Tien Beats Michelsen, Faces Fonseca for Next Gen ATP Finals Title Sunday; ITF Junior Year in Review; All 2024 UTR Pro Tennis Tour US Results
Learner Tien continued his breakout year today at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, defeating friend and training partner Alex Michelsen in the semifinals 2-4, 4-2, 1-4, 4-0, 4-1 to advance to another meeting with Joao Fonseca of Brazil. Fonseca, who beat Tien 4-0, 4-0, 1-4, 4-2 in group play on Thursday, defeated Luca van Assche of France 4-2, 4-2, 4-1 in the other semifinal. Tien, who won seven games in a row after dropping the third set, is the first player in Next Gen Finals history to beat the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the tournament, with his wins over Arthur Fils, Michelsen and Jakub Mensik, the latter recently named ATP Newcomer of the Year. Fonseca is the No. 8 seed, with Tien seeded No. 5.
For more on the semifinal between Tien and Michelsen, see this article from the ATP. A feature on Tien from Reem Abulleil of Arab News is here. Sunday's final is at noon Eastern, and can be viewed on Tennis Channel in the United States.
The ITF recently published its annual year in review on the Junior Circuit, which tracks the notable winning streaks, historic firsts, and many other highlights from this year. Fourteen-year-old Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic is prominently featured, winning the most titles--eight singles and nine doubles--since 1996, when Federico Browne of Argentina won 21.
The ITF did not provide a post-Orange Bowl article this year, which is unusual, as they always provide a recap of the J500 tournaments, but I was there in Plantation and you can read my summary of the year's last major junior tournament at the Tennis Recruiting Network.
The ITF's year-end rankings have been published, and they do differ from the final combined rankings on December 16, with players removed who did not play enough junior events to qualify for the year-end list. These rankings are particularly important for the boys, with the Top 10, Top 20 and Top 30 spots determining who gets wild cards to ATP Challenger main draws, qualifying, and ITF events, respectively. The 2024 Accelerator program information for boys and girls can be found in this ITF article. The tables for 2025 can be found on pages 8 and 9 of the 2025 summary of ITF Junior Circuit rule changes.
Last year, Learner Tien did not make the year-end rankings despite his two junior slam finals in 2023; this year, two-time junior slam champion Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia, No. 4 in the combined rankings, is missing from the year-end rankings, as is Roland Garros girls finalist Laura Samson of the Czech Republic, No. 8 in the combined rankings.
The official announcement has not been released, but Australia's Emerson Jones and Norway's Nicolai Budkov Kjaer will be named ITF World Junior Champions for 2024.
With no UTR Pro Tennis Tour tournaments in the United States until they restart at the end of this month, it's a good time for a post of all results from 2024.
UTR PTT United States Results 2024Karue Sell d. Strong Kirchheimer 6-1, 6-4
January 7 Winston Salem NC
Theodore Dean d. Filippo Moroni 6-3, 6-1
January 14 Bonita Springs FL
Mateusz Terczynski d. Nicholas Buitrago 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3
January 15 Fort Worth TX
Lui Maxted d. Duncan Chan 7-6(4), 7-5
January 28 Boca Raton FL
Mikel Anderson d. Daniel Salazar 7-5, 7-6(6)
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