Calvelo Sweeps ITF J60 Titles in Mexico; Update on Tulane Men's Head Coach Booras's Heart Transplant; Kentucky's Draxl Turns Pro; Blanch Brothers Could Meet in Second Round of Poland Challenger

The ITF Junior Circuit was unusually quiet last week, with just one tournament above the J60 level, a J300 in Germany, with the boys title there going to a 17-year-old Romanian qualifier and the girls title to a 15-year-old German wild card. 

There were only four titles for Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit last week, with Xavier Calvelo taking both the singles and doubles championships at the J60 in Mexico City last week. Calvelo, a 17-year-old from Las Vegas, swept the titles at a J30 in Mexico at the end of April, so these are his third and fourth titles on the ITF Junior Circuit. Seeded No. 2 in singles, Calvelo defeated top seed Andres Degadillo of Mexico 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the final. He and 15-year-old Andre Alcantara, seeded No. 2, won the doubles title, their second on the ITF Junior Circuit, with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 4 seeds Enzo Tafarelo Vargas of Brazil and Lucas Martin Velasco of Colombia. Calvelo and Alcantara won the Easter Bowl 16s doubles title this spring.

The other singles title for an American last week came at the J30 in Congo. Juan Carlos Portillo Morales, who had won his first ITF Junior Circuit title in doubles at last week's J30 in Congo, earned his first singles title this week. The 17-year-old, seeded No. 2, defeated No. 4 seed Mirija Andriantefihasina of Madagascar 6-4, 6-2 in the final. 

The fourth title came in boys doubles at the J30 in the Czech Republic. Sebastian Bielen, 14, and Sebastian Mazur, 15, earned the title when the unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Jan Rosicky and Stepan Sklenicka of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6(6). It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for Bielen; Mazur has two doubles titles, both in J30s. Bielen also reached the semifinals in singles.

Mark Booras, the men's head coach at Tulane since 2008, experience sudden heart failure in April and was immediately admitted to the ICU of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio to await an emergency heart transplant. He received the transplant on May 30, with Tennis.com providing an update on his condition in this article published today.

The 2021 ITA Player of the Year, University of Kentucky's Liam Draxl, announced today that he would not be returning to the Wildcats for a fifth year. The 21-year-old from Canada, who finished this year ranked No. 11, called his four years in Lexington as "the best four years of my life, and coming to Kentucky was the best decision I've ever made." Draxl, who reached the quarterfinals of last week's ATP Challenger 75 in Puerto Rico, has qualified for the ATP Accelerator Program, so he will receive opportunities to continue to compete in Challengers through that initiative beginning next month.

There is no Challenger action in North America this week, but there are five elsewhere, four in Europe and one in Colombia, just the one in Great Britain not on clay. Americans Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), Christian Langmo(Miami), Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) and Alex Rybakov(TCU) are in the main draw in the 75 in Cali and Alex Michelsen qualified for the 75 in France. Denis Kudla is the sole American remaining at the 125 on grass in Great Britain. At the 100 in Poland, former ITF World Junior No. 4 Dali Blanch got the biggest win of his career, with the 20-year-old wild card defeating top seed and ATP No. 93 Alexander Shevchenko of Russia 6-3, 6-2.  Prior to today, Blanch's best win had been over a player ranked 385.

Blanch, the older brother of Roland Garros boys semifinalist Darwin, and the younger brother of Ulises, could face the later in the second round. Ulises, 25, qualified for the main draw today, and if he beats unseeded Vitaliy Sachko of Ukraine Tuesday, the brothers would play each other in the second round.