Qualifier Sinha Defeats No. 2 Seed at Cancun Grade 1; Five USTA Pro Circuit Events This Week; US Falls to Canada in Davis Cup Round Robin Play

The second round at the ITF Grade 1 in Cancun Mexico has not yet concluded, but one of the top seeds has already been eliminated. No. 2 seed Roman Burruchaga of Argentina, No. 51 in the ITF Junior rankings, lost to qualifier Adit Sinha, a 16-year-old from New Jersey, 7-5, 7-6(5). Sinha, who reached the semifinals of the Grade 3 in Canada last week, has gone from outside the Top 1000 in the ITF Junior rankings to 396 now and his rise will continue when these points are added. Sinha defeated Leighton Allen at the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed last month and I spoke to him in this report from that tournament.

Other American boys advancing to the third round are qualifier Connor Krug, Stefan Leustian[16], Hunter Heck and Dali Blanch[5]. US girls through to the third round are Hibah Shaikh, Emma Jackson[13] and qualifier India Houghton.

While the higher level USTA Pro Circuit events are done for the year, there are still $15,000 and $25,000 tournaments left on the schedule, including five this week. There are two $15,000 men's events, in Austin Texas and East Lansing Michigan, a $25,000 women's event in Tucson Arizona and a joint $25,000 event in Naples Florida.

Qualifying is complete in Naples, with three former collegians from the US advancing to the women's main draw: Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech), Kate Fahey(Michigan) and Maria Mateas(Duke).  Danielle Collins(Virginia) is the top seed, and it's unusual to see a player ranked that high in a $25K event, but she lost early at the WTA 125 in Houston last week, and she needs matches that she wasn't able to get this fall due to her diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Wild cards were given to Collins, Peyton Stearns, Jaleesa Leslie and Sofia Sewing.

The men's top seed in Naples is Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina, with Oliver Crawford(Florida), 18-year-old Daniel Labrador and Ron Hohmann(LSU) qualifiers from the US.  Wild cards were given to Toby Kodat, Martin Damm, Jesse Witten(Kentucky) and Fletcher Scott(Illinois).

It's been raining in Tucson, so not all of matches in the final round of qualifying were completed, but so far Americans advancing to the main draw are Lorraine Guillermo(Pepperdine), Ellie Douglas(TCU), Haley Giavara(Cal) and Naomi Cheong. Ariana Arseneault of Canada, who has just signed an NLI with Georgia, also advanced to the main draw. Wild cards were given to University of Arizona sophomores Khim Iglupas and Kirsten Prelle, Michigan recruit Karina Miller and Pepperdine senior Ashley Lahey.

In Austin, five Americans, including three with University of Texas ties, advanced to the main draw. Recruit Leighton Allen, sophomore Nevin Arimilli and graduate Colin Markes join Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian) and 18-year-old Preston Brown in the main draw. Collin Altamirano(Virginia) is the top seed. Wild cards went to Texas graduate Rodrigo Banzer, Longhorn freshmen Siem Woldeab and Evin McDonald and Texas senior Yuya Ito, who has won both ITA majors this fall. Woldeab defeated No. 8 seed Harue Inoue(Wichita State) of Japan 6-4, 6-1 in a first round match today.

I'll be in attendance tomorrow at the East Lansing tournament, where former Arizona State standout Michael Geerts of Belgium is the top seed. Americans qualifying into the main draw are Matt Kuhar(Bryant), Tanner Smith(USC) and Alex Kobelt(Ohio State/UNLV). Wild cards went to Mattias Siimar(Michigan), Keenan Mayo(Illinois) and Michigan State's John Carlin, a junior, and Anthony Pero, a sophomore.

The reformatted Davis Cup is underway in Madrid Spain, and the United States lost its first match today in round robin play. Canada's Vasek Pospisil defeated Reilly Opelka and Denis Shapovalov defeated Taylor Fritz to clinch the win. Canada, which beat Italy yesterday, advances to the quarterfinals, while the US plays Italy, still with a chance to advance to the quarterfinals as one of the "wild card" teams. For more on today's matches, including what might be a key unplayed doubles match, see this article from usta.com.