Ionescu Shocks Li at USTA Pro Circuit W75 in Rome Georgia; Few Changes in Latest ITA Division I Team Rankings; Top Seed Rolls, Coffee Bowl Champion Lam Out at ITF J300 Barranquilla; UTR Pro Tennis Tour January Results

As I wrote yesterday in my recap of the qualifying at the USTA women's Pro Circuit W75 in Rome Georgia, 15-year-old Elizabeth Ionescu had qualified for the main draw in her previous two appearances on the Pro Circuit, but she lost in the first round of both the W25 last summer in Colorado and at the W15 last fall in Tennessee.  She emphatically broke that pattern today in the first round of main draw action, beating No. 3 seed and WTA 164 Ann Li 6-0, 6-3 in an hour and 20 minutes. Ionescu, who has no WTA ranking, will earn one now with the 13 points she's earned so far; she will face another teenager, 2022 Wimbledon girls champion Liv Hovde, for a spot in the quarterfinals. Hovde defeated qualifier Dalayna Hewitt 7-5, 6-4 in the first round today. Ionescu, as you can see below in the UTR PTT results, is also playing with a lot of confidence and match play now.

Former USC All-American Madison Sieg, using an accelerator program spot for entry, defeated Gabriela Lee(Texas Tech) of Romania, last week's finalist in Vero Beach, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and nine minutes.

Despite last week's Kickoff Weekend, which featured all the top teams, this week's coaches poll for the Division I team rankings changed very little. The Top 10 from last week all won their regionals as hosts and will appear next month at the Women's Team Indoor Championships in Seattle. One notable move in the Top 25 saw Cal going from 19 to 15 after winning the Oklahoma regional in Norman; UCLA[13] is the one team in the Top 15 not going to the Indoors; No. 16 USC, who won the Tennessee regional, is in. Top 25 rankings can be found by clicking on the headings

Women's Division I Team Rankings Top Ten January 31, 2024

Brackets number of 1st place votes; parentheses previous rankings:

1. North Carolina[13](1)
2. Stanford(2)
3. Oklahoma State(3)
4. Georgia(4)
5. Michigan(5)
6. Pepperdine(6)
7. NC State(7)
8. Florida(8)
9. Texas A&M(9)
10. Texas(10)

The men's rankings did shuffle a bit due to Kickoff Weekend losses. Kentucky, who lost as a host to Alabama, fell out of the Top 10, going from 10 to 16; Stanford, who lost on the road to Michigan, went from 9 to 15. Columbia and Arizona took their places in the Top 10. Ohio State has consolidated its top spot, picking up five more first place votes than they had last week.

Men's Division I Team Rankings Top Ten January 31, 2024

1. Ohio State[11](1)
2. South Carolina[2](2)
3. Virginia(3)
4. Texas(4)
5. TCU(5)
6. Tennessee(6)
7. Southern Cal(7)
8. Duke(8)
9. Columbia(11)
10. Arizona(13)

For comparison, here is the Cracked Racquets Top 10 for women (I am serving as a voter). Their men's Top 10 should be out Thursday.

In just two and a half days of play at the ITF J300 in Barranquilla Colombia, upsets have occurred. Top seed Katie Rolls lost in the second round, her first match of the tournament, to fellow 16-year-old Greta Patrillo of Italy 7-5, 6-4. Patrillo advanced to Thursday's quarterfinals with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 win over Capucine Jauffret. She will play her third straight American in the quarterfinals, taking on No. 12 seed Thea Frodin.  Last week's Costa Rica J300 champion Shannon Lam, the No. 8 seed this week, lost to No. 9 seed Dune Vaissaud of France 6-2, 7-6(6) in today's round of 16. In addition to Frodin, the other three US girls in the quarterfinals are No. 2 seed Christasha McNeil, No. 3 seed Claire An and No. 4 seed Monika Ekstrand.

Costa Rica champion Ian Mayew is through to the boys quarterfinals, as is No. 12 seed Kase Schinnerer, but the results of the rest of the boys round of 16 matches have not yet been posted, with matches going late into the evening.

I'm going to try to post the UTR Pro Tennis Tour results on a more frequent schedule than I have done. Below are the January results.

MEN:

January 1 Long Beach CA

Karue Sell d. Strong Kirchheimer 6-1, 6-4

January 7 Winston Salem NC

Theodore Dean d. Filippo Moroni 6-3, 6-1

January 14 Bonita Springs FL

Mateusz Terczynski d. Nicholas Buitrago 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3

January 15 Fort Worth TX

Lui Maxted d. Duncan Chan 7-6(4), 7-5

WOMEN:

December 31 Boca Raton FL

Akasha Urhobo d. Carol Lee 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

January 8 Long Beach CA

Brandy Walker d. Elina Nepliy 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-2

January 21 Atlanta GA

Elizabeth Ionescu d. Ariana Pursoo 4-6, 6-4, 3-0, ret.