My Interview with New Princeton Coach Jackson; Five US Singles Titles on ITF Junior Circuit; Crawley, Tjen, Fearnley and Rapolu Win D-I Fall Tournaments; Quinn Earns First Challenger Victory

I have known Jamea Jackson since she began coaching at Oklahoma State, and once she joined USTA Player Development our paths crossed even more frequently with all her work with top American juniors. I will admit to some surprise at her decision to leave the USTA for the women's head coaching job at Princeton this summer, so I thought I'd ask her about it when I saw her on the recruiting trail late last month. That conversation turned into this article for Tennis Recruiting Network, where she explains not only her pathway to the Princeton position, but also what has kept her in the sport since her successful WTA career was cut short by injury. I know the USTA will miss her, but college tennis will be better for her presence in it.

The ITF Junior Circuit returned to the US hard courts last week with the J5 in McKinney Texas, that, unsurprisingly, featured American champions in all four draws.

Seventeen-year-old Brendan Boland, the No. 7 seed, won his first ITF Junior Circuit title when qualifier Andrew Ena retired trailing 3-1 in the first set. Boland is the son of former Virginia and Baylor head coach Brian Boland. Unseeded 15-year-old Aspen Schuman, playing in just her third ITF Junior Circuit tournament, won her first title, beating unseeded wild card Sydney Jara 7-6(6), 6-1 in the final. Schuman, a blue chip freshman from Northern California who won a UTR Pro Tennis Tour tournament in Newport Beach back in May, did not drop a set all week.

Seventeen-year-old Leonardo Dal Boni won his first ITF Junior Circuit title in boys doubles, partnering with Raul de la Vega of Brazil. The No. 4 seeds defeated unseeded Ian Bracks and Jacob Mann 7-5, 6-1 in the final. 

The girls doubles title in McKinney went to the unseeded pair of 16-year-old Kayla Schefke and 15-year-old Kayla Chung, who did not drop a set in earning their first ITF Junior Circuit titles. Schefke and Chung defeated Aishi Bisht of India and Sophie Hernandez, also unseeded, 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Jacob Golden swept the titles at the J5 in Nicaragua, with the 16-year-old earning his first and second ITF Junior Circuit titles. Golden, a qualifier who was the No. 7 seed, defeated unseeded Sklar Phillips 6-0, 6-3 in the final, and did not drop a set in his five victories. He partnered with 14-year-old Ford McCollum in doubles, with the No. 3 seeds defeating No. 2 seeds Alfredo Gallegos of Ecuador and Nicolas Garnier of Costa Rica 6-2, 2-6, 10-4 in the final. It's McCollum's first ITF Junior Circuit title.

The girls singles title in Nicaragua also went to an American, with No. 8 seed Lucia Donnelly, 16, claiming her first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Canada's Jolene Fernandes, the No. 3 seed. All four of Donnelly's wins were in straight sets. 

At the J5 in Albania, 17-year-old Kate Mansfield won her second ITF Junior Circuit title. The top-seeded Mansfield defeated No. 4 seed Alexandra Panagiotidou of Greece 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in the final. 

Two other ITF Junior Circuit titles for Americans last week came in doubles, with 17-year-old Hanu Patel winning the J5 in Germany with Vincent Marysko of Germany. Patel and Marysko, the top seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Dann Meijer and James Pikkaart of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 in the final.  

At the J4 in Great Britain, 15-year-old Lena Friedman partnered with Louise Booker of Great Britain for the girls doubles title, Friedman's first ITF Junior Circuit title. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Ellie Blackford and Gabia Paskauskas of Great Britain 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 in the final.

This week's tournament in the United States is a J4 in Corpus Christi Texas. Cooper Woestendick and Korea's Yujin Kim are the top seeds.

The ITA All-American Championships, the first D-I major of the fall, are coming up next week, and college players have begun their preparations for that event by playing in tournaments all over the country. The best field of the fall for women was at the NC State College Ranked Spotlight, with NCAA semifinalist Fiona Crawley of North Carolina taking the top flight. Crawley, a junior, beat ITA preseason No. 1 Eryn Cayetano of USC 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, and in the final beat freshman Madison Sieg of USC 6-4, 6-0. For more on Crawley's title, see this article from goheels.com. For photos of other flight winners, see this article from gopack.com.

At the Battle of the Bay in San Francisco, Pepperdine's Janice Tjen took the women's title, beating Georgia's Dasha Vidmanova 6-3, 6-4 in the final. For more on Tjen's title, see this article from pepperdinewaves.com.

Jake Fearnley won the men's title at the Battle of the Bay, with the TCU junior defeating Jonas Ziverts of Arizona 6-4, 7-5 in the final. For more on Fearnley's victory, see this article from gofrogs.com.

At the ITA women's D-I regional in Texas, No. 3 seed Malaika Rapolu defeated fellow Texas Longhorn Marlee Zein, the No. 1 seed and graduate transfer from Florida, 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Rapolu, a junior who played at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions last year and didn't play after March, has assured herself of a place in the ITA National Fall Championships in November.

The ATP Challenger 80 in Charleston South Carolina got underway today, with the final round of qualifying and three first round matches played. Georgia redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn, who received a wild card into the main draw, was playing in his first Challenger, and the Kalamazoo 18s finalist got the victory, beating Sebastian Fanselow(Pepperdine) of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Quinn will play the winner of the first round match Tuesday between top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia, last week's champion in Columbus, and Canada's Alexis Galarneau(NC State). 

Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda also won his first round match, defeating Enzo Couacaud of France 7-6(7), 7-6(1). 

Those reaching the main draw via qualifying wins today are: Italy's Giovanni Oradini(Mississippi State), Garrett Johns(Duke), Donald Young, Denmark's August Holmgren(San Diego), Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) and Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M). Three additional players got in as lucky losers: Omni Kumar(Duke), Govind Nanda(UCLA) and Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee).