Zink and Spizzirri to Meet in Cleveland Challenger Semifinals; Qualifier Brace Advances at W75 in Rome; Top Seed McCollum, Qualifier Chen Win San Diego J60 Titles; Ohio State Men Defeat Virginia, Texas Women Win Another Thriller

Eliot Spizzirri and Tyler Zink go back a long way, with the US Open boys doubles title they won in 2019 the highlight of both their junior careers. Although they lost as a doubles pair this week at the Challenger 75 in Cleveland, to 2024 NCAA spring doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy(Ohio State), they will meet Saturday in the singles semifinals, after winning nail-biters today in the quarterfinals.

No. 6 seed Spizzirri, who completed his eligibility at Texas last spring, defeated No. 4 seed James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4). The 23-year-old from Connecticut was two points from defeat when Trotter served for the match at 5-4 30-all in the third set, but Spizzirri won the next two points to pull even. In the tiebreaker, Spizzirri led 5-1 and 6-2, and won it on his third match point. Trotter had 23 aces and no double faults, but it wasn't enough for the 2023 NCAA doubles champion.

Zink, who completed his collegiate career at Oklahoma State last May after starting it at Georgia, saved a match point serving at 5-6 in the second set of his 6-7(4), 7-6(1), 7-5 win over Murphy Cassone(Arizona State). Zink, who turned 24 yesterday, is playing in just his second Challenger main draw, while Spizzirri  is now in his 18th, primarily due to Spizzirri qualifying for the ATP's Accelerator program in 2023 (he finished the year No. 1 in the ITA rankings his last two seasons). Zink, who was 76 in 2023 and 26 in 2024, had to build his ranking to get to the Challenger level in the USTA Pro Circuit last year, going 24-8 with one title.

The two haven't played on the Pro Circuit, but back in 2018, they met in the final of an ITF J300 in Mexico, with Spizzirri winning 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-0. 

No. 8 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) beat Kentucky freshman Antoine Ghibaudo of France 7-6(11) 4-6, 6-3  last night to reach the quarterfinals, then advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stefan Kozlov this evening. Wolf will play Arizona senior Colton Smith, who defeated No. 7 seed Karue Sell(UCLA) of Brazil 7-6(4), 6-2 in the final quarterfinal of the day.

The semifinals of the W75 in Rome Georgia will feature two teenaged qualifiers from Canada, with 18-year-old Victoria Mboko and 19-year-old Cadence Brace meeting for a spot in the final. Mboko blanked 19-year-old Kayla Cross(LSU) 6-0, 6-0, while Brace, like Cross a freshman at LSU, defeated qualifier Lisa Zaar(Pepperdine) of Sweden 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2).

No. 5 seed Hanna Chang beat No. 2 seed Emiliana Arango of Colombia 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to set up a meeting with unseeded Eva Vedder of the Netherlands, who defeated Whitney Osuigwe 6-3, 6-4.

Top seeds Osuigwe and Vedder will play in the doubles final Saturday against unseeded Sophie Chang and Angela Kulikov(USC).

The ITF J60 in San Diego concluded today, with top seed Ford McCollum and qualifier Yilin Chen taking the singles titles. McCollum, 16,  defeated unseeded Justin Riley Anson 6-3, 6-4 for his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title.

Chen, a 15-year-old from San Diego, won eight matches this week, including three in qualifying, with two of them going down to match tiebreakers. She defeated unseeded Nicole Weng, the USTA 16s Nationals finalist, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4). Weng won the doubles title, with Canadian Elianna Kook, when opponents Elicia Lin and Amy Lu retired trailing 1-0 in the first set of the final. 

The boys doubles title also went to the singles finalist, with unseeded Anson and Tyler Lee defeating unseeded Andre Alcantara and Tiger Semler 6-1, 6-2.

The Division I college tennis schedule is packed with good matches this weekend, as the top teams meet in non-conference play in advance of next month's National Team Indoor Championships.  

In a Top 5 matchup tonight in Charlottesville, No. 3 Ohio State defeated No. 5 Virginia 5-2, with the Buckeyes taking the doubles point and getting wins from Alexander Bernard at 3, Jack Anthrop at 4 and Christopher Li at 6. Bernard got the fourth point for Ohio State with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Mans Dahlberg. Dylan Dietrich defeated Aidan Kim at line 1 to give Virginia a point before the clinch; US Open boys champion Rafael Jodar, playing line 2, defeated Will Jansen 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 for a post-clinch point for UVA, with Bryce Nakashima finishing off a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over Stiles Brockett at line 5 for Ohio State's fifth point.

Virginia was without Keegan Rice and James Hopper, both of whom were ill, and blue chip freshman Roy Horovitz has yet to play for the Cavaliers as he gets back into shape after a long injury layoff. It doesn't get any easier for them on Sunday, with No. 1 Texas coming to town.

The Texas women advanced to the women's Team Indoor last weekend with a 4-3 victory over Baylor that went to a third-set tiebreaker; freshman Eszter Meri was the hero of that one at line 2. The No. 11 Longhorns took that route again tonight against No. 19 North Carolina State; this time it was veteran Vivian Ovrootsky who came through, beating Jasmine Conway 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) at line 6 to clinch the 4-3 victory.