Blanch, Banerjee and Loudon Win ITF Junior Circuit Titles; Genovese, Simkiss Champions at ITA Cup; Alcaraz Claims Third Challenger Title to Join Elite Group

Last week all the titles won by American juniors were in doubles; this week's titles were all in singles, with Dali Blanch, Samir Banerjee and Sage Loudon collecting winner's trophies on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Seventeen-year-olds Blanch and Banerjee won Grade 3 events, with  Blanch getting the win in Romania, while Banerjee won his title in Turkey.

Blanch, the top seed, defeated No. 2 seed Ilya Snitari of Moldova 7-5, 6-2 in the final to earn his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title in nearly two years. 

Banerjee, who won the doubles title at a Grade 5 last week in Istanbul but didn't play singles in that tournament, picked up a title for the third straight week after winning a Grade 4 in Macedonia two weeks ago. Banerjee, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 6 seed Stefan Popovich of Serbia 7-5, 6-1 in the final. Banerjee beat doubles partner Ekansh Kumar in the semifinals by the same score. 

At the Grade 5 in the Dominican Republic, blue chip freshman Sage Loudon won the girls singles title, a week after she had captured the doubles title in the same location. Loudon, the No. 5 seed, defeated No. 2 seed Leah Kuruvilla, also of the United States, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. 

A Grade 1 in Bulgaria has drawn strong fields this week, including Blanch, who will be one of the top seeds. I'm not sure if this tournament is providing Level 1 points or whether it is capped at Level 3 points; some language I've read recently suggests that the ITF may have revised its stance on Grade 3 points being the maximum. In any case, US boys in the acceptances are Blanch, Bruno Kuzuhara and Benjamin Kittay (note: Kittay is in the $10K UTR Vero Beach draw, so presumably is a late withdrawal from this event). The US girls accepted to the main draw are Madison Sieg, Ellie Coleman, Jenna De Falco and Isabelle Kouzmanov. Qualifying, which began today with boys matches, continues Monday. US girls in the qualifying draw are Clervie Ngounoue and Qavia Lopez.  The big surprise is at the top of the qualifying draw, with Australian Open champion and former World No. 1 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra taking a wild card. She is in the same quarter as Lopez.

The ITA Cup, the fall competition that usually encompasses the Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior College divisions was confined to NAIA only this year, due to all the Covid-19 related cancellations of regional competitions and other qualifying events. Held at Rome Georgia, the competition featured singles and doubles, with the latter a rare occurrence these days due to safety concerns. Women's top seed Maria Genovese of Georgia Gwinnett won the singles title, beating unseeded Lailaa Bashir of Xavier of Louisiana 6-2, 7-6(0) in the final. Unseeded Luke Simkiss of Keiser is the men's singles champion after a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 2 seed Valentino Caratini of Georgia Gwinnett. 

In women's doubles, Bashir and her partner Angela Charles-Alfred defended their title, with the top seeds beating Genovese and her partner Eva Siska, the No. 2 seeds, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. No. 3 seeds Christopher Papa and Ivan Smith of San Diego Christian won the men's doubles title, beating unseeded Stefano Di Aloy and Martin Carrizo of Indian Wesleyan 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. 

Draws from this weekend's competition are available here, under the Events tab.

Seventeen-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain won his second consecutive ATP Challenger title today in his home country and his third since the restart. By earning three Challenger titles before age 17, he joins an impressive list, joining Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro, Richard Gasquet and Felix Auger-Aliassime. The unseeded Alcaraz, who defeated top seed Pedro Martinez of Spain 7-6(6), 6-3 in today's final, is the second-youngest on that list, older than only Gasquet, who was 16 years and ten months old when he claimed his third in 2003. Alcaraz, who is 20-3 on the Challenger level since the restart, has improved his ATP ranking from 310 to 136 during that time. For more on Alcaraz's title, see this article from the ATP website.

First ITF Junior Circuit Event in US Since December 2019 Underway in Atlanta; Other Notes from College and Junior Tennis

The ITF Grade A Orange Bowl ended last year on December 15th, with Robin Montgomery and Thiago Tirante winning the titles, no one expected that the next US tournament with ITF points would be more than ten months later, at the Grade 4 in Atlanta. Once the Easter Bowl, Carson, the US Open Junior Championships and the Pan American Closed were canceled, any opportunity to collect major points in this country this year disappeared, with the ITF tournaments the next three weeks offering only Level 4 points, although the Orange Bowl is currently still on the schedule for December.

Qualifying for the Atlanta ITF has attracted a strong field, particularly on the girls side, probably because draws have been reduced to 32, rather than the usual 64 for these ITF junior tournaments. Main draw matches begin on Monday at the Windward Lake Club in Alpharetta Georgia.

I watched the webinar on the new USTA Junior Competition structure provided by the USTA Midwest Section, and I am beginning to grasp some of the details of how the system will work going forward. I am encouraged by the the commitment that the Midwest section has to increase playing opportunities, and I hope we'll get to a place regarding the pandemic that will allow the ambitious plans to happen. I did take a screenshot of a slide that lists the National Championships scheduled for 2021, and there are no changes to those. 

For more on these upcoming changes, including a link to the USTA webinar on these changes from a national perspective, go to this usta.com page dedicated to information on the subject.

The USTA Florida section's Bobby Curtis Junior Sectionals for 12s and 14s were played last weekend in Delray Beach. For more on the winners there, see this article from the section's website. As a bonus, there's a fantastic list of former winners included.

UTR has posted a primer on its system and particularly on how it's used by college coaches here.

Although the Fresno State news yesterday was unequivocally bad, a team a few hours north received good news a couple of weeks ago , with the Cal women's team set to receive $1.7 million dollars to fund The Edward H. and Lynn Little Scholarship. This is an estate gift, totalling $5 million dollars, with the men's and women's golf teams also sharing in the Little's generosity. 

I ran across this article earlier this week about Federico Rebecchini an Italian player who arrived in the US expecting to play for Old Dominion, but when told there was no longer a scholarship for him, ended up instead at Norfolk State. I'm not sure if universities have reduced the number of scholarships they are funding during the Covid-19 financial crunch, but if more articles like this emerge, that would be the obvious conclusion.

My Article on Ghosh's Notre Dame Commitment; Fresno State Drops Men's Tennis; Update on Next Two Grand Slams; ESPN's ATP Masters Coverage Moving to Tennis Channel Next Year

Although recruiting has pretty much ground to a halt in 2020, with no official campus visits or in-person meetings with coaches allowed since March, young players are still committing to college teams. I had an opportunity to speak earlier this week with five-star recruit Nibi Ghosh of New Jersey, who I met this summer at the ITA Summer Circuit event in Grand Rapids, about her decision to commit to Notre Dame, and how she arrived at that choice. Unable to meet with the coaches in person, or to take an official visit, Ghosh and her coach, former Michigan star Mike Sroczynski, devised a plan to reach out to schools she was interested in, which included sending videos. In addition to all the time they spend improving their tennis skills, I'm always impressed by the other interests that players find time for, which in Ghosh's case includes music, beginning with piano and now including guitar and songwriting. For more on how Ghosh decided on tennis after playing multiple sports as a kid, and what she's looking forward to in college, see this Tennis Recruiting Network article.

It's been quiet lately on the tennis program cuts, but another was announced today, with Fresno State dropping its men's team at the end of the current academic year. The program has had a long and successful history, and current coach Luke Shields led the Bulldogs to a Mountain West title last year, earning Mountain West Coach of the Year and ITA Northwest Region Coach of Year honors in the process. Earlier this month, the team had announced six new recruits, three of whom were from California. For another view at the Fresno State decision to drop men's tennis, wrestling and women's lacrosse, see this article from the Fresno Bee.

The Australian Open is only three months away, but Australia's strict quarantine rules have led to much discussion on how players could still prepare for the event, and any other warmups, while spending 14 days in isolation. The current plan still includes fans, but as with many tournaments, including the recent French Open, the number of spectators anticipated changes regularly, and will probably continue to do so. For more on some of the issues Tennis Australia is facing right now in its planning stages, see this Reuters article. 

Wimbledon released a statement today on its preparation for 2021 and for the first time voiced the possibility of a tournament behind closed doors. From the email I received this afternoon:

We are actively engaged in planning for next year’s Championships and are considering multiple operational scenarios at this point in time, given that there are still many months until the Wimbledon Fortnight.

These scenarios fall into three broad categories: a full capacity Championships, a reduced capacity Championships, and a ‘behind closed doors’ Championships, all of which are dependent on the status of government and public health guidelines. Our overriding priority will continue to be the health and safety of all of our stakeholders, in particular our guests, our staff, and our competitors. We are working closely with the relevant government and public health authorities, alongside the rest of the sports industry, to understand the varying challenges and opportunities presented by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The full statement from Wimbledon is here.

Earlier this week, Tennis Channel announced it had acquired the rights to ATP 1000 Masters events beginning in 2021. Previously, the big ATP tournaments in the United States were broadcast by ESPN, including Indian Wells, Miami and Cincinnati. ESPN will continue to hold the rights to the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, but Tennis Channel will have the bulk of all tennis shown in the United States, as it already has a WTA deal. I don't really consider this good news for the sport, with ESPN a much more widely carried channel on most cable providers, and the implication that ESPN doesn't view a tournament like Indian Wells as important isn't positive either. The hope is that Tennis Channel can become more widely available and it can function as the Golf Channel does, as the go-to place to watch the sport. But not being on network television or ESPN (except for the three majors) hurts the visibility of the sport and limits the audience of casual fans.

Yepifanova, Montgomery Reach Quarterfinals at ITF Women's Events in Europe; Strong Fields for Women's $80Ks in Georgia and Texas; Opelka Defeats Medvedev in Russia

Seventeen-year-old Alexandra Yepifanova and 16-year-old Robin Montgomery posted victories today to advance to Friday's quarterfinals at the $15K in Portugal and the $25K in France respectively.

Yepifanova, who lost in the first round of the French Open Junior Championships last week, won two qualifying matches to earn a spot in the main draw in Portugal, then beat Ines Murta of Portugal and Emily Appleton of Great Britain, both in straight sets. Yepifanova, who has committed to Stanford for next fall, is up against No. 3 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the quarterfinals, who has won three ITF World Tour events since the restart. Yepifanova also reached the quarterfinals of a $15K in Mexico in February, so she should have enough points to enter the WTA rankings after this week. The Netherlands' Arianne Hartono, the 2018 NCAA singles champion at Ole Miss, is the No. 2 seed in this tournament, and also has advanced to the quarterfinals.

Montgomery, who was entered in the French Open Junior Championships but pulled out, used a junior exemption to enter the event in France. These places in the ITF World Tennis Tour draws reserved for juniors are even more important now that opportunities are so limited for everyone, and top players are entering smaller events just to get matches. Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, the top seed in France, is ranked 109 and No. 2 seed Timea Babos of Hungary, who lost in the first round, is ranked 111. Montgomery defeated Robin Anderson, the former UCLA star, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round, with the only two Americans in the field drawing each other. Today Montgomery defeated WTA No. 225 Valeria Savinykh 6-1, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal meeting Friday with No. 6 seed Harriet Dart of Great Britain.

The long-awaited resumption of the USTA Pro Circuit begins next week in with the $80,000 tournament in Macon Georgia, which features four WTA Top 100 players at the time of acceptance: Misaki Doi of Japan[81], Nina Stojanovic[91] of Serbia, Aliona Bolsova[97] of Spain and Monica Puig[98] of Puerto Rico. Among the top Americans in the draw are Kristie Ahn, Ann Li, Caty McNally, Francesca Di Lorenzo and Caroline Dolehide. The ITF's preview of the tournament is here.

The acceptances for the $80,000 tournament in Tyler Texas the week of October 26th are even more impressive, with No. 27 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan and recent US Open quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers, No. 55, entered. There's a total of eight Top 100 players at the time of acceptances with Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands and Jasmine Paolini of Italy joining the four Top 100 players in Macon. Ahn, Li and McNally are the only Americans other than Rogers to receive direct entry as of now. For more on the tournament, see this article from the tournament website.

The $100,000 tournament in Charleston in November has Putintseva, French Open quarterfinalists Danielle Collins and Germany's Laura Siegemund, along with Rogers, Lauren Davis and Madison Brengle in its field as of today.

Reilly Opelka earned the best ranking win of his career today at the ATP 500 in St. Petersburg Russia, beating top seed and ATP No. 6 Daniil Medvedev of Russia 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. Opelka, who is 6-6 against Top 10 players in his career, only had 11 aces, but he managed to win the only break point either player had in the third set to end the match. Opelka plays Croatia's Borna Coric, the No. 7 seed, in Friday's quarterfinals. For more on Opelka's win, see this article from the ATP website.

There was off-court drama in St. Petersburg with Sam Querrey's positive Covid-19 test eventually leading to a private jet flight for him, his wife and their son to an undisclosed country where they were expected to quarantine. For more on all this intrigue, see this article.

At the ATP 250 in Italy, Germany's Yannick Hanfmann, the former USC All-American, defeated No. 3 seed Casper Ruud of Norway 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals, where he will play 18-year-old Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. Hanfmann, who has already reached an ATP final since the restart, will now move back into the Top 100, while Musetti is into his first ATP quarterfinal after winning his first Challenger last month.

NCAA Announces Sites for Future Championships; USTA National Campus Lands Historic Assembly of All Divisions for 2023

photo courtesy USTA

After a lengthy delay while dealing with Covid-19 issues, the NCAA today finally revealed the sites for its national championships in the four years from 2023-2026, including those of Division I, Division II and Division III tennis.

I had heard there was a possibility that the NCAA Tennis Committee would consider moving all future championships to the USTA's National Campus in Lake Nona Florida, with the championships in all three divisions played there each May.  That did not happen, but a prototype of that format is on the schedule for 2023.  Today's release from the USTA:

ORLANDO, Fla., October 14, 2020 – The NCAA today announced that the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., will host the 2023 NCAA Division I, II, and III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships as part of a hybrid bid proposed by the USTA to bring all NCAA tennis championships to a single site.

This will mark the first time in the history of any NCAA sport that one venue will host all six (DI-III M/W) divisional championships in a given year. The bid process was completed in conjunction with the Greater Orlando Sports Commission; university partners of UCF, Rollins College and Oglethorpe University (Ga.); and community partners of the City of Orlando and Orange County.

“Bringing all of these championships to one site will create a true celebration of college tennis, and we could not be more excited and honored that the USTA National Campus was selected to host this historic event,” said Craig Morris, Chief Executive, Community Tennis, USTA. “College tennis is incredibly important to the growth of tennis in this country, and we feel the Campus is the ideal location to showcase every level of college tennis like never before.”

Initial plans for hosting the 2023 events include potential junior tournaments and coaching programming, connecting various components of the USTA’s competitive pathway.

“We are pleased that the NCAA has selected the USTA National Campus to host the 2023 Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships,” said Jason Siegel, President & CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission. “We have the finest tennis facility in the world right here in our community, and we can’t wait to safely welcome the top teams and individuals in Division I, II and III tennis, as well as their coaches and families back to Orlando and Lake Nona to compete for NCAA championships.”

“Since our tennis teams play their home matches at the USTA National Campus, all of us at UCF are well aware that it’s unquestionably the best collegiate tennis facility in the country,” said UCF Vice President & Director of Athletics Danny White. “So it’s no surprise that the NCAA has elected to bring its national championships back to Orlando—and we look forward to joining with the USTA and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission to ensure these are elite events for the student-athletes, coaches and spectators.”

The USTA National Campus previously hosted the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships, attracting nearly 12,000 fans over the 10-day event. Tennis Channel, which has a permanent production presence at the Campus, broadcast more than 50 hours of live coverage in 2019, a first for college tennis.

The Campus is scheduled to host the Division I championships again in 2021, as well as the Division III championships in 2022. In addition, Sanlando Park in nearby Seminole County, in conjunction with Rollins College, is scheduled to host the 2022 Division II championships, cementing Central Florida as the home of college tennis.

As mentioned above, the National Campus will serve as the site for the 2021 Division I and the 2022 Division II Championships, before hosting all three divisions in 2023. I assume the dates will be staggered in 2023, with each of the team championships played on the 12-court collegiate facility. The individual championships, which in the past have been held only for Division I and Division III, could expand to other courts on campus if necessary. Aside from the extremely annoying love bug insect infestation, the 2019 Division I championships in Lake Nona received good reviews from most in attendance, but they were extremely fortunate not to have any rain disrupting scheduling last year. There are only six indoor courts on the National Campus, and almost none elsewhere in the area, which could present a problem if there is persistent or regular rain.

The other sites announced are below. I'm including the 2021 and 2022 sites, which were determined several years ago. Oklahoma State, which was to host the Division I Championships this year, and Washington St. Louis, which was to host the Division III Championships this year, will host instead in 2024.

Division I 

2021: Central Florida, USTA National Campus 

2022: Illinois

2023: Central Florida, USTA National Campus

2024: Oklahoma State

2025: Baylor

2026: Georgia

Division II

2021: Pacific West, Surprise Arizona

2022: Rollins

2023: Rollins, USTA National Campus

2024: Rollins

2025: Rollins

2026: Pacific West

Division III

2021: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2022: Oglethorpe

2023: Oglethorpe, USTA National Campus

2024: Washington University, St. Louis

2025: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2026: University of the South

As far as the Division I selections go, Baylor was not on my list as likely to be selected, after the 2015 National Championships held there were plagued not only by rain and severe weather, but also by a local biker gang shooting that killed nine and led to scores of arrests. Baylor's outdoor facility is an excellent place to watch tennis, but many other schools have specifically constructed new facilities with the express purpose of bidding for these championships, and I would have liked to see the committee acknowledge one of those instead.

Having covered many NCAA championships in Athens Georgia, I was happy to see them return to the rotation, given the tradition and the support for tennis that the community is known for. I know they've recently completed a renovation of the outdoor facility, but I hope in the next five years they have the opportunity to fix their indoor court situation, which only has four courts. If I recall correctly, in three out of the four tournaments I covered there, rain was a regular disruption, and having only four indoor courts extended matches late into the night. Now with the new finals site format, including just eight teams, not 16, the pressure isn't as great, but two more indoor courts would be a welcome addition, not just for the NCAAs, but for regular season dual matches too.

ITA Tour Fall Circuit Week 4 Winners; ITA Cup for NAIA Division Begins Friday in Georgia; Entries Close Thursday for UTR $10K in Vero Beach

Week Four of the ITA Tour Fall Circuit by UTR is in the books, although rain kept several tournaments from finishing and a week that once had 24 tournaments scheduled resulted in only 15 taking place. The tournament in Lawrenceville Georgia was canceled due to rain, with refunds issued, and the tournaments in Belmont NC and Williamsburg VA do not look to have finished. The ITA Oracle Masters last weekend was also considered a part of the Fall Circuit. The ITA provides its look at Week Four here. Registration for Weeks Six and beyond is available through links on the ITA Fall Circuit home page.

Week Four Fall Circuit champions:

Logan: Men, Chase Stoner; Women, Renata Lombera

Lakeland: Men, Joe Herin; Women, Kida Ferrari

Lexington: Men, Mathew Krusling; Women, Emma Navarro

Lowell: Men, Zeke Clark; Women, Eleanor Coleman

San Diego: Men, Brandon Holt; Women, Eryn Cayetano

Des Moines: Men, Oliver Okonkwo; Women, Darinka Stepan

Tucson: Men, Wade Heerboth; Women, Nikita Vishwase

Minneapolis: Men, Gavin Young

St. Louis: Men, Ethan Hillis; Women, Aran Teixido Garcia

Waco: Men, Charles Broom; Women, Siri Kongara

Ypsilanti: Men, Galen Mast; Women, Marharita-Sophia Tavpash

Chicago: Men, Tristan McCormick; Women, Karina Miller

The ITA Cup, which traditionally includes Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior College players, is confined to NAIA players this year due to the pandemic, but it is happening this weekend in Rome Georgia. The top women's seed is Georgia Gwinett's Maria Genovese, known as Maria Shishkina during her junior career, and the top men's seed is also from Georgia Gwinett: Federico Bonacia. The ITA provides a detailed look at the top four seeds, and also highlights doubles in its preview. I believe this is the first ITA event since the shutdown this spring that has featured doubles play.

While the USTA Pro Circuit's men's events don't resume until the week of October 26th with a $25,000 tournament in Harlingen Texas, the Vero Beach UTR event, which has been a Pro Circuit tournament in the past, is taking place next week with a $10,000 prize pool. Entries for the tournament, which provides $3000 to the singles champion, close on Thursday October 15th. For more on the tournament, see its UTR page.