Antonius and Traynor Win ITF J300 Titles in Colombia; Kennedy Makes ATP Challenger Main Draw Debut in Cleveland; Georgia Tops Women's Winter Recruiting Class Rankings; Tommy Paul, Christian Harrison Added to USA's Davis Cup Roster

The ITF J300 in Baranquilla Colombia has always been a popular and successful tournament for American juniors, regardless where its been on the ITF Junior Circuit calendar, with American boys winning five of the past six singles titles. Keaton Hance, the Australian Open boys finalist won it last year, along with Julieta Pareja, and again this year Americans swept the titles, with Michael Antonius winning both the singles and doubles championships and Olivia Traynor collecting her first ITF J300 title.

Antonius, the top seed, didn't drop a set until the final, but had a stern test in the final, with the 16-year-old from Buffalo New York beating unseeded Rhys Lawler of Great Britain 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 for his second ITF J300 singles title.

Antonius had already claimed his second ITF J300 doubles title the day before, partnering with Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded team of Zavier Augustin and Japan's Koki Nara 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

With the two titles, Antonius moved back up to his ITF junior ranking career high of 14.

Traynor, an 18-year-old from New York, hadn't won more than one match in an ITF J300 tournament until last week, but the unseeded University of Michigan recruit picked up five victories to take the title, beating No. 4 seed Jordyn Hazelitt 7-6(3), 6-3. Traynor also advanced to the doubles final with partner Ana Avramovic, with the unseeded pair falling to top seeds Hazelitt and Welles Newman, who also won the doubles title at the ITF J300 in Costa Rica two weeks ago.

Traynor moved from 131 in the ITF junior rankings to 66.

Both Antonius and Traynor are in the draws at this week's J300 in Salinas Ecuador, with Antonius again the No. 1 seed. Traynor, who is unseeded, drew No. 2 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil in the first round.

The other two ITF Junior Circuit titles for Americans came at J30s.

At the J30 tournament in Sri Lanka, 15-year-old Swanika Roy won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The No. 4 seed defeated No. 2 seed Aaraa Aasaal Azim of the Maldives 6-3, 6-3; all five of her victories came in straight sets.

At the J30 in Uruguay, 16-year-old Londyn McCord won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 4 seed Sofia Barbosa Perez of Uruguay 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final. 

Jack Kennedy will make his ATP Challenger main draw debut Tuesday at the Cleveland Open 75 against 2018 NCAA singles finalist Borna Gojo(Wake Forest) of Croatia. Kennedy has played Challenger qualifying matches before, but this is his first main draw match, with that opportunity coming courtesy of the ATP Junior Accelerator Program. After finishing in the Top 10 of the ITF Junior rankings in 2025, Kennedy has up to eight entries at Challengers at the 50 or 75 level this year.

Qualifying was completed today, with five of the six qualifiers former collegians, four from the United States: Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada, Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon, Matt Kuhar(Bryant), Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest) and Ben Jones of Great Britain.

Wild cards were awarded to Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) and Cleveland State junior Lincoln Battle.

Sho Shimabukuro of Japan is the top seed, with defending champion Colton Smith(Arizona) the No. 2 seed. In first round action today, Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) defeated Bigun 6-4, 6-3; Stefan Kozlov[7] beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Antoine Ghibaudo of France defeated No. 4 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-1, 6-3. Ghibaudo, a sophomore at Kentucky, announced yesterday that he was leaving the Wildcats program to concentrate on his professional career. 

The winter edition of the Tennis Recruiting Network's 2026 women's recruiting class rankings came out today, with Georgia taking the top spot, followed by Texas A&M and North Carolina. Georgia received eight first place votes, Texas A&M four and North Carolina one. The other programs in the top 10 are Tennessee, Clemson, Central Florida, Florida, Auburn, Wake Forest and Florida State.

As the article accompanying the rankings points out, ten of the top 25 this year did not appear in the top 25 last year, with top recruiting classes less predictable in this new era of the transfer portal and NIL and the Ivys less prominent than usual. 

The United States Davis Cup team travels to Hungary this weekend for a first round qualifying match and two additions to the team were announced today: Tommy Paul and Christian Harrison. The USTA release:

Tommy Paul, Christian Harrison Join U.S. Davis Cup Team for 2026 First Round Qualifier vs. Hungary February 7-8

 

TATABÁNYA, Hungary, February 2, 2026 – World No. 22 Tommy Paul and 2026 Australian Open men's doubles champion Christian Harrison have joined No. 68 Ethan Quinn, No. 82Emilio Nava and doubles No. 52 Austin Krajicek on the U.S. Davis Cup Team for its Qualifying First Round tie vs. Hungary February 7-8 in Tatabánya, Hungary. 

 

Paul joins the team for his 11^th tie, while Harrison replaces Rajeev Ram in his debut Davis Cup nomination. This weekend's matches will be played on an indoor clay court at the Tatabányai Multifunkcionális Sportcsarnok.

 

This First Round Qualifying competition is a best-of-five match series that will begin with two singles matches on Saturday, February 7, starting at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET), then continue with a doubles match and two more singles matches on Sunday, February 8, beginning at 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET). The first nation between the USA and Hungary to win three out of those five matches wins the First Round Qualifier and will advance to the Second Round of Qualifying in late September. Tennis Channel will feature coverage in the U.S.

 

The Hungarian team and Captain Kornel Bardoczky have nominated world No. 46 Fabian Marozsan, No. 176 Zsombor Piros, No. 533 Peter Fajta, No. 622 Mate Valkusz and No. 781 Matyas Fuele.

 

Captains may make up to three combined substitutions / additions to their rosters up until Friday's draw ceremony, when the initial lineups and matchups are set. 

Karabanova, Hotelier Capture Les Petits As Titles; Svajda, Kalieva, Andreescu and Grant Win Championships on USTA Pro Circuit; No. 1 Georgia Women, No. 1 Wake Forest Men Fall at UNC, Ohio State

There were two completely different finals at Les Petits As, the prestigious international tournament for 14-and-under players held annually in Tarbes France.

Girls champion Aleksandra Karabanova of Russia, the No. 10 seed, saved a match point in her 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-0 win over Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia in a final that spanned nearly three hours, while No. 16 seed Lyoma Hotelier of Japan breezed past qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland 6-0, 6-1 in 45 minutes.

Aleksandra Karabanova
photo @Richard van Loon, TopTennis.photos

The drama in the Karabanova - Anikina match was persistent throughout, with Anikina looking for every opportunity to close the net, while Karabanova was able to counteract that by passing well and getting sure winners back in play.  

Although neither has a serve that produces free points, Anikina got only 36 percent of her first serves in, limiting her ability to be aggressive early in the point. Karabanova made only 50 percent of her first serves and had 14 double faults, but she kept her composure despite the frustration she must have felt. 

One of those double faults came at deuce with Karabanova serving at 5-6 in the second set, but Anikina sent a forehand long early in the rally and Karabanova held for the tiebreaker.

That tiebreaker featured two significant line calling controversies, both going against Anikina, which got me thinking that it was odd that the tournament, usually so innovative, didn't have electronic line calling. But then I recalled that the event is a major training ground for aspiring French chair umpires, so maybe that played a role.

In any case, the chair overruled the line judge on the far sideline to give Karabanova the point for 2-2 and then a Anikina ball that looked to be on the line was called wide at 5-all, with Anikina shanking her backhand on the next point to drop the set.

The third set was not as one-sided as it may have looked, but Anikina was making many more unforced errors, possibly due to fatigue. Karabanova went up 5-0 mostly by playing much more conservatively than she had in the first two sets, extending rallies until Anikina missed, and that strategy worked, with Anikina unable to play three good points in succession at any time in the final set.

Lyoma Hotelier
photo @Richard van Loon, TopTennis.photos

The boys final could not have been more different, with Mitchell obviously out of gas after winning seven matches prior to the final. Hotelier, who had won the Tennis Europe Category 1 title in Bolton England the previous week, has won 11 matches in the indoor hard fortnight, losing just two sets in that span.

The four tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit concluded today in Florida and California, with three American singles champions crowned.

At the ATP Challenger 100, No. 4 seed Zachary Svajda, playing in his hometown of San Diego, defeated top seed Sebastian Korda 6-4, 7-6(5). The two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion, now 23 years old, played the cleaner match against the current ATP No. 53, hitting 22 winners and making just 14 unforced errors, while Korda had 26 winners and 40 unforced errors.

Svajda had only two aces in the match, but couldn't have picked a better time for his second. After Svajda took a 6-3 lead in the second set tiebreaker, Korda hit two winners on his two service points, but Svajda closed out his seventh Challenger title with an ace. He will move to 109 in the ATP rankings, just shy of his career-high of 102.

No. 3 seeds Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Trey Hildebrand(UCF, Texas A&M) won the doubles title in San Diego, beating the unseeded team of Garrett Johns(Duke) and Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) 6-3, 6-4 in the final. It's the seventh Challenger title for Kiger and his third with Hilderbrand, who has eight Challenger doubles titles.

At the W100 in San Diego, No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva won her first title since 2023, beating No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in today's final. Kalieva had ended the comeback of Jennifer Brady(UCLA) with a 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2 win in the semifinals, while Mandlik had beaten No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals.

The 22-year-old Kalieva will rise to a career-high ranking of 154 with the title.

LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada and Alana Smith(NC State) won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating unseeded Catherine Harrison(UCLA) and Dalayna Hewitt 6-2, 6-3 in the final. 

Bianca Andreescu of Canada continued her comeback in Florida, winning her second title in the past three weeks at the W75 in Vero Beach. The No. 6 seed, Andreescu defeated unseeded Xiaodi You of China 7-5, 6-1 in today's final, played in temperatures in the mid 40s. Andreescu is 13-1 to start the year, with her only loss in the semifinals of the W35 in Bradenton to Akasha Urhobo.

No. 3 seeds Allura and Maribella Zamarripa(Texas) won the doubles title when they were given a walkover by No. 2 seeds Anna Rogers(NC State) and Jazmin Ortenzi of Argentina in the final. 

The title at the M15 in Naples Florida went to No. 8 seed Will Grant(Florida), who beat former Gator teammate Duarte Vale of Portugal, a qualifier, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. It's the first Pro Circuit singles title for the 24-year-old Grant. Vale, 27, has been in the ATP Top 500, but hadn't played in over a year, so started this week unranked.

Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) and 43-year-old Jesse Witten(Kentucky) won the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair beating former Illinois teammates Hunter Heck and Zeke Clark, who were also unseeded, 6-4, 1-6, 10-5 in the final.

With the ITA Team Indoor Championships looming in the next two weeks, teams are preparing by getting as many matches as possible against top teams. With so many new faces and only a few results as the new season begins, it's difficult to flag any outcome as an upset, but both teams who are No. 1 in the coaches poll due to their NCAA titles last year, the Georgia women and the Wake Forest men, lost today.

Georgia traveled to No. 3 North Carolina for their annual blockbuster, and the Tar Heels took care of a young Georgia team with the clinch coming at 4-1. The matches were played out, with the final score 5-2. NCAA champion Reese Brantmeier, who had clinched the Tar Heels 4-3 win over NC State Friday at line 1 singles, got the fourth point with her 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Anastasiia Lopata of Georgia.

Wake Forest played at No. 6 Ohio State, and the Buckeyes shut out the Demon Deacons, taking the doubles point and getting wins from Bryce Nakashima at 4, Preston Stearns at 2 and Nikita Filin at 6. Ohio State had beaten No. 5 Texas 4-1 on Friday, so they are looking to be a serious threat at the National Indoors in two weeks

Sesko and Efremova Claim Australian Open Junior Singles Titles

The Australian Open Junior Championships concluded Sunday in Melbourne with Ziga Sesko of Slovenia and Ksenia Efremova of France coming through tight battles to earn their first junior slam titles.

In the boys final, No. 7 seed Sesko became the first Slovenia boy to win a junior slam singles title, coming back to defeat No. 4 seed Keaton Hance of the United States 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Hance took the opening set after getting a second break of serve for a 3-2 lead and holding to close out the opening set. Hance was not getting many first serves in but he was returning well and winning rallies behind his second serve.

Sesko picked up his game in the second set, got his forehand under control and came from 0-30 down serving at 1-1 to find a higher level. He continued to serve well, and kept Hance playing defense, with his winner count by the match's end nearly twice that of Hance at 32 to 17.

Sesko finally broke Hance to take a 4-2 lead, but he needed to save a break point serving for the set, which he did with a forehand winner, to close out the second set 6-3.

The third set began with Sesko maintaining his level from the second set, and he broke Hance for a 3-1 lead. Hance held and then broke back, with Sesko playing a rare poor game serving at  3-2, but Hance dropped his next service game at love. Sesko held quickly for a 5-3 lead but Hance wasn't ready to concede, saving two match points in his service game with a forehand winner and a good first serve to put the pressure back on Sesko. 

Sesko was up to the task, starting with an ace and ending with a good first serve that Hance shanked high in the air, with a few seconds passing before it bounced well out and the electronic line calling recorded voice made the call. 

The two 17-year-olds embraced at the net, and the crowd in the Rod Laver Arena was generous in their applause after an entertaining final.

Sesko is the first player traveling with the ITF's Grand Slam Player Development Touring Team to win a junior slam title since Ricardas Berankis in 2007.

In the girls final, which was first up on Rod Laver Arena, No. 3 seed Ksenia Efremova of France prevailed over unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia 6-3, 7-5, with the match a study in contrasting styles.

Statistics don't always tell the story of a match, but in this case provide some insight, although intangibles and physical issues also played a role.

Efremova hit only five winners and made 18 unforced errors, while Tupitsyna struck 21 winners and made 45 unforced errors.

Although Efremova is a year younger, the 16-year-old, born in Russia but now representing France, has much more experience at the highest level of junior tennis. She has been touted as a future star since the 12s, trains at the Mouratoglou Academy and was a quarterfinalist in Melbourne as a 14-year-old in 2024. 

Tupitsyna had not won a match in her only other two junior slam appearances last year, and that may have been a factor in her slow start. She quickly fell behind 4-0, with Efremova simply keeping the rally going long enough for Tupitsyna to miss. 

But Tupitsyna held for 4-1 and began to find her form, with the pace and depth she had displayed all week putting her right back in the set. She got one break back and held a second time for 4-3, even earning a break point in Efremova's next service game. But Efremova, who made 72 percent of her first serves, held her advantage with a good first serve to make it 5-3 and then broke Tupitsyna from 40-15 up to claim the set.

After Tupitsyna took a bathroom break, she came out firing, taking a 3-0, two-break lead with her power too much for Efremova. But after dropping serve after having a point for a 4-0 lead, Tupitsyna asked for a trainer and went off-court for nine minutes, returning with her left thigh heavily taped. 

She lost the next five games, with the injury obviously affecting her side to side movement, but Efremova couldn't serve out the match at 5-3. Tupitsyna made one last push, holding for 5-all, but Efremova did not panic, winning two key points serving at 30-all to take the 6-5 lead.

The next game also went to 30-all, but Tupitsyna made the error in a 22-shot rally and Efremova took her opportunity to end it on her first chance.

Efremova is just the second French girl to win the Australian Open girls title and the first since Virginie Razzano in 1999. She will rise to No. 1 in the ITF junior rankings with the title.

Hance Faces Sesko in Australian Open Boys Final, Efremova and Tupitsyna Meet for AO Girls Title; Harrison and Skupski Capture Men's Doubles Title in Melbourne; Bender and Gardality Win Les Petits As Doubles Championship

I am planning to do two posts today, this one with a recap of Saturday's single semifinals and doubles finals at the Australian Open Junior Championships, and one much, much later tonight, after the completion of Sunday's singles finals.

For the fourth time in five years, an American boy has reached the Australian Open final, with Keaton Hance joining Bruno Kuzuhara(2022), Learner Tien(2023) and Benjamin Willwerth(2025) after beating No. 8 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.

After a messy win over Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan in the quarterfinals, the fourth-seeded Hance was in notably better form against Nurlanuly, who made 34 unforced errors, while hitting only nine winners. Nurlanuly started well, with a 3-1 lead, but Hance was able to lift his level enough to win five straight games and take the 36-minute set.

Nurlanuly had four double faults in the first set, which didn't help his cause, but even more damaging were the two he had in the first game of the second set, both at deuce. Hance broke after the second and held easily for 2-0, and while Nurlanuly kept within range, he appeared to be physically hampered in the last half of the set, taking an off-court medical timeout before Hance served at 3-2. Hance showed no signs of being bothered by the delay, holding at love for 4-2 and breaking quickly for a 5-2 lead. 

Serving for the final, Hance went down 15-30, but won the next three points, closing out the match with a forehand winner and an ace.

Hance's opponent in the final will be No. 7 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, who beat No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan 6-3, 6-3, in similarly routine fashion. Unlike Hance, who had 10 winners and 22 unforced errors, Sesko was net positive in winners with 26, against 22 unforced errors and faced only one break point.

Neither Sesko nor Hance, both 17, had been beyond the singles quarterfinals of a junior slam until this week, and while Hance is hoping to emulate Kuzuhara, the last American boys champion in Melbourne, Sesko is in unchartered waters for his country as the first Slovenia boy to make a junior slam singles final.

Both Hance and Sesko were 0-1 against their semifinal opponents, with those losses coming at the 2022 ITF World Junior Tennis 14U team competition in the Czech Republic. That is also the same tournament where Hance and Sesko met for the only time, with Sesko winning their match 6-2, 6-0 in the round robin stage.

In the girls semifinals, unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia continued her unexpected run, beating No. 8 seed Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-4.  After getting a break to go up 3-2 in the first set, Frodin lost eight straight games. Down 4-0, Frodin got one of the breaks back and held for 4-3, but couldn't draw even, and Tupisyna held at love earn her spot in the final. The 17-year-old had not won a match in her two previous appearances at junior slams in 2025.

In the only semifinal to go three sets, No. 3 seed Ksenia Efremova of France defeated unseeded Rada Zolotareva of Russia 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. The 16-year-old, who changed her representation from Russia to France earlier in her junior career, is playing her third Australian Open Junior tournament, having reached the quarterfinals in her 2024 debut as a 14-year-old. She also reached the quarterfinals at last year's US Open Junior Championships.

As is the tradition at the Australian Open, the junior finals are played back-to-back on Rod Laver Arena usually before the women's singles final. With the junior tournament ending on a Sunday this year, they will be played prior to the men's final, beginning with the girls final at 8 p.m Saturday in the United States, followed by the boys final.

The girls doubles title was won by top seeds Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova, who beat unseeded Tereza Hermanova and Denisa Zoldakova 6-1, 6-3 in an all-Czech final. The Kovackova sisters now have won two junior slams in a row, after taking the US Open girls doubles title last September. 

The boys doubles title went to the unseeded pair of Connor Doig of South Africa and Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, who beat the Australian wild card team of Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose 6-3, 6-4 in the final. 

For more on the junior doubles finals, see this article from the Australian Open website.

Christian Harrison and Great Britain's Neal Skupski(LSU) won the men's doubles title, with the No. 6 seeds beating Australian wild cards Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans 7-6(4), 6-4. It's the first slam title for Harrison and the second for Skupski, with this their first major as a team. For more on the final, see this article from the Australian Open website.

No. 4 seeds Elise Mertens of Belgium and Shuai Zhang of China won the women's doubles title, beating No. 7 seeds Anna Danilina(Florida) of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final.

No. 5 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan won the women's singles title, beating No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

The singles finals are set and the doubles champions have been crowned at Les Petits As, the prestigious 14-and-under tournament in Tarbes France.

Qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland has already won seven matches this week, dropping just one set in the process, with the 13-year-old facing last week's champion in Bolton, No. 16 seed Lyoma Hotelier of Japan, in Sunday's final. 

Mitchell defeated No. 9 seed Luis Bernardo Saraiva of Portugal 6-3, 6-4, while Hotelier beat No. 10 seed Jonas Waelti of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2 for his tenth consecutive win.

Top girls seed Elizavetz Anikina of Estonia defeated No. 5 seed Polina Kashitsyna of Russia 7-6(5), 6-1 to reach the final, where her opponent will be No. 10 seed Aleksandra Karabanova of Russia. Karabanova defeated unseeded compatriot Vasilisa Marchenko 6-1, 6-4 in Saturday's semifinals.

Karabanova won the girls doubles title with Kashitsyna; the No. 4 seeds defeated the unseeded Russian team of Varvara Makarova and Ildana Zaripova 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

Boys’s Doubles Champions

Daniel Gardality | David Bender#LespetitsAs #Usta pic.twitter.com/BvP90TUAIl

— Les Petits As - Le Mondial Wilson (@LesPetitsAs) February 1, 2026

The unseeded American team of David Bender and Daniel Gardality won the boys doubles title, beating No. 5 seeds Martin Adamca and Matteo Sanson of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Bender and Gardality took out the No. 4 and No. 7 seeds in the second and quarterfinal rounds.

Live streaming and live scoring can be found here.

Hance and Frodin Reach Australian Open Junior Semifinals, Traralgon Champions Upset in Quarterfinals; Peers Defends AO Mixed Title; Bender and Gardality Advance to Les Petits As Doubles Final; Brady Reaches San Diego W100 Semifinals

Thea Frodin and Keaton Hance both advanced to Saturday's semifinals at the Australian Open Junior Championships, but there was little similarity in the manner they accomplished that acheivement.

Frodin, the No. 8 seed, needed just over an hour to defeat No. 13 seed Mariia Makarova 6-3, 6-0, winning the final nine games of the match.

The 17-year-old from California had 16 winners and 13 unforced errors and never faced a break point despite getting only 45 percent of her first serves in.

Makarova was unable to get back on track after a close first half of the opening set. The 16-year-old from Russia made 23 unforced errors and hit just eight winners, and had only a few game points in those last nine games, when the match was all but decided.

Frodin will face unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia, who battled back to beat Traralgon champion Xinran Sun of China 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. Sun was up 4-2 in the second set and served for the match at 5-4 in the third, but Tupitsyna continued to take aggressive cuts and aim for the lines to earn the biggest win of her junior career.

Frodin needed less time to win her match than it took her boyfriend Hance to claim his first set in his 7-6(7), 6-4 win over No. 11 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan.

Much of that was due to Hance's 51 unforced errors, that saw him go from 2-0 up in the first set to Chen serving for it at 5-4. But despite all the forehand errors, some of which could no doubt be attributed to the speed and consistency of Chen, Hance kept competing, and after saving a set point in that game with a deep ball that handcuffed Chen, broke back. He then lost serve again, but again broke back to send the set into a tiebreaker.

Up 6-5 in the tiebreaker, Hance then lost both of his serves with unforced errors, but he saved a second set point with a perfectly executed volley; on his second set point, he finally ended 75-minute set with a forehand winner.

The second set looked to be firmly in Hance's control when he broke his fellow 17-year-old for a 4-1 lead, but Hance then proceeded to lose his next two service games without earning a game point in either. 

But in Chen's service game, Hance got an opportunity at 30-40 and outlasted Chen in a long rally, with Chen eventually hitting a forehand wide to put Hance up 5-4. Somewhat surprisingly, given the history of the match, Hance closed it out easily, with four first serves, two of his 29 winners and two return errors by Chen.

Hance will face No. 8 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan, who needed nearly three hours to shake unseeded Kai Thompson of Hong Kong 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. Nurlanuly is in his second consecutive junior slam semifinal, after becoming the first player from his country to advance that far at the US Open.

In the bottom half, No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan made his second career junior slam final four, with the Roland Garros semifinalist beat No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(7) in two hours and 45-minutes, saving four match points serving at 5-6 in the third set.

Tabata will face Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, who avenged his two 2025 losses to Traralgon champion Luis Guto Miguel 6-2, 7-6(5). Sesko has not lost a set this week after losing in the third round last week in Traralgon.

Hance and Nurlanuly met for the only time way back in 2022 in the ITF World Junior Tennis team event for 14U players, and that is also the same tournament where Sesko got his win over Tabata in their only other meeting.

Three unseeded teams and one No. 1 team will compete in the doubles finals Saturday.

The Australian wild card team of Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose will face Conner Doig of South Africa and Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria for the boys title.

Top seeds Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic will play for their second straight junior slam doubles title, with the US Open champions facing compatriots Tereza Hermanova and Denisa Zoldakova in the girls doubles final.

In the Australian Open mixed doubles final Friday, wild cards John Peers and Olivia Gadecki of Australia defended their title, beating unseeded Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard of France 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. Peers, a former standout at Middle Tennessee State and Baylor, and Gadecki are the first team to defend a mixed title at the Australian Open since Jana Novotna and Jim Pugh(UCLA) accomplished that in 1988 and 1989. For more on the mixed doubles final, see this article from the ATP website.

The Les Petits As singles semifinals and doubles finals are set, and despite all the chaos the first four days of the tournament, there is still a good chance a seed will win all four events.

Two Swiss boys have advanced to the singles semifinals, with qualifier Richard Mitchell facing No. 9 seed Luis Bernardo Saraiva of Portugal in the top half.

No. 10 seed Jonas Waelti of Switzerland will face last week's champion at Bolton, Lyoma Hotelier of Japan, the No. 16 seed.

Top seed Elizaveta Anikina may have faced her toughest test in the third round against Bolton champion and No. 16 seed Anna Kapanadze of the United States, but Anikina was back to her previous form today, surrending just two games. She will play No. 5 seed Polina Kashitsyna of Russia, who has yet to drop a set in her four wins.

Unseeded Vasilisa Marchenko of Russia will face a third Russian finalist, No. 10 seed Aleksandra Karabanova, after Karabanova defeated unseeded Nadia Poznick, the last American in singles, 6-0, 6-1.

No. 4 seeds Karabanova and Kashitsyna will play for the doubles title against unseeded compatriots Varvara Makarova and Ildana Zaripova. Makarova and Zaripova defeated Poznick and Czech partner Beata Maresova 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals today.

The unseeded American doubles team of Daniel Gardality and David Bender will play for the boys doubles title after beating Hotelier and Reita Yamanaka of Japan 6-2, 6-4 in today's semifinals. They will face No. 5 seeds Martin Adamca and Matteo Sanson of Slovakia in the championship match.

Live streaming and live scoring is available here.

At the W100 in San Diego, former UCLA All-American Jennifer Brady's comeback is proceeding smoothly, with the 30-year-old advancing to the semifinals. 

Brady, who accepted a wild card into her first event since October of 2023, beat No. 3 seed Cadence Brace of Canada, a sophomore at LSU, 7-5, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals. She will play No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva, who beat top seed Louisa Chirico 7-6(7), 6-3.

No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) is through to the semifinals after LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada, the No. 4 seed, retired trailing 5-2 in the first set. Stoiana will face No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik, who needed two hours and 20 minutes to get past 15-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Frodin and Hance Reach Quarterfinals at Australian Open Junior Championships; Poznick Advances in Singles and Doubles at Les Petits As; Karki, Johnson Post Wins at Naples M15; Liutova, Brady Through at W100 San Diego

Seventeen-year-olds Thea Frodin and Keaton Hance begin their final year of ITF Junior Circuit competition with their first junior slam singles quarterfinals after picking up straight-sets victories Thursday at the Australian Open Junior Championships.

Frodin, seeded No. 8, defeated unseeded Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 6-4, 7-5, while Hance, the No. 4 seed, got past unseeded Simone Massellani of Italy 6-0, 6-4. 

Frodin will face No. 13 seed Mariia Makarova of Russia Friday(tonight in the United States), with Hance's opponent No. 11 seed Kuan-Shou of Taiwan. 

No. 6 seed Xinran Sun of China, last week's Traralgon J300 champion, will play unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna in the other quarterfinal in the top half. No. 10 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan faces No. 3 seed Ksenia Efremova of France and No. 11 seed Yushan Shao of China will play unseeded Rada Zolotareva of Russia in the bottom half quarterfinals.

Unseeded Kai Thompson of Hong Kong faces No. 8 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan in the top quarterfinal, with the survivor playing the Hance-Chen winner. 

In the bottom half, No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany, a TCU signee, will face No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan and No. 2 seed and Traralgon champion Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil will play No. 7 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia.

Miguel and Sesko are the only quarterfinal opponents who have met before, with Miguel beating Sesko twice last year, in the quarterfinals of the J300 in Belgium and the semifinals of the J300 in Canada. Miguel won the title at both events.

There are no Americans left in doubles, which is extremely rare, with at least one American boy claiming the Australian Open doubles title every year from 2022 through 2025, and at least one US girl winning in three of the last four years.

Thursday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Keaton Hance[4] d. Simone Massellani(ITA) 6-0, 6-4

Thea Frodin[8] d. Antonina Sushkova(URK) 6-4, 7-5

Doubles quarterfinals:

Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose[WC](AUS) d. Vihaan Reddy and Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga(COL) 6-2, 6-4

Connor Doig(RSA) and Dimitar Kisimov(BUL) d. Keaton Hance and Tanishk Konduri[4] 7-6(5), 7-6(4) 

Alena and Jana Kovackova[1](CZE) d. Capucine Jauffret and Tahila Kokkinis(AUS) 6-2, 6-2

Mariia Makarova and Rada Zolotareva(RUS) d. Thea Frodin and Anastasija Cvetkovic(SRB)[3] 6-4, 7-5 

Tereza Hermanova and Denisa Zoldakova(CZE) d. Melije Clarke and Nancy Lee 6-4, 6-3

Jessica Pegula lost to Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 7-6(7) in the women's semifinals, ending the string of American women in a slam final at five.

Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski(LSU) of Great Britain will play in the men's doubles final after beating the winners of the last two slams, Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 6-3, 7-6(7).  They will play the Australian wild card team of Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans in Saturday's final. 

The quarterfinals are set for at the Les Petits As in Tarbes France, with unseeded Nadia Poznick the sole American remaining in singles. 

Poznick, a blue chip from Ann Arbor, beat Ania Curuia of Romania 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 today in the third round. No. 16 seed Anna Kapanadze, who won the title last week in Bolton England, played top seed Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia in the only girls match that  featured two seeds, with Anikina rebounding for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win.

No. 15 seed Rex Kulman lost to qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2.

Poznick will face No. 10 seed Aleksandra Karabanova of Russia in the quarterfinals. 

Poznick will play in the doubles semifinals Friday with international partners. Poznick and Beata Maresova of the Czech Republic, who are unseeded, will play the unseeded pair of Varvara Makarova and Ildana Zaripova of Russia in the semifinals.

The unseeded American pair of Daniel Garadality and David Bender have also reached the doubles semifinals, where they will play the unseeded Japanese pair of Reita Yamanaka and Lyoma Hotelier.

Live streaming and live scoring can be found here.

At the M15 this week in Naples Florida, both 18-year-old Ronit Karki and 16-year-old wild card Andrew Johnson have reached the quarterfinals of an ITF men's World Tennis Tour tournament for the first time with wins in the second round today. 

Johnson, who opted to skip the Australian Open Junior this year, defeated qualifier Adam Lynch(Barry) 6-2, 6-1; Lynch had beaten top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) in the first round. Johnson sill play No. 8 seed Will Grant(Florida) Friday.

Stanford signee Karki, who received entry via the iTF's Junior Reserve program, beat No. 4 seed Sebastian Gima of Romania 7-5, 7-5 and will play Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) in the quarterfinals.

Several notable results from the W100 in San Diego, with 15-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova beating Juliet Pareja 6-2, 6-3 in the first round and then getting a 3-2 first set retirement win over No. 7 seed Arianne Hartono(Ole Miss) of the Netherlands in the second round today. She will face either No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik or qualifier Ema Burgic(Baylor) of Bosnia.

And former UCLA star Jennifer Brady, who had been out for over two years due to injury, has won her first two matches, beating Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the first round and No. 8 seed Kayla Day 6-4, 6-2 in the second round today.  Brady will play either LSU sophomore Cadence Brace of Canada, the No. 3 seed, or wild card Alexis Nguyen, a North Carolina signee, in Fridays' quarterfinals.

Also through to a quarterfinal meeting are No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) and LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada.