Ngounoue, Brantmeier, 2022 Semifinalists Lead Field at USTA Girls 18s Nationals in San Diego; Williams, Blanch and Basavareddy Among Boys 18s Entries in Kalamazoo; Quarterfinals Set at European Championships

The acceptances for the USTA National Championships were released last week, with stellar fields, now consisting of 192 players, not 224, expected for both the girls 18 in San Diego and the boys 18s in Kalamazoo.

Wimbledon girls champion Clervie Ngounoue has entered this year; last year she was just returning from a long injury layoff and retired in the third round. UNC rising sophomore Reese Brantmeier, who reached the 18s final two years ago and was the top seed last year, is back for her final junior tournament; she won her first Pro Circuit singles title last week at the $15K in Lakewood California. 

Defending champion Eleana Yu, a rising freshman at Stanford, is back, but has played sparingly this year and is 1-6 in the six Pro Circuit tournaments she has competed in. Also returning is last year's finalist Valerie Glozman, the 2023 Easter Bowl champion, who hasn't played since claiming that title in April. The other two semifinalists in 2022, Stanford rising freshman Katherine Hui and Ariana Pursoo, are also back for 2023.

Other top players in the field currently are Iva Jovic, who is expected to be ready to compete after being unable to play at Roland Garros and Wimbledon due to injury, 2021 16s champion Tatum Evans, 2022 16s champion Alyssa Ahn, rising UNC freshman Thea Rabman, NC State rising freshman Maddy Zampardo, Alanis Hamilton, Shannon Lam and Aspen Schuman.

Mia Slama withdrew; Ashton Bowers, Valeria Ray and Alexia Harmon are not entered.

In the 16s, Clay Court champion Christina Lyutova and finalist Bella Payne have entered, along with Leena Friedman and Anita Tu. Orange Bowl 16s champion Alexis Nguyen is playing the 18s, as is 14-year-old Thea Frodin.

In Kalamazoo, defending champion Learner Tien is not on the acceptance list, although he would have received direct entry due to his ITF Junior ranking. He is expected to receive a wild card, with those decisions coming this weekend. Nicholas Godsick, the two-time defending Kalamazoo doubles champion, entered but will need a wild card, as he is way down on the alternates list.

The boys acceptances include Wimbledon semifinalist Cooper Williams, a rising freshman at Harvard, 2022 16s champion Darwin Blanch, a Roland Garros and Wimbledon semifinalist, Stanford All-American Nishesh Basavareddy, Wimbledon quarterfinalist Kaylan Bigun, Kyle Kang, Aidan Kim, Roy Horovitz, 2021 16s champion Alexander Razeghi, Trevor Svajda and 2023 Clay Court champion Zhengqing Ji, who was initially the first alternate, but is now in the main draw.

Due to the pandemic cancellation in 2020, and then injuries the past two years, Basavareddy has never played Kalamazoo, and he gave a walkover in today's second round match at the Champaign $25K, but fingers are crossed that he will be ready for his debut next month.

The boys 16s field includes Easter Bowl 18s champion Cassius Chinlund, Maxwell Exsted, Jagger Leach and ITF J300 Indian Wells champion Cooper Woestendick, who has made the 16s semifinals and quarterfinals the past two years. The top 15-year-olds making their Kalamazoo debuts are Keaton Hance, Jack Kennedy and Jack Secord.

The acceptances for the Boys 12s and 14s, in Mobile Alabama can be found here.  The entries for the  Girls 12s, in Peachtree Corners Georgia, is here. The field for the G14s, in Rome Georgia, is here.

The European Championships, which is an ITF J300 for the 18s, is played on clay in Klosters Switzerland, and those who played at Wimbledon last week had little time to make that transition with the way the two events fell on the calendar this year. Perhaps all the rain there this week was a blessing early, but now the three matches per day are necessary, when including doubles, and not many boys top seeds remain going into Friday's quarterfinals. 

B18s Quarterfinals

Patrick Schoen(SUI) v Kevin Edengren[6](SWE)
Joel Schwaerzler[3] v Andrii Zimnokh(UKR)
Lasse Poertner[10(GER) v Michal Krajci(SVK)
Sebastian Eriksson[11] v Tiago Pires(FRA)

G18s Quarterfinals

Nina Vargova[1](SVK) v Artemis Aslanisvili(GRE)
Marta Soriano Santiago(ESP) v Loes Ebeling Koning(NED)
Yarolava Bartashevich[10] v Rebeccae Munk Mortensen[3](DEN)
Ariana Geerlings(ESP) v Teodora Kostovic[2](SRB)

The European Championships for 14s are in Most Czech Republic, and many of them also had to transition quickly from grass to clay. 

Wimbledon U14 champion Mark Ceban of Great Britain and finalist Svit Suljic of Slovenia could meet in the semifinals, with Suljic not seeded this week. Girls U14 Wimbledon champion Luna Vujovic of Serbia is also not seeded, but has also reached the quarterfinals.

B14s Quarterfinals

Mark Ceban[1](GBR) v Tomas Krejci(CZE)

Svit Suljic(SLO) v Alberto Pulido Moreno(ESP)

Laurentiu Cristian Badea(ROU) v William Johan Kjellberg(SWE)

Daniel Jade[6](FRA) v Vuk Krstajick[14](MNE)

G14s Quarterfinals

Giulia Popa[1](ROU) v Lucie Slamenikova[8](CZE)

Luna Vujovic(SRB) v Luca Kalman(HUN)

Sara Oliveriusova[7](CZE) v Tamina Kochta(GER)

Dusica Popvski[12](SRB) v Anna Pircher[14](AUT)

Live streaming is available at Klosters; for that link, live scoring, draws and updates throughout the day, see the Tennis Europe site.