UCLA's Johnson Reaches Lincoln Challenger Quarterfinals; Qualifiers Advance to Quarterfinals in Dallas and Louisville; Bennett Joins Auburn's Coaching Staff, Kane to Lead Cal Women; Three US Girls Make J200 Bogota Semifinals

The 2026 version of my Wimbledon Thoughts and Observations will be out tomorrow as a stand-alone post, so tonight I'll focus on the USTA Pro Circuit, college news and notable US junior results (don't forget to check Tennis Recruiting Network each day for their National Clay Courts recaps).

Last night at the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska, UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson advanced to his first Challenger quarterfinal by winning the battle of the wild cards over JJ Wolf(Ohio State) 6-2, 6-4. Johnson, whose last loss was to 16-year-old Andy Johnson in the semifinals of the M15 in Los Angeles in early June, has now won 17 consecutive matches. He'll look to extend that streak on Friday against No. 3 seed Coleman Wong of Hong Kong. The other two Americans to reach the quarterfinals are No. 6 seed Colton Smith(Arizona) and qualifier Matt Forbes, who reached his first Challenger quarterfinal with a 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Jie Cui of China. He will face No. 8 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia next.

At the W35 in Dallas, four Americans advanced to the quarterfinals in the bottom half: No. 7 seed Malaika Rapolu(Texas), qualifier Lexington Reed(Texas A&M), Christasha McNeil(Texas) and No. 2 seed Hanna Chang. Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Okalahoma) of Russia won her 23rd match in her last 24 matches today, defeated No. 4 seed Jia-Jing Lu of China 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. She will face Ekaterina Khayrutdinova(Florida International, Auburn) of Russia in the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals at the M25 in Louisville Kentucky features two qualifiers, both current collegians. Texas A&M's rising junior Alex Frusina beat Great Britain's Will Jansen(UNC, Ohio State, Georgia) 7-6(8), 6-4 and will play former Texas All-American Timo Legout of France in Friday's quarterfinals. Legout defeated No. 6 seed Oliver Bonding(TCU) 6-2, 6-1 in today's second round.  Bonding's teammate Max Dussault, like Frusina a qualifier, defeated Vignesh Gogineni(Yale) 6-3, 7-5 and will face No. 4 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) Friday. Baris defeated 15-year-old qualifier Teodor Davidov 6-0, 6-1. Top seed Mees Rottgering(Wake Forest) of the Netherlands beat 18-year-old UCLA rising freshman Lev Seidman 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.

At the M15 in Rochester New York, all second round matches were pushed back until this evening and all doubles postponed until Friday, I assume due to poor air quality due to the wildfire smoke, which we are also experiencing here in Michigan. Two matches have finished with top seed Tristan McCormick defeating 16-year-old wild card Sulaiman Syed 6-2, 6-4 and 17-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr reaching his second M15 quarterfinals with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over wild card Drew Fishback(Virginia Tech). 

Auburn announced that 2024 NCAA singles finalist DJ Bennett, who graduated in May, has been hired as an assistant coach for the Tigers. Bennett explains in this article why, after she competes in the US Open women's doubles draw with the wild card she won at last month's USTA US Open Collegiate Playoffs with Ava Esposito, she will not pursue a career in pro tennis.

Many other associate and assistant coach positions have been filled in the past month; see Parsa Nemati's twitter feed (@ParsaBombs) for updates on those.

Few Division Power 4 conference head coaching positions were vacated this year, and technically, Cal was not one of them, as the school did not replace women's head coach Amanda Augustus when she announced her retirement this fall. After men's head coach Kris Kwinta served as interim coach this spring, Cal filled the position early this month, naming Maggie Kane, a former North Carolina player, as head coach. Kane, who served as an assistant at Oklahoma State last year and associate head coach at UC-Santa Barbara from 2022-2025, is the first coach to benefit from the endowed position of the Stacy Savides Director of Women's Tennis, which was announced last month.

With no World Tennis junior events in the United States this week, and the USTA National Clay Courts concluded, it's a quiet time for American juniors. But three US girls have had success on the South American red clay this week, with No. 3 seed Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, No. 4 seed Olivia De Los Reyes and unseeded Ciara Harding through to the semifinals of the J200 in Bogota Colombia. De Los Reyes will face Harding, who beat No. 2 seed Ireland O'Brien today, while Drenser-Hagmann, who defeated Reiley Rhodes today, will play top seed Sofie Hettlerova of Czechia, who came through qualifying. Drenser-Hagmann and De Los Reyes, the No. 2 seeds, are into the doubles semifinals, while top seeds Scarlett Fagan and O'Brien have already secured their spot in the final.