Two Qualifiers Bring Buckeyes Columbus Challenger Main Draw Total to Five; Sieg and Bobichon Win Milwaukee Classic, Earn ITA Fall Nationals Wild Cards; Alabama State, Xavier-LA Win HBCU Championships; Three Titles for Americans at ITF J5 in Honduras

Qualifying is complete at this week's ATP Challenger 80 in Columbus Ohio, with two Ohio State Buckeyes joining three of their teammates in the main draw. Red shirt senior James Trotter of Japan lost only four games in his two qualifying matches, beating No. 2 seed Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) 6-2, 6-0 in today's final round of qualifying. 

Wild card Robert Cash, a senior who concentrated on doubles last season due to a knee injury and won the two fall majors and made the NCAA final in May, today defeated Daniil Glinka of Estonia 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, saving a match point in the second set tiebreaker.  Cash and his partner in last season's success, Matej Vocel, received a wild card into the doubles draw.

Trotter has drawn teammate Cannon Kingsley in the first round, while Cash has drawn No. 2 seed Emilio Gomez(USC) of Eucador.

JJ Tracy and Justin Boulais, who, like Kingsley, received wild cards, play each other in the first round.

Other American qualifiers are Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), Nathan Ponwith(Arizona State) and Ryan Harrison. Harrison advanced without winning a match, when he received a bye as the No. 4 seed, then had no opponent when both players in the first round match in his bracket withdrew and there were no alternates.

One of the significant Division I fall events in September is the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, which features a wild card into the ITA National Fall Championships for the singles champions. USC freshman Madison Sieg defeated teammate Naomi Cheong 7-6(3), 6-2 for the women's singles title, while Sieg and Cheong won the doubles title as well, defeating Chie Kezuka and Miska Kadleckova of Iowa State 6-1 in the final.

The men's singles title went to VCU's Matisse Bobichon, who also beat a teammate in the final. Bobichon defeated Maxence Bertimon 6-2, 6-2 for the championship and accompanying wild card. Harvard's Ronan Jachuck and Daniel Milavsky, the No. 2 seeds, defeated the top-seeded Bertimon twins, Maxence and Charles, 8-5 in the men's doubles final.

For more on the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, see this article from the ITA.

The National Championships for Historically Black Colleges and Universities were held over the weekend in Georgia, with Alabama State taking the men's title and Xavier-Louisiana claiming the women's title. Teams receive points for flighted singles and doubles competition; complete draws can be found at the HBCU tennis site. The ITA has a recap with the teams standing and the top finishers in the various flights.

Last week, I covered the ITF J2 in Montreal, which featured three titles for Americans, with Thea Rabman winning the girls singles, Maya Joint and Ariana Pursoo taking the girls doubles and Darwin Blanch and Roy Horovitz claiming the boys doubles. 

The J5 in Honduras last week also produced three titles for Americans, in the same three cataegories.

Fifteen-year-old Ameia Sorey of Florida won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title at a J5 tournament in Honduras back in April, made the final and won her first doubles titles the following week, and in her return this week, picked up another singles title. Sorey, the No. 3 seed, defeated unseeded compatriot Ishika Ashar, a 14-year-old who also made last week's J5 final in Honduras, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(8) in the final.

Madison Smith won the doubles title with Nicole Alfaro of Costa Rica. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Maria Ramos Garcia of Guatemala and Daniela Tijaro of Colombia 3-6, 6-1, 10-7 in the final. 

Twins Abhinav and Parthinav Chunduru won the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating unseeded Javier Mejia of El Salvador and Cristian Pemueller of Guatemala 6-1, 6-4 in the final. 

The ITF fall circuit in the United States begins this week in McKinney Texas, with a J5 tournament. Parthinav Chunduru is the top seed in the boys draw; Susana Souhrad was the top seed in the girls draw, but she lost today to Aspen Schuman 6-0, 6-1.