Opelka Defeats Isner for ATP Houston Title; ITF Women's Titles for Eala and Andreeva; WC's Lilov, Damm Among Americans Advancing at Sarasota Challenger Qualifying; Virginia Women Defeat No. 3 NC State, Kentucky Men Top Georgia

Twenty-four-year-old Reilly Opelka won his fourth ATP title today at the US Clay Court Championships in Houston, defeating 36-year-old John Isner 6-3, 7-6(7). It's the first match between the pair of 7-footers in the past five that featured a non-tiebreak set; Opelka has won all five of those matches and ten of the 13 tiebreakers they've played in them. Opelka, who won the ATP 250 in Dallas in February, will return to his career-high of 17 in the ATP rankings Monday.

For more on Opelka's appreciation of Isner as a role model, see this article on the final from the ATP website.

Two teens who have been active on the ITF Junior Circuit took ITF World Tennis Tour women's singles titles today: 16-year-old Alexandra Eala of the Philippines won in Thailand and 14-year-old Mira Andreeva of Russia won in Turkey. 

The unseeded Eala, who has trained at Rafael Nadal Academy for several years, didn't face a seed in her five victories, beating wild card Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand, 12 years her senior, 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the $25,000 tournament. Kumkhum was as high as 66 in the WTA rankings in 2018.

It's the second singles title for Eala, who won a $15K in January of 2021. Currently 11 in the ITF Junior rankings, Eala will break into the WTA Top 500 for the first time when the points are added.

Andreeva, who will be 15 later this month, claimed her first title at the $15,000 tournament in Antalya, using the ITF's junior reserved program for entry. Andreeva defeated the No. 8 and No. 3 seeds en route to the final, where she came back to beat unseeded 25-year-old Martina Colmegna of Italy 6-7(6), 6-0, 6-2. Andreeva, who played her first ITF Women's Circuit tournament in February, is 11-4 this year in five events.

The first round of qualifying is complete at the ATP Challenger 100 in Sarasota, with five Americans advancing to Monday's final round. Wild card Victor Lilov defeated two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion and No. 11 seed Zachary Svajda 7-6(4), 6-3; wild card Martin Damm defeated No. 3 seed (ATP 290) Daniel Dutra da Silva of Brazil 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. 

Lilov, the 2021 Wimbledon boys finalist, will face former NC State star Alexis Galarneau of Canada, the No. 6 seed, for a place in the main draw. Damm's opponent is No. 10 seed Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois), who beat Andre Goransson(Cal) of Sweden 6-3, 6-2. No. 4 seed Christian Harrison, a 6-2, 7-6(7) winner over Cristian Rodriguez of Colombia will face former Ohio State star Mikael Torpegaard of Denmark, the No. 7 seed. No. 9 seed Alex Rybakov(TCU) will play No. 2 seed Rinky Hijikata of Australia, who recently left the University of North Carolina after his sophomore season. 

Qualifying for the USTA women's $100,000 tournament in Palm Harbor Florida begins tomorrow, with 21 of the 32 players in the qualifying draw Americans. Wild cards into qualifying were given to Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech), Erica Oosterhout(Harvard), Raveena Kingsley and USC recruit Madison Sieg. 

North Carolina State, ranked No. 3 by the ITA last week, had a tough first weekend of April, dropping 4-3 matches to Duke and North Carolina in Raleigh. They got back on the winning track Friday, beating Virginia Tech 6-1 on the road, but they again came up a match short against Virginia in Charlottesville today, losing 4-3 after taking the doubles point. Virginia got wins from Emma Navarro, back after competing at the Charleston WTA 500, at line 1, Natasha Subhash at line 2, Hibah Shaikh at line 5, and with the match tied at 3-3, Sara Ziodato at line 6. Virginia, No. 14 in the ITA rankings, should get a boost from that victory and their win over Wake Forest on Friday.

For more on the match, see the Virginia website.

The Florida men won their third consecutive SEC regular season title today when they defeated Auburn 6-1. The Gators, undefeated in the SEC so far, have one more match in the conference, with Texas A&M traveling to Gainesville for a match next Sunday.

Second place is still up for grabs in the SEC, however, with Kentucky and South Carolina both with two losses. No. 12 Kentucky, who has lost to Florida and South Carolina, beat No. 10 Georgia today 5-2, after taking out No. 5 Tennessee on Friday. No. 9 South Carolina, whose two conference losses are to Florida and Georgia, beat Alabama today, and has Texas A&M next week. Kentucky travels to LSU and Mississippi State to close out its conference season.