Stearns Receives Main Draw Wild Card for Next Week's WTA 125 in Midland; Tennis Europe Crowns 14s and 16s Masters Champions; Washout of Quarterfinals at Tyler $80K; Two Sooners Reach Norman $15K Semifinals; Two Seminoles Reach Tallahassee $15K Semifinals

Qualifying for the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan begins Sunday and the final list of wild cards for the WTA 125 tournament has been released. It had been announced earlier that Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and Shuai Zhang of China were wild card recipients, along with Katrina Scott; Scott moved into the main draw on her own with recent withdrawals. 

The other three wild cards announced today are Madison Brengle, the defending champion, former Duke star Maria Mateas and 2022 University of Texas NCAA team and singles champion Peyton Stearns.

Duke sophomore Ellie Coleman, a Midland resident, and 2022 USTA 18s National champion Eleana Yu received qualifying wild cards. Coleman and Duke teammate Karolina Berankova have received a main draw doubles wild card. 

Alena Kovackova, Tennis Europe Master 16s champion
photo courtesy Richard van Loon, toptennis.photos

The Tennis Europe Masters tournament concluded today in Monte Carlo, with champions determined in the 14s and 16s age divisions. Eight players qualified for the event based on Tennis Europe points accrued throughout the year.

Norway's Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, the top seed, won the boys 16s title, beating No. 4 seed William Rejchtmann Vinciguerra of Sweden 6-4, 6-2. It's the first TE Masters title for a player from Norway.

Fourteen-year-old Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic is certainly a player to watch after she won the girls 16s Masters title. Top seed Kovackova, who defeated No. 2 seed Diana-Ioana Simionescu of Romania 6-4, 6-1 in today's final is 66-6 this year with her only loss in any 14s or 16s tournament coming in the Les Petits As semifinals to eventual champion Julia Stusek of Germany.

Unseeded Diego Dedura-Palomero of Germany won the boys 14s title, beating No. 2 seed Nikita Bilozertsev of Ukraine 6-0, 6-2 in the final. Thirteen-year-old Ksenia Efremova of Russia won the girls 14s title, with the top seed defeating unseeded Sona Depesova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

For more on the Tennis Europe Masters, with comments from the winners, see the tournament blog.

Rain all day in Texas has pushed the quarterfinals in singles and the semifinals of doubles at the women's $80,000 tournament in Tyler to Saturday, with none of the matches scheduled for today getting on court for even one point.

The opportunity for their players to compete in professional tournaments without traveling is the reason that so many college campuses are hosting lower level USTA Pro Circuit events now and that has proven to be effective for both the University of Oklahoma and Florida State University this week, with each having two of the four semifinalists.

At the $15,000 men's tournament in Norman, unseeded Sooner sophomore Jordan Hasson of Israel defeated 2021 NCAA singles finalist and No. 3 seed Daniel Rodrigues(South Carolina) of Portugal 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and will face teammate Alex Martinez, the No. 6 seed, who defeated No. 2 seed Adrian Boitan(Baylor) of Romania 6-2, 6-1.  In the other semifinal, top seed Lucas Gerch(Oklahoma State) of Germany will play No. 7 seed Yuta Kikuchi(Cal) of Japan.

Seventeen-year-old Aidan Kim has reached the doubles final in Norman, with Oklahoma State freshman Alessio Basile of Belgium. They will play top seeds Tyler Zink(Oklahoma State) and George Goldhoff(Texas) in Saturday's final. 

At the $15,000 men's tournament in Tallahassee, No. 2 seed Alex Knaff, a former Florida State star from Luxembourg, defeated current FSU standout Antoine Cornut Chauvinc of France 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 and will play qualifier Phillip Henning(Georgia) of South Africa in the semifinals. Henning defeated Harvard recruit Cooper Williams 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals today. 

In the bottom half, University of Florida junior Will Grant reached his first Pro Circuit semifinal when Ryan Shane(Virginia) retired after losing the first set 6-3. He will play the other Seminole in the semifinals, junior Andreja Petrovic of Norway, a wild card, who beat Cash Hanzlik(Arizona State) 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-0. 

In the doubles final today, top seeds Abraham Asaba of Ghana and Jody Maginley of Antigua defeated unseeded Mateusz Terczynski of Poland and Ricardo Rodriguez-Pace of Venezuela 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.