Seven Americans Advance to Quarterfinals at Grade 1 Banana Bowl; New No. 1s in Division I College Tennis; US World Tennis Tour Update; New Home for USTA Player Development West Announced

Four US boys and three US girls have advanced to the quarterfinals at this week's ITF Grade 1 Banana Bowl in Brazil.

Unseeded Blaise Bicknell, No. 3 seed Eliot Spizzirri, No. 6 seed Tyler Zink and No. 15 seed Toby Kodat are the US boys posting wins today in Criciuma. Bicknell, a Florida recruit, defeated No. 5 seed Santiago De La Fuente of Argentina 6-3, 6-2 and will face top seed Nicolas Alvarez Varona of Spain in Thursday's quarterfinals. Kodat took out No. 4 seed Holger Rune of Denmark 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.

If a US girl is going to win a fifth consecutive ITF Grade 1 title in Central/South America this year, the winner will come from the bottom half of the draw, where No. 2 seed Hurricane Tyra Black, No. 11 seed Charlotte Owensby and unseeded Ellie Coleman all advanced to the quarterfinals. Coleman defeated No. 5 seed Mylene Halemai of France 6-4, 7-5 and will face Black in the quarterfinals. Owensby will play unseeded Mell Reasco Gonzalez of Ecuador.

Both the men and the women have new No. 1s in the USTA/Tennis Channel rankings this week, after the Georgia women claimed the ITA Team Indoor Title yesterday and previous men's No. 1 Wake Forest lost to Virginia last Friday.  The USTA/Tennis Channel Top 10s are below, with the complete Top 25 lists available here.

February 13, 2019

USTA Men’s Top 10 (previous week's ranking in parentheses):
1. Ohio State (2)
2. Mississippi State (4)
3. Florida (5)
4. Texas (6)
5. Wake Forest (1)
6. UCLA (6)
7. North Carolina (9)
8. Stanford (10)
9. Virginia (14)
10. Baylor(8)

USTA Women’s Top 10:
1. Georgia (4)
2. North Carolina (3)
3. Stanford (1)
4. Duke (2)
5. UCLA (5)
6. Vanderbilt (6)
7. Pepperdine (7)
8. Texas (9)
9. South Carolina (8)
10. Michigan (T10)

The ITA released women's rankings today, and I believe it is the last set of rankings that will be via poll, with computer rankings starting next week.  Because the Men's Team Indoor is this weekend, there are no new men's team rankings, but from the seedings released in yesterday draw, it's obvious that Wake Forest has dropped from No. 1 in those rankings as well.

ITA Women’s Top 10 (previous week's ranking in parentheses):
1. Georgia (5)
2. North Carolina (3)
3. Stanford (1)
4. Duke (4)
5. Vanderbilt (2)
6. Texas (6)
7. Pepperdine (7)
8. UCLA (8)
9. South Carolina (15)
10. Ohio State (16)

Two ITF World Tennis Tour events are being held this week in the US, with the women at a $25,000 tournament in Surprise Arizona and the men just down the road for a $15,000 tournament in Tucson.

The first round was completed today in Surprise, with top seed Maria Bouzkova of the Czech Republic advancing to the second round.  Fourteen-year-old Coco Gauff used a junior exemption for entry this week and won her first round match yesterday; she will play No. 4 seed Ashley Kratzer in the Thursday's second round. Gauff defeated 2017 USTA National 18s champion Krazter 7-6(6), 6-7(6), 6-4 in the first round of the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland last month. Other US women advancing to the second round are Usue Arconada and Grace Min[5], Allie Kiick[2] and Kayla Day, and Ann Li[8] and Pamela Montez[WC], all of whom play each other in the second round.

In Tucson, former UCLA star Martin Redlicki is the top seed, and he has advanced to a second round meeting with Jordi Arconada(Texas A&M). Other Americans winning their first round matches are Vasil Kirkov,  Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern), Isaiah Strode[WC], Gage Brymer[Q](UCLA), Jenson Brooksby(Baylor recruit) and Dusty Boyer(Nebraska).

The USTA announced today that its Foundation is a partner in the new
Carol Kimmelman Athletic and Academic Campus to be developed in Carson California, just a short distance from the StubHub Center, the current home of the USTA's Player Development West Headquarters and the ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships. The new complex will feature academic and athletic facilities, including soccer, multipurpose fields and as many as 52 tennis courts.  The USTA's Southern California section will move there, as will USTA Player Development. Groundbreaking could take place as early as next year. For the complete release, click here.

For more on the Kimmelman campus, see its website.