Kennedy Defeats Top Seed at W15 Winston-Salem; Jones Avenges AO Loss to Sonobe at Rancho Santa Fe W50; Zheng's Challenger Winning Streak Continues; Shao Beats Liutova at J200 Corpus Christi;Tien Reaches First ATP Final in Beijing

The first round of play today at the M15 in Winston-Salem North Carolina featured only four main draw singles matches, but the top seed is already out. Karl Poling(Princeton, North Carolina) lost to 17-year-old Jack Kennedy 7-5, 6-3. Kennedy, playing his first tournament since winning the boys doubles title at the US Open earlier this month, will play the winner of two qualifiers in the second round: Oren Vasser(William & Mary, Miami) and Kuangqing (Chris) Xu, a sophomore at North Carolina.

Kennedy is one of three junior reserved entries, with his US Open doubles partner Keaton Hance drawing No. 2 seed DK Suresh of Wake Forest, and Jangjun Kim, a sophomore at Virginia, losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 today to former Tennessee star Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan, the No. 8 seed.

Wake Forest freshman Dominick Mosejczuk received a wild card, as did Wake Forest sophomores Cornelius Shalmi and Joaquin Guilleme. Mosejczuk plays fellow Demon Deacon Andrew Delgado in Wednesday's first round, while Shalmi lost to teammate Luca Pow, a junior at Wake Forest 6-4, 7-5. Guilleme lost his first round match today against No. 4 seed Peter Bertran(Georgia, South Florida) of the Dominican Republic 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

There are two women's USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, both in California, with the W50 Rancho Santa Fe in Southern California and the W35 San Rafael in Northern California. 

Louisa Chirico and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus are the top two seeds, who will play their first round matches Wednesday. The No. 3 seed is 17-year-old Emerson Jones of Australia, playing her first tournament since losing in the final round of qualifying last month at the US Open. Today she took on fellow 17-year-old Wakana Sonobe, who had beaten her in the semifinals of the Australian Open Junior Championships this year en route to the title. This time Jones came out on top, posting a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Wild cards were given to Haley Giavara(Cal), Akasha Urhobo, Rose Marie Nijkamp(Oklahoma State) of the Netherlands and Hina Inoue. Inoue, who was just returning from a W125 in China, lost to Urhobo in a first round match today 6-2, 6-2.

Americans who qualified for the main draw today are Katrina Scott, Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and Victoria Hu(Princeton), with Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State) getting in as a lucky loser. University of Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel, who received a Junior Exempt spot in the draw based on her Top 20 ITF junior ranking, lost to Elli Mandlik 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round today. ITF World Junior No. 1 Julieta Pareja, who received entry based on her WTA ranking, will face Katherine Sebov of Canada in the first round Wednesday.

In San Rafael, first round matches are still underway, but qualifying is complete, with W35 Berkeley champion Merna Refaat, playing her ninth match in nine days, through to the main draw with a 6-4, 6-2 win over top qualifying seed Ziva Falkner of Slovenia. Refaat, a sophomore at Auburn, went straight from winning a rain delayed final Sunday in Berkeley to the first round of qualifying Monday in San Rafael, but continued her winning streak regardless. 

Americans advancing to the main draw are Victoria Flores(Georgia Tech, Pepperdine), Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) and Madison Brengle.

Main draw wild cards were given to Jaedan Brown(Michigan), Thea Frodin, Maya Iyengar and Texas freshman Christasha McNeil. 

Lea Ma(Georgia) is the top seed, with Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain the No. 2 seed.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Tiburon California, Columbia senior Michael Zheng extended his Challenger winning streak to 11, with the No. 7 seed defeating San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain 6-4, 6-3 in today's first round. Zheng had lost to Tarvet in a dual match in March 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. Zheng, who the Columbus Challenger two weeks ago, and the Chicago Challenger in August, will play qualifier Olle Wallin(Charlotte, Texas Tech) of Sweden, who beat Martin Damm 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. 

Stanford senior Samir Banerjee, who received a wild card, beat Philip Sekulic of Australia 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to advance to a second round meeting with No. 4 seed Benjamin Hassan of Lebanon.

Las Vegas Challenger champion Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan beat top seed Jurij Rodionov of Austria for the second straight week, this time in the first round, rather than the quarterfinals last week, 7-6(3), 6-4. He will play Alfredo Perez(Florida) next, after Perez beat wild card Trevor Svajda 6-4, 6-4. 

The top four boys seeds--Ryan Cozad, Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson and Roshan Santhosh--have all advanced to the third round at the J200 in Corpus Christi Texas, but there were a couple of surprises in the girls second round today.  Raina Miae Kim defeated No. 3 seed Ireland O'Brien 6-3, 7-6(4), and Kerrville J60 champion Carol Shao, who is 14, defeated No. 6 seed and ITF J300 College Park champion Kristina Liutova 6-3, 6-4. Girls top seed Kori Montoya and No. 4 seed Maggie Sohns advanced to the third round with straight-sets victories.

Two-time Kalamazoo champion Learner Tien(USC) has reached his first ATP final, at the 500 tournament in Beijing China. Tien, who dropped the first set in both the quarterfinals and semifinals to Lorenzo Musetti[4] and Daniil Medvedev[8] ended up getting third-set retirements from both and will face top seed Jannik Sinner in Wednesday's final. Tien, who had not reached an ATP semifinal before this week, is now up to 36 in the ATP live rankings. For more on his match with Medvedev, see this article from the ATP website.

Efremova and Pleshivtsev Capture ITF J500 Titles in Osaka; Gaines and Shao Claim J60s in Texas; J200 Underway in Corpus Christi; Refaat wins W35 in Berkeley; USTA Announces Annual Australian Open Wild Card Challenge

No. 2 seed Ksenia Efremova and No. 4 seed Egor Pleshivtsev won their first ITF J500 titles over the weekend in Osaka Japan. Efremova, a 16-year-old from France, defeated No. 11 seed Anna Pushkareva of Russia 6-1, 6-2 to cap a week in which she didn't drop a set.  Pushkareva had beaten top seed Kristina Penickova 7-6(2), 6-4 in the semifinals.

Pleshivtsev, an 18-year-old from Russia, dropped just one set, in his 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Kunanan Pantartorn of Thailand in the semifinals, beating unseeded 16-year-old Kanta Watanabe of Japan 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

Efremova, partnering with Penickova, also won the doubles title, with the top seeds beating the seventh-seeded sisters pairing of Renee and Rianna Alame of Australia 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 in the final. 

Unseeded Ivan Iutkin and Egor Shcherbakov of Russia won the boys doubles, beating No. 2 seeds Tito Chavez of Spain and Jamie Mackenzie of Germany 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-6 in the final.

At the J60 in Kerrville Texas last week, top seed Jerrid Gaines Jr and No. 3 seed Caroline Shao won the titles, with the 16-year-old Gaines claiming his third ITF Junior Circuit singles title with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Yashwin Krishnakumar in the all-USA final.

Shao's title was her first, with the 14-year-old, who played on the USA's ITF World Junior Tennis 14U championship team this August, beating unseeded Aya Manning 6-2, 6-3. Manning had defeated top seed and Shao's WJT teammate Olivia De Los Reyes 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals.

Emery Combs, the third member of the USA's WJT team, who lost to Manning in singles earlier, won the doubles title with De Los Reyes. The top seeds defeated unseeded Natasha Jerkunica and Molly Widlansky 6-3, 6-2 in the final. 

Unseeded James Ross and Kristian Sharma won the boys doubles title in Kerrville, beating top seeds Gaines and Kayden Colombo 6-4, 6-1 in the final. It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for Sharma and the second for Ross.

Seventeen-year-old Vincent Weaver swept the titles for a second straight week at another J30 in the Dominican Republic. The No. 7 seed defeated top seed Isaac Guerrero Hernandez of the Dominican Republic 6-4, 6-0 in the singles final and partnered again with Maddox Iliescu for the doubles title. They defeated David Bayat and Johnny Wolf in the all-USA final between unseeded teams. No. 2 seeds Sofia Kedrin and Isabella Porto won the girls doubles title, beating Viktorie Dufkova and Renata Janoviakova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

Unseeded 17-year-old Piper Johnson won her first ITF Junior Circuit title at the J30 in Nicaragua, beating wild card Fernanda Martinez Yepez of Mexico 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the final. Sofia Mills partnered with Mexico's Maria Jose Gil Castillo for the girls doubles title, with the top seeds beating unseeded Brielle Amey and Veronica Rabinovich of Canada 6-1, 6-4 in the final. 

At the ITF J100 in Mexico, unseeded Chase Kelley and Gurjot Singh won the boys doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Niccolo Magagnin of Italy and Santiago Ovalle Santizo of Guatemala 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-5 in the final. Gurjot, unseeded, reached the boys singles final, losing to top seed Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan 6-3, 6-2. Unseeded Emery June Martin reached the girls singles final, losing to 14-year-old top seed Sofia Bielinska of Ukraine 6-2, 7-5.

Teaghan Jou An Keys and Mexico's Natalia Varela Herrera, the No. 2 seeds, lost in the girls doubles final to No. 4 seeds Romina Dominguez Garcia and Montserrat Marron of Mexico 5-7, 7-6(4), 10-6.

I'll be in Houston next week for the ITF J300 Pan American Closed there; this week the Texas ITF Junior Circuit is in Corpus Christi and it's a J200, an upgrade from the previous J60 status.

Ryan Cozad, Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson and Roshan Santhosh are the top four boys seeds and all won their first round matches today.  Kori Montoya, Isabelle DeLuccia, Ireland O'Brien and Maggie Sohns are the top four girls seeds. DeLuccia lost in the first round today to Reiley Rhodes 6-2, 6-1. College Park J300 champion Kristina Liutova is the No. 6 seed and will play Kerrville champion Shao in the second round Tuesday.

In a match that finished late last night on the East Coast due to wet courts at the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Berkeley California, Auburn sophomore Merna Refaat of Egypt won her second ITF women's World Tennis Tour singles title, her first coming at a W15 in 2022. Refaat, who won two matches to qualify, dropped her only set in her seven victories in the final against Johanne Svendsen of Denmark. But she rebounded for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win and will move close to the WTA Top 700 when the points are added.

The annual USTA Wild Card Challenge for the reciprocal wild card into the Australian Open next year will begin next week for the women and the week after that for the men. Both have five-week windows, but only three weeks are counted for the women and four for the men, for reasons that aren't clear to me. The USTA's release:

Australian Open Wild Card Challenge to Begin Week of October 6 for Women, 

October 13 for Men

 

ORLANDO, Fla., September 29, 2025 – The Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, which will utilize indoor and outdoor hard-court and carpet professional tournaments to award an American man and woman a main draw wild card into the 2026 Australian Open, will begin with events the week of October 6 for the women and October 13 for the men.

 

The USTA and Tennis Australia have a reciprocal agreement in which main draw singles wild cards for the 2026 Australian Open and US Open will be exchanged.

 

The women's wild card will be awarded to the American with the most ranking points earned at a maximum of three tournaments during a five-week window, beginning with events starting the week of October 6. The women's Challenge window runs through the week of November 3.All indoor and outdoor hard-court and carpet events at the W35 level and above, including WTA Tour events, will be included in the Challenge.

 

The men's wild card will be awarded to the American with the most ranking points earned from a maximum of four events during a five-week window that begins the week of October 13 and runs through the week of November 10. All indoor and outdoor hard-court and carpet events at the M25 level and above, including ATP Tour and Challenger events, will be included in the Challenge.

 

Ranking points earned in the main draw and qualifying will be counted toward each player's Challenge point total. Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the Australian Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie for the men or the women, the player with the best singles ranking on the Monday immediately following the conclusion of the Challenge will earn the wild card. Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the Australian Open are not eligible.

Glozman and Friend Claim ITA All-American Singles Championships; USTA Pro Circuit Titles for Day, Shelbayh and Perot; Spizzirri Captures Second Challenger Title in China

Valerie Glozman of Stanford ended her freshman year in June by winning the USTA's US Open Collegiate Playoff. The 18-year-old from Washington started her sophomore year this month with the first Division I major singles title for a Stanford woman since Nicole Gibbs won the NCAAs in 2013, beating Texas's Carmen Herea 6-2, 6-3 in today's final of the ITA women's All-American Championships in Cary North Carolina. 

Glozman, the No. 4 seed, dropped her only set of the tournament in the third round, when she fell behind Mao Mushika of Cal 5-0 before rebounding for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory to secure her spot in November's NCAA individual tournament in Lake Nona. After that, Glozman cruised, losing only 12 games in her last three matches.

In today's final, Glozman was in control from the third game, when she broke No. 9 seed Herea, a 19-year-old sophomore from Romania. Glozman had two set points with Herea serving at 1-5, 30-40, but received an unsportsmanlike conduct point penalty when her call on the baseline was overturned by the PlayReplay Electronic Line Calling system. That gave Herea the point and the penalty assessed gave her the game, which caused much consternation from Stanford head coach Frankie Brennan, who spoke with the chair umpire and the referee throughout the ensuing changeover.

Glozman, now facing a game penalty if another out call of hers was overturned, was able to regroup and hold in the next game to take the first set, and when she got a double fault from Herea on a deciding point in the first game of the second set, she appeared to have the match under control. 

But with no-ad, opportunities are likely to surface, and Glozman had to win a deciding point in her 2-1 service game to stay in front. Her variety, which keeps opponents off balance, unsure whether her slice or a ripped two-handed forehand is going to come next, was too much for Herea, who tried several strategies to put pressure on Glozman with little success. Herea did manage to save two match points with Glozman serving at 5-2, the second with a backhand angle winner short of the service line that gave Glozman a taste of her own medicine. But Glozman went up 0-40 in the next game and closed out the title on her fourth match point. 

Glozman is the first women's All-American champion for Stanford since Hilary Barte won the title in 2010 at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. 

Jay Friend spent his first three years at the University of Arizona in the shadow of Colton Smith, but he is now the only Wildcat, man or woman, to win a Division I major championship, after beating Aidan Kim of Ohio State 6-2, 6-4 in today's final of ITA men's All-American Championships in Tulsa Oklahoma. 

The third-seeded Friend, who won gold medals for Japan in mixed doubles and men's singles at the World University Games in Germany this summer, dominated on serve in the first set, losing only four points on serve.

Similar to the women's final, the second set started poorly for the player trailing, with No. 2 seed Kim, a junior from Michigan, broken after leading 40-0 in the opening game.

Friend kept the lead by winning a deciding point in the next game, and Kim would not get another look. With Friend serving at 4-3, 30-all, he came up with a crucial ace, then closed out the game. After Kim held serve to make it 5-4, benefitting from an overturned call by Friend on a first serve, Friend served out the title at love.

In addition to the history Friend made with his title, the women's doubles champions also put themselves in their school's record books. Wisconsin's Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova defeated Oklahoma's Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum 6-3, 6-3 in a final between unseeded teams, becoming the first team from Wisconsin, men or women, to win an All-American doubles title. Sholokhova had made history last year with Wisconsin's first All-American singles title, and is the first woman since UCLA's Robin Anderson in 2013 and 2014 to win both All-American titles.

The men's doubles title went to the top seeds, with Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic of Mississippi State beating the unseeded Wake Forest team of DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado 7-5, 6-3. Sanchez and Jovanovic are the second Mississippi State men's team to win an All-American title, joining Daniel Courcol and Laurent Miquelard, the 1992 champions.

The final two qualifiers for the NCAA singles championships were determined today, with the winners of the semifinals of the feed-in consolation matches guaranteed a spot in the NCAA draws.

Piper Charney of Michigan defeated Anastasiia Grechkina of Pepperdine 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6) and Savannah Dada-Mascoll of Appalachian State, who had beaten top seed DJ Bennett of Auburn in the first round, defeated Ashton Bowers of Texas 6-2, 6-3 to secure their entries into the NCAA singles championships.

Duncan Chan of TCU beat Emon van Loben Sels of UCLA 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to earn his place in the NCAAs, as did Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois, who defeated Kentucky's Jack Loutit 6-2, 4-1, ret. injury.

All eight singles quarterfinalists and all four doubles semifinalists had already qualified for the NCAAs.

The women's draw page is here; the men's draw page is here.

Kayla Day won the battle of the left-handed Kaylas today at the USTA Pro Circuit W75 in Templeton California, earning her seventh title with a 6-2, 3-0 retired victory over LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada on Day's 26th birthday. Now back into the WTA Top 300 with the title, the 2016 USTA 18s National and US Open girls champion is aiming to return to the WTA Top 100, which she reached in 2023. Steve Pratt, the press officer for the tournament, provided this account of the final.

TEMPLETON, Calif. – September 28, 2025 – Kayla Day was serenaded by a couple hundred fans who sang her Happy Birthday following her seventh pro singles title becoming the first Californian to win the seventh edition of the Central Coast Tennis Classic brought to you by Central Coast Home Health on Sunday at the Templeton Tennis Ranch.

 

After winning the first set, 6-2, against the No. 5 seeded Canadian Kayla Cross, Day was leading 3-0 in the second set when the serving Cross lost the first point. She then walked over to the chair umpire and informed her she was going to retire from the match because of a left hip injury.

 

After the trophy presentation and photos, Day, who turned 26 on Sunday, then joined about a dozen ball kids and jumped into the shallow end of the swimming pool, a tradition started last year after Renata Zarazua won the singles title a day before her 27^th birthday and just days after the new pool at the Templeton Tennis Ranch opened.

 

“I expected a battle today and you never want to win that way so I’m sorry for Kayla,” Day told the crowd, later adding that “In those moments you just have to stay extra focused because you never know if she could come back.” 

 

Cross said she injured her hip at the start of the match. “I went for a wide forehand and I could tell I had pulled something,” the 20-year-old LSU sophomore said. “During the first set it was getting worse and worse.” 

 

Asked how she would rank the win among her seven career pro titles, the WTA world-ranked No. 345^th player Day said, “It’s definitely up there. It’s my biggest title since I had my injury and me being from California and so close to home, it’s pretty special, especially on my birthday.”

 

Day, who was out for nine months after surgery on her right ankle, won two ITF W100 singles titles in 2023, the same year she reached the third round at the French Open.    

 

Day, who earned 75 WTA ranking points, gave a shoutout to her longtime coach Larry Mousouris, who was a Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo All-American in the late 1960s. “Larry’s been my coach since I was 9 years old,” Day said. “Thanks to Larry for being here because he doesn’t get to travel with me very much.”

Mousouris couldn’t help but flash a smile or two on Kayla’s big day. “She’s worked very hard to get to this point,” he said. “But she knows there’s still a lot of work to do.”

The final at the W35 in Berkeley between qualifier Merna Refaat(Auburn) of Egypt and Johanne Svendsen of Denmark has been delayed by drizzle, but the doubles final was completed, with top seeds Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and Auburn senior Angella Okutoyi of Kenya defeating No. 2 seeds Francesca Pace of Italy and Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland 7-6(2), 6-4 in the final.

No. 2 seed Rafael Perot(Texas A&M) of France won the M15 in Ann Arbor, beating qualifier Oliver Okonkwo(Iowa, Illinois) of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1 in the final. The only set Perot lost all week was to former Tennessee star Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan in the second round. It's the second ITF men's World Tennis Tour title for the 24-year-old, whose senior year in College Station was 2023-2024.

 

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Las Vegas, Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan claimed his second Challenger title and his first in two years, with the 21-year-old beating fellow left-hander Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-2, 6-4 in today's final. Shelbayh moves up to 302 in the ATP rankings with the title.

Eliot Spizzirri, the former Texas All-American, won his second Challenger title Sunday in Jingshan China, beating qualifier Alex Bolt of Australia 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Spizzirri, who won his first Challenger title in February, is now up to a career-high of 105 in the ATP live rankings. He is playing qualifying for the ATP Shanghai Masters 1000 beginning Monday. 

Friend and Kim, Glozman and Herea Meet for ITA All-American Titles; Spizzirri Plays for Title in Challenger 100 in China; Rybakov Makes First Challenger Final; Day and Cross Advance to W75 Final in Templeton

The ITA All-American Championships finalists were determined today in Cary North Carolina for the women and in Tulsa Oklahoma for the men, with three of the singles semifinals going the distance.

Only No. 4 seed Valerie Glozman of Stanford got through in straight sets, with the 18-year-old sophomore defeating Ohio State junior Teah Chavez, the No. 7 seed, 6-3, 6-2 in a match contested entirely indoors.

In the other semifinal, also played indoors due to rain, No. 9 seed Carmen Herea of Texas came from behind to defeat No. 3 seed Luciana Perry of Ohio State 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Despite the pedigree of both the Stanford and Texas programs, it's been a while since either had an All-American champion. Stanford's most recent champion was Hilary Barte in 2010; Texas's Kelly Pace won the title for Texas in 1994.

The women's doubles semifinals were played outdoors, with top seeds Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton of North Carolina, up a set and a break, losing to unseeded Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum of Oklahoma  6-7(3), 7-6(5), 10-4. Gilheany and Nahum played a near-perfect match tiebreaker to advance to the final.

The unseeded pair also won the other women's semifinal, with Wisconsin's Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova defeating No. 5 seeds Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe of NC State 6-4, 6-4.

In Tulsa, where the weather was sunny all day, Arizona senior Jay Friend made program history, with the No. 3 seed defeating No. 7 seed Dylan Dietrich of Virginia 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2). Friend, who reached the All-American consolation final last year, is the first Arizona man to reach the final of a collegiate major. 

Friend will face No. 2 seed Aidan Kim of Ohio State, with the junior defeating No. 9 seed Devin Badenhorst of Baylor 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4. Kim was a semifinalist at the All-American Championships last year.

The men's doubles final will feature top seeds Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic of Mississippi State, who came from a break down in the opening set to cruise past unseeded Tanapatt Nirundorn and Henry Jefferson of Florida 6-4, 6-1.

They will play unseeded DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado of Wake Forest, who somehow got past unseeded Paul Inchauspe and Landon Ardila of Princeton in straight sets 7-6(7), 7-6(9). The Princeton pair served for the first set at 5-4 40-0 and had a 6-2 lead in the second set tiebreaker, but Suresh and Delgado fought off at least a dozen set points total to get to the final.

Wake Forest has never won an All-American doubles title; the only one for Mississippi State came in 1992, with Daniel Courcol and Laurent Miquelard winning it.

Cracked Racquets will have coverage of all four finals Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. at the ITA YouTube channel.

The 2023 ITA All-American champion, Eliot Spizzirri of Texas, is making his way toward the ATP Top 100, with the 23-year-old reaching the final of the ATP Challenger 100 in Jingshan China. Unseeded, Spizzirri ended a frustrating run of six losses in Challenger semifinals since April, beating former USC All-American Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to reach his first Challenger final since winning the San Diego Challenger in February. He will play qualifier Alex Bolt of Australia, who prevented a rematch of that San Diego final by beating No. 2 seed Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Las Vegas, unseeded Alex Rybakov(TCU) reached his first Challenger semifinal Friday night with a 7-6(5) 6-4 win over Philip Sekulic of Australia, then reached his first Challenger final tonight by beating unseeded Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) 7-6(4), 6-3.

He will play former Florida standout Abdullah Shelbayh of Jordan, who defeated No. 4 seed Benjamin Hassan of Lebanon 6-3, 6-1.

University of Michigan senior Benjamin Kittay and Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian) won their first title as a team, with the wild cards beating top seeds Finn Reynolds(Ole Miss) and James Watt(St. Mary's) of New Zealand 7-5, 7-6(2) in today's final. It's the second Challenger title for Kittay and the first for Sheehy.

At the W75 in Templeton California, Kayla Day and LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada have advanced to the final after straight-sets wins today. Day defeated No. 7 seed Olivia Gadecki of Australia 6-4, 6-2 and the fifth-seeded Cross beat Emina Bektas(Michigan) 6-3, 6-3.

No. 2 seeds Maria Kozyreva(St. Marys) of Russia and Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia won the doubles title, defeating unseeded Usue Arconada and Slovakia's Viktoria Hruncakova 6-2, 7-5 in the final.

Auburn sophomore Merna Refaat has reached the final of the W35 in Berkeley California. The 21-year-old from Egypt has not dropped a set in her six wins so far, having come through qualifying. Today she defeated No. 4 seed Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland 7-5, 6-3 and will play unseeded Johanne Svendsen of Denmark in the final. Svendsen defeated qualifier Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, a senior at UCLA, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 in a three-hour, three-minute semifinal.

At the M15 in Ann Arbor, another qualifier will play for a title Sunday, with Oliver Okonkwo(Iowa, Illinois) of Great Britain facing No. 2 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France. Okonkwo defeated qualifier Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee) 6-4, 6-3 to reach his first Pro Circuit final, while Perot beat wild card Max Dahlin of Sweden, a sophomore at Michigan, 6-4, 6-2.

Dahlin did come away with a title for the Wolverines however, although that outcome was guaranteed before the final was played, with Dahlin and Michigan senior Bjorn Swenson defeating teammates Arnav Bhandari and Mert Oral 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match. 

My Conversation with ATP Doubles Newcomers Robert Cash and JJ Tracy; NCAA Qualifiers Determined at ITA All-American Championships, Semifinals Set for Saturday; Lutkemeyer Reaches Semis at W35 Berkeley

JJ Tracy and Robert Cash

During the US Open, I had an opportunity to talk with Ohio State's 2024 spring NCAA doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy for the first time since they claimed that title in Stillwater Oklahoma. Often it takes several years for top college doubles players to find a pro partner and get their bearings on the ATP Tour, but Cash and Tracy reached an ATP final less than two months after winning the NCAAs. In our conversation for this article at Tennis Recruiting Network, I asked them about their immediate success and why they think so many of the top ATP doubles players have a college background. I spoke to them before they reached the semifinals in New York, but after their three-tiebreaker win over No. 7 seeds Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli, they were obviously confident they could beat anyone in the draw, and now are both ranked in the Top 40 of the ATP rankings less 16 months removed from that NCAA title.

Friday is Qualification Day at the ITA All-American Championships, with the players who win their third round matches automatically qualifying for the NCAA individual championships in Lake Nona in November. But the quarterfinals also are played Friday, so it's not surprising that two of the eight men's quarterfinalists, DK Suresh of Wake Forest and Sebastian Gorzny of Texas, both still in doubles, and one of the eight women's quarterfinalist, Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina, also still in doubles, gave their opponents a walkover into Saturday's semifinals.

Suresh, the top seed, and Gorzny, a No. 9 seed, both had three-set matches in the third round. Suresh came back to beat qualifier Duncan Chan of TCU 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Gorzny saved four match points in his 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(9) win over No. 8 seed Sebastian Dominko of Notre Dame. Gorzny was down two breaks with Dominko serving at 4-1 in the third set, only to win four straight games. He went down 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but  Dominko couldn't take advantage of his opportunities there or at 7-6 and 8-7, and Gorzny punched his ticket to the NCAAs with a clever slice backhand short angle on his second match point at 10-9.

Gorzny gave a walkover in the quarterfinals to Ohio State's Aidan Kim, the No. 2 seed; Suresh's walkover put No. 7 seed Dylan Dietrich of Virginia in the semifinals.

Men's ITA All-American Championships third round singles results September 26, 2025, Tulsa OK:

DK Suresh[1] Wake Forest d. Duncan Chan[Q] TCU 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

Dylan Dietrich[7] Virginia d. Jack Anthrop[Q] Ohio State 6-4, 6-4

Devin Badenhorst[9] Baylor d. Vignesh Gogineni Yale 6-1, 7-5

Matthew Forbes[Q] Michigan State d. Kenta Miyoshi[4] Illinois 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-5

Jay Friend[3] Arizona d. Emon van Loben Sels UCLA 7-5, 6-2

Ozan Baris[5] Michigan State d. Aleksa Kirvokapic[9] 6-1, 6-1

Sebastian Gorzny[9] Texas d. Sebastian Dominko[8] Notre Dame 6-4, 1-6 7-6(9)

Aidan Kim[2] Ohio State d. Santiago Giamichelle[PQ] Georgia 6-4, 6-3

Quarterfinals:

Dylan Dietrich[7] Virginia d. DK Suresh[1] Wake Forest walkover

Jay Friend[3] Arizona d. Ozan Baris[5] Michigan State  6-3, 2-6, 6-2

Devin Badenhorst[9] Baylor d. Matthew Forbes[Q] Michigan State 7-6(6), 6-2

Aidan Kim[2] Ohio State d. Sebastian Gorzny[9] Texas walkover

No. 2 seed Brantmeier, who is still coming back from an injury suffered in the ITA Team Indoor Championships in February, breezed past Leyla Britez Risso of Tennessee 6-2, 6-0, but gave a walkover into the semifinals to No. 9 seed Carmen Herea of Texas.

Ohio State has both Luciana Perry[3] and Teah Chavez[7] in the semifinals, with the potential for an all-Buckeye final.

Women's ITA All-American Championships third round singles results September 26, 2025, Cary NC:

Tatum Evans North Carolina d. Savannah Dada-Mascoll Appalachian State 6-1, 7-5

Teah Chavez[7] Ohio State d. Julia Ruiz Garcia[7] Oklahoma 6-3, 6-4

Valerie Glozman[4] Stanford d. Mao Mushika[9] 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Emma Charney USC d. Denis Dilek[PQ] Georgia 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

Irina Balus[9] Duke d. Rose Maria Nijkamp Oklahoma State 6-4, 7-5

Luciana Perry[3] Ohio State d. Berta Passola Folch[Q] 7-6(4), 6-0

Carmen Herea[9] Texas d. Piper Charney[6] Michigan 7-5, 3-6, 6-1

Reese Brantmeier[2] North Carolina d. Leyla Britez Risso Tennessee 6-2, 6-0

Quarterfinals:

Teah Chavez[7] Ohio State d. Tatum Evans North Carolina 6-3, 7-5

Valerie Glozman[4] Stanford d. Emma Charney USC 6-0, 6-2

Luciana Perry[3] d. Irina Balus[9] Duke 6-0, 6-2

Carmen Herea[9] Texas d. Reese Brantmeier[2] North Carolina walkover

The doubles semifinalists, all of whom qualify for direct entry into the NCAAs, were determined today, with Friday's pairings below.

Women's doubles semifinals:

Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton[1] North Carolina v Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum Oklahoma

Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova Wisconsin v Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe[5] NC State

Men's doubles semifinals:

Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic[1] Mississippi State v Tanapatt Nirundorn and Henry Jefferson Florida

Paul Inchauspe and Landon Ardila Princeton v DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado Wake Forest

There are two more automatic qualifiers for the NCAAs, with the consolation finalists in singles getting in. That's how both Georgia's Dasha Vidmanova, the eventual NCAA champion, and Texas A&M's Mary Stoiana got in last year.

Cracked Racquets will have semifinal coverage beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern time at the ITA YouTube Channel.

Top seed Kristina Penickova is through to the singles semifinals and doubles final at the ITF J500 Osaka Mayor's Cup in Japan after beating No. 5 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 6-2, 6-1. Nancy Lee lost to No. 2 seed Ksenia Efremova of France, Penickova's doubles partner, 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Penickova will face No. 11 seed Anna Pushkareva of Russia in Saturday's semifinals.

At the W35 in Berkeley, UCLA senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer advanced to the semifinals, beating No. 3 seed Akasha Urhobo 6-2, 6-2. The 21-year-old Californian will face unseeded Johanne Svendsen of Denmark, who beat wild card Aspen Schuman 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Lutkemeyer, who qualified for this tournament, reached two W15 finals this summer, but this is her first semifinal above that level. In the other semifinal, Auburn sophomore Merna Refaat of Egypt beat fellow qualifier Alexis Nguyen 6-2, 7-5 and will play the only seed remaining, No. 4  Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland. Pawlikowska edged No. 5 seed Malaika Rapolu(Texas) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4). 

At the M15 in Ann Arbor,  Alex Kotzen is the only American to reach the semifinals, with the former Columbia and Tennessee star beating fellow qualifier Matias Ponce De Leon Gomila(Alabama, LSU) of Spain 6-3, 6-2. He will play Oliver Okonkwo(Iowa, Illinois) of Great Britain, who beat top seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) 6-2, 6-4. 

Wild card Max Dahlin of Sweden, a sophomore at Michigan, reached the semifinals with a 7-6(0), 6-1 win over unseeded Evan Bynoe. Dahlin will play No. 2 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France, who beat Jack Satterfield 6-3, 6-1.

Two Spartans Save Match Points to Reach Men's ITA All-Americans Round of 16, Women's Defending Champion Out; Penickova and Lee Advance to Osaka J500 Quarterfinals; Nguyen Beats Top Seed at W35; Satterfield Makes First Pro Quarterfinal

It wasn't looking great for Michigan State's Ozan Baris and Matthew Forbes in the second round of the ITA Men's All-American Championships, with Baris trailing Jack Loutit of Kentucky 6-4, 5-1, and Forbes down two breaks, 2-5 in the third set, against SMU's Trevor Svajda. 

But senior Baris, the NCAA 2024 fall finalist, and sophomore Forbes, the 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion, both went on to post victories, with Baris beating Loutit  4-6, 7-6(3), 4-2 def (pps) in the second match of this year's men's All-American Championships that ended in a default. Yesterday Oscar Lacides of Oklahoma lost after a fourth overrule, a match in which both he and Spencer Johnson had already been penalized a game for their third overrules, a result that poses questions about the accuracy of the Electronic Line Calling System being used in this tournament. One of Loutit's code violations was for something he said to the chair, which is something I think the ELC introduction will prove valuable in preventing. With challenges upheld being a code violation from the second one, players can't really afford to get one for another reason, as they are then living on the edge of default after second overrule.

Trevor Svajda was in that situation after a second overrule, which meant his audible obscenity after not getting a "not-up" call serving at 5-4, 15-30, meant he could be defaulted for any challenge that went against him. He had already had a match point on a deciding point serving at 5-2 deuce, but Forbes won it, held, and then got the game penalty. Svajda did force a tiebreaker and had his second match point at 6-5, but Forbes hit a good first serve and plus-one forehand, forcing an error to save it, hit a backhand winner to earn his first match point, converting it when Svajda made a backhand error.

Forbes will play No. 4 seed Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois, who won in three sets for the second straight day, while Baris will face No. 9 seed Aleksa Krivokapic of Purdue.

The only Top 8 seed who didn't advance to the round of 16 Friday is No. 6 Corey Craig of Florida State, who lost to Vignesh Gogineni of Yale 6-2, 6-3. 

Georgia senior Santiago Giamichelle won his seventh match in the past six days, beating No. 9 seed Spencer Johnson of UCLA, but he barely avoided the fate of Loutit and Svajda. Serving up 5-0 in the third set, Giamichelle lost four straight games, but did manage to get a hold on his third attempt for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Men's ITA All-American Championships second round singles results

September 25, 2025, Tulsa OK

DK Suresh[1] Wake Forest d. Vladu Breazu Oregon 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4)

Duncan Chan[Q] TCU d. Nicolas Kotzen[9] Columbia 6-3, 6-4

Dylan Dietrich[7] Virginia d. Jonah Braswell Texas 6-4, 6-4

Jack Anthrop[Q] Ohio State d. Paul Inchauspe[9] Princeton 7-5, 6-2

Jay Friend[3] Arizona d. Luis Alvarez[WC] Oklahoma 6-4, 1-6, 6-1

Emon van Loben Sels d. Sebastian Eriksson Texas 7-6(8), 6-4

Ozan Baris[5] Michigan State d. Jack Loutit Kentucky 4-6, 7-6(3), 4-2 def (pps)

Aleksa Krivokapic[9] Purdue d. Alex Chang Stanford 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2

Devin Badenhorst[9] Baylor d. Luca Pow[Q] Wake Forest 6-3, 6-4

Vignesh Gogineni Yale d. Corey Craig[6] Florida State 6-2, 6-3

Matthew Forbes[Q] Michigan State d. Trevor Svajda SMU 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6)

Kenta Miyoshi[4] Illinois d. Loren Byers Ohio State 6-1, 3-6, 6-2

Sebastian Gorzny[9] Texas d. Alexander Bernard Ohio State 6-2, 6-4

Sebastian Dominko[8] Notre Dame d. Keegan Rice[Q] Virginia 4-6, 7-5, 7-5

Santiago Giamichelle[PQ] Georgia d. Spencer Johnson[9] UCLA 5-7, 6-4, 6-4

Aidan Kim[2] Ohio State d. Connor Van Schalkwyk[Q] Baylor 6-1, 3-6, 6-0

Defending champion Maria Sholokova of Wisconsin was the major upset victim in the women's second round today, with the No. 5 seed falling to Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Marie Nijkamp 6-4, 7-5.

The women's round of 16 also features a pre-qualifier, with Georgia freshman Deniz Dilek beating Emma Kamper of Utah, also a pre-qualifier, 6-3, 6-2 for her seventh win in six days.

Women's ITA All-American Championships second round singles results 

September 25, 2025, Cary NC

Savannah Dada-Mascoll Appalachian State d. Josie Usereau Arizona 6-1, 6-4

Tatum Evans North Carolina d. Zoe Hammond[9] Kentucky 7-6(4), 6-0

Teah Chavez[7] Ohio State d. Anastasiia Grechkina Pepperdine 6-4, 6-3

Julia Garcia Ruiz[9] Oklahoma d. Emily Sartz-Lunde Michigan 6-2, 6-1

Valerie Glozman[4] Stanford d. M Emilija Tverijonaite Arizona State 6-1, 6-2

Mao Mushika[9] Cal d. Lavinia Tanasie[Q] NC State 7-6(5), 6-2

Deniz Dilek[PQ] Georgia d. Emma Kamper[PQ] Utah 6-3, 6-2

Emma Charney(USC) d. Kaitlyn Carnicella South Carolina 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Irina Balus[9] Duke  d. Gabriella Broadfoot[Q] NC State 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

Rose Marie Nijkamp Oklahoma State d. Maria Sholokhova[5] 6-4, 7-5

Berta Passola Folch[Q] d. Xin Tong Wang Wichita State 6-2, 6-4

Luciana Perry[3] Ohio State d. Ange Oby Kajuru North Carolina 5-7, 6-3, 6-2

Carmen Herea[9] Texas d. Alyssa Ahn[Q] Stanford 7-5, 6-3

Piper Charney[6] Michigan d. Gabia Paskauskas Florida 6-1, 6-1

Leyla Britez Risso Tennessee d. Ashton Bowers Auburn 6-3, 6-4

Reese Brantmeier[2] North Carolina d. Carolina Gomez Alonso Arkansas   3-6, 6-3, 7-5

Friday will feature both the round of 16 and the quarterfinals in singles. Those who reach the quarterfinals have secured a spot in November's NCAA singles championships in Lake Nona.

The doubles quarterfinals are also on Friday's schedule, with the only seeds in the men's quarterfinals facing each other: No. 1 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez of Mississippi State versus No. 7 Luca Pow and Kacper Szymkowiak of Wake Forest.

In the women's doubles quarterfinals, four seeded teams remain, including top seeds Reese Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton of North Carolina, who will play No. 5 seeds Sophia Webster and Celia-Belle Mohr of Vanderbilt. 

Cracked Racquets will be providing coverage of both men's and women's singles and doubles all day at the ITA YouTube channel.

At the ITF J500 in Osaka Japan, top seed Kristina Penickova and No. 9 seed Nancy Lee have reached the quarterfinals. Penickova beat unseeded Rira Kosaka of Japan 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with No. 5 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan.

Lee, playing in just her third J500, defeated No. 7 seed Anastasia Lizunova of Russia 6-2, 7-5 in the round of 16 and will face No. 2 seed Ksenia Efremova of France next.

Penickova and Efremova, the top seeds in doubles, are through to the semifinals in doubles as are the unseeded team of Carrie-Anne Hoo and China's Zhang-Qian Wei.

At the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Berkeley, 17-year-old Alexis Nguyen defeated top seed Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals. The 17-year-old Nguyen, who has committed to North Carolina for next fall, will play fellow qualifier Merna Refaat of Egypt, a sophomore at Auburn, Friday. No. 3 seed Akasha Urhobo plays UCLA senior Anne Christine Lutkemeyer, a qualifier, who beat former WTA No. 35 Madison Brengle 7-5, 6-1.

Wild card Aspen Schuman, a Duke recruit, defeated No. 7 seed Lucciana Perez of Peru, a junior at Texas A&M, 6-4, 6-1 and will play Johanne Svendsen of Denmark, who beat No. 2 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) 6-2, 6-1.

Along with Urhobo, No. 5 Malaika Rapolu, the former Texas standout, is the only seed remaining. She will face No. 4 seed Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland in the quarterfinals.

Kalamazoo 18s finalist Jack Satterfield, playing in just his fourth professional event, is through to his first quarterfinal at the M15 in Ann Arbor. Satterfield beat Vanderbilt teammate Pablo Martinez Gomez of Spain, the No. 7 seed, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in today's second round and will face No. 2 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France in the quarterfinals. Other Americans through to the quarterfinals are Evan Bynoe, qualifier Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee) and top seed Keegan Smith(UCLA).

At the Templeton W75, Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) is through to the quarterfinals, where she will play Emina Bektas(Michigan). Kayla Day and wild card Katrina Scott will play in the bottom quarterfinal, with either Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) or Claire Liu the fifth American to advance to the quarterfinals.

At the Las Vegas Challenger 75, qualifier Andrew Fenty(Michigan) is through to his first Challenger quarterfinal. Alex Rybkov defeated No. 3 seed James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan 6-4, 7-6(8) to reach the quarterfinals. The other possible American quarterfinalist is Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) who plays No. 6 seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan tonight.

US Open Junior Photo Gallery; Top Seed Bennett Upset in Opening Round of Women's ITA All-American Championships; Satterfield Reaches Second Round at Ann Arbor M15; Nguyen, Schuman and Urhobo Advance at Berkeley W35

The final bow on the US Open Junior Championships was tied today, with the 38 Americans competing in singles in New York earlier this month featured in a photo gallery at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I often get questions on where the photos we take can be viewed, so I'm grateful to have this outlet to display them. Thanks are in order, of course, to my husband Paul Ballard, who took all these photos. He spends much of his time in junior tennis as a site director, but the US Open is one tournament where I have the luxury of a photographer, which frees me up to actually watch matches.

There was a huge shocker of a result to begin the ITA Women's All-American Championships today, with top seed and NCAA finalist DJ Bennett of Auburn falling to Savannah Dada-Mascoll of Appalachian State 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Dada-Mascoll, a senior from Great Britain, is 106 in the preseason rankings, but didn't have to go through qualifying, I assume because she is representing the Sun Belt conference. 

Bennett, who also lost in the first round of doubles as the No. 2 seed with Ashton Bowers, was one of five seeds to lose in the women's first round, as you can see in the complete results below.

A pre-qualifier is guaranteed to reach the round of 16, with Georgia's Deniz Dilek and Emma Kamper of Utah playing each other Thursday after the each picked up their sixth wins in five days in today's first round.

Women's ITA All-American Championships first round singles results
September 24, 2025 Cary North Carolina

Savannah Dada-Mascoll Appalachian State d. DJ Bennett[1] Auburn 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
Josie Usereau Arizona d. Gracie Epps Oklahoma State 0-6, 6-1, 7-6(5)

Zoe Hammond[9] Kentucky d. Alejandra Cruz Georgia Tech 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4
Tatum Evans North Carolina d. Sofia Rojas[Q] Georgia 7-6(5), 6-4

Teah Chavez[7] Ohio State d. Julia Zhu[LL] Kentucky 6-4, 6-4

Anastasia Grechkina Pepperdine d. Prisca Abbas[PQ] UNC-Charlotte 2-6, 6-3, 6-4

Julia Garcia Ruiz[9] Oklahoma d. Valery Gynina[Q] Florida 2-6, 7-5, 6-3

Emily Sartz-Lunde Michigan d. Mayu Crossley[WC] UCLA 6-3, 5-7, 6-0

Valerie Glozman[4] Stanford d. Maria de la Paz Alberto[PQ] Iowa State 6-2, 6-3

Emilija Tverijonaite Arizona State d. Audrey Spencer[Q] Ohio State 6-2, 6-1

Mao Mushika[9] Cal d. Saray Yli-Piipari[WC] Tennessee 6-3, 6-2

Lavinia Tanasie[Q] NC State d. Lily Jones Michigan 6-2, 6-3

Emma Kamper[PQ] Utah d. Theadora Rabman[8] North Carolina 6-2, 6-4

Deniz Dilek[PQ] Georgia d. Shavit Kimchi[WC] Duke 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

Emma Charney Southern California d. Mia Kupres[9] Texas A&M 6-4, 6-4

Kaitlyn Carnicella South Carolina d. Bridget Stammel Vanderbilt 6-2, 6-3

Gabriella Broadfoot[Q] NC State d. Leonie Moeller[Q] Memphis 2-6, 2-0 ret. inj.

Irina Balus[9] Duke d. Salakthip Ounmang[Q] Oklahoma 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

Rose Marie Nijkamp Oklahoma State d. Annabelle Xu Virginia 6-3, 6-3

Maria Sholokhova[5] Wisconsin d. Aysegul Mert Georgia 7-5, 7-5

Berta Passola Folch[Q] Cal d. Akari Matsuno Notre Dame 6-4, 7-6(3)

Xin Tong Wang Wichita State d. Catherine Aulia[9] Tennessee 7-6(2), 6-2

Ange Oby Kajuru North Carolina d. Reese Miller[Q] Michigan 6-1, 6-2

Luciana Perry[3] Ohio State d. Monika Ekstrand[Q] Stanford 6-2, 6-3

Alyssa Ahn[Q] Stanford d. Kate Fakih UCLA 6-4, 5-7, 6-4

Carmen Herea[9] Texas d. Eleana Yu Duke 6-3, 6-2

Gabia Paskauskas Florida d. Anna Zyryanova NC State 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Piper Charney Michigan d. Valeria Ray Vanderbilt 6-1, 6-3

Ashton Bowers Auburn d. Ozlem Uslu Virginia Tech 6-2, 6-3

Leyla Britez Risso Tennessee d. Scarlett Nicholson[9] Georgia Tech 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-1

Carolina Gomez Alonso Arkansas d. Esha Velaga Penn 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Reese Brantmeier[2] North Carolina d. Nao Nishino[Q] Ohio State 6-4, 6-4

There were only two seeds eliminated today at the ITA Men's All-American Championships, both No. 9 seeds, although there were plenty of close matches. No. 2 seeds Aidan Kim of Ohio State and No. 4 seed Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois both needed three sets to advance.

Men's ITA All-American Championships first round singles results

September 24, 2025 Tulsa Oklahoma

First round singles results:

DK Suresh[1] Wake Forest d. Bryce Nakashima Ohio State 6-3, 6-4

Vladu Breazu Oregon d. Azuma Visaya Hawaii 6-4, 7-6(0)

Nicolas Kotzen[9] Columbia d. Ioan Alexandru Chirita[Q] Baylor 6-1, 6-3

Duncan Chan[Q] TCU d. Amar Tahirovic Bucknell 6-3, 6-4

Dylan Dietrich[7] Virginia d. Eli Stephenson[PQ] Kentucky 6-4, 6-2

Jonah Braswell Texas d. William Manning[PQ] 6-1, 6-3

Paul Inchauspe[9] Princeton d. Jakub Vrba[Q] Arkansas 6-4, 6-2

Jack Anthrop[Q] Ohio State d. Henry Jefferson[PQ] 6-3 7-5

Jay Friend[3] Arizona d. Hugo Car South Florida 6-4, 6-4

Luis Alvarez[WC] Oklahoma d. Nikita Filin[PQ] 6-4, 4-6, 6-1

Sebastian Eriksson Texas d. Benito Sanchez Martinez Mississippi State 6-3, 5-7, 6-3

Emon von Loben Sels UCLA d. Zsombor Velcz Baylor 6-3, 5-7, 7-5

Ozan Baris[5] Michigan State d. Lucas Andrade da Silva[Q] South Carolina 6-3, 6-3

Jack Loutit Kentucky d. Alex Okonkwo Ohio State 1-6, 6-3, 7-5

Aleksa Krivokapic Purdue[9] d. Christophe Clement Georgia Tech 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4

Alex Chang Stanford d. Viktor Markov Clemson 6-3, 6-2

Luca Pow[Q] Wake Forest d. Jeremy Jin Florida 6-3, 6-2

Devin Badenhorst[9] Baylor d. Mario Martinez Serrano[Q] Mississippi State 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

Vignesh Gogineni Yale d. Lucas Brown[WC] Texas 7-6(3), 6-1

Corey Craig[6] Florida State d. Alexander Frusina Texas A&M 6-3, 7-6(4)

Trevor Svajda SMU d. Sean Daryabeigi South Carolina 6-4, 6-4

Matthew Forbes[Q] Michigan State d. Martin Borisiouk[9] NC State 7-5, 7-6(5)

Loren Byers Ohio State d. Lukas Palovic Arkansas 6-3, 6-4

Kenta Miyoshi[4] Illinois d. Top Nidunjianzan Princeton 7-5, 4-6, 6-3

Alexander Bernard Ohio State d. Takeshi Taco[WC] Tulsa 4-6, 6-1, 6-0

Sebastian Gorzny[9] Texas d. Alessio Vasquez Gehrke LSU 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

Keegan Rice[Q] Virginia d. Antoine Ghibaudo Kentucky 7-6(3), 6-2

Sebastian Dominko[8] Notre Dame d. Noa Vukadin Clemson 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2

Santiago Giamichelle[PQ] Georgia d. Dominique Rolland[Q] UC-Santa Barbara 7-6(4), 6-3

Spencer Johnson[9] UCLA d. Oscar Lacides Oklahoma 7-5, 3-6, 4-5 def. (pps)

Connor Van Schalkwyk[Q] Baylor d. Roan Jones North Carolina 6-4, 7-6(4)

Aidan Kim[2] Ohio State d. Petar Jovanovic Mississippi State 5-7, 7-5, 7-5

Links to the draws, live streams, live scoring and Cracked Racquets coverage can be found here for the men, and here for the women.

Kalamazoo 18s finalist Jack Satterfield, who has begun his freshman year at Vanderbilt, is playing this week at the USTA Pro Circuit M15 in Ann Arbor, with his main draw entry coming via the ITF junior reserved program. In his first round match today, Satterfield defeated Michigan State sophomore Vuk Radjenovic of Serbia 7-6(4), 6-1.

Three University of Michigan wild cards won their opening matches with senior Bjorn Swenson beating Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5); senior Nicholas Steiglehner defeated qualifier Ashton Adesoro, a junior at Western Michigan 6-1, 6-1, and sophomore Max Dahlin beat Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest) 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

Keegan Smith(UCLA) and Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France are the top two seeds and both have advanced to the second round.

At the W35 in Berkeley California, 17-year-old Alexis Nguyen and 18-year-olds Aspen Schuman and Akasha Urhobo have advanced to the second round. Nguyen, a qualifier, beat Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-2, 6-1 and will face top seed Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico in the second round. 

Wild card Schuman, a Duke recruit, defeated Ella McDonald of Great Britain 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and will play Texas A&M junior Lucciana Perez of Peru, the No. 7 seed, next.

Urhobo, the No. 3 seed, defeated qualifier Ava Markham(Wisconsin) 6-3, 6-3 to set up a meeting with qualifier Victoria Flores(Georgia Tech, Pepperdine), who beat Sachia Vickery 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Former Georgia All-American Katerina Jokic of Serbia is the No. 2 seed; she defeated Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in a first round match that last more than three hours.

ITF Junior Davis Cup, Junior Billie Jean King Cup Teams Named; Qualifying Complete, ITA All-American Championships Begin Wednesday in Tulsa and Cary; Cal's Augustus Retires; Stoiana Beats Top Seed At Templeton W75

Today the ITF announced the participants for the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean Cup 16U competitions, which will be held November 3-9 in Santiago Chile.  

Kristina Penickova, Julieta Pareja and Tyra Grant
2024 Junior Billie Jean King Cup champions

The teams from the United States, which took both titles last year, look particularly strong, with the three girls competing for the USA Julieta Pareja, Kristina Penickova(both of whom were on last year's championship team) and Annika Penickova. Annika has been out with an injury since Roland Garros, but has entered the upcoming ITF junior circuit events in Texas, so she appears to be ready to return. USTA National Coach Georgi Rumenov is the team captain.

Captain Sylvain Guichard, Teodor Davidov, Jordan Lee
and Michael Antonius, 2024 World Junior Tennis champions

The three boys representing the United States feature two of the players who led the USA to the 14U World Junior Tennis championship last August: Jordan Lee and Michael Antonius. Like Annika Penickova, Lee has been out with an injury, with his hiatus extending back to February, so it's good to see him in a position to begin competing again. US Open boys quarterfinalist Andrew Johnson is the only 16-year-old on Team USA. USTA National Coach Sylvain Guichard is the team captain.

2024 Orange Bowl finalist Moise Koume has been named to the French team. He has not played a junior event since Roland Garros and no other sanctioned tournament since July. I'm surprised to see that Luis Miguel is not on Brazil's team.

The list of the girls representing the 16 countries competing is here; the boys list is here.

The qualifying concluded today for the ITA All-American Championships, with the men beginning play Wednesday morning in Tulsa OK and the women starting their tournament Wednesday morning in Cary NC. 

Because the draws do not designate the qualifiers, here is the list of those who picked up wins Monday and Tuesday to reach the main draw. Four of the women's qualifiers and five of the men's qualifiers have come through pre-qualifying, meaning they have already won five matches just to reach the main draw.

Women through to main draw:

Alyssa Ahn[17], Stanford
Lavinia Tanasie[17], NC State
Emma Kamper, Utah (pre-qualifier)
Salakthip Ounmang[17], Oklahoma
Nao Nishino[5], Ohio State
Prisca Abbas, UNC-Charlotte (pre-qualifier)
Berta Passola Folch, Cal

Audrey Spencer[8], Ohio State

Sofia Rojas[17], Georgia

Monika Ekstrand[17], Stanford

Denis Dilek, Georgia (pre-qualifier)

Reese Miller[17], Michigan

Maria de la Paz Alberto, Iowa State (pre-qualifier)

Gabriella Broadfoot[14], NC State

Leonie Moeller[15], Memphis

Valery Gynina, Florida

Men through to main draw:

Connor Van Schalkwyk[1], Baylor

Luca Pow[17], Wake Forest

Keegan Rice[17], Virginia

Lucas Andrade da Silva[4], South Carolina

Matthew Forbes[5], Michigan State

Jack Anthrop[6], Ohio State

William Manning, NC State (pre-qualifier)

Ioan Alexandru Chirita[17], Baylor

Santiago Giamichelle, Georgia (pre-qualifier)

Duncan Chan[17], TCU

Henry Jefferson, Florida (pre-qualifier)

Dominique Rolland[17], UC-Santa Barbara

Mario Martinez Serrano[17], Mississippi State

Nikita Filin, Ohio State (pre-qualifier)

Jakub Vrba, Arkansas

Eli Stephenson, Kentucky (pre-qualfier)

Columbus Challenger champion Michael Zheng of Columbia withdrew, as did Rafael Jodar of Virginia. Anastasia Lopata of Georgia, who was entered, is injured and withdrew.

Men's All-American Seeds:

1. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

2. Aidan Kim, Ohio State

3. Jay Friend, Arizona

4. Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois

5. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

6. Corey Craig, Florida State

7. Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

8. Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

9. Nicolas Kotzen, Columbia

9. Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

9. Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

9. Aleksa Krivokapic, Purdue

9. Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

9. Martin Borisiouk, NC State

9. Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

9. Spencer Johnson, UCLA

Women's All-American Seeds:

1. DJ Bennett, Auburn

2. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

3. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

4. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

5. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

6. Piper Charney, Michigan

7. Teah Chavez, Ohio State

8. Theadora Rabman, North Carolina

9. Zoe Hammond, Kentucky

9. Julia Garcia Ruiz, Oklahoma

9. Mao Mushika, Cal

9. Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

9. Irina Balus, Duke

9. Catherine Aulia, Tennessee

9. Carmen Herea, Texas

9. Scarlett Nicholson, Georgia Tech

Cracked Racquets will be providing coverage at the ITA YouTube channel, with links to draws, individual streams and live scoring available here for the women, and here for the men.

The University of California-Berkeley announced today that Amanda Augustus, who has led the women's program for 18 seasons, would be retiring, effective immediately. Augustus, who won two NCAA doubles titles at Cal in 1998 and 1999, led the Golden Bears to the NCAA team finals in 2008 and 2009 and won the ITA National Indoor Championships in 2016. 

Men's head coach Kris Kwinta will take over as the interim head coach.

With the recent retirements of Lele Forood at Stanford and Sheila McInerney at Arizona State and now Augustus, there's no denying there's a trend in these departures, which may be partially due to the demise of the Pac-12 conference and the many other changes in collegiate athletics in the past five years. And while everyone retiring has their own reasons and owes the sport nothing more than all that they have already given, college tennis has some very big shoes to fill as these retirements continue.

With so much going on, I'll have to delay the updates on the USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week in Ann Arbor(M15) and Berkeley(W35), but in today's first round of the W75 in Templeton California, former Texas A&M All-American Mary Stoiana defeated top seed Louisa Chirico 7-5, 6-3. 

Chirico was one of three seeds to lose in first round play today, with No. 6 seed Fiona Crawley(North Carolina) falling to Emina Bektas(Michigan) 6-2, 6-1 and No. 8 seed Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine dropping a 6-2, 6-0 decision to Haley Giavara(Cal).

Wild cards were given to Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M), Jenna Defalco and Katrina Scott. Defalco lost today to Eryn Cayetano(USC) 6-2, 6-4.

Julieta Pareja is playing in her first tournament since the US Open Juniors; she will face No. 7 seed Olivia Gadecki of Australia in the first round Wednesday.

ITF J500 Osaka Cup Underway; Pleskun Claims J100 Title, Among Five American Champions on ITF Junior Circuit; Las Vegas Challenger Qualifying Complete; Fritz Delivers Laver Cup Title for Team World

This year's ITF J500 Osaka Mayor's Cup in Japan, which is generally during the last week of September or first week of October, is early this year, with five US girls making the trip, which also includes, for several of them, a J200 next week in Korea.

Kristina Penickova is the top seed, with the other US girls in the draw No. 9 seed Nancy Lee, Carrie-Ann Hoo, Ciara Harding and Sena Yoon. All five have won their first round matches.

The only US boy in the draw, Theo Hegarty, lost his first round match. 

The top seeds in the boys draw are Ryo Tabata of Japan, Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Jamie Mckenzie of Germany. Rather than play the European Championships last week, Mckenzie traveled to China, where he won the ITF J300 in Beijing. Ksenia Efremova of France is the No. 2 seed in the girls draw.

Last week's ITF Junior Circuit tournaments produced five singles champions, with unseeded Anastasia Pleskun's title at the J100 in Quebec the biggest of those five events.  Pleskun, a 16-year-old from New York, defeated top seed Thara Gowda 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 in the all-USA final to collect her second ITF Junior Circuit singles title. 

Gowda won the doubles title, with Canadian Clemence Mercier. The top seeds defeated unseeded Mirka Delaney and Elica Lin 6-1, 6-0 in the final.

At the J30 in Dallas Texas, top seed William McEwan, a 17-year-old Texan, swept the titles, beating unseeded Wesley Cotton 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the singles final and partnering with Jacob Hewitt to take the doubles title. McEwan and Hewitt, the No. 3 seeds, defeated No. 4 seeds Cotton and Miguel Rooney 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-5.

Sixteen-year-old Ellery Mendell of Georgia, the No. 4 seed, won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title in Dallas with a 6-4, 4-0 retired victory in the final over No. 3 seed Anya Arora. Enya Hamilton and Autumn Xu won the girls doubles title, beating Zimora McKnight and Alyson Shannon 7-6(5), 6-3 in a final between unseeded teams.

At the J30 in the Dominican Republic, No. 3 seed Vincent Weaver swept the titles, with the 17-year-old from Georgia claiming his first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 7 seed Tomas Orrego. In the doubles final, Weaver and Maddox Iliescu beat Efrain Castillo of Mexico and Fabricio Mesia of Peru 7-5, 6-0.

At the J30 in Nicaragua, top seed Sarah Stoyanov swept the titles, beating Piper Johnson 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 for her sixth singles title and the second in as many weeks. The 17-year-old from New York partnered with Sofia Mills for the doubles title, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Valentina Obregon Mirambell of Costa Rica and Sienna Poma of El Salvador 6-2, 6-2 in the final. 

This week's ITF junior tournament in the United States is a J60 in Kerrville Texas.

The qualifying at the ATP Challenger 75 in Las Vegas is complete with two Americans advancing to the main draw, while six of the 16 first round matches are also being played today.

Andrew Fenty(Michigan) defeated Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the main draw, while Quinn Vandecasteele beat top qualifying seed Renata Tokuda of Japan 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-2. The former Oregon standout had defeated No. 7 seed Bor Artnak(Arizona State) of Slovenia 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in the first round.

The top two seeds this week in Las Vegas are Jurij Rodionov of Austria and Jack Pinnington Jones(TCU) of Great Britain. Wild cards were given to Garrett Johns(Duke), Cooper Williams(Harvard, Duke) and 19-year-old Tyler Cox of Henderson Nevada, who does not have an ATP ranking. Williams won his opening round match today over Mats Rosenkranz of Germany 7-6(4), 6-1

Texas A&M sophomore Theo Papamalamis of France received entry based on his ITF junior ranking last year via the ATP Accelerator Program.

Last night, in the final match of the Laver Cup, Taylor Fritz defeated Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-3, 7-6(4) to give the World team the 15-9 victory over the Europe team. Fritz, who had beaten Carlos Alcaraz on the second day, and Alex De Minaur of Australia, who also had two wins in singles, were the top performers for Team World, who have now beaten Team Europe in three of the last four years.

Zheng Wins Second Straight Challenger Title; Alvarez is M15 Champion; McDonald, Taraba Wallberg Claim European Championships; USA Falls to Italy in BJK Cup Final; Qualifying Begins Monday at ITA All-American Championships

Columbia senior Michael Zheng saved two match points to extend his ATP Challenger winning streak to ten, with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 7 seed Martin Damm today in Columbus Ohio.

Serving at 4-5 in the third set, Zheng was down 15-40, but saved the first match point with a volley winner and the second with an overhead winner. He then broke Damm and closed out the championship on his first match point.

Zheng, who won his first ATP Challenger title in Chicago last month, is up to 227 in the ATP live rankings, putting him in excellent position for Australian Open qualifying in January. He was on the initial acceptance list for next week's All-American Championships in Tulsa; with main draw not beginning until Wednesday, it's possible he will play. A quarterfinal appearance there would guarantee him entry into November's NCAA singles championships in November, where he would be the defending champion.

The champion of the M15 in Fayetteville Arkansas is also scheduled to compete in the All-American Championships next week. Oklahoma senior Luis Alvarez of Mexico, seeded No. 4, defeated No. 3 seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 for his first ITF men's World Tennis Tour title. The 21-year-old Alvarez, who played Davis Cup for Mexico last weekend, winning a doubles match against Estonia, was given a wild card into the main draw of the All-American Championships.

Emilio Nava won his fourth Challenger title of the year today, all on clay, at the 75 in Argentina, with the top seed beating No. 7 seed Alex Barrena of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Nava is now at a career-high in the ATP live rankings of 89.

Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden and Niels McDonald of Germany both lost in the first round at the US Open Junior Championships, but back on clay this week for the European Championships in Austria, they found their form again, winning the ITF J300 titles today.

The second-seeded Taraba Wallberg, who won the J500 in Egypt on clay in February, defeated top seed Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain 6-4, 7-6(2) for her first J300 title.

No. 3 seed McDonald, the 2025 Roland Garros boys champion, defeated top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 6-2, 7-5 for his first J300 title.

McDonald wasn't the only Roland Garros champion to earn a title in the European Championships, with the girls doubles winners in Paris, Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany duplicating their win in Austria. The top seeds beat the unseeded Polish team of Amelia Paszun and Inka Wawrzkiewicz  6-4, 7-6(2) in the final.

No. 8 seeds Raffaele Ciurnelli and Matteo Gribaldo of Italy claimed the boys title, beating No. 5 seeds Xavi Palomar and Sergio Planella Hernandez of Spain 7-5, 6-1 in the final.

The United States lost to Italy in Sunday's Billie Jean King Cup final 2-0, with Emma Navarro losing to Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4, 6-4 and Jessica Pegula falling to Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-2. Italy has now won back-to-back BJK Cup titles. For more on today's tie, see this article from the BJK Cup website.

The prequalifying for the ITA All-American Championships has determined 20 of the entries in the 64-player qualifying draws,  which begin on Monday, in Cary NC for the women, and Tulsa OK for the men.

Below are those in prequalifying who have advanced to the qualifying. I was struck, not for the first time, by how few seeded players qualified. The top 20 seeds were projected to reach the qualifying draw, only one of the women and just two of the men actually did win three matches this weekend to advance to qualifying.

Women through to qualifying:

Emma Kamper[21], Utah
Emmie Moore, Utah
Kristina Paskauskas, Alabama
Jermine Sherif[21], Washington
Tianna Rangan, Wisconsin
Ahmani Guichard, UCLA
Maria de la Paz Alberto, Iowa State
Maralgoo Chogsomjav[21], Kansas State
Zoie Epps, Louisiana Tech
Oliwia Orlinska, Maryland
Amelia Bissett, Florida State
Chloe Noel[21], Oklahoma
Elim Yan, Tennessee
Aely Arai, Miami
Deniz Dilek, Georgia
Sandugash Kenzhibayeva, Kansas
Daniela Pianai[21], South Carolina
Alice Ferlito[21], Princeton
Mia Yamakita[19], Vanderbilt
Prisca Abbas, UNC Charlotte

Men through to qualifying:

Gabriele Vulpitta[21], Georgia
Fryderyk Lechno Wasiutynski[2], Cal
Julian Alonso[21], TCU
Mikkel Zinder, Dayton
Henry Jefferson, Florida
William Manning, NC State
Patrik Meszaros, Wisconsin
Andrej Loncarevic[21], LSU
Alexandre Verlaguet, Stetson
Evan Burnett, Texas
Charlelie Cosnet, Kentucky
Santiago Giamichelle[12], Georgia
Petro Kuzmenok[21], Rice
Preston Stearns, Ohio State
Carl Roothman, Liberty
Eli Stephenson, Kentucky
Bryan Hernandez Cortes, Mississippi State
Henrik Bladelius[21], Clemson
Romain Gales[21], Clemson
Nikita Filin, Ohio State