Giron Earns First Top 10 Win at ATP Paris Masters; Baptiste, Liu Qualify for Charleston $100K; Trotter, Lahey Top Seeds for ITA National Fall Championships

Last week Marcos Giron reached his first ATP quarterfinal at a 250 tournament in Belgium. Today in Paris (actually Wednesday, because the match finished after midnight) UCLA's 2014 NCAA singles champion picked up his first Top 10 win, beating No. 7 seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy 7-6(3) 6-7(0), 7-5 to reach the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 event. 

Giron lost his break lead in the second set with a poor overhead and a double fault costing him a 40-15 lead serving at 4-3, and it appeared as if his upset window might have closed when he was shut out in the tiebreaker. But the 27-year-old from Thousand Oaks California saved all six break points he faced in the final set, then earned his first break point with Berrettini serving at 5-6, after the Italian had netted a forehand at 30-all. Berrettini missed his first serve, but had control of the point with a huge forehand, sending a scrambling Giron deep into the forehand corner, as he approached the net to put away the expected weak reply. But Giron, deep behind the baseline, guided a forehand pass down the line to claim the point and the nearly three-hour match. The empty stadium--no fans are allowed this week--echoed with Giron's "come on," and watching on Tennis Channel you could feel the absence of the crowd reaction that a shot like that would have normally elicited. 

Giron will move into the Top 75 with today's victory, and will play the winner of Wednesday's match between No. 10 seed Milos Raonic of Canada and Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France. Herbert defeated Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in a first round match today.  Tommy Paul advanced to the second round with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Gilles Simon of France.  No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece lost to Ugo Humbert of France 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 7-6(3).

Qualifying concluded today at the $100,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Charleston, with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Claire Liu and Hailey Baptiste earning spots in the main draw. Liu, the No. 16 seed, beat No. 5 seed Ankita Raina of India 6-2, 6-4 and Baptiste defeated No. 4 seed Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-8.  Mattek-Sands defeated former Florida Gator Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan 5-7, 6-4, 10-7. Baptiste will face former Vanderbilt Astra Sharma of Australia in the first round Wednesday; Liu's opponent is 2019 ITF World Junior Champion Diane Parry and Mattek-Sands faces fellow qualifier Magdalena Frech of Poland.

Three main draw matches were on Tuesday's schedule with No. 2 seed Lauren Davis defeating Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-3, 6-3. Caty McNally lost to Sara Errani 6-3, 6-4 and wild card Robin Montgomery fell to No. 4 seed Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 6-2. 

The draws have been released for the ITA National Fall Championships, which begins Thursday at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. 

Pepperdine has the top two women's seeds in fifth-year seniors Ashley Lahey and Jessica Failla. Cannon Kingsley, who was entered initially in the event, withdrew (he's playing in the Arkansas $15K this week), but the Buckeyes still have the top two seeds in James Trotter and Kyle Seelig. 

Men's Seeds:

1. James Trotter, Ohio State

2. Kyle Seelig, Ohio State

3. Gabriel Decamps, Central Florida

4. Alexandre Rotsaert, Stanford

5. Eduardo Nava, Wake Forest

6. Andrew Fenty, Michigan

7. Siphos Montsi, Illinois

8. Trey Hilderbrand, Central Florida

Women's Seeds:

1. Ashley Lahey, Pepperdine

2. Jessica Failla, Pepperdine

3. Alexa Graham, North Carolina

4. Abigail Forbes, UCLA

5. Alana Smith, North Carolina State

6. Anna Rogers, North Carolina State

7. Solymar Colling, San Diego

8. Holly Hutchinson, Old Dominion