Talking NCAA Round of 16 at Cracked Racquets; Perego and Macavei Win ITF Plantation J4 Titles; Three Americans Reach J3 Dominican Republic Finals; Volynets Defeats Brengle at Bonita Springs $100K; Gauff and Opelka into Italian Open Semis

I spoke with Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets today about Sunday's women's Division I round of 16, while we also talked for a few minutes about Monday's eight men's matches in this Mini-Break podcast. It's always great fun to discuss college tennis with Alex, and I'm glad he found the time in a hectic week for him  before he heads to Lake Nona to help with the TennisONE app's coverage of these early matches. Gruskin, Matt Stachowiak and Chris Halioris take a deep dive into the men's round of 16 in this podcast, and you can find Alex's conversations with all 32 of the head coaches who have earned a spot in the round of 16 at his Cracked Interviews podcast on apple, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

The third and final week of the J4 ITF Junior Circuit events in Florida concluded today with Italy's Giulio Perego and Sonya Macavei winning the singles titles in Plantation. Top seed Perego, who won the Delray Beach J4 and reached the final of the Coral Gables J4 last week, defeated unseeded Luca Hotze 6-0, 6-3 in the final. The Texas A&M recruit, who also won the J4 in Las Vegas in March, is now 19-2 on the year.

No. 8 seed Sonya Macavei won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title with a comeback win over unseeded Emma Charney. The 17-year-old, who won the doubles title yesterday with Valeria Ray, defeated Charney 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. 

No. 2 seeds Sebastian Gorzny and Nathan Cox won the boys doubles title today, beating Perego and Adit Sinha, the No. 1 seeds, 3-6, 6-3, 12-10.

As in Plantation, three Americans advanced to the finals of this week's J3 in the Dominican Republic. The boys final will feature No. 2 seed and last week's Dominican Republic J3 winner Aidan Kim against No. 3 seed Azuma Visaya. Kim defeated unseeded Jonah Braswell 6-3, 6-0, while Visaya beat unseeded Joel Pierleoni of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1. 

Unseeded Katja Wiersholm advanced to the girls final, beating No. 4 seed Alexia Harmon 6-2, 6-0 in an all-US semifinal. Wiersholm had defeated top seed Annabelle Xu of Canada 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. She will face 14-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada, who is aiming for her third consecutive title in the three weeks of J3s in the Dominican Republic. The No. 6 seed, who also won the Grade 4 in Las Vegas in March, defeated No. 7 seed Mao Mushika of Japan 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 in today's semifinal. Mboko and Wiersholm met in the first round of the J1 in San Diego in March, with Mboko posting a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3  win.

Nineteen-year-old wild card Katie Volynets has reached the semifinals of the $100,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Bonita Spring Florida, picking up her second WTA Top 100 win with a 6-1, 6-2 decision over top seed Madison Brengle. Brengle had taken out Volynets in the quarterfinals of last week's $100K in Charleston. Volynets will play qualifier Hanna Chang, who is making her first appearance in a Pro Circuit semifinal above the $25K level. Chang defeated former Ohio State All-American Francesca Di Lorenzo, playing her second match of the day, 6-3, 6-3. 

It will be USA versus Romania in the final, regardless of the outcome of Saturday's semifinals, with qualifier Irina Fetecau taking on No. 5 seed Irina Bara in the bottom half. Both needed over three hours to win their quarterfinals matches today. 

Although the rain in Rome kept the quarterfinals from being completed today at the Italian Open, two Americans advanced to their first Masters 1000 semifinals before the weather deteriorated. Coco Gauff moved through in the women's draw when No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia retired with an arm injury leading 6-4, 2-1. Gauff will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between No. 15 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, which was postponed due to rain. 

In the men's draw, unseeded Reilly Opelka defeated unseeded Federico Delbonis of Argentina 7-5, 7-6(2) and, unlike Gauff, he does know his semifinal opponent: No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal.