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.