Five Americans Advance to Round of 16 at ITF JA Osaka Mayor's Cup; Duke's Coleman Receives Midland WTA 125 Wild Card; Gauff Defeats Montgomery in Rain-Delayed First Round Match in San Diego; ITA Cup for Divisions II, III, NAIA and JUCO Begins Thursday

Of the nine Americans who made the trip to Japan for the ITF Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup this week, five have advanced to Thursday's round of 16, including all three US boys who entered.

Unseeded Jonathan Irwanto had an impressive second round win, beating No. 4 seed Hayden Jones of Australia 6-4, 7-5. The 18-year-old from Florida will play No. 14 seed Hoyoung Roh of Korea for a place in the quarterfinals. 

No. 14 seed Adhithya Ganesan defeated Yuto Oki of Japan 6-1, 6-1 to advance to a third round meeting with top seed Gerard Campana Lee of Korea. No. 16 seed Quang Duong beat qualifier Shota Shima of Japan 6-1, 6-4 and will play No. 2 seed Rei Sakamoto of Japan.  Irwanto and his partner Reiya Hattori of Japan, the No. 8 seeds, have advanced to the doubles quarterfinals, as has Ganesan, with his partner Asahi Harazaki of Japan, who are the No. 7 seeds. 

While No. 12 seed Sage Loudon and No. 16 seed Martina Marica lost in the opening round of singles, the other two American seeds in the girls draw have advanced to the third round. No. 14 seed Anya Murthy defeated Sein Myoung of Korea 7-5, 7-6(4) and No. 15 seed Maya Iyengar beat Laura Cilekova of Slovakia 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3. Iyengar will face top seed Sara Saito of Japan next, while Murthy's third round opponent is No. 4 seed Hayu Kinoshita of Japan.

The WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan, which runs from October 30 through November 5, announced three main draw wild cards today. Nineteen-year-old Midland resident Ellie Coleman, a sophomore at Duke, will play in the main draw (CORRECTION: Coleman's wild card is for qualifying in singles, but she has been given a main draw wild card in doubles). Joining Coleman as wild cards announced today are Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Sofia Kenin. Shuai Zhang of China, currently No. 27 in the WTA rankings. accepted a wild card last month. Katrina Scott has received a main draw wild card, with one more yet to be announced.

The current list of competitors includes nine WTA Top 100 players. 

As usual, I am planning to attend the tournament to cover qualifying and some first round action.

No. 6 seed Coco Gauff and qualifier Robin Montgomery finished their first round match today at the WTA 500 in San Diego after rain caused a postponement last night with Gauff up a set and a break. Gauff closed out her 6-3, 6-3 victory over fellow 18-year-old Montgomery with little drama and will face Bianca Andreescu of Canada in the second round Thursday.

For more on the Gauff-Montgomery match, see this article from the WTA website.

The ITA Cup, formerly known as the ITA Small College Championships, begins Thursday at the Rome Tennis Park in Georgia. 

Players from Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior College schools will vie for individual titles in singles and doubles. 

The top seeds in each division:

Division III women: Sylwia Mikos, Chicago

Division III men: Aiden Drover-Mattinen, RPI (brother of ITF JB1 Pan American Closed finalist Liam Drover-Mattinen)

Division II women: Deniz Khazan, Barry

Division II men: Luca Mack, Valdosta State

NAIA women: Violet Apisah, Keiser

NAIA men: Perry Gregg, Holy Cross(Indiana)

Junior College women: Arina Gamretkaia, Hillsborough CC

Junior College men: Takeshi Taco, Cowley County CC

Complete draws can be found here. Live streaming is available through a link on the ITA tournament home page.