Easter Bowl 18s Finals Videos; No Changes Atop ITA D-I Rankings Entering Home Stretch of Season; Roland Garros Entry Lists; Four Americans Competing at ITF J300 in France

It's time to put a bow on the 2024 Easter Bowl, with the last of the finals videos, the 18s, below. To see the 12s, 14s, and 16s videos, go to the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel, where you'll also find videos of the ITF J300 boys and girls finals in Indian Wells and San Diego.

My Easter Bowl photo gallery is up at Tennis Recruiting Network, with links to my recaps of all the Southern Californian junior events last month available here.

There are only two more weeks of individual rankings (three for team rankings) left in the Division I season, and the top spots, which have been the same for many weeks now, are still occupied by the Ohio State men, the Oklahoma State women, Eliot Spizzirri of Texas and Mary Stoiana of Texas A & M.

I've expanded my list of rankings to include the Top 16 in team and individual, to get a better feel for who is in position to host the first two rounds of NCAAs and which players are likely to be seeded in the individual tournament. The full lists can be found by clicking on the headings.

The UCLA women are making a late push and this week they moved into the Top 10 for the first time, bumping USC down a spot. With UCLA, USC and Cal all so closely grouped, the Pac-12 conference tournament at Ojai next week will be especially interesting. It's good to see Fiona Crawley of North Carolina finally back in the Top 10.

ITA Division I Women's Team Top 16, April 16, 2024

1. Oklahoma State

2. Michigan

3. Stanford

4. Virginia

5. North Carolina

6. Georgia

7. Texas

8. Pepperdine

9. Cal

10. UCLA

11. Southern Cal

12. Texas A&M

13. NC State

14. Florida

15. Ohio State

16. Auburn

ITA Division I Women's Singles Top 16:

1. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

2. Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State

3. Kari Miller, Michigan

4. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

5. Amelia Rajecki, NC State

6. Carolyn Ansari, Auburn

7. Fiona Crawaley, North Carolina

8. Rachel Gailis, Florida

9. Ayana Akli, South Carolina

10. Connie Ma, Stanford

11. Alexa Noel, Miami

12. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

13. Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

14. Lisa Zaar, Pepperdine

15. Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

16. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina

ITA Division I Women's Doubles Top 8:

1. Elizabeth Scotty and Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

2. Janice Tjen and Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

3. Mary Stoiana and Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

4. Alina Shcherbinina and Dana Guzman, Oklahoma

5. Ange Oby Kajuru and Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

6. Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller, Michigan

7. Metka Komac and Avelina Sayfetdinova, Texas Tech

8. Melodie Collard and Elaine Chervinsky, Virginia

In the men's rankings, the Columbia men defeated Harvard 4-3 (clinch score was 4-1) on Sunday in New York, and that was enough to lift them into the Top 8. But without a conference tournament, the Lions won't have the same opportunities for ranked wins as the other contenders for a Top 8 spot and will likely be passed in the next two weeks. NC State, who beat Duke and North Carolina last weekend, has made a big jump, from 16 to 11 and are in a good position now to host the first two rounds of the NCAAs.

UTR posted a tweet listing the Top 10 college men by their ratings and I thought I'd provide that along side the ITA rankings. There are definitely some discrepancies to ponder. I did not see a similar list for the women.

ITA Division I Men's Team Top 16, April 16, 2024

1. Ohio State

2. Virginia

3. TCU

4. Kentucky

5. Texas

6. Tennessee

7. Wake Forest

8. Columbia

9. Oklahoma

10. Arizona

11. NC State

12. Duke

13. Harvard

14. Texas A&M

15. Mississippi State

16. San Diego

ITA Division I Men's Singles Top 16:

1. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

2. Johannus Monday, Tennessee

3. Micah Braswell, Texas

4. Chris Rodesch, Virginia

5. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

6. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

7. Alex Martinez, Oklahoma

8. Jake Fearnley, TCU

9. Murphy Cassone, Arizona State

10. Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

11. Andres Martin, Georgia Tech

12. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

13. Cooper Williams, Harvard

14. Radu Papoe, Cornell

15. Toby Samuel, South Carolina

16. JJ Tracy, Ohio State

UTR Top 10

1. Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford (ITA No. 19)

2. Jacob Fearnley, TCU (8)

3. Stefan Dostanic, Southern Cal (unranked)

4. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego (6)

5. Micah Braswell, Texas (3)

6. Murphy Cassone, Arizona State (9)

7. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas (1)

8. Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State (17)

9. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly, Texas (39)

10. Trevor Svajda, SMU (34)

ITA Division I Men's Doubles Top 8:

1. Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas, Duke

2. DK Suresh and Holden Koons, Wake Forest

3. Robert Cash and JJ Tracy, Ohio State

4. Johannus Monday and Angel Diaz, Tennessee

5. Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives, TCU

6. Hunter Heck and Karlis Ozolins, Illinois

7. Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer, Kentucky

8. Sebastian Dominiko and Jean Marc Malkowski, Notre Dame

The main draw entry lists for Roland Garros were published today, with 15 US women and 11 US men accepted into the main draw.The men's full list is here and the women's full list is here. The qualifying tournament entries will not be announced for another two weeks. 

US WOMEN: (15)

Coco Gauff

Jessica Pegula

Danielle Collins

Madison Keys

Emma Navarro

Sloane Stephens

Caroline Dolehide

Taylor Townsend

Sofia Kenin

Amanada Anisimova (protected ranking)

Ashlyn Krueger

Peyton Stearns

Bernarda Pera

Kayla Day

Emina Bektas

US MEN (11)

Ben Shelton

Taylor Fritz

Tommy Paul

Frances Tiafoe

Sebastian Korda

Christopher Eubanks

Marcos Giron

Alex Michelsen

Mackenzie McDonald

Brandon Nakashima

Aleks Kovacevic

This is usually the day I highlight the USTA Pro Circuit tournaments, but there aren't any this week, except for the Tallahassee Challenger, which I wrote about yesterday. Through the first 15 weeks of the year, USTA Pro Circuit tournaments for women are down to 9, from 13 in 2023; the men (not counting Challengers) are down to 7, from 11 in 2023. It goes without saying that this is not a positive development.

After last week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in Bulgaria, there is another J300 in Europe this week, in France, with four Americans competing in the main draw. This is another of the unfortunate 32-player draws, which really shouldn't be allowed in J300 events; the ITF can continue to "recommend" 48-main 24-qualifying draws (which provides eight more playing opportunities in each draw), but unless they require it for their biggest events, tournaments will continue to do as they please, from what I've seen so far this year.

Noah Johnston was the only American boy in the draw, and he drew top seed and ITF No. 4 Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and lost 6-0, 6-2. The three US girls in the draw all advanced to the round of 16: Leena Friedman, Katie Rolls[5] and Tyra Grant[2]. Top seed Emerson Jones of Australia lost her first round match to Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard of France 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(3).