Antonius and Traynor Win ITF J300 Titles in Colombia; Kennedy Makes ATP Challenger Main Draw Debut in Cleveland; Georgia Tops Women's Winter Recruiting Class Rankings; Tommy Paul, Christian Harrison Added to USA's Davis Cup Roster

The ITF J300 in Baranquilla Colombia has always been a popular and successful tournament for American juniors, regardless where its been on the ITF Junior Circuit calendar, with American boys winning five of the past six singles titles. Keaton Hance, the Australian Open boys finalist won it last year, along with Julieta Pareja, and again this year Americans swept the titles, with Michael Antonius winning both the singles and doubles championships and Olivia Traynor collecting her first ITF J300 title.

Antonius, the top seed, didn't drop a set until the final, but had a stern test in the final, with the 16-year-old from Buffalo New York beating unseeded Rhys Lawler of Great Britain 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 for his second ITF J300 singles title.

Antonius had already claimed his second ITF J300 doubles title the day before, partnering with Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded team of Zavier Augustin and Japan's Koki Nara 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

With the two titles, Antonius moved back up to his ITF junior ranking career high of 14.

Traynor, an 18-year-old from New York, hadn't won more than one match in an ITF J300 tournament until last week, but the unseeded University of Michigan recruit picked up five victories to take the title, beating No. 4 seed Jordyn Hazelitt 7-6(3), 6-3. Traynor also advanced to the doubles final with partner Ana Avramovic, with the unseeded pair falling to top seeds Hazelitt and Welles Newman, who also won the doubles title at the ITF J300 in Costa Rica two weeks ago.

Traynor moved from 131 in the ITF junior rankings to 66.

Both Antonius and Traynor are in the draws at this week's J300 in Salinas Ecuador, with Antonius again the No. 1 seed. Traynor, who is unseeded, drew No. 2 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil in the first round.

The other two ITF Junior Circuit titles for Americans came at J30s.

At the J30 tournament in Sri Lanka, 15-year-old Swanika Roy won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The No. 4 seed defeated No. 2 seed Aaraa Aasaal Azim of the Maldives 6-3, 6-3; all five of her victories came in straight sets.

At the J30 in Uruguay, 16-year-old Londyn McCord won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 4 seed Sofia Barbosa Perez of Uruguay 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final. 

Jack Kennedy will make his ATP Challenger main draw debut Tuesday at the Cleveland Open 75 against 2018 NCAA singles finalist Borna Gojo(Wake Forest) of Croatia. Kennedy has played Challenger qualifying matches before, but this is his first main draw match, with that opportunity coming courtesy of the ATP Junior Accelerator Program. After finishing in the Top 10 of the ITF Junior rankings in 2025, Kennedy has up to eight entries at Challengers at the 50 or 75 level this year.

Qualifying was completed today, with five of the six qualifiers former collegians, four from the United States: Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada, Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon, Matt Kuhar(Bryant), Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest) and Ben Jones of Great Britain.

Wild cards were awarded to Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) and Cleveland State junior Lincoln Battle.

Sho Shimabukuro of Japan is the top seed, with defending champion Colton Smith(Arizona) the No. 2 seed. In first round action today, Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) defeated Bigun 6-4, 6-3; Stefan Kozlov[7] beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Antoine Ghibaudo of France defeated No. 4 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-1, 6-3. Ghibaudo, a sophomore at Kentucky, announced yesterday that he was leaving the Wildcats program to concentrate of his professional career. 

The winter edition of the Tennis Recruiting Network's 2026 women's recruiting class rankings came out today, with Georgia taking the top spot, followed by Texas A&M and North Carolina. Georgia received eight first place votes, Texas A&M four and North Carolina one. The other programs in the top 10 are Tennessee, Clemson, Central Florida, Florida, Auburn, Wake Forest and Florida State.

As the article accompanying the rankings points out, ten of the top 25 this year did not appear in the top 25 last year, with top recruiting classes less predictable in this new era of the transfer portal and NIL and the Ivys less prominent than usual. 

The United States Davis Cup team travels to Hungary this weekend for a first round qualifying match and two additions to the team were announced today: Tommy Paul and Christian Harrison. The USTA release:

Tommy Paul, Christian Harrison Join U.S. Davis Cup Team for 2026 First Round Qualifier vs. Hungary February 7-8

 

TATABÁNYA, Hungary, February 2, 2026 – World No. 22 Tommy Paul and 2026 Australian Open men's doubles champion Christian Harrison have joined No. 68 Ethan Quinn, No. 82Emilio Nava and doubles No. 52 Austin Krajicek on the U.S. Davis Cup Team for its Qualifying First Round tie vs. Hungary February 7-8 in Tatabánya, Hungary. 

 

Paul joins the team for his 11^th tie, while Harrison replaces Rajeev Ram in his debut Davis Cup nomination. This weekend's matches will be played on an indoor clay court at the Tatabányai Multifunkcionális Sportcsarnok.

 

This First Round Qualifying competition is a best-of-five match series that will begin with two singles matches on Saturday, February 7, starting at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET), then continue with a doubles match and two more singles matches on Sunday, February 8, beginning at 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET). The first nation between the USA and Hungary to win three out of those five matches wins the First Round Qualifier and will advance to the Second Round of Qualifying in late September. Tennis Channel will feature coverage in the U.S.

 

The Hungarian team and Captain Kornel Bardoczky have nominated world No. 46 Fabian Marozsan, No. 176 Zsombor Piros, No. 533 Peter Fajta, No. 622 Mate Valkusz and No. 781 Matyas Fuele.

 

Captains may make up to three combined substitutions / additions to their rosters up until Friday's draw ceremony, when the initial lineups and matchups are set.