All Seeds Eliminated at $60K in Georgia, with Navarro Reaching Quarterfinals; Wild Card Blumberg Advances to Quarterfinals at Cleveland Challenger; Fritz, Korda and Paul Named To US Davis Cup Team

After the top two seeds were eliminated Wednesday, the three seeds that remained were beaten today, leaving Friday's quarterfinals at the $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Rome Georgia with a combination of former college stars and young Americans.

Former Georgia All-American Katarina Jokic of Georgia, who qualified then defeated top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico in the first round for her best win as a professional, continued her impressive play, beating wild card Emina Bektas(Michigan) 6-3, 6-4 today. University of Virginia sophomore Emma Navarro, who has a quick win over No. 2 seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus yesterday, needed considerably more time today in her two hour and 45-minute, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2) victory over qualifier Marcela Zacarias of Mexico.

Navarro will face Robin Anderson(UCLA), who beat lucky loser Raveena Kingsley 6-1, 7-6(2); Jokic faces Caroline Dolehide, who beat Orlando $60K finalist Christina McHale 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. 

Katie Volynets defeated No. 7 seed Hailey Baptiste 6-1, 6-2 and will play qualifier Tatjana Maria of Germany, who beat No. 3 seed Xiyu Wang of China 6-2, 6-1.  The fourth singles match Friday will feature wild card Alycia Parks, who beat No. 4 seed Yue Yuan of China 6-2, 6-3, and Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State), who downed Despina Papamichail of Greece 6-1, 6-3.

US Open girls doubles finalists Reese Brantmeier and Elvina Kalieva advanced to Friday's doubles semifinals, when they received a walkover from Usue Arconada and Govortsova, the No. 4 seeds.

Three Americans are through to the quarterfinals of this week's Cleveland Open, an ATP 80 Challenger. Wild card Will Blumberg reached his first Challenger quarterfinal since 2017 when No. 7 seed Emilio Gomez(USC) of Ecuador retired due to injury trailing 6-1, 3-1. The 24-year-old Blumberg, who completed his eligibility at North Carolina last spring, had defeated Gomez's cousin and former USC teammate Roberto Quiroz in the first round Tuesday. He will face No. 3 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan next.

Thomas Fabianno of Italy defeated top seed Tennys Sandgren 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 and will play unseeded Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany in the quarterfinals. 

In the bottom half, No. 6 seed Ernesto Escobedo will face unseeded Dominik Stricker of Switzerland, who beat qualifier Emilio Nava 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Michael Mmoh, who advanced when No. 8 seed Jack Sock retired trailing 6-1, 2-1, will take on qualifier Alexis Galarneau of Canada, the recent North Carolina State graduate. Galarneau defeated No. 4 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-1, 7-5.

Seventeen-year-old Nicholas Godsick, fresh off his first Grade 1 title last week in Ecuador, was given a wild card into doubles in his home town event. Paired with Stricker, after Sock decided not to compete in both after testing positive for Covid last week, Godsick won his first pro match last night. Stricker and Godsick defeated Yatsutaka Uchiyama and Yosuke Watanuki of Japan 5-7, 7-5, 10-6 to earn a shot at top seeds Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M) and Robert Galloway(Wofford). They lost in that quarterfinal tonight, 6-1, 3-6, 10-3. 

The USTA announced its nominations for Davis Cup yesterday, with Taylor Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul, Jack Sock and Rajeev Ram set to compete in the World Group qualifier next month. Scheduled to take place in Reno Nevada March 4th and 5th, the tie will feature the Americans against Colombia for a spot in the 16-team World Group finals. For more on the team, see this article from the Davis Cup website