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

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

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

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

The top of the standings after Week 4 of 5: 

 

Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Akasha Urhobo (239) -- 131

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

6. Varvara Lepchenko (157) -- 69

 

Men's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defending Champions Georgia and Wake Forest Receive Top Seeds for D-I NCAA Team Championships Beginning This Weekend; Gowda Sweeps ITF J100 Titles in Canada; Jodar Wins Battle of Recent US Open Boys Champions in Madrid

The NCAA announced the fields for the 2026 Division I Team Championships this afternoon, with women's defending champion Georgia and men's defending champion Wake Forest the number one seeds.

When the latest rankings come out Thursday however, neither will be No. 1, with Georgia at No. 2 moving ahead of Auburn, who has earned the No. 1 ranking. Wake Forest will be No. 4, so the NCAA committee's formula, which they do not, ever, deviate from, has them jumping No. 3 Ohio State, No. 2 TCU and No. 1 Texas. TCU fell all the way to 6, and San Diego, who will be ranked 17, jumped No. 16 Michigan State, with the Big Ten tournament champions sent to South Carolina for the first two matches this weekend. The men's bracket is here.

Except for Georgia moving to No. 1, the women's switches the committee makes based on strength of schedule, records against common opponents, records versus Top 50 opponents and head-to-head, were not significant. The women's bracket is here.

The list of seeds are below, with all 16 hosting the first two rounds this weekend. Because the men play first at the final site in Athens this year, they must start Friday; women have the option of starting Friday or Saturday, which frequently depends on whether both the men's and women's teams are hosting. This year joint regionals are Georgia, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas and LSU. 

Submitted lineups, pre-challenge, can be accessed here: women and men. Post-challenge lineups will be available Thursday afternoon.

I will have more of my thoughts on this year's team tournament Thursday and Friday in the annual Tennis Recruiting Network Roundtable.

D-I NCAA Women's seeds:
1. Georgia
2. Auburn
3. Ohio State
4. Texas A&M
5. North Carolina
6. Oklahoma
7. Virginia
8. NC State
9. Texas
10. LSU
11. Pepperdine
12. Michigan
13. Southern California
14. Vanderbilt
15. Duke
16. Arizona State

D-I NCAA Men's seeds:
1. Wake Forest
2. Texas
3. Ohio State
4. Virginia
5. Mississippi State
6. TCU
7. LSU
8. Arizona
9. Oklahoma
10. Baylor
11. Texas A&M
12. Georgia
13. South Carolina
14. Illinois
15. San Diego
16. UCF

Last week was a busy one on the ITF Junior Circuit, with my coverage of the results from the new J100 in Mount Pleasant South Carolina in Friday's post. Armira Kockinis wasn't the only US girls to sweep J100s titles last week however, with 17-year-old Thara Gowda matching that at the J100 in Kingston Ontario.

Gowda, the top seed, defended her title from last year, defeating No. 6 seed Isabella Ruyu Yan of Canada 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Gowda had a different partner in defending her 2025 doubles title, partnering with Karlin Schock. The top seeds defeated No. 2 seed Romy Gravenor and Eve Thibault of Canada 6-4, 6-0 in the final.

Felix Roussel of Canada, who won the J200 in Canada earlier this month, took his fifth career singles title, with the top seed defeating No. 2 seed Dani Szabo of Canada 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 in the final.

The other American singles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit last year were at the J30 level.

In Curico Chile, 14-year-old Indra Vergne won his second ITF Junior Circuit singles title, going undefeated in his round robin group and claiming three wins in the knockout round. He defeated Naximo Cataldi of Argentina 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the final.

In Hong Kong, 17-year-old Aiden Phoebus won his first ITF Junior Circuit title, winning all three of his round robin matches in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals and finishing it off with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over China's Haoyuan Li of China in the final.

Top seed Jack Secord fell in the final of the ITF J200 in Great Britain to No. 2 seed Mark Ceban, the recent crowned British National 18s champion, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. 

The girls British National 16s and 18s champion this year, Daniella Britton, won the girls title, beating top seed Melije Clarke in the quarterfinals, but Clarke and Isabelle DeLuccia got revenge in the doubles final, with the top seeds beating Britton and Maggie Sohns, the No. 2 seeds, 6-3, 6-1 for the title. 

The other three titles for Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit came in doubles at J30s.

In Kingston Jamaica, No. 3 seeds Camelot Carnello and Israel's Kai Lev defeated top seeds Andrew Lam Jun Bart of Hong Kong and Sean Peng 6-3, 2-6, 11-9 in the final.

In Binh Duong Vietnam, No. 4 seeds Brian Duan and Indonesia's M Alfaradu Sumirat defeated No. 2 seeds Haqim Kamal of Great Britain and Darren Yann Junn Lew of Australia 6-4, 6-4 for the title.

In Kigali Rwanda, Eaden-Zack Harron, who reached the singles final, won the doubles title with Legan Thomas. The top-seeded Americans won by default over Angelo Chiappero of Italy and Dan Arch Muteramuhwe of Burundi

This week's ITF tournament in the United States is a J200 on the red clay in Sumter South Carolina, and Mount Pleasant boys champion Kayden Colombo has already had a major impact, taking out top seed Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan 6-2, 6-0. No. 8 seed Jordan Lee, the M15 doubles champion last week in Lake Nona, returns to US junior competition for the first time since December's Orange Bowl.

Las month's San Diego J300 finalist Avery Alexander of Canada is the top seed, with Hannah Ayrault the No. 2 seed. Mount Pleasant girls champion Armira Kockinis lost in the first round today to 13-year-old qualifier Capri Butera. 

In the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid last night, two recent US Open boys champions, both 19, met for the first time as professionals. 2025 University of Virginia All-American Rafael Jodar of Spain, the 2024 US Open boys champion, defeated No. 27 seed Joao Fonseca of Brazil, the 2023 US Open boys champion, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1. Fonseca also was signed to play at the University of Virginia, but unlike Jodar, he never enrolled, turning pro instead. Wild card Jodar, now up to 34 in the ATP live rankings less than a year after competing at the NCAAs for Cavaliers, faces unseeded Vit Kopriva of Czechia Tuesday. For more on the Jodar-Fonseca match, see this article from the ATP.

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.

Kennedy Reaches First Challenger Final in Savannah; Hance Goes for Sweep Sunday at M15 Orlando; Newman vs Preston for W15 Orlando Title; Honer Advances to W35 Charlotte Final

The M15 title Jack Kennedy won in Boca Raton early this month was just the start of his success the past three weeks, with a semifinal last week at the Tallahassee Challenger 75 and now an appearance in the final of the Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia tomorrow.

The 17-year-old from New York, who has committed to Virginia for this fall, defeated qualifier Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland 7-6(2), 6-3 this afternoon to become the first player born in 2008 to reach a Challenger final. As has been the case all week, Kennedy has been the steadier player when it mattered, and he did not let the disappointment of failing to serve out the first set affect his performance in the tiebreaker, where he took the final six points.

In the second set, Kennedy rebounded from giving back his break serving at 4-2, but he immediately broke Feldbaush to get an opportunity to serve for the match. Kennedy fell behind 15-40, but stayed solid and continued to use his drop shot and capitalized on the 20-year-old Feldbausch's errors. 

Kennedy will face No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy, a former Stanford All-American, who defeated Daniel Galan of Colombia 7-5, 6-4 in this evening's semifinal. Basavareddy, who turns 21 next month, will be playing in his first Challenger final since November of 2024. The winner will gain 75 points in the USTA's Roland Garros wild card Challenge, but that isn't enough for either to move past Emilio Nava, who has added 80 points this week in Madrid. Next week is the final week of the race.

The doubles title in Savannah was won by top seeds Cleve Harper(Texas) of Canada and David Stevenson(Memphis) of Great Britain, who defeated unseeded Luis Martinez of Venezuela and Cristian Rodriguez of Colombia 7-6(4), 6-2 in today's final.

Kennedy's friend and frequent doubles partner Keaton Hance will play for his first Pro Circuit singles title tomorrow at the M15 in Orlando after the 18-year-old Southern Californian defeated 19-year-old qualifier Daniel Uta of Romania 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 to reach his first singles final on the Pro Circuit. The 2026 Australian Open boys finalist will face top seed Cannon Kingsley, the former Ohio State All-American, who defeated Justin Roberts(USF, Arizona State) of the Bahamas 7-6(8), 7-5 today.

Keaton Hance, Jordan Lee, Izyan Ahmad, Tomas Laukys

Hance earned his first USTA Pro Circuit doubles title today after his semifinal victory in singles. Partnering with 15-year-old Jordan Lee, the unseeded pair defeated wild cards Izyan Ahmad and Tomas Laukys, both 15, 6-3, 6-3 in the final. All four teams in the semifinals of the M15 in Orlando consisted of American juniors.

A US teen is guaranteed her first Pro Circuit title when Junior Billie Jean King Cup teammates Janae Preston, 15, and Welles Newman, 16,  meet in the Orlando W15 singles final. Preston reached her first Pro Circuit final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 5 seed Justina Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina, while Newman came from 4-1 down in the third set to beat qualifier Annika Penickova 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

The doubles title went to Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded team of Midori Castillo Meza of Mexico and Brandelyn Fulgenzi(Incarnate Word, Arizona) 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-6 in today's final.

In Charlotte North Carolina, unseeded Amelia Honer will play for her third USTA Pro Circuit W35 title Sunday against top seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands. Honer, an All-American at UC-Santa Barbara in 2024 and 2025, defeated wild card Emma Jackson(Duke) 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-2. Honer, who was a finalist for the Hurd Award last year, did not play from last August to this January, with this just her fifth tournament of the year. Vedder defeated unseeded Shilin Xu of China 6-0, 6-4 to reach her first final of the year.

Vedder lost in today's double final with Venezuelan partner Sofia Cabezas(Iowa State, Tennessee), with the top seeds beaten by the fourth-seeded Brazilian team of Luiza Fullana and Thaisa Pedretti 6-4, 6-2.

Both Americans in the semifinals of the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia lost today. Top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico defeated No. 5 seed Eli Mandlik 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and qualifier Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) beat Akasha Urhobo 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3.

In the doubles final, No. 4 seeds Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain and Anna Rogers(NC State) won their second title as a pair, beating unseeded Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Allura Zamarippa(Texas) 6-1, 6-3 for the title. It's the biggest title of the 28-year-old Rogers' career and she is now at a career-high of 133 in the WTA live doubles rankings; Herrero Linana, 27, has been Top 100 in the WTA doubles rankings and will return there with this title.

Arkansas Drops Men's and Women Tennis Programs; Kennedy Reaches Second Straight Challenger Semifinal; Four Teens Advance to Semifinals of Orlando $15Ks; Kockinis and Colombo Win J100 Titles

For the first time since 2020, a Power 4/5 conference school has cut a tennis program, and today the University of Arkansas exceeded this decade's cuts to the men's programs at Minnesota, Iowa and Connecticut by eliminating both the men's and women's programs at the end of this season.

This is obviously terrible news for college tennis, which has regularly seen cuts to non-Power 4/5 Division I, Division II and Division III schools, with the first wave happening in wake of the pandemic, and a second wave following the House Settlement. But an SEC school eliminating both tennis programs is an unmitigated disaster and any optimism that Olympic sports could somehow be salvaged at all Power 4 schools is now extinguished. 

For more on this shocking announcement, see this article from Tennis Recruiting Network.

For the second time in consecutive weeks, Jack Kennedy has reached the semifinals of an ATP Challenger 75. The 17-year-old from New York advanced to the final four at the Savannah Challenger this afternoon, beating qualifier Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic 7-5, 7-5.  Hardt served for the set at 5-4 and had two set points at 40-15, but Kennedy saved them and went on to break Hardt for the first set. The second set featured five straight breaks, with Kennedy unable to serve out the match at 5-3, but he saved a break point at 5-all and again broke Hardt to end the match.

Kennedy will face another qualifier tomorrow, Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland, who beat last week's Challenger champion, No. 6 seed Clement Tabur of France, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) this afternoon. No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) is through to the semifinals after beating No. 8 seed Andy Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-2. He will play the winner of tonight's match between Mitchell Krueger and Daniel Galan of Colombia.

Akasha Urhobo has reached the semifinals of the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia after defeating No. 8 seed Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 6-2, 6-3. The 19-year-old from Florida, who came from 5-2 down in the third set yesterday to defeat No. 2 seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-0, 5-7, 7-5, faces qualifier Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) of Argentina next. Capurro Taborda beat No. 3 seed Kayla Day 6-4, 6-1 today. 

Urhobo, playing in her fourth consecutive week, will continue to build her lead in the USTA's Roland Garros wild card race, with Day and Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), two of her primary rivals, losing today. Stoiana, the No. 4 seed, lost to No. 5 seed Eli Mandlik 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Mandlik will face top seed Renata Zarazua in the other semifinal.

Emilio Nava has also added another 50 points to his wild card leading total, beating No. 14 seed Valentin Vacherot(Texas A&M) of Monaco 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-3 today in Madrid. Although there is another week of Challengers left, it's unlikely anyone can catch him.

Three US junior girls and one US junior boy are through to the semifinals of the W15 and M15 in Orlando this week. Fifteen-year-old Janae Preston, who is 24-2 this year (including qualifying and ITF juniors) continued her impressive play, beating Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 6-4, 6-0 in today's quarterfinals. She will play No. 5 seed Justina Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina with the aim of reaching her first Pro Circuit final.

In the bottom half, it will be two 16-year-old Americans facing off, with Welles Newman playing qualifier Annika Penickova. Newman, who like Preston received entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program and was on the Junior Billie Jean King Cup team that qualified last week for the world finals, beat Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Maria Nijkamp of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4, while Penickova defeated Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil 6-0, 6-2.

Eighteen-year-old Keaton Hance, another ITF Junior Reserved entry, advanced to the semifinals in Orlando with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Benjamin Thomas George(Western Michigan) of Canada and will face qualifier Daniel Uta of Romania Saturday. Uta defeated qualifier Gus Grumet, the 2024 Kalamazoo 16s champion, 6-4 ,6-2. In the top half, No. 1 seed Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) will face last week's finalist Justin Roberts(USF, Arizona State) of the Bahamas. Kingsley defeated No. 6 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 and Roberts beat qualifier Bastian Malla of Chile 7-5, retired.

Hance is also through to the doubles final, with 15-year-old partner Jordan Lee, who hasn't played singles since the beginning of March. Hance and Lee advanced over another unseeded all-teen pair, beating Vihan Reddy and Noble Renfrow 6-4, 6-2 in today's semifinals. They will face 15-year-olds Izyan Ahmad and Tomas Laukys, who beat another teenaged wild card team, Safir Azam and Kamil Stolarczyk, 7-5, 6-0 in the other semifinal.

At the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, former collegians Emma Jackson(Duke) and Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) will play for a spot in the final.  Jackson, a wild card, defeated Maya Iyengar 6-1, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals, while Honer beat Ava Markham(Wisconsin) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

In the top half semifinal, No. 1 seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands will play unseeded Shilin Xu of China. Vedder defeated Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, while Xu defeated 18-year-old Bella Payne 6-2, 6-0.

The ITF J100 in Mount Pleasant South Carolina concluded today, with 16-year-old Armira Kockinis sweeping the girls titles, and Kayden Colombo earning his second straight singles title on the new ITF clay swing in the United States.

Armira, the No. 3 seed, beat top seed Adla Lopez 7-5, 6-4 in today's singles final, then partnered with Puerto Rico's Aurora Lugo for the doubles title. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Frances Pate and Julia Seversen 6-2, 5-7, 12-10. 

The unseeded Colombo, who swept the titles last week at the J60 in Atlanta, defeated No. 4 seed Theo Hegarty 6-4, 7-6(6) for his 11th straight singles win. He had beaten top seed Mason Taube 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals Thursday. 

The boys doubles title was won by top seed Erik Schinnerer and Tyler Lee, who beat the unseeded team of Hegarty and Noah Bayon 6-4, 6-2 in this afternoon's final.

NCAA Moves D-I Individual Championships to Fall Permanently; SEC, ACC and Big Ten Conference Awards Announced; ITF J500 Offenbach Acceptances Feature Eight Americans

The NCAA announced today that the Division I singles and doubles championships would be permanently moved to the fall after a two-year pilot program in 2024 and 2025. 

The reasons cited by the Tennis Oversight Committee are majority support of the D-I coaches for the change and student-athlete well-being, which appears to mean too much tennis for them when both the team and the individual championships are back-to-back.

I personally don't care for the change, but agree with some of the arguments in its favor, which boils down to me as the likelihood of fresher athletes, who have earned their opportunities to play for a national championship during fall competition.

The pilot did provide evidence for that positive, but it also highlighted some serious issues that result from making that one tournament the be-all and end-all of the fall season. Once players qualified for the NCAAs by reaching the quarterfinals of the All-American Championships, or through the regionals, they quit playing fall collegiate tennis, and the large number of walkovers in the consolations of the sectionals and conference masters suggests a lack of appropriate incentives for competing in the fall individual season, which was not addressed after the problems obvious in the first year.  And when those withdrawals extend to the main draw of the All-American Championships, it is an affront to the long history of that prestigious Division I event.

The past two tournaments in the fall didn't raise the profile of the NCAAs, even though there is little happening in tennis in the mid-November time frame. And although in-person attendance has seldom been good leading up to the singles and doubles finals in the spring, that didn't improve in the fall either, despite good weather in Waco and Orlando the past two years.

Many players, especially on the men's side, take the fall off to play pro events, so the strength of the fields will probably continue to decline, and January freshman, like Virginia's Rafael Jodar, don't have the opportunity to play the NCAAs unless they return for their sophomore year and commit to the fall tournaments. 

The seeding has been a terrible problem for the fall, and while there were some issues with that in the spring individuals, a dual match season of results offered many more data points than  four or five matches in the fall do. This will continue to be a problem unless the NCAA allows results from outside college to be used in seeding. Otherwise we'll inevitably get a draw that we could have had last November, with Michael Zheng and Trevor Svajda, the unseeded 2025 finalists, meeting in the first round.

Steve Johnson, the University of Southern California star widely regarded as the greatest college player of all time, weighed in today on social media against the change, and since Johnson was at the heart of my coverage of college tennis from 2009-2012, I can understand why. Johnson's USC teams won four straight team titles and after winning the third in 2011 and the fourth in 2012, he was back out on the court the next day for the individual championships. By winning the singles titles those two years (and not losing a match in those two seasons) Johnson proved his toughness, and it is a huge reason he is considered the greatest of all time. That legacy is now secure, as no one will ever have the opportunity, however unlikely, to equal that.

The ITA's release on the NCAA decision provides a handy look at the upcoming venues for 2026, confirming that the University of Georgia will host the individual championships this fall. The USTA's National Campus and UCF becomes the host of the team championships for ten years beginning in 2028, so they are committed to hosting the individual championships in the fall of 2027, but for the years beyond that, bids will need to be submitted. The time of year limits the number of schools that can bid, with mid-November weather not suitable for outdoor play in most of the country. ITA CEO Dave Mullins said, on a recent podcast with Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets, that he would like to see the individual tournament played in the West, mentioning Phoenix, Scottsdale, Southern California or Las Vegas, to balance the team event being in Florida for the foreseeable future.

That wasn't the only news in college tennis this week, with three of the Power 4 conferences announcing their award winners. Interesting to note that there were no sweeps of the three major awards by any school this year. The Big 12 has not yet released their awards, nor has the Ivy League, which still has regular season conference matches this weekend. Click on the headings to see the all-conference teams and other conference awards, including the Big Ten women's new doubles team(s) of the year award.

2026 Conference Awards:

SEC Women:

Player of the Year: Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M

Freshman of the Year: Evialina Laskevich, Oklahoma

Newcomer of the Year: Ekaterina Khairutdinova, Auburn

Coach of the Year: Jordan Szabo, Auburn

Big Ten Women:

Player of the Year: Teah Chavez, Ohio State

Freshman of the Year: Mayu Crossley, UCLA

Coach of the Year: Melissa Schaub, Ohio State

ACC Women:

Player of the Year: Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

Freshman of the Year: Amelie Van Impe, SMU

Coach of the Year: Simon Earnshaw, NC State

SEC Men:

Player of the Year: Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

Coach of the Year: Bruce Berque, Texas

Freshman of the Year: Olaf Pieczkowski, LSU

Newcomer of the Year: Will Jansen, Georgia

Big Ten Men:

Player of the Year: Max Dahlin, Michigan

Freshman of the Year: Max Dahlin, Michigan

Coach of the Year: Harry Jadun, Michigan State

ACC Men:

Player of the Year: Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

Freshman of the Year: Mees Rottgering, Wake Forest

Coach of the Year: Tony Bresky, Wake Forest

The withdrawal deadline for next month's ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany has now passed, so here's a look at the field for the third J500 tournament of the year and the third on clay(the only hard court J500 of the seven on the ITF Junior Circuit is in Japan in the fall).

Four US girls and four US boys have been accepted to the main draw: Maggie Sohns, Yael Saffar, Ireland O'Brien, Isabelle DeLuccia, Vihaan Reddy, Carel Ngounoue, Michael Savano and Navneet Raghuram.

The boys cutoff was 140, with their field much better than the girls which had a cutoff of 284. It's rare to see a gender disparity like that in a J300 or J500 tournament.

Currently two ITF Top 10 boys are in the field: Jamie Mackenzie[8] of Germany and Zangar Nurlanuly[10] of Kazakhstan. The only Top 10 girl is No. 9 Victoria Barros of Brazil. 

The tournament's main draw begins May 4th.