September Aces; ITF Junior/Collegiate Accelerator Program Update; Johnson and Tanduri, Sohns and Hazelitt Advance to ITF J200 Corpus Christi Finals; Jones Beats Pareja at Rancho Santa Fe W50; Zheng Reaches Tiburon Challenger Semifinal

My monthly column for Tennis Recruiting Network featuring the top junior, collegian and former collegian performances was posted today, with September's highlights including the US Open junior champions at the start, the ITA All-American champions at the end and many other accomplishments in between.

One player I did not have room to acknowledge was 17-year-old Laura Samson of the Czech Republic, who won a W50+H title last week in Bulgaria. But the ITF did feature her in an article today, which focuses on the Junior Accelerator Program, explaining how the 2024 Roland Garros girls finalist, who won a W75 in June, made use of the program to enter in Bulgaria. The junior accelerator program is generally not that much of a boost for the very top juniors, particularly the girls, who often can get into the W50 and W75 level tournaments on their WTA ranking. The program would definitely be more helpful if it provided wild cards into the W125s, which are proliferating now and can prove a difficult entry hurdle for top junior girls.

The ITF article gives some examples of players who have won tournaments after receiving Accelerator Program entries, with one of those mentioned Filip Planinsek of Slovenia. That is, of course, the 2024 spring NCAA champion from Alabama, who, at age 24, obviously can't be part of Junior Accelerator Program, although that's how the ITF draws refer to recent former collegians. The ATP Collegiate Accelerator Program is focused on its Challenger Circuit, so the ITF has added a collegiate component to its Accelerator, with the men's and women's entry requirements for 2025 below, with the men's obviously much more generous.

The singles finals are set for Saturday at the ITF J200 in Corpus Christi, with Andrew Johnson facing Tanishk Konduri for the boys title and 15-year-olds Maggie Sohns and Jordyn Hazelitt facing off for the girls championship.

Johnson, the No. 3 seed, defeated doubles partner and No. 2 seed Michael Antonius 6-2, 7-6(3), while No. 8 seed Konduri beat No. 4 seed Roshan Santhosh 6-1, 6-1. It's the first J200 final for both 16-year-olds; Johnson beat Konduri last November in the second round of a J60 in San Diego 6-4, 6-3.

No. 4 seed Sohns beat No. 7 seed Lani Chang 7-5, 6-0 to reach her first J200 final, while No. 8 seed Hazelitt defeated No. 4 seed Karlin Schock 6-1, 6-1 to advance to her second J200 final. Hazelitt reached the final of a J200 in Mexico is June, beating Sohns in the second round there 6-3, 7-6(3).

The doubles finals were played today, with top seeds Johnson and Antonius beating No. 4 seeds Ryan Cozad and Shaan Majeed 7-6(6), 6-0 for the boys title and No. 5 seeds Isabelle DeLuccia and Kayla Moore defeating unseeded Carlota Moreno and Lillian Santos 7-5, 6-3 for the girls title.

At the W50 in Rancho Santa Fe California, No. 3 seed Emerson Jones of Australia defeated unseeded Julieta Pareja 7-5, 6-3, her second win over Pareja in the past five months. Jones will play No. 2 seed Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, who beat unseeded Elli Mandlik 6-3, 6-2. Qualifier Katrina Scott moved into the semifinals when Emina Bektas(Michigan) retired before a point was recorded. Scott will play unseeded Olivia Gadecki of Australia, who defeated No. 5 seed Himeno Sakatsume of Japan 6-4, 7-6(3).

At the W35 in San Rafael California, top seed Lea Ma(Georgia) and qualifier Madison Brengle will play for a spot in the final, afer Ma defeated No. 8 seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy 6-1, 6-4 and Brengle beat No. 5 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia 6-2, 6-2.

In the other semifinal, W35 Berkeley finalist Johanne Svendsen of Denmark will play Texas A&M junior Lucciana Perez of Peru. Svendsen, who received a special exempt entry into the main draw(which Berkeley champion Merna Refaat did not), beat Carolina Kuhl of Germany 7-5, 6-3 in today's quarterfinal match. Perez beat Madison Sieg(USC) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semifinals.

Three current collegians have advanced to the semifinals of the M15 in Winston-Salem, with NC State senior Martin Borisiouk of Belarus joining Wake Forest senior DK Suresh and junior Luca Pow in the final four. 

Suresh, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 5 seed Pedro Rodrigues of Brazil, a freshman at Central Florida, 6-3, 6-0, while Borisiouk beat No. 4 seed Peter Bertran(Georgia, South Florida) of the Dominican Republic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Borisiouk was 2-0 against Suresh last dual match season. Pow defeated Clemson senior Romain Gales, a qualifier 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and will face No. 8 seed Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) of Japan, who beat North Carolina sophomore Chris Xu of China, a qualifier, 6-2, 6-3.

Michael Zheng is through to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Tiburon California, with the Columbia senior, seeded No. 7, defeating Mitchell Krueger 7-5, 6-3 this evening. Zheng will face the winner of the night match between Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain and No. 5 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia. Zheng's Challenger winning streak is now up to 13 matches.

Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) is through to his second career Challenger semifinal after a two-hour and 49-minute, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over wild card Samir Banerjee(Stanford). Zink will face Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan, who extended his Challenger winning streak to eight matches with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 6 seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan.