My Recap of Manchala's Title at Wimbledon 14U Tournament; Eight Questions with Bloomfield Hills Challenger Semifinalist Michael Zheng; Pareja Receives Qualifying Wild Card for WTA 500 in Washington DC

The European 14s championships are underway in Most Czechia this week, and after covering the Wimbledon 14-and-under event two weeks ago, I recognize quite a few of the names. Three of the four boys semifinalists competed at Wimbledon and are making a quick surface change back to clay, including champion Jonas Waelti of Switzerland.

The Wimbledon 14-and-under girls finalist Mariia Kocherzhenko of Ukraine is the No. 1 seed in Most, and she has advanced to the semifinals. For links to draws, live scoring and live streaming, see the Tennis Europe live blog page.

My coverage of the Wimbledon tournament, which focuses on Isha Manchala capturing the first title for an American in the event's five-year history, can be found today at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

In my post Monday, I covered Michael Zheng's first round win and provided his comments on the grass court season and his Wimbledon third round appearance. Below is the rest of my interview with Columbia's two-time NCAA singles champion.

 Today at the Cranbrook Tennis Classic in Bloomfield Hills, the sixth-seeded Zheng advanced to his seventh semifinal at the Challenger level with a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over No. 2 seed Adam Walton(Tennessee) of Australia. Zheng has advanced to the final five of the six times he has appeared in a Challenger semifinal. He will face No. 8 seed Jake Fearnley(TCU) of Great Britain, who beat JJ Wolf(Ohio State) 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.  In the top half, No. 1 seed Alex Michelsen defeated defending champion Mark Lajal 6-3, 6-4 and will face lucky loser DK Suresh(Wake Forest) of India, who beat 2025 CTC finalist Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(6). Martin didn't face a break point in the match, yet still lost; Suresh saved two of the three break points he faced, and used some expert volleying in the second and third sets to eke out a win.

Eight Questions with Michael Zheng:

Colette Lewis: Did being in the final of the Wimbledon Junior Championships help you in your men's main draw debut this year?

Michael Zheng: Not a lot of players have had that experience, playing on grass, so even though it's my first real season playing on grass, I had in juniors, had the success in the juniors. So that's always in the back of your mind that you know you can play well on grass, so it definitely helped. Playing on grass, feeling the courts, knowing that I played really well there, really helped.

CL: What was behind your decision to skip this year's USTA American Collegiate US Open Wild Card Playoff?

MZ: I think the scheduling was just a little bit tough. It was between staying a little longer on the hard, and prepare for that, or go to Europe and try to give myself the best possible chance to do well at Wimbledon. I think it does take a couple of tournaments to get used to the grass, the movement is a little bit different, so we just decided, with the way it was scheduled, it would be tough. If I was in England, going back and forth and trying to make it back in time for Wimbledon(qualifying), it probably wouldn't give me the best chance to do well in qualies.

CL: Did the fact that you had qualified for the Australian Open and Roland Garros play into that scheduling decision?

MZ: Yes, I think that was definitely a factor, just the confidence against these guys at that level. My dad has always told me that grass suits my game, and I hadn't done that well on clay, hadn't played on it in two years, and am already qualifying in Paris, so on grass, a surface where I feel more comfortable, why not give myself that chance to qualify there?

CL: Do you have an agent?

MZ: I just signed with GSE a couple of days ago. They're not announcing it yet, but soon. 

CL: How do you look back on your final college season? I think a lot of people were surprised that you lost six matches. Were you surprised by that?

MZ: A little bit. I was expected to do well, I had just won NCAAs and I had a good run in Australia. I think the timing with everything was a little bit unfortunate. I went to Australia, did better than expected, but missed our (ITA) Kickoff(Weekend) match and when I got back from Australia I was hurt, so I was out for a couple of weeks actually, on the sidelines coaching. 

I think I was, I don't want to say de-motivated, because I wanted to win, but it was tough, with the injury, and guys were also playing really well against me. But I think I definitely underperformed a little bit during the season. I think I started playing better toward the end, and then we were a little bit unlucky that we drew UVA in the second round at NCAAs. I lost a tough match to (Dylan) Dietrich, who is playing really well, on their home courts. It was definitely a tough season, but you learn a lot.

CL: Were you able to attend your Columbia graduation?

MZ: I missed it unfortunately. I was in France. I think if I'd have lost in second round of qualies I could have made it. I ended up bringing my cap and gown there and took some pictures, but unfortunately I missed the walk.

CL: What are your thoughts about the Electronic Line Calling at ATP Challengers this year?

MZ: I think it's better, just in general. You aren't arguing calls with line judges; with Electronic Line Calling it's set. You can think that maybe it's wrong, but you can't really do anything about it and it saves a lot of time with the arguments and all that. It gives you peace of mind and it's probably more accurate than whatever you see. I think it's better.

CL: What's your schedule for the rest of the summer?

MZ: From here I'm going to Los Cabos (ATP 250), instead of DC. I think I'm eight out of qualifying for Montreal (ATP 1000), so if I can sneak in, I'll play there. I'm also signed for Lexington(ATP Challenger 75) so if I can't get in to Montreal, I'll play Lexington. I just signed for Cincinnati(ATP 1000) qualies, so maybe play that.

While Zheng won't be playing the Mubadala Open in Washington DC, tomorrow's first round of qualifying matches feature many other young Americans.

Wimbledon boys champion Jordan Lee, who received a wild card, will play No. 7 seed Moez Echargui(Nevada) of Morocco in Lee's ATP-level debut. Australian Cruz Hewitt, the Wimbledon boys finalist and wild card recipient, faces No. 8 seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.

2025 NCAA singles finalist Trevor Svajda received a wild card for qualifying and will play No. 12 seed Elias Ymer of Sweden. His brother Zachary is the top seed in qualifying, and will face Stefan Kozlov. Kozlov and Lee received a men's doubles qualifying wild card. The fourth wild card in men's singles qualifying went to Aryan Shah of India, who joined Wake Forest in January.

Andres Martin, who lost in Bloomfield Hills late this afternoon, is on Saturday's schedule not before 3 p.m. in a first round qualifying match No. 5 seed Christopher O'Connell of Australia. The winner of that match plays the winner of the Lee-Echargui match for a spot in the main draw.

The men's qualifying draw is here.

There are only four qualifiers who receive entry into the women's main draw, versus six qualifiers on the men's side, so only two qualifying wild cards are awarded.  Seventeen-year-old Julieta Pareja received one of the and she will face No. 6 seed Polina Iatcenko of Russia in the first round tomorrow. The other wild card was given to 20-year-old Clervie Ngounoue, who is originally from the DC area; she will play No. 7 seed Varvara Lepchenko of the United States. The other Americans in qualifying are Carolyn Ansari(Auburn) and Lea Ma(Georgia).

The women's qualifying draw is here.