Jauffret Ousts Fifth Seed Singh in Nearly Four-Hour Battle to Reach Kalamazoo 16s Fourth Round; Top 16s Seeds Stolarczyk and Syed Tested But Through in Straight Sets

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

After a day off Sunday, those in the main draw of the USTA National Boys Championships 16s division returned to the courts Monday, after a one-hour delay due to wet courts due to a second storm overnight.

In the third round matches played at both Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan University, upsets were not rare, with the No. 5, 6 and 7 seeds all going out in grueling contests in the oppressive heat and humidity.

No one did a better job of surviving those conditions than No. 33 seed Carter Jauffret, who blew a 4-0 first set lead, served for the match twice in the third set and was down a mini-break in the deciding tiebreaker before posting a 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(4) win over No. 5 seed Kahven Singh in three hours and 54 minutes.

Jauffret, who was out for eight months with a stress fracture in his dominant right hand, was able to see the positives even as that first set slipped away.

"Once I lost that first set, I knew that I had the level, I just needed to string it all together," said the 16-year-old from Wilmington Delaware, who is the younger brother of Capucine Jauffret, who is competing this week in San Diego. "He started dealing with fatigue and some potential cramps toward the end of the second set, and then it just became cramps for the two of us in the third set."

Jauffret, who served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set, and had a match point in that tenth game, saved by Singh with a brave backhand volley winner, was surprised he couldn't serve it out.

"I wasn't in my head about not being able to hold my serve, because I couldn't bend my legs," Jauffret said. "So the serve essentially became irrelevant. It was could I get a kick to the placement where I wanted, or was it going to be in the middle of the box. So once he broke, I knew I would have to play a gritty tiebreak and I came up with some shots I don't think I could do again if I had 15 chances."

One of those shots came with Singh serving at 4-3 in the tiebreaker, with a slick Jauffret pass with his one-handed backhand getting him back on serve.

"That backhand pass, you give me 20 balls, I'll miss all 20," said Jauffret, who had missed a backhand pass he thought he should have made when he was serving for the match.  "So I'm happy to be moving on."

Due to his cramping, Jauffret didn't sit down at changeovers and only was in the chair briefly in the 10-minute break between the second and third sets.

"I haven't dealt with cramps too many times, but I've seen it all on TV, at tournaments, when a guy sits down and doesn't get back up," said Jauffret, who had his older brother Connor providing coaching and encouragement during the break. "I knew the strategy, I knew what I needed to do. I knew his weaknesses, he knew my weaknesses, it was actually who could be fit enough to win a specific point and then a whole set."

Jauffret will play one of the four unseeded players remaining in the round of 32: Joseph Garrean, the Midwest Closed champion. 

Garrean defeated the reigning 16s USTA Clay Courts champion Gurbaaz Narang, the No. 18 seed, 7-5, 6-7(7), 2-1, ret.

No. 6 seed Colter Amey retired in his match with No. 33 seed Maddox Iliescu, who advanced with a 3-6, 6-4, 2-1 ret. victory, and No. 7 seed Eli Kaminski lost to No. 33 seed Niranjan Ramalingam 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Unseeded George Ho beat No. 12 seed Piotr Gradzki 6-2, 7-6(5), unseeded Nirbhay Agarwal defeated No. 30 seed Ishaan Marla 7-5, 6-0 and unseeded Alexander Lerman defeated No. 33 seed Paul Bower 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Although top seed Kamil Stolarczyk and No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed both got through in straight sets, they were tested in their matches on the George Acker Center Court.

"He was playing well, and I definitely wasn't expecting it to be this long at the end," the 16-year-old from Glendale New York said of his 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 33 seed Andres Quijada. "I was up 5-1, and it was more of a mental thing than a physical thing, which is fine, because you can always work on that.  But it was a tough match, quite physical and he didn't miss much toward the end at all, so I had to work for it. In the first set he was throwing errors left and right, but he got into the match, he was playing well."

Stolarczyk will face No. 21 seed Aayush Vartak in the fourth round Tuesday.

Syed was at 4-all in his first set against No. 33 seed Damian Gutheil before finding his rhythm and closing it out 6-4, 6-1.

"I actually warmed up in the indoor center, so the court was a little different, so I had to adjust to it," said the 16-year-old from Chesterbrook Pennsylvania, who, like Jauffret, has a one-handed backhand. "I went down an early break, but I kept on believing, staying positive. I thought I was serving well, so it was just staying in the match, every point. I relaxed a little bit, got used to the ball, found a little more rhythm on my groundstrokes. I was getting more looks in my return games and I was able to take advantage of my opportunities."

Syed will face the unseeded Lerman in the fourth round Tuesday.

The third round of doubles was also played Monday evening, with no major upsets. The top four seeded in both the 16s and 18s advanced to the round of 16 without dropping a set.

The weather forecast for Tuesday contains a chance for thunderstorms with the fourth round of singles in both age divisions and the fourth round of 18s doubles on the schedule. There are no 16s doubles on the schedule for Tuesday. Play begins with the 16s singles at 9 a.m., with all matches at Stowe Stadium.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link. Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

The seeds in the USTA Nationals 18s division in San Diego played for the first time today, with the Top 8 seeds, and Annika Penickova, a No. 33 seed, advancing to the third round. The 16s third round today is not yet complete, but so far there have been no major upsets.

Cracked Racquets is providing four hours of coverage of San Diego competition each day at their YouTube channel.

Anson Upsets No. 7 Seed Johnston in Kalamazoo Third Round 18s Match Finished Indoors; Karki Survives Upset Bid; Antonius Continues to Roll; Angus's Comeback Eliminates No. 14 Seed; Penickova Falls in W35 Final, Heads to San Diego

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

Only one unseeded player has advanced to the fourth round of the USTA B18s and 16s National Championships, but the No. 33 seeds made their mark Sunday, with seven of them beating Top 32 seeds on the 31 courts of Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan University.

The biggest upset of the day came after a 3:30 p.m. thunderstorm sent matches indoors. No. 33 seed Riley Anson, serving up 2-1 in the third set against No. 7 seed Noah Johnston, managed the 30-minute delay in getting matches set up in the Markin Tennis Center and completed his 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-3 victory.

"I wasn't super mad about it, honestly," Anson said of the delay. "I like playing indoors, I just played a tournament indoors a couple of weeks ago and I feel pretty comfortable there. Even though my momentum was stopped, I still got the job done indoors."

Anson, an 18-year-old from Laguna Niguel California, led 6-2 in the first set tiebreaker, lost six straight points, but handled that disappointment in the same fashion he handled the inopportune rain delay.

"It was pretty rough to be honest," said Anson, who has verbally committed to Princeton for 2027. "He played a few good points, but a couple were my fault; I could have extended the point, making a smarter decision instead of going for the kill shot. But I told myself to be professional, how would a professional handle this, just move on. There's two more sets if I want to win this match. I didn't just want to give it away, disappear in the second set. This is my last Kalamazoo and I didn't want to leave in the third round."

At 5-all Johnston double faulted on his game point, one of his 11 double faults in the match and Anson broke, then served it out.

"I knew I was going to hold that last game in the second set," Anson said. "I was feeling very confident with how I was serving in that second set."

Anson was happy with how quickly the was match moved indoors. 

"I think we were the first option to play," Anson said. "It was nice, I didn't really want to wait. The longer the wait, the more the momentum goes back to neutral, and he can reset a little bit."

The other match in progress when lightning was detected prior to a heavy thunderstorm, had an even more dramatic finish, with No. 24 seed Roshan Santhosh coming from 6-3 down in the final set tiebreaker to claim the final five points of the match in his 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(6) win over No. 33 seed Erik Schinnerer. 

No. 5 seed Ronit Karki barely escaped Johnston's fate, coming from a break down in both the second and third sets to defeat No. 33 seed Kayden Colombo 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Karki wasn't able to break the big serve of the 17-year-old from Georgia in the first set, so he was concerned when Colombo was able to break him twice in the second set.

"I got the first one back and that was already a lot of work," said the 18-year-old Stanford rising freshman, who is being coached this tournament by former Ohio State All-American Cannon Kingsley. "But I went down a break again shortly after that and I was honestly thinking to myself, from his perspective it was just hold, try to break again and then hold and he's run away with the match. I think he maybe got a little nervous or something, a few doubles faults, when in other service games he was popping aces."

Colombo consolidated his early break for a 3-1 lead, but that was the last game he won, with Karki sensing he had a physical edge in the last half of the third set.

"I think he started cramping a little bit, and on break point (serving at 3-2), he tried to serve and volley and I hit a good return," Karki said. "I had a little confidence when I saw he was breaking down physically, otherwise he was giving me a really hard time. He's got a big serve, a big forehand and he's not shy. If he sees the ball, he's going to rip it and come to the net. He closed out so many volleys today."

Karki is looking forward to the day off in singles for the 18s, as he was feeling the effects of the two-hour and 43-minute match.

"I wouldn't mind that," Karki said of the prospect of just a  doubles match on Monday. "I'm a little tired, a little stiff; it was a battle."

No. 2 seed Michael Antonius was on the court against No. 33 seed Yashwin Krishnakumar for an hour and 32 minutes, more than an hour less than Karki, and he acknowledged his 6-1, 6-2 victory didn't tell the story of the match.

"Yaswin's very fast and he was retrieving really well," said the 16-year-old from New York. "Fighting for dear life on every single point. It may be one of the longest 1 and 2 matches of my career. It was a long match, but I definitely felt in control for the most time, dictating well with my strokes."

Antonius acknowledges he's come a long way since he fell in the 16s quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed here last year, with two pro singles titles this spring and summer and an appearance in the Roland Garros boys final in June.

"As the two seed there's kind of a target on your back throughout the tournament," said Antonius, the first American to win two USTA Pro Circuit events before turning 17. "But you can't win a tournament in one day. It's a long week. My expectations aren't really that high. Obviously I'd love to do well, make it to the finals at this tournament, but I just want to play my best tennis. And if I'm doing that, the result will come."

Top seed Jack Kennedy again needed to extricate himself from a tricky first set in his 6-4, 6-2 win over unseeded Nihal Narisetty, who led 4-2 before Kennedy began to find his rhythm against the big-serving left-hander.

No. 3 seed Andy Johnson dropped the second set to No. 33 Ford McCollum, but returned from the 10-minute coaching break to take a 3-0 lead, en route to a 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

No. 4 seed Keaton Hance beat unseeded Julian Zhang 6-2, 6-1.

No. 33 seed Graeme Angus fought back to beat fellow wild card and No. 14 seed Nikolas Stoot 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, with a revamped mindset helping him ignore his two previous losses to Stoot.

"I can't put expectations on myself," said Angus, who trains with  his father Larry in Beaufort South Carolina. "I feel too much pressure and I don't compete as well as I should. And it's always going to be a tough match with him, he's such a great player."

Angus said he served well in the second and third sets and also changed his tactics on his groundstrokes.

"I needed to make more first serves," said Angus, who is expecting to sign with Elon for the spring season before the end of this month. "I played more through the middle of the court, not giving him as much angles to work with, and coming in when I have the opportunity to close out the point at the net."

Angus said he initially sought the attention of SEC programs before seeing that pursuit was hurting his tennis.

"I became very results oriented," Angus said. "And that's not good for me. I can't focus on results. At some point, I just realized that if I compete the way I compete, I'll attract the right coaches, and Elon is the right way to go."

The other 33 seeds who beat Top 32 seeds today are David Wu beat No. 31 seed Noble Renfrow 6-2, 6-4; Bryan Assi, who defeated No. 32 seed Mason Taube 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2); Theo Hegarty, who beat No. 27 Jesse Yang 6-4, 6-4; Rowan Qalbani, who defeated No. 22 Carel Ngounoue 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) and Connor Plunkett, who beat No. 28 Arin Pallegar 6-2, 6-3.

The unseeded player through to the fourth round is Justin Zhang, who defeated No. 26 seed Alexander Suhanitski 6-4, 6-4 in the second round and No. 33 seed Micah Ward 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in today's third round.

No. 8 seed Yannik Alvarez withdrew from his match with No. 33 seed Zen Uehling due to illness.

The 16s division did not have main draw matches today, just back draw, but they will play their third round of singles and doubles Monday beginning at 10 a.m. 18s will play their third round of doubles in the afternoon, no singles main draw in 18s.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link. Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

The seeds in the 16s division at the USTA Nationals in San Diego played for the first time today, with the top four seeds all advancing in straight sets.

The 18s seeds begin play Tuesday. Cracked Racquets is providing four hours of coverage at their YouTube channel.

Annika Penickova's winning streak in W35 tournaments ended at nine with a loss in today's final in Southaven Mississippi. Penickova, who is scheduled to play Mia Yoon in the second round in San Diego at 1:30 pm Monday, lost to unseeded Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru 6-2, 6-4.

No. 4 seeds Carmen Herea(Texas) of Romania and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine defeated top seeds Maria Fernanda Navarro and Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico 6-3, 5-7, 20-6 in the doubles final.

Timo Legout(Texas) of France won the singles title at the M25 in Southaven, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 7 seed Evan Zhu(UCLA) 6-2, 6-4 in the final.  

Unseeded Kelly Giese(Lubbock Christian, Nebraska) and Sam Landau(Indiana, Duke) ended the winning streak of top seeds Max Exsted(USC) and Cooper Woestendick, taking the doubles final 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.

In the ATP Challenger 75 in Lexington Kentucky, unseeded Edas Butvilas of Lithuania defeated unseeded Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(6) in today's final.

At the W100 in Landisville Pennsylvania, top seed Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium defeated No. 2 seed Anastasia Zakharova of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. The doubles title went to top seeds I-Hsuan and Yi Tsen Cho of Taiwan, who beat unseeded Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

Kennedy Acknowledges High Expectations as Kalamazoo 18s Top Seed; All Top 16 Seeds Advance to Third Round in Both Divisions; Switzerland Boys, Italy Girls Win World Tennis 14U Team Titles; Penickova Reaches Second Straight W35 Final

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

Jack Kennedy was a surprise finalist in the Kalamazoo 18s division  in 2024 and finished third last year, but he admits there's been a change in perception as he makes his final appearance in the USTA National Championships as the No. 1 seed.

"A lot of expectations going into this match, a lot more eyes on me this year, than in the previous years," said the 18-year-old New Yorker, who defeated Lucas Smith 6-4, 6-3 in his first match in the second round of singles Saturday. "The one seed, a lot of people are talking about it, a lot of people are watching. I'm trying not to focus on it too much. Obviously, it's a tough thing not to think about, but I'm going to try my best not to think about it."

Kennedy and Smith were at 4-all in the first set, when Smith had a brief letdown and Kennedy took advantage.

"Luke played a great match, a very high level in the first set," Kennedy said. "I think maybe the nerves hit him at 4-all, didn't play the greatest service game. And then I kind of relaxed a little bit. My level was pretty good, but it wasn't my cleanest match. I'm just happy to get through it. First round at any tournament, but especially here, is never easy, with all the nerves, everything going on, it's just good to get through."

Kennedy acknowledges that the field is not far behind him, although his ATP ranking of 384 is more than 300 points more than No. 2 seed Michael Antonius, who has the next best ATP ranking in the field.

"Honestly, it gets stronger and stronger every year, which I don't personally like," Kennedy joked. "But we have some great guys out there, my doubles partner Keaton, Michael, who has had great success, not just in the juniors but in the pros, winning a 25 in singles and doubles and a 15 recently. Of course, Jordan Lee, winning Wimbledon, I was really happy for him. He played a really great tournament, and what a great final it was, Cruz also, a great level, what a show they put on. The level here obviously is really high; it's not going to be easy whatsoever. And we haven't seen guys like Ronit Karki(the No. 5 seed) and Noah Johnston(the No. 7 seed) in a while, because they're aged out (of World Tennis junior competition). But it's really a great opportunity to play at another high level and keep learning from every match."

When Kennedy begins his collegiate career at the University of Virginia this September after the US Open Junior Championships, he'll use the remarkable rise of former Cavalier Rafael Jodar as inspiration.

"I think UVA has helped him so much to develop, not only the tennis, but also as a person," Kennedy said. "But I don't think the guy is even real; he's gone from 650 to 15 in a year. He's set the bar for us. It makes me even more excited to go to UVA, get a taste of what he got, what he saw from the coaches and the guys and take it all in. We'll see if I go a year, or four, we'll have to play it out, but super excited to get to work with those guys at Virginia and be with the guys, it's going to be great."

On Sunday, Kennedy will face unseeded Nihal Narisetty, the Midwest Closed champion, who beat wild card Izyan Ahman, a 33 seed, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 2 seed Antonius needed only 49 minutes and lost only nine points in his 6-0, 6-0 win over Shayne Joglekar; Hance[4], Andy Johnson[3], Karki, Lee and Johnston all won in straight sets.

In the 16s division, top seed Kamil Stolarczyk defeated Vijay Smyan 6-3, 6-1 and No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed beat Mason Menyhart 6-1, 6-0.

All Top 16 seeds in each age group advanced to the third round, with just two Top 32 seeds falling in both the 18s and the 16s divisions. Charles Pettinelli defeated No. 25 seed Peter Jorniak 6-2, 6-3 and Justin Zhang beat No. 26 seed Alexander Suhanitski 6-4, 6-4 in the 18s. In the 16s, Alexander Lerman defeated No. 17 seed Michael Chervenkov 6-2, 6-4 and Chance Rozpedski defeated No. 28 seed Griffin Goode 6-2, 6-1.

The only Top 8 seeds in doubles to fall on Saturday afternoon were the No. 6 seeds in both age divisions.  In the 16s, Anay Kulkarni and John Murphy defeated Braylon Desquitado and Trishiv Premanand 6-0, 4-6, 11-9; in the 18s, Jacob Lee and Mason Taube beat Theo Hegarty and Erik Schinnerer 7-5, 6-3.

No. 2 seed in the 18s, Yannik Alvarez and Noah Johnston, were down a set and a break to Michael Lorenzetti and Connor Plunkett Saturday night, but managed to eke out a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win to advance to the third round.

Top seeds in the 16s, Mikaeel Alibaig and Ivan Rybak also needed a match tiebreaker to advance, beating Charlie Barton and Miles Olmeda 3-6, 6-1, 10-7.

There are no main draw 16s singles Sunday, with the third round in 18s singles, and the first day of consolation play, with two rounds of consolation matches on the schedule. No doubles are on the schedule for Sunday.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link. Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

The World Tennis 14-and-under Team championships concluded today in Prostejov Czechia, with Switzerland's boys and Italy's girls claiming the titles. 

Switzerland, the No. 5 seed, defeated unseeded Brazil 2-1 in the final, with No. 7 seed Italy beating No. 2 seed Japan 2-1. It's the first WJT title for the Italian girls.

The top-seeded US girls finished fourth, falling to unseeded Czechia 2-1. The sixth-seeded US boys lost to No. 7 seed Colombia 2-1 to finish eighth.

For more on the finals, see this recap from the World Tennis junior site.

Annika Penickova is through to her second straight W35 final this week in Southaven Mississippi. After her title in Florence last week, the 16-year-old left-hander received a special exempt spot in the main draw and today beat wild card Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) 6-1, 7-5 to reach the final. Penickova, who is scheduled to play her first match in San Diego on Monday at noon Pacific time, will face unseeed Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru. Guzman defeated No. 4 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 6-2, 6-1.

My Kalamazoo Preview; Alternate Rosett Earns Two Wins in Final Kalamazoo Appearance; USTA National B12s Seeds; USA Girls Fall to Japan in World Tennis 14-U Team Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

My annual preview of the Kalamazoo Nationals is up today at Tennis Recruiting Network, with all the players mentioned beginning their singles tournaments on Saturday, with seeds receiving first round byes. The B18s field features four players who have won USTA Pro Circuit events this year, in addition to Jordan Lee's title last month at the Wimbledon Junior Championships.

While all those players were searching for practice courts today with the 31 WMU and Stowe Stadium courts in use for first round action today, the unseeded players were meeting for their shot at a seed on Saturday.

One of those moving through to the main draw is Abraham Rosett, who didn't know until four days ago whether he would get an opportunity to compete in his fourth and final year at the Nationals.

The fact that Rosett is from Bloomfield Hills Michigan, just a two-and-a-half hour drive from Kalamazoo, meant that he didn't have to make complicated last-minute travel arrangements when he received the call informing him of a withdrawal that moved him into the main draw. The short notice didn't faze him mentally either, as he felt he was ready for the level he would face.

"When this list came out I was shocked I didn't get in," said the 18-year-old, who defeated Colin Cerminara 6-4, 6-2 on the Stowe Stadium's renowned George Acker Center Court. "I guess it's just based on the USTA points, but I was hoping I would get in. I knew I belonged here, I thought I could be dangerous in this tournament. I do have a chip on my shoulder, but I'm treating every match like I'm going to win. I'm not really thinking about it; I'm in the tournament, so I'm just competing now."

Rosett admitted that he would have been disappointed to miss out on his last chance to play Kalamazoo.

"I've played both years in 16s, last year I played 18s, so I wanted to complete the four years here," Rosett said. "I know I belong here, so I would have been pretty disappointed if I didn't come and compete and show what I got."

Players from Michigan usually are scheduled to play their main draw matches at Stowe Stadium, and Rosett has benefitted from that tradition, but today was his first opportunity to play a singles match on Acker Court.

"Us Michiganders get some privileges," Rosett said. "I've played doubles there; every year I've played my first round singles on like the fifth court, the last court on the first bank. But never singles on center court, so that was pretty cool. A lot of nerves coming out, but I got through it, and I think my best tennis is ahead of me in this tournament."

Rosett, who will play No. 33 seed Bryan Assi at Stowe Stadium Saturday, has committed to the University of Illinois for the fall of 2027.

"My assistant coach, Tim Kopinski, TK, was watching me, so nerves there as well, wanting to impress the coach," Rosset said. "But I'm super excited. I love the guys on the team, the culture that Brad(head coach Dancer) has built, and I'm so excited to get my butt over there."

Rosett and partner Henry Lessard also advanced in doubles this afternoon, beating Deepinder Singh and Darren Wei 6-4, 6-3.

Live streaming is available on all 11 Stowe Stadium courts, at this link.  Point-by-point real-time live scoring is available via ionCourt.

Cracked Racquets will be providing four hours of daily coverage of the USTA Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego beginning tomorrow with the G16s first round. See their YouTube channel for times for the free live streaming each day.

The seeds and draws for the USTA National Boys 12s Championships in Mobile Alabama are out. I'm posting the Top 16 below; I will also add them to my post from Thursday, so all the 12s and 14s seeds and links are available on one page.

B12s Top 16 seeds (Mobile Alabama):
1. William Zhou

2. Zephyr Zwicker
3. Caique Cavalcanti
4. Thomas Gamble
5. Jesse Goldman
6. Zachary Burunov
7. Aleksander Denisov
8. John Benedict
9. Louis Lu
10. Dylan Kivov
11. Kevin Wang
12. Satvik Arja
13. Isaac Milner
14. Alexander Yang
15. Reed Kuai
16. AJ Williams

The top-seeded USA girls team lost in the semifinals of the World Tennis 14-and-under championships today in Prostejov Czechia, falling to No. 2 seed Japan 2-1.

Ayaka Iwasa of Japan defeated Anna Kapanadze at No. 2 singles 6-3, 6-4, with Isha Manchala tying it up witha 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win over Shina Okuyama at No. 1 singles. That sent the match to a deciding doubles match, which Iwasa and Okuyama won 7-6(2), 6-3 to send Japan, who finished second in its group, to the finals.

They will play No. 7 seed Italy, who defeated unseeded Czechia 2-0.  The USA will play Czechia for third place Saturday.

The boys final will feature No. 5 seed Switzerland and unseeded Brazil. Switzerland defeated No. 3 seed Australia 2-1, with the doubles deciding that one, while Brazil beat unseeded Bulgaria 2-0.

The USA boys, seeded sixth, lost to No. 4 seed Slovakia 2-1 today and will play No. 7 seed Colombia for seventh place Saturday.

US Girls Advance to Semis of World Tennis 14-U Team Event, Boys Fall in Quarterfinals; Seeds for G12s, B14s and G14s Nationals; Talking Kalamazoo and San Diego on Great Shot Podcast; Texas Girls, Missouri Valley Boys Win Battle of Sections

The semifinals are set for Friday at the annual World Tennis 14-and-under team championships in Prostejov Czechia, with the top-seeded US girls once again blanking their opponents to advance, beating No. 4 seed China. 

At No. 2 singles, Anna Kapanadze defeated Yanke Wang 6-2, 6-2, with Isha Manchala following at No. 1 singles with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Jinyu Zhou. In a shortened doubles match, probably due to the USA clinch in singles, Kapanadze and Nadia Poznick  beat Wang and Xinran Yan 4-0, 4-2.

The girls will face No. 2 seed Japan, who defeated No. 3 seed Ukraine 2-1, advancing with a win in the doubles after the teams had split the singles matches.

The other girls semifinal will feature unseeded Czechia, a 2-0 winner of unseeded Sweden, and No. 7 seed Italy, who beat unseeded Slovakia 3-0.

The sixth-seeded US boys lost to No. 3 seed Australia 2-1. Evaan Mohan defeated Christopher Manton 6-4, 7-6(5) at No. 2 singles to give the US a 1-0 lead, but Novak Palombo beat Rex Kulman at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-1 to send the match to a deciding doubles rubber. Palombo and Sebastian Lavorato beat Mohan and Max Smith 7-6(6), 6-3 to earn Australia's place in the semifinals. 

Australia will play No. 5 seed Switzerland, who beat No. 4 seed Slovakia 2-1. The other boys semifinal is between two unseeded teams, with Brazil facing Bulgaria. The US boys will play Slovakia in a fifth-place playoff match Friday.

Brazil beat No. 7 seed Colombia 2-0 and Bulgaria beat No. 2 seed Great Britain by the same score. 

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

The seeds for the Girls 12s National Championships, the Girls 14s National Championships and the Boys 14s National Championships have been posted; the Boys 12s seeds will not be revealed until the draw comes out Friday. Below are the Top 16 seeds for the other three divisions; click on the header to go to the USTA tournament website.

B14s Top 16 Seeds(Mobile Alabama):

1. Krish Advani

2. Sebastian Cheaney

3. Matthew Finn

4. Jason Ye

5. London Slaton

6. Artem Vlasov

7. David Bender

8. Daniel Gardality

9. Novak Masteller

10. Blount Williams

11. Ciaran O'Donnell

12. Daksh Bharadwaj

13. Reyansh Pant

14. Benjamin Inukai

15. Alex Salloum

16. Selwyn Olufemi-Owoeye

G14s Top 16 Seeds (Rome Georgia):

1. Noa Boar

2. Gabrielle Villegas

3. Jessie Janiak

4. Daniella Yogumyan

5. Harshitha Thirugnanam

6. LuLu Shiozawa

7. Emma Li

8. Ashley Wu

9. Christina Li

10. Mary Podkhyneychenko

11. Aarna Patel

12. Chloe Anthony

13. Violetta Li

14. Mikayla Noel

15. Valentina Arlati

16. Victoria Park

G12s Top 16 Seeds (Norcross Georgia)

1. Valentina Singh Carvajal

2. Evita Barjolo

3. Lola Looney

4. Jordyn Cheung

5. Reya Mahadoo

6. Lolita Paley

7. Miyue Tao

8. Grace Goode

9. Aya Iwata

10. Lailah Cowgill

11. Ryan Wilson

12. Audrina Goodman

13. Mandy Wei

14. Nicole Zhang

15. Mia Lurigio

16. Sarah Lee

B12s Top 16 seeds (Mobile Alabama):
1. William Zhou

2. Zephyr Zwicker
3. Caique Cavalcanti
4. Thomas Gamble
5. Jesse Goldman
6. Zachary Burunov
7. Aleksander Denisov
8. John Benedict
9. Louis Lu
10. Dylan Kivov
11. Kevin Wang
12. Satvik Arja
13. Isaac Milner
14. Alexander Yang
15. Reed Kuai
16. AJ Williams

I joined Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin yesterday on the Great Shot Podcast to preview the Kalamazoo 16s and 18s and the San Diego 16s and 18s National Championships. That conversation, which begins with the boys, is here.

2026 banners of current ATP Top 100 players when they competed in Kalamazoo
photos courtesy YourGameFace.com

Kalamazoo begins tomorrow morning with first round singles in 16s and 18s in the morning and first round doubles for both divisions in the afternoon. Seeded players and teams will not play until Saturday.

The Girls 16s draw is up now, and the Girls 18s draw should be up shortly.

The USTA's Battle of the Sections concluded this week, with the Missouri Valley boys beating Eastern 4-3 and the Texas girls beating Northern California 7-0 in the finals.

The members of the winning teams are below. Click on the heading to go to the USTA tournament site, which is very difficult to follow for an event like this one.

Missouri Valley[4] d. Eastern[3] 4-3

Coach: Jared Ward

18s:

Micah Ward

Hunter Nelson

Anish Poojari

Austin Potter

16s:

Connor Feehan

Damian Gutheil

Andrew Beltran

Wyatt Markham

Texas[2] d. Northern California[4] 7-0

Coach: John Nallon

18s 

Emily Golovanov

Lauren Nolan

Autumn Xu

Kayden Johnson

16s

Enya Hamilton

Bentley Sparks

Reena Alavalapati

Kshetra Jinukala

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