US Teams Reach Sunday's Junior BJK Cup and Davis Cup Finals; Blanch and Krueger Meet for Knoxville Challenger Title; Exsted Wins Third Pro Doubles Title; Tien Claims First ATP Title

The domination of the top seeded teams from the United States in the ITF Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup Finals continued today in Santiago Chile, with the girls beating No. 4 seed Czech Republic 2-0 and the boys defeating No. 8 seed Turkey 3-0 to reach the championship match for the second year in a row.

Neither team has dropped a point in their five victories this week, and the girls have not lost a set in their ten singles matches, although that streak was very close to being broken today. 

ITF Junior No. 1 Kristina Penickova, playing No. 2 singles this week, swept past Tereza Hermanova 6-1, 6-1 in 45 minutes to give the US a 1-0 lead, but Julieta Pareja was locked into a tight battle with Sofie Hettlerova in her first set at No. 1 singles, with Hettlerova serving for the first set at 6-5. Hettlerova was playing No. 1 singles instead of Jana Kovackova, who had played the first four matches but was not nominated today. (Kovackova had also pulled out of the ITF Junior Finals last month in China). Hettlerova was not able to keep that lead however, with Pareja breaking and winning the tiebreaker 7-6(5) and the second set 6-1. The doubles match was not played.

In Sunday's final, the girls will play No. 3 seed France, who beat No. 6 seed Poland 3-0. The US girls are aiming for their fourth straight title, and would be on a seven-year winning streak, after also taking the title in 2017, 2018 and 2019. They were denied a chance for a fourth straight in 2021, when the USTA elected not to send teams to the competition that year due to Covid.

In the boys semifinal with No. 8 seed Turkey, Andrew Johnson defeated Samim Filiz 6-1, 6-2 in 44 minutes at the No. 2 singles position and Michael Antonius clinched the match at No. 1 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Kaan Isik Kosaner. Johnson and Jordan Lee partnered in the doubles for a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

The US boys will face No. 4 Japan, who beat unseeded Germany 3-0 today. Japan had lost to Turkey, the team the US crushed today, in group play; both finalists beat Germany 3-0.

It was a disappointing day for Americans competing in their home country today, with the exception of the Knoxville Challenger 50, where the United States is guaranteed a champion after unseeded Darwin Blanch and No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger posted semifinal wins today.

The 18-year-old Blanch defeated his third seed of the week, all in straight sets, with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win over Daniil Glinka of Estonia today. The 31-year-old Krueger, who is also yet to drop a set this week, defeated Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-4, 6-1. 

Blanch will be playing in his first Challenger final, while it's the tenth for Krueger, who is 5-4 in Challenger finals. This will be their first meeting.

In the doubles competition in Knoxville, former Tennessee Volunteer Pat Harper of Australia defended his 2024 title, although with a new partner, with former teammate Johannus Monday pulling out of this year's tournament before play began. The unseeded Harper and Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) defeated No. 4 seeds Krueger and Antigua's Jody Maginley 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 12-10 in today's final. It's the fifth Challenger title for Harper, the 2021 NCAA doubles champion, and the second with a partner other than Monday. It's the first pro doubles title at any level for Vandecasteele.

At the M25 in East Lansing, both Americans lost today, with Yale senior Vignesh Gogineni falling 6-4, 6-2 to No. 3 seed Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, a freshman at LSU, and Michigan State senior Ozan Baris dropping a 6-3, 6-2 decision to No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain.

Top seeds Tim Ruehl(Arizona State, TCU) and Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany, who won the Charlottesville Challenger 75 title last week, claimed the East Lansing championship with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Gogineni and Clemson senior Romain Gales of France.

At the M15 in Orlando, neither 17-year-old American was able to make his first Pro Circuit final. Keaton Hance lost to qualifier Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) 7-5, 6-4 and Georgia freshman Noah Johnston fell to unseeded Aleksa Ciric of Serbia, a recent Georgia Gwinnett graduate. 

Eighteen-year-old Max Exsted won his third Pro Circuit doubles title, all since September, partnering with former Auburn standout William Nolan of Great Britain. The top seeds, playing together for the first time, beat the unseeded team of Colby and Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) 6-4, 7-6(3). Exsted, the 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion, has won seven titles in junior and pro competition this year, all with different partners.

The final at the W35 in Orlando will feature the top two seeds after they advanced in straight sets today. No. 1 seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia beat No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia 7-5, 6-3 and will play No. 2 seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over No. 8 seed Akasha Urhobo.

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin and 15-year-old Welles Newman fell just short of the doubles title in Orlando, losing to Samantha Alicea(Arizona State, Nebraska) and Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas) 6-1, 6-7(5), 11-9.

As with the final in Orlando, the championship match at the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska will be between the top two seeds. Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia, seeded No. 1, defeated 18-year-old Anna Frey 6-3, 6-3 and will play No. 2 seed and Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia in the final. Balus defeated Oklahoma State junior Lucia Peyre of Argentina 7-5, 0-6, 6-3. Kollie Allen(Ohio State) and Megan Heuser(Illinois) won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating Mamedova and fellow Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-3, 6-3 in the final. 

At the semifinals of the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, top seed Iva Jovic lost to unseeded Canadian Marina Stakusic 6-3, 6-4. Stakusic will play No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, who put an end to the impressive run by wild card Carmen Herea of Romania, a sophomore at Texas, by a score of 6-4, 6-4. 

Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Learner Tien, who turns 20 next month, won his first ATP title today at the Moselle Open 250 in Metz France. The former USC star is the first American teenager since Andy Roddick in 2002 to claim an ATP title, but it wasn't easy. Although he led No. 7 seed Cam Norrie(TCU) of Great Britain 4-1 in the final set, he had to come back from 5-1 down in a deciding tiebreaker for a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) victory.

With the title, Tien's ATP ranking moves to a career-high of 28, assuring himself a seed at the Australian Open after ending 2024 ranked 122. The ATP talked with Tien about his first title in this article. 

Despite having four of the eight participants in the WTA Finals, the United States did not have anyone in today's championship match. Aryan Sabalenka of Belarus beat Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan defeated Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals, with Rybakina winning the final today over Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0).