Rodriguez Qualifies for W100 in Macon; Ilagan Beats No. 2 Seed Cassone at Lincoln Challenger; Bakersfield W35 Disrupted by Rain; Mandlik Leads After Week One of USTA Australian Open Women's Wild Card Challenge

Three USTA Pro Circuit events taking place this week, two  one of them a 100-point event, with the women outdoors in Macon Georgia and the men indoors in Lincoln Nebraska.

The qualifying for the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln concluded yesterday, with University of Florida junior Adhithya Ganesan, former University of Michigan All-American Andrew Fenty, former Ohio State All-American Cannon Kingsley and former UCLA All-American Keegan Smith the Americans advancing to the main draw.

Only Smith won his first round match today, beating wild card Jeri Lassila of Finland, a freshman at the University of Nebraska, 6-3, 6-2.  Kingsley was beaten by University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain 6-3, 7-5; Fenty lost to Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-3, 6-3 and Ganesan fell in a tough one to Stanford senior Samir Banerjee 7-5, 3-6. 7-6(4). With Ganesan serving at 4-5 in the tiebreaker, Banerjee's shot landed near/on the baseline, with Ganesan trying to half-volley it when the baseline judge called it out. The chair umpire immediately overruled the line judge and awarded the point to Banerjee, ruling that the call came after Ganesan had struck the ball (which did not clear the net) and therefore it could not have disrupted him. Ganesan made an error early in the next point and Banerjee had survived.

Alfredo Perez, a former All-American at Florida, defeated No. 6 seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4 and Andre Ilagan, a former All-American at Hawaii, defeated No. 2 seed Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. Cassone has struggled since June, going 6-9 in Challengers, with just one quarterfinal appearance. In contrast, Ilagan is 10-5 in Challengers since the beginning of September and has reached two semifinals, boosting his ATP live ranking to a career-high 354. He will play Andres Martin in the second round.

Brandon Holt, the former USC All-American, is the top seed, and is scheduled to play his first round match against 19-year-old Aryan Shah of India later tonight. 

At the W100 in Macon, three Americans qualified for the main draw today, including University of Georgia recruit Ava Rodriguez, who defeated two Georgia players to qualify. She beat No. 6 seed Anasatasiia Gureva of Russia, a freshman, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round and No. 14 seed Sofia Rojas, a senior 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in today's final round of qualifying.

Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State) and Jessica Failla(USC, Pepperdine) are the other two qualifiers from the USA.

Two of the wild cards met today in one of the four first round matches, with Redding champion Madison Brengle defeating 2024 fall NCAA singles finalist DJ Bennett, a senior at Auburn, 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-3.  The other two wild cards are Ellie Schoppe(Furman, Florida State) and Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech).

The top seed in Macon is Renata Zarazua of Mexico, with 2024 NCAA fall singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) the No. 2 seed. Vidmanova won her first round match today over Olivia Lincer(UCF, Oklahoma State) of Poland 6-3, 6-0. No. 3 seed Louisa Chirico lost to former NC State All-American Anna Rogers 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, with Rogers to face Brengle next.

Storms in California pushed back today's schedule at the W35 in Bakersfield, with one qualifying match not yet complete and the four first round matches on the schedule still in progress tonight.

Americans qualifying for the main draw are UCLA senior Anne Christine Lukemeyer, UCLA sophomore Kate Fakih, UCLA junior Ahmani Guichard, Duke recruit Aspen Schuman and USC senior Emma Charney.

Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) is the top seed, with Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland the No. 2 seed. Fifteen-year-old Kristina Liutova, the ITF J300 College Park champion, is playing No. 3 seed Lucciana Perez of Peru, a junior at Texas A&M, in the first round tonight.

Wild cards were awarded to Alexis Nguyen, a UNC recruit, Katherine Hui, who did not return to Stanford for her junior year, Ohio State junior Luciana Perry and former Pepperdine All-American Savannah Broadus. 

The first standings in the women's race for the USTA's 2026 Australian Open wild card race were released today, with Elli Mandlik opening up a big lead with her title last week at the W100 in Edmond Oklahoma. 

The top 5 after week 1, with the three best results over the five weeks ending November 9th counting toward a player's total: 

1. Elizabeth Mandlik (211) -- 100
2. Lea Ma (349) -- 23
3. Madison Brengle (477) -- 21
4. Julieta Pareja (339) -- 17
5. Akasha Urhobo (412) -- 14

The players current rankings are in parentheses. 

The men's race begins this week, with the best four results in their five-week window counting toward the total.