Nanda Wins M25 in Tucson; Baird to UCLA; Australian Open First Round Concludes with 13 Americans in Action; Khan, Kingsley Reach Grade 1 Traralgon Semis; 55 Americans in Costa Rica Grade 1 Draws

Seventeen-year-old Govind Nanda won his first ITF men's event Sunday evening, beating No. 3 seed Martin Redlicki 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-0 at the M25 in Tucson Arizona. Nanda was trailing 6-4, 4-4 when the match was interrupted briefly by rain. The UCLA freshman won the subsequent tiebreaker on a roll and kept it going, needing only 23 minutes to blank  former UCLA Bruin Redlicki in the third set. Surprisingly, Nanda, who is 5'9", out-aced the 6'5" Redlicki 9 to 4.  Nanda, a wild card, had reached the quarterfinals of the M25 in Los Angeles in the first week of the season. My article for Tennis Recruiting back in September on Nanda's decision to join UCLA this month is available here.

In other Bruin blue chip news, Drew Baird has signed with UCLA for the 2019 season.  Baird, one of the last unsigned top seniors, was also seriously considering Texas A&M. See the UCLA website for coach Billy Martin's comments.

The first day of the Australian Open saw Americans go 9-9. Reilly Opelka took down the highest seed, No. 9 John Isner, while Danielle Collins posted an impressive win over No. 14 seed Julia Goerges of Germany.  Below are the American results from Monday and the Tuesday matches that will complete the first round. I'm particularly interested in the match between two teenagers who had outstanding junior careers: 18-year-old Bianca Andreescu and 16-year-old Whitney Osuigwe. For more on Osuigwe's climb into the WTA Top 200, see this article from the WTA website.

Monday’s round 1 results for Americans:

Men: 5-5
Mackenzie McDonald d. Andrey Rublev(RUS) 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
Radu Albot(MDA) d. Michael Mmoh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Yoshihito Nishioka(JPN) d. Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4
Nikoloz Basilashvili[19](GEO) d. Chris Eubanks[Q] 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3
Taylor Fritz d. Cameron Norrie[GBR] 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-2
Frances Tiafoe d. Prajnesh Gunneswaran[Q](IND) 7-6(7), 6-3, 6-3
Andreas Seppi(ITA) d. Steve Johnson[31] 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Reilly Opelka d. John Isner[9] 7-6(4), 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 7-6(5)
Denis Kudla d. Marc Polmans[WC](AUS) 5-7, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2

Women: 4-4
Amanda Anisimova d. Monica Niculescu(ROU) 7-6(3), 6-4
Sloane Stephens[5] d. Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-2
Kiki Bertens[9](NED) d. Alison Riske 6-3, 6-3
Danielle Collins d. Julia Goerges[14](GER) 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4
Sachia Vickery d. Ysaline Bonaventure[Q](BEL) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Zoe Hives[WC](AUS) d. Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 6-2
Beatriz Haddad Maia[Q](BRA) d. Bernarda Pera 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

Tuesday’s round 1:
Men:
Jiri Vesely(CZE) v Ryan Harrison
Alex Bolt[WC](AUS) v Jack Sock[WC]
Hyeon Chung[24](KOR) v Bradley Klahn
Sam Querrey v Pierre-Hugues Herbert(FRA)
Novak Djokovic[1](SRB) v Mitchell Krueger[Q]
Bjorn Fratangelo[Q] v Gilles Simon[29](FRA)

Women:
Sonya Kenin v Veronika Kudermetova[Q](RUS)
Venus Williams v Mihaela Buzarnescu[25](ROU)
Tatjana Maria(GER) v Serena Williams[16]
Natalia Vikhlyantseva[Q](RUS) v Varvara Lepchenko[Q]
Madison Brengle v Misaki Doi[Q](JPN)
Bianca Andreescu[Q](CAN) v Whitney Osuigwe[WC]
Destanee Aiava[WC](AUS) v Madison Keys[17]

Unseeded Zane Khan and No. 9 seed Cannon Kingsley have advanced to the semifinals of the ITF Grade 1 in Traralgon, the warm-up tournament to the Australian Open Junior Championships. Khan defeated No. 16 seed Eliot Spizzirri 7-6(2), 6-4 in Monday's all-US quarterfinal, while Kingsley beat No. 14 seed Harold Mayot of France 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. Khan will face doubles partner Liam Draxl of Canada, the No. 15 seed, in the semifinals, with Kingsley taking on No. 11 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic.  Khan and Draxl have advanced to the doubles semifinals, as has Toby Kodat and his partner Gustaf Strom of Sweden.  Live scoring can be found at Tennis Ticker.

As is always the case, the Costa Rica Grade 1 is saturated with Americans, with 24 US boys and 31 US girls in the 64-player draws.  That means only one girls first round match will not feature an American, with the ITF's policy of separating players from the same country in the first round.

The US girls who are seeded: Alexa Noel[1], Gabby Price[2], Savannah Broadus[4], Hina Inoue[12], Kailey Evans[13], Charlotte Owensby[14] and Nikki Redelijk[16].

The US boys who are seeded: Ronan Jachuck[5], Will Grant[7], Andres Martin[9], Alex Lee[10], Andrew Dale[14] and Dali Blanch[15]. 

The tournament website is posting results to the draws throughout the day.