Rain Disrupting USTA Pro Circuit Events in South Florida; Three Americans Qualify for Sarasota Challenger 125; Texas Men, North Carolina Women Retain No. 1 Team, Singles Rankings

All three USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week are in Florida, with a men's $15,000 event in Sunrise, a women's $25,000 event in Boca Raton and the ATP Challenger 125 in Sarasota. The two events on the Atlantic coast side were not able to get their first round of qualifying in Monday, so two rounds are being played today, and as of 9 p.m., the second round is still in progress.

In Sunrise, the top seed is David Pichler of Austria, with Sekou Bangoura(Florida) the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Cornell recruit and Sunrise resident Felipe Pinzon Moreno, Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC), 2017 NCAA singles champion Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) and Matthew Segura. Junior exempts went to Nico Godsick, Kaylan Bigun and Cooper Williams. Kyle Kang[6] and Aidan Kim received entry via their ATP rankings.

The field in Boca Raton is incredibly strong for a $25K, with Whitney Osuigwe, who was the No. 2 seed (and finalist) last week at the Jackson Mississippi $25K not seeded this week, and the No. 8 seed, Sachia Vickery ranked 187. Emma Navarro, ranked 118, is the top seed, with No. 146 Elli Mandlik the No. 2 seed. 

Wild cards went to Navarro, 16-year-old Akasha Urobo, who recently won a UTR Pro Tennis Tour event in Boca Raton, Robin Montgomery[6] and Maria Mateas. Seventeen-year-old Nikola Daubnerova of Slovakia received entry via the ITF junior exempt method.

The completion of qualifying for the Sarasota Challenger was delayed until today, with Martin Damm, Alex Rybakov(TCU) and Tristan Boyer(Stanford) reaching the main draw. Only Rybakov had to win two matches, with Damm and Boyer getting the benefit of walkovers in the second and first rounds, respectively.

Wild cards were given to Toby Kodat, Bjorn Fratangelo and Christian Harrison. Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda made the main draw as a lucky loser. Kodat and Fratangelo won their first round matches; Harrison lost his.

Jason Kubler of Australia and Zhizhen Zhang of China are the top two seeds.

Despite all the important matches lately in Division I college tennis, the teams at No. 1 have not changed, with the Texas men and North Carolina women at the top spot in the computer rankings again this week.  The Duke women are up to No. 3, with the Georgia men, also making a move this week, to No. 4.

The No. 1 singles players in the country are also from Texas and North Carolina, with Eliot Spizzirri and Fiona Crawley remaining at the top of the rankings, with three weeks until NCAA selections and seedings are announced.

Below are the Top 10 in singles and team and the Top 5 in doubles. I will probably go to Top 16 next week, with that cutoff a more significant one as the NCAAs approach. Click on the headings to go the ranking pages at the ITA website.

Division I Rankings
April 11, 2023

Men's Team Top 10:
1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. TCU
4. Georgia
5. Kentucky
6. Michigan
7. Virginia
8. Tennessee
9. South Carolina
10. Southern California

Singles Top 10:

1. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

2. Johannus Monday, Tennessee

3. Ethan Quinn, Georgia

4. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

5. Arthur Fery, Stanford

6. Ondrej Styler, Michigan

7. Melios Efstathiou, Wake Forest

8. Toby Samuel, South Carolina

9. Andres Martin, Georgia Tech

10. Chris Rodesch, Virginia

Doubles Top 5:

1. Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson, South Carolina

2. Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper, Texas

3. Pat Harper and Johannus Monday, Tennessee

4. Jacob Fearnley and Luc Fomba, TCU

5. Ethan Quinn and Trent Bryde, Georgia

Women's Team Top 10:

1. North Carolina

2. Texas A&M

3. Duke

4. Georgia

5. Pepperdine

6. Michigan

7. Ohio State

8. NC State

9. Virginia

10. Texas

Singles Top 10:

1. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. Lea Ma, Georgia

4. Chloe Beck, Duke

5. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

6. Daria Frayman, Princeton

7. Madison Sieg, Southern California

8. Alexa Noel, Miami

9. Ayana Akli, South Carolina

10. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

Doubles Top 5:

1. Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen, Pepperdine

2. Kari Miller and Jaedan Brown, Michigan

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

4. Carson Tanguilig and Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

5. Veronica Miroshnichenko and Eva Marie, Loyola Marymount