Payne, Thorat Win USTA Clay Court 12s Titles, Finals Sunday for 14s, 16, 18s; Mayo and Evans Claim ITF Grade 3 Titles in Dominican Republic; McNally and Rybakov Meet for Iowa City $25K Title

The USTA Clay Court Championships for the 12s wrapped up today in Florida, with Bella Payne winning the girls title in Boca Raton and Abhishek Thorat, this year's Easter Bowl 12s champion, claiming the boys title in Orlando.

G12s singles final:
Bella Payne[2] d. Emily Deming[1] 6-4, 6-2

G12s doubles final: Claire An and Caitlin Bui[3] d. Alyssa Ahn and Emily Deming[4] 6-3, 6-4

B12s singles final:
Abhishek Thorat[3] d. Maximus Dussault[12] 6-4, 7-5

B12s doubles final: Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick[1] d. Abhinav and Parthinav Chunduru[2] 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-1

The finals are set for the other three age divisions, and in the 18s, US Open Junior wild cards are on the line, with none of the finalists qualifying for entry based on their ITF rankings. The girls 18s singles champion will receive a main draw wild card into the next spring's WTA Volvo Open in Charleston South Carolina. It's good to see Nishesh Basavareddy back in the mix after over a year out with injury.

G14s:
Semifinals:
Stephanie Yakoff[1] d. Daniela Livson[17] 6-1, 6-3
Lara Smejkal[15] d. Alexis Blokhina[3] 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

G16s:
Semifinals:
Aubrey Nisbet[13] d. Qavia Lopez[8] 6-2, 6-2
Carrie Beckman[3] d. Grace Levelston[33] walkover, inj.

G18s:
Semifinals:
Karina Miller[7] d. Hadley Doyle[6] 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
Gabby Price[17] d. Jaedan Brown[17] 6-3, 7-5

B14s:
Semifinals:
Dylan Tsoi[6] d. Nicholas Godsick[4] 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Nishesh Basavareddy d. Learner Tien[3] 6-2, 6-3

B16s:
Semifinals:
Samir Banerjee[1] d. Jack Anthrop[7] 6-3, ret. inj.
Luke Casper[2] d. Braden Shick[9] 6-3, 6-0

B18s:
Semifinals:
Leighton Allen[1] d. Aryan Chaudhary[15] 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Logan Zapp[2] d. Evin McDonald[3] 6-0, 6-2

Sixteen-year-old Americans swept the singles titles at this week's ITF Grade 3 in the Dominican Republic, with wins by Aidan Mayo and Kailey Evans.

For Evans, the No. 2 seed, it was a third ITF singles title; she won a Grade 4 title in May and a Grade 3 title last year, both in Costa Rica. Evans defeated unseeded 14-year-old Lan Mi of China 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(2) in the final. Mi, who trains in the US, also plays USTA events and reached the final of the 18s Level 2 earlier this month in Chattanooga.

Mayo, seeded No. 15 this week, claimed his first ITF singles title when last week's Vancouver Grade 3 champion Micah Braswell, the No. 14 seed, retired in the final trailing 4-6, 6-1, 4-0. 

The other ITF Junior Circuit title for an American came at the Grade 5 in Colombia, where Thomas Navarro won the doubles title. Navarro and his partner William Ribero Duarte of Colombia, the No. 3 seeds, defeated top seeds Valentino De Pellegrin and Victorio Marquiselli of Argentina 7-5, 6-7(4), 10-4 in the final.

At the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Iowa City, 20-year-old John McNally, a rising Ohio State junior, will face 22-year-old Alex Rybakov, a recent TCU graduate, with the winner getting his first title at that level. Rybakov, the No. 3 seed, defeated No. 5 seed Aziz Dougaz(Florida State) of Tunisia 7-6(4), 6-3 in the semifinals and No. 4 seed McNally, who was playing in his first Pro Circuit semifinal, defeated Stanford rising junior Axel Geller of Argentina, the No. 6 seed, 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-2.

Top seeds Lloyd Glasspool(Texas) of Great Britain and Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia won the doubles title, beating unseeded Jack Findel-Hawkins(North Florida) and Mark Whitehouse of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1 in the final.

Sebastian Korda advanced to the final of the ATP 110 Challenger in Kazakhstan, defeating No. 14 seed Aleks Vukic(Illinois) 7-6(3), 6-3 in today's semifinal. The 19-year-old Floridian will face top seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia for the title, and will move up to around 270 in the ATP rankings should he win Sunday. He'll still be at a career-high just outside the Top 300 if he loses.