May Aces; Yepifanova Wins USTA's Tournament for Girls Born in 2003; No Americans Make it Through Qualifying for French Open Juniors; Bellis's Match with Wozniacki Suspended at Roland Garros

I keep a running tally of notable titles and accomplishments each month so when it comes time to put together my Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network I don't forget success that comes early in the month. Last month's list got so long that I had to set aside more than a few deserving players, particularly if they had been featured recently.  Even with that, there are 18 performances in this month's column, with junior girls on the pro tour and collegiate champions making up the bulk of the aces.

A Player Development tournament for US girls born in 2003 took place this week at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Florida, with the following players participating:

Elvina Kalieva
Charlotte Owensby
Alexandra Yepifanova
Ellie Coleman
Kailey Evans
Yuu Ishikawa
Madison Sieg
Allie Gretkowski
Malaika Rapolu
Carson Tanguilig
Elise Wagle
Kimberly Hance
Maya Rukosuev
Leyden Games
Alison Zipoli
Soren Leichter

 

The results of the semifinals and finals are below with the top three finishers automatically earning spots in two $15K Pro Circuit events this fall, along with a fourth "coach's selection" which will be announced at a later date. The USTA's goal is to get more exposure for young American players at Pro Circuit tournaments.  

Semifinals:

Charlotte Owensby defeated Elise Wagle 6-4, 6-3

Alexandra Yepifanova defeated Ellie Coleman 6-1, 6-2

Final:

Alexandra Yepifanova defeated. Charlotte Owensby 2-6, 6-2, 6-1

3rd Place:

Ellie Coleman defeated Elise Wagle 7-5, 6-3

Owensby is the only girl who was on the USA's ITF World Junior Tennis 14-and-under team that qualified in Mexico last month.  Gabby Price and Cori Gauff were on the team with Owensby.  Gauff was in Paris this week, competing at the Longines Rendez-vous à Roland-Garros for a main draw wild card into the French Junior Championships.  The 13-year-old lost in the final to 17-year-old Anri Nagata of Japan 6-4, 6-4. The boys wild card was won by Abhimanyu Vannemreddy of India, who beat Japan's Hikaru Shiraishi 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. 

None of the three American juniors who reached the final round of the French Open Juniors qualifying was able to advance to the main draw. No. 12 seed Amanda Meyer lost to top seed Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3, No. 7 seed Hurricane Tyra Black lost to French wild card Manon Leonard 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-0 and Lukas Greif lost to top seed Timofey Skatov of Russia 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. 

In third round action today in the men's and women's draws at Roland Garros, only Venus Williams[10] was able to book a place in the fourth round.  Bethanie-Mattek Sands, Steve Johnson[25] and Shelby Rogers all lost, with CiCi Bellis's match with Caroline Wozniacki[11] of Denmark unfinished.  Bellis lost the first set to the former WTA No. 1 6-2, losing the last six games of the set, but the 18-year-old had a 5-2 lead and was serving for the second set when rain suspended play. The match will be completed on Saturday.

John Isner[21] is the only other American still in singles. He plays unseeded Karen Khachanov of Russia Saturday.

At the ITF Grade 1 in Belgium, Alexandre Rotsaert won the doubles title with partner Ajeet Rai of New Zealand. Third seeds Rotsaert and Rai defeated the unseeded Belgian team of Zizou Bergs and Frederic Jacobs 4-6, 6-2, 10-8.  

Bergs, the third seed in singles, will play No. 2 seed Yuta Shimizu of Japan for the title Saturday. No. 11 seed Lulu Sun of Switzerland and No. 10  seed Anhzelika Isaeva of Russia will face off in the girls singles championship. 

No. 7 seeds Shaline-Doreen Pipa of Germany and Lara Salden of Belgium won the girls doubles title, beating Victoria Mikhaylova of Russia and Melis Yasar of Sweden 7-6(7) ,6-1.