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Thursday, March 10, 2022

Six Teens Reach Quarterfinals at USTA Women's Pro Circuit $15K in Naples Florida; Brooksby, McDonald, Wolf and Eubanks Advance at Indian Wells; USTA Mid-Atlantic Announces Plans for 36-Court Tennis Facility in Virginia

The teenagers continued to shine at the $15,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, with six of them advancing to Friday's singles quarterfinals and two teams reaching the doubles semifinals. 

Eighteen-year-old Hina Inoue is one of just two seeds to reach the quarterfinals, defeating unseeded Eleonore Tchakarova of Bulgaria 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-1 in the day's longest second round match, just under three hours. Inoue will face 16-year-old Mao Mushika of Japan, who defeated fellow qualifier Kendra Bunch 6-1, 7-6(2).

University of Florida signee Rachel Gailis was the only teen to beat a seed today, with the 17-year-old Californian taking out No. 6 seed Mika Dagan Fruchtman of Israel, who is 18, 6-2, 6-3. Gailis will take on qualifier Samantha Crawford, the 2012 US Open girls champion, who defeated No. 3 seed Alexa Graham(UNC) 6-3, 6-4. 

In the top half, 15-year-old pro debutante Akasha Urhobo, a qualifier, will face 16-year-old Qavia Lopez for a place in the semifinals. Urhobo defeated Mayuka Aikawa of Japan 6-1, 7-6(5), while Lopez, who used the junior reserved program for entry, defeated Florida signee Anastasia Sysoeva 6-1, 6-1. 

Eighteen-year-old Madison Sieg, who has signed with the University of Southern California for this fall, defeated qualifier Kacie Harvery(UNC) 6-4, 6-2 to set a meeting with top seed Valentina Ryser of Switzerland. Ryser defeated 15-year-old wild card Lexington Reed 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to join Crawford as the only non-teen in the quarterfinals.

Sieg and Lopez have advanced to Friday's doubles semifinals, with the unseeded pair defeating Aikawa and Sonya Macavei 6-1, 6-2. They will play another all-teen pair in No. 3 seeds Gailis and Sysoeva, who defeated wild cards Urhobo and 14-year-old Mia Yamakita 6-4, 5-7, 10-4. 

Men's singles play began today at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, with Americans Jenson Brooksby(Baylor), Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA), Jack Sock, Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) and JJ Wolf(Ohio State) earning victories.

Brooksby defeated Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain 6-1, 6-4 to reach the second round in Indian Wells for the second straight year. McDonald, who also matched his showing last fall at the BNP Paribas Open, defeated Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 7-6(11), 7-5. Wild card Sock advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina. Qualifier Eubanks has matched his performance at Indian Wells in 2021, saving three match points in the second set tiebreaker to take out Maxime Cressy(UCLA) 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-4. Although both Cressy and Marcos Giron lost today, the ATP website has a conversation with the three former UCLA Bruins that delves into their relationship during the brief time they were all in Westwood at the same time.

JJ Wolf(Ohio State), who received a wild card into the BNP last year and lost in the first round, qualified this year and defeated Hugo Gaston of France 7-5, 6-4 for his first victory at the ATP Masters level.

In women's singles play, qualifier Ashlyn Krueger, the 2021 USTA National 18s champion, lost to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2. Sloane Stephens lost to Naomi Osaka of Japan 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the marquee match of the women's first round. 

Wild card Emma Navarro, who is between dual matches at the University of Virginia, plays Amanda Anisimova later tonight in the feature match on Stadium Court.

Tennis Recruiting Network today provided a look at the details of the proposed 42 million dollar USTA Mid-Atlantic Section tennis facility in Loudoun County Virginia, which includes plans 20 outdoor and 16 indoor courts. Facilities like this under the direction or auspices of a USTA section are rare, although I recall that USTA Florida had a similar facility in Daytona Beach, which they ended up abandoning when the USTA National Campus opened. $42 million is a lot of money to raise, but I hope they are able to secure the funds and get it built by the target date of 2025.

2 comments:

Rick said...

Sidenote, the Daytona Beach facility was owned by the City of Daytona and used by the USTA Florida Section under agreement. Not abandoned, but USTA Florida ended the agreement when they moved headquarters to Orlando/Lake Nona.

SeminoleG said...

So they gonna add some ITF or Challenger events. Imagine what funds like that could do for USA tennis. Or continue to have 15ks in places with hotels that cost $250 a night?