Les Petits As Underway with Ten Americans Competing; Kovackova Out in Australian Open Juniors Round Two; Pegula, Anisimova, Shelton Advance to AO Quarterfinals; Stanford Tops Men's Recruiting Class Rankings

photo credit: Richard van Loon, toptennis.photos

While one of the four junior slams is in progress this week in Melbourne, the biggest individual tournament for the 14-and-under age division is also being played this week at Les Petits As in Tarbes France.

The first round of singles is played over Monday and Tuesday, and there has already been a big upset, with boys No. 2 seed Valentijn Roodenburg of the Netherlands beaten by qualifier Saidaslam Farkxodov of Uzbekistan 7-6(2), 6-4.

There are five US girls and five US boys in the draws:

Isha Manchala[8], Tara Guhan[15], Bolton champion Anna Kapanadze[16], Nadia Poznick and Capri Butera are the US girls, with Camelot Carnello[4], David Bender[8], Rex Kulman[15],  Pranav Vignesh and Daniel Gardality the US boys.  Manchala, Kapanadze, Butera and Kulman got wins today; Guhan and Vignesh lost their first round matches; the others will play Tuesday.

Below are the seeds, those who lost today noted. Live streaming and live scoring links can be found here.

Boys:

1. Anastasis Mosaikos(CYP)

2. Valentijn Roodenburg(NED) (out rd 1)

3. Rafael Papoian(RUS)

4. Camelot Carnello(USA)

5. Luca Sageder(AUT)

6. Matteo Sanson(SVK) (out rd 1)

7. Adam Napari(FIN)

8. David Bender(USA)

9. Luis Bernardo Saraiva(POR)

10. Jonas Waelti(SUI)

11. Enzo Brito(SWE)

12. Arsey Barkou(BLR) (out rd 1)

13. Oskar Laskowski(GBR)

14. Soulaimane Jamji(MAR)

15. Rex Kulman(USA)

16. Lyoma Hotelier(JPN)

Girls:

1. Elizaveta Anikina(EST)

2. Emilia Henningsen(DEN)

3. Eva Maria Bulai(ROU)

4. Ayaka Iwasa(JPN)

5. Polina Kashitsyna(RUS)

6. Lilly Falkenberg(SUI)

7. Liv Bretscher(SUI) (out rd 1)

8. Isha Manchala(USA)

9. Arina Fomina(RUS)

10. Aleksandra Karabanova(RUS)

11. Mariia Kocherzhenko(UKR)

12.Natalia Dragomir(ROU)

13. Beata Maresova(CZE)

14. Dina Jaoid(MAR)

15. Tara Guhan(USA) (out rd 1)

16. Anna Kapanadze(USA)

The No. 2 seed in the Australian Open girls draw also lost Monday, with Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic falling to Rada Zolotareva of Russia. The 17-year-old Zolotareva, who reached the semifinals of the J300 in Traralgon last week, has already reached an ITF women's World Tennis Tour W75 final and is 516 in the WTA rankings, so that was a bit of a tough draw for the 15-year-old Kovackova.

The rest of the second round matches are Tuesday(tonight in the US), with an early start due to another day of debilitating heat forecast. I should be able to update the results of the four Americans on Tuesday's schedule later this evening, given the early start, although a heat delay could prevent the completion of the matches, as it did Sunday.

Monday's second round Australian Open junior results of Americans:

Leon Sloboda(SVK) d. Jack Secord[13] 6-3, 6-4

Flynn Thomas[12](SUI) d. Carel Ngounoue 6-1, 5-7, 6-4

Tuesday's second round Australian Open junior matches featuring Americans:

Keaton Hance[4] v Mark Ceban(GBR)

Vihaan Reddy v Nikita Bilozertsev[6](UKR)

Gavin Goode[15] v Ntungamili Raguin[Q](BOT)

Thea Frodin[8] v Anastasia Lizunova(RUS)

Three more Americans--Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova and Ben Shelton(Florida)--reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open with wins Monday, prompting this alert from the USTA:

Six Americans -- four women and two men -- are set to compete in the singles quarterfinals of the Australian Open in Melbourne, setting a number of historical marks and superlatives in getting there: 

• The four U.S. women reaching the quarterfinals -- Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Iva Jovic -- are the most American women's quarterfinalists at the Australian Open since five in 2001 (Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Serena Williams, Venus Williams).
• The 21-year-old Gauff and 18-year-old Jovic are the first pair of Americans to reach a major quarterfinal both before turning 22 since Serena and Venus Williams at Roland Garros in 2002. 
• 20-year old Learner Tien, who joins three-time AO quarterfinalist Ben Shelton as the two U.S. men's quarterfinalists, is the youngest man to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals since 2015 (Nick Kyrgios) and the youngest American man to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since 2002 (Andy Roddick, US Open)

Monday's fourth round results of Americans:

Jessica Pegula[6] d. Madison Keys[9] 6-3, 6-4

Amanda Anisimova[4] d. Xinyu Wang(CHN) 7-6(4), 6-4

Lorenzo Musetti[5](ITA) d. Taylor Fritz[9] 6-2, 7-5, 6-4

Ben Shelton[8] d. Casper Ruud[12](NOR) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

Tuesday's quarterfinal matches featuring Americans:

Iva Jovic[29] v Aryna Sabalenka[1](BLR)

Coco Gauff[3] v Elina Svitolina[12](UKR)

Learner Tien[25] v Alexander Zverev[3](GER)

Ben Rothenberg has an excellent interview with Iva Jovic's father Bojan available at his Substack newsletter Bounces. The Jovics have always been regarded as exemplary tennis parents and this interview provides a look into why they've earned that reputation. (You need a subscription for the full interview).

The winter edition of the Tennis Recruiting Network's 2026 recruiting class rankings was published today, with the Stanford men taking the top spot with their signings of Ronit Karki, Gus Grumet and Arin Pallegar. Texas A&M is No. 2, with the Aggies getting the two first place votes that Stanford did not receive. Nos. 3-10 are Princeton, Michigan, Harvard, Duke, Virginia, Arizona State, Kentucky and Ohio State. There will be another Class of 2026 ranking later this spring, with new recruits and those changing their commitments likely to shuffle the order significantly.