US Teams Open Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup with Wins; Anderson Qualifies in Las Vegas, McDonald Wins in Tiburon; Team USA Forum Wednesday

Only one of the 16 seeds in the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup lost in Tuesday's opening day of play, but several of the favorites were tested, including the US boys.

Seeded third and playing unseeded Spain, the US went down early to the hosts, with Vasil Kirkov losing to Andres Fernandez Canovas 6-0, 6-3. That meant Sam Riffice had to win at the No. 1 spot, which he did, meaning the doubles would decide the match.  Up 6-3, 4-2, Kirkov and Riffice lost five straight games, but then won five straight and finished off the 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win. The US boys will play unseeded Brazil on Wednesday, and according to the order of play, will be on one of the courts that is streamed at tennisjuniortv.com.

Top seed Canada defeated Poland 3-0, but Felix Auger Aliassime, the highest ranked ITF junior in the field, had to come back from 6-4, 4-0 down against Poland's Kacper Zuk to win 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 and avoid having the doubles decide it.

The seeded team that did lose was Junior Fed Cup seventh seed Great Britain, who fell to Japan 2-1.  I'm not sure why Katie Swan didn't play doubles, after the British No. 1 won her singles match to send the tie into a deciding doubles, but she didn't, and Ayumi Miyamoto and Kimika Sakata defeated  Jodie Anna Burrage and Ali Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to complete the upset.

The No. 1 seeded Czech Republic team won both singles, but lost the doubles point to the Netherlands, while the USA team, seeded No. 2, breezed past Egypt 3-0.

For more on the first day's action, see the ITA Junior website.

Complete results are below, and live scoring can be found here.

Girls Group A 

Czech Republic (1) defeated Netherlands 2-1:

Monika Kilnarova (CZE) d.  Suzan Lamens (NED) 62 76(6)

Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) d. Isolde de Jong (NED) 76(0) 61

Isolde de Jong/Suzan Lamens (NED) d. Monika Kilnarova/Anna Slovakova (CZE) 64 16 75

Australia (5) defeated Argentina 3-0:

Jaimee Fourlis (AUS) d. Paula Baranano (ARG) 60 62
Seone Mendez (AUS) d. Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG) 63 64
Destanee Aiava/Seone Mendez (AUS) d. Paula Baranano/Camila Moreno (ARG) 61 61

Girls Group B

Canada (4) defeated Colombia 3-0:

Bianca Andreescu (CAN) d. Maria Osorio (COL) 63 62
Charlotte Robillard-Millette (CAN) d. Emiliana Arango (COL) 76(1) 75
Bianca Andreescu/Vanessa Wong (CAN) d. Emiliana Arango/Sofia Munera (COL) 76(8) 64

Japan defeated Great Britain (7) 2-1:

Mai Hontama (JPN) d. Ali Collins (GBR) 60 16 63
Katie Swan (GBR) d. Kimika Sakata (JPN) 63 62
Ayumi Miyamoto/Kimika Sakata (JPN) d. Jodie Anna Burrage/Ali Collins (GBR) 64 46 62

Girls Group C

Russia (3) defeated Italy 3-0:

Elena Rybakina (RUS) d. Tatiana Pieri (ITA) 64 26 75
Olesya Pervushina (RUS) d. Federica Bilardo (ITA) 64 75
Evgeniya Levashova/Elena Rybakina (RUS) d. Federica Bilardo/Tatiana Pieri (ITA) 63 62

Brazil (8) defeated Chinese Taipei 2-1:

Chen Pei Hsuan (TPE) d. Nathalia Gasparin (BRA) 75 63
Thaisa Pedretti (BRA) d. Lee Yang (TPE) 63 61
Nathalia Gasparin/Thaisa Pedretti (BRA) d. Chen Pei Hsuan/Wu Fang Hsien (TPE) 76(5) 62

Girls Group D

USA (2) defeated Egypt 3-0:

Kayla Day (USA) d. Laila Elnimr (EGY) 63 62
Claire Liu (USA) d. Dalila Said (EGY) 64 60
Michaela Gordon/Claire Liu (USA) d. Laila Elnimr/Dalila Said (EGY) 64 61

Spain (6) defeated New Zealand 3-0:

Paula Arias Manjon (ESP) d. Valentina Ivanov (NZL) 63 60
Eva Guerrero Alvarez (ESP) d. Nina Paripovich (NZL) 62 60
Paula Arias Manjon/Noelia Bouzo Zanotti (ESP) d. Lauren Alter/Valentina Ivanov (NZL) 76(4) 62

Boys Group A

Canada (1) defeated Poland 3-0:

Benjamin Sigouin (CAN) d. Daniel Michalski (POL) 64 62
Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) d. Kacper Zuk (POL) 46 76(1) 64
Denis Shapovalov/Benjamin Sigouin (CAN) d. Konrad Fryze/Daniel Michalski (POL) 61 61

Czech Republic (7) defeated Hong Kong, China 3-0:

Michael Vrbensky (CZE) d. Sou Ming Chun Alan (HKG) 63 64
Partik Rikl (CZE) d. Lam Ching (HKG) 62 64
Daniel Velek/Michael Vrbensky (CZE) d. Lam Ching/Sou Ming Chun Alan (HKG) 63 76(3)

Boys Group B

Russia (4) defeated Sweden 3-0:

Alen Avidzba(RUS) d. Jonas Eriksson Ziverts (SWE) 62 60
Artem Dubrivnyy (RUS) d. Karl Friberg (SWE) 60 63
Artem Dubrivnyy/Mikhail Sokolovsky (RUS) d. Linus Bergevi/Jonas Eriksson Ziverts (SWE) 64 64

Argentina (6) defeated Chinese Taipei 3-0:

Santiago Rodriguez Taverna (ARG) d. Huang Tsung Hao (TPE) 61 61
Tomas Echeverry (ARG) d. Hsu Tyu Hsiou (TPE) 61 61
Camilo Ugo Carabelli/Santiago Rodriguez Taverna (ARG) d. Hsu Tyu Hsiou/Yu Hua Chen (TPE) 57 76(5) 64

Boys Group C

USA (3) defeated Spain 2-1:

Andres Fernandez Canovas (ESP) d. Vasil Kirkov (USA) 60 63
Sam Riffice (USA) d. Alejandro Davidovich Fukina (ESP) 60 76(10)
Vasil Kirkov/Sam Riffice (USA) d. Alejandro Davidovich Fukina/Nikolas Sanchez-Izquierdo Vivar (ESP) 63 46 62

Japan (8) defeated Brazil 2-1:

Gabriel Bugiga (BRA) d. Yuta Shimizu (JPN) 61 63
Toru Horie (JPN) d. Gabriel Decamps (BRA) 60 62
Yuta Shimizu/Yunosuke Tanaka (JPN) d. Gabriel Decamps/Enzo Kohn (BRA) 64 62

Boys Group D

Australia (2) defeated South Africa 3-0:

Alexei Popyrin (AUS) d. Joshua Howard-Tripp (RSA) 62 62
Alex de Minaur (AUS) d. Richard Thongoana (RSA) 63 60
Blake Ellis/Alexei Popyrin (AUS) d. Albertus Kruger/Richard Thongoana (RSA) 62 60

Germany (5) d. Colombia 3-0:

Marvin Moeller (GER) d. Nicolas Mejia (COL) 76(7) 61
Nicola Kuhn (GER) d. Sergio Hernandez (COL) 61 61
Marvin Moeller/Maximilian Todorov (GER) d. Alejandro Hoyos/Nicolas Mejia (COL) 64 57 62

Four USTA Pro Circuit events are underway this week in the United States, with a women's $10,000 tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, a $50,000 women's tournament in Las Vegas, a men's $100,000 Challenger in Tiburon, California, and another $10,000 Californian Futures, this one in Laguna Niguel.

Lauren Herring was the top seed in Charleston, but lost her first round match today 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 to LSU junior Joana Vale Costa. As is common for $10,000 level events, most of the qualifiers are juniors, with Americans Abigail Desiatnikov, Meibel Chi, Elizabeth Scotty, Stephanie Nemtsova among the eight who advanced to the main draw. US Open girls semifinalist Francesca Di Lorenzo received direct entry and will play No. 2 seed Laetitia Sarrazin in the first round Wednesday.

Qualifying was also completed today in Las Vegas, with Robin Anderson moving into the main draw after three qualifying wins for the second week in a row.  Anderson, the No. 5 seed in qualifying, defeated No. 3 qualifying seed Sharon Fichman of Canada 6-2, 7-5 and will play No. 5 seed Alexa Glatch in the first round on Wednesday. As was the case last week in Albuquerque, An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium and Anna Tatishvili are the top seeds.

At the $50,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Mexico, Grace Min and Kristie Ahn have advanced to the second round. 

In Tiburon, the first round will be completed today, with 11 matches scheduled, after five were played on Monday.  UCLA junior Mackenzie McDonald has continued his outstanding play this month, with the wild card collecting a 6-4, 6-4 win over Frederik Nielsen of Denmark. Frances Tiafoe and No. 7 seed Blaz Rola played an entertaining first round match with the 2013 NCAA champion taking it 6-7(0), 7-6(6), 6-3. Top seed Denis Kudla, No. 3 seed Tim Smyczek, Ryan Harrison(5), Bjorn Fratangelo(6), Jared Donaldson(8), Alex Kuznetsov, Mitchell Krueger and qualifier Dennis Nevolo are Americans who have reached the second round. Dennis Novikov, coming off two straight Challenger titles, lost to former Wisconsin star Marek Michalicka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3, avoiding a third straight meeting with Ryan Harrison, this one in the second round, that everyone had anticipated.

The USTA's third TeamUSA forum of the year is scheduled for tomorrow--Wednesday, September 30--at 8 p.m. Eastern, with the Player Pathway, resources and drills and a Q and A with Player Development general manager Martin Blackman on the agenda. Register now at this page. There is no charge for the webinar.