US Teams Announced for This Week's ITF Jr Davis Cup, Jr BJK Cup, WJT Qualifying; Chang and Hegarty Sweep ITF J60 Titles, Exsted, Jauffret Claim Doubles Titles; Roland Garros Wild Card Update

Qualifying for the International Tennis Federation's Team Championships takes place throughout the spring and summer, with the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying, always in April and May, beginning Wednesday in Montreal Canada.

The USTA announced the teams for this competition in a release today:

Junior Davis Cup(16 and under):

Michael Antonius (15; Buffalo, N.Y.)
Andrew Johnson (15; Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.)
Vihaan Reddy (15; San Jose, Calif.)
Captain: Sylvain Guichard

Billie Jean King Cup(16 and under):

Annika Penickova (15; Campbell, Calif.)
Kristina Penickova (15; Campbell, Calif.)
Margaret Sohns (15; Cooperstown, N.Y.)
Captain: Georgi Rumenov

Boys ITF World Junior Tennis(14 and under):

Tristan Ascenzo (14; Dallas, Texas)
Indra Vergne (13; West Hills, Calif.)
Alexander Anderson (13; Davis, Calif.)
Captain: Jon Glover

Girls ITF World Junior Tennis(14 and under):

Emery Combs (14; Conway, S.C.)
Olivia De Los Reyes (14; Scarsdale, N.Y.)
Caroline Shao (13; Doral, Fla.)
Captain: Celeste Frey

Notable absences are Jordan Lee, who has been dealing with an ankle injury that has kept him out of the spring tournaments in Southern California and Canada and will probably return to the Junior Davis Cup roster for the USA should they qualify for the finals in the fall and Julieta Pareja, who had said she was probably going participate in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup qualifying this week in Montreal, but was not named to the team; she has since reached the semifinals of a WTA 250, so her schedule may have been reworked after that result.

For more information on the teams participating, the format and the Canadian players competing, see this article from Tennis Canada.

Last week was a busy and productive one for US juniors on the ITF Junior Circuit, with four singles titles at the J60 level and doubles titles that ran the gamut from J300s to J30s.

I reviewed the results from the American-laden J200 in Woodbridge Canada Saturday, with Matisse Farzam winning the boys singles. Due to yet another error by the ITF in running the rankings, none of the points from Woodbridge were posted to the participants; the ITF eventually re-did the rankings and a posted the revised ranking including the Woodbridge points a few hours later. 

Two US juniors swept the titles at J60s, with Lani Chang going undefeated in Trinidad and Tobago and Theo Hegarty taking both singles and doubles in the Dominican Republic.

Chang, the 14-year-old daughter of Michael Chang, had suffered an injury while competing in ITF tournaments in New Zealand this past January and was not fit to compete at the ITF events or the Easter Bowl in Southern California last month. But in her first tournament back the top seed lost only six games in her four matches, beating No. 2 seed Hadley Appling 6-1, 6-1 in the final.  Appling and Chang, the top seeds in doubles, beat unseeded London Evans and Adriana Khomyakova 7-6(6), 6-4 in the all-USA doubles final.

Another 14-year-old, Gadin Arun, won the boys singles titles in Trinidad and Tobago, with the unseeded Arizonan beating No. 3 seed Bernado Tedesco of Brazil 6-3, 6-1 in the final. It was the first ITF Junior Circuit title for Arun, a semifinalist at the Junior Orange Bowl 14s last December.

The unseeded Hegarty won his first two titles in Santo Domingo, with the 17-year-old from Arkansas beating No. 13 seed Balthazar Orsanic of Argentina 3-6, 6-0, 6-0 in the singles final. He partnered with Noble Renfrow for the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair defeating the No. 4 seeds from Mexico, Nicolas Rivera Paz and Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca, 6-1, 1-6, 10-5 in the final. 

Brooke Wallman, who reached the singles final in Santo Domingo, won the doubles title with Ana Avramovic. The top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Filipa Delgado and Scarlett Fagan 6-7(5), 6-3, 12-10 in the all-USA final. 

The fourth American to win a J60 title was 16-year-old Yael Saffar, who won her second ITF singles title in Peru. Seeded No. 3, Saffar defeated unseeded Luciana Luna of Peru 6-3, 6-1 in the final. 

In doubles, two-time Australian Open boys doubles champion Maxwell Exsted won his third title of the year with his third different partner at the J300 in Plovdiv Bulgaria. Exsted, who lost in the singles quarterfinals, partnered with Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria last week, and the No. 2 seeds beat unseeded Cem Christopher Kucukhuseyin and Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey 6-0, 6-4 in the final. 

Capucine Jauffret won the doubles title at the J200 in France, with partner Tahlia Kokkinis of Australia. The top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Eva Bennemann of Germany and Amelie Justine Hejtmanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3 for the title. 

There were two doubles titles for Americans at the J30 level, with 14-year-old Sydney Wright winning her first ITF Junior Circuit title in Ghana with partner Annabel Hristova of Great Britain. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Hermione Korpanec Davies of Great Britain and Onalee Wagner of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-3 in the final. 

At the J30 in Cameroon, 13-year-old Leigh Oyebog Anisah won her second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with Charnelle Fozo of Cameroon. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Amelia Grzelak of France and Lauren Kwendou Tadoum of the US 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-5 in the final. 

The USTA released this week's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge standings today, with Sarasota Challenger champion Emilio Nava taking over the top spot in the men's race and Julieta Pareja continuing to lead the women's race with three weeks remaining.

Women's Standings: 

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Julieta Pareja (333) -- 116

T2. Louisa Chirico (154) -- 57

T2. Caty McNally (324) -- 57

T4. Whitney Osuigwe (192) -- 35

T4. Monika Ekstrand (731) -- 35

 

Men's Standings:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Emilio Nava (140) -- 75

2. Colton Smith (166) -- 63

3. Chris Eubanks (110) -- 50

T4. Mackenzie McDonald (100) -- 25

T4. Ethan Quinn (126) -- 25