More Rain in Florida Keeps Sunrise $15K and Boca Raton $25K Behind Schedule; UCLA Upsets Pepperdine; USA's BJK Cup Team Faces Austria Friday; Great Britain's National 18s Championships Finals Set

The good news is that the qualifying was completed at this week's women's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Boca Raton and the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Sunrise; the bad news is that rain returned Thursday afternoon and kept the first round from finishing in Boca Raton, although the men in Sunrise did complete their first round and two second round matches.

Wild card Maria Mateas was up 6-1, 3-6, 4-0 over No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik when play was suspended for the day in the only first round match that was not completed. First round winners today includes top seed Emma Navarro(Virginia), No. 3 seed Katrina Scott, qualifier Makenna Jones(North Carolina) and 16-year-old wild card Akasha Urhobo, who plays Navarro next. With doubles also way behind, the published schedule for Friday shows only the Mateas-Mandlik first round match and the eight second round matches in singles. It appears Saturday will be the day for two singles matches: the quarterfinals and the semifinals.

At Sunrise, 18-year-old Nicholas Godsick earned his first ATP point, beating 24-year-old Quentin Folliot of France 6-1, 6-1. Godsick will face wild card Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC) in the second round, possibly later tonight, but probably Friday.  No. 6 seed Kyle Kang was one of two players who advanced to the quarterfinals, with the Stanford recruit beating San Diego J300 champion Kaylan Bigun 7-5, 6-4. Kang will play the winner of the second round match between No. 3 seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame/Georgia) and Cooper Williams, which saw McCormick take the first set in a tiebreaker when play was suspended.

Wild card Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) is the other player to advance to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 5 seed Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina.

The UCLA women got a big win last night, beating No. 5 Pepperdine 4-3, with the match coming down to No. 1 singles. Bruin freshman Fangran Tian defeated Janice Tjen 7-6(1), 6-7(6), 6-3 to clinch the win for No. 24 UCLA, who will move into the Top 20 while also bolstering the ranking prospects of other Pac-12 teams heading into the conference championships at Ojai beginning April 26.

Today in Athens, the fourth-ranked University of Georgia men beat No. 12 Mississippi State 6-1 to clinch the SEC regular season title, with a home match against No. 25 Mississippi all that's standing between them and a perfect conference season.

Coco Gauff practicing prior to Friday's competition

The USA's Billie Jean King Cup team begins its quest to return to the finals in Delray Beach, with a strong team taking on underdog Austria. The US team features two WTA Top 10 players in Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, while Austria's top two singles players, Julia Grabher and Sinja Kraus, are No. 78 and No. 153 respectively.

Gauff plays Grabher to start, Friday at 6 p.m., followed by Pegula and Kraus. Danielle Collins and Caty McNally are scheduled to compete in the doubles match Saturday. Sofia Kenin is also a member of the team.

For a preview, see this article from the Billie Jean King Cup website.

The LTA conducts Great Britain's National Championships early in the spring, with the 16-and-under tournaments for boys and girls last week and the 18-year-old tournaments for boys and girls this week.

Last week Hannah Klugman and Benjamin Gusic-Wan won the 16s title and with it, wild cards into the Wimbledon Junior Championships.

The prize for this week's 18s National Champions is a qualifying wild card into Wimbledon. Wake Forest recruit Luca Pow, who is unseeded will take on top seed Oliver Bonding in the boys final,  with the unseeded Klugman facing No. 4 seed Isabelle Lacy in the girls final.  Live streaming is available here, as well as the draws.