Urhobo Ends Frodin's Run to Earn W35 Title in Arcadia; Wolf Comeback Begins with M15 Title in Naples; Stearns Wins ATX Open; CMS Beats Chicago to Claim Women's D-III Indoor Title

Nineteen-year-old Akasha Urhobo won her second W35 title in as many months, but in keeping with her pattern this week, she needed three sets to get past 17-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin in today's final in Arcadia California 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Urhobo, who made two W35 titles at the end of last season and won the W35 in Westin Florida in January, will be close to her career-high WTA ranking of 282 when the points are added and can earn more beginning tomorrow at the BNP Paribas Open women's qualifying. After receiving a wild card, Urhobo will face No. 8 seed Kaja Juvan of Slovenia in the first round of qualifying.

Frodin more than doubled her WTA points total of 18, and when the 23 points she earned this week are added, the Australian Open girls finalist should move into the Top 800 of the WTA rankings.

JJ Wolf, out for over a year with injury, could not have asked for a better week when returning to competitive tennis. Playing in an M15 tournament for the first time since 2017, when he lost in the first round of the only two M15s he ever competed in on clay in Peru, the 27-year-old from Ohio won the title as a wild card in Naples Florida. The former Ohio State All-American, who reached an ATP ranking of 39 in 2023, didn't drop a set all week, defeating No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Although Wolf is eligible to use a protected ranking to get into bigger tournaments, I'm sure getting competitive matches was the first priority after such a long layoff and recovery. With no USTA Pro Circuit events the next two weeks due to the BNP Paribas Open, the next possible tournament in the US would be the ATP Challenger 175 beginning March 10th in Phoenix. 

Peyton Stearns is back in the WTA Top 50 after the 2022 NCAA singles and team champion while a sophomore at Texas claimed her second WTA title today at the 250 ATX Open in Austin. The fourth-seeded 24-year-old from Ohio, playing in her third WTA final, defeated unseeded Taylor Townsend, playing in her first WTA final, 7-6(8), 7-5 this afternoon. 

Stearns, who won her first WTA title at a 250 on clay in Morocco in May 2024, is up to 48 in the live rankings.

Townsend didn't leave Austin without a winner's trophy however. She and Storm Hunter of Australia won the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Eudice Chong(Wesleyan) of Hong Kong and En-Shou Liang of Taiwan 6-3, 6-4 in the final played after the singles championship match.

Frances Tiafoe reached the final of the ATP 500 in Acapulco, with the No. 8 seed falling to No. 5 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy 7-6(4), 6-4 in last night's championship match.

The men's qualifying begins Monday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, with the draw available here.

No. 5 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the ITA Women's Division III Team Indoor Championships title today in Tennessee, beating No. 2 seed Chicago 4-1 to avenge their loss to the Maroon in the final last year. Chicago won the doubles point, but CMS got straight-sets wins in singles at lines 2, 4, 5 to take a 3-1 lead. That score didn't budge for an hour, with the other three matches going three sets, but CMS's Lindsay Eisenman, the 2025 NCAA D-III champion, earned the win at line 1 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 over Chicago's Sarena Biria to clinch the title. CMS and Chicago have kept each other from defending the title four years in a row now.

For more on today's final, see this article from the CMS website.