Quan Out of Kalamazoo with Injury, Tien Still Entered; Parks Takes Lead in US Open Wild Card Race; Rodriguez Sweeps Titles at ITF J100 in Colombia: Navarro, Collins, Gauff Advance at Olympics

Rudy Quan, one of the top contenders for the USTA 18s National Championships in Kalamazoo withdrew today due to an ankle sprain. The 18-year-old Quan, who won the ITF J300 in Indian Wells this spring in a rare ITF Junior Circuit appearance, beating Kaylan Bigun and Jack Kennedy in the semifinals and finals, had one of the best ATP rankings in the Kalamazoo field (818) due mostly to his ATP Challenger quarterfinal, two 15K quarterfinals and a 15K semifinal, all since that title in Indian Wells.

Two-time defending champion Learner Tien(USC), who beat Quan 6-4, 7-6(4) in the Lakewood $15K quarterfinals earlier this month, has not withdrawn from Kalamazoo, although he is playing the Lexington Challenger this week as a wild card. As a top seed, Tien would not play his first round match in Kalamazoo until Saturday, so if he were to lose early in Lexington he would have the option of competing in Kalamazoo, but that contigency complicates the making of the draw, which is traditionally published several days prior to Friday's first round. 

While the US Open main draw wild card offered to the Kalamazoo 18s champion is obviously the primary consideration, the chance to make history as the first three-time 18s champion also provides some motivation. The interesting twist this year is Tien's lead in the USTA US Open Wild Card Race, which has two more weeks remaining.

Tien currently leads with 97 points (last year's winner, Steve Johnson finished with 150), but both JJ Wolf and Mitchell Krueger are in the main draw this week at the ATP 500 in Washington, which obviously provides more points than a Challenger. The current men's standings, with the players ATP rankings in parentheses:

1. Learner Tien (242) -- 97
2. Nishesh Basavareddy (296) -- 52
3. Eliot Spizzirri (345) -- 47
4. Colton Smith (829) -- 41
5. Stefan Kozlov (367) -- 30

Alycia Parks, who won the WTA 125 in Poland this past weekend, is the new leader for the women. Kayla Day won the women's US Open main draw wild card last year with 171 points. 

1. Alycia Parks (102) -- 131
T2. Sophie Chang (254) -- 75
T2. Maria Mateas (201) -- 75
4. Mary Stoiana (498) -- 69
5. Clervie Ngounoue (299) -- 61

On the ITF Junior Circuit last week, 16-year-old Ava Rodriguez swept the titles at the J100 in Cali Colombia. The blue chip from Georgia, seeded No. 7, defeated No. 2 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil 6-2, 6-3 in the final, after having beaten top seed Valentina Mediorreal Arias of Colombia 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Rodriguez defeated No. 12 seed Zaire Clarke 6-0, 1-6, 7-5 in the semifinals; they later took the doubles title, with the No. 5 seeds defeating the unseeded team of Camila Garcia Morales of Colombia and Gabriella Kellner 6-1, 6-3 in the final. It's the fourth, and biggest singles title for Rodriguez, who now has eight doubles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit, six of them this year, all with different partners. It's the second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for the 15-year-old Clarke.

Seventeen-year-old Daniela Chica swept the titles at the J60 in Kingston Jamaica, with Brennon Chow taking the boys singles title. 

The top-seeded Chica defeated No. 2 seed Ireland O'Brien 6-3, 6-1 in the singles final, after taking the doubles title with Alessia Franco. The No. 4 seeds beat top seeds O'Brien and Allison Crane 3-6, 6-3, 106 in the final.

The 18-year-old Chow, seeded second, won his third ITF Junior Circuit title, all coming in Kingston, with a 4-0 retired win over top seed Agassi Rusher.

Top seeds Ian Miller and partner Xingyu Chen of China won the boys doubles, beating No. 2 seeds Rusher and Arjun Prabhakar 7-5, 6-1 in the final.

The other three singles titles for Americans came in J30 tournaments.

In the Philippines, unseeded 17-year-old Elijah Calaquian won his first two ITF Junior Circuit titles, taking the singles championship with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over No. 2 seed Zi Yi Ou of Taiwan and claiming the doubles title with partner Mateo Rivas of the Philippines.

In Croatia, unseeded 15-year-old Natasha Jerkunica won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, beating No. 7 seed Maria Ustic of Great Britain 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final. Natasha and her 13-year-old sister Aleksandra lost to the top seeds in the doubles final.

In Ecuador, unseeded 18-year-old Morgan Woodson won his first ITF Junior Circuit title, beating top seed Caio Dourado of Brazil 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Three American women have advanced to the round of 16 at the Paris Olympics, with Coco Gauff, Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro getting wins today. Today's results and tomorrow's schedule, courtesy of the USTA:

RESULTS - (MONDAY, JULY 29, 2024)

NOTE: Three American women reaching the third round is the most at an Olympics since three also did at Athens 2004 (Venus Williams, Chanda Rubin, Lisa Raymond).  

(2) Coco Gauff (USA) def. Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG) 61 61

Elina Svitolina (UKR) def. (5) Jessica Pegula (USA) 46 61 63

(9) Danielle Collins (USA) def. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 63 36 63

(11) Emma Navarro (USA) def. Viktoriya Tomova (BUL) 67(5) 64 61

(3) Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul (USA) def. Felix Auger-Aliassime/Milos Raonic (CAN) 76(14) 64

(4) Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Alex De Minaur/Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 62 63

 

TOMORROW’S ORDER OF PLAY (TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2024)

(2) Coco Gauff (USA) vs Donna Vekic (CRO) - Court Philippe-Chatrier – 1st match

(7) Taylor Fritz (USA) vs Jack Draper (GBR) - Court Suzanne-Lenglen – 1st match

(3) Coco Gauff/Taylor Fritz (USA) vs Nadia Podoroska/Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) - Court Simonne-Mathieu – 4th match

(9) Danielle Collins (USA) vs Camila Osorio (COL) – Court 14 – 1st match

(4) Danielle Collins/Desirae Krawczyk (USA) vs Despina Papamichail/Maria Sakkari (GRE) – Court 14 – 4th match

(9) Tommy Paul (USA) vs Jakub Mensik (CZE) – Court 6 – 2nd match

(11) Emma Navarro (USA) vs Qinwen Zheng (CHN) – Court 7 – 1st match

(4) Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Thiago Monteiro/Thiago Seyboth Wild – Court 12 – 1st match – not before 1:30