February Aces; Smith Celebrates Birthday with First ATP Win at BNP Paribas Open; ITF J100 Las Vegas Quarterfinals Set; Chicago Women and CMS Men Top ITA Division III Rankings

My monthly review of the top performances of junior and college players is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and with all the success of former college stars these days, it's getting harder and harder to find room for them all. The $15K level is still an important stepping stone, but it's impossible to feature every junior or collegian who wins one; it's now two in the same month that's the bar for inclusion. Interesting that four left-handers, all juniors, are among the 18 players in the February Aces.

Colton Smith was one of those 18 players featured, and he has not slowed down since winning the Cleveland Challenger at the beginning of February. The University of Arizona senior, who turned 22 today, gave himself a memorable birthday present, in his first ATP main draw match at the BNP Paribas Open. Smith, who reached the main draw yesterday after receiving a wild card into qualifying, played ATP No. 40 Flavio Cobolli of Italy this afternoon and got his second ATP Top 100 win in the past three days via a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 comeback. The difference in the match was probably first serve percentage, with Smith at 70 and Cobolli at 41. Next up for Smith, after a day off, is No. 31 seed Alex Michelsen.

Tristan Boyer(Stanford) received a main draw wild card and came through in dramatic fashion, beating Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4).  Many of today's matches have yet to be played, but other Americans through to the second round are Hailey Baptiste, who beat fellow qualifier Whitney Osuigwe 6-1, 6-2 and wild card Caroline Dolehide, who defeated Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia 6-4, 7-6(3). 

Wild card Nishesh Basavareddy lost to Bu Yunchaokete of China 7-5, 6-4 and Peyton Stearns(Texas) lost to Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

For updated scores, see the BNP Paribas Open website.

The girls and boys quarterfinals of the ITF J100 in Las Vegas this week vary quite a bit, with the girls last eight featuring seven Americans and only two seeds, while the boys have six seeds and five Americans still in the hunt for the title.

In the top half of the boys draw, the seeds have held, with top seed Roshan Santhosh of California facing No. 5 seed Se Hyuk Cho of Korea and No. 4 seed Jerrid Gaines Jr. of Florida playing No. 7 seed Boxiong Zhang of China. 

In the bottom half, unseeded Las Vegas resident Andre Alcantara will face No. 10 seed Alec Barin of Canada and unseeded Justin Riley Anson will face fellow Southern Californian Andrew Johnson, the No. 2 seed.  Johnson has lost only seven game in his first three matches. 

In the girls top half, the highest seed remaining is No. 4 Thara Gowda, who will play fellow Michigan resident, Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who is unseeded. Unseeded Natalie Kha of Chino Hills will play qualifier Avery Nguyen of Sacramento in an all-California quarterfinal.

The seeded girl in the bottom half is No. 5 Charlize Celebrini of Canada, whose older brother Macklin is a NHL rookie with the San Jose Sharks after going first in the NHL draft last year. Celebrini will play unseeded Yilin Chen of San Diego, who won last month's J60 in San Diego as a qualifier. Unseeded Lillian Santos of Massachusetts and unseeded 14-year-old Anya Arora of San Jose California will meet in the bottom quarter.

The first ITA Division III team rankings post-Indoors are out, with the champions--CMS men and Chicago women--in the No. 1 spots. Click on the headings for the full list of 40 teams.

Top 10 Division III Men's Rankings:

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
2. Chicago
3. Tufts
4. Denison
5. Case Western
6. Middlebury
7. Emory
8. Bowdoin
9. Swarthmore
10. Williams

Top 10 Division III Women's Rankings:

1. Chicago

2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

3. Emory

4. Pomona-Pitzer

5. Wesleyan

6. Johns Hopkins

7. Washington and Lee

8. Middlebury

9. Washington St.Louis

10. Amherst

Ngounoue, Smith Among Seven American Qualifiers at BNP Paribas Open; Grant, Tien Receive Miami Open Wild Cards; Georgia Women Retake Top Spot in ITA Division I Rankings

Five US women and two US men have joined the 35 other Americans already in the BNP Paribas Open draw after victories today. 

Former USTA 18s National Champions Whitney Osuigwe and Clervie Ngounoue used qualifying wild cards to advance to the main draw, with Osuigwe, who won the San Diego title in 2018, defeating Kaja Juvan of Slovenia 6-0, 7-6(9) and Ngounoue, who won the San Diego title in 2023, beating No. 3 seed and WTA 81 Sonay Kartal of Great Britain 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. Today's win was the third career WTA Top 100 victory for Ngounoue, who also won the ITF J300 at Indian Wells in 2023.

Claire Liu, who also has good memories at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, having won the ITF Easter Bowl J300 there in both 2015 and 2017, qualified with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 7 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain. 

Thirty-eight-year-old Varvara Lepchenko beat No. 4 seed Taylor Townsend 6-2, 6-4 in today's final round of qualifying and Hailey Baptiste, the No. 12 seed, made the main draw with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Leola Jeanjean(Baylor, Arkansas, Lynn).

Australian Maya Joint, the 18-year-old who this week joined Mirra Andreeva as the only teenagers in the WTA Top 100, qualified with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden.

Colton Smith, a senior at Arizona, received a wild card into qualifying and will play in his first ATP main draw after defeating No. 13 seed Pavel Kotov of Russia 6-3, 7-6(8). Smith, who picked up his first ATP Top 100 win yesterday in a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 7 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy, saved three set points in the tiebreaker.

Former Georgia star Ethan Quinn, who qualified last year, repeated that accomplishment this year, with the 2023 NCAA champion defeating former Kentucky All-American Gabriel Diallo of Canada 7-6(5), 6-2.

Sloane Stephens, who had received a wild card, withdrew with a foot injury, so a lucky loser will take her spot in the draw. The Miami Open announced its main draw wild cards today, with Stephens among them; whether she will be able to play that event, which begins in two weeks, is unclear right now. 

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant, who received a qualifying wild card for the Madrid 1000 last spring, will be making her main draw debut at that level. Other wild cards were announced for Czech Petra Kvitova, 2022 US Open girls champion Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, Sayaka Ishii of Japan and Victoria Mboko of Canada, who is 20-1 this year and up to 179 in the WTA live rankings.

Learner Tien(USC) has been announced as a wild card recipient, but he is the next player in on his ranking, so as with Indian Wells, he may not need that wild card. 

Federico Cina of Italy, still just 17, but no longer playing juniors since Wimbledon, received a main draw wild card, as did Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech), Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) and Wu Yibing of China, the oft-injured 2017 US Open boys champion. 

There was no mention of qualifying wild cards in the release.

The latest ITA Division I team and individual rankings were released today, with the Georgia women returning to No. 1 after being displaced last week by Virginia. Texas moved back into the Top 10, with Auburn, who went 0-2 last weekend, falling to 11.

North Carolina State made the biggest move in the men's rankings, going from No. 10 to No. 6 after beating Stanford and Cal last weekend. 

The NCAA fall singles champions retain their No. 1 rankings in singles, and now both NCAA fall doubles champions are No. 1 this week too.

Click on the heading link to see the 75 ranked teams, the 125 ranked singles players and the 90 ranked doubles teams. Previous rankings are in parentheses.

ITA D-I Top Ten Women's Team Rankings:
1. Georgia(2)
2. Virgnia(1)
3. Texas A&M(5)
4. Michigan(3)
5. North Carolina(4)
6. Tennessee(7)
7. Ohio State(8)
8. LSU(10)
9. Texas(11)

10. Duke(9)

Women's D-I singles Top 10

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

3. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

4. DJ Bennett, Auburn

5. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

6. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

7. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

8. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

9. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

10. Sofia Johnson, Old Dominion

Women's D-I doubles Top 5

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

3. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA

4. Susanna Maltby and Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina

5. Avelina Sayfetdinova and Mariia Hlahola, Texas Tech

ITA D-I Top Ten Men's Team Rankings:

1. Wake Forest(1)

2. TCU(2)

3. Ohio State(3)

4. Texas(4)

5. Virginia(5)

6. NC State(10)

7. San Diego(7)

8. Arizona(9)

9. Stanford(6)

10. Columbia(8)

Men's D-I Singles Top 10

1. Michael Zheng, Columbia

2. Pedro Vives, TCU

3. Colton Smith, Arizona

4. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

5. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

6. Carl Emil Overbeck, Cal

7. Timo Legout, Texas

8. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

9. Jay Friend, Arizona

10. Aidan Kim, Ohio State

Men's D-I Doubles Top 5

1. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

2. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego

3. Youcef Rihane and Alex Bulte, Florida State

4. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

5. Stefan Dostanic and DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Wild Cards Quan, Smith and Spizzirri Advance to BNP Paribas Open Final Round of Qualifying; BNP Draws Feature 35 Americans; Las Vegas ITF J100 Underway; UCLA Seniors Claim Pacific Coast Doubles Championships

With no USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, all attention turns to the BNP Paribas Open, which started yesterday with women's qualifying. 

The highlight of yesterday's women's qualifying, which featured 15 of the 24 first round matches was 18-year-old wild card Clervie Ngounoue's 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over No. 20 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada. The 2023 Wimbledon girls and USTA 18s champion, coming off a title last month at a W50 in Great Britain, will face No. 3 seed Sonay Kartal of Great Britain, who beat Marina Stakusic of Canada 6-2, 6-2.

Other American women who advanced to Tuesday's final round of qualifying are Vavara Lepchenko, Claire Liu and wild card Whitney Osuigwe. 

The men's first round of qualifying began today, with wild cards Rudy Quan, a freshman at UCLA, and Colton Smith, a senior at Arizona, getting their best wins by ATP rankings.  Quan, who received his qualifying wild card as the ITF J300 champion last March, defeated ATP No. 135 Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina 6-4, 7-5 to start out the day. He will face Yosuke Watanuke of Japan, who defeated No. 1 qualifying seed Mattia Bellucci of Italy 6-1, 6-2.

Smith, who had never played an ATP Top 100 player, defeated No. 93 Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-3, 6-4. He will play No. 20 seed Pavel Kotov of Russia for a place in the main draw.

San Diego Challenger champion Eliot Spizzirri had no day off to savor his first Challenger title, but the former Texas All-American didn't let any fatigue derail his form, with the wild card beating No. 24 seed Lloyd Harris of South Africa 6-4, 6-3 after trailing 3-1 in the opening set. Spizzirri's final round qualifying opponent is No. 6 seed Hugo Gaston of France. 

The fourth American to advance to the final round of qualifying is Ethan Quinn(Georgia), who beat No. 20 seed Tristan Schoolkate of Australia 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3. Quinn will face No. 4 seed Gabriel Diallo(Kentucky) of Canada. 

Brandon Holt(USC), who won a Challenger in India on Sunday, is playing tonight in the first round of qualifying. Michael Mmoh is also playing a late match in the first round of qualifying tonight, due to his opponent, Great Britain's Billy Harris, also coming from India.

Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda had a match point in his first round qualifying match with former ATP Top 10 player Pablo Carreno Busta at 5-6 in the third set, but he could not convert and the Spaniard went on to earn a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(7) victory.

US women advancing to the final round of qualifying today are Taylor Townsend[4] and Hailey Baptiste[12].

Qualifying draws can be found here. Qualifying matches on Stadium Courts 3 and 4 are being streamed on YouTube.

The singles draws were revealed today, including 20 US women before qualifiers are added. They are:

McCartney Kessler

Sloane Stephens[WC]

Sofia Kenin

Caty McNally

Iva Jovic[WC]

Coco Gauff[3]

Amanda Anisimova[17]

Alycia Parks[WC]

Emma Navarro[10]

Lauren Davis

Madison Keys[5]

Ann Li

Danielle Collins[14]

Ashlyn Krueger

Katie Volynets

Peyton Stearns

Jessica Pegula[4]

Robin Montgomery[WC]

Caroline Dolehide[WC]

Bernarda Pera[WC]

There are 15 US men in the main draw before any qualifiers have been added:

Frances Tiafoe[16]

Marcos Giron

Reilly Opelka[WC]

Tommy Paul[10]

Tristan Boyer[WC]

Alex Michelsen[31]

Nishesh Basavareddy[WC]

Alex Kovacevic

Brandon Nakashima[32]

Learner Tien

Ben Shelton[11]

Jenson Brooksby

Taylor Fritz[3]

Mackenzie McDonald[WC]

Sebastian Korda[24]

Aside from the ITF J500 Banana Bowl last week, which produced titles for Thea Frodin and Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield, only one other American captured a championship on the ITF Junior Circuit, with Jerald Carroll sweeping the titles at the J30 in Mexico. The 16-year-old Floridian, who also swept the singles and doubles titles two weeks ago at a J30 at the same location, won his first four matches with no trouble, but he was challenged in the final by No. 4 seed Faustino Boffelli of Argentina before taking a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 decision. Carroll and partner Alessandro Rubini Garcia Belaunde of Peru, the No. 2 seeds, won their second straight doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Valentino Arjona and Rodrigo Garza of Mexico 6-4, 6-1 in the final. 

The March ITF tournament in Las Vegas, which has been upgraded from a J60 to a J100 this year, is underway, with Roshan Santhosh and Andrew Johnson the top seeds. Both Santhosh and Johnson, who won their opening round matches today, are in the main draw of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells next week.

The girls top seeds, Ireland O'Brien and Gabriella Kellner, are currently in the qualifying at Indian Wells. Kellner lost in the first round today to 14-year-old Abigail Haile 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. 

Two UCLA seniors captured the 136th annual Pacific Coast Doubles title Sunday at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, one of the oldest competitions in the country.  No. 5 seeds Alexander Hoogmartens and Giacomo Revelli defeated No. 9 seeds Lasse Poertner and Aleksa Pisaric of Pepperdine 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3, after trailing 6-1 in the second set tiebreaker. For more on the Bruins title, the second for Hoogmartens, see this article from the UCLA website.

Frodin, Santamarta Capture J500 Banana Bowl Championships; Pro Singles Titles for Quartet of Americans Sunday; LSU's Cross Returns for 4-0 Win Over Tennessee; Chicago Claims D-III Women's Indoor Title

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin won her first J500 title and 18-year-old Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain earned his second straight Sunday with straight-set victories at the Banana Bowl in Gaspar Brazil.

Frodin, the No. 11 seed, defeated No. 10 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 6-3, 6-1, while Santamarta downed No. 8 seed Joao Pedro Didoni Bonini of Brazil 6-4, 6-0.  

The finals, which were live streamed on YouTube, were one-sided contests; I'm sure the finalists had played much better in their matches leading up to their first J500 finals than they did today. Santamarta has built a 12-0 winning streak at J500s on clay after claiming the Orange Bowl title in December. Currently No. 6 in the ITF junior rankings, he won't take over the No. 1 spot, but he certainly has it in his sights now with the J500 in Milan and Roland Garros, on his best surface, just a few months away.

Frodin should move into the Top 20 for the first time with her title, following a final and a doubles title at last week's J300 in Porto Alegre.

Frodin was just one of many bright spots for American tennis this weekend, with Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield taking the Banana Bowl doubles title on the ITF Junior Circuit and Evan King(Michigan) and Christian Harrison winning another ATP title as qualifiers at the Acapulco 500, as they had done at the Dallas 500 three weeks ago.

Then there are the singles titles, with Brandon Holt(USC) claiming the Challenger 125 in India, Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) sweeping the titles at the Challenger 100 in San Diego, Jessica Pegula winning the WTA 250 in Austin Texas and Emma Navarro(Virginia) taking the title at the WTA 500 in Merida Mexico. 

The third-seeded Holt, who had reached the Challenger 100 final last week in Pune India and the semifinals of the Challenger 125 in Bahrain two weeks ago, defeated No. 7 seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan 6-3, 6-3 in the final for his second career Challenger title, both coming this year. Holt is now up to a new career-high of 111 in the ATP live rankings.

Spizzirri won his first Challenger title in his third appearance in a final, defeating No. 4 seed Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 this afternoon at Barnes Tennis Center. Spizzirri got an early break in the third set and was able to hold onto it, although he didn't convert a match point with McDonald serving at 3-5, and needed to save two break points servng for the match at 5-4 to get the job done on his fourth match point. Some clutch serving in the final points of that last game helped, and he hit a great stretch volley deep in the court that McDonald couldn't hand to finally close it out.

Spizzirri and Tyler Zink won their second Challenger doubles title as a team, defeating the wild card team of Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) and Juan Jose Bianchi(SMU, Boston College) 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 10-8 in the Saturday night final. 

Spizzirri is now at 144 in the ATP live rankings with this title.

The top-seeded Pegula defeated No. 5 seed McCartney Kessler(Florida) 7-5, 6-2 in Austin for her seventh career WTA title. Navarro, the top seed in Mexico, breezed to her second career WTA title, beating qualifier Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-0, 6-0, one of just five WTA finals this century that featured that score.

Division I conference play is in full swing, and keeping track of all the matches can be a challenge. I suggest you go to collegetennisranks.com and click on the Week Behind tab to get a quick overview of what's happened in the past three days. 

There are two top 10 conference contests I wanted to mention, with the top-ranked Wake Forest men continuing unbeaten after defeating No. 6 Stanford, an ACC newcomer, 4-2 on Friday. Wake's Team Indoor hero Stefan Dostanic did not play this weekend for the Demon Deacons, who also beat No. 22 Cal today. Stanford also lost to No. 10 NC State today, so the former Pac-12 schools from Northern California went 0-4 on their first trip to North Carolina for conference play.

Today in the SEC, the seventh-ranked Tennessee women traveled to Baton Rouge to play No. 7 LSU, and the home team dominated 4-0.  Freshman Kayla Cross, who played her semifinal and final Saturday to secure the W35 USTA Pro Circuit title in Arcadia California somehow managed to make it to Baton Rouge in time for Sunday morning's match and physically capable of playing both singles and doubles. Cross and fellow Canadian Cadence Brace won their doubles match, and Cross had split sets at No. 2 singles when the Tigers clinched. 

In addition to Tennessee, another Top 10 SEC team lost today, with No. 6 Auburn losing to No. 53 South Carolina 4-2. South Carolina, who beat Florida on Friday, got three points from their lines 4, 5 and 6 in both matches, with all six matches routine straight-set victories for the Gamecocks. 

The University of Chicago and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps have met in the last three ITA Division III Women's Team Indoor Championships, with Chicago winning in 2023 and CMS in 2024. Today's final went the way of the Maroons, the reigning NCAA champions, who took the doubles point and three straight-sets win in singles for a 4-1 final.  For more on the final, see this ITA recap.

Frodin Reaches ITF J500 Banana Bowl Final, Satterfield and Karki Claim Doubles Title; Cross Wins W35 in Arcadia; Spizzirri and McDonald Set for San Diego Challenger Final; Last BNP Paribas Open Wild Cards Named; Kessler and Pegula Play for WTA Austin Title

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin, a finalist at last week's ITF J300 warm-up event in Porto Alegre, will have another crack at a title in Brazil after advancing to the championship match of the ITF J500 Banana Bowl. 

Frodin, the No. 11 seed, outlasted No. 3 seed Luna Maria Cinalli of Argentina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) in today's semifinals, to set up a first meeting with No. 10 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina. Larraya Guidi prevented an all-USA final by coming from behind to defeat No. 2 seed Annika Penickova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

In the boys semifinals, No. 8 seed Joao Pedro Didoni Bonini of Brazil defeated No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy 6-4, 6-4, and will face top seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, who had his first test of the week, but got by unseeded Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1 in today's semifinal. 

No. 8 seeds Jack Satterfield and Ronit Karki, who won the J300 doubles title in Colombia in January, earned their biggest title today, beating No. 4 seeds Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania and Ryo Tabata of Japan 6-4, 0-6, 10-4 in the final.

Penickova and partner Maya Iyengar, the top seeds, lost in the girls doubles final today to No. 4 seeds Victoria Luiza Barros of Brazil and Yoana Konstantinova of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-5.

LSU freshman Kayla Cross of Canada, who joined the Tigers in January while continuing to play USTA Pro Circuit events, was not with the team for yesterday's SEC conference match with Kentucky, which they won without her, 4-2. Instead, Cross was competing at the W35 in Arcadia California, where today she won two singles matches to claim her second ITF women's World Tennis Tour title.  The 19-year-old left-hander defeated wild card Fiona Crawley(UNC) 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in the semifinals, while top seed Iva Jovic was cruising past qualifier Kylie McKenzie 6-2, 6-3. 

The extra set didn't seem to bother Cross in the final, although she did run into a hurdle or two in the second set of her 6-2, 7-6(6) win over Jovic. Up 6-2, 5-2, Cross couldn't convert her two match points serving at 5-3, then proceeded to drop her next serve as well, giving Jovic a chance to serve for the set. She was broken at love, so would have to win a tiebreaker instead, and it was Cross who came through, although she did squander three more match points up 6-3 in the tiebreaker before closing it out.

LSU, currently No. 10 in the ITA rankings, hosts No. 7 Tennessee Sunday morning, but it seems unlikely that Cross will be avaliable for that key SEC match given her two matches today and the travel that would be necessary.

A Wolfpack pair took the doubles title, with NC State recruit Tori Osuigwe and former NC State All-American Alana Smith, the No. 3 seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Aldila Sutjiadi(Kentucky) and Janice Tjen(Oregon, Pepperdine) 6-3, 6-4 in the final. It's the 13th Pro Circuit title for Smith and the second for Osuigwe, but their first together; both have won doubles titles with Whitney Osuigwe.

Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) has advanced to his third ATP Challenger final, while Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) has reached his ninth, with both earning three-set victories at the San Diego 100.

Spizzirri told me when I spoke with him at a Texas match at the Men's Team Indoor in Dallas that he was disappointed with his performance at the two Challengers last month in Tenerife, losing in the opening round of both. But despite having limited practice time outdoors in Dallas due to the cold and rain, his play in San Diego didn't suffer. Unseeded this week, the 23-year-old from Connecticut has won three consecutive three-setters, beating No. 8 seed Ethan Quinn 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in today's first semifinal.

Quinn led 5-0 in the second set; Spizzirri came all the way back to 4-5, but dropped serve and the set, after saving nine set points, in that game. Unfazed by that hiccup, Spizzirri got an early break and clipped along on his service games, not facing a break point until 5-3, 30-40. He saved it to advance to his second Challenger final of the year; he lost to Colton Smith(Arizona) in the Cleveland Challenger last month to go 0-2 in Challenger finals since completing his collegiate eligibility last May.

Spizzirri is also through to the doubles final, with Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State), with the unseeded pair defeating No. 2 seed George Goldhoff(Texas) and Trey Hilderbrand(UCF, Texas A&M) 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals. The 2019 US Open boys doubles champions, who already have won a Challenger doubles title as a pair in 2023, will face wild cards Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) and Juan Jose Bianchi(SMU, Boston College), who beat Jodi Maginley and Alfredo Perez(Florida) 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals. 

No. 4 seed McDonald, the 2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion, will be looking to secure his fifth Challenger title as he tries to work his way back into the ATP Top 100. The 29-year-old from Northern California dropped the first set today, but took control from the outset of the second, beating No. 5 seed Kamil Majchrzak of Poland 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. 

McDonald got additional good news today with the announcement that he is receiving the final men's main draw wild card at next week's BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Caroline Dolehide, who lost last night in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 in Austin, received the last women's main draw wild card.

The last men's qualifying wild card was awarded to SMU sophomore Trevor Svajda. Women's qualifying begins Sunday. The draws are here.

Two Americans will face off Sunday for the  WTA 250 title in Austin Texas, with top seed Jessica Pegula taking on No. 5 seed McCartney Kessler(Florida). Pegula defeated Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, while Kessler beat Greet Minnen of Belgium 7-5, 6-4 in today's semifinals. It will be their first meeting.

My Article on College Tennis's Move to Electronic Line Calling; Kennedy, Frodin and Penickova Advance to ITF J500 Banana Bowl Semis; BNP Paribas Open Wild Cards Include Jovic, Basavareddy; Six Americans Reach Semis in California

I wrote an article for Tennis Recruiting Network back in 2021 about the implementation of Electronic Line Calling for the US Open Junior Championships that year, but the technology used at slams wasn't viable for less lucrative tennis tournaments. The hope was that the cost would drop, and although Hawkeye Live, used at most slams and ATP and WTA events, remains financially out of reach, other companies have made gains in finding less expensive alternatives.

One company, PlayReplay, has advanced through the shadow testing and pilots of its electronic line calling system, which has been used at four of the USTA Level 1 National Indoor Championships last fall, as well as at three Division I college events last fall. The most important test of their system was at this month's ITA Division I women's and men's Team Indoor Championships, giving me an opportunity to observe it in person at the men's Team Indoor in Dallas. The result is this article, which, like the US Open junior article, helped me understand the process of adopting this technology, which is now finding its way from tennis to other major sports. 

I appreciate everyone who agreed to be interviewed for this article, which provides perspectives from coaches, players, umpires, administrators and others as college tennis begins to adopt the popular and much-needed technology. With the USTA behind these efforts at automating line calling, down to the recreational level, expect to see more of these pilots the rest of this year.

Three Americans have advanced to the semifinals of the ITF J500 Banana Bowl in Brazil, with No. 2 seed Annika Penickova and No. 11 seed Thea Frodin reaching a J500 semifinal for the first time.

Frodin defeated top seed and defending champion Kaitlyn Rolls 6-2, 6-2, while Penickova beat No. 8 seed Victoria Luiza Barros of Brazil by the same score. Frodin will play No. 3 seed Luna Maria Cinalli of Argentina, while Penickova's opponent in the semifinals, also from Argentina, is No. 10 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi. Penickova defeated Larraya Guidi 7-6(3), 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the J300 warmup last week in Porto Alegre; Frodin lost to Cinalli 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of the Bradenton J300 back in 2023.

No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy, who reached the semifinals of the last J500 he played, the Orange Bowl, is through to the final four again with a 6-3, 6-2 win over unseeded Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria. That's very similar to the score of Ivanov's win over Kennedy in the Junior Orange Bowl 14s final in 2022, which was 6-2, 6-3 for Ivanov. 

Kennedy will play No. 8 seed Joao Pedro Didoni Bonini of Brazil, who beat unseeded compatriot Vicente Freda 6-2, 6-4. Top seed Andres Santamarta Roig, the Orange Bowl champion, cruised past No. 5 seed Rannick Theodor Alexandrescour of Romania 6-0, 6-1 and will face unseeded Brazilian Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity. In the only three-set boys quarterfinal, Chabalgoity beat No. 7 seed Keaton Hance 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. 

No. 8 seeds Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield have reached the boys doubles final, after beating No. 5 seed Ryan Cozad and Jack Secord 6-1, 7-5 in today's semifinals. Karki and Satterfield will face No. 4 seed Alexandrescou and Ryo Tabata of Japan in the final. 

The BNP Paribas Open announced the bulk of the wild cards for the upcoming tournament, which begins Sunday with women's qualifying matches. 

Learner Tien(USC), who had been announced as a wild card, moved into the main draw on his own ranking; the replacement for his wild card has yet to be announced. One women's main draw wild card remains to be awarded.

Belinda Bencic, Sloane Stephens and, as previously announced, Petra Kvitova, have received main draw wild cards, as have Robin Montgomery, Alycia Parks, Bernarda Pera and Iva Jovic. Jovic, who lost in the first round of qualifying to Taylor Townsend at the BNP Paribas Open last year, had a quick turnaround after reaching the final of Spring Texas tournament last year; this year, the main draw wild card should relieve that pressure while she continues to compete at the W35 in Arcadia.

Women's qualifying wild cards have been awarded to Clervie Ngounoue, Julieta Pareja, Kristina Penickova, Whitney Osuigwe and Valerie Glozman, who received her qualifying wild card for winning the ITF J300 in Indian Wells last year. Twenty-year-old Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium is the only non-American receiving a women's qualifying wild card. 

The men's main draw wild cards have been awarded to Reilly Opelka, Tristan Boyer(Stanford) and Nishesh Basavareddy. Next Gen champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil had been previously announced as a wild card. 

Four of the five qualifying wild cards were awarded to current or former college players, with the fifth still to be determined. Arizona senior Colton Smith, Texas A&M freshman Theo Papamalamis of France, former Texas All-American Eliot Spizzirri and UCLA freshman Rudy Quan. Quan received his qualifying wild card for winning the ITF J300 tournament in Indian Wells last year. 

In past years, a player from the John McEnroe Tennis Academy often received a qualifying wild card, but that did not happen this year.

Top seed Jovic is through to the semifinals of the USTA Pro Circuit Arcadia W35, after beating No. 5 seed Maria Mateas(Duke) 7-5, 6-4. She will play qualifier Kylie McKenzie, who beat No. 7 seed Despina Papamichail of Greece 6-0, 6-3.  

Wild card Fiona Crawley(UNC) defeated No. 2 seed Carson Branstine(Texas A&M) of Canada 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 and will face another Canadian, LSU freshman Kayla Cross, the No. 6 seed, in the semifinals. Cross defeated qualifier Stefania Rogozinska Dzik(Loyola Marymount) of Poland 6-1, 6-1.  Due to rain the forecast, the final is scheduled to play Saturday after the semifinals and the doubles final. Future NC State player Tori Osuigwe and former NC State star Alanis Smith will face Aldila Sutjiadi(Kentucky) and Janice Tjen(Oregon, Pepperdine) in the doubles final. 

Three Americans are through to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 100 in San Diego: two former NCAA singles champions and a former ITA year-end No. 1. 

Former ITA Player of the Year Eliot Spizzirri(Texas), who has that BNP Paribas Open qualifying wild card coming right up, advanced to the semifinals with another comeback victory, beating No. 6 seed Taro Daniel of Japan 6-7(2), 6-0, 6-4. He will face No. 8 seed and 2023 NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia), who had another marathon win this evening, beating top seed Arthur Cazaux of France 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-4 in three-hours and 15 minutes. 

Former UCLA Bruin Mackenzie McDonald, the 2016 NCAA singles champion, defeated wild card and SMU sophomore Trevor Svajda 6-3, 6-4. McDonald, the fourth seed, will face No. 5 seed Kamil Majchrzak of Poland, after Majchrzak beat Alex Bolt of Australia 7-6(2), 1-1 ret.

Six US Juniors Advance to ITF J500 Banana Bowl Quarterfinals; Spizzirri and Quinn Join Svajda and McDonald in San Diego Challenger Quarterfinals; Tien Earns Second Top 5 Win in Acapulco; Jovic, Crawley Reach W35 Quarterfinals

Half of the quarterfinalists at this week's ITF J500 Banana Bowl are Americans, with one guaranteed to advance to the semifinals after today's third round action in Gaspar Brazil.

Top seed and defending champion Kaitlyn Rolls, a University of Virginia recruit, defeated unseeded Ava Rodriguez, a University of Georgia recruit 7-5, 6-4 and will play another American on Friday: No. 11 seed Thea Frodin. Frodin defeated No. 7 seed Allegra Korpanec Davies of Great Britain, who she had beaten at the Orange Bowl in December 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. 

No. 4 seed Maya Iyengar, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Spain's Juliana Giaccio, will face No. 10 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina on Friday. No. 2 seed Annika Penickova defeated No. 13 seed Maia Burcescu of Romania 6-4, 6-3 and will play No. 8 seed Victoria Luiza Barros of Brazil in the quarterfinals. Barros defeated No. 12 seed Leena Friedman 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.  In the only quarterfinal without an American, No. 3 seed Luna Maria Cinalli of Argentina will face No. 5 seed Laima Vladson of Lithuania; Vladson, who has won the past two J300s on the South American clay, defeated No. 9 seed Capucine Jauffet 6-1, 6-2.

No. 7 seed Keaton Hance and No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy have advanced to the boys singles quarterfinals, along with three Brazilians.

The only quarterfinal that was predicted by seeds will feature top seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain and No. 5 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania. In the other top half quarterfinal, Hance, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over No. 9 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, will play unseeded Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity, who beat No. 16 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico 6-4, 6-3. 

No. 8 seed Joao Pedro Didoni Bonini of Brazil will face unseeded compatriot Vicente Freda in the quarterfinals, after Freda upset No. 3 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden 7-6(6), 6-3. 

The fourth quarterfinal will feature a rematch of the 2022 Junior Orange Bowl 14s final, with unseeded Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria facing No. 2 seed Kennedy. Ivanov, who won that final 6-2, 6-3, defeated unseeded Jacob Olar 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in today's third round, while Kennedy did not lose a game to No. 15 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan. 

Two more Americans advanced to Friday's quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger 100 in San Diego, joining Trevor Svajda(SMU) and Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA), who face each other.

Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) came back to defeat former Georgia Tech star Andres Martin, a qualifier, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, while No. 8 seed 2023 NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia) took the scenic route against wild card Jenson Brooksby before posting a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5) victory.

Quinn served for the match at 6-3, 5-3 and had two match points before losing that game and the next three to give Brooksby new life. Quinn then went up 5-2 in the third set and had a match point in that game, which Brooksby saved. Quinn didn't get to a match point serving at 5-4, and trailed 5-3 in the tiebreaker, but he took the last four points to secure the win.

Spizzirri's opponent in the quarterfinals will be No. 6 seed Taro Daniel of Japan, who defeated qualifier Alex Rybakov(TCU) 7-6(9), 7-6(1). Quinn will play the winner of tonight's second round match between top seed Arthur Cazaux and Constant Lestienne, both of France.

Qualifier Learner Tien(USC) earned his second ATP Top 5 victory of the year last night in the second round of the ATP 500 in Acapulco, beating top seed and ATP No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-3, 6-4, coming from 4-1 down in the second set to advance to his second ATP quarterfinal. For more on Tien's win and what has him in the same sentence and status as Andy Roddick, see this article from the ATP. 

Two qualifiers and a wild card have advanced to the quarterfinals of the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Arcadia California. Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic, no doubt relieved to be back home and in warm and dry conditions after the cold and rain in Spring Texas, is through to the quarterfinals. The top seed looked to be breezing against Stanford recruit Alyssa Ahn, a qualifier, but she had her hands full in the rest of the match before securing a 6-0, 1-6, 7-5 victory.  She will face No. 5 seed Maria Mateas(Duke), who beat 17-year-old qualifier Alexis Nguyen 7-5, 7-6(3). Qualifier Kyle Mckenzie, who received a walkover from 2023 NCAA champion Fangran Tian(UCLA) of China will face No. 7 seed Despina Papamichail of Greece.

Wild card Fiona Crawley(North Carolina) defeated 2015 NCAA singles finalist Carol Zhao(Stanford) of Canada, the No. 8 seed, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0. Crawley will play No. 2 seed Carson Branstine(Texas A&M) of Canada, who beat Haruna Arakawa of Japan 7-6(8), 6-2. 

LSU freshman Kayla Cross of Canada, the No. 6 seed, defeated Eryn Cayetano(USC) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and will play Loyola Marymount's Stefania Rogozinska Dzik of Poland, who beat fellow qualifier Tori Osuigwe 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. 

Australian Open Finalists Willwerth and Penickova Top Acceptance Lists at ITF J300 San Diego; Seven US Girls Reach Banana Bowl Round of 16; Nguyen Advances at Arcadia W35; Svajda Defeats Krueger at San Diego Challenger

2025 Australian Open finalists Kristina Penickova and Benjamin Willwerth are the ITF Top 10 juniors who have entered next month's ITF J300 in San Diego, with the acceptances released yesterday. The tournament, which for the second straight year is restricted to juniors from the United States and Canada, has only one Canadian girl and four Canadian boys on the initial acceptance lists.

In addition to Penickova, who reached the final last year in San Diego, boys champion Jack Kennedy is returning to defend his title. 

Notable absences include Nadia Lagaev of Canada, who just won back-to-back J200s in the Dominican Republic and reached the San Diego quarterfinals last year; Nicolas and Mikael Arseneault of Canada, who also played San Diego last year.  Americans in the ITF Top 30 not entered in San Diego are: Jagger Leach, who has entered the ITF J300 in Indian Wells the week prior, Dominick Mosejczuk and Maxwell Exsted, who did not enter Indian Wells, and of course Tyra Grant and 2024 San Diego champion Iva Jovic, who have played exclusively on the Pro Circuit this year.

Jordan Lee, the Orange Bowl 16s champion, is entered in Indian Wells, not San Diego; with Lee, it's likely because he is allowed only 14 tournaments on the ITF Junior Circuit as a 14-year-old, until he turns 15 in May. I believe he's already played 12, so he may want to save one for April, with a J200 in Canada and two J100s in Florida, where he lives.

Seven US girls have advanced to the third round at the J500 Banana Bowl in Gaspar Brazil, along with three US boys. Top seed Kaitlyn Rolls will play unseeded Ava Rodriguez in the only third round match between Americans. The other five US girls in the round of 16 are Thea Frodin[11], Capucine Jauffret[9], Maya Iyengar[4], Leena Friedman[12] and Annika Penickova[2].

Boys from the United States in the third round are Keaton Hance[7], Jacob Olar and Jack Kennedy[2]. Olar defeated No. 6 seed Valentin Garay of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the third round of J500 for the first time. Atlanta resident Yannik Alvarez[16], who represents Puerto Rico, is also into the round of 16. 

One player I'm hoping to see as a wild card at the Indian Wells or San Diego J300s who is not on the acceptance lists is Alexis Nguyen, who I last saw compete at Indian Wells in 2024. The 17-year-old from Sacramento, who recently made a verbal commitment to North Carolina for 2026 along with twin sister Avery, has been playing mostly USTA Pro Circuit events the past year, and after two Pro Circuit events this year in Florida and Texas, the 2022 Orange Bowl 16s champion returned to California for qualifying at this week's USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Arcadia. 

She drew 2025 Australian Open girls champion Wakana Sonobe, the top seed in qualifying, who had made a big splash earlier this month in Abu Dhabi by qualifying and winning a round at the WTA 500 tournament there. Nguyen won that first round 6-3, 1-6, 10-8, then qualified yesterday with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Brandy Walker(Northern Arizona). In first round action today, Nguyen breezed past lucky loser Natsuho Arakawa(Arkansas, Washington) 6-1, 6-1 to set up a meeting with No. 5 seed Maria Mateas(Duke). Arakawa was replacing Kristina Penickova, who withdrew. 

Iva Jovic, the top seed, beat lucky loser Veronika Miroshnichenko 6-1, 6-3 and will face qualifier Alyssa Ahn, the Stanford recruit. Jovic and Ahn played in the second round of the Indian Wells J300 last year, with Jovic winning 6-2, 6-0. 

2023 NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian(UCLA) of China is back in Southern California and will play qualifier Kylie Mckenzie in the second round after a 6-1, 7-5, win over wild card Kelly Keller(Arkansas).

No. 4 seed Kayla Cross of Canada beat LSU teammate and fellow freshman Tilwith Di Girolami, a qualifier, 6-4, 6-2 and will play Eryn Cayetano(USC), who received a special exemption from the mess in Spring Texas and advanced with a 6-2, 2-0 retirement from Alana Smith(NC State). NC State recruit Tori Osuigwe, a qualifier, defeated No. 4 seed Jazmin Ortenzi of Argentina 7-6(7), 6-4 and will face yet another qualifier who advanced to the second round in Loyola Marymount grad student Stefania Rogozinska Dzik of Poland. Rogozinska Dzik defeated Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 6-3, 6-2. 

Fiona Crawley, the former North Carolina All-American, is returning to competition for the first time since last October with a wild card. Crawley defeated qualifier Ema Burgic(Baylor) and will play either No. 8 seed Carol Zhao, a Spring W50 survivor, of Canada, or fellow wild card Anna Frey, who recently announced a verbal commitment to North Carolina for spring of 2026. 

There were just four singles matches today at the ATP Challenger 100 in San Diego, but one was a big upset, with wild card Trevor Svajda defeating No. 7 seed Mitchell Krueger 6-3, 6-3. Svajda, a sophomore at SMU, had only faced one player ranked higher than Krueger, currently at 138, and that was back in 2023, when he lost to No. 111 James Duckworth of Australia in the first round of the US Open men's qualifying, after earning a wild card with his runner-up finish at Kalamazoo. It's the second Challenger quarterfinal for the 19-year-old from San Diego, who also reached the quarterfinals at the Little Rock 75 last May.

On Friday, Svajda will play No. 4 seed Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA), who defeated Matteo Gigante of Italy 6-3, 7-5 this evening.

Rolls, Santamarta Top Seeds at J500 Banana Bowl; Svajda Tops Pinnington Jones in San Diego Challenger First Round; Spring W50 Ends Without Champion; Virginia Women Top Latest D-I Rankings; D-II and D-III Indoor Update

The first round of singles is complete at this week's J500 Banana Bowl in Brazil, which has moved from Blumenau to Gaspar this year. Kaitlyn Rolls is defending her title as the No. 1 seed, while boys top seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain is returning to junior competition for the first time since the Australian Open. Below are the seeds, with asterisks indicating a first round loss. 

Boys 

1. Andres Santamarta Roig(ESP)

2. Jack Kennedy(USA)

3. William Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE)

4. *Alejandro Arcila(COL)

5. Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou(ROU)

6. Valentin Garay(ARG)

7. Keaton Hance(USA)

8. Joao Pedro Didoni Bonini(BRA)

9. Luis Guto Miguel(BRA)

10. *Ryan Cozad(USA)

11. Noah Johnston(USA)

12. *Victor Cunha Winheski de Lima(BRA), 

13. *Jack Secord(USA)

14. Dante Pagani(ARG)

15. Ryo Tabata(JPN)

16. Yannik Alvarez(PUR)

Girls

1. Kaitlyn Rolls(USA)

2. Annika Penickova(USA)

3. Luna Maria Cinalli(ARG)

4. Maya Iyengar(USA)

5. Laima Vladson(LTU)

6. Yoana Konstantinova(BUL)

7. Allegra Korpanec Davies(GBR)

8. Victoria Luiza Barros(BRA)

9. Capucine Jauffret(USA)

11. Thea Frodin(USA)

12. Leena Friedman(USA)

13. Maia Burcescu(ROU)

14. *Valentina Mediorreal Arias(COL)

15. *Claire An(USA)

16. Ishika Ashar(USA)

In addition to those listed above, Americans who have reached the second round are: Ronit Karki, Jacob Olar, Ava Rodriguez, Lucy Oyebog Atang and Welles Newman.

Iyengar and Penickova are the top seeds in the girls doubles, with Rolls and Frodin the No. 2 seeds. Santamarta Roig and Rejchtman Vinciguerra are the No. 1 seeds in boys doubles, with Kennedy and Hance seeded No. 2.

The inaugural ATP Challenger 100 in San Diego is underway, with the event taking place at the Barnes Tennis Center, which will host the ITF J300 North American Regional March 17-22. 

Three players who competed in last week's ITA Men's Team Indoor Championships in Dallas were in the main draw: Wake Forest's Stefan Dostanic, the MTI's Most Outstanding Player, lost in the final round of qualifying, with former TCU All-American Alex Rybakov getting a bit of revenge for the Horned Frogs, but Dostanic got into the main draw as a lucky loser. He lost today to Constant Lestienne of France 6-3, 6-4.

The other two MTI competitors are TCU junior Jack Pinnington Jones, who lost to Dostanic in the deciding match in the final, and sophomore Trevor Svajda, who went 1-1, with his match against Dostanic unfinished for host SMU.

Svajda, who grew up and lives in San Diego and is certainly at home at Barnes Tennis Center, defeated Great Britain's Pinnington Jones 6-3, 7-6(4) in a first round match today. Svjada will play No. 7 seed Mitchell Krueger next, who trains at the SMU facility and was there hitting right before the Team Indoor began.

The other current collegian in the main draw, Arizona senior Colton Smith, lost to No. 5 seed Kamil Majchrzak of Poland in the first round 7-6(3), 6-4. 

After a miserable week of weather in Spring Texas for the women's USTA Pro Circuit W50, the quarterfinals and semifinals took place Monday afternoon and evening, but the final was not played. Iva Jovic and Texas A&M senior Mary Stoiana, who beat Carol Zhao(Stanford) of Canada 6-7(4), 6-4, 11-9 in semifinals, both get a finalist's 20 points and $3995 in prize money.

The latest ITA Division I Team rankings were released today, with a new No. 1 on the women's side: Virginia. Although previous No. 1 Georgia won it's first conference match over South Carolina, the Women's Team Indoor Champions, and has only one loss, to North Carolina, they were passed this week by the Cavaliers, who have two losses, including a 4-0 defeat to Georgia in the Indoor semifinals. It's the first time in Virginia women's history that a team has been ranked No. 1. Click on the heading to go to the full 75-team rankings

Division I Team Top Ten, February 25, 2025

(previous ranking in parentheses)

Women:

1. Virginia(2)

2. Georgia(1)

3. Michigan(5)

4. North Carolina(3)

5. Texas A&M(6)

6. Auburn(4)

7. Tennessee(7)

8. Ohio State(9)

9. Duke(10)

10. LSU(8)

While the Top 10 women were simply rearranged, the men had just one change, with nine of the top 10 in exactly the same position as last week. Arizona's win over San Diego moved it into the No. 9 position, with Texas A&M, who lost to Florida State, dropping from 9 to 12.

Division I Men Top Ten:

1. Wake Forest(1)

2. TCU(2)

3. Ohio State(3)

4. Texas(4)

5. Virginia(5)

6. Stanford(6)

7. San Diego(7)

8. Columbia(8)

9. Arizona(14)

10. NC State(10)

While I was providing my in-depth coverage of the ITA Division I Men's Team Indoor in Dallas, I wasn't able to follow the three other Team Indoor Championships that took place during and immediately after that event.

In Indianapolis, the men's Division II Team Indoor Championships produced a first-time winner in West Florida, with the No. 7 seeds defeating No. 8 seeds Washburn 4-0 in the final. Top seeds St. Leo's and Flagler both lost in the quarterfinals. The ITA recap is here and the West Florida recap is here. 

The winner of the women's Division II Team Indoor Championships, which concluded Sunday, can be dubbed a dynasty now, with the Barry women claiming their fourth straight title. Top seed Barry, who defeated No. 6 seed Midwestern State 4-0 in the final, didn't drop a point in its three victories. The ITA recap is here; the Barry recap is here.

The men's Division III Team Indoor Championships, also last weekend, ended with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, a perennial contender for the NCAA team title in the spring, collecting a rare Indoor title, with the No. 2 seed defeating top seed Chicago 4-3 in the final. CMS, who hadn't won an Indoor title since 2001, avenged their 5-4 loss to Chicago in the NCAA D-III final last May. The ITA recap is here; the CMS recap is here.

The women's Division III Team Indoor Championships begin Friday in Memphis, with Chicago and CMS also the No. 1 and No 2 seeds for that event. 

Dussault and Lagaev Go Back-to-Back at ITF J200s in Dominican Republic; Jovic Reaches Final of Cold-Delayed W50 in Texas; My Appearance on No-Ad No-Problem Podcast to Recap D-I Men's Team Indoor; Interviews with Acapulco ATP 500 Qualifiers Tien and Basavareddy

While I followed the results of the ITF J300 in Brazil, the warmup to this week's J500 Banana Bowl, where Noah Johnston swept the titles and Thea Frodin made both finals last week, there were several other titles for Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit. Floridian Maximus Dussault won his second consecutive J200 in the Dominican Republic, a feat matched by Canadian Nadia Lagaev. 

Dussault, a 17-year-old left-hander who has committed to TCU for this fall, was the top seed both weeks and didn't lose a set in his 10 victories. In the all-USA final, Dussault, now up to 45 in the ITF junior rankings, defeated No. 8 seed Nischal Spurling 6-0, 6-2. Spurling did collect a title in the doubles, partnering with Ford McCollum. The unseeded pair from Los Angeles beat No. 4 seeds Emanuel Ivanisevic of Croatia and Vitor Ryden of Sweden 7-6(3), 6-1 in the final.

Lagaev, also a 17-year-old left-hander, dropped just one set in her ten victories, beating No. 5 seed Hyunyee Lee of Korea 6-3, 7-6(4). Lagaev, who has verbally committed to Georgia for the fall of 2026, is now up to No. 30 in the ITF junior rankings. 

Top seeds Lagaev and Kayla Moore lost in the doubles final to No. 3 seeds Sabrina Lin and Great Britain's Daniela Piani 6-3, 6-3.

At the J60 in Eau Claire Wisconsin, No. 12 seed Roman Sancilio and top seed Thara Gowda won their second career ITF Junior Circuit singles titles in all-USA finals. 

The 17-year-old Sancilio defeated unseeded Aaron Beduhn in the final, while Gowda, 16, defeated Sophia Budacsek 6-1, 7-5. 

Gowda also took the girls doubles title, with Karlin Schock, with the top seeds beating No. 3 seeds Budacsek and Sobee Oak 6-1, 6-0. No. 5 seeds Tej Bhagra and Chase Kelley took the boys doubles title, beating top seed Adrian Treacy and Avner Wong 6-1 6-2 in all-USA final.

At the J60 in Guatemala, unseeded Carolina Castro won her first ITF Junior Circuit title, with the 16-year-old from Maryland defeating No. 8 seed Camille Allegre 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(6) in another all-USA final. 

Top seeds Jordyn Hazelitt and Canada's Elicia Lin won the girls doubles title, beating Castro and Sasha Miroshnichenko 6-1, 7-6(2) in the final. 

Sixteen-year-old Jerald Carroll swept the boys titles at the J30 in Mexico. The third-seeded Floridian defeated unseeded Sebastian Garcia Puente of Mexico 6-0, 6-1 in the singles final, and partnered with Peru's Alessandro Rubini Garcia Belaunde for the boys doubles title. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seed Valentino Arjona and Rodrigo Garza of Mexico 2-6, 6-2, 10-5 in the final.

After playing just five games in reaching the cold-delayed quarterfinals today at the W50 in Spring Texas, 17-year-old Iva Jovic advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over qualifier Eryn Cayetano(USC), and then reached the final with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 win over Caty McNally. The final is still scheduled for tonight, with Jovic's opponent not yet determined, with Texas A&M senior Mary Stoiana playing Canada's Carol Zhao(Stanford) in the semifinals. Stoiana defeated Whitney Osuigwe 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 in the quarterfinals.

Over the weekend I spoke with John Parsons about the recently concluded ITA Men's Division I Team Indoor Championshps for his No-Ad No-Problem podcast, which is a must-listen (his weekly podcast, not my guest appearance) for any D-I college tennis fan. John and I were both in Dallas and at a men's Team Indoor Championship for the first time since 2013 so we had a lot to discuss. Our wide-ranging conversation touched on the SMU facility, the buzz around the tournament, SMU men's head coach Grant Chen's successful efforts to make it a special event, the Electric Line Calling system being used, our standout players and matches and the story lines we're following in the next two months as the conference season gets going. John knows his stuff and college tennis is fortunate to have him as an advocate for the sport.

Ben Rothenberg is at the ATP 500 in Acapulco this week, and he spoke to both Learner Tien and Nishesh Basavareddy after their first round qualifying wins Saturday, catching up with the two rising American teenagers after their first Australian Open pro experiences last month. The interviews at Rothenburg's Bounces are behind a paywall (which he does for some articles, but not all), but please consider subscribing, even if you don't want to pay, as a free subscription, which goes directly to your email inbox, is available. Both Tien and Basavareddy won their final round qualifying matches, with Tien set to play Cam Norrie(TCU) of Great Britain later tonight, and Basavareddy likely to play Dallas Open champion Denis Shapovalov of Canada Tuesday.

Johnston Sweeps Titles at ITF J300 in Brazil; Blanch, Bonding Earn First ITF Men's Singles Titles; Corwin Claims Naples $15K; Texas A&M Women Come From 3-0 Down to Beat Texas

Noah Johnston added his first ITF singles title at the J300 level today in Porto Alegre Brazil, with the 17-year-old left-hander from South Carolina coming back to defeat qualifier Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria  6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-1 in his first appearance in a J300 final. Johnston's sweep should  move him back up the ITF Junior rankings, so he should not have to worry about making Roland Garros Junior Championships main draw. Johnston is the No. 11 seed in next week's J500 Banana Bowl in Gaspar Brazil.

Thea Frodin, the No. 4 seed, dropped her third ITF J300 final in three appearances, losing to last week's Asuncion Bowl champion, unseeded Laima Vladson of Lithuania 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Frodin is also the No. 11 seed in Gaspar next week.

Seventeen-year-old Darwin Blanch, whose only junior tournament last year was Kalamazoo, won his first ITF men's World Tennis Tour title at a M15 today in Spain. The unseeded Blanch, who lost to now Ohio State freshman Nikita Filin in the B18s round of 32 as the No. 2 seed last August, came from a set down for the third time in his five victories, beating No. 2 seed and former Florida All-American Oliver Crawford of Great Britain 1-6, 7-5, 7-5. Blanch, the 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion, had reached two M15 finals last year.

Blanch was one of three Americans to win M15s this week, with Martin Damm, the 2018 Kalamazoo 16s champion claiming the title in Egypt with the No. 2 seed taking a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 decision from No. 7 seed Alexandr Binda of Italy.

And closer to home, but still connected to Kalamazoo, Felix Corwin(Minnesota) won his third M15 title in Naples Florida, beating qualifier Daniel Paty in a nearly three-hour final 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(6). Paty saved two match points in the second set, while No. 7 seed Corwin, the son of former Kalamazoo Nationals tournament director Timon Corwin, trailed 6-4 in the final set tiebreaker before taking the last four points of the match.

Also of note on the 15K level, 17-year-old Oliver Bonding of Great Britain earned his first ITF men's singles title in Lannion France, using an ITF junior reserved spot based on his ITF junior ranking to gain entry in the main draw. Bonding played a tiebreaker in each of his straight-sets wins, going 5-0, including his 6-3, 7-6(9) win over No. 8 seed Axel Garcian of France.

They finally played a match today at the women's W50 in Spring Texas, but that second round match didn't start until late afternoon and apparently only one court was playable. Maria Mateas(Duke) defeated Elli Mandlik 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals; three more second round matches need to be played and I don't know if the tournament will finish or not. 

In Austin Texas, less than three hours away, they have been playing qualifying for the WTA 250 ATX Open there all day, with both first and second rounds of qualifying scheduled. Victoria Hu(Princeton) and Hina Ioune are the only two Americans to reach the second round of qualifying. Former University of Texas standout Malaika Rapolu, who is up to 549 in the WTA rankings after playing the Pro Circuit post-graduation last May, received a main draw wild card.

Texas A&M's No. 1 Mary Stoiana was on the schedule all day at the Spring W50 event, and even though her opponent had not been determined by match time, she was unable to compete for the sixth-ranked Aggies in their SEC opener with rival Texas, ranked 11th. That moved everyone in the lineup up a spot and required shuffling their doubles, and they lost the doubles point and singles at lines 1 and 6. Trailing 3-0, Texas A&M had the consolation of having won the first set in the remaining four matches, but they had no margin of error. Mia Kupres and Lexington Reed closed out their matches in straight sets at 2 and 5, but Daria Smetannikov dropped her second set to Texas's Carmen Herea at line 5, Longhorn Ashton Bowers served for her second set at line 3 against Lucciana Perez. Bowers couldn't hold, but had a set point in the tiebreaker, only to be overtaken by Perez, who earned the Aggies' third point 7-6(6), 7-6(7). Smetannikov had led 3-1 in third over Herea, but wasn't able to hold serve after that, assisted only in by the fact that Herea was also unable to hold. Six breaks later, Smetannikov got the final break, clinching for the Aggies with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 decision.

For more on the match, see this article from the Texas A&M website.

Frodin, Johnston Reaches ITF J300 Brazil Finals; Cold Cancels Play Again at W50 in Texas, Second Round Matches Still Unplayed; Corwin Reaches Naples $15K Final; Cash and Glasspool Win ATP 500 Title; Holt, Budkov Kjaer Reach Challenger Finals

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin and 17-year-old Noah Johnston will compete for their first ITF J300 titles Sunday in Porto Alegre Brazil after both posted straight-sets victories Saturday.

No. 4 seed Frodin reached her third ITF J300 final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 2 seed Annika Penickova in an all-USA semifinal, while the unseeded Johnston advanced to his first J300 final with a 6-0, 7-6(3) win over No. 6 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil.

Johnston will face qualifier Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria, who avenged his 2022 Eddie Herr 14s quarterfinal loss to Keaton Hance, the No. 7 seed, in a semifinal even closer than that one, with Ivanov earning a 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 6-3 win today. Johnston and Ivanov were set to play last week in the quarterfinals of the J300 in Paraguay, but Ivanov retired down 1-0 in the first set.

Johnston won his ninth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with partner Jacob Olar. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Hance and Jack Kennedy 7-5, 6-4 in the final, and did not drop a set in the tournament.

The top seeds in the girls doubles also lost to an unseeded team, with Sol Ailin Larraya Giudi of Argentina and Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva of Brazil beating No. 1 seed Katiylyn Rolls and Frodin 4-6, 6-1, 12-10 in the final. 

Frodin's opponent in the singles final is unseeded Laima Vladson of Lithuania, who defeated No. 3 seed Luna Maria Cinalli of Argentina 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(8).  The 17-year-old Vladson, who also beat Cinalli in a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals on her way to the title at last week's J300 in Paraguay, had never advanced past the quarterfinals of a J300 until last week.

The unseasonable winter weather in Texas persisted today, with no play in the first round of qualifying at the WTA 250 in Austin and no play at all, for the second straight day, at the USTA Pro Circuit W50 in Spring. 

The  four remaining Spring second round matches, as well as the quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled to be played Sunday, with the weather forecast better (although not great); I assume there will be some short scoring, probably a match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set, for the quarterfinals and semifinals, with the final held over until Monday, but that is just speculation on my part. 

At the other USTA Pro Circuit tournament this week, a men's $15,000 event in Naples Florida, No. 7 seed  Felix Corwin has advanced to the final. The former University of Minnesota standout defeated former Ohio State All-American Cannon Kingsley, the No. 6 seed, 7-6(3), 6-1 in today's semifinals. Corwin will face qualifier Daniel Paty of the Czech Republic, who beat qualifier Victor Lilov 6-0, 5-7, 6-0.

Paty won the doubles title today, with partner Joao Vitor Goncalves Ceolin of Brazil, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds Jamie Vance and Tennyson Whiting(BYU) 2-6, 6-3, 11-9. 

Seventeen-year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia became the youngest WTA 1000 winner (that level dates back to 2009) with her title today in Dubai. The 2023 Australian Open girls finalist, who reached No. 1 in the ITF junior rankings for one week that year, defeated Clara Tauson of Denmark 7-6(1), 6-1. Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic won the doubles title in Dubai.

The British pair of Lloyd Glasspool, who won the NCAA doubles title while at Texas in 2015, and Julian Cash, a former standout at Mississippi State and Oklahoma State, won their third ATP title today in Doha, beating two other former collegiate stars from Great Britain: Neal Skupski(LSU) and Joe Salisbury(Memphis). Glasspool and Cash, who have been playing together for six months, defeated Skupski and Salisbury 6-3, 6-2 in the final. For more on the Glasspool and Cash title run, see this article from the ATP website.

2024 Wimbledon boys champion Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway has reached his first ATP Challenger final at the 75 tournament in Glasgow Scotland. The 18-year-old Budkov Kjaer, who is into the ATP Top 350 with this run, will play, improbably, another one of the three Norwegians in the ATP Top 1000, 27-year-old Viktor Durasovic. 

Former USC All-American Brandon Holt is into his fourth Challenger final after winning his first Challenger title last month in Thailand. The sixth-seeded Holt, competing at the 100 tournament in Pune India, will face unseeded Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic for the title. Holt is now up to a career-high 144 in the ATP rankings.

Two former Kalamazoo 16s champions are through to the finals of $15Ks, with 2018 champion Martin Damm, returning from another injury suffered last fall and winter, is through to the final in Egypt. The No. 3 seed, Damm will play No. 7 seed Alexandr Binda of Italy for the title.

Darwin Blanch, the 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion, who is still just 17, advanced to the final in Spain, where the unseeded left-hander will play former Florida All-American Oliver Crawford of Great Britain, the No. 2 seed. 

My ITA Men's D-I Team Indoor Recap, All-Tournament Team Announced; Four Americans Reach Semifinals at ITF J300 in Brazil; Three Americans Advance to Naples $15K Semifinals; Cold Weather Cancels Play Friday at W50 in Texas

If you didn't follow my daily coverage of the ITA Men's Team Indoor Championships from Dallas, you can catch up with just one article in my recap of the tournament, published today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Although I still am no fan of no-ad, I have missed covering college tennis in person, so I am grateful for all that SMU men's head coach Grant Chen did to convince me to come to Dallas for the event, which was an unqualified success. I am planning a TRN article about the Electronic Line Calling system that was in use during the Division I Women's and Men's Team Indoor Championships for next Friday, and I will be joining John Parsons on his No-Ad, No-Problem podcast this weekend to offer my impressions of the tournament in more detail.

We'll be talking about the All-Tournament Team, which was released today by the ITA. It's unusual that the Most Outstanding Player isn't on the All-Tournament Team at his position, but Wake Forest graduate student Stefan Dostanic's performance in the final set that decided the championship had to be recognized, so I have no argument with that anomaly.

ITA Men's Division I Team Indoor Championships All-Tournament Team:

Singles:

1. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

2. Pedro Vives, TCU

3. Lui Maxted, TCU

4. Ioannis Xilas, Wake Forest

5. Cooper Woestendick, TCU

6. Luca Pow, Wake Forest

Doubles:

1. DK Suresh and Stefan Dostanic, Wake Forest

2. Samir Banerjee and Alexander Razeghi, Stanford

3. Ioannis Xilas and Franco Capalbo, Wake Forest

Most Outstanding Player: Stefan Dostanic, Wake Forest

All four Americans who reached Friday's quarterfinals at the ITF J300 in Porto Alegre have advanced to the semifinals, with No. 4 seed Thea Frodin and No. 2 seed Annika Penickova playing Saturday for a spot in the final.

Frodin defeated unseeded Alyssa James of Jamaica 6-2, 6-2, while Penickova beat No. 7 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 7-6(3), 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

The US boys will have to win one more match before they play each other, with unseeded Noah Johnston defeating No. 5 seed Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania 7-5, 7-5 and No. 7 seed Keaton Hance defeating Dante Pagani of Argentian 6-2, 6-1.

Johnston's opponent in the semifinals will be 15-year-old Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, the No. 6 seed, who beat Ian Vertberger of Argentina 6-0, 6-0.  

Hance will face qualifier Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria, who beat unseeded Ryo Tabata of Japan 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3).  Ivanov and Hance played in the quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr 14s back in 2022, with Hance winning a three-hour and 30-minute contest 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3. Hance went on to reach the final; Ivanov went on to beat Jack Kennedy in the final of the Junior Orange Bowl 14s two weeks later.

Hance and Johnston will face off for a title regardless of their singles results Saturday, with Hance and Kennedy, the top seeds, play unseeded Jacob Olar and Johnston in the doubles final.

Olar and Johnston defeated Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield 6-4, 7-5; Kennedy and Hance advanced via walkover from Alexandrescou and Tabata.

Frodin will play for the girls doubles title Saturday, with Kaitlyn Rolls, after the top seeds defeated unseeded Welles Newman and Lucy Oyebog Atang 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 in the semifinals today. Frodin and Rolls will play unseeded Larraya Guidi and Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva of Brazil, who defeated the unseeded team of James and Capucine Jauffret 6-2, 6-1.

The success rate was the same for Americans at the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, with all three quarterfinalists advancing to Saturday's semifinals.

Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) had received a walkover from top seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan, so he didn't play today, but the No. 6 seed will take on No. 7 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) for a place in the final. Corwin defeated unseeded Taha Baadi(Wake Forest, Kentucky) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Victor Lilov defeated Argentina's Ignacio Monzon 6-4, 6-0, and will face fellow qualifier Daniel Paty of the Czech Republic in the semifinals. Paty beat No. 2 seed Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy 6-3, 6-3.

The cold weather in Southern Texas continued to cause problems at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W50 in Spring Texas and the forecast is not promising for Saturday either.

No matches were played Friday, although Iva Jovic did advance to the quarterfinals via a walkover from Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia, last year's Australian Open and Wimbledon girls champion. Temperatures were in the 30s most of the day, the entire doubles tournament was cancelled yesterday, and there is a chance of "mixed winter precipitation" is in the forecast for Saturday. Four second round matches still need to be completed, along with the quarterfinals, with the assumption that the semifinals and finals will take place on Sunday.  The weather looks much better for next week, when the main draw of the WTA 250 in Austin Texas gets underway, but this weekend's qualifying there will also feel the impact of this persistent cold, unless they move those matches to an indoor facility.

Wake Forest Men Take Over No. 1 Spot in ITA Rankings; Cold Disrupts W50 in Spring Texas; Three Americans Reach Quarterfinals at Naples $15K; Penickova, Frodin, Hance and Johnston Advance to ITF J300 Quarterfinals in Brazil

The ITA's first computerized team rankings for the 2025 dual match season were released today, and is often the case, the Team Indoor Champions are in the top spot.

The Georgia women had been at No. 1 prior to their title in Evanston last week, but the Wake Forest men have supplanted TCU at No. 1, which is not a given with how the ranking algorithm works.

The Texas A&M women, who reached the Indoor final, are way down at 6, with semifinalist Oklahoma now at 16. I usually post only the Top 10, but with the first computer rankings, as with the first coaches poll, I'm listing the top 25.  The full rankings, which go to 75 now that the computer is involved, can be found by clicking on the heading.

Women's D-I Team Top 25
1. Georgia*
2. Virginia*
3. North Carolina*
4. Auburn*
5. Michigan*
6. Texas A&M*
7. Tennessee*
8. LSU*
9. Ohio State
10. Duke
11. Texas*
12. Oklahoma*
13. Texas Tech
14. NC State
15. Baylor
16. Oklahoma State*
17. Wisconsin
18. Southern California
19. Clemson
20. Central Florida
21. Alabama
22. Notre Dame
23. UCLA*
24. Yale
25. Pepperdine*

*Participated in women's Team Indoor

The women's top eight all played the Indoor, while three WTI teams--Stanford[34], Illinois[41] and Northwestern[47]--are outside the Top 25.

Men's D-I Team Top 25

1. Wake Forest*

2. TCU*

3. Ohio State*

4. Texas*

5. Virginia*

6. Stanford*

7. San Diego*

8. Columbia*

9. Texas A&M*

10. NC State*

11. Central Florida*

12. Michigan*

13. Harvard

14. Arizona

15. Duke*

16. Tennessee

17. Cal

18. Baylor*

19. Alabama

20. Illinois

21. Pepperdine

22. Oklahoma

23. Miami

24. Princeton

25. Southern California

*Participated in men's Team Indoor

The top 12 men's teams played the Indoor, with two teams participating in the Indoor, No. 28 Kentucky and No. 52 SMU, outside the Top 25.

The individual rankings were also updated, with NCAA fall champions Michael Zheng of Columbia and Dasha Vidmanova of Georgia retaining the No. 1 positions.

Men's D-I Singles Top 10

1. Michael Zheng, Columbia

2. Pedro Vives, TCU

3. Colton Smith, Arizona

4. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

5. Carl Emil Overbeck, Cal

6. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

7. Timo Legout, Texas

8. Jay Friend, Arizona

9. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

10. Stefan Dostanic, Wake Forest

Men's D-I Doubles Top 5

1. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego

2. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

3. Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow, Wake Forest

4. Stefan Dostanic and DK Suresh, Wake Forest

5. Youcef Rihane and Alex Bulte, Florida State

Women's D-I Singles Top 10

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. DJ Bennett, Auburn

3. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

4. Julie Fliegner, Michigan

5. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

6. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

7. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

8. Irina Balus, Duke

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

10. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

Women's D-I Doubles Top 5:

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

3. Susanna Maltby and Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina

4. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA

5. Avelina Sayfetdinova and Mariia Hlahola, Texas Tech

Texas A&M senior Mary Stoiana, No. 3 in the latest rankings, has split her time between college and USTA Pro Circuit events so far this year. This week Stoiana is competing at the W50 in Spring Texas, at the Giammalva Racquet Club, the site of fall Pan American Closed ITF J300 the past two years. While we had fantastic weather in Spring (outside Houston) last October, the same cannot be said of this week's tournament, with the severe cold snap extending to southern Texas. (The wild chill was below zero when we left Dallas Wednesday). Despite all that Stoiana has posted her best professional result of the year, reaching the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-2 win over qualifier Madison Sieg(USC), a 2023 NCAA singles semifinalist. Stoiana had defeated No. 3 seed Selena Janicijevic of France 6-4, 6-0 in the first round.

Stephanie Myles posted an update on the weather issues at her Open Court website yesterday, but despite more sunshine today,  temperatures were barely 40 degrees F (Myles, a Canadian, uses the Celsius scale in her article) and only three of the five second round matches were played, after four retirements in the first round.

Top seed Taylah Preston of Australia will face Carol Zhao(Stanford) of Canada in the quarterfinals; Stoiana awaits the winner of the second round match between Whitney Osuigwe and Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia.  No. 2 seed Iva Jovic is playing 2024's two-time junior slam champion Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia, who is using one of her ITF junior accelerator program entries, in a second round match, with the quarterfinals also scheduled for Friday. 

The weather is much more pleasant for the men playing the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, the second consecutive week the Emilio Sanchez Academy has hosted a $15K for men.

Three Americans are through to the quarterfinals: No. 6 seed Cannon Kingsley, No. 7 seed Felix Corwin and qualifier Victor Lilov.  Kingsley received a walkover from top seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan, so he will not play Friday, awaiting the winner of the match between Corwin and unseeded Taha Baadi(Wake Forest, Kentucky) of Canada. Lilov will face unseeded Ignacio Monzon of Argentina in the quarterfinals.

Sixteen-year-old Jack Secord picked up his first ATP point yesterday in Naples, beating No. 3 seed Peter Bertrand(Georgia, South Florida) 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4. Secord lost in the first round of qualifying in the two $15Ks in Florida earlier this month, but received a main draw entry this week via the ITF's junior reserved program.

The J300 warmup event to next week's J500 Banana Bowl in Brazil in Porto Alegre has reached the quarterfinal round, with two US boys and two US girls advancing.

Top seed Jack Kennedy lost today, to Ian Vertberger of Argentina, but No. 7 seed Keaton Hance and unseeded Noah Johnston both picked up straight-sets wins over Brazilian wild cards.  Hance defeated Vicente Freda 6-1, 6-4 and Johnston beat Leonardo Storck Franca 7-6(3), 6-4. 

Girls top seed Kaitlyn Rolls lost in the first round to Laima Vladson of Lithuania, but No. 2 seed Annika Pennickova and No. 4 seed Thea Frodin completed straight-sets victories today. Penickova defeated Ligaya Murray 6-3, 6-1 and Frodin beat Valentina Mediorreal Arias of Colombia 7-5, 6-4. If both win Friday, the Americans will meet in the semifinals.