November Aces; USA's Borchard, Dmytrenko, Iftime and Evans Reach Saturday's IMG Academy International Singles Finals, Doubles Champions Crowned; Fifteen-year-olds Lee and Liutova Advance to Semifinals at ITF J300 Bradenton; Orange Bowl J500 Wild Cards

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

Before I get into all the action at the IMG Academy International Championships and ITF J300 here in Bradenton, it's that time of month when I highlight the top performances of the previous month by current and former collegians and juniors for the Tennis Recruiting Network. It's another huge international collection of accomplishments, which includes junior, NCAA, ITF, WTA and ATP titles. 

The singles finals are set for the 12s, 14s, and 16s divisions, with four Americans advancing to Saturday morning's championship matches.

In the girls 16s, an American champion is guaranteed, with No. 11 seed Adelina Iftime of Florida facing unseeded London Evans in the final, with both girls 14 years old. 

In the boys 16s, No. 9 seed Artem Dmytrenko of Georgia, who has signed with Louisville for next fall, won the match of the day, beating top seed Mason Vaughan 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5) in a three-hour and 30-minute battle on Court 3. Dmytrenko will face 14-year-old IMG Academy student Jang Junseo of Korea, who will be playing his third consecutive final. No. 14 seed Junseo, who won the 12s title in 2023 and reached the 14s final last year, defeated unseeded Colter Amey 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in today's semifinal.

In the boys 12s, reigning Easter Bowl champion James Borchard will play for another prestigious title Saturday after the No. 5 seed defeated Minchan Kwon of Korea 6-4, 6-1. His opponent is the unseeded Rui He of China, who beat top seed Oliver Baker in the third round and another Australian, No. 3 seed Jobe Dikkenberg, 6-2, 6-1 in today's semifinal.

Singles semifinal results:

B12s:
Rui He (CHN) d. Jobe Dikkenberg[3](AUS) 6-2, 6-1
James Borchard[5] (USA) d. Minchan Kwon[16] (KOR) 6-4, 6-1

B14s:
Mohamed Genidy [1] (EGY) d. Tristan Ascenzo[3] (USA) 7-5, 6-2
Ignacio Mejias[16] (VEN) d. Akhmadi Makhanov[10] (KAZ) 6-2, 6-1

B16s:
Artem Dmytrenko[9] (USA) d. Mason Vaughan[1] (USA) 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5)
Jang Junseo[14] (KOR) d. Colter Amey (USA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1

G12s:
Yoonseol Choi (KOR) d. Xiaoke Li (CHN) 7-5, 6-4
Fangqiao Zou[4] (CHN) d. Seungyeon Seo[5] (AUS) 6-2, 6-1

G14s:
Konstantina Volonaki[5] (GRE) d. Adriana Khomyakova[13] (USA) 6-3, 6-1
Ayaka Iwasa[9] (JPN) d. Zihao Han[4] (CHN) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4

G16s:
Adelina Iftime[11] (USA) d. Samvrutha Jawahar[7] (USA) 6-1, 6-4
London Evans (USA) d. Tanvi Pandey[6] (USA) 6-3, 6-2

The doubles semifinals and finals were played today, with photos of the finalists and the result of the championship match below:

B16s: Julian Zhang & Arjun Krishnan(USA[6] d. Griffin Goode & Mason Vaughan(USA) 7-5, 6-2

G16s: Grace Hong & Vibha Gogineni(USA)[4] d. Masaki Yamagishi(JPN) & Kiana Smith(USA)[3] 6-2, 6-4

B14s: Raku Yoshimoto & Agui Nanato(JPN) d. Francisco Sardhina (POR) & Miguel Baquero (DOM) 6-3, 7-6(4)

G14s: Zhao Han & Jiayi Lu(CHN) [4] d. Sara Lozano Avellaneda (COL) & Maria Baena(USA) 6-0, 6-1

B12s: James Borchard(USA) & Evan Fan(USA) [1] d. Oliver Baker & Lennox Kelly(AUS) [4] 6-2, 7-5

G12s: Yanke Wang(CHN) & Yichen Xiu(HKG) d. Hwani Choi &Yoonseol Choi (KOR) 6-1, 6-3

The ITF J300 quarterfinal matches featured several impressive comebacks, with wild card Jordan Lee, last year's 16s champion rebounding from 3-0 down in the third set to defeat Daniel Jade of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to reach his first J300 semifinal.

Jade began to show signs of fatigue after two grueling holds to take that 3-0 lead, and Lee sensed he had an opportunity, although he was also feeling the effects of the physically demanding points.

"We both pushed each other to the limit," said the 15-year-old from Florida, who returned to competition last month after a wrist injury kept him out eight months. "We gave it all we had and massive respect to him for pushing himself and me at like that. I feel like it comes with the sport--you're tired, but it's what you're willing to do to push through it."

Lee will face 17-year-old Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands, who lost the first set to No. 13 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden in short order, but bounced back for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory. Rejchtman Vinciguerra was irritated by various incidences throughout the match and did not accept the offer of the post-match handshake from Boogaard.

The bottom half semifinal will feature two unseeded players, with 16-year-old Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia and 17-year-old Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria reaching their first ITF J300 semifinals with straight-sets victories.

Bolivar Idarraga ended the run of wild card Jerrid Gaines Jr. 7-6(6), 6-3, while Kisimov halted the six-match winning streak this week of qualifier Tim Vaisman of Israel 6-2, 6-4.

This two-week stretch of green clay events marks the first time Kisimov has visited the United States, and he is adapting quickly to the surface.

"I like it, and I think I'll get better," said Kisimov, who liked his form and his prospects for success this week after skipping the Mexico events to train. "I'm really happy that I made it to the semis. It's nice weather, nice atmosphere, everything's great here."

Kisimov said he is friends with the other top Bulgaria juniors: ITF No. 1 and two-time junior slam champion Ivan Ivanov and Alex Vasilev, who lost to Ivanov in the US Open final in September. 

"I know them well, we've played so many times," Kisimov said. "I did beat Ivan once, but he's beaten me, like ten times."

Two unseeded girls advanced to the semifinals, but, unlike two of the boys, they will not play each other, with Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine facing No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia and Kristina Liutova playing No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina.

Sushkova defeated Alyssa James of 7-5, 6-3, while Cvetkovic came back from a set and a break down to defeat unseeded Hollie Smart of Great Britain 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Larraya Guidi defeated No. 9 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India 7-5, 7-6(3), with Liutova getting a second win over No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China in the past three months, by a 6-1, 7-6(10) score.

Liutova had beaten Sun in the semifinals of the ITF J300 in College Park in August after dropping the first set, but today she was the one getting off to a quick start. Sun immediately turned the tables, however, going up 5-1 in the second set before Liutova found her form.

"I started missing a little more and she obviously is a great player, so she got back in the match," said the 15-year-old, who lives and trains in the Seattle area. "My legs slowed down a little bit, so it was most important to get that back."

Sun served for the set at 5-2 and 5-4, but Liutova wouldn't concede the set, leading to a tiebreaker. 

Liutova was up 4-2 and 5-3 but Sun got the mini-break back until Liutova earned her first match point at 6-5 with sharply angled backhand winner.

But the 15-year-old Sun forced an error with a good forehand to save the first match point, and a second at 7-6 with a perfectly executed drop shot. At 8-7 Liutova failed to convert a third match point, missing a backhand, and match point No. 4, at 9-8, was a riveting rally of more than 25 shots that Sun eventually won with a clean forehand winner. 

Sun finally earned a set point with a return error from Liutova, but she made a backhand error early in the rally for 10-10. Liutova forced an error with her backhand for match point No. 5 and this time Sun blinked. She worked the rally to get a weak short ball inside the service line, but netted her forehand swing volley.

"She came up with some aggressive play, and credit to her for such a fight," Liutova said of all the match points saved. "She just let herself play and made some great shots, so I have nothing to complain about. I was excited for the match, she's a great player, a fighter and I love the competition."

Although she trains often indoors or on hard courts, Liutova is a big fan of any color of clay.

"I love clay," said Liutova, who was back practicing on the Stadium Court Friday evening "I love sliding around, I love the surface. Green is different from red, red is slower, this is a little more slippery, but I adjusted in the first days of my training pretty fast and I was excited to play on clay."

All of the semifinal matches, scheduled for 9 a.m. due to the possibility of rain later in the day, are first-time meetings.

The boys doubles final will also be at 9 a.m., with No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia facing No. 2 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland.

Alvarez and Sesko defeated No. 4 seeds Andy Johnson and Michael Antonius 7-6(3), 6-2, while Paldanius and Wazny beat No. 7 seeds Rejchtman Vinciguerra and Norway's Johan Oscar Lien 6-3, 6-3.

No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi will play No. 3 seeds Sun and Japan's Kanon Sawashiro for the girls doubles championship; with Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi both still in singles, that match will not be before noon.  Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi beat No. 4 seeds Melije Clarke and Korea's Ha Eum Lee 6-2, 6-4, while Sun and Sawashiron defeated the unseeded team of Rira Kosaka and Aoi Watanabe of Japan 6-4, 6-1.

Qualifying for the Orange Bowl J500 begins Saturday, with the final round of qualifying for the 16s tournament concluding tomorrow.

Jordan Lee and Kristina Liutova received special exemptions into the main draw by reaching the semifinals here in Bradenton. Isabelle Deluccia, Janae Preston, Nigeria's Oluwaseun Peter Ogunsakin and Vihaan Reddy moved into the main draw from qualifying due to withdrawals.  The wild cards for the J500 are below:

Girls:

Lani Chang

Kathryn Cragg

London Evans

Scarlett Fagan

Yael Saffar

Allison Wang

Nicole Went

Boys:

Safir Azam

Teodor Davidov

Jerrid Gaines Jr.

Marcel Latak

Tyler Lee

Agassi Rusher

Nikolas Stoot

Kamil Stolarczyk

The order of play and all qualifying draws can be found at ustaorangebowl.com.