My Conversation with Former USTA Player Development Head Martin Blackman; Rodriguez Reaches ITF J300 Coffee Bowl Final; Seven Americans Play Australian Open Junior First Round Matches Saturday; Gauff, Paul Reach AO Fourth Round

Earlier this month I spoke with Martin Blackman, who served as General Manager of Player Development for the USTA from 2015 through the end of last year. When the USTA announced a reorganization in October, the release also revealed that Blackman was leaving. The much broader position that will include Player Development has not yet been filled, but I wanted to highlight the structure and the philosophy that Blackman and Jose Higueras, among many others at Player Development, established and refined over the past ten years. I didn't have much interaction with Blackman in his first stint USTA back in 2009 and 2010, but I did several interviews with him in the first few years after he took over for Patrick McEnroe in 2015 and have followed his role as GM of Player Development closely in the years since.

I feel that after all these years, I'm fairly well-versed in what Player Development does, but I urge you to read his answer to the first two questions I asked in my interview for Tennis Recruiting Network, because I learned a lot more about how the Team USA concept developed, why it looks like it does, and how the foundation is there for the new structure if the current USTA board and management can refrain from blowing it up.

I'm glad Blackman is staying connected to tennis, but I wish that he was still directly influencing American tennis in an official capacity. He has set the bar high, and the USTA has a lot of work ahead to clear it.

The girls final at the ITF J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica and it will not include either of the top two seeds.  Sixteen-year-old Ava Rodriguez, who had never reached a J300 quarterfinal until this week, is now into the final, after defeating top seed Katie Rolls 6-4, 6-1. Rodriguez, who has committed to Georgia for 2026, will face No. 4 seed Mariella Thamm of Germany, who beat No. 2 seed Capucine Jauffret 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

The boys final will be determined after tonight's all-USA semifinals, with qualifier Michael Antonius facing Ryan Cozad and Yubel Ubri taking on No. 8 seed Jack Satterfield. Ubri defeated No. 6 seed Lachlan Gaskell 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the night quarterfinal match.

Seven of the 15 Americans competing in the Australian Open Junior Championships are in action Saturday (tonight in the United States).  The ITF has two previews of the tournament, here and here.

Live scoring is available at the Australian Open website, with live streaming of all matches at ESPN+.

Tommy Paul and Coco Gauff advanced to the fourth round with wins Friday; eight more Americans will attempt to join them in third round action Saturday.

Friday's third round Australian Open results of Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] d. Leylah Fernandez[30](CAN) 6-4, 6-2

Olga Danilovic(SRB) d. Jessica Pegula[7] 7-6(3), 6-1 

Tommy Paul[12] d. Roberto Carballes Baena(ESP) 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-0

Saturday's third round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Emma Navarro[8] v Ons Jabeur(TUN)

Madison Keys[19] v Danielle Collins[10]

Taylor Fritz[4] v Gael Monfils(FRA)

Marcos Giron v Jannik Sinner[1](ITA)

Alex Michelsen v Karen Khachanov[19](RUS)

Ben Shelton[21] v Lorenzo Musetti[16](ITA)

Learner Tien[Q] v Corentin Moutet(FRA)

Tien Defeats Medvedev in Fifth Set Tiebreaker to Join Ten Other Americans in Australian Open Round Three; AO Junior Championships Begin Saturday with Jones, Kumstat Top Seeds; Seven Americans Reach ITF J300 Coffee Bowl Semifinals

Joao Fonseca of Brazil was the talk of the Australian Open after the 18-year-old Next Gen champion defeated No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets in the first round. Fonseca lost his second round match Thursday to Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, but Next Gen finalist Learner Tien(USC) kept the buzz on the teenagers in this first week with a 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(7) win over three-time Australian Open finalist and No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia. 

It looked as if the 19-year-old Californian, a two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion, might have missed his opportunity when he didn't convert a match point in the third set tiebreaker, with the wear and tear of three qualifying matches and a nearly four-hour first round win over Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina likely to have an impact as the clock ticked past midnight. The fourth set seemed to confirm that supposition, but the fifth set upended the narrative, with Tien going up a break for a 3-1 lead, only to give it right back. When Medvedev broke Tien at 5-all, he appeared poised to end the valiant battle Tien had put up, but Tien broke back to force the deciding tiebreaker. After he missed an easy forehand wide to fall behind 7-6, Medvedev was in great position, but Tien hit two forehand winners, got an unforced error from a Medvedev for 9-7 and then slid a first serve up the T that Medvedev returned long to secure the improbable, nearly five-hour upset just shy of 3 a.m. Melbourne time.

David Kane has more on the match at tennis.com.

Thursday's second Australian Open results of Americans:

Emma Navarro[8] d. Xiyu Wang(CHN) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

Madison Keys[19] d. Elena-Gabriela Ruse[Q](ROU) 7-6(1), 2-6, 7-5

Emma Raducanu(GBR) d. Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5 

Elena Rybakina[6](KAZ) d. Iva Jovic[WC] 6-0, 6-3

Danielle Collins[10] d. Destanee Aiava[Q](AUS) 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2

Elina Svitolina[28](UKR) d. Caroline Dolehide 6-1, 6-4

Alex de Minaur[8](AUS) d. Tristan Boyer[Q] 6-2, 6-4, 6-3

Taylor Fritz[4] d. Christian Garin[Q](CHI) 6-2 ,6-1, 6-0

Learner Tien[Q] v Daniil Medvedev[5](RUS) 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(7)

Ben Shelton[21] d. Pablo Carreno Busta(ESP) 6-3, 6-3, 6-7(4) 6-4

Fabian Marozsan(HUN) d. Frances Tiafoe[17] 6-7(3). 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 

Alex Michelsen d. James McCabe[WC](AUS) 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(4)

Corentin Moutet(FRA) d. Mitchell Kreuger[Q] 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-4 

Marcos Giron d. Tomas Martin Etcheverry(ARG) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4

Friday's third round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:
Coco Gauff[3] v Leylah Fernandez[30](CAN)
Jessica Pegula[7] v Olga Danilovic(SRB)

Tommy Paul[12] v Roberto Carballes Baena(ESP)

The draws for the Australian Open Junior Championships, which begin Saturday(Friday night in the US), have been released with the same 15 Americans that compete in the J300 in Traralgon in the main draw. Jacob Lee, the only American in qualifying, lost his final round qualifying match to Tom Sickenberger of Germany 6-1, 6-1.

The Americans competing are Kristina Penickova[6], Thea Frodin, Maya Iyengar, Claire An, Aspen Schuman, Shannon Lam, Annika Penickova, Jack Kennedy[4], Jagger Leach[5], Maxwell Exsted[10], Dominick Mosejczuk, Matisse Farzam, Noah Johnston, Benjamin Willwerth. Maximus Dussault.

The boys seeds are below, with no change from the Traralgon seeds except for No. 16.

1. Jan Kumstsat(CZE)

2. Amir Omarkhanov(KAZ)

3. Andres Santamarta Roig(ESP)

4. Jack Kennedy(USA)

5. Jagger Leach(USA)

6. Oliver Bonding(GBR)

7. Oskari Paldanius(FIN)

8. Henry Bernet(SUI)

9. Timofei Derepasko(RUS)

10. Maxwell Exsted(USA)

11. Flynn Thomas(SUI)

12. Andrea De Marchi(ITA

13. Moise Kouame(FRA)

14. William Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE)

15. Alan Wazny(POL)

16. Alexander Vasilev(BUL)

The girls seeds are quite different, with three of the top four seeds not playing Traralgon: top seed Emerson Jones of Australia, No. 2 seed and US Open girls champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain, and US Open girls finalist Wakana Sonobe of Japan. Two other girls seeds also did not play Traralgon: No. 9 Mingge Xu of Great Britain and No. 12 seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic. Those five additions bumped Americans Thea Frodin and Maya Iyengar, who were seeds in Traralgon, out of seeding territory.

Girls seeds:

1. Emerson Jones(AUS)

2. Mika Stojsavljevic(GBR)

3. Jeline Vandromme(BEL)

4. Wakana Sonobe(JPN)

5. Teodora Kostovic(SRB)

6. Kristina Penickova(USA)

7. Tereza Krejcova(CZE)

8. Elizara Yaneva(BUL)

9. Mingge Xu(GBR)

10. Rositsa Dencheva(BUL)

11. Jana Kovackova(CZE)

12. Alena Kovackova(CZE)

13. Vendula Valdmannova(CZE)

14. Hannah Klugman(GBR)

15. Mika Buchnik(ISR)

16. Julia Stusek(GER)

Henry Bernet of Switzerland and Jeline Vandromme of Belgium won the Traralgon singles titles.

The ITF J300 in Costa Rica will have an American boy as the singles champion for the third time in the last four years, with all Friday's semifinalists from the United States.  

Last week's J100 champion Ryan Cozad continued his run, beating No. 5 seed Calvin Baierl 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, his eighth straight win this month in Costa Rica. He will face 15-year-old qualifier Michael Antonius in the first J300 semifinal for both. Antonius defeated No. 7 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico 7-6, 6-4.  No. 8 seed Jack Satterfield, who beat wild card Keaton Hance 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 6 seed Lachlan Gaskell and Yubel Ubri.

Three of the four girls in the semifinals are from the United States, with top seed Katie Rolls advancing via a 6-1, 6-2 win over Ligaya Murray and No. 2 seed Capucine Jauffret defeating Carrie-Anne Hoo 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Rolls will face unseeded Ava Rodriguez, who beat qualifier Lucy Oyebog Atang 6-3, 6-3; Jauffret takes on the only non-American semifinalist in No. 4 seed Mariella Thamm of Germany. Thamm defeated No. 5 seed Julieta Pareja, her doubles partner, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.

The draws on the ITF Junior Circuit website have not been updated, but the draws on the Coffee Bowl tournament site are current.

Fourteen of 16 Quarterfinalists at ITF J300 Coffee Bowl from US; Vandromme and Bernet Claim Traralgon J300 Titles, Americans Win Doubles; Australian Open Second Round Singles Concludes with 14 Americans in Action Thursday

Although there are two night matches Wednesday at the Coffee Bowl, the ITF J300 in Costa Rica, the number of all-US quarterfinals Thursday is six, with just two non-Americans advancing in today's second round action.

Tonight's two night matches, which are played outdoors in contrast to the day matches held indoors this year, feature Jack Satterfield[8] and qualifier Gray Kelley and No. 2 seed Jack Secord and wild card Keaton Hance. Hance and Secord were members of November's USA Junior Davis Cup team that won the title; both played No. 2, behind Jack Kennedy, with Hance at that spot throughout the knockout round. 

Ryan Cozad defeated top seed Dante Pagani of Argentina 7-5, 6-4 last night and took out Andrew Johnson 6-4, 6-1 today. Cozad won the J100 in Costa Rica last week.

The boys quarterfinals:

Ryan Cozad v Calvin Baierl[5]

Michael Antonius[Q] v Yannik Alvarez[7](PUR)

Lachlan Gaskell[6] v Yubel Ubri

Satterfield/Kelley v Hance/Secord

The girls quarterfinals:

Katie Rolls[1] v Ligaya Murray

Lucy Oyebog Atang[Q] v Ava Rodriguez

Julieta Pareja[5] v Mariella Thamm[4](GER)

Carrie-Anne Hoo v Capucine Jauffret[2]

The ITF J300 in Traralgon Australia finished Wednesday, with top seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium and No. 8 seed Henry Bernet of Switzerland taking the singles titles. Vandromme defeated unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France 6-3, 6-1 in the final, while Bernet defeated unseeded Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia 6-2, 6-3.

Kristina and Annika Penickova won their eighth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, with the No. 3 seeds beating Teodora Kostovic of Serbia and Anamaria Federica Oana of Romania 6-3, 6-2 in the final. 

Top seeds Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding won the boys doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Max Exsted and the Czech Republic's Jan Kumstat 6-3, 5-7, 10-4 in the final.

Jacob Lee, the only American in the Australian Open Junior Championships qualifying, won his first round match Wednesday, beating No. 13 seed Kohshi Ishibashi of Japan 7-6(5), 6-3. He will face No. 4 seed Tom Sickenberger of Germany for a place in the main draw Thursday (tonight in the US).  

Again, much respect for Tennis Australia electing to play a full third set in these qualifying matches, which Roland Garros also does. Sadly, that is not the case at Wimbledon or the US Open, where a match tiebreaker often decides who qualifies for the main draw.

Three of the five Americans in Australian Open second round action Wednesday advanced in men's and women's singles, but No. 22 seed Sebastian Korda lost to former University of Illinois All-American Aleks Vukic of Australia. Korda is the first seeded American to lose in the Australian Open this year. Fourteen Americans are on Thursday's schedule:

Wednesday's second round Australian Open results of Americans:

Jessica Pegula[7] d. Elise Mertens(BEL) 6-4 6-2

Coco Gauff[3] v Jodi Burrage(GBR) 6-3, 7-5

Aleks Vukic(AUS) d. Sebastian Korda[22] 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5

Tomas Machac[26](CZE) d. Reilly Opelka 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-4 

Tommy Paul[12] d. Kei Nishikori(JPN) 6-7(3), 6-0, 6-3, 6-1

Thursday's second Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Emma Navarro[8] v Xiyu Wang(CHN)

Madison Keys[19] v Elena-Gabriela Ruse[Q](ROU)

Amanda Anisimova v Emma Raducanu(GBR)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Elena Rybakina[6](KAZ)

Danielle Collins[10] v Destanee Aiava[Q](AUS)

Caroline Dolehide v Elina Svitolina[28](UKR)

Tristan Boyer[Q] v Alex de Minaur[8](AUS)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Christian Garin[Q](CHI)

Learner Tien[Q] v Daniil Medvedev[5](RUS)

Ben Shelton[21] v Pablo Carreno Busta(ESP)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Fabian Marozsan(HUN)

Alex Michelsen v James McCabe[WC](AUS)

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Corentin Moutet(FRA)

Marcos Giron v Tomas Martin Etcheverry(ARG)

Jovic Advances, Eleven US Men, Including All Three Qualifiers, Reach Australian Open Second Round; AO Junior Qualifying Begins; W35 in Palm Coast Sole USTA Pro Circuit Event This Week

Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic had not played any warm-up events this year prior making use of her Australian Open wild card, but the ITF Junior No. 2 showed absolutely no signs of rust in her first round match Tuesday, beating 33-year-old Nuria Parrizas-Diaz of Spain 6-2, 6-1. The match was closer than the score would indicate, but Jovic, who lost in the first round of the Australian Open Junior Championships the last time she played in Melbourne, was in control throughout. She will face No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan next, after the 2022 Wimbledon champion breezed past ITF Junior No. 1 Emerson Jones of Australia 6-1, 6-1 in the first round.

American men continued their impressive results, with the two who lost Tuesday going out to compatriots. Over the three days of the first round the US men had 11-3 record.

All three qualifiers made it through the first round on Tuesday, with Learner Tien(USC) and Tristan Boyer(Stanford) getting their first slam victories by coming through in five-set battles with Argentinians. Mitchell Krueger won his first slam match outside of the United States, with the 31-year-old beating former UNC star Rinky Hijikata of Australia in straight sets.

The US women have had much less success, going 8-11, although all five seeds have made the second round. No. 8 seed Emma Navarro(Virginia) barely escaped the upset against fellow NCAA singles champion Peyton Stearns(Texas) who led 5-3 in the third set before falling 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5 in three hours and 20 minutes. Two other American NCAA champions advanced, Ben Shelton(Florida, 2022) in another all-US battle against Brandon Nakashima, and Marcos Giron(UCLA, 2014).

ATP Next Gen champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil, the 2023 US Open boys champion, continued his surge, with the 18-year-old qualifier defeating No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-6(5).

Only five Americans are on Wednesday's schedule, although that's just in singles, as the schedule is full of first round doubles matches.

Qualifying for the Australian Open Junior Championships begins Wednesday(tonight in the United States), with only one American making the trip who did not receive entry into the main draw: Jacob Lee. The 17-year-old from Georgia, with an ITF ranking of 355 when the acceptances were announced, was one out of qualifying at the freeze, but did get in.  

The top seed in boys qualifying is Michele Mecarelli of Italy and
the top seed in girls qualifying is Ada Kumru of Turkey.

The finals are set for Wednesday at the AO junior warmnup, the ITF J300 in Traralgon Australia, with an American champion guaranteed in boys doubles. Top seeds Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding will face No. 2 seeds Maxwell Exsted and Czech Republic's Jan Kumstat after both teams won two matches Tuesday. The tenth-seeded Exsted lost 7-5, 7-5 in his singles semifinal to unseeded Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, who will face No. 8 seed Henry Bernet of Switzerland for the title. Top seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium will play Ksenia Efremova of France in the girls singles championship match.

Kristina and Annika Penickova are through to the girls doubles final, where the No. 3 seeds will play unseeded Teodora Kostovic of Serbia and Anamaria Federica Oana of Romania.

With all eyes on Australia (and Costa Rica's Coffee Bowl, at least for me) this week, it's not too surprising that the USTA Pro Circuit features just one tournament: a W35 in Palm Harbor Florida. Qualifying concluded today, with three Americans advancing to the main draw: 18-year-old NC State recruit Tori Osuigwe, 2015 NCAA singles champion Jamie Loeb(UNC) and 2021 NCAA doubles champion Makenna Jones(UNC).

Wild cards were awarded to Malaika Rapolu(Texas), UCLA freshman Kate Fakih, USTA 18s Winter Nationals champion Chukwumelije Clarke and 32-year-old Christina McHale, who had retired in 2022, but has been back competing in USTA events since last November.

Marie Benoit of Belgium is the top seed, with No. 3 seed Sophie Chang the top American. Texas A&M senior Mary Stoiana is in the main draw and won her first round match today against Eva Vedder of the Netherlands 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2.

Michelsen Beats Tsitsipas in Australian Open First Round, 17 Americans Play Openers Tuesday; Exsted Advances to ITF Traralgon J300 Semifinals; US Juniors Flood ITF J300 Coffee Bowl Draws

The second of three days of first round action at the Australian Open ended with eight more Americans advancing to the second round, joining Reilly Opelka, who won on Sunday.  The only US man to lose so far is 19-year-old wild card Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), who impressed in his slam debut with a 4-6,  6-3, 6-4, 6-2 loss to 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, the No. 7 seed this year. 

Alex Michelsen, who lost to Basavareddy last week in Auckland, took out No. 11 seed and 2023 Australian Open men's singles finalist Stefano Tsitsipas of Greece 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, with the other American men, all seeded, getting through their opening matches. Eight more US men play Tuesday; nine American women play Tuesday, including 2024 USTA Girls 18s champion Iva Jovic.

First Round Australian Open results featuring Americans:

Monday (Sunday night in US)

Danielle Collins[10] d. Daria Snigur[Q](UKR) 7-6(4), 6-3

Caroline Dolehide d. Sara Bejlek[Q](CZE) 7-6(5), 6-2

Ajla Tomljanovic[WC](AUS) d. Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Laura Siegemund(GER) d. Hailey Baptiste 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

Coco Gauff[3] d. Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-3

Jessica Pegula[7] d. Maya Joint[WC](AUS) 6-3, 6-0

Rebecca Sramkova(SVK) d. Katie Volynets 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 

Alex Michelsen d. Stefanos Tsitsipas[11](GRE) 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

Frances Tiafoe[17] d. Arthur Rinderknech(FRA) 7-6(2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-3

Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)d. Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

Sebastian Korda[22] d. Lukas Klein[Q](SVK) 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)

Tommy Paul[12] d. Christopher O'Connell(AUS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-5

Tuesday first round matches featuring Americans(Monday night in US):

Marcos Giron v Yannick Hanfmann(GER)

Tristan Boyer[Q] v Federico Coria(ARG)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Jenson Brooksby

Ben Shelton[21] v Brandon Nakashima

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Rinky Hijikata (AUS)

Learner Tien[Q] v Camilo Ugo Carabelli(ARG)

Emma Navarro[8] v Peyton Stearns

Madison Keys[19] v Ann Li

McCartney Kessler v Shuai Zhang[WC] (CHN)

Caty McNally v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Amanda Anisimova v Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG)

Taylor Townsend v Renata Zarazua (MEX)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Nuria Parrizas-Diaz(ESP)

Tristan Boyer(Stanford) is playing his first main draw match at a slam, but it's not under the best of circumstances, as the Los Angeles area city where he grew up, Altadena, was one of the areas hardest hit by the devastating wildfires. Boyer spoke to KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, with Randy Walker at World Tennis Magazine putting together this article about the Boyers, a prominent tennis family in the Southern Californian section.

The semifinals are set at the ITF J300 in Traralgon, with No. 10 seed Maxwell Exsted the sole American to advance out of the quarterfinals. Exsted, the No. 10 seed, defeated No. 16 seed Ognjen Milic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2 to reach a semifinal against unseeded Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, who is having a breakout tournament this week. He prevented an all-US semifinal with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3) win over No. 5 seed Jagger Leach. Henry Bernet of Switzerland will face No. 7 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland in the other boys semifinal.

Top seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium will play qualifier Yihan Qu of China in the girls top half semifinal. No. 9 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain will play unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France, who beat Annika Penickova 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

The Penickova twins and four US boys on three different teams are in the doubles quarterfinals, which are behind schedule due to rain earlier in the tournament.

The ITF J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica is underway, and, as usual, the draws are full of Americans. Eighteen of the 32 boys in the main draw are from the United States, and 18 of the 32 girls in the main draw are Americans, meaning that two first round matches in each draw are all-US contests. New this year is the designation of the event as an indoor tournament, and perhaps because of that change, live streaming is available on five courts.

The American boys competing in the main draw are: Ryan Cozad(who won last week's J100 in Costa Rica), Andrew Johnson, Nischal Spurling, Calvin Baierl[5], Ronit Karki[4], Michael Antonius[Q], Gavin Goode, Mason Taube[Q], Jacob Olar, Lachlan Gaskell[6], Simon Caldwell, Zachary Cohen, Yubel Ubri, Jack Satterfield[8], Jordan Lee, Gray Kelley[Q], Keaton Hance[WC] and Jack Secord[2]. Dante Pagani of Argentina is the top seed.

The tournament website updates scores during the day, and the draw is showing that Ubri defeated No. 3 seed Fumin Jiang of China 6-3, 6-3 today.

The American girls are led by top seed Kaitlyn Rolls, with the other 17 girls in the draw Kori Montoya, Sabrina Lin, Ligaya Murray, Hannah Ayrault[WC], Leena Friedman[3], Lucy Oyego Atang[Q], Ava Rodriguez, Kayla Chung, Julieta Pareja[5], Ireland O'Brien[Q], Ishika Ashar, Kaya Moe, Nancy Lee[7], Carrie-Anne Hoo, Raya Kotseva[WC], Sara Shumate[Q] and Capucine Jauffret[2].

Chung defeated No. 8 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil 6-3, 6-2 in the first round today.

Three Americans Reach ITF J300 Traralgon Quarterfinals; Opelka Advances at Australian Open; Maloney Sweeps Ithaca $25K Titles, College Seniors Milavsky, Vives Win $15Ks

Three Americans have advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITF J300 in Traralgon Australia, the warm-up tournament for the Australian Open Junior Championships, which begin Saturday(Friday night in the United States). The rain that resulted in a six-hour delay completing first round matches at the Australian Open in Melbourne have also had an impact on the Traralgon tournament, with the first round of doubles not yet complete. But the singles have stayed on schedule, with upsets definitely a trend in the first three rounds. 

Boys top seed Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic, the 2024 Australian Open boys finalist, lost to No. 14 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-2 in the round of 16,  and No. 3 seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, the Bradenton J300 and Orange Bowl champion, lost to Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-1 in the second round. With No. 4 seed Jack Kennedy losing to Jacopo Vasami of Italy in the second round, that leaves No. 5 seed Jagger Leach as the highest seed remaining in the boys quarterfinals. He defeated No. 11 seed Flynn Thomas of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and will play unseeded Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, who beat Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.

No. 10 seed Maxwell Exsted beat No. 6 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-4 and will face No. 16 seed Ognjen Milic of Serbia in the quarterfinals. Exsted and Leach will meet in the semifinals if they win.

Girls top seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium is through to the quarterfinals, but she and No. 9 Hannah Klugman of Great Britain are the only two seeds remaining, with two qualifiers--Brooke Black of Great Britain and Yihan Qu of China--also still in contention for the singles title. Unseeded Annika Penickova will play unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France for the second time in a month, with Efremova beating Penickova in the first round at the Orange Bowl. Efremova defeated No. 12 seed Thea Frodin 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round.

Reilly Opelka was the only American to advance on the first day of the Australian Open, with 14 more on Monday's schedule.

First Round Australian Open results of Americans:
Sunday (Saturday night in US)

Aryna Sabalenka[1] d. Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2
Tatjana Maria(GER) d.  Bernarda Pera 7-6(3), 6-4

Reilly Opelka d. Gauthier Onclin[Q](BEL) 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2

First Round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Monday (Sunday night in US)

Danielle Collins[10] v Daria Snigur[Q](UKR)

Caroline Dolehide v Sara Bejlek[Q](CZE)

Ashlyn Krueger v Ajla Tomljanovic[WC](AUS)

Hailey Baptiste v Laura Siegemund(GER)

Coco Gauff[3] v Sofia Kenin

Jessica Pegula[7] v Maya Joint[WC](AUS)

Katie Volynets v Rebecca Sramkova (SVK)

Alex Michelsen v Stefanos Tsitsipas[11](GRE)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Arthur Rinderknech(FRA)

Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] v Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)

Sebastian Korda[22] v Lukas Klein[Q](SVK)

Tommy Paul[12] v Christopher O'Connell(AUS)

Tuesday (Monday night in US)

Marcos Giron v Yannick Hanfmann(GER)

Tristan Boyer[Q] v Federico Coria(ARG)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Jenson Brooksby

Ben Shelton[21] v Brandon Nakashima

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Rinky Hijikata(AUS)

Learner Tien[Q] v Camilo Ugo Carabelli(ARG)

Emma Navarro[8] v Peyton Stearns

Madison Keys[19] v Ann Li

McCartney Kessler v Shuai Zhang[WC](CHN)

Caty McNally v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Amanda Anisimova v Maria Lourdes Carle(ARG)

Taylor Townsend v Renata Zarazua(MEX)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Nuria Parrizas-Diaz(ESP)

Former Michigan standout Patrick Maloney captured his second USTA Pro Circuit singles title today in Ithaca New York, with the No. 4 seed defeating unseeded Theo Papamalamis of France 7-6(5), 6-4 in the $25,000 tournament's final. The 24-year-old Maloney, who won the doubles title yesterday, claimed his first title at the $15K in Los Angeles last June.

Unseeded Katherine Sebov of Canada won the W35 in Naples, beating Jessica Pieri of Italy 6-2, 6-0.

Victoria Mboko gave Canada another ITF World Tennis Tour women's champion today at the W35 in Martinique, with the No. 4 seed beating No. 2 seed and fellow 18-year-old Clervie Ngounoue 7-5, 6-3 in the final. Mboko also beat Ngounoue in the doubles final Saturday night, partnering with Cadence Brace of Canada to defeat top seeds Ngounoue and Olivia Lincer(Central Florida) of Poland 6-2, 7-6(2).

Two 23-year-old college seniors collected titles today at $15,000 ITF men's World Tennis Tour tournaments, with TCU's Pedro Vives earning his first pro singles title in his home country of Spain and Harvard's Daniel Milavsky posting his second career title, both in the past two months, in Jamaica.

The unseeded Vives, who won the NCAA doubles title in November, defeated unseeded Georgii Savchenko of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in the final. 

The unseeded Milavsky, who won the $15K in Tallahassee in November, now has run his Pro Circuit winning streak to 12(including qualifying) with a marathon victory in the final. Milavsky defeated No. 8 seed Guillaume Dalmasso of France 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5 in a three-hour and 13-minute final. 

Kessler, Keys Win WTA Titles; Ngounoue Reaches W35 Final in Martinique; Cozad, Reddy Claim ITF J100 Titles

McCartney Kessler won her first WTA title the week before the US Open last year in Cleveland. The former University of Florida All-American won her second WTA title Saturday, on the eve of the Australian Open, at the 250 in Hobart, a result that boosted her ranking into the Top 50 for the first time.

The 25-year-old from Georgia, who played her last collegiate match in 2022, defeated the top two seeds en route to the title in Hobart, taking out No. 1 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and No. 2 seed and 2018 Hobart champion Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in the final. Kessler was not shy about going for lines throughout the match, and once she broke to go up 2-0 in the third set, the winners came in bunches.

Kessler lost in the first round of the US Open last year to Marta Kostyuk, who was the No. 19 seed; this year at the Australian Open, she plays Shuai Zhang of China, who won the Asia-Pacific wild card tournament to earn a place in the main draw.

Madison Keys won her ninth WTA title at the 500 in Adelaide, beating Jessica Pegula 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in Saturday's final. Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada won the ATP 250 in Adelaide with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Sebastian Korda.

Clervie Ngounoue has reached the final of the W35 in Martinique this week, with the 2023 Wimbledon girls champion set to face fellow 18-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada in the final. Ngounoue, the No. 2 seed, advanced when No. 3 seed Harmony Tan of France retired trailing 6-2, 1-0; The fourth-seeded Mboko defeated No. 5 seed Cadence Brace of Canada 7-6(4), 6-2.

Unseeded Theo Papamalamis of France will face No. 4 seed Patrick Maloney(Michigan) in the final of the men's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Ithaca New York Sunday. Papamalamis defeated Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-4, 6-4, while Maloney beat No. 5 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-0.  Maloney has already secured one title, winning the doubles today with Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian). The No. 2 seeds defated top seeds Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) and Pranav Kumar(Texas A&M, SMU) 6-4, 7-6(6). 

Sunday's final at the women's W35 in Naples Florida will feature two unseeded players, with Jessica Pieri of Italy taking on Katherine Sebov of Canada. Pieri beat 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Osuigwe 6-3, 6-1, while Sebov survived a three-hour and 28 minute battle with No. 4 seed Eli Mandlik to post a 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 victory. 

Maribella and Allura Zamarripa(Texas) won their eighth Pro Circuit doubles title, with the No. 4 seeds beating No. 3 seeds Julie Belgraver of France and Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-1.

The Australian Open, starting in less than an hour, will be my main focus for the next two weeks, so I want to cover the American titles in this week's ITF Junior Circuit tournaments a few days early.

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Cozad swept the titles at the ITF Junior Circuit J100 in Costa Rica, the warm-up tournament to the J300 Coffee Bowl next week. Cozad, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 3 seed and Kalamazoo 16s doubles champion partner Yannick Alvarez of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-4 in today's final. Cozad did not play with Alvarez in doubles and in fact was on the other side of the net from Alvarez in the doubles final, with Cozad and Keaton Hance, the top seeds, defeating No. 2 seeds Alvarez and Mason Taube 4-2, 4-2 in the final. Alvarez played four matches Friday, which explains the abbreviated scoring in the doubles final that day.

No. 2 seed and San Diego 16s champion Ishika Ashar lost in the girls singles final to Sarina Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 6-4. Ashar also lost in the doubles final, with unseeded Ireland O'Brien and Lucy Oyebog Atang beating No. 2 seeds Ashar and Raya Kotseva 2-4, 5-4(5), 12-10 in the all-USA final. 

At the J100 in the United Arab Emirates, 15-year-old Vihaan Reddy won his biggest ITF Junior Circuit title and his first representing the United States, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 7 seed Mustafa Ege Sik of Turkey 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the final. No. 8 seed Sebastian Bielen made the singles semifinals and the doubles final.

Roshan Santhosh lost 6-1, 6-1 to No. 4 seed Donghyun Hwang of Korean in the ITF J300 final in New Delhi India today.

At the J30 in Claremont California, Andre Alcantara and Natalie Kha won the singles titles, with the unseeded 16-year-old Kha winning her first ITF Junior Circuit title and the 17-year-old Alcantara his second singles title, although he has won seven doubles titles. Kha defeated unseeded Alisa Lansky of Israel 7-5, 6-2 in the final; No. 2 seed Alcantara beat unseeded Rishvanth Krishna 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the all-USA final.  

No. 3 seeds Tyler Lee and Justin Riley Anson won the boys doubles title, beating top seeds Alcantara and Adrien Abarca 6-3, 3-6, 10-2 in the final. Unseeded Lily Bazemore and Olivia Lewis won the girls doubles title, beating No. 4 seeds Cassie Blakey and Tayler Conway 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Three of 33 Americans in Australian Open Draw in Action Sunday; Winter Nationals Recaps; Qualifier Osuigwe Advances to Naples W35 Semifinals; Papamalamis Joins Three Americans in Ithaca $25K Semis; Santhosh Reaches ITF J300 Final in India

The Australian Open is one of two majors that starts on Sunday, with Roland Garros the other, and with the time difference, that means the first action begins Saturday night here in the United States. Only three Americans are on Sunday's schedule in Melbourne; from some of the information that has been posted on social media, I think I have correctly determined which days the other 30 Americans will play their first round matches. Unfortunately, this year there are five first round matches with Americans facing each other.

First Round Australian Open matches featuring Americans: 

Sunday (Saturday night in US):
Sloane Stephens v Aryna Sabalenka[1]
Bernarda Pera v Tatjana Maria(GER)
Reilly Opelka v Gauthier Onclin[Q](BEL)

Monday (Sunday night in US):

Danielle Collins[10] v Daria Snigur[Q](UKR)

Caroline Dolehide v Sara Bejlek[Q](CZE)

Ashlyn Krueger v Ajla Tomljanovic[WC](AUS)

Hailey Baptiste v Laura Siegemund(GER)

Coco Gauff[3] v Sofia Kenin

Jessica Pegula[7] v Maya Joint[WC](AUS)

Katie Volynets v Rebecca Sramkova (SVK)

Alex Michelsen v Stefanos Tsitsipas[11](GRE)

Frances Tiafoe[17] v Arthur Rinderknech(FRA)

Nishesh Basavareddy[WC] v Novak Djokovic[7](SRB)

Sebastian Korda[22] v Lukas Klein[Q](SVK)

Tommy Paul[12] v Christopher O'Connell(AUS)

Tuesday (Monday night in US):

Marcos Giron v Yannick Hanfmann(GER)

Tristan Boyer[Q] v Federico Coria(ARG)

Taylor Fritz[4] v Jenson Brooksby

Ben Shelton[21] v Brandon Nakashima

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Rinky Hijikata(AUS)

Learner Tien[Q] v Camilo Ugo Carabelli(ARG)

Emma Navarro[8] v Peyton Stearns

Madison Keys[19] v Ann Li

McCartney Kessler v Shuai Zhang[WC](CHN)

Caty McNally v Varvara Gracheva(FRA)

Amanda Anisimova v Maria Lourdes Carle(ARG)

Taylor Townsend v Renata Zarazua (MEX)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Nuria Parrizas-Diaz(ESP)

Tennis Recruiting Network concluded its coverage of the USTA Winter National championships Thursday, with recaps of all eight finals in Lake Nona and San Antonio.  The 18s recap is here; the 16s is here; the 14s is here and the 12s is here.

Eighteen-year-old Victoria Osuigwe, known as Tori to her friends on the junior circuit, has advanced to the semifinals of the W35 in Naples Florida. The NC State recruit, who qualified into the main draw, defeated top seed Sophie Chang 6-2, 6-1 in the second round Thursday, then beat fellow qualifier Allura Zamarripa(Texas) 6-4, 6-3 today to reach her first Pro Circuit semifinal. Osuigwe will face unseeded 27-year-old Jessica Pieri of Italy Saturday. Eli Mandlik, the No. 4 seed, will face Katherine Sebov of Canada in the other semifinal. Zamarripa, with twin sister Maribella, has advanced to the doubles final; the No. 4 seeds will be playing No. 3 seeds Julie Belgraver of France and Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands for their eighth title as a team.

Nineteen-year-old Theo Papamalamis of France has advanced to the semifinals of a USTA Pro Circuit tournament, with the Texas A&M recruit reaching the final four at the men's $25,000 tournament in Ithaca New York. The unseeded Papamalamis, who finished his ITF junior career at No. 18 in the rankings, defeated Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) 6-1, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. He will face Alex Rybakov(TCU), also unseeded, for a spot in his third Pro Circuit final. Papamalamis is not currently included on the Aggies' roster, but could be awaiting clearance on eligibility from the NCAA.

No. 4 seed Patrick Maloney, the former Michigan star, breezed past NCAA 2024 fall singles champion Michael Zheng of Columbia 6-1, 6-1 to reach the semifinals, where he'll face No. 5 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State). Zink had the toughest quarterfinal win, beating qualifier Justin Boulais(Ohio State) 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 6-3. 

Maloney and partner Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), seeded No. 2, will play top seeds Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) and Pranav Kumar(Texas A&M, SMU) in the doubles final Saturday.

Teens Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) and Maya Joint both lost in the semifinals of the ATP and WTA 250 tournaments yesterday, but McCartney Kessler, the former Florida All-American has reached the final at the WTA 250 in Hobart, winning the final four games of her semifinal Friday against No. 6 seed  Elina Avanesyan of Armenia to earn a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. Kessler plays No. 2 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, who beat Joint 6-2, 6-3, for the title Saturday. Basavareddy lost 7-6(5), 6-4 to Gael Monfils of France at the ATP 250 in Auckland.

Sebastian Korda, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula have also advanced to the finals of the Adelaide ATP 250 and WTA 500. Korda will play Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, with Keys and Pegula meeting for the women's title.

The first round of the ITF J300 in Traralgon didn't go well for the US girls, who lost five of seven matches, with only Thea Frodin[12] and Annika Penickova posting wins. Five of the eight US boys in the draw won their first round matches, including all three seeds: Jack Kennedy[4], Jagger Leach[5] and Maxwell Exsted[10]. Noah Johnston and Dominick Mosejczuk also reached the second round.

At this week's ITF J300 in New Delhi India, unseeded Roshan Santhosh has reached the final, his first above the J60 level. The 16-year-old from California will face his first seed in the final, when he plays No. 4 seed Donghyun Hwang of Korea.

IMG Academy Int'l 12s Finals Videos; Krueger, Boyer and Tien Qualify for Australian Open Main Draw; Basavareddy, Joint and Kessler Reach ATP/WTA Semifinals; ITF J300 Traralgon Begins Friday

The last of the videos from last month's major junior events in Florida have been processed, with the IMG Academy Interntional Championships 12s finalists going up today on my YouTube channel. Videos of all the IMG and Orange Bowl finalists can be viewed there as well.

Qualifying is complete at the Australian Open, with three American men advancing to the main draw: Tristan Boyer(Stanford), Mitchell Krueger and Learner Tien(USC). Last year two Americans made it through: Aleks Kovacevic and Katie Volynets. Kovacevic lost in the second round of qualifying this year; Volynets received direct entry into the main draw this year.

Boyer, 23, will be making his slam debut; Tien played slam qualifying for the first time in Melbourne; he received wild cards into the US Open main draw the past three years, twice as Kalamazoo 18s champion and last year as the USTA Wild Card race winner. Krueger, who turns 31 on Sunday, qualified for the US Open last year and the Australian Open in 2019.

Former Texas A&M All-American Hady Habib will make history as the first player from Lebanon to play in a slam, after he beat former Washington All-American Clement Chidekh of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(8) Thursday in a dramatic final round qualifying match in Melbourne.

Next Gen and 2023 US Open boys champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil, who won the ATP Challenger 125 in Canberra last week, had no difficulty getting through qualifying and has drawn No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev in the first round of the main draw. 2022 US Open champion Martin Landaluce of Spain also qualified, with the three teenagers the most qualifying for a slam since 2015 US Open when five teens, including Alexander Zverev, Rublev and Tommy Paul, qualified.

Thursday's Australian Open final round qualifying results of Americans:

Anca Todoni[12](ROU)d. Vavara Lepchenko[21] 6-3, 6-2

Viktorija Golubic[2](SUI) d. Sachia Vickery 6-2, 6-4

Elena-Gabriela Ruse[15](ROU) d. Emina Bektas 6-2, 7-5

Mitchell Krueger d. Yasutaka Uchiyama(JPN) 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4

Tristan Boyer[26] d. Christopher Eubanks[4] 6-4, 6-4

Gauthier Onclin(BEL) d. McKenzie McDonald[25] 7-6(7), 6-7(5), 6-1

Learner Tien[16] d. Jozef Kovalik[21](SVK) 6-3, 6-4

Ben Rothenberg took a deep dive into former junior slam champions on Bounces, his recently established Substack newsletter, with comments from Renata Jamrichova, Reilly Opelka, Robin Montgomery, Tien, Fonseca and Kimmer Coppejans.

With the Australian Open starting on Saturday night here in the United States, I'll be posting the first round matchups of the 33  Americans in the draw Friday. The draws are available here.

The warm-up events in Australia and New Zealand have produced some notable results this week, with Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), who qualified for the Auckland ATP 250, into the semifinals after beating No. 8 seed Alex Michelsen 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in his first ATP quarterfinal appearance.  Basavareddy, who earned the USTA's reciprocal wild card and is drawn to meet Novak Djokovic in the first round in Melbourne, had beaten No. 2 seed and defending champion Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the second round 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. For more on Basavareddy's semifinal Friday against Gael Monfils of France and his upcoming encounter with Djokovic, see this Reuters article.

Wild card Maya Joint of Australia, who recently announced she was not going to play at Texas, has gotten off to a great start as a pro, reaching the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Hobart. The 18-year-old, who grew up in Michigan, defeated No. 4 seed Magda Linette of Poland in the second round and former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the quarterfinals, with the loss of only six games in those two victories.  Former Florida All-American McCartney Kessler is also through to the semifinals in Hobart, after the 25-year-old from Georgia defeated top seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in Thursday's quarterfinals. 

The ITF J300 in Traralgon, the warmup event for the Australian Open Junior Championships, begins Friday, with seven US girls and eight US boys in the 64-player draws. No Americans played qualifying; KrishaMahendran, the USC recruit who lives in Southern California but represents India, did qualify and will play No. 2 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia in the first round. Jeline Vandromme of Belgium is the top girls seed, with Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic the top boys seed.

US girls in Traralgon:

Kristina Penickova[3]

Thea Frodin[12]

Maya Iyengar[15]

Claire An

Aspen Schuman

Shannon Lam

Annika Penickova

US boys in Traralgon:

Jack Kennedy[4]

Jagger Leach[5]

Maxwell Exsted[10]

Dominick Mosejczuk

Matisse Farzam

Noah Johnston

Benjamin Willwerth

Maximus Dussault

All these players are expected to compete in the Australian Open junior championships; Iva Jovic, who had entered the juniors, has withdrawn, while Emerson Jones of Australia is still on the junior acceptance list. Both have main draw women's singles wild cards. 

Eight Americans Reach Final Round of Australian Open Qualifying; Top Two Seeds Ousted at Ithaca $25K; Qualifiers Advance at Naples W35; Noel Returns to Miami, Blokhina Departs Stanford

Eight of the 21 Americans competing in the Australian Open qualifying have reached Thursday's final round, with five US men and three US women just one step away from the main draw.  One is certain to advance, with Mackenzie McDonald facing Tristan Boyer Wednesday evening in the United States.

Wednesday's Australian Open second round qualifying results of Americans:
Varvara Lepchenko[21] d. Heather Watson(GBR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
Emina Bektas d. Maria Timofeeva[29] 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5
Nina Stojanovic(SRB) d. Robin Montgomery[11] 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3
Sachia Vickery d. Sayaka Ishii(JPN) 7-6(2), 6-4

Christopher Eubanks[4] d. Alejandro Moro Canas(ESP) 6-3, 6-3

Learner Tien[16] d. Juan Pablo Ficovich(ARG) 6-4, 6-2

Tristan Boyer[26] d. Tomas Barrios Vera(CHI) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4

Mackenzie McDonald[25] d. Brandon Holt 6-4, 6-4

Lukas Klein[28](SVK) d. Eliot Spizzirri 6-3, 6-4 

Mitchell Krueger d. Duje Ajdukovic(CRO) 6-4, 6-3

Gauthier Onclin(BEL) d. Aleks Kovacevic[7] 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 

Kamil Majchrzak[14](POL) d. Zachary Svajda 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2 

Dominik Koepfer[1](GER) d. Ethan Quinn 3-6, 7-5, 6-1

Thursday's Australian Open final round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Vavara Lepchenko[21] v Anca Todoni[12](ROU)

Sachia Vickery v Viktorija Golubic[2](SUI)

Emina Bektas v Elena-Gabriela Ruse[15](ROU)

Mitchell Krueger v Yasutaka Uchiyama(JPN)

Christopher Eubanks[4] v Tristan Boyer[26]

McKenzie McDonald[25] v Gauthier Onclin(BEL)

Learner Tien[16] v Jozef Kovalik[21](SVK)

The USTA Pro Circuit is back for 2025, with the men at a $25K in Ithaca New York and the women at a W35 in Naples Florida.

The top two seeds went out today in the first round in Ithaca, with 19-year-old Adhithya Ganesan defeating top seed Bor Artnak of Slovenia 6-3, 6-4 and 17-year-old Nicolas Arseneault of Canada beating No. 2 seed Ernesto Escobedo of Mexico 6-2, 6-2.

Ganesan, a sophomore at Florida who did not play collegiately in the fall, was the last player into the main draw, as he was initially the No. 1 seed in qualifying. Like Ganesan, Artnak, a sophomore at Arizona State, also did not play college events this fall. Qualifer Arseneault, currently No. 42 in the ITF junior rankings, has committed to Kentucky for this coming fall. 

2024 fall NCAA singles champion Michael Zheng, a junior at Columbia, received and wild card and won his first round match; he will play No. 6 seed Stefan Dostanic, who now has an 11 match winning streak on the USTA Pro Circuit after claiming two titles in his last two tournaments in November.

In Naples, four of the eight qualifiers advanced to the second round: 18-year-old Victoria Osuigwe, Allura Zamarippa(Texas), Florida junior Rachel Gailis and Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina).  Osuigwe, who is joining NC State this fall, will face top seed Sophie Chang in the second round, while Zamarripa plays No. 5 seed Katrina Scott. Gailis plays No. 8 seed Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria Thursday, with Akli, who beat No. 7 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-7(3), 6-0, 6-2 today, facing Ekaterine Gorgodze of Georgia. Katherine Sebov of Canada beat No. 2 seed Carson Branstine(USC, Virginia, Texas A&M) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana, a senior at Texas A&M who is currently No. 4 in the ITA singles rankings, lost to Tatiana Pieri of Italy 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round Tuesday.

Roster announcements have continued in Division I tennis, with January now the month when most rosters are finally set.  Stanford confirmed today that graduate student India Houghton and junior Alexis Blokhina, who played this fall, have turned pro and are not returning to school for the dual match season. Caroline Driscoll is transferring from Denver; the note on Houghton and Blokhina appears at the bottom of that announcement. It's extremely rare for players to leave Stanford prior to graduation, and for the Cardinal to add a transfer to their roster in January; perhaps it's a sign of just how much collegiate athletics in general have changed in the past several years.

Miami announced on X that 2024 spring NCAA singles champion Alexa Noel would be returning to the Hurricanes, despite an announcement in August that she would be foregoing her final year of eligibility. Noel graduated last spring, but was considering graduate school when we spoke for this Tennis Recruiting Network article in June.

2025 USTA Junior National Schedule; Southern Californians Lead USA Davis Cup Team in First Round Qualifying; Fourteen Americans in Australian Open Qualifying Second Round Action Wednesday

One of my most referenced posts in any year is the one that provides a link to the google document of the USTA National Junior schedule, which isn't posted in an obvious place on usta.com. The 2025 document is now available here, with the caveat that this information is subject to change and often does, especially regarding events later in the year. 

The United States Davis Cup team will be without the top six American men in the ATP rankings when it takes on Taiwan later this month in Taipei in the first round of qualifying. Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Francis Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Sebastian Korda and Brandon Nakashima are not playing, with all but Korda entered in the Dallas Open, which begins, in its first year as a 500 level tournament, two days after the Davis Cup ends. Alex Michelsen and Marcos Giron(UCLA) have agreed to play for captain Bob Bryan; they are also on the Dallas player list revealed today, with Giron reaching the final in Dallas last year. Joining Michelsen, currently 41 in the ATP rankings and Giron, currently 45, are Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA), Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) and Rajeev Ram(Illinois), giving the team a decided college flavor. Michelsen and Giron will be making their Davis Cup debuts; McDonald has been called on often in the past two years. 

Taiwan has no men currently in the Top 100, with Chun Hsin (Jason) Tseng, who won the boys Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in 2018, having the highest ATP ranking at 118, followed by Tung Lin (Tony) Wu at 238. 

For more on the Americans selected, see this article from usta.com.

American men went an impressive 10-2 in first round qualifying matches the past two days at the Australian Open, with the US women posting only four victories. All 14 are in action Wednesday(this evening in the United States). Qualifying draws are here.

Tuesday's Australian Open first round qualifying results of Americans:

Ethan Quinn d. Calvin Hemery(FRA) 6-4, 7-5

Eliot Spizzirri d. Alexander Blockx(BEL) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5

Tomas Barrios Vera(CHI) d. Emilio Nava 7-6(0), 7-6(3)

Tristan Boyer[26] d. Rei Sakamoto[WC](JPN) 6-0, 6-2

Zachary Svajda d. Enzo Couacaud(FRA) 6-3, 6-2

Learner Tien[16] d. Gregoire Barrere(FRA) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1

Mirjam Bjorklund(SWE) d. Alycia Parks[1] 6-2, 6-3 

Sachia Vickery d. Ana Konjuh(CRO) 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-0

Kristina Mladenovic(FRA) d. Louisa Chirico 6-2, 6-4

Priscilla Hon(AUS) d. Usue Arconada 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4

Robin Montgomery[11] d. Polona Hercog(SLO) 6-2, 6-1

Ella Seidel[31](GER) d. Claire Liu 7-5, 6-2

Wednesday's Australian Open second round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Varvara Lepchenko[21] v Heather Watson(GBR)

Emina Bektas v Maria Timofeeva[29]

Robin Montgomery[11] v Nina Stojanovic(SRB)

Sachia Vickery v Sayaka Ishii(JPN)

Christopher Eubanks[4] v Alejandro Moro Canas(ESP)

Learner Tien[16] v Juan Pablo Ficovich(ARG)

Tristan Boyer[26] v Tomas Barrios Vera(CHI)

Brandon Holt v Mackenzie McDonald[25]

Eliot Spizzirri v Lukas Klein[28](SVK)

Mitchell Krueger v Duje Ajdukovic(CRO)

Aleks Kovacevic[7] v Gauthier Onclin(BEL)

Zachary Svajda v Kamil Majchrzak[14](POL)

Ethan Quinn v Dominik Koepfer[1](GER)

IMG Academy 14s Finals Videos; Seven Americans Advance in Australian Open Qualifying; Georgia Women and Texas Men Begin Season No. 1; Guilty Plea in Drunk Driving Crash that Killed Drew Hassenbein and Ethan Falkowitz

The videos of the IMG Academy International Championships boys and girls 14s can be found below. Due to all six 12s, 14s and 16s final being played at the same time, it wasn't possible to stay at any one match, which I was able to do for the ITF J300 finals the following day. The only remaining age group videos not yet processed is the 12s, which will be up later this week. See my YouTube channel for the ITF and 16s videos, if you missed them earlier.

Although rain delayed the start of Australian Open qualifying in Melbourne Monday, causing matches previously on the order of play to be postponed, all nine of the Americans who were scheduled did finish their matches. Seven of the nine won their first round matches, with the remaining 12 on Tuesday's schedule, which begins at 6 p.m. tonight in the eastern time zone of the United States. ESPN+ provides streams of all qualifying matches.

Monday's Australian Open first round qualifying results of Americans:

Hady Habib(LBN) d. Patrick Kypson 6-4, 7-6(6)

Christopher Eubanks[4] d. Hugo Grenier(FRA) 7-6(1), 7-5

Aleks Kovacevic[7] d. Andrea Collarini(ARG) 7-6(5), 6-4

Mackenzie McDonald[25] d. Alex Bolt(AUS) 6-2, 6-2

Mitchell Krueger d. Filip Jianu(ROU) 6-3, 6-4

Brandon Holt d. Gianluca Mager(ITA) 7-6(6), 6-2

Emina Bektas d. Arianne Hartono(NED) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Varvara Lepchenko[21] d. Hanna Chang 6-1, 6-3

Tuesday's Australian Open first round qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Ethan Quinn v Calvin Hemery(FRA)

Eliot Spizzirri v Alexander Blockx(BEL)

Emilio Nava v Tomas Barrios Vera(CHI)

Tristan Boyer[26] v Rei Sakamoto[WC](JPN)

Zachary Svajda v Enzo Couacaud(FRA)

Learner Tien[16] v Gregoire Barrere(FRA)

Alycia Parks[1] v Mirjam Bjorklund(SWE)

Sachia Vickery v Ana Konjuh(CRO)

Louisa Chirico v Kristina Mladenovic(FRA)

Usue Arconada v Priscilla Hon(AUS)

Robin Montgomery[11] v Polona Hercog(SLO)

Claire Liu v Ella Seidel[31](GER)

The first ITA team polls are out for Division I, with the 13 ranking chairs voting the 2024 finalists Georgia women and Texas men as No. 1 at the beginning of the 2025 season.  NCAA women's champion Texas A&M actually got the majority of first place votes, but Georgia, who got only three, ended up No. 1. The men's first place votes were split between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 TCU, but five different teams received women's first place votes.

I will not be listing all 25 teams for each ranking date, but because this is the first poll, I thought it made sense to do that today. See the ITA's  men's and women's articles for the list of teams that received votes but did not finish in the Top 25.

Division I Team Rankings January 6, 2025

Coaches Poll (first place votes in parentheses)

WOMEN: 

1. Georgia(3)

2. Texas A&M(7)

3. Stanford(1)

4. Oklahoma State(1)

5. UCLA

6. North Carolina

7. Texas

8. Michigan

9. Virginia

10. Pepperdine

11. Duke(1)

12. Auburn

13. California

14. NC State

15. Ohio State

16. Oklahoma

17. Southern California

18. Tennessee

19. Florida

20. South Carolina

21. Vanderbilt

22. Alabama

23. Miami

24. Florida State

25. Central Florida

MEN:

1. Texas(8)

2. TCU(5)

3. Ohio State

4. Wake Forest

5. Virginia

6. Arizona

7. Kentucky

8. Columbia

9. Florida State

10. Oklahoma

11. Mississippi State

12. Duke

13. Tennessee

14. Texas A&M

15. South Carolina

16. San Diego

17. Stanford

18. Arizona State

19. Alabama

20. UCLA

21. Harvard

22. NC State

23. Michigan State

24. Florida

25. Michigan

Over a year and a half after the tragic deaths of 14-year-old Roslyn high school tennis players Drew Hassenbein and Ethan Falkowitz, the driver of the truck that struck the car in which they were passengers has pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated. Articles on his plea can be found here and here.

Gauff Leads USA to Second United Cup Title; Twenty-one Americans in Australian Open Qualifying Field; Former Collegians Rack Up Pro Doubles Titles

photo from United Cup via X

Taylor Fritz was a part of the USA team that claimed the United Cup championship in 2023, the first year the competition was held, but 2025 marked the debut of Coco Gauff as a participant, and the 20-year-old could not have performed any better. She defeated Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai, Karolina Muchova and Iga Swiatek in women's singles, the latter by a 6-4, 6-4 score that gave the United States a 1-0 lead over Poland. Fritz, who has played on the US team all three years, clinched the title with a tense 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4) win over Hubert Hurkacz, and the mixed doubles match was not played.

The USA team lost only one match in their five victories, with Fritz losing to Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the first match in group play, but Gauff won her singles and Fritz and Gauff took the mixed doubles, and weren't required to win another mixed point. Michael Russell coached the US team, which also included Denis Kudla, Robert Galloway, Desirae Krawczyk and Danielle Collins.

For more on today's final in Sydney, see this article from the United Cup website.

Australian Open qualifying begins in less than an hour, with nine of the 21 Americans in the draws on the schedule for Monday(tonight in the United States). Below are the matchups for the 12 US men and nine US women; only one first round match features Americans going head to head. There is an all Texas A&M alum match however, with Patrick Kypson facing Hady Habib, with the two teammates in College Station in 2018.

Men:

Ethan Quinn v Calvin Hemery(FRA)

Eliot Spizzirri v Alexander Blockx(BEL)

*Christopher Eubanks[4] v Hugo Grenier(FRA)

Emilio Nava v Tomas Barrios Vera(CHI)

Tristan Boyer[26] v Rei Sakamoto[WC](JPN)

*Aleks Kovacevic[7] v Andrea Collarini(ARG)

*Brandon Holt v Gianluca Mager(ITA)

*Mackenzie McDonald[25] v Alex Bolt(AUS)

*Mitchell Krueger v Filip Jianu(ROU)

*Patrick Kypson v Hady Habib(LBN)

Zachary Svajda v Enzo Couacaud(FRA)

Learner Tien[16] v Gregoire Barrere(FRA)

*Monday first round

Alycia Parks[1] v Mirjam Bjorklund(SWE)

Sachia Vickery v Ana Konjuh(CRO)

Louisa Chirico v Kristina Mladenovic(FRA)

Usue Arconada v Priscilla Hon(AUS)

Robin Montgomery[11] v Polona Hercog(SLO)

*Hanna Chang v Varvara Lepchenko[21]

Claire Liu v Ella Seidel[31](GER)

*Emina Bektas v Arianne Hartono(NED)

*Monday first round

Monday's order of play is here; the qualifying draws are here.

The number of WTA and ATP titles won by collegians seems to expand every week, and this past week, five titles at the 125 and above level went to teams that featured at least one former collegian.

Former NC State star Diana Shnaider continued her successful partnership with Mira Andreeva at the WTA 500 in Brisbane, with the Paris silver medalists defeating Priscilla Hon of Australia and Anna Kalinskaya 7-6(6), 7-5 in the final. 

At the ATP 250 in Brisbane, Great Britain's Julian Cash(Mississippi St, Oklahoma St) and Lloyd Glasspool(Texas) won their second ATP title as a team, with the No. 5 seeds beating Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7(2), 10-5 in the final.

Great Britain's Luke Johnson(Clemson), and partner Sander Arends of the Netherlands won the ATP 250 in Hong Kong, their second ATP title together. The unseeded pair defeated unseeded Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 in the final.

For more on those two finals, see this article from the ATP website.

At the WTA 125 in Canberra, former Florida State standout Petra Hule won her biggest title, after the 25-year-old Australian had collected five titles on the ITF women's World Tennis Tour last year. Two of those were with compatriot Jaimee Fourlis, her partner in Canberra, with the No. 4 seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Darja Semenistaja of Latvia and Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 in the final.

At the ATP Challenger 125 in Canberra, Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) and Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, UNC) won their first title as a team, with the unseeded pair beating unseeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France and Jerome Kym of Switzerland 1-6, 7-5, 10-5. It's the second Challenger doubles title for Spizzirri; Seggerman has ten, partnering with Patrik Trhac(Idaho State, Utah) for the first nine.

At the ATP Challenger 100 in Noumea, Colin Sinclair(Cornell) of Northern Mariana Islands won the doubles title with Blake Bayldon of Australia, and at the ITF W75 in Thailand, Maria Mateas(Duke) and Alana Smith(NC State) won their first title as a team.

Orange Bowl 16s Finals Videos; USA Reaches United Cup Final; Kudla Announces Retirement; Fonseca Beats Quinn in Canberra Challenger Final; Basavareddy Qualifies at Auckland ATP 250

Next batch of videos from last month's Florida swing are below, which now completes the 18s and 16s finals from both the IMG Academy Championships and the Orange Bowl. All can be viewed on my YouTube Channel.

The United States defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 in Sydney Australia Saturday to advance to Sunday's United Cup final, where the No. 1 seeds will play No. 2 seeds Poland. Coco Gauff defeated Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-4 to give the US a 1-0 lead, but Taylor Fritz trailed Tomas Machac 7-6(4), 5-3 before cramps forced Machac to retire with Fritz leading 6-5 in the second set. That clinched the 2023 champions their place in the final, but the doubles match was played, albeit with substitutes rather than the top players. Desirae Krawczyk(Arizona State) and Denis Kudla defeated Gabriela Knutson(Syracuse) and Patrick Rikl 7-5, 6-0 for the mixed doubles point.

Poland defeated Kazakhstan 3-0 in the other semifinal to reach the final for the second straight year. Gauff will face Iga Swiatek in women's singles, with Fritz playing Hubert Hurkacz in men's singles. The preview of Sunday's match, played in Sunday's early hours here in the United States, is here.

After his doubles victory, Denis Kudla announced his retirement, with the 32-year-old from Virginia, who reached a career-high of 53 in the ATP rankings, revealing that he would be coaching Reilly Opelka in his next chapter.  I covered Kudla throughout his junior career (look for Throwback Thursday photos on Bluesky next week) and will miss watching him crush that backhand, but it's easier to say goodbye to a player when the retirement announcement indicates a transition to a different role, but still in tennis.

If this week is any indication, Kudla could be a coaching natural, with Opelka, out for so long with injuries the past two years, into the final of the ATP 250 in Brisbane. Opelka has defeated top seed Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals and red-hot Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France in the semifinals to advance to his first final since 2022. He'll face unseeded Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic in Sunday's final.

2023 NCAA champion Ethan Quinn finished as runner-up in the ATP Challenger 125 in Canberra, with 18-year-old Joao Fonseca of Brazil beating the former Georgia Bulldog 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Fonseca, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals last month, now has a 10-match winning streak as both he and Quinn head to Melbourne for next week's Australian Open qualifying. 

Nineteen-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), who avoided qualifying at the Australian Open by winning the USTA's reciprocal wild card race last fall, has qualified for another ATP event this week, after making the main draw in Brisbane last week (he lost to Gael Monfils 6-4, 4-6, 6-1). Basavareddy got two ATP Top 100 wins in the Auckland ATP 250 qualifying this weekend, doubling his career total, by beating No. 80 )Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of qualifying and No. 89 Daniel Altmaier of Germany 6-2, 6-1 in the final round of qualifying. 

Despite the six Americans in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 in Auckland, none reached the final, which will feature Naomi Osaka of Japan and Clara Tauson of Denmark. Osaka defeated Alycia Parks 6-4, 6-2 and Tauson beat Robin Montgomery 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals.

Unseeded Clarke, No. 17 Seed Patel Claim USTA Winter National 18s Singles Titles; Safir and Wygodzki Capture 16s Championships; Doubles Champions Denied Sweeps in 12s and 14s Divisions

The first USTA champions of 2025 were crowned today at the Winter National Championships, with the 18s singles titles going to unseeded 15-year-old Texan Chukwumelije Clarke and No. 17 seed 16-year-old Shaan Patel in today's finals at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Florida.

Clarke won a three-hour battle with fellow 15-year-old Carrie-Anne Hoo, the No. 3 seed, coming through in the most pressure-packed scenario imaginable to claim a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) victory. Clarke served at both 4-5 and 5-6 in the third set, but passed those tests without any drama, then took a 3-0 lead in the third set tiebreaker. But Hoo took the next three points, only to again surrender a mini-break with a double fault serving at 3-4. When Hoo made an unforced backhand error at 4-5, Clarke had two match points, but Hoo blasted a backhand winner to save the first one and get back on serve, But Hoo's heroics ended there, with the match ended with her netted forehand early in the rally.

Clarke, who has won six ITF Junior Circuit tournaments, including four in 2024, lost her only set in the tournament in the final.

Patel, who reached the quarterfinals of the Kalamazoo 16s last August, defeated Kalamazoo 16s finalist Arin Pallegar, also a No. 17 seed, 7-6(2), 6-4 in the boys 18s final in Lake Nona. It was far from easy, with the left-hander from Missouri coming from 3-1 down in the second set and winning an eight-deuce game at 3-all in the second, saving four break points. He held in another multi-deuce game at 4-all and broke Pallengar for the win, converting his second match point.

The 16s titles went to No. 3 seed Paige Wygodzki and top seed Safir Azam. Wygodzki, who reached the IMG Academy girls 16s final (video of Wygodzki from Bradenton is here), defeated last year's girls 14s champion Anjani Vickneswaran, the No. 10 seed, 6-4, 6-3. After playing a five-hour match in the semifinals in Bradenton, Wygodzki said she was going to work on closing matches more efficiently, and the 16-year-old New Yorker did that in today's final.

Azam, a 15-year-old from Washington state, came from behind for the second time in his past three matches, beating No. 7 seed Magnus Weng 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Azam in now 13-0 in his last two USTA Level 1 tournaments, having won the B16s Indoor title early last month by beating Patel in the final. 

Two of the four doubles champions in Lake Nona were unseeded, with the seeded winners boys 18s No. 8 seeds Bryan Assi and Sibby Rodi, who beat unseeded Justin Lin and Cooper Han 7-5, 6-3 in the final, and girls 16s No. 3 seeds Danielle Young and Anna Bugaienko, who beat No. 6 seeds Lauren Nolan and Aya Manning 6-0, 6-3 in the final.

Unseeded Brooklyn Hoffmann and Sasha Dimitrov defeated No. 2 seeds Anna Bennett and Emerey Gross 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 for the gold ball in girls 18s, while unseeded James Wakefield and Juan Parrilla beat No. 2 seeds Nicolas Pedraza and Lucas Smith 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 for the boys 16s title.

Three players who won the doubles titles yesterday at the 12s and 14s Winter Nationals in San Antonio went for sweeps today, but all three fell short in the singles finals.

Top seed and boys 12s doubles champion David Bender lost to No. 5 seed Max D. Smith 6-0, 6-2. Floridian Smith, who had reached the final of the Junior Orange Bowl 12s last month, lost only one set in his seven victories.

Girls 12s No. 4 seed and doubles champion Lucy Dupere lost to No. 7 seed Jacqueline Nick of Texas 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the final and girls 14s top seed and doubles champion Michelle Lee was beaten by No. 10 seed London Evans of Missouri 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.

Boys 14s top seed Eli Kaminski of Virginia dropped just one set en route to the title, beating No. 3 seed Aayush Vartak 6-3, 6-1 in today's championship match.