Rolls and Vijayakumar Advance to Banana Bowl J500 Quarterfinals; ITF Pro Circuit Quarterfinals for Blanch, Grant, Frey and Joint; Former Easter Bowl Champions Michelsen and Shang Post Wins at BNP Paribas Open

Trinetra Vijayakumar and Katie Rolls have reached the quarterfinals of the ITF J500 Banana Bowl in Blumenau Brazil, with both 17-year-olds coming from a set down in today's third round matches.

Vijayakumar, who has signed with Vanderbilt for this fall, defeated No. 10 seed Mika Buchnik of Israel 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, while the ninth-seeded Rolls, a junior who has verbally committed to Virginia, beat No. 8 seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Rolls will face unseeded 14-year-old Angelica Sara of Italy, who has continued her run after beating top seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan in the first round. Vijayakumar will take on No. 2 seed and last week's J300 champion Mayu Crossley of Japan, who is the defending champion. 

In the other bottom half quarterfinal, No. 4 seed Emily Sartz-Lunde of Norway, a Michigan signee, will play No. 12 seed Hikari Yamamoto of Japan, who defeated Gabriella Mikaul 6-2, 6-1.  In the other top half quarterfinal, No. 3 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile, who won back-to-back J300s last month in Peru and Paraguay, will face No. 11 seed Ekaterina Perelygina of Austria.

Rolls and Sartz-Lunde, who won last week's title in Porto Alegre, are through to the semifinals in doubles.

The last American boy lost today, with No. 9 seed Max Exsted losing to unseeded Maximo Zeitune of Argentina 6-4, 6-2. Zeitune will play No. 2 seed Reda Benanni of Morocco in the quarterfinals. In the other bottom half quarterfinal, No. 7 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain will face No. 14 seed Nathan Trouve of France.

In the top half, unseeded Naoya Honda of Japan plays No. 6 seed Daniil Sarksian of Russia and unseeded Stefan Horia Haita of Romania faces No. 8 seed Max Schoenhaus of Germany.

A J500 on clay in South America is not an attraction for all juniors with many others opting to compete instead in ITF World Tennis Tour men's and women's events. Four have reached the quarterfinals at four different tournaments, with Michigan's Maya Joint, now representing Australia, continuing her stellar results at the W35 in the Dominican Republic. Joint, who has signed with Texas for this fall, is the No. 16 seed in a rare 64 women's draw; the 17-year-old will face No. 10 seed Leyre Romero Gormaz of Spain in Friday's quarterfinals. Lea Ma(Georgia) and Elvina Kalieva[4] are the other two American quarterfinalists.

At the W15 in Canada, 2023 USTA Winter Nationals 18s finalist Anna Frey is through to her first Pro Circuit quarterfinal. The 16-year-old from Utah, who qualified, defeated Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland 6-3, 6-3 today, after blanking her first round opponent. Frey will face former University of Missouri standout Bronte Murgett of Great Britain, who is also unseeded. Other Americans in the quarterfinals are Catherine Harrison[5](UCLA), Carolyn Campana(Wake Forest/Vanderbilt/Pepperdine) and Jessie Aney[2](North Carolina).

Sixteen-year-old Darwin Blanch, the 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion, has been competing in $15Ks all year in Spain, where he trains. He has picked up a couple of wins in four tournaments, but this week in Torello he's gotten to the quarterfinals, defeating unseeded Diego Fernandez Flores of Chile 6-4, 6-2 today. Fernandez Flores had beaten the top seed in the first round. Blanch will face unseeded 18-year-old Alejo Sanchez Quilez of Spain for a spot in the semifinals, which would match Blanch's best result on the ITF men's World Tennis Tour. Sanchez Quilez defeated Blanch in the first round of the Roehampton J300 last summer prior to Blanch's run to the semifinals at the Wimbledon Junior Championships the following week. 

Tyra Grant, who is back in Italy now and not competing in the upcoming junior hard court events in California, has reached the quarterfinals at the W15 in Turkey. The 15-year-old, who is No. 8 in the ITF junior rankings, has lost just two games in her first two victories, defeating No. 3 seed Ziva Falkner of Slovenia 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and Adrienn Nagy(Texas) of Hungary 6-1, 6-0 in today's second round. Grant, currently 791 in the WTA rankings, will face No. 4 seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy in the quarterfinals. A two-time junior slam doubles champion, she has also advanced to the doubles semifinals this week, with Aurora Zantedeschi of Italy.

With rain disrupting the first day of play Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open, the schedule was packed with matches today, and many are still going. 

Two 19-year-olds, both of whom have won junior titles at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, picked up their first ATP Masters 1000 victories today, with 2022 ITF J300 Easter Bowl champion Alex Michelsen defeating Juame Munar of Spain 6-2, 6-3 and qualifier Jerry Shang of China upsetting recent ATP Los Cabos champion Jordan Thompson of Australia by the same score.

Shang, currently 139 in the ATP rankings, won the Easter Bowl 14s title in 2019. He will face No. 20 seed Alexander Bublik of Russia in the second round. Michelsen's second round opponent is No. 17 seed Tommy Paul, who beat Michelsen in the second round at Delray Beach last month 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4).