International Spring Championships 16s Recap; Sharma and Anisimova Reach WTA Bogota Quarterfinals; Swiatek Moves on in Lugano; Kourkina Makes Quarterfinals in Cancun $15K

My recap of last week's 16s tournament at the USTA International Spring Championships is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with the 18s ITF Grade 1 recap scheduled to be published on Friday. If you didn't have a chance to follow my daily coverage, it's a good opportunity to catch up on the week's results at the Level 1 tournament in Carson California, with Winta Woldeab and Alexander Chang taking the singles titles.

A year ago, Astra Sharma was a senior at Vanderbilt, preparing for the end of the SEC regular season and the NCAAs. Today the 23-year-old Australian reached her first WTA quarterfinal, beating No. 8 seed Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the WTA International tournament in Bogota Colombia. Sharma had beaten Shelby Rogers, just returning from a year's absence due to injury, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-1 in the opening round.  She is now at 120 in the WTA live rankings, having started the year at 230.

Amanda Anisimova reached the quarterfinals late last night, with the sixth-seeded Floridian beating Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 6-4. Anisimova will face fellow 17-year-old Maria Osorio Sorrano of Colombia, a wild card, who defeated Kristie Ahn 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3. Anisimova and Orsorio Sorrano have met three times in ITF junior competition, with Anisimova winning all three matches, all on clay.

Sharma has also reached the doubles semifinal, with partner Zoe Hives of Australia. Ena Shibahara(UCLA) and Hayley Carter(UNC) have also advanced to the doubles semifinal.

Reigning Wimbledon girls champion Iga Swiatek of Poland has reached her first WTA quarterfinal at the WTA International tournament in Lugano Switzerland. The 17-year-old defeated No. 3 seed Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in today's second round. Swiatek will face No. 8 seed Vera Lapko of Belarus in the quarterfinals Friday. For more on Swiatek's win, see the WTA website.

I wrote about teens Hailey Baptiste and Ann Li in yesterday's US World Tennis Tour update, and both have advanced to the quarterfinals at the $25,000 tournament in Pelham Alabama. Li took down top seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 6-2, 6-1; Baptiste beat Dasha Ivanova 6-4, 6-2.  Sebastian Korda, the No. 8 seed, is the sole teen in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 tournament in Sunrise Florida. Harrison Adams(Texas A&M), Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and Alexander Ritschard(Virginia) are the other Americans in the final eight at Sunrise.

There's another US teen in the quarterfinals of the $15K in Cancun Mexico: Vanderbilt recruit Dasha Kourkina. The 17-year-old Kourkina, who lost in the second round at last week's ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships, qualified in Cancun earlier this week and today defeated No. 4 seed Sebastiani Leon to advance to her first ITF World Tennis Tour quarterfinal. Former UCLA star Chanelle Van Nguyen, the No. 3 seed, is the other American still in the singles draw in Cancun. Adam El Mihdawy and Jordi Arconada(Texas A&M) are the American men who have reached the quarterfinals at the $15,000 men's tournament in Cancun.

Regular season conference play is wrapping up this weekend for several of the Big 5 conferences, and Bobby Knight has the schedule and links for the important matches in his midweek report at College Tennis Today.