NCAA Champion Brantmeier Leads USA's Master'U Team; Santamarta Roig Withdraws From Bradenton J300, Orange Bowl J500; Three J60 Titles for Americans on ITF Junior Circuit

Newly crowned NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier won't have much time to celebrate her victory in yesterday's final, with the North Carolina senior leading the USA team in next month's 18th annual Master'U BNP Paribas university championships in France.

Today, the ITA announced the team that will be representing the United States in the eight-team competition which will take place December 5-7  in Reims France. The other seven teams, who will be trying to end the United States' five-year winning streak, are Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Switzerland. 

The US team will consist of Samir Banerjee of Stanford, Aidan Kim of Ohio State, Nicolas Kotzen of Columbia, Luciana Perry of Ohio State, Valerie Glozman of Stanford and Brantmeier.

The United States won its fifth straight Master'U BNP Paribas international collegiate team competition last year, beating Great Britain 4-1. Gavin Young(Michigan), Sebastian Gorzny(Texas), Michael Zheng(Columbia), Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) and Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) defeated Germany 4-1 in the quarterfinals, and France 4-1 in the semifinals in the three-day event in Riems France.

For more on each of this year's participants, see this article from the ITA.

The last two major ITF tournaments, both in Florida, are fast approaching, with the IMG International Championships J300 in Bradenton beginning a week from today and the J500 Orange Bowl in Fort Lauderdale starting a week after that. 

Unfortunately, Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, the defending champion in both tournaments, has withdrawn, while Ksenia Efremova of France and the Czech Republic's Kovackova sisters have also withdrawn from both events. This leaves the Orange Bowl, one of the most prestigious tournaments in junior tennis, without a Top 10 player in the girls draw, and just two Top 10 boys: Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania and Jack Kennedy of the United States.

In addition to the run to the final of the J300 in Zapopan by Vihaan Reddy, which I covered last week, three other Americans had success on the ITF Junior Circuit, winning J60 tournaments.

At the J60 in San Diego, 17-year-old David Wu won his first ITF Junior Circuit title. The Harvard recruit, who is from San Diego, was unseeded in just his fourth career ITF tournament, but he dropped only one set en route to the final, then defeated unseeded Pavel Bushuev of Russia 6-4, 6-4 in the championship match.

Another San Diego resident, 16-year-old Yilin Chen, won the girls title, with the No. 4 seed defeating No. 6 seed and defending champion Amira Kockinis 6-1, 6-3 in the final. Chen also won the January J60 in San Diego, which was her first ITF Junior Circuit title.

Kockinis, 15,  won the doubles title, with Mexico's Montserrat Temprana Falco. The top seeds defeated unseeded Sydney Barnhart and Ariana Morris 3-6, 6-1, 11-9 in the final.  No. 2 seeds Jerry Han of Canada and Sean Peng won the boys doubles title, beating unseeded Adrien Abarca and Darren Wei 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-7 in the final.

The third J60 title came in Colombia, where 16-year-old Charles Minvielle won his second ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The No. 5 seed defeated No. 2 seed Rodolfo Federico De Andreis of Venezuela 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) in the final. 

At the J100 in Norway, top seeds Zavier Augustin and Theo Hegarty won the doubles title, defeating No. 2 seeds Sander Juuhl Sivertsen of Norway and Stan Put of the Netherlands 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. Augustin, seeded No. 5, reached the singles final, where he lost to No. 8 seed Sivertsen 6-2, 6-3.