Friday's Daily News 'n Notes: Mercer Tennis Classic; Scoreboard; Falcons Report; State College FB Report, and more

October 26, 2019 Central Georgia Sports Report

Friday’s Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

State softball championship day is here

Mercer hosts the GISA state softball finals, with three Central Georgia teams in action starting Saturday morning.

And it’s Championship Saturday in Columbus with the GHSA teams, Mount de Sales off a huge walkoff after midnight. The Cavs, Tattnall, Jones County, and Lamar County remain alive, all but Mount de Sales in the loser’s bracket.

In The Latest Coverage, with updates throughout the day and night.

Football, football, football

In The Latest Coverage is Central Georgia’s most comprehensive high school football coverage, with updates coming Saturday morning.

Americans dominating down the stretch in the Mercer Tennis Classic

Thursday’s action pretty much assured that an American would win the Mercer Tennis Classic.

Seven of the eight matches were won by players from the U.S., and four Americans won in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Third seed Stefanie Voegele of SUI was the lone holdout, and she lost 6-1, 6-2 to Danielle Lao. Along the way, all the seeds have been eliminated, with No. 2 Whitney Osuigwe also losing on Friday, 6-1, 6-3 to Grace Min.

Shelby Rogers knocked off Coco Vandeweghe 6-0, 6-0, and Katerina Stewart got past Irina Falconi 6-4, 7-6 (2).

Usue Maitane Arconada and Caroline Dolehide will face Jaimee Fourlis and Valentini Grammatikopoulou in the doubles finals. Top seed Johanna Larsson and Mandy Minella were ditched in the second round.

The doubles final is at 10 a.m. Saturday, with one singles semifinal at 12:30 p.m. and the other semi to follow.

The tournament is in its seventh year, making it the longest-running in Georgia, and the $80,000 prize money makes it the second-most lucrative in the state. It’s a qualifier for the Australian Open as well as a major chance for players to get WTA points.

The semifinals and finals will be televised live on The Tennis Channel.

Friday

Singles

Shelby ROGERS (USA) def. Coco VANDEWEGHE (USA) 6-0 6-0

Grace MIN (USA) def. Whitney OSUIGWE (USA) [2] 6-1 6-3

Katerina STEWART (USA) def. Irina FALCONI (USA) 6-4 7-6(2)

Danielle LAO (USA) def. Stefanie VOEGELE (SUI) [3] 6-1 6-2

Doubles

Usue Maitane ARCONADA (USA) / Caroline DOLEHIDE def. Suzan LAMENS (NED) / Marina MELNIKOVA (RUS) 6-2 7-5

Jaimee FOURLIS (AUS) / Valentini GRAMMATIKOPOULOU def. Alexandra MUELLER (USA) / Sophia WHITTLE (USA) 6-3 5-7 [10-8]

Scoreboard

College