Kennedy Acknowledges High Expectations as Kalamazoo 18s Top Seed; All Top 16 Seeds Advance to Third Round in Both Divisions; Switzerland Boys, Italy Girls Win World Tennis 14U Team Titles; Penickova Reaches Second Straight W35 Final

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

Jack Kennedy was a surprise finalist in the Kalamazoo 18s division  in 2024 and finished third last year, but he admits there's been a change in perception as he makes his final appearance in the USTA National Championships as the No. 1 seed.

"A lot of expectations going into this match, a lot more eyes on me this year, than in the previous years," said the 18-year-old New Yorker, who defeated Lucas Smith 6-4, 6-3 in his first match in the second round of singles Saturday. "The one seed, a lot of people are talking about it, a lot of people are watching. I'm trying not to focus on it too much. Obviously, it's a tough thing not to think about, but I'm going to try my best not to think about it."

Kennedy and Smith were at 4-all in the first set, when Smith had a brief letdown and Kennedy took advantage.

"Luke played a great match, a very high level in the first set," Kennedy said. "I think maybe the nerves hit him at 4-all, didn't play the greatest service game. And then I kind of relaxed a little bit. My level was pretty good, but it wasn't my cleanest match. I'm just happy to get through it. First round at any tournament, but especially here, is never easy, with all the nerves, everything going on, it's just good to get through."

Kennedy acknowledges that the field is not far behind him, although his ATP ranking of 384 is more than 300 points more than No. 2 seed Michael Antonius, who has the next best ATP ranking in the field.

"Honestly, it gets stronger and stronger every year, which I don't personally like," Kennedy joked. "But we have some great guys out there, my doubles partner Keaton, Michael, who has had great success, not just in the juniors but in the pros, winning a 25 in singles and doubles and a 15 recently. Of course, Jordan Lee, winning Wimbledon, I was really happy for him. He played a really great tournament, and what a great final it was, Cruz also, a great level, what a show they put on. The level here obviously is really high; it's not going to be easy whatsoever. And we haven't seen guys like Ronit Karki(the No. 5 seed) and Noah Johnston(the No. 7 seed) in a while, because they're aged out (of World Tennis junior competition). But it's really a great opportunity to play at another high level and keep learning from every match."

When Kennedy begins his collegiate career at the University of Virginia this September after the US Open Junior Championships, he'll use the remarkable rise of former Cavalier Rafael Jodar as inspiration.

"I think UVA has helped him so much to develop, not only the tennis, but also as a person," Kennedy said. "But I don't think the guy is even real; he's gone from 650 to 15 in a year. He's set the bar for us. It makes me even more excited to go to UVA, get a taste of what he got, what he saw from the coaches and the guys and take it all in. We'll see if I go a year, or four, we'll have to play it out, but super excited to get to work with those guys at Virginia and be with the guys, it's going to be great."

On Sunday, Kennedy will face unseeded Nihal Narisetty, the Midwest Closed champion, who beat wild card Izyan Ahman, a 33 seed, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 2 seed Antonius needed only 49 minutes and lost only nine points in his 6-0, 6-0 win over Shayne Joglekar; Hance[4], Andy Johnson[3], Karki, Lee and Johnston all won in straight sets.

In the 16s division, top seed Kamil Stolarczyk defeated Vijay Smyan 6-3, 6-1 and No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed beat Mason Menyhart 6-1, 6-0.

All Top 16 seeds in each age group advanced to the third round, with just two Top 32 seeds falling in both the 18s and the 16s divisions. Charles Pettinelli defeated No. 25 seed Peter Jorniak 6-2, 6-3 and Justin Zhang beat No. 26 seed Alexander Suhanitski 6-4, 6-4 in the 18s. In the 16s, Alexander Lerman defeated No. 17 seed Michael Chervenkov 6-2, 6-4 and CHance Rozpedski defeated No. 28 seed Griffin Goode 6-2, 6-1.

The only Top 8 seeds in doubles to fall on Saturday afternoon were the No. 6 seeds in both age divisions.  In the 16s, Anay Kulkarni and John Murphy defeated Braylon Desquitado and Trishiv Premanand 6-0, 4-6, 11-9; in the 18s, Jacob Lee and Mason Taube beat Theo Hegarty and Erik Schinnerer 7-5, 6-3.

No. 2 seed in the 18s, Yannik Alvarez and Noah Johnston, were down a set and a break to Michael Lorenzetti and Connor Plunkett Saturday night, but managed to eke out a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win to advance to the third round.

Top seeds in the 16s, Mikaeel Alibaig and Ivan Rybak also needed a match tiebreaker to advance, beating Charlie Barton and Miles Olmeda 3-6, 6-1, 10-7.

There are no main draw 16s singles Sunday, with the third round in 18s singles, and the first day of consolation play, with two rounds of consolation matches on the schedule. No doubles are on the schedule for Sunday.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link. Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

The World Tennis 14-and-under Team championships concluded today in Prostejov Czechia, with Switzerland's boys and Italy's girls claiming the titles. 

Switzerland, the No. 5 seed, defeated unseeded Brazil 2-1 in the final, with No. 7 seed Italy beating No. 2 seed Japan 2-1. It's the first WJT title for the Italian girls.

The top-seeded US girls finished fourth, falling to unseeded Czechia 2-1. The sixth-seeded US boys lost to No. 7 seed Colombia 2-1 to finish eighth.

For more on the finals, see this recap from the World Tennis junior site.

Annika Penickova is through to her second straight W35 final this week in Southaven Mississippi. After her title in Florence last week, the 16-year-old left-hander received a special exempt spot in the main draw and today beat wild card Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) 6-1, 7-5 to reach the final. Penickova, who is scheduled to play her first match in San Diego on Monday at noon Pacific time, will face unseeed Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru. Guzman defeated No. 4 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 6-2, 6-1.