Penickova Rises to No. 1 in ITF Junior Rankings Despite Loss in Chengdu Finals; Gaines and Moreno Claim J100 Titles in Georgia; ITF J300 Pan Am Photo Gallery

As of today, Kristina Penickova has reached the top of the ITF Junior Tennis rankings, after the 16-year-old advanced to championship match of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals last week in Chengdu China. Despite losing to US Open girls champion Jeline Vandromme of Belgium 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, Penickova overtook fellow American Julieta Pareja on the strength of her results last week, her runner-up finish in Australia and all her doubles success, which includes two junior slam titles this year. Penickova is barely 100 points ahead of Vandromme, but has no points to defend the rest of the year; Vandromme has a zero point tournament on her six best results, so entering any of the J300s or J500s remaining on the junior schedule would make the race to being named ITF World Junior Champion for 2025 a true competition in the final two months of the season.

Two-time junior slam champion Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria is still firmly in control of the boys top spot, but ITF Junior Finals champion Max Schoenhaus of Germany, now at No. 2 in the rankings, could make it interesting if he chooses to play the remaining J300s and J500s in Mexico and Florida in the next two months.

While Penickova was finishing second, and Jack Kennedy and Ben Willwerth were finishing fifth and sixth respectively in the eight-player fields in China, most of the other American juniors in action on the ITF Junior Circuit last week were at the J100 in Rome Georgia.

No. 12 seed Carlota Moreno extended her winning streak to 11 matches, with the J60 champion in South Carolina two weeks ago going back-to-back in Georgia. The 17-year-old from Knoxville Tennessee, who has verbally committed to the Volunteers for 2027, defeated No. 11 seed Ellery Mendell 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Moreno, who did not lose more than four games in any set in her six wins, now has won two J60s and one J100 title, posting all three of her career titles since June.

Sixteen-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr won his fourth career ITF Junior Circuit singles title in Rome, with the No. 2 seed defeating No. 7 seed Matthew Shapiro 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Gaines lost his only set of the tournament in the semifinals, but avenged his Kalamazoo 16s semifinal loss to Marcel Latak, the No. 3 seed in Rome, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Latak won his second straight doubles title in Rome, playing with Gadin Arun after winning the South Carolina J60 with Rowan Qalbani two weeks ago. Arun and Latak, the No. 4 seeds, beat top seed Samim Filiz of Turkey and Koki Nara of Japan 6-1, 7-5 in the final.

Fourteen-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes won the girls doubles title, their second as a team this fall, with the No. 2 seeds defeating No. 4 seeds Mendell and Briley Rhoden 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.

The other title won by an American junior last week was at the J30 in the Dominican Republic, with 14-year-old Indra Vergne partnering with Marek Smejcky of the Czech Republic for his first ITF Junior Circuit title. 

With rain obviously an issue throughout the week, the unseeded Smejcky and Vergne defeated another unseeded team, Rafael Elaez Miranda and Fabricio Mesia of Peru 4-2, 4-0 in the final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is a J60 at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton Florida, with Avner Wong and Teaghan Jou An Keys the top seeds. With 48-player draws, the seeds don't play until Tuesday.

My final media offering from the ITF J300 Pan American Closed Championships earlier this month in Houston is this Tennis Recruiting Photo Gallery, which features 52 of the competitors from that tournament. 

The videos of all four Pan Am singles finalists can be found at my YouTube Channel; my Tennis Recruiting Network recap of the tournament is here.