My Article on Reese Brantmeier's Choice of UNC; Blokhina Advances at Orlando $25K; Tien, Zheng Reach Orange Park $15K Semifinals; Upsets Continue in Conference Tournaments

I had an opportunity to talk with Reese Brantmeier at the Easter Bowl about her commitment to North Carolina. When I had last spoken to her, at the US Open, Brantmeier was not ready to announce any decision, but she made it official last month by signing with the Tar Heels for this fall. She is planning on just one year in Chapel Hill, but she sounded certain that she wanted the college tennis experience before she embarked on her pro career. I also learned that Brantmeier is a talented artist and you can see an example of her drawing skill in the article I wrote for Tennis Recruiting Network.

Brantmeier fell short today in her quarterfinal match at the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Orlando, losing to No. 2 seed and WTA 161 Alexandra Ignatik of Romania 6-4, 7-6(7) in two hours and 34 minutes. But wild card Alexis Blokhina has gotten through to the semifinals, with the Easter Bowl champion defeating No. 4 seed Catherine Harrison(UCLA) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in three hours and five minutes. On Saturday, the 17-year-old from Plantation Florida will face top seed Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden, who beat wild card Madison Sieg 6-4, 6-3. Ignatik will play No. 3 seed Grace Min, who defeated Chiara Scholl 6-2, 6-3.

A week after 17-year-old Kyle Kang reached the semifinals of the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Sunrise Florida, both 16-year-old Learner Tien and 18-year-old Michael Zheng have advanced to the semifinals in Orange Park.

Tien, a wild card, defeated top seed and ATP 418 Govind Nanda(UCLA) 6-3, 6-4, with the San Diego J1 champion getting to the semifinals this week without dropping a set. Zheng, a qualifier, beat 18-year-old wild card Fnu Nidunjianzan of China 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Zheng will face the only seed remaining, No. 6 Wilson Leite of Brazil, who beat No. 2 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) 6-0, 6-4. Tien's opponent in the semifinals is Yibing Wu of China, who defeated Orange Bowl champion Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay 6-3, 5-7, 6-0. 

At the $60,000 women's tournament in Charlottesville, Louisa Chirico is the sole American to advance to the semifinals. She defeated Robin Anderson(UCLA) 6-2, 6-1; wild card Taylor Townsend lost to No. 3 seed Xiyu Wang of China 6-4, 6-1 and qualifier Ellie Douglas(TCU) was beaten by No. 6 seed Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy 6-2, 7-5. Chirico will play Stefanini in the semifinals, with Wang set to face No. 2 seed Tatjana Maria of Germany.

The ATP Challenger 80 in Tallahassee had four Americans in the quarterfinals, but only one has advanced to the semifinals. Christian Harrison was beaten by Tung-Lin Wu of Taiwan 6-0, 6-4 and No. 6 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) lost to unseeded Zhizhen Zheng of China 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2). In the only quarterfinal match between Americans, Michael Mmoh, who had beaten top seed Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina in the second round, defeated wild card Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois) 6-2, 7-6(4). Mmoh will face last week's Sarasota Challenger champion Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia, the No. 3 seed, in Saturday's semifinals.

The upsets continue in the Power 5 conference championships, with the biggest coming in the ACC. The Georgia Tech men, seeded No. 10 and ranked 61, defeated No. 2 seed and 7th-ranked Wake Forest 4-2. 

ACC Men's Conference Championships

Semifinals
Virginia[1] v Louisville[4]
Georgia Tech[10] v North Carolina[3]

Another top 10 team went down at the men's SEC tournament, with Auburn, ranked 30 and seeded No. 7, beating No. 9 South Carolina 4-2.

SEC Men's Conference Championships

Semifinals

Florida[1] v Tennessee[5]

Auburn[7] v Kentucky[3]

The women's upsets were less dramatic. Virginia, ranked No. 7, but seeded No. 4, defeated North Carolina State, ranked No. 3, but seeded No. 5, 4-2. It's the Cavaliers second win over the Wolfpack this month.

ACC Women's Conference Championships

Semifinals

North Carolina[1] v Virginia[4]

Miami[3] v Duke[2]

SEC Women's Conference Championships

Semifinals 

Texas A&M[1] v Florida[4]

Georgia[3] v Tennessee[7]

The competition in the Pac-12 has been hard to gauge all season, and the tournament hasn't provided much clarity. The fifth-seeded Arizona State women, ranked No. 20, defeated top seed and eighth-ranked Cal 4-3 to reach the final.

The Washington men, seeded No. 8, are through to the final with a 4-3 win over No. 5 seed UCLA. The loss may spell the end of the Bruins' impressive streak of reaching the NCAA tournament every year in program history.

Pac 12 Conference Championships:

Men's Final

Washington[8] v USC[2]

Women's Final

Arizona State[5] v Stanford[3]

The Big 12 has gone mostly to form, with just two No. 5 seeds into the semifinals after beating No. 4 seeds.

Big 12 Women's Conference Championships

Semifinals

Oklahoma[1] v Kansas[5]

Texas[2] v Oklahoma State[4]

Big 12 Men's Conference Championships

Semifinals

TCU[1] v Oklahoma[5]

Baylor[2] v Texas[4]

For links to all the conference championships that will decide NCAA participants, see this page at the ITA website.