My Orange Bowl ITF J500 Recap; Tien Beats Fils, Meets Friend Michelsen in Semifinals at Next Gen ATP Finals; Pepperdine Women Name Interim Coach; ATP Announces $1.3 Million in Player Subsidies in New Program

My last recap of the year is out today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, as I review the ITF J500 Orange Bowl Championships. Andres Santamarta Roig joined Jordan Lee in winning the Florida Sunshine Double, the first time in the history that both 16s and 18s champions won both the IMG Academy/Eddie and the Orange Bowl titles in the same year. Tereza Krejcova came close to claiming both, reaching the final at the ITF J300 in Bradenton before flirting with disaster before coming through in a third-set tiebreaker at the Orange Bowl. 

Those of you who followed my daily coverage may not learn much from these recaps, but I find them very important to write, as I can look back on the week with a perspective that isn't always possible in the daily reports. They also serve as a historical record, which I reference each year a week or two before the tournament, to refresh my memory. 

With the Junior Orange Bowl finishing early this year and the USTA Winter Nationals still more than a week away, there isn't any junior tennis going on right now, which has given me an opportunity to follow the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah Saudi Arabia more than I have in previous years. The tournament, which began in 2017, was moved much later on the calendar this year than in previous editions, and the fact that three Americans, all of whom I've covered in the past two years on the USTA and ITF Junior Circuit (and in college), were in the eight-player field piqued my interest.

Two of them, 20-year-old Alex Michelsen and 19-year-old Learner Tien, will play in the semifinals, with the good friends and training partners meeting for the first time as professionals Saturday. They faced off in the quarterfinals of the ITF J300 Easter Bowl in 2022, with Michelsen winning that contest 6-4 ,7-5 after Tien had won the San Diego J300 (then J1) the week before. Michelsen went on to beat Nishesh Basavareddy 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

Michelsen, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, finished 3-0 in the red group, having a short day when Jerry Shang retired trailing 4-1, 1-1.  Tien, the No. 5 seed, avenged his four-set US Open loss to top seed Arthur Fils of France with a 4-2, 4-2, 3-4(4), 4-3(5) upset. After getting blitzed by an on-fore Joao Fonseca of Brazil in the first two sets in his round robin loss Thursday, the two-time Kalamazoo champion came out much more aggressive against Fils and sustained that level throughout the match. 

The eighth-seeded Fonseca, who beat No. 3 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic in five tiebreakers 3-4(4), 4-3(8), 4-3(5), 3-4(4), 4-3(5) to go undefeated in the blue group, will face Luca van Assche of France, the No. 6 seed, who beat No. 7 seed Nishesh Basavareddy 3-4(2), 4-3(7), 4-2, 4-2 to make the semifinals of the event for the second year in a row.

The ATP's preview of the Michelsen-Tien semifinal here.

After Pepperdine's Per Nilsson was named women's head coach at Florida at the end of October, Pepperdine men's head coach Adam Schaechterle has been guiding the women's program while a replacement was found. The Waves didn't look far, with men's associate head coach Tassilo Schmid named interim women's coach for the upcoming dual match season in a release today. Schaechterle was also named Director of Tennis in the announcement.

The ATP announced the results of its new income guarantee Baseline program for Challenger-level players, installed this year. Twenty-six players received a total of $1.3 million dollars in an initiative designed to assist those outside the Top 100 in achieving some financial stability as they work their way up the rankings.  For more details on the three "pillars" of the program, and the plans for enhancing it for 2025, see this recent article from the ATP.