Grant Claims Second ITF J300 ITF in France; Krueger Reaches Tallahassee Challenger Final; Two Surprise Finalists for Men's SEC and ACC Conference Championships; Oklahoma State Women Win Big 12 Title, Continue Undefeated

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant won her second ITF J300 title today in Beaulieu-sur-Mer France, with the No. 2 seed recording a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Lilli Tagger of Austria in the final. 

Grant, who won her first J300 title last May in Italy, also on clay, is not entered in next week's J500 in Germany, but has solidified her position as a favorite at Roland Garros in June.

The boys final, also between a top seed and an unseeded player, was much closer with No. 1 Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway defeating Henry Bernet of Switzerland 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Mitchell Krueger defeated wild card Stefan Kozlov 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Florida today to reach his second Challenger final of the year. The 30-year-old from Texas will face No. 2 seed Zizou Bergs of Belgium in the final, after Bergs advanced to his second straight Challenger final when unseeded Calvin Hemery of France retired trailing 3-6, 6-4, 4-1. Bergs and Krueger played last week in the quarterfinals of the Sarasota Challenger, with Bergs earning a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win.

It was a first ATP Challenger doubles title for Simon Freund(LSU/UC-Santa Barbara) of Sweden and Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark in Tallahassee this evening, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds Will Blumberg(North Carolina) and Luis Martinez of Venezuela 7-5, 7-6(4).  Ingildsen, 26, and Freund, 27, served for the match at both 5-4 and 6-5, failed to convert two match points at 5-4 and yet still held their nerve in the tiebreaker to earn the victory.

I spent most of a cold and drab April day in Michigan watching SEC, ACC and Big 12 conference championship play on ESPN+, an option I really appreciate having this time of year. The semifinals went acoording to form in the women's ACC and SEC and in the men's Big 12, but there were two surprising results in the men's ACC and SEC.

Top seed and two-time defending NCAA champion Virginia extended its perfect ACC record during the past four years with a 4-1 win over Duke, with the Blue Devils sole point coming in doubles. 

Virginia will not meet No. 2 seed Wake Forest however, with No. 6 seed Florida State upsetting the Demon Deacons 4-3. The Seminoles won the doubles point and took lines No. 1 and No. 6 in straight sets, but the last four singles points were decided in three sets. Wake Forest fought back to tie it up with wins at lines 2, 4 and 5, so it came down to line 3, with Jamie Connel defeating Matthew Thomson 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 to put Florida State in their first conference tournament final since 2005. Virginia beat Florida State 4-1 in Tallahassee in the regular season. 

In the SEC, top seed Kentucky was impressive, defeating surprise semifinalist LSU 4-0 in Baton Rouge. LSU, the No. 13 seed, had  beaten No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 4 Auburn to reach the semifinals, but Kentucky, who has yet to lose in SEC play this year, was too strong today. Kentucky will face No. 11 seed South Carolina, who upset No. 2 seed Tennessee today 4-2.  The Gamecocks, who had lost 4-0 to the Volunteers three weeks ago in Knoxville, took the doubles point, but lost four first sets in singles and needed tiebreakers to take the two first sets they did claim. But after Tennessee took a 2-1 lead with wins at 1 and 6, South Carolina came back, holding on to the two matches where they had the lead, then getting their fourth point when freshman Jelani Sarr beat Angel Diaz at line 5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. It's the first time South Carolina had advanced to the conference tournament final. 

Kentucky beat South Carolina earlier this month in the regular season, in Columbia, 4-3.

In the day's most highly anticipated match, the top-seeded North Carolina women avenged their two losses this season to No. 4 seed NC State, and did it without much drama beating the Wolfpack 4-0. After taking the doubles point, the Tar Heels got straight sets wins in singles from Carson Tanguilig at line 3, Anika Yarlagadda at line 5 and Elizabeth Scotty at line 2. North Carolina will have an opportunity to avenge again their only other loss of the season, to Virginia at the National Team Indoor, in their third meeting of the year with the Cavaliers. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 3 seed Florida State 4-0. UNC defeated Virginia in the regular season 4-1 two weeks ago in Chapel Hill.

The SEC women's final will also feature the top 2 seeds, with No. 1 Georgia, playing at home in Athens, facing Texas A&M. It's the fourth straight year the two teams will meet in the SEC conference tournament final.

The Aggies, who had Carson Branstine in the lineup for the first time in the quarterfinals Friday, beat No. 3 seed Florida 4-2, with Branstine clinching the win at line 1 after not finishing her first match of the season against Vanderbilt's Celia-Belle Mohr on Friday.

Georgia was ruthlessly efficient in their 4-0 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee, taking the doubles point and three singles points in straight sets.

TCU and Texas will play their rubber match in the men's Big 12 final Sunday, after top seed Texas beat No. 5 seed Oklahoma State 4-1 and No. 3 seed TCU defeated No. 2 seed Oklahoma 4-1 in Stillwater.  TCU won the first, non-conference, meeting between the two teams in a 4-3 thriller in Fort Worth; Texas beat TCU 5-0 in Austin three weeks later.

The women's Big 12 final was played Saturday night in Stillwater, with the Oklahoma State women keeping their perfect record intact heading into the NCAA tournament. The top-seeded Cowgirls defeated No. 2 seed Texas 4-0 to earn their first conference tournament title since 2016, ending the Longhorns' run as champions the past three years.