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.

Zheng, Brantmeier Receive $100K Hurd Awards, Svajda and Lutkemeyer $40K as Finalists; Qualifying Complete, Johnson, Clarke Top Seeds at ITF J300 Tucson

photo credit: Universal Tennis Foundation

This year's Hurd Awards were nearly a foregone conclusion after Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina and Michael Zheng of Columbia won the NCAA singles titles in November in Lake Nona. Both Americans, both seniors, both interested in pursuing careers in professional tennis, it would have been shocking if they had not received the $100,000 grants to assist them in that pursuit.

Recently the Universal Tennis Foundation and Paula Hurd added a grant for two finalists, with this year's recipients of the $40,000 grant SMU junior Trevor Svajda, who is expected to join the pro circuit after this season, and UCLA senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer.

All four winners are quoted in this release from UTR; the Tennis Channel segment below features former Hurd recipient Chris Eubanks explaining how the grant eased his transition into pro tennis, with UTR's Mark Leschly and Paula Hurd adding their comments on the accomplishments of all four winners. 

Congratulation to the winners of this year's Hurd Awards 🏆

Reese Brantmeier and Michael Zheng will receive $100k to help fund their burgeoning pro careers 👏 pic.twitter.com/oA4Gh1u2zZ

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 8, 2026 

The main draw of the ITF J300 in Tucson begins Monday at the Tucson Racquet Club, although the seeded players will not take the court until Tuesday in the 48-player draws.

Qualifying concluded today with six boys and six girls earning their spots in the main draw, which means another match Monday. The girls qualifiers are Sylvana Jalbert, Ava Quincy Brewer, Armira Kockinis, Briley Rhoden, Anjani Vickneswaran and Sophie Suh, all of the United States. The boys qualifiers are Sebastian Godoy, Loic Massotte of Canada, Kristian Sharma, John Murphy, Keshav Muthuvel and Jack Dermenjyan.

The boys seeds:

1. Andrew Johnson

2. Gavin Goode

3. Tanishk Konduri

4. Xavier Massotte, CAN

5. Ryan Cozad

6. Vihaan Reddy

7. Safir Azam

8. Agassi Rusher

9. Marcel Latak

10. Roshan Santhosh

11. Zavier Augustin

12. Cooper Kose, AUS

13. Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca, MEX

14. Jerrid Gaines Jr.

15. William Kjellberg, SWE

16. Mason Taube

The girls seeds:

1. Melije Clarke

2. Hollie Smart, GBR

3. Olivia Traynor

4. Lani Chang

5. Sarah Ye

6. Carrie-Anne Hoo

7. Riyo Yoshida, JPN

8. Capucine Jauffret

9. Thara Gowda

10. Adla Lopez

11. Karlin Schock

12. Isabelle Deluccia

13. Hannah Ayrault

14. Anya Arora

15. Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann

16. Brooke Wallman

My on-site coverage in Tucson begins Monday, the first day of the three-week trip that moves to San Diego for the J300 North American Regional Championships next week and Indian Wells for the Easter Bowl the week after that.

Cozad, Yoshida Win ITF J200 Las Vegas Titles; Goode Takes ITF J300 Tucson Wild Card, Liutova a Late Withdrawal; Auburn Women Beat LSU, Texas Men Fall to LSU; Zheng Keeps AO Earnings

Ryan Cozad won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title in more than year today at the J200 in Las Vegas, with the top seed defeating doubles partner Ford McCollum, the No. 10 seed, 6-0, 6-1. The University of Virginia recruit, who had claimed his ninth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title Friday, partnering with McCollum, dropped just one set in his six singles victories. Cozad now has three career singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit.

No. 5 seed Riyo Yoshida of Japan won the girls singles title, beating No. 2 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 in today's final. It's Yoshida's second ITF J200 title, and her seventh overall.

All four finalists are expected to compete in next week's ITF J300 in Tucson, but there was a late withdrawal, with Kristina Liutova pulling out today. That leaves Melije Clarke as the only current ITF Top 50 girl in the draw.

The girls draw in Tucson lost a top 50 player in Liutova, but the boys gained one with the notice that Gavin Goode has accepted a wild card into the main draw. The ITF Junior No. 23 was not entered in Tucson, although he did enter the San Diego J300 the following week.

The other main draw wild cards went to Justin Riley Anson, Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju, Daniela Del Mastro, Julia Seversen and Tanvi Pandey.

The qualifying began today in Tucson, but there were very few matches, with the boys unable to fill a 24-player draw, with the five players with byes needing to win only one match to qualify for the main draw.

The girls did have enough qualifying entries for the standard 48 draw, but 21 players received byes into the second round. The second round winners will play two qualifying matches Sunday with those six winners playing another match in the main draw Monday.

At the J300 in Paraguay, No. 5 seed Damir Zhalgasbay of Kazakhstan won the boys title, beating No. 2 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico 6-4, 6-4 for his first ITF J300 singles title.

Top seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina won the girls singles title, her first at the J300 level, beating unseeded Camila Rodero of Chile 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Qualifying is underway for the ITF J300 in Porto Alegre Brazil, with Londyn McCord, the No. 1 seed, the only American in qualifying. 

Thara Gowda lost in the semifinals of the W15 in Canada, with top seed Ariana Arseneault(Georgia, Auburn) of Canada beating the 17-year-old qualifier from Michigan 6-3, 6-2. Arseneault will face No. 4 seed Dasha Ivanova in Sunday's final.

Last night in Austin, second-ranked Texas lost to No. 6 LSU 4-3 in SEC play, adding to the chaos atop the men's rankings, after No. 1 Ohio State fell to Baylor on Thursday night. LSU's Olaf Pieczkowski, a 21-year-old from Poland new to the Tigers roster, came from 5-2 down in the third set to beat Sebastian Gorzny 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 at line 1, clinching the fourth point for LSU. LSU won the doubles point and got wins at 2, 4 and 1 to pull off the upset. Texas is right back out there tonight, hosting No. 7 TCU.

The fourth-ranked LSU women hosted fifth-ranked Auburn today in Baton Rouge, with Auburn claiming a 4-2 victory. Auburn won the doubles point, but lost four first sets in singles. LSU quickly tied the match with a win at line 6, but victories for Auburn and lines 4 and 5, the two matches where they had won the first sets, put them back in the lead. And in the three remaining matches, Auburn had forced third sets, losing at No. 2, but getting a win at line 3 from Angella Okutoyi to clinch it, with line 1 unfinished.

Auburn is now 21-1, with their sole loss coming in the semifinals of the Team Indoor, to champion Georgia. 

Front Office Sports (thanks to Courtney Nguyen for highlighting the article in her Daily Bagel newsletter) has followed up on the issues of NCAA compliance regarding Michael Zheng's Australian Open earnings, with Zheng able to accept the money without jeopardizing his eligibility this spring because the money can be used for expenses throughout the calendar year, not the academic year in which it was earned. Whether the Reese Brantmeier settlement, yet to be announced, will affect this rule is unknown right now, but Zheng can fund the start of his pro career without any worries about the NCAA rules. 

The Universal Tennis Foundation's Hurd Award for American collegians was scheduled to be selected on Friday, with the announcement of the men's and women's winners and finalists expected Sunday, when Tennis Channel airs a special segment on  Zheng will have another source of funds for his pro career expenses when he receives that $100,000, which he does not have to use during this year. 

Pareja and Antonius Lead Fields for ITF J300 in San Diego; Wolf Returns, Exsted and Davidov Advance at M15 Naples; Frodin, Liutova Reach Second Round at W35 Arcadia; Hurd Award Announced March 6, UTR Collegiate Event Returns to BNP Second Week

The acceptances are out for the ITF J300 San Diego North American Regional Championships, which begin March 16 at the Barnes Tennis Center. 

Because the San Diego event, unlike the Tucson J300 a week earlier, is limited to players from the United States and Canada, the fields are not as strong, with the boys cutoff 251 (vs 195 for Tucson) and the girls cutoff 202 (vs 187 for Tucson).

Many of the same American juniors are entered both events, but Gavin Goode, who is not on the Tucson list, has entered San Diego, as has ITF No. 4 Julieta Pareja, who has not played a junior event since leading the USA's Billie Jean King Cup team to the title in November. Pareja won the ITF J300 last March in Indian Wells, but did not enter this year in Tucson, where that event was moved. She did not play the San Diego J300, near her home in Carlsbad, last year, so she is looking to defend those Indian Wells points a week later this year.

The Top 50 girls entered in San Diego are Julieta Pareja[4], Janae Preston[21], Nadia Lagaev(CAN)[39], Melije Clarke[47]

and Jordyn Hazelitt[49]. Notable absences are the Penickova twins, with Kristina winning the San Diego singles and claiming the doubles title last year with sister Annika, and Thea Frodin, Australian Open girls semifinalist.

The Top 50 boys entered in San Diego are Michael Antonius[11], Andrew Johnson [16], Gavin Goode [23], Tanishk Konduri [28], Ryan Cozad [39], Xavier Massotte(CAN)[40], Benjamin Azar(CAN)[43] and Vihaan Reddy[50]. 

Jordan Lee is not entered; Jack Secord[24] is entered in the J300 in Brazil the week of Tucson and the J500 in Brazil the week of San Diego, as is Welles Newman[35]. Many players are entered in the J500 in Brazil and San Diego which are the same week this year,, so until the withdrawal deadline next Tuesday, we won't know which one they'll decide to play. Antonius and Preston, who would have been the top seeds, have withdrawn from Tucson, but are entered in both the J500 in Brazil and the J300 in San Diego.

Both Antonius and Pareja are playing USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week and both posted wins today. Antonius, using an ITF junior reserved entry, defeated qualifier Kian Vakili(Penn) 6-4, 3-0 retired in the first round of the M15 in Naples Florida today. Fifteen-year-old wild card Teodor Davidov defeated qualifier Ivan Dreycopp of Argentina 6-1, 6-1 and will play No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia, who beat wild card Jordan Lee yesterday 7-5, 7-5, preventing a rematch of the 2024 IMG International 16s final in Thursday's second round. 

Former Ohio State All-American JJ Wolf, out for more than a year with injury, is making his return to competition this week in Naples as a wild card. The former ATP No. 39 defeated Fermin Tenti of Argentina 6-1, 6-3 today and will face Jack Secord, who beat No. 3 seed Bruno Kuzuhara by that same score yesterday.

USC freshman Max Exsted, the last direct acceptance in the main draw, defeated No. 2 seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 7-5, 6-4 in the first round today. The 18-year-old from Minnesota will play Ignacio Monzon of Argentina Thursday.

At the other USTA Pro Circuit tournament this week, the W35 in Arcadia California, Pareja, seeded No. 6, defeated qualifier Nadia Lagaev of Canada 6-0, 6-1 in the first round today, and will play qualifier Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) Thursday.  Last week's W35 Las Vegas champion Kristina Liutova defeated wild card Nicole Went 6-0, 7-5 today and will face qualifier Snow Han(USC) of China, who advanced when No. 2 seed Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) retired trailing 6-2, 3-1.  US teen qualifiers Maya Iyengar and Thea Frodin also reached the second round, with Iyengar beating wild card Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-3 and Frodin defeating Oklahoma State freshman Luca Udvardy of Hungary 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The Universal Tennis Foundation and UTR Sports today announced two events related to college tennis at next month's BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

On March 6, the 2026 Hurd Award recipients will be named, with $100,000 going to one American collegiate man and one American collegiate woman, with a $40,000 grant going to the runners-up. Last year Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M and Colton Smith of Arizona received the top prize, with Eliot Spizzirri of Texas and Amelia Honer of UC-Santa Barbara receiving $40,000. 

I would be surprised if this year's awards don't go to NCAA champions Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina and Michael Zheng of Columbia.

The UTR Sports College Championships will again be held on the final weekend of the BNP Paribas Open, with the four men's teams competing this year Arizona State, Pepperdine, Baylor and Memphis. The latter is the only newcomer, replacing Princeton from last year's lineup.

Orange Bowl Acceptances Feature Defending Boys Champion Santamarta Roig, but Few Top Girls; Lee Earns First ATP Point, Johnson Downs Antonius at Orlando M15; McNeil Beats Sonobe at W50 in Austin; Blanch Avenges Knoxville Final Loss in Champaign

The acceptances for the final two major ITF Junior Circuit events of the year were released today, with the J300 at IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida and the J500 Orange Bowl in Fort Lauderdale Florida featuring similar fields.

Three Top 10 boys and two Top 10 girls have entered, with Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, the defending champion in both events, leading the acceptance lists. Santamarta, currently No. 3 in the ITF rankings, obviously has a lot of points to defend, points he might need to stay in the ITF Top 10 at year-end. A top 10 finish means up to eight Challenger 50 and 75 main draw wild cards.

The other two Top 10 boys are recent ITF Junior Finals runner-up Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania[6] and Jack Kennedy[8].

In addition to Kennedy, the Americans in the Orange Bowl main draw are: Ronit Karki, Keaton Hance, Noah Johnston, Michael Antonius, Jack Satterfield, Jack Secord, Andrew Johnson, Max Dussault, Max Exsted, Gavin Goode, Dominick Mosejczuk and Ryan Cozad. Johnston(Georgia), Satterfield(Vanderbilt), Dussault(TCU) and Mosejczuk(Wake Forest) are all competing in their first semester in college this fall, so it remains to be seen whether they will actually play what would be the final ITF junior tournament of their careers.

The boys main draw cutoff was 83; ten more American boys are in qualifying, with that cutoff 206.

The two Top 10 girls who entered the Orange Bowl are Ksenia Efremova[8] of France and No. 10 Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic. 

The top two US girls did not enter, with No. 1 Kristina Penickova and No. 5 Julieta Pareja missing. Penickova had entered the J500 in Mexico, but withdrew from that. She has no points to defend the rest of the year, and with none of the other top girls competing in the last few events, Penickova's No. 1 ranking looks safe.  She is currently competing in the W35 in Orlando, where she won her opening round match today. 

The US girls accepted into the main draw of the Orange Bowl are Thea Frodin, Annika Penickova, Capucine Jauffret, Melije Clarke, Welles Newman, Nancy Lee, Carrie-Ann Hoo, Ishika Ashar, Maggie Sohns and Ava Rodriguez.

The girls main draw cutoff was 107; 17 more US girls are in qualifying, with that cutoff at 234.

The Bradenton field is similar, but Kennedy, Karki, Satterfield and Exsted did not enter. US girls in the Orange Bowl but not Bradenton are Frodin, Annika Penickova and Sohns.

The boys main draw cutoff in Bradenton was 95, the girls main draw cutoff was 111.

The Orange Bowl 16s entries have not yet been posted, but should be available here by the end of the week. The entry lists for the 12s, 14s and 16s at the IMG Academy Championships, previously the Eddie Herr, are here.

The USTA Florida section's recent Here to Serve podcast takes a look at the history and the recent relocation of the Orange Bowl to the newly renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center in Fort Lauderdale. Chris Evert is expected to attend the ribbon cutting for the venue's new Stadium Court on Monday December 8th according to USTA Florida Executive Director Laura Bowen. Her conversation with the Orange Bowl's Doug Wiley and Eric Poms and Scott Pukys, Director of Tennis at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center, can be viewed here.

Ten of the 16 players remaining in the M15 in Orlando are juniors, with the youngest, 15-year-old wild card Jordan Lee, earning his first ATP point today with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest). He will play Clemson freshman and fellow wild card Matisse Farzam, who defeated No. 6 seed Benjamin Torrealba of Chile 7-5, 6-2 today. Lee is the second player born in 2010 to earn an ATP point. Michael Antonius was the first with his run to the quarterfinals at an M15 in New York this summer.

That's one of three all-junior second round matches. Longtime friends and US Open boys doubles champions Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance will play after Hance defeated Ole Miss sophomore Benjamin Martin, a qualifier, 7-6(3), 6-2. Kennedy won their most recent junior meeting in the semifinals of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. The third match will be between qualifier Noah Johnston(Georgia) and Max Exsted. Johnston advanced when Pedro Rodrigues (UCF) of Brazil retired leading 4-6, 6-1, 3-1. Exsted defeated Jonathan Mridha of Sweden today 6-0, 7-5.

Seventeen-year-old Gavin Goode, who beat top seed Toby Kodat yesterday, will face Mehdi Benchakroun(UCF) of Morocco in Thursday's second round, and 18-year-old Reda Bennani of Morocco, the No. 5 seed, will play qualifier Andreja Petrovic(North Dakota, Florida State, Duke) of Norway. For the second straight week in Orlando Nikolas Stoot has qualified and advanced, with the 17-year-old Floridian beating University of Florida junior Kevin Edengren of Sweden 6-3, 6-0. He will play No. 8 seed Stijn Paardekooper(St. Bonaventure, Utah State) of the Netherlands.

In today's battle of the Junior Davis Cup champion teammates, Andrew Johnson defeated fellow wild card Michael Antonius 6-3, 6-4 to swing the head-to-head back in his favor after falling to Antonius 6-4, 6-3 in last month's ITF J300 Pan Am final. Johnson will face No. 2 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) next.

Christasha McNeil, the University of Texas freshman, was unsuccessful in her two attempts to qualify for next week's NCAAs, but the 19-year-old from New York had her best result since joining the Longhorns today at the W50 in Austin. After qualifying yesterday, McNeil was drawn to face No. 2 seed and reigning Australian Open girls champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan and she pulled off the upset of the WTA No. 225 6-4, 6-4. She will play Auburn senior Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia in Thursday's second round.

In the last match of the first round at the ATP Challenger 75 today in Champaign Illinois, Darwin Blanch avenged his loss in Sunday's Knoxville Challenger 50 final to Mitchell Krueger. The 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion defeated No. 3 seed Krueger 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance to a second round meeting Thursday with University of Georgia graduate student Arda Azkara of Turkey.

Easter Bowl 14s Videos; Junior Davis and Billie Jean King Cup Finals Held in Chile This Fall; Clarke Wins First USTA Pro Circuit Main Draw Match at W50; Sioux Falls Challenger Upgrading to 100 Level

My videos of the USTA Level 1 Easter Bowl 14s finals are below; the 16s videos are next and will be live soon, with the 18s to follow. To see all videos from the two ITF J300s in Southern California, as well as the Easter Bowl 12s finals at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

2024 USA Jr BJK Cup champions

The International Tennis Federation announced yesterday that the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup finals will be hosted this year in Santiago Chile. The 16-and-under team competition has not been able to find a permanent home, or even a semi-regular venue and spot on the calendar, unlike the World Junior Tennis 14-and-under team competition, which has been located Prostejov Czech Republic for 25 years and has been the first week of August. 

This year the JDC and JBJKC will be November 3-9, at two different clubs in Santiago. The event has always been after the US Open, but as early as September and as late as the end of November. There is no mention of this being more than a one-year deal in the ITF's article on the competition's return to South America after 24 years.

2024 USA Jr Davis Cup champions

At the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying today in Montreal for both the 16U and 14U teams, the United States won all four of its matches 3-0. The WJT girls defeated Mexico, the WJT boys beat the Dominican Republic, the JDC team topped Canada and the JBJK team defeated Mexico. 

Individual results can be found at the ITF's tournament page.

At the women's W50 in Zephyrhills Florida, 15-year-old Zaire Clarke earned her first main draw win on the Pro Circuit after qualifying yesterday. Clarke defeated wild card Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 and will face a WTA Top 200 player for the first time in No. 1 seed Arina Rodionova of Australian. Rodionova, who at age 35, is 20 years older than Clarke, avenged her first round last week to Diletta Cherubini of Italy, with the WTA No. 172 posting a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win over the qualifier. 

Two seeds lost in the first round today, with wild card Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) defeating No. 5 seed Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, and qualifier Malaika Rapolu(Texas) defeating No. 8 seed Anna Rogers(NC State) 6-3, 6-2.

At the Tallahassee Challenger 75, No. 3 seed Mitchell Krueger has advanced to the quarterfinals with a 0-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) win over Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France. Michael Mmoh lost to Andy Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-1. Patrick Maloney(Michigan), who surprised the heavily favored Jenson Brooksby last night in the first round contest between wild cards, will play Mathys Erhard of France tonight for a place in the quarterfinals against Krueger.

The recent Challenger in San Diego was at the 100 level, and the Phoenix Challenger in the second week of the BNP Paribas Open has always been at the 150 or 175 level, but in general, the longstanding Challengers on the USTA Pro Circuit have been 75s.  That's why it was surprising to me to read that this fall's Challenger in Sioux Falls South Dakota, in just its second year, will move from a 75 to a 100, but it's great news. For more on the second year of the tournament, scheduled for October 19-26, see this Argus Leader article.

USTA Director of Coaching Ola Malmqvist Retires; USTA Board Nominations for 2025-26; Three of Four USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments This Week in California

Former New York Times sports reporter Christopher Clarey, a leading tennis journalist, posted a tweet today announcing the retirement of USTA's Director of Coaching Ola Malmqvist. Malmqvist, who won an NCAA doubles title while at the University of Georgia in 1983 and coached Division I tennis at UNLV before joining the USTA, was named the USTA head of women's tennis in 2008. In 2018, Kathy Rinaldi took over for Malmqvist as head of women's tennis, while Malmqvist was named Director of Coaching, a position that Jose Higueras had held previously.

According to Clarey's tweet, all the recent controversy regarding the budget cuts at Player Development was a factor.

"He is departing in large part because he disagreed with budget cuts and reductions made to the USTA player development program, both at the pro and grassroots levels."

I have been encouraged by some recent USTA responses to this spring's Jose Higueras email that sparked the Player Development discussion, but this is not a good sign. I hope Malmqvist can continue to stay involved in the sport; perhaps, now that he will no longer be employed by the USTA, he will have more freedom to speak out on what can be done to keep American tennis on an upward trajectory.

The USTA has announced its slate of officers and board members for 2025-26. Brian Vahaly will be the president and chairman, with Christopher Lewis the first vice president.  CiCi Bellis has been nominated as a Director at Large in the Elite Athlete category. The full list of nominees can be found in this Tennis Industry United article.

California is hosting the three biggest tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit this week, with the Tiburon ATP Challenger 75 and Redding W35 in Northern California and the W75 in Rancho Santa Fe in Southern California.

In Tiburon, the first round will be completed tonight; six Americans have already advanced to the second round, including two recent University of Texas graduates: qualifier Micah Braswell and Eliot Spizzirri. No. 2 seed Learner Tien(USC) and Charleston finalist Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) won today; Denis Kudla, the No. 8 seed, and wild card Colton Smith won their opening matches Monday, with Smith beating No. 5 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-2. 

Smith, a senior at Arizona, played a consolation semifinal match at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa Oklahoma Sunday and was right back on the court Monday in Tiburon, so I'm sure he enjoyed his day off today. Smith has made the second round of all three of the Challengers he's played: Lincoln in August, Las Vegas in September, and now here in Tiburon.

At the W35 in Redding, none of the eight players who qualified today are from the United States. Main draw cards were given to junior Alexis Nguyen, Berta Passola(Cal), Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) and Eryn Cayetano(Souther Cal). Maria Mateas(Duke) is the top seed.

Usue Arconada, the Templeton W75 finalist, received a special exemption into the main draw.  Texas A&M senior Mary Stoiana, who, like Colton Smith, played a consolation semifinal match in the ITA All-American Championships Sunday, but unlike Smith, she was not scheduled to play a match until Wednesday.

In contrast to Redding, seven of the eight qualifiers at the W75 in Rancho Santa Fe are Americans: Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech), Gabriella Price, Haley Giavara(Cal), Solymar Colling(San Diego), Lauren Davis, Carolyn Campana(Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Kailey Evans(San Diego). Evans, who played her All-American consolation quarterfinal on Saturday, had Sunday to travel before beginning qualifying on Monday.

The top seed at the W75 Rancho Santa Fe is University of Texas freshman Maya Joint of Australia, with Rebecca Marino of Canada the No. 2 seed. Wild card were awarded to Georgia's 2024 NCAA finalist Anastasiya Lopata of Ukraine, 15-year-old Annika Penickova, Ashley Kratzer and 15-year-old Julieta Pareja. Kratzer defeated Carson Branstine(Texas A&M) of Canada 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 today, while Pareja, who reached the final round of women's qualifying at the US Open, earned a third WTA Top 200 win today. Pareja, from nearby Carlsbad California, defeated No. 6 seed Elli Mandlik 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Akasha Urhobo and Berkeley W35 champion Iva Jovic are both in the main draw on their own rankings, and are unseeded.

The fourth USTA Pro Circuit event is here in Michigan, a new $15,000 men's tournament in Ann Arbor.

Five Americans advanced to the main draw with wins today: Josh Portnoy, Michigan State senior; Alex Cairo Michigan sophomore; 

William Mroz, Illinois junior; Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest) and 

Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor).

The top seed in Ann Arbor is Felix Corwin(Minnesota). All four wild cards were given to current Michigan players: Bjorn Swenson, William Cooksey, Patorn Hanchaikul and Benjamin Kittay. Gavin Young of Michigan played his first round match today, beating No. 3 seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 6-3, 7-5.

Cooper Woestendick, Jagger Leach and Adhithya Ganesan(Florida) all received entries via the ITF's Junior Reserved program. Woestendick and Leach lost today in the first round; Ganesan plays Wednesday.

Results of USTA National Clay Court Finals; Hamilton Earns First Pro Title, Tien Extends Winning Streak to 25 at SoCal Pro Series Finale in Lakewood

The USTA National Clay Court Championships concluded over the weekend, with the results of the singles and doubles finals in all four age divisions below. Tennis Recruiting Network will begin its coverage Tuesday, beginning with the 12s division. For complete draws, click on the headings. 

Girls 18s

Singles:

Claire Hill[1] d. Anita Tu[2] 7-5, 6-2

Doubles:

Kady Tannenbaum[1] and Linda Ziets-Segura[1] d. Emerey Gross and Anna Bennett[9] 6-4, 6-2

Girls 16s

Singles:

Olivia Traynor[1] d. Lani Chang[9] 6-3, 7-5

Doubles:

Addy Rogin and Reagan Levine[5] d. Alexandra Wolf and Kingsley Wolf[4] 7-6(3), 6-1

Girls 14s

Singles:

Allison Wang[5] d. Enya Hamilton[3] 6-2, 6-2

Doubles:

Reiley Rhodes and Emery June Martin[3] d. Olivia De Los Reyes and Emery Combs[8] 6-1, 6-4

Girls 12s

Singles:

Nadia Poznick[1] d. Violetta Mamina[8] 6-1, 6-2

Doubles:

Gwyneth Britton and Tara Guhan[6] d.  Alexandra Hu and Capri Butera[14] 6-4, 6-1

B18s

Singles:

Dylan Long[2] d. Ronit Karki[3] 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4 

Doubles:

Max Pettingell and Jack Satterfield[1] d. Nicholas Patrick and Dylan Long 6-1, 6-2

B16s

Singles:

Gus Grumet[1] d. Andrew Johnson[16] 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

Doubles:

Arjun Prabhakar and Gabriel Jessup[12] d. Lucas Smith and Sutton Severance[3] 6-1, 6-2

B14s

Singles:

Mason Vaughan[3] d. Sebastian Godoy[13] 6-3, 5-7, 6-3

Doubles:

Mason Vaughan and Dylan Meineke[3] d. Akshay Mirmira and Gadin Arun[1] 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

B12s

Singles:

Daniel Gardality[1] d. Blount Williams[6] 6-3, 6-2

Doubles :

David Bender and Daniel Gardality[1] d. Evaan Mohan and Cavan Donnelly[1] 3-6, 6-4, 6-2

The seven-week SoCal Pro Series wrapped up Sunday in Lakewood California, with Learner Tien and Alanis Hamilton winning the singles titles at the $15,000 event. For more on the fifth straight title for Tien and the first pro title for the 17-year-old Hamilton, see the article below from SoCal Pro Series press aide Steve Pratt:

Learner Tien Wins Fifth Straight Pro Title As Match Winning Streak Extends To 25 On Final Day Of SoCal Pro Series

 

LAKEWOOD, Calif., July 14, 2024 – The Learner Tien Express roared through Lakewood on Sunday as the 18-year-old phenom won his 25^thconsecutive match and fifth straight professional title on the final day of the SoCal Pro Series following seven weeks of $15,000 ITF World Tour tournaments in San Diego and Los Angeles County. 

 

On Saturday, Tien from Irvine survived a third-set tiebreaker in the semifinals dropping his only set all week against former UCLA All-American Keegan Smith, and the former USC Trojan took out another former Bruin No. 1 downing wild-card Govind Nanda of Redlands, 6-3, 6-3, in the finals at the Lakewood Tennis Center.

 

It was the eighth career singles title for Tien, who won four SoCal Pro Series events over the seven weeks and an ATP M75 Challenger ($82,000) in Michigan before Lakewood. “It feels good,” said Tien. “I’m happy I made it through the week. I’m a little tired but feel OK. It’s been tough mentally after a long week and to get right back to it. I’m just glad I got through another week.”

 

As he inches closer to breaking into the world top 250, Tien next heads to the Chicago M75 ATP Challenger July 22-28 followed by the USTA National Hardcourt 18s at Kalamazoo where he is the two-time defending champion and looking for a third straight US Open main draw wild card that goes to the winner.

 

Tien was asked if he recalled when he last lost a match. “Yeah, it was when I got hurt,” said Tien, who fractured a rib on the left side of his rib cage on February 20^th in Florida. 

 

He added: “I haven’t thought about the streak that much. I’m just taking it one match at a time and trying not to overthink it. This week was a lot tougher mentally for me than physically.” 

 

Nanda was riding a streak of his own coming into the final having won 11 straight matches in Lakewood, including last week’s title. He played two physical three-set matches in the quarters and semis and said his body was feeling the effects of the past two weeks as he continues his comeback from multiple injuries.

 

“Man, Learner’s just super tough and doesn’t have any holes,” Nanda said of Tien. “He moves you around a lot and plays very high percentage and then kind of pulls the trigger when he wants to without much risk.”

 

Asked what someone needs to do to beat him, Nanda replied, “You just have to make a lot of balls and you have to be able to hurt him when you can. I don’t know when he’ll lose again. At this point he’s rising pretty fast.”

 

It was the third career meeting for Tien-Nanda with Tien winning the first meeting on clay in Florida in just his second pro tourney in April of 2022 and also taking a very close third-set tiebreaker (11-9) in Malibu in January of 2023.

 

Similar to the age difference in the Wimbledon men’s final of 16 years between winner Carlos Alcaraz (21) and Novak Djokovic (37), the women’s final had an even greater age difference of 19 years as the younger player also came out on top. Seventeen-year-old Alanis Hamilton, an Arkansas native who currently lives and trains in Dallas, came back to beat 36-year-old Tori Kinard of Pasadena, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 to win the women’s singles title.  

 

Kinard, who comes from a prominent Indonesian family of former badminton champions, including her father Chris who was a six-time U.S. champion, started playing pro tournaments in 2006 before Hamilton was even born. She has played in 296 ITF pro events during her career and was trying to win her first-ever singles title playing in her sixth career ITF pro final.

 

“I think after I won the first set I got a little ahead of myself,” said Kinard, who was watched by her brother and coach Travis Kinard, who played at UCLA in the early 2000s. “I’m happy to have had a good week and would have loved to have won it.”

 

A high school senior who will graduate a semester early, Hamilton has committed to the University of North Carolina and plans to join the team in the spring of 2025. 

 

“It feels amazing,” said Hamilton, who had never been past the second round in any of her first seven pro tournaments. “It’s pretty unexpected.”

 

One year ago, Hamilton made the semifinals in doubles at Junior Wimbledon and last August she and Kayla Chung made the finals in doubles at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s Nationals. She said the goal next month is to go one match farther at the Barnes Tennis Center and win the coveted US Open wild card. 

 

Kinard, who played all seven SoCal Pro Series events, will skip the ITF in Evansville, Ind., this week but plans to play the following two weeks in Dallas and Kentucky.

 

“I love it too much to stop playing,” Kinard said. “I love being on the courts and competing. My family supports me and I couldn’t be happier than when I’m on the court.” 

 

In the women’s doubles final on Saturday, the unseeded team of recent Auburn graduate Carolyn Ansari and N.C. State sophomore Gabriella Broadfoot from South Africa beat the No. 3 seeded team of Amelia Honer and Teja Tirunelveli from Texas (by way of India), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 10-3. In the men’s doubles final, the No. 1 seeded team of Keegan Smith and Nathan Ponwith (Georgia/Arizona State) repeated the title they won last week as they take out Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros of Mexico and Adam Jones from Great Britan, the No. 2 seeds, 6-2, 6-2.

Thorat Wins J100 in Mexico; Ashar, Mata, Oak, Plunkett Earn ITF Junior Circuit Titles; Kratzer Among Winners on UTR Pro Tennis Tour

The only J300 tournament last week on the ITF Junior Circuit was on clay, in Bamberg Germany, with juniors not able to play on grass anywhere nearly as much as the pros in the weeks leading up to the Wimbledon Junior Championships. Generally it's just the Roehampton J300 the first week of Wimbledon that affords juniors any experience on the surface, although there are a variety of exhibition and junior team events often organized for the week before Roehampton.

In Bamberg, Mayu Crossley of Japan took the title, with the No. 1 seed going through qualifying in order to participate in the tournament; the UCLA recruit, who has won six of her seven ITF junior titles on clay, including two J500s, defeated 14-year-old Victoria Barros of Brazil, the No. 8 seed, 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Crossley, who did not drop a set all week, had lost in the first round of the Roland Garros Junior Championships this year, where she wasn't seeded, but now has her junior ranking back up to 22.

The boys title in Bamberg went to Germany's Diego Dedura-Palomero, the No. 3 seed, who defeated No. 4 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland 6-1, 6-2 in the final. It is the seventh ITF Junior Circuit singles title for the 16-year-old, but his first at the J300 level, and he is up to a career-high of 37 in the latest ITF junior rankings.

American juniors collected five ITF Junior Circuit singles titles last week, with University of Florida recruit Abhishek Thorat taking top honors with the singles championship at the J100 in Veracruz Mexico. Thorat, a 17-year-old rising senior, defeated 16-year-old Gavin Goode 6-4, 6-2 in a final between unseeded Americans. It's the third ITF Junior Circuit singles title for Thorat, who did not drop a set in his six victories.

 

Goode and partner Ryan Cozad won the boys doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds Ty Host of Australia and Harry Pugh of New Zealand 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Goode and Cozad dropped just one set, to the No. 2 seeds, in their five victories.

Unseeded Maria Aytoyan reached the girls singles final, losing to top seed Emma Dong of Canada 6-2, 7-6(5).

At the J60 in Guatemala, 16-year-old Floridian Ishika Ashar, the No. 5 seed, collected her second ITF Junior Circuit singles title, both coming this year. Ashar defeated unseeded Ireland O'Brien 6-4, 6-1, taking the title without dropping a set.  

Isabelle DeLuccia and Hadley Appling, the No. 4 seeds, won the all-US girls doubles final, beating the unseeded team of O'Brien and Sophia Budacsek 6-3, 6-0. Top seeds Zavier Augustin and Omar Rhazali won the boys doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Lev Seidman and France's Sasha Colleu 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

Thirteen-year-old Te'anna Mata won her second straight J30 girls singles title in Congo, again taking out Anna Hsu of Taiwan in the final. Two weeks ago, Hsu was the No. 2 seed; last week she was No. 1, with the unseeded Mata posting another straight-sets victory, this one by a 6-2, 6-3 score. Mata also reached the girls doubles final last week.

At the J30 in Ottawa Canada, 16-year-old Connor Plunkett of New York swept the titles, winning his first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit and his second doubles title. Plunkett defeated the top seed in the first round and didn't lose a set after that, getting the title when unseeded Arjun Prabhakar of the US retired trailing 3-1 in the first set.  Plunkett and Victor Maya of Canada took the doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 3 seeds Caden Colburne and Andy Kepche of Canada 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 in the final.

Sixteen-year-old Sobee Oak claimed her first ITF Junior Circuit title in Ottawa, with the unseeded New Yorker defeating unseeded Kaya Moe 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4 in another all-US singles final. Moe did win the doubles title, with partner Olivia Cutone; the No. 4 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Oak and Canada's Neda Rahimkhani 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

And somehow I missed the girls singles title two weeks ago at the J60 in South Africa for Koronayashe Rugara. The 16-year-old Rugara, seeded No. 6, defeated top seed Danielle Dai Chapman of South Africa 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 in the final for her first ITF Junior Circuit title. 

The latest results for the UTR Pro Tennis Tour tournaments in the United States are below. There have been less than two tournaments per month in the April, May and June, but the pace does pick up in the next six months, with 14 men's and 11 women's tournaments already scheduled for July-December. 

2017 USTA National 18s champion Ashley Kratzer has returned to competitive tennis after a four-year ban for testing positive for a banned substance in March of 2020. Kratzer, who reached a WTA career-high of 200 in August of 2018, last played on the Pro Circuit in January of 2020, where she lost in qualifying at a WTA 125 in Newport Beach California.

WOMEN:

April 15 San Antonio TX

Victoria Rodriguez d. Ana Sofia Sanchez 6-1, 6-3

April 21 Boca Raton FL

Malkia Ngounoue d. Jada Robinson 6-1, 5-7, 6-4

May 13 Newport Beach CA

Ashley Kratzer d. Carolyn Campana 6-2, 6-4

June 10 Charleston SC

Piper Charney d. Kaitlyn Carnicella 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

MEN:

April 15 San Antonio TX

Trey Hilderbrand d. Osgar O'Hoisin 6-4, 6-4

April 28 Boca Raton FL

Alex Kuperstein d. Dian Nedev 7-5, 6-4

May 20 Newport Beach CA

Lui Maxted d. Duncan Chan 5-7, 6-2, 6-2

June 10 Charleston SC

Landon Ardila d. Lucas Brown 7-5, 6-3

Teens Jovic, Urhobo Advance at W75 in Zephyrhills Florida; 15 of 16 Quarterfinalists at ITF J100 Plantation American; Tulsa Men and Women Claim NIT Tournament Titles; Verdict in McKenzie v USTA Lawsuit; D-III Individual Selections

Neither 16-year-old Iva Jovic nor 17-year-old Akasha Urhobo have unlimited opportunities to compete on the women's ITF World Tennis Tour Circuit, with both facing WTA age restrictions. Jovic is allowed to play 12 events before she turns 17 in December and Urhobo is allowed 16 events before she turns 18 next January (Merit increases in those numbers can be added based on junior results; see the WTA Age Eligibilty Rules, which begin on page 171 in the WTA rulebook).

But both are making the most of their tournaments this spring, with qualifier Urhobo, playing in the seventh pro tournament of the 16 she can play this year, getting her best win by WTA ranking in today's first round at the W75 in Zephyrhills Florida. The Fort Lauderdale resident, currently outside the Top 200 in the ITF Junior rankings, defeated No. 5 seed and WTA No. 214 Elvina Kalieva 6-1, 6-1 for her 14th main draw win on the USTA Pro Circuit in those seven tournaments.

Wild card Jovic, who is playing the fourth of the 12 tournaments she is eligible for this year, defeated 2015 NCAA singles champion Jamie Loeb(North Carolina) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, after trailing 4-1 in the final set.

Both Urhobo and Jovic, who made W35 finals this spring, are now inside the WTA Top 500 in the live rankings.

Urhobo will face Maria Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia in the second round, while Jovic's second round opponent is Victoria Hu(Princeton), a first meeting in both cases.

Many of today's first round matches were delayed until late afternoon, I believe due to heat, with 18-year-old Liv Hovde yet to play her first round match. Eighteen-year-old Maya Joint of Australia, who reached the final last week at the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida, lost in the first round today to Fanny Stollar of Hungary 7-5, 6-2.

The quarterfinals are set at the ITF J100 in Plantation Florida, with all eight of the boys remaining Americans, and seven of the eight girls.

Top seeds Anita Tu and Benjamin Willwerth have advanced, as have No. 2 seeds Nancy Lee and Calvin Baierl. Baierl will face No. 8 seed Lachlan Gaskell in Thursday's quarterfinal, which will be a contest between the champions of the past two weeks J100 in Delray Beach(Baierl) and Coral Gables(Gaskell). 

The second annual UTR NIT tournament concluded today at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida, with the Tulsa men and women claiming the titles.  The Tulsa men, who were the top seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Pacific 4-1; the Tulsa women, the No. 3 seeds, beat top seed Colorado 4-2.

For more on today's finals, see this article from the UTR website.

A little over two years ago, a New York Times article detailed former junior Kylie McKenzie's sexual abuse by a former USTA National Coach. The jury's verdict yesterday in the lawsuit that McKenzie filed against the USTA awarded her nine million dollars, the USTA said in a statement quoted in this AP article, that it would appeal. 

The Division III individual selections were announced tonight, with 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams selected for the men's and women's championships. The women's event will take place May 25-27, and the men's May 26-28. The two individual tournaments are staggered this year, as are the team championships, with the women finishing the team event and the individual event one day before the men in both cases.

ESPN Adds NCAA D-I Tennis; Seven of Eight Seeds Advance to Arcadia W35 Quarterfinals; 2024 Hurd Grant Applications Open; Eddie Herr 12s Videos

The NCAA announced a renewal of its rights agreement with the ESPN today, which contains some good news for college tennis. The boom in non-revenue sports on ESPN, especially women's basketball and volleyball, has been a source of dismay to many college tennis fans, who don't begrudge that exposure, but feel left behind, with little coverage on the network for over a decade.

There was a time--I specifically remember 2008 in Tulsa and 2010 in Athens--when ESPN did cover the Division I team finals, and even the individual tournament, but that feels like the distant past given the struggle for a media outlet in the past dozen years. For a variety of reasons, the Tennis Channel hasn't been up to the task, and some of the most compelling athletic competition that college can offer has not been visible with any regularity over the years.

I think that ESPN+ streaming offering is the most likely landing spot, which is fine; I just hope this really signals a change in the status quo. And I continue to worry about the fate of the individual championships, now in the fall, which are not mentioned in the release. But considering that tennis could have been left out again, this must be viewed as good news while we wait for the particulars of the agreement, which takes effect September 1, 2024.

With the semester yet to begin on many campuses, collegians have taken the opportunity to play the USTA Pro Circuit W35 Arcadia this week in the Los Angeles area. Reigning NCAA champion Fangran Tian of UCLA, former ITA No. 1 Fiona Crawley of North Carolina and Central Florida freshman Olivia Lincer have all advanced to Friday's quarterfinals. 

Lincer, who competed for the US and played USTA events until 2022, when she switched to Poland, defeated No. 7 seed Haley Giavara(Cal) in the first round 6-3, 7-6(0) and UCLA junior Kimmi Hance 6-3, 7-6(4) today. Giavara is the only seed that didn't make the quarterfinals; with Tian No. 8 and Crawley No. 6. Also advancing are top seed Hanna Chang, No. 2 seed Liv Hovde, No. 3 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton), No. 4 seed Sophie Chang and No. 5 seed Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine).

Applications are now open for the Hurd grant, an annual $100,000 award to one American college man and one American college woman to assist in their transition to professional tennis. The 2023 winners were Peyton Stearns(Texas) and Andrew Fenty(Michigan), who received their grants last March at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Paula Hurd, the widow of Mark Hurd, a former Baylor player and committed college tennis supporter, heads the selection committee. Also on the committe are Lindsay Davenport, Mary Joe Fernandez, Tracy Austin, Peggy Michel, Todd Martin, Gordon Uehling, Stephen Amritraj and Chase Hodges.

The deadline for entries is February 4th. A link to the application can be found in this UTR Foundation article about the award.

I've processed the videos of the Eddie Herr 12s, with those of champions Junseo Jang and Carol Shao below. The videos of finalists Thamma Kosiri and Yui Watanabe can be viewed by clicking on their names.

Four Current Collegians Reach Champaign $15K Quarterfinals; Collins, Kenin Advance to San Diego WTA 500 Semifinals; USA Drops Davis Cup Match to Netherlands; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Update

Four current collegians are starting their fall season on a positive note on a college campus, although not in matches ITA rankings implications. But with their victories today at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Champaign Illinois, two members of the Fighting Illini, a Tennessee Volunteer and a freshman at Kentucky have earned two valuable ATP rankings points by reaching the quarterfinals. 

Illinois seniors Hunter Heck and Alexander Petrov, both unseeded, picked up wins, with Heck reaching his first $15K quarterfinal with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Axel Nefve(Notre Dame/Florida), and Petrov advancing to his second $15K quarterfinal with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over qualifier Gabriele Brancatelli(Purdue/Tenn/Georgia Tech). 

Both 21-year-olds are in bottom half quarterfinals; Heck will play Will Grant(Florida) while Petrov takes on former Illinois standout Zeke Clark, the No. 2 seed.

In the top half quarterfinals, No. 1 seed Liam Draxl of Canada, who left Kentucky this spring with one year of eligibility remaining, needed three hours and 34 minutes to get past qualifier Perry Gregg(Holy Cross) 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5. Draxl will face recent Michigan graduate Patrick Maloney, one of five unseeded players in the quarterfinals. 

Tennessee junior Shinsuke Mitsui of Japan, the No. 4 seed, also had a lengthy match, beating Cornell junior Adit Sinha 6-4 3-6, 7-5 in three hours and 5 minutes. Mitsui will face Kentucky freshman Jack Loutit of New Zealand, who has reached three $15K quarterfinals and a semifinal since last year, was not among the ITA's ten top newcomers for this season.

Danielle Collins(Virginia) advanced to her second WTA semifinal this year, and her first at the 500 level, this afternoon in San Diego, defeating No. 2 seed Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 6-3. Collins also reached the semifinals of the San Diego tournament last year. She will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 7 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and No. 4 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. 

Sofia Kenin has reached her first semifinal since January, defeating Anastasia Potopova of Russia 6-2, 6-3. Kenin will play the winner of tonight's match between qualifier Emma Navarro(Virginia) and No. 3 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece.

The United States Davis Cup team lost to the Netherlands 2-1 today in Croatia, with Tommy Paul falling to Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(2) 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Frances Tiafoe losing for the second straight day at No. 1 singles, to Tallon Greikspoor 6-3, 6-7(7), 7-6(3).  Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek salvaged a point for the USA in doubles, which is important for qualification scenarios, beating Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-3. The USA has Friday off, with its last match on Saturday, against Finland. According to the USTA's release, "Many qualification scenarios remain in play."

Croatia plays Finland on Friday, with both teams currently 0-1.

Defending champion Canada continued its impressive results, without their top players, taking down Sweden 3-0. Former Kentucky All-American Gabe Diallo defeated Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-3 at No. 1 singles to clinch the win, with former NC State All-American Alexis Galaraneau partnering with Vasek Pospisil for a doubles victory. Canada, now 2-0 in its group, plays Chile on Saturday and will advance to November's quarterfinals with a win.

It's been some time since I provided an update of the UTR Pro Tennis Tour, but you can see from most of the names that current collegians have been busy on this circuit since July, several winning tournaments on their own campuses.

Men's results:

July 30 Boca Raton FL
Sebastian Gorzny d. Oscar Brown 7-5, 6-3

August 7 Newport Beach CA
Karue Sell d. Constantinos Djakouris 6-1, 6-3

August 14 Columbus OH
Anuj Watane d. Eric Li 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

August 14 Waco TX
Oskar Poulsen d. Matthis Ross 6-4, 7-6(5)

August 21 College Station TX
Raphael Perot d. Giulio Perego 6-2, 6-4

August 21 Newport Beach CA
Hugo Hashimoto d. Alessandro Ventre 6-2, 7-5

August 27 Knoxville TN
Angel Diaz d. Jose Garcia 6-3, 6-3

August 28 Denver CO
Daniel Sancho Arbizu d. Theodore Dean 36, 6-3, 6-4

September 3 Winston-Salem NC
Keegan Smith d. Luciano Tacchi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

September 3 Fort Worth TX
Pedro Vives Marcos d. Jack Pinnington Jones 6-4, 6-1

Women's results:

August 6 Boca Raton

Rachel Gailis d. Alexia Harmon 6-1, 6-1

August 14 Columbus OH

Irina Cantos Siemers d. Luciana Perry 6-0, 6-3

August 21 College Station TX

Mia Kupres d. Daria Smetannikov 6-1, 6-2

August 27 Knoxville TN

Maria Sholokhova d. Victoria Allen 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3

August 28 Denver CO

Victoria Rodriguez d. Maureen Slattery 6-2, 6-4

September 3 Winston-Salem NC

Jessie Aney d. Casie Wooten 7-5, 6-2

September 4 Los Angeles CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Hanna Chang 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3

Americans Sweep Titles at ITF J60 in Jamaica; Three Americans Qualify at Lexington Challenger; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Update

Last week was a quiet one on the ITF Junior Circuit for Americans, with just six titles, four of them coming at the J60 in Jamaica.

Seventeen-year-old Brennon Chow, who won the singles and doubles titles at the J30 two weeks ago in Jamaica, extended his singles winning streak to nine matches, with the No. 6 seed beating No. 7 seed Ian Miller 6-1, 7-5 in an all-USA final. Chow is playing Kalamazoo this weekend, and is unseeded.

Top seeds Nicolas Iantosca and German partner Victor Kimpel won the doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Miller and Sklar Phillips 6-4, 6-2 in the final. It's the third ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for the 16-year-old Iantosca. 

Unseeded 16-year-old Aspen Chung, who began playing ITF tournaments in February, won her first title on the Junior Circuit, beating top seed Francesca Saroli of Switzerland 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 in the final.

Daniela Chica and Alba Martinez won the girls doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Saroli and Sanjana Devineni of the United States 6-2, 7-6(0) in the final. It's the second title as a team for the 16-year-olds.

The third singles title for an American this week came at the J30 in Lithuania, with 15-year-old Alessandra Sikharulidze claiming her second title on the ITF Junior Circuit this summer. Seeded No. 4, Sikharulidze defeated No. 3 seed Madara Markevica of Latvia 6-4, 7-5 in the final. 

At the J200 in South Africa, Maya Iyengar took the girls doubles title with Gloriana Nahum of Benin. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Marelie Raath of Great Britain and Dune Vaissaud of France 6-4, 6-4 in the final. It's the fifth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for the 16-year-old Iyengar, all with different partners.

Norway's Emily Sartz-Lunde, who has verbally committed to Michigan, won the singles title.

Fourteen-year-old Carel Ngounoue, brother of Wimbledon girls champion Clervie, reached the semifinals in singles, where he lost to top seed Yuvan Nandal of India 6-4, 6-2. Iyengar, Ngounoue and several other Americans are playing the J300 this week in South Africa.

Qualifying was completed today at the ATP 75 Challenger in Lexington Kentucky, with Tristan Boyer(Stanford), Stefan Dostanic(USC) and Aidan Mayo reaching the main draw. Boyer defeated Michael Zheng(Columbia) 6-3, 6-2, Dostanic beat No. 3 seed Blake Ellis of Australia 6-4, 6-4 and Mayo defeated Colin Markes 6-2, 7-5. Six first round matches were also on the schedule today, with ITA Player of the Year Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) playing Christian Harrison later this evening.

With a lot of junior tennis coming up in the next two months, I think now is a good time to post the latest UTR Pro Tennis Tour results, which featured four tournaments this past week, but none this week. There are lots of familiar college names among the finalists. For more on future events, see the PTT calendar.

WOMEN:

June 12 Atlanta GA

Angela Huang d. Reese Miller 6-4, 6-3

June 25 Boca Raton FL

Victoria Hu d. Katja Wiersholm 6-3, 6-2

July 9 Boca Raton FL

Akasha Urhobo d. Alina Shcherbinina 6-3, 6-2

July 17 Newport Beach CA

Savannah Broadus d. Malkia Ngounoue 6-0, 6-1

July 23 Ann Arbor MI

Julia Fliegner d. Maddy Zampardo 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

July 24 San Diego CA

Julia Garcia Ruiz d. Daria Smetannikov 6-3, 6-2

MEN:

June 12 Atlanta GA

Andre Ilagan d. Holden Koons 7-5, 6-0

June 19 Boca Raton FL

Henrik Wiersholm d. Dimitri Badra 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3

July 2 Boca Raton FL

Matija Pecotic d. Matthis Ross 6-2, 6-1

July 10 Boston MA

Vignesh Gogineni d. Mitchell Lee 7-6(4), 7-5

July 17 Los Angeles CA

Alexander Kotzen d. Constantinos Djakouris 6-3, 7-5

July 24 Ann Arbor MI

Sebastian Sec d. Jacob Bickersteth 5-7, 6-1, 6-2

July 24 San Diego CA

Ryan Seggerman d. Isaiah Strode 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2

Tian and Brumm Win San Diego SoCal Pro Series Titles; Moreno De Alboran Claims ATP Challenger in Tyler Texas; Puerto Rico Challenger Qualifying Underway; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Results

Tian competing at NCAA Singles Championships

UCLA rising sophomore Fangran Tian hasn't taken anything resembling a break since winning the NCAA singles title in Lake Nona last month. The 19-year-old from China reached the final of last week's SoCal Pro Series $15K in Rancho Santa Fe, and this week she won the SoCal Pro Series tournament in San Diego, defeating 15-year-old qualifier Aspen Schuman 6-1, 6-2.

Rain in San Diego delayed the start times for the singles several hours, but that didn't bother the unseeded Tian, who ran out to 5-0 leads in both sets. Schuman, who had needed nearly three-and-a-half hours to get past Nikki Redelijk(Pepperdine) in Saturday's semifinal understandably didn't look as energetic as Tian, who had needed only 75 minutes to beat top seed Samantha Crawford 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals,

It's the second career Pro Circuit singles title, with her first coming last fall at a $15K in Champaign Illinois. Tian won the doubles title this week as well, with teammate Kimmi Hance. 

Twenty-four-year-old Jacob Brumm, who played at Cal and Baylor, won his first Pro Circuit singles title this evening in San Diego, defeating Ohio State rising sophomore Jack Anthrop 7-6(5), 6-3 in the final. 

Former UC-Santa Barbara All-American Nicolas Moreno De Alboran won his second career ATP Challenger title today in Tyler  Texas, with the 25-year-old defeating unseeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-7(8), 7-6(0), 6-4 in the three-hour, 12-minute final. Moreno De Alboran, the No. 3 seed, won his first Challenger title last September in Portugal; he has reached two other Challenger finals in the last 16 months, and is now up to a career-high of 142 in the ATP rankings. 

The doubles title in Tyler went to the unseeded Australian team of Alex Bolt and Andrew Harris(Oklahoma), who defeated top seeds Evan King(Michigan) and Reese Stalder(TCU) 6-1, 6-4 in Saturday's final.

Tyler is the last ATP Challenger in the United States until July's tournament in Bloomfield Hills Michigan, although many Americans are now in Puerto Rico for the ATP Challenger 75 Caribbean Open, including Moreno De Alboran, who is the No. 2 seed there. Kei Nishikori is also in the draw as a wild card, although he had been expected to return after a lengthy absence due to injury for several weeks now and hasn't been able to actually take the court. Nishikori's first round opponent is Christian Langmo(Miami).

Americans advancing to Monday's final round of qualifying in Puerto Rico are Evan Zhu(UCLA) Alex Rybakov(TCU), Nick Chappell(TCU), Michael Zheng(Columbia) and Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern). 

Other championships claimed this week for Americans include Hailey Baptiste's title at the $60K ITF women's World Tennis Tour in Italy and Makenna Jones's(UNC) win at the $25K ITF women's World Tennis Tour in Spain. USC rising sophomore Madison Sieg reached the final of the $25K ITF women's World Tennis Tour tournament in Portugal, falling to 2018 NCAA champion Arianne Hartono(Mississippi) of the Netherlands.

The total of American doubles champions at Roland Garros stayed at three, with No. 10 seeds Taylor Townsend and her partner Leylah Fernandez of Canada falling to the unseeded team of Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan and Xinyu Wang of China 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 in today's final. Austin Krajicek won the men's doubles title with Ivan Dodig of Croatia yesterday; Tyra Grant and Clervie Ngounoue won the girls doubles title.

Novak Djokovic won the men's singles title, a record 23rd major (for men), defeating Casper Ruud 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5.

It's been more than three months since I updated the UTR Pro Tennis Tour results from the tournaments in the United States, due to all the junior and college action this spring, but I hope it is useful to see who is making finals, whether juniors, collegians or pros.

I neglected to mention, with all the NCAA team and individual activity last month, the results of the Universal Tennis NIT tournaments. The Liberty men and TCU women won the titles in the inaugural event. For more, including video highlights, see this release from Universal Tennis.

WOMEN:

February 20 Boca Raton FL
Gabriella Broadfoot d. Shannon Lam 6-2, 6-3

March 13 San Antonio TX
Luciana Perry d. Martina Okalova 6-2, 6-0

March 27 Boca Raton FL
Akasha Urhobo d. Gabriella Broadfoot 6-2, 6-0

April 10 Newport Beach CA

Thea Frodin d. Tianmei Wang 2-6, 6-1, 6-4

April 17 Atlanta GA

Victoria Flores d. Maria Genovese 6-2, 6-1

April 24 Boca Raton FL

Gabriella Broadfoot d. Mia Horvit 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4)

May 1 Newport Beach CA

Hanna Chang d. Megan Mccray 6-3, 6-2

May 22 Newport Beach CA

Alina Shcherbinina d. Vivian Ovrootsky 6-2, 6-4

May 29 Bradenton FL

Samantha Crawford d. Gabriella Broadfoot 6-4, 6-1

June 5 Charleston SC

Lara Schneider d. Rhea Verman 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3

MEN:

February 26 Newport Beach CA

Karue Sell d. Trevor Svajda 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5)

March 6 Newport Beach CA

Aidan Mayo d. Maciej Rajski 6-1 ret.

March 13 San Antonio TX

Ilgiz Valiev d. Lucas Brown 6-1, 6-4

March 27 Boca Raton FL

Roberto Cid Subervi d. Alfredo Perez 1-6, 6-2, 6-3

April 10 Atlanta GA

Alexis Gurmendi d. Dhakshineswar Suresh 6-3, 6-3

April 17 Newport Beach CA

Karue Sell d. Maciej Rajski 7-6(0), 7-6(10)

May 1 Boca Raton FL

Juan Carlos Aguilar d. Sekou Bangoura 6-2, 6-2

May 8 Newport Beach CA

Trevor Svajda d. Enrique Luque Rico 6-3, 6-4

May 8 Boca Raton FL

Dmitry Popko d Joao Ceolin 6-4, 6-3

May 22 Bradenton FL

Jamie Connel d. Matthew Segura 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0

May 22 Newport Beach CA

Arda Azkara d. Sema Pankin 6-3, 7-5

June 5 Charleston SC

Peter Bertran d. Geronimo Busleiman 6-3, 7-6(2)