Basavareddy and Urhobo Lead USTA Roland Garros WC Race with One Week Remaining; Frodin Qualifies for W100 in Bonita Springs; Top Juniors Competing in M15 Orange Park and W35 in Boca Raton; Baptiste Beats Sabalenka; Illinois' Clark Retires

The USTA released the latest rankings in its annual Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, with Savannah Challenger champion Nishesh Basavareddy overtaking Emilio Nava and W100 Charlottesville semifinalist Akasha Urhobo maintaining her lead.

I had thought Basavareddy would still be a few points short of catching Nava, but I had double counted his points from reaching the third round of Madrid. Basavareddy withdrew from the Challenger 100 in Austria this week after winning in Savannah; Nava is playing the Challenger 175 in Italy, with his first round match tomorrow. The USTA says that Nava will pass Basavareddy by making the quarterfinals this week.

With three of the contenders for the women's wild card competing this week at the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida--Urhobo, Kayla Day and Elvina Kalieva--how that draw plays out will matter. Kalieva and Urhobo could play in the second round.

The top of the standings after Week 4 of 5: 

 

Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Akasha Urhobo (239) -- 131

T2. Kayla Day (152) -- 81
T2. Sloane Stephens (396) -- 81
4. Whitney Osuigwe (180) -- 79
5. Elvina Kalieva (134) -- 75

6. Varvara Lepchenko (157) -- 69

 

Men's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Nishesh Basavareddy (177) -- 112
2. Emilio Nava (116) -- 103
3. Jack Kennedy (582) -- 66
T4. Stefan Dostanic (268) -- 50
T4. Martin Damm (126) -- 50

Urhobo's first round opponent will be 17-year-old Thea Frodin, who qualified for the main draw today with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 2 qualifying seed Gabriela Lee(Texas Tech) of Romania. Frodin and Urhobo have played three times since the end of February with Urhobo winning all three matches. Urhobo is playing in her fifth consecutive week.

Other American qualifiers in Bonita Springs are Haley Giavara(Cal), Madison Brengle, Eryn Cayetano(USC), Adriana Reami(NC State) and Madison Sieg(USC).

Wild cards were awarded to Lea Ma(Georgia), Victoria Hu (Princeton), 16-year-old Annika Penickova and June Bjork(SMU, Florida Gulf Coast) of Sweden. Penickova lost to Maria Carle(Georgia) of Argentina 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round today.

Renata Zarazua of Mexico, the champion last week at the Charlottesville W100, is the top seed, with 2024 NCAA champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) of Czechia the No. 2 seed. Vidmanova won her first round match today over Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico 6-1, 6-3; Anna Rogers(NC State) defeated No. 4 seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2. Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), the No. 6 seed, defeated 37-year-old Olga Govortsova of Belarus, who hadn't played since 2023, 6-1, 6-1.

The second women's USTA Pro Circuit event this week is a W35 in Boca Raton Florida, with five Americans qualifying for the main draw today: 18-year-old Alexis Nguyen, 16-year-old Sarah Ye, Emma Jackson(Duke), Jada Robinson and Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego).

Wild cards were given to Jordyn Hazelitt, 18-year-old University of Illinois signee Shravani Chennamsetty, and last week's finalists at the W15 in Orlando: champion Welles Newman and finalist Janae Preston. Chennamsetty lost to No. 4 seed Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain 6-3, 6-0 in the first round today. 

Julia Riera of Argentina is the top seed and Nguyen's first round opponent, Charlottesville finalist Martina Capurro Taborda (Oklahoma) of Argentina is the No. 2 seed. Last week's Charlotte M35 champion Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) is unseeded and faces 17-year-old Luna Cinalli of Argentina, the ITF junior No. 47, in Wednesday's first round. 

With the southeastern green clay Challenger swing concluding last week in Savannah, the only men's tournament this week is an M15 in Orange Park Florida.

Only two Americans reached the main draw via qualifying: Jake Fellows and Matthew Segura. The three ITF Junior Reserved entries went to Oklahoma freshman Luka Talan Lopatic of Slovenia, M15 Orlando champion Keaton Hance and Gavin Goode.

Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson received entry on their own rankings and Nick Stoot received a wild card. Goode and Johnson will meet in the first round Wednesday, with Johnson holding a 3-1 edge in the head-to-head, with their last meeting in the first round at the Sunrise M15 in February. Johnson won that match in three sets and went on to claim the title. Hance and Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) will play for the second time in an M15, with Colby winning their semifinal meeting in Orlando last November 7-5, 6-4. Antonius will play Evan Bynoe in his first round match Wednesday.

In addition to Stoot, who will face No. 4 seed Kaylan Bigun in the first round, the other three wild cards went to Oren Vasser(William & Mary, Miami), Youssef Kadiri Hassani (Nevada) of Morocco and Kian Vakili(Penn). Kadiri Hassani lost to No. 8 seed Hunter Heck(Illinois) 7-5, 6-4 and Vasser lost to No. 3 seed Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 6-1. 

Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France is the top seed, with Christian Langmo(Miami) the second seed.

At the WTA 1000 in Madrid today, 24-year-old Hailey Baptiste defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) to advance to the semifinals. Baptiste, the No. 30 seed, saved six match points to get her first career Top 5 win. Now up to 24 in the WTA live rankings, Baptiste will face No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the semifinals. For more on her win today, see this article from the WTA website.

The University of Illinois announced today that women's head coach Evan Clark was retiring after leading the program for the past 11 years. It's clear from the announcement that Clark's retirement is his choice, with Illinois AD Josh Whitman saying "Despite my efforts to convince him otherwise, Evan has elected to transition into his next chapter." Clark will stay on until a successor is named.