All-American Pre-Qs Underway

The scores trickled in throughout the day in Tulsa and Pacific Palisades as both the men and women played two rounds in the pre-qualifying draw. The top three seeds in the women's draw were removed with two (Neda Koprcina/Madison Harrison) getting bumped up to the qualifying draw and the other withdrawing (Rianna Valdes). Women's top 16 seeds went 11-2 in the Round of 64 and 7-4 in the Round of 32. 5 of the top 8 seeds on the men's side advanced to the Round of 64 after each got a bye in the Round of 256.

Men's All-American Pre-Qualie Draw with UTRs

The pre-qualifying singles draws is out for the Saint Francis Health System Men's All-American Championships with play beginning on Saturday morning in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 16 of the 242 singles participants will advance to the 64-person qualifying draw. I also ran the Universal Tennis Ratings on each of the 242 singles participants which you can view in the table below.

Pre-Q Singles Draw
Host Site

Women's All-American Pre-Qualie Draw with UTRs

The pre-qualifying singles and doubles draws are out for the Riviera Women's All-American Championships with play beginning on Saturday in Pacific Palisades, California. I also ran the Universal Tennis Ratings on each of the 64 singles participants which you can view in the table below.

Pre-Q Singles Draw

Pre-Q Doubles Draw

What's Coming Up - All-Americans & More

The first major of the year gets started on Saturday with the Saint Francis Health System Men's All-American Championships taking place in Tulsa while the Riviera Women's All-American Championships gets going in Pacific Palisades.

The Men's All-Americans will have an open pre-qualifying draw that runs Saturday and Sunday with 16 advancing to the qualifying draw (draw out on Friday). The 128 player qualifying draw takes place on Monday and Tuesday with 16 advancing to the 64 player main draw.  The guys take Wednesday off and then the main draw runs from Thursday through Monday. For information about the selection criteria, schedule, and how wild cards are distributed click here. The list of players expected to play is listed at the ITA's tournament page.

College ATP Rankings

Several current college players made sizable jumps last week based off recent performance at Futures and Challenger events. Ohio State junior Mikael Torpegaard jumped 271 spots up to #371 after winning the Columbus Challenger while UCLA freshman Evan Zhu rose 876 spots to #990 after finishing as the runner-up at the Claremont Futures the week before last. UCLA junior Martin Redlicki also made a big jump by coming up 435 spots to #1123 after making the semifinals in Claremont.

TCU junior Cameron Norrie is still the top ranked current college player at #278 which is up 7 spots from last week. Norrie won his opening round match in Columbus before falling to Mikelis Libietis in the second round.

Mike Redlicki Wins the Southern Intercollegiates; Pro Circuit Recap

Arkansas senior Mike Redlicki (14.31) started off his junior season by winning the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta and today he began his senior season by winning the top singles flight at the Southern Intercollegiates in Athens. Redlicki, who was the top seed, won six matches (all in straight sets) over the last four days including today's 6-4, 6-4 win over the No. 11 seed Oklahoma junior Spencer Papa (14.15). Papa also had a strong week by winning four straight matches over ranked opponents before falling in today's final.

“Mike played a beautiful match against Spencer in the final,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “He beat a quality field in brutally hot conditions this weekend. He earned the title with hard work and smart play. The Razorbacks are very proud of him. Next up for us is the ITA All-American as we continue to get ready for the team season in January.”

Torpegaard At Home in Columbus, Bellamy Basks in the Bay, Scott Spices the Cajun, Belga Burns Through the Bedford

What a successful week it was on the pro tour for several current, future, and former collegians. The biggest news came in Columbus (OH) as Ohio State junior Mikael Torpegaard won the $50K Columbus Challenger by defeating the top seed Benjamin Becker (Baylor '05) in three sets.

Torpegaard earned the only break of the first set when he broke Becker from 30/40 to go up 5-4 and then he held at love to take the opening set 6-4. Becker flipped the script in the second set and won 30 of 44 points (68%) in route to a 6-1 set. Torpegaard fell behind 0-40 on his serve to start the third set before coming back to get an important hold. After five consecutive holds, Torpegaard broke Becker in a two-deuce game to go up 4-2 and then he broke him one more time from 15/40 to close out the 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 win in 1 hour and 31 minutes.

Torpegaard Into the Finals in Cbus & Plenty of Fall Tournament Results

Ohio State junior Mikael Torpegaard got a wild card into the $50K Columbus (OH) Challenger, which is played at the Ohio State Varsity Tennis Center, and he has thanked the tournament organizers with his stellar performance on the court this week. Torpegaard had never played a Challenger-level event prior to this week but a 7-5, 7-6(5) win over former Tennessee Volunteer and ATP #263 Tennys Sandgren has him in the finals where he'll meet former Baylor Bear and 2004 NCAA Singles Champion ATP #97 Benjamin Becker. Torpegaard, who entered the tournament with an ATP ranking of 642, has won 13 of his last 14 pro matches and with a win tomorrow he'd see his ATP ranking climb to roughly 368; with a loss he'd be just inside 445.

Battle in the Bay, Cajun Classic, Southern Intercollegiates, Bedford Cup, & More

Seeds rolled through the opening day of the Battle in the Bay Classic in San Francisco with 7 of the top 8 advancing to the Round of 16. The only seeded loser was Pepperdine's Pedro Iamachkine who fell to San Francisco's Johan Jonhagen 7-6, 6-4.

10 of the top 16 seeds moved into the Round of 16 at the Southern Intercollegiates with another seed (Tchoutakian) still having to play his R32 match on Saturday. One of the biggest surprises of the day came in the second round when Florida's Maxx Lipman took out the No. 10 seed David Biosca of East Tennessee State 6-0, 6-3.

Cajun Classic is Underway Plus a UTR Breakdown of the Southern Intercollegiates & Furman Fall Invitational

The John Breaux Cajun Classic got underway on Thursday in Lafayette with Texas sophomore Colin Markes picking up where he left off last weekend in Midland. Markes won six matches in three days in route to winning the Racquet Club Invitational and today he won another two matches with the second coming over the No. 7 seed Oklahoma State's Arjun Kadhe.

Markes will meet Texas Tech sophomore Bjorn Thomson in the quarterfinals after Thomson picked up a nice 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over the No. 2 seed and defending champion LSU's Jordan Daigle. Full results from today are listed below.

Coaching Updates & Upcoming Fall Tournaments with Draws

The fall season is underway and most coaching openings have been filled some with new hires and some with interims. Mike Edles announced his retirement at UC Irvine on September 1st and it was announced yesterday that assistant coach Elizabeth Ferris had been elevated to interim women's coach for the upcoming season. Ferris, who played at Utah from 2004 to 2008, had been the Edles assistant for the last three seasons.

Connor Smith Wins Again in Israel, Fanselow Too Good in Claremont, McGee Takes Cary, Doubles Success, College ATP Rankings

Connor Smith (Ohio State '13) swept both the singles and doubles titles at the Israel F12 Futures in Ashkelon.  Smith crushed #600 Neil Pauffley 6-1, 6-0 in the singles final and then he and Danny Thomas defeated Nate Lammons (SMU '16) and Dane Webb (Oklahoma '15) 6-0, 7-6(3) to win the doubles title. Smith also won both the singles and doubles title the previous week in Israel so that means he now has a 10-match winning streak in singles and an 8-match winning streak in doubles. The singles title was Smith's second of the year, six of his career, while the doubles title was his 11th and third with Thomas.

Davis Cup Results - Alvarez Clinches It For Peru!!

Another round of Davis Cup action is in the books with a handful of former college guys competing along with one current player.  Duke junior Nicolas Alvarez clinched Peru's Davis Cup tie against Venezuela by defeating Jordi Munoz-Abreu 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-1. Alvarez's win means that Peru will be promoted from Group 2 to Group 1 when Davis Cup starts up against next year.

Bendeck Crushes It in Napa; Markes Masters Midland, Oklahoma State Women Strong in Newport

Jimmy Bendeck was the big winner at the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic after the Baylor sophomore went 3-0 in singles action and then won USTA Wildcard Shootout by winning three 10-point supertiebreaks. Bendeck's shootout win guarantees him a main draw wildcard into a future USTA Challenger event. Bendeck had a solid freshman year in Waco going 17-8 in dual-match play while splitting time between No. 4 and No. 5 singles and it looks like he's progressing towards another strong season.

Saturday Fall Results

Michigan was the top performer on Day 2 at the Hall of Fame/ITA Grass Court Invitational  after going 6-2 in singles - here are results broken down by flight. You can watch the final day beginning at 10 a.m. ET via FloTennis at this link (subscription required).

ITA Grass Courts - Men's Singles Results

(82) Alex Knight (Michigan) def. Tom Colautti (Princeton), 4-6, 7-6(4), (10-5)

Luca Corinteli (Virginia) def. Alex Day (Princeton), 6-4, 6-2

Luke Gamble (Princeton) def. Reese Stalder (TCU), 6-3, 7-5

Payton Holden (Princeton) def. Kevin Wong (Michigan), 6-4, 7-6(7)

Gabe Tishman (Michigan) def. Jonathan Carcione (Princeton), 6-2, 6-3

Davis Cup

The 2016 Davis Cup is starting to wind down with several current and former college guys playing for their respective home countries.  Below is a look at who is playing and where and you can follow along with the Davis Cup Scoreboard.

World Group - Playoff

Slovakia at Australia (Grass) - Australia won 3-0

• John Peers (AUS/Baylor '11)/Sam Groth def. Andrej Martin/Igor Zelenay 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(3), 7-6(2)

Friday Fall Results + FloTennis Debuts in Newport

Fall tennis is in the air as players took the courts all across the country today. I was able to watch an hour or so of the inaugural Hall of Fame/ITA Grass Court Invitational on FloTennis and I liked what I saw.  It was cool to see college players out on the grass courts and I liked the streaming options that FloTennis provided. They had crystal-clear live streaming on all eight courts and gave you the ability to select up to two courts at once for side-by-side viewing plus they had the score at the bottom left of the screen (see below). FloTennis didn't have any announcers on Friday but they will on Saturday and Sunday so if you get a chance check out the broadcast for yourself at this link (subscription required).

Busy Weekend of Tennis - HOF/ITA Grass Courts, Napa, Bonk, Midland, & More

There were a handful of college tournaments last weekend but things really get fired up this weekend with one of the feature events taking place on the grass courts at the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. The grass court event is making its debut this year and FloTennis will also have it's first college tennis broadcast available at this link (subscription required) beginning at 10 a.m. ET.

Virginia, TCU, Michigan, and Princeton are sending men's representatives while Cal, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, and Harvard will have some of its women's players in action. It will be a round-robin event with play running from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Ton of Coaching Updates, NCAA/ACC Removing Championships from North Carolina; Cal vs. USTA Juniors

Santa Clara Athletic Director Renee Baumgartner announced the hiring of Niall Angus as the Broncos' new men's head coach. Angus, who graduated from Texas A&M in 2013, joined the staff last year as an assistant coach. Angus replaces Derek Mills who retired after nine seasons.

Women's Individual Preseason Rankings With UTRs

Yesterday I gave you the men's preseason rankings and today here are the women's preseason individual rankings. These preseason rankings are simply last year's final rankings with all the graduating seniors removed along with those that turned pro or are taking the fall off to play pro events. There are no freshmen included in these initial singles rankings although there is a list of the top 10 newcomers.

North Carolina's Hayley Carter, who finished last year ranked No. 2, is the top ranked singles player followed by Pepperdine sophomore Luisa Stefani, Ohio State sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo, Georgia junior Ellen Perez, and Miami junior Sinead Lohan.

Men's Individual Preseason Rankings With UTRs

It's officially time to open the book on another season of college tennis and the first page contains the preseason individual rankings which were released earlier on Tuesday. For those that weren't aware these preseason rankings are simply last year's final rankings with all the graduating seniors removed along with those that turned pro or are taking the fall off to play pro events. There are no freshmen included in these initial singles rankings although there is a list of the top 10 newcomers.

Ohio State junior Mikael Torpegaard lands at No. 1 in the men's rankings after finishing last year at No. 2. TCU junior Cameron Norrie is at No. 2, Illinois junior Aleks Vukic is at No. 3, Virginia senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski is at No. 4, and Georgia Tech junior Christopher Eubanks comes in at No. 5.

Fall Tournaments - Weekend of 9/9 - 9/11

The first full weekend of Fall Tournament action is in the books - below are the flight winners or if the tournament wasn't in a flight format the Day 3 results are listed.

Palmas Del Mar - Puerto Rico - Georgia, Florida State, Mercer, and Illinois.

Singles Championship Match

Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) def. Wayne Montgomery (UGA), 6-7, 6-3, 1-0

Pro Circuit Recap - Connor Smith Doubles Up In Israel, Maden Takes Belgium, Ghorbel Rules Egypt, & More

Last weekend was a very successful weekend on the Pro Circuit as seven former collegians won pro titles while another eleven finished as runner-up.

The third seed #502 Connor Smith (Ohio State '13) swept both the singles and doubles titles at the $10K Israel F11 Futures in Herzliya. Smith won his first singles title of the year, fifth of his career, with a straight set win over the top seed #321 Yannick Jankovits. There were no breaks of serve in the opening set but Smith earned a mini-break to start the tiebreak and managed to pull it out 8-6. The only break of the second set came when Smith broke from 15/40 to go ahead 5-3 and then he served it out from 40/30 to win it 7-6(6), 6-3.

Kwiatkowski & Collins Give UVA An ACI Sweep; Hart and Shibahara Wins US Open Junior Dubs, Fall Results

Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Danielle Collins gave the Cavaliers a clean sweep on Saturday afternoon at the American Collegiate Invitational in New York City. Kwiatkowski needed just 65 minutes to dispatch Georgia's Austin Smith 6-2, 6-2 while Collins defeated Michigan's Ronit Yurovsky 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour and 21 minutes.

Kwiatkowski won a stout 73% of the points on his serve and topped that off by winning 50% of the points on Smith's serve.

ACI Finals Set, Ram Falls in Mixed Dubs Final, Hart/Shibahara Advance to USOJ Dubs Final, All-American Fields Announced

Virginia senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski will meet recent Georgia graduate Austin Smith on Saturday in the men's final of the American Collegiate Invitational while it'll be recent Michigan graduate Ronit Yurovsky taking on the two-time NCAA singles champion and Virginia graduate Danielle Collins in the women's final.

Thai-Son Kwiatkowski needed just 53 minutes to get past Stanford junior Tom Fawcett 6-2, 6-0. Kwiatkowski won 64% of the points on Fawcett's serve and converted six of seven break points with Fawcett only landing 38% of his first serves. Kwiatkowski won 24 of 31 points in the 22 minute second set.