Current Collegians Reach Semifinals of Lincoln W15, Miami W25; Tien and Basavareddy Meet in Knoxville Semis; Eight Earn NCAA Singles Berths at Conference Masters; Gauff and Townsend Play for WTA Finals Titles

With the NCAA singles and doubles championships less than two weeks away, many of the women set to compete in them are warming up for the first fall edition of that tournament by playing in the two USTA Pro Circuit events this week. Three of the semifinalists at the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska will be in Waco November 18th to begin their quest for NCAA titles: Savannah Broadus of Pepperdine and DJ Bennett of Auburn in both singles and doubles and Rachel Gailis of Florida in doubles.

Broadus, a qualifier, trailed No. 2 seed Angella Okutoyi of Auburn, who will also be playing in the NCAA singles championships, 6-4, 4-0 before coming back to record a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory. She will face Bennett, who put an end to the run of 14-year-old Kristina Liutova of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.  Gailis, who did not attempt to qualify for NCAAs in singles, defeated Auburn freshman and No. 3 seed Merna Refaat of Egypt 7-5, 6-2. Gailis will play China's Snow Han, the former USC standout, who took out top seed Amy Zhu(Michigan) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. None of the four semifinalists is seeded.

Dasha Vidmanova of the Czech Republic, a senior at Georgia, has had an outstanding summer and fall on the Pro Circuit and that continued today at the W35 in Miami Florida. The 21-year-old,  No. 2 in the ITA preseason rankings and seeded No. 8 in Miami, defeated Central Florida sophomore Olivia Lincer of Poland 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 to reach the semifinals. Vidmanova, who will be competing in singles in Waco, but will not be defending her NCAA doubles title, plays former teammate Lea Ma in the semifinals. Ma, the No. 4 seed, defeated Texas A&M freshman Lexington Reed 6-1, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals.

Anna Rogers(NC State) extended her winning streak to eight, with last week's W35 Norman champion taking out Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil 6-3, 6-4. Rogers, the No. 7 seed, will play unseeded 18-year-old Mayu Crossley of Japan, who beat No. 6 seed Allie Kiick 7-5, 6-4.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Knoxville, teens Nishesh Basavareddy (Stanford) and No. 3 seed Learner Tien(USC) have set up a rematch of their Bloomfield Hills Challenger final back in July with quarterfinal victories Friday.  Basavareddy beat Mark Lajal of Estonia 6-3, 7-6(3), while Tien closed out the night with a 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2 win over Jay Clarke of Great Britain. Tien beat Basavareddy for his first Challenger title in Bloomfield Hills 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. 

In the other semifinal, recent Tennessee graduate Johannus Monday of Great Britain ended the winning streak of Charlottesville champion James Trotter(Ohio State), reaching his first Challenger semifinal with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win. Monday will face No. 2 seed Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech), who defeated Eliot Spizzirri 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Former Texas teammates Spizzirri and Micah Braswell will play in Saturday's doubles final against Monday and former Volunteer Pat Harper of Australia.

At the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, wild card Kari Miller's run came to an end tonight, with the former Michigan All-American falling to No. 8 seed Lesia Tsurenko 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Tsurenko will take on No. 6 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada, who beat 17-year-old former junior No. 1 Alina Korneeva of Russia 6-4, 7-5. No. 3 seed Alycia Parks and wild card Lauren Davis will meet in the other semifinal after Parks beat Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt) of Australia 6-3 6-1 and Davis defeated Varvara Lepchenko 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-2.

The singles quarterfinals were played today at the Conference Masters in Rome Georgia, with those winners securing a spot in the NCAA championships. The three doubles teams who will qualify for NCAAs will not be determined until the 3/4 playoff is complete.

MEN:

1. Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

3. Thomas Paulsell, Georgia

4. Anton Arzhankin, Western Michigan

5-8. Tiago Silva, Pacific

WOMEN:

2. Sofia Johnson, Old Dominion

3. Katja Wiersholm, Cal

4. Oyinlomo Quadre, Florida International

5-8: Gracie Epps, Oklahoma State

The Sectional Championships continue around the country with the winners of Saturday's singles quarterfinals guaranteed places in the NCAA championships. Those who lose in the quarterfinals will have a playoff, with the fifth and sixth place finishers also advancing to the NCAAs.

Coco Gauff defeated WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-6(4), 6-3 today in the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia and will play Qinwen Zheng of China for the title Saturday. Zheng beat Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to set up a rematch of the 2018 Orange Bowl final between Gauff and Zheng. My coverage of Gauff's comeback from 4-2 down in the third to take that title, her last one in junior competition, is here: https://tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/2018/12/gauff-comeback-ends-with-another-orange.html

Taylor Townsend will play for the doubles title, with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic. They are facing Erin Routliffe(Alabama) of New Zealand and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada in rematch of this year's Wimbledon final, which Townsend and Siniakova won in two tiebreakers.