Brantmeier and NCAA Agree to Settlement; Quartet of Teens Reach Quarterfinals at W35 Arcadia; Exsted vs Bigun Friday at M15 Naples; D-III Women's Team Indoor Begins Friday in Tennessee

Last month, in my annual Eight Intriguing Questions post for the Tennis Recruiting Network, I raised the prospect that Reese Brantmeier and the NCAA could settle the lawsuit Brantmeier brought before the November trial date. According to reports today, a settlement has been reached, with the parties agreeing to a 60-day pause of deadlines as they work toward finalizing the terms. Terms of the settlement were not revealed, so it's unwise to speculate, but it's likely Division I college tennis student-athletes come out of this much less restricted by prize money prohibitions than they are now.

The USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Arcadia California featured four second round matches that were three hours in duration, with top seed Akasha Urhobo, No. 4 seed Hanna Chang, No. 5 seed Eryn Cayetano(USC) and No. 7 seed Haley Giavara(Cal) all managing to get through. Qualifier Thea Frodin, 17, needed two hours and 40 minutes to overcome Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia 6-7(4), 6-0, 7-5 , while the other two teenagers younger than Urhobo, who is 19, had more straightforward wins. No. 6 seed Julieta Pareja, 17, beat qualifier Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) 6-4, 6-4 and 15-year-old Kristina Liutova, the only non-American in the quarterfinals, beating qualifier Snow Han(USC) 6-2, 6-4 to extend her W35 winning streak to seven matches.

Eighteen-year-old qualifier Maya Iyengar could make it five teenagers in the quarterfinals, as she has split sets tonight with No. 3 seed Lea Ma(Georgia) in the final singles match of the day.

At the M15 in Naples Florida, five Americans are through to the quarterfinals, including 23-year-old qualifier Gianluca Brunkow, who beat top seed Robert Cid Subervi(South Florida) of the Dominican Republic 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Brunkow, who played his collegiate tennis at UC-Santa Barbara, is starting his first full year on the Pro Circuit. He will play unseeded former Ole Miss standout John Hallquist Lithen of Sweden, who beat No. 7 seed Karue Sell(UCLA) of Brazil 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4).

Fifteen-year-old wild card Teodor Davidov lost to No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-2, 6-2 and 16-year-old Michael Antonius lost to No. 5 seed Louis Wessels of Germany 6-2, 6-4 to fill out the top two quarterfinals.

The bottom half features four Americans, with wild Card JJ Wolf(Ohio State) beating 17-year-old Jack Secord 6-1, 6-3 to continue his comeback from a year-long injury layoff. Wolf will face unseeded Evan Bynoe, who beat qualifier Dakotah Bobo(LSU, Southern Miss) 6-4, 6-1.

The quarterfinal at the bottom of the draw will feature two teenagers, who are surprisingly playing for the first time. No. 8 seed Kaylan Bigun, 19, will play unseeded Maxwell Exsted, who turns 19 next month, after 2024 Roland Garros boys champion Bigun beat qualifier Toby Martin of Great Brtain 6-1, 6-1 and Exsted defeated Ignacio Monzon of Argentina 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4. If Exsted really was on court for four hours and 43 minutes, which is what the ITF live scoring page gives as the match time, the advantage for tomorrow's match definitely goes to Bigun, who was off the court in 66 minutes. 

Tobon and Exsted, who were occasional double partners on the ITF Junior Circuit, are the top seeds in doubles this week and have reached the semifinals.

The final ITA Team Indoor Championships are this weekend for the Division III women. Washington-St. Louis is the top seed, with Chicago, Pomona-Pitzer and Emory rounding out the top four seeds. 

Sewanee is the host school and the main site is the new club in College Grove: Farm and Forge. This club will host a new ITF J200 on red clay in May, and is expected to be the site of several high profile tournaments going forward.

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.

Craig Tiley Officially Named CEO of USTA; Georgia Women, Ohio State Men Remain No. 1 in Latest ITA Rankings; Tulane Debuts New Tennis Facility; Michael Zheng Pens First Journal Entry for Tennis.com; Eubanks Signs with Tennis Channel

Craig Tiley
photo courtesy of USTA

After several months of speculation, the official announcement came today: Craig Tiley will be returning to the United States as the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Tennis Association after his 20 years of serving as Australian Open tournament director and 13 years as the CEO of Tennis Australia.

Tiley, 64, coached the University of Illinois men's team when I began covering college tennis, although his teams' three national titles (two Indoor, one NCAA) came in 2003 and 2004, before my first college tournament in 2005. I had no doubt he would succeed in his new role when he left Champaign for Melbourne, after the 2005 season, but I could never have imagined the heights that he would lead that tournament to. 

When Gordon Smith retired as CEO of the USTA in 2019, Tiley's name of course came up as a replacement, but I don't think he was ready to wrestle with the always problematic USTA governing structure. That hasn't changed, with the USTA board holding the ultimate power in the organization and the chairman and president cycling in and out in two-year terms. The USTA has had two CEOs since Smith's retirement, Michael Dowse, who lasted two years, and Lew Sherr, who left to join the NY Mets after three years. It's safe to say that Tiley has a much broader background in tennis than either of them and has a firm grasp on how the organization functions, or doesn't, from his many years as a slam tournament director and a federation's CEO.

What the release doesn't say is when Tiley will start, making a vague reference to "the coming months." There are rumors that he has a non-compete clause in his TA contract that may push his start date out to much closer to the US Open than the USTA would like, so I wouldn't expect to hear much from him in the coming months. The Tennis Australia announcement on his departure is here.

My interest is in his plans for Player Development and for college tennis, with his predecessor making a huge commitment just over a year ago to collegiate tennis with the 10-year NCAA Division I team contract that begins in 2028. Again, I don't think we'll know those plans for a some time, but I'm optimistic that he'll give those realms the appropriate attention when the time comes.

Ben Rothenberg has an expansive overview of the highlights and lowlights of Tiley's more than three decades in tennis in this article at Bounces.

It's only been less than a week since the last rankings release, but there are new ITA Division I team rankings out today, the second edition that were determined by the computer algorithm. The top spots didn't change, with the Georgia women and Ohio State men at No. 1, but there were three new Top 10 women's teams: Arizona State, Cal and Pepperdine. LSU's loss to unranked Ole Miss dropped them from 4 to 9, while Southern Cal, Oklahoma and Texas exited the Top 10.  

The Top 10 men are the same 10 programs, but rearranged, with Mississippi State, who barely got past Vanderbilt 4-3 Saturday at home, moving from 10 to 5. Click on the heading to see the full list of the 75 teams with rankings.

Top 10 ITA Division I Men's Team Rankings, computer, February 24, 2026 (last week's ranking in parentheses):

1. Ohio State (1)
2. Virginia (2)
3. Wake Forest(4)
4. Texas (3)
5. Mississippi State (10)
6. TCU (7)
7. LSU (5)
8. Baylor (6)
9. San Diego (9)
10. Central Florida (8)

Top 10 ITA Division I Women's Team Rankings, computer, February 24, 2026

1. Georgia (1)

2. Ohio State (2)

3. North Carolina (3)

4. Texas A&M (5)

5. UCLA (8)

6. Arizona State (11)

7. Cal (12)

8. USC (6)

9. LSU (4)

10. Pepperdine (14)

Tulane has opened its new tennis facility, which sounds from this article like a huge improvement over what they had been using for competition. I'm a little surprised that it includes pickleball courts, which is not the norm for a college tennis facility, but the fact that the facility will be open to the public probably explains that addition.

Two-time NCAA champion Michael Zheng's first entry in an ongoing journal of his spring season as a senior at Columbia was posted today at tennis.com. Although I've been covering his career since 2019, I learned several things I didn't know, and I look forward to his future posts on juggling academics, pro tennis and collegiate competition. Zheng has lost two collegiate matches at No. 1 singles since returning from his second round appearance at the Australian Open as a qualifier, if you are wondering if he is getting high level competition in his final semester before graduation.

Former Georgia Tech All-American Christopher Eubanks, who retired last November, has signed a three-year contract with Tennis Channel as a commentator and host. He will continue to work with ESPN on the three slams they broadcast.

Eleven Singles Titles for Americans on ITF Junior Circuit; USTA Announces Dates for Roland Garros Wild Card Challege; Features on Jack Pinnington Jones and Matt Forbes; Sik to Represent Australia?

On Saturday I covered the titles for Safir Azam and Adla Lopez at the ITF J200 in the Dominican Republic, but that was just the tip of the iceberg, with US juniors claiming nine additional singles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit last week. 

Tomas Laukys won his biggest title at the J100 in Trnava Slovakia, with the unseeded 15-year-old defeating No. 2 seed Dominik Macej of Slovakia 7-6(5), 6-2, with all five of his victories coming in straight sets, including a second round win over top seed Marko Bekeni of Slovakia.

At the J200 in Lithuania, No. 8 seed Michael Savano, 17, lost in the final to No. 7 seed Vincent Reisach of Germany 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Savano's only other titles on the ITF Junior Circuit were also in Europe, in 2024. He defeated top seed Rhys Lawler of Great Britain 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

At the J60 in Claremont California, 17-year-old Ryan Bedwick, seeded No. 4, claimed his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, beating qualifier Peter Jorniak 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Bedwick also reached the doubles final, with partner Rafael Bote of Canada, but the No. 1 seeds gave a walkover to unseeded Jaidyn Finley and Joseph Nau in the final.

Thirteen-year-old Isha Manchala won her second ITF Junior Circuit J60 title in Claremont, beating top seed Alison Wang 6-3, 7-6(3) in the final. Unseeded Rose Biria and Japan's Yui Watanabe won the girls doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Aishi Bisht of India and Emery June Martin 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Unseeded 16-year-olds Ellery Mendell and Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju went back-to-back, winning a J60 in Guatemala for the second week in a row. Mendell beat unseeded Amina Nurmakhan of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-0 in the final, while Aryan Basavaraju defeated No. 3 seed and doubles partner Colter Amey 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in an all-USA boys final.

Amey and Aryan Basavaraju, seeded No. 4, won the doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Mikaeel Ali Baig of Pakistan and Nicolas Bellas of Spain 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 in the final. Top seeds Sasha Miroshnichenko and Mexico's Romina Dominguez Garcia won the girls doubles title, beating Taylor Burke of Australia and Julia Ionescu of Canada 6-2, 6-1 in the final.

There was also a US sweep at the J60 in Mexico, with 16-year-old Sebastian Godoy and 15-year-old Aarini Bhattacharya taking the singles titles.

Godoy, the No. 6 seed defeated unseeded Pedro Queiroz of Brazil 6-0, 6-2 in the final for his fourth ITF Junior Circuit title and his second in singles. Bhattacharya, the No. 5 seed, now has three singles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit after beating unseeded Rachel Wu of Canada 6-3, 6-1 in the final.  Bhattacharya picked up her fourth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with Elisabeth Djabourian of Canada. The No. 3 seeds defeated top seeds Abril Cardenas Olivares and Zoe Levresse Zavala of Mexico 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in the final.

Londyn McCord, who reached the semifinal of the J300 in Peru two weeks ago, dropped back down to the J30 level in that country and took her second title at that level, beating unseeded Silvana Farjado of Peru 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the round robin/knockout tournament.

At the J30 in Nigeria, also a round/robin to knockout tournament, 16-year-old David Beckles swept the titles. He defeated Logan Thomas 6-2, 6-4 in the all-USA singles final for his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. Seeded No. 2 in doubles with Musa Mamud of Nigeria, Beckles added his fourth doubles title on the ITF Junior Circuit, beating unseeded Kingsley Amenuveve Alormenu of Ghana and Ho Wan Yeung of Hong Kong 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 in the final. 

The USTA announced the annual Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, which will begin March 30 and run through May 3rd.

From the USTA press release:

The USTA's 2026 Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, which utilizes clay-court professional tournaments to award an American man and woman a main draw wild card into this year's French Open, will begin the week of March 30 and run through May 3 for both the men and the women. 

 

Both the men's and women's wild cards will be awarded to the American players with the most ranking points earned -- including qualifying and main draw points -- at a maximum of three clay-court tournaments during the Challenge's five-week window. All red-clay and Har-Tru events at the W35 level and above for the women and the M25 level and above for the men, including WTA and ATP Tour events, will be included in the Challenge.

Two articles I ran across over the weekend are a Times of London feature on former TCU All-American Jack Pinnington Jones, who recently raised his professional profile with a quarterfinal appearance as a qualifier at the ATP 500 Dallas Open, and a tennis.com feature on 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion and Michigan State sophomore Matt Forbes, with his older sister Abbey Forbes(UCLA, UNC) a significant contributor to the piece.

Also of interest is this recent Sydney Morning Herald article on a potential country representation change for ITF junior No. 61 Mustafa Ege Sik of Turkey.

Liutova Wins First Pro Event at W35 Las Vegas; Korda Captures Delray Beach ATP 250; CMS Repeats as Men's Division III Indoor Champions; Barry Continues Dominance of D-II Women's Indoor; No. 2 Ohio State Women Hang On, No. 4 LSU Falls

Last week all four pro tournaments in the United States were won by Americans; this year it was just the ATP 250 in Delray Beach that featured a champion from the United States, with the four other tournaments going to international players.

Sixteen-year-old Kristina Liutova, who was born in Moscow but has lived in the United States for many years, captured her first pro title, beating wild card Melije Clarke of Texas 6-2, 6-4 in today's final at the W35 in Las Vegas. The unseeded Liutova, who did not drop a set all week, is 9-1 on the USTA Pro Circuit this year, (including qualifying), with her only loss to Eli Mandlik 7-5 in the third in the quarterfinals of W100 in San Diego late last month.

Liutova, No. 34 in the ITF junior rankings, should move into the WTA Top 500 when the points are added. She is entered in the Tucson ITF J300, which begins in two weeks.

Unseeded Sebastian Korda won his third ATP title this afternoon at the 250 in Delray Beach, defeating No. 5 seed Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Korda was 2-7 in ATP finals entering today's championship match. For more on the final, see this article from the ATP website.

No. 2 seeds Nikola Mektic and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) won the doubles title, beating wild cards Benjamin Kittay(UNC, Michigan) and Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, UNC) 6-7(3), 6-3, 11-9. Kittay and Seggerman had a match point at 9-8 in the tiebreaker.

At the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan, 23-year-old Alina Charaeva of Russia, the No. 5 seed, won the biggest title of her career, although she lost a two-break lead in the second set before squeezing by unseeded Hanyu Guo of China 6-4, 7-6(4).

In doubles, top seeds Sabrina Santamaria(USC) and Qianhui Tang of China took the title via walkover from unseeded Alana Smith(NC State) and Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M).

Wild card Hunter Heck(Illinois) fell in the final of the M15 in Naples Florida, losing to No. 2 seed Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy 6-4, 6-3. 

At the W15 in Palm Coast Florida, former Old Dominion All-American Sofia Johnson of Great Britain, a qualifier, defeated top seed Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil 6-4, 6-2 to win her first ITF women's World Tennis Tour title. Johnson dropped just one set, to Georgia recruit Bella Payne in the semifinals, in her seven victories.

No. 2 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps defended their ITA Men's Division III National Team Indoor title today in Minnesota, defeating No. 4 seed Chicago 4-1. Warren Pham, who had also clinched CMS's first ever Men's Indoor title last year, clinched again at line 2 this year. The box score is here; the CMS release is here.

The top-seeded Barry women won their sixth Division II National Team Indoor title today in Indianapolis, beating No. 6 seed West Florida 4-0. Barry has won every Team Indoor title they have competed in, with the event beginning for D-II in 2020; the only year they did not win, 2021, they did not play. 

Three notable results from Top 5 women's Division I teams who were in action today, with No. 2 Ohio State surviving a trip to Stillwater, where the Cowgirls were short-handed. No. 25 Oklahoma State had to forfeit No. 3 doubles, but still took the point with wins at lines 1 and 2. They also had to forfeit No. 6 singles, even with Melisa Ercan making her first appearance of the season. Their usual No. 6 Marcela Lopez, was out, and Lucia Peyre, back this spring after her torn ACL, suffered a torn Achilles and is out for the season. Ohio State got wins from Luciana Perry at 1, Teah Chavez at 2 and Audrey Spencer at 4, with Perry clinching a 4-2 win, with Rose Marie Nijkamp of Oklahoma State getting a three-set win at line 3 after the clinch. For the full box score, see this article from the Ohio State website.

No. 4 LSU, playing without their No. 1 Cadence Brace, who qualified for the WTA 500 in Merida Mexico this weekend, and their No. 2 Kayla Cross, who lost in qualifying, fell to unranked Ole Miss 5-2 in Oxford. Again the match was played out, after Ole Miss had secured the clinch with the doubles point and victories at lines 1, 4 and 6.  The full box score is available in this article from the Ole Miss website.

No. 5 Texas A&M got by No. 10 Texas in College Station, with the Aggies clinching it 4-2 with the doubles point and singles victories at lines 2, 5 and 3. Again the match was played out, with Texas taking the final point at line 1. See this article from the Texas A&M website for the details.

Americans Sweep ITF J200 Titles in Dominican Republic; 16-Year-Olds Clarke and Liutova Meet for W35 Las Vegas Title; Heck Advances to M15 Naples Final; Pegula Triumphs at WTA 1000 in Dubai

Americans won all four titles at the ITF J200 in Punta Cana Dominican Republic, with Safir Azam sweeping the boys titles and Adla Lopez winning her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title.

Azam, the No. 3 seed, defeated unseeded Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca of Mexico 6-4, 6-1 in the final to earn his second ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the first coming last year at a J100, also in the Dominican Republic. Schtulmann Gasca had beaten top seed Agassi Rusher in the semifinals to reach the final.  Azam did not drop a set in singles en route to the final.

Yesterday Azam won his second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with his first last month at the J300 in Costa Rica. The 16-year from Washington, partnering this week with Mason Taube, won an all-USA final, with the top seeds beating unseeded Theo Hegarty and William McEwan 6-2, 6-4 for the title.

Lopez, the No. 7 seed, defeated No. 4 seed Ireland O'Brien 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 for her first singles title, with the 17-year-old left-hander from Florida winning her first ITF Junior Circuit title since a doubles victory at a J5 in 2022.

In the girls doubles final, unseeded 14-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia Traynor began a new winning streak, beating unseeded Elicia Lin of Canada and Olivia Traynor 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Traynor and Combs had won three consecutive ITF girls doubles titles, as well as the Orange Bowl 16s doubles title before losing in the opening round of the J200 last week in the Dominican Republic.

Two juniors will play for the title of the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Las Vegas, with 16-year-olds Kristina Liutova and Melije Clarke each seeking their first professional title in their first professional final.

Liutova, who trains in Washington, beat No. 3 seed Julieta Pareja 6-4, 6-4, the second straight-sets win for Liutova this year over the former ITF junior No. 1, with the first coming at the W100 in San Diego.  

Wild card Clarke defeated unseeded Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-3 in today's semifinals. 

Liutova won two J300s(College Park and Bradenton) last year; Clarke won one(Houston). They have not met in junior or pro competition.

In the doubles final in Las Vegas, top seeds Haley Giavara(Cal) and Texas freshman Anastasia Abbagnato of Italy won the title, beating unseeded Jessica Hinojosa Gomez of Mexico and Mell Reasco(Georgia) of Ecuador 6-3, 4-6, 10-8.

Hunter Heck(Illinois), who was 1-2 on the M15 Florida clay swing this year, is through to his first Pro Circuit final after beating fellow wild card David Tortora of Italy 6-4, 6-2 today in Naples. The 23-year-old from Minnesota will face No. 2 seed Tomas Compagnucci of Italy, who won the M15 in Palm Coast two weeks ago.

No. 2 seeds Dakotah Bobo(LSU, Southern Mississippi) and Oliver Johansson(Drake) of Sweden won the doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Joao Victor Couto Loureiro and Tsz Fu Wong(Holy Cross) of Hong Kong 6-0, 6-1 in the final.

Both teenagers lost in the semifinals of the W15 in Palm Coast, with 17-year-old wild card Carlota Morena dropping a 6-3, 6-0 decision to top seed Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil and No. 6 seed Bella Payne losing to qualifier Sofia Johnson(Old Dominion) of Great Britain 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. No. 3 seeds Pedretti and Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil won the doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Kolie Allen(Ohio State) and Sabastiani Leon(San Jose State) 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 10-4 in the final.

Neither No. 8 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) nor No. 2 Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) of Czechia managed to advance to the final of the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan. Stoiana saw a 5-2 third set lead slip away to Hanyu Guo of China in a 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 7-5 semifinal that spanned more than three hours. Vidmanova lost to No. 5 seed Alina Charaeva of Russia. 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Jessica Pegula won the WTA 1000 in Dubai today, her fourth at that level, with the No. 4 seed beating No. 7 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Pegula now has ten titles on the WTA tour. For more on her win today, see this article from the WTA.