My Easter Bowl 12s and 14s Recap; Rain Washes Out Quarterfinals at Jackson $25K; Kypson Reaches First Challenger Semifinal; No. 7 Georgia Men Beat No. 5 South Carolina for Tenth Straight Win

The Easter Bowl is one of the biggest junior tournaments of the year in the United States, with the only other one with all four age divisions competing during the same week in the same city being the Eddie Herr. It's a chance to put some faces to the names I've been seeing in draws the past few months in the 12s and 14s divisions, and this year, with more players than ever competing at the main Indian Wells Tennis Garden site, that was especially true. My recap of the 12s and 14s finals is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network; my 16s and 18s recap will run on Monday.

Rain has been a problem throughout the South today, with no second round matches yet completed at the ATP 250 in Houston, and all quarterfinals washed out today at the women's USTA Pro Circuit $25,000 tournament in Jackson Mississippi.  

I'm not sure if it has been raining in San Luis Potosi Mexico this week, but I assume that's the reason the second round and quarterfinals were played today at the ATP Challenger 75 being held there. With no USTA Pro Circuit or ATP Challengers in the United States the past two weeks, I would have expected more Americans competing in Mexico this week, but only Nick Chappell(TCU) and Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), both of whom qualified, were in the main draw. After beating top qualifying seed Alexis Galarneau(NC State) of Canada to reach the main draw, Kypson defeated two top ITF juniors: Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, who turns 19 later this month, in the first round 6-1, 6-3 and 2022 Orange Bowl finalist and wild card Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico in the second round today 6-3, 6-3. 

Kypson, who is the only player this century to win both the 16s and 18s titles at Kalamazoo, had never reached a Challenger quarterfinal until today, and he didn't have much time to dwell on that milestone. Playing unseeded Terrence Atmane of France after beating Pacheco Mendez, the 23-year-old from North Carolina won his fifth match in a row, by a score of 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2. Kypson faces No. 3 seed Tomas Barrios Vera of Chile in Saturday's semifinals, but regardless of that outcome, he will be at a new career high in the ATP rankings next week, with his current live ranking at 401.

There are a lot of big Division I college tennis matches this weekend, but none were more significant than the No. 7 Georgia men traveling to Columbia to take on No. 5 South Carolina this evening. South Carolina has been struggling lately, losing to both Mississippi State and Auburn last month, while Georgia has been surging, with a huge comeback in its 4-3 win over Tennessee last month and a 5-2 victory over Kentucky last Friday. Against South Carolina, the Bulldogs took the doubles point and got straight-sets wins at lines 4, 5, and 6 to blank the Gamecocks and remain undefeated in SEC play with three matches (Florida, Mississippi State and Mississippi) left in the regular season. 

Georgia has now won ten matches in a row and, like Virginia last year, appears to be peaking at the right time after a slow start.

For more on the match, as well as the box score, see this article from georgiadogs.com.