Konduri and Yodpetch Oust No. 1 Seeds to Reach Quarterfinals at ITF J300 in College Park, Top Seeds in Doubles Out; Rain Halts US Open Qualifying Before Any Second Round Matches Completed

©Colette Lewis 2025--
College Park MD--

Girls top seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina and boys No. 1 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland were victims of inspired play by their opponents in today's third round of the ITF J300 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, with Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand beating Cinalli 6-3, 6-3 and Tanishk Konduri of the United States defeating Paldanius 6-2, 7-6(6).

Due to morning drizzle and wet courts, the eight girls matches on the schedule were sent indoors, in hopes that the post-9 p.m. finishes of the past two days could be avoided. That decision delighted No. 14 seed Yodpetch, who believed the faster surface would give her an edge against Cinalli.

"I've seen her play on clay and I think if I play against her on clay, I lose for sure," said the 17-year-old, who is No. 63 in the ITF junior rankings. "Indoor hard helped. There is no indoor in Thailand, but I like faster courts."

Yodpetch prefers to stand and hit, but also mix up the pace, and clay gives her opponents too much time to track down her shots.

"If they are fast, they can run and get my balls back," Yodpetch said. "On hard court, they can't get to them."

Yodpetch had beaten ITF No. 25 Beatrise Zeltina of Latvia, the No. 4 seed this week, at this year's J300 in Roehampton, but this is her best win on the junior circuit, with Cinalli at No. 16.

In addition to getting the best win of her junior career, Yodpetch got more good news this week, when she moved into the main draw of the US Open Junior Championships.

"Yesterday I was so happy," Yodpetch said. "I check every day the US Open and yesterday they closed the deadline and I was the last one in the main draw."

Yodpetch will play No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia in the quarterfinals, after Cvetkovic beat unseeded Janae Preston 6-2, 6-4.

The other quarterfinal in the top half will feature No. 3 seed Laima Vladson of Lithuania and No. 6 seed Yushan Shao of China, both of whom dropped their opening set today but came back to blank their opponents in the third set. Vladson defeated No. 15 seed Renee Alame of Australia 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 and Shao beat unseeded Thara Gowda 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.

In the bottom half, Zeltina, a 7-5, 6-4 winner over unseeded Zhang Qian Wei of China, will face No. 9 seed Xinran Sun of China, who beat No. 7 seed Ksenia Efremova of France 7-5, 6-3.

Two unseeded players will meet in the bottom quarter, with qualifier Kristina Liutova of Russia beating Ligaya Murray 6-3, 6-1 and Nancy Lee defeating No. 8 seed Tahlia Kokkinis of Australia 7-5, 6-3.

Lee, who defeated No. 11 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India 6-2, 6-4 in the second round Tuesday, wasn't expecting to find herself the last American girl standing in the tournament.

"I'm feeling really good about myself after these two matches," said the 16-year-old from Massachusetts. "I wasn't really expecting anything, so they were good wins for me."

Lee, who lost in the first round at this tournament last year, wasn't counting on going any farther this year.

"I thought I would lose first round," Lee said. "Last year I didn't play super well here, so I had my doubts coming into this tournament."

Despite her New England roots, Lee wasn't overjoyed about playing her third round match this morning indoors. 

"I haven't played indoors in a while now," Lee said. "I was a little skeptical of how I would play. But I actually played well indoors, so I'm surprised and I'm happy. I was able to stay super solid and find my chances. I didn't rush the points or anything, just waited for my chance and took it."

Liutova and Lee will be meeting for the first time in Thursday's quarterfinal.

As with the girls draw, an unseeded player will reach the semifinals, with Konduri and Matei Todoran of Romania advancing to a quarterfinal meeting, after all boys third round matches were started and finished outdoors.

Todoran beat No. 10 seed Jack Secord 7-6(4), 6-4, while Konduri took out Paldanius on Stadium Court, with a skinned knee getting the assist.

After Paldanius had saved one match point serving at 5-6, forcing a tiebreaker, he went up 4-0 in that tiebreaker, but Konduri fought back, erasing one minibreak for 4-2, and the second with Paldanius serving at 5-4. After Paldanius's backhand forced an error, he held a set point, but Konduri had scraped his knee in a futile attempt to keep the point alive and it began to bleed, requiring a visit from the trainer.

"At 5-all he hit a good inside out and I tried to slide back there," said the 16-year-old from Cupertino California. "My foot slipped a little, so my knee scraped across the ground; my skin's still on the court over there. But it might have actually been a good thing. I got light-headed after that, and lost all tension in my arms, so I got super loose, hit two really good, played a long point and eventually he missed."

Konduri hit a forehand winner to set up his second match point and completed the upset when Paldanius hit a forehand wide.

Konduri said his biggest win on the ITF junior circuit didn't come as a huge surprise.

"He's 7 in the world, so for anyone, it would be one of their best wins," said Konduri, who trains at the Gorin Academy, with Andrey Masin his coach for the past year. "It's not super breathtaking to me, because I know the work that's been put in. I knew my game was there, at the end of last year, the beginning of this year; I had the level, but being able to produce that level day in, day out, is something [Masin] had been able to give to me. I'm happy with my performance today and can only hope to play even better tomorrow."

In the other quarterfinal in the top half, No. 3 seed Alan Wazny of Poland will face unseeded 15-year-old Michael Antonius. Wazny came from a set down for the second straight match, beating No. 16 seed Ryan Cozad 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5. Antonius advanced when No. 5 seed Ronit Karki retired with a hip injury after losing the first set 6-3.

No. 5 seed Timofei Derepasko needed more than three and a half hours to beat No. 9 seed Noah Johnston 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4, but the price he paid for that win was serious body cramps, which led to his withdrawal from doubles. Derepasko will face No. 4 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan, who beat No. 13 seed Linus Lagerbohm of Finland 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The third American boy in the quarterfinals is No. 8 seed Keaton Hance, who beat No. 11 seed Dominick Mosejczuk for the second time this month in a round of 16 match. Hance, who beat Mosejczuk 6-0, 6-1 in Kalamazoo, earned a 7-5, 6-3 victory today. He will face No. 2 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania, who beat No. 14 seed Kriish Tyagi of India 6-2, 6-1.

The top-seeded doubles teams went out today, with Paldanius, who did call for a medical timeout in the Konduri match, withdrawing from doubles. He and Wazny, the reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon boys doubes champions, gave a walkover to Connor Plunkett and Czech Oliver Sanders.

In the girls doubles draw, Anita Tu and Isabelle DeLuccia defeated top seeds Cinalli and Vladson 6-4, 6-1.

Quarterfinal play begins Thursday at 10 a.m. with the boys quarterfinals, followed by the girls quarterfinals, and the boys and girls doubles quarterfinals.

Live streaming and live scoring can be found at the JTCC tournament page. With the singles quarterfinals being chaired, point-by-point scoring should be available.

None of the second round qualifying matches were completed today at the US Open, with all day raining causing play to be canceled in the afternoon. Thursday's schedule can be found here.

Thursday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Fiona Crawley[WC] v Dalma Galfi[4](HUN)

Katie Volynets[7] v Amelia Honer[WC]

Hina Inoue v Simona Waltert[24](SUI)

Claire Liu v Maddison Inglis(AUS)

Ayana Akli[WC] v Harriet Dart(GBR)

Sachia Vickery v Ella Seidel[21](GER)

Murphy Cassone v Dino Prizmic[19](CRO)

Patrick Maloney[WC] v Daniel Galan[32](COL)

Andres Martin[WC] v Pablo Llamas Ruiz(ESP)

Michael Zheng[WC] v Jerome Kym(SUI)

Martin Damm[WC] v Benjamin Hassan(LBN)

Zachary Svajda[24] v Beibit Zhukayev(KAZ)

Garrett Johns[WC] v Oliver Crawford(GBR)

Mitchell Krueger v Andrea Collarini(ARG)

The singles main draws are expected to released in the early afternoon Thursday.

Qualifier Liutova Ousts No. 2 Seed, Six Unseeded US Juniors Advance to Round of 16 at ITF J300 College Park; Seven More Americans Reach Second Round of US Open Qualifying

©Colette Lewis 2025--
College Park MD--

The ITF J300 here had another late finish Tuesday, with the second round of singles, featuring all 32 seeds, ending after 9 p.m. under the newly installed lights at the Junior Tennis Champions Center. A late morning hour of drizzle fortunately didn't return in the afternoon, so unlike Monday, no indoor play was necessary.

Nine of the 32 seeds lost their opening match, including girls No. 2 seed Ruien Zhang of China, who went out meekly to qualifier Kristina Liutova 6-0, 6-3.

Liutova reached the semifinals of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells in March, the last junior tournament she played, but the 15-year-old from Russia, who has lived and trained in Seattle for years, has spent the last four months competing on the USTA Pro Circuit. 

With a WTA ranking of 800 and an ITF junior ranking of 372, Liutova couldn't match her opponent's numbers of 660 and 18 respectively, but she was steadier and decidedly less error-prone that Zhang today.

After several tough games to start the match, Liutova's consistency and defense began to wear on Zhang, who was unable to find an effective strategy to employ in the second set. Liutova was unable to serve out the match at 5-2, but she broke Zhang to thwart any comeback.

"She's a tough opponent," Liutova said of the 17-year-old left-hander, who excelled on clay this spring. "Left-hander doesn't bother me, but she played great tennis. In the second set, she got a little more aggressive, but I didn't let her step in too much."

Liutova said she chose to play this event because she likes the atmosphere, experiencing it last year when she also reached the third round as a qualifier. But working on her game was the prime motivation.

"It's important for me to play against top junior players," Liutova said. "To battle against them too. It's good to mix junior events and pro events, but it's a tough transition. It's harder mentally to play those not too much older than you. It's more physical against older players. It's more mental here and more physical there."

Luitova will play one of the four US girls who took out a seed today, with Ligaya Murray finishing her three-hour-plus 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 13 Kanon Sawashiro of Japan after 9 p.m.

Janae Preston defeated No. 10 seed Yihan Qu of China 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Thara Gowda beat No. 12 seed Allegra Korpanec Davies of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4, and Nancy Lee defeated No. 11 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India 6-2, 6-4. 

The only seeded US girls, No. 16 Capucine Jauffret, lost to Zhang-Qian Wei of China 6-3, 6-3.

Top seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina got past Jordyn Hazelitt 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 and No. 3 seed Laima Vladson of Lithuania also had a challenging first match, beating Riyo Yoshida of Japan 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

The boys lost three seeds, with Michael Antonius defeating No. 12 seed Savva Rybkin of Russia 6-4, 7-5 after trailing 4-1 in the first set; Tanishk Konduri beat No. 15 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-3 and Matei Todoran of Romania advanced when No. 7 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany retired after losing the first set 7-5. Mackenzie has been struggling with a wrist problem and had it heavily taped prior to the match.

Antonius is set to face No. 5 seed Ronit Karki next, after Karki defeated qualifier Navneet Raghuram 1-6, 7-5, 7-5. Karki took a medical timeout in the second set and appeared to be hampered by the groin/thigh injury throughout the third set.

Andrew Johnson saved four match points against No. 4 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan at 4-5 0-40 in the second set, but lost the final four games of the third set to go out 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3.

Top seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland and No. 2 seed Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou breezed through their matches in straight sets, but No. 3 seed Alan Wazny of Poland got all he could handle from Carel Ngounoue before rebounding for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Wazny will play No. 16 seed Ryan Cozad Wednesday, who had an even more dramatic victory, beating Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity  of Brazil 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), after the drizzle had arrived as Cozad had captured the second set.

"I was a little tired because we were having long points, so I was able to refuel, which was good," said the 16-year-old from Atlanta. "I did have the momentum though so it was a little tough to stop. When we got back out, he played really well with the new balls, but when the balls got a little slower I was able to take advantage of it."

Chabalgoity served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but did not get to match point, and Cozad was able to hold at both 4-5 and 5-6 to force the tiebreaker.

"I definitely played well in the tiebreaker," said Cozad, who hit a couple of confident overheads, which is one of his favorite shots. "I went for it and it paid off. I was looking to move in and serve well and I was able to do it."

Wednesday's round of 16 begins with the eight girls singles matches, followed by the eight boys singles matches. The second round of doubles, with the seeds playing their first matches, will follow in the afternoon. Cinalli and Vladson are the top seeds in the girls doubles, with two-time junior slam champions Paldanius and Wazny the No. 1 seeds in the boys doubles draw.

Links to live scoring, live streaming and the order of play and draws can be found at the JTCC tournament page.

Seven more Americans reached the second round of US Open qualifying with wins today, adding to the eight who advanced on Monday. Today's results and tomorrow's second round matches are below.

Tuesday's first round results of Americans:

Janice Tjen(INA) d. Varvara Lepchenko[22] 6-3, 6-1 

Sachia Vickery d. Anastasiia Sobolieva(UKR) 7-5, 7-5

Shuai Zhang[9](CHN) d. Mary Stoiana[WC]  7-5, 6-3

Dasha Vidmanova(CZE) d. Maya Iyengar[WC] 6-1, 6-2

Jessika Ponchet[25](FRA) d. Elizabeth Mandlik 6-4, 6-2

Ayana Akli[WC] d. Eva Vedder(NED) 7-5, 6-2

Mitchell Krueger d. Santiago Rodriguez Taverna(ARG) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1

Michael Zheng[WC] d. Yasutaka Uchiyama(JPN) 6-2, 6-3

Martin Damm[WC] d. Stefano Travaglia(ITA) 6-3, 6-2

Thiago Tirante[24](ARG) d. Jack Kennedy[WC] 6-4, 6-4

Zachary Svajda[22] d. August Holmgren(DEN) 6-2, 7-6(1)

Otto Virtanen[9](FIN) d. Benjamin Willwerth[WC] 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2

Garrett Johns[WC] d. Colton Smith[27] 6-3, 6-3

Bernard Tomic(AUS) d. Patrick Kypson 6-4, 6-4 

Rei Sakamoto(JPN) d. Tyler Zink[WC] 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(8)

Wednesday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Fiona Crawley[WC] v Dalma Galfi[4](HUN)

Katie Volynets[7] v Amelia Honer[WC]

Hina Inoue v Simona Waltert[24](SUI)

Claire Liu v Maddison Inglis(AUS)

Ayana Akli[WC] v Harriet Dart(GBR)

Sachia Vickery v Ella Seidel[21](GER)

Murphy Cassone v Dino Prizmic[19](CRO)

Patrick Maloney[WC] v Daniel Galan[32](COL)

Andres Martin[WC] v Pablo Llamas Ruiz(ESP)

Michael Zheng[WC] v Jerome Kym(SUI)

Martin Damm[WC] v Benjamin Hassan(LBN)

Zachary Svajda[24] v Beibit Zhukayev(KAZ)

Garrett Johns[WC] v Oliver Crawford(GBR)

Mitchell Krueger v Andrea Collarini(ARG)

Columbia rising senior Michael Zheng had this to say about his first round victory.

"It was great, I thought I played really well," Zheng told Michael Lewis of ITF Tennis. "I served really well, made a lot of returns. I was hitting the forehand well and playing with a lot of confidence. I think having had this experience(in 2023 and 2024) really helped, dealing with the nerves and everything. It's always a special time when you get to play at the US Open, kind of like the backyard almost, the Columbia guys coming out to support. It's just one match at a time, but it would be amazing if I could make the main draw here for the first time."

Qualifying draws can be found here.

Antonius Avenges Kalamazoo Loss at ITF J300 College Park, Seeds Begin Play Tuesday; US Open Wild Cards Blanch, Basavareddy and Dostanic Advance at ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open; Eight Americans Reach Second Round of US Open Qualifying

©Colette Lewis 2025--
College Park MD--

A 12-hour-plus day ended on the indoor courts at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, as afternoon showers disrupted the first round of boys singles and girls doubles at the ITF J300 in College Park Maryland.

The first round of girls singles finished before the rain arrived, with even Japan's Riyo Yoshida's four-hour, 26-minute 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-2 win over qualifier Sena Yoon completed.

Only four boys first round singles matches finished outdoors, with two separate showers mid-afternoon sending the final 12 matches indoors, with the last not finishing until after 9:30 p.m.

Both recent USTA National 16s champions lost today, with Hannah Ayrault beaten by Carrie-Ann Hoo 6-0, 6-2 and Marcel Latak falling to Michael Antonius 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, with the final set of their Kalamazoo quarterfinal rematch played indoors.

Antonius, who had led Latak 6-3, 4-1 serving ten days ago in Kalamazoo, lost that match 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, so he wasn't disappointed to see Latak as his opponent in the first round this week.

"The first thought I had was just 'rematch and revenge'," said the 15-year-old from Buffalo New York. "He was playing very well in Kalamazoo and I knew he was going to be on a streak, with some confidence. In the first set today I brought it to him, but then, what he did in Kalamazoo, that level, it came back in the second and I kind of slowed down."

Antonius had a break point in the opening game of the third set when the rain stopped play, so the timing wasn't the best for a long wait, but he won the first point played indoors to convert it.

Then came a six-deuce game, with Antonius finally holding after saving three break points. The game featured grueling rallies, with nearly every shot landing within a foot of the baseline, but the length and quality of the game, not just its result, gave Antonius confidence.

"I think that game decided the third set," Antonius said. "That game, getting used to the indoors, I felt that it showed I was into the third set, I was back into the match. Even if he won that game, I felt I had shown I was ready to compete again, and was not giving him any freebies."

Antonius was again serving with a 4-1 lead in the third set, but this time, perhaps because of his recent experience and knowledge of Latak's comebacks in Kalamazoo, there was no drama.

"It made me stay extra focused, no matter what he was going to bring," Antonius said. "I was very clear in thinking I needed to focus, not give him anything. Even the one game he did win in the third set, I was still making him work, make every game as close as possible. Last time, 6-3, 4-1 in Kalamazoo, I still went up 5-3, but at that point I was giving him freebies and he got the momentum, so I was trying to avoid that today. I was trying to push him back, as tough as that is, and that was the main focus."

Antonius will face No. 12 seed Savva Rybkin of Russia in the second round Tuesday.

All seeds, listed below, will be in action Tuesday.

1. Oskari Paldanius(FIN)

2. Yannick Alexandrescou(ROU)

3. Alan Wazny(POL)

4. Ryo Tabata(JPN)

5. Timofei Derepasko(RUS)

6. Ronit Karki(USA)

7. Jamie MacKenzie(GER)

8. Keaton Hance(USA)

9. Noah Johnston(USA)

10. Jack Secord(USA)

11. Dominick Mosejczuk(USA)

12. Savva Rybkin(RUS)

13. Linus Lagerbohm(FIN)

14. Krish Tyagi(IND)

15. Zangar Nurlanuly(KAZ)

16. Ryan Cozad(USA)

Girls

1. Luna Cinalli(ARG)

2. Ruen Zhang(CHN)

3. Laima Vladson(LTU)

4. Beatrise Zeltina(LAT)

5. Anastasija Cvetkovic(SRB)

6. Yushan Shao(CHN)

7. Ksenia Efremova(FRA)

8. Tahlia Kokkinis(AUS)

9. Xinran Sun(CHN)

10. Yihan Qu(CHN)

11. Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi(IND)

12. Allegra Korpanec Davies(GBR)

13. Kanon Sawashiro(JPN)

14. Kamonwan Yodpetch(THA)

15. Renee Alame(AUS)

16. Capucine Jauffret(USA)

Live scoring and live streaming(if outdoors) is available at the JTCC tournament page, along with the draws and order of play.

It was a big day at the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem for US Open main draw wild card recipients, with Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch, USTA Collegiate Playoff champion Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest) and Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) all advancing to the second round.

The 17-year-old qualifier Blanch won his first ATP main draw match, beating former ATP No. 12 Borna Coric of Croatia 6-4, 7-6(5). Blanch is the youngest American to win an ATP main draw match since Frances Tiafoe did it at Winston-Salem in 2015.

Basavareddy, who also qualified, beat Raphael Collignon of Belgium 6-2, 7-6(2), and wild card Dostanic beat qualifier Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australia 6-4, 6-2 for his first ATP main draw victory.

The first day of qualifying at the US Open ended this evening with eight Americans advancing to the second round, with all results below.

Monday's US Open first qualifying results of Americans:

Andres Martin[WC] d. Viktor Durasovic(NOR) 6-2, 6-3

Jay Clarke(GBR) d. Jack Satterfield[WC] 7-6(5), 6-1

Patrick Maloney[WC] d. Elias Ymer(SWE) 6-3, 7-6(3)

Murphy Cassone d. Thiago Monteiro(BRA) 6-3, 5-7, 7-5

Marco Trungelliti(ARG) d. Christopher Eubanks 7-5, 3-6, 6-3

Varvara Gracheva[6](FRA) d. Madison Brengle 7-5, 6-3

Hina Inoue d. Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-2 

Katie Volynets[7] d. Sofia Costoulas(BEL) 6-3, 6-4

Dalma Galfi[4](HUN) d. Akasha Urhobo[WC] 6-2, 6-4

Ena Shibahara[20](JPN) d. Kayla Day 7-5, 6-1

Amelia Honer[WC] d. Whitney Osuigwe 6-2, 6-3

Mai Hontama(JPN) d. Kristina Penickova[WC] 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(4)

Alina Charaeva(RUS) d. Monika Ekstrand[WC] 6-3, 6-4

Claire Liu d. Katarzyna Kawa[16](POL) 6-1, 6-3

Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva[28](AND) d. Alexis Nguyen[WC] 6-2, 7-5 

Fiona Crawley[WC] d. Louisa Chirico 6-2, 6-3

Emerson Jones(AUS) d. Bernada Pera[10] 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

Tuesday's first round matches featuring Americans:

Varvara Lepchenko[22] v Janice Tjen(INA)

Sachia Vickery v Anastasiia Sobolieva(UKR)

Mary Stoiana[WC] v Shuai Zhang[9](CHN)

Maya Iyengar[WC] v Dasha Vidmanova(CZE)

Elizabeth Mandlik v Jessika Ponchet[25](FRA)

Ayana Akli[WC] v Eva Vedder(NED)

Mitchell Krueger v Santiago Rodriguez Taverna(ARG)

Michael Zheng[WC] v Yasutaka Uchiyama(JPN)

Martin Damm[WC] v Stefano Travaglia(ITA)

Jack Kennedy[WC] v Thiago Tirante[24](ARG)

Zachary Svajda[22] v August Holmgren(DEN)

Benjamin Willwerth[WC] v Otto Virtanen[9](FIN)

Garrett Johns[WC] v Colton Smith[27]

Patrick Kypson v Bernard Tomic(AUS)

Tyler Zink[WC] v Rei Sakamoto(JPN)

Blanch Qualifies for Winston-Salem Open; ITF J300 College Park Qualifiers Ready for Monday's Main Draw; US Open Qualifying, with 36 Americans, Begins Monday

©Colette Lewis 2025--

College Park MD--

Before I get into my coverage of today's final round of qualifying at the ITF J300 in College Park, there are Winston-Salem ATP 250 qualifying results to highlight, with Kalamazoo champion Darwin Blanch among the quartet reaching the main draw, just a week after claiming the 18s title.

Blanch defeated qualifying No. 4 seed and ATP No. 104 Valentin Royer of France 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), with 12 aces, including one that reached 136 mph. 

I obviously didn't see the match, but the Winston-Salem Open tournament press aide was kind enough to provide me with a short audio of his post-match interview with Blanch, who will be playing the US Open main draw with his Kalamazoo wild card. Blanch, who told me last Sunday that he hasn't played much with expectations, as he had to do in Kalamazoo as the top seed, was back to being the underdog in this weekend's qualifying, albeit with all the confidence of his recent title.

 "Usually when the match is more tense, I usually play better," said Blanch, who received a qualifying wild card. "I've always liked playing in those moments, so it's amazing. Obviously US Open is huge, it's definitely going to be the biggest tournament I've played in my career so far, but this will give me confidence for sure next week. I'm super happy and if I can go match by match, get my level better, and if play my game, I can do pretty good."

The 17-year-old left-hander, who is from Florida, but trains at the Ferrero Academy in Spain, will play Borna Coric of Croatia in the main draw.

Also advancing to the main draw are top qualifying seed Aleks Vukic(Illinois) of Australian, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC); Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), who beat No. 2 qualifying seed Tristan Schoolkate of Australia 6-4, 6-3, and wild card DK Suresh, the Wake Forest rising senior from India, who defeated Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, the No. 3 seed in qualifying, 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-3. Vukic faces wild card Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest); Basavareddy plays Raphael Collignon of Belgium, and Suresh faces Mariano Navone of Argentina.

It was steamy today for the final round of qualifying for the College Park ITF J300 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, with the heat index approaching 100 degrees by the time the girls took the court at midday.

Karlin Schock, the No. 1 seed in qualifying, admitted that the conditions weren't ideal for her, but she managed to reset after losing four straight games at the end of the second set to beat Sobee Oak 6-3, 5-7, 10-7.

"The day just kept getting hotter and I tried to stay in it as much as I could physically," said the 16-year-old from Wisconsin. "I tried to regroup a little bit before the tiebreaker. I knew I had to really focus, and get a good start, and that helped me."

Schock has played Oak often, but thought her opponent was more aggressive than usual while she was unable to come to the net as much as she normally would.

"Usually I come in a little more, but it was harder for me today, I wasn't feeling the greatest," Schock said. "She was playing well today, going more for her shots than she normally does, so it was definitely a battle."

Although Schock and Oak were at 6-all at the second changeover, Schock won the next three points to give herself some breathing room, and unlike the second set, when she served for the match at 5-3, she was able to close it out without much drama.

Schock will face Saturday's Chestertown ITF J100 champion Maggie Sohns in the first round Monday.

Other girls qualifying for the main draw are Sena Yoon, Baotong Xu of China, Kristina Liutova of Russia, Camille Allegre, and Audrey Kao of Taiwan.

Tyler Lee was not planning to play this week, but received an offer of a wild card into qualifying at the last minute, and he advanced to the main draw with a 1-6, 6-0, 10-5 win over Gabriel Jessup.

"I applied for a wild card pretty late and they confirmed it on Thursday," said the 16-year-old from Tustin California. "So I flew red-eye, got in Friday morning at 7 a.m. with an hour of sleep. I practiced for maybe an hour with a friend, and honestly, I didn't have high hopes going into [qualifying]. I wasn't in the best shape, just finished Kalamazoo, and working on some new technique too. It was tough, but the mentality of 'I'm just here to get better' was a good mindset, because it took a lot of pressure off the result and helped me focus on what I was doing."

Lee beat No. 10 seed Matthew Shapiro in the first round of qualifying 6-2, 4-6, 10-5 and received a retirement win from Jens Holger Nissen of Denmark in the second round Saturday evening.  Against Jessup, it was a strategic adjustment that turned the match around.

"I went into the match just trying to hit him off the court, but he let me know I wasn't going to be able to do that," Lee said. "The second set I changed my game plan, trying to do what he was doing best, which was moving the ball and just staying in points. That's not generally my style, but that is something that I can tap into when I have to. In the second set, in these conditions on that court especially--it was pretty slow--my regular game style wasn't going to work. I slowed down the pace a lot, he loved my fast tempo, but this is my version of changing up pace and variety. Most people think of variety as slices and angles and drop shots, but they don't think of the speed of the ball and the height of the ball."

With the strategy successful, Lee was confident in the tiebreaker. 

"There was no need to change anything, because that was definitely the smartest game style for that situation," Lee said. "If I had lost that third set playing that way I wouldn't have been mad, because that was my best possible chance. It was a game of probability and I won it."

Lee plays Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey in the first round Monday.

The other five boys qualifying for the main draw are Xingyu(Michael) Chen, a JTCC student from China; Kahven Singh, Rafael Ferreira of Brazil and Navneet Raghuram. Chen let a 9-6 lead in the match tiebreaker with Gus Grumet slip away, but he converted his fourth match point to win it 7-6(2), 4-6, 11-9.

The seeds won't play until Tuesday, but the match of day for US tennis fans will be in the boys draw, when Michael Antonius and wild card Marcel Latak meet again, after their dramatic quarterfinal in the Kalamazoo 16s, which eventual champion Latak won 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 after trailing 6-3, 4-1. 

Live scoring and live streaming links, as well as the draws and order of play, are available at the JTCC tournament site.

The draws for the US Open qualifying were posted this afternoon, with 21 Americans in the women's draw and 15 Americans in the men's draw, all hoping to win three matches to reach the main draw. 

It appears Hina Inoue got into qualifying on her own ranking at the last minute, with Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) receiving Inoue's qualifying wild card.

Monday's US Open first qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Andres Martin[WC] v Viktor Durasovic(NOR)

Jack Satterfield[WC] v Jay Clarke(GBR)

Patrick Maloney[WC] v Elias Ymer(SWE)

Murphy Cassone v Thiago Monteiro(BRA)

Christopher Eubanks v Marco Trungelliti(ARG)

Madison Brengle v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Lauren Davis v Hina Inoue

Katie Volynets[7] v Sofia Costoulas(BEL)

Akasha Urhobo[WC] v Dalma Galfi[4](HUN)

Kayla Day v Ena Shibahara[20](JPN)

Amelia Honer[WC] v Whitney Osuigwe

Kristina Penickova[WC] v Mai Hontama(JPN)

Monika Ekstrand[WC] v Alina Charaeva(RUS)

Claire Liu v Katarzyna Kawa[16](POL)

Alexis Nguyen[WC] v Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva[28](AND)

Fiona Crawley[WC] v Louisa Chirico

Bernada Pera[10] v Emerson Jones(AUS)

Tuesday's matches:

Varvara Lepchenko[22] v Janice Tjen(INA)

Sachia Vickery v Anastasiia Sobolieva(UKR)

Mary Stoiana[WC] v Shuai Zhang[9](CHN)

Maya Iyengar[WC] v Darja Vidmanova(CZE)

Elizabeth Mandlik v Jessika Ponchet[25](FRA)

Ayana Akli[WC] v Eva Vedder(NED)

Mitchell Kreuger v Santiago Rodriguez Taverna(ARG)

Michael Zheng[WC] v Yasutaka Uchiyama(JPN)

Martin Damm[WC] v Stefano Travaglia(ITA)

Jack Kennedy[WC] v Thiago Tirante[24](ARG)

Zachary Svajda[22] v August Holmgren(DEN)

Benjamin Willwerth[WC] v Otto Virtanen[9](FIN)

Garrett Johns[WC] v Colton Smith[27]

Patrick Kypson v Bernard Tomic(AUS)

Tyler Zink[WC] v Rei Sakamoto(JPN)

Blanch Earns First ATP Victory in Winston-Salem Qualifying; Sohns and Ngounoue Capture J100 Titles in Chestertown; College Park ITF J300 Wild Cards; Jodar Wins First Challenger; Hrastar Claims First Pro Circuit Title

Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch got the biggest win of his pro career today in the qualifying of the ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open, beating ATP No. 116 Tristan Boyer(Stanford) 6-2, 6-3. The 17-year-old left-hander, who today saved the only break point he faced, will play No. 4 seed Valentin Royer of France in Sunday's final round qualifying match. Like Blanch, Royer has received a main draw wild card into the US Open; Blanch for winning Kalamazoo, Royer as the French reciprocal wild card.

Carel Ngounoue and Maggie Sohns won the singles titles today at the ITF J100 in Chestertown Maryland, with the 16-year-old Ngounoue winning his second J100 title of the year, while the 15-year-old Sohns claimed her first ITF Junior Circuit title.

Ngounoue, the No. 3 seed, didn't drop a set all week, defeating No. 2 seed Oliver Sanders of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2. Sohns, the No. 2 seed, didn't lose a set until the final, beating No. 7 seed Londyn McCord 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the championship match.

No. 8 seeds Joanna Kennedy and Katie Spencer won the girls doubles, beating unseeded Sobee Oak and Ukraine's  Alina Vysochenko 6-3, 6-0 in the final. Kennedy and Spencer didn't drop a set in their four victories.

France's Aaron Gabet and Canada's Xavier Massotte, the top seeds, defeated unseeded Connor Plunkett and Andrew Gordon 6-1, 6-3 for the boys doubles title.

Sohns was accepted into the main draw of the ITF J300 in College Park next week; Ngounoue was in qualifying, and since he couldn't play that today, wasn't eligible for a special exempt (SEs are for tournaments within one grade of each other) and isn't on the wild card lists below, he won't be in College Park. UPDATE: Ngounoue is in the main draw, he was apparently the last player to receive direct acceptance after four withdrawals from the main draw.

ITF J300 College Park

MD wild cards

GIRLS

Yael Saffar

Reiley Rhodes

Scarlett Fagan

Shristi Selvan

Janae Preston

Hannah Ayrault

BOYS

Naoto Tomizawa(JPN)

Erik Schinnerer

Nicholas Mekhael

Marcel Latak

Nikolas Stoot

Nicolas Pedraza

Saffar and Tomizawa won the JTCC wild card tournaments. Links to draws, the order of play, live scoring and live streaming can be found at the JTCC tournament website.

Rafael Jodar won the ITF J300 in College Park last year, two weeks before claiming the US Open boys title.

Speaking of the College Park tournament, which I'll be onsite covering beginning Sunday, last year's boys champion Rafael Jodar of Spain won his first ATP Challenger title today at the 50 in Greece. The unseeded rising Virginia sophomore, who turns 19 next month, defeated top seed George Loffhagen of Great Britain in the first round in three sets and won two more three-setters to reach the semifinals. When fellow teen Petr Brunclik of the Czech Republic retired trailing 6-2, 6-0, Jodar was through to his first Challenger final. After defeating No. 6 seed Dan Added of France 6-4, 6-2 in today's final, Jodar is up to a career-high 395 in the ATP live rankings.

At the W15 in Huntsville Alabama, Ava Hrastar(Georgia Tech, Auburn) won her first Pro Circuit title, beating Gabriella Broadfoot(NC State) of South Africa 6-1, 6-1 in the final. 

The unseeded Spanish team of Isabel Adrover Gallego(Nebraska) and Aran Teixido Garcia(Memphis, LSU) won the doubles title in Huntsville, beating No. 4 seeds Broadfoot and Wolfpack teammate Mia Slama 6-2, 6-4.

No. 3 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain won the M15 in Huntsville, beating unseeded Aleksa Ciric(Georgia Gwinnett) 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4 in today's final. 

Unseeded Braden Shick(NC State) and Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest) won the doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Reece Falck and Matthew Shearer of New Zealand 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in the final. It's the first Pro Circuit title for both Shick and Thomson.

My Recap, Video of USTA Boys 18s National Championships; TRN Girls 18s Coverage; ITF J300 College Park Qualifying Begins Saturday; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Results; Winston-Salem Wild Cards

My article on the USTA National 18s Championships in Kalamazoo is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with coverage of the four-set singles final between champion Darwin Blanch and Jack Satterfield and the match-points saving effort of doubles champions Cooper Woestendick and Maxwell Exsted over Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth. Video of the final is below; the video of the 16s final is here.

The Tennis Recruiting Network's coverage of Alyssa Ahn's 18s title in her hometown of San Diego is available here.

Qualifying for the ITF J300 in College Park Maryland begins Saturday and I'll be there Sunday for the final round of qualifying and throughout the remainder of the event.

The boys qualifying draw is full, the girls qualifying draw has first round byes for the top nine seeds. Notable names in the qualifying include Gus Grumet, last year's Kalamazoo 16s champion, who plays No. 2 seed Sean Grosman in the opening round; 2025 San Diego 16s singles finalist Paige Wygodzki and 15-year-old Kristina Liutova of Russia, who last played an ITF junior tournament in March at the ITF J300 in Indian Wells, where she made the semifinals. 

The UTR Pro Tennis Tour and the new Summer Slams, which are shorter events held on college campuses that have $12,500 purses, not the $20,000 purses of the regular PTT event, have been in full swing for several months now, so it's time for another update, with results from June and July.

WOMEN:

June 9 Manchester CT

Kaya Moe d. Victoria Flores 7-5, 6-3

June 12 Atlanta GA (Summer Slam)

Robin Anderson d. Leyla Britez Risso 6-2, 6-4

June 19 Knoxville TN (Summer Slam)

Amelie Smejkalova d. Leyla Britez Risso 6-4, 6-3

June 22 Norman OK

Ava Catanzarite d. Alina Shcherbinina  6-2, 5-7, 6-4

June 23 Newport Beach CA

Victoria Flores d. Veronika Miroshnichenko 6-4, 6-1

June 26 Jacksonville FL (Summer Slam)

Virginia Crocker d. Olivia Bergler 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

July 3 Waco TX (Summer Slam)

Alina Shcherbinina d. Ava Esposito Cogan 7-5, 6-2

July 10 Stillwater OK (Summer Slam)

Jessica Bernales d. Ava Esposito Cogan 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4

July 14 Boston MA

Ziye Liu  d. Sophia Holod 6-2, 6-1

July 16 Newport Beach CA (Summer Slam)

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Gabia Paskauskas 1-6, 6-4, 6-3

July 21 Waco TX

Alina Shcherbinina d. Eva Oxford 6-1, 6-1

July 24 Lincoln NE (Summer Slam)

Kailey Evans d. Alessia Cau 6-0, 6-2

July 28 College Station TX

Alina Shcherbinina d. Sara Nayar 6-1, 6-0

July 31 Los Angeles CA (Summer Slam)

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Daniela Borruel

July 31 Blacksburg VA (Summer Slam)

Jaedan Brown d. Shona Nakano 3-6, 6-4, 6-1

MEN:

June 9 Manchester CT

Stiles Brockett d. Edward Liao 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-4

June 12 Atlanta GA (Summer Slam)

Alexis Gurmendi d. Joaquin Benoit 7-5, 6-2

June 15 Boca Raton FL

Alex Gurmendi d. Benjamin Saltman 6-4, 2-6, 6-3

June 16 Newport Beach CA

Alafia Ayeni d. Alessandro Ventre 6-3, 6-3

June 19 Knoxville TN (Summer Slam)

Janmagnus Johnson d. Jose Garcia 1-6, 6-3, 6-2

June 22 Norman OK

Alan Magadan d. Ilias Worthington 1-6, 6-3, 6-2

June 26 Tuscaloosa AL (Summer Slam)

Aleksa Ciric d. Tyler Sticke 6-3, 6-1

June 26 Jacksonville FL (Summer Slam)

James Connel d. Janmagnus Johnson 7.5, 6-4

July 3 Waco TX (Summer Slam)

Calvin Baierl d. Broday Nejedly-Krall 7-6(3), 603

July 7 Boston MA

Petro Kuzmenok d. Andrii Zimnokh 6-2. 6-4

July 9 Newport Beach CA (Summer Slam)

Miles Jones d. Hugo Hashimoto 6-1, 6-2

July 21 Newport Beach CA

Emon van Loben Sels d. Andy Nguyen 7-5, 6-2

July 21 Waco TX

Landon Ardila d. Zsombor Velcz 7-6(3), 6-3

July 24 (Summer Slam) Lincoln NE

Carter Pate d. Colson Wells 7-5, 6-2

July 28 College Station TX

Damien Savlestre d. Christopher Bulus 6-2, 7-5

July 31 Los Angeles CA (Summer Slam)

Miles Jones d. Agassi Rusher 6-4, 6-3

July 31 Blacksburg VA (Summer Slam)

Janmagnus Johnson d. Sachiv Kumar 6-2, 6-2

The Winston-Salem Open, an ATP 250 tournament, announced its final wild cards today, with Marcos Giron(UCLA), Brandon Holt(USC) and Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, joining Stefan Dostanic, who was previously announced as a wild card after he won the USTA's US Open Collegiate Wild Card Playoff in June. 

Kalamazoo 18s champion Blanch and Wake Forest rising senior DK Suresh received qualifying wild cards. Qualifying begins Saturday.