Zheng Beats Galarneau to Advance to Semifinals at ATP Challenger in Puerto Rico; 16-Year-Old Fakih Reaches San Diego $15K Semis; Final Four at Wichita $25K All Competed Last Month at NCAAs in Lake Nona; Hovde Reaches First $60K Semifinal

Michael Zheng has a successful freshman year at Columbia, with the 19-year-old named the Ivy League Player of the Year. The 2022 Wimbledon boys finalist earned All-American status by advancing to the round of 16 at last month's NCAA singles tournament, where he lost to finalist Ondrej Styler of Michigan in two tiebreakers. Zheng had reached as high as 871 in the ATP rankings last summer, reaching the final of a $15K in Florida in the spring, but his ranking dropped when he was unable to defend those points while in school.

1379 in the ATP rankings at the end of last month, Zheng left Lake Nona and went directly to the Little Rock Challenger the next week, where he qualified, then fell in the first round. Last week at the Tyler Challenger, Zheng lost in the first round of qualifying, but made the trip to Puerto Rico for this week's Challenger 75, where he has now won five matches, two in qualifying and three in the main draw. Today he defeated No. 8 seed Alexis Galarneau(NC State) of Canada 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, with that second set the first set he's lost in his five victories.  Zheng faces unseeded Beibit Zhukayev of Kazakhstan in the semifinals, after Zhukayev defeated Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada 6-4, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals.

Zheng is now up to 653 in the ATP live rankings, six spots above Mili Poljicak of Croatia, who beat him in the Wimbledon boys final. Zheng, the only American to reach the quarterfinals in Puerto Rico this week, has sliced his ranking in half in the last three weeks.

Kate Fakih, a rising high school senior, began playing USTA Pro Circuit events this year, and until this week, her most notable result was qualifying for the $60K in Arcadia California in early March. The 16-year-old from Pasadena lost in qualifying last week at the first SoCal Pro Series tournament she played, but at this week's $15K in San Diego she made it through to the main draw and has now advanced to the semifinals. Fakih, who is at a career-high of 137 in the ITF junior rankings, beat No. 2 seed Eleana Yu in the first round, but has faced two qualifiers since then and will play another in Saturday's semifinals: Chanel Simmonds of South Africa. The Simmonds, who got past Stanford rising freshman Katherine Hui 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(9) today, was as high 158 in the WTA rankings ten years ago, but hadn't played for more than a year and a half until resuming at these SoCal Pro Series events the past three weeks.

The other women's semifinal will feature No. 1 seed Sara Daavettila(UNC) and and No. 4 seed Kimmi Hance(UCLA).

While there are two qualifiers in the women's semifinals, there are three in the San Diego men's $15K, with Tennessee's Blaise Bicknell of Jamaica the exception. The unseeded Bicknell will face Warren Wood(Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) in the top half; Columbia's rising senior Alex Kotzen will play Lorenzo Claverie of Italy to decide the finalist from the bottom half. 

Cracked Racquets will have coverage of the SoCal Pro Circuit singles semifinals and doubles finals on their YouTube channel Saturday.

The four semifinalists at the men's $25,000 tournament in Wichita Kansas all competed in the NCAA Division I Championships in Lake Nona last month. No. 5 seed Ethan Quinn won the the singles title of course, while also competing in the team event at the top line for Georgia. He will face James Trotter of Japan, who reached the singles round of 16 and won the doubles title and played line 4 for Team finalists Ohio State.  Trotter beat teammate (and doubles partner this week) Cannon Kingsley, the No. 8 seed, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals.

Wild card Sebastian Gorzny played line 5 for TCU and did not qualify for the NCAA individual tournament, but he avenged his loss to Alexander Bernard of Ohio State in the team semifinals in the first round this week, then took out No. 6 seed Jaimee Angele of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Today the 19-year-old, the 2022 Wimbledon boys doubles champion, defeated 2022 Australian Open boys singles and doubles champion Bruno Kuzuhara 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.  He will play fellow 19-year-old Ozan Baris, who lost in the second round of the NCAA singles and doubles tournament as a freshman at Michigan State. Baris defeated qualifier Axel Nefve(Notre Dame/Florida) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 today.  Baris and Gorzny have played once before on the Pro Circuit, over a year ago, with Baris winning 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of a $15K in Florida.

No. 3 seed Liv Hovde is through to the semifinals at the women's $60,000 tournament in Sumter South Carolina; the 2022 Wimbledon girls champion, who beat qualifier Haley Giavara(Cal) 6-3, 6-3, will face former Old Dominion star Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, the No. 8 seed, who defeated top seed Stacey Fung(Washington) of Canada 6-2, 7-6(4) today. It's the first semifinal at the $60K level for the 17-year-old from Texas.

The semifinal in the bottom half will feature No. 5 seed Maria Mateas(Duke) and No. 2 seed Karman Thandi of India. 

At the $25,000 women's tournament in Colorado Springs, unseeded Allie Kiick and unseeded Rhiann Newborn(Baylor) will play for a spot in the final. In the bottom half, No. 4 seed Katarina Kozarov(Furman) of Serbia will face No. 2 seed Saki Imamura of Japan.

Top Four Seeds Out at Wichita $25K; Hovde Through to $60K Quarterfinal in Sumter; Zheng Reaches Final Eight at ATP Challenger in Puerto Rico; ITA Men's Kickoff Weekend Draft Notes

After two rounds of play at the men's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Wichita Kansas, all four of the top seeds have been eliminated, leaving No. 5 seed and 2023 NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia) the highest seed remaining.

Duke's Garrett Johns beat top seed Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) 6-0, 6-2 in the first round Wednesday; TCU's Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain took out No. 3 seed Aidan Mayo 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round, with qualifier Axel Nefve(Notre Dame/Florida) beating No. 4 seed Zeke Clark(Illinois) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in today's second round.  No. 2 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain lost to 2023 NCAA doubles champion James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5) in an astounding three hour and 44-minute second round match this afternoon. 

Johns and Pinnington Jones lost their second round matches today, to Bruno Kuzuhara and Peter Bertran(Georgia/S Florida) of the Dominican Republic respectively. Joining Quinn, Nefve, Trotter Betran and Kuzuhara in the quarterfinals are Cannon Kingsley[8], 19-year-old Ozan Baris(Michigan State) and either wild card Sebastian Gorzny(TCU) or No. 6 seed Jaimee Angele of France, who play tonight.

The women's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Colorado Springs lost its top seed yesterday, with Cal rising junior Jessica Alsola of Canada beating top seed Cadence Brace of Canada 6-2, 6-1. Alsola won again today and will play Allie Kiick in the quarterfinals. Other Americans advancing to the quarterfinals are Gabby Price and Rhiann Newborn(Baylor), who play each other, qualifier Ayana Akli(Maryland/South Carolina) and Danielle Willson(USC/Ohio State).

At the women's $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Sumter South Carolina, No. 3 seed Liv Hovde has reached the second quarterfinal of her career at a $60K, defeating Stanford rising sophomore Alexis Blokhina 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 today. She will face qualifier Haley Giavara(Cal) next. No. 5 seed Maria Mateas(Duke) and Victoria Hu(Princeton) will face off in the other all-US quarterfinal, with No. 6 seed Grace Min the fifth American through to the final 8. Hu and Giavara are the only unseeded players in the quarterfinals, with top seed Stacey Fung(Washington) of Canada and No. 2 seed Karman Thandi of India also advancing.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Rohan Murali, a rising freshman at Harvard, has advance to the quarterfinals of the men's $15,000 SoCal Pro Series tournament in San Diego. None of the seeds reached the quarterfinals, with qualifier Alex Kotzen(Columbia) beating No. 2 seed Colin Markes(Texas) 6-2, 6-2 today and qualifier Ron Hohmann(LSU) defeating top seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) in the first round yesterday.  Hohmann lost to Tennessee fifth year Blaise Bicknell of Jamaica in today's second round, but three additional qualifiers are through, including Oregon rising junior Quinn Vandecasteele, Warren Wood(Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) and Cash Hanzlik(Tyler JC).

Sixteen-year-old qualifier Kate Fakih defeated Stanford rising freshman and No. 2 seed Eleana Yu 6-0, 7-6(7) in the first round yesterday of the women's $15,000 tournament in San Diego and she won again today to reach the quarterfinals. Katherine Hui, the second rising freshman at Stanford in the draw this week, has advanced to the quarterfinals for the third straight week of the SoCal Pro Series, beating No. 5 seed Solymar Colling(San Diego) 6-2, 6-2 in the second round today.

Columbia rising sophomore Michael Zheng advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Puerto Rico yesterday, defeating lucky loser Marius Copil of Romania 6-1, 6-3. The 2022 Wimbledon boys finalist, who qualified for two of the past three Challengers, will player former North Carolina State standout Alexis Galarneau of Canada, the No. 8 seed, in Friday's quarterfinals.

The 2024 ITF Kickoff Weekend draft is now complete with the men's draft concluding today. 

The men's field got to No. 74 in the rankings before it filled the 45 spots available at the 15 schools hosting regionals at the end of January.  (No. 13 Columbia, the men's host, does not have to participate in regionals, so No. 16 Mississippi State received the final hosting spot). The women's cutoff was the 64th-ranked team, so participation on the men's side was dramatically lower.  Five men's teams passed: Pepperdine[29], Cornell[37], Gonzaga[69], UAB[70] and Drake[73]. 

Eight eligible men's teams did not participate: UC-Santa Barbara[41], UCF[51], New Mexico [56], Denver[59], South Alabama[62], Wisconsin[63], Old Dominnion[65] and Georgia Tech[67].

No one wanted any part of No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Ohio State or No. 4 TCU, with the highest ranked team to choose any of those regionals No. 48 Oregon, who is traveling to Columbus. While the women have three regionals with all four teams in the Top 30, the men have only one, with No. 11 Duke hosting No. 23 Middle Tennessee, No. 27 Cal and No. 30 NC State. No. 14 North Carolina's regional extends only to No. 32 Illinois, with No. 21 Wake Forest and No. 22 Florida playing in Chapel Hill. No. 15 Arizona has a field that looks like that of highly ranked Virginia, Ohio State or TCU, with Tulane, at No. 44, the highest ranked team opting for Tucson's regional.

Wimbledon Junior Acceptances Feature Alina Korneeva, Eight US Girls and Six US Boys; Four Americans Expected to Compete in Second Annual Wimbledon 14U Event; Women's ITA Kickoff Weekend Draft Complete, Men's Draft Thursday

The juniors and U14s compete in the shadow of Centre Court

The acceptances for the 2023 Wimbledon Junior Championships were released today, and I'm happy to see that Alina Korneeva, who won the girls title at the Australian Open in January and Roland Garros last week, has entered. For the first time since 1990, a girl will come into Wimbledon having won the first two junior slams, provided, of course, that she does not withdraw. She is playing a ITF Women's Tennis Tour $60K in Rome on clay this week and has advanced to the second round.

Nine of the top 10 girls have entered, with the only one absent No. 6 Mirra Andreeva, who is currently 101 in the WTA rankings and is probably done with junior tennis. The notables who did not enter are three other Russian girls in the Top 50 and US Open girls champion Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, currently No. 39 in the ITF junior rankings and 228 in the WTA rankings. Wimbledon girls champion Liv Hovde is also age eligible and could have received entry based on her WTA ranking, but she has not played a junior event since turning pro last fall.

Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic received entry based on her Top 400 WTA ranking; she is currently 343. The girls main draw acceptance cutoff was 50; it was 49 for Roland Garros.

The US girls entered are Clervie Ngounoue, who did not play Wimbledon Juniors last year due to injury, Kaitlin Quevedo, Iva Jovic, Tyra Grant, Tatum Evans, Ariana Pursoo, Valeria Ray and Mia Slama. US girls in qualifying are Alexia Harmon, Theadora Rabman, Ashton Bowers, Alanis Hamilton and Anya Murthy. The qualifying cutoff was 81, with Taylah Preston of Australia getting into qualifying based on her Top 500 WTA ranking.

The boys are missing quite a few of the top players, with No. 1 Alexander Blockx of Belgium not entered, along with Learner Tien(who told me last month it was doubtful he would play the Wimbledon Juniors again, as he did play it last year and reached the quarterfinals), US Open boys champion Martin Landaluce of Spain, who hasn't played a junior tournament since winning the title in New York and, and last week's champion Dino Prizmic of Croatia, who said Roland Garros was his last junior event.

As he did at Roland Garros, Kyle Kang received main draw entry based on his ATP Top 750 ranking; it is now up to 591. The cutoff for the main draw was 49 and for qualifying 77.

The Americans in the main draw are Cooper Williams, Darwin Blanch, Roy Horovitz, Kaylun Bigun, Alexander Razeghi and Kang. US boys in qualifying are Alexander Frusina, Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick.

I heard earlier this month that the Wimbledon 14U tournament will take place again this year after the success of the inaugural event in 2022, with the same number of players. Last year two American boys, Keaton Hance and Carel Ngounoue, and one American girl, Nicole Okhtenberg, participated, with Hance and Okhtenberg receiving entry based on their performance at the Easter Bowl. The Easter Bowl tournament did not serve as a qualifying event this year, but four Americans have been invited: Marcel Latak, Izyan Ahmad, Annika Penickova and Kristina Penickova. USTA National Coach Jon Glover is also attending the event. I'm a bit surprised Jordan Lee isn't going; he won a Tennis Europe Category 1 last month, but he is a 2010 birth year, so would be able to compete next year.

Here are some details:

In terms of the 14U Championships, the draw size is the same as last year (16) and we will be continuing with just Singles. Matches will be played from Thursday 13 July – Sunday 16 July, and the players will have the opportunity to practice for three days prior at our Roehampton Grounds.

 

Following a review of the 2022 competition, and the desire by the AELTC to ensure the very best 14&U players compete in the competition, the entry criteria was refined for 2023.

The new hybrid model will see the first eight places offered to top-ranked players in that age category, with the remaining places awarded via a number of qualifying tournaments.

Entry Criteria	Number of places
Top 14&U ranked players	8
Asian grass court tournament, Saga Club, Japan	2
South American grass court tournament Copa Cosat, Brazil	2
Tennis Europe Roehampton, UK	1
Tennis Australia 14u Australian Championships Wodonga Tennis Centre	1
LTA Qualification Tournament LTA Grade 1 East Glos, UK	2

 

Regarding the selection of the top ranked players, the following criteria was taken into consideration (as of March 31):

• WTN Ranking
• UTR Ranking
• Tennis Europe Ranking 
• Results at leading 14&U International Tournaments including Les Petits As, Stockholm, Maia, Orange Bowl
• Any other relevant criteria that the Professional Tennis Committee / 14&U Championships Referee deem fit

 

The Roehampton tournament is being played this week, with results available at the Tennis Europe site.

I'll be covering both the Wimbledon Junior Championships and the Wimbledon U14 tournament in person again this year.

The ITA Kickoff Weekend isn't until the last week of January, but the women's draft took place today, with teams outside the Top 15 deciding six months in advance where they will be traveling for the regionals. I have always loved this concept, where coaches can decide their destination based on travel, facilities and projected strength, but I do wish the draft was held later in the summer or in the fall, when these choices would be based on much more accurate information.  

No. 16 Miami, the highest team not to host a regional and therefore the first team to select a destination, chose No. 14 Tennessee. Knoxville should be a highly competitive regional, with all four teams in the Top 30: Miami, Southern Cal[25] and Vanderbilt[30].

The other two regionals with four Top 30 teams are No. 10 Ohio State, which includes Kansas[23], Arizona State[26] and Notre Dame[28] and No. 8 Iowa State, which has UCLA[18], Oklahoma State[19] and Old Dominion[29].

No. 21 Washington is hosting again, so they are automatically in; No. 54 Boston College and No. 59 Nebraska were eligible but did not participate; No. 47 Syracuse passed.

The final women's draft board can be found here.

The men's Kickoff Weekend draft begins Thursday at noon EDT. The draft order is available here.

Five USTA Pro Circuit Events This Week Across the Country; Chris Hooshyar Takes Over Women's Program at Mississippi State; Iowa State Announces New Facilities

Five USTA Pro Circuit tournaments, three for women and two for men, are underway in each of the four time zones. The most significant, in terms of prize money and points, is the women's $60,000 tournament in Sumter South Carolina, where qualifying was completed today as well as four first round main draw matches.

Americans qualifying for the main draw are 16-year-old Akasha Urhobo, Ava Markham(Wisconsin), Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), Haley Giavara(Cal) and Michigan rising freshman Piper Charney.  NCAA singles finalist Layne Sleeth(Oklahoma) of Canada also reached the main draw.

Wild cards were given to No. 4 seed Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine), Kennedy Shaffer(Georgia), Usue Arconada and 16-year-old Victoria Osuigwe. Arconada has been out for more than a year, having last competed in February of 2022, but she earned a win in her first match back, defeating Jaeda Daniel(NC State) 6-2, 7-5. 

The two top seeds played their first round matches today, with No. 1 Stacey Fung(Washington) of Canada defeating Melany Krywoj(Baylor) of Argentina 6-2, 6-2 and No. 2 Karman Thandi of India beating Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) 6-2, 6-1. Osuigwe defeated Riya Bhatia of India 7-6(3), 6-1, to earn her second win at a $60K this spring. She faces Fung in the second round.

In the central time zone, the men are competing at a $25,000 tournament in Wichita Kansas. 

Seven of the eight qualifiers are Americans, all with collegiate ties: Mac Kiger(North Carolina), Chad Kissell(Valparaiso), Gabrielius Guzazuskas(Illinois), Hunter Heck(Illinois), Axel Nefve(Notre Dame/Florida), Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech) and Pierce Rollins(Texas A&M).

The top seeds are Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) and Aidan McHugh of Great Britain. NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia) returns to competition this week as the No. 5 seed.

Wild cards were given to rising sophomores Alex Bernard(Ohio State) and Sebastian Gorzny(TCU), who play each other in Wednesday's first round. The other two wild cards went to SMU rising senior Adam Neff, who reached the quarterfinals of last week's ATP Challenger in Texas, and Mykhailo Kvantalian of Wichita State.

In the mountain time zone, the women have a $25,000 tournament in Colorado Springs, with Cadence Brace of Canada and Saki Imamura of Japan the top two seeds.

The qualifying isn't complete, but reaching the main draw are Kolie Allen(Ohio State), Ayana Akli(Maryland/South Carolina), Anna Campana(Wake Forest/Pepperdine) and 17-year-old Maya Dutta.

Wild cards were given to Katie Codd(Duke), 16-year-old Taylor Gales and Mia Horvit(South Carolina).

The last two tournaments are $15Ks in the Pacific time zone, with the SoCal Pro Series moving from the University of San Diego last week to the nearby Barnes Tennis Center this week for another joint event. 

NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian(UCLA) of China is finally taking a week off, after reaching the Rancho Santa Fe $15K final the week after her NCAA title and winning last week's $15K at USD.

The top seed in the women's draw is Sara Daavettila(North Carolina), with rising Stanford freshman and 2022 USTA 18s national champion Eleana Yu seeded No. 2.

Wild cards were given to 16-year-old Emily Deming, Elizabeth Goldsmith(San Diego), 14-year-old Julieta Pareja and 2022 USTA 16s champion Alyssa Ahn. Goldsmith drew her teammate Solymar Colling and lost 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in one of the four first round matches played today.

Americans qualifiers include 16-year-olds Kate Fakih and Jessica Bernales, Emily Gelber(Brown), and Taylor Johnson(UCLA/SMU).

Keegan Smith(UCLA) is the top seed in the men's tournament, with Colin Markes(Texas) seeded No. 2. 

Wild card were given to Trevor Svajda, Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine), Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State) and Rohan Murali(Harvard).  Nakashima, a rising freshman, did not play his first round match today, but the other three did and all came away with victories. Svajda, 17, defeated No. 6 seed Enzo Wallart of France 6-2, 6-3, and rising freshman Murali, who, like Svajda, trains with Steve Adamson at Barnes, defeated No. 3 seed Stefan Dostanic(USC).

American qualifiers were Cash Hanzlik(Tyler JC), Alex Kotzen(Columbia), Ron Hohmann(LSU), Andrew Rogers(Tennessee/Pepperdine), Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) Ryan Seggerman(Princeton/UNC) and Warren Wood(Claremont-Mudd-Scripps).

The Mississippi State women's head coaching position was filled yesterday, with Chris Hooyshar joining the Bulldogs from Auburn. Hooyshar was ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2016 with the women's program, then spent the last five years of his decade at Auburn as men's associate head coach under Bobby Reynolds.

Iowa State may have lost its women's coach, with Boomer Saia taking the Clemson job recently, but the program's historic season has led to a commitment to upgrade the tennis facilities in Ames. This quote from Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard sums it up this way:

"It is truly amazing what our women's tennis program has achieved over the last three seasons, especially in light of the fact that we do not have facilities that are comparable to other peer institutions, but we believe that this plan will allow us to build off our recent successes in a financially responsible manner while quickly addressing the program's facility shortcomings," Pollard said.

For details on the new indoor and outdoor facilities, see this release.

Crawley and Spizzirri Named ITA Players of the Year; Conference Awards Now Complete; Three Sweeps, Ten Titles for Americans on ITF Junior Circuit; ATP Feature on Austin Krajicek

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association's National Awards for 2023 were announced today, with North Carolina's Fiona Crawley and Texas's Eliot Spizzirri named Players of the Year.

For more details on each of the award winners, see the ITA articles for men here, and women here.

2023 ITA Women's National Awards:

Wilson Coach of the Year: Brian Kalbas, North Carolina

National Assistant Coach of the Year: Jordan Szabo, Texas A&M
Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship: Natasha Subhash, Virginia
Cissy Leary Sportsmanship: Eryn Cayetano, Southern California
Rookie of the Year: Fangran Tian, UCLA
Most Improved Senior: Anika Yarlagadda, North Carolina
Senior Player of the Year: Chloe Beck, Duke
National Player of the Year: Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

2023 ITA Men's National Awards:

Wilson Coach of the Year: Andres Pedroso, Virginia

Assistant Coach of the Year: Matthew Gordon, Kentucky

Arthur Ashe Leadership: Ryan Fishback, Virginia Tech

Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship: Jonas Ziverts, Arizona

Rookie of the Year: Ethan Quinn, Georgia

Most Improved Senior: James Trotter, Ohio State

Senior Player of the Year: Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

National Player of the Year: Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

The ACC women's conference awards were announced last Friday, more than a month after the release for the ACC men. Now that all Power 5 plus the Ivy League have made their announcements, I've compiled the list of all awards in this Google document.  Links to the releases are included, which will detail the All-conference teams. It's interesting to note that, although Brian Kalbas was named National Coach of the Year, which is customary as the coach of the NCAA team champion, Simon Earnshaw of NC State was given the ACC coach of the year award.

In addition to the Roland Garros girls doubles titles won by Clervie Ngounoue and Tyra Grant Saturday, American juniors claimed ten more titles on the ITF Junior Circuit last week. 

Three players completed sweeps, with the J30 in Mexico City producing four American titles.  Sixteen-year-old Nathan Gold, playing in just his second ITF Junior Circuit tournament, won both boys titles, reaching the final without dropping a set and beating No. 5 seed Santiago Valle-Saenz of Mexico 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Gold partnered with Diego Alvarez Gutierrez of Mexico in doubles, with the unseeded pair also winning all their matches in straight sets. They defeated No. 3 seeds Andres Blum and Alejandro Ochoa of Mexico 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Alba Martinez won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title and second doubles title in Mexico City, with the 16-year-old from Florida, seeded No. 7, beating No. 12 seed Fernanda Martinez Yepez of Mexico 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the final. Martinez and Daniela Chica, seeded No. 4, took the doubles title with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 win over No. 2 seeds Sia Cariov and Valeria Sanchez in the all-American final.

The third sweep came at the J60 in Guatemala, with 17-year-old Sahana Sanjeev taking the singles title as the No. 2 seed. Sanjeev defeated No. 5 seed Aleksandra Kyselova of Ukraine 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 for her second ITF Junior Circuit singles title. She and Kyselova won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Carlota Balseiro and Nina Chavez Vicente of Guatemala 7-5, 6-4 in the final.

Top seed Jordan Reznik won the boys singles title, his second on the ITF Junior Circuit, with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over No. 5 seed Abhinav Chunduru. Reznik didn't drop a set in his five wins. 

MarcosCASTELLANOS(GUA)[3]

Jose Murariu won his fourth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with partner Marcos Castellano of Guatemala. The No. 3 seeds defeated the unseeded pair of Enrique Lana Almeida of Spain and Oswaldo Reyes Tirado of Mexico 6-3, 7-6(11) in the final.

Cornell rising freshman Adhithya Ganesan won the singles title at the J100 in Poland, with the No. 2 seed defeating No. 7 seed Jan Klimas of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 for his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title.

The tenth title was in boys doubles at the J30 in Congo. Seventeen-year-old Juan Carlos Portilla Morales won his first ITF Junior Circuit title with partner Hong Kiu Lau of Hong Kong. The No. 1 seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Yash Bahalkar and Sam Park of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4 in the final. 

With Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) rising to No. 1 in the world in doubles after winning Roland Garros, the ATP website provided this feature on the 2008 Kalamazoo 18s champion and 2011 NCAA doubles champion. I spoke to Krajicek, who turns 33 on Friday, at the 2015 Champaign Challenger, right after he had cracked the Top 100 in singles, for this Tennis Recruiting Network article. It's instructive how much his progress in the rankings, first in singles, then in doubles, followed a similar path of steady improvement as he ticked off his goals one by one.

Tian and Brumm Win San Diego SoCal Pro Series Titles; Moreno De Alboran Claims ATP Challenger in Tyler Texas; Puerto Rico Challenger Qualifying Underway; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Results

Tian competing at NCAA Singles Championships

UCLA rising sophomore Fangran Tian hasn't taken anything resembling a break since winning the NCAA singles title in Lake Nona last month. The 19-year-old from China reached the final of last week's SoCal Pro Series $15K in Rancho Santa Fe, and this week she won the SoCal Pro Series tournament in San Diego, defeating 15-year-old qualifier Aspen Schuman 6-1, 6-2.

Rain in San Diego delayed the start times for the singles several hours, but that didn't bother the unseeded Tian, who ran out to 5-0 leads in both sets. Schuman, who had needed nearly three-and-a-half hours to get past Nikki Redelijk(Pepperdine) in Saturday's semifinal understandably didn't look as energetic as Tian, who had needed only 75 minutes to beat top seed Samantha Crawford 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals,

It's the second career Pro Circuit singles title, with her first coming last fall at a $15K in Champaign Illinois. Tian won the doubles title this week as well, with teammate Kimmi Hance. 

Twenty-four-year-old Jacob Brumm, who played at Cal and Baylor, won his first Pro Circuit singles title this evening in San Diego, defeating Ohio State rising sophomore Jack Anthrop 7-6(5), 6-3 in the final. 

Former UC-Santa Barbara All-American Nicolas Moreno De Alboran won his second career ATP Challenger title today in Tyler  Texas, with the 25-year-old defeating unseeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-7(8), 7-6(0), 6-4 in the three-hour, 12-minute final. Moreno De Alboran, the No. 3 seed, won his first Challenger title last September in Portugal; he has reached two other Challenger finals in the last 16 months, and is now up to a career-high of 142 in the ATP rankings. 

The doubles title in Tyler went to the unseeded Australian team of Alex Bolt and Andrew Harris(Oklahoma), who defeated top seeds Evan King(Michigan) and Reese Stalder(TCU) 6-1, 6-4 in Saturday's final.

Tyler is the last ATP Challenger in the United States until July's tournament in Bloomfield Hills Michigan, although many Americans are now in Puerto Rico for the ATP Challenger 75 Caribbean Open, including Moreno De Alboran, who is the No. 2 seed there. Kei Nishikori is also in the draw as a wild card, although he had been expected to return after a lengthy absence due to injury for several weeks now and hasn't been able to actually take the court. Nishikori's first round opponent is Christian Langmo(Miami).

Americans advancing to Monday's final round of qualifying in Puerto Rico are Evan Zhu(UCLA) Alex Rybakov(TCU), Nick Chappell(TCU), Michael Zheng(Columbia) and Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern). 

Other championships claimed this week for Americans include Hailey Baptiste's title at the $60K ITF women's World Tennis Tour in Italy and Makenna Jones's(UNC) win at the $25K ITF women's World Tennis Tour in Spain. USC rising sophomore Madison Sieg reached the final of the $25K ITF women's World Tennis Tour tournament in Portugal, falling to 2018 NCAA champion Arianne Hartono(Mississippi) of the Netherlands.

The total of American doubles champions at Roland Garros stayed at three, with No. 10 seeds Taylor Townsend and her partner Leylah Fernandez of Canada falling to the unseeded team of Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan and Xinyu Wang of China 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 in today's final. Austin Krajicek won the men's doubles title with Ivan Dodig of Croatia yesterday; Tyra Grant and Clervie Ngounoue won the girls doubles title.

Novak Djokovic won the men's singles title, a record 23rd major (for men), defeating Casper Ruud 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5.

It's been more than three months since I updated the UTR Pro Tennis Tour results from the tournaments in the United States, due to all the junior and college action this spring, but I hope it is useful to see who is making finals, whether juniors, collegians or pros.

I neglected to mention, with all the NCAA team and individual activity last month, the results of the Universal Tennis NIT tournaments. The Liberty men and TCU women won the titles in the inaugural event. For more, including video highlights, see this release from Universal Tennis.

WOMEN:

February 20 Boca Raton FL
Gabriella Broadfoot d. Shannon Lam 6-2, 6-3

March 13 San Antonio TX
Luciana Perry d. Martina Okalova 6-2, 6-0

March 27 Boca Raton FL
Akasha Urhobo d. Gabriella Broadfoot 6-2, 6-0

April 10 Newport Beach CA

Thea Frodin d. Tianmei Wang 2-6, 6-1, 6-4

April 17 Atlanta GA

Victoria Flores d. Maria Genovese 6-2, 6-1

April 24 Boca Raton FL

Gabriella Broadfoot d. Mia Horvit 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4)

May 1 Newport Beach CA

Hanna Chang d. Megan Mccray 6-3, 6-2

May 22 Newport Beach CA

Alina Shcherbinina d. Vivian Ovrootsky 6-2, 6-4

May 29 Bradenton FL

Samantha Crawford d. Gabriella Broadfoot 6-4, 6-1

June 5 Charleston SC

Lara Schneider d. Rhea Verman 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3

MEN:

February 26 Newport Beach CA

Karue Sell d. Trevor Svajda 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5)

March 6 Newport Beach CA

Aidan Mayo d. Maciej Rajski 6-1 ret.

March 13 San Antonio TX

Ilgiz Valiev d. Lucas Brown 6-1, 6-4

March 27 Boca Raton FL

Roberto Cid Subervi d. Alfredo Perez 1-6, 6-2, 6-3

April 10 Atlanta GA

Alexis Gurmendi d. Dhakshineswar Suresh 6-3, 6-3

April 17 Newport Beach CA

Karue Sell d. Maciej Rajski 7-6(0), 7-6(10)

May 1 Boca Raton FL

Juan Carlos Aguilar d. Sekou Bangoura 6-2, 6-2

May 8 Newport Beach CA

Trevor Svajda d. Enrique Luque Rico 6-3, 6-4

May 8 Boca Raton FL

Dmitry Popko d Joao Ceolin 6-4, 6-3

May 22 Bradenton FL

Jamie Connel d. Matthew Segura 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0

May 22 Newport Beach CA

Arda Azkara d. Sema Pankin 6-3, 7-5

June 5 Charleston SC

Peter Bertran d. Geronimo Busleiman 6-3, 7-6(2)