Oklahoma Hosts Men's and Women's Pro Circuit Events This Week; Women's $60K in Charleston Underway

This week's USTA Pro Circuit events are in Norman Oklahoma and Charleston South Carolina, with the women's tournament in Oklahoma a $15,000 event and the men's tournament there at the $25,000 level. In Charleston, the women have a $60,000 tournament, but there is no ATP Challenger in the US this week.

Qualifying for all three events was completed today, with Ashley Kratzer and Alexa Glatch the two Americans reaching the main draw in Charleston with wins today, while Maria Mateas(Duke) advanced as a lucky loser.  Usue Arconada is the top seed, with Caroline Dolehide seeded No. 2. I spoke briefly with Dolehide when I was in Lake Nona last week, and she said after this tournament she is scheduled to compete in the events that will be designated by the USTA for the 2020 Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. Dolehide is currently 203 in the WTA rankings.

Wild cards in Charleston went to Michigan recruit Karina Miller, local star Emma Navarro, Reese Brantmeier and Elli Mandlik. Brantmeier and Mandlik played today in the first round with Mandlik winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Miller lost to Ellie Halbauer today 6-2, 6-3.

At the men's tournament in Norman, four of the six qualifiers are Americans, all of them with college roots: Arizona State senior Nathan Ponwith, Illinois senior Zeke Clark, recent TCU graduate Reese Stalder and recent Notre Dame graduate Alex Lebedev. The other two qualifiers are former Baylor star Mate Zsiga of Hungary and Cornell junior Eero Vasa of Finland.

Three seeds are already out, with top seed Roy Smith(Baylor) losing to former Oklahoma State standout Lucas Gerch of Germany 7-5, 6-4; No. 3 seed Ulises Blanch lost to Michael Geerts(Arizona State) of Belgium 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 and No. 7 seed Lloyd Glasspool(Texas) of Great Britain was beaten by compatriot Jonathan Gray 6-3, 6-2. Former Pepperdine star Sebastian Fanselow of Germany is the No. 2 seed and will play his first round match Wednesday.  Wild cards went to Zane Khan, Spencer Papa, Leighton Allen and University of Oklahoma sophomore Mason Beiler. Govind Nanda, who won the $25K in Harlingen Texas Sunday, received a special exemption into the main draw and will play Ponwith on Wednesday.

At the women's tournament in Norman, Amy Zhu(Michigan) is the top seed, and she defeated wild card Vanessa Ong 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(3) tonight in a first round match that took over just over four hours. The three other wild cards are all Oklahoma players: sophomore Marcelina Podlinska of Poland, junior Skyler Miller and senior Oleksandra Korashvili of Ukraine.

American qualifiers are Gianna Pielet, Carmen Corley, Andie Daniell(Alabama), Ashlyn Krueger and Madison Appel. Emma Davis(Wake Forest) advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser.

Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Chavatipon advanced to the second round with a win today and 18-year-old Dalayna Hewitt beat No. 6 seed Nika Kukharchuk (Ole Miss) of Russia 6-1, 6-1.