Klahn, Harrison, Mmoh Advance to Final Round of Wimbledon Men's Qualifying, US Women Go 6-3 in Opening Round of Qualifying; Johnson, Woldeab Win SoCal Sectionals; Pro Circuit Update

Three American men advanced to the final round of qualifying today at Wimbledon, or more precisely at Roehampton, where the qualifying for next week's tournament is held.  Bradley Klahn, who last played in the main draw of a slam at the 2014 US Open, will have an opportunity to play in the Wimbledon main draw for the first time since that year when he plays Simone Bolelli of Italy on Thursday. The 27-year-old Stanford graduate, who won the NCAA singles title in 2010, defeated Antoine Hoang of France 6-4, 6-1 in today's second round.  Twenty-four-year-old Christian Harrison, who, like Klahn, has had his share of injuries in the past four years, has played in the main draw of a slam only once, when he qualified for the US Open in 2016, defeated Dennis Novikov 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3 and will play former UNC star Brayden Schnur of Canada in Thursday's final round.  Twenty-year-old Michael Mmoh's previous two appearances in a main draw of a major have come as a wild card: at the US Open after he won Kalamazoo in 2016, and at the Australian Open in 2017, after winning the USTA's Wild Card Challenge. After beating Mohamed Safwat of Egypt 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-0 to close out Tuesday's qualifying action, he will face former Tennessee star JP Smith of Australia on Thursday.

The first round of women's qualifying saw six Americans advance, with 2017 Wimbledon girls champion Claire Liu advancing without the loss of a game when Amandine Hesse of France retired trailing 6-0, 2-0. Liu and 2015 Wimbledon girls champion Sofya Zhuk of Russia spoke to wimbledon.com about their transition to professional tennis after today's matches.  I had not heard that Liu had officially ruled out attending college, but that seems to have been decided after she qualified for last year's US Open.

Tuesday's second round men's qualifying results involving Americans:

Yannick Maden[20](GER) def. Stefan Kozlov 6-1, 6-3
Bradley Klahn def. Antoine Hoang(FRA) 6-4, 6-1
Christian Harrison def. Dennis Novikov 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3
Dennis Novak(AUT) def. Donald Young[21] 6-2, 7-5
James Ward[WC](GBR) def. Bjorn Fratangelo[14] 6-4, 6-4
Hubert Hurkacz[11](POL) def. Reilly Opelka 6-3, 7-5
Michael Mmoh[19] def. Mohamed Safwat(EGY) 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-0

Tuesday's first round women's qualifying results involving Americans:

Jing-Jing Lu(CHN) def. Francesca Di Lorenzo 6-2, 6-3
Kristie Ahn def. Daniela Seguel(CHI) 6-1, 6-3
Marta Kostyuk[23](UKR) def. Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-3
Bianca Andreescu(CAN) def. Grace Min 6-2, 6-0
Irina Falconi[24] def. Tereza Martincova(CZE) 6-2, 6-2
Nicole Gibbs[5] def. Francesca Jones[WC](GBR) 6-4, 6-2
Claire Liu[WC] def. Amandine Hesse(FRA) 6-0, 2-0 ret.
Caroline Dolehide[6] def. Miyu Kato(JPN) 6-0, 7-6(3)
Jamie Loeb def. Elitsa Kostova(BUL) 1-6, 7-5, 6-1

Wednesday's second round women's qualifying matches involving Americans:

Claire Liu[WC] v Lizette Cabrera(AUS)
Irina Falconi[24] v Antonia Lottner(GER)
Jamie Loeb v. Priscilla Hon(AUS)
Caroline Dolehide[6] v Jessica Pieri(ITA)
Nicole Gibbs[5] v Martina Trevisan(ITA)
Kristie Ahn v Marta Kostyuk[23](UKR)

Thursday's final round men's qualifying matches involving Americans:

Christian Harrison v. Brayden Schnur(CAN)
Michael Mmoh[19] v J.P. Smith(AUS)
Bradley Klahn v Simone Bolelli(ITA)

The Southern California Sectional tournament finished on Monday, with No. 1 seeds winning all five girls divisions and three of the five boys divisions. I don't know what method of seeding they used, but that's an incredible level of success.  UCLA recruit Taylor Johnson won the girls 18s singles title and Siem Woldeab won the boys singles and doubles titles in the 18s.  For complete results, see the TennisLink site.

G18s: Taylor Johnson[1] d. Kimberly Hance[5] 6-1, 6-3

G16s: Maxi Duncan[1] d. Justine Dondonay[3] 6-1, 6-4

G14s: Calissa Dellabarca[1] d. Amanda Perez[4] 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

G12s: Carla Pacot[1] d. Emily Deming[5] 7-6, 6-3

G10s: Mikayla Hickman[1] d. Julieta Pareja[2] 7-6, 6-3

B18s: Siem Woldeab[1] d. Omni Kuma[5] 6-4, 6-2

B16s: Timothy Li[1] d. Takeyasu Sekiguchi[2] 6-1, 6-3

B14s: Masato Perera[3] d. Marcus Sebastian[5] 7-6, 2-6, 6-2

B12s: Steve Nguyen[1] d. Tyler Li[9] 6-1, 6-1

B10s: Rishvanth Krishna[2] d. Alexander Basamakov[5] 6-1, 6-2

There are no women's ITF or USTA Pro Circuit events in North America this week, but there are three for the men, two at the $25,000 level and one at the $15,000 level.

At the $15,000 Futures in Pittsburgh, recent University of Michigan graduate Alexander Knight defeated top seed Emilio Gomez of Ecuador 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Americans who qualified are Jordi Arconada(Texas A&M), Sean Sculley(Duke), Ryan Goetz(Virginia), Patrick Daciek(Virginia Tech) and Grey Hamilton(Ole Miss).  Hamilton, a recent graduate, earned his first ATP point with a main draw win today.  Gianni Ross(Virginia) and Andres Andrade(Florida) earned special exemptions into the main draw and Aidan Talcott (William&Mary), Luke Gamble(Princeton), Nathan Perrone and Axel Nefve(Notre Dame recruit) received wild cards.

The other USTA Pro Circuit Futures is a $25,000 level tournament in Tulsa, with qualifying just finishing today due to weather.  American qualifiers are Dusty Boyer(Nebraska), Logan Smith(USC), Trent Bryde (Georgia), Alex Brown(Illinois) and Felix Corwin(Minnesota).  Wild cards were given to Zeke Clark(Illinois), Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois), Joshua Goodger(Tulsa) and Jenson Brooksby(TCU recruit).  Brooksby plays Michael Redlicki, last week's champion at Wake Forest, in the first round.  Ash Marshall of usta.com talked with Redlicki about his win last week, the recent changes in his personal life that have affected his motivation and the training that helped produce his recent results.  Nik Scholtz of South Africa, the former Ole Miss star, is the top seed, with Marcos Giron seeded No. 2.

The men's circuit in Canada has moved west to British Columbia for another $25,000 Futures.  Americans Colin Markes(Texas), Nicolas Bybel(Bucknell) and Jake Douglas(Washington) were among the qualifiers. JC Aragone(Virginia) is the top seed.  Wild cards went to Canadians Alex Galarneau(NC State), Justin Boulais, Raheel Manji(Indiana) and Calvin Thalheimer.