Defending Champion Virginia, Ohio State Reach NCAA D-I Men's Semifinals; Riffice Takes Out Top Seed to Advance to Futures Final; Bilokin Wins Third Straight Grade 4 Title in Florida

Rain has interrupted the second block of quarterfinals at the NCAA Division I men's team championships, with UCLA and North Carolina leading Georgia and Wake Forest 1-0 and 2-0 respectively.  But the noon matches were completed, with No. 2 seed Virginia beating No. 10 seed Texas 4-1 and No. 3 seed Ohio State winning its second consecutive 4-3 thriller over No. 6 seed TCU.

Texas really needed to win the doubles point to challenge two-time defending champion Virginia, and the Longhorns fell at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to give the Cavaliers all the breathing room they needed. JC Aragone clinched it for Virginia, taking a second set tiebreaker from Leonardo Telles at line 5, to put the his team in the semifinals again.  The last time Virginia did not make the NCAA Final Four was 2009, an amazing run of sustained excellence.

Hugo Di Feo after clinching Ohio State's 4-3 win over TCU

Ohio State has had difficulty getting out of the quarterfinals, going 3-8 in that round since 1999, and while the Buckeyes did not need a third set tiebreaker to advance as they had in Thursday's round of 16 meeting with Oklahoma, they were on the brink of elimination against TCU today.  The crucial doubles point came down to line 1, with Herkko Pollanen and Mikael Torpegaard saving a match point at 5-6 in the 7-6(6) tiebreaker that decided it. Four of the six singles matches went three sets, and after TCU's Cameron Norrie beat Torpegaard 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 at line 1 to make it 3-3, TCU was in the better position, with Guillermo Nuñez up 4-3, 40-30 against Hugo Di Feo at line 3.  But an error by Nuñez brought up a deuce point, and Di Feo blistered a forehand winner to get back on serve.

Di Feo then fell behind 0-40 on his serve but won the next four points to take a 5-4 lead, putting the pressure back on Nuñez. Di Feo was able to convert the first of his two match points at 30-40, when Nuñez's shot hit the tape and ricocheted wide.

Virginia and Ohio State will play for a place in the finals at noon on Monday. See the school website recaps by clicking on the bold team results below. For more on all the men's quarterfinals, see College Tennis Today.

#2 VIRGINIA (32-1) 4, #11 TEXAS (22-9) 1

Doubles
1. #76 George Goldhoff/Leonardo Telles(TEXAS) def. #17 Luca Corinteli/Carl Söderlund (VIRGINIA), 6-2
2. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Alexander Ritschard (VIRGINIA) def. Colin Markes/Christian Sigsgaard (TEXAS), 6-4
3. Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (VIRGINIA) def. Yuya Ito/ Harrison Scott (TEXAS), 6-2

Singles
1. #25 Christian Sigsgaard (TEXAS) def. #91 Alexander Ritschard (VIRGINIA), 7-5, 6-3
2. #14 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VIRGINIA) vs. #36 Harrison Scott (TEXAS), 5-7, 6-3, 3-0, DNF
3. Carl Söderlund (VIRGINIA) def. #55 Yuya Ito (TEXAS), 6-2, 6-1
4. #40 Collin Altamirano (VIRGINIA) def. George Goldhoff (TEXAS), 6-1, 6-0
5. #109 J.C. Aragone (VIRGINIA) def. Leonardo Telles (TEXAS), 6-2, 7-6(3)
6. #102 Henrik Wiersholm (VIRGINIA) vs. Rodrigo Banzer (TEXAS), 7-6(6), 2-3, DNF
Doubles (3,1,2) Singles (4,3,1,5)

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#3 OHIO STATE (32-3) 4, #6 TCU (22-5) 3

Doubles
1. Herkko Pollanen/Mikael Torpegaard (OHIO STATE) def. #25 Jerry Lopez/ Reese Stalder (TCU), 7-6(6)
2. #30 Hugo Di Feo/Martin Joyce(OHIO STATE) def. #57 Alex Rybakov/Guillermo Nuñez (TCU), 6-4
3. Cameron Norrie/ Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Hunter Tubert/ JJ Wolf (OHIO STATE), 6-4

Singles
1. #1 Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. #2 Mikael Torpegaard (OHIO STATE), 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
2. #20 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #46 JJ Wolf (OHIO STATE), 6-4, 6-4
3. #9 Hugo Di Feo (OHIO STATE) def. #83 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. #114 Jerry Lopez (TCU) def. Martin Joyce (OHIO STATE), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
5. Herkko Pollanen (OHIO STATE) def. Reese Stalder (TCU), 6-4, 6-4
6. Kyle Seelig (OHIO STATE) def. Trevor Johnson (TCU), 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
Doubles (3,2,1) Singles (5,2,4,6,1,3)
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#9 NORTH CAROLINA (28-4) 4, #1 WAKE FOREST (30-3) 2

Doubles
1. #4 Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (WAKE FOREST) def. #12 William Blumberg/ Robert Kelly (NORTH CAROLINA), 7-5
2. #82 Jack Murray/Simon Soendergaard (NORTH CAROLINA) def. Borna Gojo/ Alan Gadjiev (WAKE FOREST), 6-4
3. Anu Kodali/ Ronnie Schneider (NORTH CAROLINA) def. Petros Chrysochos/Dennis Uspensky (WAKE FOREST), 6-2

Singles
1. #5 Petros Chrysochos (WAKE FOREST) def. #22 Ronnie Schneider (NORTH CAROLINA). 7-6(3), 6-2
2. #16 William Blumberg (NORTH CAROLINA) def. #45 Borna Gojo (WAKE FOREST), 7-5, 7-6(6)
3. #13 Skander Mansouri (WAKE FOREST) def. #116 Robert Kelly (NORTH CAROLINA), 7-5, 6-4
4. #84 Christian Seraphim (WAKE FOREST) vs. Simon Soendergaard (NORTH CAROLINA), 7-6(3), 4-6, 3-2 DNF
5. Jack Murray (NORTH CAROLINA) def. Dennis Uspensky (WAKE FOREST), 6-2, 6-0
6. Bo Boyden (NORTH CAROLINA) def. Alan Gadjiev (WAKE FOREST), 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
Doubles (2,3,1) Singles (5,1,3,2,6)
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#12 GEORGIA (22-7) 4, #5 UCLA (22-6) 2

Doubles
1. #1 Jan Zielinski/Robert Loeb (GEORGIA) def. #3 Martin Redlicki/ Evan Zhu (UCLA), 6-3
2. Austin Rapp/Joseph DiGiulio (UCLA) def. Emil Reinberg/ Nathan Ponwith (GEORGIA), 6-3
3. Maxime Cressy/ Ben Goldberg (UCLA) def. Wayne Montgomery/ Walker Duncan (GEORGIA), 6-4

Singles
1. #60 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) def. #56 Nathan Ponwith (GEORGIA), 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
2. #33 Wayne Montgomery (GEORGIA) def. Evan Zhu (UCLA), 6-3, 6-4
3. Logan Staggs (UCLA) vs. #59 Emil Reinberg (GEORGIA), 7-6(3), 5-6 DNF
4. Jan Zielinski (GEORGIA) def. Maxime Cressy (UCLA), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Walker Duncan (GEORGIA) def. Austin Rapp (UCLA), 6-3, 7-6(2)
6. Robert Loeb (GEORGIA) def. Joseph DiGiulio (UCLA), 7-6(4), 6-2
Doubles (1,2,3) Singles (2,5,1,6,4)

The women's quarterfinals are on tap for Sunday and due to weather issues, the times have changed.

10 am
No. 2 UNC vs No. 7 Stanford
No. 3 Ohio State vs No. 6 Texas Tech

1 pm:
No. 1 Florida vs No. 9 Oklahoma State
No. 4 Vanderbilt vs No. 12 Pepperdine

Links to live streaming are available here.

Eighteen-year-old Sam Riffice has been on a roll since committing to the University of Florida for 2018. He reached the final of the $15K Vero Beach Futures late last month as a qualifier and has made another final this week at a $15,000 Futures in Romania, also as a qualifier.  Today Riffice defeated top seed and ATP 267 Yannick Mertens of Belgium 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 and will face 19-year-old Nicolae Frunza of Romania, the No. 8 seed, for his first Futures title.

At the $25,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Naples Florida, top seed Taylor Townsend beat No. 4 seed Usue Arconada 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 and will play No. 2 seed Sofya Zhuk of Russia in the final. Zhuk, the 2015 Wimbledon girls champion, defeated No. 3 seed Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 6-4, 6-0.

Emina Bektas and Alexa Guarachi Mathison of Chile won the doubles title, with the No. 4 seeds beating No. 3 seeds Sophie Chang and Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway 6-3, 6-1 in the final.  Bektas won last week's doubles title in Naples, with Sanaz Marand, and the week before that won the doubles title at the Charleston $60K with Guarachi Mathison, giving her a 12-match doubles winning streak on clay this month.

An even better streak is in progress on the ITF junior circuit where Margaryta Bilokin has won 18 singles matches in a row.  The 16-year-old Ukrainian collected her third title in three weeks today, beating No. 5 seed McCartney Kessler 6-2, 7-5 in the Grade 4 final in Plantation.  Bilokin, the No. 2 seed this week, has lost a total of three sets in those 18 victories.  The boys title went to 15-year-old Liam Draxl of Canada, who did not have to take the court to claim his first ITF singles title. Seventeen-year-old qualifier Antoine Sanchez, playing in his first ITF tournament, gave Draxl a walkover in the final.

The boys doubles title went to No. 4 seeds Thomas Guy of New Zealand and Christian Alshon, who defeated the unseeded team of Draxl and fellow Canadian Ryan Navarro 7-6(10) 3-6, 10-7 in the final. No. 7 seeds Dasha Kourkina and Michelle Sorokko won the girls doubles title, beating No. 5 seeds Anna Brylin and Mackenzie Clark 7-5, 7-5.

At the ITF Grade 4 in Morocco, Skyler Grishuk lost in the singles final but claimed the doubles title with Carol Youngsuh Lee of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Sebastian Korda won the doubles title at the ITF Grade 2 in Austria, in partnership with Ondrej Styler of the Czech Republic. The top seeds beat No. 2 seeds Hugo Gaston and Clement Tabur of France 6-2, 6-0 in the final.