Pro Circuit Round-up: Strong week for Paul  

Tommy Paul advanced to the semifinals of last week's $75,000 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship in Winnetka, Ill., to take an early lead in the 2017 US Open Wild Card Challenge standings.

The 20-year-old from Boca Raton, Fla., upset No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (7), 7-5, in the second round and dropped only one set on his run to the semifinals, where he fell to No. 5 seed Ramkumar Ramanathan, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

With his performance in Winnetka, Paul moved up 65 spots in the ATP rankings from the previous week and is now at No. 290 in the world. He is also in first place in the US Open Wild Card Challenge, with 29 points, currently 11 points ahead of Martin Redlicki and Dennis Nevolo, who are tied for second place in the standings. The points' leader after the five-week challenge will receive a singles main-draw wild card into the 2017 US Open.

Paul, the 2015 French Open boys' champion, has had an impressive 2017 season, highlighted by winning two USTA Futures titles, in Palm Coast, Fla., in February and Winston-Salem, N.C., in June. He has also reached finals at the Orlando, Fla., and Tulsa, Okla., Futures, as well as the semifinals at the $75,000 Challenger in Savannah, Ga.

Other American highlights from the USTA and ITF Pro Circuits last week include:

• Tennys Sandgren, Nevolo and Redlicki all reached the singles quarterfinals in Winnetka, while Kevin King and Bradley Klahn advanced to the doubles final.
• Ray Sarmiento reached the singles quarterfinals at the ATP $75,000 Challenger in Winnipeg, Canada.
• Caroline Dolehide won the singles title and finished runner-up in doubles at the $25,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Winnipeg. Nicole Gibbs reached the semifinals, and Alexandra Mueller advanced to the quarterfinals at the tournamen, as well.
• Quinn Gleason won the doubles title at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Knokke, Belgium.
• Dasha Ivanova took home the doubles title at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Amstelveen, Netherlands.