Sports Columnist Couch Finds New Career as College Tennis Coach; Shelton Claims USTA's Australian Open Wild Card; Quevedo Rolls into J1 Guadalajara Final; Reed and Michelsen Reach $15K Semifinals

The path from sports journalist to coach isn't heavily traveled, so when I heard that Greg Couch, the former Chicago Sun-Times columnist had been named men's and women's coach at Division III Rose-Hulman, I knew I needed to talk to him about his journey. I met Greg when he was covering the slams for AOL Fanhouse 10 or 12 years ago, and while he hadn't been writing about tennis much in the past few years, I knew from his social media posts that he was still very much engaged in the sport, mostly at the coaching level. 

It was great fun to talk with him about his experiences coaching and how those interactions proved to be much more satisfying than what he had been doing at FS1. I hope the Tennis Recruiting Network article that came out of our recent conversation conveys his enthusiasm for what's ahead at Rose-Hulman. (And no, he didn't have a hairstyle like that when he was a sportswriter).

2022 NCAA singles champion Ben Shelton won his 13th consecutive Challenger match today, defeating Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger 80 in Champaign. With the victory, the former Florida Gator clinched the USTA's Australian Open wild card, with the only question now whether he will need it. If Shelton wins the title in Champaign, which would be his third straight, he will crack the ATP Top 100 and would be in the Australian Open without the wild card. In that case, it would go to Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech), who is in second place in the race. Eubanks defeated lucky loser Evan Zhu(UCLA) 6-1, 6-2 today to reach the semifinals; Shelton has defeated Eubanks in the last two Challenger finals in Charlottesville and Knoxville. 

Shelton, the No. 4 seed,  will face No. 7 seed Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois) in the semifinals, after Kovacevic defeated No. 2 seed Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-4 today. Kovacevic lost to Shelton in the third round in Charlottesville two weeks ago. No. 3 seed Eubanks will face another former Illini, No. 6 seed Aleks Vukic of Australia, who defeated Nicolas Alvarez Varona of Spain 7-6(6), 6-4.

Live streaming, with Mike Cation providing commentary, will be available at the ATP Challenger TV website. 

Kaitlin Quevedo returned to junior competition this week after winning three $15K titles in the past two months and she is showing no signs of slowing down. In the semifinals today at the ITF J1 in Guadalajara, the 16-year-old from Naples Florida defeated top seed Ella Mcdonald of Great Britain 6-2, 6-0, her fifth straight-sets win of the week. She will face No. 8 seed Mingge Xu of Great Britain in Saturday's final. Quevedo and Piper Charney are also competing in the doubles semifinals tonight; Ariana Pursoo and her partner Carolina Alonso of Mexico are through to the final. 

Three US boys will play in boys doubles final, with Cooper Woestendick and Roy Horovitz facing Cooper Williams and Mexico's Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez.

At the $15,000 women's Pro Circuit tournament in Waco Texas, Lexington Reed won the battle of the teenagers, with the 16-year-old from Orlando beating 15-year-old Aspen Schuman 7-5, 6-3. Reed, who will be playing in her second $15K semifinal this year, faces No. 8 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) next. Qualifier Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia defeated top seed Veronica Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) 6-2, 6-3 and will play No. 4 seed Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia in the other semifinal. Kozyreva ended the seven-match winning streak of UCLA freshman Fangran Tian of China 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Alex Michelsen, who made the Winston-Salem $15K final last week, is through to the semifinals at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in East Lansing after defeating unseeded Ben Jones of Great Britain 6-4, 6-1. Michelsen, the No. 3 seed, will play No. 5 seed Mitchell Harper(Virginia Tech) of Australia, who beat top seed Alex Knaff(Florida State) of Luxembourg 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. The other semifinal will feature current collegians Ron Hohmann(LSU), a qualifier and unseeded Alex Kotzen(Columbia), who both eliminated Michigan State freshman wild cards. Hohmann beat David Saye 6-4, 6-0 and Kotzen defeated Ozan Baris 6-3, 6-1. 

Michelsen and Learner Tien have advanced to the doubles final, where they'll face Emile Hudd(Tennessee) and Josh Goodger(Tulsa/Florida). 

At the $25,000 men's Pro Circuit event in Columbus, qualifier Matej Vocel took out former Ohio State teammate and top seed Cannon Kingsley 7-6(5), 6-4 to reach the semifinals, where he'll play wild card and No. 3 seed Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova. Cozbinov defeated No. 6 seed JJ Tracy(Ohio State) 7-6(6), 7-5. In the bottom half, former Ohio State star John McNally will face another Kalamazoo 16s champion in Buckeye freshman Alexander Bernard. No. 4 seed McNally, who won the Kalamazoo 16s title in 2014, defeated Ohio State redshirt freshman Jack Anthrop 6-3, 7-5; No. 5 seed Bernard, the 2019 Kalamazoo 16s champion, beat No. 2 seed Aidan Mayo 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, to repeat his victory over Mayo in that Kalamazoo final. 

Six Buckeyes Reach Quarterfinals at Columbus $25K; Teens Schuman and Reed Clash in Waco $15K Quarterfinals; Shelton Beats Quinn at Champaign Challenger; Striplin Lynch Out at Clemson; Fritz Reaches Semifinals at ATP Finals

Ohio State's many USTA Pro Circuit tournaments have proven to be an important recruiting tool for the Buckeyes, with the wild cards and the geographic advantage helping Ohio State players in their quest for ATP points. 

This week's $25,000 tournament in Columbus has certainly paid off, with two former and four current Ohio State players advancing to Friday's quarterfinals. 

Qualifier Matej Vocel of the Czech Republic, who played his final season of college tennis at Ohio State in 2021-22, and No. 4 seed John McNally are the two formers. Vocel, who transferred to Ohio State from Oklahoma State, defeated No. 7 seed Eduardo Nava(TCU/Wake Forest) 6-1, 6-4 and McNally beat qualifier Youssef Kadiri Hassani (Oregon) 6-3, 6-2.  

Top seed Cannon Kingsley, a senior at Ohio State, advanced to the quarterfinals when 15-year-old qualifier Evan Sharygin retired after dropping the first set 6-0. No. 6 seed JJ Tracy, a junior at Ohio State, defeated Piotr Pawlak(Texas Tech) of Poland 6-2, 6-2; redshirt freshman Jack Anthrop beat Charlelie Cosnet(Kentucky) of France 7-5, 6-0 and true freshman Alexander Bernard, the No. 5 seed, defeated Joshua Charlton(Oregon) of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. 

With that many Ohio State quarterfinalists, Buckeye semifinalists are guaranteed and the two all-OSU quarterfinals will feature Kingsley versus Vocel and McNally versus Anthrop. Tracy will face wild card Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova and Bernard will play No. 2 seed Aidan Mayo in a rematch of the 2019 Kalamazoo 16s final, which Bernard won 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, saving a match point.

At the $15,000 men's tournament in East Lansing, two Spartans have advanced to the quarterfinals, freshmen Ozan Baris and David Saye. Baris defeated MSU sophomore Max Sheldon, a wild card, 7-6(3), 6-2, and wild card Saye defeated lucky loser Patrick Fletchall(Indiana) 6-4, 6-4. It's the first Pro Circuit quarterfinal for Baris, while Saye is playing in his first Pro Circuit tournament this week. 

Other Americans advancing to the quarterfinals are Alex Michelsen[3], qualifier Ron Hohmann(LSU) and Alex Kotzen(Columbia). 

At the $15,000 men's tournament in Boca Raton, Axel Nefve(Notre Dame/Florida) is the only American remaining. Nefve defeated No. 3 seed Andres Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-7(2), 7-6(8), 6-4 in three hours and 33 minutes. Andrade's teammate Duarte Vale of Portugal, the No. 1 seed, lost to Justin Roberts(South Florida/Arizona St) of the Bahamas 6-3, 6-3.

Fifteen-year-old Aspen Schuman and 16-year-old Lexington Reed have advanced to a meeting in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Waco Texas, with both defeating seeds today.

Schuman, who already has a win this fall over WTA Top 250 player Eudice Chong, defeated No. 2 seed Jessica Hinojosa Gomez(Baylor) of Mexico 6-3, 6-3; Reed, who reached the semifinals of a $15K in September, defeated No. 6 seed Tori Kinard 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5). 

The other American advancing to the quarterfinals in Waco is No. 8 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton).

Ben Shelton extended his Challenger winning streak to 12 matches today at the ATP Challenger 80 in Champaign, with the 20-year-old NCAA singles champion defeating University of Georgia freshman Ethan Quinn 6-4, 6-4. Shelton, the No. 4 seed, saved all seven break points he faced, many times with unreturnable serves. Quinn faced only four break points, but Shelton converted twice, which was all he needed. Shelton will face unseeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India in the quarterfinals Friday, and if he wins that match, he will clinch the USTA's Australian Open wild card. 

Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) eliminated Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) from contention for the wild card, beating him in tonight's second round match 6-4, 6-3. Eubanks is now in sole possession of second place in the wild card race, and should Shelton get into the Australian Open on his own ranking, the wild card would go to him. Eubanks plays lucky loser Evan Zhu(UCLA) in Friday's quarterfinals. 

Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois)[7] and Steve Johnson(USC)[2] will play for a spot in the semifinals, with the other quarterfinal featuring Aleks Vukic(Illinois)[6] of Australia and Nicolas Alvarez Varona of Spain.

This is not the time of year when coaching changes happen, but Clemson announced a "change of leadership," with Christy Striplin Lynch leaving the women's program. Striplin Lynch, who played at Georgia Tech, took over from longtime Clemson coach Nancy Harris in 2020. Clemson has a new athletic director since Striplin Lynch's hiring, Graham Neff, who is quoted in today's release saying, “We feel it is in the best interest of Clemson Athletics to seek a new perspective at this time. We will conduct a national search for our next leader after the spring season, and are committed to winning at the highest level within this historic program.” Assistant Amy Sargeant will take over the program on an interim basis for the spring season.

Taylor Fritz defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-2 in group play today at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, to earn a place in the semifinals. Fritz, who finished second to Casper Ruud in the group, will face Novak Djokovic Saturday in the semifinals. On Friday, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev will play for the final spot in the semifinals against Ruud. Fritz is the first American to reach the semifinals in the ATP Finals since Jack Sock in 2017. 

Georgia's Quinn and North Carolina's Crawley No. 1 in ITA Singles Rankings After Conclusion of D-1 Fall Season; Four US Girls, One US Boy Advance to Quarterfinals at ITF J1 in Guadalajara; SoCal Pro Series Set to Return in January

The individual portion of the 2022-23 Division I season is over, and with the regional championships and two majors in the books there is certainly enough data to warrant a new set of rankings. (My September post containing the preseason rankings is here.) The two new No. 1s--Georgia freshman Ethan Quinn and North Carolina junior Fiona Crawley--are not surprising, with Quinn, the All-American champion, and Crawley, the All-American and Fall Nationals champion going undefeated in collegiate competition this fall. 

The preseason rankings looked much difference than those below, with both Eryn Cayetano and Stefan Dostanic of Southern Cal, falling from the No. 1 spots. Cayetano is down to 24 and Dostanic, who went 4-4 in the fall, tumbled to 79. Other Top 10 men dropping dramatically included former No. 6 Nikola Slavic of Mississippi, who is now at 99, former No. 9 Tyler Stice of Auburn, who is now at 66, and Cannon Kingsley of Ohio State, who went from No. 3 to out of the rankings. Gabriel Diallo of Kentucky, who was No. 2 in the preseason rankings, ended up not playing in any collegiate events this fall, so he is no longer ranked either.

In addition to Cayetano, three Top 10 women dropped out of the rankings: No. 4 Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma, No. 8 Georgia Drummy of Duke and No. 9 Carson Branstine of Texas A&M.

The complete list of of women's rankings is here; the men's rankings are here.

Men's singles:
1. Ethan Quinn*, Georgia
2. Nishesh Basavareddy*, Stanford
3. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas
4. Garrett Johns, Duke
5. JJ Tracy, Ohio State
6. Andrew Fenty, Michigan
7. Max Basing, Stanford
8. Jake Fearnley, TCU
9. Ryan Seggerman, North Carolina
10. Philip Henning, Georgia
11. Michael Zheng*, Columbia
12. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State
13. Siem Woldeab, Texas
14. Joshua Lapadat, Kentucky
15. Toby Samuel, South Carolina
16. Ondrej Styler, Michigan
17. Sebastian Dominko*, Notre Dame
18. Ronnie Hohmann, LSU
19. Jonas Ziverts, Arizona
20. Gavin Young, Michigan

*freshman

Men's doubles:
1. Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson, South Caroline
2. Andrew Lutschaunig and JJ Tracy, Ohio State
3. Finn Bass and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi, Baylor
4. Sander Jong and Lui Maxted, TCU
5. Berk Bugarikj and Patrik Trhac, Utah
6. Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez, Texas-San Antonio
T7. Edoardo Graziani and Kevin Zhu, Penn
T7. Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri, Texas
9. Natan Rodrigues and Fabien Salle, Louisville
10. Tanapatt Nirundorn and Togan Tokac, Florida

Women's Singles:
1. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina
2. Madison Sieg*, Southern California
3. Chloe Beck, Duke
4. Daria Frayman, Princeton
5. Abbey Forbes, North Carolina
6. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina
7. Kylie Collins, LSU
8. Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina
9. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M
10. Carol Lee, Georgia Tech
11. Connie Ma, Stanford
12. Janice Tjen, Pepperdine
13. Alana Smith, NC State
14. Alexa Noel, Miami
15. Sydni Ratliff, Ohio State
16. Jessica Alsola, Cal
17. Snow Han, Southern California
18. Anika Yarlagadda, North Carolina
19. Lea Ma, Georgia
20. Ayana Akli, South Carolina

*freshman

Women's Doubles:
1. Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina
2. Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller, Michigan
3. Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash, Virginia
4. Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen, Pepperdine
5. Maiko Mchijimia and Jamie Wei, Temple
6. Adel-Byanu Abidullina and Eliza Askarova, Delaware
7. Anastasiya Komar and Nikita Vishwase, LSU
8. Nell Miller and Amelia Rajecki, NC State
9. Patricija Spaka and Domenika Turkovic, Arizona State
10. Carolyn Ansari and Ariana Arseneault, Auburn

The quarterfinals are set for the ITF J1 this week in Guadalajara Mexico, with half of the final eight in the girls draw from the United States. No. 3 seed Kaitlin Quevedo, who has had such an outstanding fall on the ITF Women's Pro Circuit, is no surprise, and the 16-year-old has lost only nine games in her first three victories. Ava Krug, the No. 9 seed, had not played since the US Open Juniors, but she is through to the quarterfinals, after reaching the final of the J1 in College Park in August. The other two American girls in the quarterfinals are unseeded: 15-year-old Victoria Osuigwe, Whitney's sister, and 17-year-old Arina Oreshchenkova, who last week signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Texas Tech in 2023.

Oreshchenkova defeated No. 2 seed Amelie Smejkalova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 in the second round yesterday and No. 13 seed Isabelle Lacy of Great Britain 7-5, 7-6(3) in today's round of 16. 

Krug takes on top seed Ella Mcdonald of Great Britain next; Quevedo faces Osuigwe, and Oreshchenkova play No. 12 seed Yoana Konstantinova of Bulgaria. Konstantinova defeated No. 5 seed Theadora Rabman 6-1, 6-4 today.

The only US boys remaining is No. 4 seed Cooper Williams. The 17-year-old defeated No. 14 seed Patrick Schoen of Switzerland 7-5, 6-1 today and will face No. 6 seed Danil Panarin of Russia in the quarterfinals. 

I hope you've noticed the new advertisement on the left that promotes the USTA Southern California SoCal Pro Circuit, which is returning in January of 2023 after a successful inaugural series this summer. The first two events of the year will be on the Pepperdine campus in Malibu January 2-8, 2023. A pre-qualifying event for those residing or attending college in Southern California is being held next month at Lakewood Tennis Center. For more details on that, click on the banner to the left. 

For much more on the upcoming tournaments in Malibu, see this release from press aide Steve Pratt. 

Four Events This Week Close Out 2022 USTA Pro Circuit; Quinn and Shelton Advance to Second Round Meeting at Champaign Challenger; More Division I NLI Signings

The last USTA Pro Circuit tournaments of the year are taking place this week, four for the men and one for the women. Qualifying is now complete at the men's $15,000 tournament in East Lansing, the men's $15,000 tournament in Boca Raton, the men's $25,000 tournament in Columbus and the women's $15,000 event in Waco.

In Columbus, Ohio State recruit Brandon Carpico, 15-year-old Evan Sharygin and University of Oregon sophomore Quinn Vandecasteele are the Americans advancing to the main draw, with wild cards going to three Ohio State players: Preston Stearns, Andrew Lutschaunig and Reece Yakubov, with Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova getting the fourth wild card.  Ohio State senior Cannon Kingsley is the top seed, with Aidan Mayo seeded No. 2. 

There was a 48-draw for qualifying in East Lansing, and the fact that it filled was impressive given that Columbus is just four hours south. LSU junior Ron Hohmann was the only American among the six qualifiers. 

Wild cards went to three Michigan State players: Anthony Pero, David Saye and Max Sheldon, as well as Alex Michelsen, last week's finalist in Winston-Salem, who is the No. 3 seed. MSU freshman Ozan Baris received entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program, as did Aidan Kim. Kim won his first round match today, Baris plays his first round match Wednesday; Kalamazoo 18s champion Learner Tien lost his first round match today. The top seed in East Lansing is Alex Knaff(Florida State) of Luxembourg, with Colin Markes(Texas) seeded No. 2.

In Boca Raton, 17-year-old Sean Daryabeigi and Thomas Brown were the two Americans to qualifying, with wild cards given to Florida freshman Jonah Braswell, Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC), Jean-Christian Morandais of Guadeloupe and Tauheed Browning. Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal and Roberto Cid(South Florida) of the Dominican Republic are the top two seeds.

In Waco, 16-year-olds Lexington Reed and Maya Joint were the only two Americans to qualify.  Fifteen-year-olds Kenna Erickson and Aspen Schuman received wild cards, as did Baylor sophomore Brooke Thompson and Duke freshman Katie Codd. 

Veronica Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) of Russia and Jessica Hinojosa Gomez(Baylor) of Mexico are the top two seeds.

The first round of the ATP Challenger 80 in Champaign is nearly complete, and already three seeds have been eliminated: top seed Denis Kudla, No. 5 seed Stefan Kozlov and No. 8 seed Jerry Shang of China. No. 3 seed Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech) and Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) won their first round matches today, and when they meet in the second round Thursday, one will be eliminated from contention for the USTA's Australian Open reciprocal wild card. 

Another interesting second round match Thursday will feature the last two Kalamazoo 18s finalists and the last two ITA All American champions: Ben Shelton(Florida) and Ethan Quinn(Georgia). No. 4 seed Shelton defeated wild card Karlis Ozolins(Illinois) of Latvia 6-3, 6-4 for his 11th consecutive Challenger win. Eighteen-year-old qualifier Quinn beat another member of the Illini men's team, wild card Mathis Debru of France, 7-5, 6-2. It's Quinn's second victory in a Challenger main draw. 

In addition to the mirroring accomplishments listed above, Quinn and Shelton also won the last two $25,000 summer Pro Circuit tournaments held in Champaign.

The National Letter of Intent signing announcements continue to be released, and below is the latest update. My first collection of these announcements, from last Thursday, can be found here.

WOMEN:

Boston College has signed Tola Glowacka and Miami transfer Nada Dimovska.

Colorado has signed Pia Rebec of Slovenia.

Georgia has signed Gracie Epps and Aysegul Mert of Turkey.

Georgia Tech has signed Meera Jesudason.

Illinois has signed Alice Xu.

Louisville has signed Ibifuro Clement and Germany Davis.

Mississippi State has signed Jayna Clemens.

Mississippi has signed Emma Kettle of Germany, who will start in January, Northwestern transfer Briana Crowley and Andrea Nova of the Czech Republic.

Western Michigan has signed Julia Frazier. 

MEN:

Arizona has signed Inaki Cabrera Bello of Spain.

Auburn has signed Billy Blaydes of Great Britain.

Georgia has signed Parker Jacques, Parker Mariencheck and Davis Taylor.

Kentucky has signed Eli Stephenson, Jack Loutit of New Zealand and Matt Rankin of Great Britain. 

Louisville has signed Evan Duggal and Russell Lokko.

Oklahoma has signed Luis Valdes of Mexico, who will start in January, and Hank Trondson.

South Carolina has signed Jelani Sarr.

Tennessee has signed Filip Pieczonka of Poland

Texas Tech has signed Jonas Gundacker of Austria. 

Western Michigan has signed Ashton Adesoro, Alvin Altman, Drew Evans and Dimitri Moriarty.

My Conversation with NCAA Singles Champion Peyton Stearns; Americans Claim Seven Singles and Nine Doubles Titles on ITF Junior Circuit; J1 in Guadalajara Underway

Two weeks ago in Midland, I had the opportunity to talk with NCAA singles champion Peyton Stearns about her first five months as a professional for this article at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Stearns, who had gotten a late wild card, went on to reach the semifinals of the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic after we spoke, and is now at a career-high of 208 in the WTA rankings, setting herself up for the Australian Open qualifying if she and her coach decide to make the trip to Melbourne.

I asked Stearns about the strides she's made in her game since leaving Texas, what she misses about college tennis, and how she began her coaching arrangement with Romanian Davis Cup captain Gabriel Trifu. She also told me that she has set the bar for her younger brother Preston, a freshman at Ohio State, who will need to earn four NCAA rings to supplant her in their sibling rivalry.

Last week was another busy week on the ITF Junior Circuit, and Americans had one of their best weeks of the year, winning seven singles and nine doubles titles.

Seventeen-year-old Ashton Bowers, an Auburn recruit, won the biggest title, taking the singles championship at the ITF J2 in Bolivia. Bowers, the No. 3 seed, defeated No. 15 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 7-5, 6-4 in the final, her third career ITF Junior singles title and the first about the J4 level. Bowers is now at a career-high of 121 in the latest ITF junior rankings.

At the J3 in Cyprus, 17-year-old Tristan Stringer, the No. 1 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Luca Preda of Romania 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the final, his fourth singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit. Stringer and partner Matteo Lavizzari of Switzerland, the top seeds, defeated unseeded Nikolaos Bakirtzis and Christos Glavas of Greece 7-6(7), 6-2 for the doubles title, Stringer's first on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Sixteen-year-old Kate Fakih also won two J3 titles last week, in Mexico. In singles, the third-seeded Fakih won an all-US final, beating No. 12 seed Maren Urata 6-4, 6-1 for her second ITF Junior Circuit singles title. Fakih got her first doubles title on the circuit partnering with Sophia Webster, with the No. 6 seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Sarah L'Allier and Josie Usereau of Canada 7-5, 3-6, 10-8 in the final. It's Webster's second doubles title on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Top seeds Jose Murariu and Swiss partner Patrick Schoen won the boys doubles title in Mexico, downing No. 3 seeds Luis Carlos Alvarez Valdes and Jose Maria Garcia Uribe of Mexico 6-4, 7-6(1) in the final. It's the third ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for the 17-year-old Murariu.

Seventeen-year-old Ria Bhakta swept the titles at the J4 in El Salvador, with the top seed defeating Bela Martinez Rivero of Puerto Rico 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the singles final, her fifth singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit. 

Bhakta and partner Anika Lemus Maldonado of Guatemala, seeded No. 2, beat the third-seeded American pair of Maria Araoz-Gosn and Daniela Livson 6-4, 7-6(4) in the doubles final. Bhakta now has eight ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles.

Another sweep came at the J5 in Jamaica, where 15-year-old Summer Chandler earned her first two ITF Junior Circuit titles.  The unseeded Chandler defeated her doubles partner, No. 8 seed Linda Ziets Segura, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in another all-US final. The unseeded pair then teamed up for the doubles title, beating top seeds Jolene Fernandes of Canada and Alexa Martinez Mendoza of Mexico 6-1, 6-2. It's the third ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for the 16-year-old Ziets Segura.

Fifteen-year-old John Patrick Popowich won his first ITF Junior Circuit title in Jamaica, with partner Lucas Castillo Sanchez of Colombia. The unseeded pair defeated No. 4 seeds Sasha Colleu of France and Patrik Petera of the Czech Republic 6-0, 7-6(1) for the boys doubles title.

The fifth and final sweep by an American came at the J5 in Barbados, where 14-year-old top seed Katerina Shabashkevich collected her third singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit, beating No. 3 seed Adelie Osher of Israel 6-1, 6-0 in the final. Shabashkevich picked up her second doubles title on the circuit with Rebecca Fiedler; the No. 2 seeds defeated top seeds Osher and Sara Rydholt of Norway 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

The unseeded American team of Dillon Beckles and Luca Benaibbouche won the boys doubles title, beating top seeds Nicholas Reeves and Lev Seidman 6-2, 5-7 13-11 in an all-USA final. It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for the 16-year-old Beckles and the third for the 17-yea-rold Benaibbouche. 

Finally, at the J5 in Cameroon, unseeded 16-year-old Jane Dunyon won her first title, beating No. 2 seed Charnelle Fozo Cameroon 6-0, 6-1 in the girls singles final. Thirteen-year-old 

Lucy King Oyebog Atang and Cameroon's Stad Fani Fanyi Nformi, the top seeds, prevented yet another sweep by defeating unseeded Dunyon and Francesca Saroli of Switzerland 7-6(2), 7-5 in the girls doubles final. Oyebog Atang now has two ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles.

The big North American season-ending clay court swing begins this week at the J1 in Guadalajara Mexico. Although first round matches will extend late into the night, top boys seeds Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico and Yaroslav Demin of Russia have advanced to the second round. Cooper Williams, the top-seeded American at No. 4, also has won his first round match.

The girls top seeds Ella McDonald of Great Britain and Amelie Smejkalova of the Czech Republic are also safely through to the second round. The top-seeded American girl in the draw is No. 3 seed Kaitlin Quevedo.

There is also a J5 this week in San Diego, with Canadians Gianna Oboniye and Kaetan Mehta the top seeds. Mehta retired from his first round match today, trailing wild card Nathaniel Suh 5-4 in the first set. 

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Titles for Americans Shelton, Montgomery and Braswell; Michelsen Falls to Samuel in Winston-Salem; Fritz Beats Nadal to Open ATP Finals

For the second straight week, NCAA singles champion Ben Shelton defeated former Georgia Tech star Christopher Eubanks in a Challenger final, with this week's championship match in Knoxville coming down to a third-set tiebreaker. Shelton, the No. 4 seed, dominated the first set, Eubanks, the No. 3 seed, outclassed Shelton in the second, but the third was neck and neck until the very end, when Shelton claimed the title with a miraculous passing shot for a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(4) victory and his second ATP Challenger title. 

The 20-year-old from Gainesville increases his lead in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, and now that he is up to 108 in the ATP rankings, Shelton is approaching direct entry territory. Should he get in the draw based on his ranking, the wild card would go to the second place finisher. Right now that is a tie between Tennys Sandgren and Eubanks and both still have a mathematical chance to pass Shelton if either wins the Champaign title next week and Shelton fails to make the semifinals. Sandgren and Eubanks are drawn to play in the second round in Champaign, so one will be eliminated then.

Champaign's top two seeds are Denis Kudla and Steve Johnson(USC), who are currently outside the top 100 and are hoping to secure their spots in the Australian Open main draw with a title. All wild cards went to current University of Illinois players: Hunter Heck, Karlis Ozolins, and Mathis Debru. Heck plays Johnson and Ozolins faces Shelton, the No. 4 seed, in the first round. 

Eighteen-year-old Robin Montgomery won her second career Pro Circuit singles title and her first above the $25K level today at the $60,000 women's ITF World Tennis Tour tournament in Calgary Canada. The fifth-seeded Montgomery avenged her quarterfinal loss three weeks ago at the Toronto $60K, beating unseeded Urszula Radwanska of Poland 7-6(6), 7-5, despite 10 double faults. After something of a lost year at Mouratoglou Academy in France that began right after she won the US Open Junior singles and doubles titles, Montgomery has shown steady progress since she began working with Eric Nunez in Florida, reaching the final of a $60K in Templeton California this fall, qualifying at the WTA 500 San Diego Open and WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic and now this title. Montgomery is now up to a career-high 204 in the WTA rankings, so she will be comfortably in the Australian Open qualifying next year. 

It's every wild card's dream to go on a run and win a title, and University of Texas junior Micah Braswell made it a reality today at the $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Austin Texas. Braswell, who had never won a main draw match at a Pro Circuit event until this week, defeated No. 6 seed Andres Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-2, 6-2 to earn the title on his home courts. Braswell, who was out with injuries most of last season, lost just one set in his five victories this week.

Wild cards also captured the doubles championship in Austin, with Phillip Henning(Georgia) of South Africa and Texas Tech sophomore Tyler Stewart earning their first Pro Circuit titles with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 3 seeds Demetris Azoides of Greece and Martin Breysach(Baylor) of France. 

South Carolina junior Toby Samuel of Great Britain, who won the ITA All-American men's doubles title last month with Connor Thomson, swept the titles this week at the $15,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Winston-Salem North Carolina. Samuel, who won the singles title last week at the $15K in Fayetteville, has not lost a set in his 10 singles victories the past two weeks, beating 18-year-old Alex Michelsen 6-1, 7-5 in today's final. Samuel and Ben Jones, also of Great Britain, won the doubles title in Winston-Salem on Friday.

Group play at the ATP Finals began today in Turin, with Taylor Fritz, who received last-minute entry when Carlos Alcaraz withdrew, defeating top seed Rafael Nadal 7-6(3), 6-1. Fritz, who had also defeated Nadal in the Masters 1000 final in Indian Wells this spring, is in the group with Nadal, Casper Ruud and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Ruud defeated Auger-Aliassime 7-6(4), 6-4 in the opening match of the Finals.The other group, which begins play Monday, consists of Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. 

Switzerland won its first Billie Jean King Cup championship today in Glasgow, defeating Australia 2-0. Belinda Bencic and Jil Teichmann earned singles wins over Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic to clinch it.