Janae Preston was entered in both the Australian Open Junior Championships, where she would have been in qualifying, and the ITF J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica, where she ended up as the No. 4 seed. Deciding to stay a little bit closer to home paid off, with the 15-year-old from Nevada earning her first ITF J300 title with a 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 7 seed Klara Blazkova of the Czech Republic last night.
Preston, who won six sets by a 6-1 score during the week, won two ITF J100 titles in the first six months of last year, but it was last fall when she really began showing a higher level, reaching the quarterfinals of the ITF J300 in Houston and advancing to two semifinals at W15 tournaments. She will move into the ITF Junior Top 100 for the first time, and with all the new J200s, in addition to the J300s in March, she'll now have plenty of opportunities to secure a play in the junior slams this summer.
The first round of the Australian Open Junior Championships produced one major shock, with Matei Todoran of Romania defeating top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of France 7-6(5), 6-2. Although Alexandrescou now represents France, he was playing under the Romanian flag throughout his ITF junior career until late last year, so the two obviously know each other well. Todoran avenged his 6-1, 6-1 July 2025 loss to Alexandrescou in the semifinals of a J300 in Poland on clay.
Two other boys seeds lost in the opening round: No. 14 seed Tito Chavez of Spain and No. 16 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico.
The only Top 8 girls seed to lose in the first round was No. 7 seed Anastasjia Cvetkovic of Serbia; 9-16 seeds falling were No. 9 Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina, No. 15 Tahlia Kokkinis of Australia and No. 16 see Sofie Hettlerova of the Czech Republic.
The only US girl to win her first round match was No. 8 seed Thea Frodin.
Sunday's first round Australian Open junior results of Americans:
Renee Alame(AUS) d.
Ciara Harding[Q] 6-3, 6-3
Yushan Shao[11](CHN) d.
Capucine Jauffret 6-1, 6-4
Rada Zolotareva(RUS) d.
Nancy Lee 6-4, 6-1
Thea Frodin[8] d. Maja Pawelska(POL) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Keaton Hance[4] d. Ethan Domingo[WC](AUS) 6-0, 6-2
Carel Ngounoue d. Kaan Isik Kosaner[Q](TUR) 6-1, 6-4
Vihaan Reddy d. Arnav Paparkar(IND) 6-3, 6-4
Oliver Majdanddzic[Q](GER) d. Roshan Santhosh 6-1, 6-2
Emilio Comacho(ECU) d. Ryan Cozad 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
Jack Secord[13] d. Har Abir Sekhon[WC](AUS) 6-2, 6-4
Gavin Goode[15] d. Daniel Jade(FRA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
Only half of the second round singles matches are on Monday's schedule, with just two Americans in action, although the remainder of the first round of doubles, which number 12 for both the boys and the girls, will be played.
Monday's second round Australian Open junior matches featuring Americans:
Jack Secord[13] v Leon Sloboda(SVK)
Carel Ngounoue v Flynn Thomas[12](SUI)
The young Southern Californians stole the show Sunday at the Australian Open, with 18-year-old Iva Jovic breezing past Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-0, 6-1 and 20-year-old Learner Tien dominating Daniil Medvedev of Russia to post a quick 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 victory. Both will play their first major quarterfinal Tuesday, with Jovic facing top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and Tien taking on No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany.
Jovic is the youngest American woman to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals since Venus Williams in 1998; Tien is the youngest American man to reach a slam quarterfinal since Andy Roddick in 2002.
Coco Gauff also reached the quarterfinals, beating Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
Tommy Paul lost to Carlos Alcarez of Spain 7-6(6), 6-4, 7-5.
Monday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:
Jessica Pegula[6] v Madison Keys[9]
Amanda Anisimova[4] v Xinyu Wang(CHN)
Taylor Fritz[9] v Lorenzo Musetti[5](ITA)
Ben Shelton[8] v Casper Ruud[12](NOR)
At the
W35 in Weston Florida, 19-year-old Akasha Urhobo picked up her second USTA Pro Circuit title, beating Madison Brengle 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in today's final, her fourth consecutive three-set win. Urhobo captured her first USTA Pro Circuit title back in May of 2024, beating Jovic 6-3, 6-1 in the W75 in Zephyrhills Florida.
Urhobo had lost the five other USTA Pro Circuit finals she had played, including two in the past three months.
The widespread winter storm has disrupted the
ITA Division I Kickoff Weekend, with teams not able to travel to the venues, even when they managed to make it to the host cities.
TBDs are set to be played Monday or Tuesday, logistics permitting, so we won't know the full fields until those have concluded.
MEN:
Clemson[4] d. Harvard[2] 4-1
Virginia[1] d. Michigan[2] 4-0
*Mississippi State[1] d. Auburn[2] 4-2
Texas A&M[3] d. Duke[4] 4-2
*Wake Forest[1] d. Vanderbilt[2] 4-0
Florida[2] d. Columbia[1]* 4-2
*Stanford[1] d. Rice[2] 4-0
*Texas[1] d. South Florida[2] 4-0
*Ohio State[1] d. Purdue[2] 4-0
UC Santa Barbara[2] d. UCLA[1]* 4-1
Arizona State[4] d. Princeton[2] 4-3
Central Florida[2] d. Oklahoma[4] 4-3
LSU[4] d. Pepperdine[3] 4-2
TBD
TCU[1]* v Georgia[2]
*Kickoff host
Hosts losing in round 1:
San Diego
NC State
South Carolina
Arizona
Cal
Automatic bids for co-hosts: Baylor, SMU
WOMEN:
*North Carolina[1] d. UNC-Charlotte[2] 4-0
*Virginia[1] d. Southern California[2] 4-0
*Tennessee[1] d. Clemson[4] 4-3
*Duke[1] d. South Carolina[3] 4-0
Oklahoma State[2] d. Texas Tech[1]* 4-0
*Georgia[1] advanced to Team Indoor without playing a match
*LSU[1] d. UCLA[2] 4-1
*Auburn[1] d. Florida State[3] 4-0
Vanderbilt[2] d. Michigan[1]* 4-2
*Oklahoma[1] d. Stanford[2] 4-1
TBD
*Texas[1] v Cal[2]
*Texas A&M[1] v Arizona State[2]/TCU[3]
*NC State[1] v Florida[3]/Ole Miss[2]
*Ohio State[1] v Iowa[4]
*Kickoff host
Automatic bids for co-hosts: Northwestern, Illinois
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