Johnson Turns Tables on Latak to Advance to Kalamazoo 18s Quarterfinals; Cozad Regroups to Beat No. 5 Seed Karki; Top Four Seeds Advance to 16s Quarterfinals; Unseeded Kwon Defeats San Diego's No. 2 Seed Payne in Third Round, Reaches Round of 16

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

The memorable USTA National Boys 16s final in Kalamazoo last year, in which Marcel Latak came from 5-1 down in the third set to defeat Andy Johnson, saw a dramatic role reversal this evening in the fifth round of 18s singles, with Johnson coming from 6-4, 5-2 down to steal a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory. 

"I thought down 6-4, 5-2, if I start making balls maybe there was a chance," said the 16-year-old from Rancho Palos Verdes California. "He was playing well, and I'm like, if he's going to play this way, it's too good. He was playing ridiculous, every forehand, every backhand a foot away from the line. But I thought if I start making balls, maybe he'll start missing a little more, maybe the pressure got to him."

And although Johnson recovered from his crushing loss in the Kalamazoo 16s final last year to reach the US Open Junior quarterfinals just three weeks later, that memory was bound to resurface.

"It started going through my head, last year," Johnson said. "It made me want it even more. If he can come back from 5-1 down in the Kzoo finals, I can do it."

After Latak failed to serve it out at 5-2 and 5-4 without getting to match point, Johnson broke to take the set, and the 10-minute break before the start of third wasn't ideal.

"I was playing well, won five games in a row, so there wasn't much to talk about," Johnson said of his conversation with his coach Vasile Beches. "Just keep playing your game, you're playing well, not sure you want to change anything, just stick to it. And I ended up playing better and better throughout the third set."

Johnson will face Vihaan Reddy, whom he beat 6-3, 6-1 in the 16s semifinals last year.

There was another afternoon rain delay, this one starting at 2 p.m., that pushed two of the fifth round matches to a 4 p.m. start, including the Latak-Johnson match. Two were completed and four 18s matches in progress when play was stopped.

Once the courts were dried, No. 9 seed Jack Secord, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over No. 33 seed Bryan Assi, and No. 12 seed Reddy, a 6-2, 6-3  winner over No. 33 seed Riley Anson, were awaiting their opponents, and those waits were long ones.

Top seed Jack Kennedy, down 2-3 in the first set when played was stopped, defeated Jerrid Gaines 6-4, 6-4, and No. 2 seed Michael Antonius, up 6-3, 4-1, closed out No. 13 seed Gavin Goode 6-3, 7-5. 

But complications developed for No. 4 seed Keaton Hance, up 6-2, 4-1 against No. 18 seed Rishvanth Krishna, and No. 10 seed Ryan Cozad, up 7-5, 4-2 over No. 5 seed Ronit Karki.

Cozad had four match points with Karki serving at 3-5 in the second set, and couldn't convert any of them, one of which was especially aggravating. 

"I had a ball on top of the net, and hit it straight down, I don't know what I was doing," said the 17-year-old from Alpharetta Georgia, who couldn't manage to reach match point serving for it at 5-4, then lost the tiebreaker 7-2. "But yeah, four match points. It's just so tough to close matches out at Kzoo, especially deep in the tournament, It's a big tournament, a lot of nerves, so I'm just super happy."

Cozad credited his fitness with helping him hang around in the third set, and when he got a break with Karki serving at 2-3, his confidence grew.

"He played very well in the last few games of the second set," Cozad said. "So I went out there and played with a lot of physicality. All my work in the gym paid off. I felt super fit out there and I was able to outlast him in the third. I stayed really positive and was able to play my game."

Next up for Cozad is Kennedy, who will be a Virginia teammate when Cozad joins the Cavaliers in 2027.

"Playing Jack will be super fun," said Cozad, mentioning the all-UVA semifinal in the ATP 1000 in Montreal this evening. "We're going to be teammates one day unless he goes pro. We're super good friends, get along really well, so I'm excited."

Hance also dropped his second set in a tiebreaker, and was broken at love serving for the match at 5-3 in the third, but broke Krishna to claim the win. He will face Secord in the quarterfinals. 

Wimbledon boys champion Jordan Lee, the No. 6 seed, hasn't gotten a lot of show court time despite that accomplishment, and tonight he was on Court 9, after playing at Western Michigan University on Tuesday night. But Lee had the quickest match of the evening, beating No. 33 seed William Freshwater 6-4, 6-1. Lee will face Michael Antonius in the quarterfinals.

The 16s had three fifth round matches that had not been started when it rained and they were sent indoors. Three of the top four seeds had already advanced prior to the rain shower, with top seed Kamil Stolarczyk beating No. 24 seed Tabb Tuck, 6-4, 6-3, No. 3 seed Daniel Malacek defeating No. 33 seed Brandon Jeon 6-3, 6-1 and No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed ending the run of unseeded George Ho 7-6(2), 6-3. Syed and Ho played a 90-minute first set before Syed finally took control in the second.

No. 4 seed Tristan Stratton defeated Karthik Thumu 6-2, 6-1 indoors and will play wild card Carter Jauffret, a No. 33 seed, who beat Antanas Daugis 6-4, 7-6(4), also indoors.

Stolarczyk faces No. 26 seed Tristan Ascenzo, who came back to beat No. 27 seed Arjun Krishnan 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Malacek plays No. 20 seed Joshua Dolinsky, who defeated No. 9 seed Daniil Berezin 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Syed's quarterfinal opponent is No. 22 seed Lennart Hammargren, who beat No. 33 seed Sebastian Zavala 6-2, 6-2.

The 16s singles and doubles quarterfinals will be played Thursday, as will the 18s doubles quarterfinals, with the 18s singles quarterfinals scheduled for Friday, along with both doubles semifinals.

The 18s third round of doubles were played outside after the singles at Stowe Wednesday night, finishing after 9:30 p.m. 

Three unseeded teams have advanced to the quarterfinals, with Andre Alcantara and Riley Anson beating No. 5 seeds Marcel Latak and Tanishk Konduri; Mason Taube and Jacob Lee beating unseeded Harrison Kemp and Juan Parrilla 7-5, 6-4 and Tyler Lee and Nikolas Stoot defeating Wimbledon doubles finalists and No. 4 seeds Andy Johnson and Michael Antonius 2-6, 6-3, 10-4.

Top seeds Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy and No. 2 seeds Yannik Alvarez and Noah Johnston advanced to the quarterfinals with straight-sets victories. 

The top three seeds in the 16s have reached the quarterfinals: No. 1 seeds Mikaeel Alibaig and Ivan Rybak, No. 2 seeds Daniel Malacek and Kamil Stolarczyk and No. 3 seeds Rafael Pawar and Zesen Wang.

Live streaming of all matches at Stowe Stadium can be found here. Live scoring is available at iOnCourt.

The USTA 18s and 16s Girls Nationals in San Diego are at the quarterfinal stage in the 16s, and the round of 16 in the 18s.

In the third round Tuesday night, unseeded Brooke Kwon defeated No. 2 seed Bella Payne 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(7) and advanced to the round of 16 when Isabelle DeLuccia retired trailing 6-1, 4-2.

The other unseeded player in the 18s round of 16 is Aya Manning, who beat No. 15 seed Armira Kockinis 6-4, 6-1. Top seed Julieta Pareja, No. 3 seed Thea Frodin and No. 4 seed Janae Preston have all advanced to the fifth round, as has No. 33 seed Annika Penickova.

See the USTA SoCal website for recaps of the daily action.

Kalamazoo's No. 1 Seeds Both Drop Second Set Tiebreakers, but Move into Round of 16; Gaines Saves Match Point, Rallies to Beat Konduri; Rain Sends Four 16s Matches Indoors; Tien, Shelton and Nakashima Reach Montreal ATP Masters Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

Kamil Stolarczyk and Jack Kennedy have been regular fixtures on George Acker Center Court during the past four days at the USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships, and today their fourth round wins were nearly carbon copies, although Stolarczyk played in the morning, before the rain arrived, while Kennedy had his match disrupted then finished Tuesday evening.

With rain arriving at 1 p.m., the four 16s fourth round matches still in progress were moved a block away, to Kalamazoo College's Markin Tennis Center.

It figured that the four matches that were not finished were among the closest ones, although Stolarczyk was fortunate his three-hour 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2 victory over No. 21 seed Aayush Vartak started at 9 a.m., allowing him to finish an hour before the rain arrived.

The most precarious situation of those four matches saw No. 33 seed Zachary Szymanski leading No. 29 seed Antanas Daugis 4-3 in a third set tiebreaker when play was suspended. Szymanski had won the first set 6-4, with Daugis taking the second 6-2.

Daugis had had three match points with Szymanski serving at 4-5, 0-40 but didn't convert, surely cursing those missed opportunities when Szymanski went up 6-4 in the final tiebreaker once the match moved indoors. But Daugis kept coming back, saving seven match points in the tiebreaker, until he finally got to his first match point of the tiebreaker, and his fourth overall, at 12-11. A little bit of luck came his way, with Daugis's volley hitting the tape and dribbling over, putting him through to Wednesday's round of 16.

The only unseeded player remaining in either draw is George Ho, who won his fourth match of the week after trailing No. 25 seed Connor Feehan 7-5, 3-2 when the match moved indoors.

"I think if we didn't go indoors I probably would have lost that match, said the 16-year-old from Honolulu. "The rallies were just so grueling and slow outdoors, and as soon as we got indoors I was able to use my forehand a little bit more, really get inside the court and start attacking."

With only outdoor hard courts to practice and compete on in Hawaii, indoor tennis might appear to be uncomfortable to him, Ho said that's not the case.

"It's maybe my third or fourth time indoors," Ho said. "There's no indoor courts in Hawaii, no clay courts, only outdoor hard. But the Hawaii courts are kind of beat down, so they're very fast and very smooth. So it wasn't like going indoors was completely foreign to me, and it was a great match."

Ho, who has played one more match than everyone else left in the main draw, said that three-set win set him on the path to the round of 16.

"That kind of set the tone for the tournament," said Ho, who is coached by Dan Pollock. "I realized there's no free matches out here, guys aren't just going to miss, you've got to work for every single point. I'm just so happy to have carried that momentum through to the round of 16."

Ho will face No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed, who defeated unseeded Alexander Lerman 6-4, 6-2 outdoors this morning. 

"I've seen him play about a minute of his match on center court, but I know nothing about him," Ho said. "I do know he has a one-hander, which I'm excited to play against. It's a great experience, win or lose and I get another match with a super high-quality opponent."

The biggest upset of the day was Leonard Hammargren's 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 8 seed Gadin Arun.  Hammargren had a three-hour and 21-minute 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) win in the third round over No. 33 Eita Mishima at Western Michigan Monday, so he wasn't sure how he would hold up today.

"Yesterday I had played a four-hour match so I was just hoping to go out there and grind it out," said the 16-year-old from Boca Raton Florida. "So I was trying to stay just physically good out there the entire time. And I actually felt great, with the adrenaline running, toward the middle I didn't feel anything at all, I was just cruising."

Although he in control, Hammargren said the score was deceptive. "It was definitely not routine, a lot tighter than the score was. He's a great player, but he didn't play as well as I've seen him play before."

The 16s completed their schedule at 3 p.m., but the 18s had three more hours of waiting for the rain to stop and courts to dry before they could get on court. Five matches, including  Kennedy's match with No. 33 seed Michael Lorenzetti were in progress at Stowe, but with limited daylight and not all of Stowe's courts lighted, five matches were sent to Western Michigan University.

Those matches, none of which had started before the rain, all ended quickly, with No. 2 seed Michael Antonius beating Connor Plunkett 6-0, 6-1 and No. 6 seed and Wimbledon boys champion Jordan Lee defeating No. 19 seed Teodor Davidov 6-4, 6-4 in a rematch of the 2021 Eddie Herr 12s final.

Back at Stowe, Kennedy returned to Acker Center Court at 6 p.m. with a 5-2 lead and finished off the first set, but Lorenzetti fought back from 2-0 down in the second, and saved three match points to take the second set tiebreaker 11 points to 9. But after the 10-minute break, Kennedy returned with renewed conviction and jumped out to a 5-0 lead before ultimately claiming a 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-1 win.

The other three-setter at Stowe Stadium Tuesday evening was the match that junior tennis fans had circled when the draw came out, with No. 11 seed Tanishk Konduri facing No. 17 seed Jerrid Gaines Junior.  All the promise that match held didn't look like it would materialize when Konduri took a 5-2 lead in the opening set, and then, after the five-hour delay, immediately dropped serve to lose the set. 

But Gaines was not ready to concede, taking the second set 6-4.

Konduri served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but didn't get to match point after Gaines had saved one on his serve down 2-5 in the third, after double faulting at 30-all.

"I don't know if it was nerves,"  the 17-year-old from Palmetto Florida said of his double fault. "Mistakes are going to happen, but the intention was correct on that second serve, I just missed it by a little bit, caught the top of the net. So I didn't focus on that just focused on the next point, played a good point, hit a winner forehand cross, it was a shorter ball and I did what I had to do. I don't think he did anything wrong, players just come up with stuff and I managed to come with the goods in big moments."

That reminded Gaines of last year's round of 32 match in the 16s against Rowan Qalbani, when he also saved a match point.

"I thought of that, actually," said Gaines, who went on to win the bronze ball. "If I could do it then, I could do it again. Whenever I see Rowan, we still joke about it. It wasn't like he played a bad point then either; things just happen."

Gaines broke Konduri in that 5-3 game, held easily. then broke Konduri with a backhand volley winner setting up break point and Konduri netting a forehand early in the rally to make it 6-5 Gaines.

Gaines, who has a first serve that produces a sound that you don't often hear at a junior tournament, hit two of his eight aces to start off the game, and got an error from Konduri to set up three match points. Konduri saved the first with a drop voley, but Gaines won the second match point when Konduri netted a backhand.

"That (first serve) is definitely going to be part of my game," Gaines said. "We both have good serves, and it was a high level."

Gaines will play Kennedy in the round of 16 Wednesday, and Gaines admitted that he knew the draw had put him in Kennedy's section. 

"That's why I'm here, that's why I come to these tournaments, to play matches like that," said Gaines, who lost to Kennedy in three sets in the second round of the M15 in Boca Raton this spring, which Kennedy went on to win. "I'm definitely looking forward to it, bringing the same mindset to every match. I've learned a lot this year."

Although most of the round of 16 matches provide some intrigue, the Kennedy-Gaines match could be rivaled by the rematch of last year's 16s final between Andy Johnson, the No. 3 seed, and Marcel Latak, the No. 16 seed this year. Latak, who came from 5-1 down in the third set of that final, had the easier of the two fourth round matches, beating unseeded Justin Zhang 6-3, 6-2, while Johnson needed two hours to get past No. 20 seed Safir Azam 7-6(5), 6-2.

All main draws matches in singles and doubles are at Stowe Stadium on Wednesday, with the forecast still showing some chance of rain early in the day.

Live streaming is here, and live scoring is provided by iOnCourt. 

At the USTA Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego, the 18s third round is still not complete, but there was one notable upset, with No. 5 seed Kristina Penickova dropping a 7-6(3), 0-6, 6-2 decision to No. 33 seed Nancy Lee. Top seed Julieta Pareja is through to the fourth round, as is No. 3 seed Thea Frodin and No. 4 seed Janae Preston.

As is the case with the B16s, the top four seeds have advanced to Wednesday's round of 16.

Three players who competed in Kalamazoo finals in the past ten years are through to the semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Montreal, with defending champion Ben Shelton(Florida), the 2021 18s finalist, facing two-time 18s champion Learner Tien(USC), who has reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal. Brandon Nakashima(Virginia), the 2017 16s champion, will play Rafael Jodar(Virginia) of Spain in the other semifinal.

Jauffret Ousts Fifth Seed Singh in Nearly Four-Hour Battle to Reach Kalamazoo 16s Fourth Round; Top 16s Seeds Stolarczyk and Syed Tested But Through in Straight Sets

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

After a day off Sunday, those in the main draw of the USTA National Boys Championships 16s division returned to the courts Monday, after a one-hour delay due to wet courts due to a second storm overnight.

In the third round matches played at both Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan University, upsets were not rare, with the No. 5, 6 and 7 seeds all going out in grueling contests in the oppressive heat and humidity.

No one did a better job of surviving those conditions than No. 33 seed Carter Jauffret, who blew a 4-0 first set lead, served for the match twice in the third set and was down a mini-break in the deciding tiebreaker before posting a 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(4) win over No. 5 seed Kahven Singh in three hours and 54 minutes.

Jauffret, who was out for eight months with a stress fracture in his dominant right hand, was able to see the positives even as that first set slipped away.

"Once I lost that first set, I knew that I had the level, I just needed to string it all together," said the 16-year-old from Wilmington Delaware, who is the younger brother of Capucine Jauffret, who is competing this week in San Diego. "He started dealing with fatigue and some potential cramps toward the end of the second set, and then it just became cramps for the two of us in the third set."

Jauffret, who served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set, and had a match point in that tenth game, saved by Singh with a brave backhand volley winner, was surprised he couldn't serve it out.

"I wasn't in my head about not being able to hold my serve, because I couldn't bend my legs," Jauffret said. "So the serve essentially became irrelevant. It was could I get a kick to the placement where I wanted, or was it going to be in the middle of the box. So once he broke, I knew I would have to play a gritty tiebreak and I came up with some shots I don't think I could do again if I had 15 chances."

One of those shots came with Singh serving at 4-3 in the tiebreaker, with a slick Jauffret pass with his one-handed backhand getting him back on serve.

"That backhand pass, you give me 20 balls, I'll miss all 20," said Jauffret, who had missed a backhand pass he thought he should have made when he was serving for the match.  "So I'm happy to be moving on."

Due to his cramping, Jauffret didn't sit down at changeovers and only was in the chair briefly in the 10-minute break between the second and third sets.

"I haven't dealt with cramps too many times, but I've seen it all on TV, at tournaments, when a guy sits down and doesn't get back up," said Jauffret, who had his older brother Connor providing coaching and encouragement during the break. "I knew the strategy, I knew what I needed to do. I knew his weaknesses, he knew my weaknesses, it was actually who could be fit enough to win a specific point and then a whole set."

Jauffret will play one of the four unseeded players remaining in the round of 32: Joseph Garrean, the Midwest Closed champion. 

Garrean defeated the reigning 16s USTA Clay Courts champion Gurbaaz Narang, the No. 18 seed, 7-5, 6-7(7), 2-1, ret.

No. 6 seed Colter Amey retired in his match with No. 33 seed Maddox Iliescu, who advanced with a 3-6, 6-4, 2-1 ret. victory, and No. 7 seed Eli Kaminski lost to No. 33 seed Niranjan Ramalingam 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Unseeded George Ho beat No. 12 seed Piotr Gradzki 6-2, 7-6(5), unseeded Nirbhay Agarwal defeated No. 30 seed Ishaan Marla 7-5, 6-0 and unseeded Alexander Lerman defeated No. 33 seed Paul Bower 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Although top seed Kamil Stolarczyk and No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed both got through in straight sets, they were tested in their matches on the George Acker Center Court.

"He was playing well, and I definitely wasn't expecting it to be this long at the end," the 16-year-old from Glendale New York said of his 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 33 seed Andres Quijada. "I was up 5-1, and it was more of a mental thing than a physical thing, which is fine, because you can always work on that.  But it was a tough match, quite physical and he didn't miss much toward the end at all, so I had to work for it. In the first set he was throwing errors left and right, but he got into the match, he was playing well."

Stolarczyk will face No. 21 seed Aayush Vartak in the fourth round Tuesday.

Syed was at 4-all in his first set against No. 33 seed Damian Gutheil before finding his rhythm and closing it out 6-4, 6-1.

"I actually warmed up in the indoor center, so the court was a little different, so I had to adjust to it," said the 16-year-old from Chesterbrook Pennsylvania, who, like Jauffret, has a one-handed backhand. "I went down an early break, but I kept on believing, staying positive. I thought I was serving well, so it was just staying in the match, every point. I relaxed a little bit, got used to the ball, found a little more rhythm on my groundstrokes. I was getting more looks in my return games and I was able to take advantage of my opportunities."

Syed will face the unseeded Lerman in the fourth round Tuesday.

The third round of doubles was also played Monday evening, with no major upsets. The top four seeded in both the 16s and 18s advanced to the round of 16 without dropping a set.

The weather forecast for Tuesday contains a chance for thunderstorms with the fourth round of singles in both age divisions and the fourth round of 18s doubles on the schedule. There are no 16s doubles on the schedule for Tuesday. Play begins with the 16s singles at 9 a.m., with all matches at Stowe Stadium.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link. Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

The seeds in the USTA Nationals 18s division in San Diego played for the first time today, with the Top 8 seeds, and Annika Penickova, a No. 33 seed, advancing to the third round. The 16s third round today is not yet complete, but so far there have been no major upsets.

Cracked Racquets is providing four hours of coverage of San Diego competition each day at their YouTube channel.

Anson Upsets No. 7 Seed Johnston in Kalamazoo Third Round 18s Match Finished Indoors; Karki Survives Upset Bid; Antonius Continues to Roll; Angus's Comeback Eliminates No. 14 Seed; Penickova Falls in W35 Final, Heads to San Diego

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

Only one unseeded player has advanced to the fourth round of the USTA B18s and 16s National Championships, but the No. 33 seeds made their mark Sunday, with seven of them beating Top 32 seeds on the 31 courts of Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan University.

The biggest upset of the day came after a 3:30 p.m. thunderstorm sent matches indoors. No. 33 seed Riley Anson, serving up 2-1 in the third set against No. 7 seed Noah Johnston, managed the 30-minute delay in getting matches set up in the Markin Tennis Center and completed his 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-3 victory.

"I wasn't super mad about it, honestly," Anson said of the delay. "I like playing indoors, I just played a tournament indoors a couple of weeks ago and I feel pretty comfortable there. Even though my momentum was stopped, I still got the job done indoors."

Anson, an 18-year-old from Laguna Niguel California, led 6-2 in the first set tiebreaker, lost six straight points, but handled that disappointment in the same fashion he handled the inopportune rain delay.

"It was pretty rough to be honest," said Anson, who has verbally committed to Princeton for 2027. "He played a few good points, but a couple were my fault; I could have extended the point, making a smarter decision instead of going for the kill shot. But I told myself to be professional, how would a professional handle this, just move on. There's two more sets if I want to win this match. I didn't just want to give it away, disappear in the second set. This is my last Kalamazoo and I didn't want to leave in the third round."

At 5-all Johnston double faulted on his game point, one of his 11 double faults in the match and Anson broke, then served it out.

"I knew I was going to hold that last game in the second set," Anson said. "I was feeling very confident with how I was serving in that second set."

Anson was happy with how quickly the was match moved indoors. 

"I think we were the first option to play," Anson said. "It was nice, I didn't really want to wait. The longer the wait, the more the momentum goes back to neutral, and he can reset a little bit."

The other match in progress when lightning was detected prior to a heavy thunderstorm, had an even more dramatic finish, with No. 24 seed Roshan Santhosh coming from 6-3 down in the final set tiebreaker to claim the final five points of the match in his 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(6) win over No. 33 seed Erik Schinnerer. 

No. 5 seed Ronit Karki barely escaped Johnston's fate, coming from a break down in both the second and third sets to defeat No. 33 seed Kayden Colombo 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Karki wasn't able to break the big serve of the 17-year-old from Georgia in the first set, so he was concerned when Colombo was able to break him twice in the second set.

"I got the first one back and that was already a lot of work," said the 18-year-old Stanford rising freshman, who is being coached this tournament by former Ohio State All-American Cannon Kingsley. "But I went down a break again shortly after that and I was honestly thinking to myself, from his perspective it was just hold, try to break again and then hold and he's run away with the match. I think he maybe got a little nervous or something, a few doubles faults, when in other service games he was popping aces."

Colombo consolidated his early break for a 3-1 lead, but that was the last game he won, with Karki sensing he had a physical edge in the last half of the third set.

"I think he started cramping a little bit, and on break point (serving at 3-2), he tried to serve and volley and I hit a good return," Karki said. "I had a little confidence when I saw he was breaking down physically, otherwise he was giving me a really hard time. He's got a big serve, a big forehand and he's not shy. If he sees the ball, he's going to rip it and come to the net. He closed out so many volleys today."

Karki is looking forward to the day off in singles for the 18s, as he was feeling the effects of the two-hour and 43-minute match.

"I wouldn't mind that," Karki said of the prospect of just a  doubles match on Monday. "I'm a little tired, a little stiff; it was a battle."

No. 2 seed Michael Antonius was on the court against No. 33 seed Yashwin Krishnakumar for an hour and 32 minutes, more than an hour less than Karki, and he acknowledged his 6-1, 6-2 victory didn't tell the story of the match.

"Yaswin's very fast and he was retrieving really well," said the 16-year-old from New York. "Fighting for dear life on every single point. It may be one of the longest 1 and 2 matches of my career. It was a long match, but I definitely felt in control for the most time, dictating well with my strokes."

Antonius acknowledges he's come a long way since he fell in the 16s quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed here last year, with two pro singles titles this spring and summer and an appearance in the Roland Garros boys final in June.

"As the two seed there's kind of a target on your back throughout the tournament," said Antonius, the first American to win two USTA Pro Circuit events before turning 17. "But you can't win a tournament in one day. It's a long week. My expectations aren't really that high. Obviously I'd love to do well, make it to the finals at this tournament, but I just want to play my best tennis. And if I'm doing that, the result will come."

Top seed Jack Kennedy again needed to extricate himself from a tricky first set in his 6-4, 6-2 win over unseeded Nihal Narisetty, who led 4-2 before Kennedy began to find his rhythm against the big-serving left-hander.

No. 3 seed Andy Johnson dropped the second set to No. 33 Ford McCollum, but returned from the 10-minute coaching break to take a 3-0 lead, en route to a 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

No. 4 seed Keaton Hance beat unseeded Julian Zhang 6-2, 6-1.

No. 33 seed Graeme Angus fought back to beat fellow wild card and No. 14 seed Nikolas Stoot 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, with a revamped mindset helping him ignore his two previous losses to Stoot.

"I can't put expectations on myself," said Angus, who trains with  his father Larry in Beaufort South Carolina. "I feel too much pressure and I don't compete as well as I should. And it's always going to be a tough match with him, he's such a great player."

Angus said he served well in the second and third sets and also changed his tactics on his groundstrokes.

"I needed to make more first serves," said Angus, who is expecting to sign with Elon for the spring season before the end of this month. "I played more through the middle of the court, not giving him as much angles to work with, and coming in when I have the opportunity to close out the point at the net."

Angus said he initially sought the attention of SEC programs before seeing that pursuit was hurting his tennis.

"I became very results oriented," Angus said. "And that's not good for me. I can't focus on results. At some point, I just realized that if I compete the way I compete, I'll attract the right coaches, and Elon is the right way to go."

The other 33 seeds who beat Top 32 seeds today are David Wu beat No. 31 seed Noble Renfrow 6-2, 6-4; Bryan Assi, who defeated No. 32 seed Mason Taube 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2); Theo Hegarty, who beat No. 27 Jesse Yang 6-4, 6-4; Rowan Qalbani, who defeated No. 22 Carel Ngounoue 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) and Connor Plunkett, who beat No. 28 Arin Pallegar 6-2, 6-3.

The unseeded player through to the fourth round is Justin Zhang, who defeated No. 26 seed Alexander Suhanitski 6-4, 6-4 in the second round and No. 33 seed Micah Ward 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in today's third round.

No. 8 seed Yannik Alvarez withdrew from his match with No. 33 seed Zen Uehling due to illness.

The 16s division did not have main draw matches today, just back draw, but they will play their third round of singles and doubles Monday beginning at 10 a.m. 18s will play their third round of doubles in the afternoon, no singles main draw in 18s.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link. Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

The seeds in the 16s division at the USTA Nationals in San Diego played for the first time today, with the top four seeds all advancing in straight sets.

The 18s seeds begin play Tuesday. Cracked Racquets is providing four hours of coverage at their YouTube channel.

Annika Penickova's winning streak in W35 tournaments ended at nine with a loss in today's final in Southaven Mississippi. Penickova, who is scheduled to play Mia Yoon in the second round in San Diego at 1:30 pm Monday, lost to unseeded Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru 6-2, 6-4.

No. 4 seeds Carmen Herea(Texas) of Romania and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine defeated top seeds Maria Fernanda Navarro and Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico 6-3, 5-7, 20-6 in the doubles final.

Timo Legout(Texas) of France won the singles title at the M25 in Southaven, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 7 seed Evan Zhu(UCLA) 6-2, 6-4 in the final.  

Unseeded Kelly Giese(Lubbock Christian, Nebraska) and Sam Landau(Indiana, Duke) ended the winning streak of top seeds Max Exsted(USC) and Cooper Woestendick, taking the doubles final 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.

In the ATP Challenger 75 in Lexington Kentucky, unseeded Edas Butvilas of Lithuania defeated unseeded Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(6) in today's final.

At the W100 in Landisville Pennsylvania, top seed Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium defeated No. 2 seed Anastasia Zakharova of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. The doubles title went to top seeds I-Hsuan and Yi Tsen Cho of Taiwan, who beat unseeded Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

Kennedy Acknowledges High Expectations as Kalamazoo 18s Top Seed; All Top 16 Seeds Advance to Third Round in Both Divisions; Switzerland Boys, Italy Girls Win World Tennis 14U Team Titles; Penickova Reaches Second Straight W35 Final

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

Jack Kennedy was a surprise finalist in the Kalamazoo 18s division  in 2024 and finished third last year, but he admits there's been a change in perception as he makes his final appearance in the USTA National Championships as the No. 1 seed.

"A lot of expectations going into this match, a lot more eyes on me this year, than in the previous years," said the 18-year-old New Yorker, who defeated Lucas Smith 6-4, 6-3 in his first match in the second round of singles Saturday. "The one seed, a lot of people are talking about it, a lot of people are watching. I'm trying not to focus on it too much. Obviously, it's a tough thing not to think about, but I'm going to try my best not to think about it."

Kennedy and Smith were at 4-all in the first set, when Smith had a brief letdown and Kennedy took advantage.

"Luke played a great match, a very high level in the first set," Kennedy said. "I think maybe the nerves hit him at 4-all, didn't play the greatest service game. And then I kind of relaxed a little bit. My level was pretty good, but it wasn't my cleanest match. I'm just happy to get through it. First round at any tournament, but especially here, is never easy, with all the nerves, everything going on, it's just good to get through."

Kennedy acknowledges that the field is not far behind him, although his ATP ranking of 384 is more than 300 points more than No. 2 seed Michael Antonius, who has the next best ATP ranking in the field.

"Honestly, it gets stronger and stronger every year, which I don't personally like," Kennedy joked. "But we have some great guys out there, my doubles partner Keaton, Michael, who has had great success, not just in the juniors but in the pros, winning a 25 in singles and doubles and a 15 recently. Of course, Jordan Lee, winning Wimbledon, I was really happy for him. He played a really great tournament, and what a great final it was, Cruz also, a great level, what a show they put on. The level here obviously is really high; it's not going to be easy whatsoever. And we haven't seen guys like Ronit Karki(the No. 5 seed) and Noah Johnston(the No. 7 seed) in a while, because they're aged out (of World Tennis junior competition). But it's really a great opportunity to play at another high level and keep learning from every match."

When Kennedy begins his collegiate career at the University of Virginia this September after the US Open Junior Championships, he'll use the remarkable rise of former Cavalier Rafael Jodar as inspiration.

"I think UVA has helped him so much to develop, not only the tennis, but also as a person," Kennedy said. "But I don't think the guy is even real; he's gone from 650 to 15 in a year. He's set the bar for us. It makes me even more excited to go to UVA, get a taste of what he got, what he saw from the coaches and the guys and take it all in. We'll see if I go a year, or four, we'll have to play it out, but super excited to get to work with those guys at Virginia and be with the guys, it's going to be great."

On Sunday, Kennedy will face unseeded Nihal Narisetty, the Midwest Closed champion, who beat wild card Izyan Ahman, a 33 seed, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 2 seed Antonius needed only 49 minutes and lost only nine points in his 6-0, 6-0 win over Shayne Joglekar; Hance[4], Andy Johnson[3], Karki, Lee and Johnston all won in straight sets.

In the 16s division, top seed Kamil Stolarczyk defeated Vijay Smyan 6-3, 6-1 and No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed beat Mason Menyhart 6-1, 6-0.

All Top 16 seeds in each age group advanced to the third round, with just two Top 32 seeds falling in both the 18s and the 16s divisions. Charles Pettinelli defeated No. 25 seed Peter Jorniak 6-2, 6-3 and Justin Zhang beat No. 26 seed Alexander Suhanitski 6-4, 6-4 in the 18s. In the 16s, Alexander Lerman defeated No. 17 seed Michael Chervenkov 6-2, 6-4 and Chance Rozpedski defeated No. 28 seed Griffin Goode 6-2, 6-1.

The only Top 8 seeds in doubles to fall on Saturday afternoon were the No. 6 seeds in both age divisions.  In the 16s, Anay Kulkarni and John Murphy defeated Braylon Desquitado and Trishiv Premanand 6-0, 4-6, 11-9; in the 18s, Jacob Lee and Mason Taube beat Theo Hegarty and Erik Schinnerer 7-5, 6-3.

No. 2 seed in the 18s, Yannik Alvarez and Noah Johnston, were down a set and a break to Michael Lorenzetti and Connor Plunkett Saturday night, but managed to eke out a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win to advance to the third round.

Top seeds in the 16s, Mikaeel Alibaig and Ivan Rybak also needed a match tiebreaker to advance, beating Charlie Barton and Miles Olmeda 3-6, 6-1, 10-7.

There are no main draw 16s singles Sunday, with the third round in 18s singles, and the first day of consolation play, with two rounds of consolation matches on the schedule. No doubles are on the schedule for Sunday.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link. Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

The World Tennis 14-and-under Team championships concluded today in Prostejov Czechia, with Switzerland's boys and Italy's girls claiming the titles. 

Switzerland, the No. 5 seed, defeated unseeded Brazil 2-1 in the final, with No. 7 seed Italy beating No. 2 seed Japan 2-1. It's the first WJT title for the Italian girls.

The top-seeded US girls finished fourth, falling to unseeded Czechia 2-1. The sixth-seeded US boys lost to No. 7 seed Colombia 2-1 to finish eighth.

For more on the finals, see this recap from the World Tennis junior site.

Annika Penickova is through to her second straight W35 final this week in Southaven Mississippi. After her title in Florence last week, the 16-year-old left-hander received a special exempt spot in the main draw and today beat wild card Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) 6-1, 7-5 to reach the final. Penickova, who is scheduled to play her first match in San Diego on Monday at noon Pacific time, will face unseeed Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru. Guzman defeated No. 4 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 6-2, 6-1.

My Kalamazoo Preview; Alternate Rosett Earns Two Wins in Final Kalamazoo Appearance; USTA National B12s Seeds; USA Girls Fall to Japan in World Tennis 14-U Team Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

My annual preview of the Kalamazoo Nationals is up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, with all the players mentioned beginning their singles tournaments on Saturday, with seeds receiving first round byes. The B18s field features four players who have won USTA Pro Circuit events this year, in addition to Jordan Lee's title last month at the Wimbledon Junior Championships.

While all those players were searching for practice courts today with the 31 WMU and Stowe Stadium courts in use for first round action today, the unseeded players were meeting for their shot at a seed on Saturday.

One of those moving through to the main draw is Abraham Rosett, who didn't know until four days ago whether he would get an opportunity to compete in his fourth and final year at the Nationals.

The fact that Rosett is from Bloomfield Hills Michigan, just a two-and-a-half hour drive from Kalamazoo, meant that he didn't have to make complicated last-minute travel arrangements when he received the call informing him of a withdrawal that moved him into the main draw. The short notice didn't faze him mentally either, as he felt he was ready for the level he would face.

"When this list came out I was shocked I didn't get in," said the 18-year-old, who defeated Colin Cerminara 6-4, 6-2 on the Stowe Stadium's renowned George Acker Center Court. "I guess it's just based on the USTA points, but I was hoping I would get in. I knew I belonged here, I thought I could be dangerous in this tournament. I do have a chip on my shoulder, but I'm treating every match like I'm going to win. I'm not really thinking about it; I'm in the tournament, so I'm just competing now."

Rosett admitted that he would have been disappointed to miss out on his last chance to play Kalamazoo.

"I've played both years in 16s, last year I played 18s, so I wanted to complete the four years here," Rosett said. "I know I belong here, so I would have been pretty disappointed if I didn't come and compete and show what I got."

Players from Michigan usually are scheduled to play their main draw matches at Stowe Stadium, and Rosett has benefitted from that tradition, but today was his first opportunity to play a singles match on Acker Court.

"Us Michiganders get some privileges," Rosett said. "I've played doubles there; every year I've played my first round singles on like the fifth court, the last court on the first bank. But never singles on center court, so that was pretty cool. A lot of nerves coming out, but I got through it, and I think my best tennis is ahead of me in this tournament."

Rosett, who will play No. 33 seed Bryan Assi at Stowe Stadium Saturday, has committed to the University of Illinois for the fall of 2027.

"My assistant coach, Tim Kopinski, TK, was watching me, so nerves there as well, wanting to impress the coach," Rosset said. "But I'm super excited. I love the guys on the team, the culture that Brad(head coach Dancer) has built, and I'm so excited to get my butt over there."

Rosett and partner Henry Lessard also advanced in doubles this afternoon, beating Deepinder Singh and Darren Wei 6-4, 6-3.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link.  Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

Cracked Racquets will be providing four hours of daily coverage of the USTA Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego beginning tomorrow with the G16s first round. See their YouTube channel for times for the free live streaming each day.

The seeds and draws for the USTA National Boys 12s Championships in Mobile Alabama are out. I'm posting the Top 16 below; I will also add them to my post from Thursday, so all the 12s and 14s seeds and links are available on one page.

B12s Top 16 seeds (Mobile Alabama):
1. William Zhou

2. Zephyr Zwicker
3. Caique Cavalcanti
4. Thomas Gamble
5. Jesse Goldman
6. Zachary Burunov
7. Aleksander Denisov
8. John Benedict
9. Louis Lu
10. Dylan Kivov
11. Kevin Wang
12. Satvik Arja
13. Isaac Milner
14. Alexander Yang
15. Reed Kuai
16. AJ Williams

The top-seeded USA girls team lost in the semifinals of the World Tennis 14-and-under championships today in Prostejov Czechia, falling to No. 2 seed Japan 2-1.

Ayaka Iwasa of Japan defeated Anna Kapanadze at No. 2 singles 6-3, 6-4, with Isha Manchala tying it up witha 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win over Shina Okuyama at No. 1 singles. That sent the match to a deciding doubles match, which Iwasa and Okuyama won 7-6(2), 6-3 to send Japan, who finished second in its group, to the finals.

They will play No. 7 seed Italy, who defeated unseeded Czechia 2-0.  The USA will play Czechia for third place Saturday.

The boys final will feature No. 5 seed Switzerland and unseeded Brazil. Switzerland defeated No. 3 seed Australia 2-1, with the doubles deciding that one, while Brazil beat unseeded Bulgaria 2-0.

The USA boys, seeded sixth, lost to No. 4 seed Slovakia 2-1 today and will play No. 7 seed Colombia for seventh place Saturday.

US Girls Advance to Semis of World Tennis 14-U Team Event, Boys Fall in Quarterfinals; Seeds for G12s, B14s and G14s Nationals; Talking Kalamazoo and San Diego on Great Shot Podcast; Texas Girls, Missouri Valley Boys Win Battle of Sections

The semifinals are set for Friday at the annual World Tennis 14-and-under team championships in Prostejov Czechia, with the top-seeded US girls once again blanking their opponents to advance, beating No. 4 seed China. 

At No. 2 singles, Anna Kapanadze defeated Yanke Wang 6-2, 6-2, with Isha Manchala following at No. 1 singles with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Jinyu Zhou. In a shortened doubles match, probably due to the USA clinch in singles, Kapanadze and Nadia Poznick  beat Wang and Xinran Yan 4-0, 4-2.

The girls will face No. 2 seed Japan, who defeated No. 3 seed Ukraine 2-1, advancing with a win in the doubles after the teams had split the singles matches.

The other girls semifinal will feature unseeded Czechia, a 2-0 winner of unseeded Sweden, and No. 7 seed Italy, who beat unseeded Slovakia 3-0.

The sixth-seeded US boys lost to No. 3 seed Australia 2-1. Evaan Mohan defeated Christopher Manton 6-4, 7-6(5) at No. 2 singles to give the US a 1-0 lead, but Novak Palombo beat Rex Kulman at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-1 to send the match to a deciding doubles rubber. Palombo and Sebastian Lavorato beat Mohan and Max Smith 7-6(6), 6-3 to earn Australia's place in the semifinals. 

Australia will play No. 5 seed Switzerland, who beat No. 4 seed Slovakia 2-1. The other boys semifinal is between two unseeded teams, with Brazil facing Bulgaria. The US boys will play Slovakia in a fifth-place playoff match Friday.

Brazil beat No. 7 seed Colombia 2-0 and Bulgaria beat No. 2 seed Great Britain by the same score. 

Live streaming, including replays, are available at the World Tennis junior video page. Live scoring is here. All results can be found here.

The seeds for the Girls 12s National Championships, the Girls 14s National Championships and the Boys 14s National Championships have been posted; the Boys 12s seeds will not be revealed until the draw comes out Friday. Below are the Top 16 seeds for the other three divisions; click on the header to go to the USTA tournament website.

B14s Top 16 Seeds(Mobile Alabama):

1. Krish Advani

2. Sebastian Cheaney

3. Matthew Finn

4. Jason Ye

5. London Slaton

6. Artem Vlasov

7. David Bender

8. Daniel Gardality

9. Novak Masteller

10. Blount Williams

11. Ciaran O'Donnell

12. Daksh Bharadwaj

13. Reyansh Pant

14. Benjamin Inukai

15. Alex Salloum

16. Selwyn Olufemi-Owoeye

G14s Top 16 Seeds (Rome Georgia):

1. Noa Boar

2. Gabrielle Villegas

3. Jessie Janiak

4. Daniella Yogumyan

5. Harshitha Thirugnanam

6. LuLu Shiozawa

7. Emma Li

8. Ashley Wu

9. Christina Li

10. Mary Podkhyneychenko

11. Aarna Patel

12. Chloe Anthony

13. Violetta Li

14. Mikayla Noel

15. Valentina Arlati

16. Victoria Park

G12s Top 16 Seeds (Norcross Georgia)

1. Valentina Singh Carvajal

2. Evita Barjolo

3. Lola Looney

4. Jordyn Cheung

5. Reya Mahadoo

6. Lolita Paley

7. Miyue Tao

8. Grace Goode

9. Aya Iwata

10. Lailah Cowgill

11. Ryan Wilson

12. Audrina Goodman

13. Mandy Wei

14. Nicole Zhang

15. Mia Lurigio

16. Sarah Lee

B12s Top 16 seeds (Mobile Alabama):
1. William Zhou

2. Zephyr Zwicker
3. Caique Cavalcanti
4. Thomas Gamble
5. Jesse Goldman
6. Zachary Burunov
7. Aleksander Denisov
8. John Benedict
9. Louis Lu
10. Dylan Kivov
11. Kevin Wang
12. Satvik Arja
13. Isaac Milner
14. Alexander Yang
15. Reed Kuai
16. AJ Williams

I joined Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin yesterday on the Great Shot Podcast to preview the Kalamazoo 16s and 18s and the San Diego 16s and 18s National Championships. That conversation, which begins with the boys, is here.

2026 banners of current ATP Top 100 players when they competed in Kalamazoo
photos courtesy YourGameFace.com

Kalamazoo begins tomorrow morning with first round singles in 16s and 18s in the morning and first round doubles for both divisions in the afternoon. Seeded players and teams will not play until Saturday.

The Girls 16s draw is up now, and the Girls 18s draw should be up shortly.

The USTA's Battle of the Sections concluded this week, with the Missouri Valley boys beating Eastern 4-3 and the Texas girls beating Northern California 7-0 in the finals.

The members of the winning teams are below. Click on the heading to go to the USTA tournament site, which is very difficult to follow for an event like this one.

Missouri Valley[4] d. Eastern[3] 4-3

Coach: Jared Ward

18s:

Micah Ward

Hunter Nelson

Anish Poojari

Austin Potter

16s:

Connor Feehan

Damian Gutheil

Andrew Beltran

Wyatt Markham

Texas[2] d. Northern California[4] 7-0

Coach: John Nallon

18s 

Emily Golovanov

Lauren Nolan

Autumn Xu

Kayden Johnson

16s

Enya Hamilton

Bentley Sparks

Reena Alavalapati

Kshetra Jinukala

USA Teams Advance to Quarterfinals at 14-Under World Tennis Team Event; Kennedy and Hance Top Seeds in Kalamazoo Doubles Draw; San Diego Preview; Wolf and Kalieva Lead USTA's US Open Wild Card Race

The US girls continued their fine form today at the World Tennis 14-and-under team event in Prostejov Czechia, finishing at the top of their group with a 3-0 win over No. 5 seed Korea.  The top-seeded Americans--Nadia Poznick, Isha Manchala and Anna Kapanadze--have yet to lose a match after also blanking Slovakia and Colombia.

Korea did not make the quarterfinals, with Slovakia the other team from the group to advance; other seeded girls teams that did not advance are No. 6 Germany and No. 8 Brazil. No. 2 seed Japan and No. 4 seed did not finish first in their groups, so all four of the top seeds are in the top half, and three of the teams in the bottom half are unseeded.

Girls World Junior Tennis quarterfinals:
USA[1] v China[4]
Japan[2] v Ukraine[3]
Czechia v Sweden
Slovakia v Italy[7]

Japan, the top seed in the boys tournament, did not make it out of group play, losing the tiebreaker to Switzerland and Bulgaria after all three went 2-1 in group play. The other seeded team that did not make the quarterfinals was No. 8 France.

The sixth-seeded boys team from the US--Rex Kuhlman, Max Smith and Evaan Mohan--lost to No. 2 seed Great Britain today 3-0, but they advanced to the quarterfinals as the runnerup in group play.

Boys World Junior Tennis quarterfinals:

Switzerland[5] v Slovakia[4]

USA[6] v Australia[3]

Colombia[7] v Brazil

Great Britain[2] v Bulgaria

Live streaming, including replays, are available at the World Tennis junior video page. Live scoring is here. All results can be found here.

The doubles draws are out for the USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships in Kalamazoo, with 2025 US Open boys doubles champions Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy the top seeds.  The Top 8 seeds, with the winners receiving a main draw wild card for the US Open men's doubles.

1. Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy

2. Yannik Alvarez and Noah Johnston

3. Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode

4. Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson

5. Tanishk Konduri and Marcel Latak

6. Theo Hegarty and Erik Schinnerer

7. Wesley Cotton and William McEwan

8. Ford McCollum and Jack Secord

The Top 8 seeds in the 16 doubles:

1. Mikaeel Alibaig and Ivan Rybak

2. Daniel Malacek and Kamil Stolarczyk

3. Rafael Pawar and Zesen Wang

4. Ethan Turunen and Dylan Warn

5. Alexander Lerman and Aryan Ponugoti

6. Braylon Desquitado and Trishiv Premanand

7. Gadin Arun and Arjun Krishnan

8. Colter Amey and Eli Kaminski

PDFs of the draws can be found at ustaboys.com.

A preview of the USTA Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego is available here. I need to note that Anita Tu and Lani Chang both withdrew, and I'm not certain of the timing of those withdrawals, so that could be why they were not seeded. But my point stands that a 33 seed or no seeding for Top 100 World Tennis junior players is problematic.

My Kalamazoo preview will be out Friday at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

There are new leaders in the USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge, with JJ Wolf(Ohio State) taking over the men's top spot after winning the ATP Challenger 125 in Vancouver last weekend. Wolf leads Michael Zheng(Columbia) and Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) with two more weeks to go in the men's race. Zheng qualified for Montreal, but lost in the first round; Martin is playing the Challenger 75 in Lexington this week.

Elivina Kalieva's run to the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Memphis last week moved her past Caroline Dolehide, but just barely, and Kalieva lost in the first round today at the W100 in Landisville Pennsylvania, while Dolehide won her first round match, as did Ayana Akli, now in third place after reaching the final last week at the W75 in Lexington. This is the last week for the women to earn points.

The top of the standings after Week 3:

 

Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Elvina Kalieva (121) -- 119

2. Caroline Dolehide (256) -- 101
3. Ayana Akli (242) -- 66

 

 

Men's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. J.J. Wolf (282) -- 147
2. Michael Zheng (113) -- 60
3. Andres Martin (340) -- 57

San Diego Seeds; US Teams Win Again at 14-Under World Junior Tennis Event; Johnson Ousts Top Seed at Lexington Challenger; Six Americans Qualify for W100 Landisville; Kristina Penickova Beats No. 2 seed at W35 in Southaven MS

The seeds were announced today for the USTA 18s and 16s Girls National Championships in San Diego, with wild card Julieta Pareja the top seed in the 18s. Pareja, the No. 2 seed last year in San Diego, lost in the semifinals to Maya Iyengar.

Girls 18s Top 32 seeds:

1. Julieta Pareja
2. Bella Payne
3. Thea Frodin
4. Janae Preston
5. Kristina Penickova
6. Welles Newman
7. Carlota Moreno
8. Jordyn Hazelitt
9. Alexis Nguyen
10. Ellery Mendell
11. Alyson Shannon
12. Molly Widlansky
13. Carrie-Anne Hoo
14. Yilin Chen
15. Armira Kockinis
16. Thara Gowda
17. Lauren Nolan
17. Carolina Castro
17. Julia Seversen
17. Reagan Levine
17. Allison Wang
17. Reiley Rhodes
17. Alanna Ingalsbe
17. Kingsley Wolf
17. Kylie Liu
17. Lyla Messler
17. Alaina LiSanti
17. Gabriella Davydov
17. Maggie Sohns
17. Kasia Chen
17. Rose Biria
17. Kenzie Nguyen

Where are World Tennis junior Top 100 players Melije Clarke(53), Anita Tu(54), Lani Chang(56) Hannah Ayrault(73) Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann(82), Nancy Lee(86), Ireland O'Brien(91) and Emery Combs(96) and last week's W35 champion Annika Penickova, you might ask? Well, Clarke, Ayrault, Drenser-Hagmann, Lee, Combs and Penickova are in the 33-64 seeding range; Tu, Chang and O'Brien are not seeded at all. I don't understand how players who are 54 and 56 in the world are not among the top 64 players in the United States; it makes no sense.

The top three seeds are ordered by their WTA rankings (Penickova is now fourth in the WTA live rankings after her title last week), but it doesn't appear that WTN played much of a role in the seeding process, with UNC rising sophomore Anna Frey having one of the best six WTNs in the field, but was only given a 33 seed.

The 16s seeds are basically ordered by USTA national ranking, although Abigail Haile and Orange Bowl 16s champion Priscilla Sirichantho were moved into the Top 8 due to their WTNs, which are the best in the 16s field.

The seeds appear, not in order, under the Players tab.

Draws for the 16s will be out after 6 p.m. Pacific Wednesday and the 18s draws will be posted after 6 p.m. Thursday.

Top-seeded US girls beat Colombia 3-0 today in group play at the World Tennis 14-and-under team championships in Prostejov Czechia and are now 2-0 in group play. They play No. 5 seed Korea Wednesday, with Korea's loss today to Slovakia, giving them a 1-1 record. With their two 3-0 wins, the United States is nearly certain to advance to the quarterfinals regardless of their result Wednesday.

The sixth-seeded US boys also blanked their opponent today, beating Czechia 3-0, which put them in the quarterfinals regardless of their result against No. 2 seed Great Britain Wednesday. Both teams are 2-0, and Czechia and Egypt are both 0-2, so the loser will advance to the quarterfinals as well as the winner, no calculations necessary.

Live streaming, including replays, are available at the World Tennis junior video page. Live scoring is here. All results can be found here.

UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson continues to post eye-catching results this summer on the USTA Pro Circuit. After qualifying at this week's ATP Challenger 75 in Lexington Kentucky, the 23-year-old left-hander today defeated top seed Moez Echargui(Nevada) of Tunisia 6-4, 6-3 to advanced the the second round. He will play Jay Friend of Japan, who won the all-Arizona Wildcat first round match with teammate Colton Smith 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3. Other Americans reaching the second round are qualifier Andres Martin(Georgia Tech), Andre Ilagan(Hawaii), Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas), Michael Mmoh, and wild card Ozan Baris(Michigan State).

The biggest tournament this week in the United States is the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Landisville Pennsylvania, where the qualifying was completed today. 

Six Americans have reached the main draw through qualifying: Reese Brantmeier(UNC), Carolyn Ansari(Auburn), Hanna Chang, Anna Rogers(NC State), Clervia Ngounoue and Madison Sieg(USC). Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) received entry into the main draw as a lucky loser.

Wild cards were given to Malaika Rapolu(Texas), Stephanie Yakoff(Harvard), and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State). Lexington 75 finalist Ayana Akli received a special exemption into the main draw. 

Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium is the top seed.

The other two USTA Pro Circuit events this week are joint tournaments in Southaven Mississippi.

At the W35, four Americans advanced to the main draw from qualifying: Katherine Hui(Stanford), Carlota Moreno(Tennesee), Aspen Schuman(Duke) and Alyssa Ahn(Stanford).

Wild cards were given to Riley Crowder(Ole Miss), Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State), Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) and Kristina Penickova. Crowder lost to No. 4 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 6-1, 6-1, but Penickova defeated No. 2 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera 6-2, 7-5 in the first round today. Annika Penickova received a special exempt into the main draw as the champion last week in Florence SC.

2023 NCAA champion Fangran Tian(UCLA) of China is the No. 1 seed.

At the M25, seven of the eight qualifiers are American: Sam Landau(Indiana, Duke), Logan Zapp(UNC), Tygen Goldammer(BYU), James Weber(Georgia), Jon Gamble(Illinois), Brandon Carpico(Ohio State) and Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes(Mississippi State). 

Wild cards were awarded to 2017 NCAA doubles champion Spencer Papa(Oklahoma), Max Dussault(TCU), Cooper Woestendick(TCU) and Patrick Maloney(Michigan).  In first round action today, USC rising sophomore Max Exsted defeated No. 3 seed Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Former Washington All-American Clement Chidekh of France is the top seed.

Kalamazoo Draws; Top-Seeded US Girls, Sixth-Seeded US Boys Start WJT 14U Team Event with Wins; Cairo Selected as Site for 2026 Junior Davis, BJK Cups; Berezin, Davletshina Claim WT J60 Titles; Fritz Wins ATP 500 in DC

The singles draws for the 2026 USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships in Kalamazoo were published this morning, with top seed Jack Kennedy, a finalist in 2024 and the bronze ball winner last year, handed a tricky eighth, with his round of 16 projected to be the winner of the fourth round match No. 17 seed Jerrid Gaines Jr and No. 11 seed Tanishk Konduri. Kennedy beat Konduri 6-4, 6-3 in the Orange Bowl semifinals last December and defeated Gaines 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the second round of the M15 in Boca Raton in April, which Kennedy went on to win. If the seeds hold, Andy Johnson and Marcel Latak will meet in the round of 16 after Latak's dramatic 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 comeback win in last year's 16s final.

By the seedings, the projected round of 16 matches in the 18s are:

Jack Kennedy[1] v Tanishk Konduri[11]
Ronit Karki[5] v Ryan Cozad[10]

Keaton Hance[4] v Gus Grumet[15]

Yannik Alvarez[8] v Jack Secord[9]

Noah Johnston[7] v Vihaan Reddy[12]

Andy Johnson[3] v Marcel Latak[16]

Jordan Lee[6] v Nikolas Stoot[15]

Michael Antonius[2] v Gavin Goode[13]

Printable pdfs are available at ustaboys.com.

The annual World Tennis 14-and-under team competition in  Prostejov Czechia began today, with the US teams picking up 3-0 wins in group play.

The top-seeded US girls team blanked Slovakia, while the sixth-seeded US boys team of Rex Kuhlman, Max Smith and Evaan Mohan defeated Egypt with two singles wins and a win in doubles. Nathan Lee, who was announced as a team member last month, did not make the trip.

The US girls have No. 5 seed Korea in their group; the US boys have No. 2 seed Great Britain in their group. The top two finishers in each group advance to the quarterfinals.

There were a couple of upsets today, with No. 1 boys seed Japan losing to Bulgaria 3-0 and No. 4 girls seed China losing to hosts Czechia 3-0.

Live streaming, including replays, are available at the World Tennis junior video page.  Live scoring is here. All results can be found here.

World Tennis announced today that the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup Junior Finals will be hosted in Cairo, Egypt, The 16-and-under team events, which will feature 16 teams in each competition, will be held November 2-8 at the Smash Sporting Club, which has also hosted the J500 Cairo tournament since 2023. This is the first time the competition has been held in Africa.

Last week was a quiet one on the World Tennis junior circuit, with no J300s and just one J200 and one J100 on the calendar. The J60 in New Jersey produced American champions in both the singles and doubles, with 16-year-old Daniil Berezin claiming his first WT junior circuit title. Berezin, the No. 4 seed beat top seed Rafael Bote of Canada 7-6(2), 5-0 ret. to reach the final, and took the title when wild card Joshua Bayete Miller retired after losing the first set 6-2.

In the boys doubles final, No. 2 seeds Alexander Lerman and Peter Nistad defeated unseeded David Bayat and Jens Holger Nissen of Denmark 7-6(5), 7-6(4). It's the second WT junior doubles title for Nistad and the first for Lerman.

As it was two weeks ago in Providence, the girls draw was dominated by the Davletshina sisters. In Providence, Daniela won the singles title; last week in Medford, younger sister Nikol, 13, won her first singles title on the WT junior tour, beating Daniela 6-3, 6-2 in the final. In both tournaments they won the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair beating top seeds Payton Dith of Canada and Sofia Kedrin 6-4, 6-0 in the final last week.

The other American singles title came at the J30 in the Dominican Republic, with unseeded 15-year-old Saraswati Gowda winning her first WT junior circuit title when unseeded Anshu Matham retired trailing 6-3 in the all-USA final. 

The other American title last week came at the J30 in Nicaragua, with 16-year-old Santiago Salazar and Brazilian partner Gustavo Vasconcellos, the No. 2 seeds, beating top seeds Mateo Gutierrez of El Salvador and Mateo Herrarte of Guatemala 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

Two Americans reached the final of the joint 500 event in Washington DC, with the championship matches played today after Sunday's washout. 

Top seed Jessica Pegula led Alexandra Eala of the Philippines 6-4, 1-2 Sunday when storms eventually postponed the match, and Eala took control with a break at 4-5, winning the final eight games of the match for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory. It's the first WTA title for the 2022 US Open girls champion.

Another US Open junior champion won the men's title, which was guaranteed before the final began. Taylor Fritz, the 2015 USO boys champion, defeated Rafael Jodar(Virginia), the 2024 USO boys champion 7-6(2), 6-4 for his eleventh ATP title and his first 500-level tournament since Tokyo in 2022. Fritz had lost his three finals this year, but with this win, he now returns to being the No. 1 American, moving past Ben Shelton.

Kalamazoo Seeds; Sixteen-year-old Qualifier Liutova Wins WTA Memphis 250; Penickova and Gogineni Claim Pro Circuit Titles; Wolf Wins ATP Challenger 125 in Canada; Eligibility Ruling Produces NCAA Chaos

The seeds have been posted for the USTA 18s and 16s National Championships, which begin this Friday, August 7, at Western Michigan University and Stowe Stadium at Kalamazoo College. As is always the case for Kalamazoo, with the different competitive environments of the top players in the field,ATP and World Tennis Junior rankings are considered, as are collegiate records, USTA rankings and World Tennis Numbers. Seeds 33-64 can be viewed via the Players tab via the link above.

Kalamazoo B18s Top 32 Seeds:

1. Jack Kennedy
2. Michael Antonius
3. Andy Johnson
4. Keaton Hance
5. Ronit Karki
6. Jordan Lee
7. Noah Johnston
8. Yannik Alvarez
9. Jack Secord
10. Ryan Cozad
11. Tanishk Konduri
12. Vihaan Reddy
13. Gavin Goode
14. Nikolas Stoot
15. Gus Grumet
16. Marcel Latak
17. Jerrid Gaines Jr
18. Rishvanth Krishna
19. Teodor Davidov
20. Safir Azam
21. Navneet Raghuram
22. Carel Ngounoue
23. Agassi Rusher (withdrew)
24. Roshan Santhosh
25. Peter Jorniak
26. Alexander Suhanitski
27. Jesse Yang
28. Arin Pallegar
29. James Quattro
30. Tyler Lee
31. Noble Renfrow
32. Mason Taube

B16s Top 32 Seeds:

1. Kamil Stolarczyk
2. Sulaiman Syed
3. Daniel Malacek
4. Tristan Stratton
5. Kahven Singh
6. Colter Amey
7. Eli Kaminski
8. Gadin Arun
9. Daniil Berezin
10. Adrian Sharma
11. Anay Kulkarni
12. Piotr Gradzki
13. Ethan Turunen
14. Mikaeel Alibaig
15. Advay Singh
16. Ivan Rybak
17. Michael Chervenkov
18. Gurbaaz Narang
19. Rafael Pawar
20. Joshua Dolinksy
21. Aayush Vartak
22. Lennart Hammargren
23. Alexander Totoian
24. Tabb Tuck
25. Connor Feehan
26. Tristan Ascenzo
27. Arjun Krishnan
28. Griffin Goode
29. Antanas Daugis
30. Ishaan Marla
31. Louden Muha
32. Johnny Wolf

When you are in the same conversation as Coco Gauff, you are in good company, and Kristina Liutova now finds herself officially a phenom after winning the WTA 250 in Memphis this afternoon. The 16-year-old Moscow-born Seattle resident won her sixth match since last Sunday, coming from a set down for the second time this week in her 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over the University of Georgia's 2024 fall NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova of Czechia.

Liutova's slow start was nothing new for her this week, but as before, she never panicked, using her depth, consistency and defense to get herself back into the match, while Vidmanova's level dropped as Liutova's rose. When Liutova served for the match at 5-2 in the third, Vidmanova came up with three winners on Liutova's three championship points and eventually broke, but again Liutova never expressed any frustration or doubt and she broke Vidmanova in the next game to secure the title.

Liutova, up to 126 in the WTA live rankings after starting the year at 714, is the first player 16-and-under to win a WTA tournament since Coco Gauff won the WTA 250 in Linz as a 15-year-old in 2019.

As it happens, one of Liutova's wins in last December's run to the Orange Bowl final was over Annika Penickova, who won her first singles title on the Pro Circuit today at the W35 in Florence South Carolina. The 16-year-old left-hander, playing in her first singles final, defeated 21-year-old qualifier Piper Charney, a rising senior at Michigan, 6-3, 6-4 in this morning's final. 

Annika and twin sister Kristina won the doubles title yesterday, their second at a W35 in the past two weeks.

Another young American picked up a first USTA Pro Circuit title today, with unseeded Vignesh Gogineni ending the winning streak of No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) in the final of the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois. Gogineni, a recent Yale graduate who finished his career No. 25 in the ITA national rankings, handed the Louisville M25 champion a 6-4, 6-2 loss and will head into his Cincinnati Open qualifying appearance a week from Tuesday full of confidence. Baris received a wild card into the main draw of the Lexington Challenger 75 this coming week.

Unseeded Anastasia Kulikova of Finland won the W75 in Lexington Kentucky today, beating No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 7-5, 6-4 in this afternoon's final. 

Last night, Akli and Fiona Crawley won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 2-6, 7-6(3), 12-10. Akli defended her doubles title from last year, when she played with Eryn Cayetano(USC); she now has seven USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles, all at W35s and above, in the past two years. Crawley now has four doubles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit, with four different partners.

JJ Wolf, who reached the quarterfinals of the Bloomfield Hills Challenger 125 last week, headed west this week, receiving entry into the Vancouver Canada 125 via his protected ranking, after his long injury hiatus last year. After winning an M15 and an M25 in his comeback this year, Wolf broke through again on the Challenger level, winning his first Challenger title in five years last night with a 7-5, 6-1 win over No. 8 seed Mark Lajal of Estonia.

After several rain delays, the match was moved indoors, where the former Ohio State All-American was obviously more comfortable. Like fellow Cincinnati resident Gogineni, Wolf has received a qualifying wild card for the ATP Masters 1000 there; his ranking with the Vancouver title has jumped from 563 to 282.

Division I NCAA sports, including tennis, were thrown into chaos Friday with a ruling that granted a fifth year of eligibilty to those in the 2022 high school graduating class, who the NCAA had ruled completed their eligibility in 2026 when they adopted the new five-in-five plan, which is scheduled to begin in 2027.

For details of the initial ruling, see this USA Today article at Yahoo Sports.

The NCAA plans to appeal the decision, and today there were clarifications provided on the injunction issued Friday. Those can be found at this USA Today article at Yahoo Sports.