Four Events This Week Close Out 2022 USTA Pro Circuit; Quinn and Shelton Advance to Second Round Meeting at Champaign Challenger; More Division I NLI Signings

The last USTA Pro Circuit tournaments of the year are taking place this week, four for the men and one for the women. Qualifying is now complete at the men's $15,000 tournament in East Lansing, the men's $15,000 tournament in Boca Raton, the men's $25,000 tournament in Columbus and the women's $15,000 event in Waco.

In Columbus, Ohio State recruit Brandon Carpico, 15-year-old Evan Sharygin and University of Oregon sophomore Quinn Vandecasteele are the Americans advancing to the main draw, with wild cards going to three Ohio State players: Preston Stearns, Andrew Lutschaunig and Reece Yakubov, with Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova getting the fourth wild card.  Ohio State senior Cannon Kingsley is the top seed, with Aidan Mayo seeded No. 2. 

There was a 48-draw for qualifying in East Lansing, and the fact that it filled was impressive given that Columbus is just four hours south. LSU junior Ron Hohmann was the only American among the six qualifiers. 

Wild cards went to three Michigan State players: Anthony Pero, David Saye and Max Sheldon, as well as Alex Michelsen, last week's finalist in Winston-Salem, who is the No. 3 seed. MSU freshman Ozan Baris received entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program, as did Aidan Kim. Kim won his first round match today, Baris plays his first round match Wednesday; Kalamazoo 18s champion Learner Tien lost his first round match today. The top seed in East Lansing is Alex Knaff(Florida State) of Luxembourg, with Colin Markes(Texas) seeded No. 2.

In Boca Raton, 17-year-old Sean Daryabeigi and Thomas Brown were the two Americans to qualifying, with wild cards given to Florida freshman Jonah Braswell, Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC), Jean-Christian Morandais of Guadeloupe and Tauheed Browning. Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal and Roberto Cid(South Florida) of the Dominican Republic are the top two seeds.

In Waco, 16-year-olds Lexington Reed and Maya Joint were the only two Americans to qualify.  Fifteen-year-olds Kenna Erickson and Aspen Schuman received wild cards, as did Baylor sophomore Brooke Thompson and Duke freshman Katie Codd. 

Veronica Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) of Russia and Jessica Hinojosa Gomez(Baylor) of Mexico are the top two seeds.

The first round of the ATP Challenger 80 in Champaign is nearly complete, and already three seeds have been eliminated: top seed Denis Kudla, No. 5 seed Stefan Kozlov and No. 8 seed Jerry Shang of China. No. 3 seed Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech) and Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) won their first round matches today, and when they meet in the second round Thursday, one will be eliminated from contention for the USTA's Australian Open reciprocal wild card. 

Another interesting second round match Thursday will feature the last two Kalamazoo 18s finalists and the last two ITA All American champions: Ben Shelton(Florida) and Ethan Quinn(Georgia). No. 4 seed Shelton defeated wild card Karlis Ozolins(Illinois) of Latvia 6-3, 6-4 for his 11th consecutive Challenger win. Eighteen-year-old qualifier Quinn beat another member of the Illini men's team, wild card Mathis Debru of France, 7-5, 6-2. It's Quinn's second victory in a Challenger main draw. 

In addition to the mirroring accomplishments listed above, Quinn and Shelton also won the last two $25,000 summer Pro Circuit tournaments held in Champaign.

The National Letter of Intent signing announcements continue to be released, and below is the latest update. My first collection of these announcements, from last Thursday, can be found here.

WOMEN:

Boston College has signed Tola Glowacka and Miami transfer Nada Dimovska.

Colorado has signed Pia Rebec of Slovenia.

Georgia has signed Gracie Epps and Aysegul Mert of Turkey.

Georgia Tech has signed Meera Jesudason.

Illinois has signed Alice Xu.

Louisville has signed Ibifuro Clement and Germany Davis.

Mississippi State has signed Jayna Clemens.

Mississippi has signed Emma Kettle of Germany, who will start in January, Northwestern transfer Briana Crowley and Andrea Nova of the Czech Republic.

Western Michigan has signed Julia Frazier. 

MEN:

Arizona has signed Inaki Cabrera Bello of Spain.

Auburn has signed Billy Blaydes of Great Britain.

Georgia has signed Parker Jacques, Parker Mariencheck and Davis Taylor.

Kentucky has signed Eli Stephenson, Jack Loutit of New Zealand and Matt Rankin of Great Britain. 

Louisville has signed Evan Duggal and Russell Lokko.

Oklahoma has signed Luis Valdes of Mexico, who will start in January, and Hank Trondson.

South Carolina has signed Jelani Sarr.

Tennessee has signed Filip Pieczonka of Poland

Texas Tech has signed Jonas Gundacker of Austria. 

Western Michigan has signed Ashton Adesoro, Alvin Altman, Drew Evans and Dimitri Moriarty.