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 website.

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 final 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 junior 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 junior 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 junior 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 junior 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 final 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 final. 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 final. 

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 final 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 final. 

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 final.

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 honor 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.

Four Americans Advance At Roland Garros Junior Championships, Play Again Monday; Sinclair and McCray Win Rancho Santa Fe $15K Titles; Lajal Earns First Challenger Title in Little Rock

Just four of the 12 Americans in action today at the Roland Garros Junior Championships advanced to the second round, with the remaining five US juniors in the main draw playing their first round matches Monday. Today's four winners--No. 2 seed Clervie Ngounoue, No. 9 seed Cooper Williams, qualifier Max Exsted and Australian Open finalist Learner Tien--are also on Monday's schedule, with the draws generally out of sync for juniors at this particular junior slam until the round of 16.

The 16-year-old Exsted earned his first junior slam victory in his first attempt, with No. 11 seed Oliver Ojakaar of Estonia retiring with an injury at 6-3, 6-7(4), 1-0. The 2022 Eddie Herr 16s champion won three qualifying matches and a main draw match at the J500 in Milan, so he is obviously finding the European clay to his liking. 

Williams won a 63-minute first set against Abel Forger of the Netherlands 7-6(9), but then breezed through the second set in 6-1, needing just 37 minutes more for the victory. 

Tien did not play any of the junior clay warmup events, so he came into the tournament needing to adapt quickly, facing No. 13 seed Federico Bondioli of Italy, who won the J500 on clay in Egypt back in February and reached the final of the J500 in Germany in April. The 17-year-old freshman at USC, playing at Roland Garros for the first time, got through in straight sets against his fellow left-hander, although he had to save three break points in the final game of his 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Ngounoue broke open a tight match with French wild card Lucia Pawlak at 3-3 in the first set and cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win.

The marquee match of the day between reigning Australian Open boys champion Alexander Blockx of Belgium and Kyle Kang was tough as expected, with Kang saving two match points with Blockx serving at 5-4, 40-15 in the second set and going on to force a third. But unlike in Kang's win over Blockx in January prior to the Australian Open, this third set was completed and went to Blockx, who recorded a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory.

Eight seeds, four boys and four girls, lost in first round action today, with the highest seed to fall Australian Open semifinalist and No. 4 seed Yi Zhou of China, who was beaten by qualifier Alejo Sanchez Quilez of Spain 6-4, 6-4. No. 6 seed Branko Djuric also lost to a qualifier, with Lorenzo Schiahbasi of Italy avenging his two previous losses to the Serbian in two tiebreakers. Three of the four boys seeds who went out today were beaten by qualifiers.

The four girls seeds who lost were all outside of the Top 8: No. 9 seed Federica Urgesi[9] lost to qualifier to Malak El Allami of Morocco; No. 10 seed Nina Vargova of Slovakia was beaten by French wild card Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaona 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; No. 14 seed Ranah Stoiber of Great Britain lost to 14-year-old Emerson Jones of Australia and No. 16 seed Luciana Moyano of Argentina went out to Francesca Pace of Italy 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Top seed Sarah Saito of Japan advanced over French wild card Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard 6-0, 6-3 and No. 3 seed and Australian Open girls champion Alina Korneeva of Russia saved a match point in her 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 comeback over Ella Seidel of Germany.

Several Americans are seeded in the doubles competition, which begins Monday.  Australian Open champions Williams and Tien, the No. 6 seeds, are the only Americans seeded in the boys draw.

Ngounoue and Tyra Grant are also the No. 6 seeds; Kaitlin Quevedo is a part of the second-seeded team with Japan's Mayu Crossley.

The boys doubles draw is here; the girls doubles draw is here.

Below are today's results for Americans and the matchups for Monday.

Sunday's first round junior results of Americans:

Cooper Williams[9] d. Abel Forger(NED) 7-6(9), 6-1
Hayato Matsuoka(JPN) d. Alexander Razeghi 6-4, 6-4
Maxwell Exsted[Q] d. Oliver Ojakaar[11](EST) 6-3, 6-7(4), 1-0 ret.
Juan Carlos Prado Angelo[8](BOL) d. Kaylan Bigun 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
Fernando Cavallo(ARG) d. Alexander Frusina 6-2, 7-5
Learner Tien d. Federico Bondioli[13](ITA) 6-4, 6-3
Alexander Blockx[2](BEL) d. Kyle Kang 6-4, 5-7, 6-3

Melisa Ercan(TUR) d. Tatum Evans 6-2, 6-3

Astrid Lew Yan Foon[WC](FRA) d. Ariana Pursoo 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 

Cara Maria Mester(ROU) d. Valeria Ray 7-6(5), 6-3

Hayu Kinoshita(JPN) d. Mia Slama 6-3, 6-4 

Clervie Ngounoue[2] d. Lucia Pawlak[WC](FRA) 6-3, 6-1

Monday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Kaitlin Quevedo[4] v Mingge Xu(GBR)

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

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

Roy Horovitz v Yuvan Nandal(IND)

Darwin Blanch v Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez[1](MEX)

Monday's second round junior matches featuring Americans:

Clervie Ngounoue[2] v Hannah Klugman[Q](GBR)

Cooper Williams[9] v Sebastian Eriksson(SWE)

Learner Tien v Andrea M'Chich[WC](FRA)

Maxwell Exsted[Q] v David Fix[Q](GER)

Sloane Stephens lost to No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-6(5), 6-4 today, leaving No. 6 seed Coco Gauff and unseeded Bernarda Pera as the sole Americans still in singles. Pera plays No. 7 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Gauff faces unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia Monday.

Former Oklahoma State star Megan McCray ended the winning streak of NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian of UCLA today in the final of the $15,000 SoCal Pro Series tournament in Rancho Santa Fe. The 27-year-old McCray, seeded No. 2, posted a 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 victory over the 19-year-old from China, who had won ten straight matches in the past two weeks. It's the first USTA Pro Circuit/ITF women's circuit title for McCray.

No. 3 seed Colin Sinclair(Cornell) of the Northern Mariana Islands won the men's title, defeating No. 4 seed Jaimee Angele of France 6-3, 6-2 for his third ITF men's singles title and his first since 2021.

Last night in the men's doubles final, Ohio State sophomore Jack Anthrop and incoming Buckeye freshman Bryce Nakashima claimed the title, with the unseeded team defeating top seeds Aidan McHugh of Great Britain and Keegan Smith(UCLA) 6-1, 6-4. It's the second men's pro circuit title for Nakashima and the first for Anthrop. 

The ATP Challenger 75 in Little Rock concluded today, with 20-year-old Mark Lajal of Estonia earning his first title. If the name sounds familiar, Lajal won the ITF J300 in College Park in 2021. Here's my coverage of his win over Ryan Colby(USC) and of that day's girls final, which saw Brenda Fruhvirtova defeating fellow 14-year-old Mirra Andreeva with the loss of just one game.

In today's Challenger final, his first, Lajal defeated qualifier Beibit Zhukayev of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-5, moving his ATP ranking up to 229. Lajal has played only 17 ATP Challenger matches; to earn a title that quickly is impressive. 

The doubles final was also between two unseeded competitors, with Artem Sitak of New Zealand and JiSung Nam of Korea defeating Canada's Alexis Galarneau(NC State) and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran(UC-Santa Barbara) 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Qualifying is underway at the next USTA Pro Circuit Challenger, another 75 level, this one in Tyler Texas.

Roland Garros Junior 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 Final; 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 junior 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 final. It's the first pro title for Chhiv, while Cayetano now has four, two in singles, two in doubles.

The men's final 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

May Aces; Shelton Leaves Florida, Saia Joins Clemson; Exsted and Grant Qualify for Roland Garros Junior 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 junior rankings, defeated her Milan J500 doubles partner Hephzibah Oluwadare of Great Britain 6-0, 6-1 in today's final 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 final 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 website.  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)

Four Americans Reach Final Round Qualifying at Roland Garros Junior Championships; Schachter and Tian Oust Top Seeds at Rancho Santa Fe $15Ks; 21 Collegiate Men Qualify for ATP Accelerator Program; Six More Americans Advance to Third Round at Roland Garros

Friday's final 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 final, 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 individual 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 program. The criteria for qualification is top 20 in the final 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 program 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)

Final ITA Division I Rankings Put NCAA Team Champions No. 1, but Not Individual Winners; Roland Garros Junior Qualifying Begins Thursday with Six Americans in Draw; Stearns Beats Former Champion to Reach Roland Garros Round Three

The final ITA rankings were released today for team, singles and doubles. As is always the case, the NCAA champions finish No. 1 in the team rankings. Not so in the individual rankings, where none of the four NCAA singles and doubles champions finished No. 1. Below are the Top 16 in the final team rankings, with the Top 15 getting to host the Kickoff Weekend in January for the National Team Indoor Championships. (The men are in New York and the women are in Seattle; with No. 13 Columbia men hosting and therefore getting an automatic bid, No. 16 Mississippi State should get the final host spot). I've listed the Top 20 in singles and Top 10 in doubles because those rankings determined All-American status. It looks as if both 19 and 20 in the men's and women's rankings earned All-American status via the Top 20 final ranking criteria. 

The men's top 20 is significant for the ATP Accelerator Program, which you can read about here. A similar program for women has yet to be implemented by the ITF and WTA.

The full ranking lists can be found here.

D-I Men's Team Top 16:
1. Virginia
2. Ohio State
3. Texas
4. TCU
5. Kentucky
6. Michigan
7. Georgia
8. South Carolina
9. Tennessee
10. Southern California
11. Duke
12. Harvard
13. Columbia
14. North Carolina
15. Arizona
16. Mississippi State

D-I Women Team Top 16:

1, North Carolina

2. Georgia

3. Texas A&M

4. North Carolina State

5. Stanford

6. Michigan

7. Texas

8. Iowa State

9. Pepperdine

10. Ohio State

11. Duke

12. Virginia

13. Oklahoma

14. Tennessee

15. Florida

16. Miami

D-I women's singles Top 20:

1. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. Lea Ma, Georgia

4. Diana Shnaider, NC State

5. Maddy Sieg, Southern California

6. Alexa Noel, Miami

7. Chloe Beck, Duke

8. Fangran Tian, UCLA

9. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

10. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

11. Ayana Akli, South Carolina

12. Daria Frayman, Princeton

13. Anastasiya Komar, LSU

14. Carol Lee, Georgia Tech

15. Layne Sleeth, Oklahoma

16. Alana Smith, NC State

17. Amelia Rajecki, NC State

18. Janice Tjen, Pepperdine

19. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

20. Sara Dahlstrom, Florida

D-I women's doubles Top 10:

1. Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen, Pepperdine

2. Reese Brantmeier/Elizabeth Scotty, North Carolina

3. Carson Tanguilig/Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

4. Kari Miller/Jaedan Brown, Michigan

5. Diana Shnaider/Alana Smith, NC State

6. Julia Adams/Melodie Collard, Virginia

7. Carson Branstine/Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

8. Kylie Collins/Anastasiya Komar, LSU

9. Eryn Cayetano/Maddy Sieg, Southern California

10. Ivana Corley/Carmen Corley, Oklahoma

D-I men's singles Top 20:

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

D-I men's doubles Top 10:

1. Toby Samuel/Connor Thomson, South Carolina

2. Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper, Texas

3. Ethan Quinn/Trent Bryde, Georgia

4. Jake Fearnley/Luc Fomba, TCU

5. Gavin Young/Andrew Fenty, Michigan

6. Andrew Lutschaunig/James Trotter, Ohio State

7. William Grant/Axel Nefve, Florida

8. Pat Harper/Johannus Monday, Tennessee

9. Natan Rodrigues/Fabien Salle, Louisville

10. Ozan Baris/Max Sheldon, Michigan State

Qualifying for the Roland Garros Junior Championships, which begin Sunday June 4, starts Thursday, with six Americans attempting to make the main draw.

Although Tyra Grant is now 32 in the ITF junior rankings, primarily due to her title at the J300 in Santa Croce, she wasn't even accepted into qualifying at Roland Garros prior to the freeze date. She did get into qualifying, however, and she is, of course, the No. 1 seed. The other American girls in qualifying are Anya Murthy, Thea Rabman[5] and Ashton Bowers[6]. Alexia Harmon was accepted into qualifying, but she is still competing at the J300 in Belgium, reaching the singles quarterfinals and the doubles semifinals. She may be eligible for a special exemption entry into the Roland Garros main draw, but with qualifying beginning so early, there are a lot of players in the running for those two spots so it's impossible to predict. Alanis Hamilton, who had been accepted into qualifying, did not play this week in Belgium and is not in the qualifying draw.

The two US boys in the Roland Garros qualifying are Cooper Woestendick[14] and Maxwell Exsted[16]. Charlie Camus of Australia is the No. 1 seed in the boys qualifying.

The ITF Junior Circuit website's Roland Garros preview is here.

2022 NCAA singles (and team) champion Peyton Stearns was a big story in the women's second round today at Roland Garros, with the 21-year-old American defeating 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the no. 17 seed, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. According to No-ad, No-problem's John Parsons, the former Texas Longhorn is the first woman's NCAA champion since Stanford's Debbie Graham in 1991 to make the third round at Roland Garros the year after her title. Today was the first time Stearns had played a Top 20 player (she earned her first Top 50 win in the first round over the Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova); on Friday she will face her first Top 10 opponent in Daria Kasatkina of Russia.

Tennis Channel's Jon Wertheim interviewed Stearns after her win, and when asked how she managed to stay calm in all the chaos, she credited her college tennis experience. The Tennis Channel tweet featuring the brief interview is here.

I interviewed Stearns last fall at the WTA 125 in Midland for the Tennis Recruiting Network. That article can be found here(subscription required for full access.)

Wednesday's second round results of Americans:

Jessica Pegula[3] d. Camila Giorgi(ITA) 6-2, ret.

Peyton Stearns d. Jelena Ostapenko[17](LAT) 6-3, 1-6, 6-2

Sloane Stephens d. Varvara Gracheva(RUS) 6-2, 6-1

Sebastian Ofner[Q](AUT) d. Sebastian Korda[24] 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-4

Thursday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Claire Liu v Iga Swiatek[1](POL)

Kayla Day[Q] v Madison Keys

Bernarda Pera v Donna Vekic[22](CRO)

Coco Gauff[6] v Julia Grabher(AUT)

Emma Navarro[WC] v Bianca Andreescu(CAN)

Lauren Davis v Lesia Tsurenko(UKR)

Frances Tiafoe[12] v Aslan Karatsev[Q](RUS)

Tommy Paul[16] v Nicolas Jarry(CHI)

Marcos Giron v Jiri Lehecka(CZE)

Taylor Fritz[9] v Arthur Rinderknech(FRA)