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.