My Conversation with Brandon Nakashima; Razeghi Wins Bolton; Three Americans Qualify for Australian Open Juniors; Gauff Ousts Osaka; ITA Kick-off Weekend Underway

At the Ann Arbor Challenger earlier this month, I had an opportunity to talk with Brandon Nakashima about his decision to strike out on the pro tour after one season at Virginia. We spoke about his success last fall on the Challenger circuit and how that informed his decision, and what he gained from his experiences during those five months in Charlottesville. For more on Nakashima's decision, see this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Alexander Razeghi earned his second title of the week at the Tennis Europe Teen Tennis International tournament in Bolton England today, beating fellow American Nikita Filin 6-3, 6-0 in the singles final. Razeghi, the No. 9 seed, won the doubles title Thursday with Mitchell Lee. The US has now won three of the past four boys singles titles in Bolton, with Toby Kodat claiming the title in 2017 and Victor Lilov earning it in 2018.

The girls title went to unseeded Mingge Xu of Great Britain, who defeated No. 8 seed Hephzibah Oluwadare, also of Great Britain, 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

I still can't find any scores from the final round of Australian Open Junior Championships qualifying on the ITF website, but the main draws are now posted on the Australian Open website, so I know that Alex Bernard, Cash Hanzlik and India Houghton won their matches and will move on to the main site in Melbourne. Those three join Robin Montgomery[2], Ellie Coleman, Savannah Broadus, Martin Damm[2], Aidan Mayo and Dali Blanch as Americans in the main draw.

Friday's matches produced some surprising results in the women's draw, with Serena Williams going out to Qiang Wang of China in three sets and Coco Gauff eliminating defending champion and No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-3, 6-4.  Osaka didn't play well, but Gauff took advantage of her position as underdog and used her serve effectively to avenge her loss to Osaka in the US Open last year. Gauff, who won the Bolton Teen Tennis title in 2017, is the first player to reach the second week at two slams before turning 16 since Martina Hingis did it in 1995-96. For more on Gauff's win, see this article from the WTA website.  Gauff plays Sofia Kenin on Sunday.

Friday’s third round singles matches featuring Americans:

Women: 3-2
Qiang Wang[27](CHN) d. Serena Williams[8] 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5
Coco Gauff d. Naomi Osaka[3](JPN) 6-3, 6-4
Maria Sakkari[22](GRE) d. Madison Keys[10] 6-4, 6-4
Sofia Kenin[14] d. Shuai ZhangCHN) 7-5, 7-6(7)
Alison Riske[18] d. Julia Goerges(GER) 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-2

Men: 1-2
Marton Fucsovics(HUN) d. Tommy Paul 6-1, 6-1, 6-4
Tennys Sandgren d. Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Saturday’s third round singles matches featuring Americans:

Women:
Cici Bellis v Elise Mertens[16](BEL)

Men:
Taylor Fritz[29] v Dominic Thiem[5](AUT)
John Isner[19] v Stan Wawrinka[15](SUI)

Saturday’s first round junior singles matches featuring Americans:

Dali Blanch v Hanwen Li[14](CHN)
Cash Hanzlik[Q] v Khololwam Montsi[8](RSA)
Savannah Broadus v Aubane Drouget(FRA)

The annual ITA Kick-off Weekend, which serves as a play-in event for next month's National Team Indoor Championships, began today at seven sites, with 23 more four-team competitions getting underway Saturday. The Men's Division I National Team Indoor is at the University of Wisconsin February 14-17 and the Women's Division I National Team Indoor is being hosted by the University of Illinois in Chicago February 7-10.

College Tennis Ranks has supplied both a men's and a women's Kick-off Weekend page, while Bobby Knight also has a page for the event at College Tennis Today, with links to video and live scoring.