Eight Americans Reach Final Round of Australian Open Qualifying; Top Two Seeds Ousted at Ithaca $25K; Qualifiers Advance at Naples W35; Noel Returns to Miami, Blokhina Departs Stanford

Eight of the 21 Americans competing in the Australian Open qualifying have reached Thursday's final round, with five US men and three US women just one step away from the main draw.  One is certain to advance, with Mackenzie McDonald facing Tristan Boyer Wednesday evening in the United States.

Wednesday's Australian Open second round qualifying results of Americans:
Varvara Lepchenko[21] d. Heather Watson(GBR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
Emina Bektas d. Maria Timofeeva[29] 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5
Nina Stojanovic(SRB) d. Robin Montgomery[11] 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3
Sachia Vickery d. Sayaka Ishii(JPN) 7-6(2), 6-4

Christopher Eubanks[4] d. Alejandro Moro Canas(ESP) 6-3, 6-3

Learner Tien[16] d. Juan Pablo Ficovich(ARG) 6-4, 6-2

Tristan Boyer[26] d. Tomas Barrios Vera(CHI) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4

Mackenzie McDonald[25] d. Brandon Holt 6-4, 6-4

Lukas Klein[28](SVK) d. Eliot Spizzirri 6-3, 6-4 

Mitchell Krueger d. Duje Ajdukovic(CRO) 6-4, 6-3

Gauthier Onclin(BEL) d. Aleks Kovacevic[7] 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 

Kamil Majchrzak[14](POL) d. Zachary Svajda 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2 

Dominik Koepfer[1](GER) d. Ethan Quinn 3-6, 7-5, 6-1

Thursday's Australian Open final round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Vavara Lepchenko[21] v Anca Todoni[12](ROU)

Sachia Vickery v Viktorija Golubic[2](SUI)

Emina Bektas v Elena-Gabriela Ruse[15](ROU)

Mitchell Krueger v Yasutaka Uchiyama(JPN)

Christopher Eubanks[4] v Tristan Boyer[26]

McKenzie McDonald[25] v Gauthier Onclin(BEL)

Learner Tien[16] v Jozef Kovalik[21](SVK)

The USTA Pro Circuit is back for 2025, with the men at a $25K in Ithaca New York and the women at a W35 in Naples Florida.

The top two seeds went out today in the first round in Ithaca, with 19-year-old Adhithya Ganesan defeating top seed Bor Artnak of Slovenia 6-3, 6-4 and 17-year-old Nicolas Arseneault of Canada beating No. 2 seed Ernesto Escobedo of Mexico 6-2, 6-2.

Ganesan, a sophomore at Florida who did not play collegiately in the fall, was the last player into the main draw, as he was initially the No. 1 seed in qualifying. Like Ganesan, Artnak, a sophomore at Arizona State, also did not play college events this fall. Qualifer Arseneault, currently No. 42 in the ITF junior rankings, has committed to Kentucky for this coming fall. 

2024 fall NCAA singles champion Michael Zheng, a junior at Columbia, received and wild card and won his first round match; he will play No. 6 seed Stefan Dostanic, who now has an 11 match winning streak on the USTA Pro Circuit after claiming two titles in his last two tournaments in November.

In Naples, four of the eight qualifiers advanced to the second round: 18-year-old Victoria Osuigwe, Allura Zamarippa(Texas), Florida junior Rachel Gailis and Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina).  Osuigwe, who is joining NC State this fall, will face top seed Sophie Chang in the second round, while Zamarripa plays No. 5 seed Katrina Scott. Gailis plays No. 8 seed Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria Thursday, with Akli, who beat No. 7 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-7(3), 6-0, 6-2 today, facing Ekaterine Gorgodze of Georgia. Katherine Sebov of Canada beat No. 2 seed Carson Branstine(USC, Virginia, Texas A&M) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana, a senior at Texas A&M who is currently No. 4 in the ITA singles rankings, lost to Tatiana Pieri of Italy 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round Tuesday.

Roster announcements have continued in Division I tennis, with January now the month when most rosters are finally set.  Stanford confirmed today that graduate student India Houghton and junior Alexis Blokhina, who played this fall, have turned pro and are not returning to school for the dual match season. Caroline Driscoll is transferring from Denver; the note on Houghton and Blokhina appears at the bottom of that announcement. It's extremely rare for players to leave Stanford prior to graduation, and for the Cardinal to add a transfer to their roster in January; perhaps it's a sign of just how much collegiate athletics in general have changed in the past several years.

Miami announced on X that 2024 spring NCAA singles champion Alexa Noel would be returning to the Hurricanes, despite an announcement in August that she would be foregoing her final year of eligibility. Noel graduated last spring, but was considering graduate school when we spoke for this Tennis Recruiting Network article in June.