My Kalamazoo Preview; Li Starts Another Run at Kalamazoo; 18s Seeds Begin Play Saturday; Spizzirri and Svajda Reach Lexington Challenger Semis; Kang and Kim to Meet in M25 Edwardsville Semifinal; Blackman Joins JTCC as CEO

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Kalamazoo MI--

My annual preview of the USTA National 18s and 16s in Kalamazoo is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and not only does it focus on the top contenders, but comments from some former participants. While I was in Bloomfield Hills for the Challenger last week, I spoke with Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech) and Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) about their memories of the tournament. They had different perspectives, with Eubanks playing it just once and Spizzirri three times, although his fourth did happen due to the pandemic.

The weather couldn't have been any better for the first day of the B16s and 18s Nationals, with temperatures in the low 70s and partly cloudy skies. Despite a couple of three-hour plus 18s singles matches in the morning, the last matches of the day, in 18s doubles, were finished by 6 p.m. No seeds played on the first day, with all 64 of the 18s seeds in action Saturday at Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan University's Sorensen Courts. 

Saturday will produce dejá vu for unseeded Andrew Li, who once again faces No. 15 seed Lukas Phimvongsa in a second round Kalamazoo match, after posting a routine first round victory.

Last year, the unseeded 18-year-old from San Diego won his opening round match, then played Phimvongsa, a 33 seed, in the second round, taking that match 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Li continued to build on that result, reaching the round of 16 before falling to finalist Jack Kennedy 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Li admitted to sneaking a look at the draw prior to his 6-2, 6-1 victory today over Tarun Gopalakrishnan.

"I peeked ahead and I saw that it was looking like a repeat of last year," Li said. "Obviously, it's not easy being seeded here at the Zoo, and he deserves a lot of respect, and I'm going to go out there tomorrow and battle and see what happens."

Li is fine with his role as underdog again Saturday.

"I don't really play that well when I do have expectations," Li said. "That's why I did so well last year. But I think the weight of how well I did last year definitely is on my shoulders, so I'm going to try to put that aside and play freely, knowing, at the same time, that I'm capable of making very deep runs in these big tournaments. So I'm super excited to see what's next."

Phimvongsa played No. 3 at Brown last season, going 16-12, while Li, who has committed to Rice for the fall of 2026, is looking forward to competing for the Owls.

"I took my visit in September, visited a couple of other schools before I committed in April," so I had a little bit of time to think about my decision. "It's been incredible. I love Houston, I love the team there, the facilities are super nice and the academics speak for themselves, so I'm super excited to play for them."

Li admits that having the commitment decision behind him has changed his outlook on his future.

"The pressure of committing has eased and now I can focus on getting better as a player, not on which college I want to go to," Li said. "I think it's helped my tennis a lot, and the Zoo has helped the process: having a good Kalamazoo, competing well and showing coaches that you fight for every point gives them hope as a coach. I think once you show them who you are as a player and you commit, tennis becomes a lot easier for you things free up a lot."

The first round of 16s singles is Saturday, along with the second round of 18s singles and doubles. The second round of 16s singles and doubles is scheduled for Sunday.

For live streaming at Stowe Stadium and live scoring for all courts, see ustaboys.com.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Lexington Kentucky, No. 2 seed and wild card Eliot Spizzirri has advanced to his fourth straight Challenger final, beating qualifier DK Suresh(Wake Forest) of India 7-6(4), 6-4. Spizzirri will face the winner of tonight's match between Giles Hussey(Tennessee) of Great Britain and Bernard Tomic of Australia. Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda, the No. 6 seed, beat top seed Nishesh Basavareddy 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. Svajda will face unseeded Yu Hsiou Hsu of Taiwan, who beat  Michael Zheng(Columbia) 6-1, 7-5. 

Qualifier Fiona Crawley has continued her run at the W75 in Lexington, with the former North Carolina All-American defeating wild card Kayla Day 6-4, 6-2 in this evening's quarterfinal. Crawley will play No. 7 seed Janice Tjen of Indonesia, the former Pepperdine All-American, who beat No. 3 seed Jessika Ponchet of France 6-4, 6-2. 

No. 2 seed Varvara Lepchenko will face No. 4 seed Xiyu Wang of China in the other semifinal. 

At the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois, No. 7 seed Kyle Kang(Stanford) defeated top seed Tyler Zink(Oklahoma State) 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the semifinals, where he'll play No. 6 seed and wild card Aidan Kim(Ohio State). Kim defeated qualifier Nick Kotzen(Columbia) 6-3, 6-4.

The bottom half quarterfinal will feature No. 3 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain and qualifier Marko Milandinovic(Baylor) of Serbia.

In May, Ray Benton, the CEO of Junior Tennis Champions Center announced his retirement, effective at the end of this year, and I heard today at Kalamazoo that Benton will be succeeded by Martin Blackman, the former General Manager of Player Development at the USTA. Blackman, who was employed at JTCC for five years beginning in 2004, is expected to join JTCC this fall.