Frodin Reaches ITF J500 Banana Bowl Final, Satterfield and Karki Claim Doubles Title; Cross Wins W35 in Arcadia; Spizzirri and McDonald Set for San Diego Challenger Final; Last BNP Paribas Open Wild Cards Named; Kessler and Pegula Play for WTA Austin Title

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin, a finalist at last week's ITF J300 warm-up event in Porto Alegre, will have another crack at a title in Brazil after advancing to the championship match of the ITF J500 Banana Bowl. 

Frodin, the No. 11 seed, outlasted No. 3 seed Luna Maria Cinalli of Argentina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) in today's semifinals, to set up a first meeting with No. 10 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina. Larraya Guidi prevented an all-USA final by coming from behind to defeat No. 2 seed Annika Penickova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

In the boys semifinals, No. 8 seed Joao Pedro Didoni Bonini of Brazil defeated No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy 6-4, 6-4, and will face top seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, who had his first test of the week, but got by unseeded Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1 in today's semifinal. 

No. 8 seeds Jack Satterfield and Ronit Karki, who won the J300 doubles title in Colombia in January, earned their biggest title today, beating No. 4 seeds Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania and Ryo Tabata of Japan 6-4, 0-6, 10-4 in the final.

Penickova and partner Maya Iyengar, the top seeds, lost in the girls doubles final today to No. 4 seeds Victoria Luiza Barros of Brazil and Yoana Konstantinova of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-5.

LSU freshman Kayla Cross of Canada, who joined the Tigers in January while continuing to play USTA Pro Circuit events, was not with the team for yesterday's SEC conference match with Kentucky, which they won without her, 4-2. Instead, Cross was competing at the W35 in Arcadia California, where today she won two singles matches to claim her second ITF women's World Tennis Tour title.  The 19-year-old left-hander defeated wild card Fiona Crawley(UNC) 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in the semifinals, while top seed Iva Jovic was cruising past qualifier Kylie McKenzie 6-2, 6-3. 

The extra set didn't seem to bother Cross in the final, although she did run into a hurdle or two in the second set of her 6-2, 7-6(6) win over Jovic. Up 6-2, 5-2, Cross couldn't convert her two match points serving at 5-3, then proceeded to drop her next serve as well, giving Jovic a chance to serve for the set. She was broken at love, so would have to win a tiebreaker instead, and it was Cross who came through, although she did squander three more match points up 6-3 in the tiebreaker before closing it out.

LSU, currently No. 10 in the ITA rankings, hosts No. 7 Tennessee Sunday morning, but it seems unlikely that Cross will be avaliable for that key SEC match given her two matches today and the travel that would be necessary.

A Wolfpack pair took the doubles title, with NC State recruit Tori Osuigwe and former NC State All-American Alana Smith, the No. 3 seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Aldila Sutjiadi(Kentucky) and Janice Tjen(Oregon, Pepperdine) 6-3, 6-4 in the final. It's the 13th Pro Circuit title for Smith and the second for Osuigwe, but their first together; both have won doubles titles with Whitney Osuigwe.

Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) has advanced to his third ATP Challenger final, while Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) has reached his ninth, with both earning three-set victories at the San Diego 100.

Spizzirri told me when I spoke with him at a Texas match at the Men's Team Indoor in Dallas that he was disappointed with his performance at the two Challengers last month in Tenerife, losing in the opening round of both. But despite having limited practice time outdoors in Dallas due to the cold and rain, his play in San Diego didn't suffer. Unseeded this week, the 23-year-old from Connecticut has won three consecutive three-setters, beating No. 8 seed Ethan Quinn 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in today's first semifinal.

Quinn led 5-0 in the second set; Spizzirri came all the way back to 4-5, but dropped serve and the set, after saving nine set points, in that game. Unfazed by that hiccup, Spizzirri got an early break and clipped along on his service games, not facing a break point until 5-3, 30-40. He saved it to advance to his second Challenger final of the year; he lost to Colton Smith(Arizona) in the Cleveland Challenger last month to go 0-2 in Challenger finals since completing his collegiate eligibility last May.

Spizzirri is also through to the doubles final, with Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State), with the unseeded pair defeating No. 2 seed George Goldhoff(Texas) and Trey Hilderbrand(UCF, Texas A&M) 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals. The 2019 US Open boys doubles champions, who already have won a Challenger doubles title as a pair in 2023, will face wild cards Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) and Juan Jose Bianchi(SMU, Boston College), who beat Jodi Maginley and Alfredo Perez(Florida) 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals. 

No. 4 seed McDonald, the 2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion, will be looking to secure his fifth Challenger title as he tries to work his way back into the ATP Top 100. The 29-year-old from Northern California dropped the first set today, but took control from the outset of the second, beating No. 5 seed Kamil Majchrzak of Poland 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. 

McDonald got additional good news today with the announcement that he is receiving the final men's main draw wild card at next week's BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Caroline Dolehide, who lost last night in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 in Austin, received the last women's main draw wild card.

The last men's qualifying wild card was awarded to SMU sophomore Trevor Svajda. Women's qualifying begins Sunday. The draws are here.

Two Americans will face off Sunday for the  WTA 250 title in Austin Texas, with top seed Jessica Pegula taking on No. 5 seed McCartney Kessler(Florida). Pegula defeated Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, while Kessler beat Greet Minnen of Belgium 7-5, 6-4 in today's semifinals. It will be their first meeting.