Hovde and Basavareddy Reach ITF Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio Finals, Basavareddy and Kim Win Doubles Title; Mesarovic Claims Second Straight ITF J3 Title, While Turley Sweeps J5 Titles Again; Kalieva Advances to Pelham $60K Final

With the NCAA Division I semifinals again expected to continue well into the night in Champaign, I'm again going to do a separate post about college tennis later tonight.

But there's much to report on the ITF Junior Circuit today, and on the USTA Pro Circuit, so let's look at those results now.

For the first time that I can remember (and I can't find full draws before 2008), two Americans have advanced to the singles finals of the ITF Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy. Actually I do remember the 2010 girls final between Beatrice Capra and Lauren Davis, but this is a finalist in both the girls and boys singles championship matches.

No. 5 seed Liv Hovde defeated No. 4 seed Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to her first Grade A final. She will face No. 7 seed Celine Naef of Switzerland, who defeated No. 3 seed Ksenia Zaytseva of Russia 7-5, 6-2. Nael hasn't lost a set this week, while Hovde has needed to come back from a set down in her last two matches. Tommy Hemp has more on Hovde's win today at TennisUnderWorld.

No. 10 seed Nishesh Basavareddy defeated No. 8 seed Martin Landaluce of Spain, also coming from a set down for the second straight day, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Basavareddy will play top seed Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, the reigning Orange Bowl champion, who beat unseeded Learner Tien 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Basavareddy and Aidan Kim, who were unseeded this week, won the boys doubles title, defeating the unseeded team of Mika Brunold of Switzerland and Liam Gavrielides of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in today's final. They didn't drop a set in any of their five victories this week.

The girls doubles title went to No. 2 seeds Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia and Sofia Costoulas of Belgium. They defeated the fifth-seeded Slovakian team of Irina Balus and Nikola Daubnerova 6-4, 7-5 in today's final.

In other ITF Junior Circuit action this week, Marko Mesarovic won his second consecutive Grade 3 title in the Dominican Republic, again as the top seed. The 17-year-old from Texas, who has verbally committed to Clemson, defeated No. 2 seed Hoyoung Roh of Korea 6-1, 6-3 in today's final. Mesarovic also defeated Roh in last week's final. 

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Lincer, who recently changed from representing the United States to representing Poland, matched Mesarovic's feat almost exactly. Seeded No. 1, Lincer defeated No. 2 seed Monika Stankiewicz of Poland 6-3, 6-4 in today's final, having also beaten Stankiewicz to win the previous week's tournament. Lincer has verbally committed to Central Florida.

Mesarovic also won the doubles title, with Russian Daniil Sarksian. The top seeds defeated the unseeded team of Rafael Botran Neutze of Guatemala and Mason Dace of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

Vessa Turley also went back-to-back in the past two weeks at Grade 5s in the US Virgin Islands. The 15-year-old from Arizona, seeded No. 2, defeated Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev 6-1, 6-2 in the all-American girls singles final. Turley also won the doubles title for the second straight week, with the same partner, Kayla Brianne Moore. The top seeds defeated the unseeded team of Cisse-Ignatiev and Olivia Bustos, also of the United States, 6-4, 7-5 in the final. 

Playing in his first ITF Junior Circuit tournament, Alexander Sterin won the boys singles title, with the 17-year-old from Pennsylvania claiming it when qualifier Penghan Zhang of China retired trailing 6-4, 3-3. 

Sixteen-year-old Luca Benaibbouche won his second straight boys doubles title in the Virgin Islands, this time with Nicholas Steden of Mexico. The No. 3 seeds received a walkover from Zhang and his partner, Antonio Jose Chavez of Honduras in the final.

At the Grade 4 in Nicaragua, No. 2 seed Maria Araoz-Gosn won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles titles, with the 16-year-old defeating top seed Deborah Dominguez Collado of Guatemala 6-3, 6-0 in the final. 

Dominguez Collado and her American partner Aida Oviedo won the doubles title, with the top seeds beating No. 3 seeds Ika Raju Kanumuri of India and Jemima Williams-Phillips of Australia 6-2,  6-1 in the final.  

And finally, Violeta Martinez won the girls doubles title at the Grade 3 in Portugal. Martinez, a University of Illinois recruit, and her partner Ariana Geerlings of Spain, seeded No. 8, defeated No. 5 seeds Manal Ennaciri of Morocco and Nela Jandova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-1, 10-5 in the final.

On the USTA Pro Circuit, 18-year-old Elvina Kalieva has reached her second final at the $60,000 level, with the No. 2 seed defeating unseeded Erica Oosterhout(Harvard) 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2 today in the semifinals of the tournament in Pelham Alabama. She will face top seed Maria Carle(Georgia) of Argentina, who beat No. 8 seed Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

Auburn teammates Ariana Arsenault of Canada and Carolyn Ansari won the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 3 seeds Reese Brantmeier and Kalieva 7-5, 6-1 in today's final.

At the $25,000 tournament in Naples Florida, No. 3 seed Kayla Day and top seed Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico will play for the title Sunday. Day defeated last week's Sarasota $25K champion Ellie Halbauer, the No. 8 seed, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in today's semifinals. Sanchez beat 18-year-old Hina Inoue 6-2, 6-2. 

Top seeds Anna Rogers(NC State) and Christina Rosca(Vanderbilt) won the doubles title, defeating No. 2 seeds Sanchez and her partner Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) 6-1, 6-4 in the final. The pair, who did not drop a set this week, have won three $25K titles already this year, to go with the three titles they collected in 2021.