Boika Reaches Semifinals at J1 Asuncion Bowl; North Carolina's Bid for Third Straight ITA Women's Team Indoor Title Begins Friday; Shang Advances to Quarterfinals at Naples $15K

Leanid Boika hadn't won three matches at any ITF J1 tournament before today, when the big serving 17-year-old from Florida defeated qualifier Nicolas Villalon Valdes of Chile 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Asuncion Bowl in Paraguay. Boika, the No. 6 seed and the only seeded boy remaining, will take on Peter Nad of Slovakia for a place in Saturday's final. Qualifier Joao Fonseca of Brazil and Alejandro Bancalari of Chile will meet in the other semifinal.

Both US girls in today's quarterfinals lost, with No. 2 seed Alexis Blokhina falling to unseeded Lucia Peyre of Argentina 7-6(3), 6-2 and qualifier Mia Saveljic dropping a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 decision to No. 8 seed Luciana Moyano of Argentina. Moyano will face top seed Luca Udvardy of Hungary in the semifinals, while Peyre will meet unseeded Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa. 

The ITA Division I Women's Team Indoor Championships are set to begin Friday morning on the Madison campus of the University of Wisconsin. The North Carolina women, seeded No. 2, are the two-time defending champions and are looking to reach the final for the eighth consecutive year. NCAA champion Texas, who has won 29 consecutive dual matches, is the top seed. Live scoring via tennis ticker and live streaming via playsight are available; Cracked Racquets will be providing Red Zone coverage on their YouTube channel with Alex Gruskin and Mike Cation.

Friday's Round of 16 Division I Women's Team Indoor Championships

9 AM (all times Central)
North Carolina[2] v Ohio State
Virginia[7] v Florida

Noon
Georgia[3] v Washington
NC State v Auburn

3:30 PM
Pepperdine[5] v Old Dominion
California[4] v Texas A&M

6:30 PM
Texas[1] v Southern Cal
Oklahoma[8] v Wisconsin

The quarterfinals are set at the $15,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, with No. 2 seed Vasil Kirkov the only American still in the hunt for a singles title. Wild card Kyle Kang, the only American junior to win a match in the main draw, lost to No. 4 seed Jonathan Mridha of Sweden 7-6(3), 6-1 in today's second round. 

Jerry Shang of China, who turned 17 last week, defeated former University of Tennessee standout Timo Stodder of Germany 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Shang had lost to Stodder in the second round of the $25K in Weston Florida last month. Stodder advanced to the second round yesterday when top seed Eduard Esteve Lobato of Spain retired after losing the first set 6-3. Shang, who won three $15,000 US Pro Circuit singles titles last year, will play No. 7 seed Jose Pereira of Brazil next.