Qualifier Nguyen, Las Vegas Champion Santhosh Post Opening Round Wins at ITF J300 Indian Wells; Five US Men Reach BNP Paribas Open Round of 16; Stoiana and Smith Receive Hurd Collegiate Grants

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells California--

A perfect day in the desert greeted the qualifiers and unseeded players Monday at the FILA International Championships ITF J300 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with sunny skies and temperatures near 80 producing high quality tennis, as well as some drama, on the seven courts reserved for junior matches.

Qualifier Alexis Nguyen, who has one of the best World Tennis Numbers in the field, played three matches to qualify Saturday and Sunday and was right back on the courts Monday afternoon, getting paast Carrie-Ann Hoo 6-1, 7-5 after a spirited comeback from Hoo in the second set. 

Nguyen, a 17-year-old from Sacramento, was unable to hold her lead in the second set, with a cramp in her racquet hand keeping her from serving out the match at 5-4. But she didn't attribute that to anything more than nerves, and broke Hoo to get another chance, converting her first match point.

"I was cramping a little bit but I think I just get tight toward the end and my body just tenses up," said Nguyen, who gave credit to her coach Joe Gilbert for keeping her on track now that off-court coaching is allowed in chaired junior matches.  "Actually when I started cramping, I calmed myself down, got loose and started playing better. I play better when I just don't think at all. My coach will tell me what to do and I'll just focus on it, rather than force it. I started to run her, and hit targets, and then look for offense. He helped me re-focus, it's not like I have to fix something during the match, he just reminds me when I fall off a little bit."

Nguyen, who has committed to North Carolina for 2026 along with twin sister Avery, who also qualified, but lost today in her first round match, used her three qualifying matches to work on her game.

"I got to get used to the courts a little bit and really work on things I need to work on," said Nguyen, who lost just 10 games in her three qualifying victories. "It wasn't really like hard matches, so I got to work on offense a little bit."

Nguyen played the cold and wet W50 tournament last month in Spring Texas, winning a round before returning to California for the W35 in Arcadia the following week. There she defeated Australian Open girls champion Wakana Sonobe of Japan in the opening round of qualifying, qualified for the main draw, then won a first round match before falling to No. 5 seed Maria Mateas 7-5, 7-6(3).

"I saw it as an opportunity," said Nguyen, who beat Sonobe 6-3, 1-6, 10-8. "I don't play that many ITFs, don't play many juniors, so I thought if I could beat her, I could show everybody how I was doing. I took a break, a training block, and I was a little rusty, but in Spring Texas I got better and I was really ready for that tournament(Arcadia), and I was excited to play her."

Nguyen, who gets a day off before facing No. 8 seed Aspen Schuman on Wednesday, is confident that she can maintain her recent level.

"This isn't cocky, but I think every single tournament you want to go in it to win it," Nguyen said. "I hope to play a good match, but my biggest thing is just to improve. If I lose, see what I did wrong, but hopefully I play the right way, don't lose the wrong way."

Another player with little chance to rest, but with a lot of confidence is Roshan Santhosh, who won his first ITF Junior Circuit on Saturday at the J100 in Las Vegas and followed it up today with a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2 win over Fanming Meng of China. 

Santhosh has good memories of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, having won the 14s Easter Bowl in 2023, but he likes this year's new Laykold surface even better.

"It's a good vibe here, with the men's tournament, and they've resurfaced the courts, which I like," Santhosh said. "They were really slow before, and I feel like they're still pretty slow, but they're more bouncey so it's easier to finish the points off."

Santhosh, who plays No. 5 seed Ryan Cozad Tuesday in a rematch of that Easter Bowl 14s final two years ago, felt he didn't take advantage of his opportunities in the first set, but was physically stronger than Meng in the last half of the match.

"I was up almost the whole first set and I felt like I had chances but just didn't execute properly," said Santhosh, who has verbally committed to Penn for 2026. "I thought, why don't I just relax and play my game in the second set, play freely. I feel like he got a bit tired in the third set, we both got a bit tired, but it was just who could stay out there longer, and I feel like I played pretty well."

There was a literally painful ending to a first round match between Kenzie Nguyen and Shannon Lam, with Nguyen cramping on match point serving at 5-4 in the third set. Nguyen crumpled to the ground on the baseline prior to that match point, but was unable to push off her left leg in that game, eventually losing it. Her movement improved in the next two games, but she was clearly not able to move as well as she had to reach match point, and Lam kept enough balls in play to eventually wear Nguyen down to take a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 decision.

I had high hopes for the first round match between Kristina Liutova, who represents Russia, but has lived in the United States for years, and wild card Anna Frey. Although the match got much closer in the second set, Frey's forehand was too much of a liability in the first set, with Liutova playing a basically error-free set. Liutova was unable to close out Frey serving at 5-4, but she played a much more assured game at 6-5 to post the 6-1, 7-5 victory. 

Only half of the second round matches are on Tuesday's schedule, but boys top seed Jagger Leach and girls top seed Kristina Penickova are among those in action. There is a 50 percent chance of rain Tuesday afternoon, when the first round of doubles is scheduled to be played. 

For the first time since 2004, five American men have advanced to the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open, with Taylor Fritz[3], Ben Shelton(Florida)[11] and Brandon Nakashima(Virginia)[32] posting wins today to join Marcos Giron(UCLA) and Tommy Paul[10] in the fourth round. Fritz beat No. 30 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Shelton defeated No. 22 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-5 and Nakashima beat Matteo Arnaldi of Italy 6-2, 6-4.  Shelton and Nakashima will play each other Wednesday for a place in the quarterfinals.

Madison Keys and Coco Gauff[3] and Madison Keys[5] joined No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in the round of 16 with wins today. Gauff defeated No. 29 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-6(1), 6-2 and Keys defeated No. 28 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4.

Yesterday, the Hurd Foundation and UTR announced the winners of the Hurd grants for the top American men's and women's college players. Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M and Colton Smith of Arizona will each receive $100,000 to assist them financially in the early stages of their professional careers. Amelia Honer of UC-Santa Barbara and Eliott Spizzirri of Texas were named as finalists and will receive $40,000 grants.

Tennis Channel had a segment on Sunday' s announcement, which can be viewed on YouTube.