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.