New Site Officially Up

This blogspot site will stay up for a while but all new content will be on my new site with the address www.collegetennistoday.com so make sure you bookmark that one going forward. 

Weekend Tournament Recap, Pro Circuit Recaps with College ATP Rankings, National Indoor Intercollegiate

I have a couple of new posts over on the new site which is just about ready.

Monday 11/7 - Fall Tournament Recap (Bulldog Scramble, Dickie V, Big Ten Individuals)
Sunday 11/6 - Di Lorenzo & Redlicki Dominate No-Ad In Route to Championships
Saturday 11/5 - National Indoor Intercollegiate Finals Are Set
Friday 11/4 - NIIC Semifinals Set
Thursday 11/3 - Day 1 NIIC 

Wednesday 11/2 - National Indoor Intercollegiate Singles Draws by the Numbers

Tuesday 11/1 - Holt Wins SoCal Intercollegiates, Pro Circuit Recaps w Current ATP College Rankings
Sunday - All-USC SoCal Intercollegiate Final, Spencer Furman Wins Singles Title in Charlotte, Wake Women Excel In Knoxville

FYI, the hold up with the site conversion has been the process that converts all the links from the old site to the new site address. I had 706 links that had to be converted and as of today 677 had been completed. It's been a slow process because Google only converts so many links per day. 

Weekend Preview, NIIC Seeds, Manny to the Hall, Recommended Reads

The fall college tennis season is coming around the final turn and starting to make its way toward the finish line. The past two weekends have been loaded up with the ITA Regional Championships and the Oracle ITA Masters and while there isn't a major tournament this weekend there are several good ones to follow.

USC is hosting the 60th Southern California Intercollegiate Championships with a strong field that will be able to experiment with PlaySight's PlayFair Challenge System (this will be the first college tournament to use it). Live streaming of the event is available here and you can view all the draws, seeds, and scores at the TennisLink site.

National Indoor Intercollegiate Selections

The National Tournament Committee made the at-large selections based off fall results and ITA Preseason Ranking. 6 of the 10 women's singles at-large selections went to ITA Regional Runner-Ups while the other 4 were awarded from a pool of players that made it to at least the quarterfinals at the ITA All-Americans or ITA Regional Championships.

Florida's Belinda Woolcock and Pepperdine's Mayar Sherif Ahmed were both awarded at-large bids after making the quarterfinals at the All-Americans and their respective ITA Regionals. South Carolina's Ingrid Gamarra Martins was awarded an at-large after making the semifinals at the ITA Carolina Regional plus she came through the qualifying draw at the ITA All-Americans and won her opening round match and she recently made the finals at an ITF Pro Event in Charleston, South Carolina. Duke's Meible Chi was awarded an at-large after making the quarterfinals at the ITA Carolina Regional plus she's had some stout results this fall - Flight Singles Champion at Duke Bonk Invitational, won four matches at the ITA All-Americans (3 qualifying/1 main draw), and won a pair of matches at the Oracle ITA Masters. 

ITA Regional Updates

ITA Regional Updates:

Friday - Men/Women
Thursday - Men/Women
Saturday - Men/Women
Sunday - Men/Women
Monday - Men/Women

The site migration is still not complete so hopefully eventually everything will be where it needs to be. I'll keep posting my daily updates at dev.collegetennistoday.com so visit that link to see everything.

Men's and Women's Regionals - Week 2

I have the draws for this week's men's and women's regionals over on my new site but to view them you need to use this link. All the old links from this site are being converted to the new address but the process is probably still another day away from finishing up - thank you for your patience. 

Pro Circuit Recap

13 players with college ties won pro events last week with another 15 finishing as runner-up.

Wil Spencer (Georgia '12) won his third career Futures singles title with a straight set win over Illinois junior Aron Hiltzik at the $25K USA F31 Futures in Houston. Spencer broke Hiltzik from 15/40 to take the first set 6-4 and then after falling behind 3-1 in the second Spencer reeled off five straight games to close it out 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 18 minutes. Spencer is expected to rise from 730 to around 585 in next week's rankings while Hiltzik will shoot up from 1580 to around 885.

Shift To New Site

---UPDATE Tues Oct 18th--

Experiencing technical difficulties with Google. This may delay the shift to the new site for a few days. I'll follow up once we get through a few extra steps that they need to keep from losing all our old links ;)
---

Effective tomorrow (Tuesday) this blogspot domain will shift to my new domain which will have the same web address except you drop the blogspot.com part. I've owned collegetennistoday.com since I started this site but have had it forwarded to blogspot - hopefully the switch will be seamless and you'll enjoy the added information that I have in my new dropdown menus. All my content has been shifted over except for the comments part from the last few months.

You won't need to do anything to get to the new site because this site will automatically redirect you.

Until the technical issues are resolved you can view the new site at dev.collegetennistoday.com

Shibahara and Matsumura Claim Oracle Masters; Frank, Gbaguidi, Cox/Konfederak, Bogoliy/Willing Win Oracle Cup

It was a day for the 2s at the Oracle events with both No. 2 seeds winning the singles titles as the Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu and a player from a Division 2 school winning the Oracle Cup Men's Singles Championship and Women's Doubles Championship.

UCLA freshman and No. 2 seed Ena Shibahara ran her collegiate record to 15-1 with a tough three-set win over Pepperdine sophomore and top seed Luisa Stefani. The pivotal point of the match came late in the third set when Shibahara broke Stefani's 5-5 service game on the no-ad (40/40) point. Shibahara then held from 40/15 to close it out 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Oracle ITA Masters & Oracle Cup Saturday Results

Oracle ITA Masters Singles - you can view doubles and consolation bracket results on the tournament's home page. 

D1 - Women's Semifinals 

[1] Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine 12.26) def. [5] Hayley Carter (North Carolina 11.93) 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3

[2] Ena Shibahara (UCLA 12.07) def. [3] Sara Daavettila (N Carolina 11.96) 6-3, 6-3

Championship (Sunday 12:30 p.m. PT)

[1] Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine 12.26) vs. [2] Ena Shibahara (UCLA 12.07)

D1 ITA Regional Championships - Week 1

Qualifying for November's National Indoor Intercollegiates in New York City is underway at 8 different sites across the country. There are 12 ITA Regions on both the men's and women's sides with the winner at each location earning a spot in the main draw at the last big event on the fall college tennis schedule. The other 16 regionals (8 men/8 women) will take place next week.

Down at the bottom of this post I have a list of those that have already qualified for the NIICs so I wouldn't expect to see any of them participating at an ITA Regional (unless they are trying to qualify for doubles). Players must at least make the quarterfinals to be eligible for an at-large entry into the NIICs.

Below are the top 8 seeds at each of the 8 regional along with a link to streaming video (if available).

Oracle ITA Masters & Oracle Cup Friday Results

Oracle ITA Masters Singles - you can view doubles and consolation bracket results on the tournament's home page. 

D1 - Women's Round of 16

[1] Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine 12.26) def. [16] Ksenia Laskutova (Tulsa 10.87) 6-3, 6-1

[9] Blair Shankle (Baylor 11.48) def. [8] Viktoriya Lushkova (Okla St 11.63) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

[4] Ashley Lahey (Pepperdine 12.06) def. [20] Kana Daniel (Penn 10.68) 6-1, 7-5

[5] Hayley Carter (North Carolina 11.93) def. [12] Laura Gulbe (Pepperdine 11.22) 6-2, 1-6, 7-5

Oracle ITA Masters & Oracle Cup Thursday Results

The Oracle ITA Masters got underway on Thursday morning in Malibu with mixed doubles and progressed through the singles draws as the day went on. 12 of the 16 men's singles matches were won by the higher seed with Columbia's Shawn Hadavi, Old Dominion's Adam Moundir, Denver's Diogo Rocha, and Valparaiso's Jeffrey Schorsch the four lower seeds to prevail.  On the women's side the higher seed won 15 of 16 matches on Thursday with the lone seeded upset coming when Penn's Kana Daniel, seeded No. 20, defeated Rice's Katherine Ip, seeded No. 13, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

You can view doubles and consolation bracket results on the tournament's home page. 

D1 - Men's 

[1] Yuya Ito (Texas 14.56) def. [32] Kei Ezaka (Quinnipiac 12.06) 6-4, 6-2

[16] Jack Findel-Hawkins (North Florida 13.80) def. [17] Lautaro Pane (Pepperdine 13.78) 6-4, 6-2

[8] Martin Redlicki (UCLA 14.22) def. [25] Jaime Barajas (Utah State 13.10) 7-6(3), 6-2

[9] David Biosca East Tennessee St 14.20) def. [24] Michael Feucht (Lamar 13.27) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

[4] Ryan Peniston (Memphis 14.35) def. [29] Michael Nguyen (Army 12.45) 6-2, 6-4

ITA Oracle Cup - D2, D3, NAIA, JUCO

The ITA Oracle Cup (formerly Small College Nationals) gets underway today in Sunrise, Arizona, with the top players from D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO competing for a chance to win the Oracle Cup. The participants earned their spots after winning an ITA Regional Championship in September with a few at-large selections awarded at the NAIA and JUCO level due to their being less than eight ITA regions.

There were nine qualifiers at D3 level due to their being nine ITA regions so a play-in match was held between the winners of the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

Oracle ITA Masters News and Notes

The draws are out for the second Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu with this year's format differing a good bit from last year. Last year the singles field was limited to 16 players with the field selected based on preseason ITA rankings; this year the field has been expanded to 32 players with the goal to have one player per conference. The other change relates to doubles - last year there was a men's and women's doubles draw but this year those have been scrapped in favor of a mixed doubles draw.

The seeding is completely based on Universal Tennis Rating using a UTR from a few days ago. Texas freshman Yuya Ito is the top seed in the men's draw while Pepperdine sophomore Luisa Stefani is tops in the women's draw.

Coaching Updates, PlayFair Challenge System, & Pro Circuit Recap

It took about a month but Monmouth Athletic Director Marilyn McNeil announced the hiring of Alex Kasarov as the Hawks new men's head coach. Kasarov was the men's assistant coach at Davidson for the last two season and replaces Kyle Bailey who departed after a few months to become the new men's assistant at South Carolina.

Hofstra Director of Atheltics Jeffrey Hathaway announced the hiring of Jason Pasion as the Pride's new men's and women's head coach. Pasion had a successful two-year stint at D2's NYIT where he won over 70 percent of his matches and led both the men's and women's program to deep runs at the NCAA Tournament. Pasion replaced Jeffrey Menaker who departed after one season for unknown reasons.

Petros Chrysochos Takes Tulsa, Bergevi/Lakat Tame North Florida, Holt Halts Schneider in Consol Final

Wake Forest sophomore Petros Chrysochos is your 2016 Saint Francis Health System Men's All-American Champion after overpowering Ohio State junior Hugo Di Feo.

Chrysochos entered the match as the higher ranked player but it was Di Feo that got off to the quick start after breaking from 30/40 to take an early 2-1 lead. Chrysochos immediately broke back, from 15/40, and then held at love to go ahead 3-2. Di Feo held from 40/15 and then went up 0/30 on Chrysochos's serve but the Demon Deacon took the next four points to hold for 4-3. After a pair of holds, Di Feo went up 30/0 on his 4-5 service game but Chrysochos won the next three points to take a 30/40 lead. Di Feo got it to the deciding no-ad (40/40) point after Chrysochos broke his string on the service return (which didn't make it back over the net) but Chrysochos got the break and the first set after hitting a forehand winner.

Di Lorenzo Wins Women's All-American; Chrysochos and Di Feo To Meet in Men's Finals

Ohio State sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo just started her second year of collegiate tennis but she's already claimed two Grand Slams after winning the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. Di Lorenzo was playing her fifth match of the week while her opponent, UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara, was taking the court the 11th time since beginning the pre-qualifying rounds nine days earlier.

Shibahara started the match off with a hold and break but Di Lorenzo broke back and held to even it at 2-2. It stayed on serve until Di Lorenzo broke to go up 5-4 and then she served it out from 40/30 to take the opening set 6-4. There were four straight holds to start the second set until Di Lorenzo broke from 15/40 to go ahead 3-2. Di Lorenzo fell behind 30/40 on her next service game before coming back to hold on the no-ad point to extend her lead to 4-2. After a love hold by Shibahara, Di Lorenzo faced a big point at 30-all on her 4-3 service game.  Di Lorenzo hit a service winner to go up 40/30 and then she hit another service winner to hold for 5-3. Shibahara was now serving to stay in the match but she quickly went down 15/40. Di Lorenzo didn't waste any time and closed it out on the next point after using her wheels to track down a Shibahara drop shot.

Day of Upsets in Tulsa; Di Lorenzo and Shibahara Will Meet in Women's Final

Six of the top eight seeds began the day in Tulsa but by mid-afternoon Wake Forest sophomore Petros Chrysochos would be the only one left with a number beside his name.

Chrysochos and Arkansas senior Jose Salazar slugged it out for 2 hours and 40 minutes in their Round of 16 match. Chrysochos was broke serving for the first set at 5-4 and 6-5 before rolling 7-1 in the tiebreak. Chrysochos led 3-1 in the second set but Salazar won four straight games to go ahead 5-3 and would eventually serve the second set out to take it 6-4. Chrysochos jumped out to a single break 4-1 lead in the third set but Salazar got it back on serve and forced a third set tiebreak. Chrysochos would take the third set tiebreak 7-4 to move on to the quarterfinals against the top seed Ohio State's Mikael Torpegaard.

Kwiatkowski Survives; Wake Trio Triumphs, Texas Freshmen Too Tough; Shibahara Shines

While the men's top seed Mikael Torpegaard cruised into the Round of 16 the second seed and defending champion Thai-Son Kwiatkowski got all he wanted and more from UCLA junior Martin Redlicki. The Bruin lefty used his big serve and forehand to keep Kwiatkowski at arms length but the Cavalier senior hung around long enough to turn it around.

Redlicki took the opening set 6-3 after picking up the lone break to go up 4-2. Kwiatkowski broke Redlicki to go up 3-1 in the second but Redlicki broke back and held to even it at 3-3. Redlicki came back from 15/40 down to send the set to a tiebreak but Kwiatkowski rolled 7-3 to force a deciding third set. Redlicki held to start the third set and kept the pressure on but Kwiatkowski was awfully tough on his own serve. Kwiatkowski held from 40/30 to even it at 5-5 and then he got the pivotal break to go up 6-5. Redlicki was up 40/30 in his 5-5 service game but a Kwiatkowski forehand winner brought up the no-ad point and when Redlicki netted a forehand Kwiatkowski had the break. Kwiatkowski hit back-to-back service winners from 30-all to close out the 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 win.

Cowgirls and Tar Heels Roll Through The Riviera First Round While Several Seeds Hit The Rocks

Three of the five seeds were knocked out of the main draw on Thursday with North Carolina's Hayley Carter and Ohio State's Francesca Di Lorenzo the lone survivors. Florida's Kourtney Keegan knocked off the second seed Pepperdine's Luisa Stefani, Vanderbilt's Astra Sharma defeated the fourth seed Miami's Sinead Lohan, and Oklahoma State's Vladica Babic held off the fifth seed Mississippi State's Jasmine Lee.

Three of the top four seeds lost in doubles with Florida's Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, the No. 2 seeds and defending NCAA Champions, the only ones to move on to the quarterfinals.

Oklahoma State went a perfect 3-0 in singles with Babic, Katarina Adamovic, and Viktoriya Lushkova posting Ws while North Carolina went 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles thanks to Hayley Carter (dubs), Sara Daavettila, and Jessie Aney (dubs)

Torp and Thai-Son Move On To Round 2 & Let's Up The Flo

Each of the top seven seeds picked up wins on a hot, humid, and windy day in Tulsa with straight set matches the norm. 25 of 32 first round matches finished in straight sets though several of those were tightly contested.

The top seeded Mikael Torpegaard cruised to a 6-2 first set against Virginia senior J.C. Aragone but the hard hitting Cavalier fought back in the second set. Aragone broke Torpegaard on a disputed line call on the no-ad point to take a 4-2 lead but a fired up Torpegaard broke back from 15/40 and then held for 4-4 after Aragone netted a forehand on the no-ad point. Torpegaard broke for 6-5 when Aragone netted another forehand on the no-ad point and then the Buckeye junior held from 40/30 to close it out 6-2, 7-5.

Women's AA Wraps Up Qualies - Main Draw Begins Thursday

Players from the Power 5 conferences claimed 7 of the 8 qualifying spots in California with Pepperdine's Mayar Sherif Ahmed being the lone exception. UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara was the only player from the pre-qualifying draw to make it all the way to the main draw after the Bruin won all six matches in straight sets.

Men's All-American Main Draw Breakdown

It's time for the main event in Tulsa with all 64 competitors known after the conclusion of the qualifying rounds. The main draw is out and there are going to be some juicy opening round matches. I thought I would take a look at the composition of the men's field and show you where the 64 players came from and how they made the field.

40 players made the main draw based off the ITA's preseason ranking with the last acceptance being USC's Logan Smith who was ranked No. 48.

Men's AA Qualies Wrap Up While the Women Start Back Up

The men's pre-qualifying and qualifying rounds in Tulsa have come to a close as the 16 qualifiers will get a day off before the main draw begins on Thursday.

South Florida junior Peter Bertran, Texas freshman Christian Sigsgaard, and Columbia freshman Alex Keyser each qualified for the main draw after starting play back on Saturday in pre-qualies. Four freshman qualified for the main draw, three schools had multiple qualifiers, and 11 of the 16 qualifiers came from schools in Power 5 conference.

Pro Circuit Recap & College ATP Rankings

12 players with collegiate ties won pro titles last week with 10 of those titles coming within the United States.

Jarmere Jenkins (Virginia '13) won his first singles title of the year, seventh of his career, with a 6-1, 7-5 win over #292 Marc Polmans in the final of the $25K Australia F6 Futures in Brisbane. Interesting to note that five of Jenkins's seven career titles have come in Australia. Here was article on the match from Tennis Australia.

Bechard and Jacobs Pull Off Qualifying Day 1 Upsets in Tulsa

The opening day of the singles qualifying draw is in the books with four of the top 10 seeds, including the top seed, making an early exit. There was one Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) upset with South Alabama's Tuki Jacobs (13.23) knocking off the No. 4 seed Memphis's Ryan Peniston (14.36) in straight sets.

Qualifiers from the pre-qualifying draw went a stout 10-6 while both lucky losers were defeated for the second match in a row. Freshmen went 11-5 on the day with 4 of the winners coming through pre-qualies which meant they've now won 5 matches in the last 3 days.

Women's All-America Qualifying Draw with UTRs

The women are taking the day off in California but play will resume on Tuesday with the start of the Riviera/ITA All-American qualifying draw. I've got the qualifying draw broken down by Universal Tennis Rating, seed, and school and it's interesting to note that none of the top eight seeds have a top eight UTR. There actually isn't a huge difference in UTR level between the pre-qualifying draw and qualifying draw due to the pre-qualifying draw being restricted to 64 (unlike the men's open pre-q draw).

All-American Pre-Q's Wrap Up & Men's Qualifying Draw Broken Down by UTR

The All-American pre-qualifying rounds are in the books with 8 women moving on to the qualifying rounds while 16 men move on to the qualifying round. Below are all the Sunday scores and down at the bottom I have the qualie draw broken down by UTR, school, and seed.

Women's Pre-Q by Conference:
SEC (4) - Foster (Jr), Pierson (Sr), Liang (Sr), Kulhman (Jr)
Pac 12 (2) - Westby (Jr), Shibahara (Fr)
ACC (1) - Chi (Fr)
WCC (1) - Lahey (Fr)

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.

Wahoos Roll at ACI, Ram Playing for a Mixed Doubles Grand Slam, Hart/Shibahara Into Semis at USO Juniors

Virginia senior and top seed Thai-Son Kwiatkowski advanced to the semifinals at the American Collegiate Invitational  after Arkansas senior Mike Redlicki retired down 6-4, 3-0. Kwiatkowski broke Redlicki to go ahead 5-4 in the first and then after serving the set out he broke two more times before Redlicki threw in the towel. Below is a  post-match comment from Arkansas head coach Andy Jackson via Arkansas's website:

American Collegiate Invitational, Hainline To Receive Achievement Award, Coaching News, US Open Results

The third annual American Collegiate Invitational begins tomorrow at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with an eight-person draw in both men's and women's singles. The fields are comprised of the top two players in the ATP/WTA rankings (as of July 18) and the top five players in the year-end Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings (excluding those selected by pro ranking), including at least two graduating seniors or players who have turned pro/exhausted their collegiate eligibility. Georgia junior Paul Oosterbaan was originally selected to participate but he had to withdraw due to an injury so Northwestern senior Konrad Zieba filled the opening.

Amanda Stone To Louisiana Tech, Other Coaching News, US Open Results

Louisiana Tech Athletics Director Tommy McClelland announced the hiring of Amanda Stone as the Lady Techsters new women's head coach. Stone comes to Ruston via D2's Northeastern State (Okla) where she won 81% of her matches as head coach over the past four seasons. Stone graduated from Northeastern State in 2007 and also spent two seasons as an assistant at the University of Rochester prior to becoming coach at Northeastern State. Stone replaces Chad Camper who departed after three seasons to take the women's head coaching job at Chattanooga.

US Open Labor Day College Scores

Here are Monday's results from the US Open.

US Open Men's Doubles - Third Round
Robert Lindstedt (Pepperdine '98)/A Qureshi def. [5] Jean-Julien Rojer (UCLA '02)/H Tecau 6-3, 7-6(4)

Quarterfinals
Robert Lindstedt (Pepperdine '98)/A Qureshi vs. [1] P Herbert/N Mahut
[3] Bob & Mike Bryan (Stanford '98) vs. [8] Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez

Brayden Schnur Wins in Calgary; Mizzou Removes Interim Tag From Colt Gaston, Pro Circuit Recap, US Open Continues

Brayden Schnur won his second career pro singles title on Sunday with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Tim van Rijthoven at the $25K Canada F6 Futures in Calgary. Schnur, who turned pro in July after completing his junior year at North Carolina, broke van Rijthoven from 30/40 to go up 5-3 in the first set before serving it out from 40/15 to take the set 6-3. Van Rijthoven broke twice in the second set in route to a 6-3 set but Schnur would come back in the third. Schnur broke from 15/40 to go up 4-2 and he'd serve it out a few games later to close out the match.

US Open College Results

Been traveling this weekend so just score updates - more to come on Sunday.

US Open Men's Doubles - Second Round (Saturday)
Robert Lindstedt (Pepperdine '98)/A Qureshi def. [10] John Peers (Baylor '11)/H Kontinen 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-3
[5] Jean-Julien Rojer (UCLA '02)/Horia Tecau def. Michael Venus (LSU '09)/Mate Pavic 6-2, 6-2
[4] Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares def. Marcin Matkowski (UCLA '03)/Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-1
Andre Sa/Chris Guccione def. [7] Rajeev Ram (ILL '03)/R Klaasen 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3

Tim Dean To Green Bay, USTA Increases Support, Shot Clock Test, US Open College Results

Green Bay Athletic Director Mary Ellen Gillespie announced the hiring of Tim Dean as the new men's and women's head coach. Dean, who is a 2011 St. Scholastica graduate, replaces Daniel Bickett who left after one season to take a volunteer assistant position at Wisconsin. Dean doesn't have any collegiate head coaching experience though he was recently the Head Tennis Pro at Oneida Country Club in Green Bay.

The United State Tennis Association (USTA) announced that it will be increasing its support of college tennis through wild cards into pro tournaments along with basing its MatchDay series at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. Stephen Amritraj (Duke '06) will take over as the Director of Collegiate Tennis for the USTA - you can read the full release here.

Tim Gray To Brown; Greenwood TC Honored, Rough Day at the USO

Brown Director of Athletics Jack Hayes announced the hiring of Tim Gray as the Bears new men's head coach. Gray most recently served as a consultant at Donovan Sports Strategies with his last head coaching job coming at Bradley during the 2013-14 season. Bradley went 3-19 in that one season and dropped the program a few months after the season. Gray also spent six years as the women's coach at Auburn, three years as the women's coach at Eastern Michigan, along with a few other stops at the D3 level. Gray replaces Bryan Koniecko who went 24-26 (.480) in two seasons before leaving to become the women's head coach at Central Florida.

US Open Day 3 Results; College Schedules Released, Coaching News

The US Open continued today with both John Isner (Georgia '07) and Kevin Anderson (Illinois '07) moving on to the third round while Stanford commit CiCi Bellis beat her second top 100 opponent to move into the third round.

US Open College Tennis Results & 8/29 College ATP Rankings

For most of the evening Steve Johnson looked down and out but the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Singles Champion showed some grit and rallied from two sets down to win in five over Russia's Evgeny Donskoy. Johnson had rocked Donskoy 6-1, 6-1 just a few weeks ago at the Rio Olympics so to see him down 4-6, 1-6, 2-5 (0-40) was surprising to say the least. Johnson fought off four match points in his 2-5 service game, broke from 30/40 to put the match back on serve, and then fought off two more match points on his 5-6 service game before rolling in the tiebreak. Johnson broke midway through the fourth set and then early in the fifth set before pulling out the 4-6, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-3 win.

Oracle/ITA Masters Field Announced; Isner Survives While Myneni/McDonald Fall

The field for this year's Oracle/ITA Masters was announced today with 28 of 31 conferences sending a representative for the October 13-16 event in Malibu, California. The full selection criteria is here but in essence the top returning player from each conference was given the opportunity to participate with some accepting and others opting out. There was originally only supposed to be one wild card in each draw but there ended up being four due to the A10, Sun Belt, and SWAC not having a men's representative while the Atlantic Sun, Horizon, and Mountain West didn't have one on the women's side.

Petr Michnev Rallies To Win Austria F7 & US Open Doubles Draws Released, NCAA Doubles Champs US Open Results

#471 Petr Michnev (Hawaii-Pacific '14) won his second singles title this year, and third of his career, with a come from behind win over #542 Corentin Denolly in the finals of the $10K Austria F7 Futures in Poertschach. Denolly broke Michnev in a two-deuce after trailing 40/0 to go ahead 3-2 in the first and then only dropped two more points on serve in route to taking the set 6-4. Michnev broke Denolly in a one-deuce game to go ahead 3-1 in the second and then he broke him again in a four-deuce game to take the set 6-2. Denolly went ahead 4-2 in the third set after breaking from 15/40 and then holding from 40/15 but it was all Michnev in the next four games. Michnev held at love, broke in a one-deuce game, held at love, and broke from 15/40 to close out the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.

King/Betkas Win USONP Mixed Dubs, Vliegen Takes Belgium, NCAA Champs US Open Track Record

It was a good day for former Michigan stars Evan King ('13) and Emina Bektas ('15) as the Wolverine duo won the US Open National Playoff Mixed Doubles Draw with a 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (8) win over Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11) and Malcolm Harrison (NW Missouri St '12). The win earned King and Bektas a main draw wild card into next week's US Open which will be the first main draw Grand Slam match for each.

Coaching Updates, US Open Qualies Wrap Up/Main Draw Released, USONP Mixed Doubles, Pro Circuit

Bucknell Athletics Director John Hardt announced the hiring of Bruce Myers as the new men's head coach of the Bison. Myers comes to Lewisburg after spending last season as the women's head coach at Longwood before departing to become the men's head coach at Delaware. Myers went 16-21 (.432) in one and half seasons at Longwood and 3-5 (.375) in his brief stay at Delaware. Myers also coached at North Carolina A&T in 2014 and prior to that was at Randolph-Macon for two seasons. He replaces Craig Schwartz who stepped down after four seasons to relocate to Boone, North Carolina, to be with his wife (Appalachian State head field hockey coach) and son.

Ritchie Takes Over At Rutgers, US Open Qualies, More Schedules Released, Holy Cross College Starting Program

Rutgers Director of Athletics Patrick Hobbs announced that Hilary Ritchie had been elevated from acting women's head coach to full-time head coach. Ritchie, who played at Iowa and Colorado State, had been the assistant coach at Rutgers for the past six years under Benjamin Bucca who recently stepped down after 13 years to become a New Jersey Superior Court judge.

David Macpherson Hired at GW, Meister/Quigley Win USONP Dubs, US Open Qualies Update, & More

George Washington Director of Athletics Patrick Nero announced the hiring of David Macpherson as the Colonials new men's tennis coach. Macpherson had been the Bryan Brothers coach since 2005 after having a successful pro career that lasted almost 20 years. Macpherson replaces Greg Munoz who resigned in the middle of his 10th season to become the Tennis Director at the Jakarta Tennis Academy in Indonesia. Torrie Browning, who recently became the women's head coach at GW, served as the interim coach and guided the team to a third straight conference title.

Cako & Lao Punch Ticket to the US Open, US Open Qualies Begin, Good Reads

Tuesday was a great day for a couple of former collegians as Jacqueline Cako (Arizona St '13) and Danielle Lao (USC '13) earned a main draw doubles wild card into this year's US Open after winning the US Open National Playoff Women's Doubles draw. Cako and Lao, who were the second seed, broke the top seed Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee '10) six times in route to a 6-2, 7-5 win in 1 hour and 23 minutes. Lao will make her Grand Slam debut while it'll be Cako's second appearance after playing in the 2014 US Open mixed doubles draw.

College ATP Rankings 8/22

Steve Johnson (USC '12) not only became the highest ranked American this week but he also became the highest ranked player with college ties. Johnson moved up two spots to 21 with John Isner (Georgia '07) staying at 22. Both Kevin Anderson (Illinois '07) and Benjamin Becker (Baylor '05) remain in the top 100 though Anderson is defending 250 points this week in Winston-Salem after winning the title last year.

US Open Qualies Draw Announced, USONP Nears Finish, Coaching Updates

The US Open National Playoff singles tournament wrapped up today with both former collegians remaining in the draw falling in the finals. Jose Statham claimed the men's title with a 6-1, 6-2 over Nick Meister (UCLA '12) while Sophie Chang took the women's title with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11). Both Statham and Chang earned wild cards into the US Open qualifying tournament, which begins tomorrow, although it doesn't look like they'll play their first round match until Wednesday.

The women's doubles tournament will be decided on Tuesday between the top two seeds as both Ashley Weinhold/Caitlin Whoriskey (Tenn '10) and Jacqueline Cako (Arizona St '13)/Daniell Lao (USC '13) pulled through today.

USONP Continues, Ellen Perez Earns USO Wild Card, Pro Circuit Recap

The singles finals of this year's US Open National Playoffs will take place on Monday with the women's final getting underway at noon eastern and the men's final starting shortly after that match finishes. Each winner will get a wild card into the qualifying tournament of this year's US Open.

Sophie Chang and Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11) both won in straight sets on Sunday with Chang defeating Nika Kukharchuk (Ole Miss '08) 7-5, 6-2 while Marand ousted Julia Elbaba (Virginia '16) 6-4, 6-4.

Nick Meister (UCLA '12) will meet Jose Statham in the men's final after Meister defeated Gage Brymer (UCLA Sr) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and Statham rolled over Evan King 6-3, 6-2.

USONP Update, Torpegaard Sweeps Finland, Eshmade Wins First Title, Begemann Wins Dubs Challenger in Italy

The US Open National Playoff is down to the final four with the top two seeds still alive on the men's side and only one seed left on the women's side. Nick Meister (UCLA '12) and Gage Brymer (UCLA Sr) both won in straight sets and will face off in the top half semifinal while Evan King (Michigan '13) will meet Jose Statham in the bottom half. Statham fought off match points in his 7-6(6) win in the third over Jesse Witten.

Three of the four semifinalists on the women's side have college ties with the bottom semifinals set to be an All-ACC affair. Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11) will meet Julia Elbaba (Virginia '16) after each won in straight sets while Nika Kukharchuk (Ole Miss '08) meets Sophie Chang with Chang winning the only three-set match of the day. Chang was originally committed to Virginia but chose to go pro instead.

US Open National Playoff Underway, Sonia Hahn To UTRGV, More Schedules Released, PlaySight adding more schools

The US Open National Playoff got underway today in New Haven with three of the four men's seeds and two of the four women's seeds advancing to the quarterfinals. The men's third seed Eric Quigley (Kentucky '12) was knocked off by UCLA senior Gage Brymer in two tiebreak sets while both the second and fourth seeds, Evan King and Jose Statham, came back from a set down to win in three sets. The top seed Nick Meister (UCLA '12) won the most lopsided match of the day 6-1, 6-1 over Philip Major.

The women's top seed Ayaka Okuno, who spent a semester at Georgia in 2013, was knocked off in straight sets by Sophie Chang while the fourth seed Ashley Weinhold lost in three-sets to North Carolina freshman Sara Daavettila. There was a Universal Tennis Rating upset as Eva Raszkiewicz rolled over Fernanda Contreras 6-3, 6-1 - Raszkiewicz's UTR was 1.52 lower but that didn't seem to bother her at all. All the results are listed in the table down below (two tabs) along with the quarterfinal matchups.

USONP, ACI, Coaching/Scheduling/Facility News

The draws for the US Open National Playoff were released today with Nick Meister (UCLA '12) the top seed on the men's side and Ayaka Okuno (semester at Georgia in 2013) is the top seed on the women's side. The doubles draws should be out soon with singles getting underway on Friday in New Haven, CT. Below are the draws with Universal Tennis Ratings listed as of 8/19.

The participants for this year's American Collegiate Invitational were release today. The tournament will take place during the second week of the US Open with the winner earning a wild card into the following year's US Open if they meet certain criteria.

Coaching Updates, ITA Summer Championships, US Open Wild Cards

New Oklahoma men's head coach Nick Crowell announced the hiring of Nate Feldman as the Sooners' new assistant coach. Feldman, who played at Minnesota from 2002 to 2004, was the assistant coach under Jay Udwadia at Oklahoma State for the last two seasons. He also has head coaching experience after leading both the men's and women's teams at Norfolk State from 2011 to 2014. Bobby Reynolds, who was OU's assistant last year, is now the head coach at Auburn.

College ATP Rankings

In the past I've done the current college player ATP rankings but I thought I'd do an update and also include all college players both past, present, and future. To view the sheet in a separate window click here. There is a tab listed for current/future college players, past college players, and both combined.

TCU's Cameron Norrie is now inside the top 300 after a run to the finals of the Aptos Challenger last weekend while Virginia commit Carl Soderlund is the only other current/future player inside the top 500.

John Isner (Georgia '07), Steve Johnson (USC '12), and Kevin Anderson (Illinois '07) are each inside the top 25 while Benjamin Becker (Baylor '05) is inside the top 100.

Mmoh Wins Big in Kzoo & Titles Galore on the Pro Circuit

Michael Mmoh came into this year's USTA Boys 18 National Championships as the top seed and he definitely lived up to the billing. Mmoh only needed about 90 minutes to win the best of five sets final over the No. 7 seed Vasil Kirkov 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. Mmoh only lost 35 games in seven matches and didn't drop a set all week. Colette Lewis has all the quotes from today's winners over at ZooTennis.  

Mmoh and Kirkov To Meet in Zoo Finals (Tale of the Tape), McNally/Wolf Win Zoo Dubs, Pro Circuit Update

The Kalamazoo Boys 18 singles final is set and it will match up the top seed Michael Mmoh and the seventh seed Vasil Kirkov. Mmoh cruised into the finals with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Trent Bryde while Vasil Kirkov came back from a 4-0 first set deficit to win 12 straight games to defeat Zeke Clark 6-4, 6-0.

Cincinnati's John McNally and JJ Wolf, the fourth seed, won the Boys 18 doubles title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over unseeded Sean Sculley and Nick Stachowiak. McNally and Wolf earned a main draw wild card into this year's US Open with the win.

Steve Johnson Wins a Bronze in Rio, Hiltzik/Koepfer Win Champaign, ITA Summer Championships

Steve Johnson (USC '12) started the day off by losing a heartbreaker to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals of the Olympics singles draw but he rebounded a few hours later in the doubles bronze medal match. Johnson, who was seeded 12th in the singles draw, dropped the opening set 6-0 to the second seed Andy Murray but Johnson fought back and nearly pulled off the upset. Johnson took the second set 6-4 and went up a break at 4-3 in the third but Murray broke back to even it at 4-4. The match went to a third set tiebreak with Murray pulling away for a 7-6(2) win.

Johnson was back on court a short while later with Jack Sock as the American duo took on Canada's Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil in the bronze medal doubles match. It only took 63 minutes for Johnson and Sock to beat Nestor and Pospisil 6-2, 6-4. Johnson became just the second USC tennis player to ever medal at the Olympics with the other being Rafael Osuna (doubles gold) in 1968. Congrats Stevie!!

Four Remain In Kalamazoo

The top seed Michael Mmoh cruised into the semifinals in Kalamazoo but none of the other top four seeds were as fortunate. The third seed JJ Wolf was knocked out on Wednesday in a third set tiebreak and on Thursday so was the second seed John McNally. Tampa's Vasil Kirkov managed to come back from a set down to outlast the 2017 Ohio State commit McNally in the only quarterfinal match to go three sets. Illinois commit Zeke Clark and Trent Bryde (#4 HS Class of '18) both won in straight sets as well and in fact both of those guys and Mmoh have yet to drop a set all week

Coaching Updates & Other News & Notes

Southern Illinois women's head coach Audra Anderson was promoted to the Director of Tennis and will now assume the role as the new men's head coach after the departure of Dann Nelson to UTRGV. Anderson has gone 140-83 (.627) in nine seasons at SIU which gives her the best winning percentage in school history. Jonny Rigby, who graduated this past May, will serve as a graduate assistant for a program that is now going year-to-year due to the financial woes in the state of Illinois. Normally I add a picture when the school puts its news release on Twitter or Facebook but as far as I can see they didn't put it on social media anywhere which is pretty poor considering how quiet things are this time of year.

Down to the Final 8 in Kalamazoo

It took almost almost a week but a top eight seed finally went down on Wednesday afternoon in Kalamazoo. In the only match of the day that went three sets it was [26] Timothy Sah upsetting [3] JJ Wolf 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(2). According to Colette Lewis's recap at ZooTennis, Wolf served for the match up 6-5 in the third but he wasn't able to close the door and Sah marched on through to score the upset. Colette has quotes from both Sah and Gianni Ross with the latter winning in straight sets despite an upset stomach.

Kalamazoo Round 4 Results/Round 5 Schedule

The higher seeds continued to win on Tuesday with 14 of the day's 16 winners being the higher ranked of the two competitors. [29] Alafia Ayeni pulled off a seeding upset over [16] Alexander Brown 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 but Ayeni was the higher rated player in just about every other category (TRN Class Ranking, UTR, ITF Jr, ATP) coming into the match.  The other seeding upset came when [26] Timothy Sah ousted [13] Richard Ciamarra 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. Both of these two were pretty evenly matched with a just a .15 UTR difference so this was a toss-up going in.

Kalamazoo - Round 3 Results/Round 4 Schedule

Seeded players had a great day on Monday with 24 of 25 seeds moving on to the fourth round with the 15th seed William Genesen the only seeded loser. 24 of the 32 third round matches finished in straight sets with many winning rather convincingly. Full results from Monday are available here and on my spreadsheet under the 3rd round tab and below are the number of games that the winners dropped.

Game Dropped:
0 - [14] Austin Huang
1 - [1] Michael Mmoh, [3] JJ Wolf
2 - [6] Zeke Clark, [8] Trent Bryde, [30] Patrick Kypson

Weekly Pro Circuit Recap

Pro Titles/Finals Last Week:

Singles:
China (CH) - Jason Jung (Michigan)
Canada - Jennifer Brady (UCLA)
USA - Roberto Quiroz (USC)
USA - Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee)
Italy - Jose Hernandez-Fernandez (North Carolina)

Doubles:
Italy (CH) - James Cerretani (Brown)
USA - Jared Hiltzik (Illinois)/Rhyne Williams (Tennessee)
Italy - Catalin-Ionut Gard (Ole Miss)/Ruben Gonzales (Illinois)
Finland - Mikael Torpegaard (Ohio State)/Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State)
Germany - Andreas Mies (Auburn)
Latvia - Ewan Moore (Tulane commit)
Morocco - Sander Gille (East Tennessee State)

Roberto Quiroz Guts Out a Title in Decatur

After spending the day in Kalamazoo yesterday I made my way down to Decatur, Illinois, today to watch the finals of the Ursula Beck Pro Tennis Classic/USA F26 Futures. I was hoping to catch the second and possibly third sets of the doubles final but Jared Hiltzik and Rhyne Williams weren't very accommodating and finished off Nathan Pasha and Dane Webb 6-0, 6-1 in just 43 minutes. It was Hiltzik's second career pro doubles title and Williams's seventh though it was Rhyne's first since 2013.

Kalamazoo Nationals, Futures Update

All the top seeds took the court today in Kalamazoo for the second round of the Boys 18 National Championships and for the most part they had very little trouble. Each of the top 22 seeds won with 19 of them winning in straight sets however 6 of the bottom 10 were knocked out. Below were the seeded losers with college commitments listed in parenthesis.

Seeded Upsets
Aleksandar Kovacevic (Illinois) def. [23] Matthew Lord 6-7(3), 6-0, 6-2
John Carlin def. [24] Ryan Seggerman 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Robert Krill (Wisconsin) def. [25] Jason Lui (Columbia) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Kristopher Ortega (Illinois) def. [28] Maxwell Freeman 6-4, 6-1
Payton Holden (Princeton) def. [31] Brenden Volk (Northwestern) 6-1, 6-0
Galen Lee (Harvard) def. [32] Casey Ross 6-2, 6-3

Assistant Coaching News, Transfers, Kalamazoo, Futures Update

New Oklahoma women's coach Audra Cohen announced the hiring of Amy Sargeant as the Sooners new assistant coach. Sargeant played at Florida State from 2010 to 2013 and was the assistant coach at New Mexico last season. OU's previous assistant Vincent "Boomer" Saia took a job with the Vanderbilt women's program a few days ago but I haven't seen an official release yet from the school.

Nelson to UTRGV, Camper to Chattanooga, Assistant Hires, Arizona State's First Signee, Decatur Futures Results

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) announced the hiring of Dann Nelson as the Vaqueros new men's tennis coach. Nelson comes to Edinburg after spending the last 11 seasons in Carbondale as head coach of Southern Illinois. Nelson led SIU to a share of the regular season conference championship last season despite the program spending most of the season on the chopping block due to the state of Illinois's budget woes. SIU got a one-year reprieve and will be back this fall but Nelson probably made a wise decision to secure his future for many years to come.

Wooten-Quijada to New Mexico, Assistant Updates, Bucca to Court, Decatur Futures, Maryland Eastern Shore Drops Men's Tennis

New Mexico VP of Athletics Paul Krebs named Stephanie Wooten-Quijada as the Lobo's new women's coach. Wooten-Quijada, a 2009 Purdue graduate, resigned as the women's coach at UTRGV on July 24 after leading the program to an 11-11 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Wooten-Quijada replaces Kelsey McKenna who left after one year to take the head coaching position at Wisconsin.

Kalamazoo National Championships - Breakdown of the Boys 18 Field

We are just two days away from the start of the 2016 USTA Boys National Championships so just as I did last year I thought I'd give everyone a little more background on the field in the 18s division. For many of these guys this will be the end of their junior career with college on the immediate horizon. One of the most interesting things about this tournament is the fact that the winner gets a main draw wild card into the US Open so you have guys that have already turned pro that come back to play for that coveted prize.

All rounds up through the semifinals are best of three sets but the finals are best of five sets. Frances Tiafoe won it last year defeating Stefan Kozlov 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4.

Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan's Sorenson Tennis Courts will host the event with the two sites separated by just 1.6 miles.

Coaching News, Eubanks/Kennedy Win Opener in Atlanta, Roster Additions, College ATP Rankings

Florida State head coach Dwayne Hultquist announced the hiring of Ryler DeHeart as the Seminoles new associate head coach. DeHeart played collegiately at Illinois from 2003 to 2006 and then spent the five years afterwards on the pro tour. DeHeart had been the assistant coach under George Husack at Alabama for the last four years so now that means the Crimson Tide are on the market for an assistant.

St. Leo Director of Athletics Francis Reidy announced the hiring of Pablo Montana as the Lions new men's and women's head coach. Montana, who is a two-time National Coach of the Year, spent the last 12 seasons as the women's head coach of D2's California University of Pennsylvania racking up 259 wins and leading the squad to seven NCAA D2 quarterfinals. Montana replaces Chris Frusci who departed after two seasons to become the new women's assistant coach at Baylor. Frusci was named the 2016 ITA D2 National Coach of the Year after leading the men's team to a runner-up finish while the women's team made the semifinals.

ITA Summer Circuit - Week 6 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its sixth and final week with nine different sites hosting regionals. Below are the singles winners and you can view the doubles winners through each draw link. Here are the series points race through the fifth week.

Cal State LA - Draw Size W-64 ; M-64
M - [8] Josh Ortlip (Cal Poly) d. [13] Arturo Kam (HS Class of '17) 6-1, 6-4
W - [1] Ena Shibahara (UCLA commit) d. [13] Seira Shimizu (HS Class of '17) 6-1, 6-1

PlaySight - Coming To A Court Near You

As Peter Smith, USC’s Men’s Tennis head coach puts it, “In college tennis, if you don't have a SmartCourt, somebody else does." PlaySight now has SmartCourts and LiveCourts installed with close to 20 collegiate programs across the nation, including Oklahoma State, Ohio State, North Carolina, and Cal-Berkeley, among others. Winning is the name of the game in college tennis, and PlaySight is giving players, coaches, teams, and programs a performance edge – from on-court play to video review to streaming and recruiting.

Eubanks Qualifies for BB&T, Sandgren Wins Again in Illinois, Withrow/Smith Wins Dubs Title

What had already been a good week for Chris Eubanks turned into a great week after the Georgia Tech rising junior upset world #104 Thiago Monteiro to qualify for the main draw at the BB&T ATP 250 Atlanta Open. Eubanks had to earn a spot in the qualifying field by winning a Wild Card playoff over teammate Cole Fiegel and 2013 Samford graduate Zac Dunkle and then he had to beat world #210 Tommy Paul in the opening round of qualies just to get to today's match against Monteiro.

Eubanks earned the only break of the first set when he broke Monteiro's 2-2 service game to go ahead 3-2 and three holds later he had the opening set 6-4. Eubanks broke Monteiro's 3-3 service game in the second set but Monteiro broke back to even it at 4-4. Eubanks fought off a set point to hold for 5-5 and then he broke from 30/40 to go up 6-5. Eubanks went up 40/15 on his serve and held from 40/30 to win it 6-4, 7-5.

Pro Circuit Update - Plenty of Doubles Success and Libietis Wins Again

#474 Mikelis Libietis (Tennessee '15) won his tenth straight match and second straight Futures after defeating #1626 Alberto Brizzi 7-6(6), 7-6(6) in the finals of the $10K Futures in Parnu, Estonia. Libietis broke Brizzi to start the match and then held in a four-deuce game to go ahead 2-0. Brizzi took the next four games to open up a 4-2 lead but Libietis took the next two to even it at 4-4. It stayed on serve until the tiebreak and then Libietis won the pivotal 6-6 point on Brizzi's serve and then took the next point to take the opening set tiebreak 8-6. The second set started with six straight holds then Brizzi broke from 15/40 to go up 4-3. Libietis broke back at love to even it at 4-4 and then it was all holds until the tiebreak. Libietis led 6-3 in the tiebreak but Brizzi fought off three match points (two on his own serve and one on Libietis's serve) to even it at 6-6. Libietis took the last two points to close out the title.

Coaching Changes, Kentucky Planning a $20M Facility, Pro Circuit Update

Friday was a busy day for the coaching carousel with Cal Irvine, Old Dominion, and Iowa each announcing head coaching hires.

UC Irvine announced that Mike Saunders, who served as the interim men's head coach last season, has been named as the permanent men's head coach. Saunders, who is a 1990 UC Irvine graduate, took over as the interim coach last October after Trevor Kronemann, 117-126 (.481), stepped down to become the Director of Junior Tennis at the Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA). Saunders led the Anteaters to a 17-9 record last season before they bowed out to UCSB in the Big West semifinals.

Mai-Ly Tran to Drake, Sabogal New Assistant at Kentucky, Pro Circuit Update

Drake Associate Athletic Director Brian Brown announced the hiring of Mai-Ly Tran as the Bulldogs new women's coach. Tran, who played at Cal State Fullerton from 2004 to 2007, comes to Des Moines after serving as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton for the last three seasons. John Hollimon was the interim coach last season and led Drake to a 15-12 record and a semifinal appearance at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Cummings to Norfolk State, Eubanks Wins BB&T Q-WC, Massey Ratings, Matt Hill Feature

Norfolk State Athletics Director Marty Miller announced the hiring of Darryl Cummings as the Spartans new men's and women's head coach. Cummings was most recently the men's and women's coach at D3's Virginia Wesleyan during the 2014 and 2015 seasons but he's most known for his 20 years at Old Dominion from 1992-2011. Cummings replaces Worth Richardson who stepped down after two seasons to take a position at the Smith Stearns Tennis Academy.

Coaching Updates, Novikov Wins in Toronto, BB&T WC Challenge, #TheSol

As we head into August the coaching carousel should start slowing down with the beginning of the fall semester just around the corner. Two more women's positions were filled in the last few days which leaves the number of openings on the women's side in the single digits.

Bowling Green State Director of Athletics Bob Moosbrugger announced the hiring of Stephanie Damacio as the Falcons new women's head coach. Damacio, a 2011 Wichita State graduate, had been the assistant coach at BGSU for the last two seasons with the squad going 2-36 (.053) in that time frame. Damacio replaced Olga Elkin who departed for Nebraska-Omaha after a rocky two seasons which saw a slew of losses (36) and a lot of outbound transfers (7).

ITA Summer Circuit - Week 5 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its fifth of six weeks with nine different sites hosting regionals. Below are the singles winners and you can view the doubles winners through each draw link. Here are the series points race through the fourth week.  Wake Forest commit Sean Hill will take over the top spot in the men's race after a semifinal showing at the Azusa Pacific regional.

Azusa Pacific - Draw Size W-54 ; M-64
M - [6] Josh Ortlip (Cal Poly) d. [5] Robert Baylon (HS Class of '18)
W - Seira Shimizu (HS Class of '17) d. [8] Margo Pletcher (Utah) 7-5, 6-2

Sandgren, Hanfmann, and Shaffer Win Futures Singles Titles while JP Smith Wins a Challenger in Dubs

Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee '11) won his 11th career pro singles title with a straight set win over Facundo Mena in the finals of the $25K USA F24 Futures in Godfrey, Illinois. The match started just after 10 a.m. central with temperatures already approaching 90 degrees and the heat index just short of 100.

Sandgren dominated the opening set winning 29 of 41 points in route to taking a 6-0 set in 31 minutes. More than 5 of those minutes came when Sandgren took a medical timeout, after going up 3-0, due to a blister ripping open on his right hand during the opening game of the match. The opening game tied for the longest game of the match with Sandgren holding in a five-deuce ten-minute service game. Mena had one break point at 30/40 but he couldn't convert and he was unable to convert much of anything the rest of the set. Mena gave away too many points with an unforced error count that was in the double digits.

Luke Siegel Update, Bellis Commits to Stanford, Libietis and Dima Win Pro Singles Titles, Doubles Success

There was plenty of action today on the pro circuit but before I get into those results I wanted to give everyone an update on Luke Siegel who is the 10-year old son of former Texas Tech men's coach Tim Siegel. I'm sure many know the story but for those that don't Luke was involved in a golf cart accident almost a year ago (July 28, 2015) which caused serious head and chest trauma and left Luke with an anoxic brain injury. The Siegels were told that Luke would never regain the use of his limbs, eyes, or voice but he has managed to make progress over the last several months. KAMC TV in Lubbock did a story on Luke and the community support earlier this week with Tim talking about the kind of progress that Luke has made in the last couple of weeks - make sure you check out that story here.

The Lubbock and tennis community has rallied around the Siegels and raised almost $100,000 to help with medical expenses and care through this GoFundMe page. There is a Facebook page, Pray for Luke Siegel, that gives updates and posts videos about Luke's progress so if you are able to help in any way please do and make sure you keep Luke and the Siegels in your prayers.

Schnur Turns Pro, Reinberg/Ponwith Win First Title, Mariana Cobra Heading to UNF, Blumberg to UNC in January

North Carolina junior Brayden Schnur announced today that he would be foregoing his final year of eligibility and turning pro effective immediately. Schnur compiled a 49-25 overall singles record, 38-22 in dual-match play, with all but three dual-matches coming at the top spot in the singles lineup. Schnur battled injuries in each of the last two seasons but when he was healthy he was a very tough out. Brayden's top individual accomplishments came during the fall of 2014 (only fall he played) when he went 11-0 and won the prestigious USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. Brayden will make his pro debut on Saturday afternoon against Radek Stepanek in qualies at the ATP Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Chang Streaking in Godfrey, Perez Wins Another Doubles Title, Kirchheimer Gets E-Ville WC, Ole Miss Schedule

The weather in Greater St. Louis has been extremely hot and humid this week but that hasn't slowed down 2013 Rice graduate Jonathan Chang as he has blazed his way into the quarterfinals at the $25K Godfrey, Illinois, USA F24 Futures. Chang came into this week's Futures event having won just one main draw match but he's managed to come through qualies and knock off a pair off a pair of guys that spent most of last year in the ITA top 10. Chang defeated Georgia Tech's Chris Eubanks 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round then today he came back from a 5-2 third set deficit to beat recent Tulane graduate Dominik Koepfer 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5 in a match that lasted 3 hours and 2 minutes. Chang's quarterfinal opponent will be former Tennessee All-American Rhyne Williams while the other quarterfinal match in the top half of the draw will be between former Tennessee Vol Tennys Sandgren and former Georgia Bulldog Wil Spencer.

Women's Coaching Updates, Olympics, UGA Schedule, First ATP Points

Seton Hall Athletic Director Patrick Lyons announced that former UCLA All-American Riza Zalameda has been named as the Pirates new women's head coach. Zalemeda, who graduated from UCLA in 2008, has spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Columbia. Zalameda replaces Greg Wyzykowski who resigned after going 64-111 (.366) over the last nine seasons at the South Orange, New Jersey, school.

ITA Summer Circuit - Week 4 Results

The ITA Summer Circuit finished up its fourth of six weeks with ten different sites hosting regionals. Below are the singles winners and you can view the doubles winners through each draw link. Here are the series points race through the third week and once these week four results are added in Northwestern's Jason Seidman will be in first place by one point after a regional for the third week in a row. Wake Forest commit Sean Hill also won his third regional in four weeks and finished as runner-up the other week.

Alabama - Draw Size W-45 ; M-60
M - Michael Durham (Auburn commit) d. [11] Jackson Wood (HS Class of '17) 6-4, 6-1
W - [1] Kourtney Keegan (Florida) d. [2] Kylie Wilcox (Boston College commit) 6-3, 6-3

Ben Dunbar Gets Promoted at New Mexico & Davis Cup Group 3 Results

New Mexico Vice President of Athletics Paul Krebs announced the hiring of Ben Dunbar as New Mexico's new men's head coach. Dunbar, who played at New Mexico from 2008 to 2012, was an assistant coach at New Mexico for the last two seasons. Dunbar replaces Bart Scott who resigned last month after two years at the helm of the Lobos.

Joao Monteiro Wins In Portugal, Di Lorenzo Sweeps Winnipeg, Torpegaard with a Huge Davis Cup Clincher

Joao Monteiro (Virginia Tech '16) capped off a weekend of firsts by winning pro singles title No. 1 with a straight set win over #608 Hugo Grenier at the $10K Idanha-A-Nova, Portugal, F8 Futures (Hard). Monteiro had break points on each of Grenier's four first set service games and broke on two of them to take the opening set 6-3. Monteiro broke from 15/40 to go up 2-1 in the second set and then broke again at love to go up 5-2. Monteiro served out the match at love to take it 6-3, 6-2. 

Hanfmann Takes Austria, Monteiro and Musialek into finals in Portugal and France

#500 Yannick Hanfmann (USC '15) won his second singles title this year and fourth of his career with a straight set win over #357 Stefanos Tsitsipas at the $10K Kramsach, Austria, F2 Futures (Clay). Hanfmann broke Tsitsipas to start the match and made the break lead hold up to take the opening set 6-4. Hanfmann broke for 2-1 in the second and made that break hold up as well to close out the 6-4, 6-4 win in 1 hour and 8 minutes. 

South Carolina Makes Some Additions, Women's Doubles Success, Davis Cup Scores, Pro Circuit,

South Carolina men's head coach Josh Goffi announced the hiring of Kyle Bailey as the Gamecocks new assistant coach. Bailey, who was the head coach at Monmouth last season, replaces Ryan Young who left two weeks ago to take the assistant job at Clemson.

South Carolina women's head coach Kevin Epley announced that Mia Horvit (UTR 11.32) has signed a National Letter of Intent to play at South Carolina next season. Horvit was ranked as high as No 5 in her high school class as a sophomore and junior per The Tennis Recruiting Network and was ranked No. 11 last season.

Coaching Updates, Davis Cup, Pac-12 Network/Twitter, Pro Circuit Update

Duquesne Athletic Director Dave Harper announced the hiring of Vanessa Steiner as the Dukes new Director of Tennis (Men's/Women's Coach). Steiner, who had been the women's assistant the last two seasons, replaces Rob Gregoire who resigned on March 1st which was in the middle of his second year on the job. Steiner graduated from Boston University in 2011 but played at Duquesne in 2012 since she had a year of eligibility remaining.

Paige Madara was named as the new men's and women's head coach at Grinnell College (D3) in Grinnell, Iowa. Madara replaces Andy Hamilton who was recently promoted to Director of Athletics and Recreation after serving as the men's coach for the last 21 years and the women's coach for the last 9 years. Madara played at Wash U STL from 2009 to 2013 and was most recently the women's assistant coach at Washington and Lee.

Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is back on the schedule this week with several current and former college guys playing for their respective home countries.  Below is a look at who is playing and where.

World Group Quarterfinals

John Isner (Georgia '07), Mike Bryan (Stanford '98), and Bob Bryan (Stanford '98) will represent the United States versus Croatia.

Dominic Inglot (Virginia '09) will represent for Great Britain versus Serbia. 

Ashley Fisher Gets the Nod at South Florida & Mauricio Antun is Named Head Coach at Belmont

South Florida Athletic Director Mark Harlan announced that assistant coach Ashley Fisher has been promoted to men's head coach. Fisher, who is a 1998 TCU graduate, played professionally for 14 years and coached for several more before becoming South Florida's assistant coach this past January after Brandon Wagner departed to go coach in the private sector. Fisher replaced Matt Hill who had an extremely successful four-year run before leaving to take the Arizona State men's job.