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. 

WT J500 Osaka Acceptances; Update on September Titles for American Juniors on World Tennis Junior Circuit

As always seems to be the case, the World Tennis J500 junior event in Osaka Japan, the only WT J500 on hard courts, is coming up next week, and I haven't been paying attention, what with the College Park J300, the Repentigny J300 and the US Open Junior Championships.

The acceptance lists, posted earlier this month, feature three US boys and seven US girls, including three girls who are also on the acceptance list for the Pan American Closed J300 in Spring Texas the week after Osaka: Carrie-Anne Hoo, Isabelle DeLuccia and Camille Allegre. It's possible they could play both, if they lose early in Osaka, but that's a tough turnaround.

The other four US girls in the main draw in Osaka are Jordyn Hazelitt, Lani Chang, who withdrew from the US Open Junior Championships at the last minute, Maggie Sohns, who withdrew from the Pan Am yesterday, and Scarlett Fagan. 

Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India and Hazelitt will likely be the top seeds.

The US boys competing are Navneet Raghuram, Izyan Ahmad, who is still entered at the Pan Am, and Tyler Lee. 

Kai Thompson of Hong Kong and Dan Brand of Israel are likely to be the top boys seeds.

The main draw cutoff for boys was 248 and for girls 232. The cutoffs for the J500 in Milan this spring after the withdrawal date were both in the 40s, so obviously the fields are not strong compared to other J500s.

After two weeks following only the J300 tournaments and US Open, it's time to review the titles for the American juniors who did not make the cuts for those events.

In the first week of September, 15-year-old Tristan Ascenzo won his first title on the WT Junior Circuit at the J30 in McKinney Texas, beating James Ross 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the final. The boys doubles title in McKinney went to unseeded Joseph Kim and Aryan Ponugoti, who beat Ross and Marko Mikic, also unseeded, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Fifteen-year-old Reena Alavalapati won the girls singles title, beating Saanchi Dalal 6-4, 3-0, retired, in the final. Alavalapat, with partner Emily Golovanov, completed the McKinney sweep with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over top seeds Mliena Jandera of Australia and Lais Mika Shibata of Brazil in the girls doubles final.

Fourteen-year-old Evija Thoresen swept the girls titles at the J60 in Dallas, with the unseeded blue chip beating qualifier Nicole Alexandrovich 6-2, 6-3 in the championship match. Thoresen and Anna Scott Laney, the top seeds, defeated unseeded Sofia Bartolata and Camilla Kostik 6-0, 6-1 in the doubles final. 

Ascenzo lost in the boys singles final to Canadian Collum Mackinnon 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(1).

Unseeded Marko Mikic and Sebastian Zavala won the doubles title in Dallas, beating No. 2 seeds Peter Nistad and Canada's Thomas O'Neill 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 in the final. 

At the J30 in Minneapolis, 14-year-old Ishaan Marla won his first WT Junior Circuit singles title, beating Dylan Warn 6-1, 6-4 in the final. Top seeds Simon Hayal and John Murphy won the boys doubles title, beating Joshua Latour and Warn 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 in the final. 

Fifteen-year-old Daniela Del Mastro, who lives in the Minneapolis area, won her first WT Junior Circuit title, beating Avita Beitler 7-5, 6-2 in the final. Sydney Barnhart and Kasia Chen defeated Del Mastro and Beitler in the girls doubles final 7-6(5), 0-6, 12-10.

At the J60 in Eau Claire Wisconsin, the 16-year-old Beitler got her revenge, defeating Del Mastro 7-5, 6-1 in the girls singles final for her first title on the WT Junior Circuit.

Top seeds Sophia Budacsek and Colombia's Alicia Londono won the girls doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Beitler and Del mastro 3-6, 7-5, 10-4.

Sixteen-year-old Alex Totoian won the boys title in Eau Claire, his second on the WT Junior Circuit, beating wild card Ethan Turunen 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4. 

Joshua Dolinsky and Piotr Gradzki won the boys doubles title, beating Sebastian Cheaney and Antanas Daugis 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final. 

Sixteen-year-old Nirbhay Agarwal won his first title at the J30 in India last week, with the No. 2 seed beating unseeded Chukka Lakshya Vardhan of India 6-0, 7-5 in the final. Sixteen-year-old Aditi Paturi won her first WT Junior Circuit title in doubles, with partner Prachi Malik of India. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Disha Kumar and Riddhi Shinde of India 6-0, 6-1 in the final.

At the J30 in Colombia last week, 16-year-old Luciana Chica won her first WT Junior Circuit singles title, and her third doubles title. She defeated Odritza Anyelina Sequera Freitez of Venezuela 6-3, 6-3 in the singles final and partnered with Colombian Sara Sofia Lopez Gutierrez for the doubles title. The No. 4 seeds beat No. 2 seeds Sequera and Maria Camila Velez Aristizabal of Colombia 7-6(4) 6-4 in the final. 

Riley Anson reached the final of the J200 in China last week, with the unseeded Southern Californian falling to No. 5 seed Alexey Shibaev of Russia 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3).

This week's World Tennis Junior tournament in the United States is a J100 in San Antonio, and with a Friday finish, the quarterfinals already set, with neither draw's top two seeds are still in contention.

Daniil Berezin beat top seed Felipe Mamede of Brazil 7-5, 6-2 and wild card Smyan Thuta defeated No. 2 seed Anay Kulkarni 6-4, 6-2 in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals, along with six other Americans.

Anna Scott Laney defeated top seed Sophia Budacsek 6-4, 6-3 in the first round, and Autumn Xu beat No. 2 seed Sydney Wright 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, also in the first round. Thirteen-year-old Nikol Davletshina, who lives in the US but represent Russia, is the only non-American in the girls quarterfinals.

There's a J200 in Montreal this week that has also drawn many Americans, with Kalamazoo 16s finalists and US Open doubles quarterfinalists Daniel Malacek[4] and Kamil Stolarczyk[5] through to the quarterfinals, as is No. 3 seed Erik Schinnerer. 

Five US girls are through to the quarterfinals: Sylvana Jalbert[6], Ellery Mendell[3], Kalista Papadopoulos[8], Reiley Rhodes[4] and Aarini Bhattacharya[7]. Avery Alexander and Clemence Mercier of Canada, the top two seeds, are also through, playing Jalbert and Bhattacharya respectively.

J300 Pan Am Closed Acceptances; Tiburon Challenger 125 Qualifying Complete, First Round Underway; Tien and Damm Added to US Davis Cup Team's Tie With Czechia Friday

The World Tennis J300 Pan American Closed in Spring Texas is a week early this year, but there is a two-week span between the US Open and it. While that's a quick turnaround for American juniors, it's downright luxurious compared to the European Championships, a closed J300 in Austria, which began today.

The fields for the European Championships, which used to be among the prestigious event on the World Tennis junior calendar when it was in Switzerland in July are not good, with only one Top 10 boy, US Open semifinalist Thilo Behrmann, who I doubt would be playing if it were not in Austria. There are no WT top 25 girls in the field, with No. 30 Emily Eigelsbach of Germany the top seed.

In Spring Texas, the girls field does not contain any of the top US girls, although US Open semifinalist Melije Clarke, who lives nearby, said last week that she has not decided whether defend her title. She will need a wild card to do so, as she has not entered. 

ITF J300 San Diego finalist Avery Alexander of Canada, at 62, has the highest ranking as of now. The top 100 Americans girls in the field are Hannah Ayrault, Maggie Sohns, Sarah Ye, Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, Nancy Lee, Ireland O'Brien, Adla Lopez, Carrie-Anne Hoo, Emery Combs and Armira Kockinis.

The boys field has five Top 50 players, all Americans: Andrew Johnson, Tanishk Konduri, Vihaan Reddy, Marcel Latak and Safir Azam, although I don't think Latak will be there after his titles the past two weeks; from what he said in his interviews after winning the US Open boys title, he will primarily be playing the USTA Pro Circuit this fall. Johnson reached the Pan Am final last year, losing to Michael Antonius.

The only USTA Pro Circuit tournament is the ATP Challenger 125 in Tiburon California, with the qualifying completed today and five first round matches played.

Three Americans have qualified: Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, UNC), wild card Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State) and Evan Zhu(UCLA). The other three qualifiers are current or recent collegians: LSU sophomore Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, Timo Legout(Texas) of France and Luca Staeheli(NC State) of Switzerland.

Michael Zheng(Columbia), now up to 88 in the ATP rankings after reaching the third round of the US Open, will defend his title as the top seed, with Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), the 2024 Tiburon champion, is the No. 2 seed.

Wild cards were given to Aidan Mayo, JJ Wolf(Ohio State) and Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas).

In today's first round action, Wolf defeated Argentina's Luciano Ambrogi, a recent addition to the Oklahoma roster, 6-2, 6-0; Patrick Maloney(Michigan) beat Alastair Gray(TCU) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3); No. 4 seed Michael Mmoh defeated Karue Sell(UCLA) 6-3, 6-2 and Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) got past Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Fifth seed Tristan Boyer(Stanford) and Edward Winter(Pepperdine) of Australia are playing tonight. 

The USTA announced today that Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz have withdrawn from this weekend's Davis Cup second round qualifying against Czechia in Prague. Learner Tien(USC) and Martin Damm have been named to replace them and will be making their Davis Cup debuts. Ben Shelton(Florida), Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) round out the roster.

Play begins Friday on the O2 Arena's indoor hard courts with two singles matches; a doubles match and two more singles matches follow on Saturday if necessary. Captain Tomas Berdych's team consists of Jakub Mensik, Jiri Lehecka, Tomas Machac and Vit Kopriva. The winner advances to the Davis Cup Final 8 later this fall.