Jovic Advances, Eleven US Men, Including All Three Qualifiers, Reach Australian Open Second Round; AO Junior Qualifying Begins; W35 in Palm Coast Sole USTA Pro Circuit Event This Week

Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic had not played any warm-up events this year prior making use of her Australian Open wild card, but the ITF Junior No. 2 showed absolutely no signs of rust in her first round match Tuesday, beating 33-year-old Nuria Parrizas-Diaz of Spain 6-2, 6-1. The match was closer than the score would indicate, but Jovic, who lost in the first round of the Australian Open Junior Championships the last time she played in Melbourne, was in control throughout. She will face No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan next, after the 2022 Wimbledon champion breezed past ITF Junior No. 1 Emerson Jones of Australia 6-1, 6-1 in the first round.

American men continued their impressive results, with the two who lost Tuesday going out to compatriots. Over the three days of the first round the US men had 11-3 record.

All three qualifiers made it through the first round on Tuesday, with Learner Tien(USC) and Tristan Boyer(Stanford) getting their first slam victories by coming through in five-set battles with Argentinians. Mitchell Krueger won his first slam match outside of the United States, with the 31-year-old beating former UNC star Rinky Hijikata of Australia in straight sets.

The US women have had much less success, going 8-11, although all five seeds have made the second round. No. 8 seed Emma Navarro(Virginia) barely escaped the upset against fellow NCAA singles champion Peyton Stearns(Texas) who led 5-3 in the third set before falling 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5 in three hours and 20 minutes. Two other American NCAA champions advanced, Ben Shelton(Florida, 2022) in another all-US battle against Brandon Nakashima, and Marcos Giron(UCLA, 2014).

ATP Next Gen champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil, the 2023 US Open boys champion, continued his surge, with the 18-year-old qualifier defeating No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-6(5).

Only five Americans are on Wednesday's schedule, although that's just in singles, as the schedule is full of first round doubles matches.

Qualifying for the Australian Open Junior Championships begins Wednesday(tonight in the United States), with only one American making the trip who did not receive entry into the main draw: Jacob Lee. The 17-year-old from Georgia, with an ITF ranking of 355 when the acceptances were announced, was one out of qualifying at the freeze, but did get in.  

The top seed in boys qualifying is Michele Mecarelli of Italy and
the top seed in girls qualifying is Ada Kumru of Turkey.

The finals are set for Wednesday at the AO junior warmnup, the ITF J300 in Traralgon Australia, with an American champion guaranteed in boys doubles. Top seeds Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding will face No. 2 seeds Maxwell Exsted and Czech Republic's Jan Kumstat after both teams won two matches Tuesday. The tenth-seeded Exsted lost 7-5, 7-5 in his singles semifinal to unseeded Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, who will face No. 8 seed Henry Bernet of Switzerland for the title. Top seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium will play Ksenia Efremova of France in the girls singles championship match.

Kristina and Annika Penickova are through to the girls doubles final, where the No. 3 seeds will play unseeded Teodora Kostovic of Serbia and Anamaria Federica Oana of Romania.

With all eyes on Australia (and Costa Rica's Coffee Bowl, at least for me) this week, it's not too surprising that the USTA Pro Circuit features just one tournament: a W35 in Palm Harbor Florida. Qualifying concluded today, with three Americans advancing to the main draw: 18-year-old NC State recruit Tori Osuigwe, 2015 NCAA singles champion Jamie Loeb(UNC) and 2021 NCAA doubles champion Makenna Jones(UNC).

Wild cards were awarded to Malaika Rapolu(Texas), UCLA freshman Kate Fakih, USTA 18s Winter Nationals champion Chukwumelije Clarke and 32-year-old Christina McHale, who had retired in 2022, but has been back competing in USTA events since last November.

Marie Benoit of Belgium is the top seed, with No. 3 seed Sophie Chang the top American. Texas A&M senior Mary Stoiana is in the main draw and won her first round match today against Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2.

Michelsen Beats Tsitsipas in Australian Open First Round, 17 Americans Play Openers Tuesday; Exsted Advances to ITF Traralgon J300 Semifinals; US Juniors Flood ITF J300 Coffee Bowl Draws

The second of three days of first round action at the Australian Open ended with eight more Americans advancing to the second round, joining Reilly Opelka, who won on Sunday.  The only US man to lose so far is 19-year-old wild card Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), who impressed in his slam debut with a 4-6,  6-3, 6-4, 6-2 loss to 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, the No. 7 seed this year. 

Alex Michelsen, who lost to Basavareddy last week in Auckland, took out No. 11 seed and 2023 Australian Open men's singles finalist Stefano Tsitsipas of Greece 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, with the other American men, all seeded, getting through their opening matches. Eight more US men play Tuesday; nine American women play Tuesday, including 2024 USTA Girls 18s champion Iva Jovic.

First Round Australian Open results featuring Americans:

Monday (Sunday night in US)

Danielle Collins[10] d. Daria Snigur[Q](UKR) 7-6(4), 6-3

Caroline Dolehide d. Sara Bejlek[Q](CZE) 7-6(5), 6-2

Ajla Tomljanovic[WC](AUS) d. Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Laura Siegemund(GER) d. Hailey Baptiste 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

Coco Gauff[3] d. Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-3

Jessica Pegula[7] d. Maya Joint[WC](AUS) 6-3, 6-0

Rebecca Sramkova(SVK) d. Katie Volynets 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 

Alex Michelsen d. Stefanos Tsitsipas[11](GRE) 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

Frances Tiafoe[17] d. Arthur Rinderknech(FRA) 7-6(2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-3

Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)d. Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

Sebastian Korda[22] d. Lukas Klein[Q](SVK) 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)

Tommy Paul[12] d. Christopher O'Connell(AUS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-5

Tuesday first round matches featuring Americans(Monday night in US):

Marcos Giron v Yannick Hanfmann(GER)

Tristan Boyer[Q] v Federico Coria(ARG)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Jenson Brooksby

Ben Shelton[21] v Brandon Nakashima

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Rinky Hijikata (AUS)

Learner Tien[Q] v Camilo Ugo Carabelli(ARG)

Emma Navarro[8] v Peyton Stearns

Madison Keys[19] v Ann Li

McCartney Kessler v Shuai Zhang[WC] (CHN)

Caty McNally v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Amanda Anisimova v Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG)

Taylor Townsend v Renata Zarazua (MEX)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Nuria Parrizas-Diaz(ESP)

Tristan Boyer(Stanford) is playing his first main draw match at a slam, but it's not under the best of circumstances, as the Los Angeles area city where he grew up, Altadena, was one of the areas hardest hit by the devastating wildfires. Boyer spoke to KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, with Randy Walker at World Tennis Magazine putting together this article about the Boyers, a prominent tennis family in the Southern Californian section.

The semifinals are set at the ITF J300 in Traralgon, with No. 10 seed Maxwell Exsted the sole American to advance out of the quarterfinals. Exsted, the No. 10 seed, defeated No. 16 seed Ognjen Milic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2 to reach a semifinal against unseeded Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, who is having a breakout tournament this week. He prevented an all-US semifinal with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3) win over No. 5 seed Jagger Leach. Henry Bernet of Switzerland will face No. 7 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland in the other boys semifinal.

Top seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium will play qualifier Yihan Qu of China in the girls top half semifinal. No. 9 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain will play unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France, who beat Annika Penickova 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

The Penickova twins and four US boys on three different teams are in the doubles quarterfinals, which are behind schedule due to rain earlier in the tournament.

The ITF J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica is underway, and, as usual, the draws are full of Americans. Eighteen of the 32 boys in the main draw are from the United States, and 18 of the 32 girls in the main draw are Americans, meaning that two first round matches in each draw are all-US contests. New this year is the designation of the event as an indoor tournament, and perhaps because of that change, live streaming is available on five courts.

The American boys competing in the main draw are: Ryan Cozad(who won last week's J100 in Costa Rica), Andrew Johnson, Nischal Spurling, Calvin Baierl[5], Ronit Karki[4], Michael Antonius[Q], Gavin Goode, Mason Taube[Q], Jacob Olar, Lachlan Gaskell[6], Simon Caldwell, Zachary Cohen, Yubel Ubri, Jack Satterfield[8], Jordan Lee, Gray Kelley[Q], Keaton Hance[WC] and Jack Secord[2]. Dante Pagani of Argentina is the top seed.

The tournament website updates scores during the day, and the draw is showing that Ubri defeated No. 3 seed Fumin Jiang of China 6-3, 6-3 today.

The American girls are led by top seed Kaitlyn Rolls, with the other 17 girls in the draw Kori Montoya, Sabrina Lin, Ligaya Murray, Hannah Ayrault[WC], Leena Friedman[3], Lucy Oyego Atang[Q], Ava Rodriguez, Kayla Chung, Julieta Pareja[5], Ireland O'Brien[Q], Ishika Ashar, Kaya Moe, Nancy Lee[7], Carrie-Anne Hoo, Raya Kotseva[WC], Sara Shumate[Q] and Capucine Jauffret[2].

Chung defeated No. 8 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil 6-3, 6-2 in the first round today.

Three Americans Reach ITF J300 Traralgon Quarterfinals; Opelka Advances at Australian Open; Maloney Sweeps Ithaca $25K Titles, College Seniors Milavsky, Vives Win $15Ks

Three Americans have advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITF J300 in Traralgon Australia, the warm-up tournament for the Australian Open Junior Championships, which begin Saturday(Friday night in the United States). The rain that resulted in a six-hour delay completing first round matches at the Australian Open in Melbourne have also had an impact on the Traralgon tournament, with the first round of doubles not yet complete. But the singles have stayed on schedule, with upsets definitely a trend in the first three rounds. 

Boys top seed Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic, the 2024 Australian Open boys finalist, lost to No. 14 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-2 in the round of 16,  and No. 3 seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, the Bradenton J300 and Orange Bowl champion, lost to Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-1 in the second round. With No. 4 seed Jack Kennedy losing to Jacopo Vasami of Italy in the second round, that leaves No. 5 seed Jagger Leach as the highest seed remaining in the boys quarterfinals. He defeated No. 11 seed Flynn Thomas of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and will play unseeded Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, who beat Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.

No. 10 seed Maxwell Exsted beat No. 6 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-4 and will face No. 16 seed Ognjen Milic of Serbia in the quarterfinals. Exsted and Leach will meet in the semifinals if they win.

Girls top seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium is through to the quarterfinals, but she and No. 9 Hannah Klugman of Great Britain are the only two seeds remaining, with two qualifiers--Brooke Black of Great Britain and Yihan Qu of China--also still in contention for the singles title. Unseeded Annika Penickova will play unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France for the second time in a month, with Efremova beating Penickova in the first round at the Orange Bowl. Efremova defeated No. 12 seed Thea Frodin 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round.

Reilly Opelka was the only American to advance on the first day of the Australian Open, with 14 more on Monday's schedule.

First Round Australian Open results of Americans:
Sunday (Saturday night in US)

Aryna Sabalenka[1] d. Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2
Tatjana Maria(GER) d.  Bernarda Pera 7-6(3), 6-4

Reilly Opelka d. Gauthier Onclin[Q](BEL) 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2

First Round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Monday (Sunday night in US)

Danielle Collins[10] v Daria Snigur[Q](UKR)

Caroline Dolehide v Sara Bejlek[Q](CZE)

Ashlyn Krueger v Ajla Tomljanovic[WC](AUS)

Hailey Baptiste v Laura Siegemund(GER)

Coco Gauff[3] v Sofia Kenin

Jessica Pegula[7] v Maya Joint[WC](AUS)

Katie Volynets v Rebecca Sramkova (SVK)

Alex Michelsen v Stefanos Tsitsipas[11](GRE)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Arthur Rinderknech(FRA)

Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] v Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)

Sebastian Korda[22] v Lukas Klein[Q](SVK)

Tommy Paul[12] v Christopher O'Connell(AUS)

Tuesday (Monday night in US)

Marcos Giron v Yannick Hanfmann(GER)

Tristan Boyer[Q] v Federico Coria(ARG)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Jenson Brooksby

Ben Shelton[21] v Brandon Nakashima

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Rinky Hijikata(AUS)

Learner Tien[Q] v Camilo Ugo Carabelli(ARG)

Emma Navarro[8] v Peyton Stearns

Madison Keys[19] v Ann Li

McCartney Kessler v Shuai Zhang[WC](CHN)

Caty McNally v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Amanda Anisimova v Maria Lourdes Carle(ARG)

Taylor Townsend v Renata Zarazua(MEX)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Nuria Parrizas-Diaz(ESP)

Former Michigan standout Patrick Maloney captured his second USTA Pro Circuit singles title today in Ithaca New York, with the No. 4 seed defeating unseeded Theo Papamalamis of France 7-6(5), 6-4 in the $25,000 tournament's final. The 24-year-old Maloney, who won the doubles title yesterday, claimed his first title at the $15K in Los Angeles last June.

Unseeded Katherine Sebov of Canada won the W35 in Naples, beating Jessica Pieri of Italy 6-2, 6-0.

Victoria Mboko gave Canada another ITF World Tennis Tour women's champion today at the W35 in Martinique, with the No. 4 seed beating No. 2 seed and fellow 18-year-old Clervie Ngounoue 7-5, 6-3 in the final. Mboko also beat Ngounoue in the doubles final Saturday night, partnering with Cadence Brace of Canada to defeat top seeds Ngounoue and Olivia Lincer(Central Florida) of Poland 6-2, 7-6(2).

Two 23-year-old college seniors collected titles today at $15,000 ITF men's World Tennis Tour tournaments, with TCU's Pedro Vives earning his first pro singles title in his home country of Spain and Harvard's Daniel Milavsky posting his second career title, both in the past two months, in Jamaica.

The unseeded Vives, who won the NCAA doubles title in November, defeated unseeded Georgii Savchenko of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in the final. 

The unseeded Milavsky, who won the $15K in Tallahassee in November, now has run his Pro Circuit winning streak to 12(including qualifying) with a marathon victory in the final. Milavsky defeated No. 8 seed Guillaume Dalmasso of France 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5 in a three-hour and 13-minute final. 

Kessler, Keys Win WTA Titles; Ngounoue Reaches W35 Final in Martinique; Cozad, Reddy Claim ITF J100 Titles

McCartney Kessler won her first WTA title the week before the US Open last year in Cleveland. The former University of Florida All-American won her second WTA title Saturday, on the eve of the Australian Open, at the 250 in Hobart, a result that boosted her ranking into the Top 50 for the first time.

The 25-year-old from Georgia, who played her last collegiate match in 2022, defeated the top two seeds en route to the title in Hobart, taking out No. 1 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and No. 2 seed and 2018 Hobart champion Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in the final. Kessler was not shy about going for lines throughout the match, and once she broke to go up 2-0 in the third set, the winners came in bunches.

Kessler lost in the first round of the US Open last year to Marta Kostyuk, who was the No. 19 seed; this year at the Australian Open, she plays Shuai Zhang of China, who won the Asia-Pacific wild card tournament to earn a place in the main draw.

Madison Keys won her ninth WTA title at the 500 in Adelaide, beating Jessica Pegula 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in Saturday's final. Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada won the ATP 250 in Adelaide with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Sebastian Korda.

Clervie Ngounoue has reached the final of the W35 in Martinique this week, with the 2023 Wimbledon girls champion set to face fellow 18-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada in the final. Ngounoue, the No. 2 seed, advanced when No. 3 seed Harmony Tan of France retired trailing 6-2, 1-0; The fourth-seeded Mboko defeated No. 5 seed Cadence Brace of Canada 7-6(4), 6-2.

Unseeded Theo Papamalamis of France will face No. 4 seed Patrick Maloney(Michigan) in the final of the men's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Ithaca New York Sunday. Papamalamis defeated Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-4, 6-4, while Maloney beat No. 5 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-0.  Maloney has already secured one title, winning the doubles today with Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian). The No. 2 seeds defated top seeds Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) and Pranav Kumar(Texas A&M, SMU) 6-4, 7-6(6). 

Sunday's final at the women's W35 in Naples Florida will feature two unseeded players, with Jessica Pieri of Italy taking on Katherine Sebov of Canada. Pieri beat 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Osuigwe 6-3, 6-1, while Sebov survived a three-hour and 28 minute battle with No. 4 seed Eli Mandlik to post a 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 victory. 

Maribella and Allura Zamarripa(Texas) won their eighth Pro Circuit doubles title, with the No. 4 seeds beating No. 3 seeds Julie Belgraver of France and Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-1.

The Australian Open, starting in less than an hour, will be my main focus for the next two weeks, so I want to cover the American titles in this week's ITF Junior Circuit tournaments a few days early.

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Cozad swept the titles at the ITF Junior Circuit J100 in Costa Rica, the warm-up tournament to the J300 Coffee Bowl next week. Cozad, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 3 seed and Kalamazoo 16s doubles champion partner Yannick Alvarez of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-4 in today's final. Cozad did not play with Alvarez in doubles and in fact was on the other side of the net from Alvarez in the doubles final, with Cozad and Keaton Hance, the top seeds, defeating No. 2 seeds Alvarez and Mason Taube 4-2, 4-2 in the final. Alvarez played four matches Friday, which explains the abbreviated scoring in the doubles final that day.

No. 2 seed and San Diego 16s champion Ishika Ashar lost in the girls singles final to Sarina Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 6-4. Ashar also lost in the doubles final, with unseeded Ireland O'Brien and Lucy Oyebog Atang beating No. 2 seeds Ashar and Raya Kotseva 2-4, 5-4(5), 12-10 in the all-USA final. 

At the J100 in the United Arab Emirates, 15-year-old Vihaan Reddy won his biggest ITF Junior Circuit title and his first representing the United States, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 7 seed Mustafa Ege Sik of Turkey 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the final. No. 8 seed Sebastian Bielen made the singles semifinals and the doubles final.

Roshan Santhosh lost 6-1, 6-1 to No. 4 seed Donghyun Hwang of Korean in the ITF J300 final in New Delhi India today.

At the J30 in Claremont California, Andre Alcantara and Natalie Kha won the singles titles, with the unseeded 16-year-old Kha winning her first ITF Junior Circuit title and the 17-year-old Alcantara his second singles title, although he has won seven doubles titles. Kha defeated unseeded Alisa Lansky of Israel 7-5, 6-2 in the final; No. 2 seed Alcantara beat unseeded Rishvanth Krishna 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the all-USA final.  

No. 3 seeds Tyler Lee and Justin Riley Anson won the boys doubles title, beating top seeds Alcantara and Adrien Abarca 6-3, 3-6, 10-2 in the final. Unseeded Lily Bazemore and Olivia Lewis won the girls doubles title, beating No. 4 seeds Cassie Blakey and Tayler Conway 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Three of 33 Americans in Australian Open Draw in Action Sunday; Winter Nationals Recaps; Qualifier Osuigwe Advances to Naples W35 Semifinals; Papamalamis Joins Three Americans in Ithaca $25K Semis; Santhosh Reaches ITF J300 Final in India

The Australian Open is one of two majors that starts on Sunday, with Roland Garros the other, and with the time difference, that means the first action begins Saturday night here in the United States. Only three Americans are on Sunday's schedule in Melbourne; from some of the information that has been posted on social media, I think I have correctly determined which days the other 30 Americans will play their first round matches. Unfortunately, this year there are five first round matches with Americans facing each other.

First Round Australian Open matches featuring Americans: 

Sunday (Saturday night in US):
Sloane Stephens v Aryna Sabalenka[1]
Bernarda Pera v Tatjana Maria(GER)
Reilly Opelka v Gauthier Onclin[Q](BEL)

Monday (Sunday night in US):

Danielle Collins[10] v Daria Snigur[Q](UKR)

Caroline Dolehide v Sara Bejlek[Q](CZE)

Ashlyn Krueger v Ajla Tomljanovic[WC](AUS)

Hailey Baptiste v Laura Siegemund(GER)

Coco Gauff[3] v Sofia Kenin

Jessica Pegula[7] v Maya Joint[WC](AUS)

Katie Volynets v Rebecca Sramkova (SVK)

Alex Michelsen v Stefanos Tsitsipas[11](GRE)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Arthur Rinderknech(FRA)

Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] v Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)

Sebastian Korda[22] v Lukas Klein[Q](SVK)

Tommy Paul[12] v Christopher O'Connell(AUS)

Tuesday (Monday night in US):

Marcos Giron v Yannick Hanfmann(GER)

Tristan Boyer[Q] v Federico Coria(ARG)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Jenson Brooksby

Ben Shelton[21] v Brandon Nakashima

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Rinky Hijikata(AUS)

Learner Tien[Q] v Camilo Ugo Carabelli(ARG)

Emma Navarro[8] v Peyton Stearns

Madison Keys[19] v Ann Li

McCartney Kessler v Shuai Zhang[WC](CHN)

Caty McNally v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Amanda Anisimova v Maria Lourdes Carle(ARG)

Taylor Townsend v Renata Zarazua (MEX)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Nuria Parrizas-Diaz(ESP)

Tennis Recruiting Network concluded its coverage of the USTA Winter National championships Thursday, with recaps of all eight finals in Lake Nona and San Antonio.  The 18s recap is here; the 16s is here; the 14s is here and the 12s is here.

Eighteen-year-old Victoria Osuigwe, known as Tori to her friends on the junior circuit, has advanced to the semifinals of the W35 in Naples Florida. The NC State recruit, who qualified into the main draw, defeated top seed Sophie Chang 6-2, 6-1 in the second round Thursday, then beat fellow qualifier Allura Zamarripa(Texas) 6-4, 6-3 today to reach her first Pro Circuit semifinal. Osuigwe will face unseeded 27-year-old Jessica Pieri of Italy Saturday. Eli Mandlik, the No. 4 seed, will face Katherine Sebov of Canada in the other semifinal. Zamarripa, with twin sister Maribella, has advanced to the doubles final; the No. 4 seeds will be playing No. 3 seeds Julie Belgraver of France and Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands for their eighth title as a team.

Nineteen-year-old Theo Papamalamis of France has advanced to the semifinals of a USTA Pro Circuit tournament, with the Texas A&M recruit reaching the final four at the men's $25,000 tournament in Ithaca New York. The unseeded Papamalamis, who finished his ITF junior career at No. 18 in the rankings, defeated Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) 6-1, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. He will face Alex Rybakov(TCU), also unseeded, for a spot in his third Pro Circuit final. Papamalamis is not currently included on the Aggies' roster, but could be awaiting clearance on eligibility from the NCAA.

No. 4 seed Patrick Maloney, the former Michigan star, breezed past NCAA 2024 fall singles champion Michael Zheng of Columbia 6-1, 6-1 to reach the semifinals, where he'll face No. 5 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State). Zink had the toughest quarterfinal win, beating qualifier Justin Boulais(Ohio State) 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 6-3. 

Maloney and partner Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), seeded No. 2, will play top seeds Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) and Pranav Kumar(Texas A&M, SMU) in the doubles final Saturday.

Teens Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) and Maya Joint both lost in the semifinals of the ATP and WTA 250 tournaments yesterday, but McCartney Kessler, the former Florida All-American has reached the final at the WTA 250 in Hobart, winning the final four games of her semifinal Friday against No. 6 seed  Elina Avanesyan of Armenia to earn a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. Kessler plays No. 2 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, who beat Joint 6-2, 6-3, for the title Saturday. Basavareddy lost 7-6(5), 6-4 to Gael Monfils of France at the ATP 250 in Auckland.

Sebastian Korda, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula have also advanced to the finals of the Adelaide ATP 250 and WTA 500. Korda will play Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, with Keys and Pegula meeting for the women's title.

The first round of the ITF J300 in Traralgon didn't go well for the US girls, who lost five of seven matches, with only Thea Frodin[12] and Annika Penickova posting wins. Five of the eight US boys in the draw won their first round matches, including all three seeds: Jack Kennedy[4], Jagger Leach[5] and Maxwell Exsted[10]. Noah Johnston and Dominick Mosejczuk also reached the second round.

At this week's ITF J300 in New Delhi India, unseeded Roshan Santhosh has reached the final, his first above the J60 level. The 16-year-old from California will face his first seed in the final, when he plays No. 4 seed Donghyun Hwang of Korea.

IMG Academy Int'l 12s Finals Videos; Krueger, Boyer and Tien Qualify for Australian Open Main Draw; Basavareddy, Joint and Kessler Reach ATP/WTA Semifinals; ITF J300 Traralgon Begins Friday

The last of the videos from last month's major junior events in Florida have been processed, with the IMG Academy Interntional Championships 12s finalists going up today on my YouTube channel. Videos of all the IMG and Orange Bowl finalists can be viewed there as well.

Qualifying is complete at the Australian Open, with three American men advancing to the main draw: Tristan Boyer(Stanford), Mitchell Krueger and Learner Tien(USC). Last year two Americans made it through: Aleks Kovacevic and Katie Volynets. Kovacevic lost in the second round of qualifying this year; Volynets received direct entry into the main draw this year.

Boyer, 23, will be making his slam debut; Tien played slam qualifying for the first time in Melbourne; he received wild cards into the US Open main draw the past three years, twice as Kalamazoo 18s champion and last year as the USTA Wild Card race winner. Krueger, who turns 31 on Sunday, qualified for the US Open last year and the Australian Open in 2019.

Former Texas A&M All-American Hady Habib will make history as the first player from Lebanon to play in a slam, after he beat former Washington All-American Clement Chidekh of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(8) Thursday in a dramatic final round qualifying match in Melbourne.

Next Gen and 2023 US Open boys champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil, who won the ATP Challenger 125 in Canberra last week, had no difficulty getting through qualifying and has drawn No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev in the first round of the main draw. 2022 US Open champion Martin Landaluce of Spain also qualified, with the three teenagers the most qualifying for a slam since 2015 US Open when five teens, including Alexander Zverev, Rublev and Tommy Paul, qualified.

Thursday's Australian Open final round qualifying results of Americans:

Anca Todoni[12](ROU)d. Vavara Lepchenko[21] 6-3, 6-2

Viktorija Golubic[2](SUI) d. Sachia Vickery 6-2, 6-4

Elena-Gabriela Ruse[15](ROU) d. Emina Bektas 6-2, 7-5

Mitchell Krueger d. Yasutaka Uchiyama(JPN) 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4

Tristan Boyer[26] d. Christopher Eubanks[4] 6-4, 6-4

Gauthier Onclin(BEL) d. McKenzie McDonald[25] 7-6(7), 6-7(5), 6-1

Learner Tien[16] d. Jozef Kovalik[21](SVK) 6-3, 6-4

Ben Rothenberg took a deep dive into former junior slam champions on Bounces, his recently established Substack newsletter, with comments from Renata Jamrichova, Reilly Opelka, Robin Montgomery, Tien, Fonseca and Kimmer Coppejans.

With the Australian Open starting on Saturday night here in the United States, I'll be posting the first round matchups of the 33  Americans in the draw Friday. The draws are available here.

The warm-up events in Australia and New Zealand have produced some notable results this week, with Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), who qualified for the Auckland ATP 250, into the semifinals after beating No. 8 seed Alex Michelsen 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in his first ATP quarterfinal appearance.  Basavareddy, who earned the USTA's reciprocal wild card and is drawn to meet Novak Djokovic in the first round in Melbourne, had beaten No. 2 seed and defending champion Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the second round 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. For more on Basavareddy's semifinal Friday against Gael Monfils of France and his upcoming encounter with Djokovic, see this Reuters article.

Wild card Maya Joint of Australia, who recently announced she was not going to play at Texas, has gotten off to a great start as a pro, reaching the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Hobart. The 18-year-old, who grew up in Michigan, defeated No. 4 seed Magda Linette of Poland in the second round and former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the quarterfinals, with the loss of only six games in those two victories.  Former Florida All-American McCartney Kessler is also through to the semifinals in Hobart, after the 25-year-old from Georgia defeated top seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in Thursday's quarterfinals. 

The ITF J300 in Traralgon, the warmup event for the Australian Open Junior Championships, begins Friday, with seven US girls and eight US boys in the 64-player draws. No Americans played qualifying; KrishaMahendran, the USC recruit who lives in Southern California but represents India, did qualify and will play No. 2 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia in the first round. Jeline Vandromme of Belgium is the top girls seed, with Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic the top boys seed.

US girls in Traralgon:

Kristina Penickova[3]

Thea Frodin[12]

Maya Iyengar[15]

Claire An

Aspen Schuman

Shannon Lam

Annika Penickova

US boys in Traralgon:

Jack Kennedy[4]

Jagger Leach[5]

Maxwell Exsted[10]

Dominick Mosejczuk

Matisse Farzam

Noah Johnston

Benjamin Willwerth

Maximus Dussault

All these players are expected to compete in the Australian Open junior championships; Iva Jovic, who had entered the juniors, has withdrawn, while Emerson Jones of Australia is still on the junior acceptance list. Both have main draw women's singles wild cards.