Crawford, Rybakov Meet Sunday for $15K Dominican Republic Title; Lynn and Scherer Top 16s Seeds at Orange Bowl; Division I Coaching and Signing Announcements

Unseeded Oliver Crawford and No. 2 seed Alex Rybakov will face off in the final of the ITF World Tennis Tour $15,000 tournament in the Dominican Republic after picking up wins today over fellow Americans. Crawford, the 21-year-old former University of Florida star who turned pro this spring, defeated former TCU star and top seed Nick Chappell 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 to reach his third final in an ITF Pro Circuit tournament.  Rybakov, a 23-year-old former All-American at TCU, took out unseeded UCLA senior Keegan Smith 6-3, 6-4 to reach his eighth ITF WTT final. Rybakov will be playing for his fifth ITF Pro Circuit title, Crawford his second.

Qualifying is complete for the 16s at the Orange Bowl, with ten Americans advancing to the main draw. The boys are Sean Daryabeigi[7], Alexander Aney, Maxim Michaels, Quang Duong and Jonathan Irwanto. No. 2 seed Gianluca Ballotta of Peru also advanced to the main draw.

The US girls advancing to the 16s main draw are Kate Kim, Raylor Goetz, Lexington Reed, Kavya Krra and Morgan Pyrz(9). No. 10 seed Valeria Centeno Mendozo of Colombia also earned a place in the main draw. 

First round action in the 16s main draw begins on Sunday, but with the reduced draw sizes this year, none of the seeded players will play until Monday. 

Girls 16s seeds:

1. Rebecca Lynn, USA

2. Gabriella Broadfoot, RSA

3. Eva Elbaz, FRA

4. Brooklyn Olson, USA

5. Sonya Macavei, USA

6. Krystal Blanch, USA

7. Aubrey Nisbet, USA

8. Elisabeth Jones, USA

9. Olivia Lincer, USA

10. Lara Smejkal, USA

11. Nishitha Saravanan, USA

12. Marcela Lopez, USA

13. Catherine Walker, USA

14. Katherine Hui, USA

15. Karsyn Evans, USA

16. Salma Farhat, USA

Boys 16s Seeds:

1. Sam Scherer, USA

2. Lucas Brown, USA

3. Owen Megargee, USA

4. Cooper Williams, USA

5. Ignacio Buse, PER

6. Gianluca Ballotta, PER

7. Jackson Armistead, USA

8. Nicholas Godsick, USA

9. Ethan Quinn, USA

10. Will Mayew, USA

11. Brayden Michna, USA

12. John Kim, USA

13. Marko Mesarovic, USA

14. John Lasanajak, USA

15. Jonah Braswell, USA

16. Jelani Sarr, USA

The final round of qualifying for the 18s is set for Sunday, after two rounds of qualifying today. The top four seeds in the boys qualifying have all advanced, with only four unseeded players still alive for a place in the main draw. The top five seeds in the girls qualifying are through to the final round, with five unseeded girls still in contention for a main draw berth.

The draws can be found here; the order of play is here; live scoring was not working today, but results were posted throughout the day under the schedule/results section here.  For a preview of the 18s event, see this article from the ITF Junior website. 

I've found a few more announcements regarding Division I early signings that I normally would not have had time to post, as I am usually fully engaged in the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl after Thanksgiving. There are also several women's Division I coaching announcements, with former Washington All-American Denise Dy taking over the head coaching position at Fresno State; Alex Santos returning as associate head coach at Miami and Lenka Broosova returning to her alma mater Baylor as associate head coach. 

Women's signings:

Georgia has signed Mell Reasco of Ecuador and Guillermina Grant of Uruguay.

Iowa State has signed Sofia Cabezas of Venezuela. 

Rutgers has signed Jackeline Lopez.

Men's signings:

Notre Dame has signed Jameson Corsillo and Daniel Schmelka.

Mississippi has signed Jakob Cadonau of Germany.