Volynets Reaches Quarterfinals of Bonita Springs $100K; Three US Juniors Make Plantation J4 Finals; NCAA Division III Individual Selections; Pegula, Gauff and Opelka Advance to Italian Open Quarterfinals

Katie Volynets, the 2019 USTA 18s National Champion, has advanced to the quarterfinals of the $100,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Bonita Springs Florida, joining fellow Americans Hanna Chang, a qualifier and top seed Madison Brengle. The 19-year-old wild card, who also reached the quarterfinals last week at the $100,000 tournament in Charleston South Carolina, defeated No. 6 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-1, 6-3 in today's second round action. 

Volynets will face Brengle in the quarterfinals for the second straight week; in Charleston Brengle, who went on to the final, beat Volynets 7-5, 7-6(3).

Chang will play the winner of an unfinished match between Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State) and No. 3 seed Mayar Sherif(Pepperdine) of Egypt. 

Wild card Ashlyn Krueger, the reigning Orange Bowl champion, beat No. 7 seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 last night, and put up another good showing today against another WTA Top 200 player in Storm Sanders before falling to the Australian 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(7) in three hours and 14 minutes.

On the other side of the state, the singles semifinals of the ITF Junior Circuit J4 in Plantation were played today, with top seed Giulio Perego of Italy reaching his third final in this three-tournament clay circuit in Florida. Texas A&M recruit Perego, who won in Delray Beach and lost in Coral Gables, will face unseeded Luc Hotze, who won the J4 in Panama last week. Hotze defeated No. 8 seed John Chin of Jamaica 6-4, 7-5, while Perego beat No. 3 seed Sebastian Gorzny 6-4, 6-3

The all-US girls final will feature unseeded Emma Charney, who beat top seed Nevena Carton in the second round, against No. 8 seed Sonya Macavei. Charney took out wild card Valeria Ray 6-1, 6-0, while Macavei won her match the hard way, beating Coral Gables J4 champion Mary Stoiana 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5). 

Macavei and Ray won the girls doubles title today, defeating Stoiana and Ahmani Guichard 7-5, 5-7, 10-4 in a final between two unseeded teams.

The NCAA released the singles and doubles qualifiers for the Division III individual championships last night. Defending champion Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico of Emory is among the 32 women aiming for the 2021 singles title. 2019 men's champion Jonathan Jemison of Emory graduated, but the Eagles will have a chance to retain the singles title, with Hayden Cassone making the men's field. The Division III singles championships are 32-player draws contested over three days, with May 28-30 the dates this year. Unlike NCAA Division I, Division III will use a standard alternate system this year. Seeds are not revealed in Division III until the draw is released on May 26th.

Three Americans have advanced to the quarterfinals at the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome, with Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Reilly Opelka getting victories today. The unseeded Gauff defeated No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in Wednesday's second round, and today took out Madrid champion and No. 7 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-5, 6-3. Gauff faces top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia in Friday's quarterfinals. 

Pegula, also unseeded, defeated No. 2 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan in the second round and unseeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-2, 6-4 in today's third round. Pegula, who is 21-7 this year on the WTA tour, takes on unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia in the quarterfinals.

The unseeded Opelka has yet to beat a seed this week, but took out Aslan Karatsev of Russia, one of the hottest players on tour this year, 7-6(6), 6-4 in today's third round. Opelka will face unseeded Federico Delbonis of Argentina in Friday's quarterfinals.

The women's draws are here; the men's draws are here.

At the ATP Challenger 100 in Germany, No. 8 seed Mackenzie McDonald has reached the semifinals. The 2016 NCAA champion from UCLA will face No. 4 seed Daniel Galan of Colombia Saturday.

TennisONE App Announces Streaming Coverage of NCAAs; ITA Summer Circuit Registration Begins Next Week; UTR American Clay Courts Move to North Carolina

The TennisONE application announced today that it would be providing free streaming of the NCAA Division I National Championships in Lake Nona Florida. From the release:

The TennisONE App, a year-round global, mobile platform for all-things-tennis has partnered with the NCAA as their Mobile App and Live Streaming Partner for the 2021 NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships, which will be held at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., from Sunday, May 16, through Friday, May 28.

TennisONE will be the exclusive streaming home for the following matches:

MEN'S/WOMEN'S TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS - Begins Sunday, May 16
Round of 16: All matches
Quarterfinals: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. matches
Semifinals: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. matches

MEN’S/WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - Begins Sunday, May 23
First Round: All singles/doubles matches
Second Round: All singles/doubles matches
Round of 16: All singles/doubles matches
Quarterfinals: All singles/doubles matches
Semifinals: All singles/doubles matches
Finals: All singles/doubles matches
 

All live video streams will be produced by the USTA, with feature matches including commentary by ESPN’s Sam Gore, current WTA playing-professional CiCi Bellis, and broadcast veteran, Kevin Skinner.  TennisONE’s 13 days of in-app coverage will be anchored on-site by on-air talent Rachel Stuhlmann, a former standout collegiate tennis player at the University of Missouri.

TennisOne is a mobile app, not intended for use on a computer. Tennis Channel will be providing the two late quarterfinal matches for both men and women and the late semifinal matches, with coverage beginning with the women's 5:30 pm quarterfinal on May 19th. For the Tennis Channel schedule, see this release (I can guarantee these matches will not be two hours in duration, which is what the schedule shows).

The ITA Summer Circuit is back for 2021, with six weeks of competition across the country beginning June 19th with 12 events. Registration for the opening week begins next week, with juniors, college players and anyone else interested in competing welcome to enter. A $30 ITA membership is necessary, and unlike last year, the entries will be based on UTRs rather than first-come, first-serve as it was last year. Flights are likely for the most popular events. Doubles were not played last year due to covid concerns but are expected to resume at most locations this year. The entry fee is $65, with some of the events providing prize money.  

These tournaments were a godsend last year, when no USTA events were being held; I covered one in Grand Rapids for the Tennis Recruiting Network, which was the only live tennis I saw for the last 10 months of 2020. They are a great opportunity for younger players to see where they stand in the college tennis hierarchy and an inexpensive way to get a minimum of two matches in the three-day events.

Lisa Stone spoke with the ITA's Caroline Eberhart about this year's Summer Circuit this week and their conversation is available at the Parenting Aces YouTube channel. 

Another release I received today announced the second annual American Clay Court Nationals, which were held last year at the Greenbriar, and like the ITA Summer Circuit, provided a rare opportunity for organized competition last summer. My article how these tournaments came together last summer is also at the Tennis Recruiting Network. This year the tournaments are moving to Hanes Park, the former location of the B12s Clay Courts, in Winston-Salem North Carolina. The boys and girls 12s and 14s divisions will be June 10-14 and the boys and girls 16s and 18s will be June 17-21. Prize money is being offered, with a round robin format and doubles. For more details, see these UTR links:

Boys and Girls 12s

Boys and Girls 14s

Boys and Girls 16s

Boys and Girls 18s

US Teams Out of ITF's Junior Davis and Billie Jean King Cups, World Junior Tennis Competitions; Big 12 Conference Awards; US Teens Awarded Wild Cards at Bonita Springs $100K

A couple of weeks ago the ITF announced that the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup, its 16-and-under international team event, would be held in Turkey this fall, with that country substituting for the USTA, who was supposed to hold the event in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Of course last year both events were canceled, as was the ITF World Junior Tennis team competition for 14-and-under players, and I have yet to hear anything regarding the status of WJT, which usually takes place at the beginning of August. 

I asked the USTA if they had heard anything about that, and I received the following response:

"Due to the ongoing situation surrounding COVID-19, the USTA has made the decision to withdraw from the 2021 ITF Junior Team Competition in Mexico for the U14 event (Junior World Championship) and the U16 event (Junior BJK / Davis Cup). The decision was made with the health and safety of our players and staff as the primary and ultimate concern."

I'm not sure why I so surprised by that, given the extreme caution the USTA has displayed throughout the past 14 months, but it is a shame that the top players from the 2005 and 2007 birth years will not get an opportunity to compete on that international stage. I know it is a highlight for many when they look back on their junior careers, with team events featuring a different kinds of pressure and rewards from what they are accustomed to in standard junior events.

The Big 12 conference announced its awards and all-tournament teams today for both men and women, with the Pac-12 now the only Power 5 conference still to release these honors. For the other conferences, see this post, and this post. You'll notice that the Big 12's Newcomer of the Year awards went to a graduate transfer and a junior transfer, while the SEC confined their NOYs to sophomores. The ACC and Big Ten don't offer that category.

BIG 12

Men:
Coach of the Year: Bruce Berque, Texas
Player of the Year: Luc Fomba, TCU
Newcomer of the Year: Charlie Broom, Baylor
Freshman of the Year: Micah Braswell, Texas

Women:
Coach of the Year: Boomer Saia, Iowa State
Player of the Year: Bunyawi Thamchaiwat, Oklahoma State
Newcomer of the Year: Kaitlin Staines, Texas Tech
Freshman of the Year: Peyton Stearns, Texas

In other Division I college tennis news today, Chris Wooten, who has been the interim head women's coach at Missouri, has been named to the position permanently.  Also, St. Thomas, which is moving from Division III to Division I, announced that it is dropping its men's and women's tennis programs in the transition. Division I Long Island University announced that it is adding a men's tennis program.

Qualifying was completed today at the $100,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Bonita Springs Florida, with Alycia Parks, Hanna Chang and Vicky Duval the Americans to earn their way into the main draw. 

Claire Liu is taking a well-deserved week off after back-to-back titles on the Pro Circuit, but Charleston finalist Madison Brengle is playing and is, as she was in the previous two events, the top seed. Australian Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt), who is back after three weeks off following her first WTA title in Charleston, is the No. 2 seed.

The wild cards all went to teenagers: Robin Montgomery, 16, who plays Brengle in the first round; Katie Volynets, 19, Hailey Baptiste, 19, and Ashlyn Krueger, 17. Volynets is the only one of the four who did not draw a seed.

My Recap of Last Week's USTA B18s Level 1; Three More Americans Win ITF Junior Singles Titles; New J1 Warmup for French Junior Championships; Selections for NCAA Division III Teams Announced

Last Wednesday I went to the B18s USTA Level 1 tournament in Indianapolis and my coverage of the final, with Masato Perera defeating Ryan Torres, is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. For the results of the finals in the other age divisions, see this post.

The J4 in Coral Gables received most of the attention I gave to last week's ITF Junior Circuit, but Ethan Quinn and Mary Stoiana were not the only Americans to pick up titles last week.

At the J3 in Santa Domingo Dominican Republic, Aidan Kim won an all-US final, with the 16-year-old from Michigan defeating No. 6 seed Ryan Colby 6-3, 6-4 for his second ITF junior singles title. Kim, the top seed, didn't drop a set in his five victories. Colby did get a winner's trophy however, partnering with Pablo Trochu of France for the doubles title. The unseeded pair defeated Alexander Frusina and his British partner Oliver Tarvet, also unseeded, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. 

The Canadian girls have continued to excel in these Central American/Caribbean ITF Junior events, with 14-year-old Victoria Mboko winning her second consecutive J3 title, again defeating compatriot Mia Kupres. The No. 6 seed, Mboko defeated No. 5 seed Kupres 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 in the final, while partnering with Kayla Cross for another all-Canada final in the doubles. No. 2 seeds Mboko and Cross defeated top seeds Kupres and Annabelle Xu 7-6(7), 7-5 in the final. Mboko is now up to 102 in the ITF World Junior rankings.

At the J4 in Panama, Luca Hotze won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title and his second doubles title. Seeded No. 2, Hotze defeated No. 3 seed Miguel Angel Alonso of Mexico  6-3, 6-1 in the final. He lost only 16 games in his five victories. In doubles, the second-seeded Hotze and Luis Fernandez of the US, defeated unseeded Lucca Pignaton of Brazil and Limon Rumlova of Mexico 7-6(7), 3-6, 10-4 in the final.

In the girls doubles final, unseeded Yichen Zhao of China and Nishitha Saravanan of the US defeated No. 2 seeds Nicole Alfaro of Costa Rica and Maria Martinez Hernandez of Mexico 7-6(5), 2-6, 12-10.  

The J5 in Cancun Mexico produced the fourth US boys champion of the week, with 16-year-old Floridian Leanid Boika winning his first ITF junior circuit title. Boika, the No. 3 seed, defeated No. 7 seed Alejandro Bancalari of Chile 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Addison Comiskey won the girls doubles title, with partner Mariana Reding of Mexico. The unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Alessandra Caceres of Chile and Amelie Montalvo Lundy of Mexico 7-6(1), 1-6, 10-8 in the final. 

At the J2 in Austria, No. 2 seed Alexis Blokhina reached the semifinals, falling to No. 3 seed Nicole Rivkin of Germany 0-6, 7-6(8), 7-6(4).

The ITF announced that the J2 in Poland will be upgraded to a J1 to serve as the warmup tournament for the French Open Junior Championships, with the postponement of the J1 Astrid Bowl in Belgium, which traditionally serves that role. The deadline for entry for the tournament, which is a 32-draw and runs from June 1 to June 5, is tomorrow. The ITF's article on the change is here.

The NCAA has announced the 37 men's teams and the 42 women's teams that will compete in the 2021 Division III Team Championships, scheduled to begin Thursday and Friday of this week. Unlike the Division I selections, the bulk of those competing qualify by winning their conference, although it is interesting to note that the Williams women received a bid with a record of 2-3. Division III did not hold its Indoor Championships this year, although that competition does not generally draw the best teams from the New England SMAC, which is one of the top conferences in the country. 

Missing this year are top programs CMS, Chicago(although they are hosting matches), Middlebury, Amherst, Bowdoin, MIT, with either the cancellation of the season or insufficient play the reason for their absences. 

The men's and women's team finals, which feature eight teams, are scheduled for May 24-26 at Champions Tennis Club in Chattanooga Tennessee. 

The women's bracket is here; the men's bracket is here. Seeds are not a thing in Division III NCAA championships, but from the draws, but the Washington-St. Louis men and Wesleyan women are at the top left of the draws. The Emory men and Wesleyan women are the defending champions from 2019. 

Defending Men's Champion Texas, Top Seed Florida Advance to D-1 Sweet Sixteen; Liu Wins Second Straight USTA Pro Circuit Title at Charleston $100K

The final ten matches to decide the men's Sweet Sixteen participants concluded today, with one unseeded team, Mississippi State ousting a host, and not any host, but the NCAA Championships host, No. 9 seed University of Central Florida by a 4-2 score. 

The Knights won a fiercely contested doubles point, with all three matches going to a tiebreaker. But in singles, Mississippi State won five first sets in singles, four of them by 7-5 or 7-6 scores, so UCF knew it would need to force third sets in at least two of those matches. Central Florida got its second point from Kento Yamada at line 4, but Mississippi State closed out three of the matches they led in by taking them in straight sets. Down 3-2, Central Florida needed to force two third sets, which they did, with Trey Hilderbrand at line 5 and Gabriel Decamps at line 1 giving the Knights a path. But Hilderbrand got down a break early in the third set and could not come back, with Carles Hernandez posting a 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2 victory for Mississippi State's fourth point.

The UCF women advanced to the round of 16 yesterday, but it has to be disappointing for the men to squander their chance to play in the round of 16 on their home courts.

Mississippi State is one of three unseeded men's teams who advanced to the round of 16, the same number of unseeded round of 16 participants the women's regionals produced. This is one more than average, I would say, but given how unusual the season was due to the pandemic, it's quite impressive.

None of the men's seeds were forced to come through in a last-match-on situation, with No. 5 Virginia's 4-2 win over Stanford vying with UCF-Mississippi State as the closest match of the day. Stanford won the doubles point, which gave the Cardinal a route to the victory, but Virginia came out strong in the singles, winning five first sets. The bottom half of the Cavaliers lineup all recorded straight-sets victories to give Virginia a 3-1 lead, but that fourth point was elusive, with Arthur Fery at line 2 and Axel Geller at line 1 forcing the third sets Stanford had to have. At line 3, Tristan Boyer was up 5-1 in the third seed against Chris Rodesch, but the freshman was unable to give Stanford than second point. Instead, it was Fery who earned that, beating Jeffrey von der Schulenburg 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, while it Rodesch ended up with Virginia's fourth point, beating Boyer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). Carl Soderlund of Virginia was up 3-0 in the third over Geller when Rodesch clinched.

Many of the other 4-1 and 4-0 matches were much closer than the score would indicate, with both top seed Florida and No. 7 seed TCU recovering after dropping the doubles point. No. 4 Texas, who earned another trip to Lake Nona, the site of their 2019 national title, defeated unranked Northwestern 4-0.

All told, seven SEC teams advanced to Lake Nona, with three from the Big 12, and two each from the ACC, Big 10 and Pac-12.

Below are the men's round of 16 match-ups, with the times for Monday, May 17th. Live scoring and live streaming should be available here.

Men's Round of 16: 

Florida[1] v Illinois[16] (7 PM)
Mississippi State v Texas A&M[8] (7 PM)
Virginia[5] v Southern Cal[12] (4 PM)
South Carolina[13] v Texas[4] (4 PM)

Tennessee[3] v Arizona (10 AM)
Georgia[11] v North Carolina[6] (10 AM)
TCU[7] v Ohio State (1 PM)
Mississippi[15] v Baylor[2] (1 PM)

The women's round of 16 is scheduled for next Sunday, May 16th, with the times noted below. I should have more details about the streaming options that will be available this coming week; Tennis Channel is not scheduled to begin its coverage until the quarterfinals.

Women's Round of 16:

North Carolina[1] v Cal[16] (7 PM)
Central Florida[9] v Duke (7 PM)
Pepperdine[5] v Michigan (4 PM)
Georgia Tech[13] v UCLA[4] (4PM)

Georgia[3] v Virginia[14] (10 AM)
Southern California v NC State[6] (10 AM)
Florida State[7] v Texas A&M[10] (1 PM)
Ohio State[15] v Texas[2] (1 PM)

Claire Liu at 2020 Nicholasville $100K, photo ©Scott Gerber

Claire Liu continued her impressive form this spring, winning her tenth consecutive match on the USTA Women's Pro Circuit to capture the title at the $100,000 tournament in Charleston South Carolina. Liu, who turns 21 later this month, avoided qualifying this week in Charleston after winning the $60,000 tournament last week in Charlottesville Virginia, then the biggest title of her career.  Today, against top seed and WTA No. 86 Madison Brengle, Liu squandered a 5-2 lead in the second set, but still got the win in straight sets, beating Brengle 6-2, 7-6(6) in two hours and nine minutes. 

The 2017 Wimbledon girls champion will now move to a career high of around 128 in the rankings, with her previous high of 137 coming back in January of 2019.

At the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, 22-year-old Panna Udvardy of Hungary won her first pro circuit title since 2017, beating fellow unseeded finalist Irina Fetecau of Romania 6-0, 6-3 in today's championship match.

D-I Women's Round of 16 Will Not Include Defending Champion; Unseeded Arizona, Ohio State Men Advance to Lake Nona; Liu and Brengle Meet Sunday for $100K Title in Charleston

The women's Sweet Sixteen in Lake Nona is set, with three unseeded teams advancing, and the shutouts that were the norm in the first round much less frequent in today's competition, with only three of the 16 matches decided by a 4-0 score.

Michigan defeated No. 12 seed LSU 4-3 in Baton Rouge, with the match decided in the third set at line 6. Bella Lorenzini defeated LSU's Nina Geissler who served for the match at 5-4 and was up 30-0, but Lorenzini broke, held and broke for a 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 win. Michigan lost the doubles point, but got a three-set win from freshman Kari Miller at line 1, as well as victories from seniors Chiara Lommer at line 2 and Alyvia Jones at line 5.

Southern California, ranked No. 35 and the third seed in the region, defeated No. 11 seed Florida 4-1 in Gainesville, getting wins from Clare McKee at line 6, Eryn Cayetano at line 2 and Summer Dvorak at line 4.

In the day's final match, Duke defeated No. 8 seed Baylor in Waco 4-3, with Kelly Chen putting the Blue Devils in the final 16 with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Mel Krywoj. After dropping the doubles point in a tiebreaker at 3, Duke got straight-sets wins from Georgia Drummy at line 2, Chloe Beck at line 3 and Meible Chi at line 4 to get to three points, but they needed to turn around one of the remaining three matches to stay alive, and it was Chen who accomplished that, winning the only three-set match of the evening, while all eyes were on her.

The fifth-seeded Waves eliminated unseeded Stanford, the defending champions, 4-2. After winning the doubles point, Stanford took three first sets in singles, with veterans Michaela Gordon at 1 and Emma Higuchi at 6, as well as Sara Choy at 5, giving the Cardinal a path to victory. But only Higuchi could close out her match, and Pepperdine's Ashley Lahey ended up clinching the victory, with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Gordon at line 1. According to @jwilsontennis, this is the first time since 1985 that the Stanford women have not won two rounds in the NCAA tournament.

The ACC has been viewed as the top women's conference in the country for some time now, and nothing that happened today casts any doubt on that, with six teams: North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Virginia, NC State, Florida State and Duke advancing to the final 16. The Pac-12 has three teams: Cal, UCLA and USC; the Big Ten with two: Michigan and Ohio State,  the SEC with two: Georgia and Texas A&M and one each from the Big 12 (Texas), the AAC (UCF) and the West Coast (Pepperdine).

The women's round of 16 matchups:
North Carolina[1] v Cal[16]
Central Florida[9] v Duke
Pepperdine[5] v Michigan
Georgia Tech[13] v UCLA[4]

Georgia[3] v Virginia[14]
Southern California v NC State[6]
Florida State[7] v Texas A&M[10]
Ohio State[15] v Texas[2]

Only six of the men's 16 regionals were decided today, but two unseeded teams have already advanced, although both Ohio State and Arizona were popular picks to take out their seeded hosts.

Arizona had defeated Michigan 4-3 Friday in the toughest regional in either the men's and women's competition, and today they validated that win with a 4-2 victory over No. 14 seed Kentucky in Lexington. Arizona won the doubles point and posted victories by Carlos Hassey at line 6 and  Herman Hoeyeraal at line 4 before Jonas Ziverts completed his comeback at line 2, beating Gabriel Diallo 6-7(8), 6-1, 6-4 to put the Pac-12 Wildcats in the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.

Ohio State, who should have been one of the Top 16 seeds, but was not given that status by the NCAA committee, went to Winston-Salem with a chip on its shoulder and came out with a 4-1 win over No. 10 seed Wake Forest. The Buckeyes took the doubles point and got wins from JJ Tracy at line 6, James Trotter at line 3, and Kyle Seelig at line 5. Seelig, if you recall, was on the wrong end of the final match on last Sunday in the Big Ten conference tournament against Zeke Clark of Illinois, so his 7-5, 7-5 victory over Melios Efstathiou had to be particularly satisfying for the sixth-year senior. From the Ohio State website's coverage:

"For me, I was glad I could finish my match and help the team advance,” [Seelig] continued. “I was the last match on in the Big Ten finals and I didn’t get it done. I let the guys down and I didn’t want to do that again. I had a couple of chances with deuce points in the second set and I didn’t play the first one well. But I attacked a little more on the second one and that was the winning point.”

The seeded men's teams advancing to the round of 16 with wins today are No. 16 Illinois, who beat Notre Dame 4-0, No. 8 Texas A&M, who beat Oklahoma 4-1, No. 12 Southern California, a 4-2 winner over Pepperdine and No. 13 seed South Carolina, who defeated North Carolina State 4-0. 

In men's first round action, three No. 3 regional seeds defeated No. 2 seeds, with unranked Northwestern defeating No. 23 UCLA 4-1, No. 37 Oregon beating No. 26 Alabama 4-3 and No. 38 Memphis defeating No. 30 Georgia Tech 4-2. 

See College Tennis Today for the links to the live scoring and live streaming for the ten men's matches on the schedule for Sunday.

Claire Liu will play for her second consecutive title on Sunday at the $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Charleston South Carolina with top seed Madison Brengle her opponent. The unseeded Liu, who turns 21 later this month, defeated unseeded Harriet Dart of Great Britain 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in today's semifinal for her ninth straight win. Brengle, who defeated unseeded Magdalena Frech of Poland 7-6(6), 6-3, beat Liu the only other time they played, but that was back in 2017. 

Caty McNally and her partner Storm Sanders of Australia, the top seeds, won the doubles title, beating the fourth-seeded Japanese team of Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato 7-5, 4-6, 10-6. 

The run of former Vanderbilt star Fernanda Contreras came to an end today at the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Naples Florida, with the qualifier losing to unseeded Panna Udvardy of Hungary 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Udvardy will face unseeded Irina Fetecau of Romania for the title Sunday.  Catherine Harrison(UCLA) and her partner Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway won the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating the third-seeded Japanese team of Erina Hayashi and Kanako Morisaki 6-2, 3-6, 10-2 in the final.