Top Four Seeds Reach Semifinals at Boys 12s Clay Courts; Tien Beats No. 2 Seed Bangoura at Lakewood $15K; Bigun Earns First ATP Point in Pittsburgh; USTA National Entry Deadline is Thursday

Getting seedings right isn't easy in any tournament, but sometimes it works out, as it has been the case at the B12s at the USTA Clay Court Championships in Lake Nona, where the top four seeds have advanced to Thursday's semifinals.

Top seed Elliott Awomoyi had to come from a set down to defeat No. 14 seed Tabb Tuck 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and will face No. 4 seed Vihaan Reddy, who beat No. 10 seed Mason Vaughan 6-3, 6-0.  In the bottom half, No. 3 seed Jordan Lee defeated No. 17 sseed Macksimus Malhotra 6-1, 6-2 and will play No. 2 seed Safir Azam, who beat No. 6 seed Daniel Patsula 6-4, 7-5.

As is typical for the Clay Courts, rain has been a problem, with the B14s in Dothan Alabama and the G14s in Plantation Florida unable to complete their fourth round singles matches today.

The round of 16 is set for the B16s and B18s in Delray Beach Florida, and at the G16s in Huntsville Alabama and the G18s in Mt. Pleasant South Carolina. The top two seeds in the boys and girls 18s and the girls 16s are all through to Thursday's round of 16.

The quarterfinals are set for Thursday at the G12s in Boca Raton Florida with three of the top four seeds still alive:

Sarah Ye[1] v Ciara Sergi
Sophia Osipova[4] v Hannah Ayrault[7]
Maggi Sohns[16] v Arien Thomas
Janae Preston[8] v Welles Newman[2]

At the $15,000 SoCal Pro Circuit men's tournament in Lakewood California, 16-year-old Learner Tien defeated last week's finalist and this week's No. 2 seed Sekou Bangoura(Florida) 6-2, 6-4 in the first round. Wimbledon boys quarterfinalist Tien, who had beaten No. 2 seed Gage Brymer(UCLA) in the first round at a $15K in San Diego last month, now has two wins over ATP Top 600 players in the past five weeks.

Other US teens advancing to the second round in Lakewood are 18-year-old qualifiers Bryce Nakashima and Hudson Rivera, No. 5 seed Ethan Quinn(Georgia) and Jack Anthrop(Ohio State). Wimbledon boys doubles champion Alex Michelsen lost to USC rising senior and All-American Stefan Dostanic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a all-wild card battle Tuesday.

The women's $15K tournament in Lakewood, No. 2 seed Madison Sieg(USC), Malaika Rapolu(Texas) and Princeton recruit Katherine Hui are the US teenagers through to the second round. 

The other $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit event this week is a men's tournament in Pittsburgh, with Ryan Colby(USC), qualifier Elijah Poritzky(Furman) and Meecah Bigun the US teens advancing to the second round.

The 18-year-old Colby earned his first ATP point last month in Israel and now has another with his win today. The 16-year-old Bigun got his first ATP point today, a week after twin brother Kaylan earned his at the $15K in Waco. Kaylan Bigun lost in the first round of the $15K in Cancun this week.

The entry deadline for the USTA 16s and 18s National Hard Court Championships is Thursday, July 14th at 11:59 a.m. The deadline to apply for a wild card is July 19th. More details are available at the Kalamazoo and San Diego USTA Play Tennis tournament sites.