Ekstrand Advances to W35 Final in Mississippi; Willwerth, Satterfield Receive Qualifying Wild Cards for Sarasota Challenger; Brooksby Reaches Final as Rain Disrupts Houston ATP 250; Pareja Makes Semis in Bogota WTA 250; Ole Miss's Beyers Announces Retirement

Wild card Monika Ekstrand has advanced to the final of this week's women's USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Jackson Mississippi. The 17-year-old Stanford recruit has now beaten three seeds after defeating No. 7 seed Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in today's semifinals. Ekstrand will play Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico for the title after the No. 2 seed defeated No. 3 seed Lea Ma(Georgia) 7-6(2), 6-2 in the semifinals. Sanchez has reached the final three weeks in a row now, with back-to-back appearances in the championship match at the W50s in the Dominican Republic last month.

The doubles title went to top seeds Herrero Linana and Maribella Zamarripa(Texas), who defeated No. 3 seeds Diletta Cherubini of Italy and Tori Osuigwe 6-2, 6-0 in the final.

The first of three US ATP Challenger 75s on green clay begins with qualifying for the Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open Sunday. Australian Open boys finalist Ben Willwerth received a qualifying wild card, as did ITF J300 San Diego champion Jack Satterfield, who trains in nearby Tampa. The third qualifying wild card was awarded to Will Grant(Florida). 

Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) is the top seed in the main draw, with Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Garrett Johns(Duke), Martin Damm and Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State). Charlie Robertson, the Wake Forest freshman, received his spot in the main draw via the ATP/ITF junior accelerator program, which provides eight such entries to those who finish in the Top 10 of the ITF junior rankings.

Sixteen-year-old qualifier Julieta Pareja advanced to the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Bogota Colombia with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Leolia Jeanjean(Baylor, Arkansas, Lynn) of France last night, but did not get on the court for her semifinal match with qualifier Kataryzna Kawa of Poland until 8 p.m. due to rain. Kawa ended up winning it 7-5, 6-2 and will face No. 2 seed and defending champion Camila Osorio of Colombia, who posted a 6-4, 7-5 semifinal win over Julia Riera of Argentina before the rain arrived.

Top seed Jessica Pegula and unseeded Sofia Kenin will play for the WTA 500 title in Charleston South Carolina Sunday after Pegula defeated No. 9 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 and Kenin received a retirement from Amanda Anisimova with Kenin leading 5-2 in the first set. 

The ATP 250 in Houston was plagued by rain today, with lightning and rain delays interrupting the first semifinal between qualifier Jenson Brooksby and top seed Tommy Paul, with Brooksby leading 7-6(5), 2-3 when play was stopped for three hours. Brooksby led 5-2 in the opening set, then trailed 5-2 in the tiebreaker, but managed to secure the first set. After play resumed tonight, Paul took the second set 6-3, then broke Brooksby at 5-all in the third but could not serve it out. In the tiebreaker Paul had a match point with Brooksby serving at 5-6, but missed a second serve return, and Brooksby made first serve and controlled that point to earn a match point of his own. Paul missed his first serve and Brooksby crushed a return winner on his second to advance to his first ATP final since the Atlanta 250 in 2022. It's the second 7-6 in the third win for Brooksby this week, as he defeated No. 3 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) in the second round. He saved three match points in that tiebreaker, while also saving a match point in his first round qualifying match against Gomez.

He will play the winner of the semifinal between No. 2 seed Frances Tiafoe, who beat No. 5 seed Alex Michelsen 7-5, 6-1 last night, and No. 4 seed Brandon Nakashima. Nakashima and Brooksby have a long history in the juniors, with Brooksby dominating the head-to-head which includes the Kalamazoo 18s final in 2018.

In college tennis news, Ole Miss announced Friday that Mark Beyers, who has led the women's program in Oxford for 24 seasons, will retire at the end of this season. There will be no search for a replacement, with Grant Roberts, an assistant to Beyers for the past eight years, taking the head coaching position.