Four US Girls Reach Quarterfinals at Grade 2 in Dominican Republic; UNC Teams Remain Atop D-I Rankings; Two Current Collegians Receive Cleveland Challenger Wild Cards; Gauff, Pegula and Fritz Advance in Dubai and Doha

One US boy and four US girls have advanced to the quarterfinals at the ITF Grade 2 in the Dominican Republic after today's second round. Azuma Visaya, the only boy of the four from the US to receive main draw entry based on his ranking, defeated qualifier Idriss Haddouch of Belgium 6-4, 6-0 to advance to a meeting with No. 5 seed Lui Maxted of Great Britain, a TCU recruit.  Visaya had beaten No. 3 seed Mark Lajal of Estonia 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 in the first round.

The top two seeds in the boys draw, Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain, and Leo Borg of Sweden, have also moved into the quarterfinals. 

Qualifier Gracie Epps, wild card Olivia Lincer and lucky loser Madeleine Jessup have also moved on to the final eight, with Lincer defeating No. 6 seed Tilwith Di Girolami of Belgium 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. Jessup also defeated a Belgian in three sets, takin gout Amelie Van Impe 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Epps, who beat No. 2 seed and Grade A Banana Bowl finalist Bianca Behulova of Slovakia yesterday, posted a 6-3, 6-1 win over Canadian qualifier Bianca Jolie Fernandez, the sister of Leylah Fernandez. On Thursday, Jessup will face Epps for a place in the semifinals. The fourth US girl, and the only one in the top half, is Qavia Lopez, who defeated Nahia Berecoechea of France 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-1 today.

Top seed Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic has lost only three games in her two victories and is the only seed remaining in the girls draw.

The new ITA Division I team rankings are out, with both the North Carolina men and the North Carolina women unanimous selections for the top positions in the polls. The Florida men made a notable jump, going from 10 to 7 after beating previously No. 3 Tennessee 5-2 on Sunday. In the women's rankings, Michigan jumped from 26 to 15 after beating then No. 7 Northwestern 5-2 on Sunday. For the rankings of all 50 teams, go here for the women and here for the men.

Division I ITA Women's Top 10 Team Rankings 3-10-21
(previous ranking in parentheses)

1. North Carolina (1)

2. Texas (2)

3. Georgia (3)

4. Pepperdine (4)

5. UCLA (6)

6. Duke (8)

7. Florida State (5)

8. Northwestern (7)

9. Ohio State (10)

10. NC State (11)

Division I ITA Men's Top 10 Team Rankings 3-10-21

1. North Carolina (1)

2. Baylor (2)

3. Virginia (4)

4. Tennessee (3)

5. TCU (5)

6. Texas (6)

7. Florida (10)

8. Ohio State (7)

9. Illinois (9)

10. USC (8)

Next week's ATP Challenger 80 in Cleveland, the first of the year in the United States, has announced three wild cards, with North Carolina's William Blumberg, Kentucky's Liam Draxl and 16-year-old blue chip sophomore Kyle Kang (Kang's is for qualifying; Blumberg is not playing as of March 14th, with Roy Smith(Baylor) receiving his wild card). The tournament had previously announced a wild card for 2019 Kalamazoo champion Zachary Svajda.

Unseeded Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 in Dubai with wins today, while Taylor Fritz is through to the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Doha. Gauff got off the three-set train she had been on, beating qualifier Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2. Pegula was impressive in her 6-0, 6-2 win over No. 2 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who she also beat handily in last week's tournament. Pegula plays No. 10 seed Elise Mertens in the quarterfinals, while Gauff takes on unseeded Jil Teichmann of Switzerland next.

Taylor Fritz saved two match points in the third set tiebreaker to defeat No. 6 seed David Goffin of Belgium 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(9). He will play former junior rival Denis Shapovalov of Canada, the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals. Shapovalov is 3-0 against Fritz at the pro level, with their most recent meeting a five-setter in the third round of the US Open last year.

Qualifier Lauren Davis is through to the quarterfinals at the WTA 250 in Guadalajara Mexico after a 6-2, 6-2 win over Danka Kovinic of Montenegro. Caty McNally plays her second round match later tonight, after taking out wild card Katie Volynets 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in a first round match that finished around 2 a.m.