ITF J500 Merida Acceptances; USA Teams Roll in Junior Davis and BJK Cups; Rapolu Beats Parks at WTA 125 in Austin; Baris Upsets Jubb at M25 in East Lansing; Newman, Chang Qualify at Orlando W35; Reddy, Stoot Qualify at Orlando M15

Two more J500s remain this year on the ITF Junior Circuit, both on clay, with Merida Mexico tournament beginning in less than three weeks. The Orange Bowl, beginning December 8th, closes out the year.

The Merida acceptances were released today, with ITF girls No. 1 Kristina Penickova entered, and ITF No. 3 Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain the top player entered in the boys field. No. 6 Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania is the other ITF Top 10 boy entered, while No. 8 Ksenia Efremova of France and No. 10 Alena Kovackova are the other Top 10 girls.

US girls entered: Penickova, Thea Frodin, Annika Penickova, Capucine Jauffret, Melije Clarke, Nancy Lee, Carrie-Anne Hoo, Ishika Ashar, Anita Tu and Kori Montoya. 

The girls main draw cutoff was 114, with the qualifying cutoff 306.

US boys entered: Ronit Karki, Keaton Hance, Noah Johnston, Maximus Dussault, Gavin Goode, Dominick Mosejczuk and Ryan Cozad.

The boys main draw cutoff was 100, with the qualifying cutoff 264.

Day two of the Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup in Santiago Chile is complete, with both US teams, seeded No. 1, advancing by 3-0 scores. 

The boys defeated Slovakia without dropping a set, with Jordan Lee making his singles debut at the No. 2 position and beating Andrej Adamovic 6-3, 6-1. Michael Antonius defeated Leon Sloboda 6-1, 6-2 to clinch the tie, with Antonius and Andrew Johnson winning the doubles match 4-1, retired over Adamovic and Richard Krizan. They play No. 5 seed Brazil, who lost today to Germany 2-1, leaving both Brazil and Germany with 1-1 records. The US finishes at the top of the group with a victory, and are likely to advance to Friday's quarterfinals even if they lose.

The girls blanked Peru, with Kristina Penickova beating Silvana Fajardo 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Julieta Pareja defeating Leticia Alessia Baza 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Kristina and Annika Penickova won the doubles match, beating Bazan and Daniela Gonzalez 6-3, 6-1. Poland, the No. 6 seed, also won today, beating Austria 3-0, so their match with the USA Wednesday will decide only the placement in the group, with both already securing quarterfinal spots.

The first girls seed to suffer a loss was No. 5 Brazil, who was beaten 2-1 by Japan today and must beat No. 2 seed Romania to assure themselves a place in the quarterfinals.

Tennis Channel did provide coverage of one boys and one girls match today on their streaming app. The ITF streaming site blocks those matches in the United States when live, but they are available for replay the next day.

Live scoring, which had several major errors today, in both winners and scores, is available here.

Wild card Malaika Rapolu posted a milestone win today at the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, beating No. 2 seed Alycia Parks 7-5, 6-4. The 22-year-old, who played for the Texas Longhorns from 2020-2024, won her biggest pro title last November at a W50 in Austin, but had never faced a WTA Top 100 player until today's match with No. 61 Parks.  Rapolu will face Himeno Sakasume of Japan in the second round, with no seeds remaining in her quarter.

At the M25 in East Lansing, Michigan State senior Ozan Baris also ousted the No. 2 seed, saving seven match points in a 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) first round win over 2019 NCAA champion Paul Jubb(South Carolina) of Great Britain. Baris trailed 6-3, 5-4, 40-0 and 6-2 in the tiebreaker in the second set, and also was down 4-1 in the third set of the three-hour match.

In qualifying, two Americans advanced: Arizona State recruit Simon Caldwell and Baylor senior Arman Zamani. Main draw wild cards were given to three Spartans, all sophomores: Matt Forbes, Mitchell Sheldon and Vuk Radjenovic of Serbia, along with Illinois freshman Sasha Colleu of France. Sheldon lost 6-3, 7-5 to No. 3 seed Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, a freshman at LSU, while Forbes and Radjenovic play each other Wednesday in the first round and Colleu takes on No. 6 seed Aidan Kim, a junior at Ohio State.

Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany is the top seed, and he advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Nathan Ponwith(Arizona State).

The W35 in Orlando has a significant junior presence, with 14-year-old Lani Chang and 15-year-old Welles Newman among the qualifiers.

The other two Americans qualifying today are Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas) and Ellie Coleman(Duke).

Wild cards were given to 16-year-old Thea Frodin, who won her first round match today over Maria Fernanda Navarro of Mexico 6-3, 6-3, 15-year-old Maggie Sohns, and 18-year-old Georgia recruit Bella Payne. 

Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia is the top seed, with Eva Vedder of the Netherlands the No. 2 seed.

The men also have an event in Orlando that has attracted many juniors, an M15. 

Fifteen-year-old Vihaan Reddy will make his USTA Pro Circuit main draw debut after beating top qualifying seed Alexis Gurmendi(Georgia Gwinnett) 6-2, 1-6, 10-6 today. Seventeen-year-old Nikolas Stoot will also play in his first Pro Circuit main draw after beating Dakotah Bobo(Southern Miss) 6-3, 6-4. The other two Americans advancing to the main draw via qualifying are Matthew Segura and Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia).

Wild cards were given to Max Exsted, Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode, with Keaton Hance and Noah Johnston receiving entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program. Hance and Johnston both won their first round matches today, with Johnston beating No. 8 seed Evan Bynoe 6-3, 7-5 and Hance defeating Stijn Paardekooper 6-3, 6-0.

Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) is the top seed, with Toby Kodat the No. 2 seed.

The women's schedule this week also features a W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, which didn't have much of a qualifying draw, with most qualifiers needing to win only one match. The American qualifying are Kyle McPhillips(UCLA), 17-year-old Karlin Schock and Oregon freshman Virginia Crocker. Melije Clarke, who won the ITF J300 Pan Am title last month received entry via the Junior Reserved program, as did Capucine Jauffret. Jauffret lost to Oklahoma freshman Laura Brunkel of Denmark 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round today.  UNC recruit Anna Frey won her first round match, with Duke recruit Aspen Schuman, the No. 5 seed, in first round action Wednesday.

Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia is the top seed, and the 19-year-old won her first round match today 6-4, 6-1 over Sofia Cohen Perovani of Brazil. Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia is the No. 2 seed, and she beat Megan Heuser(Illinois) 6-4, 6-3 in first round action today.

There were no wild cards awarded, which I don't ever remember seeing before in a Pro Circuit draw.