Bigun Reaches Roland Garros Boys Final; Jovic and Grant Aim for Second Straight Junior Slam Doubles Title; ATP Confirms Second Year of Collegiate Accelerator Program; Chicago Tops Final D-III Rankings; Tien, Iyengar and Schuman Advance at San Diego $15K

Until today, Kaylan Bigun hadn't been pushed in his run to the semifinals of the Roland Garros Junior Championships.

Unsurprisingly, that changed in his match with No. 2 seed Joel Schwaerzler of Austria, who won an ATP Challenger last month. The UCLA rising freshman dropped the first set--the only one he's lost all week--but stayed calm, leading him to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over his fellow left-hander. Bigun got an early break in the final set and made it stand up; the 18-year-old didn't face a break point in the final two sets. After Schwaerzler saved a match point serving at 3-5 and held, Bigun faced the biggest game of his junior career, and he got every first serve in, including a 126 mph one at 40-30, which Schwaerzler returned, but Bigun hit a forehand winner off it to reach his first junior slam final.

His opponent Saturday will be Tomasz Berkieta of Poland, who saved three match points in his dramatic 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4) win over Lorenzo Carboni of Italy. Serving at 5-6 in the third, Berkieta had to come with winners at 30-40, and two ad-outs, and the 17-year-old might have hit two lines during the last match point he saved. Once he got to the tiebreaker, his first serve, which reached 136 mph on one occasion and averaged 121 mph, proved too much for Carboni.

Berkieta is the first Polish boy since Jerzy Janowicz in 2008 to reach the Roland Garros final; Bigun is the first US boys to reach the final since Toby Kodat in 2019. Tomorrow's final will be their first meeting.

Both US girls lost to their Czech opponents Friday, with No. 4 seed Tyra Grant falling to No. 12 seed Tereza Valentova 6-3, 7-6(1), and Kristinia Penickova seeing her run end at the hands of No. 3 seed Laura Samson 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Both Americans mounted impressive comebacks; Grant trailed 4-0 in the second set, but won the next five games to serve for the set, only to drop her serve at love, and Valentova returned to her previous level in the tiebreaker to reach her second junior slam final.

Penickova trailed 6-3, 5-2 to Samson before winning five straight games, and was briefly up a break in the third set, before Samson recovered, breaking the 14-year-old Penickova at 4-5 after she had been  unable to serve out the match at 5-3. 

Despite all the success of the Czech girls, who will have won three of the last four Roland Garros titles after tomorrow, this is the first junior slam final between two Czech girls. 

Valentova will also play for the doubles title Saturday, with Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 5 seeds Emerson Jones of Australia and Vittoria Paganetti of Italy 7-5, 6-2 in today's semifinal, posting their fourth consecutive straight-sets win.

The will face Grant and Iva Jovic, the No. 4 seeds, for the title, after the Australian Open girls champions defeated top seeds Samson and Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4. Grant, who won the Roland Garros doubles title last year with Clervie Ngounoue, and Jovic have also not lost a set this week; in fact, they haven't lost a set in junior slam competition this year, winning the Australian Open girls doubles final without losing a set.

The boys doubles final will feature the top two seeds, with No. 1 seeds Schwaerzler and Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway saving a match point in their 4-6, 6-2, 11-9 victory over unseeded Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan.

No. 2 seeds Federico Cina of Italy and Rei Sakamoto of Japan were also forced to a tiebreaker by the unseeded team of Alexander Razeghi and Germany's Max Schoenhaus, but escaped with a 7-5, 2-6, 10-7 victory.

The ATP website published an article today on its collegiate accelerator program for the ITA top 20, which will begin its second year on July 1. It provides details on players who have used the program to maximum effect, and provides a list of the 21 players who have qualified for this year's edition(The ITA Top 20, plus Jack Anthrop of Ohio State, who made the quarterfinals of the NCAAs to qualify). It also has a quote from ITA No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri of Texas.

The final rankings for Division III were released this week, with the team champions from the University of Chicago topping both 
the men's and women's rankings. For the full final rankings, click on the headings.

D-III Men

Team Top 10
1. Chicago
2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
3. Bowdoin
4. Case Western
5. Middlebury
6. Emory
7. Tufts
8. Denison
9. Williams
10. Swarthmore

Singles Top 10
1. Tristan Bradley, Bowdoin
2. Matthew Kandel, Williams
3. Advik Mareedu, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
4. Vuk Vuksanovic, Tufts
5. Jordan Theron, Sewanee
6. Julian Wu, Middlebury
7. Kael Shalin Shah, Denison
8. Emil Grantcharov, Chicago
9. Derek Hsieh, Chicago
10. Ajay Mahenthiran, Case Western

Doubles Top 5
1. Gae Gohl and Tyler Haddorff, Gustavus Adolphus
2. Tristan Bradley and Reid Staples, Bowdoin
3. Matthew Kandel and Nicholas Chen, Williams
4. Adrei Leonov and Pat Otero, Chicago
5. Diego Maza and Vishway Aduru, Case Western

D-III Women

Top 10 Team

1. Chicago

2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

3. Pomona-Pitzer

4. Wesleyan

5. Emory

6. Johns Hopkins

7. Washington St. Louis

8. Middlebury

9. Amherst

10. Washington and Lee

Singles Top 10

1. Angie Zhou, Pomona-Pitzer

2. Matia Cristiani, Babson

3. Sylwia Mikos, Chicago

4. Rena Lin, Chicago

5. Emily Kantrovitz, Emory

6. Audrey Yoon, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

7. Olivia Soffer, Babson

8. Lindsay Eisenman, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

9. Ana Cristian Perez, Emory

10. Erica Ekstrand, Williams

Doubles Top 5

1. Nikolina Batoshvili and Alisha Chulani, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2. Olivia Soffer and Matia Cristiani, Babson

3. Rena Lin and Oliwia Mikos, Chicago

4. Lily McCloskey and Hannah Kassaie, Case Western

5. Caitlyn Ferrante and Sarah Youngberg, Wesleyan

Three teens eligible to compete at the USTA Nationals this summer are through to the semifinals at the SoCal Pro Series $15,000 San Diego II tournament after wins today.  Sixteen-year-old Aspen Schuman, who reached the final of this tournament last year, advanced to the all-USA women's semifinals with a 3-6, 6-3 6-2 win over Pepperdine's Anna Campana; 16-year-old Maya Iyengar, who is playing just her second Pro Circuit tournament, with last week her first, defeated 15-year-old qualifier Julieta Pereja 6-7(0), 6-2, 7-5 and will face unseeded Carolyn Campana(Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Pepperdine) for a place in the final. Campana took out top seed Dasha Ivanova 7-5, 6-3.  Schuman will play former North Carolina All-American Sarah Daavettila, the No. 3 seed, who beat qualifier Katie Codd(Duke) 6-4, 6-1.

Two-time Kalamazoo champion Learner Tien, who at this time last year was reaching the semifinals of the Roland Garros junior championships, advanced to the men's semifinals with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Isaac Becroft(Oklahoma State) of New Zealand. Last week's champion in San Diego, the 18-year-old top seed will look to extend his winning streak to nine when he takes on No. 7 seed Noah Schachter(Texas A&M), who beat No. 4 seed Alex Knaff(Florida State) of Luxembourg 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. In the other semifinal, Alan Rubio(Central Florida) of Mexico will take on No. 2 seed Alafia Ayeni(Cornell, Kentucky) after Rubio defeated 2013 Kalamazoo 18s champion Collin Altamirano(Virginia) 6-1, 6-1 and Ayeni downed Joshua Charlton(Oregon) of Australia 7-6(6), 6-3.

Montgomery, Chrysochos Win Las Vegas $25Ks; Johnson Claims Indian Wells Challenger; Kenin Back on Winning Track in Lyon France

Last year at this time, Robin Montgomery was playing her first professional tournament at a $15,000 event in Carson California. Then 14, Montgomery turned heads by reaching the quarterfinals, but in her next exposure to the professional game two months later, she lost in the first round of a $15,000 tournament to a fellow American junior, Kylie Collins. Last summer, Montgomery received a wild card into her home town WTA tournament, the Citi Open in Washington DC, losing in three sets to fellow teenager Destanee Aiava of Australia.

Although Montgomery built an impressive ITF World Junior ranking in 2019, and is now No. 5, she didn't venture back out on the Pro Circuit until this week, where she used a ITF junior exemption for entry into the Oracle Pro Series $25,000 women's tournament in Las Vegas. Five matches later, Montgomery was the champion, winning the first three matches without much difficulty, and fighting through the semifinals and final.

In today's championship match, Montgomery trailed No. 3 seed Xiaodi You of China, last week's Rancho Santa Fe $25K champion, 6-2, 3-1, then won the last five games of the second set. The pattern continued in the final set, with Montgomery trailing 4-2 before winning the last four games of the match for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. She did not have a WTA ranking going into the tournament, but when these points are added, she will be around 600.

In the men's Las Vegas $25,000 singles final, 2018 NCAA singles champion Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus, the No. 6 seed, defeated former LSU standout Justin Butsch 6-2, 6-1 in just under an hour. After winning two $25,000 tournaments last year, Chrysochos was off to a slow start in 2020, losing in the first round of his last two events, but the former Wake Forest star should start climbing back to his career-high ATP ranking of 378.

In the men's doubles late last night, Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Junior Ore(Texas A&M) defeated Nick Chappell and Reese Stalder, both of whom played at TCU, 7-6(1), 6-3.

Another former Aggie, 20-year-old Patrick Kypson, won his second career ITF World Tour singles title at the $15,000 tournament in Antalya Turkey. The 2017 Kalamazoo champion used a protected ranking for entry after being out most of last year with injuries. Kypson defeated top seed Ivan Nedelko of Russia in the first round, and earned his first title since 2017 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 4 seed Peter Heller of Germany in today's final.  Stanford recruit Tristan Boyer and Martin Damm reached the doubles final, where they lost to top seeds Heller and Peter Torebko 7-5, 6-2.

At the ATP Challenger 125 in Indian Wells, Steve Johnson, the No. 5 seed, defeated Jack Sock 6-4, 6-4 in today's final, his second Challenger title this year. After seeing his ranking drop as low as 99 last fall, Johnson is back up to 63 with this title.

Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania won the WTA 125 in Indian Wells, beating No. 13 seed Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 6-3.

After two opening round losses in Doha and Dubai, Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin returned to her winning ways this week, winning the inaugural WTA International in Lyon France. The top seed, Kenin battled through four three-setters, including in today's final, where she defeated unseeded Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. For more on today's final, see this article from the WTA website.

DeFalco, McKennon Win Costa Rica Grade 3 Titles; BNP Paribas Open Wild Cards Announced; Montgomery Reaches Las Vegas $25K Final; USA Advances to Davis Cup Finals

NOTE: Due to an error on the ITF website, I initially reported that Wagle had won in the final rather than DeFalco.

Jenna DeFalco and Max McKennon won ITF Grade 3 titles in Costa Rica today, giving US juniors a sweep of the event. DeFalco, the No. 2 seed, defeated Elise Wagle 7-5, 6-4, giving the 17-year-old her seventh ITF Junior Circuit title and second this year. McKennon, the top seed, now has back-to-back titles at the Grade 3 level; after winning in El Salvador last week, the 17-year-old Arizona State recruit cruised into the final, but had a tough battle with No. 3 seed Samir Banerjee before earning a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4) decision in the championship match.

In the doubles, No. 3 seeds Ozan Colak and Aidan Kim defeated unseeded Edward Winter of Australia and American Billy Suarez 6-4, 6-3 in the final. It's the pair's second title in the past three weeks. In the girls doubles, unseeded Gracie Epps and Caroline Wernli claimed the title, beating No. 3 seeds Hannah Chambers of Barbados and Sara Valentina Cruz Bonilla of El Salvador 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

At the Grade 1 in Thailand, Zane Khan, who had come through qualifying, lost in the final to No. 7 seed 15-year-old Coleman Wong of Hong Kong 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The BNP Paribas Open begins Monday with women's qualifying, and the tournament announced its wild cards today, both for the main draw and the qualifying.
BNP Paribas Open main draw wild cards:

Kristie Ahn
Usue Arconada*
Madison Brengle*
Kim Clijsters(BEL)
Leylah Fernandez(CAN)
Christina McHale
Caty McNally
Shelby Rogers

Marcos Giron*
Mitchell Krueger*
Brandon Nakashima
Tennys Sandgren
Jack Sock

*earned WC via Road to Indian Wells, which awards two wild cards to American men and two wild cards to American women who accumulate the most points during the Oracle Challenger Series.

BNP Paribas Open qualifying wild cards:
Thai Kwiatkowski
Michael Mmoh
JJ Wolf
Govind Nanda**
Carlos Alcaraz(ESP)

Nicole Gibbs
Whitney Osuigwe
Caroline Dolehide
Hailey Baptiste
Ashley Kratzer**
Diane Parry(FRA)

**Nanda and Kratzer won their wild cards in a pre-qualifying event.

At the ATP Challenger 125 at Indian Wells, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock have advanced to the final. Johnson, the No. 5 seed, defeated Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 6-4 and Sock came back to beat Brandon Nakashima 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Denis Kudla and Thai Kwiatkowski won the doubles title, beating Krueger and Sebastian Korda 6-3, 2-6, 10-6.

Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend won the WTA 125 doubles title in Indian Wells, with the No. 4 seeds beating unseeded Caty McNally and Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-4 in today's final. Misaki Doi of Japan and  Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania will play for the singles title Sunday.

Fifteen-year-old Robin Montgomery, who is No. 5 in the ITF Junior rankings but doesn't have a WTA ranking, is through to the final of the $25,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Las Vegas, after beating Katherine Sebov of Canada 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in two-and-a-half hours this evening. Montgomery will face No. 3 seed Xiaodi You of China, who advanced to the final when Diane Parry of France retired trailing 6-2, 4-5. You won last week's $25,000 tournament in Rancho Santa Fe. Oracle provided coverage of Montgomery's run to the semifinals in this article from earlier today.

Lorraine Guillermo(Pepperdine) and Maegan Manasse(Cal) won the doubles title, beating Jovana Jovic of Serbia and Conny Perrin of Switzerland 0-6, 6-2, 10-4 in the final. It's the third Pro Circuit doubles title for Guillermo and the fourth for Manasse.

The singles final at the $25,000 men's Pro Circuit event in Las Vegas will feature No. 6 seed Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus against unseeded Justin Butsch, a 2017 graduate of LSU. Chrysochos, who graduated from Wake Forest last year, defeated No. 8 seed Alex Rybakov 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, while Butsch outlasted No. 5 seed Nick Chappell(TCU) 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(3) in three hours and 39 minutes.

The US won both singles matches last night in their Davis Cup tie with Uzbekistan, and the Bryan brothers closed out the win today in Hawaii, in their final match in the competition. The US is one of 12 teams to advance to the Davis Cup finals in November with wins this weekend. The full list of the 18 teams in the competition can be found here. For more on the USA team's win, see this article.

Pratt Commits to Northwestern; Easter Bowl ITF Acceptances; Nakashima Faces Sock in Indian Wells Challenger Semifinals; US Davis Cup Team in Action Tonight

Last month at a Midwest section Level 2 tournament, I had an opportunity to talk with five-star recruit Sydney Pratt about her commitment, for 2021, to Northwestern. When during her freshman year, Pratt was a three-star recruit on Tennis Recruiting Network, not the level that a Big Ten contender like Northwestern would normally consider. But determined to give herself the best chance to get to the level that would put her on the Wildcats' radar, Pratt switched coaches and the wins started coming. More on how she earned an offer from Northwestern last summer at this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden Easter Bowl Courts

The Easter Bowl ITF Grade B1 is coming up beginning on March 30th, with the acceptances posted today. As is usually the case, the same top Americans are playing there and at the Carson ITF Grade 1 the week before, although there are often unexpected wild cards that strengthen the Easter Bowl field.  2019 Easter Bowl finalists Robin Montgomery and Martin Damm have not entered, but there is a notable Easter Bowl entry that is not in the Carson field: Connie Ma.  Ma, who goes to regular school and seldom competes during the school year, made the final at Carson last year, playing that event because she was on Spring Break. I'm assuming her Spring Break is falling during Easter Bowl this year. Although she won't be seeded, she'll be the favorite, along with Alexandra Yepifanova and Elvina Kalieva. The top US boys entered are Dali Blanch, Bruno Kuzuhara, Alex Bernard and Aidan Mayo.

The Las Vegas $25,000 quarterfinals have been slotted into a late afternoon and evening schedule, but Robin Montgomery has completed her match and advanced to the women's semifinals. The 15-year-old Orange Bowl champion, currently No. 5 in the ITF World Junior rankings, defeated qualifier Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-3, 6-2 and will play unseeded Katherine Sebov of Canada Saturday. This is Montgomery's third USTA Pro Circuit event; she reached the quarterfinals of a $15K in California last year.

In the men's $25,000 Las Vegas quarterfinals, former TCU stars Nick Chappell and Alex Rybakov have advanced, with No. 5 seed Chappell beating No. 2 seed Alex Sarkissian(Pepperdine) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 and No. 8 seed Rybakov saving a match point in his 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 6-3 win over No. 4 seed Martin Redlicki(UCLA).

At the ATP Challenger 125 in Indian Wells, 18-year-old Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) has continued to build on his first ATP quarterfinal last month in Delray Beach, beating No. 14 seed Marcos Giron(UCLA) 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2 to advance to Saturday's semifinals. Nakashima had trouble converting break points in the first half of the match, going 0 for 14, but he took control in the third set, earning three breaks and a chance to take on Jack Sock.  Sock defeated No. 11 seed Denis Kudla in another lengthy battle, with Sock taking a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-4 decision. 

Unseeded Mitchell Krueger eliminated the last international player in the field, beating No. 9 seed Gregoire Barrere of France 6-4, 7-6(5). Krueger will face No. 5 seed Steve Johnson(USC), who beat Noah Rubin 6-3, 6-3. There has been nothing official announced yet, but Krueger is likely to have secured the second BNP Paribas Open main draw wild card, as he now has a quarterfinal and two semifinal finishes in the the previous three Challengers designated for the Road to Indian Wells.

The United States Davis Cup team takes on Uzbekistan in Hawaii tonight, with Reilly Opelka taking on Denis Istomin and Taylor Fritz playing Sanjar Fayziev in the first two singles matches. The Bryan brothers are playing their final Davis Cup match on Saturday, against Fayziev and Istomin, with reverse singles set for Sunday. Tommy Paul is also on the team. Tennis Channel is not covering the tie, with streaming at cbssports.com the only way to follow it.

Montgomery Reaches Quarterfinals at Las Vegas $25K; Seven US Men Advance to Indian Wells Challenger Quarterfinals; Seven Americans Make Semifinals ITF Grade 3 in Costa Rica

Robin Montgomery hasn't exhibited much rust after taking more than a month off after the Australian Open Junior Championships. The 15-year-old from Washington DC used a Junior Exempt entry for this week's $25,000 Oracle Pro Series tournament in Las Vegas and she has used it well, advancing to the quarterfinals. After beating No. 6 seed Gabriela Ce of Brazil 6-0, 6-2 in the first round Tuesday, Montgomery defeated fellow teen Alycia Parks 6-3, 6-0 today. Montgomery's quarterfinal opponent Emiliana Arango of Colombia, a qualifier, will undoubtedly be exhausted after she needed more than three hours to defeat Ellie Halbauer in a second round match.

ITF World Junior No. 1 Diane Parry of France has advanced to the quarterfinals, where she'll play qualifier Sophie Whittle(Gonzaga). Alexa Glatch is the third American to advance to the quarterfinals, after defeating qualifier Kayla Day 6-2, 6-3.

At the men's $25,000 tournament in Las Vegas, six Americans, all former collegians, have advanced to the quarterfinals. No. 4 seed Martin Redlicki(UCLA) will play No. 8 seed Alex Rybakov and No. 2 seed Alex Sarkissian(Pepperdine) will play No. 5 seed Nick Chappell(TCU). Justin Butsch(LSU), who beat No. 3 seed Jacob Grills of Australia 7-5, 7-5 today, will play wild card Alfredo Perez(Florida). The only two international players are in the top quarter, with Johannes Haerteis of Germany taking on 2018 NCAA champion at Wake Forest Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus, the No. 6 seed.

While six American quarterfinalists is good, seven is better, and that's what the ATP Challenger 125 in Indian Wells will feature Friday. Jack Sock plays Denis Kudla[11], Marcos Giron[14] faces Brandon Nakashima and Steve Johnson[5] meets Noah Rubin. Mitchell Krueger gets No. 9 seed Gregoire Barrere of France, who spoiled a fourth all-US quarterfinal when he defeated No. 8 seed Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4). With so many Americans left, the second BNP Paribas Open wild card is still up for grabs.

The tournament announced yesterday that Madison Brengle had secured one of the wild cards given out via the Road to Indian Wells competition, and today they announced that Usue Arconada had earned the second, based on her performance in the Oracle Challenger Series events. The only American advancing to the women's WTA 125 quarterfinals in Indian Wells is No. 9 seed Jessica Pegula, who is already in the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open. Pegula defeated Shelby Rogers 7-6(4), 6-2.

An American is assured of winning the boys singles title at the ITF Grade 3 in Costa Rica, with all four semifinalists from the United States. Top seed Max McKennon, who eliminated the only non-US player today, will face No. 5 seed Ozan Colak in the top half and in the bottom half, No. 3 seed Samir Banerjee will play 14-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy. Basvareddy, the 2019 Junior Orange Bowl champion, defeated No. 2 seed Victor Lilov 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 today.

No. 6 seed Nahia Berecoechea of France prevented an all-US girls pair of semifinals, taking out top seed Sofia Rojas 7-6(5), 6-1. Berecoechea will play unseeded Elise Wagle, who beat No. 3 seed Nevena Carton 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. In the bottom half, No. 5 seed Dakota Fordham takes on No. 2 seed Jenna DeFalco.

Nakashima Earns Another Top 100 Win at Indian Wells Challenger; A Look at Oracle Pro Series; Khan Reaches Quarterfinals at Grade 1 in Thailand; Plenty of Americans in ITF Grade 3 Costa Rica Quarterfinals; Bears, Firecrackers Win USTA National Spring Team Championships

Brandon Nakashima has had an impressive three weeks, starting with a quarterfinal appearance in his first ATP event last month in Delray Beach, where he posted his first two ATP Top 100 victories. Today the 18-year-old from San Diego, earned his third Top 100 win, defeating No. 7 seed and ATP No. 87 Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the ATP Challenger 125 at Indian Wells. Nakashima, who was competing for the University of Virginia at this time last year, will face No. 10 seed Salvatore Caruso of Italy in Thursday's third round.

Nakashima is one of ten American men to advance to the round of 16, with just four of them seeded. In addition to Nakashima, they include Jack Sock, Denis Kudla[11], Marcos Giron[14], Frances Tiafoe[8], Steve Johnson[5], Sebastian Korda, Mitchell Krueger, Raymond Sarmiento and Noah Rubin. Korda and Krueger as well as Sarmiento and Rubin meet for a spot in the quarterfinals Thursday. The tournament announced last night that Giron has clinched one of the two main draw wild cards into next week's BNP Paribas Open next week in Indian Wells based on his performances in the Oracle Challenger Series. Another wild card is still available for an American man based on his performance in the Series.

American women have had less success at the WTA 125 event at Indian Wells, with just three advancing to the round of 16 so far: Bernarda Pera[3], Jessica Pegula[9] and Kristie Ahn[14]. Shelby Rogers plays her second round match tonight. Two main draw BNP Paribas Open wild cards have yet to be distributed to the top two American women in the series. The two leaders, Madison Brengle and Coco Vandeweghe, lost their opening matches this week.

In addition to its Challenger Series, Oracle has introduced its Pro Series, which is generally lower level events held primarily on college campuses. Joel Drucker has posted an article on the Pro Series at tennis.com today, with comments from Jamie Loeb, SMU men's head coach Grant Chen, Tim Smyczek and Jim Courier.

I was surprised to see Zane Khan in a junior tournament this week, but the 2018 Kalamazoo 16s and Orange Bowl finalist advanced through qualifying at the Grade 1 in Thailand and is now into the quarterfinals. Khan, who turned 18 last month and had only played in ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments in Mexico and the United States this year, will face No. 6 seed Mans Dahlberg of Sweden Thursday.

At the ITF Grade 3 in Costa Rica this week, top seed Max McKennon, who won last week's Grade 3 in El Salvador, leads a host of Americans into Thursday's quarterfinals. McKennon will play unseeded Julian Lozano of Costa Rica, while four, and possibly six, other American boys will play each other. No. 5 seed Ozan Colak plays Braden Shick and No. 2 seed Victor Lilov meets 2019 Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion Nishesh Basavareddy. No. 3 seed Samir Banerjee is awaiting his opponent, which will be either American Spencer Brachman or Colombia's William Yovanny Ribero Duarte.

Six US girls have reached the quarterfinals, including top seed Sofia Rojas, who faces No. 6 seed Nahia Berecoechea of France. Americans Nevena Carton[3] and Elise Wagle make up one quarterfinal, with another all-US contest between No. 8 seed Nicole Kiefer and No. 2 seed Jenna DeFalco, last week's winner in El Salvador. No. 5 seed Dakota Fordham plays No. 4 seed Sara Valentina Cruz Bonilla of El Salvador.

This is the first March in 15 years that I haven't been to Mobile Alabama for a junior tournament, but the USTA National Spring Team Championships went on without me and the winning teams were determined on Tuesday. In the boys championship match, the Bears defeated the Panthers 5-2 and in the girls championship match, the Firecrackers defeated the Sharks 5-2. Daniel Caballero Valcarcel coached the Bears, and Stewart Russell coached the Firecrackers. Below are screenshots of the results of the finals. 

USTA Pro Circuit Returns This Week in Rancho Santa Fe and Columbus; USC Men, UNC Women Stay No. 1; Former Texas Coach Michael Center Sentenced to Six Months in Jail

After a rare winter week without any USTA Pro Circuit tournaments scheduled last week, two tournaments are underway this week, with the women at a $25,000 tournament in Rancho Santa Fe California and the men at an Oracle Pro Series ATP 80 Challenger in Columbus Ohio.

The women's field is a strong one for that level, with WTA 154 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium the top seed and the cutoff for the main draw at 308, which is close to the same cutoff as the $100K earlier this month in Midland. American qualifiers are Hanna Chang, Kayla Day and Megan Manasse. Wild cards were awarded to Lorraine Guillermo(Pepperdine), Jamie Loeb(North Carolina), Megan McCray(Oklahoma State) and local 19-year-old Haley Giavara, a freshman at Cal. Giavara played her first round match on Monday and defeated No. 4 seed Danielle Lao(USC) 6-1, 6-3.  Fred Sidhu, press aide for the tournament, talked to Giavara about her win yesterday in this recap.

Two Australians are the top seeds in Columbus, with Christopher O'Connell at the top of the draw and Marc Polmans at the bottom. Wild cards were awarded to Illinois junior Alex Brown, Ohio State junior John McNally and Buckeye freshmen Justin Boulais and Cannon Kingsley. All four lost their first round matches. Former Ohio State teammates JJ Wolf, the No. 6 seed, and Mikael Torpegaard of Denmark, the No. 8 seed, had first round byes, with Wolf winning his second round match today. Torpegaard is on the schedule for Wednesday. Former Northwestern standout Strong Kirchheimer, who got in as an alternate, has now advanced to the round of 16 in a Challenger for the first time after his 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) win over No. 10 seed Peter Polansky of Canada today. It's also Kirchheimer's first win over a player in the ATP Top 200.

The ATP also has a Challenger 90 in Calgary this week, and that has drawn quite a few Americans as well. The wild cards all went to Canadians playing Division I college tennis: Taha Baadi(Wake Forest), Alex Galarneau(NC State), Joshua Peck(North Carolina), Gabriel Diallo(Kentucky) and Cleeve Harper(Texas). Vasek Pospisil is the top seed, with Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) the No. 6 seed, Drummondville champion Maxime Cressy(UCLA) the No. 10 seed, and JC Aragone(Virginia) the No. 13 seed.  Americans Felix Corwin(Minnesota) and Alex Rybakov(TCU) qualified, and both won their first round matches today. Corwin will play Aragone Wednesday, with Rybakov taking on No. 2 seed Go Soeda of Japan.

This week's Division I team rankings find both National Indoor Champions retaining their places at the top. The North Carolina women had to win the final two singles matches in third sets in their conference opener at No. 2 Florida State, with Cameron Morra and Elizabeth Scotty coming through at lines 2 and 3 with the Tar Heels trailing 3-2. Sara Daavettila did not play for North Carolina, which is now 13-0 on the year.

Stanford defeated Texas 4-3 in Austin over the weekend, and that helped the Cardinal climb back into the Top 10 after falling to No. 12 in last week's first computerized rankings. The full rankings are here.

Women's ITA Division I Team Rankings
February 25, 2020
(previous ranking in parentheses)
1. North Carolina(1)
2. Florida State(2)
3. NC State(4)
4. Texas(3)
5. Ohio State(6)
6. Stanford(12)
7. Duke(10)
8. UCLA(7)
9. Georgia(8)
10. Georgia Tech(11)

There were no new teams in the Top 10 in the men's rankings this week, but North Carolina moved up to No. 2, replacing Ohio State, and Michigan dropped one spot after being blanked by Oklahoma State.
The complete ranking list is here.

Men's ITA Division I Team Rankings
February 25, 2020
1. USC(1)
2. North Carolina(3)
3. Ohio State(2)
4. Texas(5)
5. Michigan(4)
6. Florida(6)
7. Columbia(7)
8. Stanford(8)
9. NC State(9)
10. Tennessee(10)

In a Boston courtroom yesterday, former University of Texas men's head coach Michael Center was sentenced to six months in jail for his role in the wide-ranging Varsity Blues scandal. Center had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud last April. Center is only the second coach to be sentenced; the first, Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer, was only in jail for one day and did not receive additional time. USA Today had a reporter in the courtroom at Center's sentencing and his article provides many more details than I had seen previously about the source and distribution of the $100,000 Center received from Rick Singer, the man behind the college admissions payment scheme.

Also in the article, the judge and federal prosecutor explain why they think jail time is warranted; Center's attorney explains why he believes the sentence is "harsh".

Ram and Salisbury Claim Australian Open Doubles Title; Kwiatkowski Wins First Challenger at Newport Beach; Ngounoue Falls in Les Petits As Final; Sarap and Banerjee Capture G4 ITF Titles

Rajeev Ram(Illinois) and Great Britain's Joe Salisbury(Memphis) won the Australian Open men's doubles title Sunday in Melbourne, with the No. 11 seeds beating the unseeded Australian wild card team of Luke Saville and Max Purcell 6-4, 6-2. It was the first men's doubles slam title for both of them, with Ram finally getting that winner's trophy after 58 attempts, an ATP Open Era record. Ram, 35, and Salisbury, 27, played all four slams together last year and qualified for the ATP Finals at the end of last year, but this is certainly the highlight of both of their careers. In this article from the Australian Open website, Ram explains why, for all the joy of claiming an elusive title, there is some sadness for him too.

Thai Kwiatkowski, the 2017 NCAA singles champion while at the University of Virginia, won his first ATP Challenger title today in Newport Beach California and it was a big one, an Oracle Challenger Series event at the 125 level. The unseeded 24-year-old from North Carolina had lost his first five semifinals at the Challenger level before he defeated No. 4 seed Steve Johnson(USC) 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 yesterday. He didn't need to work nearly as hard in today's final, beating unseeded Daniel Galan of Colombia 6-4, 6-1 in less than an hour, saving the only two break points he faced. Kwiatkowski will now move back into the ATP Top 200.

Fifth seed Madison Brengle won the women's title in Newport Beach, a WTA 125 tournament, beating No. 6 seed Stefanie Vogele of Switzerland 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in the final.

Hayley Carter(UNC) and Luisa Stefani(Pepperdine) of Brazil won the women's doubles title, with the top seeds beating unseeded Marie Benoit of Belgium and Jessika Ponchet of France 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

The men's doubles title also went to the top seeds, with Gonzalo Escobar(Texas Tech) of Ecuador and Ariel Behar of Uruguay beating unseeded Antonio Sancic of Croatia and Tristan Weissborn of Austria 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

At the $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit event in Weston Florida, 2013 Wimbledon boys champion Gianluigi Quinzi of Italy took the title, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 3 seed Christian Lindell of Sweden 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. Lindell had beaten wild card Emilio Nava 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals. The doubles title went to unseeded Boris Arias(LSU) of Bolivia and Daniel Dutra Da Silva of Brazil, who beat No. 4 seeds Alexander Merino of Peru and Manuel Pena Lopez of Argentina 6-4, 7-6(2) in the final.

Brenda Fruhvirtova and Oleksandr Ponomar
photo by Richard van Loon/toptennis.photos

Brenda Fruhvirtova kept the Les Petits As girls singles trophy in the family today, defeating Clervie Ngounoue 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 in this afternoon's final in Tarbes. Fourteen-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova, the older sister of the unseeded 12-year-old from the Czech Republic, won the title last year.  Ngounoue could not get started in the opening set, with her first serve not going in and her ground strokes misfiring, and went she went down 2-0 in the second set it didn't look good. But the 13-year-old from Washington DC began to find her range, while Fruhvirtova's level dropped a bit, and that resulted in Ngounoue taking the next four games. She gave the break back, but immediately broke Fruhvirtova again and held to claim her first set from Fruhvirtova in their four meetings.

In the third set, Ngounoue went up a break at 3-2, but double faulted on game point in her service game and Fruhvirtova went on to break back. Ngounoue found herself hitting too many second serves in the 4-5 game, and had to save a match point, while Fruhvirtova wasn't making errors or feeling much pressure on her own serve. Serving to force a tiebreaker, Ngounoue went up 40-30, but she hit a forehand long, and two netted shots later, Fruhvirtova had the title.

The boys final was decidedly less dramatic, with No. 3 seed Oleksandr Ponomar of Ukraine defeating unseeded Janis Simmen of Switzerland 6-4, 6-1.

Complete draws can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament page.

Two 16-year-old American boys won ITF Junior Circuit tournaments this weekend, with Samir Banerjee claiming a second straight Grade 4 in Nairobi and Tristan Sarap earning his first Junior Circuit title in just his second tournament at the Grade 4 in Cairo Egypt.

Banerjee, the No. 5 seed, defeated unseeded Bor Artnak of Slovenia 6-2, 6-2 for his tenth win in the past two weeks.  Sarap, a blue chip from California whose first tournament on the ITF Junior Circuit was last week, had to qualify for both events; he made the third round in a Grade 5 last week, also in Egypt, then won nine matches to take the title in Cairo this week. He defeated No. 4 seed Yousef Sadek of Egypt 7-6(4), 6-0 in the final.

Bernard, Damm and Montgomery Advance to Australian Open Juniors Round of 16, Kenin Reaches Semifinals; Oracle ATP Challenger and WTA 125 Underway in Newport Beach; Gauff Named to Fed Cup

Three American juniors have advanced to the round of 16 at the Australian Open, with No. 2 seeds Martin Damm and qualifier Alex Bernard, the past two Kalamazoo 16s champions, coming back from a set down, while No. 2 seed Robin Montgomery won in straight sets.  Damm defeated Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4, getting the only break of the second and third sets and holding on for the win. Bernard wasn't able to close out fellow qualifier Corban Crowther of New Zealand serving at 5-4, but he broke and made good on his second chance for a 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-5 win. Montgomery also couldn't finish at her first opportunity against Pia Lovric of Slovenia, but she broke and held to avoid a tiebreaker. For more on Montgomery, see this article from the ITF website.

Wednesday(tonight), Damm plays unseeded Lilian Marmousez of France, who beat Damm in the second round at last month's Orange Bowl. Bernard faces top seed Harold Mayot of France, while Montgomery is playing qualifier Olivia Gadecki of Australia.

Savannah Broadus and Ellie Coleman, who are unseeded, have reached the doubles quarterfinals and will play the unseeded team of Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and Antonia Ruzic of Croatia Wednesday.

Tuesday’s second round junior singles matches featuring Americans:
Harold Mayot[1](FRA) d. Aidan Mayo 6-2, 6-3
Martin Damm[2] d. Hamad Medjedovic(SRB) 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4
Alex Bernard[Q] d. Corban Crowther[Q](NZL) 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-5
Robin Montgomery[2] d. Pia Lovric(SLO) 6-3, 7-5
Weronika Baszak(POL) d. Ellie Coleman 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3

Wednesday’s second round junior singles matches featuring Americans:
Robin Montgomery[2] v Olivia Gadecki[Q](AUS)
Alex Bernard[Q] v Harold Mayot[1](FRA)
Martin Damm[2] v Lilian Marmousez(FRA)

No. 14 seed Sofia Kenin reached the semifinals in women's singles, defeating unseeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-4, 6-4. Tennys Sandgren(Tennessee) lost a heartbreaker against No. 3 Roger Federer, failing to convert seven match points in a 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 loss.

The big tournaments this week in the United States are in Newport Beach California, where the Oracle Challenger series features a WTA 125 event and an ATP Challenger 125. Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe both took wild cards and are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. Other men receiving wild cards are Michael Redlicki(Arkansas), UCLA sophomore Govind Nanda and Ulises Blanch. In the women's event, Jessica Pegula and Taylor Townsend are the top two seeds, with wild cards going to Allie Kiick, Kayla Day, Katie Volynets and Sophie Whittle(Gonzaga). Draws are here.

The other tournament this week in the United States is a men's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Weston Florida. Javier Barranco Cosano of Spain is the top seed, with wild cards going to Toby Kodat, Logan Zapp, Emilio Nava and Rowland Phillips of Jamaica. Alex Rybakov(TCU) and Zane Khan were the two Americans to get through qualifying.

The USTA announced its Fed Cup team for next month's tie with Latvia, and Coco Gauff is among those chosen by Captain Kathy Rinaldi. Gauff is not likely to see action in singles, with Serena Williams, Kenin and Alison Riske also on the team, but this is a great opportunity for her to get high-level practice sessions, as this does not count against her maximum number of WTA tournaments before she resets the counter on her 16th birthday in March. For more about the US and Latvian teams and the event in Everett Washington, see USTA this article. Former Arkansas All-American Adrians Zguns(2002-2006) is the Latvian Fed Cup captain.