Johnson Makes Junior Slam Debut with Upset of Third Seed Alexandrescou; Woestendick and Exsted Fall in Three Sets in Men's Doubles; Vandromme Continues Winning Streak

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

Fun was the word of the day for three Americans competing at the US Open Championships Sunday, although only one of them left the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with a victory.

Andrew Johnson, who celebrated his 16th birthday last week, shrugged off his opponent's medical timeouts and the nerves of his first junior slam appearance to beat No. 3 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania  2-6, 7-6(0), 3-0, retired.

Another day of perfect conditions, with partly cloudy skies, low humidity and temperatures in the 70s, did not help Alexandrescou, who took three separate medical timeouts during the match.

"I think he was definitely feeling it from last week," said Johnson, noting that Alexandrescou had won the ITF J300 in College Park eight days ago and also played in the doubles final. "He did say he was cramping. I was down 3-0 in the first set and then at 3-2 he took a medical. As the match was getting closer and closer, maybe he started feeling it more, being tight. In the second set tiebreak, he started hitting a few (serves) underhand, 20 mile-an-hour serves and he wouldn't move to the next ball."

Johnson said his perspective helped him cope with all the distractions created by the atmosphere and by his opponent.

"I was just out there to have fun," said Johnson, who reached the Kalamazoo 16s final earlier this month. "This is my first grand slam and I was having fun. Someone would say my name in the crowd, and I didn't know them at all, and I'd look at them and smile. That's how I stayed focused, it didn't really bother me that much, just because I was having fun. This was a whole new experience, everyone cheering for me because I'm American."

Johnson will play fellow wild card Matisse Farzam in the second round Tuesday, after Matisse closed out the 48th junior singles match of the day after 9 p.m., earning a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Linus Lagerbohm of Finland.

Kalamazoo 18s doubles champions Cooper Woestendick(TCU) and Maxwell Exsted lost to No. 6 seeds Neal Skupski(LSU) and Joe Salisbury(Memphis) of Great Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, but playing with the support of most of the approximately 2000 fans on Stadium 17 provided a memory the two 18-year-olds won't forget.

"We just tried to have fun," said Exsted, who will play his first round match in the Junior Championships Monday. "We played like we had nothing to lose and it was just really a fun time out there."

Down a set, without a look at a single break point, the match was slipping away when Woestendick was broken at love to start the second set. But they got the break back, with a couple of missed overheads helping their cause and saved a break point in Exsted's service game to take the lead.

"Max did an unbelievable job," said Woestendick, who is returning to Fort Worth and classes at TCU Monday, as he is not eligible for the junior tournament with his 19th birthday in November. "Every single point he was trying to get the crowd going. We were down a set and a break and in that game he hits an unbelievable forehand on-the-run winner from ten feet behind the baseline," Woestendick said. "And suddenly, we had momentum, we had the crowd into it. Max did a great job."

"That was a good shot," said Exsted. "I did it and I felt some love, so we kept on riding the wave, kind of playing the crowd, and it worked."

Their break of Skupski in the fourth game was aided by his three consecutive double faults, and a third straight break and a love hold by Exsted made six straight games for the 2024 Australian Open boys champions.

Skupski took a bathroom break, and when he returned, he and Salisbury were back to their first set form, giving the teenagers no break point opportunities.

"We just didn't get that chance in the third, didn't hit that crazy shot or anything to get the crowd going, get a break point or a big point," Woestendick said. "We could have used one of those early in the third and just didn't get it. We lost one service game and that was it."

"I had a lot of fun today, and it's really fun playing with Cooper," Exsted said. "We have good chemistry on and off the court and I enjoyed it today."

No. 14 Jeline Vandromme of Belgium was facing a tough test against wild card Alexis Nguyen, a San Diego 18s Nationals semifinalist, but the 17-year-old extended her winning streak to 18 matches with a 6-0, 6-3 win. 

Vandromme, who won three ITF women's circuit titles in succession this month, is in a groove, and Nguyen could not shake the confidence those wins have created.

"It brings a calm mindset, and I think I was more confident," Vandromme said. "And it gave me a lot of extra experience too."

Vandromme lost in the first round at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, after reaching the quarterfinals in both last year, but she chalks those losses up to lack of preparation, which she obviously did not have before her final junior slam.

"I had a foot injury before Roland Garros, so my preparation wasn't that good," Vandromme said. "In between Roland Garros and Wimbledon I had my last exams, so I'm done with high school, so that was probably not the best preparation period either."

Vandromme will face Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand in a second round match Monday.

Top seeds Julieta Pareja and Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria moved into the second round with straight-sets wins, with Pareja beating Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-3, 6-1 and Ivanov defeating wild card Michael Antonius 7-5, 6-1. 

No. 3 seed Kristina Penickova escaped an upset at the hands of Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden, saving a match point serving at 5-6 in the second set of her 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory.

Sunday's first round junior results of Americans:

Kristina Penickova[3] d. Nellie Taraba Wallberg(SWE) 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3

Deniz Dilek(TUR) d. Kori Montoya[SE] 6-2, 6-3

Julieta Pareja[1] d. Mika Buchnik(ISR) 6-3, 6-1

Ruby Cooling[Q](GBR) d. Leena Friedman 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Anita Tu[SE] d. Elizara Yaneva[13](BUL) 6-4, 6-2

Thea Frodin[16] d. Eugenia Zozaya Menendez(ESP) 6-4, 6-0

Kanon Sawashiro(JPN) d. Maya Iyengar 7-5, 6-1

Riyo Yoshida[Q](JPN d. Hannah Ayrault[WC] 7-6(4), 6-3

Bella Payne[WC] d. Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard[Q](FRA) 7-5, 6-4

Yushan Shao(CHN) d. Lani Chang[WC] 6-3, 6-2

Jeline Vandromme[14](BEL) d. Alexis Nguyen[WC] 6-0, 6-3

Hannah Klugman[2](GBR) d. Aspen Schuman[Q] 6-0, 6-2

Benjamin Willwerth[4] d. Cruz Hewitt(AUS) 6-3, 6-0

Tito Chavez[Q](ESP) d. Izyan Ahmad[Q] 6-3, 6-4

Ivan Ivanov[1](BUL) d. Michael Antonius[WC] 7-5, 6-1

Naoto Tomizawa[Q](JPN) d. Keaton Hance 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2

Oliver Bonding[14](GBR) d. Jack Secord 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(0)

Jack Kennedy[9] d. Nikita Bilozertsev(UKR) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

Matisse Farzam[WC] d. Linus Lagerbohm(FIN) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2

Alexander Vasilev[5](BUL) d. Tanishk Konduri[WC] 6-3, 7-6(6)

Maximus Dussault d. Hitesh Chauhan[Q](IND) 6-2, 6-3

Yannik Alvarez(PUR) d. Carel Ngounoue[WC] 7-6(5), 7-5

Michele Mecarelli(ITA) d. Marcel Latak[WC] 6-2, 6-3 

Noah Johnston d. Alejandro Arcila(COL) 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-0

Dominick Mosejczuk d. Pedro Chabalgoity[Q](BRA) 6-0, 6-3

Max Schoenhaus[8](GER) d. Vihaan Reddy[WC] 6-3, 6-2 

Jamie Mackenzie(GER) d. Jack Satterfield 6-3, 6-4

Andrew Johnson[WC] d. Yannick Alexandrescou[3](ROU) 2-6, 7-6(0), 3-0, ret.

Monday's first round junior singles matches featuring Americans:

Ronit Karki[15] v Ziga Sesko(SLO)

Gavin Goode[SE] v Kuan-Shou Chen(TPE)

Ryan Cozad v Alan Wazny[12](POL)

Roshan Santhosh[WC] v Zangar Nurlanuly(KAZ)

Simon Caldwell[Q] v Savva Rybkin(RUS)

Max Exsted v Karim Bennani(MAR)

Welles Newman[WC] v Kali Supova(SVK)

Tianmei Wang[WC] v Julia Stusek[5](GER)

Nancy Lee[WC] v Sonja Zhenikhova(GER)

Janae Preston[WC] v Nauhany Leme Da Silva(BRA)

Monday's second round junior singles matches featuring Americans:

Julieta Pareja[1] v Nadia Lagaev(CAN)

Anita Tu[SE] v Lea Nilsson(SWE)

Kristina Penickova[3] v Maia Burcescu(ROU)

Bella Payne[WC] v Mia Pohankova[4](SVK)

Maximus Dussault v Dante Pagani(ARG)

Benjamin Willwerth[4] v Hidde Schoenmakers(NED)

Noah Johnston v Max Schoenhaus[8](GER)

In addition to the 16 remaining first round matches, and 16 second round singles matches, first round doubles matches are also on Monday's schedule.  Alexandrescou and Ryo Tabata of Japan are the top seeds in the boys doubles; Hannah Klugman of Great Britain and Mia Pohankova of Slovakia are No. 1 seeds in the girls doubles.

Sunday's US Open fourth round singles results of Americans:

Jessica Pegula[4] d. Ann Li 6-1, 6-2

Barbora Krejcikova(CZE) d. Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6(13), 6-3

Taylor Fritz[4] d Tomas Machac[21](CZE) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

Monday's US Open fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] v Naomi Osaka[23](JPN)

Amanda Anisimova[8] v Beatriz Haddad Maia[18](BRA)

Top Seeds Pareja and Ivanov Begin Quest for US Open Junior Titles Sunday, 28 of 38 Americans in Action; Winegar and Williams Advance in Men's Doubles; Miguel and Efremova Claim Titles at ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

Three-quarters of the first round US Open Junior Championships singles matches will be played Sunday, with the top four seeds in both draws and 28 of the 38 American entries taking to the courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center 

ITF World No. 1 juniors Julieta Pareja, the Wimbledon finalist and Bulgaria's Ivan Ivanov, the Wimbledon champion lead the list of contenders, with the seeds listed below. One note on the boys seeds, with Nicolas Arseneault of Canada seeded solely on the basis of his ATP ranking, which is 502. Girls are occasionally seeded based on their WTA rankings, but I don't remember the last time a boy received a seed via those ITF calculations. An interesting fact from the girls seeds is that none of the Top 8 played either of the ITF Junior Circuit warm-up J300s, with Americans Pareja and Penickova playing US Open women's qualifying that week. Defending champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain, seeded No. 9, did play last week in Canada, losing in the semifinals.

US Open Junior Championships Seeds

Girls:

1. Julieta Pareja, USA

2. Hannah Klugman, GBR

3. Kristina Penickova, USA

4. Mia Pohankova, SVK

5. Julia Stusek, GER

6. Jana Kovackova, CZE

7. Alena Kovackova, CZE

8. Charo Esquiva Banuls, ESP

9. Mika Stojsavljevic, GBR

10. Laim Vladson, LTU

11. Ruien Zhang, CHN

12. Luna Cinalli, ARG

13. Elizara Yaneva, BUL

14. Jelind Vandromme, BEL

15. Victoria Barros, BRA

16. Thea Frodin, USA

Boys:

1. Ivan Ivanov, BUL

2. Andres Santamarta Roig, ESP

3. Yannick Alexandrescou, ROU

4. Benjamin Willwerth, USA

5. Alexander Vasilev, BUL

6. Oskari Paldanius, FIN

7. Niels McDonald, GER

8. Max Schoenhaus, GER

9. Jack Kennedy, USA

10. Ryo Tabata, JPN

11. Nicolas Arseneault, CAN 

12. Alan Wazny, POL

13. Timofei Derepasko, RUS

14. Oliver Bonding, GBR

15. Ronit Karki, USA

16. Joao Didoni Bonini, BRA

The 38 Americans--16 girls and 22 boys--include three special exempts from Canada, with Anita Tu(singles quarterfinalist), Kori Montoya(doubles semifinalist) and Gavin Goode(singles semifinalist) all getting into the main draw because they were unable to compete in US Open qualifying. The second boys special exempt went to Michele Mecarelli of Italy, who Goode beat in the semifinals. 

Leena Friedman ended up getting in on her own ranking, so Tianmei Wang received her previously announced wild card.

Saturday's first round junior singles matches featuring Americans:

Kristina Penickova[3] v Nellie Taraba Wallberg(SWE)

Kori Montoya[SE] v Deniz Dilek(TUR)

Julieta Pareja[1] v Mika Buchnik(ISR)

Leena Friedman v Ruby Cooling[Q](GBR)

Anita Tu[SE] v Elizara Yaneva(BUL)

Thea Frodin[16] v Eugenia Zozaya Menendez(ESP)

Maya Iyengar v Kanon Sawashiro(JPN)

Hannah Ayrault[WC] v Riyo Yoshida[Q](JPN

Bella Payne[WC] v Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard[Q](FRA)

Lani Chang[WC] v Yushan Shao(CHN)

Alexis Nguyen[WC] v Jeline Vandromme[14](BEL)

Aspen Schuman[Q] v Hannah Klugman[2](GBR)

Benjamin Willwerth[4] v Cruz Hewitt(AUS)

Izyan Ahmad[Q] v Tito Chavez[Q](ESP)

Michael Antonius[WC] v Ivan Ivanov[1](BUL)

Keaton Hance v Naoto Tomizawa[Q](JPN)

Jack Secord v Oliver Bonding[14](GBR)

Jack Kennedy[9] v Nikita Bilozertsev(UKR)

Matisse Farzam[WC] v Linus Lagerbohm(FIN)

Tanishk Konduri[WC] v Alexander Vasilev[5](BUL)

Maximus Dussault v Hitesh Chauhan[Q](IND)

Carel Ngounoue[WC] v Yannik Alvarez(PUR)

Marcel Latak[WC] v Michele Mecarelli(ITA)

Noah Johnston v Alejandro Arcila(COL)

Dominick Mosejczuk v Pedro Chabalgoity[Q](BRA)

Vihaan Reddy[WC] v Max Schoenhaus[8](GER)

Jack Satterfield v Jamie Mackenzie(GER)

Andrew Johnson[WC] v Yannick Alexandrescou[3](ROU)

Saturday's US Open third round results of Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] d. Magdalena Frech[28](POL) 6-3, 6-1

Amanda Anisimova[8] d. Jaqueline Cristian(ROU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

Alexander Bublik[23](KAZ) d. Tommy Paul[14] 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 

Sunday's US Open fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Jessica Pegula[4] v Ann Li

Taylor Townsend v Barbora Krejcikova(CZE)

Taylor Fritz v Tomas Machac[21](CZE)

In men's first round doubles today, Ohio State's 2024 NCAA spring(<-corrected) doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy defeated Romain Arnedo of Monaco and Rohan Bopanna of India 6-4, 6-3.  USTA collegiate playoff champions Cooper Williams and Theo Winegar of Duke won their match against Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl of the Czech Republic 7-6(7), 6-4.

Kalamazoo 18s champions Max Exsted and Cooper Woestendick(TCU) will face No. 6 seeds Neal Skupski(LSU) and Joe Salisbury(Memphis) of Great Britain on Court 17 Sunday afternoon.

The singles finals of the ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada were played today, with Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, the No. 3 seed, beating Gavin Goode, the No. 11 seed, 7-6(2), 6-2 for the boys title.  It's the second J300 title for the 16-year-old Miguel, with his first coming in Belgium's J300 warmup tournament for Roland Garros this spring. Miguel, who lost in the first round in Paris, has drawn Roland Garros champion and No. 7 seed Niels McDonald of Germany in the first round here in New York.

The girls title in Canada went to No. 4 seed Ksenia Efremova of France, who beat No. 7 seed Yihan Qu of China 6-3, 6-0. In an unlikely set of coincidences, Efremova also won the warmup to Roland Garros this year for her first J300 title, with this her second. She too plays the No. 7 seed in New York, Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic.

College Park ITF J300 Recap, Videos; Caldwell, Ahmad and Schuman Qualify for US Open Juniors; Goode Reaches ITF J300 Repentigny Final; Kalamazoo Champions Exsted and Woestendick Roll in USO Men's Doubles Opener

With the start of the US Open Junior Championships less than 48 hours away, it's time to put a bow on last week's ITF J300 in College Park Maryland. My recap of the tournament is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with details on the runs to the titles of 15-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova and No. 2 seed Yannick Alexandrescou.

Three of the eleven Americans in today's final round of the US Open Junior Championships qualifying made it through to the main draw: No. 5 seed Aspen Schuman, who will play competing in her third straight US Open main draw, No. 15 seed Simon Caldwell and wild card Izyan Ahmad, both of whom will be making their junior slam debuts.

Caldwell, 18, won his second straight match via a match tiebreaker, beating unseeded Christian Gronfeldt-Sorensen of Denmark 7-6(2), 2-6, 10-8. Ahmad, 15, defeated Zavier Augustin 6-0, 6-3 in the only all-USA match today. Ahmad is one of two wild cards to advance to the main draw, with Japan's Naoto Tomizawa beating two seeds to reach the main draw.

No. 13 seed Raya Kotseva, who lost to Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard of France, the sister of Giovanni, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 is No. 1 on the lucky loser list, while Isabelle DeLuccia, who lost to USC freshman Eugenia Zozaya Mendendez of Spain, the No. 2 seed, 6-3, 7-5, is third on the lucky loser list.

Ford McCollum, who lost to No. 11 seed Pedro Chabalgoity of Brazil 7-5, 7-5, is No. 2 on the boys lucky loser list.

The draws are expected to be released Saturday, with play beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday.

One of the Americans not likely to be playing Sunday is Gavin Goode, who has advanced to Saturday afternoon's final at the ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada. The 11th-seeded Goode, who got a walkover into the semifinals, breezed past No. 12 seed Michele Mecarelli of Italy 6-1, 6-0 to reach his first J300 singles final. Goode will face No. 3 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, who had an equally convincing win over top seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2.

The girls top seed also lost today in the semifinals, with 2024 US Open champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain losing to No. 7 seed Yihan Qu of China 6-1, 6-4. Qu will face No. 4 seed Ksenia Efremova of France, who beat No. 2 seed Yushan Shao of China 6-1, 6-4.

Carrie-Anne Hoo and Kaya Moe, the No. 7 seeds, won the girls doubles title in Canada via a walkover from top seeds Efremova and Kali Supova of Slovakia.  

Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ryan Cozad, the No. 4 seeds, lost in the boys final to top seeds Miguel and Sesko 6-1, 6-2.

It was a depressing Day Six for American men's tennis at the US Open, with No. 6 seed Ben Shelton and No. 17 seed Frances Tiafoe going out within a half hour of each other to unseeded opponents. Shelton retired with a shoulder injury suffered at the end of the third set, after Adrian Mannarino of France won the fourth set to make the final score 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 retired.

Qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany extended his US Open winning streak to six matches, with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) win over Tiafoe, a semifinalist in New York in two of the past three years.

There was some good news in doubles to open the day however, with Kalamazoo 18s champions Cooper Woestendick(TCU) and Maxwell Exsted absolutely dominating David Goffin of Belgium and Alexandre Muller of France 6-0, 6-1. Although Goffin and Muller are not exactly a formidable doubles team, Exsted and Woestendick needed only 44 minutes to complete the victory, with their level as high as any team of 18-year-olds is ever likely display. They had 24 winners to 3 for Goffin and Muller and made only 10 unforced errors. At one stage they had won 38 points to their opponents 14; they ended with a 52-25 edge in points.

Things will be considerably tougher in their second round match against No. 6 seeds Neal Skupski(LSU) and Joe Salisbury(Memphis) of Great Britain. Salisbury is a three-time US Open men's doubles champion with Rajeev Ram. Exsted is playing the US Open Junior Championships, so his first round boys match will need to be scheduled around their second round of doubles.

 

Friday's US Open third round results of Americans:

Jessica Pegula[4] d. Victoria Azarenka(BLR) 6-1, 7-5

Taylor Townsend d. Mirra Andreeva[5](RUS) 7-5, 6-2

Barbora Krejcikova(CZE) d. Emma Navarro[10] 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Ann Li d. Priscilla Hon[Q](AUS) 7-5, 6-3

Adrian Mannarino(FRA) d. Ben Shelton[6] 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 ret.

Jan-Lennard Struff[Q](GER) d. Frances Tiafoe[17] 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) 

Taylor Fritz[4] d. Jerome Kym[Q](SUI) 7-6(3), 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4

Saturday's US Open third round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] v Magdalena Frech[28](POL)

Amanda Anisimova[8] v Jaqueline Cristian(ROU)

Tommy Paul[14] v Alexander Bublik[23](KAZ)

USTA collegiate playoff winners Cooper Williams and Theo Winegar of Duke play their first round match Saturday against unseeded Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl of the Czech Republic. The women's collegiate playoff winners Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton of North Carolina will play their second round match against No. 4 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Wild cards Clervie Ngounoue and Iva Jovic, will open up play on Court 17 Saturday, facing No. 11 seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Luisa Stefani(Pepperdine) of Brazil.

Eleven Americans Advance to Final Round of US Open Junior Qualifying; Three Wild Card Teams Advance in Women's Doubles; ITA Announces Three-Year Partnership with PlayReplay for Electronic Line Calling

Five US girls and six US boys have advanced to Friday's final qualifying round of the US Open Junior Championships at the Cary Leeds Tennis Center in the Bronx, with five of the six boys beating seeded players, including No. 1 and No. 2.

Ford McCollum defeated top qualifying seed and last week's ITF J300 College Park semifinalist Matei Todoran of Romania 6-4, 6-4 and Agassi Rusher beat No. 2 seed Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey 6-4, 1-6, 10-3. 

One American boy is guaranteed to qualify, with New Yorkers Zavier Augustin and Izyan Ahmad facing each other after taking out seeds today. Augustin beat No. 16 seed Arjun Rathi of India 6-3, 6-0 and the 15-year-old Ahmad, a wild card, defeated No. 6 seed Shion Itsusaki of Japan 7-6(7), 3-6, 10-5. Nischal Spurling defeated No. 8 seed Xavi Palomar of Spain 6-1, 6-2.

The only seeded American boy, No. 15 Simon Caldwell, beat Leon Sloboda of Slovakia 3-6, 6-4, 10-7.

Five US girls were seeded, but only three advanced to the final round. No. 1 seed Capucine Jauffret beat wild card Olivia de los Reyes 6-3, 6-1; No. 5 seed Aspen Schuman beat Yasmin Vavrova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-1 and 14-year-old Raya Kotseva, the No. 13 seed, beat Japanese wild card Kurea Hayasaka 1-6, 7-6(2), 10-8. 

The two unseeded American girls to advance are Thara Gowda, who beat compatriot and No. 4 seed Ishika Ashar 6-4, 6-1 and Isabelle DeLuccia, who defeated No. 12 seed Iva Marinkovic of Sweden 5-7, 6-1, 10-7.

Matches begin at 10 a.m. Friday, with live scoring available at usopen.org.

The first day of US Open women's doubles featured a matchup between two wild card teams: USTA 18s national champions Kristina Penickova and Thea Frodin and USTA collegiate playoff champions Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton, teammates at the University of North Carolina. The collegians prevailed in the nearly two-hour battle, taking a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(8) decision, with a couple of key errors by Penickova and Frodin late in the tiebreaker the difference.

Later in the day, wild cards Iva Jovic, 17, and Clervie Ngounoue, 19, won their first round match, beating Mayar Sherif(Pepperdine) of Egypt and Magali Kempen of Belgium 6-3, 6-3.

The third wild card team to advance was Venus Williams and Canada's Leylah Fernandez, who defeated No. 6 seeds Ellen Perez(Georgia) of Australia and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine 7-6(4), 6-3.

Men's doubles play begins Friday, with Kalamazoo 18s champions Cooper Woestendick and Max Exsted scheduled to play David Goffin of Belgium and Alexandre Muller of France. USTA Collegiate playoff winners Cooper Williams and Theo Winegar are not on Friday's schedule.

Thursday's US Open second round singles results of Americans:

Tommy Paul[14] d. Nuno Borges 7-6(6), 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 7-5
Andrey Rublev[15](RUS) d. Tristan Boyer[WC] 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4)
Flavio Cobolli[24](ITA) d. Jenson Brooksby 5-7,6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(3)

Coco Gauff[3] d. Donna Vekic(CRO) 7-6(5), 6-2

Naomi Osaka[23](JPN) d. Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1 

Amanda Anisimova[8] d. Maya Joint(AUS) 7-6(2), 6-2

Magdalena Frech[28](POL) d. Peyton Stearns 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2

Jaqueline Cristian(ROU) d. Ashlyn Krueger 4-6, 6-2, 6-2

Friday's US Open third round matches featuring Americans:

Jessica Pegula[4] v Victoria Azarenka(BLR)

Taylor Townsend v Mirra Andreeva[5](RUS)

Emma Navarro[10] v Barbora Krejcikova(CZE)

Ann Li v Priscilla Hon[Q](AUS)

Ben Shelton[6] v Adrian Mannarino(FRA)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Jerome Kym[Q](SUI)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Jan-Lennard Struff[Q](GER)

The ITA announced today that it has agreed to a three-year partnership with PlayReplay, the electronic line calling system that was tested this year at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. As I wrote in this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network last winter, the ITA was waiting for the ITF silver certification before pursing any formal agreement; it was granted to PlayReplay in June. 

From the ITA release:

For three years, PlayReplay will be the exclusive electronic line calling provider at several of the most prestigious ITA Championships in both the fall and spring seasons. In the fall, PlayReplay will be used at the ITA Men’s and Women’s All-American Championships in Tulsa and Cary. Meanwhile, in the spring, the ITA Division I Men’s and Women’s National Team Indoor Championships will continue to use the PlayReplay system for all matches.

“Following a series of successful shadow tests and pilot programs in recent years, we are proud to officially announce our partnership with PlayReplay, a leader in electronic line-calling innovation,” stated ITA CEO David Mullins. “This collaboration represents a significant step forward in our ongoing commitment to enhancing the integrity, accuracy, and fairness of the game. By integrating PlayReplay’s cutting-edge technology into college tennis, we’re equipping officials, student-athletes, and coaches with the best tools to manage college tennis competition. Special thanks to ITA COO Cory Brooks and ITA Senior Director of Officiating Anthony Montero for their leadership in bringing this initiative to life. Together, the ITA and PlayReplay are setting a new standard for collegiate tennis.”

With the NCAA approving electronic line calling (see this No-ad No Problem podcast episode for more details), the ball is figuratively now in the courts of the USTA National Campus, for the individual championships this fall, and the University of Georgia, for the team championships next spring.

Qualifying for US Open Junior Championships Begins Thursday; Goode, Cozad and Tu Reach Repentigny Canada ITF J300 Quarterfinals; Men's Doubles Wild Cards and Draw; Singles Second Round Results

As is often the case in the junior slams, there was a lot of late movement after the freeze deadline at the US Open Junior Championships, with three of the US boys wild cards announced Monday getting into the qualifying on their own. The wild cards for Ford McCollum, Agassi Rusher and Zavier Augustin were then given to Zachary Cohen, Sean Grosman and Shaan Majeed. Jerrid Gaines Jr. and Izyan Ahmad are the other two American wild cards, with Naoto Tomizawa of Japan the sixth boys wild card.

The other American boys in qualifying are Simon Caldwell[15], Lachlan Gaskell and Nischal Spurling. With neither Gavin Goode nor Roshan Santhosh in qualifying, I'm assuming Goode got in on his own, perhaps via a special exempt entry and that Santhosh received Goode's main draw wild card. 

Matei Todoran of Romania, a semifinalist at last week's J300 in College Park, is the top seed in the boys qualifying draw and will play McCollum.

The same late movement happened in the girls qualifying draw, with Maggie Sohns and Jordyn Hazelitt getting in on their own ranking, with Sena Yoon and Anya Arora receiving their wild cards. The other three US wild cards are the 14-and-under ITF World Junior tennis team champions: Emery Combs, Carol Shao and Olivia de los Reyes. The Japanese wild card is Kurea Hayasaka. There are so many US girls in the qualifying--18 of the 32 entries--that two have to play fellow Americans. By ITF rule, juniors from the same country can't play each other in the first round unless it can't be avoided, which it can't be in this case.

De los Reyes will face fellow American Capucine Jauffret, the top seed; No. 4 seed Ishika Ashar will face Thara Gowda.

The other US girls in qualifying at the Cary Leeds facility in the Bronx are Isabelle DeLuccia, Ireland O'Brien, Chukwumelije Clarke[14], Aspen Schuman[5], Brooke Wallman, Claire An, Ligaya Murray and Raya Kotseva[13].

The Thursday qualifying start is complicated for those playing the ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada this week, but Goode, the No. 11 seed, won his match today to reach the quarterfinals, beating No. 6 seed Ludvig Hede of Sweden 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. He then received a walkover from No. 15 seed Gasper Matijasic of Slovenia, who is playing US Open junior qualifying instead, putting Goode through to the semifinals. No. 8 seed Ryan Cozad beat his doubles partner this week, No. 9 seed Yannick Alvarez of Puerto Rico(they won last year's Kalamazoo 16s doubles title), 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with top seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia. 

No. 15 seed Anita Tu is the sole US girls in the singles quarterfinals; she defeated No. 3 seed Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva of Brazil 7-6(3), 6-3 today. She will face No. 7 seed Yihan Qu of China Thursday.

The men's doubles doesn't begin until Saturday, but the wild cards and the draws were released tonight. The wild cards:

Max Exsted and Cooper Woestendick(Kalamazoo 18s champions)
Cooper Williams and Theo Winegar(USTA Collegiate playoff winners)
Tristan Boyer and Emilio Nava
George Goldhoff and Reese Stalder
Trey Hilderbrand and Patrik Trhac
Brandon Holt and Colton Smith
Mackenzie McDonald and Ethan Quinn

The women's doubles wild cards included juniors Akasha Urhobo and Julieta Pareja, but the men, with the exception of Nava, are all former college players.

Exsted and Woestendick will face David Goffin of Belgium and Alexandre Muller of France in the first round.

The men's doubles draw is here.

Today was a good day for qualfiers, four of whom advanced to the third round, all going the distance. Priscilla Hon of Australia defeated No. 17 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Jerome Kym of Switzerland beat No. 30 seed Brandon Nakashima 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(8), Ugo Blanchet of France took out No. 16 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany beat No. 11 seed Holger Rune of Denmark 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Wednesday's US Open second round results of Americans:

Novak Djokovic[7](SRB) d. Zachary Svajda[Q] 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

Taylor Fritz[4] d. Lloyd Harris[Q](RSA) 4-6, 7-6(3) 6-2, 6-4

Ben Shelton[6] d. Pablo Carenno Busta(ESP) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4

Frances Tiafoe[17] d. Martin Damm[Q] 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(8), 7-5

Benjamin Bonzi(FRA) d. Marcos Giron 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4

Jerome Kym[Q](SUI) d. Brandon Nakashima[30] 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(8)

Luciano Darderi[32](ITA) d. Eliot Spizzirri[WC] 6-0, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4 

Jessica Pegula[4] d. Anna Blinkova(RUS) 6-1, 6-3

Jasmine Paolini[7](ITA) d. Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-3 

Emma Navarro[10] d. Caty McNally[WC] 6-2, 6-1

Marketa Vondrousova(CZE) d. McCartney Kessler[32] 7-6(7), 6-2

Taylor Townsend d. Jelena Ostapenko[25](LAT) 7-5, 6-1

Ann Li d. Belinda Bencic[16](SUI) 6-3, 6-3

Thursday's US Open second round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] v Donna Vekic(CRO)

Hailey Baptiste v Naomi Osaka[23](JPN)

Amanda Anisimova[8] v Maya Joint(AUS)

Peyton Stearns v Magdalena Frech[28](POL)

Ashlyn Krueger v Jaqueline Cristian(ROU)

Tommy Paul[14] v Nuno Borges

Tristan Boyer[WC] v Andrey Rublev[15](RUS)

Jenson Brooksby v Flavio Cobolli[24](ITA)

Zheng and Bennett Top ITA Preseason Rankings; Former Florida Women's Coach Thornqvist Named Men's Coach at D-III Wesleyan; US Open Women's Doubles Wild Cards and Draw; Tuesday's First Round Results

The ITA published its preseason rankings today, along with its newcomer rankings. I don't know the basis for these rankings, which used to be basically the rankings from the previous May with those no longer eligible removed, but with all the newcomers included in these rankings that is obviously no longer true.

There are some top players who are not in the rankings however, including Stanford's Samir Banerjee, UCLA's Rudy Quan and Florida's Adhithya Ganesan; San Diego's Oliver Tarvet had already announced this summer that he was not playing the fall season. For the women, missing from the preseason rankings are NC State's Michaela Laki and Maddy Zampardo and Oklahoma State's Melissa Ercan.

With the computer rankings no longer using the preseason rankings as a baseline with the newly adopted rankings procedure, these rankings will have little impact, but it does help in identifying who is at what school now after all the portal activity has concluded.

Top 10 singles and newcomers and Top 5 doubles rankings are below. Click on the headings for the complete lists.

ITA Division I preseason rankings

Men's Top 10 singles:
1. Michael Zheng, Columbia
2. Rafael Jodar, Virginia
3. DK Suresh, Wake Forest
4. Aidan Kim, Ohio State
5. Jay Friend, Arizona
6. Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois
7. Ozan Baris, Michigan State
8. Corey Craig, Florida State
9. Dylan Dietrich, Virginia
10. Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

Men's Top 5 doubles:

1. Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

2. Kenta Miyoshi and Gabriel Debru, Illinois

3. Michael Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen, Columbia

4. Albert Pedrico Kravtsov and Cosme Rolland de Ravel, TCU

5. Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig, Baylor

Men's Top 10 newcomers:

1. Gabriel Debru, Illinois

2. Johan Rodriguez, Oklahoma

3. Erik Arutiunian, LSU

4. Pedro Rodrigues, Central Florida

5. Nicolas Arseneault, Kentucky

6. Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida, Pepperdine

7. Sefano D'Agostino, Mississippi

8. Paul Barbier Gazeu, South Carolina

9. Andreas Timini, Florida

10. Adam Jilly, Illinois

Women's Top 10 singles:

1. DJ Bennett, Auburn

2. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

3. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

4. Cadence Brace, LSU

5. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

6. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

7. Nicole Khirin, Texas A&M

8. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

9. Anastasiia Lopata, Georgia

10. Piper Charney, Michigan

Women's Top 5 doubles:

1. Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton, North Carolina

2. Irina Balus and Liv Hovde, Duke

3. DJ Bennett and Ashton Bowers, Auburn

4. Anastasiia Gureva and Patricija Paukstyte, Georgia

5. Anastasiya Komar and Rose Marie Nijkamp, Oklahoma State

Women's Top 10 newcomers:

1. Mayu Crossley, UCLA

2. Luca Udvardy, Oklahoma State

3. Monika Ekstrand, Stanford

4. Evialina Laskevich, Oklahoma

5. Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, Pepperdine

6. Carolina Kuhl, LSU

7. Lavinia Tanasie, NC State

8. Ziva Falkner, Pepperdine

9. Anastasiia Gureva, Georgia

10. Tianmei Wang, Stanford

A note on the newcomers: there are no Americans in the 20 players on the men's list and just five on the women's list, As I said, I'm not privy to the criteria used, but it seems odd that Jagger Leach, who has been as high as No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings this year, is not among them. The recruiting trend has been toward much older international players now, among the men and women, but previously the very top American juniors made the list (San Diego champion Alyssa Ahn not included either). Again, these lists are for PR more than anything, and on-court results will provide the real data, with these lists fading as that information accumulates.

In other college news, former University of Florida women's head coach Roland Thornqvist, who abruptly left his position early in the 2024 fall season, has been hired as men's head coach at Division III Wesleyan in Connecticut. For more on Thornqvist's new position and why Bill Belichick is endorsing it, see this article.

The US Open announced the women's doubles wild cards this evening, which include the USTA collegiate playoff champions Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton of North Carolina and the USTA 18s San Diego champions Kristina Penickova and Thea Frodin, who play each other in the first round. Carmen and Ivana Corley, who played at Oklahoma, received a wild card last year as well, advancing to the second round.

Women's doubles wild cards:
Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez(CAN)
Hailey Baptiste and Whitney Osuigwe
Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton

Kristina Penickova and Thea Frodin
Carmen Corley and Ivana Corley
Clervie Ngounoue and Iva Jovic
Julieta Pareja and Akasha Urhobo

The women's doubles draw is here.

Two matches featuring Americans are still underway,(updated Wednesday morning) but the results of the other first round matches of US players and Wednesday's second round contests featuring Americans are below. The overall first round record for Americans was 23-25.

Tuesday's US Open first round results of Americans:

Coco Gauff[4] d. Ajla Tomljanovic(AUS) 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5

Amanda Anisimova[8] d. Kimberly Birrell(AUS) 6-3, 6-2

Ashlyn Krueger d. Sofia Kenin[26] 5-7, 6-4, 6-2

Suzan Lamens(NED) d. Valerie Glozman[WC] 6-4, 6-2

Xinyu Wang(CHN) d. Caroline Dolehide 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 

Jaquelin Cristian(ROU) d. Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-0

Hailey Baptiste d. Katerina Siniakova(CZE) 7-5, 6-3

Nuno Borges(POR) d. Brandon Holt 6-4, 6-2, 6-3

Tommy Paul[14] d. Elmer Moller(DEN) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

Wednesday's US Open second round matches featuring Americans:

Zachary Svajda[Q] v Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Lloyd Harris[Q](RSA)

Ben Shelton[6] v Pablo Carenno Busta(ESP)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Martin Damm[Q]

Marcos Giron v Benjamin Bonzi(FRA)

Brandon Nakashima[30] v Jerome Kym[Q](SUI)

Eliot Spizzirri[WC] v Luciano Darderi[32](ITA)

Jessica Pegula[4] v Anna Blinkova(RUS)

Iva Jovic v Jasmine Paolini[7](ITA)

Emma Navarro[10] v Caty McNally[WC]

McCartney Kessler[32] v Marketa Vondrousova(CZE)

Taylor Townsend v Jelena Ostapenko[25](LAT)

Ann Li v Belinda Bencic[16](SUI)

US Open Junior Championships Wild Cards; Iva Jovic Bucks Trend of US Teen Losses in First Round of US Open; Cloudy Future for Tennis Journalism

The US Open Junior Championships begin Thursday with qualifying, followed by a Sunday start for main draw, so it's time for the wild cards to be named. Hannah Ayrault and Marcel Latak won USO junior main draw wild cards with their 16s titles in San Diego and Kalamazoo; the other seven main draw wild cards are discretionary. As in the past, the USTA provides a qualifying wild card to the Japanese high school champions. The three girls on the team that won the ITF World Junior Tennis competition in the Czech Republic earlier this month--Emery Combs, Carol Shao and Olivia de los Reyes--received qualifying wild cards.

Boys main draw:
Marcel Latak, Kalamazoo 16s champion
Gavin Goode
Matisse Farzam
Michael Antonius
Andrew Johnson
Vihaan Reddy
Tanishk Konduri
Carel Ngounoue

Boys qualifying
Naoto Tomizawa, Japan
Ford McCollum
Agassi Rusher
Zavier Augustin
Izyan Ahmad
Jerrid Gaines Jr.

Girls main draw:

Hannah Ayrault, San Diego 16s champion  
Alexis Nguyen
Welles Newman
Janae Preston
Lani Chang
Bella Payne
Leena Friedman
Nancy Lee

Girls qualifying:
Kurea Hayasaka, Japan
Emery Combs
Caroline Shao
Olivia de los Reyes
Margaret Sohns
Jordyn Hazelitt

It's rare when a Kalamazoo or San Diego 18s champion wins their first round match at the US Open, although Zachary Svajda did in 2021 and Iva Jovic posted a win last year. This year both USA National champions went out in straight sets, with Alyssa Ahn losing to No. 19 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-1, 6-0 and Darwin Blanch falling to qualifier Martin Damm 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Ahn couldn't shake her nerves and managed to win only 25 of the 80 points played in the match. Mertens played well, with five aces and 16 winners, her pace and depth too much for the 18-year-old Stanford freshman.

Blanch and Damm were more evenly matched, but Damm hit 24 aces, with his serve bailing him out of many tough spots. Blanch entered the match with a better ATP ranking than Damm, 364 to 431, but Damm did miss several months at the end of last year and the beginning of this year due to injury.

2023 San Diego 18s champion Clervie Ngounoue, a wild card, recovered from a rough start to challenge No. 29 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, but ultimately lost 6-0, 5-7, 6-4. ITF World No. 1 junior Julieta Pareja had nine double faults in her 6-3, 6-0 loss to No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, while Rybakina, who never faced a break point, had seven aces.

Iva Jovic is the only US teenager to pick up a win, so far, in the first round, with the 17-year-old Californian coming through a difficult first set to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 7-6(6), 6-3. There was nothing to separate them in the first set, but Jovic kept her level in the second set, while Sasnovich's six doubles faults in that set proved costly. 

Jovic will play No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the second round; they played a memorable match in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March, with Paolini escaping with a 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3 victory.

Monday's US Open first round matches featuring Americans:

Renata Zarazua(MEX) d. Madison Keys[6] 6-7(10), 7-6(3), 7-5

Karolina Muchova[11](CZE) d. Venus Williams[WC] 6-3, 2-6, 6-1

Mirra Andreeva[5](RUS) d. Alycia Parks 6-0, 6-1

Elise Mertens[19](BEL) d. Alyssa Ahn[WC] 6-1, 6-0

Zeynep Sonmez(TUR) d. Katie Volynets[Q] 6-3, 6-4

Iva Jovic d. Aliaksandra Sasnovich(BLR) 7-6(6), 6-3

Taylor Townsend d. Antonia Ruzic(CRO) 6-4, 6-4

Peyton Stearns d. Darja Semenistaja(LAT) 7-5, 6-0

Anna Kalinskaya[29](RUS) d. Clervie Ngounoue[WC] 6-0, 5-7, 6-4

Ann Li d. Rebecca Sramkova(SVK) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

Cristina Bucsa(ESP) d. Claire Liu[Q] 6-2, 6-1

Elena Rybakina[9](KAZ) d. Julieta Pareja[WC] 6-3, 6-0

Francis Tiafoe[17] d. Yoshihito Nishioka(JPN) 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-3

Carlos Alcaraz[2](ESP) d. Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-5, 6-4

Francisco Comesana[Q](ARG) d. Alex Michelsen[28] 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Tristan Boyer[WC] d. James Duckworth[LL](AUS) 6-3, 7-5, 6-4

Martin Damm[Q] d. Darwin Blanch[WC] 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Jenson Brooksby d. Aleksandar Vukic(AUS) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Jan-Lennard Struff[Q](GER) d. Mackenzie McDonald 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3

Coleman Wong[Q](HKG) d. Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(4)

Cameron Norrie d. Sebastian Korda 7-5, 6-4, ret.

Karen Khachanov[9](RUS) d. Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-1

With 38 Americans playing their first round matches on Sunday and Monday, that leaves only 10 in action on Tuesday. I'll be paying close attention to the 11 a.m. match between USTA Collegiate Playoff winner, Stanford sophomore Valeria Glozman, as the 18-year-old makes her slam debut against Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands.

Tuesday's US Open first round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[4] v Ajla Tomljanovic(AUS)

Amanda Anisimova[8] v Kimberly Birrell(AUS)

Ashlyn Krueger v Sofia Kenin[26]

Valerie Glozman[WC] v Suzan Lamens(NED)

Caroline Dolehide v Xinyu Wang(CHN)

Danielle Collins v Jaquelin Cristian(ROU)

Hailey Baptiste v Katerina Siniakova(CZE)

Tommy Paul[14] v Elmer Moller(DEN)

Brandon Holt v Nuno Borges(POR)

I was contacted by a writer for the Columbia Journalism Review earlier this month to give my thoughts on the state of tennis journalism. I was a bit surprised to be included with the likes of Jon Wertheim, Sally Jenkins and Ben Rothenberg, but I have  Michael Lewis, who covers the US Open Junior Championships for the ITF and is prominently featured in the article, to thank for suggesting me as someone with a different perspective. I appreciated the chance to think about the bigger picture in  tennis journalism, and although my contribution to today's article is minimal, I think it provides a broad, if not deep, glimpse into the obvious decline in independent sports journalism over the past decade.

Spizzirri Beats Dostanic for First Win at Major as US Open Begins; 2022 USO Girls Champion Eala Makes History Again; Twenty-Three Americans Play First Round Matches Monday

Generally the Sunday before the US Open gives me a brief chance to recover from my week covering the ITF J300 in College Park, but with the new Sunday start, I had to immediately turn my attention to the match between wild cards Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) and Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest). I had expected, with the form Dostanic had shown last week at the Winston-Salem Open, that the match would be close, certainly four sets, but Spizzirri prevailed in three close sets 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4). Spizzirri, who received a main draw wild card at the last minute when Brandon Holt(USC) got in  on his own, was just slightly more opportunistic, converting 4 of 13 break chances, while Dostanic was 2 of 10.

Spizzirri, who qualified in New York last year, but lost to Alex Michelsen in the first round, lost in the second round of qualifying at the three previous majors this year, so this marks his first win at a slam.

The biggest upset of the day was also a stunning comeback, with Alexandra Eala of the Philippines defeating No. 14 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(11). The 20-year-old left-hander. who won the the US Open girls title in 2022, trailed 5-1 in the third set, but fought back to become the first player from the Philippines to win a match at a major. 

In that 2022 girls final, her support from the local Filipino community was instrumental to her win, and I can only imagine what it was like on Grandstand today as she began her comeback. From my coverage of that final:

Eala addressed the Filipino community on site in the post-match ceremony in her native language and by the end of her brief remarks, she was overcome with emotion.

"In the speech I just  thanked my family and everyone who prayed and everyone who supported, and of course my sponsors," said Eala, who has won two junior slam doubles titles, at the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 Roland Garros. "I also said that I fought with my heart for this trophy, that it's not just my win, it's all of our wins. I said that I did this not just for myself; I did it so I could help Philippines tennis."

For more on today's match, see this article from usopen.org.

Sunday's US Open first round results of Americans

Ben Shelton[6] d. Ignacio Buse[Q](PER) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

Novak Djokovic[7](SRB) d. Learner Tien 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2

Taylor Fritz[4] d. Emilio Nava[WC] 7-5, 6-2, 6-3

Brandon Nakashima[30] d. Jesper de Jong[Q](NED) 6-2, 6-7(5), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(7)

Eliot Spizzirri[WC] d. Stefan Dostanic[WC] 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4)

Marcos Giron d. Mariano Navone(ARG) 6-0, 7-5, 4-6, 5-7, 6-4

Jerome Kym(SUI)[Q] d. Ethan Quinn 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5)

Zachary Svadja[Q] d. Zsombor Piros([Q]HUN) 6-4, 6-2, 7-5

Jessica Pegula[4] d. Mayar Sherif(EGY) 6-0, 6-4

Emma Navarro[10] d. Yafan Wang(CHN) 7-6(9), 6-3

McCartney Kessler[32] d. Magda Linette(POL) 7-5, 7-5

Caty McNally[WC] d. Jil Teichmann(SUI) 6-2, 6-2

Victoria Azarenka(BLR) d. Hina Inoue[Q] 7-6(0), 6-4

Tomorrow there are 23 Americans in first round singles action, and I'm going to be focusing on the 11 a.m. match between qualifier Martin Damm and Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch, while also watching San Diego 18s champion Alyssa Ahn, 16-year-old Julieta Pareja and 17-year-old Iva Jovic.

Monday's US Open first round matches featuring Americans:

Madison Keys[6] v Renata Zarazua(MEX)

Venus Williams[WC] v Karolina Muchova[11](CZE)

Alycia Parks v Mirra Andreeva[5](RUS)

Alyssa Ahn[WC] v Elise Mertens[19](BEL)

Katie Volynets[Q] v Zeynep Sonmez(TUR)

Iva Jovic v Aliaksandra Sasnovich(BLR)

Taylor Townsend v Antonia Ruzic(CRO)

Peyton Stearns v Darja Semenistaja(LAT)

Clervie Ngounoue[WC] v Anna Kalinskaya[29](RUS)

Ann Li v Rebecca Sramkova(SVK)

Claire Liu[Q] v Cristina Bucsa(ESP)

Juliet Pareja[WC] v Elena Rybakina[9](KAZ) 

Francis Tiafoe[17] v Yoshihito Nishioka(JPN)

Reilly Opelka v Carlos Alcaraz[2](ESP)

Alex Michelsen[28] v Francisco Comesana[Q](ARG)

Tristan Boyer[WC] v James Duckworth[LL](AUS)

Martin Damm[Q] v Darwin Blanch[WC]

Jenson Brooksby v Aleksandar Vukic(AUS)

Mackenzie McDonald v Jan-Lennard Struff[Q](GER)

Aleksandar Kovacevic v Coleman Wong[Q](HKG)

Sebastian Korda v Cameron Norrie

Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] v Karen Khachanov[9](RUS)

Alexandrescou and Liutova Claim Singles Titles at ITF J300 College Park, Goode and Cozad Capture Boys Doubles Championship; Fifteen of 48 Americans Begin US Open Play Sunday

©Colette Lewis 2025--
College Park MD--

The experience of No. 2 seed Yannick Alexandrescou prevailed in Saturday's ITF J300 College Park boys final, with the 17-year-old Romanian dispatching unseeded Michael Antonius of the United States 6-0, 6-2.

Yet in the girls final that followed that narrative was upended, with 15-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova ending her run with a first ITF J300 title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over third-seeded ITF junior veteran Laima Vladson of Lithuania.

Under sunny skies and with temperatures in the mid-80s, the Junior Tennis Champions Center was a beehive of activity as JTCC students and ballrunners (and their families) gathered to watch the players they hope to emulate.

Alexandrescou and Antonius treated the appreciative crowd to long, grueling rallies in the first three games, but once Alexandrescou broke the 15-year-old from Buffalo New York twice in deuce games, he was off and running. 

"The first three games were so physical for me," Alexandrescou said. "I don't know if it was stress or if I was tired, but he was taking the ball inside the line, he was not giving me time. But after that, I had time."

After the three less competitive games that followed gave Alexandrescou the 34-minute first set, Antonius needed a better start in the second, but he was broken in another deuce game. Antonius won his first game with a break for 1-1, but was broken again, and didn't hold serve until the fifth game of second set.

Alexandrescou had taken a medical timeout in the first set up 3-0 and took another up 2-1 in the second set, giving Antonius hope that he could wear down the much smaller Romanian, who had a long three-setter in the semifinals and was also in the doubles final. But Antonius was having his own physical issues.

"I could see his fatigue, but I just couldn't do anything about it, which was the worst part," said Antonius who was playing in his first ITF J300 final and facing an ITF Top 10 junior for the first time. "It was a tough day for me, physically, because I was feeling it with my shoes, my feet, just moving, the quad, everything was kind of bothering me. It was really difficult, because he's tiny and he plays a lot of extra balls. I just didn't execute in those close games and it made life a lot more difficult."

Alexandrescou, who came back from 15-40 in the last game of the match to earn his fourth ITF J300 title in four appearances in the finals, agreed that he had an edge today.

"He's an amazing player, born in 2010, so two years younger than me," said Alexandrescou, who is coached by Sebastian Rosianu in Bucharest. "I wish I was playing like him at his age. I was feeling sometimes during the game that I was more mature than him, because of the age, but I won today because we were having similar game styles and I was a bit more solid than him. I don't know if it's because of experience or not, but I'm Top 10 for a reason. I don't want to be arrogant, but still the ranking is there. I'm sure he'll get there as soon as possible."

Antonius will head into the US Open junior championships as a main draw wild card with the confidence that comes from reaching the final and beating three seeds, two of them Top 20, along the way.

"I'm just trying to keep the positives from this week," Antonius said. "There were a lot of good matches, wins over very strong players and I think I showed that my level overall can compete with them. I'm really looking forward to taking, not today's match, but the other level, to go to the US Open this year."

With three ITF J300 titles prior to this one, Alexandrescou didn't display much excitement after winning his fourth, but he is pleased with his form going into the US Open.

"I'm feeling awesome, after you win this type of tournament you are feeling amazing," Alexandrescou said. "But let's not get drunk with still water, how we say it in Romania. Because this is just a J300 event. What matters most is the pro career, but for now, it's the US Open. I'm in my prime right now, playing amazing since my (second round) loss at Wimbledon (to finalist Ronit Karki). I want to keep going to my best level and don't stop."

Unlike Alexandrescou, Liutova was not thinking beyond the accomplishment of her first ITF J300 title. Although the Seattle resident shines in long baseline rallies, she did not have that opportunity in the final against Vladson, who ended most of the points with an error or a winner.

"Yes, that's what we talked about," Liutova said of the lack of rhythm she was anticipating. "I told myself, if she makes a winner, once, twice, I just accept it, because we know her style and it happens. I just have to focus on my shots, try to get the ball back and place it more and stay consistent. I expected her to be an attacking player and I knew she would hit some winners."

After Liutova closed out the 30-minute first set, she opened with a break in the second and held that advantage until she broke Vladson again to go up 5-2. Vladson, who often vents her frustration during matches, was able to break Liutova for the only time in the set with Liutova's serve letting her down at 5-2, but she broke Vladson for the third time in the set and fifth time in the match to seal the title.

"I'm just disappointed in myself," said Vladson, who turns 18 next month. "I've put up good tennis this week and coming into the final I was just too nervous to play, and, at this age, it's, to be honest, unacceptable. I should have been ready, should have known what to do, but my mind just blanked."

Vladson credited Liutova for keeping her focus and sticking to her game plan.

"She wasn't giving me free points, so I think she was really good at being consistent, in the moment," said Vladson, who won two ITF J300 titles this winter in South America.  "I started out well, but I just couldn't finish it off. Mentally I wasn't here on court today. I was somewhere in the Bahamas. I have a week to prepare until the US Open, so I'll just put it behind me. It's the best motivation now, to go and do better at the US Open."

Liutova, who, at 372, does not have the ranking to play the US Open Junior Championships, demonstrated that she could stand up to the physical demands of playing eight matches in eight days. 

"I feel great, actually," said Liutova, who is coached by Ilya Osintsev and Tiago Campana at the Gorin Academy in Seattle, under the direction of founder Vitaly Gorin. "My coaches helped me before, we worked a lot, on that and on all aspects of my game, and I've made some improvements. I'm very excited by that, it's really great."

Liutova is unsure of her schedule, but is anticipating playing Bradenton and Orange Bowl on the ITF Junior Circuit, and USTA Pro Circuit women's tournaments as well.

The girls doubles title went to No. 4 seeds Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand and Ruien Zhang of China, who defeated No. 3 seeds Yushan Shao and Xinran Sun 7-5, 4-6, 10-5.

Yodpetch and Zhang, who trailed 4-1 in the opening set before winning six of the next seven games, had not played together before this week, and needed their first match to get comfortable together.

"In the second match we felt so comfortable to play together," said Yodpetch, 17. "The first match was good, but we had to have some time, but the second was good and today was good."

"First set we did really well on the pressure points," said the 17-year-old Zhang. "Second set we lose our concentration, but in the final set, we fought back, because we told ourselves we need to fight right now, it's not the time to rest."

Yodpetch had asked Zhang to partner with her before Wimbledon, but Zhang already had a partner. 

"So I said maybe next time," Zhang said. "Before Wimbledon(at Roehampton), we played against her and she played amazing, like Federer. From that moment, I was like, oh my god, that's my partner."

"She has so much energy," Yodpetch said. "I need people to push me, because my style is like this (drawing a straight line with her hand). "When I'm getting more emotional, she can help me to calm down," Zhang said. "And when she's a bit upset, I can cheer her up. We fit well together."

Zhang and Yodpetch will be continuing their partnership at the US Open.

The boys doubles champions are also expecting to play together at the US Open, with Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode of the United States denying Alexandrescou a sweep with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-6 win over the Romanian and Ryo Tabata of Japan.

Cozad and Goode, the No. 8 seeds, led 6-2, 2-0 before Alexandrescou and Tabata, the No. 2 seeds finally got going.

"They definitely picked up their level," said Cozad, a 16-year-old from Georgia. "There was also a ball change, so they were swinging and going for it, started playing really well."

"Yannick started pumping himself up and going for his shots a lot more," said Goode, a 17-year-old from North Carolina. "That raised his partner's level a lot too so they got a lot of momentum."

Cozad and Goode went back to a more aggressive style in the tiebreaker, returning well and staying on offense.

Up 5-1 and 8-4 at the change of ends, Cozad and Goode earned five match points, but Alexandrescou held both his serves, before Cozad closed out their third ITF junior circuit doubles title with a good first serve.

"We knew when we're playing our games, playing aggressive, playing the right kind of doubles, it goes in our favor," Goode said. "I think we just gave ourselves the best shot to win in that third set."

"We mesh well together," said Cozad, the right-hander in the righty-lefty duo. "Forehands in the middle."

The US Open begins on a Sunday for the first time in the Open Era, with 15 of the 48 Americans, the most since 1997, on the schedule. 

Sunday's US Open first round matches featuring Americans

Ben Shelton[6] v Ignacio Buse[Q](PER)

Learner Tien v Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Emilio Nava[WC]

Brandon Nakashima[30] v Jesper de Jong[Q](NED)

Stefan Dostanic[WC] v Eliot Spizzirri[WC]

Marcos Giron v Mariano Navone(ARG)

Ethan Quinn v Jerome Kym(SUI)

Zachary Svadja[Q] v Zsombor Piros(HUN)

Jessica Pegula[4] v Mayar Sherif(EGY)

Emma Navarro[10] v Yafan Wang(CHN)

McCartney Kessler[32] v Magda Linette(POL)

Caty McNally[WC] v Jil Teichmann(SUI)

Hina Inoue[Q] v Victoria Azarenka(BLR)

Unseeded Antonius and Liutova Reach ITF J300 College Park Finals; Five Americans Qualify for US Open

©Colette Lewis 2025--

College Park, MD

The first sunny day of the tournament at the Junior Tennis Champions Center was the backdrop for two 15-year-olds to earn their first appearance in a ITF J300 final: Michael Antonius of the United States and Russian-born Kristina Liutova, who has trained in the US since 2020.

Antonius, who had beaten seeds in the previous three rounds, defeated unseeded Matei Todoran of Romania 7-5, 6-3, with the key to his win appearing in the last game of the first set.

"If I remember correctly, it was 30-40 on his serve, and he hit a backhand crosscourt, his backhand was so solid in that game," said Antonius, who is from Buffalo New York, but trains with the USTA at the National Campus in Lake Nona Florida. "Then I hit two easy balls to his forehand at deuce, and I didn't know if he was tight or nervous but he wasn't able to put them in the court. That game made me realize that in the second set, I should be targeting the forehand a bit."

Antonius got the first break of the second set, when Todoran, a 17-year-old from Cluj-Napoca, saved two break points, but double faulted to give Antonius a third, which the American converted. He held easily to take a 5-2 lead, and after a love hold from Todoran, stepped up to serve for the match. After serving for the first set at 5-3 and failing to close it out on that first attempt with some poor execution, Antonius was determined not to make the same mistake in the second set.

He went up 40-0, with Todoran making errors to assist him, but missed an overhead to squander the first match point. On the second, Todoran hit a forehand wide to send Antonius into his first J300 final.

"I could see he was getting tired and (USTA coach) Sylvain(Guichard) was telling me to stay physical and make him work for everything," Antonius said. "I just told myself, you need to get over the finish line now."

Antonius will face No. 2 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania, who defeated No. 4 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2 to reach his fourth J300 final of the year but the first on hard courts.  

With the first set featuring just one early break for each, doubles partners Alexandrescou and Tabata went to the tiebreaker with nothing to separate them, but Tabata took control, jumping out to a 4-0 lead with four straight winners. Alexandrescou did get back on serve, closing the gap to 6-5, but a big Tabata forehand forced an error from Alexanderescou to give him lead.

"He dominated me in the tiebreaker, he started hitting four winners," said the 17-year-old from Bucharest, who doesn't usually concede many winners, especially four in a row. "I couldn't do anything. When you start bad in the tiebreak, there's no chances that you are going to win it."

Alexandrescou describes his game as "very normal, I stay back, try to counterpunch," so he doesn't credit himself for any strategic changes that reversed the results in the next two sets.

"I was lucky he got physically tired, I think he cramped, he couldn't serve like he did in the first set," Alexandrescou said. "I really think he dropped a lot the level because of the way he was serving when he was cramping."

Alexandrescou knows that playing someone as young as Antonius in the final changes the dynamics, even with the experience he has gained with his three ITF J300 titles.

"I know he's 2010(birth year), so no pressure tomorrow," Alexandrescou said. "I haven't saw him much, but if he's in the finals of a J300 level at 15, he's obviously a great player, with a great future, so I'm very pumped for tomorrow's match and I'll try to improvise."

The roles were reversed today in the girls semifinals, with No. 3 seed Laima Vladson, who had won all three of her matches in three sets, getting a quick 4-0, retired victory from No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia, while qualifier Kristina Liutova was pushed to three sets for the first time before defeating No. 9 seed Xinran Sun of China 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Vladson wasn't putting any pressure on herself to end the match quickly, as her 6-1 third set over No. 6 seed Yushan Shao of China in the quarterfinals Thursday had provided the confidence she needed.

"I wasn't really expecting much from myself, just trying to stay grounded, to go for my shots," said the 17-year-old from Lithuania, who won back-to-back J300 titles in South American this winter. "I know what I did yesterday to win and I was just trying to follow the same plan for today. And it did work, so I'm really grateful that my coaches and the ITF (Grand Slam Touring) team are helping me accomplish my goals for this tournament and the US Open."

Vladson is not playing the ITF J300 in Canada next week, nor are any of the other players on the ITF team, which includes Alexandrescou, Tabata, Alan Wazny, Oskari Paldanius, Beatrise Zeltina and Cvetkovic. Instead the group will stay at JTCC to train and prepare for the US Open Junior Championships, which begin in nine days.

"I love when there's a tournament that feels like a community," said Vladson, who participated in the annual bowling party last night. "Not just you come to the tournament, you play a match, you go back to the hotel and that's it."

Vladson doesn't leave her competitive instincts at the courts, as she reported that she beat all her friends in bowling last night.

"Me and Alan Wazny tied, but it was fun, and we beat everyone else by a landslide," Vladson said.

Liutova had moved through her first six matches, including qualifying, so comfortably that it was a shock when she dropped the first set to Sun, who is also 15 years old. Liutova could have gotten rattled, but she did not panic, crediting the coaching of her mother Lena with helping her return to the game plan.

"My mom gave me some notes before the match, but I didn't read them in the first set, I was so tight," said Liutova, who admitted to feeling nervous at the thought of her first J300 final. "In the second set, I read them of course, and I started to be more consistent, maybe play with more margin and just let myself play tennis, not think about the result at all. My mom, when I lost the first set, just told me to fight to the end; didn't matter if I win or lose, just fight, and play your game."

In the third set, Sun switched from looking defeated to a defiantly aggressive game style, especially after she fell behind two breaks at 3-0.

Liutova recognized the danger of that situation and made adjustments in response.

"I told myself, she has nothing to lose,and she started returning deeply on the line, aggressive," Liutova said. "So if she got more aggressive, I should be twice as consistent."

Liutova faced two break points in the final game, but saved them both, hitting three winners in succession to close out the match.

"I'm so excited to be in the final, to play in that energy," Liutova said.

After training for many years at the Gorin Academy, Liutova is currently unaffiliated as per the ITF's decision on Russian athletes, but would like to represent the United States.

"I hope it will be as soon as possible," Liutova said. "I want to be with the United States, as soon as I can."

The doubles finals are set for Saturday, with the girls final set for 10:30 a.m. concurrent with the boys singles final. No. 4 seeds Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand and Ruien Zhang of China will face the third-seeded Chinese team of Shao and Sun. Yodpetch and Zhang defeated unseeded Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann and Karlin Schock 6-4, 4-6, 10-7. while Shao and Sun received a walkover from Cvetkovic and France's Ksenia Efremova, due to Cvetkovic's injury.

The boys doubles final will feature No. 2 seeds Alexandrescou and Tabata against No. 8 seeds Gavin Goode and Ryan Cozad.

Goode and Cozad beat Antonius and Andrew Johnson 6-2, 6-2, with Alexandrescou and Tabata wrapping up the day's play with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 6 seeds Savva Rybkin of Russia and Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey.

Links to live streaming of all finals will be available at the JTCC tournament site. The girls singles final will follow the boys singles final on Stadium Court, with the boys doubles final to follow.

After a day of rain Wednesday, the qualifying for the US Open concluded today in New York, with five more Americans advancing to the main draw, putting the total at 48.

Katie Volynets, Hina Inoue and Claire Liu are among the 25 women from the United States in the main draw, with Inoue making her slam debut.  Martin Damm and Zachary Svajda, both Kalamazoo champions, joined the 21 US men already in the main draw with Damm, the 2018 16s champion playing Darwin Blanch, the 2022 16s and 2025 18s champion, in the first round.

Friday's final round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Leandro Riedi(SUI) d. Garrett Johns[WC] 7-6(5), 6-4

Zachary Svajda[22] d. Marc-Andrea Huesler(SUI) 6-3, 6-2

Martin Damm[WC] d. Yuta Shimizu(JPN) 7-6(10), 6-4

Jesper de Jong[2](NED) d. Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 6-1

Katie Volynets[7] d. Jana Fett(CRO) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3

Oksana Selekhmeteva(RUS) d. Ayana Akli[WC] 7-5, 2-6, 6-2

Hina Inoue d. Lucrezia Stefanini(ITA) 7-6(4), 6-1

Claire Liu d. Veronika Erjavec[32](SLO) 7-5, 6-4

I'll put the US matchups for Sunday's US Open play in tomorrow's post.

Antonius Defeats No. 3 Seed Wazny to Reach ITF J300 College Park Semifinals, Cvetkovic Battles Past Yodpetch; Eight Americans Reach Final Round of Qualifying at US Open, Men's and Women's Singles Draws Revealed

©Colette Lewis 2024--
College Park MD--

Another day of clouds, cool temperatures and occasional drizzle extended through Thursday's singles and doubles quarterfinals of the ITF J300 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, but all matches were completed outdoors.

The boys top half semifinal Friday will feature two surprises, with unseeded Matei Todoran of Romania and Michael Antonius of the United States guaranteeing an unseeded finalist after three-set victories today.

Todoran, 17, ended the run of Tanishk Konduri, who had taken out top seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland Wednesday, with a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-0 quarterfinal victory. 

Antonius, playing on Stadium Court for the first time, dropped the first set in a tiebreaker, but used some of the advice from his USTA coach Sylvain Guichard to rebound for a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 3 seed Alan Wazny of Poland.

"He said a few things that really helped me," said the 15-year-old from Buffalo New York, who had access to Guichard's coaching today because chair umpires were being used for the first time in the tournament. "He doesn't say much and sometimes it's more mental than tactical, but today he said, 'don't rush it, he's getting tired, just keep the match physical.' And that's what I do pretty well generally. He also said 'play to win.' If my opponent's playing a little bit passive I need to convert on that opportunity. It doesn't mean hitting winners, it doesn't mean going for the kill immediately, but I need to stand up in the court and not play passive as well."

Wazny, who has won the last two junior slam doubles titles, has great touch, and was able to use his drop shots effectively early, but once Antonius began to hit more aggressively and deeper in the second set, Wazny had less opportunities to be creative.

"I started returning really well in the third set, deep and heavy, quality returns," Antonius said. "Keeping him back, that really helped, because then he had to go for broke a bit and wasn't able to use his hands. That was another thing Sylvain said, 'he's trying to play fancy, you play boring'. That really worked."

Antonius and Todoran have not played, with both seeking their first appearance in a J300 final.

In the bottom half semifinal, doubles partners Ryo Tabata of Japan and Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania will face off in the morning prior to playing in the doubles semifinal in the afternoon.

Tabata, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 5 seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia 6-2, 7-5, while Alexandrescou beat No. 8 seed Keaton Hance 6-3, 6-2. The two 17-year-olds have played once before, in the round robin stage of the Junior Davis Cup last November, with Alexandrescou winning in three sets.

The girls semifinals will feature three seeds and qualifier Kristina Liutova of Russia, who continued her march through the field with a 6-1, 6-2 win over unseeded Nancy Lee. Liutova, who has lost no more than three games in a set in her four victories, will face another 15-year-old in Xinran Sun of China, the ninth seed, who beat No. 4 seed Beatrise Zeltina of Latvia 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

In the top half, No. 3 seed Laima Vladson claimed her third consecutive three-set victory, beating No. 6 seed Yushan Shao of China 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. She will play No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia, who defeated No. 14 seed Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand 7-6(8), 6-2.

Cvetkovic had posted two routine wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, but she was pushed to the limit in the first set by Yodpetch, who had beaten top seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina Wednesday. The start-stop-start-again interruptions due to the drizzle were also challenging.

"We played 2-1 first set, then rain and then break," said the 17-year-old, who is in the United States for the first time. "Then again coming to the court and again break. It's tough for my mind."

Down 5-0, 6-2 and 7-6 in the first set tiebreaker, Cvetkovic fought back, giving Yodpetch nothing when down five set points.

"The first set was amazing, unbelievable," Cvetkovic said. "I was saying, be positive, I can do it, play every point, every ball, full focus. I didn't miss one ball, so she needs to do something, and she missed some balls."

Cvetkovic was less impressed with the level of tennis in the second set.

"Second set, both of us is tired, so it was, not bad, but not like the first set," Cvetkovic said. "I'm proud of myself, after the tough first set and everything."

Seventeen-year-olds Cvetkovic and Vladson are both traveling to the United States as members of the ITF Grand Slam Touring Team, but did not know each other previously and haven't played before.

Six of the eight singles semifinalists will also be competing in the doubles semifinals Friday afternoon.

No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Ksenia Efremova of France will face the third-seeded team of Sun and Shao. Cvetkovic and Efremova defeated No. 6 seeds Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India and Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 6-2, 6-3, while Sun and Shao beat unseeded Jordyn Hazelitt and Raya Kosteva 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-6. No. 4 seeds Yodpetch and Ruien Zhang of China, who beat Lani Chang and Lee 6-2, 7-5, will face the unseeded team of Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann and Karlin Schock. Drenser and Schock beat Isabelle DeLuccia and Anita Tu 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.

Antonius and Andrew Johnson, the only unseeded team in the semifinals, beat Nicolas Pedraza and Erik Schinnerer 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 and will play No. 8 seeds Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode in an all-USA semifinal. Cozad and Goode beat Connor Plunkett and Czech Oliver Sanders 6-2, 6-2.

No. 2 seeds Alexandrescou and Tabata will play No. 6 seed Savva Rybkin of Russia and Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey in the other semifinal. Alexanderescou and Tabata defeated No. 7 seeds Linus Lagerbohm of Finland and Todoran 6-3, 6-4. Rybkin and Yilmaz beat Nicholas Mekhael and Agassi Rusher 6-2, 6-3.

All four semifinals are scheduled for 10 a.m., with the doubles semifinals following not before 12:30 p.m. Links to live streaming and live scoring can be found at the JTCC tournament page.

Eight Americans have advanced to Friday's final round of qualifying at the US Open, including three who received wild cards into qualifying.

Thursday's second round results of Americans:

Dalma Galfi[4](HUN) d. Fiona Crawley[WC] 6-2, 6-2

Katie Volynets[7] d. Amelia Honer[WC] 6-2, 6-7(4), 1-0 ret.

Hina Inoue d. Simona Waltert[24](SUI) 6-3, 6-2

Claire Liu d. Maddison Inglis(AUS) 6-3, 7-5

Ayana Akli[WC] d. Harriet Dart(GBR) 7-6(4), 6-1

Ella Seidel[21](GER) d. Sachia Vickery 6-1, 6-2

Dino Prizmic[19](CRO) d. Murphy Cassone 6-3, 6-2

Daniel Galan[32](COL) d. Patrick Maloney[WC] 6-4, 6-2

Pablo Llamas Ruiz(ESP) d. Andres Martin[WC] 6-4, 6-4

Jerome Kym(SUI) d. Michael Zheng[WC] 6-3, 6-4

Martin Damm[WC] d. Benjamin Hassan(LBN) 7-5, 7-6(5)

Zachary Svajda[24] d. Beibit Zhukayev(KAZ) 6-3, 7-5

Garrett Johns[WC] d. Oliver Crawford(GBR) 7-6(4), 6-3

Mitchell Krueger d. Andrea Collarini(ARG) 7-6(4), 7-5

Friday's final round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Garrett Johns[WC] v Leandro Riedi(SUI)

Zachary Svajda[22] v Marc-Andrea Huesler(SUI)

Martin Damm[WC] v Yuta Shimizu(JPN)

Mitchell Krueger v Jesper de Jong[2](NED)

Katie Volynets[7] v Jana Fett(CRO)

Ayana Akli[WC] v Oksana Selekhmeteva(RUS)

Hina Inoue v Lucrezia Stefanini(ITA)

Claire Liu v Veronika Erjavec[32](SLO)

The men's and women's singles draws were released this afternoon, with USTA National 18s champions Darwin Blanch and Alyssa Ahn learning their opponents for their slam debuts. Blanch will face a qualifier or lucky loser, while Ahn has drawn No. 19 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.

USTA Collegiate Playoff winners Stefan Dostanic and Valerie Glozman also will be making their slam debuts, with Dostanic playing fellow wild card Eliot Spizzirri and Glozman facing Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands.

Julieta Pareja plays No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, while Clervie Ngounoue faces No. 29 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

Play begins on Sunday this year for the first time.