Quinn Fights Off Jet Lag and SMU's Trevor Svajda to Advance, Spizzirri Uses Texas Support to Reach Second Round at ATP 500 Dallas Open
©Colette Lewis 2026--
Dallas, Texas--
©Colette Lewis 2026--
Dallas, Texas--
Posted by Colette Lewis at 11:03 PM 0 comments
Labels: Pro Events
Georgia freshman Deniz Dilek was up 6-0, 2-0, then down 5-0 and 6-3 in the third set tiebreaker of the deciding match of this year's ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor Championships. A whole lot happened in between, but Dilek simply would not concede defeat, with the result a 4-3 victory for defending champion Georgia over a formidable Ohio State team.
When Georgia took the courts this evening at the Combe Tennis Center on the campus of Northwestern University, they looked the part of the favorite, with the No. 2 seeds taking big leads at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, while Ohio State, playing in their first Team Indoor final, were up 5-1 at No. 3 doubles.
Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte of Georgia closed out their match at line 2 6-1, but Dilek and Aysegul Mert had to win a deciding point with Dilek serving at 4-3 to keep their lead, and Mert came from 0-40 down before serving out the doubles point at 5-4. Meanwhile, Georgia's Anastasiia Gureva and Emma Dong had come all the way back from 5-1 down to even their match with Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev and Audrey Spencer, when Dilek and Mert put the point on the board for the Bulldogs.
Ohio State had lost the doubles point in their quarterfinal win over North Carolina and their semifinal win over Texas A&M yesterday, so the Buckeyes were hardly daunted, even when Georgia took two quick sets with Dilek at line 3 and Anastasiia Gureva at line 4 charging out of the gates. But Ohio State began working their way back into matches they appeared out of, and when the final two first-sets were completed in tiebreakers, each team had three.
That meant Ohio State had to win a three-set match, but after trailing Dilek 6-0, 2-0, Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev earned a split. Gureva made it 2-0 Georgia with a 6-2, 6-2 pounding on Nao Nishino at line 4, but the other five singles matches remained too close to call, with all but one on serve.
Teah Chavez finally got Ohio State on the board with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Aysegul Mert, the hero in Georgia's 4-3 semifinal win over Auburn, at line 2. Georgia went up 3-1 with Sofia Rojas's 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Hephzibah Oluwadare at line 6, but Luciana Perry countered with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Lopata at line 1. By that time, the last two matches were in tiebreakers, with Dong of Georgia needing to win a tiebreaker from Audrey Spencer at line 5 to force a third set. She could not, with Spencer saving a set point at 6-7 and closing out a 6-4, 7-6(7) win on her second match point to make it 3-3.
By that time Dilek trailed 5-0 in the tiebreaker, but the 18-year-old from Turkey won the next three points, before Buckeye sophomore Cisse-Ignatiev made it 6-3. Dilek played two solid points on serve to make it 6-5, then hit big with such depth up the middle that Cisse-Ignatiev was forced into an error. Cisse-Ignatiev earned a fourth match point with a first serve return error from Dilek, but hit a forehand wide to make it 7-7.
Dilek then played a point that will live in Bulldog lore, tracking down a good drop shot from Cisse-Ignatiev and ripping a winner crosscourt to give her team its first championship point. She converted when Cisse-Ignative netted a backhand after a short rally, sending the Bulldogs into a jumping circle of red as they celebrated their third consecutive national title, with the 2025 NCAA championship sandwiched between their two National Indoor titles.
Georgia now has six ITA National Team Indoor titles, but all credit to Ohio State for their stunning performances throughout the tournament that has taken that program to new heights and gave college tennis fans a final to remember.
Georgia[2] d. Ohio State[5] 4-3
Doubles:Posted by Colette Lewis at 11:57 PM 0 comments
Labels: ATP Challenger, College Tennis, Cracked Racquets, ITA, Pro Circuit, USTA, World Tennis Tour, YouTube
There will be a new face and a familiar face in Tuesday night's final of the ITA Division I Women's Team Indoor Championships after defending champion Georgia came from behind to beat Auburn and Ohio State earned the program's a first trip to a national final with a win over Texas A&M.
Georgia looked down and out against Auburn this afternoon in Evanston, but roared backed from a 3-1 deficit to beat top seed Auburn 4-3 to return to the final.
Georgia, the No. 2 seed, lost the doubles point and dropped five first sets in singles. But freshman Deniz Dilek, the only Bulldog to win a first set, closed out Angella Okutoyi at line 3 7-5, 6-1 to put her team on the board. Auburn built the lead to 3-1 with straight-sets wins by Ava Esposito at line 5 and Ashton Bowers at line 4, and the Tigers' Ekaterina Khayrutdinova served for her match with Aysegul Mert at 6-3, 5-4 at line 2. But Mert broke back, and with Georgia's Anastasiia Lopata at line 1 and Emma Dong at line 6 already having forced third sets, everything rode on Mert getting through her second set. Mert, who had lost to Khayrutdinova in two previous meetings, trailed 3-0 in the tiebreaker, but won seven of the next nine points to force a third.
The third sets of the remaining three matches were all close, 4-4 at 1, 3-3 at 2 and 4-3 at 6. But Dong got the break for a 5-3 lead at 6, after Eva Ionescu had been up 40-0 in the game and served it out to make it 3-2.
Lopata was up 5-4 on serve at 1 and Mert was up 4-3 serving at 2, after seven straight breaks to start the third set. She got the crucial hold and had four match points in Khayrutdinova's 3-5 service game, when Khayrutdinova's call was overturned by the ELC after a Mert challenge, making it 0-40. But Khayrutdinova wasn't rattled, winning the next four points with some aggressive play, forcing Mert to serve it out.
Mert took a 40-0 lead, made an error on her first match point, but forced an error with a big forehand to send Georgia back to the championship match against Ohio State.
The Buckeyes, seeded No. 5, had to find four singles points after dropping the doubles point to the third-seeded Aggies, but they had proven capable of that in their 4-2 quarterfinal win over No. 1 seed North Carolina on Saturday.
Texas A&M made it 2-0 with Lucciana Perez continuing her steamrolling of opponents, beating Luciana Perry 6-2, 6-1. Perry had played number 1 in the Buckeyes' first two matches, but coach Melissa Schaub moved Teah Chavez to 1, as well as switching the lineup at line 3 and 4 and lines 5 and 6. Those switches paid off handsomely, with Chavez putting Ohio State ahead with her straight-sets win over Mia Kupres, and Audrey Spencer at 6, Hephzibah Oluwadare at 5 and Nao Nishino at 4 following with straight-sets victories one right after the other to earn the 4-2 win.
Ohio State had reached the ITA Team Indoor semifinals in 2016 and 2017, but this will be their first final. Georgia will be playing for its sixth Team Indoor Championship Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Central.
Cracked Racquets will have coverage of the final at their YouTube channel.
Women's ITA Division I Team Indoor Semifinals February 9, 2026
Georgia[2] d. Auburn[1] 4-3In addition to the titles by Michael Antonius and Janae Preston at the ITF J300 in Ecuador, which I covered in Saturday's post, six other Americans won titles on the ITF Pro Circuit.
At the J60 in Mexico, Chase Bowden won his first title on the ITF Junior Circuit, and is the first player I can recall claiming a title when they received entry based on their WTN ranking. Bowden, a 16-year-old from Florida, has competed in the Battle of Boca series of events there, which has doubtless assisted in building up his World Tennis Number ranking. Bowden, obviously not seeded, defeated No. 2 seed Justin Riley Anson 7-5, 6-4 in an all-USA final.
In the girls doubles final, No. 7 seeds Enya Hamilton and Autumn Xu won their second ITF junior doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Sofia Mills and Mexico's Maria Jose Gil Castillo 6-0, 6-3 in the final.
At the J30 in Sri Lanka, Swanika Roy won her second straight title, this week as the top seed, after winning the week before as the No. 4 seed. The 16-year-old defeated No. 2 seed Yeon Joo Cha of Korea 6-3, 6-1 in the final.
At the J30 in Kenya, sisters Bi-Neh Awantang 15, and Mbongta Awantang 16, won their first ITF Pro Circuit title in doubles; after defeating the top seeds in the second round, the unseeded pair took the title when No. 3 seed Kudzai and Kuzivaishe Chapepa of Zimbabwe retired at 4-6, 5-3.
There is another J300 in South America this week in Lima Peru, with Janae Preston the No. 3 seed. Other seeded US girls are Lani Chang[5] and Yael Saffar[6].
Michael Antonius is not making the switch from hard courts to clay, with the only seeded boy No. 5 Agassi Rusher, who qualified. Navneet Raghuram, who reached the semifinals last week in Ecudador, is also in the draw.
The top boys seed is Emilio Camacho of Ecuador, with Candela Vazquez of Argentina the top girls seed.
Posted by Colette Lewis at 11:11 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, Cracked Racquets, International Tournaments, ITA, ITF, YouTube
Colton Smith returned to the scene of his first ATP Challenger title one year ago and emerged with his second Cleveland Open Challenger 75 title today. The 22-year-old former All-American was a senior at Arizona when he defeated Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 in the 2025 final; now beginning his first full season as a professional, the No. 2 seed defeated former Wake Forest All-American Borna Gojo of Croatia 6-4, 7-5 in today's final, avenging his loss to Gojo in the Sioux Falls Challenger in October of 2024.
Smith, who saved a match point in his first round against Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State), moves up to 142 in the live rankings; his career high is 133.
At the USTA Pro Circuit W50 in Orlando, unseeded Kayla Day won her second title of the year, beating wild card Katrina Scott 6-4, 6-2 in today's final. Day, the 2016 USTA National 18s champion, is back into the WTA Top 200 with this title.
Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) fell in the final of the M15 in Palm Coast Florida, with No. 2 seed Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy defeating Colby 6-3, 7-6(3).
At the W50 in Portugal, former North Carolina All-American Fiona Crawley won the biggest title of her career, with the No. 7 seed beating 18-year-old Elizara Yaneva of Bulgaria 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Crawley is up to a career-high 202 in the WTA rankings.
The United States Davis Cup Team clinched a spot in September's second round of qualifying today in Hungary, with Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) beating Zsombor Piros and Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the doubles to give the US the 3-0 win. Emilio Nava won the dead rubber over Matyas Fuel 6-2, 6-3 to make the final score 4-0.
The United States will play an away tie in the Czech Republic in September, after losing 3-2 to the Czech team in the second round of qualifying last September in Delray Beach.
The ATP 500 Nexo Dallas Open begins Monday, with four of the five players on the US Davis Cup team making the trip back from Europe to compete.
Christian Harrison, who won the Dallas title last year with Evan King, is playing with Neal Skupski(LSU) of Great Britain and the Australian Open doubles champions are the No. 2 seeds. Austin Krajicek is playing with Nikola Mektic of Croatia and they have drawn No. 1 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.
Tommy Paul, the No. 5 seed, plays Jenson Brooksby in the first round, while Ethan Quinn(Georgia) will play wild card Trevor Svajda.
Svajda, the 19-year-old junior at SMU, also received a Dallas Open wild card last year and played Quinn in the first round, falling 6-4, 6-2.
Another interesting rematch features wild card Michael Zheng, the Columbia senior and two-time NCAA champion, and Sebastian Korda. Last month Zheng beat Korda in the first round of the Australian Open after getting through qualifying.
The third wild card went to Eliot Spizzirri, the former Texas star, whose profile was raised considerably after his second round loss to Jannik Sinner in Australia last month. Spizzirri will play James Duckworth of Australia in the first round.
The qualifying concluded today with Zachary Svajda, Rafael Jodar(Virginia) of Spain, Jack Pinnington Jones(TCU) of Great Britain and Sho Shimabukuro of Japan reaching the main draw.
Svajda faces No. 3 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain; Jodar plays defending champion Denis Shapovalov of Canada, the No. 7; Pinnington Jones faces No. 4 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy and Shimabukuro plays Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia.
TCU's Duncan Chan and Cosme Rolland De Ravel won the Collegiate Doubles Wild Card Playoff and will compete in the main draw. They will face Constantin Frantzen(Baylor) of Germany and Robin Haase of the Netherlands in the first round.
I plan to be at the Dallas Open on Wednesday, as I am heading to that city for the ITA Men's Division I Team Indoor Championships, which begin Friday.
The four semifinalists at the ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor had the day off today as the Champaign semifinalists Ohio State and Texas A&M travel north to Northwestern. Georgia and Auburn will play at 3:30 pm Central time, followed by Ohio State and Texas A&M, not before 6:30 pm.
Cracked Racquets will be providing coverage on their YouTube channel.
Posted by Colette Lewis at 7:06 PM 0 comments
Labels: ATP Challenger, Cracked Racquets, ITA, ITF, Pro Circuit, Pro Events, USTA, World Tennis Tour, YouTube
Saturday was a good day to be an Ohio State tennis fan, with both the women and the men taking down the No. 1 teams in the country.
Although the North Carolina women were not technically No. 1 in the last coaches poll released, they were the No. 1 seeds in this weekend ITA Division I women's Team Indoor Championships, but their pedigree did not intimidate the fifth-seeded Buckeyes.
After getting absolutely blitzed in doubles, Ohio State won five of six first sets in singles and closed out two of those matches to take a 2-1 lead. UNC's Tatum Evans finished her match in straight sets to tie it, and Ohio State closed out another straight sets win to go up 3-2. But Reese Brantmeier at line 1 and Thea Rabman at line 6 had won second sets to give North Carolina a chance for a memorable comeback. Rabman had trailed 4-1 in the second set before winning five straight games, so the momentum was definitely with the Tar Heels, but Hephzibah Oluwadare of Ohio State closed out her big lead in the third set, putting that second set behind her and clinching the upset.
Ohio State will play another surprise winner in Monday's semifinals, after No. 3 seed Texas A&M defeated No. 2 seed Oklahoma 4-2.
The Northwestern site's quarterfinals went as seeded, with No. 1 Auburn beating NC State 4-1 and No. 2 seed Georgia shutting out No. 3 seed LSU.
ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor Quarterfinals, February 7, 2026Preston, who doesn't turn 16 until August, defeated Sarah Ye, playing in her first J300 final, 6-1, 6-1 in the all-USA final. Preston, who did not lose more than three games in any set this week, now has a 10-match winning streak at J300s, after winning the Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica two weeks ago.
As impressive as Preston has been, Antonius has gone undefeated in 2026, winning both singles and doubles last week at the J300 in Colombia and this week in Ecuador. Antonius, who turned 16 last month, defeated Ecuador's Lucas Yunez 6-0, 6-3 in the final for his tenth consecutive singles victory. With his eight doubles wins, Antonius is 18-0 so far this year.
At the ATP Challenger 75 in Cleveland, No. 2 seed Colton Smith(Arizona) will defend his title against unseeded Borna Gojo of Croatia. Smith defeated Keegan Smith(UCLA) 7-6(4), 6-1 in today's semifinal, with Gojo beating qualifier Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), who was playing in his first Challenger semifinal at age 29, 6-3, 7-6(8).
The unseeded team of Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) and Jody Maginley(Northern Kentucky) won the doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds George Goldhoff(Texas) and Colum Puttergill of Australia 6-3, 6-4 in today's final.
The final of the USTA Pro Circuit M50 in Orlando will feature two unseeded Americans with Kayla Day taking on wild card Katrina Scott. Day defeated fellow left-hander Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada, the No. 5 seed, 6-4, 6-4. Scott breezed past qualifier Eryn Cayetano(USC) 6-0, 6-1.
Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine won the doubles title, with the No. 4 seeds defeating the unseeded team of Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil and Noelia Zeballos Melgar of Bolivia 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
At the M15 in Palm Coast Florida, Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia), who won his first Pro Circuit title in November, will play for his second Sunday. The unseeded 22-year-old will face No. 2 seed Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy in the final. Colby defeated unseeded Joao Vitor Goncalves Ceolin of Brazil 6-4, 6-2, while Compagnucci beat unseeded Fermin Tenti 6-3, 7-6(4).
The doubles title went to No 2 seeds Tenti and Ignacio Monzon of Argentina, who beat top seeds Compagnucci and Argentina's Manuel Mouilleron Salvo 7-6(4), 6-4.
At a Davis Cup First Round Qualifying match in Hungary, the US team took a 2-0 lead, with Tommy Paul winning the first singles match over Zsombor Piros 7-6(3), 6-3 and Ethan Quinn(Georgia) saving four match points in the final set tiebreaker to beat Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(11).
Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) will attempt to close it out Sunday morning when they play Piros and Marozsan in the doubles match.
Posted by Colette Lewis at 8:52 PM 0 comments
Labels: ATP Challenger, College Tennis, International Tournaments, ITA, ITF, Pro Circuit, USTA, World Tennis Tour
Posted by Colette Lewis at 8:45 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, Cracked Racquets, International Tournaments, ITA, ITF, Pro Circuit, Pro Events, USTA, World Tennis Tour
The semifinals are set at the ITF J300 in Salinas Ecuador, with three US girls and two US boys still in contention for the singles titles.
Top seed Michael Antonius, who swept the titles last week at the J300 in Colombia, defeated qualifier Koki Nara of Japan 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in today's quarterfinals. For the second week in a row, he will play Canadian Xavier Massotte, the No. 3 seed, in the semifinals. Massotte, who lost 6-3, 6-0 to Antonius last week, beat Christopher Thies of Germany 6-4, 7-5. Unseeded Navneet Raghuram advanced to his first J300 semifinal with a 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan. He will play No. 8 seed Lucas Yunez of Ecuador, who defeated No. 2 seed Mathys Domenc of France 7-6(6), 6-1.
No. 6 seed Yael Saffar defeated No. 2 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil 6-3, 6-1 and will face No. 3 seed Janae Preston, who eliminated Lani Chang 6-3, 6-2. Preston, who won the ITF J300 title in Costa Rica two weeks ago, did not play the Colombia J300 last week.
The player preventing a second all-USA semifinal is Sona Depesova of Slovakia, who beat qualifier Kathryn Cragg 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). She will play No. 7 seed Sarah Ye, who beat Daniella Britton of Great Britain 7-5, 6-4.
Antonius and Kawaguchi, the No. 2 seeds, will play for their second straight doubles title on Friday.
After getting his first ATP point with a win yesterday, 16-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr didn't stop there, advancing to Friday's quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Charles Bertimon(VCU) of France at the M15 in Palm Coast Florida. He will play unseeded Fermin Tenti of Argentina next.
Andy Johnson lost to No. 5 seed Ignacio Monzon of Argentina 6-2, 6-1. Top seed Andrew Fenty(Michigan) and Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) are the two Americans, in addition to Gaines, in the quarterfinals.
At the W50 in Orlando, there are four qualifiers and just two seeds remaining after today's second round. Qualifier Sofia Cabezas(Iowa State, Tennessee) defeated Stanford freshman Monika Ekstrand 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and will play LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada, the No. 5 seed. Cross will obviously not be in Chicago for her team's first round match against Tennessee, who will also not have recently announced addition Katrina Scott. Scott defeated fellow wild card Lea Ma(Georgia) 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals. She will play qualifier Martina Capurro Taborda(Oklahoma) of Argentina.
Former USC All-American Eryn Cayetano defeated No. 2 seed Maria Carle(Georgia) of Argentina 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will face former Cal All-American Haley Giavara, who beat qualifier Ena Koike of Japan 7-5, 6-2.
The other quarterfinal is also between two Americans, with No. 7 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) playing Kayla Day.
Seven of the eight quarterfinalists at the ATP Challenger 75 in Cleveland Ohio are Americans, including three qualifiers.
Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) will face qualifier Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), who will be competing in his first Challenger quarterfinal.
Borno Gojo(Wake Forest) of Croatia will play qualifier Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) and No. 7 seed Stefan Kozlov faces Keegan Smith(UCLA).
Defending champion Colton Smith(Arizona), the No. 2 seed, will face qualifier Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest). The two met last year in the second round of the Cleveland Challenger, with Smith winning 6-4, 6-4. Smith saved a match point in his 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 first round victory over Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State).
The first month of the UTR Pro Tennis Tour is in the books, with the results from the tournaments in the United States below. Prize money is $20,000 for events without an asterisk.
MEN:Posted by Colette Lewis at 8:48 PM 0 comments
Labels: ATP Challenger, International Tournaments, ITF, Pro Circuit, USTA, UTR, World Tennis Tour
My column for the Tennis Recruiting Network featuring the top performances of the previous month is now available for January, featuring titles won by current and former collegians and juniors. The Australian Open and Les Petits As are always at the heart of the first month of the year, and 2026 is no exception, but Challenger-level titles and expertise in both singles and doubles are also highlighted.
At the ITF J300 in Salinas Ecuador, qualifier Kathryn Cragg defeated top seed Sofia Meabe of Argentina 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. Cragg, 14, also qualified for last week's J300 in Colombia and also played the top seed in the second round, but she lost to Welles Newman 6-3, 6-0.
Cragg is one of five US girls in the quarterfinals, with No. 7 seed Sarah Ye, No. 3 seed Janae Preston, who plays Lani Chang and No. 6 seed Yael Saffar, who plays No. 2 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil. Rivoli beat last week's J300 Colombia champion Olivia Traynor 6-3, 7-6(3), in the first round.
Unseeded Navneet Raghuram beat No. 4 seed Dan Brand 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals. Top seed Michael Antonius's second round score has not been posted.
The ITA's first Division I singles and doubles rankings since last November were published today, and there is a new man at the top, with SMU's Trevor Svajda taking over the top spot from Columbia's Michael Zheng. Zheng, of course, is the two-time NCAA singles champion, beating Svajda in November's final, but Zheng has not played collegiately as much before and since that title, so Svajda moved up.
There is also a new No. 1 in the men's team rankings, with Virginia taking over from Wake Forest at the top spot after the Demon Deacons' loss to Ohio State last weekend. The Buckeyes move up to two, receiving five first place votes to Virginia's seven. Click on the headings to see the full lists.
Men's Division I Team Coaches Poll February 4, 2026
(first place votes in bracket, last week's ranking in parentheses)
1. Virginia[7] (2)Posted by Colette Lewis at 6:58 PM 0 comments
Labels: College Tennis, International Tournaments, ITA, ITF, Pro Circuit, The Tennis Recruiting Network, USTA, World Tennis Tour
The seeds and draw for the ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor Championships are out, with North Carolina and Auburn the top seeds at the two sites. On Friday there will be four matches at each site, with North Carolina at the top of draw in Campaign and Auburn at the top of the draw in Chicago.
After the first two rounds, the two semifinalists emerging from the University of Illinois site will take Sunday off to relocate to the Northwestern venue, with the semifinals scheduled for Monday and the final for Tuesday evening.
The complete schedule for the five days can be found here.
Women's Team Indoor first round matches and times:Posted by Colette Lewis at 7:54 PM 1 comments
Labels: ATP Challenger, College Tennis, ITA, Pro Circuit, USTA, World Tennis Tour
The ITF J300 in Baranquilla Colombia has always been a popular and successful tournament for American juniors, regardless where its been on the ITF Junior Circuit calendar, with American boys winning five of the past six singles titles. Keaton Hance, the Australian Open boys finalist won it last year, along with Julieta Pareja, and again this year Americans swept the titles, with Michael Antonius winning both the singles and doubles championships and Olivia Traynor collecting her first ITF J300 title.
Antonius, the top seed, didn't drop a set until the final, but had a stern test in the final, with the 16-year-old from Buffalo New York beating unseeded Rhys Lawler of Great Britain 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 for his second ITF J300 singles title.
Antonius had already claimed his second ITF J300 doubles title the day before, partnering with Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded team of Zavier Augustin and Japan's Koki Nara 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
With the two titles, Antonius moved back up to his ITF junior ranking career high of 14.
Traynor, an 18-year-old from New York, hadn't won more than one match in an ITF J300 tournament until last week, but the unseeded University of Michigan recruit picked up five victories to take the title, beating No. 4 seed Jordyn Hazelitt 7-6(3), 6-3. Traynor also advanced to the doubles final with partner Ana Avramovic, with the unseeded pair falling to top seeds Hazelitt and Welles Newman, who also won the doubles title at the ITF J300 in Costa Rica two weeks ago.
Traynor moved from 131 in the ITF junior rankings to 66.
Both Antonius and Traynor are in the draws at this week's J300 in Salinas Ecuador, with Antonius again the No. 1 seed. Traynor, who is unseeded, drew No. 2 seed Pietra Rivoli of Brazil in the first round.
The other two ITF Junior Circuit titles for Americans came at J30s.
At the J30 tournament in Sri Lanka, 15-year-old Swanika Roy won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The No. 4 seed defeated No. 2 seed Aaraa Aasaal Azim of the Maldives 6-3, 6-3; all five of her victories came in straight sets.
At the J30 in Uruguay, 16-year-old Londyn McCord won her first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 4 seed Sofia Barbosa Perez of Uruguay 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
Jack Kennedy will make his ATP Challenger main draw debut Tuesday at the Cleveland Open 75 against 2018 NCAA singles finalist Borna Gojo(Wake Forest) of Croatia. Kennedy has played Challenger qualifying matches before, but this is his first main draw match, with that opportunity coming courtesy of the ATP Junior Accelerator Program. After finishing in the Top 10 of the ITF Junior rankings in 2025, Kennedy has up to eight entries at Challengers at the 50 or 75 level this year.
Qualifying was completed today, with five of the six qualifiers former collegians, four from the United States: Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada, Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon, Matt Kuhar(Bryant), Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest) and Ben Jones of Great Britain.
Wild cards were awarded to Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) and Cleveland State junior Lincoln Battle.
Sho Shimabukuro of Japan is the top seed, with defending champion Colton Smith(Arizona) the No. 2 seed. In first round action today, Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) defeated Bigun 6-4, 6-3; Stefan Kozlov[7] beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Antoine Ghibaudo of France defeated No. 4 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-1, 6-3. Ghibaudo, a sophomore at Kentucky, announced yesterday that he was leaving the Wildcats program to concentrate on his professional career.
The winter edition of the Tennis Recruiting Network's 2026 women's recruiting class rankings came out today, with Georgia taking the top spot, followed by Texas A&M and North Carolina. Georgia received eight first place votes, Texas A&M four and North Carolina one. The other programs in the top 10 are Tennessee, Clemson, Central Florida, Florida, Auburn, Wake Forest and Florida State.
As the article accompanying the rankings points out, ten of the top 25 this year did not appear in the top 25 last year, with top recruiting classes less predictable in this new era of the transfer portal and NIL and the Ivys less prominent than usual.
The United States Davis Cup team travels to Hungary this weekend for a first round qualifying match and two additions to the team were announced today: Tommy Paul and Christian Harrison. The USTA release:
Tommy Paul, Christian Harrison Join U.S. Davis Cup Team for 2026 First Round Qualifier vs. Hungary February 7-8
TATABÁNYA, Hungary, February 2, 2026 – World No. 22 Tommy Paul and 2026 Australian Open men's doubles champion Christian Harrison have joined No. 68 Ethan Quinn, No. 82Emilio Nava and doubles No. 52 Austin Krajicek on the U.S. Davis Cup Team for its Qualifying First Round tie vs. Hungary February 7-8 in Tatabánya, Hungary.
Paul joins the team for his 11th tie, while Harrison replaces Rajeev Ram in his debut Davis Cup nomination. This weekend's matches will be played on an indoor clay court at the Tatabányai Multifunkcionális Sportcsarnok.
This First Round Qualifying competition is a best-of-five match series that will begin with two singles matches on Saturday, February 7, starting at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET), then continue with a doubles match and two more singles matches on Sunday, February 8, beginning at 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET). The first nation between the USA and Hungary to win three out of those five matches wins the First Round Qualifier and will advance to the Second Round of Qualifying in late September. Tennis Channel will feature coverage in the U.S.
The Hungarian team and Captain Kornel Bardoczky have nominated world No. 46 Fabian Marozsan, No. 176 Zsombor Piros, No. 533 Peter Fajta, No. 622 Mate Valkusz and No. 781 Matyas Fuele.
Captains may make up to three combined substitutions / additions to their rosters up until Friday's draw ceremony, when the initial lineups and matchups are set.
Posted by Colette Lewis at 7:20 PM 0 comments
Labels: ATP Challenger, College Tennis, International Tournaments, ITF, Pro Events, The Tennis Recruiting Network, USTA
There were two completely different finals at Les Petits As, the prestigious international tournament for 14-and-under players held annually in Tarbes France.
Girls champion Aleksandra Karabanova of Russia, the No. 10 seed, saved a match point in her 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-0 win over Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia in a final that spanned nearly three hours, while No. 16 seed Lyoma Hotelier of Japan breezed past qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland 6-0, 6-1 in 45 minutes.
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| Aleksandra Karabanova photo @Richard van Loon, TopTennis.photos |
The drama in the Karabanova - Anikina match was persistent throughout, with Anikina looking for every opportunity to close the net, while Karabanova was able to counteract that by passing well and getting sure winners back in play.
Although neither has a serve that produces free points, Anikina got only 36 percent of her first serves in, limiting her ability to be aggressive early in the point. Karabanova made only 50 percent of her first serves and had 14 double faults, but she kept her composure despite the frustration she must have felt.
One of those double faults came at deuce with Karabanova serving at 5-6 in the second set, but Anikina sent a forehand long early in the rally and Karabanova held for the tiebreaker.
That tiebreaker featured two significant line calling controversies, both going against Anikina, which got me thinking that it was odd that the tournament, usually so innovative, didn't have electronic line calling. But then I recalled that the event is a major training ground for aspiring French chair umpires, so maybe that played a role.
In any case, the chair overruled the line judge on the far sideline to give Karabanova the point for 2-2 and then a Anikina ball that looked to be on the line was called wide at 5-all, with Anikina shanking her backhand on the next point to drop the set.
The third set was not as one-sided as it may have looked, but Anikina was making many more unforced errors, possibly due to fatigue. Karabanova went up 5-0 mostly by playing much more conservatively than she had in the first two sets, extending rallies until Anikina missed, and that strategy worked, with Anikina unable to play three good points in succession at any time in the final set.
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| Lyoma Hotelier photo @Richard van Loon, TopTennis.photos |
The boys final could not have been more different, with Mitchell obviously out of gas after winning seven matches prior to the final. Hotelier, who had won the Tennis Europe Category 1 title in Bolton England the previous week, has won 11 matches in the indoor hard fortnight, losing just two sets in that span.
The four tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit concluded today in Florida and California, with three American singles champions crowned.
At the ATP Challenger 100, No. 4 seed Zachary Svajda, playing in his hometown of San Diego, defeated top seed Sebastian Korda 6-4, 7-6(5). The two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion, now 23 years old, played the cleaner match against the current ATP No. 53, hitting 22 winners and making just 14 unforced errors, while Korda had 26 winners and 40 unforced errors.
Svajda had only two aces in the match, but couldn't have picked a better time for his second. After Svajda took a 6-3 lead in the second set tiebreaker, Korda hit two winners on his two service points, but Svajda closed out his seventh Challenger title with an ace. He will move to 109 in the ATP rankings, just shy of his career-high of 102.
No. 3 seeds Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Trey Hildebrand(UCF, Texas A&M) won the doubles title in San Diego, beating the unseeded team of Garrett Johns(Duke) and Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) 6-3, 6-4 in the final. It's the seventh Challenger title for Kiger and his third with Hilderbrand, who has eight Challenger doubles titles.
At the W100 in San Diego, No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva won her first title since 2023, beating No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in today's final. Kalieva had ended the comeback of Jennifer Brady(UCLA) with a 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2 win in the semifinals, while Mandlik had beaten No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals.
The 22-year-old Kalieva will rise to a career-high ranking of 154 with the title.
LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada and Alana Smith(NC State) won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating unseeded Catherine Harrison(UCLA) and Dalayna Hewitt 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
Bianca Andreescu of Canada continued her comeback in Florida, winning her second title in the past three weeks at the W75 in Vero Beach. The No. 6 seed, Andreescu defeated unseeded Xiaodi You of China 7-5, 6-1 in today's final, played in temperatures in the mid 40s. Andreescu is 13-1 to start the year, with her only loss in the semifinals of the W35 in Bradenton to Akasha Urhobo.
No. 3 seeds Allura and Maribella Zamarripa(Texas) won the doubles title when they were given a walkover by No. 2 seeds Anna Rogers(NC State) and Jazmin Ortenzi of Argentina in the final.
The title at the M15 in Naples Florida went to No. 8 seed Will Grant(Florida), who beat former Gator teammate Duarte Vale of Portugal, a qualifier, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. It's the first Pro Circuit singles title for the 24-year-old Grant. Vale, 27, has been in the ATP Top 500, but hadn't played in over a year, so started this week unranked.
Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) and 43-year-old Jesse Witten(Kentucky) won the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair beating former Illinois teammates Hunter Heck and Zeke Clark, who were also unseeded, 6-4, 1-6, 10-5 in the final.
With the ITA Team Indoor Championships looming in the next two weeks, teams are preparing by getting as many matches as possible against top teams. With so many new faces and only a few results as the new season begins, it's difficult to flag any outcome as an upset, but both teams who are No. 1 in the coaches poll due to their NCAA titles last year, the Georgia women and the Wake Forest men, lost today.
Georgia traveled to No. 3 North Carolina for their annual blockbuster, and the Tar Heels took care of a young Georgia team with the clinch coming at 4-1. The matches were played out, with the final score 5-2. NCAA champion Reese Brantmeier, who had clinched the Tar Heels 4-3 win over NC State Friday at line 1 singles, got the fourth point with her 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Anastasiia Lopata of Georgia.
Wake Forest played at No. 6 Ohio State, and the Buckeyes shut out the Demon Deacons, taking the doubles point and getting wins from Bryce Nakashima at 4, Preston Stearns at 2 and Nikita Filin at 6. Ohio State had beaten No. 5 Texas 4-1 on Friday, so they are looking to be a serious threat at the National Indoors in two weeks
Posted by Colette Lewis at 8:21 PM 0 comments
Labels: ATP Challenger, College Tennis, International Tournaments, Pro Circuit, USTA, World Tennis Tour
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