September Aces; Grant Advances to Redding $25K Semifinals; Familiar Faces Reach Semifinals at ITA All-American Championships

I don't know about you, but the US Open feels to me like it took place months, not weeks, ago. Three of the Aces for September in my Tennis Recruiting Network column today go back to the year's final slam in New York, while there are plenty of other highlights for current and former college players and juniors.

Tyra Grant didn't make the cut after losing to Maya Joint in the finals of the ITF J300 Pan American Closed, but she has rebounded this week at the USTA Pro Circuit women's $25,000 in Redding California. The 15-year-old qualifier, who is playing in the main draw of her third women's Pro Circuit event this week, defeated wild card Valerie Glozman 6-3, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals for her fifth straight win. Grant, who hadn't won a match in her previous three attempts on the Pro Circuit, will face fellow teen Sayaka Ishii, with the 18-year-old from Japan defeating qualifier Kylie Mckenzie 4-6, 7-5, 6-0. Ishii and Grant played in the first round of the Eddie Herr ITF J300 last November, with Ishii winning 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The semifinalists in the bottom half will be determined in night quarterfinal matches.

Three Americans are through to the semifinals at the $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit women's tournament in Rome Georgia, none of them seeded.  Mccartney Kessler(Florida) survived a three-hour battle with No. 8 seed Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-6(3) to advance to her second consecutive $60K semifinal; she'll play No. 5 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, who defeated No. 4 seed Elsa Jacquemot of France, also in three hours, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The bottom half will feature the eighth career Pro Circuit meeting between Grace Min and Jamie Loeb(UNC). Min defeated No. 3 seed Ann Li 1-6, 7-6(5), while Loeb got past Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Loeb, the 2015 NCAA singles champion, leads the head-to-head 4-3 and won their most recent meeting, in the quarterfinals of a $60K in Alabama in May, 6-2, 7-5.

At the $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Ithaca New York, Canada's Liam Draxl, one of September's Aces, has continued his impressive form, winning his 13th straight match in today's quarterfinals. The former Kentucky All-American, seeded No. 1, defeated Jake Van Emburgh(Oklahoma/Ohio State) 6-2, 6-3 and will face No. 4 seed Alex Rybakov(TCU) in the semifinals. Rybakov beat Fons Van Sembeek(NC State) of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-3.

No. 2 seed Radu Papoe, the Cornell junior from Romania, defeated qualifier Angel Diaz(Tennessee) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-1 and will play qualifier Perry Gregg(Holy Cross), who beat No. 3 seed Zeke Clark(Illinois) 6-3, 6-1.

The semifinals are set at the women's ITA All-American Championships in Cary NC and the men's ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa OK.

Three of the four women's semifinalists are seeded, with the only one not seeded, qualifier Sarah Hamner of South Carolina, the 2021 All-American champion as a freshman. Hamner, who defeated fellow qualifier Jessica Alsola of Cal 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, will play No. 2 seed Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M, who beat No. 5 seed Dasha Vidmanova of Georgia 7-6(3), 7-5.

Hamner's teammate, No. 6 seed Ayana Akli, had the most routine win of the day, beating Kari Miller of Michigan 6-2, 6-4. Akli will play No. 3 seed Alexa Noel of Miami, who lost to Hamner in the 2021 All-American final. Noel came back to defeat unseeded Carolina Gomez Alonso of Arkansas 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

North Carolina came in with a host of contenders for both the singles and doubles titles, but all are gone now after the Tar Heels, seeded 1 and 2 in the doubles, lost in today's quarterfinals. Top seeds Elizabeth Scotty and Reese Brantmeier lost to lucky losers Sophie Abrams and Anna Zyryanova of NC State 6-3, 3-6, 10-7, and 2023 NCAA champions Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig, the No. 2 seeds, were beaten by Stoiana and Mia Kupres of Texas A&M 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-6. 

Abrams and Zyryanova will face Virginia's Melodie Collard and Annabelle Xu, while Stoiana and Kupres play Oklahoma's Dana Guzman and Alina Shcherbinina. None of the semifinalists are seeded.

The men's Day Three continued into the evening after the both the singles round of 16 and quarterfinals and the doubles quarterfinals were on today's schedule.

Top seed Eliot Spizzirri of Texas survived two tough matches, beating Michael Zheng[9] of Columbia 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(3) in the round of 16 and qualifier Jay Friend of Arizona 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

He will play sophomore Ozan Baris of Michigan State, who defeated No. 4 seed Sebastian Dominiko of Notre Dame 6-3, 6-3 and No. 5 seed Inaki Montes of Virginia 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4. Against Montes, Baris had match points in the second set, then went down 3-0 in the third, but Montes couldn't hold on, no doubt feeling the effects of his 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1 win over Duke's Pedro Rodenas[9] in the round of 16 earlier. Baris, a sophomore, is the only one of the eight semifinalists who is not a junior or senior.

In the bottom half, No. 3 seed Murphy Cassone of Arizona State will face unseeded Gavin Young of Michigan after both posted two straight-sets victories. Cassone started out the day with a 6-2, 7-6(2) win over qualifier Jack Anthrop of Ohio State, then defeated Etienne Donnet of Louisville 6-3, 6-2. Young beat Peter Makk[9] of USC 6-1, 6-4 and No. 2 seed Chris Rodesch of Virginia 6-3, 6-4.

The men's draws are here; the women's draws are here. Cracked Racquets will have coverage of both tournaments' semifinals at their YouTube channel.