Four Americans Qualify for San Diego Challenger 75; Qualifying Seeds Struggle at ITA All-American Championships; Bogomolov Sweeps J30 Titles on World Tennis Junior Circuit

After the Tiburon 125 last week, ATP Challenger competition in the United States moves south for the 75 tournament at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.

Qualifying wrapped up today, with one current and two recent collegians from the United States moving into the main draw. Tiburon quarterfinalist Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) defeated top qualifying seed Aidan Mayo 6-3, 6-4 to reach the main draw, where he'll play Mitchell Krueger. 

Gorzny defeated wild card Andy Johnson 7-5, 6-0 and Mayo beat wild card Jordan Lee, the Wimbledon boys champion, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying Sunday.

Ozan Baris(Michigan State), defeated Alex Rybakov 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will play Igor Marcondes of Brazil in the main draw; UCLA senior Spencer Johnson beat Arkansas junior Jakub Vrba of Czechia, who is expected to compete in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa on Wednesday, 6-2, 6-4. Johnson will play No. 8 seed Tristan Boyer(Stanford) in the main draw.

Evan Zhu is the fourth American to qualify, with the former UCLA star defeating Alafia Ayeni(Cornell, Kentucky) 6-2, 6-4 to reach the main draw. Zhu, who is 0-11 in first round main draw matches at the Challenger level, plays Henry Searle of Great Britain in the first round.

Main draw wild cards were given to Keaton Hance, Jack Kennedy and Dinko Dinev of Bulgaria, who is on the San Diego State roster. Dinev lost to University of Virginia senior Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland 6-3, 6-1 in first round action today. Hance plays Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) and Kennedy faces No. 6 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada.

Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) is the top seed. Tiburon champion Darwin Blanch is scheduled to face Tiburon semifinalist JJ Wolf in the opening round. Like Dietrich, Trevor Svajda(SMU) received entry via the ATP College Accelerator program.

After the weekend's pre-qualifying, the qualifying began today for the ITA All-American Championships, which begin on Wednesday for the women in Cary North Carolina and for the men in Tulsa Oklahoma. It was a rough day for qualifying seeds, with seven of the top 10 women's seeds losing today; the men's qualifying also lost seven seeds, including six of the top 10. A quartet of the top men's newcomers, at the bottom of the Top 16 seeds, did advance to the second and final round of qualifying.

University of Georgia sophomore Patricija Paukstyte, a pre-qualifier, defeated No. 2 seed Addison Lanton of LSU 7-6(6), 6-4 to advance against fellow pre-qualifier Lucie Urbanova of Wisconsin.

Paukstyte is one of four Georgia women to reach the final round of qualifying, with freshmen Bella Payne, Nadia Lagaev and Linea Bajraliu the other three.

Lucky loser Capucine Jauffret, a freshman at Florida, defeated No. 3 seed Emily Sartz-Lunde of Michigan 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

ITA All American Men's Qualifying 16 top seeds:

1. Nour Fathalla, Purdue
2. Hoyoung Roh, Vanderbilt (out rd 1)
3. Jules Leroux, NC State
4. Zoran Ludoski, Arizona (out rd 1)
5. Lasse Poertner, Pepperdine (out rd 1)
6. Abel Forger, Texas
7. Aryan Shah, Wake Forest
8. Aleksa Pisaric, Pepperdine (out rd 1)
9. Joaquin Guilleme, Wake Forest (out rd 1)
10. Zaid Mashni, Penn (out rd 1)
11. Azariah Rusher, Florida State
12. Will Manning, NC State (out rd 1)
13. Luca Preda, Virginia
14. Toby Kodat, NC State
15. Bruno Kuzuhara, Clemson
16. Tomasz Berkieta, Texas

ITA All American Women's Qualifying 16 top seeds:

1. Lexington Reed, Texas A&M

2. Addison Lanton, LSU (out rd 1)

3. Emily Sartz-Lunde, Michigan (out rd 1)

4. Maria de la Paz Alberto, Iowa State (out rd 1)

5. Chantal Sauvant, Pepperdine (out rd 1)

6. Oliwia Orlinska, Maryland

7. Alice Ferlito, Princeton (out rd 1)

8. Hannah Read, San Diego (out rd 1)

9. Olivia Benton, Boston College (out rd 1)

10. Jantje Tilbuerger, UCF

11. Nina Vargova, Duke

12. Linea Bajraliu, Georgia

13. Brooke Black, Florida

14. Alexis Nguyen, North Carolina

15. Chloe Noel, Oklahoma

16. Joanna Kennedy, Floria State

Women's draws are here; men's draws are here.

In addition to the titles for Americans at the J200 in Montreal and J100 in San Antonio, other US juniors captured titles at lower level events on the WT Junior Circuit last week. 

At the J30 in Nicaragua, Maddox Bogomolov, son of former Top 40 ATP pro Alex Bogomolov Jr., won his first two titles, taking both the singles and doubles championships. Bogomolov, the top seed, defeated unseeded Francisco Correa Iguiniz of Argentina 6-3, 7-5 in the singles final. With Mexican partner Ricardo Dorantes Ramos, Bogomolov won the doubles title, with the top seeds beating No. 4 seeds Dimitri and Zane Kirton of Barbados 6-3, 6-4 in the final. 

Sofia Mills, who reached the girls singles final losing to Clarice Ouvarova of Great Britain, won the doubles title with Ouvarova, with the top seeds beating Alice Luiza Semenova and Canada's Renata Reut 6-1, 6-3.

After winning her first doubles title two weeks ago at the J60 in Quito, 15-year-old Sarah Katherine Goodwin won her first World Tennis Junior Circuit singles title this week at the J30 in Quito. Goodwin defeated Monserrat Montano of Mexico 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

At the J60 in Ghana, 16-year-old David Beckles won his third and biggest WT junior singles title, defeating Raphael Nii Nortei Dowuona of Ghana 6-4, 7-6(4) in the final. 

At the J200 in Miki Japan, top seed Carrie-Anne Hoo reached the singles final, losing to No. 5 seed Minami Suzuki of Japan 6-4, 6-3.

Fourteen-year-old Camelot Carnello won the doubles title at the J30 in Mauritius, with South African partner Tristan Summers. The top seeds beat No. 2 seed Jinxuan Cheng of China and Daniel Subert of Czechia 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 in the final. 

At the J30 in Colombia, 16-year-old Luciana Chica won the doubles title with Sara Sofia Lopez Gutierrez of Colombia. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Odritza Anyelina Sequera Freitez of Venezuela and Camila Soto Salamanca of Colombia 3-6, 6-2, 10-8 in the final. It's the third doubles title of 2026 for the pair.

Ten Americans Competing in WT J500 Osaka; Behrmann and Virc Claim European Championships; Blanch Earns First Challenger Title; Qualifying Begins Monday at ITA All-American Championships

The World Tennis Osaka Mayors Cup J500 begins Monday, with ten Americans making the trip to Japan for the only one of the seven J500s played on hard courts.

The three US boys competing are Navneet Raghuram[11], Izyan Ahmad[15] and Tyler Lee.

The seven US girls in the 48-player draw are Jordyn Hazelitt[2], Lani Chang[4], Maggie Sohns[10], Carrie-Anne Hoo[12], Isabelle DeLuccia[14], Scarlett Fagan and Camille Allegre.

Kai Thompson of Hong Kong is the top boys seed, with Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India the No. 1 seed in the girls draw.

Only unseeded players will be in action Monday(tonight in the US). Live scoring can be found here.

The WT European Regional Championships J300 concluded today in Austria, with the host country's Thilo Behrmann sweeping the boys titles and Lana Virc of Serbia winning her first J300 title.

The top-seeded Behrmann, who lost in the US Open junior boys semifinals in New York on Friday and played his first match Tuesday, didn't breeze through the draw, needing three sets in half of his six wins, including in today's final. The 18-year-old, now No. 3 in the World Tennis rankings, defeated unseeded compatriot and doubles partner Florian Zimmer 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to earn his second J300 title. Behrmann and Zimmer, the No. 1 seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Oliver Majdandzic and Eric Dylan Mueller of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 for the boys doubles title.

No. 14 seed Virc also had three three-setters, including in the final, with the 18-year-old defeating unseeded Kali Supova of Slovakia 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 for her first J300 title. 

Top seeds Adelina Lacinova and Marjia Lauva of Latvia won the girls doubles title, beating No. 6 seeds Supova and Nikola Farkasova of Slovakia 5-7, 6-4, 12-10.

The European 16s championships are this coming week in Parma Italy. Draws for that event can be found here.

Unseeded Darwin Blanch won his first ATP Challenger title today at the 125 in Tiburon California. The 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion, who turns 19 in a few days, defeated No. 4 seed Michael Mmoh 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Blanch, who saved match points in the first round, and beat the No. 3, No. 1 and No. 4 seeds, is now at a career-high ATP 166 in the live rankings. 

In the doubles final today, unseeded JJ Tracy(Ohio State) and Hans Hach Verdugo(Abilene Christian) of Mexico defeated unseeded Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M) and Nate Lammons(SMU) 7-6(7), 6-4 for their first title as a team.

The women's ITA All-American Championships pre-qualifying is complete and the qualifying draws have been posted. The top 16 seeds in qualifying are below, as well as the those who made the qualifying draw with two more wins today.

IT All American Championships Women's Qualifying 16 top seeds:

1. Lexington Reed, Texas A&M
2. Addison Lanton, LSU
3. Emily Sartz-Lunde, Michigan
4. Maria de la Paz Alberto, Iowa State
5. Chantal Sauvant, Pepperdine
6. Oliwia Orlinska, Maryland
7. Alice Ferlito, Princeton
8. Hannah Read, San Diego
9. Olivia Benton, Boston College
10. Jantje Tilbuerger, UCF
11. Nina Vargova, Duke
12. Linea Bajraliu, Georgia
13. Brooke Black, Florida
14. Alexis Nguyen, North Carolina
15. Chloe Noel, Oklahoma
16. Joanna Kennedy, Florida State

Pre-qualifiers:
Arina Malygina[1], Oklahoma State
Marianne Angel, UC Santa Barbara
Lucie Urbanova, Wisconsin
Anna Frey[4], North Carolina
Bella Payne[5], Georgia
Ava Krug, Duke
Emma Tutoveanu, UC Santa Barbara
Sophia Webster, Vanderbilt
Laura Brunkel, Oklahoma
Theadora Rabman[21], North Carolina
Kenzie Nguyen[21], Columbia
Patriciaj Paukstyte, Georgia
Nika Hurkacz[21], Cal
Jasmine Conway[21], NC State
Maddy Zampardo[21], North Carolina
Nadia Lagaev, Georgia
Amina Salibayeva[17], Alabama
Ahmani Guichard, UCLA
Anna Bergqvist Larsson[19], South Carolina
Marta Makarova, UCF

Lucky loser: Capucine Jauffret, Florida

The men's ITA All-American Championships pre-qualifying isn't complete as of 9 p.m. and the qualifying draw hasn't been posted, but I will update and add the above information for the men tomorrow morning.

All American Men's Qualifying 16 top seeds:
1. Nour Fathalla, Purdue
2. Hoyoung Roh, Vanderbilt
3. Jules Leroux, NC State
4. Zoran Ludoski, Arizona
5. Lasse Poertner, Pepperdine
6. Abel Forger, Texas
7. Aryan Shah, Wake Forest
8. Aleksa Pisaric, Pepperdine
9. Joaquin Guilleme, Wake Forest
10. Zaid Mashni, Penn
11. Azariah Rusher, Florida State
12. Will Manning, NC State
13. Luca Preda, Virginia
14. Toby Kodat, NC State
15. Bruno Kuzuhara, Clemson
16. Tomasz Berkieta, Texas

ITA All-American men's pre-qualifiers:
Kyran Magimay, Notre Dame
Niels Villard, Arizona State
Marko Maksimovic[3], UNLV
Shaurya Bharadwaj, Penn
Kyle McNally, Dayton
Matthieu Chambonniere[6], TCU
Glib Sekachov[7], Arizona
Hugo Coquelin[21], Vanderbilt
Andrew Delgado, Georgia
Landon Ardila[21], Princeton
Danial Rakhmatullayev[21], Michigan State
Filip Soderqvist, Boise State
Paris Pouatcha, Cal
Jelani Sarr[21], Arizona State
Andy Nguyen, UCLA
Aniss Rafiq, Nebraska
Emanuel Ivanisevic[17], Wake Forest
Mariano Dedura-Palomero[18], Texas
Mitchell Sheldon[21], Michigan State
Jeremy Zhang, Illinois

Lucky loser: Niels Ratiu, North Carolina

Blanch Beats Zheng to Reach Second Challenger Final; Reyniak Wins First Pro Title in Doubles; First Round of All-American Pre-Qualifying Complete; US Davis Cup Team Falls to Czechia; Jovic Defends WTA 500 Title

Darwin Blanch was on a six-match losing streak prior to this week's ATP Challenger 125 in Tiburon California, but the 2025 Kalamazoo 18 champion has now won four straight matches, including this evening's 7-6(5), 7-6(9) win over top seed and defending champion Michael Zheng(Columbia).

The unseeded Blanch, who saved five match points in his 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(10) first round win over Stefan Kozlov, hasn't dropped a set since, although Zheng had seven set points in the second set tonight. Blanch, who will turn 19 later this month, reached his first Challenger final last November, falling to Mitchell Krueger; this is his second career final. He will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 4 seed Michael Mmoh and wild card JJ Wolf(Ohio State).

Seventeen-year-old New Yorker Matias Reyniak, who has played only four tournaments in the United States, including the US Open Juniors as a wild card, is back to competing in his training base of Spain. Today he won his first WT men's title, with 22-year-old Carles Rojas of Spain, at the M15 in Melilla. The unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Victor Paganetti of France and Leonid Sheyngezikht of Bulgaria 6-1, 6-1 in the final. They did not come close to losing a set in their run to the title.

The ITA All-American Championships began today, with pre-qualifying for the women in Cary North Carolina and the men in Tulsa Oklahoma.

One round of pre-qualifying was played, with two rounds scheduled for Sunday, with 20 players advancing to Monday's first round of qualifying with two victories tomorrow.

The men's top eight seeds, with the exception of the No. 2 seed, who apparently withdrew, have reached the second round: Niels Ratiu of North Carolina[1], Marko Maksimovic of UNLV[3], Vlado Jankanj of Ole Miss[4], Ian Mayew of North Carolina[5], Mattieu Chambonniere of TCU[6], Glib Sekachov of Arizona[7] and Kriish Tyagi[8] of Texas A&M.

The men's pre-qualifying draw and results can be found here.

In contrast, half of the top eight seeds in the women's pre-qualifying draw lost today: No. 2 Eleana Yu of Duke, to Marianne Angel of UC-Santa Barbara; No. 6 seed Sara Suchankova of Clemson to Sophie Holod of Notre Dame; No. 7 seed Sarah Mildren of Tennessee to Georgia Cranford of NC State; and Francesca Maguina Bunikowska of Rice to Sophia Webster of Vanderbilt.

The top eight seeds advancing are No. 1 Arina Malygina of Oklahoma State, Capucine Jauffret[3] of Florida, Anna Frey[4] of North Carolina and Bella Payne[5] of Georgia.

The women's pre-qualifying draw and results can be viewed here.

There is a new live scoring system for ITA events, and it is apparently functioning now in Cary; the men's link on the tournament page indicates their live scoring will begin with Monday's qualifying. 

For the second year in a row, the USA Davis Cup team fell to Czechia, this time in Prague, after holding a 2-1 lead. Thanks to the heroics of Austin Krajicek and Christian Harrison, who saved four match points in their nearly three-hour 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(8) doubles victory over Patrik Rikl and Adam Pavlasek in doubles, the US team had two chances to get the third point in singles. But Ben Shelton lost to Jakub Mensik 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 and Learner Tien fell to Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-5 to send the home team through to the final eight in November.

Seventeen-year-old Kayden Colombo, who is scheduled to compete in the Pan Am Closed J300 in Houston at the end of the month, was the hitting partner for the team, with the Georgia resident seen cheering from the bench throughout the five matches.

For more on today's loss, see this article from the USTA's Inside American Tennis Substack.

There was an all-American final tonight at the WTA 500 in Guadalajara Mexico, with 18-year-old Iva Jovic defending her title with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Peyton Stearns(Texas). Jovic, the No. 2 seed, didn't drop a set during her title defense, and will move to a new career-high WTA ranking of 13 with the title. Stearns, the 2022 NCAA singles champion, will move back into the WTA Top 40 with her first 500-level final.

My US Open Junior Recap; Malacek Claims J200 Montreal Title; Krishnan Wins First WT Junior Singles Title at J100 San Antonio; Czechia and USA 1-1 in Davis Cup Qualifying; Tennis-Specific Masters Position Available at FSU

My recap of last week's US Open Junior Championships is up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, and even six days later, I'm still marveling at the boys final, which I rewatched this week. Although there were peaks and valleys for both Guto Miguel and Marcel Latak in each set, it's difficult to imagine a more riveting final five games, with the deciding tiebreaker featuring even more drama. A match like that will overshadow anything else happening, and of course scheduling the boys and girls singles finals and the girls doubles final at the same time is indefensible, but I don't want to overlook any of the other three finals, which are included, of course in the recap.

The US Open YouTube channel posted a highlight video of the boys final, which I am embedding below. The highlight video of the girls singles final is here; the girls doubles final is here; and the boys doubles final is here.

Daniel Malacek won the boys singles title today at the J200 in Montreal, with the 16-year-old from the Seattle area, seeded fourth, defeating No. 3 seed Erik Schinnerer 6-2, 7-5 in the all-American final. Malacek is closing in on the WT junior Top 100 with this title, and is scheduled to play the J200 next week in Corpus Christi Texas.

No. 2 seed Clemence Mercier of Canada won the girls title, beating No. 3 seed Ellery Mendell 6-1, 7-5.

The J100 in San Antonio also wrapped up today, with Arjun Krishnan capturing his first singles title on the World Tennis Junior Circuit. The unseeded 16-year-old, who won the Easter Bowl 14s title last year, defeated No. 3 seed Sebastian Godoy 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the all-USA final.

Thirteen-year-old Nikol Davletshina, who has long lived in Florida, but represents Russia on the WT Junior Circuit, won her second WT junior singles title in San Antonio, defeating 16-year-old Karissa Chang 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Davletshina is only allowed ten WT junior circuit tournaments from her 13th birthday, which was in April, until her 14th birthday and she has played five now. She is entered in Corpus Christi next week, but I don't expect her to play all the fall WT junior events in Florida given the limited dates available to her until next spring.

Nikol and her older sister Daniela lost in the doubles final today, with the unseeded team of Rose Biria and Aleksandra Jerkunica beating them 6-2, 6-2.

The unseeded team of Jaidyn Finley and Cayden Laughton won the boys doubles title, beating top seed Anay Kulkarni and Brazil's Felipe Mamede 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-8.

The United States and Czechia are tied a 1 in their second round Davis Cup qualifying tie in Prague, with Learner Tien(USC) winning his match with Jakub Mensik, but Ben Shelton(Florida) falling to Jiri Lehecka. Today's report from the USTA:

PRAGUE, Czechia, September 18, 2026 – Learner Tien played a clinical match in his Davis Cup debut but was equaled by a strong performance from Jiri Lehecka on Friday, as the USA and Czechia split the opening two matches of their Davis Cup Qualifying Second Round tie in front of more than 13,000 inside the O2 Arena in Prague. 

 

Tien defeated Mensik, 6-2, 6-4, in 1 hour, 7 minutes, before Lehecka then played an air-tight match against Ben Shelton to prevail, 6-4, 6-4, in 1 hour, 34 minutes. 

 

The best-of-five-match tie continues on Saturday, beginning with the doubles that pits 2026 US Open and Australian Open doubles champion Christian Harrison and former doubles world No. 1 Austin Krajicek against Adam Pavlasek and Patrik Rikl. The tie then concludes with the reverse singles matches -- Shelton vs. Mensik and Tien vs. Lehecka. Saturday’s schedule could be amended if either team clinches victory in the third or fourth match, and captains may make substitutions to Saturday’s lineups up to one hour prior to match time for the doubles and after the previous match for the singles.

 

The first nation between the USA and Czechia to win three out of five matches wins the Qualifier and will advance to the Davis Cup Final 8 November 24-29 in Bologna, Italy, to compete for the Davis Cup title. 

 

Tennis Channel will carry coverage in the U.S.

 

Saturday, September 19; 2 p.m. local (8 a.m. ET)

Christian Harrison / Austin Krajicek (USA) v. Adam Pavlasek/Patrik Rikl (CZE)

Ben Shelton (USA) v. Jakub Mensik (CZE)

Learner Tien (USA) v. Jiri Lehecka (USA)

Ryan Rodenberg, a professor at Florida State, is again offering a Masters student position for tennis-specific research, beginning in the fall of 2027.

Click here more information about this opportunity.

Malacek Wins Kalamazoo 16s Final Rematch, Three Americans Reach Montreal J200 Finals; Stoiana Makes First WTA Quarterfinal; Zheng Beats Svajda to Advance to Tiburon Challenger Quarterfinals; Tien and Shelton Kick Off Davis Cup Tie in Prague

After holding a match point against World Tennis Junior No. 1 Guto Miguel in the first round of the US Open Junior Championships last week, and reaching the doubles quarterfinals before falling to the eventual champions in a match tiebreaker, Daniel Malacek was undoubtedly full of confidence when he arrived in Montreal for this week's J200.

The 16-year-old left-hander, seeded No. 4, avenged his Kalamazoo 16s final lost to Kamil Stolarczyk, the No. 5 seed, in today's semifinal, earning a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 decision over his friend and doubles partner.

Malacek, who will be playing in his first final above the J60 level, faces No. 3 seed Erik Schinnerer, who will be playing in his first WT junior singles final at any level. Schinnerer, a 17-year-old who has committed to North Carolina, defeated No. 2 seed Antoine Genereux of Canada 6-2, 6-1 in today's semifinals.

No. 3 seed Ellery Mendell defeated top seed Avery Alexander of Canada today 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first final above the J100 level. The 17-year-old Ohio State recruit will face No. 2 seed Clemence Mercier of Canada for the title Friday after Mercier beat No. 4 seed Reiley Rhodes 6-2, 6-4.

Mercier and Alexander, the top seeds, won the girls double title in an all-Canadian final, beating unseeded Sophie Dement and Andrea Taylor 6-2, 6-1.

The unseeded Canadian team of Andy Tchinda Kepche and Brayden Woo won the boys doubles title, beating the unseeded team of Tomas Laukys of the United States and Filip Malis of Canada 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

At the J300 this week in China, No. 2 seed Navneet Raghurman and unseeded Riley Anson are through to the boys singles quarterfinals, and No. 5 seed Sarah Ye has reached the girls singles quarterfinals.

Former Texas A&M All-American and ITA No. 1 Mary Stoiana has reach her first WTA quarterfinal with a win today at the 250 in Sao Paulo Brazil. Stoiana beat Claire Liu in the first round for her first WTA main draw victory, with Liu having just won a WTA 125 title the week before, and today the 23-year-old from Connecticut defeated Dominika Salkova of Czechia 7-6(5), 6-1 to advance. She will face former WTA No. 2 Paula Badosa of Spain, the No. 2 seed, in Friday's quarterfinals.

Defending champion Michael Zheng(Columbia), who broke into the ATP Top 100 this week after reaching the third round of the US Open, has advanced to Friday's quarterfinals at the ATP Challenger 125 in Tiburon California. Tonight Zheng defeated Trevor Svajda(SMU), as he did in the NCAA singles final last November, this time in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. Zheng will face unseeded Mitchell Krueger next.

2025 Kalamazoo champion Darwin Blanch cruised past No. 3 seed Federico Gomez(Louisville) of Argentina 6-3, 6-0 and will face Ohio State senior Bryce Nakashima, who beat fellow qualifier Timo Legout(Texas) of France 7-6(6), 6-2. 

In the bottom half, unseeded Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan plays No. 4 seed Michael Mmoh and in the battle of the wild cards, Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) faces JJ Wolf(Ohio State).

The USA Davis Cup team plays its second round World Group qualifying tie with Czechia in Prague beginning tomorrow, with Learner Tien(USC) facing Jakub Mensik in the first singles match, with Ben Shelton(Florida) taking on Jiri Lehecka in the second singles match. Tien defeated Mensik in a late-night five-setter two weeks ago at the US Open and has a 2-0 record against him; Shelton is 3-0 in matches with Lehecka.

Coverage is available beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern on Tennis Channel.

Preview notes for USA vs Czechia can be found here.

Preview notes for all second round qualifying ties are here.

Recent Wake Forest graduate DK Suresh, who nearly singlehandedly put India in this group in their win over the Netherlands, is back for the tie in Korea this weekend.

In this article, he discusses how his first few months as a pro differ from his years with the Demon Deacons.

ITA All-American Fields Feature Top Ten Talent; Stolarczyk and Malacek Replay Kalamazoo 16s Final in J200 Montreal Semis; Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury Retire; Gorzny Beats Basavareddy at Tiburon Challenger

The first major tournament of the ITA Division I fall season is coming up, with the long-running All-American Championships set to begin with pre-qualifying this weekend. The locations remain the same as in years past, with the the women in Cary North Carolina and the men in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Preseason No. 1 Lucciana Perez of Texas A&M did not enter, suggesting she will again skip the fall season, although she will still have an opportunity to play events that would qualify her for November's NCAA championships later this fall.

The top eight players in the preseason rankings who have entered are:

Carmen Herea[2], Texas

Luciana Perry[3], Ohio State

Teah Chavez[4], Ohio State

Piper Charney[6], Michigan

Irina Balus[7], Duke

Mia Slama[10], NC State

Jana Hossam[11], Florida

Amelie Van Impe[12], SMU

The four women from the preseason Top 10 preseason who are not on the women's list are: 

Lucciana Perez[1], Texas A&M

Aysegul Mert[5], Georgia

Cadence Brace[8], LSU

Evialina Laskevich[9], Oklahoma

Main draw wild cards were given to Mimi Xu of Duke and Emma Dong of Georgia, who received the ITA wild cards, and Tori Osuigwe of NC State, who received the host wild card. Katie Rolls of Virginia apparently did not need the wild card she earned as the women's ITA National Summer champion.

Except for Xu, none of those on the preseason newcomer list received main draw entry, but most are in qualifying, or at the bottom of the main draw alternate list.

Qualifying wild cards were given to Amara Brahmbhatt of Michigan State, who received the ITA wild card; host wild cards went to Claire An of Duke and Alanis Hamilton of North Carolina.

Duke and Ohio State are tied for the most players in the main draw before qualifying with four. 

The men's list is also missing the preseason No. 1, with Virginia's Dylan Dietrich not entered.

The top eight men from the preseason rankings who have entered are:

Paul Inchauspe[2], Princeton

Devin Badenhorst[5], Baylor

Keegan Rice[6], Virginia

Aidan Kim[7], Ohio State

Theo Papamalamis[8], Texas A&M

Gabriel Debru[9], Texas

Matthew Forbes[10], Ohio State

Jakub Vrba[11], Arkansas

Dietrich, TCU's Duncan Chan[3] and Michigan's Max Dahlin[4] are the only Top 10 players not entered.

The wild cards are Baylor's Louis Bowden, who won the ITA National Summer Championships, TCU's Roger Pascual, and host wild card Alvaro Frutos of Tulsa.

As with the women, many of those on the newcomer list are in qualifying, including No. 1 Luca Preda of Virginia, although No. 4 newcomer Jamie Mackenzie of TCU is notably absent.

Ohio State has six players in the main draw, no other school has more than three.

At the J200 in Montreal, both Kalamazoo 16s champion Kamil Stolarczyk and finalist Daniel Malacek won their quarterfinal matches, with No. 5 seed Stolarczyk beating top seed Joshua Adamson of Canada 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and No. 4 seed Malacek beating No. 7 seed Caden Colburne of Canada 6-3, 7-6(6). The Kalamazoo 16s doubles champions will meet in the semifinals, with Malacek hoping to avenge his 6-4, 6-2 loss to Stolarczyk last month in Kalamazoo.

An article on Stolarczyk's US Open Junior Championships debut by Zootennis contributor Michael Lewis can be found at the Long Island Press.

No. 3 seed Erik Schinnerer also advanced to the semifinals, beating No. 8 seed Antoine Clavel of Canada 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. He will play No. 2 seed Antoine Genereux of Canada, who has beaten him twice in WT junior competition.

Two US girls have advanced to the semifinals, with No. 3 Ellery Mendell set to face top seed Avery Alexander of Canada and No. 4 seed Reiley Rhodes playing No. 2 seed Clemence Mercier of Canada.

Rajeev Ram, who won the 2003 NCAA doubles title as a freshman at Illinois, announced his retirement from professional tennis after he and Joe Salisbury lost in the semifinals of the men's doubles at the US Open last week. Today, Salisbury announced his retirement, at age 34, eight years younger than Ram. I was fortunate to be able to see them play the Ohio State team of Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin in the third round of the US Open, and also was able to watch them compete on Louis Armstrong in 2023, when they went on to win their third straight US Open men's doubles title, after winning the Australian Open title in 2020.

Both are former ATP No. 1s, with two ATP Finals titles. Salisbury, who played his college tennis at Memphis, won 17 ATP titles, Ram 32. From 2020 to 2023, they were at the very top of the sport and although they have had success with other partners, it's difficult to think of one without the other given all their success over the past decade.

The ATP article on Ram's retirement ceremony at his last match is here; their coverage of Salisbury's retirement announcement today is here.

The first four quarterfinalists at the ATP Challenger 125 in Tiburon California have been determined after play today, with two wild cards advancing with wins over seeds.

This afternoon, JJ Wolf(Ohio State) continued his comeback with a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 win over No. 8 seed Braden Shick(NC State); tonight Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) continued his summer of impressive results, beating No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) 6-2, 6-4, by claiming the last four games of the match.

Gorzny and Wolf will play Friday in the quarterfinals.

The 2025 NCAA singles final will be played again Thursday, less than a year later, with top seed Michael Zheng(Columbia) facing Trevor Svajda(SMU). Zheng, who won his second NCAA singles title with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over Svajda at Baylor last November, advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 win over qualifier Evan Zhu(UCLA) yesterday. Svajda defeated Blaise Bicknell(Florida, Tennessee) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to earn a rematch with Zheng.