Semifinals Set at USTA Winter Nationals; Kylie Collins Feature; Auger-Aliassime Trains with Federer; Promising Young Women from India; Alaska's Lewis Tries Pro Circuit

The semifinals are set for the USTA Winter Nationals, with another No. 1 seed falling in today's quarterfinals.  Boys 12 top seed Nicholas Mangiapane lost to No. 7 seed Rudy Quan 6-0, 6-1, leaving just one boys top seed alive for the title: Noelle Ampong in the 14s.  Three of the four girls No. 1 seeds have advanced to the semifinals.  The 16s and 18s semifinals in Lake Nona will be streamed, and the matches are much easier to follow than previously, with chair umpires and on-screen score updates being used beginning with today's matches.  No. 16 seed Christian Alshon defeated No. 3 seed Kevin Zhu 6-4, 6-1 today in the boys 18s, and No. 4 seed Jared Pratt is now the highest seed remaining in the draw.

Winter National Quarterfinal Results:
16s and 18s full draws here; 12s and 14s full draws here.

G12s:
Stephanie Yakoff[1] def. Mika Ikemori[5] 6-4, 6-1
Areil Madatali[9] def. Isabella Chhiv[15] 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
Brooklyn Olson[3] def. Kianaa Graham[7] 7-6(2), 6-4
Quin Brady def. Thea Latak[17] 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

G14s:
Anushka Khune[10] def. Emma Baker 6-2, 6-3
Midori Castillo def. Tomi Main[14] 6-1, 6-3
Priya Nelson[7] def. Nevena Carton[17] 7-5, 6-2
Emma Charney[17] def. Elisabeth Jones[2] 7-5, 6-3

G16s:
Gianna Pielet[1] def. Rosie Garcia Gross[10] 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
Allura Zamarripa def. Carmen Corley[11] 6-4, 6-2
Valencia Xu[9] def. Justine Dondonay 6-4, 6-3
Eryn Cayetano[8] def. Eleana Yu 6-2, 6-2

G18s:
Chelsea Kung[1] def. Clarissa Hand[17] 7-5, 6-4
Sophia Graver[3] def. Ellie Coleman 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
Anika Yarlagadda[7] def. Angelica Blake[16] 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
Fiona Crawley[17]def. Dasha Kourkina[15] 6-1, 2-6, 6-0

B12s:
Rudy Quan[7] def. Nicholas Mangiapane[1] 6-0, 6-1
Adam Sun[4] def. Humza Noor[10] 6-1, 6-2
Kaylan Bigun[9] def.  Quang Duong[3] 6-4, 6-1
Andrew Salu[2] def. Meecah Bigun[17] 6-2, 6-0

B14s
Noelle Ampong[1] def. Nicholas Heng[17] 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
Jiaxi Ma[13] def. Eli Gordon[5] 6-4, 6-2
Samir Banerjee[3] def. Brian Chong[14] 6-3, 7-5
Daniel Schmelka[6] def. Hudson Rivera[17] 6-7(6), 6-2 7-5

B16s
JJ Tracy[17] def. Niraj Komatineni[17] 6-2, 0-6, 6-2
Keshav Chopra[8] def. Aditya Gupta[11] 6-4, 7-5
Harsh Parikh[6] def. Zachary Smith 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Logan Zapp[9] def. Daniel Milavsky[17] 6-1, 6-1

B18s
Bradley Frye[12] def. Ryan Goetz[5] 6-4, 7-6(1)
Jared Pratt[4] def. Noah Schachter 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5)
Christian Alshon[16] def. Kevin Zhu[3] 6-4, 6-1
Siem Woldeab[17] def. Andres Martin 7-5, 3-6, 6-4

A few articles I've run into this week while trying to catch up on all that I've missed while I've been in Florida are linked below.

Orange Bowl 16s doubles champion Kylie Collins is featured in this article in the Savannah Morning News. Collins trains at the Smith-Stearns Academy in nearby Hilton Head and her sister McKenzie, a member of the Virginia Tech team, also is mentioned in the article.

Seventeen-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada will not be making his Australian Open qualifying debut after a knee injury during training recently, but he did have an opportunity to train with Roger Federer in Dubai during his off-season, and he spoke with CBC Sports about that experience, his current coaching team and what improvements he is hoping to make in the upcoming months.

India loves tennis, and has several promising young men (20-year-old Sumit Nagal won a Challenger recently and has qualified for the ATP event this week in Pune) but with Sania Mirza a doubles specialist now, the door is open for a woman to succeed her as the face of Indian tennis.  The Times of India profiles several of the top candidates, a couple of whom are still eligible for the ITF Junior Circuit.

The challenges of being from Alaska and pursuing a tennis career are obvious, but 23-year-old Eddie Lewis, a graduate of Division II Eckerd college in St. Petersburg Florida, is giving the Pro Circuit a try, according to this article from the Anchorage Daily News.  So far he has not won a qualifying match in his two attempts last month in Florida and Mexico, but his biography suggests that he will not let a few losses deter him.