ITF Grade A Milan Acceptances; Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup Finals Site Chosen; Disagreement on No. 1s in D-I Team Rankings; Navarro Remains Atop ITA Singles Rankings, Wins Opening Round Match at Charleston $100K

Like the grass season, the European red clay season for most top American juniors is a short one, starting with the Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy, then perhaps the Grade 1 in Belgium and the French Open Championships, all in a three-week span.

The acceptances for the Milan Grade A were posted today, with four US girls and eight US boys on the initial list for the main draw. The girls are Liv Hovde, Qavia Lopez, Alexis Blokhina and Mia Slama. Sonya Macavei is four out of the main draw.

Five of the Top 10 girls in the ITF junior rankings have entered, including Australian Open finalist Sofia Costoulas of Belgium, now No. 2 in the rankings after her two titles this month at J1s in Croatia and Belgium. The initial cutoff for girls was 54, compared to 47 at Roland Garros. 

The US boys on the Milan acceptance list do not include No. 1 Bruno Kuzuhara or No. 9 Victor Lilov, but as with the girls, there are five of the Top 10 entered, including No. 2 Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, the reigning Orange Bowl champion. The US boys accepted into the main draw are: Nishesh Basavareddy, Cooper Williams, Nicholas Godsick, Michael Zheng, Ethan Quinn, Leanid Boika and Learner Tien. Alex Frusina is next in and Aidan Kim is four out.

The initial cutoff for the boys in Milan was 55, while it was 45 at Roland Garros.

The ITF announced today that the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup, their 16-and-under team competitions, will return to Antalya Turkey for the second year in a row. The world finals for this year will be a month later than usual, with the dates November 1-6. The United States, which did not participate last year, is expected to compete this year, with the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying scheduled to take place in Mexico May 5-7. I hope to have the names of those representing the US in both the Mexican U16 and U14 qualifying soon.

With just a few days left in the pre-NCAA tournament Division I season, the rankings are more important than ever, with teams continuing to jockey for the 64 spots in the NCAA tournament, as well as place in the Top 8 and Top 16. The ITA rankings still have the TCU men and the North Carolina women at No. 1, despite their losses in the conference tournaments, but the USTA/Tennis Channel poll does not share the computer's assessment. The voters have had the Florida men at No. 1 for a month now, but the defending NCAA champions are still behind TCU in the ITA rankings. 

With North Carolina suffering two losses in the past two weeks, the Tar Heels have fallen out of favor with the voters, and Texas A&M, whose only loss came in February, is now No. 1 in the poll, while No. 6 in the ITA's computer rankings. Below are the Top 10 in both polls; click on the links to see the complete lists.

ITA Division I Men's Team Top 10, April 27, 2022

1. TCU (1)
2. Florida (3)
3. Baylor (4)
4. Ohio State (2)
5. Tennessee (5)
6. Virginia (6)
7. Michigan (8)
8. Kentucky (10)
9. South Carolina (9)
10. Wake Forest (7)

USTA/Tennis Channel Division I Men's Team Top 10

1. Florida (1)

2. Ohio State (2)

3. Michigan (3)

4. Baylor (5)

5. TCU (4)

6. Virginia (6)

7. Kentucky (8)

8. Tennessee (9)

9. Wake Forest (7)

10. Southern Cal (14)

ITA Division I Women's Team Top 10, April 27, 2022

1. North Carolina (1)

2. Oklahoma (2)

3. Texas (4)

4. Virginia (7)

5. Duke (5)

6. Texas A&M (6)

7. NC State (3)

8. Pepperdine (9)

9. Oklahoma State (11)

10. Ohio State (10)

USTA/Tennis Channel Division I Women's Team Top 10

1. Texas A&M (3)

2. North Carolina (T1)

3. Oklahoma (T1)

4. Texas (4)

5. Duke (5)

6. Virginia (7)

7. NC State (6)

8. Ohio State (8)

9. Georgia (11)

10. Pepperdine (12)

Three of the four No. 1s in the singles and doubles rankings retained their positions, with North Carolina State taking over the top spot in women's doubles. Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller are now No. 1, with the former No. 1s, Elizabeth Scotty and Fiona Crawly of North Carolina, now No. 2.

ITA Division I Men's Singles Top 10

1. Ben Shelton, Florida

2. Daniel Rodrigues, South Carolina

3. Adam Walton, Tennessee

4. Adrian Boitan, Baylor

5. August Holmgren, San Diego

6. Stefan Dostanic, Southern California

7. Clement Chidekh, Washington

8. Liam Draxl, Kentucky

9. Johannes Monday, Tennessee

10. Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State

ITA Division I Men's Doubles Top 5

1. Robert Cash and Matej Vocel, Ohio State

2. Jacob Fearnley and Luc Fomba, TCU

3. Finn Bass and Sven Lah, Baylor

4. Richard Ciammara and Cleeve Harper, Texas

5.. Ryan Goetz and Chris Rodesch, Virginia

ITA Division I Women's Singles Top 10

1. Emma Navarro, Virginia

2. Peyton Stearns, Texas

3. Daria Frayman, Princeton

4. Petra Hule, Florida State

5. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina

6. Cameron Morra, North Caroina

7. Eryn Cayetano, Southern Cal

8. Layne Sleeth, Oklahoma

9. Irina Cantos Siemers, Ohio State

10. Chloe Beck, Duke

ITA Division I Women's Doubles Top 5

1. Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller, NC State

2. Fiona Crawley and Elizabeth Scotty, North Carolina

3. Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova, Texas A&M

4. Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura, Georgia Tech

5. Emma Navarro and Hibah Shaikh, Virginia

Emma Navarro is playing the $100,000 Women's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in her home town of Charleston this weekend, and she won her first round match today. The 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Virginia defeated Alexandra Ignatik of Romania 6-1, 6-4 and will play another Romanian Thursday: top seed and WTA 104 Irina Bara.

Other Americans advancing to Thursday's second round are qualifiers Whitney Osuigwe and Alexa Graham(UNC), wild cards Taylor Townsend and Sophie Chang, Louisa Chirico, Caroline Dolehide, Jamie Loeb, No. 4 seed Hailey Baptiste and No. 3 seed Katie Volynets.