Williams and Macavei Win, Basavareddy Ousts No. 2 Seed to Reach Brazil J1 Quarterfinals; Bernard Advances to Naples $15K Quarterfinals; Men's National Team Indoor Starts Friday; ITA Division II Team Rankings

The United States, Europe and Australia have mostly returned to normal draw sizes for major ITF junior events, but that has definitely not been the case in South America, with draws cut from 64 to 48 or 32 across the board, including next week's Grade A in Brazil. This week's J1 warmup in Brazil was also reduced to a 32 draw, and with a Monday start and a Sunday finish, both the first and second rounds were played over two days, so it's Thursday before we know the quarterfinalists.

The big second round win today came from qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy, who defeated No. 2 seed Ignacio Buse of Peru 6-2, 7-6(4). Basavareddy, who has been coming back from injury, has had to qualify in both the J1s he's played this year (no protected ranking in juniors), while receiving a wild card into the J1 in Costa Rica. Including picking up his first ATP point last month, the 16-year-old from Indiana is 12-3 this year. He'll play the only other American boy in the draw, No. 5 seed Cooper Williams, in the quarterfinals. Williams, who beat Basavareddy 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 in the quarterfinals in Costa Rica, defeated Tiago Pires of France 6-3, 6-3 today. 

Sonya Macavei, who won her first Grade 1 in Costa Rica, is into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 3 Nikola Daubnerova of Slovakia. The Vanderbilt recruit will play No. 8 seed Mia Kupres of Canada, her doubles partner. The unseeded pair have advanced to the semifinals of doubles, where they'll face top seeds Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko. 

Williams has also advanced to Friday's doubles semifinals, with partner Yaroslav Demin of Russia.

At the USTA Men's $15,000 Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, Ohio State recruit Alexander Bernard has advanced to the quarterfinals. Bernard, a wild card, defeated Ozan Colak 6-4, 7-5 and will play qualifier Khololwam of South Africa next. There are no seeds remaining in the bottom half, after Evan Zhu(UCLA) defeated No. 2 seed Cristian Rodriguez of Colombia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The other American in the quarterfinals is No. 7 Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern).

The ITA Men's Division I Team Indoor Championships kick off Friday in Seattle, with the University of Washington serving as the host. Top seed Ohio State is the favorite coming in, but Buckeye fans in Columbus will be up late watching their team face the host Huskies at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time. The schedule is below. 

9AM
Stanford[6] vs. South Carolina[11]
TCU[5] vs. Virginia[12]

NOON
Tennessee[3] vs. Texas A&M[14]
Florida[4] vs. Texas[13]

3:30PM
Kentucky[7] vs. Southern Cal[10]
Wake Forest[8] vs. Georgia[8]

6:30PM
Baylor[2] vs. Ole Miss[15]
Ohio State[1] vs. Washington[16]

Cracked Racquets will be providing RedZone coverage, with Alex Gruskin and Mark Bey, at its YouTube channel.

I missed the first iteration of the ITA Division II team rankings last month, but below are the newest rankings. The women's rankings didn't change much (previous rankings in parentheses), but some major shuffling took place in the men's rankings. These rankings are from a coaches poll. The Top 25 lists can be viewed by clicking on the headings.

ITA Women's Division II Top 10 February 17, 2022

1. Barry (1)

2. Indianapolis (2)

3. Central Oklahoma (3)

4. Nova Southeastern (4)

5. Columbus State (T7)

6. West Alabama (5)

7. Hawaii Pacific (13)

8. Saint Leo (9)

9. Flagler (6)

10. Lynn (10)

ITA Men's Division II Top 10 February 17, 2022

1. Columbus State (2)

2. Valdosta State (5)

3. Lynn (13)

4. Hawaii Pacific (9)

5. Barry (1)

6. West Florida (6)

7. Embry-Riddle (15)

8. Indianapolis (7)

9. Saint Leo (3)

10. Lander (8)