Honfleur, France – Now in its 16th edition, the 2023 Master’U BNP Paribas Championships are once again bringing together university players from across the globe to compete in international competition for what is described as “The World Event of University Tennis“.
Being played from December 1-3 in Honfleur, France, the Master’U BNP Paribas Championships welcome eight nations, (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland) for several days of high-level competition between many of the top-ranked student-athletes from both NCAA institutions as well as other university systems from around the world.
After winning their third-straight championship in 2022, Team USA will once again be represented by many of the top American players from universities across the NCAA Division I level. These players will join the likes of Danielle Collins (Virginia), Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois), Ena Shibahara (UCLA), and Brandon Holt (USC) as participants in this great event.
The six competing student-athletes in 2023 will be Savannah Broadus (Pepperdine), Murphy Cassone (Arizona State), Fiona Crawley (North Carolina), Eliot Spizzirri (Texas), Mary Stoiana (Texas A&M), and Gavin Young (Michigan). More information about each of these players can be found below.
Coaching the United States this year will be the trio of Greg Patton (former Boise State) and Robin Stephenson (Washington). For Greg Patton, this marks his 13th year as a coach of the United States for the Master’U Championships after having a hall-of-fame career at Boise State.
Matches will consist of two women’s singles matches, two men’s singles matches, one women’s doubles match, one men’s doubles match, and one mixed doubles match. The country that wins four of these seven matches is declared the victor and advances on in the tournament.
The opening ceremony for the 2023 Master’U Championships is set for Nov. 30, while competition will span from Dec. 1-3 from Honfleur, France. Links to live stats and a complete player field list will be available in the coming days.
Women’s Selections
Savannah Broadus | Pepperdine | Preseason: No. 23 Singles & No. 1 Doubles
Junior | Carrollton, Texas
2022-23 Season: Finished ranked No. 30 in singles and No. 1 in doubles with Janice Tjen in the final ITA rankings…Was a first-team All-WCC singles and doubles award-winner, plus made the WCC All-Tournament Team in singles and doubles…Went 36-3 in singles play, including a perfect 22-0 record in dual singles play while playing on courts two and three…Had a 33-7 record in doubles play with Janice Tjen as the nation’s top-ranked doubles team for the majority of the season…Went 13-3 against nationally ranked singles opponents…Won 10-straight matches against nationally ranked opponents from Feb. 10 through March 26…Was the 2022 ITA National Fall Doubles Championships National Champion…Named an ITA All-American in doubles.
Fiona Crawley | North Carolina | Preseason: No. 1 Singles & No. 3 Doubles
Senior | San Antonio, Texas
2022-23 Season: Member of the 2023 NCAA National Championship team…2023 ITA National Player of the Year…2023 ACC Player of the Year…2023 Honda Award winner for women’s tennis…2022 Women’s All-American Championship winner…2022 ITA Fall Championships Winner…Ended the 2023 season ranked No. 1 in singles…Ended the regular season ranked No. 13 in doubles with Carson Tanguilig…18-2 record at No. 1 singles…No. 1 seed at 2023 NCAA Singles Championship; earned at-large bid to NCAA Doubles Championship…Earned All-American honors in 2023…Led all Division I players in singles victories (46) in 2023…Named an ITA All-American in 2023…Named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team in 2023…Won the 2023 Doubles Championship with Carson Tanguilig…Received a main draw wild card bid to the 2023 US Open with doubles partner Carson Tanguilig.
Mary Stoiana | Texas A&M | Preseason: No. 2 Singles
Junior | Southbury, Conn.
2022-23 Season: Stoiana followed up her stellar freshman year once again topping the Aggies in both singles wins…She boasted a record of 38-6 in, the fourth highest win count in a single season in program history…In ranked matchups she picked up 21 wins, including eight in the top 25 and a highlight win coming against Georgia’s No. 3 Lea Ma…In doubles she held a record of 28-4 across four partners (Jayci Goldsmith, Gianna Pielet, Carson Branstine and Mia Kupres)…12 of Stoiana’s doubles wins were in ranked matches, with her standout match coming with Branstine over Ohio State’s No. 11 Sydni Ratliff/Irina Cantos Siemers…Following her standout SEC campaign where she finished 11-0 in singles and 9-1 in doubles she was named SEC Player of the Week a conference record seven times, place on the All-SEC First Team and was the first Aggie awarded SEC Player of the Year…She finished the year ranked both No. 2 in the nation in singles and doubles, which earned her the No. 2 overall seeds in the NCAA Individual Championships which secured her ITA All-American honors in both.
Men’s Selections
Murphy Cassone | Arizona State | Preseason: No. 4 Singles & No. 59 Doubles
Junior | Overland Park, Kansas
2022-23 Season: Cassone was selected for the 2023 USTA Collegiate Summer Team for the second year in a row…First Sun Devil to reach All-American status in men’s tennis since 1995…First Sun Devil to reach the semifinal round of the NCAA Singles Championship since Sargis Sargsian in 1995…Qualified for the inaugural ITA/ATP Accelerator Program…Upset No. 3 Arthur Fery (Stanford) in straight sets, 7-6(6), 7-5, to advance to the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Semifinals…Had over 20 wins as a sophomore, 22-7 Singles Record…Overall win percentage is 76%…Had a career-high ATP ranking of 509 (Oct. 3, 2022)…Prior to the start of the 2022 school year, Cassone competed at the US Open in the men’s main draw where he was eliminated in the first round.
Eliot Spizzirri | Texas | Preseason: No. 1 Singles & No. 1 Doubles
Senior | Greenwich, Conn.
2022-23 Season: 2023 ITA National Player of the Year…2023 ITA National Senior Player of the Year…Finished the season as the No. 1 ranked singles player and No. 2 ranked doubles player in the nation…Was an ITA All-American in both singles and doubles…2023 Big 12 Player of the Year…NCAA Singles Championship quarterfinalist and NCAA Doubles Championship finalist…2023 ITA National Team Indoor Championship Most Outstanding Player…Named the Big 12 Player of the Week a record five times throughout the season.
Gavin Young | Michigan | Preseason: No. 31 Singles & No. 25 Doubles
Junior | Overland Park, Kansas
2022-23 Season: All-American in doubles…Second-Team All-B1G…Competed in both the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships…Had a 13-8 dual singles mark (2-3 at No. 3, 7-3 at No. 4, 4-2 at No. 5) and was 4-3 in the B1G…Strung together a seven-match win streak in the spring, matching a career best…Posted a 24-14 overall singles record…Went 1-1 in the NCAA Singles Championship, after originally being an alternate, defeating Ozolins (Illinois) in the Round of 64 before falling to Zheng (Columbia) in the Round of 32…Ranked in the ITA singles rankings 8 of 12 weeks, reaching a career high of No. 35 on March 7)…Ranked all season in doubles with partner Andrew Fenty as they put together a 26-7 record…Posted a dual doubles mark of 18-3, going a perfect 7-0 in the B1G…Went 9-2 against ranked pairs and was 30-9 in dual/individual doubles combined…Reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship, defeating a pair from Presbyterian and UCF in straight sets before falling to Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals…Finished No. 5 in the ITA doubles rankings, the highest ranking in school history for a doubles team.
