ITF Junior Circuit Grade 2 in Dominican Republic Features 12 Americans and the Fruhvirtovas; Doubles Titles for US Juniors in El Salvador; 2021 Division III NCAA Championships Moved to Tennessee; Gatica Wins UTR $25K in Charleston

After a month in South America, most of the top US juniors have headed home for a well-deserved break before the two Grade 1s later this month in San Diego, but a dozen are playing this week at the Grade 2 in the Dominican Republic.

The big surprise of the draw is the appearance of Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic, who won four ITF Women's Pro Circuit titles last month, sweeping singles and doubles in back-to-back tournaments in Tunisia. The 15-year-old, who is currently No. 13 in the ITF junior rankings, is the only top 25 player in the field, although No. 2 seed Bianca Behulova of Slovakia is now up to 28 after reaching the final last week at the Grade A in Brazil. Fruhvirtova's 13-year-old sister Brenda also was in the field, but she lost in the first round 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4 to No. 6 seed Tilwith Di Girolami of Belgium. Brenda had been 18-4 in ITF junior tournaments in the six months she has been eligible to play them. The sisters are playing doubles together, and are seeded No. 2.

The American boys who reached the main draw are lucky loser Brayden Michna, qualifier Jonah Braswell, Azuma Visaya and wild card Nicholas Godsick. The Americans girls competing this week are Katja Wiersholm, Mia Slama, Valencia Xu[3], Qavia Lopez, wild card Olivia Lincer, Elise Wagle, lucky loser Madeleine Jessup and qualifier Gracie Epps. Braswell, Visaya and Godsick won their first round matches today, with Michna losing his. Xu, Lopez and Lincer picked up wins today, with Wiersholm losing and the other four not scheduled to play until Tuesday. 

The top seed in the boys draw is Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain, with Leo Borg of Sweden seeded No. 2.

In addition to the ITF Grade A Banana Bowl title won by Dali Blanch and Alexander Bernard last week, three other Americans picked up doubles titles at the ITF Grade 5 in El Salvador. In the boys final, unseeded Luis Fernandez and Luca-Julian Hotze defeated unseeded Zamaan Moledina of the US and Gillian Osmont of France 7-5, 6-4 for a first ITF Junior Circuit title for both. In the girls final, top seeds Leah Kuruvilla of the US and Guatemala's Deborah Dominguez Collado defeated the unseeded Bolivian team of Anna Fabia Holweg Bustillos and Masha Alexandra Vrsalovic Gimenez 7-5, 6-3. Kuruvilla, 17, now has four ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles, all in Central America.

The ITA announced today that the NCAA Division III National Championships would be moving to Chattanooga Tennessee for this May's competition. The NCAA website is still showing the former site, Claremont Mudd Scripps in Claremont California, but as you can see from the tweet below, that is no longer the case. The tournament was originally schedule from May 24-30; it's expected to be the same dates, but that is not confirmed in the ITA's tweet.

NCAA D3 Championship News 👇 pic.twitter.com/P565x0xfwt

— Cory Brooks (@ITA_DOC) March 8, 2021

There was also tweet from the ITA that first round sites for the Division I tournament could be consolidated; I'll have more information on that when details are released.

Last week's only UTR Pro Tennis Tour $25K event was a women's tournament in Charleston South Carolina, with Barbara Gatica of Chile collecting the first place prize money of $4000 with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win over Kylie McKenzie. McKenzie had beaten former University of Georgia star Kennedy Shaffer in the semifinals, and Gatica had gotten past North Carolina recruit Carson Tanguilig. 

This week the women remain in Charleston, and the men resume in Naples Florida.