USTA Announces Annual Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge; Wild Cards Find Success at BNP Paribas Open; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Update; West Florida Men, Midwestern State Women Top Division II Rankings

The USTA announced its Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, which is now in its 12th year. Unlike the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge last fall, the men's and women's time frames are the same: March 31-May 4.  

The player with the best three results, determined by the WTA/ATP rankings points won from those five weeks, on any professional clay court tournament above the W35 and M25 level, will receive a main draw wild card into Roland Garros 2025.

The women's events in the United States outnumber the men's by a substantial number; the WTA 500 in Charleston in Week 1, a 125 in Charleston in Week 2, a W75 in Charlottesville in Week 4 and a W100 in Bonita Springs in Week 5 are the biggest events, and there are also 4 W35s and a W50 during those five weeks.

In addition to the ATP 250 Men's Clay Courts in Houston in Week 1, there are just three clay events for men in the United States; the ATP Challenger 75s in Sarasota, Tallahassee and Savannah in Weeks 2, 3 and 4.. Of course, there are many, many Challengers on clay in Europe during that stretch and, closer to home for the Americans, in South America and Mexico too.

The list of the previous Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge recipients and how they fared in Paris that year:

Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge Winners:

 

2024: Sachia Vickery (1R); Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (1R)

2023: Emma Navarro (2R); Patrick Kypson (1R)

2022: Katie Volynets (2R); Michael Mmoh (1R) 

2019: Lauren Davis (2R); Tommy Paul (1R)

2018: Taylor Townsend (2R); Noah Rubin (1R) 
2017: Amanda Anisimova (1R); Tennys Sandgren (1R) 
2016: Taylor Townsend (2R); Bjorn Fratangelo (2R) 
2015: Louisa Chirico (1R); Frances Tiafoe (1R)
2014: Taylor Townsend (3R); Robby Ginepri (1R)
2013: Shelby Rogers (2R); Alex Kuznetsov (1R)
2012: Melanie Oudin (2R); Brian Baker (2R)

Wild cards have had success in the first two days of the BNP Paribas Open, six of 12 advancing to the second round, with two women's wild cards yet to play.

The men's wild cards advancing are Tristan Boyer(Stanford), who beat Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) yesterday, and today's winners Brazil's Joao Fonseca and Mackenzie McDonald. Next Gen Finals champion Fonseca defeated Jake Fearnley(TCU) of Great Britain 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, winning the final five games of the match. McDonald, who reached last week's San Diego Challenger 100 final and was the last wild card announced, beat Acapulco finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 for his first ATP Masters 1000 win since October of 2023.

Boyer will play No. 10 seed Tommy Paul Friday.

Robin Montgomery, the 2021 US Open girls champion, came back last night to post a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over qualifier Jule Niemeier of Germany; Caroline Dolehide, the last women's wild card announced, defeated Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia 6-2, 7-6(3) Wednesday. Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, returning to competition after the birth of her daughter last April, cruised past Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-1, 6-1 today.  Montgomery will play No. 18 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine Friday, Dolehide will face No. 11 seed Paula Badosa of Spain. 

Iva Jovic and Alycia Parks are scheduled for late matches this evening in Indian Wells, with Jovic facing Julia Grabher of Austria and Parks taking on Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

February's UTR Pro Tennis Tour results from tournaments in the United States are below.  January's results can be found here.

WOMEN:

Feb 3 Newport Beach CA

Eryn Cayetano d. Veronika Miroshnichenko 2-6, 6-2, 6-3

Feb 10 Houston TX

Christasha McNeil v Elena Mireles unf.

Feb 17 Boca Raton FL

Ema Burgic d. Ameia Sorey 6-3, 6-2

Feb 17 Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Tianmei Wang 6-4, 6-0

Feb 23 Atlanta GA

Robin Anderson d. Aspen Schuman 6-1, 6-2

MEN:

January 27 Newport Beach CA

Maciej Rajski d. Antreas Djakouris

Feb 3 Berkeley CA

Theo Dean d. Quinn Vandecasteele 6-2, 5-7, 6-1

Feb 10 Houston TX

Raphael Perot d. Ilgiz Valiev 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

Feb 10 Stockton CA

Tiago Silva d. Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski 5-7, 6-3, 6-0

Feb 24 Lincoln NE

Leonardo Lopez Linquet d. Anton Shepp 7-6(5), 6-2

Feb 24 Boca Raton FL

Ilya Snitari d. Petr Nesterov 7-6(1), 6-2

Feb 24 Newport Beach CA

Maciej Rajski d. Alexis Gurmendi 7-6(6), 6-3

The ITA Division II rankings were released yesterday, with the Top 10 below. West Florida won the Men's Indoor, so their No. 1 ranking makes sense, but Barry, who won the Women's Indoor and is undefeated, is at No. 3. Midwestern State, who Barry defeated 4-0 in the Women's Indoor final, is No. 1. Click on the headings to see the other 40 ranked teams.

Top 10 Division II Men's Team Rankings:

1. West Florida

2. Flagler

3. Washburn

4. Charleston(WVa)

5. UT Tyler

6. Valdosta State

7. Lubbock Christian

8. Harding

9. Midwestern State

10. Azusa Pacific

Top 10 Division II Women's Team Rankings:

1. Midwestern State

2. North Georgia

3. Barry

4. Embry-Riddle

5. Flagler

6. Nebraska-Kearney

7. Lubbock Christian

8. Washburn

9. Azusa Pacific

10. Grand Valley State

New individual rankings were also released yesterday, with men's singles here; women's singles here; men's doubles here and women's doubles here.