UCLA, Wake Forest Advance to ITA Men's Team Indoor Final; Grade 1 Banana Bowl Begins Monday; Anderson Wins New York Open; Photo Gallery of USTA Level 2 in Lake Nona

Top seed Wake Forest advanced to the final of the ITA Men's Division I Team Indoor Championships for the first time in its history, while No. 7 seed UCLA reached its first final since 2004 with nail-biting wins on Sunday in Seattle. UCLA claimed a 4-2 victory over No. 6 seed Texas A&M with senior Martin Redlicki clinching the win for the Bruins at line 1, while Wake Forest outlasted No. 5 seed Stanford 4-3, with sophomore Borna Gojo coming from behind to win a third set tiebreaker, also at line 1.

UCLA won the doubles point, as it has done in all three of its wins this weekend, but Texas A&M took four first sets in singles, and quickly tied the score with a win by freshman Juan Carlos Aguilar at line 5.  UCLA started its comeback in singles by earning splits at lines 3, 1 and 6, while Logan Staggs made it 2-1 Bruins with a straight-sets win over Valentin Vacherot  at line 4. Freshman Keegan Smith put UCLA ahead 3-1 with a three-set victory over Jordi Arconada, meaning Texas A&M had to win all three matches still on court.  Redlicki and Patrick Kypson were tied at 3 in the third set at line 1, while A&M's AJ Catanzariti, playing for the first time in the tournament was also at 3-3 in the third at line 6, against freshman Connor Hance. UCLA's Evan Zhu had a chance to end the match against Arthur Rinderknech in straight sets, but he lost the second set tiebreaker just as Redlicki was breaking Kypson to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third.

Redlicki saved a break point at 30-40, but Kypson hit a backhand crosscourt pass on the deciding point to keep his team alive, and held easily in the next game.  Redlicki had to win a deciding point on his serve, which he did with a good first serve, to send the match to a tiebreaker, and he led 3-1 and then again 5-4 with two serves to come in the tiebreaker, but couldn't close out Kypson. Redlicki had to save another match point at 5-6, which he did with a big forehand that forced an error from Kypson.

Kypson netted a forehand to give Redlicki a second match point, and he missed his first serve. On his second serve, a deep one, Kypson called the ball out as he returned it, but the chair umpire overruled him, giving Redlicki the match and UCLA the victory.

In the evening match, Wake Forest won the doubles point quickly, but the teams split first sets in singles, indicating the match would be a lengthy one. Wake went up 2-0 with Petros Chrysochos defeating Axel Geller 6-4, 6-3, and Stanford countered with a 6-4, 6-2 win by David Wilczynski over Christian Seraphim at line 5, but nothing came easy for either team after that.  Stanford tied it up with Eric Fomba's 7-5, 7-5 win over Bar Botzer at line 4, with the other three matches all in the third set.  Stanford's William Genesen was up a break in the final set at line 6, but Julian Zlobinsky roared through the final five games for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory that gave Wake Forest a 3-2 lead. Stanford's Sameer Kumar held on to his early break and closed out Skander Mansouri 6-7(10), 6-3, 6-4 at line 3, just as Tom Fawcett and Gojo were heading to a third set tiebreaker at line 1.

Fawcett, who had been up a set and 4-2 earlier in the match, took a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker, but lost four consecutive points.  At 5-5, Gojo stayed aggressive, executing a perfect forehand volley winner to earn a match point, but on Fawcett's serve. Fawcett did get his first serve in and he also committed to aggressive play, coming to the net. But a net cord threw his timing off and he netted a volley, giving Gojo and Wake Forest the victory.

The final on Monday is scheduled for 3 p.m. eastern time, and live streaming will be available here.

ITA Men’s Division I Team Indoor Championships
Semifinals, February 18, 2018, Seattle WA

No. 7 UCLA  4, No. 6 Texas A&M 2

Doubles
1. Patrick Kypson/Arthur Rinderknech(TexasA&M) vs Martin Redlicki/Evan Zhu(UCLA), 6-5, unfinished
2. Keegan Smith/Austin Rapp(UCLA) def. Jordi Arconada/Juan Carlos Aguilar(TexasA&M), 6-4
3. Maxime Cressy/Bryce Pereira(UCLA) def. Valentin Vacherot/Barnaby Smith(TexasA&M), 6-3

Order of finish: 3, 2

Singles
1. Martin Redlicki(UCLA) def. Patrick Kypson(TexasA&M), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6)
2. Evan Zhu(UCLA) vs Arthur Rinderknech(TexasA&M), 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 2-2, unfinished
3. Keegan Smith(UCLA) def. Jordi Arconada(TexasA&M), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Logan Staggs(UCLA) def. Valentin Vacherot(TexasA&M), 7-5, 7-5
5. Juan Carlos Aguilar(TexasA&M) def. Maxime Cressy(UCLA), 6-2, 6-2
6. AJ Catanzariti(TexasA&M) def. Connor Hance(UCLA), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 6, 1

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No. 1 Wake Forest 4, No. 5 Stanford 3 

Doubles

1. Sameer Kumar/Michael Genender(Stanford) vs Christian Seraphim/Ian Dempster(Wake), 4-2, unfinished

2. Borna Gojo/Skander Mansouri(Wake) def. Axel Geller/Tom Fawcett(Stanford), 6-3

3. Petros Chrysochos/Bar Botzer(Wake) def. David Wilczynski/Timothy Sah(Stanford), 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 2

Singles

1. Borna Gojo(Wake) def. Tom Fawcett(Stanford) 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5)

2. Petros Chrysochos(Wake) def. Axel Geller(Stanford), 6-4, 6-3

3. Sameer Kumar(Stanford) def. Skander Mansouri(Wake), 6-7(10), 6-3, 6-4

4. Eric Fomba(Stanford) def. Bar Botzer(Wake), 7-5, 7-5

5. David Wilczynski(Stanford) def. Christian Seraphim(Wake), 6-4, 6-2

6. Julian Zlobinsky(Wake) def. William Genesen(Stanford), 7-5, 3-6, 6-3

Order of finish: 2, 5, 4, 6, 3, 1

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Qualifying was completed today at the ITF Grade 1 Banana Bowl in Brazil, with 14-year-old Alexandra Yepifanova the only American to get through to the main draw. The 13 US girls in the 48-player draw, with the seeds getting first round byes:  Addison Guevara, Sabina Dadaciu[15], Peyton Stearns[6], Lea Ma[4], Yepifanova, Vanessa Ong, Hailey Baptiste[11], Shelly Yaloz, Elli Mandlik[10], Kacie Harvey, Katie Volynets, Chloe Beck[12] and Alexa Noel[2].  Maria Osorio Serrano of Colombia, who has already won three Grade 1s this year, is the top seed.

The eight US boys in the 48-player draw are Eliot Spizzirri, Drew Baird[6], Tyler Zink[16], Will Grant, Govind Nanda, Nathan Han, Tristan Boyer[5] and Brian Shi.  Sebastian Baez of Argentina is the top seed.

The only USTA Pro Circuit event this week was a $25,000 tournament in Surprise Arizona. Julia Boserup[8] was the only American to reach the singles quarterfinals, with No. 2 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium winning the title with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over qualifier Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico.  Wickmayer and partner Misaki Doi of Japan won the doubles title, with the No. 3 seeds beating No. 4 seeds Jacqueline Cako(Arizona State) and Caitlin Whoriskey(Tennessee) 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final.

Former University of Illinois star Kevin Anderson won the ATP New York Open, with the top-seeded South African beating No. 2 seed Sam Querrey 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1).  With his fourth ATP title, the 31-year-old Anderson moves to a career-high ranking of 9. For more, see the ATP website.

The Tennis Recruiting Network has posted a Zootennis photo gallery from the USTA National Level 2 in Lake Nona. Photos of 34 of the participants in that 18s tournament can be viewed here.