Top Two Seeds Fall as Four Girls Age 15-and-under Reach Atlanta ITF J4 Semifinals; Kang, Brantmeier, Hovde and Sieg Advance at USTA Pro Circuit $25Ks in Texas; Voting for International Hall of Fame Underway

The semifinals are set at this week's ITF J4 in Atlanta, and the storyline in the girls final four is youth, youth and more youth. No. 12 seed Cleo Hutchinson, who is the only seed remaining in the girls draw, is 15 years old. A five-star recruit from California, Hutchinson defeated top seed Christasha McNeil, the 2022 USTA National 16s finalist, 6-3, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. Hutchinson will face 13-year-old wild card Harper Stone, a blue chip who is playing in her first ITF Junior Circuit event, and so far has lost only eight games in her first four victories.

The other girls semifinal will feature 15-year-old Kayla Chung, a blue chip who reached the final of the J4 in Corpus Christi Texas a few weeks ago. Chung defeated unseeded Kenna Erickson 7-5, 6-4 to set up a meeting with 14-year-old qualifier Thea Latak. Latak defeated No. 2 seed Brianna Baldi 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Latak, a five star who won the Easter Bowl 12s title in 2019, had been missing from junior competition all of 2021, so it's good to see her back and winning at the 16s and ITF level.

The boys semifinals in Atlanta will have much older participants, and three of the four are seeded. Top seed Santiago Padilla Cote of Mexico will face fellow 17-year-old Andrew Delgado, the No. 4 seed in the top half. Both are blue chips. In the bottom half, 17-year-old Tygen Goldammer will play unseeded 18-year-old Davis Taylor, with both five-star recruits.

Teenagers continue to have success of the USTA Pro Circuit, with two boys and three girls advancing to the quarterfinals at the two $25,000 tournaments in Texas.

At the men's tournament in Harlingen, unseeded 17-year-old Kyle Kang defeated Gianni Ross(Virginia) 7-5, 6-4 to reach his first quarterfinal at the $25,000 level. The US Open boys quarterfinalist will play former ATP Top 30 player Bernard Tomic of Australia, who is the No. 7 seed this week in Texas.

No. 5 seed Martin Damm, who turned 19 last month, will play top seed Charlie Broom(Dartmouth/Baylor) of Great Britain after defeating wild card Trey Hilderbrand(UCF/Texas A&M) 6-2, 7-6(3).

Other Americans advancing to the quarterfinals are No. 3 seed Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) and No. 8 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) and No. 2 seed Zeke Clark(Illinois), who play each other in the quarterfinals.

At the women's tournament in Fort Worth, NCAA champion Peyton Stearns, the No. 2 seed, has kept her winning streak going, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory of qualifier Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia. Stearns will play No. 8 seed Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) Friday. 

The teenagers advancing in Fort Worth are 16-year-old wild card Liv Hovde, who defeated Tiphanie Fiquet (Kentucky/Mississippi/TCU) of France 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3; 18-year-old Reese Brantmeier(UNC), who reached the quarterfinals when Mel Krywoj(Baylor) of Argentina retired after losing the first set 7-6(3); 19-year-old USC freshman Madison Sieg defeated wild card Sara Daavettila(UNC) 7-6(5), 0-6, 6-4.  Hovde will play Maria Kozyreva(St. Marys), Brantmeier will take on Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and Sieg will face top seed Hanna Chang.

There are no more teens in the draw at the $60,000 women's tournament in Macon, but four Americans, all seeded, have advanced to the quarterfinals, all in the top half of the draw.  Top seed Madison Brengle will play No. 7 seed Taylor Townsend and No. 4 seed Katie Volynets will play No. 5 seed Emma Navarro(Virginia) for a place in the semifinals.

The fan voting for the International Hall of Fame began today and University of Florida standout Lisa Raymond is again on the ballot. The two-time NCAA singles champion is a former World No. 1 in doubles, with 79 pro titles and 11 majors: 6 in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. Voting, which is done through this website, continues for the next ten days