Collegians Prominent in This Week's Three USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments, Two 75s in Canada and ATP 250 in Newport; ITF Features Day in Life of Auburn's Angella Okutoyi; GoFundMe Established for Tom Svajda

Action on the USTA Pro Circuit is sparse during Wimbledon, but this week there are two men's tournaments at the 15K and 25K level and a W75 for the women.  In addition, Granby Canada is hosting a joint event, with a Challenger 75 and a W75 this week, which has also attracted a large number of college competitors. The same slant to former collegians is developing at the ATP 250 Hall of Fame Open in Newport Rhode Island, which is holding its last ATP event this week, before converting to a joint WTA 125, ATP Challenger 125 event next year.

In Newport, four of the quarterfinalists are former collegians, along with No. 2 seed Marcos Giron(UCLA) who is yet to finish his second round match with Benoit Paire of France. Those advancing to the quarterfinals include two former Illinois stars, Australian Aleks Vukic and Aleks Kovacevic, Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) and Mackenzie McDonald.  Vukic beat wild card Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) in the round of 16; Kovacevic defeated No. 7 seed Arthur Rinderknech(Texas A&M) of France, and Eubanks got past Ethan Quinn(Georgia) in three sets.

Reilly Opelka returned to ATP main draw competition for the first time since August of 2022, reaching the Newport quarterfinals with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over top seed and defending champion Andrian Mannarino of France. 

The other American to advance to the quarterfinals is 2023 finalist Alex Michelsen, who beat 2022 Newport champion Maxime Cressy(UCLA).

2024 NCAA doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy of Ohio State won their first ATP match today, with the wild cards defeating No. 3 seeds JP Smith(Tennessee) of Australia and Diego Hidalgo(Florida) of Ecuador 6-2, 7-5.

The ATP Challenger 75 in Granby has two collegians still alive for a title, including Andy Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador, who upset top seed Adam Walton(Tennessee) in the first round. No. 8 seed Tristan Boyer(Stanford) is the only other collegian still competing, with Hady Habib(Texas A&M) of Lebanon and Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada falling in the second round today.

The ITF women's World Tennis Tour W75+Hospitality in Granby, has seen two recent/current collegians win their first round over a seed: qualifier Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina), who beat No. 4 seed Elvina Kalieva 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, and Canadian wild card Mia Kupres(Texas A&M), who defeated No. 3 seed Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico 7-5, 6-3. Carson Branstine(Texas A&M) of Canada is also through to the second round. The top seeds are both Americans: No. 1 Maria Mateas(Duke) and No. 2 Victoria Hu(Princeton). 

Some qualifying matches at the USTA Pro Circuit W75 in Evansville Indiana were played indoors due to heat, as were first round matches, due to rain and thunderstorms. USTA National 18s and 2023 Wimbledon Girls champion Clervie Ngounoue defeated qualifier Alexis Blokhina(Stanford) and Texas A&M rising senior Mary Stoiana also advanced to the second round. 

2023 NCAA champion Fangran Tian(UCLA) of China beat Fioana Crawley(UNC), while 2022 Wimbledon girls champion and No. 7 seed Liv Hovde defeated wild card and 2024 NCAA champion Alex Noel(Iowa, Miami). Fourteen-year-old twins Annika and Kristina Penickova received wild cards, with both losing their opening matches, Annika to fellow wild card and 2017 USTA Girls 18s national champion Ashley Kratzer, who is back competing after a lengthy doping band, and Kristina to No. 5 seed Irina Shymanovic of Belarus. Sachia Vickery and Eli Mandlik are the top two seeds this week in Evansville.

At the men's $25,000 tournament in East Lansing Michigan, the vast majority of the field are collegians, with only top seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain and Ben Jones, also of Great Britain, the only two players in the round of 16 without a US college affiliation. Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) is the No. 2 seed, with Michigan State rising junior Ozan Baris the No. 5 seed. It's encouraging to see recent Tennessee graduate Johannus Monday of Great Britain back on court after an injury kept him from competing in singles at NCAAs and during the grass court season. He beat 2024 NCAA singles finalist Michael Zheng(Columbia) 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round. 

The final USTA Pro Circuit tournament this week is the annual $15K in Rochester New York. Colin Sinclair(Cornell) of the Northern Mariana Islands, is the top seed, with Matias Franco Descotte of Argentina the No. 2 seed. Stanford rising sophomore Nico Godsick pulled off the biggest upset of the first round, beating No. 4 seed Emilio Gomez(USC) of Ecuador 7-6(3), 6-4 this evening.

The ITF has released an episode of its You Tube Day in the Life feature, focusing on Auburn rising junior Angella Okutoyi of Kenya. For more on the 2022 Wimbledon girls doubles champion, see this article from the ITF.

There was distressing news this past weekend concerning Tom Svajda, a renowned coach in San Diego and father of Zachary and Trevor Svajda, who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. A GoFundMe has been set up by Gary Kent to help with medical and other expenses, with Tom unable to work while in treatment. Please consider making contribution if you are able.