US Open Junior Acceptances, College Park ITF J300 Entry List Released; Evans Among Eight American Qualifiers at Lexington $60K; Six US Qualifiers at Decatur $25K

Acceptances for the US Open Junior Championships were released today, and although it's too early to assume that all those who entered will play, the fields look strong for the last junior slam of 2023.

Only one of the ITF Top 25 boys did not enter: Australian Open champion Alexander Blockx of Belgium, currently No. 7 in the rankings. While Roland Garros boys champion Dimo Prizmic of Croatia, ranked No. 50, and last year's US Open boys champion  Martin Landaluce of Spain, ranked No. 43, did not enter either, Wimbledon Champion Henry Searle of Great Britain, No. 5, is entered, despite being noncommittal about that possibility after he won Wimbledon.

Learner Tien is a surprise entrant, as he was also unsure about playing it when I spoke to him in May, and whether he actually does might depend on his results this coming week here in Kalamazoo. 

In addition to Tien, there are five other American boys entered: Cooper Williams, Darwin Blanch, Kaylan Bigun, Roy Horovitz and Kyle Kang, who received entry based on his ATP Top 750 ranking.  Alexander Razeghi is three out--the cutoff was 49--with Alexander Frusina, Cooper Woestendick and Maxwell Exsted also in qualifying. The latter two have a chance to win the main draw wild card that goes to the Kalamazoo 16s champion. The boys cutoff for qualifying was 78.

ITF No. 1 Alina Korneeva and No. 2 Clervie Ngounoue did not enter, with No. 7 Mirra Andreeva also missing, as she received entry in the women's main draw. With last year's US Open champion Alexandra Eala of the Philippines not entering, that means a first-time slam champion will be crowned in New York. Wimbledon finalist Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic has entered, and she seemed, even after her loss to Ngounoue at Wimbledon, keen to win a junior slam before she exits junior tennis.

There are five US girls in the main draw: Kaitlin Quevedo, Iva Jovic, Tyra Grant, Tatum Evans and Ariana Pursoo. Alexis Harmon is next in, and Theadora Rabman, Mia Slama and Alanis Hamilton are 5, 6, and 7 spots out of the main draw respectively. Ashton Bowers is also in qualifying. The girls cutoffs were 51 for the main draw and 80 for the qualifying.

The acceptances for the ITF J300 in College Park Maryland, which I will again be covering in person, were also released today, with many of the same players. Tournament officials have been trying to strengthen the fields over the past several years by offering training at the Junior Tennis Champions Center for the week between the tournament and the US Open Junior Championships, and the word may be getting out, as the initial cutoffs are 63 for the boys and 72 for the girls. An impressive list of current ATP and WTA stars have competed in the tournament over the past ; just last year, Mirra Andreeva, now WTA no. 62, was among them (she lost to champion Sara Saito of Japan in the semifinals). 

Tatum Evans is entered in both College Park and the US Open, and before that she will be playing at the USTA Nationals in San Diego, where she is the No. 6 seed. (Evans won the 16s title in 2021). But before she heads to the Pacific time zone, Evans will play at least one more match, as the 17-year-old has qualified for the main draw at the USTA Pro Circuit $60,000 tournament in Lexington Kentucky. Evans defeated the top seed in qualifying, WTA No. 352 Nefisa Berberovic of Bosnia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round yesterday and today beat No. 15 seed Hibah Shaikh(Virginia) 6-2, 7-6(1). The 2024 UNC recruit will play Renata Zarazua of Mexico in the first round Wednesday. She has qualified into $25Ks before, but this is her first time qualifying for a $60K.

All eight of the Lexington qualifiers are Americans, with six of them having college ties: DJ Bennett(Auburn), Victoria Hu(Princeton), Chloe Beck(Duke), Christina Rosca(Vanderbilt) and Sara Daavettila(UNC). Samantha Crawford and Grace Min also advanced to the main draw

Wild cards were given to Dalayna Hewitt, Madison Sieg(USC), Ellie Eades(Kentucky) and Mcartney Kessler(Florida). Sieg lost her opening round match today to No. 5 seed Olivia Gadecki of Australia; Kessler defeated Whitney Osuigwe 0-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Caroline Dolehide is the No. 1 seed, with Madison Brengle seeded second.

In addition to the ATP Challenger, also in Lexington this week, the men have a $25,000 tournament in Decatur Illinois. 

Qualifying concluded today, with six Americans advancing to the main draw: Karl Poling(Princeton/UNC), Connor Bruce(Dayton), Henrik Wiersholm(Virginia), Logan Zapp(UNC), Gabrielius Guzauskas(Illinois), and Pranav Kumar(Texas A&M/SMU).

Wild card recipients are Jonah and Micah Braswell, Thomas Brown(South Carolina/UNC-Charlotte) and Gavin Young(Michigan). Ozan Baris received entry via the ITF's Junior Exempt program.

Naoki Nakagawa of Japan is the top seed, with Zeke Clark(Illinois) seeded No. 2. All first round singles matches are Wednesday.