USA Junior Teams Advance to ITF World Competition; Bolton, Tsygura Win Grade 4 Titles in Florida; Pro Circuit Update; Big 12, Big Ten Finals Set

Three of the four teams from the United States went undefeated in the North American qualifying for the ITF's junior team competitions, with both 14-and-under teams and the Junior Fed Cup team winning their matches 3-0 today.  The 16-and-under Junior Davis Cup team fell to Canada 2-1, but will still advance to the world finals in Budapest in September.

Canada is the defending Junior Davis Cup champion, so the US boys team of Keenan Mayo, Trey Hilderbrand and Sebastian Korda were the underdogs coming into today's tie. Although Denis Shapovalov is no longer age eligible, Felix Auger-Aliassime is, and his ITF junior ranking, 11, is much higher than any other participant in this year's Boca Raton qualifying. In today's tie, however, Korda got the better of him, posting a 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 win at No. 1 (Hilderbrand had lost to Nicaise Muamba 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2) to send the match to the doubles to decide it.  Muamba and Chih Chi Huang won the doubles over Korda and Mayo 3-6, 6-3, 10-3 to give the Canadian team first place.  This is the first year that the competition's doubles have been played with the no-ad, match tiebreaker format that has been in place for some time on the ITF Junior Circuit.

In the boys 14-and-under competition, Nicholas Garcia and Stefan Leustian won their singles to clinch the win against Canada, who did not qualify for the finals, with Mexico finishing second this year.  In the girls 14-and-under competition, Naomi Cheong and Whitney Osuigwe earned the two singles wins against Puerto Rico. In the Junior Fed Cup, the US team, a heavy favorite this week, had no difficulty with Canada, with Caty McNally and Amanda Anisimova getting singles wins.

Complete results can be found at the ITF tournament page.

Just down I-95 in Coral Gables, the ITF Grade 4 Copa Badia was completed today, with No. 2 seeds taking the titles with wins over the No. 1 seeds.  Elysia Bolton defeated Hurricane Tyra Black 6-4, 6-3, her second win over Black this month, having previously beaten her in the second round at the Carson Grade 1.  It is the 16-year-old's first ITF singles title.

Tsygura, who will turn 17 tomorrow, also claimed his first ITF singles title, beating Alexander Rotsaert 6-2, 6-0.  Rotsaert had beaten Tsygura in the semifinals of the Kalamazoo 16s last summer.

Mac Kiger and Aleksandar Kovacevic won the boys doubles, beating Steven Sun and Michael Heller 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 in a battle between unseeded teams.  The girls doubles champions also were unseeded with  16s Easter Bowl champions Chloe Beck and Emma Navarro beating Bolton (the ITF Easter Bowl doubles champion) and Emma Decoste, the No. 3 seeds, 6-4, 6-2.

Two Americans will play for the championship of the $50,000 Charlottesville event Sunday, with wild card Taylor Townsend and unseeded Grace Min facing off.  Townsend defeated unseeded Elitsa Kostova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-1, while Min dominated No. 2 seed Anna Tatishvili 6-4, 6-0.  Townsend is the leader in the USTA French Open Wild Card Challenge, and will be very difficult to catch if she wins the title Sunday.  She also is again in the doubles final, with Asia Muhammad, with the pair going for their fifth title on the USTA Pro Circuit since late February. The No. 2 seeds will play unseeded Shelby Rogers and Alexandra Panova of Russia.

The news was not as good for the US boys competing today, with Frances Tiafoe suffering his fourth straight loss to Quentin Halys of France in the final of the Tallahassee Challenger and Vasil Kirkov falling in the semifinals of the $10,000 Vero Beach Futures.

Tiafoe, who is now 0-3 in Challenger finals, didn't hold in his last five service games, falling 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2 to the 19-year-old, who collected his first Challenger title.  In the doubles, Julio Peralta of Chile and Dennis Novikov defended their title, beating Peter Luczak and Marc Polmans of Australia 3-6, 6-4, 12-10.

In Vero Beach, lucky loser Kirkov fell to unseeded Martins Podzus of Latvia 6-2, 6-3.  The other 17-year-old in the draw, No. 3 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada, also lost, going out to former Ole Miss star Jonas Luetjen of Germany 6-0, 4-6, 6-3. Luetjen will also play for the doubles title Sunday, with 16-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia. They will play top seeds Deiton Baughman and Anderson Reed.

The finals are set for the Big 12 and Big Ten Conference Championships on Sunday.

In the Big 12, Texas Tech can take both the men's and women's titles, with the third-seeded women meeting top seed Oklahoma State and the No. 1-seeded men taking on No. 2 seed TCU. Both tournaments are being held in Stillwater.  The women's final will be broadcast on Fox Sports 2 at 1 p.m. Central.

In the Big Ten, Ohio State can take both the men's and women's titles, with the top-seeded women facing No. 3 seed Michigan in East Lansing, and the No. 1-seeded men taking on No. 3 seed Illinois in Minneapolis.

April Aces; Asics Easter Bowl Slideshow; USA Rolls on in ITF Junior Team Qualifying; Kirkov into Futures Semifinal; Tiafoe Advances to Tallahassee Challenger Final

Usually my Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network is published early in the following month, but with 18 aces for April already, there was no need to include this weekend's results too. Check out the notable performances from the first four weeks of April here.

I finished the slideshow of the singles semifinalists and the doubles finalists from all eight Asics Easter Bowl divisions, which is below. I still have all 16 Easter Bowl videos to process, and currently I don't have an estimate for when I'll be posting those. The link to the album for mobile devices is here.

At the North American qualifying for the ITF Junior Team events, the United States again won all four of its matches, although in the boys 14-and-under event, the USA team needed to win the doubles point to advance over Guatemala. In the girls 14-and-under World Junior Tennis competition, Naomi Cheong and Alexa Noel won singles matches to defeat Mexico. In the Junior Davis Cup, Sebastian Korda and Keenan Mayo won singles matches to defeat the Dominican Republic and in Junior Fed Cup, Caty McNally and Amanda Anisimova surrendered just one game between them in singles against Puerto Rico. Saturday's final day will see the USA play Canada for first place in both the Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup, but regardless of the results Saturday, all four US teams have qualified for the 16-team world competitions in August and September.

Complete results can be found at the ITF tournament page.

At the $10,000 Vero Beach Futures, lucky loser Vasil Kirkov continues his run. A win on Thursday put the 17-year-old from Tampa Florida in a Futures quarterfinal for the first time, and now he is into his first semifinal after defeating Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador 7-6(5), 6-4. He will play unseeded Martins Podzus of Latvia in Saturday's semifinal. The only seed remaining is No. 3 Denis Shapovalov of Canada, who will play Jonas Luetjen of Germany, a former Ole Miss standout.

At the $50,000 tournament in Charlottesville, the women were required to play two rounds today, with wild card Kayla Day winning her first match 6-2, 6-4 over Jennifer Brady, but falling to Elitsa Kostova of Bulgaria 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. The semifinals will see Kostova play wild card Taylor Townsend in the top half, and Grace Min will meet No. 2 seed Anna Tatishvili in the bottom half.

Frances Tiafoe defeated Ryan Harrison 7-6(4), 6-4 tonight at the $50,000 Tallahassee Challenger to return to the final for the second straight year. Last night Tiafoe defeated top seed Donald Young 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 for his sixth career ATP Top 100 win.  Tiafoe will play 19-year-old Quentin Halys of France for the second time in three weeks in Saturday's final. Halys, who beat Tiafoe twice at the US Open in the Junior Championships, posted a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over the 18-year-old from Maryland in the second round of the Sarasota Challenger.

Tiafoe will be playing in his third Challenger final, having lost in both previous appearances, including last year in Tallahassee to Facundo Arguello of Argentina.  Halys will be playing in his first career Challenger final after beating James McGee of Ireland 6-4, 6-1 in today's semifinal.

USA Dominates First Day of ITF Junior Team North American Qualifying; Kirkov Reaches Vero Beach Futures Quarterfinals; Emory Men, Women Top Division III Rankings; Men's SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Ivy Year End Awards

Last year I was in Boca Raton for the North American qualifying for the ITF World Junior Tennis competition for 14-and-unders and the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup for the 16-and-unders. The drama was minimal, with the US finishing first in all four events and Canada finishing second, with both qualifying for the World Finals.

After checking that off my bucket list last year, I didn't make the trip this year, but after today's first round robin results, it appears to be more of the same for the US and Canada.  The US won all four of its matches 3-0, with only one of those against Canada. In the 14U girls event, Whitney Osuigwe and Alexa Noel got the singles wins against Canada.  In the Junior Fed Cup, Claire Liu and Amanda Anisimova won their singles matches against Mexico and in Junior Davis Cup, Keenan Mayo and Sebastian Korda picked up singles wins, also against Mexico. In the boys 14U event, Nicholas Garcia and Stefan Leustian won their singles matches against Mexico.

Friday's matches do not feature any US vs Canada matches, with those coming on Saturday, the final day of competition.  For today's complete results and tomorrow schedule, see the ITF tournament website.

Vasil Kirkov lost in the final round of qualifying to fellow teen Hady Habib at the $10,000 Vero Beach Futures, but received entry as a lucky loser when Alejandro Gomez of Colombia withdrew. The 17-year-old from Florida is now into his first Futures quarterfinal after beating Daniel Garza of Mexico, 4-6, 6-4, 4-1 ret.  Kirkov will play former USC star Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador, who outlasted wild card Gianni Ross 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-5. Eighteen-year-old Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile defeated top seed Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals, and the third teenager in the quarterfinals is last week's Orange Park Futures winner Denis Shapovalov of Canada, who squeezed past former Michigan standout Michael Zhu, a qualifier, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(1).

The last rankings for Division III before the NCAAs were released today, with the Emory men and women staying at No. 1.  The NCAAs are here in Kalamazoo this year, and I'll be staying home to cover them instead of traveling to Tulsa for the Division I tournament this year. It's only a six-day tournament, compared to the 12-day Division I NCAAs, with eight men's and women's teams, instead of 16 of each. The individual tournament is a 32 draw that is completed in three days, with first and second rounds on the first day and quarterfinals and semifinals on the second day. The manual for the tournament can be found at ncaa.org.

The men's Top 10 (previous week)
1. Emory (1)
2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (3)
3. Middlebury (4)
4. Bowdoin (2)
5. Carnegie Mellon (8)
6 Washington St. Louis (7)
7. Case Western (6)
8. Chicago (5)
9. Williams (9)
10. Pomona-Pitzer

The women's Top 10 (previous week)
1. Emory (1)
2. Williams (2)
3. Pomona-Pitzer (3)
4. Claremonth-Mudd-Scripps (4)
5. Middlebury (7)
6. Bowdoin (6)
7. Amherst (5)
8. Wesleyan (8)
9. Chicago (16)
10. Washington St Louis (12)

The ACC, SEC, Big Ten and Ivy League released their men's year-end awards today. You can view the all-conference teams by using the link in the header.

ACC:
Player of the Year: Chris Eubanks, Georgia Tech
Freshman of the Year: Petros Chrysochos Wake Forest
Coach of the Year: Tony Bresky, Wake Forest

SEC: 
Player of the Year: Diego Hidalgo, Florida
Co-Freshmen of the Year: Alfredo Perez, Florida and Ryotaro Matsumura, Kentucky
Coach of the Year: Bryan Shelton, Florida

Big Ten:
Player of the Year: Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year: Hugo Di Feo, Ohio State
Coach of the Year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State

Ivy League:
Player of the Year: Shawn Hadavi, Columbia
Freshman of the Year: David Wolfson, Cornell
Coach of the Year: Chris Drake, Dartmouth

Kozlov, Tiafoe Reach Tallahassee Challenger Quarterfinals; Ross, Kirkov Advance at Vero Beach Futures; Carter, Austin Win ACC, SEC POY Awards

Stefan Kozlov continued his outstanding play this month at the $50,000 Tallahassee Challenger, beating No. 2 seed Gerald Melzer of Austria 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 today to reach the quarterfinals of the $50,000 event. Kozlov, who reached the $100,000 Guadeloupe Challenger final at the beginning of the month, and won the $25,000 Futures in Little Rock the following week, took last week off, but was right back in qualifying for Tallahassee. The 18-year-old will break into the ATP Top 200 with this week's results, and has also been accepted into the French Open qualifying next month.  He will play fellow qualifier James McGee of Ireland in Thursday's quarterfinals.

Frances Tiafoe is no longer required to qualify for Challenger events, but he is defending finalist points from last year at Tallahassee, where he lost to Facundo Arguello of Argentina 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.  As luck would have it, he drew Arguello in the first round this year, getting his revenge with a 6-3, 6-3 win yesterday over the No. 6 seed. Today Tiafoe defeated Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals, where he'll meet top seed Donald Young for the first time. An American finalist is certain in Tallahassee, with Ryan Harrison also advancing in the top half, to play the winner of tonight's match, currently in a rain delay, between Brian Baker and Noah Rubin. Kozlov is the sole American in the bottom half.

Two 17-year-olds have picked up their second ATP points at the $10,000 Vero Beach Futures, now sponsored by Mardy Fish's Children's Foundation.  Yesterday, lucky loser Vasil Kirkov advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Alejandro Mendoza of Bolivia; Kirkov had previous collected his first point in January at the Weston Futures. Today, wild card Gianni Ross got his second point by beating former Illinois star Dennis Nevolo, the No. 4 seed, 6-3, 6-3.  Ross's first ATP point came last November in the Pensacola Futures. You can read about Kirkov, Ross and other players with local ties to event at the Tennis Vero Beach website.  For more on Ross and his plans for the summer, see this recent article from the Chicago Tribune.

The first round is nearly complete at the women's $50,000 tournament in Charlottesville, Virginia, with no fewer than 11 US women into Thursday's second round.  Qualifier Raveena Kingsley and wild card Danielle Collins were on serve at 3-4 in the first set when rain interrupted the match.  On Tuesday, Kayla Day got her first win at the $50,000 level, beating former USC star Maria Sanchez 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1, a match that was over three hours in duration. Day will play former UCLA Bruin Jennifer Brady next, who took out top seed Shelby Rogers 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The year end conference awards are beginning to be released. The ACC women's awards were announced last week, with Hayley Carter of North Carolina the Player of the Year, Ayan Broomfield of Clemson the Freshman of the Year and Rodney Harmon of Georgia Tech the Coach of the Year.  The all-ACC teams can be found here.

The SEC announced its women's awards today, with Florida's Brooke Austin named Player of the Year, Alabama's Andie Daniell named Freshman of the Year and Florida's Roland Thornqvist named Coach of the Year. Austin was also SEC Player of the Year last year. The all-SEC teams can be found here.

The Ivy League's women's awards were also announced today. Columbia's  Kanika Vaidya is Player of the Year, Erica Oosterhout of Harvard is Rookie of the Year and Princeton's Laura Granville is Coach of the Year.  The all-Ivy teams can be found here.

The Ivy League does not have a conference tournament, so the Princeton women and Columbia men will advance to the NCAAs as regular season champions.

The Tulsa women and South Florida men won the American Athletic Conference tournaments last weekend.

The final conference tournaments, including those of the Big 12 and Big Ten, are this weekend.  Ohio State's men and women both won outright regular season championships last week, with the men going through the conference season without dropping a point in their 11 matches. I would have expected this to be Ohio State's first women's conference title, but that's not really the case, according to this article, as they won the regular season title back in 2000.

The Oklahoma State women won the regular season conference title in the Big 12, going undefeated, with TCU and Texas Tech sharing the men's regular season conference title after Tech beat TCU in the final match.

Check out the ITA Conference Central page for other conference tournament winners and links.

Fratangelo Wins USTA French Open Wild Card Challenge; Florida Women Take Over No. 1 in Latest ITA Division I Rankings

Five years ago, Bjorn Fratangelo won the French Open boys singles title, beating Dominic Thiem of Austria 3-6, 6-3, 8-6, to become the first American boy to claim the title since John McEnroe in 1977. This year he will be playing in the men's main draw for the first time after winning the USTA's French Open Wild Card Challenge, which concluded today for the men in the first round of the $50,000 Tallahassee Challenger.

Fratangelo, who reached the semifinals of the $100,000 Challenger in Sarasota two weeks ago and won the $50,000 Savannah Challenger on Sunday, could only be caught by Jared Donaldson, and when Donaldson lost to Calvin Hemery of France today in the first round, Fratangelo officially clinched the wild card. Fratangelo went on to lose his own first round match to Quentin Halys of France, but that result was not pertinent to the wild card, although it crimped Fratangelo's hopes of moving into the ATP Top 100.

In my post on Fratangelo's title in Paris, a dispute arose regarding a quote that appeared on the French website, which engendered some additional comments on the unlikelihood of anyone quickly moving through the ATP rankings into the Top 50.  Since then, Borna Coric, Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz (who is not there yet) have changed that narrative, which just illustrates once again, that when I think I know something, I probably haven't actually uncovered some basic reality, but rather some trends that may or may not continue.

The ITA released the Division I team and individual rankings today, with the big news the climb of Florida to the No. 1 position, taking over from Cal, who had held the top spot since March 8th, and also was No. 1 for the three weeks after the Bears won the Team Indoor in February. Cal does have a 4-3 win over Florida at home in February and both have lost to Stanford, now ranked 12th.

The top spots in singles and doubles, for men and women, did not change this week.

Bobby Knight has projections for the NCAA team tournament for both men and women at his College Tennis Today blog.

Full rankings can be accessed by clicking on the links in the headings below.

Team
MEN:

April 26                                         April 19

1	Virginia	1
2	UCLA	2
3	North Carolina	3
4	Ohio State	5
5	TCU	4
6	Wake Forest	7
7	Georgia	6
8	Texas Tech	9
9	Florida	11
10	Oklahoma	10

WOMEN:

April 26                                         April 19

1	Florida	3
2	Cal	1
3	North Carolina	2
4	Georgia	4
5	Ohio State	6
6	Vanderbilt	5
7	Miami	7
8	Pepperdine	9
9	Duke	8
10	Auburn	12

Singles
Women (previous ranking):
1. Hayley Carter, North Carolina (1)
2. Danielle Collins, Virginia (2)
3. Brooke Austin, Florida (7)
4. Ellen Perez, Georgia (3)
5. Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ohio State (4)
6. Luisa Stefani, Pepperdine  (5)
7. Maegan Manasse, Cal (11)
8. Stephanie Wagner, Miami (6)
9. Sinead Lohan, Miami (8)
10. Breaunna Addison, Texas (10)

Men (previous ranking):
1. Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State (1)
2. Roberto Cid, South Florida (4)
3. Dominik Koepfer, Tulane (2)
4. Aleks Vukic, Illinois (3)
5. Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA (10)
6. Cameron Norrie, TCU (5)
7. Christopher Eubanks, Georgia Tech (7)
8. Ryan Shane, Virginia (8)
9. Thai Kwiatkowski, Virginia (6)
10. Diego Hidalgo, Florida (11)

Doubles
Women:
1. Aldila Sutjiadi and Mami Adachi, Kentucky
2. Whitney Kay and Hayley Carter, North Carolina
3. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
4. Giuliana Olmos and Gabby Smith, Southern Cal
5. Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, Cal

Men:
1. Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo, Florida
2. Brett Clark and Robert Kelly, North Carolina
3. Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane, Virginia
4. Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki, UCLA
5. Korey Lovett and Mazen Osama, Alabama

Lauren Embree Retires; Chi's Signing with Duke Highlights Latest Announcements

One of the University of Florida's greatest players, which is high praise indeed given the stature of that program, announced her retirement from professional tennis today.  Lauren Embree, who led the Gators to two NCAA titles and delivered one of the program's most memorable moments, will be leaving the pro tour.  The 25-year-old from Marco Island, Florida reached a career-high of 232 in the WTA rankings last summer, but injuries have been her constant companion. (For more details on that struggle, here's my interview with her for the Tennis Recruiting Network a little over a year ago.) Undefeated in SEC play during her career and the only woman to be named SEC player of the year three times, Embree was also MVP of the NCAA team tournament in 2011 and 2012.

In my years covering the NCAA team championships, I've seen a handful of unforgettable finishes, but at the top of the list (along with the 2013 men's final) is Embree's comeback from 4-0 down in the final set against Mallory Burdette to give Florida the 2011 team title, a 4-3 win over defending champion Stanford that ended the Cardinal's 184-match winning streak at home.

Embree, who I've covered for a decade as she went from junior to college to pro tennis, describes her own personality better than I ever could in her retirement statement, which she posted on Facebook today, and I am including in its entirety, below:

“If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”

20 years of my life have been solely dedicated to this sport that has shaped me into the person I am and is literally a part of my identity as a human being.  I fell in love with tennis, and it has given me experiences, friendships, wins, losses, NCAA championships, irreplaceable teammates, being a Florida Gator, independence, facing adversity, taught me commitment, dedication, hardwork, along with heartache, tears, sweat, and joy that will never be able to be taken away from me for as long as I live.   With that being said, and with a ton of thought, I have made the decision to stop playing professional tennis and move on to the next chapter of my life. 

This has been the most difficult, uneasy, painful, scary, but in my mind most courageous, brave, and sure decision I think I have made so far in my life.  To be able to come to terms with this and understand that this chapter is over is something I am proud of myself for facing.  I don’t think people understand how surreal it really is until it actually happens to you.  You don’t just wake up and are automatically happier, or automatically have your life figured out…. not how it works. You in a sense have to start all over.  There has been a lot of questions, tears, judgment, other people’s opinions thrown at me,  and a lot of other emotions that all come with it that can’t be put into words.  For 20 years, I have stepped on every practice court, competed in every match, entered every gym, showed up at any track, listened to every coach, with the intention to learn, work, be a good example, be unselfish, be a team player, do the right thing, come in with a good attitude, and always give 110%. Sometimes I think I tried too hard, cared too much, wanted it too badly, maybe a little too stubborn (some would say Roland Thornqvist & Julie Steven), but I can honestly say I fought, competed, and worked to the best of my ability day in and day out. By no means was I perfect or anywhere close to it (& I think my coaches can attest to what a nightmare I was at times) but they knew my drive and passion for this sport was something that couldn’t be taught.   

Every coach I have ever had, MOST IMPORTANTLY starting with my pops has instilled a work ethic and mindset in me to carry on in life in order to even have a chance to be successful, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the mentors and amazing humans I have had to look up to to become the person I am today.  No words can express how thankful I am or will ever be for the time and love you have invested in me, and these individuals  know exactly who they are. 

Throughout this entire journey from junior to pro tennis, I hope I can be remembered as an average tennis player but someone who fought no matter the score, competed for every point, had the biggest heart of anyone, ran down every ball, was annoying as hell to play against,  feisty I guess you could say, on (and off) the court, and attempted to do it all with class and character.  I definitely had my moments of sub par attitude, talking back, making refs feel terrible about themselves, and my fair share of cuss words, mental breakdowns, and broken rackets along the way….but really who doesn’t love a little girl drama???  If you took it personal, then I guess now I can say I am sorry =) 

Lastly, my family. All I can really say is I love you guys. Without your sacrifice, support, confidence, and belief in me, none of these 20 plus years would be even close to as successful as they have been..  I am not sure how I got so lucky to have my dad as my coach and an older brother to beat me to the ground every day growing up,(Keith Embree) but something clicked and whatever you did worked, and I owe you guys the world for that.

So if you made it through all that, yes I am putting tennis to rest.  It has been one hell of a ride, with memories and moments I will take to my grave.  I cannot be more excited for the next phase of my life and the beginning of a new chapter.  I have worked my very best and invested my entire life to this sport, and now I am excited to bring that same work ethic, passion, and love to something else and enjoy the next phase of my career. 

Thank you again to every single human being that has been part of this journey with me. It has been an unforgettable, amazing life people can only dream of and I am forever grateful for the opportunities that have come my way because of this sport. Time to look for a new love….and Go Gators <3

Knowing Embree as I do, I have no doubt she'll find that new love and continue to inspire others as she always did, with her grit and determination, on the tennis court.  And for another look at her mindset, check out this Athletic DNA ad, always one of my favorites, which perfectly captured her approach to the sport.

After saying goodbye to a great college tennis player, it seems appropriate to include the hellos that have been extended with the latest spring signings.  

Duke announced that blue chip Meible Chi has signed and will be joining the Blue Devils this fall.

Texas A&M is welcoming two transfers for the fall, Tina Bokhua and Macarena Olivares.

Texas Tech has signed Alba Cortina-Pou of Spain.

Memphis has signed twins Josephine and Katherine Cao.

Miami has signed Dominika Paterova and Estela Perez-Somarriba, with Sara Culbertson joining the team as a walk-on.

In men's signings, Tennessee has posted the details of their two new players, Scott Jones and Luca Wiedenmann, after announcing their signings on twitter last week.  

Florida has announced the signings of Stephen Madonia and David Sarkissov.

Oklahoma State has signed Mathieu Scaglia, and Wisconsin has signed Daniel Soyfer.

San Diego has signed Joel Gamerov and Nico Borter, while announcing Garrett Kurtz will join the team as a walk-on.

Tulsa has signed Jarrod Hing and Louisville has added transfer Nicolas Rouanet.

And, although he will not be joining Ohio State until 2017, JJ Wolf talks about his commitment to the Buckeyes in today's article on the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Wake Men Win Thriller over No. 1 Virginia; Florida Sweeps SEC Titles; Shapovalov Wins Another Futures; Fratangelo Takes Savannah Challenger; Ojai Results

An incredibly busy day in tennis today in the United States, with Pro Circuit events, two major Division I conference championships for men and women and The Ojai tournament all concluding.

The men's ACC final between top-ranked Virginia and No. 7 Wake Forest proved the most exciting of the four taking place today, with Wake's Dennis Uspensky defeating Virginia's Luca Corinteli 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-6(4) at line 6 to clinch the title and end the nine-year run of the Cavaliers as tournament champion.

Wake Forest took the doubles point with routine wins at 1 and 3 and went ahead 2-0 when Skander Mansouri defeated Ryan Shane 6-0, 6-3  at 1.  Virginia tied it with wins by JC Aragone at 4 and Thai Kwiatkowski at 3, and appeared to have the momentum when Collin Altamirano earned a three-set win at 2, with the other two matches also in third sets and Virginia needing only one. Henrik Wiersholm was up 3-0 in the the third set at 5 against Christian Seraphim and Corinteli had a 4-2 lead in the third over Uspensky, but both Deacons came back.  Seraphim made the team score 3-3 with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win, his first win over Wiersholm after two losses in their previous meetings this season.

With all attention now on Corinteli and Uspensky, the pressure was now undeniable, but neither player appeared to feel it. After getting it back to 4-4, Uspensky had to save two break points to make it 5-4 and three to take a 6-5 lead. Corinteli was holding with much less drama, but that changed in the tiebreaker.  After getting a mini-break to start, Corinteli double faulted, and two consecutive double faults four points later gave Uspensky a 5-2 lead.  The Wake freshman was overruled on a Corinteli winner on the far sideline for 5-3, but a big forehand gave him a 6-3 lead.  Corinteli saved the first match point when Uspensky's return hit the tape and went out, but he double faulted on the second match point to give Wake Forest its first ACC title.

Earlier in the day in Cary, NC, the North Carolina women finished a perfect conference season with a 4-2 win over Miami.  Despite all the program's success over the past four years, the Tar Heel seniors had not won a conference tournament title until today. North Carolina took the doubles point and got wins from Hayley Carter at No. 1, Jessie Aney at No. 3 and the clinching point from senior Kate Vialle at No. 4. For more, see the North Carolina website.

The University of Florida swept the SEC championships, with the women defeating Georgia 4-2 and the men surprising Georgia 4-2. Florida was up 3-1 and had won the first sets in the three remaining matches, but Georgia fought back, forcing third sets, and getting a win from Mariana Gould at 5 to make it 4-2.  Both Kourtney Keegan and senior Brianna Morgan took leads for the Gators late in the third set, but Keegan failed to serve it out at 5-3, and Morgan needed a deciding point after a 40-15 lead to secure her 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Silvia Garcia at line 3. Like North Carolina in the ACC, Florida finished the year undefeated against SEC competition.

The Georgia men were also going for an undefeated conference season, but Florida ended that quest, reversing a 5-2 loss just two weeks ago. Florida won the doubles point and got wins from Alfredo Perez at 2, Chase Perez-Blanco at 4 before senior Gordon Watson clinched with a  3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Nick Wood at line 5.  It's Florida's first conference tournament title since 2011.

Last night in Ojai, the UCLA men added the PAC-12 tournament title to their regular season title with a 4-1 win over Cal, that was much closer than the score might suggest.

In the USTA Pro Circuit finals today, 17-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov won his third Futures singles title of his career, all this year, with a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(6) win over 16-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia at the Orange Park Florida $10,000 tournament. Live scoring wasn't working for the match, so I can't comment on how it developed, but the score certainly suggests a great match. Shapovalov, who won the US Open boys doubles last year, also took the doubles title, his second at the Futures level. He and Hungarian Peter Nagy(Texas-Corpus Christi) defeated No. 4 seeds Dennis Nevolo(Illinois) and Ruben Gonzales(Illinois) 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

At the Savannah Challenger, Bjorn Fratangelo claimed his second career title at that level, beating Jared Donaldson 6-1, 6-3. With a semifinal in Sarasota last week and a title this week, Fratangelo is the heavy favorite to take the USTA French Open wild card, with only a Donaldson title in Tallahassee next week standing in his way.  In the doubles final, wild cards Brian Baker and Ryan Harrison defeated No. 3 seeds Purav Raja and Divij Sharan of India 5-7, 7-6(4), 10-8.

In Dothan's $50,000 women's event, qualifier Taylor Townsend lost the singles final to No. 2 seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 6-4, 6-2, but won the doubles title with Asia Muhammad by virtue of a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Keri Wong and Caitlin Whoriskey.

At the Ojai tournament, Cal's Maegan Manasse won the Pac-12 women's title, beating defending champion Catherine Harrison of UCLA 6-3, 6-2.

In the Pac-12 women's doubles championships, Arizona State captured its first conference doubles title when Ebony Panoho and Alexandra Osborne defeated Stanford's Melissa Lord and Carol Zhao 6-3, 6-1.

In the women's Open tournament, UCLA recruit Ena Shibahara defended her title, defeating Katherine Sebov of Canada 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. The men's Open title went to Deiton Baughman, who beat Brandon Holt 7-6(4), 6-2.  Holt got revenge on Baughman in the doubles, when Holt and Clay Thompson defeated Baughman and Riley Smith 1-6, 6-3, 10-4. Holt and Smith, both committed to USC, were doubles finalists at the US Open junior championships last September.  The women's doubles title went to Kaitlyn Christian and Megan McCray, who beat Shibahara and Jada Hart 6-4, 6-2.   All Ojai Open results can be found here.

Connor Hance won the boys CIF title, beating Bjorn Hoffman 6-2, 6-2 in the final. All junior results are available here.  Additional coverage of the junior tournament is availabe at the Ventura County Star.

Teens Kecmanovic, Shapovalov in Futures Final; Fratangelo, Donaldson, Escobedo, Townsend in $50K Championship Matches; SEC, ACC Conference Finals Set; Ojai Finals

Last month in California, an all-teenager $25,000 Futures final saw 18-year-old Michael Mmoh defeat 17-year-old Casper Ruud for the title. Sunday in Florida, an even younger pair will compete for the championship, this at the $10,000 Futures in Orange Park, when 16-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia plays 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov of Canada.

Kecmanovic, who received entry via a junior exemption, defeated former Virginia Tech standout Patrick Daciek 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first Futures final, while Shapovalov, the No. 5 seed, was even more impressive in a 51-minute 6-0, 6-2 drubbing of fellow left-hander Alexios Halebian.  Shapovalov, who won his first two Futures titles--in January and two weeks ago--as a qualifier, will have the edge in experience and ranking, but Kecmanovic defeated Shapovalov last year in the third round of the ITF Grade A in Brazil by a 6-2, 6-3 score.

Four young Americans have reached the finals of three different $50,000 events this week.  In the Savannah Challenger, rain on Friday required 22-year-old Bjorn Fratangelo to play two matches today, but he won both. In the quarterfinals against Frances Tiafoe, the No. 6 seed broke with Tiafoe serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set and went on to post a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory. In the semifinal against top seed Denis Kudla, Fratangelo needed just over an hour to earn his 6-2, 6-2 win.  Nineteen-year-old Jared Donaldson, who had advanced to the semifinals before the rain came on Friday, advanced to his third career Challenger final with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 2 seed Donald Young.  Fratangelo, who will be competing in his fourth Challenger final, has beaten Donaldson both times they've played at that level. The match obviously has major implications for the USTA's French Open Wild Card Challenge, with the last tournament in the series next week in Tallahassee.

Twenty-year-old Taylor Townsend, who won the women's French Open wild card in 2014 by winning the second and third of the three events, will have the lead after the first one this year. Townsend, a qualifier, beat Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the final of the $50,000 tournament in Dothan, Alabama, where she'll meet No. 2 seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden.  Peterson defeated No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula 6-1, 7-6(2) in the other semifinal.  Townsend will also play for the doubles title on Sunday. She and Asia Muhammad, who have won three titles together since February and are the top seeds, will face unseeded Keri Wong (Clemson) and Caitlin Whoriskey(Tennessee) in the final.

At the $50,000 +hospitality Challenger in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 19-year-old Ernesto Escobedo earned his first berth in a Challenger final. Escobedo defeated No. 7 seed Christian Lindell of Sweden 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in today's semifinal and will play No. 5 seed Gonzalo Lama of Chile for the championship.  Regardless of the outcome, Escobedo will break into the ATP Top 300 for the first time.  He also received a special exemption into the Tallahassee Challenger, where he has drawn top seed Young.

The ACC and SEC conference finals are set for Sunday.  In the SEC, it will be Georgia vs Florida in both the women's and men's championship matches.   In the women's tournament, at LSU, No. 3 seed Georgia beat No. 2 seed Vanderbilt 4-0, while top seed Florida, playing without Belinda Woolcock at line 2, beat No. 4 seed Auburn 4-2. Florida beat Georgia 4-0 a week ago Friday in Athens to claim the regular season conference title.

Florida will be the underdogs against Georgia in the men's final in Columbia, South Carolina. Top seed Georgia beat No. 4 seed Mississippi State 4-1, while No. 2 seed Florida blanked No. 3 seed Texas A&M. Georgia beat Florida 5-2 in Athens earlier this month.

The SEC finals will be available on the SEC Network on ESPN via Watch ESPN.

Two of the ACC semifinals, one women's and one men's, were streamed today on ESPN 3, with North Carolina splitting the decisions in Cary, NC. The top-seeded women defeated No. 5 seed Virginia 4-1 in less than two hours, but the fourth-seeded men, up 3-0 on No. 1 Virginia, fell 4-3 in a match delayed nearly three hours by rain. North Carolina, who had beaten Virginia twice this season, was up 2-0 when the rain began, with the doubles point and Brayden Schnurr's 6-0, 6-4 win over Ryan Shane at line 1.  After the rain delay, which pushed back the restart of the match to 6:30 p.m, Ronnie Schneider made it 3-0 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Collin Altamirano at line 2, but that was it for the Tar Heels, with Luca Corinteli at 6, Thai Kwiatkowski at 3, JC Aragone at 4 and Henrik Wiersholm at 5 winning in that order, with the last three matches decided in third sets.

Virginia will play No. 2 seed Wake Forest in the final Sunday, after Wake defeated No. 6 seed Virginia Tech 4-2 in the other semifinal, which also had the same rain delay.

The North Carolina women will play No. 2 seed Miami, who beat No. 3 seed Georgia Tech 4-2.   The two teams played indoors at Chapel Hill back in February, with the Tar Heels earning a 4-3 victory.

The Pac-12 men's title will be decided tonight in Ojai, with top seed UCLA facing No. 3 seed Cal, who beat USC 4-1 on Friday.

The women do not play a team tournament, with their Ojai experience an individual event.  Catherine Harrison of UCLA and Maegan Manasse of Cal will meet in the singles final on Sunday.

Three juniors have reached the finals of Ojai's Open Division, including women's defending champion Ena Shibahara. Shibahara, the No. 4 seed, will play No. 3 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada in Sunday morning's final. Shibahara advanced when Hanna Chang retired down 6-2, 1-0 in today's semifinal, while Sebov made the final when top seed Lauren Embree retired with an injury at 3-2 in the first set.

The men's final will feature two Southern Californians, top seed Deiton Baughman and No. 5 seed Brandon Holt.  Baughman defeated No. 4 seed Haythem Abid, the former UCLA Bruin, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1, while Holt beat No. 2 seed Clay Thompson, another former Bruin, 6-3, 6-3.

The Ventura County Star's Rhiannon Potkey always does a great job covering the event, so check out her coverage here.

Carson International Spring Championships Slideshow, Videos

As with my year-end trip to Florida, it takes me some time to get through the photos and videos of my spring trip to California, but I've finished up the International Spring Championships this week.  My recap of the tournament can be found at the Tennis Recruiting Network, the slideshow is below, as are the videos of the champions. I've recently learned that Google will no longer be providing the service that I've been using for the slideshows, so if anyone knows an alternative, please let me know.

The album is available for mobile devices here.

all photographs copyright 2016 ZooTennis.com

The videos for the finalists are available at my YouTube channel. You can go directly to the individual videos of the finalists by clicking on the names below.

Adam Neff
Katie Volynets
Sam Riffice
Claire Liu

Italian Open Grade A Acceptances Feature 16 American Juniors; Quarterfinals Set for USTA Pro Circuit Events

The acceptances for next month's ITF Grade A tournament in Italy were released today, with six US boys and ten US girls receiving entry into the main draw.

The boys in the main draw are Ulises Blanch, John McNally, JJ Wolf, Nathan Ponwith, Sam Riffice and Vasil Kirkov.

The girls in the main draw are Amanda Anisimova, Kayla Day, Maria Mateas, Michaela Gordon, Morgan Coppoc, Caty McNally, Taylor Johnson, Kylie McKenzie, Ellie Douglas and Natasha Subhash.

Americans in qualifying are Brandon Holt, Oliver Crawford, Gianni Ross, Alexandre Rotsaert, Trent Bryde, Alafia Ayeni, Claire Liu, Abigail Desiatnikov, Hurricane Tyra Black, Hanna Chang and Victoria Emma.

The boys ranking cutoff was 53, the girls 63, with seven of the top 10 ITF boys and four of the top 10 girls in the field. Boys No. 1 Mate Valkusz of Hungary and No. 2 Yosuke Watanuki of Japan are both entered, although a lot can change before the tournament, which begins in Milan on May 16th.

The highest ranked girl entered is No. 4 Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who has not played since the Australian Open junior championships, where she withdrew mid-tournament with several injuries. Another Canadian, Charlotte Robillard-Millette, will be a top seed; she was a finalist last year.  Easter Bowl champion Alexandra Sanford is not entered; William Blumberg is not in the field, nor is Canada's Felix Auger Aliassime.

The quarterfinals are (almost) all set for the three USTA Pro Circuit events in the US this week.  At the $50,000 Savannah Challenger, five Americans are into Friday's quarterfinals, with Frances Tiafoe facing Bjorn Fratangelo in the all-American match.  No. 6 seed Fratangelo, the current leader in the USTA's French Open Wild Card Challenge after his semifinal showing last week in Sarasota, defeated Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 7-6(2), 7-5, while Tiafoe, who had beaten No. 3 seed Tim Smyczek in the first round, beat qualifier Tomas Lipovsek Puches of Argentina 6-4, 6-4.  In the other quarterfinals, Jared Donaldson(8) will play No. 4 seed Gerald Melzer of Austria, top seed Denis Kudla faces qualifier Nicolas Jarry of Chile, and No. 2 seed Donald Young meets Nicolas Kicker of Argentina.

At the $50,000 women's tournament in Dothan, six Americans will reach the quarterfinals, including the winner of the CiCi Bellis - Anna Tatishvili(1) match, which, due to rain, is still unfinished as of 8:30 tonight. The winner of that match will play Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva, and in the other match with just one American, No. 2 seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden will play Maria Sanchez.  Jennifer Brady will face qualifier Taylor Townsend and Jessica Pegula(4) takes on Katerina Stewart(8) in the other two quarterfinals. This is the first of the three women's events that will decide the USTA's French Open wild card.

In the $10,000 Orange Park, Florida Futures, two juniors, both of whom are entered in the Milan Grade A, have reached the quarterfinals.  Orange Bowl champion Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia reached his third career Futures quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-0 win over No. 8 seed Dennis Nevolo. The 16-year-old, who trains at the IMG Academy, used his ITF junior exemption for entry, available to those who finish in the year-end Top 10. Kecmanovic will play top seed Evan King Friday.

Denis Shapovalov of Canada has already won two Futures titles this year, with his ATP ranking up to 450. Seeded No. 5 this week, the 17-year-old will play unseeded Mauricio Echazu of Peru in the quarterfinals.

Wild card Patrick Daciek, qualifier Junior Ore and Alexios Halebian are the other Americans, aside from King, in the draw, with Ore and Halebian facing off Friday for a place in the semifinals.

Next week's Futures is in Vero Beach, also a $10,000 event, and they have announced the main draw wild cards, with Gianni Ross and Sam Riffice getting two of them.  Two other juniors, Adam Ambrozy and Pietro Rimondini, won wild card tournaments to earn their spots in the main draw.

Asics Easter Bowl ITF Recap; US Teams for ITF Junior North American Qualifying; Two New USTA PD Coaches Hired; Oklahoma State Signs Former World Jr No. 4 Bolsova

My recap of the Asics Easter Bowl ITF Grade B1 is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. If you didn't have an opportunity to follow my daily coverage from Indian Wells, here's your chance to review what happened at one of the biggest tournaments of the year for American juniors.

The North American qualifying for the ITF Junior team events this summer is next weekend in Boca Raton.  The teams selected to represent the United States for the World Junior Tennis (14-and-under) and Junior Davis and Junior Fed Cups (16-and-under) are below.  The World Junior Tennis competition is August 1-6 in Prostejov, Czech Republic. The Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup competition is in Budapest, Hungary September 27-October 2.

World Junior Tennis boys:
Stefan Leustian
Nicholas Garcia
Alex Lee
Captain: Eric Nunez

World Junior Tennis girls:
Whitney Osuigwe
Alexa Noel
Naomi Cheong
Captain: Jean Desdunes

Junior Davis Cup:
Sebastian Korda
Keenan Mayo
Trey Hilderbrand
Captain: Leo Azevedo

Junior Fed Cup:
Claire Liu
Amanda Anisimova
Caty McNally
Captain: Adam Peterson

Other countries competing for the two spots available are:
WJT boys
Canada
Mexico
Guatemala

WJT girls
Canada
Mexico
Puerto Rico

JDC
Canada (team includes Felix Auger-Aliassime)
Mexico
Dominican Republic

JFC
Canada
Mexico
Puerto Rico

Canada is the defending Junior Davis Cup champion. The US girls team, which included Claire Liu, finished second last year in Junior Fed Cup. The US girls team, which included Anisimova and McNally, finished second in the World Junior Tennis competition last year, while the US boys team finished third.

The USTA has announced the hiring of two new Player Development coaches: Lori Riffice (Sam's mother) and Jon Glover, both of whom will report to Kent Kinnear, the Director of Player ID and Development. The USTA release is here.

It's unlikely there will be a bigger spring signing than that of the Oklahoma State women, who have announced the addition of Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov of Spain.  The 18-year-old Bolsova (as is customary for collegians from Spain, the second surname apparently will not be used here) was ranked as high as No. 4 in the ITF World Junior rankings and has won four $10,000 level tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit. Her current WTA ranking is 577; her career high is 459.

Virginia Men, Cal Women Continue To Top ITA Rankings; Ohio State's Torpegaard Moves to Singles No. 1; Additional Spring Signings; More on USTA Pro Circuit Collegiate Series

The ITA Division I rankings for both team and individuals are coming out weekly now, with the season into its final few weeks before the NCAAs.  The Virginia men and Cal women remain at No. 1, as does Hayley Carter of North Carolina in the women's singles rankings, but there's a new No. 1 in the men's singles rankings: Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State.

For more analysis of the men's team rankings, see Bobby Knight's College Tennis Today post.  Clicking on the header links will take you to the full list of ITA rankings.

Team
MEN:

April 19                                               April 12

1	Virginia	1
2	UCLA	4
3	North Carolina	5
4	TCU	2
5	Ohio State	3
6	Georgia	6
7	Wake Forest	7
8	Southern California	9
9	Texas Tech	10
10	Oklahoma	8

WOMEN:

April 19                                         April 12

1	Cal	1
2	North Carolina	2
3	Florida	4
4	Georgia	3
5	Vanderbilt	6
6	Ohio State	5
7	Miami	7
8	Duke	8
9	Pepperdine	10
10	Michigan	9

Singles
Women (previous ranking):
1. Hayley Carter, North Carolina (1)
2. Danielle Collins, Virginia (2)
3. Ellen Perez, Georgia (4)
4. Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ohio State (3)
5. Luisa Stefani, Pepperdine  (5)
6. Stephanie Wagner, Miami (6)
7. Brooke Austin, Florida (7)
8. Sinead Lohan, Miami (8)
9. Belinda Woolcock, Florida (9)
10. Breaunna Addison, Texas (11)

Men (previous ranking):
1. Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State (2)
2. Dominik Koepfer, Tulane (1)
3. Aleks Vukic, Illinois (4)
4. Roberto Cid, South Florida (3)
5. Cameron Norrie, TCU (5)
6. Thai Kwiatkowski, Virginia (6)
7. Christopher Eubanks, Georgia Tech (7)
8. Ryan Shane, Virginia (9)
9. Benjamin Lock, Florida State (11)
10. Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA (9)

Doubles
Women:
1. Aldila Sutjiadi and Mami Adachi, Kentucky
2. Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, Cal
3. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
4. Whitney Kay and Hayley Carter, North Carolina
5. Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle, Stanford

Men:
1. Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo, Florida
2. Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane, Virginia
3. Brett Clark and Robert Kelly, North Carolina
4. Korey Lovett and Mazen Osama, Alabama
5. Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki, UCLA

Several more signings have been announced in the past few days. Auburn women have signed Georgina Axon of Great Britain and Tulane women have signed Julieta Dalmau and Sweden's Isabelle Entenza. Kansas women have signed Tatiana Nikolaeva of Russia and Maria Toran Ribes of Spain.

Texas Tech men have announced the signing of Ronit Bisht of India, who will start as a sophomore. Florida State's two spring signees are France’s Lucas Poullain and Norway’s Rana-Roop Singh Bhullar. Tennessee has not yet posted a release, but revealed on twitter that it has signed Scott Jones of Australia and Luca Wiedenmann of Germany.

More details have been announced on the USTA Pro Circuit Collegiate Series, with specific locations for the fall events, including three women's tournaments.  The schedule is below, and more information on the events from the USTA Pro Circuit's Danielle Gooding can be found here.

2016 USTA National Boys Summer Team Set; Florida Women, Georgia Men Post Undefeated SEC Seasons, North Carolina Women Perfect in ACC

USTA National Summer Team (photo via Player Development twitter)
(left to right) Axel Nefve, Andrew Fenty, Jaycer Lyeons, Adam Neff,
Christian Alshon, Sangeet Sridhar, Govind Nanda, Michael Heller

Sixteen boys were invited to Boca Raton to compete for spots on the USTA's National Summer Team, which provides training, coaching and some financial assistance to its members for the major junior events held in the next few months. Open to those born in 2000 and 2001, the teams are selected in a two-stage process, with the winners of the round robin groups the first to qualify. Last year the tryouts were held in July and decided only six of the eight positions, with Sam Riffice and Vasil Kirkov meeting the criteria established for inclusion. Presumably, none of the boys this year did so, since all eight positions were open.

This year those winners were:
1.  Michael Heller

2.  Christian Alshon

3.  Govind Nanda

4.  Sangeet Sridhar

The four other positions were decided today, with those finishing 2nd and 3rd in the round robin groups playing one match to earn a place on the team.

Those results:

Adam Neff def Keenan Mayo 6-4, 6-4

Andrew Fenty def Trey Hilderbrand 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2

Axel Nefve def Brian Shi 6-3, 6-1

Jaycer Lyeons def Tomas Kopczynski 6-2, 4-6, 6-1

Day Three Position match Results:

William Grant def Nathan Han 6-3, 6-4

James Ignatowich def Drew Baird 6-4, 1-6, ret

Michael Heller def Christian Alshon 6-4, 1-6, 6-2

Sangeet Sridhar def Govind Nanda 1-6, 6-2, 7-5

Day Two Results:

Morning matches

Jaycer Lyeons def Keenan Mayo 6-4, 7-6(5)

Michael Heller def Drew Baird 7-5, 7-6(4)

Sangeet Sridhar def Adam Neff 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(1)

Trey Hilderbrand def Nathan Han 7-5, 6-2

Andrew Fenty def Brian Shi 6-2, 6-1

Christian Alshon def Robert Hammond 6-1, 6-0

Govind Nanda def Tomas Kopczynski

Axel Nefve def William Grant 6-1, 6-2

Afternoon matches:

Sangeet Sridhar def Trey Hilderbrand 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

Adam Neff def Nathan Han 6-4, 6-3

Michael Heller def Keenan Mayo 7-6(4), 6-2

Christian Alshon def Andrew Fenty 6-1, 6-2

Brian Shi def James Ignatowich (Alternate) 6-3, 6-2

Govind Nanda def Axel Nefve 6-3, 7-5

Tomas Kopczynski def William Grant 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4)

Jaycer Lyeons def Drew Baird 6-2, 6-2

Day One Results:
Keenan Mayo def Drew Baird 6-4, 6-3
Michael Heller def Jaycer Lyeons 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
Sangeet Sridhar def Nathan Han 6-2, 6-1
Adam Neff def Trey Hilderbrand 6-1, 6-2
Andrew Fenty def Robert Hammond 6-3, 6-1
Christian Alshon def Brian Shi 7-6(5), 6-3
Govind Nanda def William Grant 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
Axel Nefve def Tomas Kopczynski 6-4, 6-1

The girls selection camp will be held in the next couple of weeks.

The SEC completed its conference schedule yesterday, with both the Florida women and Georgia men finishing it undefeated.  Florida blanked Tennessee Sunday to go 13-0, while Georgia ended 12-0 after a 4-0 win over Ole Miss.  The North Carolina women had a bit more difficulty in posting their perfect conference season, coming from behind to beat Georgia Tech 4-3 to go 14-0 in ACC play.  The streak of perfect ACC seasons ended for the Virginia men earlier this month, but the Cavaliers won the title nonetheless with a 7-0 win over Miami. Virginia had gone undefeated in ACC play from 2007-2015 before losing to North Carolina this year.

The UCLA men won the Pac-12 regular season title with a 4-2 win over Southern Cal, and they too were perfect, finishing 7-0 in conference play.  The women's Pac-12 title will be decided in Ojai this week, with Southern Cal playing Stanford, a makeup of a rained out match last month. USC beat UCLA 4-1 on Sunday to stay undefeated and to force the makeup.

Of the Power Five conferences, just the Big 12 and Big Ten have another weekend of conference play remaining.

See College Tennis Today for all the information on this weekend's men's conference tournaments, including links to draws, and a list of those who have already qualified for the NCAA tournament, which includes Columbia, George Washington and Coastal Carolina.