Maloney and Yamalapalli Win SoCal Pro Series Titles in LA; Main Draw at Bloomfield Hills Challenger Begins Monday; Cash and Galloway Claim Second ATP Title in Mallorca; USTA National Hard Courts Registration Underway
Sunday was quiet on the ATP and WTA tours with Wimbledon beginning Monday, leaving the only action today in Challenger qualifying and the ITF World Tennis Tour.
The SoCal Pro Series is heading for its home stretch, with the fifth of the seven consecutive tournaments concluding today in Los Angeles.
Patrick Maloney, a 2023 Michigan graduate, won his first ITF men's World Tennis Tour singles title at the Kramer Club, with the No. 8 seed defeating qualifier Colton Smith, a rising senior at Arizona, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. It was the first singles final on the Pro Circuit for both Maloney and Smith. Maloney won back-to-back doubles titles the past two weeks as well, so he has withdrawn from next week's SoCal Pro Series tournament in Lakewood.
In the women's singles final, top seed Sahaja Yamalapalli of India defeated No. 3 seed Amy Zhu(Michigan) 6-4, 7-6(4) for her fourth women's ITF World Tennis Tour singles title. The 23-year-old Sam Houston State graduate, currently 320 in the WTA rankings before these points are added, is the second highest-ranked woman in India, trailing only 31-year-old Ankita Raina. She has also withdrawn from next week's Lakewood tournament.
The Lakewood tournament is the only women's USTA Pro Circuit tournament next week, but the men's Challengers return after a three-week break for the Bloomfield Hills Challenger 75. Now in its second year, the only men's Challenger in Michigan again has attracted plenty of college players, with all three wild cards having college ties.
Eighteen-year-old Learner Tien(USC), who won three SoCal Pro Series titles this month, received a main draw wild card, as did NCAA singles finalist Michael Zheng(Columbia) and recent Georgia Tech graduate Andres Martin. Tien and Martin are on Monday's schedule, and both take on former Ohio State Buckeyes; Tien faces James Trotter of Japan, and Martin plays top seed JJ Wolf. Zheng will play a qualifier in the first round.
Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), Ozan Baris(Michigan State) and Micah Braswell(Texas), all of whom played the NCAA singles tournament last month in Stillwater, are in the main draw, with I believe Baris and Braswell getting Accelerator spots, while Basavareddy got in as an alternate. Baris will play 2023 NCAA champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia) in a first round match Monday.
I noted the Eastbourne doubles titles for former LSU stars Michael Venus and Neal Skupski Friday, but didn't note the Mallorca ATP 250 title yesterday for another pair of collegians: Julian Cash of Great Britain and American Robert Galloway.
Cash and Galloway, who won their first ATP titles in Delray Beach this past February, claimed the Surbiton Challenger, reached the Stuttgart 250 final and earned this title, all this month. The 27-year-old Cash played at Mississippi State and Oklahoma State; the 31-year-old Galloway played at Wofford. With their 6-4, 6-4 win over Diego Hidalgo(Florida) of Ecuador and Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the Mallorca final, they will both move to career-highs in the ATP rankings, with Cash at 39 and Galloway at 35.
The USTA National Clay Courts are just a week away, and once again they will conflict with my trip to Wimbledon for the Junior Championships, so I will not be able to follow them as closely as I would like. You can find links to all the USTA Clay Court tournament sites at the USTA National Junior Calendar.
Registration for the USTA Hard Court Nationals is now open; it will close early on July 11.
The Billie Jean King Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego sent out their first release on the tournament last week, which can be found here. Included is the information about the wild cards for the US Open. I assume they are the same for the boys 18s and 16s in Kalamazoo. Please note that the 16s doubles champions are not guaranteed a US Open Junior Championships wild card; there seems to be confusion about this every year.
18s Singles Champion – US Open Main Draw Singles and US Open Juniors Main Draw Singles18s Doubles Champions – US Open Main Draw Doubles and US Open Juniors Main Draw Doubles (required to play with same partner)
18s Singles Finalist – US Open Qualifying Singles and US Open Juniors Main Draw Singles
18s Singles 3rd place – US Open Juniors Main Draw Singles
18s Singles 4th place – US Open Juniors Qualifying Singles
18s Singles 5th place – US Open Juniors Qualifying Singles
16s Singles Champion – US Open Juniors Main Draw Singles
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