British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

In the women's ACC Championships, 14th seeds Florida State finally show up and rescue an abysmal season by upsetting 11th seeds #64 Georgia Tech with Eva getting the clinch at the 2nd game of asking. It's only Eva's 2nd win in her last 11 matches started (2 win, 5 lost, 4 unf).
The result ends Given's 3rd year. She ends the season 11-9 overall and 7-6 playing at the 3 position in team play.

1. #106 Eva Shaw (FSU) d. #60 Alejandra Cruz (GT) 1-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5
3. Given Roach (GT) led 6-3, 3-6, 6-5 unf (Given comeback from 3-5* in the 3rd)
5. Abby Kelliher (FSU) wins 0-6, 6-4, 6-1

In the womens SEC championships, 9th seeds LSU go through to the next round to play 8th seeds Tennessee who beat them on Saturday. Ella was unfinished at 4-6, 5-2.

12 seeds Alabama go through to play 5 seed Texas. Kristina retired at the end of the 2nd set, so whether she plays tomorrow or her 3rd year is over is an open question.

In the men's ACC championship, 11 seed North Carolina go through to play 6 seeded Clemson. Roan was unfinished at 4-6, 6-2, 1-1.

Eva Shaw, Abby Kelliher and Kristina Paskauskas seasons come to end as their teams are knocked out of the conference championships and don't qualify for the NCAAs.

Eva Shaw (Florida State) finishes her junior season 14-11 overall and 8-8 in the dual season primarily at the No 1 position.

Abby Kelliher (Florida State) finishes her freshman season 7-7 overall and 3-3 in the dual season at the No 4, 5 and 6 positions.

Kristina Paskauskas (Alabama) finishes her junior season 16-9 overall and 7-8 (3 losses by retirement) in the dual season at the No 1 position. She didn't play the team's last match following her retirement in the opening round.

All our other men and women that I tend to follow and are playing conference championships this week seasons should continue to the NCAAs.

Conference championships are this week for some and next week for others.
NCAA 1st & 2 rounds 1 to 3 May, top 16 seed host plus 3 other teams
NCAA 3rd round, 8 to 9 May, home advantage to the top 8 seed (or highest seed if neither are a top 8 seed)
NCAA finals, 14 to 17 May, at University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

LSU upset the host team No 1 seed and SEC regular season co-champions thanks in part to Ella winning doubles and singles and progress to the SFs.

From the LSU match report:
Sophomore Ella McDonald stepped to the third court and delivered a 7-6(4), 7-6(2) clinching performance as the No. 9-seeded LSU womens tennis team pulled off a historic 4-3 upset over No. 1-seeded Oklahoma on Friday afternoon at the Headington Family Tennis Center.
With all eyes on the third court, McDonald faced No. 59 Garcia Ruiz. In the opening set, McDonald built a 4-2 lead before Garcia Ruiz responded to eventually edge ahead at 6-5. McDonald held firm to force a tiebreak and delivered to earn a 7-6(4) result. The sophomore trailed 3-1 to open the second set before working her way back to 4-3. Garcia Ruiz pushed ahead again, but McDonald surged late, taking a 6-5 lead before the set was forced into another tiebreak. The England native came through in the seven-point tiebreak, securing a dominant 7-6(2) victory to clinch the 4-3 win for the Tigers.

(Note the report calls Ella a sophomore, presumably because she has reduced eligibility because of her age and pro experience.)
It is Ella's 2nd ranked win and hopefully that will get her back in the published top 125. Not that that really matters.

Wake Forest proceed to the men's ACC championship final against Virginia with Charlie Robertson getting the point that clinched the tie. Luca was unfinished for his 4th straight match, stuck on 95 career singles wins since he beat Nico Godsick at Stanford at the beginning of the month. He did however win doubles in 20 minutes for his 90th career doubles win.

3. Pow/Shah (WFU) def. Banerjee/Leach (STAN) 6-0

3. #29 Luca Pow (WFU) vs. Nico Godsick (STAN) 6-4, 4-3, unfinished
4. Charlie Robertson (WFU) def. #59 Hudson Rivera (STAN) 6-3, 6-4

Lambda wrote:

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TCU win the men's Big 12 championship in dominant fashion. Oli taking no prisoners being the first to finish.

4. Oli Bonding (TCU) def. Zoran Ludoski (Arizona) 6-2, 6-3

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As a postscript... Bonding was crowned Most Outstanding Player following the conclusion of play. The freshman pitched a 4-0 tournament record [2 doubles wins, 2 singles wins] over the course of the Frogs' shutout victories vs. the Wildcats and No. 11 Baylor. Bonding, from London, England, clinched the doubles point and was the first player off the court in both matches.

In the women's ACC and SEC semi finals there were a couple of upsets.

LSU upset No 1 ranked Georgia to progress to the final to play 3 seeded Auburn. Its their first win over Georgia since 1985, first win over a No 1 ranked team and first SEC championships final. LSU under-performed during the regular season, which they've paid for by having to play 2 more rounds than the top seeded programs, but have certainly put everything in the post season conference championships. Let's hope they haven't peaked too early and can go again in the NCAAs. I should also add that the SEC womens championships are seen as a mini NCAAs as it contains the top 4 ranked teams and likely winners of the NCAAs.

In the win, Ella got another ranked win.
3. Ella McDonald (LSU) def. #68 Deniz Dilek (UGA) 6-4, 6-2

In the women's ACC championships NC State upset conference favourites and neighbourly rivals UNC for a huge win. Jasmine got a massive win in doubles over the No 5 ranked pair but couldn't get the win in singles. My fears last week that she had lost her singles place were premature and seemingly unfounded.

2. #79 Jasmine Conway/Anna Zyryanova (NCSU) def. #5 Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton 7-5

6. Theadora Rabman (UNC) def. Jasmine Conway (NCSU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3

In the final they will play Virginia. Isabelle getting another win. She is 12-3 this season, going 8-1 on court four.

3. Isabelle Lacy/Katie Rolls (VA) def. Liv Hovde/Aspen Schuman (DUKE) 7-6 (7-5)

4. #114 Isabelle Lacy (VA) def. Claire An (DUKE) 6-2, 6-2

NC State won the women's ACC championship in convincing style 4-0 over Virginia.

2. #27 Martina Genis Salas/Annabelle Xu (UVA) def. #79 Anna Zyryanova/Jasmine Conway (NCSU) 6-1
3. Mia Slama/Lavinia Tanasie (NCSU) def. Katie Rolls/Isabelle Lacy (UVA) 6-4

4. #114 Isabelle Lacy (UVA) vs. #73 Lavinia Tanasie (NCSU) 6-2, 5-7, 2-2 unfinished
6. Melodie Collard (UVA) vs. Jasmine Conway (NCSU) 6-4, 6-6 (2-6) unfinished

LSU came very close to upsetting the apple cart and winning the women's SEC championship with it coming down to a 3rd set tie-break in the deciding match, but lost 3-4

2. #18 Okutoyi / Refaat (AUB) def. #29 Kenna Erickson/Ella McDonald (LSU) 6-2

3. #70 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Ella McDonald (LSU) 6-4, 7-6

Finishing off their regular season USC (Haddad) and Ohio State (Oluwadare, Johnson) shared the women's Big 10 regular season title with Ohio State hosting the women's conference championships later this week
Ohio State (Okonkwo) won the men-s Big Ten regular season title

Hannah Read (San Diego) had a strong finish to her regular season winning both her matches this weekend 6-0 6-1.