Blanch, Valentova Out of ITF WTT Junior Finals; Teens Michelsen and Basavareddy to Meet in Fairfield Challenger Quarterfinals; Ishii Reaches Quarterfinals at Rancho Santa Fe $60K; Korda Beats Shelton in Thriller to Reach Shanghai Masters Semifinals

The player list for next week's ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals has been updated, with Darwin Blanch of the United States and Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic no longer listed as competitors.

With Valentova out, Kaitlin Quevedo of the United States, the original alternate, moves into the eighth spot, joining Clervie Ngounoue. The alternate is now listed as TBC. Quevedo, the top seed in the Osaka J500 this week, is through to quarterfinals, with No. 10 seed Mia Slama also advancing to the quarterfinals.

Joel Schwaerzler of Austria takes the place of Blanch. Schwaerzler, the No. 2 seed in Osaka, plays No. 10 seed Tianhui Zhang of China. Zhang was announced as the Junior Finals alternate originally, but as his ranking does not qualify him under the rules, he remains the boys alternate, while Schwaerzler, the next in ranking order moves into the eighth spot. 

Top seed Alex Michelsen avenged his loss last week in Tiburon to Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the 2017 NCAA champion today at the ATP Challenger 75 in Fairfield California. Michelsen, 19, will face 18-year-old Stanford sophomore Nishesh Basavareddy, who advanced to his second consecutive Challenger quarterfinal when lucky loser Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina retired trailing 6-0, 1-0.  

Michelsen and Basavareddy last met in the April 2022 Easter Bowl ITF J300 final, with Michelsen winning that match 6-2, 6-3. Basavareddy had come into the tournament with an impressive 13-match winning streak at the ITF junior level, and looked unbeatable in his first five victories, but it was Michelsen who brought his top level in the final. My coverage of that final is here.

The other quarterfinal in the top half will feature Christian Harrison and Steve Johnson(USC). Harrison beat No. 7 seed Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) 5-7, 6-0, 6-3, while Johnson defeated Tristan Schoolkate of Australia 7-6(4), 6-3.

In the bottom half, Brandon Holt(USC) takes on Tiburon champion Zachary Svajda, the No. 4 seed, and Mitchell Krueger faces No. 8 seed Alexander Ritschard(Virginia) of Switzerland.

A couple of big upsets today at the women's $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Rancho Santa Fe California. Eighteen-year-old Sayaka Ishii of Japan, who received a special exemption into the main draw after reaching the final of the $25,000 tournament last week in Redding California, defeated top seed Julia Riera of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. Ishii, who is among the eight players scheduled to compete in the ITF WTT Junior Finals next week in China, played in the qualifying for the WTA event in Tokyo late last month, flew back to the west coast for the Redding tournament, got into the Rancho Santa Fe main draw, and is now scheduled to return to China for next week's Junior Finals, all in the space of four weeks. Ishii's opponent in the quarterfinals is No. 7 seed Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia, who defeated Haley Giavara(Cal) 6-4, 6-3.

Qualifier Snow Han, a redshirt junior at USC, won a two-hour and 45-minute battle with No. 2 seed and WTA 190 Elvina Kalieva 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) for her first victory over a player ranked inside the WTA Top 400. Han will play teammate and fellow qualifier Eryn Cayetano, who defeated No. 6 seed Stacey Fung(Washington) of Canada 6-4, 6-1. 

The quarterfinals of the women's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Florence South Carolina were pushed back until tonight due to rain, but 15-year-old wild card and Redding $25K champion Iva Jovic, who had won her opening round match yesterday, retired after losing the 70-minute first set to Whitney Osuigwe 7-6(5).

Sebastian Korda won the battle of young Americans Thursday at the ATP Shanghai Masters, beating Ben Shelton(Florida) 6-7(10), 6-2, 7-6(6) in the quarterfinals. Korda, the No. 26 seed, led 6-1 in third set tiebreaker, couldn't convert any of those five match points, but earned a spot in the semifinals on his sixth opportunity.

Korda will face No. 16 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who beat Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.