USTA Women's Pro Circuit Tournaments Resume in California and Texas; Men Stay in Naples; Michelsen Beats No. 5 Seed at Waco Challenger; Stearns Earns First WTA Level Win; TCU Men and UNC Women Remain No. 1

After two weeks without any women's USTA Pro Circuit events, there are two this week: a $25,000 tournament in Spring Texas and a $60,000 tournament in Arcadia California. The men are playing again this week at another $15,000 tournament in Naples Florida, with the Waco Challenger 75 also underway.

The rain that has plagued California for weeks now washed out Monday's first day of qualifying, so both rounds were scheduled for today, and no first round matches will be played. Although the second round of qualifying is not complete, some qualifiers have been determined, with 15-year-old Tianmei Wang, the USTA Girls 18s Winter Nationals champion, winning two matches today to reach the main draw. Wang defeated top qualifying seed Tori Kinard, who is 20 years older, 6-4, 6-3 in the final round of qualifying.

With the BNP Paribas Open qualifying beginning next Monday, the Arcardia tournament has a number of international competitors, with Sara Errani of Italy, ranked 106, and Diane Parry of France, ranked 115, the top two seeds. 

Main draw wild cards were given to 16-year-old UCLA recruit Olivia Center, UCLA sophomore Kimmi Hance, Christina Rosca(Vanderbilt) and Megan McCray(Oklahoma State). Other current collegians in the draw are Stanford freshman Alexis Blokhina and USC freshman Madison Sieg.

In Spring Texas the qualifying has concluded, with three Americans advancing to the main draw: LSU junior Kylie Collins, 17-year-old Tatum Evans and 14-year-old Tyra Grant.

The wild cards were given to recent Old Dominion star Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine and teens Iva Jovic, Alanis Hamilton and Shannon Lam. The two wild cards who played today won, with Starodubtseva defeating No. 6 seed Jenna DeFalco 6-3, 6-0 and the 14-year-old Lam beating former Princeton standout Victoria Hu 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Orange Bowl finalist Clervie Ngounoue won her first round match, beating Jessica Hinojosa Gomez of Mexico 6-1, 6-2.  Former University of Florida All-American McCartney Kessler defeated top seed Tessah Andrianjafitrimo of France 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-2 in the first round today; she will play Ngounoue next. 

The No. 2 seed is Michaela Bayerlova(Washington State) of the Czech Republic, who will play Veronica Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) of Russia in the first round. 

In Naples, five Americans qualified for the main draw with wins today: Isaiah Strode, Matthew Segura, Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC), Evan Bynoe(Cornell) and Ryan Dickerson(Duke/Baylor). Mac Kiger(North Carolina) received a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser. 

The wild cards went to Aidan Kim, Bryce Nakashima, 17-year-old Jack Ling, who is playing his first USTA Pro Circuit tournament, and Zheng Qing Ji of China. Kim and Nakashima played their first round match today, with Nakashima posting a 6-7(9), 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Last week's Naples $15K finalist Kyle Kang will play No. 8 seed Peter Bertran(Georgia/South Florida) of the Dominican Republic in the first round Wednesday.

The top seed in Naples is Matias Franco Descotte of Argentina; the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds both withdrew.

Alex Michelsen has made the transition from indoors to outdoors without skipping a beat, coming from an appearance in the final of the ATP Challenger in Rome Georgia last week. The 18-year-old University of Georgia signee defeated No. 5 seed Maximilian Marterer of Germany 6-0, 6-3 in the first round of the ATP Challenger 75 in Waco Texas and will face unseeded Alex Bolt of Australia in the second round. Top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia, who beat Michelsen in the Rome final, withdrew, with a lucky loser taking his place.

At the WTA 250 in Austin Texas, 2022 NCAA champion Peyton Stearns played late into the night, but earned her first WTA level victory, beating qualifier Katie Boulter of Great Britain 7-6(5). 6-7(2), 7-6(5) in three hours and 26 minutes. Stearns will play wild card Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden tomorrow, after Bjorklund took out No. 7 seed Alycia Parks 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. 

Stearns teammates at Texas last year, wild cards Charlotte Chavatipon and Sabina Zeynalova, won their first round doubles match today, beating Beatrice Gumulya(Clemson) of Indonesia and Yu-Chieh Hsieh of Taiwan 6-3, 6-4.

This week's computer rankings are out, with no changes at the top of either the men's or women's lists. For the full rankings, click on the headings.

ITA Women's Division I Team Top Ten
February 28, 2023
(last week's ranking in parentheses)

1. North Carolina(1)
2. Texas A&M(7)
3. Ohio State(2)
4. NC State(9)
5. Michigan(3)
6. Georgia(6)
7. Iowa State(4)
8. Auburn(5)
9. Pepperdine(25)
10. Texas(8)

In addition to Pepperdine, other big upward moves outside the top 10 were made by Stanford (22 to 13), who beat Texas; Virginia(20 to 15), who beat Duke; and undefeated Syracuse(53 to 16), who beat Miami.

Texas A&M's win over Ohio State moved them up to where most fans thought they belonged after the Team Indoor Championships.

ITA Men's Division I Team Top Ten
February 28, 2023

1. TCU(1)
2. Texas(2)
3. Michigan(3)
4. Ohio State(4)
5. Kentucky(5)
6. South Carolina(6)
7. Harvard(9)
8. Southern California(7)
9. Georgia(8)
10. North Carolina(10)

The two big movers for the men were outside the Top 10, with Auburn, who won the Blue Gray title over the weekend to go from 36 to 14 and Memphis, who went from 42 to 26 after beating Northwestern.