NCAA Seeds Announced, Defending Champion Zheng Not Among Them; Sales and Kaminski Claim ITF J60 Titles in South Carolina, Combs and De Los Reyes Win Fourth Straight Doubles Title; Antonius and Johnson Face Off Tuesday at Orlando M15

USTA National Campus Hosts NCAAs next week

The seeds for next week's NCAA Division I individual championships were announced today, and although there are often a notable omission or two, this is at another level in the men's field.

Defending champion Michael Zheng of Columbia, currently 185 in the ATP rankings, is not seeded. Nor is Trevor Svjada of SMU, ATP 387 and Edward Winter of Pepperdine ATP 462, both of whom have made a Challenger final this fall. Also missing from the seeds are 2024 semifinalist DK Suresh of Wake Forest, currently ATP 523 and Luis Alvarez of Oklahoma, currently ATP 545. Both won M15 tournaments this fall. 

The ITA/NCAA refuses to accept any non-college results in their rankings algorithm and as a result there is no chance to have the best players seeded. In the history of the NCAA men's singles event the only time two unseeded players have met for the title was in May of 2024, when Filip Planinsek of Alabama beat Zheng. Given the quantity and quality of the unseeded players, it's certainly possible this happens again, less than two years later. 

Seeding is difficult when players are not all competing in the same tennis ecosystem. But the USTA has a sensible exception to its seeding policy for the 18s Nationals, where a US Open wild card is guaranteed to the winner: "Players with ATP, WTA or ITF rankings shall also be considered (for seeding)." The point of seeding is to build the tournament to a conclusion that provides the best match in the final. Certainly many tournaments do not end up with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the final, but if that is not the goal, and it obviously isn't for the NCAA, there is really no point in seeding at all.

The draws will be released at 6 p.m. Saturday, November 15th.

NCAA Division I Seeds:

Men:
1. Jay Friend, Arizona
2. Duncan Chan, TCU
3. Aidan Kim, Ohio State
4. Matthew Forbes, Michigan State
5. Deven Badenhorst, Baylor
6. Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois
7. Dylan Dietrich, Virginia
8. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

9. Jack Anthrop, Ohio State

9. Martin Borisiouk, NC State

9. Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

9. Jeremy Jin, Florida

9. Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

9. Eli Stephenson, Kentucky

9. Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk, Baylor

9. Jakub Vrba, Arkansas

Doubles:

1. Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

2. DK Suresh and Andrew Delgado, Wake Forest

3. Isac Stromberg and Kai Milburn, Mississippi

4. Max Dahlin and Bjorn Swenson, Michigan

5. Aidan Kim and Bryce Nakashima, Ohio State

5. Paul Inchauspe and Landon Ardila, Princeton

5. Aleksa Krivokapic and Maj Premzl, Purdue

5. Coseme Rolland De Ravel and Albert Pedrico, TCU

Women:

Singles:

1. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

2. Carmen Herea, Texas

3. Piper Charney, Michigan

4. Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

5. Aysegul Mert, Georgia

6. Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine

7. Teah Chavez, Ohio State

8. Ashton Bowers, Auburn

9. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

9. Tatum Evans, North Carolina

9. Anastasiia Gureva, Georgia

9. Gabia Paskauskas, Florida

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

9. Annabelle Xu, Virginia

9. Vivian Yang, Virginia

9. Mia Yamakita, Vanderbilt

Doubles:

1. Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova, Wisconsin

2. Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum, Oklahoma

3. Ange Oby Kajuru and Susanna Maltby, North Carolina

4. Sophia Webster and Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

5. Bojana Pozder and Bianca Molnar, Notre Dame

5. Jo-Yee Chan and Vessa Turley, San Diego State

5. Annabelle Xu and Martina Genis Salas, Virginia

5. Melodie Collard and Vivian Yang, Virginia

Four Americans won singles titles last week on the ITF Junior Circuit, with 14-year-old Daniella Sales and 15-year-old Eli Kaminiski capturing their first titles on the circuit at the J60 in Mount Pleasant South Carolina.

The fourth-seeded Sales, the reigning USTA 14s National Champion, defeated top seed Julia Seversen 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals and No. 6 seed Alina Vysochenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2.  Sales and Vysochenko then joined forces for the doubles title, which the No. 3 seeds won with a 4-6, 6-4, 14-12 decision over top seeds Seversen and Ella Olofson.

The unseeded Kaminiski defeated unseeded Robert McAdoo 6-3, 6-3 in the singles final. In the doubles final, No. 3 seeds Kayden Colombo and Anthony Dry took the title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over unseeded Aayush Vartak and Costa Rica's Miroslav Jarolim.

The other two singles titles came in J30s. In Senegal, 15-year-old Sydney Wright swept the titles, with the fourth seed earning her first singles title with a 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(5) win over unseeded Kano Imai of Japan. Wright partnered with Emilia Deuschi of Sweden in doubles, with the top seeds defeating No. 2 seeds Lea Crosetti of France and Ona Marcinkeviciute of Lithuania 7-6(6), 6-3 in the final. 

At the J30 in Barbados, 16-year-old Peter Nistad won his first ITF Junior Circuit title, with the No. 6 seed beating fellow wild card and No. 2 seed Julian Garnier of Costa Rica 6-4, 6-4 in the final. 

In the girls doubles, Sophia Filip partnered with Isabella Wang of Canada for the title. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Jiarui Li of China and Paula Velazquez Osornio of Mexico 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 in the final.

At the J100 in Mexico, 14-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes won their fourth straight doubles title and their third at the J100 level in as many weeks. After winning the J100 in Rome Georgia two weeks ago, they won two weeks ago in Queretaro Mexico and last week in Guadalajara. The No. 6 seeds did not drop a set last week, beating No. 4 seeds Ana Avramovic and Alexandra Sasha Miroshnichenko 6-2, 6-1 in the final for their 12th straight win.

Combs lost to Avery Alexander of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the singles semifinals, while De Los Reyes lost to Alexander 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

At the J30 in Nigeria, 16-year-old David Beckles won his third ITF Junior Circuit doubles title, partnering with Joseph Franklin Jimoh of Nigeria. The No. 4 seeds defeated Abhik Khatry of Australia and Seyi Ebenezer Ogunsakin of Nigeria 6-3, 4-6, 10-1 in the final.

This week's ITF Junior Circuit tournament in the United States is a J30 in San Diego. Nicholas Carneiro of Brazil and Shaya Jovanovic are the top seeds.

The W35 in Orlando concluded today, after rain washed out the scheduled final on Sunday, with No. 2 seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands defeating top seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia 6-3, 7-6(6).

I'll have more on the six USTA Pro Circuit events in tomorrow's posts, but two junior notes. At the ATP Challenger 75 in Champaign Illinois, 2025 Kalamazoo 16s champion Marcel Latak earned his first ATP points yesterday with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over No. 8 seed Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) in the first round of qualifying. The wild card, who lives in the Chicago area, lost to qualifying top seed Lui Maxted(TCU) of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2 in today's final round of qualifying.

Just two days after claiming the Junior Davis Cup title as teammates in Santiago Chile, Michael Antonius and Andrew Johnson will play in the first round of the M15 in Orlando Tuesday. The two wild cards, both of whom have already earned ATP points, will be playing for the third time since the end of September. Johnson won their semifinal 7-6(3) 6-2 at the J200 in Corpus Christi Texas, with Antonius getting immediate revenge the following week, beating Johnson 6-4, 6-3 in the J300 final in Spring Texas. Tomorrow will be their first meeting on clay. 

The third member of the Junior Davis Cup championship team, 15-year-old Jordan Lee, also received a wild card. He will play Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest) in the first round, looking to earn his first ATP point.

USA Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup Teams Complete Perfect Week; Kypson Wins Helsinki Challenger, Australian Open Wild Card; Krueger Tops Blanch for Knoxville Title; Colby Wins First Pro Title; NCAA Fields Set

photo of both USA teams, with Caption Georgi Rumenov,
upper left and Sylvain Guichard lower right
photo via ITF

The US girls won their fourth straight Junior Billie Jean Cup title and the US boys claimed their second consecutive Junior Davis Cup championship in dominating fashion today in Santiago Chile. Neither team dropped a point in their six victories, with the deciding doubles point in the ITF's 16-and-under team competition never necessary.

The girls had the advantage of having its top two players returning from the team that won the title last year in Turkey, with Kristina Penickova and Julieta Pareja playing No. 2 and No. 1 singles respectively. Annika Penickova, Kristina's twin sister was the third team member, competing in the four doubles matches played earlier in the week.

ITF girls No. 1 Penickova started the final against No. 3 seed France with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Cindy Langlais. Pareja, who lost at No. 2 singles in last year's 2-1 win over Romania in the final, had a more formidable opponent at No. 1 singles: ITF No. 8 Ksenia Efremova. Pareja, who is No. 5 in the ITF junior rankings, and was No. 1 this summer, was unable to serve out the first set at 5-3, but she broke to take the first set 6-3. In the second set Pareja took a 3-0 lead, lost the break but never trailed, ramping up her backhand to earn a 5-3 lead.  Serving for the title, Pareja missed a sitter forhand volley at the net at 40-15, but it didn't faze her, with the Wimbledon finalist converting her second match point with a good first serve that Efremova couldn't handle.

"There was a big difference in their maturity this year," said USTA National Coach Georgi Rumenov, who captained both teams. "Having the opportunity of playing last year, winning the tournament and coming back and playing for US one more time, that's huge. It showed during every match, that they were controlling some situations better than the other teams. That's part of their experience. I was fortunate, and it was a privilege to coach them."

Pareja's clinch came just minutes after Michael Antonius had given the boys a 2-0 victory over No. 4 seed Japan, beating Kanta Watanabe 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. While the result of that match never appeared in doubt, the opener between Andrew Johnson and Takahiro Kawaguchi at No. 2 singles was a different story.

Kawaguchi, who like Antonius and  the third member of the US team, Jordan Lee, was born in 2010 and he had beaten both Antonius and Lee en route to the Wimbledon U14 title in 2024. 

The 16-year-old Johnson had not dropped a set in his nine previous matches in singles and doubles, and he kept that spotless record with a 6-4, 6-3 win, but Kawaguchi pushed him in both sets. After a tight first set went his way, Johnson had a 4-1 lead in the second set, but was broken serving at 4-2. Kawaguchi couldn't pull even however, with Johnson converting his second break point to give him the chance to serve for the title. Kawaguchi fought off one match point with a clean forehand winner, but Johnson didn't flinch, hitting a good first serve at 40-30 to close out the match.

Captain Sylvain Guichard, who was the captain of the 2024 ITF 14U World Junior Tennis championship team featuring Antonius and Lee liked what he saw from Californian Johnson on the South American red clay.

"He was the boss of this week," USTA National Coach Guichard said. "I was really impressed with Andy. He's really the guy who allowed us to be in this position. I knew we could beat everybody, but also thought we could lose to everybody. Last year (at 14U event) honestly, we were expecting to win. This year, no."

I'll have more on these two titles at the Tennis Recruiting Network next week.

All results from the week for all teams can be found here.

Patrick Kypson sewed up the USTA's reciprocal Australian Open wild card for the second time in three years with a title this week at the ATP Challenger 125 in Helsinki Finland. The former Texas A&M All-American more than doubled his points total from last week going from 122 to 247. Although there is technically another week left in the men's race, there are not enough points available for anyone to catch Kypson.

In today's final, the 26-year-old from North Carolina, seeded No. 5, defeated No. 6 seed Otto Virtanen of Finland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 for the biggest title of his career, eclipsing the title he won two weeks ago at the Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls. He is now up to a career-high of 117 in the ATP rankings.

At the Challenger 50 in Knoxville, No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger denied 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch his first Challenger title today, coming back for a 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-1 victory. It's the sixth Challenger title of the 31-year-old's pro career and moves him to 202 in the ATP rankings, safely into the qualifying at the Australian Open. With his first Challenger final appearance, the 18-year-old Blanch has broken the ATP Top 300 for the first time at 297.

The other American champion crowned on the USTA Pro Circuit today is Ryan Colby. The 22-year-old from Virginia, who played at USC and Georgia, qualified this week at the M15 in Orlando and went on to reach his first Pro Circuit semifinal and final. In a championship match interrupted by rain, Colby defeated Aleksa Ciric(Georgia Gwinnett) of Serbia 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4.

The W35 women's final in Orlando between Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia and Eva Vedder of the Netherlands was postponed until Monday due to rain, with just three games played today.

Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia, the No. 1 seed, won the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, beating Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia, the No. 2 seed, 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

At the M25 in East Lansing, No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain won the title, beating LSU freshman Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, the No. 3 seed, 7-5, 6-3 in today's final.

The singles title at the W125 in Austin Texas went to No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, who beat unseeded Marina Stakusic of Canada 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. In doubles, top seeds Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus defeated sisters Ivana and Carmen Corley(Oklahoma) 6-3, 7-6(4) in today's final.

The final participants in the NCAA singles and doubles championships were decided today with the results of the two matches between players losing in yesterday's Sectional quarterfinals. Below is the list of the entire singles fields, with those decided this weekend at the top.  Collegetennisranks.com's Chris Halioris is expecting to update his google documents this evening, including the doubles participants. The men's sheet is here; the women's sheet is here. 

WOMEN:

From Conference Masters:
Ayesegul Mert, Georgia
Ni Xi, UNC-Charlotte
Eugenia Zozaya Menendez, Southern Cal
Mao Mushika, Cal

From Sectionals:

Central:

Sophie Llewellyn, SMU

Kyoka Kubo, Kansas

Zuzanna Kubacha, Baylor

Lily Jones, Michigan

Violeta Martinez, Texas A&M

Na Dong, Baylor

South:

Emily Welker, Mississippi

Gabia Paskauskas, Florida

Ava Esposito, Auburn

Xinyi Nong, Florida

Eva Shaw, Florida State

Valeria Ray, Vanderbilt

East:

Lavinia Tanasie, NC State

Thea Rabman, North Carolina

Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

Mia Slama, NC State

Liv Hovde, Duke

Ria Bhakta, Clemson

West:

Mayu Crossley, UCLA

Reece Carter, Washington

Erika Matsuda, Washington

Berta Passola Folch, Cal

Krisha Mahendran, Southern Cal

Greta Greco Lucchina, Cal

From Regionals:

Mountain:

Louise Wikander, Denver

Emma Kamper, Utah

Texas:

Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

Darya Schwartzman, Rice

New England:

Serafima Shastova, Syracuse

Stephanie Yakoff, Harvard

Northeast:

Esha Velaga, Penn

Alice Ferlito, Princeton

Northwest:

Alyssa Ahn, Stanford

Naomi Xu, Cal

Southern:

Kristina Paskauskas, Alabama

Ashton Bowers, Auburn

Atlantic:

Annabelle Xu, Virginia

Vivian Yang, Virginia

Carolina:

Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State*

Ange Oby Kajuru, North Carolina

*Dada-Mascoll had already qualified for NCAAs, so her bid goes to Anna Zyryanova of NC State, who finished in third place in the Regional

Central:

Julia Garcia Ruiz, Oklahoma

Carolina Gomez Alonso, Arkansas

Midwest:

Bianca Molnar, Notre Dame

Nao Nishino, Ohio State

Ohio Valley:

Bridget Stammel, Vanderbilt

Mia Ramakita, Vanderbilt

Southeast:

Anastasiia Lopata, Georgia

Anastasiia Gureva, Georgia

Southwest:

Jana Hossam Salah, USC

Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine

From All-American Championships:

Valerie Glozman, Stanford

Carmen Herea, Texas

Teah Chavez, Ohio State

Luciana Perry, Ohio State

Tatum Evans, UNC

Emma Charney, USC

Irina Balus, Duke

Reese Brantmeier, UNC

Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

Piper Charney, Michigan

MEN:

From Conference Masters:

Michael Zheng, Columbia

Martin Borisiouk, NC State

Jeremy Jin, Florida

Edward Winter, Pepperdine

From Sectionals:

Central:

Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

Jack Anthrop, Ohio State

Jakub Vrba, Arkansas

Cosme Rolland De Ravel, TCU

Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk, Baylor

Alex Frusina, Texas A&M

South:

Matic Kriznik, Alabama

Eli Stephenson, Kentucky

Bryan Hernandez Cortes, Mississippi State

Amirkhamza Nasridinov, Auburn

Antonio Prat, Miami

William Jansen, Georgia

East:

Roan Jones, North Carolina

Melchior Delloye, Harvard

Ian Mayew, North Carolina

Niels Ratiu, North Carolina

Paul Barbier Gazeu, South Carolina

Joaquin Guilleme, Wake Forest

West:

Dominque Rolland, UC-Santa Barbara

Sasha Rozin, Arizona

Tiago Silva, Cal

Lucca Liu, UC-Santa Barbara

Shu Matsuoka, Arizona State

Filip Gustafsson, Arizona

From Regionals:

Central:

Luis Alvarez, Oklahoma 

Oscar Lacides, Oklahoma

Atlantic:

Keegan Rice, Virginia

Jangjun Kim, Virginia

Southeast:

Luis Miguel, Florida State

Hugo Car, South Florida

Southern:

Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

Ohio Valley:

Pablo Martinez Gomez, Vanderbilt

Sam Landau, Indiana

New England:

Vignesh Gogineni, Yale

Benjamin Privara, Harvard

Carolina:

Luca Pow, Wake Forest

Romain Gales, Clemson

Midwest:

Max Dahlin, Michigan

Preston Stearns, Ohio State

Mountain:

Ilia Snitari, UNLV

Illia Maksymchuk, UNLV

Northeast:

Paul Inchauspe, Princeton

Top Nidunjianzan, Princeton

Northwest:

Soham Purohit, Washington

Fryderyk Lechno Wasiutynski, Cal

Southwest:

Spencer Johnson, UCLA

Rudy Quan, UCLA

Texas:

Sebastian Eriksson, Texas

Trevor Svajda, SMU

From All-American Championships:

Jay Friend, Arizona

Aidan Kim, Ohio State

Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Ozan Baris, Michigan State

Matthew Forbes, Michigan State

Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

Duncan Chan, TCU

Kenta Myoshi, Illinois

US Teams Reach Sunday's Junior BJK Cup and Davis Cup Finals; Blanch and Krueger Meet for Knoxville Challenger Title; Exsted Wins Third Pro Doubles Title; Tien Claims First ATP Title

The domination of the top seeded teams from the United States in the ITF Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup Finals continued today in Santiago Chile, with the girls beating No. 4 seed Czech Republic 2-0 and the boys defeating No. 8 seed Turkey 3-0 to reach the championship match for the second year in a row.

Neither team has dropped a point in their five victories this week, and the girls have not lost a set in their ten singles matches, although that streak was very close to being broken today. 

ITF Junior No. 1 Kristina Penickova, playing No. 2 singles this week, swept past Tereza Hermanova 6-1, 6-1 in 45 minutes to give the US a 1-0 lead, but Julieta Pareja was locked into a tight battle with Sofie Hettlerova in her first set at No. 1 singles, with Hettlerova serving for the first set at 6-5. Hettlerova was playing No. 1 singles instead of Jana Kovackova, who had played the first four matches but was not nominated today. (Kovackova had also pulled out of the ITF Junior Finals last month in China). Hettlerova was not able to keep that lead however, with Pareja breaking and winning the tiebreaker 7-6(5) and the second set 6-1. The doubles match was not played.

In Sunday's final, the girls will play No. 3 seed France, who beat No. 6 seed Poland 3-0. The US girls are aiming for their fourth straight title, and would be on a seven-year winning streak, after also taking the title in 2017, 2018 and 2019. They were denied a chance for a fourth straight in 2021, when the USTA elected not to send teams to the competition that year due to Covid.

In the boys semifinal with No. 8 seed Turkey, Andrew Johnson defeated Samim Filiz 6-1, 6-2 in 44 minutes at the No. 2 singles position and Michael Antonius clinched the match at No. 1 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Kaan Isik Kosaner. Johnson and Jordan Lee partnered in the doubles for a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

The US boys will face No. 4 Japan, who beat unseeded Germany 3-0 today. Japan had lost to Turkey, the team the US crushed today, in group play; both finalists beat Germany 3-0.

It was a disappointing day for Americans competing in their home country today, with the exception of the Knoxville Challenger 50, where the United States is guaranteed a champion after unseeded Darwin Blanch and No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger posted semifinal wins today.

The 18-year-old Blanch defeated his third seed of the week, all in straight sets, with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win over Daniil Glinka of Estonia today. The 31-year-old Krueger, who is also yet to drop a set this week, defeated Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-4, 6-1. 

Blanch will be playing in his first Challenger final, while it's the tenth for Krueger, who is 5-4 in Challenger finals. This will be their first meeting.

In the doubles competition in Knoxville, former Tennessee Volunteer Pat Harper of Australia defended his 2024 title, although with a new partner, with former teammate Johannus Monday pulling out of this year's tournament before play began. The unseeded Harper and Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) defeated No. 4 seeds Krueger and Antigua's Jody Maginley 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 12-10 in today's final. It's the fifth Challenger title for Harper, the 2021 NCAA doubles champion, and the second with a partner other than Monday. It's the first pro doubles title at any level for Vandecasteele.

At the M25 in East Lansing, both Americans lost today, with Yale senior Vignesh Gogineni falling 6-4, 6-2 to No. 3 seed Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, a freshman at LSU, and Michigan State senior Ozan Baris dropping a 6-3, 6-2 decision to No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain.

Top seeds Tim Ruehl(Arizona State, TCU) and Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany, who won the Charlottesville Challenger 75 title last week, claimed the East Lansing championship with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Gogineni and Clemson senior Romain Gales of France.

At the M15 in Orlando, neither 17-year-old American was able to make his first Pro Circuit final. Keaton Hance lost to qualifier Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) 7-5, 6-4 and Georgia freshman Noah Johnston fell to unseeded Aleksa Ciric of Serbia, a recent Georgia Gwinnett graduate. 

Eighteen-year-old Max Exsted won his third Pro Circuit doubles title, all since September, partnering with former Auburn standout William Nolan of Great Britain. The top seeds, playing together for the first time, beat the unseeded team of Colby and Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) 6-4, 7-6(3). Exsted, the 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion, has won seven titles in junior and pro competition this year, all with different partners.

The final at the W35 in Orlando will feature the top two seeds after they advanced in straight sets today. No. 1 seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia beat No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia 7-5, 6-3 and will play No. 2 seed Eva Vedder of the Netherlands, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over No. 8 seed Akasha Urhobo.

Sixteen-year-old Thea Frodin and 15-year-old Welles Newman fell just short of the doubles title in Orlando, losing to Samantha Alicea(Arizona State, Nebraska) and Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas) 6-1, 6-7(5), 11-9.

As with the final in Orlando, the championship match at the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska will be between the top two seeds. Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia, seeded No. 1, defeated 18-year-old Anna Frey 6-3, 6-3 and will play No. 2 seed and Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia in the final. Balus defeated Oklahoma State junior Lucia Peyre of Argentina 7-5, 0-6, 6-3. Kollie Allen(Ohio State) and Megan Heuser(Illinois) won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating Mamedova and fellow Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-3, 6-3 in the final. 

At the semifinals of the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, top seed Iva Jovic lost to unseeded Canadian Marina Stakusic 6-3, 6-4. Stakusic will play No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico, who put an end to the impressive run by wild card Carmen Herea of Romania, a sophomore at Texas, by a score of 6-4, 6-4. 

Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Learner Tien, who turns 20 next month, won his first ATP title today at the Moselle Open 250 in Metz France. The former USC star is the first American teenager since Andy Roddick in 2002 to claim an ATP title, but it wasn't easy. Although he led No. 7 seed Cam Norrie(TCU) of Great Britain 4-1 in the final set, he had to come back from 5-1 down in a deciding tiebreaker for a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) victory.

With the title, Tien's ATP ranking moves to a career-high of 28, assuring himself a seed at the Australian Open after ending 2024 ranked 122. The ATP talked with Tien about his first title in this article. 

Despite having four of the eight participants in the WTA Finals, the United States did not have anyone in today's championship match. Aryan Sabalenka of Belarus beat Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan defeated Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals, with Rybakina winning the final today over Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0).

My Article on Cozad's Commitment; USA Teams Advance to Semis at Junior Davis and BJK Cups; Blanch Reaches Challenger Semis; Teens Urhobo, Hance and Johnston Move On in Orlando; Tien Makes Second ATP Final; Zheng Will Defend NCAA Title After Qualifying Today

Ryan Cozad, who turned 17 a few weeks ago, is No. 1 in Tennis Recruiting Network's Class of 2027 rankings and after visiting TCU, Georgia, Texas and Virginia, he made his decision to commit to the Cavaliers late last month. I spoke to Ryan and his father Matt about the whirlwind of the past four months which began with Ryan speaking with college coaches in June, narrowing his search to the schools he wanted to visit, and finding the best fit with Andres Pedroso and the Cavaliers, for today's article at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

After a day off Thursday, the ITF Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup resumed today in Santiago Chile with quarterfinals matches. Both top-seeded teams from the United States, both defending champions, again posted 3-0 victories, with the girls beating unseeded Japan and the boys defeating unseeded Spain.

Captain Georgi Rumenov has not made any changes to his No. 1 and No. 2 singles lineups, with ITF World Junior No. 1 Kristina Penickova at No. 2 singles and Julieta Pareja, WTA No. 347, at the No. 1 spot. Neither has lost a set, and that continued today, with Penickova beating Miyu Nishiwaki 6-1, 6-2 and Pareja defeating Yui Komada 6-2, 6-4. Because it's the knockout stage, the doubles matches often aren't played after clinch, but Kristinia and Annika Penikcova played a short-sets match with Aoi Watanabe and Nishiwaki, winning it 4-2, 4-0.

The girls will face No. 4 seed Czech Republic in Saturday's semifinals, after the Czech Republic beat No. 7 seed Great Britain 2-0. The other girls semifinal will feature No. 6 seed Poland, who beat No. 2 seed Romania 2-1 and No. 3 seed France, who defeated No. 8 seed Taiwan 3-0.

The US boys have lost two sets in singles, with one coming in today's win over Spain. Jordan Lee dropped the opening set to Adolfo Abascal 7-5, but rebounded to take the second and third sets 6-3, 6-2. Andrew Johnson, playing No. 1 singles for the first time this week, defeated Alberto Pulido Moreno 6-0, 6-4 to clinch the tie. Johnson and Michael Antonius won the doubles match 6-2, 6-3.

The boys will play No. 8 seed Turkey, who beat No. 7 seed Korea 2-1. The surprise of the day was unseeded Germany's 2-1 win over No. 2 seed France, with Eric Dylan Mueller beating France's No. 1 Daniel Jade 5-2, 5-7, 6-3 to even the match, then partnering with Jannik Soetebier for a 6-4, 6-1 win in the deciding doubles over Jade and Amaury Abbas. Germany faces No. 4 seed Japan, who beat No. 3 seed Czech Republic 2-1.

Links to streaming(subscription) and live scoring can be found at the ITF Junior Circuit site. Selected replays are available without a subscription at the MEGA YouTube channel. Today's US boys match with Spain is here. 

Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch continued his run at the Knoxville Challenger 50, reaching his first Challenger semifinal with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win this afternoon over No. 2 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain. Blanch will play No. 6 seed Daniil Glinka of Estonia, who beat qualifier Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) 7-5, 6-3. In the top half, No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger defeated Inaki Montes(Virginia) of Spain 7-5, 6-4 and will face unseeded Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany, who beat qualifier Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) 7-6(13), 6-3.

Seventeen-year-olds Keaton Hance and Noah Johnston reached their first USTA Pro Circuit semifinals today, with Hance following up his win over top seed Tristan McCormick Thursday with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Christopher Li(UNC, Tennessee, Ohio State) in today's quarterfinals at the Orlando M15. He will play qualifier Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia), who reached his first Pro Circuit semifinal with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 3 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota).

Johnston posted his third win in the past four months today over fellow left-handed junior Nikolas Stoot, taking a 7-6(5), 6-1 decision. Johnston will face unseeded Aleksa Ciric(Georgia Gwinnett) of Serbia, who beat No. 5 seed Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Eighteen-year-old Max Exsted will play for the third Pro Circuit doubles title of his career Saturday in Orlando when he and William Nolan(Auburn), the top seeds, face the unseeded team of Colby and Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine).

In the quarterfinals of the women's W35 in Orlando, the veterans overcame the juniors, with the exception of 18-year-old Akasha Urhobo. Urhobo, the No. 8 seed, beat University of Georgia sophomore Anastasiia Gureva of Russia 6-4, 6-1 and will face No. 2 seed Eva Bedder of the Netherlands, who beat No. 6 seed Madison Sieg(USC) 6-1, 6-3. Top seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia defeated 15-year-old qualifier Welles Newmman 6-0, 6-2 and will face No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) in the semifinals. Jokic defeated 16-year-old wild card Thea Frodin 6-1, 2-6, 7-5.

Although they lost in singles, Frodin and Newman have advanced to the doubles final. They defeated Sophia Biolay(Central Florida) of France and Katerina Mandelikova(Florida International) of the Czech Republic 7-6(6), 6-4 and will face another unseeded team in Samantha Alicea(Arizona State, Nebraska) and Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas) Saturday.

At the M25 in East Lansing, Michigan State senior Ozan Baris and Yale senior Vignesh Gogineni continued their confidence-building runs prior to the NCAA championships by advancing to the semifinals. Gogineni defeated Gavin Young(Michigan) 7-5, 6-3 to reach his second semifinal in just his fourth Pro Circuit tournament played, all this year. The 22-year-old from Ohio will play LSU freshman Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, who beat No. 7 seed Maik Steiner(Western Michigan) of Germany 6-1, 6-4.

Baris, who had saved seven match points in his first round win over No. 2 seed Paul Jubb(South Carolina) of Great Britain, saved another one today in his second set tiebreaker with No. 5 seed Adhithya Ganesan(Florida).  Down 5-2 in the third set, Baris won the final five games of the match for a 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 win.

His opponent in the semifinal, No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain, prevented an all-Spartan semifinal with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Michigan State sophomore Matt Forbes. McHugh and Baris played last summer in the quarterfinals of the M25 in East Lansing, with McHugh winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

At the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, 18-year-old Anna Frey advanced to her second W15 semifinal, beating No. 4 seed Kristina Novak(Oklahoma State) of Slovenia 6-4, 6-1. The North Carolina recruit will face top seed and Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia, who beat Pepperdine freshman Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-3. Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia, the No. 2 seed, will play unseeded Lucia Peyre(Oklahoma State) of Argentina in the other semifinal. Balus beat Duke recruit and No. 5 seed Aspen Schuman 6-2, 6-3 today.

At the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, both Mary Stoiana and Elli Mandlik lost today, so I believe that means Mandlik clinches the USTA's Australian Open wild card, although it will be Monday before the USTA is likely to confirm it. Top seed Iva Jovic beat Stoiana 6-0, 6-1 and No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico defeated Mandlik 6-1, 6-3. Jovic will play unseeded Marina Stakusic of Canada in the semis; Zarazua's opponent is University of Texas sophomore Carmen Herea of Romania, who won the battle of the Longhorn wild cards with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Malaika Rapolu.

Learner Tien(USC) has reached his second ATP final, both this fall, with the 19-year-old beating lucky loser Vitaliy Sachko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-4 at the ATP 250 in Metz today. Tien hasn't had the toughest draw this week, beating a wild card and two lucky losers, but he did beat former ATP Top 10 player Matteo Berrettini of Italy 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals Thursday. In Saturday's final, Tien will play No. 7 seed Cam Norrie(TCU) of Great Britain for the fourth time this year; Tien has won the past two meetings.

Eight more players have booked their spots in the D-I NCAA singles championships in Orlando, which begin in 11 days, after winning quarterfinal matches at the ITA Conference Masters today.

The women's semifinalists are Georgia's Aysegul Mert[1], UNC-Charlotte's Ni Xi[7], USC's Eugenia Zozaya Mendendez[8] and Cal's Mao Mushika[2]. Reigning men's NCAA champion Michael Zheng will return to defend his title, after surviving two set points in the opening set to beat No. 7 seed Veljko Krstic of Elong 7-6(5), 6-1.

NC State's Martin Borisiouk[4], Florida's Jeremy Jin[6] and Pepperdine's Edward Winter[2] are the other men's semifinalists advancing to Orlando.

US Teens Frodin, Newman, Urhobo, Stoot Johnston and Hance Advance in Orlando; Gogineni Ousts Top Seed at East Lansing M25; Blanch Reaches First Challenger Quarterfinal; Longhorns Rapolu and Herea Meet in Austin WTA 125 Quarterfinals

Orlando has proven to be fertile ground for many young Americans this week, with three boys and three girls who are still eligible for junior competition advancing to the quarterfinals in the two USTA Pro Circuit events taking place at the USTA National Campus.

At the W35, 15-year-old qualifier Welles Newman defeated No. 5 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first pro quarterfinal. She'll face top seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia Friday. 

Wild card Thea Frodin, 16, also beat a seed today, earning a 7-5 1-6, 6-3 victory over No. 7 Martha Matoula of Greece. She'll play No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia next.

No. 8 seed Akasha Urhobo defeated qualifier Ellie Coleman(Duke) 6-2, 6-1 to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with Georgia sophomore Anastasiia Gureva of Russia, who beat qualifier Lani Chang 6-1, 6-0 in the second round today.

At the M15, Keaton Hance, 17, beat top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to reach his second career quarterfinal at a Pro Circuit event. He will play unseeded Christopher Li(UNC, Tennessee, Ohio State) of Peru Friday.

Seventeen-year-old left-handers Noah Johnston and Nikolas Stoot will meet in the quarterfinals after they picked up wins today. Johnston, a freshman at Georgia, reached his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over qualifier Clement Lemire, a sophomore at Central Florida. Qualifier Stoot, a LSU recruit, hadn't earned an ATP point until this week, but today he defeated No. 4 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the quarterfinals of his third Pro Circuit event.

Johnston has won both of their meetings on the ITF Junior Circuit, and also beat Stoot in the round of 32 at Kalamazoo this year 6-2, 7-5.

The top seed also lost today at the M25 in East Lansing, with Yale senior Vignesh Gogineni beating Patrick Zahraj, ATP No. 241, 6-4, 6-3. He will play Gavin Young(Michigan), who defeated No. 8 seed Enzo Wallart(Kentucky) 6-0, 6-3.

Two Spartans have reached the quarterfinals, senior Ozan Baris defeated Sydney Zick 6-2, 6-1 and will play No. 5 seed Adhithya Ganesan(Florida). Sophomore Matthew Forbes defeated fellow wild card Sasha Colleu(Illinois) of France 6-1, 6-1, with the 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion facing No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain.

Michigan State head coach Harry Jadun is having a good week, not only due to the success of his players. Jadun and recent MSU grad Max Shelton are through to the semifinals in doubles after a 6-3, 6-3 win today over LSU teammates Erik Arutiunian of Belarus and Andrej Loncarevic of France.

At the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, 18-year-olds Anna Frey and Aspen Schuman have advanced to the quarterfinals. The unseeded Frey, a North Carolina recruit, beat No. 8 seed Jenna Dean 6-3, 6-2 and will play No. 4 seed Kristina Novak(Oklahoma State) of Slovenia.

The fifth-seeded Schuman, a Duke recruit, defeated Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-4, 6-2 and will face future teammate Irina Balus of Slovakia, the No. 2 seed, in Friday's match.

Last night at the Knoxville Challenger 50, 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch advanced to his first Challenger quarterfinal, beating No. 8 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-4. Blanch will face No. 2 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain Friday.

Inaki Montes(Virginia) of Spain beat top seed James Trotter 7-6(3), 7-6(6) to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger.  Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) is the third American in the quarterfinals; he defeated No. 3 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 tonight. 

At the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, University of Texas sophomore Carmen Herea and former Longhorn Malaika Rapolu will play for a spot in the semifinals, after the two wild cards posted straight-sets wins today. Herea, the ITA All-American finalist, beat Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2 and Rapolu defeated Himeno Sakatsume of Japan 6-4, 6-4. 

That match is in the bottom quarter; in the top quarter, No. 1 seed Iva Jovic will play Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), with Stoiana still in the running for the USTA's Australian Open wild card. Elli Mandlik is in the lead in the wild card race, and she is also still alive in Austin, facing No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico next. Zarazua edged Claire Liu, who is now out of the wild card race, 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(4) in a second round match that spanned two days and took three hours and 36 minutes to complete.

USA Teams Continue Dominance at Junior Davis Cup and Junior BJK Cup; Newman, Sohns, Chang Advance at Orlando W35; ITA D-I Conference Masters, Sectionals Begin Thursday with Final NCAA Entrants Decided

The United States teams came into this week's ITF Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup 16-and-under World Finals as the defending champions and No. 1 seeds, and both teams have lived up to those expectations after the completion of group play today in Santiago Chile.

The US girls posted their third straight 3-0 victory, this time over No. 6 seed Poland, with Kristina Penickova defeating Antonina Snochowska 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.

Julieta Pareja followed with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Barbara Kostecka at No. 1 singles to clinch the tie and first place in the group. 

Penickova and Pareja were both on last year's Junior BJK Cup championship team.

Pareja and Annika Penickova won the doubles match, beating Oliwia Sybicka and Snochowska 7-6(3), 6-1

The girls quarterfinals, which will be played Friday, with Thursday a day off:

USA[1] v Japan
Great Britain[7] v Czech Republic[4]

France[3] v Taiwan[8]
Poland[6] v Romania[2]

The US boys also earned a third consecutive 3-0 win, beating No. 5 seed Brazil today. Andrew Johnson beat Livas Eduardo De Carvalho Damazio 6-1, 6-0 in 55 minutes at No. 2 singles for a 1-0 lead. 

Michael Antonius lost the opening set to Leonardo Storck Franca at No. 1 singles, but rebounded for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win, which clinched the tie and eliminated Brazil from the quarterfinals.

Johnson and Jordan Lee won the doubles match over De Carvalho Damazio and Carlos Eduard Lino 6-2, 7-5.

Two of the seeded boys teams--No. 5 Brazil and No. 6 Canada-- did not advance to the quarterfinals.

USA[1] v Spain

Korea[7] v Turkey[8]

Czech Republic[3] v Japan[4]

Germany v France[2]

While the 16-year-old girls are competing in Chile, three girls a year younger are having notable results at the W35 in Orlando.

Qualifier Welles Newman and wild card Maggie Sohns, who were on the 2024 ITF World Junior Tennis team that finished second to the Czech Republic in the 14U team competition, moved into the second round with wins today.

Newman defeated fellow qualifier Panna Bartha of Hungary 6-0, 7-5 and will face No. 5 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) in Thursday's second round.

Sohns defeated qualifier Sophia Biolay(Central Florida) of France 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 and will face No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia in the second round.

Qualifier Lani Chang, who doesn't turn 15 until next month, also advanced to the second round, beating Lan Mi(Cal) of China 6-0, 5-7. 6-2. Chang, the daughter of Michael Chang and Amber Liu, often travels with her father, who serves as her primary coach, but he is in France this week with Learner Tien(USC), who he is now coaching. Tien reached the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Metz with a win today.

Chang will play University of Georgia sophomore Anastasiia Gureva of Russia Thursday; Gureva defeated Stanford freshman Monika Ekstrand, the No. 4 seed, 6-0, 6-4 yesterday. Thea Frodin and Akasha Urhobo[8] are the other juniors through to the second round.

The last competitors in this month's NCAA individual championships will be decided this weekend with the ITA's Conference Masters tournament in San Diego, and eight Sectional Championships across the country.

The four semifinalists at the Conference Masters will earn entry into the NCAAs.  The top four men's seeds, all of whom have first round byes, are Michael Zheng(Columbia), Edward Winter(Pepperdine), Emon van Loben Sels(UCLA) and Martin Borisiouk(NC State).

The top four women's seeds, with the top two receiving first round byes, are Ayseguil Mert(Georgia), Mao Mushika(Cal), Vivian Ovrootsky(Arizona State) and Zoie Epps(Louisiana Tech). 

The draws are here. Streaming will be available at the ITA YouTube Channel.

Six singles players and three doubles teams will advance to the NCAAs from each of the Sectional tournaments. 

The top four seeds from each Sectional:

MEN:

East (North Carolina) 

1. Nicolas Kotzen, Columbia

2. Lucas Andrade da Silva, South Carolina

3. Manfredi Graziani, Penn

4. Noa Vukadin, Clemson

South (Georgia)

1. Jack Loutit, Kentucky

2. Arda Azkara, Georgia

3. Corey Craig, Florida State

4. Niccolo Baroni, Mississippi State

Central(Michigan)

1. Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

2. Cosme Rolland De Ravel, TCU

3. Jack Anthrop, Ohio State

4. Khololwam Montsi, Texas A&M

West(Cal)

1. Dominique Rolland, UC-Santa Barbara

2. Lasse Poertner, Pepperdine

3. Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida, Pepperdine

4. Alex Chang, Stanford

WOMEN:

East(North Carolina)

1. Lavinia Tanasie, NC State

2. Kaitlyn Carnicella, South Carolina

3. Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

4. Victoria Osuigwe, NC State

South(LSU)

1. Valeria Ray, Vanderbilt

2. DJ Bennett, Auburn

3. Leyla Britez Risso, Tennessee

4. Raquel Gonzalez, Miami

Central(Texas A&M)

1. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

2. Lily Jones, Michigan

3. Daianne Hayashida, Iowa

4. Kyoka Kubo, Kansas

West(Washington)

1. Mayu Crossley, UCLA

2. Emilija Tverijonaite, Arizona State

3. Reese Carter, Washington

4. Krisha Mahendran, Southern Cal

Links to all eight draws can be found at the ITA tournament page.

ITF J500 Merida Acceptances; USA Teams Roll in Junior Davis and BJK Cups; Rapolu Beats Parks at WTA 125 in Austin; Baris Upsets Jubb at M25 in East Lansing; Newman, Chang Qualify at Orlando W35; Reddy, Stoot Qualify at Orlando M15

Two more J500s remain this year on the ITF Junior Circuit, both on clay, with Merida Mexico tournament beginning in less than three weeks. The Orange Bowl, beginning December 8th, closes out the year.

The Merida acceptances were released today, with ITF girls No. 1 Kristina Penickova entered, and ITF No. 3 Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain the top player entered in the boys field. No. 6 Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania is the other ITF Top 10 boy entered, while No. 8 Ksenia Efremova of France and No. 10 Alena Kovackova are the other Top 10 girls.

US girls entered: Penickova, Thea Frodin, Annika Penickova, Capucine Jauffret, Melije Clarke, Nancy Lee, Carrie-Anne Hoo, Ishika Ashar, Anita Tu and Kori Montoya. 

The girls main draw cutoff was 114, with the qualifying cutoff 306.

US boys entered: Ronit Karki, Keaton Hance, Noah Johnston, Maximus Dussault, Gavin Goode, Dominick Mosejczuk and Ryan Cozad.

The boys main draw cutoff was 100, with the qualifying cutoff 264.

Day two of the Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup in Santiago Chile is complete, with both US teams, seeded No. 1, advancing by 3-0 scores. 

The boys defeated Slovakia without dropping a set, with Jordan Lee making his singles debut at the No. 2 position and beating Andrej Adamovic 6-3, 6-1. Michael Antonius defeated Leon Sloboda 6-1, 6-2 to clinch the tie, with Antonius and Andrew Johnson winning the doubles match 4-1, retired over Adamovic and Richard Krizan. They play No. 5 seed Brazil, who lost today to Germany 2-1, leaving both Brazil and Germany with 1-1 records. The US finishes at the top of the group with a victory, and are likely to advance to Friday's quarterfinals even if they lose.

The girls blanked Peru, with Kristina Penickova beating Silvana Fajardo 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Julieta Pareja defeating Leticia Alessia Baza 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Kristina and Annika Penickova won the doubles match, beating Bazan and Daniela Gonzalez 6-3, 6-1. Poland, the No. 6 seed, also won today, beating Austria 3-0, so their match with the USA Wednesday will decide only the placement in the group, with both already securing quarterfinal spots.

The first girls seed to suffer a loss was No. 5 Brazil, who was beaten 2-1 by Japan today and must beat No. 2 seed Romania to assure themselves a place in the quarterfinals.

Tennis Channel did provide coverage of one boys and one girls match today on their streaming app. The ITF streaming site blocks those matches in the United States when live, but they are available for replay the next day.

Live scoring, which had several major errors today, in both winners and scores, is available here.

Wild card Malaika Rapolu posted a milestone win today at the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, beating No. 2 seed Alycia Parks 7-5, 6-4. The 22-year-old, who played for the Texas Longhorns from 2020-2024, won her biggest pro title last November at a W50 in Austin, but had never faced a WTA Top 100 player until today's match with No. 61 Parks.  Rapolu will face Himeno Sakasume of Japan in the second round, with no seeds remaining in her quarter.

At the M25 in East Lansing, Michigan State senior Ozan Baris also ousted the No. 2 seed, saving seven match points in a 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) first round win over 2019 NCAA champion Paul Jubb(South Carolina) of Great Britain. Baris trailed 6-3, 5-4, 40-0 and 6-2 in the tiebreaker in the second set, and also was down 4-1 in the third set of the three-hour match.

In qualifying, two Americans advanced: Arizona State recruit Simon Caldwell and Baylor senior Arman Zamani. Main draw wild cards were given to three Spartans, all sophomores: Matt Forbes, Mitchell Sheldon and Vuk Radjenovic of Serbia, along with Illinois freshman Sasha Colleu of France. Sheldon lost 6-3, 7-5 to No. 3 seed Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, a freshman at LSU, while Forbes and Radjenovic play each other Wednesday in the first round and Colleu takes on No. 6 seed Aidan Kim, a junior at Ohio State.

Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany is the top seed, and he advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Nathan Ponwith(Arizona State).

The W35 in Orlando has a significant junior presence, with 14-year-old Lani Chang and 15-year-old Welles Newman among the qualifiers.

The other two Americans qualifying today are Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas) and Ellie Coleman(Duke).

Wild cards were given to 16-year-old Thea Frodin, who won her first round match today over Maria Fernanda Navarro of Mexico 6-3, 6-3, 15-year-old Maggie Sohns, and 18-year-old Georgia recruit Bella Payne. 

Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia is the top seed, with Eva Vedder of the Netherlands the No. 2 seed.

The men also have an event in Orlando that has attracted many juniors, an M15. 

Fifteen-year-old Vihaan Reddy will make his USTA Pro Circuit main draw debut after beating top qualifying seed Alexis Gurmendi(Georgia Gwinnett) 6-2, 1-6, 10-6 today. Seventeen-year-old Nikolas Stoot will also play in his first Pro Circuit main draw after beating Dakotah Bobo(Southern Miss) 6-3, 6-4. The other two Americans advancing to the main draw via qualifying are Matthew Segura and Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia).

Wild cards were given to Max Exsted, Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode, with Keaton Hance and Noah Johnston receiving entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program. Hance and Johnston both won their first round matches today, with Johnston beating No. 8 seed Evan Bynoe 6-3, 7-5 and Hance defeating Stijn Paardekooper 6-3, 6-0.

Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) is the top seed, with Toby Kodat the No. 2 seed.

The women's schedule this week also features a W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, which didn't have much of a qualifying draw, with most qualifiers needing to win only one match. The American qualifying are Kyle McPhillips(UCLA), 17-year-old Karlin Schock and Oregon freshman Virginia Crocker. Melije Clarke, who won the ITF J300 Pan Am title last month received entry via the Junior Reserved program, as did Capucine Jauffret. Jauffret lost to Oklahoma freshman Laura Brunkel of Denmark 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round today.  UNC recruit Anna Frey won her first round match, with Duke recruit Aspen Schuman, the No. 5 seed, in first round action Wednesday.

Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia is the top seed, and the 19-year-old won her first round match today 6-4, 6-1 over Sofia Cohen Perovani of Brazil. Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia is the No. 2 seed, and she beat Megan Heuser(Illinois) 6-4, 6-3 in first round action today.

There were no wild cards awarded, which I don't ever remember seeing before in a Pro Circuit draw.

US Teams Cruise in Junior Davis Cup, BJK Cup Openers; Manchala, Wong and Stratton Claim J60 Titles; Knoxville Challenger 50 Qualifying Complete; Stoiana Beats Vidmanova at Austin WTA 125; Spizzirri, Mandlik Retake Leads in AO Wild Card Races

The first day of the ITF's Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup in Santiago Chile produced few surprises, with defending champions and No. 1 seeds the United States posting 3-0 wins in the first round of group play.

The US girls defeated Austria, with ITF Junior No. 1 Kristina Penickova, playing No. 2 singles, defeating Lea Haider-Maurer 6-3, 6-1, and Julieta Pareja, playing No. 1 singles, beating Anna Pircher 6-3, 6-2. Kristina and Annika Penickova won the doubles match, beating Kara Fronek and Pircher 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.

They will face Peru, who lost 3-0 today to Poland, on Tuesday.

The US boys blanked Germany with Andrew Johnson beating Jannik Soetebier 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles and Michael Antonius defeating Eric Dylan Mueller 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

Jordan Lee, who was playing in his first match since February, partnered with Johnson for a 6-2, 6-3 win in doubles over Jakob Joggerst and Soetebier.

They will play Slovakia, who lost 2-1 today to Brazil, on Tuesday.

All eight seeded Junior Billie Jean King Cup teams won their opening matches; two Junior Davis Cup seeds lost: Spain defeated No. 6 seed Canada and Egypt defeated No. 8 seed Turkey, both by 2-1 scores.

Links to live scoring and streaming can be found at the ITF Junior website, but I was unable to find a stream that worked for me. The ITF video site is geo-blocked, and although Tennis Channel is supposed to be an option, I could find no reference to any coverage there. Another option is a $4.99 a month subscription to MEGA, a Spanish-language YouTube channel from Chile, which can be found here.

Americans claimed three singles titles last week on the ITF Junior Circuit, all on the J60 level, as well as a J100 doubles title.

At the J60 in Boca Raton Florida, 13-year-old Isha Manchala, playing in just her second ITF event, won the title as a wild card, beating No. 2 seed Lillian Santos 6-4, 6-1 in the final. Manchala, who just won the USA Playoffs for Les Petits As a couple of weeks ago, also defeated top seed Teaghan Jou An Keys. In her debut two weeks ago at the J100 in Rome, Manchala lost to eventual champion Carlota Moreno in the second round.

Unseeded Rose Biria and Emily Morgan won the girls doubles title, beating top seeds Ariana Ikwueme and Great Britain's Athina Schlepphorst 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

The boys champion in Boca Raton was top seed Avner Wong, with the 18-year-old defeating unseeded Robert McAdoo 6-4, 6-2 in the final for his first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit.

The boys doubles title went to No. 5 seeds Tim Kohl and Leo Scheffer of Germany, who defeated No. 3 seeds Joaquin Blanch and Matthew Shapiro 6-4, 7-6(5) in the final.

At the J60 in El Salvador, 16-year-old New Yorker Tristan Stratton won his fourth singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit, all this year. The top seed didn't drop a set in his five victories, beating No. 3 seed Martin Rivadeneira of Ecuador 6-1, 6-2 in the final. 

At the J100 in Mexico, 14-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes won their third doubles title in the past six weeks, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 2 seeds Romina Dominguez Garcia of Mexico and Kalista Papadopoulos 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Papadopoulos reached the final in singles too, with the No. 2 seed losing to No. 4 seed Lingling Zhu of China 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

This week's US ITF Junior Circuit tournament is a J60 in Mt. Pleasant South Carolina, Romain Azais of France and Eaden-Zack Harron were the top boys seeds, but both lost today, with Griffin Goode beating Azais 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and McAdoo defeating Harron 6-0, 6-1. Girls top seeds Julia Seversen and Sarah Delgado reached the second round with straight-sets victories.

I'll preview the four lower level USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week tomorrow, but main draw action has begun at the Knoxville Tennessee ATP Challenger 50 and at the WTA 125 in Austin Texas.

In Knoxville, Murphy Cassone, who was a late entrant and therefore forced to play qualifying, advanced to the main draw with a 6-2, 6-0 win today over University of Tennessee senior Alejandro Moreno. Americans Cooper Williams(Harvard, Duke), Keegan Smith(UCLA), Jack Kennedy and Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon), all lost their final round qualifying matches today.

Main draw wild cards were given to Andrew Fenty(Michigan) Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee) and Dominique Rolland(Arizona, UC-Santa Barbara), with Rolland losing to Stefan Kozlov 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-1 this evening. James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan and Jay Clarke of Great Britain are the top two seeds. 

In Austin, all four qualifiers were Americans: Claire Liu, Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State), Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) and University of Texas freshman Christasha McNeil.

Iva Jovic is the top seed, with Alycia Parks the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Texas alum Malaika Rapolu, Texas sophomore Carmen Herea of Romania and Jennifer Jackson.

Herea, the ITA All-American finalist, defeated Alana Smith(NC State) 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round today.

College tennis fans were treat to yet another meeting between the top players from the past two seasons of college tennis, with Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) facing No. 8 seed Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) in the opening round today. Stoiana and Vidmanova, who had split their four meetings in the 2024-25 dual match season and split their two meeting on the USTA Pro  Circuit, had another battle today, with Stoiana emerging with a 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory. This keeps Stoiana alive in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Race, with this the final week for the women to collect points.

Elli Mandlik, who reached the semifinals of a W100 in Mexico last week, has retaken the lead from Claire Liu, but the women's race is wide open with 125 points up for grabs in Austin and Mandlik, Liu and Stoiana all entered.

Eliot Spizzirri also moved back into first place with his quarterfinal result at the Challenger 125 in Bratislava last week, but it is looking increasingly likely that he will not need a wild card into the main draw of the Australian Open. After qualifying and winning his first round today at the ATP 250 in Athens, the former Texas All-American is up to 86 in the live rankings. Patrick Kypson is now in second place; he is playing at the Challenger 125 in Helsinki Finland this week.

The men have one more week after this one to collect points in the race.

Women's Standings -- through Week 4 of 5
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Elizabeth Mandlik (202) -- 140
2. Claire Liu (221) -- 117
3. Elvina Kalieva (203) -- 106
4. Anna Rogers (233) -- 95
5. Katie Volynets (89) -- 90
6. Mary Stoiana (327) -- 77

Men's Standings -- through Week 3 of 5
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Eliot Spizzirri (96) -- 129
2. Patrick Kypson (146) -- 122
3. Martin Damm (173) -- 102
4. Matthew Forbes (929) -- 25
5. Keegan Smith (485) -- 24

Jodar Claims Third Challenger Title on Collegiate Home Courts; Martinez and Nijkamp Win Pro Circuit Titles; Tjen Captures First WTA Title; ITF Junior Davis Cup and BJK Cup Competition Begins Monday

University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain won his third Challenger title since August today at the home of his collegiate team, defeating Martin Damm 6-3, 7-6(2) in the final at the ATP Challenger 75 at the Boar's Head indoor courts in Charlottesville.

Seeded No. 7, Jodar repeated his win over No. 6 seed Damm in the final of the Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska two weeks ago; while that went three sets, the 19-year-old did not drop a set this week. With the title, he moves to 166 in the ATP rankings and into a tie for the eighth and final spot in next month's Next Gen finals. After playing three straight weeks and winning two titles, Jodar is not in the draw at next week's Challenger 50 in Knoxville, with Damm also passing on that event. Jodar is 3-0 in Challenger finals, while Damm is now 0-4.

As Jodar continues to move up in the ATP rankings, it becomes increasingly unlikely that he'll return to compete for the Cavaliers in the spring, but as of now, he is not ruling it out entirely.

The titles at the other two USTA Pro Circuit events went to collegians with ties to Oklahoma.

At the M25 in Harlingen Texas, former Oklahoma All-American Alex Martinez of Spain won his second title at that level, adding a singles title to the doubles title he earned Saturday. The 24-year-old, seeded No. 8, defeated No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the final.  

Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands won her second ITF women's World Tennis Tour singles title today at the W15 in Sumter South Carolina. The 19-year-old, who won the Wimbledon girls doubles title in 2022, defeated qualifier Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina) 6-2, 7-5, with all five of Nijkamp's wins this week coming in straight sets. Nijkamp has not yet qualified for the NCAA individual championships, but is expected to play the Sectionals this weekend.

Fiona Crawley(UNC) lost in the final of the W75 in Toronto to No. 3 seed Harriet Dart of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2, and Elvina Kalieva lost in the final of the W100 in Mexico, but two Americans men did pick up titles at the M15 level. 

Former Harvard star Daniel Milavsky, the top seed, won the title at the M15 in Canada, beating qualifier Theo Dean(Yale, Cal) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 for his fourth ITF men's World Tennis Tour singles title. 

Former NC State standout Braden Shick won his first pro title Sunday at the M15 in Japan. The unseeded 23-year-old didn't drop a set all week, defeating top seed Moerani Bouzige of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

The rapid ascent up the WTA rankings continues for former Pepperdine All-American Janice Tjen, with the 23-year-old from Indonesia claiming her first WTA singles title today at the 250 in Chennai India. The fourth-seeded Tjen, who won a WTA 125 in China last month, defeated No. 7 seed Kimberly Birrell of Australia 6-4, 6-3 in the final. She then partnered with former Kentucky star Aldila Sutjiadi, also of Indonesia, for the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Storm Hunter of Australian and Monica Niculescu of Romania 7-5, 6-4. Tjen had won her first WTA doubles title just last week in China with Katarzyna Piter of Poland. Tjen, who started the year at 411 in the WTA singles rankings, is now up to 53 and is now in the Top 100 of the WTA doubles rankings as well, at 85.

The ITF 16-and-under Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup competitions begin tomorrow in Santiago Chile, with the defending championship teams from the United States the top seeds.

Kristina and Annika Penickova and Julieta Pareja are representing the United States in BJK Cup, with Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson and Jordan Lee the Junior Davis Cup team.

The seeded teams:

Junior BJK Cup
1. United States

2. Romania

3. France

4. Czech Republic

5. Brazil

6. Poland

7. Great Britain

8. Taiwan

Poland is the other seeded team in the USA group, along with unseeded Peru and Austria, with Austria first opponent for the Americans in group play Monday. 

Junior Davis Cup

1. United States

2. France

3. Czech Republic

4. Japan

5. Brazil

6. Canada

7. Korea

8. Turkey

Brazil is the other seeded team in the USA group, with Germany and Slovakia the unseeded teams in Group A. The USA plays Germany Monday to start off group play.

The list of players and captains for all 16 teams are available at the ITF Junior site, with the boys here and the girls here.

Damm and Jodar Meet Again for Challenger Title in Charlottesville; Tanguilig and Martinez Eye Sweeps in Sumter and Harlingen; Crawley Reaches W75 Final in Canada; Historic Titles for Pagonis and Çukurluoglu at Tennis Europe Junior Masters

Martin Damm and Rafael Jodar will meet again in a Challenger final, just two weeks after Jodar claimed his second career Challenger title with a 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 victory in the championships match in Lincoln Nebraska.

No. 7 seed Jodar, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, advanced to his third Challenger final with a 6-4, 4-2, retired win over No. 8 seed Johannes Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain this afternoon at the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville. 

No. 6 seed Damm reached his fourth Challenger final with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win over qualifier Mats Rosenkranz of Germany, blasting 21 aces past his fellow left-hander in the second semifinal of the day. Damm is 0-3 in his Challenger final appearances, with this the third in the past two months.

The doubles championship was between two unseeded teams, with Tim Ruehl(Arizona State, TCU) and Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany saving a match point in their 3-6, 7-5, 12-10 win over Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada.

Former Oklahoma All-American Alex Martinez won his first M25 title in June in Tulsa; the 24-year-old from Spain, seeded No. 8, will play for his second Sunday in Harlingen Texas after beating No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain 7-6(6), 5-7, 7-6(6) in a three-hour, one-minute semifinal. Martinez had also beaten Searle in a long first round match last year in a Challenger 125, where Martinez advanced to the quarterfinals.

Martinez will face No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain, who had a much shorter stay on court today, beating qualifier Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 6-0, 6-0 in 71 minutes. Velcz had beaten top seed Adrian Boitan(Baylor) in a three-hour and 36-minute quarterfinal Friday.

Martinez won his fourth ITF men's World Tennis Tour doubles title, all at the M25 level, with partner Abraham Asaba(Monmouth, Virginia Tech) of Ghana. The No. 2 seeds didn't need to play a point in the final, with Mariano Dedura-Palomero(Texas) and Sydney Zick of Germany giving them a walkover.

2024 North Carolina graduate Carson Tanguilig won her first pro title today at the W15 in Sumter South Carolina, in doubles, and will aim for her second Sunday in singles.  Tanguilig, the 2023 NCAA doubles champion (with Fiona Crawley), partnered with former Michigan star Jaedan Brown, defeating 18-year-olds Bella Payne and Sara Shumate 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 in the final. It's also Brown's first pro title.

Tanguilig, a qualifier, reached her first Pro Circuit singles final with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston and will face No. 5 seed Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Oklahoma State for the title. Nijkamp beat 16-year-old Thea Frodin 7-5, 6-1 in today's semifinals.

Tanguilig's former teammate and doubles partner Crawley has advanced to the final of the W75 in Toronto Canada, with the unseeded 23-year-old beating No. 4 seed Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in today. Crawley, who defeated No. 7 seed Kayla Day in the first round and top seed Louisa Chirico in the quarterfinals, will face No. 3 seed Harriet Dart of Great Britain in Sunday's final. 

Crawley also reached today's doubles final, with NC State's 2022 NCAA doubles champion Jaeda Daniel. The unseeded pair lost to No. 4 seeds Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia and Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 6-4, 6-2 in today's final.

Late last month, Tennis Europe held its annual Masters event for the 16s and 14s in Monte Carlo, with Tea Kovacevic of Bosnia and Savva Rybkin of Russia taking the 16s titles.

Kovacevic, 15, defended her title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Maria Valentina Pop of Romania. Rybkin defeated Stan Put of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-3 in the boys final.

Both 14s champions made history for their countries with three-set victories in the finals. Rafael Pagonis of Greece, the European 14s and Wimbledon 14s champion, defeating Max Lorincik of Slovakia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the boys final. Pagonis, the first Greek to win a Masters title, ends his stellar season with a 51-5 record.

Zeliha Nil Cukurluoglu of Turkey is the first player from Turkey to claim a Masters title, beating Emilia Henningsen of Denmark 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

For more on the finals and links to the draws, see the Tennis Europe tournament site.