Eddie Herr Qualifying Concludes Saturday for 12s, 14s, 16s with ITF J1 Qualifying Beginning; Top Four Girls Seeds Reach Semifinals at JA in Mexico

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Bradenton FL--

Mia Kupres and Nathalie Tauziat of Canada
heading home for the day

The final round of qualifying for the 12s, 14s and 16s division of the Eddie Herr International Championships is scheduled for Saturday morning, with the first round of qualifying for the ITF J1 also beginning at 8 a.m. on the clay courts of the IMG Academy.

Eight players will reach the 64-player main draw, which begins Monday. All final round qualifying matchups are available here, under the Round of 16 button.

The ITF J1 qualifying draws did not fill, with the top nine boys and top nine girls seeds receiving byes. Ellis Short and Preston Stearns are the top two seeds in the boys qualifying. Teddy Truwit and Brayden Michna are blue chips unseeded in the qualifying draw. Daniella Ben-Abraham, who was given a wild card, is the top seed in the girls qualifying, with Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa the No. 2 seed. Eleana Yu, Bridget Stammel and Katie Codd are blue chips who are unseeded in the qualifying draw.

Although little has changed around the clay courts, the massive new construction on the East Campus has dramatically changed the look around the courts there. The tournament headquarters for the younger age groups remains in the indoor bubble where it has alway been, but with all the other ongoing construction surrounding it, the atmosphere in the area has completely changed.

I've gotten accustomed to all the changes on the West Campus, but wasn't prepared for all the demolition that has happened on the original grounds of the academy over the past two years.

The JA tournament this week in Merida Mexico is down to the semifinals, but with the matches being played so late there and no live scoring I can't stay up until the results are posted given the early start of the Eddie Herr tomorrow. The girls semifinals tonight featured all four of the top seeds, with No. 1 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra playing No. 4 seed Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic and No. 3 seed Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic facing No. 2 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia.  No. 6 seed Clervie Ngounoue was the only American to reach the quarterfinals; she lost to Jimenez Kasintseva last night 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The boys semifinals consist of No. 15 seed Lautaro Midon of Argentina versus No. 6 seed Adolfo Vallejo of Paraguay and an all-Croatian battle between No. 4 seed Mili Poljicak and No. 16 seed Dino Prizmic. Prizmic defeated No. 2 seed Leo Borg of Sweden 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 in last night's quarterfinals.