ITF J300 Indian Wells Finals Videos; Teens Ekstrand and Crossley Reach Quarterfinals at W35 in Mississippi; Sarasota ATP Challenger Changes Venues; Features on Georgia, Pepperdine Coaches

Three weeks ago, the ITF J300 FILA International Championships at Indian Wells were drawing to close, with Julieta Pareja and Jagger Leach on their way to the titles. With Pareja into Friday's quarterfinals at the WTA 250 in Colombia, it occurred to me that the videos of her from the final would be especially timely, so I processed both the boys and girls videos from the finals today.

The quarterfinals of the women's USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Jackson Mississippi are set, with two top college recruits advancing to face each other for a place in the semifinals.

Seventeen-year-old Monika Ekstrand, who has committed to Stanford, had no letdown after beating top seed Cadence Brace(LSU) of Canada yesterday, securing a 6-2, 6-4 win over wild card Alexis Nguyen, Pareja's opponent in the above video.

Eighteen-year-old Mayu Crossley of Japan, who has committed to UCLA, has now made four quarterfinals at the W35 level and above after the No. 6 seed beat Alexis Blokhina(Stanford) 6-1, 6-3. Ekstrand reached her first ITF women's World Tennis Tour quarterfinal in February at a W15 in Mallorca. 

The ATP Challenger swing on the green clay begins next week in Sarasota Florida, the first of three 75s in the South. This article from Yahoo Sports vis the Sarasota Herald-Tribune has the details on the move from its location the past three years, Payne Park, to Sarasota Sports Club, where a 10-year agreement has been signed. The most significant news is that the new facility does not have ATP-quality lights, so all matches will be played during the day.  According to this entry update from dartsrankings.com, Wake Forest freshman Charlie Robertson will be using one of his ITF Junior Accelerator entries to compete in the main draw.

With Division I college tennis entering its final few weeks of regular season competition, I've run across two articles about women's coaches. Georgia's Drake Bernstein, who is in his second year after the retirement of Jeff Wallace, has had a dream start as head coach, with two NCAA individual titles (2024 spring doubles, 2024 fall singles), an appearance in the 2024 team final, an ITA Team Indoor title in February, and, since then, the top ranking in country. The Red & Black tracks Bernstein's Georgia roots back to his years playing for the Bulldogs and his tenure as the associate head coach under Wallace here.

Pepperdine's Tassilo Schmid has had a dramatically different path to his position. An assistant for the men's team for seven years, Schmid was named interim head coach for the women when Pere Nilsson left last fall for the University of Florida's women's head coaching job.  Graphic provides this review of Schmid's coaching career and a look at his coaching philosophy.

Easter Bowl 12s and 14s Recap; USTA Selects Tracy Davies as First General Manager of USA Tennis; Ekstrand Beats Top Seed Brace at W35 in Mississippi; Pareja and Smith Reach WTA, ATP Quarterfinals

I'll have a lot more content coming from last month's three weeks covering major junior events in Southern California, with videos from all finals at the ITF J300 Indian Wells, ITF J300 San Diego and FILA Easter Bowl, as well as a couple of photo galleries for Tennis Recruiting Network. That will be later this month, once I've completed my recaps from the Easter Bowl and the March Aces column for Tennis Recruiting Network. The first recap was published today, with my summary of the 12s and 14s Easter Bowl Championships. Congratulations to all those competing on the final day, who handled a difficult day with few complaints and impressive competitive performances.

The USTA began a search for a new position it created last fall, when General Manager of Player Development Martin Blackman left after 10 years heading Player Development. That new position, General Manager of USA Tennis, was filled today, with long-time USTA administrator Tracy Davies named to "oversee an expanded high performance division that joins Player Development, Pro Circuit, Collegiate, Junior Competition, and International Team Events into a single cohesive department."

I don't know Davies, but am optimistic that her USTA experience and her background as a former collegiate player will assist in what is uncharted territory for the organization in bringing all the various entities under one person's direction.  

Blackman discussed with me back in January what the new USA Tennis General Manager's role might be, which can be found at this TRN article. Let's hope you all see Davies in your sections this summer.

The complete release, with comments from Davies, USTA CEO Lew Sherr, USTA President and Board Chair Brian Vahaly and Billie Jean King Cup captain Lindsay Davenport can be found at usta.com.

Teenagers had great success today at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Jackson Mississippi, with Stanford recruit Monika Ekstrand, a 17-year-old wild card, taking out top seed Cadence Brace of Canada, a 20-year-old LSU freshman, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in first round action.

Ekstrand will play wild card Alexis Nguyen, last month's ITF J300 Indian Wells finalist, who beat qualifier Kolie Allen(Ohio State) 6-1, 6-3.

Fifteen-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova of Russia defeated No. 5 seed Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia 6-1, 6-3 and will face 2019 NCAA singles finalist Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia. 

No. 8 Tori Osuigwe, a North Carolina State signee, defeated fellow 18-year-old Mia Yamakita, a qualifier, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to advance against lucky loser Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M), who beat qualifier Marcella Cruz(Vanderbilt, Wake Forest) 6-4, 6-1.

University of Arizona senior Colton Smith has played a grand total of two ATP events, and he has already reached his first quarterfinal at the ATP 250 in Houston. Qualifier Smith, the 22-year-old from Washington, defeated wild card Ethan Quinn(Georgia) 6-3, 6-4, on a surface he never plays on in college and is playing on for the first time this week in the pros.

Now up to 166 in the live rankings, Smith is banking valuable points in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge; he will face the winner of tonight's match between top seed Tommy Paul and wild card Cristian Garin of Chile in the quarterfinals. 

Another qualifier who got in via a wild card and is now through to the quarterfinals is 16-year-old Californian Julieta Pareja at the WTA 250 in Colombia. There's no question she had a dream draw, facing a local wild card in the first round and a lucky loser in the second, but she's seized the opportunity she was handed. The ITF J300 Indian Wells champion defeated Patricia Tig of Romania 6-3, 7-6(3) and won't face a seed in the quarterfinals. Her opponent will be the winner of tonight's match between Leolia Jeanjean(Baylor, Arkansas, Lynn) and Selena Janicijevic, both of France. 

USTA Women's Pro Circuit Returns at W35 in Mississippi; Pareja and Jovic Win First Round Matches at WTA in Colombia; Smith Advances at ATP Houston; Georgia Women, Wake Forest Men Stay No. 1 in Latest ITA Rankings

After four weeks with nothing on the USTA women's Pro Circuit calendar, competition resumes this week on green clay at the W35 in Jackson Mississippi, the first week of the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge.  Qualifying concluded today, with two juniors, Vanderbilt recruit Mia Yamakita and 15-year-old Kristina Liutova of Russia, advancing to the main draw.

Yamakita defeated No. 7 seed Dilana Rsovac of Australia 6-0, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying, while No. 9 seed Liutova beat former USC All-American Salma Ewing, the No. 5 seed, 6-0, 7-5 to qualify. Other Americans reaching the main draw are Kolie Allen(Ohio State) and Marcella Cruz(Vanderbilt, Wake Forest).

The top seed in the main draw is LSU freshman Cadence Brace of Canada, with Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were awarded to ITF J300 Indian Wells finalist Alexis Nguyen, Stanford recruit Monika Ekstrand, Mississippi high school sophomore Briley Rhoden and University of Texas recruit Elizabeth Ionescu. Rhoden lost her first round match today; the other three play their opening matches Wednesday, with Ekstrand drawing Brace.

Julieta Pareja and Iva Jovic, both of whom have won ITF Junior Billie Jean King Cup titles in the past two years, are playing the WTA 250 in Bogota Colombia this week and both have won their opening matches. The 16-year-old Pareja, who won the ITF J300 in Indian Wells last month then got through the qualifying as a wild card in Bogota, won her first WTA main draw match tonight, beating Colombian wild card  Maria Jose Sanchez Uribe 6-1, 6-1. She will play lucky loser Patricia Tig of Romania next, after the 30-year-old Tig defeated No. 4 seed Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-3, 6-3.

The 17-year-old Jovic, who has played the women's US Open, Australian Open and BNP Paribas Open in the past seven months, winning a round in all three, made her debut below the 1000 level today, beating No. 3 seed Alycia Parks 6-1, 6-4. These results will count toward the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, as do any events on clay at the W35 level and above. Jovic won last fall's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.

At the ATP 250 in Houston, Arizona senior Colton Smith qualified for the main draw after receiving a wild card and today earned his second ATP main draw victory, beating James Duckworth of Australia 6-2, 6-2. Smith will face 2023 NCAA champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia), a wild card, who beat No. 6 seed Jordan Thompson of Australia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. It's Quinn's first ATP Top 40 win.

I didn't have time to post last week's ITA Division I Team rankings, but there haven't been many changes the past several weeks, with the Georgia women, with just one loss this season, and the Wake Forest men, who are undefeated, continuing at No. 1. The top spots in singles and doubles have also been unchanged for several weeks. Below are the rankings released today; click on the headings to go to the full ITA rankings.

Women's ITA Division I Rankings, April 1 2025

(last week's ranking in parentheses)

Team:
1. Georgia(1)
2. Texas A&M(2)
3. Michigan(3)
4. Duke(9)
5. Virginia(5)
6. Tennessee(7)
7. North Carolina(4)
8. Oklahoma(10)
9. Auburn(8)
10. LSU(6)

Singles:

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. DJ Bennett, Auburn

4. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

5. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

6. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

7. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

8. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

10. Amelia Honer, UC-Santa Barbara

Doubles:

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

3. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA

4. Avelina Sayfetdinova and Mariia Hlahola, Texas Tech

5. Lily Fairclough and Grace Piper, Southern California

Men's ITA Division I Rankings, April 1 2025

Team:

1. Wake Forest(1)

2. TCU(2)

3. Ohio State(3)

4. NC State(6)

5. Texas(4)

6. Virginia(5)

7. San Diego(7)

8. Columbia(8)

9. Stanford(9)

10. Cal(10)

Singles:

1. Michael Zheng, Columbia

2. Timo Legout, Texas

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Colton Smith, Arizona

5. Jay Friend, Arizona

6. Pedro Vives, TCU

7. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

8. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

9. Aidan Kim, Ohio State

10. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

Doubles: 

1. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

2. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

3. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego

4. Lucas Andrade da Silva and Connon Thomson, South Carolina

5. Stefan Dostanic and DK Suresh, Wake Forest