August Aces; Six Americans Reach Final Round of US Open Junior Qualifying; Querrey, Stephens, Williams Advance to Round of 16

Before I go headlong into this year's US Open Junior Championships, here's a look back at some of the top performances of last month in my regular Aces column for Tennis Recruiting Network. Several of the featured players have extended their winning streaks into September, including Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who is now in the fourth round of the US Open, and former SMU star Marta Lesniak, who is now in the final for a third straight week after winning two $15K titles last month.

Six Americans--three boys and three girls--have advanced to the final round of qualifying at the US Open Junior Championships, and I'll be over at the practice courts outside the gates of the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center to watch some of those matches on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.  Of the 14 Americans who played qualifying, only one, No. 5 Nicole Mossmer, was seeded, and the 2016 National 16s champion is one win away from her second straight appearance in the main draw after a 6-0, 6-0 win over Vitoria Okuyama of Brazil.  Elli Mandlik defeated No. 3 seed Sofia Munera Sanchez of Colombia 6-3, 6-4 and 2017 National 16s finalist Nikki Redelijk defeated No. 15 seed Anastasia Iamachkine of Peru.

The three US boys who advanced, wild cards all, defeated seeds, with Govind Nanda taking out No. 4 seed Thiago Tirante of Argentina 0-6, 6-1, 6-0.  Will Grant defeated No. 12 seed Mattia Frinzi of Italy 6-2, 7-6(4) and Tristan Boyer beat no. 8 seed Kaya Gore of Turkey 6-2, 6-3. Top qualifying seed Barnaby Smith of Great Britain went out to Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

In other US Open Junior news, Dalayna Hewitt has received the final girls wild card, and I've confirmed that Brian Shi, Trey Hilderbrand and Andrew Fenty are in the main draw, as I speculated last night.

The finals are set for the Grade 1 in Repentigny Quebec, with unseeded Canadian Layne Sleeth meeting top seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the girls championship match.  Kostyuk won via walkover from Olga Danilovic, while Sleeth defeated No. 4 seed Sofia Sewing 6-2, 7-5.  The boys final will feature unseeded Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida of Brazil against No. 3 seed Marco Miladinovic of Serbia.

Only one American man is left at this year's US Open: Sam Querrey. The No. 17 seed defeated Radu Albot of Moldova 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the fourth round, where he'll meet No. 23 seed Mischa Zverev of Germany. Zverev thwarted an all-US round of 16 match when he beat No. 10 seed John Isner 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Friday’s 3rd round results for Americans:
VENUS WILLIAMS[9] def. Maria Sakkari(GRE) 6-3, 6-4
Mischa Zverev(GER)[23] def. JOHN ISNER[10]  6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5)
SONYA KENIN v Maria Sharapova(RUS)
SLOANE STEPHENS def. Ashleigh Barty(AUS) 6-2, 6-4
SAM QUERREY[17] def. Radu Albot(MDA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4

Saturday’s 3rd round matches featuring Americans:

Agnieszka Radwanska(POL)[10] v COCO VANDEWEGHE[20]
Elena Vesnina(RUS)[17] v MADISON KEYS[15]
Elina Svitolina(UKR)[4] v SHELBY ROGERS
JENNIFER BRADY v Monica Niculescu(ROU)

Saturday's complete schedule is here.