Mandlik, Ma Reach ITF Grade 1 Quarterfinals in Germany; Ritschard's Futures Win Streak Reaches 17; McDonald Makes ATP Quarterfinal; Anisimova, Gauff Features

Two Americans have advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITF Grade 1 in Offenbach Germany, with No. 10 seed Elli Mandlik and No. 2 seed Lea Ma posting wins today.  Mandlik defeated No. 6 seed Sohyun Park of Korea 6-4, 6-1 and Ma beat unseeded German Eva Lys 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. Mandlik will play No. 4 seed Gergana Topalova of Bulgaria Friday in the top half, with Ma taking on unseeded Andjela Skrobonja of Serbia in the bottom half.  Top seed Margaryta Bilokin of Ukraine lost today to German wild card Mara Guth 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Last month 2017 University of Virginia graduate Alexander Ritschard won three consecutive Futures titles in Sweden.  After a two-break, Ritschard returned to the US and has now reached the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Futures at Wake Forest, beating top seed Alexander Sarkissian in today's second round 7-6(4), 6-0. The 24-year-old will face qualifier Ryan Peniston(Memphis) of Great Britain Friday, looking for his 18th straight win.  NCAA champion Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus will face Wake Forest teammate Yuval Solomon, a wild card, after Solomon surprised No. 3 seed Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-0.  Eighteen-year-old Brian Shi advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over Felipe Mantilla of Colombia, his second Futures quarterfinal in the past two months. The Harvard recruit will face former UCLA Bruin Karue Sell of Brazil, the No. 5 seed, on Friday.

At the $25,0000 Futures in Buffalo New York, No. 5 seed Alex Rybakov and No. 4 seed Deiton Baughman are the sole Americans to reach the quarterfinals.

Sixteen-year-old Hailey Baptiste had reached the quarterfinals of the previous two $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit events, and after qualifying again this week in Sumter South Carolina, Baptiste made it three quarterfinals in a row with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 3 seed Shilin Xu of China. Baptiste will play qualifier Gail Brodsky next. Ashley Lahey, Maria Mateas[6], Robin Anderson[5] and top seed Taylor Townsend are the other Americans advancing to the quarterfinals.

Former UCLA Bruin Mackenzie McDonald received a wild card into the ATP 250 in S'Hertogenbosch and he's used it to reach his first ATP quarterfinal. After a win over No. 8 seed Andreas Seppi of Italy in the first round, the 2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion defeated qualifier Alex Bolt of Australia 6-4, 7-5 today and will face unseeded Jeremy Chardy of France next. Chardy took out top seed Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4, 6-4. Currently ranked 110, McDonald is inching closer to the Top 100 with his results this week.

The USTA's Ashley Marshall has been keeping up with the young American women in the past few weeks, and he has recently spoken to the past two US girls junior slam champions: Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff.  Anisimova reveals her summer schedule after a fracture in her foot kept her out during the clay season in this article.  Gauff's schedule includes next week's Pro Circuit event in Baton Rouge, then it's back to the ITF Junior Circuit for the 14-year-old, who will play Roehampton and Wimbledon. For more on Gauff's win at the French Open, see this article.