Ascenzo Claims Junior Orange Bowl 14s Title, Fan and Borchard Capture Second Straight 12s Doubles Championship; Australian Open Junior Championships Acceptances; Jodar Defeats Tien in First Day of Next Gen ATP Finals

Fourteen-year-old Texan Tristan Ascenzo broke through the domination of the IMG Academy International Championships at the Junior Orange Bowl, preventing a sweep by the IMG winners with a win over boys 14s top seed Mohamed Genidy of Egypt this morning in Coral Gables Florida.

Ascenzo, a Dallas resident, lost to eventual IMG champion Genidy 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals in Bradenton; today's final at the Biltmore Tennis Center was a battle, with Ascenzo taking it 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-2.

The other three champions from 11 days ago in Bradenton captured the Florida version of the Sunshine Double.

Girls 14s champion Ayaka Iwasa wasn't given the Junior Orange Bowl top seed, as the other three IMG champions were, but the No. 7 seed came through with a 7-6(4), 7-6(2) win over No. 4 seed Isabella Yan of Canada.

In the boys 12s, Rui He of China, who was unseeded in Bradenton, but the top seed in Miami, defeated a different American for his title today. After taking down James Borchard in the IMG final and the again in the semifinals yesterday, He beat No. 3 seed Evan Fan 6-2, 6-4 in the championship match.

It was a sweep for China in the 12s and a sweep for top seed Fangiao Zou, who beat unseeded Xiaoke Li  5-7, 6-2, 7-5 in the singles final and partnered American Inie Toli for the doubles title. No. 3 seeds Zou and Toli beat top seeds Lucy Dupere(USA) and Seungyeo Seo(AUS) 6-2, 6-0 in today's fina, earning Zou three titles in the past 17 days.

Borchard and Fan also joined the repeat winners club today, with the IMG 12s doubles champions winning the Junior Orange Bowl. The top seeds defeated unseeded Cheng-en Tsai(TPE) and Taigo Nagashima(JPN) 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 in the final.

Genidy finished as a runner-up in doubles as well as singles, with No. 8 seeds Alden Yu and Ilya Sherifali of Canada defeating No. 6 seeds Genidy and partner Evan Giurescu of France 3-6, 6-3, 11-9. 

In the girls 14s doubles final, played Tuesday, No. 3 seeds Christina Li and Kyndall Noel of the United States defeated No. 8 seeds Tanvi Pandey(USA) and Srishti Kiran(IND) 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.

The acceptances for the 2026 Australian Open Junior Championships were released today, with seven US boys and five US girls on the entry lists.

The US boys entered are Jack Kennedy, Keaton Hance, Jack Secord, Gavin Goode, Ryan Cozad, Tanishk Konduri and Roshan Santhosh. The US girls entered are Thea Frodin, Annika Penickova, Welles Newman, Capucine Jauffret and Melije Clarke. 

US boys in qualifying are Vihaan Reddy, Carel Ngounoue and Marcel Latak. US girls in qualifying are Nancy Lee, Carrie-Anne Hoo, Ishika Ashar, Jordyn Hazelitt, Anita Tu and Kori Montoya. 

Kennedy and Thijs Boogaard both told me at the Orange Bowl they're not playing Australia, so I expect them to withdraw by next month's deadline. ITF World Junior champion and 2024 AO girls finalist Kristina Penickova had a brace on her left wrist at the Orange Bowl, so she may not be physically ready for competition to start the new year.

The cutoffs for Australia are not comparable to the other junior slams, with the rankings showing on the acceptance lists still including those who are not age eligible for Australia. It won't be until January 5, when those players drop out, that we'll get a full picture of the strength of the field, but with Ivan Ivanov, Kennedy, Niels McDonald and Boogaard not entered or not expected to play, it's not as good as it could be.

Girls eligible but not entered include Penickova, Julieta Pareja, Wimbledon champion Mia Pohankova, Hannah Klugman and Roland Garros champion Lilli Tagger.

The two players from the COSAT wild card playoff who received entry via the Junior Grand Slam Regional Reserved Exempt Trial are ITF No. 168 Sabrina Balderrama of Venezuela and No. 104 Leonardo Storck Franca of Brazil.

University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar defeated top seed Learner Tien(USC) in group play today in the Next Gen ATP Finals in Saudi Arabia, saving four match points in his 1-4, 4-3(3), 1-4, 4-2, 4-3(4) victory. It's the first ATP Top 100 victory for the 19-year-old from Spain. For more on the match, see this article from the tournament website.

Nishish Basavareddy(Stanford) beat Dino Prizmic of Croatia 4-2, 4-3(7), 3-4(3), 4-2. The two other winners from today are Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and Alexander Blockx of Belgium.

Tomorrow's schedule for group play is here.

Reem Abulleil interviewed Tien prior to the start of the event for this Arab News feature, which focuses on the downs and mostly ups of the two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion's first full year on the ATP Tour.