Big Changes Coming to Selected ITF J30 and J60 Events in 2026; ITF J300 Pan Am Closed Entries; Seeds Fall in First Round of Columbus Challenger; Qualifying Complete, Braswell Returns at Little Rock M15

Yesterday the ITF announced a major change in the format for its J30 and J60 tournaments, introducing round robin play as a prelude to the quarterfinals in 2026, although not all tournaments at those two (lowest) levels of the ITF Junior Circuit will have the same format.

At the tournaments that will feature this innovation, the first three days of the tournaments will be devoted to round robin play among the eight groups of four players. Those who finish at the top of the group will advance to the quarterfinals, which will then be single elimination. 

There are no details in the announcement about the method of placing players in the round robin groups, although there is an additional part of the release that says that the World Tennis Number will be used in conjunction with this change. "While most direct acceptances will still be determined by ITF World Tennis Tour junior rankings, a proportion of direct acceptances into qualifying and main draw singles at J30 and J60 events will be granted to players based on their WTN alone."

Whether the WTN will be used for seeding or group placement is not specifically disclosed, nor is there an explanation as to how ITF junior rankings points will be awarded for those who do not make it out of the round robin groups. 

This obviously provides more matches per tournament for each player, which is an admirable goal considering the cost of traveling to compete in those events; I'll be interested to see how this may impact doubles participation in these events.

I've never liked round robin play because of the mathematical calculations that often produce results that don't reflect the actual head-to-head matches played; you can beat someone but they can end up winning the group if the calculations of the number of games and sets is in their favor. But I'm willing to keep an open mind about it, and I look forward to learning the details of how this is going to be structured.

The third item in the release addresses the 16-and-under Regional Reserved Program, which is being expanded to all regions, not just South America and Europe, with WTN playing a major role in determining those spots.

The next tournament I'll be covering is the ITF J300 Pan American Closed, which I've been attending through its many venues: Tulsa, Charlotte, Lexington, and now Spring Texas, outside Houston, its location for the past two years.

As has been the case regardless of the location, Americans dominate the entry lists, although it is open to all players in North and South America. 

Wimbledon boys finalist Ronit Karki heads the acceptance list released today, which features eight ITF Top 100 boys, all Americans: Karki, Maximus Dussault, Dominick Mosejczuk, Gavin Goode, Ryan Cozad, Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson and Roshan Santhosh. The main draw cutoff is 330.

Seven ITF Top 100 girls, all Americans, have entered: Annika Penickova, who has been injured, Capucine Jauffret, Welles Newman, Nancy Lee, Ishika Ashar, Ava Rodriguez and Kori Montoya. The main draw cutoff for girls is 287.

I'm surprised to see Dussault and Mosejczuk entered, as both are freshmen at TCU and Wake Forest, respectively; we'll see if they withdraw by next Tuesday's deadline.

All but two of the first round matches at the ATP Challenger 75 in Columbus have been completed, with ten Americans advancing.

Alfredo Perez(Florida) reached the second round when top seed Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina retired trailing 4-0 in the first set. Andrew Ilagan(Hawaii) beat qualifier Sebastian Dominko, a senior at Notre Dame, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Ilagan will play Columbia senior Michael Zheng, who beat No. 8 seed Garret Johns(Duke) 6-0, 6-4.

Other Americans advancing are No. 7 seed Martin Damm, No. 6 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech), Alex Rybakov(TCU)  and Patrick Maloney(Michigan).

Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch defeated No. 5 seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) and will play qualifier Samir Banerjee, a senior at Stanford, who defeated Christian Langmo(Miami) 7-6(2), 6-2.

Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) defeated wild card Alexander Bernard(all three Ohio State wild cards lost in the first round) and will play Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan, who upset No. 2 seed Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) 6-4, 6-4.

Qualifier Preston Stearns, an Ohio State junior, will face Daniel Masur of Germany in a first round match Wednesday, with No. 4 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia playing University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain in the other first round match Wednesday.

It's been a month since the last M15 in the United States, which was the week of August 11 in Huntsville Alabama, but this week marks the return of that level tournament in Fayetteville Arkansas.

Qualifying concluded today, with two Americans advancing to the main draw: Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee) and Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine).  Also qualifying is Timo Legout of France, who finished last season ranked No. 1 after his first season at Texas. Legout, who is enrolled, is hoping to get another year of eligibility for the spring season.

Andrew Fenty(Michigan) is the top seed, and he won his first round match today, with Micah Braswell(Texas) the No. 2 seed. Braswell is making his return to competition after being out since February, presumably due to injury.

All four wild cards went to Arkansas players: sophomores Arsene Pougault, Gabriel Elicha Navas and Jakub Vrba and junior Lukas Palovic. 

Keaton Hance, Arizona freshman Alejandro Arcila and Arizona sophomore Glib Sekachov received entries via the ITF junior reserved program; NC State graduate Braden Schick is showing as a junior exempt entry, but that can't be correct, as he is 21 years old.