First Round of Qualifying Complete at ITF J300 Bradenton, Two More Rounds Sunday; Final Round Qualifying for 12s, 14s, 16 Sunday Morning; Hance Reaches ITF J500 Merida Semifinals
©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--
This year's qualifying for the ITF J300 at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida is back to being played on the ten green clay courts on the East Campus and the six green clay courts at the IMG Legacy Hotel on the West side of the sprawling sports complex. Last year, the 16s were moved to green clay due to hurricane damage to the hard courts they usually play on, but repairs have been done and the 16s will complete their qualifying Sunday morning.
I stuck to the East Campus today, so I could watch ten courts, but I hope to catch some matches at the Legacy courts in the next few days. The courts are only a few years old and have the preferred underground watering system, so they are popular with the players and the viewing is excellent for spectators, but they are definitely isolated from where all the action is.
Part of that action this time of year features top pros hitting on the IMG Stadium hard court as they begin preparation for the 2026 season. Yesterday 2024 NCAA champion Dasha Vidmanova was hitting with North Carolina's Tatum Evans; Martin Damm had a practice session this morning, with Peyton Stearns following him on the court. There were others, but I wasn't in the area regularly, as there is just the one green clay Stadium court, next to the hard court.
Because the girls qualifying draw didn't fill, there was no alternate list, leading to a couple of walkovers due to late withdrawals and no shows. The boys did have alternates, but it was discovered that one of them, who actually played several games of a first round qualifying match, had played 16s qualifying, which is not allowed by ITF rules. He was pulled off court and another alternate took his place, and lost.
The top seed in boys qualifying, Agassi Rusher, was elevated to the main draw after a late withdrawal, and No. 2 seed Livas Eduardo De Carvalho Damazio of Brazil lost one of the closest and last matches of the day, falling to Jan Frohlich of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7(3), 11-9.
As the day came to a close, I had an opportunity to catch some of that match, which was on a court adjacent to the day's final match. I was courtside for that one, with Vincent Weaver defeating Mateus Nogueira of Brazil 7-5, 7-6(4).
Weaver got two late breaks to steal the first set, but went down an early break in the second set. He managed to get that break back, and although both players had break points, neither could convert, leading to the tiebreaker.
Weaver had displayed some clutch serving to get out of trouble in the second set, but started the tiebreaker with a double fault. That turned out to be an aberration, with Weaver getting the next two points on Nogueira's serve and making every first serve the rest of the way.
"I didn't want to go for too much," said the 17-year-old high school junior from Roswell Georgia. "The courts are so slow that even if I hit a fast first serve, it was probably coming back. So I just tried to mix in a lot of slice and a lot of kick, high percentage on the first, keep it in the box."
Weaver felt he had an advantage on green clay, although his father Jeff's ACE Academy in Roswell has only hard courts.
"I'm training on this clay every time I get a chance, and I don't think he has that," Weaver said. "A lot of kids that have trained at my dad's academy years ago, are now tennis coaches at places with green clay, so that's where we typically go. Today, I was just telling myself, he's not used to this and I am, so in the long rallies, the bad bounces, I'll know what's coming. This clay is pretty slow, but it's still faster than the red."
Although Weaver did want to avoid that third set match tiebreaker used in ITF Junior Circuit qualifying, he thought the best strategy was to stay patient.
"I had to make him play," Weaver said. "That's what I got away from when I started to lose points. I would play really good, long points, then play a couple of points where I'd go for too much. That's what kept the match so tight. A tiebreaker can go any way, so I just tried to make as many balls as possible, because I was winning the long rallies."
In Sunday morning's second round of qualifying, Weaver will face Kamil Stolarczyk of New York, who beat No. 14 seed Roger Koike of Japan 6-3, 7-6(3).
After a breezy, but seasonable day for the first round of qualifying, Sunday is predicted to be much warmer, with both the second round and the final round of qualifying scheduled.
The 12s, 14s and 16s divisions will finish their qualifying Sunday morning, with main draw registration going on throughout the day.
The singles semifinals and doubles finals are scheduled for tonight at the ITF J500 in Merida Mexico, with Keaton Hance facing top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania. Hance, the No. 7 seed, advanced to his first J500 semifinal with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alan Wazny of Poland. No. 3 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil faces No. 16 seed Linus Lagerbohm of Finland in the other semifinal.
The Kovackova sisters of the Czech Republic could face off in the final, if both win tonight. Alena, the No. 1 seed, plays unseeded Iva Marinkovic of Sweden, while No. 2 seed Jana plays No. 4 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil.
Thea Frodin and Annika Penickova, the No. 3 seeds in doubles, will face the top-seeded Kovackova sisters for the title. Dominick Mosejczuk and future Wake Forest teammate
Because the girls qualifying draw didn't fill, there was no alternate list, leading to a couple of walkovers due to late withdrawals and no shows. The boys did have alternates, but it was discovered that one of them, who actually played several games of a first round qualifying match, had played 16s qualifying, which is not allowed by ITF rules. He was pulled off court and another alternate took his place, and lost.
The top seed in boys qualifying, Agassi Rusher, was elevated to the main draw after a late withdrawal, and No. 2 seed Livas Eduardo De Carvalho Damazio of Brazil lost one of the closest and last matches of the day, falling to Jan Frohlich of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7(3), 11-9.
Weaver got two late breaks to steal the first set, but went down an early break in the second set. He managed to get that break back, and although both players had break points, neither could convert, leading to the tiebreaker.
Weaver had displayed some clutch serving to get out of trouble in the second set, but started the tiebreaker with a double fault. That turned out to be an aberration, with Weaver getting the next two points on Nogueira's serve and making every first serve the rest of the way.
"I didn't want to go for too much," said the 17-year-old high school junior from Roswell Georgia. "The courts are so slow that even if I hit a fast first serve, it was probably coming back. So I just tried to mix in a lot of slice and a lot of kick, high percentage on the first, keep it in the box."
Weaver felt he had an advantage on green clay, although his father Jeff's ACE Academy in Roswell has only hard courts.
"I'm training on this clay every time I get a chance, and I don't think he has that," Weaver said. "A lot of kids that have trained at my dad's academy years ago, are now tennis coaches at places with green clay, so that's where we typically go. Today, I was just telling myself, he's not used to this and I am, so in the long rallies, the bad bounces, I'll know what's coming. This clay is pretty slow, but it's still faster than the red."
Although Weaver did want to avoid that third set match tiebreaker used in ITF Junior Circuit qualifying, he thought the best strategy was to stay patient.
"I had to make him play," Weaver said. "That's what I got away from when I started to lose points. I would play really good, long points, then play a couple of points where I'd go for too much. That's what kept the match so tight. A tiebreaker can go any way, so I just tried to make as many balls as possible, because I was winning the long rallies."
In Sunday morning's second round of qualifying, Weaver will face Kamil Stolarczyk of New York, who beat No. 14 seed Roger Koike of Japan 6-3, 7-6(3).
After a breezy, but seasonable day for the first round of qualifying, Sunday is predicted to be much warmer, with both the second round and the final round of qualifying scheduled.
The 12s, 14s and 16s divisions will finish their qualifying Sunday morning, with main draw registration going on throughout the day.
The singles semifinals and doubles finals are scheduled for tonight at the ITF J500 in Merida Mexico, with Keaton Hance facing top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania. Hance, the No. 7 seed, advanced to his first J500 semifinal with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alan Wazny of Poland. No. 3 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil faces No. 16 seed Linus Lagerbohm of Finland in the other semifinal.
The Kovackova sisters of the Czech Republic could face off in the final, if both win tonight. Alena, the No. 1 seed, plays unseeded Iva Marinkovic of Sweden, while No. 2 seed Jana plays No. 4 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil.
Thea Frodin and Annika Penickova, the No. 3 seeds in doubles, will face the top-seeded Kovackova sisters for the title. Dominick Mosejczuk and future Wake Forest teammate
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