Second Seeds Fall in Quarterfinals, Doubles Finals Set for Friday at ITF J300 North American Regional Championships; Leach Reaches First Pro Circuit Quarterfinal in Bakerfield $25K; Krueger Defeats Rybakina at Miami Open

©Colette Lewis 2025--
San Diego CA--

Top seeds Kristina Penickova and Benjamin Willwerth have advanced one step closer to their first final since the 2025 Australian Open Junior Championships, but No. 2 seeds Annika Penickova and Noah Johnston saw their hopes for an ITF J300 North American Regional Championships title ended on a clear and cool day at the Barnes Tennis Center.

Penickova, a finalist at this tournament a year ago, defeated unseeded Maggie Sohns 6-1, 6-4 and will play fellow 15-year-old Zaire Clarke, who eliminated seeded opponent number three this week with a 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 9 Ishika Ashar.

No. 5 seed Capucine Jauffret boasted a 2-0 record against Annika Penickova, but both those matches were back in 2023. The 17-year-old from Delaware conceded that Penickova had improved substantially since then, but Jauffret kept her record unblemished with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 win today.

Jauffret knew better than to attempt to trade ground strokes with Penickova, with the 15-year-old left-hander possessing the power advantage, so she made the necessary strategy shift after the first set.

"She was playing really well in the first set, but I had to take a step back and reset, take my time and change the heights a little bit more," said Jauffret, who has verbally committed to Florida for 2026. "I couldn't give her as much pace as she wanted. We practice a lot, we're really close friends, and I'm used to that pace, but in a match you're a little bit tighter so I do think (the less aggressive tactics) were a surprise. I had to stay really patient against her, be willing to just run side to side. I think I have the advantage in movement, so I just did what I could to find a way to win."

Jauffret went up 4-2 in the final set, but Penickova fought back to break and then hold, with rallies in that lengthy eighth game primarily ending with either a Penickova forehand winner or unforced error.

Jauffret held a long game of her own to take a 5-4 lead, and Penickova then went up 40-0, but she wouldn't win another point, with Jauffret refusing to miss and anticipating every target, eventually getting two unforced errors from the Penickova backhand to claim the victory and reach her second J300 semifinal.

She will face 14-year-old Raya Kotseva, who advanced to her first J300 semifinal with a 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 17 seed Kenzie Nguyen. Jauffret and Kotseva have split their previous two meetings, with Jauffret winning the most recent, in the second round of the J300 in Costa Rica in January, while Kotseva won their second round encounter at the J300 in Houston last fall.

Only three boys quarterfinals were played Thursday, with No. 6 seed Jack Secord advancing via a walkover from No. 4 seed Maximus Dussault, who suffered a foot injury in his third round win over Michael Antonius.  Secord's opponent is Willwerth, who overcame No. 7 seed Ronit Karki 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. 

Today was the first day with chair umpires, and Willwerth conceded a half a dozen calls to Karki, including two in a six-deuce game with Karki serving to stay in the match at 3-5. Karki saved six match points in that game with some good serving, while also receiving some unforced errors from Willwerth. But Willwerth ended the drama quickly serving at 5-4, hitting two aces, getting a backhand error from Karki and converting his seventh match point with an excellent forehand volley.

Willwerth defeated Secord 6-4, 6-1 in their only meeting on the ITF Junior Circuit, in the second round of a J200 in Mexico last June. 

There was no such drama in No. 8 seed Lachlan Gaskell's win over Johnston, with Gaskell taking the battle of the left-handers 6-2, 6-1.

Gaskell had complicated his 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 win over Agassi Rusher in Wednesday's third round, and he was determined not to do that again.

"I closed it out better today," said the 17-year-old from Florida. "I was up in two of the sets yesterday a lot and he came back, 5-1 in the first set, which I won 7-5. Today, I closed out the first set well today and ran with the confidence."

Gaskell, who had won only four matches in six ITF Junior Circuit events this year, didn't anticipate reaching his first J300 semifinal this week.

"Honestly I haven't had a great year, so I wasn't really expecting much from this tournament," said Gaskell, who has verbally committed to North Carolina for 2026. "This morning I was just like, fine with going home today. But I played a good match and I'm happy to keep playing. I don't think he played his best, but I kind of dominated the match and played with a lot of confidence, played really tight tennis and that's the reason he played a little worse."

Gaskell will face No. 5 seed Jack Satterfield, who avenged his loss in a third set tiebreaker last fall at the ITF J300 Houston to No. 3 seed Ryan Cozad, 6-3, 6-2.

"That was a great match and I learned a lot from it," said the 17-year-old from Florida, who has signed with Vanderbilt for this fall. "I was up 5-3 in the third serving, so losing that one was tough. I was really nervous at the end of the second in this one, because I was scared I was going to choke again, but I got through it. I played really well."

Satterfield is looking forward to another meeting with Gaskell.

"I've played Lachlan many times, we're good friends," said Satterfield, who will be playing in his third J300 semifinal this year. "I think we're probably something like 3 and 3. Last time we played it was at the (May 2024) J100 Plantation semis and I won that 6-4 in the third. It's always a battle with him, we have great matches."

The doubles champions will be crowned Friday, with the top seeded Penickova sisters facing No. 7 seeds Isabelle DeLuccia and Anita Tu for the girls title.

The Penickova twins defeated unseeded Camille Allegre and Ciara Harding 6-2, 6-0, while DeLuccia and Tu beat No. 5 seeds Ishika Ashar and Ligaya Murray 6-3, 6-2.

The boys doubles final will feature No. 6 seeds Michael Antonius and Roshan Santhosh, who came back to beat unseeded Tyler Lee and Justin Riley Anson 2-6, 6-2, 10-7, and No. 5 seeds Gavin Goode and Simon Caldwell, who defeated the unseeded team of Connor Plunkett and Zen Uehling 6-4, 6-3.

Jagger Leach has reached his first USTA Pro Circuit quarterfinal, with the ITF J300 Indian Wells champion advancing to the final eight at the $25,000 in Bakersfield California. Leach defeated fellow wild card Andy Nguyen, a sophomore at UC-Irvine, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. Leach, a future TCU Horned Frog, will play former TCU All-American Alex Rybakov, the No. 6 seed, in the quarterfinals.

No. 7 seed Trevor Svajda, a sophomore at SMU, advanced to the quarterfinals and will play top seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain Friday.

American women had another great day at the Miami Open, with Ashlyn Krueger defeating No. 7 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; qualifier Taylor Townsend beating No. 19 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-1; Coco Gauff[3] blanking Sofia Kenin 6-0, 6-0; wild card Hailey Baptiste defeating No. 12 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 and Danielle Collins(Virgina)[14] beating Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-4, 7-6(3). All are through to the third round.

Only one US man got a first round win today, with Reilly Opelka defeating wild card Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech) 6-3, 7-6(4).  Learner Tien(USC) lost to Joao Fonseca of Brazil 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-4.

Friday's order of play is here.