Historic Title for Genidy at IMG Academy International; Iftime Claims G16s Title; Junseo Wins Second Championship in Three Years; Lee vs Kisimov, Liutova vs Cvetkovic in Sunday's ITF J300 Finals; Vaughan and Bielinska Top Orange Bowl 16s Draws

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

When the dense fog cleared and the IMG Academy hard courts dried, the six finals of the IMG Academy lnternational Championships proceeded, with history on the line for the countries of Greece, Venezuela and Egypt. 

Those three countries had never had a singles champion at the prestigious tournament, formerly known as the Eddie Herr International, and the boys 14s final would elevate one and eliminate the other when top seed Mohamed Genidy of Egypt met No. 16 seed Ignacio Mejias of Venezuela.

Although no clear favorite emerged after more than two hours of play, Genidy managed to break and hold at 4-4 in third to post a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Many juniors would not be aware of the history, Genidy was well versed in his country's performance in December's major junior Florida in Florida.

"Ismail El Shafei won the Orange Bowl," Genidy said of the 1965 18s champion. "But the Eddie Herr, no one from my country did."

Genidy was able to put his slow start behind him, chalking it up to a lack of familiarity with Mejias's game.

"It was my first time to play him in singles, so it was weird for me," said the 14-year-old from Cairo. "But I handled it well, and I know how to play in the second set. I started well, but again, he is very good and when I do something good, he would play better every time."

Genidy let a 4-3 lead slip away, but he broke right back to give himself a chance to serve for the match. Facing two match points at 40-15, Mejias again raised his level, and it took two good first serves from Genidy in the next two points to deliver the historic title.

"He hit very good two forehands, and it was my second serve," Genidy said. "Two championship points down, how is he doing that? But I tried to make my first serves, it was very tough, and I did that, and two returns out

Genidy, who will play the Junior Orange Bowl in Miami next week, is making his first visit to the United States for these two tournaments.

"It's my first time in America, so this means a lot to me," Genidy said.

The girls 14s champion, No. 9 seed Ayaka Iwasa of Japan, denied Greece its first IMG Academy champion, defeating No. 5 seed Konstantina Volonaki 6-1, 6-1.

"I'm so happy to win this tournament," said the 13-year-old, who lost in the first round of the 12s as an 11-year-old in 2023, and made the quarterfinals of the 12s division last year.  "I played very good in the final, the best this week."

The boys 16s final was the last match to begin, and with long and physical games and points, No. 14 seed Jang Junseo of Korea needed two-and-a-half hours to collect his second IMG Academy title, beating No. 9 seed Artem Dmytrenko 7-6(4), 7-5.

Junseo, who won the 12s title in 2023 and reached the 14s final last year, has been training at the IMG Academy for more than a year, and had the support of his coaches and many fellow IMG students, as he broke Dmytrenko serving for the second set at 5-4 and broke again at 6-5 to claim the title.

"Last year I had seven set points," the 14-year-old recalled of his 7-6(7), 6-2 loss to Qi Hongjin of China in the final on Stadium Court. "I remembered last year, when I was playing tiebreak in the first set (today), and it was a little bit tough, but I won."

Junseo was receiving regular encouragement from one of his IMG Academy coaches, Agge Venizelos, and he drew comfort from that.

"It was helping a lot," Junseo said. "He told me to stay focused, and if I'm tired, my opponent is tired also, so I need to keep going."

Dmytrenko said he enjoyed the atmosphere, despite receiving no support from the pro-Junseo spectators.

"I love it," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the Mouratoglou Academy in Zephyrhills Florida, which merged last year with Andy Sorrentino's Academy there. "I love the crowd against me."

Dmytrenko regretted not taking advantage of his opportunities, but he didn't want to blame his loss on the three-and-a-half hour 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5) semifinal victory over top seed Mason Vaughan Friday.

"I felt it a little bit, but I must say I had some chances today, and I didn't take them," said Dmytrenko, who had not competed at this tournament before this year and decided to play it just a few weeks ago. "He's a very great player. He's young, hits the ball well, does everything well. He played his game today and some of the key points went his way and that kind of decided the match. But that's ok, we'll bounce back and do better in my next tournament."

Originally from Ukraine, Dmytrenko has been in the United States for the past two-and-a-half years, and has just signed with Louisville for the fall of 2026.

"I'm doing Ukrainian school and I'm graduating from there this year," said Dmytrenko, who is playing the Orange Bowl 16s next week. "So basically I skipped a grade here."

Two 14-year-old Americans battled for the Girls 16s title, with No. 11 seed Adelina Iftime coming from behind to defeat unseeded London Evans 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, a result that surprised her.

"I lost the previous two years in the first round, in the 12s and 14s," said the Orlando resident. "I just turned 14 in October, so I thought I could get past three rounds, but I ended up winning, so I was happy with that."

Iftime made an adjustment that helped her hand Evans her only two losses of a set in the tournament.

"I felt like I should stay more in the point," said Iftime, who trains with her father, and also with Tomas Penika, the father of  Kristina and Annika Penickova. Kristina also won a 16s championship here, in 2023. "I was going for too much and not in the good moments. So I just tried to stay calm and stay in the points longer. It was both patience and mental. I was trying to stay calm the whole match, not get angry at myself, and that helped me as well."

Iftime is playing the Orange Bowl next week and is excited about getting to play on the green clay.

"I like clay a lot more than I like hard," Iftime said.

Evans said she wasn't really feeling the ball well today, even with her fast start.

"She just kept the ball in and was waiting for me to miss," said Evans, last year's USTA Winter Nationals 14s champion.

Evans, who defeated No. 2 seed Daniella Sales 6-1, 6-0 in second round, said she had no expectations as far as results were concerned when she entered the tournament.

"Honestly I wasn't really paying attention, thinking about anything," Evans said. "I just went out there and played. I didn't look that far ahead in the draw."

Evans will play her second ITF J500 main draw next week with a wild card into the Orange Bowl, after her debut in Merida last week, but unlike Iftime, said "I definitely prefer hard." 

The fourth American in a final today, No. 5 seed James Borchard, fell to unseeded Rui He of China 6-1, 7-5.

Borchard raised his level against He, but after a clutch hold at 4-5, he couldn't quite find that form in the 5-6 game, with He breaking for the title.

"He is just physically very tough and he got to all my balls," said the 12-year-old from Southern California, who won the doubles title on Friday and reached the final today in his debut at this event. "He has a great slice too."

Borchard came out in the second set determined to put He under some pressure.

"I just started playing really aggressive," said the reigning Easter Bowl 12s champion. "I was playing really well, but in the end he got to a lot more balls than I did."

Borchard will be competing next week in the Junior Orange Bowl 12s in Miami.

The girls 12s title also went to a Chinese player, with No. 4 seed Fangqiao Zou pulling away from No. 5 seed Seungyeon Seo of Australia in the second set to earn a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

I was unable to see any of the ITF J300 semifinals today, with all of them played at the same time as the IMG Academy International finals due to the possibility of rain later in the day, which did not end up materializing. 

I was able to talk by phone to 15-year-old wild card Jordan Lee, who will go for a second straight IMG title tomorrow after beating No. 7 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Lee went up early in the first set, lost the break, but broke the 17-year-old to claim the set. 

Boogaard, ranked more than 400 spots higher than Lee, who was out for eight months with a wrist injury, served for the second set at 5-4, but Lee broke, only to lose his next service game. Boogaard then took his second opportunity to serve for the set.

"The first set went very well," said Lee, who won the 2024 16s title, which was played on clay last year due to hurricane damage to some of the Academy's hard courts.  "I feel like it was a pretty equal level and it just came out that I had won the set. Second set was the same thing; he played a very good game at 5-all in the second set and at 6-5, very solid from him and then, in the third set, I feel I had a little bit more energy."

There was only one break in the final set, with Boogaard dropping serve at 2-3 and Lee closed out the nearly three-hour contest with a hold.

Although Lee has played only three tournaments since his return from injury, he is pleased with how he has held up physically as he anticipates his first ITF J300 title on the same court where he won his 16s title last year.

"I've been working on my physicality, staying physical and working on the right things, not giving away points too easily," Lee said. "I feel I've been doing a very good job with that."

Lee will face unseeded Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, who has had a breakout tournament this week. Kisimov advanced to his first J300 final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia.

The girls final will feature No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia and unseeded Kristina Liutova. Cvetkovic defeated unseeded Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 6-2, 6-4 to reach her second ITF J300 final, which is also the case for Liutova, who defeated No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 7-5, 7-5.

Cvetkovic, 17, won the title in her first appearance in a J300 final this spring in Italy, while Liutova won the J300 in College Park in August; Cvetkovic lost in the semifinals at that event.

Cvetkovic said she is beginning to feel comfortable on the green clay, with this her first experience on it and at the IMG Academy. She has had plenty of reps on it, coming from a set down in three of her first four matches to advance.

"It's a little bit tough, but the courts are good and I'm feeling so good," said Cvetkovic, who has survived physically despite all that court time, which included five doubles matches. "This morning I was feeling so good, it's like just confidence."

Making just her second trip to the United States, with the first the College Park/US Open Junior swing, Cvetkovic has not had an opportunity to study Liutova's game. 

"This is the first time I play against her," said Cvetkovic, who is traveling with the ITF Junior Touring Team on this Florida swing. "We will see tomorrow, who will be better, who will give more."

Both ITF singles finals are scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday, with rain again a possibility.

Cvetkovic and partner Larraya Guidi, the No. 2 seeds, lost in the afternoon doubles final to No. 3 seeds Kanon Sawashiro of Japan and Xiran Sun of China 6-2, 6-4.

In the boys doubles final, played at the same time as the singles semifinals, No. 2 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland defeated No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-0, 6-4, The Roland Garros and Wimbledon doubles champions did not drop a set in their five victories this week.

Main draw play begins Sunday at the Orange Bowl, with 32  singles matches in the 16s, which is half of the draws, on the schedule, along with the final round of 18s qualifying.

As he was at the IMG Academy International Championships, Mason Vaughan is the top seed; the girls top seed is Sofiia Bielinska of Ukraine.

Draws for the 16s main draw and 18s qualifying, along with the order of play, can be found at ustaorangebowl.com

November Aces; USA's Borchard, Dmytrenko, Iftime and Evans Reach Saturday's IMG Academy International Singles Finals, Doubles Champions Crowned; Fifteen-year-olds Lee and Liutova Advance to Semifinals at ITF J300 Bradenton; Orange Bowl J500 Wild Cards

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

Before I get into all the action at the IMG Academy International Championships and ITF J300 here in Bradenton, it's that time of month when I highlight the top performances of the previous month by current and former collegians and juniors for the Tennis Recruiting Network. It's another huge international collection of accomplishments, which includes junior, NCAA, ITF, WTA and ATP titles. 

The singles finals are set for the 12s, 14s, and 16s divisions, with four Americans advancing to Saturday morning's championship matches.

In the girls 16s, an American champion is guaranteed, with No. 11 seed Adelina Iftime of Florida facing unseeded London Evans in the final, with both girls 14 years old. 

In the boys 16s, No. 9 seed Artem Dmytrenko of Georgia, who has signed with Louisville for next fall, won the match of the day, beating top seed Mason Vaughan 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5) in a three-hour and 30-minute battle on Court 3. Dmytrenko will face 14-year-old IMG Academy student Jang Junseo of Korea, who will be playing his third consecutive final. No. 14 seed Junseo, who won the 12s title in 2023 and reached the 14s final last year, defeated unseeded Colter Amey 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in today's semifinal.

In the boys 12s, reigning Easter Bowl champion James Borchard will play for another prestigious title Saturday after the No. 5 seed defeated Minchan Kwon of Korea 6-4, 6-1. His opponent is the unseeded Rui He of China, who beat top seed Oliver Baker in the third round and another Australian, No. 3 seed Jobe Dikkenberg, 6-2, 6-1 in today's semifinal.

Singles semifinal results:

B12s:
Rui He (CHN) d. Jobe Dikkenberg[3](AUS) 6-2, 6-1
James Borchard[5] (USA) d. Minchan Kwon[16] (KOR) 6-4, 6-1

B14s:
Mohamed Genidy [1] (EGY) d. Tristan Ascenzo[3] (USA) 7-5, 6-2
Ignacio Mejias[16] (VEN) d. Akhmadi Makhanov[10] (KAZ) 6-2, 6-1

B16s:
Artem Dmytrenko[9] (USA) d. Mason Vaughan[1] (USA) 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-6(5)
Jang Junseo[14] (KOR) d. Colter Amey (USA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1

G12s:
Yoonseol Choi (KOR) d. Xiaoke Li (CHN) 7-5, 6-4
Fangqiao Zou[4] (CHN) d. Seungyeon Seo[5] (AUS) 6-2, 6-1

G14s:
Konstantina Volonaki[5] (GRE) d. Adriana Khomyakova[13] (USA) 6-3, 6-1
Ayaka Iwasa[9] (JPN) d. Zihao Han[4] (CHN) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4

G16s:
Adelina Iftime[11] (USA) d. Samvrutha Jawahar[7] (USA) 6-1, 6-4
London Evans (USA) d. Tanvi Pandey[6] (USA) 6-3, 6-2

The doubles semifinals and finals were played today, with photos of the finalists and the result of the championship match below:

B16s: Julian Zhang & Arjun Krishnan(USA[6] d. Griffin Goode & Mason Vaughan(USA) 7-5, 6-2

G16s: Grace Hong & Vibha Gogineni(USA)[4] d. Masaki Yamagishi(JPN) & Kiana Smith(USA)[3] 6-2, 6-4

B14s: Raku Yoshimoto & Agui Nanato(JPN) d. Francisco Sardhina (POR) & Miguel Baquero (DOM) 6-3, 7-6(4)

G14s: Zhao Han & Jiayi Lu(CHN) [4] d. Sara Lozano Avellaneda (COL) & Maria Baena(USA) 6-0, 6-1

B12s: James Borchard(USA) & Evan Fan(USA) [1] d. Oliver Baker & Lennox Kelly(AUS) [4] 6-2, 7-5

G12s: Yanke Wang(CHN) & Yichen Xiu(HKG) d. Hwani Choi &Yoonseol Choi (KOR) 6-1, 6-3

The ITF J300 quarterfinal matches featured several impressive comebacks, with wild card Jordan Lee, last year's 16s champion rebounding from 3-0 down in the third set to defeat Daniel Jade of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to reach his first J300 semifinal.

Jade began to show signs of fatigue after two grueling holds to take that 3-0 lead, and Lee sensed he had an opportunity, although he was also feeling the effects of the physically demanding points.

"We both pushed each other to the limit," said the 15-year-old from Florida, who returned to competition last month after a wrist injury kept him out eight months. "We gave it all we had and massive respect to him for pushing himself and me at like that. I feel like it comes with the sport--you're tired, but it's what you're willing to do to push through it."

Lee will face 17-year-old Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands, who lost the first set to No. 13 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden in short order, but bounced back for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory. Rejchtman Vinciguerra was irritated by various incidences throughout the match and did not accept the offer of the post-match handshake from Boogaard.

The bottom half semifinal will feature two unseeded players, with 16-year-old Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia and 17-year-old Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria reaching their first ITF J300 semifinals with straight-sets victories.

Bolivar Idarraga ended the run of wild card Jerrid Gaines Jr. 7-6(6), 6-3, while Kisimov halted the six-match winning streak this week of qualifier Tim Vaisman of Israel 6-2, 6-4.

This two-week stretch of green clay events marks the first time Kisimov has visited the United States, and he is adapting quickly to the surface.

"I like it, and I think I'll get better," said Kisimov, who liked his form and his prospects for success this week after skipping the Mexico events to train. "I'm really happy that I made it to the semis. It's nice weather, nice atmosphere, everything's great here."

Kisimov said he is friends with the other top Bulgaria juniors: ITF No. 1 and two-time junior slam champion Ivan Ivanov and Alex Vasilev, who lost to Ivanov in the US Open final in September. 

"I know them well, we've played so many times," Kisimov said. "I did beat Ivan once, but he's beaten me, like ten times."

Two unseeded girls advanced to the semifinals, but, unlike two of the boys, they will not play each other, with Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine facing No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia and Kristina Liutova playing No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina.

Sushkova defeated Alyssa James of 7-5, 6-3, while Cvetkovic came back from a set and a break down to defeat unseeded Hollie Smart of Great Britain 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Larraya Guidi defeated No. 9 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India 7-5, 7-6(3), with Liutova getting a second win over No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China in the past three months, by a 6-1, 7-6(10) score.

Liutova had beaten Sun in the semifinals of the ITF J300 in College Park in August after dropping the first set, but today she was the one getting off to a quick start. Sun immediately turned the tables, however, going up 5-1 in the second set before Liutova found her form.

"I started missing a little more and she obviously is a great player, so she got back in the match," said the 15-year-old, who lives and trains in the Seattle area. "My legs slowed down a little bit, so it was most important to get that back."

Sun served for the set at 5-2 and 5-4, but Liutova wouldn't concede the set, leading to a tiebreaker. 

Liutova was up 4-2 and 5-3 but Sun got the mini-break back until Liutova earned her first match point at 6-5 with sharply angled backhand winner.

But the 15-year-old Sun forced an error with a good forehand to save the first match point, and a second at 7-6 with a perfectly executed drop shot. At 8-7 Liutova failed to convert a third match point, missing a backhand, and match point No. 4, at 9-8, was a riveting rally of more than 25 shots that Sun eventually won with a clean forehand winner. 

Sun finally earned a set point with a return error from Liutova, but she made a backhand error early in the rally for 10-10. Liutova forced an error with her backhand for match point No. 5 and this time Sun blinked. She worked the rally to get a weak short ball inside the service line, but netted her forehand swing volley.

"She came up with some aggressive play, and credit to her for such a fight," Liutova said of all the match points saved. "She just let herself play and made some great shots, so I have nothing to complain about. I was excited for the match, she's a great player, a fighter and I love the competition."

Although she trains often indoors or on hard courts, Liutova is a big fan of any color of clay.

"I love clay," said Liutova, who was back practicing on the Stadium Court Friday evening "I love sliding around, I love the surface. Green is different from red, red is slower, this is a little more slippery, but I adjusted in the first days of my training pretty fast and I was excited to play on clay."

All of the semifinal matches, scheduled for 9 a.m. due to the possibility of rain later in the day, are first-time meetings.

The boys doubles final will also be at 9 a.m., with No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia facing No. 2 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland.

Alvarez and Sesko defeated No. 4 seeds Andy Johnson and Michael Antonius 7-6(3), 6-2, while Paldanius and Wazny beat No. 7 seeds Rejchtman Vinciguerra and Norway's Johan Oscar Lien 6-3, 6-3.

No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi will play No. 3 seeds Sun and Japan's Kanon Sawashiro for the girls doubles championship; with Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi both still in singles, that match will not be before noon.  Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi beat No. 4 seeds Melije Clarke and Korea's Ha Eum Lee 6-2, 6-4, while Sun and Sawashiron defeated the unseeded team of Rira Kosaka and Aoi Watanabe of Japan 6-4, 6-1.

Qualifying for the Orange Bowl J500 begins Saturday, with the final round of qualifying for the 16s tournament concluding tomorrow.

Jordan Lee and Kristina Liutova received special exemptions into the main draw by reaching the semifinals here in Bradenton. Isabelle Deluccia, Janae Preston, Nigeria's Oluwaseun Peter Ogunsakin and Vihaan Reddy moved into the main draw from qualifying due to withdrawals.  The wild cards for the J500 are below:

Girls:

Lani Chang

Kathryn Cragg

London Evans

Scarlett Fagan

Yael Saffar

Allison Wang

Nicole Went

Boys:

Safir Azam

Teodor Davidov

Jerrid Gaines Jr.

Marcel Latak

Tyler Lee

Agassi Rusher

Nikolas Stoot

Kamil Stolarczyk

The order of play and all qualifying draws can be found at ustaorangebowl.com.

ITF J300 Bradenton Quarterfinals Feature Two American Wild Cards, All US Girls Eliminated; Eleven US Juniors Compete in Semifinals of 12s, 14s and 16s Divisions; Orange Bowl 16s Qualifying Begins Friday; Santamarta Signs with Virginia

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

Jordan Lee had a difficult 2025, with a wrist injury keeping him out of competition for more than eight months. Yet on the green clay courts of the IMG Academy, the 15-year-old wild card is back to winning again, with the 2024 16s champion advancing to the ITF J300 quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-0 thumping of No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland Thursday morning.

"After being out for so long, it feels great," said Lee, who returned to competition as a member of the Junior Davis Cup championship team last month in Chile.  "It's not my life, but tennis is the thing that I enjoy most in life, what I love doing most. During the time away I missed it so much, but it was important not to rush it."

Lee admitted to some jitters when he played his first match at the Junior Davis Cup, but he is not surprised by the form he's displayed since his return.

"The first match in Chile was very tough, I was very nervous," said Lee, whose only loss since coming back was in the second round of the M15 in Orlando last month. "But since I was finally back, I didn't want to waste it being nervous, just wanted to have fun, enjoy it. I put a lot of hard work into coming back."

Lee hadn't played Wazny, so wasn't sure what to expect, but was happy with his own level. 

"I did a very good job of staying solid, I played very well overall," Lee said. "I don't really know him, so I don't know, but I did a very good job today."

Lee will play unseeded 16-year-old Daniel Jade of France, who defeated wild card Marcel Latak 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in the quarterfinals, but hasn't given much thought to a second straight title.

"It feels great being back on these courts, but I'm not really thinking about being defending champion, a two-peat or anything like that," said Lee, who reached the Eddie Herr 12s final in 2021. "I'm just thinking about doing the best I can, using what I have and giving 100 percent."

Another young American reached the quarterfinals by claiming a decidedly tougher battle, with 16-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr. defeating fellow wild card Samim Filiz of Turkey 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Filiz was returning the big first serves of Gaines well in the first two sets, but Gaines said he raised his level in the third set to reach his first J300 quarterfinal.

Gaines will play unseeded Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia, who won a second straight three-setter, beating doubles partner Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(5). Chabalgoity, who had beaten No. 9 seed Michael Antonius Wednesday in over three and a half hours, looked exhausted in the late stages of the match, but managed to break Bolivar Idarraga serving for the match at 5-4 and saved two match points down 3-6 in the final tiebreaker before finally succumbing.

No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany also dropped a third set tiebreaker, with Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria taking a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) decision. Mackenzie was cramping badly at the end of the match and withdrew from his doubles quarterfinal as a result.

Kisimov will face qualifier Tim Vaisman of Israel, who has now won six matches this week after beating Connor Doig of South Africa 6-4, 6-3. 

The only two boys seeds remaining play each other, with No. 13 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden facing No. 7 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands. Rejchtman Vinchiguerra beat Dan Brand of Israel 7-6(3), 6-3, while Boogaard coasted past No. 12 seed Andy Johnson 6-1, 6-2.

There are no US girls through to the quarterfinals, with wild card Allison Wang withdrawing due to an ab injury prior to her match with Alyssa James of Jamaica. No. 16 seed Nancy Lee dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina and Anita Tu lost to Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Sushkova trailed 5-2 in the first set before getting back to 5-all, but she identified the problem and cleared her head during a bathroom break after the first set.

"I went to the restroom and just told myself to fight and to do my best," said the 17-year-old, who is now training in France. "In the first set my serve was terrible, so many double faults, and it was in my head, so that toilet break really helped me to clean my mind."

Sushkova is playing her first tournament on green clay, but she prefers it to the red clay prevalent in Europe.

"I like it because it doesn't bounce really high like on normal clay," Sushkova said. "For me, it's really good, I'm an aggressive player, so when the ball doesn't bounce high I have less time and feel it better."

Sushkova left her home country to train near Nice when Russia invaded Ukraine.

"For the first two years I was really struggling a lot mentally," said Sushkova, who travels with her French coach. "I used to be home, with my parents and grandparents. Now my mom stays with me, I see my dad only when I come to Ukraine, maybe one time per year, so it's quite tough. But we keep in touch, all the time, I call him after every match, I think he was actually watching this match (on live stream). But in time, I'm getting better in France, and it's my second home now."

Sushkova will face James in the quarterfinals, with the other quarterfinal in the top half featuring Hollie Smart of Great Britain and No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia. Smart defeated No. 15 seed Iva Marinkovic of Sweden 6-2, 7-5 and Cvetkovic beat Tereza Hermanova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The only quarterfinal between two seeds is No. 9 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India and No. 4 sed Larray Giudi. Rajeshwaran Revathi defeated No. 6 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the bottom quarter, No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China will be looking for revenge against unseeded Kristina Liutova, who beat Sun 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals of the ITF J300 College Park in August. Sun beat unseeded Pavla Sviglerova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1 today, while Liutova defeated 14-year-old Sofiia Bielinska 6-3, 6-2. 

The Sun-Liutova quarterfinal is the only one where the competitors have played previously on the ITF Junior Circuit.

The doubles semifinals are set for Friday afternoon. 

No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia will face No. 4 seeds Michael Antonius and Johnson in the top half; No. 7 seeds Johan Oscar Lien of Norway and Rejchtmann Vinciguerra play two-time junior slam champions Wazny and Oskari Paldanius of Finland.

Unseeded Rira Kosaka and Aoi Watanabe of Japan meet No. 3 seeds Sawashiro and Sun in the girls top half semifinal; No. 4 seeds Melije Clarke and Ha Eum Lee of Korea play No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi.

The 12s, 14s and 16s divisions played their quarterfinals today, with 11 Americans still in the hunt for titles. An American girl will be the 16s champion, with all semifinalists from the United States. The girls 12s division is the only one of the six without an American still in contention for a title.

B12s Quarterfinals:
Rui He (CHN) d. Yeseong Lee[9] (KOR) 6-3, 6-0
Jobe Dikkenberg[3](AUS) d. Dmitriy Flyam[7] (USA) 6-3, 5-7, 10-6

Minchan Kwon[16] (KOR) d. Daichi Fujise (JPN) 2-6, 6-2, 10-1
James Borchard[5] (USA) d. Zirui Zhao (CHN) 6-4, 7-5

B14s Quarterfinals:
Genidy Mohamed[1] (EGY) d. Siyun Kim[7] (KOR) 6-3, 6-2
Tristan Ascenzo[3] (USA) d. Kenshin Sato (JPN) 6-2, 6-0

Akhmadi Makhanov[10] (KAZ) d. Boshi Wang[4] (USA) 6-2, 7-6(11)
Ignacio Mejias[16] (VEN) d. Yosuke Hino[8] (SGP) 6-3, 6-0

B16s Quarterfinals:
Mason Vaughan[1] (USA) d. Rafael Bote[5] (CAN) 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
Artem Dmytrenko[9] (USA) d. Dhakshish Aryan[4] (USA) 6-4, 6-1

Colter Amey (USA) d. Ansar Niyetkaliyev (KAZ) 6-4, 6-0
Jang Junseo[14] (KOR) d. Cristobal Plasencia Robles[12] USA) 6-1, 6-2

G12s Quarterfinals:
Xiaoke Li (CHN) d. Chloe Anthony[7] USA) 3-6, 6-4, 10-1
Yoonseol Choi (KOR) d. Zana Peric[8] (USA) 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-3

Fangqiao Zou[4] (CHN) d. Yeonkyung Lim[6] (KOR) 6-2, 6-3
Seungyeon Seo[5] (AUS) d. Inie Toli[2] (USA) 6-0, 6-2

G14s Quarterfinals:
Adriana Khomyakova[13] (USA) d. Mia Tanasoiu (USA) 6-0, 6-1
Konstantina Volonaki[5](GRE) d. Jiayi Lu(CHN)[10] 7-6(6), 6-2

Zihao Han[4] (CHN) d. Srishti Kiran[11] (IND) 6-2, 6-0
Ayaka Iwasa[9] (JPN) d. Xinran Yan[12] (CHN) 6-2, 6-2

G16s Quarterfinals:
Adelina Iftime[11] (USA) d. Kara Fronek[16] (AUT) 7-5, 6-0
Samvrutha Jawahar[7] (USA) d. Sadira Ouyang[3] USA) 6-4, 6-3

Tanvi Pandey[6] (USA) d. Vibha Gogineni[4](USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
London Evans (USA) d. Shaya Jovanovic (USA) 6-0, 6-4

Two rounds of doubles were played this afternoon and both the semifinals and finals are scheduled for Friday.

Qualifying for the 16s Orange Bowl begins Friday, and main draw wild cards have been determined. Draws and order of play can be found here.

Boys 16s wild cards:

Kush Bhandari

Chase Bowden

Diego Custodio

Alexander Farias

Mark Mrcela

Sulaiman Syed

Alexander Totian

Johnny Wolf

Girls 16s wild cards:

Audrey Dussault

Genevieve Hayden

Fiona Hu

Kylee Hung

Sofia Kedrin

Evelynn Kwak

Priyanka Tallamraju

The University of Virginia announced today that former ITF World Junior No. 1 and 2024 ITF J300 Bradenton and Orange Bowl champion Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain will be joining the team in January. Although Rafael Jodar is still planning to return to the team for the spring season, should the Spanish sophomore have notable results at the NextGen ATP Finals or in the Australian Open qualifying, that could change, and Santamarta would soften the blow should Jodar decide not to return.

Look HOOS joining us in January!!
Everyone welcome our newest Cavalier Andrés Santamarta Roig
🔶 Reached No. 1 World Junior Ranking
🔷 Won 7 Junior titles, including winning the 2024 Orange Bowl and Eddie Herr
🔶 Ranked No. 611 in the ATP World Rankings#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/NDK0jZG9zi

— Virginia Men's Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) December 4, 2025

Both ITF J300 Bradenton No. 3 Seeds Fall in Second Round; Wild Card Latak Comes Back to Advance; Quarterfinals Set in 12s, 14s, and 16s Divisions of IMG Academy International Championships

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

I decided to make the trip to the Legacy Hotel Courts on the West Campus of the IMG Academy, and although only 11 matches were played on the six courts, I was there for more than six hours, with three-setter after three-setter prolonging the second round of the ITF J300.

Seven of those 11 matches (No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland got a walkover due to Carel Ngounoue's injury) went the distance, but the biggest upsets were straight-sets contests, with Hollie Smart of Great Britain defeating No. 3 seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina 6-3, 7-5 and Connor Doig of South Africa beating No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan 6-4, 6-2.

Smart got off to a good start against Cinalli and closed out the first set without much resistance, but Cinalli served for the second set at 5-3 and held a set point at 40-30. Smart saved it with her forehand forcing an error from Cinalli and two unforced Cinalli errors later, Smart was back on serve. 

Smart held in a tight game to pull even, then took the lead when she converted her second break point by putting away a forehand on a short ball. Serving out the match proved difficult however, with her 30-0 lead disappearing, and a match point at 40-30 lost on a backhand error. She missed a forehand pass wide to give Cinalli a break point, and couldn't land a first serve. But Cinalli netted the second serve return and then netted two more forehands to hand the match to Smart.

Smart hadn't played on green clay before this week, but has reached the semifinals of a J300 on red clay in Europe and advanced to the quarterfinals at last week's J500 in Merida, and thinks the surface suits her game.

"Playing heavy balls and mixing it up with the low slice, it keeps my opponent moving," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the LTA's Academy at Loughborough. "I can get it in tough positions for them, get it out of their striking zone."

Smart used her slice, both forehand and backhand, to coax errors from Cinalli.

"She definitely struggled when it was lower, so I was trying to mix that in," Smart said. "Not too much, so she didn't get into a groove, but going heavy and then keeping it low definitely got me a lot of cheap points, or opportunities to be up in the point."

Cinalli is the rare junior girls with a one-handed backhand, with Smart unable to recall another opponent she has faced with that shot. 

"It's definitely different," Smart said. "She's going to feel better on some shots and struggle on others, so just trying to find out what works, the first few games are a bit of problem solving. But as the match progresses, it was better to keep it high, she struggled with that, getting the one-hander up there."

Smart will face No. 15 seed Iva Marinkovic of Sweden, who won one of the three-setters at the Legacy Hotel courts, beating Zhang-Qian Wei of China 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Marinkovic is one of two seeds remaining in the top half, with No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia beating qualifier Ana Avramovic 6-1, 6-3 in only other girls two-setter at the Legacy Courts.

Like Smart, Doig was unfamiliar with the green clay in the United States, but the 17-year-old from South Africa did have four days of practice on the surface after losing in the first round of the J500 in Merida last week.

"This is my first time in the States and my first time on green clay," Doig said. "I don't have as much experience as everyone else on the clay, coming from South Africa. We don't really have any clay courts, none at all really. I've definitely improved a lot on it since I first got on it, and I'm feeling more comfortable, I'd say I enjoy it more than the European clay. Here I would say it's a bit quicker, and bounces better than the European clay."

Doig stayed in the rallies with the usually consistent Tabata, a Roland Garros boys semifinalist this year. That consistency wasn't apparent today, with Doig's shot tolerance superior to Tabata's and his motivation heightened by a previous loss.

"About three and a half years ago, on my first trip to Europe, playing for South Africa in the U14 Davis Cup (World Junior Tennis) in Prostejov (Czech Republic)," Doig said. "I lost that match after being 6-5, 40-0 up in the third set. So there was definitely an element of revenge in this one. He's definitely really tough; he's a quality opponent so he makes you play a lot of balls. You've got to take your chances against an opponent like him, play at your highest level to win, which I did today."

Doig will face the only qualifier remaining in either draw, Tim Vaisman of Israel, in Thursday's third round.

In addition to Tabata two other boys seeds fell at the Legacy Hotel courts, with Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia beating No. 8 seed Zigo Sesko of Slovenia 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3 and wild card Marcel Latak defeating No. 10 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5. 

Chen served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but Latak lifted his game when he needed to, breaking Chen at love and holding quickly to put the pressure right back on Chen.

Latak had two match points at 15-40, but shanked a return on the first, with Chen getting a fortunate net cord on the second. But a double fault provided Latak with another match point, which Chen saved with a good first serve. But Latak cracked a forehand winner for a fourth match point and converted it with a perfect forehand pass to close out the three-hour victory.

"I told myself that physically, I'm there," said the reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion. "So if I can just mentally be there, I'll be able to do it. If I just stay focused the whole time, if I go down, it doesn't matter, because it's all momentum."

Latak is not especially fond of the green clay, but he did have an opportunity to train on it at the USTA National Campus prior to this tournament and was determined to show some improvement.

"So far it's been pretty good," said the 16-year-old from Illinois. "Earlier in the year, when I transitioned from hard to clay, I struggled a lot but Christian (Groh) has helped me so much, with strategy and the way I'm supposed to play on green clay, and I've taken that advice."

Latak will face unseeded Daniel Jade of France in the third round Thursday.

No. 12 seed Andrew Johnson came from 6-1 down in the first set tiebreaker and went on to defeat Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico 7-6(8), 6-4, joining fellow Americans Latak, Jerrid Gaines Jr and Jordan Lee in the third round. Lee, last year's 16s champion, defeated qualifier Koki Nara of Japan 6-2, 6-3 and Gaines beat qualifier Kamil Stolarczyk 6-2, 6-3. 

No. 9 seed Michael Antonius suffered his first loss ever at the tournament, after winning the Eddie Herr 12s title in 2022 and the 14s title in 2023, while not competing in Bradenton last year. Today he lost a three-hour and 35-minute battle of attrition to Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-3.

The only seed remaining in the bottom half of the draw is No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany, a TCU signee, who received a walkover from Victor Ryden of Sweden.

The doubles quarterfinals are set for Thursday, after four of the boys second round matches were played under the lights due to the length of so many of the singles matches. The top seeds in the girls draw, Nadia Lagaev of Canada and Laim Vladson of Uzbekistan, lost to Yu Jun Lin and Zhang-Qian Wei of China 7-6(5), 6-4.

The singles quarterfinals are set for Thursday in the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions, with another rash of upsets in today's third round.

Rui He of China defeated top seed Oliver Baker of Australia 6-3, 7-5 and Zirui Zhao of China defeated No. 2 seed Evan Fan 6-3, 6-4 in the boys 12s.

2024 girls 12s champion Nikol Davletshina, the No. 1 seed this year in the 14s, lost to No. 13 seed Adriana Khomyakova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

B12s Quarterfinals:
Rui He (CHN) vs Yeseong Lee[9] (KOR)
Jobe Dikkenberg[3](AUS) vs Dmitriy Flyam[7] (USA)
Daichi Fujise (JPN) vs Minchan Kwon[16] (KOR)
James Borchard[5] (USA) vs Zirui Zhao (CHN)

B14s Quarterfinals:
Genidy Mohamed[1] (EGY) vs Siyun Kim[7] (KOR)
Tristan Ascenzo[3] (USA) vs Kenshin Sato (JPN)
Boshi Wang[4] (USA) vs Akhmadi Makhanov[10] (KAZ)
Yosuke Hino[8] (SGP) vs Ignacio Mejias[16] (VEN)

B16s Quarterfinals:
Mason Vaughan[1] (USA) vs Rafael Bote[5] (CAN)
Dhakshish Aryan[4] (USA) vs Artem Dmytrenko[9] (USA)
Colter Amey (USA) vs Ansar Niyetkaliyev (KAZ)
Cristobal Plasencia Robles[12] (USA) vs Jang Junseo[14] (KOR)

G12s Quarterfinals:
Xiaoke Li (CHN) vs Chloe Anthony[7] USA)
Yoonseol Choi (KOR) vs Zana Peric[8] (USA)
Fangqiao Zou[4] (CHN) vs Yeonkyung Lim[6] (KOR)
Inie Toli[2] (USA) Seungyeon Seo[5] (AUS)

G14s Quarterfinals:
Adriana Khomyakova[13] (USA) vs Mia Tanasoiu (USA)
Jiayi Lu(CHN)[10] vs Konstantina Volonaki[5](GRE)
Zihao Han[4] (CHN) vs Srishti Kiran[11] (IND)
Xinran Yan[12] (CHN) vs Ayaka Iwasa[9] (JPN)

G16s Quarterfinals:
Adelina Iftime[11] (USA) vs Kara Fronek[16] (AUT)
Sadira Ouyang[3] USA) vs Samvrutha Jawahar[7] (USA)
Vibha Gogineni[4](USA) vs Tanvi Pandey[6] (USA)
Shaya Jovanovic (USA) vs London Evans (USA)

Eight Qualifiers Advance, Top Boys Seed Out at ITF J300 Bradenton; Upsets Continue in 12s, 14s, 16s Division at IMG Academy International Championships

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bradenton FL--

Rain has been an infrequent visitor the first week of December at the IMG Academy International Championships and ITF J300 this decade, but a morning shower on Tuesday left the hard courts needing several hours to dry, sending the 12s divisions second round singles matches indoors and postponing the first round of doubles until Wednesday.

Because the ITF J300 is being played on green clay, disruptions were minimal, allowing that tournament to stay on schedule. But the upsets that began Monday continued, with five more seeds, including No. 1 Yannick Alexandrescou, eliminated.

Alexandrescou, who played in the singles semifinals and the doubles final Saturday night at the ITF J500 in Merida, looked unwell throughout the opening games of his match with Lucas Yunez of Ecuador, and eventually requested an immediate visit from the trainer at 5-all in the first set, saying he was struggling to breathe. He attempted a few more points but could not continue, with the 17-year-old from Romania, a quarterfinalist here last year, retiring. He and Ryo Tabata, the No. 1 seeds in doubles, gave a walkover to the team of Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia and Pedro Chabalgoity of Brazil, with no other team signing in as alternates.

No. 16 seed Linus Lagerbohm of Finland, also a semifinalist last week at Merida, retired from his match with wild card Jordan Lee, the 2024 16s champion here. Lee was leading 5-1 when Lagerbohm could not continue due to illness. Lagerbohm also withdrew from doubles, with partner Stefan Haita of Romania, but there was one alternate team signed in to take their place, the twin brothers Max and Jan Frolich of the Czech Republic. The Frolichs lost to Lee and his partner Jerrid Gaines Jr. 6-0, 7-5.

The other two boys seeds to fall today were No. 14 seed Tito Chavez of Spain and No. 15 seed Ryan Cozad. Chavez lost to wild card Samim Filiz of Turkey 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, while Cozad was beaten 6-1, 6-1 by qualifier Tim Vaisman of Israel.

The only girls seed to lose today was No. 11 seed Capucine Jauffret, who was beaten by qualifier Lingling Zhu of China 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4). 

Zhu, who won both of her qualifying matches Sunday in straight sets, had a couple of chances to finish the match without a tiebreaker with Jauffret serving at 5-6, but Jauffret held and Zhu double faulted on the opening point of the tiebreaker. 

That unfortunate start didn't prove costly, as she got the next two points and led 4-2 at the first change of ends. Jauffret got the minibreak back for 4-4, but Zhu was more locked in during the last three points, with Jauffret making three errors to end it.

"I wanted to play every point, focus on every shot and didn't think too much," said the 16-year-old, who has recently trained in Naples Florida. "I tried to focus on what I worked on in practice."

Zhu hadn't played a tournament on green clay until this one, just an occasional practice, so the two qualifying matches were helpful to her, and to her doubles and training partner, Avery Alexander of Canada, who defeated IMG student Ava Rodriguez 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on the IMG Stadium Court.

Alexander, who also won two qualifying matches in straight sets on Sunday, was happy to have those matches as preparation, as she had not played during the clay swing in Mexico.

"At my academy we did train on green clay, that was one of the main surfaces," said the 16-year-old, who during the past six months has been training and traveling with a private coach, sharing him with Zhu. "But over the past six months or so, I haven't had much training on green clay. So the qualifying matches were good experience, good practice before the main draw. They tough matches, good players, strong players in the qualifying and I got used to the surface a little bit more."

Alexander said that playing an IMG student on Stadium Court was "a good experience."

"I was blocking out the noise after the points, just focusing on myself, my own serves, point by point," Alexander said. "I was sticking to my patterns, so I didn't have to worry too much about what was going on, who was there or any of that."

Zhu will play Tereza Hermanova of the Czech Republic in Wednesday's second round, with Alexander facing No. 16 seed Nancy Lee.  Zhu and Alexander lost their first round doubles match to Canadians Clemence Mercier and Andrea Cabio 6-3, 2-6, 10-6.

The other qualifier to advance to the second round was Ana Avramovic, who beat Rira Kosaka of Japan 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, while lucky loser Sena Yoon also posted a win.

Yoon, who defeated Kori Montoya 6-3, 6-3, contemplated leaving for her home in Boca Raton after losing her final round qualifying match Sunday to Armira Kockinis 5-7, 6-4, 10-3, But she decided to spend another night in Bradenton after drawing the No. 2 lucky loser spot and when the girl who drew the top spot could not play due to injury, Yoon went in for Victoria Barros of Brazil, who was the No. 2 seed before she withdrew after making the J500 Merida final. 

"The next day I came to sign in, thinking, oh, I'm not going to play and I wasn't even ready to play tennis," said the 17-year-old Columbia recruit, who did not have to play Monday with Barros  receiving a Tuesday start. "But the girl in front of me at No. 1 didn't sign in, so I got the spot."

Yoon had lost three times to Montoya this year at ITF Junior Circuit events, most recently at October's J300 in Houston, so she was especially pleased with today's result. 

"I think I played pretty good today, some funky shots here and there, but it was good," said Yoon, who will face Kristina Liutova, the 2025 ITF J300 College Park champion, Wednesday. Liutova defeated qualifier Yilin Chen 6-2, 6-3.

Five qualifiers reached the second round in the boys draw. In addition to Vaisman, Koki Nara of Japan, Tyler Lee, Noble Renfrow and Kamil Stolarczyk advanced with wins today.

Lee cruised past Merida quarterfinalist Olivers Sanders of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2; Nara, an IMG student, beat wild card Nick Stoot by the same score. At the Legacy Hotel courts, Renfrow beat Max Frohlich of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 and Stolarcyzk defeated Dani Szabo of Canada 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

The first round of ITF doubles finished at dusk, with top seeds Laima Vladson of Uzbekistan and Nadia Lagaev of Canada advancing, as did No. 2 seeds Ansastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia and Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina. The only seeded team to lose was No. 6 Sofia Bielinska of Ukraine and Sofia Meabe of Argentina. They fell to Nancy Lee and Kaya Moe 6-2, 6-2.

Two-time junior slam champions Alan Wazny of Poland and Oskari Paldanius of Finland, the No. 2 seeds, advanced, as did all seeded teams with the exception of those who did not play: No. 1 Alexandrescou and Tabata and No. 5 Lagerbohm and Haita.

The girls 12s lost their No. 1 seed in today's second round play, with Xiaoke Li of China beating Lucy Dupere 3-6, 6-4, 10-8. No. 3 seed Darcy Basist of Australian also lost, to Yoonseol Choi of Korea 6-0, 6-2.

No. 2 seed Yerin Lim of Korea lost in the second round of the Girls 14s, with Aiym Kanagatova of Kazakhstan posting a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 win. 

No. 2 seed Daniella Sales, the USTA National 14s champion, was beaten in the second round of the girls 16s by London Evans 6-1, 6-0.

The top four seeds in the boys 16s and boys 12s are all still alive going into the round of 16; boys 14s No. 2 seed Kazuki Nakajima of Japan lost in the first round Monday.

All draws can be found at the USTA tournament website. 

A Question and Answer session with former ATP Top 5 player Kevin Anderson, hosted by IMG's Jimmy Arias, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday at the IMG Academy's Champions Room.

Wild Card Gaines Ousts No. 2 Seed Paldanius, Girls Top Seed Vladson Out in First Round of ITF J300 Bradenton; Miguel and Kovackova Claim Merida Titles; Arora Wins J100 in India; All USTA National Indoor Finals Results

©Colette Lewis 2025-
Bradenton FL--

The IMG Academy was buzzing all day Monday with over 500 players, as well as their coaches and families, on site for the first round of singles in the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions and the first day of main draw competition for the ITF J300. 

It didn't take long for a major upset to be recorded, with ITF No. 93 Alisa Terentyeva of Russia defeating top seed and ITF No. 12 Laima Vladson 6-3, 6-3 on Clay Court 1. 

Vladson, who now represents Uzbekistan after playing the junior slams this year under the Lithuanian flag, was late arriving on court, although within the 15 minutes allowed by the ITF rules. The powerful 18-year-old never developed any rhythm on her ground strokes and Terentyeva took advantage of the unforced errors she was given.

Vladson was one of four seeds who lost in the top quarter, with Anita Tu outlasting No. 14 seed Maja Pawelska of Poland 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in three hours and 13 minutes; wild card Allison Wang beat No. 10 seed Ha Eum Lee of Korean 6-3, 6-2 and Alyssa James of Jamaica defeated No. 7 seed Nadia Lagaev of Canada 6-4, 6-3, meaning an unseeded semifinalist is already guaranteed after just one round.

Wang, a 14-year-old from Northern California, has little experience with green clay, but saw it as a development tool for her game.

"Clay improves my game, it helps my movement," Wang said. "Also whenever I then go back to hard court, it feels easier to play."

Wang was considering playing the 16s tournament, but was encouraged by the USTA coaches to accept a wild card for the ITF tournament.

"At first I was going to play the 16s on hard courts, not the 18s, since there's not clay courts in NorCal, "said Wang, who made the third round in October's ITF J300 Pan Am in Houston, losing to eventual champion Chukwumelije Clarke. "The USTA said I should play this one, so I signed up for a wild card and I got it."

Wang had an opportunity to train at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona prior to the tournament, so she had reason to feel comfortable on the surface, even when she drew a seed in the first round.

"I know that I'm the underdog, so I really don't have that much pressure," Wang said. "The only pressure I feel is to perform my best."

With Vladson' loss and the late withdrawal of No. 2 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil, who lost in the Merida final last night, No. 3 seed Luna Cinalli of Argentina is the top remaining seed; she defeated Karlin Schock 6-2, 6-3 in the first round today.

Top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania will play his first round match Tuesday, with No. 2 seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland the only seed to fall in the boys first round action Monday, falling to Jerrid Gaines Jr. 7-6(4), 6-1.

Wild card Gaines, ranked 273 compared to Paldanius at 11, never wavered as he moved closer to the best win of his junior career. The 16-year-old, who reached the quarterfinals of the 14s two years ago and the semifinals of the 16s last year, watched as the more experienced Paldanius crumbled at the end of the tiebreaker, double faulting on set point, then immediately losing his serve to open the second.

"I just focused on the basics of what I wanted to do," said Gaines, who won a J60 in Texas in September and a J100 in Georgia in October. "I didn't want to overthink, just keep playing. He was getting a little bit frustrated, and I didn't want to beat myself out there. I've had some experiences when I didn't convert those moments, I'd crack mentally, but I'm doing a lot better mentally, and it was a big stepping stone, for sure."

Gaines knew he had to continue to play aggressively once he got a 3-0 lead in the second set, and he did, making returns and staying in every rally to keep the pressure on Paldanius, who could not find any nerves or tentative play to exploit.

"I prepared a lot for this tournament and I'm playing at a really high level right now," Gaines said. "Obviously, I'm very excited and very happy, advancing to get to play another time."

Gaines, who will not play singles Tuesday, faces the winner of Tuesday's first round match between qualifier Kamil Stolarczyk and Canada's Dan Szabo Wednesday.

Another upset was looming when Agassi Rusher, who was the last player in the main draw, took the second set from No. 8 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-1, after dropping the first 6-3. Sesko managed to survive the third set 6-4, but he admitted that the green clay was still something of a mystery to him.

"It's my first time on the United States clay; I've never played on the green clay," said the 17-year-old right-hander, who is on this trip with the ITF Junior Touring Team, who arrived from Merida on Saturday. "It's a bit different, you need some time to get used to it, the bounces are lower than on the red clay, European clay, so I'm happy I managed to get through."

No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland was also pushed to the limit before getting past Johan Oscar Lien of Norway 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles play begins Tuesday, with Nadia Lagaev and Laima Vladson the top seeds in the girls draw, with J500 Merida champions Yannick Alexandrescou and Ryo Tabata the No. 1 seeds.

The 16s first round is still going as of 9 p.m., but the 12s and 14s had only one major upset in the first round. Zichen Li of China defeated Boys 14s No. 2 seed Kazuki Nakajima of Japan 6-1, 7-5. 

In last night's singles finals at the ITF J500 in Merida Mexico, No. 3 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil defeated Keaton Hance 6-1, 6-1 and top seed Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic beat No. 4 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-2.

Fourteen-year-old Anya Arora won her first ITF Junior Circuit title last week at the J100 in New Delhi India. Unseeded, Arora defeated No. 2 seed Diya Ramesh Ramesh of India 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

The USTA National Indoor Championships concluded today, with the results of the singles and doubles finals below. Click the headings to see the draws.

Girls 18s Indianapolis, IN

Singles

Thara Gowda[1] d. Carlota Moreno[2] 6-3, 5-7, 6-2

Doubles

Francie Pate and Danielle Young[1] d. Lauren Nolan and Alaina LiSanti 8-2

Boys 18s Overland Park KS

Singles

Alexander Suhanitski[6] d. Gus Grumet[1] 6-3, 1-6, 6-1

Doubles

Gregory Bernadsky and Carson Dwyer d. Yashwin Krishnakumar and Joseph Nau[1] 8-5

Girls 16s Minneapolis MN

Singles

Sylvana Jalbert[1] d. Sofia Basto Cabrera 6-2, 6-0

Doubles

Addison Lindsay and Sammie Mercer[3] d. Sylvana Jalbert and Heidi Polasek 8-4

Boys 16s Chicago IL

Singles 

Eli Kaminski[4] d. Daniel Malacek[9] 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Doubles

Eli Kaminiski and James Ross[5] d. Rafael Lopez and Nicolas Pedraza[4] 8-6 

Girls 14s Toledo OH

Singles

Anna Kapanadze[2] d. Olivia Lin[1] 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3

Doubles

Sophia Nguyen-Huynh and Jessie Janiak[3] d. Eleanor Armistead and Gabrielle Villegas 8-4

Boys 14s Chicago IL

Singles

Ishaan Marla[2] d. Smyan Thuta[2] 6-0, 4-6, 6-1

Doubles

Gus Geubelle and Andrew Beltran[3] d. James Choi and Noah Bouzoubaa 8-5

Girls 12s Memphis TN

Singles

Mary Podkhyneychenko[5] d. Anna Sandru[2] 6-3, 6-0

Doubles

Cataleya Brown and Mila Mikoczi Spivey[3] d. Elizabeth Higgins and Rhiya Chiang  8-1

B12s Flushing Meadows NY

Singles

Pranav Madamanchi[5] d. Novak Masteller[11] 6-3, 7-6(5)

Doubles

William McGugin and Olie Rosa Hall[1] d. Novak Masteller and Luka Lopez[3] 8-5