Pan American Closed Wild Cards; Keegan Beats No. 2 Seed Stefani at Women's All-American Championship, Top Seeds in Doubles Out in Tulsa and California; Mmoh, Rubin Advance to Stockton Challenger Quarterfinals

The wild cards for next week's ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed have been distributed, with four boys and four girls receiving direct entry into the main draw.

Boys main draw wild cards:
Lukas Greif
Matthew Tsolakyan
Tyler Zink
Christian Alshon

Boys qualifying wild cards:
none

Girls main draw wild cards:
Alana Smith
Katie Volynets
Victoria Hu
McCartney Kessler

Girls qualifying wild cards:
Ryan Peus

With withdrawals from Sam Riffice, Gianni Ross, Oliver Crawford and Patrick Kypson, all of whom have been participating in a USTA physical training block since the US Open, only two ITF Top 100 boys remain in the draw: Liam Caruana of Italy and Trent Bryde. Although several girls have also withdrawn, that field remains strong, with 11 Top 100 girls, including ITF No. 1 junior Kayla Day, who will be defending her title.

My on-site coverage of the event will begin on Monday, October 10th.

The first round of singles is complete at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, California with several upsets.  Florida's Kourtney Keegan, who was scheduled to play qualifying but was moved into the main draw at the last minute, beat No. 2 seed Luisa Stefani of Pepperdine 6-3, 6-3, and Vanderbilt's Astra Sharma defeated No. 4 seed Sinead Lohan of Miami 6-1, 7-6(6).  With No. 5 seed Jasmine Lee of Mississippi State also dealt a loss, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 by Oklahoma State's Vladica Babic, No. 7 seed Katarina Adamovic of Oklahoma State is the only seed remaining in the bottom half of the draw.

In the top half of the women's draw, only No. 8 seed Kennedy Shaffer of Georgia is missing from the second round. She lost to Kentucky's Aldila Sutjiadi 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Top seed Hayley Carter of North Carolina, No. 3 seed Francesca Di Lorenzo of Ohio State and No. 6 seed Belinda Woolcock of Florida all advanced in straight sets.

Pre-qualifier Ena Shibahara of UCLA continued her form, beating Martina Frantova of North Carolina State 6-1, 6-2, giving the freshman seven wins in the past six days.  Sara Daavettila of North Carolina made it two freshmen in the second round with a 6-4, 6-0 win over fellow qualifier Nuria Ormeno Ruiz of Colorado.

Oklahoma State has three of the last 16 players remaining, with Florida and North Carolina each having two representatives.

Two rounds of doubles were played in California today, although unlike the men, who play the ITF/ATP format, the women play eight-game pro sets in the early rounds. Five of the eight seeds lost their first matches, including top seeds Stujiadi and Mami Adachi of Kentucky, who were beaten by Mayar Sherif Ahmed and Christine Maddox of Pepperdine 8-7(1).

The first round of singles at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships went more to form than the women's singles and doubles. Although five of the 16 seeds went out in the first round, only one was a top 8 seed: North Carolina's Ronnie Schneider, who lost to Elliot Orkin of Florida 6-3, 7-6(8).  Four 9-16 seeds were beaten: Northwestern's Konrad Zieba, Duke's Nicolas Alvarez, Georgia's Wayne Montgomery and Cal's Andre Goransson.  Zieba fell to pre-qualifier Christian Sigsgaard of Texas 6-1, 6-4; Alvarez was beaten by Logan Smith of USC 7-6(7), 6-2; Montgomery was defeated by Or Ram harel of Tulsa 2-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 and Goransson lost to Jose Salazar of Arkansas 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-1. Sigsgaard and qualifier Yuya Ito, also of Texas, are the only freshman remaining in the final 32. Sigsgaard and Peter Bertran of South Florida are the only pre-qualifiers still standing, posting eight wins since last Saturday.

Top seed Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State and No. 2 seed and defending champion Thai Kwiatkowski of Virginia won their matches in straight sets.

The top-seeded doubles team of Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe of Oklahoma State were upset by the Princeton team of Alex Day and Luke Gamble 1-6, 6-3, 13-11.

I watched some of both tournaments this afternoon on FloTennis.  I had some difficulty at first, because I was experiencing constant buffering when I was in the Chrome browser, but when I changed to Safari I was able to watch with only occasional buffering.

I was hoping for more in the way of point-by-point scoring in a graphical form, and in the women's setup, two of the courts didn't even identify the players, so I think improvements need to be made in that regard.  That being said, there's never been anything at all in the way of live streaming or live scoring at the women's All-American, so having something is better than nothing. I hope refinements are being planned for the future; when there's a charge, as there is for FloTennis, the standard to aspire to is the ATP Challenger live streams, which are free.

When not watching the college tennis, I was watching the Challenger live streams from the $100,000 tournament in Stockton, California. Michael Mmoh continued his excellent form, beating qualifier Salvatore Caruso of Italy 6-3, 6-2, and Noah Rubin reached the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win over Joris De Loore of Belgium.  Rubin will play unseeded Frank Dancevic of Canada Friday, with Mmoh taking on unseeded Darian King of Barbados in a rematch of last week's final in Tiburon, won by King.   Frances Tiafoe(3) faces No. 6 seed Alessandro Giannessi of Italy, and in the only all-American quarterfinal, No. 5 seed Denis Kudla meets Mackenzie McDonald.

At the $25,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Redding, California, four Americans have reached the quarterfinals.  2015 ITA All-American champion Danielle Collins won her tenth straight match on the USTA Pro Circuit with a 7-5, 6-1 decision over qualifier Giuliana Olmos of Mexico and will face top seed Sachia Vickery on Friday.

In the bottom half, Collins' former Virginia teammate Julia Elbaba moved into the quarterfinals with 6-4, 6-0 victory over qualifier Ronit Yurovsky and will face No. 2 seed Francoise Abanda of Canada next. Bernarda Pera meets Laura Schaeder of Germany after beating Anna Zaja of Germany 7-5, 6-0 in today's second round action.

September Aces; Women's Qualifying Complete, ITA All-American Championships Begin Thursday; Hilton Head $10K Cancelled; Bolton Commits to UCLA

My monthly recap of the top performances of the previous month is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with 16 junior, college and former college players featured.

Qualifying for the women's Riveria/ITA All-American Championships concluded today in Pacific Palisades, California, with eight players advancing to the main draw.  One of last month's
aces, UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara, has won six matches over the past five days, coming through pre-qualifying over the weekend, and through qualifying today. The 2016 US Open girls doubles champion has not lost a set in her six matches, with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Michigan's Kate Fahey(9) putting her in the main draw.  The only other freshman to advance was Sara Daavettila of North Carolina, who as the top-ranked newcomer/freshman started her tournament in qualifying, not pre-qualifying.

The other six qualifiers are:
Viktoriya Lushkova, Oklahoma State,
Anna Danilina, Florida
Ingrid Gamarra Martins, South Carolina
Mayar Sherif Ahmed, Pepperdine
Nuria Oremo Ruiz, Colorado
Lily Miyazaki, Oklahoma

The draw for the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships has been posted, with Ohio State's Mikael Torpegaard the top seed in singles and Oklahoma State's Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe the top seed in doubles.

Men's singles:
1. Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
2. Thai Kwiatkowski, Virginia
3. Christopher Eubanks, Georgia Tech
4. Tom Fawcett, Stanford
5. Skander Mansouri, Wake Forest
6. Petros Chrysochos, Wake Forest
7. Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
8. Ronnie Schneider, North Carolina
9. Gustav Hansson, Ole Miss
9. Andre Goransson, Cal
9. William Bushamuka, Kentucky
9. Nicolas Alvarez, Duke
9. Wayne Montgomery, Georgia
9. Michael Redlicki, Arkansas
9. Konrad Zieba, Northwestern
9. Florian Lakat, Cal

Men's doubles:
1. Julian Cash-Arjun Kadhe, Oklahoma State
2. Filip Bergevi-Florian Lakat, Cal
3. Skander Mansouri-Christian Seraphim, Wake Forest
4. Herkko Pollanen-Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
5. Shawn Hadavi-Richard Pham, Columbia
5. Jack Schipanski-Luis Valero, Tennessee
5. Tommy Bennett-David Warren, Rice
5. Zvonimir Babic-Filip Kraljevic, Ole Miss

Bobby Knight of College Tennis Today has more on how players received main draw entry, and also a list of top college men who are missing from the field.  Play begins Thursday morning with singles at 10 a.m. Eastern time, followed by the first round of doubles in the afternoon.

Hurricane Matthew's path up the coast of the southeastern United States resulted in the cancellation of the $10,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit event on Hilton Head Island this week.  Only three main draw matches were played on Monday with the decision to cancel coming today, so without a full round completed, those results will not count. Last year the Charleston $10K was abandoned before the semifinal round could be completed due to persistent heavy rains, so that experience probably played a role in the decision, as well as the much more dangerous possibilities a hurricane presents.

At the $100,000 Stockton Challenger, Mackenzie McDonald, Frances Tiafoe(3) and Denis Kudla(5) advanced to the quarterfinals.  McDonald took out No. 2 seed Tim Smyczek 6-4, 6-4, while Tiafoe beat qualifier Dennis Nevolo 7-6(6), 6-3 and Kudla eliminated Brian Baker 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.  The top half of the draw will play their second round matches on Thursday.  The day's biggest upset came in the doubles, when former University of the Pacific star Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands and current Pacific player Jose Chamba Gomez of Ecuador, who were a wild card entry without a doubles ranking, beat top seeds Andres Molteni of Argentina and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo of Chile 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-5 in the first round.

At the women's $25,000 tournament in Redding, California, the final that didn't happen last week in Stillwater, Oklahoma due to Caroline Dolehide's retirement after one game, was a first round match this week, with Danielle Collins winning her ninth straight match with a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory over Dolehide.  Qualifier Kylie McKenzie beat No. 4 seed Laura Robson of Great Britain 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(2), while Hanna Chang, Ellie Halbauer, Ronit Yurovsky and top seed Sachia Vickery also posted first round wins today.

Elysia Bolton, a 16-year-old blue chip ranked sixth in the Class of 2018, has made a verbal commitment to UCLA. Bolton, who also took unofficial visits to North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Georgia and Southern Cal, will be playing the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed next week in Tulsa, where I hope to have an opportunity to talk with her about her decision for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Another junior blue chip, Jared Pratt, is just beginning to start the process of selecting a college, according to this article in Charleston's The Post and Courier. Pratt finished sixth in singles and runner-up in doubles in the Kalamazoo 16s this year, while finishing third at the 16s Clay Courts in July.

Qualifying Complete at Men's ITA All-American Championships; Stockton Challenger Leads Three USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments This Week; ACC Moves Tennis Championships to Rome, GA

Qualifying is complete at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships in Tulsa, with main draw matches scheduled to begin on Thursday.  The iron men among the qualifiers are three players who won four matches in the pre-qualifying Saturday and Sunday, and three more in qualifying Monday and Tuesday to earn places in the 64-player main draw.  That's seven wins in four days, which I'm sure makes tomorrow's day off particularly welcome.

Those players are Columbia freshman Alex Keyser, Texas freshman Christian Sigsgaard and South Florida junior Peter Bertran.  Also qualifying are USC freshman Brandon Holt and Texas freshman Yuya Ito, both of whom appeared in the ITA's preseason Newcomer/Freshman rankings.  Texas, Columbia and Cal all had two players get through qualifying.

Only five of the 16 qualifiers were seeded in the qualifying draw, which is not an unusually low number, but I do wonder if the seeding would have held up better had it been based on UTR. There's no way to determine that, and just six of the top 16 UTR ratings made the main draw, but it does seem the use of UTR has stalled a bit as far as ITA majors are concerned.

Bobby Knight has all the day's results from Tulsa at College Tennis Today.

The women's qualifying for the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships will finish on Wednesday after two rounds of qualifying are being played today; the women's day off was Monday, between pre-qualifying and qualifying.

Live streaming will be available from FloTennis for both men and women, but there is a charge, which I believe is $19.99 per month or $149.99 per year. I will be trying it out in the next few days and will let you know how that goes.

Three USTA Pro Circuit events are on the schedule this week: the $100,000 ATP Challenger in Stockton, California, the $25,000 women's tournament in Redding, California, and the $10,000 women's tournament in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The first round is complete in Stockton, with Michael Mmoh, Frances Tiafoe(3), Mackenzie McDonald, Denis Kudla(5), Noah Rubin, Tim Smyczek(2), Brian Baker, Daniel Nguyen and Dennis Nevolo the Americans reaching the second round.  Top seed Bjorn Fratangelo lost his opening round match today to Joris De Loore of Belgium 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Qualifying was completed today in Redding and Hilton Head, with a few first round matches played as well.  Kylie McKenzie and Alexandra Sanford are the two juniors who made it through qualifying in Redding, while wild card Julia Elbaba had a good first round win over No. 7 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, by a 6-1, 6-3 score.

In Hilton Head, 15-year-old Sophia Hatton and 18-year-old Alexa Bortles earned places in the main draw.  Maria Mateas won her first round match over 15-year-old Elizabeth Scotty, while 15-year-old Emiliana Arango of Colombia, a quarterfinalist last week in Charleston, defeated Amy Zhu 6-3, 6-4 in first round action.

The ACC announced last month they were moving their conference championships out of North Carolina due to recently passed discriminatory laws, and today they revealed the new venues.  The men's and women's conference tennis championships will be held in Rome, Georgia, where a new 60-court facility has just opened.  For more about the venue, see this article last week from the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Hilderbrand, Zein Win ITF Grade 5 Titles in Austin, Broerman Claims Singles Championship in Dominican Republic; Ho Sweeps D3 Central Regional Titles; ITA All-American Qualifying Continues

Two ITF Junior events that finished over the weekend had Americans as champions, with Texans Marlee Zein and Trey Hilderbrand winning the singles titles at the Grade 5 in Austin, Texas, and Catherine Broerman claiming the singles title at the Grade 5 in the Dominican Republic.

The 16-year-old Hilderbrand, seeded No. 4, defended his 2015 title in Austin, beating 14-year-old Zane Khan, seeded No. 13, 6-4, 6-3 in the final.  Top seed Zein, also 16, defeated No. 9 seed Ivana Corley 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to capture her first ITF junior title.

Hilderbrand fell short of a sweep of the titles in Austin when he and Boris Kozlov, the top seeds, fell to No. 5 seeds Brady Draheim and Bradley Frye 4-6, 6-4, 10-5.  The girls doubles title went to Jessica Aragon and Delara Zamani, who beat Hada Chang and Abigail Chiu 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 in a contest between two unseeded teams.

This week the US ITF Junior Circuit moves to Wichita Falls, Texas for the Grade 4, with the Grade B1 Pan American Closed in Tulsa following on October 10th.  Ray Ho of Taiwan and Katya Townsend are the top seeds in Wichita Falls.

The 15-year-old Broerman, seeded sixth, defeated No. 8 seed Shelly Yaloz 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the final in Santo Domingo, claiming her first ITF junior title. Yaloz also dropped the doubles final, with she and partner Rose Dickson falling to Maria Aguiar and Lauren Anzalotta-Kynoch of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-1.

The Division III Women's ITA Central Regional wrapped up today in Kalamazoo, with Washington University-St. Louis's Rebecca Ho sweeping the titles. The top-seeded Ho, who won the Central regional title as a sophomore in 2014, defeated University of Chicago freshman Marjorie Antohi twice, taking the singles final 6-4, 6-3 over the No. 9 seed, and teaming with Kaylan Griffith for the doubles title.  Ho and Griffith, the top seeds, defeated No. 9 seeds Antohi and Estefania Navarro 6-4, 6-3 for the doubles title.  Ho and Griffith earned All-American status with the titles and spots in the small college nationals, now called the ITA Oracle Cup, in Surprise, Arizona October 13-16.

The Division III Regionals should all be completed today, with results available at the ITA tournament page.

The first two Division I majors of the season begin on Thursday, with the men in Tulsa and the women in Pacific Palisades.  Pre-qualifying was completed Sunday, with eight women advancing to the qualifying with three wins over the weekend, including notable freshmen Ashley Lahey of Pepperdine, Ena Shibahara of UCLA and Meible Chi of Duke.

Qualifying for the women begins Tuesday, with eight women moving into the main draw with three more victories over the next two days. Top newcomer/freshman Sara Daavettila of North Carolina will play her first round qualifying match against qualifier Josie Kuhlman of Florida.

The men's pre-qualifying is a much bigger production, with 16 men advancing into qualifying, which began today.  Freshmen advancing out of pre-qualifying with four wins over the weekend included Columbia's Alex Keyser and Jackie Tang, Yale's Dylan King, Texas's Christian Sigsgaard and North Carolina's Joshua Peck, with all but Tang also winning their first round qualifying matches today. Other notable freshmen first round winners, who were given spots in the qualifying draw, are Nathan Ponwith of Georgia, Brandon Holt of USC and Robert Levine of Duke. With a 64-player main draw compared to the women's 32-player main draw, there are more room for qualifiers, and 16 will advance.  Bobby Knight has the complete results, as well as Universal Tennis Rating numbers for all the ITA All-American participants at his College Tennis Today blog.

US Girls Fall to Poland in Junior Fed Cup Final, Russia Claims Junior Davis Cup; Collins, Coopersmith Win USTA Pro Circuit Titles

Stefania Rogozinska-Dzik, Iga Swiatek, Maja Chwalinska, Captain Mikolaj Weymann
(photo cortesy ITF Junior Facebook page)

For the second year in a row, the US girls took a 1-0 lead in the Junior Fed Cup final, but were unable to close out the championship at the International Tennis Federation's 16-and-under team competition. Last year the top-seeded Czech Republic team took the No. 1 singles and the doubles to win the title; this year, No. 4 seed Poland pulled out the victory, with Iga Swiatek the star of her country's championship.

Claire Liu gave the US a 1-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Maja Chwalinska at No. 2 singles, but Swiatek brought Poland level with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Amanda Anisimova at the No. 1 position. Unlike 2015, when the Czech Republic was favored in the doubles, the US was the more accomplished team this year, with Liu, the Wimbledon doubles champion, and Caty McNally, the Wimbledon doubles finalist, set to take on Swiatek and Chwalinska.  But as they showed in their 6-1, 6-3 win over Russians Anastasia Potapova and Olesya Pervushina in the semifinals, Swiatek and Chwalinska are a formidable team, and they rolled past the Americans 6-4, 6-0.

It’s the first Junior Fed Cup title for Poland since Urszula Radwanska and Agnieszka Radwanska defeated France 2-0 back in 2005, and with wins over No. 1 Russia, No. 2 USA, and No. 5 Canada, they certainly are deserving champions. Swiatek went 9-0 in singles and doubles during the competition.

The Russian boys dethroned top seed Canada as Junior Davis Cup champions, with Alen Avidzba, Timofey Skatov and Alexey Zakharov picking up key victories in the No. 2 seed’s 2-1 victory.

Skatov gave Russia a 1-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Nicaise Muamba at No. 2 singles, but Canada had been in that hole three times before during the week’s competition and had been rescued by US Open boys champion Felix Auger-Aliassime.  Auger-Aliassime trailed Avidzba 6-2, 3-1 at No. 1 singles, but roared back for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win to give Canada an opportunity in the doubles. Russia sent Avidzba and Zakharov out for the doubles, after Avidzba had been rested in the doubles dead rubber against Argentina in the semifinals. They took the first set easily, 6-2, but Canada had been down a set to the United States in the semifinals and still managed to squeeze through, so Russia could not relax. They kept the pressure on Canada with an early break and made that hold up with Avidzba serving out the championship. 

For all the country’s success at Junior Fed Cup, including four titles, Russia had never won the Junior Davis Cup, although the USSR boys did take the title in 1990.

The fourth-seeded US boys finished fourth, dropping their third-place match to No. 7 seed Argentina 2-1, in a deciding doubles point 6-2, 3-6,  13-11.  For more on today's matches, see the ITF junior website.  The complete results from all matches during the week can be found at the tournament website.

Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas
Final
Poland (4) defeated USA (2) 2-1
Claire Liu (USA) d. Maja Chwalinska (POL) 64 63
Iga Swiatek (POL) d. Amanda Anisimova (USA) 64 62
Maja Chwalinska/Iga Swiatek (POL) d. Claire Liu/Catherine McNally (USA) 64 60
3rd-4th play-off
Russia (1) defeated Japan (3) 3-0
Anastasia Potapova (RUS) d. Yuki Naito (JPN) 61 75
Olesya Pervushina (RUS) d. Ayumi Miyamoto (JPN) 61 61
Varvara Graecheva/Olesya Pervushina (RUS) d. Ayumi Miyamoto/Yuki Naito (JPN) 61 63

Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
Final
Russia (2) defeated Canada (1) 2-1
Timofey Skatov (RUS) d. Nicaise Muamba (CAN) 61 64
Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) d. Alen Avidzba (RUS) 26 63 64
Alen Avidzba/Alexey Zakharov (RUS) d. Felix Auger-Aliassime/Chih Chi Huang (CAN) 62 64

3rd-4th play-off
Argentina (7) defeated USA (4) 2-1
Thiago Tirante (ARG) d. Sangeet Sridhar (USA) 46 63 63
Sebastian Korda (USA) d. Sebastian Baez (ARG) 76(6) 62
Sebastian Baez/Tomas Descarrega (ARG) d. Sebastian Korda/Sangeet Sridhar (USA) 62 36 13-11
============================================
Two of the five singles titles on offer today in USTA Pro Circuit finals went to Americans, with two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins and 17-year-old Nicole Coopersmith taking home the winner's trophy.

Collins was scheduled to face Caroline Dolehide in the final of the $25,000 Stillwater, Oklahoma event, and she did, but only for one game, with Dolehide retiring after losing it.  The reason for Dolehide's retirement isn't clear, but Collins, who had played eight matches in eight days, didn't need the match play.  The 22-year-old Floridian earns her first title at a $25,000-level event, and with the 50 WTA ranking points, will move into the Top 500 for the first time in her career.

Coopersmith, the No. 2 seed, defeated South Carolina sophomore Ingrid Gamarra Martins of Brazil 6-3, 6-4 to collect her second career $10,000 singles title, and first since last year at the Charleston, South Carolina tournament.

Sonya Kenin fell just short of her second $50,000 title, with the 17-year-old wild card falling to top seed Alison Van  Uytvanck of Belgium 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 in the Red Rock Pro Open in Las Vegas. By reaching the final, Kenin will be knocking on the door of the WTA Top 200, putting her solidly in position for qualifying at the Australian Open.

The doubles title in Las Vegas went to Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Maria Sanchez, who also won last week's doubles championship at the $75,000 tournament in Albuquerque.  Sanchez and Krajicek, the No. 2 seeds, defeated unseeded Chanel Simmonds of South Africa and Jamie Loeb 7-5, 6-1.

Eighteen-year-old qualifier Michael Mmoh, who had played seven matches in eight days to reach the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger final couldn't win his eighth match in nine days today, falling to unseeded Darian King of Barbados 7-6(2), 6-2 on a windy afternoon in Northern California.  Mmoh served for the first set at 5-4, but King was too steady for the Kalamazoo champion, and with an 83% first serve percentage in the first set, King kept Mmoh playing a less aggressive game. Mmoh will move into the ATP 260s with his appearance in the final.

The doubles title in Tiburon went to the third-seeded Australian team of JP Smith and Matt Reid, who beat Quentin Halys of France and Dennis Novikov 6-1, 6-2.

At the $10,000 Futures in Fountain Valley, California, sixth-seeded Sebastian Fanselow of Germany, the former Pepperdine All-American, won his second title in three weeks, defeating No. 4 seed Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe 6-1, 7-6(9).

US Girls Reach Sunday's Junior Fed Cup Final; Mmoh Rolls on in Tiburon Challenger; Dolehide and Collins Meet for Stillwater Title; Kenin Advances to Las Vegas Final

As the No. 2 seeds, the US girls Junior Fed Cup team was expected to be in the final, and on Sunday, for the second year in a row, they will play for the title of the 16-and-under international team competition.

For the fifth straight match, the doubles point was a formality, as Claire Liu and Amanda Anisimova won at No. 2 and No. 1 singles against No. 3 Japan to earn their place in the final. The only surprise is their opponent, which will be No. 4 seed Poland, rather than top seed Russia.

Anastasia Potapova started the Russians off with a close win at No. 2 singles over Maja Chwalinska, but Iga Swiatek squared the match for Poland with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Olesya Pervushina, meaning the doubles would decide the USA's opponent.  That turned out to be less than dramatic, with Swiatek and Chwalinska posting a 6-1, 6-3 win for the upset.

The US boys, seeded fourth and down a player due to the injury to Keenan Mayo in the first day, made a spirited attempt to emulate the Polish girls in their semifinal with top seed Canada, but the boys fell in the doubles match tiebreaker.  Sangeet Sridhar gave the US a 1-0 lead with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Nicaise Muamba at No. 2 singles, but Sebastian Korda was no match for US Open boys champion Felix Auger-Aliassime, falling 6-3, 6-1.  Auger-Aliassime has brought his team back from 1-0 down three times in their past four matches and clinched it with the doubles. Today, Auger-Aliassime partnered Chih Chi Huang, and after dropping the first set, they came back for a 5-7, 6-2, 10-5 victory and a place in the final against No. 2 seed Russia.

Russia, who defeated Argentina 2-1, will try to prevent Canada and Auger-Aliassime from repeating as Junior Davis Cup champions.  The US girls, and Claire Liu,  will be trying to avoid a runner-up finish for the second straight year.

Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas
Semifinals
Poland (4) d. Russia (1) 2-1
Anastasia Potapova (RUS) d. Maja Chwalinska (POL) 36 76(5) 61
Iga Swiatek (POL) d. Olesya Pervushina (RUS) 63 63
Maja Chwalinska/Iga Swiatek (POL) d. Olesya Pervushina/Anastasia Potapova (RUS) 61 63

USA (2) defeated Japan (3) 3-0
Claire Liu (USA) d. Yuki Naito (JPN) 62 76(3)
Amanda Anisimova (USA) d. Ayumi Miyamoto (JPN) 62 57 60
Claire Liu/Catherine McNally (USA) d. Ayumi Miyamoto/Yuki Naito (JPN) 62 76(4)

Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
Semifinals
Canada (1) defeated USA (4) 2-1
Sangeet Sridhar (USA) d. Nicaise Muamba (CAN) 75 61
Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) d. Sebastian Korda (USA) 63 61
Felix Auger-Aliassime/Chih Chi Huang (CAN) d. Sebastian Korda/Sangeet Sridhar (USA) 57 62 10-5

Russia (2) defeated Argentina (7) 2-1
Timofey Skatov (RUS) d. Thiago Tirante (ARG) 64 61
Alen Avidzba (RUS) d. Sebastian Baez (ARG) 64 57 61
Thiago Tirante/Tomas Descarrega (ARG) d. Timofey Skatov/Alexey Zakharov (RUS) 75 63

For more on today's matches, see the ITF junior website.  Links to the live streaming of tomorrow's finals can be found here.  Full results are at the tournament website.

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Qualifier Michael Mmoh continued his impressive run at the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger this evening, defeating defending champion and No. 3 seed Tim Smyczek 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) to reach Sunday's final. Mmoh got off to a horrible start in the match, going down 4-0 quickly, but he recovered to take the second set and went up a break in the third set at 4-2. Smyzcek got the break right back and after four holds, a tiebreaker would decide it. Smyczek fell behind 3-1, but got the mini-break back and two forehand winners gave him a 5-4 lead. Mmoh hit a big serve to make it 5-5, but Smyczek earned a match point with an overhead winner and would have it on his serve. After working his way into the net, he missed a backhand volley, and he did not get another chance.  Mmoh earned his first match point with a scrambling passing shot, and an excellent second serve that Smyczek couldn't get back in play gave him the victory.

Mmoh will play unseeded Darian King of Barbados in the final, after King defeated wild card Mackenzie McDonald 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5. NCAA champion McDonald served for the match twice, at 5-4 in the second set and at 5-4 in the third set, but didn't reach match point either time.

Sunday's final at the USTA Pro Circuit $25,000 tournament in Stillwater, Oklahoma will feature two Americans: qualifier Danielle Collins and Caroline Dolehide.  Collins defeated Yuliya Beygelzimer of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3 for her seventh win in seven days, while the 18-year-old Dolehide needed nearly three hours to overcome lucky loser Bianca Turati of Italy 6-7(4), 6-0, 7-5. Each has won one $10,000 title, but neither has won a title at the $25,000 level.

Former Michigan teammates Emina Bektas and Ronit Yurovsky won the doubles title, beating Giuliana Olmos(USC) and Nazari Urbina(Texas A&M) of Mexico 6-4, 6-7(6), 10-6 in the final. It's Bektas' second $25,000 level title in the past three weeks, while Yurovsky won a $25,000 doubles title back in July.

Sonya Kenin will go for her second $50,000 singles title in the past three months Sunday in Las Vegas.  The 18-year-old defeated 19-year-old Nadia Podoroska of Argentina 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 today and will face top seed Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium in the final.  Van Uytvanck advanced when qualifier Fanni Stollar of Hungary retired down 6-1, 3-3.

For more on today's matches, see this article from Red Rock Open press aide Steve Pratt.

At the $10,000 women's Pro Circuit tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, 17-year-old Nicole Coopersmith, the No. 2 seed, will face University of South Carolina sophomore Ingrid Gamarra Martins of Brazil in the final.  Coopersmith defeated No. 3 seed Lauren Embree 6-3, 6-3, while Gamarra Martins eliminated qualifier Yukako Noi of Japan 6-1, 7-5.  For more on Coppersmith, see this article from Charleston's The Post and Courier.

Alabama teammates Andie Daniell and Erin Routliffe won the doubles title, defeating Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame) and Whitney Kay(North Carolina) 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

At the $10,000 men's Futures in Fountain Valley, California, No. 6 seed Sebastian Fanselow of Germany will face No. 4 seed Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe for the singles title.  Fanselow defeated No. 8 seed Marcos Giron 7-5, 6-1, while Garanganga needed nearly three hours to eliminate top seed Carl Soderlund of Sweden 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4.