One Seed, Four Qualifiers Advance to Rome $60K Quarterfinals; Korda Reaches Quarterfinals at Quimper Challenger; Tracking College Tennis Schedules, Collegians in ATP and WTA

The first tournament of the year on the USTA Pro Circuit was bound to feature some surprises, but the $60,000 women's tournament in Rome Georgia has gone above and beyond in that department. With second round action now complete, just one seed--No. 5 Usue Arconada--has made the quarterfinals, along with four qualifiers.

One of those qualifiers, former Michigan star Emina Bektas, earned one of the biggest wins of her career, with the 27-year-old defeating top seed and WTA 134 Olga Govortsova of Belarus 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-1 in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Bektas, who has yet to crack the WTA Top 200, has only one other win over someone ranked in the top 140 and her win over Sofia Kenin back in 2017, when Kenin was 111 in the WTA rankings, looks even more impressive now.  Bektas will face unseeded Katherine Sebov of Canada in the quarterfinals, after Sebov defeated wild card Alycia Parks 6-1, 6-3 today.

Arconada defeated wild card Ashlyn Krueger, the reigning Orange Bowl champion, 6-4, 6-3 and will play Grace Min, who defeated No. 4 seed Kristina Kucova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4. The 2019 Orange Bowl champion, 16-year-old Robin Montgomery, defeated 2019 US Open girls champion Maria Camila Osorio Serrano of Colombia, the No. 8 seed, 6-4, 6-3 and will meet fellow qualifier Irene Burillo Escorihuela of Spain on Friday.  Regardless of the outcome of that match, Montgomery will move into the WTA Top 400 for the first time with her results this week. 

The fourth singles match Friday is between Conny Perrin of Switzerland and qualifier Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico.

The No. 1 seeds in doubles, Ingrid Neel(Florida) and Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame), also were beaten today, with Catherine Harrison(UCLA) and Sophie Whittle(Gonzaga) recording a 6-0, 7-6(6) win in today's quarterfinals. 

The Quimper ATP Challenger 100 in France also has only one seed in the quarterfinals, with No. 2 Sebastian Korda again winning a tight match to advance. Korda defeated Mathias Bourgue 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-4, to set up a third straight match against an unseeded French player. He'll play Enzo Couacaud Friday. Brandon Nakashima(Virginia), who won his second round match on Wednesday, will also play a local favorite in the quarterfinals, taking on Constant Lestienne of France.  Nakashima and Hunter Reese(Tennessee) advanced to the semifinals in doubles, defeating Bourgue and Lucas Pouille of France 6-2, 6-2.

The ATP Challenger 80 in Turkey finally got some matches finished today, but some first round matches are still on the schedule for Friday. Ernesto Escobedo, the only American in singles, lost to Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 7-6(6), 6-3. Evan King(Michigan) and Nathan Pasha(Georgia) have yet to play their first round doubles match. Robert Galloway(Wofford) and Alex Lawson(Notre Dame) lost their first round doubles match to No. 2 seeds Aleksandr Nedovyesov(Oklahoma State) of Kazakhstan and Denys Molchanov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2.

Keeping tabs on what Division I matches are on the schedule is not easy, but CollegeTennisRanks.com has been updated for 2021, with the men's schedules up now. You can see what matches are scheduled for the week ahead, the results from the past week, and you can also sort by school. 

Another great feature of the site is the lists of former collegians in the ATP and WTA Top 1000. If you have players to add, get in touch on twitter @college10sranks.