Kalamazoo 16s Champion Damm, Finalist Khan Win ITF Junior Circuit Titles, Pielet, Krug Earn First ITF Titles; Grade 1 Underway in Campeche Mexico; Sock Claims USTA's Australian Open Wild Card

Kalamazoo 16s champion Martin Damm won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title last week at the Grade 4 at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton, while his opponent in the Kalamazoo final, Zane Khan, won his fourth ITF Junior Circuit singles final at the Grade 2 Inka Bowl in Peru.

The 15-year-old Damm, the No. 6 seed, defeated No. 9 seed Leighton Allen, a Texas recruit, 7-6(5), 6-2 in the final, after beating No. 2 seed Keshav Chopra 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals.

Sixteen-year-old Gianna Pielet, playing in her first ITF Junior Circuit tournament, came through qualifying in Boca Raton, posting nine wins in the tournament, all in straight sets.  After beating No. 2 seed Madison Sieg 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals, Pielet defeated No. 5 seed Elaine Chervinsky 7-6(5), 6-4 in the championship match.  Chervinksy, who turns 15 Saturday, beat top seed Elvina Kalieva 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals.

Both singles finalists won doubles titles, with top seeds Allen and Chopra beating No. 5 seeds Jeremie Casabon and Venezuela's Lorenzo Claverie 7-5, 6-2 for the boys championship.  Top seeds Chervinsky and Sieg defeated No. 7 seeds Julia Andreach and Rosie Garcia Gross 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 for the girls doubles title.

In Peru, No. 2 seed Khan defeated reigning Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan, the No. 4 seed, 6-2, 6-3 in the final.  With the title the 16-year-old Khan is up to 77 in the ITF junior rankings, the first time he has reached the Top 100.

Kacie Harvey won the doubles title in Peru, with Giulia Morlet of France. The top seeds defeated No. 5 seeds Viktoriya Petrenko of Ukraine and Ekaterina Vinnik of Russia 6-2, 7-6(4) in the final.

Top  seed Lulu Sun of Switzerland won the singles title, beating No. 13 seed Petrenko 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

In addition to Damm and Pielet, another American junior claimed a first ITF Junior Circuit title: 13-year-old Ava Krug, the granddaughter of ESPN commentator Dick Vitale. Krug, the No. 4 seed, won the girls singles title at the Grade 5 in Anguilla, beating fellow American Sifa Butcher, the No. 3 seed, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Krug's older brother Jake, the No. 7 seed, lost in the boys singles final to No. 5 seed Casper Christensen of Norway 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Butcher won the girls doubles title, with Elan Mnatsakanov; the top seeds defeated Krug and her partner Leonie Hoppe of Germany 6-2 ,7-5 in the final.

At the Grade 5 in Canada last week, two Americans won doubles titles. Daniel Milavsky and Canadian Nick Lagaev, the top seeds, took the boys championship, with Lagaev beating Milavsky in the singles final.

Top seeds Maryam Ahmad and Canadian Oleksandra Gorchanyuk won the girls doubles title via a walkover.

This week's Grade 1 in Campeche Mexico has drawn a total of 27 Americans, with 10 boys and 17 girls starting the tournament in the main draw.

The US boys: Tyler Zink[3], Eliot Spizzirri[7], Alex Lee, Cezar Rata[Q], Mark Mandlik, Alex Bernard, Alex Bancila, Adam Neff, Ronan Jachuck and Murphy Cassone.

The US girls: Hurricane Tyra Black[4], Kylie Collins[13], Madison Sieg, Sophia Hatton, Jennifer Gadalov, Sara Seivane Torres, Charlotte Owensby, Alexandra Yepifanova, Hibah Shaikh, Jenna Defalco, Daniella Benabraham, Robin Montgomery, Elizabeth Stevens, Rossie Garcia Gross, Zoe Hitt, Jenna Dean and Charlotte Chavatipon.

The boys top seed is Nicolas Alvarez Varona of Spain; the girls top seed in Qinwen Zheng of China.

The USTA announced today that Jack Sock has won the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, after Bjorn Fratangelo's loss in the Knoxville final kept him from having a mathematical chance to overtake Sock with a title in this week's Challenger in Houston. Sock may still get into the Australian Open on his own ranking, now at 106, so who finishes second is important and that will be decided this week in Houston, Champaign and Bangalore India.  Varvara Lepchenko leads the women's race, but that wild card is still very much up for grabs, with Whitney Osuigwe just one point behind Lepchenko, and three of the top four playing the WTA 125 in Houston this week.  For links to the current standings, see this article at usta.com.