Merida J500, Bradenton J300 Acceptance Lists; Jauffret Upsets Collins at W35 Weston; Secord Defeats Top Seed McCormick at Naples M15; First ATP Points for Krishna and Anson

The home stretch of the World Tennis Junior Circuit is in sight, with the North American clay swing featuring two J300s and two J500s, capped off by the Orange Bowl in Fort Lauderdale Florida.

The J300 in Zapopan Mexico is next week, followed by the J500 in Merida Mexico the week of Thanksgiving and the J300 in Bradenton Florida the first week of December, and the J500 Orange Bowl the next week.

Many of the juniors, particularly those from outside the US, enter at least three of these events, but depending on their results, usually don't play them all, So the acceptance lists are in flux more than they are for the junior slams, and the cutoffs will change quite dramatically in the next couple of weeks. The Orange Bowl acceptances will be out next week.

The J500 in Merida and the J300 in Bradenton have similar acceptances lists, which is not unusual, although Bradenton actually has one more Top 10 player in the each field.

Victoria Barros of Brazil, No. 4 in the WT junior rankings and Australian Open champion Ksenia Efremova of France, currently No. 9, are entered in both. No. 10 Polina Skliar of Ukraine is entered only in Bradenton.

Puerto Rico's Yannik Alvarez, at No. 11, is the highest ranked boy on the Merida acceptance list; he is not entered in Bradenton. No. 10 Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, last year's Bradenton finalist, withdrew from Merida, but is on the acceptance list for Bradenton as of today. 

There are 13 US girls and seven US boys on the list for Merida. The girls are Welles Newman, Anita Tu, Armira Kockinis, Lani Chang, Emery Combs, Hannah Ayrault, Sarah Ye, Ellery Mendell, Ireland O'Brien, Carrie-Anne Hoo, Londyn McCord, Isabelle DeLuccia and Brooke Wallman. The US boys are Tanishk Konduri, Vihaan Reddy, Safir Azam, Ryan Cozad, Teodor Davidov, Navneet Raghuram and Agassi Rusher. Erik Schinnerer is the next boy in.

The cutoff, as of yesterday's withdrawal date, is 118 for the girls and 124 for the boys.

The same seven US boys are on the Bradenton acceptance list, with Izyan Ahmad receiving entry via the WT 16s reserved program. The US girls on the acceptance list for Bradenton are Newman, Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, Tu, Kockinis, Chang, Combs, Ayrault, Ye, Maggie Sohns, Adla Lopez, O'Brien, Hoo, Olivia De Los Reyese and McCord, with Daniela Del Mastro entered via the 16s reserved program. DeLuccia and Wallman are the next girls in.

The boys cutoff (the withdrawal deadline is next week) is currently 110 and the girls cutoff is currently 111.

The fields for the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions at the IMG Academy International Championships in Bradenton that same week were released late last month and can be found here.

Wednesday was a good day for teenagers on the USTA Pro Circuit.  At the W35 in Weston Florida, 18-year-old wild card Capucine Jauffret, a freshman at Florida, defeated No. 2 seed and WTA No. 310 Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 7-6(7), 6-1 today. She will face lucky loser Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine in the second round.

At the M15 in Naples Florida, 18-year-old Jack Secord defeated top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 6-3, 7-5 and will play Santiago Giamichelle(UCF, Georgia) of Argentina in the second round Thursday. Secord reached the quarterfinals of the M15 in Ithaca New York last month. Seventeen-year-old qualifier Jerrid Gaines Jr defeated Kalamazoo 16s champion Kamil Stolarczyk, a wild card, 6-1, 7-5 and will play No. 3 seed Dragos Cazacu(Tennessee, Oklahoma) of Romania next.

Riley Anson, the 18-year-old Princeton recruit, earned his first ATP point in Naples, defeating fellow qualifier William Nolan(Auburn) 6-4, 6-1. He will play No. 2 seed Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia), who defeated Max Shelton(Michigan State) 6-3, 7-6(7).

At the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, 18-year-old qualifier Karlin Schock won her first main draw match on the USTA Pro Circuit, defeating No. 3 seed Kalista Liu(Maryland) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. She will play Auburn sophomore Eva Maria Ionescu of Romania next.

Ionescu is one of six Auburn players into the second round in Lincoln.

Not to be outdone, Ohio State has six players in the second round of the M25 in Columbus, as well as a recent graduate. Three of Thursday's second round match will be all-Buckeye, with wild card Nikita Filin facing Victor Lilov; Denis Petak of Czechia playing Matt Forbes and Aidan Kim facing Jack Anthrop, the 2026 Ohio State graduate. The only Buckeye not playing a teammate is wild card Alex Okonkwo, who takes on No. 5 seed Theo Papamalamis(Texas A&M) of France.

2026 Easter Bowl champion Rishvanth Krishna earned his first ATP point in Columbus with the 17-year-old Southern California defeated No. 7 seed Hunter Heck 7-6(5), 6-1. Krishna has had success in Newport Beach tournaments on the UTR Pro Tennis Tour but has played in only five main draws on the USTA Pro Circuit. He will play Arizona State junior Ofek Shimanov of Israel in the second round Thursday.