Thorat Wins J100 in Mexico; Ashar, Mata, Oak, Plunkett Earn ITF Junior Circuit Titles; Kratzer Among Winners on UTR Pro Tennis Tour

The only J300 tournament last week on the ITF Junior Circuit was on clay, in Bamberg Germany, with juniors not able to play on grass anywhere nearly as much as the pros in the weeks leading up to the Wimbledon Junior Championships. Generally it's just the Roehampton J300 the first week of Wimbledon that affords juniors any experience on the surface, although there are a variety of exhibition and junior team events often organized for the week before Roehampton.

In Bamberg, Mayu Crossley of Japan took the title, with the No. 1 seed going through qualifying in order to participate in the tournament; the UCLA recruit, who has won six of her seven ITF junior titles on clay, including two J500s, defeated 14-year-old Victoria Barros of Brazil, the No. 8 seed, 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Crossley, who did not drop a set all week, had lost in the first round of the Roland Garros Junior Championships this year, where she wasn't seeded, but now has her junior ranking back up to 22.

The boys title in Bamberg went to Germany's Diego Dedura-Palomero, the No. 3 seed, who defeated No. 4 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland 6-1, 6-2 in the final. It is the seventh ITF Junior Circuit singles title for the 16-year-old, but his first at the J300 level, and he is up to a career-high of 37 in the latest ITF junior rankings.

American juniors collected five ITF Junior Circuit singles titles last week, with University of Florida recruit Abhishek Thorat taking top honors with the singles championship at the J100 in Veracruz Mexico. Thorat, a 17-year-old rising senior, defeated 16-year-old Gavin Goode 6-4, 6-2 in a final between unseeded Americans. It's the third ITF Junior Circuit singles title for Thorat, who did not drop a set in his six victories.

 

Goode and partner Ryan Cozad won the boys doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds Ty Host of Australia and Harry Pugh of New Zealand 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Goode and Cozad dropped just one set, to the No. 2 seeds, in their five victories.

Unseeded Maria Aytoyan reached the girls singles final, losing to top seed Emma Dong of Canada 6-2, 7-6(5).

At the J60 in Guatemala, 16-year-old Floridian Ishika Ashar, the No. 5 seed, collected her second ITF Junior Circuit singles title, both coming this year. Ashar defeated unseeded Ireland O'Brien 6-4, 6-1, taking the title without dropping a set.  

Isabelle DeLuccia and Hadley Appling, the No. 4 seeds, won the all-US girls doubles final, beating the unseeded team of O'Brien and Sophia Budacsek 6-3, 6-0. Top seeds Zavier Augustin and Omar Rhazali won the boys doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Lev Seidman and France's Sasha Colleu 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

Thirteen-year-old Te'anna Mata won her second straight J30 girls singles title in Congo, again taking out Anna Hsu of Taiwan in the final. Two weeks ago, Hsu was the No. 2 seed; last week she was No. 1, with the unseeded Mata posting another straight-sets victory, this one by a 6-2, 6-3 score. Mata also reached the girls doubles final last week.

At the J30 in Ottawa Canada, 16-year-old Connor Plunkett of New York swept the titles, winning his first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit and his second doubles title. Plunkett defeated the top seed in the first round and didn't lose a set after that, getting the title when unseeded Arjun Prabhakar of the US retired trailing 3-1 in the first set.  Plunkett and Victor Maya of Canada took the doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 3 seeds Caden Colburne and Andy Kepche of Canada 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 in the final.

Sixteen-year-old Sobee Oak claimed her first ITF Junior Circuit title in Ottawa, with the unseeded New Yorker defeating unseeded Kaya Moe 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4 in another all-US singles final. Moe did win the doubles title, with partner Olivia Cutone; the No. 4 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Oak and Canada's Neda Rahimkhani 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

And somehow I missed the girls singles title two weeks ago at the J60 in South Africa for Koronayashe Rugara. The 16-year-old Rugara, seeded No. 6, defeated top seed Danielle Dai Chapman of South Africa 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 in the final for her first ITF Junior Circuit title. 

The latest results for the UTR Pro Tennis Tour tournaments in the United States are below. There have been less than two tournaments per month in the April, May and June, but the pace does pick up in the next six months, with 14 men's and 11 women's tournaments already scheduled for July-December. 

2017 USTA National 18s champion Ashley Kratzer has returned to competitive tennis after a four-year ban for testing positive for a banned substance in March of 2020. Kratzer, who reached a WTA career-high of 200 in August of 2018, last played on the Pro Circuit in January of 2020, where she lost in qualifying at a WTA 125 in Newport Beach California.

WOMEN:

April 15 San Antonio TX

Victoria Rodriguez d. Ana Sofia Sanchez 6-1, 6-3

April 21 Boca Raton FL

Malkia Ngounoue d. Jada Robinson 6-1, 5-7, 6-4

May 13 Newport Beach CA

Ashley Kratzer d. Carolyn Campana 6-2, 6-4

June 10 Charleston SC

Piper Charney d. Kaitlyn Carnicella 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

MEN:

April 15 San Antonio TX

Trey Hilderbrand d. Osgar O'Hoisin 6-4, 6-4

April 28 Boca Raton FL

Alex Kuperstein d. Dian Nedev 7-5, 6-4

May 20 Newport Beach CA

Lui Maxted d. Duncan Chan 5-7, 6-2, 6-2

June 10 Charleston SC

Landon Ardila d. Lucas Brown 7-5, 6-3