Pareja and Antonius lead fields for ITF J300 in San Diego; Wolf Returns, Exsted and Davidov Advance on M15 Naples; Frodin and Liutova reach second round in W35 Arcadia; Hurd Award announced on March 6, UTR Collegiate Event returns for second week of BNP

Many of the same U.S. juniors are competing in both events, but Gavin Goode, who is not on the Tucson roster, has come to San Diego, as has ITF No. 4 Julieta Pareja, who has not played a junior event since leading the U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team to the title in November. Pareja won the ITF J300 in Indian Wells last March, but did not compete this year in Tucson, where that event was moved. She didn’t play last year at the San Diego J300, near her home in Carlsbad, so she wants to defend those Indian Wells points a week later this year.

The Top 50 girls enrolled in San Diego are Julieta Pareja[4]Janae Preston[21]Nadia Lagaev (KAN)[39]Melia Clarke[47]

and Jordyn Hazelitt[49]. Notable absentees include the Penickova twins, with Kristina winning the San Diego singles and claiming the doubles title last year with sister Annika, and Australian Open girls semi-finalist Thea Frodin.

The Top 50 guys enrolled in San Diego are Michael Antonius[11]Andrew Johnson [16]Gavin Goode [23]Tanishk Konduri [28]Ryan Cozad [39]Xavier Massotte (KAN)[40]Benjamin Azar (KAN)[43] and Vihaan Reddy[50].

Former Ohio State All-American JJ Wolf, out for more than a year due to injury, returns to competition this week in Naples as a wild card. The former ATP No. 39 defeated Argentina’s Fermin Tenti 6-1, 6-3 today and will face Jack Secord, who defeated No. 3 seed Bruno Kuzuhara by the same score yesterday.

USC freshman Max Exsted, the last direct acceptance into the main draw, defeated No. 2 seed Tristan McCormick (Notre Dame, Ga.) 7-5, 6-4 in the first round today. The 18-year-old from Minnesota will play against Ignacio Monzon from Argentina on Thursday.

The 2026 Hurd Award winners will be announced on March 6, with $100,000 going to an American collegiate male and an American collegiate female, while a $40,000 grant will go to the runner-up. Last year, Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M and Colton Smith of Arizona received the top prize, while Eliot Spizzirri of Texas and Amelia Honer of UC-Santa Barbara received $40,000.

I would be surprised if the awards this year don’t go to NCAA champions Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina and Michael Zheng of Columbia.

The UTR Sports College Championships will once again be held on the final weekend of the BNP Paribas Open, with the four men’s teams competing this year against Arizona State, Pepperdine, Baylor and Memphis. The latter is the only newcomer and replaces Princeton from last year’s lineup.