Jones and Samson, Jodar and Rottgering Play for ITF WTT Junior Finals Titles Sunday; Four US Men, Including Qualifiers Nanda and Cassone, Reach Challenger Finals, All-Wake Forest Final at Winston-Salem $15K

By the time most of you read this, the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals champions will have been decided, with finals taking place overnight in Chengdu China. Four the third time in four days, rain disrupted the tournament Saturday, but apparently there is indoor backup that allowed the boys semifinals to be completed.

Top seed Emerson Jones of Australia avenged her two previous losses to No. 5 seed Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain, the most recent one at the US Open last month, coming from 3-5 down in the final set to post a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5) win.  She will face No. 3 seed Laura Samson of the Czech Republic, who defeated Jeline Vandromme of the Czech Republic 6-1, 5-7, 6-3. 

Jones and Samson, both 16, have not played before.

That's not the case for the boys finalists, with top seed Rafael Jodar of Spain and No. 3 seed Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands playing on Friday in third round robin match in group A competition. Jodar won that match, 6-4, 7-6(4), to run his ITF Junior winning streak to 14; it's up to 15 now, with his 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 6 seed Charlie Robertson of Great Britain. Robertson lost to Jodar in the Roehampton J300 final and the College Park J300 final this summer, but this is the first time he has taken a set from the Spaniard. 

Rottgering earned another shot at Jodar with his 6-0, 6-4 win today over No. 2 seed Luca Preda of Romania. Preda and Rottgering had split decisions back in 2022, but this year Rottgering defeated Preda 7-6(8), 6-3 in the third round of Milan, so now leads the head-to-head 3-1.

If it doesn't rain, the finals will be live streamed at the ITF YouTube channel. Live scoring is available here.

Semifinals:
Emerson Jones[1](AUS) d. Mika Stojsavljevic[5](GBR) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5)
Laura Samson[3](CZE) d. Jeline Vandromme[6](BEL) 6-1, 5-7, 6-3

Rafael Jodar[1](ESP) d. Charlie Robertson[6](GBR) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
Mees Rottgering[3](NED) d. Luca Preda(ROU) 6-0, 6-4

5-8 results
Wakana Sonobe[4](JPN) d. Kristina Penickova[7](USA) 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-1
Tyra Grant[2](USA) d. Antonia Vergara Rivera[8](CHI) 6-2 6-3

Maxim Mrva[4](CZE) d. Jan Kumstat[5](CZE) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Hayden Jones[7](AUS) d. Jangjun Kim[8](KOR) 7-6(6), 6-3

As many as four Americans may be competing in the five ATP Challenger finals that are taking place Sunday. No. 5 seed Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA), who has now reached three Challenger finals in Asia since falling to Jannik Sinner in the first round of the US Open, will face top seed Arthur Cazaux of France in the final of the Challenger 100 in Shenzhen China. 

Tristan Boyer(Stanford) did not play the two Northern California Challenger 75s, which were won by Nishesh Basavareddy and Learner Tien, opting instead to head to South American clay for the 100s there. He lost in the second round in Argentina last week, but in Brazil, the unseeded 23-year-old has advanced to his third Challenger final of 2024. He will face the player he beat in the first one, also on clay, unseeded Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina.

Arizona State senior Murphy Cassone, who saved five match points in his first round victory at the ATP Challenger 75 in Calgary Canada, continues to record new milestones. After reaching his first Challenger semifinal yesterday, the 22-year-old qualifier has advanced to his first Challenger final, beating No. 3 seed Aziz Dougaz(Florida State) of Tunisia 7-5, 6-4. It will be an all-qualifier, all-American final with Govind Nanda defeating No. 7 seed and defending champion Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada tonight 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first Challenger final. Nanda, who completed his eligibility last spring at UCLA, had beaten top seed Maks Kasnikowski of Poland 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-5 in a three-hour and 19-minute quarterfinal last night.

The doubles final was today in Calgary, with top seeds Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, UNC) and Patrick Trhac(Idaho State, Utah) defeating 2024 NCAA champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy(Ohio State), the No. 2 seeds, 6-3, 7-6(3). Seggerman and Trhac have now won nine Challenger titles since beginning their partnership last summer; they won the title last week at the Fairfield Challenger as well.

An Li, the No. 5 seed, has reached the final of the W100 in Macon Georgia, beating wild card Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-4. She will face No. 2 seed Anna Blinkova of Russia for the title; Blinkova defeated unseeded Katarzyn Kawa of Poland 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the semifinals. 

Anna Rogers, the former NC State All-American, picked up her first WTA Top 100 win today at the W75+H in Canada, beating top seed and WTA No. 94 Tatjana Maria of Germany 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 to reach the final against No. 2 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada. Rogers has won four ITF WTT women's doubles titles this year, but her only career singles title came back in 2021 at a $15K.

Wake Forest teammates DK Suresh and Luca Pow will meet in Sunday's final at the $15,000 tournament in Winston-Salem North Carolina. Suresh, a junior, advanced to his second Pro Circuit final(his first was also a $15K in Winston-Salem last November) when No. 3 seed Victor Lilov retired trailing 5-1 in the first set. Wild card Pow, a sophomore, took out Duke junior Pedro Rodenas 6-4, 7-6(5) in the semifinals. The 19-year-old from Great Britain hadn't won a main draw match on the Pro Circuit until this week.

Former Harvard teammates Cooper Williams(now at Duke) and Daniel Milavsky won the doubles title, beating Henry Lieberman(Charlotte, UNC) and Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech) 6-1, 6-1 in the final. It's the third Pro Circuit doubles title for Williams, the 2023 Australian Open boys doubles champion; it's the first Pro Circuit doubles title for Milavsky.

Recent Tennessee graduate Johannus Monday of Great Britain will play for his second consecutive $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit title tomorrow in Harlingen Texas after defeating Ohio State sophomore Aidan Kim 6-4, 6-4. Monday's opponent in Sunday's final is qualifier Tadeas Paroulek(TCU, Baylor) of the Czech Republic, who continued his run with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win today in the semifinals over Stefan Dostanic(USC).

No. 4 seeds Keshav Chopra(Georgia Tech) and Maxwell Benson(Presbyterian) defeated No. 3 seeds Toby Kodat and Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern)4-6, 6-3, 10-6, in the final.