Five USTA Pro Circuit Events This Week Across the Country; Chris Hooshyar Takes Over Women's Program at Mississippi State; Iowa State Announces New Facilities

Five USTA Pro Circuit tournaments, three for women and two for men, are underway in each of the four time zones. The most significant, in terms of prize money and points, is the women's $60,000 tournament in Sumter South Carolina, where qualifying was completed today as well as four first round main draw matches.

Americans qualifying for the main draw are 16-year-old Akasha Urhobo, Ava Markham(Wisconsin), Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), Haley Giavara(Cal) and Michigan rising freshman Piper Charney.  NCAA singles finalist Layne Sleeth(Oklahoma) of Canada also reached the main draw.

Wild cards were given to No. 4 seed Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine), Kennedy Shaffer(Georgia), Usue Arconada and 16-year-old Victoria Osuigwe. Arconada has been out for more than a year, having last competed in February of 2022, but she earned a win in her first match back, defeating Jaeda Daniel(NC State) 6-2, 7-5. 

The two top seeds played their first round matches today, with No. 1 Stacey Fung(Washington) of Canada defeating Melany Krywoj(Baylor) of Argentina 6-2, 6-2 and No. 2 Karman Thandi of India beating Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) 6-2, 6-1. Osuigwe defeated Riya Bhatia of India 7-6(3), 6-1, to earn her second win at a $60K this spring. She faces Fung in the second round.

In the central time zone, the men are competing at a $25,000 tournament in Wichita Kansas. 

Seven of the eight qualifiers are Americans, all with collegiate ties: Mac Kiger(North Carolina), Chad Kissell(Valparaiso), Gabrielius Guzazuskas(Illinois), Hunter Heck(Illinois), Axel Nefve(Notre Dame/Florida), Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech) and Pierce Rollins(Texas A&M).

The top seeds are Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) and Aidan McHugh of Great Britain. NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia) returns to competition this week as the No. 5 seed.

Wild cards were given to rising sophomores Alex Bernard(Ohio State) and Sebastian Gorzny(TCU), who play each other in Wednesday's first round. The other two wild cards went to SMU rising senior Adam Neff, who reached the quarterfinals of last week's ATP Challenger in Texas, and Mykhailo Kvantalian of Wichita State.

In the mountain time zone, the women have a $25,000 tournament in Colorado Springs, with Cadence Brace of Canada and Saki Imamura of Japan the top two seeds.

The qualifying isn't complete, but reaching the main draw are Kolie Allen(Ohio State), Ayana Akli(Maryland/South Carolina), Anna Campana(Wake Forest/Pepperdine) and 17-year-old Maya Dutta.

Wild cards were given to Katie Codd(Duke), 16-year-old Taylor Gales and Mia Horvit(South Carolina).

The last two tournaments are $15Ks in the Pacific time zone, with the SoCal Pro Series moving from the University of San Diego last week to the nearby Barnes Tennis Center this week for another joint event. 

NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian(UCLA) of China is finally taking a week off, after reaching the Rancho Santa Fe $15K final the week after her NCAA title and winning last week's $15K at USD.

The top seed in the women's draw is Sara Daavettila(North Carolina), with rising Stanford freshman and 2022 USTA 18s national champion Eleana Yu seeded No. 2.

Wild cards were given to 16-year-old Emily Deming, Elizabeth Goldsmith(San Diego), 14-year-old Julieta Pareja and 2022 USTA 16s champion Alyssa Ahn. Goldsmith drew her teammate Solymar Colling and lost 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in one of the four first round matches played today.

Americans qualifiers include 16-year-olds Kate Fakih and Jessica Bernales, Emily Gelber(Brown), and Taylor Johnson(UCLA/SMU).

Keegan Smith(UCLA) is the top seed in the men's tournament, with Colin Markes(Texas) seeded No. 2. 

Wild card were given to Trevor Svajda, Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine), Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State) and Rohan Murali(Harvard).  Nakashima, a rising freshman, did not play his first round match today, but the other three did and all came away with victories. Svajda, 17, defeated No. 6 seed Enzo Wallart of France 6-2, 6-3, and rising freshman Murali, who, like Svajda, trains with Steve Adamson at Barnes, defeated No. 3 seed Stefan Dostanic(USC).

American qualifiers were Cash Hanzlik(Tyler JC), Alex Kotzen(Columbia), Ron Hohmann(LSU), Andrew Rogers(Tennessee/Pepperdine), Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) Ryan Seggerman(Princeton/UNC) and Warren Wood(Claremont-Mudd-Scripps).

The Mississippi State women's head coaching position was filled yesterday, with Chris Hooyshar joining the Bulldogs from Auburn. Hooyshar was ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2016 with the women's program, then spent the last five years of his decade at Auburn as men's associate head coach under Bobby Reynolds.

Iowa State may have lost its women's coach, with Boomer Saia taking the Clemson job recently, but the program's historic season has led to a commitment to upgrade the tennis facilities in Ames. This quote from Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard sums it up this way:

"It is truly amazing what our women's tennis program has achieved over the last three seasons, especially in light of the fact that we do not have facilities that are comparable to other peer institutions, but we believe that this plan will allow us to build off our recent successes in a financially responsible manner while quickly addressing the program's facility shortcomings," Pollard said.

For details on the new indoor and outdoor facilities, see this release.