Liu, Osuigwe Lead US Open Junior Acceptances; So Cal Wins Boys 18s National Team Title; USA Heads for ITF World Junior Championships; Dolehide Earns First WTA Win at Stanford

All three girls slam winners from 2017 have entered the US Open Junior Championships, but none of the three boys slam winners will go for a second title next month in New York.

Wimbledon champion Claire Liu and French champion Whitney Osuigwe, currently No. 1 and No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings, are joined by Australian Open champion Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, No. 3 in the rankings. Amanda Anisimova, who entered but withdrew from the Wimbledon Juniors, is on the acceptance list, as are eight other US girls: Taylor Johnson, Sofia Sewing, Ann Li, Caty McNally, Ellie Douglas, Elysia Bolton, Hailey Baptiste and Victoria Flores.  Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who had said she was not playing any more junior slams after the French and did not play Wimbledon Juniors, has also entered. Katie Swan of Great Britain and Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine received direct entry via their WTA rankings, putting the girls cutoff at 48.

ITF No. 1 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia also said he was done with juniors after the French and he is not entered, nor are Australian Open champion Zsombor Piros of Hungary, French champion Alexei Popyrin of Australia and Wimbledon champion Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain. Corentin Moutet of France, who took a wild card into the Wimbledon Juniors and was the top seed there due to his ATP ranking, is also not on the acceptance list.  ITF No. 5 Yibing Wu of China and Wimbledon finalist Axel Geller of Argentina, currently No. 6, are the highest ranked players competing in the boys field.  Eleven US boys received direct entry: Trent Bryde, Oliver Crawford, Patrick Kypson, Sebastian Korda, DJ Thomas, Gianni Ross, Vasil Kirkov, Sam Riffice, Alexandre Rotsaert, Alafia Ayeni and Brian Cernoch.  The boys cutoff was 57.

The USTA National Boys 18s Team event ended this morning in Champaign Illinois, with top seed Southern California beating Southern 5-2 for the title, with the scores in the screenshot below.  The link to the draw no longer works, but individual results and team results by round can be found at the TennisLink site.

In Claremont California, the girls final is set, with the same two sections vying for the Girls 18s Team title.  Southern beat defending champions Midwest 4-3 and Southern California defeated Eastern 6-1 in today's semifinals. Individual results and team results by round can be found at the TennisLink site.

The ITF World Junior Tennis competition for 14-and-under players begins next Monday in the Czech Republic, with the United States sending both girls and boys teams.  Last year, the US girls finished second to Ukraine, while the boys finished third. Argentina won the boys title.  The players representing the United States this year are:

Boys:
Alexander Bernard
Toby Kodat
Martin Damm
Captain: Jon Glover

Girls:
Cori Gauff
Charlotte Owensby
Gabby Price
Captain: Maureen Diaz

For more on the players, see this release from the USTA.

Caroline Dolehide won her first WTA main draw match today at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, beating WTA No. 48 Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-4, 6-2.  It's the first WTA Top 100 win for the 18-year-old from Illinois, who won two qualifying matches.  Dolehide's opponent in the second round will be No. 3 seed Madison Keys, who had a bye in the first round.  Dolehide and Kayla Day, who won her first round match on Monday, earned a big win in doubles today, beating No. 4 seeds Miyu Kato of Japan and Chia-Jung Chuang of Taiwan 7-5, 6-3 in the first round.  Dolehide and Day reached the finals of the US Open Junior championships last year.