Tiafoe Makes Davis Cup Debut Friday; Pro Circuit Update; Kenin Reaches Quarterfinals in Quebec

2015 Kalamazoo 18s champion Frances Tiafoe will make his Davis Cup debut Friday as the US team takes on host Croatia for a spot in the finals.  Tiafoe will get the call due to the absence of John Isner, whose wife is expecting their first child, and Jack Sock, who pulled out a few days ago with a hip injury. Tiafoe, 20, will face Marin Cilic after Steve Johnson takes on Borna Coric in the first singles match.  For more on Tiafoe's debut and this weekend's tie, see this article from Daviscup.com.

At the $25,000 Futures in Toronto, No. 8 seed Harrison Adams(Texas A&M) and unseeded Nick Chappell (TCU) will meet in the semifinals after wins today.  Adams defeated Jack Findel-Hawkins(North Florida) of Great Britain 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Chappell downed Felix Corwin 6-3, 6-3. The semifinal in the bottom half will also feature two former collegians, with No. 2 seed Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, a former star for the Texas Longhorns, taking on unseeded Michail Pervolarakis of Cyprus, a recent graduate of the University of Portland. Glasspool defeated 16-year-old Canadian wild card Liam Draxl 6-2, 7-5, while Pervolarakis beat No. 3 seed Takuto Niki of Japan 6-3, 7-6(3).

The quarterfinals are set at the $15,000 Claremont California Futures, with four Americans advancing, including two USC Trojans.  Junior Brandon Holt and sophomore Daniel Cukierman of Israel will play each other Friday, with Samuel Shropshire(Northwestern), No. 3 seed Martin Redlicki(UCLA) and No. 2 seed Henry Craig(Denver) the Americans joining Holt in the quarterfinals.

Fifteen-year-old Zachary Svajda, the wild card who took out top seed Joao Reis da Silva of Brazil on Wednesday, lost to UC-Santa Barbara's Nicolas Moreno, a qualifier, in today's second round 6-0, 2-6, 6-2. If, like me, you're curious why this is the first time you've heard about Svajda, read press aide Steve Pratt's interview with him here.

The semifinals are set at the $50,000+H ATP Challenger in Cary North Carolina with Bjorn Fratangelo and Reilly Opelka the two Americans to advance, with pre-Hurricane Florence rain sending today's matches indoors. No. 4 seed Opelka defeated former Tulane star Dominic Koepfer of Germany 7-6(4), 6-4 and Fratangelo, the No. 5 seed, beat Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4.  UNC teammates Will Blumberg and Blaine Boyden have advanced to the doubles semifinals with a 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 3 seeds Peter Polansky of Canada and Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M). No play is planned for Friday, due to the hurricane.

Nineteen-year-old Sonya Kenin has had an excellent year in 2018 and she has reached her third WTA quarterfinal in this week's WTA International event in Quebec. Kenin, who is currently 67 in the WTA rankings, should improve on her career-high ranking of 64 after her performance this week. Kenin, the No. 5 seed, defeated wild card Francoise Abanda of Canada 6-4, 6-4 and will face No. 3 seed Monica Puig of Puerto Rico in Friday's quarterfinals.