Second Round of Wimbledon Qualifying Wednesday Features Fifteen Americans; Qualifying Complete at USTA Pro Circuit Rome W35 and Claremont $15Ks; NCAA's Five-Year, Age-Based Eligibility Rule Approved

The first round of Wimbledon women's qualifying concluded this evening in London with nine of the 15 Americans in action advancing to Wednesday's second round. 

Fiona Crawley, 2024 NCAAs

All five of the seeded Americans won, and former North Carolina All-American Fiona Crawley defeated a seed, beating No. 19 Himeno Sakatsume of Japan 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(8). Crawley was down 5-1 in the third set, and saved two match points serving at 2-5, but came all the way back, winning the 10-point tiebreaker to advance.

Both the 2025 Wimbledon junior champions, who receive qualifying wild cards, lost in the first round with Mia Pohankova of Slovakia losing today to Harmony Tan of France 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-1 and Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria falling to Zsombor Piros of Hungary 6-2, 6-2 yesterday.

Overall the US competitors went 15-8 in the first round of qualifying.

Tuesday's first round Wimbledon qualifying results of Americans:
Maria Timofeeva[1](UZB) d. Whitney Osuigwe 6-1, 6-4
Ashlyn Krueger[2] d. Gabriela Knutson(CZE) 7-5, 7-5
Mai Hontama(JPN) d. Akasha Urhobo 7-6(6), 6-3
Fiona Crawley d. Himeno Sakatsume[19](JPN) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(8)
Robin Montgomery d. Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 7-6(1)
Elvina Kalieva[31] d. Ella McDonald[WC](GBR) 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4
Katie Volynets[5] d. Laura Samson(CZE) 7-6(5), 6-1
Anastasia Gasanova(RUS) d. Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(10)
Claire Liu d. Despina Papamichail(GRE) 6-2, 6-1
Mary Stoiana[25] d. Kayla Cross(CAN) 6-3, 6-4
Clervie Ngounoue d. Anna-Lena Friedsam(GER) 6-3, 7-5
Alina Charaeva[22](RUS) d. Elli Mandlik 6-2, 6-4
Kayla Day[32] d. Cadence Brace(CAN) 6-4, 6-3
Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah(FRA) d. Carol Lee 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

Wednesday's second round Wimbledon qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Ashlyn Krueger[2] v Mai Hontama(JPN)

Fiona Crawley v Julia Riera(ARG)

Robin Montgomery v Elvina Kalieva[31]

Katie Volynets[5] v Elizara Yaneva(BUL)

Claire Liu v Kaitlin Quevdo[7](ESP)

Mary Stoiana[25] v Mananchaya Sawangkaew(THA)

Clervie Ngounoue v Polina Kudermetova[11](UZB)

Kayla Day[32] v Erika Andreeva(RUS)

Colton Smith v Borna Gojo(CRO)

Michael Zheng[26] v Laslo Djere(SRB)

Keegan Smith v Moez Echargui[29](TUN)

Tristan Boyer v Andrea Pellegrino[17](ITA)

Darwin Blanch v Dane Sweeny[11](AUS)

Mackenzie McDonald[13] v Roberto Carballes Baena(ESP)

As was the case last week, three USTA Pro Circuit tournament are on the calendar, but instead of an M25, there is a W35 and then the joint SoCal Pro Series M15 and W15 in Claremont California.

At W35 in Rome Georgia, seven of the eight qualifiers are Americans: Violeta Martinez(Illinois, Texas A&M), Capucine Jauffret, Sara Shumate, Misa Malkin(South Carolina), Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State), Nadia Valdez and Ava Catanzarite(UCLA, Oklahoma).

Main draw wild cards were awarded to Elizabeth Ionescu(Texas) and Tatum Evans(North Carolina). The top two seeds are Madison Brengle and Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina).

Four main draw matches were played today, with Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Bella Payne the two Americans advancing to the second round.

At the W15 in Claremont, the US qualifiers are 15-year-old Madeline Cleary, 16-year-old Brooke Kwon, 18-year-old Avery Nguyen, Brandelyn Fulgenzi(Arizona), Kelly Keller(Arkansas), Caroline Driscoll(Stanford) and Olivia Allegre(UC-San Diego). Seventeen-year-old Thara Gowda received entry as a lucky loser. 

Alexandra Vagramov(UCLA) of Canada is the top seed, with Amy Zhu(Michigan) the No. 2 seed. Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma), who has won the last two W15s in the SoCal Pro Series, is not in the draw this week.

Wild cards were given to Kayla Chung(UCLA), who lost to No. 5 seed Alexis Nguyen 6-1, 6-1 in the first round today; Armira Kockinis, who lost to Vagramov 6-3, 7-6(9); Nicole Weng, who lost to No. 3 seed Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA); and Sophie Suh, who beat Paulina Montiel of Mexico 6-1, 6-1 today.

Five American men qualified for the M15 in Claremont: Liam Krall(SMU), Nico Godsick(Stanford), Alexander Petrov(Illinois), Nav Dayal and Gus Grumet.

Aidan Kim, the Ohio State rising senior, is the top seed and is making his SoCal Pro Series debut; Kenta Miyoshi(Illinois) of Japan is the No. 2 seed.

Wild cards were given to Brayden Tallakson, Henry Wilson(CMS), Jagger Leach(Stanford) and Easter Bowl 18s champion Rishvanth Krishna.

ITF Junior reserved entries are Roshan Santhosh and Jack Satterfield(Vanderbilt).

Last week's Irvine M15 finalist Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State) and champion Spencer Johnson(UCLA) are in the draw will meet in the second round if they win their matches Wednesday.

The NCAA announced today that the proposed aged-based Five in Five eligibility proposal been approved by the D-I Cabinet, with finalization set for tomorrow, when the NCAA meeting concludes. Student-athletes will receive five years of eligibility to be completed within five years of high school graduation or the student-athlete's 19th birthday, whichever comes first.

This has implications for all Division I college sports, not just those generating revenue, and tennis will feel the impact. This article from CBS Sports focuses on football and basketball, but the explanation of how the change will be felt in each student-athlete's situation is applicable for all sports.

There will still be exceptions granted, for maternity, religious missions and military duty, but redshirts are now a thing of the past: an injury that keeps a player out for a year will not extend that five-year window, which is strictly age-based.

With no restrictions on prize money earned prior to enrollment now, this five-in-five rule will do nothing to halt the current trend of signing older, mostly international tennis players, after years of competing on the Pro Circuit. It will limit a 23-year-old newcomer to a year of eligibility however, as long as they do not qualify for one of the exceptions.