Dostanic, Quinn Advance to Charleston Challenger Quarterfinals; Pre-Qualifying for ITA All-American Championships Begins Saturday in Tulsa and Cary; Drucker Feature Article on Alex Michelsen

Six of the eight quarterfinalists at the ATP Challenger 75 in Charleston South Carolina played college tennis, with two of them participants in the 2022-23 season. 

University of Southern California's Stefan Dostanic, who is listed on the Trojans' 2023-24 roster as a fifth-year graduate student, has reached his first Challenger quarterfinal with a 7-6(3), 6-3 win over fellow qualifier Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) today. Dostanic will play former Florida All-American Oliver Crawford, who defeated Laurent Lokoli of France 7-6(3), 6-2. It's the third Challenger quarterfinal for the 24-year-old from South Carolina.

2023 NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn is through to his second career Challenger quarterfinal after defeating qualifier Aidan Mayo 7-5, 7-5. The 19-year-old, who left the University of Georgia for pro tennis after winning the NCAA title, also reached the quarterfinals this summer at the Challenger in Chicago. Quinn will face former Florida Gator Abdullah Shelbayh of Jordan, who defeated Brandon Holt(USC) 7-5, 7-5. Like Quinn, Shelbayh left after his freshman year (Quinn did redshirt his first semester in 2022); unlike Quinn, Shelbayh played at the bottom of the lineup, going 5-1 at No. 6 singles in 2022. He moved into the ATP Top 300 quickly however, and reached a Challenger 125 final in February.

The other all-college quarterfinal features No. 6 seed Adam Walton(Tennessee) of Australia and former Memphis standout Ryan Peniston of Great Britain. 

The top half quarterfinal will have last week's champion in Columbus, No. 7 seed Denis Kudla, taking on qualifier Ernesto Escobedo of Mexico. Kudla beat Duke senior Garrett Johns 6-3, 6-3, while Escobedo defeated top seed Enzo Couacaud of France 7-6(6), 7-5.

Pre-qualifying for the ITA All-American Championships begins on Saturday, for the men in Tulsa Oklahoma and for the women in Cary North Carolina. 

In the past, the selections for each event(pre-qualifying, qualifying and main draw) have been released to the public on the ITA website, but that hasn't been the case this year, although John Parsons was kind enough to send me this selection document for the women, which is a 32 draw for main, 64 for qualifying and 96 for pre-qualifying.  The selection criteria for women can be found here. 

Michigan has three women in the main draw, the most of any school, although North Carolina has eight among main and qualifying: two in the main and six in the qualifying.

US Open girls champion Katherine Hui of Stanford received a qualifying wild card.

Several players who are still alive in the women's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Hilton Head South Carolina are listed in the All-American pre-qualifying. Qualifier Sophia Biolay of France, a junior at Central Florida, defeated University of Arkansas sophomore Carolina Gomez Alonzo of Spain, who is in the All-American main draw, 6-4, 6-3. UCF sophomore Jantje Tilbuerger of France is also in pre-qualifying and through to the quarterfinals after defeating Cristina Tiglea of Texas Tech 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Tiglea is also in pre-qualifying in Cary. 

Tilbuerger will play Oklahoma senior Florencia Urrutia in the Hilton Head quarterfinals, with Urrutia entered in the All-American qualifying, which begins Monday. Biolay plays Old Dominion freshman Kira Matushkina of Russia, also a qualifier, with Matushkina not entered in the All-American. 

Fifteen-year-old Wakana Sonobe of Japan, who received entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program, has advanced to the quarterfinals, where she'll play the only American remaining, Salma Ewing(USC/Texas A&M). 

2023 NCAA finalist Layne Sleeth(Florida/Oklahoma) will play Connie Hsu(Penn) of Taiwan in the bottom half quarterfinal.

The men's ITA All-American Championships don't have a similar document to consult, with just this list of 473 players available. The men's pre-qualifying has been a 256-draw for some time, qualifying is 128 and the main draw is 64, so 25 of the players on that list will not be playing. 

Two of the men still competing at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Albuquerque New Mexico are on the list: wild card Arda Azkara of Turkey, a junior at New Mexico, advanced to the quarterfinals, as has No. 6 seed Olle Wallin of Sweden, a senior at Texas Tech. The Texas Tech website states that Wallin is in the main draw at the All-American Championships, so he won't have a conflict if he wins Friday; Azkara very well may.

Joel Drucker checks in with Alex Michelsen at the Tier 1 Performance Academy in Newport Beach, where Michelsen and Learner Tien train, for this tennis.com article. Michelsen, who reached the semifinals of the Cary Challenger the week after the US Open, but did not play Columbus last week or Charleston this week, is preparing for the back-to-back Challengers in Northern California starting next week. Drucker looks at Michelsen's game, which I've never considered as unconventional as many observers do, and what he's working on with coaches Eric Diaz and Jay Leavitt. It's a detailed account of Michelsen's rapid rise in the ATP rankings and while there are some hints as to what might be behind that, Drucker knows better than to pretend he, or anyone else, can readily explain it.