Jovic Reaches Traralgon ITF J300 Final; Australian Open Junior Qualifying Begins Wednesday for Five Americans; Kumar Defeats Top Seed at Indian Wells Challenger; Bernard Ousts Top Seed at Ithaca $25K, Osuigwe Reaches Main Draw at Naples W35

Fourth-seeded Iva Jovic avenged her Orange Bowl semifinal loss to Hannah Klugman of Great Britain by sweeping past the top seed 6-2, 6-2 in Tuesday's semifinals of the ITF J300 in Traralgon Australia. Last month in Plantation Jovic had led Klugman 6-1, 3-1, but ended up on the wrong end of a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 score, so closing this match out in straight sets had to feel good to the 16-year-old from Southern California. She will face No. 2 seed Emerson Jones of Australia in the final Wednesday.  

I hope you've had a chance to read Joel Drucker's feature on Jovic that appeared yesterday on the Tennis Recruiting Network; it is open to all without a subscription for the rest of this week.

The boys final in Traralgon is also between the No. 2 and No. 4 seeds. Rei Sakamoto of Japan will face second seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway for the boys title. Unseeded Cooper Woestendick and Maxwell Exsted defeated top seeds Sakamoto and Italy's Federico Cina 7-5, 5-7, 10-6 to advance to the final, where they will meet the unseeded Italian team of Lorenzo Angelini and Daniele Rapagnetta.

While Traralgon concludes Wednesday, qualifying for the Australian Open Junior Championships begins, with five Americans hoping to advance to the main draw with two victories. Just one boy from the US, Rohan Belday, is competing in the qualifying, but there are four US girls: Aspen Schuman[6], Olivia Center, Allie Bittner and Maya Dutta. Kate Fakih was one spot out of the main draw at the freeze deadline, but she is not in qualifying, so I assume she moved into the main draw.

Danial Rakhmatullayev of Kazakhstan is the top seed in the boys qualifying; Shiho Tsujioka of Japan is the No. 1 seed in the girls qualifying.

After three days, the first round of the Australian Open is complete, with US men going 8-4 and US women 9-10. Tuesday's results and Wednesday's matches:

Tuesday's first round results of Americans:

Alex Michelsen d. James McCabe[WC](AUS) 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1, 6-2

Tommy Paul[14] d. Gregoire Barrere(FRA) 6-2, 6-3, 6-3

Jack Draper(GBR) d. Marcos Giron 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 

Jerry Shang[WC](CHN) d. Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 1-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2

Iga Swiatek[1](POL) d. Sofia Kenin 7-6(2), 6-2

Danielle Collins d. Angelique Kerber(GER) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Emma Navarro[27] d. Xiyu Wang(CHN) 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-5

Sloane Stephens d. Olivia Gadecki[WC](AUS) 6-3, 6-1

Daria Kasatkina[14](RUS) d. Peyton Stearns 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 

Qinwen Zheng[12](CHN) d. Ashlyn Krueger 3-6, 6-2, 6-3

Emma Raducanu(GBR) d. Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-2

Jessica Pegula[5] d. Rebecca Marino[Q](CAN) 6-2, 6-4

Wednesday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[4] v Caroline Dolehide

Alycia Parks v Leylah Fernandez[32](CAN)

Amanda Anisimova v Nadia Podoroska(ARG)

Taylor Fritz[12] v Hugo Gaston[LL](FRA)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Tomas Machac(CZE)

Ben Shelton[16] v Christopher O'Connell(AUS)

Christopher Eubanks v Andrey Rublev[5](RUS)

Aleks Kovacevic[Q] v Karen Khanchanov[15](RUS)

Sebastian Korda[29] v Quentin Halys(FRA)

It was a busy day at the Southern California Open ATP Challenger in Indian Wells, with eight Americans advancing to the second round. Former Duke standout Omni Kumar defeated top seed Federico Gaio of Italy 6-3, 6-2, with Strong Kirchheimer, Learner Tien(USC), Brandon Holt(USC)[3], Mitchell Krueger[4], Stefan Kozlov[Q], Thai Kwiatkowski(UVA)[6] and Stanford's Nishesh Basavareddy also picking up victories. Wild card Ryan Seggerman(Princeton/UNC) posted a first round victory last night, making it nine Americans in the second round. 

There are two USTA Pro Circuit events this week, with the men returning to action for the first time this year at the $25,000 tournament in Ithaca New York, while the women continue to compete in Naples Florida at another W35 event.

As at Indian Wells, the top seed in Ithaca has been eliminated in the first round, with Ohio State sophomore Alex Bernard defeating No. 1 seed Nick Chappell(TCU) 6-1, 6-2. Bernard, an All-American last year as a freshman, has been as high as 586 in the ATP rankings, with a title at a $25K in Columbus at the end of 2022, and will play a qualifier in the second round Thursday. 

The qualifying concluded today, with three teenagers advancing to the main draw: 17-year-old Rudy Quan, who has signed with UCLA for this fall, and two of Bernard's teammates, 19-year-olds Bryce Nakashima and Preston Stearns. A fourth Buckeye, fifth-year senior Cannon Kingsley, is the No. 2 seed and will play his first round match Wednesday against wild card Nathan Mao, a junior at Cornell.

Two more of the wild cards were awarded to a member of the Cornell team: senior Bradley Paliska of France, who lost to Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) today and freshman Eric Verdes of Romania, who beat wild card William Bartram of Canada in the first round today. Four other Cornell players are also in the main draw: junior Adit Sinha, sophomores Aman Sharma and Petar Teodorovic of Serbia, both of whom qualified today, and No. 3 seed Radu Papoe of Romania.

In Naples, 17-year-old Victoria Osuigwe advanced to the main draw, along with two other Americans: Lea Ma(Georgia) and Allura Zamarripa (Texas).  Robin Montgomery is the top seed, with Elvina Kalieva, back from Australia after participating in women's qualifying, seeded No. 2. 

Wild cards were given to four Americans: 16-year-old Akasha Urhobo, Anna Rogers(NC State), 18-year-old Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev and Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas), who lost to Montgomery today.