My Easter Bowl 16s and ITF Recap; First USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Update; Kang, Tien and Zheng Receive Sunrise $15K Wild Cards; Oyebog Sweeps Titles at ITF J5 in Cameroon; Peru and Argentina Split JB1 Titles

The last of my recaps of the big junior tournaments in Southern California has been published today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with a look back at the 16s and ITF Easter Bowl. As I did in introducing my recap of the 12s and 14s, published Friday, I'll reiterate how important it was for the tournaments to be back at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where the top juniors can begin picturing themselves if they aspire to professional tennis careers. The facility is too exceptional to go unused for 50 weeks of the year, and even if the juniors are playing on the practice courts, they appreciate the chance to experience the conditions and the ambience of the BNP Paribas Open, just a week removed from it.

The first week of the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge has concluded with Michael Mmoh and Coco Vandeweghe earning the most points to lead the race. Both Mmoh, in Houston, and Vandeweghe, in Charleston, were lucky losers who reached the quarterfinals of those pro events. The best three results in any event at the $25K level and above over five weeks for women and four weeks for men will be counted, with the player with the most points taking the wild card, provided they don't receive entry into the main draw.

For the complete lists after the first week, see this release from the USTA.

In addition to the ATP 100 Challenger in Sarasota and the Palm Harbor women's $100K, both on clay, there is another clay event this week on the USTA Pro Circuit, the $15,000 tournament in Sunrise Florida. Qualifying concludes on Tuesday, but the main draw is out, with three boys who excelled during the Southern California junior events receiving main draw wild cards: J1 San Diego champion Learner Tien, Kyle Kang a finalist in San Diego and a semifinalist at the Easter Bowl, and Michael Zheng, who reached the quarterfinals of San Diego and the third round at the Easter Bowl, losing to Tien in both. ITF Junior No. 1 Bruno Kuzuhara, Orange Bowl champion Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay and Cooper Williams received entry via the ITF's junior reserved program. Matias Descotte of Argentina is the top seed, with Evan Zhu(UCLA) seeded No. 2. 

The J5 in Cameroon last week proved the most successful for US juniors, with 14-year-old Joseph Oyebog Jr. sweeping the titles in Douala, where his father Joseph has established a tennis academy. No. 1 seed Oyebog Jr., who won his first ITF Junior Circuit title last November, defeated unseeded 13-year-old Carel Ngounoue, younger brother of Malkia(Kansas) and Clervie Ngounoue, 6-4, 6-4 in the singles final. The third-seeded pair won the doubles title, defeating top seeds Hermann Nsahno Ndonfack and Borris Ekani Essono of Cameroon 6-2, 6-2 in the final. 

Lucy Oyebog Atang, who I believe is Joseph Jr.'s younger sister, won the girls doubles title, with Charnelle Fozo of Cameroon. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Mori Grylak of Israel and Shahd Habib of Egypt 6-1, 6-0 in the final.

The other ITF Junior Circuit title by an American came at the J5 in Honduras, with the unseeded team of Ameia Sorey and partner Valentina Mediorreal Arias of Colombia defeated No. 4 seeds Naomi Widiaman and her partner Ika Kanumuri of India 3-6, 6-0, 10-2 in the final. Sorey, who reached the singles final, won the singles title at the J5 in Honduras the previous week.

At the JB1 for South American players last week in Peru, the home country split results in the final against players from Argentina. No. 3 seed Lautaro Midon of Argentina defeated top seed Gonzalo Bueno of Peru 6-1, 6-3 and No. 2 seed Lucciana Perez Alarcon of Peru defeated No. 1 seed Luciana Moyano of Argentina 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.