Every Quarterfinal at ITA Fall Nationals Features at Least One Seed; Stearns Advances to Quarterfinals at Midland 125; US Teams Move into Quarterfinals at ITF Junior Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup; Tiafoe and Paul Reach Final Eight in Paris

The seeding at the ITA National Fall Championships relied heavily on UTR ratings and that has proven to be a reliable metric, with six of the eight seeds in both the men's and women's draws advancing to the quarterfinals.

The only two women's seeds who did not reach the quarterfinals had injuries: No. 4 seed Madison Sieg of Southern California gave a walkover to Elaine Chervinsky of Virginia, and Lea Ma of Georgia, a 5 seed, retired in the third set of her second round match with 2021 finalist Daria Frayman of Princeton.

One of the men's seeds, Michael Zheng of Columbia, lost in the first round; the other one was 2022 ITA All-American finalist Phillip Henning of Georgia, a 5 seed, who lost to Andrew Fenty of Michigan 6-2, 6-4.

Below are the singles results from today's round of 16. Doubles are still in progress.

Women's round of 16 singles results:

Fiona Crawley[1], UNC d. Taylor Melville, Denver 6-3, 6-0
Connie Ma[2], Stanford d. Carolina Gomez Alonso, Arkansas 6-4, 6-1
Abbey Forbes[3], UNC d. Sydni Ratliff, Ohio State 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Elaine Chervinsky, Virginia d. Madison Sieg[4], Southern Cal w/o injury
Mary Stoiana[5], Texas A&M d. Julia Garcia Ruiz, Oklahoma 6-2, 6-4
Daria Frayman, Princeton d. Lea Ma[5], Georgia 7-5, 2-6, 3-0 ret.
Carol Lee[5], Georgia Tech d. Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine 6-4, 7-5
Carson Tanguilig[5], UNC d. Deniz Khazan, Barry 3-6, 6-3, 6-0

Men's round of 16 singles results:

Garrett Johns[1], Duke, d. Max Basing, Stanford 6-7(6) 7-5, 6-4

Antoine Cornut Chauvinc[2], Florida State d. Casey Hoole, South Carolina 7-6(4), 6-3

Nishesh Basavareddy[3], Stanford d. Finn Bass, Baylor 6-1, 6-2

Eliot Spizzirri[4], Texas d. Kristof Minarik, Wichita State 6-2, 6-1

Jacob Fearnley[5], TCU d. Enzo Aguiard, Alabama 7-5, 1-6, 6-4

JJ Tracy[5], Ohio State d. Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian 7-6(2), 6-7(2), 6-4

Andrew Fenty, Michigan d. Phillip Henning[5], Georgia 6-2, 6-4

Geronimo Busleiman, Utah d. Natan Rodrigues, Louisville 6-0, 6-2

For coverage throughout Friday's quarterfinals, see the Cracked Racquets YouTube channel; live scoring is here.

A year ago, Peyton Stearns was in a boot, frustrated by injury and unsure what 2022 had in store for her. She recovered to have an outstanding sophomore season at Texas, leading the Longhorns to a second straight team title and capping her collegiate career with the NCAA singles title.

Stearns won two $25,000 tournaments this fall and received a wild card into this week's WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan. After beating Asia Muhammad in the first round Tuesday, her first main draw win in a WTA event, Stearns faced 18-year-old Ashlyn Krueger today and came away with an impressive 6-2, 6-3 victory. Stearns saved the only break point she faced, made almost no unforced errors and outhit Krueger, which is no easy task. Her forehand has always been her best shot, and it was extremely reliable today, but she was equally effective on the backhand side and also got 71 percent of her first serves in. Stearns will face qualifier Katherine Sebov of Canada, who defeated No. 3 seed Lin Zhu of China 6-4, 6-3. It's the 23-year-old's best win; she is currently No. 229, while Zhu is 58.

After Zhu's lost to Sebov today and Sofia Kenin's 6-1, 6-3 win last night over No. 2 seed Madison Brengle, the top four seeds are out. The only seeds to reach the quarterfinals are No. 5 Camila Osorio of Colombia and No. 7 Caty McNally.  In addition to Stearns, Kenin and McNally, Ann Li is the fourth American in the quarterfinals.

Krueger and Robin Montgomery, the 2021 USTA National 18s and US Open girls doubles champions, are through to the semifinals in Midland after defeating Stearns and Elvina Kalieva 6-1, 6-2 today. They will face top seeds Muhammad and Alycia Parks Friday night.

Live streaming is available at the tournament website.

The quarterfinals are set for the ITF 16U Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup after round robin group play ended today.

Both US teams advanced, although not in the same fashion. The American girls--Clervie Ngounoue, Valerie Glozman and Iva Jovic-- won all three of their matches 3-0 and looked every bit the top seeds that they are in the first three days of competition.

The second-seeded American boys--Kaylan and Meecah Bigun and Alexander Razeghi--lost a singles match in each of their first two contests, needing doubles victories to beat Turkey and Argentina. In today's match with 2-0 Japan, they lost all three matches, finishing second in their group, which still earns a place in the quarterfinals.

Friday's matchups:

Junior Davis Cup Quarterfinals

Spain v France
USA v Czech Republic
Brazil v Australia
Italy v Japan

Junior Billie Jean King Cup Juniors Quarterfinals

USA v Germany
Argentina v Serbia
Australia v Japan
Turkey v Czech Republic

For more on today's action, see this ITF Junior website article. Live scoring is available here.

Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul have both advanced to Friday's quarterfinals at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris after straight-sets wins today. Tiafoe, the No. 16 seed, defeated Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-3, 7-6(5) and Paul followed up his win over No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal yesterday with a 6-4, 6-4 decision over No. 14 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. Tiafoe will try to end the 15-match winning streak of No. 8 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada Friday, while Paul faces No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.

Just One Upset on First Day of ITA National Fall Championships; Kim, Williams and Tien Advance at Fayetteville $15K; Quarterfinals Set at ITF J4 in Boca Raton; Paul Defeats Nadal at Paris Masters

The weather in San Diego has been uncharacteristically damp this fall, and the first day of the ITA National Fall Championships got off to a late start today due to wet courts at the Barnes Tennis Center. 

Once the sun came out the seeds had a good day, with 15 of 16 advancing to the second round. The only loss was suffered in the last singles match of the day, with Columbia freshman Michael Zheng[5] losing to Geronimo Busleiman of Utah 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4). First round results for seeds are below:

Fiona Crawley[1], UNC d. Daria Kuczar, Tennessee 6-2, 6-3
Connie Ma[2], Stanford d. Chloe Beck, Duke 6-4, 6-2

Abbey Forbes[3], UNC d. Malaika Rapolu, Texas 6-2, 6-1

Madison Sieg[4], USC d. Angelica Blake, Stanford 3-6, 7-5, 6-2

Carol Lee[5], Georgia Tech d. Annika Yarlagadda, UNC 6-7(1), 7-6(4), 6-4

Lea Ma[5], Georgia d. Elza Tomase, Tennessee 6-2, 6-2

Carson Tanguilig[5], UNC d. Lillian Gabrielsen, Mississippi 6-3, 6-0

Mary Stoiana[5], Texas A&M d. Molly Helgesson, UNLV 6-3, 6-1

Garrett Johns[1], Duke d. Pierce Rollins, Texas A&M 6-2, 6-3

Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc[2], Florida State d. David Cierny, Utah State 6-2, 6-1

Nishesh Basavareddy[3], Stanford d. Nathan Han, Oklahoma 6-3, 6-3

Eliot Spizzirri[4], Texas d. Harris Walker, Harvard 6-3, 6-3

Geronimo Busleiman, Utah d. Michael Zheng[5], Columbia 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4) 

Jake Fearnley[5], TCU d. Gavin Young, Michigan 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Phillip Henning[5], Georgia d. Matisse Bobichon, VCU 6-2, 6-4

JJ Tracy[5], Ohio State d. Ryan Fishback, Virginia Tech 6-2, 6-2

Due to the delay this morning, first round of doubles will be going late tonight. Live scoring is here and the Cracked Racquet streaming coverage has been live throughout the day on their YouTube channel. 

The Midland WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic is the only women's event this week in the United States, not counting the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, but there are two $15,000 tournaments this week for men, in Ithaca New York and Fayetteville Arkansas. 

Three juniors have advanced to the second round in Fayetteville: qualifier Aidan Kim, Learner Tien and Cooper Williams. Kalamazoo 18s champion Tien won his first round match Tuesday over wild card Foster Rogers, a junior at Arkansas, 6-3, 6-2. Kim defeated Demetris Azoides of Greece 6-4, 6-0 today and Cooper Williams beat No. 7 seed and 2021 NCAA singles finalist Daniel Rodrigues(South Carolina) of Portugal 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 today. Tien and Williams will play in the second round Thursday, with Williams looking to avenge his 7-6(5), 6-3 loss to Tien in the Kalamazoo 18s quarterfinals in August.

Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova is the top seed, with Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark the No. 2 seed.

Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and John McNally(Ohio State) are the top two seeds in Ithaca and they won their first round matches Tuesday. Other Americans advancing to the second round are Jacob Brumm(Cal/Baylor), qualifier Braden Shick(NC State), Mwendwa Mbithi[8] and Toby Kodat[6]. 

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is the J4 in Boca Raton Florida, with the quarterfinals set for Thursday. With its location, the tournament always draws a more international field than many of the lower-level ITF tournaments in the US, and that is again the case this year on the boys side, with only three Americans through to the final eight. The girls quarterfinals feature seven Americans, including three qualifiers and just one seed.

Tommy Paul got the biggest win of his career tonight at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris, defeating No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1. It's the first time that Nadal has lost before the quarterfinals at the season's last Masters tournament. Paul is now 4-4 in his career against opponents ranked in the ATP Top 5. For more on the match, see this article from the ATP website.

Frances Tiafoe is the other American to advance to the round of 16 in Paris.

Taylor Fritz lost to wild card Gilles Simon 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 today to end his chances of making the ATP Finals in Turin. That field is now set, with Alcaraz, Medvedev, Nadal, Tsitsipas, Ruud, Djokovic,Auger-Aliassime and Rublev the eight players competing in the year-end event.

ITA National Fall Championships Begin Wednesday with Crawley, Johns Top Seeds; Stearns and Krueger Advance at Dow Tennis Classic; McNally Claims USTA Australian Open Wild Card; Charlottesville Challenger Underway

The second of the three NCAA Division I majors begins tomorrow, with the ITA National Fall Championships kicking off at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego California. The fields are now complete, with a few withdrawals and the wild cards resulting in a few big names receiving entry at the last minute.

In the women's draw, All-American finalist Kylie Collins of LSU withdrew, as did Northeast finalist Maria Aguiar of Boston College. Those withdrawals and two wild cards resulted in entry for 2022 NCAA finalist Connie Ma of Stanford, North Carolina's Abbey Forbes, Duke's Cameron Morra and Texas A&M's Mary Stoiana. The draws don't designate which are wild cards and which are replacements for withdrawing players, but those are the four players who did not qualify by the announced criteria. Deniz Khazan of Division II Barry received the women's ITA Cup wild card.

The women's singles seeds:

1. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina
2. Connie Ma, Stanford
3. Abbey Forbes, North Carolina

4. Madison Sieg, Southern California

5. Carol Lee, Georgia Tech

5. Lea Ma, Georgia

5. Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina

5. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

The women's doubles seeds:

1. Broadus and Tjen, Pepperdine

2. Crawley and Tanguilig, North Carolina

3. Bryling and Killingsworth, Wake Forest

4. Hance and Wagle, UCLA

5. Beck and Morra, Duke

5. Brown and Miller, Michigan

5. Chervinsky and Subhash, Virginia

5. Miller and Rajecki, NC State

The men's field lost All-American champion Ethan Quinn of Georgia and Inaki Montes of Virginia, who qualified, but opted to take wild cards into the Charlottesville Challenger this week. But three players not initially in the entries were given wild card/alternate entry and ended up seeded, including top seed Garrett Johns of Duke. TCU's Jake Fearnley, Ohio State's JJ Tracy and North Carolina's Ryan Seggerman were the four added to the field at the last minute. Takeshi Taco of Cowley County Community College received the ITA Cup wild card.

The men's singles seeds:

1. Garrett Johns, Duke

2. Antoine Cornut Chauvinc, Florida State

3. Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford

4. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

5. Michael Zheng, Columbia

5. Jake Fearnley, TCU

5. Phillip Henning, Georgia

5. JJ Tracy, Ohio State

The men's doubles seeds:

1. Harper and Spizzirri, Texas

2. Dostanic and Frye, Southern California

3. Jong and Maxted, TCU

4. Lutschaunig and Tracy, Ohio State

5. Bass and Grassi Mazzuchi, Baylor

5. Cernoch and Seggerman, North Carolina

5. Bryde and Henning, Georgia

5. De Jong and Zeitvogel, Pepperdine

Complete draws are here. Live scoring, via TennisTicker, is available here. Streaming links are here. Cracked Racquets will begin their coverage at their YouTube channel at noon Eastern Time Wednesday.

I concluded my two and a half days at the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic today, but am pleased to report that streaming is now functioning for the event and can be found both at the tournament website and at Tennis Channel Plus. 

NCAA champion Peyton Stearns(Texas) has played in the US Open main draw, so a WTA 125 isn't a particularly daunting task, but I'm sure she was pleased to get her first win at that level nonetheless, beating Asia Muhammad 6-3, 6-4. Stearns, who received a late wild card, trailed 3-0 and 4-2 in the second set, but was the much steadier player down the stretch. Stearns will play 18-year-old Ashlyn Krueger, who defeated No. 8 seed Moyuka Uchijima of Japan 6-1, 7-6(11), saving three set points and converting her fourth match point in that dramatic tiebreaker. 

Robin Montgomery, who is playing doubles with Krueger this week, lost the battle of qualifiers in a nearly three-hour slugfest this morning, with Katherine Sebov of Canada taking a 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-3 decision. Montgomery had three set points in the first set and Sebov had four match points in the second set, with Sebov ultimately prevailing due to her returning prowess. Sebov will play No. 3 seed Lin Zhu of China in the second round.

Caty McNally was officially announced today as the winner of the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. When I spoke to her early this afternoon, she told me she thought she had won it, but hadn't received any official notice. The USTA's release came late this afternoon, so she can begin planning her trip to Melbourne knowing she'll be in the main draw. McNally lost in qualifying the last two Australian Opens, but she did play the main draw in 2020, beating Sam Stosur in the first round. If McNally, who is currently 111 in the WTA rankings, does well this week in Midland (she won the title in 2019, beating Jessica Pegula in the final) she may not need the wild card, so Taylor Townsend or Alycia Parks may receive it instead. McNally defeated Parks today in Midland 6-3, 6-1.

Tennys Sandgren is the leader in the men's Australian Open wild card race after the first week, after earning 84 points at the Las Vegas Challenger, four points for qualifying and 80 for claiming the title. The men's race runs through tournaments of November 14 and includes this week's Charlottesville Challenger, next week's Knoxville Challenger and then the Champaign Challenger. 

Many Americans are in Charlottesville this week hoping to boost their chances for the wild card (or direct acceptance into the main draw), including seven of the eight seeds:

1. Denis Kudla

2. Michael Mmoh

3. Stefan Kozlov

4. Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech)

6. Ben Shelton(Florida)

7. Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois)

8. Emilio Nava

Sandgren, who received a special exemption into the main draw, is playing tonight, as is Kudla and wild card Ethan Quinn(Georgia). Inaki Montes of Virginia won his opening match Monday, beating fellow wild card Alafia Ayeni(Cornell/Kentucky) 6-2, 6-2.

Montgomery Wins Battle of Teen Left-handers to Qualify at Dow Tennis Classic, Top Seed Zhang Loses in First Round; Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup Begin Tuesday in Turkey; Americans Claim Doubles Titles on ITF Junior Circuit

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Midland Michigan--

 Robin Montgomery and Diana Shnaider, two powerful 18-year-old left-handers, met today in the final round of qualifying at the Dow Tennis Classic, in its second year as a WTA 125 tournament.

Although Shnaider had won their last meeting, in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Roland Garros Junior Championships, 6-3, 6-1, Montgomery was the superior player today, posting a 6-3, 6-2 victory is just over an hour.

Montgomery saved two of the three break points she faced in the match during her first service game, and broke Shnaider in the next game. She never trailed from then on, and every time she got in a 0-30 hole, her serve was there to bail her out.

Shnaider, with her left thigh heavily taped, wasn't moving quite as well as she had in her opening round win Sunday over Catherine Harrison, but her shots had depth and pace in nearly every rally. She just wasn't able to put any pressure on Montgomery's serve, which freed Montgomery to hit out in her return games.

"She's a big hitter and she's starting to hit her targets way better even when she's on the run," Montgomery said of the NC State freshman. "You just never want to give her an opportunity, because you know she'll just rip it. She's a competitor and a big hitter and she's really good."

Montgomery's history with Shnaider goes back much further than that meeting in Paris. In 2018, they split two decisions, with the Russian winning in the third round at Les Petits As and Montgomery getting a victory in the third round at the Grade A in Osaka.

"It's good seeing her and me at the same place, since we've known each other so long," Montgomery said. "We're going through all the phases together, which is always fun to see when you grow up with someone."

Montgomery, who grew up in Washington DC and developed her game at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park Maryland, is now living in Orlando and working with Eric Nunez, a collaboration that began after she left the Mouratoglou Academy late this summer.

Since making that change, Montgomery has reached the final of a $60K, qualified for the WTA 500 in San Diego and last week reached the quarterfinals of a $60K in Toronto.

"I really enjoy working with him," Montgomery said of the former USTA National Coach, who continues to work for the USTA as an independent contractor. "He complements my mentality and the way I play very well. Granted we're still in the beginning, but so far, so good. He's helped me bring different elements to my game and making my strengths even stronger."

In addition to her serve, Montgomery notes that another of those strengths is what Montgomery calls her "lefty-ness."

"All the lefty patterns that are beneficial, mixing up the game a little bit," Montgomery said. "I feel I'm pretty decent on all my strokes; if one isn't working, the other one can back me up."

Montgomery will face another qualifier, Katherine Sebov of Canada, in the first round Tuesday morning. Sebov defeated Sophie Chang 6-1, 7-6(5).

In another battle of left-handers, Kayla Day took out Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State) 6-3, 6-3. The fourth qualifier is 19-year-old Elvina Kalieva, who saved two match points in the second set tiebreaker to defeat Jamie Loeb(North Carolina) 3-6, 7-6(10), 7-6(3). After trailing 4-0 in the second set tiebreaker, Loeb went up 6-5, but made an unforced forehand error to squander that match point. The second set point didn't come until 10-9, when Kalieva hit a forehand winner to save it, then won the next two points when Loeb found the net on a forehand and then a backhand.

Kalieva will also play her first round match Tuesday, against Sachia Vickery.

Three first round matches were played today, and it didn't take long for a shocking upset. Top seed and WTA No. 24 Shuai Zhang of China lost to Nao Hibino of Japan 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3, with Zhang appearing to be uncomfortable from midway through the first set. Hibino, ranked 144, but playing at a level way above that ranking throughout the match, trailed 3-1 in the first set, but got the break right back, broke at 4-all, then served out the set. After losing the ninth game, Zhang and her coach, sitting in the stands a few rows up from the court near the baseline, had a heated argument in Chinese that extended for some time, with the chair umpire eventually telling Zhang she would get someone to the court to help handle the situation. 

The WTA supervisor came to the court during the set break and had a brief conversation with the chair umpire, but did not speak to Zhang, and both the coach and Zhang did not speak to each other after that one lengthy exchange. Zhang also showed irritation when someone in the stands or a ball runner moved or when a line call was corrected, but she buckled down after trailing 3-1 in the second set and began blasting winners.  Hibino took a 5-3 lead in the second at was up 15-40 with Zhang serving, only to watch as Zhang hit her way out of those two match points. Hibino couldn't serve it out in the next game, and Zhang played a better tiebreaker to finally pull even in the match.

Hibino wasn't ready to concede that her opportunity for an upset was gone however. She got an early break, and held for 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2 lead. Hibino had to save a break point serving for the match at 5-3, but she got an error from Zhang to get back to deuce, popped an ace to earn her third match point, and converted it when Zhang's forehand went wide. 

In the other two first round matches, Ann Li defeated No. 6 seed Varvara Gracheva of Russia 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, saving a match point with Gracheva serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set. No. 3 seed Lin Zhu of China defeated Louisa Chirico 6-4, 6-4.

Ten more first round matches are Tuesday, with the last three first round matches, involving Sunday's finalists in Toronto (Robin Anderson and Su Jeong Jang) and Tyler (Yue Yuan), scheduled for Wednesday.

The ITF's 16-and-under team competition begins Tuesday in Antalya Turkey, with the United States participating for the first time since hosting the competition in 2019. The US girls are the No. 1 seeds and are in Group A with Colombia, Thailand and Turkey. Clervie Ngounoue, Valerie Glozman and Iva Jovic make up the US team.

The US boys--Alexander Razeghi and twins Meecah and Kaylan Bigun--are the No. 2 seeds and in Group D with Turkey, Argentina and Japan. 

The draws and previews from the ITF can be found here.

I covered the four US titles at the ITF J4 in Lexington South Carolina on Saturday, but there were two additional titles for Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit last week, both in doubles.

At the J2 in Korea, Quang Duong reached the quarterfinals in singles and won the doubles title, with Suphawat Saeoui of Thailand. The No. 4 seeds defeated unseeded Yeonsu Jeong and Seungmin Park of Korea 6-2, 6-2 in the final. 

At the J5 in Spain, Maxwell Exsted reached the singles final and won the doubles with longtime partner Maximus Dussault. Exsted and Dussault, the No. 1 seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Rodrigo Fernandes of Portugal and Matteo Morazzi of Spain 6-2, 6-3 in the final. 

Final Round of Qualifying at Midland WTA 125 Features All Eight Seeds; Townsend Wins Title at Tyler $80K; Sandgren Champion in Las Vegas; Knaff and Kikuchi Earn First Titles in Tallahassee and Norman

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Midland Michigan--

Qualifying for the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic began today at the Greater Midland Tennis Center, and when the first round ended at 5:15 p.m., all eight seeds had advanced to Monday's final round.

The seed in the most peril during the day was No. 1 Kayla Day, who lost the first set to Emina Bektas(Michigan) 7-6(2) and was down 5-2 in the second set. Bektas didn't get to match point serving for it at 5-3, and Day kept the pressure on, holding and breaking for a 6-5 lead. Bektas had two break points to force a tiebreaker, but Day won the next four points to get the split. The 23-year-old left-hander then broke in the first game of the third set and didn't face a break point in her 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Day will face No. 7 seed Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State), who beat Whitney Osuigwe 6-2, 6-4.

Canada's Katherine Sebov was the other seed to come from a set down to advance, with the No. 5 seed defeating Hanna Chang 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Sebov will face No. 4 seed Sophie Chang, who defeated wild card Eleana Yu, the 2022 USTA 18s National champion, 6-2, 6-4. Yu, a high school senior, told me she was going to focus on her college choice in the coming weeks.

No. 2 seed in the qualifying, Diana Shnaider, has yet to play in a North Carolina State uniform, although the 18-year-old from Russia enrolled in school this fall. Shnaider, who is 9-3 in $60K and above tournaments in the United States this fall, defeated Catherine Harrison(UCLA) 6-4, 6-2, keeping the ball deep, playing great defense and making few errors. Shnaider, who warmed up with future teammate Maddy Zampardo, who lives two hours south of Midland, will face No. 8 seed Robin Montgomery for a place in the final. Montgomery breezed past recent Washington State graduate Michaela Bayerlova 6-2, 6-1, with Montgomery's serve just too much for the 23-year-old from the Czech Republic. 

No. 3 seed Elvina Kalieva also advanced in less than an hour, with the 19-year-old defeating Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania 6-0, 6-4. Although she was broken once, Kalieva was dominant on serve, winning 19 of 21 points when she got her first serve in. Kalieva will play No. 6 seed and 2018 Dow finalist Jamie Loeb(North Carolina), who fought off a determined challenge from Duke sophomore Ellie Coleman for a 7-5, 7-5 victory.

Coleman, who grew up in Midland and had a large Sunday afternoon crowd supporting her on Meredith McGrath Stadium Court, was the first to drop serve at 4-all in the opening set. Loeb couldn't close out the set on her first attempt, but got another break and took that second chance.  Coleman fell behind 3-2 in the second set, but immediately broke back, held and broke again for a 5-3 lead. She had two set points, the first at 40-30, with Loeb getting lucky when her backhand clipped the net and fell over for a winner. Loeb saved the second set point with a forehand winner and went on to break.  Coleman earned a third set point with Loeb serving at 4-5, 30-40, but Loeb saved that with a forehand that forced an error and she began to play more confidently from that point on. She broke Coleman to take a 6-5 lead, saved a break point in the final game with an ace and closed out the match with a backhand winner.

In addition to the four final round qualifying matches Monday, three main draw matches are on the schedule. Top seed Shuai Zhang of China will face Nao Hibino of Japan; Louisa Chirico will play No. 3 seed Lin Zhu of China and Ann Li meets No. 6 seed Varvara Gracheva of Russia. 

There are also four first round double matches on the schedule Monday.

After doubling up to play the quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday night at the $80,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Tyler Texas, unseeded Taylor Townsend emerged as the champion in today's singles final. Townsend defeated No. 4 seed Yue Yuan of China(who is also the No. 4 seed here in Midland this week), 6-4, 6-2 to complete the week without dropping a set, and the 26-year-old left-hander will move into the WTA Top 150.

Unseeded Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) and Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) won the doubles title, beating 2022 NCAA doubles champions Nell Miller and Jaeda Daniel(NC State) 7-5, 6-2 in last night's final.

Former Tennessee star Tennys Sandgren won his first Challenger title since 2017 today in Las Vegas, defeating No. 4 seed and defending champion Stefan Kozlov 7-5, 6-3. It's only the second time Sandgren has beaten Kozlov in six meetings. 

No. 3 seeds Henry Patten(UNC-Asheville) and Julian Cash(Mississippi St/Oklahoma St) of Great Britain won their sixth Challenger title of the year and their second straight, beating Constantin Frantzen(Baylor) of Germany and Reese Stalder(TCU) 6-4, 7-6(1) in the final. Patten and Cash, both 26, will move into the ATP Top 100 rankings in doubles tomorrow.

At the $15,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Norman Oklahoma, No. 7 seed Yuta Kikuchi of Cal won his first title, beating No. 6 seed Alex Martinez, a senior at Oklahoma, 7-5, 6-4. The 23-year-old fifth-year senior from Japan dropped just one set this week and is 14-7 this year in $15K events.

The hometown favorite fared better at the $15,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Tallahassee, with No. 2 seed Alex Knaff, a former Florida State Seminole, beating unseeded Florida junior Will Grant 6-3, 6-0. It's the first ITF men's singles title for the 24-year-old from Luxembourg.

Delgado Earns Second Straight J4 Title, Crowder Wins Girls Singles in South Carolina; Qualifying Begins Sunday at WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic; Grant Advances at Tallahassee $15K; Kozlov and Sandgren Reach Las Vegas Challenger Final

Seventeen-year-old Andrew Delgado won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title last week at the J4 in Atlanta and has followed that with another title this week at the J4 in Lexington South Carolina. The left-hander from North Carolina, seeded No. 1 this week, defeated No. 15 seed Michael Kouame of France 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in today's final, extending his winning streak to 12 matches over the past two weeks.

Fifteen-year-old Riley Crowder won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the No. 3 seed from Alabama defeating No. 7 seed Kayla Chung 7-6(4), 6-4 in today's final. Crowder did not drop a set in her six wins this week.

Although she has two straight losses in the singles finals, at Atlanta and Lexington, Chung once again won the doubles title with Kayla Schefke. Chung and Schefke, the No. 3 seeds, defeated top seeds Emily Baek and Brianna Baldi 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 for their third consecutive doubles title, having also won titles last month in McKinney Texas and last week in Atlanta. 

No. 7 seeds Andrew Ena and Aditya Vyas won the boys doubles title, beating unseeded Cody Benton and Paxton Pritchard 6-7(5), 6-0, 11-9. It is the second ITF Junior Circuit title for Ena and Vyas, who also won the J4 in Corpus Christi last month.

Qualifying begins Sunday at the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan, with 12 of the 16 entrants in qualifying from the United States. Louisa Chirico and Ashleyn Krueger, originally in qualifying, moved into the main draw at the last minute; below are the first round qualifying matchups:

Whitney Osuigwe v Francesca Di Lorenzo[7]
Michaela Bayerlova(CZE) v Robin Montgomery[8]
Diana Shnaider[2](RUS) v Catherine Harrison
Ellie Coleman[WC] v Jamie Loeb[6]
Elvina Kalieva[3] v Elena-Teodora Cadar(ROU)
Hanna Chang v Katherine Sebov[5](CAN)
Sophie Chang v Eleana Yu[WC]
Kayla Day[1] v Emina Bektas

As usual, I will be in Midland for a couple of days early in the tournament; it's one of the few times I get a chance to re-connect with pro players who I covered in juniors and college; I'm usually focused on the junior championships when I'm at a Wimbledon or the US Open.

University of Florida junior Will Grant reached his first USTA Pro Circuit semifinal yesterday and today advanced one step farther, reaching the final of the $15,000 men's tournament in Tallahassee Florida with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Florida State junior Andreja Petrovic of Norway. Grant will face No. 2 seed Alex Knaff of Luxembourg, a former Florida State standout, who beat qualifier Phillip Henning(Georgia) of South Africa 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) after Henning served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. 

At the $15,000 men's tournament in Norman Oklahoma, the Sooner representative in the final will be senior Alexander Martinez of Spain, the No. 6 seed, who defeated teammate Jordan Hasson 4-6, 6-0, 7-5. Martinez will face Cal's fifth-year Yuta Kikuchi of Japan, the No. 7 seed, who took out top seed Lucas Gerch(Oklahoma State) of Germany 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Top seeds George Goldhoff(Texas) and Tyler Zink(Oklahoma State) won the doubles title in Norman, beating unseeded Aidan Kim and Alessio Basile(Oklahoma State) of Belgium 6-2, 6-1 in a 40-minute final.

After a complete washout yesterday at the women's $80,000 tournament in Tyler Texas, and more rain early in the day, they finally began quarterfinal play late this afternoon. The run of Stanford freshman and qualifier Alexis Blokhina was ended by Sofia Kenin, who advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-4 victory. Kenin will face No. 4 seed Yue Yuan of China in the semifinals. Taylor Townsend and Australia's Storm Sanders have won their quarterfinal matches and will play each other in the semifinals later tonight. The doubles semifinals are also on tonight's schedule. 

The final is set at the ATP Challenger 80 in Las Vegas, with qualifier Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) playing No. 4 seed Stefan Kozlov for the title Sunday.

Sandgren defeated 17-year-old Jerry Shang of China 6-3, 7-6(5) in today's semifinals, while Kozlov took out No. 2 seed Steve Johnson(USC) 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, saving a match point at 4-5 in the third on a ridiculous dive volley. The 24-year-old Kozlov has a 5-1 edge in their previous meetings, which go back more than six years. Sandgren, whose ATP ranking has dropped to 444, is competing in his first Challenger final since April of 2019. Kozlov reached the final of the Las Vegas Challenger last year, losing to JJ Wolf. He went on to win the Challengers in Charlottesville and Champaign and with those results, earned the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.