USA Teams Advance to Quarterfinals at 14-Under World Tennis Team Event; Kennedy and Hance Top Seeds in Kalamazoo Doubles Draw; San Diego Preview; Wolf and Kalieva Lead USTA's US Open Wild Card Race

The US girls continued their fine form today at the World Tennis 14-and-under team event in Prostejov Czechia, finishing at the top of their group with a 3-0 win over No. 5 seed Korea.  The top-seeded Americans--Nadia Poznick, Isha Manchala and Anna Kapanadze--have yet to lose a match after also blanking Slovakia and Colombia.

Korea did not make the quarterfinals, with Slovakia the other team from the group to advance; other seeded girls teams that did not advance are No. 6 Germany and No. 8 Brazil. No. 2 seed Japan and No. 4 seed did not finish first in their groups, so all four of the top seeds are in the top half, and three of the teams in the bottom half are unseeded.

Girls World Junior Tennis quarterfinals:
USA[1] v China[4]
Japan[2] v Ukraine[3]
Czechia v Sweden
Slovakia v Italy[7]

Japan, the top seed in the boys tournament, did not make it out of group play, losing the tiebreaker to Switzerland and Bulgaria after all three went 2-1 in group play. The other seeded team that did not make the quarterfinals was No. 8 France.

The sixth-seeded boys team from the US--Rex Kuhlman, Max Smith and Evaan Mohan--lost to No. 2 seed Great Britain today 3-0, but they advanced to the quarterfinals as the runnerup in group play.

Boys World Junior Tennis quarterfinals:

Switzerland[5] v Slovakia[4]

USA[6] v Australia[3]

Colombia[7] v Brazil

Great Britain[2] v Bulgaria

Live streaming, including replays, are available at the World Tennis junior video page. Live scoring is here. All results can be found here.

The doubles draws are out for the USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships in Kalamazoo, with 2025 US Open boys doubles champions Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy the top seeds.  The Top 8 seeds, with the winners receiving a main draw wild card for the US Open men's doubles.

1. Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy

2. Yannik Alvarez and Noah Johnston

3. Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode

4. Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson

5. Tanishk Konduri and Marcel Latak

6. Theo Hegarty and Erik Schinnerer

7. Wesley Cotton and William McEwan

8. Ford McCollum and Jack Secord

The Top 8 seeds in the 16 doubles:

1. Mikaeel Alibaig and Ivan Rybak

2. Daniel Malacek and Kamil Stolarczyk

3. Rafael Pawar and Zesen Wang

4. Ethan Turunen and Dylan Warn

5. Alexander Lerman and Aryan Ponugoti

6. Braylon Desquitado and Trishiv Premanand

7. Gadin Arun and Arjun Krishnan

8. Colter Amey and Eli Kaminski

PDFs of the draws can be found at ustaboys.com.

A preview of the USTA Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego is available here. I need to note that Anita Tu and Lani Chang both withdrew, and I'm not certain of the timing of those withdrawals, so that could be why they were not seeded. But my point stands that a 33 seed or no seeding for Top 100 World Tennis junior players is problematic.

My Kalamazoo preview will be out Friday at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

There are new leaders in the USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge, with JJ Wolf(Ohio State) taking over the men's top spot after winning the ATP Challenger 125 in Vancouver last weekend. Wolf leads Michael Zheng(Columbia) and Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) with two more weeks to go in the men's race. Zheng qualified for Montreal, but lost in the first round; Martin is playing the Challenger 75 in Lexington this week.

Elivina Kalieva's run to the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Memphis last week moved her past Caroline Dolehide, but just barely, and Kalieva lost in the first round today at the W100 in Landisville Pennsylvania, while Dolehide won her first round match, as did Ayana Akli, now in third place after reaching the final last week at the W75 in Lexington. This is the last week for the women to earn points.

The top of the standings after Week 3:

 

Women's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Elvina Kalieva (121) -- 119

2. Caroline Dolehide (256) -- 101
3. Ayana Akli (242) -- 66

 

 

Men's Standings

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. J.J. Wolf (282) -- 147
2. Michael Zheng (113) -- 60
3. Andres Martin (340) -- 57

San Diego Seeds; US Teams Win Again at 14-Under World Junior Tennis Event; Johnson Ousts Top Seed at Lexington Challenger; Six Americans Qualify for W100 Landisville; Kristina Penickova Beats No. 2 seed at W35 in Southaven MS

The seeds were announced today for the USTA 18s and 16s Girls National Championships in San Diego, with wild card Julieta Pareja the top seed in the 18s. Pareja, the No. 2 seed last year in San Diego, lost in the semifinals to Maya Iyengar.

Girls 18s Top 32 seeds:

1. Julieta Pareja
2. Bella Payne
3. Thea Frodin
4. Janae Preston
5. Kristina Penickova
6. Welles Newman
7. Carlota Moreno
8. Jordyn Hazelitt
9. Alexis Nguyen
10. Ellery Mendell
11. Alyson Shannon
12. Molly Widlansky
13. Carrie-Anne Hoo
14. Yilin Chen
15. Armira Kockinis
16. Thara Gowda
17. Lauren Nolan
17. Carolina Castro
17. Julia Seversen
17. Reagan Levine
17. Allison Wang
17. Reiley Rhodes
17. Alanna Ingalsbe
17. Kingsley Wolf
17. Kylie Liu
17. Lyla Messler
17. Alaina LiSanti
17. Gabriella Davydov
17. Maggie Sohns
17. Kasia Chen
17. Rose Biria
17. Kenzie Nguyen

Where are World Tennis junior Top 100 players Melije Clarke(53), Anita Tu(54), Lani Chang(56) Hannah Ayrault(73) Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann(82), Nancy Lee(86), Ireland O'Brien(91) and Emery Combs(96) and last week's W35 champion Annika Penickova, you might ask? Well, Clarke, Ayrault, Drenser-Hagmann, Lee, Combs and Penickova are in the 33-64 seeding range; Tu, Chang and O'Brien are not seeded at all. I don't understand how players who are 54 and 56 in the world are not among the top 64 players in the United States; it makes no sense.

The top three seeds are ordered by their WTA rankings (Penickova is now fourth in the WTA live rankings after her title last week), but it doesn't appear that WTN played much of a role in the seeding process, with UNC rising sophomore Anna Frey having one of the best six WTNs in the field, but was only given a 33 seed.

The 16s seeds are basically ordered by USTA national ranking, although Abigail Haile and Orange Bowl 16s champion Priscilla Sirichantho were moved into the Top 8 due to their WTNs, which are the best in the 16s field.

The seeds appear, not in order, under the Players tab.

Draws for the 16s will be out after 6 p.m. Pacific Wednesday and the 18s draws will be posted after 6 p.m. Thursday.

Top-seeded US girls beat Colombia 3-0 today in group play at the World Tennis 14-and-under team championships in Prostejov Czechia and are now 2-0 in group play. They play No. 5 seed Korea Wednesday, with Korea's loss today to Slovakia, giving them a 1-1 record. With their two 3-0 wins, the United States is nearly certain to advance to the quarterfinals regardless of their result Wednesday.

The sixth-seeded US boys also blanked their opponent today, beating Czechia 3-0, which put them in the quarterfinals regardless of their result against No. 2 seed Great Britain Wednesday. Both teams are 2-0, and Czechia and Egypt are both 0-2, so the loser will advance to the quarterfinals as well as the winner, no calculations necessary.

Live streaming, including replays, are available at the World Tennis junior video page. Live scoring is here. All results can be found here.

UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson continues to post eye-catching results this summer on the USTA Pro Circuit. After qualifying at this week's ATP Challenger 75 in Lexington Kentucky, the 23-year-old left-hander today defeated top seed Moez Echargui(Nevada) of Tunisia 6-4, 6-3 to advanced the the second round. He will play Jay Friend of Japan, who won the all-Arizona Wildcat first round match with teammate Colton Smith 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3. Other Americans reaching the second round are qualifier Andres Martin(Georgia Tech), Andre Ilagan(Hawaii), Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas), Michael Mmoh, and wild card Ozan Baris(Michigan State).

The biggest tournament this week in the United States is the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Landisville Pennsylvania, where the qualifying was completed today. 

Six Americans have reached the main draw through qualifying: Reese Brantmeier(UNC), Carolyn Ansari(Auburn), Hanna Chang, Anna Rogers(NC State), Clervia Ngounoue and Madison Sieg(USC). Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) received entry into the main draw as a lucky loser.

Wild cards were given to Malaika Rapolu(Texas), Stephanie Yakoff(Harvard), and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State). Lexington 75 finalist Ayana Akli received a special exemption into the main draw. 

Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium is the top seed.

The other two USTA Pro Circuit events this week are joint tournaments in Southaven Mississippi.

At the W35, four Americans advanced to the main draw from qualifying: Katherine Hui(Stanford), Carlota Moreno(Tennesee), Aspen Schuman(Duke) and Alyssa Ahn(Stanford).

Wild cards were given to Riley Crowder(Ole Miss), Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State), Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) and Kristina Penickova. Crowder lost to No. 4 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 6-1, 6-1, but Penickova defeated No. 2 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera 6-2, 7-5 in the first round today. Annika Penickova received a special exempt into the main draw as the champion last week in Florence SC.

2023 NCAA champion Fangran Tian(UCLA) of China is the No. 1 seed.

At the M25, seven of the eight qualifiers are American: Sam Landau(Indiana, Duke), Logan Zapp(UNC), Tygen Goldammer(BYU), James Weber(Georgia), Jon Gamble(Illinois), Brandon Carpico(Ohio State) and Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes(Mississippi State). 

Wild cards were awarded to 2017 NCAA doubles champion Spencer Papa(Oklahoma), Max Dussault(TCU), Cooper Woestendick(TCU) and Patrick Maloney(Michigan).  In first round action today, USC rising sophomore Max Exsted defeated No. 3 seed Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Former Washington All-American Clement Chidekh of France is the top seed.

Kalamazoo Draws; Top-Seeded US Girls, Sixth-Seeded US Boys Start WJT 14U Team Event with Wins; Cairo Selected as Site for 2026 Junior Davis, BJK Cups; Berezin, Davletshina Claim WT J60 Titles; Fritz Wins ATP 500 in DC

The singles draws for the 2026 USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships in Kalamazoo were published this morning, with top seed Jack Kennedy, a finalist in 2024 and the bronze ball winner last year, handed a tricky eighth, with his round of 16 projected to be the winner of the fourth round match No. 17 seed Jerrid Gaines Jr and No. 11 seed Tanishk Konduri. Kennedy beat Konduri 6-4, 6-3 in the Orange Bowl semifinals last December and defeated Gaines 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the second round of the M15 in Boca Raton in April, which Kennedy went on to win. If the seeds hold, Andy Johnson and Marcel Latak will meet in the round of 16 after Latak's dramatic 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 comeback win in last year's 16s final.

By the seedings, the projected round of 16 matches in the 18s are:

Jack Kennedy[1] v Tanishk Konduri[11]
Ronit Karki[5] v Ryan Cozad[10]

Keaton Hance[4] v Gus Grumet[15]

Yannik Alvarez[8] v Jack Secord[9]

Noah Johnston[7] v Vihaan Reddy[12]

Andy Johnson[3] v Marcel Latak[16]

Jordan Lee[6] v Nikolas Stoot[15]

Michael Antonius[2] v Gavin Goode[13]

Printable pdfs are available at ustaboys.com.

The annual World Tennis 14-and-under team competition in  Prostejov Czechia began today, with the US teams picking up 3-0 wins in group play.

The top-seeded US girls team blanked Slovakia, while the sixth-seeded US boys team of Rex Kuhlman, Max Smith and Evaan Mohan defeated Egypt with two singles wins and a win in doubles. Nathan Lee, who was announced as a team member last month, did not make the trip.

The US girls have No. 5 seed Korea in their group; the US boys have No. 2 seed Great Britain in their group. The top two finishers in each group advance to the quarterfinals.

There were a couple of upsets today, with No. 1 boys seed Japan losing to Bulgaria 3-0 and No. 4 girls seed China losing to hosts Czechia 3-0.

Live streaming, including replays, are available at the World Tennis junior video page.  Live scoring is here. All results can be found here.

World Tennis announced today that the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup Junior Finals will be hosted in Cairo, Egypt, The 16-and-under team events, which will feature 16 teams in each competition, will be held November 2-8 at the Smash Sporting Club, which has also hosted the J500 Cairo tournament since 2023. This is the first time the competition has been held in Africa.

Last week was a quiet one on the World Tennis junior circuit, with no J300s and just one J200 and one J100 on the calendar. The J60 in New Jersey produced American champions in both the singles and doubles, with 16-year-old Daniil Berezin claiming his first WT junior circuit title. Berezin, the No. 4 seed beat top seed Rafael Bote of Canada 7-6(2), 5-0 ret. to reach the final, and took the title when wild card Joshua Bayete Miller retired after losing the first set 6-2.

In the boys doubles final, No. 2 seeds Alexander Lerman and Peter Nistad defeated unseeded David Bayat and Jens Holger Nissen of Denmark 7-6(5), 7-6(4). It's the second WT junior doubles title for Nistad and the first for Lerman.

As it was two weeks ago in Providence, the girls draw was dominated by the Davletshina sisters. In Providence, Daniela won the singles title; last week in Medford, younger sister Nikol, 13, won her first singles title on the WT junior tour, beating Daniela 6-3, 6-2 in the final. In both tournaments they won the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair beating top seeds Payton Dith of Canada and Sofia Kedrin 6-4, 6-0 in the final last week.

The other American singles title came at the J30 in the Dominican Republic, with unseeded 15-year-old Saraswati Gowda winning her first WT junior circuit title when unseeded Anshu Matham retired trailing 6-3 in the all-USA final. 

The other American title last week came at the J30 in Nicaragua, with 16-year-old Santiago Salazar and Brazilian partner Gustavo Vasconcellos, the No. 2 seeds, beating top seeds Mateo Gutierrez of El Salvador and Mateo Herrarte of Guatemala 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

Two Americans reached the final of the joint 500 event in Washington DC, with the championship matches played today after Sunday's washout. 

Top seed Jessica Pegula led Alexandra Eala of the Philippines 6-4, 1-2 Sunday when storms eventually postponed the match, and Eala took control with a break at 4-5, winning the final eight games of the match for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory. It's the first WTA title for the 2022 US Open girls champion.

Another US Open junior champion won the men's title, which was guaranteed before the final began. Taylor Fritz, the 2015 USO boys champion, defeated Rafael Jodar(Virginia), the 2024 USO boys champion 7-6(2), 6-4 for his eleventh ATP title and his first 500-level tournament since Tokyo in 2022. Fritz had lost his three finals this year, but with this win, he now returns to being the No. 1 American, moving past Ben Shelton.

Kalamazoo Seeds; Sixteen-year-old Qualifier Liutova Wins WTA Memphis 250; Penickova and Gogineni Claim Pro Circuit Titles; Wolf Wins ATP Challenger 125 in Canada; Eligibility Ruling Produces NCAA Chaos

The seeds have been posted for the USTA 18s and 16s National Championships, which begin this Friday, August 7, at Western Michigan University and Stowe Stadium at Kalamazoo College. As is always the case for Kalamazoo, with the different competitive environments of the top players in the field,ATP and World Tennis Junior rankings are considered, as are collegiate records, USTA rankings and World Tennis Numbers. Seeds 33-64 can be viewed via the Players tab via the link above.

Kalamazoo B18s Top 32 Seeds:

1. Jack Kennedy
2. Michael Antonius
3. Andy Johnson
4. Keaton Hance
5. Ronit Karki
6. Jordan Lee
7. Noah Johnston
8. Yannik Alvarez
9. Jack Secord
10. Ryan Cozad
11. Tanishk Konduri
12. Vihaan Reddy
13. Gavin Goode
14. Nikolas Stoot
15. Gus Grumet
16. Marcel Latak
17. Jerrid Gaines Jr
18. Rishvanth Krishna
19. Teodor Davidov
20. Safir Azam
21. Navneet Raghuram
22. Carel Ngounoue
23. Agassi Rusher (withdrew)
24. Roshan Santhosh
25. Peter Jorniak
26. Alexander Suhanitski
27. Jesse Yang
28. Arin Pallegar
29. James Quattro
30. Tyler Lee
31. Noble Renfrow
32. Mason Taube

B16s Top 32 Seeds:

1. Kamil Stolarczyk
2. Sulaiman Syed
3. Daniel Malacek
4. Tristan Stratton
5. Kahven Singh
6. Colter Amey
7. Eli Kaminski
8. Gadin Arun
9. Daniil Berezin
10. Adrian Sharma
11. Anay Kulkarni
12. Piotr Gradzki
13. Ethan Turunen
14. Mikaeel Alibaig
15. Advay Singh
16. Ivan Rybak
17. Michael Chervenkov
18. Gurbaaz Narang
19. Rafael Pawar
20. Joshua Dolinksy
21. Aayush Vartak
22. Lennart Hammargren
23. Alexander Totoian
24. Tabb Tuck
25. Connor Feehan
26. Tristan Ascenzo
27. Arjun Krishnan
28. Griffin Goode
29. Antanas Daugis
30. Ishaan Marla
31. Louden Muha
32. Johnny Wolf

When you are in the same conversation as Coco Gauff, you are in good company, and Kristina Liutova now finds herself officially a phenom after winning the WTA 250 in Memphis this afternoon. The 16-year-old Moscow-born Seattle resident won her sixth match since last Sunday, coming from a set down for the second time this week in her 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over the University of Georgia's 2024 fall NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova of Czechia.

Liutova's slow start was nothing new for her this week, but as before, she never panicked, using her depth, consistency and defense to get herself back into the match, while Vidmanova's level dropped as Liutova's rose. When Liutova served for the match at 5-2 in the third, Vidmanova came up with three winners on Liutova's three championship points and eventually broke, but again Liutova never expressed any frustration or doubt and she broke Vidmanova in the next game to secure the title.

Liutova, up to 126 in the WTA live rankings after starting the year at 714, is the first player 16-and-under to win a WTA tournament since Coco Gauff won the WTA 250 in Linz as a 15-year-old in 2019.

As it happens, one of Liutova's wins in last December's run to the Orange Bowl final was over Annika Penickova, who won her first singles title on the Pro Circuit today at the W35 in Florence South Carolina. The 16-year-old left-hander, playing in her first singles final, defeated 21-year-old qualifier Piper Charney, a rising senior at Michigan, 6-3, 6-4 in this morning's final. 

Annika and twin sister Kristina won the doubles title yesterday, their second at a W35 in the past two weeks.

Another young American picked up a first USTA Pro Circuit title today, with unseeded Vignesh Gogineni ending the winning streak of No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) in the final of the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois. Gogineni, a recent Yale graduate who finished his career No. 25 in the ITA national rankings, handed the Louisville M25 champion a 6-4, 6-2 loss and will head into his Cincinnati Open qualifying appearance a week from Tuesday full of confidence. Baris received a wild card into the main draw of the Lexington Challenger 75 this coming week.

Unseeded Anastasia Kulikova of Finland won the W75 in Lexington Kentucky today, beating No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 7-5, 6-4 in this afternoon's final. 

Last night, Akli and Fiona Crawley won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 2-6, 7-6(3), 12-10. Akli defended her doubles title from last year, when she played with Eryn Cayetano(USC); she now has seven USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles, all at W35s and above, in the past two years. Crawley now has four doubles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit, with four different partners.

JJ Wolf, who reached the quarterfinals of the Bloomfield Hills Challenger 125 last week, headed west this week, receiving entry into the Vancouver Canada 125 via his protected ranking, after his long injury hiatus last year. After winning an M15 and an M25 in his comeback this year, Wolf broke through again on the Challenger level, winning his first Challenger title in five years last night with a 7-5, 6-1 win over No. 8 seed Mark Lajal of Estonia.

After several rain delays, the match was moved indoors, where the former Ohio State All-American was obviously more comfortable. Like fellow Cincinnati resident Gogineni, Wolf has received a qualifying wild card for the ATP Masters 1000 there; his ranking with the Vancouver title has jumped from 563 to 282.

Division I NCAA sports, including tennis, were thrown into chaos Friday with a ruling that granted a fifth year of eligibilty to those in the 2022 high school graduating class, who the NCAA had ruled completed their eligibility in 2026 when they adopted the new five-in-five plan, which is scheduled to begin in 2027.

For details of the initial ruling, see this USA Today article at Yahoo Sports.

The NCAA plans to appeal the decision, and today there were clarifications provided on the injunction issued Friday. Those can be found at this USA Today article at Yahoo Sports.

Liutova Faces Vidmanova for Memphis WTA 250 Title; Penikcova Goes for Sweep vs Charney in Florence; 2025 USTA National 18s Doubles Champions Win Pro Circuit Titles; Baris and Gogineni Advance to Edwardsville M25 Final; Akli Reaches W75 Lexington Final

Kristina Liutova will play for the WTA 250 Memphis Open title Sunday in her first appearance in a WTA main draw, facing 2024 NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova of Czechia, who also has reached her first WTA final this week.

Liutova did not need a comeback in her 7-5, 6-1 semifinal win over Elvina Kalieva today, with the 16-year-old qualifier taking control of the match with a break at 5-all in the first set, and rolling from there. Liutova, who had to win a third-set tiebreaker against WTA 619 Mariia Kozyreva(St. Marys) in the final round of qualifying, defeated three WTA Top 100 players to reach the semifinals: Ekaterina Alexandrova, Maya Joint and Caty McNally. 

The 23-year-old Vidmanova, who won all three NCAA titles--singles, doubles and team--in her career at Georgia, began the week at 114 in the WTA rankings and is unseeded, but has picked up two Top 100 wins of her won this week over Katie Volynets 6-5, 6-7(5), 6-1 in the quarterfinals and Renata Zarazua of Mexico in today's semifinal, 6-3, 6-3.

Sixteen-year-old Annika Penickova is through to her second USTA Pro Circuit singles final and the first above the W15 level after her 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win today over No. 2 seed Angelina Voloshchuk of Portugal at the W35 in Florence South Carolina. Penickova will play 21-year-old Michigan rising senior Piper Charney, a qualifier, who reached her first career Pro Circuit final with a 7-6(7), 6-4 win over UCLA rising sophomore Mayu Crossley of Japan.

Penickova then added a second straight W35 doubles title with twin sister Kristina, who defeated fellow unseeded teens Alyssa Ahn(Stanford) and Krisha Mahendran(USC) of India 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Annika and Kristina are now on an eight-match winning streak in doubles, having won last week's W35 in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Kristina, who won the USTA National 18s title in San Diego last August with Thea Frodin while Annika was out with an injury, was one of three Americans who won 2025 National 18s titles today.

At the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois, Kalamazoo 18s champions Max Exsted(USC) and Cooper Woestendick(TCU), seeded third, defeated 2026 US Open Collegiate Playoff champions Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals and Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) and Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Exsted and Woestendick, who won their first round match last year at the US Open, have not played together since falling to No. 6 seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the second round in New York. But they did not drop a set this week, proving that their chemistry survived their collegiate schedules. It's Exsted's second title of the summer, having won the M15 in San Diego with Noah Johnston(Georgia).

All five matches (doubles semifinals and final, singles semifinals) on the schedule Saturday at Edwardsville were played indoor due to rain, with No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) extending his winning streak to nine matches with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over top seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain.

Baris, who won the Louisville M25 title two weeks ago, will face unseeded Vignesh Gogineni, the recent Yale graduate, who advanced to his first Pro Circuit final with a 6-2, 4-1 retired victory over No. 7 seed Bruno Kuzuhara(Clemson).

Rain also disrupted the semifinals of the W75 in Lexington Kentucky, but No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) returned from the delay at 6-3, 5-3 to close out doubles partner and No. 2 seed Fiona Crawley(UNC). Crawley had saved four match points before the rain delay, but couldn't save a fifth two points after resumption of the match. The 25-year-old Akli will play for her biggest title Sunday against unseeded Anastasia Kulikova of Finland, who beat unseeded Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. 

Akli and Crawley, the No. 2 seeds, are playing top seeds Collins and Savannah Broadus in tonight's doubles final.

July Aces; Liutova Advances to Memphis WTA 250 Semifinal; Penickova Reaches Semis at W35 Florence; Akli and Crawley Face Off in Lexington W75 Saturday; Gogineni Makes Final Four at Edwardsville M25, Receives Cincy Qualifying Wild Card

My monthly column featuring the top performances of July is up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, with 19 juniors, collegians and former collegians winning titles last month. Collegians and juniors are so prevalent and so successful on the World Tennis Tour men's and women's circuits now that I couldn't highlight all those who won W35s, M25s, M15s or W15s. I had to quit featuring the latter two sometime last year, but this month was the first time I couldn't find room for the 35s and 25s. 

Here are several that I couldn't cover in the Aces, but still deserve a mention: Trevor Svajda(SMU), M25 Dallas; Ozan Baris(MSU) M25 Louisville; Kenta Miyoshi(Illinois) M25 Canada; Kalin Ivanovski(Texas) M25 Macedonia; Carl Overbeck(Cal) back-to-back M25s in June, July in Portugal; Khololwam Montsi (Oklahoma, Texas A&M) 2 M15s in South Africa;  and 16-year-old Antonio Stoyanov of the Netherlands, who won a W35 in Italy as a qualifier.

Kristina Liutova continues to post wins over WTA Top 100 players, with the Moscow-born 16-year-old from Seattle defeating No. 73 Caty McNally, the No. 6 seed at the WTA Memphis 250, 6-3, 6-4.

Liutova, playing in her first WTA main draw as a qualifier, trailed 3-1 in the first set, winning the final five games and 4-0 in the second set, claiming the final six games to earn her place in the semifinals against 23-year-old American Elvina Kalieva. The unseeded Kalieva defeated No. 7 seed Peyton Stearns(Texas) tonight after a three-hour rain delay this afternoon 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

Unseeded Annika Penickova is through to her first semifinal at the W35 level in Florence South Carolina, with the unseeded 16-year-old left-hander defeating No. 4 seed Ekaterina Khayrutinova(FIU, Auburn) 6-4, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals. Penickova will face No. 2 seed Angelina Voloshchuk of Portugal for a place in the final. Voloshchuk defeated USC rising sophomore Krisha Mahendran of India, a qualifier, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Annika and twin sister Kristina are through to the doubles final in Florence after winning the title last week at the W35 in Santa Fe. The unseeded pair defeated No. 2 seeds Carmen Herea(Texas) of Romania and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine 4-6, 6-1, 13-11 in today's semifinals. They will play the unseeded team of Mahendran and Alyssa Ahn(Stanford) for the title, after Ahn and Mahendran beat unseeded Khayrutdinova and Christasha McNeil(Texas) 1-6, 6-3, 10-4.

In the top half of the singles draw, Piper Charney, a rising senior at Michigan, will face unseeded Mayu Crossley of Japan, a rising sophomore at UCLA. Charney defeated fellow qualifier Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State) 6-2, 7-5, while Crossley advanced when No. 8 seed Alexis Nguyen(UNC) retired down 4-1 in the first set.

At the W75 in Lexington Kentucky, former collegiate stars Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) and Fiona Crawley(UNC) have advanced to a semifinal meeting, with No. 3 seed Akli defeating No. 6 seed Hanna Chang 6-4, 6-1 and Crawley beating No. 8 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 7-6(1) 6-3.

Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) defeated top seed Sara Saito of Japan this evening 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and she will face the only non-American in the semifinals: Anastasia Kulikova of Finland. The unseeded Kulikova defeated No. 7 seed Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) 6-4, 7-5.

Rain fell most of the day in Edwardsville Illinois, but the singles quarterfinals of M25 were played this evening, with three Americans advancing to Saturday's semifinals. No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(MSU) defeated wild card Max Exsted(USC) 6-3, 6-1 and will play top seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain.

No. 7 seed Bruno Kuzuhara(Clemson) defeated Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-4 and will play Vignesh Gogineni, who beat No. 2 seed Karim Bennani of Morocco 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Not only did Gogineni, the recent Yale graduate, reach his third M25 semifinal with his win today, but he was also announced as a recipient of a men's qualifying wild card at next month's ATP/WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open. Gogineni, who is from Mason Ohio, will play his first tournament above the M25 level in his hometown.

JJ Wolf, who is playing in the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 125 in Vancouver Canada tonight, also received a qualifying wild card, as did Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) and 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch. Kei Nishikori of Japan, who is retiring later this year, also was given a qualifying wild card.

The main draw wild cards were awarded to Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov, Gael Monfils and Jack Draper.

The announcement can be found at the ATP website.