Shao Beats Top Seed Lee; Malacek Defeats No. 2 Seed Massotte at Las Vegas J200; Secord Advances to Quarterfinals at J300 in Paraguay; Brewer Cup Champions; CMS Men and Women Top D-III Rankings; Barry and West Alabama No. 1 in Latest D-II Rankings

Fourteen-year-old Caroline Shao didn't play either of the Florida tournaments in Bradenton and Ft. Lauderdale, but returned to the ITF Junior Circuit in January at the J300 in Costa Rica. Today she posted her best result of the year, with the No. 14 seed beating top seed Nancy Lee 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITF J200 in Las Vegas.  Shao will play unseeded 2025 Easter Bowl 16s champion Armira Kockinis next.

Shao, No. 5 seed Riyo Yoshida of Japan and No. 2 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain are the only seeded girls remaining.

No. 13 seed Daniel Malacek, the Orange Bowl 16s finalist, defeated No. 2 seed Xavier Massotte of Canada 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals, where he will face unseeded Justin Riley Anson. Anson defeated No. 6 seed Jerrid Gaines Jr. 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. 

Boys top seed Ryan Cozad defeated Orange Bowl 16s champion Matias Reyniak, the No. 15 seed 6-4, 6-3 and will play No. 12 seed Kamil Stolarczyk in the quarterfinals. 

The only non-American in the boys quarterfinals is No. 11 seed Felix Roussel of Canada, who will play unseeded Mason Vaughan in the quarterfinals.

At the J300 in Paraguay, top seed Jack Secord is the only American who advanced to the quarterfinals, with all five US girls, including No. 2 seed Welles Newman, falling in the second round. 

The Brewer Cup, the USTA Level I National Spring Team Championships, ended Tuesday in Mobile and Tucson. Below are the teams that won the events, with two players from the 14s, 16s and 18s age groups combining to form a team in Mobile, while the 12s teams in Tucson consist only of players in that age group. I am not certain I have the correct champions for the 12s, with the USTA's Playtennis site difficult to navigate for a tournament like this, so please correct me if I've read it wrong.

14s, 16s, 18s champions in Mobile:

Boys

Vikings

Coach Matt Boughton

B18 James Quattro

B18 John Gentek

B16 Joshua Dolinsky

B16 Aryan Ponugoti

B14 Nathan Lee

B14 Bryan Parker

Girls

Stingrays

Coach Donald Widener

G18 Gabriella Davydov

G18 Jensen Diianni

G16 Alexa Mendoza

G16 Adelyn Gross

G14 Emma Li

G14 Harshitha Thirugnanam

12s champions Tucson

Boys

Roadrunners

Keanu Agbulos

Jesse Goldman

Leonardo Bigan

Allen Hou

Doruk Comakci

Bence Leber

Girls

Rattlesnakes

Alara Buyukuncu

Eloise Forrest

Ghillian Harper

Nicole Zhang

Annie Jiang

Mia Lurigio

Now that the ITA Division III Team Indoor Championships are over, a new set of rankings has been published, the first thre weeks. Both the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men and women won the Team Indoor Championships and both are No. 1 in the rankings. 

Click on the headings to see all 40 ranked teams.

ITA Division III team rankings, March 4, 2026

MEN:

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2. Chicago

3. Case Western

4. Denison

5. Tufts

6. Johns Hopkins

7. Bowdoin

8. Emory

9. Swarthmore

10. Middlebury

WOMEN:

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2. Washington-St. Louis

3. Chicago

4. Wesleyan

5. Emory

6. Middlebury

7. Pomona-Pitzer

8. MIT

9. Babson

10. Bowdoin

Although both Barry teams won the Division II National Team Indoor Championships, only the men are No. 1 in the new rankings. Although the undefeated Barry women were No. 1 last week and didn't lose, they fell to No. 3, with West Alabama now No. 1.

Click on the headings to see all 50 ranked teams.

ITA Division II team rankings, March 4, 2026

MEN:

1. Barry

2. West Florida

3. Lubbock Christian

4. UT Tyler

5. Flagler

6. Wayne State

7. North Georgia

8. Washburn

9. UI-Indy

10. Wingate

WOMEN:

1. West Alabama

2. West Florida

3. Barry

4. North Georgia

5. Midwestern State

6. Washburn

7. Catawba

8. Mississippi College

9. Embry-Riddle

10. Augustana

The Division II singles and doubles rankings were also published today, with Natasha Sengphrachanh of Grand Valley State No. 1 in women's singles and Yan Kodjoed of Barry No. 1 in men's singles.

Day, Townsend, Vidmanova and McDonald Qualify for BNP Paribas Open; Herea, Dietrich Take Over Top Spots in ITA D-I Singles Rankings; No. 3 and 4 Seeds in Both Draws Lose at J200 Las Vegas; WTA Tournament Returns to Memphis This Summer

After three days of play, qualifying for the BNP Paribas Open is complete, with three Americans making it through to the main draw.

Kayla Day, who received a wild card into qualifying only when Elvina Kalieva did not need hers when she got in on her own ranking, defeated two seeds to advance. The 26-year-old left-hander beat No. 17 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 7-5 in the first round and No. 9 seed Darja Semenistraja of Latvia 6-2, 6-1 in today's final round of qualifying. She will play Francesca Jones of Great Britain, whom she beat in the second round of the Wimbledon Junior Championships back in 2016.

Taylor Townsend won the battle of the players who competed in finals on Sunday, with the ATX Open finalist and doubles champion beating Arcadia W35 winner Akasha Urhobo 6-0, 7-6(5) this afternoon. 

2024 NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia), will make her Masters 1000 debut, with the 23-year-old Czech defeating Priscilla Hon of Australia 7-5, 7-6(4) to qualify. Vidmanova will face Cristina Bucsa of Spain, who won the WTA 500 last week in Mexico, in the first round.

Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) and wild card Trevor Svajda(SMU) were the only two US men to advance to the final round of qualifying and they played each other tonight, with McDonald earning a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Svajda had beaten No. 12 seed and ATP No. 135 Luca Nardi of Italy 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 in the first round of qualifying Monday night. 

An even dozen Americans are seeded in Indian Wells:

7. Taylor Fritz

8. Ben Shelton

21. Frances Tiafoe

23. Tommy Paul

25. Learner Tien

28. Brandon Nakashima

4. Coco Gauff

5. Jessica Pegula

6. Amanda Anisimova

15. Madison Keys

18. Iva Jovic

20. Emma Navarro

The men's singles draw is here; the women's singles draw is here. The order of play for Wednesday is here.

The ITA Division I release today includes both team and individual rankings; the No. 1 teams remain the same, with the Georgia women and Ohio State men continuing to hold the top spot since the computer rankings took over three weeks ago. But with the previous singles No. 1s both losing on Sunday--North Carolina's Reese Brantmeier fell to Amelie Van Impe of SMU 6-1, 6-2 and SMU's Trevor Svajda was beaten by Dylan Dietrich of Virginia 3-6, 6-1, 6-3--they dropped to No. 2. Dietrich moved to No. 1, while Texas's Carmen Herea took over the top spot from Brantmeier.

When the NCAA singles and doubles championships were in the spring, the rankings were important for entry into those events, but now the rankings are just to determine All-American status (a top 20 season-ending ranking) and the ATP and to a lesser extent, the ITF Accelerator programs. Of course they are also part of a player's legacy in their program, which is also significant.

ITA Division I Women's rankings, March 3, 2026

(previous week's ranking in parentheses, link to full lists in headings)

TEAM:

1. Georgia (1)

2. Ohio State (2)

3. North Carolina (3)

4. LSU (9)

5. Auburn (13)

6. UCLA (5)

7. Tennessee (14)

8. Texas A&M (4)

9. NC State (27)

10. Cal (7)

SINGLES:

1. Carmen Herea, Texas

2. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

3. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

4. Teah Chavez, Ohio State

5. Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M

6. Aysegul Mert, Georgia

7. Ange Oby Kajuru, North Carolina

8. Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

9. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

10. Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine

DOUBLES:

1. Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum, Oklahoma

2. Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe, NC State

3. Melodie Collard and Vivian Yang, Virginia

4. Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton, North Carolina

5. Sophia Webster and Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

ITA Division I Men's rankings, March 3, 2026

TEAM:

1. Ohio State (1)

2. Texas (4)

3. Virginia (2)

4. Wake Forest (3)

5. Mississippi (5)

6. LSU (7)

7. TCU (6)

8. Georgia (13)

9. UCF (10)

10. Baylor (8)

SINGLES:

1. Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

2. Trevor Svajda, SMU

3. Jay Friend, Arizona

4. Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

5. Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

6. Aidan Kim, Ohio State

7. Michael Zheng, Columbia

8. Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

9. Duncan Chan, TCU

10. Max Dahlin, Michigan

DOUBLES:

1. Brandon Carpica and Nikita Filin, Ohio State

2. Manfredi Graziani and Aaron Sandler, Penn

3. Mans Dahlberg and Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

4. DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado, Wake Forest

5. Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

While the top two seeds in the boys and girls draw have advanced to the round of 16 at the ITF J200 in Las Vegas, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds have been eliminated.  No. 3 seed Roshan Santhosh lost to Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju 6-4, 6-4; Aryan Basavaraju won back-to-back J60s last month in Guatemala. No. 4 seed Cooper Kose of Australia lost in the first round yesterday to Gadin Arun 6-4, 7-6(3).  Advay Singh defeated No. 5 seed Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca of Mexico 6-1, 7-6(4).

Girls No. 3 seed Olivia Traynor lost to Carlota Moreno, who made the semifinals of a W15 last month, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 today, while Charlize Celebrini of Canada defeated No. 4 seed Capucine Jauffret 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Celebrini is the younger sister of the NHL San Jose Sharks star Macklin Celebrini, a member of the Canadian Olympic hockey team.

Girls top seed Nancy Lee defeated Ava Quincy Brewer 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 to advance to a meeting with No. 14 seed Caroline Shao. Boys top seed Ryan Cozad beat Ilhan Basar Senel of Turkey 7-6(3), 6-4 and will face 16s Orange Bowl champion Matias Reyniak, the No. 15 seed, in the round of 16.

The WTA announced Monday that its 250 tournament, which had been played in Cleveland in late August, would be moving to Memphis for 2026 and will take place in late July. The Leftwich Tennis Center, which opened in 2023, will host the tournament; the previous WTA event in Memphis was indoors; this will be outside, and I can tell you from when I attended the USTA Girls 18s National Clay Courts there in July, it will be uncomfortably  warm.

For more on this new event, see this article.

Bhattacharya Goes Back-to-Back at J60s in Mexico, Three Other Americans Claim ITF Junior Circuit Singles Titles; Cozad, Lee Top Seeds at Las Vegas ITF J200; Urhobo Earns BNP Paribas Opening Qualifying Win; USC Team Beats UCLA for Pacific Coast Doubles Championship

The ITF Junior Circuit returns to the United States this week with the J200 in Las Vegas, with the J300 in Tucson and the J300 in San Diego providing a great opportunity for Americans to improve their rankings and earn entry into this summer's junior slams.

But other US juniors are in the early stages of their ITF junior careers, including 15-year-old Aarini Bhattacharya, who won two J30s in Jamaica last April and has now claimed back-to-back titles at J60s in San Luis Potosi Mexico. The blue chip from Virginia, seeded No. 5, defeated No. 8 seed Amy Shen of Canada 7-5, 6-3 to win her tenth straight singles match, and also claimed the doubles title with Canadian Elisabeth Djabourian for the second consecutive week. The No. 2 seeds again defeated top seeds Abril Cardena Olivares and Zoe Levresse Zavala in the final, this time by a 6-4, 7-5 score, to extend their doubles winning streak to eight matches. 

Fifteen-year-old Anay Kulkarni won his third ITF junior singles title, with the blue chip from Arizona, seeded No. 3, beating No. 6 seed Sebastian Inaki Godoy 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the all-USA final. 

At the J60 in Peru, 16-year-old Londyn McCord won her third ITF Junior Circuit singles title of the year and her second in as many weeks, in a tournament that was played in the ITF's new round robin/knockout format. McCord, a blue chip from Atlanta, didn't drop a set in capturing first place in her group and continued that form in her next three wins, beating Valeria Santander of Paraguay 6-0, 6-4 in the final.

The third American to go back-to-back last week on the ITF Junior Circuit was David Beckles, who won a second J30 in Abuja Nigeria. The 16-year-old five-star from Texas defeated Seyi Ebenezer Ogunsakin of Nigeria 6-3, 6-3 in the final. 

Fifteen-year-old Scarlett Fagan reached the final of the J100 in South Africa last week, falling to top seed Arina Malygina of Russia 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in the final. 

There are two J300s this week that have US juniors competing. At the J300 in Thailand, Sarah Ye is the No. 12 seed and Carel Ngounoue is the No. 13 seed. At the J300 in Paraguay, Jack Secord is the top seed, while there are five US girls competing: No. 2 seed Welles Newman, No. 8 seed Maggie Sohns, Anita Tu, Ireland O'Brien and Yael Saffar.

In Las Vegas, top seed Ryan Cozad got past a tricky first round opponent in Tyler Lee, posting a 6-4, 6-3 victory today. Canadian Xavier Massotte of Canada, the No. 2 seed, also advanced to the second round in straight sets.

Nancy Lee, the top seed in the girls draw, beat qualifier Myna Medicetty 6-3, 6-0 today, with No. 2 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain getting past Teaghan Jou An Keys 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 in the opening round. 

The wild cards in qualifying at the BNP Paribas Open have not had much success in the first round, with only Kayla Day winning in Sunday's action, and teens Izyan Ahmad, Andy Johnson and Darwin Blanch all falling in straight sets today, with Trevor Svjada(SMU) and Jagger Leach(Stanford) yet to take the court for their first round qualifying matches at Indian Wells.

But 19-year-old Akasha Urhobo, with just hours to recover from her title run at the W35 in Arcadia California yesterday, did post a victory this afternoon, although not over her previously drawn opponent, Kaja Juvan of Slovenia. Alternate Louisa Chirico replaced Juvan in the draw, with Urhobo defeating Chirico 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Urhobo will face Taylor Townsend, fresh off her singles final and doubles championship at the WTA ATX Open in Austin yesterday, after Townsend beat Joanna Garland of Taiwan 6-4, 6-4 this afternoon.

USC's Andrin Casanova and Branko Djuric

Any tournament that has been played for more than 100 years will always get my attention, and Southern California has several of those, including next month's The Ojai, which will be hosting for its 124th year.

The Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship is even older, having just completed its 137th year, with the USC team of Branko Djuric and Andrin Casanova beating top seeds Spencer Johnson and Aadarsh Tripathi of UCLA 6-4, 6-4 to capture the title in La Jolla.  For more on the final, see the release below from J. Fred Sidhu. 

BRANKO DJURIC AND ANDRIN CASANOVA OF USC CROWNED PACIFIC COAST MEN’S      DOUBLES CHAMPIONS AT LA JOLLA BEACH & TENNIS CLUB

Trojan Duo Scores 6-4, 6-4 Win Over Top-Seed Spencer Johnson and Aadarsh Tripathi of UCLA

LA JOLLA, CALIF. – (March 1, 2026) – Playing inspired tennis from start to finish, second-seeded Branko Djuric and Andrin Casanova of USC shocked top-seeded Spencer Johnsonand Aadarsh Tripathi of UCLA 6-4, 6-4 in one-hour and 32 minutes to win the 137th Annual Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championship. 

The championship match, which was contested under bright sunny skies on Court No. 1 at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, began with a large vocal crowd of UCLA and USC alumni and supporters in attendance. Spectators witnessed an entertaining final with all four players exchanging volleys at the net on numerous occasions. 

At 3-3 in the opening set, Djuric and Casanova came through with the first service break of the day as they broke Tripathi for a 4-3 lead. Three games later, Djuric slammed an ace to start the 10th game and proceeded to serve out the first set. 

In the second set, Djuric and Casanova once again broke Tripathi in the seventh game. After Djuric held in the next game for a 5-3 advantage, Johnson easily held serve in the ninth game to cut the lead to 5-4.

With USC fans cheering him on, Casanova served for the title in the 10th game. At 40-15, Johnson and Tripathi fought off one championship point, but at 40-30, Tripathi sent a forehand service return long as the Trojans clinched the match. 

“It’s pretty special. We are very happy to win it. We got our returns in play, that was the key. Winning match point was a pretty good feeling. We felt relief, we had a few nerves in the beginning. It felt really good to close it out,” Casanova said after winning the title.

“We came out and played very competitively the whole weekend. We played a really good match in the finals. There were a lot of nerves against our rivals, but we played really solid doubles,” Djuric said. “We were always there with our return games and hitting our spots with the serves and returns and it paid off with one break in each set.” 

Urhobo Ends Frodin's Run to Earn W35 Title in Arcadia; Wolf Comeback Begins with M15 Title in Naples; Stearns Wins ATX Open; CMS Beats Chicago to Claim Women's D-III Indoor Title

Nineteen-year-old Akasha Urhobo won her second W35 title in as many months, but in keeping with her pattern this week, she needed three sets to get past 17-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin in today's final in Arcadia California 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Urhobo, who made two W35 titles at the end of last season and won the W35 in Westin Florida in January, will be close to her career-high WTA ranking of 282 when the points are added and can earn more beginning tomorrow at the BNP Paribas Open women's qualifying. After receiving a wild card, Urhobo will face No. 8 seed Kaja Juvan of Slovenia in the first round of qualifying.

Frodin more than doubled her WTA points total of 18, and when the 23 points she earned this week are added, the Australian Open girls finalist should move into the Top 800 of the WTA rankings.

JJ Wolf, out for over a year with injury, could not have asked for a better week when returning to competitive tennis. Playing in an M15 tournament for the first time since 2017, when he lost in the first round of the only two M15s he ever competed in on clay in Peru, the 27-year-old from Ohio won the title as a wild card in Naples Florida. The former Ohio State All-American, who reached an ATP ranking of 39 in 2023, didn't drop a set all week, defeating No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Although Wolf is eligible to use a protected ranking to get into bigger tournaments, I'm sure getting competitive matches was the first priority after such a long layoff and recovery. With no USTA Pro Circuit events the next two weeks due to the BNP Paribas Open, the next possible tournament in the US would be the ATP Challenger 175 beginning March 10th in Phoenix. 

Peyton Stearns is back in the WTA Top 50 after the 2022 NCAA singles and team champion while a sophomore at Texas claimed her second WTA title today at the 250 ATX Open in Austin. The fourth-seeded 24-year-old from Ohio, playing in her third WTA final, defeated unseeded Taylor Townsend, playing in her first WTA final, 7-6(8), 7-5 this afternoon. 

Stearns, who won her first WTA title at a 250 on clay in Morocco in May 2024, is up to 48 in the live rankings.

Townsend didn't leave Austin without a winner's trophy however. She and Storm Hunter of Australia won the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Eudice Chong(Wesleyan) of Hong Kong and En-Shou Liang of Taiwan 6-3, 6-4 in the final played after the singles championship match.

Frances Tiafoe reached the final of the ATP 500 in Acapulco, with the No. 8 seed falling to No. 5 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy 7-6(4), 6-4 in last night's championship match.

The men's qualifying begins Monday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, with the draw available here.

No. 5 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the ITA Women's Division III Team Indoor Championships title today in Tennessee, beating No. 2 seed Chicago 4-1 to avenge their loss to the Maroon in the final last year. Chicago won the doubles point, but CMS got straight-sets wins in singles at lines 2, 4, 5 to take a 3-1 lead. That score didn't budge for an hour, with the other three matches going three sets, but CMS's Lindsay Eisenman, the 2025 NCAA D-III champion, earned the win at line 1 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 over Chicago's Sarena Biria to clinch the title. CMS and Chicago have kept each other from defending the title four years in a row now.

For more on today's final, see this article from the CMS website.

Frodin Reaches First Pro Circuit Final at W35 Arcadia; Wolf Advances to M15 Final in Naples; Stearns Aims for Third WTA Title in Austin; No. 1 Georgia Women Beat No. 9 LSU; CMS vs Chicago in D-III Women's Indoor Final; USTA Brewer Cup Underway

For the second consecutive week, two teenagers will meet in a USTA Pro Circuit W35 final, but it's not either of last week's finalists. Qualifier Thea Frodin ended the winning streak of 16-year-old Kristinia Liutova today in Arcadia California, defeating the Las Vegas W35 champion 6-4, 6-4. Liutova, who had beaten 17-year-old wild card Melije Clarke in last week's final, was facing Frodin for the first time today. The 17-year-old Frodin, who reached the Australian Open girls semifinals last month, was broken only once in the match, in the first set, while Liutova dropped serve three times.

In her first Pro Circuit singles final Sunday, Frodin will face top seed Akasha Urhobo, who won her fourth consecutive three-set match today with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 3 seed Lea Ma(Georgia). Urhobo, a 19-year-old from Florida, won a W35 last month in her home state. The two have not played in juniors or on the Pro Circuit. Urhobo is scheduled to compete in the qualifying for the BNP Paribas Open, which begins tomorrow for women.

Top seeds Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Haley Giavara(Cal) won the doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in today's final.

JJ Wolf's comeback from injury has gone smoothly this week at the M15 in Naples Florida, with the former Ohio State All-American advancing to Sunday's final without losing more than three games in any set. Today the 27-year-old wild card defeated 18-year-old USC freshman Max Exsted 6-3, 6-3 to set up a meeting with 19-year-old Miguel Tobon of Colombia. The fourth-seeded Tobon defeated unseeded John Halquist Lithen(Ole Miss) of Sweden 6-2, 6-2 to reach his first ITF men's World Tennis Tour final. 

Exsted and Tobon, the top seeds in doubles, lost to unseeded Adam Jones and Toby Martin of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2 in today's final.

Peyton Stearns has advanced to her third WTA final and her first in almost two years in her collegiate home town of Austin Texas. The 2022 NCAA singles champion, seeded No. 4 this week, has had to win three three-setters, including today, when the 24-year-old from Ohio beat Kimberly Birrell of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 at the WTA ATX Open. Stearns will play unseeded wild card Taylor Townsend, who won her first career semifinal on the WTA Tour today, beating Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(6), 6-3. 

Women's Division I Team Indoor champions Georgia took out No. 9 LSU today 4-0 in Athens, although four matches went to three sets. The top-ranked Bulldogs had also blanked LSU in the quarterfinals of the Team Indoor earlier this month, but the Tigers did not have their No. 2, Kayla Cross, for that match. The box score is here.

No. 5 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps took out top seed Washington-St. Louis 4-3 today to reach the ITA Women's Division III Team Indoor final in Tennessee. CMS will face No. 2 seed Chicago, who won their second straight 4-3 decision, beating No. 6 seed Middlebury to set up a rematch of last year's final. CMS and Chicago have met in the last four ITF Team Indoor finals, with Chicago winning in 2023 and 2025; CMS won in 2024.

The USTA Level 1 Spring Team Championships, now known as the Brewer Cup, are underway, with the 12s in Tucson Arizona and the 14s, 16s, and 18s in Mobile Alabama. The teams are created via a waterfall draw, with the teams then playing a college format to determine a winner, with a compass draw ensuring at least three matches for every player. 

My Article on Junior Practice Partners at ATP Dallas Open; Zheng, Jodar Receive BNP Paribas Open Main Draw Wild Cards; Exsted Faces Wolf at Naples M15; Three Teens Advance to W35 Arcadia Semis; Easter Bowl Entry Lists

As I mentioned earlier this month, when I wrote about attending the Dallas Open while I was there for the ITA Men's Team Indoor, I don't see much professional tennis live. I catch a game here and there at Wimbledon and the US Open, but I'm usually too busy with the juniors to see much more than that, so mostly I see pro tennis at ATP Challenger or WTA 125 level.

Although I enjoyed my day at the Dallas Open and wrote about two of the matches I saw here, but I was also preparing an article focusing on the local juniors who were serving as practice partners for the pros. I enjoyed talking with both Eliot Spizzirri and Ethan Quinn about their experiences in that role as juniors, and with four of the juniors who were on site that day warming up and practicing with the pros. I'm not sure I grasped what a rite of passage such a role is for juniors, but I hope this Tennis Recruiting Network article conveys the importance of that apprenticeship. 

The full list of wild cards for the BNP Paribas Open was announced today, with two-time NCAA champion Michael Zheng,  in his senior year at Columbia, receiving a main draw wild card. He is joined by Gael Monfils of France, Rafael Jodar(Virginia) of Spain, Martin Damm and Zachary Svajda.

The women's main draw wild cards were awarded to Venus Williams, Bianca Andreescu of Canada, Donna Vekic of Croatia, Jennifer Brady(UCLA), Sloane Stephens, Alycia Parks, Katie Volynets and 2025 Roland Garros girls champion Lilli Tagger of Austria. 

The men's qualifying wild cards feature five teenagers, with the oldest 19-year-old SMU junior Trevor Svajda. Stanford freshman Jagger Leach, 18,  received a qualifying wild card for winning the ITF J300 Indian Wells title last March; he is joined by reigning Kalamazoo champion Darwin Blanch, 18, 16-year-old Andy Johnson and 15-year-old Izyan Ahmad, who is part of the BNP Paribas-sponsored high performance group at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.

In contrast, the women's qualifying wild cards were given to an older group: Elli Mandlik, 24, Elvina Kalieva, 22, Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), 22, and teens Akasha Urhobo, 19, Julieta Pareja, 17 and Emerson Jones of Australia, 17. Pareja, like Leach, earned her qualifying wild card as the 2025 ITF J300 Indian Wells champion.

Eighteen-year-old Max Exsted, a freshman at USC, is through to his second M15 semifinal this week in Naples Florida, beating No. 8 seed Kaylan Bigun(UCLA) 6-3, 6-3 in their first meeting. Exsted, who reached his first M15 semifinal in December, played for over four hours yesterday, but that didn't translate to any advantage for the 19-year-old Bigun. Exsted will play wild card JJ Wolf(Ohio State), who has had no trouble at this level in his first competitive matches in over a year. Wolf defeated unseeded Evan Bynoe 6-2, 6-1 in today's quarterfinal. The top half semifinal will feature No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia and unseeded John Hallquist Lithen(Ole Miss) of Sweden.

Exsted and Tobon, the top seeds, will play for the doubles title Saturday against unseeded Adam Jones and Toby Martin of Great Britain.

For the second week in a row, three teenagers have advance to the semifinals of a USTA Pro Circuit W35. One of them, 16-year-old Kristina Liutova, won the title last week in Las Vegas; this week in Arcadia California, Liutova has added to her winning streak, beating No. 7 seed Haley Giavara(Cal) 7-5, 6-0 today. 

Liutova will play 17-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin, who beat No. 4 seed Hanna Chang today 6-4, 6-1. They have not played in juniors or on the Pro Circuit. Frodin, an Australian Open girls semifinalist, reached the semifinals of a USTA Pro Circuit W15 last fall, but will be playing in her first semifinal at the W35 level Saturday.

Top seed Akasha Urhobo defeated No. 5 seed Eryn Cayetano(USC) 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-1 and will play No. 3 seed Lea Ma(Georgia), who defeated No. 6 seed Julieta Pareja, a semifinalist last week, 6-4, 7-6(6).

The selections for next month's USTA National Level 1 Easter Bowl have been published for all four age divisions, with the 12s and 14s scheduled to play from Saturday March 21st through Thursday March 26th and the 16s and 18s competing from Tuesday March 24th through Sunday March 29th.

Winter Nationals champion Dimitriy Flyam tops the boys 12s acceptance list, with Summer Yang, the Winter Nationals doubles champion, at the top of the girls 12s list.

Les Petits As quarterfinalist Nadia Poznick, Bolton and National Indoor champion Anna Kapanadze and recent ITF J60 Claremont champion Isha Manchala lead a strong girls 14s field, with National Indoor champion Ishaan Marla topping the boys 14s list. 

Lennart Hammargren and National Indoor champion Eli Kaminski are 1 and 2 on the boys 16s acceptance list, with National Indoor champion Sylvana Jalbert and Winter National champion Shristi Selvan the top two on the girls 16s list.

Omar Rhazali and Yashwin Krishnakumar led the boys 18s field, with Kalamazoo 16s champion and last year's Easter Bowl 16s champion Marcel Latak also entering. Tristan Stratton, who Latak beat in the Easter Bowl 16s final is also on the acceptance list.

Calla McGill and Ellery Mendell are the top two entrants in the girls 18s, with Easter Bowl 16s champion Armira Kockinis looking to add another Easter Bowl title to her resumé. 

See the Easter Bowl website for more on the upcoming tournament.