Five US men and four US women have advanced to the final round of qualifying Tuesday at the Miami Open after 17 took the courts in today's first round. The men advancing are Mackenzie McDonald[4], Reilly Opelka[3], Mitchell Krueger, Noah Rubin and Bjorn Fratangelo. Fratangelo defeated No. 6 seed Christian Garin of Chile 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 and Rubin beat No. 8 seed Hugo Dellien of Boliva 6-3, 6-2. The US women who picked up main draw wins today are Jessica Pegula[14] (d. Allie Kiick), Sachia Vickery (d. Jennifer Brady), Taylor Townsend[10] and Madison Brengle[17].
In addition to the final round of qualifying, several women's main draw matches are scheduled for Tuesday, with 16-year-old Whitney Osuigwe taking on Mari Osaka of Japan in a battle of wild cards.
The men's draw was released today, with three Americans seeded: John Isner[7], Frances Tiafoe[28] and Steve Johnson[31].
The ITF Junior Circuit picks up again in the United States this week with the
Grade 4 in Irvine California. This tournament, which was in Newport Beach the past few years and Claremont before that, serves as a warmup for next week's Easter Bowl and the Grade 1 in Carson the week after that. Because of its location, both on the calendar and geographically, the field is usually quite good. The girls top seed this week is Vanessa Ong, a former US Open and Orange Bowl quarterfinalist, and she has already advanced to the second round. The No. 2 seed is 15-year-old Daniella Benabraham and seeded third is 14-year-old Rebecca Lynn.
The top boys seed is, unusually for this tournament, not from the United States. Sixteen-year-old Zsombor Velcz of Hungary, 173 in the ITF junior rankings, has advanced to the second round, but No. 2 seed Hunter Heck and No. 3 seed Max McKennon were beaten in the opening round today. Heck lost to qualifier Peter Murphy 6-1, 6-1 and McKennon fell to the 2018 Clay Court 16s champion Logan Zapp, a wild card, 7-5, 6-1. Zapp, 17, is playing in his first ITF Junior Circuit event.
News articles are still surfacing on the federal charges in the college admissions scandal, with the
Washington Post delving into the case being brought against former Georgetown coach Gordon Ernst. Ernst, who is on administrative leave from his current position as women's coach at the University of Rhode Island, is alleged to have accepted payments to ensure entry into the prestigious DC university for players posing as accomplished tennis players.
In other, less wide-ranging, bad news for college tennis, current University of San Diego player David Nordfelt has been suspended by the Tennis Integrity Unit for betting on matches. Nordfelt, a sophomore from Sweden, has been suspended for eight months and fined $6,000 after having admitted to betting on matches, although none in which he was personally involved. For more, see
this Associated Press article.
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