July Aces; Clervie Ngounoue and Bella Payne Top Seeds in San Diego; US Open Junior Acceptances; All US Women Out at Paris Olympics, Paul Reaches Singles and Doubles Quarterfinals

My monthly Aces column at Tennis Recruiting Network is up a bit early, with July's edition coming out today, which is probably a good thing, with August such a busy time for me. I didn't intend for the column to be mostly about former college players, but there were so many milestones for them on the Pro Tours that they dominated the narrative. My apologies to those juniors and current and recent collegians who won a $15K or a $25K title this month, as there simply wasn't room to feature them, but I hope that's just a temporary situation.

One of the few juniors who did make the grade last month was Clervie Ngounoue, who won the W50 in Dallas last week. Ngounoue was announced today as the top seed at the USTA 18s National Championships in San Diego, which is the expected position for the defending champion.

The top 16 seeds in G18s:

1. Clervie Ngounoue
2. Akasha Urhobo
3. Iva Jovic
4. Tyra Grant
5. Valerie Glozman
6. Aspen Schuman
7. Ashton Bowers
8. Claire Hill
9. Alanis Hamilton
10. Victoria Osuigwe
11. Julieta Pareja
12. Anita Tu
13. Addison Lanton
14. Avery Nguyen
15. Alexis Nguyen
16. Kristina Penickova

It's a little surprising to see Kristinia Penickova, who is No. 12 in the ITF world junior rankings No. 16 here. Like Kalamazoo, there are a few top players not competing: ITF No. 19 Katie Rolls and Elizabeth Ionescu, who withdrew. The draw has not yet been posted for the 18s, but what quarter No. 5 seed Valerie Glozman falls in will be something to monitor. The complete list of seeds can be found here.

The girls 16s draw has been posted, and can be found here. The complete list of seeds is here.

The top 16 seeds in G16s:

1. Bella Payne

2. Thara Gowda

3. Isabelle DeLuccia

4. Olivia Traynor,

5. Sobee Oak

6. Karlin Schock

7. Reagan Levine

8. Carrie-Anne Hoo

9. Nicole Weng

10. Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann

11. Carlota Moreno

12. Lani Chang

13. Emerey Gross

14. Lyla Middleton

15. Ellery Mendell

16. Nancy Lee

The acceptances for the US Open Junior Championships were posted today, with all three of the boys slam champions entered: No. 1 Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway(Wimbledon), No. 2 Kaylan Bigun of USA(Roland Garros) and No. 3 Rei Sakamoto of Japan(Australia).  The eight US boys who received direct entry are Bigun, Jagger Leach, Cooper Woestendick, Alexander Razeghi, Max Exsted, Ian Mayew, Jack Kennedy and Trevor Svajda. As at Wimbledon, Svajda received entry based on his ATP ranking of 641; Rudy Quan, who hopes to be recovered from the ankle sprain that is keeping him out of Kalamazoo, received entry into the qualifying based on his ATP ranking. The other boy receiving main draw entry via his ATP ranking is Justin Engel of Germany, who has won two $15Ks recently and is ranked 679.

The boys cutoff is 48, with Noah Johnston four out of main draw and Kase Schinnerer nine out. 72 is the current boys qualifying cutoff.

There are a couple of surprises among the girls acceptances, with Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia entered after the two-time junior slam singles champion was adamant that Wimbledon was her last junior event. Laura Samson of the Czech Republic is not entered, nor is Iva Jovic. Only six US girls are entered: Tyra Grant, Kristina Penickova, Katie Rolls, Aspen Schuman, Thea Frodin and Akasha Urhobo. Urhobo received main draw entry based on her WTA ranking of 319. The main draw cutoff for girls is 51.

Christasha McNeil and Maya Iyengar are 6 and 7 spots out of the main draw. The qualifying cutoff is currently 81.

The acceptances for the ITF J300 in College Park Maryland were also released today, which is two weeks prior to the US Open Junior Championships. All the American boys in the US Open main draw, save for Bigun, are entered, with Johnston making the main draw cutoff, which is 53.

Grant, Jovic and Schuman, a finalist last year, are not entered in College Park; Penickova, Rolls, Frodin, McNeil, Iyengar, Shannon Lam and Claire An are in the main draw, with that cutoff 67.

All the women from the United States were eliminated from medal contention today at the Paris Olympics, with only Tommy Paul left in men's singles and Paul and Taylor Fritz also advancing to the double quarterfinals. Rajeev Ram(Illinois) and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) are through to the medal round in men's doubles after their win today over Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal. They will face unseeded Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic in the semifinals. 

Today's results and tomorrow's schedule, from the USTA:

RESULTS - (WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2024)

 

(4) Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA) def. Rafael Nadal/Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 62 64

 

(9) Tommy Paul (USA) def. Corentin Moutet (FRA) 76(6) 63

 

(1) Iga Swiatek (POL) def. (9) Danielle Collins (USA) 61 26 41 (ret.)

 

Lyudmyla Kichenok/Nadiia Kichenok (UKR) def. (4) Danielle Collins/Desirae Krawczyk (USA) 36 64 (10 7)

 

Gabriela Dabrowski/Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) def. (3) Coco Gauff/Taylor Fritz (USA)76(2) 36 (10 8)

 

(11) Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) def. (7) Taylor Fritz (USA) – 64 75

 

Muchova/Linda Noskova (CZE) def. (1) Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula (USA) 26 64 (10 5)

 

(3) Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul (USA) def. Robin Haase/Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 63 64

 

TOMORROW’S ORDER OF PLAY (THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2024)

 

(9) Tommy Paul (USA) vs (1) Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) – Court Philippe-Chatrier – nb 14:00

 

(3) Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul (USA) vs Daniel Evans/Andy Murray (GBR) - Court Suzanne-Lenglen 4th match

 

(4) Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Tomas Machac/Adam Pavlasek (CZE) - Court Simonne-Mathieu – nb 15:00