My Kalamazoo Preview; Alternate Rosett Earns Two Wins in Final Kalamazoo Appearance; USTA National B12s Seeds; USA Girls Fall to Japan in World Tennis 14-U Team Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

My annual preview of the Kalamazoo Nationals is up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, with all the players mentioned beginning their singles tournaments on Saturday, with seeds receiving first round byes. The B18s field features four players who have won USTA Pro Circuit events this year, in addition to Jordan Lee's title last month at the Wimbledon Junior Championships.

While all those players were searching for practice courts today with the 31 WMU and Stowe Stadium courts in use for first round action today, the unseeded players were meeting for their shot at a seed on Saturday.

One of those moving through to the main draw is Abraham Rosett, who didn't know until four days ago whether he would get an opportunity to compete in his fourth and final year at the Nationals.

The fact that Rosett is from Bloomfield Hills Michigan, just a two-and-a-half hour drive from Kalamazoo, meant that he didn't have to make complicated last-minute travel arrangements when he received the call informing him of a withdrawal that moved him into the main draw. The short notice didn't faze him mentally either, as he felt he was ready for the level he would face.

"When this list came out i was shocked I didn't get in," said the 18-year-old, who defeated Colin Cerminara 6-4, 6-2 on the Stowe Stadium's renowned George Acker Center Court. "I guess it's just based on the USTA points, but I was hoping I would get in. I knew I belonged here, I thought I could be dangerous in this tournament. I do have a chip on my shoulder, but I treating every match like I'm going to win. I'm not really think about it; I'm in the tournament, so I'm just competing now."

Rosett admitted that he would have been disappointed to miss out on his last chance to play Kalamazoo.

"I've played both years in 16s, last year I played 18s, so I wanted to complete the four years here," Rosett said. "I know I belong here, so I would have been pretty disappointed if I didn't come and compete and show what I got."

Players from Michigan usually are scheduled to play their main draw matches at Stowe Stadium, and Rosett has benefitted from that tradition, but today was his first opportunity to play a singles match on Acker Court.

"Us Michiganders get some privileges," Rosett said. "I've played doubles there; every year I've played my first round singles on like the fifth court, the last court on the first bank. But never singles on center court, so that was pretty cool. A lot of nerves coming out, but I got through it, and I think my best tennis is ahead of me in this tournament."

Rosett, who will play No. 33 seed Bryan Assi at Stowe Stadium Saturday, has committed to the University of Illinois for the fall of 2027.

"My assistant coach, Tim Kopinski, TK, was watching me, so nerves there as well, wanting to impress the coach," Rosset said. "But I'm super excited. I love the guys on the team, the culture that Brad(head coach Dancer) has built, and I'm so excited to get my butt over there."

Rosett and partner Henry Lessard also advanced in doubles this afternoon, beating Deepinder Singh and Darren Wei 6-4, 6-3.

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

Cracked Racquets will be providing four hours of daily coverage of the USTA Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego beginning tomorrow with the G16s first round. See their YouTube channel for times for the free live streaming each day.

The seeds and draws for the USTA National Boys 12s Championships in Mobile Alabama are out. I'm posting the Top 16 below; I will also add them to my post from Thursday, so all the 12s and 14s seeds and links are available on one page.

B12s Top 16 seeds (Mobile Alabama):
1. William Zhou

2. Zephyr Zwicker
3. Caique Cavalcanti
4. Thomas Gamble
5. Jesse Goldman
6. Zachary Burunov
7. Aleksander Denisov
8. John Benedict
9. Louis Lu
10. Dylan Kivov
11. Kevin Wang
12. Satvik Arja
13. Isaac Milner
14. Alexander Yang
15. Reed Kuai
16. AJ Williams

The top-seeded USA girls team lost in the semifinals of the World Tennis 14-and-under championships today in Prostejov Czechia, falling to No. 2 seed Japan 2-1.

Ayaka Iwasa of Japan defeated Anna Kapanadze at No. 2 singles 6-3, 6-4, with Isha Manchala tying it up witha 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win over Shina Okuyama at No. 1 singles. That sent the match to a deciding doubles match, which Iwasa and Okuyama won 7-6(2), 6-3 to send Japan, who finished second in its group, to the finals.

They will play No. 7 seed Italy, who defeated unseeded Czechia 2-0.  The USA will play Czechia for third place Saturday.

The boys final will feature No. 5 seed Switzerland and unseeded Brazil. Switzerland defeated No. 3 seed Australia 2-1, with the doubles deciding that one, while Brazil beat unseeded Bulgaria 2-0.

The USA boys, seeded sixth, lost to No. 4 seed Slovakia 2-1 today and will play No. 7 seed Colombia for seventh place Saturday.