Easter Bowl 12s, 14s, 16s Wild Cards; Dow Tennis Classic Becoming WTA $125K Event; North Carolina Men and Women Again Top ITA Division I Team Rankings, Florida Men Move to No. 2

I received a list of the wild cards for the 12s, 14s and 16s division at the Easter Bowl, which begins Thursday March 25 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. The 12s and 14s are being played from March 25-30, while the 16s competition is scheduled from March 29-April 4. Usually wild cards are limited to 8, but given the pandemic circumstances, that number was expanded to a maximum of 12.

I also learned that due to all the "uncertainty," there will be no merit-based wild cards this year tied to performances in junior events. As an example, in previous years the winners of the Easter Bowl ITF received a wild card into the US Open Junior Championships if they needed it. I would assume any champion that would have qualified automatically under that system would be given strong consideration if they applied for a wild card under the normal system in place for any USTA tournament.

Easter Bowl Wild Cards

B16s
Alexander Razeghi
Dylan Charlap
Krish Arora
Kaylan Bigun
Micah Bigun
Lucas Coriaty
Jayanth Devaiah
Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes
Ari Cotoulas
Abishek Thorat
Jordan Reznik
Learner Tien

G16s
Stephanie Yakoff
Kinaa Graham
Daniella Borruel
Kaitlyn Carnicella
Alyssa Ahn
Lexington Reed
Theodora Rabman

B14s
Darwin Blanch
Mark Krupkin
Max Exsted
Max Dussault
Matisse Farzam
Jagger Leach
Yubel Ubri
Keaton Hance
Cassius Chinlund
Andrew Li
Ford McCollum
Matthew Carioscia

G14s
Maya Iyengar
Nina Costalas
Cleo Hutchinson
Adla Lopez
Sasha Kilgour
Summer Chandler
Sabrina Lin
Rachel lee
Hadley Appling
Alyssa James
Olivia Benton
Tianmei Wang

B12s
Lachlan Rushton
Carel Ngounoue
Jordan Lee
Macksimus Malhotra
Tristan Dussault
Henry Lessard

G12s
Ashley Liang
Nadia Valdez
Kristina Penickova
Annika Penickova
Julia Severson
Briley Rhoden
Ashlyn Burrows
Mary Hannah Morrison
Nicole Okhtenberg

Sara Errani competes at the 2020 Dow Tennis Classic

The Dow Tennis Classic, a fixture on the USTA/ITF Women's Professional Circuit for decades here in Michigan, announced today that it is becoming a part of the WTA's 125 series beginning this year. The tournament, which I've attended annually for the past six years, is one of the best-attended and highly regarded stops on the ITF Circuit, and with its steady increase in prize money to the $100,000 level, it has always attracted a good field, even with competition from the Australian Open. Its usual place on the calendar, late January and early February, will also be amended, and not just for this year. Dow has committed to sponsoring the event through 2023, and the tournament will move to late October and early November for at least those three years. This year's event is scheduled to take place November 1-7, after the pandemic led to postponement of this year's tournament.

This week's ITA Division I team rankings still have both North Carolina teams at the top, but there was a big move in the men's poll, with Florida going from No. 7 all the way to No. 2 this week. Florida's wins over Mississippi and Mississippi State last weekend wouldn't seem to account entirely for that jump, but those victories were convincing and the Gators are proving themselves every week now in SEC.  And in today's non-conference match between two Top 10 teams, Florida defeated No. 6 TCU 7-0, which will only enhance their current standing right behind North Carolina.

Michigan's 4-3 win over Ohio State, the first for the Wolverines over the Buckeyes since 2001, resulted in their move into the Top 10, while Ohio State dropped to No. 12.

In the women's rankings, Georgia Tech's win over Duke sent them back into the Top 10, while Stanford, the preseason No. 4, fell to No. 26, despite a 5-0 record in their late-starting dual match season.

For the complete rankings, which extended through the Top 50, see this ITA page for the women, and this ITA page for the men.

ITA Division I Women's Team Top 10 rankings: March 17, 2021

previous week's ranking in parentheses

1. North Carolina (1)

2. Texas (2)

3. Georgia (3)

4. Pepperdine (4)

5. UCLA (5)

6. Florida State (7)

7. Northwestern (8)

8. Georgia Tech (13)

9. Duke (6)

10. Ohio State (9)

ITA Division I Men's Team Top 10 rankings: March 17, 2021

1. North Carolina (1)

2. Florida (7)

3. Baylor (2)

4. Virginian (3)

5. Tennessee (4)

6. TCU (5)

7. Texas (6)

8. Michigan (13)

9. Illinois (9)

10. Texas A&M (12)