Finals for USA Qualifying for Les Petits As Set for Friday; Liutova, Fakih Advance to Bakersfield W35 Quarterfinals; Suresh, Jodar Reach Lincoln Challenger Quarterfinals; Jones, Vidmanova, Akli Win at W100 in Macon; Spizzirri's First ATP Quarterfinal

The eight under-14s who will represent the United States at the prestigious Les Petits As event next January in Tarbes France were decided today at Tropical Park in Miami Florida.

The semifinalists assured themselves no worse than a qualifying wild card, and the two boys and two girls who won the semifinal matches today are already guaranteed a place in the main draw.

Tara Guhan defeated top seed Anna Kapanadze 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals and will face Isha Manchala, who beat No. 2 seed Capri Butera 6-3, 6-3, in Friday's final. Butera and Kapanadze will play for third place Friday, with the winner also guaranteed a main draw wild card.

Top seed Rex Kulman defeated Pranav Vignesh 7-6(2), 3-0 ret. and No. 2 seed David Bender beat Daniel Gardality 6-0, 6-1 to reach the boys final. Vignesh and Gardality will play Friday to determine third place among the boys. 

The boys draw is here; the girls draw is here.

Fifteen-year-old Kristina Liutova lost in the second round at the ITF J200 in Corpus Christi earlier this month, but she had no trouble clearing that hurdle today at the W35 in Bakersfield California. The Seattle-area resident, who beat No. 3 seed Lucciana Perez of Peru, a Texas A&M junior, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round, defeated Solymar Colling(San Diego) 6-4, 6-3 in today's second round to reach her first quarterfinal at the W35 level, although in May, Liutova advanced to the semifinals of a W50. She will play the winner of tonight's match between wild card Luciana Perry, a junior at Ohio State, and No. 5 seed Ella McDonald of Great Britain.

UCLA sophomore Kate Fakih, a qualifier, also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating No. 8 seed Francesca Pace of Italy 6-4, 6-2. Fakih, 18, reached the semifinals in last October's Bakersfield W35.

The quarterfinals are set at the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska, with two current collegians reaching the quarterfinals.  Wake Forest senior DK Suresh of India made his second Challenger quarterfinal, with the first coming in Lexington Kentucky in July, beating former Florida All-American Alfredo Perez 6-4, 7-6(5) Wednesday. He will play No. 4 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), who defeated Stanford senior Samir Banerjee 6-4, 7-6(5).

University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain has now made at least the quarterfinals of his last six Challengers, defeating qualifier Max Wiskandt of Germany 6-4, 6-1 today. 

Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6(1), 6-2 victory over Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) and will play No. 8 seed Martin Damm, who beat San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet 7-5, 7-5. Michael Mmoh defeated No. 3 seed Jack Pinnington Jones 6-3, 7-6(4) and will play No. 7 seed Johannes Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain in the quarterfinals. 

A fifth American will reach the quarterfinals, with top seed Brandon Holt(USC) facing qualifier Keegan Smith(UCLA) tonight.

Seventeen-year-old Emerson Jones of Australia, last year's ITF World Junior Champion, is through to the quarterfinals at the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Macon Georgia, defeating Katherine Sebov of Canada 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in today's second round. She will play No. 7 seed Anastasia Gasanova of Russia on Friday.

Anna Rogers(NC State) defeated wild card Madison Brengle 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and will meet Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) for a place in the semifinals. Akli beat Auburn senior Angella Okutoyi of Kenya, a qualifier, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in today's second round. 2024 fall NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia), the No. 2 seed, beat Kayla Day 6-3, 6-4 and will play qualifier Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia. Khayrutdinova is a senior at Auburn, having transferred from Florida International. She beat former USC All-American Eryn Cayetano 6-1, 6-4 today.

Top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico and No. 8 seed Olivia Gadecki of Australia round out the quarterfinals in Macon.

Two-time ITA Player of the Year Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal today in Brussels Belgium. The 23-year-old beat Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-0 to set up a meeting with No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada. Spizzirri's ATP ranking, which has been between 132 and 105 all summer, is up to a career-high 103 (live ranking) with today's win. Highlights from Spizzirri's win today are available at the ATP website.