Leach Sweeps Titles at FILA International Championships ITF J300 Indian Wells, Pareja Claims Girls Singles Championship; San Diego J300 Begins Monday, with Willwerth, Penickova Top Seeds; ASU Takes UTR Collegiate Title; McNeil Wins ITF W15 in Montreal

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Indian Wells CA--

 

FILA International ITF J300 champions Jagger Leach and Julieta Pareja, who have played all three editions of event, know they'll be back to Indian Wells Tennis Garden for a fourth straight year next March, having earned wild cards into the the men's and women's qualifying draws at the BNP Paribas Open in today's finals.

Ideal weather for a second straight day, with light winds and sunny skies, gave the juniors an opportunity to show the crowds arriving early for the men's and women's final their best tennis, with top seed Leach beating No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy 7-5, 6-2 in their first meeting and No. 5 seed Pareja continuing her dominance this week with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over qualifier Alexis Nguyen.

Leach missed out on two break point opportunities in the first game, and two more in Kennedy's second service game, but he converted the third for a 2-1 lead. After two easy holds, Leach faced his first adversity of the match in his fourth service game, with Kennedy converting his fourth break point with a passing shot winner, then holding for a 5-4 lead. Leach held and then broke at 30-40 with a return winner, and served out the 44-minute 7-5 set.

"The first set was really tight and I came up with some of my best tennis in the big moments," said the 17-year-old son of Lindsay Davenport and Jon Leach. "At 5-all I hit probably my best return of the match on break point."

Leach also came up with difficult backhand overhead volley on set point, after approaching the net at 6-5, 40-30.

Leach also got the first break in the second set, at 2-all, and went on to consolidate, but the next game was the key to his straight-sets victory.  Kennedy fought off five break points, but Leach showed no impatience or frustration and converted the sixth for the insurance break.

Closing out the championship on his first match point finally allowed Leach to consider that qualifying wild card next year.

"I never try to set result-oriented goals, because it's not something I can control," Leach said. "That's something I've been working on recently is to detach from the result. All my goals were oriented around being a good competitor, do what I could, and I accomplished those goals. It was nice this week that it came with a win; it made it even sweeter."

Kennedy was disappointed with his own level of play, acknowledging that Leach handled the occasion better and may have been physically fresher.

"He played really well today, definitely deserved the win today, he was the better player," said the 16-year-old Kennedy, who also reached the final last year. "He definitely handled the pressure better than me today. I was feeling the nerves early on and the legs weren't as feeling well as they did the previous matches."

Kennedy and Leach will both be heading to the USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Bakersfield California next week, where they will be underdogs, not favorites as they were this week in Indian Wells.

"It will definitely be a different kind of pressure I'll be feeling next week compared to this week," said Kennedy, who has two ATP points with first round winners at two Pro Circuit tournaments. "This week people look at the draw and expect me to make a deep run or win it. Next week it's just more seeing how my game is against the pros, a test, another learning type of week."

Leach is full of confidence after this week's five straight-sets victories, but knows it may not translate into success next week.

"It's polar opposites," said Leach, who had committed to TCU for this fall. "I go from No. 1 seed to needing a wild card to get into the tournament. I'm going in feeling good, with a lot of matches, so hopefully I can carry this momentum into next week as well."

In the girls final that followed on Stadium 3, which featured all the trappings of a BNP Paribas match with a DJ, ball kids and and MC, Pareja started out dictating play and never really allowed Nguyen an opportunity to derail her fast start.

Losing only three points on serve in her first three service games, Pareja took a 4-1 lead, as Nguyen, usually not prone to unforced errors, was having trouble staying in the rallies. 

Pareja finally faced a difficult service game in her attempt to serve out the set at 5-1, saving two break points before Nguyen donated another unforced error for the set.

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Nguyen started with a hold to open the second set, but she was broken in her next service game. Her chances to get back level came quickly with Pareja going down 0-40 serving at 2-1, but Pareja won the next five points, then broke at love to take control of set.

"I just went point by point," said Pareja, a 16-year-old Californian. "That was a really important game."

Nguyen agreed.

"I had a chance there, it could have been a closer match," said the 17-year-old Californian Nguyen, who was playing her ninth match in nine days. "That was a big game. She played really well today, she played a great match.  My ball was just sitting too much and she was able to take advantage of it. She made sure to stay on it the entire match."

Although the finish line was in sight when she got her fifth break of the match for a 5-2 lead in the second set, Pareja refused to envision a title.

"I don't like to look ahead," said Pareja, who trains with Adam Peterson and Agustin Velotti in Carlsbad California. "I know if you look ahead, it can come back at you, so I just like to go point by point and see where that takes me."

That discipline has led her to another women's qualifying wild card at the BNP Paribas Open next March, a prize she had kept from thinking about until after the match.

"I forgot about it," said Pareja, who lost to Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-4 in this year's qualifying tournament. "But I'm super happy."

With her second ITF J300 title of the year, both coming without the loss of a set, Pareja now has secured a place in the Roland Garros and Wimbledon junior championships, which she has yet to play. 

"I'm so excited to play French and Wimbledon," said Pareja, who is also expecting to play the J500 in Milan and some women's Pro Circuit tournaments on clay in preparation for Roland Garros.

Like Pareja, Nguyen is skipping next week's J300 in San Diego for some much needed rest.

"I'll go back and practice for maybe two weeks," said Nguyen, who is coached by Joe Gilbert at the JMG Academy in Sacramento. "Then we'll look for some $15ks or $35Ks to play."

Both doubles champions were playing their first tournament as a team this week, with No. 2 seeds Thea Frodin and Leena Friedman defeating unseeded Maria Aytoyan and Sabrina Lin 6-1, 7-6(9) and Noah Johnston and Leach, also seeded No. 2, beating No. 8 seeds Andrew Johnson and Nischal Spurling 6-3, 6-2.

Frodin and Friedman breezed through the first set, but found the second set much tougher going.

"It was a combination," said Frodin, a 16-year-old Californian. "They raised their level a lot and we started being a little more passive. But towards the end, we just told ourselves to give it our all and we brought it out in the end."

Friedman and Frodin felt comfortable with each other from the beginning and didn't drop a set in their four victories despite their inexperience as a team.

"I feel our communication got better and better as the week went on," said Friedman, a 17-year-old New Yorker. "We really knew how to bring the energy out of each other, and keep fighting. And it was a lot of fun to play together too."

Leach had reached the doubles final here in Indian Wells in all three of its editions, winning the title with Joseph Oyebog in 2023 and falling in the final last year. But despite that track record, it was Leach who was scrambling for a partner.

"I had to convince him," said Leach, who no doubt knew Johnston had six doubles titles at the J200 and J300 level on his resume. "After he won (the J300 Porto Alegre) Brazil, I asked him."

Leach said they needed some time to acclimate to each other.

"It took us a few matches," Leach said. "The first few matches, the level was suspect." "There were a couple of battles the first few rounds," Johnston added. "But we started playing better in the bigger moments and the more tennis we played together, the better we got."

Leach cited Johnston's energy and volleys as a key to their success, while Johnston appreciated his partner's "125 mph serve. It's really nice to put away the volleys after that. And he brings so much positive energy, it helps me relax on court."

Johnston retired from his singles semifinal match against Leach on Saturday, but he said he is feeling better and is playing San Diego.

"I've been getting a lot of treatment," said Johnston, a 17-year-old from South Carolina. "The trainers here, Jacob and TD, have been helping me out a lot, so I'll be ready to go."

Qualifying for ITF J300 San Diego North American Regional Championships concluded today, with first round matches scheduled for Monday. The seeds, listed below, will not play until Tuesday in the 48-player draws.

ITF J300 San Diego seeds

(USA unless indicated otherwise)

Boys

1. Benjamin Willwerth

2. Noah Johnston

3. Ryan Cozad

4. Maximus Dussault

5. Jack Satterfield

6. Jack Secord

7. Ronit Karki

8. Lachlan Gaskell

9. Gavin Goode

10. Matisse Farzam

11. Nischal Spurling

12. Roshan Santhosh

13. Yubel Ubri

14. Simon Caldwell

15. Jacob Olar

16. Andrew Johnson

Girls

1. Kristina Penickova

2. Annika Penickova

3 (withdrew)

4. Leena Friedman

5. Capucine Jauffret

6. Aspen Schuman

7. Claire An

8. Ava Rodriguez

9. Ishika Ashar

10. Nancy Lee

11. Kore Montoya

12. Anita Tu

13. Shannon Lam

14. Maria Aytoyan

15. Ligaya Murray

16. Welles Newman

17. Kenzie Nguyen

Wild cards:

William Kleege

David Wu

Adrien Abarca

Tianmei Wang

Elena Zhao

Caroline Zhao

Daniela Del Mastro

Sarah Ye

Yilin Chen

Arizona State claimed the title today at the UTR Collegiate Championships, with the Sun Devils defeating Baylor 4-3 in a four-hour and 45-minute dual match that started before the junior finals and was still going after all four junior titles had been awarded. 

Christasha McNeil won the title at the ITF women's World Tennis Tour W15 in Montreal Canada, defeating top seed Emily Appleton 6-4, 6-4 in today's final. The 18-year-old from New York beat the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds in succession to capture her first professional title.