Johnston Reaches Semifinals at ITF J300 Inka Bowl; ITF J300 Pan Am Closed Returns to Houston This Fall; ITA D-I Men's Team Indoor Begins Friday Morning; Peacock Series on Tennis Family Begins Next Month

The ITF J300 Inka Bowl in Lima Peru is at the semifinal stage in singles and the final stage in doubles, with two 16-year-old American boys still competing for the titles. No. 8 seed Noah Johnston won his first match at a J300 last month in Barranquilla Colombia (he had won a match at the J500 Orange Bowl in December), so this is the first deep run for the left-hander from South Carolina at that level. He defeated unseeded Calin Stirbu of Romania in today's quarterfinals 6-3, 6-1.

Johnston will face No. 6 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden in Friday's semifinal; Vinciguerra took out top seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.  Johnston, who has already won two J300 doubles titles this year in Costa Rica and Colombia, did not play doubles this week, but Maximus Dussault is through to the final, with partner Joaquin Guilleme of Nicaragua. The No. 4 seeds will face top seeds Vinciguerra and Derepasko for the title Friday. 

No. 7 seed Maya Dutta reached the quarterfinals, but lost 6-2, 6-0 today to top seed Mayu Crossley of Japan. 

Four all-USA finals are set for Friday at the ITF J30 in Medford New Jersey, with top seed Mark Krupkin taking on No. 5 seed Sebastian Bielen for the boys singles title and unseeded Rachel Smith facing No. 6 seed Isabelle DeLuccia for the girls singles title. Smith and DeLuccia will play in the doubles final after singles, with the No. 3 seeds taking on the unseeded team of Anabelle Janczyk and Lauren Zhang.

Krupkin will play for the boys doubles title with partner Nicolas Iantosca. The top seeds will face the unseeded team of Gavin Goode and Mason Taube in the final.

The latest version of the 2024 USTA National Junior Tennis Calendar confirms what I had heard in December: the ITF J300 Pan American Closed will return to the Giammalva Racquet Club in Houston this fall. The tournament was held there for the first time last year, and although it was a late substitute for the Leftwich Tennis Center in Memphis, which had initially been announced as the site but was not completed in time, reviews were positive. Tournament director Victor Pinones was eager to bid for 2024, and with the event back to its usual place on the calendar in October, the heat may not be quite as bad as it was last September. The tournament does not yet appear on the ITF Junior Circuit calendar, but the dates and venue are listed here.

The men's ITA Division I Men's Team Indoor Championships begin Friday in New York, with eight matches on the schedule at two sites. Cracked Racquets will be providing coverage via their YouTube Channel. Links to live scoring and live streams can be found here.

Friday's schedule:
9:00 a.m.
Virginia[4] v Duke[13] at Milstein
TCU[2] v Arizona State[15] at BJKNTC

Noon
Tennessee[5] v Southern Cal[12] at Milstein
South Carolina[7] v Texas A&M[10] at BJKNTC

3:30 pm
Ohio State[1] v Alabama[16] at Milstein
Texas[3] v Arizona[14] at BJKNTC

6:30 pm
Columbia[8] v Harvard[9] at Milstein
Wake Forest[6] v Michigan[11] at BJKNTC

I'm not aware of many television series based around sporting families, but there is one coming next month on Peacock that focuses on a tennis family, with Sam Neill and Annette Bening starring as former coaches and academy owners with four adult children who also played. This article features comments from the actors on training for the tennis scenes, and closes with this quote:

Tennis, which showrunner Melanie Marnich described as a "dynamic, sexy, wonderful sport," is key to understanding the Delaneys' family dynamic — and how it may have fueled resentment between them. "When you're in a family of deeply competitive people, raised by deeply competitive people, it's in the blood, it's in the DNA," Marnich told the TCA. At what point are the Delaneys competing for the love of the game, and at what point are they competing for the love of their parents?