My Recap of USA's Junior Davis and Junior BJK Cup Titles; Kennedy Reaches Third M15 Semifinal in Orlando; Payne Makes W15 Clemson Semis; Stoiana Advances at Austin W50; What the NCAA Men's Seeds Should Be

As I mentioned in my post Sunday, there was more to say on the USA's Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup titles, and I wrote this recap on the historic back-to-back titles for both genders at Tennis Recruiting Network. With both teams seeded No. 1, the pressure was on and they came through with flying colors on the South American red clay.

Jack Kennedy, who was on the 2024 Junior Davis Cup team, which also rolled to the title without the loss of a point, has reached his third USTA Pro Circuit M15 semifinal this week in Orlando. The 17-year-old University of Virginia signee made his second semifinal at last month's M15 in Lexington Kentucky; today he defeated Exsted 6-4, 7-6(3) to set up a second straight meeting with an 18-year-old: No. 5 seed Reda Bennani of Morocco. Bennani defeated Gavin Goode 6-4, 6-1 in today's quarterfinals. 

In the bottom half, it will be No. 2 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) against Christopher Li(UNC, Tennessee, Ohio State), after Corwin beat No. 8 seed Stijn Paardekooper(St. Bonaventure, Utah State) of the Netherlands 6-1, 7-6(6) and Li defeated wild card Matisse Farzam(Clemson) 6-1, 7-5.

Top seeds Exsted and Corwin have reached the doubles final and will face ITF College Park and Spring J300s champions Ryan Cozad and Goode.

University of Georgia signee Bella Payne is through to the semifinals of the W15 in Clemson South Carolina, with the sixth-seeded left-hander defeating University of Virginia senior Annabelle Xu 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. Payne will play Clemson sophomore Amelie Smejkalova, a wild card, who beat Emma Charney(USC) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

In the bottom half's semifinal, 2024 NCAA singles finalist DJ Bennett of Auburn, who did not qualify for next week's NCAAs, will play Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands. Bennett, seeded No. 7, beat Kylie McKenzie 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, while the second-seeded Nijkamp took out No. 8 seed Aspen Schuman, a Duke signee, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Payne is also through to the doubles final with former North Carolina All-American Carson Tanguilig. The No. 3 seeds will play the unseeded Clemson team of Romana Cisovska of Slovakia and Candela Yecora of Spain.

At the W35 in Orlando, Victoria Hu(Princeton) is the sole American in the semifinals. After beating No. 7 seed Akasha Urhobo 6-3, 0-6, 7-5, Hu will face No. 6 seed Martha Matoula of Greece, who took out top seed and last week's Orlando W35 champion Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(7). 

Oklahoma State freshman Luca Udvardy of Hungary will play Auburn senior Angella Okutoyi of Kenya in the semifinal in the bottom half.

No. 7 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) has reached the semifinals of the W50 in Austin Texas, beating No. 3 seed Fiona Crawley(North Carolina) 6-2, 6-1 today. She will play unseeded Auburn senior Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia, who beat No. 5 seed Kayla Day 6-4, 6-4 today. No. 1 seed Anastasia Gasanova of Russia will face No. 4 seed Mai Hontama of Japan in the top-half semifinal.

As guaranteed before today's play, two Ohio State Buckeyes are through to the semifinals on their home courts at the M25 in Columbus. No. 3 seed Aidan Kim, who will playing in the NCAAs beginning Tuesday, defeated No. 5 seed Victor Lilov, who is joining Ohio State in January, 6-3, 6-4 in today's quartefinals. He will face No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain, who beat No. 6 seed Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski(Cal) of Poland 6-1, 6-1. Kim lost to Searle late last month in the quarterfinals of the M25 in Harlingen Texas 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.

No. 7 seed Jack Anthrop came through the other all-Ohio State quarterfinal, beating wild card Preston Stearns 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Anthrop, who has also qualified for the NCAAs next week, faces unseeded Gavin Young(Michigan), who beat wild card Loren Byers of Ohio State 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3.

The Saturday doubles final features three players competing in the NCAAs, with Sebastian Gorzny(Texas) and Young playing Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin(Ohio State). Gornzy is in the singles draw at the NCAAs, while Carpico and Filin qualified for doubles in last week's Sectionals.

Another NCAA participant still competing in a pro event is Illinois senior Kenta Miyoshi of Japan, who has made the semifinals of the Challenger 75 on his home courts for the second consecutive year. Miyoshi beat qualifier Taym Al Azmeh(Michigan State) 7-5, 6-2 today and will face No. 4 seed Murphy Cassone(Arizona State), who defeated No. 5 seed Mats Rosenkranz of Germany  7-6(4), 6-3. Unseeded Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany will play the winner of tonight's quarterfinals between Darwin Blanch and Stefan Kozlov.

The problematic seeding in the NCAA men's singles tournament has generated a lot of conversation the past four days, and the college tennis experts with podcasts came up with their own versions of the Top 8, which I've collected in the table below. If I had to pick one of the four, I'd probably go with Adam Drucker's; but all four of them are vastly superior to what we're going to see in tomorrow's draws. All fingers are crossed that we don't get Zheng or Suresh versus a top 8 seed in the first round. Duncan Chan, the TCU junior who has had a breakout fall, and is the No. 2 seed at next week's NCAAs, is through to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Drummondville Canada this week.

National Signing Day Updates; Kennedy, Farzam, Exsted and Goode Advance to M15 Orlando Quarterfinals; Five Buckeyes Reach M25 Columbus Quarterfinals; Blanch Moves into Champaign Challenger Quarterfinals

Wednesday was the official National Signing Day for high school seniors as they commit in writing to the schools they have agreed to attend.

I usually do several of these posts each November; I know that many of the signings have been announced on social media, but I wait until they appear on the school's website just so there is a bit more information available on the student-athlete. Not all players are signing for next fall, so be sure to check out the link for information on some who may starting in January.

Below is the first batch, with the signee's country included only if they are not from the United States.

WOMEN:

Arizona has signed Ciara Moore and Sophia Christodoulou of Great Britain and Sara Mlenska of the Czech Republic.

Auburn has signed Kaya Moe and Australia's Stefani Webb.

Baylor has signed Ligaya Murray, Maria Ustic of Great Britain and Gabby Villegas of Australia.

Boise State has signed Valentina Vachkova of the Czech Republic.

Colorado has signed Louise Ternstrom of Sweden.

Denver has signed Caroline Daugherty.

Florida has signed Capucine Jauffret and Brooke Black and Allegra Korpanec Davies of Great Britain. 

Florida State has signed Joanna Kennedy, Nicole Okhtenberg and Ariana Gilbert.

Georgia has signed Bella Payne, Ava Rodriguez and Canada's Nadia Lagaev.

Iowa has signed Emerey Gross and Mia Sosa.

Iowa State has signed Alicia Dale of Australia.

Kansas has signed Caroline Manzi.

Kentucky has signed Georgia Kulevich, Donna Le Roux of South Africa and Norina Bak Szabo of Hungary.

Miami has signed Dominika Podhajecka of Poland, Ela Plosnik of Slovenia and Sofia Rocchetti of Italy.

Missouri has signed Daria Budko, Evelyn Whiteside and Peru's Leticia Bazan.

Nebraska has signed Katie Spencer.

Notre Dame has signed Aria Nina Abalos and Canada's Lily Rochon.

Oklahoma has signed Sara Shumate.

Texas A&M has signed Rachel Smith, Kori Montoya, Bulgaria's Yoana Konstantinova and Great Britain's Ruby Cooling.

Texas Tech has signed Valerie Shue, Reagan Farm and Great Britain's Teodora Prisadnikova.

Vanderbilt has signed Nicole Weng.

MEN:

Central Florida has signed Christian Gronfeldt-Sorensen of Denmark, Fanming Meng of China and Kai Thompson, Hong Kong.

Clemson has signed Noah Cherubino of Spain.

Duke has signed Ludvig Hede of Sweden and Sebastian Eie of Norway.

Florida has signed Roman Sancilio.

Georgia has signed James Weber.

Georgia Tech has signed Mason Taube.

Illinois has signed Jon Gamble and Nicholas Mekhael.

Kentucky has signed Volodymyr Gurenko of Canada and Oscar Lien of Norway.

Nebraska has signed Micah Ward and Germany's Vincent Dullinger.

North Carolina has signed Lachlan Gaskell, with Will Mayew transferring to join his younger brother Ian, a freshman, in Chapel Hill.

Notre Dame has signed Alexander Suhanitski and Czech Republic's Jonas Kucera.

Rice has signed Andrew Li.

Tennessee has signed Adrien Abarca.

Texas has signed Jeremiah Braswell.

Texas A&M has signed James Quattro and Poland's Jan Chlodnicki.

Texas Tech has signed Bautista Leguizamon of Argentina.

Virginia has signed Jack Kennedy.

Wisconsin has signed Jens Holger Nissen of Denmark.

At the M15 in Orlando, five of the eight quarterfinalists are juniors. 

Seventeen-year-old Gavin Goode beat Mehdi Benchakroun(Central Florida) of Morocco 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal. He will play No. 5 seed Reda Bennani of Morocco, who is the only non-American junior to advance.

Two surprisingly lopsided all-junior matches in today's second round, with 18-year-old Max Exsted defeating qualifier Noah Johnston 6-0, 6-1 and 17-year-old Jack Kennedy beating Keaton Hance 6-0, 6-1. Exsted and Kennedy will play for the first time in junior or pro competition Friday.  It's the fourth Pro Circuit quarterfinal for Kennedy and the second for Exsted. Wild card Matisse Farzam, an 18-year-old freshman at Clemson, beat 15-year-old Jordan Lee 6-0, 6-4 to reach his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal, and he will face unseeded Christopher Li(UNC, Tennessee, Ohio State) of Peru next.

In the only all-veteran quarterfinal, No. 2 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) will face No. 8 seed Stijn Paardekooper(St. Bonaventure, Utah State) of the Netherlands. Paardekooper beat 17-year-old qualifier Nikolas Stood 7-6(3), 6-1, while Corwin defeated 16-year-old wild card Andrew Johnson 6-4, 6-2.

Exsted, Stoot and Goode have all reached the doubles semifinals, with Exsted playing with Corwin, Stoot with 15-year-old Teodor Davidov and Goode with regular partner Ryan Cozad.

At the M25 in Columbus Ohio, five Ohio State Buckeyes are through to Friday's quarterfinals. Wild card Loren Byers, a transfer from Penn State, beat top seed Paul Jubb(South Carolina) of Great Britain 7-5, 7-5 today and will play Gavin Young(Michigan). Wild card Preston Stearns defeated qualifier Marko Mesarovic(Clemson) 6-3, 6-4 and will take on teammate Jack Anthrop, the No. 7 seed. Anthrop beat qualifier Jules Leroux(NC State) of France 6-2, 6-2.

In the other all-Buckeye quarterfinal, No. 3 seed Aidan Kim will play No. 5 seed Victor Lilov, who is joining Ohio State in January. Kim defeated Will Jansen(UNC, Ohio State, Georgia) 6-3, 6-4 and Lilov beat Vlado Jankanj(Ole Miss) of Serbia 6-2, 6-2.

No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain faces Cal sophomore Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski of Poland, the No. 6 seed.

At the Champaign Challenger 75, 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch is through to the quarterfinals for the second straight week after beating Arda Azkara(Georgia) of Turkey 6-3, 6-4. He will play Stefan Kozlov, who defeated No. 8 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) 6-3, 6-3. Illinois senior Kenta Miyoshi of Japan, who made the semifinals at the Champaign Challenger last year, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over Micah Braswell(Texas). Miyoshi will play qualifier Taym Al Azmeh of Syria, a junior at Michigan State, in the quarterfinals. 

Orange Bowl Acceptances Feature Defending Boys Champion Santamarta Roig, but Few Top Girls; Lee Earns First ATP Point, Johnson Downs Antonius at Orlando M15; McNeil Beats Sonobe at W50 in Austin; Blanch Avenges Knoxville Final Loss in Champaign

The acceptances for the final two major ITF Junior Circuit events of the year were released today, with the J300 at IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida and the J500 Orange Bowl in Fort Lauderdale Florida featuring similar fields.

Three Top 10 boys and two Top 10 girls have entered, with Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, the defending champion in both events, leading the acceptance lists. Santamarta, currently No. 3 in the ITF rankings, obviously has a lot of points to defend, points he might need to stay in the ITF Top 10 at year-end. A top 10 finish means up to eight Challenger 50 and 75 main draw wild cards.

The other two Top 10 boys are recent ITF Junior Finals runner-up Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania[6] and Jack Kennedy[8].

In addition to Kennedy, the Americans in the Orange Bowl main draw are: Ronit Karki, Keaton Hance, Noah Johnston, Michael Antonius, Jack Satterfield, Jack Secord, Andrew Johnson, Max Dussault, Max Exsted, Gavin Goode, Dominick Mosejczuk and Ryan Cozad. Johnston(Georgia), Satterfield(Vanderbilt), Dussault(TCU) and Mosejczuk(Wake Forest) are all competing in their first semester in college this fall, so it remains to be seen whether they will actually play what would be the final ITF junior tournament of their careers.

The boys main draw cutoff was 83; ten more American boys are in qualifying, with that cutoff 206.

The two Top 10 girls who entered the Orange Bowl are Ksenia Efremova[8] of France and No. 10 Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic. 

The top two US girls did not enter, with No. 1 Kristina Penickova and No. 5 Julieta Pareja missing. Penickova had entered the J500 in Mexico, but withdrew from that. She has no points to defend the rest of the year, and with none of the other top girls competing in the last few events, Penickova's No. 1 ranking looks safe.  She is currently competing in the W35 in Orlando, where she won her opening round match today. 

The US girls accepted into the main draw of the Orange Bowl are Thea Frodin, Annika Penickova, Capucine Jauffret, Melije Clarke, Welles Newman, Nancy Lee, Carrie-Ann Hoo, Ishika Ashar, Maggie Sohns and Ava Rodriguez.

The girls main draw cutoff was 107; 17 more US girls are in qualifying, with that cutoff at 234.

The Bradenton field is similar, but Kennedy, Karki, Satterfield and Exsted did not enter. US girls in the Orange Bowl but not Bradenton are Frodin, Annika Penickova and Sohns.

The boys main draw cutoff in Bradenton was 95, the girls main draw cutoff was 111.

The Orange Bowl 16s entries have not yet been posted, but should be available here by the end of the week. The entry lists for the 12s, 14s and 16s at the IMG Academy Championships, previously the Eddie Herr, are here.

The USTA Florida section's recent Here to Serve podcast takes a look at the history and the recent relocation of the Orange Bowl to the newly renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center in Fort Lauderdale. Chris Evert is expected to attend the ribbon cutting for the venue's new Stadium Court on Monday December 8th according to USTA Florida Executive Director Laura Bowen. Her conversation with the Orange Bowl's Doug Wiley and Eric Poms and Scott Pukys, Director of Tennis at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center, can be viewed here.

Ten of the 16 players remaining in the M15 in Orlando are juniors, with the youngest, 15-year-old wild card Jordan Lee, earning his first ATP point today with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest). He will play Clemson freshman and fellow wild card Matisse Farzam, who defeated No. 6 seed Benjamin Torrealba of Chile 7-5, 6-2 today. Lee is the second player born in 2010 to earn an ATP point. Michael Antonius was the first with his run to the quarterfinals at an M15 in New York this summer.

That's one of three all-junior second round matches. Longtime friends and US Open boys doubles champions Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance will play after Hance defeated Ole Miss sophomore Benjamin Martin, a qualifier, 7-6(3), 6-2. Kennedy won their most recent junior meeting in the semifinals of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. The third match will be between qualifier Noah Johnston(Georgia) and Max Exsted. Johnston advanced when Pedro Rodrigues (UCF) of Brazil retired leading 4-6, 6-1, 3-1. Exsted defeated Jonathan Mridha of Sweden today 6-0, 7-5.

Seventeen-year-old Gavin Goode, who beat top seed Toby Kodat yesterday, will face Mehdi Benchakroun(UCF) of Morocco in Thursday's second round, and 18-year-old Reda Bennani of Morocco, the No. 5 seed, will play qualifier Andreja Petrovic(North Dakota, Florida State, Duke) of Norway. For the second straight week in Orlando Nikolas Stoot has qualified and advanced, with the 17-year-old Floridian beating University of Florida junior Kevin Edengren of Sweden 6-3, 6-0. He will play No. 8 seed Stijn Paardekooper(St. Bonaventure, Utah State) of the Netherlands.

In today's battle of the Junior Davis Cup champion teammates, Andrew Johnson defeated fellow wild card Michael Antonius 6-3, 6-4 to swing the head-to-head back in his favor after falling to Antonius 6-4, 6-3 in last month's ITF J300 Pan Am final. Johnson will face No. 2 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) next.

Christasha McNeil, the University of Texas freshman, was unsuccessful in her two attempts to qualify for next week's NCAAs, but the 19-year-old from New York had her best result since joining the Longhorns today at the W50 in Austin. After qualifying yesterday, McNeil was drawn to face No. 2 seed and reigning Australian Open girls champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan and she pulled off the upset of the WTA No. 225 6-4, 6-4. She will play Auburn senior Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia in Thursday's second round.

In the last match of the first round at the ATP Challenger 75 today in Champaign Illinois, Darwin Blanch avenged his loss in Sunday's Knoxville Challenger 50 final to Mitchell Krueger. The 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion defeated No. 3 seed Krueger 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance to a second round meeting Thursday with University of Georgia graduate student Arda Azkara of Turkey.

Goode Ousts No. 1 Seed in Orlando; Both Top Seeds Lose at Champaign Challenger; Buckeyes Make Up More Than 1/3 of Field in Columbus M25; Mandlik and Kypson Earn Australian Open Wild Cards

With six USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, there's a lot to cover, and I'll start with the No. 1 seeds losing in the first round at the M15 in Orlando and the ATP Challenger 75 in Champaign Illinois.

Seventeen-year-old Gavin Goode defeated No. 1 seed Toby Kodat 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round today at the USTA National Campus. The left-hander from Raleigh North Carolina, currently No. 40 in the ITF junior rankings, had already collected his first four ATP points in September when he qualified for the Winston-Salem Challenger 75 as a wild card, and he made the main draw this week on his own ATP ranking. Seventeen-year-old Jack Kennedy, who also got in on his own ATP ranking, beat No. 7 seed Evan Bynoe 6-3, 7-6(5) in the first round. 

As I mentioned Monday, three wild cards in Orlando went to Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson(who were initially on Tuesday's schedule, but are now playing Wednesday instead), and Jordan Lee, the winning team at last week's ITF Junior Davis Cup. Matisse Farzam, a freshman at Clemson, received the fourth wild card. 

Sixteen-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr will be making his main draw debut this week after beating UNC recruit Lachlan Gaskell 6-1, 5-7, 10-8 in today's final round of qualifying. Georgia freshman Noah Johnston and LSU recruit Nikolas Stoot also qualified for the main draw. Other juniors in the main draw are Keaton Hance, Max Exsted, Reda Bennani[5] of Morocco and Benjamin Willwerth. Willwerth lost to No. 3 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round today. 

No. 2 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) won his first round match over Andreas Timini of Cyprus, a freshman at Florida, 7-5, 6-1 today.

In Champaign, top seed Nicolas Meija of Colombia lost to unseeded Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 7-6(5), 6-3, with Steve set to play Arizona senior Jay Friend Wednesday. Friend defeated Alfredo Perez(Florida) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in first round action Monday. No. 2 seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain lost today to former Texas All-American Micah Braswell 7-6(8), 6-4. Braswell will play Kenta Miyoshi of Japan, the Illinois senior, who beat lucky loser Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) 6-3, 7-5 this evening. 

Other Americans advancing to the second round are Stefan Kozlov, No. 8 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State), Adhithya Ganesan(Florida), No. 4 seed Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) and No. 6 seed Andres Martin. Darwin Blanch and No. 3 seed Mitchell Krueger, who played in the Knoxville Challenger final Sunday, meet Wednesday in the only first round match left to be completed. 

At the women's W50 in Austin, two Americans advanced to the main draw via qualifying: University of Texas freshman Christasha McNeil and former Pepperdine All-American Savannah Broadus. Fifteen-year-old Kristina Liutova of Russia, who lives in the Seattle area, also reached the main draw, defeating 2023 US Open girls champion Katherine Hui(Stanford) 6-3, 6-3.

Wild cards were awarded to Texas sophomore Eszter Meri of Slovakia, Stanford freshman Alyssa Ahn, Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State) and Jennifer Jackson. Ahn lost to No. 7 seed Mary Stoiana 6-2, 6-0 today in the first round; Jackson was beaten by Auburn senior Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia 7-5, 6-2.

The top seed is Anastasia Gaznova of Russia, who beat Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) 7-6(7), 1-6, 6-1 in first round action today. 2025 Australian Open girls champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan is the No. 2 seed, and will play McNeil in the first round Wednesday.

In another week with the men and women both playing at the National Campus in Orlando, the women have another W35, with last week's champion Eva Vedder of the Netherlands the top seed, set to face 17-year-old Alexis Nguyen.

Three Americans qualified for the main draw with wins today: Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State), Adriana Reami(NC State) and Maribella Zamarripa(Texas).

Kristina and Annika Penickova, fresh off their Junior Billie Jean King Cup title last week in Chile, are in the draw, Kristina as a Junior Exempt and Annika as a wild card. Annika will play 14-year-old Carol Shao, a wild card in the first round Wednesday. Fifteen-year-old Welles Newman, a quarterfinalist last week, received a wild card, as did Nancy Lee. Lee lost 6-1, 7-5 today to Auburn senior Angella Okutoyi.

The M25 in Columbus Ohio features 11 current or future Ohio State Buckeyes in the main draw: wild cards Loren Byers, Preston Stearns, Ilija Palavestra and Nikita Filin, plus Bryce Nakashima, JP Day[Q], Jack Anthrop[7], Victor Lilov[5], Alex Bernard, Aidan Kim[3] and Alexander Okonkwo[Q].  With that many Ohio State players, it's no surprise there are first round encounters, with Anthrop playing Day and Bernard facing Kim.

Byers, Stearns and Lilov won their first round matches today.

In addition to Day, the other American qualifiers are Evan Burnett(Texas), Nathan Cox(Vanderbilt) and Marko Mesarovic(Clemson).

2019 NCAA champion Paul Jubb(South Carolina) is the top seed, with fellow Brit Henry Searle, the 2023 Wimbledon boys champion, the No. 2 seed. 

And finally, there is a W15 in Clemson South Carolina, with NC State freshman Lavinia Tanasie of Romania warming up for next week's NCAAs as the top seed in this event. Rose Marie Nijkamp(Oklahoma State) of the Netherlands in the No. 2 seed.

Wild cards were given to Clemson's Ria Bhakta, Amelie Smejkalova of the Czech Republic and Candela Yecora of Spain. Sixteen-year-old Carrie-Anne Hoo will be making her Pro Circuit debut via the ITF's Junior Reserved program, with Capucine Jauffret also entered as a JR. Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik entered via the ITF's Junior Exempt designation for girls ranked in the year-end Top 30.

The Americans qualifying for the main draw are Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina), Tatum Evans(North Carolina), Victoria Mulville and 15-year-old Serafima Elizarova.

The most intriguing of the 16 first round matches Wednesday is between No. 7 seed DJ Bennett, the Auburn senior, and qualifier Savannah Dada-Mascoll of Great Britain, a senior at Appalachian State. Dada-Mascoll stunned Bennett, the 2024 NCAA singles finalist, in the first round of the All-American Championships in September, and has gone on to have a breakout fall, earning a spot in the NCAA championships next week. Bennett failed in her subsequent attempts to qualify for this year's NCAA tournament.

The USTA made the official announcement of the recipients of the Australian Open wild cards, with Elli Mandlik and Patrick Kypson finishing in the top spots, even with a week still remaining in the men's race. The complete release is below:

Elizabeth Mandlik, Patrick Kypson Clinch Australian Open Wild Card Challenges

 

ORLANDO, Fla., November 11, 2025 – Elizabeth Mandlik and Patrick Kypson clinched main draw wild cards into the 2026 Australian Open by finishing first in the women's and men's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. 

 

Mandlik, 24, won the women's Challenge with 166 points, earned from winning the W100 in Edmond, Okla. (100), reaching the semifinals at the W100 in Irapuato, Mexico (39) and the quarterfinals at the WTA 125 in Austin, Texas (27). Mandlik -- the daughter of four-time Grand Slam singles champion Hana Mandlikova, who won the Australian Open singles title in 1980 and 1987 -- previously played in the Australian Open singles main draw in 2023. She also made Grand slam main draw appearances at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 French Open. 

 

Kypson clinched the men's Challenge with one week still left to play. His 247 points -- earned in large part from winning Challenger singles titles at the 100 in Sioux Falls, S.D. (100), and at the 125 in Helsinki, Finland (125) -- give him an insurmountable lead. Former Challenge leader and second-place Eliot Spizzirri's ranking has risen to No. 87, which will qualify him for direct entry. Kypson, 26, previously won the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge two years ago to make his main draw debut in Melbourne in 2024, and also won the 2023 Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge. 

 

Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the Australian Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the Australian Open are not eligible.

 

 

Women's Standings -- Final

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Elizabeth Mandlik (185) -- 166
2. Claire Liu (209) -- 138
3. Elvina Kalieva (204) -- 106

4. Mary Stoiana (297) -- 104

 

Men's Standings -- through Week 4 of 5

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Patrick Kypson (117) -- 247

2. Eliot Spizzirri (87) -- 167.

3. Martin Damm (174) -- 102

4. Mitchell Krueger (202) -- 62
5. Matthew Forbes (931) -- 25

 

The USTA and Tennis Australia have a reciprocal agreement in which main draw singles wild cards for the 2026 Australian Open and US Open will be exchanged.

 

###

NCAA Seeds Announced, Defending Champion Zheng Not Among Them; Sales and Kaminski Claim ITF J60 Titles in South Carolina, Combs and De Los Reyes Win Fourth Straight Doubles Title; Antonius and Johnson Face Off Tuesday at Orlando M15

USTA National Campus Hosts NCAAs next week

The seeds for next week's NCAA Division I individual championships were announced today, and although there are often a notable omission or two, this is at another level in the men's field.

Defending champion Michael Zheng of Columbia, currently 185 in the ATP rankings, is not seeded. Nor is Trevor Svjada of SMU, ATP 387 and Edward Winter of Pepperdine ATP 462, both of whom have made a Challenger final this fall. Also missing from the seeds are 2024 semifinalist DK Suresh of Wake Forest, currently ATP 523 and Luis Alvarez of Oklahoma, currently ATP 545. Both won M15 tournaments this fall. 

The ITA/NCAA refuses to accept any non-college results in their rankings algorithm and as a result there is no chance to have the best players seeded. In the history of the NCAA men's singles event the only time two unseeded players have met for the title was in May of 2024, when Filip Planinsek of Alabama beat Zheng. Given the quantity and quality of the unseeded players, it's certainly possible this happens again, less than two years later. 

Seeding is difficult when players are not all competing in the same tennis ecosystem. But the USTA has a sensible exception to its seeding policy for the 18s Nationals, where a US Open wild card is guaranteed to the winner: "Players with ATP, WTA or ITF rankings shall also be considered (for seeding)." The point of seeding is to build the tournament to a conclusion that provides the best match in the final. Certainly many tournaments do not end up with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the final, but if that is not the goal, and it obviously isn't for the NCAA, there is really no point in seeding at all.

The draws will be released at 6 p.m. Saturday, November 15th.

NCAA Division I Seeds:

Men:
1. Jay Friend, Arizona
2. Duncan Chan, TCU
3. Aidan Kim, Ohio State
4. Matthew Forbes, Michigan State
5. Devin Badenhorst, Baylor
6. Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois
7. Dylan Dietrich, Virginia
8. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

9. Jack Anthrop, Ohio State

9. Martin Borisiouk, NC State

9. Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

9. Jeremy Jin, Florida

9. Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

9. Eli Stephenson, Kentucky

9. Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk, Baylor

9. Jakub Vrba, Arkansas

Doubles:

1. Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

2. DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado, Wake Forest

3. Isac Stromberg and Kai Milburn, Mississippi

4. Max Dahlin and Bjorn Swenson, Michigan

5. Aidan Kim and Bryce Nakashima, Ohio State

5. Paul Inchauspe and Landon Ardila, Princeton

5. Aleksa Krivokapic and Maj Premzl, Purdue

5. Coseme Rolland De Ravel and Albert Pedrico, TCU

Women:

Singles:

1. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

2. Carmen Herea, Texas

3. Piper Charney, Michigan

4. Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

5. Aysegul Mert, Georgia

6. Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine

7. Teah Chavez, Ohio State

8. Ashton Bowers, Auburn

9. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

9. Tatum Evans, North Carolina

9. Anastasiia Gureva, Georgia

9. Gabia Paskauskas, Florida

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

9. Annabelle Xu, Virginia

9. Vivian Yang, Virginia

9. Mia Yamakita, Vanderbilt

Doubles:

1. Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova, Wisconsin

2. Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum, Oklahoma

3. Ange Oby Kajuru and Susanna Maltby, North Carolina

4. Sophia Webster and Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

5. Bojana Pozder and Bianca Molnar, Notre Dame

5. Jo-Yee Chan and Vessa Turley, San Diego State

5. Annabelle Xu and Martina Genis Salas, Virginia

5. Melodie Collard and Vivian Yang, Virginia

Four Americans won singles titles last week on the ITF Junior Circuit, with 14-year-old Daniella Sales and 15-year-old Eli Kaminiski capturing their first titles on the circuit at the J60 in Mount Pleasant South Carolina.

The fourth-seeded Sales, the reigning USTA 14s National Champion, defeated top seed Julia Seversen 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals and No. 6 seed Alina Vysochenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2.  Sales and Vysochenko then joined forces for the doubles title, which the No. 3 seeds won with a 4-6, 6-4, 14-12 decision over top seeds Seversen and Ella Olofson.

The unseeded Kaminiski defeated unseeded Robert McAdoo 6-3, 6-3 in the singles final. In the doubles final, No. 3 seeds Kayden Colombo and Anthony Dry took the title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over unseeded Aayush Vartak and Costa Rica's Miroslav Jarolim.

The other two singles titles came in J30s. In Senegal, 15-year-old Sydney Wright swept the titles, with the fourth seed earning her first singles title with a 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(5) win over unseeded Kano Imai of Japan. Wright partnered with Emilia Deuschi of Sweden in doubles, with the top seeds defeating No. 2 seeds Lea Crosetti of France and Ona Marcinkeviciute of Lithuania 7-6(6), 6-3 in the final. 

At the J30 in Barbados, 16-year-old Peter Nistad won his first ITF Junior Circuit title, with the No. 6 seed beating fellow wild card and No. 2 seed Julian Garnier of Costa Rica 6-4, 6-4 in the final. 

In the girls doubles, Sophia Filip partnered with Isabella Wang of Canada for the title. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Jiarui Li of China and Paula Velazquez Osornio of Mexico 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 in the final.

At the J100 in Mexico, 14-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes won their fourth straight doubles title and their third at the J100 level in as many weeks. After winning the J100 in Rome Georgia three weeks ago, they won two weeks ago in Queretaro Mexico and last week in Guadalajara. The No. 6 seeds did not drop a set last week, beating No. 4 seeds Ana Avramovic and Alexandra Sasha Miroshnichenko 6-2, 6-1 in the final for their 12th straight win.

Combs lost to Avery Alexander of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the singles semifinals, while De Los Reyes lost to Alexander 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

At the J30 in Nigeria, 16-year-old David Beckles won his third ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, partnering with Joseph Franklin Jimoh of Nigeria. The No. 4 seeds defeated Abhik Khatry of Australia and Seyi Ebenezer Ogunsakin of Nigeria 6-3, 4-6, 10-1 in the final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is a J30 in San Diego. Nicholas Carneiro of Brazil and Shaya Jovanovic are the top seeds.

The W35 in Orlando concluded today, after rain washed out the scheduled final on Sunday, with No. 2 seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands defeating top seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia 6-3, 7-6(6).

I'll have more on the six USTA Pro Circuit events in tomorrow's posts, but two junior notes. At the ATP Challenger 75 in Champaign Illinois, 2025 Kalamazoo 16s champion Marcel Latak earned his first ATP points yesterday with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over No. 8 seed Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) in the first round of qualifying. The wild card, who lives in the Chicago area, lost to qualifying top seed Lui Maxted(TCU) of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2 in today's final round of qualifying.

Just two days after claiming the Junior Davis Cup title as teammates in Santiago Chile, Michael Antonius and Andrew Johnson will play in the first round of the M15 in Orlando Tuesday. The two wild cards, both of whom have already earned ATP points, will be playing for the third time since the end of September. Johnson won their semifinal 7-6(3) 6-2 at the J200 in Corpus Christi Texas, with Antonius getting immediate revenge the following week, beating Johnson 6-4, 6-3 in the J300 final in Spring Texas. Tomorrow will be their first meeting on clay. 

The third member of the Junior Davis Cup championship team, 15-year-old Jordan Lee, also received a wild card. He will play Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest) in the first round, looking to earn his first ATP point.

USA Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup Teams Complete Perfect Week; Kypson Wins Helsinki Challenger, Australian Open Wild Card; Krueger Tops Blanch for Knoxville Title; Colby Wins First Pro Title; NCAA Fields Set

photo of both USA teams, with Caption Georgi Rumenov,
upper left and Sylvain Guichard lower right
photo via ITF

The US girls won their fourth straight Junior Billie Jean Cup title and the US boys claimed their second consecutive Junior Davis Cup championship in dominating fashion today in Santiago Chile. Neither team dropped a point in their six victories, with the deciding doubles point in the ITF's 16-and-under team competition never necessary.

The girls had the advantage of having its top two players returning from the team that won the title last year in Turkey, with Kristina Penickova and Julieta Pareja playing No. 2 and No. 1 singles respectively. Annika Penickova, Kristina's twin sister was the third team member, competing in the four doubles matches played earlier in the week.

ITF girls No. 1 Penickova started the final against No. 3 seed France with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Cindy Langlais. Pareja, who lost at No. 2 singles in last year's 2-1 win over Romania in the final, had a more formidable opponent at No. 1 singles: ITF No. 8 Ksenia Efremova. Pareja, who is No. 5 in the ITF junior rankings, and was No. 1 this summer, was unable to serve out the first set at 5-3, but she broke to take the first set 6-4. In the second set Pareja took a 3-0 lead, lost the break but never trailed, ramping up her backhand to earn a 5-3 lead.  Serving for the title, Pareja missed a sitter forehand volley at the net at 40-15, but it didn't faze her, with the Wimbledon finalist converting her second match point with a good first serve that Efremova couldn't handle.

"There was a big difference in their maturity this year," said USTA National Coach Georgi Rumenov, who captained both teams. "Having the opportunity of playing last year, winning the tournament and coming back and playing for US one more time, that's huge. It showed during every match, that they were controlling some situations better than the other teams. That's part of their experience. I was fortunate, and it was a privilege to coach them."

Pareja's clinch came just minutes after Michael Antonius had given the boys a 2-0 victory over No. 4 seed Japan, beating Kanta Watanabe 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. While the result of that match never appeared in doubt, the opener between Andrew Johnson and Takahiro Kawaguchi at No. 2 singles was a different story.

Kawaguchi, who like Antonius and  the third member of the US team, Jordan Lee, was born in 2010 and he had beaten both Antonius and Lee en route to the Wimbledon U14 title in 2024. 

The 16-year-old Johnson had not dropped a set in his nine previous matches in singles and doubles, and he kept that spotless record with a 6-4, 6-3 win, but Kawaguchi pushed him in both sets. After a tight first set went his way, Johnson had a 4-1 lead in the second set, but was broken serving at 4-2. Kawaguchi couldn't pull even however, with Johnson converting his second break point to give him the chance to serve for the title. Kawaguchi fought off one match point with a clean forehand winner, but Johnson didn't flinch, hitting a good first serve at 40-30 to close out the match.

Captain Sylvain Guichard, who was the captain of the 2024 ITF 14U World Junior Tennis championship team featuring Antonius and Lee liked what he saw from Californian Johnson on the South American red clay.

"He was the boss of this week," USTA National Coach Guichard said. "I was really impressed with Andy. He's really the guy who allowed us to be in this position. I knew we could beat everybody, but also thought we could lose to everybody. Last year (at 14U event) honestly, we were expecting to win. This year, no."

I'll have more on these two titles at the Tennis Recruiting Network next week.

All results from the week for all teams can be found here.

Patrick Kypson sewed up the USTA's reciprocal Australian Open wild card for the second time in three years with a title this week at the ATP Challenger 125 in Helsinki Finland. The former Texas A&M All-American more than doubled his points total from last week going from 122 to 247. Although there is technically another week left in the men's race, there are not enough points available for anyone to catch Kypson.

In today's final, the 26-year-old from North Carolina, seeded No. 5, defeated No. 6 seed Otto Virtanen of Finland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 for the biggest title of his career, eclipsing the title he won two weeks ago at the Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls. He is now up to a career-high of 117 in the ATP rankings.

At the Challenger 50 in Knoxville, No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger denied 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch his first Challenger title today, coming back for a 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-1 victory. It's the sixth Challenger title of the 31-year-old's pro career and moves him to 202 in the ATP rankings, safely into the qualifying at the Australian Open. With his first Challenger final appearance, the 18-year-old Blanch has broken the ATP Top 300 for the first time at 297.

The other American champion crowned on the USTA Pro Circuit today is Ryan Colby. The 22-year-old from Virginia, who played at USC and Georgia, qualified this week at the M15 in Orlando and went on to reach his first Pro Circuit semifinal and final. In a championship match interrupted by rain, Colby defeated Aleksa Ciric(Georgia Gwinnett) of Serbia 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4.

The W35 women's final in Orlando between Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia and Eva Vedder of the Netherlands was postponed until Monday due to rain, with just three games played today.

Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia, the No. 1 seed, won the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, beating Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia, the No. 2 seed, 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

At the M25 in East Lansing, No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain won the title, beating LSU freshman Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, the No. 3 seed, 7-5, 6-3 in today's final.

The singles title at the W125 in Austin Texas went to No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, who beat unseeded Marina Stakusic of Canada 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. In doubles, top seeds Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus defeated sisters Ivana and Carmen Corley(Oklahoma) 6-3, 7-6(4) in today's final.

The final participants in the NCAA singles and doubles championships were decided today with the results of the two matches between players losing in yesterday's Sectional quarterfinals. Below is the list of the entire singles fields, with those decided this weekend at the top.  Collegetennisranks.com's Chris Halioris is expecting to update his google documents this evening, including the doubles participants. The men's sheet is here; the women's sheet is here. 

WOMEN:

From Conference Masters:
Ayesegul Mert, Georgia
Ni Xi, UNC-Charlotte
Eugenia Zozaya Menendez, Southern Cal
Mao Mushika, Cal

From Sectionals:

Central:

Sophie Llewellyn, SMU

Kyoka Kubo, Kansas

Zuzanna Kubacha, Baylor

Lily Jones, Michigan

Violeta Martinez, Texas A&M

Na Dong, Baylor

South:

Emily Welker, Mississippi

Gabia Paskauskas, Florida

Ava Esposito, Auburn

Xinyi Nong, Florida

Eva Shaw, Florida State

Valeria Ray, Vanderbilt

East:

Lavinia Tanasie, NC State

Thea Rabman, North Carolina

Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

Mia Slama, NC State

Liv Hovde, Duke

Ria Bhakta, Clemson

West:

Mayu Crossley, UCLA

Reece Carter, Washington

Erika Matsuda, Washington

Berta Passola Folch, Cal

Krisha Mahendran, Southern Cal

Greta Greco Lucchina, Cal

From Regionals:

Mountain:

Louise Wikander, Denver

Emma Kamper, Utah

Texas:

Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

Darya Schwartzman, Rice

New England:

Serafima Shastova, Syracuse

Stephanie Yakoff, Harvard

Northeast:

Esha Velaga, Penn

Alice Ferlito, Princeton

Northwest:

Alyssa Ahn, Stanford

Naomi Xu, Cal

Southern:

Kristina Paskauskas, Alabama

Ashton Bowers, Auburn

Atlantic:

Annabelle Xu, Virginia

Vivian Yang, Virginia

Carolina:

Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State*

Ange Oby Kajuru, North Carolina

*Dada-Mascoll had already qualified for NCAAs, so her bid goes to Anna Zyryanova of NC State, who finished in third place in the Regional

Central:

Julia Garcia Ruiz, Oklahoma

Carolina Gomez Alonso, Arkansas

Midwest:

Bianca Molnar, Notre Dame

Nao Nishino, Ohio State

Ohio Valley:

Bridget Stammel, Vanderbilt

Mia Ramakita, Vanderbilt

Southeast:

Anastasiia Lopata, Georgia

Anastasiia Gureva, Georgia

Southwest:

Jana Hossam Salah, USC

Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine

From All-American Championships:

Valerie Glozman, Stanford

Carmen Herea, Texas

Teah Chavez, Ohio State

Luciana Perry, Ohio State

Tatum Evans, UNC

Emma Charney, USC

Irina Balus, Duke

Reese Brantmeier, UNC

Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

Piper Charney, Michigan

MEN:

From Conference Masters:

Michael Zheng, Columbia

Martin Borisiouk, NC State

Jeremy Jin, Florida

Edward Winter, Pepperdine

From Sectionals:

Central:

Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

Jack Anthrop, Ohio State

Jakub Vrba, Arkansas

Cosme Rolland De Ravel, TCU

Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk, Baylor

Alex Frusina, Texas A&M

South:

Matic Kriznik, Alabama

Eli Stephenson, Kentucky

Bryan Hernandez Cortes, Mississippi State

Amirkhamza Nasridinov, Auburn

Antonio Prat, Miami

William Jansen, Georgia

East:

Roan Jones, North Carolina

Melchior Delloye, Harvard

Ian Mayew, North Carolina

Niels Ratiu, North Carolina

Paul Barbier Gazeu, South Carolina

Joaquin Guilleme, Wake Forest

West:

Dominque Rolland, UC-Santa Barbara

Sasha Rozin, Arizona

Tiago Silva, Cal

Lucca Liu, UC-Santa Barbara

Shu Matsuoka, Arizona State

Filip Gustafsson, Arizona

From Regionals:

Central:

Luis Alvarez, Oklahoma 

Oscar Lacides, Oklahoma

Atlantic:

Keegan Rice, Virginia

Jangjun Kim, Virginia

Southeast:

Luis Miguel, Florida State

Hugo Car, South Florida

Southern:

Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

Ohio Valley:

Pablo Martinez Gomez, Vanderbilt

Sam Landau, Indiana

New England:

Vignesh Gogineni, Yale

Benjamin Privara, Harvard

Carolina:

Luca Pow, Wake Forest

Romain Gales, Clemson

Midwest:

Max Dahlin, Michigan

Preston Stearns, Ohio State

Mountain:

Ilia Snitari, UNLV

Illia Maksymchuk, UNLV

Northeast:

Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

Top Nidunjianzan, Princeton

Northwest:

Soham Purohit, Washington

Fryderyk Lechno Wasiutynski, Cal

Southwest:

Spencer Johnson, UCLA

Rudy Quan, UCLA

Texas:

Sebastian Eriksson, Texas

Trevor Svajda, SMU

From All-American Championships:

Jay Friend, Arizona

Aidan Kim, Ohio State

Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Ozan Baris, Michigan State

Matthew Forbes, Michigan State

Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

Duncan Chan, TCU

Kenta Myoshi, Illinois