My Recap of Kalamazoo 18 Championships; College Park J300 Qualifying Begins Saturday; NCAA Wins Stay of Ruling Extending Eligibility; Nakashima Beats Fritz, Faces Tiafoe in Cincinnati Open Semifinal; Blanch Receives Winston-Salem and US Open Main Draw Wild Cards

The last two recaps of National Championships week at Tennis Recruiting Network were published today, with my article on the titles for Jack Kennedy in singles and Noah Johnston and Yannik Alvarez in doubles going up this morning, and Rhiannon Potkey's article on Thea Frodin and Bella Payne and Sara Shumate's titles in San Diego following this afternoon.

As I mentioned yesterday, because the 18s final lasted only three games, there will be no videos this year on my YouTube channel. There is a recording of what did transpire at the livestream page.

Michael J. Lewis (no relation) is a New York-based journalist who follows the local juniors, and he had plenty to write about this week, with the National titles for Kamil Stolarczyk, Kennedy and Gabby Villegas.

His Long Island Press article on Kennedy is here, and his article of 14s champion Villegas is here. Look for one on Stolarczyk next month.

I'll be covering the ITF J300 in College Park Maryland for the 12th year beginning on Sunday, but the qualifying will begin Saturday and is scheduled for six indoor courts at the Junior Tennis Champions Center due to expected rain. The 48-player draw for the boys is full; the girls has only two byes, and all eight of the seeds in both girls and boys draws are in the World Tennis Top 200. Kai Thompson of Hong Kong, No. 34 in the WT junior rankings, is the top seed in boys qualifying. Thara Gowda, a quarterfinalist at last week's USTA 18s Nationals in San Diego, is the top seed; she and Carlota Moreno have the first round byes.

There was an important ruling today in the NCAA's Wisne case, in which a Colorado judge approved a fifth year of eligibility for those who completed their eligibility in 2026 before the adoption of a five-for-five standard set to begin in 2027. This is not likely to be the end of the court battles, but the NCAA provided this statement on X after the ruling.

There is no other statement from the NCAA that I can find, but some college tennis rosters for this fall may look different than they did a week ago with this stay.

Brandon Nakashima and Frances Tiafoe will face off in Saturday's semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati Open after No. 27 seed Nakashima, a finalist at the Montreal 1000 two weeks ago, defeated No. 6 seed Taylor Fritz 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 this afternoon, and No. 17 seed Frances Tiafoe beat No. 10 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 7-6(2), 7-5 tonight. The winner of that match will play the winner of Saturday's other semifinal between No. 7 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy and No. 21 seed Arthur Fils of France in Sunday's final

Jessica Pegula[3] will face Iga Swiatek[7] of Poland in one of Saturday's semifinals; the winner of the Coco Gauff[4] and Marta Kostyuk[7] quarterfinal tonight will play Sara Bejlek of Czechia, who beat Madison Keys[20] 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) this afternoon.

2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch received a US Open main draw wild card according to today's USTA announcement; Martin Damm moved into the main draw on his own ranking after the withdrawals of Ethan Quinn(Georgia) and Canadian Gabriel Diallo(Kentucky), and Blanch was given Damm's previously announced wild card. There is still one men's main draw wild card to be announced.

Blanch also received a wild card into next week's Winston-Salem Open ATP 250, which he could not have used if he were playing in US Open qualifying. Damm also received a Winston-Salem wild card, as did Wimbledon boys finalist Cruz Hewitt, who will not be competing in New York.

Qualifying for Winston-Salem begins tomorrow, with Wake Forest's DK Suresh, Luca Pow and Mees Rottgering in the 16-player field, with Pow and US Open Collegiate playoff winner Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) receiving qualifying wild cards. TCU's rising junior Roger Pascual of Spain is also in the qualifying field.