Brantmeier and NCAA agree to settlement; Teen quartet reaches quarter-finals at W35 Arcadia; Exsted vs Bigun Friday at M15 Naples; D-III Women’s Indoor team starts Friday in Tennessee

Last month, in my yearbook Eight intriguing questions post for the Tennis Recruiting Network, I raised the prospect that Reese Brantmeier and the NCAA could settle the lawsuit Brantmeier filed before the November trial date. According to reports todayA settlement has been reached, with the parties agreeing to a 60-day pause in deadlines while they work to finalize terms. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, so it is unwise to speculate, but it is likely that Division I tennis students will come out of this much less constrained by prize money bans than they are today.

The USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Arcadia, California consisted of four second-round matches lasting three hours, with top seed Akasha Urhobo, No. 4 seed Hanna Chang, No. 5 seed Eryn Cayetano (USC) and No. 7 seed Haley Giavara (Cal) all managing to get through. Qualifier Thea Frodin, 17, needed two hours and 40 minutes to beat Slovakia’s Martina Okalova (Tulsa) 6-7(4), 6-0, 7-5, while the other two teenagers younger than Urhobo, who is 19, enjoyed easier wins. No. 6 seed Julieta Pareja, 17, defeated qualifier Savannah Broadus (Pepperdine) 6-4, 6-4 and 15-year-old Kristina Liutova, the only non-American in the quarterfinals, defeated qualifier Snow Han (USC) 6-2, 6-4 to extend her W35 winning streak to seven matches.

Eighteen-year-old qualifier Maya Iyengar could make it five teenagers in the quarterfinals as she split sets with No. 3 seed Lea Ma (Georgia) in the final singles match of the day tonight.

At the M15 in Naples, FloridaFive Americans advanced to the quarterfinals, including 23-year-old qualifier Gianluca Brunkow, who defeated top seed Robert Cid Subervi (South Florida) of the Dominican Republic 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Brunkow, who played his collegiate tennis at UC-Santa Barbara, will begin his first full year on the Pro Circuit. He will play unseeded former Ole Miss standout John Hallquist Lithen of Sweden, who defeated No. 7 seed Karue Sell (UCLA) of Brazil 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4).

Fifteen-year-old wildcard Teodor Davidov lost to No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-2, 6-2 and 16-year-old Michael Antonius lost to No. 5 seed Louis Wessels of Germany 6-2, 6-4 to set up the top two quarterfinals.

The bottom half features four Americans, with wild card JJ Wolf (Ohio State) beating 17-year-old Jack Secord 6-1, 6-3 to continue his comeback after a year-long injury woes. Wolf will face unseeded Evan Bynoe, who defeated qualifier Dakotah Bobo (LSU, Southern Miss) 6-4, 6-1.

The quarter-final at the bottom of the draw features two teenagers, who are surprisingly playing for the first time. No. 8 seed Kaylan Bigun, 19, will play unseeded Maxwell Exsted, who turns 19 next month, after 2024 Roland Garros boys champion Bigun defeated qualifier Toby Martin of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1 and Exsted defeated Ignacio Monzon of Argentina 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4. If Exsted really was on the field for four hours and 43 minutes, which is what the ITF live scores page gives as match time, the advantage for tomorrow’s match certainly goes to Bigun, who was off the field within 66 minutes.

Tobon and Exsted, who have been occasional doubles partners on the ITF Junior Circuit, are the top seeds in doubles this week and have reached the semi-finals.

This weekend is the last ITA Team Indoor Championships for the Division III women. Washington-St. Louis is the top seed, while Chicago, Pomona-Pitzer and Emory round out the top four.

Sewanee is the host school and the main venue is the new club in College Grove: Farm and forge. This club will host another ITF J200 on red clay in May and is expected to be the venue for several high-profile tournaments in the future.