Ionescu, Liutova Qualify at USTA W50 in Indian Harbour Beach FL, Teen Crowder Makes Main Draw at Boca Raton W35; Grant Discusses Switch to Italy; UTR's NIT Championships Begin Thursday in Georgia

The USTA Pro Circuit has just two events on the schedule this week, both for women, and both on green clay in Florida, with qualifying concluding today, and some first round matches played, with the remainder of round one set for Wednesday.

At the W50 in Indian Harbour Beach, four Americans qualified: Abigail Rencheli(NC State), Tori Kinard[4], Ellie Schoppe[8](Florida State) and 17-year-old Texas recruit Elizabeth Ionescu.

Ionescu lost only 4 games in her two qualifying matches, beating No. 5 seed Dia Evtimova of Bulgaria and in today's final round, fellow 17-year-old Rachael Smith.

Also advancing to the main draw is 15-year-old Kristina Liutova, a Russian who has been living and training in the United States for years and won the 2023 USTA National 16s title in San Diego in 2023. Liutova, the No. 12 seed in qualifying, defeated No. 2 seed Sabastiani Leon of Mexico 6-3, 6-2 today.

Wild cards in IHB were given to ITF junior No. 35 Maya Iyengar; 14-year-old Scarlett Fagan, the runner-up last week at the J100 in Coral Gables; current Oklahoma State graduate student Kylie Collins and Lea Ma(Georgia).

The top seed is Arina Rodionova of Australian, with Hanna Chang the No. 2 seed.

Boca Raton has hosted a W35 in three of the past five weeks, and with the frequent UTR Pro Tennis Tour tournaments there, it has become a popular area for players both to settle and to travel.

As she was last week, Despina Papamichail of Greece is the top seed in Boca Raton, with 18-year-old Akasha Urhobo, who has been playing the W50s and W100s lately, is the No. 2 seed. 

Only one American advanced to the main draw in Boca Raton: 18-year-old Riley Crowder, who beat No. 6 seed Lara Smejkal of Slovenia 7-5, 2-6, 10-6 in today's final round of qualifying.  Smejkal, a freshman at Florida Atlantic, received entry into the main draw as a lucky loser. Crowder will face fellow qualifier Raphaelle Lecasse(Kansas, Nebraska) of Canada in the first round Wednesday.

Wild cards were given to Claire An, a Duke recruit, Christasha McNeil, a Texas recruit, Leena Friedman, a Yale recruit, and Ema Burgic(Baylor). Burgic had been playing under the USA flag, but recently played Billie Jean King Cup for Bosnia and Herzegovina, so I was expecting that change to show up soon and it did last week. 

Two first round matches were played today, with Stanford recruit Monika Ekstrand beating No. 7 seed Katerina Scott 6-4, 6-4 and Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) defeating UCLA recruit Mayu Crossley of Japan 6-2, 6-4.

North Carolina State recruit Tori Osuigwe is the other teenager in the main draw. 

The Associated Press spoke with Tyra Grant about her recent nationality switch from the United States to Italy. Grant and Coco Gauff were feature attractions at the Italian Open draw ceremony and Gauff is also quoted in this article about Grant's decision.

“I switched to Italy because I feel mostly Italian even though I’m half and half,” Grant said upon arriving in Rome, where she’s been given a wild card to play the Italian Open. “I’m more connected to the Italian part because I was born here and I grew up here and my friends are here. I feel more connected to the Italian culture and I feel more at home here.”

The third annual UTR Sports National Invitational Tennis Championship begins Wednesday in Rome Georgia, with seven men's and eight women's teams competing for the title. 

The women's teams are:  UNC Charlotte, Washington State, Appalachian State, Middle Tennessee State, North Alabama, North Texas, Northern Illinois, and Saint Mary's (Calif.)

The men's teams are: New Mexico State, Chattanooga, North Carolina Central, UNC Asheville, Rider, Morgan State, and Saint Mary's(Calif.)

Because there are only seven teams, Chattanooga receives a bye into the semifinals.

For the draws and match times, see the UTR NIT tournament page. Playsight and iOnCourt will be providing live streaming and live scoring.