Eight Americans Begin Play Tuesday at ITF J500 in Germany; First of Three J100s in Florida Underway; Kovackova Sweeps Another Tennis Europe U14 Super Category Event; Blanch Draws Nadal in Madrid Masters

The third ITF J500 of the year is this week in Germany, with eight Americans competing in the 64-player singles draws, which begin Tuesday in Offenbach. No. 8 Katie Rolls and No. 11 Max Exsted are the seeded Americans, with the others Noah Johnston, Stiles Brockett, Trinetra Vijayakumar, Maya Iyengar, Leena Friedman and qualifier Gabriella Mikaul. Mikaul, the number 1 seed in qualifying, had to play only one match, with neither the boys nor the girls qualifying draws filling up their 32 spots.

The fields are strong however, with the winners of February's Cairo 500, Luca Preda of Romania[2] and March's Banana Bowl 500 Oliver Bonding of Great Britain[3] both in the boys draw; Rolls won the girls title at the Banana Bowl; Cairo girls champion Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria is not in Germany this week, but December's Orange Bowl J500 champion, Hannah Klugman of Great Britain, is the No. 2 seed.

Emerson Jones of Australia is the girls top seed, with last week's champion at the J300 in France, Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, the No. 1 seed in the boys draw.

This tournament will have a major impact on the acceptances for the Roland Garros Junior Championships, with entries closing April 30.

Those who are not traveling to Europe this spring still have ample tournaments on clay here in the United States, with three J100s on the Har-Tru in Florida, beginning this week in Delray Beach.

These are extremely popular events, with both the boys and girls 64-player qualifying draws full this week, with eight girls and eight boys making the 64-player main draws.

Singles action began today, with both top seeds, Calvin Baierl and Nancy Lee, advancing in straight sets. Fourteen-year-old Christina Lyutova, playing for the first time since reaching the quarterfinals at the Indian Wells ITF last month, is the No. 3 seed.

In addition to Tyra Grant's title at the J300 in France last week, one other American claimed a title on the ITF Junior Circuit, with 18-year-old Yontha Tadoum sweeping singles and doubles at the J30 in Cameroon. It was Tadoum's first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit, and her sixth doubles title.

There were seven more doubles titles, in addition to Noah Johnston's in France and Tadoum's in Cameroon, with the biggest of those won by Mark Krupkin and Dylan Long at the J100 in Canada. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Zackary Kimelman and Aedan Malik of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the final. 

American teams swept the doubles at the J60 in Panama, with Ava Rodriguez and Ella Olofson taking the girls title and Bardo Bucknell and Jacob Maravillas earning the boys title.

As in Panama, at the J30 in Barbados, both doubles champions were from the United States, with John Gentek and Taylor Yarnell winning the boys title and sisters Aleksandra and Natasha Jerkunica taking the girls title.

Three Americans won doubles titles at the J30 in Mexico City. Dillon Beckles, a singles finalist, and Chase Kelley won the boys doubles, with Londyn McCord, also a singles finalist, and Mexico's Azul Lopez Vazuquez taking the girls doubles championship. 

Thirteen-year-old Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic has added another pair of Tennis Europe Super Category 14-and-under titles to her resumé, sweeping singles and doubles last week in Maia Portugal. The 2023 Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion, seeded No. 1, beating No. 2 seed Viktorija Cesonyte of Lithuania 6-2, 6-2 in the singles final. The doubles final was much closer, with Kovackova and Czech partner Katerina Zajickova, seeded No. 2, saving three match points in their 6-3, 4-6, 12-10 win over No. 3 seeds Ayse Bal of Turkey and Laura Chlumska of the Czech Republic. 

No. 4 seed Eric Lorimer of Great Britain won the boys singles, via a walkover, when No. 8 seed Plamen Kolev of Bulgaria suffered an injury late in his semifinal match and was unable to compete in the final. 

For more on the tournament, see this article from Tennis Europe.

The ATP draw was announced today at the Madrid Masters 1000, and 16-year-old wild card Darwin Blanch was drawn to face Rafael Nadal. His reaction to that news via snapchat went viral. 

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant started well in her match with WTA No. 83 Laura Siegemund, but the 36-year-old from Germany came back to post a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win in the first round of the Madrid qualifying.