No. 2 Seed Rice Withdraws From NCAA Championships, Complete Redo of Women's Doubles Seeds; Anson and Secord Reach Quarterfinals at M15 Naples; Schock Advances at W15 Lincoln; Pegula Moves On at WTA Finals; USTA Board for 2027-28 Term Announced

With none of the top 4 men in the ITA preseason rankings competing next week at the NCAA championships, the list of obvious favorites was short, and it shrunk even more yesterday when No. 2 seed and ITA All-American finalist Keegan Rice of Virginia withdrew.

Rice, who didn't play the Charlottesville Challenger, was announced as a member of Canada's Davis Cup team today, after both Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo(Kentucky) withdrew with an injury. The Davis Cup quarterfinals begin on November 24 in Italy; the NCAA singles and doubles finals are on November 22.

With Rice withdrawing prior to Saturday's release of the draw, everyone except No. 1 Roger Pascual of TCU moved up a spot. Luca Preda of Virginia is now No. 2, Cornell's Rodrigo Fernandes moved from a 9-16 seed to No. 8 and Texas's Oliver Ojakaar is now a 9-16 seed. Erik Schiessl of Baylor, who was the first alternate, is now in the men's draw.

My preview of the NCAA Division singles and doubles championships will be out Sunday at the Tennis Recruiting Network. This week they are concentrating on Signing Week.

There was also a change to the men's doubles seeding, with North Carolina's Chris Xu and Niels Ratiu stripped of their 9-16 doubles seeding. With the withdrawal of UCF's Wissam Abderrahman and Mohammad Alkotop, alternates Schiessl and Connor Van Schalkwyk of Baylor moved into the draw, and due to their ranking, took the 9-16 seed that had been given to Xu and Ratiu.

These changes were withdrawal related, but that wasn't the case for the women's doubles seeds, which were completely changed from those announced on Monday. As you can see from the two sets of seedings below, only two teams that were listed as seeds Monday are still seeded now. The new seeds obviously make much more sense, with the ITA All-American champions going from unseeded to the No. 1 position, and 2025 NCAA doubles champion Whitney Osuigwe now on a team that's seeded in the Top 4.

Women's Doubles:

Initial Seeds: 
1. Teah Chavez and Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev, Ohio State
2. Rose Maris Nijkamp and Carmen Herea, Texas
3. Lexington Reed and Kristina Paskauskas, Texas A&M
4. Patricija Paukstyte and Bella Payne, Georgia

5-8, alphabetical by school

Sara Svetac and Lily Taylor, Arizona State

Emma Dong and Ranah Stoiber, Georgia

Luciana Perry and Flora Johnson, Ohio State

Salakthip Ounmuang and Zoie Epps, Oklahoma

Revised Seeds 11/11/26:

1. Maddy Zampardo and Susanna Maltby, North Carolina

2. Salakthip Oumuang and Zoie Epps, Oklahoma

3. Piper Charney and Reese Miller, Michigan

4. Victoria Osuigwe and Roisin Gilheany, NC State

Seeds 5-8, alphabetical by school

Emma Dong and Ranah Stoiber, Georgia

Gianna Oboniye and Athina Pitta, Mississippi State

Alanis Hamilton and Tatum Evans, North Carolina

Martina Genis Salas and Katie Rolls, Virginia

Three 18-year-olds have advanced to the quarterfinals of USTA Pro Circuit tournaments today.

Riley Anson, who earned his first ATP point yesterday, defeated No. 2 seed Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) 7-6(3), 6-1 and will play wild card Tomas Jirousek(TCU) of Czechia, who beat No. 8 seed Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-2. Anson, who reached the round of 16 in Kalamazoo this past August, has committed to Princeton for 2027.

Jack Secord, who beat top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) in the first round, defeated Santiago Giamichelle(UCF, Georgia) 6-4, 6-3 in Naples Florida today to reach his second M15 quarterfinal in the past two months. He will play former Florida State standout and current assisant coach Youcef Rihane of Algeria, a qualifier who defeated 18-year-old wild card Gavin Goode 6-1, 6-1. 

Jerrid Gaines Jr. lost to No. 3 seed Dragos Cazacu(Tennessee, Oklahoma) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. 

At the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, Karlin Schock, who won her first pro match yesterday, claimed her second today, with the 18-year-old from Wisconsin defeating Auburn sophomore Eva Maria Ionescu of Romania 6-2, 6-4. Schock will face unseeded Texas A&M senior Kristina Paskauskas of Great Britian in the quarterfinals. 

Jessica Pegula has advanced to the semifinals of the WTA Finals this week in Indian Wells, while eliminating Coco Gauff in the process in group play tonight. Pegula defeated Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-5, saving a match point, and will play Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the semifinals. Noskova also advances to the semifinals, despite the loss, and will play the winner of Friday's match between Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina in the semifinals.

The USTA announced its incoming board of directors for the two-year term beginning in January of 2027. The incoming chairman and president is Chris Lewis, an All-American at USC in the 1970s, who takes over from Brian Vahaly, who was an All-American at Virginia 1999-2001. 

Other officers are:

First Vice President: Bill McGugin

Vice President: Chris Capossela

Vice President: Kathleen Francis

Secretary-Treasurer: Perren Wong

For the complete list of board members, with bios, see this article from usta.com.