Top-Seeded Penickova Twins Upset in FILA International ITF J300 Second Round; Qualifier Wang WIns Four-Hour Battle Over No. 6 Seed Friedman; Wild Card Stoot Reaches Third Round; Shelton, Keys Advance to BNP Paribas Open Quarterfinals

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells CA--

Twin sisters Kristina and Annika Penickova, the top two seeds at the ITF J300 FILA International Championships, were eliminated Wednesday in contrasting fashion on a partly cloudy and cool day at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. 

Kristina, the No. 1 seed, had begun her second round match with Maria Aytoyan on Tuesday, dropping the first set 6-3 and was two points from elimination before taking a second set tiebreaker 7-6(7). A three-hour rain delay eventually became a cancellation with the score 1-1 in the third set when play resumed Wednesday.

Aytoyan, a 16-year-old from the Los Angeles area, trailed 5-3 in the third set, but kept calm and focused, holding for 5-4 and then breaking Penickova at love as she attempted to serve out the match. 

Aytoyan served well in her next game and waited for the unforced errors, which had plagued Penickova throughout the match. Serving to stay in the match, Penickova double faulted twice and and made two more unforced errors, with Aytoyan just needing to stay in the last few rallies to claim a 6-3, 6-7(7), 7-5 victory.

Aytoyan wasn't sure what to expect when returning to finish the match this morning.

"It's tough, because you never know how the momentum can switch up after every rain delay," Aytoyan said. "I think it's more of a mental thing to overcome, and at the end of day, it's about who can forget about yesterday, and come out in the morning ready to go."

Aytoyan was clear on her strategy, rain delay or not.

"From my side, I just needed to stay consistent, like I was yesterday," Aytoyan said. "To see how it would work today, and it did work at the end. You have to have a plan, know exactly what you're going to be doing, and if that doesn't work, you have to adjust it."

Facing the top seed and 2025 Australian Open girls finalist can be daunting, but Aytoyan had played Penickova in the 12s and 14s, so knew what to expect, and was not intimidated.

"She's a great opponent to play against, with great experience," said Aytoyan, who had her coach Steve Freedman courtside offering advice throughout the two-day battle. "For me, I had nothing to lose. She did make Aussie Open final, so it's just hey, go out there play your best, move your feet. And it worked."

Aytoyan, who has just reached an ITF ranking that allows her to enter J300 events in the past four months, is trying to focus on improvement not results.

"I'm usually really positive going into tournaments, but regarding expectations, I try not to put any on me," Aytoyan said. "Just play it out, one match at a time, and do the best I can."

Aytoyan will play No. 13 seed Nancy Lee next, who resumed her postponed match with Lucy Oyebog, winning the three games played to complete a 7-6(9), 6-3 victory.

Annika Penickova did not start her scheduled match with wild card Karlin Schock before it was cancelled Tuesday, but the No. 2 seed was not able to find any form at all, with Schock taking a 6-1, 6-0 decision in just over an hour.

Schock received her wild card for winning the USTA 18s National Indoor Championships last November, and being from Wisconsin, is much more familiar with those conditions, but she played the J100 last week in Las Vegas in preparation for her ITF J300 debut.

"I saw that as a good opportunity to play some tennis outdoors before coming here," said the 16-year-old, who lost in the second round of singles and reached the doubles final in Las Vegas. "Just getting used to the wind, the elements, it helped a lot, getting some matches in, helping me gain confidence here."

Schock had beaten Penickova in the finals of a USTA 14s level 3 in South Dakota in 2022, so she knew what to expect.

"My strategy was pretty similar to when I played her last time," said Schock, whose mother, Katie Schlukebir, was an All-American at Stanford. "But I also focus on what I do well, having that propel me to go against her game, move her around and it worked out. I thought she started out fine, but when I got on top of her, she started mentally degrading and maybe pushing a little bit."

Schock will face No. 14 seed Alyssa James of Jamaica, who beat Ligaya Murray 7-5, 6-2. Murray is the only junior I've ever seen who serves right-handed, then switches the racquet to her left hand for her ground strokes.

In addition to the top two seeds, the girls draw lost eight other seeds, all of whom were playing their first matches of the tournament. Chukwumelije Clarke defeated No. 7 seed Capucine Jauffret 7-5, 6-4, qualifier Alexis Nguyen beat No. 8 seed Aspen Schuman 6-2, 6-0 and, in the match of the day/night, qualifier Tianmei Wang outlasted No. 6 seed Leena Friedman 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-5.

Wang and Friedman battled for four hours and 21 minutes, with lengthy rallies and deuce games the rule, until Wang finally pulled away in the last two games. Serving at 5-5, 15-30 Wang earned a game point, which she converted when Friedman missed a simple volley she had worked so hard to set up. She didn't win a point after that, with Wang breaking at love to snatch the victory.

Wang wasn't done for the day at 7:30 p.m., with her first doubles match, rescheduled from Tuesday, not ending until after 10 p.m. Wednesday night, but she got a win there too. She and Addison Yang Comiskey of Canada defeated Maggie Sohns and Aspen Schuman 1-6, 6-4, 10-7.

While the girls draw now features just six seeds, the boys draw has all eight of its top seeds moving through to the third round.

No. 9 seed Cruz Hewitt of Australia, son of Lleyton Hewitt, lost his match to Aaron Gabet of France 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and No. 11 seed Lachlan Gaskell was beaten by Jacob Olar 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

Wild card Donald Nikolas Stoot also eliminated a seed, beating No. 14 seed Nischal Spurling 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Stoot, a 17-year-old left-hander from Miami, felt the pressure of proving himself worthy of a wild card initially, but that feeling dissipated after he picked up a win in the first round.

"Now I feel I didn't have much to lose, so I just went out there and swung," said Stoot, who has verbally committed to LSU. "Hitting as free as possible. First set I started a little slow, he was hitting his backhand pretty well, and he had 6-2, 5-4 30-all, so just two points away. But I just pretty much found a way for today. I was doing the right thing, and eventually it started to work."

Stoot will face No. 2 seed and 2024 finalist Jack Kennedy, who was challenged by Tyler Lee before emerging with a 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-1 win. 

Rain and wind is in the forecast for Thursday morning, with all 16 third round singles matches and 16 second round doubles matches on the schedule.

Two Americans have advanced to the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals in the men's and women's singles, with No. 11 seed Ben Shelton(Florida) defeating No. 32 seed Brandon Nakashima 7-6(6), 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal with No. 11 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain Thursday. Draper defeated No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-4.

Australian Open champion Madison Keys, seeded No. 5, defeated No. 19 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 and will play unseeded wild card Belinda Bencic of Switzerland Thursday. Bencic defeated No. 3 seed Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. 

Top Seed Leach Rolls into Third Round, Girls No. 1 Penickova Forces Third Set Before Rain Disrupts ITF J300 Indian Wells; Georgia Women and Wake Forest Men Continue to Top Rankings; No. 2 TCU Men Defeat No. 3 Texas 4-1

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Indian Wells, CA--

Tuesday's second round of singles at the ITF J300 FILA International Junior Championships began with a one-hour rain delay and ended with a three-hour delay in weather more reminiscent of Wimbledon than March in the desert. Only eight of the 16 singles matches on the schedule were completed, with three girls and five boys managing to navigate multiple disruptions due to wet courts.

 

One of those who did manage to finish early in what turned out to be a frustrating day was top seed Jagger Leach, who had just one minor stoppage in his 6-0, 6-2 win over Mason Taube. 

Leach was returning to competition after an ankle sprain kept him from competing in the recent ITF J300 and J500 tournaments in Brazil, but there was little rust apparent when he ran out to a 6-0, 5-0 lead.

"I thought I played really good," said the 17-year-old, who reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January, his last junior tournament. "This was actually my first time playing on these courts because it's tough for juniors to get court time, but yeah, I felt really good and was happy with my level today."

Leach, who played this tournament last year, losing to champion Rudy Quan in the second round, was not convinced that the new Laykold surface this year at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was much different from the old one.

"It feels pretty similar to me, but I'm not really sure," Leach said. "To me, a hard court is a hard court, unless it's indoors, then it's different."

Between the Australian Open and a return home to Florida, Leach had an opportunity to serve as a hitting partner for the United States Davis Cup team in their tie against Taiwan in Taipei City, providing a glowing review of that experience.

"I went straight from Melbourne to Taipei, and it was one of the most fun weeks of my life," Leach said. "I've known (Alex) Michelsen since I was like 10 years old and I've known Marcos(Giron) and Mackie(McDonald) from practicing in Carson and Orlando. Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, I'd known briefly and they were great. It was a really fun week, we got super close as a team and we still keep in touch. It was just a great experience."

As the son of Jon Leach and Lindsay Davenport, Jagger has been around pro tennis his entire life, but even he had a tendency to view professional players as a breed apart.

"Sometimes, pro tennis players, you feel like, wow, these guys are gods, these guys are so good," said Leach, who has been working with a new coach, Rodrigo Alvarez, since the beginning of the year.  "And they are, on the court. But off the court, they're just like any other person. These guys are real people, they're not robots."

Leach, who will face No. 15 seed Matisse Farzam in Thursday's third round, said his expectations this week are limited, with his focus on enjoying the surroundings.

"I love playing in Indian Wells, it's probably my favorite venue, other than maybe Wimbledon," Leach said. "My expectations are the same, trying to have a good attitude, positive body language and compete well, which is something I've been working on. Those three things, kind of the non-negotiables, but other than that, I don't really have any expectations."

The wild card into next year's BNP Paribas Open qualifying, which goes to this week's boys and girls singles champions, isn't yet on his mind.

"I'm a long way from even thinking about that," Leachsaid. "I'll wait until I'm a little closer. It's a great addition and a great reward for whoever is winning the event."

The other boys advancing today were all seeded Americans: No. 10 Ronit Karki, No. 13 seed Gavin Goode and No. 4 seed Noah Johnston.

Two of the three girls winners today beat seeds, with Ireland O'Brien defeated No. 12 seed Dune Vaissaud of France 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 and Kristina Liutova of Russia beating No. 15 seed Kori Montoya 6-4, 6-2.  No. 5 seed Julieta Pareja will play O'Brien in the next round.

A much bigger upset was looming on court 5, with Maria Aytoyan coming within two points of ousting top seed and 2025 Australian Open finalist Kristina Penickova. Aytoyan, a 16-year-old Southern Californian, was able to handle Penickova's pace and wait for the errors, taking the first set 6-3, and serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set.  But Penickova raised her level in that return game, breaking with a backhand winner at 15-40 to send the set to a tiebreaker. 

Neither player could come up with a first serve to start the tiebreaker, but Aytoyan did manage to build a 4-1 lead with two serves coming, only to lose them both. Penickova won her two serves to lead 5-4, with Aytoyan holding for 5-5. But Aytoyan sent a forehand long to give Penickova her first set point at 6-5, which a double fault immediately erased. Aytoyan saved another set point with a good first serve, but Penickova's forehand winner gave her a third set point, which she converted when her deep return of a second serve forced an error from Aytoyan, taking the tiebreaker nine points to seven.

Both players held serve to start the third set, but after two hours of tennis, nature would intervene. The delay reached three hours before another series of showers finally brought an end to play for the juniors around 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

All 16 of the first round doubles matches were canceled and will be played Wednesday. The weather forecast for Wednesday is much better, with only a small chance of rain.

This week's ITA Division I men's and women's rankings were released today, with no change at the top, with the Wake Forest men and Georgia women still No. 1.

ITA Division I women's Top Ten:

(previous ranking in parentheses)

1. Georgia(1)

2. Texas A&M(3)

3. Virginia(2)

4. North Carolina(5)

5. NC State(12)

6. Michigan(4)

7. Duke(10)

8. Tennessee(6)

9. LSU(8)

10. Ohio State(7)

ITA Division I men's Top Ten:

1. Wake Forest(1)

2. TCU(2)

3. Texas(4)

4. Ohio State(3)

5. NC State(6)

6. San Diego(7)

7. Columbia(10)

8. Virginia(5)

9. Stanford(9)

10. Arizona(8)

No. 2 TCU and No. 3 Texas played tonight in Fort Worth, and the Horned Frogs avenged their loss to Texas last month in Austin by the exact same 4-1 score. In this match, TCU won the doubles point, and Jack Pinnington Jones at 1 and Cooper Woestendick at 4 reversed their losses in Austin to Texas's Timo Legout and Jonah Braswell and Albert Pedrico got the clinching win over Sebastian Eriksson at line 5.

See the TCU website for the recap.

Qualifier Nguyen, Las Vegas Champion Santhosh Post Opening Round Wins at ITF J300 Indian Wells; Five US Men Reach BNP Paribas Open Round of 16; Stoiana and Smith Receive Hurd Collegiate Grants

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells California--

A perfect day in the desert greeted the qualifiers and unseeded players Monday at the FILA International Championships ITF J300 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with sunny skies and temperatures near 80 producing high quality tennis, as well as some drama, on the seven courts reserved for junior matches.

Qualifier Alexis Nguyen, who has one of the best World Tennis Numbers in the field, played three matches to qualify Saturday and Sunday and was right back on the courts Monday afternoon, getting paast Carrie-Ann Hoo 6-1, 7-5 after a spirited comeback from Hoo in the second set. 

Nguyen, a 17-year-old from Sacramento, was unable to hold her lead in the second set, with a cramp in her racquet hand keeping her from serving out the match at 5-4. But she didn't attribute that to anything more than nerves, and broke Hoo to get another chance, converting her first match point.

"I was cramping a little bit but I think I just get tight toward the end and my body just tenses up," said Nguyen, who gave credit to her coach Joe Gilbert for keeping her on track now that off-court coaching is allowed in chaired junior matches.  "Actually when I started cramping, I calmed myself down, got loose and started playing better. I play better when I just don't think at all. My coach will tell me what to do and I'll just focus on it, rather than force it. I started to run her, and hit targets, and then look for offense. He helped me re-focus, it's not like I have to fix something during the match, he just reminds me when I fall off a little bit."

Nguyen, who has committed to North Carolina for 2026 along with twin sister Avery, who also qualified, but lost today in her first round match, used her three qualifying matches to work on her game.

"I got to get used to the courts a little bit and really work on things I need to work on," said Nguyen, who lost just 10 games in her three qualifying victories. "It wasn't really like hard matches, so I got to work on offense a little bit."

Nguyen played the cold and wet W50 tournament last month in Spring Texas, winning a round before returning to California for the W35 in Arcadia the following week. There she defeated Australian Open girls champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan in the opening round of qualifying, qualified for the main draw, then won a first round match before falling to No. 5 seed Maria Mateas 7-5, 7-6(3).

"I saw it as an opportunity," said Nguyen, who beat Sonobe 6-3, 1-6, 10-8. "I don't play that many ITFs, don't play many juniors, so I thought if I could beat her, I could show everybody how I was doing. I took a break, a training block, and I was a little rusty, but in Spring Texas I got better and I was really ready for that tournament(Arcadia), and I was excited to play her."

Nguyen, who gets a day off before facing No. 8 seed Aspen Schuman on Wednesday, is confident that she can maintain her recent level.

"This isn't cocky, but I think every single tournament you want to go in it to win it," Nguyen said. "I hope to play a good match, but my biggest thing is just to improve. If I lose, see what I did wrong, but hopefully I play the right way, don't lose the wrong way."

Another player with little chance to rest, but with a lot of confidence is Roshan Santhosh, who won his first ITF Junior Circuit on Saturday at the J100 in Las Vegas and followed it up today with a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2 win over Fanming Meng of China. 

Santhosh has good memories of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, having won the 14s Easter Bowl in 2023, but he likes this year's new Laykold surface even better.

"It's a good vibe here, with the men's tournament, and they've resurfaced the courts, which I like," Santhosh said. "They were really slow before, and I feel like they're still pretty slow, but they're more bouncey so it's easier to finish the points off."

Santhosh, who plays No. 5 seed Ryan Cozad Tuesday in a rematch of that Easter Bowl 14s final two years ago, felt he didn't take advantage of his opportunities in the first set, but was physically stronger than Meng in the last half of the match.

"I was up almost the whole first set and I felt like I had chances but just didn't execute properly," said Santhosh, who has verbally committed to Penn for 2026. "I thought, why don't I just relax and play my game in the second set, play freely. I feel like he got a bit tired in the third set, we both got a bit tired, but it was just who could stay out there longer, and I feel like I played pretty well."

There was a literally painful ending to a first round match between Kenzie Nguyen and Shannon Lam, with Nguyen cramping on match point serving at 5-4 in the third set. Nguyen crumpled to the ground on the baseline prior to that match point, but was unable to push off her left leg in that game, eventually losing it. Her movement improved in the next two games, but she was clearly not able to move as well as she had to reach match point, and Lam kept enough balls in play to eventually wear Nguyen down to take a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 decision.

I had high hopes for the first round match between Kristina Liutova, who represents Russia, but has lived in the United States for years, and wild card Anna Frey. Although the match got much closer in the second set, Frey's forehand was too much of a liability in the first set, with Liutova playing a basically error-free set. Liutova was unable to close out Frey serving at 5-4, but she played a much more assured game at 6-5 to post the 6-1, 7-5 victory. 

Only half of the second round matches are on Tuesday's schedule, but boys top seed Jagger Leach and girls top seed Kristina Penickova are among those in action. There is a 50 percent chance of rain Tuesday afternoon, when the first round of doubles is scheduled to be played. 

For the first time since 2004, five American men have advanced to the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open, with Taylor Fritz[3], Ben Shelton(Florida)[11] and Brandon Nakashima(Virginia)[32] posting wins today to join Marcos Giron(UCLA) and Tommy Paul[10] in the fourth round. Fritz beat No. 30 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Shelton defeated No. 22 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-5 and Nakashima beat Matteo Arnaldi of Italy 6-2, 6-4.  Shelton and Nakashima will play each other Wednesday for a place in the quarterfinals.

Madison Keys and Coco Gauff[3] and Madison Keys[5] joined No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in the round of 16 with wins today. Gauff defeated No. 29 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-6(1), 6-2 and Keys defeated No. 28 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4.

Yesterday, the Hurd Foundation and UTR announced the winners of the Hurd grants for the top American men's and women's college players. Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M and Colton Smith of Arizona will each receive $100,000 to assist them financially in the early stages of their professional careers. Amelia Honer of UC-Santa Barbara and Eliott Spizzirri of Texas were named as finalists and will receive $40,000 grants.

Tennis Channel had a segment on Sunday' s announcement, which can be viewed on YouTube.

Leach and Kennedy, Penickova Twins Top Seeds at ITF J300 Indian Wells; Santhos and Kha Win Las Vegas J100 Titles; Giron, Paul and Pegula Advance to Fourth Round at BNP Paribas Open

It's a travel day for me, before I start onsite coverage of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells Monday, but I wanted to get a couple of items up before it gets any later on the East Coast, although you can expect late updates throughout the next three weeks I'm in California.

The draws are up, without the qualifiers placed, and, as usual are dominated by Americans. There is just one seeded international boy, Australian Cruz Hewitt, the son of Lleyton Hewitt, and two seeded girls from outside the United States, Dune Vaissaud of France and Alyssa James of Jamaica. 

Below are the seeds, who will not play until Tuesday, and the complete list of wild cards, which include J100 Las Vegas boys singles finalist Andre Alcantara and girls doubles finalists Karlin Schock and Kennedy Drenser-Hagman.

ITF J300 Indian Wells boys seeds (USA unless otherwise indicated)

1. Jagger Leach

2. Jack Kennedy

3. Keaton Hance

4. Noah Johnston

5. Ryan Cozad

6. Maximus Dussault

7. Jack Satterfield

8. Jack Secord

9. Cruz Hewitt (AUS)

10. Ronit Karki

11. Lachlan Gaskell

12. Calvin Baierl

13. Gavin Goode

14. Nischal Spurling

15. Matisse Farzam

16. Yubel Ubri

ITF J300 Indian Wells girls seeds 

1. Kristina Penickova

2. Annika Penickova

3. Thea Frodin

4. Maya Iyengar

5. Julieta Pareja

6. Leen Friedman

7. Capucine Jauffret

8. Aspen Schuman

9. Claire An

10. Ava Rodriguez

11. Ishika Ashar

12. Dune Vaissaud (FRA)

13. Nancy Lee

14. Alyssa James (JAM)

15. Kori Montoya

16. Anita Tu

ITF J300 Indian Wells wild cards

Boys

Tanishk Konduri

Shaan Patel

Nicolas Mekhael

Mark Krupkin

Donald Stoot

Andre Alcantara

Girls

Reiley Rhodes

Maggie Sohns

Janae Preston

Anna Frey

Kennedy Drenser-Hagman

Karlin Schock

Qualifiers

Boys

Gray Kelley

Tyler Lee

Maksim Nekrasov(RUS)

Nav Dayal

William Zhang

Gary Jiang(CAN)

Girls

Amy Lee

Avery Nguyen

Tianmei Wang

Nicole Weng

Charlize Celebrini(CAN)

Alexis Nguyen

The results from the ITF J100 Las Vegas singles final were not available last night before I went to bed, but they were up this morning, with top seed Roshan Santhosh winning his first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over unseeded Andre Alcantara. Natalie Kha won the girls title, beating Yilin Chen 6-1, 6-1.

In BNP Paribas Open men's and women's singles third round matches today, Marcos Giron(UCLA) continued his run, beating No. 26 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Tommy Paul[10] beat Cameron Norrie(TCU) of Great Britain 6-3, 7-5 and Jessica Pegula[4] defeated Xinyu Wang of China 6-2, 6-1.

Brooksby Upsets Auger-Aliassime, Keys and Gauff Advance at BNP Paribas Open; Final Round Qualifying Sunday for Indian Wells ITF J300; Mary Joe Fernandez Tapped for Orange Bowl Hall of Fame

2018 Kalamazoo 18s champion Jenson Brooksby's return to competition after a drug testing suspension and injuries began with the Australian Open this year, and although he had shown glimpses of the game that saw him reach No. 33 in the ATP rankings in 2022, a win today in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open confirmed the 24-year-old Californian was truly back.

Brooksby defeated No. 17 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, who had won two ATP titles this year, 6-4, 6-2, earning his best win since the 2023 Australian Open, where he defeated ATP No. 3 Casper Ruud of Norway in the second round.

Brooksby's third round opponent will be No. 13 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain, who defeated Next Gen Finals champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil 6-4, 6-0.

Brooksby won the Easter Bowl ITF J300 title at Indian Wells the same year he won the Kalamazoo title in 2018, defeating Brandon Nakashima in both finals.  Nakashima, who was 0-4 against Brooksby in juniors and ITF men's events, also advanced to the BNP Paribas Open third round today, beating former North Carolina All-American Rinky Hijikata of Australia 7-5, 6-1.

No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz, the 2022 Indian Wells champion, won his opening match, as did No. 3 seed Coco Gauff and No. 5 seed Madison Keys, in her first match since winning the Australian Open.

Wild card Iva Jovic battled No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy to 3-3 in the third set, before Paolini broke for a 5-3 lead and closed out her 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3 victory. Paolini won just one more point than Jovic did in the match, 92 to 91.

The first round of qualifying for the FILA Internatonal ITF J300 in Indian Wells is complete, with two rounds scheduled for Sunday. The boys are playing at Rancho La Quinta Country Club, while the girls are playing at Palm Valley Country Club. Today's results are available at the iTF Junior website.

Mary Joe Fernandez at Men's Team Indoor

On March 26th, Mary Joe Fernandez will be inducted into the Orange Bowl Tennis Hall of Fame, with the ceremony scheduled that day at the Miami Open. Because I will be in Southern California throughout the month covering the three big junior events there, the Orange Bowl Committee was kind enough to provide me with the release a few days early, so I could post about it before I leave.

Fernandez holds one of the most impressive junior tennis accomplishments of all time, winning all four Orange Bowl titles, 12s, 14s (Junior Orange Bowl), 16s and 18s in consecutive years. 

From the release:

She captured the Girls’ 12s title at age 11, the Girls’ 14s at age 12, the Girls’ 16s at age 13, and the Girls’ 18s at just 14 years old—an unprecedented feat that remains unmatched in the history of junior tennis.

Her dominance at the Orange Bowl showcased her exceptional talent early in her career, setting the stage for her future success on the professional circuit.

"We are thrilled to welcome Mary Joe Fernandez into the Orange Bowl Tennis Hall of Fame," said Orange Bowl Committee President & Chair Henri Crockett. "Her accomplishments on the court are truly remarkable, and her impact on the sport of tennis is undeniable."

Fernandez, a former world No. 4 in both singles and doubles, enjoyed a stellar career that included:

• Grand Slam Finals: Reaching the finals of the Australian Open twice (1990 & 1992) and the French Open (1993).
• Olympic Medals: Winning gold in doubles at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics with partner Gigi Fernandez, and bronze in singles at the 1992 Olympics.
• WTA Titles: Achieving seven singles titles and seventeen doubles titles on the WTA Tour.
• Grand Slam Doubles Titles: Capturing the Australian Open (1991) and French Open (1996) doubles titles.
• Team Competitions: Helping the U.S. win the Fed Cup (1996, 1999), later serving as the U.S. Fed Cup captain (2008–2016), and captaining the U.S. Olympic tennis team in 2012 and 2016.

“Being inducted into the Orange Bowl Tennis Hall of Fame is a huge honor,” said Fernandez. “This tournament has been a springboard for so many great players, and I’m proud to be part of its rich history. I’m deeply grateful to the Orange Bowl Committee for this recognition and for their unwavering dedication to growing the game of tennis.”

Fernandez has continued to support the Orange Bowl over the years, attending the Junior Orange Bowl finals in 2016 and presenting the trophy to Coco Gauff, who won the 12s (she won the 18s two years later).

In 2020, Fernandez's son Nico Godsick won the Orange Bowl 16s doubles title in 2020 (with Ethan Quinn) to continue the family tradition. My coverage of that title and Godsick's remarks on the significance of the Orange Bowl to their family can be found here.

I recently saw Fernandez and husband Tony Godsick at the Men's Team Indoor in Dallas, watching Nico compete for Stanford in the semifinals, and Godsick could not have been more proud that his wife was receiving this recognition.

The history of junior tennis is scattered and often gets overlooked or lost, so it's always gratifying to see a special accomplishment recalled and celebrated.

Three Unseeded Players and Top Seed Advance to ITF J100 Las Vegas Finals; ITF J300 Indian Wells Wild Cards; Jovic Comes Back to Reach BNP Parbias Open Second Round

Saturday's singles finals are set at the ITF J100 in Las Vegas, with two unseeded Americans meeting for the girls title, and top seed Roshan Santhosh of California facing unseeded local resident Andre Alcantara for the boys singles championship.

Sixteen-year-old Natalie Kha of Chino Hills California, who won her first ITF title at the J30 in Claremont to start off the year, will face 15-year-old Yilin Chen of San Diego, who won her first ITF title at the J60 in her hometown in February.  Kha defeated No. 4 seed Thara Gowda, the last seed in the girls draw, 6-3, 6-3, while Chen came back to beat 14-year-old Anya Arora 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

The 16-year-old Santhosh, who was a finalist last year in Las Vegas when it was a J60, is still seeking his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, but he reached a J300 final in India in January, a result that resulted in his No. 1 seeding this week. The 17-year-old Alcantara won the J30 in Claremont to start the year, but he will more than double his ITF point total if he wins the title Saturday. Santhosh advanced with a tough 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2) decision over No. 7 seed and Penn recruit Boxiong Zhang of China; Alcantara took out No. 2 seed Andrew Johnson 6-4, 6-3; Johnson had lost only seven games in his first four matches before dropping 12 to Alcantara today. 

Johnson did earn the doubles title today, with partner Marcel Latak. The No. 5 seeds defeated the sixth-seeded Canadian team of  Alec Barin and Loic Petrecca 6-3, 5-7, 10-6 in the final. 

Two unseeded teams from the United States played in today's girls doubles final with Bella Payne and Elena Zhao winning a thriller, beating Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann and Karlin Schock 3-6, 6-4, 11-9. 

The qualifying for the ITF J300 in Indian Wells next week begins Saturday; the draws and order of play will be posted later tonight. The wild card list I've received is as follows; I don't think it includes the wild cards that FILA is allocated as sponsor. Anna Frey, who is sponsored by FILA, is on the alternate list. She has the second best World Tennis Number, after Alexis Nguyen, among the girls entries. 

Fourteen-year-old Izyan Ahmad, who is also sponsored by FILA, is just two out of the main draw as of the freeze deadline, so he may have received one that he will not need. Las Vegas finalist Alcantara is listed in qualifying, which he won't be able to play, and he won't receive a special exempt because the the Las Vegas event is two grades below Indian Wells. So perhaps he will get a late wild card, several of which appear to be available from the list below, as there are usually six wild cards awarded in a 48-draw.

Girls qualifying:
Alexis Nguyen (she didn't need it; moved in on her own)
Anya Arora
Audrey Dussault

Girls main draw:
Janae Preston
Karlin Schock
Maggie Sohns

Boys qualifying:
Arin Pallegar
Sklar Phillips
Gabriel Jessup

Boys main draw:
Shaan Patel
Tanishk Konduri

At the BNP Paribas Open, 17-year-old wild card Iva Jovic advanced to the second round coming back from losing the first set 6-2 last night, when rain postponed her match with Jullia Grabher of Austria. Resuming play this afternoon, Jovic went up 4-1 in the second set, lost the break, but took the set 7-5, then raised her level in the third, taking it 6-0 with some peak tennis. Jovic plays No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the second round Saturday.

2014 NCAA singles champion Marcos Giron(UCLA) got his best win ever by ranking, beating No. 4 seed and ATP No. 5 Casper Ruud of Norway 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2.  He will play No. 26 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia Sunday. 

Qualifier Colton Smith(Arizona) lost his second round match today to No. 31 seed Alex Michelsen 6-3, 6-4.