No. 2 Seed Jovic Ready to Build on Junior Billie Jean King Cup Title at Eddie Herr J300; Four Boys Seeds Fall in ITF First Round; G14s Loses Top Seed

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Bradenton FL--

Fifteen-year-old Iva Jovic admitted that winning a first round match at the Eddie Herr ITF J300 wasn't exactly a high bar, but after her first round exit last year, the No. 2 seed isn't taking anything for granted.

"The expectations are pretty low for this event," said Jovic, who lost to Monika Stankiewicz of Poland last year before going on to reach the semifinals of the Orange Bowl the following week. "Last year was not so great."

After defeating Francesca Maguina Bunikowska of Peru 6-0, 6-3 on the first day of main draw action today at the IMG Academy, Jovic can look forward to more of the success that she's had since returning from a five-month layoff due to a foot injury that derailed her summer.

Now, the Torrance California resident is coming off championship at the Junior Billie Jean King Cup in Spain earlier this month with teammates Tyra Grant and Alanis Hamilton. Jovic, who played No. 1 singles, clinched the second straight Junior BJK Cup title for the US with a win in the final over the Czech Republic's Laura Samsonova, the No. 1 seed this week in Bradenton. That triumph was preceded by her first Pro Circuit title at a $25,000 tournament in Redding California last month, another indication she's a threat to win any junior event she enters.

"I gained some confidence in Redding," said Jovic, who had returned to competition at the US Open Junior Championships, but fell in the first round in New York. "The first couple weren't pretty, but when you just get those wins under your belt, things just start to get better. I'm still being careful with my court time, not playing too many tournaments, keeping everything good, but yeah, it's definitely been a good fall."

Jovic was also on the 2022 Junior BJK Cup championship team, and that experience helped her step up to the No. 1 position this year.

"Experience definitely makes a difference, because it's a different kind of pressure and a different feeling when you're playing for your country and playing that event," Jovic said. "I didn't feel as nervous and steady and ready to go and that translated to the other two; everyone did great. We all carried each other really well and gave it our all."

Jovic is represented by Octagon for name, image and likeness sponsorships, which does not affect amateur status.

"To be honest, I don't know that much about it; my parents mostly talked to them about it," Jovic said. "Their my agency, they help me out, but it's not a professional contract, so I still have my college eligibility."

Jovic will have a chance to see college tennis in the winter and spring, with her sister Mia in her first semester at UCLA.

"I've already visited her twice and I'm excited to watch this season and cheer them on," Jovic said. 

The 19 girls matches on Monday's schedule produced just one upset, with No. 15 seed Stankiewicz losing to Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2.

The boys seeds were not as successful, with four already eliminated. No. 3 seed Oliver Ojaakar of Estonia retired at 5-4 in the first set in his match with wild card Joseph Oyebog; No. 6 seed Kaylan Bigun lost to Henry Bernet of Switzerland 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; No. 7 seed Charlie Camus of Australia was beaten by Izan Almazan Valiente of Spain 6-3, 6-4 and Charlie Robertson of Great Britain fell to wild card Jack Kennedy 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3. Kennedy, 15, was down 3-0 in the second set before rallying.

The remainder of the first round in singles will be played Tuesday, with top seeds and J500 Merida champions Samsonova and Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico in action on the IMG Stadium Court.

The first round of doubles is also scheduled for Tuesday, with Pacheco and partner Iliyan Radulov the top boys seeds and Jovic and Grant the top girls seeds.

The younger age divisions had a long opening day, starting at 8 a.m. and finishing after 9 p.m., with most of the top seeds moving into Tuesday's second round. 

The highest seed to fall was girls 14s No. 2 seed Lyla Middleton, who lost to Sabrina Balderrama of Venezuela 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

Girls 12s No. 4 seed Daniela Davletshina retired with an injury down 3-1 to Chen-Yun Tsai.

Results and times for Tuesday's second round can be found here.

List of All Eddie Herr Seeds as Play Begins Monday for 12s, 14s, 16s and ITF J300; Top Seeds Samsonova and Pacheco Earn ITF J500 Merida Titles; Italy Claims First Davis Cup in 47 Years

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Bradenton FL--

The weather in this part of Florida is generally excellent throughout the Eddie Herr International Championships, but this year it has presented more challenges than usual, although all qualifying was completed today in time for the scheduled start of the main draw on Monday at the IMG Academy.

The 12s, 14s and 16s qualifying had only one match to complete today, and they finished about 45 minutes ahead of the first shower of day around 1 p.m. The rain was brief, yet heavy enough to suspend play on the Har-Tru courts where the ITF J300 is played; the delay was a short one, with most matches resuming within 45 minutes, but the second round of the girls qualifying had not finished, putting a few of those matches in jeopardy of not finishing. Fortunately the rain that did return was light enough to avoid another suspension and only one match needed to be scheduled after 4 p.m. and it could move to the one lighted Har-Tru court.

Only one American qualified for the ITF J300: Sophie Llewellyn, a recent SMU signee who lives in nearby Tarpon Springs. Christasha McNeil, the top seed in qualifying lost in the final round of qualifying to 13-year-old Victoria Barros of Brazil, who has already won four ITF Junior Circuit singles titles including at J100 last month in Croatia. No. 11 seed Barros, who beat McNeil 6-2, 6-2, lost only eight games in her three qualifying wins and looked right at home on the Har-Tru, using her variety to keep McNeil off balance.

The other American in qualifying who made the main draw is Benjamin Sparks, who retired to Rafael Bortran Neutze of Guatemala in the final round trailing 5-3 in the first set, but received entry as a lucky loser. 

Late withdrawals included Alexander Razeghi and Roy Horovitz, who lost 7-5, 6-4 in the doubles final last night to Sebastian Eriksson of Sweden and Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic at the J500 in Merida, and Great Britain's Hannah Klugman, who won the doubles title in Merida last night with Kaitlin Quevedo, beating Ariana Pursoo and her partner Laura Brunkel of Denmark 6-3, 7-6(5).  Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, who lost in the singles semifinals last night in Merida, also withdrew from the Eddie Herr.

The seeds for the ITF J300:

Boys:

1. Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez (MEX)

2. Iliyan Radulov (BUL)

3. Oliver Ojakaar (EST)

4. Alexander Frusina (USA)

5. Adhithya Ganesan (USA)

6. Kaylan Bigun (USA)

7. Charlie Camus (AUS)

8. Maxim Mrva (CZE)

9. Lasse Poertner (GER)

10. Sebastian Eriksson (SWE)

11. Reda Bennani (MAR)

12. Timofei Derepasko (RUS)

13. Viktor Frydrych (GBR)

14. Charlie Robertson (GBR)

15. Danil Panarin (RUS)

16. Daniil Sarksian (RUS)

Girls:

1. Laura Samsonova (CZE)

2. Iva Jovic (USA)

3. Alena Kovackova (CZE)

4. Tyra Grant (USA)

5. Teodora Kostovic (SRB)

6. Wakana Sonobe (JPN)

7. Gloriana Nahum (BEN)

8. Iva Ivanova (BUL)

9. Luna Maria Cinalli (ARG)

10. Alisa Oktiabreva (RUS)

11. Elizara Yaneva (BUL)

12. Rositsa Dencheva (BUL)

13. Alanis Hamilton (USA)

14. Emily Sartz-Lunde (NOR)

15. Monika Stankiewicz (POL)

16. Mia Slama (USA)

Both Pacheco Mendez and Samsonova will come into their first round Eddie Herr matches Tuesday as ITF J500 champions after tonight's finals in the Yucatan World Cup in Merida Mexico. Pacheco became the first Mexican player to win back-to-back titles at the tournament, with the top seed defeating unseeded Patrick Schoenhaus of Germany 6-0, 6-3. The 15-year-old Samsonova, also a No. 1 seed, beat No. 2 seed Kaitlin Quevedo 6-3, 6-4 in tonight's final for her first J500 title.

The draws for the 12s, 14s, 16s are available here; the seeds, along with their countries, are below:

Boys 12s Seeds

1. Rafael Pagonis (GRE)

2. Anthony Kirchner (USA)

3. Thamma Kosiri (THA)

4. Jang Junseo (KOR)

5. Fu Wang Choi (HKG)

6. Daniel Gardality (USA)

7. Luke Jones (USA)

8. Rex Kulman (USA)

9. Siyun Kim (KOR)

10. Camelot Carnello (USA)

11. Matteo Limones (MEX)

12. Aryan Harwani (USA)

13. Michael Chervenkov (USA)

14. Juan Cruz More (ARG)

15. Reita Yamanaka (USA)

16. Simon Giambastiani (ARG)

Girls 12s Seeds

1. Caroline Shao (USA)

2. Paweenon Nualsri (THA)

3. Nikol Davletshina (USA)

4. Daniela Davletshina (USA)

5. Yui Watanabe (USA)

6. Adriana Khomyakova (USA)

7. Nadia Poznick (USA)

8. Sofiia Bielinska (UKR)

9. Isabella Yan CAN)

10. Audrey Dussault (USA)

11. Yerin Lee (KOR)

12. Emery Combs (USA)

13. Ceressa Jackson (NZL)

14. Olivia De Los Reyes (USA)

15. Sophia Khomoutov (USA)

16. Isabella Gonzalez (USA)

Boys 14s Seeds

1. Michael Antonius (USA)

2. Colin McPeek (USA)

3. Andrew Johnson (USA)

4. Jerrid Gaines (USA)

5. Navneet Raghuram (USA)

6. Jordan Lee (USA)

7. Emilio Camacho (ECU)

8. Mason Vaughan (USA)

9. Shaan Majeed USA)

10. Kaan Isik Kosaner (TUR)

11. Mark Mrcela (USA)

12. Teodor Davidov (USA)

13. Joshua Adamson (USA)

14. Daniel Patsula (USA)

15. Tabb Tuck (USA)

16. Andy Tchinda Kepche (CAN)

Girls 14s Seeds

1. Nancy Lee (USA)

2. Lyla Middleton (USA)

3. Giulia Popa (ROM)

4. Charlie Celebrini (USA)

5. Chukwumelije Clarke (USA)

6. Ariana Ikwueme (USA)

7. Hanne Estrada (MEX)

8. Welles Newman (USA)

9. Reagan Levine (USA)

10. Anastasia Malysheva (RUS)

11. Hannah Ayrault (USA)

12. Raya Kotseva (USA)

13. Anjani Vickneswaran (USA)

14. Joyce Geng (CAN)

15. Andrea Taylor (CAN)

16. Renee Alame (AUS)

Boys 16s Seeds

1. Jack Satterfield (USA)

2. Jack Secord (USA)

3. Ryan Cozad (USA)

4. Benjamin Saltman (USA)

5. Keaton Hance (USA)

6. Nischal Spurling (USA)

7. Ford McCollum (USA)

8. Sklar Phillips (USA)

9. Roshan Santhosh (USA)

10. Madhav Binu (USA)

11. Gordon Gallagher (USA)

12. Mason Taube (USA)

13. Arnav Bhandari (USA)

14. Avner Wong (USA)

15. Nikolas Stoot (USA)

16. Adrian Treacy (USA)

Girls 16s Seeds

1. Annika Penickova (USA)

2. Kristina Penickova (USA)

3. Kenzie Nguyen (USA)

4. Bella Payne (USA)

5. Ishika Ashar (USA)

6. Kayla Moore (USA)

7. Ava Rodriguez (USA)

8. Katerina Shabashkevich (USA)

9. Alisa Ozgun (USA)

10. Hadley Appling (USA)

11. Alston Myatt (USA)

12. Lauren Kettlewell (USA)

13. Kirsten Woods (USA)

14. Emerey Gross (USA)

15. Georgia Kulevich (USA)

16. Lillian Santos (USA)

The Davis Cup was decided today in Spain, with Italy defeating Australia 2-0 to claim its first title since 1976. Jannik Sinner saved three match points in his win over Novak Djokovic that clinched Saturday's victory over Serbia, and today he defeated Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0 for the title, after Matteo Arnaldi had beaten Alexei Popyrin in the first singles match 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. For more on the final, see this article from the Davis Cup website.

Vijayakumar Ends Lyutova's Winning Streak, Top Seed in Boys Qualifying Falls in First Round at Eddie Herr ITF J300; Quevedo Reaches ITF J500 Merida Final, Ganesan Suffers First Loss in Five Tournaments

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Bradenton Florida--

I rarely watch a qualifying match from start to finish, with the first priority checking out as many matches as I can to put names with faces. But on the first day of the Eddie Herr ITF J300 qualifying, I had circled the match between Trinetra Vijayakumar, the No. 12 seed, and 13-year-old Christina Lyutova as one to watch and I wasn't disappointed, with Vijayakumar ending Lyutova's 18-match ITF Junior Circuit winning streak with a 3-6, 6-1, 10-4 victory.

I had taken the shuttle from the main tennis site on East Campus to the six Legacy Hotel courts, which are by the entrance to the West Campus. The viewing is much improved from the former alternate site at the closer Academy Park area, but there are no benches or awnings on the courts and no bleachers for any spectators. I was able to find a folding chair and within 20 minutes of my arrival, the match had begun.

The last time I had seen Lyutova was almost a year ago, when she won the Junior Orange Bowl 12s title, so I was eager to see the improvements she had made in the past 11 months that contributed to her titles at the USTA 16s Clay Courts and USTA 16s Hard Courts this summer, as well as the three consecutive ITF J60 titles she won this fall.

Lyutova started well, with the hitch that was a part of her service motion less obvious, while the depth and placement of her ground strokes kept Vijayakumar from taking control of points. Lyutova doesn't hit many first-strike winners, but she got the only break of the first set to take a 3-1 lead and was able to close out her next three service games without facing a break point.

Vijayakumar took a bathroom break after the first set, and when the 17-year-old from Maryland returned, she committed to a new strategy.

"My game plan going in just didn't seem to be winning a lot of points and I wasn't necessarily confident in what I was doing," Vijayakumar said. "I realized later in the first set I needed to be a lot more aggressive and take the girl's time away, just be more decisive when the short balls came."

Vijayakumar held to open the second set, and then broke on her third opportunity--her first three chances in the match--in the next game. Vijayakumar made good on her decision to go more aggressive and her unforced errors actually decreased, while Lyutova, who had played a very clean first set, began to donate more. Part of that was due to her first serve percentage dropping; although she defends her soft second serve well, Lyutova isn't able to dictate from a second serve return, and on several occasions Vijayakumar hit outright winners.

Vijayakumar got herself an insurance break at 4-1 with her forehand doing most of the damage, then closed out the set with a couple of backhand winners.

Vijayakumar had learned what she had to do to make Lyutova uncomfortable and was determined to go into the deciding match tiebreaker with the same mindset.

"In the tiebreak, it's anyone's game, so I just took it one point at a time and made sure that I just kept pressure on her," Vijayakumar said. "She's great on the run, she gives good quality balls back on defense and that makes it harder to get on offense, but you have to really take your time and keep constructing points."

The match tiebreaker was 3-3 at the first change of ends, but Vijayakumar's forehand produced three straight winners and Lyutova never recovered from dropping her two service points. Two more unforced errors by Lyutova on her next two serves made it 9-4 and Vijayakumar finished it on her first match point, with her shot appearing to skip off the baseline and handcuff Lyutova. She called it out, but the roving umpire immediately declared the ball good and confirmed it by checking the mark, or the absence of one.

While Lyutova no doubt entered the match with confidence, having won the J60 tournaments in Corpus Christi, Atlanta and Boca Raton, Vijayakumar also had success this fall, winning the J100 in Zapopan Mexico earlier this month and playing the past two weeks in the major ITF junior events in Mexico.

"This is my fourth week, so I'm definitely acclimating to the surface more and more," said Vijayakumar, who has not yet announced her college commitment for 2024. "If you get more time on clay courts, it's much easier for me on Har-Tru. It definitely helps."

Vijayakumar only began playing ITF Junior Circuit tournaments regularly this February, and is experiencing the Eddie Herr for the first time this year.

"I started late compared to a lot of my friends," Vijayakumar said of her recent transition to more international competition. "Every match seems to mean so much to every player on the ITF Circuit. It's a lot of good matches, because what's at stake, even at a small ITF makes a difference as to how kids play."

Vijayakumar will face Alden Russell in the second round of qualifying Sunday, with the third and final round also scheduled for Sunday.

The top girls qualifying seed had no trouble today, with Christasha McNeil defeating wild card Taylor Monfils 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour this morning, but the Stadium Court wasn't as kind to boys No. 1 seed Rafael Segado Esteve of Spain this afternoon. Hayden Khoo Menon of Malaysia, who won the Boca Raton J60 earlier this month, defeated Segado Esteve 6-4, 6-3, breaking at 3-4 and holding serve easily for the win.

The match of the day in the boys qualifying saw Bruno Kokot of Poland defeat Jacob Olar 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 17-15. Most qualifying matches are expected to finish in less than two hours, but Kokot, who plays Menon next, needed almost three to complete that marathon victory.

The final round of qualifying for the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions will also be played Sunday, on the IMG Academy hard courts. The forecast is calling for a chance of rain in the afternoon, but the last matches to go on are scheduled for 9:30 a.m., so they may finish before any rain arrives. Results and draws with times are here.

Another lengthy ITF Junior Circuit winning streak was halted today at the J500 in Merida Mexico, with No. 5 seed Adhithya Ganesan losing to No. 3 seed Nikolai Budov Kjaer 6-2, 7-5 in their rain-delayed quarterfinal. Ganesan had won four consecutive ITF events--three J200s and one J100--in Asia in the past five weeks.

No. 2 seed Kaitlin Quevedo has advanced to the final, beating No. 3 seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 6-4 in today's semifinal. Quevedo will face top seed Laura Samsonova of the Czech Republic, who beat 2022 Merida finalist Ariana Pursoo 7-6(10), 6-1. 

Due to the rain Friday night, the boys finals in both singles and doubles are not yet set, but No. 3 seeds Alexander Razeghi and Roy Horovitz are into the boys doubles final, awaiting their opponents for a late night final. Razeghi and Horovitz defeated unseeded Thomas Faurel and Theo Papamalamis of France 6-7(4) 6-1, 10-7 in a rain-delayed match completed this morning. Quevedo and her partner Hannah Klugman of Great Britain have advanced to the girls doubles final; they are scheduled to play their final tonight as well, but don't yet have an opponent. Pursoo and her partner Laura Brunkel of Denmark had their Friday night semifinal match with top seeds Samsonova and Kovackova called after just one game. 

Eddie Herr ITF J300 Qualifying Begins Saturday at IMG Academy, 13-year-old Lyutova Aims to Extend Winning Streak; Ganesan, Quevedo and Pursoo Reach ITF J500 Merida Quarterfinals

The qualifying draws for the Eddie Herr ITF J300 are posted, and for this year's tournament the six new Har-Tru courts at the IMG Legacy Hotel will be used. Many of the Academy Park Har-Tru courts, which were a tram ride away from the IMG Tennis Complex, are no more, with a new dormitory going up there; some clay courts will continue to be located in the area, although they are not being used for tournament competition.

The courts at the hotel have a separate entrance, so an additional crew of tournament officials will set up at that facility. 

I plan to start at the main site, with top qualifying seed Christasha McNeil's 8:30 a.m. match with wild card Taylor Monfils on Stadium court (in the foreground of the photo) before heading to see the new courts. I'm interested in seeing if 13-year-old Christina Lyutova, who is playing No. 12 qualifying seed Trinetra Vijayakumar, can extend her winning streak. Lyutova, who last lost a match in March, won both the USTA 16s Clays and Hard Courts this summer, and this fall has collected three ITF J60 titles, the last one early this month in Boca Raton.

The wild cards for qualifying:
Boys:
Nicolas Arredondo(MEX)

Sebastian Johnson(USA)
Ibrahim Deniz(TUR)
Benjamin Sparks(USA)
Andrew Sretavan(USA)
ZiYan Zhang(CHN)
David Cibrian(USA)
Mikel Anderson(USA)

Girls:

Taylor Monfils(USA)

Cardona Carballosa

Kinsey Crawford(USA)

Owethu Makhanya(RSA)

Elona Simonov(USA)

Karine Kulidjian(USA)

Sophia Johnson(USA)

Townsend Penney(USA)

The top seed in the boys qualifying is Rafael Segado Esteve of Spain, with an ITF ranking of 148; girls top seed McNeil's ITF ranking is 150, so the strength of the fields is comparable. Both qualifying draws are a full 64-players.

The Eddie Herr 12s, 14s and 16s qualifying continues on Saturday with third round matches; the final round of qualifying is scheduled for Sunday. Draws and times can be found here.

Three Americans advanced to tonight's singles quarterfinals at the ITF J500 Yucatan World Cup in Merida Mexico: Adhithya Ganesan[5], Kaitlin Quevedo[2] and Ariana Pursoo[14].

Ganesan is also on a notable winning streak, having won four straight J100-200 tournaments in Asia in October and November. He is playing No. 3 seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway in the last match on stadium court tonight.

Pursoo, who reached the final in Merida last year, falling to Clervie Ngounoue, beat No. 5 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2 in the third round Thursday and is facing unseeded Yoana Konstantinova of Bulgaria in today's quarterfinals. 

No. 2 seed Kaitlin Quevedo is playing unseeded Daria Egorova of Russia in the quarterfinals.  Top seeds Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico and Laura Samsonova are also through to the quarterfinals.

Pursoo and Quevedo are both also in the doubles semifinals, with Pursoo partnering with Laura Brunkel of Denmark and Quevedo playing with Klugman, with the latter the No. 2 seeds. 

No. 3 seed Alexander Razeghi and Roy Horovitz are the American boys reaching the doubles semifinals.

Happy Thanksgiving!

photo by Joseph Gonzalez via unsplash.com

I'm taking today off for the holiday, but will be back Friday, with qualifying for the Eddie Herr ITF J300 beginning Saturday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida. Qualifying is underway in the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions.

Thank you to everyone who reads and supports my work, and special thanks to Junior Tennis Champions Center, Southern California Tennis Association Foundation and the John McEnroe Tennis Academy for their sponsorship throughout the year.

More Division I NLI Signings; No. 2 Seed Radulov Ousted in Second Round at ITF J500 Yucatan World Cup

Last Wednesday I posted more than 60 NLI signing announcements for Division I tennis players; today, two weeks after the official signing day, I'm wrapping up my coverage of that process, with a handful more that have been posted in the last week. Several schools announced signees on twitter that have not been featured on their websites, so I'll include links to those tweets after the customary announcements.

WOMEN:

Iowa State has signed Ashlee Narker of Australia and Valeska San Martin Ramirez of Ecuador, who will join the Cyclones in January. Also signed, for 2024, are Cristina Ramos Sierra and Mari Paz Alberto Vilar of Spain.

Miami has signed Savannah Webster.

North Carolina has signed Tatum Evans, Susanna Maltby and Mary Grace Rennard.

At the behest of Dick Vitale, Dave "the Koz" Kozlowski has produced a video feature on Duke's signing of Vitale's granddaughter Ava Krug, which is now available on YouTube.

Links to tweeted announcements:

Ohio State has signed Nao Nishino of Japan.

Southern California has signed Lily Fairclough of Australia.

Southern California has signed Imogen Haddad of Great Britain.

TCU has signed Chiho Mushika of Japan.

UCLA has signed Bianca Fernandez of Canada.

UCLA has signed Olivia Center.

UCLA has signed Kate Fakih.

MEN:

Auburn has signed Alex Frusina and Joseph Phillips.

Central Florida has signed Simeon Terziev of Bulgaria.

Duke has signed Saahith Jayaraman.

North Carolina has signed Matthew Forbes, Nicholas Mangiapane and Kuang Qing (Chris) Xu of Canada.

North Carolina State has signed William Manning, Cody Benton, Jules Leroux of France and Jakub Katuch of Slovakia.

Tennessee has signed Lance Nisbet of Great Britain.

Vanderbilt has signed Callum Markowitz, Giuseppe Cerasuolo and Jack Ingram.

Links to tweeted announcements:

Arizona State has signed Mikey Anderson.

Arizona State has signed Tanner Povey.

Arizona State has signed Jimin Jung.

Memphis has signed Maxime Dubouche of France.

Michigan State has signed Mitchell Shelton.

South Florida has signed Michael Chan.

Virginia has signed Keegan Rice of Canada and Stiles Brockett

Virginia has signed Joao Fonseca of Brazil and Rafa Jodar of Spain.

The second round of the ITF J500 this week in Merida Mexico is not yet complete, but there was a major upset today in the boys draw, with No. 2 seed Iliyan Radulov of Bulgaria losing to Theo Papamalamis of France 6-3, 6-3. 

So far, six US girls have advanced to the third round: 2022 finalist Ariana Pursoo[14], Maya Dutta, Mia Slama[15], Leena Friedman, Claire An and Kaitlin Quevedo[2]. Adhithya Ganesan[5] is the only US boys so far to reach the third round.