Virginia Men Roar Back to Defeat No. 1 Texas; Wake Forest Beats Ohio State; Smith Claims Cleveland Challenger Title; All USA Qualifiers at ATP Dallas Open; Sonobe Qualifies in Abu Dhabi; Mboko, Johns Capture USTA Pro Circuit Titles

A day after the women's top-ranked team Georgia lost, Texas, the men's No. 1, followed suit, although the 4-3 losses had markedly different narrative.

Georgia, at home, trailed North Carolina 3-0 before coming back to tie it up, before Reese Brantmeier delivered a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win over NCAA champion Dasha Vidmanova at line 1 for the Tar Heels' victory.

Texas went into No. 5 Virginia, who had lost at home to Ohio State by a 5-2 score Friday night, and looked as good as their ranking. The Longhorns won the doubles point with wins at lines 1 and 2 and took five first sets in singles. They needed to hold on to just three of those leads to secure a victory, and three times they were a point away in the second set tiebreaker in the match between Timo Legout and Virginia freshman Rafael Jodar at line 1.

Virginia had closed out the match in which they had taken the first set, with freshman Jangjun Kim defeated Texas freshman Sebastian Eriksson 6-3, 6-3 to briefly tie the score, but Texas's Jonah Braswell won over Mans Dahlberg at line 4 6-0, 6-4 and Pierre-Yves Bailly took out Virginia's James Hopper 6-2, 6-4a t line 3 to make it 3-1 Texas.

Texas's Sebastian Gorzny was already in his third set with Dylan Dietrich, who was playing No. 2 today after winning at No. 1 against Ohio State, and he had 15-40 with Dietrich serving at 3-4. But he couldn't convert those three break points and it was Dietrich who got the break at 5-all and won a deciding point on serve at 6-5 to give Virginia its second point with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win.

Jodar trailed 6-4 in the second set tiebreaker, saved both of those dual match points with aggressive hitting, then faced a third at 6-7, which he also fought off with a winner. When he sent that match to a third set, yet another Virginia freshman, Stiles Brockett, also had to get to a third to give the Cavaliers a chance, which he did, taking the second set from Lucas Brown 7-5.

Both Jodar and Brockett went up 4-2 in their final sets, and served for them at 5-3. Jodar, the 2024 US Open boys champion, went down 0-30, won the next three points, but couldn't convert his first match point. But he won the deciding point for a 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 victory, tying the score, just as Brockett was at 15-30 serving for his match. He won the next three points, like Jodar, with some go-for-broke hitting for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and Virginia had come all the way back in a match that will resonate with them any time they face a deficit the rest of the season. 

The recap of the match is here.

In the other match between Top 10 teams, No. 4 Wake Forest hosted No. 3 Ohio State, with the Demon Deacons taking the doubles point with wins at lines 1 and 2 and four first sets in singles. 

But after the Virginia comeback, this was less daunting, and the Buckeyes did take it to a third set in the last match on, but Wake Forest, who had squeaked past unranked Georgia 4-3 yesterday, got a second straight win by that score to stay undefeated.

Wake quickly went up 3-0, with 6-3, 6-3 wins by Stefan Dostanic over Aidan Kim at line 1 and freshman Charlie Robertson over Alexander Bernard at line 3. 

Ohio State made it 3-2 with Preston Stearns beating Luciano Tacchi 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 at line 6 and Jack Anthrop defeating Ioannis Xilas 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 at line 4. But DK Suresh had turned his match with Will Jansen at line 2 in his favor, and took a third set lead that he would hold, although not before Chris Li had beaten Luca Pow 7-6(2), 7-6(5) to make it 3-3. Suresh, an NCAA fall singles semifinalist, went on to post the 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 victory that provided that elusive fourth point.

The Wake Forest recap says that it was a record crowd watching the match today, with the 503 spectators certainly getting a afternoon's worth of entertaining tennis. Wake will play another Top 10 match next Saturday, when they travel to No. 6 Columbia.

Unseeded University of Arizona senior Colton Smith won his first Challenger title today in Cleveland, beating No. 6 seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 in a two-and-a-half hour final of high quality from both.

Spizzirri saved a match point serving at 5-6 in the second set tiebreaker, with a classic forehand set-up and volley putaway, and was right with Smith in the third set until serving at 3-4. Down 15-40, he saved two break points, but not the third, give Smith the chance to serve for the title. At 40-30, Smith dumped a forehand into the net to let his second match point get away, and Spizzirri saved a third with a forehand winner. But Smith hit a clean backhand down the line winner to set up his fourth match point, which he converted when Spizzirri netted a backhand.

Smith, who is up to 259 in the ATP live rankings, is now 1-1 in Challenger finals; Spizzirri is 0-2.

Qualifying is complete at the ATP 500 Dallas Open, with all four qualifiers from the United States: Ethan Quinn(Georgia), Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech), Brandon Holt(USC) and Michael Mmoh. Quinn beat No. 7 seed James Duckworth of Australia 7-6(4), 7-5, No. 2 seed Eubanks defeated TCU junior Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain 6-3, 6-1, Holt defeated wild card Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, UNC) 6-2, 6-3 and Mmoh beat SMU freshman wild card Georgi Georgiev of Bulgaria 7-6(3), 6-3.

In the main draw, Quinn will face wild card Trevor Svajda, a sophomore at SMU, Eubanks plays No. 8 seed Matteo Arnaldi of Italy, Holt faces Alejandor Davidovich Fokina of Spain and Mmoh plays Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain. Taylor Fritz and Casper Rudd of Norway are the top two seeds.

At the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi, wild card Wakana Sonobe of Japan, the Australian Open girls champion, qualified for the main draw with a 6-3, 6-3 win today over WTA 98 Cristina Bucas of Spain. Sonobe beat WTA 93 Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of qualifying Saturday. She will face Yue Yuan of China in the main draw.

McCartney Kessler(Florida) beat ITF J300 Bradenton champion Teodora Kostovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-2 to qualify. Kostovic was using the qualifying wild card she won for taking that title at December's IMG Academy International Championships. Other Americans qualifying are Sofia Kenin and Katie Volynets.

Ann Li lost in the final of WTA 250 in Singapore to No. 2 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-1, 6-4, but with her run to the final is back up to No. 60 in the ATP live rankings. Desirae Krawczyk(Arizona State) and Mexico's Giuliana Olmos(USC) won the doubles title.

Aleks Kovacevic(Illinios) came close against No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final of the ATP 250 in Montpellier France, but the Canadian prevailed 6-2, 6-7(7), 7-6(2).

Sixteen-year-old qualifier Tyra Grant lost in the final of W50 in Portugal to Justina Mikulskyte(Kentucky) of Lithuania 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2.

Victoria Mboko is still undefeated in 2025, with the 18-year-old Canadian qualifier taking the W75 title in Rome Georgia. Mboko, who won back-to-back W35s over Clervie Ngounoue in the French Caribbean last month, defeated unseeded Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-3 to extend her winning streak to 15 matches (17 including qualifying). She is up to 215 in the WTA live rankings.

Unseeded Sophie Chang and Angela Kulikov(USC) won the doubles title, beating top seeds Whitney Osuigwe and Vedder 7-6(3), 6-4. 

Former Duke All-American Garrett Johns won his sixth ITF men's World Tennis Tour $15,000 title today in Palm Coast Florida. The No. 2 seed defeated No. 5 seed Sebastian Gima of Romania 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-2 in a three-hour 15 minute battle. 

USA Advances in Davis Cup; No. 1 Georgia, No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Virginia Fall, Wake Forest Men Survive; Spizzirri or Smith Will Claim First Challenger Title Sunday; Grant Advances to W50 Final in Portugal; Johns Reaches $15K Final in Florida

photo courtesy USTA

The United States lost the coin flip when they were drawn to play Taiwan in the first round of the World Group Qualification this weekend, but playing on the road wasn't a problem, with Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) and Rajeev Ram(Illinois) winning the third point Saturday in Taipei City to clinch a meeting in September against the Czech Republic here in the United States.

Krajicek and Ram defeated Ray Ho and Tony Wu 6-4, 7-6(4) to clinch; Mackenzie McDonald then played the dead rubber in singles, beating Tsung-Hao Huang 6-2, 6-3 to make the final score 4-0.

Quotes from the US players and captain Bob Bryan can be found here.

Today's Division I college tennis action brought the drama today, and the upsets, with three of the top 5 women's teams losing, albeit to fellow Top 10 opponents, and the No. 4 men's team squeaking out a win thanks to a freshman's comeback in his collegiate debut.

It started with No. 7 Michigan beating No. 5 Virginia in Charlottesville, despite the loss of the doubles point. The Cavaliers took doubles at lines 2 and 3, but Annabelle Xu, who had played doubles, was not in the singles lineup, where she usually holds down the top spot for Virginia. Michigan took four first sets in singles, and got straight-sets wins from Julia Fliegner at line 2, Reese Miller at line 5, and freshman Jessica Bernales at line 6. Sara Ziodato got Virginia's lone singles point at line 3, but Emilly Sartz-Lunde of Michigan won the battle of freshman at line 4, beating Isabelle Lacy 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 to clinch the 4-2 win. The full recap can be found here.

No. 3 Oklahoma State went to No. 10 Auburn today, and the Tigers demonstrated that their individual fall success was carrying over into the dual match season, claiming a 4-0 victory. Auburn took the doubles points with wins at lines 3 and 2, but each team claimed three first sets in singles. The only match that finished in straight sets, was freshman Alice Battesti's 6-4, 6-1 win over Alian Zack of Oklahoma State at line 6; the rest of the matches were deep in the second set or in a third. Auburn made it 3-0 with Ava Esposito's 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 win over Marcela Lopez at line 5 and Angella Okutoyi ended any hopes of an Oklahoma State comeback with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Gracie Epps at line 3. The full recap can be found here.

Consensus No. 1 Georgia was definitely the favorite today, even against perennial NCAA title contender North Carolina, who came into Athens ranked No. 8.  The Tar Heels have two freshman and two sophomores in their singles lineup, but their biggest addition for this dual match season is the return of Reese Brantmeier, who had been out since last February recovering from a serious knee injury. 

North Carolina took the doubles point with ease: the ITA No .1 team of Carson Tanguilig and Susanna Maltby blanked Guillermina Grant and Sofia Rojas at line 2, and Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton defeated NCAA spring doubles champion Aysegul Mert and Dasha Vidmanova 6-1 at line 1.

North Carolina took four first sets and closed out two of those matches, with Tanguilig beating Mell Reasco 6-3, 6-2 at line 4 and Thea Rabman beating Alexandra Vecic 6-3, 6-2 at line 2. With a 3-0 lead, the Tar Heels needed just one of the four singles matches remaining, but that proved elusive. Mert defeated Tatum Evans 7-5, 7-6(6) at line 5 to start the Bulldogs' comeback, with 2024 NCAA spring singles finalist Anastasiia Lopata coming back for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Hamilton at line 3. Grant made it 3-all with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Claire Hill at line 6, meaning that Brantmeier and Vidmanova would decide the match at line 1.

Vidmanova, No. 1 in the rankings after her NCAA title in November, had forced a third set with a 6-3 second set after Brantmeier had taken the first 7-5. Vidmanova had the misfortune of serving from behind in the third set and at 3-4 was taken to a deciding point, which she won with an excellent first serve. Brantmeier also had to win a deciding point in her service game, crunching a forehand winner to go up 5-4. It was Vidmanova who blinked at 4-5, with Brantmeier returning well, her serve didn't bail her out, and two unforced errors, one on the forehand and one on the backhand gave Brantmeier three match points. She only needed one, maneuvering into a short ball to hit a forehand winner that gave North Carolina a huge win and a surge of confidence heading into the National Team Indoor Championships next Friday in Chicago.

The full recap is here.

Saturday's men's schedule couldn't match the women's drama, at least not in upsets, but No. 4 Wake Forest was taken to the limit by unranked Georgia today in Winston-Salem before Charlie Robertson, playing in his first match, saved the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest was up 3-0 after taking the doubles point at lines 1 and 3 and getting wins from Stefan Dostanic at line 1 and Luciano Tacchi at line 6. But Wake had lost the first set in the other four singles matches, so they had to force a third set somewhere. Georgia got on the board with Oscar Pinto Sansano's win at line 5, but couldn't close out any of the remaining three matches they led in straight sets. Georgia's Ryan Colby at line 2 and Miguel Perez Pena at line 3 both dropped 7-5 second sets, and Niels Ratiu of Georgia lost his second set in a tiebreaker to put three matches in third sets with Wake still leading 3-1.

Colby and Perez Pena did bounce back for 6-4 in the third wins, and Ratiu led Robertson, who finished 2024 as No. 8 in the ITF junior rankings, 5-2 in the third set. But Robertson won the next five games under that pressure-packed situation to post his first clinch in his first collegiate match. (No streaming of the match, so I can't say how he did it). The full recap is here.

Wake won't have much time to celebrate or recover emotionally however, with No. 3 Ohio State coming to town Sunday.

Either University of Arizona senior Colton Smith or recent Texas graduate Eliot Spizzirri will claim his first Challenger title Sunday when they meet in the final of the ATP Challenger 75 in Cleveland. 

Smith, who reached the final of the Sioux Falls Challenger last November, losing to Borna Gojo, advanced to his second Challenger final today with a 7-6(7), 6-1 win over No. 8 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State).  

No. 6 seed Spizzirri, who reached the final of the Tiburon Challenger last October, losing to Nishesh Basavareddy, earned a spot in his second final with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Tyler Zink. Spizzirri has moved into the ATP Top 200 with this run, while Smith will be in the Top 300 for the first time.

2024 spring NCAA doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy won the doubles title today, with the top seeds defeating unseeded Juan Carlos Aguilar(Texas A&M, TCU) of Canada and Filip Pieczonka(Tennessee) of Poland 7-6(4), 6-1 for their fourth Challenger title since last August. The pair, who are zeroing in on the ATP Top 100, received a wild card into next week's ATP 500 Dallas Open.

Former University of Illinois All-American Aleks Kovacevic is through to his first ATP final, at the 250 in Montpellier France, after picking up his first career Top 10 win today over No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-4. Kovacevic, the first qualifier to ever reach the final at this event, will face No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, who is playing in his 17th ATP final.

Tyra Grant is through to the final of the ITF World Tennis Tour W50 this week in Portugal, after reaching the semifinals of the W75 there last week. The 16-year-old, who had to qualify, defeated top seed and WTA 140 Xinyu Gao of China in the quarterfinals for her best win by ranking before beating 31-year-old former WTA Top 50 player Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in today's semifinals. Grant, who won a W50 last November and is at 419 in the WTA live rankings now, faces former Kentucky standout Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania, who is also unseeded, in Sunday's final. 

Garrett Johns, the former Duke All-American, is through to the final of the $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Palm Coast Florida. The 24-year-old from Georgia, seeded No. 2, has avoided all the upsets this week, beating No. 6 seed Marlon Vankan of Germany 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in today's semifinals. He will face No. 5 seed Sebastian Gima of Romania, who beat qualifier Aleksa Ciric(Georgia Gwinnett) of Serbia 6-3, 6-1.  

Vankan and Louis Van Herck of Luxembourg won the doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds and former University of Illinois teammates Lucas Horve and Great Britain's Oliver Okonkwo 1-6, 6-4, 10-4 in the final.

Zink and Spizzirri to Meet in Cleveland Challenger Semifinals; Qualifier Brace Advances at W75 in Rome; Top Seed McCollum, Qualifier Chen Win San Diego J60 Titles; Ohio State Men Defeat Virginia, Texas Women Win Another Thriller

Eliot Spizzirri and Tyler Zink go back a long way, with the US Open boys doubles title they won in 2019 the highlight of both their junior careers. Although they lost as a doubles pair this week at the Challenger 75 in Cleveland, to 2024 NCAA spring doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy(Ohio State), they will meet Saturday in the singles semifinals, after winning nail-biters today in the quarterfinals.

No. 6 seed Spizzirri, who completed his eligibility at Texas last spring, defeated No. 4 seed James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4). The 23-year-old from Connecticut was two points from defeat when Trotter served for the match at 5-4 30-all in the third set, but Spizzirri won the next two points to pull even. In the tiebreaker, Spizzirri led 5-1 and 6-2, and won it on his third match point. Trotter had 23 aces and no double faults, but it wasn't enough for the 2023 NCAA doubles champion.

Zink, who completed his collegiate career at Oklahoma State last May after starting it at Georgia, saved a match point serving at 5-6 in the second set of his 6-7(4), 7-6(1), 7-5 win over Murphy Cassone(Arizona State). Zink, who turned 24 yesterday, is playing in just his second Challenger main draw, while Spizzirri  is now in his 18th, primarily due to Spizzirri qualifying for the ATP's Accelerator program in 2023 (he finished the year No. 1 in the ITA rankings his last two seasons). Zink, who was 76 in 2023 and 26 in 2024, had to build his ranking to get to the Challenger level in the USTA Pro Circuit last year, going 24-8 with one title.

The two haven't played on the Pro Circuit, but back in 2018, they met in the final of an ITF J300 in Mexico, with Spizzirri winning 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-0. 

No. 8 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) beat Kentucky freshman Antoine Ghibaudo of France 7-6(11) 4-6, 6-3  last night to reach the quarterfinals, then advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stefan Kozlov this evening. Wolf will play Arizona senior Colton Smith, who defeated No. 7 seed Karue Sell(UCLA) of Brazil 7-6(4), 6-2 in the final quarterfinal of the day.

The semifinals of the W75 in Rome Georgia will feature two teenaged qualifiers from Canada, with 18-year-old Victoria Mboko and 19-year-old Cadence Brace meeting for a spot in the final. Mboko blanked 19-year-old Kayla Cross(LSU) 6-0, 6-0, while Brace, like Cross a freshman at LSU, defeated qualifier Lisa Zaar(Pepperdine) of Sweden 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2).

No. 5 seed Hanna Chang beat No. 2 seed Emiliana Arango of Colombia 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to set up a meeting with unseeded Eva Vedder of the Netherlands, who defeated Whitney Osuigwe 6-3, 6-4.

Top seeds Osuigwe and Vedder will play in the doubles final Saturday against unseeded Sophie Chang and Angela Kulikov(USC).

The ITF J60 in San Diego concluded today, with top seed Ford McCollum and qualifier Yilin Chen taking the singles titles. McCollum, 16,  defeated unseeded Justin Riley Anson 6-3, 6-4 for his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title.

Chen, a 15-year-old from San Diego, won eight matches this week, including three in qualifying, with two of them going down to match tiebreakers. She defeated unseeded Nicole Weng, the USTA 16s Nationals finalist, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4). Weng won the doubles title, with Canadian Elianna Kook, when opponents Elicia Lin and Amy Lu retired trailing 1-0 in the first set of the final. 

The boys doubles title also went to the singles finalist, with unseeded Anson and Tyler Lee defeating unseeded Andre Alcantara and Tiger Semler 6-1, 6-2.

The Division I college tennis schedule is packed with good matches this weekend, as the top teams meet in non-conference play in advance of next month's National Team Indoor Championships.  

In a Top 5 matchup tonight in Charlottesville, No. 3 Ohio State defeated No. 5 Virginia 5-2, with the Buckeyes taking the doubles point and getting wins from Alexander Bernard at 3, Jack Anthrop at 4 and Christopher Li at 6. Bernard got the fourth point for Ohio State with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Mans Dahlberg. Dylan Dietrich defeated Aidan Kim at line 1 to give Virginia a point before the clinch; US Open boys champion Rafael Jodar, playing line 2, defeated Will Jansen 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 for a post-clinch point for UVA, with Bryce Nakashima finishing off a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over Stiles Brockett at line 5 for Ohio State's fifth point.

Virginia was without Keegan Rice and James Hopper, both of whom were ill, and blue chip freshman Roy Horovitz has yet to play for the Cavaliers as he gets back into shape after a long injury layoff. It doesn't get any easier for them on Sunday, with No. 1 Texas coming to town.

The Texas women advanced to the women's Team Indoor last weekend with a 4-3 victory over Baylor that went to a third-set tiebreaker; freshman Eszter Meri was the hero of that one at line 2. The No. 11 Longhorns took that route again tonight against No. 19 North Carolina State; this time it was veteran Vivian Ovrootsky who came through, beating Jasmine Conway 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) at line 6 to clinch the 4-3 victory.

USA's Davis Cup Team Begins Quest for 2025 Title Friday in Taiwan; Zaar Upsets Top Seed at Rome W75; Arizona Senior Smith Reaches Fourth Challenger Quarterfinal in Cleveland

The United States Davis Cup team is back in action after losing to Australia in the quarterfinals back in November, taking on Taiwan in Taipei City Friday (tonight in the United States).  

Alex Michelsen and Marcos Giron(UCLA) will play singles for the United States, against Tung-Lin(Tony) Wu and Chun Hsin(Jason) Tseng respectively. Both Michelsen and Giron are making their Davis Cup debuts for captain Bob Bryan. Rajeev Ram(Illinois) and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) are the doubles team, and they will play, with the format back to doubles being sandwiched between two singles matches. Last year, just three matches were played, two singles and and then doubles if the singles had split. Mackie McDonald is also on the team.

Mike Bryan and Mark Bey are serving as assistants to Bob Bryan, with ITF No. 4 junior Jagger Leach helping out as a hitting partner after reaching the semifinals in singles and doubles at the Australian Open Junior Championships.

For comments from Michelsen and Bob Bryan, see this article from usta.com.

The quarterfinals are set at the W75 in Rome Georgia, with three qualifiers advancing, but not the top seed. In today's second round, recent Pepperdine graduate Lisa Zaar of Sweden took out last week's W75 Vero Beach champion Solana Sierra of Argentina 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to her first ITF women's WTT quarterfinal above the W35 level. It's the best win by ranking for the 24-year-old, with Sierra at 166, while Zaar is at 569. She will face fellow qualifier Cadence Brace of Canada, a freshman at LSU, who advanced when Carol Zhao(Stanford) of Canada retired trailing 6-1, 2-0.

Qualifier Victoria Mboko of Canada, who beat No. 4 seed Iva Jovic 7-6(3), 6-4 Wednesday, defeated fellow 18-year-old Akasha Urhobo 6-2, 6-1. She will play yet another Canadian, LSU freshman Kayla Cross, in the quarterfinals, after Cross defeated No. 6 seed Irene Burillo Escorihuela of Spain 6-3, 7-5.

The bottom half features no qualifiers and no Canadians, with the only two seeds in the quarterfinals playing each other. No. 5 seed Hanna Chang will play No. 2 seed Emiliana Arango of Colombia. The only American remaining, Whitney Osuigwe, who coming off an appearance in the final last week in Vero Beach, will face her doubles partner, Eva Vedder of the Netherlands, in the quarterfinals.

The only two Americans remaining at the men's USTA Pro Circuit $15K in Palm Coast Florida, No. 2 seed Garrett Johns(Duke) and Miles Jones, will play in the quarterfinals. Top seed Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy lost to qualifier Aleksa Ciric(Georgia Gwinnett) of Serbia 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. Jack Satterfield picked up his first ATP point with a 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3 win yesterday over wild card Alexis Gurmendi (Georgia Gwinnett) of Argentina, but he lost 6-1, 6-4 today to Sasa Markovic of Serbia, a freshman at LSU.

The quarterfinals at the ATP Challenger 75 in Cleveland will feature seven college players with college ties, with only Stefan Kozlov not connected to the collegiate game.

Arizona State's Murphy Cassone, who just turned pro, will play Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State), who won his first Challenger match on Monday. The other quarterfinal in the top half will feature No. 4 seed James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan against No. 5 seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas). 

In the bottom half, No. 7 seed Karue Sell(UCLA) of Brazil will play Arizona senior Colton Smith. Sell, 31, who will be playing his seventh Challenger quarterfinal, defeated Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-4 in the second round today. Smith, 21, who will be playing his fourth Challenger quarterfinal, beat Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest) 6-4, 6-4. The match was far from routine however, with Smith leading 5-0 in the second set, failing to convert his one match point serving at 5-1, getting broken serving for it again at 5-3, but breaking Dostanic to escape.

Kozlov, who beat wild card Kaylan Bigun(UCLA) 6-2, 6-3 today, will face the winner of tonight's match between Kentucky freshman Antoin Ghibaudo of France and No. 8 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) in Friday's quarterfinals.

US Open Announces Sunday Start for 2025; Georgia Women, Texas Men Remain No. 1 in Coaches Poll; ITA Expresses Concern Regarding NCAA House Settlement; January's UTR Pro Tennis Tour Results

The US Open has joined Roland Garros and the Australian Open in expanding their tournament to 15 days, beginning on Sunday August 24th. The first round of singles will be played over three days, with no other changes expected to the schedule. The popular Fan Week, which includes the men's and women's qualifying and Arthur Ashe Kids Day will continue to be free--undeniably the best bargain in sports. The brief announcement from the USTA can be found here.

The third ITA Division I team coaches polls were released today, with very little movement among the top teams. All nine of the Kickoff Weekend hosts who lost, thereby failing to reach next month's Team Indoor Championships, dropped, but in general the coaches are loathe to move any team down without a loss, making it difficult for teams with impressive performances to move up substantially. Texas A&M, who won the toughest men's regional of the Kickoff Weekend, did move into the top 10, but Stanford blew past Oklahoma in Norman and still ended up behind the Sooners. Florida's loss to Columbia in the Kickoff Weekend regional final dropped them out of the Top 25, with Central Florida, who beat Arizona, taking their place.

Three women's teams moved into the rankings, while Vanderbilt(21), Florida State(24) and Florida International(25) fell out after losses. 

Division I Team Rankings, Coaches Poll, January 29, 2025
First place votes in bracket, previous ranking in parentheses

Men's Rankings:
1. Texas [13] (1)
2. TCU (2)
3. Ohio State (3)
4. Wake Forest (4)
5. Virginia (5)
6. Columbia (7)
7. Duke (11)
8. Kentucky (8)
9. Texas A&M (13)
10. San Diego (15)
11. Arizona (6)
12. Oklahoma (8)
13. Stanford (18)
14. Mississippi State (9)
15. Florida State (10)
16. Michigan State (17)
17. Michigan (25)
18. South Carolina (16)
19. Tennessee (14)
20. Alabama (19)
21. NC State (22)
22. Central Florida
23. Arizona State (20)
24. Harvard (23)
25. UCLA (21)

Women's Rankings:

1. Georgia[13] (1)

2. Texas A&M (2)

3. Oklahoma State(4)

4. Stanford (3)

5. Virginia (5)

6. UCLA (6)

7. Michigan (8)

8. North Carolina (9)

9. Duke (7)

10. Auburn (13)

11. Texas (12)

12. Oklahoma (17)

13. Tennessee (18)

14. Southern California (11)

15. Pepperdine (16)

16. LSU (22)

17. Ohio State (15)

18. Cal (14)

19. NC State (10)

20. Central Florida (23)

21. Florida (19)

22. South Carolina (20)

23. Texas Tech

24. UC Santa Barbara

25. Baylor

The ITA sent a letter of concern to federal judge Claudia Wilken, who is presiding over the NCAA House Settlement, in advance of the final approval of the agreement providing former Division I  athletes with compensation for their previous contributions to the athletic departments of their schools. The letter discusses the implications for non-revenue sports while also highlighting the hypocrisy of the huge NIL payments to football and basketball players, while the NCAA refuses to allow college tennis players to accept money they earn at the US Open.  The ITA letter is available here.

The UTR Pro Tennis Tour had eight tournaments in the United States in January 2024; this year, that number for the first month of 2025 has increased to 18, which is obviously good news for aspiring pros who want guaranteed matches and access to prize money, which is simply not available in any quantity on the USTA Pro Circuit. The latest push to get more PTT events on college campuses is evident in January events, with tournaments at Oklahoma, Wake Forest, Arizona, LSU and Indiana this month.

UTR PTT Results January 2025

Women:

December 29 Boca Raton FL

Ema Burgic d. Alicia Herrero Linana 7-6(2), 6-2

December 29 Norman OK

Thara Gowda d. Kaede Usui 7-5, 7-6(5)

December 30  Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Carson Branstine 7-5, 6-2

January 6 Winston Salem NC

Robin Anderson d. Carolyn Ansari 7-6(3), 6-3

January 6 Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Zdena Safarova 6-0, 6-2

January 6 Baton Rouge LA

Anita Sahdiieva d. Kaede Usui 7-5, 6-4

January 13 Bonita Springs FL

Isabella Barrera Aguirre d. Virginia Crocker 6-1, 1-6, 6-2

January 20 Boca Raton FL

Ema Burgic d. Monika Ekstrand 3-6, 6-3, 7-5

January 20 Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Kylie Mckenzie 7-6(4), 7-5

Men:

December 29 Los Angeles CA

Peter Makk d. Lucca Liu 6-2, 6-2

December 29 Norman OK

Ian Bracks d. James Hopper 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3)

January 6 Baton Rouge LA

Stefan Kozlov d. Raphael Perot 6-2, 6-1

January 6 Winston Salem NC

Aleksa Ciric d. Joaquin Guilleme 6-3, 7-5

January 6 Tucson AZ

Colton Smith d. Jay Friend 6-1, 6-4

January 12 Boca Raton FL

Christopher Bulus d. Kalman Boyd 6-2, 6-0

January 13 Newport Beach CA

Alafia Ayeni d. Omni Kumar 5-7, 6-1, 6-0

January 20 Bloomington IN

Facundo Yunis d. Oliver Okonkwo 3-6, 6-3, 1-0, ret.

January 20 Boca Raton FL

Mwendwa Mbithi d. Christopher Bulus 6-1, 6-2

Bigun Upsets No. 2 Seed Albot, Smith Beats No. 3 Seed Quinn at Cleveland Challenger; Collegians Vidmanova, Brace Qualify at Rome Georgia W75; Palm Coast First of Four Men's $15Ks in Florida

This week's ATP Challenger 75 in Cleveland is just getting started and already current collegians have had notable results in the first round.

2024 Roland Garros boys champion Kaylan Bigun received a wild card into the event, but was drawn against No. 2 seed Radu Albot of Moldova, who reached 39 in the ATP rankings in 2019. The 35-year-old is currently ranked 157 however, and despite Bigun's three main draw wins previously at the Challenger level, the 18-year-old was not coming into the event with much confidence. 

He began his freshman year at UCLA this month, and in four singles matches played at the No. 3 position, Bigun was 0-3 with one unfinished, with two of those losses last weekend at the Harvard Kickoff Weekend regional. But Bigun ended that slump dramatically today, although he had to survive some dicey moments after failing to convert three match points with Albot serving at 3-5 in the second set.

Bigun couldn't serve it out, then fell behind 6-2 in the tiebreaker, saving a total of five set points before finally claiming the 6-3, 7-6(7) victory. Bigun will play Stefan Kozlov, who beat Micah Braswell(Texas) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 this evening, in the second round.

No. 3 seed and 2023 NCAA singles champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia), who reached the final of the Cleveland Challenger last year, lost to University of Arizona senior Colton Smith 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. With Arizona State's Murphy Cassone's 7-6(5), 6-4 win over top seed Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina last night, that means the top three seeds have already been eliminated. Smith will play the winner of tonight's match between Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, North Carolina) and Stefan Dostanic, who is now utilizing his final year of collegiate eligibility at Wake Forest.

Cassone, who did not play collegiately in the fall, announced recently that he was turning pro, foregoing his final dual match season in Tempe.

Smith isn't the only current collegian through to the second round, with wild card Antoine Ghibaud of France, a freshman at Kentucky, beating qualifier Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 6-3, 6-3 to advance. He will face the winner of tonight's match between No. 8 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State) and wild card Jenson Brooksby(Baylor). TCU junior Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain plays recent Ohio State graduate Cannon Kingsley, also tonight.  The only players without college ties to reach the second round are Kozlov and Michael Mmoh, who has been out with an injury since last April.

The women are also playing indoors this week on the USTA Pro Circuit at the W75 in Rome Georgia. Last week's Vero Beach W75 champion Solana Sierra of Argentina is the top seed, with Emiliana Arango of Colombia the No. 2 seed.

Wild cards were awarded to Caty McNally, Madison Sieg(USC), Malaika Rapolu(Texas) and Victoria Hu(Princeton). Sieg won her first round match today over Gabriela Lee(Texas Tech) of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, while Rapolu lost to 18-year-old Akasha Urhobo 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Qualifying was completed today, with no Americans advancing to the main draw, but two current collegians made it through: NCAA fall 2024 singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) of the Czech Republic and LSU freshman Cadence Brace of Canada. Brace joins teammate Kayla Cross of Canada in the main draw, with Cross, who was recently signed by LSU, and Brace, who did not compete for LSU in the fall, playing lines 2 and 1 for the Tigers this past weekend in their Kickoff victory over Florida in Gainesville.

Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic is the No. 4 seed in Rome; she will play qualifier Victoria Mboko of Canada; the two teens split their two Pro Circuit meetings last fall. 

There isn't much for men on the USTA Pro Circuit this winter, with just four straight weeks of $15Ks on clay in Florida, beginning with this week's tournament in Palm Coast.

The top seed is ATP 434 Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy, with Garrett Johns(Duke) the No. 2 seed. Three Americans qualified today: Oren Vasser(William & Mary, Miami), Matthew Segura and Alex Jones. Spencer Gray(Auburn, UNC-Charlotte) received entry as a lucky loser. 

Wild cards were awarded to Liam Krall(SMU), Alexis Gurmendi (Georgia Gwinnett) of Argentina, Ronald Hohmann(LSU, Michigan State) and Matthew Thomson (Wake Forest). Hohmann and Thomson played today, with Hohmann winning 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(6). 

Jack Satterfield and Lachlan Gaskell received the ITF junior reserved spots, with Gaskell playing qualifier Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada and Satterfield facing Gurmendi in the first round Wednesday.

TCU Tops Men's 2025 Winter Recruiting Class Rankings; Jessup Wins J100 Title in New Zealand, Friedman Top Seed at ITF J300 in Ecuador; Cleveland ATP Challenger 75 Underway

Tennis Recruiting Network's winter recruiting class rankings for men's Division I were published today, with NCAA champion TCU taking the top spot in the voting, with their class of blue chip Americans Jagger Leach, Cooper Woestendick and Maximus Dussault. Woestendick has actually enrolled early and has played a few matches for the Horned Frogs this month, so technically he isn't eligible to be included, but with the cutoff for voting several weeks ago, last-minute additions are bound to happen occasionally. TCU was the unanimous choice of the 14 voters, one of whom is me.

TCU is followed, in order, by North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Columbia, Kentucky, Alabama, Penn, San Diego, Illinois and Texas. 

The Ivy League historically draws so many top recruits that it often has several schools in the top 10, and in fact is considered to be on the same level as the Power 4 for the two decades these rankings have been published. But mid-majors in the top 10 are less common, so San Diego stands out in this group.

The complete list, with notes on the conferences, school streaks and newcomers, can be found here.

The women's rankings will be out next Monday.

While the Australian Open Junior Championships and the US dominance at the ITF J300 in Barranquilla occupied most of my attention last week (not to mention Les Petits As), there were three ITF Junior Circuit events that produced American champions in New Zealand, Costa Rica and San Diego.

Sixteen-year-old Gabriel Jessup, a blue chip sophomore, won his first ITF Junior Circuit title at the J100 in Wellington New Zealand, coming through qualifying to beat 15-year-old Texan Mason Vaughan 6-4, 7-5 in his eighth match of the week. Jessup, who made the quarterfinals two weeks ago at the J100 in Christchurch as a qualifier is now up to 469 in the ITF junior rankings being unranked coming into this year.

Vaughan did get the better of Jessup in the doubles final, with partner Erik Schinnerer. The No. 6 seeds defeated the unseeded pair of Jessup and Noble Renfrow 6-3, 5-7, 11-9 in the all-USA final. 

No. 10 seed Janae Preston, who won the J100 title two weeks ago in Christchurch, reached the final, falling to top seed Aishi Das of New Zealand 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

At the J30 in San Diego, all the titles went to Americans. Unseeded 16-year-olds Kara Garcia and Katiana Gonzalez met in the girls singles final, with Garcia claiming her first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory in the final.  

Unseeded 17-year-old Andrew Li, who won the J30 in Claremont last year, picked up his second career ITF title when top seed Adrien Abarca retired after losing the first set 6-0. 

Unseeded Liam Alvarez and William Kleege won the boys doubles title, beating top seeds Chase Kelley and Russia's Maksim Nekrasov 5-7, 6-2, 10-7.  The girls doubles championship was won by No. 2 seeds Sydney Barnhart and Ellery Mendell, who beat unseeded Kylie Liu and Elna Zhao 6-3, 6-3.

American teams won both the doubles titles at the J60 in Costa Rica, but fell in the finals in singles.

No. 3 seeds Shaan Majeed and Sklar Phillips defeated Joseph Hernandez and China's Zheng Nan Huang 6-2, 4-6, 10-4 to take the boys doubles title. No. 3 seeds Calla McGill and Sena Yoon defeated sisters Aleksandra and Natasha Jerkunica 2-6, 7-6(5) 10-8 in the all-USA girls doubles final.

Phillips, unseeded in singles, lost in the single final to unseeded Caden Colburne of Canada 6-4, 7-6(5).  No. 5 seed Sarah Ye lost 6-3, 6-1 to qualifier Baotong Xu, who plays USTA events but represents China, in the girls singles final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit events include a J300 in Ecuador and a J60 in San Diego.

Nearly all of the American juniors who flooded the draws for the J300 hard court events the past two weeks in Costa Rica and Colombia have returned home, with only five US girls and one US boy in the draws for the clay court tournament in Salinas.

Leena Friedman, who did play the past two J300s, is the No. 1 seed, with Ligaya Murray[8], Zaire Clarke, Adla Lopez and Shaya Jovanovic the other girls from the United States. Nicholas Mekhael, the lone US boy, plays No. 4 seed Valentin Gonzalez-Galino of Spain in the first round.

The San Diego J60 is full of Americans, of course, with Orange Bowl 16s finalist Ford McCollum the top boys seed and Kenzie Nguyen the No. 1 girls seed.

The ATP Challengers are back in the United States for 2025 with this week's 75 in Cleveland. The qualifying concluded today, with all six qualifiers having college ties: Filip Pieczonka(Tennessee) of Poland; Nathan Ponwith(Georgia, Arizona State); Alex Rybakov(TCU); Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia); Trey Hilderbrand(Central Florida, Texas A&M) and Jackson Ross(Auburn, Texas San Antonio).

The top seed is Federico Agustin Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina, with the only seed without college ties No. 2 Radu Albot of Moldova.

Wild cards were awarded to Jenson Brooksby, who plays No. 8 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State); Kentucky freshman Antoine Ghibaudo of France and UCLA freshman Kaylan Bigun. 

In first round matches completed this afternoon, No. 6 seed Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) defeated Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 6-3 and Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) defeated Aidan Mayo 6-3, 6-4. 

I didn't get a chance to post updates on the W75 in Vero Beach last week, with cold and rain causing issues throughout the week. But they did finish the tournament yesterday, with Solana Sierra of Argentina, the No. 2 seed, defeating unseeded Whitney Osuigwe 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-5 in a three-hour and 27-minute final. The 22-year-old Osuigwe, who has already made two finals this year, is up to 213 in the WTA rankings after falling to 456 last year. 

Top seeds Carmen Corley(Oklahoma) and Eva Vedder of the Netherlands won the doubles title, beating unseeded Julie Belgraver of France and Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-3 in the final. 

Dotsenko and Vukovic Claim Les Petits As Titles; Townsend Wins Australian Open Doubles Championship; Wild ITA D-I Kickoff Weekend Concludes with 28 Teams Advancing to National Team Indoor Championships

The champions were crowned today at the Les Petits As, with Ekaterina Dotsenko of Russia and Mario Vukovic of France taking straight sets victories in the finals of the prestigious 14-and-under tournament in Tarbes France.

Dotsenko, the No. 12 seed, defeated No. 2 seed Darina Matvejeva of Latvia 6-3, 6-4, with her run through the draw an impressive one. She beat No. 6 seed Zeliha Cukurluoglu of Turkey in the third round, top seed Megan Knight of Great Britain in the quarterfinals and No. 9 seed and Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion Sakino Miyazawa of Japan in the semifinals. Despite her size and power, Dotsenko was also an excellent defender and the depth on her ground strokes gave Matvejeva little chance to close at the net.

Dotsenko is the third straight Russian girl to claim the title.

Mario Vukovic, 2025 Les Petits As boys champion
photo credit: Richard van Loon, toptennis.photos

Vukovic, the No. 5 seed, was coming off a title at the Tennis Europe Category 1 tournament the week before in Bolton England, and he didn't come close to losing a set in his march to the final, dropping just 19 games in his six victories. He lost only one in today's final against No. 8 seed Tristan Ascenzo of the United States, and it was the first game of the match, when he was broken with nervous unforced errors, then reeled off 12 straight games.

Ascenzo, the No. 8 seed, couldn't find a solution to Vukovic's excellent transition game; he immediately recognized when a shot had hurt Ascenzo and closed the net, displaying an impressive array of volleys. Down 3-0 in the second set, Ascenzo had three break chances, but he couldn't convert any in the four-deuce game, and with the packed house cheering him on, he closed out the 57-minute final with a dazzling 360 degree volley winner for the title.

Vukovic is the first French boy to win the title since Rayane Roumane in 2014.

See the Tennis Europe tournament page for complete draws.

Jannik Sinner of Italy defended his Australian Open title, beating Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in Sunday's men's final.

In the Australian Open women's doubles final Sunday, Taylor Townsend won her second major, both with Katerina Siniakova of Czech Republic. The top seeds, who won Wimbledon last year, defeated No. 3 seeds Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3. For more on the match, see this article from the Australian Open website.

The 14 teams who will join women's hosts Northwestern and Illinois and men's hosts SMU and Baylor at next month's Division I National Team Indoor Championships have been decided after the conclusion of the ITA Kickoff Weekend tonight. There were a few ho-hum regionals and several barn-burners, with two teams advancing to the women's indoor --Tennessee and Texas--via a win in a third-set tiebreaker with the score tied at 3-all. Three of the women's hosts failed to advance, which is a typical number, with LSU, Auburn and Oklahoma getting road victories to earn their spots. Hosts are in bold, with links to all the recaps from the school's website.

WOMEN:

Texas A&M[2] d. TCU 4-0
https://12thman.com/news/2025/1/25/womens-tennis-no-2-aggies-sweep-tcu-to-win-ita-kickoff-weekend-championship

UCLA[6] d. Washington 4-0
https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/1/25/no-6-womens-tennis-blanks-huskies-to-earn-indoors-berth

Virgina[5] d. Duke[7] 4-3

https://virginiasports.com/news/2025/01/25/no-5-virginia-tops-no-7-duke-4-3-to-qualify-for-ita-indoors/

Tennessee[18] d. Ohio State[15] 4-3

https://utsports.com/news/2025/1/25/womens-tennis-raidt-lifts-18-lady-vols-past-15-buckeyes-4-3-to-advance-to-ita-national-team-indoor-championship.aspx

Auburn[13] d. Southern California[11] 4-2

https://auburntigers.com/news/2025/01/25/no-13-tigers-win-thriller-over-no-11-usc-to-earn-bid-to-ita-indoors

Stanford[3] d. Mississippi 4-2

https://gostanford.com/news/2025/01/25/cardinal-beats-ole-miss-to-clinch-ita-indoors-berth

Texas[12] d. Baylor 4-3

https://texaslonghorns.com/news/2025/1/25/womens-tennis-no-12-womens-tennis-wins-ita-kickoff-austin-regional-championship.aspx

Pepperdine[16] d. Arizona 4-1

https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2025/1/25/womens-tennis-grechkina-punches-pepperdines-ticket-to-the-ita-indoor-championships.aspx

Oklahoma[17] d. Cal[14] 4-1

https://soonersports.com/news/2025/1/25/womens-tennis-punches-ticket-to-ita-national-indoors

Michigan[8] d. UC-Santa Barbara 4-0

https://mgoblue.com/news/2025/1/26/womens-tennis-wolverines-shut-out-ucsb-punch-ticket-to-indoors

North Carolina[9] d. Wisconsin 4-0

https://goheels.com/news/2025/1/26/womens-tennis-tar-heels-win-4-0-advance-to-ita-indoor-team-championships

Georgia[1] d. Princeton 5-0

https://georgiadogs.com/news/2025/1/26/womens-tennis-no-1-bulldogs-punch-ticket-to-ita-national-team-indoors

Oklahoma State[4] d. Arkansas 4-1

https://okstate.com/news/2025/1/26/cowgirl-tennis-no-4-oklahoma-state-beats-arkansas-advances-to-ita-indoor-national-championships

LSU[22] d. Florida[19] 4-1

https://lsusports.net/news/2025/01/26/no-22-lsu-advances-to-the-ita-national-womens-team-indoor-championship-with-win-over-no-19-florida-4-1/

The number of women's hosts who lost were not out of the ordinary; that can't be said of the men's hosts, with six of the 14 dropping their matches. Unseeded Central Florida got the biggest upset of the day, defeating No. 6 Arizona 4-3 in Tucson, while No. 9 Mississippi State fell to No. 22 NC State 4-1 and No. 8 Oklahoma lost to Stanford 4-1. The best regional was in Cambridge, where Harvard hosted Texas A&M, UCLA and Georgia, and it was the Aggies who came away with chance to play in their home state next month, beating UCLA 4-3 in the first match and Harvard 4-3 in the second. Former ITF junior No. 11, Theo Papamalamis of France, who joined the Aggies this month, won both his matches at the No. 1 position, beating No. 13 Spencer Johnson of UCLA 6-3, 6-1 and Daniel Milavsky of Harvard, with the match tied at 3-all, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-0.

San Diego and Michigan also picked up victories on the road over higher-ranked hosts.

MEN:

Kentucky[12] d. Arizona State[20] 4-0

https://ukathletics.com/news/2025/01/25/no-12-kentucky-sweeps-no-20-arizona-state/

Wake Forest[4] d. Memphis 4-0

https://godeacs.com/news/2025/1/25/mens-tennis-no-4-demon-deacons-book-ticket-to-ita-national-indoors-with-win-over-memphis

San Diego[15] d. Florida State[10] 4-2

https://usdtoreros.com/news/2025/1/25/mens-tennis-no-15-torero-mens-tennis-wins-in-upset-at-no-10-florida-state-clinches-spot-at-indoor-national-championships.aspx

Texas[1] d. Georgia Tech 4-0

https://texaslonghorns.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-tennis-no-1-mens-tennis-wins-ita-kickoff-austin-regional-championship.aspx

Ohio State[3] d. Princeton 4-0

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-tennis-no-3-buckeyes-roll-princeton-4-0-win-ita-kickoff-weekend

Virginia[5] d. Alabama[19] 4-1

https://virginiasports.com/news/2025/01/26/no-5-virginia-qualifies-for-ita-national-team-indoor-championship/

Michigan[25] d. Tennessee[14] 4-1

https://mgoblue.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-tennis-michigan-upsets-no-14-tennessee-to-advance-to-ita-indoor-nationals

Duke[11] d. Vanderbilt 4-0

https://goduke.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-tennis-duke-captures-ita-kickoff-weekend-championship

Columbia[7] d. Florida[24] 4-2

https://gocolumbialions.com/news/2025/1/26/no-7-mens-tennis-holds-off-no-24-florida-to-secure-spot-at-ita-national-indoors.aspx

Stanford[18] d. Oklahoma[8] 4-1

https://gostanford.com/news/2025/01/26/mens-tennis-downs-oklahoma-advances-to-ita-indoors

NC State[22] d. Mississippi State[9] 4-1

https://gopack.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-tennis-22-pack-earns-top-10-win-over-9-mississippi-state-qualifies-for-national-team-indoors

Texas A&M [13] d. Harvard[23] 4-3

https://gopack.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-tennis-22-pack-earns-top-10-win-over-9-mississippi-state-qualifies-for-national-team-indoors

Central Florida d. Arizona[6] 4-3

https://ucfknights.com/news/2025/01/26/mens-tennis-makes-history-advances-to-ita-indoor-championships-with-win-over-no-6-arizona

TCU[2] d. Michigan State[17] 4-1

https://gofrogs.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-tennis-no-2-tcu-takes-down-michigan-state-4-1.aspx

Pareja and Hance Claim First ITF J300 Titles in Colombia; Ascenzo Advances to Sunday's Les Petits As Boys Final; Keys Wins Long-Awaited Major in Australia, Patten Adds Second Slam Title in Men's Doubles

Fifteen-year-old Julieta Pareja won two matches in women's qualifying at the US Open in September, won a W15 last summer and reached a W35 final last fall, but her junior results hadn't been enough to earn her a place in the Australian Open Juniors this year. Her WTA ranking of 563 was short of the Top 400 needed for main draw and the Top 500 ranking needed for qualifying, so the Southern Californian opted to play the Central/South America J300s in hopes of earning enough points to allow her to play the summer slams.

She reached the quarterfinals last week in Costa Rica and won the doubles title, which got her to a career-high 63, and with her title today at the J300 in Barranquilla Colombia, Pareja will move into the Top 50, which now put her in a great position to be accepted into Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Pareja, the No. 8 seed, defeated reigning San Diego 16s National Champion Ishika Ashar 6-4, 6-4 in today's final; she avenged last week's Costa Rica loss to Mariella Thamm of Germany 6-3, 6-3 in semifinals, with Thamm going on to win the title at the Coffee Bowl. Pareja did not drop a set in her five victories this week, winning her third ITF Junior Circuit title, all of which have come in Colombia, although this one was on hard courts, not clay.

Another Southern Californian, Keaton Hance, won his first J300 title with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 3 seed Jack Secord, his third win over his fellow 16-year-old in the past ten months. Hance needed three victories in qualifying just to reach the main draw, so he won eight matches in eight days to claim the title, his second on the ITF Junior Circuit but first since 2023. He will move into the Top 100 for the first time with the title.

Both Pareja and Hance were on the USA's Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup championship teams last fall, both excelling at No. 2 singles and in doubles.

Speaking of those ITF 16-and-under team championships, Tyra Grant, who played No. 1 singles, reached the semifinals of the W75 this week in Portugal, losing 6-2, 6-2 to Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic, who beat her in the semifinals at Roland Garros Junior Championships last June, with Valentova going on to take the title.

Michael Antonius won the boys Les Petits As title last year in Tarbes France, and on Sunday, Tristan Ascenzo will try to make it two in a row for the United States, when the No. 8 seed takes on No. 5 seed Mario Vukovic of France. Ascenzo ended the run of qualifier Lucas Herrera Sanchez of Germany 6-3, 6-0, while Vukovic defeated unseeded Samuel Dakessian, also of France 6-4 6-2.

Emery Combs was unable to complete her semifinal match, retiring down 5-2 in the first set to No. 2 seed Darina Matvejeva of Latvia. Matvejeva will face No. 12 seed Ekaterina Dosenko of Russia, who beat Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion and No. 9 seed Sakino Miyazawa of Japan 7-5, 6-4.

Matvejeva and Sofiia Bielinska of Ukraine, the top seeds, won the doubles title today, beating No. 8 seeds Dotsenko and Germany's Lilly Marie Greinert 6-3, 6-4.  The wild card pair of Mohamed Genidy of Egypt and Leith Bennaceur of Tunisia beat unseeded Dakessian and Vukovic 6-3, 6-7(7), 10-5 in the boys doubles final. 

Daniela Del Mastro won the girls consolation draw, beating Khadija Adeniran 4-1, 5-3 in an all-USA final. That draw can be found here.

The girls final begins at 8 a.m. Eastern time (2 p.m. in France), followed by the boys final. Streaming is available at the tournament website.

Madison Keys won her first major title, seven years after reaching her last major final at 2017's US Open. The 29-year-old defeated top seed and two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, after saving a match point in her 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8) semifinal win over No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland. 

For more on Keys' long path to a first major, see this article from the WTA's Greg Garber.

A former ITA No. 1 in doubles while playing for University of North Carolina Asheville in 2019, Henry Patten of Great Britain is now a two-time slam champion in men's doubles after winning the Australian Open title. Patten and partner Harri Heliovarra of Finland, the reigning Wimbledon doubles champions and No. 6 seeds, defeated the third-seeded Italian team of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 6-7(16), 7-6(5), 6-3 in a three-hour thriller that ended at close to 2 a.m. in Melbourne. With the title, they have moved to No. 3 and No. 4 in the ATP doubles rankings. For more on the final, see this article from the Australian Open website.

The men's singles final Sunday (at 3:30 a.m in the Eastern US) between No. 1 seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner and No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev will follow the women's doubles final, which features top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and No. 3 seeds Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan.

Henry Bernet of Switzerland and Wakana Sonobe of Japan Make History with Australian Open Junior Singles Titles

Henry Bernet is not likely to forget the day he turned 18, with the smooth right-hander from Switzerland taking home the Australian Open boys singles trophy as a one-of-a-kind gift. Bernet, seeded No. 8 but undefeated in 2025, beat unseeded Benjamin Willwerth of Jupiter Florida 6-3, 6-4 Saturday afternoon in Rod Laver Arena, becoming the first player from his country to win a junior slam title at the Australian Open.

After claiming the title last week at the ITF J300 in Traralgon, the tradition warmup event, Bernet came into his fourth junior slam in form and confident, taking out top seed and 2024 finalist Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic in two tiebreakers in the quarterfinals. 

Against surprise finalist Willwerth, who won his first junior slam match on Sunday, Bernet was able to control most of the rallies with his forehand, which may not be as talked about as his one-handed backhand, but produces most of the winners. Although he faced only two break points, both in the first game of the second set, Bernet was able to get out of other tight spots by ramping up his first serve when he needed it, hitting a 127 mph ace, for example at 2-all 40-30 in the second set. 

Willwerth made Bernet work for his games, but was too often defending, and when Bernet got a short ball, he had no trouble putting it away. Bernet had a few more unforced errors than Willwerth but more than twice as many winners, with Willwerth able to muster only seven winners.

After getting broken twice in the first set, Willwerth scrapped his way to four holds in the second set to keep pace with Bernet, but serving at 4-5, the 17-year-old quickly got into trouble and an unforced error on the backhand gave Bernet two match points. He only needed one: Willwerth's serve caught the tape and sat up, giving Bernet the time to attack as he moved forward. Willwerth threw up a lob that landed just long, and the perfect birthday present was his.

Wakana Sonobe had reached the final of the US Open Junior Championships last September, falling to Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4. She went one step farther in her next opportunity, with the 17-year-old left-hander breezing past 15-year-old Kristina Penickova 6-0, 6-1 Saturday on Rod Laver Arena. 

Sonobe, who did not play a warmup event and was forced into a third set tiebreaker in her opening round, found her form after that first match, beating ITF junior No. 1 and top seed Emerson Jones 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals to deny Jones a place in the final for a second straight year. She continued that form Saturday, and with Penickova off her game, the first set was over in a mere 23 minutes.

Penickova, who had to come from a set down in her first three matches and lost eight straight games in the middle of her grueling 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 semifinal win over Mia Pohankova, showed signs of fatigue, mostly in the form of unforced errors, and the energy to mount another comeback simply wasn't there.

Sonobe had won both their meetings last year, but they were close: 7-5, 6-4 in the third round of the US Open last September, and 6-7(1) 6-3 6-1 in the ITF World Junior Finals in October. In the final, Sonobe served well, used her forehand to move Penickova and had a positive winners to unforced errors ratio; Penickova, on the other hand, had only six winners, an unusually low number for her, and 25 unforced errors.

Rei Sakamoto was the first Japanese player to win an Australian Open junior title last year; one year later, Sonobe is the first girl to accomplish that.  She is also only the second Japanese girl to win a junior slam singles title, following Kazuko Sawamatsu, who won Roland Garros and Wimbledon way back in 1969.

The consolation for the two Americans extends back to 1992, the last time two US juniors made the Australian Open final. Although Lindsay Davenport and Brian Dunn both lost those finals, they went on to claim the US Open singles championships that year.

My Annual Intriguing Questions Column; Penickovas Claim Australian Open Girls Doubles Title; All-USA Finals at ITF J300 Barranquilla; Combs and Ascenzo Advance to Les Petits As Semifinals; ITA D-I Kickoff Weekend Underway

My annual look at the big picture in college and junior tennis is out today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with questions on the Orange Bowl move, NIL, fall NCAAs and a rant on the lack of a proper Accelerator Program for girls and women, as well as four others. Question No. 6 could be answered in the affirmative as soon as tonight!

I'm planning to stay up as late as necessary tonight to watch the Australian Open Junior singles finals and report on how Americans Kristina Penickova and Benjamin Willwerth fared in their championship matches in a separate post, as I did last night. (My coverage from last night is here.) The matches are thankfully back-to-back on Rod Laver Arena, an Australian Open tradition that every other junior slam should emulate. Willwerth will face No. 8 seed Henry Bernet of Switzerland at 8 p.m. Eastern time, followed by Penickova against No. 4 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan. Both matches are availabe for streaming on ESPN Plus.

Penickova will leave Melbourne a junior slam champion regardless of the outcome of Saturday's match, with she and twin sister Annika taking the girls doubles title following her singles win. The No. 6 seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Emerson Jones of Australia and Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2. The Penickovas, who won last week's doubles title in Traralgon, have now won nine ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles at the age of 15.

If you missed it in my coverage of last night's singles semifinals, Maxwell Exsted won his second straight Australian Open doubles title, this year with Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic. Exsted, 
who won the title last year with Cooper Woestendick, and Kumstat, the No. 2 seeds, defeated unseeded Ognjen Milic of Serbia and Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia 7-6(6), 6-3 in Friday's final.

Madison Keys will play top seed and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka for the women's singles title at 3:30 a.m., long after the juniors have finished. Ben Shelton(Florida) lost to top seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-2 Friday.

Americans are guaranteed to win all the titles at the ITF J300 in Barranquilla Colombia, with all four singles finalists from the United States and both doubles champions all-American teams.

Jack Secord, the No. 3 seed, will face qualifier Keaton Hance in the boys final, with the 16-year-olds already meeting for the fifth time on the ITF Junior Circuit. Secord won the first two, but Hance has taken the past two, including a 6-0, 6-0 victory last week in the second round at the Costa Rica J300. 

No. 8 seed Julieta Pareja avenged her quarterfinal loss to Mariella Thamm of Germany last week in Costa Rica, beating the No. 5 seed 6-3, 6-3 in today's semifinal. Pareja will play unseeded Ishika Ashar, the reigning USTA National 16s champion, who defeated No. 4 seed Leena Friedman 6-2, 6-1 in another all-USA semifinal. 

No. 4 seeds Kori Montoya and Ava Rodriguez won the girls doubles title today, beating Friedman and Capucine Jauffret 6-1, 6-1. No. 4 seeds Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield won the boys doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Juan Miguel Bolivar Idaragga of Colombia and Dante Pagani of Argentina 6-2, 7-6(0) in the final. 

The semifinals are set for the Les Petits As 14-and-under tournament in Tarbes France, with both American quarterfinalists advancing.

No. 8 seed Tristan Ascenzo defeated No. 3 seed Nikita Berdin of Russia 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 and will play qualifier Lucas Herrera Sanchez of Germany. Herrera Sanchez, who defeated the top seed in the first round, got his second win over a seed today, beating No. 12 seed Evan Giurescu of France 0-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Two French players will face off in the bottom half, with No. 5 seed Mario Vukovic playing unseeded Sam Dakessian.

Emery Combs, also a No. 8 seed, defeated No. 4 seed Liv Zingg of Great Britain 6-3, 6-3 to earn a semifinal meeting with No. 2 seed Darina Matvejeva of Latvia. Matvejeva beat No. 11 seed Sofie Mottlova of the Czech Republic 7-6(3), 6-4. 

There was a replay of the Junior Orange Bowl 14s final in the top half today, with the same outcome. JOB champion Sakino Miyazawa of Japan, the No. 9 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Sofiia Bielinska of Ukraine 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Miyazawa will face No. 12 seed Ekaterina Dotsenko of Russia, who upset top seed Megan Knight of Great Britain 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Combs and Daniela Del Mastro lost in the doubles semifinals today to Dotsenko and Germany's Lilly Marie Greinert, the No. 8 seeds, 6-4, 7-6(2).

Saturday's schedule is here; live streaming and live scoring links are here.

The ITA Division I Kickoff Weekend is underway, with the 14 teams who will join ITA National Indoor women's hosts Northwestern and Illinois and men's hosts SMU and Baylor to be decided in four-team sites across the country the next three days. 

The Southern California fires and the winter weather in the South has kept some of the teams originally in the mix from traveling to their hosts; the ITA explains those withdrawals here.

The Kickoff Weekend scoreboard, with the first results from today already posted, can be found here. Cracked Racquets is providing its CrossCourt coverage via its YouTube channel.

CollegeTennisRanks also has scoring and streaming links, lineups and previews here.

Willwerth and Penickova Reach Australian Open Junior Singles Finals; Exsted Captures Second Straight Boys Doubles Title; Peers Claims Mixed Title

For the first time since 1992, the United States will have both a girl and a boy in the Australian Open junior singles final, after No. 6 seed Kristina Penickova and unseeded Benjamin Willwerth won tough three-set matches in Friday's semifinals.

Up 6-4, 4-1 against Mia Pohankova of Slovakia in the Australian Open Junior Championships semifinals Friday, 15-year-old Kristina Penickova hit a rough patch, losing the next eight games. Fortunately she had had plenty of experience digging herself out of similar situations this week, having lost nine straight games in her second round match with Yuhan Wang of China before winning seven straight herself to force a third set after trailing 7-5, 5-0.

In the third set against the 16-year-old Pohankova, who hits the ball every bit as deep and powerfully as she does, Penickova didn't manage quite that many, but four in a row got her back on serve and her confidence returned. Pohankova held for 4-all, but she was now serving from behind, a position that proved an important advantage for Penickova.

Penickova had taken the grueling 53-minute first set with the seventh and final break of serve in set following her second service hold at 5-4. After losing her first two service games in the third set, Penickova located what had been missing in her serve, holding the final three times without facing a break point. Pohankova went up 30-0 serving at 5-6, and had a game point at 40-30 thanks to an ace at 30-all, but she made an unforced backhand error for deuce. Penickova hit a great return to earn her first match point, but Pohankova saved it with a backhand winner. That shot let her down in the final two points of the match, with unforced errors giving the suddenly steady Penickova the spot in the final, and revenge for her twin sister Annika, who lost to Pohankova in the first round.

The first US girl to reach the Australian Open girls final since Taylor Townsend won the title in 2012, Penickova will face No. 4 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan in Saturday's final. Sonobe, who reached the US Open final in September, denied Emerson Jones a second straight Australian Open girls final with a 6-3, 6-4 win over the top-seeded Australian.

Willwerth, who won his first junior slam match on Sunday, defeated No. 5 seed Jagger Leach 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 in the all-USA boys semifinal.

Willwerth, a 17-year-old from Jupiter Florida, did not have Leach's experience in the junior slams, which may have been part of the reason he struggled to close out sets when serving for them. Serving at 5-3 in the first set, he was unable to get to a set point, and Leach took advantage, winning his next two service games easily and staying ahead throughout the tiebreaker.

Willwerth took a quick 2-0 lead in the second set, gave it back for 2-all with a double fault but broke again, held for a 4-2 lead, then got another break to go up 5-2. Serving for the second set, Willwerth again failed to get to a set point, and when Leach held to force him to serve for it a second time, Willwerth fell behind 0-30. But he recovered to take the next four points and even the match. 

In the third set, Leach started holding serve much more simply, with Willwerth needing to save a break point at at 0-1 and two at 1-2. But he got a break to go up 3-2, with his backhand doing most of the damage, and saved three break points to hold for 4-2. That momentum seemed to carry over, with Leach unable to hold in the next game, with Willwerth making several spectacular passes from unlikely positions. 

Given his struggles closing out the first two sets, there was no reason to think Willwerth would breeze through the final game, but that's exactly what he did, going ace, service winner, forehand winner to give himself three match points. Leach hit a volley winner to save the first, but Willwerth made his fifth first serve of the game and followed it with a forehand winner to slam the door shut.

Willwerth will play No. 8 seed Henry Bernet of Switzerland, who defeated No. 7 seed Oskari Paldanius 7-6(6), 6-2 for his 11th consecutive victory. Bernet, who won the title at Traralgon last week, is the first Swiss boy to reach the Australian Open Junior final.

The boys doubles final, which was played at the same time as the second semifinal, produced a familiar champion, with Maxwell Exsted repeating, with new partner Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic. Exsted, who won the title last year with Cooper Woestendick, and Kumstat, seeded No. 2, defeated unseeded Ognjen Milic of Serbia and Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia 7-6(6), 6-3. 

In the mixed doubles final, John Peers(Middle Tennessee, Baylor) and Olivia Gadecki defeated JP Smith(Tennessee) and Kimberly Birrel 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 in the battle of the Australian wild cards. It's Olympic gold medalist Peers' second mixed title (2022 US Open) and third slam title overall, after winning the 2017 Australian Open men's title.

Willwerth and Leach Meet in Australian Open Boys Semifinals; Penickova in Singles Semis, Doubles Final; Exsted Aims for Second Boys Doubles Title; Keys Reaches Final; Combs and Ascenzo Advance to Les Petits As Quarterfinals

I don't want the results of the Australian Open Junior Championships quarterfinals to get lost, so with three Americans now in Friday's semifinals (tonight in the US), I wanted to do a separate post now, and then another later tonight after the finalists are determined.

We know an American boy will reach the final, we just don't know which one, with No. 5 seed Jagger Leach facing unseeded Benjamin Willwerth in the semifinals.

Leach defeated No. 14 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden 6-1, 7-5, looking like he would stroll into his first junior slam semifinal after a 23-minute first set, particularly after he took a 4-0 lead in the second set. But Rejchtman Vinciguerra, who was struggling with his game until that point, did a 180, with the 17-year-old left-hander playing brilliantly for the next four games to tie it. Leach finally held for 5-4 and had five match points in that game, but Rejchtman Vinciguerra saved them all, with Leach unable to execute a pass when the Swede came forward.

Leach held for 6-5, then went up 15-40 with Rejchtman Vinciguerra serving, but a sixth match point went begging when Leach made an error on his return of a second serve. On his seventh match point, Leach finally converted, with Rejchtman Vinciguerra sending a backhand just long.

Willwerth also stumbled closing out his 6-4, 6-4 win over Timofei Derepasko of Russia, although not for long. After facing no break points in the second set, Willwerth served for the match at 5-3, 30-0, but four consecutive unforced errors gave Derepasko new life. He couldn't grab the opportunity that Willwerth had extended to him however, making three straight unforced errors serving at 4-5. Willwerth converted his first match point with a backhand winner to earn a semifinal berth in just his second appearance at a junior slam.

Willwerth, who has committed to Arizona State, and Leach, who has committed to TCU, will meet for the first time with a junior slam final appearance on the line.

The other boys semifinal will feature Traralgon champion Henry Bernet of Switzerland against Oskari Paldanius of Finland. The eighth-seeded Bernet defeated top seed and 2024 Australian Open boys singles finalist Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 7-6(2), while Paldanius, the No. 7 seed, beat No. 4 seed Jack Kennedy 7-6(6), 7-5. Kennedy had a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but his backhand went long, and he couldn't find his top level in the second set, as he had in the previous round.

Kristina Penickova had two previous wins over her quarterfinal opponent, qualifier Shiho Tsujioka of Japan, and she made it three with his first straight-sets victory of the week 7-5, 6-3, Penickova had a set point with Tsujioka serving at 4-5 in the first set but didn't convert it. She went up 0-40 with Tsujioka serving at 5-6 and let two more set points slip away, but got the 30-40 point. Serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, Penickova double faulted on her first match oint at 40-30 and made a backhand error on the next match point she earned, but on the third, it was Tsujioke who faltered, sending a second serve return out to put Penickova in her second junior slam semifinal at age 15.

Penickova will play unseeded Mia Pohankova of Slovakia, who surprised No. 3 seed and Traralgon champion Jeline Vandromme of Belgium 6-1, 6-2. Penickova defeated Pohankova en route to her semifinal appearance at Roland Garros last year, but Pohankova won their only hard court meeting last August at the J300 in Repentigny Canada.

The other girls semifinal will feature top seed Emerson Jones of Australia, who fought back to defeat unseeded Lilli Tagger of Austria 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. No. 4 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan advanced a third career meeting with Jones by beating Australian wild card Tahlia Kokkinis 6-2, 6-4. Sonobe beat Jones on clay at the Junior Billie Jean King Cup in 2023; Jones defeated Sonobe last October on hard courts at the ITF World Junior Finals in China.

Jones and Penickova will also be competing in the girls doubles final, with Penickova and twin sister Annika avenging their recent Orange Bowl loss to fifth-seeded sisters Alena and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic 5-7, 6-1, 11-9.  The sixth-seeded Penickovas led 5-1 in the second set when the match was relocated to Margaret Court Arena due to a persistent drizzle. The twins went up 9-6 in the match tiebreaker, but Alena held both her serves for 9-8. An unforced error on Kristina's serve wasted the third match point, but she shook it off by winning a lengthy cross court rally with Alena to earn a fourth match point. The Penickovas ended it there, when Jana made a backhand error.

No. 2 seeds Jones and Hannah Klugman of Great Britain advanced to the final with a 7-6(3), 6-3 win over the fourth-seeded Czech team of Tereza Krejcova and Vendula Valdmannova.

Defending boys doubles champion Maxwell Exsted earned a shot at a second Australian Open title when he and Kumstat defeated No. 7 seeds Andrea De Marchi of Italy and Rejchtman Vinciguerra 6-3, 6-7(2), 10-8.

The No. 2 seeds trailed 7-4 in the match tiebreaker, but won six of the last seven points, with Exsted stepping up with a huge down-the-line forehand winner at 8-all. Exsted won last year's AO title with Cooper Woestendick. 

In Australian Open women's semifinal action Friday, Madison Keys reached her second final at a major with a scintillating 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8) win over No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland. Keys held from 0-40 down at 4-all, then saved a match point with Swiatek serving for the match at 6-5, 40-30 in third set; showing a determination to keep going for her shots regardless of the pressure of the moment. She will face tops seed and two-time defending champion Aryan Sabalenka of Belarus, who beat No. 11 seed Paula Badosa of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Friday's mixed doubles final will feature all Australian wild cards, two of whom played college tennis, with JP Smith(Tennessee) and Kimberly Birrell taking on John Peers(Middle Tennessee, Baylor) and Olivia Gadecki. 

Two Americans, both No. 8 seeds, have advanced to the quarterfinals at Les Petits As with wins today. Tristan Ascenzo defeated No. 10 seed Cinar Senkaya of Turkey 6-3, 6-0, while Emery Combs beat Samiye Ozkeresteci of Turkey 6-0, 6-3. Allison Wang[16] lost to No. 3 seed Sofiia Bielinska of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3.

Ascenzo faces No. 3 seed Nikita Berdin of Russia next; Berdin is the highest boys seed remaining. Combs plays No. 4 seed Liv Zingg of Great Britain Friday.

Combs and Daniela Del Mastro, who are unseeded, are through to the girls doubles final.