Penickova and Clarke Return with Victories; Latak Ousts One of Eight Boys Seeds to Fall in Second Round of ITF J300 Pan American Closed

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Spring, Texas--

Top seed Annika Penickova and No. 9 seed Zaire Clarke returned to competition after long injury layoffs today in the second round of the ITF J300 Pan American Closed, and both came away with victories on the hard courts of the Giammalva Tennis Center in suburban Houston.

Penickova, who has been out since Roland Garros with a tibia stress fracture, used her superior experience to fight off an impressive performance from 14-year-old wild card Emery Combs 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

"It was super tough," said the 16-year-old left-hander, who missed Wimbledon, San Diego and the US Open while her sister Kristina played all three, winning the Wimbledon doubles title. "I got to be there, which was nice, but you see everyone playing and you want to play. Of course it's good to support, but it's obviously better to play, so I'm happy to be able to get back."

Penickova started well, but once Combs began to find the rhythm on her serve, the match began to to turn in her favor.

"I started well, really solid, kept the ball in play and kind of pushed her around, and she was struggling to attack me back," said Pennickova, who took advantage of Combs second serves. "In the second set, I stepped back a little bit, let her control all the points. She started making almost of her first serves, a really high percentage, and she had a really good serve as well, which helped her."

In the third set, Combs continued to serve well, but Penickova got the break she needed in the fourth game, and gave Combs no openings as she protected that lead.

"In the third set I was able to control and read her first serve better, so even when she did make it, I was able to neutralize it," Penickova said. 

Although Penickova has had several lengthy injury layoffs in the past two years, she has played many more high profile events than Combs, who is just starting to compete on the international level.

"I remember when these were my first tournaments, and even when we're practicing at the USTA, I know I used to be in their position," Penickova said. "It's really nice that they look up to us, I feel really special for that too, that I'm doing something right, and it gives me confidence."

That confidence was evident in the final few games, with Pennickova able to stay in any length of rally without forcing a shot or making an error.

"I knew that as long I kept doing my regular rally ball, it would be better than hers," Penickova said. "I know she's the kind of player who likes to go for a lot, and with more experience, she'll be able to make those shots, but I felt if I kept my steady game, stayed solid, I would win."

Penickova will play No. 16 seed Clemence Mercier, who defeated Kalista Papadopoulas 6-1, 6-0, in the round of 16 Wednesday.

Clarke had been out even longer than Penickova, with an ankle injury suffered in the quarterfinals of the ITF J100 in Plantation in May sidelining her until last week, when she returned to competition at Battle of Boca, a weekly prize money event in Florida. She won four matches, losing in the final, which prepared her for a return to the ITF Junior Circuit, where today she defeated qualifier Briley Rhoden 6-3, 6-3.

"Basically, I broke my ankle," said the 16-year-old, who trains in Florida. "I was in a cast for like six weeks, but I would say a month and a half or two months ago, I could fully move."

Clarke said that she was more nervous returning to the tournament last week than she was today.

"I wasn't too nervous, a little bit, but not like the first tournament back," Clarke said. "I just focused on my energy level and my feet, because when I'm nervous, my feet don't move. I think I could have played more aggressive at times, but the other girls, she hit a good ball and had a good serve, so it was just kind of surviving her good shots, and trying to put away balls of my own."

Clarke doesn't have any specific goals or expectations in her first junior tournament in five months.

"I just want to find my game again," Clarke said. "Obviously I want to win, but if I play well and play my game, I can walk away, not happy, but ok, I left it all out there. I'll be happy if I can feel my game coming back, and if I can get a win, that would be great too."

Only three seeds in the girls draw lost today, with qualifier Sophie Suh beating No. 10 seed Ireland O'Brien 6-3, 6-3 and Scarlett Fagan defeating No. 8 seed Isabelle DeLuccia 7-5, 6-4 to set up the only match between two unseeded players in the girls round of 16. 

Fourteen-year-old Allison Wang pulled off the other upset, beating No. 12 seed Karlin Schock 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 in a three-hour and 20-minute marathon.

No. 2 seed Nancy Lee defeated Reiley Rhodes 6-1, 6-3 and will face last week's champion at the J200 in Corpus Christi, No. 15 seed Jordyn Hazelitt. Hazelitt defeated wild card Carol Shao 6-0, 6-3 to extend her winning streak to seven matches.

While the girls results were mostly to form, half of the seeds in the boys draw lost their first matches, although the Top 4 seeds all reached the round of 16. 

Top seed Gavin Goode defeated qualifier Francisco Salmain of Argentina 6-1, 6-2 and No. 2 seed Ryan Cozad defeated Jacob Lee 6-3, 7-5. In the hot and humid conditions, Lee was cramping late in the second set, and with Cozad serving at 6-5, 15-all, Cozad did not have to hit another ball, with the final three points time violation points awarded to him with Lee unable to resume play.  Goode's opponent in the third round will be Mason Vaughan, who won the only third-set tiebreaker of day, defeating No. 13 seed Ford McCollum 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in the last singles match of the day.

Corpus Christi champion Andrew Johnson, the No. 4 seed, struggled against qualifier Jacob Hewitt, but advanced with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory.

No. 5 seed Roshan Santhosh lost to Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca of Mexico 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and will play Nick Stoot, who beat No. 12 seed Xavier Massotte of Canada 6-2, 6-4.

In the other all-unseeded third round match in the boys draw, Navneet Raghuram and Sebastian Bielen will face off, after Raghuram defeated Sklar Phillips 6-0, 6-4 and Bielen beat No. 6 seed Volodymyr Gurenko of Canada 7-5, 7-5. Tyler Lee defeated No. 14 seed Joshua Adamson of Canada 6-1, 6-1, Safir Azam beat No. 15 seed Caden Colburne of Canada 7-5, 6-2 and Marcel Latak defeated No. 7 seed Dani Szabo of Canada 6-3, 6-4.

Like Penickova and Clarke, Latak skipped last week's J200 in Corpus Christi, but unlike their absences, his was not injury related.

"I felt like for me it was better to train, to get something tweaked before I step out on the court again," said the reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion, who was playing for the first time since the US Open Junior Championships. "I'm certainly seeing a better change. I'm constantly just pressing, which is something I've been working on a lot, especially taking away time."

Latak felt he had an advantage over Szabo, having had a match on Monday to get accustomed to the conditions.

"One-hundred percent," Latak said. "Playing for the first time is definitely rough, these courts are fast and at the start I had an easier time because I'm used to it."

Although Latak had not played Szabo before, he expected the Canadian to be comfortable on fast courts.

"I heard from a lot of people that he's really good indoors," Latak said. "So thinking fast courts, from the start, I should be more aggressive than he was. I had no expectations, just do the things I've been working on and that's it."

Latak will face No. 11 seed Vihaan Reddy, who outlasted Theo Hegarty 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3.

"We've only played in practice," Latak said. "It will be a good match, I've got to bring my A game tomorrow."

The doubles seeds played their first matches today, with top boys seeds Goode and Cozad and top girls seeds Penickova and Capucine Jauffret advancing to the quarterfinals in straight sets.

The No. 2 seeds in the girls draw, Kori Montoya and Schock, lost to Hazelitt and Fagan 6-2, 6-2.

A thunderstorm popped up around 6:30 p.m., so two of the second round of boys doubles were not able to finish.