Kennedy Reaches Second Straight ITF J300 Indian Wells Final, Leach Playing for Two Titles Sunday; Qualifier Nguyen and No. 5 Seed Pareja Advance to Girls Final; Baylor vs Arizona State in UTR College Championships Final; McNeil Makes W15 Final in Canada

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells CA--

In a week with almost no upsets in the boys draw of the ITF J300 FILA International Championships, it's fitting that the final will come down to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, with top seed Jagger Leach and second seed Jack Kennedy earning semifinal wins in distinctly different scenarios.

Kennedy, who lost to wild card Rudy Quan in the final last year as the No. 10 seed, defeated friend and training partner Keaton Hance 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, with temperatures in the low 70s and no wind provding ideal conditions for long and competitive points.

Kennedy, who reached the Kalamazoo 18s final last August, acknowledged he is in a much different position this year than when he was the underdog in 2024.

"This year it's a little different, obviously not being the youngest guy in the tournament, I've got a little more pressure," said the ITF world junior No. 7, who turns 17 in June. "But kudos to me and my team with all the work we've put in for my ranking, seeing that No. 2 on the scoreboard, that looks nice."

Hance has also seen his ranking rise dramatically this winter, with a 23-5 record in J300 and J500s, including his first J300 title in Colombia. But Hance and Kennedy had not played competitively in nearly two years, which made today's meeting full of intrigue.

"The pressure level is a little bit higher, playing your friend, but it's actually a cool thing, going out with your friend, killing each other until our legs are torn apart," Kennedy said. "He's had a great tournament and he's got a lot of momentum from the beginning of this year; he didn't really play a lot last year due to injury, so I'm glad to see him back out there and competing at a high level."

Kennedy has gone three sets in three of his four matches this week, losing the second set all three times.

"The guys were playing really well and playing freely, and they had no pressure to lose," Kennedy said. "But I was staying the course. Me and my coach (Greg Lumpkin) always say just stay with them and you'll get your chances."

Leach has his own finals history with this three-year-old tournament, taking the doubles title in 2023 with Joseph Oyebog; this year he will play for both the singles and doubles title after No. 4 seed Noah Johnston, Leach's doubles partner, retired trailing 5-2 in the first set.

"Yesterday in the doubles he was ok and I was ready for a really tough match," said Leach, who will turn 18 in June. "In the second or third game, he took a weird step and then I saw him limping back to get the balls, but I'm not really sure what happened."

Johnston did play in the doubles semifinal a few hours later without any noticeable injury, with No. 2 seeds Leach and Johnston beating No. 7 seeds Simon Caldwell and Gavin Goode 7-5, 6-2.

Leach said earlier in the week that he was not going to think about next year's BNP Paribas Open qualifying wild card awarded to the junior champion until he was closer to winning it, but now has shifted that thought until after the final.

"Not yet, I'm just worried about Noah and the doubles match right now," said Leach, who will be playing in his second J300 final, having won his first last spring in Malaysia. 

Leach has not played Kennedy before, but he has traveled with most of the Americans competing here in the past couple of years. 

"It's very exciting, we've got a good group of guys coming up," said Leach, who reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January, losing to another American, Benjamin Willwerth, who is not playing this event. "All of us Americans are pretty close, when we travel on the road, we warm up together a lot. Hopefully we can try to push the guys on tour now a few years down the road."

 

Leach said the BNP Paribas fans that gathered around Stadium 4 today and will no doubt drop in for the final on Stadium 3 at 10 a.m. Sunday add to the atmosphere at one of his favorite venues.

"It's really nice, and I appreciate the support, but I try to do the same things regardless," said Leach, who also had his mother Lindsay Davenport and father Jonathan Leach at his semifinal today. "The first grand slam or two I played it was a big difference, so it took me a little bit to adjust, but I feel like I'm getting more used to it now and am enjoying it. It's really fun to look up and see people watching and supporting."

While the boys draw has gone as expected, the girls draw has not, with three unseeded players and No. 5 Julieta Pareja advancing to the semifinals. 

Pareja defeated Adla Lopez 6-3, 6-3 for her fourth consecutive straight-sets victory; for qualifier Alexis Nguyen, her 6-3, 6-2 win over Kristina Liutova was her eighth victory since last Saturday, all in straight sets.

Pareja had not faced Lopez before, but she adjusted to the challenges the 16-year-old Floridian provided as a left-hander. 

"I had to concentrate on where my serves were going, serve placement, and second serve as well" said Pareja, a 16-year-old from Carlsbad California. "I was trying to push her to her backhand side, but opening up the court from whichever side."

Pareja acknowledges that the match she lost 6-4, 6-4 on Stadium 5 to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in women's qualifying two weeks ago presented challenges distinct from those she faces in junior competition.

"It is a different mindset, a different tournament I would say," said Pareja, who reached the final round of US Open women's qualifying last August. "But going into a match, I always go into any match, the same. It could be the bigger crowd, the match can be tougher. I thought I played well, it was a close match, very close, I had some opportunities. Overall it was a great experience and I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity."

Nguyen is no stranger to big stages, having won the Orange Bowl 16s in 2022, but the 17-year-old from Sacramento will be playing in her first J300 final in her sixth tournament at that level.

Nguyen said her matches this week, at least in the main draw, have not been as easy as the scores might suggest.

"For this whole tournament, the scores haven't been close, but it's been long points, long games," Nguyen said. "Percentage over time has really worked for me."

Nguyen said she feels fine physically, although she may not play the San Diego J300 next week given her nine matches this week. But she detected signs of fatigue from Liutova as the match neared its conclusion.

"Every point, even if I lost it, I could see she was tired over there, she was bent over, taking a medical, she was taking a lot time," Nguyen said. "I saw that and I was like, this is exactly what I want. So the longer the points, the better it is for me. As long as I was playing the right point I was happy with it."

Nguyen wasn't reticent about the opportunity she has Sunday to earn a qualifying wild card for next year's BNP Paribas. 

"That was the goal for this tournament," Nguyen said. "That's what we wanted."

The girls singles final will follow the boys on Court 3.

The doubles finals are also set for Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m. on Stadium 4 with unseeded Maria Aytoyan and Sabrina Lin facing No. 2 seeds Thea Frodin and Leena Friedman for the girls championship.

Aytoyan and Lin defeated unseeded Isabelle DeLuccia and Carrie-Anne Hoo 4-6, 7-5, 10-2; Frodin and Friedman beat No. 6 seeds Welles Newman and Nancy Lee 6-2, 6-1.

Leach and Johnston, the No. 2 seeds, will face No. 8 seeds Andrew Johnson and Nischal Spurling for the boys title, after Leach receives suitable rest after his 10 a.m. singles match. Johnson and Spurling defeated No. 5 seeds Ryan Cozad and Matisse Farzam 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals.

While all four titles in the juniors will go to Americans, only one player from the US will take home a championship from the BNP Paribas Open: women's doubles winner Asia Muhammad. Muhammad and partner Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands won their first title as a team, with the unseeded pair defeating unseeded Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and Oliva Nicholls of Great Britain 6-2, 7-6(4).  For more on the final, see this article from the tournament website.

Sebastian Korda and Australian Jordan Thompson lost in the men's doubles final Saturday night to top seeds Mate Pavic of Croatia and Marcelo Arevalo(Tulsa) of El Salvador 6-3, 6-4. 

The final of the UTR College Championships Sunday will feature Baylor and Arizona State, after the Sun Devils won their semifinal contest with Princeton Saturday 4-2. Baylor had defeated Pepperdine 4-3 in Friday's semifinal. The final and the third place match between Princeton and Pepperdine will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden practice courts.

Christasha McNeil, an 18-year-old who is no long eligible for ITF junior circuit events with her October birthday, is into her first ITF W15 final this week in Montreal Canada. The unseeded McNeil, who reached a high of 48 in the ITF junior rankings and has committed to Texas for this fall, defeated No. 2 seed Sara Daavettila(UNC) 7-5, 6-1 in today's semifinal and will face top seed Emily Appleton of Great Britain in Sunday's final.