Jovic and Ray Meet in ITF J300 Colombia Semifinals; Krueger One of Four US Women Advancing to Orlando $60K Quarterfinals; Top-Ranked Ohio State Men Beat No. 9 Wake Forest; BNP Paribas Open Adds D-I College Match to Schedule

After back-to-back weeks of outstanding results from Americans at the J300s in Costa Rica and Ecuador, this week's J300 tournament in Colombia will feature just two US players, both girls, after today's quarterfinals.

Top seed Iva Jovic, who won those last two tournaments, continues to be the shining star, winning her 13th straight match today over No. 11 seed Alexis Nelson 6-2, 6-0. The 15-year-old from Torrance California has lost only four games in her first three matches this week. Jovic will face another American in the semifinals, with No. 5 seed Valeria Ray defeating No. 13 seed Annelin Bakker of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-4 to reach her first J300 semifinal.

In the bottom half, No. 7 seed Isabelle Lacy of Great Britain will face No. 2 seed Lucciana Perez Alarcon of Peru. Perez Alarcon avenged her two recent losses to No. 9 seed Alanis Hamilton, defeating the 15-year-old from Arkansas 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Jovic and Tyra Grant, the No. 4 seeds and reigning Orange Bowl champions, will play in the doubles final Friday, against No. 2 seeds Lacy and Hephzibah Oluwadare of Great Britain.

Unseeded Stiles Brockett and qualifier Matthew Forbes lost their quarterfinal matches today, leaving the US without a representative in the semifinals. Brockett fell to unseeded Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2 and Forbes lost to unseeded Oliver Bonding of Great Britain 6-2, 6-3. None of the 16 boys seeds advanced to the semifinals, with No. 3 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain, the only one in the quarterfinals, losing to Lasse Poertner of Germany 6-3, 7-6(6).

The quarterfinals are set at the $60,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Orlando, with four Americans posting wins todays.

No. 8 seed Ashlyn Krueger, who is 3-2 in main draw matches this year on the ITF Women's Circuit, defeated Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1 to advance to a meeting with wild card Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State). Di Lorenzo defeated former Georgia star Maria Carle of Argentina 6-4, 6-3 in today's second round. No. 7 seed Caroline Dolehide beat 2021 ITF World Junior Champion Petra Marcinko of Croatia 6-3, 6-2 today and will play No. 3 seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden in the quarterfinals. Peterson defeated qualifier Liv Hovde 6-2, 7-5. Sachia Vickery is the fourth US woman in the quarterfinals, with the 27-year-old from Florida defeating No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik 6-1, 6-4. Vickery's opponent on Friday is No. 5 seed Kimberly Birrell of Australia. 

At the $15,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Palm Coast Florida, two wild cards have reached the quarterfinals: Toby Kodat and Mac Kiger(North Carolina). Kiger defeated unseeded Maxime Mora of France 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) and Kodat beat 16-year-old Rei Sakamoto of Japan 6-2, 6-3. Kodat plays No. 3 seed Ignacio Monzon of Argentina in the quarterfinals, while Kiger's opponent is Isaiah Strode, who beat fellow qualifier Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC) 6-4, 6-4.

Eighteen-year-olds Bruno Kuzuhara and Victor Lilov renewed their rivalry, which dates back to the 2016 Junior Orange Bowl 12s final, in today's second round match, with No. 7 seed Kuzuhara taking a 6-1, 0-6, 6-1 victory. The two had not met previously on the Pro Circuit, but in 2021 Kuzuhara beat Lilov in the quarterfinals of the San Diego J300, also in three sets, but much closer ones.

Kuzuhara will play former Baylor All-American Adrian Boitan of Romania next.

A Top Ten men's matchup between new No. 1 Ohio State and No. 9 Wake Forest was the marquee contest today in Division I college tennis, with the Buckeyes leaving the friendly confines of Columbus for the first time this year. Ohio State, playing without Cannon Kingsley for the second straight match, dropped the doubles point and No. 3 singles to fall behind 2-0, but got wins from Andrew Lutschaunig at line 6 and James Trotter at line 4 to tie it, then closed out the Demon Deacons with wins by Robert Cash at line 5 and Justin Boulais at line 2. Wake Forest's Melios Efstathiou and Ohio State's JJ Tracy were in a third set when the Buckeyes clinched, but they completed that match, with Efstathiou taking it for a 4-3 final score.

Ohio State plays Virginia, the team they supplanted at No. 1, in Charlottesville Saturday.

Just a reminder that the ITA Women's Division I National Team Indoor Championships begin Friday in Seattle at noon eastern time. Cracked Racquets will be providing their live CrossCourt coverage all weekend at the CR YouTube channel.

Universal Tennis announced today that two Southern California men's team will compete in a dual match on the final day of the BNP Paribas Open next month in Indian Wells. The University of Southern California, currently No. 6 in the rankings, will play Pepperdine Sunday morning, March 19th, the day of the men's and women's finals in what is being billed as a UTR College Match Challenge.

I'll be there, covering the inaugural ITF J300 tournament at Indian Wells; I don't know yet what the schedule will be for those finals, but regardless of whether I can watch it, I am excited to see college tennis getting more exposure with this initiative.