October Aces; Tien Versus Kim for Spot in Fayetteville $15K Final; Top Seeds Reach ITA National Fall Semis; US Teams Move on in Junior Davis and BJK Cups; Stearns Advances to Dow Tennis Classic WTA 125 Semifinals

My Tennis Recruiting Network roundup of the top performances of October is up today, with 18 players, from ages 14 through 29 featured for their accomplishments last month. Highlighting "first titles" and "best wins" for junior and collegians is one of the many reasons I've been doing this monthly column for TRN since 2007. 

Sixteen-year-old Learner Tien and 17-year-old Aidan Kim will meet in the semifinals Saturday at the $15,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit in Fayetteville Arkansas, after both picked up wins over seeded players in straight sets. Kim, a qualifier this week, defeated top seed Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova 7-6(5), 6-4 and Tien beat No. 4 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain 6-3, 7-6(5). 

It's a first Pro Circuit semifinal for Kim; Tien reached the semifinals of the $15K in Orange Park Florida back in April, but whoever wins tomorrow will be playing in their first Pro Circuit final. Kim and Tien played a memorable third round match at the San Diego ITF J1 this spring, with Tien, who went on to take the title, posting a 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5 victory. The other semifinal will feature Texas Tech junior Olle Wallin (see the October Aces for more on him), of Sweden the No. 5 seed, and South Carolina junior Toby Samuel of Great Britain, the No. 6 seed.

At the $15,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Ithaca New York, Toby Kodat is the sole American to advance to the semifinal. Kodat, the No. 6 seed, defeated No. 2 seed John McNally(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 today, and will face Tennessee sophomore Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan, the No. 4 seed, Saturday. No. 5 seed Osgar O'Hoisin(Wisconsin) of Ireland defeated top seed Sekou Bangoura(Florida) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and will play Wake Forest senior Menelaos Efstathiou of Cyprus in the semifinals.

The top seeds continued to have success at the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, with all top four seeds reaching the men's singles semifinals and the top two seeds in the women's singles also reaching the final four.

It was by no means easy for any of the four men's semifinalists, as the quarterfinal results show.

Men's singles quarterfinal results:

Garrett Johns[1], Duke d. Geronimo Busleiman, Utah 7-5, 1-6, 6-2

Eliot Spizzirri[4], Texas d. Jacob Fearnley[5], TCU 6-2, 7-6(2)

Nishesh Basavareddy[3]. Stanford d. Andrew Fenty, Michigan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Antoine Cornut Chauvinc[2], Florida State d. JJ Tracy[5], Ohio State 1-6, 6-0, 6-2

Although there is one unseeded woman in the semifinals, she is hardly a surprise, with Princeton's Daria Frayman a 2021 National Fall finalist. Frayman defeated No. 3 seed Abbey Forbes of North Carolina 6-4, 6-4. Only one women's quarterfinal went three sets, with Stanford's Connie Ma prevailing in that one.

Women's singles quarterfinal results:

Fiona Crawley[1], UNC d. Mary Stoiana[5], Texas A&M 6-3, 6-3

Carol Lee[5], Georgia Tech d. Elaine Chervinsky, Virginia 6-2, 6-2

Daria Frayman, Princeton d. Abigail Forbes[3], UNC 6-4, 6-4

Connie Ma[2], Stanford d. Carson Tanguilig[5], UNC 7-5, 1-6, 6-1

The doubles semifinals are also Saturday, with all four women's teams seeded, including Nos. 1 and 2; three of the men's teams are seeded, although the top two seeds lost in the second and first rounds. Fiona Crawley is the only player in both the singles and doubles semifinals.

Men's doubles quarterfinal results:

Finn Bass and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi[5], Baylor d. Edoardo Graziani and Kevin Zhu 6-4, 1-6, 10-5

Andrew Lutschaunig and JJ Tracy[4], Ohio State d. Max Wesphal and Theo Winegar, Columbia 5-7, 6-4, 10-8

Sander Jong and Lui Maxted[3], TCU d. Ryan Fishback and Alberto Orso, Virginia Tech 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-5

Berk Bugarikj and Patrik Trhac, Utah d. Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez, Texas-San Antonio 5-7, 6-1, 10-7

Women's doubles quarterfinal results:

Savannah Braodus and Janice Tjen[1], Pepperdine d. Chloe Beck and Cameron Morra[5], Duke 6-3, 6-4

Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller[5], Michigan d. Jamie Wei and Maiko Uchijima, Temple 6-3, 6-4

Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash[5], Virginia d. Mary Brumfield and Selma Cadar, Maryland 6-4, 6-4

Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig[2], UNC d. Adel-Byanu Abidullina and Eliza Askarova, Delaware 6-4, 6-4

All four semifinals will be played at the same time, 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. Live scoring is here. Cracked Racquets will have coverage on their YouTube channel. 

Both teams from the United States have reached the semifinals of the ITF 16U Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup competition in Antalya Turkey. The top-seeded girls defeated Germany 2-1, winning both singles matches to clinch it and giving the Germans a walkover in the doubles. They will play Serbia, the No. 4 seed, Saturday. The other semifinal features No. 2 seed Czech Republic and unseeded Japan, who took out No. 3 seed Australia 2-1.

The big quarterfinal surprise was the loss of boys top seed Spain to France 2-1. With US Open champion Martin Landaluce leading the team, they were certainly the favorites going in, but they lost the deciding doubles point today and are eliminated from medal contention.

The US boys, seeded No. 2, defeated the Czech Republic 2-0 and will face France for a place in the final. The other semifinal features No. 3 seed Brazil against No. 4 seed Italy.

For more on the US girls team, see this article from the ITF Junior website. The Brazilian boys are featured in this article on the Junior Davis Cup.

NCAA singles champion Peyton Stearns continued to impress at the Dow Tennis Classic WTA 125 in Midland Michigan, advancing to Saturday's semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over qualifier Katherine Sebov. The 21-year-old Stearns, who didn't face a break point in the first set, got the only break at 4-all and served it out. The former Texas Longhorn faced three break points in her first two service games of the second set, but saved them all, getting two consecutive breaks at 2-all and 4-2.

Stearns will face No. 7 seed and 2019 Dow Tennis Classic champion Caty McNally, who defeated 2020 Australian Open women's champion Sofia Kenin 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 tonight after trailing 3-0 in the final set. 

The semifinal in the top half will feature two unseeded players: Ann Li and Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany. For the third straight match, Li came from a set down, beating Nao Hibino of Japan today 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Friedsam took out No. 5 seed Camila Osorio of Colombia 6-3, 6-3.

Free live streaming is available at the tournament website.