ITF J300 Indian Wells Girls Final Video; Loeb and Scott Advance to Mississippi W35 Final; Shelton, Tiafoe and Collins Reach ATP, WTA Finals; JMTA Annual College Combine Announced; Cal Women Squeeze Past No. 3 Pepperdine 4-3

I have a lot of videos from the finals of the Southern California junior swing to post, but one by one, they will go up on my YouTube Channel. The first one, today, is the ITF J300 Indian Wells girls final, featuring champion Valerie Glozman and runner-up Teodora Kostovic of Serbia. 

Five Americans, three of them NCAA singles champions, will play for three titles tomorrow in the United States, meaning two US champions are guaranteed.

Top seed Jamie Loeb(North Carolina) will play No. 4 seed Katrina Scott in the final of the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Jackson Mississippi after both came from behind to beat their younger opponents.

Loeb, who won a W50 in February in Mexico City, got a second career win over 17-year-old Akasha Urhobo, but it was much tougher than her first which came in straight sets last year, with the 2015 NCAA singles champion getting through 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 today.  Scott, still just 19 years old, defeated 17-year-old Maya Joint of Australia 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in today's semifinals.  Loeb and Scott have played just once, in 2021, with Loeb winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round of a 125 in Charleston, also on clay.

Scott has played just four tournaments this year, with her last title coming at a $25K in July of 2022.

The doubles title in Jackson went to former Baylor teammates Alicia Herrero Linana of Spain and Melany Solang Krywoj of Argentina. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Victoria Flores(Georgia Tech/Pepperdine) and Hiroko Kuwata of Japan 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.

Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe will meet Sunday in the final of the ATP 250 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships after both earned tough semifinal victories this afternoon in Houston. Shelton(Florida), the top seed, got past No. 4 seed Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4; No. 3 seed Tiafoe, the defending champion, defeated unseeded Luciano Darderi of Italy 6-2, 7-6(2). They have played once before, in the quarterfinals of the US Open last year, with Shelton, the 2022 NCAA singles champion, earning a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 victory. 

After claiming the Miami Open last Sunday, two-time NCAA singles champion Danielle Collins has continued her winning streak, reaching the final of the WTA 500 this week in Charleston South Carolina. After dropping her only set of the week in the second round to No. 2 seed and defending champion Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, the unseeded University of Virginia graduate advanced in straight sets over Sloane Stephens, Elise Mertens[11] of Belgium, and today, No. 3 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece, 6-3, 6-3. Collins will face No. 4 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia, who prevented another all-US final by beating top seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) in the other semifinal.

One of my longtime sponsors, John McEnroe Tennis Academy, holds an annual college combine each summer, and this past week they provided me with all the information on this year's edition. Click on the link to the left to learn more about this popular weekend event.

The third-ranked Pepperdine women, who dropped a 4-0 match at No. 5 Stanford on Friday, lost to No. 10 Cal 4-3 today in Berkeley.  The Waves won the doubles point, but Hannah Viller Moller beat Pepperdine’s Lisa Zaar at line 1 6-0, 6-1 to pull even, with Lan Mi making it 2-1 Cal with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Vivian Yang at line 6. Pepperdine then retook the lead with wins by Janice Tjen over Jessica Alsola at line 2, 6-1, 7-5 and Nikki Redelijk over Berta Passola Folch at line 5, 6-3, 6-1. The final two matches went to third sets and Cal won them both, with Katja Wiersholm beating Savannah Broadus 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 at line 3 and Mao Mushika clinching with a 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4 decision over Anna Campana at line 4. 

The match I'm most looking forward to Sunday, is a conference battle between No. 5 Texas and No. 11 Oklahoma in Norman. The Texas preview of the match is here.