Jokic, Navarro Oust Top Seeds at Georgia $60K; 14-Year-Old Darwin Blanch Earns First ATP Point; Butorac Named Cincinnati Tournament Director; First USTA Poll Ranks Tennessee Men and Texas Women No. 1

Qualifier Katarina Jokic, the 2019 NCAA singles finalist, and wild card Emma Navarro, the 2021 NCAA singles champion, shook up the draws at the $60,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Rome Georgia today, with the pair defeating the top two seeds in first round action.

Serbia's Jokic, a former No. 1 at Georgia, defeated  top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a three-hour and 13 minute marathon. Navarro, who played No. 1 for Virginia at the ITA Kickoff matches last weekend, had a considerably simpler win over No. 2 seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus, taking a 6-3, 6-1 decision in just over an hour.

Navarro will play qualifier Marcela Zacarias of Mexico in Thursday's second round, while Jokic will take on wild card Emina Bektas(Michigan).  

Other Americans advancing today include Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State), Robin Anderson(UCLA), Caroline Dolehide, Katie Volynets, Christina McHale, lucky loser Raveena Kingsley and wild card Alycia Parks.

In doubles, the 2021 US Open Girls doubles champions and finalists are through to the quarterfinals, with winners Robin Montgomery and Ashlyn Krueger defeating No. 3 seeds Conny Perrin of Switzerland and Zacarias 6-2, 6-2 and finalists Reese Brantmeier and Elvina Kalieva beating Irene Burillo Escorihuela of Spain and Despina Papamichail of Greece 5-7, 6-3, 10-7. 

Fourteen-year-old Darwin Blanch, who is now training in Spain, received a wild card into the qualifying of this week's $15,000 ITF men's World Tennis Tour tournament in Villena Spain. The 2021 Junior Orange Bowl 14s finalist won three matches, with all three of those opponents also teenagers, to earn a spot in the main draw. Today Blanch encountered yet another teenager, 18-year-old wild card Gerard Planelles Ripoll of Spain, and claimed his first ATP point with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. Planelles Ripoll has an ATP ranking of 1596, having reached the quarterfinals of a $15K last month. Blanch will play No. 8 seed Maxime Chazal of France, who is exactly twice his age and has an ATP ranking of 593.

The Western and Southern Open announced today that Eric Butorac is taking over as tournament director of the longstanding event in Cincinnati. Butorac, who had an outstanding ATP doubles career after winning the NCAA Division III singles and doubles titles, has been the USTA's Director of Professional Tennis Operations and Player Relations since 2016 and will continue in that role while adding this responsibility. 

The first USTA/Tennis Channel Division I Team poll was released today, along with the ITA Coaches Poll. In a surprise, given that the top teams all played in the ITA Kickoff last weekend, there were no changes in the men's Top 10 of the ITA Coaches Poll. As you can see below, the differences in the Top 10s are minor, with the only two teams not in both are Texas A&M and Wake Forest. The full Top 25 lists can be found by clicking on the headings.

Men's ITA Division I Top 10 February 2 (previous week's ranking): 

1. Tennessee (1)
2. Baylor (2)
3. Florida (3)
4. TCU (4)
5. Ohio State (5)
6. Virginia (6)
7. Georgia (7)
8. Southern California (8)
9. Texas (9)
10. Wake Forest (10)

Men's USTA Division I Top 10 February 2

1. Tennessee
2. Baylor
3. Florida
4. TCU
5. Virginia
6. Ohio State
7. Southern Cal
8. Georgia
9. Texas
10. Texas A&M

The Women's ITA Top 10 did have some notable changes, with three of those teams dropping matches during Kickoff Weekend. UCLA, No. 4 last week, fell to 19 after losing to Washington; Duke, No. 6 last week, dropped to 12 after losing to Oklahoma, and last week's No. 10 Central Florida, who lost to Auburn, is now 18.

Women's ITA Division I Top 10 February 2:

1. Texas (1)

2. North Carolina (2)

3. Georgia (3)

4. California (5)

5. Pepperdine (7)

6. NC State (8)

7. Virginia (9)

T8. Texas A&M (13)

T8. Oklahoma (17)

10. Southern Cal (15)

USTA Women's Division I Top 10 February 2

1. Texas

2. North Carolina

3. NC State

4. Pepperdine

5. Georgia

6. California

7. Virginia

8. Ohio State

9. Oklahoma

10. Texas A&M

As you can see, the top two are the same in both, but NC State is three spots higher in the USTA poll and Ohio State, No. 11 in the ITA poll, is No. 8 according the USTA voters. Southern Cal is the team in the ITA Top 10 that does not appear in the USTA Top 10; they are 12.

Next week the ITA will release its first individual rankings since the winter preseason rankings from December 8.