San Diego ITF J1 Videos; Kang and Kuzuhara Advance to Quarterfinals at Sunrise $15K; USA vs Ukraine in Billie Jean King Cup Qualifying Friday

There are lots of Easter Bowl videos still to be processed, but I did get the videos of the ITF J1 San Diego finals posted to the Tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel. There are three because I had to do separate videos for the girls final; there is no way to get above and behind that court at the Barnes Tennis Center. The boys final, played at the same time, was on the Stadium Court, and that court does allow the vantage point to show both players at the same time.

Both of the boys featured above, Kyle Kang and Learner Tien, received wild cards into this week's $15,000 USTA Men's Pro Circuit tournament in Sunrise Florida. Tien lost in three sets in the first round yesterday; the 17-year-old Kang has advanced to his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal after defeating No. 4 seed Strong Kirchheimer (Northwestern) 6-3, 6-1 today.  Bruno Kuzuhara, who turned 18 this month, has reached his third Pro Circuit quarterfinal after defeating top seed Matias Descotte of Argentina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kuzuhara will play unseeded Sekou Bangoura (Florida) Friday for a spot in his first Pro Circuit semifinal. Kang's quarterfinal opponent is unseeded Nathan Ponwith (Georgia/Arizona State).  The fifth American advancing to the quarterfinals is No. 2 seed Evan Zhu (UCLA).

At the $100,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Palm Harbor Florida, wild cards Taylor Townsend and Sophie Chang advanced to the quarterfinals, as did No. 8 seed Katie Volynets and unseeded Grace Min.  The fifth American in the quarterfinals is lucky loser Louisa Chirico, who came from 3-0 (two breaks) down in the third set to beat wild card Peyton Stearns(Texas) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The United States will play Ukraine in Billie Jean King Cup qualifying Friday and Saturday in Asheville North Carolina. The winner of the best-of-five-matches contest will advance to the World Finals later this year. Coverage will air on Tennis Channel.

The schedule:

Friday, April 15 (beginning at 1 p.m. ET); Tennis Channel

Alison Riske (USA) vs. Dayana Yastremska (UKR)

Jessica Pegula (USA) vs. Katarina Zavatska (UKR)

 

Saturday, April 16 (beginning at 1 p.m. ET); Tennis Channel

Jessica Pegula (USA) vs. Dayana Yastremska (UKR)

*Alison Riske (USA) vs. Katarina Zavatska (UKR)

*Desirae Krawczyk/Shelby Rogers (USA) vs. Lyudmyla Kichenok/Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)

 

*if necessary

Ukraine does not have its top three players in Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk and Anhelina Kalinina. The top American, Danielle Collins, was scheduled to compete this weekend but withdrew and Asia Muhammad was named in her place. Missing from the US team are Coco Gauff, Madison Keys and Amanda Anisimova.