Qualifier Nguyen, Las Vegas Champion Santhosh Post Opening Round Wins at ITF J300 Indian Wells; Five US Men Reach BNP Paribas Open Round of 16; Stoiana and Smith Receive Hurd Collegiate Grants

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells California--

A perfect day in the desert greeted the qualifiers and unseeded players Monday at the FILA International Championships ITF J300 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with sunny skies and temperatures near 80 producing high quality tennis, as well as some drama, on the seven courts reserved for junior matches.

Qualifier Alexis Nguyen, who has one of the best World Tennis Numbers in the field, played three matches to qualify Saturday and Sunday and was right back on the courts Monday afternoon, getting paast Carrie-Ann Hoo 6-1, 7-5 after a spirited comeback from Hoo in the second set. 

Nguyen, a 17-year-old from Sacramento, was unable to hold her lead in the second set, with a cramp in her racquet hand keeping her from serving out the match at 5-4. But she didn't attribute that to anything more than nerves, and broke Hoo to get another chance, converting her first match point.

"I was cramping a little bit but I think I just get tight toward the end and my body just tenses up," said Nguyen, who gave credit to her coach Joe Gilbert for keeping her on track now that off-court coaching is allowed in chaired junior matches.  "Actually when I started cramping, I calmed myself down, got loose and started playing better. I play better when I just don't think at all. My coach will tell me what to do and I'll just focus on it, rather than force it. I started to run her, and hit targets, and then look for offense. He helped me re-focus, it's not like I have to fix something during the match, he just reminds me when I fall off a little bit."

Nguyen, who has committed to North Carolina for 2026 along with twin sister Avery, who also qualified, but lost today in her first round match, used her three qualifying matches to work on her game.

"I got to get used to the courts a little bit and really work on things I need to work on," said Nguyen, who lost just 10 games in her three qualifying victories. "It wasn't really like hard matches, so I got to work on offense a little bit."

Nguyen played the cold and wet W50 tournament last month in Spring Texas, winning a round before returning to California for the W35 in Arcadia the following week. There she defeated Australian Open girls champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan in the opening round of qualifying, qualified for the main draw, then won a first round match before falling to No. 5 seed Maria Mateas 7-5, 7-6(3).

"I saw it as an opportunity," said Nguyen, who beat Sonobe 6-3, 1-6, 10-8. "I don't play that many ITFs, don't play many juniors, so I thought if I could beat her, I could show everybody how I was doing. I took a break, a training block, and I was a little rusty, but in Spring Texas I got better and I was really ready for that tournament(Arcadia), and I was excited to play her."

Nguyen, who gets a day off before facing No. 8 seed Aspen Schuman on Wednesday, is confident that she can maintain her recent level.

"This isn't cocky, but I think every single tournament you want to go in it to win it," Nguyen said. "I hope to play a good match, but my biggest thing is just to improve. If I lose, see what I did wrong, but hopefully I play the right way, don't lose the wrong way."

Another player with little chance to rest, but with a lot of confidence is Roshan Santhosh, who won his first ITF Junior Circuit on Saturday at the J100 in Las Vegas and followed it up today with a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2 win over Fanming Meng of China. 

Santhosh has good memories of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, having won the 14s Easter Bowl in 2023, but he likes this year's new Laykold surface even better.

"It's a good vibe here, with the men's tournament, and they've resurfaced the courts, which I like," Santhosh said. "They were really slow before, and I feel like they're still pretty slow, but they're more bouncey so it's easier to finish the points off."

Santhosh, who plays No. 5 seed Ryan Cozad Tuesday in a rematch of that Easter Bowl 14s final two years ago, felt he didn't take advantage of his opportunities in the first set, but was physically stronger than Meng in the last half of the match.

"I was up almost the whole first set and I felt like I had chances but just didn't execute properly," said Santhosh, who has verbally committed to Penn for 2026. "I thought, why don't I just relax and play my game in the second set, play freely. I feel like he got a bit tired in the third set, we both got a bit tired, but it was just who could stay out there longer, and I feel like I played pretty well."

There was a literally painful ending to a first round match between Kenzie Nguyen and Shannon Lam, with Nguyen cramping on match point serving at 5-4 in the third set. Nguyen crumpled to the ground on the baseline prior to that match point, but was unable to push off her left leg in that game, eventually losing it. Her movement improved in the next two games, but she was clearly not able to move as well as she had to reach match point, and Lam kept enough balls in play to eventually wear Nguyen down to take a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 decision.

I had high hopes for the first round match between Kristina Liutova, who represents Russia, but has lived in the United States for years, and wild card Anna Frey. Although the match got much closer in the second set, Frey's forehand was too much of a liability in the first set, with Liutova playing a basically error-free set. Liutova was unable to close out Frey serving at 5-4, but she played a much more assured game at 6-5 to post the 6-1, 7-5 victory. 

Only half of the second round matches are on Tuesday's schedule, but boys top seed Jagger Leach and girls top seed Kristina Penickova are among those in action. There is a 50 percent chance of rain Tuesday afternoon, when the first round of doubles is scheduled to be played. 

For the first time since 2004, five American men have advanced to the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open, with Taylor Fritz[3], Ben Shelton(Florida)[11] and Brandon Nakashima(Virginia)[32] posting wins today to join Marcos Giron(UCLA) and Tommy Paul[10] in the fourth round. Fritz beat No. 30 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Shelton defeated No. 22 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-5 and Nakashima beat Matteo Arnaldi of Italy 6-2, 6-4.  Shelton and Nakashima will play each other Wednesday for a place in the quarterfinals.

Madison Keys and Coco Gauff[3] and Madison Keys[5] joined No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in the round of 16 with wins today. Gauff defeated No. 29 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-6(1), 6-2 and Keys defeated No. 28 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4.

Yesterday, the Hurd Foundation and UTR announced the winners of the Hurd grants for the top American men's and women's college players. Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M and Colton Smith of Arizona will each receive $100,000 to assist them financially in the early stages of their professional careers. Amelia Honer of UC-Santa Barbara and Eliott Spizzirri of Texas were named as finalists and will receive $40,000 grants.

Tennis Channel had a segment on Sunday' s announcement, which can be viewed on YouTube.

Leach and Kennedy, Penickova Twins Top Seeds at ITF J300 Indian Wells; Santhos and Kha Win Las Vegas J100 Titles; Giron, Paul and Pegula Advance to Fourth Round at BNP Paribas Open

It's a travel day for me, before I start onsite coverage of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells Monday, but I wanted to get a couple of items up before it gets any later on the East Coast, although you can expect late updates throughout the next three weeks I'm in California.

The draws are up, without the qualifiers placed, and, as usual are dominated by Americans. There is just one seeded international boy, Australian Cruz Hewitt, the son of Lleyton Hewitt, and two seeded girls from outside the United States, Dune Vaissaud of France and Alyssa James of Jamaica. 

Below are the seeds, who will not play until Tuesday, and the complete list of wild cards, which include J100 Las Vegas boys singles finalist Andre Alcantara and girls doubles finalists Karlin Schock and Kennedy Drenser-Hagman.

ITF J300 Indian Wells boys seeds (USA unless otherwise indicated)

1. Jagger Leach

2. Jack Kennedy

3. Keaton Hance

4. Noah Johnston

5. Ryan Cozad

6. Maximus Dussault

7. Jack Satterfield

8. Jack Secord

9. Cruz Hewitt (AUS)

10. Ronit Karki

11. Lachlan Gaskell

12. Calvin Baierl

13. Gavin Goode

14. Nischal Spurling

15. Matisse Farzam

16. Yubel Ubri

ITF J300 Indian Wells girls seeds 

1. Kristina Penickova

2. Annika Penickova

3. Thea Frodin

4. Maya Iyengar

5. Julieta Pareja

6. Leen Friedman

7. Capucine Jauffret

8. Aspen Schuman

9. Claire An

10. Ava Rodriguez

11. Ishika Ashar

12. Dune Vaissaud (FRA)

13. Nancy Lee

14. Alyssa James (JAM)

15. Kori Montoya

16. Anita Tu

ITF J300 Indian Wells wild cards

Boys

Tanishk Konduri

Shaan Patel

Nicolas Mekhael

Mark Krupkin

Donald Stoot

Andre Alcantara

Girls

Reiley Rhodes

Maggie Sohns

Janae Preston

Anna Frey

Kennedy Drenser-Hagman

Karlin Schock

Qualifiers

Boys

Gray Kelley

Tyler Lee

Maksim Nekrasov(RUS)

Nav Dayal

William Zhang

Gary Jiang(CAN)

Girls

Amy Lee

Avery Nguyen

Tianmei Wang

Nicole Weng

Charlize Celebrini(CAN)

Alexis Nguyen

The results from the ITF J100 Las Vegas singles final were not available last night before I went to bed, but they were up this morning, with top seed Roshan Santhosh winning his first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over unseeded Andre Alcantara. Natalie Kha won the girls title, beating Yilin Chen 6-1, 6-1.

In BNP Paribas Open men's and women's singles third round matches today, Marcos Giron(UCLA) continued his run, beating No. 26 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Tommy Paul[10] beat Cameron Norrie(TCU) of Great Britain 6-3, 7-5 and Jessica Pegula[4] defeated Xinyu Wang of China 6-2, 6-1.

Brooksby Upsets Auger-Aliassime, Keys and Gauff Advance at BNP Paribas Open; Final Round Qualifying Sunday for Indian Wells ITF J300; Mary Joe Fernandez Tapped for Orange Bowl Hall of Fame

2018 Kalamazoo 18s champion Jenson Brooksby's return to competition after a drug testing suspension and injuries began with the Australian Open this year, and although he had shown glimpses of the game that saw him reach No. 33 in the ATP rankings in 2022, a win today in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open confirmed the 24-year-old Californian was truly back.

Brooksby defeated No. 17 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, who had won two ATP titles this year, 6-4, 6-2, earning his best win since the 2023 Australian Open, where he defeated ATP No. 3 Casper Ruud of Norway in the second round.

Brooksby's third round opponent will be No. 13 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain, who defeated Next Gen Finals champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil 6-4, 6-0.

Brooksby won the Easter Bowl ITF J300 title at Indian Wells the same year he won the Kalamazoo title in 2018, defeating Brandon Nakashima in both finals.  Nakashima, who was 0-4 against Brooksby in juniors and ITF men's events, also advanced to the BNP Paribas Open third round today, beating former North Carolina All-American Rinky Hijikata of Australia 7-5, 6-1.

No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz, the 2022 Indian Wells champion, won his opening match, as did No. 3 seed Coco Gauff and No. 5 seed Madison Keys, in her first match since winning the Australian Open.

Wild card Iva Jovic battled No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy to 3-3 in the third set, before Paolini broke for a 5-3 lead and closed out her 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3 victory. Paolini won just one more point than Jovic did in the match, 92 to 91.

The first round of qualifying for the FILA Internatonal ITF J300 in Indian Wells is complete, with two rounds scheduled for Sunday. The boys are playing at Rancho La Quinta Country Club, while the girls are playing at Palm Valley Country Club. Today's results are available at the iTF Junior website.

Mary Joe Fernandez at Men's Team Indoor

On March 26th, Mary Joe Fernandez will be inducted into the Orange Bowl Tennis Hall of Fame, with the ceremony scheduled that day at the Miami Open. Because I will be in Southern California throughout the month covering the three big junior events there, the Orange Bowl Committee was kind enough to provide me with the release a few days early, so I could post about it before I leave.

Fernandez holds one of the most impressive junior tennis accomplishments of all time, winning all four Orange Bowl titles, 12s, 14s (Junior Orange Bowl), 16s and 18s in consecutive years. 

From the release:

She captured the Girls’ 12s title at age 11, the Girls’ 14s at age 12, the Girls’ 16s at age 13, and the Girls’ 18s at just 14 years old—an unprecedented feat that remains unmatched in the history of junior tennis.

Her dominance at the Orange Bowl showcased her exceptional talent early in her career, setting the stage for her future success on the professional circuit.

"We are thrilled to welcome Mary Joe Fernandez into the Orange Bowl Tennis Hall of Fame," said Orange Bowl Committee President & Chair Henri Crockett. "Her accomplishments on the court are truly remarkable, and her impact on the sport of tennis is undeniable."

Fernandez, a former world No. 4 in both singles and doubles, enjoyed a stellar career that included:

• Grand Slam Finals: Reaching the finals of the Australian Open twice (1990 & 1992) and the French Open (1993).
• Olympic Medals: Winning gold in doubles at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics with partner Gigi Fernandez, and bronze in singles at the 1992 Olympics.
• WTA Titles: Achieving seven singles titles and seventeen doubles titles on the WTA Tour.
• Grand Slam Doubles Titles: Capturing the Australian Open (1991) and French Open (1996) doubles titles.
• Team Competitions: Helping the U.S. win the Fed Cup (1996, 1999), later serving as the U.S. Fed Cup captain (2008–2016), and captaining the U.S. Olympic tennis team in 2012 and 2016.

“Being inducted into the Orange Bowl Tennis Hall of Fame is a huge honor,” said Fernandez. “This tournament has been a springboard for so many great players, and I’m proud to be part of its rich history. I’m deeply grateful to the Orange Bowl Committee for this recognition and for their unwavering dedication to growing the game of tennis.”

Fernandez has continued to support the Orange Bowl over the years, attending the Junior Orange Bowl finals in 2016 and presenting the trophy to Coco Gauff, who won the 12s (she won the 18s two years later).

In 2020, Fernandez's son Nico Godsick won the Orange Bowl 16s doubles title in 2020 (with Ethan Quinn) to continue the family tradition. My coverage of that title and Godsick's remarks on the significance of the Orange Bowl to their family can be found here.

I recently saw Fernandez and husband Tony Godsick at the Men's Team Indoor in Dallas, watching Nico compete for Stanford in the semifinals, and Godsick could not have been more proud that his wife was receiving this recognition.

The history of junior tennis is scattered and often gets overlooked or lost, so it's always gratifying to see a special accomplishment recalled and celebrated.

Three Unseeded Players and Top Seed Advance to ITF J100 Las Vegas Finals; ITF J300 Indian Wells Wild Cards; Jovic Comes Back to Reach BNP Parbias Open Second Round

Saturday's singles finals are set at the ITF J100 in Las Vegas, with two unseeded Americans meeting for the girls title, and top seed Roshan Santhosh of California facing unseeded local resident Andre Alcantara for the boys singles championship.

Sixteen-year-old Natalie Kha of Chino Hills California, who won her first ITF title at the J30 in Claremont to start off the year, will face 15-year-old Yilin Chen of San Diego, who won her first ITF title at the J60 in her hometown in February.  Kha defeated No. 4 seed Thara Gowda, the last seed in the girls draw, 6-3, 6-3, while Chen came back to beat 14-year-old Anya Arora 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

The 16-year-old Santhosh, who was a finalist last year in Las Vegas when it was a J60, is still seeking his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, but he reached a J300 final in India in January, a result that resulted in his No. 1 seeding this week. The 17-year-old Alcantara won the J30 in Claremont to start the year, but he will more than double his ITF point total if he wins the title Saturday. Santhosh advanced with a tough 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2) decision over No. 7 seed and Penn recruit Boxiong Zhang of China; Alcantara took out No. 2 seed Andrew Johnson 6-4, 6-3; Johnson had lost only seven games in his first four matches before dropping 12 to Alcantara today. 

Johnson did earn the doubles title today, with partner Marcel Latak. The No. 5 seeds defeated the sixth-seeded Canadian team of  Alec Barin and Loic Petrecca 6-3, 5-7, 10-6 in the final. 

Two unseeded teams from the United States played in today's girls doubles final with Bella Payne and Elena Zhao winning a thriller, beating Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann and Karlin Schock 3-6, 6-4, 11-9. 

The qualifying for the ITF J300 in Indian Wells next week begins Saturday; the draws and order of play will be posted later tonight. The wild card list I've received is as follows; I don't think it includes the wild cards that FILA is allocated as sponsor. Anna Frey, who is sponsored by FILA, is on the alternate list. She has the second best World Tennis Number, after Alexis Nguyen, among the girls entries. 

Fourteen-year-old Izyan Ahmad, who is also sponsored by FILA, is just two out of the main draw as of the freeze deadline, so he may have received one that he will not need. Las Vegas finalist Alcantara is listed in qualifying, which he won't be able to play, and he won't receive a special exempt because the the Las Vegas event is two grades below Indian Wells. So perhaps he will get a late wild card, several of which appear to be available from the list below, as there are usually six wild cards awarded in a 48-draw.

Girls qualifying:
Alexis Nguyen (she didn't need it; moved in on her own)
Anya Arora
Audrey Dussault

Girls main draw:
Janae Preston
Karlin Schock
Maggie Sohns

Boys qualifying:
Arin Pallegar
Sklar Phillips
Gabriel Jessup

Boys main draw:
Shaan Patel
Tanishk Konduri

At the BNP Paribas Open, 17-year-old wild card Iva Jovic advanced to the second round coming back from losing the first set 6-2 last night, when rain postponed her match with Jullia Grabher of Austria. Resuming play this afternoon, Jovic went up 4-1 in the second set, lost the break, but took the set 7-5, then raised her level in the third, taking it 6-0 with some peak tennis. Jovic plays No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the second round Saturday.

2014 NCAA singles champion Marcos Giron(UCLA) got his best win ever by ranking, beating No. 4 seed and ATP No. 5 Casper Ruud of Norway 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2.  He will play No. 26 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia Sunday. 

Qualifier Colton Smith(Arizona) lost his second round match today to No. 31 seed Alex Michelsen 6-3, 6-4.

USTA Announces Annual Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge; Wild Cards Find Success at BNP Paribas Open; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Update; West Florida Men, Midwestern State Women Top Division II Rankings

The USTA announced its Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, which is now in its 12th year. Unlike the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge last fall, the men's and women's time frames are the same: March 31-May 4.  

The player with the best three results, determined by the WTA/ATP rankings points won from those five weeks, on any professional clay court tournament above the W35 and M25 level, will receive a main draw wild card into Roland Garros 2025.

The women's events in the United States outnumber the men's by a substantial number; the WTA 500 in Charleston in Week 1, a 125 in Charleston in Week 2, a W75 in Charlottesville in Week 4 and a W100 in Bonita Springs in Week 5 are the biggest events, and there are also 4 W35s and a W50 during those five weeks.

In addition to the ATP 250 Men's Clay Courts in Houston in Week 1, there are just three clay events for men in the United States; the ATP Challenger 75s in Sarasota, Tallahassee and Savannah in Weeks 2, 3 and 4.. Of course, there are many, many Challengers on clay in Europe during that stretch and, closer to home for the Americans, in South America and Mexico too.

The list of the previous Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge recipients and how they fared in Paris that year:

Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge Winners:

 

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)

Wild cards have had success in the first two days of the BNP Paribas Open, six of 12 advancing to the second round, with two women's wild cards yet to play.

The men's wild cards advancing are Tristan Boyer(Stanford), who beat Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) yesterday, and today's winners Brazil's Joao Fonseca and Mackenzie McDonald. Next Gen Finals champion Fonseca defeated Jake Fearnley(TCU) of Great Britain 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, winning the final five games of the match. McDonald, who reached last week's San Diego Challenger 100 final and was the last wild card announced, beat Acapulco finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 for his first ATP Masters 1000 win since October of 2023.

Boyer will play No. 10 seed Tommy Paul Friday.

Robin Montgomery, the 2021 US Open girls champion, came back last night to post a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over qualifier Jule Niemeier of Germany; Caroline Dolehide, the last women's wild card announced, defeated Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia 6-2, 7-6(3) Wednesday. Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, returning to competition after the birth of her daughter last April, cruised past Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-1, 6-1 today.  Montgomery will play No. 18 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine Friday, Dolehide will face No. 11 seed Paula Badosa of Spain. 

Iva Jovic and Alycia Parks are scheduled for late matches this evening in Indian Wells, with Jovic facing Julia Grabher of Austria and Parks taking on Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

February's UTR Pro Tennis Tour results from tournaments in the United States are below.  January's results can be found here.

WOMEN:

Feb 3 Newport Beach CA

Eryn Cayetano d. Veronika Miroshnichenko 2-6, 6-2, 6-3

Feb 10 Houston TX

Christasha McNeil v Elena Mireles unf.

Feb 17 Boca Raton FL

Ema Burgic d. Ameia Sorey 6-3, 6-2

Feb 17 Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Tianmei Wang 6-4, 6-0

Feb 23 Atlanta GA

Robin Anderson d. Aspen Schuman 6-1, 6-2

MEN:

January 27 Newport Beach CA

Maciej Rajski d. Antreas Djakouris

Feb 3 Berkeley CA

Theo Dean d. Quinn Vandecasteele 6-2, 5-7, 6-1

Feb 10 Houston TX

Raphael Perot d. Ilgiz Valiev 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

Feb 10 Stockton CA

Tiago Silva d. Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski 5-7, 6-3, 6-0

Feb 24 Lincoln NE

Leonardo Lopez Linquet d. Anton Shepp 7-6(5), 6-2

Feb 24 Boca Raton FL

Ilya Snitari d. Petr Nesterov 7-6(1), 6-2

Feb 24 Newport Beach CA

Maciej Rajski d. Alexis Gurmendi 7-6(6), 6-3

The ITA Division II rankings were released yesterday, with the Top 10 below. West Florida won the Men's Indoor, so their No. 1 ranking makes sense, but Barry, who won the Women's Indoor and is undefeated, is at No. 3. Midwestern State, who Barry defeated 4-0 in the Women's Indoor final, is No. 1. Click on the headings to see the other 40 ranked teams.

Top 10 Division II Men's Team Rankings:

1. West Florida

2. Flagler

3. Washburn

4. Charleston(WVa)

5. UT Tyler

6. Valdosta State

7. Lubbock Christian

8. Harding

9. Midwestern State

10. Azusa Pacific

Top 10 Division II Women's Team Rankings:

1. Midwestern State

2. North Georgia

3. Barry

4. Embry-Riddle

5. Flagler

6. Nebraska-Kearney

7. Lubbock Christian

8. Washburn

9. Azusa Pacific

10. Grand Valley State

New individual rankings were also released yesterday, with men's singles here; women's singles here; men's doubles here and women's doubles here.

February Aces; Smith Celebrates Birthday with First ATP Win at BNP Paribas Open; ITF J100 Las Vegas Quarterfinals Set; Chicago Women and CMS Men Top ITA Division III Rankings

My monthly review of the top performances of junior and college players is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and with all the success of former college stars these days, it's getting harder and harder to find room for them all. The $15K level is still an important stepping stone, but it's impossible to feature every junior or collegian who wins one; it's now two in the same month that's the bar for inclusion. Interesting that four left-handers, all juniors, are among the 18 players in the February Aces.

Colton Smith was one of those 18 players featured, and he has not slowed down since winning the Cleveland Challenger at the beginning of February. The University of Arizona senior, who turned 22 today, gave himself a memorable birthday present, in his first ATP main draw match at the BNP Paribas Open. Smith, who reached the main draw yesterday after receiving a wild card into qualifying, played ATP No. 40 Flavio Cobolli of Italy this afternoon and got his second ATP Top 100 win in the past three days via a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 comeback. The difference in the match was probably first serve percentage, with Smith at 70 and Cobolli at 41. Next up for Smith, after a day off, is No. 31 seed Alex Michelsen.

Tristan Boyer(Stanford) received a main draw wild card and came through in dramatic fashion, beating Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4).  Many of today's matches have yet to be played, but other Americans through to the second round are Hailey Baptiste, who beat fellow qualifier Whitney Osuigwe 6-1, 6-2 and wild card Caroline Dolehide, who defeated Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia 6-4, 7-6(3). 

Wild card Nishesh Basavareddy lost to Bu Yunchaokete of China 7-5, 6-4 and Peyton Stearns(Texas) lost to Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

For updated scores, see the BNP Paribas Open website.

The girls and boys quarterfinals of the ITF J100 in Las Vegas this week vary quite a bit, with the girls last eight featuring seven Americans and only two seeds, while the boys have six seeds and five Americans still in the hunt for the title.

In the top half of the boys draw, the seeds have held, with top seed Roshan Santhosh of California facing No. 5 seed Se Hyuk Cho of Korea and No. 4 seed Jerrid Gaines Jr. of Florida playing No. 7 seed Boxiong Zhang of China. 

In the bottom half, unseeded Las Vegas resident Andre Alcantara will face No. 10 seed Alec Barin of Canada and unseeded Justin Riley Anson will face fellow Southern Californian Andrew Johnson, the No. 2 seed.  Johnson has lost only seven game in his first three matches. 

In the girls top half, the highest seed remaining is No. 4 Thara Gowda, who will play fellow Michigan resident, Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who is unseeded. Unseeded Natalie Kha of Chino Hills will play qualifier Avery Nguyen of Sacramento in an all-California quarterfinal.

The seeded girl in the bottom half is No. 5 Charlize Celebrini of Canada, whose older brother Macklin is a NHL rookie with the San Jose Sharks after going first in the NHL draft last year. Celebrini will play unseeded Yilin Chen of San Diego, who won last month's J60 in San Diego as a qualifier. Unseeded Lillian Santos of Massachusetts and unseeded 14-year-old Anya Arora of San Jose California will meet in the bottom quarter.

The first ITA Division III team rankings post-Indoors are out, with the champions--CMS men and Chicago women--in the No. 1 spots. Click on the headings for the full list of 40 teams.

Top 10 Division III Men's Rankings:

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
2. Chicago
3. Tufts
4. Denison
5. Case Western
6. Middlebury
7. Emory
8. Bowdoin
9. Swarthmore
10. Williams

Top 10 Division III Women's Rankings:

1. Chicago

2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

3. Emory

4. Pomona-Pitzer

5. Wesleyan

6. Johns Hopkins

7. Washington and Lee

8. Middlebury

9. Washington St.Louis

10. Amherst