Eubanks Claims Title at Knoxville Challenger; Champaign Challenger to Decide Australian Open Wild Card; Jubb Wins Harlingen $25K; Trio of ITF's Top Juniors Earn First Pro Titles; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Results, 2022 Calendar

When Christopher Eubanks makes 78 percent of his first serves, he is going to be hard to beat, and the former Georgia Tech All-American was on top of his game today in the final of the ATP Challenger 80 in Knoxville. The unseeded 25-year-old from Atlanta defeated No. 2 seed Daniel Altmaier of Germany 6-3, 6-4 to win his third career Challenger title and his second this year.

Both Eubanks and Altamier had eight aces in the match, but that doesn't give an accurate picture of Eubanks' dominance on serve. His many service winners, and his first forehand on Altmaier's weak returns were also part of the story. Eubanks did not face a break point, in fact was never even taken to deuce on his serve, and his unforced errors were few, giving Altmaier little hope that he could get a break and change the dynamic of the match, as he had done in his quarterfinal win over Jack Sock and his semifinal win over Michael Mmoh.

Eubanks, who won the Orlando Challenger in June, told me that returning to Atlanta and to the basic strengths of his game would be key elements for him in moving up the ATP rankings. "I think that's something that's maybe happened to me in the past, losing the identity of how I want to play, kind of shutting out the noise. For me, [college] was having that constant reinforcement: this is how you're going to play and this is what we're doing every day to make sure you're as good as possible at executing that kind of game style." (My interview with Eubanks can be found at the Tennis Recruiting Network).

Eubanks will now be just a couple of spots off his career-high of 147 reached in April of 2019 and he can plan on Australian Open qualifying, a luxury he did not have with Wimbledon right after winning the Orlando Challenger(see the article linked above). He is not playing in Champaign next week, so he is not in the running for the USTA's Australian Open wild card. That will be decided between Stefan Kozlov, JJ Wolf(Ohio State) and Michael Mmoh, all of whom are entered in Champaign. Kozlov and Wolf are scheduled to play their first round matches Monday.

Qualifying began today in Champaign, and already there has been a big upset, with wild card Hunter Heck, a sophomore at Illinois, beating top qualifying seed Aidan McHugh, a quarterfinalist at Knoxville, 6-4, 6-4. Heck will take on Florida sophomore Ben Shelton, who beat No. 5 seed Govind Nanda(UCLA) by the same score. 

Maxime Cressy(UCLA) lost to Oscar Otte of Germany 7-6(5), 6-4 today in the final of the ATP Challenger 80 in Ortisei Italy, ending his opportunity to win the Australian Open wild card. Even if he wins next week's Challenger in France, he can't catch Kozlov. (CORRECTION: there are 100 points on offer in France, so Cressy can catch Kozlov with the title).

In other college champion news, 2019 NCAA singles champion Paul Jubb (South Carolina) of Great Britain won the $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Harlingen Texas today. The top seed defeated unseeded Baylor junior Adrian Boitan of Romania 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 for his third $25K title since September. Jubb, who has now won five ITF World Tennis Tour men's singles titles this year, and seven in his career, will improve on his current career-high ATP ranking of 342 when the points are added in two weeks.

At the $25,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Daytona Beach, No. 2 seed Irina Fetecau of Romania defeated top seed Alycia Parks 6-1, 6-2.

There were several notable results today from top ITF Juniors, which I'm featuring here because I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze them into the November Aces column.

ITF No. 1 junior Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra won her first ITF World Tennis Tour women's singles title today at the $25,000 tournament in Brazil. The unseeded 16-year-old left-hander, who is entered in both the Mexico JA and the Orange Bowl, defeated top seed and WTA 116 Panna Udvardy of Hungary 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

Seventeen-year-old Diana Shnaider of Russia, won her first pro title at the $15,000 ITF WTT women's tournament in Turkey today. Shnaider, who is entered in the J1 Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, defeated No. 4 seed Pia Lovric of Slovenia 6-3, 6-2 in the final. 

Incoming University of Texas freshman Pierre Yves Bailly of Belgium won his first ITF WTT title today at the $15,000 tournament in Tunisia. The 18-year-old Bailly, who is joining the Longhorns in January, defeated No. 7 seed Dominik Boehler of Germany 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 in a three-hour final. 

Both Shnaider, ranked 5, and Bailly, ranked 24, received entry based on the ITF junior reserved program, which provides spots in the main draw for juniors ranked in the ITF Top 100.

Below is the latest results from the UTR Pro Tennis Tour events in the United States from mid-September through this weekend. The winners receive $3475, while the finalists receive $1750 in these tournaments, which feature a round robin stage leading to a knockout round. The calendar for the first half of 2022 has been released, and there are still quite a few events remaining before the end of this year, including a men's tournament in New York December 26 through January 2.

WOMEN:

Sept 20 College Station
Tatiana Makarova d. Jayci Goldsmith 6-3, 6-4

Sept 27 Atlanta
Luciana Perry d. Ashton Bowers 1-6, 6-2, 6-1

Oct 11 Newport Beach
Marcela Zacarias d. Nikita Vishwase 6-0, 6-1

Oct 18 Newport Beach
Marcela Zacarias d. Rebecca Lynn 6-1, 6-1

Oct 25 Charleston
Makenna Jones d. Kennedy Shaffer 6-4, 6-4

Nov 1 Naples
Victoria Rodriguez d. Ariana Pursoo 6-3, 6-3

Nov 8 Atlanta
Victoria Rodriguez d. Peangtarn Plipuech 6-4, 6-2

MEN:

Sept 20 College Station
Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi d. Pierce Rollins 6-3, 6-4

Oct 4 Sacramento
Will Peters d. Lucca Liu 6-4, 5-7, 6-0

Oct 11 Newport Beach
JC Aragone d. Govind Nanda 6-2, 6-3

Nov 1 Miami
Maximiliano Estevez d. Francisco Bastias 4-6, 6-4, 6-1

Nov 8 Newport Beach
Maciej Rajski d. Patrick Zahraj 6-3, 7-5

Paul Closes with a Flourish to Win First ATP Title; Korda Loses in ATP Next Gen Finals; Eubanks Advances to Knoxville Challenger Final; UCLA/Texas Combo Claims Pro Circuit Title

It wasn't looking good for Tommy Paul in the final of the ATP 250 in Stockholm Sweden, the first ATP final of his career. At 4-all in the third set against defending champion Denis Shapovalov of Canada, Paul was serving, down 15-40. Not only did he win the next four points to hold serve, the 24-year-old American broke Shapovalov at love, then held at love--12 consecutive points won to earn his first ATP title. 

Paul will move to a career-high 43 in the rankings with the title, becoming the sixth American in the Top 50. Of those six, only John Isner is over the age of 24.

The ATP article, along with video highlights of the final, can be found here. The ATP also conducted a "first-time winner" interview with Paul. In addition recognizing the contribution of his coach Brad Stine, Paul mentions others who will be familiar to those who followed Paul's years on the junior circuit. 

With Alison Riske's title at the WTA 250 in Austria yesterday, the US can boast of two champions on tour this weekend, but not a third. Sebastian Korda, who reached the final of the ATP's Next Gen Finals this week in Milan, lost to 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 4-3(5), 4-2, 4-2. As with Jannik Sinner, who won the Next Gen title as an 18-year-old in 2019, Alcaraz is not expected to compete in future competitions, as he continues his ascent to the ATP Top 10 in 2022.

For more on the final, see this article.

Two more Americans can earn Challenger titles Sunday, with Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) advancing to the final in Knoxville, and Maxime Cressy(UCLA) reaching the final in Italy. Eubanks, who is unseeded, defeated No. 8 seed Bjorn Fratangelo today 7-5, 7-5 to advance to his fourth Challenger final and his second this year. Eubanks will face No. 2 seed Daniel Altmaier of Germany, who beat Michael Mmoh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Almaier, a 23-year-old who had an unremarkable junior career, should move into the ATP Top 100 for the first time Monday, regardless of the outcome of Sunday's final. 

Eubanks is playing the abbreviated World Team Tennis season the next two weeks in Indian Wells, but with his success this week in Knoxville, he won't be there for the New York Empire for their opening match tonight.  Tommy Paul is also scheduled to play for the Chicago Smash, beginning next Saturday.

No. 2 seed Cressy, who has gone semifinal, final, final the last three weeks in European Challengers, will face No. 1 seed Oscar Otte of Germany in the final of the ATP Challenger 80 in Ortisei. Otte defeated Cressy in the semifinals in Germany two weeks ago en route to the title.

The doubles title was decided today in Knoxville, with the unseeded team of Blaz Rola(Ohio State) of Slovenia and Malek Jaziri of Tunisia beating top seeds Hans Hach Verdugo(Abilene Christian) and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela(Texas) of Mexico 3-6, 6-3, 10-5.

At the $25,000 women's Pro Circuit tournament in Daytona Beach, top seed Alycia Parks advanced to the final, where she will take on No. 2 seed Irina Fetecau of Romania. Parks defeated qualifier Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, while Fetecau beat No. 6 seed Sujeong Jang of Korea 6-4, 7-5.

In the doubles final, two current collegians captured the title. Elysia Bolton, a senior at UCLA (although not currently listed on the 2021-22 roster) and Kylie Collins, a sophomore at Texas, won the battle of unseeded finalists today. Bolton and Collins defeated Parks and Alexandra Osborne of Australia 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-5 in exactly two hours. Bolton won a $25K title last month with Maegan Manasse(Cal), while Collins won a $25K title this summer with Robin Montgomery. 

Another current collegian, Baylor junior Adrian Boitan, has advanced to the final of the $25,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Harlingen. The unseeded 22-year-old from Romania defeated No. 3 seed Matias Descotte of Argentina 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in a nearly three-hour semifinal. He will take on top seed Paul Jubb of Great Britain, the 2019 NCAA singles champion while at South Carolina. Jubb defeated No. 4 seed Christian Langmo(Miami) 7-5, 6-1.

Boitan and former Baylor teammate Constantin Frantzen of Germany reached the doubles final unseeded, but lost in today's final to No. 3 seeds Mark Whitehouse of Great Britain and Francis Alcantara(Pepperdine) of the Philippines 7-6(3), 5-7, 10-7.

More Division I NLI Signings; Korda Reaches Championship Match at Next Gen Finals; Paul Beats Tiafoe in Stockholm; Riske Wins Title in Austria; Three American Semifinalists at Knoxville Challenger

The Division I signing announcements continue to dominate the college tennis news now that the fall season is winding down. If there is no country mentioned, the player is from the United States. Here's the latest:

Women:

Auburn has signed DJ Bennett and Katherine Simone.

Boston College has signed Natalie Eordekian and Seren Agar.

LSU has signed Nikita Vishwase and Noor Carrington.

Michigan has signed Elisabeth Jones.

Minnesota has signed Aiva Schmitz of Germany.

Notre Dame has signed Rylie Hanford, Akari Matsuno and Bojana Pozder.

Oregon has signed Jo-Yee Chan.

Rutgers has signed Mai Nguyen.

USC has signed Madison Sieg and Emma Charney.

Vanderbilt has signed Bridget Stammel and Sonya Macavei. (My Tennis Recruiting Network article on Macavei's decision can be found here).

Washington has signed Melissa Sakar, a graduate transfer from Columbia, and Erika Matsuda of Japan.

Washington State has signed Stefaniia Mikhailova of Russia and Elyse Tse of New Zealand, who will start in January.

MEN:

Central Florida has signed Luca Hotze.

Florida has signed 2020 Orange Bowl 16s champion Jonah Braswell.

Georgia Tech has signed Robert Bauer.

Illinois has signed Oliver Okonkwo, a transfer from Iowa, Tyler Bowers and Kenta Miyoshi of Japan.

New Mexico has signed Daniil Kukhniuk, who will start in January, and Nikoley Sysoev of Russia.

Texas A&M has signed Mathias Bondaz of France.

Utah has signed Geremia Rossi of Switzerland and Berk Bugarik of Macedonia.

Western Michigan has signed Derek Distelrath.

Wichita State has signed Luke Bracks.

Sebastian Korda at Wimbledon 2021
photo credit: AELTC/Jonathan Nackstrand

Sebastian Korda defeated Brandon Nakashima in today's ATP Next Gen semifinals 4-3(3), 2-4, 1-4, 4-2, 4-2 to reach tomorrow night's championship match in Milan Italy. Korda will face Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, who had a much easier time in the other semifinal with Argentina's Sebastian Baez 4-2, 4-1, 4-2. For more on Korda's win over Nakashima, see this article from the ATP website.

Tommy Paul advanced to his first ATP final today in Stockholm Sweden, coming from a set and a break down to defeat Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4. Tiafoe served for the match at 7-5, 6-5, but Paul got the break back and recorded his first win over Tiafoe since the juniors to reach an ATP final for the first time. Paul will play Denis Shapovalov of Canada, who beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5 in the other semifinal between two young North Americans. For more on Paul's win, see this article from the ATP website.

Alison Riske won her first WTA title since 2019 and her third overall today in Linz Austria, defeating lucky loser Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. For more on the final, see this article from the WTA website.

The semifinals at the ATP Challenger 80 in Knoxville will feature three US men, with Bjorn Fratangelo and Christopher Eubanks beating fellow Americans in today's quarterfinals, and Michael Mmoh advancing with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over qualifier Aidan McHugh of Great Britain. McHugh had put an end to the run of Charlottesville champion Stefan Kozlov last night.  Fratangelo took out 19-year-old wild card Emilio Nava 6-4, 6-4 and Eubanks defeated Christian Harrison 6-3, 7-6(9).  No. 2 seed Daniel Altmaier of Germany prevented two all-American semifinals by defeating Jack Sock 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(2) in the night match. Altmaier will face Mmoh and Fratangelo and Eubanks will face off in the semifinals Saturday, with live streaming available, with Mike Cation providing commentary, here.

Eddie Herr ITF J1 Acceptances; Nakashima and Korda Reach ATP Next Gen Semifinals; Tiafoe and Paul Advance in Stockholm; Pro Circuit Update

The acceptances for the ITF J1 Eddie Herr, which begins on November 29th in Bradenton Florida, were released today, with five US boys and six US girls entered in the main draw. 

With the tournament, hosted by the IMG Academy, sandwiched between the two year-end JAs in Merida Mexico and the Orange Bowl in Plantation Florida, the Eddie Herr ITF fields are not always as strong as those events. This year, Bruno Kuzuhara did not enter the JA in Merida, while Victor Lilov did not enter the Eddie Herr, while both are entered in the Orange Bowl. Wimbledon boys champion Samir Banerjee, the highest ranked American boy, at No. 3, is entered only in the Orange Bowl, which is also the case with Ethan Quinn.

The US boys entered in the Eddie Herr: Bruno Kuzuhara, Ozan Colak, Aidan Kim, Benjamin Kittay and Ryan Colby. 

The US girls entered in the Eddie Herr: Elvina Kalieva, Clervie Ngounoue, Alexis Blokhina, Qavia Lopez, Liv Hovde and Katja Wiersholm. 

The girls field at the Eddie Herr features six Top 10 players (Kuzuhara and Viacheslav Bielynskyi of Ukraine are the only two Top 10 boys), including sisters Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic. As with the top boys, most are playing two of the three, with No. 1 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra playing the JAs, but not the Eddie Herr. US Open girls finalist Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus is playing the two Florida tournaments; Alexandra Eala of the Philippines is skipping the Mexican JA, as is Linda Fruhvirtova. Brenda Fruhvirtova is currently entered in all three, as is No. 15 Solana Sierra of Argentina, a semifinalist at the US Open.

The Eddie Herr cutoff was 103 for the boys and 99 for the girls.

The ATP Next Gen Finals semifinals are set, after the completion of round robin play today. Twenty-year-old Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) defeated Holger Rune of Denmark 3-4(3), 4-1, 4-1, 4-3(1), and the 21-year-old Korda beat Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 4-2, 4-3(4), 4-2 to advance, and they will face each other Friday for a place in the final. With Korda getting a late start to his junior career, and in Florida, and Nakashima from Southern California, they did not play each other then, at least that I can see. And they have not met on tour, so it should be interesting to see how they match up. The other semifinal features Spain Carlos Alcaraz and Argentina's Sebastian Baez. Both Korda and Alcaraz went undefeated in their groups.

At the ATP 250 in Stockholm, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul have advanced to a semifinal meeting, with No. 8 seed Tiafoe taking out No. 4 seed Dan Evans of Great Britain 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 and Paul beating wild card Andy Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Unlike Korda and Nakashima, Tiafoe and Paul have played many times, including at least five times in junior competition. Tiafoe has won four of those matches, including in the semifinal of the Kalamazoo 18s in 2015. Paul's lone win came in the semifinals of the Kalamazoo 16s in 2013. Both went on to win those Kalamazoo finals. 

Paul has reached an ATP semifinal three times now, and twice this year, but has yet to reach a final.

The other semifinal will feature the two young Canadians, who also played often in their junior years: Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov.

Danielle Collins(Virginia) retired in her semifinal match with Alison Riske today at the WTA 250 in Austria after dropping the first set 7-5. Riske will play lucky loser Jaqueline Cristian of Romania in the final, after Cristian received a walkover due to injury from Simona Halep.

Six of the seven quarterfinalists that have been decided at the ATP Challenger 80 in Knoxville are Americans, with wild card Emilio Nava, Bjorn Fratangelo, Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech), Christian Harrison, Michael Mmoh and Jack Sock advancing. Stefan Kozlov, last week's winner in Charlottesville, can make it seven of eight if he defeats Aidan McHugh of Great Britain tonight.

Just three US men and two US women remain in the running for the title after two rounds at the $25,000 tournaments in Harlingen Texas and Daytona Beach Florida. 

The men advancing in Texas are former University of Miami star Christian Langmo[4], Strong Kirchheimer[6](Northwestern) and 18-year-old Toby Kodat[8]. Langmo and Kodat will meet Friday for a place in the semifinals. 

The US women advancing to the quarterfinals in Florida are top seed Alycia Parks and No. 3 seed Hanna Chang.

Top Juniors Sign D-I National Letters of Intent; Lam and Kennedy Win US Playoffs for Les Petits As; Collins and Riske Reaches Semifinals in Linz; Paul and Tiafoe Advance in Stockholm

Today is National Signing Day for Division I, with high school seniors committing to joining schools in the fall of 2022. With the pandemic and other NCAA changes, signings have been steady throughout the year, but this is still an important day for many programs, as they formalize the verbal commitments their recruits have made. 

I'll be featuring the official signings that I have come across today below, but I wanted to make sure to mention the big news that broke today, with 2021 USTA National 18s finalist Reese Brantmeier posting on Instagram that she has verbally committed to North Carolina for 2022. (that info is via @PlayersPayers).

With so many of Brantmeier's cohort foregoing college (Ashlyn Kreuger, Elvina Kalieva, Robin Montgomery and Katrina Scott have turned pro), and her success at this year's US Open women's qualifying, where she reached the final round, I had thought she was leaning in that direction. But when asked, as I did at the US Open juniors, Brantmeier said she had not made a decision and would take her time doing so. Brantmeier, who just turned 17 last month, has a full year of ITF junior competition remaining in 2022, but she has not entered the upcoming JAs, so she may continue to play primarily Pro Circuit events.

A couple of the announcements came via twitter today, but are not yet up on the school's website, with Florida announcing the signing of Anastasia Sysoeva of Russia and Sophie Williams, and USC announcing the signing of Madison Sieg. (As is customary for me, I'll name the player's country if it is not the United States).

Women:

Arizona has signed Reece Carter of Canada.

Baylor has signed Daniella Dimitrov, who played ITF junior events for Bulgaria, but was born in the United States.

Florida State has signed three transfers: Violet Apisah(Tyler Junior College) of Papua New Guinea; Kianah Motosono(Oklahoma) and Mila Saric(William & Mary) of Spain.

Georgia has signed Darja Vidmanova of the Czech Republic.

Georgia Tech has signed Alejandra Cruz of Mexico.

Maryland has signed Kallista Liu.

South Carolina has signed McKenna Schaefbauer.

Texas has signed Vivian Ovrootsky.

Men:

Alabama has signed Roan Jones of England.

Georgia has signed Ethan Quinn.

Louisville has signed Will Mayew. The Cardinals also announced the signing of Brazil's Natan Rodrigues, who will start in January. Rodrigues has been ranked as high as No. 6 in the ITF Junior rankings.

Texas A&M has signed Grant Lothringer.

USC has signed Ryan Colby, who will be starting in January.

Check the Tennis Recruiting Network's home page for breaking news on commitments.

The winners of the USA Playoffs for next year's 14-and-under Les Petits As tournament in France were decided today, with Jack Kennedy of New York and Shannon Lam of New Jersey going undefeated in the five-day competition. No. 2 seed Kennedy defeated unseeded Ford McCollum 6-1, 6-4, in the final. Sebastian Bielen finished third, and receives the final main draw berth, when Hance was unable to compete due to injury.

Lam, also a No. 2 seed, defeated top seed Sydney Jara 6-1, 6-0. Marcella Roversi defeated Julieta Pareja to finish third. Roversi will get a main draw spot, while Hance and Pareja will receive wild cards into qualifying.

The ATP and WTA seasons are winding down, but four Americans are still alive this week in events in Europe. At the WTA 250 in Austria, two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins(Virginia) is through, with the No. 3 seed playing Alison Riske, the No. 8 seed, in Thursday's semifinal. Two Romanians are playing in the other semifinal: No. 2 seed Simon Halep and lucky loser Jacqueline Cristian.

At the ATP 250 in Sweden, Tommy Paul and No. 8 seed Frances Tiafoe have advanced to the quarterfinals. Paul beat No. 5 seed and good friend Taylor Fritz, the No. 5 seed, 6-4, 6-4 today. Paul plays wild card Andy Murray, while Tiafoe faces another British player, No. 4 seed Dan Evans.

US Participants for 2022 Les Petits As Decided in Florida; Korda, Nakashima Open Next Gen Finals with Wins; Two $25Ks on USTA Pro Circuit; Talking College and Pro Tennis on Cracked Racquets Podcast

With the 2021 edition of Les Petits As just a few months ago, I wasn't ready for the United States qualifying for the 2022 edition, which will be back at its normal place on the schedule at the end of January.

This week 16 boys and 16 girls have been in Boca Raton, participating in the US Playoffs for next year's tournament in Tarbes France. After three days of round robin play, eight players, two from each group, advanced to the quarterfinals; today those quarterfinals, as well as the semifinals were played. The quarterfinal winners are invited to travel to France, with the top three finishers receiving entry into the main draw and the fourth-place finisher receiving a qualifying wild card.

Kennedy finished 3rd at the 2021 Easter Bowl 12s

The four boys who reached the semifinals are Keaton Hance[1], Ford McCollum, Sebastian Bielen[3] and Jack Kennedy[2]. McCollum, the only unseeded player, boy or girl, to qualify for the trip, defeated top seed Keaton Hance 6-1, 6-3 to reach the final, where he'll play Kennedy, who beat Bielen 6-2, 6-1. Bielen and Hance will play for third place and a spot in the main draw.

Lam won the 2021 Easter Bowl 12s

All four seeds in girls draw advanced to the semifinals and the top two seeds have reached the final. No. 1 Sydney Jara, who defeated No. 4 Julieta Pareja 6-2, 6-4 and Shannon Lam, who beat No. 3 seed Marcella Roversi 6-3, 6-0. Jara, the USTA 14s National champion and Lam, the 12s Easter Bowl champion, have secured their spots in the main draw. Roversi and Pareja, the USTA 12s National champion, will play for the third spot in the main draw.

The round robin results are posted at the tournament website; the results from today are available at the Les Petits As twitter account: @LesPetitsAs.

The ATP's Next Gen Finals have begun in Milan Italy, with Americans Sebastian Korda and Brandon Nakashima both posting wins today in round robin play. (Jenson Brooksby also qualified, but due to injury was not able to compete). Korda saved a match point in his 3-4(2), 3-4(6), 4-0, 4-3(3), 4-0 win over Hugo Gaston of France; Nakashima defeated Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina 4-1, 3-4(3), 4-1, 4-0. Nakashima will face Carlos Alcaraz of Spain on Wednesday, with Korda taking on Sebastian Baez of Argentina. 

Qualifying is complete for the two $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, with the men in Harlingen Texas and the women in Daytona Beach Florida. 

The qualifying in Harlingen did not fill, and only two first round matches were played. Seven of the eight qualifiers needed to win just one match to advance to the main draw. Americans qualifying are: Noah Schachter(Texas A&M), Austin Abbrat(Texas A&M) and Gabriel Evans(Incarnate Word).

The top seed is Great Britain's Paul Jubb, the 2019 NCAA champion at South Carolina, with Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given Ethan Silva, a local junior, junior Bruno Kuzuhara, Keenan Mayo(Illinois) and Toby Boyer(Nebraska). Main draw play in singles begins Wednesday. 

Qualifying was full in Daytona Beach, with two wins required to reach the main draw. Americans qualifying today are: Alexa Graham(North Carolina), Tori Kinard and Kennedy Shaffer(Georgia). 

The top seed is Alycia Parks, with Irina Fetecau of Romania the No. 2 seed. Receiving wild cards are: Elli Mandlik, Ellie Douglas(TCU), Kylie Collins(Texas) and Evgeniya Levashova(Central Florida) of Russia. Two main draw singles matches were played today; 14 are on Wednesday's schedule. 

I was a recent guest on Cracked Racquets' Great Shot Podcast yesterday, with host Alex Gruskin. We talked about the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, the ITA National Fall Championships and the many young Americans stepping into the spotlight the last few weeks. Alex claims there are just three people who would get the reference I made to a top Canadian junior in the last decade. I have faith that a few more of my readers than that will recall his career.