March Aces; Easter Bowl Champions Rise in Latest ITF Junior Rankings; Ubri and Sorey Win ITF Singles Titles at J5 in Honduras

My monthly Tennis Recruiting Aces column was posted today, with 16 top performances featured. Two teams and 14 individuals are highlighted for their March titles, with the global reach of tennis very much in evidence.

Easter Bowl ITF champion Alex Michelsen gives a heartfelt speech after receiving his gold ball from Rosie Casals

With two ITF Junior Circuit Grade 1 tournaments in the United States the past two weeks, the first set of rankings that include those results, published today, are always eagerly awaited. With the deadline for the French Open Junior Championships two weeks from tomorrow, and the Grade A in Milan a week later (although Milan is two weeks before the French), the opportunity for juniors to improve their rankings for those events without leaving the United States is now over.

Last year, Roland Garros did not have junior qualifying, so the initial cutoffs were in the 60s and Milan was played in July, so this is the first spring since 2019 with the normal draw sizes and calendar placement.  Wimbledon did have its usual junior qualifying and the initial cutoffs there were 51 for boys and 53 for girls. The rule of thumb is that Top 50 will get you into the junior slams, and if that is the case again this year, five US girls would receive entry: Liv Hovde[8], Robin Montgomery[10], Clervie Ngounoue[14], Qavia Lopez[21] and Easter Bowl champion Alexis Blokhina[27].  Montgomery is not expected to play the junior slams this year and Easter Bowl finalist Reese Brantmeier is now 52 in the rankings. 

There are 10 US boys in the Top 50 now: Bruno Kuzuhara[1], Victor Lilov[8], Easter Bowl finalist Nishesh Basavareddy[16], Cooper Williams[25], Nicholas Godsick[26], Michael Zheng[27], Easter Bowl champion Alex Michelsen[36], Ozan Colak[37], Ethan Quinn[48] and San Diego champion Learner Tien[49].

Most of the top US juniors were in Indian Wells last week for the Easter Bowl, but three collected titles on the ITF Junior Circuit last week. 

At the J5 in Tegucigalpa Honduras, 15-year-old Yubel Ubri and 14-year-old Ameia Sorey won their first ITF Junior Circuit titles. Ubri took the boys singles title after qualifying, winning his eighth match of the week in the final with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over top seed Cesar Cruz of El Salvador.  The unseeded Sorey, who beat the No. 8, No. 4 and No. 2 seeds to reach the final, defeated unseeded Athina Schlepphorst of Great Britain 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 for the title.

No. 2 seeds Tyler Nguyen and his partner Sebastian Medica Sandova of Mexico won the boys doubles title, defeating top seeds Cruz and Marcos Castellanos of Guatemala 4-6, 6-3, 13-11 in the final.

The other American to claim a junior title last week Aarav Samrat Hada, who won the boys doubles title at the J5 in India. Hada and his partner Rethin Kumar of India, the No. 2 seeds, defeated unseeded Skandha Prasanna Rao and Prajwal Tewari of India 6-2, 6-4 in the final.