Newman, Hance Claim Orlando $15K Titles; Basavareddy Wins Savannah Challenger 75; Honer Earns Title at W35 Charlotte; Michigan State Men, Michigan Women Capture Big Ten Tournament Titles; Easter Bowl Photo Gallery

Sixteen-year-old Welles Newman and 18-year-old Keaton Hance won their first USTA Pro Circuit singles titles in contrasting fashion today at the W15 and M15 events at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Florida.

Newman came back against 15-year-old Janae Preston, a fellow ITF Junior Reserved entry, winning a two-hour and 43-minute battle 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-0 for her first USTA Pro Circuit title. 

Hance, who had won his first USTA Pro Circuit title with doubles partner Jordan Lee Saturday, did not have to hit a ball to earn the singles championship, when top seed Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) withdrew befor the start of the match due to an injury.

Prior to this week, Newman's best showing in her previous five Pro Circuit tournaments was the quarterfinals at a W35 in Orlando last fall, also on green clay.  Hance has reached the semifinals at an M15 in Orlando last fall for his best previous showing before these titles.

Nishesh Basavareddy won his first Challenger title since November of 2024, cruising past Jack Kennedy 6-3, 6-0 in today's final at the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia. The former Stanford All-American started his week with a nearly three-hour battle with 16-year-old qualifier Andy Johnson but improved his efficiency in each subsequent match and peaked in today's final, needing just 66 minutes to beat the 17-year-old from New York. Kennedy held serve just once in the match.

At the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico took the title, beating Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) of Argentina 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 in this afternoon's final.

Amelia Honer won her third W35 title today in Charlotte North Carolina, with the recent UC-Santa Barbara All-American defeating top seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Honer retired from her second round qualifying match at the US Open last August and was out until January 2026, then retired from her qualifying match in Bradenton in January and didn't return to competition until she played two W15s in Tunisia late last month. She now has won a W35 in 2024, 2025 and 2026. 

The final Power 4 conference championships were decided this weekend, with the Michigan State men and Michigan women claiming the tournament titles over their opponents from the Buckeye State.

Michigan State proved their win over Ohio State in Columbus earlier this year was no fluke, with the top-seeded Spartans getting a second 4-3 victory over the No. 2 seeds. This one wasn't decided until close to midnight local time Saturday in Ojai California after several rain delays. The Spartans took the doubles point and got wins from Ozan Baris at line 3 and Tayem Alazmeh at line 5, with Matt Forbes clinching at line 2.

This is the first Big 10 conference title for Michigan State since 1967. For more on the final, see this article from msuspartans.com.

The Michigan women had lost twice to Ohio State this year, both by 4-1 scores, first in Columbus and then, earlier this month in a non-conference match in Ann Arbor. But the Wolverines won the doubles point and then got wins at the three most reliable points for the Buckeyes all season, with Piper Charney at line 1, Lily Jones at line 2 and Emily Sartz-Lunde at line 5 delivering a 4-2 victory over the hosts.

Michigan had entered the tournament ranked 18, but with the title should easily move into position to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament next week.  For more on today's final, see this article from mgoblue.com.

A reminder that the NCAA Division I selection show is tomorrow, Monday, at 4 p.m. Eastern for the men and 4:30 p.m. Eastern for the women.

The last media from me from the Easter Bowl is the Photo Gallery that went up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, featuring most of the quarterfinalists in all eight divisions.

If you missed them earlier this month, videos of all eight Easter Bowl finals can be viewed at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube Channel.

ITF J300 San Diego Finals Videos, Gallery; McCord Claims Another J100, One of Five ITF Junior Circuit Singles Titles for Americans Last Week; Urhobo, Dostanic Lead Roland Garros Wild Card Race After Week Two

Barnes Tennis Center is one of my favorite junior tennis venues, and for the past two years, the finals of the ITF J300 there in March have been back-to-back, rather than simultaneous, with the latter being the norm at many junior events. The stadium court at Barnes allows videos to be taken from behind the court, which makes it much easier for me and gives viewers a better feel for the points. The boys final was played at a high level throughout and although both finals were two sets, you'll see many good points in each match.

My photo gallery from the San Diego ITF J300 is now up at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with all 51 photos taken by Paul Ballard for Zootennis.com.

Spring is a busy time for the ITF Junior Circuit, and last week five Americans won singles titles, with Londyn McCord winning her second J100 title in the past three weeks in South America. As the top seed in the J100 in Luque Paraguay, the 16-year-old blue chip from Atlanta won three three-setters, including in the final, where she beat No. 5 seed Hanne Estrada Cortes of Mexico 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 for her fifth ITF title, all this year and all on clay. McCord, who leads the ITF Junior Circuit with 31 wins this year, is up to 127 in the ITF Junior rankings.

At the J60 in Trinidad and Tobago, 17-year-old Nicolas Pedraza won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title and his eighth doubles title. The top-seeded Pedraza, returning to competition after a two-month injury layoff, defeated No. 2 seed Nicolas Moravec of Czechia 6-3, 7-5 in the final. In the doubles final, Pedraza and Yared Alfred of the US Virgin Islands, seeded No. 3, defeated top seeds Moravec and Kale Dalla Costa of Trinidad and Tobago 6-3, 6-4.

Grace Dollar reached the girls singles final and won the doubles title, with Taylor Burke of Australia. The unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Romina Dominguez Garcia of Mexico and Anvika Saraswathi of Canada 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

The boys singles final at the J60 in the Dominican Republic was an all-USA contest, with 17-year-old Vincent Weaver, the No. 4 seed, beating top seed and Easter Bowl 16s champion Anay Kulkarni 6-2, 6-0. It's the third ITF Junior Circuit singles title for Weaver, with all coming in the Dominican Republic. 

Kaya Baker and partner Valentina Garcia Rojas of Colombia won the girls doubles title, with the top seeds beating No. 4 seeds Abril Goded Luna and Zoe Levresse Zavala of Mexico 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 in the final. No. 7 seed Adriana Khomyakova lost in the girls singles final.

At the J30 in Ghana, Poudima Anne-Marie Bre-Naam Gnarou swept the titles, her first on the ITF Junior Circuit. The 17-year-old, seeded No. 2, beat unseeded Destiny Asantewaa Tuffour of Germany 6-4, 6-1 in the singles final. Unseeded in doubles with Rebecca Gurghean of Italy, Gnarou claimed the final with a 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 2 seeds Goodnews Eyinjuoluwa Aina of Nigeria and Liv Windschall of Germany 6-2, 6-0.

Closer to home, the United States' new ITF Junior Circuit on clay began last week with a J30 in Raleigh North Carolina, which featured the new round robin/quarterfinal knockout format. Sixteen-year-old Johnny Wolf of Raleigh won his first ITF Junior Circuit title, beating Daniil Berezin 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Top seeds Kayden Colombo and Griffin Goode won the boys doubles title, beating unseeded Noah Bayon and Maddox Iliescu 7-5, 7-5 in the final. 

Alina Vysochenko of Ukraine won the girls singles title, beating 14-year-old Caroline Cox of Cary NC, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) in the final.  Top seeds Vysochenko and Sarah Delgado won the doubles title, beating unseeded Pauline Bui and Russia's Taisiya Sorokina 7-5, 6-3 in the final. 

At the J200 in Canada, Americans swept the doubles titles, but lost both singles finals to Canadians.

No. 6 seed Felix Roussel defeated No. 8 seed Mason Taube 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the boys singles final and top seed Nadia Lagaev beat No. 6 seed Thara Gowda 6-1, 6-3 in the girls singles final.

No. 2 seeds Isabelle DeLuccia and Adla Lopez won the girls doubles, beating unseeded Gowda and Elicia Lin of Canada 6-1, 7-5; top seeds Jack Secord and Ford McCollum beat No. 4 seeds Izyan Ahmad and Erik Schinnerer 6-3, 7-5 in the boys doubles final. 

Week Two in the USA's ITF clay court swing is in Kennesaw Georgia, a J60 also using the new round robin/quarterfinal knockout format.

The latest standings in the USTA's annual Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge were released today:

Standings Update -- Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge

 

Akasha Urhobo and Stefan Dostanic Lead After Week 2

 

ORLANDO, Fla., April 13, 2026 – Former college all-American Stefan Dostanic took the men's lead and Akasha Urhobo maintained the women's lead after Week 2 of the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge. 

 

The 24-year-old Dostanic, who last year led Wake Forest to the NCAA team title and earned a wild card into the US Open by winning the American Collegiate Wild Card Playoff, reached the final of the USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger 75 in Sarasota, Fla. Emilio Nava, last year's RG Wild Card Challenge winner, earned 40 points from qualifying at the ATP Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo and sits in second while currently ranked No. 112. 

 

The 19-year-old Urhobo leads the women's side of the Challenge for the second consecutive week. Former world No. 84 Kayla Day, 26, now only trails by five points after winning the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Boca Raton, Fla. 

 

The top of the standings after Week 2 of 5: 

 

Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Akasha Urhobo (235) -- 65

2. Kayla Day (158) -- 60

3. Varvara Lepchenko (149) -- 54

 

Men's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Stefan Dostanic (270) -- 44

2. Emilio Nava (112) -- 40

3. Nishesh Basavareddy (174) -- 37

Orange Bowl Gallery; Smith Claims Second M25 Title in Winston-Salem; Australian Open Qualifying Begins with 12 US Men and 12 US Women Competing for Main Draw

The last entry in my review of last month's Orange Bowl is my Tennis Recruiting Network photo gallery of the 16s tournament. It features all the players from the United States (plus a couple who train here but compete for other countries) who won a round in the singles event. I focus on the 16s for this tournament in order to feature some new faces; many of those playing the 18s appeared in the US Open Juniors or Pan American Closed ITF J300 galleries.

Keegan Smith won his second career M25 title today at the USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Winston-Salem North Carolina, but it wasn't easy. 

The 27-year-old former UCLA All-American, seeded No. 5, needed three hours and 18 minutes to get past recent University of Tennessee standout Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-3 in today's final. Smith should move to around 350 when the 25 points are added.

A second M25 begins Monday in Winston-Salem, with most of the same players, including Smith and Mitsui, entered. 

Qualifying for the Australian Open begins Monday(this evening in the United States), with 12 US men and 12 US women aiming to win three matches to reach the main draw.

Below are the first round matchups featuring Americans; there are no first round matches between players from the United States, which is quite unusual.

The men's qualifying draw is here; the women's qualifying draw is here.

Michael Zheng v Cruz Hewitt[WC](AUS)
*Brandon Holt[5] v Lukas Neumayer(AUT)
*Colton Smith[32] v Luka Pavlovic(FRA)
Mackenzie McDonald[6] v Dmitry Popko(KAZ)
Michael Mmoh v Vitaliy Sachko(UKR)
Nicolas Moreno de Alboran v Vilius Gaubas[17](LTU)
*Nishesh Basavareddy v Alexis Galarneau(CAN)
Zachary Svajda[29] v Hady Habib(LBN)
Mitchell Krueger v Yibing Wu(CHN)
*Tristan Boyer v Alex Barrena(ARG)
*Murphy Cassone v Yu Hsiou Hsu(TPE)
*Martin Damm v Gauthier Onclin(BEL)

*on Monday's schedule

*Mary Stoiana v Nuria Brancaccio(ITA)

*Sloane Stephens v Barbora Palicova(CZE)

Elvina Kalieva v Sijia Wei(CHN)

Varvara Lepchenko[32] v Ye-Xin Ma(CHN)

Louisa Chirico v Yue Yuan[25](CHN)

*Sachia Vickery v Despina Papamichail(GRE)

*Bernard Pera v Viktoriya Tomova[18](BUL)

*Madison Brengle v Maja Chwalinska(POL)

*Taylor Townsend[11] v Nao Hibino(JPN)

Claire Liu v Tara Wuerth(CRO)

Carol Lee v Hanne Vandewinkel[15](BEL)

Whitney Osuigwe v Anastasija Sevastova(LAT)

*on Monday's schedule

2025 Australian Open boys champion Henry Bernet of Switzerland, who received a qualifying wild card, has drawn Pablo Llamas Ruiz of Spain.

ITF Junior No. 8 Ksenia Efremova of France, who received a reciprocal wild card into qualifying, plays No. 8 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus Monday.

Brandon Nakashima lost in the final of the ATP 250 in Brisbane to top seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 7-6(1).

Poland won the United Cup with a 2-1 decision over Switzerland, thanks to the 6-4, 6-3 mixed doubles win from Katarzyna Kawa and the University of Georgia's 2017 NCAA doubles finalist Jan Zielinski.

Penickova Rises to No. 1 in ITF Junior Rankings Despite Loss in Chengdu Finals; Gaines and Moreno Claim J100 Titles in Georgia; ITF J300 Pan Am Photo Gallery

As of today, Kristina Penickova has reached the top of the ITF Junior Tennis rankings, after the 16-year-old advanced to championship match of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals last week in Chengdu China. Despite losing to US Open girls champion Jeline Vandromme of Belgium 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, Penickova overtook fellow American Julieta Pareja on the strength of her results last week, her runner-up finish in Australia and all her doubles success, which includes two junior slam titles this year. Penickova is barely 100 points ahead of Vandromme, but has no points to defend the rest of the year; Vandromme has a zero point tournament on her six best results, so entering any of the J300s or J500s remaining on the junior schedule would make the race to being named ITF World Junior Champion for 2025 a true competition in the final two months of the season.

Two-time junior slam champion Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria is still firmly in control of the boys top spot, but ITF Junior Finals champion Max Schoenhaus of Germany, now at No. 2 in the rankings, could make it interesting if he chooses to play the remaining J300s and J500s in Mexico and Florida in the next two months.

While Penickova was finishing second, and Jack Kennedy and Ben Willwerth were finishing fifth and sixth respectively in the eight-player fields in China, most of the other American juniors in action on the ITF Junior Circuit last week were at the J100 in Rome Georgia.

No. 12 seed Carlota Moreno extended her winning streak to 11 matches, with the J60 champion in South Carolina two weeks ago going back-to-back in Georgia. The 17-year-old from Knoxville Tennessee, who has verbally committed to the Volunteers for 2027, defeated No. 11 seed Ellery Mendell 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Moreno, who did not lose more than four games in any set in her six wins, now has won two J60s and one J100 title, posting all three of her career titles since June.

Sixteen-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr won his fourth career ITF Junior Circuit singles title in Rome, with the No. 2 seed defeating No. 7 seed Matthew Shapiro 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Gaines lost his only set of the tournament in the semifinals, but avenged his Kalamazoo 16s semifinal loss to Marcel Latak, the No. 3 seed in Rome, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Latak won his second straight doubles title in Rome, playing with Gadin Arun after winning the South Carolina J60 with Rowan Qalbani two weeks ago. Arun and Latak, the No. 4 seeds, beat top seed Samim Filiz of Turkey and Koki Nara of Japan 6-1, 7-5 in the final.

Fourteen-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes won the girls doubles title, their second as a team this fall, with the No. 2 seeds defeating No. 4 seeds Mendell and Briley Rhoden 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.

The other title won by an American junior last week was at the J30 in the Dominican Republic, with 14-year-old Indra Vergne partnering with Marek Smejcky of the Czech Republic for his first ITF Junior Circuit title. 

With rain obviously an issue throughout the week, the unseeded Smejcky and Vergne defeated another unseeded team, Rafael Elaez Miranda and Fabricio Mesia of Peru 4-2, 4-0 in the final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is a J60 at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton Florida, with Avner Wong and Teaghan Jou An Keys the top seeds. With 48-player draws, the seeds don't play until Tuesday.

My final media offering from the ITF J300 Pan American Closed Championships earlier this month in Houston is this Tennis Recruiting Photo Gallery, which features 52 of the competitors from that tournament. 

The videos of all four Pan Am singles finalists can be found at my YouTube Channel; my Tennis Recruiting Network recap of the tournament is here.

US Open Junior Photo Gallery; Top Seed Bennett Upset in Opening Round of Women's ITA All-American Championships; Satterfield Reaches Second Round at Ann Arbor M15; Nguyen, Schuman and Urhobo Advance at Berkeley W35

The final bow on the US Open Junior Championships was tied today, with the 38 Americans competing in singles in New York earlier this month featured in a photo gallery at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I often get questions on where the photos we take can be viewed, so I'm grateful to have this outlet to display them. Thanks are in order, of course, to my husband Paul Ballard, who took all these photos. He spends much of his time in junior tennis as a site director, but the US Open is one tournament where I have the luxury of a photographer, which frees me up to actually watch matches.

There was a huge shocker of a result to begin the ITA Women's All-American Championships today, with top seed and NCAA finalist DJ Bennett of Auburn falling to Savannah Dada-Mascoll of Appalachian State 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Dada-Mascoll, a senior from Great Britain, is 106 in the preseason rankings, but didn't have to go through qualifying, I assume because she is representing the Sun Belt conference. 

Bennett, who also lost in the first round of doubles as the No. 2 seed with Ashton Bowers, was one of five seeds to lose in the women's first round, as you can see in the complete results below.

A pre-qualifier is guaranteed to reach the round of 16, with Georgia's Deniz Dilek and Emma Kamper of Utah playing each other Thursday after the each picked up their sixth wins in five days in today's first round.

Women's ITA All-American Championships first round singles results
September 24, 2025 Cary North Carolina

Savannah Dada-Mascoll Appalachian State d. DJ Bennett[1] Auburn 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
Josie Usereau Arizona d. Gracie Epps Oklahoma State 0-6, 6-1, 7-6(5)

Zoe Hammond[9] Kentucky d. Alejandra Cruz Georgia Tech 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4
Tatum Evans North Carolina d. Sofia Rojas[Q] Georgia 7-6(5), 6-4

Teah Chavez[7] Ohio State d. Julia Zhu[LL] Kentucky 6-4, 6-4

Anastasia Grechkina Pepperdine d. Prisca Abbas[PQ] UNC-Charlotte 2-6, 6-3, 6-4

Julia Garcia Ruiz[9] Oklahoma d. Valery Gynina[Q] Florida 2-6, 7-5, 6-3

Emily Sartz-Lunde Michigan d. Mayu Crossley[WC] UCLA 6-3, 5-7, 6-0

Valerie Glozman[4] Stanford d. Maria de la Paz Alberto[PQ] Iowa State 6-2, 6-3

Emilija Tverijonaite Arizona State d. Audrey Spencer[Q] Ohio State 6-2, 6-1

Mao Mushika[9] Cal d. Saray Yli-Piipari[WC] Tennessee 6-3, 6-2

Lavinia Tanasie[Q] NC State d. Lily Jones Michigan 6-2, 6-3

Emma Kamper[PQ] Utah d. Theadora Rabman[8] North Carolina 6-2, 6-4

Deniz Dilek[PQ] Georgia d. Shavit Kimchi[WC] Duke 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

Emma Charney Southern California d. Mia Kupres[9] Texas A&M 6-4, 6-4

Kaitlyn Carnicella South Carolina d. Bridget Stammel Vanderbilt 6-2, 6-3

Gabriella Broadfoot[Q] NC State d. Leonie Moeller[Q] Memphis 2-6, 2-0 ret. inj.

Irina Balus[9] Duke d. Salakthip Ounmang[Q] Oklahoma 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

Rose Marie Nijkamp Oklahoma State d. Annabelle Xu Virginia 6-3, 6-3

Maria Sholokhova[5] Wisconsin d. Aysegul Mert Georgia 7-5, 7-5

Berta Passola Folch[Q] Cal d. Akari Matsuno Notre Dame 6-4, 7-6(3)

Xin Tong Wang Wichita State d. Catherine Aulia[9] Tennessee 7-6(2), 6-2

Ange Oby Kajuru North Carolina d. Reese Miller[Q] Michigan 6-1, 6-2

Luciana Perry[3] Ohio State d. Monika Ekstrand[Q] Stanford 6-2, 6-3

Alyssa Ahn[Q] Stanford d. Kate Fakih UCLA 6-4, 5-7, 6-4

Carmen Herea[9] Texas d. Eleana Yu Duke 6-3, 6-2

Gabia Paskauskas Florida d. Anna Zyryanova NC State 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Piper Charney Michigan d. Valeria Ray Vanderbilt 6-1, 6-3

Ashton Bowers Auburn d. Ozlem Uslu Virginia Tech 6-2, 6-3

Leyla Britez Risso Tennessee d. Scarlett Nicholson[9] Georgia Tech 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-1

Carolina Gomez Alonso Arkansas d. Esha Velaga Penn 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Reese Brantmeier[2] North Carolina d. Nao Nishino[Q] Ohio State 6-4, 6-4

There were only two seeds eliminated today at the ITA Men's All-American Championships, both No. 9 seeds, although there were plenty of close matches. No. 2 seeds Aidan Kim of Ohio State and No. 4 seed Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois both needed three sets to advance.

Men's ITA All-American Championships first round singles results

September 24, 2025 Tulsa Oklahoma

First round singles results:

DK Suresh[1] Wake Forest d. Bryce Nakashima Ohio State 6-3, 6-4

Vladu Breazu Oregon d. Azuma Visaya Hawaii 6-4, 7-6(0)

Nicolas Kotzen[9] Columbia d. Ioan Alexandru Chirita[Q] Baylor 6-1, 6-3

Duncan Chan[Q] TCU d. Amar Tahirovic Bucknell 6-3, 6-4

Dylan Dietrich[7] Virginia d. Eli Stephenson[PQ] Kentucky 6-4, 6-2

Jonah Braswell Texas d. William Manning[PQ] 6-1, 6-3

Paul Inchauspe[9] Princeton d. Jakub Vrba[Q] Arkansas 6-4, 6-2

Jack Anthrop[Q] Ohio State d. Henry Jefferson[PQ] 6-3 7-5

Jay Friend[3] Arizona d. Hugo Car South Florida 6-4, 6-4

Luis Alvarez[WC] Oklahoma d. Nikita Filin[PQ] 6-4, 4-6, 6-1

Sebastian Eriksson Texas d. Benito Sanchez Martinez Mississippi State 6-3, 5-7, 6-3

Emon von Loben Sels UCLA d. Zsombor Velcz Baylor 6-3, 5-7, 7-5

Ozan Baris[5] Michigan State d. Lucas Andrade da Silva[Q] South Carolina 6-3, 6-3

Jack Loutit Kentucky d. Alex Okonkwo Ohio State 1-6, 6-3, 7-5

Aleksa Krivokapic Purdue[9] d. Christophe Clement Georgia Tech 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4

Alex Chang Stanford d. Viktor Markov Clemson 6-3, 6-2

Luca Pow[Q] Wake Forest d. Jeremy Jin Florida 6-3, 6-2

Devin Badenhorst[9] Baylor d. Mario Martinez Serrano[Q] Mississippi State 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

Vignesh Gogineni Yale d. Lucas Brown[WC] Texas 7-6(3), 6-1

Corey Craig[6] Florida State d. Alexander Frusina Texas A&M 6-3, 7-6(4)

Trevor Svajda SMU d. Sean Daryabeigi South Carolina 6-4, 6-4

Matthew Forbes[Q] Michigan State d. Martin Borisiouk[9] NC State 7-5, 7-6(5)

Loren Byers Ohio State d. Lukas Palovic Arkansas 6-3, 6-4

Kenta Miyoshi[4] Illinois d. Top Nidunjianzan Princeton 7-5, 4-6, 6-3

Alexander Bernard Ohio State d. Takeshi Taco[WC] Tulsa 4-6, 6-1, 6-0

Sebastian Gorzny[9] Texas d. Alessio Vasquez Gehrke LSU 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

Keegan Rice[Q] Virginia d. Antoine Ghibaudo Kentucky 7-6(3), 6-2

Sebastian Dominko[8] Notre Dame d. Noa Vukadin Clemson 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2

Santiago Giamichelle[PQ] Georgia d. Dominique Rolland[Q] UC-Santa Barbara 7-6(4), 6-3

Spencer Johnson[9] UCLA d. Oscar Lacides Oklahoma 7-5, 3-6, 4-5 def. (pps)

Connor Van Schalkwyk[Q] Baylor d. Roan Jones North Carolina 6-4, 7-6(4)

Aidan Kim[2] Ohio State d. Petar Jovanovic Mississippi State 5-7, 7-5, 7-5

Links to the draws, live streams, live scoring and Cracked Racquets coverage can be found here for the men, and here for the women.

Kalamazoo 18s finalist Jack Satterfield, who has begun his freshman year at Vanderbilt, is playing this week at the USTA Pro Circuit M15 in Ann Arbor, with his main draw entry coming via the ITF junior reserved program. In his first round match today, Satterfield defeated Michigan State sophomore Vuk Radjenovic of Serbia 7-6(4), 6-1.

Three University of Michigan wild cards won their opening matches with senior Bjorn Swenson beating Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5); senior Nicholas Steiglehner defeated qualifier Ashton Adesoro, a junior at Western Michigan 6-1, 6-1, and sophomore Max Dahlin beat Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest) 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

Keegan Smith(UCLA) and Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France are the top two seeds and both have advanced to the second round.

At the W35 in Berkeley California, 17-year-old Alexis Nguyen and 18-year-olds Aspen Schuman and Akasha Urhobo have advanced to the second round. Nguyen, a qualifier, beat Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-2, 6-1 and will face top seed Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico in the second round. 

Wild card Schuman, a Duke recruit, defeated Ella McDonald of Great Britain 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and will play Texas A&M junior Lucciana Perez of Peru, the No. 7 seed, next.

Urhobo, the No. 3 seed, defeated qualifier Ava Markham(Wisconsin) 6-3, 6-3 to set up a meeting with qualifier Victoria Flores(Georgia Tech, Pepperdine), who beat Sachia Vickery 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Former Georgia All-American Katerina Jokic of Serbia is the No. 2 seed; she defeated Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in a first round match that last more than three hours.

Easter Bowl Photo Gallery; Urhobo Ousts No. 2 Seed Rodionova at Bonita Springs W100; Dickerson Beats Top Seed Johns, Four US Juniors Advance at M15 in Orange Park FL; Big 12 Release Concludes Conference Awards Announcements

On the last day of April, just before the NCAA team championships begin (I'll have more on that Thursday), I can put a bow on last month's three major junior tournaments in Southern California with the USTA Level 1 Easter Bowl photo gallery published today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The ITF J300 San Diego photo gallery can be found here, and videos of all the singles finals at the Indian Wells J300, San Diego J300 and the Easter Bowl are available at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

Eighteen-year-old Akasha Urhobo completed her win over No. 2 seed Arina Rodionova of Australia today in a USTA Pro Circuit W100 Bonita Springs first round match postponed last night with Urhobo up 7-5, 1-0. Urhobo finished off her third WTA top 200 victory by the score of 7-5, 6-2; it's a career-best win by ranking for Urhobo, with Rodionova at 169. The Florida teen will face qualifier Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia, who advanced when LSU freshman Kayla Cross of Canada retired after losing the first set 6-2. LSU begins play in the Baton Rouge NCAA regional Friday.

Iva Jovic moved closer to the USTA's Roland Garros main draw wild card when Caty McNally, third in the Wild Card Challenge standings, withdrew before their first round match today in Bonita Springs. Jovic defeated lucky loser Verena Meliss of Italy 6-1, 7-5 and will play qualifier Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia in Thursday's second round.

There was a big upset in the first round of the M15 in Orange Park Florida, with former Duke All-American Garrett Johns, the No. 1 seed, losing to another former Duke player, qualifier Ryan Dickerson. Dickerson, went on to play at Baylor and was not a teammate of Johns, posted a 6-2, 7-6(9) win today.

All three of the American boys who received entry via the ITF's junior reserved program won their first round matches today, as did Keaton Hance.

Hance defeated fellow wild card Matthew Segura 6-3, 6-3, while Noah Johnston beat qualifier Maxwell Benson(Presbyterian) 6-3, 6-2. 

Jack Kennedy defeated Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech) 6-3, 7-6(7), and will face Dickerson in Thursday's second round. 

Australian Open boys finalist Benjamin Willwerth, the only one of the four to have reached a M15 semifinal, beat No. 5 seed Strong Kirchheimer 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and will face former Michigan All-American Andrew Fenty in the second round. Willwerth and Johnston, who have won three ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles together, received a wild card into the doubles and defeated No. 2 seeds Benson and Keshav Chopra(Georgia Tech) 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 in the first round.

The Big 12 announced its conference awards, the last of the Power 4 plus Ivy League conferences to do so, and for the first time I can remember, they are all revealed before the NCAAs begin. I'm including all the major awards after the Big 12s, so they are all in one post. The links in the headings will take you to the announcement, which includes all-conference teams.

Big 12:
MEN:
Player of the Year: Colton Smith, Arizona
Freshman of the Year: Cooper Woestendick, TCU
Newcomer of the Year: Alexandru Chirita, Baylor
Scholar Athlete of the Year: Jay Friend, Arizona
Coach of the Year: David Roditi, TCU

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Olivia Lincer, Central Florida

Freshman of the Year: Rose Marie Nijkamp, Oklahoma State

Newcomer of the Year: Na Dong, Baylor

Scholar Athlete of the Year: Tanvi Narendran, Arizona

Coach of the Year: Adam Herendeen, Texas Tech

SEC:

WOMEN:
Player of the Year: Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia
Freshman of the Year: Cadence Brace, LSU
Newcomer of the Year: Sofia Rojas, Georgia
Co-Coaches of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia and Mark Weaver, Texas A&M

MEN:

Player of the Year: Timo Legout, Texas
Newcomer of the Year: Alex Kotzen, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year: Timo Legout, Texas
Coach of the Year: Bruce Berque, Texas

Big Ten:

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Julia Fliegner, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: Emily Sartz-Lunde, Michigan
Coach of the Year: Ronnie Bernstein, Michigan

MEN:

Player of the Year: Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois

Freshman of the Year: Rudy Quan

Coach of the Year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State

ACC:

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

Freshman of the Year: Valerie Glozman, Stanford

Coach of the Year: Sara O'Leary, Virginia

MEN:

Player of the Year: Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

Freshman of the Year: Rafael Jodar, Virginia

Coach of the Year: Tony Bresky, Wake Forest

Ivy League:

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Gayathri Krishnan, Columbia

Rookie of the Year: Julia Werdiger, Yale

Coaching Staff of the Year: Harvard, head coach Traci Green

MEN:

Player of the Year: Michael Zheng, Columbia

Rookie of the Year: Benjamin Privara, Harvard

Coaching Staff of the Year: Columbia, head coach Howard Endelman

San Diego ITF Photo Gallery; New Number 1 in D-I Men's Singles; Ole Miss Parts Ways with Men's Coach; First Round Upsets at Savannah Challenger, Teens Qualify in Charlotte NC; Pareja and Nava Lead USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Race

A photo gallery from the ITF J300 last month in San Diego is now up the Tennis Recruiting Network. With this, and all the YouTube videos from the SoCal trip that are now posted, all that remains is an Easter Bowl photo gallery, which is coming soon.

Despite some major upsets in last weekend's conference tournaments, they didn't lead to many dramatic changes in the latest ITA Division I team rankings released today. Wake Forest and TCU remained No. 1 and No. 2 despite their losses in their conference semifinal matches; the Ohio State men, who finished the Big Ten regular season undefeated, dropped from 3 to 6, although the Buckeyes have not yet completed their season; they are hosting the Big Ten conference tournament, which begins Thursday. NC State men also dropped and are in danger of losing their first-three-rounds hosting spot, going from 5 to 8, and now subject to the calculation formula the NCAA will use to determine those positions after next week's ITA rankings are provided to them.

The Georgia women returned to the No. 1 spot after Texas A&M held it for just one week, with Georgia's win over the Aggies in the SEC conference final overriding their loss to A&M the previous week. North Carolina moved up and Duke fell after their loss to Virginia, with the Blue Devils trying to hold off the Ohio State women for that eighth spot, with the Buckeyes having their opportunities to make that move this week at the Big Ten conference tournament in Ojai. 

I've gone from Top 10 to 16 due to the NCAA hosting implications; the full rankings can be found by clicking on the headings. 

ITA Division I Rankings April 22, 2025

MEN:

Team:

(previous week's ranking in parentheses)

1. Wake Forest (1)

2. TCU (2)

3. Texas (4)

4. Virginia (6)

5. Stanford (8)

6. Ohio State (3)

7. San Diego (7)

8. NC State (5)

9. Columbia (9)

10. Arizona (11)

11. Cal (10)

12. Mississippi State (12)

13. South Carolina (13)

14. Central Florida  (18)

15. Tennessee (14)

16. Duke (19)

There are new No. 1s in men's singles and doubles, with Michael Zheng dropping to No. 2 for the first time since winning the NCAA title in November. Texas freshman Timo Legout has moved to No. 1. NCAA champions Lui Maxted and Pedro Vives of TCU, who have not been able to play together due to Vives' injury, also dropped from the No. 1 spot this week. With no NCAA individual tournament this spring, these ranking have less interest than usual, when seeding would be at stake, although who qualifies for the men's ATP Accelerator program the women's ITF Accelerator is determined by May's final rankings.

MEN:

Singles:

1. Timo Legout, Texas

2. Michael Zheng, Columbia

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

5. Colton Smith, Arizona

6. Jay Friend, Arizona

7. Samir Banerjee, Stanford

8. Pedro Vives, TCU

9. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

10. Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

Doubles:

1. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

2. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

3. Lucas Andrade da Silva and Connor Thomson, South Carolina

4. Togan Tokac and Theo Papamalamis, Texas A&M

5. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen

WOMEN:

Team:

(previous week's rankings in parentheses)

1. Georgia (2)

2. Texas A&M (1)

3. Michigan (3)

4. Oklahoma (4)

5. North Carolina (8)

6. Virginia (7)

7. Auburn (6)

8. Duke (4)

9. Ohio State (9)

10. Tennessee (10)

11. NC State (12)

12. LSU (11)

13. Texas Tech (15)

14. Texas (14)

15. Vanderbilt (13)

16. UCLA (19)

Mary Stoiana has beaten Dasha Vidmanova in straight sets twice in the last two weeks, but it hasn't been enough to dislodge the Georgia senior and NCAA fall champion from the top spot. Alanis Hamilton and Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina got a win over No. 1 Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard of Virginia in the ACC conference tournament final, and that moved them from 9 to 2.

Singles:

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

4. DJ Bennett, Auburn

5. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

6. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

7. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

8. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

9. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconson

10. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

Doubles:

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Alanis Hamilton and Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

3. Mell Reasco and Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

4. Mao Mushika and Jessica Alsola, Cal

5. Rose Marie Nijkamp and Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

In other college tennis news, Ole Miss announced Monday the university and men's head coach Toby Hansson "have mutually agreed to part ways," after Hansson's 11 seasons as head coach. Hansson, who was assistant/associate head coach under Billy Chadwick for eight years, took over the head coaching position when Chadwick retired in 2014. 

Next year, Ole Miss will also have a new women's head coach, after Mark Beyers announced his retirement earlier this month, effective at the end of this season. After eight years working under Beyers, associate head coach Grant Roberts will take over the program.

There are four USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, a women's W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, a women's W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, the final ATP Challenger 75 on green clay in Savannah Georgia and a men's M15 in Vero Beach Florida.

Tonight, I'm going to focus on the two that have begun their first round of play, which are the women's W35 in Charlotte and the Savannah Challenger.

In Charlotte, a trio of teenagers reached the main draw via qualifying, all of whom excelled in the Southern California junior swing: ITF J300 Indian Wells finalist Alexis Nguyen, Easter Bowl 18s champion Bella Payne and ITF J300 San Diego quarterfinalist and doubles champion Annika Penickova.

The 17-year-old Nguyen beat Kolie Allen(Ohio State) 6-2, 6-2 and will face Malaika Rapolu(Texas) in the first round; Payne, who had defeated No. 2 seed Kylie McKenzie in the first round of qualifying, beat ITF J300 San Diego champion Kristina Penickova, the ITF junior No. 3, 7-6(7), 2-6, 10-5; Annika Penickova beat No. 8 seed Lilian Poling(Boise St, Mississippi St) 7-6(4), 6-2. Payne will play Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain in the first round Wednesday, while Penickova will face Jada Robinson.

Other US players into the main draw via qualifying are NC State sophomore Maddy Zampardo, Oklahoma State graduate student Kylie Collins and Emma Burgic(Baylor).

Wild cards were awarded to 17-year-olds Maya Iyengar, Monika Ekstrand and Sara Shumate and 18-year-old Christasha McNeil. Ekstrand lost her first round match today 7-5, 6-2 to Mayu Crossley of Japan, the third time they've met on the USTA Pro Circuit this month, with Crossley taking the last two. McNeil lost to No. 8 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 6-3, 6-3. Shumate and Iyengar play Robin Anderson[4](UCLA) and Katerina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia, respectively, Wednesday.

The top seed in Charlotte is Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico, with Gergana Topolova of Bulgaria the No. 2 seed. Akli and Anderson are the only seeded Americans.

In Savannah, No. 3 seed Emilio Nava decided to play a third week in a row and it didn't go well for him, with the 23-year-old Tallahassee finalist dropping his second straight match after winning 19 in a row. Former ITF junior No. 1 Joel Schwaertzler of Austria defeated Nava 6-3, 6-4. The Tallahassee champion, Chris Rodesch(Virginia) of Luxembourg, also lost his first round match today, going out to former Georgia Tech All-American Andres Martin, a wild card, 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(3).

Jenson Brooksby(Baylor) who won his first ATP title in Houston earlier this month, is finding the going much tougher in the Challengers, losing in the first round for the second straight week as a wild card. Brooksby, the No. 6 seed, lost to Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France 6-4, 6-3.

Americans who did advance to the second round are Martin, top seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas), wild card Alfredo Perez(Florida) and qualifiers Patrick Maloney(Michigan) and Stefan Kozlov.

Perez, who made back-to-back Challenger quarterfinals in Mexico this month, beat qualifier Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, but it's good to see Kypson back in the Challenger mix after being out since January. 

The latest standing in the USTA's Roland Garros wild card race were distributed today, with Nava and Julieta Pareja continuing to lead with two weeks remaining in the annual Challenge.

Ethan Quinn(Georgia) qualified for the Masters 1000 in Madrid today, and plays a fellow qualifier in the first round, so he will be moving up and can theoretically pass Nava with a deep run there.

Women's Standings: 

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Julieta Pareja (335) -- 116

2. Caty McNally (287) -- 90

3. Varvara Lepchenko (120) -- 70

4. Louisa Chirico (151) -- 58

5. Whitney Osuigwe (179) -- 41

 

Men's Standings:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Emilio Nava (132) -- 119

2. Colton Smith (161) -- 63

T3. Chris Eubanks (108) -- 50

T3. Ethan Quinn (119) -- 50

5. Alfredo Perez (416) -- 33

 

Orange Bowl 16s Gallery; Saffar Claims First ITF Singles Title at J60 in Mexico; ITF J500 Cairo Begins Monday; Kuzuhara Wins Sunrise $15K; King and Harrison Capture Dallas Doubles Title; ATP 250 Delray Beach Qualifying Complete

With the semifinalists at the ITA Women's Team Indoor Championships getting the day off today, I'll take a day off from college tennis results to catch up on several junior and pro events.

My gallery of the round of 16 singles players in both the boys and girls Orange Bowl 16s Championships back in December is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. The backdrops and the light in south Florida that time of year produce some stunning photos, thanks to my photographer Paul Ballard, who works tirelessly that week to photograph hundreds of players for the Zootennis library. 

One of the players in that gallery, Yael Saffar, won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title this past week at the J60 in Mexico. The 16-year-old from Plantation Florida, the home of the Orange Bowl, didn't drop a set in her five victories. The No. 6 seed, Saffar defeated No. 16 seed Carla Guerrero Calvo of Spain 6-4, 6-1 in the final. No. 2 seeds Shaya Jovanovic and Reagan Levine lost in the doubles final to top seeds Zoe Levresse Zavala and Natalia Varela Herrera of Mexico 6-4, 6-2.

The only other title last week for an American junior came in Australia, with Noble Renfrow taking the boys doubles title at the J100 in Launceston. Renfrow and his Australian partner Luca Connaughton, seeded No. 5, defeated No. 4 seeds Nikolas Baker and Cooper Kose of Australia 6-1, 6-0 in the final. 

The first ITF J500 of the year begins Monday in Cairo Egypt, with just one American entered: Maya Iyengar.  Iyengar, who was the top seed at the J300 this week in Cairo, lost in the quarterfinals; No. 4 seed Neus Torner Sensano of Spain won the title, beating unseeded Antonia Stoyanov of the Netherlands 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(2) in the final. Torner Sensano is the No. 7 seed in the J500, with Iyengar seeded No. 3. Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic and Luna Vujovic are the top two seeds; they did not play the warmup event.

The top seed in the boys draw is Alan Wazny of Poland, who won the J300 warmup event. Ognjen Milic of Serbia, who did not play the warmup tournament, is the No. 2 seed.

The qualifying draws for J500s are generally quite strong, or at least full with local players, but that wasn't the case for this one, with just 36 boys entered in a 64-player qualifying draw and only 13 girls. Only three of those girls, all from Egypt, had to win a qualifying match to reach the main draw. The other five were directly into the main draw just for signing into qualifying.

Twenty-year-old Bruno Kuzuhara won his fourth ITF men's World Tennis Tour singles title and his first since 2023 today at the $15,000 tournament in Sunrise Florida. The unseeded Floridian, a former ITF Junior No. 1, ended the winning streak of No. 8 seed Garrett Johns(Duke), who had won the $15K last week in Palm Coast. Kuzuhara had a come-from-behind three-set win in the second round over No. 6 seed Juan Carlos Aguilar(Texas A&M, TCU), but was impressively efficient after that, beating No. 4 seed Ernesto Escobedo of Mexico and No. 5 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) in straight sets before closing out Johns 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour.

The ATP 500 Dallas Open concluded today with unseeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada winning the biggest title of his career with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over No. 2 seed Casper Ruud of Norway. Shapovalov, who has struggled to find his ATP Top 10 form after returning from a 2023 injury layoff, beating three Top 10 players this week in Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Ruud. 

The doubles title in Dallas went to Evan King(Michigan) and Christian Harrison, who had to qualify just to get into the tournament. The 32-year-old King and the 30-year-old Harrison didn't drop a set however, in a strong field, beating unseeded Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Robert Galloway(Wofford) 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the final. It's the first title for both King and Harrison, who were playing as a team for the second time. For more on the final, see this article from the ATP website.

2024 spring NCAA doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy(Ohio State) received a wild card and beat No. 4 seeds and Olympic silver medalists Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) and Rajeev Ram(Illinois) 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 in the quarterfinals before falling to Behar and Galloway.

Delray Beach Florida ATP 250

With Dallas complete, the ATP Tour in the United States heads to the 250 in Delray Beach, Florida. Many of the same players are in the field, although Tommy Paul withdrew.  Taylor Fritz is the top seed and is defending champion; with Paul out, there is no No. 2 seed; Marcos Giron, the No. 5 seed, will take his place at the bottom of the draw. Alex Michelsen is the No. 3 seed.

Wild cards were awarded to Learner Tien, who will be playing for the first time since reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open last month, Mackenzie McDonald and Reilly Opelka. 

Three Americans qualified: Tristan Boyer(Stanford), Michael Mmoh and Zachary Svajda. Ethan Quinn(Georgia), who lost to Svajda 7-6(1), 6-3 today, got Paul's spot in the main draw as the lucky loser. James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan is the fourth qualifier. 

ITF Pan Am Gallery; Broadus, Vidmanova and Eubanks Win USTA Pro Circuit Titles; Qualifying Now Complete for NCAA D-I Individual Championships

The Tennis Recruiting Network has just published a Zootennis.com photo gallery from last month's ITF Pan American Regional Championships in Houston Texas, with 48 of the participants featured. It's always great to have an outlet for the photos that I don't use during the week of the tournament, and most of these photos are of players who were not part of September's US Open Junior Championships gallery.

Two women who will be competing in the NCAA Division I individual championships beginning a week from Tuesday in Waco Texas warmed up for that event by claiming titles today on the USTA Pro Circuit.

Pepperdine senior Savannah Broadus added the singles title to the doubles championship she claimed yesterday at the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska. Broadus, who came through qualifying, defeated Rachel Gailis, a junior at Florida, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in today's final to earn her first USTA Pro Circuit singles title.

At the W35 in Miami Florida, University of Georgia senior Dasha Vidmanova, seeded No. 8, came from 6-4, 4-1 down against unseeded 18-year-old UCLA recruit Mayu Crossley to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win in today's final. It's the fourth Pro Circuit singles title of the year for the 21-year-old from the Czech Republic, and her second at the W35 level. 

No. 2 seed Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) had won two third-set tiebreakers in the quarterfinals and semifinals at the ATP Challenger 75 in Knoxville Tennessee; in today's final, he didn't need a third set against No. 3 seed Learner Tien(USC), saving two set points in yet another tiebreaker to claim a 7-5, 7-6(9) victory. Eubanks, who also won the Knoxville Challenger in 2021, is now very much in contention for the USTA's reciprocal Australian Open wild card, with one week remaining in the race. Eubanks, Tien and Basavareddy(Stanford) are all in the draw at the Champaign Illinois Challenger 75; Nicolas Moreno De Alboran(UC-Santa Barbara) won a Challenger 75 in Japan this weekend, so he is currently in the lead, with a Challenger 100 in Japan on his schedule for the coming week.

No. 6 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada won the title at the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan, beating No. 3 seed Alycia Parks 6-2, 6-1 in the final.  No. 2 seeds Emily Appleton and Maia Lumsden of Great Britain won the doubles title, beating the unseeded team of Texas A&M junior Mia Kupres and former Auburn star Ariana Arseneault of Canada 6-2 4-6, 10-5 in the final.

The fields are set for the NCAA singles and doubles championships at Baylor, with the final few spots left to fill decided today at the Conference Masters Championships in Rome Georgia and the Sectional Championships at seven sites across the country.  

The results from these final two tournaments, both in singles and doubles, are below. There were a lot of walkovers, as there have been all fall, once a player had secured their spot in the NCAAs. I would hope that eliminating that option by simply holding these tournaments as qualifying events, rather than an attempt to determine a "champion" is under consideration for year two of this format.

I was very happy to see that North Carolina State's Braden Shick earned his spot on his last possible attempt. He had gone 0-4 in matches (at All-Americans, Regionals and in the East Sectional) that would have qualified him for NCAAs before finally winning in his fifth opportunity today.

Sectional NCAA qualifiers:

EAST:

Men:

DK Suresh[1], Wake Forest

Paul Inchauspe[4], Princeton

Lucas Adrade da Silva, South Carolina

Cooper Williams[2], Duke

Fifth and sixth place: 

Braden Shick, NC State

Luca Staeheli, NC State

Doubles:

Champions: Cooper Wiliams and Theo Winegar, Duke

Finalists: DK Suresh and Ioannis Xilas[[4], Wake Forest

Third place: Patrick Schoen and Logan Zapp, North Carolina

Women:

Singles:

Carons Tanguilig[1], North Carolina

Kaitlyn Carnicella, South Carolina

Annabelle Xu[3], Virginia

Sarah Hamner[2], South Carolina

Fifth and sixth place:

Elaine Chervinsky[5-8], Virginia

Emma Jackson[5-8], Duke

Doubles:

Champions: Theadora Rabman and Tatum Evans, North Carolina

Finalists: Irinia Balus and Ellie Coleman[3], Duke

Third place: Martina Genis Salas and Annabelle Xu[4], Virginia

SOUTH:

Women:

Guillermina Grant[1], Georgia

Ludmila Kareisova, Mississippi

Lucie Petruzelova, Mississippi

Catherine Aulia[2], Tennessee

Fifth and sixth place:

Valeria Ray[5], Vanderbilt

Anaelle Leclercq-Ficher, Mississippi

Doubles:

Champions: Given Roach and Alejandra Cruz, Georgia Tech

Finalists: Guillermina Grant and Aysegul Mert[1], Georgia

Third place: Anaelle Leclercq-Ficher and Ludmila Kareisova, Mississippi

Men:

Roan Jones, Alabama

Martin Katz[1], Miami

Niccolo Baroni[5-8], Mississippi State

Jeremy Jin[5-8], Florida

Fifth and sixth place:

Oscar Pinto Sansano, Georgia

Jack Loutit, Kentucky

Doubles:

Finalists: Facundo Yunis and Jip van Assendelft, Indiana

Finalists: Youcef Rihane and Alex Bulte, Florida State

Third place: Mario Martinez Serrano and Niccolo Baroni[4], Mississippi State

CENTRAL:

Women:

Singles:

Julia Garcia Ruiz[1], Oklahoma

Piper Charney[3], Michigan

Lily Jones[5-8], Michigan

Nicole Khirin[2], Texas A&M

Fifth and sixth place:

Daria Smetannikov, Texas A&M

Alina Shcherbinina, Oklahoma

Doubles:

Champions: Liubov Kostenko and Cristina Tiglea, Baylor

Finalists: Lily Jones and Jessica Bernales, Michigan

Third Place: Jade Otway and Isabel Pascual, TCU

Singles:

Gavin Young[1], Michigan

Duncan Chan, TCU

Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

Trevor Svajda[2], SMU

Fifth and sixth place:

Oskar Brosrom Poulsen, Baylor

Aristotelis Thanos, Michigan State

Doubles:

Finalists: Arthus de la Bassetiere and Kabeer Kapasi, Rice

Finalists: Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted[1], TCU

Third place: Bryce Nakashima and Will Jansen, Ohio State

WEST:

Women:

Elise Wagle, UCLA

Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer[4], UCLA

Mao Mushika, Cal

Kate Fakih[5], UCLA

5th and 6th place:

Grace Piper, USC

Lan Mi, Cal

Doubles:

Champions: Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA

Finalists: Kendall Kovick and Yujia Huang, BYU

Third place: Amelia Honer and Anna-Marie Weissheim[3], UC-Santa Barbara

Men:

Maxi Homberg, Pepperdine

Alex Chang[4], Cal

Theo Dean[5-8], Cal

Youssef Kadiri, Nevada

Fifth and sixth place:

Timofey Stepanov, Cal

Emon Van Loben Sels, UCLA

Doubles:

Finalists: Carl Overbeck and Theo Dean[1], Cal

Finalists: Wally Thane and Zach Fuchs, BYU

Third place:

Alex Chang and Mikey Wright, Cal

CONFERENCE MASTERS NCAA qualifiers:

MEN:

Sebastian Dominko[1], Notre Dame

Thomas Paulsell[3], Georgia

Anton Arzhankin[4], Western Michigan

Tiago Silva,[5-8] Pacific

Doubles:

Champions: Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanches Martinez[1], Mississippi State

Finalists: Peter Nad and Sebastian Dominko[2], Notre Dame

Third place: Vasco Prata and Matias Iturbe[5-8], UNC-Charlotte

WOMEN:

Singles:

Sofia Johnson[[2], Old Dominion

Gracie Epps[5-8], Oklahoma State

Katja Wiersholm[3], Cal

Oyinlomo Quadre[4], Florida International

Doubles:

Champions: Savannah Dada-Mascoll and Isabella Romanichen[5-8], Appalachian State

Finalists: Clara Owen and Abby Nugent, Xavier OH

Third place: Celia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster[1], Vanderbilt

For a complete list of all 64 singles competitors and 32 doubles teams, including the method by which they qualified, see Collegetennisranks.com's google documents. The women's list is here; the men's list is here.

San Diego's Tarvet Sweeps ITA All-American Titles; Sholokova Claims Wisconsin's First Championship; Jovic Wins W35 in Berkeley; US Open Junior Photo Gallery

After an exciting week at the ITA All-American Championships, Sunday was something of a letdown, with the men's final not decided on the court in Tulsa. Texas's Sebastian Gorzny withdrew with an injury prior to the final, giving Oliver Tarvet of San Diego his second straight walkover, an anticlimatic day for the first ITA All-American Championships title in Toreros history. 

Tarvet did win his second All-American title the usual way, partnering with Stian Klaassen for the doubles championship. The unseeded Tarvet and Klaassen defeated Baylor's unseeded pairing of Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-5. Tarvet and Klaassen trailed 4-1 in the deciding tiebreaker before winning seven straight points to take control.

Tarvet is the first player since Virginia's Thai Kwiatkowski to win the All-American Championships singles and doubles titles in the same year.

Maria Sholokova of Wisconsin also made history for her school, becoming the first All-American champion in history with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over qualifier Elza Tomase of Tennessee in the women's final.  Sholokova, a junior from Russia, showed little indication of any nerves, and although she was unable to close out the first set on serve at 5-2, she broke Tomase to secure it.  Up 5-1 in the second set, Sholokova again couldn't close it out on her first attempt, but calmly served out the championship on her second try.

Tomase, who was playing her eighth singles match in seven days, looked understandably weary at times, while Sholokova was able to stay both consistent and aggressive, showing the form that had eliminated top seed Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.

Sholokova admitted she was not expecting to take the title this week in Cary, but that win helped her believe it was possible.

"Honestly this whole tournament was an incredible experience for me," Sholokova told Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets after the final. "Coming here, I would never have thought I would make the final, or win this tournament. I think I just gained more and more confidence with each match, especially after my second round match, I thought I could do great in this tournament."

Sholokova was happy to see tangible results from work she and Wisconsin head coach Kelcy McKenna, who won the All-American title while at Arizona State in 2008, have done.

"All the work that me and Kelcy have put in these two years paid off," Sholokova said. "I'm more confident now in my forehand, my backhand...and I think my serve helped me a lot, and my returns have gotten so much better. Overall, it's been consistency and more aggressive tennis."

While qualifier Tomase was unsuccessful in her bid for a title, the doubles champions did follow the qualifying path to the peak, with Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot taking the title after coming though qualifying. The sophomores from NC State defeated unseeded Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle of UCLA 6-4, 6-4 to add a second title for the Wolfpack in the past three years. Amelia Rajecki and Nell Miller won the 2022 All-American doubles title.

All the ITA All American champions are now officially All-Americans. The ITA changed the critera for that honor this year to specifically include the All American champions. The other paths to earning All-American status remain the same. See this ITA article on the subject.

Four other players earned their spots in November's NCAA singles championships by reaching the consolation finals (the finals were not played) with wins today. Dasha Vidmanova[2] of Georgia defeated Sofia Johnson of Old Dominion 6-1, 6-2 and Mary Stoiana[1] of Texas A&M defeated Julia Fliegner of Michigan 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals to ensure they will be in the NCAA singles field in Waco. 

Arizona's Jay Friend[9-16] and Colton Smith[5] won their consolation semifinals today, with Smith defeating Thomas Paulsell of Georgia 6-4, 6-2 and Friend beating Braden Shick of NC State 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2) to earn their spots in the NCAA singles draw.

The three USTA Pro Circuit tournaments concluded today with just one of the three Americans in the finals emerging as the champion, and that was the youngest one.

Sixteen-year-old Iva Jovic won her second Pro Circuit title today at the W35 in Berkeley California, with the No. 2 seed defeating No. 5 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in this afternoon's championship match. Jovic, who saved a match point in her 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 win over Ena Koike of Japan in the second round, had lost in her previous two USTA Pro Circuit finals appearances this year. Next week's W35 tournament in Redding California is the site of her first Pro Circuit title, but she will not be defending that title; Jovic is on the entry list for next week's W75 in Rancho Santa Fe.

In the doubles final today, unseeded Maegan Manasse(Cal) and Elysia Bolton(UCLA) of Australia won the title, beating the unseeded team of Ema Burgic(Baylor) and Rutuja Bhosale(Texas A&M) of India 6-7(3), 6-2, 10-6.

At the W75 in Templeton, top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, who lost in the final of last year's tournament, defeated 25-year-old Usue Arconada 6-4, 6-3. The 27-year-old from Mexico is now up to a career-high of 69 in the WTA rankings.

No. 2 seeds Sophie Chang and Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) won their second title as a pair, both this year, defeating No. 4 seeds Rebecca Marino of Canada and Carmen Corley(Oklahoma) 1-6, 6-2, 10-4 in today's final.

Nineteen-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy, a junior at Stanford, lost in the final of the ATP Challenger 75 in Charleston South Carolina to lucky loser Edas Butvilas of Lithuania 6-4, 6-3. Basavareddy, now 0-3 in Challenger finals, has shown a willingness to play nearly every week, and with his history of injuries, the fact that he's remained healthy is a positive sign. He is entered in this week's Challenger 75 in Tiburon California and is scheduled to play Bernard Tomic of Australia in the first round. 

Tennis Recruiting Network has just published the Zootennis.com photo gallery from the US Open Junior Championships, featuring 40 of the Americans who competed in New York earlier this month. 

First ITF Junior Circuit Titles for Mekhael, Ikwueme and Ahmad; USTA Roland Garros WC Challenge Standings; Searle Beats Top Seed Wolf, Kuzuhara and Lilov Qualify at Tallahassee Challenger; Easter Bowl 16s Finals Videos

In addition to the three titles won by Americans at the J200 in Canada last week, which I covered on Friday and Saturday, six more titles were claimed by US players in J30s and J60s last week on the ITF Junior Circuit.  The three singles titles earned were the first ITF Junior Circuit titles for 13-year-old Izyan Ahmad, 15-year-old Ariana Ikwueme and 16-year-old Nicholas Mekhael.

Ahmad, who was a B14s finalist last month at the USTA Easter Bowl, was making his ITF Junior Circuit debut last week at the J30 in Mexico City. I'm not sure how he made the main draw without a wild card, but unseeded, Ahmad won six matches, five in straight sets, to claim the title. In the championship match, he beat unseeded Nicolas Rivera Paz of Mexico 7-6(1), 6-2.

At the J30 in Trinidad and Tobago, Ikwueme also won her first title without the benefit of a seed, although it was the ninth ITF Junior Circuit tournament she's played. The five-star freshman from Virginia defeated No. 7 seed Ciara Harding 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the all-US final. Harding did capture the girls doubles, with partner Tajaswini Narala. The unseeded American pair defeated No. 2 seeds Daisy Clifford of Great Britain and Jordane Dookie of Trinidad and Tobago 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the final. Colter Amey took out the top seed in the boys draw and reached the final. 

At the J60 in the Dominican Republic, Americans won three titles, including Mekhael's in boys singles. After defeating the top seed in the second round, Mekhael cruised into the final without dropping a set, while receiving two retirements. In the all-US championship match, the five-star junior from New Jersey defeated No. 12 seed Matthew Shaprio 6-2, 6-2.

Thirteen-year-old Lani Chang, daughter of Michael Chang and Amber Liu, made her ITF Junior Circuit debut and reached the final. There was no qualifying for the girls, so she was directly into the main draw, where she beat four seeds, including a victory over the top seed in the semifinals, before falling to No. 8 seed Yihan Qu of China 6-1, 6-0. 

Jordan Papadopoulos and his partner Xingyu Chan won the doubles title in the Dominican Republic, with the eighth-seeded pair beating No. 2 seeds Giancarlo Rosario and Jossting Cruz of the Dominican Republic 7-5, 6-3 in the final. The unseeded team of Regina Alcobe Garibay and Briley Rhoden won the girls doubles title, beating top seeds Ika Raju Kanumuri of Indian and Yasmin Vavrova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 in the final. 

Last week's W35 in Boca Raton had an impact on the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge standings, although Katie Volynets retains her lead from the week before. But two good weeks from Katrina Scott and Akasha Urhobo put them in the Top 5; Liv Hovde also moved into the top 4 with her title last week.

There was little change in the men's rankings, with Nicolas Moreno de Alboran(UC-Santa Barbara) continuing to lead, although Tennys Sandgren did move into the top 5 with his semifinal run at the Sarasota Challenger last week. There are two more weeks for the men (including this week) and three more weeks for the women to earn ATP/WTA points, with the best three results counting in the race.

Men's Standings after Week 2 (current rankings in parentheses):

1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (140) -- 63
2. Michael Mmoh (111) -- 50
T3. JJ Wolf (102) -- 25
T3. Aleks Kovacevic (97) -- 25
5. Tennys Sandgren (264) -- 22

Women's Standings after Week 2:

1. Katie Volynets (104) -- 57
2. Katrina Scott (412) -- 49
3. Akasha Urhobo (641) -- 37
4. Liv Hovde (272) -- 35
T5. Amanda Anisimova (238) -- 32
T5. Shelby Rogers (350) -- 32

The qualifying is complete and first round action has begun at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Florida, with a big upset to start the tournament this evening.  2023 Wimbledon boys champion Henry Searle of Great Britain, currently 764 in the ATP rankings, took on top seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) tonight and came away with the 7-5, 7-6(6) victory in a tense, well-played first round match.

Wolf, currently 102 in the ATP rankings, has lost in the first round as the top seed in the USTA Pro Circuit Challengers two weeks in a row now and is in danger of not making the main draw of Roland Garros this year.  Searle was granted a place in the main draw by virtue of the ATP/ITF Accelerator Program; ITF World No. 1 junior Joel Schwaerzler of Austria, utilizing his second straight Accelerator spot in a Challenger main draw, also got a victory today, his first, by beating Giovanni Fonio of Italy 6-2, 6-4. The two 18-year-olds will play each other in the second round Wednesday.

Young Americans Bruno Kuzuhara and Victor Lilov advanced to the main draw with final round qualifying wins over Alex Rybakov(TCU) and Ajeet Rai of New Zealand, respectively. 

Three top American juniors received wild cards into qualifying Alexander Razeghi, Roy Horovitz and Ian Mayew. Alexander Frusina and Australian Open boys champion Rei Sakamoto of Japan were also in qualifying via the Accelerator program. But only Mayew managed to win his first round match Sunday, beating former Baylor All-American Adrian Boitan of Romania 6-4, 6-4.  Mayew lost to No. 3 seed Corentin Denolly of France 7-6(4), 6-3 after leading 4-1 in the first set tiebreaker in today's final round of qualifying.

Wild cards were awarded to Stefan Kozlov, who beat 2022 Orange Bowl champion Gerard Campana Lee of Korea 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the first round today; Kaylan Bigun, who won a round last week in Sarasota as a qualifier; and Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal. I'm surprised no current Florida State players or alums are among the wild cards. No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) lost to Calvin Hemery of France 7-6(2), 6-3 in first round action today. 

Videos of the Easter Bowl 16s finals are below. The boys 16s is considerable longer than the girls because the boys final was played a day early and was therefore the only final going at the time, while the girls final was played while the 18s final were also in progress.  My photo gallery from the Easter Bowl is up at the Tennis Recruiting Network and can be found here.