Easter Bowl 16s and ITF Videos; Wen and Lincer Claim J3 Titles in Canada; IMG's Future Stars Event This Week in Greece; Mmoh and Chirico Lead USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Race

My short videos of the boys and girls 16s and ITF Easter Bowl finals are now available on the Tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel. This is the last of the Easter Bowl items for this year. The photo gallery has been up since last Tuesday at Tennis Recruiting Network, and the 12s and 14s videos were posted on YouTube yesterday. The 16s finals, which took place on April 2, are available in their entirety at the Easter Bowl YouTube channel, with the girls on court 1 and the boys on court 2. The ITF finals, both on court 2, were on April 3.

The ITF Junior Circuit returns to the United States this week, with the tournament in Delray Beach, which is upgraded to a Grade 3 for the first time this year. Sebastian Gorzny and Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa are the top seeds. 

Last week, several American juniors from the east coast played the J3 in Quebec City Canada, with top seeds Evan Wen and Olivia Lincer taking the singles titles. The 18-year-old Wen, who didn't lose a set all week, defeated No. 7 seed Liam Drover-Mattinen of Canada 6-3, 6-2 in the final. It's his first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit.  Lincer, who recently began playing under the Polish flag after many years competing as an American, defeated Canadian qualifier Teah Chavez 6-4, 6-0 in the final; she also did not drop a set all week. The 17-year-old Lincer, who also won the doubles title in Quebec City, now has two ITF Junior Circuit singles titles and is back in the Top 100 in the ITF junior rankings.

The only other ITF Junior Circuit title for an American last week came at the J5 in Martinique in girls doubles. No. 4 seeds Abhishree Menon and France's Nehanda Thomias defeated top seeds Liron Loiter of Singapore and Aurora Pedwell of Canada 6-3, 6-3 in the final. It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for the 18-year-old Menon. 

The inaugural IMG Future Stars event for 12-and-under players has begun in Athens Greece, with an exhibition featuring Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Hubert Hurkacz of Poland and opening ceremonies. 

Twenty-four boys and 24 girls will compete this week, with the format starting with a round robin featuring eight groups of three players. The winners of each group will advance to the quarterfinals, which will then be played out. 

The 10-year-old brother of Alcaraz, Jaime, is in the field and will play Teodor Davidov of the United States round robin play Tuesday. Davidov, the Eddie Herr 12s champion, is well-known in junior tennis circles for his only-forehands method of hitting the ball in rallies and alternating left-handed and right-handed serves. Davidov is one of three US boys in the field; the others are Jordan Lee and Tyson Grant. The only US girl in the field is Lani Chang, the 11-year-old daughter of Michael Chang and Amber Liu. Photos and ages of all the participants are here.  Tuesday's matches can be found here.

The USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge has new leaders, with Michael Mmoh and Louisa Chirico moving into first place after Mmoh reached the Tallahassee Challenger final and Chirico won the $60K in Charlottesville. As the release below says, there is just one week left in the men's race and Mmoh controls his own destiny, with JJ Wolf the only player who can catch him. The women's race still has another week to go beyond this week.

ORLANDO, Fla., April 25, 2022 – Michael Mmoh or JJ Wolf will earn a main draw wild card into the French Open this week in Savannah, Ga., as the men's side of the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge concludes.

 

Mmoh is the current leader in the Challenge standings and can clinch the wild card by reaching the quarterfinals at the USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger 80 in Savannah. Wolf is the only player who can catch him, as second-place Steve Johnson and third-place Mitchell Krueger are idle, but Wolf needs to win the tournament to do so. Mmoh and Wolf could potentially meet in the second round, so Mmoh would clinch if he makes the quarterfinals or if Wolf loses at any point this week. Christian Harrison could potentially finish second by winning the title in Savannah, though with Mmoh ranked No. 179 and Wolf ranked No. 142, the wild card is likely to go to the Challenge's first-place finisher:

 

1. Michael Mmoh - 110

2. Steve Johnson - 80
3. Mitchell Krueger - 59
4. JJ Wolf - 56

5. Christian Harrison - 33

 

The women's Challenge still has two more weeks left, as 25-year-old Louisa Chirico, who in 2016 reached the Madrid semifinals and rose to No. 58 in the world as a 20-year old, won the singles title at the USTA Pro Circuit W60 event in Charlottesville, Va., last week to vault herself into the lead of what is looking increasingly like a three-player race: 

 

1. Louisa Chirico - 167

2. Katie Volynets - 150

3. CoCo Vandeweghe - 114

4. Grace Min - 56

5. Sophie Chang - 50

 

Both the men's and women's wild cards will be awarded to the Americans with the most ranking points earned at a maximum of three clay-court tournaments during a five-week window for the women and a four-week window for the men. All red-clay and Har-Tru events at the 25 level and above, including WTA and ATP Tour events, will be included in the Challenge. The Men’s Challenge runs through the week of April 25, while the Women’s Challenge runs through (the week of) May 2. 

 

Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the French Open are not eligible, nor are players ranked in the ATP or WTA Top 50 at the start of the challenge. Should the player with the highest number of challenge points earn direct entry into the French Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on the Monday immediately following the challenge's conclusion will earn the wild card.