Teens Liutova and Tu Among Qualifiers at USTA Pro Circuit Events in Lincoln and Miami; Osuigwe Defeats No. 2 Seed Maria at WTA 125 Midland; Monday's Streak Continues at Knoxville Challenger
The USTA Pro Circuit events this week include a W35 in Miami and a rare W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, both for women. This is only the second W15 on the USTA Pro Circuit since the SoCal Pro Series in July, and that's where many of the youngest players get their initial opportunities to compete on the Pro Circuit.
A case in point is 14-year-old Kristina Liutova, who has lived in the United States for years, but is currently, as a former resident of Russia, unaffiliated. Liutova, who played only one ITF junior event since this spring, qualifying and reaching the third round of the ITF J300 in College Park, lost in the second round of qualifying at September's W35 in San Rafael California, her first Pro Circuit event. But last month she won the prestigious KPSF money tournament in San Francisco, beating WTA No. 429 Urszula Radwanska in the semifinals and WTA No. 249 Iryna Shymanovich in the final. With the qualifying fields in a W15 not containing players of that level, Liutova had no trouble getting to the main draw in Lincoln, beating seeded players with the loss of just four games in each match. She will look for her first pro circuit win Wednesday when she takes on No. 5 seed Carolyn Campana(Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Pepperdine).
Other notable qualifiers are 16-year-old blue chip Rachael Smith, Pepperdine senior Savannah Broadus, 17-year-old blue chip Claire Hill and recent UC-Santa Barbara graduate Camille Kiss.
The wild cards all went to University of Nebraska sophomores: Reya Coe, Emma Rizzetto, Tiziana Rossini and Maria Taranova. The two junior reserved spots the ITF offers for W15s went to NC State freshman Gabia Paskauskas and 16-year-old blue chip Capucine Jauffret.
All 16 main draw matches in Lincoln are on Wednesday's schedule.
Fifteen-year-old Anita Tu is among the qualifiers in Miami, with the Floridian defeating No. 4 qualifying seed Emma Burgic(Baylor), who at 32 is more than twice Tu's age, 6-3, 7-5 in today's final round of qualifying. Tu, who made her debut on the Pro Circuit last fall, winning a round at the W15 in Jackson Tennessee, will play in her second main draw tomorrow against No. 6 seed Allie Kiick.
Four other Americans qualified: Jenna Dean, Texas A&M freshman Lexington Reed, recent Virginia graduate Hibah Shaikh and local 18-year-old five-star recruit Paola Lopez. Lopez defeated Miami freshman Maria Paula Vargas of Colombia 6-1 ,6-3 in today's final round of qualifying.
In all, five of the six players on the University of Miami roster received wild cards into either the qualifying or main draw. Two played in the first round of the main draw today, with Oklahoma State transfer Raquel Gonzalez defeating fellow Miami junior Xinyi Nong 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Hurricane freshman Aely Arai of Japan, who received a main draw wild card, lost to Central Florida sophomore Olivia Lincer of Poland 6-3, 6-0 in the first round today. The fourth wild card went to Katya Townsend(Texas A&M, Utah), who plays No. 8 seed Dasha Vidmanova, the University of Georgia senior from the Czech Republic in the first round Wednesday.
Top seed Liv Hovde won her first round match and will play Lincer Thursday. Kayla Cross of Canada, the No. 2 seed, plays her first round match Wednesday.
At the two bigger events in the US this week, the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland and the ATP Challenger 75 in Knoxville, seeds had mixed results in the first round Tuesday.
The Dow Tennis Classic, which had already lost its top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico via withdrawal, lost No. 2 seed and two-time champion Tatjana Maria of Germany today, with qualifier Whitney Osuigwe beating Maria 6-3, 6-3. Alina Korneeva of Russia, the 2023 Australian and Roland Garros girls champion, defeated No. 4 seed Maya Joint(Texas) 7-5, 7-6(4) and Vavara Lepchenko beat No. 7 seed Marina Stakusic of Canada 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(3). No. 6 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada, who beat qualifier Robin Anderson(UCLA) 6-2, 7-6(4), was the only seed to pick up a win today. No. 5 seed Ann Li and No. 9 seed Polina Kudermetova of Russia play their first round matches Wednesday.
Caty McNally, a two-time Dow Tennis Classic champion, won the first match she's played since February, beating lucky loser Leonie Kung of Switzerland 6-0, 6-4. McNally, who has played only four tournaments since July of 2023 due to injuries, won the Dow title in 2019 and 2022. Wild card Kari Miller, a recent Michigan graduate, won her first pro match above the W75 level, saving two match points in her 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 win over lucky loser Jamie Loeb(North Carolina).
Seeds held up better on the second day of play in Knoxville, with No. 2 seed Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) defeating recent ITF junior No. 1 Joel Schwaerzler of Austria 6-4, 6-1; No. 3 seed Learner Tien(USC) beating qualifier Max Wiskandt of Germany 6-4, 6-2 and No. 6 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) saving three match points in his 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7) win over qualifier Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee). Kypson will play Johannus Monday of Great Britain, who had great crowd support as a recent Tennessee Volunteer in his 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Nicolas Mejia of Colombia. Monday, who won three straight $25Ks on the USTA Pro Circuit last month, has now won 16 consecutive matches.
Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) defeated No. 7 seed Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Spizzirri's former teammate Micah Braswell, a qualifier, defeated Beibit Zhukayev of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-4 and will play Tien next.
Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) avenged his NCAA round of 16 loss to wild card Colton Smith(Arizona) 6-2, 6-4, putting a dent in Smith's prospects in the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. Wild card Murphy Cassone(Arizona State), after taking a week off, advanced to a second round meeting with Eubanks. They met in the quarterfinals of the Sioux Falls Challenger two weeks ago, with Cassone winning 7-5 in the third.