Faurel Saves Three Match Points to Advance to Semifinals at ITF J300 College Park; USA's Frodin and Leach Advance to Final Four; Four Americans Qualify for US Open; 38 Americans in Men's and Women's Singles Draws

©Colette Lewis 2024--

College Park MD--

There's been no dearth of third-set tiebreakers this week at the ITF J300 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, and that trend continued today, with No. 11 seed Thomas Faurel of France saving three match points in his 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(2) win over No. 3 seed Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan.

Faurel could have let down emotionally after Omarkhanov saved four match points serving at 4-5 in the third set, but the shots that Omarkhanov hit to save the match points--a forehand that forced an error, a service winner, an ace and a backhand volley winner--mitigated any frustration he might have felt.

"It's always easier to forget about it when the other person played well and there isn't really much you could do," said the 18-year-old, who plans to join the Kentucky Wildcats in January.

"The four match points he had he made four great first serves, two of them were aces, I'm pretty sure."

Faurel was then broken, giving Omarkhanov the chance to serve for the set, but his first serve deserted him after getting to 40-15 with a first serve and plus-one forehand winner. Faurel saved those two match points with an overhead winner and a forehand that forced an error, but had to save another after Omarkhanov's forehand forced an error from him. But Omarkhanov shanked a forehand, and missed his next four first serves, which was instrumental in Faurel taking control in the tiebreaker. 

"When he was serving at 6-5, he barely made any first serves, and for the rest of the match," Faurel saidl. "It was a great help for me, because I was able to immediately get off to a good start in the point, attacking his second serve, so that definitely helped."

Having fought off three match points, Faurel was a bit more relaxed heading into the tiebreaker. 

"I definitely felt loose," Faurel said. "Especially when you save match points on your opponent's serve you play the tiebreak like you have nothing to lose. You're just going for it, and today it all worked."

Omarkhanov's serve went from bad to worse in the tiebreaker, with two double faults giving Faurel a 5-1 lead. Down 6-1, Omarkhanov hit a forehand winner to save his fifth match point of the day, but Faurel ended the three-hour match with a good first serve that Omarkhanov couldn't get in play.

He will play No. 14 seed Charlie Robertson of Great Britain, who defeated 2023 College Park finalist Alex Razeghi, the No. 10 seed, 7-5, 6-2.  Robertson defeated Faurel 6-1, 6-1 in the second round of the Orange Bowl last December in their only meeting on the ITF Junior Circuit.

No. 5 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain took out No. 2 seed Hayden Jones 7-5, 6-3, with University of Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso watching his January 2025 recruit from the sidelines. Jodar will face No. 4 seed Jagger Leach, who overcame a slight hiccup in late stages of his quarterfinal with No. 7 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-1, 7-5.

After saving five match points in her round of 16 win over No. 5 seed Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Kazakhstan, No. 12 seed Thea Frodin had a less dramatic finish to her match today with No. 4 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile. Frodin trailed 4-1 early and lost the first set 6-3, but came back to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-1 to advance to her fourth J300 semifinal of the year.  

It will be a battle of 15-year-olds in the top half semifinal, when Frodin takes on unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France. Efremova, who took out top seed Emerson Jones of Australia in the second round, beat unseeded Alanis Hamilton 6-4, 7-5.

In the bottom half, No. 2 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia and No. 3 seed Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria will renew their rivalry, which dates back to 2022. Kostovic defeated No. 7 seed Yelyzaveta Kotliar of Ukraine 6-4, 6-0 in today's quarterfinals, while Dencheva beat unseeded Shiho Tsujioka of Japan 6-3, 6-2. Dencheva and Kostovic have played four times, all at J300 or higher events, with Kostovic winning the first two meetings and Dencheva the most recent two, including in the semifinals of a J300 in Bulgaria in April. 

The doubles semifinals are also on tap for Friday, with three of the eight remaining teams unseeded.

Jones and Kostovic, the No. 1 seeds, will face No. 4 seeds Maya Iyengar and Zhiyenbayeva in one semifinal; in the other, unseeded Claire An and Alanis Hamilton will play unseeded Isabelle DeLuccia and Eva Oxford.

In the boys semifinals, Wimbledon champions and No. 3 seeds Max Schoenhaus and Razeghi will play No. 2 seeds Rei Sakamoto of Japan and Faurel. The unseeded team of Nicolas and Mikael Arseneault of Canada, who defeated No. 4 seeds and Australian Open champions Cooper Woestendick and Max Exsted, will face No. 5 seeds Oliver Bonding and Robertson, who took out top seeds Leach and Jones 7-6(5), 7-6(6).

Links to live streaming, live scoring, draws and Friday's order of play can be found at the JTCC ITF tournament page.

Four of the forty Americans who began US Open qualifying this week have advanced to the main draw: Mitchell Krueger, Eliot Spizzirri, Ann Li and Varvara Lepchenko. 

Krueger defeated Maximilian Marterer of Germany 6-4, 6-2 to reach his first slam main draw since the US Open in 2020. The 30-year-old Texan will play fellow qualifier Hugo Grenier of France in the first round.

Spizzirri won one of the most exciting matches of the qualifying today, beating 2023 US Open boys champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil 7-6(8), 6-7(5), 6-4 on a packed show court five. The two-time ITA Player of the Year at Texas will make his slam debut against Alex Michelsen.

Ann Li, 24, defeated Lea Boskovic of Croatia 7-5, 6-3 to make her first slam main draw since 2022; she will play Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia in the first round. Varvara Lepchenko, 38, is back in the main draw of a slam for the first time since 2021, beating Despina Papamichail of Greece 6-3, 6-3 in the final round of qualifying today. She will face 17-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic in the first round.

Another qualifier of note is Maya Joint of Australia, who is scheduled to enroll at the University of Texas. The 18-year-old, who grew up in Michigan and switched to representing Australia last year, defeated Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 6-1 to earn her first berth in a slam main draw. Joint, who lost in the final round of qualifying at the Australian Open this year, will play 36-year-old Laura Siegemund of Germany in the first round.

The singles draws for both men and women were released today, with the men's here and the women's here.

The first round matches for all 38 Americans, 21 women and 18 men:

Ashlyn Krueger v Shuai Zhang(CHN)

Danielle Collins[11] v Caroline Dolehide

Sofia Kenin v Emma Raducanu(GBR)

Jessica Pegula[6] v Shelby Rogers

Alexa Noel[WC] v Sara Sorribes Tormo(ESP)

Bernarda Pera v Anna Bondar(HUN)

Lauren Davis v Anna Kalinskaya(RUS)

Katie Volynets v Karolina Muchova(CZE)

Varvara Lepchenko[Q] v Brenda Fruhvirtova(CZE)

Taylor Townsend v Martina Trevisan(ITA)

Sloane Stephens v Clara Burel(FRA)

Emma Navarro[13] v Anna Blinkova(RUS)

McCartney Kessler[WC] v Marta Kostyuk[19](UKR)

Coco Gauff[3] v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Amanda Anisimova[WC] v Qinwen Zheng[7](CHN)

Peyton Stearns v Lesia Tsurenko(UKR)

Madison Keys[14] v Katerina Siniakova(CZE)

Ann Li[Q] v Ajla Tomljanovic(AUS)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Magda Linette(POL)

Men:

Mackenzie McDonald v Jannik Sinner[1](ITA)

Eliot Spizzirri[Q] v Alex Michelsen

Learner Tien[WC] v Arthur Fils[24](FRA)

Tommy Paul[14] v Lorenzo Sonego(ITA)

Sebastian Korda[16] v Corentin Moutet(FRA)

Marcos Giron v Alex De Minaur[10](AUS)

Zachary Svajda[WC] v Matteo Arnaldi[30](ITA)

Matthew Forbes[WC] v Roman Safiullin(RUS)

Taylor Fritz[12] v Camilo Ugo Carabelli(ARG)

Brandon Nakashima v Holger Rune[15](DEN)

Reilly Opelka v Lorenzo Musetti[18](ITA)

Christopher Eubanks[WC] v Arthur Rinderknech(FRA)

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Hugo Grenier[Q](FRA)

Ben Shelton[13] v Dominic Thiem[WC](AUT)

Aleks Kovacevic v Frances Tiafoe