Stanford Freshman Blokhina Ends Brengle's 15-Match $60K Winning Streak; ITF JA Merida Acceptances; Williams Among Five Americans Advancing at Tallahassee $15K

In the course of winning titles at three $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this fall, Madison Brengle had lost a grand total of two sets in her 15 victories. Today the 32-year-old from Delaware lost two sets in the first round of the $80,000 tournament in Tyler Texas, to Stanford freshman Alexis Blokhina, who earned a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over the WTA's No. 51.

Blokhina, a qualifier, trailed 3-1 in both the second and third sets, but evened both sets at 3-3, then broke Brengle in the final game. The 18-year-old from Florida had never faced a WTA Top 100 player before today, with her previous best win coming this April when she beat Catherine Harrison(UCLA), then ranked 267, in an Orlando $25K.

Blokhina will play Emiliana Arango of Colombia in Thursday's second round. 

Brengle, seeded No. 2, wasn't alone as a top WTA player exiting in the first round. Taylor Townsend defeated top seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, ranked No. 29, 6-3, 6-4, Townsend's best win since she beat No. 4 Simona Halep at the US Open in 2019.

The acceptances for next month's Grade A in Merida Mexico were revealed today, with ten US girls and five US boys receiving entry into the main draw of the tournament, which takes place November 21-27.

The US girls: Clervie Ngounoue, Qavia Lopez, Tatum Evans, Kaitlin Quevedo, Mia Slama, Theadora Rabman, Ava Krug, Ahmani Guichard, Iva Jovic and Valeria Ray.  The US boys: Leanid Boika, Cooper Williams, Alexander Frusina, Yannik Rahman and Kaylan Bigun.

There are two ITF Top 10 girls--No. 2 Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and No. 9 Nikola Daubnerova of the Czech Republic--and two Top 10 boys--No. 1 Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay and No. 10 Gerard Campana Lee of Korea--entered, and the initial ranking cutoff for the girls was 109 and for the boys was 108.

There is a J1 the week before in Guadalajara Mexico, with similar fields, although Costoulas and Vallejo are not entered there.

Qualifier Alfredo Perez(Florida) pulled off a big upset last night at the ATP Challenger 80 in Las Vegas, defeating top seed Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-3 in the first round. The 25-year-old from Miami, who has yet to crack the ATP Top 500, got his first Challenger main draw win in Fairfield California two weeks ago. He will face 17-year-old Jerry Shang of China in the second round Thursday.

The two men's USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week are $15,000 events on college campuses in Norman Oklahoma and Tallahassee Florida.

In Norman, only one American remains after today's completion of the first round: Tyler Zink, the Oklahoma State senior, who is the No. 5 seed. (correction: Gianni Ross(Virginia), who plays Zink Thursday, won his first round match Tuesday). Fourteen of the other 15 players remaining have college ties, including top seed Lucas Gerch(Oklahoma State) of Germany and No. 2 seed Adrian Boitan of Romania, the former Baylor star, who turned pro this summer.

In Tallahassee, five Americans have advanced to the second round, including 17-year-old Cooper Williams, who defeated No. 6 seed Mwendwa Mbithi 6-4, 6-1. Top seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) defeated wild card Learner Tien 6-3, 7-5, with Tien playing his first match since his first round defeat in the US Open Junior Championships seven weeks ago. Cash Hanzlik(Tyler JC/Arizona State) and qualifiers Marcus McDaniel(Georgia Tech) and Trent Bryde(Georgia) are the other US players making the second round. Expectations for Georgia this spring continue to rise, as Phillip Henning of South Africa also qualified and has moved into the second round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 4 seed Blaise Bicknell(Tennessee) of Jamaica.