My Article on Ana Geller's Commitment to Stanford; Lapadat, Xu Take ITF Grade 1 Titles in Montreal; All US Semifinals at Lubbock $15K; Wolf Advances to Columbus Challenger Semis

While I was in New York, I had the opportunity to talk with Ana Geller about her recent commitment to Stanford for 2020. I was interested in knowing how much influence her older brother Axel had on her choice, and while it appears to have been considerable, she did take all her official visits before ultimately deciding on Stanford. For details on her decision, see my article for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Valencia Xu and Joshua Lapadat won the singles titles today at the ITF Grade 2 in Canada. Xu, 16, avenged her loss to No. 2 seed Jada Bui last December at the Orange Bowl, beating the Canadian 6-1, 6-2. Xu, who started playing ITF Junior Circuit events just this spring, now has two titles, with the USTA National 16s finalist winning the Grade 4 Grass Courts in June. No. 2 seed Lapadat also avenged a loss when he defeated top seed Andrew Dale 7-6(5), 6-3. Last month Lapadat lost to Dale in the first round of the Grade 1 in College Park 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. Although Lapdat has been playing ITF junior events since 2016 and has made several finals, this is his first singles title.

All four semifinalists at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Lubbock Texas are Americans: Lauren Proctor(Winthrop), Dalayna Hewitt, No. 3 seed Dasha Ivanova and qualifier Jessica Livianu(St. John's).  Proctor defeated qualifier McCartney Kessler(Florida) 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-3; Hewitt beat fellow teenager Savannah Broadus 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Ivanova defeated Tiphanie Fiquet(Ole Miss) of France 7-5, 6-4 and Livianu downed Shiori Fukuda(Ohio State) of Japan 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. All but Ivanova are seeking their first Pro Circuit singles title.

Fukuda and 15-year-old Ashlyn Krueger took out top seeds Alexandra Mueller and Caitlin Whoriskey(Tennessee) in the doubles semifinals today 6-2, 2-6, 10-5 and will play No. 3 seeds Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico and Sofia Sewing(Miami) in the final. Portillo Ramirez and Sewing beat Vanessa Ong and Broadus 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinal this evening.

At the $15,000 men's tournament in Fayetteville Arkansas, top seed Takuto Niki of Japan will face North Carolina freshman Rinky Hijikata of Australia in one of Saturday's semifinals, with No. 2 seed Nick Chappell(TCU) playing Virginia senior Carl Soderlund of Sweden in the other. Chappell beat Georgia sophomore Trent Bryde 6-2, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals.

JJ Wolf has advanced to the semifinals of the ATP 90 Challenger in Columbus, with the former Ohio State star coming back to beat unseeded Gabriel Petit of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Wolf, the No. 13 seed, is one of two players in the way of a final between cousins and former USC teammates Roberto Quiroz and Emilio Gomez of Ecuador. Quiroz, the No. 9 seed, beat former Ohio State star Mikael Torpegaard of Denmark, the No. 2 seed, 7-6(5), 7-6(4). Gomez, the top seed, beat No. 6 seed Enzo Couacaud of France 7-5, 7-6(4) and will play Wolf next. Quiroz will face No. 4 seed Peter Polansky of Canada, who beat No. 5 seed Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(7).

The $25,000 men's tournament in Houston continues to have problems with rain, with the quarterfinals currently in a delay.  Wild card Ron Hohmann, a freshman at LSU, continued his run Thursday, beating Stanford junior Axel Geller 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Qualifier Lucas Greif, a sophomore at Florida, beat No. 5 seed Harrison Adams(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-3 in the second round last night.