Half of Orange Bowl J500 Seeds Gone After Thursday's Second Round, Ten US Boys Reach Round of 16; All-USA Semifinals Set for Friday in 16s Division; Junior Orange Bowl Begins Friday

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Fort Lauderdale FL--

Wednesday heat and humidity disappeared Thursday morning, with temperature in the 70s and a light breeze providing perfect conditions for a long day of Orange Bowl competition at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center.

When the final match finished under the lights, ten US boys and four US girls had advanced to the round of 16 of the ITF J500, and all the semifinalists in both the boys and girls 16s divisions are Americans.

Exactly half the seeds in the 18s are out after two rounds, although both No. 1 seeds are through. Victoria Barros of Brazil defeated Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 6-0, 6-3 and Yannick Alexandrescou, who has now officially switched countries from Romania to France, beating wild card Nikolas Stoot 6-3, 6-3.

No. 4 seed Thea Frodin was one of the first upset victims, with Tereza Hermanova of the Czech Republic defeating the 16-year-old American 6-4, 6-4.

Hermanova is now in her fourth week on North American clay, having competed at the J300 and J500 in Mexico and the J300 in Bradenton last week.

"I'm feeling great," said the 16-year-old from Prague, who counts this as her best win of the six she's posted on this trip. "I think it's better to play more matches, it's great."

Hermanova credited her variety with her success against Frodin today.

"I think I changed it up, some slices, some drop shots and I think that was the way that I did it," said Hermanova, who is playing in the Orange Bowl for the first time. "I think we knew before the match how to play the game and that was good. And today I was returning really well."

Frodin was hardly the only seed to fall, with No. 5 seed Luna Cinalli going out to 15-year-old Welles Newman 6-2, 6-0. Newman who picked up three main draw wins at USTA Pro Circuit W35s last month, is playing her first junior event since reaching the third round of the US Open in September.

The other three US girls to advance are wild card Lani Chang, Anita Tu and qualifier Sarah Ye. Chang, who turned 15 Tuesday, defeated Lyla Messler 6-4, 6-0; Tu defeated Noelia Manta of Switzerland 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3 and Ye advanced when No. 13 seed Ha Eum Lee of Korea retired at 4-6, 5-2.

Keeping up with all the American boys was impossible, with 17 of the 32 players competing today from the United States. Ten of those advanced, with five winning over their countrymen.

Safir Azam defeated Agassi Rusher 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a battle of wild cards, with Azam set to play top seed Alexandrescou Friday morning.

Wild card Marcel Latak defeated Gavin Goode 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 and No. 10 seed Noah Johnston beat wild card Tyler Lee 7-5, 6-0. The other two all-US second round matches were lengthy battles with No. 12 seed Michael Antonius defeating Vihaan Reddy 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2 and Tanishk Konduri beating qualifier Navneet Raghuram 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.  The final game of the Konduri-Raghuram match was a classic, with Raghuram serving to stay in the match. After nine deuces and errors on his first two match points, Konduri converted his third on a Raghuram error.

Qualifier Benjamin Saltman pulled off the biggest upset of the day, defeating No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, while Carel Ngounoue beat No. 13 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan 7-6(4), 6-4.

Three other seeded Americans advanced, with No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy beating Volodymyr Gurenko of Canada 6-4, 6-1, No. 8 seed Ronit Karki rebounding for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Daniel Jade of France and No. 16 seed Andrew Johnson beating Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia 6-0, 5-7, 6-1.

No. 4 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland lost to qualifier Olive Sanders of the Czech Republic 6-1, 7-5; No. 5 seed Keaton Hance couldn't stop the momentum of ITF J300 Bradenton finalist Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, who posted a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.

 

Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico defeated his doubles partner, No. 9 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, closing out the match with four straight games.

"I've been traveling with him for the past couple of weeks, playing doubles with him, so it's tough to play him," said the 17-year-old Georgia resident, who is with the ITF Grand Slam Development Touring Team on this trip. "He hits very fast, the ball comes super fast and I honestly wasn't mentally ready, I was late, lazy footwork. In the second set, I knew I had to start strong, got the early break and just held serve. He wasn't playing his best, I wasn't playing my best and I was down most of the third set, 3-1, 4-2. I played solid, he gave me some mistakes, which was pretty lucky."

Alvarez, a blue chip in the class of 2027, recently committed to the University of Georgia.

"I visited a lot of schools, but once I visited Georgia, I knew that's where I wanted to be," Alvarez said. "I fell in love."

Two rounds of singles will be played Friday, with the singles round of 16 and quarterfinals on the schedule, as well as the doubles quarterfinals.

The girls 16s division is still not quite caught up after the rain on Monday and Tuesday, but they will be playing their singles semifinals Friday, as well as two rounds of doubles. 

All four semifinalists in the boys and girls 16s are from the United States.

In the girls top half semifinal, Priscilla Sirichantho will face Alexandra Miroshnichenko; in the bottom half, Daniela Del Mastro will play No. 14 seed Julia Seversen.  

In the boys top half semifinal, No. 14 seed Colter Amey, who has reached the semifinals for the second straight week, will play No. 7 seed Daniel Malacek; in the bottom half, No. 12 seed Gadin Arun will play No. 2 seed Matias Reyniak.

Play will begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday, due to several late doubles matches, with the 18s third round and the girls 16s semifinals, followed by the 18s quarterfinals and boys 16s semifinals.

Live scoring is available at IonCourt, with live streaming at SaveMyPlay.

The Junior Orange Bowl begins Thursday at four sites in the Miami area. 

Below are seeds in each division:

B12s
1. Rui He

2. Oliver Baker

3. Evan Fan

4. James Borchard

5. William McGugin

6. Ethan Wang

7. Jobe Dikkenberg

8. Pranav Madamanchi

B14s

1. Mohamed Genidy

2. Tristan Ascenzo

3. Kazuki Nakajima

4. Siyun Kim

5. Evan Giurescu

6. Ishaan Marla

7. Alexander Anderson

8. Neve Upston

G12s

1. Fangqiao Zou

2. Lucy Dupere

3. Ann Sandru

4. Mila Mikoczi Spivey

5. Seungyeon Seo

6. Inie Toli

7. Summer Yang

8. Cataleya Brown

G14s

1. Nikol Davletshina

2. Isha Manchala

3. Tanvi Pandey

4. Isabella Yan

5. Olivia Lin

6. Yerin Lim

7. Ayaka Iwasa

8. Audrey Dussault

Due to the overlap with the Orange Bowl, I will not be covering the event in person, but will monitor the results when the tournament reaches the quarterfinal stage Monday.

IMG Academy International 12s, 14s, 16s Recap; Kisimov Avenges ITF J300 Bradenton Finals Loss in Orange Bowl Opener; Liutova's Winning Streak Continues; Amey Ousts Top Seed Vaughan in 16s

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Fort Lauderdale, FL--

Before I get into the action today at the Orange Bowl, which finally dried out after a day and a half of rain, take a minute to look at my Tennis Recruiting Network article on the 12s, 14s and 16s tournaments at the IMG Academy International Championships last week in Bradenton. These weeks in Florida and Mexico that close out the junior calendar are not independent; many of the storylines at this week's Orange Bowl have developed over the past three weeks, and will continue into next week, when the Junior Orange Bowl concludes.

One of those storylines emerged the moment the Orange Bowl draw was published, with a rematch of the ITF J300 Bradenton boys final between Jordan Lee and Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria set for the first round in Fort Lauderdale.

Due to the rain Tuesday, that match was postponed to today, with Kisimov avenging his loss to Lee on Sunday with a 6-4, 7-5 win in sunny, calm and warm conditions.

Lee fell behind 5-1 in the first set, but closed the gap to 5-4 before Kisimov served it out on his second attempt.

Kisimov got a key break at 3-all in the second set, and held for 5-3 in a service game that featured five deuces and two break points. Lee held to force Kisimov to serve it out at 5-4, which he could not do, despite a 30-0 lead in the game. Unforced errors were the major cause, although Kisimov could hardly blame himself for Lee's inside-in forehand winner at 30-40.

Kisimov said he was frustrated with himself for failing to serve out the match, although with his placid demeanor on court, no one would detect it.

"I don't show emotion, but inside, I am a bit angry with those kind of games," said the 17-year-old from Sofia. "But the good part was that I managed to get myself calm, and that's maybe why I got those next two games."

Lee couldn't hold at 5-all however, with Kisimov breaking on a perfect drop shot at 30-40. 

Serving for the match a second time, Kisimov had just one goal.

"I just focused on not making unforced errors, basically keep attacking," said Kisimov, who went up 30-0 just as he had at 5-4, but this time crushed a forehand winner to earn three match points. He made an unforced error on a slice to make it 40-15, but converted the second with a lob winner over a charging Lee.

Kisimov was surprised when he saw his Orange Bowl draw, but thought it probably benefitted him.

"I was like oh, again. But I kind of wanted to play again because I wanted revenge," Kisimov said. "It was tough in the final at Eddie Herr. I was really motivated today and now I am really happy, because I won. But it was a great match, a great match."

Next up for Kisimov is another American, No. 5 seed Keaton Hance.

Although Lee saw two winning streaks broken today, with the 2024 Orange Bowl 16s champion suffering his first Orange Bowl loss and his chance for a second set of back-to-back championships at IMG and Orange Bowl, Kristina Liutova extended hers with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Annika Penickova.

Like Lee, the ITF J300 Bradenton champion had a tough draw, facing the seventh-seeded Penickova, but the 15-year-old Seattle-area resident didn't concern herself with that, considering it just another match against a quality opponent.

"It was nothing different from the other players," said Liutova, who beat three seeds, in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final in Bradenton. "The tactics might be different, but mentally I would go out there and play my game and do what I need to do to win the match. I need to go out there and just play, enjoy the competition."

Although the scoreline looks routine, the match took two hours and 15 minutes to complete, with nearly half of the 19 games going to deuce.

"I had to find a way to return well, so I don't get killed on the next shot," Liutova said of her efforts to counteract Pennickova's big lefty serve. "She's a great server and I had to adjust on return."

In the opening set, Liutova was unable to serve it out at 5-3, but she didn't panic and broke Penickova in a five-deuce game to claim the set.

"Mistakes are past and I have to accept the past, because nothing is going to change, whether I get frustrated or not," Liutova said. "If I get back from the last point faster, it will just help."

Liutova will face fellow 15-year-old Tea Kovacevic of Bosnia, who defeated Iona Boian of Romania 6-1, 6-1 on Monday.

The only other seed to lose today in the completion of the first round was No. 8 seed Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany, who lost the qualifier Lyla Messler 6-0, 6-0. Messler, who recently signed with Illinois, has an ITF ranking of 2604, with Zhenikhova ranked 21.

Two boys seeds lost today, with qualifier Navneet Raghuram advancing when No. 14 seed Stefan Haita of Romania retired at 3-6, 6-3, 2-0. Wild card Marcel Latak took out No. 6 seed Alan Wazny of Poland 6-1, 7-6(5).

Latak, the reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion, got off to a quick start, but had to make some adjustments in the second set, down two breaks at 4-1.

"First set, I went on court just going for it and everything kind of clicked," said the 16-year-old from Illinois. "Second set I had a super slow start, didn't serve my best, the shot selection wasn't there at all. My dad was in the coaching box and he told me just to put a bunch of balls in the court first and then try to look for something. After a couple of points of that, the rhythm came back and I was able to go up 6-5."

Latak doesn't really enjoy the surface, but his success on this swing has made him rethink that.

"I'm happy with how I'm playing on clay," Latak said. "The expectations weren't high at all before I came (to Florida). I know I'm not going to be a clay court player, to be honest, but I think I'll have to forgive clay now."

As with most other players, Latak has assessed the courts at the renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center as excellent and slow.

"They are super slow," Latak said. "When I came here for my first practice, I was hitting everything so early and these courts are genuinely so slow. I like it though, I genuinely like the conditions."

Latak will play Gavin Goode, who advanced Monday when Wiliam Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden retired trailing 6-3, 1-0.

No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy struggled in the first half of his match with Emanuel Ivanisevic of Croatia, but the momentum of passing shot winner, followed by a forehand winner at 5-all in the second set tiebreaker propelled him to 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 victory. He will play Volodymyr Gurenko of Canada in Thursday's second round.

In the 16s divisions, top boys seed Mason Vaughan was beaten by fellow IMG Academy International semifinalist Colter Amey 7-6(3), 6-3.  Catalina Delmas Schaerer, the No. 2 seed in the girls draw, lost to Amy Gray of Australia 6-2, 6-3.

The boys 16s quarterfinals will be played Thursday, and the girls 16s will play both their third round and their quarterfinal matches on Friday.

The ITF Wheelchair Junior Masters tournament begins Thursday, with two round robin matches. The participants in the girls and boys events can be found here.

The draws and Thursday's order of play can be found here.

IonCourt is providing live scoring. The free live streaming is provided by SaveMyPlay.

All-Day Rain on Day Two Throws Orange Bowl Schedule into Disarray; Australian Open Men's and Women's Singles Entry Lists Released

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Fort Lauderdale FL--

Sunshine has been in short supply at the Orange Bowl, with play canceled on Monday at 3:30 p.m. due to rain and lightning and Tuesday's matches starting in light drizzle with barely three hours of action on court before heavy rains ended all hope of competition at 1:30 p.m. at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center at Holiday Park.

This is my 20th Orange Bowl, and although rain isn't unusual at this event, the usual disruption is a heavy rain and clearing skies within a few hours. An all-day rain, unrelenting but not drenching, is something I have never experienced at this event (Junior Orange Bowl is another story) and when it comes at the beginning of the tournament with so many matches, the schedule is thrown into chaos.

With only 22 of the 103 matches on Tuesday's schedule completed, Wednesday's matches will be a wide variety of rounds and age groups. The good news from today is that the boys 16s second round was completed, and their singles tournament remains on schedule, with their eight third round matches slated for Wednesday. 

The second round of the girls 16s, and the first round of both girls and boys 18s, normally completed by Tuesday, are now awaiting completion on Wednesday, with doubles also behind due to the two days of rain.

One of the players fortunate to finish his match before the first rain delay was boys 16s top seed Mason Vaughan, who had to hustle to get under the clubhouse roof as the rain intensified following his 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Sulaiman Syed.

Vaughan, who was also the top seed at last week's IMG Academy International Championships, lost a three-and-a-half-hour semifinal there on the hard courts, with just one day to prepare for the change to green clay.

"That's one of the main things I've been working on over the past year is having these two-week blocks of tournaments and being able to reset, for the second one especially," said the 16-year-old from Austin Texas. "If I go deep in the first one, which I did--I had like seven hours on court one day--I have to recover. So I've been resetting my mind the last couple of days, and it was about just forgetting about last week. I'm glad to be here and really glad to be in the third round."

Switching surfaces from last week to this was not as difficult as it could have been, with Vaughan having access to green clay as well as hard courts at the Brookhaven Tennis Academy.

"I'm training like once a day on clay, and on hard court the other half," said Vaughan. "So for me it was a really easy adjustment. I have a really good balance there, but I know for others it's definitely difficult. Orange Bowl has been one of my main goals, so I've really put an emphasis on clay this year."

Vaughan, who played the 16s at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation last year, is impressed by the newly renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center.

"That was a great site, but this site is unreal," Vaughan said. "For sure, way better. I haven't had a single bad bounce, even when it hits the line. So I'm really appreciative that they moved it here."

Vaughan will play another 2025 IMG Academy International 16s semifinalist on Wednesday: No. 14 seed Colter Amey. Amey defeated Aidan Conley 6-4, 6-1 this morning. Kahven Singh, who beat IMG Academy International champion Jang Junseo of Korea in the first round, continued his great form, beating 2025 14s Clay Courts champion Joshua Dolinsky 6-1, 6-1 this morning.

As positive as most of the comments have been regarding the tournament's new location, a major complaint has centered on the practice court situation. There are no on-site courts for practice, as there were at Veltri, with players needing to book warmups at two other clubs, which are between 15 and 30 minutes away. 

Those logistics nearly led to the default of Daniel Brand of Israel, who was scheduled at not before 9:30 a.m. on the Chris Evert Stadium against No. 8 seed Ronit Karki. After girls 16s No. 5 seed Olivia de Los Reyes quickly beat Alexandra Korneeva of Armenia 6-1, 6-1, the court was groomed and ready to go and Brand had not yet arrived at the JETC. Karki, who had warmed up at 6:30 a.m. at the JETC after arriving in Fort Lauderdale Monday from his participation in the A Racquet at the Rock exhibition in Newark New Jersey, was ready to go, so Brand was put on the clock. The ITF has a 15-minute grace period once the match is called before a default is issued, and Brand arrived with just five minutes to spare.

When the first rain delay came at 10:30, Karki led 5-1, and although some courts had matches resume between 1:00 and 1:30, the Evert Stadium court was not playable, with that score carrying over until tomorrow.

The draws and order of play for Wednesday are available at the ustaorangebowl.com website. Live scoring and streaming is available via iOnCourt.

Stephanie Myles of OpenCourt recently posted a deep dive on the Orange Bowl fields from five, ten and 15 years ago. The latter would have been played on the hard courts of Crandon Park; the 2020 and 2015 tournaments were both at the Veltri Tennis Center.

The Australian Open men's and women's acceptances were released today, with 16 US men and 16 US women currently in the fields, including wild cards Patrick Kypson and Elli Mandlik.

The women's list is here; the men's list is here.

2025 Orange Bowl Championships Begin with Chris Evert Attending Stadium Court Ceremony Honoring Her; Top Seed Barros Tested, No. 2 Seed Vladson Upset; Mixed Results for IMG Academy 16s Champions

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Fort Lauderdale FL--

In the 20 years I've been attending the Eddie Herr, now known as the IMG Academy International Championships, I've made the trip to the other side of the state for the Orange Bowl Championships. The first six years of my coverage of that event were at Crandon Park's hard courts on Key Biscayne; the next 13 years, the historic event was held at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation Florida. 

Today marked the opening of a new era for the Orange Bowl, with the first main draw matches of the ITF J500 tournament played at the recently renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center in Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale. 

The green clay courts with newly installed subsurface irrigation were buzzing with activity as the completion of the first round of 16s division began at 8 a.m. But the excitement reached its peak at 10 a.m., when the dedication and unveiling of the Chris Evert Stadium Court drew hundreds of fans, coaches, administrators and city dignitaries, eager to connect with one of the great champions of the sport.

Football and tennis commentator Chris Fowler, now a colleague of Evert's at ESPN, served as the Master of Ceremonies, and led off with one of the themes of the morning: how Chris Evert sparked his interest in professional tennis.

Remarks by the city's mayor and councilman, USTA 's General Manager of US Tennis Tracy Davies, Orange Bowl Committee Chairman Henri Crockett and Orange Bowl Tennis Committee Chairman Doug Wylie detailed the years-long effort to find a new home for the Orange Bowl, with the collaboration between the City of Fort Lauderdale, the Orange Bowl Committee and the USTA leading to the 9.5 million dollar renovation of the public courts where Jimmy Evert taught his five children and thousands of other young players the game.

Evert, a three-time Orange Bowl champion, then stepped to the podium to talk about her father, his legacy, the significance of the tournament and what the facelift to the venue will mean for the future of the sport in South Florida.

After the new Chris Evert scoreboard was unveiled, Evert posed for many photos with fans and VIPs, then did a short mixed zone interview session with local media.

Prior to the event Evert was out watching a match featuring one of the players training at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton, and in her speech she reiterated how important this tournament has been for its nearly 80-year history.

"It's huge," said Evert, who won the 16s in 1968 and the 18s in 1969 and 1970. "It's the biggest international tournament in junior tennis. It is the standard for the best. Usually if you look at players that won the Orange Bowl, they turn pro, almost 99 percent of them. It's a great stepping stone, so to now have this at my dad's facility, it's a great tournament, I enjoyed it, and I feel very privileged."

Keaton Hance had the honor of playing the first match in Orange Bowl history on the Chris Evert Stadium Court, with the No. 5 seed defeating Siu Chi Nicholas Cheng of Hong Kong 6-4, 6-4.

I asked the 17-year-old how he felt about christening the court, and what he knew about Evert.

"It's amazing, wow, first one," said Hance, a Southern Californian who trains with the USTA in Lake Nona. "All I know is that my mom (Courtney) knows a lot about her. I don't know too much, but I know she was an amazing player, that's she's a huge part of tennis history."

Hance complimented the court itself, which was a contrast with his last tournament, where he made the final of the ITF J500 in Merida Mexico on red clay.

"They're very nice, I know they have the underground (irrigation) which is really good for the green clay especially," said Hance. "They are playing really well, pretty slow, which I like. I just got here a couple of days ago but what I've seen is really high quality."

A first J500 final was one milestone for Hance in Mexico, a second was his first solo trip to a tournament.

"I was actually alone," said Hance, who resorted to a hitting wall for a warmup as he continued to advance. "Towards the end of the tournament a lot of guys went back home and only a few guys left. But it was a really good experience being alone and playing matches alone."

Several players who played in Merida arrived the following week in Bradenton feeling ill, but Hance took no chances, eating every meal at a Starbucks.

"I've had a lot bad experiences because of my stomach in Mexico and South America," Hance said. "So I stuck to the same thing every single day. It sounds bad, but I ate Starbucks every single day for every single meal. But you know what? I got to the finals so it worked good enough."

While Hance was playing on Chris Evert Stadium, top seed Victoria Barros, like Hance a Merida finalist, was being tested on Court 10, with the 15-year-old from Brazil beating Maja Pawelska of Poland 7-6(6), 7-6(7). Pawelska served for the first set at 6-5 and had two set points in the second set tiebreaker, but Barros was steadier in the key moments to pull out the win.

No. 2 seed Laima Vladson of Uzbekistan lost in the first round for the second consecutive week, with wild card Yael Saffar, ranked 132 spots below the ITF No. 13, getting the 6-4, 7-6(6) victory.

Boys top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania, one of the players who withdrew from Bradenton due to illness after competing in Mexico, defeated Jan Chlodnicki of Poland 6-4, 6-2.

No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy, who played Ronit Karki before the women's and men's exhibition A Racquet at The Rock in New Jersey Sunday, will face Emanuel Ivanisevic of Croatia, the son of Goran Ivanisevic Tuesday.

Three seeds, including Vladson, lost today, with Agassi Rusher defeating No. 15 seed Linus Lagerbohm of Finland 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 and Anita Tu beating No. 15 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India 6-0, 6-3.

No. 16 seed Andy Johnson barely escaped the upset bid of Emilo Camacho of Ecuador 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in a match that drew a large crowd of spectators crammed around Court 12 for all the drama.

After a long set point that earned him a split, Camacho immediately collapsed from cramps just behind the baseline. After a medical timeout, play resumed, but Johnson was also experiencing some cramping in his calves, and he saw break leads disappear twice before he closed out the match with a good serve.

"We played a pretty long point, we were both in the corners for that point and I am came to net, missed a ball at the net, a dropper volley that barely clipped the net. He was full sprinting to it and ended up cramping on the way and tumbling," Johnson said.  

Johnson said the cramps were specific to certain movements, so many of the rallies showed no signs of them.

"He was cramping but only on the corners," Johnson said of his fellow 16-year-old. "It was kind of like me, if I'd run for a ball I'd feel it, and same thing for him. But overall, I'd say it was one of those fun matches. Everything was happening that everyone would want to see. It was definitely a good experience."

After a day off Sunday, the IMG Academy International 16s champions made the switch from hard to clay courts, with only one of the two advancing.

Girls champion Adelina Iftime defeated Sophia Osipova 6-1, 6-0 but boys champion Jang Junseou of Korea lost to Kahven Singh 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-2. Boys finalist Artem Dmytrenko lost to No. 8 seed Nicolas Pedraza 6-1, 6-2. Girls finalist London Evans, who received a wild card into the 18s, plays Tuesday.

The weather was warm and sunny for the Evert Stadium ceremony and for several hours after it concluded, but by 3:15 p.m. dark clouds began to build and the lightning alarm sounded with four 18s matches still in progress. Those matches will be finished Tuesday, weather permitting, with rain again in the forecast. All first round 16s singles matches were completed Monday as scheduled, but the first round of doubles were disrupted by rain. 

The first round of 18s doubles are scheduled for the late afternoon, with Alexandrescou and Japan's Ryo Tabata the No. 1 seeds in the boys draw, with US Open champions Hance and Kennedy the No. 2 seeds. 

Vladson and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany are the No. 1 seeds in the girls draw, with Bradenton champions Kanon Sawashiro of Japan and Xinran Sun of China the No. 2 seeds.

Wild Card Lee Adds ITF J300 Title to Last Year's 16s Championship at IMG Academy International; Unseeded Liutova Claims Second ITF J300 Title; Orange Bowl Begins Monday; USA's Master 'U Streak Ends; Urhobo Falls in W35 Daytona Beach Final

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

Last year Jordan Lee received one of the inaugural Nick Bollettieri trophies presented the IMG Academy International champions after he claimed the Boys 16s title. A year later, on the same court, Lee earned another Bollettieri statuette by defeating unseeded Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-6(3), capping off a improbable return from injury with a historic back-to-back performance.

The 15-year-old from Orlando was out for more than eight months with a wrist injury, returning to competition at last month's Junior Davis Cup in Chile, and winning all the matches he played in the USA's title run. Immediately upon returning from Chile, he picked up his first ATP point as a wild card at an M15 in Orlando, before losing in the second round.

This week, Lee faced his first true test, with daily matches that demanded both physical and mental endurance. And although he found himself in a third set in both the quarterfinals and the semifinals, Lee found what he needed to close out his older and more experienced opponents.

Although he had played on the same Stadium Court last year, when the 16s were switched to clay due to hurricane damage to several of the Academy's hard courts, Lee admitted to some jitters in his first ITF J300 final.

"I came out a little nervous," said Lee, who was broken in the opening game. "I think I felt a little more comfortable on this court, especially after last year, but I wasn't really thinking about last year, just more about what I could do this year."

Lee and Kisimov exchanged breaks twice, but at 3-all Lee shook off the nerves, winning 12 of 13 points to take a 5-3 lead. Up 40-0 serving for the set, Lee ended up at deuce, with Kisimov hitting two winners and Lee double faulting, but an ace gave Lee a fourth set point, which he won when Kisimov caught the tape after a long rally.

"When I started getting warm, I loosened up," said Lee said, who is the first boy two win both the 16s and 18s titles in the tournament, formerly known as the Eddie Herr International Championships. "I played very well then throughout the match, it was a great level from both; he played very well as well."

Kisimov, who was also playing in his first ITF J300 final, said he wasn't nervous, but didn't agree with Lee's assessment of his performance.

"It could have been better," said the 17-year-old from Sofia. "I didn't play my best, but he played good. My serve wasn't perfect today, so I couldn't manage to hold my games."

Lee opened the second set with a 2-0 lead, but dropped four straight games, with Kisimov playing well and Lee making several of the unforced errors  he had avoided in winning five straight games. But Kisimov wasn't able to hold the 4-2 lead, with too many second serves leading to a love break.

"Not many first serves, not enough speed," said Kisimov, who is coached by Zlatin Mingov at Pro Sport in Sofia. "I returned great, but you have to have a good serve to win a set."

Kisimov took a 5-4 lead, saving a break point with a forehand winner, but after Lee held at love, Kisimov was broken to give Lee a chance to serve for the match. He was unable to take it, going down 0-40, and when his forehand caught the tape at 30-40 he simply shrugged and prepared for the tiebreaker.

"I didn't think too much about it," Lee said. "I knew I had to take it point after point. In the tiebreaker, I knew I had to stay calm, do the best I could after each point and make him work for it."

Lee got some good fortune with a let serve winner to go up 4-2 in the tiebreaker, and then came up with an ace for 5-2. Kisimov came up with a forehand winner to stay within range but a double fault sealed his fate, and he couldn't return Lee's deep first serve on match point.

A small fist pump toward his coach Sylvain Guichard was the extent of Lee's celebration, a reaction that he said comes naturally.

"I don't know, I fell like I'm more of a calm guy, and in the moment I couldn't think of anything," Lee said. "I didn't plan anything, and I didn't want to make it too disrespectful as well."

Guichard wasn't sure what to expect from Lee coming into this week, with so little match play since his return.

"I know Jordan has the level, but in a tournament like this, a lot of things have to go right," said USTA National Coach Guichard, who was the captain of the USA's Junior Davis Cup team in Chile. "He hasn't played that much, but he's in great shape physically; that's all he's done in the nine months he was out, but playing on the court and competing is different. I didn't expect him to be that fresh, to last the entire tournament."

In addition to a second Bollettieri statuette, with this year's version featuring Bollettieri's signature sunglasses, Lee will receive a main draw wild card for the ATP Challenger 100 in Sarasota in the spring of 2026.

Lee and Kisimov's next meeting will be Tuesday, in the first round of the ITF J500 Orange Bowl.

The girls final, played simultaneously with the boys due a threat of rain later in the day, featured two players who had already won titles at the J300 level. Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia, the No. 5 seed this week, had claimed the J300 in Santa Croce Italy in May, while unseeded Kristina Liutova broke through at the J300 in College Park in August.

With contrasting paths to the finals--Liutova had not dropped a set, while Cvetkovic came from a set down three times--and no previous meetings, the championship went to the fresher player, with Liutova posting a 6-3, 6-0 victory.

Liutova's only hiccup came when she was serving for the first set at 5-2, with the 15-year-old Washington state resident missing several chances to close out the set with uncharacteristic backhand errors. But rather than indulge in frustration, Liutova focused on the next game, breaking Cvetkovic to take control.

"It's always tough to finish, especially when you think about it," Liutova said. "I just had to stop thinking about finishing faster and just play point by point, one at a time, no rush."

Liutova had been hitting after her matches earlier in the week, but after her 7-5, 7-5 win over No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina on Saturday, she simply rested, while Cvetkovic was still at the IMG Academy, competing in the doubles final.

"Actually my body is a little bit tired," said the 17-year-old Cvetkovic, who played 11 matches in singles and doubles over the seven-day event. "We played early today because of rain, but I don't want to say something, because Kristina's so good a player, she played so well, I want to congratulate her. It was a good match, not like 6-3, 6-0, but at 3-5, she hit some winners, and I could just say, good job, bravo. In the second set I had a lot of break points, but she played so well in the important moments."

Liutova said she had developed a plan and that helped her "just play my tennis. I let myself play, because I didn't want to get tight and think about finishing the tournament."

Liutova said her title at College Park did provide her with an increased comfort level.

"I think today I was more confident," said Liutova, who is coached by Ilya Osintsev and Tiago Campana at the Gorin Academy in Seattle, but was traveling only with her mother Elena this week. "Yesterday I was tighter, but today I just let myself play. I was planning on just enjoying the competition, enjoy the final, because it's very special."

Until Liutova won her quarterfinal match over No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China 6-1, 7-6(10), she was facing the prospect of going through qualifying at the Orange Bowl, but refused to let that distract her.

"I was at this tournament, so I didn't think about anything else," Liutova. "I was just focused on winning the match in front of me. I came here excited to be here and I'm very happy with the win."

The girls champion receives a wild card into the qualifying of the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi in February, but Liutova is unsure of her plans for next year.

Liutova will be tested early in the Orange Bowl, as she has been drawn to face No. 5 seed Annika Penickova. Cvetkovic, the No. 6 seed at the Orange Bowl, will face wild card London Evans, the girls 16s finalist in Bradenton. 

The top girls seed in the Orange Bowl is Merida J500 finalist Victoria Barros of Brazil, with Laima Vladson of Uzbekistan the No. 2 seed. 

Yannik Alexandrescou of Romania is the top seed in the boys draw, with Jack Kennedy the No. 2 seed.

In the girls 16s, top seed Sofiia Bielinski withdrew and was replaced by a lucky loser. Boys 16s top seed Mason Vaughan won his first round match today over wild card Mark Mrcela 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. 

Draws and Monday's order of play can be found at the ustaorangebowl.com website. Live scoring is available via the iOnCourt app.

The dedication of the new Chris Evert Stadium Court at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center, the new site of the Orange Bowl, will take place tomorrow at 10 a.m. This is from the Orange Bowl release I received today:

WORLD-CLASS TENNIS KICKS OFF IN FORT LAUDERDALE:

ORANGE BOWL OPENS AT NEWLY RENOVATED JIMMY EVERT TENNIS CENTER

Ceremony to Dedicate Chris Evert Stadium Court and Unveil $9.5 Million in Infrastructure

WHAT: The Orange Bowl Committee, City of Fort Lauderdale, and USTA will host a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony for Chris Evert Stadium Court to officially reopen the renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center at Holiday Park and kick off the 2025 Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships. The $9.5 million project includes 20 state-of-the-art clay courts, a new 700-seat stadium court named in honor of Chris Evert, and significant infrastructure upgrades, positioning the venue as a world-class home for both community play and elite junior competition.

WHEN: Monday, December 8, 2025

10:00 AM- 11:00 AM ET (remarks and dedication beginning at 10:00 AM.)

WHERE: Jimmy Evert Tennis Center at Holiday Park – Chris Evert Stadium Court

701 NE 12th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304

WHO: Planned program participants include:

Chris Evert, Tennis Hall of Famer and Fort Lauderdale native

Henri Crockett, President & Chair, Orange Bowl Committee

Dean Trantalis, Mayor, City of Fort Lauderdale

Tracy Davies, General Manager, USA Tennis (USTA)

Chris Fowler, ESPN broadcaster and event emcee

Additional City of Fort Lauderdale and USTA representatives

The five-year winning streak of USA's Master U' BNP University Games in France ended today with Great Britain beating the team from the United States 4-3. For more on the finals, see this article from the Tennis Recruiting Network.

I wasn't able to cover the W35 in Daytona Beach this week because I was so busy in Bradenton, but 18-year-old Akasha Urhobo, the No. 5 seed, reached the final, where she lost to top seed Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) 7-6(6), 6-3 today. 

The doubles title was won by Ingrid Neel(Florida) of Estonia and Abigail Rencheli(NC State), who beat Anastasia Goncharova and  Madison Tattini 6-3, 6-2 in a final between unseeded teams.

Historic Title for Genidy at IMG Academy International; Iftime Claims G16s Title; Junseo Wins Second Championship in Three Years; Lee vs Kisimov, Liutova vs Cvetkovic in Sunday's ITF J300 Finals; Vaughan and Bielinska Top Orange Bowl 16s Draws

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

When the dense fog cleared and the IMG Academy hard courts dried, the six finals of the IMG Academy lnternational Championships proceeded, with history on the line for the countries of Greece, Venezuela and Egypt. 

Those three countries had never had a singles champion at the prestigious tournament, formerly known as the Eddie Herr International, and the boys 14s final would elevate one and eliminate the other when top seed Mohamed Genidy of Egypt met No. 16 seed Ignacio Mejias of Venezuela.

Although no clear favorite emerged after more than two hours of play, Genidy managed to break and hold at 4-4 in third to post a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Many juniors would not be aware of the history, but Genidy was well versed in his country's performance in December's major junior events Florida in Florida.

"Ismail El Shafei won the Orange Bowl," Genidy said of the 1965 18s champion. "But the Eddie Herr, no one from my country did."

Genidy was able to put his slow start behind him, chalking it up to a lack of familiarity with Mejias's game.

"It was my first time to play him in singles, so it was weird for me," said the 14-year-old from Cairo. "But I handled it well, and I know how to play in the second set. I started well, but again, he is very good and when I do something good, he would play better every time."

Genidy let a 4-3 lead slip away, but he broke right back to give himself a chance to serve for the match. Facing two match points at 40-15, Mejias again raised his level, and it took two good first serves from Genidy in the next two points to deliver the historic title.

"He hit very good two forehands, and it was my second serve," Genidy said. "Two championship points down, how is he doing that? But I tried to make my first serves, it was very tough, and I did that, and he hit two returns out.

Genidy, who will play the Junior Orange Bowl in Miami next week, is making his first visit to the United States for these two tournaments.

"It's my first time in America, so this means a lot to me," Genidy said.

The girls 14s champion, No. 9 seed Ayaka Iwasa of Japan, denied Greece its first IMG Academy champion, defeating No. 5 seed Konstantina Volonaki 6-1, 6-1.

"I'm so happy to win this tournament," said the 13-year-old, who lost in the first round of the 12s as an 11-year-old in 2023, and made the quarterfinals of the 12s division last year.  "I played very good in the final, the best this week."

The boys 16s final was the last match to begin, and with long and physical games and points, No. 14 seed Jang Junseo of Korea needed two-and-a-half hours to collect his second IMG Academy title, beating No. 9 seed Artem Dmytrenko 7-6(4), 7-5.

Junseo, who won the 12s title in 2023 and reached the 14s final last year, has been training at the IMG Academy for more than a year, and had the support of his coaches and many fellow IMG students, as he broke Dmytrenko serving for the second set at 5-4 and broke again at 6-5 to claim the title.

"Last year I had seven set points," the 14-year-old recalled of his 7-6(7), 6-2 loss to Qi Hongjin of China in the final on Stadium Court. "I remembered last year, when I was playing tiebreak in the first set (today), and it was a little bit tough, but I won."

Junseo was receiving regular encouragement from one of his IMG Academy coaches, Agge Venizelos, and he drew comfort from that.

"It was helping a lot," Junseo said. "He told me to stay focused, and if I'm tired, my opponent is tired also, so I need to keep going."

Dmytrenko said he enjoyed the atmosphere, despite receiving no support from the pro-Junseo spectators.

"I love it," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the Mouratoglou Academy in Zephyrhills Florida, which merged last year with Andy Sorrentino's Academy there. "I love the crowd against me."

Dmytrenko regretted not taking advantage of his opportunities, but he didn't want to blame his loss on the three-and-a-half hour 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5) semifinal victory over top seed Mason Vaughan Friday.

"I felt it a little bit, but I must say I had some chances today, and I didn't take them," said Dmytrenko, who had not competed at this tournament before this year and decided to play it just a few weeks ago. "He's a very great player. He's young, hits the ball well, does everything well. He played his game today and some of the key points went his way and that kind of decided the match. But that's ok, we'll bounce back and do better in my next tournament."

Originally from Ukraine, Dmytrenko has been in the United States for the past two-and-a-half years, and has just signed with Louisville for the fall of 2026.

"I'm doing Ukrainian school and I'm graduating from there this year," said Dmytrenko, who is playing the Orange Bowl 16s next week. "So basically I skipped a grade here."

Two 14-year-old Americans battled for the Girls 16s title, with No. 11 seed Adelina Iftime coming from behind to defeat unseeded London Evans 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, a result that surprised her.

"I lost the previous two years in the first round, in the 12s and 14s," said the Orlando resident. "I just turned 14 in October, so I thought I could get past three rounds, but I ended up winning, so I was happy with that."

Iftime made an adjustment that helped her hand Evans her only two losses of a set in the tournament.

"I felt like I should stay more in the point," said Iftime, who trains with her father, and also with Tomas Penika, the father of  Kristina and Annika Penickova. Kristina also won a 16s championship here, in 2023. "I was going for too much and not in the good moments. So I just tried to stay calm and stay in the points longer. It was both patience and mental. I was trying to stay calm the whole match, not get angry at myself, and that helped me as well."

Iftime is playing the Orange Bowl next week and is excited about getting to play on the green clay.

"I like clay a lot more than I like hard," Iftime said.

Evans said she wasn't really feeling the ball well today, even with her fast start.

"She just kept the ball in and was waiting for me to miss," said Evans, last year's USTA Winter Nationals 14s champion.

Evans, who defeated No. 2 seed Daniella Sales 6-1, 6-0 in second round, said she had no expectations as far as results were concerned when she entered the tournament.

"Honestly I wasn't really paying attention, thinking about anything," Evans said. "I just went out there and played. I didn't look that far ahead in the draw."

Evans will play her second ITF J500 main draw next week with a wild card into the Orange Bowl, after her debut in Merida last week, but unlike Iftime, said "I definitely prefer hard." 

The fourth American in a final today, No. 5 seed James Borchard, fell to unseeded Rui He of China 6-1, 7-5.

Borchard raised his level against He, but after a clutch hold at 4-5, he couldn't quite find that form in the 5-6 game, with He breaking for the title.

"He is just physically very tough and he got to all my balls," said the 12-year-old from Southern California, who won the doubles title on Friday and reached the final today in his debut at this event. "He has a great slice too."

Borchard came out in the second set determined to put He under some pressure.

"I just started playing really aggressive," said the reigning Easter Bowl 12s champion. "I was playing really well, but in the end he got to a lot more balls than I did."

Borchard will be competing next week in the Junior Orange Bowl 12s in Miami.

The girls 12s title also went to a Chinese player, with No. 4 seed Fangqiao Zou pulling away from No. 5 seed Seungyeon Seo of Australia in the second set to earn a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

I was unable to see any of the ITF J300 semifinals today, with all of them played at the same time as the IMG Academy International finals due to the possibility of rain later in the day, which did not end up materializing. 

I was able to talk by phone to 15-year-old wild card Jordan Lee, who will go for a second straight IMG title tomorrow after beating No. 7 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Lee went up early in the first set, lost the break, but broke the 17-year-old to claim the set. 

Boogaard, ranked more than 400 spots higher than Lee, who was out for eight months with a wrist injury, served for the second set at 5-4, but Lee broke, only to lose his next service game. Boogaard then took his second opportunity to serve for the set.

"The first set went very well," said Lee, who won the 2024 16s title, which was played on clay last year due to hurricane damage to some of the Academy's hard courts.  "I feel like it was a pretty equal level and it just came out that I had won the set. Second set was the same thing; he played a very good game at 5-all in the second set and at 6-5, very solid from him and then, in the third set, I feel I had a little bit more energy."

There was only one break in the final set, with Boogaard dropping serve at 2-3 and Lee closed out the nearly three-hour contest with a hold.

Although Lee has played only three tournaments since his return from injury, he is pleased with how he has held up physically as he anticipates his first ITF J300 title on the same court where he won his 16s title last year.

"I've been working on my physicality, staying physical and working on the right things, not giving away points too easily," Lee said. "I feel I've been doing a very good job with that."

Lee will face unseeded Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, who has had a breakout tournament this week. Kisimov advanced to his first J300 final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia.

The girls final will feature No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia and unseeded Kristina Liutova. Cvetkovic defeated unseeded Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 6-2, 6-4 to reach her second ITF J300 final, which is also the case for Liutova, who defeated No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 7-5, 7-5.

Cvetkovic, 17, won the title in her first appearance in a J300 final this spring in Italy, while Liutova won the J300 in College Park in August; Cvetkovic lost in the semifinals at that event.

Cvetkovic said she is beginning to feel comfortable on the green clay, with this her first experience on it and at the IMG Academy. She has had plenty of reps on it, coming from a set down in three of her first four matches to advance.

"It's a little bit tough, but the courts are good and I'm feeling so good," said Cvetkovic, who has survived physically despite all that court time, which included five doubles matches. "This morning I was feeling so good, it's like just confidence."

Making just her second trip to the United States, with the first the College Park/US Open Junior swing, Cvetkovic has not had an opportunity to study Liutova's game. 

"This is the first time I play against her," said Cvetkovic, who is traveling with the ITF Junior Touring Team on this Florida swing. "We will see tomorrow, who will be better, who will give more."

Both ITF singles finals are scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday, with rain again a possibility.

Cvetkovic and partner Larraya Guidi, the No. 2 seeds, lost in the afternoon doubles final to No. 3 seeds Kanon Sawashiro of Japan and Xiran Sun of China 6-2, 6-4.

In the boys doubles final, played at the same time as the singles semifinals, No. 2 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland defeated No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-0, 6-4, The Roland Garros and Wimbledon doubles champions did not drop a set in their five victories this week.

Main draw play begins Sunday at the Orange Bowl, with 32  singles matches in the 16s, which is half of the draws, on the schedule, along with the final round of 18s qualifying.

As he was at the IMG Academy International Championships, Mason Vaughan is the top seed; the girls top seed is Sofiia Bielinska of Ukraine.

Draws for the 16s main draw and 18s qualifying, along with the order of play, can be found at ustaorangebowl.com

November Aces; USA's Borchard, Dmytrenko, Iftime and Evans Reach Saturday's IMG Academy International Singles Finals, Doubles Champions Crowned; Fifteen-year-olds Lee and Liutova Advance to Semifinals at ITF J300 Bradenton; Orange Bowl J500 Wild Cards

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

Before I get into all the action at the IMG Academy International Championships and ITF J300 here in Bradenton, it's that time of month when I highlight the top performances of the previous month by current and former collegians and juniors for the Tennis Recruiting Network. It's another huge international collection of accomplishments, which includes junior, NCAA, ITF, WTA and ATP titles. 

The singles finals are set for the 12s, 14s, and 16s divisions, with four Americans advancing to Saturday morning's championship matches.

In the girls 16s, an American champion is guaranteed, with No. 11 seed Adelina Iftime of Florida facing unseeded London Evans in the final, with both girls 14 years old. 

In the boys 16s, No. 9 seed Artem Dmytrenko of Georgia, who has signed with Louisville for next fall, won the match of the day, beating top seed Mason Vaughan 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5) in a three-hour and 30-minute battle on Court 3. Dmytrenko will face 14-year-old IMG Academy student Jang Junseo of Korea, who will be playing his third consecutive final. No. 14 seed Junseo, who won the 12s title in 2023 and reached the 14s final last year, defeated unseeded Colter Amey 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in today's semifinal.

In the boys 12s, reigning Easter Bowl champion James Borchard will play for another prestigious title Saturday after the No. 5 seed defeated Minchan Kwon of Korea 6-4, 6-1. His opponent is the unseeded Rui He of China, who beat top seed Oliver Baker in the third round and another Australian, No. 3 seed Jobe Dikkenberg, 6-2, 6-1 in today's semifinal.

Singles semifinal results:

B12s:
Rui He (CHN) d. Jobe Dikkenberg[3](AUS) 6-2, 6-1
James Borchard[5] (USA) d. Minchan Kwon[16] (KOR) 6-4, 6-1

B14s:
Mohamed Genidy [1] (EGY) d. Tristan Ascenzo[3] (USA) 7-5, 6-2
Ignacio Mejias[16] (VEN) d. Akhmadi Makhanov[10] (KAZ) 6-2, 6-1

B16s:
Artem Dmytrenko[9] (USA) d. Mason Vaughan[1] (USA) 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5)
Jang Junseo[14] (KOR) d. Colter Amey (USA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1

G12s:
Yoonseol Choi (KOR) d. Xiaoke Li (CHN) 7-5, 6-4
Fangqiao Zou[4] (CHN) d. Seungyeon Seo[5] (AUS) 6-2, 6-1

G14s:
Konstantina Volonaki[5] (GRE) d. Adriana Khomyakova[13] (USA) 6-3, 6-1
Ayaka Iwasa[9] (JPN) d. Zihao Han[4] (CHN) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4

G16s:
Adelina Iftime[11] (USA) d. Samvrutha Jawahar[7] (USA) 6-1, 6-4
London Evans (USA) d. Tanvi Pandey[6] (USA) 6-3, 6-2

The doubles semifinals and finals were played today, with photos of the finalists and the result of the championship match below:

B16s: Julian Zhang & Arjun Krishnan(USA[6] d. Griffin Goode & Mason Vaughan(USA) 7-5, 6-2

G16s: Grace Hong & Vibha Gogineni(USA)[4] d. Masaki Yamagishi(JPN) & Kiana Smith(USA)[3] 6-2, 6-4

B14s: Raku Yoshimoto & Agui Nanato(JPN) d. Francisco Sardhina (POR) & Miguel Baquero (DOM) 6-3, 7-6(4)

G14s: Zhao Han & Jiayi Lu(CHN) [4] d. Sara Lozano Avellaneda (COL) & Maria Baena(USA) 6-0, 6-1

B12s: James Borchard(USA) & Evan Fan(USA) [1] d. Oliver Baker & Lennox Kelly(AUS) [4] 6-2, 7-5

G12s: Yanke Wang(CHN) & Yichen Xiu(HKG) d. Hwani Choi &Yoonseol Choi (KOR) 6-1, 6-3

The ITF J300 quarterfinal matches featured several impressive comebacks, with wild card Jordan Lee, last year's 16s champion rebounding from 3-0 down in the third set to defeat Daniel Jade of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to reach his first J300 semifinal.

Jade began to show signs of fatigue after two grueling holds to take that 3-0 lead, and Lee sensed he had an opportunity, although he was also feeling the effects of the physically demanding points.

"We both pushed each other to the limit," said the 15-year-old from Florida, who returned to competition last month after a wrist injury kept him out eight months. "We gave it all we had and massive respect to him for pushing himself and me at like that. I feel like it comes with the sport--you're tired, but it's what you're willing to do to push through it."

Lee will face 17-year-old Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands, who lost the first set to No. 13 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden in short order, but bounced back for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory. Rejchtman Vinciguerra was irritated by various incidences throughout the match and did not accept the offer of the post-match handshake from Boogaard.

The bottom half semifinal will feature two unseeded players, with 16-year-old Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia and 17-year-old Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria reaching their first ITF J300 semifinals with straight-sets victories.

Bolivar Idarraga ended the run of wild card Jerrid Gaines Jr. 7-6(6), 6-3, while Kisimov halted the six-match winning streak this week of qualifier Tim Vaisman of Israel 6-2, 6-4.

This two-week stretch of green clay events marks the first time Kisimov has visited the United States, and he is adapting quickly to the surface.

"I like it, and I think I'll get better," said Kisimov, who liked his form and his prospects for success this week after skipping the Mexico events to train. "I'm really happy that I made it to the semis. It's nice weather, nice atmosphere, everything's great here."

Kisimov said he is friends with the other top Bulgaria juniors: ITF No. 1 and two-time junior slam champion Ivan Ivanov and Alex Vasilev, who lost to Ivanov in the US Open final in September. 

"I know them well, we've played so many times," Kisimov said. "I did beat Ivan once, but he's beaten me, like ten times."

Two unseeded girls advanced to the semifinals, but, unlike two of the boys, they will not play each other, with Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine facing No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia and Kristina Liutova playing No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina.

Sushkova defeated Alyssa James of 7-5, 6-3, while Cvetkovic came back from a set and a break down to defeat unseeded Hollie Smart of Great Britain 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Larraya Guidi defeated No. 9 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India 7-5, 7-6(3), with Liutova getting a second win over No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China in the past three months, by a 6-1, 7-6(10) score.

Liutova had beaten Sun in the semifinals of the ITF J300 in College Park in August after dropping the first set, but today she was the one getting off to a quick start. Sun immediately turned the tables, however, going up 5-1 in the second set before Liutova found her form.

"I started missing a little more and she obviously is a great player, so she got back in the match," said the 15-year-old, who lives and trains in the Seattle area. "My legs slowed down a little bit, so it was most important to get that back."

Sun served for the set at 5-2 and 5-4, but Liutova wouldn't concede the set, leading to a tiebreaker. 

Liutova was up 4-2 and 5-3 but Sun got the mini-break back until Liutova earned her first match point at 6-5 with sharply angled backhand winner.

But the 15-year-old Sun forced an error with a good forehand to save the first match point, and a second at 7-6 with a perfectly executed drop shot. At 8-7 Liutova failed to convert a third match point, missing a backhand, and match point No. 4, at 9-8, was a riveting rally of more than 25 shots that Sun eventually won with a clean forehand winner. 

Sun finally earned a set point with a return error from Liutova, but she made a backhand error early in the rally for 10-10. Liutova forced an error with her backhand for match point No. 5 and this time Sun blinked. She worked the rally to get a weak short ball inside the service line, but netted her forehand swing volley.

"She came up with some aggressive play, and credit to her for such a fight," Liutova said of all the match points saved. "She just let herself play and made some great shots, so I have nothing to complain about. I was excited for the match, she's a great player, a fighter and I love the competition."

Although she trains often indoors or on hard courts, Liutova is a big fan of any color of clay.

"I love clay," said Liutova, who was back practicing on the Stadium Court Friday evening "I love sliding around, I love the surface. Green is different from red, red is slower, this is a little more slippery, but I adjusted in the first days of my training pretty fast and I was excited to play on clay."

All of the semifinal matches, scheduled for 9 a.m. due to the possibility of rain later in the day, are first-time meetings.

The boys doubles final will also be at 9 a.m., with No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia facing No. 2 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland.

Alvarez and Sesko defeated No. 4 seeds Andy Johnson and Michael Antonius 7-6(3), 6-2, while Paldanius and Wazny beat No. 7 seeds Rejchtman Vinciguerra and Norway's Johan Oscar Lien 6-3, 6-3.

No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi will play No. 3 seeds Sun and Japan's Kanon Sawashiro for the girls doubles championship; with Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi both still in singles, that match will not be before noon.  Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi beat No. 4 seeds Melije Clarke and Korea's Ha Eum Lee 6-2, 6-4, while Sun and Sawashiron defeated the unseeded team of Rira Kosaka and Aoi Watanabe of Japan 6-4, 6-1.

Qualifying for the Orange Bowl J500 begins Saturday, with the final round of qualifying for the 16s tournament concluding tomorrow.

Jordan Lee and Kristina Liutova received special exemptions into the main draw by reaching the semifinals here in Bradenton. Isabelle Deluccia, Janae Preston, Nigeria's Oluwaseun Peter Ogunsakin and Vihaan Reddy moved into the main draw from qualifying due to withdrawals.  The wild cards for the J500 are below:

Girls:

Lani Chang

Kathryn Cragg

London Evans

Scarlett Fagan

Yael Saffar

Allison Wang

Nicole Went

Boys:

Safir Azam

Teodor Davidov

Jerrid Gaines Jr.

Marcel Latak

Tyler Lee

Agassi Rusher

Nikolas Stoot

Kamil Stolarczyk

The order of play and all qualifying draws can be found at ustaorangebowl.com.

ITF J300 Bradenton Quarterfinals Feature Two American Wild Cards, All US Girls Eliminated; Eleven US Juniors Compete in Semifinals of 12s, 14s and 16s Divisions; Orange Bowl 16s Qualifying Begins Friday; Santamarta Signs with Virginia

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

Jordan Lee had a difficult 2025, with a wrist injury keeping him out of competition for more than eight months. Yet on the green clay courts of the IMG Academy, the 15-year-old wild card is back to winning again, with the 2024 16s champion advancing to the ITF J300 quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-0 thumping of No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland Thursday morning.

"After being out for so long, it feels great," said Lee, who returned to competition as a member of the Junior Davis Cup championship team last month in Chile.  "It's not my life, but tennis is the thing that I enjoy most in life, what I love doing most. During the time away I missed it so much, but it was important not to rush it."

Lee admitted to some jitters when he played his first match at the Junior Davis Cup, but he is not surprised by the form he's displayed since his return.

"The first match in Chile was very tough, I was very nervous," said Lee, whose only loss since coming back was in the second round of the M15 in Orlando last month. "But since I was finally back, I didn't want to waste it being nervous, just wanted to have fun, enjoy it. I put a lot of hard work into coming back."

Lee hadn't played Wazny, so wasn't sure what to expect, but was happy with his own level. 

"I did a very good job of staying solid, I played very well overall," Lee said. "I don't really know him, so I don't know, but I did a very good job today."

Lee will play unseeded 16-year-old Daniel Jade of France, who defeated wild card Marcel Latak 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in the quarterfinals, but hasn't given much thought to a second straight title.

"It feels great being back on these courts, but I'm not really thinking about being defending champion, a two-peat or anything like that," said Lee, who reached the Eddie Herr 12s final in 2021. "I'm just thinking about doing the best I can, using what I have and giving 100 percent."

Another young American reached the quarterfinals by claiming a decidedly tougher battle, with 16-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr. defeating fellow wild card Samim Filiz of Turkey 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Filiz was returning the big first serves of Gaines well in the first two sets, but Gaines said he raised his level in the third set to reach his first J300 quarterfinal.

Gaines will play unseeded Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia, who won a second straight three-setter, beating doubles partner Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(5). Chabalgoity, who had beaten No. 9 seed Michael Antonius Wednesday in over three and a half hours, looked exhausted in the late stages of the match, but managed to break Bolivar Idarraga serving for the match at 5-4 and saved two match points down 3-6 in the final tiebreaker before finally succumbing.

No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany also dropped a third set tiebreaker, with Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria taking a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) decision. Mackenzie was cramping badly at the end of the match and withdrew from his doubles quarterfinal as a result.

Kisimov will face qualifier Tim Vaisman of Israel, who has now won six matches this week after beating Connor Doig of South Africa 6-4, 6-3. 

The only two boys seeds remaining play each other, with No. 13 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden facing No. 7 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands. Rejchtman Vinchiguerra beat Dan Brand of Israel 7-6(3), 6-3, while Boogaard coasted past No. 12 seed Andy Johnson 6-1, 6-2.

There are no US girls through to the quarterfinals, with wild card Allison Wang withdrawing due to an ab injury prior to her match with Alyssa James of Jamaica. No. 16 seed Nancy Lee dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina and Anita Tu lost to Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Sushkova trailed 5-2 in the first set before getting back to 5-all, but she identified the problem and cleared her head during a bathroom break after the first set.

"I went to the restroom and just told myself to fight and to do my best," said the 17-year-old, who is now training in France. "In the first set my serve was terrible, so many double faults, and it was in my head, so that toilet break really helped me to clean my mind."

Sushkova is playing her first tournament on green clay, but she prefers it to the red clay prevalent in Europe.

"I like it because it doesn't bounce really high like on normal clay," Sushkova said. "For me, it's really good, I'm an aggressive player, so when the ball doesn't bounce high I have less time and feel it better."

Sushkova left her home country to train near Nice when Russia invaded Ukraine.

"For the first two years I was really struggling a lot mentally," said Sushkova, who travels with her French coach. "I used to be home, with my parents and grandparents. Now my mom stays with me, I see my dad only when I come to Ukraine, maybe one time per year, so it's quite tough. But we keep in touch, all the time, I call him after every match, I think he was actually watching this match (on live stream). But in time, I'm getting better in France, and it's my second home now."

Sushkova will face James in the quarterfinals, with the other quarterfinal in the top half featuring Hollie Smart of Great Britain and No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia. Smart defeated No. 15 seed Iva Marinkovic of Sweden 6-2, 7-5 and Cvetkovic beat Tereza Hermanova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The only quarterfinal between two seeds is No. 9 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India and No. 4 sed Larray Giudi. Rajeshwaran Revathi defeated No. 6 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the bottom quarter, No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China will be looking for revenge against unseeded Kristina Liutova, who beat Sun 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals of the ITF J300 College Park in August. Sun beat unseeded Pavla Sviglerova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1 today, while Liutova defeated 14-year-old Sofiia Bielinska 6-3, 6-2. 

The Sun-Liutova quarterfinal is the only one where the competitors have played previously on the ITF Junior Circuit.

The doubles semifinals are set for Friday afternoon. 

No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia will face No. 4 seeds Michael Antonius and Johnson in the top half; No. 7 seeds Johan Oscar Lien of Norway and Rejchtmann Vinciguerra play two-time junior slam champions Wazny and Oskari Paldanius of Finland.

Unseeded Rira Kosaka and Aoi Watanabe of Japan meet No. 3 seeds Sawashiro and Sun in the girls top half semifinal; No. 4 seeds Melije Clarke and Ha Eum Lee of Korea play No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi.

The 12s, 14s and 16s divisions played their quarterfinals today, with 11 Americans still in the hunt for titles. An American girl will be the 16s champion, with all semifinalists from the United States. The girls 12s division is the only one of the six without an American still in contention for a title.

B12s Quarterfinals:
Rui He (CHN) d. Yeseong Lee[9] (KOR) 6-3, 6-0
Jobe Dikkenberg[3](AUS) d. Dmitriy Flyam[7] (USA) 6-3, 5-7, 10-6

Minchan Kwon[16] (KOR) d. Daichi Fujise (JPN) 2-6, 6-2, 10-1
James Borchard[5] (USA) d. Zirui Zhao (CHN) 6-4, 7-5

B14s Quarterfinals:
Genidy Mohamed[1] (EGY) d. Siyun Kim[7] (KOR) 6-3, 6-2
Tristan Ascenzo[3] (USA) d. Kenshin Sato (JPN) 6-2, 6-0

Akhmadi Makhanov[10] (KAZ) d. Boshi Wang[4] (USA) 6-2, 7-6(11)
Ignacio Mejias[16] (VEN) d. Yosuke Hino[8] (SGP) 6-3, 6-0

B16s Quarterfinals:
Mason Vaughan[1] (USA) d. Rafael Bote[5] (CAN) 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
Artem Dmytrenko[9] (USA) d. Dhakshish Aryan[4] (USA) 6-4, 6-1

Colter Amey (USA) d. Ansar Niyetkaliyev (KAZ) 6-4, 6-0
Jang Junseo[14] (KOR) d. Cristobal Plasencia Robles[12] USA) 6-1, 6-2

G12s Quarterfinals:
Xiaoke Li (CHN) d. Chloe Anthony[7] USA) 3-6, 6-4, 10-1
Yoonseol Choi (KOR) d. Zana Peric[8] (USA) 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-3

Fangqiao Zou[4] (CHN) d. Yeonkyung Lim[6] (KOR) 6-2, 6-3
Seungyeon Seo[5] (AUS) d. Inie Toli[2] (USA) 6-0, 6-2

G14s Quarterfinals:
Adriana Khomyakova[13] (USA) d. Mia Tanasoiu (USA) 6-0, 6-1
Konstantina Volonaki[5](GRE) d. Jiayi Lu(CHN)[10] 7-6(6), 6-2

Zihao Han[4] (CHN) d. Srishti Kiran[11] (IND) 6-2, 6-0
Ayaka Iwasa[9] (JPN) d. Xinran Yan[12] (CHN) 6-2, 6-2

G16s Quarterfinals:
Adelina Iftime[11] (USA) d. Kara Fronek[16] (AUT) 7-5, 6-0
Samvrutha Jawahar[7] (USA) d. Sadira Ouyang[3] USA) 6-4, 6-3

Tanvi Pandey[6] (USA) d. Vibha Gogineni[4](USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
London Evans (USA) d. Shaya Jovanovic (USA) 6-0, 6-4

Two rounds of doubles were played this afternoon and both the semifinals and finals are scheduled for Friday.

Qualifying for the 16s Orange Bowl begins Friday, and main draw wild cards have been determined. Draws and order of play can be found here.

Boys 16s wild cards:

Kush Bhandari

Chase Bowden

Diego Custodio

Alexander Farias

Mark Mrcela

Sulaiman Syed

Alexander Totian

Johnny Wolf

Girls 16s wild cards:

Audrey Dussault

Genevieve Hayden

Fiona Hu

Kylee Hung

Sofia Kedrin

Evelynn Kwak

Priyanka Tallamraju

The University of Virginia announced today that former ITF World Junior No. 1 and 2024 ITF J300 Bradenton and Orange Bowl champion Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain will be joining the team in January. Although Rafael Jodar is still planning to return to the team for the spring season, should the Spanish sophomore have notable results at the NextGen ATP Finals or in the Australian Open qualifying, that could change, and Santamarta would soften the blow should Jodar decide not to return.

Look HOOS joining us in January!!
Everyone welcome our newest Cavalier Andrés Santamarta Roig
🔶 Reached No. 1 World Junior Ranking
🔷 Won 7 Junior titles, including winning the 2024 Orange Bowl and Eddie Herr
🔶 Ranked No. 611 in the ATP World Rankings#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/NDK0jZG9zi

— Virginia Men's Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) December 4, 2025