USTA's 2027 Junior Schedule Reveals Easter Bowl Moving from Indian Wells; Secord Reaches First USTA Pro Circuit Semifinal at Naples M15; Forbes Advances at Columbus M25; Zheng into Knoxville Challenger Semis
The complete USTA National Junior Tournament Schedule for 2027 isn't out yet, but the USTA portion of it, not including the World Tennis events, has been added as a link on usta.com, and that version features one notable change of venues. The USTA Spring Championships, also known as the Easter Bowl, will no longer be in the Palm Springs area in 2027.
The tournament, which dates back to 1968 for the 14s, 16s and 18s (the 12s division joined in 2014), has been in the Palm Springs area of Southern California since 1995, with the main site Indian Wells Tennis Garden, home of the BNP Paribas Open, since 2014. That 30-year run is over, with the tournament moving to Orange County for 2027.
The NJTS identifies the venue for the March 20-28 tournament as Great Park Tennis Center in Irvine California, although, as always, there will be many other sites in the area used given the size of the event. The USTA Southern California section will be responsible for the event, and an official announcement with more details is expected in the next several weeks.
2026 Kalamazoo 18s semifinalist Jack Secord will play in his first USTA Pro Circuit semifinal after another straight-sets win at the M15 in Naples Florida. The 18-year-old left-hander from Illinois, who reached the quarterfinals at the M15 in Ithaca last month on indoor hard courts, defeated qualifier Youcef Rihane(Florida State) of Algeria 6-1, 6-3 to continue his run this week on outdoor clay courts.
Secord, who received entry via the World Tennis junior reserved program, plays the only seed remaining, No. 3 Dragos Cazacu(Tennessee, Oklahoma) of Romania. Cazzcu defeated Joaquim Almeida(VCU, Liberty) of Brazil 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals today.
Wild card Tomas Jirousek(TCU) of Czechia will face recent UC Santa Barbara graduate Lucca Liu, after Jirousek defeated 18-year-old qualifier Riley Anson 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3 and Liu ousted No. 4 seed Evan Bynoe(Cornell). Liu has reached four quarterfinals on the WT men's tennis tour this year, but this is the 22-year-old's first semifinal. Jirousek, 26, is playing his first pro circuit event since November of 2023, when he was in his fifth year at TCU.
Michigan State's Sheldon brothers, Max and Mitchell, won their first doubles title in Naples without taking the court. The No. 2 seeds received a walkover from No. 4 seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) and 44-year-old Jesse Witten(Kentucky).
At the M25 in Columbus, 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion Matt Forbes has broken out of his fall slump this week, advancing to the semifinals. Forbes, who transferred to Ohio State from Michigan State this spring, was unsuccessful in his attempts to qualify for the NCAAs and lost in the first round of the two USTA Pro Circuit touraments he played prior to this. Today he defeated Arizona State junior Ofek Shimanov of Israel 6-4, 6-2 and will play recent Ohio State graduate Jack Anthrop, who defeated No. 6 seed Alec Dekkers of the Netherlands 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Forbes and Anthrop played twice last year, with Forbes winning both matches, but they were close: 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 in March and 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3) in the Big Ten conference tournament final, with Forbes clinching the title for the Spartans with that victory.
In the top half, No. 1 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France defeated Ohio State sophomore Victor Lilov 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 and No. 4 seed Bor Artnak of Slovenia beat current Texas A&M teammate Theo Papamalamis of France, the No. 5 seed, 7-5, 6-4.
The doubles final will be all-Buckeyes, but surprisingly will not No. 1 seeds Nikita Filin and Brandon Carpico, who lost to teammates Preston Stearns and Jack Anthrop in the quarterfinals. Stearns and Anthrop will face Forbes and Alexander Okonkwo, who advanced to the final via a walkover from Ohio State's Bryce Nakashima and Aidan Kim.
At the ATP Challenger 75 in Knoxville, No. 2 seed Michael Zheng(Columbia) came from 5-3 down in the second set to defeat Stefan Kozlov tonight to advance to the semifinals. Zheng will face No. 4 seed Clement Chidekh(Washington) of France, who beat No. 7 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
In the top half, qualifier Daniel Milavsky(Harvard), advanced to his second Challenger semifinal with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 win over Max Rehberg of Germany; he play unseeded Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan, who beat Alastair Gray(TCU) of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4.
Qualifier Rachel Gailis(Florida) and unseeded Dasha Ivanova have reached the semifinals of the W35 in Weston Florida, with Gailis defeating No. 7 seed Ilinca Amariei(Texas A&M) of Romania 6-2, 6-3 and Ivanova defeated Michaela Laki(NC State, Miami) of Greece 6-3, 6-4. Gailis will play No. 3 seed Aran Teixido Garcia(Cincinnati, Memphis, LSU) of Spain, while Ivanova faces Florida junior Janna Hossam of Egypt, a qualifier.
At the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, qualifier Ava Esposito(Auburn) is through to the semifinals after beating teammate and No. 7 seed Merna Refaat of Egypt 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 today. She will face Texas A&M senior Kristina Paskauskas of Great Britain, who ended the run of 18-year-old qualifier Karlin Schock 6-4, 6-2. Unseeded Mia Kupres(Texas A&M) of Canada will play No. 6 seed Karla Bartel(Alabama) of Germany in the other semifinal.









