No. 1 Virginia Men Beat No. 3 Texas 4-3; Ten Americans Through to Australian Open Third Round; Rain Delays Girls AO Qualifying; Collins to Retire, Brady Injury Sends Her Back to UCLA; All US Boys Semifinals at Costa Rica J100

One of the blockbuster matches of the 2024 dual match season took place today in Austin, with the No. 3 Texas men hosting No. 1 Virginia, the two-time defending NCAA champion.

A rematch of the 2023 NCAA semifinal, which Virginia won 4-1, this match lived up to the hype, with Virginia taking a 4-3 victory, although only the final match went to a third set. One important note: Senior Inaki Montes did not play singles or doubles for the Cavaliers.

Virginia took the doubles point with wins and 2 and 3, but Texas got a quick win from Pierre-Yves Bailly over transfer Eduardo Graziani at line 4 to tie it. Virginia's Chris Rodesch got a huge win over ITA No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri 6-3, 6-3 to put them back in front, but Micah Braswell beat Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg at line to make it 2-2. Virginia went ahead again, with Mans Dalhberg beating transfer Jonah Braswell at line 6. That left it to court 5, where Siem Woldeab had just taken the second set from Alex Kiefer, but Kiefer took a lot of suspense out of that last set, taking a 4-0 lead before closing out his 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 victory to clinch.

Virginia[1] 4 Texas[3] 3

January 18, 2024, Austin Texas

Doubles
Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper(Texas) d. James Hopper and Edoardo Graziani(UVA) 6-0

Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg(UVA) d. Pierre-Yves Bailly and Siem Woldeab(Texas) 6-4

Dylan Dietrich and Alexander Kiefer(UVA) d. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly and Micah Braswell(Texas)

Order of finish:
1, 2, 3

Singles
1. Chris Rodesch(UVA) d. Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) 6-3, 6-3
2. Micah Braswell(Texas) d. Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg(UVA) 6-4, 6-3
3. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly(Texas) d. Dylan Dietrich(UVA) 6-3, 7-6(6)
4. Pierre-Yves Bailly(Texas) d. Edoardo Graziani(UVA) 6-1, 6-1
5. Alex Kiefer(UVA) d. Siem Woldeab(Texas) 7-6, 2-6, 6-2
6. Mans Dahlberg(UVA) d. Jonah Braswell(Texas) 6-3, 6-3

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

Five US men and five US women have advanced to the third round at the Australian Open, with five of those looking to reach the final 16 with wins Friday(tonight in the US).

Thursday's second round results of Americans:
Alex Michelsen d. Jiri Lehecka(CZE)[32] 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Tommy Paul[14] d. Jack Draper(GBR) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5

Linda Noskova(CZE) d. McCartney Kessler[WC] 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
Iga Swiatek[1](POL) d. Danielle Collins 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Sloane Stephens d. Daria Kasatkina[14](RUS) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Clara Burel(FRA) d. Jessica Pegula[5] 6-4, 6-2
Emma Navarro[27] d. Elisabetta Cocciaretto(ITA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Friday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[4] v Alycia Parks

Amanda Anisimova d. Paula Badosa(ESP) 7-5, 6-4

Sebastian Korda[29] v Andrey Rublev[5](RUS)

Taylor Fritz[12] v Fabian Marozsan(HUN)

Ben Shelton[16] v Adrian Mannarino[20](FRA)

If you watched the Australian Open last night here in the United States you saw all the rain delays on the outside courts and apparently rain also was a problem at the Australian Open Junior qualifying in Traralgon, with only the boys qualifying getting done as scheduled. The eight girls matches were rescheduled for Friday, so the main draw, which is usually posted by now with the main draw starting Saturday, will probably not come out until much later tonight, when the girls qualifying is complete. Aspen Schuman[6] is the only American with an opportunity to get into the main draw via qualifying; she plays Junhan Zhang[11] of China much later tonight(Friday in Australia).

After two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins(Virginia) lost to top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, having led 4-1 (two breaks) in the final set, the 30-year-old Floridian announced that this would be her final season on the WTA tour. Collins, who got a late start to her pro career after staying at Virginia through graduation in 2016, has had several serious health issues in the seven years she's been on tour, and despite the fact she can obviously still play at the highest level, the 2022 Australian Open finalist is ready to start the next phase of her life. For more on her decision to retire, see this article from the WTA website.

Another former collegian and Australian Open finalist also posted news Thursday, with 2021 AO runner-up Jennifer Brady revealing that she needs knee surgery. After returning from an 18-month injury layoff last summer, Brady made the third round at the US Open, but another setback for the 28-year-old has to be discouraging for her. Facing a lengthy rehab, Brady will return to UCLA as an assistant coach; she left the Bruins for professional tennis in 2015, after her sophomore year. Brady's announcement can be found here.

A second straight J100 in Costa Rica has attracted even better fields than the first one, with the J300 coming up next week. Ronit Karki, who won last week's J100 in Costa Rica, has reached Friday's semifinals, and standing between him and another final is Dominick Mosejczuk, who beat Karki in the Orange Bowl 16s final last month. Neither are seeded this week, nor is another American semifinalist: Benjamin Willwerth. Willwerth faces top seed Jack Kennedy in the other semifinal. Julieta Pareja is the sole American girl in the semifinals; the unseeded 14-year-old plays No. 3 seed Krisha Mahendran of India Friday.