Kalamazoo Seeds; Sixteen-year-old Qualifier Liutova Wins WTA Memphis 250; Penickova and Gogineni Claim Pro Circuit Titles; Wolf Wins ATP Challenger 125 in Canada; Eligibility Ruling Produces NCAA Chaos

The seeds have been posted for the USTA 18s and 16s National Championships, which begin this Friday, August 7, at Western Michigan University and Stowe Stadium at Kalamazoo College. As is always the case for Kalamazoo, with the different competitive environments of the top players in the field,ATP and World Tennis Junior rankings are considered, as are collegiate records, USTA rankings and World Tennis Numbers. Seeds 33-64 can be viewed via the Players tab via the link above.

Kalamazoo B18s Top 32 Seeds:

1. Jack Kennedy
2. Michael Antonius
3. Andy Johnson
4. Keaton Hance
5. Ronit Karki
6. Jordan Lee
7. Noah Johnston
8. Yannik Alvarez
9. Jack Secord
10. Ryan Cozad
11. Tanishk Konduri
12. Vihaan Reddy
13. Gavin Goode
14. Nikolas Stoot
15. Gus Grumet
16. Marcel Latak
17. Jerrid Gaines Jr
18. Rishvanth Krishna
19. Teodor Davidov
20. Safir Azam
21. Navneet Raghuram
22. Carel Ngounoue
23. Agassi Rusher
24. Roshan Santhosh
25. Peter Jorniak
26. Alexander Suhanitski
27. Jesse Yang
28. Arin Pallegar
29. James Quattro
30. Tyler Lee
31. Noble Renfrow
32. Mason Taube

B16s Top 32 Seeds:

1. Kamil Stolarczyk
2. Sulaiman Syed
3. Daniel Malacek
4. Tristan Stratton
5. Kahven Singh
6. Colter Amey
7. Eli Kaminski
8. Gadin Arun
9. Daniil Berezin
10. Adrian Sharma
11. Anay Kulkarni
12. Piotr Gradzki
13. Ethan Turunen
14. Mikaeel Alibaig
15. Advay Singh
16. Ivan Rybak
17. Michael Chervenkov
18. Gurbaaz Narang
19. Rafael Pawar
20. Joshua Dolinksy
21. Aayush Vartak
22. Lennart Hammargren
23. Alexander Totoian
24. Tabb Tuck
25. Connor Feehan
26. Tristan Ascenzo
27. Arjun Krishnan
28. Griffin Goode
29. Antanas Daugis
30. Ishaan Marla
31. Louden Muha
32. Johnny Wolf

When you are in the same conversation as Coco Gauff, you are in good company, and Kristina Liutova now finds herself officially a phenom after winning the WTA 250 in Memphis this afternoon. The 16-year-old Moscow-born Seattle resident won her sixth match since last Sunday, coming from a set down for the second time this week in her 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over the University of Georgia's 2024 fall NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova of Czechia.

Liutova's slow start was nothing new for her this week, but as before, she never panicked, using her depth, consistency and defense to get herself back into the match, while Vidmanova's level dropped as Liutova's rose. When Liutova served for the match at 5-2 in the third, Vidmanova came up with three winners on Liutova's three championship points and eventually broke, but again Liutova never expressed any frustration or doubt and she broke Vidmanova in the next game to secure the title.

Liutova, up to 126 in the WTA live rankings after starting the year at 714, is the first player 16-and-under to win a WTA tournament since Coco Gauff won the WTA 250 in Linz as a 15-year-old in 2019.

As it happens, one of Liutova's wins in last December's run to the Orange Bowl final was over Annika Penickova, who won her first singles title on the Pro Circuit today at the W35 in Florence South Carolina. The 16-year-old left-hander, playing in her first singles final, defeated 21-year-old qualifier Piper Charney, a rising senior at Michigan, 6-3, 6-4 in this morning's final. 

Annika and twin sister Kristina won the doubles title yesterday, their second at a W35 in the past two weeks.

Another young American picked up a first USTA Pro Circuit title today, with unseeded Vignesh Gogineni ending the winning streak of No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) in the final of the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois. Gogineni, a recent Yale graduate who finished his career No. 25 in the ITA national rankings, handed the Louisville M25 champion a 6-4, 6-2 loss and will head into his Cincinnati Open qualifying appearance a week from Tuesday full of confidence. Baris received a wild card into the main draw of the Lexington Challenger 75 this coming week.

Unseeded Anastasia Kulikova of Finland won the W75 in Lexington Kentucky today, beating No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 7-5, 6-4 in this afternoon's final. 

Last night, Akli and Fiona Crawley won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 2-6, 7-6(3), 12-10. Akli defended her doubles title from last year, when she played with Eryn Cayetano(USC); she now has seven USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles, all at W35s and above, in the past two years. Crawley now has four doubles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit, with four different partners.

JJ Wolf, who reached the quarterfinals of the Bloomfield Hills Challenger 125 last week, headed west this week, receiving entry into the Vancouver Canada 125 via his protected ranking, after his long injury hiatus last year. After winning an M15 and an M25 in his comeback this year, Wolf broke through again on the Challenger level, winning his first Challenger title in five years last night with a 7-5, 6-1 win over No. 8 seed Mark Lajal of Estonia.

After several rain delays, the match was moved indoors, where the former Ohio State All-American was obviously more comfortable. Like fellow Cincinnati resident Gogineni, Wolf has received a qualifying wild card for the ATP Masters 1000 there; his ranking with the Vancouver title has jumped from 563 to 282.

Division I NCAA sports, including tennis, were thrown into chaos Friday with a ruling that granted a fifth year of eligibilty to those in the 2022 high school graduating class, who the NCAA had ruled completed their eligibility in 2026 when they adopted the new five-in-five plan, which is scheduled to begin in 2027.

For details of the initial ruling, see this USA Today article at Yahoo Sports.

The NCAA plans to appeal the decision, and today there were clarifications provided on the injunction issued Friday. Those can be found at this USA Today article at Yahoo Sports.

Liutova Faces Vidmanova for Memphis WTA 250 Title; Penikcova Goes for Sweep vs Charney in Florence; 2025 USTA National 18s Doubles Champions Win Pro Circuit Titles; Baris and Gogineni Advance to Edwardsville M25 Final; Akli Reaches W75 Lexington Final

Kristina Liutova will play for the WTA 250 Memphis Open title Sunday in her first appearance in a WTA main draw, facing 2024 NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova of Czechia, who also has reached her first WTA final this week.

Liutova did not need a comeback in her 7-5, 6-1 semifinal win over Elvina Kalieva today, with the 16-year-old qualifier taking control of the match with a break at 5-all in the first set, and rolling from there. Liutova, who had to win a third-set tiebreaker against WTA 619 Mariia Kozyreva(St. Marys) in the final round of qualifying, defeated three WTA Top 100 players to reach the semifinals: Ekaterina Alexandrova, Maya Joint and Caty McNally. 

The 23-year-old Vidmanova, who won all three NCAA titles--singles, doubles and team--in her career at Georgia, began the week at 114 in the WTA rankings and is unseeded, but has picked up two Top 100 wins of her won this week over Katie Volynets 6-5, 6-7(5), 6-1 in the quarterfinals and Renata Zarazua of Mexico in today's semifinal, 6-3, 6-3.

Sixteen-year-old Annika Penickova is through to her second USTA Pro Circuit singles final and the first above the W15 level after her 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win today over No. 2 seed Angelina Voloshchuk of Portugal at the W35 in Florence South Carolina. Penickova will play 21-year-old Michigan rising senior Piper Charney, a qualifier, who reached her first career Pro Circuit final with a 7-6(7), 6-4 win over UCLA rising sophomore Mayu Crossley of Japan.

Penickova then added a second straight W35 doubles title with twin sister Kristina, who defeated fellow unseeded teens Alyssa Ahn(Stanford) and Krisha Mahendran(USC) of India 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Annika and Kristina are now on an eight-match winning streak in doubles, having won last week's W35 in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Kristina, who won the USTA National 18s title in San Diego last August with Thea Frodin while Annika was out with an injury, was one of three Americans who won 2025 National 18s titles today.

At the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois, Kalamazoo 18s champions Max Exsted(USC) and Cooper Woestendick(TCU), seeded third, defeated 2026 US Open Collegiate Playoff champions Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals and Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) and Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Exsted and Woestendick, who won their first round match last year at the US Open, have not played together since falling to No. 6 seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the second round in New York. But they did not drop a set this week, proving that their chemistry survived their collegiate schedules. It's Exsted's second title of the summer, having won the M15 in San Diego with Noah Johnston(Georgia).

All five matches (doubles semifinals and final, singles semifinals) on the schedule Saturday at Edwardsville were played indoor due to rain, with No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) extending his winning streak to nine matches with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over top seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain.

Baris, who won the Louisville M25 title two weeks ago, will face unseeded Vignesh Gogineni, the recent Yale graduate, who advanced to his first Pro Circuit final with a 6-2, 4-1 retired victory over No. 7 seed Bruno Kuzuhara(Clemson).

Rain also disrupted the semifinals of the W75 in Lexington Kentucky, but No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) returned from the delay at 6-3, 5-3 to close out doubles partner and No. 2 seed Fiona Crawley(UNC). Crawley had saved four match points before the rain delay, but couldn't save a fifth two points after resumption of the match. The 25-year-old Akli will play for her biggest title Sunday against unseeded Anastasia Kulikova of Finland, who beat unseeded Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. 

Akli and Crawley, the No. 2 seeds, are playing top seeds Collins and Savannah Broadus in tonight's doubles final.

July Aces; Liutova Advances to Memphis WTA 250 Semifinal; Penickova Reaches Semis at W35 Florence; Akli and Crawley Face Off in Lexington W75 Saturday; Gogineni Makes Final Four at Edwardsville M25, Receives Cincy Qualifying Wild Card

My monthly column featuring the top performances of July is up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, with 19 juniors, collegians and former collegians winning titles last month. Collegians and juniors are so prevalent and so successful on the World Tennis Tour men's and women's circuits now that I couldn't highlight all those who won W35s, M25s, M15s or W15s. I had to quit featuring the latter two sometime last year, but this month was the first time I couldn't find room for the 35s and 25s. 

Here are several that I couldn't cover in the Aces, but still deserve a mention: Trevor Svajda(SMU), M25 Dallas; Ozan Baris(MSU) M25 Louisville; Kenta Miyoshi(Illinois) M25 Canada; Kalin Ivanovski(Texas) M25 Macedonia; Carl Overbeck(Cal) back-to-back M25s in June, July in Portugal; Khololwam Montsi (Oklahoma, Texas A&M) 2 M15s in South Africa;  and 16-year-old Antonio Stoyanov of the Netherlands, who won a W35 in Italy as a qualifier.

Kristina Liutova continues to post wins over WTA Top 100 players, with the Moscow-born 16-year-old from Seattle defeating No. 73 Caty McNally, the No. 6 seed at the WTA Memphis 250, 6-3, 6-4.

Liutova, playing in her first WTA main draw as a qualifier, trailed 3-1 in the first set, winning the final five games and 4-0 in the second set, claiming the final six games to earn her place in the semifinals against 23-year-old American Elvina Kalieva. The unseeded Kalieva defeated No. 7 seed Peyton Stearns(Texas) tonight after a three-hour rain delay this afternoon 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

Unseeded Annika Penickova is through to her first semifinal at the W35 level in Florence South Carolina, with the unseeded 16-year-old left-hander defeating No. 4 seed Ekaterina Khayrutinova(FIU, Auburn) 6-4, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals. Penickova will face No. 2 seed Angelina Voloshchuk of Portugal for a place in the final. Voloshchuk defeated USC rising sophomore Krisha Mahendran of India, a qualifier, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Annika and twin sister Kristina are through to the doubles final in Florence after winning the title last week at the W35 in Santa Fe. The unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Carmen Herea(Texas) of Romania and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine 4-6, 6-1, 13-11 in today's semifinals. They will play the unseeded team of Mahendran and Alyssa Ahn(Stanford) for the title, after Ahn and Mahendran beat unseeded Khayrutdinova and Christasha McNeil(Texas) 1-6, 6-3, 10-4.

In the top half of the singles draw, Piper Charney, a rising senior at Michigan, will face unseeded Mayu Crossley of Japan, a rising sophomore at UCLA. Charney defeated fellow qualifier Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State) 6-2, 7-5, while Crossley advanced when No. 8 seed Alexis Nguyen(UNC) retired down 4-1 in the first set.

At the W75 in Lexington Kentucky, former collegiate stars Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) and Fiona Crawley(UNC) have advanced to a semifinal meeting, with No. 3 seed Akli defeating No. 6 seed Hanna Chang 6-4, 6-1 and Crawley beating No. 8 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 7-6(1) 6-3.

Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) defeated top seed Sara Saito of Japan this evening 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and she will face the only non-American in the semifinals: Anastasia Kulikova of Finland. The unseeded Kulikova defeated No. 7 seed Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) 6-4, 7-5.

Rain fell most of the day in Edwardsville Illinois, but the singles quarterfinals of M25 were played this evening, with three Americans advancing to Saturday's semifinals. No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(MSU) defeated wild card Max Exsted(USC) 6-3, 6-1 and will play top seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain.

No. 7 seed Bruno Kuzuhara(Clemson) defeated Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-4 and will play Vignesh Gogineni, who beat No. 2 seed Karim Bennani of Morocco 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Not only did Gogineni, the recent Yale graduate, reach his third M25 semifinal with his win today, but he was also announced as a recipient of a men's qualifying wild card at next month's ATP/WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open. Gogineni, who is from Mason Ohio, will play his first tournament above the M25 level in his hometown.

JJ Wolf, who is playing in the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 125 in Vancouver Canada tonight, also received a qualifying wild card, as did Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) and 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch. Kei Nishikori of Japan, who is retiring later this year, also was given a qualifying wild card.

The main draw wild cards were awarded to Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov, Gael Monfils and Jack Draper.

The announcement can be found at the ATP website.

Liutova Advances to WTA Memphis 250 Quarterfinals; Talking Top Collegiate Newcomers on No-Ad No-Problem Podcast; Crossley Beats Top Seed, Nguyen and Penickova Reach Florence W35 Quarterfinals; Baris Overcomes 5-0 Third Set Deficit to Extend M25 Winning Streak

Sixteen-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova, who won two USTA Pro Circuit W100s in May and June, has continued to reach new heights this week at the WTA 250 in Memphis Tennessee. After outlasting top seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who retired with a heat-related illness on Tuesday after three hours and trailing 4-5 in the third set of the first round, Liutova won another three-setter in less debilitating conditions today, beating WTA No. 76 Maya Joint of Australian 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Liutova, who was born in Moscow but has lived in the United States since 2020, has now reach the WTA Top 200 in the live rankings, and will face No. 6 seed Caty McNally in Friday's quarterfinals. 

Seventeen-year-old qualifier Cruz Hewitt of Australia was not able to equal Liutova's feat today in his second round match against top seed Alex de Minaur. Hewitt, who picked up his first ATP main draw win against Marcos Giron(UCLA) at the ATP 500 Mubadala DC Open Tuesday, lost to de Minaur 6-2, 6-3. De Minaur, the defending champion, will next play Brandon Nakashima(Virginia), who beat No. 7 seed Jakub Mensik of Czechia 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 today. Taylor Fritz[3] and Bloomfield Hills Challenger champion Alex Michelsen will play in the other top half quarterfinal Friday.

I joined John Parsons on his No-Ad No-Problem podcast this week to discuss the top newcomers to collegiate tennis, with the fall season less than two months away. We discussed the players aged 20-and-under who are likely have the biggest impact on their teams and where they could fit into the lineups, with additional comments on how recruiting has changed in the new NIL landscape, with the urgency to sign top juniors decreasing for many top programs. Subscribe to John's indispensible podcast for all things college tennis; the newcomer episode is available here.

The three USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week have survived the worst of the heat, and the quarterfinals are set for Friday.

At the W35 in Florence South Carolina, US teens Annika Penickova and No. 8 seed Alexis Nguyen(spoiler alert: she's featured in the podcast) have advanced to the quarterfinals, with Nguyen set to face UCLA rising sophomore Mayu Crossley of Japan, who took out top seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile 6-3, 6-2.

Rising UNC freshman Nguyen advanced via a second consecutive retirement, with NC State rising senior Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa retiring trailing 7-6(6), 2-0. 

Penickova defeated No. 5 seed and rising Texas junior Carmen Herea of Romania, who finished the year No. 3 in the ITA rankings, 6-3, 6-1 and will play No. 4 seed Ekaterina Khayrutdinova(FIU, Auburn) next.

A qualifier is guaranteed in the semifinals, with Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State) facing Piper Charney(Michigan). Chan defeated Annika's twin sister Kristina 7-6(6), 6-0, while Charney took out No. 7 seed Yiming Dang of China 6-0, 6-4.

The bottom quarterfinals will feature No. 2 seed Angelina Voloshchuk of Portugal and qualifier Krisha Mahendran(USC) of India. Mahendran, a rising sophomore at USC, defeated Amy Zhu(Michigan) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Voloshchuk defeated 16-year-old wild card Jordyn Hazelitt 6-3, 6-2.

Recent Michigan State graduate Ozan Baris needed over three-and-a-half hours and had to save five match points, but the No. 5 seed extended his M25 winning streak to seven matches today in Edwardsville Illinois. The 22-year-old from Michigan, the champion two weeks ago in Louisville, won the last seven games of the match after trailing TCU rising sophomore Oliver Bonding of Great Britain 5-7, 7-6(5), 5-0. Baris will face wild card Max Exsted(USC), who advanced with a second consecutive retirement, with No. 3 seed Samir Banerjee(Stanford) retiring trailing 6-4, 2-2.

Top seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain defeated 18-year-old Keaton Hance 6-1, 6-4.

The other Americans through to the quarterfinals are Bruno Kuzuhara[7](Clemson) and Jack Anthrop(Ohio State), who play Friday, and recent Yale graduate Vignesh Gogineni, who face No. 2 seed Karim Bennani of Morocco.

Five Americans are through to the quarterfinals at the W75 in Lexington Kentucky, with four of them former collegians.

No. 2 seed Fiona Crawley(UNC), unseeded Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State), No. 7 seed Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina), won their matches today, with Akli beating 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston 6-4, 6-2.

Akli will play the fifth American in the quarterfinals, No. 6 seed Hanna Chang, who is looking to add to her point total in the USTA US Open wild card race. Chang won the Dallas W35 in Week One and is currently in third place with those 35 points.

US Open Junior Boys Acceptance List Features All Three 2026 Slam Champions Plus Every Top 30 Boy; WT Junior No. 1, Australian Open and Wimbledon Champions Highlight Girls Field

The acceptances lists for the US Open Junior Championships, which run from September 6th to September 12th this year, were published today, with a boys field that includes the entire top 33 in the World Tennis junior rankings. The only boy in the Top 50 who did not enter is No. 34 Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands. With eight wild cards, eight qualifiers and two special exempt spots, the cutoff is 47; last year it was 49.

All three reigning junior slam champions have entered: Australian Open boys champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, Roland Garros Champion Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil and Jordan Lee of the United States.

Ten US boys have been accepted into the main draw: Roland Garros finalist Michael Antonius, Australian Open finalist Keaton Hance, Lee, Andy Johnson, Jack Kennedy, Jack Secord, Ryan Cozad, Tanishk Konduri, Vihaan Reddy and Gavin Goode.

Two US boys are in qualifying: Safir Azam, who is nine out of the main draw, and Marcel Latak. The initial qualifying cutoff is 77.

The girls acceptance list features a more typical number of absences, with two of the Top 10 missing (No. 8 Anastasiia Cetkovic of Serbia and No. 10 Alena Kovackova of Czechia) and seven other Top 50 players. Among those is No. 17 Kristina Penickova, who has said that San Diego will be her only junior event this summer.

Australian Open champion Ksenia Efremova of France and Wimbledon champion Anna Pushkareva will be in search of a rare second junior slam singles title, while World Tennis junior No. 1 Xinran Sun of China, the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist, hopes the third time will be the charm in her quest for a junior slam title. 

Kristina Liutova, who will be accepted into the women's singles qualifying field, has received entry based on her WTA ranking of 229. 

As was the case last year, just five US girls have been accepted into the main draw: Janae Preston, Jordyn Hazelitt, Welles Newman, Thea Frodin and Melije Clarke. The main draw cutoff this year is 54; it was 50 last year.

Unlike the boys, there are a host of US girls in qualifying, including Anita Tu, who is next in, Lani Chang, three out, and Olivia Traynor, eight out. The other US girls in qualifying are Hannah Ayrault, Maggie Sohns, Sarah Ye, Kennedy Drenser- Hagmann and Nancy Lee. The initial girls qualifying cutoff is 87.

The only special regional place awarded in either draw was in the girls qualifying, where No. 112 Jahnie Van Zyl of South Africa received entry after satisfying the criteria of being Top 150, with her region not otherwise represented in the acceptances.

Wild Cards for USTA 16s and 18s Nationals Include Pareja; Liutova and Hewitt Claim First WTA/ATP Wins; Zheng and Dolehide Top USTA US Open Wild Card Race; Qualifying Complete at USTA Pro Circuit W75 Lexington and W35 Florence

Seventeen-year-old Julieta Pareja lost her first round match at the WTA 500 Mubadala DC Open today after advancing to main draw via qualifying, falling to WTA No. 42 Xinyu Wang of China 7-6(3), 6-3. Pareja couldn't convert three set points with Wang serving at 5-6 in the first set, and Wang's advantage on serve, which included eight aces that helped her save nine of the 12 break points she faced, ultimately proving to be the difference in the match.

Pareja will be playing the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18s Nationals in San Diego however, as she was added as a an entrant today as a wild card. The other five wild cards in the 18s are Alexis Nguyen, Annika Penickova, Bella Payne, Kori Montoya and Maria Aytoyan. Aytoyan's wild card is something of a mystery, as she was on the initial acceptance list, but is now listed in the group of wild cards. Shannon Lam, who has a live WTA ranking of 651, did not receive a wild card, nor did Texas rising sophomore Elizabeth Ionescu. 

The Girls 16s wild cards are Aleksandra Jerkunica, Kyndall Noel, Angela Li, Elsa Sahandi and Ariana Morris. 

The full list of competitors is here.

The Kalamazoo 18s wild cards are Zavier Augustin, Nikolas Stoot, Matteo Huarte, Arin Pallegar, Graeme Angus and Izyan Ahmad. The Kalamazoo 16s wild cards are Tomas Laukys, Sulaiman Syed, Johnny Wolf and Carter Jauffret.

The full list of competitors is here.

Seventeen-year-old Cruz Hewitt of Australia and 16-year-old Kristina Liutova won their first ATP and WTA matches in their debuts today in Washington DC and Memphis.

At the ATP 500 Mubadala DC Open, Hewitt, the Wimbledon boys finalist, defeated fellow qualifier Marcos Giron(UCLA) 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the second round. Hewitt will next face the winner of the match between top seed Alex de Minaur of Australia and wild card Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. Hewitt had posted a main draw Challenger win last fall, but this is his first main draw win on the ATP Tour.

Sixteen-year-old Liutova, who has won two USTA Pro Circuit W100s this spring, qualified for the new WTA 250 in Memphis yesterday and today took on top seed and WTA No. 19 Ekaterina Alexandrov. The match, which was over three hours in duration, came down to the final games, after Liutova had come back from 4-2 down to even the third set by breaking Alexandrova in an eight-deuce game. Liutova held quickly for a 5-4 lead, and Alexandrova began to struggle physically in the next game. At 4-5, 15-30, she went down to the court on the baseline, with the doctor and trainer immediately assisting her. After a few minutes of evaluation, she received a medical timeout, but although she got to her feet, she was unable to continue and the chair announced her retirement. This was one of three first round matches played in the morning, beginning at 10 a.m. due to the heat; the other five matches today didn't begin until this evening.

Liutova will face Maya Joint of Australia in the second round.

Week Two of the USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge has concluded with Caroline Dolehide and Michael Zheng(Columbia) moving into the top spots. Today's release from the USTA:

US Open Wild Card Challenge Standings Update

 

Caroline Dolehide, Michael Zheng Lead After Week 2 

 

ORLANDO, Fla., July 28, 2026 – Twenty-seven-year old Caroline Dolehide and 22-year old Michael Zheng are the leaders of the USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge after its second of four weeks for the women and five weeks for the men.

Dolehide, who won her first World Tennis Tour title since 2023 and ninth overall, leads the women’s standings after winning the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Evansville, Ind., on Sunday. The victory is Dolehide’s biggest title to date having won four W60s, three W25s and one W10. Second-place Malaika Rapolu won the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Santa Fe, N.M., over the weekend.

 

Zheng, who is a two-time NCAA men’s singles champion, reached the semifinal of the USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger 125 in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He is just seven points ahead of Evan Bynoe, who won the USTA Pro Circuit M25 in Champaign, Ill.

The top of the standings after Week 2:

 

 

Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Caroline Dolehide (252) -- 100

2. Malaika Rapolu (387) -- 43
3. Hanna Chang (303) -- 35

 

 

Men's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Michael Zheng (118) -- 35
2. Evan Bynoe (939) -- 28
3. Ozan Baris (486) -- 25

 

 

The men's wild card will go to the American with the highest cumulative total of ATP singles ranking points earned from their best four results over five weeks. The Men's Challenge counts outdoor and indoor hard-court events at the M25-level and above around the world.

 

The women's wild card will go to the American with the highest cumulative total of WTA singles ranking points earned from their best three results over four weeks. The Women's Challenge counts outdoor and indoor hard-court events at the W35-level and above around the world.

 

Both main draw and qualifying points earned from eligible tournaments count toward each player’s Challenge total. Results from the Cincinnati Open will not count for either the men or the women.

Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the US Open are not eligible, including those who can enter with a protected ranking. Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the US Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on the Monday following the end of the Challenge will earn the wild card. Challenge ends August 9 for the Women and August 16 for the Men.

The qualifying is complete for the two women's Pro Circuit tournaments this week, and first round matches were also played today at both the W35 in Florence South Carolina and the W75 in Lexington Kentucky. 

In Florence, six Americans advanced to the main draw: Liv Hovde(Duke), 17-year-old Carlota Moreno, Ava Catanzarite(UCLA, Oklahoma), Piper Charney(Michigan), Claire Hill(UNC, Wake Forest) and Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State).

Wild cards were awarded to Trinetra Vijayakumar(Vanderbilt), Kate Fakih(UCLA) and 16-year-old Jordyn Hazelitt.

Vijayakumar lost to top seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile 7-5, 6-4, Fakih plays No. 8 seed Alexis Nguyen(UNC), and Hazelitt defeated doubles partner Welles Newman 6-2, 6-2 in first round action today.

In Lexington, Lexington Reed(Texas A&M), McKenna Schaefbauer(llinois) and 18-year-old Rachael Smith are the Americans who qualified for the main draw.

Wild cards were given to Luciana Perry(Ohio State), who lost to top seed Sara Saito of Japan 6-3, 7-6(7) in first round action today; Mia Slama(NC State), Julia Zhu(Kentucky) of Germany and 15-year-old Janae Preston.  Preston advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over BoYoung Jeong of Korea, and will face No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) next. Seventeen-year-old Thea Frodin lost her first round match to Anastasia Kulikova of Finland 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Former UNC All-American Fiona Crawley is the No. 2 seed, with Hina Inoue the No. 4 seed.

Heat has continued to be a problem at the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois, with the third and final round of the 64-player qualifying being pushed into this evening. The first round of doubles is also scheduled for tonight, but no main draw singles matches. Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain is the No. 1 seed, with Karim Bennani of Morocco the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Kyle McNally(Dayton), Max Exsted(USC), Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) and Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State).