Preston Beats Pushkareva, Connie Ma Reappears to Post Win Over No. 2 Seed Urhobo in Berkeley W50; Hance Earns First Challenger Victory in San Diego; Top Seed Badenhorst Falls in First Round of ITA All-American Championships; Ojai to Host WCC Championships

The women's USTA Pro Circuit is back this week after a six-week hiatus with a W50 in Berkeley California, and just four days in, it's already been an eventful tournament.

2022 NCAA singles finalist Connie Ma, who graduated from Stanford in 2025, never expressed any interest in pro tennis as a career, with medical school her next step after completing her eligibility. Ma played very little tennis, even back in her junior days, with academics always her main focus, and she didn't spend her college summers on the Pro Circuit either. So it was surprising to see her as a wild card in the qualifying draw in Berkeley, where she picked up two wins over current collegians, beating Auburn junior Merna Refaat, the No. 6 seed,  6-1, 5-7, 6-0 in the first round and No. 12 seed Duru Soke, a junior at Pepperdine, 6-2, 6-4 in the second and final round of qualifying.

Today Ma defeated No. 2 seed and WTA No. 174 Akasha Urhobo 6-1, 7-5 in the first round of the main draw, a result that certainly suggests the 23-year-old doesn't need much match play to locate her best tennis. It's unlikely this run will change Ma's ambitions, but it is, in the moment, a remarkable achievement.

In Thursday's second round, Ma will face 16-year-old Janae Preston, who also earned entry through qualifying. Preston, who retired from her US Open girls quarterfinal match due to illness, defeated 23-year-old Texas newcomer Arianna Zuchini of Italy 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-3 in the final round of qualifying Tuesday.

Today Preston defeated Wimbledon girls champion and US Open finalist Anna Pushkareva of Russia, also a qualifier, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in the first round; Preston is No. 6 is the current WT junior rankings, Pushkareva No. 3, and they could meet again soon in the Junior Finals in Chengdu next month.

Kayla Day, the top seed, is through to the second round with a 6-0, 6-1 win over qualifier Arina Bulatova of Russia, a Texas A&M newcomer.

The men's Pro Circuit event this week is an M15 in Columbia South Carolina, with four members of the University of South Carolina men's team advancing to the second round.

Wild cards Charlie Swaine of Great Britain, a sophomore, Gabe Avram, a junior,  and Sean Daryabeigi, a senior, posted victories, with Avram defeating No. 3 seed Dragos Cazacu(Tennessee, Oklahoma) of Romania 6-1, 6-4 today. The fourth Gamecock through to the second round is qualifier Antonin Witz of France, a freshman.

Gavin Goode, one of the three junior reserved entrants, defeated Micah Braswell(Texas) 6-2, 6-2 and will play Avram on Thursday.

Tito Chavez(Oklahoma) of Spain won today's first round battle of the Junior Reserves, beating Ryan Cozad 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

Sweden's John Hallquist Lithen(Ole Miss), the top seed, beat qualifier Alex Bernard(Ohio State) 6-3, 6-2 and will play Swaine in the second round Thursday.

Late last night in San Diego, 18-year-old wild card Keaton Hance picked up his first win at the ATP Challenger level, defeating ATP No. 322 Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 7-5. Hance will face top seed Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) in the second round Thursday; Basavareddy beat Wake Forest sophomore Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 yesterday.

It didn't take long for the first upset of the men's ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa Oklahoma, with top seed Devin Badenhorst of Baylor losing to 23-year-old NC State newcomer Toby Kodat 6-3, 6-1. 

Six other seeds lost today in the men's draw: No. 6 Matthew Forbes(Ohio State), No. 7 Jakub Vrba(Arkansas), No. 9 Eli Stephenson(Kentucky, No. 12 Luca Pow(Wake Forest), No. 13 Cooper Woestendick(TCU) and No. 15 Alex Razeghi(Stanford).

The first round of doubles is going on now, with the seeds below:

Men's ITA All-American doubles seeds:

1. Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin, Ohio State
2. Oliver Ojakaar and Tomasz Berkieta, Texas
3. Cooper Woestendick and Albert Pedrico, TCU
4. Bruno Kuzuhara and Romain Gales, Clemson
5. Luca Pow and Aryan Shah, Wake Forest
6. Nicolas Arseneault and Mikael Arseneault
7. Lucas Marionneau and Gabriel Debru, Texas
8. Charlie Robertson and Paul Barbier Bazeu, South Carolina

Men's draws are here.

The women's ITA All-American Championships in Cary North Carolina lost four singles seeds today, three of them in the top eight, with most of the first round action taking place indoors due to rain.

Zuzanna Kubacha, a senior at Baylor, defeated No. 3 seed Piper Charney of Michigan 6-2, 6-2; No. 6 seed Janna Hossam Salah of Florida lost to Mississippi State qualifier Gianna Oboniye 6-2, 6-4 and Aspen Schuman of Duke beat No. 8 seed Valeria Ray of Vanderbilt 6-1, 6-2. No. 12 seed Ziva Falkner of Pepperdine lost to Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev of Ohio State 7-6(4), 7-5. 

Women's ITA All-American doubles seeds:

1. none

2. Roisin Gilheany and Victoria Osuigwe, NC State

3. Luciana Perry and Flora Johnson, Ohio State

4. Alexia Jacobs and Anna-Marie Weissheim, Washington

5. Ava Esposito and Ashton Bowers, Auburn

6. Maddy Zampardo and Susanna Maltby, North CarolinaS

7. Caroline McGinley and Amelie Van Impe, SMU

8. Anna Frey and Alanis Hamilton, North Carolina

Women's draws are here.

The Ojai will not be hosting the Big Ten conference championships after doing so for the women in 2025 and the men in 2026, but there will be Division I conference play there next April, with the announcement that the West Coast Conference has agreed to play there in 2027. San Diego and Pepperdine are the most prominent tennis programs in the conference, with UC-Santa Barbara joining the conference next year.

For details on the WCC conference championship's agreement with the Ojai, see this press release.

Top Seeds Badenhorst and Herea Begin Title Quests at ITA All-American Championships Wednesday; Both No. 2 Seeds Fall at Corpus Christi J200; Pro Circuit Pillar Dow Tennis Classic Folds

The ITA All-American Championships have spent the past four days deciding the 16 qualifiers who will join the 48 other Division I collegians competing for the prestigious fall title and for spots in November's NCAA championships.

At the women's tournament in Cary North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina each placed three players in the main draw, three of whom--Bella Payne and Patricija Paukstyte of Georgia and Anna Frey of UNC--have now won five matches, as they came through pre-qualifying. Florida freshman Capucine Jauffret also started in pre-qualifying, lost in the final round of qualifying, got into qualifying as a lucky loser and won both of her qualifying matches to reach the main draw.

Women's ITA All-American qualifiers:
Allegra Korpanec Davies[17], Florida
Patricija Paukstyte[PQ], Georgia
Capucine Jauffret[LL], Florida
Salakthip Ounmang[17], Oklahoma
Audrey Spencer[17], Ohio State
Gianna Oboniye, Mississippi State
Olivia Traynor[17], Michigan
Tianmei Wang, Stanford
Jantje Tilbuerger[10], UCF
Nicole Khirin[17], North Carolina
Linea Bajraliu[12], Georgia
Brooke Black[13], Florida
Alexis Nguyen[14], North Carolina
Anna Frey[PQ], North Carolina
Bella Payne[PQ], Georgia

Carmen Herea is the top seed in Cary, a year after the Texas junior reached the final, falling to Stanford's Valerie Glozman. 2025 semifinalist Luciana Perry of Ohio State is the No. 2 seed.

Women's ITA All-American seeds:

1. Carmen Herea, Texas

2. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

3. Piper Charney, Michigan

4. Irina Balus, Duke

5. Mia Slama, NC State

6. Jana Hossam Salah, Florida

7. Amelie Van Impe, SMU

8. Valeria Ray, Vanderbilt

9. Emilija Tverijonaite, Arizona State

10. Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine

11. Monika Ekstrand, Stanford

12. Ziva Falkner, Pepperdine

13. Tatum Evans, North Carolina

14. none

15. Helena Buchwald, South Carolina

16. Rose Marie Nijkamp, Texas

At the men's tournament in Tulsa Oklahoma, Wake Forest, Texas and NC State have two qualifiers each, with ten other schools getting one player through to the main draw. Three pre-qualifiers have cleared the second hurdle of qualifying: UCLA's Andy Nguyen, Dayton's Kyle McNally and Illinois' Jeremy Zhang.

Qualifiers:

Nour Fathalla[1], Purdue

Asahi Harazaki, Oklahoma

Jules Leroux[3], NC State

Nikita Volonski, Tulsa

Andy Nguyen[PQ], UCLA

Abel Forger[6], Texas

Aryan Shah[7], Wake Forest

Noa Vukadin[17], Clemson

Jeremy Zhang[PQ], Illinois

Kyle McNally[PQ], Dayton

Erik Schiessl[17], Baylor

Denis Petak[17], Ohio State

Luca Preda[13], Virginia

Toby Kodat[14], NC State

Dominick Mosejczuk[17], Wake Forest

Tomasz Berkieta[16], Texas

Baylor's Devin Badenhorst is the top seed, and is coming off a semifinal showing last year; Keegan Rice of Virginia, who was on Canada's Davis Cup team that advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over France at home last weekend (he did not see action), is the No. 2 seed. Aidan Kim of Ohio State, the 2025 finalist, is the No. 3 seed. Ohio State has a total of seven players in the main draw.

Men's ITA All-American singles seeds:

1. Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

2. Keegan Rice, Virginia

3. Aidan Kim, Ohio State

4. Theo Papamalamis, Texas A&M

5. Gabriel Debru, Texas

6. Matthew Forbes, Ohio State

7. Jakub Vrba, Arkansas

8. Preston Stearns, Ohio State

9. Eli Stephenson, Kentucky

10. Amirkhamza Nasridinov, Texas A&M

11. Rodrigo Fernandes, Cornell

12. Luca Pow, Wake Forest

13. Cooper Woestendick, TCU

14. Emon van Loben Sels, UCLA

15. Alex Razeghi, Stanford

16. Viktor Markov, Clemson

Doubles draws have not yet been posted. The men's draw page is here; the women's draw page is here.

There will be no Cracked Racquets coverage of the tournament this year; streaming links are available at the tournament pages. 

The seeds were in action for the first time today at the J200 in Corpus Christi Texas, and both No. 2 seeds were ousted. 

Filip Malis of Canada defeated Mason Vaughan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Aleksandra Jerkunica beat Avery Alexander of Canada 7-5, 6-4.

They were not the only top 4 seeds to exit, with No. 4 Emery Combs losing to San Antonioa J100 champion Nikol Davletshina 6-1, 6-1 and No. 3 seed Jerrid Gaines Jr. retiring trailing Achyuth Binu 6-4, 5-2.

There was sad and shocking news today from the USTA Pro Circuit with the announcement that the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan will be discontinued. Started in 1989, the tournament was a part of the ITF Women's Circuit, moving up to a 100 level event before converting to a WTA 125 in 2021. 

I often attended the event, when it was in early February for many years, and then in the fall, where it landed after the pandemic, and I'll miss the opportunity to see local players compete there and to check in with former juniors and collegians who are making their way up the professional ladder. 

The community involvement, the exposure to pro tennis it offered to a vibrant grass roots tennis scene and its legendary hospitality made it one of the most highly regarded events on the USTA Pro Circuit calendar. Dow's decision not to renew the their decades-long sponsorship and the inability to find a replacement doomed the event, and it is blow not only to the WTA but to women's sports in general to see this event unable to garner the support necessary to survive.

For more on the decision to end the event, see this article.

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.