Jovic Among 15 Americans in Roland Garros Junior Acceptances; Wild Cards Clarke and Nguyen Post Upsets at W35 Boca Raton; Six US Junior Boys Competing at M15 in Orange Park; Jovic and Nava Lead USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Race Heading into Final Week

photo credit: Armand Khoury via unsplash.com 

Acceptances for the 2025 Roland Garros Junior Championships were announced today, and, as usual, the fields are strong.

WTA 141 Iva Jovic has entered, although she also entered the Australian Open Junior Championships this year, but later withdrew after playing two matches in the women's draw as a wild card. Now leading the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge (see below), the 17-year-old could be in a similar position in Paris.

Jovic, No. 5 in the ITF junior rankings, is one of seven Top 10 juniors in the field, which features all of the Top 5: No. 1 Emerson Jones of Australia; No. 2 and Australian Open champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan, who, like Jovic, won a ITF Women's World Tennis Tour W100 title last week; No. 3 Kristina Penickova. the AO girls finalist; No. 4 Jeline Vandromme of Belgium, and Jovic.

The top 10 juniors missing are No. 6 Tyra Grant, No. 8 and US Open girls champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain, and No. 10 Laura Samson of the Czech Republic. 

Other notable absences include, as expected, No. 16 Renata Jamrichova, who won Australia and Wimbledon junior titles last year, and 2024 Roland Garros girls champion, No. 39 Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic. No. 17 Mimi Xu of Great Britain is also not on the entry list.

American girls who received entry into the main draw are Penickova, Jovic, Annika Penickova, Thea Frodin, Julieta Pareja and Maya Iyengar.

The cutoff for the main draw for the girls was 51. Pietra Rivoli of Brazil, ranked 117, is in the main draw via a regional wild card competition held by the French Tennis Federation; this is the first year the ITF is publishing these wild cards as entrants in the initial acceptance list.

Six more US girls are in qualifying, Leena Friedman, Capucine Jauffret, Kaitlyn Rolls, Ishika Ashar, Ava Rodriguez and Nancy Lee. The cutoff for qualifying was 114. Jahnie Van Zyl of South Africa received a spot in qualifying as a regional representative, which requires a ranking in the top 150 for a region that has no other representation in the draw.

The boys draw is unbelievably strong, with only one of the ITF's Top 43 players not entered: No. 6 Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic.

There are three boys who received regional entry spots, which require a Top 80 ITF junior ranking: Morocco's Karim Bennani (Africa), Australia's Ty Host (Oceania) and Puerto Rico's Yannik Alvarez( Central America and Caribbean). Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil is the boys wild card from the competition sponsored by the French federation. Cruz Hewitt, Lleyton Hewitt's son, missed out on the Oceania wild card by one spot; Host is ranked 51 and Hewitt 52.

With the main draw cutoff 43, Ryan Cozad at 44 is the first player out, with Max Dussault third out and Ronit Karki fourth out. Other American boys in qualifying are Matisse Farzam, Lachlan Gaskell, Gavin Goode, Roshan Santhosh, Nischal Spurling and Michael Antonius. 

The qualifying cutoff for the boys was 104. India's Manas Dhamne, who has played only ITF and ATP men's tournaments this year, was accepted into qualifying based on his ATP ranking of 760.

The USTA Pro Circuit has two women's events this week, and with the green clay ATP Challenger Circuit in the US now complete, just one M15 for men.

The M15 in Orange Park Florida features six American junior boys, three receiving wild cards and three receiving entry via the ITF junior reserved program.

Wild cards were given to Keaton Hance, who reached the quarterfinals of last week's M15 in Vero Beach, ITF J300 San Diego champion Jack Satterfield and Maximus Dussault. Satterfield play his first round match today, falling to No. 2 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) 6-2, 6-3; Dussault lost his opening match to No. 4 seed Cannon Kinglsey 6-3, 6-2.  Hance will play the fourth wild card, Matthew Segura, on Wednesday.

Jack Kennedy, Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth are the three US juniors who received junior reserved spots, with their first round matches all scheduled for Wednesday. Kennedy, a quarterfinalist last week in Vero Beach, faces Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech), Willwerth takes on No. 5 seed Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) and Johnston plays qualifier Maxwell Benson(Presbyterian).

Garrett Johns(Duke) is the top seed in Orange Park.

Americans qualifying today are Benson, Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor), Dakotah Bobo(LSU, Southern Miss), Adam Lynch(Barry) and Evan Bynoe.

At the W35 in Boca Raton Florida, wild cards Zaire Clarke and Alexis Nguyen won their opening matches today. The 15-year-old Clarke, who won the ITF J100 last week in Delray Beach and reached the second round of the W50 in Zephyrhills the week before that, defeated No. 2 seed Kayla Day, who was returning to competition for the first time since last October, 7-6(7), 6-3.

The 17-year-old Nguyen, who reached the quarterfinals of the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina last week, defeated WTA 489 Haruna Arakawa 6-2, 6-4. Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin and 17-year-old Monika Ekstrand received the other wild cards and they will play their first round matches Wednesday.

Despina Papamichail of Greece is the top seed.

Americans qualifying into the main draw today are Emily De Oliveira(Florida), Dasha Ivanova, Rhiann Newborn(Syracuse, Baylor), Brandy Walker(Northern Arizona), Ole Miss recruit Allie Bittner and Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M). 

Only one of the four first round matches at the W100 in Bonita Springs were completed today, with the others pushed into Wednesday. But the final qualifying round did finish, with Alan Smith(NC State) and Haley Giavara(Cal) the two Americans to reach the main draw.

Iva Jovic, who leads the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge after her title Sunday in Charlottesville, is the top seed, with Arina Rodionova of Australia the No. 2 seed. 

Jovic plays wild card Caty McNally in the first round; McNally is in third place in the standings, with this the final week, so McNally obviously needs to win that to have any chance of catching Jovic. The two played in the second round in Charlottesville last week, with Jovic winning 6-1, 6-1.

Eighteen-year-old Akasha Urhobo was up a set on Rodionova when their match was suspended for the day.

In addition to McNally, wild cards were given to Tori Osuigwe, who lost today to Elvina Kalieva, Claire Liu and Isabella Barrera Aguirre.

The Roland Garros wild card standings were released today are are shown below.

Women's Standings: 

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Iva Jovic (141) -- 130
2. Julieta Pareja (335) -- 116
3. Caty McNally (287) -- 102
4. Louisa Chirico (151) -- 79
5. Varvara Lepchenko (120) -- 70

 

Men's Standings:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Emilio Nava (132) -- 119
2. Ethan Quinn (119) -- 100
3. Colton Smith (161) -- 63
4. Chris Eubanks (108) -- 50
5. Eliot Spizzirri (125) -- 44

Emilio Nava, who is not playing this week, is close to clinching, with only a title for Nishesh Basavareddy at the ATP Challenger 175 in France able to keep him from the wild card. Quinn withdrew from the Challenger 175 in Portugal today, ending his chance to catch Nava.

McNally and Varvara Lepchenko, who is playing a WTA 125 in France this week, are still in contention, as is Whitney Osuigwe, who is the No. 4 seed this week and in the opposite half from Jovic and McNally.

Wake Forest Men, Georgia Women Top Seeds with NCAA D-I Team Championships Brackets Released; More American Titles on ITF Junior Circuit Last Week

The NCAA Division I fields are set with the selection shows revealing the draws for this weekend's regionals at 16 men's and 16 women's sites across the country. These shows used to be must-see, with unanswered questions on who would host and how the seeds would shake out, but Chris Halioris at collegetennisranks.com has taken all the drama out of the reveal with his programming to project the fields and the seeds. For the second straight year, he correctly predicted all 16 men's and women's seeds, in order, with the only thing left to learn is who would be traveling to play in those 32 regionals. That has now been answered; click on the headings to go to the draws.

The Division I top 16 seeds:

MEN:
1. Wake Forest
2. TCU
3. Texas
4. Stanford
5. Ohio State
6. San Diego
7. Virginia
8. Columbia
9. NC State
10. Arizona
11. Cal
12. Mississippi State
13. South Carolina
14. Tennessee
15. Central Florida
16. Texas A&M

The formula the NCAA committee uses and does not deviate from moved fourth-ranked Virginia down to 7, allowed No. 18 Texas A&M, who lost in their first match (the quarterfinals) of the SEC tournament, to move ahead of No. 16 UCLA, who won the Big Ten tournament title, and had No. 9 Columbia supplant NC State for the No. 8 spot. That is critical in that the top 8 will also host the Super Regional round of 16 matches next weekend.

I don't mind the head-to-head criteria, which is how Columbia overtook NC State, but the two other parts of the formula that look at record vs common opponents and Top 50 wins are not really indicative of anything that isn't in the ranking or the head-to-head. Giving greater weight to more recent results would certainly help get a better picture in these cases when so little appears to separate one team from another in the rankings.

So No. 11 seed Cal ends up being a draw loser, with UCLA coming to Berkeley after winning the Big Ten title and having a loss to Cal back in February to avenge. Texas A&M gets a tough Baylor team, but it would have been more fitting if UCLA was sent to College Station to decide who should have been the No. 16 seed on the court.

WOMEN:

1. Georgia

2. Texas A&M

3. Michigan

4. Ohio State

5. North Carolina

6. Oklahoma

7. Virginia

8. Duke

9. Auburn

10. Tennessee

11. Texas Tech

12. NC State

13. LSU

14. Texas

15. Vanderbilt

16. Washington

The women had fewer flips, with just Texas Tech, No. 12 in the rankings, passing No. 11 NC State, and that was based on Tech's win over NC State at Kickoff Weekend.

But the NCAA's iron-clad 400-mile rule gives rise to all sorts of contortions that aren't in anyone's best interest. The No. 1 rule in deciding who goes where is to send teams to regionals within 400 miles of them, which is considered a drive, not a flight. Put another way, the NCAA committee has to make their top priority the fewest number of flights. It also must keep fellow conference members away from the same regional.  

Why this drive vs fly has assumed such importance is beyond me, and I know the NCAA tennis committee is trying to get it changed to give them more flexibility in forming regions, but they have been unable to make any inroads with the NCAA. This leads to Oklahoma, the No. 6 seed, hosting No. 19 Oklahoma State, who can easily bring their fans to Norman, while No. 5 North Carolina's No. 2 seed is No. 28 South Carolina, who has now been in Chapel Hill for regional play for three straight years. 

The minimizing flights metric could make some sense if the NCAA was paying for these flights, but they are not. The 64 schools participating in each draw pay all their own expenses for the first two rounds, and they have no input on whether they would be willing to pay more to travel if it meant a more balanced regional as a result. 

To read the manuals for the championships and see the lineups submitted by each team, click here. I assume the dates and time will be out in the next day or two, with matches beginning Friday.

I will have more comments on the draws later this week at the annual Tennis Recruiting Network NCAA D-I Roundtable. For the instant reactions of Halioris, Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin and No-ad No-problem's John Parsons, plus Gruskin's interview with NCAA tennis committee chair Chris Young, see this Deciding Point episode on YouTube.

I had already reviewed the results of the ITF J100 in Delray Beach on Saturday, and the J500 in Offenbach Germany Sunday but there were other titles for Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit in several far-flung places, starting with the J200 in Aldershot England. Unseeded Ford McCollum and Nischal Spurling won their second straight J200 title, and their fourth of the year, defeating unseeded Christian Gronfeldt-Sorensen and August Brostroem Poulsen of Denmark 7-6(9), 6-3 in the final. McCollum and Spurling, who won J200 titles in February on hard courts in the Dominican Republic, won the J200 on clay last week in Italy.

Jack Secord, the No. 2 seed, reached the final, falling to the defending champion, No. 6 Benjamin Gusic Wan, 6-3, 6-3. Gusic Wan had reached the final of the British 18s Nationals two weeks ago.

Sixteen-year-old Carel Ngounoue's ITF winning streak this month ended at 15, with a loss in the final at the J100 in Tunisia. The unseeded Ngounoue, who won a J60 in Malta and a J100 in Tunisia two weeks ago, lost to unseeded Yanael Beranger of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 in the final.

Americans swept the titles at the J30 in Jamaica, with 15-year-old top seed Kamil Stolarczyk of New York taking his first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-1, 4-1 retired decision over No. 2 seed Pedro Vargas in the all-USA boys final.

Unseeded 14-year-old Aarini Bhattacharya of Virginia won her first two ITF Junior Circuit titles, beating unseeded McKenzie Shelton 6-0, 7-5 in the all-USA singles final, after partnering with Gianna Graci for the doubles title. The No. 4 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Shelton and Allison Crane 6-2, 7-6(0) in the final.

In the fourth all-USA final No. 3 seeds Sean Peng and Andrej Markovic defeated unseeded Carson Kuchar and Robert McAdoo 7-6(4), 6-4 for the doubles title. I believe Kuchar is the son of PGA golf star Matt Kuchar and McAdoo the grandson of NBA Hall-of-Famer Bob McAdoo. 

At the J30 in Kigali Ruwanda, 16-year-old Eaden-Zack Harron of Florida won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The No. 6 seed defeated top seed Shaurya Swarup of India 7-5, 7-6(3) in the final. 

And at the J30 in Sri Lanka, 18-year-old Shourya Bhattacharya won his first title on the ITF Junior Circuit, taking the doubles with Nikhil Kurapati of India. The unseeded pair defeated No. 3 seeds Chuan Ding and Ziao Qian of China 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 in the final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is a J100 in Coral Gables Florida, with Zavier Augustin and Welles Newman the top seeds.

Jovic Claims W100 Title in Charlottesville; UCLA Men and Ohio State Women Win 4-3 Thrillers to Earn Big 10 Titles; NCAA Selection Show Monday; Santamarta, Stusek Capture J500 Offenbach Titles; IMG Future Stars Tournament Crowns Champions

Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic won the biggest title of her young career today at the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Charlottesville Virginia. The top seed, who had needed nearly three-and-a-half hours to get through her semifinal with No. 4 seed Laura Pigossi of Brazil Saturday, was able to keep her time on court today to a minimum, beating unseeded Irina Bara of Romania 6-0, 6-1 in 61 minutes. This moves her WTA live ranking up to a career-high of 119.

My calculations have Jovic taking the lead in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge with one week to go; these 100 points, plus the 30 she earned for a first round win at the WTA 250 in Colombia three weeks ago, should put her ahead of Julieta Pareja, who has 116 points from her run to the semifinals in Colombia. Jovic, who received the USTA's Australian Open wild card after last fall's race, is entered in the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida next week.

The other two Americans in USTA Pro Circuit finals lost, with No. 8 seed Ayana Akli falling to former Baylor standout Alicia Herrero Linana of Spain 6-1, 7-6(1) at the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina. It's the first Pro Circuit singles title for Herrero Linana, although she has a dozen Pro Circuit doubles titles.

At the M15 in Vero Beach Florida, No. 7 seed Will Grant(Florida) lost to Blu Baker of Great Britain 7-6(3), 6-4.

Unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia won the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia, beating No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3). Draxl has now lost his last five Challenger finals, after winning his first appearance in one in November 2023.

The last of the Power 4 conference championships brought the drama, with the No. 2 seeds taking out the top seeds 4-3 in the Big Ten tournaments.

In Ojai California last night, the Ohio State women defeated Michigan for the first time in three attempts this year, with the match coming down to a third set at No. 4 singles. Ohio State lost the doubles point but got straight-sets wins from Teah Chavez at line 1 and Luciana Perry at line 2, and a three-set win from Sydni Ratliffe at line 3. That left it to freshman Nao Nishino, who had saved a match point in the second set tiebreaker, with Nishino beating Michigan freshman Emily Sartz-Lunde 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-4 to end Michigan's three-year reign as conference tournament champions.

The win also boosted the Buckeyes, who were outside the top 8 prior to the conference tournament, to No. 4 in the projected rankings, meaning they will host the NCAAs for the first three rounds, prior to the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals at Baylor.

For more on the final, see this article from ohiostatebuckeyes.com.

Today in Columbus, where Ohio State was hosting the conference tournament, an unimaginable streak came to an end, with the Buckeyes losing 4-3 to UCLA. It's the first time in 22 years that Ohio State has lost at home to a conference opponent, a streak that spans 128 matches.

UCLA won the doubles point and took three first sets in singles, and in the end, those were the three singles points that delivered the title, but there were many momentum shifts in between. Ohio State took the lead with wins at 5 and 1, with UCLA coming back to tie it with Kaylun Bigun's victory at line 3. Ohio State went ahead again with Preston Stearns getting a three-set victory at 6, but UCLA's Alexander Hoogmartens took a three-set win at line 4 to leave it all up to UCLA's Emon van Loben Sels and Alex Bernard at line 2. Van Loben Sels had led 5-2 in the second set, but Bernard won the final five games of the set to force a third, so there was no guarantee that the sophomore would be able to serve out the match when he broke Bernard for 5-3. But he got it done, delivering the Bruin's first conference title in their first year in the Big Ten with a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 victory.

For more on the final, see this article from uclabruins.com.

Unlike the Ohio State women, the projections on collegetennisranks.com don't show UCLA getting the boost that would get them into a hosting position for the NCAAs after starting this weekend's conference tournament ranked 22. 

The NCAA selection show will provide the final answer on whether the Bruins will be traveling for the first two rounds tomorrow at 5:30 p.m Eastern time. The women's selection show kicks off at 5 p.m., with both shows live at ncaa.com.

The J500 in Offenbach Germany concluded today with titles for Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain and Julia Stusek of Germany.

Santamarta, the top seed, defeated No. 3 seed Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania 7-5, 7-5 to win his third consecutive J500 title on clay, after the Orange Bowl last December and the Banana Bowl last month. I don't think he'll pass World Junior Finals champion Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands or Australian Open champion Henry Bernet of Switzerland in the ITF junior rankings, but he's certainly one of the favorites for the Roland Garros Junior Championships in June.

No. 10 seed Stusek, 16, had never won a title above the J200 level, but she did not lose a set all week, beating No. 14 seed Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Maxwell Exsted of the United States suffered a rare loss in doubles in the final, with partner Alejandro Arcila of Colombia. The No. 2 seeds lost to top seeds Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-4.

Orange Bowl champions Deniz Dilek of Turkey and Beatrise Zeltina of Latvia took girls doubles title, beating unseed Mariia Drobysheva of Ukraine and Ida Wobker of Germany 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

IMG's annual Future Stars invitational tournament for players 12 and under concluded today in Greece, with 11-year-old Jakub Kyncl of the Czech Republic and 12-year-old Tina Jansone of Latvia winning the titles.  Kyncl defeated 12-year-old Max Hodkinson of Great Britain 7-6, 6-3, while Jansone beat 11-year-old Anna Chuchilina of Russia 6-4, 6-4.  Kyncil's impressive tweener winner on match point can be viewed on the Tennis Europe site.

Three Americans competed in the Future Stars tournament: Easter Bowl 12s champion James Borchard, who lost to Kyncl in a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals, and William McGugin and Amiee Peng, who did not advance out of the group stage.

Clarke Sweeps Titles at ITF J100 in Delray Beach; Jovic, Akli and Grant Advance to USTA Pro Circuit Finals; Ohio State and UCLA Men Reach Big Ten Conference Tournament Final

The first of three ITF tournaments on Florida's green clay concluded today at the J100 Delray Beach, with the No. 2 seeds taking the singles titles. Eighteen-year-old Sasha Colleu of France, who has signed with the University of Illinois for this fall, defeated 15-year-old Mason Vaughan, the No. 12 seed, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1 in today's singles final.

Fifteen-year-old Zaire Clarke defeated doubles partner Ava Rodriguez, the No. 1 seed, 6-3, 6-1 today in the girls singles final to cap a week of six straight-sets victories. 

Clarke and Rodriguez won the doubles title Friday, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Jordyn Hazelitt and Yael Saffar 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

The boys doubles title went to No. 7 seeds Andre Alcantara and Justin Riley Anson, who defeated No. 2 seeds Pablo Robledo Hoyos and Lucas Martin Velasco of Colombia 6-1, 3-6, 10-3 in the final. 

Qualifying is underway for next week's J100 in Coral Gables, with a J200 in Plantation rounding out the green clay swing on the ITF Junior Circuit this spring.

Iva Jovic had her toughest test of the week by far today at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, but the 17-year-old top seed got through a three-hour and 24-minute test against No. 4 seed Laura Pigossi of Brazil 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-4. Jovic had two match points in the second set tiebreaker serving at 6-5 and 8-7, but Pigossi hung tugh to force a third set, which was just as close as the previous two. Jovic broke Pigossi at 3-all in the third set and held on, converting her fourth match point to reach Sunday's final.

Jovic will face unseeded Irina Bara of Romania, who beat No. 7 seed Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt) of Australia 6-4, 6-2. 

The doubles title in Charlottesville went to No. 3 seeds Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus and Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia, who beat No. 4 seeds Petra Hule(Florida State) of Australia and Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 7-5, 7-5 for their second straight title. Shymanovich and Kozyreva won the title last week at the W50 in Zephyrhills Florida.

Twenty-three-year-old Ayana Akli is through to her first Pro Circuit final, with the two-time All-American at South Carolina beating wild card Jada Robinson 6-1, 6-1 in today's semifinal at the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina. Akli, the No. 8 seed, will play unseeded Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain in Sunday's final. Herrero Linana, who will also be playing in her first Pro Circuit final, defeated unseeded Katerina Jokic(Georgia) 6-3, 7-6(7) in a two-and-a-half-hour semifinal match. 

The doubles title in Charlotte went to unseeded Ema Burgic(Baylor) and Haruna Arakawa of Japan, who defeated the second-seeded Mexican team of Maria Portillo Ramirez and Victoria Rodriguez 6-2, 7-5. 

Will Grant(Florida) will also be seeking his first Pro Circuit title Sunday, at the W15 in Vero Beach Florida. The No. 7 seed reached his fourth final at the W15 level with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor). He will face unseeded Blu Baker of Great Britain, who defeated Tomas Luis of Portugal 6-3, 6-1 in the other semifinal. 

Junior wild cards Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy lost in the doubles final this afternoon, to No. 3 seeds Peter Bertran(Georgia, USF) and Jesse Flores(UCF, Miami) 6-2, 7-5.

The ATP Savannah Challenger 75 final will feature unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia and No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada. Mejia defeated top seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, while Draxl beat unseeded Genaro Olivieri of Argentina 7-5, 6-4.

No. 4 seeds Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina and Luis Martinez of Venezuela won the doubles title, beating wild cards Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Patrick Maloney(Michigan) 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 in today's final.

The Big Ten men's final is set for Sunday in Columbus Ohio, with No. 1 Ohio State facing No. 2 UCLA for the conference tournament championship.  The Buckeyes reached their astounding 21st consecutive conference tournament final with a 4-1 win over No. 4 seed Washington.

UCLA breezed past No. 3 seed Michigan State 4-0, and will be out to avenge their 4-0 loss to Ohio State early this month in Columbus. 

My Article on JoAnna Kennedy's Commitment to Florida State; Jovic Sole Teen to Advance to Semis in USTA Pro Circuit Events; Michigan and Ohio State Meet Again in Big Ten Conference Tournament Final

I had an opportunity to talk with blue chip JoAnna Kennedy late last month in Indian Wells about her verbal commitment to Florida State for the fall of 2026. Kennedy's decision to stay at home in Colorado, while attending regular high school, sets her apart, as does her height, which required a change in the game style that had brought her success prior to her growth spurt. You can read how she navigated that change and her advice to other girls preparing for the college recruiting process in my article today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. 

All the teenagers competing in singles quarterfinals at the three USTA Pro Circuit events (the Savannah Challenger didn't have any teens in action today) took losses, except for 17-year-old Iva Jovic, who continued her march through the draw at the the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia. The top seed, Jovic defeated No. 6 seed Whitney Osuigwe 6-2, 6-4 to advance to a semifinal meeting Saturday with No. 4 seed Laura Pigossi. The 30-year-old Brazilian defeated last week's W50 Zephyrhills champion Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, the No. 8 seed, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.  The other semifinal also features two veterans, with 29-year-old Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt), the No. 7 seed, facing unseeded 30-year-old Irina Bara of Romania. Sharma defeated No. 3 seed Hanna Chang 6-3, 6-1, while Bara beat No. 5 seed Lauren Davis 6-3, 7-6(2).

At the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, 17-year-old qualifier Alexis Nguyen and 18-year-old Mayu Crossley of Japan both fell in today's quarterfinals.

Nguyen, who had gotten her best win by WTA ranking last night over top seed and WTA No. 283 Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4), probably paid the price for needing more than four hours to earn that win. She lost to No. 8 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 6-3, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. 

Crossley lost to unseeded Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain 6-4, 7-5 today.  Herrero Linana will play unseeded Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia in the semifinals; Akli will take on wild card Jada Robinson in an all-USA semifinal. Robinson advanced when Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) retired at 6-5 in the first set.

At the M15 in Vero Beach, both Jack Kennedy and wild card Keaton Hance were beaten in the quarterfinals, with the 17-year-old Hance falling to qualifier Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) 6-1, 6-0  and the 16-year-old Kennedy losing to unseeded Blu Baker of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. 

The longtime friends and frequent doubles partners in juniors did advance to the doubles final however, with the wild cards beating Andrew Fenty(Michigan) and Baker 7-6(3), 7-6(0) in tonight's semifinal. They will play No. 3 seeds Peter Bertan(Georgia, USF) of the Dominican Republic and Jesse Flores(UCF, Miami) of Costa Rica. 

In the singles semifinals, No. 7 seed Will Grant(Florida) will face Dickerson and Baker will play unseeded Tomas Luis of Portugal.

At the Challenger 75 in Savannah, Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) is through to the semifinals after defeating qualifier Stefan Kozlov 6-3, 7-5. Spizzirri, who has been the No. 1 seed in all three of the green clay Challenger 75s this month, will face unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia Saturday. No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada will face unseeded Genaro Olivieri of Argentina in the other semifinal. Draxl beat Great Britain's Oliver Crawford(Florida) 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-2 and Olivieri defeated wild card Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-2 to advance.

This week's Big Ten conference championship tournaments are proceeding without upsets, with the top-seeded Michigan women advancing to Saturday's final in Ojai with a 4-1 win over No. 4 seed UCLA today. It will be another Michigan-Ohio State battle for the conference title, after the second-seeded Buckeyes defeated No. 3 Washington 4-1 this evening. The Wolverines have won both their meetings this year; 4-3 in March in Ann Arbor and 4-1 last week in Columbus. Michigan is looking for its fourth straight Big Ten tournament title, beating Ohio State the past three years in the final. In 2021, Ohio State won the conference tournament title over Michigan.

The men's quarterfinals in Columbus started with a tight one between the top-seeded Buckeyes and No. 8 Illinois, with Ohio State claiming a 4-3 decision; they will play No. 4 seed Washington in Saturday's semifinals, after the Huskies beat No. 5 seed Nebraska 4-3.

No. 2 seed UCLA is through to the semifinals with a 4-1 win over No. 7 Michigan; the Bruins will face No. 3 Michigan State, with the Spartans defeating No. 6 seed Southern California 4-2 Friday night.

Kennedy and Hance Reach Singles Quarterfinals, Doubles Semis at M15 in Vero Beach; Jovic Cruises into Quarterfinals at W100 Charlottesville; Exsted Advances to Quarterfinals at ITF J500 in Germany; ACC and Ivy League, Plus SEC and Big Ten Men's Awards Announced

Sixteen-year-old Jack Kennedy and 17-year-old Keaton Hance, who led the USA's Junior Davis Cup team to the title last year in Turkey, have advanced to the quarterfinals in singles and the semifinals in doubles at the Mardy Fish Children's Foundation M15 in Vero Beach Florida.

Kennedy, who had earned two ATP points prior to this week, defeated No. 3 seed Peter Bertran(Georgia, South Florida) of the Dominican Republic 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach his first USTA Pro Circuit quarterfinal, while Hance, who got his first ATP point yesterday, defeated No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Aguilar(Texas A&M, TCU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Kennedy will face unseeded Blu Baker of Great Britain Friday, with Hance playing qualifier Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor).

In doubles, wild cards Hance and Kennedy defeated fellow juniors Noah Johnston and Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida of Brazil 6-4, 7-6(5) to reach Friday's semifinals, where they'll face the unseeded team of Baker and Andrew Fenty(Michigan).

At the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, 17-year-old Iva Jovic breezed past wild card Caty McNally 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals, where she'll play No. 6 seed Whitney Osuigwe. Osuigwe won the battle of sisters, defeating 18-year-old Tori Osuigwe 6-3, 6-1. 

The other two Americans in the quarterfinals are No. 3 seed Hanna Chang and No. 5 seed Lauren Davis. 

The quarterfinals are set for the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia, with three Americans through to the last eight. Wild card Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) will play unseeded Genaro Olivieri of Argentina in the bottom quarterfinal, while qualifier Stefan Kozlov will play top seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) in the top quarterfinal. Spizzirri advanced to the quarterfinals tonight with a 6-3, 6-1 win over wild card Alfredo Perez(Florida).

At the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, UCLA recruit Mayu Crossley of Japan defeated No. 5 seed Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico 6-3, 7-6(1) to reach her second USTA Pro Circuit quarterfinal this month. Crossley will face unseeded Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain, who beat No. 2 seed Gergana Topalova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-3.  Seventeen-year-old qualifier Alexis Nguyen just began a third set with top seed Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico this evening after two hours and 30 minutes of play.

The last American in singles at the ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany is No. 9 seed Maxwell Exsted, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over unseeded Tito Chavez of Spain. Exsted will face No. 3 seed Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania in the quarterfinals. The third round was not completed today, I assume due to rain, but the top seeds both completed their matches, with divergent outcomes. Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain beat No. 16 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 but girls No. 1 Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic was beaten by No. 15 seed Deniz Dilek of Turkey 6-4, 6-3. 

The Division I major conference award season began yesterday and has really ramped up today, with the ACC, usually one of the last conferences to announce their awards, putting out releases for both men and women. In addition, the Ivy League announced their awards and the Big Ten men and SEC men also released their award winners. I'll include the Big Ten and SEC women's winners below, which were announced yesterday; that leaves only the Big 12 out of the Power Four and Ivy League left to release their winners. All-tournament teams are available via the links in the headings.

Southeast Conference:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Timo Legout, Texas
Newcomer of the Year: Alex Kotzen, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year: Timo Legout, Texas
Coach of the Year: Bruce Berque, Texas

WOMEN:
Player of the Year: Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia
Freshman of the Year: Cadence Brace, LSU
Newcomer of the Year: Sofia Rojas, Georgia
Co-Coaches of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia and Mark Weaver, Texas A&M

Big Ten Conference:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois

Freshman of the Year: Rudy Quan

Coach of the Year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Julia Fliegner, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: Emily Sartz-Lunde, Michigan
Coach of the Year: Ronnie Bernstein, Michigan

Atlantic Coast Conference:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

Freshman of the Year: Rafael Jodar, Virginia

Coach of the Year: Tony Bresky, Wake Forest

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

Freshman of the Year: Valerie Glozman, Stanford

Coach of the Year: Sara O'Leary, Virginia

Ivy League:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Michael Zheng, Columbia

Rookie of the Year: Benjamin Privara, Harvard

Coaching Staff of the Year: Columbia, head coach Howard Endelman

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Gayathri Krishnan, Columbia

Rookie of the Year: Julia Werdiger, Yale

Coaching Staff of the Year: Harvard, head coach Traci Green