Korda, Sock, Mmoh, Lepchenko Qualify for French Open; Sherif, Among 18 Collegians in Draw at Roland Garros, Makes History; Blumberg Returning to North Carolina; December's Little Mo International Canceled

All four Americans in action in today's final round of qualifying at the French Open won their matches, advancing to the main draw, which begins Sunday in Paris.

Twenty-year-old Sebastian Korda and 22-year-old Michael Mmoh will be making their debuts at Roland Garros, with Korda defeating No. 7 seed Aslan Karatsev of Russia 7-5, 6-2 and Mmoh coming back to beat Renzo Olivo of Argentina 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Karatsev had been one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour since the restart, going 15-1, winning two 125 Challengers, with his only loss in a 125 Challenger final to Stan Wawrinka. The third American male to reach the main draw is Jack Sock, who defeated Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia 7-6(5), 7-6(4). Sock, who turned 28 yesterday and was announced as the Davidson men's team volunteer assistant earlier this month, will face Reilly Opelka in the first round. With these three qualifiers, there are 13 US men in the main draw. 

Of the 11 US women in qualifying, only Varvara Lepchenko was able to win the three matches necessary to reach the main draw. Today she defeated Dalma Galfi of Hungary 6-3, 6-4, her third consecutive straight-sets win. 

Seventeen-year-old Clara Tauson of Denmark, the 2019 Australian Open girls champion and former ITF Junior No. 1, qualified as did 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, the 2017 Australian Open girls champion. 

Mayar Sherif, who played at Fresno State from 2014-16 and was an All-American at Pepperdine from 2016-2018, made history today when she defeated Giulia Gatto-Monticone of Italy 6-1, 6-3. The 24-year-old, who did not drop a set in her three qualifying victories, will be the first woman from Egypt ever to play a grand slam match. This article about Sherif from the tournament website was posted after her first qualifying win, which was already historic, but she has exceeded that now.

Sherif is one of six former collegiate women to make the main draw for this year's French Open. The others are Jennifer Brady(UCLA), Kristie Ahn(Stanford), Danielle Collins(Virginia), Aliona Bolsova(Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic) of Spain and Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt) of Australia, who received entry as a lucky loser. 

There are 12 former collegiate men in the main draw this year: Cameron Norrie(TCU) of Great Britain, Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee), Marcos Giron(UCLA), Kevin Anderson(Illinois) of South Africa, Steve Johnson(USC), Arthur Rinderknech(Texas A&M) of France, Emilio Gomez(USC) of Ecuador, Dominik Koepfer(Tulane) of Germany, Jason Jung(Michigan) of Taiwan, John Isner(Georgia), Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australian and Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA).

Many college players announced their decision about taking a fifth year this spring and summer, but the decision of North Carolina's William Blumberg was not official until yesterday, when he posted the tweet below. Blumberg, an eight-time All-American in his four years at UNC, and one of college tennis's best players during that time, will obviously give the Tar Heels a huge boost for the dual match season of 2021, provided it does get played.

Life is unexpected. Excited for year 5. LFG. @carolinatennis pic.twitter.com/aONqLLO4rm

— William Blumberg (@willblumberg) September 24, 2020 

 

The 14th annual Little Mo International Tournament, scheduled for December 4-9, 2020 in Palm Beach Gardens Florida, has been canceled. From the organization's email announcing the cancellation:

We were very hopeful to host our event this year, but we realized that it would not be possible due to COVID-19. Unfortunately, many of our most memorable experiences like the Player Party, Opening Ceremony, and Player Parade could not be held this year due to social distancing and other safety protocols. International travel is also very difficult at this time. Taking everything into consideration, we feel that we would not be able to provide the same unique and competitive tournament that our players and families have come to know and enjoy.

Information on 2021 events on the Little Mo calendar will be available later at their website.