December Aces; USTA Winter National Championships Finals Set, Doubles Champions Crowned; United States Begins Title Defense at United Cup as ATP/WTA Season Begins

My monthly Tennis Recruiting Network column on December's top performances focuses primarily on the winners of the three major junior events in Florida, which makes it a great way to catch up if you weren't able to follow my daily coverage. But the IMG Academy, Orange Bowl and Junior Orange Bowl champions weren't the only players to pick up titles as the year came to a close, with juniors and former collegians also ending 2025 with titles.

The singles finals are set for Sunday at the USTA Winter National Championships and the gold, silver and bronze balls in doubles have been awarded.

Girls 18s top seed Carlota Moreno lost her first set of the tournament today in the semifinals, but advanced to her second straight USTA National Championship final with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win over No. 4 seed Ellery Mendell. University of Tennessee recruit Moreno, who lost in the National Indoor final to Thara Gowda last month, will face No. 8 seed Kenzie Nguyen, a Columbia recruit, who beat No. 3 seed Carrie-Anne Hoo 6-1, 6-3.

Moreno has already secured a gold ball in today's doubles final, where she and Addy Rogin, seeded No. 2, defeated top seeds Hoo and Isabelle DeLuccia 6-4, 7-5. Moreno and Rogin won the gold ball in doubles in the 16s division at the Easter Bowl back in March.

Boys 18s No. 2 seed Ronit Karki, a Stanford recruit, advanced to the final with another straight-sets win, beating No. 10 seed Gordon Gallagher, a Baylor signee, 6-3, 6-4. The Wimbledon boys finalist will face No. 17 seed Andrew Li, a Rice signee, who beat No. 13 seed Noble Renfrow 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. 

The boys 18s doubles title went to Wesley Cotton and William McEwan, who beat Rowan Qalbani and Ilias Bouzoubaa 6-2, 7-5 in the final between two unseeded teams.

The girls 16s final will feature No. 4 seed Olivia Lin against No. 2 seed Shristi Selvan. Lin needed over three hours to defeat 12-year-old Nikol Davletshina, the No. 5 seed, 7-5, 7-6(6); Lin served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, 40-0 in the second set, with Davletshina saving five match points before earning a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. But Lin did avoid a third set by taking the final three points of the match.

Selvan advanced to the final when No. 3 seed Vanessa Kruse retired with an injury down 6-1, 4-1.

No. 13 seeds Grace Hong and Audrey Dussault won the doubles title in the girls 16s, defeating No. 9 seeds Priyanka Tallamraju and Pallavi Tallamraju 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

As in the boys 18s final, the boys 16s championship match will feature a No. 17 seed, with Akshay Mirmira defeating No. 3 seed Lennart Hammargren 7-5, 6-4. Mirmira will play No. 9 seed Nile Ung, who beat No. 4 seed Rafael Lopez by the same score.

Mirmira had to settle for a silver ball in the doubles final, with unseeded Rafael Bote and Mikaeel Alibaig defeating Mirmira and Ivan Rybak, the No. 2 seeds, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

All four singles finals are at 9 a.m. Saturday morning, so I won't be able to watch more than parts of them, but there is live streaming here. This is no longer provided by Playsight, but is the new Save My Play streaming, which does not require an account. You do have to look at the draws to find the court assignments. The 16s are on clay, the 18s on Team USA hard courts.

The 12s and 14s played their doubles finals and singles semifinals on an unseasonably warm day in San Antonio Texas, with the temperature 88 degrees when I checked my weather app for the weather there this afternoon. 

Both top seeds in the 12s will play for the title, with Dmitriy Flyam facing No. 16 seed Ethan Kim. Both went the distance in their semifinals, with Flyam coming back to beat No. 7 seed Aaron Peng 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Kim taking out No. 2 seed William Zhang with a 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-4 decision.

Peng did earn a gold ball today, partnering with Jackson Ansbach for the title. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 6 seeds Jaden Joyner and Kade Grover 7-6(2), 6-3.

In the girls 12s, the top two seeds will play for the title, the only singles final to produce that scenario. No. 1 Anna Sandru, the USTA National 12s champion, will face No. 2 Mary        Podkhyneychenko, the USTA National 12s indoor champion. Sandru defeated No. 15 seed Lailah Cowgill 6-0, 6-1 and Podkhyneychenko beat No. 5 seed Chloe Anthony 6-2, 6-3.

No. 3 seeds Lucy Jiang and Summer Yang won the girls 12s doubles title, beating No. 9 seeds Grace Malhotra and Ayenzavia Calugay 6-0, 7-6(5).

The only unseeded finalist is Nathan Lee, who advanced to the championship match in the boys 14s with a 6-3, 6-0 win over No. 9 seed Andy Wu. Lee has yet to drop a set this week after losing in the first round at the IMG Academy International tournament and the Junior Orange Bowl. Lee will play No. 3 seed Andres Quijada, who outlasted No. 2 seed Jiarui Zhang 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to prevent a rematch of the 2024 Easter Bowl 12s final.

No. 6 seed Oleana Zerres will go for the sweep in the girls 14s Sunday when she faces No. 9 seed Eugenia Alvarez. Zerres defeated No. 5 seed Reese Ellingson 6-4, 6-3, while Alvarez beat No. 17 seed Charlotte Lim 6-2, 6-1. 

Zerres and Ava Chua, the No. 5 seeds, won the doubles title, beating No. 14 seeds Andrea Jakovljevic and Mia Sandblom 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

The ATP and WTA seasons are underway in Australia, with qualifying for the WTA 500 and the ATP 250 in Brisbane going on now, as well as the United Cup in its second day in Perth and Sydney. Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff begin the United States' title defense against Argentina Saturday (tonight in the USA). Steve Tignor of tennis.com provides a preview of Day Two here.

Qualifying for the WTA 250 in Auckland New Zealand starts Saturday (tonight in the USA).

Happy New Year! Top Seeds Fall in USTA Winter National Quarterfinals; Acceptances for This Month's Traralgon and Coffee Bowl ITF J300s

 

2026 didn't start the way that four of the seven No. 1 seeds remaining in contention for the USTA Winter Nationals would have liked, with girls 18s top seed Carlota Moreno the only one to post a quarterfinal victory today in Orlando.

Boys 18s top seed and defending champion Shaan Patel saw his winning streak end at 11 matches, with No. 13 seed Noble Renfrow posting a convincing 6-0, 6-1 victory in today's quarterfinal.

Orange Bowl finalist and boys 16s top seed Daniel Malacek lost to No. 9 seed Nile Ung 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 and girls 16s No. 1 seed Sylvana Jalbert was beaten by 12-year-old Nikol Davletshina 6-3, 6-3.

In San Antonio, the top seeds in the boys and girls 12s advanced to the semifinals, but Ava Chua, No. 1 in the girls 14s, lost to No. 17 seed Charlotte Kim 6-2, 6-2.

USTA Winter Nationals quarterfinal results:

B18s:
Noble Renfrow[13] d. Shaan Patel[1] 6-0, 6-1
Andrew Li[17] d. Michael Lorenzetti 6-2, 6-0

Gordon Gallagher[10] d. Niko Klyachkin[12] 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
Ronit Karki[2] d. Liam Alvarez 6-2, 6-3

B16s:

Nile Ung[9] d. Daniel Malacek[1] 6-1, 0-6, 6-4

Rafael Lopez[4] d. Piotr Gradzki[5] 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-5

Lennart Hammargren[3] d. Adrian Sharma 7-5, 7-5

Akshay Mirmira[17] d. Rafael Pawar[17] 4-6, 6-1, 6-0

B14s:

Nathan Lee d. Rex Kulman[13] 6-4, 6-4

Andy Wu[9] d. Evaan Mohan[17] 6-4, 6-2

Andres Quijada[3] d. Nikola Bogojevic[17] 6-3, 6-1

Jiarui Zhang[2] d. Pranav Vignesh[7] 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

B12s:

Dmitriy Flyam[1] d. Louis Xu[17] 6-1, 6-1

Aaron Peng[7] d. Samuel Hartley[4] 7-6(3), 6-0

Ethan Kim[16] d. Sanath Anand[10] 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 

William Zhang[2] d. David Benedict[6] 6-2, 6-2

G18s

Carlota Moreno[1] d. Maria Navarro[17] 6-1, 6-0

Ellery Mendell[4] d.  Kylie Liu[17] 6-2, 6-4

Carrie-Anne Hoo[3] d. Catherine Rennard[6] 6-0, 7-5

Kenzie Nguyen[8] d. Sophia Budacsek 7-5, 6-2

G16s:

Nikol Davletshina[5] d. Sylvana Jalbert[1] 6-3, 6-3

Olivia Lin[4] d. Sofia Basto Cabrera[6] 6-2, 6-1

Vanessa Kruse[3] d. Fiona Hu[17] 7-5, 6-2

Shristi Selvan[2] d. Alicia Londono 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(11)

G14s:

Charlotte Kim[17] d. Ava Chua[1] 6-2, 6-2

Eugenia Alvarez[9] d. Annabelle Huang 6-3, 6-3

Oleana Zerres[6] d. Aarna Patel 6-1, 6-1

Reese Ellingson[5] d. Natalia Martinez[13] 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-1

G12s:

Anna Sandru[1] d. Alara Buyukuncu[17] 6-1, 6-3

Lailah Cowgill[15] d. Catherine Chan[16] 7-6(6), 6-3

Chloe Anthony[5] d. Summer Yang[3] 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)

Mary Podkhyneychenko[2] v Lola Looney[9] 6-0, 6-0

The doubles finals are set for Friday, with just two No. 1 seeds still in the hunt for a title.

Winter Nationals doubles finals:

B12s:

Jaden Joyner and Kade Grover[6] v Jackson Ansbach and Aaron Peng[2]

B14s:

Sebastian Zavala and Andres Quijada[1] v. Joshua LaTour and Nathan Goldman[2]

B16s:

Rafael Bote and Mikaeel Alibaig v Akshay Mirmira and Ivan Rybak[2]

B18s:

Rowan Qalbani and Ilias Bouzoubaa v Wesley Cotton and William McEwan

G12s:

Grace Malhotra and Ayenxavia Calugay[9] v Lucy Jiang and Summer Yang[3]

G14s:

Andrea Jakovljevic and Mia Sanblom[14] v Oleana Zerres and Ava Chua[5]

G16s: 

Grace Hong and Audrey Dussault[13] v Priyanka Tallamraju and Pallavi Tallamraju[9]

G18s:

Isabelle DeLuccia and Carrie-Anne Hoo[1] v Addy Rogin and Carlota Moreno[2]

The acceptances to the second and third ITF J300s(the first is the J300 in Delhi India next week) were posted today.

The J300 in Traralgon Australia features most of the same names on its acceptance list as the Australian Open Junior Championships. Jack Kennedy, who told me at the Orange Bowl that he is not playing Australian Open juniors this year, is still entered there, but did not enter Traralgon, so I expect he will withdraw from Melbourne in the next couple of weeks. Orange Bowl champion Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands has already withdrawn from the Australian Open Juniors and did not enter Traralgon. 

Australian Cruz Hewitt, who received an Australian Open men's qualifying wild card, isn't playing Traralgon, which starts on the Friday of qualifying week.

Girls who are on the Australian Open Junior Championships acceptance list but not on Traralgon's are Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany, Kristina Liutova and Tahlia Kokkinis of Australia. Like Hewitt, Kokkinis received a Australian Open qualifying wild card.

The draws of the J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica are usually full of Americans, and there are 14 US girls among the 22 direct acceptances, but only three US boys: Marcel Latak, Agassi Rusher and Navneet Raghuram. 

Michael Antonius, Andy Johnson and Jordan Lee are not playing in Australia or Costa Rica, although there is a USTA M25 in Orlando the week of January 12th, and five consecutive M15s in Florida after that, so perhaps they will be competing in those events instead of on the ITF Junior Circuit. 

The US girls accepted in Costa Rica are Welles Newman, Capucine Jauffret, Carrie-Ann Hoo, Ishika Ashar, Maggie Sohns, Jordyn Hazelitt, Janae Preston, Thara Gowda, Yael Saffar, Karlin Schock, Ireland O'Brien, Raya Kotseva and Olivia Traynor.

Jauffret is also on the main draw acceptance lists for both Traralgon and the Australian Open Juniors; Hoo is on the main draw list for Traralgon and in qualifying for the Australian Open. The withdrawal deadline for both Traralgon and Costa Rica is Tuesday January 6.

Quarterfinals Set for USTA Winter Nationals, Unseeded Lee Ousts Top Seed Zavala in B14s; Jodar Will Not Return to Virginia as He Begins Pro Career

The quarterfinals are set for the USTA Winter National Championships on New Year's Day, with seven of the eight No. 1 seeds still in the hunt for a gold ball. The boys 14s lost their top seed in today's round of 16, with unseeded Nathan Lee, the younger brother of Tyler Lee, defeating Sebastian Zavala 6-1, 6-3.

The quarterfinal matchups in singles:

B18s:
Shaan Patel[1] v Noble Renfrow[13]
Michael Lorenzetti v Andrew Li[17]
Niko Klyachkin[12] v Gordon Gallagher[10]
Liam Alvarez v Ronit Karki[2]

G18s

Carlota Moreno[1] v Maria Navarro[17]

Ellery Mendell[4] v Kylie Liu[17]

Catherine Rennard[6] v Carrie-Anne Hoo[3]

Kenzie Nguyen[8] v Sophia Budacsek

B16s:

Daniel Malacek[1] v Nile Ung[9]

Rafael Lopez[4] v Piotr Gradzki[5]

Adrian Sharma v Lennart Hammargren[3]

Akshay Mirmira[17] v Rafael Pawar[17]

G16s:

Sylvana Jalbert[1] v Nikol Davletshina[5]

Olivia Lin[4] v Sofia Basto Cabrera[6]

Fiona Hu[17] v Vanessa Kruse[3]

Alicia Londono v Shristi Selvan[2]

B14s:

Nathan Lee v Rex Kulman[13]

Evaan Mohan[17] v Andy Wu[9]

Nikola Bogojevic[17] v Andres Quijada[3]

Pranav Vignesh[7] v Jiarui Zhang[2]

G14s:

Ava Chua[1] v Charlotte Kim[17]

Eugenia Alvarez[9] v Annabelle Huang

Oleana Zerres[6] v Aarna Patel

Reese Ellingson[5] v Natalia Martinez[13]

B12s:

Dmitriy Flyam[1] v Louis Xu[17]

Samuel Hartley[4] v Aaron Peng[7]

Sanath Anand[10] v Ethan Kim[16]

William Zhang[2] v David Benedict[6] 

G12s:

Anna Sandru[1] v Alara Buyukuncu[17]

Lailah Cowgill[15] v Catherine Chan[16]

Chloe Anthony[5] v Summer Yang[3]

Mary Podkhyneychenko[2] v Lola Looney[9] 

The draws for the 16s and 18s in Orlando are here; the draws for the 12s and 14s in San Antonio are here.

Rafael Jodar announced late yesterday that he would not be returning to the University of Virginia for his sophomore season, as begins to pursue his professional career full-time. The 19-year-old from Spain, who won the 2024 US Open boys title, has seen his ATP ranking rise from 675 to 168 in the six months since he last competed for the Cavaliers in May of this year, winning three Challenger titles since August. The ITA's 2025 Rookie of the Year will play the Australian Open qualifying and few would be surprised if he reached the main draw in his first professional major.

"Thank you, UVA. Forever grateful ⚔" - Rafa Jódar pic.twitter.com/RD51DwjfEa

— Virginia Men's Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) December 30, 2025

2025 Honor Roll

January

Max D Smith, USTA Winter Nationals 12s
David Bender and Gabriel Marino, USTA Winter Nationals 12s (dbls)

Jacqueline Nick, USTA Winter Nationals 12s
Lucy Dupere and Christina Li, USTA Winter Nationals 12s (dbls)

Eli Kaminski, USTA Winter Nationals 14s
Rafael Pawar and Zesen Wang, USTA Winter Nationals 14s (dbls)

London Evans, USTA Winter Nationals 14s
Anna Scott Laney and Michelle Lee, USTA Winter Nationals 14s (dbls)

Safir Azam, USTA Winter Nationals 16s
James Wakefield and Juan Parrilla, USTA Winter Nationals 16s (dbls)

Paige Wygodzki, USTA Winter Nationals 16s
Danielle Young and Anna Bugaienko, USTA Winter Nationals (dbls)

Shaan Patel, USTA Winter Nationals 18s
Bryan Assi and Sibby Rodi, USTA Winter Nationals 18s (dbls)

Chukwumelije Clarke, USTA Winter Nationals 18s
Brooklyn Hoffmann and Sasha Dimitrov, USTA Winter Nationals 18s (dlbs)

Jagger Leach, ITF J300 Traralgon (dbls)
Kristina and Annika Penickova, ITF J300 Traralgon (dbls)
Emery Combs and Daniela Del Mastro, Tennis Europe Bolton C1 (dbls)

Ryan Cozad, ITF J300 Coffee Bowl Costa Rica
Julieta Pareja, ITF J300 Coffee Bowl Costa Rica (dbls)

Clervie Ngounoue, ITF W35 Guadeloupe (dbls)
Kristina and Annika Penickova, Australian Open Junior Championships (dbls)
Maxwell Exsted, Australian Open Junior Championships (dbls)

Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield, ITF J300 Colombia (dbls)
Keaton Hance, ITF J300 Colombia
Kori Montoya and Ava Rodriguez, ITF J300 Colombia (dbls)
Julieta Pareja, ITF J300 Colombia

February
Thea Frodin, ITF J300 Paraguay (dbls)
Clervie Ngounoue, ITF W50 Birmingham England
Darwin Blanch, ITF M15 Spain

Noah Johnston, ITF J300 Porto Alegre Brazil, singles and doubles
Jacob Olar, ITF J300 Porto Alegre Brazil (dbls)

March
Victoria Osuigwe, USTA Pro Circuit W35 Arcadia CA (dbls)

Jack Satterfield and Ronit Karki, ITF J500 Banana Bowl (dbls)
Thea Frodin, ITF J500 Banana Bowl

Christasha McNeil and Elizabeth Ionescu, ITF W15 Canada (dbls)
Christasha McNeil, ITF W15 Montreal Canada

Jagger Leach, ITF J300 Indian Wells, singles and doubles
Noah Johnston, ITF J300 Indian Wells (dbls)
Julieta Pareja, ITF J300 Indian Wells
Leena Friedman and Thea Frodin, ITF J300 Indian Wells (dbls)

Michael Antonius and Roshan Santhosh, ITF J300 San Diego (dbls)
Annika Penickova, ITF J300 San Diego (dbls)
Kristina Penickova, ITF J300 San Diego, singles and doubles
Jack Satterfield, ITF J300 San Diego

Maxwell Exsted, ITF J300 Spain (dbls)

James Borchard, USTA Easter Bowl 12s
James Borchard and Evan Fan, USTA Easter Bowl 12s (dbls)

Lucy Dupere, USTA Easter Bowl 12s
Kareena Cross and Gabrielle Alexa Villegas, USTA Easter Bowl 12s (dbls)

Arjun Krishnan, USTA Easter Bowl 14s
Siddhant Dua and Indra Vergne, USTA Easter Bowl 14s (dbls)

Daniela del Mastro, USTA Easter Bowl 14s
Anya Arora and Madeline Cleary, USTA Easter Bowl 14s (dbls)

Armira Kockinis, USTA Easter Bowl 16s
Carlota Moreno and Addy Rogin, USTA Easter Bowl 16s (dbls)

Marcel Latak, USTA Easter Bowl 16s
Akshay Mirmira and Boning Wang, USTA Easter Bowl 16s (dbls)

Nikolas Stoot, USTA Easter Bowl 18s
Tyler Lee and Brayden Tallakson, USTA Easter Bowl 18s (dbls)

Bella Payne, USTA Easter Bowl 18s
Amy Lee and Kenzie Nguyen, USTA Easter Bowl 18s (dbls)

April
Monika Ekstrand, USTA Pro Circuit W35 Jackson MS
Akasha Urhobo, USTA Pro Circuit W35 Boca Raton FL (dbls)
Maxwell Exsted, ITF J300 Bulgaria (dbls)
Iva Jovic, ITF W100 Charlottesville

May
Monika Ekstrand, USTA Pro Circuit W35 Boca Raton FL
Annika and Kristina Penickova, ITF W15 Tunisia (dbls)

Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance, ITF J300 Italy (dbls)
Jack Kennedy, ITF J300 Italy

Annika and Kristina Penickova, ITF W15 Tunisia (dbls)
Jacob Olar, ITF J300 Belgium (dbls)

June
Iva Jovic, WTA 125 Ilkley England
Darwin Blanch, ITF M25 Spain

July
Julieta Pareja, ITF J300 Roehampton
Kristina Penickova, Wimbledon Junior Championships (dbls)
Cooper Woestendick, ITF M25 Canada (dbls)

Michael Antonius, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 18s

Nicole Weng, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 18s
Lillian Santos and Jordyn Hazelitt, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 18s (dbls)

Keshav Muthuvel, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 16s
Griffin Goode and Mason Vaughan, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 16s (dbls)

Olivia de Los Reyes, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 16s
Enya Hamilton and Autumn Xu, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 16s (dbls)

Joshua Dolinsky, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 14s
Joshua Dolinsky and Kensho Ford, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 14s (dbls)

Nikol Davletshina, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 14s
London Evans and Zoe Young, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 14s (dbls)

Jason Ye, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 12s
Olie Rosa Hall and Pranav Madamanchi, USTA Clay Courts National 12 (dbls)

Violetta Li, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 12s
Violetta Li and Emma Li, USTA Clay Courts Nationals 12s (dbls)

August
Darwin Blanch, USTA National Championships 18s
Cooper Woestendick and Maxwell Exsted, USTA National Championships 18s (dbls)

Alyssa Ahn, USTA National Championships 18s
Thea Frodin and Kristina Penickova, USTA National Championships 18s (dbls)

Marcel Latak, USTA National Championships 16s
Shaan Majeed and Lucas Smith, USTA National Championships 16s (dbls)

Hannah Ayrault, USTA National Championships 16s
Olivia Dartawan and Autumn Xu, USTA National Championships 16s (dbls)

Jiarui Zhang, USTA National Championships 14s
Kyle Hwang and James Choi, USTA National Championships 14s (dbls)

Danielle Sales, USTA National Championships 14s
Juliana Diianni and Aleksandra Jerkunica, USTA National Championships 14s (dbls)

Keita Iida, USTA National Championships 12s
Evan Fan and William McGugin, USTA National Championships 12s (dbls)

Anna Victoria Sandru, USTA National Championships 12s
Anna Victoria Sandru and Emma Li, USTA National Championships 12s (dbls)

Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode, ITF J300 College Park (dbls)

Carrie-Ann Hoo and Kaya Moe, ITF J300 Repentigny Canada (dlbs)

September
Iva Jovic, WTA 500 Guadalajara
Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance, US Open Junior Championships (dbls)
Maxwell Exsted, M15 Turkey (dbls)
Kristina Penickova, ITF J500 Osaka Japan (dbls)

October
Michael Antonius, ITF J300 Spring Texas
Chukwumelije Clarke, ITF J300 Spring Texas
Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode, ITF J300 Spring Texas (dbls)
Annika Penickova and Capucine Jauffret, ITF J300 Spring Texas (dbls)

Maxwell Exsted, ITF M15 Spain (dbls)

November
Maxwell Exsted, M15 Orlando (dbls)

Julieta Pareja, Kristina Penickova, Annika Penickova, Junior Billie Jean King Cup
Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson, Jordan Lee, Junior Davis Cup

Bella Payne, W15 Clemson (dbls)
Maxwell Exsted, M15 Orlando (dbls)
Thea Frodin and Annika Penickova, ITF J500 Merida (dbls)

December
Thara Gowda, USTA National Indoors 18s
Francie Pate and Danielle Young, USTA National Indoors 18s (dbls)

Alexander Suhanitski, USTA National Indoors 18s
Gregory Bernadsky and Carson Dwyer, USTA National Indoors 18s (dbls)

Sylvana Jalbert, USTA National Indoors 16s
Addison Lindsay and Sammie Mercer, USTA National Indoors 16s (dbls)

Eli Kaminski, USTA National Indoors 16s
Eli Kaminski and James Ross, USTA National Indoors 16s (dbls)

Anna Kapanadze, USTA National Indoors 14s
Sophie Nguyen-Huynh and Jessie Janiak, USTA National Indoors 14s (dbls)

Ishaan Marla, USTA National Indoors 14s
Gus Geubelle and Andrew Beltran, USTA National Indoors 14s (dbls)

Mary Podkhyneychenko, USTA National Indoors 12s
Cataleya Brown and Mila Mikoczi Spivey, USTA National Indoors 12s (dbls)

Pranav Madamanchi, USTA National Indoors 12s
William McGugin and Olie Rosa Hall, USTA National Indoors 12s (dbls)

Adelina Iftime, IMG Academy International 16s
Vibha Gogineni and Grace Hong, IMG Academy Intl 16s (dbls)
Arjun Krishnan and Julian Zhang, IMG Academy Intl 16s (dbls)

James Borchard and Evan Fan, IMG Academy Intl 12s (dbls)

Priscilla Sirichantho, Orange Bowl 16s
Emery Combs and Olivia de Los Reyes, Orange Bowl 16s (dbls)
Matias Reyniak, Orange Bowl 16s
Sean Peng, Orange Bowl 16s (dbls)

Tristan Ascenzo, Junior Orange Bowl 14s
Christina Li and Kyndall Noel, Junior Orange Bowl 14s (dbls)
James Borchard and Evan Fan, Junior Orange Bowl 12s (dbls)
Inie Toli, Junior Orange Bowl 12s (dbls)

All No. 1 Seeds Advance to Round of 16 at USTA Winter National Championships; Indian Wells ITF J300 Moves to Tucson in 2026; A Look at Online Schooling for Junior Tennis Players

The No. 1 seeds continued to advance at the USTA Winter National Championships, with all eight top seeds reaching Wednesday's round of 16.

Boys 18s No. 1 seed and defending champion Shaan Patel will face No. 17 seed Siddharth Bharadwaj and No. 2 seed Ronit Karki will play No. 17 seed John Gentek.

Daniel Malacek, the top seed in the boys 16s, will play No. 13 seed Joshua Dolinsky.

Girls 18s No. 1 seed Carlota Moreno will play last year's 16s champion Paige Wygodzki, who is unseeded this year in the 18s. 

In the girls 16s, top seed Sylvana Jalbert will face Ella Lin, a 17 seed, while No. 2 seed Shristi Selvan plays unseeded Audrey Dussault.

Another intriguing round of 16 match in the girls 16s features two IMG Academy champions, with 2024 12s champion Nikol Davletshina, the No. 5 seed, taking on 2025 16s champion Adelina Iftime, who is unseeded this week.

In the girls 14s, top seed Ava Chua plays unseeded Zhongyi  Zhou and No. 2 seed Eleanor Armistead faces No. 13 seed Natalia Martinez.

Girls 12s No. 1 seed Anna Sandru plays No. 13 seed Lucy Jiang and No. 2 seed Mary Podkhyneychenko faces No. 14 seed Audrey Yang.

In the boys 12s, No. 1 seed Dmitriy Flyam plays No. 14 seed Jesse Goldman for a spot in the quarterfinals, while No. 2 seed William Zhang takes on No. 12 seed Zephyr Zwicker.

In the boys 14s, top seed Sebastian Zavala plays unseeded Nathan Lee and No. 2 seed Jiarui Zhang faces unseeded Jerry Qi.

Although all the top seeds remain in singles, the No. 1 seed in the boys 18s doubles draw lost today in the second round, with Rowan Qalbani and Ilias Bouzoubaa beating top seeds Austin He and John Gentek 6-4, 6-3.

The draws for the 16s and 18s in Lake Nona are here; the draws for the 12s and 14s in San Antonio are here.

When FILA ended their sponsorship agreement with the BNP Paribas Open, there was no reason to think they would continue to sponsor the ITF J300 that was played in Indian Wells the second week of the Masters 1000 there. When that became clear this fall, the USTA began looking for an alternative for that event, which had been held in Indian Wells in 2023, 2024 and 2025. I learned at the Orange Bowl that the new venue will be the Tucson Racquet Club in Arizona, and it is now listed on the ITF Junior Calendar. The tournament, with 48-player draws and running from March 9-14, will be followed by the San Diego J300 North American Regional, beginning March 16. 

The Las Vegas ITF event that usually precedes these two events is not yet appearing on the ITF calendar, but I've been told this will be a J200 event this year.

The downside to the 2026 first quarter calendar is that the ITF has moved the J300 and J500 in Brazil from late February/early March to the same two weeks that the J300s are in the United States. 

I'll have an article for the Tennis Recruiting Network next month on the USTA's commitment in 2026 to increasing opportunities for American juniors by expanding the number of ITF Junior Circuit tournaments in the United States.

Online schooling has been popular with top juniors for as long as I've been covering the sport, which is two decades and counting now, and that shows no signs of slowing down. This article, which first appeared in The Guardian, looks at the trend and what it might mean for the athletic, academic and social development of young tennis players.

No. 2 Seed in Girls 18s, No. 3 Seed in Boys 18s Upset in USTA Winter Nationals Second Round;; Top Doubles Seeds Move On; Ethan Quinn Feature

Although all eight of the No. 1 seeds have advanced to Tuesday's third round of singles at the USTA Winter National Championships, another No. 2 seed has exited, along with the No. 3 seed in boys 18s division.

Calla McGill, the No. 2 seed in the girls 18s, lost today to Addison Lindsay 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, while Alexander Suhanitski, the boys 18s No. 3 seed lost to Michael Lorenzetti 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5. Suhanitski won the boys 18s National Indoor title earlier this month. 

Three more Top 8 seeds lost in the boys 18s today, with Tristan Stratton beating No. 7 Williams Freshwater 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Brian Windsor defeating No. 6 seed Magnus Weng 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.  No. 5 seed David Wu withdrew with illness, putting TJ Shanahan in the third round.

After five top 16 seeds lost in the first round of boys 16s yesterday, the remaining 11 moved into the third round with wins today.

Although McGill was the only Top 8 seed to lose today in the girls 18s, No. 9 Lauren Nolan, No. 10 Alanna Ingalsbe, No. 12 Samaya Smith and No. 16 Reiley Rhodes were also beaten.

The girls 16s draw has lost just one Top 8 seed, and that was via a withdrawal before play began. 

B18s No. 1 seed and defending champion Shaan Patel, G18s No. 1 seed Carlota Moreno, B16s top seed Daniel Malacek and G16s top seed Sylvana Jalbert are all through to the third round.

The 12s division has gone remarkably according to form, with all top 16 seeds in the girls 12s advancing to the third round. Only one boys 12s Top 16 seed has lost, with Narain Mysore beating No. 5 seed Tomas Giraldo 6-2, 6-2 in the second round today.

In the girls 14s, No. 4 seed Kyndall Noel was beaten by Cydney Crocker 7-6(1), 7-6(3).

B14s top seed Sebastian Zavala, B12s No. 1 seed Dmitriy Flyam, G14s top seed Ava Chua and G12s No. 1 seed Anna Sandru have all reached the third round.

Doubles began today for the 16s and 18s and yesterday for the 12s and 14s. The top four seeds are listed below, with a note if they lost their first round match.

USTA Winter Nationals Top 4 doubles seeds:

B12s

1. Tomas Giraldo and Kush Purohit

2. Jackson Ansbach and Aaron Peng

3. Nicholas Rybak and Isaac Rubanenko (lost rd 1)

4. Patrick Bingham and Dmitriy Flyam

B14s

1. Sebastian Zavala and Andres Quijada

2. Joshua LaTour and Nathan Goldman

3. Krish Advani and Selwyn Olufemi-Owoeye

4. Oliver Zinaja and Marcus Gonzales

B16s

1. Rafael Lopez and Ryan Corcoran

2. Akshay Mirmira and Ivan Rybak

3. Carson Kuchar and Simon Nayal

4. Eli Kaminski and Sean Peng

B18s

1. Austin He and John Gentek

2. Darren Wei and George Santalov

3. Jacob Lee and Shaan Patel

4. William Freshwater and Maddox Bose (lost rd 1)

G12s

1. Cathryn Chartrand and Anna Sandru

2. Mary Pokdhyneychenko and Chloe Anthony

3. Lucy Jiang and Summer Yang

4. Lola Looney and Maya Laddin

G14s

1. Noel Kyndall and Christina Li

2. Eleanor Armistead and Eugenia Alvarez

3. Reese Ellingson and Daniella Akhtar

4. Natalia Martin and Alexandra Hu

G16s 

1. Meher Rao and Evelynn Kwak

2. Emery June Martin and Vanessa Kruse

3. Akanksha Parashar and Pepper Rickert

4. Adelyn Gross and Blythe Sturman (lost rd 1)

G18s

1. Isabelle DeLuccia and Carrie-Anne Hoo

2. Addy Rogin and Carlota Moreno

3. Mia Soso and Emerey Gross (lost rd 1)

4. Alaina LiSanti and Lauren Nolan

The draws and times for Tuesday can be found here for the 12s and 14s in San Antonio, and here for the 16s and 18s in Orlando.

Not much else going on in the tennis world right now in advance of the 2026 season, which kicks off with United Cup in Australia in a few days. 

But I did run see this feature on Ethan Quinn, the 2023 NCAA singles champion at Georgia, who talks with fellow UGA alum Randy Walker about his transition from college tennis to Challenger tennis and his consistent qualifying success on the ATP Tour this year which has led to his current position as the ATP No. 70.