US Teens Frodin, Newman, Urhobo, Stoot Johnston and Hance Advance in Orlando; Gogineni Ousts Top Seed at East Lansing M25; Blanch Reaches First Challenger Quarterfinal; Longhorns Rapolu and Herea Meet in Austin WTA 125 Quarterfinals

Orlando has proven to be fertile ground for many young Americans this week, with three boys and three girls who are still eligible for junior competition advancing to the quarterfinals in the two USTA Pro Circuit events taking place at the USTA National Campus.

At the W35, 15-year-old qualifier Welles Newman defeated No. 5 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first pro quarterfinal. She'll face top seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia Friday. 

Wild card Thea Frodin, 16, also beat a seed today, earning a 7-5 1-6, 6-3 victory over No. 7 Martha Matoula of Greece. She'll play No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia next.

No. 8 seed Akasha Urhobo defeated qualifier Ellie Coleman(Duke) 6-2, 6-1 to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with Georgia sophomore Anastasiia Gureva of Russia, who beat qualifier Lani Chang 6-1, 6-0 in the second round today.

At the M15, Keaton Hance, 17, beat top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to reach his second career quarterfinal at a Pro Circuit event. He will play unseeded Christopher Li(UNC, Tennessee, Ohio State) of Peru Friday.

Seventeen-year-old left-handers Noah Johnston and Nikolas Stoot will meet in the quarterfinals after they picked up wins today. Johnston, a freshman at Georgia, reached his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over qualifier Clement Lemire, a sophomore at Central Florida. Qualifier Stoot, a LSU recruit, hadn't earned an ATP point until this week, but today he defeated No. 4 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the quarterfinals of his third Pro Circuit event.

Johnston has won both of their meetings on the ITF Junior Circuit, and also beat Stoot in the round of 32 at Kalamazoo this year 6-2, 7-5.

The top seed also lost today at the M25 in East Lansing, with Yale senior Vignesh Gogineni beating Patrick Zahraj, ATP No. 241, 6-4, 6-3. He will play Gavin Young(Michigan), who defeated No. 8 seed Enzo Wallart(Kentucky) 6-0, 6-3.

Two Spartans have reached the quarterfinals, senior Ozan Baris defeated Sydney Zick 6-2, 6-1 and will play No. 5 seed Adhithya Ganesan(Florida). Sophomore Matthew Forbes defeated fellow wild card Sasha Colleu(Illinois) of France 6-1, 6-1, with the 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion facing No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain.

Michigan State head coach Harry Jadun is having a good week, not only due to the success of his players. Jadun and recent MSU grad Max Shelton are through to the semifinals in doubles after a 6-3, 6-3 win today over LSU teammates Erik Arutiunian of Belarus and Andrej Loncarevic of France.

At the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, 18-year-olds Anna Frey and Aspen Schuman have advanced to the quarterfinals. The unseeded Frey, a North Carolina recruit, beat No. 8 seed Jenna Dean 6-3, 6-2 and will play No. 4 seed Kristina Novak(Oklahoma State) of Slovenia.

The fifth-seeded Schuman, a Duke recruit, defeated Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-4, 6-2 and will face future teammate Irina Balus of Slovakia, the No. 2 seed, in Friday's match.

Last night at the Knoxville Challenger 50, 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch advanced to his first Challenger quarterfinal, beating No. 8 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-4. Blanch will face No. 2 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain Friday.

Inaki Montes(Virginia) of Spain beat top seed James Trotter 7-6(3), 7-6(6) to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger.  Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) is the third American in the quarterfinals; he defeated No. 3 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 tonight. 

At the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, University of Texas sophomore Carmen Herea and former Longhorn Malaika Rapolu will play for a spot in the semifinals, after the two wild cards posted straight-sets wins today. Herea, the ITA All-American finalist, beat Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2 and Rapolu defeated Himeno Sakatsume of Japan 6-4, 6-4. 

That match is in the bottom quarter; in the top quarter, No. 1 seed Iva Jovic will play Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), with Stoiana still in the running for the USTA's Australian Open wild card. Elli Mandlik is in the lead in the wild card race, and she is also still alive in Austin, facing No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico next. Zarazua edged Claire Liu, who is now out of the wild card race, 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(4) in a second round match that spanned two days and took three hours and 36 minutes to complete.