Junior Orange Bowl Videos; Stanford Tops Men's Recruiting Class Rankings; Baylor, Stanford and Georgia Complete ITA Men's Team Indoor Field

The videos of last month's Junior Orange Bowl have been posted, with those of the champions in the 12s and 14s embedded below. The videos of the finalists can be accessed by clicking on their names below:

Juan Miguel Bolivar

Christina Lyutova

Darwin Blanch

Shannon Lam

The Tennis Recruiting Network has released its winter edition of the 2022 men's recruiting class rankings, with the Stanford men's class, consisting of Samir Banerjee and Nishesh Basavareddy finishing in the No. 1 position. Columbia is a close second, followed by Princeton, Ohio State and Michigan State. Six through 10 are Michigan, Notre Dame, UCLA, Yale and Georgia. The ACC and SEC have only one school each in the Top 10, while the Ivy League and Big Ten have three and the Pac-12 two. For the complete list, as well as the names of the voters (including me), see this article.  The women's rankings will come out next week.

Today marked the conclusion of of the four-day ITA Kickoff Weekend, with the final three men's regionals finishing in Waco, Athens and Orlando. 2021 NCAA runner-up Baylor breezed past No. 2 seed Miami 4-0, Georgia was challenged by No. 2 seed South Florida but came away with a 4-1 win, and No. 2 seed Stanford made short work of Central Florida 4-0.  The men's qualifiers for next month's ITA Division I Men's Team Indoor in Seattle:

TCU

Baylor

Texas

Ohio State

Southern California

Stanford

Florida

Georgia

Texas A&M

Tennessee

Mississippi

Kentucky

South Carolina

Wake Forest

Virginia

Washington(host)

The men's Sunday/Monday results are below.  The Friday/Saturday results are here and the Saturday/Sunday results are here.

MEN:

Baylor[1] d. William and Mary[4] 4-0

Miami[2] d. Clemson[3] 4-1

MONDAY FINAL:

Baylor[1] d. Miami[2] 4-0

Georgia[1] d. VCU[4] 4-1

South Florida[2] d. Virginia Tech[3] 4-2

MONDAY FINAL:

Georgia[1] d. South Florida[2] 4-1

Central Florida[1] d. Louisville[4] 4-3

Stanford[2] d. Tulane[3] 4-0

MONDAY FINAL:

Stanford[2] d. Central Florida[1] 4-0

Boogaard Defeats Ngounoue in Les Petits As Final, Stusek Claims Girls Title; Women's Field Set for ITA Team Indoor; Pro Circuit Results Include Titles for Mandlik and Holt

Thijs Boogaard and Julia Stusek
photo courtesy Les Petits As/Richard van Loon
toptennis.photos

Thijs Boogaard doubled the number of Dutch Les Petits As winners today at Les Petits As, joining 1996 men's Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek on that list with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Carel Ngounoue of the United States.

Boogaard, the No. 3 seed, and Ngounoue, seeded No. 10, had partnered for the doubles title on Saturday, so the final was unlikely to present any surprises or disputes. Instead, the match demonstrated the commitment to playing their aggressive games, while keeping the emotions the 13-year-olds were no doubt feeling in check.

After two breaks to open the match, with both games going to multiple deuces, Boogaard and Ngounoue settled their nerves and held for 4-3.

Boogaard was the first to blink, hitting a double fault and netting a forehand from deuce, and Ngounoue had what would turn out to be his second and last break of serve in the match. He held easily to take the set, and Boogaard took a bathroom break before the start of the second set.

Ngounoue was broken at love serving at 1-2, but had three opportunities to get the break right back, with Boogaard making rare unforced errors to fall behind 0-40. But Ngounoue's second serve return let him down and Boogaard won five straight points to maintain his lead. 

Serving at 2-5 in the second, Ngounoue hit two double faults, including on set point, and it was his turn for a toilet break, although it was noticeably shorter than Boogaard's after the first set.

Boogaard went up 3-0 in the third set, although Ngounoue had break points in both of Boogaard's service games during that stretch. Ngounoue got on the board, hitting an ace on game point, then had two break points at 15-40. But Boogaard's depth and court positioning continued to payoff, as he won four straight points to maintain his lead at 4-1. Three holds, with Boogaard finally playing a service game without facing a break point, made it 5-3, and Boogaard had a chance to serve for the match.

In keeping with the theme of the third set, Boogaard went down 15-40 after a double fault, but he again recovered hitting a big forehand that forced an error to save the first and a well executed backhand volley to save the second. Ngounoue was back on his heels in the long rallies, hitting shorter and shorter, with Boogaard stepping in to get into position to blast his forehand. On his first match point, Boogaard hit a forehand just long, but earned a second on the next point with forehand putaway at the net. Ngounoue's net cord winner brought the score back to deuce and Ngounoue earned a third break point when Boogaard's backhand reply to Ngounoue's return went wide.

But another putaway earned from Boogaard's commitment to moving forward saved that break point, and  a forehand winner gave him a third match point, which he converted when Ngounoue's backhand found the net. 

Ngounoue, who went 0-7 on break points in the that third set, matched his sister Clervie's accomplishments of two years ago in Tarbes with a doubles title and a singles final, while Boogaard ends a drought for the Netherlands that extends back to Krajicek's win in 1985, the third year of the tournament's existence. 

In the girls final, No. 3 seed Julia Stusek of Germany also ended a lengthy streak of frustration for Germany when she defeated unseeded 12-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-3, 6-3.

Stusek, 13, was able to handle Klugman's pace without retreating, and Klugman could not find a service hold when she needed it. Down 3-0 and two breaks in the second set, Klugman got a break, but couldn't hold, a pattern that continued after the next two Stusek's service games. The only hold of the set for either girl was Stusek's in the second game but it was enough, as she broke Klugman for the title.

A German boy has never won the Les Petits As singles title in the tournament's 40-year history, and the last time a German girl claimed the title was in 1990, when Heike Rusch defeated Lindsay Davenport in the final. Anke Huber in 1988 was the first German girl to win the title.

Completed draws can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament site.

The field is set for next month's ITA Women's Team Indoor in Madison Wisconsin after seven more teams earned their spots in ITA Kickoff Weekend action today. The big story of the day was the win by Old Dominion, a No. 4 seed, who beat top seed Georgia Tech 4-3 on Saturday and No. 3 seed Mississippi 4-3 today to qualify for the tournament for the first time in history. A total of six women's teams hosted but did not advance: UCLA, Baylor, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Central Florida and Duke.

The qualifiers:

Texas

Oklahoma

Ohio State

Georgia

Texas A&M

Florida

Auburn

North Carolina

Virginia

North Carolina State

Cal

Southern Cal

Washington

Pepperdine

Old Dominion
Wisconsin(host)

Below are the results from the seven Saturday/Sunday regionals. For the Friday/Saturday regional results see this post.

Women Saturday/Sunday:

Duke[1] d. Nebraska[4] 4-0

Oklahoma[2] d. Furman[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Oklahoma[2] d. Duke[1] 4-2

Ohio State[1] d. Oklahoma State[4] 4-1

Tennessee[3] d. LSU[2] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Ohio State[1] d. Tennessee[3] 4-0

Florida State[1] d. Illinois[4] 4-3

Florida[2] d. Florida International[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Florida[2] d. Florida State[1] 4-0

North Carolina State[1] d. Penn State[4] (alt for Iowa State) 4-0

Wake Forest[3] d. Northwestern[2] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL:

North Carolina State[1] d. Wake Forest[3] 4-0

Old Dominion[4] d. Georgia Tech[1] 4-3

Mississippi[3] d. Michigan[2] 4-1 

SUNDAY FINAL:

Old Dominion[4] d. Mississippi[3] 4-3

Pepperdine[1] d. Columbia[4] 4-0

Notre Dame[2] d. Colorado[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Pepperdine[1] d. Notre Dame[2] 4-0

Texas A&M[1] d. Princeton[4] 4-1

Texas Tech[3] d. South Carolina[2] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Texas A&M[1] d. Texas Tech[3] 4-0

There are still three spots in the men's 16-team field up for grabs on Monday; even in the unlikely event the No. 1 seeds all lose, they still would not have as many hosts losing in the regionals as the women. Just two have failed to advance so far: North Carolina and Mississippi State.

MEN:

First round Sunday results, with hosts in bold:

Baylor[1] d. William and Mary[4] 4-0

Miami[2] d. Clemson[3] 4-1

Georgia[1] d. VCU[4] 4-1

South Florida[2] d. Virginia Tech[3] 4-2

Central Florida[1] d. Louisville[4] 4-3

Stanford[2] d. Tulane[3] 4-0

Men Saturday/Sunday

North Carolina[1] d. Northwestern[4] 4-0

Ohio State[3] d. Arizona State[2] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Ohio State[3] d. North Carolina[1] 4-0

Virginia[1] d. Ball State[4] 4-0

Georgia Tech[2] d. Middle Tennessee State[3] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL: 

Virginia[1] d. Georgia Tech[2] 4-0

Mississippi State[1] d. Arkansas[4] 4-1

Kentucky[2] d. Alabama[3] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Kentucky[2] d. Mississippi State[1] 4-2

South Carolina[1] d. LSU[4] 4-1

Duke[2] d. Liberty[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

South Carolina[1] d. Duke[2] 4-3

Texas[1] d. Columbia[4] 4-0

Oregon[3] d. Oklahoma State[2] 4-0 

SUNDAY FINAL:

Texas[1] d. Oregon[3] 4-0

Florida[1] d. Princeton[4] 4-0

Florida State[2] d. UNC Wilmington[3] 4-0

SUNDAY FINAL:

Florida[1] d. Florida State[2] 4-1

Southern Cal [1] bye (Denver[3] drops out, no replacement)

Harvard[4] d. Pepperdine[2] 4-3

SUNDAY FINAL:

Southern Cal[1] d. Harvard[4] 4-0

TCU[1] d. Portland[4] 4-0

Tulsa[3] d. Wichita State[2] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL:

TCU[1] d. Tulsa[3] 4-0

Texas A&M[1] d. UCLA[4] 4-0

Arizona[2] d. Texas Tech[3] 4-1

SUNDAY FINAL:

Texas A&M[1] d. Arizona[2] 4-1

Mississippi[1] d. Oklahoma[4] 4-1

North Carolina State[3] d. Illinois[2] 4-2

SUNDAY FINAL:

Mississippi[1] d. North Carolina State[3] 4-2

The three USTA Pro Circuit events concluded today without any American singles champions. At the ATP Challenger 80 in Columbus, No. 3 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan defeated Dominic Stricker of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 for the title. Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) and Mikael Torpegaard(Ohio State) of Denmark won the doubles title, beating Luca Margaroli of Switzerland and Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 in a final between two unseeded teams. 

At the $60,000 Women's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Orlando, No. 2 seed Qinwen Zheng of China defeated unseeded Christina McHale 6-0, 6-1 in today singles final. Hailey Baptiste and Whitney Osuigwe, the No. 4 seeds, won the doubles title with a 7-6(7), 7-5 win over the unseeded team of former Southern Cal teammates Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes.

At the $25,000 Men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Weston, top seed Eduard Esteve Lobato of Spain took the title, beating former Tennessee standout Timo Stodder of Germany 6-3, 7-5 in today's final. Top seeds Dennis Novikov(UCLA) and Ruan Roelofse(Illinois) of South Africa defeated unseeded Abraham Asaba of Ghana and Guy Orly Iradukunda(Florida State) of Burundi 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 in the doubles final Saturday.

Elsewhere, Elli Mandlik won her second $25K title in a row today in Brazil. Mandlik, the 20-year-old daughter of Hana Mandlikova, won two matches today, defeating top seed Elina Avanesyan of Russia 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals, then beating unseeded Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4 in the final. 

Brandon Holt(USC), the son of Tracy Austin, won his second straight $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour men's title in Cancun this week. The 23-year-old Holt, who like Mandlik, was unseeded, defeated unseeded Luis Patino of Mexico 6-0, 6-3 in today's final. Holt is 10-0 to start 2022.

And congratulations to Rafael Nadal for earning his record 21st men's slam title in Australia with a 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win over Daniil Medvedev of Russia. In the women's doubles final, former Florida Gator Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and her partner Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil fell to top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4. For more on that final, see this article from the Australian Open website.

Ngounoue Reaches Les Petits As Final, Captures Doubles Championship; Godsick Claims J1 Title in Ecuador; Filin Sweeps J4 Titles for Second Straight Week; Ten Schools Earn ITA Team Indoor Slots; Collins Falls in Australian Open Final

It's been an extremely busy week for junior tennis, and when you throw in the ITA Division I Kickoff Weekend, there's a lot to cover.

Sunday in Tarbes France, Carel Ngounoue will play for the Les Petits As title, after defeating fellow American Keaton Hance 6-4, 7-5. Ngounoue, the No. 10 seed, will face No. 3 seed and doubles partner Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands in the championship match, after Boogaard made quick work of unseeded Matei Todoran of Romania 6-2, 6-0.

Ngounoue's older sister Clervie reached the girls final at the prestigious 14-and-under tournament two years ago and won the doubles title, which Carel has matched. He and Boogaard, seeded No. 1, defeated unseeded Diego Dedura-Palomero and Niels McDonald of Germany 6-2, 6-3. The only set they lost in their five victories came in their 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-7 semifinal win over Hance and Ford McCollum Friday.

The girls final will feature unseeded Hannah Klugman of Great Britain and No. 3 seed Julia Stusek of Germany.  Klugman continued her impressive play with a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 5 seed Polina Kuharenko of Belarus, while Stusek came from behind to take out top seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Like Boogaard and Ngounoue, Stusek already has one Les Petits As title heading into the singles final. She and Laura Samsonova of the Czech Republic, also the top seeds, defeated No. 3 seeds Sona Depesova of Slovakia and Alisa Oktiabreva of Russia 7-5, 6-2 in today's girls doubles final.

Julieta Pareja of the United States won the consolation tournament for those losing in the first round. Pareja had the misfortune of meeting Klugman her opening match.

Live streaming of the finals should be available, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Eastern, with the girls final first, followed by the boys.

I usually try to cover ITF J1s that feature multiple Americans throughout the week, but with all the US success in the Australian Open and Les Petits As, I couldn't manage it this week for the tournament in Ecuador.  As has been the case in several major tournaments in South America since the pandemic, the draw size was reduced, this time to 32 from the usual 64.

Nicholas Godsick won the boys singles title, his first on the ITF Junior Circuit on any level. Godsick the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 4 seed Martin Vergara del Puerto of Paraguay 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in today's final. 

No. 2 seed Luca Udvardy of Hungary won the girls singles title, beating unseeded Madeleine Jessup of Taiwan 6-4, 7-6(4) in the final. Jessup defeated top seed Lucciana Perez Alarcon of Peru in the first round and continued to roll until the final.

Daniella Ben-Abraham reached the girls doubles final, with China's Yichen Zhao. The unseeded pair lost to Udvardy and Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia, also unseeded, 6-0, 6-0 in the championship match.

At the J4 in Costa Rica this week, Nikita Filin won his 18th straight match in a two-week stretch, once again claiming both the singles and doubles titles. The 15-year-old from the Chicago area was the top seed in both draws, beating unseeded Alejandro Arcila of Colombia, who won the Junior Orange Bowl 14s last month, 6-2, 6-1 in the singles final. Filin, who was a wild card entry, partnered with Marko Mesarovic to defeat No. 2 seeds Roy Horovitz and Mexico's Santiago Padilla Cote 6-3, 6-4. Filin had won the doubles title with Horovitz at last week's J4 in Costa Rica.  

Ria Bhakta won the girls singles title, with the top seed coming out on top when No. 3 seed Natalia Perez of Puerto Rico retired trailing 3-1 in the first set. No. 4 seeds Sage Loudon and Brooklyn Olson won the girls doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Victoria Sasinka and Rose Seccia 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in the all-USA final. Olson won the doubles title at last week's J4 with Perez.

Another US boy swept J4 titles this week, with Ilyas Fahim taking singles and doubles in Iran. The 16-year-old from Virginia, seeded No. 8, defeated top seed Suleyman Deniz Gursoy of Turkey 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3 to earn his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. Seeded No. 3 in doubles with Yunes Talavar of Iran, the pair defeated the unseeded team of Ege Altas and Baran Sivasli of Turkey 6-4, 6-0 in the final.

Day Two of the ITA Kickoff Weekend ended with eight of the women's participants at next month's ITA Division I Team Indoor decided, and two of the men's.

Those eight women's teams are Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Southern Cal, Cal, Washington, North Carolina and Auburn. Washington and Auburn were No. 2 seeds in their region, Southern Cal was a No. 3 seed.  Southern Cal's win over No. 1 Baylor was a 4-3 thriller, with freshman Grace Piper clinching for USC at line 5. And No. 1 Virginia just managed to squeeze past No. 2 Stanford, with NCAA singles champion Emma Navarro defeating freshman Connie Ma 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-4 at No. 1 singles to clinch the 4-3 win for the Cavaliers. Washington defeated UCLA 4-3, with Nika Zupancic clinching at line 3 for the Huskies.

The seven other women's teams heading to Madison Wisconsin will be determined tomorrow. We had our first No. 4 over No. 1 result, with Old Dominion beating host Georgia Tech 4-3 in the first round in Atlanta.

The first two men's teams in are Tennessee and Wake Forest, both of whom were No. 1 seeds. Ten more men's participants will be decided Sunday, with the final three regionals getting underway on Sunday and concluding Monday. 

Follow results throughout the next two days here. Cracked Racquets is providing live Red Zone coverage of several regionals on their YouTube Channel. 

WOMEN:

Texas[1] d. Florida Atlantic[4] 4-0
SMU[3] d. Rice[2] 4-2

SATURDAY FINAL:
Texas[1] d. SMU[3] 4-0

Virginia[1] d. James Madison[4] 4-0
Stanford[2] d. Arkansas[3] 4-2

SATURDAY FINAL:
Virginia[1] d. Stanford[2] 4-3

UCLA[1] d. Cal Poly[4] 4-0
Washington[2] d. Denver[3] 4-3

SATURDAY FINAL:
Washington[2] d. UCLA[1] 4-3

Cal[1] d. BYU[4] 4-0
Vanderbilt[2] d. San Diego[3] 4-1

SATURDAY FINAL:
Cal[1] d. Vanderbilt[4] 4-0

Georgia[1] d. North Florida[4] 4-0
Mississippi State[3] d. Iowa[2] 4-1

SATURDAY FINAL:
Georgia[1] d. Mississippi State[3] 4-1

Baylor[1] d. Kansas[4] 4-1
Southern Cal[3] d. Miami[2] 4-3

SATURDAY FINAL:
Southern Cal[3] d. Baylor[1] 4-3

Central Florida[1] d. UC-Santa Barbara[4] 4-2
Auburn[2] d. Arizona State[3] 4-3

SATURDAY FINAL:
Auburn[2] d. Central Florida[1] 4-0

North Carolina[1] d. UNC-Charlotte[4] 4-0
Tulsa[3] d. Oregon[2] 4-2

SATURDAY FINAL:
North Carolina[1] d. Tulsa[3] 4-0

Saturday first round women's matches (hosts in bold)

Duke[1] d. Nebraska[4] 4-0
Oklahoma[2] d. Furman[3] 4-1

Ohio State[1] d. Oklahoma State[4] 4-1
Tennessee[3] d. LSU[2] 4-0

Florida State[1] d. Illinois[4] 4-3
Florida[2] d. Florida International[3] 4-1

North Carolina State[1] d. Penn State[4] (alt for Iowa State) 4-0
Wake Forest[3] d. Northwestern[2] 4-2

Old Dominion[4] d. Georgia Tech[1] 4-3
Mississippi[3] d. Michigan[2] 4-1

Pepperdine[1] d. Columbia[4] 4-0
Notre Dame[2] d. Colorado[3] 4-1

Texas A&M[1] d. Princeton[4] 4-1
Texas Tech[3] d. South Carolina[2] 4-0

MEN:

Tennessee[1] d. Old Dominion[4] 4-0

Memphis[2] d. Western Michigan[3] 4-2

SATURDAY FINAL:

Tennessee[1] d. Memphis[2] 4-0

Wake Forest[1] d. Michigan[4] 4-3

Notre Dame[2] d. SMU[3] 4-3

SATURDAY FINAL:

Wake Forest[1] d. Notre Dame[2] 4-1

Saturday first round men's matches:

North Carolina[1] d. Northwestern[4] 4-0

Ohio State[3] d. Arizona State[2] 4-0

Virginia[1] d. Ball State[4] 4-0

Georgia Tech[2] d. Middle Tennessee State[3] 4-2

Mississippi State[1] d. Arkansas[4] 4-1

Kentucky[2] d. Alabama[3] 4-0

South Carolina[1] d. LSU[4] 4-1

Duke[2] d. Liberty[3] 4-1

Texas[1] d. Columbia[4] 4-0

Oregon[3] d. Oklahoma State[2] 4-0 

Florida[1] d. Princeton[4] 4-0

Florida State[2] d. UNC Wilmington[3] 4-0

USC[1] bye (Denver[3] drops out, no replacement)

Harvard[4] d. Pepperdine[2] 4-3

TCU[1] d. Portland[4] 4-0

Tulsa[3] d. Wichita State[2] 4-2

Texas A&M[1] d. UCLA[4] 4-0

Arizona[2] d. Texas Tech[3] 4-1

Mississippi[1] d. Oklahoma[4] 4-1

North Carolina State[3] d. Illinois[2] 4-2

Top seed and WTA No. 1 Ashleigh Barty won the women's singles title Saturday at the Australian Open, ending a 44-year drought for her country. Barty defeated two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins, the No. 27 seed, 6-3, 7-6(2) coming from 5-1 down in the second set to avoid a third set. Collins, who won the NCAA singles titles in 2014 and 2016 will make her WTA Top 10 debut on Monday.  For more on Collins's thoughts on her run to the final, see this article from the Australian Open website.

Top Seeds Bruno Kuzuhara and Petra Marcinko Claim Australian Open Junior Titles

Bruno Kuzuhara could not have known coming into the Australian boys final with No. 4 seed Jakub Mensik that it would take nearly four hours to earn his second junior slam title of the week, but the 17-year-old from Florida was up to the task. 

With Mensik suffering from cramps that saw him double fault on the last two points of the match and be taken off the court in a wheelchair, the ending of the 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 7-5 marathon was not what anyone would have preferred. Yet there was plenty of riveting tennis in the three hours and forty minutes leading up to that conclusion, with twists and turns galore.

Kuzuhara, the top seed, went down 3-1 in the first set, with his forehand unreliable, but he steadied himself, broke back for 3-all and maintained his level until the tiebreaker. He then elevated it, taking a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker and closing it out the first set with a forehand winner.

There was no letdown from either player in the second set, with no breaks of serve, although Kuzuhara began to show some frustration when he was unable to convert any of the eight break points he had, including three with Mensik serving at 5-5. Serving at 5-6, Kuzuhara managed to save three set points in a 15-minute, seven-deuce game that included a 36-shot rally.

In the tiebreaker, Kuzuhara fought back from a 5-3 deficit and saved another set point at 6-5, but Mensik won on his fifth opportunity, ending the 96-minute set.

Kuzuhara got the first break since early in the first set to take a 2-0 lead, but gave it right back. The games continued to be closely contested and the rallies often lengthy, but after Kuzuhara took a 5-4 lead, Mensik began to move more gingerly. At the changeover the trainer visited, but he didn't receive treatment and he did manage to hold serve in the next game.

With his leg muscles becoming less cooperative with each passing minute, Mensik managed to hold serve for 5-5, and he even had a look at a break point in the next game, but Kuzuhara saved it and went up 6-5. Another visit from the trainer at the changeover produced some rubbing that did not appear to be any help, with Mensik struggling to get in position to serve.

He did not make a first serve and made two errors for 0-30, but Kuzuhara made an error for 15-30 and Mensik somehow won a 33-shot rally for 30-30. But that was his last gasp. He fell to the ground, received a time violation warning, got up, double faulted, fell again, again got up and again double faulted to end the match.  

As he lay behind the baseline, Kuzuhara went over to offer his condolences, and shortly thereafter the supervisor and medical staff surrounded Mensik, getting him into a wheelchair and off the court for medical treatment. 

Mensik was not present for the trophy ceremony, which saw Kuzuhara receive his trophy from Darren Cahill and address the crowd in English, Portuguese (he was born in Brazil) and Japanese(he is of Japanese heritage).

Kuzuhara, who won the doubles title Friday with Coleman Wong, had the distinction of avenging losses in his last three matches. In the quarterfinals, he beat Edas Butvilas of Lithuania, who had beaten him last week in the semifinals of the J1 in Traralgon. In the semifinals, he took out Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, who had beaten him in the final of the Orange Bowl. And in the final, he got by Mensik, who had beaten him in the second round of the US Open last September.

The girls final that preceded the boys was much less dramatic.

Croatia's Petra Marcinko, who began the Australian Open Junior Championships by losing the first set she played, ended it in style Saturday on Rod Laver Arena, with the top seed defeating No. 8 seed Sofia Costoulas of Belgium 7-5, 6-1.

Marcinko did not play the ITF J1 warmup tournament in Traralgon last week, and in her absence, it was Costoulas, the No. 8 seed this week, who took that title. But Marcinko looked more confident and polished in the final, even after letting her 3-1 lead in the first set slip away.

Marcinko, who turned 16 a week before winning the Orange Bowl last month, didn't look as sharp as she had in her 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 semifinal win over Liv Hovde Friday, with her serve much less effective. Costoulas, also 16, was coming off an easier semifinal, but it appeared nerves, rather than fatigue, was responsible for the patchy play in the first few games. 

From 3-1 down, Costoulas took a 5-4 lead in first set, but Marcinko got the break she needed at 5-all 30-40, when Costoulas hit a backhand well wide. Showing off her all-court game, Marcinko went to the serve and volley on set point, and once that set was secured, she seemed to relax and play freely.

Marcinko broke to start the second set, and when she got a second break to go up 3-0, the result began to look inevitable. Costoulas did manage to hold down 4-0, but Marcinko was too confident and too solid to allow any thought of a comeback.

Marcinko is the first Croatian girl to win the Australian Open title since Ana Konjuh in 2013 and the fourth overall, with Mirjana Lucic(1997) and Jelena Kostanic(1998) the other two. 

With the title, Marcinko solidifies her hold on the No. 1 spot in the ITF junior rankings.

My Eight Intriguing Questions for 2022; ITA Kickoff Weekend Underway; Hance and Ngounoue Meet Saturday in Les Petits As Semifinals

Because the singles finals of the Australian Open Junior Championships will not conclude until very late tonight, I'll be doing a separate post much later on the girls final between top seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia and No. 8 seed Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and the boys final featuring top seed Bruno Kuzuhara and No. 4 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic. 

In case you missed my update earlier today, Clervie Ngounoue and Kuzuhara won doubles titles overnight. No. 2 seeds Kuzuhara and Coleman Wong of Hong Kong defeated the unseeded team of Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay and Alex Michelsen 6-3, 7-6(3). Ngounoue and Russia's Diana Shnaider claimed the girls doubles title, beating unseeded Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada 6-4, 6-3. 

My annual Eight Intriguing Questions column is up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, and as usual, I look at some big picture items that will affect college and junior tennis, while also focusing on a couple of individual players who are poised for a big 2022.

The ITA Kickoff Weekend is underway with eight of the 15 women's regionals playing today and two of the men's. Below are the Friday matches/results, with the hosts in bold. The winners of today's matches play tomorrow to determine who will advance to the National Team Indoor Championships next month. The men's tournament is in Washington February 18-21 and the women's tournament is in Wisconsin February 11-14. You can follow all the action here.

Women:
Texas[1] d. Florida Atlantic[4] 4-0

SMU[3] d. Rice[2] 4-2

Virginia[1] d. James Madison[4] 4-0
Stanford[2] d. Arkansas[3] 4-2

UCLA[1] d. Cal Poly[4] 4-0
Washington[2] d. Denver[3] 4-3

Cal[1] d. BYU[4] 4-0
Vanderbilt[2] d. San Diego[3] 4-1

Georgia[1] d. North Florida[4] 4-0
Mississippi State[3] d. Iowa[2] 4-1

Baylor[1] d. Kansas[4] 4-1
Southern Cal[3] d. Miami[2] 4-3

Central Florida[1] d. UC-Santa Barbara[4] 4-2
Auburn[2] d. Arizona State[3] 4-3

North Carolina[1] d. UNC-Charlotte[4] 4-0
Tulsa[3] d. Oregon[2] 4-2

MEN:
Tennessee[1] d. Old Dominion[4] 4-0
Memphis[2] d. Western Michigan[3] 4-2

Wake Forest[1] d. Michigan[4] 4-3
Notre Dame[2] d. SMU[3] 4-3

Carel Ngounoue, the younger brother of Australian Open girls doubles champion Clervie, is having his own week to remember in Tarbes France. The No. 10 seed defeated No. 2 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 today in the quarterfinals of Les Petits As, and also advanced to Saturday's doubles final.

Ngounoue's opponent in the semifinals is unseeded American Keaton Hance, who defeated wild card Yanhong Li of China 6-1, 6-1. The other semifinal will feature No. 3 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands and unseeded Matei Todoran of Romania. Boogaard blanked No. 5 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 6-0, 6-0, while Torodan beat No. 15 seed Tito Chavez of Ecuador 7-6(5), 7-5. 

Ngounoue and Boogaard, the top seeds in doubles, reached the final with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-7 win over the unseeded team of Hance and Ford McCollum.  They will play another unseeded team, Diego Dedura-Palomero and Niels McDonald of Germany, who beat No. 2 seeds Lenny Petit of France and Jamie Mackenzie of New Zealand 6-2, 2-6, 10-7.

Great Britain's Hannah Klugman, who reached the semifinals last year, is back in the final four, with the failure to seed her as much of a mystery now as it was before the tournament began. Klugman defeated unseeded Nadia Lagaev of Canada 6-2, 6-1 and will face No. 5 seed Polina Kuharenko of Belarus, who beat No. 2 seed Laura Samsonova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.

Top seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic defeated No. 6 seed Alisa Oktiabreva of Russia 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semifinal against No. 3 seed Julia Stusek of Germany. Stusek downed No. 10 seed Ada Kumru of Turkey 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

The girls doubles final will feature top seeds Samsonova and Stusek against No. 3 seeds Oktiabreva and Slovakia's Sona Depesova.

Live scoring is here and live streaming is here.

Kuzuhara to Play for Australian Open Boys Title; Collins Reaches AO Women's Final; Hance, Ngounoue Advance to Quarterfinals at Les Petits As; USTA Pro Circuit Update

For the third time in the past four years that it has been held, an American boy is in the final of the Australian Open Junior Championships. Top seed Bruno Kuzuhara defeated No. 3 seed Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay 7-6(2), 6-3 on Margaret Court Arena Friday, avenging his loss in last month's Orange Bowl final. Sebastian Korda won the title in 2018, while Emilio Nava lost in the final to Lorenzo Musetti in 2019. There was no junior event last year in Australia.

As he did in the quarterfinals, Kuzuhara started slowly, losing serve twice as he was unable to find any rhythm. But down 4-1, he broke back, held and broke again. After Vallejo had lost four straight games, he managed to hold serve twice to reach the tiebreaker, but Kuzuhara was the steadier of the two in the late stages of that tiebreaker, winning the final four points.

Up a break at 2-1 in the second set, Kuzuhara gave it right back, but Vallejo returned the favor in the fifth game to give Kuzuhara a 3-2 lead. Vallejo took a medical timeout at that changeover, receiving a massage of his left thigh, but Kuzuhara held in the next game and kept that advantage before breaking Vallejo to win the match. 

Kuzuhara will face No. 4 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who defeated No. 11 seed Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Kuzuhara will have a second chance for revenge this tournament, with Mensik beating him in the second round of last year's US Open Junior Championships 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

For more on the boys final, with comments from both Kuzuhara and Menski, see this article from the ITF.

Liv Hovde's semifinal match with top seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia was suspended at 3-3 in the first set due to rain. The other girls semifinal between Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz of Australia and No. 8 seed Sofia Costoulas of Belgium is being played in Margaret Court Arena, which has a roof.

Hovde and Marcinko were moved to MCA to resume their match after Costoulas defeated Kempenaers-Pocz 6-4, 6-1, and what it treat it turned out to be for the handful of fans watching.

Marcinko came out with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory, but there was little to separate the two, with both hitting with great pace and depth, moving into the corners and changing direction, coming up with big shots at big moments. The 16-year-old Hovde, playing in just her second junior slam, looked very comfortable on the big stage; Marcinko, who played all three junior slams last year, took care of her serve just a bit better, hitting five aces, while Hovde had none and threw in six double faults to Marcinko's three. 

The doubles finals followed the second girls semifinal on Margaret Court Arena, with Americans taking titles in both the girls and boys championship matches.

No. 2 seeds Kuzuhara and Coleman Wong of Hong Kong defeated the unseeded team of Vallejo and Alex Michelsen 6-3, 7-6(3). Wong now has two consecutive junior slam titles, having won the US Open with Columbia freshman Max Westphal of France in September.

Top seeds Clervie Ngounoue and Russia's Diana Shnaider claimed the doubles title, ending the winning streak of unseeded Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada with a 6-4, 6-3 decision. Mboko and Cross had won the title at the J1 in Traralgon last week, while Shnaider and Ngounoue did not play doubles in that event. It's the first junior slam title for the 15-year-old Ngounoue, while Shnaider now has two major girls doubles titles, having won Wimbledon last year with Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus.

Live scoring can be found here.

Danielle Collins defeated Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-4, 6-1 Thursday to advance to the women's singles final at the Australian Open. The 28-year-old from Florida, who won two NCAA singles title while playing for the University of Virginia, is the first NCAA women's singles champion to reach a women's singles final at a slam. Last year Jennifer Brady(UCLA), who is currently out with an injury, was the first former collegian to make a singles final since Kathy Jordan(Stanford) advanced to the final in Australia in 1983. Jordan did win the women's collegiate singles championship, but that was in 1979, before women's tennis was an NCAA-recognized sport. With her run to the final, regardless of the outcome, Collins will break into the WTA Top 10 for the first time.

Collins, the No. 27 seed, will face top seed and World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in Saturday's final. Barty, as she has done all tournament, cruised in the semifinal, beating Madison Keys 6-1, 6-3. For a preview of the women's final, see this article from the WTA website.

Collins talks about how college tennis prepared her for a pro career in this article from the USTA.

Collins isn't the only former collegian playing for an Australian Open title this weekend. Former University of Florida star Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan will play in the women's doubles final, with partner Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil. The unseeded pair, who won the title at the WTA 500 in Sydney earlier this month, continued their impressive play Thursday with a  6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over No. 2 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara(UCLA) of Japan. They'll take on top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the final. 

Two Americans boys are among those advancing to the quarterfinals of Les Petits As, with unseeded Keaton Hance defeating No. 13 seed Filip Kosarko of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-0 and No. 10 seed Carel Ngounoue beating No. 6 seed Lenny Petit of France 6-0, 6-2.  

Ngounoue will face No. 2 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria Friday, after Ivanov defeated unseeded Sebastian Bielen of the United States 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-2. Hance's opponent in the quarterfinals will be unseeded wild card Yanhong Li of China.

No. 8 seed Jack Kennedy lost to unseeded Matei Todoran of Romania 6-4, 6-3. Todoran will face No. 15 seed Tito Chavez of Educador, who surprised top seed Flynn Thomas of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2. 

The unseeded team of Hance and Ford McCollum are into the boys doubles semifinals, where they will play Ngounoue and his partner Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands, the top seeds.

Both US girls lost in singles, with Sydney Jara, the No. 16 seed, falling to top seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2, and unseeded wild card Capucine Jauffret losing to No. 5 seed Polina Kuharenko of Belarus 7-5, 6-4. With the loss in the quarterfinals of the doubles team of Jauffret and Julieta Pareja, the US girls are out of the event, although Pareja is still alive in the consolation draw for those losing in the first round.

Live scoring is here and live streaming is here.

I haven't been able to follow the three Pro Circuit events in the United States this week as much as I would like with two of the year's biggest junior tournaments going on this week. Another complication has been all the rain in Florida, where the men are playing a $25K in Weston and the women a $60K in Orlando.

The men's singles did manage to get back on schedule today, with the quarterfinals Friday, although doubles are still behind. The only American advancing to the quarterfinals is No. 6 seed Noah Rubin(Wake Forest), who was a late entry and had to come through qualifying. Sixteen-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy, who is just returning to the ITF Junior Circuit after being out with an injury most of last year, picked up his first ATP point with a win this morning over qualifier Sebastian Sec, a Princeton recruit. Basavareddy, who has verbally committed to Stanford, lost his second round match to top seed Eduard Esteve Lobato of Spain 7-6(5), 6-4, but he must be encouraged by playing the ATP No. 311 that close, with so little match play.

World No. 1 junior Jerry Shang of China, who had beaten No. 2 seed Michael Geerts(Arizona State) of Belgium 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 in the first round, lost to former Tennessee Volunteer Timo Stodder of Germany 6-2, 6-3 today.

In Orlando, a complete washout on Wednesday has put the tournament a full round behind, although they did finish the first round today. Wild card Elvina Kalieva defeated Alycia Parks 6-4, 6-0, while qualifier Robin Montgomery lost to No. 4 seed Xiyu Wang of China 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a battle of US Open girls champions. Wild card Ashlyn Krueger lost to No. 8 seed Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-2. 

Even with today's loss by JJ Wolf, the ATP Challenger 80 in Columbus still has a local favorite as it heads into the quarterfinals Friday, with former Ohio State star Mikael Torpegaard of Denmark advancing today with a 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 8 seed Bjorn Fratangelo. Wolf was beaten by No. 3 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Top seed Jenson Brooksby(Baylor), making his first appearance in 2022 after a positive covid test kept him from competing in Australia, will face No. 5 seed Ernesto Escobedo in the only all-US quarterfinal. Jack Sock, the No. 7 seed, was scheduled to play unseeded Dominic Stricker of Switzerland, the 2020 French Open boys champion, but Stricker advanced via a walkover. Stricker defeated No. 2 seed Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) in the opening round.

Kuzuhara Saves Match Point, Reaches Semifinals of Australian Open Junior Championships; Six Americans Advance to Round of 16 at Les Petits As; Texas Women, Tennessee Men Remain No. 1 in Latest ITA Coaches Poll

Top seed Bruno Kuzuhara knew going into his Australian Open boys quarterfinal match with No. 7 seed Edas Butvilas that he was in for a battle. Butvilas had beaten him last week in the semifinals of the ITF J1 in Traralgon by a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, giving the Lithuanian confidence coming into the match, which was played on the 1573 Arena, one of Melbourne Park's show courts. But Kuzuhara turned the tables, saving a match point in the second set to post a 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 victory.

Butvilas was serving up 4-1 in the first set before Kuzuhara managed to settle in, too late to put any pressure on Butvilas, but in time to dig into the second set. Butvilas saved four break points in his first four service games in the second set, coming up with big serves when he needed them, while Kuzuhara had much simpler holds. But the first break point Kuzuhara faced in the second set couldn't have been more consequential, coming at ad-out serving at 4-5. But he forced an error from Butvilas, held and held again at 5-6 to force the tiebreaker. 

Down a mini-break at 2-1, Kuzuhara won the next two points on Butvilas's serve, and a rattled Butvilas began to make errors, most of the unforced variety.

In the third set, Kuzuhara got the precious service break on a sloppy game by Butvilas to go up 3-1, but Butvilas's next two holds, each taking less than a minute, signaled he was not done. Serving for the match at 5-3 Kuzuhara made two unforced errors to get in a hole and he was unable to get out of it. 

Butvilas lost the first two points serving at 4-5, won the next two, but Kuzuhara earned his first match point at 30-40. Butvilas saved it with a clean backhand winner, and on match point No. 2 forced an error from Kuzuhara on an aggressive forehand approach. But Butvilas's first serve deserted him when he really needed it on match point No. 3 and Kuzuhara hit a backhand return winner on a second serve to close out the match.

Kuzuhara, who has now reached at least the semifinals of his last four junior circuit tournaments, will play No. 3 seed Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay in a rematch of last month's Orange Bowl final. Vallejo, who won that match 6-2, 6-3, defeated No. 9 seed Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico 7-5, 6-3. 

The other American boy in the quarterfinals, No. 13 seed Ozan Colak, fell just short of a memorable comeback in his 2-6, 7-6(0), 6-4 loss to No. 11 seed Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland. 

After outplaying an error-prone Feldbausch in the first set, Colak kept pace in the second set as Feldbausch raised his level. With no breaks in the set, the tiebreaker figured to be just as close, but Colak couldn't find his earlier form and Feldbausch gave him nothing.  After dropping serve to open the third set, Colak was facing a tough comeback, and when he was unable to break back in the second game, when he had four chances, it looked bleak. But down 5-0, Feldbausch could not end it, nor was he able to get to match point serving for it at 5-2. With Colak serving at 3-5, Feldbausch had two match points, but Colak saved them both, and four more in the next game, with Feldbausch double faulting on two of them. Colak even had one break point, but on his seventh match point Feldbausch managed to finally end the two and a half hour struggle.

Kuzuhara is also through to the doubles semifinals, later tonight, with Coleman Wong of Hong Kong. Colak and Aidan Kim lost to Vallejo and Alex Michelsen, the other American in the doubles semifinals, 6-4, 6-3 in Wednesday's quarterfinals. 

Clervie Ngounoue, who is partnering with Diana Shnaider of Russia, is through to the girls doubles semifinals after they defeated Liv Hovde and Alexis Blokhina 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in the quarterfinals.

Hovde is playing her singles quarterfinal against No. 6 seed Michaela Laki of Greece later tonight. I will update that result, as well as the doubles scores, here tomorrow.

Hovde joins Kuzuhara in the semifinals after defeating Laki 6-4, 6-0. After an exchange of breaks to open the match, Hovde jumped out to a 4-1 lead and served for the set at 5-2. She was broken, but was able to close it out on her second opportunity, serving at 5-4. Laki had taken a medical timeout at 4-1, and returned to play with her left thigh heavily taped, but she removed the tape at her next opportunity.  In the second set, the first four games were all close, but Hovde, who was getting great depth on her shots, won the important points, and once up 4-0, cruised to victory.

Hovde will play top seed and ITF junior No. 1 Petra Marcinko of Croatia, who beat unseeded Lola Radivojevic of Serbia 7-5, 6-2. The other girls semifinal will feature No. 8 seed Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and unseeded Australian Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz.

The other boys singles semifinal will be between Feldbausch and No. 4 seed Jakub Mensik.

An American boy will win the Australian Open doubles title, with Kuzuhara and Michelsen opposing each other in the final. Michelsen and Vallejo defeated Tanapatt Nirundorn of Thailand and Jaden Weekes of Canada 6-2, 5-7, 10-5 in the semifinals, while Kuzuhara and Wong beat Feldbausch and Gabriel Debru of France 6-4, 6-4.

Top seeds Ngounoue and Shnaider are through to the girls final after defeating Kempenaers-Pocz and Taylah Preston 7-5, 7-6(5). They will play unseeded Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada, who defeated No. 2 seeds Marcinko and Johanne Svendsen of Denmark 7-6(6), 2-6, 10-7.

Six Americans moved into the round of 16 at Les Petits As today, with Keaton Hance, Sebastian Bielen, Jack Kennedy[8] and Carel Ngounoue[10] making up a quarter of those advancing with wins today. No. 16 seed Sydney Jara and wild card Capucine Jauffret are the Americans in the girls draw.

Kennedy came back for a 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-1 victory over qualifier Maximilian Heidlmair of Austria; Ngounoue defeated Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-4, 6-2; Bielen outlasted Lucas Bazin of France 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) and Hance beat Antonin Witz of France 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Three of the four American boys remaining are in the bottom half; Ngououe and Bielen will face each other in the quarterfinals if they both win Thursday.

No. 16 seed Ford McCollum lost to Diego Dedura Palomero of Germany 6-0, 6-4 and Marcella Roversi was beaten by No. 10 seed Ada Kumru of Turkey 6-2, 7-5.

Jara defeated Eleejah Inisan of France 6-1, 6-0, and will play top seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic Thursday. Jara has lost only two games in her first two matches. Jauffret defeated qualifier Julie Pastikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 and will play No. 5 seed Polina Kuharenko of Belarus in the round of 16.

Jauffrey and Julieta Pareja advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles with a 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 10-5 win over Ophelle Boullay of France and Lilli Tagger of Austria.

Live streaming is here. Live scoring is here.

The latest coaches poll is out, with the Tennessee men and Texas women maintaining their places at the top of the rankings. The big drops were the Pepperdine women, who went from 2 to 7 after a home loss to Cal, and the Texas men, who went from 5 to 9 after a loss to Arizona. The list of the Top 25 can be found by click on the heading.

Men's Division I Top 10 January 26 (previous week's ranking):

1. Tennessee (1)
2. Baylor (2)
3. Florida (T-3)
4. TCU (T-3)
5. Ohio State (6)
6. Virginia (T-7)
7. Georgia (T-7)
8. Southern California (9)
9. Texas (5)
10. Wake Forest (10)

Women's Division I Top 10 January 26 

1. Texas (1)
2. North Carolina (3)
3. Georgia (4)
T4. UCLA (5)
T4. California (9)
6. Duke (6)
7. Pepperdine (2)
8. NC State (8)
9. Virginia (7)
10. Central Florida (11)

Colak, Kuzuhara and Hovde Reach Quarterfinals at Australian Open Junior Championships; Collins Joins Keys in Women's Semifinals; Three More Americans Advance at Les Petits As

Because all the Americans remaining in the Australian Open junior draws were first on Wednesday in Melbourne, I decided to wait for those results before I posted today. It was definitely a great day for Americans, with three of the five playing in the third round advancing to the quarterfinals.

No. 13 seed Ozan Colak eliminated the highest seed to fall so far, beating No. 2 seed Mili Poljicak of Croatia 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. Colak suffered the only break in the first set, but Poljicak, who was coming off a title at the J1 in Traralgon last week, didn't win a point on serve in his first two service games of second set, and Colak closed it out. The third set was close throughout, with Colak saving the only break point serving at 2-3 until Polijcak went down 15-40 at 5-all. He saved one break, but not the second, it was unforced errors that were the difference in that game. Colak didn't give points away, while Poljicak, who has a big serve, was not able to get himself out of trouble with it.

Colak fell behind 15-30 serving out the match, but he got two first serves in at 30-all and 40-30, and was rewarded with is first appearance in a junior slam quarterfinal.

Liv Hovde, also a No. 13 seed, also reached her first junior slam quarterfinal when No. 3 seed Ksenia Zaytseva of Russia retired trailing 6-3, 3-0. Hovde fell behind 2-0 to start the match, but found her form, while Zaytseva was ailing physically. She took a medical timeout, possibly for heat-related issues, and once Hovde held for 3-0, Zaytseva retired. Hovde will play No. 6 seed Michaela Laki of Greece, who came from 5-1 down in the third set to beat Dominika Salkova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(8).

Top seed Bruno Kuzuhara keeps rolling along, taking out No. 16 seed Lautaro Midon of Argentina 6-4, 6-1. Kuzuhara gets a chance for revenge in the next round when he takes on No. 7 seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania, who beat him 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the semifinals of last week's J1 in Traralgon. 

Yannik Rahman lost to unseeded Yaroslav Demin of Russia 6-3, 6-1 and Qavia Lopez fell to No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia 6-2, 6-2. Lopez had taken out No. 14 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in Tuesday's second round.

Colak and Aidan Kim, Hovde and Alexis Blokhina, Alex Michelsen, Leanid Boika, Kuzuhara and Clervie Ngounoue are all through to the quarterfinals in doubles, which are later Wednesday.

No. 27 seed Danielle Collins is through to the semifinals of the Australian Open for the second time in her career, after defeating Alize Cornet of France 7-5, 6-1 Wednesday. The two-time NCAA singles champion at Virginia served for the first set at 5-4, failed on that attempt, but showed no frustration. At 5-6, Cornet saved two set points, but Collins got the third, and ran out to 5-0 lead in the second set before Cornet held.

Madison Keys also reached the Australian Open semifinals for the second time with a 6-3, 6-2 win Tuesday over No. 4 seed Barbora Krejickova of the Czech Republic. Keys will play top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia, who defeated Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-0.

The first round of singles concluded at Les Petits As Tuesday, with the three Americans who did not play Monday all getting wins. No. 8 seed Jack Kennedy defeated Jakub Smejcky of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1, Keaton Hance beat qualifier Liam Channon of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2 and wild card Capucine Jauffret defeated wild card Rose Sueur of France 6-3, 6-0. Those three join Sydney Jara[16], Marcella Roversi, Carel Ngounoue, Ford McCollum and Sebastian Bielen, all of whom won Monday, in the second round.

The boys doubles are already at the quarterfinal stage, with Ngounoue, who is seeded No. 1 with partner Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands, advancing, along with the unseeded team of Hance and McCollum. There are no boys doubles on Wednesday, with the second round of girls doubles on the schedule. The unseeded Julieta Pareja and Jauffret will play for a spot in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

Live streaming is here; live scoring is here.

Hovde, Colak and Rahman Advance to Third Round at Australian Open Junior Championships; Collins Through to Quarterfinals in Melbourne; Americans Earn Five Wins as Les Petits As Gets Underway

Three Americans have reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open Junior Championships, posting victories on the third day of the tournament.

No. 13 seed Liv Hovde had the easiest time of it, needing just 41 minutes to defeat Georgia Pedone of Italy 6-0, 6-1. No. 12 seed Ozan Colak took just over an hour to defeat Luis Alvarez Valdes of Mexico 6-4, 6-0, while Yannik Rahman earned an upset, taking out a lethargic looking Olaf Pieczkowski of Poland, the No. 8 seed, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Rahman, a 17-year-old left-hander from Florida, is competing in his first junior slam. 

The heat was intense Monday in Melbourne, so minimizing the amount of time playing tennis in it should be helpful going forward.

Aidan Kim and Clervie Ngounoue were eliminated in their second round matches, although both are still alive in doubles. 

All junior matches are being streamed on ESPN Plus.

Monday's second round junior matches featuring Americans:

Liv Hovde[13] v Georgia Pedone(ITA) 6-0, 6-1
Ekaterina Khayrutdinova(RUS) d. Clervie Ngounoue[5] 6-4, 6-2

Yannik Rahman d. Olaf Pieczkowski[8](POL) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Jakub Mensik[4](CZE) d. Aidan Kim 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Ozan Colak[12] d. Luis Alvarez Valdes(MEX) 6-4, 6-0

Tuesday's second round junior matches featuring Americans:

Qavia Lopez d. Victoria Mboko[14](CAN) 6-1, 5-7, 6-4
Bruno Kuzuhara[1] v Edward Winter[WC](AUS) 7-5, 6-1

Both US men who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open lost Monday, but Danielle Collins again fought back to advance to the quarterfinals, beating Elise Mertens of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 51 minutes. With this run, Collins should reach a new career-high in the rankings, with her previous high of 23 coming back in 2019, when she reached the semifinals of the Australian Open.

Monday's fourth round results of Americans:

Danielle Collins[27] d. Elise Mertens[19](BEL) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Stefano Tsitsipas[4](GRE) d. Taylor Fritz[20] 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 

Daniil Medvedev[2](RUS) d. Maxime Cressy 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-5

Tuesday's quarterfinals featuring Americans:

Madison Keys v Barbora Krejcikova[4](CZE) 6-3, 6-2

Ashleigh Barty[1](AUS) d. Jessica Pegula[21] 6-2, 6-0

The top seeds won their first round matches today at Les Petits As, as did five of the six Americans in action.  Girls No. 1 seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic defeated wild card Victoire Lansaman of France 6-2, 6-0 and boys top seed Flynn Thomas had an equally straightforward win, beating Gabriel Jacquemin of France 6-0, 6-2.

Sebastian Bielen of the United States defeated No. 14 seed Marat Salbiev of Russia 6-3, 6-0, with Sabiev one of two seeds eliminated Monday. No. 11 seed Andreas Messis of Greece lost to Matei Todoran of Romania 5-7, 7-6(6), 3-0, ret.

 

Two seeded Americans advanced: No. 10 Carel Ngounoue defeated Arthur Lenglet of France 6-3, 7-5 and No. 16 Ford McCollum beat French wild card Charles De Saint Laumer 6-1, 6-2. Jack Kennedy[8] and Keaton Hance will play their first round matches on Tuesday. 

The only seeded US girl, No. 16 Sydney Jara, cruised past Georgiana Mititelu of Great Britain 6-1, 6-0, while Marcella Roversi advanced with a 7-6(6), 6-1 victory over Thi Lien Mouret of France. Julieta Pareja lost to unseeded Hannah Klugman of Great Britain, a semifinalist last year, 6-2, 6-0.  Capucine Jauffret will play her first round match on Tuesday. 

The only seeded girl to fall Monday was No. 8 Scarlette Hetherington of France, who was beaten by Ekaterina Khodzhaeva of Russia 6-1, 6-0.

Live streaming of three courts is available at the tournament website, as is live scoring via Tennis Ticker.

Kuzuhara, Lopez Advance at Australian Open Junior Championships; Keys and Pegula Reach Quarterfinals in Melbourne; Nine Americans Begin Competition at Les Petits As in Tarbes

Two more Americans advanced to the second round of the Australian Open Junior Championships with victories Sunday, joining the five who had picked up opening round wins on Saturday.

Top seed Bruno Kuzuhara defeated Daniele Minighini of Italy 6-2, 6-2, and Qavia Lopez earned her first win at a junior slam beating Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The 16-year-old Lopez is playing in her first junior slam main draw, after losing in the qualifying at the US Open last summer. The ITF spoke with Kuzuhara and girls top seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia, who beat American Alexis Blokhina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 Sunday, for this article.

In doubles action Sunday, unseeded Ozan Colak and Aidan Kim defeated No. 4 seeds Kalin Ivanovski of Macedonia and Konstantin Zhzhenov of Russia 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the second round. The remainder of the first round of doubles will be played Monday.

Sunday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Petra Marcinko[1](CRO) d. Alexis Blokhina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Qavia Lopez d. Lucie Havlickova(CZE) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Bruno Kuzuhara[1] v Daniele Minghini(ITA) 6-2, 6-2

Woobin Shin(KOR) d. Rohan Murali[Q] 6-0, 6-2 

Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez[9](MEX) d. Leanid Boika 6-4, 6-1

Monday's second round junior matches featuring Americans:

Liv Hovde[13] d. Georgia Pedone(ITA) 6-0, 6-1

Ekaterina Khayrutdinova(RUS) d. Clervie Ngounoue[5] 6-4, 6-2

Yannik Rahman d. Olaf Pieczkowski[8](POL) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1

Jakub Mensik[4](CZE) d. Aidan Kim 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 

Ozan Colak[12] d. Luis Alvarez Valdes(MEX) 6-4, 6-0

Both Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys advanced to the women's quarterfinals at the Australian Open with wins Sunday over higher ranked opponents. Amanda Anisimova was beaten by top seed Ashleigh Barty.

Sunday's round 4 results for Americans:
Ashleigh Barty[1](AUS) d. Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-3
Jessica Pegula[21] d. Maria Sakkari[5](GRE) 7-6(0), 6-3
Madison Keys d. Paula Badosa[8](ESP) 6-3, 6-1


Monday's round 4 matches featuring Americans:
Danielle Collins[27] d. Elise Mertens[19](BEL) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Stefano Tsitsipas[4](GRE) d. Taylor Fritz[20] 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 
Daniil Medvedev[2](RUS) d. Maxime Cressy 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-5 

The 40th edition of the Les Petits As 14U tournament begins Monday in Tarbes France, with five US boys and four US girls in the singles draws. 

Junior Orange Bowl 14s finalist Shannon Lam, who won the USA Qualifying Playoffs this fall, is not participating, but the other three semifinalists are in the draw: Sydney Jara, seeded No. 16, Marcella Roversi and Julieta Pareja. Capucine Jauffret, who lost to Jara in the quarterfinals of the playoffs, was given a wild card.

The top girls seed is Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic, which has three of top four girls seeds. Hannah Klugman of Great Britain, who reached the quarterfinals of the Junior Orange Bowl 14s last month, is in the draw, but not seeded. She reached the semifinals of the 2021 Les Petits As last September, after the tournament was postponed from early in the yearl.

All four semifinalists from the boys playoffs are in the draw: winner Jack Kennedy, seeded No. 8, finalist Ford McCollum, seeded No. 16, Keaton Hance and Sebastian Bielen. Carel Ngounoue, who did not compete in the Playoffs, is the fifth US boy in the draw, seeded No. 10.  

The top seed in the boys draw is Flynn Thomas of Switzerland. Junior Orange Bowl B12s champion Svit Suljic of Slovenia received a wild card.

If you prefer the printable ITF-style draws and order of play, they can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament page.

I covered the ITF Junior Circuit results from Traralgon, the J1 in Colombia, the J4 in Costa Rica and the J5 in New Jersey, but I neglected to note another doubles title for Anya Murthy at the J2 in India. Murthy, who won a J3 doubles title earlier this month, partnered with Russian Vlada Mincheva for a title this week in Kolkata. The No. 4 seeds beat No. 3 seeds Victoria Milovanova and Daria Shadchneva of Russia 1-6, 6-4, 10-6 in the final.

Zheng Wins J1 Title in Colombia; Filin Sweeps Singles and Doubles at J4 in Costa Rica; Five US Juniors Advance to Round 2 at Australian Open; Collins, Fritz and Cressy Reach Round of 16 in Melbourne

The singles finals of the ITF J1 in Barranquilla Colombia were played today, with Michael Zheng taking the boys title and Olivia Lincer falling in the girls championship match.

In last night's semifinals, Zheng avenged his semifinal loss to Cooper Williams at last week's  J1 in Costa Rica, with the No. 5 seed defeating the top seed 6-3, 6-3. In today's final, Zheng beat No. 8 seed Jan Hrazdil of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1 to earn his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. Last week's doubles title with Williams in Costa Rica was the 17-year-old Columbia recruit's first title on the circuit. 

Lincer, the No. 9 seed, defeated Madeleine Jessup of Taiwan 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in Friday night's semifinal, but she lost to No. 11 seed Sayaka Ishii of Japan in today's final 6-3, 6-2. 

In the doubles finals Friday, the unseeded Slovakian team of Renata Jamrichova and Nina Vargova defeated No. 2 seeds Krystal Blanch and Ava Krug 7-5, 6-2 and No. 2 seeds Peter Nad of Slovakia and Martin Vergara del Puerto of Paraguay beat the unseeded pairing of John Kim and Canada's Duncan Chan 6-4, 5-7, 10-8. 

Nikita Filin swept the titles at this week's J4 in Costa Rica, as did Puerto Rico's Natalia Perez.  Filin, the No. 2 seed, defeated top seed Jackson Armistead 7-6(4), 6-7(5) 6-1 in the all-US singles final. The 15-year-old from Illinois had won the doubles title Friday with partner Roy Horovitz, with the top seeds defeating unseeded Tygen Goldammer and Kase Schinnerer 6-3, 6-1 in another all-US final.

The 15-year-old Perez, seeded No. 3, beat unseeded Claire An 6-4, 6-2 in the girls singles final. She and Brooklyn Olson won the doubles title Friday, with the No. 3 seeds defeating unseeded An and Kayla Schefke 6-4, 7-6(2). 

It's the second J4 singles title for both Filin and Perez.

Five of the six Americans in action Saturday advanced to the second round of the Australian Open Junior Championships, and the remaining five in the draw are on Sunday's schedule. Rahman, who was playing in Costa Rica last week, was particularly impressive in rebounding for his first junior slam win after making that long trip.

Saturday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Yannick Rahman d. Louis Bowden[Q](GBR) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
Aidan Kim d. Gerard Campana Lee(KOR) 6-3, 6-2
Kilian Feldbausch[11](SUI) d. Quang Duong[Q] 6-0, 6-3
Ozan Colak[13] d. Dinko Dinev(BUL) 6-0, 6-1

Liv Hovde[13] v Talia Gibson[WC](AUS) 6-3, 7-6(8)
Clervie Ngounoue[5] d. Nahia Berecoechea(FRA) 6-3, 6-4

Sunday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Petra Marcinko[1](CRO) d. Alexis Blokhina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 
Qavia Lopez d. Lucie Havlickova(CZE) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Bruno Kuzuhara[1] v Daniele Minghini(ITA) 6-2, 6-2
Woobin Shin(KOR) d. Rohan Murali[Q] 6-0, 6-2

Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez[9](MEX) d. Leanid Boika 6-4, 6-1

The doubles draws were released Saturday, with Sunday's schedule featuring eight girls and eight boys doubles matches. The top seeds in the boys draw are the Traralgon J1 champions Mili Poljicak of Croatia and Edas Butvilas of Lithuania. Bruno Kuzuhara and Hong Kong's Coleman Wong are the No. 2 seeds.

Alex Michelsen and Kurt Miller, who lost in the final round of singles qualifying, both were accepted into the doubles draw, easing the disappointment of not reaching the main draw in singles.

The top seeds in the girls draw are Diana Shnaider of Russia and Clervie Ngounoue. The No. 2 seeds are Croatia's Petra Marcinko and Johanne Svendsen of Denmark. Shnaider and Marcinko won the Orange Bowl doubles title last month.

Three more Americans advanced to the Australian Open round of 16 with wins Saturday, two of them former NCAA champions. Danielle Collins(Virginia), who won the singles title in both 2014 and 2016, earned a come-from-behind victory over Danish teenager Clara Tauson, while Maxime Cressy(UCLA), who won the doubles title in 2019, made the fourth round of a major for the first time with a four-set win over Australian wild card Christopher O'Connell.  Taylor Fritz also reached the fourth round of a major for the first time with a five-set win over Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.

Saturday's third round results of Americans: 

Danielle Collins[27] d. Clara Tauson(DEN) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Taylor Fritz[20] d. Roberto Bautista Agut[15](ESP) 6-0. 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

Maxime Cressy d. Christopher O'Connell[WC](AUS) 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2

Sunday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Ashleigh Barty[1](AUS) d. Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-3 

Jessica Pegula[21] d. Maria Sakkari[5](GRE) 7-6(0), 6-3

Madison Keys d. Paula Badosa[8](ESP) 6-3, 6-1

Australian Open Junior Championships Begin Saturday, with Kuzuhara No. 1 Seed; Three US Women Advance to AO Fourth Round; Joint, Woestendick Claim ITF J5 Titles in New Jersey; Four Americans in Colombia J1 Semifinals

In less than an hour, the Australian Open Junior Championships begin in Melbourne, with the traditional start to the junior slam calendar returning after the cancellation of last year's event.

Seven US boys and four US girls are in the draw, with six of the 11 in first round action Saturday (tonight in the US). Bruno Kuzuhara is the top seed, with Ozan Colak the other American seeded, at 13. The other American boys are qualifiers Rohan Murali and Quang Duong, Aidan Kim, Leanid Boika and Yannik Rahman. Rahman played the Costa Rica J1 last week, the only AO player to have those two far-flung tournaments on his schedule. 

The US girls in the draw are Alexis Blokhina, No. 13 seed Liv Hovde, No. 5 seed Clervie Ngounoue and Qavia Lopez. 

Neither of Orange Bowl champions played the warmup event in Traralgon, but both Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay and Petra Marcinko of Croatia are entered in the Australian Open Junior Championships. Vallejo is the No. 3 seed; Marcinko, who ascended to No. 1 in the ITF junior rankings after sweeping the Orange Bowl titles, is the top seed. She faces Blokhina in a Sunday match.  Kuzuhara is also not on Saturday's schedule.

The ITF has put together a very detailed set of notes for the year's first junior slam; I'm not aware that this has been done before, but it's a welcome addition for media and fans alike.

Saturday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Yannick Rahman d. Louis Bowden[Q](GBR) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
Aidan Kim v Gerard Campana Lee(KOR) 6-3, 6-2
Kilian Feldbausch[11](SUI) d. Quang Duong[Q] 6-0, 6-3 
Ozan Colak[13] d. Dinko Dinev(BUL) 6-0, 6-1

Liv Hovde[13] d. Talia Gibson[WC](AUS) 6-3, 7-6(8)
Clervie Ngounoue[5] d. Nahia Berecoechea(FRA) 6-3, 6-4

Both US men in action at the Australian Open Friday lost, leaving just Taylor Fritz and Maxime Cressy with a chance to reach the round of 16. All three US women did win their third round matches, with Amanda Anisimova particularly impressive in her victory over defending champion Naomi Osaka of Japan.  On Saturday, Danielle Collins will attempt to join Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys in the fourth round when she takes on 2019 Australian Open girls champion Clara Tauson of Denmark.

Friday's third round results for Americans:

Amanda Anisimova d. Naomi Osaka[13](JPN) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5)

Jessica Pegula[21] d. Nuria Parrizas Diaz(ESP) 7-6(3), 6-2

Madison Keys d. Qiang Wang(CHN) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2)

Pablo Carreno Busta[19](ESP) d. Sebastian Korda 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-3

Denis Shapovalov[14](CAN) d. Reilly Opelka[23] 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Saturday's third round matches featuring Americans: 

Danielle Collins[27] d. Clara Tauson(DEN) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Taylor Fritz[20] d. Roberto Bautista Agut[15](ESP) 6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

Maxime Cressy d. Christopher O'Connell[WC](AUS) 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2

Maya Joint made it two J5 singles titles in a row today, claiming the championship in Medford New Jersey, while also taking the doubles title. The third-seeded Joint, who won the J5 last Friday in Wisconsin, defeated qualifier Esha Velaga 6-2, 6-3 in the final. She again got the better of Velaga in the doubles final, with Joint and partner Conley Raidt, the No. 4 seeds, beating the unseeded team of Velaga and Erin Ha 7-5, 7-6(12). Joint had lost in the doubles final last week in Eau Claire.

In the boys final, unseeded Cooper Woestendick, who was runner-up in Wisconsin last week, got his first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-1 win over No. 5 seed Evan Wen. Wen did collect a title later in the doubles, with partner Payton Young. The top seeds defeated unseeded Maxwell Exsted and Maximus Dussault 6-4, 2-6, 10-3 in the final.

The semifinals are this evening at the J1 in Barranquilla Colombia, with four Americans hoping to advance. One is certain to be eliminated, with top seed Cooper Williams and No. 5 seed Michael Zheng playing in a J1 semifinal for the second week in a row.  The winner of that match will play the winner of the match between unseeded Paul Barbier Gazeu of France and No. 8 seed Jan Hrazdil of the Czech Republic, who recorded quarterfinal wins over No. 3 seed Nicholas Godsick and No. 14 seed Alexander Frusina respectively.

The two US girls in the semifinals are No. 2 seed Krystal Blanch, who is playing No. 11 seed Sayaka Ishii of Japan, and No. 9 seed Olivia Lincer, who is facing No. 13 seed Madeleine Jessup of Taiwan.  Jessup took out No. 5 seed Mia Slama 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. 

Five US Boys, Three US Girls Reach Quarterfinals at Colombia J1; All-US Finals at New Jersey J5; Anthrop, Bernard Receive Columbus Challenger Wild Cards; Cressy, Fritz, Collins Through to Australian Open Third Round; Michael Center Gives Sports Illustrated His View of Varsity Blues Scandal

There is no order of play posted for today's quarterfinals at the ITF J1 in Barranquilla Colombia, but since I didn't report on it yesterday, it's a good time to catch up on what's happening there. Five of the eight boys quarterfinalists are from the United States, with just one of the quarterfinals between Americans, with top seed Cooper Williams playing No. 12 seed Jonah Braswell. No. 5 seed Michael Zheng faces No. 4 seed Martin Vergara Del Puerto of Paraguay, No. 3 seed Nicholas Godsick plays unseeded Paul Barbier Gazeu of France and No. 14 seed Alexander Frusina takes on No. 8 seed Jan Hrazdil of the Czech Republic.

Three US girls have reached the quarterfinals; No. 9 seed Olivia Lincer, No. 5 seed Mia Slama and No. 2 seed Krystal Blanch. Lincer, who had to qualify, I assume due to a late entry, faces unseeded Ena Koike of Japan; Slama plays No. 13 seed Madeleine Jessup, formerly of the US, but now representing Taiwan, and Blanch takes on unseeded Ellie Daniels of Canada.

The finals are set for the J5 in Medford New Jersey, with Maya Joint going for a second straight title, while Cooper Woestendick is hoping to improve on his appearance in the final last week at the J5 in Wisconsin. 

Joint, the No. 3 seed, defeated qualifier Erin Ha 6-1, 6-3 to run her 2022 winning streak to nine matches. Joint will play qualifier Esha Velaga, who defeated 13-year-old wild card Shannon Lam 6-3, 7-5. The 17-year-old Velaga is playing in just her second ITF Junior Circuit tournament, after qualifying for the J1 in College Park Maryland last summer.

The 15-year-old Woestendick defeated No. 3 seed Shrikeshav Murugesan 7-5, 6-2 for his fourth consecutive straight-sets win. He will play No. 5 seed Evan Wen, who came back to defeat No. 4 seed Eric Lin 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2. The 18-year-old Wen will be playing in his first ITF Junior Circuit final.

Bernard has signed with Ohio State and will join the Buckeyes this fall 

The ATP 80 Challenger in Columbus, the first men's pro event in the United States in 2022, announced the wild cards for next week's tournament. 

Jenson Brooksby, who tested positive for Covid-19 prior to leaving for Australia, has received a wild card, as has Ohio State freshman Jack Anthrop and recruit Alex Bernard. The qualifying wild cards were given to Keegan Smith, Preston Stearns, Chad Miller, Alexander Cozbinov. Obviously most of the wild cards have ties to the Ohio State men's program. I'm surprised that no current players were among the wild card recipients. 

The full release from yesterday:

Columbus, OH. (January 19th, 2022) - Professional tennis returns to Columbus next week, as the Tennis Ohio Championships are set to take place January 24th-January 30th. Hosted at Tennis Ohio, Columbus will welcome world-class players, as they compete for a $54,000 purse and valuable ATP ranking points. The tournament, which has become a staple on the USTA Pro Circuit over the last several years, is excited to host one of its strongest player fields to date. 

Headlining the 2022 player field is USTA Wildcard recipient, Jenson Brooksby (USA). Brooksby is currently ranked 58th in the world and represents to top ranked player to ever play the event. Tennys Sandgren (USA), currently ranked 94 in the ATP World Tour rankings, represents the 2nd highest ranked player. Other top players in the field include Sam Querrey (USA), Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN), Jack Sock (USA) and Andreas Seppi (ITA). 

The field also features numerous players with Ohio ties. Former Ohio State standout, JJ Wolf (USA) (who trains at Tennis Ohio), will look to capture his third Tennis Ohio Championships. Wolf looks to build off a strong fall on the ATP Challenger Tour, which featured a title (Las Vegas) and three other semi-final appearances. Mikael Torpegaard (DEN), who also trains at Tennis Ohio, has won the Tennis Ohio Championships two times himself, and will look to build momentum. Future and current Ohio State Buckeyes will also compete, as Jack Anthrop (current Ohio State freshman), Alexander Bernard (Ohio State commit) and Preston Stearns (Ohio State commit) will all make their ATP Challenger Tour debut. Cincinnati native and Northwestern commit, Chad Miller, will compete in the qualifying singles. 

Main Draw Singles Wildcards: Jenson Brooksby (USTA), Jack Anthrop, Alexander Bernard

Qualifying Singles Wildcards: Keegan Smith (USTA), Preston Stearns, Chad Miller, Alexander Cozbinov

Held since 2015, this is the 10th edition of the Columbus ATP Challenger Tour event. Entry is free to the public and matches can be livestreamed on the ATP Challenger Tour website. Due to ATP Challenger Tour requirements, all fans must wear a mask when at the facility. 

About Tennis Ohio:
The mission of Tennis Ohio is to improve the junior tennis experience for kids and their families. Tennis Ohio works to create a space where local individuals, groups, and tennis interact and engage with each other to improve the quality of our greater community. Based at Tennis Ohio, Kass Tennis Academy is a high-performance training base for juniors and professional players with on and off-court programming orient ed to maximize each player's long-term potential.

Three more Americans have reached the third round of the Australian Open, with Danielle Collins, Taylor Fritz and Maxime Cressy advancing with wins Thursday. I was able to watch the Collins win over Ana Konjuh of Croatia, but it was extremely frustrating that ESPN+ was unable to provide a feed of the Fritz-Tiafoe match. I did see games here and there when ESPN 2 would check in on the match, but "technical issues" made watching two of the best young Americans all but impossible. Here's an article on the problems, with a response from the network.

Cressy, the former UCLA Bruin, is through to the third round of a major for the first time. Here is an ATP article on Cressy's improbable rise from the bottom of the UCLA depth chart to the ATP Top 100, with insights from his former teammate Austin Rapp, now the volunteer assistant at Texas (and part-time coach of Catherine Harrison).

Thursday's second round results:

Jannik Sinner[11](ITA) d. Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-4, 6-3

Taylor Fritz[20] d. Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5)

Maxime Cressy d. Tomas Machac[Q](CZE) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(5)

Danielle Collins[27] d. Ana Konjuh(CRO) 6-4, 6-3

Maddison Inglis[WC](AUS) d. Hailey Baptiste[Q] 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2 

Friday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Amanda Anisimova d. Naomi Osaka[13](JPN) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5)

Jessica Pegula[21] d. Nuria Parrizas Diaz(ESP) 7-6(3), 6-2

Madison Keys d. Qiang Wang(CHN) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2)

Pablo Carreno Busta[19](ESP) d. Sebastian Korda 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-3

Denis Shapovalov[14](CAN) d. Reilly Opelka[23] 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Former University of Texas men's head coach Michael Center was the most prominent tennis coach charged in the Varsity Blues scandal and he spent six months in jail for his role in admitting a student as a tennis recruit who had no credentials nor any interest in playing on the men's team. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated spoke to Center about how Center became involved with Rick Singer, the central figure in the scandal and how Center managed to navigate through the process at Texas. Center accepts responsibility for his actions, but doesn't understand how he could be the only person at the University who paid any price for what happened.