Australian Open Finalist Willwerth Returns to Junior Tennis at San Diego J300; Clarke Ousts No. 4 Seed Friedman; Wake Forest Men and Georgia Women Remain No. 1; Quinn, McDonald and Holt Qualify at Miami Open
©Colette Lewis
San Diego CA--
After receiving first round byes, the seeds took to the Barnes Tennis Center courts on a cool and sunny Tuesday, with four boys seeds and seven girls seeds falling in their opening matches of the ITF J300 North American Regional Championships.
The three biggest upsets came in the girls draw, with No. 4 seed Leena Friedman losing to Zaire Clarke 6-4, 0-6, 7-5, No. 6 seed Aspen Schuman falling to Sabrina Lin 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 and No. 7 seed Claire An eliminated by Maggie Sohns 7-6(7), 6-5, ret.
Clarke managed to overcome losing eight straight games, falling behind 2-0 in the third after being blanked in the second set. But the 15-year-old from New Jersey, who trains in Florida, came back to take a 5-3 lead in the third and had a match point with Friedman serving at 3-5 ad out. Clarke made and unforced backhand error and Friedman went on to hold, and Clarke was broken without getting a match point serving at 5-4, double faulting at 30-40.
Undaunted, she broke Friedman with two winners helping her get to 15-40 and Friedman's unforced error on the backhand gave Clarke a second chance to serve out the win. She took that opportunity with a confident service game, with first serves and first strike tennis helping her convert her second match point when Friedman netted a return after three hours of play.
"I knew I could pull it out," said Clarke, who was trying to learn from a second round loss to No. 4 seed Maya Iyengar at Indian Wells. "I knew I had to keep applying pressure, to keep believing in myself. Last week I had at least eight set points in the first set, so I was starting to think about that more toward the end of the third. On the (first) match point I just hit flat on the wrong ball, but I just kept believing I could win, and knowing that my game is good enough to beat almost anyone."
Clarke was determined to play more aggressive after failing to serve out the match on her first attempt.
"I knew I had to not wait," Clarke said. "Because she's a waiting player, she's really good at making balls and making you play balls, so I was like, ok I have to do something to make her miss, not just wait for her to miss. Match point, serve and volley, make her have to do something with the return."
Clarke took some time off due to knee pain after reaching the third round of the Orange Bowl last December, and is now beginning to find that level again.
"I lost in the first round in Ecuador (in February), but I knew I was still playing well in practice; I just needed to see it in a match, to kind of build the confidence. It's not fully at Orange Bowl level yet, but I've definitely improved on stuff and am still working on stuff."
Clarke will play No. 15 seed Ligaya Murray in Wednesday's third round, with Murray defeating qualifier Sara Shumate 6-2, 7-6(6).
The two Americans who reached the final of the 2025 Australian Open junior championships and are the top seeds this week, advanced to the third round with straight-sets wins on Stadium Court. Kristina Penickova, a finalist here last year, was challenged by qualifier Ciara Harding before her superior serving in the tiebreaker secured a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory.
Benjamin Willwerth took a few games to get going, but he found his form after three games and cruised past qualifier Andre Alcantara 6-2, 6-0.
Willwerth was planning on playing Indian Wells last week and skipping San Diego this week, but he was automatically withdrawn from Indian Wells when he received entry into an M15 in Mexico, so he reversed course. A bout of food poisoning after a first round win made that trip less than ideal, so competing again at the junior level after his performance in Melbourne is a chance to gain more feedback on his game.
"There's a little bounty on my head," said the 17-year-old from Florida. "Being the one seed in this tournament, people usually play better when they're playing the one seed, because they feel they have nothing to lose. I've noticed that some of the people I've played are playing more of their better tennis. I have a little more confidence now."
Willwerth, who reached the semifinals of USTA Pro Circuit $15K in November, has six ATP points, and he will get even more opportunities at a higher level in Challenger qualifying as a junior slam finalist as part of the ATP Accelerator Program.
"I'm good at neutralizing the point when they're aggressive, and I think my game is tricky to play against," Wilwerth said of the Pro Circuit competition he's faced. "I've seen that in the pros, that they struggle a little bit against my game. The Challenger wild cards help, to change my schedule a little; it's good to mix up the pro tournaments and the juniors."
None of the Top 8 seeds lost in the boys draw, although No. 6 seed Jack Secord needed a comeback to earn a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Vihaan Reddy. Qualifier Tanishk Konduri defeated No. 9 seed Gavin Goode 6-1, 6-4; Agassi Rusher beat No. 11 seed Nischal Spurling 6-3, 6-4; Sklar Phillips defeated No. 13 seed Yubel Ubri 6-4, 6-1 and Michael Antonius downed No. 14 seed Simon Caldwell 6-3, 6-4.
In doubles, the top-seeded Pennickova twins advanced to the quarterfinals, as did boys No. 1 seeds Noah Johnston and Maximus Dussault. But both No. 2 seeds were eliminated, with Capucine Jauffrey and Maggie Sohns beating Kori Montoya and Ava Rodrigues 6-4, 7-6(4) and Zachary Cohen and Mark Krupkin defeating Ryan Cozad and Jack Secord 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.
Third round singles play begins at 9 a.m. PDT, with the doubles quarterfinals to follow in the afternoon.
The latest ITA Division I team and individual rankings were released today, with the Wake Forest men and Georgia women remaining at the top, with NCAA fall champions Dasha Vidmanova of Georgia and Michael Zheng of Columbia staying at No. 1 in the singles rankings. Click on the heading below to go to the full ranking lists at the ITA website.
Men's ITA Division I Rankings, March 18 2025
(previous week's ranking in parentheses)
Team:
1. Wake Forest(1)
2. TCU(2)
3. Ohio State(4)
4. Texas(3)
5. NC State(5)
6. Virginia(8)
7. San Diego(6)
8. Stanford(9)
9. Columbia(7)
10. Harvard(12)
1. Michael Zheng, Columbia
2. Pedro Vives, TCU
3. Timo Legout, Texas
4. Colton Smith, Arizona
5. Ozan Baris, Michigan State
6. DK Suresh, Wake Forest
7. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego
8. Jay Friend, Arizona
9. Carl Emil Overbeck, Cal
10. Rafael Jodar, Virginia
1. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU
2. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego
3. Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow, Wake Forest
4. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State
5. Stefan Dostanic and DK Suresh, Wake Forest
Women's ITA Division I Rankings, March 18 2025
1. Georgia(1)
2. Virginia(3)
3. Texas A&M(2)
4. North Carolina(4)
5. Michigan(6)
6. Tennessee(8)
7. Duke(7)
8. Auburn(11)
9. LSU(9)
10. NC State(5)
1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia
2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M
3. Julia Fliegner, Michigan
4. DJ Bennett, Auburn
5. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin
6. Valeria Glozman, Stanford
7. Elza Tomase, Tennessee
8. Luciana Perry, Ohio State
9. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina
10. Amelia Honer, UC-Santa Barbara
1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia
2. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State
3. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA
4. Avelina Sayfetdinova and Mariia Hlahola, Texas Tech
5. Lily Fiarclough and Grace Piper, Southern California
Men's qualifying is now complete at the Miami Open, with Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA), Ethan Quinn(Georgia) and Brandon Holt(USC) reaching the main draw. McDonald will play Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Quinn faces Tristan Schoolkate of Australia and Holt meets lucky loser Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina, all on Wednesday.
In women's first round action today, wild card Hailey Baptiste, Sofia Kenin, Alycia Parks, Lauren Davis, Ashlyn Krueger and qualifier Taylor Townsend were American winners.
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