Shane Wins Tallahassee Futures; Teens Wang and Fourlis Claim Australian Open Wild Cards; Kiefer and Bridgforth Earn Grade 5 Titles; Eddie Herr 12s and 14s Photos

The 2017 USTA Pro Circuit Collegiate Series wrapped up last week in Tallahassee with 2015 NCAA champion Ryan Shane winning the title at the $25,000 event, his second Futures title this year and fourth overall.  Shane, the No. 6 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Kaichi Uchida of Japan 7-6(3), 6-1 in the final.  Top seeds Alex Lawson(Notre Dame) and Nathaniel Lammons(SMU) won the doubles title, their third as a team, beating Florida State's wild card team of Jose Gracia and Lucas Poullain, who were unseeded, 6-3, 6-0 in the final.

At the $15,000 Futures in the Dominican Republic, former University of South Florida All-American Roberto Cid won the title in his home country.  The No. 8 seed defeated No. 2 seed and former UNC star Jose Hernandez-Fernandez, also of the Dominican Republic, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. He now has won four Futures titles, three of them this year, and will reach a new career high inside the top 450 in the ATP rankings.

Zimbabwe's Benjamin Lock(Florida State) and Robert Galloway(Wofford) of the United States have been tearing up the ITF Futures Circuit in doubles, winning six consecutive titles in Kuwait and South Africa since the first of November. Former Ole Miss star Nik Scholtz of South Africa won the singles title at the $15,000 Futures event in South Africa that produced the sixth title for Lock and Galloway.

Sofia Sewing, who has committed to Miami and is to begin in January, won her second Pro Circuit doubles title, both coming with Maria Portillo Ramirez of Mexico, last week in at the $15,000 event in Ecuador. Sewing also reached the singles final, losing to Nika Kukharchuk of Russia in three sets.

The Australian Open is in the midst of its wild card season, with the tournaments to award its Asia-Pacific wild cards held earlier this month. ITF Junior No. 5 Xinyu Wang of China, 16, won the women's tournament, beating former Georgia State All-American Abigail Tere-Apisah of Papua New Guinea 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the final.  Twenty-year-old Soon Woo Kwon of Korea won the men's wild card, beating Zhe Li of China in the final 6-1, 6-1. For more on the finals, see this Tennis Australia article.

Tennis Australia awards its girls 18s National Champion a main draw wild card (it does not give one to the boys 18s champion) and this year 18-year-old Jaimee Fourlis won it, avenging her loss in last year's 18s final to Destanee Aiava.  Fourlis defeated the 17-year-old Aiava 6-7(1), 7-6(4), 7-5 in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon. For more on the final, see the Tennis Australia article.

Last week marked the end of the ITF Junior Circuit season (don't worry, it starts again on January 1st) and three of the four titles at the Grade 5 in Nicaragua went to Americans.  After losing in two Grade 5 finals last month, 17-year-old Kennedy Bridgforth won her first title, with the No. 3 seed beating top seed Sasha Wood 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the final.  The pair teamed up for the doubles title, with the No. 1 seeds beating No. 3 seeds Sandra Alonso of Spain and Haley Giavara 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Fifteen-year-old Alexander Kiefer won his second career ITF junior title, both Grade 5s, with the No. 2 seed beating No. 7 seed Patricio Nieto of Mexico 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Below are the photos of the singles semifinalists and doubles finalists from the 12s and 14s divisions of the Eddie Herr. I will post the Eddie Herr 16s and ITF photos on Tuesday. You Tube videos of the finalists and champions will have to wait until I return home to better bandwidth. My recap of the Eddie Herr tournament for the Tennis Recruiting Network is here.

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