My Conversation with Division III Champion Skyler Butts; D-III Slideshow; Kozlov Beats Johnson to Reach ATP Quarterfinal; Osuigwe Ousts Top Seed in Bethany Beach

I spoke with NCAA Division III singles champion Skyler Butts after his title in Kalamazoo, and he answered my questions about why he chose Division III, whether he plans to continue playing tennis, what he considers his most discouraging loss and many other topics in this interview for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

As the final look back at the Division III NCAA championships, below is the slideshow for the singles and doubles tournaments, with the quarterfinalists in singles and semifinalists in doubles featured.  The link to the album for mobile devices is here.

Wild card Stefan Kozlov defeated No. 4 seed Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-4 today at the ATP 250 in s'Hertogenbosch, picking up his second win at the ATP level, both this week. Kozlov won despite getting only 45% of his first serves in play, while Johnson, who had a bye in the first round, never looked comfortable and made a lot of unforced errors. The 18-year-old was unable to serve out the match at 5-3, but he broke Johnson for the fifth time to end the match.  Next up for Kozlov is No. 5 seed Sam Querrey, who Kozlov lost to in the final of the Sacramento Challenger back in September of 2014.

Taylor Fritz's second round match with top seed Roger Federer at the ATP 250 in Stuttgart was postponed by rain with Federer serving at 4-3 in the first set.  Denis Kudla lost to No. 7 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3.

In last night's post, I mentioned qualifier Whitney Osuigwe's misfortune in drawing top seed Gabriela Ce of Brazil, but that didn't faze Osuigwe, who beat the WTA's 285th-ranked player 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 for her first win in a Pro Circuit main draw today at the Bethany Beach, Delaware $10,000 tournament. Osuigwe will play rising Vanderbilt junior Astra Sharma of Australia in the second round Thursday. Vanderbilt recruit Christina Rosca also picked up her first win on the Pro Circuit, defeating No. 7 seed Jaeda Daniel 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, as did Georgia Tech recruit Nami Otsuka.  Other teens to advance to the second round include 17-year-old Ashley Kratzer, who beat No. 5 seed Alexa Graham 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-2, Florida recruit Ingrid Neel, No. 3 seed Nicole Frenkel and 15-year-old Abigail Desiatnikov. Desiatnikov defeated Kaitlyn McCarthy, a rising sophomore at Duke, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in three hours and 19 minutes.