$100,000 Collegiate Tennis Grants Return in 2023; Loaded Challenger Field in Phoenix; Qualifying Underway at Men's $25K in Bakersfield; Brooksby Ousts Tsitsipas at BNP Paribas Open

When Oracle's Mark Hurd died in 2019, college tennis lost one of its most ardent supporters. A former player at Baylor, he was responsible for much of the funding for their outstanding tennis facility, and Oracle had partnered with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as a sponsor of tournaments and rankings. Another of the initiatives Oracle financed was two $100,000 grants to one American man and one American woman who had played college tennis to assist them in making the transition to pro tennis. 

The recipients in 2017, the first year of the program, were Danielle Collins and Mackenzie McDonald. In 2018, Christopher Eubanks and Francesca Di Lorenzo received the grants, and in 2019, it was JC Aragone and Jamie Loeb who benefited. I believe that applications were taken for the 2020 grants, but due to the pandemic's uncertainty, they were not awarded in 2020 and 2021.

Today Universal Tennis announced that the grants, now called the Hurd Tennis Awards, will return for 2023, with the winners revealed at the BNP Paribas Open. No longer connected with Oracle or the ITA, the awards are a joint project of Universal Tennis and Mark Hurd's widow Paula. The panel that will select the recipients consists of Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, Mary Joe Fernandez, Peggy Michel, Todd Martin, Gordon Uehling and Stephen Amritraj. 

At some point in the past five years, I've spoken with most of the previous recipients about what the grants have meant with them, and they acknowledged how vital it was to have these funds as they worked to establish themselves on the professional tours. It's great to see the grants return and to see Mark Hurd's legacy live on in this fashion.

There are no women's Pro Circuit events this week in the United States, but there is a men's ATP Challenger 125 in Phoenix this week and a $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Bakersfield California.

The Arizona Tennis Classic, which is not a part of the USTA Pro Circuit, has drawn an impressive field, with 18 Top 100 players. In the vicinity due to the BNP Paribas Open and biding their time in the United States before the Miami Open, players were always going to flock to any event on the calendar; all the better that it is at the 125 level.

The draw strength is also impressive in the qualifying, with a dozen Top 200 players. The first round of qualifying was played today, with five Americans advancing to Tuesday's final round: Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee)[5], Mitchell Krueger[9], Emilio Nava, Evan King(Michigan) and Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois). Wild cards Zachary Svajda, Nathan Ponwith(Arizona State), China's Jerry Shang and Arizona State freshman Murphy Cassone all lost today, with only Svajda winning a set. 

Benoit Paire of France is the top seed, with Italy's Lorenzo Musetti the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Brandon Nakashima, Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) and JJ Wolf(Ohio State).  The only other US player in the draw as of now is Denis Kudla.

And not to be outdone, the doubles draw features the ATP's top-ranked team, Nikola Mektic and Ante Pavic of Croatia, who lost in the first round at Indian Wells to Jack Sock and John Isner.

Two Top 300 players are in the draw at the Bakersfield tournament with Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India and Julian Lenz(Baylor) of Germany the top two seeds. Wild cards in the main draw went to Bruno Kuzuhara, Martin Damm, Alex Michelsen and Alfredo Perez. Damm is coming off a win at the UTR Pro Tennis Tour event in Bradenton last week. Michelsen, who reached the Australian Open boys doubles final in January, is also scheduled to compete in the San Diego J1 and Easter Bowl later this month. Victor Lilov used an ITF junior exemption for his entry.

In today's first round of qualifying, Ethan Quinn(Georgia) defeated No. 15 seed Alexander Bernard 6-1, 6-4 and Kyle Kang beat No. 16 seed Ruan Roelofse of South Africa 6-4, 6-1. 

After Tommy Paul's big 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2) win over No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev last night at the BNP Paribas Open, seven American men are through to the third round for the first time since 1994, when the draw was 52, not 96 as it is now. 

Another young American posted an impressive upset tonight, with Jenson Brooksby(Baylor) defeating No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round. Brooksby will face the winner of tonight's late match between defending champion Cam Norrie(TCU) and Nikoloz Basilashvili.

No. 17 seed Reilly Opelka has advanced to the fourth round with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 win today over No. 13 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada and will play No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal next. 

Looking to join Opelka and Brooksby in the fourth round with wins Tuesday are Paul, John Isner, Taylor Fritz, Steve Johnson and Frances Tiafoe.