Kang, Tien and Razeghi Advance to USTA Pro Circuit Quarterfinals; Rain Leaves Tyler $80K Second Round in Limbo; ESPN Investigates Gender Inequity in Athletic Department's Social Media Promotion

Rain in Texas delayed second round action at the $25,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Harlingen, but skies cleared in time for the completion of all eight matches. That's not the case for the women's $80,000 tournament in Tyler, which has yet to begin its second round, with the matches now pushed back to 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Current collegians make up five of the eight quarterfinalists in Harlingen, including Stanford freshman Kyle Kang. Kang defeated Michigan State sophomore Ozan Baris 6-4, 6-4, avenging his loss to Baris in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Kalamazoo Nationals. Kang, the No. 8 seed, will play former UCLA standout Karue Sell of Brazil, who won a $15K title in Mexico last week and received a special exemption into the main draw in Harlingen. In addition to the 18-year-old Kang, who plays Sell next, four other current collegiate players have moved into the quarterfinals: qualifier Ivan Marrero Curbelo of Spain, a graduate student at Jacksonville State; Georgia Tech seniors Marcus McDaniel and Keshav Chopra and Texas A&M senior Raphael Perot of France. 

Marrero Curbelo will face top seed Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina, McDaniel plays Perot and Chopra takes on No. 2 seed August Holmgren of Denmark, who reached the NCAA singles final in 2022 while playing for San Diego.

The other two USTA Pro Circuit tournaments, $15,000 level events for men, are being played indoors, so weather is not a factor in Norman Oklahoma and Tallahassee Florida. 

As with Harlingen, college representation is abundant in Norman. Qualifier Arda Azkara of Turkey, a junior at Utah, will face 17-year-old top seed and two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Learner Tien(USC); qualifier Ryan Fishback, a senior at Virginia Tech will play Oklahoma sophomore Luis Alvarez Valdes of Mexico; Oklahoma fifth year Alex Martinez of Spain, the No. 5 seed, will play 18-year-old Danil Panarin of Russia, a Vanderbilt recruit, and 17-year-old Alexander Razeghi, the 2021 Kalamazoo 16s champion, will take on No. 2 seed Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal. This is the second straight week that Razeghi has made the quarterfinals of a $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament.

Tallahassee has four current collegians in the quarterfinals and the other four are former collegians. University of Florida freshman Jeremy Jin of Australia, the top seed, plays No. 7 seed Etienne Donnet of France, a fifth-year at Louisville; Emile Hudd(Oklahoma State/Tennessee) of Great Britain faces No. 6 seed Patrick Maloney(Michigan); No. 8 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) plays North Carolina graduate student Karl Poling and No. 5 seed Axel Nefve(Florida/Notre Dame) takes on Florida State junior James Connel of Great Britain.

I ran across this ESPN article today, which presents data on the lack of gender parity in Division I social media promotion and engagement from athletic departments. Women's tennis is mentioned just briefly in passing, with men's and women's basketball getting the bulk of the attention, but there are some striking variations among athletic departments. I did not read the entire article--it's long, and I as said, not focused on tennis--but I think it deserves some attention, as it is data driven, with a parity number for every Power 5 school.