Down 6-1 in Third Set Tiebreaker, Kotseva Advances to Second Round at ITF J300 San Diego; Carroll Claims J60 in El Salvador; Vanderbilt Defeats No. 2 Texas A&M; Miami Open Main Draw Begins Tuesday

©Colette Lewis 2025--

San Diego CA--

First round matches more dramatic than today's contest between Raya Kotseva and Calla McGill are rare, with both players saving match points before Kosteva came from 6-1 down in the third set tiebreaker to claim a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(9) win on the opening day of the ITF J300 North American Regional Championships at the Barnes Tennis Center.

"I had four match points at 5-3," said the 14-year-old from Las Vegas, "and she had seven or eight. That was a roller coaster."

McGill, a 17-year-old from Virginia, lost two points on one shot up 6-1 in the tiebreaker. She called a shot from Kotseva wide on the far sideline but was overruled by a roving umpire, then was assessed a point penalty, making the score 6-3. McGill had her best chance at getting out the match at 6-5 in the tiebreaker but she hit a sitter forehand well long, she earned two more at 7-6 and 8-7, but Kotseva cracked a backhand winner for 8-all, then forced an error to earn her first match point since the four she had at 5-3. McGill saved that one when Kotseva sent a first serve return long, but that was the last point she would win, with an unforced forehand error giving Kotseva her sixth match point. Her second serve was good enough, with McGills return hitting the tape and dropping back on her side to end the three-hour battle.

"When I was down 6-1, I was just like, everybody's watching, I might as well give it my all on the last point, whenever that is," Kotseva said. "I hit the winner, she got the point penalty and I thought 'maybe this will go my way now.' I hit a few good shots, she missed a winner at 6-5; I was kind of lucky."

Kotseva and McGill had played before, two years ago at a USTA Level 3, and that had gone to a match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set, which Kotseva won.

"She's an amazing player, it's always tough to play against her," Kosteva said. "She's very joyful on the court, fights until the last point too. She's just awesome."

It didn't get much easier for Kotseva in her first round doubles match later in the day, when she and Lucie Oyebog defeated Carrie-Anne Hoo and Kaya Moe 7-6(4), 0-6, 13-11.

In the boys doubles, Andrew Johnson and Nischal Spurling, a mere 24 hours removed from playing together in the final of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells, found themselves across the net from each other in the first round. It was Spurling and his partner Ford McCollum who advanced to the second round, beating Johnson and Gray Kelley 6-1, 7-6(5).

The seeds begin play on Tuesday, with boys No. 1 and Australian Open finalist Benjamin Willwerth facing qualifier Andre Alcantara, while girls No. 1 and Australian Open finalist Kristina Penickova plays qualifier Ciara Harding.

The second round of both singles and doubles are scheduled for Tuesday.

In addition to the titles for Julieta Pareja and Jagger Leach at Indian Wells last week, there was one other ITF Junior Circuit singles title for an American, with 16-year-old Jerald Carroll claiming the J60 title in El Salvador. The third-seeded Carroll, who won back-to-back J30s in Mexico last month, defeated No. 6 seed Nicolas Rivera Paz of Mexico 6-1, 6-4 in the final. 

With the Indian Wells J300 finals, I missed the big upset yesterday in women's Division I tennis, with No. 16 Vanderbilt defeated No. 2 and defending NCAA champion Texas A&M 5-2. The Aggies took the doubles point, but lost the top three singles spots, with Mary Stoiana losing to Celia-Belle Mohr, Nicole Khirin falling to Valeria Ray and Mia Kupres losing to Bridget Stammel. Sophia Webster and Amy Stevens closed out their match simultaneously at lines 5 and 6 to clinch for the Commodores.

See the Vanderbilt website for a complete recap.

The Miami Open women's main draw begins Tuesday after qualifying concluded today. Three Americans advanced to the main draw: Bernada Pera, Claire Liu and Taylor Townsend. 

Tuesday's order of play, which also contains the men's final round of qualifying, is here.  Tristan Boyer(Stanford), Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA), Ethan Quinn(Georgia), Brandon Holt(USC) and 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion Darwin Blanch are all through to the final round of qualifying. Blanch, a wild card, defeated ATP No. 119 Taro Daniel of Japan 6-7(8), 6-0, 6-3, his best win by ranking.