Kratzer Takes Out Top Seed Gibbs at Tyler $80K; Second Seed Holt Upset at ITA Fall Nationals; Finals Set at USA Les Petits As Playoffs

USTA National 18s champion Ashley Kratzer, who has qualified for the last two $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit events, got yet another impressive win today in Tyler Texas, beating top seed Nicole Gibbs 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in second round action.  In yesterday's first round, the 18-year-old left-hander defeated Macon champion Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-3, 7-6(0) and last week, Kratzer got her first WTA top 100 victory over No. 2 seed Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.  Krazter will face two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins, one of six Americans through to the quarterfinals.  The others are Taylor Townsend[2], Sonya Kenin[3], Kristie Ahn[4] and Irina Falconi[7]. Kenin avenged her loss this spring to Amanda Anisimova at the Dothan $60K, beating the US Open girls champion 6-4, 6-3.

With Vicky Duval losing today, all six have an opportunity to make up ground on the current leader of the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.

At the $60,000 ITF Women's Pro Circuit event in Toronto, 20-year-old Francesca Di Lorenzo defeated 38-year-old Greta Arn of Hungary 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Di Lorenzo, the Ohio State junior, has reached the quarterfinals of the last three tournaments she's played. She will face qualifier Tammy Hendler of Belgium next.

At the ITA Fall Championships in Indian Wells, two more men's seeds and five women's seeds were eliminated in the second round, leaving just 6 of 16 men's seeds and 7 of 16 women's seeds in Friday's round of 16.

ITA Oracle Masters champion Brandon Holt of USC, the No. 2 seed, lost to Lucas Poullain of Florida State 6-3, 6-4 and No. 8 seed Johannes Schretter of Baylor was beaten by Aswin Lizen of Virginia 6-0, 6-2.

Top seed Nuno Borges of Mississippi State advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ryo Matsumura of Kentucky and Wake Forest's No. 3 and 4 seeds, Petros Chrysochos and Skander Mansouri, moved into the round of 16 with straight-sets victories.

Unseeded Kevin Konfederak, the NAIA champion from Georgia Gwinett, has advanced to the round of 16.

No. 4 seed Ena Shibahara of UCLA joined No. 1 seed Anna Danilina and No. 3 seed Karla Popovic of Cal on the sidelines, falling to Bianca Turati of Texas 7-6(4), 6-2.  No. 6 seed Katarina Jokic of Georgia, No. 7 seed Sinead Lohan of Miami, No. 10 seed Anastasia Rychagova of Kansas and No. 15 seed Mayar Ahmed of Pepperdine also lost in Thursday's second round.

Two rounds of singles will be played on Friday. See the ITA tournament page for links to draws, live scoring and live streaming.

The finals are set for the USA's Les Petits As playoffs, but those matches will be a bit anticlimactic, with the finalists both receiving main draw entries into next January's 14-and-under event in Tarbes France. No. 4 seed Katrina Scott and No. 2 seed Katja Wiersholm will be making the trip, as will No. 1 boys seed Evan Wen and unseeded John Kim. Wiersholm's brother Henrik, now a senior at Virginia, won the Les Petits As title back in 2011.

In past years, the US always received four main draw entries, but now it only gets three.  The third place finishers will receive at a least a qualifying entry, but I'm told the third main draw spot could go to another US player, as of yet to be determined.  If Coco Gauff wished to play, and she is still age-eligible, she would certainly be given a main draw spot.

Today's semifinal results:

Katrina Scott[4] def. Vivian Ovrootsky[1] 7-5, 6-1
Katja Wiersholm[2] def. Robin Montgomery[3] 1-6, 6-1, 6-2

Evan Wen[1] def. Jonah Braswell 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-1
John Kim def. Victor Lilov[3] 7-5, 7-5