October Aces; Upsets in Daytona Beach Grade 4 First Round; Rogers Top Seed at Charleston $100K, Men Return to Action at $15K in Arkansas; Habib, Kingsley Win Serious Prize Money at UTR Events

My monthly Aces column for Tennis Recruiting Network is up today, featuring the top performances in October by former collegians and notable junior players, including the champions of the first junior slam since the Australia. Because the month concluded on Saturday, this doesn't include those who won titles yesterday; look for them in the November edition.

The first round at the ITF Grade 4 in Daytona Beach was played today, with the top seed in the girls draw and the No. 2 seed in the boys draw falling at the first hurdle. USC recruit Leyden Games defeated No. 1 seed Nevena Carton 6-4, 6-2 and wild card Ethan Quinn beat No. 2 seed Aidan Kim 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5).  Qualifier Sarah Hamner, who played two matches on Friday in the Orlando finals, two qualifying matches on Saturday and another on Sunday, is thriving rather than wearing down from all these matches. The South Carolina recruit defeated No. 3 seed Ava Krug 6-1, 6-3 in the first round today. 

The first round of qualifying is complete at the $100,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Charleston South Carolina with Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Hailey Baptiste and Claire Liu advancing to the final round of qualifying Tuesday. The top seed in the main draw, with a few matches on Tuesday, is Shelby Rogers, with Lauren Davis the No. 2 seed and Madison Brengle the No. 3 seed.  Wild cards were awarded to Robin Montgomery, Emma Navarro(Virginia), Cici Bellis and Kennedy Shaffer(Georgia). Tyler $80K champion Ann Li is the No. 8 seed and faces Whitney Osuigwe in the first round. 

The men's USTA Pro Circuit is finally back this week, with a $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville Arkansas. 2017 NCAA champion Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) is the top seed, with Roberto Quiroz(USC) of Ecuador seeded No. 2. Wild cards were given to University of Arkansas seniors Alexandre Reco and Nicolas Rousset, both of France, Razorback junior Maxime Verboven of Belgium and Ohio State sophomore Cannon Kingsley.

Kingsley could earn valuable ATP points this week, but even a title won't provide the financial renumeration he received last week by winning the UTR College Tennis Recruiters Open in Norcross Georgia. With $27,500 in prize money offered at the event, Kingsley collected $4000 when he defeated University of Florida senior Andres Andrade 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Andrade earned $2000 for making the final. 

The Buckeyes swept the titles in Norcross, with senior John McNally and sophomore Robert Cash taking the doubles championship, beating Jeremy Taylor and David Stevenson of the University of Memphis 7-5, 6-4 in the final. As champions, McNally and Cash will split $5000.

Another top dollar UTR event was contested in Texas, with Texas A&M junior Hady Habib winning the H.E.B. Pro Tennis Open, offering $18,000 in prize money. Habib, who won the ITA National Summer Championships, defeated 2019 Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the final to earn $3000. The doubles title went to University of Texas's Jacob Bullard and Micah Braswell, who defeated Wichita State's Marius Frosa and Murkel Dellien 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. The winning team split $1500.