Three Men's and Three Women's USTA Pro Circuit Events This Week; ITA CEO Dave Mullins' Open Letter on Direction of College Tennis; Brooksby and Stephens Lead USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge

The USTA Pro Circuit features six events this week, with a W100 in Texas and an ATP Challenger 100 in South Dakota leading the list. Both the men and women are in Norman Oklahoma for a W35 and M25, with the third men's event an M25 in Las Vegas and the third women's event a W15 in Sumter South Carolina.

The Sioux Falls Challenger, now in its third year, is ahead of the other five, with the first round scheduled to be completed tonight. Stefan Kozlov, Mitchell Krueger, Aidan Mayo, wild card Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), JJ Wolf(Ohio State), Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) and Darwin Blanch[3] have advanced to the second round, as has top seed and last week's Fort Worth Challenger champion Jenson Brooksby, who defeated wild card Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State) 6-3, 6-3 today. Brooksby will face ITA preseason No. 1 Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland, a senior at Virginia, in the second round. Dietrich defeated Colton Smith(Arizona) 6-3, 7-5 in the first round Monday.

Three Americans qualified for the main draw of the W100 in New Braunfels Texas with wins today: Lexington Reed(Texas A&M), Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) and Allura Zamarripa(Texas). 

Wild cards were awarded to Thea Frodin, Melije Clarke, Connie Ma(Stanford) and Rose Marie Nijkamp(Texas). Ma advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 4-0, retired victory over Pepperdine sophomore Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Kazakhstan.

In addition to Frodin and Clarke, other prominent teenagers in the draw are Kristina Penickova, who is using one of her Junior Exempt entries as the 2025 WT year end junior champion; Julieta Pareja, the 2025 Wimbledon finalist; 18-year-old Lea Nilsson of Sweden, the 2025 US Open finalist; 19-year-old Akasha Urhobo, the No. 6 seed; and 16-year-old Kristinia Liutova of Russia, who is the No. 2 seed. Renata Zarazua of Mexico is the top seed.

At the Norman W35, Oklahoma freshman Reina Goto of Japan is the top seed, with former Oklahoma star Dana Guzman of Peru the No. 2 seed. 

No Americans qualified, but a quartet of US teens are in the main draw: Georgia freshman Bella Payne, Florida freshman Capucine Jauffret, Duke sophomore Aspen Schuman and Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, with the latter two receiving wild cards. Texas sophmore Christasha McNeil was also awarded a wild card.

Six members on the Oklahoma roster are in the draw: Goto, qualifiers Salakthip Ounmuang of Thailand and Gloriana Nahum of Benin, Edda Mamedova of Russia, Evialina Laskevich of Belarus and wild card Laura Brunkel of Denmark.

Due to the two other women's tournaments the same week, the W15 in South Carolina, features many younger American players, two of whom advanced to the main draw via qualifying today: 19-year-old Mississippi State sophomore Mia Robinson and 18-year-old blue chip Juliana Singeorzan, a high school senior from Florida. Eighteen-year-old Yael Saffar reached the main draw as a lucky loser.

Virginia freshman Shannon Lam was the top seed, but she withdrew; Kalista Liu(Maryland) is the No. 2 seed.

Wild cards were given to 15-year-olds Allison Wang and Abigail Haile, 16-year-old Scarlett Fagan and Sophie Williams(Florida, James Madison).

Fagan won her first round match, as did 15-year-old Emery Combs, who beat No. 7 seed Stefani Webb(UCF, Auburn, Tennessee) of Australia 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Eighteen-year-old Carlota Moreno beat 16-year-old Maggie Sohns 6-2, 6-1, and Lani Chang, one of the three girls receiving junior reserved spots, beat No. 6 seed Emma Ghirardato(Oklahoma, Maryland) in other first round matches today.

The other junior reserved entries went to Adla Lopez and Ohio State recruit Ellery Mendell.

At the men's M25 in Norman, South Carolina's Sean Daryabeigi and Clemson's Marko Mesarovic are the Americans who advanced to the main draw via qualifying.

All four wild cards went to current University of Oklahoma players: junior Alejandro Melero of Spain, freshman Tito Chavez of Spain, senior Asahi Harazaki of Japan and sophomore Johan Rodrigues of Colombia. Senior Dragos Cazacu of Romania and freshman Luciano Ambrogi[3] of Argentina are the other two Sooners in the main draw.

Alastair Gray(TCU) and Giles Hussey(Georgia State, Tennessee) are the top two seeds. 

At the M25 in Las Vegas, the top seed has already been eliminated, with University of Virginia sophomore Andres Santamarta defeating Max Wiskandt of Germany 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in first round action in the main draw.

Three Americans qualified today: Ohio State senior Preston Stearns, Ohio State junior Nikita Filin and Georgia sophomore Noah Johnston. Filin and Stearns join teammates Aidan Kim[3] and Matt Forbes[7] in the main draw.

Wild cards were awarded to Stanford recruit Tanishk Konduri, Utah State junior Xavier Calvelo and Marcel Latak, who is playing his first tournament since winning the US Open boys title last month. Latak lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to Enzo Kohlmann de Freitas(LSU) of Brazil in the first round today. Seventeen-year-old Andy Johnson is the No. 5 seed.

Intercollegiate Tennis Association CEO Dave Mullins wrote an open letter to address many of the issues that have made college tennis look so much different than in the past. He's obviously given a great deal of thought to how a non-revenue sport can maintain its viability, and seems willing to look at curbs to the current influx of older pros joining college teams. 

From the letter:

College sports organizations, universities and national governing bodies should strengthen pathways for American juniors, examine eligibility rules surrounding extensive professional experience, create incentives for developmental opportunities and ensure that college athletics remains meaningfully connected to education. The ITA is actively engaged in these discussions and has a role in shaping them, but the NCAA ultimately determines its own eligibility standards.

At the same time, those of us in Olympic sports must confront another reality. Football and basketball increasingly drive the economics of major college athletics. Revenue sharing and escalating expenses will force university leaders to scrutinize every other sport they sponsor.

Tennis therefore cannot afford simply to defend the status quo.

We must generate greater value for our campuses. We need to open college facilities to communities, create new revenue opportunities, build better events, tell more compelling stories, and connect college tennis more deeply with the broader tennis industry.

College tennis can provide an elite pathway to professional tennis, welcome outstanding international athletes, and expand opportunities for American players, all while remaining rooted in education and the campus experience. In doing so, it can continue its decades-long tradition of developing future leaders across a wide range of industries.

The full letter can be found here. 

The latest standings in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge were released today, with Sloane Stephens retaining her narrow lead over Reese Brantmeier after the completion of the third of the five-week window for women, and Jenson Brooksby leading after the men's first week of their five-week window.

2027 Australian Open Wild Card Challenge Standings Update   Orlando, Fla., October 27, 2026 – 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and former world No. 33 Jenson Brooksby are the leaders of the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge after Week 3 of 5 for the women and Week 1 of 5 for the men. Stephens stays atop the women’s leaderboard as the women’s Challenge heads into its final two weeks. She is followed closely by 2026 NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier, who won the W75 Saguenay in Canada over the weekend. The victory marks the biggest title of Brantmeier’s career.   Brooksby holds the top spot in the men’s Challenge after the first week of its five-week window. Brooksby won the Fort Worth ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth, Texas, over the weekend, defeating fellow American Darwin Blanch. The victory marked his first title since the 2025 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship ATP 250 and earned him the fourth Challenger crown of his career. The top of the women’s standings after Week 3 of 5:   Women's Standings (Player's current ranking in parentheses)                                                                  1. Sloane Stephens (115) -- 106                                                                2. Reese Brantmeier (215) -- 95                                                                3. Mary Stoiana (113) -- 72                                                                4. Madison Brengle (178) -- 65                                                                5. Elvina Kalieva (111) -- 61   The top of the men’s standings after Week 1 of 5:    Men's Standings (Player's current ranking in parentheses)                                                                  1. Jenson Brooksby (94) -- 75                                                                2. Darwin Blanch (144) -- 44                                                                3. Martin Damm (105) -- 32                                                                4. Nishesh Basavareddy (131) -- 13                                                                T5. Andre Ilagan (199) -- 12                                                       T5. Aidan Mayo (321) -- 12                                                       T5. Keegan Smith (185) -- 12                                                       T5. Patrick Maloney (774) -- 12

Del Mastro Avenges Orange Bowl Finals Loss, Stratton Takes Boys Title at J100 in Canada; Berezin Wins J60 in Orlando; Champions Crowned at European Masters; Poling Sole American to Advance to Main Draw at Sioux Falls Challenger

Daniela Del Mastro swept the titles at the J100 in Woodbridge Canada and Tristan Stratton claimed his second J100 title of the fall last week, as five Americans joined Jordan Lee as champions on the World Tennis junior circuit.

The fifth-seeded Del Mastro, a 15-year-old from Minnesota, defeated unseeded Priscilla Sirichantho 6-0, 6-0 in the final, which was a rematch of last December's Orange Bowl 16s championship match, which Sirichantho won 6-4, 6-1. It's Del Mastro's second singles title, with her first coming at a J30 in her home state this summer. Del Mastro and Sirichantho teamed up for their first doubles title on the WT junior circuit, with the unseeded pair beating No. 2 seeds Payton Dith of Canada and Sofia Kedrin 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 in the final.

The second-seeded Stratton, who won the J100 in Quebec City in September, moved into the Top 200 in the WT junior rankings with his 6-3, 6-1 win over Antoine Genereux of Canada. The 17-year-old New Yorker did not lose a set in his five victories, with none of his ten sets played any closer than 6-4.

The unseeded team of Sebastian Bielen and Kahven Singh reached the doubles final, losing to No. 3 seeds Kye McDadi and Thomas O'Neill of Canada 7-6(5), 1-6, 10-5.

At the J60 in Orlando, 16-year-old Daniil Berezin won his second career WT junior circuit title, with his first a J60 this summer in New Jersey. The top seed won the all-USA final over No. 3 seed Griffin Goode 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

Berezin fell short of the sweep, with unseeded Antanas Daugis and Rafael Pawar beating Berezin and partner Maddox Bose, the No. 6 seeds, 6-0, 6-2 in the boys doubles final.

No. 7 seed Evija Thoresen, 14, lost in the girls singles final to 17-year-old Amy Gray of Australia, the No. 14 seed, 6-4, 7-6(6). 

Grace Wong and Russia's Daniela Davletshina, who lives in Florida, won the girls doubles title. The unseeded pair beat Eva Haberjan and Ashley Narath, also unseeded, 6-2, 6-1 in the final. 

The two other American singles titles came at the J30 level. In the Dominican Republic, 16-year-old Evan Puente won both titles in the first World Tennis junior circuit tournament he played. With his World Tennis Number providing him with entry, Puente defeated No. 3 seed Miguel Baquero of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 6-0 in the final. 

Puente and 17-year-old Maximus Monogenis won the doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating the unseeded Canadian team of Lucian Enns and Kamil Mantache 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

At the J30 in Cameroon, 14-year-old Leudeu Hapi Tameghe Paola won her first WT junior singles title, with the No. 3 seed beating top seed Charnelle Fozo of Cameroon 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the final. 

At the J60 in Panama, Luciana Chica won the doubles title, with partner Valeria Cabral Zamora of Mexico. The No. 2 seeds beat top seeds Gabriela Baena of Colombia and Miranda Fernandez Figueroa of Mexico 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final. Chica lost in the girls singles final to Maria Tobon Jimenez of Colombia 7-5, 6-1.

The champions of the European Masters for the 14s and 16s age divisions were decided last week in Monte Carlo, with Mariia Kocherzhenko of Ukraine and Rafael Papoian of Russia claiming the 16s titles and Lydia Panagiotidou of Greece and Blazej Krzysko of Poland capturing the 16s titles. 

Kocherzhenko, who was runner-up to Isha Manchala at the Wimbledon 14s tournament in July, defeated Italy's Olivia Serena Conticello 7-6(5), 6-3 to become Ukraine's first girls champion in the 14s division. Papoian defeated Bruno Dzhenev of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-4 to extend his winning streak to 15 matches.

Panagiotidou beat Zana Peric of Serbia 6-2, 6-3 to earn the first Masters title for a Greek girl; Krzysko's 6-4, 6-1 victory over Mark Jony of Hungary gave Poland its first Junior master champion.

For more on the finals, visit the tournament page at the Tennis Europe website.

The qualifying is complete and the main draw has begun at the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota, with five of the six Americans playing in the final round of qualifying falling today. The only one to get through is Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC), who beating Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) 7-6(4), 7-6(7).

First round matches are on the schedule for tonight, with the remaining 12 being played on Tuesday. Wild cards were awarded to Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State), who plays top seed Jenson Brooksby tomorrow, Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), and Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas). 

Jordan Lee Claims Boys Title, Xinran Sun Captures Girls Championship at World Tennis Junior Finals; Brantmeier Sweeps Titles at W75 in Canada; Brooksby, Chang Win USTA Pro Circuit Events; Pan Am J300 Photo Gallery

Two 16-year-olds claimed their country's second 2026 World Tennis Junior Finals titles Sunday in Chengdu China, with American Jordan Lee avenging his group play loss to Ziga Sesko of Slovenia in the boys final and Xinran Sun of China defeating Anna Pushkareva of Russia for the third time in the past six weeks to earn the girls title.

Sun's 6-2, 6-0 win over Pushkareva in Thursday's group play proved to be the outlier in their four meetings since July, with the 17-year-old Pushkareva winning the Wimbledon final 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 and Sun claiming the US Open final 6-4, 4-6, 6-0. Today's final, Sun's seventh in her eight junior tournaments played this year, was similar to their match in New York, with Sun taking it 6-3, 5-7(4), 6-1.  Shilin Xu of China won the first World Junior Finals tournament in 2015, back when it was played in April. With this title Sun will lock up the year-end title of World Tennis Girls Junior Champion.

Wimbledon boys champion Lee, the first American to win the Junior Finals title since Brandon Nakashima in 2018, had lost to Australian Open boys champion Sesko 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2 in group play Thursday. Another three-setter looked likely when the 18-year-old Sesko served for the second set in today's final, but Lee won the last four games for a 6-3, 7-5 victory. Lee served well throughout, with seven aces, and made very few unforced errors when it mattered.

Lee will move to No. 2 in the junior rankings when these 1000 points are added, and earned $21,250 in travel grants with his performance this week. Sun, who won all five of her matches, received $23,000.

Lee is, by a few days, the youngest of the nine boys to win the title, with Holger Rune of Denmark also 16 when he won it in 2019. Rune's birthday is April 29, Lee's in May 4 and the this year's tournament started two days earlier this year than it did in 2019.

Sun is not the youngest girl, with Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 15 years old when she won the title in 2017.

Janae Preston, who did not win a match in group play, rebounded to take her two placement matches and finished fifth overall. Keaton Hance finished fourth, after not competing in the match for third place. 

All results can be found here. Replays of matches are available here.

Reese Brantmeier, who turned 22 earlier this month, won the biggest title of her brief pro career today at the W75 in Saguenay Canada. The 2026 University of North Carolina graduate and NCAA singles champion defeated Yuki Naito of Japan 7-6(8), 7-6(7) today to add to the doubles title she won yesterday with former teammate Carson Tanguilig.

Brantmeier, who won a W35 just days after finishing her UNC career, is now up to 217 in the WTA live rankings and will move near the top in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge standings with two weeks left in that race.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth Texas, top seed Jenson Brooksby defeated No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch 6-1, 6-4 to earn his first Challenger title since 2021. Brooksby, who had fallen out of the ATP Top 100 in the past few weeks, is back up to 94 in the live rankings and is the top seed, as a special exempt, in next week's Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota. He'll play wild card Bryce Nakashima, a senior at Ohio State, in the first round.

Hanna Chang won the other all-USA final on the USTA Pro Circuit today, with the No. 3 seed beating wild card Jenna DeFalco 6-3, 7-5 at the Bakersfield W35.  It's the 28-year-old Chang's fourth W35 title of the year.

No. 3 seeds Lily Fairclough(USC) and Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) won the doubles title, beating top seeds Ema Burgic(Baylor) of Bosnia and Briana Szabo of Romania 6-2, 6-3 in last night's final.

At the M15 in Ithaca New York, 19-year-old wild card Rodrigo Fernandes of Portugal, a junior at Cornell, won his first singles title on the men's WTT, beating No. 4 seed Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) 6-3, 6-1 in today's final. Fernandes qualified for the NCAA singles tournament when he reached the New England regional final earlier this month.

My latest photo gallery is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with 54 photos from the J300 Pan American Regional Closed three weeks ago in Spring Texas. All photos were taken by Paul Ballard.

Lee and Sesko Meet for WT Junior Final Boys Title; Sun and Pushkareva Again in Girls Championship Match; McDonald Sweeps Austin W50 Titles; Brantmeier Cruises into Saguenay W75 Singles Final; Brooksby and Blanch Reach Fort Worth Challenger Final

Four of this year's junior slam champions will play for the championship Sunday at the World Tennis Junior Finals in Chengdu China, including American Jordan Lee, who won Wimbledon as a qualifier in July.

The fourth-seeded Lee defeated No. 7 seed Vincent Reisach of Germany 6-2, 7-5 in Saturday's semifinals, and will face No. 6 seed and Australian Open champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, who beat No. 3 seed Keaton Hance 6-4, 6-4 to prevent an all-USA boys final. Lee, 16, and the eighteen-year-old Sesk , the only boy yet to suffer a loss, met just four days ago in group play, with Sesko winning 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2. Lee is the first American boy to reach the final since Brandon Nakashima won the title in 2018. (Due to the pandemic, the event was not held in 2020, 2021 and 2022).

While Sesko and Lee have one recent meeting, top seed Xinran Sun of China and No. 3 seed Anna Pushkareva have three, playing in the Wimbledon final, the US Open final, and in group play this week. Pushkareva won the first, but the 16-year-old Sun has won the last two, including in group play Thursday, when she blitzed the 17-year-old Russian 6-2, 6-0 in less than an hour.

In the nine years of this tournament's existence, two reigning junior slam champions have never met in the final, and this year, that is the case for both the girls and boys.

The boys final is scheduled to beginning at 11:30 tonight in the Eastern time zone of the United States, with the girls final to follow. Live streaming is available, with Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin providing commentary. Live scoring can be found here.

In the rare Saturday finish to a USTA Pro Circuit tournament, qualifier Ella McDonald of Great Britain completed her sweep of the titles at the W50 in Austin, with the LSU junior defeating No. 5 seed Madison Brengle 7-5, 6-1 in the final. McDonald, who won her 16th women's WT doubles title with Kylie Collins yesterday, had claimed three W15 titles in singles, but this is her first singles title since May of 2025.

2025 NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier is on track to sweep the titles this week at the W75 in Saguenay Canada, after breezing past Hiromi Abe of Japan 6-1, 6-3 in 72 minutes. The recent North Carolina graduate won the doubles title with former teammate Carson Tanguilig, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 3 seeds Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands and Michaela Bayerlova(Washington State) of Czechia 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final. Brantmeier will face unseeded Yuki Naito of Japan for the singles title, after Naito defeated Ariana Arseneault of Canada 6-4, 6-4.

Brantmeier is up to 231 in the live WTA rankings after reaching the final, and with no points to defend the rest of the year is looking likely to make the Australian Open women's qualifying in her first year as a professional. And she still has an opportunity to win the USTA's Australian Open wild card, with two more weeks remaining in that race. She is continuing that quest next week in the W75 in Toronto, not in the W100 in New Braunfels Texas.

Connie Ma's run in the California W35s came to an end today in the semifinals of the Bakersfield tournament, with the 23-year-old wild card falling to No. 3 seed Hanna Chang 6-4, 6-2. The 2022 NCAA singles finalist as a freshman at Stanford won her first Pro Circuit title last week's W35 in Redding California.

Chang will face wild card Jenna DeFalco, who at 23 is looking for her first title above the W15 level. DeFalco defeated No. 7 seed Lan Mi(Cal) of China 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

Jack Anthrop will play in his second straight M15 final Sunday, after the fourth-seeded former Ohio State All-American defeated Kentucky junior Rafael Ymer of Sweden, a qualifier, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the Ithaca semifinals. Anthrop, who lost to Theo Papamalamis of Texas A&M in the final of the M15 in Lexington Kentucky last Sunday, will play wild card Rodrigo Fernandes of Portugal, a junior at Cornell, for the title. Fernandes beat Texas junior Oliver Ojakaar of Estonia, a qualifier, 6-4, 6-4 in today's semifinals. 

Ojakaar won't return to Austin empty-handed, winning the doubles title with Nathan Cox(Vanderbilt). Ojakaar and Cox defeated Mans Dahlberg(Virginia) of Sweden and Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 7-5, 7-6(7) in the final.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth Texas, the top two seeds will decide the title, with two Kalamazoo 18s champions squaring off Sunday.

No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch, who won the 2025 18s title and the 2022 16s title in Kalamazoo, defeated qualifier Sander Jong(TCU) of the Netherlands 7-6(5), 6-2 to advance to his third Challenger final. He will face top seed Jenson Brooksby, the 2018 Kalamazoo 18s champion, who reached the 2016 Kalamazoo 16s final. Brooksby lost a 77-minute first set to Gabriel Debru(Illinois, Texas) of France 6-7(14), but rebounded to win the second set 6-3 and the third set 6-2 to reach the final. 

TCU teammates Cooper Woestendick and Albert Pedrico won the doubles title as wild cards, capturing their first Challenger doubles title with a walkover from James Hopper(Case Western, Virginia) of Great Britain and Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) of Japan. 

My Article on Gowda's Michigan Commitment; Lee and Hance Reach Semifinals at Junior Finals; Brantmeier Claims WTA Top 100 Win at W75 in Canada; McDonald and Brengle Advance to W50 Final in Austin; Ma Ends Sharma's Winning Streak

While I was in Houston earlier this month for the World Tennis J300 Pan American Closed Championships, I had an opportunity to interview 17-year-old Thara Gowda about her decision to join the Michigan Wolverines next fall. As the No. 4 girl in the Class of 2027, Gowda obviously had her choice of schools, but the Rochester Hills resident decided to stay in Southeast Michigan, as so many of the area's top girls have done recently. My article today at Tennis Recruiting Network explains not only why she chose Michigan over other top schools, but why she came to the realization that college tennis was the next best step to reach her goal of professional tennis.

The semifinals for the World Tennis Junior Finals were determined with the completion of play Friday in Chengdu, with both Keaton Hance and Jordan Lee qualifying for the knockout round Saturday. 

Hance, the No. 3 seed, beat No. 2 seed Thilo Behrmann of Austria 6-4, 6-4 to finish second in Group B, at 2-1, behind No. 7 seed Vincent Reisach of Germany, who went 3-0.

Lee, the No. 4 seed, defeated top seed Jamie MacKenzie(TCU) of Germany 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to finish second in his group, behind Australian Open boys champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, the No. 5 seed. Lee's only loss was to Sesko, who went 3-0 in Group A.

Hance will play Sesko and Lee will play Reisach in the semifinals, beginning tonight at 10:30 Eastern time.  Sesko beat Hance 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Australian Open boys final in January; Lee beat Reisach 6-3, 6-2 in the Wimbledon boys semifinals in July.

The girls semifinals feature the top three seeds and No. 5 seed Mariia Makarova, with No. 1 Xinran Sun of China playing No. 2 seed Jana Kovackova of Czechia. Sun defeated Kovackova 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the J500 in Milan this spring.

Makarova, who, like Sun, was undefeated in her group, will play fellow Russian and No. 3 seed Anna Pushkarova. They have not played in either WT women's or junior events.

Janae Preston, who lost to Makarova 6-1, 6-2 went 0-3 in group play and will be playing in the 5-8 playoffs against Ksenia Efremova of France Friday.

Live streaming is available, with Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin providing commentary.  Live scoring can be found here.

2025 NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier posted her best win by WTA ranking today at the W75 in Saguenay Canada, with the recent North Carolina graduate defeating top seed and WTA No. 69 Tatjana Maria of Germany 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-3 in just under three hours to advance to the semifinals. Brantmeier will play unseeded Hiromi Abe of Japan, whom she beat in the second round of the W50 in Quebec last week 6-4, 7-6(0). 

There are no seeds remaining in the singles, with Yuki Naito of Japan facing Ariana Arseneault(Georgia, Auburn) of Canada in the semifinal in the bottom half. Arseneault beat Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Brantmeier is also through to the doubles final, with former teammate and 2023 NCAA doubles champion Carson Tanguilig. Brantmeier has already won three WT women's doubles titles this year, including last week's title in Quebec, with Duke freshman Mimi Xu as her partner.

LSU junior Ella McDonald of Great Britain will go for a sweep of the titles at the W50 in Austin Texas Saturday, when the qualifier faces No. 5 seed Madison Brengle for the singles championship. The 21-year-old left-hander defeated Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the biggest final of her career. 

Brengle, 36, beat No. 8 seed Elli Mandlik 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 and will be trying to earn a second W50 title this year. McDonald defeated Brengle in the quarterfinals of W50 in Berkeley California last month 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

McDonald won her 16th women's WTT doubles title today, but her first with Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State). The No. 4 seeds beat unseeded Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) and Canada's Alexandra Vagramov(UCLA) 6-0, 6-1 in today's 53-minute final.

When Connie Ma(Stanford) and Astra Sharma of Australian met in the quarterfinals of the W35 in Bakersfield California today, one of their winning streaks was going to end, and it was Sharma's, with wild card Ma posting the 6-2, 6-3 victory. Ma, last week's champion at the W35 in Redding, has now won eight straight matches, with her last loss coming to Janae Preston in her first tournament back in her return to competitive tennis since her All-American career at Stanford ended in 2025. 

Sharma, an All-American at Vanderbilt, had won 16 matches in a row(including qualifying) with titles at the W15 in Nashville and the W50 in Lexington South Carolina. 

Ma will face No. 3 seed Hanna Chang, who beat Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State) 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. No. 6 seed Lan Mi of China, a former Cal standout, will face the winner of tonight's match between wild card Jenna DeFalco and qualifier Jana Hossam of Egypt, a junior at Florida.

Parity Reigns at World Tennis Junior Finals with Quarterfinalists to be Decided Friday; Secord Reaches First USTA Pro Circuit Quarterfinal at Ithaca M15; Ma Advances at W35 Bakersfield; Four Americans in Fort Worth Challenger Quarterfinals

The World Tennis Junior Finals have seen some upsets in the first two days of group play, but all four groups head into Friday's final day of round robin play in Chengdu China with the exact same scenarios: one defeated player, one winless player and two players with 1-1 records.

The top two finishers in each group will advance to Saturday's semifinals, and No. 3 seed Keaton Hance still has an opportunity to be one of the semifinalists after his 6-0, 6-2 win over Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria Thursday. Hance needs to beat No. 2 seed Thilo Behrmann of Austria, the other player in his group that is 1-1, to move on. 

No. 4 seed Janae Preston lost to No. 2 seed Jana Kovackova of Czechia 6-4, 6-4 and will not advance to the semifinals, even with a win over Group B leader Mariia Makarova of Russia. 

No. 4 seed Jordan Lee lost to No. 5 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2 to fall to 1-1, but he can qualify for the semifinals if he beats top seed Jamie Mackenzie(TCU) of Germany Friday. Sesko and Vincent Reisach of Germany, who is 2-0 in Group B, are assured of advancing regardless of their results Friday.

Top seed Xinran Sun of China is the Group A leader at 2-0, after her emphatic 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 3 seed Anna Pushkareva of Russia. Pushkareva and Sun met in the last two girls slam finals, with Pushkareva winning in three sets at Wimbledon and Sun winning in three sets at the US Open, so a match that one-sided seemed unlikely.

Live streaming begins at 10:30 tonight in the Eastern time zone with the Preston-Makarova match. Live scoring can be found here.

Eighteen-year-old Jack Secord has advanced to his first USTA Pro Circuit quarterfinal at this week's M15 in Ithaca New York. Secord, No. 19 in the WT junior rankings, received entry via the WT Junior Reserved program, with this only his third pro tournament of the year, fourth, if including the US Open men's qualifying. The Stanford recruit defeated 19-year-old Benjamin Willerth, the 2025 Australian Open boys champion, 6-2, 6-3 and will face No. 4 seed Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) in the quarterfinals Friday. 

Anthrop defeated Eli Stephenson, a senior at Kentucky, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in today's second round, his second win over Stephenson in the past six days. Anthrop beat Stephenson last week in the semifinals of the M15 in Lexington Kentucky 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.  Vignesh Gogineni(Yale) is the other American in the quarterfinals, with the No. 6 seed defeating Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 6-3, 6-2. 

At the W50 in Austin Texas, 17-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin lost to No. 5 seed Madison Brengle 7-6(2), 6-3 in today's quarterfinals. Brengle will play No. 8 seed Elli Mandlik, who beat No. 4 seed Barbora Palicova of Czechia 7-6(3), 7-6(4). In the bottom half, LSU junior Ella McDonald of Great Britain, a qualifier, has advanced to the semifinals after beating newly announced Florida recruit Rebecaa Mortensen of Denmark 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. McDonald will play unseeded Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia, who beat No. 3 seed Yeonwoo Ku of Korea 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.

McDonald will also play in the doubles final Friday, with Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State). The No. 4 seeds will play the unseeded team of Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) and Alexandra Vagramov(UCLA) of Canada.

Rain Wednesday pushed many of the Bakersfield California W35 first round matches to today, with all of them now complete, and second round matches underway. Former Stanford All-American Connie Ma continues to post impressive results,  with last week's Redding W35 champion defeating fellow wild card Aspen Schuman 7-6(5), ret. in the first round, and then breezing past No. 5 seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy 6-0, 6-1 in the second round. In Friday's quarterfinals, Ma will play the winner of the second round match this evening between qualifier Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt) of Australia and No. 2 seed Lea Ma(Georgia).

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth Texas, four Americans have advanced to Friday's quarterfinals.

Top seed Jenson Brooksby will play Patrick Maloney(Michigan); Aidan Mayo faces qualifier Sander Jong(TCU) of the Netherlands; No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch, the 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion, will play fellow 19-year-old left-hander Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Wake Forest.