Quevedo Reaches Final of Cancun $15K; Bangoura and Boulais Meet for Champaign $15K Title Sunday; Mmoh Advances to Cary Challenger Final; ATP San Diego Qualifying Underway

Sixteen-year-old Kaitlin Quevedo played her first ITF Women's World Tennis Tour tournament in Cancun Mexico back in January and lost in the first round. This week, the Naples Florida resident is playing her second, also at a $15,000 tournament in Cancun, and she has reached the final.

As she did this winter, Quevedo used the ITF's Junior Reserve program for her main draw entry, and she defeated fellow 16-year-old Lexington Reed in the first round. Quevedo took out No. 5 seed Paris Corley(LSU) in the second round and today beat No. 2 seed Jessica Hinosojo Gomez(Baylor) 7-6(3), 6-0 to advance to the final. She will face top seed Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil Sunday for the title. 

Ohio State senior Justin Boulais of Canada is through to his first ITF Men's World Tennis Tour final, with the 20-year-old qualifier defeating Yuta Kikuchi(Cal) of Japan 6-2, 6-4 in today's semifinals at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Champaign Illinois. Boulais will face top seed Sekou Bangoura(Florida), who ended the run of 16-year-old Rei Sakamoto of Japan with a 6-2, 6-2 win in the semifinals.

Illinois junior Hunter Heck and his partner Edward Winter of Australia won the doubles title today, with the No. 3 seeds defeating unseeded Jannik Optiz of Germany and Peter Kuszynski of Canada, both Western Michigan alums, 6-1, 7-6(2). 

Michael Mmoh is through to his second ATP Challenger title of the year in Cary North Carolina, after the 24-year-old, seeded No. 7, defeated No. 2 seed Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-2 in today's first semifinal. 2016 Kalamazoo 18s champion Mmoh, who lost in the Tallahassee Challenger final this spring, last won a Challenger title in 2019. He will face the winner of tonight's semifinal between top seed Denis Kudla and No. 8 seed Dominik Koepfer(Tulane) of Germany. 

In the doubles final today, top seeds Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M) and Nate Lammons(SMU) defeated No. 4 seeds Treat Huey(Virginia) of the Philippines and JP Smith(Tennessee) of Australia 7-5, 2-6, 10-5 for the title, their second this year as a team, after winning three Challenger titles last year. Both are ranked in the ATP Top 70 in doubles.

Mmoh was entered in the qualifying for the ATP 250 in San Diego, but because he won his match yesterday in Cary, he was withdrawn. 

2022 Kalamazoo 18s champion Learner Tien was given a wild card into qualifying but he is ill and withdrew Friday. The qualifying wild cards went to Hudson Rivera, the 18-year-old Stanford recruit, and Alafia Ayeni, the former Cornell star, who is a graduate transfer at Kentucky this season. Both are from the San Diego area. 

Two-time Kalamazoo champion Zachary Svajda was given a main draw wild card Friday, joining Brandon Holt(USC) and Fernando Verdasco as wild card recipients. 

Although two more first round qualifying matches have yet to start, these are the six results that have been completed. Rivera lost to Mitchell Krueger 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois) defeated Giovanni Oradini(Mississippi State) of Italy 7-6(5), 6-2; Emilio Nava beat Gage Brymer(UCLA) 6-1, 6-1; Ernesto Escobedo defeated Bradley Klahn(Stanford) 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-2; Marek Gengel of the Czech Republic beat Sebastian Fanselow(Pepperdine) 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 and Govind Nanda(UCLA) took out top seed Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina 6-3, 6-1. It's a career-best win by ATP ranking for the 21-year-old Nanda, a Kalamazoo 18s finalist in 2019, with Ficovich at No. 126.

The USA's Davis Cup team lost to the Netherlands today 2-1, with both Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul losing their singles matches. That means a second place finish in their group, which will have them playing a top finisher from another of the four groups in the quarterfinals in November. 

Results from this week for the USA in Scotland: 

 United States 2, Great Britain 1

Tommy Paul, USA d. Daniel Evans, GBR, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Cameron Norrie, GBR d. Taylor Fritz, USA, 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-5
Rajeev Ram / Jack Sock, USA d. Andy Murray / Joe Salisbury, GBR, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5

United States 2, Kazakhstan 1

Tommy Paul, USA d. Mikhail Kukushkin, KAZ, 6-1, 6-4
Taylor Fritz, USA d. Alexander Bublik, 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3
Bublik / Aleksandr Nedovyesov, KAZ d. Rajeev Ram / Jack Sock, USA, 6-2, 7-6(6)

Netherlands 2, United States 1

Tallon Griekspoor, NED d. Tommy Paul, USA, 7-5, 7-6(3)
Botic van de Zandschulp, NED d. Taylor Fritz, USA, 6-4, 7-6(3)
Rajeev Ram / Jack Sock, USA d. Wesley Koolhof / Matwe Middelkoop, NED, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4