USTA Head of Women's Tennis Rinaldi Departs; Inside American Tennis Newsletter; Arkansas Begins Quest to Save Tennis Programs; Goode and Lee Advance at Vero Beach M15; Teen Wild Cards Post Wins at W35 Boca Raton

Kathy Rinaldi, the head of women's tennis, announced last night on Instagram that she was leaving the USTA and will be starting a tennis academy in Palm Beach Florida.

Rinaldi's 18 years at the USTA, after a successful pro career that saw her reach No. 7 in the WTA rankings, began as a National Coach and she spent many years in that position before being named head of women's tennis and serving as captain of the Fed/Billie Jean King Cup, which her team won in 2017. 

Although I had been following junior tennis for several years before Rinaldi took the USTA job, we overlapped for the majority of my career as a journalist and her career as a coach, and I saw her frequently at not just the major junior events, but at smaller ones too, always watching of American girls and women and supporting them before, during and after their matches. She was always positive, encouraging and approachable, and while there are many reasons for the continued success of American women's tennis, Rinaldi deserves credit, not only for her role in building a culture, but for being so visible and so committed to an inclusive view of a Player Development position that holds great power and responsibility.

This is the internal memo, supplied to me by the USTA, which announced her departure to the USTA staff.

Kathy Rinaldi, Player Development’s Head of Women’s Tennis and one of the USTA’s most prominent lead national coaches since 2008, stepped down from her role at the USTA on April 30, and she has agreed to stay on in a consultancy role through August 31. We will be initiating a search for her successor in the near future.

Kathy's tenure with the USTA is marked by a commitment to the highest standards of integrity and helping players achieve their full potential – on and off the court – always prioritizing the person before the athlete. Her leadership has helped create a lasting foundation for American tennis with a culture of mentorship, strengthening teams, coaches and athletes with a relationship-based, team-first approach.

For much of the last 20 years, Kathy has been at the forefront of women’s tennis in America. The amount of players she’s coached and mentored is too long to list – from junior world champions to world No. 1s to Grand Slam winners and beyond, and her influence on this current era of success for U.S. women’s tennis is immeasurable. She captained and coached the USA to titles at every level of team competition – from the 14-and-unders, to the 16-and-unders, to the 2017 Billie Jean King Cup and medals won across two Olympic Games – and truly helped define an era. She will always be known as one of the preeminent mentors of her time.

We thank Kathy for everything she’s done for our game, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter.

Rinaldi's goodbye on Instagram was considerably longer, featuring her gratitude to the sport of tennis, her colleagues, her family and many others in the tennis community. She provides more details on her plans, and I'm grateful she is staying in tennis, as it's difficult to imagine tennis in the United States without her.  I've created a pdf of her Instagram post, which can be found here.

Last month the USTA created a new Substack newsletter called Inside American Tennis, which I did not know existed until today. But I was delighted to see lengthy feature articles on 16-year-old Welles Newman, who won her first title last month at the W15 in Orlando, and 17-year-old Jack Kennedy, who had a breakout April with a M15 title and a Challenger semifinal and final. There is also a weekly recap of notable American results on all levels of the pro tour; here is last week's.

I've always found the USTA's website difficult to navigate for news, with silos for sections and pros and juniors, etc., so this newsletter is the perfect solution to highlight results of Americans who might not be as well known to the general public, but can develop interest and fan bases for the future. Sign up for the free newsletter at https://insideamericantennis.substack.com/.

Supporters are not willing to see the Arkansas tennis programs cut without a fight, and this article from bestofarkansassports.com details who is leading the mission to restore them, with substantial funding already raised.

To sign a petition to restore the programs, click here.

At the M15 in Vero Beach Florida today, wild card Jordan Lee and Junior Reserved entrant Gavin Goode have advanced to the second round with straight-sets wins today. Lee, who celebrated his 16th birthday Monday, defeated qualifier Jon Gamble 6-2, 6-0 and will play former ATP No. 39 JJ Wolf(Ohio State), also a wild card, in Thursday's second round. Wolf defeated No. 2 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France 6-3, 6-2. 

Goode defeated No. 3 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain 6-1, 6-4 and the 18-year-old will face wild card Hunter Heck(Illinois) on Thursday.

Wild cards Annika Penickova and Capucine Jauffret both won first round matches today at the W35 in Boca Raton Florida. Jauffret, 18, beat qualifier Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) 7-6(5), 6-4; Penickova, 16, defeated Luiza Fullana of Brazil 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2 in just over three hours. Jauffret will play No. 8 seed Ranah Akua Stoiber of Great Britain, while Penickova will take on qualifier Carson Tanguilig(UNC), who beat No. 2 seed Gergana Topalova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-1.

Alexis Nguyen, 18, also reached the second round, beating Thaisa Grana Pedretti of Brazil 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and 15 minutes.

At the W100 in Indian Harbour Beach, 16-year-old wild card Kristina Liutova defeated qualifier Allura Zamarripa(Texas) 6-1, 6-0 in 56 minutes to reach the second round. Amelia Honer's winning streak ended at 10, with No. 2 seed Elvina Kalieva defeating the former UC-Santa Barbara All-American 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Second round singles play was rained out today at the ITF J200 in College Grove Tennessee, with those matches now on Thursday's schedule, along with the doubles semifinals. 

Jadun Leaves Michigan State; Urhobo and Basavareddy Claim USTA's Roland Garros Wild Cards; Qualifying Complete at Three USTA Pro Circuit Events; Top Seeds Ousted at ITF J200 College Grove; NCAA Division II Regionals on Tap

Before the Division I Regionals began the college tennis community was shocked by the news of the demise of the Arkansas tennis programs. After a relatively predictable regional weekend, with 29 of the 32 seeds advancing to the Super Regionals, another off-court surprise was announced, with Harry Jadun departing as the head coach of the Michigan State men after four years leading the program.

After making history this year with the Spartans, featuring their first regular season conference title since 1967 and beating Ohio State twice, including in the Big Ten conference tournament final just ten days ago, Jadun is leaving college coaching. According to this afternoon's release from Michigan State, the former All-American and Spartan alum is leaving college coaching, with another alum, Mike Flowers, taking over.

Flowers, who has been an assistant at Michigan State since July of 2022, takes over a program that has risen dramatically in those years under Jadun's leadership. With a new facility thanks to a transformational gift from Joan Secchia in 2024, the program has become more relevant each year, with local star Ozan Baris, recruited by Jadun when Jadun was an assistant at MSU, also providing historic accomplishments during his four years. Baris is graduating, and the word is that 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion Matt Forbes, a sophomore, has entered the transfer portal, so Flowers will face immediate challenges as he attempts to maintain that momentum. 

The USTA today confirmed the news that I reported over the weekend with Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) and Akasha Urhobo claiming its Roland Garros wild cards after the five-week window to earn ATP/WTA points closed Sunday. The complete release is below:

Akasha Urhobo and Nishesh Basavareddy Earn French Open Main Draw Wild Cards by Winning Roland Garros Wild Card Challenges

 

ORLANDO, Fla., May 4, 2026 – Akasha Urhobo and Nishesh Basavareddy have earned singles main draw wild cards into the French Open later this month by winning the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenges. The USTA and FFT have a reciprocal agreement to exchange main draw wild cards for the 2026 French Open and US Open, and the USTA uses this Challenge format to award its Roland Garros wild cards.

 

Urhobo, 19, has been one of the fastest-rising players on tour this year and clinched the wild card on Saturday by advancing to the singles final of the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Bonita Springs, Fla. To date in 2026, Urhobo has compiled a 29-7 singles record, won three USTA Pro Circuit singles titles and improved her ranking from No. 332 at the beginning of January to No. 183 on Monday. This will mark her singles main draw debut at a Grand Slam event after playing US Open qualifying each of the last two years. She is currently coached by USTA National Coach Jermaine Jenkins. 

 

Basavareddy, who turned 21 on Saturday, will be making his French Open main draw debut after competing in Roland Garros qualifying last year. A former world No. 99 who qualified and reached the second round at the Australian Open in January, Basavareddy used the 75 points earned from winning the Challenger title in Savannah, Ga., two weeks ago to overtake and outlast second-place finisher Emilio Nava, who fell one victory short last week from retaking the lead. 

 

The final standings:  

 

Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Akasha Urhobo (183) -- 161
2. Mary Stoiana (149) -- 87
3. Kayla Day (148) -- 81

 

 

Men's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Nishesh Basavareddy (154) -- 112
2. Emilio Nava (108) -- 103
3. Jack Kennedy (433) -- 64

 

Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the French Open main draw, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. The Challenge counted ranking points earned from each player's best three results at all clay-court pro events (at the W35 level and above for the women and the M25 level and above for the men) over the last five weeks.

 

Previous Americans to earn wild cards into the French Open via the Challenge and how far they advanced at Roland Garros are below, including Amanda Anisimova, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro.

 

Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge Winners:

 

2025: Iva Jovic (2R); Emilio Nava (2R)

2024: Sachia Vickery (1R); Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (1R)

2023: Emma Navarro (2R); Patrick Kypson (1R)

2022: Katie Volynets (2R); Michael Mmoh (1R) 

2019: Lauren Davis (2R); Tommy Paul (1R)

2018: Taylor Townsend (2R); Noah Rubin (1R) 
2017: Amanda Anisimova (1R); Tennys Sandgren (1R) 
2016: Taylor Townsend (2R); Bjorn Fratangelo (2R) 
2015: Louisa Chirico (1R); Frances Tiafoe (1R)
2014: Taylor Townsend (3R); Robby Ginepri (1R)
2013: Shelby Rogers (2R); Alex Kuznetsov (1R)
2012: Melanie Oudin (2R); Brian Baker (2R)

 

###

This week on the USTA Pro Circuit looks an awful lot like last week, with the men's only tournament a 15K and the women competing at a W100 and W35, all in Florida.

At the M15 in Vero Beach, the talk of the final round qualifying match between 15-year-old Teodor Davidov and 45-year-old Ryan Haviland(Stanford). Davidov is the youngest player with an ATP ranking and Haviland is the oldest. Haviland prevailed 6-7(2), 6-3, 10-6 to advance to the main draw.

The other four Americans advancing to the main draw are 18-year-old Illinois signee Jon Gamble, Brigham Young junior Tygen Goldammer, Preston Brown and Matthew Segura.  

Wild cards were awarded to JJ Wolf(Ohio State), Hunter Heck(Illinois), Jordan Lee and Patrick Daciek(Virginia Tech).  Wolf and Lee would meet in the second round with wins Wednesday. The only Junior Reserved entrant this week is Gavin Goode, who plays No. 3 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain. All first round singles matches are scheduled for Wednesday. 

Alex Rybakov(TCU) and Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France are the top two seeds.

At the W35 in Boca Raton, Americans who qualified today are Paola Lopez, Adriana Reami(NC State), Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego) and Carson Tanguilig(UNC).

Four main draw matches were played today, with top seed Lea Ma(Georgia) already out, falling to Justina Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina 6-2, 6-3 and  No. 4 seed Monika Ekstrand(Stanford) losing to Carla Markus of Argentina 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. 

Wild cards were given to Ariana Ikwueme, who lost to fellow 17-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 7-5, 6-4, Capucine Jauffret and Annika Penickova. 

At the W100 in Indian Harbour Beach, five Americans qualified for the main draw: 17-year-old Thea Frodin, Ellie Coleman (Duke), Allura Zamarripa(Texas), Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Alana Smith(NC State). 

Wild cards were given to Madison Sieg(USC), who lost to No. 6 seed Eli Mandlik 6-4, 7-6(4) in a first round match today, Kristina Liutova, who reached the semifinals of the Indian Harbour Beach W50 a year ago as a 15-year-old, and Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) who will try to extend her 10-match winning streak whe she faces No. 2 seed Elvina Kalieva in the first round Wednesday.

NCAA 2024 fall singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) is the top seed and will face last week's W100 Bonita Springs champion Angela Fita Boluda of Spain in the opening round Wednesday.

The top two seeds in both the girls and the boys draw were beaten in the first round today on the red clay at the ITF J200 in College Grove Tennessee.

Tyler Lee defeated No. 1 Agassi Rusher 6-2, 6-0 and Tristan Stratton beat No. 2 seed Roshan Santhosh 6-4, 6-2.

London Evans took out girls No. 1 seed Camille Allegre 6-3, 6-1 and Audrey Kao of Taiwan defeated second seed Londyn McCord 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

That leaves 15-year-olds Izyan Ahmad and Emery Combs as the highest remaining seeds heading into Wednesday's second round of singles.

The fields for the NCAA Division II championships were announced last night, but unlike Division I and Division III, there is no national draw, but rather 16 regional draws. The 16 winners of those regionals, played this weekend will advance to the final site, this year in Surprise Arizona, May 19-24. The list of the 48 women's D-II teams competing in the regionals is here; the list of the 48 men's D-II teams competing in the regionals is here.

Valdosta State is the defending men's champion; Barry is the defending women's champion.

April Aces; NCAA Division III Team Championships Fields Announced; Alarms Sound Over Recent College Tennis Cuts; ITF J500 Offenbach Underway; Easter Bowl Champs Mendel and Kulkarni Claim ITF J100 Titles in Costa Rica

My column on the previous month's top performances is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with ATP titles for former collegians and maiden USTA Pro Circuit singles titles for a trio of American juniors. Some of the April Aces I've covered when they've happened, but others I collect over the course of the month as I track the juniors and former collegians competing all over the globe.

The fields for the NCAA Division III Team Championships were announced today, with the first three rounds this weekend and the quarterfinals beginning for the women Monday May 18th and the men Tuesday May 19th in Chattanooga Tennessee. As an aside, both the men and the women in Division III get a day off after the semifinals, while in Division I only one gender gets a day off, after the quarterfinals, and that alternates each year. I think with the eight-team fields now at the final site for Division I, and no individual championships to follow, the NCAA D-I committee should consider adopting the Division III schedule.

Division III does not award seeds, which makes talking about the draws a bit awkward, but the top four teams in the ITA rankings are put in different quarters.

Third-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and second-ranked Denison, the defending champion, are on one side of the men's draw, with top-ranked Chicago and fourth-ranked Tufts on the other side.

In the women's draw, second-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and fourth-seeded Wesleyan are on one side, and top-ranked Chicago and third-seeded Washington-St. Louis are on the other side. Washington-St. Louis won the title last year.

The conversation that has arisen around college tennis's future since the elimination of the men's and women's programs at Arkansas hasn't died down, and I'm linking to three articles about the demise of college programs that I've seen in the last few days.  The Arkansas men played their last match in Fort Worth on Friday, and a reporter from WholeHogSports talked to all four coaches at the TCU regional for this article at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

The Associated Press provided this article about the cuts, with a quote from USTA's Chairman and President Brian Vahaly. It also gives numbers I hadn't seen before on the cost per athlete, which I assume is higher in tennis due to the sport's small rosters.

Front Office Sports talked with Intercollegiate Tennis Association CEO Dave Mullins for its article on the number of college programs cut recently, and also quotes a similar statement from Vahaly, who played college tennis at the University of Virginia. 

I don't have much to add to this, but I do think the lack of a full-time college tennis advocate at the USTA has been sorely missed during this crisis, as they are organization with the budget and the clout to make a real difference in how college programs connect with their communities.

Before I get to the review of last week's results of Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit, there are two big tournaments this week with US juniors in the draw.

The new J200 in College Grove Tennessee has begun, with Agassi Rusher and Tucson ITF J300 champion Camille Allegre the top seeds.  Although these events are open to all nationalities, there are just three non-Americans in the girls draw and six in the boys draw.

This week's J500 in Offenbach Germany features four US girls, but no boys, with the four US boys that entered all withdrawing after the deadline. Maggie Sohns[16], Yael Saffar and Isabelle DeLuccia all won their first round matches today; Ireland O'Brien, the fourth US girl in the draw, lost to No. 5 seed Paola Pinera Celorio of Spain 6-3, 6-4. 

Brazil's Victoria Barros and Kazakhstan's Zangar Nurlanuly are the top seeds, and both advanced to the second round with wins today.

The ITF's preview of the tournament is here.

In other news, Jack Kennedy has withdrawn from the J500 in Milan, although he is still on the Roland Garros acceptance list.

I covered Jordan Lee and Hannah Ayrault's titles at the J200 in Sumter in Friday's post.

At the ITF J300 in Bulgaria, Olivia Traynor and Anita Tu made the singles quarterfinals and won the doubles title. Traynor and Tu, the No. 2 seeds, defeated No. 4 seed Polina Berezina of Russia and Dusica Popovski of Serbia 2-6, 7-5, 12-10 in the final. 

Americans swept the titles at the J100 in Costa Rica last week, among them two Easter Bowl champions. Girls 18s champion Ellery Mendell, the No. 3 seed, defeated doubles partner Aarini Bhattacharya, the No. 2 seed, 6-4, 6-4 in the final. It's the 16-year-old Mendell's third ITF singles title of the year, her fourth overall and the first above the J60 level.

Easter Bowl boys 16s champion Anay Kulkarni swept the boys titles, with the No. 4 seed defeating No. 3 seed Jayden Summers of South Africa 7-6(6), 6-4 in the final. He too has won four career ITF junior singles titles, with this his first above the J60 level. Kulkarni and partner Nicolas Pedraza, seeded No. 3, won the doubles title, beating unseeded Aaron Ascanio Prato of Venezuela and Xavier Tonioni of Italy 6-3, 6-2 in the final. 

Sixteen-year-old Ava Khalil won her second ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with Korea's Sera Park. The unseeded pair defeated No. 3 seeds Azul Lopez Vazquez R of Mexico and Aurora Lugo of Puerto Rico 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.

At the J30 in Jamaica, 16-year-old Ross Johnson won an all-USA final, with the top seed claiming his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title with a 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3 win over unseeded 15-year-old Krish Ferwani. Ferwani and Luca de Calice won the doubles title, unseeded, beating No. 2 seeds Danylo Glinnyi of Canada and Kai Lev of Israel 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

Fourteen-year-old wild card Ava Chua won the all-USA girls title, her first on the ITF Junior Circuit, beating No. 4 seed Alissa Jean-Baptiste 6-1, 6-4 in the final, after defeating the No. 1, No. 5 and No. 3 seeds, all in straight sets, to reach the championship match.

At the J30 in Rwanda, top seeds Eaden-Zack Harron and Legan Thomas won the doubles title, beating unseeded Angelo and Valentino Chiappero 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Stanford Men Take out Texas A&M, All Eight Women's Seeds in Action Advance in Final Day of NCAA D-I Regionals; Super Regional Schedule Released; Honer Earns Second Straight W35 Title; Townsend Claims Third Straight 1000 Doubles Title in Madrid

In an NCAA Division I Regional weekend short on surprises, one upset was recorded today, with the Stanford men taking out No. 11 seed Texas A&M 4-2 in College Station. The Cardinal, No. 18 in the most recent ITA rankings, lost the doubles point, but got a quick 6-1, 6-1 win from Samir Banerjee, who is down to No. 2 in the lineup after a series of injuries this season, to pull even. Two more straight-sets wins, from Hudson Rivera at line 4 and Nico Godsick at line 3 were sandwiched around the Aggies victory at line 5, for a 3-2 Stanford lead.

By that time Stanford's Alex Razeghi, who started the year at the No. 5 position but has moved up to the No. 1 spot, was serving with a 6-4, 5-2 lead over Theo Papamalamis, as Alex Chang of Stanford had forced a third set at line 6. Razeghi didn't get to match point on his first attempt to serve it out, with a flurry of errors, and on his second attempt at 5-4, he also fell behind in that game with more errors. He did get to a deciding point/match point however, only to net a passing shot after a long rally featuring several net cords. Chang, who had played in the 1-5 positions during in the year, had lost his 4-2 lead in the third set, but Razeghi broke Papamalamis to give himself a third chance to serve it out, and this time he played a much more solid game to close out Stanford's win.

It's the fifth straight year that Stanford has advanced to the Super Regionals and in four of those, they have won their second round match on the road over the seeded host. Last year, as the No. 4 seed, Stanford hosted all three regional matches and went on to reach the semifinals at the final site in Waco. This year they will travel to TCU for the Super Regional.

Men's Regional Finals
(Sunday's result in italics)
*Wake Forest[1] d. Old Dominion[2] 4-0

UCF[1] d. Florida[2] 4-3
Oklahoma[1] d. Southern Cal[2] 4-0

*Arizona[1] d. Clemson[3] 4-2

*Mississippi State[1] d. Wisconsin[2] 4-0
Georgia[1] d. NC State[2] 4-0
South Carolina[1] d. Michigan State[2] 4-1
*Virginia[1] d. Columbia[2] 4-2
*Ohio State[1] d. Cal[3] 4-0
Illinois[1] d. Vanderbilt[3] 4-0
Stanford[2] d. Texas A&M[1] 4-2
*TCU[1] d. Cornell[2] 4-0
Pepperdine[2] d. LSU[1] 4-3
Baylor[1] d. Auburn[2] 4-1
San Diego[1] d. UCLA[2] 4-0
*Texas[1] d. SMU[2] 4-0

*Super Regional Host

Men's Super Regionals (all times Eastern)

Wake Forest[1] v UCF[16] 

Friday May 8th, 5 p.m. Winston-Salem NC

Oklahoma[9] v Arizona[8]

Saturday May 9th, 4 p.m. Tucson AZ

Mississippi State[5] v Georgia[12]

Saturday May 9th, 1 p.m. Starkville MS

South Carolina[13] v Virginia[4]

Friday, May 8th, 5 p.m. Charlottesville VA

Ohio State[3] v Illinois[14]

Friday May 8th, 5 p.m. Columbus OH

Stanford v TCU[6]

Saturday May 9th, 2 p.m. Fort Worth TX

Pepperdine v Baylor[10]

Friday May 8th, 7 p.m. Waco TX

San Diego[15] v Texas[2]

Friday May 8th, 7 p.m. Austin TX

The women's eight regional finals all went to the No. 1 seeds, although there were several close matches, with Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas earning 4-2 wins over Florida, SMU and Texas Tech respectively.

Women's Regional Finals

(Sunday's results in italics)

*Georgia[1] d. Charlotte[2] 4-0

UCLA[2] d. Arizona State[1] 4-3

Texas[1] d. Texas Tech[2] 4-2

*NC State[1] d. UCF[2] 4-0

*North Carolina[1] d. South Carolina 4-0

Michigan[1] d. Florida[2] 4-2

Southern Cal[1] d. Cal[2] 4-1

*Texas A&M[1] d. Baylor[3] 4-1

Vanderbilt[1] d. Clemson[2] 4-1

*Ohio State[1] d. Notre Dame[3] 4-0

Pepperdine[1] d. Stanford[2] 4-0

*Oklahoma[1] d. SMU[2] 4-2

*Virginia[1] d. Washington[2] 4-0

LSU[1] d. Rice[3] 4-1

*Auburn[1] d. Miami[2] 4-0

Duke[1] d. Tennessee[2] 4-1

*Host Super Regional

Women's Super Regionals (all times Eastern)

Georgia[1] v UCLA

Friday, May 8th, 4 p.m. Athens GA

Texas[9] v NC State[8]

Friday May 8th, 5 p.m. Raleigh NC

North Carolina[5] v Michigan[12]

Friday May 8th, 5 p.m. Chapel Hill NC

Southern California[13] v Texas A&M[4]

Friday May 8th, 3 p.m. College Station TX

Ohio State[3] v Vanderbilt[14]

Saturday May 9th, 1 p.m. Columbus OH

Pepperdine[11] v Oklahoma[6]

Friday May 8th, 6 p.m. Norman OK

Virginia[7] v LSU[10]

Saturday May 9th, 1 p.m. Charlottesville VA

Auburn[2] v Duke[15]

Friday May 8th, 6 p.m. Auburn AL

The men's draw is here; the women's draw is here.

Recent UC-Santa Barbara star Amelia Honer won her second consecutive W35 title today in Boca Raton, coming back from a lengthy rain delay in the third set to beat top seed Julia Riera of Argentina 7-5, 5-7, 7-5. Honer, an All-American at UCSB in 2024 and 2025, led 4-1 in the final set when rain interrupted play but Riera got back on serve at 3-4 only to be broken. Honer couldn't serve out the match, but held for 6-5 then broke for the title. The unseeded 23-year-old had also beaten the top seed in the final of the W35 in Charlotte NC last week. She now has four USTA Pro Circuit W35 titles and will move close to the WTA Top 400 when these points are added.

After clinching the USTA's Roland Garros wild card yesterday, a no doubt exhausted Akasha Urhobo lost in the final of the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida today to Angela Fita Boluda of Spain 6-3, 6-1. The 19-year-old from Florida was playing for a fifth consecutive week, picking up her first WTA main draw victory in Charleston in the first week and never going out before the quarterfinals in the next four tournaments. Not only has this run secured her a main draw wild card at Roland Garros, but she is now up to 183 in the WTA live rankings, meaning she will have no trouble getting into Wimbledon qualifying. 

In the Bonita Springs doubles final today, former Georgia teammates Dasha Vidmanova of Czechia and Mell Reasco of Ecuador won their first pro doubles title together. The unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Anna Rogers(NC State) and Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

At the M15 in Orange Park Florida, No. 3 seed Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic defeated No. 7 seed Andreja Petrovic(North Dakota, Florida State, Duke) of Norway 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 for his first title of the year.

Taylor Townsend partner Katarina Siniakova of Czechia added the Madrid women's doubles title to the Indian Wells and Miami titles they won earlier this spring with a 7-6(2), 6-2 win today over Diana Shnaider(NC State) and Mirra Andreeva of Russia. They will return to No. 1 and No. 2 in the WTA doubles rankings with their fourth 1000 title as a pair; they have also won the Australian Open and Wimbledon women's doubles titles. For more on their win in Madrid, see this article from the WTA website.

Pepperdine Men Shock No. 7 Seed LSU to Reach NCAA Division I Sweet 16; Urhobo and Basavareddy Claim USTA Roland Garros Wild Cards; Newman and Hazelitt Win Boca Raton W35 Doubles Title, Honer Reaches Second Straight W35 Final

Saturday featured a head-spinning number of matches in the NCAA Division I Team Championships, with 15 of the men's Sweet 16 and eight of the women's Sweet 16 decided today.

The biggest upset of the day came this evening, when the Pepperdine men, ranked 27, defeated No. 7 seed LSU 4-3 in Baton Rouge. LSU took the doubles point, but the Waves won five first sets in singles. LSU got the point at line 2, where they had won the first set, for a 2-0 lead, but Pepperdine responded with wins at lines 5 and 6. LSU retook the lead with a three-set win at line 1, but Pepperdine was up in the third sets at lines 3 and 4, and after freshman Gustavo Almeida tied it with a win at 4, sophomore Aleksa Pisaric clinched the Waves first Sweet 16 appearance since 2013 with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over Andrej Loncarevic.

With a Top 8 seed eliminated, a new Super Regional host is needed, with No. 10 Baylor now welcoming Pepperdine next weekend, rather than the Bears traveling to Baton Rouge.

At 11:30 p.m. Saturday night, in a match moved indoors at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, No. 16 seed UCF, down 3-0 to Florida, came all the way back to beat Florida, with senior Yassine Dlimi saving two match points at line 1 to clinch the 4-3 victory in a third set tiebreaker. Dlimi was serving to Florida's Adhithya Ganesan at 4-5 30-40 in the third set, but hit a good first serve to earn a deuce point, then another to set up a forehand Ganesan couldn't handle to keep UCF alive. After two holds, Dlimi and Ganesan traded mini-breaks early in the tiebreaker, but Dlimi kept his errors to a minimum and rode the home crowd support to a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) victory.

The Texas A&M men's regional was postponed Friday due to rain, so those two matches were played today.

Men's Saturday Round 1

Texas A&M Regional

Stanford[2] d. Penn[3] 4-1

Texas A&M[1] d. Wagner[4] 4-0

Men's Regional Finals/Super Regional Matchups

*Wake Forest[1] d. Old Dominion[2] 4-0

Florida[2] d. UCF[1]  

Oklahoma[1] d. Southern Cal[2] 4-0

*Arizona[1] d. Clemson[3] 4-2

*Mississippi State[1] d. Wisconsin[2] 4-0

Georgia[1] d. NC State[2] 4-0

South Carolina[1] d. Michigan State[2] 4-1

*Virginia[1] d. Columbia[2] 4-2

*Ohio State[1] d. Cal[3] 4-0

Illinois[1] d. Vanderbilt[3] 4-0

Texas A&M[1] v. Stanford[2]

*TCU[1] d. Cornell[2] 4-0

Pepperdine[2] d. LSU[1] 4-3

*Baylor[1] d. Auburn[2] 4-1

San Diego[1] d. UCLA[2] 4-0

*Texas[1] d. SMU[2] 4-0

*Host Super Regional

The only seeded women's team that failed to advance today was No. 16 Arizona State, who lost to UCLA in Tempe 4-3. It was the second consecutive day that UCLA had won a thriller, with Olivia Center clinching 6-3 in the third against San Diego State at line 5 on Friday and Ahmani Guichard clinching 6-4 in the third at line 6 against the Sun Devils today. UCLA will most likely travel to Georgia for the Super Regional, although the Bulldogs need to get by Charlotte in Athens Sunday. Other than Arizona State, no women's seed lost more than one point in their second round matches today.

Women's first round results

Saturday May 2:

(1)Georgia Regional

Charlotte[2] d. Elon[3] 4-0

Georgia[1] d. Alabama State[4] 4-0

(3)Ohio State Regional

Notre Dame[3] d. Arizona[2] 4-3

Ohio State[1] d. Youngstown State[4] 4-0

(4)Texas A&M Regional

Baylor[3] d. Wisconsin[2] 4-3

Texas A&M[1] d. Quinnipiac[4] 4-0

(6)Oklahoma Regional

SMU[2] d. Wichita State[3] 4-1

Oklahoma[1] d. Kansas[4] 4-0

(7)Virginia Regional

Washington[2] d. Liberty[3] 4-0

Virginia[1] d. St. Francis[4] 4-0

(9)Texas Regional

Texas Tech[2] d. Yale[3] 4-1

Texas[1] d. Tarleton State 5-1

(10)LSU Regional

Rice[3] d. TCU[2] 4-2

LSU[1] d. Stephen F. Austin[4] 4-0

(12)Michigan Regional

Florida[2] d. Toledo[3] 4-0

Michigan[1] d. Illinois State[4] 5-0

Women's Regional Finals/Super Regional Matchups

*Georgia[1] v Charlotte[2]

UCLA[2] d. Arizona State[1] 4-3

Texas[1] v Texas Tech[2]

*NC State[1] d. UCF[2] 4-0

*North Carolina[1] d. South Carolina 4-0

Michigan[1] v Florida[2]

Southern Cal[1] d. Cal[2] 4-1

**Texas A&M[1] v Baylor[3]

Vanderbilt[1] d. Clemson[2] 4-1

**Ohio State[1] v. Notre Dame[3]

Pepperdine[1] d. Stanford[2] 4-0

**Oklahoma[1] v SMU[2]

**Virginia[1] v Washington[2]

LSU[1] v Rice[3]

*Auburn[1] d. Miami[2] 4-0

Duke[1] d. Tennessee[2] 4-1

*Host Super Regional

**Host Super Regional if they win Sunday

See the ITA's  men's regional viewing page and a women's regional viewing page for times for Sunday's matches and the scores of all of Friday's first round matches.

Cracked Racquets will have multiple feeds of action from the remaining regionals at their YouTube Channel.

The USTA's men's Roland Garros wild card race was decided today, with Darwin Blanch, the only player remaining with a chance to catch Nishesh Basavareddy, falling in the semifinals of the Challenger 100 in Austria. Former Stanford All-American Basavareddy, who won the USTA's 2025 Australian Open wild card, finishes with 112 points after earning 75 as champion of the Savannah Challenger last Sunday.

The USTA's women's Roland Garros wild card will go to 19-year-old Akasha Urhobo, who defeated qualifier Madison Brengle 7-6(3), 6-3 in today's semifinals at the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida. With that win she clinched the wild card, with No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) needing a win today and a loss by Urhobo to stay in the race. Stoiana lost to unseeded Angela Fita Boluda of Spain 6-3, 6-2. 

At the W35 in Boca Raton, 16-year-olds Welles Newman and Jordyn Hazelitt won their first Pro Circuit doubles title, with the wild cards defeating unseeded Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego) and Mexico's Jessica Hinojosa Gomez 7-6(8), 6-3 in the final.

Amelia Honer, the recent UC-Santa Barbara All-American, advanced to the singles final in Boca Raton, with last week's Charlotte W35 champion beating No. 3 seed Hibah Shaikh(Virginia) 6-3, 6-3. To win her second straight title, Honer will need to again beat the top seed in the final, as she did in Charlotte. No. 1 Julia Riera of Argentina beat unseeded Justina Maria Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina 7-6(5), 6-2 today to advance to the final.

Keaton Hance's run at M15s in Florida came to an end today in Orange Park, with the 18-year-old Southern Californian dropping a 6-3, 6-2 decision to No. 3 seed Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic. Hardt will face No. 7 seed Andreja Petrovic(North Dakota, Florida State, Duke) of Norway, who beat top seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France 6-2, 6-3.

Former Illinois teammates Hunter Heck and Great Britain's Oliver Okonkwo won their first title as a pair, with the No. 3 seeds defeating unseeded Dakotah Bobo(LSU, Southern Miss) and Benjamin Koch(LSU) 7-5, 6-3 in the final. 

Few Upsets in First Round of NCAA D-I Championships; ELC Rolls Out for All USTA Pro Circuit Hard Court Events This Summer; Hance Reaches M15 Orange Park Semifinals; Lee and Ayrault Claim ITF J200 Titles in Sumter SC

The first day of the Division I NCAA Team Championships produced several minor upsets, with No. 3 seeds beating No. 2 seeds and a few 4-3 battles, but the host, the No. 1 seeds in their regionals cruised through their first round matches. The only exception was the San Diego men, who are hosting the consensus choice for the toughest field in the regionals. The No. 15 seeds defeated No. 4 seed UC-Santa Barbara, No. 35 in the country, 4-2 this afternoon.

Texas A&M, without indoor backup, had to postpone their first round men's matches until Saturday, with the women's first round matches also scheduled for Saturday.

See the ITA's  men's regional viewing page and a women's regional viewing page for times for Saturday's matches.

Cracked Racquets will have multiple feeds of action from most of the regionals at their YouTube Channel.

The men's draw is here; the women's draw is here.

D-I Men's first round regional results

(1)Wake Forest Regional:
Old Dominion[2] d. Gardner-Webb[3] 4-0
Wake Forest[1] d. Navy[4] 4-0

(2)Texas Regional

SMU[2] d. Princeton[3] 4-2

Texas[1] d. Texas A&M-Corpus[4] Christi 4-0

(3)Ohio State Regional

Cal[3] d. Kentucky[2] 4-3

Ohio State[1] d. Buffalo[4] 4-0

(4)Virginia Regional

Columbia[2] d. St. John's[3] 4-0

Virginia[1] d. Rider 4-0

(5)Mississippi State Regional

Wisconsin[2] d. Samford[3] 4-1

Mississippi State[1] d. Tennessee Tech[4] 4-0

(6)TCU Regional

Cornell[2] d. Arkansas[3] 4-3

TCU[1] d. Denver[4] 4-0

(7)LSU Regional

Pepperdine[2] d. Michigan[3] 4-2

LSU[1] d. Alabama State[4] 4-0

(8)Arizona Regional

Clemson[3] d. Ole Miss[2] 4-3

Arizona[1] d. Northern Arizona[4] 4-0

(9)Oklahoma Regional

Southern California[2] d. Duke[3] 4-2

Oklahoma[1] d. Utah State[4] 4-0

(10)Baylor Regional

Auburn[2] d. Santa Clara[3] 4-3

Baylor[1] d. Tulsa[4] 4-0

(11)Texas A&M Regional

Postponed until Saturday

Stanford[2] v Penn[3]

Texas A&M[1] v Wagner[4]

(12)Georgia Regional

NC State[2] d. Middle Tennessee[3] 4-2

Georgia[1] d. Elon[4] 4-0

(13)South Carolina Regional

Michigan State[2] d. North Carolina[3] 4-1

South Carolina[1] d. Richmond[4] 4-0

(14)Illinois Regional

Vanderbilt[3] d. Notre Dame[2] 4-1

Illinois[1] d. Yale[4] 4-0

(15)San Diego Regional

UCLA[2] d. Arizona State[3] 4-0

San Diego[1] d. UC-Santa Barbara 4-2

(16)UCF Regional

Florida[2] d. Stetson[3] 5-0

UCF[1] d. South Carolina State[4] 4-0

D-I Women's first round regional results

(1)Auburn Regional

Miami[2] d. North Florida[3] 4-0

Auburn[1] d. Bryant[4] 4-0

(5)North Carolina Regional

South Carolina[2] d. Maryland[3] 4-0

North Carolina[1] d. Charleston Southern[4] 4-0

(8)NC State Regional

UCF[2] d. Navy[3] 4-1

NC State[1] d. Morgan State[4] 5-0

(11)Pepperdine Regional

Stanford[2] d. BYU[3] 4-2

Pepperdine[1] d. UC-Santa Barbara 4-0

(13)Southern California Regional

Cal[2] d. Utah[3] 4-1

Southern California[1] d. Sacramento State[4] 4-0

(14)Vanderbilt Regional

Clemson[2] d. E Tennessee St[3] 4-1

Vanderbilt[1] d. Xavier[4] 4-0

(15)Duke Regional

Tennessee[2] d. Old Dominion[3] 4-2

Duke[1] d. VCU[4] 4-0

(16)Arizona State Regional

UCLA[2] d. San Diego State[3] 4-3

Arizona State[1] v Denver[4] 4-0

Play/Replay, the Electronic Line Calling System that has been in use for collegiate matches for the past year, has signed a five-year agreement with the USTA to provide ELC for all hard court events on the USTA Pro Circuit, beginning immediately.

Although the USTA Pro Circuit tournaments scheduled for most of this month are on clay and therefore not effected, there is a women's W35 in Wichita in the last week of this month that will be using this ELC system, and the men's and women's USTA SoCal Pro Series(see the dates on the banner to the left) are also hard court events that will have the system. From yesterday's release:

USTA to Feature PlayReplay Electronic Line-Calling at all USTA Pro Circuit Men’s

and Women’s ITF World Tennis Tour Hard-Court Events over the Next Five Years

ORLANDO, Fla., April 30, 2026  

The USTA today announced that all men’s and women’s hard-

court ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit will feature electronic line-

calling (ELC) for the first time ever. The USTA will utilize the ELC system developed by tennis

technology company PlayReplay – the first company invested in by USTA Ventures -- on every

match court of a USTA Pro Circuit hard-court ITF World Tennis Tour event for the next five years.

The USTA Pro Circuit currently stages 67 men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour hard-court

events amid its 133 total tournaments in 2026. The USTA plans to grow the USTA Pro Circuit

calendar to 165 total events in 2028 as part of its multi-year investment strategy geared toward

fortifying and maximizing the American competitive pathway.

“This investment marks a commitment to elevating the competition experience and providing an

enhanced level of service at the Pro Circuit level for all players,” said Tracy Davies, General

Manager, USA Tennis. “PlayReplay has proven to be a tremendous solution to ELC at high-level

competition at the junior and collegiate levels, and now we’re excited to see the positive benefit

to the Pro Circuit come to fruition.”

Hans Lundstam, CEO and Co-Founder of PlayReplay, remarks, "We are exceptionally proud to

help thousands of players on their journey to becoming professionals across the North American

continent. It’s magic to work with USTA. We share the same vision, and the combination of their

reach and our technology is truly transformative for the sport."

Keaton Hance continues to pile up wins at the M15 level, with the 2026 Australian Open boys finalist reaching the semifinals of this week's tournament in Orange Park Florida. The 18-year-old from Southern California, who won the M15 last week in Orlando, defeated qualifier Matthew Segura 6-4, 6-0 in today's quarterfinals. Hance will face No. 3 seed Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic, who beat qualifier James Connel(Florida State) of Great Britain 6-4, 7-5. 

Michael Antonius lost to No. 7 seed Andreja Petrovic(North Dakota, Florida State, Duke) of Norway 6-3, 6-2. Petrovic will face top seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France, who beat Jonathan Mridha of Sweden 6-2, 6-0.

Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) and Hibah Shaikh(Virginia) are through to face each other the semifinals of the W35 in Boca Raton. The unseeded Honer, who won last week's W35 in Charlotte NC, beat No. 6 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile 7-6(5), 6-4, while Shaikh beat Oklahoma State freshman Luca Udvardy of Hungary 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. The winner of that match will face the winner of the all-Argentina semifinal between top seed Julia Riera and unseeded Justina Maria Gonzalez Daniele.

The wild card team of Welles Newman and Jordyn Hazelitt have advanced to Saturday morning's doubles final against unseeded Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego) and Jessica Hinojosa Gomez of Mexico.

The USTA Roland Garros wild card race is still undecided going into the final two days for both the men and women. Darwin Blanch can still pass Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) if he wins the title at the Challenger 100 in Austria, where he has reached the semifinals.

Akasha Urhobo and Mary Stoiana are still alive in the women's race. Stoiana, the No. 6 seed at the W100 in Bonita Springs, beat Maria Carle(Georgia) of Argentina 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and will play unseeded Angela Fita Boluda of Spain, who eliminated Kayla Day, the No. 5 seed, 7-6(4), 6-4.  The unseeded Urhobo beat No. 7 seed Leyre Romero Gormaz of Spain 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(4) and will face qualifier Madison Brengle, who defeated No. 8 seed Jazmin Ortenzi of Argentina 7-6(2), 6-2.

If my math is correct(and it may not be), Urhobo will clinch the wild card if she beats Brengle, even if Stoiana goes on to beat Urhobo in the final. 

At the ITF J200 in Sumter South Carolina, No. 8 seed Jordan Lee beat fellow 15-year-old Teodor Davidov 6-3, 6-1 to win his first tournament since the J300 in Bradenton last December. It's good to see Lee healthy and playing well again after not competing in the West Coast ITF junior swing in March and this result should put him back in the ITF Junior Top 100.

Fifteen-year-old Hannah Ayrault won her first ITF Junior Circuit title, with the No. 2 seed beating No. 5 seed Emery Combs 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the girls final. Ayrault should break into the ITF Junior Top 100 for the first time with this title. 

Neither Lee nor Ayrault is on the acceptance list for next week's ITF J200 in Tennessee.