ITF J300 Indian Wells Wild Cards; Four Americans Advance to Round of 16 at ITF J500 Banana Bowl; Emory Men and CMS Women No. 1 in D-III; Barry Women, U Indy Men Top D-II Rankings

The ITF J300 Fila International Championships begins next Monday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and I'll be onsite to cover it again this year. Wild cards for the tournament have been awarded, with all accounted for in the boys field; there are still others to be determined among the girls. Although it is a open international field, unlike last year, when it was a North American closed event, all the wild cards announced to date are Americans. Fourteen-year-old Vihaan Reddy, who played for India on the ITF Junior Circuit (and at the Wimbledon 14U tournament) in 2023, is now representing the United States.

BOYS
Main Draw:
Lachlan Gaskell
Mitchell Lee
Dominick Mosejczuk
Rudy Quan
Vihaan Reddy
Abhishek Thorat

Qualifying:
Brody Nejedley
Sanjeev Chundu
Nav Duyal
Sklar Phillips
Grey Kelley
Ian Bracks

GIRLS
Anna Frey
Elizabeth Ionescu
Alexis Nguyen
Lexington Reed
TBD
TBD

Qualifying
Rachel Smith
5 TBD

The second round of the ITF J300 Banana Bowl was completed today in Brazil, with one US boy and three US girls advancing to Thursday's round of 16. No. 9 seed Maxwell Exsted defeated Joao Vitor Scramin do Lago of Brazil 6-1, 6-1 to reach the third round of a J500 for the first time. He'll face unseeded Maximo Zeitune of Argentina next.

The US girls advancing are No. 9 seed Katie Rolls, who defeated 

Meritxell Teixido Garcia of Spain 6-3, 6-4; Gabriella Mikaul, who beat Emma Dong of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Trinetra Vijayakumar, who upset No. 7 seed Yoana Konstantinova of Bulgaria 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(6). All three girls are in the third round of a J500 for the first time.

Top seeds Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan and Wakana Sonobe of Japan both lost in the first round on Monday; No. 2 seeds Mayu Crossley of Japan and Reda Bennani of Morocco have advanced to the round of 16.

A new batch of ITA rankings came out today, with the Division III Top 10 listed below. These rankings are via a ranking committee of coaches, with the full list of 40 teams available by clicking on the headings.

ITA Division III Men's Top Ten Team Rankings, March 6, 2024

1. Emory

2. Washington St. Louis

3. Middlebury

4. Case Western

5. Tufts

6. Bowdoin

7. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

T8. Chicago

T8. Williams

10. Denison

ITA Division III Women's Top Ten Team Rankings, March 6, 2024

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2. Chicago

3. Pomona-Pitzer

4. Middlebury

5. Wesleyan 

6. Amherst

7. Emory

8. Johns Hopkins

9. Williams

10. Redlands

The Division II team rankings have switched over to the computer, and unlike the other divisions, one of the Team Indoor champions is not No. 1. Barry won both the men's and women's Team Indoor titles last month, but the Barry men are currently ranked No. 5. Full rankings can be found on the headings. Individual rankings were also published for Division II today and can be found on the ITA ranking drop down menu.

ITA Division II Women's Top Ten Team Rankings, March 6, 2024

1. Barry

2. Nova Southeastern

3. Wayne State

4. Saint Leo

5. Washburn

6. U Indy

7. Lubbock Christian 

8. North Georgia

9. Lynn

10. Columbus State

ITA Division II Men's Top Ten Team Rankings, March 6, 2024

1. U Indy

2. Valdosta State

3. Saint Leo

4. Mississippi College

5. Barry

6. Flagler

7. Columbus State

8. Wayne State

9. UT Tyler

10. West Florida