Smith Posts Win at Texas $15K in Return to Competition after Accident; Qualifying Complete at Women's USTA Pro Circuit $15K and $60K; Nakashima Wins at ATP San Diego Open; Collins Through to Round of 16 at Chicago's WTA 500

UCLA senior Keegan Smith suffered a serious skateboarding accident in April, which led to a lengthy stay in intensive care. Smith, who played No. 1 singles and was the 2019 NCAA doubles champion with Maxime Cressy, returned to tennis in June, according to this article at the Daily Bruin, and today he returned to Pro Circuit competition at the $15,000 tournament in Lubbock Texas. Seeded No. 7, the 23-year-old defeated wild card Ilgiz Valiev, a Texas Tech fifth-year senior, 6-4, 6-4, posting his first win in Pro Circuit play since last December when he made the semifinals and quarterfinals of two $15Ks in the Dominican Republic.

Smith participated in one of just four first round matches played today; the other three winners were also Americans: Garrett Johns(Duke), Tyler Zink(Oklahoma State) and 2015 NCAA singles champion Ryan Shane(Virginia). The top seed is Gijs Brouwer of the Netherlands; Sekou Bangoura(Florida) is the No. 2 seed. Wild cards, in addition to Valiev, went to junior Ryan Colby, and to Texas Tech's Dimitrios Azoidis and Franco Ribero.

The women also have a $15,000 tournament this week in Lubbock, with qualifying concluding today. Americans qualifying were Carmen and Ivana Corley(Oklahoma) and McCartney Kessler(Florida).

The top two seeds are Michaela Bayerlova(Washington State) and Oona Orpana(Oklahoma State). Wild cards were awarded to Texas Tech's Metka Komac, Margaria Skriabina and Kailey Evans, along with junior Liv Hovde. Evans and Hovde played each other today, with Hovde earning a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

The women also have a $60,000 Pro Circuit tournament this week, in Berkeley California, and with Indian Wells next week, it has drawn a strong field. The top seed is Saisai Zheng of China, currently 75 in the WTA rankings, with No. 119 Xinyu Wang, a finalist last week at the Columbus 125, the No. 2 seed.

Qualifying concluded today, with Emma Navarro(Virginia), Maegan Manasse(Cal), Jada Hart(UCLA) and Sophie Chang the Americans to advance to the main draw. Wild cards were awarded to Ellie Douglas(TCU), Paola Exposito Diaz-Delgado(VCU), Reese Brantmeier and Vicky Duval. Kayla Day received a special exemption in to the main draw after reaching the final of the $25K in Fort Worth last week.

At the ATP 250 San Diego Open last night, wild card Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) won a big match in front of his hometown fans, beating Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5. Nakashima will face top seed Andrey Rublev of Russia next, which will be his first match against at Top 5 player. Taylor Fritz, also from the San Diego area, won his first round match last night, beating qualifier Salvatore Caruso 6-4, 7-6(2).  In today's first round match between Americans, Sebastian Korda defeated Tommy Paul 6-3, 5-7, 6-1. 

A new tournament for women also popped up this week in advance of the rescheduled BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, a WTA 500 event in Chicago, which has a 64-draw with the top 8 seeds getting byes. Some of the top seeds haven't played their first matches yet, but No. 10 seed Danielle Collins(Virginia) has already played two, advancing to the round of 16 with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win today over Misaki Doi of Japan. Wild card Hailey Baptiste won her first round match, beating Jasmine Paolini of Italy 7-5, 6-3. The other Americans to post wins are Amanda Anisimova, Shelby Rogers and Jessica Pegula[9].