Xiyu Wang Out of ITF Junior Masters with Injury; Semifinals Set at ITF Grade 4 in Atlanta; Baylor Sophomores Reach Waco Futures Semifinals

The big news from the ITF Junior Masters Thursday was the withdrawal of ITF World No. 1 and US Open girls champion Xiyu Wang of China. Wang, who lost today to Maria Osorio Serrano of Colombia, has a rib injury and will drop out, meaning that Clara Burel, who was to play her in the final day of round robin competition Friday in a rematch of the US Open final, will advance to the semifinals from that group.  Thursday's results:

Girls:

Clara Tauson(DEN) d. Xinyu Wang(CHN) 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-4

Maria Osorio Serrano(COL) d. Xiyu Wang(CHN) 6-4, 6-2 

Clara Burel(FRA) d. Eleonora Molinaro(LUX) 6-1, 7-6(4) 

En Shuo Liang(TPE) d. Leylah Fernandez(CAN) 6-1, 6-4

Boys:

Chun Hsin Tseng(TPE) d. Nicolas Mejia(COL) 6-3, 6-4

Sebastian Baez(ARG) d. Brandon Nakashima(USA) 6-3, 6-3 Adrian Andreev(BUL) d. Tao Mu(CHN) 6-4, 6-3 

Hugo Gaston(FRA) d. Lorenzo Musetti(ITA) 7-6(6), 6-0

Tseng and Andreev have gone 2-0 in their group, so they will advance to the semifinals regardless of what happens in their head-to-head meeting Friday.  Baez, Nakashima, Gaston and Musetti are all 1-1, so the Friday matches will decide who advances to the semifinals, with Nakashima playing Musetti and Gaston facing Baez, with the winners advancing. Tauson is 2-0 and should advance regardless of her result Friday, while Xinyu Wang and En Shuo Liang, both 1-1, meet for the second spot in the semifinals from that group.

Live scoring is available here. For complete standings and Friday's schedule, see the ITF Junior Circuit website.

After a week off, the fall ITF Junior Circuit in the United States continues this week with a Grade 4 event in Atlanta.  The semifinals are set for Friday, and include two wild cards on the girls side.  No. 7 seed Briana Crowley will face wild card Ruth Marsh in the top half semifinal, and Katrina Scott will play No. 8 seed (and qualifier) Michelle Sorokko in the bottom half semifinal. Top seed Hina Inoue lost in the third round and No. 2 seed Kailey Evans fell in the second round.

Top seed Andres Martin has advanced to the boys semifinals, where he will face unseeded Jeremie Casabon. Qualifier Tyler Stice defeated No. 2 seed Cleeve Harper of Canada 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals today for his seventh win since Saturday, and will play No. 9 seed Keshav Chopra for a place in the final. 

Rain in Waco on Wednesday meant that only doubles were played, indoors, at the $25,000 Futures there, so two rounds of singles were played today. Baylor sophomore Roy Smith posted two big wins today to advance to his first Futures semifinal, with the 20-year-old wild card defeating top seed Ronnie Schneider(UNC) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the second round and UCLA senior Maxime Cressy of France 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Another Baylor sophomore, Matias Soto of Chile, also a wild card, defeated Stephan Gerritsen of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2 and closed out a long day in Waco with a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) win over Georgia recruit Trent Bryde. Former Bear Maxime Tchoutakian[4] of France, who had eliminated another Baylor sophomore, qualifier Kyrylo Tsygura, in the second round, lost to UCLA junior Evan Zhu 6-4, 7-5. Zhu and Soto will face off Friday for a place in the final, while Smith will face qualifier Jonathan Chang(Rice), who defeated No. 3 seed Michael Redlicki in the second round and Jack Findel-Hawkins(North Florida) of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals.

At the $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Macon, qualifier Hailey Baptiste has reached the quarterfinals by defeating Ann Li 6-4, 6-4. Baptiste will play Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay, one of only two international players remaining in the quarterfinals. The other one, No. 7 seed Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, will face No. 2 seed Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals. The top half is all unseeded Americans, with Danielle Lao(USC) set to play Varvara Lepchenko and Kayla Day facing Allie Kiick. 

No Americans remain after the conclusion of the second round of play at the $60,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Saguenay Canada, but 15-year-old qualifier Dasha Lopatetskaya of Ukraine continues to make news. After defeating No. 4 seed Naomi Broady in the first round, Lopatetskaya ran her Pro Circuit record to 15-0(including qualifying) with a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Manon Arcangioli of France. She will play No. 6 seed Jessika Ponchet of France in Friday's quarterfinals.

The $50,000+H Challenge in Las Vegas also will not have an American in the quarterfinals, although Jason Jung, the former Michigan star who grew up in California, but now plays for Taiwan, has reached the final eight. Jung, the No. 4 seed, will play former Tennessee All-American JP Smith of Australia. Top seed Lloyd Harris of South Africa lost in the second round to Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-4, 6-3 yesterday.