Newman, Hance Claim Orlando $15K Titles; Basavareddy Wins Savannah Challenger 75; Honer Earns Title at W35 Charlotte; Michigan State Men, Michigan Women Capture Big Ten Tournament Titles; Easter Bowl Photo Gallery

Sixteen-year-old Welles Newman and 18-year-old Keaton Hance won their first USTA Pro Circuit singles titles in contrasting fashion today at the W15 and M15 events at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Florida.

Newman came back against 15-year-old Janae Preston, a fellow ITF Junior Reserved entry, winning a two-hour and 43-minute battle 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-0 for her first USTA Pro Circuit title. 

Hance, who had won his first USTA Pro Circuit title with doubles partner Jordan Lee Saturday, did not have to hit a ball to earn the singles championship, when top seed Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) withdrew befor the start of the match due to an injury.

Prior to this week, Newman's best showing in her previous five Pro Circuit tournaments was the quarterfinals at a W35 in Orlando last fall, also on green clay.  Hance has reached the semifinals at an M15 in Orlando last fall for his best previous showing before these titles.

Nishesh Basavareddy won his first Challenger title since November of 2024, cruising past Jack Kennedy 6-3, 6-0 in today's final at the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia. The former Stanford All-American started his week with a nearly three-hour battle with 16-year-old qualifier Andy Johnson but improved his efficiency in each subsequent match and peaked in today's final, needing just 66 minutes to beat the 17-year-old from New York. Kennedy held serve just once in the match.

At the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia, top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico took the title, beating Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) of Argentina 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 in this afternoon's final.

Amelia Honer won her third W35 title today in Charlotte North Carolina, with the recent UC-Santa Barbara All-American defeating top seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Honer retired from her second round qualifying match at the US Open last August and was out until January 2026, then retired from her qualifying match in Bradenton in January and didn't return to competition until she played two W15s in Tunisia late last month. She now has won a W35 in 2024, 2025 and 2026. 

The final Power 4 conference championships were decided this weekend, with the Michigan State men and Michigan women claiming the tournament titles over their opponents from the Buckeye State.

Michigan State proved their win over Ohio State in Columbus earlier this year was no fluke, with the top-seeded Spartans getting a second 4-3 victory over the No. 2 seeds. This one wasn't decided until close to midnight local time Saturday in Ojai California after several rain delays. The Spartans took the doubles point and got wins from Ozan Baris at line 3 and Tayem Alazmeh at line 5, with Matt Forbes clinching at line 2.

This is the first Big 10 conference title for Michigan State since 1967. For more on the final, see this article from msuspartans.com.

The Michigan women had lost twice to Ohio State this year, both by 4-1 scores, first in Columbus and then, earlier this month in a non-conference match in Ann Arbor. But the Wolverines won the doubles point and then got wins at the three most reliable points for the Buckeyes all season, with Piper Charney at line 1, Lily Jones at line 2 and Emily Sartz-Lunde at line 5 delivering a 4-2 victory over the hosts.

Michigan had entered the tournament ranked 18, but with the title should easily move into position to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament next week.  For more on today's final, see this article from mgoblue.com.

A reminder that the NCAA Division I selection show is tomorrow, Monday, at 4 p.m. Eastern for the men and 4:30 p.m. Eastern for the women.

The last media from me from the Easter Bowl is the Photo Gallery that went up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, featuring most of the quarterfinalists in all eight divisions.

If you missed them earlier this month, videos of all eight Easter Bowl finals can be viewed at the tenniskalamazoo YouTube Channel.

Kennedy Reaches First Challenger Final in Savannah; Hance Goes for Sweep Sunday at M15 Orlando; Newman vs Preston for W15 Orlando Title; Honer Advances to W35 Charlotte Final

The M15 title Jack Kennedy won in Boca Raton early this month was just the start of his success the past three weeks, with a semifinal last week at the Tallahassee Challenger 75 and now an appearance in the final of the Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia tomorrow.

The 17-year-old from New York, who has committed to Virginia for this fall, defeated qualifier Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland 7-6(2), 6-3 this afternoon to become the first player born in 2008 to reach a Challenger final. As has been the case all week, Kennedy has been the steadier player when it mattered, and he did not let the disappointment of failing to serve out the first set affect his performance in the tiebreaker, where he took the final six points.

In the second set, Kennedy rebounded from giving back his break serving at 4-2, but he immediately broke Feldbaush to get an opportunity to serve for the match. Kennedy fell behind 15-40, but stayed solid and continued to use his drop shot and capitalized on the 20-year-old Feldbausch's errors. 

Kennedy will face No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy, a former Stanford All-American, who defeated Daniel Galan of Colombia 7-5, 6-4 in this evening's semifinal. Basavareddy, who turns 21 next month, will be playing in his first Challenger final since November of 2024. The winner will gain 75 points in the USTA's Roland Garros wild card Challenge, but that isn't is enough for to move past Emilio Nava, who has added 80 50 points this week in Madrid. Next week is the final week of the race.

The doubles title in Savannah was won by top seeds Cleve Harper(Texas) of Canada and David Stevenson(Memphis) of Great Britain, who defeated unseeded Luis Martinez of Venezuela and Cristian Rodriguez of Colombia 7-6(4), 6-2 in today's final.

Kennedy's friend and frequent doubles partner Keaton Hance will play for his first Pro Circuit singles title tomorrow at the M15 in Orlando after the 18-year-old Southern Californian defeated 19-year-old qualifier Daniel Uta of Romania 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 to reach his first singles final on the Pro Circuit. The 2026 Australian Open boys finalist will face top seed Cannon Kingsley, the former Ohio State All-American, who defeated Justin Roberts(USF, Arizona State) of the Bahamas 7-6(8), 7-5 today.

Keaton Hance, Jordan Lee, Izyan Ahmad, Tomas Laukys

Hance earned his first USTA Pro Circuit doubles title today after his semifinal victory in singles. Partnering with 15-year-old Jordan Lee, the unseeded pair defeated wild cards Izyan Ahmad and Tomas Laukys, both 15, 6-3, 6-3 in the final. All four teams in the semifinals of the M15 in Orlando consisted of American juniors.

A US teen is guaranteed her first Pro Circuit title when Junior Billie Jean King Cup teammates Janae Preston, 15, and Welles Newman, 16,  meet in the Orlando W15 singles final. Preston reached her first Pro Circuit final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 5 seed Justina Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina, while Newman came from 4-1 down in the third set to beat qualifier Annika Penickova 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

The doubles title went to Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded team of Midori Castillo Meza of Mexico and Brandelyn Fulgenzi(Incarnate Word, Arizona) 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-6 in today's final.

In Charlotte North Carolina, unseeded Amelia Honer will play for her third USTA Pro Circuit W35 title Sunday against top seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands. Honer, an All-American at UC-Santa Barbara in 2024 and 2025, defeated wild card Emma Jackson(Duke) 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-2. Honer, who was a finalist for the Hurd Award last year, did not play from last August to this January, with this just her fifth tournament of the year. Vedder defeated unseeded Shilin Xu of China 6-0, 6-4 to reach her first final of the year.

Vedder lost in today's double final with Venezuelan partner Sofia Cabezas(Iowa State, Tennessee), with the top seeds beaten by the fourth-seeded Brazilian team of Luiza Fullana and Thaisa Pedretti 6-4, 6-2.

Both Americans in the semifinals of the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia lost today. Top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico defeated No. 5 seed Eli Mandlik 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and qualifier Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) beat Akasha Urhobo 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3.

In the doubles final, No. 4 seeds Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain and Anna Rogers(NC State) won their second title as a pair, beating unseeded Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Allura Zamarippa(Texas) 6-1, 6-3 for the title. It's the biggest title of the 28-year-old Rogers' career and she is now at a career-high of 133 in the WTA live doubles rankings; Herrero Linana, 27, has been Top 100 in the WTA doubles rankings and will return there with this title.

Arkansas Drops Men's and Women Tennis Programs; Kennedy Reaches Second Straight Challenger Semifinal; Four Teens Advance to Semifinals of Orlando $15Ks; Kockinis and Colombo Win J100 Titles

For the first time since 2020, a Power 4/5 conference school has cut a tennis program, and today the University of Arkansas exceeded this decade's cuts to the men's programs at Minnesota, Iowa and Connecticut by eliminating both the men's and women's programs at the end of this season.

This is obviously terrible news for college tennis, which has regularly seen cuts to non-Power 4/5 Division I, Division II and Division III schools, with the first wave happening in wake of the pandemic, and a second wave following the House Settlement. But an SEC school eliminating both tennis programs is an unmitigated disaster and any optimism that Olympic sports could somehow be salvaged at all Power 4 schools is now extinguished. 

For more on this shocking announcement, see this article from Tennis Recruiting Network.

For the second time in consecutive weeks, Jack Kennedy has reached the semifinals of an ATP Challenger 75. The 17-year-old from New York advanced to the final four at the Savannah Challenger this afternoon, beating qualifier Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic 7-5, 7-5.  Hardt served for the set at 5-4 and had two set points at 40-15, but Kennedy saved them and went on to break Hardt for the first set. The second set featured five straight breaks, with Kennedy unable to serve out the match at 5-3, but he saved a break point at 5-all and again broke Hardt to end the match.

Kennedy will face another qualifier tomorrow, Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland, who beat last week's Challenger champion, No. 6 seed Clement Tabur of France, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) this afternoon. No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) is through to the semifinals after beating No. 8 seed Andy Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-2. He will play the winner of tonight's match between Mitchell Krueger and Daniel Galan of Colombia.

Akasha Urhobo has reached the semifinals of the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia after defeating No. 8 seed Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 6-2, 6-3. The 19-year-old from Florida, who came from 5-2 down in the third set yesterday to defeat No. 2 seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-0, 5-7, 7-5, faces qualifier Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) of Argentina next. Capurro Taborda beat No. 3 seed Kayla Day 6-4, 6-1 today. 

Urhobo, playing in her fourth consecutive week, will continue to build her lead in the USTA's Roland Garros wild card race, with Day and Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), two of her primary rivals, losing today. Stoiana, the No. 4 seed, lost to No. 5 seed Eli Mandlik 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Mandlik will face top seed Renata Zarazua in the other semifinal.

Emilio Nava has also added another 50 points to his wild card leading total, beating No. 14 seed Valentin Vacherot(Texas A&M) of Monaco 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-3 today in Madrid. Although there is another week of Challengers left, it's unlikely anyone can catch him.

Three US junior girls and one US junior boy are through to the semifinals of the W15 and M15 in Orlando this week. Fifteen-year-old Janae Preston, who is 24-2 this year (including qualifying and ITF juniors) continued her impressive play, beating Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 6-4, 6-0 in today's quarterfinals. She will play No. 5 seed Justina Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina with the aim of reaching her first Pro Circuit final.

In the bottom half, it will be two 16-year-old Americans facing off, with Welles Newman playing qualifier Annika Penickova. Newman, who like Preston received entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program and was on the Junior Billie Jean King Cup team that qualified last week for the world finals, beat Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Maria Nijkamp of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4, while Penickova defeated Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil 6-0, 6-2.

Eighteen-year-old Keaton Hance, another ITF Junior Reserved entry, advanced to the semifinals in Orlando with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Benjamin Thomas George(Western Michigan) of Canada and will face qualifier Daniel Uta of Romania Saturday. Uta defeated qualifier Gus Grumet, the 2024 Kalamazoo 16s champion, 6-4 ,6-2. In the top half, No. 1 seed Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) will face last week's finalist Justin Roberts(USF, Arizona State) of the Bahamas. Kingsley defeated No. 6 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 and Roberts beat qualifier Bastian Malla of Chile 7-5, retired.

Hance is also through to the doubles final, with 15-year-old partner Jordan Lee, who hasn't played singles since the beginning of March. Hance and Lee advanced over another unseeded all-teen pair, beating Vihan Reddy and Noble Renfrow 6-4, 6-2 in today's semifinals. They will face 15-year-olds Izyan Ahmad and Tomas Laukys, who beat another teenaged wild card team, Safir Azam and Kamil Stolarczyk, 7-5, 6-0 in the other semifinal.

At the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, former collegians Emma Jackson(Duke) and Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) will play for a spot in the final.  Jackson, a wild card, defeated Maya Iyengar 6-1, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals, while Honer beat Ava Markham(Wisconsin) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

In the top half semifinal, No. 1 seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands will play unseeded Shilin Xu of China. Vedder defeated Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, while Xu defeated 18-year-old Bella Payne 6-2, 6-0.

The ITF J100 in Mount Pleasant South Carolina concluded today, with 16-year-old Armira Kockinis sweeping the girls titles, and Kayden Colombo earning his second straight singles title on the new ITF clay swing in the United States.

Armira, the No. 3 seed, beat top seed Adla Lopez 7-5, 6-4 in today's singles final, then partnered with Puerto Rico's Aurora Lugo for the doubles title. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Frances Pate and Julia Seversen 6-2, 5-7, 12-10. 

The unseeded Colombo, who swept the titles last week at the J60 in Atlanta, defeated No. 4 seed Theo Hegarty 6-4, 7-6(6) for his 11th straight singles win. He had beaten top seed Mason Taube 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals Thursday. 

The boys doubles title was won by top seed Erik Schinnerer and Tyler Lee, who beat the unseeded team of Hegarty and Noah Bayon 6-4, 6-2 in this afternoon's final.

NCAA Moves D-I Individual Championships to Fall Permanently; SEC, ACC and Big Ten Conference Awards Announced; ITF J500 Offenbach Acceptances Feature Eight Americans

The NCAA announced today that the Division I singles and doubles championships would be permanently moved to the fall after a two-year pilot program in 2024 and 2025. 

The reasons cited by the Tennis Oversight Committee are majority support of the D-I coaches for the change and student-athlete well-being, which appears to mean too much tennis for them when both the team and the individual championships are back-to-back.

I personally don't care for the change, but agree with some of the arguments in its favor, which boils down to me as the likelihood of fresher athletes, who have earned their opportunities to play for a national championship during fall competition.

The pilot did provide evidence for that positive, but it also highlighted some serious issues that result from making that one tournament the be-all and end-all of the fall season. Once players qualified for the NCAAs by reaching the quarterfinals of the All-American Championships, or through the regionals, they quit playing fall collegiate tennis, and the large number of walkovers in the consolations of the sectionals and conference masters suggests a lack of appropriate incentives for competing in the fall individual season, which was not addressed after the problems obvious in the first year.  And when those withdrawals extend to the main draw of the All-American Championships, it is an affront to the long history of that prestigious Division I event.

The past two tournaments in the fall didn't raise the profile of the NCAAs, even though there is little happening in tennis in the mid-November time frame. And although in-person attendance has seldom been good leading up to the singles and doubles finals in the spring, that didn't improve in the fall either, despite good weather in Waco and Orlando the past two years.

Many players, especially on the men's side, take the fall off to play pro events, so the strength of the fields will probably continue to decline, and January freshman, like Virginia's Rafael Jodar, don't have the opportunity to play the NCAAs unless they return for their sophomore year and commit to the fall tournaments. 

The seeding has been a terrible problem for the fall, and while there were some issues with that in the spring individuals, a dual match season of results offered many more data points than  four or five matches in the fall do. This will continue to be a problem unless the NCAA allows results from outside college to be used in seeding. Otherwise we'll inevitably get a draw that we could have had last November, with Michael Zheng and Trevor Svajda, the unseeded 2025 finalists, meeting in the first round.

Steve Johnson, the University of Southern California star widely regarded as the greatest college player of all time, weighed in today on social media against the change, and since Johnson was at the heart of my coverage of college tennis from 2009-2012, I can understand why. Johnson's USC teams won four straight team titles and after winning the third in 2011 and the fourth in 2012, he was back out on the court the next day for the individual championships. By winning the singles titles those two years (and not losing a match in those two seasons) Johnson proved his toughness, and it is a huge reason he is considered the greatest of all time. That legacy is now secure, as no one will ever have the opportunity, however unlikely, to equal that.

The ITA's release on the NCAA decision provides a handy look at the upcoming venues for 2026, confirming that the University of Georgia will host the individual championships this fall. The USTA's National Campus and UCF becomes the host of the team championships for ten years beginning in 2028, so they are committed to hosting the individual championships in the fall of 2027, but for the years beyond that, bids will need to be submitted. The time of year limits the number of schools that can bid, with mid-November weather not suitable for outdoor play in most of the country. ITA CEO Dave Mullins said, on a recent podcast with Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets, that he would like to see the individual tournament played in the West, mentioning Phoenix, Scottsdale, Southern California or Las Vegas, to balance the team event being in Florida for the foreseeable future.

That wasn't the only news in college tennis this week, with three of the Power 4 conferences announcing their award winners. Interesting to note that there were no sweeps of the three major awards by any school this year. The Big 12 has not yet released their awards, nor has the Ivy League, which still has regular season conference matches this weekend. Click on the headings to see the all-conference teams and other conference awards, including the Big Ten women's new doubles team(s) of the year award.

2026 Conference Awards:

SEC Women:

Player of the Year: Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M

Freshman of the Year: Evialina Laskevich, Oklahoma

Newcomer of the Year: Ekaterina Khairutdinova, Auburn

Coach of the Year: Jordan Szabo, Auburn

Big Ten Women:

Player of the Year: Teah Chavez, Ohio State

Freshman of the Year: Mayu Crossley, UCLA

Coach of the Year: Melissa Schaub, Ohio State

ACC Women:

Player of the Year: Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

Freshman of the Year: Amelie Van Impe, SMU

Coach of the Year: Simon Earnshaw, NC State

SEC Men:

Player of the Year: Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

Coach of the Year: Bruce Berque, Texas

Freshman of the Year: Olaf Pieczkowski, LSU

Newcomer of the Year: Will Jansen, Georgia

Big Ten Men:

Player of the Year: Max Dahlin, Michigan

Freshman of the Year: Max Dahlin, Michigan

Coach of the Year: Harry Jadun, Michigan State

ACC Men:

Player of the Year: Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

Freshman of the Year: Mees Rottgering, Wake Forest

Coach of the Year: Tony Bresky, Wake Forest

The withdrawal deadline for next month's ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany has now passed, so here's a look at the field for the third J500 tournament of the year and the third on clay(the only hard court J500 of the seven on the ITF Junior Circuit is in Japan in the fall).

Four US girls and four US boys have been accepted to the main draw: Maggie Sohns, Yael Saffar, Ireland O'Brien, Isabelle DeLuccia, Vihaan Reddy, Carel Ngounoue, Michael Savano and Navneet Raghuram.

The boys cutoff was 140, with their field much better than the girls which had a cutoff of 284. It's rare to see a gender disparity like that in a J300 or J500 tournament.

Currently two ITF Top 10 boys are in the field: Jamie Mackenzie[8] of Germany and Zangar Nurlanuly[10] of Kazakhstan. The only Top 10 girl is No. 9 Victoria Barros of Brazil. 

The tournament's main draw begins May 4th.

My Article on Krishnakumar's UCI Commitment; Kennedy beats Nishkori to Reach Savannah Challenger Quarterfinals; Urhobo and Nava Lead Roland Garros Wild Card Race; Latest D-II and D-III Rankings

After reporting on his run to the quarterfinals of the ITF San Diego J300 as a lucky loser, at the Easter Bowl I took the opportunity to talk with Yashwin Krishnakumar about his commitment to join the University of California-Irvine Anteaters this fall for today's article at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I don't write as many of these commitment articles as I used to, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that signing season is not as well defined as it used to be, but I always enjoy hearing how top juniors navigate the recruiting process and what tips the scales for them. 

After reaching the semifinals of last week's Challenger 75 in Tallahassee, Jack Kennedy is through to the quarterfinals of this week's Challenger 75 in Savannah after beating former ATP No. 4 Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-0 in the second round this afternoon. Nishikori led 5-2 and served for the second set twice, but Kennedy won four games in a row, and although he lost the tiebreaker, the effort Nishikori had to make from 5-2 up no doubt contributed to his inability to stay with Kennedy in the final set.

The 17-year-old from New York, who is committed to Virginia for this fall, is closing in on the ATP Top 500 after his M15 title two weeks ago and these five Challenger victories. He will face qualifier Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic, who beat Stefan Kozlov 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 today.

Although Kennedy is racking up points in the USTA's annual Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, he is far behind leader Emilio Nava, who picked up 30 more points today at the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid with a first round win over Jenson Brooksby. Prior to today, Nava led Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest), with Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) in third place. Dostanic and Basavareddy play their second round matches at the Savannah Challenger Thursday. Nava won the Roland Garros wild card last year.

Akasha Urhobo continues to lead the women's race, with Kayla Day in second and Vavarva Lepchenko in third. Both Urhobo and Day have won their first round matches at the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia. This week is the fourth of the five-week window to earn ATP and WTA points. There is another W100 and another W35, both in Florida, next week, but the Savannah Challenger is the last USTA Pro Circuit tournament above the M15 level in the five-week period. 

Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge standings after three weeks.

Women's Standings 1. Akasha Urhobo — 100 2. Kayla Day — 60 3. Varvara Lepchenko — 54   Men's Standings 1. Emilio Nava — 53 2. Stefan Dostanic — 44 3. Nishesh Basavareddy — 37

NCAA Division II and Division III are also approaching the conclusion to their seasons, with new rankings out today. The individual rankings for Division III are the first since last November, although there will be weekly updates through May 13, with the Division III singles and doubles championships continuing to be after the team event next month.

ITA Rankings April 22, 2026

Division II

MEN:

Team:
1. West Florida
2. Barry
3. Flagler
4. Columbus State
5. Saint Leo
6. UT-Tyler
7. Catawba
8. Rollins
9. Florida Southern
10. Lubbock Christian

Singles:

1. Yan Kodjoed, Barry

2. Sebastian Rondon, West Florida

3. Diego Duran, West Florida

4. Kelly Giese, Lubbock Christian

5. Pedro Liborio, North Georgia

6. Lukas Janousek, Cameron

7. Mario Garoz, Florida Southern

8. Lawson Prather, Rollins

9. Thomas Cardona, Columbus State

10. Harry Pugh, Lander

Doubles:

1. Sebastian Rondon and Diego Duran, West Florida

2. Jose David Segovia Perez and Kodai Kato, Saint Leo

3. Adrian Solorzano and Cian Mikkelsen, Harding

4. Angel Guerrero and Alejandro Flores Monteverde, Biola

5. Noe Milliard and Lukas Janousek, Cameron

WOMEN:

Team:

1. Barry

2. Embry-Riddle

3. West Florida

4. West Alabama

5. Nova Southeastern

6. Catawba

7. Mississippi College

8. Florida Southern

9. Columbus State

10. Lynn

Singles:

1. Kristyna Hranacova, Nova Southeastern

2. Salma Djoubri, Lynn

3. Alyssa Novoa, Rollins

4. Emily Buchanan, Mississippi College

5. Carlota Verdu, West Florida

6. Dana Heimen, Barry

7. Shaira Rivera, West Alabama

8. Selin Sepken, Midwestern State

9. Natasha Sengphrachanh, Grand Valley State

10. Yona Bancarel, UT-Tyler

Doubles:

1. Kristyna Hranacova and Katja Markus, Nova Southeastern

2. Alexa Milliam and Shaira Rivera, West Alabama

3. Emily Buchanan and Ann Cabot Stockett, Mississippi College

4. Andrea De Bernardo and AnaMaria Zoric, Lubbock Christian

5. Carlota Verdu and Sandra Recuenco Tarin, West Florida

Division III

MEN:

Team:

1. University of Chicago

2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

3. Denison

4. Tufts

5. Carnegie Mellon

6. Case Western

7. Johns Hopkins

8. Swarthmore

9. Kenyon

10. Washington-St. Louis

Singles:

1. Advik Mareedu, CMS

2. Ruilin Feng, Emory

3. Michael Melnikov, Swarthmore

4. Kael Shalin Shah, Denison

5. Mark Kneiss, Bowdoin

6. Emil Grantcharov, Chicago

7. Alex Merson, Babson

8. Drew Goldman, Pomona-Pitzer

9. Gage Gohl, Gustavus Adolphus

10. Alex Ganchev, Tufts

Doubles:

1. Advik Mareedu and Caleb Settles, CMS

2. Jared Perry and Kishan Kersten, Trinity

3. Sacha Maes and Alex Ganchev, Tufts

4. Trey Lambright and Bryce Ware, Case Western

5. Ethan Green and Kael Shalin Shah, Denison

WOMEN:

Team:

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2. Washington-St. Louis

3. Wesleyan

4. Chicago

5. Johns Hopkins

6. Carnegie Mellon

7. Babson

8. Emory

9. Trinity

10. MIT

Singles:

1. Matia Cristiani, Babson

2. Sarena Biria, Chicago

3. Eliana Hann, Washington-St. Louis

4. Rebecca Kong, CMS

5. Tina She, Amherst

6. Ananya Sriniketh, CMS

7. Emily Kantrovitz, Emory

8. Elise Van Wieren, Middlebury

9. Lindsay Eisenman, CMS

10. Maegan Deng, Redlands

Doubles:

1. Lindsay Eisenman and Rebecca Kong, CMS

2. Eleanor Archer and Caitlin Bui, Washington-St. Louis

3. Iris Berman and Emily Kantrovitz, Emory

4. Matia Cristiani and Alessandra Sikharulidze, Babson

5. Kamila Wong and Ava Li, Johns Hopkins

Auburn Women Move to No. 1 in Latest Rankings, Texas Men Stay at Top Spot; Kennedy Advances at Savannah Challenger; Fagan Ousts Top Seed at Orlando W15

The Division I rankings released today by the ITA are the last ones before next Monday's draw is released for the NCAA tournament, although there is still a week of competition remaining. The rankings that will be released on April 30, the last ones before the NCAAs, will be available to the committee as they go through their calculations. To track what might change in the rankings and how the NCAA committee might change the order due to head-to-head results, etc., go to collegetennisranks.com and check out the options in the rankings tab.

The women's Division I selection show is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Monday April 27 at ncaa.com. The men's Division I show will follow at 5 p.m. Correction: the men's show is before the women's show at 4 p.m. Eastern.

Below are the top 16 rankings, with the Auburn dislodging Georgia from their No. 1 position after winning the SEC conference tournament Sunday. The Texas men stayed at No. 1 after their SEC tournament title, with TCU moving to No. 2 with their Big 12 tournament title. 

ITA Division I rankings April 21, 2026

(last week's ranking in parentheses)

Click on a heading for the full list.

Women:

Team:

1. Auburn (3)

2. Georgia (1)

3. Texas A&M (2)

4. Oklahoma (4)

5. Ohio State (5)

6. North Carolina (6)

7. Virginia (7)

8. Texas (8)

9. LSU (15)

10. NC State (14)

11. Pepperdine (9)

12. Southern California (10)

13. Vanderbilt (14)

14. Florida (12)

15. Arizona State (11)

16. Duke (18)

Singles:

1. Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M

2. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

3. Carmen Herea, Texas

4. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

5. Teah Chavez, Ohio State

6. Anastasia Abbagnato, Texas

7. Aysegul Mert, Georgia

8. Cadence Brace, LSU

9. Evialina Laskevich, Oklahoma

10. Katrina Scott, Tennessee

Doubles:

1. Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum, Oklahoma

2. Ava Esposito and DJ Bennett, Auburn

3. Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert, Georgia

4. Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe, NC State

5. Ange Oby Kajuru and Susanna Maltby, North Carolina

Men:

Team:

1. Texas (1)

2. TCU (3)

3. Ohio State (2)

4. Wake Forest (7)

5. Virginia (4)

6. Mississippi State (6)

7. LSU (5)

8. Arizona (9)

9. Oklahoma (8)

10. Texas A&M (10)

11. Baylor (11)

12. Georgia (12)

13. South Carolina (13)

14. Illinois (15)

15. UCF (14)

16. San Diego (16)

Singles:

1. Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

2. Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

3. Trevor Svajda, SMU

4. Jay Friend, Arizona

5. Michael Zheng, Columbia

6. Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

7. Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

8. Max Dahlin, Michigan

9. Duncan Chan, TCU

10. Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

Doubles:

1. DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado, Wake Forest

2. Theo Papamalamis and Togan Tokac, Texas A&M

3. Arda Azkara and Santiago Giamichelle, Georgia

4. Cosme Rolland De Ravel and Duncan Chan, TCU

5. Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin, Ohio State

The three American teenagers who competed in the first round of the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah were all involved in extremely competitive matches, but only Jack Kennedy, an Accelerator Program entrant, was able to advance. The 17-year-old New Yorker, who reached the semifinals of the Tallahassee Challenger last week, came back to defeat Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg of France 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 and on Wednesday will face former ATP No. 5 Kei Nishikori, who is more than twice his age at 36. Nishikori beat No. 5 seed Colton Smith(Arizona) 6-2, 6-3 last night.

Wild card Michael Antonius had a match point in the second set against Mitchell Krueger at 7-6(3), 5-4, but the 16-year-old from Buffalo New York sent a backhand long and Krueger ended up winning the three-hour and five-minute match 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-4.

Sixteen-year-old qualifier Andy Johnson kept No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) on the court for two hours and 55 minutes, before Basavareddy finally earned a match point and converted it for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory. Johnson led 5-1 in the second set, but lost that game and his 5-3 service game before breaking Basavareddy to force a third set. Basavareddy got the first break of the third set and served for it at 5-4, but two of his 14 double faults kept Johnson in the game and he broke for 5-all. Basavareddy then broke Johnson and on his second opportunity, served out the match.

At the W15 in Orlando this week, 15-year-old wild card Scarlett Fagan won her second match on the Pro Circuit today, beating top seed Gergana Topalova of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-2. Fagan, whose previous victory was in her tournament debut last May at the W50 in Indian Harbour Beach, lost last week in qualifying at the W15 in Orlando to eventual champion Margaux Maquet of Belgium. 

Six of the winners in today's final round of qualifying are Americans: Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas), Ellie Coleman(Duke), 

Isabelle Barrera Aguirre and teens Annika Penickova, Yael Saffar and Orange Bowl 16s champion Priscilla Sirichantho. Penickova is competing in her first tournament of the year, after an injury; twin sister Kristina has been out since the week after the USA's Junior Billie Jean King Cup title in early November.

In addition to Fagan, wild cards were given to Florida recruit Capucine Jauffret, a semifinalist last week in Orlando; Sarah Ye, who lost in the first round today to Justina Maria Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina 6-2 6-1; and Orlando finalist Emery Combs.  Combs will face Sirichantho in the first round.  Junior reserved spots went to Janae Preston, Welles Newman and Jordyn Hazelitt. 

As was the case last week, Orlando is a joint event, and it's great to see the USTA National Campus hosting more Pro Circuit tournaments at that facility this year. 

Five Americans, four of them teenagers, qualified for the men's Orlando M15 today: 16-year-old Safir Azam, who will be making his Pro Circuit main draw debut Wednesday, 16-year-old Vihaan Reddy, 

18-year-old Gus Grumet and 18-year-old Nick Stoot. Matthew Segura is the fifth American to reach the main draw via qualifying. Dakota Bobo(LSU, Southern Miss) received entry as a lucky loser.

Wild cards were given to Gavin Goode, Teodor Davidov, Tomas Laukys and Izyan Ahmad. Ahmad lost to Christopher Li(UNC, Tennessee, Ohio State) 6-4, 6-2 in first round action today. 

The ITF Junior Reserved spots went to Benjamin Willwerth, who plays top seed Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) Wednesday, Keaton Hance, who beat Jacob Brumm(Cal, Baylor) 6-2, 6-4 today and Ryan Cozad, who lost to No. 5 seed Hunter Heck(Illinois) 6-1, 6-4.

The biggest event of the week is in Charlottesville Virginia, with a W100 there attracting an impressive field.

Qualifying from the United States are Madison Brengle, Victoria Hu(Princeton) and Alana Smith(NC State).  Sixteen-year-old Seattle resident Kristina Liutova also is through to the main draw after two easy qualifying wins; she will face wild card Sofia Johnson(Old Dominion) of Great Britain in the first round Wednesday. 

In addition to Johnson, wild cards were given to Madison Sieg(USC), Thea Frodin and Eryn Cayetano(USC). Although there are several current collegians competing, including Tennessee's Katrina Scott and SEC finalists LSU's top three of Cadence Brace and Kayla Cross of Canada and Ella McDonald of Great Britain, there are no Virginia Cavaliers among the wild cards. Jennifer Brady(UCLA), using a protected ranking, defeated Brace 4-0 retired today.

No. 3 seed Kayla Day and No. 4 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) won their first round matches today in straight sets. WTA No. 84 Renata Zarazua of Mexico and Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands are the top two seeds.

Last week's Zephyrhills W35 champion Akasha Urhobo is playing for the fourth week in a row and will take on Agnela Fita Boluda of Spain in the first round, a rematch of Sunday's Zephyrhills final. 

The fifth USTA Pro Circuit event this week is a W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, where five Americans won their final round qualifying matches today: Avery Nguyen (North Carolina signee), Catherine Rennard (Wake Forest signee), Jaedan Brown (Michigan), Brandy Walker (Northern Arizona) and Paola Lopez.

The wild cards were given to Emma Jackson (Duke), Charlotte resident Sara Shumate (Oklahoma signee), Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina) and Claire Hill(North Carolina). Jackson won her first round match today, beating University of Texas newcomer Anastasia Abbagnato of Italy 7-6(4), 6-1. 

Eva Vedder of the Netherlands in the top seed, with Lea Ma(Georgia) the No. 2 seed. Seventeen-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain lost to Veder in the first round today 6-4, 6-0. 

Bella Payne, Maya Iyengar and Alexis Nguyen are other teens with direct entry into the main draw. 

Current collegians set to compete in the NCAA team tournament in less than two weeks are Abbagnato, Hill, Germany's Carolina Kuhl(LSU) and Slovakia's Irina Balus(Duke).