Eleven US Juniors Claim Titles on ITF Junior Circuit; J5 in San Diego, J1 in Mexico Underway; Qualifying Complete at Champaign Challenger

There were 18 tournaments on the ITF Junior Circuit last week, none of them in the United States, and Americans won titles at nine of them.

Americans took two titles at the J5 in El Salvador. Unseeded 14-year-old Katie Rolls earned her first ITF junior title in singles, defeating top seed Deborah Dominguez Collado of Guatemala 6-1, 7-5 in the final. Kaylan Bigun lost in the boys singles final. No. 3 seeds Diego Jarry Fillol and Chile's Matias Rojas won the boys doubles title beating the unseeded El Salvador team of Cesar Cruz and Enrique Laennec Molins 6-4, 3-6, 15-13.

Thirteen-year-old Joseph Oyebog played his first ITF Junior Circuit tournament two weeks ago in Cameroon, making the final. It didn't take him long to win his first title, claiming the singles championship at the J5 in Cameroon this past week. Oyebog defeated the top seed in the second round and in the final beat No. 6 seed Michal Wlodarczyk of Poland 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. 

At the J4 in Kenya, 16-year-old Stefan Regalia won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title without dropping a set. The No. 11 seed defeated No. 9 seed Leo Matthysen of South Africa 6-1, 6-2 in the final. 

Americans took three of the four titles at the J5 in Pakistan, with 15-year-old Taylor Goetz winning both girls titles. Seeded No. 2 in singles, Goetz, the younger sister of the University of Virginia's Ryan Goetz, defeated unseeded Daria Stefania Malaescu of Romania 6-3, 6-2 for her third ITF Junior Circuit singles title. In doubles, Goetz partnered with Abhilasha Bista of Nepal for the title. The No. 1 seeds defeated the unseeded team of Malaescu and Sharvani Shrestha of Nepal 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Fourteen-year-old Abhishek Thorat won his first ITF Junior Circuit title as a qualifier, taking the boys singles with a 6-2, 6-0 win over wild card Abdullah Adnan of Pakistan.

Kurt Miller won the doubles title at the J2 in Bolivia with partner Martin Antonio Vergara del Puerto of Paraguay. The No. 3 seeds defeated Ekansh Kumar and Colombia's Nicolas Nino Mendoza 6-4, 6-3 in the final.  Leanid Boika, the No. 8 seed, lost in the singles final, retiring against No. 1 seed Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia trailing 6-4, 2-0.

Fifteen-year-old Pearlie Zhang won her first ITF Junior Circuit title at the J5 in Mexico. Unseeded, Zhang defeated No. 8 seed Valentina Mozas Pavon of Mexico 6-1, 7-5 in the final.

At the J3 in Canada, Nicholas Godsick won the boys doubles title with Canadian partner Jaden Weekes. The top seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Henry Ren and Sasha Rozin of Canada 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-3 in the final. It's the fifth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title of the year for the 17-year-old Godsick, all with different partners. Michigan recruit Elisabeth Jones reached the girls singles final, falling to Alexia Jacobs of Canada 6-2, 0-6, 6-1. 

At the J5 in Germany Maya Joint won the girls doubles title. Joint and her partner Eszter Berenyi of Hungary, who were unseeded, defeated the unseeded Swiss team of Salome Fluri and Kenisha Moning 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in the final. Joint, 15, has won three ITF junior titles in Europe this fall, two in doubles and one in singles.

Seventeen-year-old Kate Mansfield won her first ITF Junior Circuit title yesterday at the J5 in England. Mansfield, the No. 6 seed, defeated unseeded Clemence Thouard of France 6-2, 6-1 in the championship match. 

This week the ITF Junior Circuit returns to the US, with a J5 in San Diego. The top seed in the boys draw, Jelani Sarr, is through to the second round, but the girls No. 1 seed, Jayna Clemens, lost today to Michaela Moore 6-1, 6-4. 

Guadalajara Mexico is hosting the conclusion of the WTA Finals this week, and also welcoming juniors for a J1 tournament.

American boys in the 64-player main draw are Kurt Miller, Sebastian Sec[15], Joseph Phillips, Quang Dong, Lucas Brown, Learner Tien, Jonathan Irwanto Timothy Phung, Azuma Visaya[9], Alexander Frusina, Evan Lee, Jonah Braswell, Ekansh Kumar, Preston Stearns, Cooper Williams, Ellis Short, Leanid Boika, Yannik Rahman[7], Alexander Aney, Nicholas Steiglehner, Luca Hotze and Sam Scherer.

Leo Borg of Sweden and Mili Poljicak of Croatia are the top two seeds.

American girls in the main draw are Daniella Ben-Abraham, Carlo Pacot, Elizabeth Indera, Kennedy Gibbs, Qavia Lopez[5], Sophia Sappa, Madeleine Jessup[16], Ashton Bowers, Krystal Blanch[7], Katherine Hui, Mia Slam[9], Ava Krug[14], Kaitlin Quevedo, Liv Hovde[6], Martina Marica, Adla Lopez, Elizabeth Tkachenko and Esther Vyrlan.

Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic are the top two seeds. 

Florida sophomore Ben Shelton qualified for his first Challenger today in Champaign, defeating Illinois sophomore Hunter Heck 6-3, 6-3. Keegan Smith(UCLA) also qualified, defeating Stanford sophomore Tristan Boyer 7-6(4), 6-3.  Shelton will face No. 7 seed and 2013 NCAA champion Blaz Rola(Ohio State) of Slovenia on Tuesday, while Smith will play Michael Mmoh. JJ Wolf(Ohio State) won his first round match in three sets, as did Stefan Kozlov, so Mmoh, Wolf and Kozlov are still in contention for the USTA's Australian Open wild card, as is Maxime Cressy(UCLA), who would have to win the Challenger 100 this week in France to have any chance.