December Aces; Three Current Collegians Advance to Arcadia W35 Semifinals; Australian Open Wild Cards Announced

My monthly Aces column at the Tennis Recruiting Network is out today, and, as is customary for December, the Eddie Herr, Orange Bowl and Junior Orange Bowl champions make up the bulk of the entries. If you took a break from tennis news in December, this is a crash course on the major junior results that closed out 2023, filled with history-making performances.

The only Pro Circuit tournament in the United States this week is in Arcadia California, and after today's quarterfinals, all four semifinalists at the W35 event are either current or former collegians.

2023 NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian of China, a sophomore at UCLA, defeated top seed Hanna Chang 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in three hours and 10 minutes to reach the semifinals. The eighth-seeded Tian, 20, will face former Pepperdine All-American and 2018 NCAA singles finalist Ashley Lahey, the No. 5 seed, who advanced when No. 4 seed Sophie Chang retired down 6-4.

North Carolina senior Fiona Crawley, the No. 6 seed, defeated No. 2 seed Liv Hovde 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals and will play 19-year-old UCF freshman Olivia Lincer of Poland, who beat No. 3 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Lincer will be playing in her first semifinal above the $15K level against Crawley, who won a title in her last appearance on the USTA Pro Circuit, at a $25K in South Carolina last October.

Tennis Australia has announced the wildcards for the main draw, which begins on Sunday January 14th, and the qualifying tournament, which begins in two days.

Several of the main draw wild cards were announced last month, but this is the complete list, including the names of the reciprocal wild cards from the United States and France. Although it was never formally confirmed by the USTA, Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) and McCartney Kessler(Florida) earned the reciprocal wild cards when the players ahead of them in the fall's points race received direct entry.

Australian Open Main Draw Wild Cards (Australian unless indicated otherwise):

MEN:

Jason Kubler

James Duckworth

Arthur Cazaux(FRA)

Marc Polmans

Adam Walton

Jerry Shang(CHN)

Patrick Kypson(USA)

James McCabe

WOMEN:

Alize Cornet(FRA)

Kimberly Birrell

Mai Hontama(JPN)

Olivia Gadecki

Taylah Preston

Daria Saville

McCartney Kessler(USA)

Caroline Wozniacki(DEN)

The 18-year-old Shang defeated Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4 Friday in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Hong Kong to reach an ATP semifinal for the first time in his career.  He qualified for the Australian Open main draw last year and won a round before losing to Tiafoe.

The release on the main draw wild cards can be found here.

The qualifying wild cards feature a host of junior players, including Maya Joint, who reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 125 this week in Canberra with wins over Sara Errani and Ella Seidel. Joint, who won the ITF J300 Pan American Closed in September, is also entered in the Australian Open Junior Championships.

Emerson Jones, who won the ITF J300 in College Park last August, and her brother Hayden also received qualifying wild cards, as did 2023 Australian Open boys champion Alexander Blockx of Belgium. Last year's girls champion, Alina Korneeva of Russia, did not need a qualifying wild card, as she is already inside the WTA Top 200.

Australian Open Qualifying Wild Cards:

WOMEN:

Talia Gibson

Seone Mendez

Maddison Inglis

Petra Hule

Kaylah McPhee

Melisa Ercan

Ivana Popovic

Maya Joint

Emerson Jones

MEN:

Dane Sweeny

Tristan Schoolkate

Philip Sekulic

Omar Jasika

Alexander Blockx(BEL)

Jeremy Jin

Edward Winter

Pavle Marinkov

Hayden Jones

The release on the qualifying wild cards can be found here.