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.