Brantmeier Signs with North Carolina; Two Rounds Complete at Las Vegas ITF J4; Quinn Qualifies, Damm Beats Harrison at Bakersfield $25K; Fritz, Isner, Keys Advance at Indian Wells

Reese Brantmeier made a verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina earlier this year, but she made it official today, signing with the Tar Heels for this fall. The 17-year-old from Wisconsin, No. 1 in the 2022 recruiting class, has a long string of impressive results, including claiming the 2019 USTA Girls 16s title, and reaching the USTA Girls 18s final and the US Open girls doubles final last year. Brantmeier, who turns 18 in October, has three WTA Top 200 wins, in US Open and BNP Paribas Open qualifying and has an WTA ranking of 525. She is scheduled to compete later this month at the ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl in Indian Wells after playing only USTA Pro Circuit tournaments since the US Open last September. 

After a seven-week hiatus, the ITF Junior Circuit is back in the United States, with the usual pre-Southern California swing Grade 4 this week now underway in Las Vegas. Nikita Filin is the top seed in the boys draw, and he has advanced to the third round with two straight-sets wins on Monday and Tuesday. Thirteen-year-old Carel Ngounoue is making his ITF Junior Circuit debut this week as a wild card entry. Ngounoue, who reached the Les Petits As final this year, defeated No. 14 seed Payton Young 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(6) today to reach the round of 16. Eddie Herr 16s champion Rudy Quan is back on court for the first time this year and he defeated No. 8 seed Laim Drover-Mattinen of Canada 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round.

Ela Platenikova of Slovakia is the No. 1 seed, and she has also reached the round of 16, but needed three sets in today's second round win over Zehra Suko. The two 2021 Orange Bowl 14s finalists have advanced, with champion Iva Jovic, seeded No. 10, and unseeded Shannon Lam posting wins today. Lam will play wild card Alexis Nguyen, who defeated No. 2 seed and recent  Tampico J3 champion Lamija Avdic 6-1, 5-7, 6-0. Lam defeated Nguyen in the second round of the Junior Orange Bowl in December.

At the $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Bakersfield California, wild card Ethan Quinn qualified for the main draw, beating 2013 Kalamazoo champion Collin Altamirano 7-6(2), 6-3. Quinn is one of three Americans to advance to the main draw, with Colin Markes(Texas) and Isaiah Strode the others.  Quinn will play 35-year-old Zhe Li of China in the first round Wednesday. 

Another 18-year-old wild card, Martin Damm, won his first round match today, defeating No. 4 seed Christian Harrison 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour. Other Americans advancing to the second round with wins today: Gage Brymer(UCLA), Keegan Smith(UCLA) and JC Aragone(Virginia). 

Madison Keys is through to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open, the only American still remaining in the women's singles draw. Keys, who defeated qualifier Harriet Dart of Great Britain 6-1, 6-4 today, will face No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland next.

Two more Americans have joined Reilly Opelka and Jenson Brooksby in the fourth round, with John Isner[23] and Taylor Fritz[20] getting wins today. Isner defeated No. 14 seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 7-5, 6-3 and will play either Grigor Dimitrov or Alexander Bublik next. Fritz beat qualifier Jaume Munar 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2) and will play No. 29 seed Alex De Minaur, who beat Tommy Paul 7-6(2), 6-4.  Frances Tiafoe[28] plays No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev later tonight; Steve Johnson lost to No. 11 seed Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(7), 6-3.