January Aces; Cragg Upsets No. 1 Seed in ITF J300 Ecuador; Virginia Men Move to Top Spot in Coaches Poll, New No. 1 in D-I Men's Singles; Gaines Earns First ATP Point in Palm Coast; Ekstrand Ousts Top Seed Osuigwe in Orlando

My column for the Tennis Recruiting Network featuring the top performances of the previous month is now available for January, featuring titles won by current and former collegians and juniors. The Australian Open and Les Petits As are always at the heart of the first month of the year, and 2026 is no exception, but Challenger-level titles and expertise in both singles and doubles are also highlighted.

At the ITF J300 in Salinas Ecuador, qualifier Kathryn Cragg defeated top seed Sofia Meabe of Argentina 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.  Cragg, 14, also qualified for last week's J300 in Colombia and also played the top seed in the second round, but she lost to Welles Newman 6-3, 6-0. 

Cragg is one of five US girls in the quarterfinals, with No. 7 seed Sarah Ye, No. 3 seed Janae Preston, who plays Lani Chang and No. 6 seed Yael Saffar, who plays No. 2 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil. Rivoli beat last week's J300 Colombia champion Olivia Traynor 6-3, 7-6(3), in the first round.

Unseeded Navneet Raghuram beat No. 4 seed Dan Brand 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals. Top seed Michael Antonius's second round score has not been posted. 

The ITA's first Division I singles and doubles rankings since last November were published today, and there is a new man at the top, with SMU's Trevor Svajda taking over the top spot from Columbia's Michael Zheng. Zheng, of course, is the two-time NCAA singles champion, beating Svajda in November's final, but Zheng has not played collegiately as much before and since that title, so Svajda moved up.

There is also a new No. 1 in the men's team rankings, with Virginia taking over from Wake Forest at the top spot after the Demon Deacons' loss to Ohio State last weekend. The Buckeyes move up to two, receiving five first place votes to Virginia's seven. Click on the headings to see the full lists.

Men's Division I Team Coaches Poll February 4, 2026

(first place votes in bracket, last week's ranking in parentheses)

1. Virginia[7] (2)
2. Ohio State[5] (6)
3. Wake Forest[1] (1)
4. Stanford (3)
5. TCU (4)
6. Mississippi State (7)
7. Texas (5)
8. Texas A&M (8)
9. Central Florida (9)
10. Oklahoma (13)

Men's Division I singles Top 10

1. Trevor Svajda, SMU

2. Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

3. Michael Zheng, Columbia

4. Jay Friend, Arizona

5. Duncan Chan, TCU

6. Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

7. Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

8. Max Dahlin, Michigan

9. Matthew Forbes, Michigan State

10. Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

Men's Division I doubles Top 5

1. Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin, Ohio State

2. Mans Dahlberg and Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

3. DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado, Wake Forest

4. Manfredi Graziani and Aaron Sandler, Penn

5. Max Dahlin and Bjorn Swenson, Michigan

While both of the men's No. 1 spots went to the NCAA finalists, with the champions at No. 2, Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina bucked that trend in women's singles by holding on to her No. 1 ranking. NCAA women's doubles champions Tori Osuigwe and Gabby Broadfoot of NC State are No. 2 behind NCAA semifinalists Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum of Oklahoma.

Women's Division I singles Top 10

1. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

2. Carmen Herea, Texas

3. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

4. Aysegul Mert, Georgia

5. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

6. Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

7. Ange Oby Kajuru, North Carolina

8. Emily Welker, Ole Miss

9. Piper Charney, Michigan

10. Berta Passola Folch, Cal

Women's Division I doubles Top 5

1. Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum, Oklahoma

2. Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe, NC State

3. Sophia Webster and Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

4. Melodie Collard and Vivian Yang, Virginia

5. Ange Oby Kajuru and Susanna Maltby, North Carolina

On the USTA Pro Circuit today, 16-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr earned his first ATP point, beating former Ole Miss standout John Hallquist Lithen of Sweden, the No. 8 seed, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the M15 in Palm Coast Florida.  Gaines, a qualifier this week, had qualified for two M15s previously, one in November and last week in Naples, but this is his first main draw victory. Sixteen-year-old Andy Johnson also reached the second round, beating Fernando Cavallo of Argentina 6-2, 6-1.

At the W50 in Orlando, 18-year-old Stanford freshman Monika Ekstrand, a wild card, defeated top seed Whitney Osuigwe 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in two and a half hours. Osuigwe is 152 in the WTA rankings; Ekstrand is ranked 355. Half of the seeds are out in Orlando after one round of competition.