October Aces; Frodin Reaches First Pro Circuit Semifinal in Sumter W15; Jodar Advances to Eighth Challenger Semi in Charlottesville; Velcz Beats Top Seed in M25 Harlingen; ITA Video Follows Arizona's Jay Friend to All-American Title

From ATP Masters 1000s to W15s titles and everything in between, the top 20 performances by current and former collegians and juniors in October are highlighted in my monthly Aces column at the Tennis Recruiting Network. As has been the case for years now, I've found it impossible to cover all the titles won by former collegians, or even top juniors, so I apologize if one of your favorites isn't included. But just tracking all of them each month keeps me dialed in and aware of who is working their way up the professional tennis food chain.

I do keep an especially close eye on the USTA Pro Circuit, of course, and the W15s this past two weeks in South Carolina have certainly produced some notable results.

Last week in Hilton Head, three US juniors reached the semifinals, and 16-year-old Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who is featured in the Aces column, won the title. This week in Sumter, there are two US juniors in the semifinals, with 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston reaching the final four again this week. Today she defeated qualifier Jade Groen of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4 and will play another qualifier Saturday in recent North Carolina graduate Carson Tanguilig. Tanguilig defeated 17-year-old Capucine Jauffret 6-4, 6-3 to advance to her first Pro Circuit semifinal.

The other US junior in the semifinals is 16-year-old Thea Frodin, who defeated qualifier Bella Bergqvist Larsson of Sweden, a sophomore at South Carolina, 6-4, 6-4 today to reach her first Pro Circuit semifinal. She will play No. 5 seed Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Oklahoma State Saturday, with Nijkamp defeating No. 2 seed Maria Fernanda Navarro of Mexico 6-2, 6-2 today.

Three of the four semifinalists have been determined at the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville, with University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain continuing his excellent form this summer and fall on the Challenger circuit, reaching an eighth semifinal with his 7-5, 6-3 win over teammate Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland, a wild card. Jodar, seeded seventh, will face last week's Sioux Falls finalist Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain, with the No. 8 seed beating Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 6-4 today. 

Qualifier Mats Rosenkranz, a 27-year-old German, advanced to his second Challenger semifinal in as many weeks with a 6-1, 6-0 win over San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain.

Rosenkranz will face the winner of the night quarterfinals between No. 6 seed Martin Damm and unseeded Daniil Glinka of Estonia.

At the M25 in Harlingen Texas, Baylor senior Zsombor Velcz of Hungary, a qualifier, defeated former Baylor All-American and top seed Adrian Boitan of Romania 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(4) in a quarterfinal match that took three hours and 34 minutes to reach a conclusion. Velcz, who has qualified for the NCAAs in doubles, but has yet to qualify in singles, will play No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain, who stopped the 17-match winning streak of No. 3 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France 6-2, 2-0 retired.

No. 7 seed Aidan Kim, a junior at Ohio State, lost to No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3. Searle will play No. 8 seed Alex Martinez(Oklahoma) of Spain, who beat qualifier Andreja Petrovic(Florida State, Duke) 6-1, 6-3.

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association followed University of Arizona senior Jay Friend throughout his run to last month's title at the ITA All-American Championships and produced this documentary about the 21-year-old from Japan, who went on to capture his first ATP Challenger title the following week in Fairfield California(details on that in the October Aces).

With Friend not being a highly ranked junior--he didn't reach the ITF Top 100--I wasn't familiar with his tennis before he joined Arizona, so I was especially interested in his development and how he came to the attention of the Wildcats head coach Clancy Shields. He mentions that the run he had on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2021, winning three tournaments that summer and reaching the semifinals of two more, but it sounds as if Shields had already identified Friend as a player he wanted before that, which Friend says was a factor even when he began to get more attention from other coaches.

No matter what your stake in junior and college tennis, the documentary will have something of interest to you, and the deep dive into the coaching relationship between Friend and Shields is particularly illuminating. I hope this is just the first of many ITA productions in this vein, with each player, whether a major champion or not, having a compelling story to tell.

Jodar and Dietrich Meet in Charlottesville Quarterfinals; US Juniors Preston, Jauffret and Frodin Advance in Sumter W15; Kim Sole American Left at Harlingen M25; Trial Date Set in Brantmeier v NCAA; WTA Finals Feature Four Americans; Fritz and Shelton Qualify for ATP Finals

With top seed Rinky Hijikata(UNC) of Australia losing to qualifier Mats Rosenkranz of Germany 6-3, 6-4 in today's second round action at the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville Virginia, only three seeds have reached the quarterfinals: Nos. 6, 7 and 8.

No. 6, Martin Damm, will play Daniil Glinka of Estonia, No. 8 Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain will face Mitchell Krueger and No. 7 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain will take on University of Virginia teammate Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland. 

Monday defeated qualifier Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-1 today, while Krueger got his only break of the match at 3-4 in the third set against Wake Forest senior DK Suresh of India and served out the 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 victory.

Ninteen-year-old sophomore Jodar reached his tenth Challenger quarterfinal of his career, all this year, beating Saba Purtseladze of Georgia for the second week in a row, this time by a 6-4, 6-0 score. Dietrich booked his place in a first Challenger quarterfinal yesterday with a 7-6(6), 6-2 win over No. 4 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain Wednesday.

Rosenkranz will face San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain, who survived a three-and-a-half-hour battle with Inaki Montes(Virginia) of Spain yesterday to reach his first Challenger quarterfinal.

Three US juniors have advanced to the quarterfinals of the W15 in Sumter South Carolina: Janae Preston, Capucine Jauffret and Thea Frodin. The 15-year-old wild card Preston, a semifinalist last week at the W15 in Hilton Head, defeated No. 8 seed Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. She will play qualifier Jade Groen of the Netherlands, who beat top seed Luca Udvardy(Oklahoma State) of Hungary 6-3, 6-3.

The 17-year-old Jauffret reached her first Pro Circuit quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow Junior Reserve entrant Ava Rodriguez. Jauffret will play former North Carolina All-American Carson Tanguilig, who beat fellow qualifier India Houghton(Stanford) 6-1, 6-3. 

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin, another of the Junior Reserve entries, ended the perfect pro record of Hilton Head champion Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who retired in their match today trailing 7-6(2), 3-2.  Frodin will play the third qualifier in the quarterfinals, Bella Bergqvist Larsson(South Carolina) of Sweden, Friday.

The only two seeds remaining play each other, with Oklahoma State's Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, No. 5, taking on No. 2 Maria Fernanda Navarro of Mexico.

At the M25 in Harlingen Texas, Aidan Kim, a junior at Ohio State, is the only American to reach the quarterfinals, with the No. 7 seed advancing with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over wild card Ozan Baris, his third win over the Michigan State senior in the past eight months. Kim will face No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain. the 2023 Wimbledon boys champion.

Former Texas A&M standout Raphael Perot of France extended his winning streak to 17 matches with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Kaylan Bigun(UCLA). The fifth-seeded Perot will face No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain as he attempts to win his fourth straight USTA Pro Circuit singles title.

The date is set for the court case that North Carolina senior Reese Brantmeier has filed against the NCAA, regarding the organization's prohibition of tennis players accepting prize money at professional events. It's over a year away, November of 2026, later that either party requested. Given all the litigation the NCAA is currently involved in, much of it pertaining to its denial of eligibility for transfers and junior college players, I'm surprised the NCAA hasn't settled this yet, although there is still plenty of time for that to occur. A complete rundown of the state of the case is available at the Carolina Journal.

The WTA Finals begin Saturday in Riyadh, with half the field American women: defending champion Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys. They are joined by Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina. For the schedule, round robin groups, prize money and doubles qualifiers, see this article from the WTA website.

One of the players competing in the Nitto ATP Finals, which begin November 9, has yet to be determined, but two Americans will be in the field: Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton(Florida). Fritz qualified yesterday; Shelton's win over Andrey Rublev today at the Paris Masters clinched his participation for the first time in his career.

Dietrich Reaches First Challenger Quarterfinal on Home Courts; Drenser-Hagmann Stays Perfect with Win at W15 in Sumter SC; Baris Versus Kim in Harlingen; Friend Documentary Coming Friday

The ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville has always been a focal point for University of Virginia players during the fall, with many taking advantage of their home courts and local support to jump-start their pro careers. While UVA sophomore Rafael Jodar has managed to make the ATP Top 200 (he's 198 in the live rankings after his first round win last night) without a boost from this tournament, Virginia junior Dylan Dietrich has received a wild card the past two years. Last year he won his first Challenger match with a win over Zachary Svajda; this year he has advanced to the quarterfinals, with the 21-year-old from Switzerland beating No. 4 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain 7-6(6), 6-2.

If Jodar, seeded No. 7 this week, wins his second round match against Saba Purtseladze of Georgia Thursday, he will face teammate Dietrich in the quarterfinals.

Former Virginia All-American Inaki Montes couldn't match Dietrich's accomplishment, falling to San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain in a match that took over three and a half hours to complete. The third set alone took over 90 minutes, with Tarvet posting a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory.

The other two players advancing to Friday's quarterfinals are No. 6 seed Martin Damm, who beat qualifier Keegan Smith(UCLA) 6-1, 7-5 and Daniil Glinka of Estonia, who beat Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany 7-6(4), 6-2.

At the W15 in Sumter South Carolina, last week's Hilton Head W15 champion Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann  stayed undefeated in pro tennis competition with a 7-5, 6-4 win over 37-year-old Tori Kinard. The 16-year-old from Michigan, now 8-0 on the Pro Circuit, will face Thea Frodin, also 16, in the second round Thursday. Frodin came from a set down in a match suspended Tuesday night, beating No. 6 seed Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1. 

Two other juniors, both of whom received entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program, will face off in a second round match, with Georgia recruit Ava Rodriguez playing Florida recruit Capucine Jauffret. Rodriguez defeated No. 3 seed Kira Matushkina of Russua 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3, while Jauffret had beaten wild card Sara Shumate 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday.

Fifteen-year-old wild card Janae Preston will play 31-year-old Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania, the No. 8 seed, in the second round after beating wild card Ciara Harding 6-3, 7-5.  Clemson recruit Harper Stone also advanced to the second round with the 16-year-old beating fellow qualifier Sofia Maria Barbulescu of Romania 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-6(5) in a four-hour marathon. The other two Americans in the second round are former collegians who came through qualifying: India Houghton(Stanford) will play Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina) for a place in the quarterfinals.

At the M25 in Harlingen Texas, No. 3 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France extended his USTA Pro Circuit winning streak to 16 matches, beating Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the second round against Kaylan Bigun(UCLA). 

In the only all-USA second round match, Michigan State senior Ozan Baris will face Ohio State junior Aidan Kim, the No. 7 seed, after Baris beat qualifier Sebastian Dominko(Notre Dame) of Slovenia 7-5, 7-5 and Kim defeated Oklahoma sophomore Orel Kimhi of Israel 6-1, 6-1. Kim beat Baris this past June in the second round of the Wichita M25 6-2, 6-4, but their meeting in Big Ten play in March went to Kim 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), with that result giving Ohio State a 4-3 win.

The ITA has a YouTube documentary coming Friday with Arizona's Jay Friend, this fall's ITA All-American champion. The trailer for the 34-minute behind-the-scenes coverage of Friend's quest for his first college major is below.

Kypson, Draxl Fall in Charlottesville Challenger First Round; Two Junior Slam Champions Advance at M25 in Harlingen Texas; Udvardy, Jauffret Win at Sumter W15; Zheng Advances to Conference Masters for Chance to Defend NCAA Title; Liu and Kypson Lead AO Wild Card Race

With just two more Challengers left on the USTA Pro Circuit after this week, nearly every match feels significant with players eyeing the Top 100 for direct entry into the Australian Open, or the Top 230 for entry into qualifying in Melbourne. 

Sioux Falls Challenger 100 champion Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), who is now 146 in the ATP rankings, lost his first round match today at the Challenger 75 in Charlottesville Virginia, with Daniil Glinka of Estonia beating the No. 3 seed 6-3, 6-3 this evening.

Earlier today Wake Forest senior DK Suresh of India, who qualified yesterday, defeated No. 2 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada 6-3, 6-3, with Draxl not able to make any push into the Top 100 and the main draw of the slams in the last three months; his ATP ranking was 121 on July 13th and is 121 now.

The three wild cards went 1-2 in first round play, with Ronit Karki, this year's Wimbledon boys finalist, falling to No. 8 seed and Sioux Falls finalist Johannus Monday(Tennesse) of Great Britain 6-3, 7-5. Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) lost to former University of Virginia star Inaki Montes 5-7, 7-6(1), 6-4, with Montes set to play University of San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet in the second round. Tarvet, who received entry via the ATP's Collegiate Accelerator Program, defeated No. 4 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-4, 6-2 in first round play yesterday.

The success for a wild card came in the form of University of Virginia junior Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland, who beat Alfredo Perez(Florida) 6-3, 6-4 today. Dietrich will play No. 4 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain, who defeated Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) 6-2, 6-4.

Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch received an ATP Next Gen entry, but lost to qualifier Keegan Smith(UCLA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 2 in the first round today.

No. 7 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain is back home in Charlottesville, with the UVA sophomore now one of the favorites for the title after his Challenger trophy in Lincoln two weeks ago. Jodar defeated Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) 6-4, 7-5 in the next to last match of the first round tonight at the Boar's Head, the indoor home of the Cavaliers.

The other men's Pro Circuit tournament this week is an M25 in Harlingen Texas, where former Baylor All-American Adrian Boitan of Romania is the top seed. The No. 2 seed is 2023 Wimbledon boys champion Henry Searle of Great Britain, who advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Axel Nefve(Notre Dame, Florida).  Another junior slam champion, 2024 Roland Garros boys champion Kaylan Bigun, advanced to the second round, defeating Tomas Luis(Belmont) of Portugal 7-5, 6-3. Bigun received entry into the tournament via the ATP/ITF Junior Accelerator Program.

Wild cards were given to Alex Frusina(Auburn, Texas A&M), Michigan State senior Ozan Baris, ITF Junior No. 39 Maxwell Exsted and Joao Vitor Goncalves Ceolin(UT-San Antonio) of Brazil.

The only American to qualify was Keenan Mayo, who beat 16-year-old wild card Mason Vaughan 7-5, 6-4 in today's final round. But five current collegians advanced to the main draw with wins today: Martin Borisiouk(NC State), Sebastian Dominko(Notre Dame), Kriish Tyagi(Texas A&M) and Zsombor Velcz and Alexandru Chirita of Baylor.

After the cancellation of the W35 in Stillwater Oklahoma this week, the only USTA Pro Circuit tournament for women is the W15 in Sumter South Carolina. 

Rain on Monday forced some players to double up today in qualifying, but the qualifiers were determined, while only two of the five first round matches originally scheduled were played.

Americans qualifying for the main draw are Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina), Sophie Williams(Florida, James Madison), India Houghton(Stanford), Clemson recruit Harper Stone, and Jaedan Brown(Michigan).

Nineteen-year-old Luca Udvardy of Hungary is the top seed, with the Oklahoma State freshman defeating Dia Evtimova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-1 in the first round today.

Florida recruit Capucine Jauffret, who received entry via the ITF's junior reserved program, beat Oklahoma recruit Sara Shumate, a wild card, 6-1, 6-1 in the other first round match completed today.

Wild cards were awarded to teens Ciara Harding and Janae Preston, who drew each other and were on today's schedule, with Preston leading 6-3, 4-5 when play was suspended. Thea Frodin also received entry via the junior reserve program; she trailed No. 6 seed Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil 6-4, 3-3 when play was suspended for the day. 

Last week's Hilton Head W15 champion Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann received the fourth wild card, with the 16-year-old from Michigan playing Tori Kinard, who, at 37, is more than twice her age. Kinard has gone 280-327 on the Pro Circuit; Drenser-Hagmann is 7-0, having played just one tournament, via qualifying.

With Michael Zheng playing Challengers and returning to New York for classes at Columbia between those trips, hopes were not high that he would defend his title at the NCAAs next month at Lake Nona. But this weekend, Zheng competed in the Ivy League tournament to determine that conference's entrant in the ITA's Conference Masters tournament November 6-9. Unsurprisingly, Zheng won the Ivy tournament and is officially in the field for the Masters, where he needs to reach the semifinals to make NCAA tournament. See the full list of the Conference Masters competitors here.

Results from the third week for women and the second week for men in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge have been calculated and there are two new leaders, with Patrick Kypson moving into first place ahead of Eliot Spizzirri(Texas), who made the ATP Top 100 for the first time yesterday after reaching the final of the Challenger 100 in France. 

Claire Liu took over the No. 1 spot in the women's race, moving past Elli Mandlik.

Australian Open Wild Card Challenge Standings Update

 

ORLANDO, Fla., October 28, 2025 – Former junior stars Claire Liu and Patrick Kypson are now in the leads of the women's and men's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge after big results last week. 

 

Liu, the 25-year-old former Wimbledon girls' singles champion, qualified and reached the semifinals of the Guangzhou Open WTA 250, earning her 116 points. Liu had previously reached the second round in Melbourne in 2023 and has been ranked as high as No. 52.

 

Kypson is now in the lead of the men's Challenge after winning his third Challenger singles title of the year at the USTA Pro Circuit 100 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The 26-year-old former USTA Boys' 18s National Champion previously won the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge two years ago to make his main draw debut in Melbourne in 2024, and also won the 2023 Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge. 

 

Women's Standings -- through Week 3 of 5

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Claire Liu (222) -- 116
2. Elizabeth Mandlik (215) -- 101
3. Anna Rogers (230) -- 95
4. Katie Volynets (91) -- 90
5. Mary Stoiana (326) -- 77

 

Men's Standings -- through Week 2 of 5

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Patrick Kypson (146) -- 122

2. Eliot Spizzirri (100) -- 113
3. Martin Damm (191) -- 58
4. Matthew Forbes (1525) -- 25

5. Andres Martin (270) -- 20

 

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, running 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 this week 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.

Penickova Rises to No. 1 in ITF Junior Rankings Despite Loss in Chengdu Finals; Gaines and Moreno Claim J100 Titles in Georgia; ITF J300 Pan Am Photo Gallery

As of today, Kristina Penickova has reached the top of the ITF Junior Tennis rankings, after the 16-year-old advanced to championship match of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals last week in Chengdu China. Despite losing to US Open girls champion Jeline Vandromme of Belgium 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, Penickova overtook fellow American Julieta Pareja on the strength of her results last week, her runner-up finish in Australia and all her doubles success, which includes two junior slam titles this year. Penickova is barely 100 points ahead of Vandromme, but has no points to defend the rest of the year; Vandromme has a zero point tournament on her six best results, so entering any of the J300s or J500s remaining on the junior schedule would make the race to being named ITF World Junior Champion for 2025 a true competition in the final two months of the season.

Two-time junior slam champion Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria is still firmly in control of the boys top spot, but ITF Junior Finals champion Max Schoenhaus of Germany, now at No. 2 in the rankings, could make it interesting if he chooses to play the remaining J300s and J500s in Mexico and Florida in the next two months.

While Penickova was finishing second, and Jack Kennedy and Ben Willwerth were finishing fifth and sixth respectively in the eight-player fields in China, most of the other American juniors in action on the ITF Junior Circuit last week were at the J100 in Rome Georgia.

No. 12 seed Carlota Moreno extended her winning streak to 11 matches, with the J60 champion in South Carolina two weeks ago going back-to-back in Georgia. The 17-year-old from Knoxville Tennessee, who has verbally committed to the Volunteers for 2027, defeated No. 11 seed Ellery Mendell 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Moreno, who did not lose more than four games in any set in her six wins, now has won two J60s and one J100 title, posting all three of her career titles since June.

Sixteen-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr won his fourth career ITF Junior Circuit singles title in Rome, with the No. 2 seed defeating No. 7 seed Matthew Shapiro 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Gaines lost his only set of the tournament in the semifinals, but avenged his Kalamazoo 16s semifinal loss to Marcel Latak, the No. 3 seed in Rome, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Latak won his second straight doubles title in Rome, playing with Gadin Arun after winning the South Carolina J60 with Rowan Qalbani two weeks ago. Arun and Latak, the No. 4 seeds, beat top seed Samim Filiz of Turkey and Koki Nara of Japan 6-1, 7-5 in the final.

Fourteen-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes won the girls doubles title, their second as a team this fall, with the No. 2 seeds defeating No. 4 seeds Mendell and Briley Rhoden 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.

The other title won by an American junior last week was at the J30 in the Dominican Republic, with 14-year-old Indra Vergne partnering with Marek Smejcky of the Czech Republic for his first ITF Junior Circuit title. 

With rain obviously an issue throughout the week, the unseeded Smejcky and Vergne defeated another unseeded team, Rafael Elaez Miranda and Fabricio Mesia of Peru 4-2, 4-0 in the final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is a J60 at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton Florida, with Avner Wong and Teaghan Jou An Keys the top seeds. With 48-player draws, the seeds don't play until Tuesday.

My final media offering from the ITF J300 Pan American Closed Championships earlier this month in Houston is this Tennis Recruiting Photo Gallery, which features 52 of the competitors from that tournament. 

The videos of all four Pan Am singles finalists can be found at my YouTube Channel; my Tennis Recruiting Network recap of the tournament is here.

Vandromme and Schoenhaus Claim ITF WTT Junior Finals Titles; Kypson Wins Third Challenger of Year at Sioux Falls 100; First Pro Tournament, First Title for Kennedy-Drenser; Li Wins Second WTA Title

Seventeen-year-old Jeline Vandromme of Belgium and 18-year-old Max Schoenhaus of Germany won the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Sunday in Chengdu China in contrasting fashion.

No. 4 seed Vandromme, the US Open girls champion last month in New York, got her third win this year over top seed Kristina Penickova in another three-set battle. After beating Penickova 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in group play earlier in the week, Vandromme again came back from a set down, earning a 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory in two hours and 30 minutes.

Schoenhaus, also the No. 4 seed, needed only 48 minutes to defeat No. 6 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 6-2, 6-0 in the boys final. Schoenhaus, the Roland Garros finalist, should move to No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings with his title.

Jack Kennedy finished fifth with a 6-1, 6-3 win over fellow American Benjamin Willwerth; Kennedy now has a 4-0 record in ITF Junior Circuit matches with Willwerth.

Top seed Aleksander Vasilev of Bulgaria did not win a match in the round robin or placement matches, going 0-5 for the week.

Sunday's finals:

Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) d Kristina Penickova[1](USA) 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5

Max Schoenhaus[4](GER) v Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) 6-2, 6-0

Boys third place: Andres Santamart Roig[[2](ESP) d. Ryo Tabata[ALT](JPN) 7-6(5), 7-6(4)

Girls third place: Mia Pohankova[3](SVK) d. Hannah Klugman[2](GBR) 6-2, 6-3

Boys fifth place: Jack Kennedy[5](USA) d. Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA) 6-1, 6-3

Girls fifth place: Alena Kovackova[ALT](CZE) d. Julia Stusek[5](GER) 6-1, 7-6(7)

Boys seventh place: Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN) d. Aleksandar Vasilev[1](BUL) 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5

Girls seventh place: Ruien Zhang[8](CHN) d. Charo Esquiva Banuls[7](ESP) 6-1, 7-6(1)

As of 9 pm Sunday, the ITF had not updated the final standing and travel grant numbers, but those should be available Monday morning here.

Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) won his sixth career ATP Challenger title and his third this year at the Sioux Falls South Dakota 100, denying former Tennessee All-American Johannus Monday of Great Britain his first Challenger title with a 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 7-5 win in today's final. Kypson broke at 5-all in the third set and held at love to earn his third title of 2025 and his sixth win in seven ATP Challenger finals. I believe this gives Kypson the lead in the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, with Eliot Spizzirri, who led after the first week of results, losing in the final of the ATP Challenger 100 in France. 

For more on the final, courtesy of Greg Sharko, see this release.

(I believe the AO wild card race reference will be corrected to reflect Kypson's move to No. 1).

The other American to win on the USTA Pro Circuit this week was 16-year-old Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who could have been content with qualifying at her first pro event, but went on to win five matches in the main draw. Today the blue chip from Michigan defeated fellow 16-year-old Annika Penickova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to win the title at the W15 in Hilton Head South Carolina. Drenser-Hagmann won a match tiebreaker in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw, but that was the only set she lost until the final. Drenser-Hagmann will immediately gain a WTA ranking with the 15 points she earned from her title today.

Two other Americans lost in finals today, with unseeded Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) losing to No. 3 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia 6-3, 6-0 at the W100 in Tyler Texas. Michigan State sophomore Matt Forbes, the 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion, lost his first Pro Circuit final at the M25 in Norman Oklahoma. Forbes, a qualifier, was beaten by No. 5 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France, who won his third USTA Pro Circuit title in the past month with a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory in today's final.

At the women's tournament in Norman, Francesca Pace won her second W35 title of the month, with the unseeded 20-year-old Italian defeating unseeded Auburn senior Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia 6-3, 7-6(5) in today's final. 

Ann Li captured her second WTA title today at the 250 in Guangzhao China, defeating former Texas Longhorn Lulu Sun of New Zealand 7-6(6), 6-2 in the final. The 25-year-old Li, whose other WTA title, also a 250, came four years ago, is now up to a career-high ranking of 33. For more on Li's title, see this article from the WTA website.

Kristina Penickova Reaches ITF WTT Junior Finals; Annika Penickova Advances to W15 Hilton Head Final; Forbes, and Stoiana Play for Pro Circuit Titles Sunday; Kypson and Spizzirri in Challenger 100 Finals; Lam Falls in Final of W15 in Spain

Sixteen-year-old twin sisters Kristina and Annika Penickova are, unusually, half a world apart this month, but both have advanced to finals Sunday.

Kristina will play for the title at the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals against Jeline Vandromme of Belgium, while Annika has advanced to her first pro final at the W15 in Hilton Head South Carolina.

Kristina posted her third victory in four meetings with 2025 Wimbledon girls champion Mia Pohankova in today's semifinals, taking a 6-3, 7-6(8) decision. Vandromme beat Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2 to run her record to 3-0 against Klugman, all this year.

US Open girls champion Vandromme is 2-0 against Penickova, with a third round win in New York this year and a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Penickova in group play Thursday.

I believe Penickova will take over the ITF Junior No. 1 ranking now regardless of the outcome of the final.

The boys final will feature the No. 6 and No. 4 seeds, with No. 6 Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania facing No. 4 Max Schoenhaus of Germany.

Jack Kennedy and Benjamin Willwerth will play for fifth place; Kennedy beat Willwerth 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 Friday in group play; Kennedy has won all three of their meetings on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Saturday's semifinal results:

BOYS:

Max Schoenhaus[4](GER) d. Jacopo Vasami[3](ITA) 5-0, ret.

Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) d. Andres Santamarta Roig[2](ESP) 6-2, 6-4 

5-8 placement matches for Americans:

Jack Kennedy[5](USA) d. Aleksandra Vasilev[1](BUL) 6-4, 6-4

Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA) d. Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN) 6-3, 6-3

GIRLS:
Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) d. Hannah Klugman[2](GBR) 6-4, 6-2
Kristina Penickova[1](USA) d. Mia Pohankova[3](SVK) 6-3, 7-6(8)

Sunday's finals:
Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) v Kristina Penickova[1](USA)
Max Schoenhaus[4](GER) v Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU)

Live streaming, including replays, can be found here. Live scoring is here.

Annika advanced to the final in Hilton Head with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston. Penickova will face 16-year-old qualifier Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who defeated No. 2 seed Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil 6-4, 7-5. Drenser-Hagmann is playing in her first pro event this week.

No. 2 seeds Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania and Dia Evtimova of Bulgaria won the doubles title today, beating unseeded teens Bella Payne and Sara Shumate 6-1, 2-6, 10-4 in the final.

Michigan State sophomore Matt Forbes has reached the final of the M25 in Norman Oklahoma, defeating No. 7 seed Alex Martinez(Oklahoma) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in today's semifinal. The 19-year-old Forbes, who has won six matches already, including two in qualifying, will face No. 5 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France for the title. Perot already has won two M15 titles this fall on the USTA Pro Circuit; it's Forbes' first final.

University of Oklahoma teammates Oscar Lacides of Guadeloupe and Bruno Nhavene of Mozambique won the doubles title today, beating Gavin Young(Michigan) and Felix Corwin(Minnesota) 7-6(5), 6-4 in the final.

The women's final at the W35 in Norman will feature two unseeded players, with Francesca Pace of Italy taking on Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia. Pace beat top seed Elvina Kalieva 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, while Khayrutdinova, a senior at Auburn, defeated No. 6 seed Jaeda Daniel 6-0, 6-1.

Current collegians Alice Battesti(Auburn) of France and Barakat Quadre(Oklahoma) of Nigeria won the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair beating top seeds Daniel and Switzerland's Leonie Kung 3-6, 6-2, 10-6 in the final.

At the 100 level USTA Pro Circuit events, two former Texas A&M Aggies will compete for the titles, with Mary Stoiana advancing to the W100 final in Tyler Texas and Patrick Kypson reaching the final at the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota.

The unseeded Stoiana defeated No. 8 seed Olivia Gadecki of Austrlian 6-4, 7-6(7) to reach the final, where she'll face No. 3 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia. Marcinko defeated top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.

No. 4 seeds Weronika Falkowska of Poland and Dalayna Hewitt won the doubles title today, beating unseeded Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-2, 6-3 in the final. 

In Sioux Falls, Kypson continued his impressive play, beating qualifier Antoine Ghibaudo(Kentucky) of France 6-3, 6-1, not facing a break point for the second consecutive match.  Kypson, who will be playing for his third Challenger title this year, faces unseeded Johannus Monday of Great Britain, who is seeking his first Challenger title. The former Tennessee All-American defeated qualifier Mats Rosenkranz of Germany 6-4, 7-6(4) in today's other semifinal.

Top seeds Rinky Hijikata and Mac Kiger, both North Carolina alums, won the doubles title today, beating unseeded Juan Jose Bianchi(SMU, Boston College) of Venezuela and Andrew Fenty(Michigan) 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

At the ATP Challenger 100 in Brest France, No. 5 seed Eliot Spizzirri is through to the final after the former Texas All-American and two-time ITA Player of the Year defeated No. 8 seed Francesco Passaro of Italy 7-6(11), 6-3 in today's semifinals. He will face No. 3 seed Hugo Gaston of France, who beat former NC State standout Alexis Galarneau of Canada 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

Seventeen-year-old Shannon Lam has been playing W15 events in Tunisia and Spain since May, and she made a second final in the past two months this week at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy in Villena. Unseeded, Lam defeated two seeds to reach the final, where she lost to No. 6 seed Carmen Lopez Martinez of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Penickova Advances to Semifinals at ITF WTT Junior Finals, Twin Sister Reaches Semifinals at W15 in Hilton Head; Forbes Beats Bigun at Norman M35; Stoiana Makes W100 Tyler Semifinals; Ghibaudo, Spizzirri Advance at Challenger 100s

The semifinals have been determined for the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu China, with Kristina Penickova reaching the Knockout stage and Jack Kennedy falling short, despite his victory today.

Round robin qualifications can be very wonky, and that was the case in two of the four groups. In Kennedy's Group B, Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain handed Max Schoenhaus of Germany his first loss and Kennedy beat fellow American Benjamin Willwerth, leaving Santamarta, Schoenhaus and Kennedy with 2-1 records. Since each had wins over another, the tiebreaker went to sets won with Santamarta and Schoenhaus 4-2 and Kennedy 4-3, after Kennedy dropped a set to Willwerth, while the other two did not. Because Santamarta beat Schoenhaus today, he ended up finishing first in the group, despite a straight-sets loss to Kennedy on Wednesday.

Jacopo Vasami of Itay was the only boy to advance to the semifinals without a loss.

Things were even crazier in the girls Group B, with three players finishing 1-2. Mia Pohankova, the Wimbledon girls champion, won a third-set tiebreaker over Jana Kovackova today to go 3-0 in group play, but Hannah Klugman's loss to Ruien Zhang meant she, Zhang and Kovackova were all 1-2. Klugman ended up advancing with her 3-4 record in sets won, while Zhang and Kovackova were 3-5 in that category. 

In addition to Pohankova, US Open girls champion Jeline Vandromme went undefeated in group play.

Results from Friday, Day Three of Round Robin Play:

Girls Group A

Kristina Penickova[1](USA) d. Charo Esquiva Banuls[7](ESP) 6-3, 6-2

Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) d. Julia Stusek[5](GER) 7-5, 6-4

Girls Group B

Ruien Zhang[8](CHN) d. Hanna Klugman[2](GBR) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5

Mia Pohankova[3](SVK) d. Jana Kovackova[6](CZE) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3)

Boys Group A

Jacopo Vasami[3](ITA) d. Aleksandar Vasilev[1](BUL) 6-4, 6-0

Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) d. Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN) 6-3, 6-0

Boys Group B

Jack Kennedy[5](USA) d. Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

Andres Santamarta Roig[2](ESP) d. Max Schoenhaus[4](GER) 7-5, 6-4

Saturday's Semifinals:

Jacopo Vasami[3](ITA) v Max Schoenhaus[4](GER)

Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) v Andres Santamarta Roig[2](ESP)

Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) v Hannah Klugman[2](GBR)

Kristina Penickova[1](USA) v Mia Pohankova[3](SVK)

The head-to-heads in Saturday's semifinals give a distinct advantage to three players, with Vasami and Schoenhaus the only pair who have not played on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Santamarta owns a 2-0 record over Alexandrescou, with both coming on clay this year.

Penickova has a 3-1 record against Pohankova, including a win in the Australian Open junior semifinals this year. 

Vandromme has beaten Klugman twice this year in junior slams: in the third round of the Australian Open and the semifinals of the US Open.

Placement matches for 5-8 positions are also on the schedule for Saturday for those who did not make the semifinals.

Live streaming, including replays, can be found here. Live scoring is here.

While Kristina was advancing to the semifinals in China, twin sister Annika reached the semifinals at the USTA Pro Circuit W15 in Hilton Head South Carolina. Annika is just one of the four juniors to make the semifinals, with 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston, playing in her first pro event, next for Penickova. Preston defeated former Old Dominion All-American Sofia Johnson of Great Britain, a qualifier, 6-3, 7-6(6), while Penickova beat NC State sophomore Mia Slama 6-2, 7-6(3). Sixteen-year-old Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, playing in her first pro event, came through qualifying and today defeated former North Carolina standout Carson Tanguilig, a wild card, 7-6(4), 6-3. Dresner-Hagmann will face 18-year-old Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil, the No. 2 seed, who beat 16-year-old qualifier Jensen Diianni 7-5, 6-0. 

Rain sent play indoors at the men's M25 and women's W35 in Norman Oklahoma, but the semifinals are set for Saturday.

2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion Matt Forbes, a qualifier, defeated fellow 19-year-old Kaylan Bigun 6-3, 6-4 to advance to his first Pro Circuit semifinal. The Michigan State sophomore will play No. 7 seed Alex Martinez(Oklahoma) of Spain for a place in the final. No. 5 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France, who has already won two M15 USTA Pro Circuit titles this fall, will play No. 6 seed Blaise Bicknell(Florida, Tennessee) in the semifinals.

Top seed Elvina Kalieva will play unseeded Francesa Pace in the top half semifinal in Norman, with No. 6 seed Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) facing unseeded Ekaterina Khayrutdinova(Florida International, Auburn) in the bottom half semifinal.

At the W100 in Tyler Texas, Mary Stoiana, the former Texas A&M All-American, is through to the semifinals after beating No. 7 seed Anastasia Gasanova of Russia 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.  She will play the winner of tonight's quarterfinal between No. 8 seed Olivia Gadecki of Australian and Kayla Day.

The string of current collegians finding success on the ATP Challenger Circuit continued today at the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota, with University of Kentucky sophomore Antoine Ghibaudo of France beating Martin Damm 7-6(4), 6-4. The 20-year-old qualifier will face the only American remaining, No. 5 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), who followed up his impressive second round win over Rafael Jodar of Spain yesterday with another near flawless performance today. Kypson defeated No. 3 seed Rinky Hijikata(North Carolina) of Australia 6-4, 6-4, facing no break points in either set.  The top half semifinal will feature Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Andres Martin(Georgia Tech), and qualifier Mats Rosenkranz of Germany, who advanced when top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia retired trailing 7-5, 1-0. 

At the ATP Challenger 100 in France, Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) is looking to keep his lead in the USTA Australian Open Wild Card race, although he is closing in on the Top 100 and may not need a wild card into the main draw. Spizzirri, the No. 5 seed, defeated Giulio Zeppieri of Italy 5-7, 7-6(8), 7-6(4), saving two match points, to reach the semifinals. He has dropped the first set in all three of his wins this week. Spizzirri will face No. 8 seed Francesco Passaro of Italy in the semifinals Saturday.

All Three Americans Drop Matches at ITF WTT Junior Finals; Forbes and Bigun Meet in Norman M25 Quarterfinals; Four Teens Reach Quarterfinals at W15 in Hilton Head; Memorial Mass for Tom Svajda Next Month in San Diego

The final matches in the round robin stage of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals are set for Friday, after all three Americans dropped their matches Thursday in Chengdu China.  Top seed Kristina Penickova and No. 5 seed Jack Kennedy lost to put their records at 1-1, with wins Friday likely necessary if they are to advance to Saturday's semifinals. Benjamin Willwerth is now 0-2 in group play, so the Australian Open boys finalist is unlikely to advance to the knockout round. The only boys at 2-0 are No. 3 seed Jacopo Vasami of Italy and No. 4 seed Max Schoenhaus of Germany.

Boys top seed Aleksandar Vasilev of Bulgaria lost again today to put his record at 0-2, so be won't advance out of group play.  Like Penickova, No. 2 seed in the girls draw, Hannah Klugman of Great Britain is also at 1-1 and will need a win Friday to reach the semifinals. The formula for advancing out of the group stage can be found in this ITF document.

Results from Thursday, Day Two of Round Robin Play:

Boys Group A

Jacopo Vasami[3](ITA) d. Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) 7-6(5), 6-2

Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN) d. Aleksandar Vasilev[1](BUL) 6-4, 6-4

Boys Group B

Andres Santamarta Roig[2](ESP) d. Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA) 7-5, 6-3

Max Schoenhaus[4] d. Jack Kennedy[5](USA) 6-1, 6-3

Girls Group A

Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) d. Kristina Penickova[1](USA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

Julia Stusek[5] d. Charo Esquiva Banuls[7](ESP) 7-6(3), 6-1

Girls Group B

Mia Pohankova[3](SVK)  d. Hannah Klugman[2](GBR) 6-3, 6-4

Jana Kovackova[6](CZE) d.  Ruien Zhang[8](CHN) 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2)

Order of Play for Friday, Day Three of Round Robin Play:

Girls Group A

Kristina Penickova[1](USA) v Charo Esquiva Banuls[7]ESP

Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) v Julia Stusek[5](GER)

Girls Group B

Hanna Klugman[2](GBR) v Ruien Zhang[8](CHN)

Mia Pohankova[3](SVK) v Jana Kovackova[6](CZE)

Boys Group A

Aleksandar Vasilev[1](BUL) v Jacopo Vasami[3](ITA)

Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) v Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN)

Boys Group B

Jack Kennedy[5](USA) v Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA)

Andres Santamarta Roig[2](ESP) v Max Schoenhaus[4](GER)

Live streaming is available here; live scoring is here.

The quarterfinals are set for the five USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, with teenagers and current collegians posting several big wins today.

At the M25 in Norman Oklahoma, 19-year-olds Kaylan Bigun and Matt Forbes will play for a spot in the semifinals, after Bigun, who has turned pro after one semester at UCLA, defeated Orel Kimhi, a sophomore at Oklahoma, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 and 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion Forbes, a sophomore at Michigan State, beat top seed Henry Searle of Great Britain. Forbes, a qualifier, defeated the 2023 Wimbledon boys champion 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to his second career pro circuit quarterfinal. Bigun, the 2024 Roland Garros boys champion, and Forbes played three times on the ITF Junior Circuit, with Forbes winning the first in 2022 and Bigun winning the next two in 2023 and 2024.

At the women's W35 in Norman, NC State freshman Victoria Osuigwe, the No. 4 seed, has reached the quarterfinals, with the 18-year-old from Florida defeating qualifier Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego) 7-5, 6-3. Osuigwe will face unseeded Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia, a senior at Auburn, who beat Oklahoma State freshman Luca Udvardy of Hungary, the No. 7 seed, 6-1, 6-2. 

Qualifier Merna Refaat of Egypt, a sophomore at Auburn, reached the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 win over Lucia Peyre(Oklahoma State) of Argentina. 

Savannah Broadus, the recently graduated Pepperdine All-American, followed up her first round win over No. 2 seed Leonie Kung of Switzerland with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow qualifier Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma) of Russia to set up a quarterfinal match with No. 6 seed Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State). Daniel beat wild card Piper Charney, a junior at Michigan, 7-5, 6-3.

At the W15 in Hilton Head, only one seed has advanced to the quarterfinals, 18-year-old Carolina Bohrer Martins of Brazil, seeded No. 2. Each of the four quarterfinals features an American junior, with 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston playing former Old Dominion All-American Sofia Johnson of Great Britain, a qualifier, and 16-year-old Annika Penickova facing NC State sophomore Mia Slama in the top half.

In the bottom half, 16-year-old qualifier Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann will play wild card Carson Tanguilig, the recent North Carolina graduate and 16-year-old qualifier Jensen Diianni will face Bohrer Martins.

The two 100-level tournaments this week have gone more to form, although No. 2 seed Caroline Dolehide lost in the first round of the W100 in Tyler Texas to ITA All-American finalist Carmen Herea of Romania, a sophomore at Texas 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-2 in the opening round. Herea lost to Kayla Day today, leaving no current collegians, but recent graduates Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) both have reached the quarterfinals. 

Cayetano beat Tessah Andrianjafitrimo of France 7-6(2), 6-4 to reach her first quarterfinal at the W100 level, with the 24-year-old Southern Californian facing No. 3 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia next.

Stoiana beat No. 4 seed Louisa Chirico 7-6(3), 6-3 today and will play No. 7 seed Anastasia Gasanova of Russia in the quarterfinals.

At the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota, the top two college players on the Challenger Circuit this fall both have been eliminated. Columbia senior Michael Zheng's 15-match Challenger winning streak came to an end in the first round, with former Tennessee All-American Johannus Monday of Great Britain beating No. 7 seed Zheng 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Monday advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Alfredo Perez(Florida); he'll face unseeded Andres Martin(Georgia Tech), a 6-1, 7-5 winner over No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada.

Tonight, No. 5 seed Patrick Kypson avenged his 6-3, 6-3 semifinal loss last week to Lincoln 75 champion Rafael Jodar of Spain, beating the University of Virginia sophmore 6-4, 6-4. Kypson will play No. 3 seed Rinky Hijikata(North Carolina) of Australia, who beat wild card Samir Banerjee(Stanford) 7-6(3), 6-2.

Kentucky sophomore Antoine Ghibaudo of France, a qualifier, is through to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-4 win over qualifier Andrew Fenty(Michigan). Ghibaudo will play the third American in the quarterfinals, unseeded Martin Damm, who beat wild card Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) 7-6(2), 7-5 in the second round.

In a Facebook post Monday, San Diego's Pacific Beach Tennis Club announced the passing of Tom Svajda, a longtime pro at the club as well as a coach to his sons Zachary and Trevor. The memorial mass for Svajda, who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer last year, is November 4 at Saint Brigid Parish in San Diego. My deepest condolences to his wife and to Zach and Trevor; he will be missed by so many in the Southern California tennis community.

Penickova and Kennedy Start ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals with Wins, Top Seed Vasilev Upset by Alexandrescou; Thirty More Players Qualify for Division I NCAA Singles Championship with Regional Play Complete

Kristina Penickova and Jack Kennedy picked up victories in the first day of play at the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu China Wednesday. 

Penickova, the top seed, defeated Julia Stusek of Germany 6-0, 6-4, coming from 4-1 down in the second set to close out the No. 5 seed in 61 minutes.

Kennedy, the No. 5 seed, defeated No. 2 seed and former ITF Junior No. 1 Andres Santamarta Roig 7-5, 6-0.

Top seed Aleksandar Vasilev of Bulgaria, currently No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings, lost to Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 in the longest match of the day: 2:26

ITF WTT Junior Finals Day One Round Robin Results:

Boys Group A

Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) d. Aleksander Vsailev[1](BUL) 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4
Jacopo Vasami[3](ITA) d. Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN) 6-3, 7-6(4)

Boys Group B
Max Schoenhaus[4](GER) d. Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA) 6-4, 7-5
Jack Kennedy[5](USA) d. Andres Santamarta Roig[2](ESP) 7-5, 6-0

Girls Group A
Kristina Penickova[1](USA) d. Julia Stusek[5](GER) 6-0, 6-4
Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) d. Charo Esquiva Banuls[7](ESP) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

Girls Group B
Hannah Klugman)[2](GBR) d. Jana Kovackova[6](CZE) 6-4, 6-4
Mia Pohankova[3](SVK) d. Ruien Zhang[8](CHN) 6-4, 7-5

Order of Play for Thursday, Day Two of Round Robin Play:

Boys Group A

Jacopo Vasami[3](ITA) v Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU)

Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN) v Aleksandar Vasilev[1](BUL)

Boys Group B

Andres Santamarta Roig[2](ESP) v Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA)

Max Schoenhaus[4] v Jack Kennedy[5](USA)

Girls Group A

Kristina Penickova[1](USA) v Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL)

Julia Stusek[5] v Charo Esquiva Banuls[7](ESP)

Girls Group B

Hannah Klugman[2](GBR) v Mia Pohankova[3](SVK) 

Jana Kovackova[6](CZE) v Ruien Zhang[8](CHN)

Live streaming is here; live scoring is here.

The ITA Division I Regionals concluded Tuesday, with 30 more players earning their entries into next month's NCAA singles tournament at the USTA's National Campus in Lake Nona Florida. 

That puts the number of qualifiers at 36, with the final 28  to be determined November 6-9 at the last two qualifying events, the Sectionals and the Conference Masters. 24 players, six from each of the four Sectionals, will qualify, as will the four semifinalists at the Conference Masters in San Diego.

The lists of the 36 qualifiers to date are below; the 17 doubles qualifiers can be found at Chris Halioris of Collegetennisranks.com's google docs, with the men's entries here and the women entries here.

NCAA singles qualifiers as of October 22, 2025

Women

From All-American Championships:

Valerie Glozman, Stanford

Carmen Herea, Texas

Teah Chavez, Ohio State

Luciana Perry, Ohio State

Tatum Evans, UNC

Emma Charney, USC

Irina Balus, Duke

Reese Brantmeier, UNC

Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

Piper Charney, Michigan

From Regionals:

Mountain:

Louise Wikander, Denver

Emma Kamper, Utah

Texas:

Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

Darya Schwartzman, Rice

New England:

Serafima Shastova, Syracuse

Stephanie Yakoff, Harvard

Northeast:

Esha Velaga, Penn

Alice Ferlito, Princeton

Northwest:

Alyssa Ahn, Stanford

Naomi Xu, Cal

~~~

Southern:

Kristina Paskauskas, Alabama

Ashton Bowers, Auburn

Atlantic:

Annabelle Xu, Virginia

Vivian Yang, Virginia

Carolina:

Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State*

Ange Oby Kajuru, North Carolina

*Dada-Mascoll has already qualified for NCAAs via the All-American Championships, so her bid goes to Anna Zyryanova of NC State, who finished in third place in the Carolina Regional

Central:

Julia Garcia Ruiz, Oklahoma

Carolina Gomez Alonso, Arkansas

Midwest:

Bianca Molnar, Notre Dame

Nao Nishino, Ohio State

Ohio Valley:

Bridget Stammel, Vanderbilt

Mia Yamakita, Vanderbilt

Southeast:

Anastasiia Lopata, Georgia

Anastasiia Gureva, Georgia

Southwest:

Jana Hossam Salah, USC

Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine

Men:

From A-A:

Jay Friend, Arizona

Aidan Kim, Ohio State

Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Ozan Baris, Michigan Sate

Matthew Forbes, Michigan State

Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

Duncan Chan, TCU

Kenta Myoshi, Illinois

From Regionals:

Central:

Luis Alvarez, Oklahoma 

Oscar Lacides, Oklahoma

Atlantic:

Keegan Rice, Virginia

Jangjun Kim, Virginia

Southeast:

Luis Miguel, Florida State

Hugo Car, South Florida

Southern:

Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

Ohio Valley:

Pablo Martinez Gomez, Vanderbilt

Sam Landau, Indiana

New England:

Vignesh Gogineni, Yale

Benjamin Privara, Harvard

~~~

Carolina:

Luca Pow, Wake Forest

Romain Gales, Clemson

Midwest:

Max Dahlin, Michigan

Preston Stearns, Ohio State

Mountain:

Ilia Snitari, UNLV

Illia Maksymchuk, UNLV

Northeast:

Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

Top Nidunjianzan, Princeton

Northwest:

Soham Purohit, Washington

Fryderyk Lechno Wasiutynski, Cal

Southwest:

Spencer Johnson, UCLA

Rudy Quan, UCLA

Texas:

Sebastian Eriksson, Texas

Trevor Svajda, SMU

ITF WTT Junior Finals Begin Wednesday in Chengdu; Newman Beats Top Seed at W15 in Hilton Head; Qualifying Complete at M25 and W35 Tournaments in Norman OK; USTA AO Wild Card Race Standings

The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals begins with round robin play Wednesday in Chengdu, which is late tonight in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States. The two groups for boys and the two groups for girls, shown below, will produce the four semifinalists, with the knockout round beginning Saturday.

The Americans competing in the Junior Finals are Jack Kennedy, Benjamin Willwerth and Kristina Penickova.  A new ITF junior streaming platform will feature matches on all three courts, with that page here. Live scoring can be found here.

The ITF notes on the Junior Finals can be found here.

Wednesday's order of play:

In addition to the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota, which I covered yesterday, there are four other USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week. With the ITA Regionals also concluding this week, the fields are thin, with the qualifying draws not filling at the W35 and M25 in Norman Oklahoma.  The qualifying at the W15 in Hilton Head did fill, with many junior girls choosing to get experience and possible wins at the lowest level of the Pro Circuit.

Ciara Harding, who is now being coached by Michael Joyce, qualified for the main draw, as did 18-year-old Karma Yacavino and 16-year-olds Jensen Diianni and Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann.

Wild cards were given to Carson Tanguilig(UNC), 17-year-old Ireland O'Brien and 15-year-olds Janae Preston and Welles Newman. Preston defeated Thea Frodin, currently No. 20 in the ITF junior rankings, 6-2, 6-2, and Newman upset No. 1 seed Rinon Okuwaki of Japan 6-1, 6-4.

Sixteen-year-old Nancy Lee, using the ITF junior reserved program for entry, defeated No. 8 seed Amanda Nava Elkin of Mexico 6-2, 6-0.

At the W35 in Norman, all first round matches will play Wednesday, but qualifying is complete. Kaede Usui, a freshman at Wisconsin, Savannah Broadus, a recent Pepperdine All-American and Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego) are the Americans who reached the main draw. 

Michigan junior Piper Charney received a wild card, as did University of Oklahoma teammates Gloriana Nahum of Benin and Barakat Oyinlomo Quadre of Nigeria. Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik received entry via the ITF Junior Exempt program and will face top seed Elvina Kalieva in the first round. Fifteen-year-old Kristina Liutova received entry on her own ranking and will face qualifier Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Oklahoma State.

The women's equivalent of the Sioux Falls Challenger is the W100 in Tyler Texas, where W100 Macon champion Renata Zarazua of Mexico is again the top seed and Caroline Dolehide, also a WTA Top 100 player, is the No. 2 seed. 

American qualifiers are Ellie Schoppe(Furman, Florida State), Dalayna Hewitt, Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State) and Abigail Rencheli(NC State).

There were just two wild cards awarded, to Texas freshman Christasha McNeil, who plays her first round match Wednesday against Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and 16-year-old Pan Am ITF J300 champion Chukwumelije Clarke, who lost to No. 5 seed Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus 6-2, 6-2 today. 

At the M25 in Norman, Michigan State sophomore and 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion Matt Forbes reached the main draw via qualifying, the only American to do so. 

2023 Wimbledon boys champion Henry Searle of Great Britain is the top seed, with recent Harvard graduate Daniel Milavsky the No. 2 seed.

Wild cards were awarded to University of Oklahoma sophomores Oscar Lacides and Alejandro Melero and OU juniors Hank Trondson and Asahi Harazaki. Kaylan Bigun used the ITF junior exempt program for entry, with Sebastian Gorzny of Texas entering via the ITF collegiate Accelerator Program.

The latest USTA's Australian Open Wild Card race standings are out, with the women's second week in the books and the men's first week now complete.

Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) leads the men's standings after qualifying and reaching the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Belgium, while Anna Rogers has moved into second place after reaching the Macon W100 final last week.

Women's Standings -- through Week 2 of 5
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)
1. Elizabeth Mandlik (215) -- 101
2. Anna Rogers (247) -- 66
3. Alexis Blokhina (355) -- 52
4. Lea Ma (336) -- 38
5. Madison Brengle (444) -- 33

Men's Standings -- through Week 1 of 5
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)
1. Eliot Spizzirri (103) -- 63
2. Martin Damm (208) -- 44
3. Patrick Kypson (166) -- 22
T4. Brandon Holt (109) -- 12
T4. Andre Ilagan (350) -- 12

Qalbani and Moreno Claim J60 Titles in South Carolina; US ITF Junior Circuit Features J100 in Rome Georgia This Week; Electronic Line Calling Debuts at Sioux Falls SD Challenger 100

Last week was a quiet one on the ITF Junior Circuit, with J60s the highest level of tournaments on the schedule. One of those J60s was in Lexington South Carolina, where Rowan Qalbani and Carlota Moreno swept the titles.

Qalbani, the No. 2 seed, beat doubles partner and top seed Marcel Latak 6-4, 6-2 in the singles final, after partnering with Latak for the doubles title the previous day. Qalbani, a 16-year-old from New York, now has two singles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit and four doubles titles. Qalbani and Latak, the top seeds, defeated unseeded Gadin Arun and Griffin Goode 6-4, 6-1 in the doubles final.

Moreno, the No. 5 seed, defeated No. 8 seed Sarah Delgado 6-1, 6-0 in the final to claim her second ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The 16-year-old from Tennessee won her first ITF Junior Circuit doubles title with Lila Bodur of Turkey, with the top seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Anastasia Malysheva and Alexie Normandin of Canada 6-1, 6-2 in the final. 

The other two titles for American juniors last week came at the J60 in Canada, with Daniel Malacek winning the boys doubles title and Tayler Conway and Lily Bazemore claiming the girls doubles championship.  Malacek, who also reached the singles final, partnered with Rafael Bote of Canada, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Enoch Lin(the singles champion) and Andreas Mjeda of Canada 2-6, 7-6(7), 10-4 in the final. 

Bazemore and Conway, the No. 3 seeds, defeated unseeded Mila Ajdukovic and Chloe Yuexin Hu of Canada 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

This week the ITF Junior Circuit moves to Georgia for a J100 in Rome. 

The top seed in the boys draw, who I believe was Shaan Majeed, withdrew, so a lucky loser, Anibal Nunez of Venezuela, appears at the top of the draw, and he lost to Joaquin Blanco in the first round today.

Kalamazoo 16s semifinalist Jerrid Gaines Jr in the No. 2 seed, and Latak, who beat Gaines in the Kalamazoo semifinals, is the No. 3 seed. Both have advanced to the second round, with a loss of three games between them.

Fourteen-year-old Caroline Shao is the No. 1 seed in the girls draw, with 16-year-old Aishi Bisht of India seeded No. 2. Bisht retired in today's first round after 14-year-old Allison Wang took the first set of their match 6-3. Shao advanced with a 6-0, 1-0 retirement from Katherine Krupnikova.

After winning the Les Petits As USA playoffs Friday, 13-year-old Isha Manchala made her ITF Junior Circuit debut today, earning a 6-4, 6-1 win over 15-year-old Ava Quincy Brewer. Manchala obviously doesn't have an ITF ranking, but she didn't need a wild card, with her WTN rating providing her with entry into qualifying. There ended up being no qualifying for girls, which is extremely unusual for a J100, and Manchala moved into the main draw. She will face last week's Lexington champion Moreno in the second round Tuesday.

I'll be reviewing the four other USTA Pro Circuit tournaments tomorrow after qualifying is complete, but I wanted to focus today on the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota tonight, because it is featuring Electronic Line Calling. I've written two article for the Tennis Recruiting Network on ELC systems, one in 2021 after its implementation for the juniors at the US Open, and one in February of this year, after its use at the ITA Men's Team Indoor.  The system in Sioux Falls is not either of the two used in New York(Hawkeye) or Dallas(PlayReplay), but rather a third, Bolt6, which was used at Laver Cup this year. Bolt6 is one of the four systems the ITF has certified as gold, which is deemed accurate enough to use for "elite international-level competitions."

A good primer on the ITF's classifications for ELC systems, can be found in this article from Sports Business Journal.

How soon ELC will come to all Challengers is unclear, but it appears to be gaining traction as the costs come down.

In the final round of qualifying today in Sioux Falls, Americans Keegan Smith(UCLA) and Andrew Fenty(Michigan) won their matches to reach the main draw, where they'll face each other.

Four first round matches are on today's schedule, with three now complete. No. 4 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada defeated Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch 6-4, 6-4; No. 6 seed Murphy Cassone defeated Mitchell Krueger 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2 and Alfredo Perez(Florida) beat wild card Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-4. 

Top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia is playing Michael Mmoh in the night match. Brandon Holt(USC) is the No. 2 seed and will play wild card Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) Tuesday night. 

The third wild card went to Stanford senior Samir Banerjee.

Columbia senior Michael Zheng is back this week, as the No. 7 seed, and the Tiburon champion will play Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain in the first round Tuesday. Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain, the Lincoln Challenger champion, is again unseeded; he will face Saba Purtseladze of Georgia in the first round.

Mike Cation is providing commentary this week, with free live streaming availble at Challenger TV.

Jodar Earns Second Challenger Title in Lincoln; Wolff and Zarazua Claim Women's USTA Pro Circuit Titles; Top Seeds Shine at ITA Cup; First Roland Garros Junior Wild Cards Decided in Tokyo

University of Virginia sophomore and 2024 US Open boys champion Rafael Jodar of Spain won his second ATP Challenger title today at the 75 in Lincoln Nebraska, defeating No. 8 seed Martin Damm 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3.  I apologize for my previous references to Lincoln as a 100-level Challenger; I must have been confused by the prize money, which is not related to the ATP points at stake. 

Jodar, whose only previous appearance in a Challenger final resulted in a title at a 50 in Greece, is now up to 210 in the ATP live rankings, which will put him in the Australian Open qualifying. Whether he will return to Virginia for the dual match season remains an open question, but a record of 28-10 in Challengers since finishing his first semester in Charlottesville does seem to indicate that he will be ready for the ATP Tour sooner rather than later. He is also now up to ninth in the Next Gen ATP Finals standings, and is in the draw at next week's ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota. He'll then return to Charlottesville for the Challenger 75 on his collegiate home indoor courts the last week in October.

Top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico won the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Macon Georgia today, beating unseeded Anna Rogers(NC State) 6-2, 6-1 in today's final. 

The doubles final was a much closer battle, with Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) and Eryn Cayetano(USC) defeating Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and Auburn senior Angella Okutoyi of Kenya 6-7(4), 6-2, 16-14 in a two-hour championship match today. Neither team was seeded.

The top seed also claimed the title at the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Bakersfield California, with Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) defeating unseeded Marie Weckerle of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-1 for her second W35 title this year.

In last night's doubles final, No. 2 seeds Ema Burgic(Baylor) of Bosnia and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine defeated top seed Francesca Pace of Italy and Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland 5-7, 6-1, 10-7 for their first title as a team. Sahdiieva, 21, now has 10 ITF Women's Tennis Tour doubles titles, all since 2023, but this is the first for her above the W15 level. Burgic, 33, has 14 doubles titles on the WTT, with her first coming way back in 2010. 

The ITA Cup, the annual fall individual major for Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior College players, concluded today in Rome Georgia, with five of the eight champions No. 1 seeds.

No. 1 seed Santiago Villarruel of Georgia Gwinnett defeated No. 2 seed Shaheed Alam of Keiser 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 to take the men's NAIA title, while top seed Violet Apisah of Keiser defeated No. 2 seed Shalimar Talbi of SCAD-Atlanta 7-5, 6-2 to earn the women's NAIA title.

Both top seeds also won the Junior College titles, with Younsoo Cho of Hillsborough Community College defeating teammate and No. 3 seed Sydney Stark 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the women's final. Daniel Marincas of Tyler Junior College defeated No. 4 seed Kenneth Rabinad Vila of Pratt Community College 7-6(2), 7-5 in the men's final.

No. 2 seed Yan Kodjoed of Barry prevailed in the men's Division II final, beating unseeded Diego Duran of West Florida 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match. No. 3 seed Natasha Sengphrachanh of Grand Valley State won the women's Division II title, beating top seed Dana Heimen of Barry 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the final.

NCAA Division III men's champion Advik Mareedu of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps lost in the final today, with the top seed falling to unseeded Emory sophomore Ruilin Feng 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. Babson senior Matia Cristiani, the top seed, won the women's Division III title, beating unseeded Rebecca Kong of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6-1, 6-3.

Draws for all eight singles events, as well as the doubles draws, can be found here.

I posted the names of the South Americans who earned Australian Open Junior Championships wild cards on Saturday; Roland Garros also is providing opportunities for other country's juniors to earn wild card into its Junior Championships, which aren't until June of 2026. Japan's 16-year-old Kanta Watanabe, currently 106 in the ITF junior rankings, won the boys wild card in a playoff held in Tokyo this week; Fifteen-year-old Yui Komada of Japan, won the girls playoff; she is currently 293 in the ITF junior rankings. For more details about the Roland Garros Junior Series by Renault, see this article from rolandgarros.com.