Jodar and Dietrich Meet in Charlottesville Quarterfinals; US Juniors Preston, Jauffret and Frodin Advance in Sumter W15; Kim Sole American Left at Harlingen M25; Trial Date Set in Brantmeier v NCAA; WTA Finals Feature Four Americans; Fritz and Shelton Qualify for ATP Finals

With top seed Rinky Hijikata(UNC) of Australia losing to qualifier Mats Rosenkranz of Germany 6-3, 6-4 in today's second round action at the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville Virginia, only three seeds have reached the quarterfinals: Nos. 6, 7 and 8.

No. 6, Martin Damm, will play Daniil Glinka of Estonia, No. 8 Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain will face Mitchell Krueger and No. 7 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain will take on University of Virginia teammate Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland. 

Monday defeated qualifier Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-1 today, while Krueger got his only break of the match at 3-4 in the third set against Wake Forest senior DK Suresh of India and served out the 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 victory.

Ninteen-year-old sophomore Jodar reached his tenth Challenger quarterfinal of his career, all this year, beating Saba Purtseladze of Georgia for the second week in a row, this time by a 6-4, 6-0 score. Dietrich booked his place in a first Challenger quarterfinal yesterday with a 7-6(6), 6-2 win over No. 4 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain Wednesday.

Rosenkranz will face San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain, who survived a three-and-a-half-hour battle with Inaki Montes(Virginia) of Spain yesterday to reach his first Challenger quarterfinal.

Three US juniors have advanced to the quarterfinals of the W15 in Sumter South Carolina: Janae Preston, Capucine Jauffret and Thea Frodin. The 15-year-old wild card Preston, a semifinalist last week at the W15 in Hilton Head, defeated No. 8 seed Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. She will play qualifier Jade Groen of the Netherlands, who beat top seed Luca Udvardy(Oklahoma State) of Hungary 6-3, 6-3.

The 17-year-old Jauffret reached her first Pro Circuit quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow Junior Reserve entrant Ava Rodriguez. Jauffret will play former North Carolina All-American Carson Tanguilig, who beat fellow qualifier India Houghton(Stanford) 6-1, 6-3. 

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin, another of the Junior Reserve entries, ended the perfect pro record of Hilton Head champion Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who retired in their match today trailing 7-6(2), 3-2.  Frodin will play the third qualifier in the quarterfinals, Bella Bergqvist Larsson(South Carolina) of Sweden, Friday.

The only two seeds remaining play each other, with Oklahoma State's Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, No. 5, taking on No. 2 Maria Fernanda Navarro of Mexico.

At the M25 in Harlingen Texas, Aidan Kim, a junior at Ohio State, is the only American to reach the quarterfinals, with the No. 7 seed advancing with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over wild card Ozan Baris, his third win over the Michigan State senior in the past eight months. Kim will face No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain. the 2023 Wimbledon boys champion.

Former Texas A&M standout Raphael Perot of France extended his winning streak to 17 matches with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Kaylan Bigun(UCLA). The fifth-seeded Perot will face No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain as he attempts to win his fourth straight USTA Pro Circuit singles title.

The date is set for the court case that North Carolina senior Reese Brantmeier has filed against the NCAA, regarding the organization's prohibition of tennis players accepting prize money at professional events. It's over a year away, November of 2026, later that either party requested. Given all the litigation the NCAA is currently involved in, much of it pertaining to its denial of eligibility for transfers and junior college players, I'm surprised the NCAA hasn't settled this yet, although there is still plenty of time for that to occur. A complete rundown of the state of the case is available at the Carolina Journal.

The WTA Finals begin Saturday in Riyadh, with half the field American women: defending champion Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys. They are joined by Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina. For the schedule, round robin groups, prize money and doubles qualifiers, see this article from the WTA website.

One of the players competing in the Nitto ATP Finals, which begin November 9, has yet to be determined, but two Americans will be in the field: Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton(Florida). Fritz qualified yesterday; Shelton's win over Andrey Rublev today at the Paris Masters clinched his participation for the first time in his career.