Pepperdine's Nilsson Tapped to Lead Florida Women; Jovic Finishes Fifth in Australian Open Wild Card Race But Likely to Claim It; UVA's Dietrich Among Winners at Charlottesville Challenger; Staker Qualifies at Norman W35

After building the Pepperdine women's tennis program into a national contender, Per Nilsson will be leaving the Waves after  10-plus years in Malibu to take over one of the top jobs in college tennis at the University of Florida.

The Gators announced Nilsson's hiring just three weeks after Roland Thornqvist stepped down, effective immediately, from the position he had held for 23 years in Gainsville. It's no surprise that Florida opted for a proven head coach to replace Thornqvist; when Bryan Shelton announced last summer that he was departing to coach his son Ben, Florida athletic director Scott Strickland hired Michigan head coach Adam Steinberg, who won an NCAA title at Pepperdine, to lead the men's program.

There is also another connection, with Nilsson and Strickland both Mississippi State alumni; Nilsson coached the men's team in Starkville when Strickland was the Athletic Director there.

The release, which provides a thorough rundown of Nilsson's accomplishments, says Nilsson is expected to be coaching the Gators, currently working under interim coach Jeremy Bayon, by the time the Conference Masters and Sectional tournaments take place November 7-10.

The USTA released the final update today on the women's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, which concluded Sunday. Although 16-year-old Iva Jovic is in fifth place, the four women in front of her in the final standings are ranked in the 80s, so are likely to receive direct entry when the Australian Open fields are announced the first of December. 

Today's release, which also includes the first week of the men's rankings, with three weeks to go in that race:

The final women's standings are below, with the four players ahead of Jovic all ranked high enough to likely earn direct entry into Melbourne when the entry lists are revealed in the first week of December. 

 

Jovic, from Torrance, Calif., made her Grand Slam main draw singles debut at the US Open this past summer and won her first-round match after earning a wild card as the USTA Girls' 18s National Champion. Since then, she's gone 14-2 in pro singles matches on the USTA Pro Circuit.  

 

Final Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parenthesis)

 

1. Sofia Kenin (88) -- 395

2. Hailey Baptiste (84) -- 240

3. Caroline Dolehide (78) -- 164

4. Bernarda Pera (81) -- 149

5. Iva Jovic (212) -- 141

6. McCartney Kessler (69) -- 117

7. Ann Li (111) -- 104

 

On the men's side, University of Arizona senior Colton Smith leads the Challenge after Week 1, having reached the final of the USTA Pro Circuit Challenger 75 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

 

Men's Standings -- Week 1

(Player's current ranking in parenthesis)

 

1. Colton Smith (390) -- 44

2. Murphy Cassone (328) -- 22

3. Aleks Kovacevic (99) -- 13

There are just two USTA Pro Circuit events this week, the men's Challenger 75 in Charlottesville Virginia and the women's W35 in Norman Oklahoma.

First round matches are spread over three days in Charlottesville, but there has already been a notable result, with wild card Dylan Dietrich, a University of Virginia sophomore, picking up his first Challenger victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 4 seed Zachary Svajda. Dietrich, a 20-year-old from Switzerland, will face Alexis Galarneau(NC State) of Canada in the second round.

Another Cavalier will play in the main draw after Sioux Falls South Dakota Challenger champion Borna Gojo(Wake Forest) withdrew. Recent Virginia graduate Chris Rodesch, who lost to Alex Rybakov(TCU) in the final round of qualifying, is the lucky loser replacing Gojo. He will play wild card Govind Nanda(UCLA) in the final first round match Wednesday morning.

The third wild card in Charlottesville went to Reilly Opelka, still trying to return to form after a nearly two-year hiatus due to injuries. Opelka defeated No. 7 seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(1) in the first round Monday, hitting 28 aces.

Five of the six qualifiers failed to reach the second round, with the sixth, Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany, playing his first round match against top seed Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) tonight. Toby Kodat, Andre Ilagan, Naoki Nakagawa, Kyle Edmund and Rybakov all were beaten today. Colton Smith, the Sioux Falls finalist who received a special exempt entry into the main draw, beat Ilagan 6-3, 7-5.

Learner Tien(USC), who has not played since winning the Fairfield Challanger on October 13th, is the No. 2 seed; he defeated defending champion Beibit Zhukayev of Kazakhstan 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round Monday.  No. 3 seed Mitchell Krueger lost to James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan 7-5, 7-6(6).

Qualifying for the women's tournament in Norman concluded today, with Oklahoma senior Emma Staker the only American reaching the main draw. Oklahoma freshman Salakthip Ounmuang of Thailand also qualified, joining wild card Alina Shcherbinina of Russia, a senior at Oklahoma, and wild card Julia Garcia Ruiz of Mexico, a junior at Oklahoma, in the main draw.

The top seed is Jaimee Fourlis of Australia, with Sohyun Park of Korea the No. 2 seed. Anna Rogers(NC State) is the No. 3 seed, one of just six Americans in the draw.

Eight American women are competing in the main draw of the W75+H in Toronto, including seeds Maria Mateas(Duke)[2], Louisa Chirico[5] and Robin Anderson(UCLA)[7].