First ITF Junior Circuit Titles for Mekhael, Ikwueme and Ahmad; USTA Roland Garros WC Challenge Standings; Searle Beats Top Seed Wolf, Kuzuhara and Lilov Qualify at Tallahassee Challenger; Easter Bowl 16s Finals Videos

In addition to the three titles won by Americans at the J200 in Canada last week, which I covered on Friday and Saturday, six more titles were claimed by US players in J30s and J60s last week on the ITF Junior Circuit.  The three singles titles earned were the first ITF Junior Circuit titles for 13-year-old Izyan Ahmad, 15-year-old Ariana Ikwueme and 16-year-old Nicholas Mekhael.

Ahmad, who was a B14s finalist last month at the USTA Easter Bowl, was making his ITF Junior Circuit debut last week at the J30 in Mexico City. I'm not sure how he made the main draw without a wild card, but unseeded, Ahmad won six matches, five in straight sets, to claim the title. In the championship match, he beat unseeded Nicolas Rivera Paz of Mexico 7-6(1), 6-2.

At the J30 in Trinidad and Tobago, Ikwueme also won her first title without the benefit of a seed, although it was the ninth ITF Junior Circuit tournament she's played. The five-star freshman from Virginia defeated No. 7 seed Ciara Harding 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the all-US final. Harding did capture the girls doubles, with partner Tajaswini Narala. The unseeded American pair defeated No. 2 seeds Daisy Clifford of Great Britain and Jordane Dookie of Trinidad and Tobago 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the final. Colter Amey took out the top seed in the boys draw and reached the final. 

At the J60 in the Dominican Republic, Americans won three titles, including Mekhael's in boys singles. After defeating the top seed in the second round, Mekhael cruised into the final without dropping a set, while receiving two retirements. In the all-US championship match, the five-star junior from New Jersey defeated No. 12 seed Matthew Shaprio 6-2, 6-2.

Thirteen-year-old Lani Chang, daughter of Michael Chang and Amber Liu, made her ITF Junior Circuit debut and reached the final. There was no qualifying for the girls, so she was directly into the main draw, where she beat four seeds, including a victory over the top seed in the semifinals, before falling to No. 8 seed Yihan Qu of China 6-1, 6-0. 

Jordan Papadopoulos and his partner Xingyu Chan won the doubles title in the Dominican Republic, with the eighth-seeded pair beating No. 2 seeds Giancarlo Rosario and Jossting Cruz of the Dominican Republic 7-5, 6-3 in the final. The unseeded team of Regina Alcobe Garibay and Briley Rhoden won the girls doubles title, beating top seeds Ika Raju Kanumuri of Indian and Yasmin Vavrova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 in the final. 

Last week's W35 in Boca Raton had an impact on the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge standings, although Katie Volynets retains her lead from the week before. But two good weeks from Katrina Scott and Akasha Urhobo put them in the Top 5; Liv Hovde also moved into the top 4 with her title last week.

There was little change in the men's rankings, with Nicolas Moreno de Alboran(UC-Santa Barbara) continuing to lead, although Tennys Sandgren did move into the top 5 with his semifinal run at the Sarasota Challenger last week. There are two more weeks for the men (including this week) and three more weeks for the women to earn ATP/WTA points, with the best three results counting in the race.

Men's Standings after Week 2 (current rankings in parentheses):

1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (140) -- 63
2. Michael Mmoh (111) -- 50
T3. JJ Wolf (102) -- 25
T3. Aleks Kovacevic (97) -- 25
5. Tennys Sandgren (264) -- 22

Women's Standings after Week 2:

1. Katie Volynets (104) -- 57
2. Katrina Scott (412) -- 49
3. Akasha Urhobo (641) -- 37
4. Liv Hovde (272) -- 35
T5. Amanda Anisimova (238) -- 32
T5. Shelby Rogers (350) -- 32

The qualifying is complete and first round action has begun at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Florida, with a big upset to start the tournament this evening.  2023 Wimbledon boys champion Henry Searle of Great Britain, currently 764 in the ATP rankings, took on top seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) tonight and came away with the 7-5, 7-6(6) victory in a tense, well-played first round match.

Wolf, currently 102 in the ATP rankings, has lost in the first round as the top seed in the USTA Pro Circuit Challengers two weeks in a row now and is in danger of not making the main draw of Roland Garros this year.  Searle was granted a place in the main draw by virtue of the ATP/ITF Accelerator Program; ITF World No. 1 junior Joel Schwaerzler of Austria, utilizing his second straight Accelerator spot in a Challenger main draw, also got a victory today, his first, by beating Giovanni Fonio of Italy 6-2, 6-4. The two 18-year-olds will play each other in the second round Wednesday.

Young Americans Bruno Kuzuhara and Victor Lilov advanced to the main draw with final round qualifying wins over Alex Rybakov(TCU) and Ajeet Rai of New Zealand, respectively. 

Three top American juniors received wild cards into qualifying Alexander Razeghi, Roy Horovitz and Ian Mayew. Alexander Frusina and Australian Open boys champion Rei Sakamoto of Japan were also in qualifying via the Accelerator program. But only Mayew managed to win his first round match Sunday, beating former Baylor All-American Adrian Boitan of Romania 6-4, 6-4.  Mayew lost to No. 3 seed Corentin Denolly of France 7-6(4), 6-3 after leading 4-1 in the first set tiebreaker in today's final round of qualifying.

Wild cards were awarded to Stefan Kozlov, who beat 2022 Orange Bowl champion Gerard Campana Lee of Korea 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the first round today; Kaylan Bigun, who won a round last week in Sarasota as a qualifier; and Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal. I'm surprised no current Florida State players or alums are among the wild cards. No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) lost to Calvin Hemery of France 7-6(2), 6-3 in first round action today. 

Videos of the Easter Bowl 16s finals are below. The boys 16s is considerable longer than the girls because the boys final was played a day early and was therefore the only final going at the time, while the girls final was played while the 18s final were also in progress.  My photo gallery from the Easter Bowl is up at the Tennis Recruiting Network and can be found here.