Orange Bowl, Yucatan ITF Grade A Acceptances; Nakashima Wins First Match at ITF Junior Masters; Baptiste, Osuigwe and Li Earn First Round Victories at Macon $80K

The final two ITF Grade A events are scheduled for Yucatan Mexico and Plantation Florida, with the ITF Grade 1 Eddie Herr the week between the two. Formerly in Mexico City earlier in the month of November, the Yucatan tournament was elevated to a Grade A from a Grade 1 in previous years.

American girls on the initial Yucatan acceptance list, with a ranking cutoff of 121, are:
Coco Gauff
Lea Ma
Dalayna Hewitt
Hurricane Tyra Black
Gabby Price
Chloe Beck
Peyton Stearns
Vanessa Ong
Savannah Broadus
Kacie Harvey
Kylie Collins

American boys on the initial Yucatan acceptance list, with a ranking cutoff of 126, are:
Brandon Nakashima
Drew Baird
Tyler Zink
Emilio Nava
Eliot Spizzirri
Toby Kodat
Zane Khan

The Orange Bowl, two weeks later, also released its acceptance list earlier today, although it is currently not available on the ITF Junior Circuit website.  A few more Americans are entered, and the cutoffs are higher, with 97 for the girls and 109 for the boys. Kylie Collins is the first player out of the main draw at 99.

The American girls:
Coco Gauff
Caty McNally
Alexa Noel
Lea Ma
Elli Mandlik
Dalayna Hewitt
Hurricane Tyra Black
Gabby Price
Chloe Beck
Emma Navarro
Peyton Stearns
Vanessa Ong
Savannah Broadus
Kacie Harvey

The American boys:
Brandon Nakashima
Drew Baird
Cannon Kingsley
Govind Nanda
Tyler Zink
Emilio Nava
Eliot Spizzirri
Toby Kodat

The Eddie Herr Grade 1 acceptances are scheduled to be released next week. The acceptances to the Grade 1 next month in Campeche Mexico are here. No current Top 10 players are entered in Campeche, with main draw ranking cutoffs in the 180-190 range.

Today at the ITF Junior Masters in China, Brandon Nakashima defeated Hugo Gaston of France 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3 in the opening match of the round robin stage of the event. Nakashima will play Sebastian Baez of Argentina on the second day of round robin play Thursday.  Nakashima discusses his win over the Youth Olympic gold medalist in this article from the ITF Junior Circuit website.

Wednesday's results:
Lorenzo Musetti(ITA) d. Sebastian Baez(ARG) 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4
Chun Hsin Tseng(TPE) d. Tao Mu(CHN) 6-3, 6-4
Adrian Andreev(BUL) d. Nicolas Mejia(COL) 6-3, 6-3
Brandon Nakashima(USA) d. Hugo Gaston(FRA) 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3

Xinyu Wang(CHN) d. Leylah Fernandez(CAN) 6-0, 6-0
Xiyu Wang(CHN) d. Eleonora Molinaro(LUX) 6-3, 6-2
Clara Burel(FRA) d. Maria Osorio Serrano(COL) 6-2, 6-2
Clara Tauson(DEN) d. En Shuo Liang(TPE) 7-6(7), 6-1

Live scoring is available here.

Several of the top American junior girls have elected to concentrate on the ITF Women's Pro Circuit, particularly this fall.  Today at the $80,000 tournament in Macon, qualifier Hailey Baptiste, Whitney Osuigwe and Ann Li all advanced to the second round with impressive wins. Baptiste, who turns 17 next month, defeated Asia Muhammad 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 and will face Li in Thursday's second round. Li beat No. 5 seed Nicole Gibbs 2-6, 7-5, 6-0. Osuigwe took out No. 8 seed Christina McHale 7-5, 6-0 and will play another veteran, Varvara Lepchenko, in the second round. No. 4 seed Claire Liu lost to Kayla Day 7-6(7), 6-4, just the second time in five meetings that Day has beaten her younger Southern California rival.  Former USC star Danielle Lao took out top seed Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-3 in the first round Tuesday.