Sieg Earns First Pro Title at Naples $15K; AO Girls Champion Marcinko Wins $25K in Turkey; Florida Men Beat No. 1 Tennessee, Georgia Defeats South Carolina in Top Ten Matches Sunday; Fritz, Isner, Johnson and Tiafoe Advance at Indian Wells

Eighteen-year-old Madison Sieg turned her focus from juniors to the ITF World Tennis Tour women's tournaments after a second round loss at the US Open last September. The USC recruit went 8-5 in $15K and 25Ks last fall, reaching the final of a $15,000 tournament in Cancun in December for the first time.

This year the 2018 Orange Bowl 16s champion was 2-3 in main draw matches on the professional circuit until this week, when she emerged as the top teen in a draw full of them to take the title at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida.

Sieg, who had lost in the doubles final Saturday night, faced qualifier Samantha Crawford in this morning singles final. At 2-2 in the first set, Sieg won the next four games to take the set, then broke Crawford, who was playing her seventh match in seven days, to open the second set. Crawford then retired to give Sieg her first professional title. Sieg, who turns 19 in June, will not be eligible for the Girls 18s Nationals this coming August, so expect to see her continue to prepare for college tennis on the lower levels of the Pro Circuit in the coming months.

Sixteen-year-old Petra Marcinko of Croatia, who won the Orange Bowl in December to claim the title of 2021 ITF World Junior champion, went on to validate that position by winning the Australian Open girls title in January. Today Marcinko won her first professional singles title at the ITF World Tennis Tour's $25,000 tournament in Antalya Turkey as an unseeded wild card.  Marcinko faced only one seed in her run to the title, beating No. 8 Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. In the final, Marcinko defeated unseeded Carole Monnet of France 6-4, 6-1 to run her winning streak this year to 11--six wins at the AO in Melbourne and now five wins in her next tournament this past week.

There were two Top 10 dual matches today in men's Division I play, both in the SEC.  

Florida, currently No. 5, defeated No. 1 Tennessee 5-2 and No. 8 Georgia got past No. 7 South Carolina 4-3.

Tennessee had lost to South Carolina 4-3 Friday in Knoxville, on an overrule in the third set tiebreaker of the last match on, and while that may have served as motivation for the Volunteers, they were again without their No. 2, Johannes Monday, and also missing their No. 4 Martim Prata, giving the edge to Florida.

Due to temperatures in the 40s, the match was played indoors in Knoxville, which probably favored Tennessee, but once Florida took the doubles point, the Volunteers faced a steep climb. Florida took four first sets in singles as well, and even though the non-playing Volunteers and the large crowd remained loud and supportive, the home team's path to victory looked narrow. 

But Tennessee got a straight-sets win from Pat Harper at line 6 to make it 1-1, and three second sets at lines 1, 4 and 5, giving the Volunteers and their fans hope. Florida also forced a third set, at line 3, while Sam Riffice put the Gators up 2-1 with a win at line 2. Ben Shelton closed out Adam Walton at line 1 to make it 3-1, putting Florida in the driver's seat, needing just one of the three remaining matches. They were up breaks at lines 3 and 5, with Duarte Vale finishing it for the Gators with a 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1 win over Angel Diaz at line 3. The last two matches were played out, with Shunsuke Mitsui of Tennessee winning at line 4 and Mattias Siimar of Florida winning at line 5.

For more on Florida's win, see this recap from their website.

Florida 5, Tennessee 2

Singles

1. #1 Ben Shelton (UF) def. #18 Adam Walton (UT), 6-3, 1-6, 6-1

2. #56 Sam Riffice (UF) def. #55 Emile Hudd (UT), 7-5, 6-2
3. #109 Duarte Vale (UF) def. Angel Diaz (UT), 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1
4. Shunsuke Mitsui (UT) def. #93 Andy Andrade (UF), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Mattias Siimar (UF) def. Conor Gannon (UT), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
6. Pat Harper (UT) def. #119 Nate Bonetto (UF), 7-5, 6-4

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

Doubles

1. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) def. #16 Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui (UT), 6-4
2. #45 Adam Walton/Pat Harper (UT) vs. #54 Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar (UF), 5-4, unfinished
3. Duarte Vale/Nate Bonetto (UF) def. Conor Gannon/Mark Wallner (UT), 6-3

Order of Finish: 3, 1

Georgia's win over South Carolina was also accomplished indoors, with the match coming down to two freshman at line 6, more than four and a half hours after it began, due to Georgia's four-court indoor facility. 

After winning the doubles point, South Carolina could not put a quick second point on the board, but they did take a 3-2 lead with wins by Raphael Lambling at line 4 and Daniel Rodrigues at line 1 after Georgia had gotten wins from Philip Henning at 2 and Tristan McCormick at 3. That meant Georgia needed both points at 5 and 6, matches that couldn't start until two of the top four had finished. Blake Croyder tied it up with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win at 5, leaving Georgia's Miguel Perez Pena and South Carolina's Casey Hoole to decide it. Perez Pena served for the match at 6-5 in the second set, but Hoole saved match points to force a tiebreaker. That wasn't enough, as Perez Pena took the tiebreaker 6-4, 7-6(4) for the Bulldogs' fourth point.

For more on Georgia's win see this article from their website.

Georgia 4, South Carolina 3

Singles
1. #16 Daniel Rodrigues (SC) def. #19 Hamish Stewart (UGA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
2. #40 Philip Henning (UGA) def. #86 Toby Samuel (SC) 6-4, 7-6 (4)
3. #31 Tristan McCormick (UGA) def. Connor Thomson (SC) 7-6 (4), 6-0
4. Raphael Lambling (SC) def. #84 Trent Bryde (UGA) 7-6(6), 6-4
5. Blake Croyder (UGA) def. James Story (SC) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
6. Miguel Perez Pena (UGA) def. Casey Hoole (SC) 6-4, 7-6(4)

Order of finish: (3,2,4,1,5,6)

Doubles
1. #30 Daniel Rodrigues/Connor Thomson (SC) def. #55 Tristan McCormick/Hamish Stewart (UGA) 6-4
2. Jake Beasley/Toby Samuel (SC) def. #27 Trent Bryde/Philip Henning (UGA) 7-6(8)
3.#62 Blake Croyder/Erik Grevelius (UGA) def. Raphael Lambling/James Story (SC) 6-2

Order of finish: (3,1,2)

Tennessee will fall from the No. 1 spot, and Ohio State's 4-3 win Saturday at Texas might be enough to return the Buckeyes to the top.

Four American men advanced to the third round with wins today at the BNP Paribas Open, although two of them knocked out other Americans. (Tommy Paul plays No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev later tonight.) 

John Isner defeated wild card Sam Querrey 7-6(6), 7-6(2) and Frances Tiafoe[28] beat Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-4. Steve Johnson, given a wild card right before the start of qualifying, defeated No. 22 seed Aslan Karatsev 7-6(5), 6-4. No. 20 seed Taylor Fritz breezed past Kamil Majchrzak of Poland 6-1, 6-1. 

There are just two American men left in the top half of the draw: No. 17 seed Reilly Opelka and Jenson Brooksby, who defeated No. 22 seed Karen Khachanov 6-0, 6-3 late last night.

US women still in contention are Shelby Rogers in the bottom half and Madison Keys[25] in the top half. No. 16 seed Coco Gauff, celebrating her 18th birthday today, faces No. 24 seed Simona Halep later tonight.