With the 2026 USTA National Boys 18s and 16s Championships in Kalamazoo concluding yesterday, and the announcement of the US Open wild cards expected Wednesday, today is a good time to catch up on what happened on the USTA Pro Circuit last week, and on the World Tennis junior circuit during the past two weeks.
After the Landisville W100 and W35 in Mississippi the first week of August, the women's USTA Pro Circuit is on hiatus until the W50 in Berkeley California the week of September 21st. But the men had a new
Challenger 75 in Brownsburg Indiana last week and an
M25 in East Lansing Michigan, and will have an M15 in Champaign Illinois next week during US Open qualifying and a Challenger 125 in Tiburon California the week after the US Open.
Karl Poling, the former standout at Princeton and North Carolina, won his first Pro Circuit singles title yesterday in East Lansing. Seeded No. 2, the 27-year-old from New York defeated unseeded Luis Alvarez of Mexico, a recent Oklahoma graduate, 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4, saving two match points in the tiebreaker of the three-hour, 11-minute final.
Poling will be at a career-high ATP ranking around 450 when the points are added.
Alvarez won the doubles title, with Alan Magadan(UTSA, Texas A&M) of Mexico, with the second-seeded pair beating the unseeded Okonkwo brothers Oliver(Illinois) and Alex(Tulsa, Ohio State) 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 in the final.
At the Brownsburg Challenger, which had numerous heat, rain and severe weather delays throughout the week, former ATP Top 40 player Lloyd Harris won the singles title. The 29-year-old South African, seeded No. 7, defeated unseeded Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) 6-2, 7-6(6) in the final. Ilagan also reached the final of the Challenger 75 in Lexington Kentucky the week before and will break into the ATP Top 200 for the first time when the rankings are updated after the Cincinnati Masters.
Unseeded Gonzalo Escobar(Texas Tech) of Ecuador and Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha of India, who also won the Lexington Challenger doubles title, defeated No. 2 seeds Robert Cash(Ohio State) and Bart Stevens of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-1 in the final.
Because so many of the juniors in the United States were competing at the National Championships, there were not a lot of titles won on the World Tennis junior circuit in the past two weeks.
The biggest title went to Diego Custodio Wagner, a 16-year-old from Florida, who won the
J60 in Macedonia two weeks ago, his first WT junior circuit singles title. Custodio, seeded No. 3, defeated top seed Matija Putic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4 in the final. He also reach the doubles final that week, and the final of the singles last week a the second J60 in Macedonia.
No. 2 seed Camelot Carnello won the
J30 in Angola two weeks ago, with the 14-year-old from Florida defeating No. 1 seed Jinxuan Cheng of China 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 for his first WT junior circuit singles title.
At last week's
J30 in El Salvador, 14-year-old Annalyn McKee of Florida won her first WT junior circuit title, with the No. 8 seed defeated No. 6 seed Luciana Roa Munevar of Colombia 6-0, 6-3 in the final.
In
St. Vincent and the Grenadines J30 last week, top seed Sydney Wright won her fourth WT junior singles title, beating No. 2 seed Charlotte Perks of Great Britain 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-4 in the final. The 16-year-old from Maryland also reached the semifinals i doubles.
Unseeded Kylie Gordon and her partner Hoi Hei Hui of Hong Kong won the doubles title, defeating No. 2 seeds Cyra Ramcharan and Suri Ramcharan of Trinidad and Tobago 6-1, 6-0 in the final. It's the first WT junior title for the 15-year-old from New York.
At the
J30 in Nicaragua, 18-year-old David Madero won the doubles title with Brandon Bridgewater of Curacao, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Chukwudubem Amasiani of Nigeria and Gustavo Vasconcellos of Brazil 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 in the final.
Sixteen-year-old Enya Neagu, who reached the girls singles final, won the doubles title with Luciana Roa Munevar. The No. 2 seeds defeated top seeds Jaiya Siffrard and Mexico's Reagan Stanley 6-2, 6-1 in the final. It's Neagu's first WT junior circuit title.
The USTA announced four of the members of the Davis Cup team that will compete for the United States in the World Group qualifying round September 18-19 against Czechia in Prague.
Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Christian Harrison will compete for Captain Bob Bryan. The release from today:
ORLANDO, Fla., August 17, 2026 – The USTA and U.S. Davis Cup Captain Bob Bryan today announced that Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Christian Harrison have been named to compete for the U.S. in its Davis Cup Qualifying Second Round tie vs. Czechia September 18-19 at the O2 Arena (indoor hard court) in Prague.
The Second Round Qualifying tie is a best-of-five match series that will begin with two singles matches on Friday, September 18, then continue with a doubles match and two more singles matches beginning on Saturday, September 19. The first nation between the USA and Czechia to win three out of those five matches wins the Qualifier and will advance to the eight-nation Davis Cup Final 8 to compete for this year’s championship November 24-29 in Bologna, Italy. Tennis Channel will carry coverage in the U.S.
Captains may name up to five players to their rosters and make up to three combined substitutions / additions up until the day prior to the competition starting.
This tie is a rematch of last year’s Second Round Qualifier, when a strong Czech team led by Jakub Mensik and Jiri Lehecka overcame an injured but resilient American side, 3-2, on home soil in Delray Beach, Fla. Paul and Harrison, along with Ethan Quinn, Austin Krajicek and Emilio Nava, got the U.S. through the first round of Qualifying this year with a 4-0 sweep of Hungary on the road in February.
Shelton, 23, ranked No. 6 in singles, last week won his second consecutive Canada ATP Masters 1000 title. This would mark his second Davis Cup appearance, after debuting in the 2024 Finals. He was nominated to play last year vs. Czechia but had to withdraw due to injury.
Fritz, 28, ranked No. 9 in singles, recently won the Washington, D.C., ATP 500 singles title. He’s played in 11 Davis Cup ties for the U.S. since debuting in 2019 and carries an 8-4 singles record. Fritz went 1-1 in singles in the tie vs. Czechia last year while battling an illness.
Paul, 29, ranked No. 24 in singles, has played in 11 ties for the U.S. since debuting in 2020, carrying a 6-3 singles record. He was also set to play in the tie vs. Czechia last year but was also forced to withdraw due to injury.
Harrison, 32, is the top-ranked American man in doubles at No. 12. He made his Davis Cup debut this February in the Qualifying tie vs. Hungary – a week after winning the Australian Open men’s doubles title – and clinched victory for the Americans with Austin Krajicek.
The second edition of the
US Open's revamped mixed doubles tournament begins next week, with a new qualifying event providing an opportunity for the established doubles players on the WTA and ATP tours to earn a spot in the 16-team main draw. This graphic shows the current teams, as well as the vacant wild card spots.
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