Rune and Mochizuki Lead Acceptances for November's ITF Grade A in Mexico; Entries Close Tuesday for Eddie Herr Grade 1 and Grade A Orange Bowl

The acceptances for next month's ITF Grade A in Merida Mexico are out, with, at least for now, an exceptionally strong boys field. Perhaps because both are just 16, Wimbledon champion Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan and French champion Holger Rune of Denmark are on the list, while most older junior slam champions do not play through the final two Grade As of the year.  Rune took over the top spot in the ITF rankings with his title at the Junior Finals last week, while Mochizuki is No. 3 in the ITF World Junior rankings. Rune is defending semifinal points in Mexico, while Mochizuki is defending nothing the rest of the year, so the year-end title of ITF World Junior champion is still very much up for grabs. Mochizuki has also entered the Grade 1 in Cancun the week before the Merida tournament, which begins November 25th.

In addition to Rune and Mochizuki, fourth-ranked Harold Mayot of France, a finalist last week at the ITF Junior Finals in China, has also entered.

The top American boys are not playing, with No. 5 Martin Damm, No. 6 Emilio Nava and No. 9 Toby Kodat passing on both Cancun and Yucatan. American boys receiving main draw acceptances to the Grade A are, in order of ranking, Zane Khan, Dali Blanch, Andrew Dale, Welsh Hotard, Micah Braswell, Alex Bernard, Aidan Mayo and Cash Hanzlik. The boys cutoff is currently 152.

There are no Top 10 girls entered in Mexico, with No. 14 Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic the highest ranked player entered. ITF No. 1 Diane Parry is not defending her title, but with the other contenders for year-end No. 1 not playing, that may not matter, depending on who shows up for the Orange Bowl.

US girls currently on the acceptance list are Alexandra Yepifanova, Robin Montgomery, Savannah Broadus, Katrina Scott, Skyler Grishuk, Charlotte Chavatipon, Charlotte Owensby, Jenna DeFalco, Kailey Evans, Emma Jackson, Ellie Coleman, Madison Sieg and Tara Malik. The girls cutoff is currently 130.

The entry deadlines for both the Grade 1 Eddie Herr, December 2-8, and the Grade A Orange Bowl, December 9-15, are next Tuesday, November 5th. Very few juniors commit to both events in Mexico and then both in the United States, which would mean four straight weeks of competition, so it will be interesting for the year-end race to see who enters these last two.

The 16s Orange Bowl entry deadline is also next Tuesday, at 9 a.m.  See the tournament website, ustaorangebowl.com, for more on those entries, which are updated as they come in.