GoFundMe Established for David Filer; Qualifier Basavareddy Advances to Brazil J1 Final; Zhu Reaches Final at Naples $15K; Top Teams Advance at D-I Men's Team Indoor Championships

There was heartbreaking news this week that 15-year-old David Filer, one of the top players in his age group, has been diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme, a malignant brain cancer, after falling ill at the L2 in Scottsdale last weekend. A GoFundMe campaign has been organized for the family of the blue chip from South Bend; please consider donating to show your support for David and his family as they face these difficult days ahead.

Nishesh Basavareddy had played two ITF Grade B1s in the US the past three years, but this year, after a long layoff due to injury, the 16-year-old from Indiana played his first J1s outside the country, and in his third one this week in Brazil, has advanced to the final. After three qualifying wins, Basavareddy has won seven matches this week, defeating the No. 2 seed in the second round, the No. 5 seed in the quarterfinals, and today taking down No. 6 seed Gerard Campana Lee of Korea 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals. In Sunday's final, Basavareddy will face top seed Gonzalo Bueno of Peru, who defeated No. 3 seed Peter Privara of Slovakia 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

The girls final will be an all-Canadian affair with No. 8 seed Mia Kupres playing No. 2 seed Victoria Mboko. Kupres defeated unseeded Luciana Moyano of Argentina 6-1, 6-2 and Mboko got past fellow Canadian Annabelle Xu, the No. 7 seed 7-5, 7-6(5).

Cooper Williams and Russia's Yaroslav Demin, the No. 2 seeds, won the doubles title today, defeating No. 3 seeds Paul Inchauspe of France and Ivan Sodan of Croatia 6-4, 7-5 in the final.  Williams also won the doubles title at the Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica earlier this year, with Michael Zheng. 

Mboko and Kayla Cross, the No. 1 seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Irina Balus and Nikola Daubnerova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3 in the girls final, their sixth title as a team in the past eleven months. 

Evan Zhu will be playing for his first title in over three years Sunday at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida after defeating qualifier Khololwam Montsi of South Africa 6-0, 6-2 in today's semifinals. The former UCLA Bruin has beaten a lucky loser, two qualifiers and the No. 2 seed en route to his first final since he won a $25K in Texas in October of 2018. Zhu will face No. 5 seed Jonathan Mridha of Sweden in the final.  

Zhu and Zeke Clark(Illinois) lost in the doubles final today, with the No. 3 seeds falling to unseeded Blu Baker of Great Britain and Jesse Witten(Kentucky) 6-7(4), 6-4, 13-11. Witten, 39, is primarily a coach in the Naples area now, but he plays several tournaments a year in both singles and doubles. This is his first doubles title since 2010, when he won a Challenger. He last won a singles title on the Pro Circuit in 2013.

After a tense first day Friday, with more 4-3 matches than shutouts and two notable upsets, the quarterfinals of the ITA Division I Men's Team Indoor Championships Saturday were much less dramatic, at least until the nightcap featuring Baylor and Kentucky. No. 5 seed TCU started out the day with a 4-0 win over No. 13 Texas, in just over two hours, after Texas had taken out No. 4 Florida 4-3 on Friday. No. 3 seed Tennessee was pushed, and hard, by No. 11 South Carolina, before the Volunteers rebounded for a 4-2 victory. After Tennessee took the doubles point, South Carolina won five first sets in singles, but only Jake Beasley at line 6 managed to avoid a third set, closing out his win to tie it at 1. When Johannes Monday came back to beat Toby Samuel in three sets at line 2, giving the Vols the 2-1 lead, prospects were still looking good for the Gamecocks. But when Angel Diaz came from 4-0 down in the third set to win the next six games and the match at line 4, that was the turning point and Emile Hudd clinched it for Tennessee at line 3.

Top seed Ohio State, who had beaten Wake Forest 7-0 just six days ago in Columbus, didn't stumble in the rematch today, and will face TCU in the semifinals. No. 2 seed Baylor won the doubles point from No. 7 Kentucky, but dropped singles matches at lines 3 and 2, so will need a comeback if they are to reach the semifinals. Baylor did get the turnaround they needed after dropping four first sets in singles, with Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi clinching the win for the Bears with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 decision over Yasha Zemel at line 6. Kentucky played without their star Liam Draxl, who was injured.

QUARTERFINALS
Saturday February 19, 2022

TCU[5] 4, Texas[13] 0
Singles
1. Luc Fomba (TCU) vs. Micah Braswell (TEX) 6-4, 3-6, 3-3, unfinished
2. Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) 6-4, 6-4
3. Sander Jong (TCU) def. Richard Ciamarra (TEX) 6-3, 7-6(5)
4. Pedro Vives Marcos (TCU) def. Eliot Spizzirri (TEX) 6-3 6-3
5. Jacob Fearnley (TCU) vs. Siem Woldeab (TEX) 6-1, 6-7(5), 2-3, unfinished
6. Cleeve Harper (TEX) vs. Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 7-6(2), 4-1

Order of Finish: 4,3,2

Doubles
1. Luc Fomba/Jacob Fearnley (TCU) def. Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (TEX) 6-2
2. Sander Jong/Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab TEX) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (TEX) vs. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Tim Ruehl (TCU) 5-2, unfinished

Order of Finish: 2,1

==========================

Tennessee[3] 4, South Carolina[11] 2

Singles

1. Adam Walton (TENN) vs. Daniel Radrigues (SCAR) 6-7(2), 6-3, 4-1, unfinished

2. Johannus Monday (TENN) def. Toby Samuel (SCAR) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1

3. Emile Hudd (TENN) def. Connor Thomson (SCAR) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4

4. Angel Diaz (TENN) def. Raphael Lambling (SCAR) 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-4 

5. James Story (SCAR) def. Shunsuke Mitsui (TENN) 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3

6. Jake Beasley (SCAR) def. Mark Wallner (TENN) 7-6(2), 6-0

Order of Finish: 6,2,5,4,3

Doubles 

1. Daniel Rodrigues/Connor Thomson (SCAR) vs. Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui (TENN) 4-5, unfinished

2. Adam Walton/Pat Harper (TENN) def. Toby Samuel/Jake Beasley (SCAR) 6-1

3. Mark Wallner/Johannes Monday (TENN) def. James Story/Rafael Lambling (SCAR) 6-3

Order of Finish: 2,3

==========================

Ohio State[1] 4, Wake Forest 0

Singles

1. Matej Vocel (OSU) vs. Jurabek Karimov (WAKE) 6-2, 6-3

2. Cannon Kingsley (OSU) vs. Eduardo Nava (WAKE) 6-4, 5-5, unfinished

3. Jake Van Emburgh (OSU) vs. Filippo Moroni (WAKE) 7-5, 4-4, unfinished

4. JJ Tracy (OSU) def. Taha Baadi (WAKE) 7-5, 6-0

5. Jakob Schnaitter (WAKE) vs. James Trotter (OSU) vs. 7-6(5), 3-2, unfinished

6. Robert Cash (OSU) def. Sid Banthia (WAKE) 6-2, 6-4

Order of Finish: 6,1,4

Doubles

1. Matej Vocel/Robert Cash (OSU) def. Sid Banthia/Jakob Schnaitter (WAKE) 6-3

2. Justin Boulais/James Trotter (OSU) vs. Eduardo Nava/Filippo Moroni (WAKE)

3. Cannon Kingsley/JJ Tracy(OSU) vs. Robert Maciag/Ben Draper (WAKE) 6-2

Order of Finish: 3,1

============================

Baylor[2] 4, Kentucky[7] 3

Singles

1. Adrian Boitan (BAY) def. Millen Hurrion (UK) 6-4, 6-3

2. Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. Matias Soto (BAY)  6-1, 6-4

3. Francoise Musitelli (UK) def. Sven Lah (BAY) 6-2, 6-1

4. Josh Lapadat (UK) def. Marko Miladinovic (BAY) 6-2, 7-6(3)

5. Finn Bass (BAY) def. JJ Mercer (UK) 7-6(5), 6-1

6. Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (BAY) def. Yasha Zemel (UK) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

 

Order of Finish: 3,2,1,5,4,6

Doubles

1. Millen Hurrion/Gabriel Diallo (UK) vs Finn Bass/Sven Lah (BAY) 4-5, unfinished

2. Matias Soto/Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (BAY) def. Josh Lapadat/JJ Mercer (UK) 6-3

3. Adrian Boitan/Tadeas Paroulek (BAY) def. Yasha Zemel/Francoise Musitelli (UK) 6-4

Order of Finish: 2,3