Five US Girls, Three US Boys Advance to French Open Round of 16; Kiick Returns at Bethany Beach $25K

Tuesday was a frustrating day at the French Open Junior Championships, with several rain delays, but the second round of singles was finished, with three US girls and two US boys joining the three Americans who advanced to the third round on Monday.

Unseeded Sebastian Korda defeated qualifier Uisung Park of Korea 6-4, 7-6(4) and will play unseeded Gianni Ross, who beat No. 9 seed Yuta Shimizu of Japan, the winner of last week's Grade 1 in Belgium, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.  Korda, who will be 17 next month, and Ross, who turned 18 in February, have trained together often, but have not played each other before.  The winner will have earned his place in a junior slam quarterfinal for the first time.  The ITF junior website has more from Korda on his win today.

No. 8 seed Trent Bryde and Alexandre Rotsaert were beaten in second round matches today. No. 10 seed Oliver Crawford had advanced to the third round with a win on Monday and will play unseeded French wild card Clement Tabur on Wednesday.

The boys draw did lose one of its top seeds and favorites, with No. 2 seed Corentin Moutet of France, who won a Futures tournament last month, falling to Alexey Zakharov of Russia 7-6(6), 0-6, 6-2. No. 7 seed Yshai Oliel of Israel was beaten by Thiago Seyboth-Wild of Brazil 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 leaving only seven seeds in the boys draw and just two in the bottom half.

US girls went 3-1 today, with unseeded Caty McNally, No. 6 seed Claire Liu and No. 2 seed Amanda Anisimova posting wins.  Elysia Bolton lost to top seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia 6-3, 6-0, with McNally taking out the only girls seed to lose Tuesday.  McNally defeated No. 16 seed Mai Hontama of Japan 6-3, 7-6(4).   McNally will face unseeded Amina Anshba of Russia, who beat Australian Open champion Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the second round Monday.  Liu's opponent in the third round is Russian Olesya Pervushina, the No 12 seed, while Anisimova plays No. 15 seed Maria Osorio Serrano of Colombia.

Unseeded Hailey Baptiste, who advanced to the third round on Monday, also plays a Russian, no surprise, with five US girls and six Russian girls still in the field. Baptiste will face Elena Rybakina, the No. 11 seed, who recently won the Grade A in Milan.  No. 7 seed Whitney Osuigwe, who also advanced to the third round with a win on Monday, plays unseeded Xin Yu Wang of China. There are nine seeds remaining in the girls draw, with Liu the only American in the top half.

Many junior doubles matches on the schedule were cancelled, with three girls first round matches and five boys first round matches yet to be started.  Unseeded Vasil Kirkov and Danny Thomas did post a US win today.

In men's doubles, Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus of New Zealand advanced to the semifinals, beating No. 7 seed Marcel Granollers of Spain and Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Harrison and Venus will face the Colombian team of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah for a place in the final.  Farah, the 2008 NCAA doubles champion while at USC, is also in the mixed doubles semifinals, with Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany. They will face Rajeev Ram and Australia's Casey Dellacqua.

After a two-week break, the USTA Pro Circuit has resumed with a $25,000 women's tournament in Bethany Beach Delaware. Now in its seventh year, the tournament was previously a $10,000-level.

Allie Kiick, who has been unable to compete for almost two years due to skin cancer and multiple knee surgeries, is back, with the 21-year-old Floridian using a protected ranking to get into the main draw.

The qualifying was completed today, with juniors Abigail Forbes, Alexa Noel and Safiya Carrington advancing to the main draw.  Carrington, who turns 16 later this month, had played in nine ITF Pro Circuit qualifying tournaments in 2016 and seven this year before finally earning a place in the main draw with a final round qualifying win today in her eighth tournament of 2017.  Other Americans qualifying are North Carolina's Jessie Aney, Alabama's Andie Daniell and Syracuse's Amanda Rodgers.  The top seed is Danielle Collins, with Ellie Halbauer the No. 2 seed. First round singles action begins on Wednesday.

Due to rain, there was no play today at the $100,000 tournaments in Surbiton.  At the $100,000 ITF Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Marseille France, No. 7 seed Kayla Day won her first round match, beating Cristina Dinu of Romania 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-2.  Taylor Townsend[4] and Grace Min, the only other American women electing to stay on clay this week, lost their opening round matches.