Li and Kostyuk Advance to Tyler $80K Singles Final, Zamarripa Twins Reach Doubles Final; Fields Set for ITA National Fall Championships; Qualifying Begins at ITF Grade 4 in Daytona Beach

No. 7 seed Ann Li and No. 8 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine will meet in the final of the $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Tyler Texas after a day of tennis that was downright meager. After two days extending into nights Thursday and Friday, with the tournament attempting to catch up from three days of rain, today saw only two of the four matches on the schedule actually played.

Cici Bellis, who won the title last week at the $80,000 tournament in Macon, was unable to compete in today's singles semifinals due to injury. Bellis was set to take on Kostyuk, whom she defeated in the Macon final when Kostyuk had to retire with cramping early in the third set. Bellis, who had beaten both qualifier Jamie Loeb and No. 4 seed Aliona Bolsova of Spain in three sets Friday, was not in doubles this week, but that was not enough to overcome the challenge of the singles doubleheader. The 18-year-old Kostyuk, who won her two singles matches Friday in straight sets, was scheduled to play in the doubles semifinals today, but Clara Tauson of Denmark withdrew with an injury, which put alternates Allura and Maribella Zamarripa in the final.

The Zamarripa twins, who have committed to the University of Texas for 2021, defeated top seeds Caroline Dolehide and Caty McNally 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 in the quarterfinals late Friday night. They will take on the No. 4 seeds from Poland, Paula Kania-Chodun and Katarzyna Piter, in Sunday morning's final.

Li has gotten through her four matches in the past three days with a minimum of fuss, although she needed late breaks in each set to defeat Greet Minnen of Belgium 7-5, 7-5 in today's semifinals. Li was particularly impressive on break points, winning four of six, while Minnen could convert only two of the six she had. The 20-year-old from Pennsylvania has only two ITF Pro Circuit singles titles, a $15K and a $25K, but her run to the third round of the US Open last month and qualifying for both the Australian Open back in January and the Western & Southern Open in August has no doubt helped her confidence, particularly on hard courts.

The finals will be streamed here, beginning with doubles at 10:30 am Central Time, with Ken Thomas providing the commentary. 

Frances Tiafoe lost to No. 4 seed John Millman of Australia 3-6, 6-4, 6-4  in the semifinals of the ATP 250 tournament in Kazakhstan today, with Millman avenging his loss to Tiafoe at the US Open. 

Qualifying is underway and the main draw is out for the ATP Masters in Paris next week, with three Americans: Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz and Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee). Marcos Giron(UCLA) is in qualifying and won his first round match today; he will advance to the main draw if he defeats No. 2 seed Lazlo Djere of Serbia Sunday. Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas are the top two seeds.

The ITA National Fall Championships are scheduled to begin Thursday at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, and the fields have been released, including the wild cards.

Ohio State sophomore Cannon Kingsley, a finalist at the Oracle Masters this month, is among the men's entrants, but unlike the Masters, the fields are mostly collegians.  Ashley Lahey and Summer Circuit champion Jessica Failla, both of Pepperdine are entered, as is UCLA's Abigail Forbes, UNC's Alexa Graham and NC State's Anna Rogers.

Junior players dominate the wild card selections, with Qavia Lopez, Emma Charney, Katherine Hui and Allie Gretkowski the girls wild cards and Benjamin Kittay, Kyle Kang, Quinn Snyder and Gavin Young the boys wild cards. The boys field is here; the girls field is here. 

Qualifying for the last of the three ITF Grade 4 events in the United States is underway in Daytona Beach Florida, with two rounds completed today and the final round of qualifying set for Sunday. Top qualifying seed Sarah Hamner, who played both the singles and doubles finals at the ITF in Orlando yesterday, didn't get an exemption or a wild card into this week's event, and she was back on the court for two matches today. She won them both, so she will have a less taxing day on Sunday, with just one match. Jackson Armistead, the top boys seed in qualifying, also won both his matches today.