US Teams for Next Week's ITF Junior BJK and Davis Cups, World Junior Tennis Qualifying; Rabman and Joint Face Off in Semifinals of J200 in Canada; ITF Pan American J300 Moves to Memphis

Regional qualifying for the ITF Junior Billie Jean King Cup, Junior Davis Cup and World Junior Tennis competition, taking place at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona this year, begins next Tuesday. 

This is a few weeks earlier than usual for the North/Central America and Caribbean regional qualifying, which will determine what teams from the region advanced to the finals. The World Junior Tennis Finals, for players 14 and under, is August 7-12 this year; the Asia/Oceania entries have already been determined, with their qualifying events a couple of weeks ago.  Prostejov, Czech Republic has been the tournament's host for many years.

Those named as competing for the United States in World Junior Tennis are for qualifying only; teams can and do change prior to the Finals in August.

US Boys World Junior Tennis:

Jordan Lee
Marcel Latak
Izyan Ahmad

US Girls World Junior Tennis:

Annika Penickova

Kristina Penickova

Harper Stone

The 16U Junior Davis and BJK Cup, which is traditionally held after the US Open, but currently doesn't appear on the ITF Junior Circuit schedule, was played in Turkey the past two years. Again, these are the teams for next week's qualifying, but not necessarily for the Finals in the fall.

US Junior Davis Cup:

Jagger Leach

Max Exsted

Matisse Farzam

US Junior Billie Jean King Cup:

Iva Jovic

Tyra Grant

Alanis Hamilton

Only two Americans remain in contention for a singles title at this week's ITF J200 in Canada, and they will play each other Thursday for a place in the final.

Top seed Thea Rabman defeated unseeded Meera Jesudason 6-2, 7-5 and will face No. 5 seed Maya Joint, who also beat an American in the quarterfinals, unseeded Taylor Goetz, 6-3, 6-2. Rabman and Joint met in the third round of the J300 in College Park last August with Rabman winning 6-4, 6-0.

The other two girls semifinalists, and all four boys semifinalists, are Canadians. Unseeded Teah Chavez defeated No. 3 seed Anya Murthy 6-4, 6-0 and will play No. 8 seed Martyna Ostrzygalo.

Both American boys to reach the quarterfinals lost today, with No. 8 seed Nikita Filin falling to No. 3 seed Duncan Chan 6-2, 7-5 and qualifier Jordan Chang dropping a 7-5, 6-3 decision to Kuang Qing Xu. Xu had beaten top seed Cooper Woestendick in the second round. Qualifier Sasha Rozin will play No. 7 seed Junghee You in the semfinal in the bottom half. 

Thanks to Scott Colson (@payersplayers), I learned today that the latest USTA National Junior schedule has a venue for October's ITF J300 Pan American Closed: the newly expanded and renovated Leftwich Tennis Center in Memphis Tennessee. As recently as early last month, I heard the USTA was still searching for a host, after the Top Seed Tennis Club in Nicholasville Kentucky decided not to bid again after fulfilling its three year contract.

It appears the construction is not yet complete, but with nearly six months before the tournament, there's still time.

Also of note in the National Junior schedule is the lack of a venue for the boys Battle of Sections, which is held the week before the 16s and 18s National Championships in Kalamazoo.