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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Roland Garros Junior Acceptances Include Both ITF No. 1s; Wimbledon Bans Russian Players; Five Teens Advance at Orange Park Men's $15K; Few Changes in Latest ITA D-I Team and Individual Rankings

The acceptances for the Roland Garros Junior Championships were released today, and as usual, nearly all the top juniors have entered. The only Top 10 boy not on the acceptance list is No. 6 Juncheng Jerry Shang of China and the only Top 10 girl missing is No. 10 Robin Montgomery. Both have been concentrating on their professional careers since reaching the US Open Junior finals last year. The tournament is scheduled to take place from Sunday May 29 through Saturday June 4.

There are eight US boys in the field as of now: No. 1 and Australian Open boys champion Bruno Kuzuhara, Victor Lilov, Nishesh Basavareddy, Ozan Colak, Cooper Williams, Nicholas Godsick, Michael Zheng and Alex Michelsen. Four boys--Learner Tien, Ethan Quinn, Sebastian Gorzny and Alexander Frusina--are less than 10 spots out of the main draw.

The boys cutoff was 45; three boys received entry based on special ITF rules, with Sean Cuenin of France and Daniel Merida Aguilar of Spain getting in based on their ATP Top 750 rankings and Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk of Nambia getting in based on being the highest-ranked player from the Africa region in the Top 80.

Australian Open champion and top-ranked Petra Marcinko of Croatia has entered, as have the two Fruhvirtova sisters and Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, who has the highest WTA ranking of the entrants at 175. 

Four US girls received direct entry: Liv Hovde, Clervie Ngounoue, Qavia Lopez and Alexis Blokhina. Mia Slama is three spots out of the main draw. 

The girls cutoff was 47, with Sara Bejlik of the Czech Republic receiving entry based on her WTA ranking of 400 or better. Angella Okutoyi of Kenya, who reached the third round of the Australian Open Junior Championships this year, got in based on being the highest-ranked Top 80 player from Africa.

This is the first year since 2019 that a qualifying tournament will be played for the Roland Garros Junior Championships due to the pandemic.

Wimbledon announced today that it is banning all Russian and Belarusian players from competing at this year's Championships due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The LTA followed suit, and mentioned that its ban also includes junior events. The entries for the ITF J1 in Roehampton and the Junior Championships don't close until June 7, so it won't be known for certain until then, but unless things change in the next month, there will be no Russians or Belarusians at those two junior events. Players of those nationalities entered in the Roland Garros Junior Championships are: Yaroslav Demin, Diana Shnaider, Ksenia Zaytseva, Yaroslava Bartashevich and Mirra Andreeva.

At the $15,000 USTA Men's Pro Circuit tournament in Orange Park Florida, four US juniors have advanced to the second round. Learner Tien earned his first ATP point with a 6-2, 6-2 win over fellow 16-year-old Cooper Williams; wild card Kyle Kang beat qualifier Dennis Novikov(UCLA) 6-4, 6-4; qualifier Michael Zheng defeated Victor Lilov 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 and Martin Damm beat Collin Altamirano(Virginia) 6-4, 7-6(5).  Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, the 2021 Orange Bowl champion, defeated last week's champion at Sunrise, Sekou Bangoura(Florida) 6-2, 6-4. Note that the headline is not correct, after 18-year-old wild card Fnu Nidunjianzan of China defeated Peter Bertran(Georgia/South Florida) in the last match to finish 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

At the $60,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Charlottesville, Robin Anderson(UCLA) defeated top seed Irina Bara of Romania 6-3, 7-5 and qualifier Ellie Douglas(TCU) beat No. 4 seed Alycia Parks 6-4, 6-1.

Easter Bowl champion Alexis Blokhina got her first win at the $25,000 level at the USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Orlando, beating WTA 421 Salma Djoubri of France 6-4, 6-0. Madison Sieg defeated Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-3. Qualifier Rachel Gailis spoiled Katrina Scott's first match since last fall, with the Florida recruit taking the match 7-6(4), 7-6(3). Easter Bowl finalist Reese Brantmeier defeated No. 5 seed Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in three hours and three minutes. Qavia Lopez and Katie Codd came up just short in long three-setters with No. 3 seed Grace Min and Chiara Scholl respectively.

The weekly Division I rankings feature few changes, although the Oklahoma and North Carolina women are now tied for the top spot in the USTA/Tennis Channel poll. Most of the same disagreements in the two rankings persist: the Florida men  are No. 1 in the poll and No. 3 on the ITA computer; the Michigan men are No. 3 in the poll and No. 8 on the ITA computer; the Texas A&M women are No. 3 in the poll and No. 6 on the ITA computer, while the NC State women are exactly reversed. Complete lists are available by clicking on the links.

The individual rankings are very similar to last week's too, with Liam Draxl of Kentucky notable for having climbed back into the Top 10 in singles.

ITA Division I Men's Team Top 10, April 20, 2022

1. TCU (1)
2. Ohio State (2)
3. Florida (3)
4. Baylor (4)
5. Tennessee (5)
6. Virginia (6)
7. Wake Forest (8)
8. Michigan (7)
9. South Carolina (9)
10. Kentucky (10)


1. Florida (1)
2. Ohio State (2)
3. Michigan (3)
4. TCU (4)
5. Baylor (5)
6. Virginia (7)
7. Wake Forest (8)
8, Kentucky (11)
9. Tennessee (6)
10. South Carolina (10)


1. Ben Shelton, Florida
2. Daniel Rodrigues, South Carolina
3. Adrian Boitan, Baylor
4. August Holmgren, San Diego
5. Stefan Dostanic, Southern California
6. Clement Chidekh, Washington
7. Adam Walton, Tennessee
8. Liam Draxl, Kentucky
9. Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State
10. Matej Vocel, Ohio State


1. Robert Cash and Matej Vocel, Ohio State
2. Jacob Fearnley and Luc Fomba, TCU
3. Richard Ciammara and Cleeve Harper, Texas
4. Ryan Goetz and Chris Rodesch, Virginia
5. Stefan Dostanic and Bradley Frye, Southern California

ITA Division I Women's Team Top 10, April 20, 2022

1. North Carolina (1)
2. Oklahoma (2)
3. NC State (3)
4. Texas (4)
5. Duke (9)
6. Texas A&M (6)
7. Virginia (8)
8. California (7)
9. Pepperdine (5)
10. Ohio State (11)


T1. North Carolina (1)
T1. Oklahoma (2)
3. Texas A&M (4)
4. Texas (3)
5. Duke (8)
6. NC State (5)
7. Virginia (9)
8. Ohio State (10)
9. California (11)
10. Auburn (12)


1. Emma Navarro, Virginia
2. Peyton Stearns, Texas
3. Daria Frayman, Princeton
4. Cameron Morra, North Caroina
5. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina
6. Petra Hule, Florida State
7. Eryn Cayetano, Southern Cal
8. Chloe Beck, Duke
9. Irina Cantos Siemers, Ohio State
10. Layne Sleeth, Oklahoma


1. Fiona Crawley and Elizabeth Scotty, North Carolina
2. Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller, NC State
3. Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova, Texas A&M
4. Alicia Herrero and Melany Krywoj, Baylor
5. Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura, Georgia Tech

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