NCAA D-III Individual Selections Announced; D-II Team Championships Underway; Qualifiers Gordon and Liu Reach Second Round at Naples $25K

The NCAA announced the fields for the Division III men's and women's singles and doubles championships today, scheduled for May 25-27 in Chattanooga Tennessee.  Unlike the Division I tournament, the draws are 32 for singles and 16 for doubles, with two matches played each of the first two days in singles and the final on the third day. There is one doubles match each of the first two days and two on the third day, which can be exhausting for those who are in both draws and also reached the final day in the team event.

Both NCAA finalists from 2016 are back in the women's field, with junior Eudice Chong of Wesleyan going for her third straight title. Juli Raventos of Williams, last year's finalist, will challenge Chong, as will Emory's Oracle Cup champion Bridget Harding, Pomona-Pitzer's Caroline Casper and Washington-St. Louis's Rebecca Ho.  2016 NCAA men's champion Skyler Butts has graduated from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, but CMS freshman Nikolai Parodi and seniors Glenn Hull and Daniel Morkovine are ready to keep the school's legacy going. Kalamazoo College's Branden Metzler, who reached the final last year, is back, as is semifinalist Zachary Hewlin of Whitman. Oracle Cup finalist Lubomir Cuba of Middlebury and Oracle Cup champion Aman Manji of Emory among the men's singles favorites.

The complete women's field is here; the complete men's field is here.

The Division II team championships got underway yesterday in Altamonte Springs Florida, and the semifinals are set for the men, while the women's tournament has reached the quarterfinals. The women's bracket is here.

The men's semifinals will feature Barry vs Columbus State and West Florida vs Southwest Baptist.  The men's bracket is here.  Live stats and results from previous matches are available here.  The ITA also announced its Division II awards on Monday.

There is only one USTA Pro Circuit event in the United States this week, with the women at a $25,000 tournament in Naples Florida. Seven of the eight players who qualified on Tuesday were Americans and three of them--Claire Liu, Lauren Embree and Michaela Gordon--advanced to the second round with wins today, as did Canadian qualifier Carol Zhao(Stanford).  Gordon will face top seed Taylor Townsend Thursday and Embree will take on former Florida teammate Danielle Collins (Collins was a freshman at Florida in Embree's senior year before leaving for Virginia in 2014). Liu plays No. 3 seed Sonya Kenin in a third all-US matchup.

Usue Arconada, the No. 8 seed, advanced with a 3 hour and 20 minute, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 win over qualifier Sophie Chang. Arconada will face Norway's Ulrikke Eikeri and Kayla Day, the No. 2 seed, will play former USC star Sabrina Santamaria in the second round Thursday.