Urhobo Wins First Pro Title at W75 in Zephyrhills; ITF J100 Singles Titles for Tu, Satterfield and Ubri; University of Indiana Seeking New Women's Coach

Seventeen-year-old qualifier Akasha Urhobo of Fort Lauderdale Florida won the battle of unexpected teen finalists today at the USTA Pro Circuit W75 in Zephyrhills Florida to claim her first title. Urhobo, playing in her second Pro Circuit final in the past two months, defeated 16-year-old wild card Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-3 in the championship match, her seventh win since beginning in qualifying last Monday.

With the title, Urhobo moves to 356 in the WTA rankings, after starting the week outside the Top 500; in addition to her first title, unusual in coming at a W75-level tournament, Urhobo now can get into the Wimbledon Junior Championships main draw this July (should she enter) with her WTA ranking now inside the cutoff of 400. 

It was another productive week on the ITF Junior Circuit for American juniors, with three winning singles titles at J100s.

At the third and final J100 in Florida this spring, located this week at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Jack Satterfied and Anita Tu claimed the titles in all-US finals.

The 16-year-old Satterfield, seeded No. 4, defeated top seed Benjamin Willwerth 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday's boys final for his third and biggest ITF singles title, all coming this year. Satterfield also reached the doubles final.

Fourteen-year-old Tu, the top seed, won the girls title, beating No. 2 seed Nancy Lee 6-0, 6-3 for her second singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit. 

Top seeds Riley Crowder and Vessa Turley completed a sweep of the girls doubles titles at the three Florida J100s, defeating No. 6 seeds Zaire Clarke and Canada's  Clemence Mercier 6-2, 6-0 in the Plantation final. Their last loss was to eventual champions Alanis Hamilton and Kayla Chung in the second round of the ITF J300 in San Diego in March.

At the J100 in the Dominican Republic, 17-year-old Yubel Ubri claimed his fifth and biggest ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with four of those titles coming in that country. The top seed, Ubri defeated No. 6 seed Kohshi Ishibashi of Japan 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 in the final. Top seeds Jacob Lee and Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico won the boys doubles title, beating Oliver Sanders of the Czech Republic and Nicholas Mekhael 7-6(3), 6-0 in the championship match.

Kayla Moore and Jamaica's Alyssa James won the girls doubles title, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Sabrina Balderrama of Venezuela and Hanne Estrada of Mexico 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Kenzie Nguyen reached the girls singles final, falling to James 6-4, 7-6(4).

Maya Iyengar, seeded No. 8, reached the final of the J200 in Prato Italy, falling to unseeded Lilli Tagger of Austria 6-1, 6-1. Olivia Center won the doubles title in Prato, with Asylzhan Arystanbekova of Kazakhstan.

Ronit Karki claimed the doubles titles at the J200 in St. Poelten Austria, with Alejandro Arcila of Colombia, and Sabrina Lin won the doubles title at the J100 in Peru with Lya Fernandez of Mexico.

At the J30 tournament in the Cayman Islands, 13-year-old Aleksandra Jerkunica swept the titles, with the top seed earning her first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over compatriot and No. 3 seed Teaghan Jou An Keys. Jerkunica and Keys teamed up for the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating second-seeded Canadians Kerrigan Spiers and Stasia Kryk 6-3, 6-3 in the final.  Unseeded Jack Casciato and Noah Folkesson-Doudy won the boys doubles title in an all-US final, beating No. 2 seeds Eaden-Zach Harron and Fox Rogers 7-6(5), 6-4 in the final. 

There was another sweep for a US girl at the J30 in India. Sixteen-year-old Priyanka Rana, the No. 3 seed, won her first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit with a 6-3, 6-0 win over No. 4 seed Prisha Nikhil Shinde of India. Rana earned her second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title with Laxmisiri Dandu of India.

Noble Renfrow won the doubles title and reached the singles final at the J30 in the US Virgin Islands; results from the singles finals at the J60 in Nicaragua have not been posted, but Ligaya Murray won the girls doubles title and Chukweumelije Clarke reached the girls singles final.

I missed the announcement last week, but the University of Indiana will begin a search for a new head coach for its women's program, with Athletic Director Scott Dolson releasing this brief statement:

"Following an evaluation of the trajectory of our women's tennis program at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, I concluded a change in leadership is necessary," Dolson said. "Our women's tennis program has a long and rich history of success on both the Big Ten and national level, and Ramiro has been a big part of that success during his 32 years of involvement with the program. We wish him well in his future endeavors."

The Hoosiers were 6-20 this year and 0-11 in Big Ten competition.