Penickovas, Leach Earn ITF J300 Titles in Malaysia, Rolls Wins Doubles at J500 Offenbach; Johns, Chirico Claim USTA Pro Circuit Titles; Arizona Men Win Pac-12; Michigan Women and Ohio State Men Defend Big Ten Titles; NCAA Selection Shows Monday

While I was focused on the J500 in Offenbach Germany and the J100 in Delray Beach this past week, I completely missed the title runs by American juniors at the J300 in Malaysia.

Fourteen-year-old Kristina Penickova swept the singles and doubles titles in Kuching, with the top seed earning her first J300 title in singles after making two finals earlier this year at that level in Costa Rica and San Diego. She defeated 15-year-old Kanon Sawashiro of Japan, the No. 13 seed, 6-2, 6-0 in the final, and didn't lose more than three games in any of the 10 sets she won. Kristina and twin sister Annika won the doubles title, their sixth on the ITF Junior Circuit and the biggest, with the top seeds defeating No. 2 seeds Reina Goto of Japan and Junhan Zhang of China 6-0, 6-1 in the final.

Sixteen-year-old Jagger Leach, seeded No. 4 and playing in his first J300 final, defeated No. 6 seed Ivan Iutkin of Russia 6-4, 7-6(2) after taking out top seed Hayden Jones of Australia 7-6(7), 5-7, 7-5 in the semifinals. Jones had beaten Leach 6-4, 6-0 in the second round of the Australian Open Junior Championships in January.

The titles should guarantee both Leach and Kristina Penickova a spot in the main draw of the Roland Garros Junior Championships, with the entry deadline this coming Tuesday.

Katie Rolls and her partner Jeline Vandromme of Belgium won the doubles title at the J500 in Offenbach Germany today. The No. 5 seedsd defeated top seeds Hannah Klugman and Mingge Xu of Great Britain 3-6, 6-0, 10-7 in the final.

The singles titles in Offenbach went to No. 6 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan and No. 5 seed Max Mrva of the Czech Republic. The 16-year-old Sonobe won a rematch of last December's Eddie Herr J300, beating No. 9 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia again, this time by a score of 6-3, 3-1, retired. Mrva, also 16, defeated top seed Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals and won the title today in another retirement, with No. 2 seed Luca Preda of Romania retiring down 3-0 in the first set.

The boys doubles champions are Brazil's Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida and Vojtech Vales of the Czech Republic. They defeated Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria 2-6, 7-5 10-8 in a battle between two unseeded teams.

There were two other ITF Junior Circuit singles titles last week for Americans, with Simon Caldwell, a 16-year-old from Grand Rapids, sweeping the singles and doubles at the J60 in Costa Rica this week. No. 5 seed Caldwell, a quarterfinals in Kalamazoo in the 16s, defeated top seed Zavier Augustin, also from the United States, 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Caldwell and Arnarv Bhadari won the doubles title, with the unseeded pair beating No. 3 seeds Augustin and Mason Taube 6-2, 6-0 in the final.

Americans swept the singles titles at the J30 in Jamaica, with 17-year-old James Weber and 14-year-old Ana Avramovic claiming their first singles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit. Weber, the No. 5 seed, defeated top seed Jose Argenal of Guatamela 6-1, 6-1 in the final, while top seed Avramovic beat No. 3 seed Brooke Wallman 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 for the title. Avramovic and Ciara Harding won the girls doubles title, with Joseph Hernandez and Arin Menon taking the boys doubles championship.

Duke senior Garrett Johns warmed up for the NCAA championships this weekend with his fifth Pro Circuit singles title at the $15,000 tournament in Vero Beach Florida. The 23-year-old, seeded No. 2, defeated No. 3 seed Victor Lilov 7-6(1), 6-2 in today's final. Johns, currently 22 in the ITA singles rankings and No. 1 in the doubles rankings with Pedro Rodenas, will return to Durham for next weekend's first two rounds of the NCAA team championships, which the 13th-ranked Blue Devils will host.

Unseeded Louisa Chirico last won a Pro Circuit title two years ago in Charlottesville Virginia and she demonstrated today how comfortable she is at the Boars Head Club, beating top seed Kayla Day 6-1, 7-5 in today's final at the W75 tournament. Chirico now has 75 points in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card race with one week remaining for the women, and she is scheduled to compete next week in the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida. 

Former University of Virginia standout Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland won his second ATP Challenger title today in Savannah Georgia, defeating former University of Florida Gator Andres Andrade of Ecuador, a qualifier, 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Challenger 75 tournament. The 30-year-old is now at 169 in the ATP live rankings, just below his career-high of 160, and with his first Challenger title on clay, can now begin preparing for the Roland Garros qualifying.

The final conference tournaments concluded today, and the top seeds took both Big Ten titles. The Ohio State men defeated No. 2 seeds Michigan 4-1 at Northwestern, with the Buckeyes claiming the tournament title for second straight year and the Michigan women taking their third straight conference tournament title with a 4-2 win over Ohio State in Ann Arbor. In each case, it was the team they defeated today who had last denied them a conference title. 

Last night in Ojai, the final Pac-12 championship went to the Arizona men, who beat Stanford 4-0 to avenge a regular season loss to the Cardinal. It's the first Pac-12 title for the Wildcats, who will moving to the Big-12 next season. 

The Division I NCAA selection show, which will announce the particpants, seedings and hosting sites, begin tomorrow with the men at 6 p.m. Eastern time at ncaa.com. The women's selection show will follow at 6:30 p.m.

CollegeTennisRanks.com has provided a travel matrix for both men and women, with projections on who will host and who will go where based on the NCAA rules governing those choices.

Baierl, Lyutova Claim ITF J100 Titles in Delray Beach; Woestendick and Razeghi Win First Pro Circuit Title in Vero Beach; Stanford Capture Women's Pac-12 Title; Ohio State and Michigan Meet Sunday for Both Men's and Women's Big Ten Titles

Top seed Calvin Baierl and No. 3 seed Christina Lyutova won the singles titles today at the first of three ITF J100s in Florida, this one in Delray Beach.

Baierl, the 2022 Kalamazoo 16s and Eddie Herr 16s finalist defeated No. 7 seed Jack Satterfield 6-4, 6-4 to claim his third J100 title, but his first ITF Junior Circuit title of the year. Baierl, who will turn 17 next month, did not drop a set in his six victories this week.

It's the fourth title of the year for the 14-year-old Lyutova, who lives in the United States but currently represents Russia, the country where she was born. After winning three J30s already in 2024 and three J60s last year, this J100 is her biggest title on the ITF Junior Circuit and she had two tough matches to close it out. She defeated No. 16 seed Gabriella Vannessa Lindgren of Canada 7-5, 7-6(8) in the semifinals, and lost the first set to 13-year-old wild card Hannah Ayrault in today's final before claiming a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory. Ayrault had beaten top seed Nancy Lee 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(1) in the semifinals.

Satterfield and Jon Gamble, seeded No. 3, won the doubles title, beating the seventh-seeded Brazilian team of Lucca Acioly and Ettore Romeo Baggio Danesi 7-5, 6-3 in the final. 

The third-seeded girls team also emerged as the doubles champions, with Vessa Turley and Riley Crowder beating the unseeded team of Zaire Clarke and Canada's Clemence Mercier 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

The ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah will feature two former collegians, but no Americans in Sunday's singles championship, with former University of Virginia Cavalier Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland facing former University of Florida Gator Andres Andrade of Ecuador. Ritschard, the No. 5 seed, defeated Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-6(4); Andrade, a qualifier, beat unseeded Maxime Janvier of France 7-5, 6-0. The 30-year-old Ritschard is looking for his second Challenger title; the 25-year-old Andrade had never reached a Challenger quarterfinal prior to this week.

No. 3 seeds Christian Harrison and Marcus Willis of Great Britain ended the winning streak of Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark and Simon Freund(LSU/UC Santa Barbara) in today's doubles final, posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory. Ingildsen and Freund had beaten Harrison and Willis in the semifinals last week at the Tallahassee Challenger, en route to the title.

Cooper Woestendick and Alexander Razeghi dropped their first set of the week at the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach, but the 17-year-olds recovered to capture their first pro title, beating brothers Miles and Alex Jones 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 in today's final. 

In the singles semifinals, No. 3 seed Victor Lilov, the 2021 Wimbledon boys finalist, will face Duke senior Garrett Johns, the No. 2 seed, after Lilov defeated Miles 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 and Johns beat No. 5 seed Will Grant(Florida) 6-3, 7-5. 

The W75 in Charlottesville will also feature two Americans, with unseeded Louisa Chirico facing top seed Kayla Day. Chirico defeated 18-year-old Maya Joint of Australia 7-6(6), 6-1 and Day beat No. 3 seed Lulu Sun(Texas) of Switzerland 7-5, 6-2. Chirico will move into the picture in the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card race with a title, with one more week to go for the women. Day is already into the Roland Garros main draw.

Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame) and Great Britain's Emily Appleton, the top seeds, won the doubles title, beating unseeded Maria Kononova(North Texas) and Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia 7-6(5), 6-2 in today's final. 

The last two Power 5 conference tournaments conclude this weekend, with the No. 2 seed Stanford women blanking No. 4 seed Cal with the doubles point and straight-sets wins at the top 3 singles spots. Cal had upset top seed UCLA in the semifinals. 

The top-seeded Stanford men play No. 2 seed Arizona later tonight in Ojai.

The Big Ten's women's final Sunday will be, as expected, No. 1 seed Michigan versus No. 2 Ohio State, in Ann Arbor. Michigan defeated No. 4 Wisconsin 4-0 in Saturday's semifinals, with Ohio State beating No. 3 Northwestern 4-1. 

The top-seeded Ohio State men defeated surprise semifinalist Nebraska 4-1 to advance to the final, where they'll play No. 2 seed Michigan. Michigan came from 3-1 down to defeat Michigan State this evening at Northwestern, winning at singles lines 2, 4, 5 and 6.

My Conversation with USTA National Coach Jose Caballero; ITF J500 Milan Acceptances Include 13 Americans; Joint Reaches W75 Charlottesville Semifinal; Woestendick and Razeghi Play for Vero Beach $15K Doubles Title Saturday

When I travel to major junior tournaments I see many of the same players, families, officials and coaches. In that latter category are the USTA National Coaches, many of whom have been in those positions for many years. One of those is Jose Caballero, a National Coach for men's tennis, and with all the talk last month about the Jose Higueras email criticizing the USTA management and board for their lack of support for Player Development, I thought it might be a good idea to talk to someone on the PD side. Although I'm aware of most of the duties of a USTA National Coach, just from observing them over the years, many people in the junior tennis world aren't quite sure what the job entails. 

So, while at the ITF J300 in San Diego, I sat down with Caballero to discuss how he came to be a coach and a USTA coach, and what his responsibilities are, whether he is traveling or back at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. We also discussed the impact of the recent budget cuts and why he's unlikely to follow many of his former colleagues now coaching college tennis. The interview appears today on the Tennis Recruiting Network. 

The acceptances for next month's ITF J500 Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy were released this week, with eight US boys and five US girls getting into the main draw.

The US boys entered are Kaylan Bigun, Cooper Woestendick, Jack Kennedy, Ian Mayew, Alexander Razeghi, Maxwell Exsted, Roy Horovitz and Matthew Forbes. Jagger Leach is next in.

The US girls entered are Tyra Grant, Kaitlyn Rolls, Iva Jovic, Thea Frodin and Shannon Lam. A trio of US girls are first, third and fourth out of the main draw: Kate Fakih, Kristina Penickova and Christasha McNeil. 

As of now, both 2024 Australian Open junior champions, Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia and Rei Sakamoto of Japan, are entered. The tournament, finishing just one week before the Roland Garros Junior Championships, often has fields nearly as strong as those in Paris. The RG acceptance list should be out next week.

Eighteen-year-old Maya Joint of Australia continues to post wins at the top level of the ITF women's World Tennis Tour, advancing to Saturday's semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 7 seed Hanna Chang at the W75 in Charlottesville Virginia. Joint, a University of Texas signee, will face unseeded Luisa Chrico in the semifinals; Chirico defeated No. 4 seed Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the top half, No. 1 seed Kayla Day will face No. 3 seed Lulu Sun(Texas) of Switzerland. Day defeated No. 8 seed Varvara Lepchenko 7-6(6), 7-5, while Sun got past No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

The only American still alive at the Savannah Challenger, No. 6 seed Tristan Boyer, lost in the quarterfinals today to unseeded Maxime Janvier of France 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Janvier will face qualifier Andres Andrade of Ecuador. The former University of Florida star, a member of the 2021 NCAA championship team, had never reached a Challenger quarterfinal until this week in Savannah.  Former University of Virginia standout Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland, also an NCAA team champion, is the only seed left, at No. 5. He will play Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan in the top half semifinal.

With Boyer's loss, Nicolas Moreno de Alboran will clinch the USTA Roland Garros wild card, according to Challenger expert Damian Kust, who has been tracking it the past month.

2021 US Open girls champion Robin Montgomery has inserted herself in the conversation for the women's Roland Garros wild card, by using her wild card to reach the third round of the Madrid WTA 1000 this week. Today she beat WTA No. 28 Katie Boulter of Great Britain 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. 2021 USTA National 18s champion Ashlyn Krueger has also advanced to the third round, beating WTA No. 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-3, 6-3.

Four Americans have advanced to the semifinals of the $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach Florida: No. 2 seed Garrett Johns, Will Grant, Victor Lilov and Miles Jones.

Duke senior Johns, the No. 2 seed, defeated wild card Rudy Quan 6-4, 6-4 and will face former Florida Gator Grant, who came back to beat wild card Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Jones ended the run of qualifier Dian Nedev of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-1 and Lilov, the No. 3 seed, defeated Louisville fifth-year Etienne Donnet of France, the No. 8 seed, 6-1, 6-3. 

Cooper Woestendick and Alexander Razeghi hadn't partnered in doubles before this week, but the two 17-year-olds are rolling through the draw, advancing to the final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 3 seed Miguel Angel Cabrera of Chile and Ivan Marrero Curbelo of Spain. Razeghi and Woestendick, the latter with nine ITF Junior doubles titles, including the Australian Open boys championships this year, beat top seeds Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-4 yesterday. They will play the unseeded Jones brothers, Miles and Alex, who defeated another all-junior team of Meecah Bigun and Mitchell Lee 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.

Exsted Reaches Quarterfinals at ITF J500 Offenbach; Joint, Quan Advance to USTA Pro Circuit Quarterfinals; FSU Seeking Masters Student for Tennis Research; SEC, Big Ten, ACC Announce Men's Conference Awards

The quarterfinals are set for the ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany, with 17-year-old Max Exsted advancing to the quarterfinals of a J500 for the first time in his career. Exsted, the No. 11 seed, defeated unseeded Joaquin Guilleme of Nicaragua 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(1) today and will face top seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway on Friday. Budkov Kjaer defeated unseeded Samuele Seghetti of Italy 6-0, 6-0 in today's third round. 

Katie Rolls is through to the quarterfinals in the girls doubles, with partner Jeline Vandromme of Belgium, who are the No. 5 seeds.

The majority of the teenagers in action today at the USTA Pro Circuit events in Charlottesville Virginia and Vero Beach Florida lost, but two 18-year-olds have advanced to Friday's quarterfinals.

At the W75 in Virginia, University of Texas signee Maya Joint of Australia defeated No. 2 seed Ann Li 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals against No. 7 seed Hanna Chang. Joint, who started the year by reaching the final round of women's qualifying at the Australian Open, has played nine ITF women's events this year (including a W125) and has made at least the quarterfinals in all of them.  Now inside the WTA Top 250 in the live rankings, Joint can start thinking about Roland Garros and Wimbledon women's qualifying.

Qualifier Akasha Urhobo and Liv Hovde both had to finish their first round matches held over from Tuesday, with Urhobo losing to Kathinka Von Deichmann of Lichtenstein and Hovde falling to No. 8 seed Varvara Lepchenko, both 7-5 in the third.

Of the five US juniors competing in the second round of the men's $15,000 tournament in Florida, only one advanced to the quarterfinals, and he got through by beating another junior.

UCLA signee Rudy Quan avenged his 2023 ITF J300 Indian Wells loss to 17-year-old Cooper Woestendick with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the second round today, advancing to the quarterfinals of a USTA Pro Circuit tournament for the first time. Quan, a wild card, will face No. 2 seed Garrett Johns, a senior at Duke, who beat Alex Razeghi 6-3, 6-4. 

At the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid today, 16-year-old wild card Darwin Blanch lost to Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-0 in a first round match.

I received an email this week notifying me of an opportunity for tennis-related research for a Masters student at Florida State University. If you are, or will soon be, a college graduate with a tennis background, please contact Dr. Rodenberg about this position.

"Starting Fall 2024, Florida State University will offer a fully-funded Masters student position (tuition waiver, stipend, and health insurance) for one individual looking to do tennis-specific research and teaching.

The position will have both on-court and off-court elements, including co-authorship publication potential.

College and professional tennis players are encouraged to apply. All applicants must possess an undergraduate degree before Fall 2024, but a GRE score is not required.

The deadline to apply is June 1, 2024. For further details, please contact Dr. Ryan Rodenberg:

Ryan M. Rodenberg, JD/PhD
Professor
Florida State University       
850-645-9535

Three more conference award announcements came out today, for the Big Ten men, ACC men and SEC men. That leaves the ACC women, the Big 12 men and women and the Pac-12 men and women to be announced. Click on the headings to see the all-conference teams.

Big Ten Men's Awards

Player of the Year: Ozan Baris, Michigan State

Freshman of the Year: Aristotelis Thanos, Michigan State

Coach of the Year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State

SEC Men's Awards

Player of the Year: Johannus Monday, Tennessee

Freshman of the Year: Danil Panarin, Vanderbilt

Coach of the Year: Cedric Kauffmann, Kentucky

ACC Men's Awards

Player of the Year: Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

Freshman of the Year: Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

Coach of the Year: Dwayne Hultquist, Florida State

Previously announced awards:

SEC Women's Awards

Player of the Year: Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

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

Coach of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia

Big Ten Women's Awards

Player of the Year: Kari Miller, Michigan 

Freshman of the Year: Luciana Perry, Ohio State

  

Coach of the Year: Ronni Bernstein, Michigan 

Top Three Girls Seeds Out at ITF J500 Offenbach; First ATP Points for Lee, Woestendick at Vero Beach $15K; 122nd Edition of The Ojai Underway; SEC and Big Ten Women's Conference Awards Announced

The round of 16 is set at the ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany, with just one American and neither of the top two girls seeds still in contention. No. 11 seed Max Exsted advanced to the third round with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Sergio Planella Hernandez of Spain today; on Thursday he will face unseeded Joaquin Guilleme of Nicaragua for a spot in the quarterfinals.

The top two seeds in the boys draw, Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and Luca Preda of Romania, have moved into the third round with two routine straight-sets wins, but the top three girls seeds are out, exiting in the first round. Top seed Emerson Jones of Australia lost to Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden 6-0, 6-3, No. 2 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain was beaten by Vittoria Paganetti of Italy 6-4, 7-6(1) and Mingge Xu of Great Britain fell to Neus Torner Sensano of Spain 7-6(6), 6-1. It may be some consolation to that trio of seeds that all of the girls who beat them won their matches today and are through to the round of 16. 

No. 8 seed Katie Rolls, who won the last J500 this year, at the Banana Bowl in Brazil, lost in the second round to Eliska Tichackova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2.

In my post Tuesday, I mentioned all the top juniors competing at this week's $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach Florida, and five advanced to Thursday's second round.  Seventeen-year-old Cooper Woestendick and 18-year-old Mitchell Lee earned their first ATP points, with Woestendick beating Jake Van Emburgh(Oklahoma/Ohio State) 7-5, 6-4 and Lee getting a 6-4 retired win over No. 4 seed Jaimee Floyd Angele of France. 

Kaylan Bigun, wild card Rudy Quan and Alexander Razeghi already have ATP rankings but added another point to their totals today. Bigun defeated Sekou Bangoura(Florida), who was playing in his first event in almost a year, 6-0, 6-1 in 57 minutes; Quan took out No. 6 seed Nathan Ponwith(Georgia/Arizona State) 6-0, 7-6(5) and Razeghi beat fellow 17-year-old Nikita Filin, a qualifier, 6-4, 6-4.

Razeghi gets No. 2 seed Garrett Johns(Duke) next, while Bigun faces qualifier Dian Nedev of Bulgaria, who beat top seed Christian Langmo(Miami)6-4, 6-7(2), 6-4.  Quan and Woestendick will play for a spot in the quarterfinals; in their only previous meeting, in the quarterfinals of last year's ITF J300 in Indian Wells, Woestendick won 6-3, 6-1. Lee will face fellow wild card Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) in the second round, after Kissell defeated qualifier Cody Benton 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

For more on today's action in Vero Beach, including quotes from Kaylan Bigun and Rudy Quan, see this article from Harvey Fialkov. 

One of the oldest and most revered tennis tournaments in the United States began this week in Ojai California. The 122nd edition of the tournament will feature the final Pac-12 conference tournaments, with the upcoming realignments leading to the demise of undoubtedly the most significant conference in college tennis. Past Ojai competitors Bob and Mike Bryan are being honored this year for their contributions to the sport and will perform with their band after a fundraising dinner. A junior clinic with the twins is also on the schedule.

The tournament also features community college, Division III, juniors, boys high school and men's and women's opens in a festival of tennis on courts throughout the region. Draws for all events can be found under the tournament information tab on the Ojai home page.

Each year I try to post the Power Five (plus Ivy) conference awards, which are released in no particular order and no discernible schedule. The first two came out today, with the SEC announcing its women's all-conference first and second teams and all-freshmen team, as well as these top awards:

Player of the Year: Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

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

Coach of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia

It was a good day to be a Luciana and a Bernstein, as the Big Ten's freshman and coach of the year mirroring those of the SEC. The Big Ten also revealed its team sportsmanship awards as well as all-conference teams.

Player of the Year: Kari Miller, Michigan 

Freshman of the Year: Luciana Perry, Ohio State

  

Coach of the Year: Ronni Bernstein, Michigan 

Juniors Flood Vero Beach $15K; Urhobo Qualifies at Charlottesville $75K; Schwaerzler Beats Top Seed Wolf at Savannah Challenger; USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Race Update; No Change Atop ITF D-I Rankings

The USTA Pro Circuit features three tournaments this week: a $15K in Vero Beach Florida for men, the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia and a W75 for women in Charlottesville Virginia.

With the ITF's Junior Reserve program, the $15,000 tournaments always feature top juniors, but given the paucity of events at this level this year, the Vero Beach is particularly popular with younger players, especially those preparing for a trip to Europe next month for the Milan ITF J500 and the Roland Garros Junior Championships. 

The boys who received main draw entry based on their junior rankings are Alexander Razeghi, Cooper Woestendick and Kaylan Bigun. ITF J300 Indian Wells champion Rudy Quan received a wild card, and Mitchell Lee won a wild card tournament for his spot in the main draw. Nikita Filin qualified for the main draw today, as did 19-year-old Cody Benton, a North Carolina State signee. Filin will play Razeghi in the first round; Razeghi is 4-0 in their previous meetings, but the most recent was back in the semifinals of Kalamazoo in 2021, where Razeghi claimed the 16s title.

The other two wild cards were given to Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) and Matthew Segura.

Christian Langmo(Miami) is the top seed; Garrett Johns, in his fifth year at Duke, is the No. 2 seed.

The field for the women's tournament in Charlottesville obviously has attracted a significant number of top players, including top seed Kayla Day, currently 84 in the WTA rankings. 

Qualifying concluded today, with 17-year-old Akasha Urhobo reaching the main draw with a three-hour 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over former Baylor standout Melany Solange Krywoj of Argentina. Other Americans qualifying include Sophie Chang, Jaeda Daniel(Auburn/NC State), Victoria Flores(Georgia Tech/Pepperdine), Gabriella Price and Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech). 

Wild cards were awarded to University of Virginia senior Hibah Shaikh, Texas signee Ashton Bowers, Katrina Scott and Alana Smith(NC State). Bowers lost  6-3, 6-4 to Louisa Chirico, whom she had beaten two weeks ago in Boca Raton. The other three wild cards play qualifiers in the first round Wednesday.

The latest USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge standings have changed dramatically with two weeks remaining for women and just one, this week, for men. Tallahassee Challenger finalist Mitchell Krueger has tied Nicolas Moreno de Alboran atop the men's race,and Sachia Vickery has moved into women's top spot. Standings below, with the current ATP/WTA rankings in parentheses.

Men's Standings:
T1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (138) -- 63
T1. Mitchell Krueger (239) -- 63
3. Michael Mmoh (114) -- 50
4. Stefan Kozlov (451) -- 38
5. Tennys Sandgren (260) -- 28

Women's Standings:
1. Sachia Vickery (129) -- 110
2. Katie Volynets (105) -- 57
3. Katrina Scott (407) -- 49
4. Varvara Lepchenko (244) -- 48
5. Akasha Urhobo (564) -- 37

Krueger is through to the second round of the Savannah Challenger after beating No. 8 seed Clement Tabur of France 6-3, 6-2 this afternoon. His quarter has opened up with No. 2 seed Michael Mmoh retiring in his match with alternate Aidan Mayo at 4-6, 6-4, 2-0. The other two players in Krueger's quarter are qualifiers.

JJ Wolf's struggles continue, with the former Ohio State All-American losing in the first round for the third straight week.  As was the case last week, Wolf lost to a top ITF junior using the ATP Accelerator program to secure entry, with No. 1 junior Joel Schwaerzler beating Wolf 6-2, 6-1 tonight in Savannah. Schwaerzler, who lost to Krueger in the quarterfinals last week at the Tallahassee Challenger, is up to 740 in the ATP live rankings.

The latest Division I team and individual rankings came out today, and these are the last ones before the NCAA selection show, which is Monday April 29 for the men's and women's team events. The individual selections will be announced via a press release Tuesday April 30.

The biggest change is the move of the Big 12 conference champions Texas men, who are now No. 2, behind Ohio State. I'm including the Top 17 in the women's singles and doubles, due to the injury to North Carolina's Reese Brantmeier, who will not be participating despite her rankings.

ITA Women's D-I Team Top 16, April 23, 2024

1. Oklahoma State

2. Michigan

3. Stanford

4. North Carolina

5. Virginia

6. Pepperdine

7. Georgia

8. UCLA

9. Texas

10. Cal

11. Southern Cal

12. Ohio State

13. Texas A&M

14. NC State

15. Florida

16. Tennessee

Singles:

1. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

2. Amelia Rajecki, NC State

3. Kari Miller, Michigan

4. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

5. Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State

6. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

7. Rachel Gailis, Florida

8. Carolyn Ansari, Auburn

9. Connia Ma, Stanford

10. Ayana Akli, South Carolina

11. Alexa Noel, Miami

12. Lisa Zaar, Pepperdine

13. Sofia Cabezas, Tennessee

14. Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

15. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

16. Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

17. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina

Doubles:

1. Elizabeth Scotty and Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

2. Janice Tjen and Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

3. Ange Oby Kajuru and Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

4. Alina Shcherbinina and Dana Guzman, Oklahoma

5. Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina

6. Metka Komac and Avelina Sayfetdinova, Texas Tech

7. Mary Stoiana and Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

8. Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller, Michigan

9. Sofia Cabezas and Elza Tomase, Tennessee

Men's D-I Team Top 16:

1. Ohio State

2. Texas

3. Virginia

4. TCU

5. Kentucky

6. Tennessee

7. Columbia

8. Wake Forest

9. Florida State

10. Oklahoma

11. Arizona

12. Harvard

13. Duke

14. NC State

15. South Carolina

16. Mississippi State

Singles:

1. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

2. Johannus Monday, Tennessee

3. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

4. Chris Rodesch, Virginia

5. Micah Braswell, Texas

6. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

7. Jake Fearnley, TCU

8. Toby Samuel, South Carolina

9. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

10. Alex Martinez, Oklahoma

11. Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

12. Murphy Cassone, Arizona State

13. Andres Martin, Georgia Tech

14. Radu Papoe, Cornell

15. Cooper Williams, Harvard

16. JJ Tracy, Ohio State

Doubles:

1. Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas, Duke

2. Robert Cash and JJ Tracy, Ohio State

3. DK Suresh and Holden Koons, Wake Forest

4. Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer, Kentucky

5. Sebasian Gorzny and Pedro Vives, TCU

6. Johannus Monday and Angel Diaz, Tennessee

7. Etienne Donnet and Natan Rodrigues, Louisville

8. Tyler Zink and Isaac Becroft, Oklahoma State