Big Upgrades to ITF Junior Circuit in US; Smith's ITF Winning Streak Reaches 13 in Winston-Salem M25; Three Americans and Andreescu Advance to W35 Bradenton Semis; Jovic Plays for Hobart Title

As I mentioned earlier this month, I had an opportunity to speak with the USTA's Dan Holman and Tracy Davies about the newly regionalized ITF Junior Circuit here in the United States and the five new J200s, in Las Vegas, Sumter, Nashville, Cincinnati and Delray Beach, that are part of that restructuring.

I wrote this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network about the philosophy behind this restructuring, which will continue in 2027 and 2028, and the financial commitment from the USTA that these J200s represent. The US had lagged its global counterparts at that particular level, primarily because it includes hospitality, which obviously increases expenses for the organizers.

The two J200s on red clay this spring are an interesting development, as are the many J30s and J60s that will be adopting the round robin/knockout format introduced this year by the ITF.

Here is the USTA's updated National Junior Calendar for 2026.

The semifinals at the USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, the M25 in Winston-Salem NC and the W35 in Bradenton FL, feature seven Americans and one former women's US Open champion.

In North Carolina, last week's Winston-Salem M25 champion Keegan Smith(UCLA) extended his ITF winning streak to 13 matches with a nearly three-hour 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-5 victory over former Wake Forest No. 1 Stefan Dostanic in today's quarterfinals.

The fourth-seeded Smith, who won an M15 title in New Zealand last month, will face unseeded Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon), who beat qualifier Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee) 6-3, 7-5. Smith defeated Vandecasteele 6-1, 6-1 in the second round last week.

The top half semifinal will feature qualifier Will Grant(Florida) and recent NC State graduate Braden Shick. Grant beat Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) 6-1, 6-2 and Shick defeated Wake Forest freshman Mees Rottgering 7-6(5), 6-4. 

In tonight's doubles final, last week's champions Shick and Dan Milavsky(Harvard), the No. 2 seeds, made it two in a row, beating unseeded Wake Forest teammates Dominick Mosejczuk and Poland's Kacper Szymkowiak 6-4, 6-3.

In Bradenton, rain Thursday forced a majority of the competitors to play both their round of 16 and quarterfinal matches today. 

2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada, the top seed, was one who posted two victories today. She beat Great Britain's Ella McDonald, a recent addition to the LSU roster, 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 16 and No. 8 seed Tatiana Pieri of Italy 6-2, 6-1.

Andreescu's semifinal opponent Saturday will be No. 6 seed Lea Ma, who beat the rain Thursday, so needed only one win today to reach the semifinals. The former Georgia All-American defeated Ena Koike of Japan 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Andreescu and Ma met in the ITF Juniors way back in 2014, with Andreescu winning their second round match at the J60 in Atlanta 6-2, 7-6(3).

In the bottom half, No. 5 seed Vivian Wolff (Georgia, UCLA) beat wild card Olivia Lincer(UCF, Oklahoma State) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 and No. 3 seed Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden 7-6(1), 6-3. Wolff will play No. 2 seed Hina Inoue, who battled through two lengthy three-setters to reach the semifinal. She defeated Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 in the round of 16 and qualifier Shilin Xu of China 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Eighteen-year-old Iva Jovic will play for her second WTA title Saturday(tonight in the US), at the WTA 250 in Hobart Australia. Jovic, the No. 3 seed, defeated Australian wild card Taylah Preston 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals Friday. She will face qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy, who beat unseeded Antonia Ruzic of Croatia 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the final.

Five Qualifiers Among 38 Americans in Australian Open Draws; Baker's Dozen of US Juniors Begin ITF Australian Swing in Traralgon; Kudla Joins Coaching Staff at JTCC

Qualifying for the Australian Open concluded Thursday in Melbourne, with four US men and one US woman advancing to the main draw.

Columbia's two-time NCAA champion Michael Zheng had to save a match point after taking a 7-1 lead in the third set tiebreaker against Lukas Klein of Slovakia, but the 21-year-old from New Jersey will make his ATP and slam main draw debut after a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(10) victory.

Former Stanford All-american Nishesh Basavareddy, who is now working with Daniil Medvedev's former coach Gilles Cervara (see Ben Rothenberg's Substack article on his recent hire by Basavareddy), won a second consecutive match from a set down, beating George Loffhagen of Great Britain 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Zachary Svajda will join fellow two-time Kalamazoo champion Learner Tien in the main draw, with the 2019 and 2021 18s champion getting through qualifying for the first time at a major with a 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium.  (The other two Kalamazoo 18s champions in the draw are 2018's Jenson Brooksby and 2015's Frances Tiafoe).

2018 Kalamazoo 16s champion Martin Damm will playing in his first slam main draw outside the United States after the 22-year-old left-hander defeated 2022 ITF World Junior Champion Gilles Arnaud Bailly(Texas) of Belgium 7-5, 7-5.

The sole US woman to advance is veteran Sloane Stephens, who defeated Lucia Bronzetti of Italy 6-1, 7-5. Stephens, who hadn't won three matches in a row since April of 2024, had last qualified for a major in 2011, when she was 18.

Rafael Jodar of Spain, who recently announced he was not returning to Virginia for his sophomore year, qualified with a 6-3, 0-6, 6-1 win over Luca van Assche of France. Other qualifiers with collegiate backgrounds are Arthur Fery(Stanford) of Great Britain, Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada and Yuliia Starodubtseva(Old Dominion) of Ukraine.

Final round qualifying results of Americans:

Michael Zheng d. Lukas Klein[28](SVK) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(10)
Liam Draxl[20](CAN) d. Mackenzie McDonald[6] 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-2
Nishesh Basavareddy d. George Loffhagen(GBR) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
Zachary Svajda[29] d. Kimmer Coppejans(BEL) 7-6(5), 6-2
Yibing Wu(CHN) d. Tristan Boyer 6-3, 6-2
Martin Damm d. Gilles Arnaud Bailly(BEL) 7-5, 7-5

Sloane Stephens d. Lucia Bronzetti[2](ITA) 6-1, 7-5
Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales(ESP) d. Elvina Kalieva 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
Storm Hunter[WC](AUS) d. Taylor Townsend[11] 7-6(6), 6-2
Linda Fruhvirtova[20](CZE) d. Carol Lee 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
Nikola Bartunkova[16](CZE) d. Whitney Osuigwe 6-1, 6-0

The men's and women's draws were also revealed overnight, with the 38 American competitors the most since 1997, when there were 39.  

There were no matches between Americans throughout the qualifying tournament, but that unlikely occurrence will not continue in the main draw, where there are five all-USA first round matches: Zheng vs Sebsastian Korda, Tommy Paul vs Aleks Kovacevic, Learner Tien vs Marcos Giron, Iva Jovic v Katie Volynets and Sofia Kenin vs Peyton Stearns.

The Australian Open begins on Sunday, Saturday night in the US, with ten Americans in action(this information courtesy of Rothenberg):

Zachary Svajda[Q] v Yannick Hanfmann(GER)

Michael Zheng[Q] v Sebastian Korda

Jenson Brooksby v Alexander Bublik[10]

Frances Tiafoe[19] v Jason Kubler[Q](AUS)

Patrick Kypson[WC] v Francisco Comesana(ARG)

Emilio Nava v Kyrian Jacquet[WC](FRA)

Caty McNally v Himeno Sakatsume[Q](JPN)

Venus Williams[WC] v Olga Danilovic

Hailey Baptiste v Marketa Vondrousova[32](CZE)

The brief Australian swing on the ITF Junior Circuit begins Friday (tonight in US) at the J300 in Traralgon, with seven US boys and six US girls in the draws.

The US boys are Keaton Hance[3], Jack Secord[10], Gavin Goode[11], Ryan Cozad[13], Roshan Santhosh, Tanishk Konduri and Carel Ngounoue.  Yannick Alexandrescou of France is the top seed.

The US girls are Thea Frodin[7], Capucine Jauffret, Anita Tu, Melije Clarke, Carrie-Anne Hoo and Nancy Lee.

Annika Penickova withdrew earlier this week, although she is still among the acceptances for the Australian Open Junior Championships, which begin Saturday January 24. 

Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic is the top seed.

The order of play for the first round can be found here.

I had an opportunity to speak with former USTA General Manager of Player Development Martin Blackman this morning about his new position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park Maryland. (JTCC is a long-time sponsor of Zootennis). 

Blackman, who was the JTCC's Director of Tennis from 2004-2008, took over for the retiring Ray Benton this past fall and he told me he was excited about this opportunity to be more hands on than he was able to be in his position at the USTA.

"My former position as General Manager of Player Development, I loved every day of that job as well, but I was a little removed from the action." Blackman said. "I didn't really get into the action unless I went to a junior tournament or a pro tournament. Here every day I'm a part of it. I walk the courts, in the morning, in the afternoon, at lunch. I try to get on the court a couple of times a week for practices, so getting that feeling again and also being able to talk directly to the kids and the parents in the program, that's really energized me."

JTCC has a full range of programs: for young children, for those training after school, for adult beginners, for veterans, for Special Olympians and for wheelchair and para-standing competitors in keeping with its mission of Tennis for Everyone. Yet it's the non-profit organization's High Performance program that has garnered the most attention. 

That program will have a full-circle moment with the announcement that Denis Kudla, one of the first players who trained at JTCC to embark on a professional career, is returning as a coach.

"He retired (from ATP tennis) and had a really good year with (coaching) Reilly (Opelka)," Blackman. "He has a young little baby and he wanted to have more time. We started talking back in November, and he said, yeah, I would love to come back, so we kept talking and figured out a way to make it happen."

Blackman said that its High Performance program serves as an important beacon for the JTCC.

"The way I see it, I look at it as 99/1," Blackman said. "Ninety-nine percent of our young players, juniors, we want them using tennis as a vehicle to get to a great university, where they can have a great experience and thrive, and that's the bulk of the mission."

"But when you have that one percent, like Frances(Tiafoe), and Robin(Montgomery) and Hailey(Baptiste), you kind of get both. You get that aspirational excellence at the top and you leverage that excellence to grow and add resources to the bottom. So having Frances and Denis and Hailey and Robin has helped us bring so much visibility to the program and to raise money for the program. I think it's a really good balance; if we tried to over focus on developing professional players I think we'd hurt our mission. But there's definitely room for both, and that's the goal."

"It's very important to our board that our High Performance program is the best in the world, or striving to be the best in the world," Blackman said. "That was very important to our founder, Ken Brody. So it's really building on that strong foundation."

JTCC President Vesa Ponkka, who has been at JTCC since its inception in 1999, will work alongside Blackman in this initiative to strengthen the High Performance program.

"The High Performance program had a really strong foundation," Blackman said. "So the bones and the structure was there. But strategically, and this is every CEO's prerogative, the emphasis wasn't on high performance, the way it was up until four years ago. And that's something that's very important to our board, that it's our flagship."

For more on the new JTCC High Performance leadership, see this article from their website.

Eleven Americans Advance to Final Round of Australian Open Qualifying; Smith Continues Winning Ways at Winston-Salem M25; USTA's Lake Nona Campus Expansion Plans Approved

Twenty-four Americans were in the Australian Open qualifying draws when the week began, and nearly half have made the final round, which begins in a few hours Thursday(tonight in the USA) in Melbourne.

Six of the nine US men and five of the seven US women in action Wednesday in the second round advanced, with Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) having the most dramatic win. Basavareddy, whose ATP ranking plunged after he did not defend his semifinal points at the ATP 250 in Auckland last year at this time, trailed No. 19 seed Sebastian Ofner of Austria 7-1 in the final set tiebreaker.

Ofner, apparently forgetting that all slam tiebreakers now require winning 10 points, not seven, celebrated and began walking toward the net for the handshake when the umpire informed him the match was not over. Basavareddy won eight of the next nine points to reach match point, but he was not able to convert that one, and Ofner had match points at 10-9 and 11-10, which he did not convert, with Basavareddy taking the final three points to advance.

Basavareddy won the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card challenge in 2025, allowing him to play the Auckland tournament, which is going on now. Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) is through to the quarterfinals there as qualifier; he defeated No. 8 seed Nuno Borges(Mississippi State) 7-6(6), 6-4 in the second round. The other two Americans in the quarterfinals also were collegiate stars: Marcos Giron(UCLA) and top seed Ben Shelton(Florida).

Wednesday's second round Australian Open qualifying results:

Dusan Lajovic[13](SRB) d. Murphy Cassone 7-5, 6-3

Giulio Zeppieri(ITA) d. Brandon Holt[5] 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 

Nishesh Basavareddy d. Sebastian Ofner[19](AUT) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(11)

Michael Zheng d. Tomas Barrios Vera[4](CHI) 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2

Martin Damm d. Titouan Droguet(FRA) 6-4, 6-3

Mackenzie McDonald[6] d. Hugo Grenier(FRA) 7-6(4), 6-1

Rei Sakamoto(JPN) d. Colton Smith[32] 6-4, 6-4

Tristan Boyer d. Francesco Passaro[27](ITA) 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2

Zachary Svajda[29] d. Jurij Rodionov(AUT) 6-1, 6-4

Sloane Stephens d. Olivia Gadecki 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Lucia Bronzetti[2](ITA) d. Mary Stoiana 7-6(7), 1-6, 6-4

Carol Lee d. Elena Micic[WC](AUS) 6-2, 6-2

Maddison Inglis(AUS) d. Claire Liu 7-6(6) 2-6, 6-4

Taylor Townsend[11] d. Jazmin Ortenzi(ARG) 6-4, 6-4

Whitney Osuigwe d. Lucrezia Stefanini[26](ITA) 7-5, 6-2

Elvina Kalieva d. Ye-Xin Ma(CHN) 6-4, 6-2

Thursday's final round Australian Open qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Michael Zheng v Lukas Klein[28](SVK)

Mackenzie McDonald[6] v Liam Draxl[20](CAN)

Nishesh Basavareddy v George Loffhagen(GBR)

Zachary Svajda[29] v Kimmer Coppejans(BEL)

Tristan Boyer v Yibing Wu(CHN)

Martin Damm v Gilles Arnaud Bailly(BEL)

Sloane Stephens v Lucia Bronzetti[2](ITA)

Elvina Kalieva v Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales(ESP)

Taylor Townsend[11] v Storm Hunter[WC](AUS)

Carol Lee v Linda Fruhvirtova[20](CZE)

Whitney Osuigwe v Nikola Bartunkova[16](CZE)

This week's second M25 in Winston-Salem, has, like the first one, been on an afternoon and evening schedule, so all of the first round matches have not yet finished.

Last week's champion Keegan Smith(UCLA) has extended his winning streak to 11 matches. The 27-year-old from Southern California, who won an M15 in New Zealand last month, defeated wild card Marcel Latak, the reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion, 6-3, 6-2.

Last week's finalist Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) of Japan lost today, falling to former teammate Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee), a qualifier, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5). 

Wild card Matt Forbes, a sophomore at Michigan State, breezed past No. 7 seed DK Suresh 6-1, 6-1. The Wake Forest senior reached the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger in India last week, that travel may have been a factor. 

Wake Forest newcomer Aryan Shah of India was the top seed, but he was beaten 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 today by surging Wake Forest junior Luca Pow of Great Britain, who reached the semifinals last week, also as a wild card.  No. 2 seed Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) lost Tuesday to Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) 6-3, 6-3 and No. 3 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France lost to Wake Forest freshman Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 Tuesday. That leaves Smith, at No. 4, as the highest seed remaining.

The fourth wild card went to Wake Forest sophomore Charlie Robertson of Great Britain, who lost to Alan Magadan(UT-San Antonio) of Mexico 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Jack Kennedy, a semifinalist last week, lost to Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 Tuesday.

Over a year ago, when the NCAA announced that the USTA's National Campus had been awarded a 10-year bid to host the Division I team event beginning in 2028, that announcement was accompanied by a promise by the USTA that improvements to infrastructure would be undertaken. The first step in those improvements, which include six additional indoor courts, with seating for all 12 of the indoor courts, shade for the outdoor courts and permanent scoreboards, came this week, when Orlando's Development Review Committee approved the USTA's plans.

“We are pleased with the outcome of today’s DRC meeting and are looking forward to the next steps in the permitting/approval process as we move toward commencement of construction in Q1 of this year,” USTA National Campus General Manager Joe Wilkerson said. “Our goal is to complete this expansion by

the end of 2027, to support our 10-year commitment to host the NCAA NationalChampionships on our National Campus, commencing in the spring of 2028.”

For more on the plans, see this article from Growthspotter.com. 

Winter Nats Champion Nguyen Posts First W35 Win in Bradenton; Sixteen Americans Reach Australian Open Qualifying Second Round; Two US Juniors in ITF J300 Traralgon Qualifying

The first women's USTA Pro Circuit tournament of the year is a W35 at the Inspiration Academy in Bradenton Florida, with qualifying concluding today and four first round matches played.

USTA Winter Nationals 18s champion Kenzie Nguyen didn't miss a beat after her title in Lake Nona earlier this month, receiving a wild card into this event and beating Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-3, 7-6(5). Although Hu is not seeded this week, she is 372 in the WTA rankings, while Nguyen, a Columbia recruit, is 1477, based on her three wins in the nine W15s she played last summer and fall. This is her first win above the W15 level.

In qualifying today, five Americans advanced to the main draw: Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas), Rachel Gailis[3](Florida), Maya Iyengar[11], Kylie Collins[6](Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) and 15-year-old Janae Preston[16].

Ngounoue will face top seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada, the 2019 US Open women's singles champion, in the first round Wednesday. Preston will play wild card Usue Arconada, with the other wild cards going to Juliana Singeorzan, a 17-year-old Inspiration Academy student and Oklahoma State junior Olivia Lincer. 

Lincer defeated Sara Daavettila(UNC) in the first round 6-4, 6-3, while Singeorzan lost to 26-year-old University of Florida newcomer Emily Seibold of Germany 6-4, 6-0.

Hina Inoue is the No. 2 seed, with Julieta Pareja seeded No. 7.

The second round of Australian Open qualifying Wednesday (tonight in the United States) will feature 16 Americans: nine men and seven women. Once again all will be facing non-Americans.  In Day Two of the first round, American men suffered their only two losses, with Michael Mmoh withdrawing due to an injury. The US men went 9-2 in the first round, US women 7-5.

Tuesday's results and Wednesday's matchups:

Michael Zheng d. Cruz Hewitt[WC](AUS) 6-3, 6-3
Mackenzie McDonald[6] d. Dmitry Popko(KAZ) 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5
Vilius Gaubas[17](LTU) d. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran 7-5, 6-3
Zachary Svajda[29] d. Hady Habib(LBN) 6-1 6-3
Yibing Wu(CHN) d. Mitchell Krueger 7-5, 6-4

Elvina Kalieva d. Sijia Wei(CHN) 4-6, 6-2, 3-2 ret.

Ye-Xin Ma(CHN) d. Varvara Lepchenko[32] 6-1, 6-3

Yue Yuan[25](CHN) d. Louisa Chirico 3-6, 6-1, 6-2

Claire Liu d. Tara Wuerth(CRO) 6-3, 6-4

Carol Lee d. Hanne Vandewinkel[15](BEL) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Whitney Osuigwe d. Anastasija Sevastova(LAT) 6-2, 6-0

Murphy Cassone v Dusan Lajovic[13](SRB)

Brandon Holt[5] v Giulio Zeppieri(ITA)

Nishesh Basavareddy v Sebastian Ofner[19](AUT)

Michael Zheng v Tomas Barrios Vera[4](CHI)

Martin Damm v Titouan Droguet(FRA)

Mackenzie McDonald[6] v Hugo Grenier(FRA)

Colton Smith[32] v Rei Sakamoto(JPN)

Tristan Boyer v Francesco Passaro[27](ITA)

Zachary Svajda[29] v Jurij Rodionov(AUT)

Sloane Stephens v Olivia Gadecki

Mary Stoiana v Lucia Bronzetti[2](ITA)

Carol Lee v Elena Micic[WC](AUS)

Claire Liu v Maddison Inglis(AUS)

Taylor Townsend[11] v Jazmin Ortenzi(ARG)

Whitney Osuigwe v Lucrezia Stefanini[26](ITA)

Elvina Kalieva v Ye-Xin Ma(CHN)

All qualifying matches are streamed on the ESPN+ app.

The warmup to the Australian Open Junior Championships begins with the first round of qualifying Wednesday at the ITF J300 in Traralgon. The 32-player draws did not fill, with the top eight seeds receiving byes in the boys qualifying and the top three seeds in the girls qualifying getting byes. 

Two Americans are in the draws, meaning they will no doubt be trying to qualify for the Australian Open Juniors as well. Ford McCollum is the No. 9 seed in the boys qualifying at Traralgon; Ciara Harding is unseeded in the girls qualifying.

Malacek Sweeps Titles at Costa Rica's ITF J60; US Men Go 6-0 on First Day of Australian Open Qualifying, Stoiana Saves Match Points in Women's AO Qualifying

Last week's ITF J60 in Costa Rica, the first of three events in that country that will conclude with the J300 Coffee Bowl, produced three titles for Americans, including a sweep for Orange Bowl 16s finalist Daniel Malacek. 

The tournament used the ITF's new format, with results in round eight round robin groups determining the quarterfinalists. American boys won six of those groups, and Malacek, the 16-year-old left-hander from Washington state, went on to defeat Orange Bowl 16s semifinalist Gadin Arun 7-6(6), 6-0 in the final. There are no seeds on the draws, so you have to determine them by their positions in the draws (noted on page 32 in the ITF Junior Rules and Regulations), with Malacek and Arun the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds respectively.

The standard draw format is used for the knock-out only doubles, with the conventional seeding system. Malacek and partner Ryan Bedwick, the No. 3 seeds, defeated top seeds Arun and Robert McAdoo 4-6, 6-2, 10-5 in the final. 

In the girls singles, Emery Combs was one of six US girls to reach the quarterfinals, but the top seed lost in the semifinals to No. 3 seed Teaghan Jou An Keys 6-4, 6-4. Keys then lost to 16-year-old Canadian Charlize Celebrini, the younger sister of NHL San Jose Sharks star Macklin Celebrini, 6-2, 7-6(2).

Combs got her revenge in doubles, with the 14-year-old partnering with Sasha Miroshnichenko for the title. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Keys and Aleksandra Jerkunica 6-2, 6-4. Combs, the Orange Bowl 16s doubles champion, is 20-0 in doubles competition since a loss at the ITF J300 in Texas back in October.

A second J60 in Costa Rica, also featuring a round robin component, is underway this week, with Malacek and Celebrini among those competing.

The American men had a perfect first day of qualifying Monday at the Australian Open, with all six of them posting victories. The remaining five men are in action Tuesday (tonight in the USA), after Michael Mmoh withdrew due to an injury suffered in Hong Kong last week.

The US women went 3-3 on the first day, with former Texas A&M star Mary Stoiana getting the most dramatic of the three wins. The 22-year-old from Connecticut saved five match points and won the final five games of the match to defeat Nuria Brancaccio of Italy 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. Stoiana's only other slam win was as a wild card in the first round of qualifying of the US Open in 2024.

Monday's Australian Open first round qualifying results of Americans:

Brandon Holt[5] d. Lukas Neumayer(AUT) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
Colton Smith[32] d. Luka Pavlovic(FRA) 7-6(4), 6-1
Nishesh Basavareddy d. Alexis Galarneau(CAN) 6-4, 6-2
Tristan Boyer d. Alex Barrena(ARG) 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-2
Murphy Cassone d. Yu Hsiou Hsu(TPE) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Martin Damm d. Gauthier Onclin(BEL) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

Mary Stoiana d. Nuria Brancaccio(ITA) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5

Sloane Stephens d. Barbora Palicova(CZE) 6-1, 7-5

Despina Papamichail(GRE) d. Sachia Vickery 6-3, 7-5

Viktoriya Tomova[18](BUL) d. Bernarda Pera 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 

Maja Chwalinska(POL) d. Madison Brengle 7-6(3), 6-3

Taylor Townsend[11] d. Nao Hibino(JPN) 6-7(3), 6-0, 7-5

Tuesday's Australian Open first round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Michael Zheng v Cruz Hewitt[WC](AUS)

Mackenzie McDonald[6] v Dmitry Popko(KAZ)
Nicolas Moreno de Alboran v Vilius Gaubas[17](LTU)

Zachary Svajda[29] v Hady Habib(LBN)
Mitchell Krueger v Yibing Wu(CHN)

Elvina Kalieva v Sijia Wei(CHN)

Varvara Lepchenko[32] v Ye-Xin Ma(CHN)

Louisa Chirico v Yue Yuan[25](CHN)

Claire Liu v Tara Wuerth(CRO)

Carol Lee v Hanne Vandewinkel[15](BEL)

Whitney Osuigwe v Anastasija Sevastova(LAT)

At this week's ATP 250 in Auckland, qualifier Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) picked up his best win by ranking in his career. The 24-year-old from Connecticut, a two-time ITA Player of the Year, defeated ATP No. 68 Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.

Orange Bowl Gallery; Smith Claims Second M25 Title in Winston-Salem; Australian Open Qualifying Begins with 12 US Men and 12 US Women Competing for Main Draw

The last entry in my review of last month's Orange Bowl is my Tennis Recruiting Network photo gallery of the 16s tournament. It features all the players from the United States (plus a couple who train here but compete for other countries) who won a round in the singles event. I focus on the 16s for this tournament in order to feature some new faces; many of those playing the 18s appeared in the US Open Juniors or Pan American Closed ITF J300 galleries.

Keegan Smith won his second career M25 title today at the USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Winston-Salem North Carolina, but it wasn't easy. 

The 27-year-old former UCLA All-American, seeded No. 5, needed three hours and 18 minutes to get past recent University of Tennessee standout Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-3 in today's final. Smith should move to around 350 when the 25 points are added.

A second M25 begins Monday in Winston-Salem, with most of the same players, including Smith and Mitsui, entered. 

Qualifying for the Australian Open begins Monday(this evening in the United States), with 12 US men and 12 US women aiming to win three matches to reach the main draw.

Below are the first round matchups featuring Americans; there are no first round matches between players from the United States, which is quite unusual.

The men's qualifying draw is here; the women's qualifying draw is here.

Michael Zheng v Cruz Hewitt[WC](AUS)
*Brandon Holt[5] v Lukas Neumayer(AUT)
*Colton Smith[32] v Luka Pavlovic(FRA)
Mackenzie McDonald[6] v Dmitry Popko(KAZ)
Michael Mmoh v Vitaliy Sachko(UKR)
Nicolas Moreno de Alboran v Vilius Gaubas[17](LTU)
*Nishesh Basavareddy v Alexis Galarneau(CAN)
Zachary Svajda[29] v Hady Habib(LBN)
Mitchell Krueger v Yibing Wu(CHN)
*Tristan Boyer v Alex Barrena(ARG)
*Murphy Cassone v Yu Hsiou Hsu(TPE)
*Martin Damm v Gauthier Onclin(BEL)

*on Monday's schedule

*Mary Stoiana v Nuria Brancaccio(ITA)

*Sloane Stephens v Barbora Palicova(CZE)

Elvina Kalieva v Sijia Wei(CHN)

Varvara Lepchenko[32] v Ye-Xin Ma(CHN)

Louisa Chirico v Yue Yuan[25](CHN)

*Sachia Vickery v Despina Papamichail(GRE)

*Bernard Pera v Viktoriya Tomova[18](BUL)

*Madison Brengle v Maja Chwalinska(POL)

*Taylor Townsend[11] v Nao Hibino(JPN)

Claire Liu v Tara Wuerth(CRO)

Carol Lee v Hanne Vandewinkel[15](BEL)

Whitney Osuigwe v Anastasija Sevastova(LAT)

*on Monday's schedule

2025 Australian Open boys champion Henry Bernet of Switzerland, who received a qualifying wild card, has drawn Pablo Llamas Ruiz of Spain.

ITF Junior No. 8 Ksenia Efremova of France, who received a reciprocal wild card into qualifying, plays No. 8 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus Monday.

Brandon Nakashima lost in the final of the ATP 250 in Brisbane to top seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 7-6(1).

Poland won the United Cup with a 2-1 decision over Switzerland, thanks to the 6-4, 6-3 mixed doubles win from Katarzyna Kawa and the University of Georgia's 2017 NCAA doubles finalist Jan Zielinski.