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)