October Aces; Basavareddy and Tien Reach Charlottesville Challenger Semifinals, Rothenberg Contrasts Actual Challenger with Movie; Rogers, Two Teens Advance at W35 in Norman
My monthly Tennis Recruiting Network column on notable junior and college accomplishments is out today, looking back on Octobers best performances. Current collegians had great success despite going back and forth between fall college events and the USTA Pro Circuit, and former collegians continue to climb up the rankings once they devote themselves full-time to professional tennis. The champions of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals played last month are featured, and girls winner Emerson Jones of Australia is building on that title. The 16-year-old has reached the semifinals of the W75 in Sydney as an unseeded wild card, her best finish in a pro tournament above the W35 level.
In addition to Jones, two other players featured in the October Aces article have advanced to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville: Learner Tien(USC), who won the Fairfield Challenger last month and Nishesh Basavareddy (Stanford), who won the Tiburon Challenger the week prior to Tien's title. Tien, the No. 2 seed and sole seed in the quarterfinals, came back to defeat Mark Lajal of Estonia 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. He will face James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan, who beat Colton Smith(Arizona) 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(4). Smith was serving up 4-3 in the tiebreaker, but Trotter won the last four points to reach his fourth Challenger final since graduating in 2023.
Like Trotter, Basavareddy was forced into a third set tiebreaker by lucky loser Chris Rodesch of Luxembourg, the recent University of Virginia graduate playing on his former home courts, before escaping with a 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) victory. After Basavareddy netted a forehand to at 4-all in the third set tiebreaker, Rodesch had the match on his racquet, but he didn't make a first serve on either point. Basavareddy hit a perfect backhand drop volley to make it 5-all and on the next point returned Rodesch's second serve deep up the middle, with Rodesch hitting his forehand reply long. Basavareddy did get his first serve in on match point and Rodesch netted his return.
Basavareddy will play Alexis Galarneau(NC State) of Canada, who defeated Ethan Quinn(Georgia) in the only quarterfinal decided by straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
The doubles final Saturday will feature 2024 NCAA champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy of Ohio State and Virginia alums Rodesch and William Woodall. Unseeded Cash and Tracy defeated unseeded Australian Pat Harper, the 2021 NCAA doubles champion while at Tennessee, and Finn Reynolds(Ole Miss) of New Zealand 6-4, 7-6(4). Wild cards Rodesch and Woodall beat Texas alums Eliot Spizzirri and Canadian Cleeve Harper, the later the 2022 NCAA doubles champion, 6-3, 6-4 in today's semifinals.
Tennis journalist and podcaster Ben Rothenberg has begun writing regularly on Substack, producing a newsletter called Bounces. While his primary focus is on the top players of the sport, he paid a visit to the Charlottesville Challenger this week, with this post the result. Contrasting an actual Challenger with how the circuit was portrayed in the recent film Challengers, Rothenberg notes that movie's notoriety has changed nothing for the players or the tournament in Charlottesville. I was particularly interested in his observation on the officiating, and surprised to hear that there were not enough officials to have more than two courts going at once.
I know the Cary Challengers have had Electronic Line Calling pilots; it sounds as if that has to be the next enhancement to the ATP Challenger Circuit.
At the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Norman Oklahoma, No. 3 seed Anna Rogers, a former All-American at North Carolina State, is the lone American in the semifinals. Rogers defeated Maribella Zamarripa(Texas) 7-6(4), 6-2 and will face unseeded Olivia Lincer(Central Florida) of Poland. Lincer, 19, ended the run of qualifier Kristina Paskauskas, a sophomore at NC State, with a 6-2, 6-4 win in today's quarterfinals.
No. 2 seed Sohyun Park of Korea will play 18-year-old qualifier Kira Matushkina of Russia, a sophomore at Old Dominion. Park defeated No. 7 seed Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil 6-2, 6-0, while Matushkina won her fifth match since Monday, taking out No. 4 seed Jessica Failla(USC, Pepperdine), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Failla and Zamarripa may not have advanced in singles, but they will play for a doubles title Saturday. The top seeds will play No. 2 seeds Park and Makenna Jones(UNC).
Louisa Chirico[5] is through to the semifinals at the W75+H in Toronto, where she'll face qualifier Julie Belgraver of France.
Ann Li has advanced to her first WTA semifinal since January 2022 at this week's 250 tournament in Merida Mexico. Li is making a push for direct entry into the Australian Open, as she finished seventh, two spots behind Iva Jovic, in the USTA Wild Card Challenge. The four players above Jovic in the race are expected to receive direct entry.
