Antonius Reaches Round of 16 at Roland Garros Junior Championships; Chervenkov and Frisbie Win First ITF Junior Circuit Titles in Chicago; Texas A&M Tops TRN's Spring Recruiting Class Rankings; Judge Questions Brantmeier Settlement

Michael Antonius is the first US junior to reach the round of 16 of the Roland Garros Junior Championships after a quick 6-3, 6-0 victory in the second round today over Kanta Watanabe of Japan. Next up for Antonius, on Wednesday, is No. 2 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of France, in a rematch of last August's ITF J300 College Park final, which Alexandrescou won 6-0, 6-2.  Alexandrescou had a much tougher second round match today, beating Nikita Belozertsev of Uzbekistan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

No. 15 seed Janae Preston played her first round match today, and it was one of the longest of the 32 junior matches on the schedule, with the 15-year-old from Nevada defeating French wild card Cindy Langlais 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 39 minutes. Preston is the only US girls remaining in the singles draw; No. 4 seed Jack Kennedy, No. 6 seed Keaton Hance and Ryan Cozad will play their second round matches Tuesday, hoping to join Antonius in the third round. Kennedy will be playing the red hot Daniel Jade of France, who won a round in men's qualifying two weeks ago at Roland Garros and won his first ITF men's title at an M25 last week in France.

In doubles, No. 2 seeds Kennedy and Hance, the reigning US Open champions, were on the brink in their first round match with Simone Massellani of Itay and Valentin Gonzalez-Galino of Spain, trailing 6-3, 4-2 before winning a tiebreaker to get to the match tiebreaker, where they trailed 6-4 before claiming six of the final seven points for a 3-6, 7-6(2), 10-7 victory.

Other Americans advancing to the second round of doubles are No. 8 seeds Jordyn Hazelitt and Welles Newman and Melije Clarke and Olivia Traynor. Traynor, who lost in the final round of qualifying, was able to get into the doubles draw for her junior slam debut.

Monday's Roland Garros first round junior results of Americans:

Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard[WC](FRA) d. Carrie-Anne Hoo[Q] 6-1, 6-2

Janae Preston[15] d. Cindy Langlais[WC](FRA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 

Jack Kennedy[4] d. Emilio Camacho(ECU) 7-6(4), 6-2

Monday's Roland Garros second round junior results of Americans:

Michael Antonius[13] d. Kanta Watanabe(JPN) 6-3, 6-0

Zangar Nurlanuly[8](KAZ) d. Agassi Rusher[Q] 6-2, 6-1

Tuesday's Roland Garros second round junior matches featuring Americans:

Jack Kennedy[4] v Daniel Jade(FRA) 

Keaton Hance[6] v Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity(BRA)

Ryan Cozad v Luis Guto Miguel[1](BRA)

Janae Preston[15] v Denisa Zoldakova(CZE)

There are no Americans left in the Roland Garros men's or women's singles after the three playing in the fourth round today lost. Frances Tiafoe led Matteo Arnaldi by two sets to one and was serving at 4-1 in the fourth before losing 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 in a match that went five hours and 26 minutes and finished after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning in Paris.

Monday's fourth round Roland Garros matches featuring Americans:

Flavio Cobolli[10](ITA) d. Zachary Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5)

Matteo Arnaldi(ITA) d. Frances Tiafoe[19] 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 

Diana Shnaider[25](RUS) d. Madison Keys[19] 6-3, 3-6, 6-0

I covered the ITF J300 in Belgium last week, with unseeded US juniors Anita Tu and Jordan Lee reaching the finals and getting a big boost in their ITF junior rankings. 

Gadin Arun had his ITF Junior Circuit winning streak in Canada snapped at 16 the J100 in Calgary last week, with the No. 7 seed falling in the final to No. 3 seed Quincy Yao of Canada 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, while also dropping the doubles final. Daniel Malacek and Canada's Brayden Woo, seeded No. 2, won the doubles titles, beating ARun and Arjun Krishnan, the No. 4 seeds 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

The only titles in singles for Americans came at the J30 in Chicago, with 14-year-old Michael Chervenkov and 15-year-old Natalie Frisbie winning their first ITF Junior Circuit titles.

Chervenkov repeated his win over Ishaan Marla in the 2026 Easter Bowl 14s final, beating Marla 6-4, 6-3 to run his record this year to 30-1, with his sole loss coming in a USTA Level 3 final in the 16s.

Frisbie, who finished sixth at the Easter Bowl in the 16s, was playing in just her second ITF event, receiving entry via her World Tennis Number. She defeated Anna Bugaienko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2 in the Chicago singles final.

At the J60 in El Salvador, No. 3 seeds Macksimus Malhotra and Sean Peng won the boys doubles title, beating top seeds Matias Quintero Tobon of Colombia and Gianluc Galasso 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-6.

This week's stop of the ITF Junior Circuit Midwest swing is a J60 Champaign Illinois, which, like Chicago, will be conducted in the new round robin/knockout format introduced this year by the ITF. Chervenkov is entered in the boys draw, but Frisbie is not playing Champaign this week.

Tennis Recruiting Network's  Division I women's spring recruiting class rankings were revealed today with NCAA champions Texas A&M voted No. 1. Coincidentally, men's NCAA champions Virginia also landed in the top spot when the men's spring rankings were published last week. As a voter, I can tell you that the top four classes were extremely difficult to rank in any order, with No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Virginia and No. 4 North Carolina all attracting a wealth of talent for 2026. The rest of the Top 10 is Tennessee, Auburn, UCF, Florida, Florida State and Yale. This is hardly the last word on who will be joining the top teams come fall (or next spring for that matter) but it is a clue as to who might have all the recruits they need for next season.

The settlement announced in late April between Reese Brantmeier and the NCAA is apparently not settled, with the judge who certified the class action suit not satisfied that all the interests of other class members are being addressed. For more on the judge's questions, see this article from the Carolina Journal.