Rolls Advances to Singles Semifinals, Doubles Final at ITF J500 Banana Bowl; Frey, Blanch and Grant Reach Pro Circuit Semifinals; Navarro Feature; Qualifying Begins Saturday at ITF J300 Indian Wells

Katie Rolls has reached the singles semifinals and the doubles final at the ITF J500 Banana Bowl in Blumenau Brazil. The 17-year-old from Michigan, who has verbally committed to the University of Virginia, defeated unseeded 14-year-old Angelica Sara of Italy 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in today's singles quarterfinals. In the doubles semifinal that followed, Rolls got another win over Sara, with she and partner Emily Sartz-Lunde of Norway, seeded No. 3, defeating No. 8 seeds Sara and Victoria Barros of Brazil 6-4, 7-5 for their eighth straight victory and their 11th win in their last twelve matches on the South American ITF clay court circuit. 

Rolls will face No. 3 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile, who won the two J300s in Peru and Paraguay last month. Vergara defeated No. 11 seed Ekaterina Perelygina of Austria 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to win her 14th consecutive singles match on South American clay.

Sartz-Lunde is also through to the singles semifinals, with the No. 4 seed beating No. 12 seed Hikari Yamamoto of Japan 6-0, 6-1. Sartz-Lunde's win set up a rematch of last week's semifinal with No. 2 seed Mayu Crossley of Japan, which Crossley won 7-6(5), 6-3. Trinetra Vijayakumar, who lost to Crossley 6-2, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals, should have time to get back to California to compete in the Indian Wells J300 on Monday. Rolls did not enter either of the J300s in Southern California. 

The top half semifinal in the boys draw will feature unseeded Naoya Honda of Japan against No. 8 seed Max Schoenhaus of Germany and No. 7 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain versus No. 2 seed Reda Bennani of Morocco. 

The boys doubles final was decided today, with No. 6 seeds  Miguel Tobon of Colombia and Maximo Zeitune of Argentina getting a walkover from No. 7 seeds Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Justin Engel of Germany.

Three of the four teens who reached ITF World Tennis Tour quarterfinals yesterday advanced to the semifinals with victories today.

Sixteen-year-old Darwin Blanch reached his second career ITF men's World Tennis Tour $15K semifinal today in Torello Spain, avenging an ITF Junior Circuit loss last year to 18-year-old Alejo Sanchez Quilez of Spain with a 7-6(10), 4-6, 6-3 win.

Blanch will face unseeded Adria Soriano Barrera of Colombia Saturday for a place in his first Pro Circuit final.

At the W15 in Brossard Canada, 16-year-old qualifier Anna Frey is through to the semifinals, beating Bronte Murgett(Missouri) of Great Britain 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Frey, who received a wild card into the ITF J300 in Indian Wells, will have to play Monday as an unseeded player, so getting from Quebec to Indian Wells could be a problem for her if she wins Saturday against No. 5 seed Catherine Harrison(UCLA). Harrison defeated top seed Alice Robbe of France 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.  Another young qualifier is having a breakout tournament, with 15-year-old Clemence Mercier of Canada advancing to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over former Cal Bear Jada Bui of Canada. Mercier, playing in the main draw of an ITF women's World Tennis Tour event for the first time, will face No. 2 seed Jessie Aney(North Carolina) in the other semifinal.

The doubles final Saturday will feature all teenagers, three of them Americans:w  No. 3 seeds Jessica Bernales, 17, and Mia Yamakita, 16, will take on No. 4 seeds Ashton Bowers, 18 and Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland for the title.

Fifteen-year-old Tyra Grant has advanced to the semifinals of the W15 in Turkey, beating No. 5 seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy 6-3, 7-5. Grant, who reached the semifinals of two W35 tournaments last fall, will face qualifier Rada Zolotareva of Russia for a spot in the final. Zolotareva is also 15 years old. 

Grant won't be the only 15-year-old in the doubles final Saturday either. She and 23-year-old Aurora Zantedeschi of Italy will play 17-year-old Yelyzaveta Kotliar and 15-year-old Antonia Sushkova of Ukraine, who received a wild card into the draw, for the title.

Seventeen-year-old Maya Joint of Australia, the No. 16 seed, lost to No. 10 seed Leyre Romero Gormaz of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the W35 in the Dominican Republic. 

Emma Navarro has yet to play at the BNP Paribas Open, with the 2021 NCAA singles champion at Virginia the No. 23 seed and therefore the recipient of a first round bye. She is scheduled to play Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the second round Saturday, hoping to join 2022 NCAA singles champion Ben Shelton(Florida) in the third round. Former Texas Longhorn Peyton Stearns, the women's 2022 NCAA singles champion, won her first round match today and will face No. 2 seed and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the second round Saturday. 

Navarro spoke with former New York Times sportswriter Chris Clarey recently about her quiet rise to the WTA Top 25, and she was candid about her ambivalence regarding a pro career prior to her two years at Virginia. She also discussed the different perspective on tennis that comes from being on a college team, and what she has had to improve to become a world class pro. I have covered Navarro since 2017, when she won the Easter Bowl 16s title at Indian Wells, beating Fiona Crawley in the final, and I learned much that I didn't know and wouldn't have suspected in reading this article. 

The qualifying draws will be out soon for next week's ITF J300 Fila International Junior Championships at Indian Wells, with those matches taking place at country clubs in the area, not at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden beginning Saturday. First round play in the main draw begins Monday; the seeds will play their first matches on Tuesday.