Michelsen Takes Out No. 2 Seed at Tallahassee Challenger; Qualifying Complete at Charleston $100K, Zephyrhills $25K; Texas Men and UNC Women Remain No. 1

I was a bit surprised that Alex Michelsen didn't play the ATP Challenger in Sarasota last week, but the 18-year-old from Southern California easily made this week's Tallahassee Challenger 75 main draw, and in his first round match today, defeated No. 2 seed and ATP No. 130 Camilo Ugo Carabelli 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Ugo Carabelli is the highest ranked player the University of Georgia signee has beaten; Michelsen's live ranking of 265 is getting him close to the cutoff for Roland Garros qualifying. He will face former ATP Top 10 player Lucas Pouille of France next.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Kyle Kang saved three match points in picking up his first ATP Challenger win. The Stanford recruit defeated Colin Sinclair(Cornell) of Northern Mariana Islands 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, after trailing 6-3 in the second set tiebreaker. 

The other teenaged wild card, 19-year-old Bruno Kuzuhara, lost to qualifier Kyrian Jacquet of France 6-2, 6-1. The third wild card, Sunrise $15K champion Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia), plays his first round match tonight against former Tulane star Dominik Koepfer of Germany, the No. 3 seed.

In addition to Michelsen and Kang, other Americans advancing to the second round are Mitchell Krueger and qualifier Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M). Live streaming is available at the ATP Challenger TV website, with Mike Cation providing commentary on Stadium court.

There are two USTA Pro Circuit tournaments for women this week: a $25,000 tournament in Zephyrhills Florida and a $100,000 tournament in Charleston South Carolina.

Reigning NCAA champion Peyton Stearns is the top seed in South Carolina, with Madison Brengle the No. 2 seed and Emma Navarro(Virginia) seeded No. 3.

Wild cards were given to Sophie Chang, Whitney Osuigwe, Elvina Kalieva and Maria Mateas(Duke).

Four of the eight Charleston qualifiers are Americans: Grace Min, Taylor Ng(Dartmouth), Wimbledon girls champion Liv Hovde and Duke senior Chloe Beck, who received a wild card into qualifying. 

Four former college stars from the United States qualified today in Zephyrhills, which had a rare 64-player draw. Advancing to the main draw are Kennedy Shaffer(Georgia), Allura Zamarripa(Texas), Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and Mccartney Kessler(Florida).  Three Japanese juniors training in the US also made the main draw: Sayaka Ishii, Wakana Sonobe and Mayu Crossley. Stanford recruit Katherine Hui made the main draw as a lucky loser, having lost to Ishii, the top seed in qualifying.

Seventeen-year-old Thea Rabman received a wild card and lost her first round match to Dia Evtimova of Bulgaria 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Fourteen-year-old Shannon Lam, a wild card recipient, played wild card Elizabeth Danailova(Virginia Tech) of Bulgaria and won 6-4, 6-1 to earn her second victory on the USTA women's Pro Circuit this year.

The top seed in Zephyrhills is Yuki Naito of Japan, with Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State) the No. 2 seed. Both won their opening round matches today.

The postseason begins this week with the ACC, SEC and Big 12 tournaments on tap; see Collegetennisranks.com for the schedules by day; the ITA has links to the individual conference pages here.

Below are this week's ITA Division I rankings, with few changes from last week. The Texas men and North Carolina women both won big conference matches over TCU and Duke to solidify their No. 1 rankings, while the Longhorns' Eliot Spizzirri and Tar Heels' Fiona Crawley continue to sit atop the singles rankings. I've expanded from Top 10 to Top 16; with less than two weeks before the NCAA selections, that has implications for who will host the first two rounds and in the team competition and who will be seeded in the individual competition.

If you are interested in the teams on the bubble, Tanner Stump and Chris Halioris have their analysis of those men's teams who are fighting for a spot in the 64-team field here. Stump and John Parsons have the rundown on the women's bubble teams here.

ITA Division I rankings, April 18, 2023

Men's Team Top 16:
1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. TCU
4. Georgia
5. Kentucky
6. South Carolina
7. Michigan
8. Virginia
9. Tennessee
10. Harvard
11. Southern California
12. Duke
13. Columbia
14. North Carolina
15. Mississippi State
16. Arizona

Singles Top 16:

1. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

2. Johannes Monday, Tennessee

3. Arthur Fery, Stanford

4. Ethan Quinn, Georgia

5. Melios Efstathiou, Wake Forest

6. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

7. Ondrej Styler, Michigan

8. Toby Samuel, South Carolina

9. Andres Martin, Georgia Tech

10. Chris Rodesch, Virginia

11. Andrew Fenty, Michigan

12. Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford

13. Garrett Johns, Duke

14. Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

15. Philip Henning, Georgia

16. JJ Tracy, Ohio State

Doubles Top 8:

1. Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson, South Carolina

2. Jacob Fearnley and Luc Fomba, TCU

3. Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper, Texas

4. Will Grant and Axel Nefve, Florida

5. Pat Harper and Johannus Monday, Tennessee

6. Ozan Baris and Max Sheldon, Michigan State

7. Ethan Quinn and Trent Bryde, Georgia

8. Gavin Young and Andrew Fenty, Michigan

Women's Team Top 16:

1. North Carolina

2. Texas A&M

3. Michigan

4. Georgia

5. North Carolina State

6. Duke

7. Stanford

8. Pepperdine

9. Ohio State

10. Virginia

11. Iowa State

12. Texas

13. Miami

14. Oklahoma

15. Tennessee

16. Auburn

Singles Top 16:

1. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. Lea Ma, Georgia

4. Chloe Beck, Duke

5. Alexa Noel, Miami

6. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

7. Daria Frayman, Princeton

8. Madison Sieg, Southern California

9. Ayana Akli, South Carolina

10. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

11. Janice Tjen, Pepperdine

12. Diana Shnaider, NC State

13. Carol Lee, Georgia Tech

14. Anastasiya Komar, LSU

15. Alana Smith, NC State

16. Connie Ma, Stanford

Doubles Top 8:

1. Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen, Pepperdine

2. Kari Miller and Jaedan Brown, Michigan

3. Carson Branstine and Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

4. Kylie Collins and Anastasiya Komar, LSU

5. Diana Shnaider and Alana Smith, NC State

6. Elise Wagle and Kimmi Hance, UCLA

7. Veronica Miroshnichenko and Eva Maria, Loyola Marymount

8. Nell Miller and Amelia Rajecki, NC State