TCU Captures First National Team Title at ITA Indoor Championships; Stringer Wins Third Straight ITF Junior Circuit Title, An Claims Her First; Grade A Banana Bowl Underway in Brazil

2022 Men's ITA Team Indoor Champions TCU
(photo via TCU Men's Tennis)

TCU had reached its only previous national team final in 1992, losing to Stanford in the ITA Team Indoor Championships. The outcome of the Horned Frogs' second such appearance was more satisfying, with No. 5 seed TCU defeating No. 3 Tennessee 4-1 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle Washington. 

TCU had suffered their only loss of the year when Tennessee took a 4-3 decision from them in Fort Worth last month. The Horned Frogs had won the doubles point in that match, so they undoubtedly were wary of celebrating too much when they did the same today, getting wins, as they did last month, from their No. 1 and No. 2 teams.

TCU managed four first sets in singles, with the last first set to finish at line 1, with TCU's Luc Fomba taking a tiebreaker from Adam Walton. Tennessee faced an even tougher task once Jacob Fearnley closed out Shunsuke Mitsui  6-1, 6-3 at line 5, making it 2-0 TCU. The Volunteers were up a set and a break at line 2, but the path to four singles wins narrowed even further when TCU's Pedro Vives Marcos earned a split in his match with Angel Diaz at line 4.

Sander Jong, the hero of TCU's 4-3 win over top seed Ohio State in Sunday's semifinal, was up a set but down 3-4 in the second to Emile Hudd. But Jong again stepped up for TCU, breaking, holding and breaking to give the Horned Frogs a 3-1 edge, barely two hours into the match. Johannes Monday had put Tennessee on the board with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Juan Carlos Aguilar at line 2.

At line 6, TCU's Lui Maxted was up a set and had just broken Conor Gannon to take a 5-4 lead in the second set. The freshman from Great Britain served for the championship, but he lost the game without taking a point, giving Tennessee fans hope. Walton was closing in on his second set at line 1 and at 3-3 in the third set at line 4, there was no clear favorite in that match either.

Gannon held at love to force a tiebreaker, then ran away with that 7-1. Maxted had lost his immediate opportunity, but TCU fans could take heart in the fact that they needed only one of the remaining matches.

Vives, who had not played in TCU's loss to Tennessee, with his college career getting underway early this month, broked Diaz at 4-all and it was his turn to try to end it on serve. The 20-year-old from Spain was up to the challenge, playing flawless offensive tennis to build a 40-0 lead. He netted a backhand on his first match point, but hit an ace on his second, although Diaz called it out and was overruled by the chair umpire. The program's first national championship dogpile ensued, although it took former TCU star and current coach David Roditi some time to make his way to the celebration. For more on the title, see this article from the TCU website.

The Division I Team Indoor Championships for 2022 have now concluded with a three-peat for the North Carolina women and a first-ever title for the TCU men. The women's Division II and the men's and women's Division III Team Indoor Championships will be played over the next two weekends.

ITA Men's Division I Team Indoor Final

February 21, 2022

TCU[5] 4, Tennessee[3] 1

Singles
1. Luca Fomba (TCU) vs. Adam Walton (TENN) 7-6(20, 3-6, 3-0, unfinished
2. Johannes Monday (TENN) def. Juan Carlos Aguilar (TCU) 6-4, 6-1
3. Sander Jong (TCU) def. Emile Hudd (TENN) 6-2, 6-4
4. Pedro Vives Marcos (TCU) def. Angel Diaz (TENN) 3-6 6-4, 6-4.
5. Jacob Fearnley (TCU) def. Shunshuke Mitsui (TENN) 6-1, 6-3
6. Conor Gannon (TENN) vs. Lui Maxted (TCU) 4-6, 7-6(1), 2-0, unfinished

Order of Finish: 5,2,3,4

Doubles
1. Luca Fomba/Jacob Fearnley (TCU) def. Emile Hudd/Shunshuke Mitsui (TENN) 6-4
2. Sander Jong/Lui Maxted (TCU def. Pat Harper/Adam Walton (TENN) 6-3
3. Mark Wallner/Johannes Monday (TENN) def. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Tim Ruehl (TCU) 6-3

Order of Finish: 2,3,1

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In addition to the boys singles and doubles titles won by Nishesh Basavareddy and Cooper Williams last week at the J1 in Brazil, six other titles were captured by Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Tristan Stringer won his third consecutive title in Africa; after winning a Grade 4 and a Grade 5 in Kenya the previous two weeks, the 16-year-old Floridian won a Grade 4 in Rwanda last week, running his winning streak to 18 matches (two were in  qualifying for the first tournament). Last week Stringer, seeded No. 5, defeated top seed Hady El Kordy of Egypt 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals and unseeded Pranav Karthik of India 6-2, 7-6(5) in the final. He is now up to 251 in the ITF junior rankings, after starting the year without a ranking.  Seventeen-year-old Pavan Uppu won his first ITF Junior Circuit title in Rwanda in boys doubles. He and partner Seungmin Park of Korea defeated Karthik and Derin Sen of Australia 6-4, 6-1 in the doubles final between two unseeded teams.

Fifteen-year-old Claire An won her first ITF Junior Circuit title last week at the J4 in Guatemala. The unseeded An, who reached the final of a J4 in January, didn't drop a set in her five victories, defeating No. 4 seed Natalia Vela Zangroniz of Guatemala 6-1, 6-1 in the final. An and her partner Haylee Conway lost in the girls doubles final to Morgan McCarthy and her partner Deborah Dominguez Collado of Guatemala 6-7(6), 6-3, 10-1. Neither team was seeded.

At the J4 in Mexico, top seeds Ria Bhakta and Sage Loudon won the girls doubles title, defeating Reya Coe and Sabrina Lin 6-4, 7-6(5) in the all-USA final for their third ITF Junior Circuit doubles title as a team. In the boys doubles final, top seeds Paris Pouatcha and his partner Lucio Ratti of Argentina defeated No. 4 seeds Kane Bonsach Ganley of Spain and Pascal Tylek of Canada 6-3, 6-4. 

This week's big event in junior tennis is the Grade A Banana Bowl in Brazil, where qualifying concluded today and a few first round main draw matches were played.  Nine US boys and six US girls are vying for a title in the 52nd edition of the event, played on clay in the city of Criciuma.

The US boys in the main draw: Leanid Boika, qualifier Alexander Razeghi, Cooper Williams[7], Alexander Frusina, Nishesh Basavareddy, Aidan Kim, Jonah Braswell, Kurt Miller and Yannik Rahman. Frusina, Kim and Rahman lost their first round matches today.

The US girls in the main draw: Kaitlin Quevedo, Qavia Lopez[5], Sonya Macavei, Daniella Ben-Abraham, Ava Krug and Ahmani Guichard.

Orange Bowl champion Alfonso Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay is the top seed in the boys draw, with Kayla Cross of Canada the No. 1 seed in the girls draw. Vallejo is scheduled to play Boika in the first round.