San Diego's Tarvet Sweeps ITA All-American Titles; Sholokova Claims Wisconsin's First Championship; Jovic Wins W35 in Berkeley; US Open Junior Photo Gallery

After an exciting week at the ITA All-American Championships, Sunday was something of a letdown, with the men's final not decided on the court in Tulsa. Texas's Sebastian Gorzny withdrew with an injury prior to the final, giving Oliver Tarvet of San Diego his second straight walkover, an anticlimatic day for the first ITA All-American Championships title in Toreros history. 

Tarvet did win his second All-American title the usual way, partnering with Stian Klaassen for the doubles championship. The unseeded Tarvet and Klaassen defeated Baylor's unseeded pairing of Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-5. Tarvet and Klaassen trailed 4-1 in the deciding tiebreaker before winning seven straight points to take control.

Tarvet is the first player since Virginia's Thai Kwiatkowski to win the All-American Championships singles and doubles titles in the same year.

Maria Sholokova of Wisconsin also made history for her school, becoming the first All-American champion in history with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over qualifier Elza Tomase of Tennessee in the women's final.  Sholokova, a junior from Russia, showed little indication of any nerves, and although she was unable to close out the first set on serve at 5-2, she broke Tomase to secure it.  Up 5-1 in the second set, Sholokova again couldn't close it out on her first attempt, but calmly served out the championship on her second try.

Tomase, who was playing her eighth singles match in seven days, looked understandably weary at times, while Sholokova was able to stay both consistent and aggressive, showing the form that had eliminated top seed Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.

Sholokova admitted she was not expecting to take the title this week in Cary, but that win helped her believe it was possible.

"Honestly this whole tournament was an incredible experience for me," Sholokova told Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets after the final. "Coming here, I would never have thought I would make the final, or win this tournament. I think I just gained more and more confidence with each match, especially after my second round match, I thought I could do great in this tournament."

Sholokova was happy to see tangible results from work she and Wisconsin head coach Kelcy McKenna, who won the All-American title while at Arizona State in 2008, have done.

"All the work that me and Kelcy have put in these two years paid off," Sholokova said. "I'm more confident now in my forehand, my backhand...and I think my serve helped me a lot, and my returns have gotten so much better. Overall, it's been consistency and more aggressive tennis."

While qualifier Tomase was unsuccessful in her bid for a title, the doubles champions did follow the qualifying path to the peak, with Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot taking the title after coming though qualifying. The sophomores from NC State defeated unseeded Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle of UCLA 6-4, 6-4 to add a second title for the Wolfpack in the past three years. Amelia Rajecki and Nell Miller won the 2022 All-American doubles title.

All the ITA All American champions are now officially All-Americans. The ITA changed the critera for that honor this year to specifically include the All American champions. The other paths to earning All-American status remain the same. See this ITA article on the subject.

Four other players earned their spots in November's NCAA singles championships by reaching the consolation finals (the finals were not played) with wins today. Dasha Vidmanova[2] of Georgia defeated Sofia Johnson of Old Dominion 6-1, 6-2 and Mary Stoiana[1] of Texas A&M defeated Julia Fliegner of Michigan 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals to ensure they will be in the NCAA singles field in Waco. 

Arizona's Jay Friend[9-16] and Colton Smith[5] won their consolation semifinals today, with Smith defeating Thomas Paulsell of Georgia 6-4, 6-2 and Friend beating Braden Shick of NC State 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2) to earn their spots in the NCAA singles draw.

The three USTA Pro Circuit tournaments concluded today with just one of the three Americans in the finals emerging as the champion, and that was the youngest one.

Sixteen-year-old Iva Jovic won her second Pro Circuit title today at the W35 in Berkeley California, with the No. 2 seed defeating No. 5 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in this afternoon's championship match. Jovic, who saved a match point in her 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 win over Ena Koike of Japan in the second round, had lost in her previous two USTA Pro Circuit finals appearances this year. Next week's W35 tournament in Redding California is the site of her first Pro Circuit title, but she will not be defending that title; Jovic is on the entry list for next week's W75 in Rancho Santa Fe.

In the doubles final today, unseeded Maegan Manasse(Cal) and Elysia Bolton(UCLA) of Australia won the title, beating the unseeded team of Ema Burgic(Baylor) and Rutuja Bhosale(Texas A&M) of India 6-7(3), 6-2, 10-6.

At the W75 in Templeton, top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, who lost in the final of last year's tournament, defeated 25-year-old Usue Arconada 6-4, 6-3. The 27-year-old from Mexico is now up to a career-high of 69 in the WTA rankings.

No. 2 seeds Sophie Chang and Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) won their second title as a pair, both this year, defeating No. 4 seeds Rebecca Marino of Canada and Carmen Corley(Oklahoma) 1-6, 6-2, 10-4 in today's final.

Nineteen-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy, a junior at Stanford, lost in the final of the ATP Challenger 75 in Charleston South Carolina to lucky loser Edas Butvilas of Lithuania 6-4, 6-3. Basavareddy, now 0-3 in Challenger finals, has shown a willingness to play nearly every week, and with his history of injuries, the fact that he's remained healthy is a positive sign. He is entered in this week's Challenger 75 in Tiburon California and is scheduled to play Bernard Tomic of Australia in the first round. 

Tennis Recruiting Network has just published the Zootennis.com photo gallery from the US Open Junior Championships, featuring 40 of the Americans who competed in New York earlier this month.