Friedman, Oyebog Atang Win ITF Junior Circuit Titles; J500 on Tap This Week in Germany; IMG's U12 Future Stars Tournament Underway; Easter Bowl 16s and 18s Videos

Most of the success for Americans last week on the ITF Junior Circuit came at the J100 in Canada, with US players claiming three titles in Burlington Ontario. Unseeded 16-year-old Leena Friedman won the girls singles title, her second on the ITF Circuit this year and third overall. The New Yorker defeated No. 4 seed Scarlett Nicholson of Canada 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the final, after defeating top seed Roisin Gilheany of Australia 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. 

Top seeds Jessica Bernales and Maya Iyengar won the doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Friedman and Capucine Jauffrey 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 in the final.

Noah Johnston and his partner, Daniel Phillips of Bermuda, took the boys doubles title. The No. 4 seeds beat the unseeded Canadian team of Stefan Simeunovic and Kristian Thomas 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. It's the second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for the 15-year-old Johnston.

Simeunovic also lost in the boys singles final, with No. 8 seed Connor Church beating the No. 6 seed 7-5, 7-5.

At the J30 in Cameroon, 14-year-old Lucy Oyebog Atang won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the top seed defeating No. 2 seed Siliva Caliman of Spain 6-3, 7-6(4) in the final.

At the J30 in Martinique, 15-year-old Emerey Gross and 14-year-old Izabella Tumanyan won their first ITF Junior Circuit titles, taking the girls doubles. The unseeded pair defeated Jaimee Collinson of New Zealand and Farah Heddar of Algeria, also unseeded, 6-1, 6-3 in the championship match.

This week the ITF Junior Circuit returns to the United States, with a J100 in Delray Beach Florida. Max Exsted and Tyra Grant, both of whom competed in the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup North and Central America qualifying at Lake Nona last weekend, are the top seeds. This is the first of three ITF Junior Circuit tournaments on clay in the United States, with a J100 in Coral Gables next week and a J60 in Plantation the week after that.

Seven Americans are competing at the J500 this week in Offenbach Germany, but only one is seeded: Ashton Bowers, who is No. 14. The other two US girls competing are Alexia Harmon and Anya Murthy. The four boys in the draw are Darwin Blanch, Alexander Frusina, Cooper Woestendick and Meecah Bigun. Iliyan Radulov of Bulgaria is the top boys seed, with Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia the No. 1 girls seed. The acceptances for Roland Garros close a week from tomorrow, so the results from this event could have a significant impact on that acceptance list. This is the second year that this tournament has been a J500, after being upgraded from a J300. The ITF's preview is here.

The second annual IMG Future Stars event is underway in Athens Greece with 24 boys and and 24 girls, all 12 and under, competing in a round robin format to decide the quarterfinalists. According to the fact sheet, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe played in an exhibition at the club today.

The Americans participating this year are Leigh Oyebog(younger sister of Lucy and Joseph), Tyson Grant(younger brother of Tyra) and Nadia Poznik. The only player other than the Americans that I'm familiar with is Yeri Hong, the Eddie Herr 12s champion from Korea. 

I've finished processing all the Easter Bowl videos now, with excerpts from the 16s and 18s finals below. Complete replays of the 18s finals are available on demand at the Easter Bowl website.