Fifteen Collegians Earn All-American Honors at NCAAs; Pedroso Named to Replace Boland at Virginia; Four American Juniors Reach Quarterfinals at Milan Grade A; French Final Round Qualifying Features Four From US

The opportunity to earn All-American status comes every year in the second round of the NCAA singles championships and today in Athens, 15 collegians were able to earn that highly coveted title with wins today.  All players seeded in the tournament, regardless of their performance this week, had already received that title, but a rash of upsets on Wednesday opened the door for the ten women and five men who had come into the tournament unseeded.

The women earning All-American honors with wins today:
Mayar Sherif Ahmed, Pepperdine
Brienne Minor, Michigan
Sara Daavettila, North Carolina
Ashley Lahey, Pepperdine
Jessica Livianu, St. Johns
Kate Fahey, Michigan
Mia Horvit, South Carolina
Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami
Joana Valle Costa, LSU
Anna Danilina, Florida

The men earning All-American honors with wins today:
Yuya Ito, Texas
Alex Ghilea, Oklahoma
Jack Findel-Hawkins, North Florida
Borna Gojo, Wake Forest
Jolan Callieau, Texas Tech

The doubles tournament began today, and just like in singles, three of the top four seeds in the women's tournament are gone.  Top seeds Astra Sharma and Emily Smith of Vanderbilt withdrew, No. 2 seeds Jasmine Lee and Lisa Maria Rioux of Mississippi State lost to Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum and Nina Khmelnitckaia of Kansas and No. 4 seeds Jessie Aney and Hayley Carter fell to Eleni Christofi and Kennedy Shaffer of Georgia.  The top four seeds in the men's doubles all advanced to the second round.

For complete results, see the tournament website.

The University of Virginia announced the hiring of a new head coach, with former associate head coach Andres Pedroso returning to Charlottesville to take over for Brian Boland.  Pedroso worked under Boland for four years before leaving to coach privately in South Florida in 2014.  Pedroso, who was a USTA National Coach prior to joining Virginia as an assistant, will become director of tennis for the University as well.   Although there has been no announcement, my assumption is that Dustin Taylor, Boland's current assistant, will be leaving to join Boland at the USTA. Taylor was the USTA's National Collegiate coach prior to joining Virginia when Pedroso left.

Two US girls and two US boys advanced to Friday's quarterfinals at the ITF Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy with wins today.

No. 13 seed Oliver Crawford defeated qualifier Sangeet Sridhar 6-3, 6-2 and No. 4 seed Trent Bryde came back to beat Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

No. 6 seed Whitney Osuigwe defeated Tatiana Pieri of Italy 7-6(3), 6-2 and unseeded Ann Li topped No. 2 seed Amina Anshba of Russia 6-4, 7-5.   Li, the reigning USTA 18s Clay Court champion, is having the best Grade A of her career this week, which should help her chances for making the main draw at Wimbledon.

Osuigwe and Caty McNally are into the doubles semifinals, as are Vasil Kirkov and Danny Thomas.

The final day of French Open qualifying is Friday, with two US men and two US women needing one more win to make the main draw.

Nicole Gibbs[20] defeated Hiroko Kuwata of Japan 6-4, 6-1 in today's second round and will face top seed Sara Errani of Italy Friday. Bethanie Mattek-Sands[12] defeated Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia 7-6(6), 6-4 and will play Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.

Bjorn Fratangelo[32] will play Gerald Melzer[15] of Austria and Denis Kudla faces Paul-Henri Mathieu[16] of France.