Ten Girls Seeds Fall in Second Round of ITF J300 in Tucson, Wild Card Basavaraju Reaches Third Round in Boys Draw

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Tucson AZ--

Rain Monday afternoon and evening produced a late start to matches on Tuesday, with 12 first round matches and 32 second matches packed into the schedule on a cool and partly cloudy day in the desert. Although several matches finished under the lights, the third round is set for Wednesday, and it will include only six of the 16 girls seeds that took to the courts for the first time today.

Four of the Top 8 seeds were eliminated, with 15-year-old Allison Wang pulling off the first upset of the day with her 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 7 seed Riyo Yoshida of Japan, last week's champion at the J200 in Las Vegas.

Wang, who lost only two games in her first round win yesterday, felt that match and the conditions in Tucson played a role in her success today, while acknowledging Yoshida, who plays two-handed on both sides, was not physically at her best.

"It wasn't like I played extraordinary, but she had some issues, I think she was dizzy," Wang said. "She had a really good tournament (in Las Vegas) and I think that took a lot of her energy. And I got to get used to this place--it's dry, it's fast and the ball doesn't bounce as high as Vegas, and it's not as windy. When it's windy I feel I have to push, I cannot go for the ball, so I can't play my game."

Wang, who was seeded in Las Vegas, but lost in the second round, took advantage of her status as an underdog and the favorable conditions.

"I didn't have much pressure, and when I saw that she wasn't feeling her best, I had to continue to play like it was normal," Wang said. "I did change my strategy slightly to move her more, I guess, because she's not feeling well."

Wang said she was "so happy" to have finished her first round match Monday and be done with her second early in the day.

"I can just relax now, but I have doubles later," said Wang, who faces wild card Julia Seversen, a 7-6(6), 6-0 winner over No. 9 seed Thara Gowda.

Carlota Moreno was not as fortunate, as she had to complete her first round match this morning, but the Las Vegas semifinalist had no trouble in the second round against No. 5 seed Sarah Ye, taking a 6-1, 6-1 decision. Moreno will play Camille Allegre, who defeated No. 10 seed Adla Lopez 6-0, 6-1.

Briley Rhoden took out No. 6 seed Carrie-Ann Hoo 6-1, 7-5 and will play fellow qualifier Armira Kockinis, who beat Karlin Schock 6-1, 6-3.

The highest seed to fall was No. 3 Olivia Traynor, who was beaten by Kalista Papadopoulos 6-3, 6-3.

Papadopoulos had come close to defeating an ITF Top 100 junior on several occasions but hadn't been able to close, so she was pleased with how she handled losing her 3-1 lead in the second set. 

"When I was up 3-1 I kind of saw the finish line," said the 17-year-old, who has committed to Princeton for 2027. "And in my previous matches with Top 100 players, I did the same thing, and then I would get tight. So when I got to 3-all, I said 'I'm not going to lose this set making the same mistake as previously.' So I just told myself to block out the score, block out the nerves, you have go now. If you lose the set, lose it going for it, not because you're nervous and have all these emotions."

At 3-1 in the second set Papadopoulos also had to block out the drama on the court next to hers, when No. 14 seed Anya Arora went down with what appeared to be a rolled ankle when leading Reilly Rhodes 7-5, 1-0.  Her cries of pain could be heard throughout the tournament courts, but after a visit from the trainer and the tournament referee, with a wheelchair at the ready if needed, Arora resumed play and won the break point she held when she fell to go up 2-0. While she continued to struggle with her movement and lost the next six games, Arora recovered to take the match 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

Papadopoulos said the match adjacent to hers had been a source of heightened emotions throughout her first set, and when all the commotion of an injury added to it, she blamed that as a reason for her own loss of focus.

"I think I used it as an excuse when I lost the game to 2-3," Papadopoulos said. "I kind of let my emotions take over, but then I thought, she (Traynor) is dealing with it too. On the changeover I said 'you can't be thinking about that.' Everyone in the facility had to listen to it, you know what I mean, it's not just me. And my previous matches helped a lot; to be able to do something different after all the hard losses I've had, it's really good."

Papadopoulos will play Emery Combs, who defeated Brooke Wallman 6-2, 6-4, with the head-to-head 1-1, both in J100s last fall. The only seed left in the bottom half of the draw is No. 2 Hollie Smart of Great Britain, who will play Caroline Shao. Shao defeated No. 13 seed Hannah Ayrault 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Top seed Melije Clarke defeated Abril Cardenas Olivares of Mexico 6-4, 6-1 and will play No. 15 seed Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann. The third qualifier through to the third round is Sophie Suh, who beat No. 12 seed Isabelle DeLuccia 7-6(3), 6-4. Suh will face No. 8 seed Capucine Jauffret.  Arora's opponent Wednesday is No. 4 seed Lani Chang.

The boys draw lost only four seeds, and only one in the Top 8, with Quincy Yao of Canada beating No. 8 seed Agassi Rusher 6-4, 6-4. 

Las Vegas finalist Ford McCollum defeated No. 9 seed Marcel Latak 6-4, 6-0 and Erik Schinnerer beat No. 13 seed Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca of Mexico 6-2, 6-4.

Wild card Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju, who ran his record to 19-2 this year on the ITF Junior Circuit with a 7-6(5), 6-1 win over No. 11 seed Zavier Augustin, said his 2026 surge is primarily the result of a change in his mindset.

"It's been my mentality and preparation," said the 16-year-old, who trains with Sukhwa Young at Eric Dobsha Tennis in Tampa Florida. "In 2025, it was a rough start, my mentality was all over the place and it was mostly because I didn't prepare before my matches. Now I'm taking my tennis seriously, like it's a job. I do what I need to, and it gives me confidence when I'm on court. Mentally I've gotten so much stronger and it's helped me a lot."

Basavaraju, who was born in India but moved to the US when he was 5, rebounded from down 5-2 in the first set, saving a set point, but took control in the tiebreaker, as Augustin's control on his often lethal forehand began to desert him.

"I realized I just have to make a couple of more balls in the court, be gritty, make him play an extra ball and that got me back," said Basavaraju, who won back-to-back J60s in Guatemala last month and reached the quarterfinals in Las Vegas. "In the breaker, his forehand actually broke down and in the second set, at 2-1, he kind of fell apart."

Basavaraju had never played a J200 until last week or a J300 until this week, so he is soaking it all in.

"Every round I win is like, great," said Basavaraju. "Because I've never been at this stage in this level tournament. It's great to be around here in this environment, where I've never been. It's an great opportunity."

Basavaraju's third round opponent is No. 7 seed Safir Azam, who beat Kamil Stolarczyk 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in a nearly three-and-a-half hour match.

Top seed Andrew Johnson defeated Orange Bowl 16s champion Mattias Reyniak 6-0, 6-4 and No. 2 seed Gavin Goode, who needed a wild card because he forgot to enter, beat Felix Roussel of Canada 6-3, 6-2.

Many of the first round doubles matches scheduled for later this evening were not played, so there will be two rounds of doubles on Wednesday for some players. The weather forecast is calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s.