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.