Longtime Kalamazoo Nationals Photographer Helen Handelsman Passes Away; USTA Australian Open Wild Card Standings

The USTA Boys 18 and 16 National Championships lost one of its most recognizable and significant supporters late last month, when photographer Helen Handelsman passed away at age 85.  For 47 years, Handelsman and her Nikon captured not only the on-court drama and action of the country's most revered USTA tournament, but what the tournament meant to the Kalamazoo community. The volunteers, the picnics, the sponsor receptions; the Player of the Day awards, the opening ceremonies, the sportsmanship awards; the efforts of the ballrunners, the officials, the maintenance staff--all were woven into a tapestry that could be viewed every year in the elaborate and yet free program that the tournament produces every year.

After raising her family in Kalamazoo, Handelsman moved to San Francisco in the 1980s, but returned to Stowe Stadium every summer to chronicle the nation's top junior tennis players as they navigated a rite of passage in their tennis careers.

Handelsman was in her early 80s when her illness forced her to relinquish the grueling job to YourGameFace.com, but her love of the tournament kept her coming back to spend time as a tower assistant and to reconnect with the friends she had made over the decades.

I'll always remember how much Handelsman enjoyed getting to know the players and how fond she was of them, both as a group and individually. Working in tandem with Dr. Don Flesche, who in addition to his work as the Voice of the Tournament, is responsible for organizing the program, Handelsman took the job of archiving the event seriously, understanding what the tens of thousands of photographs contributed to the sport and its history.

Former Kalamazoo tournament director Timon Corwin called Handelsman a pillar of the tournament, and I think that's exactly the right word. Reinforcements have been added since she retired, but the support she provided for decades will continue to be part of the tournament's structure.

The obituary that appeared in yesterday's Kalamazoo Gazette is available here.

The USTA released the standings for its Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, with the women's race wrapping up this week at the $80,000 tournament in Waco Texas.  Kristie Ahn, who leads after winning the Tyler tournament title yesterday, is entered in Waco, but Danielle Collins, who is tied for second with Vicky Duval, is not.  Duval is in qualifying in Waco, facing 18s National champion Ashley Kratzer for a place in the main draw on Tuesday.   The men are in their second week of the race, with most of the contenders in at the $75,00 Knoxville Challenger, including leader Tim Smyczek and second place Tennys Sandgren.  Other tournaments are also being counted for the men, and Austin Krajicek is playing in a Challenger in Japan this week.

Women's standings:

Men's standings:

Lazaro, Borges Claim ITA National Fall Titles; Ahn, Smyczek Win, Take Australian Open Wild Card Lead; Sock Wins Paris Masters; Johnson, Navarro, Sieg Capture ITF Junior Titles

Top seed Nuno Borges of Mississippi State and unseeded Andrea Lazaro of Florida International won singles titles at the inaugural ITA National Fall Championships at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden Sunday.

Borges, who received a wild card into the event, defeated No. 3 seed Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest 7-5, 6-3 and Lazaro, who received her entry based on her semifinal showing at last month's All-American Championships, came back to defeat No. 11 seed Samantha Harris of Duke 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Borges was having much less difficulty holding serve in the first set, and although Chrysochos saved two set points serving at 4-5, Borges got three more opportunities at 5-6, and converted the second.  Borges, a junior from Portugal, won a deciding point on serve to take a 2-1 lead in the second set, got the only break he needed to go up 3-1 and managed to keep it, serving for the match at 5-3.  He had to save two break points in that game, but he hit a good first serve on the deciding point to win the first ITA national title since Thomas Dupre won the All-American title back in 1996.

Harris served for the first set at 5-3, was broken at love, but managed to break Lazaro for the set.  Lazaro began to find her range in the second set, and after an early exchange of breaks, it was Lazaro who captured the big points, and she closed out the set with a break.

The third set was similar to the second, with Lazaro getting the first break, giving it back, but breaking again. Lazaro, a senior from Spain, won a deciding point serving at 4-2 to keep her one break lead and broke Harris to claim the title, the first ITA title for a Florida International player.

Chrysochos had another opportunity for a title on Sunday and he converted it, winning the men's doubles title with Skander Mansouri. The unseeded pair, who were playing together for the first time, defeated No. 8 seeds Rodrigo Banzer and Leonardo Telles of Texas 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

The women's doubles champions were also unseeded, with Stanford's  Emily Arbuthnott and Michaela Gordon beating Alexa Bortles and Arianne Hartono of Ole MIss 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Anna Danilina of Florida, the No. 1 seed, won the women's consolation tournament for those losing in the first round.  Danilina defeated Anna Bright of Cal 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 in today's final.  Alex Knight of Michigan won the men's consolation title, beating Giovanni Oradini of Mississippi State 6-4, 6-2.

The ITA recap of today's finals is here.

Kristie Ahn won the biggest title of her career today at the $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Tyler Texas.  The former Stanford star defeated Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4 to take the lead in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.  Ahn may not need the wild card however. The 25-year-old from New Jersey is now up to a new career high of 106 in the rankings with this title, close to the usual cutoff for the main draw. The final tournament in the women's wild card race is in Waco Texas this coming week. For more on today's final, see this article from the tournament.

Unseeded Tim Smyczek won his first Challenger title since 2015 today in Charlottesville, beating top seed Tennys Sandgren 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the $75,000 event. Smyczek takes the lead in the men's Australian Open wild card race, with two weeks left.

DJ Thomas and Denis Kudla won the doubles title in the worst possible way.  Mikelis Libietis and Jarryd Chaplin were leading Thomas and Kudla 7-6(4), 4-1 when Libietis tore his Achilles tendon, a serious injury that resulted in his being carried off the court after a long delay. The former Tennessee star and 2014 NCAA doubles champion is looking at a very long recovery.

At the $15,000 Futures in Birmingham Alabama, former South Florida All-American Roberto Cid won his first title since January.  The 24-year-old from the Dominican Republic, seeded No. 8, defeated No. 3 seed Fabrizio Ornago of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the final.  Raleigh Smith and Wil Spencer won the doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds Nick Chappell and Boris Arias 6-2, 7-6(3).

Jack Sock won the ATP Paris Masters, beating qualifier Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in today's final.  With the title, Sock qualified for the World Tour Finals in London, moved into the Top 10 for the first time, and will end the year as the top-ranked American, ending John Isner's run.  He is also the first American to win a Masters title since Andy Roddick won Miami in 2010. For more on Sock's title, see this article from the ATP website.

Emma Navarro and JanMagnus Johnson won singles titles at the ITF Grade 4 in South Carolina, with Navarro also capturing the doubles title.  The 17-year-old Johnson, seeded No. 11, defeated No. 13 seed Yeudy Villar of the Dominican Republic 6-2, 6-2 in the final.  It's the second ITF title for Johnson.  Navarro, the No. 8 seed, defeated No. 5 seed Kylie Collins 6-0, 6-1 in the final.  The 16-year-old Easter Bowl 16s champion, who has verbally committed to Duke, had won ITF doubles titles before, but this is her first title in singles.  Top seeds in doubles, Navarro and Chloe Beck beat Collins and Sophia Patel 6-4, 6-4, the fourth ITF doubles title for South Carolina residents Navarro and Beck.  The boys doubles title went to No. 8 seeds Maxwell Giddens and Julian Steinhausen, who beat Brandon and Nicholas McKinney 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

At the ITF Grade 5 in the Cayman Islands, 14-year-old Madison Sieg won her first ITF title, in her first ITF tournament.  Obviously unseeded in her debut, Sieg defeated unseeded Catherine Aulia 6-1, 6-2 in the final.  In the boys final, Keshav Chopra[9], lost to No. 3 seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

At the ITF Grade 5 in Canada, Bill Duo won the doubles title, and reached the finals in singles. Duo, who has committed to Princeton for 2018, partnered with Andrew Rezaev of Canada to take the doubles championship, with the unseeded pair beating No. 2 seeds Razvan Baiant and Nick Lagaev of Canada 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Duo, seeded No. 8, lost to the unseeded Lagaev in the singles final 7-6(3), 7-6(6).
Haley Giavara partnered with Jada Bui of Canada to take the girls doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating unseeded Alisia Manolescu and Corina Spasojevic of Canada 6-3, 6-1 in the final.

Finals Set at ITA National Fall Championships; Collins and Ahn, Sandgren and Smyczek Face Off in Pro Circuit Events; Sock and Vandeweghe Reach ATP/WTA Finals

Seniors Andrea Lazaro of Florida International and Samantha Harris of Duke have advanced to the women's final of the inaugural ITA National Fall Championships, while Nuno Borges of Mississippi State and Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest will meet for the men's title Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The unseeded Lazaro, a semifinalist at last month's ITA All-American Championships, won a grueling battle with All-American champion Fernanda Contreras of Vanderbilt 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. Lazaro, who celebrates her 23rd birthday today, was down a break in the seesaw second set, then went ahead 4-2 and lost that break. She played an outstanding tiebreaker however, using her forehand to dominate, and then kept the momentum going in the third set, taking a 3-1 lead.  That too disappeared, but at 4-all, the Barcelona native broke the No. 13 seed and went on to hold serve to secure the win.

No. 11 seed Harris's 6-4, 6-3 win over unseeded Bianca Turati wasn't streamed but it was much less complicated than Lazaro's.

Wild card Borges, the top seed, came from 4-1 down in the second set to defeat Martin Redlicki of UCLA 6-2, 6-4. The junior from Portugal won a deciding point with Redlicki serving at 4-all in the second set, then held at 40-30, with a drop shot skimming the net cord and dropping over on Redlicki's side.

Chrysochos, the 2016 All-American champion, will play for two titles on Sunday. The junior from Cyprus defeated No. 16 Thomas Laurent of Oregon 6-2, 6-2 to reach the singles final, then teamed with Skander Mansouri to advance to the doubles championship match.  The unseeded Chrysochos and Mansouri defeated No. 4 seeds Chris Kougoucheff  and Parker Wynn of Louisville 6-3, 6-1 to set up a meeting with No. 8 seeds Rodrigo Banzer and Leonardo Telles of Texas. Banzer and Telles had their hands full with unseeded Joseph Dodridge and Chema Carranza of Wisconsin, but converted their fourth match point to earn a 6-2, 3-6, 12-10 victory.

The women's doubles final will feature two unseeded teams, with Alexa Bortles and Arianne Hartono of Ole Miss facing Emily Arbuthnott and Michaela Gordon of Stanford. Bortles and Hartono defeated No. 7 seeds Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones of Georgia Tech 6-2, 7-6(5) and Arbuthnott and Gordon beat No. 3 seeds Harris and Kelly Chen of Duke 6-1, 7-5 in today's semifinals.

The singles finals will be streamed, free, back-to-back on Sunday, with Kaitlyn Ray and Mark Bey providing commentary. With Chrysochos in both finals, I imagine the men's singles will be first on, at 10:00 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern.  The stream is available at the ITA tournament page.

While no Americans are in the ITA finals, six are in professional level finals Sunday around the world.

At the $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Tyler Texas, unseeded Danielle Collins and No. 4 seed Kristie Ahn advanced to the final, with Collins taking out No. 3 seed Sonya Kenin 6-1, 7-6(10) and Ahn beating Irina Falconi 7-5, 6-3.  Collins has not won a title above the $25,000 level, while Ahn is looking for her second $60K and above title of this year.  Ahn beat Collins in three sets this summer in the quarterfinals of a $60K in Sacramento.  The winner will take the lead in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, but Ahn is getting close to the top 100 now, so she may qualify on her own ranking.

Taylor Townsend and Jessica Pegula won the Tyler doubles title today, beating Jamie Loeb and Sweden's Rebecca Peterson 6-4, 6-1. It is the second title of the year for Townsend and Pegula as a team.

At the $60,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Toronto, Ohio State junior Francesca Di Lorenzo fell in the semifinals to No. 2 seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.  Two-time NCAA doubles champion Erin Routliffe(Alabama) won the doubles title, with former Crimson Tide star Alexa Guarachi Mathison.  They defeated Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico and Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-4 in today's final. Bonaventure will play Schnyder for the singles title on Sunday.

The final of the $75,000 ATP Challenger in Charlottesville will feature top seed Tennys Sandgren and unseeded Tim Smyczek.  Sandgren, who has been dominant all week, beat No. 7 seed Michael Mmoh 6-4 6-4, while Smyczek took out No. 6 seed Stefan Kozlov 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.  The winner of tomorrow's match will take the lead in the men's USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, with two more weeks to go.

Unseeded DJ Thomas and Denis Kudla advanced to the doubles final with a 7-5, 6-1 win over former UVA stars Thai Kwiatkowski and Alexander Ritschard. They will face former Tennessee teammates Jarryd Chaplin and Mikelis Libietis, the No. 4 seeds, for the title.

Two former US Open junior champions will play for big pro titles on Sunday.  CoCo Vandeweghe reached the final of the last significant WTA tournament of the year in Zhuhai.  The No. 2 seed defeated Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in today's semifinal and will face No. 7 seed Julia Goerges of Germany for the title. Vandeweghe, currently at a career-high ranking of 12, is looking for her first title of the year, after reaching both the Australian Open and US Open semifinals.  She won the US Open girls title back in 2008.

Jack Sock, who won the US Open boys title in 2010, reached his first ATP Masters final in Paris, defeating French wild card Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-2.  Sock, seeded 16th, will face qualifier Filip Krajinovic of Serbia in the final, after Krajinovic defeated No. 9 seed John Isner 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(5). Sock will earn a spot in the ATP World Tour Finals in London and his first appearance in the Top 10 if he wins the title.

October Aces; Semifinals Set at ITA Fall Nationals; Girls 18s Clay Courts Moving to South Carolina; All-American Semifinals at Tyler $80K, Charlottesville Challenger; Scott, Wen Win Les Petits As Playoffs

My monthly column looking back on the top junior and college performances is up now at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with 18 players featured. It should have been 20; somehow I failed to include 2017 NCAA champion Thai Kwiatkowski, who won the $25,000 Houston Futures and 2016 NCAA champion Mackenzie McDonald, who won the $100,000 Fairfield Challenger.  That was the week I was in Tulsa, but that's no excuse, and I apologize for overlooking them.

The singles semifinals are set for the ITA Fall National Championships in Indian Wells after two rounds were played today.  The women's draw has been unpredictable from the first day, and two unseeded players have advanced to the semifinals.  Texas's Bianca Turati defeated No. 12 seed Michaela Gordon of Stanford and No. 8 seed Gabriela Talaba of Texas Tech and will meet No. 11 seed Samantha Harris of Duke in Saturday's semifinal.  Harris advanced with straight-sets wins over Julia O'Loughlin of Denver and No. 3 seed Ashley Lahey of Pepperdine. Unseeded Andrea Lazaro of Florida International defeated Vladica Babic of Oklahoma State and No. 5 seed Alle Sanford of North Carolina and will face No. 13 seed Fernanda Contreras of Vanderbilt in the semifinals. Contreras, the All-American champion, beat Veronica Miroshnichenko of Loyola Marymount and Marie Leduc of Clemson today. Like Turati, she has not yet dropped a set.

All four of the men's semifinalists are seeded, with top seed Nuno Borges of Mississippi, a wild card, facing no. 5 seed Martin Redlicki of UCLA and No. 3 seed Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest meeting No. 16 seed Thomas Laurent of Oregon.  Borges, who has yet to drop a set, defeated Alex Lebedev of Notre Dame and No. 6 seed Emil Reinberg of Georgia, while Redlicki twice came back from a set down to advance, beating Timo Stodder of Tennessee 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-1 and No. 4 seed Skander Mansouri of Wake Forest 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4). Chrysochos beat No. 10 seed JJ Wolf of Ohio State in three sets and No. 9 seed Alfredo Perez of Florida in two to advance.  Laurent beat Aswin Lizen of Virginia and NAIA champion Kevin Konfederak of Georgia Gwinnett, with Laurent taking the quarterfinal match by a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) score.

Streaming will be available on two courts, and the ITA announced today that Mark Bey and Kaitlin Ray will be doing commentary. The two courts being streamed have not had commentary the first three days.

The sanctions for USTA National Level 1 tournaments have been approved recently, and the Girls 18s Clay Courts will be moving in 2018 from Memphis to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, outside Charleston. The winner of the tournament will receive a main draw wild card into the Volvo Car Open in the spring of 2019. When Memphis had a combined ATP/WTA tournament, the Clay Court champion received a wild card, but when the WTA event moved that ended. I would imagine that wild card was one of the reasons for awarding the tournament sanction to Charleston. For more on the move, see this article from Charleston's The Post and Courier.

The semifinals are set for the $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Tyler Texas, with all four participants Americans.  Danielle Collins will face No. 3 seed Sonya Kenin and No. 4 seed Kristie Ahn will meet No. 7 seed Irina Falconi.  Collins beat qualifier Ashley Kratzer 7-5, 6-1 and Kenin took out Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 7-5, 6-4.  Ahn outlasted Elitsa Kostova of Bulgaria 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Falconi downed No. 2 seed Taylor Townsend 6-4, 7-6(6). 

Francesca Di Lorenzo has reached the semifinals of the $60,000 ITF Womens' Pro Circuit tournament in Toronto, advancing when Tammy Hendler of Belgium retired trailing 4-0 in the first set.  Di Lorenzo will face No. 2 seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland on Saturday.

At the $75,000 ATP Challenger in Charlottesville, top seed Tennys Sandgren, No. 7 seed Michael Mmoh, No. 6 seed Stefan Kozlov and unseeded Tim Smyczek have advanced to Saturday's semifinals.  Sandgren defeated Brayden Schnurr of Canada 6-1, 6-2 and will face Mmoh, who beat qualifier Ruan Roelofse of South Africa 7-6(4), 6-4.  Roelofse had upset No. 3 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in the second round.  Kozlov beat Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-4, while Smyczek advanced to the semifinals when No. 2 seed Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland retired trailed 7-6(2), 2-1.

The final matches in the USA's Les Petits As playoffs were played today, with Katrina Scott and Evan Wen the champions. The finalists will play in the main draw of the prestigious 14-and-under tournament, with the third place finishers assured of at least a qualifying berth. The US will receive a third main draw spot, with who fills that to be determined.

Final: Katrina Scott[4] def. Katja Wiersholm[2] 6-2, 6-4
Third place: Vivian Ovrootsky[1] def. Robin Montgomery[3] 7-6(11), 6-0

Final: Evan Wen[1] def. John Kim 7-6(4), 7-5
Third place: Victor Lilov[3]  def. Jonah Braswell 6-2, 3-1, ret.

Kratzer Takes Out Top Seed Gibbs at Tyler $80K; Second Seed Holt Upset at ITA Fall Nationals; Finals Set at USA Les Petits As Playoffs

USTA National 18s champion Ashley Kratzer, who has qualified for the last two $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit events, got yet another impressive win today in Tyler Texas, beating top seed Nicole Gibbs 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in second round action.  In yesterday's first round, the 18-year-old left-hander defeated Macon champion Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-3, 7-6(0) and last week, Kratzer got her first WTA top 100 victory over No. 2 seed Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.  Krazter will face two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins, one of six Americans through to the quarterfinals.  The others are Taylor Townsend[2], Sonya Kenin[3], Kristie Ahn[4] and Irina Falconi[7]. Kenin avenged her loss this spring to Amanda Anisimova at the Dothan $60K, beating the US Open girls champion 6-4, 6-3.

With Vicky Duval losing today, all six have an opportunity to make up ground on the current leader of the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.

At the $60,000 ITF Women's Pro Circuit event in Toronto, 20-year-old Francesca Di Lorenzo defeated 38-year-old Greta Arn of Hungary 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Di Lorenzo, the Ohio State junior, has reached the quarterfinals of the last three tournaments she's played. She will face qualifier Tammy Hendler of Belgium next.

At the ITA Fall Championships in Indian Wells, two more men's seeds and five women's seeds were eliminated in the second round, leaving just 6 of 16 men's seeds and 7 of 16 women's seeds in Friday's round of 16.

ITA Oracle Masters champion Brandon Holt of USC, the No. 2 seed, lost to Lucas Poullain of Florida State 6-3, 6-4 and No. 8 seed Johannes Schretter of Baylor was beaten by Aswin Lizen of Virginia 6-0, 6-2.

Top seed Nuno Borges of Mississippi State advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ryo Matsumura of Kentucky and Wake Forest's No. 3 and 4 seeds, Petros Chrysochos and Skander Mansouri, moved into the round of 16 with straight-sets victories.

Unseeded Kevin Konfederak, the NAIA champion from Georgia Gwinett, has advanced to the round of 16.

No. 4 seed Ena Shibahara of UCLA joined No. 1 seed Anna Danilina and No. 3 seed Karla Popovic of Cal on the sidelines, falling to Bianca Turati of Texas 7-6(4), 6-2.  No. 6 seed Katarina Jokic of Georgia, No. 7 seed Sinead Lohan of Miami, No. 10 seed Anastasia Rychagova of Kansas and No. 15 seed Mayar Ahmed of Pepperdine also lost in Thursday's second round.

Two rounds of singles will be played on Friday. See the ITA tournament page for links to draws, live scoring and live streaming.

The finals are set for the USA's Les Petits As playoffs, but those matches will be a bit anticlimactic, with the finalists both receiving main draw entries into next January's 14-and-under event in Tarbes France. No. 4 seed Katrina Scott and No. 2 seed Katja Wiersholm will be making the trip, as will No. 1 boys seed Evan Wen and unseeded John Kim. Wiersholm's brother Henrik, now a senior at Virginia, won the Les Petits As title back in 2011.

In past years, the US always received four main draw entries, but now it only gets three.  The third place finishers will receive at a least a qualifying entry, but I'm told the third main draw spot could go to another US player, as of yet to be determined.  If Coco Gauff wished to play, and she is still age-eligible, she would certainly be given a main draw spot.

Today's semifinal results:

Katrina Scott[4] def. Vivian Ovrootsky[1] 7-5, 6-1
Katja Wiersholm[2] def. Robin Montgomery[3] 1-6, 6-1, 6-2

Evan Wen[1] def. Jonah Braswell 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-1
John Kim def. Victor Lilov[3] 7-5, 7-5

Top Seed Danilina Falls to Babic in Opening Round of ITA Fall Championships; Oracle Sponsors New Pro Events; Les Petits As Playoff Semifinals Set; Eddie Herr Acceptances

The first day of the ITA Fall National Championships in Indian Wells had its share of upsets, especially on the women's side, with two of the top three seeds eliminated.  Top seed Anna Danilina of Florida lost to Vladica Babic of Oklahoma State 6-3, 6-1 and No. 3 seed Karla Popovic of Cal was defeated by Arianne Hartono of Ole Miss 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.  Danilina was runner-up in her regional; Popovic was an at-large selection, while both Babic and Hartono won their region's titles.

The top two seeds in women's doubles also went out this afternoon, with Georgia's Mariana Gould and Katarina Jokic beating No. 1 seeds Ellyse Hamlin and Kaitlyn McCarthy of Duke 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 and Jada Hart and Gabby Andrews defeating No. 2 seeds Sarah Dvorak and Sabrina Federici of Texas Tech 6-4, 6-3.

Four men's seeds exited in the first round today, but none of the Top 10.  No. 11 seed Michael Geerts of Arizona State lost to Jackie Tang of Columbia 6-1, 3-6, 6-2; No. 12 seed Johannes Ingildsen of Florida lost to Alex Lebedev of Notre Dame 6-1, 7-5; No. 13 seed Walker Duncan of Georgia lost to Kyle Seelig of Ohio State 7-6(0), 6-2; and No. 14 seed Wayne Montgomery of Georgia lost to wild card Bjoern Petersen of Baylor 6-4, 6-3.

Men's first round doubles action is still ongoing as of 9:00 p.m. EDT.  Live scoring is available here.  Live streaming of two courts at Indian Wells can be found on the ITA tournament page.

Indian Wells was also in the news today when it was announced that Oracle would be sponsoring four big new tournaments this coming winter as part of the Oracle Challenge series.  The two men's $100,000 Challengers and two women's $125,000 tournaments will be played as combined events in Newport Beach, California January 20-28 and Indian Wells, California, February 24-March 4, with the American man and woman who accumulate the most points in those two weeks earning a main draw wild card into the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells next March. Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, who played tennis at Baylor, has been instrumental in providing funding for ITA events, and that generosity is now being extended to pro events.

The quarterfinals of the USA's Les Petits As playoff were held today in Florida, with the results below.  All four girls seeds advanced to Thursday's semifinals, while only two of the four boys seeds are in the final four.

Vivian Ovrootsky[1] def. Violet Martinez 6-2, 6-0
Katrina Scott[4] def. Alexis Blokhina 6-2, 6-3
Robin Montgomery[3] def. Sonya Macavei 6-3, 6-2
Katja Wiersholm[2] def. Eleana Yu 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

Evan Wen[1] def. Bruno Kuzuhara 6-2, 6-2
Jonah Braswell def. Herrick Legaspi[4] 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
Victor Lilov[3] def. Ozan Colak 7-5, 6-0
John Kim def. Nishesh Basavareddy[2] 6-2, 6-2

Complete results and Friday's order of play is available at the tournament website.

The ITF Eddie Herr Grade 1 acceptances were released today, with eight US boys and 11 US girls receiving entry into the main draw.  Sebastian Baez of Argentina is the only Top 10 boy entered; the girls entry list has No. 1 Whitney Osuigwe, No. 8 Carson Branstine of Canada and No. 10 Maria Carle of Argentina, the defending champion. The ranking cutoff for the boys draw as of now is an impressive 138, actually higher than the Grade A Orange Bowl the following week. The girls ranking cutoff was 108, slightly lower than the Orange Bowl's.

The US girls in the main draw: Osuigwe, Sofia Sewing, Caty McNally, Ellie Douglas, Nastasha Subhash, Hailey Baptiste, Hurricane Tyra Black, Nicole Mossmer, Elli Mandlik, Katie Volynets and Lea Ma.

The US boys in the main draw: Sebastian Korda, Andrew Fenty, Alexandre Rotsaert, Tristan Boyer, Sangeet Sridhar, Brian Shi, Axel Nefve and Govind Nanda.

The tournament runs from November 27- December 3 and I will again be covering it on site.