ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Rule Changes for 2020: Coaching Out, No Let Rule Stays

The ITF has published its new Junior Circuit rules for 2020 and I don't see a huge number of major changes this year.  The big news is the discontinuation of the changeover coaching trial implemented in 2019.

Last year, at Grade A and Grade 1 events, when a chair umpire was present, a player could request a consultation with a coach, on a changeover, once per set. The coach had to register with the ITF supervisor prior to the start of the tournament.

In announcing that the trial would not be continued, the ITF release said:  Significant analysis was undertaken of the use of on-court coaching in 2019: how often it was used; at which stage of the match; and whether it had an effect on the result of the match. Players and coaches were also surveyed and asked their opinion about the advantages, and any drawbacks, of on-court coaching; how often they used it; and whether they supported its permanent introduction. As a result of this research, the ITF Juniors Committee decided not to introduce on-court coaching as a permanent feature of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors.

I don't know if any of those surveys were ever released, but I have not heard that they are available to the public. Unlike many in the tennis community, I don't have strong feelings one way or the other on coaching in tennis. I do think it is more appropriate to have it in juniors than elsewhere, but apparently the ITF found little support for this initiative, so coaching will go back to being done on the sly at junior events.

Cannon Kingsley talks with his coach at 2019 US Open Junior Championships

The ITF may not allow coaching any longer, but the junior slams are not obligated to follow their rules, even if the junior slams are ITF Grade A designated events. The Australian Open did allow coaching during junior matches this year, and the US Open has allowed it for several years now, so for the slams, those decisions will be made independently.

The rule allowing service lets to be played continues, and with this the third year, I don't see any reason to expect that to change. Again, an exception exists for the junior slams; Wimbledon does not use this rule for its Junior Championships, but it customary now throughout the rest of the ITF Junior Circuit.

The junior slam exception also applies to the ITF's heat rule, which remains unchanged from 2018. The Australian Open used its own system for matches this year, and junior matches were suspended one day, but AO has a much higher threshold than that appearing in the ITF regulations.

As I do every year, I encourage everyone to read the entire junior regulations. I admit I don't look forward to doing it every January, but when I do, I always learn something. At the very least, read the ITF's synopsis of the changes for 2020, and look through the full regulations for the underlined parts, which represent changes for this year. Below are some of the items that are new for 2020:

• One of the most common changes in the past few years has been point adjustments, and the new point schedule has raised the points granted substantially, in both singles and doubles, for Grades A, 1 and 2. The only round not receiving more points is the winner of a junior slam or a Grade A; all others, including slam and Grade A finalists, will receive more points. I'm not sure what problem this solves, it would be nice if this was the last such change for a while.

• There is a new 16-and-under Regional Reserved category for entry into Grade 2s through Grade 5s, but this agreement is between the ITF and Tennis Europe and COSAT, the South American federation, so will not impact those in North America. 

• The minimum numbers of players in a Grade 1 draw has been reduced from 48 to 32. 

• There is a new regulation requiring a Grade A to have a minimum number of entries--64--or risk a decreased number of points the following year. I'm not sure if this is directed at the new Grade A last fall in South Africa, which did not have a qualifying tournament and still failed to fill the draw, with 63 in the boys main draw and 61 in the girls main draw.

• Junior draws are to be done in public and individuals are welcome to witness the procedure after notifying the supervisor that they would like to be present.

• Juniors who attain a Top 200 ITF junior ranking are required to complete anti-doping and integrity modules on the ITF Knowledge educational website within three months of moving into the Top 200.

• Warmups will use the 1-5-1 model the ATP and WTA now have, but without chair umpires in 90 percent of the matches, I don't see how this can possibly be enforced at the junior level.

• There has been an increase in the number of tournaments that year-end Top 20 juniors can receive exempt entry into this year, from three to five. 

• There are now 3 places reserved for ITF Top 100 Juniors at $15,000 World Tennis Tour events.

Ohio State, USC Top Two Seeds at ITA Men's National Team Indoor Championships; Qualifying Complete at Women's $100K and Men's $25K; Collegians Prosper at Cleveland Challenger

The draw has been released for this weekend's ITA Men's Division I National Team Indoor Championships in Wisconsin, with Ohio State seeded No. 1 and Southern California seeded No. 2. The Buckeyes defeated the Trojans 4-2 in Columbus on Sunday and are at home against Texas A&M tonight before heading to Madison. Unlike the women's draw, which only has eight of the 16 teams seeded, the men have always seeded 1-16 and matched those up directly, with 1 playing 16, 2 playing 15, down to 8 vs 9.

Here are the seeds:
1. Ohio State
2. Southern Cal
3. Texas
4. North Carolina
5. Florida
6. Texas A&M
7. Stanford
8. Baylor
9. Wake Forest
10. NC State
11. Michigan
12. Columbia
13. South Carolina
14. UCLA
15. TCU
16. Wisconsin

Play begins on Friday. Here's the schedule:
Texas[3] v UCLA[14] 9 a.m.
Texas A&M[6] v Michigan[11] 9 a.m.
Stanford[7] v NC State[10] noon
USC[2] v TCU[15] noon
Florida[5] v Columbia[12] 3:30 p.m.
South Carolina[13] v North Carolina[4] 3:30 p.m.
Wake Forest[9] v Baylor[8] 6:30 p.m.
Ohio State[1] v Wisconsin[16] 6:30 p.m.

There are three events this week on the USTA Pro Circuit, with the women blessed with a $100,000 tournament for a second straight week. Lexington's Top Seed Tennis Club, which hosted the 2019 ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed for the first time time last October, is the the site of this week's event, which has drawn many of the same players that appeared in Midland.

Qualifying ended today, with Jamie Loeb(UNC), who reached the semifinals last week in Midland, Maria Mateas(Duke), Ellie Halbauer, Hanna Chang and Grace Min the American qualifiers. The top seed this week is Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, with wild cards going to Cici Bellis, Irina Falconi, Claire Liu and former Kentucky star Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia. Seventeen-year-old Whitney Osuigwe, the No. 8 seed, is playing her first event since the Australian Open qualifying. She advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Sutjiadi today.

The men have two events this week, with qualifying concluding today at the $25,000 tournament in Naples Florida. Alex Rybakov(TCU) and Evan Zhu(UCLA) are the Americans who qualified for the main draw. Former North Carolina star Jose Hernandez-Fernandez of the Dominican Republic is the top seed and he won his first round match today over 2019 French Open Junior champion Holger Rune of Denmark. Wild cards were given to Texas recruit Micah Braswell, Florida State recruit John Bernard, Martin Damm and Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M). 2019 Kalamazoo doubles champions Damm and Toby Kodat, who have not played together much since the US Open  last year, beat top seeds Hunter and Yates Johnson(SMU) 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 in the first round of doubles today.

The other men's event this week is an ATP 80 Challenger in Cleveland, with Maxime Cressy, the recent UCLA graduate, defending his title. Cressy, who is unseeded this week, defeated Luke Saville of Australia 6-3, 6-4 in first round action Monday.  Former Virginia star JC Aragone beat No. 2 seed Christopher O'Connell of Australia 7-6(5), 6-2 today, and wild card Raymond Sarmiento(USC) beat No. 16 seed Ji Sung Nam of Korea 6-3, 6-2. They will face off in the third round Thursday. Top seed Denis Kudla, a finalist last week in Dallas, will play former USC star Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador in the second round tomorrow, and former Ohio State Buckeye JJ Wolf, the No. 6 seed, will play Dallas champion Jurij Rodionov of Austria, who is unseeded again this week.

North Carolina Women Blank UCLA for Fourth Team Indoor Title; 15 Americans Begin Play at Brazil's Grade A Banana Bowl; US Advances to Fed Cup Final; Men's Davis Cup Team Named

North Carolina wins its fourth ITA Team Indoor title
(photo via ITA)

The North Carolina Tar Heels claimed their fourth ITA Women's Team Indoor Championship Monday in Chicago, with the No. 2 seeds defeating No. 4 seeds UCLA 4-0.  Although it will go in the record books as a shutout, North Carolina had to negotiate some tough moments, first to win the doubles point, and then in closing out the singles portion of the competition.

One minute after North Carolina won the doubles match on court 2, with Cameron Morra and Elizabeth Scotty beating Abbey Forbes and Annette Goulak 6-2, UCLA's Elysia Bolton and Jada Hart handed Sara Daavettila and Alexa Graham their first lost of the year by the same score. That put the doubles point in the hands of the No. 3 court, where North Carolina's Makenna Jones and Alle Sanford were up 5-3 against Abi Altick and Taylor Johnson, after Jones had held from 15-40 down.  Altick and Johnson saved two match points in the next game, with Altick holding from 30-40 down. Serving for the match at 5-4, Sanford double faulted, badly, three straight times to give Altick and Johnson three break points, but with Jones active at the net, UNC brought it back to the deuce point. Sanford then double faulted again, to make it 5-5, but Johnson lost her serve on a deciding point to give Jones her opportunity to close it. Up 40-0, Jones lost the team's fourth match point, but a good first serve sealed match point No. 5 for the Tar Heels.

UCLA got a quick lead at line 3, with Hart blanking Morra in the first set, but Jones, who played No. 1 for North Carolina last year at the Team Indoor, dominated Goulak at line 5, and it was Jones who earned the first first set and the second Tar Heel point, with a 6-0, 6-2 victory. North Carolina had won four first sets, to give themselves a comfortable advantage, and when Graham took the first set from Bolton in a tiebreaker at 1, the Bruins chances looked bleak.  Morra fought back to take the second set at line 3, while Scotty closed out Altick at line 4 to give North Carolina a 3-0 lead.

Alexa Graham clinches the win for the Tar Heels
(photo courtesy ITA/Jacob Dye)

Sanford had looked like the clincher, up 6-2, 5-2, over Sasha Vagramov at line 6, but she couldn't close, with Vagramov giving the Bruins hope by winning four straight games and forcing a tiebreaker. But while the freshman from Canada was coming back, Graham had opened up a lead second set lead on Bolton at line 1, and the senior efficiently closed it out, clinching North Carolina's fourth championship, all since 2013.

The Tar Heels are now tied for third with Georgia in all-time National Indoor titles, with Stanford[10] and Florida[7] the only teams ahead of them.

For more on the match, see this account from the North Carolina website.

ITA Women’s Division I National Team Indoor Championships
February 10, 2020
North Carolina[2] d. UCLA[4] 4-0

Doubles:
Bolton/Hart (UCLA) def. Daavettila/Graham (UNC) 6-2
Morra/Scotty (UNC) def. Forbes/Goulak (UCLA) 6-2
Jones/Sanford (UNC) def. Altick/Johnson (UCLA) 7-5

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

Singles:
#7 Alexa Graham (UNC) def. #14 Elysia Bolton (UCLA) 7-6(4), 6-3
#4 Sara Daavettila (UNC) vs. #5 Abbey Forbes (UCLA) 7-5, 3-6, unfinished
#9 Cameron Morra (UNC) vs. #16 Jada Hart (UCLA) 0-6, 6-4, 2-2, unfinished
Elizabeth Scotty (UNC) def. Abi Altick (UCLA) 6-4, 6-1
#101 Makenna Jones (UNC) def. #112 Annette Goulak (UCLA) 6-0, 6-2
#36 Alle Sanford (UNC) vs. Sasha Vagramov (UCLA) 6-2, 6-6(5-2), unfinished

Order of finish: 5, 4, 1

The second Grade A of the year is underway this week in Brazil, with four US boys and 11 US girls in the main draw of the Banana Bowl. The boys competing for their first Grade A title this week are Dali Blanch[4], Bruno Kuzuhara[12], Victor Lilov and Murphy Cassone.  As he has been in the last three South American Grade 1s, Nathan Rodrigues of Brazil is the top seed. Luciano Darderi of Italy, who won those three tournaments, is seeded No. 2 and Cassone has drawn him in the first round.

The US girls competing this week are Madison Sieg[6], Elvina Kalieva[8], Sofia Rojas[12], Isabelle Kouzmanov[13], Hibah Shaikh, Tara Malik, Alexis Blokhina, Hina Inoue, Dakota Fordham, Emma Jackson and qualifier Krystal Blanch.

Late Saturday night, the US Fed Cup team advanced to April's 12-team final in Budapest Hungary, beating Latvia 3-2.  Serena Williams and Sofia Kenin gave the US a 2-0 lead on Friday, but Jelena Ostapenko and Anastasia Sevastova beat Kenin and Williams in the reverse singles to send the tie to a deciding doubles match, which Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won, 6-4, 6-0, over Ostapenko and Sevastova. For more on the tie, see this article from usta.com.

The USTA announced its Davis Cup team for next month's qualifying match against Uzbekistan, with Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul and the Bryan brothers hoping to send the US to November's Davis Cup competition in Madrid. It will be the last Davis Cup appearance for the Bryan brothers, who are retiring this year. Fritz and Opelka played on the US Davis Cup team last year; it is Paul's first time on the team. The tie is March 6th and 7th in Honolulu. Click here for today's announcement from the USTA.

North Carolina and UCLA Dominate Semifinals at Women's D-I ITA Team Indoor Championships; Ohio State Men Beat USC; Ritschard Takes Palm Coast $25K; Rogers Wins Dow $100K; Darderi Claims Third Straight Grade 1 in South America

XS Tennis Village Courts in Chicago, site of the Women's ITA Team Indoor Championships, photo courtesy of ITA/Jacob Dye

After some tense quarterfinal matches Saturday, today's semifinals at the ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor Championships were short on excitement, with No. 2 seed North Carolina defeating Duke 4-0 and No. 4 seed UCLA steamrolling top seed Stanford 4-0.

North Carolina took the doubles point with 6-4 wins at No. 1 and No. 3, with Duke leading at No. 2. The Tar Heels got quick wins from Sara Daavettila at line 2 and Alle Sanford at line 6 to make it 3-0, with Makenna Jones clinching for North Carolina with a 6-4, 6-3 decision over Chloe Beck at line 5. Duke won just two sets, at line 1 and line 4, but Duke's Kelly Chen was at match point against Alexa Graham at line 1 when Jones clinched. North Carolina has now made the Team Indoor finals for the sixth consecutive year; they won the title in 2015 and 2018, and finished runner-up in 2016, 2017 and 2019. They won their first Team Indoor title in 2013.

UCLA's victory over Stanford was even more impressive than North Carolina's over Duke. The Bruins took the doubles point with 6-1 wins at 1 and 2 and led 5-2 at line 3. In singles they won all six first sets, and although Michaela Gordon came back to take the second set from Elysia Bolton at line 1, that was the only set the Cardinal could muster. Swift victories by Abbey Forbes and line 2 and Jada Hart at line 3 made it 3-0, and freshman Sasha Vagramov closed it out on a deuce point, beating Emma Higuchi 6-3, 6-3 at line 6.  UCLA will be seeking its second Team Indoor title, with their first coming in 2012. The Bruins made the final the next two years, losing to UNC in 2013 and Duke in 2014. This is their first finals appearance since then.

The final is set for 11 a.m. central time on Monday. Live streaming and live scoring is available at the ITA tournament page. Links to on demand matches are also available there.

A week after beating No. 1 Texas, the Ohio State men defeated this week's No. 1 USC 4-2 in Columbus this afternoon. Ohio State, No. 2 in the ITA rankings, won a excruciatingly tight doubles point, then got a win from freshman Cannon Kingsley (over ITA No. 1 Daniel Cukierman) at line 2 before Mor Bulis put the Trojans on the board with a win at line 4. Buckeye John McNally beat Brandon Holt at line 1 to make it 3-1, but the other three matches all went to third sets.  USC's Riley Smith rallied to beat Kyle Seelig at line 3 to make it 3-2, but James Trotter closed out the win for Ohio State at line 5, defeating freshman Stefan Dostanic 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2. There are no ITA rankings released this week for the men, with their Team Indoor beginning on Friday in Wisconsin, but it will be interesting to see how the USTA panel votes, after putting North Carolina at the No. 1 spot ahead of Ohio State last week. UNC shut out No. 11 TCU today.

At the $25,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Palm Coast Florida, No. 6 seed Alexander Ritschard defeated unseeded Martins Podzus of Latvia 7-6(7), 6-4 to earn his fifth ITF World Tennis Tour singles title and the second at the $25K level. The 25-year-old, who graduated from the University of Virginia in 2017, is at an ATP career-high of 333 now and should move up when the points are added the week of the 17th.

Another American seeded sixth took a title today, with considerably less work. Shelby Rogers won the biggest title of her career without hitting a ball today, when No. 7 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine could not play in the $100,000 Dow Tennis Classic final due to a foot injury. Rogers, who was out for nearly 18 months with knee surgery in 2018 and 2019, is now headed back toward the WTA Top 100 after falling into the 700s at the beginning of last year. The final singles draw is here.

Top seeds Caroline Dolehide and Maria Sanchez(USC) won the doubles title Saturday night, beating No. 2 seeds Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and Valeria Savinykh of Russia 6-3, 6-4.

No. 5 seed Denis Kudla fell to unseeded Jurij Rodionov of Austria 7-5, 7-6(10) in the final of the ATP 100 Challenger in Dallas this afternoon. In the doubles final, unseeded Dennis Novikov(UCLA) and Goncalo Oliveira of Portugal defeated No. 3 seeds Luis Martinez of Venezuela and Miguel Reyes-Varela(Texas) of Mexico 6-3, 6-4.

At the ITF Grade 1 in Brazil, Luciano Darderi of Italy won his third straight title in South America, extending his record this year in ITF Grade 1 play to 15-0. After winning the Grade 1 titles in Ecuador and Paraguay, Darderi, who turns 18 next week, was the No. 10 seed this week and he defeated unseeded Adolfo Vallejo of Paraguay 7-5, 6-4 in today's final, winning all five of his matches in straight sets.

Unseeded Matilde Paoletti of Italy won the girls title, beating Stanford recruit Ana Geller of Argentina, the No. 2 seed, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5. It's the first Grade 1 title for the 16-year-old, who made the quarterfinals and semifinals of the previous two Grade 1s in Ecuador and Paraguay.

UNC, Duke, UCLA and Stanford Reach ITA Women's Team Indoor Semifinals; Kudla, Rogers and Ritschard Make USTA Pro Circuit Finals

Conference rivals will square off Sunday in the semifinals of the ITA Division I Women's Team Indoor Championships, with three of the top four seeds advancing to the final four.

UNC's Alexa Graham and Sara Daavettila defeated NC State's Alana Smith
and Anna Rogers, No. 1 in the country, 6-1 in doubles today. (photo courtesy ITA)

The unseeded team in the semifinals is Duke, who took out No. 3 seed and defending champion Georgia 4-2 in the closest of the four quarterfinals. Kelly Chen defeated Katarina Jokic at line 1 to clinch the win for the Blue Devils, who avenged their loss to Georgia in last year's NCAA semifinals. For the third year in a row, Duke will take on North Carolina in the Indoor semifinals, with the Tar Heels winning in 2018 and 2019.  North Carolina defeated NC State, one of five ACC teams in the quarterfinals, 4-1 today.

Top seed Stanford wasn't pushed quite as hard as in the round of 16, when they beat Michigan 4-3, but the Cardinal did get a tough test from Georgia Tech before Emily Arbuthnott closed it out at line 2.

UCLA earned a quick win over Florida State, who had managed to claim just one set before the Bruins got their fourth point. For recaps of each match, click on the links below.

Quarterfinals Women's D-I Team Indoor
February 8, 2020
North Carolina[2] d. NC State[7] 4-1
Duke d. Georgia[3] 4-2
Stanford[1] d. Georgia Tech 4-1
UCLA[4] d. Florida State 4-0

Semifinals Women's D-I Team Indoor
February 9, 2020
North Carolina[2] v Duke, noon
Stanford[1] v UCLA[4], 3:30

For the live streaming link, the live scoring link and results from consolation matches, see the ITA tournament page. On demand replays are also available for selected matches. See the recap of Friday's action for links to those.

Denis Kudla has advanced to the final of the ATP 100 Challenger in Dallas after the No. 5 seed defeated for USC star Emilio Gomez, the No. 10 seed, 6-4, 6-4 tonight. Kudla will play unseeded Jurij Rodionov of Austria in Sunday's final after Rodionov defeated No. 3 seed Dominik Koepfer(Tulane) of Germany 7-6(7), 6-2 in the day's first semifinal.

No. 6 seed Shelby Rogers is through to the final of the $100,000 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland after defeating unseeded wild card Irina Falconi 7-5, 7-6(4). She will play No. 7 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, who beat unseeded Jamie Loeb 6-0, 6-1 in this afternoon's semifinal.  The final will be streamed here.

At the $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Palm Coast Florida, former University of Virginia star Alexander Ritschard is through to the final, after beating qualifier Daniel Dutra da Silva of Brazil 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Ritschard, the No. 6 seed, will face unseeded Martins Podzus of Latvia, who defeated wild card Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-4, 6-3 in Sunday's final.

Rybakov did earn a title this week, partnering with Justin Butsch(LSU) for the doubles championship. The unseeded wild cards beat Simon Freund(LSU/UCSB) of Sweden and Jaume Pla Malfeito of Spain, also unseeded, 2-6, 7-5, 12-10.

My Conversation with Four-Time NCAA Singles Champion Eudice Chong; Stanford Escapes, Unseeded Duke, Georgia Tech and Florida State Advance at Women's D-I Team Indoor; Rogers, Falconi and Loeb Reach Semis at Dow Tennis Classic

When I was in Midland, I caught up with several players I've known from juniors or college, including Eudice Chong of Wesleyan, the four-time NCAA Division III singles champion, who graduated in 2018. Chong, who is from Hong Kong, returned there after graduation to begin a pro career, and in 2019, her first full year on tour, she played mostly in Asia. But she is making a swing through the United States this winter and I was able to talk with her about life on tour, what she's improved in her game, Wesleyan's National Team title the year after she left and her goals for 2020 in this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The first matches of the ITA Division I Women's Team Indoor Championships were today in Chicago, and although No. 6 seed Pepperdine, No. 7 seed Texas and No. 8 seed Ohio State lost, the biggest story was probably top seed Stanford's last-match-on win over Michigan. Stanford's Emma Higuchi won the last four games of the third set at line 6 to clinch the win for the Cardinal. The other 4-3 match was Florida State's win over Texas in the last match of the night.

Below are the results, with links to the winning team's coverage of the match.

Links to live streaming(with commentary by the Cracked Racquets crew) and live scoring can be found at the ITA tournament site.

Round of 16 Women’s DI Team Indoor
February 7, 2020

North Carolina[2] d. Arizona State, 4-1
NC State[7] d. Princeton, 4-0
Georgia[3] d. Virginia, 4-2
Duke d. Pepperdine[6] 4-1
Stanford[1] d. Michigan, 4-3
Georgia Tech d. Ohio State[8] 4-1
UCLA[4] d. Illinois, 4-0
Florida State d. Texas[5] 4-3

Quarterfinals Women's DI Team Indoor
February 8, 2020

North Carolina[2] v. NC State[7], noon
Georgia[3] v. Duke, noon
Stanford[1] v. Georgia Tech, 3:30
UCLA[4] v. Florida State, 3:30

At the $100,000 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, No. 2 seed Caty McNally lost in the quarterfinals to No. 7 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, with Kalinina's win preventing the semifinals from being exclusively American. No. 6 seed Shelby Rogers defeated qualifier Gabriela Talaba of Romania 6-4, 6-4 and will play unseeded Irina Falconi, who came back to record a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 5 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.  Kalinina will face unseeded Jamie Loeb, who defeated Catherine Harrison 6-4, 6-3.

Live streaming of the event is available here.

In contrast to Midland, only one American has advanced to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 100 in Dallas, with No. 5 seed Dennis Kudla defeating top seed Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 7-6(6) tonight. JJ Wolf and Mackenzie McDonald both were defeated in the quarterfinals today. Wolf(Ohio State) lost to Emilio Gomez(USC) of Ecuador 7-6(8), 7-6(6) and McDonald(UCLA) lost to Dominik Koepfer(Tulane) of Germany 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Kudla will play Gomez in the semifinals.

At the $25,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit event in Palm Coast Florida, two Americans have advanced to the semifinals: Alex Rybakov(TCU) and Alexander Ritschard(Virginia). Rybakov, a wild card, beat No. 2 seed Sandro Ehrat of Switzerland in the first round and today beat Martin Redlicki(UCLA) 6-3, 6-4. He will play unseeded Martins Podzus of Latvia in the semifinal. Ritschard, the No. 6 seed, defeated unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-2, 6-1 and will take on qualifier Daniel Dutra Da Silva of Brazil for a place in the final.

Rybakov and his partner Justin Butsch(LSU), who received a wild card, have reached the doubles final against unseeded Simon Freund(LSU/UCSB) of Sweden and Jaume Pla Malfeito of Spain.