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

Eight Americans Begin Play Tuesday at ITF J500 in Germany; First of Three J100s in Florida Underway; Kovackova Sweeps Another Tennis Europe U14 Super Category Event; Blanch Draws Nadal in Madrid Masters

The third ITF J500 of the year is this week in Germany, with eight Americans competing in the 64-player singles draws, which begin Tuesday in Offenbach. No. 8 Katie Rolls and No. 11 Max Exsted are the seeded Americans, with the others Noah Johnston, Stiles Brockett, Trinetra Vijayakumar, Maya Iyengar, Leena Friedman and qualifier Gabriella Mikaul. Mikaul, the number 1 seed in qualifying, had to play only one match, with neither the boys nor the girls qualifying draws filling up their 32 spots.

The fields are strong however, with the winners of February's Cairo 500, Luca Preda of Romania[2] and March's Banana Bowl 500 Oliver Bonding of Great Britain[3] both in the boys draw; Rolls won the girls title at the Banana Bowl; Cairo girls champion Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria is not in Germany this week, but December's Orange Bowl J500 champion, Hannah Klugman of Great Britain, is the No. 2 seed.

Emerson Jones of Australia is the girls top seed, with last week's champion at the J300 in France, Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, the No. 1 seed in the boys draw.

This tournament will have a major impact on the acceptances for the Roland Garros Junior Championships, with entries closing April 30.

Those who are not traveling to Europe this spring still have ample tournaments on clay here in the United States, with three J100s on the Har-Tru in Florida, beginning this week in Delray Beach.

These are extremely popular events, with both the boys and girls 64-player qualifying draws full this week, with eight girls and eight boys making the 64-player main draws.

Singles action began today, with both top seeds, Calvin Baierl and Nancy Lee, advancing in straight sets. Fourteen-year-old Christina Lyutova, playing for the first time since reaching the quarterfinals at the Indian Wells ITF last month, is the No. 3 seed.

In addition to Tyra Grant's title at the J300 in France last week, one other American claimed a title on the ITF Junior Circuit, with 18-year-old Yontha Tadoum sweeping singles and doubles at the J30 in Cameroon. It was Tadoum's first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit, and her sixth doubles title.

There were seven more doubles titles, in addition to Noah Johnston's in France and Tadoum's in Cameroon, with the biggest of those won by Mark Krupkin and Dylan Long at the J100 in Canada. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Zackary Kimelman and Aedan Malik of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the final. 

American teams swept the doubles at the J60 in Panama, with Ava Rodriguez and Ella Olofson taking the girls title and Bardo Bucknell and Jacob Maravillas earning the boys title.

As in Panama, at the J30 in Barbados, both doubles champions were from the United States, with John Gentek and Taylor Yarnell winning the boys title and sisters Aleksandra and Natasha Jerkunica taking the girls title.

Three Americans won doubles titles at the J30 in Mexico City. Dillon Beckles, a singles finalist, and Chase Kelley won the boys doubles, with Londyn McCord, also a singles finalist, and Mexico's Azul Lopez Vazuquez taking the girls doubles championship. 

Thirteen-year-old Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic has added another pair of Tennis Europe Super Category 14-and-under titles to her resumé, sweeping singles and doubles last week in Maia Portugal. The 2023 Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion, seeded No. 1, beating No. 2 seed Viktorija Cesonyte of Lithuania 6-2, 6-2 in the singles final. The doubles final was much closer, with Kovackova and Czech partner Katerina Zajickova, seeded No. 2, saving three match points in their 6-3, 4-6, 12-10 win over No. 3 seeds Ayse Bal of Turkey and Laura Chlumska of the Czech Republic. 

No. 4 seed Eric Lorimer of Great Britain won the boys singles, via a walkover, when No. 8 seed Plamen Kolev of Bulgaria suffered an injury late in his semifinal match and was unable to compete in the final. 

For more on the tournament, see this article from Tennis Europe.

The ATP draw was announced today at the Madrid Masters 1000, and 16-year-old wild card Darwin Blanch was drawn to face Rafael Nadal. His reaction to that news via snapchat went viral. 

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant started well in her match with WTA No. 83 Laura Siegemund, but the 36-year-old from Germany came back to post a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win in the first round of the Madrid qualifying.

Four Top Seeds Win Conference Titles, but Florida State Ends ACC Run of Virginia Men; Madrid Masters 1000 Wild Cards for Grant and Blanch; Stephens Claims WTA 250 Title

Five Power 5 conference tournament titles were decided today (the Oklahoma State women won the Big 12 title last night over Texas) and four of them went, with varying degrees of difficulity, to the No. 1 seeds: the North Carolina women, Texas men, Kentucky men and Georgia women. The shocking result came early in the day, with the Florida State men, seeded No. 6, coming back to defeat three-time defending champion Virginia 4-3 after trailing 3-1.

The match, which began at 10 a.m. and finished at 1:30 p.m., was played indoors at the Cary Tennis Center in North Carolina. Top seed Virginia, who hadn't lost an ACC match in four regular seasons and had claimed the conference tournament title the past three years, looked on their way to a fourth after taking the doubles point with a 6-0 shutout at line 1 and a routine 6-3 win at line 2, although Florida State had taken line 3.

The teams split first sets, so Virginia was in position for a win by just holding on in those three matches, and senior Alex Kiefer did his part at line 5, taking out Joshua Dous-Karpenschif 6-2, 6-3, and giving FSU the daunting task of having to win four of the five remaining singles matches to get the win.

Jamie Connel, the hero of the Seminoles 4-3 win over Wake Forest in Saturday's semifinals, got that uphill climb started when, in the only other match that finished in straight sets, he defeated Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg 6-4, 7-6(0) at line 3. With the remaining four matches all going to three sets, Florida State was obviously still in it, but when Virginia's Dylan Dietrich closed out Youcef Rihane 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to make it 3-1, the Cavaliers just needed one of the three matches still out.

Even when Loris Pourroy made it 3-2 with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win over Inaki Montes at line 2, and Alex Bulte beat Mans Dahlberg 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-2 at line 6 to tie it at 3, prospects for Virginia's escape looked good, with Chris Rodesch up 5-2 over Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc in the third set. Cornut-Chauvinc had recovered mentally from his third overrule (and point penalty) and the subsequent Rodesch let cord ace that had allowed the Virginia senior to hold for 4-2, and had managed to extend the match by saving two match points with Rodesch serving at 5-3 40-30. But Rodesch earned two more match points with Cornut-Chauvinc serving at 4-5, 30-40 only to fail to convert those, and the FSU senior, who had beaten Rodesch in their previous meeting in Tallahassee in March, took control. He broke Rodesch and served out the match, to deliver the first ACC title in program history.

For more on the historic win for Florida State, see this article from seminoles.com.

The ACC women's championship, played after the men's match, also indoors, went to the University of North Carolina, who defeated No. 2 seeds Virginia 4-1. The Tar Heels took the doubles point, but Virginia came out strong in singles, taking four first sets. 

But UNC began to work their way back, led by Elizabeth Scotty, who had dropped the first set 6-0 in her match with Hibah Shaikh at line 2. Scotty took the second set, Reilly Tran closed out her first set and Fiona Crawley was up a set on Annabelle Xu at line 1, so a path began to emerge for the defending NCAA champions. Scotty and Tran closed out those matches to give North Carolina a 3-0 lead, and although Natasha Subhash earned a point for the Cavaliers with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Carson Tanguilig at line 3, and Crawley and Anika Yarlagadda were early in third sets, freshman Tatum Evans closed out the victory, beating Melodie Collard 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 at line 6.  See goheels.com for the full box score.

At the Big 12 conference tournament in Stillwater, Texas easily won the rubber match against rival TCU, with the Longhorns earning a 4-0 victory. After taking the doubles point, Texas got straight-sets singles wins from Siem Woldeab at line 5, Pierre-Yves Bailly at line 4 and Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at line 3 to earn Texas's first Big 12 tournament title since 2018.

Like Texas, Kentucky went undefeated in both the regular season and the conference tournament, with the Wildcats beating No. 11 seed South Carolina 4-2 in Baton Rouge.  After the doubles point was decided in a tiebreaker on Court 1, in favor of Kentucky, South Carolina came out strong in singles and took a 2-1 lead with Toby Samuel beating Taha Baadi at line 1 and freshman Sean Daryabeigi defeating Jaden Weekes at line 3. 

But once Kentucky freshman Eli Stephenson came from 5-2 down in the first set to take it 7-6(4) at line 6, the tide turned in Kentucky's favor. The Wildcats got straight-set wins from Charlelie Cosnet at line 4 and Joshua Lapadat at line 2 to take a 3-2 lead and Stephenson closed out Carter Morgan 6-3 in the second set for the clinch. The only three-set match of the day was at line 5, with Jack Loutit and Jelani Sarr at 4-3 in the third.

The SEC women's final closed out the day, with Georgia defeating No. 2 seed Texas A&M 4-1 at the new indoor tennis facility in Athens. The Aggies, who had struggled a bit in their 4-2 semifinal win over Florida on Saturday, couldn't get going against a Georgia team that appears to be firing on all cylinders now. After taking the doubles point, Georgia got wins from Dasha Vidmanova at line 1, Mell Reasco at line 3 and Anastasiia Lopata at line 4, while Texas A&M picked up their point at line 5, with freshman Lucciana Perez beating Guillermina Grant. Carson Branstine, playing in just her third match since returning to A&M, finished her match with Vidmanova in tears after what appeared to be a hip injury suffered early in the second set. 

The last two conferences to play their tournaments are the Pac-12 and Big Ten, who finished their regular seasons today and will begin tournament play next week.

The WTA and ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid begins with qualifying Monday, and 16-year-old Tyra Grant, who won the ITF J300 in France yesterday has received a qualifying wild card. She will play No. 9 seed Laura Siegemund of Germany in the first round. 

The women's main draw is here.

Sixteen-year-old Darwin Blanch, who reached the semifinals of a men's ITF WTT $15K last week, has been awarded a main draw wild card, as have 2022 US Open boys champion Martin Landaluce of Spain and 2023 US Open boys champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil. The men's main draw will be held Monday.

Mitchell Krueger fell short in his quest for a second Challenger title in 2024, with Zizou Bergs of Belgium winning his second title in as many weeks at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee. The No. 2 seed defeated Krueger 6-4, 7-6(9) in a match delayed several hours at the start due to rain.

Sloane Stephens won her eighth WTA title today on indoor clay at the 250 event in Rouen France. The 31-year-old, seeded No. 6, defeated unseeded Magda Linette of Poland 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in the final. 

Taylor Fritz lost in the final of the ATP 250 in Munich, his first career final on clay, with Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany earning his first ATP title at age 33 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Grant Claims Second ITF J300 ITF in France; Krueger Reaches Tallahassee Challenger Final; Two Surprise Finalists for Men's SEC and ACC Conference Championships; Oklahoma State Women Win Big 12 Title, Continue Undefeated

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant won her second ITF J300 title today in Beaulieu-sur-Mer France, with the No. 2 seed recording a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Lilli Tagger of Austria in the final. 

Grant, who won her first J300 title last May in Italy, also on clay, is not entered in next week's J500 in Germany, but has solidified her position as a favorite at Roland Garros in June.

The boys final, also between a top seed and an unseeded player, was much closer with No. 1 Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway defeating Henry Bernet of Switzerland 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Mitchell Krueger defeated wild card Stefan Kozlov 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Florida today to reach his second Challenger final of the year. The 30-year-old from Texas will face No. 2 seed Zizou Bergs of Belgium in the final, after Bergs advanced to his second straight Challenger final when unseeded Calvin Hemery of France retired trailing 3-6, 6-4, 4-1. Bergs and Krueger played last week in the quarterfinals of the Sarasota Challenger, with Bergs earning a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win.

It was a first ATP Challenger doubles title for Simon Freund(LSU/UC-Santa Barbara) of Sweden and Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark in Tallahassee this evening, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds Will Blumberg(North Carolina) and Luis Martinez of Venezuela 7-5, 7-6(4).  Ingildsen, 26, and Freund, 27, served for the match at both 5-4 and 6-5, failed to convert two match points at 5-4 and yet still held their nerve in the tiebreaker to earn the victory.

I spent most of a cold and drab April day in Michigan watching SEC, ACC and Big 12 conference championship play on ESPN+, an option I really appreciate having this time of year. The semifinals went acoording to form in the women's ACC and SEC and in the men's Big 12, but there were two surprising results in the men's ACC and SEC.

Top seed and two-time defending NCAA champion Virginia extended its perfect ACC record during the past four years with a 4-1 win over Duke, with the Blue Devils sole point coming in doubles. 

Virginia will not meet No. 2 seed Wake Forest however, with No. 6 seed Florida State upsetting the Demon Deacons 4-3. The Seminoles won the doubles point and took lines No. 1 and No. 6 in straight sets, but the last four singles points were decided in three sets. Wake Forest fought back to tie it up with wins at lines 2, 4 and 5, so it came down to line 3, with Jamie Connel defeating Matthew Thomson 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 to put Florida State in their first conference tournament final since 2005. Virginia beat Florida State 4-1 in Tallahassee in the regular season. 

In the SEC, top seed Kentucky was impressive, defeating surprise semifinalist LSU 4-0 in Baton Rouge. LSU, the No. 13 seed, had  beaten No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 4 Auburn to reach the semifinals, but Kentucky, who has yet to lose in SEC play this year, was too strong today. Kentucky will face No. 11 seed South Carolina, who upset No. 2 seed Tennessee today 4-2.  The Gamecocks, who had lost 4-0 to the Volunteers three weeks ago in Knoxville, took the doubles point, but lost four first sets in singles and needed tiebreakers to take the two first sets they did claim. But after Tennessee took a 2-1 lead with wins at 1 and 6, South Carolina came back, holding on to the two matches where they had the lead, then getting their fourth point when freshman Jelani Sarr beat Angel Diaz at line 5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. It's the first time South Carolina had advanced to the conference tournament final. 

Kentucky beat South Carolina earlier this month in the regular season, in Columbia, 4-3.

In the day's most highly anticipated match, the top-seeded North Carolina women avenged their two losses this season to No. 4 seed NC State, and did it without much drama beating the Wolfpack 4-0. After taking the doubles point, the Tar Heels got straight sets wins in singles from Carson Tanguilig at line 3, Anika Yarlagadda at line 5 and Elizabeth Scotty at line 2. North Carolina will have an opportunity to avenge again their only other loss of the season, to Virginia at the National Team Indoor, in their third meeting of the year with the Cavaliers. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 3 seed Florida State 4-0. UNC defeated Virginia in the regular season 4-1 two weeks ago in Chapel Hill.

The SEC women's final will also feature the top 2 seeds, with No. 1 Georgia, playing at home in Athens, facing Texas A&M. It's the fourth straight year the two teams will meet in the SEC conference tournament final.

The Aggies, who had Carson Branstine in the lineup for the first time in the quarterfinals Friday, beat No. 3 seed Florida 4-2, with Branstine clinching the win at line 1 after not finishing her first match of the season against Vanderbilt's Celia-Belle Mohr on Friday.

Georgia was ruthlessly efficient in their 4-0 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee, taking the doubles point and three singles points in straight sets.

TCU and Texas will play their rubber match in the men's Big 12 final Sunday, after top seed Texas beat No. 5 seed Oklahoma State 4-1 and No. 3 seed TCU defeated No. 2 seed Oklahoma 4-1 in Stillwater.  TCU won the first, non-conference, meeting between the two teams in a 4-3 thriller in Fort Worth; Texas beat TCU 5-0 in Austin three weeks later.

The women's Big 12 final was played Saturday night in Stillwater, with the Oklahoma State women keeping their perfect record intact heading into the NCAA tournament. The top-seeded Cowgirls defeated No. 2 seed Texas 4-0 to earn their first conference tournament title since 2016, ending the Longhorns' run as champions the past three years. 

US Teams Sweep Top Spots in All North and Central America ITF Team Competition Qualifying Matches; Blanch Advances to $15K Semifinal in Spain; Grant Reaches ITF J300 Final in France; Kozlov and Krueger Meet in Tallahassee Challenger Semifinals Saturday

The teams from the United States were favored to win all of their matches at this week's North and Central American and Caribbean Qualifying for the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup(16U) and the World Junior Tennis(14U) team competitions that the ITF holds every year. All four teams finished a perfect 3-0 to finish at the top of the four-team round robin competitions, and there's little doubt that the boys 14U team was the most dominant. After winning all six sets 6-0 yesterday against Guatemala, the boys lost only 3 games today against Mexico, in Jordan Lee's 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles.

Michael Antonius, the reigning Eddie Herr and Les Petits As champion, lost one game in his three singles matches and none in his two doubles matches.

I didn't receive the pdfs via email today, but below are the results of the US teams, as well as the final standings. Notable that Mexico will be sending two teams to the finals; Canada, which also had two second place finishes, and the United States are often the two countries that advance to Finals from this qualifying round. 

USA d. Canada 3-0 Junior Davis Cup

No. 2 singles:
Keaton Hance d. Felix Roussel 6-3, 7-6(3)

No. 1 singles:
Jack Secord d. Miko Lapalme 6-3, 6-2

Doubles:
Hance and Secord d. Lapalme and Quincy Yao 6-1, 5-7, 10-4

USA d. Mexico 3-0 Junior Billie Jean King Cup

No. 2 singles:
Shannon Lam d. Marianne Angel Gomez 6-3, 6-4

No. 1 singles:
Thea Frodin d. Hanne Estrada Cortes 5-7, 6-2, 6-4

Doubles:
Lamm and Frodin d. Angel Gomez and Abril Cardenas Olivares 6-4, 6-2

USA d. Mexico 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles
Michael Antonius d. Santiago Garcia Puente 6-0, 6-0

No. 1 singles
Jordan Lee d. Jaime Gomez Lopez 6-1, 6-2

Doubles:
Antonius and Teodor Davidov d. Gomez Lopez and Leonardo Calles Salinas 6-0, 6-0

USA d. Canada 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles:
Maggie Sohns d. Isabella Yan 6-3, 6-0

No. 1 singles:
Welles Newman d. Rachel Wu 6-3, 6-1

Doubles:
Newman and Sohns d. Yan and Wu  4-6, 6-3, 10-6 

(Corrected from Canada winning the doubles 4/22/24)

Final Standings:

Boys WJT
1. USA 3-0
2. Canada 2-1
3. Mexico 1-2
4. Guatemala 0-3

Girls WJT
1. USA 3-0
2. Mexico 2-1
3. Canada 1-2
4. Guatemala 0-3

Junior Davis Cup
1. USA 3-0
2. Mexico 1-2
3. Canada 1-2
4. Bahamas 1-2

Junior Billie Jean King Cup
1. USA 3-0
2. Canada 2-1
3. Mexico 1-2
4. Puerto Rico 0-3

Darwin Blanch has reached his second ITF men's World Tennis Tour semifinal of the year with a win today at the $15,000 tournament in Telde Spain. The unseeded 16-year-old, who trains at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Equelite Academy in Spain, defeated 18-year-old qualifier Albert Pedrico Kravtsov of Spain 6-7(3), 6-1, 7-6(4) in today's quarterfinals. The 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion will play another Spanish player, No. 3 seed Diego Augusto Barreto Sanchez, who he beat 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of at a $15K at the end of February. Blanch, who made the semifinals last year at this tournament, and at another $15K last month, also in Spain, has yet to advance to a men's Pro Circuit final. 

At the ITF J300 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer France, Tyra Grant has advanced to the final, beating No. 8 seed Vittoria Paganetti of Italy 6-4, 6-3 in today's semifinals. Grant will face fellow 16-year-old Lilli Tagger of Austria, a qualifier, who thwarted an all-USA final with a 6-4, 6-0 win over No. 5 seed Katie Rolls. The boys final will feature top seed Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and unseeded Henry Bernet of Switzerland.

Mitchell Krueger and Stefan Kozlov will meet in the semifinals of ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Saturday after both picked up straight-sets victories today. Wild card Kozlov beat Oliver Crawford(Florida) of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2 to reach his second Challenger semifinal of the year; Krueger defeated ITF World Junior No. 1 Joel Schwaerzler of Austria 7-5, 7-6(4) and will also be playing in his second Challenger semifinal of the year; he won the Indian Wells Challenger 1 in January. 

US Boys Win Six 6-0 Sets in ITF World Junior Tennis Victory, US Teams Continue Undefeated in North and Central American Qualifying; Johnston Earns Doubles Title, Rolls and Grant Reach Semis in ITF J300 in France; Top 10 Collegiate Women by UTR

There are dominating performances and then there is today's 3-0 win by the US boys in the second day of the North and Central America and Caribbean ITF World Junior Tennis qualifying in Lake Nona. With Eddie Herr 14s and Les Petits As champion Michael Antonius slotted for No. 2 singles this week, the US team was an overwhelming favorite to advance to August's finals in the Czech Republic, but opponent Guatemala couldn't win a game today, over three separate matches.  With Jordan Lee, the US No. 1 due to his slightly higher ITF ranking, pulled for today's match, Teodor Davidov moved into the No. 2 singles position and Antonius into the No. 1 spot, but Guatemala was shut out in both matches, as well as the doubles.

The Junior Davis Cup team again dropped a singles match, with Carel Ngounoue retiring at No. 1 singles against the Bahamas, but the deciding doubles went to the United States team of Jack Secord and Keaton Hance.

The girls teams both posted 3-0 victories, and the United States is the only country to be 2-0 in any of the four competitions, so their places in the finals are already guaranteed with one more day of play scheduled for Friday.

The standings after two days can be found here and the results from the four matches not involving the United States can be found here.

USA d. Bahamas 2-1 Junior Davis Cup

No. 2 singles:

Keaton Hance d. Jackson MacTaggart 6-2, 6-2

No. 1 singles:

Jerald Carroll d. Carel Ngounoue 6-4  ret.

Doubles: 

Jack Secord and Keaton Hance d. Carroll and MacTaggart 6-4, 6-2

USA d. Puerto Rico 3-0 Junior Billie Jean King Cup

No. 2 singles:

Kristina Penickova d. Aurora Lugo 6-2, 6-2

No. 1 singles: Shannon Lam d. Carolina Castro 6-1, 6-2

Doubles: Thea Frodin and Kristina Penickova d. Lugo and Victoria Cajigas 6-1, 6-0

USA d. Guatemala 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles:

Maggie Sohns d. Carmen Fuentes 6-4, 6-4

No. 1 singles:

Welles Newman d. Sofia Dallamora 6-1, 6-1

Doubles: 

Sohns and Sarah Ye d. Camilla Castillo and Dallamora 6-0, 6-2

USA d. Guatemala 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles:

Teodor Davidov d. Jose Anibal Martinez 6-0, 6-0

No. 1 singles:

Michael Antonius d. Martin Garcia 6-0, 6-0

Doubles:

Davidov and Jordan Lee d. Julian Garcia and Martin Garcia 6-0, 6-0

The ITF J300 in Beaulieu-Sur-Mer France has already produced one champion from the United States, with two US girls advancing to the singles semifinals.

Noah Johnston won the doubles title today, partnering with Gustavo Ribeirode Almeida of Brazil. The unseeded pair defeated Felix Blashaw and Theo Papamalamis of France, also unseeded, 7-6(5), 6-0 in the final. Johnston, a 16-year-old from South Carolina, has now won three J300 doubles titles this year, each with a different partner.

Katie Rolls, who is playing in her first tournament since capturing the J500 Banana Bowl last month, extended her winning streak to nine matches as she advanced to the semifinals. The No. 5 seed defeated unseeded Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard 7-6(2), 6-3 in today's quarterfinals; she will face qualifier Lilli Tagger of Austria in the semifinals.

No. 2 seed Tyra Grant came from behind to defeat unseeded Noemi Basiletti of Italy 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals and will play No. 8 seed Vittoria Paganetti of Italy.

I mentioned in my Tuesday post of the ITA rankings that I hadn't seen the women's version of the collegiate Top 10 by UTR that had been posted for the men. It showed up today on Twitter, as follows, with ITA rankings in parentheses:

1. Alexa Noel, Miami (11)

2. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina (7)

3. Amelia Rajecki, NC State (5)

4. Fangran Tian, UCLA (39)

5. Katherine Hui, Stanford (not ranked)

6. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina (4)

7. Ayana Akli, South Carolina  (9)

8. Kari Miller, Michigan (3)

9. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M (1)

10. Nicole Khirin, Texas A&M (19)

As John Parsons pointed out, Carson Branstine, who has returned to compete for Texas A&M in the post season, is at 11.53, which would put her at the top of the list, with Noel currently at 11.52.