For the first time since 2020, a Power 4/5 conference school has cut a tennis program, and today the University of Arkansas exceeded this decade’s cuts to the men’s programs at Minnesota, Iowa and Connecticut by eliminating both the men’s and women’s programs at the end of this season.
This is obviously terrible news for college tennis, which has regularly seen cuts to non-Power 4/5 Division I, Division II and Division III schools, with the first wave happening in wake of the pandemic, and a second wave following the House Settlement. But an SEC school eliminating both tennis programs is an unmitigated disaster and any optimism that Olympic sports could somehow be salvaged at all Power 4 schools is now extinguished.
For more on this shocking announcement, see this article from Tennis Recruiting Network.
For the second time in consecutive weeks, Jack Kennedy has reached the semifinals of an ATP Challenger 75. The 17-year-old from New York advanced to the final four at the Savannah Challenger this afternoon, beating qualifier Nick Hardt of the Dominican Republic 7-5, 7-5. Hardt served for the set at 5-4 and had two set points at 40-15, but Kennedy saved them and went on to break Hardt for the first set. The second set featured five straight breaks, with Kennedy unable to serve out the match at 5-3, but he saved a break point at 5-all and again broke Hardt to end the match.
Kennedy will face another qualifier tomorrow, Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland, who beat last week’s Challenger champion, No. 6 seed Clement Tabur of France, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) this afternoon. No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) is through to the semifinals after beating No. 8 seed Andy Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-2. He will play the winner of tonight’s match between Mitchell Krueger and Daniel Galan of Colombia.
Akasha Urhobo has reached the semifinals of the W100 in Charlottesville Virginia after defeating No. 8 seed Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 6-2, 6-3. The 19-year-old from Florida, who came from 5-2 down in the third set yesterday to defeat No. 2 seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-0, 5-7, 7-5, faces qualifier Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) of Argentina next. Capurro Taborda beat No. 3 seed Kayla Day 6-4, 6-1 today.
Urhobo, playing in her fourth consecutive week, will continue to build her lead in the USTA’s Roland Garros wild card race, with Day and Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), two of her primary rivals, losing today. Stoiana, the No. 4 seed, lost to No. 5 seed Eli Mandlik 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Mandlik will face top seed Renata Zarazua in the other semifinal.
Emilio Nava has also added another 50 points to his wild card leading total, beating No. 14 seed Valentin Vacherot(Texas A&M) of Monaco 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-3 today in Madrid. Although there is another week of Challengers left, it’s unlikely anyone can catch him.
Three US junior girls and one US junior boy are through to the semifinals of the W15 and M15 in Orlando this week. Fifteen-year-old Janae Preston, who is 24-2 this year (including qualifying and ITF juniors) continued her impressive play, beating Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 6-4, 6-0 in today’s quarterfinals. She will play No. 5 seed Justina Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina with the aim of reaching her first Pro Circuit final.
In the bottom half, it will be two 16-year-old Americans facing off, with Welles Newman playing qualifier Annika Penickova. Newman, who like Preston received entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program and was on the Junior Billie Jean King Cup team that qualified last week for the world finals, beat Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Maria Nijkamp of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4, while Penickova defeated Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil 6-0, 6-2.
Eighteen-year-old Keaton Hance, another ITF Junior Reserved entry, advanced to the semifinals in Orlando with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Benjamin Thomas George(Western Michigan) of Canada and will face qualifier Daniel Uta of Romania Saturday. Uta defeated qualifier Gus Grumet, the 2024 Kalamazoo 16s champion, 6-4 ,6-2. In the top half, No. 1 seed Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) will face last week’s finalist Justin Roberts(USF, Arizona State) of the Bahamas. Kingsley defeated No. 6 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 and Roberts beat qualifier Bastian Malla of Chile 7-5, retired.
Hance is also through to the doubles final, with 15-year-old partner Jordan Lee, who hasn’t played singles since the beginning of March. Hance and Lee advanced over another unseeded all-teen pair, beating Vihan Reddy and Noble Renfrow 6-4, 6-2 in today’s semifinals. They will face 15-year-olds Izyan Ahmad and Tomas Laukys, who beat another teenaged wild card team, Safir Azam and Kamil Stolarczyk, 7-5, 6-0 in the other semifinal.
At the W35 in Charlotte North Carolina, former collegians Emma Jackson(Duke) and Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) will play for a spot in the final. Jackson, a wild card, defeated Maya Iyengar 6-1, 6-3 in today’s quarterfinals, while Honer beat Ava Markham(Wisconsin) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
In the top half semifinal, No. 1 seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands will play unseeded Shilin Xu of China. Vedder defeated Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, while Xu defeated 18-year-old Bella Payne 6-2, 6-0.
The ITF J100 in Mount Pleasant South Carolina concluded today, with 16-year-old Armira Kockinis sweeping the girls titles, and Kayden Colombo earning his second straight singles title on the new ITF clay swing in the United States.
Armira, the No. 3 seed, beat top seed Adla Lopez 7-5, 6-4 in today’s singles final, then partnered with Puerto Rico’s Aurora Lugo for the doubles title. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Frances Pate and Julia Seversen 6-2, 5-7, 12-10.
The unseeded Colombo, who swept the titles last week at the J60 in Atlanta, defeated No. 4 seed Theo Hegarty 6-4, 7-6(6) for his 11th straight singles win. He had beaten top seed Mason Taube 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals Thursday.
The boys doubles title was won by top seed Erik Schinnerer and Tyler Lee, who beat the unseeded team of Hegarty and Noah Bayon 6-4, 6-2 in this afternoon’s final.