Les Petits As US Playoffs Underway in Florida; Wright Wins Second Straight World Tennis J100; Twenty-Eight Players Earn Division I NCAA Singles Entry in Regional Play

The annual Les Petits As United States Playoffs are underway this week at the RPS Academies in Port St. Lucie Florida, with main draw entries into the prestigious 2027 14-and-under tournament in Tarbes France on the line.

The boys competing in the USA playoffs, with seeds in brackets. Two players from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.

Group A

Evan Fan[1]

Rishab Sakijumar[8]

Keanu Agbulos

David Benedict

Group B

Novak Masteller[2]

Dmitriy Flyam[6]

Miguel Valencia

Alexander McDaniel

Group C

William McGugin[3]

John Pollack[5]

Thomas Gamble

Ethan Kim

Group D

Pranav Madamanchi[7]

James Borchard[4]

Yfan Nie

Aleksander Denisov

The girls competing in the USA playoffs:

Group A

Lucy Dupere[1]

Annie Tan[7]

Elodie Agnamba

Maya Laddin

Group B

Violetta Li[2]

Chloe Anthony[5]

Noa Boar

Annabelle Huang

Group C

Emma Li[3]

Lailah Cowgill[8]

Anna Victoria Sandru

Lola Looney

Group D

Inie Toli[4]

Skylar Mandell[6]

Yao Lerong

Vihana Thasen

The tournament rules state that the top three finishers receive main draw spots, with fourth place receiving a wild card into qualifying, but in practice, the four semifinalists from the USA Playoffs have almost always gotten into the main draw. The dates for the 2027 edition of the tournament in France are January 21-31.

Results from today's round robin matches haven't been posted yet, but the link to that page is here.

Last week was a slow one on the World Tennis Junior Circuit, at least for Americans, with just one singles title, which was Sydney Wright's second straight J100 championship in Accra Ghana.

The third-seeded 16-year-old from Maryland defeated No. 4 seed Kuzivaishe Chapepa of Zimbabwe 6-2, 6-0 in the final for her eighth straight win in Accra, and she is now up to 220 in the WT junior rankings.

Wright and her Nigerian partner Success Ojunjobi, seeded No. 2, won the doubles title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over top seeds Alisha Ndukwu of Poland and Milana Kolesova of Russia.

There were four more doubles titles for Americans:

Sophia Budacsek reached the girls singles final and claimed the doubles title at the J100 in Mexico with Azul Lopez Vazquez R; Sofia Kedrin and partner Payton Dith of Canada won the title at the J60 in the Dominican Republic; fifteen-year-old Abner Pulin Yu won the J60 in Morocco with Zayd Ahfer of Morocco; and the all-US team of Autumn Xu and Enya Hamilton, seeded No. 1, took the title at the J30 in Canada, beating No. 2 seeds Mila Ajdukovic of Canada and Gwyneth Britton.

I was going to wait until Tuesday to post the first batch of the ITA regionals singles semifinals and doubles finals results, but there are only a three still yet to be determined Tuesday, from the women's regionals in New England and Ohio Valley, so I'll post what I have tonight and just add those to this page tomorrow. 

The remaining 11 regionals will be played in the coming days, with play in the women's Mountain region beginning tomorrow.

Chris Halioris has been hard at work on a new page for his collegetennisranks.com website that posts all NCAA qualifiers and he'll soon have all the sectional priorities available there as well.

Men's Regionals:

(Qualifiers in bold)

ATLANTIC:

Andres Santamarta[1](Virginia) d. Stiles Brockett[5](Virginia) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Luca Preda[3](Virginia) d. Jangjun Kim[2](Virginia) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1

Doubles final:

Jangjun Kim and Andres Santamarta[1](Virginia) d. Blake Hilsen and Eyal Shumilov[2](Virginia Tech)

CAROLINA:

Charlie Robertson[9](South Carolina) d. Chris Xu(North Carolina) 6-3, 6-4

Bruno Kuzuhara[8](Clemson) d. Ian Mayew[9](North Carolina) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles final:

Marko Mesarovic and Henrik Bladelius[4](Clemson) d. Cody Benton and Toby Kodat[8](NC State) 6-3, 6-3

CENTRAL:

Johan Rodriguez[1](Oklahoma) d. Tito Chavez[8](Oklahoma) 6-0, 6-4

Luciano Ambrogi[2](Oklahoma) d. Asahi Harazaki[4](Oklahoma) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles final:

Connor Smillie and Brendan Boland[4](Arkansas) d. Tito Chavez and Alejandro Melero[7](Oklahoma)

MOUNTAIN:

Dylan Davies(Denver) d. Sep De Visser(Idaho State) 7-6(4), 6-3

Xavier Calvelo[4](Utah State) d. Matthew Upton(Montana) 6-3, 7-5

Doubles final:

Marko Maksimovic and Kemal Karakas[1](UNLV) d. Matthew Upton and Duncan McCall 7-6(4), 6-3

NEW ENGLAND:

Rodrigo Fernandes[1](Cornell) d. Eric Verdes[9](Cornell) 6-2, 6-7(2), 7-5

Rohan Murali[2](Harvard) d. Cezar Papoe[4](Cornell) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles final: 

Rushil Khosia and Rethin Senthil Kumar[2](Cornell) d. Rohan Murali and Kolos Kincses[3](Harvard) 6-3, 6-4

OHIO VALLEY:

Nour Fathalla[5](Purdue) d. Lorenzo Balducci(Purdue) 6-1, 6-3

Kyle McNally[9](Dayton) d. Aryan Saleh(Middle Tenn St) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles final:

Hamza El Amine and Lucas Bazin[13](Louisville) d. Sturle Skigelstrand and Mikkel Zinder(Dayton) 7-5, 7-5

SOUTHERN:

Igor Kudriashov[5](Ole Miss) d. Vlado Jankanj[7](Ole Miss) 7-6(5), 6-4

Niccola Baroni[2](Ole Miss) d. Manel Lazaro[8](Auburn) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

Doubles final:

Igor Kudriashov and Kai Milburn(Ole Miss) d. Aleksander Blus and Theo Hegarty(Alabama) 6-3, 7-6(4)

TEXAS:

Tomasz Berkieta[9](Texas) d. Niksa Arsic(Texas Tech) 6-2, 6-4 

Ilia Snitari[9](Texas A&M) d. Erik Schiessl[9](Baylor) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5)

Doubles final:

Albert Pedrico and Cooper Woestendick[1](TCU) d. Connor Van Schalkwyk and Erik Schiessl[2](Baylor) 6-1, 6-3

Women's Regionals

(Qualifiers in bold)

MIDWEST:

Piper Charney[1](Michigan) d. Ariel Madatali(Illinois) 6-1, 6-0

Ekaterina Ivanova[2](Wisconsin) d. Olivia Traynor[6](Michigan) 6-3, 6-3

Third place: 

Olivia Traynor[6](Michigan) d. Ariel Madatali(Illinois) 6-2, 6-3

(Ivanova had already qualified for NCAAs by reaching ITA All-American quarterfinals)

Doubles final:

Piper Charney and Reese Miller[1](Michigan) d. Audrey Spencer and Anna Bennett[9](Ohio State) 6-3, 6-1 

NEW ENGLAND:

Lauren Kettlewell[9](Boston U) d. Kavya Karra[9](Harvard) 7-6(5), 7-5

Stephanie Yakoff[2](Harvard) d. Monika Wojcik(Syracuse) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles final(Tuesday): 

Stephanie Yakoff and Kavya Karra[1](Harvard) v Peyton Capuano and Michela Moore[2](Dartmouth)

NORTHWEST:

Anna-Marie Weissheim[6](Washington) d. Sofia Daryaie(Saint Mary's) 6-3, 6-2

Alyssa Ahn[2](Stanford) d. Jermine Sherif[9](Washington) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles final:

Nela Jandova and Marina Markina[6](Washington) d. Priya Nelson and Stella Remander[9](Saint Mary's) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8

OHIO VALLEY:

(semifinals Tuesday)

Mariia Dolzhenko(Lipscomb) v Julia Zhu[3](Kentucky) 

Asuncion Jadue(Kentucky) v Donna Le Roux[9](Kentucky)

Doubles final(Tuesday):

Valeria Ray and Sophia Webster[1](Vanderbilt) v Sarah Mildren and Alyson Shannon[2](Tennessee)

SOUTHEAST:

Bella Payne[9](Georgia) d. Malwina Rowinska(Florida Atlantic) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 

Emma Dong[6](Georgia) d. Patricija Paukstyte[9](Georgia) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles final:

Emma Dong and Ranah Stoiber[4](Georgia) d. Jantje Tilbuerger and Marta Makarova(UCF) 7-5, 6-0

SOUTHERN:

Ashton Bowers[1](Auburn) d. Addison Lanton[3](LSU) 7-5, 6-4

Alice Battesti(Ole Miss) d. Tegan Bush[9](LSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Doubles final:

Gianna Oboniye and Athina Pitta[2](Mississippi St) d. Andrea Nova and Alice Soulie[4](Ole Miss) 7-5, 7-5

TEXAS:

Divna Ratkovic[3](Rice) d. Alian Zack[5](Baylor) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Sofiia Mykhailets[6](TCU) d. Kori Montoya(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles final:

Sofiia Mykhailets and Cristina Ramos Sierra[9](TCU) d. Na Dong and Ligaya Murray[9](Baylor) 6-4, 6-3

Division I Regional Semifinals Missing Host of Top Players; Sharma Goes Back-to-Back with Title at W50 in South Carolina; Qualifier Kamper Wins W35 in Las Vegas

We're deep into the first wave of ITA Division I regionals, which serve as a qualifier for the NCAAs next month in Athens. Eight of the 13 men's regionals are winding down, with the remaining five coming up this weekend, while seven of the women's 13 regionals will finish in the next two days, with the remaining six starting later in the week.

Most of the regionals have determined their singles semifinalists, with two of the men's regionals now complete, with NCAA qualifiers decided. (Chris Halioris of collegetennisranks.com is updating the men's qualifiers here and the women's qualifiers here, and is also including in those documents the sectional tournament priority for players who don't qualify at regionals and will need to get into the sectionals for a final shot at the NCAAs). 

The focus will be on the qualifiers of course, but quite a few top players are already will be looking to the sectional tournaments November 5-8 to qualify.

From the women's regionals, some notable names failing to reach the semifinals are Monika Ektstrand of Stanford, No. 1 seed in the Northwest; Jana Hossam and Valery Gynina of Florida, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the Southeast; Rinon Okuwaki of Tennessee, the No. 2 seed in the Ohio Valley; and Ava Esposito of Auburn, the No. 2 seed in the Southern. In Texas, top seed Sophie Llewllyn of SMU lost in the quarterfinals, and No. 2 seed Zuzanna Kubacha of Baylor withdrew with an injury in the quarterfinals. New England's top seed, Gian Octa of Boston College, who transfered from Missouri, lost in the first round.

From the men's regionals: the Carolina top seed Romain Gales of Clemson and No. 2 seed Paul Barbier Gazeu of South Carolina both lost in the first round.  In the Texas region, top seed Devin Badenhorst of Baylor lost in the second round and No. 2 seed Amirkhamza Nasridinov of Texas A&M lost in the quarterfinals. In the Ohio Valley, top seed Eli Stephenson of Kentucky lost in the quarterfinals, with No. 2 seed Orel Kimhi of Tennessee out in the second round. At Southern, top seed Vit Kalina of Alabama fell in the second round; at Mountain, the top two seeds, Marko Maksimovic of UNLV and Filip Soderqvist of Boise State, lost in the quarterfinals.

Two of the men's regionals had semifinalists who were all from the same school: Virginia and Oklahoma. 

I'll post all results from this first set of regionals, including doubles finals, when all 15 are complete. The finals are not played, with winners of semifinals qualifying for NCAAs in singles; only the doubles winners earn NCAA berths.

Men's Regionals:

ATLANTIC:

Andres Santamarta Roig[1](Virginia) v Stiles Brockett[5](Virginia)

Luca Preda[3](Virginia) v Jangjun Kim[2](Virginia)

CAROLINA:

Charlie Robertson[9](South Carolina) v Chris Xu(North Carolina)

Bruno Kuzuhara[8](Clemson) v Ian Mayew[9](North Carolina)

CENTRAL:

NCAA qualifiers:

Johan Rodriguez[1](Oklahoma)

Luciano Ambrogi[2](Oklahoma)

MOUNTAIN:

NCAA qualifiers:

Dylan Davies(Denver)

Xavier Calvelo[4](Utah State)

NEW ENGLAND:

Rodrigo Fernandes[1](Cornell) v Eric Verdes[9](Cornell)

Cezar Papoe[4](Cornell) v Rohan Murali[2](Harvard)

OHIO VALLEY:

Nour Fathalla[5](Purdue) v Lorenzo Balducci(Purdue)

Aryan Saleh(Middle Tenn St) v Kyle McNally[9](Dayton)

SOUTHERN:

Igor Kudriashov[5](Ole Miss) v Vlado Jankanj[7](Ole Miss)

Manel Lazaro[8](Auburn) v Niccola Baroni[2](Ole Miss)

TEXAS:

Niksa Arsic(Texas Tech) v Tomasz Berkieta[9](Texas)

Ilia Snitari[9](Texas A&M) v Erik Schiessl[9](Baylor)

Women's Regionals:

MIDWEST:

Piper Charney[1](Michigan) v Ariel Madatali(Illinois)

Olivia Traynor[6](Michigan) v Ekaterina Ivanova[2](Wisconsin)

NEW ENGLAND:

Lauren Kettlewell[9](Boston U) v Kavya Karra[9](Harvard)

Monika Wojcik(Syracuse) v Stephanie Yakoff[2](Harvard)

NORTHWEST:

Sofia Daryaie(Saint Mary's) v Anna-Marie Weissheim[6](Washington)

Jermine Sherif[9](Washington) v Alyssa Ahn[2](Stanford)

OHIO VALLEY:

(quarterfinals Monday)

Valeria Ray[1](Vanderbilt) v Mariia Dolzhenko(Lipscomb)

Julia Zhu[3](Kentucky) v Deborah Dominguez Collado(Lipscomb)

Lisa Kamigata(Tennessee) v Asuncion Jadue(Kentucky)

Sophia Webster[5](Vanderbilt) v Donna Le Roux[9](Kentucky)

SOUTHEAST:

Malwina Rowinska(Florida Atlantic) v Bella Payne[9](Georgia)

Emma Dong[6](Georgia) v Patricija Paukstyte[9](Georgia)

SOUTHERN:

Ashton Bowers[1](Auburn) v Addison Lanton[3](LSU)

Tegan Bush[9](LSU) v Alice Battesti(Ole Miss)

TEXAS:

Alian Zack[5](Baylor) v Divna Ratkovic[3](Rice)

Kori Montoya(Texas A&M) v Sofiia Mykhailets[6](TCU)

With preseason No. 1s Dylan Dietrich of Virginia and Lucciana Perez of Texas A&M not playing their regionals, it's unlikely we'll see them at the NCAAs, which is no surprise for Perez, who didn't play the fall last year. But I had expected to see Dietrich, if only because he has a chance to win all three NCAA titles in his career, having won the NCAA doubles title last fall and the NCAA team title this spring.

Another top player who may be taking the fall off is Emma Kamper, the senior at Auburn who transferred from Utah at the end of last season. The 22-year-old from Denmark won her first women's World Tennis pro singles title today at the W35 in Las Vegas. Kamper, who won seven matches, including two in qualifying, defeated No. 2 seed Francesca Pace of Italy 7-5, 6-2.

Astra Sharma won her 12th match in 12 days today in Lexington South Carolina, with the 31-year-old from Australia claiming the USTA Pro Circuit W50 a week after she had captured the W15 in Nashville. The former Vanderbilt All-American defeated wild card Kaitlyn Carnicella, a senior at South Carolina, 6-2, 6-1 in just over an hour. I was surprised to see the match time for today's final 12:30 p.m., because Carnicella played until nearly 10 p.m. in her match-point saving win over No. 7 seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands. In any case, Sharma proved her stamina in that 12-day stretch, and although she still has a long climb ahead to return to the WTA top 100, she has shown that level these past two weeks.

Penickova Falls in Semifinals of W35 Las Vegas; Sharma and Carnicella Reach Final of W50 in South Carolina; UTR Pro Tennis Tour Update

Seventeen-year-old Annika Penickova came up just short today in her attempt to reach her third W35 final in the past three months, with the unseeded left-hander falling to No. 2 seed Francesca Pace of Italy 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-5 in Las Vegas. 

Pace will face Auburn senior Emma Kamper of Denmark, who has already won six matches after coming through qualifying. The 22-year-old Kamper, who spend her first three years of collegiate eligibility at Utah, defeated Oklahoma sophomore Edda Mamedova of Russia 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-3 to reach her first final on the women's World Tennis Tour.

Pace already has secured the doubles title, with partner and compatriot Diletta Cerubini. The unseeded pair defeated unseeded Abigail Rencheli(NC State) and Maria Sholokhova(Wisconsin) of Russia 7-6(5), 7-5 in the final. 

At the W50 in Lexington South Carolina, the semifinals were played tonight, indoors, due to rain.  

Qualifier Astra Sharma will play for the 12th straight day Sunday after beating top seed Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-2. Sharma, the former Vanderbilt All-American who reached 84 in the ATP rankings in 2022, won the M15 in Vanderbilt last Sunday, then had to play a first round qualifying match Monday in South Carolina. 

Sharma will face wild card Kaitlyn Carnicella, a senior at South Carolina, who saved a match point in her 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win over No. 7 seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands. Rus served for the match at 5-4, 40-30, but Carnicella won the next three games to reach her first USTA Pro Circuit final above the W15 level.

t's been almost two months since I've updated the UTR Pro Tennis Tour results from the United States, and you will notice plenty of current collegians in among the winners and finalists during this stretch. Many take advantage of the events held on their campuses in the fall, and the prize money they earn at these events ($2200-$3600 depending on draw size) can offset the expenses they may have incurred playing pro events over the summer. 

MEN:

August 17 East Lansing MI

Colson Wells d. Max Sheldon 3-6, 6-2, 6-4

August 17 Nashville TN

Matthias Uwe Kask d. Elijah Poritzky 6-4, 6-1

August 24 Clemson SC

Henrik Bladelius d. Joaquin Benoit 6-2, 6-2

August 24 Boise ID

Filip Soderqvist d. Arsene Pougault 6-1, 2-6, 6-3

August 24 Newport Beach CA

Constantinos Djakouris d. Charlie Underwood 6-1, 6-3

August 31 Miami FL

Alex Bernard d. Jakub Kroslak 6-2, 6-4

August 31 Waco TX

Erik Schiessl d. Louis Bowden 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-5

September 7 Knoxville TN

Jose Garcia d. Pepijn Bastiaansen 6-3, 6-4

September 7 Tallahassee FL

Youcef Rihane d. Azariah Rusher 6-2, 6-3

September 7 Newport Beach CA

Rishvanth Krishna d. Cesar Cruz 6-0, 6-3

September 14 Chicago IL*

Douglas Yaffa d. Oliver Okonkwo 6-3, 7-5

September 14 Newport Beach CA

Constantinos Djakouris d. Pavel Bushuev 6-2, 6-2

September 21 College Station TX

Tomas Pinho d. Arin Pallegar 6-3, 7-6(8)

September 21 Norfolk VA(+H)

Christopher Thies d. Jean Olivier De Sardan 6-4, 6-3

September 28 Lincoln NE*

Aniss Rafiq d. Henry Lamchinniah 6-2, 6-4

September 28 Ithaca NY

Eric Verdes d. Rodrigo Fernandes 6-4, 6-4

September 28 Newport Beach CA

Constantinos Djakouris d. Gianluca Brunkow w/o

*$12.5K prize money, $20K for all others

WOMEN:

August 17 East Lansing MI

Nao Nishino d. Mayu Crossley 7-6(0), 3-6, 6-2

August 24 Clemson SC

Emma Ghirardato d. Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev 6-4, 6-3

August 24 Boise ID

Alina Shcherbinina d. Lexie Weir 6-4, 6-1

August 24 Newport Beach CA

Kailey Evans d. Veronkia Miroshnichehnko 4-6, 6-4, 6-0

August 31 Miami FL 

Mayu Crossley d. Raquel Gonzalez Vilar 6-2, 6-0

August 31 Waco TX

Marta Makarova d. Zuzanna Kubacha 6-3, 6-3

September 7 Knoxville TN

Luciana Perry d. Carlota Moreno 6-4, 6-3

September 7 Tallahassee FL

Mary Boyce Deatherage d. Amina Salibayeva 6-4, 5-7, 6-2

September 7 Newport Beach CA

Kate Fakih d. Veronkia Miroshnichehnko 6-4, 1-6, 7-5

September 14 Chicago IL*

Mariana Manyoma d. Autumn Rabjohns 7-6(5), 7-5

September 14 Newport Beach CA

Katja Wiersholm d. Kailey Evans 6-2, 6-4

September 21 College Station TX

Emily Welker d. Eva Maria Ionescu 6-1, 6-1

September 28 Lincoln NE*

Katie Spencer d. Emma Rizzetto 6-4, 4-6, 7-5

September 28 Ithaca NY

Michelle Ryndin d. Sage Loudon 6-3, 6-2

September 28 Newport Beach CA

Shakhnoza Khatamova d. Adriana Reami 7-5, 6-4

*$12.5K prize money, $20K for all others

The results from June and July can be found here.

World Tennis J300 Pan American Recap, Videos; Penickova Beats Preston to Advance to W35 Las Vegas Semifinals; Rain Sends W50 Lexington Semifinals Indoors

My recap of last week's World Tennis J300 Pan American Regional Championships is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. If you weren't able to follow my onsite coverage every day, you will have missed out on some details, but the TRN article provides an condensed overview of the singles titles for Armira Kockinis and Teodor Davidov and the doubles titles form Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes and Tanishk Konduri and Andy Johnson.

The videos of the finals are up on the Tenniskalamazoo YouTube channel; because there is no way to film from behind and above at the site, there are separate videos for each of the four singles finalists.

Konduri's video is here and Combs' video is here. 

A Tennis Recruiting Network photo gallery from the tournament is in the works.

At the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Las Vegas, Annika Penickova avenged her quarterfinal loss to Janae Preston at the USTA Nationals 18s in San Diego in August. The 17-year-old left-hander defeated Preston, who had come through qualifying 6-4, 6-4, to advance to Saturday's semifinals.

She will play No. 2 seed Francesca Pace of Italy, who beat No. 6 seed Mell Reasco(Georgia) of Ecuador 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2 in a three-hour and 20-minute marathon. Penickova reached back-to-back W35 finals this summer, winning the first, so this is familiar territory for her.

The semifinal in the top half will feature two current collegians, with Oklahoma sophomore Edda Mamedova of Russia taking on Auburn senior Emma Kamper of Denmark. Mamedova defeated qualifier Francesca Mattioli(Tennessee) of Argentina 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 and Kamper, a qualifier, defeated No. 7 seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy 6-2, 6-4.

Heavy rain is expected Saturday for the singles semifinals of the W50 in Lexington South Carolina, so the doubles semifinals and finals were played today, and the decision has already been made to move indoors for the singles semifinals Saturday evening.

University of South Carolina senior Kaitlyn Carnicella is through to her first USTA Pro Circuit semifinal above the W15 level, defeating ITA preseason No. 1 Lucciana Perez, a senior at Texas A&M, 6-3, 3-0 retired. Carnicella will face 35-year-old Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, who advanced when No. 3 seed Whitney Osuigwe retired trailing 3-0 in the first set.

At 21, wild card Carnicella is the youngest of the semifinalists; the top half semifinal will feature 36-year-old Madison Brengle and 31-year-old Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt) of Australia.

Brengle defeated No. 8 seed Lea Ma(Georgia) 7-6(3), 6-2, while Sharma, who won the W15 last week in Nashville, defeated fellow qualifier Bella Bergqvist Larsson of Sweden, a junior at South Carolina, 7-6(5), 6-4.  Sharma will be playing an eleventh straight day in tomorrow's semifinal, as she had no day off between the Nashville final Sunday and Monday's qualifying in Lexington.

No. 2 seed Diae El Jardi(Rice) of Morocco and Sahaja Yamalapalli(Sam Houston) of India won the doubles title, beating top seeds Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine and Dalayna Hewitt 2-6, 7-5, 12-10 in the final.

Preston and Penickova to Meet in Las Vegas W35 Quarterfinals; ITA Division I Regionals Underway; Zenniz Electronic Line Calling Gets Rave Review; USTA Feature on Carpico and Filin; Note on Daily Emails

Janae Preston has been a main character here on Zootennis throughout most of 2026 due to her junior results, and she has continued to earn recognition this fall with her results on the USTA Pro Circuit. After reaching the final of the W50 in Berkeley last month as a qualifier, the 16-year-old from Henderson Nevada is through to the quarterfinals this week at W35 in Las Vegas, again after coming through qualifying.

Preston, who reached the Wimbledon Junior semifinals and the quarterfinals at the US Open Juniors last month, defeated No. 3 seed Hanna Chang 6-3, 6-2 in the second round today. Her opponent in Friday's quarterfinal will be 17-year-old Annika Penickova, who defeated Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico 6-2, 6-2. Penickova and Preston have not met in WT juniors, but Preston won their quarterfinal match in the USTA National 18s in San Diego this year 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Penickova defeated Preston in last fall in the semifinals of a W15 in Hilton Head 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

They are the only two Americans remaining the draw in Las Vegas, with 17-year-old wild card Thea Frodin losing to No. 7 seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6). Kristinia Penickova lost to former Georgia All-American Mell Reasco of Ecuador, the No. 6 seed, 7-5, 6-0 today. UCLA junior Kate Fakih, a wild card, lost to No. 2 seed Francesca Pace of Italy 7-6(6), 6-3 and qualifier Lexington Reed, the Texas A&M junior, lost to Edda Mamedova(Oklahoma) of Russia 6-4, 6-4. Reed had beaten top seed Katrina Scott(Tennessee) 7-6(1), 3-1, ret. in the first round.

There are four Americans in the quarterfinals of the Lexington South Carolina's W50, with wild card Kaitlyn Carnicella, a senior at South Carolina, one of them. Carnicella, who beat No. 5 seed Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden 6-1, 6-3, will play ITA preseason No. 1 Lucciana Perez, a senior at Texas A&M in the quarterfinals. Perez beat No. 2 seed Maria Carle(Georgia) of Argentina 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 in the second round today. The other Americans are top seed Madison Brengle, who plays No. 8 seed Lea Ma(Georgia), and No. 3 seed Whitney Osuigwe. 

Twenty-six more men and women will qualify for next month's NCAA individual championships during the next two weeks, with the Division I regionals now underway. The winners and finalists of each of the 13 regionals will earn a place in the 64-player draws in Athens, joining the 10 players who have already qualified on the basis of their results at last month's ITA All-American Championships. 

The eight men's Regionals this weekend are Atlantic(Virginia Tech), Carolina(South Carolina), Central(Nebraska), Mountain(BYU), New England(Harvard), Ohio Valley(Farm & Forge Club), Southern(Auburn) and Texas(TCU).

There are seven women's Regionals this weekend: Midwest(Illinois), New England(Yale), Northwest(Stanford), Ohio Valley(Cincinnati and Miami OH), Southeast(Miami), Southern(LSU) and Texas(Baylor).

See the ITA Division I Regional Tournament page for links to the draws.

Tennis Recruiting Network published an article yesterday on the Zenniz Electronic Line Calling system that Tom Walker has introduced at the Grand Rapids Racquet Club, and he couldn't be happier with it. I am not familiar with that system, as I've only seen the Play/Replay system at collegiate events, but having competition in that space can only help in accelerating adoption.

The USTA's Inside American Tennis newsletter today featured  the ITA All-American and Columbus Challenger doubles champions Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin of Ohio State, with questions ranging from what makes them a good team to which celebrity they would like as a doubles partner.

A NOTE FOR EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:

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Hance, Lee and Preston Set to Play in World Tennis Junior Finals in China This Month; Tennis Europe 14s and 16s Masters Fields Announced; Registration Deadline Next Week for IMG Academy International Event

The annual World Tennis Tour Junior Finals are set to begin in two weeks in Chengdu China, and unlike the WTA and ATP Finals, where all who qualify are certain to play, there is always some doubt regarding which juniors will make the long trip, even when their qualification has been determined. The points awarded are the same as junior slams, with 1000 points to the winner, and there is prize money in the form of travel grants, but that is often not enough to compensate for the disruption to fall training blocks or pro tournaments on juniors' schedules.

With the WT's announcement of the field today, we now know that two girls and four (and a half) boys have opted out. WT No. 1 junior and Roland Garros champion Guto Miguel of Brazil is not playing, nor is No. 4 Michael Antonius, No. 8 Marcel Latak and No. 9 Duke freshman Yannick Alexandrescou of France. (These are the rankings at the conclusion of the US Open Juniors, not current rankings). No. 13 Andy Johnson was offered the alternate spot, but he declined.

The girls from the Top 10 who are missing the event are the Brazilian duo of No. 4 Victoria Barros and No. 7 Nana Leme Da Silva.

Keaton Hance and Jordan Lee, Orlando April 2026

The boys field (Sept. 14 ranking in brackets):

• Jamie Mackenzie[2], Germany
• Thilo Behrmann[3], Austria
• Keaton Hance[5], USA
• Jordan Lee[6], USA
• Ziga Sesko[7], Slovenia
• Dimitar Kisimov[10], Bulgaria
• Vincent Reisach[11], Germany
• Yannik Alvarez[12], Puerto Rico

No, 14 Matias Domenc of France is the boys alternate. There is no Chinese boy in the Top 75, so there is no representation for the home country, even as an alternate, in the boys field.

The girls field (Sept. 14 ranking in brackets):

• Xinran Sun[1], China
• Anna Pushkareva[2], Russia
• Jana Kovackova[3], Czechia
• Ksenia Efremova[5], France
• Janae Preston[6], USA
• Mariia Makarova[8], Russia
• Anastasija Cvetkovic[9], Serbia
• Polina Skliar[10], Ukraine

Because she is in the Top 75, Ruien Zhang of China, No. 43, will serve as the girls alternate. There are three other Chinese girls ranked above Zhang--Yushan Shao Yu Jun Lin and Yihan Qu--so they must have declined the alternate position.

With her decision to play in China, Preston may have opted out of the Junior Billie Jean King Cup because it starts in Egypt barely a week after the Junior Finals conclude. Skliar and Kovackova are scheduled to play both events.

The format is two groups of four, competing in round robin play, with the top two finishers in each group advancing to the semifinals.

Sun is obviously the favorite going into the event, particularly given her third round appearance at the WTA 1000 in Beijing. Steve Tignor wrote about Sun's first big result in a WTA tournament for his new Substack newsletter.

While the Junior Finals are taking place in China, Tennis Europe will be holding its annual Masters Tournament for the 14s and 16s age divisions in Monte Carlo. The fields are the same, with eight boys and eight girls competing in each division, but the format is completed in four days, with no semifinals; the two groups' top finishers meet in the final. 

The full list of competitors can be found in this announcement of the fields from Tennis Europe.

For a recap of the European 16s Championships, which concluded on September 26th, see this Tennis Europe article.

The IMG Academy International Tennis Championships are less than two months away, with qualifying beginning on Tuesday November 24th. The deadline for entry for the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions is next Tuesday, October 13th. The entry deadline for the J300 in Bradenton the week of November 30th is November 10th.

See the tournament website for the requirements for entry and the event's key dates.