Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
This Week's USTA Pro Circuit Features M25 in Pensacola and W35 in Bethany Beach; USTA's Urhobo Feature; Goodman Named Head Coach at Missouri; ITA Announces New Board of Directors; IONsport Partners with Tennis Europe
Qualifying was completed today at the two events on the USTA Pro Circuit, with the women competing in a W35 in Bethany Beach Delaware and the men playing at an M25 in Pensacola Florida.
Rain washed out the first day of qualifying Monday in Bethany Beach, so two rounds had to be played today, but fortunately for officials, the qualifying draws did not fill and and several players qualified without playing a match.
Americans reaching the main draw via qualifying are: Ligaya Murray, a Baylor recruit, Kaitlyn Carnicella(Auburn, South Carolina), Jane Dunyon(South Carolina), Paola Lopez and Zoe Hitt.
Only one wild card was awarded, to 18-year-old Florida signee Capucine Jauffret, a Delaware native.
Madison Brengle, another Delaware native, is the top seed, with Anna Rogers(NC State) the No. 2 seed.
Four first round matches were played today, with future Georgia Bulldog, Bella Payne beating former Georgia Bulldog Mell Reasco, the No. 4 seed from Ecuador, 7-6(2), 7-6(5). No. 3 seed Haley Giavara(Cal), Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) and Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) also won their opening matches.
In Pensacola, five American advanced through qualifying to reach the main draw: Drew Van Orderlain, Oren Vasser(William & Mary, Miami), Ilyas Fahim(Virginia Tech), Ryan Haviland(Stanford) and Alex Finkelstein(Brown, SMU). Kentucky junior Eli Stephenson advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser.
The three wild cards went to LSU recruit Nick Stoot, who won his first round match today; Lucca Liu(UC Santa Barbara) and Florida State's Justin Lyons and Corey Craig.
Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) is the top seed, with Andrew Fenty(Michigan) the No. 2 seed.
Roland Garros main draw wild card winner Akasha Urhobo is the subject of an in-depth feature at the USTA's new Inside American Tennis newsletter. USTA National Coach Jermaine Jenkins, who has been working with Urhobo for nearly a year now, explains how he and Urhobo have been building her baseline game, as she was one of the rare juniors who learned to serve and volley from the outset.
Another recent article focuses on Welles Newman and Jordyn Hazelitt, who won the W35 Boca Raton doubles title two weeks ago.
The University of Missouri named a new women's head coach today: University of Tennessee associate head coach Robin Goodman. Missouri's previous head coach, Bianca Turati returned to her alma mater Texas last summer as an associate head coach, with Silvia Chinellato, her associate head coach at Missouri named interim coach for the 2025-26 season.
The ITA announced its new board of directors for the two-year term beginning July 1, 2026. You may recognize some of them, but others may be new to you, so take time to read the biographies of those who will be leading the governing body of college tennis in the coming years.IONSport, which has provided live scoring for Kalamazoo for the past several years and has been in the college tennis space for quite some time, has announced a major partnership with TennisEurope for its junior events. The press release is below:
ATLANTA (May 11, 2026) – Tennis Europe has announced a multi-year partnership with IONSport, naming the company its Official Live Scoring and Data Partner and integrating the platform at all Tennis Europe Junior Tour events.
Beginning this summer, IONSport will power a unified scoring and data ecosystem across approximately 540 tournaments and team events held at over 300 venues in 45 member nations, bringing consistent scoring, centralized data delivery, and enhanced digital experiences to one of the largest junior tennis networks in the world. Together, this represents one of the most comprehensive digital scoring implementations in junior tennis and lays the foundation for continued innovation in how match data is captured, distributed, and experienced across the Tennis Europe network.
From first serve to match point, the platform will deliver live scoring, real-time match statistics, and integrated digital distribution across mobile, web, broadcast, and in-venue experiences, turning every match into a connected, shareable moment for players, coaches, and fans. The platform will also serve as a single digital destination for scores, statistics, streaming video, and match updates.
The collaboration is designed to deliver faster, more reliable live scoring and instant access to results, draws, and schedules for players, while providing tournaments with standardized tools that reduce operational workload and enhance both on-site and online fan experiences. Built to integrate seamlessly with existing tournament operations, IONSport simplifies scoring and data management while enabling consistent execution across events of all sizes.
“Technology continues to play an increasingly important role in the development and visibility of our sport,” said Henrik Thorsøe Pedersen, President of Tennis Europe. “By appointing IONSport as our Official Live Scoring and Data Partner, we are ensuring that Tennis Europe competitions are supported by world-class digital infrastructure. This partnership strengthens the competitive environment for our players while enhancing engagement and accessibility for fans, coaches, and national associations across Europe.”
“We are honored to be named the Official Live Scoring and Data Partner of Tennis Europe,” said Dave Mowrey, Founder and CEO of IONSport. “With IONSport integrated into the Tennis Europe competition framework, we’re not just delivering live scoring, we’re creating a more connected competition experience across every tournament, every match, and every point.”
In the coming weeks, Tennis Europe Junior Tour event organisers will be contacted with full details on implementation timelines, onboarding, and how to prepare for upcoming events as part of this partnership.
For more information, visit https://www.ionsport.com/.
For company updates and announcements, follow @IONSportapp on Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
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Posted by Colette Lewis at 11:02 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, ITF, Junior Profiles U.S., Pro Circuit, Technology Update, USTA, World Tennis Tour
Monday, May 11, 2026
Mendell and Godoy Win J100 Titles in Costa Rica; Top Seeds Out at ITF J300 Santa Croce; ITF Junior No. 3 Alexandrescou Signs with Duke; ITF Junior No. 1 Efremova, Jones, Kouame Receive Roland Garros Wild Cards
American juniors dominated the ITF J200 in Tennessee last week, with my coverage of the doubles titles in Friday's post and the singles titles earned by Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann and Tyler Lee in Sunday's post.
Americans also swept the singles titles at the J100 in Costa Rica last week, with Ellery Mendell going back-to-back and Sebastian Godoy sweeping the titles.
No. 2 seed Mendell, a 16-year-old from Georgia, had won the J100 two weeks ago in Costa Rica without dropping a set. The future Ohio State Buckeye did have a tough semifinal this week, beating No. 3 seed Aoi Watanabe of Japan 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-2, but the 2026 Easter Bowl 18s champion had no trouble in the final, beating top seed Sera Park of Korea 6-1, 6-0. With her fourth ITF singles title of the year, she has moved into the ITF Junior Top 200 for the first time.
The seventh-seeded Godoy, also 16, defeated top seed Charles Minivielle 7-5, 7-5 in the semifinals and third-seeded South African Jayden Summers 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-0 in the final for the third ITF Junior Circuit singles title of his career.
Godoy and Mason Vaughan, the No. 2 seeds, defeated No. 3 seeds Anay Kulkarni and Nicolas Pedraza 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Audrey Dussault and Canadian Payton Dith won the girls doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Azul Lopez Vazquez R of Mexico and Aurora Lugo of Puerto Rico 6-2, 2-6, 12-10 in the final.
There were three others singles titles last week for Americans, all at the J30 level.
In the US Virgin Islands, No. 6 seed Noah Vinbaytel won his first ITF Junior Circuit title, with the 16-year-old from Florida defeating Karl Ekstrand 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. No. 3 seed Sofia Dvortsova won her second career singles title, with the 14-year-old from Florida defeating No. 2 seed Quinn Sommer, also 14, 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
Leyla Kilgour and the Netherlands Danica Struiken won the girls doubles title, beating the unseeded Canadian team of Maya Lazar and Mina Woodruff 6-4, 7-5 in the final. No. 3 seeds Mateo Garcia Castro and Israel's Kai Lev won the boys doubles title, beating No. 4 seeds Amaury Blondet of Puerto Rico and David Llovera De Lasse of Mexico 6-0, 6-4.
In Cote D'Ivoire, 17-year-old Poudima Gnarou won her second ITF Junior singles title, both this year, with the top seed defeating No. 2 seed Alexie Duclair of Canada 7-6(6), 2-6, 7-6(7) in the final.
At the J200 in Austria, top seeds Olivia Traynor and Brooke Wallman won the girls doubles title, beating No. 2 seed Sofia Barhacova of Slovakia and Kristyna Dulikova of Czechia 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Top seed Traynor and Kori Montoya, the No. 5 seed, advanced to the quarterfinals in singles.
At the J100 in Canada, Ariana Morris partnered with Yelyzaveta Dovhopol of Ukraine for the girls doubles title. The No. 3 seeds defeated top seeds Elisabeth Djabourian and Elicia Lin of Canada 3-6, 6-4, 12-10 in the final.
Americans swept the doubles titles at the J60 in Nicaragua, with unseeded Dylan and Luke Jones defeating unseeded Xavier Alonso Rozada of Mexico and Jaden Chui of Hong Kong 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
No. 4 seeds Vibha Gogineni and Myna Medicetty won the girls doubles title, defeating top seeds Romina Dominguez Garcia of Mexico and Amina Nurmakhan of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
This week's ITF J300 in Santa Croce Italy began today with two big upsets. Girls top seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina lost to Maria Valentina Pop of Romania, who won last week's J200 in Italy, 6-2, 6-0. Boys top seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan fell to wild card Mattia Logrippo of Italy 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.
Just one American is in the boys draw, Jack Secord, with Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico the No. 2 seed.
Four US girls were in the main draw: qualifier Hannah Ayrault, who won the J200 two weeks ago in Sumter SC; Ireland O'Brien, Nancy Lee and Carrie-Ann Hoo. O'Brien and Lee lost their opening round matches today, Hoo won her first round match and Ayrault plays hers Tuesday.
The number of top ITF juniors choosing to attend college in the United States has increased dramatically over the past several years and today another one will be taking that path this fall, with Yannick Alexandrescou of France signing with Duke for this fall. The 18-year-old, who began representing France late last year after previously competing for Romanis, is currently No. 3 in the ITF junior rankings with a career-high of No. 2.
Roland Garros announced its wild cards today, with three 17-year-olds receiving main draw wild cards: ITF World Junior No. 1 Ksenia Efremova of France, the 2026 Australian Open girls champion; Emerson Jones, who received Australia's reciprocal wild card, and Moise Kouame of France, who is up to 313 in the ATP ranking after three ITF men's titles this year and success on the ATP Challenger Tour. The only other teenaged wild card is 19-year-old Floridian Akasha Urhobo, who won the reciprocal wild card in the USTA's annual competition recently.
Women's main draw wild cards:Clara Burel, France
Ksenia Efremova, France
Posted by Colette Lewis at 8:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, International Tournaments, ITF, Pro Events
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Liutova Wins Indian Harbour Beach W100; Barros and Mackenzie Claim ITF J500 Offenbach Titles; Lee and Drenser-Hagmann Crowned Champions at ITF J200 College Grove; Favorites Sail Into D-III Quarterfinals
Sixteen-year-old wild card Kristina Liutova boosted her WTA ranking to the Top 300 today on the USTA Pro Circuit at the W100 in Indian Harbour Beach, beating No. 8 seed Julia Riera of Argentina 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-3 in the final.
The Russian-born Seattle-area resident won her first USTA Pro Circuit tournament at a W35 in Las Vegas in February, but earning a title at a W100, the highest level of the ITF women's World Tennis Tour, is an impressive accomplishment, given her age and inexperience at that level. The ITF junior No. 52, who won the ITF J300 in College Park Maryland in August and the IMG ITF J300 in Bradenton in December, picked up her first two WTA Top 200 wins this week. Now that she is inside the WTA Top 400, she will receive direct entry into both the Wimbledon and US Open Junior Championships, should she decide to enter. She has not yet played in a junior slam.
At the W35 in Boca Raton Florida, qualifier Carson Tanguilig(UNC) lost to unseeded Justina Gonzalez Daniele of Argentina 6-4, 6-4.
At the M15 in Vero Beach Florida, the improbable run of qualifying alternate came to a triumphant conclusion Sunday, with Joaquim Almeida of Brazil defeating top seed Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to claim his first pro singles title. The 24-year-old Almeida, who played college tennis at VCU and Liberty, was playing just his second tournament of the year this week, but he beat three seeds and former ATP No. 39 JJ Wolf(Ohio State) in his dream week.
The singles titles were decided today in Offenbach Germany with Victoria Barros of Brazil and Jamie Mackenzie of Germany winning their first J500 titles.
The top-seeded Barros, 16, defeated No. 2 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-4 in the girls final. No. 3 seed Mackenzie, 18, beat No. 4 seed Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 in the boys final. Mackenzie has signed with TCU for this fall.
In the doubles finals Saturday, the girls title went to No. 3 seed Polina Skliar of Ukraine and Mariella Thamm of Germany, and the boys title to Eric Mueller and Vincent Reisach of Germany. Skliar and Thamm defeated the unseeded team of Polina Berezina of Russia and Barbar Kostecka of Poland 6-4, 7-5. Mueller and Reisach won the battle of unseeded teams, beating Marko Bekeni of Slovakia and Patrick Valentin Moise of Germany 6-3, 6-3.
On the red clay at the ITF J200 in College Grove Tennessee, No. 5 seed Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann added a first ITF Junior Circuit singles title to the doubles championship she won Friday, and unseeded Tyler Lee won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title today.
The 17-year-old Drenser-Hagmann, who came through qualifying as a late entry, defeated No. 4 seed Carlota Moreno 6-4, 6-4 in today's final; all six of her matches came in straight sets.
The unseeded Lee, 16, who took out top seed Agassi Rusher in the first round, had a tougher path, coming from a set down in the quarterfinals and semifinals, but had no need for another comeback in today's final, beating unseeded Gurjot Singh 6-1, 6-2.
After a long weekend of preliminary play, the Division III quarterfinals are set for May 18th(women) and 19th(men) with the top four teams in both the men's and women's ITA rankings advancing. The matchups are below, with the rankings in brackets (seeds are not used in Division III). Times will be posted to the draws, with the men's here, and the women's here.
Women's D-III quarterfinals:
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps[1] v Bowdoin[11]
Washington and Lee[14] v Wesleyan[4]
Chicago[2] v Babson[5]
Carnegie Mellon[8] v Washington-St. Louis[3]
Men's D-III quarterfinals:
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps[2] v Emory[11]
Denison[4] v Case Western Reserve[5]
Tufts[3] v Swarthmore[8]
Bowdoin[7] v Chicago[1]
Posted by Colette Lewis at 8:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, International Tournaments, ITA, ITF, ITF J500 Tournaments, Pro Circuit, USTA, World Tennis Tour
Saturday, May 9, 2026
NCAA Division I Quarterfinals Set; Forbes to Ohio State; Liutova Reaches Final at W100 Indian Harbour Beach; Jauffret and Penickova Claim W35 Doubles Title; All-USA Finals at ITF J200 in College Grove
The second and final day of the NCAA Division I Super Regionals wasn't dramatic until the last match of the day, when No. 8 Arizona rallied from 3-1 down to earn a 4-3 victory over No. 9 Oklahoma and the first NCAA team quarterfinal in program history.
The other two men's matches had little suspense, with No. 5 seed Mississippi State defeating No. 12 seed Georgia 4-1, and No. 6 seed TCU rolling past unseeded Stanford 4-0 in less than two hours.
With those matches earlier in the day, the focus was solely on Tucson, with a large and loud crowd eager to see the Wildcats avenge their 4-2 loss to the Sooners in January in Norman.
After Oklahoma took the doubles point, Arizona had a steep hill to climb, but eventually they took four first sets, to give themselves a path. The Sooners needed to take a second set somewhere and they got two of them, forcing a third set at both lines 6 and 1. Freshman Alejandro Arcila went up a break early in the third set at line 6, but lost it, only to come up with a break at 4-all. He served a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 decision at love, making it 3-3, and by that time Arizona senior Jay Friend had taken a 3-0 lead over Luis Alvarez at line 1. The reigning All-American champion ran away with it, grabbing a 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-0 win to make history for the Arizona program.
The two women's matches were not particularly close either, although there was one minor upset, with No. 10 LSU going to Charlottesville and taking out No. 7 Virginia 4-1. The third-seeded Ohio State women will join the Ohio State men in Athens after a 4-1 win over No. 14 Vanderbilt.
Today's box scores are below; the box scores from the 11 matches on Friday can be found here.
Women's Super Regionals Saturday May 9:
Ohio State[3] 4 Vanderbilt[14] 1
Doubles:1. Luciana Perry and Flora Johnson(OSU) d. Celia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster(VAND) 6-3
2. Hephzibah Oluwadare and Teah Chavez(OSU) v. Bridget Stammel and Valeria Ray[VAND) 4-3, unf.
3. Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev and Audrey Spencer(OSU) d. Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita(VAND) 6-1
Posted by Colette Lewis at 9:25 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, International Tournaments, ITF, Pro Circuit, USTA, World Tennis Tour
Friday, May 8, 2026
Favorites Tested, All but One Prevail on Opening Day of D-I Super Regionals; Virginia Tech Men, Arkansas State Women Win NIT Titles; Liutova Advances to W100 Semifinals; ITF J200 College Grove Semifinals Saturday Feature Six Americans
Although all four of them dropped a point as hosts of Friday's Super Regionals, the top two seeds in the men's and women's NCAA Division I draws have booked their spots at the finals site in Athens Georgia.
Top seed Georgia has the opportunity to win a second straight women's team title, but this time at home, after the Bulldogs got by UCLA 4-1. No. 2 seed Auburn will make its first appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals in program history after defeating No. 15 seed Duke 4-2 in Auburn this evening. Georgia's opponent in the quarterfinals next Friday will be No. 8 seed NC State, who unexpectedly dropped the doubles point to No. 9 Texas, but fought back to beat the Longhorns 4-2. Auburn will await the winner of Saturday's match between No. 10 LSU and No. 7 Virginia.
Defending men's champion Wake Forest was dominant in its 4-1 win over No. 16 seed UCF, needing less than two hours to post the victory, although they lost at No. 1 singles before Luca Pow clinched at line 3. No. 2 Texas was kept out on its courts for nearly an hour longer, but the National Team Indoor Champions secured a 4-1 win over No. 15 seed San Diego.
Wake Forest will play the winner of Saturday's match between No. 8 Arizona and No. 9 Oklahoma, with Texas facing No. 10 seed Baylor, who posted the day's most dramatic victory.
Although Pepperdine dropped the doubles point in front of a large crowd in Waco, the Waves took four first sets in singles, requiring the Bears to force a third set somewhere. The only three-set match of the night was a line 1, with Devin Badenhorst forcing that third set by winning a deciding point on a passing shot winner with Edward Winter serving at 5-6.
When Pepperdine's Aleksa Pisaric, the hero of his team's 4-3 win over LSU in last weekend's second round, closed out Connor van Schalkwyk in two tiebreakers, Badenhorst and Winter were midway through their final set. But Badenhorst was cramping, receiving treatment at every changeover, and relying on his big serve and his ability to shorten points was his primary strategy.
Badenhorst took a lead early in the seemingly inevitable tiebreaker and went up 6-3, but Winter held both of his serves to put the pressure back on the junior from South Africa. To the delight of the crowd and his teammates, Badenhorst chose to serve and volley at that key moment and was rewarded for his bravery, with a first serve and forehand volley winner sending Baylor to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2022 with a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) victory.
Baylor's secured their victory around 10:30 p.m. Eastern, but due to lightning delays at the women's Super Regional in Norman, the singles between No. 6 seed Oklahoma and No. 11 seed Pepperdine had just started. Pepperdine had taken the doubles point before the nearly three-hour delay, but Oklahoma fought back to tie it up with the match decided at No. 2 singles. Edda Mamedova of Oklahoma was up 4-2 in the third set against Pepperdine freshman Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, but the former ITF junior No. 15 from Kazakhstan swung freely and took the final four games to clinch the 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 win shortly after midnight local time. Oklahoma was sole higher seed and host to fall in Friday's 11 matches.
The box scores from the Super Regionals Friday, May 8th:
WOMEN:Texas A&M[4] 5 Southern California[13] 1
Doubles
1. Lily Fairclough and Krisha Mahendran(USC) d. Lucciana Perez and Mia Kupres(TAMU) 6-2
2. Violeta Martinez and Ilinca Amariei(TAMU) v Emma Charney and Immi Haddad(USC) 5-5, unf.
3. Dani Borruel and Eugenia Zozaya(USC) d. Daria Smetannikov and Lexington Reed(TAMU) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3
Posted by Colette Lewis at 11:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, Cracked Racquets, International Tournaments, ITF, Pro Circuit, USTA, UTR, World Tennis Tour, YouTube






