North Carolina Women, USC Men Remain No. 1 in Latest Division I Rankings; Nakashima Advances to French Challenger Quarterfinals; Talaba Upsets Zarazua at Rome $60K

With the ITA Kickoff Weekend complete and more dual matches played last weekend, a new set of ITA Division I Team rankings was released today. As with the recent preseason rankings, these are generated by a coaches poll, which is limited to just 25 teams. There is no change at the top, with the USC men and the North Carolina women still at No. 1.

In the women's rankings, there is no change in the Top 5, but in the men's rankings, Ohio State and Michigan both dropped from the Top 5. Ohio State falls from No. 3 to No. 7 and Michigan from No. 4 to a tie for No. 12. The third men's host to lose during the Kickoff Weekend, North Carolina State, went from 8 to 14.

Making big jumps in the men's rankings are Virginia, whose win over Ohio State boosted them from 22 to 8, and Baylor, whose win over Michigan caused them to rise from 15 to 6.  

In the women's Top 10, NC State and Virginia dropped out, with Georgia Tech, a winner over Duke, moving up to No. 6 from No. 12.  Ohio State went from 13 to 9.  Although they did not earn a place in the Top 10, the Northwestern women made the biggest jump of any team, men or women, going from unranked to 13.  

The full Top 25 for women is here; the full Top 25 for men is here.

Men’s ITA Division I Top 10 rankings 1/27/21:

first place votes in parentheses

1. USC (10)

2. North Carolina (1)

3. TCU

4. Texas

5. Stanford

6. Baylor

7. Ohio State

8. Virginia

9. Texas A&M

10. Tennessee

Women’s ITA Division I Top 10 rankings 1/27/21:

1. North Carolina

2. UCLA

3. Texas

4. Stanford

5. Pepperdine

6. Georgia Tech

7. Georgia

8. Florida State

9. Ohio State

T10. Duke

T10. Oklahoma State

Brandon Nakashima advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger 100 in Quimper France today, defeating No. 5 seed Federico Gaio of Italy 6-2, 6-1. With only three second round matches complete, the only seed remaining in the draw is No. 2 Sebastian Korda.  Top seed Lucas Pouille of France lost to Filip Horansky of Slovakia 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Nakashima (Virginia) and partner Hunter Reese (Tennessee) won their first round doubles match today, beating No. 1 seeds and last week's Challenger 125 champion Andre Goransson(Cal) of Sweden and David Pel of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-3, 10-5. 

It's still raining in Turkey, so no results are available from the Challenger 80 there.

Rain has also been a problem this week in Rome Georgia for the $60,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament there, but with six indoor courts on site, there have been able to keep on schedule. The match between qualifier Kimmi Hance and wild card Ashlyn Krueger is just getting started, but most first round matches have finished. 

Usue Arconada[5] beat Katie Swan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 but No. 3 seed Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State) lost, and No. 6 seed Sachia Vickery was replaced by a lucky loser. Wild card Katrina Scott gave top seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus a tough two-and-a-half hour match, but fell 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. 

Former Texas Tech star Gabriela Talaba of Romania defeated No. 2 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 7-6(4), 6-1.

Robin Montgomery beat fellow qualifier Tara Moore of Great Britain 6-3, 6-0 and Alycia Parks defeated fellow wild card Hanna Chang 6-3, 6-2. Grace Min and Emina Bektas(Michigan) were other Americans to pick up first round wins today.