Kennedy and Hance Reach Singles Quarterfinals, Doubles Semis at M15 in Vero Beach; Jovic Cruises into Quarterfinals at W100 Charlottesville; Exsted Advances to Quarterfinals at ITF J500 in Germany; ACC and Ivy League, Plus SEC and Big Ten Men's Awards Announced

Sixteen-year-old Jack Kennedy and 17-year-old Keaton Hance, who led the USA's Junior Davis Cup team to the title last year in Turkey, have advanced to the quarterfinals in singles and the semifinals in doubles at the Mardy Fish Children's Foundation M15 in Vero Beach Florida.

Kennedy, who had earned two ATP points prior to this week, defeated No. 3 seed Peter Bertran(Georgia, South Florida) of the Dominican Republic 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach his first USTA Pro Circuit quarterfinal, while Hance, who got his first ATP point yesterday, defeated No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Aguilar(Texas A&M, TCU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Kennedy will face unseeded Blu Baker of Great Britain Friday, with Hance playing qualifier Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor).

In doubles, wild cards Hance and Kennedy defeated fellow juniors Noah Johnston and Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida of Brazil 6-4, 7-6(5) to reach Friday's semifinals, where they'll face the unseeded team of Baker and Andrew Fenty(Michigan).

At the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, 17-year-old Iva Jovic breezed past wild card Caty McNally 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals, where she'll play No. 6 seed Whitney Osuigwe. Osuigwe won the battle of sisters, defeating 18-year-old Tori Osuigwe 6-3, 6-1. 

The other two Americans in the quarterfinals are No. 3 seed Hanna Chang and No. 5 seed Lauren Davis. 

The quarterfinals are set for the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia, with three Americans through to the last eight. Wild card Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) will play unseeded Genaro Olivieri of Argentina in the bottom quarterfinal, while qualifier Stefan Kozlov will play top seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) in the top quarterfinal. Spizzirri advanced to the quarterfinals tonight with a 6-3, 6-1 win over wild card Alfredo Perez(Florida).

At the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, UCLA recruit Mayu Crossley of Japan defeated No. 5 seed Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico 6-3, 7-6(1) to reach her second USTA Pro Circuit quarterfinal this month. Crossley will face unseeded Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain, who beat No. 2 seed Gergana Topalova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-3.  Seventeen-year-old qualifier Alexis Nguyen just began a third set with top seed Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico this evening after two hours and 30 minutes of play.

The last American in singles at the ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany is No. 9 seed Maxwell Exsted, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over unseeded Tito Chavez of Spain. Exsted will face No. 3 seed Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania in the quarterfinals. The third round was not completed today, I assume due to rain, but the top seeds both completed their matches, with divergent outcomes. Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain beat No. 16 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 but girls No. 1 Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic was beaten by No. 15 seed Deniz Dilek of Turkey 6-4, 6-3. 

The Division I major conference award season began yesterday and has really ramped up today, with the ACC, usually one of the last conferences to announce their awards, putting out releases for both men and women. In addition, the Ivy League announced their awards and the Big Ten men and SEC men also released their award winners. I'll include the Big Ten and SEC women's winners below, which were announced yesterday; that leaves only the Big 12 out of the Power Four and Ivy League left to release their winners. All-tournament teams are available via the links in the headings.

Southeast Conference:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Timo Legout, Texas
Newcomer of the Year: Alex Kotzen, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year: Timo Legout, Texas
Coach of the Year: Bruce Berque, Texas

WOMEN:
Player of the Year: Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia
Freshman of the Year: Cadence Brace, LSU
Newcomer of the Year: Sofia Rojas, Georgia
Co-Coaches of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia and Mark Weaver, Texas A&M

Big Ten Conference:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois

Freshman of the Year: Rudy Quan

Coach of the Year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Julia Fliegner, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: Emily Sartz-Lunde, Michigan
Coach of the Year: Ronnie Bernstein, Michigan

Atlantic Coast Conference:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

Freshman of the Year: Rafael Jodar, Virginia

Coach of the Year: Tony Bresky, Wake Forest

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

Freshman of the Year: Valerie Glozman, Stanford

Coach of the Year: Sara O'Leary, Virginia

Ivy League:

MEN:

Player of the Year: Michael Zheng, Columbia

Rookie of the Year: Benjamin Privara, Harvard

Coaching Staff of the Year: Columbia, head coach Howard Endelman

WOMEN:

Player of the Year: Gayathri Krishnan, Columbia

Rookie of the Year: Julia Werdiger, Yale

Coaching Staff of the Year: Harvard, head coach Traci Green

Olar Upsets No. 2 Seed at Offenbach ITF J500; Hance and Palavestra Earn First ATP Points at Vero Beach M15; Osuigwe Sisters Meet in Second Round of Charlottesville W100; SEC and Big Ten Women's Awards

The No. 1 seeds at the ITF J500 this week in Offenbach Germany have reached the third round, but the No. 2 seeds have not, with American Jacob Olar taking out Bulgaria's Alexander Vasilev 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 in today's second round, and Eva Bennemann of Germany defeating Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 in the first round Tuesday.

Olar, who last month signed with Alabama for this fall, has yet to break into the Top 100 of the ITF junior rankings, but a deep run this week will help him break that barrier. Olar, who is coached by Ryan Harrison in Bradenton Florida, plays Czech qualifier Matyas Kozlovsky in Thursday's third round.

Max Exsted, the No. 9 seed, is also through to the third round, beating Matteo Sciahbasi of Italy 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; he plays unseeded Tito Chavez of Spain next after Chavez defeated No. 6 seed Flynn Thomas of Switzerland 7-5, 6-1 today.

All three US girls lost in the first round, as did No. 14 seed Dominick Mosejczuk.

Top seeds Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic are through to third round matches against No. 16 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria and No. 15 seed Deniz Dilek of Turkey respectively.

All 16 first round matches were played today at the men's USTA Pro Circuit M15 in Vero Beach Florida, with two 17-year-olds earning their first ATP points.

Qualifier Ilija Palavestra, who has verbally committed to Ohio State, defeated Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela 7-5, 7-5 to reach that milestone. Palavestra, from Lake Worth Florida, received a wild card into qualifying by reaching the final of the pre-tournament wild card event and had no trouble winning his opening two matches. He faces No. 7 seed Will Grant(Florida) next, who beat Australian Open boys finalist Benjamin Wilwerth, a wild card, 6-2, 7-6(3).

Keaton Hance, who received a wild card into the main draw, defeated qualifier Evan Bynoe 6-2, 6-3 to claim his first ATP point. He faces No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Aguilar(Texas A&M, TCU) of Canada Thursday.

The two junior reserved entries played each other, with Jack Kennedy beating Noah Johnston 6-4, 6-3.

Victor Lilov took out top seed Alvin Tudorica(South Florida) of Canada 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 and Andrew Fenty(Michigan) beat No. 4 seed Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) 6-2, 6-1.

In doubles play Tuesday, Noah Johnston and Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida, both future Georgia Bulldogs, beat top seeds Aguilar and Jamie Vance 7-6(4), 6-3 and will play wild cards Hance and Kennedy in the quarterfinals Thursday.

For a look at all some of the high profile teenagers competing this week, see this TC Palm article from Harvey Fialkov.

At the women's USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, the Osuigwe sisters will play for the third time in the past two years in the second round.

Eighteen-year-old Tori Osuigwe, who has committed to NC State for this fall, qualified for the main draw with a 6-1, 6-3 win over No. 2 seed Karina Miller(Michigan) yesterday and today defeated wild card Annabelle Xu of Canada, a junior at Virginia, 6-4, 7-5. No. 6 seed Whitney Osuigwe beat 18-year-old Akasha Urhobo 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to advance.

In their previous two meetings, Whitney, who is five years older, won in three sets in the first round at a W60 in Evansville in 2023. But in their last meeting, last September on clay in the Dominican Republic, Tori won 6-4, 6-4.

Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic is the top seed and still in the running for the USTA's Roland Garros wild card, but because she didn't play the past two weeks, she'll need to go deep both this week and next. She defeated Claire Liu 6-4, 6-1 in the first round today, but will have to face an in-form Caty McNally next. McNally, who received a wild card after reaching the final of the W50 last week in Zephyrhills, defeated Kajsa Rinaldo Persson 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 today. McNally is currently tied for second place in the Wild Card Challenge with Louisa Chirico; Julieta Pareja, who has not played since reaching the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Bogota in Week 1, leads the race.

The conference award season began today, with honors announced for the SEC and Big Ten women. Cadence Brace of Canada, who is through to the second round of Charlottesville W100, was named the SEC freshman of the year after going 11-6 at the No. 1 spot for LSU.

Obviously, I don't vote for these awards, but if I did I would have cast my ballot for Auburn's Jordan Szabo as coach of the year in the SEC, and for UCLA's Kate Fakih for freshman of the year in the Big Ten.

Click on the heading to see the all-tournament teams.

Southeastern Conference:

Player of the Year: Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia
Freshman of the Year: Cadence Brace, LSU
Newcomer of the Year: Sofia Rojas, Georgia

Co-Coaches of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia and Mark Weaver, Texas A&M

Big Ten Conference:

Player of the Year: Julia Fliegner, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: Emily Sartz-Lunde, Michigan
Coach of the Year: Ronni Bernstein, Michigan

San Diego ITF Photo Gallery; New Number 1 in D-I Men's Singles; Ole Miss Parts Ways with Men's Coach; First Round Upsets at Savannah Challenger, Teens Qualify in Charlotte NC; Pareja and Nava Lead USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Race

A photo gallery from the ITF J300 last month in San Diego is now up the Tennis Recruiting Network. With this, and all the YouTube videos from the SoCal trip that are now posted, all that remains is an Easter Bowl photo gallery, which is coming soon.

Despite some major upsets in last weekend's conference tournaments, they didn't lead to many dramatic changes in the latest ITA Division I team rankings released today. Wake Forest and TCU remained No. 1 and No. 2 despite their losses in their conference semifinal matches; the Ohio State men, who finished the Big Ten regular season undefeated, dropped from 3 to 6, although the Buckeyes have not yet completed their season; they are hosting the Big Ten conference tournament, which begins Thursday. NC State men also dropped and are in danger of losing their first-three-rounds hosting spot, going from 5 to 8, and now subject to the calculation formula the NCAA will use to determine those positions after next week's ITA rankings are provided to them.

The Georgia women returned to the No. 1 spot after Texas A&M held it for just one week, with Georgia's win over the Aggies in the SEC conference final overriding their loss to A&M the previous week. North Carolina moved up and Duke fell after their loss to Virginia, with the Blue Devils trying to hold off the Ohio State women for that eighth spot, with the Buckeyes having their opportunities to make that move this week at the Big Ten conference tournament in Ojai. 

I've gone from Top 10 to 16 due to the NCAA hosting implications; the full rankings can be found by clicking on the headings. 

ITA Division I Rankings April 22, 2025

MEN:

Team:

(previous week's ranking in parentheses)

1. Wake Forest (1)

2. TCU (2)

3. Texas (4)

4. Virginia (6)

5. Stanford (8)

6. Ohio State (3)

7. San Diego (7)

8. NC State (5)

9. Columbia (9)

10. Arizona (11)

11. Cal (10)

12. Mississippi State (12)

13. South Carolina (13)

14. Central Florida  (18)

15. Tennessee (14)

16. Duke (19)

There are new No. 1s in men's singles and doubles, with Michael Zheng dropping to No. 2 for the first time since winning the NCAA title in November. Texas freshman Timo Legout has moved to No. 1. NCAA champions Lui Maxted and Pedro Vives of TCU, who have not been able to play together due to Vives' injury, also dropped from the No. 1 spot this week. With no NCAA individual tournament this spring, these ranking have less interest than usual, when seeding would be at stake, although who qualifies for the men's ATP Accelerator program the women's ITF Accelerator is determined by May's final rankings.

MEN:

Singles:

1. Timo Legout, Texas

2. Michael Zheng, Columbia

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

5. Colton Smith, Arizona

6. Jay Friend, Arizona

7. Samir Banerjee, Stanford

8. Pedro Vives, TCU

9. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

10. Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

Doubles:

1. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

2. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

3. Lucas Andrade da Silva and Connor Thomson, South Carolina

4. Togan Tokac and Theo Papamalamis, Texas A&M

5. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen

WOMEN:

Team:

(previous week's rankings in parentheses)

1. Georgia (2)

2. Texas A&M (1)

3. Michigan (3)

4. Oklahoma (4)

5. North Carolina (8)

6. Virginia (7)

7. Auburn (6)

8. Duke (4)

9. Ohio State (9)

10. Tennessee (10)

11. NC State (12)

12. LSU (11)

13. Texas Tech (15)

14. Texas (14)

15. Vanderbilt (13)

16. UCLA (19)

Mary Stoiana has beaten Dasha Vidmanova in straight sets twice in the last two weeks, but it hasn't been enough to dislodge the Georgia senior and NCAA fall champion from the top spot. Alanis Hamilton and Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina got a win over No. 1 Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard of Virginia in the ACC conference tournament final, and that moved them from 9 to 2.

Singles:

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

4. DJ Bennett, Auburn

5. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

6. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

7. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

8. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

9. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconson

10. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

Doubles:

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Alanis Hamilton and Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

3. Mell Reasco and Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

4. Mao Mushika and Jessica Alsola, Cal

5. Rose Marie Nijkamp and Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

In other college tennis news, Ole Miss announced Monday the university and men's head coach Toby Hansson "have mutually agreed to part ways," after Hansson's 11 seasons as head coach. Hansson, who was assistant/associate head coach under Billy Chadwick for eight years, took over the head coaching position when Chadwick retired in 2014. 

Next year, Ole Miss will also have a new women's head coach, after Mark Beyers announced his retirement earlier this month, effective at the end of this season. After eight years working under Beyers, associate head coach Grant Roberts will take over the program.

There are four USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, a women's W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, a women's W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, the final ATP Challenger 75 on green clay in Savannah Georgia and a men's M15 in Vero Beach Florida.

Tonight, I'm going to focus on the two that have begun their first round of play, which are the women's W35 in Charlotte and the Savannah Challenger.

In Charlotte, a trio of teenagers reached the main draw via qualifying, all of whom excelled in the Southern California junior swing: ITF J300 Indian Wells finalist Alexis Nguyen, Easter Bowl 18s champion Bella Payne and ITF J300 San Diego quarterfinalist and doubles champion Annika Penickova.

The 17-year-old Nguyen beat Kolie Allen(Ohio State) 6-2, 6-2 and will face Malaika Rapolu(Texas) in the first round; Payne, who had defeated No. 2 seed Kylie McKenzie in the first round of qualifying, beat ITF J300 San Diego champion Kristina Penickova, the ITF junior No. 3, 7-6(7), 2-6, 10-5; Annika Penickova beat No. 8 seed Lilian Poling(Boise St, Mississippi St) 7-6(4), 6-2. Payne will play Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain in the first round Wednesday, while Penickova will face Jada Robinson.

Other US players into the main draw via qualifying are NC State sophomore Maddy Zampardo, Oklahoma State graduate student Kylie Collins and Emma Burgic(Baylor).

Wild cards were awarded to 17-year-olds Maya Iyengar, Monika Ekstrand and Sara Shumate and 18-year-old Christasha McNeil. Ekstrand lost her first round match today 7-5, 6-2 to Mayu Crossley of Japan, the third time they've met on the USTA Pro Circuit this month, with Crossley taking the last two. McNeil lost to No. 8 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 6-3, 6-3. Shumate and Iyengar play Robin Anderson[4](UCLA) and Katerina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia, respectively, Wednesday.

The top seed in Charlotte is Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico, with Gergana Topolova of Bulgaria the No. 2 seed. Akli and Anderson are the only seeded Americans.

In Savannah, No. 3 seed Emilio Nava decided to play a third week in a row and it didn't go well for him, with the 23-year-old Tallahassee finalist dropping his second straight match after winning 19 in a row. Former ITF junior No. 1 Joel Schwaertzler of Austria defeated Nava 6-3, 6-4. The Tallahassee champion, Chris Rodesch(Virginia) of Luxembourg, also lost his first round match today, going out to former Georgia Tech All-American Andres Martin, a wild card, 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(3).

Jenson Brooksby(Baylor) who won his first ATP title in Houston earlier this month, is finding the going much tougher in the Challengers, losing in the first round for the second straight week as a wild card. Brooksby, the No. 6 seed, lost to Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France 6-4, 6-3.

Americans who did advance to the second round are Martin, top seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas), wild card Alfredo Perez(Florida) and qualifiers Patrick Maloney(Michigan) and Stefan Kozlov.

Perez, who made back-to-back Challenger quarterfinals in Mexico this month, beat qualifier Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, but it's good to see Kypson back in the Challenger mix after being out since January. 

The latest standing in the USTA's Roland Garros wild card race were distributed today, with Nava and Julieta Pareja continuing to lead with two weeks remaining in the annual Challenge.

Ethan Quinn(Georgia) qualified for the Masters 1000 in Madrid today, and plays a fellow qualifier in the first round, so he will be moving up and can theoretically pass Nava with a deep run there.

Women's Standings: 

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Julieta Pareja (335) -- 116

2. Caty McNally (287) -- 90

3. Varvara Lepchenko (120) -- 70

4. Louisa Chirico (151) -- 58

5. Whitney Osuigwe (179) -- 41

 

Men's Standings:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Emilio Nava (132) -- 119

2. Colton Smith (161) -- 63

T3. Chris Eubanks (108) -- 50

T3. Ethan Quinn (119) -- 50

5. Alfredo Perez (416) -- 33

 

Easter Bowl 18s Videos; Gowda and Ngounoue Claim ITF J100s, Four Other Singles Titles for Americans on Junior Circuit; ITF J500 Offenbach Underway with Six American Entries

The final USTA Level 1 Easter Bowl videos are now available, with the 18s finals below. Videos of the 12s, 14s and 16s can be viewed at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube Channel.

Last week was a busy one on the ITF Junior Circuit, with 31 tournaments from J30s to a J300 across the globe. Americans won six singles last week, with two at J100s, one a a J60 and three at J30s, along with five doubles titles.

Sixteen-year-old Carel Ngounoue picked up his biggest title and second of the month at the J100 in Tunisia. The unseeded Ngounoue defeated the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds en route to the final, where he beat top seed Siu Chi Nicholas Cheng of Hong Kong 6-3, 6-3. After playing just one tournament since April of 2024, Ngounoue is 11-1 after returning to competition in March of this year.

Sixteen-year-old Thara Gowda also won her second and biggest title of the year last week at the J100 in Canada. Seeded No. 2, Gowda defeated No. 6 seed Havana Kadi of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the singles final; Gowda and Kaya Moe, the top seeds, won the doubles title, defeating unseeded Sophie Dement and Alexie Normandin of Canada 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

Lani Chang won her second J60 title in as many weeks, this time in Panama, with the 14-year-old daughter of Michael Chang, seeded No. 2, beating top seed Isabella Collazos of Colombia 6-3, 6-0 in the final. As was the case two weeks ago in Trinidad and Tobago, Chang did not lose a set all week and is now on an eight-match winning streak this month.

At the J30 in Barbados, 13-year-old London Evans won her first two titles on the ITF Junior Circuit in just her second tournament. Evans, unseeded, defeated No. 6 seed Charlotte Tait of Australia 6-2, 6-0 in the singles final, not dropping a set in her five victories.  In doubles, Evans partnered with Jolie Mastre of Canada, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 2 seeds Kealani Agbulos of the United States and Sweden's Greta Baerlund 6-2, 6-4 in the final. 

Fifteen-year-old Tristan Stratton, a finalist last month in the Easter Bowl 16s, also won his first ITF title in Barbados. Stratton, the No. 3 seed, beat 14-year-old qualifier Ved Vanga, playing in his first ITF Junior Circuit event, 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 in the final.

At the J30 in Cuba, which is hosting ITF Junior Circuit events for the first time since the pandemic, 16-year-old Annabelle Janczyk swept the titles, her first two on the ITF Junior Circuit. Janczyk, the No. 4 seed, beat compatriot and doubles partner Adriana Khomyakova 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the singles finals. The unseeded pair won the doubles title, beating the top-seeded Mexican team of Maribel Aguilar Gasperin and Mar Miramontes 6-2, 7-6(5) in the final. 

At the J200 in Florence, Ford McCollum and Nischal Spurling won the doubles title, with the No. 4 seeds beating unseeded Cody Atkinson of New Zealand and Iker Ibarrondo Suarez of Spain 7-5, 6-2 in the final. 

Thirteen-year-old Leigh Oyeboh Anisah and Cameroon's Charnelle Fozo won their second J30 doubles title in as many weeks in Cameroon, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Jannat Chiripal of Indian and Lea Dube of South Africa 6-4, 6-3 in the final. 

The green clay swing in the Florida begins this week at the J100 in Delray Beach, followed by a J100 in Coral Gables and an upgraded J200 in Plantation.

In Delray Beach this week, Zavier Augustin is the No. 1 seed in the boys draw, with Ava Rodriguez the top seed in the girls draw. Zaire Clarke, who qualified and won a round at the W50 in Zephyrhills last week, is the No. 2 seed. Nikolas Stoot, the Easter Bowl 18s champion (see above video), is seeded No. 8. These three events feature the rare 64-player qualifying and main draws, so a lot of players will get their first opportunities to compete at J100s and above in this three-week stretch.

This is the last week that results from the ITF Junior Circuit will count for Roland Garros acceptances, and the biggest impact will come from the J500 this week in Offenbach Germany.

Andres Santamarta Roig, who has won the last two J500s he's played(Orange Bowl, Banana Bowl), is the top seed, with Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria the No. 2 seed. Three US boys are in the draw: Maxwell Exsted[9], Dominick Mosejczuk[14] and Jacob Olar.

Fourteen-year-old Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic, who won a W35 last month in Turkey, is the top girls seed, with her older sister Alena the No. 2 seed. Three US girls are in the draw: Shannon Lam, Anita Tu and Capucine Jauffret.

UNC, Georgia Women Repeat as Conference Champions; Stanford, Texas Men Earn Their First Trophies in New Conferences; Texas Tech and Arizona Win Big 12 Titles; Rodesch Ends Nava's Winning Streak; Shymanovich Sweeps W50 Titles in Zephyrhills

After a thrilling day of upsets and 4-3 matches, Sunday was something of a letdown in the three Power Four conferences that completed their conference tournaments today. (The Big Ten conference tournaments are next weekend).

The day started with the ACC women's final, and No. 2 seed North Carolina took control from the outset and never looked back in their 4-0 win over No. 4 seed Virginia. After two 4-3 losses to the Cavaliers, the Tar Heels appeared locked for this one, with a straightforward doubles point and dominant straight-sets wins from Carson Tanguilig at 5, Claire Hill at 6 and Reese Brantmeier at 1. It's the second straight ACC conference tournament title for UNC, who also beat Virginia in the final last year.

North Carolina solidified its Top 8 position with the title, so they will host the first three rounds of the NCAAs next month.

The Georgia women also played with motivation in their rematch of last Sunday's regular season finale at Texas A&M, which they lost 4-3 in a third set tiebreaker. The Bulldogs, who had lost their No. 1 ranking to Texas A&M with the loss but will now re-take it, took the doubles point, which probably meant little to them, as they had won it last week as well. 

But in singles, Georgia got great starts from players who had lost their matches last Sunday, with Mell Reasco at line 3 and Aysegul Mert at line 4 turning three-sets losses into easy straight-sets wins. After A&M posted wins by Lexington Reed at 6 and Mary Stoiana at 1, Guillermina Grant got a win at line 5, as she had last week, securing the Bulldogs' 4-2 victory and third consecutive SEC conference tournament title.

The Texas Tech women had shared the Big 12's regular season conference title with Central Florida and Oklahoma State, but have conference tournament title all to themselves after the top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Central Florida 4-2. 

Texas Tech took the doubles point and got a win from Jermine Sherif at line 6, but UCF answered with straight-sets wins from Olivia Bergler at 5 and Sophia Biolay at 3 to tie it up. But Texas Tech went up 3-2 with Andreea Lila's win at 4 and Yekaterina Dmitrichenko's victory at line 2, with all matches in decided in straight sets.

The Stanford men won their first conference tournament title today in Cary North Carolina, with the No. 3 seed beating No. 5 seed Virginia 4-2. According to John Parsons of the No-ad No-problem podcast, Stanford didn't just win its first ACC tournament title, in its first year in the conference, but its first ever. The Pac-12, Stanford's previous conference, didn't have a men's conference tournament until 2012, and Stanford never won that.

What was shaping up to be a good match after Virginia won the doubles point and Stanford had taken four first sets in singles was jolted by an earthquake in the form of a default of Virginia's No. 1 player Rafael Jodar. Leading Samir Banerjee 6-3, 3-5, Jodar struck a ball in anger toward the Stanford players supporting from the sidelines and although it did not hit anyone, he was defaulted, giving the Cardinal their first point. Alex Razeghi made it 2-1 with a win at line 5, followed by Henry von der Schulenburg's win at line 4 to make it 3-1. Dylan Dietrich got the only singles points for Virginia at line 2, but for the third time this weekend, Max Basing clinched the match for Stanford at line 3.

Like the North Carolina women, the Stanford men are now certain to host all three rounds of the NCAAs, with their projected ranking up to 5.

Like Stanford, the Texas men were playing for their first conference tournament title in a new conference, although the Longhorns had won Big 12 titles prior to their move to the SEC. Today the top seed took on host South Carolina, the No. 3 seed, and came away with a 4-1 victory that again, was short on drama.

Texas took the doubles point with wins at lines 1 and 2, then got a quick second point from Timo Legout at line 1. South Carolina got its only point from Gabe Avram at line 6, but Sebastian Gorzny posted a straight-sets win at line 2 to clinch it for the Longhorns.

The box score is here.

The day's final title was decided this evening in Waco, with the Arizona men avenging their two regular season losses to Central Florida with a 4-1 victory. The No. 2 seeds dropped the doubles point, but got singles wins from Jay Friend at line 2, Casper Christensen at line 6, Colton Smith at line 1 and Alexander Rozin at line 5. But by reaching the final and beating TCU in the semifinals, No. 4 seed Central Florida has likely earned a Top 16 ranking, which will allow them to host the first two rounds of the NCAAs.

The box score is here.

While the University of Virginia may have had a difficult day on the collegiate courts in Cary, a recent alum gave Cavalier fans a positive result, with Chris Rodesch winning his first ATP Challenger final today in Tallahassee Florida.  The former All-American, who unfortunately could not compete in his final NCAA Championships last May in Stillwater due to mono, ended the extraordinary run of Emilio Nava with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the final.

Nava had beaten Rodesch 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Sarasota Challenger that Nava went on to win, but some shaky serving throughout the last half of the match gave Rodesch numerous opportunities and he was able to capitalize on enough to end Nava's winning streak at 19 matches. 

With his run this week, Rodesch, a 23-year-old from Luxembourg had improved his ATP ranking by 63 points and at 177, he has assured himself a spot in qualifying at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this summer.

For his part, Nava has expanded his lead in USTA's Roland Garros wild card race with two weeks remaining, and barring a longshot result from Madrid, he is not likely to be passed.

At the women's USTA Pro Circuit W50 in Zephyrhills Florida, Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus won the singles and doubles titles. Shymanovic, the No. 2 seed, defeated unseeded Caty McNally 7-6(2), 6-0 in today's final, after winning the doubles title on Saturday. No. 2 seeds Shymanovich and Russia's Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) defeated unseeded Maria Mateas(Duke) and Alana Smith(NC State) 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

At the ATP 500 in Munich, No. 2 seed Ben Shelton(Florida) lost to top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in the championship match. Former collegians Sem Verbeek(Pacific) of the Netherlands and Andre Goransson(Cal) of Sweden took the doubles title, upsetting top seeds Tim Puetz(Auburn) and Kevin Krawietz of Germany 6-4, 6-4 in the final. It's their second ATP title as a team.

Virginia Men Hand No. 1 Wake Forest First Loss, TCU Loses to UCF; Georgia and Texas A&M Meet Again in SEC Women's Conference Final; Nava Reaches Tallahassee Challenger Final; Shelton Plays for Title at ATP 500 in Munich

With three of the four major conference tournaments this weekend, there was no shortage of intriguing Division I matches, and drama was everywhere in today's semifinals. 

The University of Virginia was the shining star at the ACC men's and women's championships in Cary North Carolina, with the men handing No. 1 Wake Forest its first loss of the season 4-3, while the Virginia women beat top seed Duke for the second time this year, earning a 4-2 victory earlier in the day.

Wake Forest started singles in its usual position, up 1-0 after grabbing the doubles point, but Virginia, the No. 5 seed despite their national ranking of No. 6, came out strong in singles, taking five first sets. Wake made it 2-0 with a win by freshman Charlie Robertson over James Hopper at line 4, but the Cavaliers were able to get the next three points, with straight-sets wins by their freshman: Jangjun Kim over Luca Pow at line 5, Keegan Rice over Ionnas Xilas at line 3 and Rafael Jodar over Stefan Dostanic at line 1. Wake Forest's DK Suresh had forced a third set against Dylan Dietrich at line 2, and Luciano Tacchi had also pushed Mans Dahlberg to a third at line 6, and when Suresh and Tacchi got out to 4-2 leads in their third sets, it looked as if the Demon Deacons might escape with another tight victory. Suresh closed out Dietrich to make it 3-3, but Dahlberg not only got his break back, but took four games in a row for a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory that ended the 34-match Wake Forest winning streak.

Virginia will face Stanford, which had its own nail-biter, with the Cardinal, seeded No. 3, beating No. 7 seed Duke 4-2. Duke had beaten No. 2 seed NC State 4-3 in Friday's quarterfinals. 

The Virginia women, seeded No. 4, had struggled with injuries throughout the conference season, but had nearly everyone in the lineup for the ACC tournament, which got them past No. 5 seed Cal 4-0 in the quarterfinals and Duke 4-2 today. 

They will face No. 2 seed North Carolina in Sunday's final, after the Tar Heels beat No. 3 seeds North Carolina State 4-1.

Virginia and North Carolina met in the conference final last year, with UNC winning 4-1, but in their two meetings this year, Virginia has earned two 4-3 victories.

In the SEC, the top-seeded Texas men avenged their regular season loss last weekend to No. 5 seed Tennessee, taking a 4-2 victory after Timo Legout saved a match point in the second set against Alex Kotzen at line 1 and ended up clinching the match 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

Texas will play host South Carolina, the No. 3 seed, who beat Mississippi State 4-3, courtesy of two third-set tiebreakers at lines 1 and 5. The Longhorns beat the Gamecocks 4-0 in Austin last month in conference play.

The women's SEC conference final is a familiar one, with Georgia playing Texas A&M again, a week after the Aggies earned a 4-3 victory in the final match of the regular season in College Station.

No. 2 seed Georgia rolled into the final, beating No. 3 seed Oklahoma 4-0, but Texas A&M had a much tougher semfinal victory, beating No. 4 seed and host Auburn 4-3, with Daria Smetannikov getting the clinch for the Aggies at line 5, with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Ava Esposito.

Georgia and Texas A&M have split two decisions this year, after Georgia beat Texas A&M three times in 2024, including in the SEC conference tournament final, only to lose to the Aggies in the NCAA final in May. 

In the Big 12, Central Florida was the big winner, with both the men's and women's teams advancing to Sunday's conference finals at Baylor. 

The men, seeded No. 4, beat top seed TCU 4-3, coming from 3-0 down to defeat the short-handed Horned Frogs. TCU has been playing without an injured Pedro Vives for some time and Cooper Woestendick wasn't able to play today, but things got even worse for TCU when Albert Pedrico had to retire with a injury at 2-3 in the third set at line 3.

Central Florida will play No. 2 seed Arizona, who beat host Baylor 4-2 in the other semifinal. Central Florida is 2-0 this year against Arizona.

The second-seeded UCF women's 4-3 win over Oklahoma State came down to a third-set tiebreaker at line 1, with Olivia Lincer saving four match points serving at 4-5, 0-40, then coming back to beat OSU's Melisa Ercan 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3). 

UCF will play top seed Texas Tech in the final, after Tech's 4-2 win over host Baylor. Texas Tech defeated UCF 4-1 last month in conference play.

All Sunday's conference finals are available at ESPN+ or SEC/ACC Networks.

Emilio Nava continues his run through the ATP Challenger Circuit, beating Mathys Erhard of France 6-2, 6-4 in today's semifinal in Tallahassee to reach his fourth consecutive Challenger final. Nava will face former University of Virginia All-American Chris Rodesch of Luxembourg, who beat Andrea Collarini of Argentina 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. 

In the doubles final, the Canadian team of Liam Draxl(Kentucky) and Cleeve Harper(Texas) won their fifth Challenger title, with the No. 2 seeds defeating unseeded Jamie Cerretani(Brown) and George Goldhoff 6-2, 6-3.

At the ATP 500 in Munich, Ben Shelton(Florida) is the first American man since Andre Agassi in 2002(Rome) to reach an ATP clay final above the 250 level, after the No. 2 seed defeated Francisco Cerundolo(South Carolina) of Argentina 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 today. Shelton will play top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany in Sunday's final.

All Four USA Teams Advance to ITF Junior Team Finals; Bonding and Stojsavljevic Win British 18s National Titles; Nava's Streak Continues in Tallahassee; UTEP Cuts Women's Tennis

The United States and Canada are traditionally the countries that emerge from North and Central American and the Caribbean qualifying for the ITF Junior Davis Cup, Junior Billie Jean King Cup and World Junior Tennis team events.

That trend continues this year, with the United States finishing first in three of the four competitions, Canada in the other and the two countries finishing 1-2 in all four to qualify for the world championships in the Czech Republic in August and Chile in November.

In World Junior Tennis competition, which is for players 14-and-under, the United States finished at the top of the standings for both boys and girls, with 3-0 records in the three-day qualifying tournament. The boys team of Tristan Ascenzo, Indra Vergne and Alex Anderson beat Mexico 3-0 today to top the standings, dropping just one point in their wins over the Dominican Republic, Canada and Mexico.

The girls team of Emery Combs, Caroline Shao and Olivia de los Reyes didn't lose a point (Shao was shown as losing to her Canadian opponent in singles yesterday, but that has been corrected to a win for her) in their wins over Mexico, Canada and the Dominican Republic.  They are among the 16 teams who will play in the Czech Republic in August, as will both second-place teams from Canada.

Like the WJT girls, the Junior Davis Cup boys did not drop a set in their three wins, with Michael Antonius, Vihaan Reddy and Andy Johnson getting shutouts of Canada, Guatemala and today, Mexico to advance to the 16-team finals in Chile in November.

Canada finished atop the Junior Billie Jean King Cup standings after their surprise 2-1 win over the United States on Thursday. The USA team of Annika and Kristina Penickova and Maggie Sohns beat Puerto Rico 3-0 today to finish second, qualifying for the competition in Chile in November.

Results from all matches can be found at the ITF tournament website.

The LTA National 18s champions were crowned today in London, with top seeds Oliver Bonding and Mika Stojsavljevic winning the titles. 

Bonding, the defending champion, beat No. 2 seed Benjamin Gusic-Wan 6-2, 6-3, while Stojsavljevic, the reigning US Open girls champion, came from behind to beat No. 2 seed Hannah Klugman 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.  Both will receive qualifying wild cards into the Wimbledon Championships.

For more on the finals, with comments from the winners and LTA national coaches, see this LTA article.

Emilio Nava will lose again some day but not today, with the 23-year-old American advancing to his fifth consecutive ATP Challenger semifinal with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Florida. No. 6 seed Nava, who has won the past three ATP Challengers he's played and has won 32 consecutive sets in that span, will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 3 seed Mitchell Krueger and unseeded Mathys Erhard of France. 

In the bottom half semifinal, former Virginia All-American Chris Rodesch of Luxembourg will face Andrea Collarini of Argentina, with both players unseeded.

At the women's USTA Pro Circuit W50 in Zephyrhills Florida, Caty McNally is through to the semifinals after defeating top seed Arina Rodionova of Australia 6-2, 6-1 today.  McNally, who is very much in the running for the USTA's Roland Garros wild card, starting this week tied for 2nd behind Julieta Pareja, plays unseeded Elvina Kalieva in Saturday's semifinals. Kalieva had beaten No. 3 seed and last week's W35 Boca Raton champion Whitney Osuigwe in the second round. The other semifinal features unseeded Katherine Sebov of Canada and No. 2 seed Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus.

The University of Texas El Paso, which competes in Conference USA, announced today that it was discontinuing its women's tennis program, effective immediately.

From the announcement:

UTEP does not have an on-campus tennis facility. Building a viable tennis facility would be cost prohibitive, and a more extensive donor base would be required to raise sufficient funding. Discontinuing tennis will enable the reallocation of resources to other sports programs as UTEP prepares for upcoming changes to college athletics, including revenue sharing and roster caps.

Whether this is an outlier or a harbinger of things to come for mid-major programs remains to be seen, but this is not good news in either case. 

Easter Bowl 16s Videos; Canada Shocks US in Junior BJK Cup Qualifying; Top Seeds Play for LTA 18s National Titles, Wimbledon Qualifying Wild Card; Cassone Through to Tallahassee Quarterfinals; Three Wild Cards Advance at W50 in Zephyrhills

I've continued to process the videos of the USTA Level 1 Easter Bowl finals, with the 16s finals published below. That leaves just the 18s remaining, plus photo galleries from San Diego and Easter Bowl, which will be posted at Tennis Recruiting Network. Videos of the Easter Bowl 12s and 14s finals are available at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

A big surprise was in store on Day Two of the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying for the Junior Davis Cup, Junior Billie Jean King Cup(16U) and the World Junior Tennis competition(14) in Montreal. The United States' Junior BJK Cup team was beaten by Canada 2-1 today in round robin play, with the Penickova twins both losing their singles matches.

Annika, No. 16 in the ITF junior rankings, lost to Laurence Demers, 384 in the ITF junior rankings, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 singles and Kristina, No. 3 in the ITF junior rankings, lost to Charlie Celebrini, 312 in the ITF junior rankings, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 at No. 1 singles. The Penickovas did take the doubles point, and the United States is still favored to finish second and qualify for the November finals, needing a win over Puerto Rico in the third and final day of competition Friday.

The US Junior Davis Cup team had an entirely different result, beating Guatemala 3-0 and surrendering only one game in the three matches. Andy Johnson and Vihaan Reddy won 6-0, 6-0 in their singles matches; in doubles, Michael Antonius and Reddy won 6-1, 6-0. The team needs a win over Mexico Friday to finish as the top qualifier.

The matches were closer in World Junior Tennis, with the US teams beating Canada 2-1 in both. Tristan Ascenzo won a three-set battle at line 1 and Alex Anderson clinched with a straight-set win at line 2, but they lost doubles in a match tiebreaker. They will finish top qualifier if they beat Mexico Friday.

Emery Combs won at line 2 for the girls, Caroline Shao lost at line 1 but Combs and Olivia de los Reyes took the doubles to clinch the win. They play the Dominican Republic Friday, and will finish No. 1 with a win.

The finals are set for Friday at the LTA National 18s championships, with the top two seeds in both the boys and girls draws advancing to the championship matches.

Top seed Oliver Bonding, the defending champion, will play No. 2 seed Benjamin Gusic-Wan, with Bonding beating No. 3 seed Mark Ceban 6-3, 6-1 and Gusic-Wan defeating No. 4 seed Conor Brady 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. 

US Open girls champion Mika Stojsavljevic, the top seed, will play No. 2 seed Hannah Klugman, after Stojsavljevic beat unseeded Ruby Cooling 6-1, 6-2 and Klugman defeated No. 5 seed Brooke Black 6-3, 6-2.

The winners receive a Wimbledon qualifying wild cards. Mimi Xu, who won the girls 18s title last year, lost in the first round of women's qualifying. Klugman, who received a wild card, reached the final round of qualifying. Bonding did not play men's qualifying last year.

Live streaming is available at the LTA YouTube channel.

Murphy Cassone(Arizona State), who hadn't played a Challenger match on clay until last week in Sarasota, where he lost in the first round, is through to the quarterfinals this week at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Florida. Cassone came from 5-2 down in the second set to defeat former ITF Junior No. 1 Joel Schwaerzler of Austria 6-3, 7-6(6), and will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 6 seed Emilio Nava and Tony Wu of Taiwan Friday.

The run of 15-year-old qualifier Zaire Clarke came to an end today at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W50 in Zephyrhills Florida, with top seed Arina Rodionova of Australia posting a 6-4, 6-3 win in today's second round. 

But three American wild cards are through to the quarterfinals: Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina), Jamie Loeb(UNC) and Jada Robinson. 

Akli defeated Madison Sieg(USC) 7-5, 6-2; Loeb beat qualifier Malaika Rapolu(Texa) 7-5, 6-2 and Robinson took out No. 7 seed Irina Bara of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.  Robinson will play No. 2 seed Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, who beat Akasha Urhobo 6-2, 6-1. Rodionova and Shymanovich are the only two seeds remaining.

Easter Bowl 14s Videos; Junior Davis and Billie Jean King Cup Finals Held in Chile This Fall; Clarke Wins First USTA Pro Circuit Main Draw Match at W50; Sioux Falls Challenger Upgrading to 100 Level

My videos of the USTA Level 1 Easter Bowl 14s finals are below; the 16s videos are next and will be live soon, with the 18s to follow. To see all videos from the two ITF J300s in Southern California, as well as the Easter Bowl 12s finals at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel.

2024 USA Jr BJK Cup champions

The International Tennis Federation announced yesterday that the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup finals will be hosted this year in Santiago Chile. The 16-and-under team competition has not been able to find a permanent home, or even a semi-regular venue and spot on the calendar, unlike the World Junior Tennis 14-and-under team competition, which has been located Prostejov Czech Republic for 25 years and has been the first week of August. 

This year the JDC and JBJKC will be November 3-9, at two different clubs in Santiago. The event has always been after the US Open, but as early as September and as late as the end of November. There is no mention of this being more than a one-year deal in the ITF's article on the competition's return to South America after 24 years.

2024 USA Jr Davis Cup champions

At the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying today in Montreal for both the 16U and 14U teams, the United States won all four of its matches 3-0. The WJT girls defeated Mexico, the WJT boys beat the Dominican Republic, the JDC team topped Canada and the JBJK team defeated Mexico. 

Individual results can be found at the ITF's tournament page.

At the women's W50 in Zephyrhills Florida, 15-year-old Zaire Clarke earned her first main draw win on the Pro Circuit after qualifying yesterday. Clarke defeated wild card Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 and will face a WTA Top 200 player for the first time in No. 1 seed Arina Rodionova of Australian. Rodionova, who at age 35, is 20 years older than Clarke, avenged her first round last week to Diletta Cherubini of Italy, with the WTA No. 172 posting a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win over the qualifier. 

Two seeds lost in the first round today, with wild card Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) defeating No. 5 seed Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, and qualifier Malaika Rapolu(Texas) defeating No. 8 seed Anna Rogers(NC State) 6-3, 6-2.

At the Tallahassee Challenger 75, No. 3 seed Mitchell Krueger has advanced to the quarterfinals with a 0-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) win over Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France. Michael Mmoh lost to Andy Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-1. Patrick Maloney(Michigan), who surprised the heavily favored Jenson Brooksby last night in the first round contest between wild cards, will play Mathys Erhard of France tonight for a place in the quarterfinals against Krueger.

The recent Challenger in San Diego was at the 100 level, and the Phoenix Challenger in the second week of the BNP Paribas Open has always been at the 150 or 175 level, but in general, the longstanding Challengers on the USTA Pro Circuit have been 75s.  That's why it was surprising to me to read that this fall's Challenger in Sioux Falls South Dakota, in just its second year, will move from a 75 to a 100, but it's great news. For more on the second year of the tournament, scheduled for October 19-26, see this Argus Leader article.

Twenty-nine Americans in Roland Garros Main Draw; Texas A&M Women Take Top Spot in New Rankings; Clarke Qualifies at Zephyrhills W50; Nava's Winning Streak Continues at Tallahassee Challenger

The acceptances for Roland Garros main draw were released today, with 17 American women and 12 American men receiving entry. Robin Montgomery and Mackenzie McDonald, both at 100 in Monday's rankings, were the last two players in. That means there were four protected rankings used in both men's and women's entries.

US women:
Jessica Pegula
Coco Gauff
Madison Keys
Emma Navarro
Amanda Anisimova
Danielle Collins
Sofia Kenin
Ashlyn Krueger
McCartney Kessler
Peyton Stearns
Alycia Parks
Ann Li
Caroline Dolehide
Bernarda Pera
Katie Volynets
Hailey Baptiste
Robin Montgomery

US men:

Taylor Fritz

Tommy Paul

Ben Shelton

Frances Tiafoe

Sebastian Korda

Brandon Nakashima

Reilly Opelka (protected ranking)

Alex Michelsen

Marcos Giron

Jenson Brooksby (protected ranking)

Learner Tien

Mackenzie McDonald

Taylor Townsend, currently at 102 in the WTA rankings, is two spots out of the main draw. There will be at least two other Americans in the main draw after the USTA's reciprocal wild card is decided.

The full list for men is here; for women here. The ranking cutoff for qualifying is two weeks from yesterday, April 28th.

The latest rankings have all the same 10 teams in both the women's and men's Top 10, but there is a big change, with the Texas A&M women taking over the No. 1 spot from Georgia after their 4-3 win over the Bulldogs Sunday, and Georgia's two losses to Texas and Texas A&M over the weekend. The individual rankings continue to show little change, with all four NCAA fall champions at No. 1. Links in the headings go to the full lists.

ITA Division I rankings April 15, 2025:

WOMEN:

Team:

(last week's ranking in parentheses)

1. Texas A&M (2)

2. Georgia (1)

3. Michigan (5)

4. Duke (3)

5. Oklahoma (4)

6. Auburn (8)

7. Virginia (7)

8. North Carolina (6)

9. Ohio State (10)

10. Tennessee (9)

Singles:

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

4. DJ Bennett, Auburn

5. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

6. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

7. Elza Tomas, Tennessee

8. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

10. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

Doubles:

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Mell Reasco and Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

3. Cadence Brace and Kayla Cross, LSU

4. Mao Mushika and Jessica Alsola, Cal

5. Rose Marie Nijkamp and Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

MEN:

Team:

1. Wake Forest (1)

2. TCU (2)

3. Ohio State (4)

4. Texas (3)

5. NC State (5)

6. Virginia (6)

7. San Diego (7)

8. Stanford (8)

9. Columbia (10)

10. Cal (9)

Singles:

1. Michael Zheng, Columbia

2. Timo Legout, Texas

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Colton Smith, Arizona

5. Jay Friend, Arizona

6. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

7. Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

8. Pedro Vives, TCU

9. Samir Banerjee, Stanford

10. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Doubles:

1. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

2. Petar Jovanovic and Beniot Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

3. Lucas Andrade da Silva and Connor Thomson, South Carolina

4. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego

5. Togan Tokac and Theo Papamalamis, Texas A&M

There are two USTA Pro Circuit events this week, again both in Florida, with the women's W50 in Zephyrhills and the men's ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee.

Qualifying was completed today at the W50, with 15-year-old Zaire Clarke reaching the main draw. Clarke, who received a wild card into qualifying, defeated No. 12 seed Elena Teodora Cadar of Romania 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of qualifying and took out No. 8 seed Alexis Blokhina(Stanford) 6-2, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying today. She will play wild card Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) in the first round Wednesday. 

Other American qualifiers are Makenna Jones(UNC), Christina McHale and Malaika Rapolu(Texas). Rapolu defeated 35-year-old Madison Brengle, who hadn't played since September of 2023, 6-3, 6-3 in today's final round of qualifying.

In addition to Daniel, the wild cards were awarded to Jamie Loeb(North Carolina), Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) and Jada Robinson. 

Five first round matches were played today, with Akasha Urhobo getting a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over Maria Portillo Ramirez of Mexico. Other Americans advancing to the second round today are Elvina Kalieva and No. 4 seed Maria Mateas(Duke).

As she was last week in Boca Raton, Arina Rodionova of Australia is the top seed; Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus is the No. 2 seed. Rodionova will again face Diletta Cherubini of Italy in the first round, who beat her in the opening round last week 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2). Cherubini was the top seed in qualifying this week.

At the Tallahassee Challenger, top seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) was ousted in the first round by Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) 6-3, 7-5. No. 2 seed Tomas Barrios Vera of Chile also was eliminated in the opening round, with Michael Mmoh posting a 6-3, 6-3 win Monday.

Both of the finalists from Sarasota are through to the second round, with No. 6 seed Emilio Nava earning his 16th consecutive Challenger victory with a 6-4, 6-4 decision over qualifier Christian Sigsgaard(Texas) of Denmark. Nava, who has won 26 sets in a row in his run, plays Tony Wu of Taiwan next.

No. 8 Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada, who lost to Nava in Sunday's Sarasota final, defeated his collegiate contemporary Inaki Montes(Virginia) of Spain 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 and will play Andrea Collarini of Argentina in the second round.

In addition to Cassone, Mmoh and Nava, wild card Mitchell Krueger, the No. 3 seed, is through to the second round. The winner of tonight's match between wild cards Jenson Brooksby, the No. 7 seed, and Patrick Maloney(Michigan) will be the fifth American in the round of 16.

US Teams Announced for This Week's ITF Jr Davis Cup, Jr BJK Cup, WJT Qualifying; Chang and Hegarty Sweep ITF J60 Titles, Exsted, Jauffret Claim Doubles Titles; Roland Garros Wild Card Update

Qualifying for the International Tennis Federation's Team Championships takes place throughout the spring and summer, with the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying, always in April and May, beginning Wednesday in Montreal Canada.

The USTA announced the teams for this competition in a release today:

Junior Davis Cup(16 and under):

Michael Antonius (15; Buffalo, N.Y.)
Andrew Johnson (15; Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.)
Vihaan Reddy (15; San Jose, Calif.)
Captain: Sylvain Guichard

Billie Jean King Cup(16 and under):

Annika Penickova (15; Campbell, Calif.)
Kristina Penickova (15; Campbell, Calif.)
Margaret Sohns (15; Cooperstown, N.Y.)
Captain: Georgi Rumenov

Boys ITF World Junior Tennis(14 and under):

Tristan Ascenzo (14; Dallas, Texas)
Indra Vergne (13; West Hills, Calif.)
Alexander Anderson (13; Davis, Calif.)
Captain: Jon Glover

Girls ITF World Junior Tennis(14 and under):

Emery Combs (14; Conway, S.C.)
Olivia De Los Reyes (14; Scarsdale, N.Y.)
Caroline Shao (13; Doral, Fla.)
Captain: Celeste Frey

Notable absences are Jordan Lee, who has been dealing with an ankle injury that has kept him out of the spring tournaments in Southern California and Canada and will probably return to the Junior Davis Cup roster for the USA should they qualify for the finals in the fall and Julieta Pareja, who had said she was probably going participate in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup qualifying this week in Montreal, but was not named to the team; she has since reached the semifinals of a WTA 250, so her schedule may have been reworked after that result.

For more information on the teams participating, the format and the Canadian players competing, see this article from Tennis Canada.

Last week was a busy and productive one for US juniors on the ITF Junior Circuit, with four singles titles at the J60 level and doubles titles that ran the gamut from J300s to J30s.

I reviewed the results from the American-laden J200 in Woodbridge Canada Saturday, with Matisse Farzam winning the boys singles. Due to yet another error by the ITF in running the rankings, none of the points from Woodbridge were posted to the participants; the ITF eventually re-did the rankings and a posted the revised ranking including the Woodbridge points a few hours later. 

Two US juniors swept the titles at J60s, with Lani Chang going undefeated in Trinidad and Tobago and Theo Hegarty taking both singles and doubles in the Dominican Republic.

Chang, the 14-year-old daughter of Michael Chang, had suffered an injury while competing in ITF tournaments in New Zealand this past January and was not fit to compete at the ITF events or the Easter Bowl in Southern California last month. But in her first tournament back the top seed lost only six games in her four matches, beating No. 2 seed Hadley Appling 6-1, 6-1 in the final.  Appling and Chang, the top seeds in doubles, beat unseeded London Evans and Adriana Khomyakova 7-6(6), 6-4 in the all-USA doubles final.

Another 14-year-old, Gadin Arun, won the boys singles titles in Trinidad and Tobago, with the unseeded Arizonan beating No. 3 seed Bernado Tedesco of Brazil 6-3, 6-1 in the final. It was the first ITF Junior Circuit title for Arun, a semifinalist at the Junior Orange Bowl 14s last December.

The unseeded Hegarty won his first two titles in Santo Domingo, with the 17-year-old from Arkansas beating No. 13 seed Balthazar Orsanic of Argentina 3-6, 6-0, 6-0 in the singles final. He partnered with Noble Renfrow for the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair defeating the No. 4 seeds from Mexico, Nicolas Rivera Paz and Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca, 6-1, 1-6, 10-5 in the final. 

Brooke Wallman, who reached the singles final in Santo Domingo, won the doubles title with Ana Avramovic. The top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Filipa Delgado and Scarlett Fagan 6-7(5), 6-3, 12-10 in the all-USA final. 

The fourth American to win a J60 title was 16-year-old Yael Saffar, who won her second ITF singles title in Peru. Seeded No. 3, Saffar defeated unseeded Luciana Luna of Peru 6-3, 6-1 in the final. 

In doubles, two-time Australian Open boys doubles champion Maxwell Exsted won his third title of the year with his third different partner at the J300 in Plovdiv Bulgaria. Exsted, who lost in the singles quarterfinals, partnered with Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria last week, and the No. 2 seeds beat unseeded Cem Christopher Kucukhuseyin and Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey 6-0, 6-4 in the final. 

Capucine Jauffret won the doubles title at the J200 in France, with partner Tahlia Kokkinis of Australia. The top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Eva Bennemann of Germany and Amelie Justine Hejtmanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3 for the title. 

There were two doubles titles for Americans at the J30 level, with 14-year-old Sydney Wright winning her first ITF Junior Circuit title in Ghana with partner Annabel Hristova of Great Britain. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Hermione Korpanec Davies of Great Britain and Onalee Wagner of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-3 in the final. 

At the J30 in Cameroon, 13-year-old Leigh Oyebog Anisah won her second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with Charnelle Fozo of Cameroon. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Amelia Grzelak of France and Lauren Kwendou Tadoum of the US 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-5 in the final. 

The USTA released this week's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge standings today, with Sarasota Challenger champion Emilio Nava taking over the top spot in the men's race and Julieta Pareja continuing to lead the women's race with three weeks remaining.

Women's Standings: 

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Julieta Pareja (333) -- 116

T2. Louisa Chirico (154) -- 57

T2. Caty McNally (324) -- 57

T4. Whitney Osuigwe (192) -- 35

T4. Monika Ekstrand (731) -- 35

 

Men's Standings:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Emilio Nava (140) -- 75

2. Colton Smith (166) -- 63

3. Chris Eubanks (110) -- 50

T4. Mackenzie McDonald (100) -- 25

T4. Ethan Quinn (126) -- 25