March Aces; Chang Sweeps Titles at ITF J200 in Paraguay; Few Surprises in Sarasota Challenger Qualifying; Urhobo, Dali Blanch Lead After Week One of USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Race

The March edition of my monthly Tennis Recruiting Network column featuring the top performances of juniors, collegians and former collegians is available today, with 18 players featured. I've had to drastically reduce my coverage of titles at M15s and W15s because of the sheer number of those events won by junior and collegians, but I make exceptions here and there, including in March. 

There was only one singles title for an American on the ITF Junior Circuit last week, with 15-year-old Lani Chang winning the biggest title of her junior career at the J200 in Paraguay.  No. 3 seed Chang, the daughter of Michael Chang and Amber Liu(Stanford), didn't drop a set all week, beating No. 8 seed Scarlett Fagan 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals and unseeded Maria Eduarda Carbone dos Santos of Brazil 6-1, 6-4 in the final. Carbone dos Santos had defeated No. 7 seed Londyn McCord in the first round and top seed Sofia Meabe of Argentina in the quarterfinals.

Chang and Ana Avramovic, seeded No. 2, claimed the doubles title with a 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 decision over No. 4 seeds Fagan and McCord.

Izyan Ahmad won the boys doubles title with Felipe Mamede of Brazil; the No. 4 seeds defeated top seeds Alvaro Ariel Frutos Alonso of Paraguay and Felipe Vazquez of Uruguay 6-0, 6-3 in the final.

At the J60 in the Dominican Republic, 15-year-old Adriana Khomyakova won the girls doubles title with Valentina Garcia Rojas of Colombia. The top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Julianny De La Cruz Champagne of the Dominican Republic and Sasha Miroshnichenko 6-3, 7-6(6) in the final. Audrey Dussault reached the singles final, losing to De La Cruz Champagne 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(1). 

The other American title was in boys doubles at the J30 in Gaudeloupe, with 15-year-old Ved Vanga winning his first title on the ITF Junior Circuit.  Vanga and partner Emryk Crete of Canada, the No. 2 seeds, beat top seeds Ilia and Timofey Dobrovolsky of Canada 5-7, 7-6(5), 10-7 in the final.

Qualifying concluded today at the ATP Sarasota Challenger 75, which this year is being held at the IMG Academy in Bradenton.  Five of the top 6 seeds in qualifying advanced to the main draw, including No. 1 Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada, who must have entered late, as he would have been a top 4 seed in the main draw. Unseeded in the main draw, he will play No. 8 seed Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) for the second time in two weeks, with Basavareddy beating Draxl, a qualifier, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the first round of the ATP 250 in Houston.

The other qualifiers are Garrett Johns[2](Duke), Killian Feldbausch[3] of Switzerland, Strong Kirchheimer[9](Northwestern), Reda Bennani[5] of Morocco and Bruno Kuzuhara[6].

Yibing Wu of China is the top seed, with Martin Damm the No. 2 seed. Kei Nishikori of Japan received a wild card, as did Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) and JJ Wolf(Ohio State).

Five first round matches were on today's schedule, with Damm, who trains at IMG, playing the night match against Alex Rybakov(TCU).  Wolf lost to No. 6 seed Daniil Glinka of Estonia 6-3, 7-6(4) today; Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) beat No. 4 seed Colton Smith(Arizona), Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest) defeated Saba Purtseladze of Georgia 6-2, 6-3 and Hynek Barton of the Czech Republic defeated Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 6-4.

The USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge began last week, with Dali Blanch and Akasha Urhobo leading the race after the first of five weeks players have to put up their three best results on any clay tournament at the 25-level and above. Urhobo, 19, qualified and won her first WTA main draw match at the Credit One Charleston Open to earn 57 points. Varvara Lepchenko, on the other end of the age spectrum at 39, reached the quarterfinals of the W250 in Colombia to earn 54 points.

Blanch, 23, reached his first ATP Challenger semifinal above the 50 level last week at the 100 in Spain as a qualifier, earning 29 points, putting him four points ahead of Basavareddy and Mackenzie McDonald, who both advanced to the second round of the ATP 250 in Houston. 

Women's Standings
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Akasha Urhobo (233) -- 57
2. Varvara Lepchenko (148) -- 54
T3. Alycia Parks (93) -- 32
T3. Ashlyn Krueger (108) -- 32

Men's Standings
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Dali Blanch (349) -- 29
T2. Nishesh Basavareddy (181) -- 25
T2. Mackenzie McDonald (126) -- 25

Belozertsev and Zhenikhova Top Seeds at ITF J500 Cairo; Johnson Claims Title at W35 in Jackson MS; Jodar Captures First ATP Title in Morocco; Paul and Pegula Win on US Clay; LTA National 16s Champion Britton No. 2 Seed in This Week's 18s Tournament

The ITF J500 in Cairo begins Monday, with Nikita Belozertsev of Uzbekistan the top seed in the boys draw and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany No. 1 in the girls draw. Seeds don't play in the first round, but all four Americans will be in action on the North Africa clay.

Ireland O'Brien faces qualifier Jana Mohamed Elsayed of Egypt, who did not have to win a match to reach the main draw. Only two girls qualifying matches were played, the other four qualifiers received walkovers. Camille Allegre faces Judy Tawila of Egypt, the only Egyptian girl of the 11 in the main draw who received direct entry into the main draw.

Zavier Augustin will face wild card Ahmed Ibrahim of Egypt in the first round, with Carel Ngounoue playing lucky loser Ali Sherif Abdellatif of Egypt.

The USTA Pro Circuit is going to be a whole lot busier next week, with four tournaments, including a Challenger 75 in Sarasota(Bradenton, actually), but only one tournament this week, the women's W35 in Jackson Mississippi.  Former Old Dominion All-American Sofia Johnson of Great Britain, who won her first ITF women's World Tennis Tour title at a W15 in Florida in February, won her second today. Johnson, a qualifier, defeated No. 4 seed Aran Teixido Garcia(Memphis, LSU) 7-5, 6-1 in the fina. The 21-year-old, who is now training at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, has a template to follow in Old Dominion's Yulia Starodubtseva, who was Johnson's teammate in the 2021-22 season.

Starodubtseva, who lost to top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-2 today in the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open, is now up to a career-high 53 in the WTA rankings.

The doubles title in Charleston was won by Caty McNally and Desirae Krawczyk(Arizona State), who beat Anna Bondar of Hungary and Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

Nineteen-year-old Rafael Jodar won his first ATP title today at the 250 in Marrakech Morocco, defeating qualifier Marco Trungelliti of Argentina 6-3, 6-2. The 2025 ITA Rookie of the Year while at the University of Virginia, Jodar is the first teenager to win an ATP title in 2026. The 2024 US Open boys champion is now up to 57 in the ATP rankings.

Former Ohio State Buckeyes Robert Cash and JJ Tracy made it a former-collegian sweep, taking the doubles title in Morocco. The No. 4 seeds defeated unseeded Vasil Kirkov and the Netherlands' Bart Stevens 6-2, 6-3 in the final. It's the second ATP title for the 2024 NCAA doubles champions.

Another former junior slam champion won an ATP title today, with 2015 Roland Garros boys champion Tommy Paul winning his first ATP title on clay at the ATP 250 US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston. Paul was down 5-3 in the third set and saved three match points before overtaking unseeded Roman Burruchaga of Argentina 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 for his fifth ATP title. 

Former University of Florida teammates Ben Shelton and Andres Andrade won the doubles title today in Houston as wild cards, beating top seeds Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos of Brazil 4-6, 6-3, 10-6. It's the first ATP title for both Shelton and Andrade.

The LTA's National Championships for 16s concluded last week, with the 18s tournament beginning Monday. Top seed Daniella Britton won the girls 16s title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 2 seed Annabel Wong to secure her Wimbledon Junior Championships wild card (she received one last year as well and won a round). Wild card Isaac Sallu won the boys 16s title, beating top seed Eric Lorimer 7-6, 6-4. Links to the 16s draws are here; an article on the 16s finals is here.

ITF No. 54 Hollie Smart, who has competed often here in the United States including last month in the Las Vegas and Tucson ITFs, is the top seed in the 18s. Britton is the No. 2 seed; with these tournaments back-to-back, rather than concurrent, players are allowed to compete in both. ITF No. 30, Mark Ceban, is the top boys seed, with ITF No. 57 Rhys Lawlor the No. 2 seed. 

A Wimbledon qualifying wild card goes to the winner of the 18s championships.

Links to the 18s draws are here; an 18s preview, with a promise of live streaming, is here.

Stanford Christens New Facility with Upset of Wake Forest; Auburn Women Blank Texas; Teixido Garcia and Johnson Reach W35 Final in Mississippi; Jodar, Starodubtseva Advance to First Tour Finals; 12s Division Added to Upcoming Ojai Tournament

The Stanford women played the first match at Stanford's new Arrillaga Tennis Center (a drone overview can be viewed here), beating Virginia Tech 4-0 in an ACC conference match, but it was the men's team who made the facility's opening an especially memorable one, coming from 3-0 down against No. 3 Wake Forest to claim their best win of the season. After Wake Forest took the doubles point and posted straight-sets wins from Luca Pow at line 3 and DK Suresh at line 1, Stanford went to work, getting a straight-sets win from Alex Razeghi at line 2.  The matches at 4, 5, and 6 all went to third set, with Alex Chang making it 3-2 with a win at 5 and Hudson Rivera tying it up with a win at 4. Freshman Jagger Leach, who had been playing as high as 3 in the lineup earlier this season, trailed Joaquin Guilleme 5-2 in the third set at line 6, but fought back and won the third-set tiebreaker 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(4) to complete the comeback.  

Currently ranked 25, Stanford, which has struggled with health issues all season (Kyle Kang had yet to make an appearance), is now up to 20 in the projected rankings and will have an opportunity to improve on that ranking in the ACC conference championships in Cary NC in two weeks, where they are the defending champions.

After falling 4-3 to the second-ranked Texas A&M women in College Station Thursday, No. 4 Auburn will leave Texas on a high note after posting a 4-0 win over No. 6 Texas in Austin today. The Tigers took the doubles point and got straight-sets wins at lines 2, 5 and 6 for the shutout. Ashton Bowers, who played for Texas last season picked up Auburn's third point with a 6-3, 6-2 win over freshman Elizabeth Ionescu at line 5.

The final of the USTA Pro Circuit women's W35 in Jackson Mississippi will feature two former collegians, with qualifier Sofia Johnson of Great Britain facing Aran Teixido Garcia of Spain.

Johnson, an All-American at Old Dominion in 2024, faced her first seed today, beating No. 5 Mio Mushika of Japan 6-1, 6-1, while No. 4 seed Teixido Garcia, who played at Memphis and LSU, took out No. 2 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-2, 7-5. Teixido Garcia beat Johnson in the first round of qualifying in this tournament in 2024, 6-4, 6-2.

In today's doubles final between two unseeded teams, Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego) and Mio Mushika defeated Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) and Carson Tanguilig(UNC) 7-6(5), 2-6, 12-10. It's the second pro doubles title for Evans and the fourth for Mushika. 

It was a great day for another Old Dominion All-American, with Yulia Starodubtseva reaching her first WTA final with a 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 5 seed Madison Keys at the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open. Starodubtseva, a 26-year-old from Ukraine who was an All-American in singles and doubles in 2022, will face top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula, who won her fourth consecutive three-set match, beating No. 4 seed Iva Jovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Another All-American from a Virginia school, Rafael Jodar, also reached a first tour final, with the former UVA star advancing to the final of the ATP 250 in Morocco.  The unseeded 19-year-old from Spain defeated unseeded Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina 6-2, 6-1 in his first ATP semifinal and will face 36-year-old qualifier Marco Trungelliti of Argentina for the title. Trungelliti is the oldest player to reach his first ATP final and to enter the ATP Top 100, which he will do on Monday, regardless of the outcome.

Tommy Paul will also face an surprise Argentine finalist on Sunday, at the ATP 250 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston. Paul, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 2 seed Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7) in a rain-interrupted semifinal and will play unseeded Roman Burruchaga for the title Sunday. Burruchaga, who just reached the ATP Top 100 for the first time in February, at the age of 24, defeated compatriot Thiago Tirante 6-1, 6-1 in the day's first semifinal.

The 124th Ojai Tennis Tournament is just a few weeks away, and in keeping with the event's commitment to growing tennis, the 12s division is being added to the USTA Level 5 junior competition. The registration deadline is a week from tomorrow, April 12th, so don't wait until the last minute to enter. An opportunity to play in one of the most legendary events in US tennis should be a priority for any junior in the area.

My Easter Bowl 16s and 18s Recap; US Teams Named for World Junior Tennis and Junior Davis and Billie Jean King Cup Qualifying; No. 2 Texas A&M Women Defeat Auburn 4-3; Jovic Advances to Charleston WTA 500 Semifinals; Jodar Reaches ATP 250 Semi

The final recap of my March trip out West is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Congratulations to Easter Bowl 16s and 18s champion Rishvanth Krishna, Anay Kulkarnia, Ellery Mandell and Shristi Selvan for winning the singles titles in the sweltering conditions last week at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. If you weren't able to follow my daily coverage, this is an ideal way to get up to speed on the players who will be contenders for this summer's titles on the USTA Junior Circuit.

While I was in California, I heard the names of some of the juniors who were going to be competing in the North and Central American qualifying this month in Canada for the ITF World Junior Tennis (14-and-under) and ITF Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup(16-and-under) this summer and fall.

Although this is subject to change, with last-minute injuries always a possibility, I now have a complete list of those selected for the event, scheduled for April 15-17 in Montreal. 

World Junior Tennis:

Girls, Captain Celeste Frye:
Isha Manchala

Anna Kapanadze

Nadia Poznick

Boys, Captain Jon Glover

Nathan Lee

Max D Smith

Rex Kulman

Junior Davis Cup, Captain Sylvain Guichard

Izyan Ahmad
Teodor Davidov
Gadin Arun

Junior Billie Jean King Cup, Captain Thierry Champion

Janae Preston

Jordyn Hazelitt

Welles Newman

These are the players selected for the qualifying, but changes for the finals are to be expected, as those competitions are four or more months out.

With only a couple of more weekends before several conferences begin their conference tournaments, the Division I seedings for the NCAAs are beginning to take shape. In a Top 4 battle last night in College Station, second-ranked Texas A&M defeated No. 4 Auburn 4-3, with the match coming down to No. 6 singles.

Texas A&M, playing without their usual No. 3 Ilinca Amariei, won the lost the doubles point, and trailed 2-0 after Merna Refaat beat Violetta Martinez 6-1, 6-1 at line 4. After a win by Mia Kupres at line 2, Texas A&M went down 3-1 when Angella Okutoyi beat Lexington Reed at line 3 6-4, 6-1, but wins by Daria Smetannikov at 4 and Lucciana Perez at 1 tied it up. The only match to go three sets was at No. 6, with two players who haven't been in the lineup regularly. It was Aggie freshman Anna Perelman who got the win, coming back to beat Alice Battesti 4-6, 62, 6-4 to clinch the win for Texas A&M. 

Texas A&M, now 11-1 at alone at the top of the SEC conference, will host No. 16 Florida Saturday.

2024 USTA National 18s champion Iva Jovic is through to the semifinals of the WTA 500 tournament in Charleston South Carolina, with the 18-year-old from Southern California, seeded No. 4, defeating No. 8 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-3, 6-4 in this afternoon's quarterfinals. She will face top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula, who pulled off another comeback in the quarterfinals, her third this week, beating Diana Schnaider(NC State) of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

For more on Jovic's win, see this article from the WTA website.

Last year at this time, Rafael Jodar was competing as a freshman for the University of Virginia. Today, the 19-year-old from Spain reached his first ATP semifinal, advancing when Alexandre Muller of France retired trailing 6-2, 2-0 at the ATP 250 in Morocco. Jodar, the 2024 US Open boys champion, will face unseeded Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina in Saturday's semifinals.

Four Americans Among Entries for Next Week's ITF J500 Cairo; SMU's Feisel Sues NCAA; Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Men and Women Stay No. 1 in Latest D-III Team Rankings; Update on Zootennis Daily Email Issues

The second ITF J500 of the year, just three weeks after the first one in Brazil, is scheduled for next week in Cairo Egypt. Four Americans have made the trip, with two of them also in Cairo for this week's J300.  Both Carel Ngounoue and Tucson ITF J300 champion Camille Allegre, a qualifier, lost in the second round this week, although Ngounoue is through to the doubles final with partner Alejandro Mateo Berge Nourescu of Romania.

Allegre is currently only two spots out of the main draw of the J500, which is a 48-draw, not a 32-draw like the J300, and will probably move into the main draw. The other US girl in the acceptances is Ireland O'Brien; the other US boys in the acceptances is Zavier Augustin.

The two ITF Top 20 boys in the acceptances are Nikita Belozertsev of Uzbekistan, 14, and ITF J300 Bradenton finalist Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, 19. There are no Top 20 girls, with Germans Sonja Zhenikhova, 22, and Ida Wobker, 32, with the highest rankings.

The ITF Junior site has provided this preview.

SMU women's tennis student-athlete Gina Feistel has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, contending that the rule denying eligibility to players competing in organized competition after the age of 20 unlawfully restrains that labor market. The 23-year-old, who has not competed for SMU but is on the roster this season as a senior, is seeking a temporary restraining order. Feistel, who was born in Germany, but represents Poland on the ITF Circuit, has been playing ITF women's tournaments all semester and won a W15 title last month in Mexico.

The link to the filing is here.

The latest ITA Division III team rankings came out yesterday, with both the men's and women's teams at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps retaining the No. 1 spots, which they assumed after winning the Team Indoor Championships. The men suffered their first loss of the season 4-3 to No. 2 Tufts on March 21 at the Stag-Hen Invitational in Claremont, but kept the No. 1 ranking. The women's only loss was their first match of the year, to Division I UC-Riverside. 

I've been experiencing technical problems with the email signup form in the past few days, and for two days, in the email itself being distributed. It appears the distribution is back on schedule, but I'm still trying to work through several issues with securing the form from spam bots. If you have not received emails the past few days, please sign up again. The form no longer fits the site properly on all browsers, but I believe it is fully functional.

My Tennis Recruiting Recap of 12s and 14s Easter Bowl; Preston Advances over Top Seed at W35 in Mississippi; West Florida Men, Barry Women Top Division II Rankings

My article on the Easter Bowl championships for the 12s and 14s divisions is up today on the Tennis Recruiting Network. Congratulations to Chloe Anthony, Dimitriy Flyam, Nadia Poznick and Michael Chervenkov for capturing their titles in the record heat that accompanied the event throughout its six days in the Coachella Valley. 

My article on the Easter Bowl 16s and 18s divisions will be posted on Friday, and I'll be working on processing the videos from the two ITF J300s and the Easter Bowl finals the rest of this month.

At the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Jackson Mississippi, 15-year-old qualifier Janae Preston has advanced to the second round after top seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy retired at 1-6, 7-5, 3-0. Preston, who also qualified for a W35 in January and won a round before claiming three consecutive ITF J300 titles, will face former Pepperdine All-American Savannah Broadus in the second round Thursday.

Other Americans to advance to the second round so far are Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina), Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State), North Carolina recruit Alexis Nguyen, wild card Emma Jackson(Duke), qualifier Mary Lewis(Arizona, MSU) and Ava Markham(Wisconsin).

The new ITA Division II rankings are out today, with West Florida holding on to the top spot in the men's rankings after taking over for Barry on March 18th.  Click on the headings to go to the full lists.

Division II Top 10 Men's rankings:
April 1, 2026

Team:
1. West Florida
2. Barry
3. Flagler
4. Saint Leo
5. Columbus State
6. UT-Tyler
7. Embry-Riddle
8. Rollins
9. Lee
10. Washburn

Singles:

1. Yan Kodjoed, Barry

2. Diego Duran, West Florida

3. Sebastian ROndon, West Florida

4. Pedro Liborio, North Georgia

5. Kelly Giese, Lubbock Christian

6. Lawson Prather, Rollins

7. Mario Garoz, Florida Southern

8. Lukas Janousek, Cameron

9. Samuel Antwi, UT-Tyler

10. Jose David Segovia Perez, Saint Leo

The Barry women, who are undefeated, moved to No. 1 on March 18, displacing West Florida, and they have continued to occupy that position for the past two weeks.

Division II Top 10 Women's rankings:

April 1, 2026

Team:

1. Barry

2. West Florida

3. Embry-Riddle

4. Nova Southeran

5. West Alabama

6. Florida Southern

7. Mississippi College

8. Rollins

9. Catawba

10. Findlay

Singles:

1. Kristyna Hranacova, Nova Southeastern

2. Emily Buchanan, Mississippi College

3. Salma Djoubri, Lynn

4. Alyssa Novoa, Rollins

5. Natasha Sengphrachanh, Grand Valley State

6. Selin Sepken, Midwestern State

7. Carlota Verdu, West Florida

8. Dana Heimen, Barry

9. Elena Ondobo, Flagler

10. Melissa Yakup Pour, Auburn Montgomery