My Conversation with New USTA National Coach Tom Gutteridge; Three US Teens and Boitan Advance to Naples $15K Semifinals; Michelsen and Svajda Reach Rome Georgia Challenger Semis; Chung, Krupkin Sweep J30 Eau Claire Titles; Men's Division III Team Indoor Underway

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Tom Gutteridge, who joined the USTA as a National Coach last fall, for this article at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Gutteridge explained why he got into coaching at such a young age, why he prefers coaching juniors to coaching pros, the two sides to every player, and the goal of  traveling to international tournaments with young players. For a current list of USTA National Coaches, click here.

Three American teenagers have advanced to Saturday's semifinals at the $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, while former Baylor star Adrian Boitan of Romania extended his winning streak this month to 13 matches.

Eighteen-year-old Bruno Kuzuhara, seeded No. 7, defeated wild card Ozan Colak(Michigan State) 6-4, 6-4 to reach the fifth $15K semifinal of his pro career. The 2022 Australian Open boys champion will face Boitan, an unseeded 23-year-old from Romania, who defeated Kuzuhara in the quarterfinals of the $15K two weeks ago in Palm Coast Florida. Boitan, who beat 16-year-old Rei Sakamoto of Japan 6-3, 6-2 today, won that title and also last week's title at the $15K in Weston.

The other semifinal will feature 19-year-old Victor Lilov, through to his fourth $15K semifinal, and 18-year-Kyle Kang, who will be playing in his second $15K semifinal. Lilov beat qualifier Lucas Renard of Sweden 6-4, 6-0, while Kang avenged his second round loss last week in Weston to Federico Agustin Gomez of Argentina 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). Kang and Lilov haven't played on either the ITF Junior Circuit or the ITF men's World Tennis Tour.

Two young Southern Californians have advanced to the semifinals of the ATP 75 Challenger in Rome Georgia: wild card Alex Michelsen and unseeded Zachary Svajda.  The 18-year-old Michelsen defeated unseeded Edan Leshem of Israel 7-5, 6-3, while the 20-year-old Svajda beat unseeded Elmar Ejupovic of Germany 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.  In his first Challenger semfinal, Michelsen will face No. 8 seed Seong-chan Hong of Korea, who defeated qualifier Toby Kodat 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 today. Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Svajda will take on top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia, who beat unseeded Alastair Gray(TCU) of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2.

The ITF J30 in Eau Claire Wisconsin wrapped up today, with 15-year-old Kayla Chung of Pennsylvania and 16-year-old Mark Krupkin of New Jersey taking both the singles and doubles championships.

Chung, the No. 3 seed, defeated qualifier Karlin Schock 6-2, 6-2 for her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. Chung and Kenna Erickson, seeded No. 2, won the doubles title, beating the unseeded team of Maia Loureiro and Kaede Usui 6-4, 6-3 in an all-US final. Chung has now won five ITF Junior doubles titles, including last week's at the J30 in New Jersey.

The unseeded Krupkin defeated unseeded Jack Kennedy 7-5, 6-2 for his first title on the ITF Junior Circuit. It didn't take long before he got his second, partnering with Cole Henceroth for the doubles title after his singles victory today. Krupkin and Henceroth, seeded No. 3, defeated unseeded Matthew Cizmarik of Canada and Raul De La Vega of Brazil 6-0, 6-4 in the final. It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for Henceroth.

The ITA Division III Men's Team Indoor Championships began today at Gustavus-Adolphus in Minnesota. No. 2 seed and defending champion Case Western, No. 3 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and No. 4 seed Washington-St. Louis all won their quarterfinal matches today. Top seed University of Chicago is playing host Gustavus-Adolphus tonight.

The ITA Division II Women's Team Indoor Championships also began today, in Nebraska, with Barry the No. 1 seed. No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma lost to No. 7 seed North Georgia 4-0 earlier today.

In one of this weekend's high profile women's Division I matches, No. 1 North Carolina dropped the doubles point to No. 20 Virginia in Charlottesville, but came back to record a 4-1 victory, getting straight-sets wins from Elizabeth Scotty at line 4, Anika Yarlagadda at line 5 and Fiona Crawley at line 1. The clinch however, was in a three-set match, with Carson Tanguilig coming back after dropping the first set to Elaine Chervinsky at line 3 to post a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory. Abby Forbes did not play for the Tar Heels

For a list of the rest of this weekend's big matches, go to collegetennisranks.com.