Loeb, Hiltzik Top Seeds in Mobile; Hampton, McHale, King & Kudla Join Falconi, Harrison & Davis with Wins at BNP Paribas

The seeds for the USTA 18s Spring National Championships in Mobile were announced today, with Winter National Champions Jamie Loeb and Jared Hiltzik at the top of the lists. Following Loeb are Whitney Kay, Frances Altick, Madeline Lipp, Lynn Chi, Brooke Austin, Mackenzie Craft and Ashley Dai. Among the unseeded players, Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion Katerina Stewart and Josie Kuhlman are among the dangerous floaters. Wild cards Breaunna Addison and Rasheeda McAdoo withdrew today. McAdoo was still playing today at the ITF Grade 3 in Costa Rica, but then so was Ciro Riccardi on the boys side, who is still showing among the Mobile competitors. After Hiltzik, the boys seeds are Brett Clark, Ronnie Schneider, Nolan Paige, Gage Brymer, Nick Wood, Sean Karl and Nicolas Naumann.

For the complete list of seeds, see the TennisLink site. I will be in Mobile on Saturday to begin my coverage of the tournament, which begins on Sunday.

Christina McHale, a former No. 1 seed in Mobile who did not win the title, beat Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-3, 7-5 today at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, winning her first match (in the second round) as a seed (32) in an WTA Premier tournament. Jamie Hampton, who received a wild card, also reached the third round, beating former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, seeded No. 12 this week, 6-4, 6-3. Vania King downed No. 13 seed downed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4, King's third straight win over the young Russian. All that success by young American women was dampened a bit this evening by Sloane Stephens' loss to No. 18 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, who trailed Stephens 6-2, 5-1 before posting a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 win. For more on the Hampton and McHale wins, see this article from the LA Times.

Last night, wild card Lauren Davis won her first round match, beating Petra Martic of Croatia 6-2, 7-6(7), and Ryan Harrison also reached the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Flavio Cipolla of Italy. Irina Falconi advanced to the second round when Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania retired at 4-6, 5-2. Denis Kudla, who was supposed to face Dimtry Tursenov of Russia in his first round match today, played German Tobias Kamke, a lucky loser instead, when Tursenov withdrew. Kudla beat Kamke 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. He plays Roger Federer in the next round.

For complete results, see the tournament website.

At the Grade 1 Asuncion Bowl in Paraguay, Spencer Papa and Chalena Scholl have reached the semifinals.