Dussault Reaches Final at ITF J300 in Belgium; Four Americans Advance to Final Round of Qualifying at Roland Garros Juniors; Quinn Among Five US Men in Roland Garros Third Round; Fourth Annual SoCal Pro Series Underway in San Diego
Maximus Dussault, who turns 18 a week from today, has advanced to his first ITF J300 final at the Astrid Bowl in Belgium. The unseeded TCU incoming freshman defeated Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey 6-3, 6-2 today in his second ITF J300 semifinal appearance.
I was wrong when I said the finals were on Friday; the doubles finals are on Friday, but the singles finals are on Saturday, with tomorrow a day off for the finalists, a very unusual ITF Junior Circuit scheduling format.
Dussault will face No. 6 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, who defeated No. 2 seed Nikita Bilozertsev of Ukraine 6-0, 6-3 in today's semifinals. The 16-year-old Miguel will be playing in his second J300 final, having lost his first at the South American Closed in March. The girls final Saturday features No. 4 seed Petra Konjikusic of Serbia and No. 6 seed Ksenia Efremova of France.
The unseeded team of Yannick Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Jacob Olar, who had today off, will play in the doubles final Friday against No. 4 seeds Valentin Garay of Argentina and Ty Host of Australia.
Four of the five Americans in the first round of Roland Garros Junior qualifying advanced to Thursday's final round.
No. 4 seed Ronit Karki beat wild card Benoit Geldof of France 7-6(5), 6-2 and will face unseeded Haydar Cem Gokpinar of Turkey for a place in the main draw. No. 10 seed Matisse Farzam defeated Gustavo Albieri of Brazil 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and will play No. 7 seed Luka Talan Lopatic of Slovenia. Lachlan Gaskell lost to Victor Cunha Winheski de Lima of Brazil 6-2, 6-1.
In the girls draw, No. 12 seed Leena Friedman beat French wild card Milena Ciocan 6-3, 6-4 and will face top seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia in the final round. No. 15 seed Capucine Jauffret defeated Lea Nilsson of Sweden 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) to set up a meeting with No. 2 seed Tushan Shao of China.
As I've said many times, it's great to see Australia and France use full third sets in junior qualifying, rather than the match tiebreaker that Wimbledon and the US Open employ.
2023 NCAA champion Ethan Quinn was the only American man in action in singles today at Roland Garros, and the former University of Georgia star made the most of it, battling for four hours and 14 minutes to defeat lucky loser Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 7-5. Quinn was up a break 3-1 in the final set, lost it, but kept his composure throughout his final three service games, saving five break points before breaking Shevchenko at love in the final game.
Quinn's progress toward the ATP Top 100--he is now at 96 and into the Top 100 for the first time in the live rankings--had stalled last year, until he broke through at the Champaign Challenger last November. He and his coach Brian Garber spoke to Ben Rothenburg about the mental roadblocks he overcame in this article in Rothenburg's newletter Bounces.
The USTA provided the information that the five US men in the third round is the most since 1996.
Thursday's second round results of Americans:
Ethan Quinn[Q] d. Alexander Shevchenko[LL](KAZ) 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 7-5
Mirra Andreeva[6](RUS) d. Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 6-4
Elsa Jacquemot[WC](FRA) d. Alycia Parks 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-1
Jessica Pegula[3] d. Ann Li 6-3, 7-6(3)
Madison Keys[7] d. Katie Boulter(GBR) 6-1, 6-3
Sofia Kenin[31] d. Victoria Azarenka(BLR) 7-6(5), 6-4
Hailey Baptiste d. Nao Hibino[Q](JPN) 6-3, 6-2
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro(ESP) d. Robin Montgomery 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
Coco Gauff[2] d. Tereza Valentova[Q](CZE) 6-2, 6-4
Friday's third round matches featuring Americans:
Frances Tiafoe[15] v Sebastian Korda[23]
Tommy Paul[12] v Karen Khachanov[24](RUS)
Ben Shelton[13] v Matteo Gigante[Q](ITA)
Bernarda Pera v Elina Svitolina[13](UKR)
Amanada Anisimova[16] v Clara Tauson[22](DEN)
I have an article coming out tomorrow at Tennis Recruiting Network on the SoCal Pro Series, which began its fourth year this week at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
The seven-week series of $15,000 joint men's and women's events is unique in the USTA Pro Circuit world, and it has been especially important to the juniors and college players in Southern California. I talked to its most famous alum for my article, and also was able to discuss the history and future of it with founder Chris Boyer and new General Manager of USA Tennis Tracy Davies.
One of the areas that sets the SoCal Pro Series apart is the coverage provided by the section, with a prime example the article posted on the SoCal website after Wednesday's action.
Damian Secore spoke with 2019 NCAA doubles champion Keegan Smith(UCLA), qualifier Dominique Rolland(Arizona, UC-Santa Barbara) and qualifier Olivia Center(UCLA) after their wins yesterday. Smith, the No. 2 seed this week, expressed his gratitude in having this opportunity to play near home for an extended stretch, which is so rare for tennis players.
But it's not just Southern Californians who benefit from these events. Today the University of San Diego's Savriyan Danilov of Russia, who played primarily at line 2 for the Toreros, defeated top seed Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Smith defeated Rolland 6-3, 7-5 and UCLA rising sophomore Center beat No. 5 seed Brandy Walker(Northern Arizona) 7-6(6), 6-2. UNC rising sophomore Claire Hill and Duke incoming freshman Claire An have also advanced to the quarterfinals.
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