Roussel Faces Top Seed Reisach in J300 College Park Boys Final; Makarova and Pinera Celorio Play for Girls Title Saturday; Four Americans, Liutova Qualify for US Open Main Draw

©Colette Lewis 2026--
College Park MD--

The four finalists at the World Tennis J300 in College Park have varying relationships with hard courts, yet all are happy with their performances this week at the Junior Tennis Champions Center as they prepare for the US Open Championships in New York.

Girls finalists Paola Pinera Celorio of Spain and Mariia Makarova of Russia are both making their first trips to the United States for this hard court swing, and both have had their challenges this week, but their routine semifinal wins today were a welcome break from the drama during the week.

Pinera, the No. 5 seed, defeated Maia Burcescu of Romania 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes, and after a grueling 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 quarterfinal victory yesterday over No. 14 seed Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine, and a three-set win in the third round over No. 9 seed Yushan Shao of China, Pinera said she was not expecting a quick match today.

"But today I play so good, I am very happy, so fast the match," said the 15-year-old, who has played only two matches all year on hard courts until this week. "I am playing so focused, all match. It's my first final on hard courts, and I'm excited."

Pinera did not serve well, but when she had an opportunity, she pounced, winning six of 13 break points, while Burcescu, who made a considerable number of unforced errors, won only one of her seven break points.

Pinera has had her left leg heavily taped all week, but said it is no longer giving her trouble, with the taping more preventative than necessary now.

"It's ok," said Pinera, who trains with Esteban Carril in Gijon Spain. "In the second match, I feel bad, third match better,Pi and now, I think it's good. I put the tape because I want to stay confident, but it's good now."

Pinera's opponent in the final, No. 3 seed Mariia Makarova, owns two wins over Pinera at J200s on clay last fall, but Makarova prefers faster surfaces, the better to take advantage of her serve.

Today against unseeded Adla Lopez, Makarova needed some time to find her rhythm on that shot, but it was a key reason Lopez could not pull off another upset.

"After Wimbledon my coach and my physical coach, we change something in my serve," said the 16-year-old from Moscow, who was not planning to play the US Open Junior Championships, but unexpectedly received a visa. "In the first three games, I had some double faults, but after that I served so good. I'm so shocked; after the match I come to my mom and say, 'oh my god, I served so good today.'"

Although she had just two aces and made only 50 percent of her first serves, those stats don't reveal the number of service winners or short returns to put away her serve produced throughout the match.

Lopez had planned to use the strategy that had helped her beat top seed Ksenia Efremova of France in the third round, not matching the pace of her opponent and prolonging rallies, but Makarova seldom allowed her to get an opportunity to construct a point.

Makarova was down three match points to wild card Reiley Rhodes in the third round, and needed 12 match points to earn the 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8) victory, so she is grateful to be able to play for her second J300 title Saturday, with the first also coming on hard courts.

"It's normal in tennis, you can win and you can lose," Makarova said of her narrow escape against Rhodes. "Your game today could be so wonderful and then you play so bad. I'm a girl, only 16, so maybe next time I don't do the stupid mistakes. It's tennis, it's life, it's ok."

Although boys top seed Vincent Reisach is No. 11 in the World Tennis junior rankings, the 17-year-old from Germany will be in new territory in tomorrow's final after defeating No. 4 seed Dan Brand of Israel 6-2, 6-4.

Although Reisach won the Roland Garros doubles title this summer, reached the singles semifinals at Wimbledon, and recently advanced to his first men's WT final at an M15 on hard courts earlier this month, he had played only three J300s and had not advanced beyond the quarterfinals until this week. 

Today against Brand, Reisach didn't face a break point in the first set, and saved all six against him in the second set, including coming from 0-40 down serving for the match at 5-4.

"I felt pretty good today, especially when I was serving, felt confident with my shots from the back," said Reisach, who lives in a small town in Bavaria and travels to Munich weekly for training and competition. "I had a little problem with returning today, but I worked into it and it got better and better."

Like Pinera, Reisach has been playing with heavy taping all week below his left knee.

"I'm fine, since Wimbledon I'm feeling my knee a little bit," Reisach said. "I fell on it, but it's nothing serious. It goes away by itself, so I can't make it worse. It's just with the tape, it feels a little bit better."

Reisach's unseeded opponent Saturday has reached a J300 final, with Felix Roussel of Canada advancing to the championship match of the J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica at the start of the year. A few weeks later he lost to his semifinal opponent today, No. 15 seed Safir Azam, in the first round of a J200, but he turned the tables today by a 7-5, 6-2 score.

There was nothing to separate the two in the first ten games, but Roussel was holding serve more easily than Azam. Serving at 5-6, Azam made an unforced error to give Roussel a set point, which was the best point of the match. After a 20-plus shot rally, with neither player giving any ground or even changing the pace, Azam eventually sent a backhand long to give Roussel the set.

"I think I served really well," said Roussel, who was out from February to October of last year with a back injuryl "And then I started to find the rhythm on my return and I got my chance and I took it."

Roussel had displayed an impressive transition game yesterday in his 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 2 seed Yannik Alvarez, but didn't employ that strategy with any frequency today against Azam.

"I wasn't feeling my volleys too well in the warmup," said the 18-year-old left-hander from Toronto. "And also I know he has really good passing shots, so I was trying to only come in when I had a really easy ball."

Roussel broke in the fourth game of the second set, and from there took control, with Azam getting no break point opportunities after the first set.

"He's a really good player, really solid," said Roussel, who earned his first two ATP points this summer at M15s. "I knew I had to be solid, grind through every point, because I was not getting any points for free. That's the mentality I had, and it worked."

Roussel and Reisach have never played and with a year's age difference between them, don't know much about each other.

"I don't know anything about him either," Roussel said when told Reisach was unfamiliar with his game. "But it will be a fun match, and I'm excited."

The doubles finals are set for Saturday, with the top seeds splitting their decisions in the semifinals this afternoon.

Boys No. 1 seeds Ryan Cozad, last year's doubles champion, and Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico defeated unseeded Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity and Francisco Fontes Damorim of Brazil 6-4, 6-0. They will play No. 3 seeds Kunanan Pantaratorn of Thailand and Arnav Paparkar of India, who beat unseeded Max Villar of Spain and Livas Eduardo de Carvalho Damazio of Brazil 6-4, 7-5.

Girls top seeds Ksenia Efremova of France and Paola Pinera Celorio of Spain lost to the JTCC wild card team of Shristi Selvan and Aarini Bhattacharya 5-7, 6-4, 10-8. Selvan and Bhattacharya will play No. 4 seed Yihan Qu and Yushan Shao of China, who defeated unseeded Kennedy Drenser-Hagemann and Hannah Ayrault 7-5, 6-2.  Shao reached the girls doubles final here last year with partner Xinran Sun.

The finals begin at 10 a.m. with the girls singles final on Court 17 and boys doubles final on Court 13.  There will be a 30-minute wheelchair tennis exhibition prior to the boys singles final on Court 17; the girls doubles final will follow the boys on Court 13.

Cracked Racquets will have coverage of all four finals at their YouTube Channel, with Chris Halioris providing commentary. Links to streams, live scoring and the order of play is here.

After rain postponed 23 US Open qualifying matches yesterday, those matches were played or continued today, with four Americans earning their spots in the main draw. Robin Montgomery had finished her 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Carson Branstine(Texas A&M) before the postponement Thursday; those qualifying today are Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford), Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) and Elvina Kalieva. 

Sixteen-year-old Seattle-area resident Kristina Liutova will be the first player born in the 2010s to play in a major after she defeated Martyna Kubka of Poland 6-4, 6-0 to qualify. Liutova will play fellow qualifier Qinwen Zheng of China in the first round.

Final round US Open qualifying results of Americans:

Nishesh Basavareddy[32] d. Arthur Gea[1](FRA) 6-3, 6-1

Dalibor Svrcina[8](CZE) d. Mackenzie McDonald[28] 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 

Hugo Gaston[3](FRA) d. Colton Smith 1-6, 6-4, 6-2

Robin Montgomery d. Carson Branstine(CAN) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

Lucrezia Stefanini[28](ITA) d. Julieta Pareja[WC] 6-4, 6-3

Mary Stoiana[17] d. Yue Yuan[13](CHN) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Elvina Kalieva[8] d. Vendula Valdmannova(CZE) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4

Below are the main draw matchups for Americans with the qualifiers placed. Kalamazoo 18s champion Jack Kennedy will play fomer ATP No. 31 Lloyd Harris of South Africa, who qualified today.

Americans in US Open main draw:

Men:(18)

Michael Zheng[WC] v Fabian Marozsan(HUN)

Zachary Svajda v Daniel Altmaier(GER)

Marcos Giron v Ignacio Buse[32](PER)

Learner Tien[14] v Nuno Borges(POR)

Taylor Fritz[9] v Darwin Blanch[WC]

Sebastian Gorzny[WC] v Raphael Collignon(BEL)

Aleks Kovacevic v Valentin Vacherot[22](MON)

Martin Damm v Frances Tiafoe[11]

Brandon Nakashima[16] v Sebastian Baez(ARG)

Alex Michelsen v Federico Cina[Q](ITA)

Ben Shelton[8] v Tallon Griekspoor(NED)

Jack Kennedy[WC] v Lloyd Harris(RSA)

JJ Wolf[WC] v Alexander Bublik[15](KAZ)

Tommy Paul[20] v Coleman Wong[Q]

Jenson Brooksby v Jaime Faria(POR)

Nishesh Basavareddy[Q] v Tristan Schoolkate[Q](AUS)

Women: (23)

Taylor Townsend v Maja Chwalinska[20](POL)

Alycia Parks v Taylah Preston[WC](AUS)

Sloane Stephens[WC] v Clara Tauson(DEN)

McCartney Kessler v Ekaterina Alexandrova[18](RUS)

Ann Li[29] v Antonia Ruzic(CRO)

Katie Volynets v Linda Noskova[6](CZE)

Jessica Pegula[3] v Elena-Gabriela Ruse(ROU)

Venus Williams[WC] v Sofia Kenin[WC]

Emma Navarro[26] v Lois Boisson(FRA)

Caty McNally v Anouk Koevermans[Q](NED)

Carol Lee[WC] v Katie Boulter(GBR)

Ashlyn Krueger v Amanda Anisimova[10]

Iva Jovic[14] v Magdalena Frech(POL)

Reese Brantmeier[WC] v Oleksandra Oliynykova(UKR)

Coco Gauff[4] v Zeynep Sonmez(TUR)

Peyton Stearns v Harriet Dart[Q]

Madison Keys[22] v Alina Korneeva(RUS)

Thea Frodin[WC] v Elena Rybakina[2](KAZ)

Elvina Kalieva[Q] v Lanlana Tararudee(THA)

Mary Stoiana[Q] v Alexandra Eala[17](PHI)

Robin Montgomery[Q] v Maria Sakkari[32](GRE)

Sunday's schedule is here.