Just One Upset on First Day of ITA National Fall Championships; Kim, Williams and Tien Advance at Fayetteville $15K; Quarterfinals Set at ITF J4 in Boca Raton; Paul Defeats Nadal at Paris Masters

The weather in San Diego has been uncharacteristically damp this fall, and the first day of the ITA National Fall Championships got off to a late start today due to wet courts at the Barnes Tennis Center. 

Once the sun came out the seeds had a good day, with 15 of 16 advancing to the second round. The only loss was suffered in the last singles match of the day, with Columbia freshman Michael Zheng[5] losing to Geronimo Busleiman of Utah 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4). First round results for seeds are below:

Fiona Crawley[1], UNC d. Daria Kuczar, Tennessee 6-2, 6-3
Connie Ma[2], Stanford d. Chloe Beck, Duke 6-4, 6-2

Abbey Forbes[3], UNC d. Malaika Rapolu, Texas 6-2, 6-1

Madison Sieg[4], USC d. Angelica Blake, Stanford 3-6, 7-5, 6-2

Carol Lee[5], Georgia Tech d. Annika Yarlagadda, UNC 6-7(1), 7-6(4), 6-4

Lea Ma[5], Georgia d. Elza Tomase, Tennessee 6-2, 6-2

Carson Tanguilig[5], UNC d. Lillian Gabrielsen, Mississippi 6-3, 6-0

Mary Stoiana[5], Texas A&M d. Molly Helgesson, UNLV 6-3, 6-1

Garrett Johns[1], Duke d. Pierce Rollins, Texas A&M 6-2, 6-3

Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc[2], Florida State d. David Cierny, Utah State 6-2, 6-1

Nishesh Basavareddy[3], Stanford d. Nathan Han, Oklahoma 6-3, 6-3

Eliot Spizzirri[4], Texas d. Harris Walker, Harvard 6-3, 6-3

Geronimo Busleiman, Utah d. Michael Zheng[5], Columbia 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4) 

Jake Fearnley[5], TCU d. Gavin Young, Michigan 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Phillip Henning[5], Georgia d. Matisse Bobichon, VCU 6-2, 6-4

JJ Tracy[5], Ohio State d. Ryan Fishback, Virginia Tech 6-2, 6-2

Due to the delay this morning, first round of doubles will be going late tonight. Live scoring is here and the Cracked Racquet streaming coverage has been live throughout the day on their YouTube channel. 

The Midland WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic is the only women's event this week in the United States, not counting the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, but there are two $15,000 tournaments this week for men, in Ithaca New York and Fayetteville Arkansas. 

Three juniors have advanced to the second round in Fayetteville: qualifier Aidan Kim, Learner Tien and Cooper Williams. Kalamazoo 18s champion Tien won his first round match Tuesday over wild card Foster Rogers, a junior at Arkansas, 6-3, 6-2. Kim defeated Demetris Azoides of Greece 6-4, 6-0 today and Cooper Williams beat No. 7 seed and 2021 NCAA singles finalist Daniel Rodrigues(South Carolina) of Portugal 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 today. Tien and Williams will play in the second round Thursday, with Williams looking to avenge his 7-6(5), 6-3 loss to Tien in the Kalamazoo 18s quarterfinals in August.

Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova is the top seed, with Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark the No. 2 seed.

Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and John McNally(Ohio State) are the top two seeds in Ithaca and they won their first round matches Tuesday. Other Americans advancing to the second round are Jacob Brumm(Cal/Baylor), qualifier Braden Shick(NC State), Mwendwa Mbithi[8] and Toby Kodat[6]. 

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is the J4 in Boca Raton Florida, with the quarterfinals set for Thursday. With its location, the tournament always draws a more international field than many of the lower-level ITF tournaments in the US, and that is again the case this year on the boys side, with only three Americans through to the final eight. The girls quarterfinals feature seven Americans, including three qualifiers and just one seed.

Tommy Paul got the biggest win of his career tonight at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris, defeating No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1. It's the first time that Nadal has lost before the quarterfinals at the season's last Masters tournament. Paul is now 4-4 in his career against opponents ranked in the ATP Top 5. For more on the match, see this article from the ATP website.

Frances Tiafoe is the other American to advance to the round of 16 in Paris.

Taylor Fritz lost to wild card Gilles Simon 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 today to end his chances of making the ATP Finals in Turin. That field is now set, with Alcaraz, Medvedev, Nadal, Tsitsipas, Ruud, Djokovic,Auger-Aliassime and Rublev the eight players competing in the year-end event.