Wild Card Gaines Ousts No. 2 Seed Paldanius, Girls Top Seed Vladson Out in First Round of ITF J300 Bradenton; Miguel and Kovackova Claim Merida Titles; Arora Wins J100 in India; All USTA National Indoor Finals Results
©Colette Lewis 2025-
Bradenton FL--
The IMG Academy was buzzing all day Monday with over 500 players, as well as their coaches and families, on site for the first round of singles in the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions and the first day of main draw competition for the ITF J300.
It didn't take long for a major upset to be recorded, with ITF No. 93 Alisa Terentyeva of Russia defeating top seed and ITF No. 12 Laima Vladson 6-3, 6-3 on Clay Court 1.
Vladson, who now represents Uzbekistan after playing the junior slams this year under the Lithuanian flag, was late arriving on court, although within the 15 minutes allowed by the ITF rules. The powerful 18-year-old never developed any rhythm on her ground strokes and Terentyeva took advantage of the unforced errors she was given.
Vladson was one of four seeds who lost in the top quarter, with Anita Tu outlasting No. 14 seed Maja Pawelska of Poland 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in three hours and 13 minutes; wild card Allison Wang beat No. 10 seed Ha Eum Lee of Korean 6-3, 6-2 and Alyssa James of Jamaica defeated No. 7 seed Nadia Lagaev of Canada 6-4, 6-3, meaning an unseeded semifinalist is already guaranteed after just one round.
Wang, a 14-year-old from Northern California, has little experience with green clay, but saw it as a development tool for her game.
"Clay improves my game, it helps my movement," Wang said. "Also whenever I then go back to hard court, it feels easier to play."
Wang was considering playing the 16s tournament, but was encouraged by the USTA coaches to accept a wild card for the ITF tournament.
"At first I was going to play the 16s on hard courts, not the 18s, since there's not clay courts in NorCal, "said Wang, who made the third round in October's ITF J300 Pan Am in Houston, losing to eventual champion Chukwumelije Clarke. "The USTA said I should play this one, so I signed up for a wild card and I got it."
Wang had an opportunity to train at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona prior to the tournament, so she had reason to feel comfortable on the surface, even when she drew a seed in the first round.
"I know that I'm the underdog, so I really don't have that much pressure," Wang said. "The only pressure I feel is to perform my best."
With Vladson' loss and the late withdrawal of No. 2 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil, who lost in the Merida final last night, No. 3 seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina is the top remaining seed; she defeated Karlin Schock 6-2, 6-3 in the first round today.
Top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania will play his first round match Tuesday, with No. 2 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland the only seed to fall in the boys first round action Monday, falling to Jerrid Gaines Jr. 7-6(4), 6-1.
Wild card Gaines, ranked 273 compared to Paldanius at 11, never wavered as he moved closer to the best win of his junior career. The 16-year-old, who reached the quarterfinals of the 14s two years ago and the semifinals of the 16s last year, watched as the more experienced Paldanius crumbled at the end of the tiebreaker, double faulting on set point, then immediately losing his serve to open the second.
"I just focused on the basics of what I wanted to do," said Gaines, who won a J60 in Texas in September and a J100 in Georgia in October. "I didn't want to overthink, just keep playing. He was getting a little bit frustrated, and I didn't want to beat myself out there. I've had some experiences when I didn't convert those moments, I'd crack mentally, but I'm doing a lot better mentally, and it was a big stepping stone, for sure."
Gaines knew he had to continue to play aggressively once he got a 3-0 lead in the second set, and he did, making returns and staying in every rally to keep the pressure on Paldanius, who could not find any nerves or tentative play to exploit.
"I prepared a lot for this tournament and I'm playing at a really high level right now," Gaines said. "Obviously, I'm very excited and very happy, advancing to get to play another time."
Gaines, who will not play singles Tuesday, faces the winner of Tuesday's first round match between qualifier Kamil Stolarczyk and Canada's Dan Szabo Wednesday.
Another upset was looming when Agassi Rusher, who was the last player in the main draw, took the second set from No. 8 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-1, after dropping the first 6-3. Sesko managed to survive the third set 6-4, but he admitted that the green clay was still something of a mystery to him.
"It's my first time on the United States clay; I've never played on the green clay," said the 17-year-old right-hander, who is on this trip with the ITF Junior Touring Team, who arrived from Merida on Saturday. "It's a bit different, you need some time to get used to it, the bounces are lower than on the red clay, European clay, so I'm happy I managed to get through."
No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland was also pushed to the limit before getting past Johan Oscar Lien of Norway 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles play begins Tuesday, with Nadia Lagaev and Laima Vladson the top seeds in the girls draw, with J500 Merida champions Yannick Alexandrescou and Ryo Tabata the No. 1 seeds.
The 16s first round is still going as of 9 p.m., but the 12s and 14s had only one major upset in the first round. Zichen Li of China defeated Boys 14s No. 2 seed Kazuki Nakajima of Japan 6-1, 7-5.
In last night's singles finals at the ITF J500 in Merida Mexico, No. 3 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil defeated Keaton Hance 6-1, 6-1 and top seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic beat No. 4 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-2.
Fourteen-year-old Anya Arora won her first ITF Junior Circuit title last week at the J100 in New Delhi India. Unseeded, Arora defeated No. 2 seed Diya Ramesh Ramesh of India 6-2, 6-4 in the final.
The USTA National Indoor Championships concluded today, with the results of the singles and doubles finals below. Click the headings to see the draws.
Singles
Thara Gowda[1] d. Carlota Moreno[2] 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
Doubles
Francie Pate and Danielle Young[1] d. Lauren Nolan and Alaina LiSanti 8-2
Singles
Alexander Suhanitski[6] d. Gus Grumet[1] 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
Doubles
Gregory Bernadsky and Carson Dwyer d. Yashwin Krishnakumar and Joseph Nau[1] 8-5
Singles
Sylvana Jalbert[1] d. Sofia Basto Cabrera 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
Addison Lindsay and Sammie Mercer[3] d. Sylvana Jalbert and Heidi Polasek 8-4
Singles
Eli Kaminski[4] d. Daniel Malacek[9] 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
Eli Kaminiski and James Ross[5] d. Rafael Lopez and Nicolas Pedraza[4] 8-6
Singles
Anna Kapanadze[2] d. Olivia Lin[1] 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
Sophia Nguyen-Huynh and Jessie Janiak[3] d. Eleanor Armistead and Gabrielle Villegas 8-4
Singles
Ishaan Marla[2] d. Smyan Thuta[2] 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
Doubles
Gus Geubelle and Andrew Beltran[3] d. James Choi and Noah Bouzoubaa 8-5
Singles
Mary Podkhyneychenko[5] d. Anna Sandru[2] 6-3, 6-0
Doubles
Cataleya Brown and Mila Mikoczi Spivey[3] d. Elizabeth Higgins and Rhiya Chiang 8-1
Singles
Pranav Madamanchi[5] d. Novak Masteller[11] 6-3, 7-6(5)
Doubles
William McGugin and Olie Rosa Hall[1] d. Novak Masteller and Luka Lopez[3] 8-5
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