Top Seed TCU, No. 3 Seed Baylor Fall in NCAA D-1 Quarterfinals; Three Americans Reach Quarterfinals at ITF Grade A in Milan; Teens Move into Quarterfinals at USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments in Pelham and Naples

The NCAA Division I men's quarterfinals got off to a rousing start today in Champaign, with top seed TCU and No. 3 seed Baylor both dropping 4-3 decisions to SEC teams. After all eight of the top seeds advanced to the quarterfinals with Super Regional victories at home last weekend, upsets had become distant memories, but they returned in full force today at the Atkins Tennis Center at the University of Illinois.

Kentucky, the No. 8 seed, dropped the doubles point to TCU, but the Wildcats had experience in that scenario, after also losing the doubles point in the Super Regional to no. 8 seed Wake Forest. TCU got the three first sets they needed, but Kentucky forced a third set at line two and managed to secure the only other match that went to three sets at line 4. It came down to Gabriel Diallo of Kentucky and Juan Carlos Aguilar at that No. 2 spot, with Diallo closing out the Wildcats first trip to the Final Four with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory, having swept the top four spots in the lineup.

NCAA D-I Men's Team Quarterfinals

May 20, 2022

Champaign IL

Kentucky[8] d. TCU[1] 4-3 

DOUBLES
1. Millen Hurrion/Francois Musitelli(Kentucky) v. Luc Fomba/Jake Fearnley(TCU) 5-3, unfinished

2. Sander Jong/Lui Maxted(TCU) d. Gabriel Diallo/Joshua Lapadat(Kentucky) 6-3

3. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Pedro Vives(TCU) d. Liam Draxl/Alexandre LeBlanc(Kentucky) 6-3

Order of Finish: 2,3

SINGLES

1. Liam Draxl(Kentucky) d. Luc Fomba(TCU) 6-3, 6-4  

2. Gabriel Diallo(Kentucky) d. Juan Carlos Aguilar(TCU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 

3. Millen Hurrion(Kentucky) d. Sander Jong(TCU) 6-3, 6-4

4. Francois Musitelli(Kentucky) d. Jake Fearnley(TCU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

5. Pedro Vives(TCU) d. Joshua Lapadat(Kentucky) 7-5, 6-3

6. Tomas Jirousek(TCU) d. JJ Mercer(Kentucky) 6-1, 6-1

Order of Finish: 1,6,3,5,4,2

Tennessee's win over Baylor was equally as close, with the Volunteers, trailing 3-2 winning the last two matches on, at lines 1 and 4, to earn the victory. 

Tennessee won the doubles point, making their path a little easier than Kentucky's but with three matches going deep into third sets, it was a tossup until the last point was played.

Baylor got the four first sets it needed to envision a comeback, but couldn't hold off Adam Walton at line 1 and Shunsuke Mitsui at line 4. Walton got a late break of Adrian Boitan, one of Baylor's most reliable points all season, to take a 6-5 lead in the third set and closed it out just as Mitsui was breaking Finn Bass at line 4 and preparing to serve for the semifinals. Mitsui won the 30-all point, with Bass missing a volley attempt, giving himself two chances to close it out. Bass connected on a volley on the first match point, and had a second serve to look at on the deuce point, but it was deep in the box and he was unable to get it back in play, giving Tennessee its second win over Baylor this year, and revenge for their semifinal loss to the Bears at last year's NCAAs.

Tennessee[6] d. Baylor[3] 4-3

DOUBLES

1. Sven Lah/Fin Bass(Baylor) d. Adam Walton/Pat Harper(Tennessee) 6-1

2. Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) d. Matias Soto/Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi(Baylor) 6-1.

3. Mark Wallner/Johannus Monday(Tennessee) d. Adrian Boitan/Tadeas Paroulek(Baylor) 6-4

Order of Finish: 1,2,3

SINGLES

1. Adam Walton(Tennessee) d. Adrian Boitan(Baylor) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5

2. Matias Soto(Baylor) d. Johannus Monday(Tennessee) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

3. Emile Hudd(Tennessee) d. Sven Lah(Baylor) 7-6(3), 6-3

4. Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) d. Finn Bass(Baylor) 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4

5. Tadeas Paroulek(Baylor) d. Angel Diaz(Tennessee) 6-2, 6-4

6. Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi(Baylor) d. Pat Harper(Tennessee) 6-1, 6-2

Order of Finish: 6,5,3,2,1,4

The two late quarterfinals are just beginning right now, but I will update this post later tonight with a brief recap and the box scores.

A lightning delay that turned into a rain delay sent the Ohio State and Michigan quarterfinal indoors with Michigan having claimed the doubles point from the Buckeyes outdoors. Ohio State had gained some momentum in singles outdoors, going up in first sets in five of the six matches, so the rain did not come at a good time for them, but they picked up where they left off.

With no scoring available inside, it was difficult to follow what was happening, but in the end, Ohio State was able to earn four straight-sets victories to earn a 4-2 decision, avenging their most recent loss to Michigan in the Big Ten conference tournament final.

On Saturday, Ohio State will play Kentucky for a spot in the final.

Ohio State[4] d. Michigan[5] 4-2

DOUBLES

1. Matej Vocel/Robert Cash(Ohio State) v Nino Ehrenschneider/Andrew Fenty(Michigan) 5-5, unfinished

2. Patrick Maloney/Nick Beaty(Michigan) d. Andrew Lutschaunig/Justin Boulais(Ohio State) 6-2

3. Ondrej Styler/Jacob Bickersteth(Michigan) d. Cannon Kingsley/JJ Tracy(Ohio State) 6-4

Order of Finish: 2,3

SINGLES

1. Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) d. Ondrej Styler(Michigan) 6-4, 6-4

2. Matej Vocel(Ohio State) v Patrick Maloney(Michigan) 6-1, 5-7, 3-2, unfinished

3. JJ Tracy(Ohio State) d. Andrew Fenty(Michigan) 6-2, 6-2

4. Andrew Bickersteth(Michigan) d. Jake Van Emburgh(Ohio State) 6-3, 6-3 

5. Justin Boulais(Ohio State) d. Nino Ehrenschneider(Michigan) 6-2, 6-3

6. Andrew Lutschaunig(Ohio State) d. Nick Beaty(Michigan) 7-6(), 6-4

Order of Finish: 3,5,1,4,6

In a match that finished after 1:25 am Eastern time, defending champion Florida became the day's third upset victim, falling to No. 7 seed Virginia 4-1. Florida lost the doubles point for the first time in 21 matches before the lightning and rain delay and with a 11:45 pm EDT resumption time, outdoors, there was plenty of time for the Gators to regroup. No. 7 seed Virginia was not deterred by the interruption however, as the Cavaliers took three first sets and kept the pressure on the No. 2 seeds. Florida pulled even with Andy Andrade's win at line 4, but Virginia began to pull away with straight-sets wins by Inaki Montes at line 2 and Gianni Ross at line 5. Florida got the split they needed from Josh Goodger at line 6, but Virginia got a split at line 3 and that was the match that ended Florida's NCAA winning streak, with Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg defeating Duarte Vale 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.

Virginia will play No. 6 seed Tennessee in the semifinals Saturday.

Virginia[7] d. Florida[2] 4-1 

DOUBLES

1. Bar Botzer/Chris Rodesch(Virginia) d. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton 6-4

2. Ryan Goetz/Inaki Montes(Virginia) d. Mattias Siimar/Andy Andrade 7-6(3)

3. Duarte Vale/Nate Bonetto(Florida) d. Gianni Ross/Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg(Virgina) 6-1

Order of Finish: 3,1,2,4

SINGLES

1. Ben Shelton(Florida) v Chris Rodesch(Virginia) 7-6(10), 5-7, unfinished

2. Inaki Montes(Virginia) d, Sam Riffice(Florida) 7-5, 6-4

3. Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg(Virginia) d. Duarte Vale(Florida) 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

4. Andy Andrade(Florida) d. Ryan Goetz(Virginia) 6-3, 6-4

5. Gianni Ross(Virginia) d. Mattias Siimar(Florida) 7-5, 7-5

6. Josh Goodger(Florida) v Bar Botzer(Virginia) 3-6, 6-3, 6-5, unfinished

Order of Finish: 4,2,5,3

It has been difficult following the matches today, with no sound and no scoring boxes on the TennisONE live stream, but both TennisONE and the NCAA have promised that they are working on getting those items working.

See the University of Illinois tournament site for the links to the live scoring, which is working properly most of the time.

Also, due to the forecast of high winds for Friday, the schedule for the women's matches has been altered dramatically, with UNC vs Pepperdine at 11 am (all times EDT), Texas vs Virginia at 2 pm, Texas A&M vs Oklahoma at 5 pm and Duke at NC State at 8 pm. This change allows all matches to be played indoors if necessary.

The ITF Junior Circuit website did not update today's third round singles and quarterfinal doubles action today at the Grade A in Milan, but I am told by Tommy Hemp that it wasn't weather related and he supplied me with the results from today's matches, which are below. As you can see, three Americans remain in contention for the singles title. UPDATE: I've been directed to Tennis Ticker (or this site: https://www.trofeobonfiglio.com/risultati/) for live scores.

Top seeds Liv Hovde and Qavia Lopez have advanced to the girls doubles semifinals and an American boys team is guaranteed to be in the final, with Nishesh Basavareddy and Aidan Kim taking on Ethan Quinn and Nicholas Godsick in the boys doubles semifinals Friday.

Hemp was unable to attend today's matches but will be there for the quarterfinals Friday, so look for his post tomorrow.

Third round scores ITF Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio Milan:

Daniel Vallejo[1](PAR) d. Jonah Braswell(USA) 6-3, 6-3

Dino Prizmic[5](CRO) d. Ethan Quinn 6-4, 6-0

Learner Tien(USA) d. Vilius Gaubas(LTU) 7-5, 6-2

Lautaro Midon[9](ARG) d. Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk(NAM) 6-3, 6-3

Martin Landaluce[8](ESP) d. Michael Zheng 1-6, 6-3, 7-5

Edas Butvilas(LTU)[4] d. Peter Privara[14](SVK) 6-3, 6-4

Nishesh Basavareddy[10](USA) d. Bor Artnak[7](SLO) 6-0, 6-3

Gonzalo Bueno[2](PER) d. Gerard Campana Lee[16](KOR) 6-7(4), 6-0, 7-6(6)

Taylah Preston(AUS) d. Sofia Costoulas[1](BEL) 7-5, 7-5

Celine Naef[7](SUI) d. Irina Balus(SVK) 6-2, 6-4

Ksenia Zaytseva[3](RUS) d. Johanne Svendsen[14](DEN) 6-2, 7-5

Anastasiya Lopata(UKR) d. Aya El Aouni(MAR) 6-3, 6-3

Mira Andreeva[9](RUS) d. Raquel Gonzalez Vilar 6-3, 3-6, 6-0

Lucie Havlickova[4](CZE) d. Luca Udvardy[13](HUN) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4

Liv Hovde[5](USA) d. Hanne Vandewinkel[10](BEL) 6-0, 6-3

Diana Shnaider[2](RUS) d. Alina Korneeva(RUS) 6-2, 6-1

Teenagers continued to take advantage of their opportunities at the two USTA Women's Pro Circuit events this week, with three teens in the quarterfinals at the $25,000 tournament in Naples Florida and four in the quarterfinals at the $60,000 tournament in Pelham Alabama.

Wild card Sonya Macavei defeated No. 4 seed YeXin Ma of China 6-4, 6-4; Hina Inoue beat Christina Rosca(Vanderbilt) 7-5, 6-3, and wild card Alexis Blokhina defeated No. 7 seed Sina Herrmann of Germany 6-4, 6-3 in Naples.

In Pelham, No. 2 seed Elvina Kalieva beat qualifier Carolyn Ansari(Auburn) 6-4, 6-3; No. 7 seed Katrina Scott defeated qualifier Rhiannon Newborn 6-2, 6-1; No. 8 seed Ashlyn Krueger beat Michaela Bayerlova(Washington State) of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3 and Jana Kolodynska of Belarus took out No. 5 seed Ellie Douglas(TCU) 6-4, 6-0.