Zheng Wins Second Straight Challenger Title; Alvarez is M15 Champion; McDonald, Taraba Wallberg Claim European Championships; USA Falls to Italy in BJK Cup Final; Qualifying Begins Monday at ITA All-American Championships

Columbia senior Michael Zheng saved two match points to extend his ATP Challenger winning streak to ten, with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 7 seed Martin Damm today in Columbus Ohio.

Serving at 4-5 in the third set, Zheng was down 15-40, but saved the first match point with a volley winner and the second with an overhead winner. He then broke Damm and closed out the championship on his first match point.

Zheng, who won his first ATP Challenger title in Chicago last month, is up to 227 in the ATP live rankings, putting him in excellent position for Australian Open qualifying in January. He was on the initial acceptance list for next week's All-American Championships in Tulsa; with main draw not beginning until Wednesday, it's possible he will play. A quarterfinal appearance there would guarantee him entry into November's NCAA singles championships in November, where he would be the defending champion.

The champion of the M15 in Fayetteville Arkansas is also scheduled to compete in the All-American Championships next week. Oklahoma senior Luis Alvarez of Mexico, seeded No. 4, defeated No. 3 seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 for his first ITF men's World Tennis Tour title. The 21-year-old Alvarez, who played Davis Cup for Mexico last weekend, winning a doubles match against Estonia, was given a wild card into the main draw of the All-American Championships.

Emilio Nava won his fourth Challenger title of the year today, all on clay, at the 75 in Argentina, with the top seed beating No. 7 seed Alex Barrena of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Nava is now at a career-high in the ATP live rankings of 89.

Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden and Niels McDonald of Germany both lost in the first round at the US Open Junior Championships, but back on clay this week for the European Championships in Austria, they found their form again, winning the ITF J300 titles today.

The second-seeded Taraba Wallberg, who won the J500 in Egypt on clay in February, defeated top seed Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain 6-4, 7-6(2) for her first J300 title.

No. 3 seed McDonald, the 2025 Roland Garros boys champion, defeated top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 6-2, 7-5 for his first J300 title.

McDonald wasn't the only Roland Garros champion to earn a title in the European Championships, with the girls doubles winners in Paris, Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany duplicating their win in Austria. The top seeds beat the unseeded Polish team of Amelia Paszun and Inka Wawrzkiewicz  6-4, 7-6(2) in the final.

No. 8 seeds Raffaele Ciurnelli and Matteo Gribaldo of Italy claimed the boys title, beating No. 5 seeds Xavi Palomar and Sergio Planella Hernandez of Spain 7-5, 6-1 in the final.

The United States lost to Italy in Sunday's Billie Jean King Cup final 2-0, with Emma Navarro losing to Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4, 6-4 and Jessica Pegula falling to Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-2. Italy has now won back-to-back BJK Cup titles. For more on today's tie, see this article from the BJK Cup website.

The prequalifying for the ITA All-American Championships has determined 20 of the entries in the 64-player qualifying draws,  which begin on Monday, in Cary NC for the women, and Tulsa OK for the men.

Below are those in prequalifying who have advanced to the qualifying. I was struck, not for the first time, by how few seeded players qualified. The top 20 seeds were projected to reach the qualifying draw, only one of the women and just two of the men actually did win three matches this weekend to advance to qualifying.

Women through to qualifying:

Emma Kamper[21], Utah
Emmie Moore, Utah
Kristina Paskauskas, Alabama
Jermine Sherif[21], Washington
Tianna Rangan, Wisconsin
Ahmani Guichard, UCLA
Maria de la Paz Alberto, Iowa State
Maralgoo Chogsomjav[21], Kansas State
Zoie Epps, Louisiana Tech
Oliwia Orlinska, Maryland
Amelia Bissett, Florida State
Chloe Noel[21], Oklahoma
Elim Yan, Tennessee
Aely Arai, Miami
Deniz Dilek, Georgia
Sandugash Kenzhibayeva, Kansas
Daniela Pianai[21], South Carolina
Alice Ferlito[21], Princeton
Mia Yamakita[19], Vanderbilt
Prisca Abbas, UNC Charlotte

Men through to qualifying:

Gabriele Vulpitta[21], Georgia
Fryderyk Lechno Wasiutynski[2], Cal
Julian Alonso[21], TCU
Mikkel Zinder, Dayton
Henry Jefferson, Florida
William Manning, NC State
Patrik Meszaros, Wisconsin
Andrej Loncarevic[21], LSU
Alexandre Verlaguet, Stetson
Evan Burnett, Texas
Charlelie Cosnet, Kentucky
Santiago Giamichelle[12], Georgia
Petro Kuzmenok[21], Rice
Preston Stearns, Ohio State
Carl Roothman, Liberty
Eli Stephenson, Kentucky
Bryan Hernandez Cortes, Mississippi State
Henrik Bladelius[21], Clemson
Romain Gales[21], Clemson
Nikita Filin, Ohio State