as a wild card, picked up her second WTA level win today, defeating No. 66 Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 6-4 in the opening round of the Sony Open. Duval, who received a wild card into the main draw, didn't trail in the second set, although she did let 3-1 and 4-2 leads get away. After Hlavackova tied it at 4-4, Duval held and broke to win the match.  She will play No. 22 seed and former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.

Mallory Burdette could have used a day off or a rain delay (which came today after she finished) to recover from her first qualifying match, which went past midnight on Monday and her second against Lauren Davis, which went over three hours, but she didn't get one, and lost to Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-4. Jamie Hampton won, as did wild card and 2012 Wimbledon girls champion Eugenie Bouchard. Allie Kiick and Madison Keys have yet to begin their match due to the rain delay.

Vickery is playing in the $25,000 Pro Circuit event in Innisbrook, Fla., which has a exceptionally strong field due to its place on the calendar and its location. Both Taylor Townsend and Samantha Crawford failed to qualify, but Vickery did, and today she defeated No. 2 seed and WTA No. 141 Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 6-4.

Chalena Scholl also qualified and won her first round match over Katerina Kramperova of the Czech Republic, joining wild card Jamie Loeb and qualifier Jennifer Brady in the second round. Brady, who doesn't even have a WTA ranking, beat No. 5 seed and WTA No. 156 Kurumi Nara of Japan 7-5, 7-6(4).

Sixteen-year-old Canadian Francoise Abanda, who hadn't played since the Eddie Herr, used an exemption as a member of the ITF Junior Top 10 to receive entry, but she lost to qualifier Beatriz Garcia-Vidagany of Spain 6-1, 6-1 in the first round.