Seven Juniors Advance to Pro Circuit Quarterfinals in Florida; Four Americans Reach Quarterfinals at Charlottesville $60K; Upsets in Pac-12, ACC, SEC Tournaments

Four boys and three girls who are competing on the ITF Junior Circuit have advanced to the quarterfinals at the two USTA Pro Circuit tournaments in Florida.

At the $15,000 men's tournament in Orange Park, 16-year-old wild card Learner Tien, who picked up his first ATP point yesterday, advanced with a 54-minute 6-2, 6-0 win over former University of Georgia standout Emil Reinberg. Eighteen-year-old qualifier Michael Zheng, who lost to Tien twice during the Southern California junior swing, defeated former Arizona State star Nathan Ponwith 6-1, 7-6(3). Wild card Fnu Nidunjianzan of China, an 18-year-old Princeton recruit, defeated No. 3 seed Jose Pereira of Brazil 7-5, 6-2 and 17-year-old Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay beat No. 8 seed Zeke Clark(Illinois) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. 

Tien will face top seed Govind Nanda(UCLA) in the quarterfinals; Vallejo plays 2017 US Open boys champion Wibing Yu of China and Zheng meets Nidunjianzan. The only quarterfinal without a teenager will feature No. 2 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) and No. 6 seed Wilson Leite of Brazil.

At the $25,000 women's tournament in Orlando, wild card Madison Sieg continued her impressive play this spring, with the 18-year-old USC recruit defeating No. 6 seed Gabriela Ce of Brazil 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3) in three hours and 17 minutes. 

This month's Easter Bowl finalists are also through to the quarterfinals in Orlando, with champion Alexis Blokhina defeating No. 7 seed Carol Zhao of Canada 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 and finalist Reese Brantmeier beating qualifier Rachel Gailis 5-7, 6-2 6-2. 

Sieg's quarterfinal opponent is top seed Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden; Blokhina takes on No. 4 seed Catherine Harrison(UCLA) and Brantmeier faces No. 2 seed Alexandra Ignatik of Romania. The other quarterfinal features No. 3 seed Grace Min against unseeded Chiara Scholl.

Four American women have reached the quarterfinals of the $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Charlottesville Virginia, none of whom are seeded. 

Robin Anderson(UCLA), who beat top seed Irina Bara on Wednesday, defeated qualifier Kayla Day 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(4) in exactly three hours and will face Louisa Chirico, who beat Seone Mendez of Australia 3-6 7-5, 6-1. Qualifier Ellie Douglas(TCU) defeated wild card Whitney Osuigwe 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 and will play No. 6 seed Lucrezia Stefanini in the quarterfinals. Wild card Taylor Townsend, who lost to Katie Volynets in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Palm Harbor tournament that Volynets went on to win, turned the tables this week, beating the No. 5 seed 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Townsend, returning from maternity leave, faces No. 3 seed Xiyu Wang of China Friday. The only quarterfinal not involving an American will feature No. 2 seed Tatjana Maria of Germany against Kurumi Nara of Japan.

At the $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour women's tournament in Nottingham England, 18-year-old Hina Inoue and 17-year-old Robin Montgomery have advanced to the quarterfinals, as has Sofia Sewing(Miami). 

The ACC, SEC, Pac-12 and Big-12 conference tournaments are underway and there have already been a few surprises. Most of the top seeds don't play until tomorrow, except in the Pac-12, which has its finals on Saturday. Women's top seed Cal had no trouble with No. 9 seed Utah in today's quarterfinals in Ojai, winning 4-0, but Arizona, the No. 1 men's seed, lost to 4-2 to No. 8 seed Washington. The fifth-seeded UCLA men kept their hopes to make the tournament alive with a 4-2 win over No. 4 seed Utah, and will play Washington in the semifinals.

Cal will face No. 5 seed Arizona State in Friday's semifinals, after ASU came from 3-0 down to beat No. 4 seed USC. 

In the ACC, the fifth-seeded Duke men lost to No. 12 seed Clemson 4-3, and No. 10 Georgia Tech beat No. 7 Miami 4-1.

In the SEC, the lower seeds advancing included the No. 9 LSU men, who defeated No. 8 seed Mississippi State 4-1 and the No. 11 Arkansas men, who beat No. 6 seed Texas A&M 4-1.

The ITA has added a page with links to all the conference tournament sites. For a one page overview of the results from this week, see collegetennisranks.com.