USA, Canada Take Suspense Out of ITF Junior Team Qualifying; New Competition Between US and British Boys Introduced; Martin, Kodat Reach Grade 1 Quarterfinals; Osuigwe Advances to Semis in Charlottesville

The United States and Canada remained undefeated in ITF World Junior Tennis and Junior Davis/Fed Cup North and Central American qualifying with wins today in Montreal and will face off to determine the No. 1 spot in the four round robin groups on Saturday.  But because none of the other countries won a match in these first two days, there is no suspense remaining aside from positioning, with the loser of the four US - Canada matches still qualifying for the finals later this year.

The US boys 14-and-under team did have to win a deciding doubles match to beat Mexico today, and the Canadian Junior Davis Cup team also dropped a match to Mexico Thursday, but other than that, the competition has been dominated by the US and Canada. That has been the usual outcome in past years, so it's not surprising, but when Mexico hosted the Junior Davis and Junior Fed Cups, only one of the US and Canada would make the finals, adding some spice to that competition.

The LTA announced today that a new junior boys competition between the United States and Great Britain will take place at the ATP Queen's Club tournament June 21st and June 22nd. The competition for 18-and-under boys is being introduced as a tribute to former British Davis Cup captain Paul Hutchins, who died last month. The US and British girls have long had the Maureen Connolly Challenge during the prelude to the brief junior grass season, but the boys competition has been intermittent at best. I will pass along the names of the US players selected for this tournament when I receive them. For more on the Paul Hutchins Trophy, see this article.

Unseeded Andres Martin and No. 2 seed Toby Kodat advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITF Grade 1 in France this week, which, due to rain, is still a round behind schedule.  Georgia Tech recruit Martin, who has beaten the No. 9 and No. 6 seeds the past two days, will play top seed Bu Yunchaokete of China, while Kodat will play No. 7 seed Arthur Cazaux of France. The semifinals are also scheduled to be played Saturday.

No. 8 seed Whitney Osuigwe defeated top seed Taylor Townsend 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals of the $80,000 women's tournament in Charlottesville Virginia. The 17-year-old Floridian, who had lost to Townsend in three sets in their only previous meeting last year, will play unseeded Kataryna Kawa of Poland for a berth in Sunday's final.  No. 2 seed Madison Brengle will face No. 4 seed Kaja Juvan, who beat unseeded Caty McNally 7-5, 6-1 in today's quarterfinals.

Two Americans have advanced to the semifinals at the $25,000 women's tournament in Osprey Florida. No. 3 seed Ann Li defeated unseeded Gaia Senesi of Italy 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to set up a meeting with top seed Gabby Ruse of Romania, who needed two-and-a-half hours to get by wild card Elli Mandlik 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.  Unseeded Usue Arconada ended the run of wild card Alexa Glatch with a 6-3, 6-3 victory and will play No. 5 seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the semifinals.

At the ATP 80 Challenger in Tallahassee, the finalists at last week's Sarasota Challenger will face off in the semifinals as No. 2 seed Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) and No. 9 seed Tommy Paul picked up victories today. Sandgren beat No. 5 seed and 2018 champion Noah Rubin(Wake Forest) 7-5, 6-1, while Paul beat No. 13 seed Mikael Torpegaard(Ohio State) of Denmark 6-4, 6-1. Former USC star Emilio Gomez of Ecuador is in the top half semifinal and will take on No. 3 seed Corentin Moutet of France.