WT J500 Osaka Acceptances; Update on September Titles for American Juniors on World Tennis Junior Circuit

As always seems to be the case, the World Tennis J500 junior event in Osaka Japan, the only WT J500 on hard courts, is coming up next week, and I haven't been paying attention, what with the College Park J300, the Repentigny J300 and the US Open Junior Championships.

The acceptance lists, posted earlier this month, feature three US boys and seven US girls, including three girls who are also on the acceptance list for the Pan American Closed J300 in Spring Texas the week after Osaka: Carrie-Anne Hoo, Isabelle DeLuccia and Camille Allegre. It's possible they could play both, if they lose early in Osaka, but that's a tough turnaround.

The other four US girls in the main draw in Osaka are Jordyn Hazelitt, Lani Chang, who withdrew from the US Open Junior Championships at the last minute, Maggie Sohns, who withdrew from the Pan Am yesterday, and Scarlett Fagan. 

Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India and Hazelitt will likely be the top seeds.

The US boys competing are Navneet Raghuram, Izyan Ahmad, who is still entered at the Pan Am, and Tyler Lee. 

Kai Thompson of Hong Kong and Dan Brand of Israel are likely to be the top boys seeds.

The main draw cutoff for boys was 248 and for girls 232. The cutoffs for the J500 in Milan this spring after the withdrawal date were both in the 40s, so obviously the fields are not strong compared to other J500s.

After two weeks following only the J300 tournaments and US Open, it's time to review the titles for the American juniors who did not make the cuts for those events.

In the first week of September, 15-year-old Tristan Ascenzo won his first title on the WT Junior Circuit at the J30 in McKinney Texas, beating James Ross 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the final. The boys doubles title in McKinney went to unseeded Joseph Kim and Aryan Ponugoti, who beat Ross and Marko Mikic, also unseeded, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Fifteen-year-old Reena Alavalapati won the girls singles title, beating Saanchi Dalal 6-4, 3-0, retired, in the final. Alavalapati completed the McKinney sweep with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over top seeds Mliena Jandera of Australia and Lais Mika Shibata of Brazil in the girls doubles final.

Fourteen-year-old Evija Thoresen swept the girls titles at the J60 in Dallas, with the unseeded blue chip beating qualifier Nicole Alexandrovich 6-2, 6-3 in the championship match. Thoresen and Anna Scott Laney, the top seeds, defeated unseeded Sofia Bartolata and Camilla Kostik 6-0, 6-1 in the doubles final. 

Ascenzo lost in the boys singles final to Canadian Collum Mackinnon 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(1).

Unseeded Marko Mikic and Sebastian Zavala won the doubles title in Dallas, beating No. 2 seeds Peter Nistad and Canada's Thomas O'Neill 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 in the final. 

At the J30 in Minneapolis, 14-year-old Ishaan Marla won his first WT Junior Circuit singles title, beating Dylan Warn 6-1, 6-4 in the final. Top seeds Simon Hayal and John Murphy won the boys doubles title, beating Joshua Latour and Warn 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 in the final. 

Fifteen-year-old Daniela Del Mastro, who lives in the Minneapolis area, won her first WT Junior Circuit title, beating Avita Beitler 7-5, 6-2 in the final. Sydney Barnhart and Kasia Chen defeated Del Mastro and Beitler in the girls doubles final 7-6(5), 0-6, 12-10.

At the J60 in Eau Claire Wisconsin, the 16-year-old Beitler got her revenge, defeating Del Mastro 7-5, 6-1 in the girls singles final for her first title on the WT Junior Circuit.

Top seeds Sophia Budacsek and Colombia's Alicia Londono won the girls doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Beitler and Del mastro 3-6, 7-5, 10-4.

Sixteen-year-old Alex Totoian won the boys title in Eau Claire, his second on the WT Junior Circuit, beating wild card Ethan Turunen 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4. 

Joshua Dolinsky and Piotr Gradzki won the boys doubles title, beating Sebastian Cheaney and Antanas Daugis 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final. 

Sixteen-year-old Nirbhay Agarwal won his first title at the J30 in India last week, with the No. 2 seed beating unseeded Chukka Lakshya Vardhan of India 6-0, 7-5 in the final. Sixteen-year-old Aditi Paturi won her first WT Junior Circuit title in doubles, with partner Prachi Malik of India. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Disha Kumar and Riddhi Shinde of India 6-0, 6-1 in the final.

At the J30 in Colombia last week, 16-year-old Luciana Chica won her first WT Junior Circuit singles title, and her third doubles title. She defeated Odritza Anyelina Sequera Freitez of Venezuela 6-3, 6-3 in the singles final and partnered with Colombian Sara Sofia Lopez Gutierrez for the doubles title. The No. 4 seeds beat No. 2 seeds Sequera and Maria Camila Velez Aristizabal of Colombia 7-6(4) 6-4 in the final. 

Riley Anson reached the final of the J200 in China last week, with the unseeded Southern Californian falling to No. 5 seed Alexey Shibaev of Russia 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3).

This week's World Tennis Junior tournament in the United States is a J100 in San Antonio, and with a Friday finish, the quarterfinals already set, with neither draw's top two seeds are still in contention.

Daniil Berezin beat top seed Felipe Mamede of Brazil 7-5, 6-2 and wild card Smyan Thuta defeated No. 2 seed Anay Kulkarni 6-4, 6-2 in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals, along with six other Americans.

Anna Scott Laney defeated top seed Sophia Budacsek 6-4, 6-3 in the first round, and Autumn Xu beat No. 2 seed Sydney Wright 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, also in the first round. Thirteen-year-old Nikol Davletshina, who lives in the US but represent Russia, is the only non-American in the girls quarterfinals.

There's a J200 in Montreal this week that has also drawn many Americans, with Kalamazoo 16s finalists and US Open doubles quarterfinalists Daniel Malacek[4] and Kamil Stolarczyk[5] through to the quarterfinals, as is No. 3 seed Erik Schinnerer. 

Five US girls are through to the quarterfinals: Sylvana Jalbert[6], Ellery Mendell[3], Kalista Papadopoulos[8], Reiley Rhodes[4] and Aarini Bhattacharya[7]. Avery Alexander and Clemence Mercier of Canada, the top two seeds, are also through, playing Jalbert and Bhattacharya respectively.