Ten Girls Seeds Fall in Second Round of ITF J300 in Tucson, Wild Card Basavaraju Reaches Third Round in Boys Draw

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Tucson AZ--

Rain Monday afternoon and evening produced a late start to matches on Tuesday, with 12 first round matches and 32 second matches packed into the schedule on a cool and partly cloudy day in the desert. Although several matches finished under the lights, the third round is set for Wednesday, and it will include only six of the 16 girls seeds that took to the courts for the first time today.

Four of the Top 8 seeds were eliminated, with 15-year-old Allison Wang pulling off the first upset of the day with her 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 7 seed Riyo Yoshida of Japan, last week's champion at the J200 in Las Vegas.

Wang, who lost only two games in her first round win yesterday, felt that match and the conditions in Tucson played a role in her success today, while acknowledging Yoshida, who plays two-handed on both sides, was not physically at her best.

"It wasn't like I played extraordinary, but she had some issues, I think she was dizzy," Wang said. "She had a really good tournament (in Las Vegas) and I think that took a lot of her energy. And I got to get used to this place--it's dry, it's fast and the ball doesn't bounce as high as Vegas, and it's not as windy. When it's windy I feel I have to push, I cannot go for the ball, so I can't play my game."

Wang, who was seeded in Las Vegas, but lost in the second round, took advantage of her status as an underdog and the favorable conditions.

"I didn't have much pressure, and when I saw that she wasn't feeling her best, I had to continue to play like it was normal," Wang said. "I did change my strategy slightly to move her more, I guess, because she's not feeling well."

Wang said she was "so happy" to have finished her first round match Monday and be done with her second early in the day.

"I can just relax now, but I have doubles later," said Wang, who faces wild card Julia Seversen, a 7-6(6), 6-0 winner over No. 9 seed Thara Gowda.

Carlota Moreno was not as fortunate, as she had to complete her first round match this morning, but the Las Vegas semifinalist had no trouble in the second round against No. 5 seed Sarah Ye, taking a 6-1, 6-1 decision. Moreno will play Camille Allegre, who defeated No. 10 seed Adla Lopez 6-0, 6-1.

Briley Rhoden took out No. 6 seed Carrie-Ann Hoo 6-1, 7-5 and will play fellow qualifier Armira Kockinis, who beat Karlin Schock 6-1, 6-3.

The highest seed to fall was No. 3 Olivia Traynor, who was beaten by Kalista Papadopoulos 6-3, 6-3.

Papadopoulos had come close to defeating an ITF Top 100 junior on several occasions but hadn't been able to close, so she was pleased with how she handled losing her 3-1 lead in the second set. 

"When I was up 3-1 I kind of saw the finish line," said the 17-year-old, who has committed to Princeton for 2027. "And in my previous matches with Top 100 players, I did the same thing, and then I would get tight. So when I got to 3-all, I said 'I'm not going to lose this set making the same mistake as previously.' So I just told myself to block out the score, block out the nerves, you have go now. If you lose the set, lose it going for it, not because you're nervous and have all these emotions."

At 3-1 in the second set Papadopoulos also had to block out the drama on the court next to hers, when No. 14 seed Anya Arora went down with what appeared to be a rolled ankle when leading Reilly Rhodes 7-5, 1-0.  Her cries of pain could be heard throughout the tournament courts, but after a visit from the trainer and the tournament referee, with a wheelchair at the ready if needed, Arora resumed play and won the break point she held when she fell to go up 2-0. While she continued to struggle with her movement and lost the next six games, Arora recovered to take the match 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

Papadopoulos said the match adjacent to hers had been a source of heightened emotions throughout her first set, and when all the commotion of an injury added to it, she blamed that as a reason for her own loss of focus.

"I think I used it as an excuse when I lost the game to 2-3," Papadopoulos said. "I kind of let my emotions take over, but then I thought, she (Traynor) is dealing with it too. On the changeover I said 'you can't be thinking about that.' Everyone in the facility had to listen to it, you know what I mean, it's not just me. And my previous matches helped a lot; to be able to do something different after all the hard losses I've had, it's really good."

Papadopoulos will play Emery Combs, who defeated Brooke Wallman 6-2, 6-4, with the head-to-head 1-1, both in J100s last fall. The only seed left in the bottom half of the draw is No. 2 Hollie Smart of Great Britain, who will play Caroline Shao. Shao defeated No. 13 seed Hannah Ayrault 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Top seed Melije Clarke defeated Abril Cardenas Olivares of Mexico 6-4, 6-1 and will play No. 15 seed Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann. The third qualifier through to the third round is Sophie Suh, who beat No. 12 seed Isabelle DeLuccia 7-6(3), 6-4. Suh will face No. 8 seed Capucine Jauffret.  Arora's opponent Wednesday is No. 4 seed Lani Chang.

The boys draw lost only four seeds, and only one in the Top 8, with Quincy Yao of Canada beating No. 8 seed Agassi Rusher 6-4, 6-4. 

Las Vegas finalist Ford McCollum defeated No. 9 seed Marcel Latak 6-4, 6-0 and Erik Schinnerer beat No. 13 seed Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca of Mexico 6-2, 6-4.

Wild card Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju, who ran his record to 19-2 this year on the ITF Junior Circuit with a 7-6(5), 6-1 win over No. 11 seed Zavier Augustin, said his 2026 surge is primarily the result of a change in his mindset.

"It's been my mentality and preparation," said the 16-year-old, who trains with Sukhwa Young at Eric Dobsha Tennis in Tampa Florida. "In 2025, it was a rough start, my mentality was all over the place and it was mostly because I didn't prepare before my matches. Now I'm taking my tennis seriously, like it's a job. I do what I need to, and it gives me confidence when I'm on court. Mentally I've gotten so much stronger and it's helped me a lot."

Basavaraju, who was born in India but moved to the US when he was 5, rebounded from down 5-2 in the first set, saving a set point, but took control in the tiebreaker, as Augustin's control on his often lethal forehand began to desert him.

"I realized I just have to make a couple of more balls in the court, be gritty, make him play an extra ball and that got me back," said Basavaraju, who won back-to-back J60s in Guatemala last month and reached the quarterfinals in Las Vegas. "In the breaker, his forehand actually broke down and in the second set, at 2-1, he kind of fell apart."

Basavaraju had never played a J200 until last week or a J300 until this week, so he is soaking it all in.

"Every round I win is like, great," said Basavaraju. "Because I've never been at this stage in this level tournament. It's great to be around here in this environment, where I've never been. It's an great opportunity."

Basavaraju's third round opponent is No. 7 seed Safir Azam, who beat Kamil Stolarczyk 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in a nearly three-and-a-half hour match.

Top seed Andrew Johnson defeated Orange Bowl 16s champion Mattias Reyniak 6-0, 6-4 and No. 2 seed Gavin Goode, who needed a wild card because he forgot to enter, beat Felix Roussel of Canada 6-3, 6-2.

Many of the first round doubles matches scheduled for later this evening were not played, so there will be two rounds of doubles on Wednesday for some players. The weather forecast is calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s.

Afternoon Showers Disrupt Round 1 at ITF J300 in Tucson; Qualifier Kockinis Faces Fourth Match in Three days Tuesday; Four ITF J30 Titles for Americans Last Week

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Tucson AZ--

A clear and dry morning for the first round of the ITF J300 tournament at the Tucson Racquet club turned into a mess by mid-afternoon, when thunder and lightning arrived in the desert, interrupting the ten singles matches in progress and keeping the last two matches on the schedule from starting. 

The Tucson Racquet and Fitness Club is large, with pickleball, padel and 25 tennis courts, as well as a swimming pool and beach volleyball courts, with the tournament being played on ten courts, with three courts available for practice and warmup.  

Every match is being chaired, which I have not seen at the J300 level since this event was last held at the USTA's Carson facility in 2019. That tournament was used for umpire training and coaching, and so it is for this one, with US Open Referee Jake Garner, US Open Chief Umpire Andrew Walker and Gold Badge umpire James Keothavong, who mentors umpires through his association with the ITF Officiating School.

Because all matches are chaired, live point by point scoring is available, at iOnCourt. And in another upgrade, balls are changed at the completion of the first 11 games and 13 games thereafter, rather than after players split sets. 

While only 20 of the 32 first round matches were completed, there was drama, with local wild card Vikram Narendran, who has no ITF ranking, pushing ITF No. 228 Rowan Qalbani to two tiebreakers before falling 7-6(5), 7-6(1) in two hours and 20 minutes. Narendran had a group of friends in attendance, but with no seating and no unimpeded viewing on eight of the 10 courts, they had to gather behind one end of the court, in a small walkway between rows to show their support. Keshav Muthuvel beat fellow qualifier Sebastian Godoy 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 20 minutes and qualifier Armira Kockinis survived a two-hour and 35-minute battle with Hanne Estrada of Mexico to post a 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-1 victory.

Kockinis would have welcomed a shorter match after playing two qualifying matches yesterday, and the 16-year-old from Southern California had an opportunity to end it with two match points in the second set tiebreaker, but was able to put aside the disappointment of not converting them, taking control early in the second set.

"I got through the first set 6-3, then messed up a little bit," said the 2025 Easter Bowl 16s champion. "In the third, I just tried to put the second set behind me, focus on what I could do, be more aggressive, go for my shots, and I got through it."

Kockinis admitted that she came into the 10 a.m. match feeling exhausted.

"I was extremely tired, but I just went into it with the mindset to give it everything I've got," Kockinis said. "I'm going to leave everything out there on the court."

One of the other factors in Kockinis's fatigue was the quick turnaround from her semifinal loss at the J200 in Las Vegas Friday. Not eligible for a special exempt because she was not on Saturday's schedule in Las Vegas, Kockinis did not receive a wild card for Tucson, so was faced with the prospect of three qualifying matches. Fortunately she did not have to play Saturday, as the qualifying draw did not fill, and as the No. 3 seed in qualifying, she got a bye, 

"It was definitely a grind," Kockinis said. "I lost on Friday, tried to get a special exempt, but that didn't happen, so I caught the first flight out, got in about 10 p.m., went to bed at 1."

Kockinis had not played Estrade, the 2024 IMG International 16s champion, but she found a strategy to avoid Estrade's best shot.

"She has a really clean backhand," Kockinis said. "Anytime I hit it anywhere short, or in her strike zone on the backhand side, she would hit it super clean, if not a winner. In the third set, I was more aggressive and got ready for her backhands that were coming, mixed it up a little bit, and served really well. So I got through it."

Kockinis is planning to play San Diego next week and the Easter Bowl the week after that, so she is ready for more.

"This is only the beginning," said Kockinis, who plays No. 11 seed Karlin Schock Tuesday. "We're nowhere near almost done. But every day, I'll just give it what I've got, take care of my body and just compete."

Doubles are scheduled to begin Tuesday for unseeded teams, with seeds playing for the first time on Wednesday.  Capucine Jauffret and Great Britain's Hollie Smart are the No. 1 seeds in the girls draw, with Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode the top seeds in the boys draw.

The ITF J300 in Porto Alegre Brazil this week has just one US boy in the 32-player draw, Jack Secord, the No. 3 seed. Seven US girls are in the draw, lucky loser Londyn McCord, Anita Tu, No. 4 seed Welles Newman, Ireland O'Brien, Yael Saffar, No. 8 seed Maggie Sohns and Kori Montoya.

In addition to the sweep of the boys titles and the girls doubles title at the J200 in Las Vegas, which I covered Saturday, there were four other titles for Americans on the ITF Junior Circuit last week, all at the J30 level.

Americans swept the singles titles in Madurai India, with 16-year-old Niyanth Badrinarayanan claiming his first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-2, 3-2 retired win over Tejas Ravi of India. Fourteen-year-old Reena Alavalapati won her first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(6) win over Aahida Singh of India. Both received entry into the round robin phase of the tournament via their World Tennis Number, so were not seeded in the knockout phase.

In Kingston Jamaica, unseeded 14-year-old Indra Vergne won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, beating No. 8 seed Tomas Tichy of Czechia 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the final. 

In Oslo Norway, 16-year-old Leyla Kilgour partnered with Johanna Andrea Corciova of Austria for the girls doubles title, with the top seeds beating Katerina Foldova of Czechia and Lea Gombarikova of Slovakia 4-6, 7-6(1), 10-7.

Zheng, Brantmeier Receive $100K Hurd Awards, Svajda and Lutkemeyer $40K as Finalists; Qualifying Complete, Johnson, Clarke Top Seeds at ITF J300 Tucson

photo credit: Universal Tennis Foundation

This year's Hurd Awards were nearly a foregone conclusion after Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina and Michael Zheng of Columbia won the NCAA singles titles in November in Lake Nona. Both Americans, both seniors, both interested in pursuing careers in professional tennis, it would have been shocking if they had not received the $100,000 grants to assist them in that pursuit.

Recently the Universal Tennis Foundation and Paula Hurd added a grant for two finalists, with this year's recipients of the $40,000 grant SMU junior Trevor Svajda, who is expected to join the pro circuit after this season, and UCLA senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer.

All four winners are quoted in this release from UTR; the Tennis Channel segment below features former Hurd recipient Chris Eubanks explaining how the grant eased his transition into pro tennis, with UTR's Mark Leschly and Paula Hurd adding their comments on the accomplishments of all four winners. 

Congratulation to the winners of this year's Hurd Awards 🏆

Reese Brantmeier and Michael Zheng will receive $100k to help fund their burgeoning pro careers 👏 pic.twitter.com/oA4Gh1u2zZ

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 8, 2026 

The main draw of the ITF J300 in Tucson begins Monday at the Tucson Racquet Club, although the seeded players will not take the court until Tuesday in the 48-player draws.

Qualifying concluded today with six boys and six girls earning their spots in the main draw, which means another match Monday. The girls qualifiers are Sylvana Jalbert, Ava Quincy Brewer, Armira Kockinis, Briley Rhoden, Anjani Vickneswaran and Sophie Suh, all of the United States. The boys qualifiers are Sebastian Godoy, Loic Massotte of Canada, Kristian Sharma, John Murphy, Keshav Muthuvel and Jack Dermenjyan.

The boys seeds:

1. Andrew Johnson

2. Gavin Goode

3. Tanishk Konduri

4. Xavier Massotte, CAN

5. Ryan Cozad

6. Vihaan Reddy

7. Safir Azam

8. Agassi Rusher

9. Marcel Latak

10. Roshan Santhosh

11. Zavier Augustin

12. Cooper Kose, AUS

13. Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca, MEX

14. Jerrid Gaines Jr.

15. William Kjellberg, SWE

16. Mason Taube

The girls seeds:

1. Melije Clarke

2. Hollie Smart, GBR

3. Olivia Traynor

4. Lani Chang

5. Sarah Ye

6. Carrie-Anne Hoo

7. Riyo Yoshida, JPN

8. Capucine Jauffret

9. Thara Gowda

10. Adla Lopez

11. Karlin Schock

12. Isabelle Deluccia

13. Hannah Ayrault

14. Anya Arora

15. Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann

16. Brooke Wallman

My on-site coverage in Tucson begins Monday, the first day of the three-week trip that moves to San Diego for the J300 North American Regional Championships next week and Indian Wells for the Easter Bowl the week after that.

Cozad, Yoshida Win ITF J200 Las Vegas Titles; Goode Takes ITF J300 Tucson Wild Card, Liutova a Late Withdrawal; Auburn Women Beat LSU, Texas Men Fall to LSU; Zheng Keeps AO Earnings

Ryan Cozad won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title in more than year today at the J200 in Las Vegas, with the top seed defeating doubles partner Ford McCollum, the No. 10 seed, 6-0, 6-1. The University of Virginia recruit, who had claimed his ninth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title Friday, partnering with McCollum, dropped just one set in his six singles victories. Cozad now has three career singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit.

No. 5 seed Riyo Yoshida of Japan won the girls singles title, beating No. 2 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 in today's final. It's Yoshida's second ITF J200 title, and her seventh overall.

All four finalists are expected to compete in next week's ITF J300 in Tucson, but there was a late withdrawal, with Kristina Liutova pulling out today. That leaves Melije Clarke as the only current ITF Top 50 girl in the draw.

The girls draw in Tucson lost a top 50 player in Liutova, but the boys gained one with the notice that Gavin Goode has accepted a wild card into the main draw. The ITF Junior No. 23 was not entered in Tucson, although he did enter the San Diego J300 the following week.

The other main draw wild cards went to Justin Riley Anson, Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju, Daniela Del Mastro, Julia Seversen and Tanvi Pandey.

The qualifying began today in Tucson, but there were very few matches, with the boys unable to fill a 24-player draw, with the five players with byes needing to win only one match to qualify for the main draw.

The girls did have enough qualifying entries for the standard 48 draw, but 21 players received byes into the second round. The second round winners will play two qualifying matches Sunday with those six winners playing another match in the main draw Monday.

At the J300 in Paraguay, No. 5 seed Damir Zhalgasbay of Kazakhstan won the boys title, beating No. 2 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico 6-4, 6-4 for his first ITF J300 singles title.

Top seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina won the girls singles title, her first at the J300 level, beating unseeded Camila Rodero of Chile 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Qualifying is underway for the ITF J300 in Porto Alegre Brazil, with Londyn McCord, the No. 1 seed, the only American in qualifying. 

Thara Gowda lost in the semifinals of the W15 in Canada, with top seed Ariana Arseneault(Georgia, Auburn) of Canada beating the 17-year-old qualifier from Michigan 6-3, 6-2. Arseneault will face No. 4 seed Dasha Ivanova in Sunday's final.

Last night in Austin, second-ranked Texas lost to No. 6 LSU 4-3 in SEC play, adding to the chaos atop the men's rankings, after No. 1 Ohio State fell to Baylor on Thursday night. LSU's Olaf Pieczkowski, a 21-year-old from Poland new to the Tigers roster, came from 5-2 down in the third set to beat Sebastian Gorzny 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 at line 1, clinching the fourth point for LSU. LSU won the doubles point and got wins at 2, 4 and 1 to pull off the upset. Texas is right back out there tonight, hosting No. 7 TCU.

The fourth-ranked LSU women hosted fifth-ranked Auburn today in Baton Rouge, with Auburn claiming a 4-2 victory. Auburn won the doubles point, but lost four first sets in singles. LSU quickly tied the match with a win at line 6, but victories for Auburn and lines 4 and 5, the two matches where they had won the first sets, put them back in the lead. And in the three remaining matches, Auburn had forced third sets, losing at No. 2, but getting a win at line 3 from Angella Okutoyi to clinch it, with line 1 unfinished.

Auburn is now 21-1, with their sole loss coming in the semifinals of the Team Indoor, to champion Georgia. 

Front Office Sports (thanks to Courtney Nguyen for highlighting the article in her Daily Bagel newsletter) has followed up on the issues of NCAA compliance regarding Michael Zheng's Australian Open earnings, with Zheng able to accept the money without jeopardizing his eligibility this spring because the money can be used for expenses throughout the calendar year, not the academic year in which it was earned. Whether the Reese Brantmeier settlement, yet to be announced, will affect this rule is unknown right now, but Zheng can fund the start of his pro career without any worries about the NCAA rules. 

The Universal Tennis Foundation's Hurd Award for American collegians was scheduled to be selected on Friday, with the announcement of the men's and women's winners and finalists expected Sunday, when Tennis Channel airs a special segment on  Zheng will have another source of funds for his pro career expenses when he receives that $100,000, which he does not have to use during this year. 

February Aces; Doubles Champions Meet in Singles Final at ITF J200 Las Vegas; Alvarez Reaches J300 Paraguay Final; Gowda Advances to W15 Semifinal in Canada; Easter Bowl Finds New Presenting Sponsor; Top-Ranked Ohio State Men, Georgia Women Fall

My monthly column for the Tennis Recruiting Network is up today, highlighting the top performances from juniors, collegians and former collegians. An unlikely double from the 2022 NCAA singles champion, lots of memorable moments for Wake Forest players, past and present, and first pro titles here in the US for two 16-year-olds. 

Qualifying for the ITF J300 in Tucson begins Saturday, and the main draw wild cards, revealed today, include ITF junior No. 23 Gavin Goode. Goode has not played a junior event since the Australian Open.

The finals are set for the ITF J200 in Las Vegas, with doubles champions Ryan Cozad and Ford McCollum facing off in the singles final. Top seed Cozad defeated No. 11 seed Felix Roussell 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5), while No. 10 seed McCollum beat unseeded Justin Riley Anson 6-3, 7-5. Cozad and McCollum, the top seeds in doubles, defeated Andrej Markovic and Kahven Singh 6-2, 6-2 in the all-USA final.

The girls final will feature No. 2 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain and No. 5 seed Riyo Yoshia of Japan. Yoshida beat unseeded Armira Kockinis 6-1, 6-4 and Smart defeated unseeded Carlota Moreno 6-2, 6-4 to reach the final.  Moreno will travel to Tucson with a trophy however, with she and Sophia Bedacsek, seeded eighth, beating No. 5 seeds Capucine Jauffret and Canada's Charlize Celebrini 6-3, 6-3 in the girls doubles final.

At the ITF J300 in Paraguay, Puerto Rico's Yannik Alvarez won the doubles title and is through to the singles final, his first at the J300 level. Alvarez, the No. 2 seed, defeated unseeded Alvaro Ariel Frutos Alonso of Paraguay 6-3, 6-1 and will face No. 5 seed Damir Zhalgasbay of Kazakhstan in the final. Zhalgasbay, who had beaten top seed Jack Secord in the quarterfinals 3-6, 7-5, 6-0, took out No. 3 seed Emilio Comacho of Ecuador 6-0, 6-4 in today's semifinal.

Alvarez and John Bothma of South Africa won the doubles title, their first as a team, but the 11th on the ITF Junior Circuit for Alvarez. The No. 3 seeds defeated unseeded Ignacio De Armas of Venezuela and Felipe Vazquez of Uruguay 6-3, 6-4 in today's final.

The girls singles final will feature top seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina and unseeded Camila Rodero of Chile. In the girls doubles final, No. 2 seeds Maia Ilinca Burcescu of Romania and Alyssa James of Jamaica beat the unseeded team of Ophelia Korpanec Davies and Pavla Sviglerova of Czechia 6-3, 6-3.

Thara Gowda is warming up for the Tucson J300 with a stellar week at the W15 in Trois-Rivieres Canada. After qualifying for her first ITF women's World Tennis Tour main draw, she is through to the semifinals after beating Canada's Nadia Lagaev 6-4, 2-6, 6-0. Gowda will face top seed Ariana Arseneault(Georgia, Auburn) of Canada in Saturday's semifinals. In the bottom half semifinal, No. 4 seed Dasha Ivanova will play No. 7 seed Ana Grubor of Canada.

The Easter Bowl, which begins March 21 in Indian Wells, has announced that adidas will serve as a presenting sponsor this year. FILA took over for adidas in 2022 and was the title sponsor for the past four years, but they bowed out when the company left the US market. Both companies put together a fantastic player party every year; I'll be interested to see if that will continue this year. A pre-tournament release from Steve Pratt, the longtime Easter Bowl press liaison, is below.

Future of American Junior Tennis Will Once Again Be On

Display During 58th Annual Easter Bowl USTA Spring Nationals

March 21-29, 2026, At Indian Wells Tennis Garden

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (March 6, 2026) – The future of American tennis will once again be on display at the 58th Annual Easter Bowl USTA Spring Nationals Presented by adidas and taking place March 21-29 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, home to the BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 event.

One of the nation’s largest and most prestigious junior tennis tournaments, the Easter Bowl is a USTA Level 1 Spring National Championship in the 18s, 16s, 14s and 12s for both boys and girls with gold, silver and bronze balls handed out for top finishers in all eight singles and doubles divisions.

Current world-ranked No. 27, Irvine’s Learner Tien, played the prestigious Easter Bowl seven times as a junior, dating back to his debut in 2015. In 2019, Tien advanced to the Boys’ 14s singles semifinals and in 2021, he made it to the Boys’ 16s final as a 15-year-old. In his final Easter Bowl match as a 16-year-old playing in the 18s in 2022, Tien competed in the quarterfinals and fell to good friend and training partner Alex Michelsen, who went on to win the title.

Nearly every American men’s and women’s Grand Slam champion since the first tournament began in 1968 has competed in the Easter Bowl, a true pipeline to the professional ranks, including past winners and International Tennis Hall of Famers John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver and Jennifer Capriati. Recent past Easter Bowl champions include current pro stars, Fritz, Jenson Brooksby, Frances Tiafoe, Marcos Giron, Brandon Nakashima, Sofia Kenin, Taylor Townsend, Tommy Paul, Alex Michelsen, Emma Navarro and Iva Jovic, to name a few. Recent Australian Open winner Madison Keys and two-time 2025 Grand Slam finalist Amanda Anismova are also counted among Easter Bowl alumni.

Easter Bowl matches will once again be live-streamed on www.EasterBowl.com with more information to come. To keep up with all the Easter Bowl news, visit the website at www.easterbowl.com.

The iconic junior tournament started by Seena Hamilton in 1968 is considered the Super Bowl of junior tennis. Longtime Easter Bowl Chairman Emeritus Lornie Kuhle took over the event 14 years ago and was responsible for moving it to the Tennis Garden. There are few other junior tennis tournaments in the United States that possess the same rich history as the Easter Bowl. The tournament started in New York City and has been played in Florida, Arizona and California.

The college tennis weekend started out with a bang last night in Waco, with the tenth-ranked Baylor men taking out top-ranked Ohio State 4-2. The Buckeyes took the doubles point, but Baylor got points at lines 3, 1, 4 and 6 to hand the Buckeyes their second loss of the season. For more on the match and the box score, see this article from baylorbears.com.

And 24 hours later, women's No. 1 Georgia lost a conference match on the road, falling to No. 35 Vanderbilt 4-2. Vanderbilt won the doubles point, then got straight-sets wins at lines 1, 3 and 6, with Georgia getting points at 4 and 5, with only line 2 going three sets. The iOnCourt box score is here.

Gowda Reaches Quarterfinals at W15 in Canada; Three Unseeded Semifinalists at ITF J200 Las Vegas; Antonius, Pareja Withdraw From San Diego J300; Qualifiers Day, Townsend Advance at BNP Paribas Open

Although there are no USTA Pro Circuit tournaments these first two weeks in March, Canada is hosting an M15 and a W15 this week, both of which have drawn many Americans. The men's tournament in Sherbrooke features two Canadian juniors, but mostly former collegians have advanced; in Trois-Rivieres three teens have reached the quarterfinals.

Thara Gowda, a 17-year-old from Michigan, is playing in just her second ITF women's World Tennis Tour tournament. Gowda, just outside the ITF Junior Circuit Top 100, qualified for her first pro circuit main draw and today defeated No. 5 seed Jada Robinson to reach the quarterfinals. 

Gowda, who is entered in both the Tucson and San Diego J300s,  will play unseeded 18-year-old Nadia Lagaev of Canada Friday. Lagaev, a Georgia recruit, is not entered in Tucson, but has entered San Diego.

The third teen is 17-year-old Anna Tabunshchyk of Canada, who hasn't played a junior event since 2024. Seventeen-year-old Kaya Moe qualified and won her first round match, but lost to top seed Ariana Arseneault(Georgia, Auburn) of Canada today.

The semifinals are set at the ITF J200 in Las Vegas, with three of the eight competitors unseeded, two of them in the girls draw.

Armira Kockinis defeated No. 14 seed Caroline Shao 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, avenging her loss to Shao at the J200 in Corpus Christi last fall. Kockinis will play No. 5 seed Riyo Yoshida of Japan, who beat Charlize Celebrini 7-5, 6-3.

Carlota Moreno, a semifinalist two weeks ago at the W15 in Florida defeated unseeded Yilin Chen 6-4, 6-4 and will play No. 2 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain. Smart defeated Tanvi Pandey 6-2, 6-2 to advance.

Top seed Ryan Cozad is through to Friday's semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 12 seed Kamil Stolarczyk. He will play No. 11 seed Felix Roussel of Canada, who beat Mason Vaughan 7-6(6), 6-2. 

In the bottom half, No. 10 seed Ford McCollum will play unseeded Justin Riley Anson, with McCollum ending the winning streak of Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju with a 6-3, 6-1 quarterfinal victory. Aryan Basavaraju had won 13 straight matches on the ITF Junior Circuit in the past month. Anson defeated No. 13 seed Daniel Malacek 7-6(3), 6-3 in today's quarterfinal.

The doubles finals are set for Friday in Las Vegas, with top seeds Cozad and McCollum facing the unseeded team of Andrej Markovic and Kahven Singh for the boys title; No. 5 seeds Celebrini and Capucine Jauffret will play No. 8 seeds Moreno an Sophia Budacsek for the girls doubles championship.

March is an extremely busy month for junior events, with the two J300s here in the United States and two J300s and a J500 in South America. It's difficult to keep track of who is playing where, but with Tuesday's withdrawal deadline now past, there is some clarity.  ITF No. 11 Michael Antonius, who was entered in San Diego J300 and in the J500 Banana Bowl in Brazil, has withdrawn from both. With his two ITF J300 titles already this year, he should be set for the junior slams this summer. 

Julieta Pareja, who is from nearby Carlsbad, withdrew from San Diego, so she will not be defending her 300 points from the California swing this month, after winning the ITF J300 in Indian Wells last year.

Janae Preston, who has won three consecutive J300s, was entered in both San Diego and Brazil; she withdrew from San Diego, but is still entered in the Banana Bowl. 

The seeded players take the court for the first time Friday at the BNP Paribas Open, with Wednesday's and Thursday's first round still underway to determine their opponents. Two of the American qualifiers, Kayla Day and Taylor Townsend, advanced with straight-sets wins today.  Day, who breezed through qualifying, had no trouble again today, beating Francesca Jones of Great Britain 6-3, 6-1. She will face No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek in the second round. Townsend defeated Marie Bouzkova of Czechia 6-2, 6-1 to set up a meeting with No. 28 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.

Other unseeded Americans advancing to the second round are Ashlyn Krueger, Marcos Giron(UCLA), Reilly Opelka, Jenson Brooksby, wild card Zachary Svajda, Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois) and Alex Michelsen.

Wild card Lilli Tagger of Austria, the reigning girls Roland Garros champion, won her first round match 6-2, 6-4 over Varvara Gracheva of France. She will play No. 32 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in the second round.