My Article on Zampardo's North Carolina State Commitment; Lahey Halts Stearns' 12-Match Winning Streak, Three Teens Advance to Fort Worth $25K Semifinals; Brengle and Volynets Reach Semis at Macon $60K

Earlier this month at the ITF JB1 Pan American Closed, I had the opportunity to speak with Maddy Zampardo about her decision to commit to North Carolina State for the fall of 2023. Zampardo, a 17-year-old from Michigan, was a bit of an outlier in waiting until right before her senior year of high school to make her choice, and mentioned that the patience shown by Simon Earnshaw and his staff at NC State was an important factor in her decision. Here is my article, published today on the Tennis Recruiting Network, that explores some of the other reasons the six-footer from Grosse Pointe Woods selected the Wolfpack for her next phase of tennis development.

2022 NCAA singles champion Peyton Stearns had her winning streak snapped today at the $25,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Fort Worth by 2018 NCAA singles finalist Ashley Lahey. No. 2 seed Stearns, who led Texas to two NCAA team titles in her two years in Austin, lost to Pepperdine graduate and No. 8 seed Lahey, who is still just 22 years old, 6-4, 6-4. Stearns, who had won the $25K in Austin Texas and the $25K in Florence South Carolina earlier this month, suffered her first loss of the month after 12 consecutive victories.

The other three semifinalists in Fort Worth are all teenagers.  Sixteen-year-old wild card Liv Hovde defeated St. Mary's Maria Kozyreva of Russia 6-2, 6-3 to reach her second consecutive semifinal at the $25K level. She will face 19-year-old USC freshman Madison Sieg, who took out top seed Hanna Chang 6-4, 6-4 to reach her second semifinal at a $25K. Hovde and Sieg met last year in the semifinals of the ITF JB1 Easter Bowl, with Hovde claiming a 6-0, 6-3 victory. Lahey's opponent in the semifinals is 18-year-old UNC freshman Reese Brantmeier, who came from behind to beat Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-2. As with the other two teens, Brantmeier is into a second semifinal at the $25K level this year.

At the men's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Harlingen Texas, 19-year-old Martin Damm advanced to Saturday's semifinals when he defeated top seed Charlie Broom(Darthmouth/Baylor) of Great Britain 7-5, 7-6(3). Damm will face No. 3 seed Strong Kirchheimer, who beat South Carolina junior Toby Samuel of Great Britain 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3 in three hours and 24 minutes. 

The other semifinal will feature No. 8 seed Andres Martin of Georgia Tech, who beat No. 2 seed Zeke Clark(Illinois) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and No. 7 seed Bernard Tomic, who ended the run of 17-year-old Kyle Kang 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

At the women's $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Macon Georgia, top seed Madison Brengle and No. 4 seed Katie Volynets will meet in the semifinals after both posted victories today. Brengle defeated No. 7 seed Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-3 for her 13th consecutive win at the $60K level, with her only loss in the past four weeks coming in qualifying at the WTA 500 in San Diego. Volynets got by No. 5 seed Emma Navarro(Virginia) 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3. The other singles semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Panna Udvardy and unseeded Thaisa Peretti of Brazil.

Three Americans are through to the semifinals in WTA and ATP events this week. At the WTA 1000 in Guadalajara Mexico, Jessica Pegula defeated Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals, and will meet Victoria Azarenka of Belarus for a place in the finals. Azarenka defeated Coco Gauff 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3.

At the ATP 250 in Belgium, Sebastian Korda is through to the semifinals, where he will take on Dominic Thiem of Austria. At the ATP 250 in Italy, Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) is through to his third ATP semifinal, and will face Matteo Berrettini of Italy Saturday.