Jovic Among 15 Americans in Roland Garros Junior Acceptances; Wild Cards Clarke and Nguyen Post Upsets at W35 Boca Raton; Six US Junior Boys Competing at M15 in Orange Park; Jovic and Nava Lead USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Race Heading into Final Week

photo credit: Armand Khoury via unsplash.com 

Acceptances for the 2025 Roland Garros Junior Championships were announced today, and, as usual, the fields are strong.

WTA 141 Iva Jovic has entered, although she also entered the Australian Open Junior Championships this year, but later withdrew after playing two matches in the women's draw as a wild card. Now leading the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge (see below), the 17-year-old could be in a similar position in Paris.

Jovic, No. 5 in the ITF junior rankings, is one of seven Top 10 juniors in the field, which features all of the Top 5: No. 1 Emerson Jones of Australia; No. 2 and Australian Open champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan, who, like Jovic, won a ITF Women's World Tennis Tour W100 title last week; No. 3 Kristina Penickova. the AO girls finalist; No. 4 Jeline Vandromme of Belgium, and Jovic.

The top 10 juniors missing are No. 6 Tyra Grant, No. 8 and US Open girls champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain, and No. 10 Laura Samson of the Czech Republic. 

Other notable absences include, as expected, No. 16 Renata Jamrichova, who won Australia and Wimbledon junior titles last year, and 2024 Roland Garros girls champion, No. 39 Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic. No. 17 Mimi Xu of Great Britain is also not on the entry list.

American girls who received entry into the main draw are Penickova, Jovic, Annika Penickova, Thea Frodin, Julieta Pareja and Maya Iyengar.

The cutoff for the main draw for the girls was 51. Pietra Rivoli of Brazil, ranked 117, is in the main draw via a regional wild card competition held by the French Tennis Federation; this is the first year the ITF is publishing these wild cards as entrants in the initial acceptance list.

Six more US girls are in qualifying, Leena Friedman, Capucine Jauffret, Kaitlyn Rolls, Ishika Ashar, Ava Rodriguez and Nancy Lee. The cutoff for qualifying was 114. Jahnie Van Zyl of South Africa received a spot in qualifying as a regional representative, which requires a ranking in the top 150 for a region that has no other representation in the draw.

The boys draw is unbelievably strong, with only one of the ITF's Top 43 players not entered: No. 6 Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic.

There are three boys who received regional entry spots, which require a Top 80 ITF junior ranking: Morocco's Karim Bennani (Africa), Australia's Ty Host (Oceania) and Puerto Rico's Yannik Alvarez( Central America and Caribbean). Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil is the boys wild card from the competition sponsored by the French federation. Cruz Hewitt, Lleyton Hewitt's son, missed out on the Oceania wild card by one spot; Host is ranked 51 and Hewitt 52.

With the main draw cutoff 43, Ryan Cozad at 44 is the first player out, with Max Dussault third out and Ronit Karki fourth out. Other American boys in qualifying are Matisse Farzam, Lachlan Gaskell, Gavin Goode, Roshan Santhosh, Nischal Spurling and Michael Antonius. 

The qualifying cutoff for the boys was 104. India's Manas Dhamne, who has played only ITF and ATP men's tournaments this year, was accepted into qualifying based on his ATP ranking of 760.

The USTA Pro Circuit has two women's events this week, and with the green clay ATP Challenger Circuit in the US now complete, just one M15 for men.

The M15 in Orange Park Florida features six American junior boys, three receiving wild cards and three receiving entry via the ITF junior reserved program.

Wild cards were given to Keaton Hance, who reached the quarterfinals of last week's M15 in Vero Beach, ITF J300 San Diego champion Jack Satterfield and Maximus Dussault. Satterfield play his first round match today, falling to No. 2 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) 6-2, 6-3; Dussault lost his opening match to No. 4 seed Cannon Kinglsey 6-3, 6-2.  Hance will play the fourth wild card, Matthew Segura, on Wednesday.

Jack Kennedy, Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth are the three US juniors who received junior reserved spots, with their first round matches all scheduled for Wednesday. Kennedy, a quarterfinalist last week in Vero Beach, faces Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech), Willwerth takes on No. 5 seed Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) and Johnston plays qualifier Maxwell Benson(Presbyterian).

Garrett Johns(Duke) is the top seed in Orange Park.

Americans qualifying today are Benson, Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor), Dakotah Bobo(LSU, Southern Miss), Adam Lynch(Barry) and Evan Bynoe.

At the W35 in Boca Raton Florida, wild cards Zaire Clarke and Alexis Nguyen won their opening matches today. The 15-year-old Clarke, who won the ITF J100 last week in Delray Beach and reached the second round of the W50 in Zephyrhills the week before that, defeated No. 2 seed Kayla Day, who was returning to competition for the first time since last October, 7-6(7), 6-3.

The 17-year-old Nguyen, who reached the quarterfinals of the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina last week, defeated WTA 489 Haruna Arakawa 6-2, 6-4. Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin and 17-year-old Monika Ekstrand received the other wild cards and they will play their first round matches Wednesday.

Despina Papamichail of Greece is the top seed.

Americans qualifying into the main draw today are Emily De Oliveira(Florida), Dasha Ivanova, Rhiann Newborn(Syracuse, Baylor), Brandy Walker(Northern Arizona), Ole Miss recruit Allie Bittner and Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M). 

Only one of the four first round matches at the W100 in Bonita Springs were completed today, with the others pushed into Wednesday. But the final qualifying round did finish, with Alan Smith(NC State) and Haley Giavara(Cal) the two Americans to reach the main draw.

Iva Jovic, who leads the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge after her title Sunday in Charlottesville, is the top seed, with Arina Rodionova of Australia the No. 2 seed. 

Jovic plays wild card Caty McNally in the first round; McNally is in third place in the standings, with this the final week, so McNally obviously needs to win that to have any chance of catching Jovic. The two played in the second round in Charlottesville last week, with Jovic winning 6-1, 6-1.

Eighteen-year-old Akasha Urhobo was up a set on Rodionova when their match was suspended for the day.

In addition to McNally, wild cards were given to Tori Osuigwe, who lost today to Elvina Kalieva, Claire Liu and Isabella Barrera Aguirre.

The Roland Garros wild card standings were released today are are shown below.

Women's Standings: 

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Iva Jovic (141) -- 130
2. Julieta Pareja (335) -- 116
3. Caty McNally (287) -- 102
4. Louisa Chirico (151) -- 79
5. Varvara Lepchenko (120) -- 70

 

Men's Standings:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Emilio Nava (132) -- 119
2. Ethan Quinn (119) -- 100
3. Colton Smith (161) -- 63
4. Chris Eubanks (108) -- 50
5. Eliot Spizzirri (125) -- 44

Emilio Nava, who is not playing this week, is close to clinching, with only a title for Nishesh Basavareddy at the ATP Challenger 175 in France able to keep him from the wild card. Quinn withdrew from the Challenger 175 in Portugal today, ending his chance to catch Nava.

McNally and Varvara Lepchenko, who is playing a WTA 125 in France this week, are still in contention, as is Whitney Osuigwe, who is the No. 4 seed this week and in the opposite half from Jovic and McNally.

Wake Forest Men, Georgia Women Top Seeds with NCAA D-I Team Championships Brackets Released; More American Titles on ITF Junior Circuit Last Week

The NCAA Division I fields are set with the selection shows revealing the draws for this weekend's regionals at 16 men's and 16 women's sites across the country. These shows used to be must-see, with unanswered questions on who would host and how the seeds would shake out, but Chris Halioris at collegetennisranks.com has taken all the drama out of the reveal with his programming to project the fields and the seeds. For the second straight year, he correctly predicted all 16 men's and women's seeds, in order, with the only thing left to learn is who would be traveling to play in those 32 regionals. That has now been answered; click on the headings to go to the draws.

The Division I top 16 seeds:

MEN:
1. Wake Forest
2. TCU
3. Texas
4. Stanford
5. Ohio State
6. San Diego
7. Virginia
8. Columbia
9. NC State
10. Arizona
11. Cal
12. Mississippi State
13. South Carolina
14. Tennessee
15. Central Florida
16. Texas A&M

The formula the NCAA committee uses and does not deviate from moved fourth-ranked Virginia down to 7, allowed No. 18 Texas A&M, who lost in their first match (the quarterfinals) of the SEC tournament, to move ahead of No. 16 UCLA, who won the Big Ten tournament title, and had No. 9 Columbia supplant NC State for the No. 8 spot. That is critical in that the top 8 will also host the Super Regional round of 16 matches next weekend.

I don't mind the head-to-head criteria, which is how Columbia overtook NC State, but the two other parts of the formula that look at record vs common opponents and Top 50 wins are not really indicative of anything that isn't in the ranking or the head-to-head. Giving greater weight to more recent results would certainly help get a better picture in these cases when so little appears to separate one team from another in the rankings.

So No. 11 seed Cal ends up being a draw loser, with UCLA coming to Berkeley after winning the Big Ten title and having a loss to Cal back in February to avenge. Texas A&M gets a tough Baylor team, but it would have been more fitting if UCLA was sent to College Station to decide who should have been the No. 16 seed on the court.

WOMEN:

1. Georgia

2. Texas A&M

3. Michigan

4. Ohio State

5. North Carolina

6. Oklahoma

7. Virginia

8. Duke

9. Auburn

10. Tennessee

11. Texas Tech

12. NC State

13. LSU

14. Texas

15. Vanderbilt

16. Washington

The women had fewer flips, with just Texas Tech, No. 12 in the rankings, passing No. 11 NC State, and that was based on Tech's win over NC State at Kickoff Weekend.

But the NCAA's iron-clad 400-mile rule gives rise to all sorts of contortions that aren't in anyone's best interest. The No. 1 rule in deciding who goes where is to send teams to regionals within 400 miles of them, which is considered a drive, not a flight. Put another way, the NCAA committee has to make their top priority the fewest number of flights. It also must keep fellow conference members away from the same regional.  

Why this drive vs fly has assumed such importance is beyond me, and I know the NCAA tennis committee is trying to get it changed to give them more flexibility in forming regions, but they have been unable to make any inroads with the NCAA. This leads to Oklahoma, the No. 6 seed, hosting No. 19 Oklahoma State, who can easily bring their fans to Norman, while No. 5 North Carolina's No. 2 seed is No. 28 South Carolina, who has now been in Chapel Hill for regional play for three straight years. 

The minimizing flights metric could make some sense if the NCAA was paying for these flights, but they are not. The 64 schools participating in each draw pay all their own expenses for the first two rounds, and they have no input on whether they would be willing to pay more to travel if it meant a more balanced regional as a result. 

To read the manuals for the championships and see the lineups submitted by each team, click here. I assume the dates and time will be out in the next day or two, with matches beginning Friday.

I will have more comments on the draws later this week at the annual Tennis Recruiting Network NCAA D-I Roundtable. For the instant reactions of Halioris, Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin and No-ad No-problem's John Parsons, plus Gruskin's interview with NCAA tennis committee chair Chris Young, see this Deciding Point episode on YouTube.

I had already reviewed the results of the ITF J100 in Delray Beach on Saturday, and the J500 in Offenbach Germany Sunday but there were other titles for Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit in several far-flung places, starting with the J200 in Aldershot England. Unseeded Ford McCollum and Nischal Spurling won their second straight J200 title, and their fourth of the year, defeating unseeded Christian Gronfeldt-Sorensen and August Brostroem Poulsen of Denmark 7-6(9), 6-3 in the final. McCollum and Spurling, who won J200 titles in February on hard courts in the Dominican Republic, won the J200 on clay last week in Italy.

Jack Secord, the No. 2 seed, reached the final, falling to the defending champion, No. 6 Benjamin Gusic Wan, 6-3, 6-3. Gusic Wan had reached the final of the British 18s Nationals two weeks ago.

Sixteen-year-old Carel Ngounoue's ITF winning streak this month ended at 15, with a loss in the final at the J100 in Tunisia. The unseeded Ngounoue, who won a J60 in Malta and a J100 in Tunisia two weeks ago, lost to unseeded Yanael Beranger of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 in the final.

Americans swept the titles at the J30 in Jamaica, with 15-year-old top seed Kamil Stolarczyk of New York taking his first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-1, 4-1 retired decision over No. 2 seed Pedro Vargas in the all-USA boys final.

Unseeded 14-year-old Aarini Bhattacharya of Virginia won her first two ITF Junior Circuit titles, beating unseeded McKenzie Shelton 6-0, 7-5 in the all-USA singles final, after partnering with Gianna Graci for the doubles title. The No. 4 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Shelton and Allison Crane 6-2, 7-6(0) in the final.

In the fourth all-USA final No. 3 seeds Sean Peng and Andrej Markovic defeated unseeded Carson Kuchar and Robert McAdoo 7-6(4), 6-4 for the doubles title. I believe Kuchar is the son of PGA golf star Matt Kuchar and McAdoo the grandson of NBA Hall-of-Famer Bob McAdoo. 

At the J30 in Kigali Ruwanda, 16-year-old Eaden-Zack Harron of Florida won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The No. 6 seed defeated top seed Shaurya Swarup of India 7-5, 7-6(3) in the final. 

And at the J30 in Sri Lanka, 18-year-old Shourya Bhattacharya won his first title on the ITF Junior Circuit, taking the doubles with Nikhil Kurapati of India. The unseeded pair defeated No. 3 seeds Chuan Ding and Ziao Qian of China 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 in the final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is a J100 in Coral Gables Florida, with Zavier Augustin and Welles Newman the top seeds.

Jovic Claims W100 Title in Charlottesville; UCLA Men and Ohio State Women Win 4-3 Thrillers to Earn Big 10 Titles; NCAA Selection Show Monday; Santamarta, Stusek Capture J500 Offenbach Titles; IMG Future Stars Tournament Crowns Champions

Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic won the biggest title of her young career today at the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Charlottesville Virginia. The top seed, who had needed nearly three-and-a-half hours to get through her semifinal with No. 4 seed Laura Pigossi of Brazil Saturday, was able to keep her time on court today to a minimum, beating unseeded Irina Bara of Romania 6-0, 6-1 in 61 minutes. This moves her WTA live ranking up to a career-high of 119.

My calculations have Jovic taking the lead in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge with one week to go; these 100 points, plus the 30 she earned for a first round win at the WTA 250 in Colombia three weeks ago, should put her ahead of Julieta Pareja, who has 116 points from her run to the semifinals in Colombia. Jovic, who received the USTA's Australian Open wild card after last fall's race, is entered in the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida next week.

The other two Americans in USTA Pro Circuit finals lost, with No. 8 seed Ayana Akli falling to former Baylor standout Alicia Herrero Linana of Spain 6-1, 7-6(1) at the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina. It's the first Pro Circuit singles title for Herrero Linana, although she has a dozen Pro Circuit doubles titles.

At the M15 in Vero Beach Florida, No. 7 seed Will Grant(Florida) lost to Blu Baker of Great Britain 7-6(3), 6-4.

Unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia won the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia, beating No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3). Draxl has now lost his last five Challenger finals, after winning his first appearance in one in November 2023.

The last of the Power 4 conference championships brought the drama, with the No. 2 seeds taking out the top seeds 4-3 in the Big Ten tournaments.

In Ojai California last night, the Ohio State women defeated Michigan for the first time in three attempts this year, with the match coming down to a third set at No. 4 singles. Ohio State lost the doubles point but got straight-sets wins from Teah Chavez at line 1 and Luciana Perry at line 2, and a three-set win from Sydni Ratliffe at line 3. That left it to freshman Nao Nishino, who had saved a match point in the second set tiebreaker, with Nishino beating Michigan freshman Emily Sartz-Lunde 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-4 to end Michigan's three-year reign as conference tournament champions.

The win also boosted the Buckeyes, who were outside the top 8 prior to the conference tournament, to No. 4 in the projected rankings, meaning they will host the NCAAs for the first three rounds, prior to the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals at Baylor.

For more on the final, see this article from ohiostatebuckeyes.com.

Today in Columbus, where Ohio State was hosting the conference tournament, an unimaginable streak came to an end, with the Buckeyes losing 4-3 to UCLA. It's the first time in 22 years that Ohio State has lost at home to a conference opponent, a streak that spans 128 matches.

UCLA won the doubles point and took three first sets in singles, and in the end, those were the three singles points that delivered the title, but there were many momentum shifts in between. Ohio State took the lead with wins at 5 and 1, with UCLA coming back to tie it with Kaylun Bigun's victory at line 3. Ohio State went ahead again with Preston Stearns getting a three-set victory at 6, but UCLA's Alexander Hoogmartens took a three-set win at line 4 to leave it all up to UCLA's Emon van Loben Sels and Alex Bernard at line 2. Van Loben Sels had led 5-2 in the second set, but Bernard won the final five games of the set to force a third, so there was no guarantee that the sophomore would be able to serve out the match when he broke Bernard for 5-3. But he got it done, delivering the Bruin's first conference title in their first year in the Big Ten with a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 victory.

For more on the final, see this article from uclabruins.com.

Unlike the Ohio State women, the projections on collegetennisranks.com don't show UCLA getting the boost that would get them into a hosting position for the NCAAs after starting this weekend's conference tournament ranked 22. 

The NCAA selection show will provide the final answer on whether the Bruins will be traveling for the first two rounds tomorrow at 5:30 p.m Eastern time. The women's selection show kicks off at 5 p.m., with both shows live at ncaa.com.

The J500 in Offenbach Germany concluded today with titles for Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain and Julia Stusek of Germany.

Santamarta, the top seed, defeated No. 3 seed Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania 7-5, 7-5 to win his third consecutive J500 title on clay, after the Orange Bowl last December and the Banana Bowl last month. I don't think he'll pass World Junior Finals champion Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands or Australian Open champion Henry Bernet of Switzerland in the ITF junior rankings, but he's certainly one of the favorites for the Roland Garros Junior Championships in June.

No. 10 seed Stusek, 16, had never won a title above the J200 level, but she did not lose a set all week, beating No. 14 seed Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Maxwell Exsted of the United States suffered a rare loss in doubles in the final, with partner Alejandro Arcila of Colombia. The No. 2 seeds lost to top seeds Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-4.

Orange Bowl champions Deniz Dilek of Turkey and Beatrise Zeltina of Latvia took girls doubles title, beating unseed Mariia Drobysheva of Ukraine and Ida Wobker of Germany 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

IMG's annual Future Stars invitational tournament for players 12 and under concluded today in Greece, with 11-year-old Jakub Kyncl of the Czech Republic and 12-year-old Tina Jansone of Latvia winning the titles.  Kyncl defeated 12-year-old Max Hodkinson of Great Britain 7-6, 6-3, while Jansone beat 11-year-old Anna Chuchilina of Russia 6-4, 6-4.  Kyncil's impressive tweener winner on match point can be viewed on the Tennis Europe site.

Three Americans competed in the Future Stars tournament: Easter Bowl 12s champion James Borchard, who lost to Kyncl in a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals, and William McGugin and Amiee Peng, who did not advance out of the group stage.

Clarke Sweeps Titles at ITF J100 in Delray Beach; Jovic, Akli and Grant Advance to USTA Pro Circuit Finals; Ohio State and UCLA Men Reach Big Ten Conference Tournament Final

The first of three ITF tournaments on Florida's green clay concluded today at the J100 Delray Beach, with the No. 2 seeds taking the singles titles. Eighteen-year-old Sasha Colleu of France, who has signed with the University of Illinois for this fall, defeated 15-year-old Mason Vaughan, the No. 12 seed, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1 in today's singles final.

Fifteen-year-old Zaire Clarke defeated doubles partner Ava Rodriguez, the No. 1 seed, 6-3, 6-1 today in the girls singles final to cap a week of six straight-sets victories. 

Clarke and Rodriguez won the doubles title Friday, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Jordyn Hazelitt and Yael Saffar 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

The boys doubles title went to No. 7 seeds Andre Alcantara and Justin Riley Anson, who defeated No. 2 seeds Pablo Robledo Hoyos and Lucas Martin Velasco of Colombia 6-1, 3-6, 10-3 in the final. 

Qualifying is underway for next week's J100 in Coral Gables, with a J200 in Plantation rounding out the green clay swing on the ITF Junior Circuit this spring.

Iva Jovic had her toughest test of the week by far today at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, but the 17-year-old top seed got through a three-hour and 24-minute test against No. 4 seed Laura Pigossi of Brazil 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-4. Jovic had two match points in the second set tiebreaker serving at 6-5 and 8-7, but Pigossi hung tugh to force a third set, which was just as close as the previous two. Jovic broke Pigossi at 3-all in the third set and held on, converting her fourth match point to reach Sunday's final.

Jovic will face unseeded Irina Bara of Romania, who beat No. 7 seed Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt) of Australia 6-4, 6-2. 

The doubles title in Charlottesville went to No. 3 seeds Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus and Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia, who beat No. 4 seeds Petra Hule(Florida State) of Australia and Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 7-5, 7-5 for their second straight title. Shymanovich and Kozyreva won the title last week at the W50 in Zephyrhills Florida.

Twenty-three-year-old Ayana Akli is through to her first Pro Circuit final, with the two-time All-American at South Carolina beating wild card Jada Robinson 6-1, 6-1 in today's semifinal at the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina. Akli, the No. 8 seed, will play unseeded Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain in Sunday's final. Herrero Linana, who will also be playing in her first Pro Circuit final, defeated unseeded Katerina Jokic(Georgia) 6-3, 7-6(7) in a two-and-a-half-hour semifinal match. 

The doubles title in Charlotte went to unseeded Ema Burgic(Baylor) and Haruna Arakawa of Japan, who defeated the second-seeded Mexican team of Maria Portillo Ramirez and Victoria Rodriguez 6-2, 7-5. 

Will Grant(Florida) will also be seeking his first Pro Circuit title Sunday, at the W15 in Vero Beach Florida. The No. 7 seed reached his fourth final at the W15 level with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor). He will face unseeded Blu Baker of Great Britain, who defeated Tomas Luis of Portugal 6-3, 6-1 in the other semifinal. 

Junior wild cards Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy lost in the doubles final this afternoon, to No. 3 seeds Peter Bertran(Georgia, USF) and Jesse Flores(UCF, Miami) 6-2, 7-5.

The ATP Savannah Challenger 75 final will feature unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia and No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada. Mejia defeated top seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, while Draxl beat unseeded Genaro Olivieri of Argentina 7-5, 6-4.

No. 4 seeds Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina and Luis Martinez of Venezuela won the doubles title, beating wild cards Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Patrick Maloney(Michigan) 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 in today's final.

The Big Ten men's final is set for Sunday in Columbus Ohio, with No. 1 Ohio State facing No. 2 UCLA for the conference tournament championship.  The Buckeyes reached their astounding 21st consecutive conference tournament final with a 4-1 win over No. 4 seed Washington.

UCLA breezed past No. 3 seed Michigan State 4-0, and will be out to avenge their 4-0 loss to Ohio State early this month in Columbus. 

My Article on JoAnna Kennedy's Commitment to Florida State; Jovic Sole Teen to Advance to Semis in USTA Pro Circuit Events; Michigan and Ohio State Meet Again in Big Ten Conference Tournament Final

I had an opportunity to talk with blue chip JoAnna Kennedy late last month in Indian Wells about her verbal commitment to Florida State for the fall of 2026. Kennedy's decision to stay at home in Colorado, while attending regular high school, sets her apart, as does her height, which required a change in the game style that had brought her success prior to her growth spurt. You can read how she navigated that change and her advice to other girls preparing for the college recruiting process in my article today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. 

All the teenagers competing in singles quarterfinals at the three USTA Pro Circuit events (the Savannah Challenger didn't have any teens in action today) took losses, except for 17-year-old Iva Jovic, who continued her march through the draw at the the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia. The top seed, Jovic defeated No. 6 seed Whitney Osuigwe 6-2, 6-4 to advance to a semifinal meeting Saturday with No. 4 seed Laura Pigossi. The 30-year-old Brazilian defeated last week's W50 Zephyrhills champion Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, the No. 8 seed, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.  The other semifinal also features two veterans, with 29-year-old Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt), the No. 7 seed, facing unseeded 30-year-old Irina Bara of Romania. Sharma defeated No. 3 seed Hanna Chang 6-3, 6-1, while Bara beat No. 5 seed Lauren Davis 6-3, 7-6(2).

At the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, 17-year-old qualifier Alexis Nguyen and 18-year-old Mayu Crossley of Japan both fell in today's quarterfinals.

Nguyen, who had gotten her best win by WTA ranking last night over top seed and WTA No. 283 Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4), probably paid the price for needing more than four hours to earn that win. She lost to No. 8 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 6-3, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. 

Crossley lost to unseeded Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain 6-4, 7-5 today.  Herrero Linana will play unseeded Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia in the semifinals; Akli will take on wild card Jada Robinson in an all-USA semifinal. Robinson advanced when Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) retired at 6-5 in the first set.

At the M15 in Vero Beach, both Jack Kennedy and wild card Keaton Hance were beaten in the quarterfinals, with the 17-year-old Hance falling to qualifier Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) 6-1, 6-0  and the 16-year-old Kennedy losing to unseeded Blu Baker of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. 

The longtime friends and frequent doubles partners in juniors did advance to the doubles final however, with the wild cards beating Andrew Fenty(Michigan) and Baker 7-6(3), 7-6(0) in tonight's semifinal. They will play No. 3 seeds Peter Bertan(Georgia, USF) of the Dominican Republic and Jesse Flores(UCF, Miami) of Costa Rica. 

In the singles semifinals, No. 7 seed Will Grant(Florida) will face Dickerson and Baker will play unseeded Tomas Luis of Portugal.

At the Challenger 75 in Savannah, Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) is through to the semifinals after defeating qualifier Stefan Kozlov 6-3, 7-5. Spizzirri, who has been the No. 1 seed in all three of the green clay Challenger 75s this month, will face unseeded Nicolas Mejia of Colombia Saturday. No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada will face unseeded Genaro Olivieri of Argentina in the other semifinal. Draxl beat Great Britain's Oliver Crawford(Florida) 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-2 and Olivieri defeated wild card Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-2 to advance.

This week's Big Ten conference championship tournaments are proceeding without upsets, with the top-seeded Michigan women advancing to Saturday's final in Ojai with a 4-1 win over No. 4 seed UCLA today. It will be another Michigan-Ohio State battle for the conference title, after the second-seeded Buckeyes defeated No. 3 Washington 4-1 this evening. The Wolverines have won both their meetings this year; 4-3 in March in Ann Arbor and 4-1 last week in Columbus. Michigan is looking for its fourth straight Big Ten tournament title, beating Ohio State the past three years in the final. In 2021, Ohio State won the conference tournament title over Michigan.

The men's quarterfinals in Columbus started with a tight one between the top-seeded Buckeyes and No. 8 Illinois, with Ohio State claiming a 4-3 decision; they will play No. 4 seed Washington in Saturday's semifinals, after the Huskies beat No. 5 seed Nebraska 4-3.

No. 2 seed UCLA is through to the semifinals with a 4-1 win over No. 7 Michigan; the Bruins will face No. 3 Michigan State, with the Spartans defeating No. 6 seed Southern California 4-2 Friday night.

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.