Bourguignon Wins ITF Grade 3 Costa Rica Bowl; Eleven US Juniors Competing In Brazil Grade A This Week; Junior Fed and Davis Cups Return to Mexico

Two young Americans won Pro Circuit titles over the weekend, with Grace Min and Marcos Giron capturing champioships at $25,000 and $15,000 tournaments in the United States, but US ITF junior results outside the country were mixed last week.

Madison Bourguignon won her second ITF title of the month, following up her win at the Grade 4 in Guatemala with another at the Grade 3 Costa Rica Bowl.  Bourguignon, the No. 3 seed, defeated Great Britain's Anna Brogan 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the final. Brogan was the only girl from outside the US to make the quarterfinals.  Brogan did collect the doubles title, partnering Gabriella Pollner of the US. In the final, the unseeded team defeated Bourguignon and Rafaella Baquerizo of Ecuador, the No. 1 seeds, in a walkover.

Walker Duncan had the best showing of the US boys in Costa Rica, with the Georgia recruit reaching the semifinals in singles and winning the doubles title with Emil Reinberg of the US.  Duncan and Reinberg, unseeded, beat No. 2 seeds Runhao Hua of China and Stephen Madonia of the US 6-2, 7-6(1) in the final.  No. 2 seed Luis Valero of Colombia won the boys singles title, 6-3, 6-2 over No. 3 seed Hua.

At the two Grade 1s--the Banana Bowl in Brazil, and the Mitsubishi-Lancer International in Philippines--there were no US winners in singles or doubles. Raveena Kingsley reached the semifinals in singles, losing to eventual champion Gloria Liang of Canada. Liang, the No. 14 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Kimberly Birrell of Australia 6-2, 7-5 in the final. No. 4 seed Ku Keon Kang of Korea won the boys title, beating unseeded Rhett Purcell of Great Britain 6-3, 6-4.

In Brazil, Orlando Luz continued his outstanding play, earning his second consecutive sweep of Grade 1 titles.  The 16-year-old Brazilian, seeded No. 8, defeated doubles partner and No. 7 seed Joao Menezes, also of Brazil, 6-3, 7-5 in the final. It was Luz's tenth consecutive straight-set win in Grade 1 competition this month. Luz and Menezes, the No. 2 seeds, won the doubles title with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over unseeded Naoki Nakagawa of Japan and Lautaro Pane of Argentina.

No. 13 seed Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov of Spain won her first Grade 1 title, with the 16-year-old defeating No. 9 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 in the final. Zarazua won the doubles title, with Luisa Stefani of Brazil.

This week's major ITF junior tournament is indeed a major, with the
Campeonato Internacional in Porto Alegre Brazil the first Grade A of the year.   Four US boys and seven US girls are in the draw: Ulises Blance, Henrik Wiersholm(14), Alex Rybakov(13), Myles Schalet, Nicole Frenkel, Usue Arconada(8), Olivia Hauger(16), Dasha Ivanova(10), Sofia Kenin(4), Madison Bourguignon and Raquel Pedraza(15).   The top seeds in the girls draw are Fanny Stollar of Hungary and Fiona Ferro of France. The top two seeds in the boys draw are Quentin Halys and Johan Sebastien Tatlot of France.

The California ITF circuit has begun with the Grade 4 in Claremont, California this week. As expected, Taylor Fritz withdrew after reaching the quarterfinals at the Calabasas Futures, so there are no ITF Top 100 players in the field. The boys top seed is Harrison Scott of Canada, and the girls top seed is Ellyse Hamlin of the US. 

The ITF announced today that the ITF Junior Fed and Junior Davis Cup, the 16-and-under international team competition will be in San Luis Potosi Mexico again this year. In 2012, the competition was in Barcelona, but it has been in San Luis Potosi for six of the last seven years now.  Because the host country gets an automatic bid, this limits the North American qualifying tournament to just one team berth in the final, meaning only the US or Canada, traditionally the strongest two countries, can advance.