Former Teammates Wolf and Torpegaard Meet in Columbus Challenger Semifinals; American Finalists Abound at El Salvador ITF Grade 3; Fritz Advances to Acapulco Final

Two former Ohio State Buckeyes who are extremely comfortable on the indoor courts of the OSU Varsity Tennis Center will face off there Saturday for a place in the ATP Columbus 80 Challenger final, with former teammates Mikael Torpegaard and JJ Wolf meeting for the fourth time in their careers.  Wolf, the No. 6 seed, came back to defeat No. 3 seed Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3, while Torpegaard, the No. 8 seed, beat No. 2 seed Marc Polmans of Australia 7-5, 7-6(2). Torpegaard, the 25-year-old from Denmark, won their first two meetings, in the Winnipeg Challenger qualifying and in the round of 16 at a Columbus Challenger in 2018, but the 21-year-old Wolf won their most recent encounter, in the final of Columbus Challenger in January of 2019.  In the top half of the draw, No. 13 seed Jurij Rodionov of Austria will face No. 5 seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

At the ATP 90 Challenger in Calgary, last week's Drummondville Challenger champion Maxime Cressy(UCLA) has reached the semifinals, with the No. 10 seed saving three match points in the second set tiebreaker to beat unseeded Yusuke Takahashi of Japan 4-6, 7-6(11), 6-4. Cressy will play No. 7 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain in the semifinals.

At the women's $25,000 tournament in Rancho Santa Fe California, unseeded 18-year-old Hailey Baptiste lost 6-3, 6-2 to No. 3 seed Xiaodi You in today's semifinal. You will play No. 5 seed Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia, who defeated top seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-2, 6-1. You and Hong Kong's Eudice Chong, the four-time NCAA singles champion at Wesleyan, have advanced to the doubles final; the No. 2 seeds play unseeded Americans Kayla Day and Sophie Whittle(Gonzaga).

At the ITF Grade 3 in El Salvador, top seed Max McKennon and No. 9 seed Qavia Lopez have advanced to the singles finals, while Americans swept the doubles championships.  McKennon defeated No. 3 seed Jake Krug 7-6(7), 6-2 in today's semifinal, and Lopez beat No. 12 seed Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2.  The 14-year-old Lopez will face No. 13 seed Leena Bennetto of Canada for title. McKennon's opponent in the final is No. 9 seed Francisco Villarroel of Venezuela, who beat No. 8 seed Sam Scherer of the United States 6-4, 6-2.

McKennon and Spencer Brachman, the No. 3 seeds, won the boys doubles title, beating No. 6 seeds John Chin of Jamaica and Richard Mallory of Bermuda 6-4, 6-3. Top seeds Kailey Evans and Tara Malik won the girls doubles championship, beating unseeded Josefa Fernandez of Chile and American Leah Kuruvilla 6-1, 7-5 in the final.

At the ATP tournament in Acapulco, 22-year-old Taylor Fritz has advanced to his fifth ATP final, but first at the 500 level, coming back to defeat No. 5 seed John Isner 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Fritz was serving down 2-4 0-40 in the second set, but he held and broke, then broke again, after an odd delay due to a bat in the stadium, to take the second set. Fritz got up an early break in the third and didn't face a break point, serving out the match at love. In Saturday's final, Fritz will play either Rafael Nadal or Grigor Dimitrov, who play later this evening. Fritz, currently 35 in the rankings, with his career high of 25, should move to a new career high regardless of the outcome of the final.