Bigun Upsets No. 2 Seed Albot, Smith Beats No. 3 Seed Quinn at Cleveland Challenger; Collegians Vidmanova, Brace Qualify at Rome Georgia W75; Palm Coast First of Four Men's $15Ks in Florida
2024 Roland Garros boys champion Kaylan Bigun received a wild card into the event, but was drawn against No. 2 seed Radu Albot of Moldova, who reached 39 in the ATP rankings in 2019. The 35-year-old is currently ranked 157 however, and despite Bigun's three main draw wins previously at the Challenger level, the 18-year-old was not coming into the event with much confidence.
He began his freshman year at UCLA this month, and in four singles matches played at the No. 3 position, Bigun was 0-3 with one unfinished, with two of those losses last weekend at the Harvard Kickoff Weekend regional. But Bigun ended that slump dramatically today, although he had to survive some dicey moments after failing to convert three match points with Albot serving at 3-5 in the second set.
Bigun couldn't serve it out, then fell behind 6-2 in the tiebreaker, saving a total of five set points before finally claiming the 6-3, 7-6(7) victory. Bigun will play Stefan Kozlov, who beat Micah Braswell(Texas) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 this evening, in the second round.
No. 3 seed and 2023 NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia), who reached the final of the Cleveland Challenger last year, lost to University of Arizona senior Colton Smith 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. With Arizona State's Murphy Cassone's 7-6(5), 6-4 win over top seed Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina last night, that means the top three seeds have already been eliminated. Smith will play the winner of tonight's match between Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, North Carolina) and Stefan Dostanic, who is now utilizing his final year of collegiate eligibility at Wake Forest.
Cassone, who did not play collegiately in the fall, announced recently that he was turning pro, foregoing his final dual match season in Tempe.
Smith isn't the only current collegian through to the second round, with wild card Antoine Ghibaud of France, a freshman at Kentucky, beating qualifier Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 6-3, 6-3 to advance. He will face the winner of tonight's match between No. 8 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) and wild card Jenson Brooksby(Baylor). TCU junior Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain plays recent Ohio State graduate Cannon Kingsley, also tonight. The only players without college ties to reach the second round are Kozlov and Michael Mmoh, who has been out with an injury since last April.
The women are also playing indoors this week on the USTA Pro Circuit at the W75 in Rome Georgia. Last week's Vero Beach W75 champion Solana Sierra of Argentina is the top seed, with Emiliana Arango of Colombia the No. 2 seed.
Wild cards were awarded to Caty McNally, Madison Sieg(USC), Malaika Rapolu(Texas) and Victoria Hu(Princeton). Sieg won her first round match today over Gabriela Lee(Texas Tech) of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, while Rapolu lost to 18-year-old Akasha Urhobo 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
Qualifying was completed today, with no Americans advancing to the main draw, but two current collegians made it through: NCAA fall 2024 singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) of the Czech Republic and LSU freshman Cadence Brace of Canada. Brace joins teammate Kayla Cross of Canada in the main draw, with Cross, who was recently signed by LSU, and Brace, who did not compete for LSU in the fall, playing lines 2 and 1 for the Tigers this past weekend in their Kickoff victory over Florida in Gainesville.
Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic is the No. 4 seed in Rome; she will play qualifier Victoria Mboko of Canada; the two teens split their two Pro Circuit meetings last fall.
There isn't much for men on the USTA Pro Circuit this winter, with just four straight weeks of $15Ks on clay in Florida, beginning with this week's tournament in Palm Coast.
The top seed is ATP 434 Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy, with Garrett Johns(Duke) the No. 2 seed. Three Americans qualified today: Oren Vasser(William & Mary, Miami), Matthew Segura and Alex Jones. Spencer Gray(Auburn, UNC-Charlotte) received entry as a lucky loser.
Wild cards were awarded to Liam Krall(SMU), Alexis Gurmendi (Georgia Gwinnett) of Argentina, Ronald Hohmann(LSU, Michigan State) and Matthew Thomson (Wake Forest). Hohmann and Thomson played today, with Hohmann winning 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(6).
Jack Satterfield and Lachlan Gaskell received the ITF junior reserved spots, with Gaskell playing qualifier Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada and Satterfield facing Gurmendi in the first round Wednesday.
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