Four Americans Reach Final Round Qualifying At Roland Garros Bau Kencur Championships; Schachter And Tian Oust Top Seeds At Rancho Santa Fe $15Ks; 21 Collegiate Men Qualify For Atp Accelerator Acara; Six More Americans Advance To Third Round At Roland Garros

Friday's simpulan round of qualifying for the Roland Garros Junior Championships will feature four Americans; top seed Tyra Grant, No. 6 seed Ashton Bowers, No. 14 seed Cooper Woestendick and No. 16 seed Maxwell Exsted.

Grant didn't drop a game in getting past wild card Eva Marie Desvignes of France, while Bowers cruised past another French wild card, Zlata Baranusz, 6-1, 6-0. Thea Rabman[5] and Anya Murthy lost their first round qualifying matches today.

Woestendick defeated wild card Felix Balshaw of France 6-0, 6-2 and Exsted beat Zoran Ludoski of Serbia 6-4, 6-2.  Woestendick and Exsted are the only two US boys in qualifying. 

Live scoring is available at Tennis Ticker.

Alexia Harmon lost her quarterfinal singles match today at the J300 in Belgium, but she and Valeria Ray, the No. 4 seeds, advanced to the girls doubles selesai, where they'll play unseeded Mia Slama and the Netherlands' Rose Marie Nijkamp. Ray and Slama are in the main draw at Roland Garros; Harmon is hoping for a special exemption to reach the main draw.

Live scores are available at Tennis Ticker.

The top two seeds were eliminated in the second round of the $15,000 men's and women's SoCal Pro Series tournaments in Rancho Santa Fe.  Although USC's Eryn Cayetano was the top seed, it isn't really a surprise that she lost to unseeded Fangran Tian of China, who won the NCAA women's singles title Saturday in Lake Nona. Tian is obviously the in-form player, given her series of straight-sets victories last week, and she took out Cayetano 6-3, 6-2.  Stanford rising freshman Katherine Hui, who defeated No. 4 seed Carolyn Ansari(Auburn) in the first round, advanced to her third $15K quarterfinal with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Madison Bourguignon today.

Qualifier Noah Schachter's two-and-a-half hour 6-3, 7-6(4) win over No. 1 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain was arguably more unexpected, although the Texas A&M fifth-year has played at the top of the Aggies lineup for several years and was injured prior to the NCAA perorangan championships, where he lost in the second round. Ohio State rising sophomore Jack Anthrop is also through to the quarterfinals, after defeating Pepperdine rising freshman and No. 8 seed Edward Winter of Australia 6-3, 6-2.

More attention than usual is directed at this $15K due to the men's doubles draw, which features James Blake, who is teaming up with Stanford rising freshman Hudson Rivera in doubles. The wild card pairing defeated No. 3 seeds Schachter and Trey Hilderbrand(UCF/Texas A&M) 6-4, 1-6, 10-7 last night in the first round; they play Anthrop and rising Ohio State freshman Bryce Nakashima in the quarterfinals later tonight.  For more on their win last night, see this article from Steve Pratt.

The ITA today released a confirmation of the Division I men's players who have qualified for the ATP's new Accelerator acara. The criteria for qualification is top 20 in the akhir ITA rankings or reaching the NCAA singles quarterfinals. The only player who advanced to the quarterfinals but did not make the Top 20 rankings is Ohio State freshman Alexander Bernard. As I mentioned last night, there is currently no comparable acara for collegiate women.

The 21 players eligible for the ATP Accelerator program:

1. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

2. Ethan Quinn, Georgia
3. Arthur Fery, Stanford
4. Ondrej Styler, Michigan
5. Chris Rodesch, Virginia
6. Johannus Monday, Tennessee
7. Melios Efstathiou, Wake Forest
8. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State
9. Andres Martin, Georgia Tech
10. Toby Samuel, South Carolina
11. Liam Draxl, Kentucky
12. Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State
13. Murphy Cassone, Arizona State
14. Andrew Fenty, Michigan
15. Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame
16. Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford
17. Connor Thomson, South Carolina
18. Garrett Johns, Duke
19. Jake Fearnley, TCU
20. Alafia Ayeni, Kentucky
21. Alexander Bernard, Ohio State

Six more Americans advanced to the third round at Roland Garros with wins today, with qualifier Kayla Day and Bernarda Pera pulling off upsets. Day defeated No. 20 seed Madison Keys 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and Pera took out No. 22 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen spoke with Day about all her setbacks in the past seven years, with injuries and the pandemic stalling the progress so many expected after she won the USTA 18s title, a round in the US Open main draw and the US Open girls title in 2016. Day is into the third round of a major for the first time, where she'll face unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia.

Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia continues her mastery of the WTA competition, defeating French wild card and 2019 ITF World Junior Champion Diane Parry 6-1, 6-2. She will play Coco Gauff in the third round Saturday.

Thursday's second round results of Americans:

Iga Swiatek[1](POL) d. Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0

Kayla Day[Q] d. Madison Keys[20] 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

Bernarda Pera d. Donna Vekic[22](CRO) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

Coco Gauff[6] d. Julia Grabher(AUT) 6-2, 6-3

Bianca Andreescu(CAN) d. Emma Navarro[WC] 6-1, 6-4

Lesia Tsurenko(UKR) d. Lauren Davis 6-3, 1-0 ret.

Frances Tiafoe[12] d. Aslan Karatsev[Q](RUS) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2

Nicolas Jarry(CHI) d. Tommy Paul[16] 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 

Marcos Giron d. Jiri Lehecka(CZE) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2

Taylor Fritz[9] d. Arthur Rinderknech(FRA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

Friday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Jessica Pegula[3] v Elise Mertens[28](BEL)

Peyton Stearns v Daria Kasatkina[9](RUS)

Sloane Stephens v Yulia Putintseva(KAZ)

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May Aces; Shelton Leaves Florida, Saia Joins Clemson; Exsted And Grant Qualify For Roland Garros Bau Kencur Championships; Stephens Reaches Fourth Round

May always seems overloaded with tennis, with the NCAA championships in the spotlight throughout the month, while the ITF Junior Circuit's big clay season gets underway in Europe. My monthly Aces column at the Tennis Recruiting Network features 18 of the top performances by current and former college players, as well as multiple titles by top juniors.

Yesterday's big news in Division I college tennis was the announcement that Boomer Saia would be leaving Iowa State to take the position of head coach for the Clemson women's program. In his five years in Ames, Saia took the Iowa State program from the bottom of the Big 12 to the NCAA team quarterfinals, amassing an untold number of firsts for the program. It's always a little bittersweet to see this, as you would hope that any Power Five school would have the resources to keep an outstanding coach, but sadly, that's not always the case, with Clemson's new(less than two years on the job) athletic director obviously willing and able to offer more support to its tennis programs. 

As significant a story as Saia's hiring at Clemson is, today's announcement that Bryan Shelton would be leaving his position as men's head coach at Florida is another level of bombshell. Shelton, who won the 2007 NCAA women's team championship while coaching the Georgia Tech women, took over the Florida job in 2012 and with the Florida men's first NCAA team title in 2021, became the first head coach to win both the women's and men's team titles.  

Shelton will accompanying his son Ben, the 2022 NCAA singles champion, on the ATP Tour, so he will still be coaching, just not a team. College tennis will not be the same without him, but the ATP Tour has gained a great addition to its coaching ranks.

The qualifying for the Roland Garros Junior Championships concluded today, with two Americans reaching the main draw.

Tyra Grant, who was the top seed in qualifying, had no difficulty earning her spot. The 15-year-old, who is currently No. 32 in the ITF bau kencur rankings, defeated her Milan J500 doubles partner Hephzibah Oluwadare of Great Britain 6-0, 6-1 in today's simpulan round of qualifying. Grant lost only one game in her two matches.

Maxwell Exsted, who won three qualifying matches and earned a main draw win in Milan, also reached the main draw in Paris, defeating No. 5 seed Aryan Shah of India 6-3, 6-3.

No. 6 seed Ashton Bowers was beaten 6-1, 6-1 by Mia Ristic of Serbia, who, with a WTA ranking of 425, just missed the WTA Top 400 cutoff for main draw entry. 

Cooper Woestendick lost his simpulan round qualifying match 6-2, 6-0 to Hoyoung Roh of Korea.

The draws are not yet out; with the tournament beginning Sunday, the draws should be available Saturday, as should the order of play, at the Roland Garros situs web.  Iva Jovic, who would have been seeded, withdrew with an injury last week.

At the J300 Astrid Bowl warmup in Belgium, No. 4 seeds Valeria Ray and Alexia Harmon took the girls doubles title today, defeating unseeded Mia Slama and Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-1. 

Sloane Stephens was the only American to win her third round match today at Roland Garros; six more will try to join her by winning their third round matches Saturday. Below are today's results and Saturday's matchups. This is the third year in a row that Stephens has advanced to the fourth round; she reached the quarterfinals last year.

Friday's third round results of Americans:

Elise Mertens[28](BEL) d. Jessica Pegula[3] 6-1, 6-3

Daria Kasatkina[9](RUS) d. Peyton Stearns 6-0, 6-1 

Sloane Stephens d. Yulia Putintseva(KAZ) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

Saturday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[6] v Mirra Andreeva[Q](RUS)

Kayla Day[Q] v Anna Karolina Schmiedlova(SVK)

Bernarda Pera v Elisabetta Cocciaretto(ITA)

Taylor Fritz[9] v Francisco Cerundolo[23](ARG)

Frances Tiafoe[12] v Alexander Zverev[22](GER)

Marcos Giron v Nicolas Jarry(CHI)

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Roland Garros Anabawang Championships Begin Sunday With 12 Americans In Action; Blanch And Kang Draw No. 1 And No. 2 Seeds; Ncaa Champion Tian Reaches Rancho Santa Fe $15K Akhir; Three Us Women, No Us Men Make Second Week At Roland Garros

The Roland Garros Junior Championships begin Sunday with 12 of the 17 Americans in first round singles action.

Three-quarters of the 64 singles matches are on Sunday's schedule, including one must-see match in the boys draw: No. 2 seed and reigning Australian Open boys champion Alexander Blockx of Belgium against Stanford rising freshman Kyle Kang.

Kang, who reached a men's ITF World Tennis Tour $25K semifinal last week, received entry into the main draw by virtue of his ATP ranking inside the Top 750, but didn't have a ranking high enough to get seeded by the ITF formula, unlike Dino Prizmic of Croatia, who, due to his ATP ranking of 293, was awarded the No. 3 seed.

Kang leads his head-to-head with Blockx 1-0, beating him 4-6, 6-3, 4-1 ret. in the second round of this year's J300 in Traralgon, the warmup to the Australian Open. 

Although it is not on Sunday's schedule, top seed Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico has drawn another tough American in 15-year-old Darwin Blanch. Blanch, the reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion, reached the semifinals of a ITF WTT men's $15K in Spain in April, while Pacheco Mendez has picked up a couple of wins at ATP Challengers in Mexico this spring.

ITF J300 Astrid Bowl doubles champion Alexia Harmon did make the main draw by way of a special exemption, as did Wakana Sonobe of Japan, who won the singles title today in Belgium. Sonobe, the No. 8 seed, defeated Elizara Yaneva of Bulgaria 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The boys champion is unseeded 15-year-old Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands, who is not in the draw at Roland Garros, as his ITF anabawang ranking of 89 left him outside the qualifying acceptances, thus making him ineligible for a special exemption. Rottgering defeated No. 15 seed Lasse Poertner of Germany, also not competing at Roland Garros, 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match.

Below are the first round matchups for all 17 Americans in the draw, with the asterisks denoting those playing Sunday:

Darwin Blanch v Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez[1](MEX)
*Cooper Williams[9] v Abel Forger(NED)
*Alexander Razeghi v Hayato Matsuoka(JPN)
*Maxwell Exsted[Q] v Oliver Ojakaar[11](EST)
*Kaylan Bigun v Juan Carlos Prado Angelo[8](BOL)
*Alexander Frusina v Fernando Cavallo(ARG)
Roy Horovitz v Yuvan Nandal(IND)
*Learner Tien v Federico Bondioli[13](ITA)
*Kyle Kang v Alexander Blockx[2](BEL)

*Tatum Evans v Melisa Ercan(TUR)

*Ariana Pursoo v Astrid Lew Yan Foon[WC](FRA)

Kaitlin Quevedo[4] v Mingge Xu(GBR)

Tyra Grant[Q] v Renata Jamrichova[7](SVK)

*Valeria Ray v Cara Maria Mester(ROU)

*Mia Slama v Hayu Kinoshita(JPN)

Alexia Harmon[SE] v Tamara Kostic[Q](AUT)

*Clervie Ngounoue[2] v Lucia Pawlak[WC](FRA)

*first round Sunday

Live scoring is available at the Roland Garros website.

The singles finals are set at the SoCal Pro Series men's and women's $15,000 tournament in Rancho Santa Fe. To anyone who watched her play last week in Lake Nona, it's no surprise that NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian is one of the finalists, despite not being seeded. Tian defeated No. 3 seed Solymar Colling(San Diego) 6-2, 7-6(1) today to run her winning streak to 10 matches, all earned without the loss of a set. The 19-year-old from China, a rising sophomore at UCLA, will face No. 2 seed Megan McCray(Oklahoma State), who beat No. 7 seed Haley Giavara(Cal) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

The women's doubles title went to No. 4 seeds Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Princeton rising freshman Isabella Chhiv, who defeated the unseeded team of McCray and Brandy Walker 6-4, 6-3 in the selesai. It's the first pro title for Chhiv, while Cayetano now has four, two in singles, two in doubles.

The men's simpulan will feature No. 3 seed Colin Sinclair(Cornell) of the Northern Mariana Islands and No. 4 seed Jaimee Angele of France. Sinclair defeated qualifier Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) 6-3, 7-5, while Angele beat No. 6 seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. 

Cracked Racquets is providing semifinal and final round coverage of all seven weeks of the SoCal Pro Series via their YouTube Channel.

The last three US men were eliminated from Roland Garros in today's third round action, with both Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe falling to lower seeds.

The news was better for women, with Coco Gauff getting past fellow teenager Mirra Andreeva and 28-year-old Bernard Pera reaching the second week of a slam for the first time. They join Sloane Stephens, who plays No. 2 seed and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus Sunday.

Saturday's third round results of Americans:

Coco Gauff[6] d. Mirra Andreeva[Q](RUS) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova(SVK) d. Kayla Day[Q] 6-1, 6-3 

Bernarda Pera d. Elisabetta Cocciaretto(ITA) 6-4, 7-6(2)

Francisco Cerundolo[23](ARG) d. Taylor Fritz[9] 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5

Alexander Zverev[22](GER) d. Frances Tiafoe[12] 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 7-6(5)

Nicolas Jarry(CHI) d. Marcos Giron 6-2, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3

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Blanch Ousts Itf No. 1 Pacheco Mendez At Roland Garros, Girls Top Seed Saito Also Out; Gauff Through To Women's Quarterfinals; Stanford Tops Women's Recruiting Class Rankings; Oyebog Wins Itf J100; Panam J300 Moves To Texas In September; Ita All Americans

Fifteen-year-old Darwin Blanch was the news of the day Monday at the Roland Garros Junior Championships, with the reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion defeating ITF World No. 1 and top seed Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico 6-2, 7-5. 

Blanch, who had eight aces, dropped serve just once, right after he had broken Pacheco Mendez to go up 2-1.  He then saved the second and third break points he faced in the match in his next two service games. Serving from behind, Blanch held for 5-all after a two-deuce game, then broke his fellow left-hander for the fourth time to take a 6-5 lead. Finishing off an upset of that magnitude is never easy, but Blanch went up 40-0, didn't convert his first match point, but took the second, recording his second junior slam singles victory.

For an interview with Blanch after his victory, see this article from the ITF Junior situs web.

Just a few minutes after the boys No. 1 went out, girls top seed Sarah Saito of Japan was beaten by Melisa Ercan of Turkey 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 in a second round match. 

No. 2 seed Clervie Ngounoue had all she could handle from 14-year-old qualifier Hannah Klugman of Great Britain, who fought back from 5-2 down in the second set, only to lose her serve at 5-all, with Ngounoue closing out a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory. Ngounoue will play unseeded Iva Ivanova of Bulgaria in the round of 16 Wednesday.

No. 4 seed Kaitlin Quevedo got off to a slow start against Mingge Xu of Great Britain, but she bounced back to earn a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. 

No. 9 seed Cooper Williams breezed into the third round witha  6-3, 6-1 win over ITF J500 Offenbach champion Sebastian Eriksson of Sweden. Williams will play qualifier Lorenzo Schiahbasi of Italy for a spot in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

Learner Tien made it three Americans in the round of 16 so far, with the 17-year-old Californian defeating wild card Andrea M'Chich of France 7-6(3), 6-3. That sets up a 2023 Australian Open boys simpulan rematch with Alexander Blockx of Belgium, the No. 2 seed, who dropped just one game to Reda Bennani of Morocco. Blockx defeated Tien 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(9) in Melbourne.

Roy Horovitz won his first anabawang slam match today, with the 16-year-old defeating Yuvan Nandal of India 6-1, 6-3.

Blanch, Quevedo and Horovitz will attempt to join Williams, Tien and Ngounoue in the third round with wins Tuesday.

Monday's first round anabawang results of Americans:

Kaitlin Quevedo[4] d. Mingge Xu(GBR) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Renata Jamrichova[7](SVK) d. Tyra Grant[Q] 6-4, 6-4
Tamara Kostic[Q](AUT) d. Alexia Harmon[SE] 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-5

Roy Horovitz d. Yuvan Nandal(IND) 6-1, 6-3

Darwin Blanch d. Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez[1](MEX) 6-2, 7-5

Monday's second round bau kencur results of Americans:

Clervie Ngounoue[2] d. Hannah Klugman[Q](GBR) 7-6(5), 7-5

Cooper Williams[9] d. Sebastian Eriksson(SWE) 6-3, 6-1

Learner Tien d. Andrea M'Chich[WC](FRA) 7-6(3), 6-3

David Fix[Q] (GER) d. Maxwell Exsted[Q] 6-3, 6-4 

Tuesday's second round bau kencur matches featuring Americans:

Kaitlin Quevedo[4] v Rebecca Munk Mortensen(DEN)

Darwin Blanch v Antoine Ghibaudo(FRA)

Roy Horovitz v Joao Fonseca[10](BRA)

Coco Gauff is the last American remaining in men's or women's singles at Roland Garros, with the No. 6 seed defeating unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 7-5, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. That win sets up a rematch of the 2022 selesai with top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland; Swiatek won 6-1, 6-3 last year. Bernarda Pera lost to No. 7 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-3, 6-1 in today's fourth round.

The Tennis Recruiting Network's women's final 2023 recruiting class rankings were released today, with Stanford No. 1, followed by Central Florida, Vanderbilt, Georgia and NC State. Five different schools received first place votes, which made for a tightly packed Top 5. Six through 10, in order, are Harvard, Oklahoma, Arizona State, Princeton and Ohio State.

The complete list of the Top 25, with notes on the long history of the rankings, can be found here.

In addition to the girls doubles title at the J300 Astrid Bowl by Alexia Harmon and Valeria Ray, nine additional titles were claimed by Americans last week on the ITF Junior Circuit. 

Two of those nine came at the J100 in Calgary Canada, with No. 8 seed Joseph Oyebog earning the singles title with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win over unseeded Maximus Dussault in an all-American selesai. Kase Schinnerer won the boys doubles title, with Canadian partner Stephane Pierre-Jo Kamendje. The No. 3 seeds defeated top seeds Danny Bao and Connor Church of Canada 6-2, 6-3 in the akhir. 

At the J60 in Turkey, 16-year-old Amina Salibayeva won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the top seed defeating No. 5 seed Anastasiia Kochelaevskaia of Russia 6-1, 6-4 in the final. 

Two doubles titles were collected at the J60 in El Salvador: No. 4 seeds Sophia Cedeno and Valerie Gomez won the girls doubles title, beating No. 3 seed Diva Bhatia of India and Hanne Estrada of Mexico 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 in the selesai and top seeds Abhinav and Prathinav Chunduru won the boys doubles title, defeating unseeded Jacob Lee and Holland Snell 6-4, 6-4 in an all-US final. It's the third ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for the 16-year-old twins.

US players took all four titles at the J30 in the Cayman Islands, with Jon Gamble sweeping the boys titles. The 15-year-old from Las Vegas, seeded No. 4, won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over unseeded Gordan Gallagher, also from the United States. Gamble won his second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title with Canadian partner Matthew Cizmarik. The No. 2 seeds beat No. 1 seeds Michael Fernandez and Hong Kong's Dui Chi Antonio Lee 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 in the selesai. 

The girls singles title went to No. 4 seed Emma Prisaca, who defeated unseeded Abigail Gordon 6-3, 6-1 in the final. It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for the 15-year-old from Virginia.  Emery Martin and Welles Newman won the girls doubles title, with the unseeded pair beating No. 2 seeds Gordon and Ireland O'Brien 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 in the akhir.

The ITF J300 Pan American Closed, originally showing on the USTA Junior Calendar as taking place in Memphis in October this year, has been repositioned for 2023. The tournament, which was hosted from 2019-2022 (with no tournament held in 2020) indoors at the Top Seed Tennis Club in Nicholasville Kentucky, will be outdoors at the Giammalva Racquet Club in Houston September 18-23. This is just one week after the conclusion of the US Open Junior Championships, meaning it is now scheduled two or three weeks earlier than is customary for this event, held for many years in Tulsa Oklahoma.

The ITA made the official announcement on All-American status for 2023 today. Although the criteria is transparent and is known by everyone when the accomplishment is earned, it is certainly an gaji that deserves a formal release. I know I refer to past lists often for my Tennis Recruiting Network Aces column, which regularly features many former collegians who reached that top tier before tasting professional success. The men's 2023 All-American list is here; the women's 2023 All-American list is here.

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