My Easter Bowl 16s and 18s Recap; Ekstrand Advances to Semis at W35 in Mississippi; ATP Houston's All-USA Semifinals; Top-ranked Georgia Women Survive Vanderbilt 4-3

The last of my four recaps of March's major junior events in Southern California is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, tracking the 16s and 18s divisions at the FILA Easter Bowl. If you didn't have time to read my daily posts, I think you'll find most of the pertinent information from these events in the wrap-ups. The 12s and 14s Easter Bowl article was posted Wednesday, and can be found here. My San Diego ITF J300 recap is also still available  without a TRN membership, but won't be for much longer.

Monika Ekstrand, who turns 18 next month, has played only ITF women's and USTA Pro Circuit events this year, and her success has been limited to a semifinal appearance at a W15 in Spain as a qualifier. Until this week's USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Mississippi, that is. Ekstrand defeated top seed Cadence Brace(LSU) of Canada in the first round, fellow wild card Alexis Nguyen in the second round and today beat No. 6 seed Mayu Crossley of Japan 6-4, 7-5. 

Ekstrand will face No. 7 seed Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain, who beat unseeded Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State) 6-1, 6-0 in today's quarterfinals. 

In the bottom half, No. 3 seed Lea Ma(Georgia) will play No. 2 seed Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico after Ma ended the run of lucky loser Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M) 6-2, 6-0 and Sanchez beat unseeded Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.

For the first time since 1991, eight American men made the quarterfinals of the same ATP tournament: the 250 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston. Three of the quarterfinals were played today, before the rain set in, with top seed Tommy Paul, qualifier Jenson Brooksby(Baylor) and No. 4 seed Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) reaching the semifinals. No. 2 seed Frances Tiafoe and No. 5 seed Alex Michelsen will decide the fourth semifinalist, if the weather clears yet tonight. 

Paul defeated qualifier Colton Smith, the University of Arizona senior, 6-1, 7-6(1), after Brooksby had gotten past Aleks Kovacevic 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.  Smith got off to a terrible start, trailing 4-0 in the first set, but played much better in the second set, pushing Paul all the way to a tiebreaker. But Smith could not get a lead, failing to capitalize on a 0-40 lead with Paul serving at 3-3 in the second, and Paul took control from the outset of the tiebreaker. Nakashima defeated Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-4 and will play the winner of the Tiafoe - Michelsen match.

The semifinals at the WTA 500 in Charleston South Carolina will feature three Americans, with No. 9 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia the sole international player in the final four. Top seed Jessica Pegula defeated No. 7 seed and defending champion Danielle Collins(Virginia) 1-6, 6-3, 6-0; unseeded Sofia Kenin beat No. 14 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-4, 6-3 and No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova took out hometown favorite Emma Navarro(Virginia), the No. 4 seed, 7-5, 7-6(1). Pegula plays Alexandrova and Kenin faces Anisimova Saturday.

The top-ranked University of Georgia women were pushed to the limit Friday night in Athens before coming away with a 4-3 win over No. 13 Vanderbilt that took three and a half hours to complete.

Georgia took the doubles point with a 7-5 victory at No. 1, after Vanderbilt won 6-1 at line 2 and Georgia won 6-1 at line 3. 

That proved to be the difference in the match, although many twists and turns were navigated before Georgia won three singles matches. 

The teams split first sets in singles, but only two players who won their first set won the match, with Bridget Stammel of Vanderbilt pulling the Commodores even at 1 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Mel Reasco at line 3, and Aysegul Mert putting Georgia back out in front with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Sophia Webster at line 4. 

Georgia veterans Dasha Vidmanova and Anastasiia Lopata had both dropped their first sets at lines 1 and 2, while Vanderbilt's Trinetra Vijayakumar and Amy Stevens had lost their first sets at lines 5 and 6. But all four forced third sets and won them, with Vijayakumar defeating Guillermina Grant 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Stevens beating Sofia Rojas 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. With Vanderbilt up 3-2, Vidmanova and Lopata were both up breaks in their third sets, but with no-ad, those can disappear in a hurry and Lopata, up 4-1 lost her serve at 4-2 to give Valeria Ray a chance to pull even. But Lopata broke and held to make it 3-all, just as Vidmanova was beginning her service game at 5-4 against Celia-Belle Mohr. Vidmanova went up 40-15, but Mohr cracked a backhand pass for a winner to make it 40-30,with a deciding point looming. But Vidmanova made her first serve and Mohr made an unforced error, setting off a celebration, with Georgia extending their SEC record this season to 12-0.

For the full recap, see georgiadogs.com.