ITA All-American Championships Feature Most of Preseason Top Ten; Svajda Advances at Charleston Challenger; Ngounoue Beats Hovde, Sieg Upsets Harrison at Austin $25K; Junior Orange Bowl Announces New Presenting Sponsor

The ITA All-American championships begin this weekend when prequalifying begins, with the men in Tulsa, as usual, and the women playing in Cary North Carolina for the first time. 

The deadline for withdrawals is tonight, but both acceptances lists now have posted the 24 participants in the women's main draw  and the 48 participants in the men's main draw.

Two of the women's Top 10 are not competing in Cary next week, with No. 1 Eryn Cayetano of Southern California out and No. 7 Connie Ma of Stanford, the 2022 NCAA finalist, withdrawing recently. That leaves Sarah Hamner of South Carolina, Daria Frayman of Princeton, Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma, Chloe Beck, Cameron Morra and Georgia Drummy of Duke, Carson Branstine of Texas A&M and Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State as the likely Top 8 seeds.

Several new women have appeared recently in the main draw: Kylie Collins of LSU, who came from the alternate list; Jessica Alsola of Cal; Solymar Colling of San Diego and Emma Jackson of Duke. Lisa Zaar of Pepperdine also withdrew recently.

The men's draw features nine of the Top 10, with only No. 2 Gabriel Diallo of Kentucky missing. The other top 10 players are Stefan Dostanic of Southern California, Cannon Kingsley and JJ Tracy of Ohio State, Inaki Montes de la Torre and Chris Rodesch of Virginia, Luc Fomba of TCU, Nikola Slavic of Mississippi, Tyler Stice of Auburn and Alex Kotzen of Columbia.

Harris Walker of Harvard and Peter Maak of Southern California have moved from the alternate list into the main draw recently. Francois Le Tallec of Old Dominion withdrew recently. 

The ITA published a preview that features introductions to the top five seeds in singles and the top three seeds in doubles for both men and women.

Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda, still just 19, reached his fourth ATP Challenger quarterfinal today, beating No. 4 seed Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina 6-3, 7-5 in Charleston South Carolina. Svajda, who is trying to get back to his ATP career-high ranking of 306 after he won a match at the US Open as the Kalamazoo wild card last September, will play another two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion in the quarterfinals: Donald Young, who won in 2005 and 2006. Young's ranking has fallen to 628 and he had to qualify for the main draw this week. He has beaten lucky losers Omni Kumar(Duke) and Govind Nanda(UCLA) to get the quarterfinals.

Georgia freshman Ethan Quinn gave top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia a stern test in today's second round, but Thompson got the only break of the third set with a perfect lob on his third break point with Quinn serving at 3-4 and finished with a love hold for a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory. Quinn, who won his first Challenger match Monday, received a wild card into the main draw of the All-Americans in Tulsa.

Several notable results from the USTA women's $25,000 Pro Circuit tournament in Austin Texas today, with wild card Clervie Ngounoue defeating doubles partner Liv Hovde 7-5, 6-3 in first round action. The 16-year-old will face Southern California freshman Madison Sieg, who took out No. 3 seed Catherine Harrison(UCLA) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) in three hours and three minutes. Seventeen-year-old qualifier Tatum Evans got her first win above the $15K level today, beating Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The 61st edition of the Junior Orange Bowl for the 12s and 14s age groups is scheduled to take place December 11-20, 2022 Miami area sites. Registration is now open and closes on October 17. The tournament has a new presenting sponsor, Laurel Springs School.

The recent release from the tournament is below:

MIAMI, Fla. — The Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships returns to Miami for its 61st year in December and will once again showcase the most talented 12-and 14-and-under tennis players in the world.

The prestigious junior tournament that boasted 66 former players in the recent US Open, including semifinalist Frances Tiafoe and finalist Casper Ruud, will have a new presenting sponsor in Laurel Springs School, an online private school in New Jersey that offers a challenging K-12 academic program renowned for its flexibility and college preparatory experience.

"Our student-first academic approach nurtures personal and academic growth, providing student-athletes ownership of their educational journey while they pursue their passions,” said Laurel Springs School President Arra G. Yerganian. “Student-athletes can greatly benefit from our flexibility and recruitment support while extensive, college-preparatory course offerings aid student-athletes in their academic development, giving them limitless learning opportunities.”

Laurel Springs encourages students to pursue their interests and talents outside of the classroom — as evidenced by Alejandro Arcila, winner of the boys' 14s in last year’s Jr. Orange Bowl.

This annual tennis tournament has featured future No. 1s including Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin, Jimmy Connors, and Andy Murray. Delray Beach favorite Coco Gauff, currently ranked in the Top 10, won the Jr. OB 12s in 2016. Pembroke Pines resident Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, also competed in this tournament, as did recently retired legend Roger Federer. Both went on to win the Orange Bowls 18s.

The tournament will be held Dec. 11-20, at various sites in the Miami area, including the Biltmore Hotel, Crandon Park Tennis Center and Salvadore Park.

Registration for the Junior Orange Bowl is open and will close at 11:59 a.m. on Oct. 17. All players, including international players, must have a USTA number to enter. For additional information, go to jrorangebowl.com