Seeds Scarce in NCAA Division I Singles after Second Round; Defending Champions Advance to Division III Team Semifinals; Twenty-one Americans in Action Tuesday in French Open Qualifying

With the second round of the Division I NCAA singles completed today at the USTA's National Campus in Lake Nona, just five women's and eight men's seeds remain in the running for the title.

There were many upsets if seeding is the only method of determining that, but given the suspect rankings and seeding this year, several results shouldn't be put in the upset category. 

For example, North Carolina's Alexa Graham, who won the ITA Fall National Championships in Lake Nona last November, is unseeded this week, but her 6-7(6), 6-0, 6-1 win over Virginia's Natasha Subhash, a No. 9 seed, shouldn't be considered an upset. Duke's Kelly Chen, a semifinalist at the 2019 NCAA singles championships, defeated No. 8 seed McCartney Kessler of Florida 6-4, 6-4 and again, nothing is shocking about that.

On the other hand, Oregon's Janice Tjen's 6-1, 6-4 victory over 2019 NCAA singles semifinalist Katarina Jokic of Georgia, who played so well during the team championships, was certainly unexpected. On the men's side, 2017 singles finalist Will Blumberg defeated No. 3 seed Hady Habib of Texas A&M 7-5, 6-2, just one day after taking out Cannon Kingsley of Ohio State in straight sets, and no one would be surprised if Blumberg found himself in an NCAA final again. 

The five women's seeds remaining are 1,2,3,6,7, with Sara Daavettila of North Carolina getting a straight-sets victory today over Georgia Lea Ma. No. 2 seed and defending champion Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami defeated team champion Peyton Stearns of Texas 6-2, 6-4.

Of the eight men's seeds remaining, six are in the top half of the draw. Top seed Liam Draxl of Kentucky again had to come from behind against Notre Dame's Axel Nefve, who led 3-1 in the third before Draxl recovered for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory, a day after saving a match point in his win over John McNally of Ohio State. No. 2 seed Daniel Rodrigues of South Carolina posted a second routine win, beating Jacob Wojcik of South Florida 6-3, 6-0.

Today has always been known as All-American day at the NCAA Singles Championships, with the unseeded players who advance in the draw receiving that honor for making the round of 16. Those seeded are automatically All-Americans, and those who finish in the top 20 in the final ITA rankings are also accorded that status. This year, there is apparently some confusion about whether that criteria is still in effect, with the ITA telling me, when I inquired about all the tweets I saw from individual schools announcing their All-Americans that they "have not communicated that information as we are awaiting a committee decision."

The possibility that previous criteria may not apply this year should have been communicated prior to the start of the tournament, and when it was not, the schools can't be faulted for assuming the status quo would prevail. 

The reason this was immediately brought to the forefront is Blumberg, who, with his win today in singles (he is seeded in doubles so already an All-American there) is now a 10-time All-American, a record that is unlikely to be broken, given this year's unique pandemic circumstances.

So, assuming that the committee doesn't deny today's winners All-American status, those newly minted are:

Meg Kowalski, Georgia
Kelly Chen, Duke
Emma Antonaki, Mississipi State
Janice Tjen, Oregon
Alexa Graham, North Carolina
Jessica Failla, Pepperdine
Paris Corley, LSU
Georgia Drummy, Duke
Selin Ovunc, Auburn
Christina Rosca, Vanderbilt
Bunyawi Thamchaiwat, Oklahoma State

Siphosothando Montsi, Illinois

Will Blumberg, North Carolina

Alexis Galarneau, North Carolina State

Daniel Cukierman, Southern California

Rinky Hijakata, North Carolina

Adrian Boitan, Baylor

August Holmgren, San Diego

Aleks Kovacevic, Illinois

The first round of doubles took place today, with three seeded teams losing, including women's No. 3 seeds Victoria Flores and Kenya Jones of Georgia Tech, who were beaten by Carmen Corley and Ivana Corley of Oklahoma 7-6(3), 6-3.

The third round of singles is scheduled to begin at noon tomorrow, with the second round of doubles beginning at 6 p.m.

The semifinalists in the NCAA Division III Team Championships were decided today in Chattanooga Tennessee, with the women's defending champions Wesleyan advancing with a 5-0 win over Washington and Lee. Wesleyan will face Kenyon, a 5-2 winner over Mary Washington. The other women's semifinal will feature Emory, who beat Southwestern 5-0, and Tufts, a 5-1 winner over Sewanee.

The men's semifinals also feature the defending champions, with Emory defeating Brandeis 5-0 to move closer to another title. Emory will play Johns Hopkins, who trailed Williams 4-0 before winning the final five points of the match. The other men's semifinal has Washington-St. Louis playing Case Western Reserve after Washington-St. Louis defeated George Fox 5-0, while Case Western beat Trinity(Tex) 5-1. 

A cold and wet day in Paris greeted those competing Monday in the Roland Garros qualifying, with seven Americans in action. Picking up wins today were Ernesto Escobedo, Bjorn Fratangelo and Varvara Lepchenko. The other 20 Americans are scheduled to play their first round matches Tuesday.

2020 Orange Bowl champion Arthur Fils of France made headlines in Paris with his 6-7(5), 7-6(1) 6-3 first round victory over Australian Bernard Tomic.