Dietrich Reaches Sioux Falls Challenger Final; Brantmeier Aims for Second Straight W75 Title Sunday; Pareja Advances to First W100 Final; Combs Goes for Sweep at W15 Sumter SC

Dylan Dietrich is waltzing through the draw this week at the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota, earning his ninth straight victory this month with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Aidan Mayo. The University of Virginia senior, who won his first Challenger title earlier this month in Columbus, has not dropped a set since retiring down 5-1 in the third set to Nishesh Basavareddy in the semifinals of the San Diego Challenger in September.  He will face No. 5 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada, who saved two match points at 6-4 in the second set tiebreaker en route to the final, ending the run of qualifier Sebastian Dominko(Notre Dame) 6-7(7), 7-6(6), 6-4.

Dietrich, who is up to 222 in the ATP live rankings, and will break into the Top 200 if he wins Sunday, told Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin after his quarterfinal win Friday that short of winning the Australian Open men's singles title in Melbourne in January, he will be returning to Charlottesville to defend the Cavaliers NCAA team title.

"There's just no world now (that I don't come back)," said the 22-year-old from Switzerland, who clinched that title for Virginia in May. "Many people now, especially back home, are telling me 'why wouldn't you go pro, why wouldn't you use this momentum?' But if you think about it, from where I started at UVA, how much I've improved, how much I've matured, I should be looking at it almost the other way. I've improved so much, let's squeeze everything possible out this last year, out of the coaches, out of Igdar, our fitness coach, out of Rosalind, our athletic trainer, because they certainly helped me come here and play in the semis of this 100 Challenger. So I'm looking at it that way, that I'm trying to make the best out of this last year, learn as much as possible and have a good time with the guys as well. It is truly a special time."

Another top college player who would agree with that assessment is Reese Brantmeier, who played all four years at the University of North Carolina, winning the 2023 NCAA team title and the 2025 NCAA singles title. The 22-year-old from Wisconsin is now 29-10 since her graduation in May, and on Sunday she will play for her second consecutive W75 title in Canada. 

After winning in Saguenay last week unseeded, Brantmeier is the No. 7 seed this week in Toronto, and today she avenged her last loss, in the semifinals of W50 in Quebec two weeks ago, to No. 2 seed Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden with a 6-4, 7-5 victory.

Brantmeier is now in the WTA Top 200 after today's win, and she can go a long way toward securing the USTA's Australian Open wild card, with just one more week remaining, if she takes the title tomorrow. Brantmeier will face No. 3 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada, who advanced when Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) retired trailing 7-5, 3-2. 

Seventeen-year-old Julieta Pareja, who had already reached two W100 semifinals this month, added a third today at the W100 in New Braunfels Texas by avenging one of those semifinal losses. Due to rain yesterday, the unseeded Pareja and No. 4 seed Sloane Stephens played their quarterfinal today, with Pareja winning 6-3, 6-4. She had lost to Stephens in a third set tiebreaker two weeks ago at the W100 in Edmond Oklahoma. Pareja then played No. 6 seed Akasha Urhobo, who had beaten top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 7-6(3), 6-4 in the quarterfinals, and Pareja won that semifinal 6-4, 6-1 to reach her first W100 final. 

Pareja will face an unseeded opponent in the final in Caroline Dolehide, who took out No. 2 seed Kristina Liutova 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals. Pareja and Dolehide met in the quarterfinals of the W100 in Templeton early this month, with Pareja earning a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory.

Top seeds Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Allura Zamarripa(Texas) won the doubles title, beating No. 3 seeds Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) and Kristina Penickova 7-6(5), 6-0 in the final. It's their second W100 title this month, and both Broadus(129) and Zamarripa(86) will move to career-highs in the WTA doubles rankings.

Fifteen-year-old Emery Combs advanced to her second W15 final today with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 5 seed Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) in Sumter South Carolina.  Combs, who lost in her first W15 final in Orlando in April, will face qualifier Malwina Rowinska(Florida, FAU) of Poland Sunday. Rowinska, 21, prevented an all-US, all-15-year-old final with her 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win today over Lani Chang.

Combs will be going for a sweep of the titles after she and longtime partner Olivia De Los Reyes earned their first pro doubles title after winning seven WT junior titles together in the past two years. They defeated Arkansas teammates Celine Simunyu of Ireland and Daria Koreshkova of Russia 7-6(3), 3-6, 11-9 in the final. 

At the M25 tournament in Norman Oklahoma, which moved both the quarterfinals and today's semifinals indoors, No. 4 seed Lui Maxted(TCU) will take on No. 5 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State) for the title. 

Maxted, a 22-year-old from Great Britain, defeated top seed and compatriot Alastair Gray(TCU) 6-4, 6-1; Zink, a 25-year-old from Florida, beat spring 2024 NCAA singles champion Filip Planinsek(Alabama) of Slovenia 6-3, 6-4.

Spencer Papa, the former Oklahoma Sooner and 2017 NCAA doubles champion, has returned to tennis at age 31 after a six-year absence, and he has earned his first pro title in his sixth tournament back. He and partner Asahi Harazaki of Japan, a senior at Oklahoma, received a walkover from the second-seeded British team of Giles Hussey(Georgia State, Tennessee) and Aidan McHugh.

At the W35 in Norman, No. 5 seed Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma) of Russia and No. 2 seed Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru will play for the title, after Shcherbinina defeated qualifier Salakthip Ounmuang(Oklahoma) of Thailand 6-2, 7-5 and Guzman beat Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) 6-4, 7-6(4).

Sooner teammates Evialina Laskevich of Belarus and Edda Mamedova of Russia won the doubles title, beating Lahey and Alexandra Vagramov(UCLA) of Canada 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in today's final.

At the M25 in Las Vegas, rain pushed the semifinals back to this evening, but the final is set, with unseeded Virginia sophomore Andres Santamarta of Spain facing unseeded JC Roddick(UCF, Texas A&M) Sunday. Santamarta defeated No. 6 seed Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 and Roddick defeated qualifier Nikita Filin(Ohio State) 6-2, 6-4. 

October Aces; Dietrich and Brantmeier Roll On; Combs and Chang Advance to Semifinals at Sumter SC W15; Norman OK Pro Circuit Tournaments Move Indoors; Qualifier Filin Reaches Semis at Las Vegas M25

My monthly Tennis Recruiting Network Aces column for October is a bit early, but as has been the case for many months now, I've had to leave out more former and current collegians and juniors than I include. Half of the 18 players featured won more than one title this month, and both WT Junior Finals champion Xinran Sun and Columbus Challenger champion Dylan Dietrich are still alive in their current tournaments. Sun defeated Claire Liu 7-5, 7-6(2) to advance to the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Guangzhou China; Dietrich is through to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota and Brantmeier has reached the semifinals at the W75 in Toronto.

Dietrich defeated JJ Wolf(Ohio State) for the second time in his now eight-match winning streak, with his 6-2, 7-5 victory in today's quarterfinals similar to his 7-6(6), 6-3 win over Wolf in the first round of the Columbus Challenger.  Now up to 239 in the ATP live rankings, Dietrich will face unseeded Aidan Mayo, who beat Mees Rottgering(Wake Forest) of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4.

Qualifier Sebastian Dominko, a recent Notre Dame graduate, is through to the semifinals in just his second ATP Challenger main draw. The 23-year-old from Slovenia defeated Max Rehberg of Germany 7-6(4), 6-4 and will face the winner of tonight's match between No. 4 seed Liam Draxl of Canada and No. 3 seed Darwin Blanch.

Brantmeier will have an opportunity to avenge her last loss, two weeks ago in the semifinals of the W50 in Quebec, to Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden.  The seventh-seeded 2025 NCAA singles champion as a senior at North Carolina, Brantmeier defeated No. 4 seed Valentina Ryser of Switzerland 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2 to extend her winning streak to eight matches. The second-seeded Rinaldo Persson, who beat Brantmeier 7-5, 7-6(4) in Quebec, defeated Lea Ma(Georgia) 6-4, 6-0.

Unseeded Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) defeated qualifier Carson Tanguilig 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals, where she will play No. 3 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada. Sebov defeated unseeded Madison Sieg(USC) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Fifteen-year-olds Emery Combs and Lani Chang have advanced to the semifinals of the W15 in Sumter South Carolina with routine victories in today's quarterfinals. Combs, who lives in South Carolina, defeated qualifier Alice Soulie(Ole Miss) of France 6-3, 6-1 to reach her second W15 semifinal. She will face No. 5 seed Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine, who beat lucky loser Yael Saffar 6-3, 6-3.

Chang also will be playing in her second W15 semifinal after defeating qualifier Amelie Smejkalova(Clemson, NC State) 6-1, 6-1. Chang's opponent in the semifinals will be another qualifier, Malwina Rowinska(Florida, FAU) of Poland, who defeated wild card Scarlett Fagan 6-4, 6-2.

Combs and partner Olivia De Los Reyes have advanced to the doubles final after beating Saffar and Abigail Haile 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals today. Combs and De Los Reyes have won seven WT junior circuit doubles titles together, including the J300 in Spring Texas earlier this month, but this is their first women's WTT final. They will play the unseeded pair of Daria Koreshkova of Russia and Celine Simunyu of Ireland, who are teammates at Arkansas, in the final.

Rain has been a problem all day at the W100 in New Braunfels Texas, with one second round match not yet complete. Top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico and Xinyu Gao of China were at 5-5 in the first set last night when their second round match was postponed. The other three quarterfinals have been postponed until Saturday morning; they may still be trying to finish that second round singles match and two of the doubles quarterfinals tonight.

Looking at the forecast for Friday and Saturday, the organizers of the M25 and W35 in Norman Oklahoma announced last night that they would be moving indoors, and all matches today were played inside. 

Two Oklahoma teammates and frequent doubles partners Salakthrip Ounmuang of Thailand and Gloriana Nahum of Benin, both qualifiers, played in today's quarterfinals, with Ounmuang taking a 6-1, 6-1 decision. She will play No. 5 seed Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma) in the semifinals. Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) is into the semifinals after a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win over Florida recruit Rebecca Munk Mortensen of Denmark; she will play No. 2 seed Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru, who beat Bella Payne(Georgia) 6-4, 6-2.

None of the men's players at Oklahoma have advanced to the semifinals, which will feature two former TCU stars from Great Britain: top seed Alastair Gray and No. 4 seed Lui Maxted. Gray defeated qualifier Luca Pow(Wake Forest) 7-6(4), 6-2 to advance, while Maxted got a walkover from Bruno Kuzuhara(Clemson). 

2024 spring NCAA champion Filip Planinsek(Alabama) of Slovenia defeated Bor Artnak(Arizona State, Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-4 to advance to a semifinal meeting with No. 5 seed Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State). Zink beat the last Sooner in the draw, wild card Johan Rodriguez of Colombia, 6-4, 6-2.

Nikita Filin, the Ohio State junior, has advanced to his second M25 semifinal, with his first, this August in East Lansing, also as a qualifier. Today at the M25 in Las Vegas, Filin defeated former teammate William Jansen(UNC, Ohio State, Georgia) of Great Britain 7-5, 6-4 to set up a semifinal contest against unseeded JC Roddick(UCF, Texas A&M). Roddick beat qualifier Preston Stearns, a senior at Ohio State, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) in a three-hour plus quarterfinal match. Recent Ohio State graduate Jack Anthrop, the No. 6 seed, beat Ohio State senior Aidan Kim, the No. 3 seed, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to reach his third semifinal in as many weeks. He will face Virginia sophomore Andres Santamarta of Spain, who defeated wild card Tanishk Konduri 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-0.

Dietrich Earns First ATP Top 100 Win to Advance to Sioux Falls Challenger Quarterfinals; Liutova, Pareja and Ma Move On at W100; Four Juniors Reach W15 Sumter Quarterfinals; Tanguilig Beats Top Seed at W75 in Toronto; Buckeyes Plentiful at Las Vegas M25

University of Virginia senior Dylan Dietrich achieved another milestone this month, with the ITA preseason No. 1 earning his first ATP Top 100 win last night at the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota.

The 22-year-old from Switzerland, who was the 2026 NCAA Team Championships Most Outstanding Player, defeated top seed Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-3 in the second round to reach his fifth consecutive quarterfinal at the Challenger level. Dietrich won his first Challenger title this month at the 75 in Columbus, so he will take a seven-match winning streak into Friday's quarterfinal match against JJ Wolf(Ohio State). Dietrich's winning streak began with a  first round 7-6(6), 6-3 win over Wolf in Columbus.

Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets is onsite in Sioux Falls this week and is conducting post-match interviews with every winner, and from his conversation with Dietrich, the likelihood that Dietrich doesn't return to Virginia for his final semester is remote. Similar to Michael Zheng last year, most observers discount the importance of a college degree, but when a player is just a semester away, those five months that make up a final semester are not really that significant in the larger scheme of things.

Dietrich admitted to Gruskin that he had tapped into his highest level against Brooksby, who had won the Fort Worth Challenger 75 last week.

"Tonight was really special," Dietrich said. "I feel like at one point I just reached flow state. I felt like I couldn't miss anymore and I went for crazy shots and it just kept on going in, so I kept trying it and trying it....obviously, I played incredible, that obviously helped for the win tonight."

Dietrich told Gruskin that it was only last fall that he really decided that pro tennis was a career he wanted to pursue.

"A few weeks before the Charlottesville Challenger, I had a great talk with coach (Andres Pedroso)," Dietrich said. "Up until then I was always sure I wanted to do something else after college. Not because I don't love the sport of tennis, but just because I've been playing it for so long and it was time to do something else. But last fall I was telling the coaches, I'm all in, I really want to go for it. It's a sport where the margins are so small if you're not really fully committed, you're not going to have a chance. It doesn't matter how talented you are...you really need to be fully committed to it and I am at the moment."

The full interview is available at the Cracked Interviews podcast.

There are no seeds left in the top half, with the Netherlands' Mees Rottgering, a sophomore at Wake Forest, facing unseeded Aidan Mayo in the other quarterfinal.

In the bottom half, recent Notre Dame graduate and qualifier Sebastian Dominiko of Slovenia eliminated No. 2 seed Valentin Royer of France 7-5, 7-5 and will play unseeded Max Rehberg of Germany in the quarterfinals. No. 5 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) will play the winner of tonight's match between Mitchell Krueger and No. 3 seed Darwin Blanch.

At the W100 in New Braunfels Texas, 16-year-old Kristinia Liutova, 17-year-old Julieta Pareja and wild card Connie Ma(Stanford) have reached the quarterfinals, along with Akasha Urhobo[6], Sloane Stephens[[4] and Caroline Dolehide.

Liutova, the No. 2 seed, defeated 35-year-old Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-2, 7-6(4) and will play Ma in the quarterfinals. Ma, who returned to competition this fall after graduating from Stanford in 2025, beat Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-2, 6-2. Pareja defeated No. 7 seed Barbora Palicova of Czechia 6-4, 6-4 and will play Stephens in a rematch of their semifinal at the W100 in Edmond two weeks ago, which Stephens won 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(5).  Urhobo defeated qualifier Allura Zamarripa 6-2, 6-1 and will face the winner of tonight's match between top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico and Xinyu Gao of China.

At the W75 in Toronto qualifier Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina) defeated top seed Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(4) to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina). Akli defated No. 8 seed Hiromi Abe of Japan 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.  No. 7 seed Reese Brantmeier(North Carolina) extended her winning streak with a 6-3, 6-0 win over qualifier Clervie Ngounoue; Lea Ma(Georgia) and Madison Sieg(USC) are also through to the quarterfinals. 

Georgia freshman Bella Payne has advanced to the quarterfinals of the W35 in Norman Oklahoma after beating qualifier Lily Taylor(Arizona State) 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2. Payne will play No. 2 seed Dana Guzman(Oklahoma) of Peru next. 

Four of the quarterfinalists at the W15 in Sumter South Carolina are American juniors, and those four could all advance to the semifinals.

Fifteen-year-old Emery Combs is through to her second W15 quarterfinal, beating 18-year-old Adla Lopez 6-0, 2-6, 6-3. Seventeen-year-old lucky loser Yael Saffar has reached her first Pro Circuit quarterfinal, beating qualifier Mia Robinson(Mississippi State) 6-4, 7-5. Sixteen-year-old wild card Scarlett Fagan beat No. 8 seed Karla Bartel(Alabama) of Germany 6-2, 6-1 to reach her first Pro Circuit quarterfinal, and 15-year-old Lani Chang, a junior reserved entry, defeated qualifier Celia Anson Sanchez(Clemson) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach her second W15 quarterfinal.

Combs, Fagan and Chang all play qualifiers in the quarterfinals; Saffar faces the only seed remaining, No. 5 Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine, who beat Carlota Moreno 7-6(4), 7-6(7) in the second round today.

At the M25 in Las Vegas, 17-year-old wild card Tanishk Konduri defeated Felix Corwin(Minnesoty) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and will play Virginia sophomore Andres Santamarta of Spain in the quarterfinals. Santamarta defeated qualifier Noah Johnston(Georgia) 6-3, 6-3. No. 3 seed Aidan Kim beat Virginia freshman Luca Preda of Romania, a qualifier, 6-1, 6-1 and will face his teammate at Ohio State the past two years, Jack Anthrop[4] in the quarterfinals. Two other Buckeyes have reached the quarterfinals, with qualifiers Preston Stearns and Nikita Filin also winning today. Filin will play former teammate Will Jansen(North Carolina, Ohio State, Georga) of Great Britain in the quarterfinals, after Jansen beat No. 5 seed Andy Johnson 6-2, 6-2. Stearns will face JC Roddick(UCF, Texas A&M) who beat Enzo Kohlmann de Freitas(LSU) of Brazil 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1. Kim and Anthrop are the only seeds still in contention.

Conference Masters Participants Announced; Fields Set for Inaugural ITA Division II Individual Championships; Pareja, Gowda, Konduri and Johnson Earn First Round Wins in World Tennis Pro Events

Four of the remaining 28 spots to fill in next month's NCAA singles championships will be decided next week at the Conference Masters Championships, with representatives from 31 women's conferences and 27 men's conferences gathering in Rome Georgia. The four semifinalists in singles and the two finalists in doubles will earn a place in the draw, while at the same time, the 24 remaining singles and 12 remaining doubles spots will be filled at the Sectional Championships.

The non-Power 4 conferences often have tournaments to decide their representatives at the Conference Masters, but I don't believe the Power 4 conferences have any competition to determine who is designated as their representative.

The men from the Power 4 conferences competing in singles are:

ACC: Alex Razeghi(Stanford)

Big Ten: Rudy Quan(UCLA) 

Big 12: Niksa Arsic(Texas Tech)

SEC: Bryan Hernandez Cortes(Mississippi State)

The women from Power 4 conferences competing in singles are:

ACC: Alexis Nguyen(North Carolina)

Big Ten: Reese Miller(Michigan)

Big 12: Kyoka Kubo(Kansas)

SEC: Linea Bajraliu(Georgia)

The full list of all 32 competitors is here. After using byes in the past two years, this year the final few spots available in the draws were filled by lottery, resulting in a second entry for the SEC men: Texas A&M's Amirkhamza Nasridinov.

The ITA will be overseeing a third big event next week, with the first Division II Singles and Doubles Championships scheduled for November 4-8 in Tuscaloosa Alabama. 

Both singles and doubles champions will be crowned for men and women, with 32 players competing for the singles title and 16 teams playing for the doubles title. 

The full list of competitors is here.

A conversation with 17-year-old Julieta Pareja is featured today in Jon Wertheim's weekly mailbag column in Sports Illustrated, with the 2025 Wimbledon girls finalist discussing her connection to Colombia, the influence of her older sisters and her favorite players. The final answer in the interview sounds as if she is not considering college tennis, but in the current environment, there is no pressure for her to make that decision right now.

After reaching the semifinals of the W100 in Edmond Oklahoma two weeks ago, Pareja is competing in the W100 in New Braunfels Texas this week, and she is through to the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Diae El Jardi(Rice) of Morocco. She will face No. 7 seed Barbora Palicova of Czechia Thursday. 

No. 2 seed Kristina Liutova defeated qualifier Veronika Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) of Russia 6-4, 6-4 today and No. 6 seed Akasha Urhobo beat Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) 6-2, 6-4, but wild cards Melije Clarke and Thea Frodin and junior exempt entrant Kristina Penickova lost their opening matches, leaving just three teens in the second round.

Austin W50 champion Ella McDonald(LSU) of Great Britain continued her winning streak, advancing when No. 3 seed Elvina Kalieva retired trailing 6-1, 3-0.

At the W75 in Toronto, University of Michigan recruit Thara Gowda qualified for the main draw and won her first round match today, beating Anna Rogers(NC State) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(6). In case you missed it, I wrote about Gowda's choice of Michigan in this article for Tennis Recruiting Network last week. Gowda will face No. 3 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada in Thursday's second round.

Reese Brantmeier, champion at last week's W75 in Saguenay Canada, is the No. 7 seed at this week's W75 in Toronto. North Carolina's 2025 NCAA champion defeated Hina Inoue 7-5, 6-0 today to set up a second round match with 20-year-old Clervie Ngounoue, who qualified and beat Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in today's first round. 

Ngounoue and Brantmeier met in the quarterfinals of the W35 in Wichita in May, with Ngounoue winning the first set in a tiebreaker, but retiring with Brantmeier up 4-3 in the second set, with Brantmeier going on to win the title. Qualifier Carson Tanguilig(UNC), Madison Sieg(USC), Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) and Lea Ma(Georgia) are the other Americans through to the second round.

At the M25 in Las Vegas, 17-year-old wild card Tanishk Konduri advanced to the second round with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Nikola Djosic(Arizona State) of Switzerland. Konduri, who made the semifinals of the March M25 in Las Vegas, will play unseeded Felix Corwin(Minnesota) next.

No. 5 seed Andy Johnson defeated Djosic's Sun Devil teammate Xavi Palomar, a qualifier, 6-2, 6-2 today and will play Will Jansen(UNC, Ohio State, Georgia) of Great Britain Thursday.

Georgia sophmore Noah Johnston, a qualifier, beat Oliver Okonkwo(Iowa, Illinois) of Great Britain 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) and will face Virginia sophomore Andres Santamarta of Spain, who beat top seed Max Wiskandt of Germany in the first round yesterday.

The No. 2 seed is also out, with Ohio State junior Nikita Filin beating Andreja Petrovic(North Dakota, Florida State, Duke) of Norway 6-3, 7-6(5). He will play Micah Braswell(Texas) Thursday.

Three Men's and Three Women's USTA Pro Circuit Events This Week; ITA CEO Dave Mullins' Open Letter on Direction of College Tennis; Brooksby and Stephens Lead USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge

The USTA Pro Circuit features six events this week, with a W100 in Texas and an ATP Challenger 100 in South Dakota leading the list. Both the men and women are in Norman Oklahoma for a W35 and M25, with the third men's event an M25 in Las Vegas and the third women's event a W15 in Sumter South Carolina.

The Sioux Falls Challenger, now in its third year, is ahead of the other five, with the first round scheduled to be completed tonight. Stefan Kozlov, Mitchell Krueger, Aidan Mayo, wild card Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), JJ Wolf(Ohio State), Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) and Darwin Blanch[3] have advanced to the second round, as has top seed and last week's Fort Worth Challenger champion Jenson Brooksby, who defeated wild card Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State) 6-3, 6-3 today. Brooksby will face ITA preseason No. 1 Dylan Dietrich of Switzerland, a senior at Virginia, in the second round. Dietrich defeated Colton Smith(Arizona) 6-3, 7-5 in the first round Monday.

Three Americans qualified for the main draw of the W100 in New Braunfels Texas with wins today: Lexington Reed(Texas A&M), Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) and Allura Zamarripa(Texas). 

Wild cards were awarded to Thea Frodin, Melije Clarke, Connie Ma(Stanford) and Rose Marie Nijkamp(Texas). Ma advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 4-0, retired victory over Pepperdine sophomore Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Kazakhstan.

In addition to Frodin and Clarke, other prominent teenagers in the draw are Kristina Penickova, who is using one of her Junior Exempt entries as the 2025 WT year end junior champion; Julieta Pareja, the 2025 Wimbledon finalist; 18-year-old Lea Nilsson of Sweden, the 2025 US Open finalist; 19-year-old Akasha Urhobo, the No. 6 seed; and 16-year-old Kristinia Liutova of Russia, who is the No. 2 seed. Renata Zarazua of Mexico is the top seed.

At the Norman W35, Oklahoma freshman Reina Goto of Japan is the top seed, with former Oklahoma star Dana Guzman of Peru the No. 2 seed. 

No Americans qualified, but a quartet of US teens are in the main draw: Georgia freshman Bella Payne, Florida freshman Capucine Jauffret, Duke sophomore Aspen Schuman and Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, with the latter two receiving wild cards. Texas sophmore Christasha McNeil was also awarded a wild card.

Six members on the Oklahoma roster are in the draw: Goto, qualifiers Salakthip Ounmuang of Thailand and Gloriana Nahum of Benin, Edda Mamedova of Russia, Evialina Laskevich of Belarus and wild card Laura Brunkel of Denmark.

Due to the two other women's tournaments the same week, the W15 in South Carolina, features many younger American players, two of whom advanced to the main draw via qualifying today: 19-year-old Mississippi State sophomore Mia Robinson and 18-year-old blue chip Juliana Singeorzan, a high school senior from Florida. Eighteen-year-old Yael Saffar reached the main draw as a lucky loser.

Virginia freshman Shannon Lam was the top seed, but she withdrew; Kalista Liu(Maryland) is the No. 2 seed.

Wild cards were given to 15-year-olds Allison Wang and Abigail Haile, 16-year-old Scarlett Fagan and Sophie Williams(Florida, James Madison).

Fagan won her first round match, as did 15-year-old Emery Combs, who beat No. 7 seed Stefani Webb(UCF, Auburn, Tennessee) of Australia 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Eighteen-year-old Carlota Moreno beat 16-year-old Maggie Sohns 6-2, 6-1, and Lani Chang, one of the three girls receiving junior reserved spots, beat No. 6 seed Emma Ghirardato(Oklahoma, Maryland) in other first round matches today.

The other junior reserved entries went to Adla Lopez and Ohio State recruit Ellery Mendell.

At the men's M25 in Norman, South Carolina's Sean Daryabeigi and Clemson's Marko Mesarovic are the Americans who advanced to the main draw via qualifying.

All four wild cards went to current University of Oklahoma players: junior Alejandro Melero of Spain, freshman Tito Chavez of Spain, senior Asahi Harazaki of Japan and sophomore Johan Rodrigues of Colombia. Senior Dragos Cazacu of Romania and freshman Luciano Ambrogi[3] of Argentina are the other two Sooners in the main draw.

Alastair Gray(TCU) and Giles Hussey(Georgia State, Tennessee) are the top two seeds. 

At the M25 in Las Vegas, the top seed has already been eliminated, with University of Virginia sophomore Andres Santamarta defeating Max Wiskandt of Germany 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in first round action in the main draw.

Three Americans qualified today: Ohio State senior Preston Stearns, Ohio State junior Nikita Filin and Georgia sophomore Noah Johnston. Filin and Stearns join teammates Aidan Kim[3] and Matt Forbes[7] in the main draw.

Wild cards were awarded to Stanford recruit Tanishk Konduri, Utah State junior Xavier Calvelo and Marcel Latak, who is playing his first tournament since winning the US Open boys title last month. Latak lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to Enzo Kohlmann de Freitas(LSU) of Brazil in the first round today. Seventeen-year-old Andy Johnson is the No. 5 seed.

Intercollegiate Tennis Association CEO Dave Mullins wrote an open letter to address many of the issues that have made college tennis look so much different than in the past. He's obviously given a great deal of thought to how a non-revenue sport can maintain its viability, and seems willing to look at curbs to the current influx of older pros joining college teams. 

From the letter:

College sports organizations, universities and national governing bodies should strengthen pathways for American juniors, examine eligibility rules surrounding extensive professional experience, create incentives for developmental opportunities and ensure that college athletics remains meaningfully connected to education. The ITA is actively engaged in these discussions and has a role in shaping them, but the NCAA ultimately determines its own eligibility standards.

At the same time, those of us in Olympic sports must confront another reality. Football and basketball increasingly drive the economics of major college athletics. Revenue sharing and escalating expenses will force university leaders to scrutinize every other sport they sponsor.

Tennis therefore cannot afford simply to defend the status quo.

We must generate greater value for our campuses. We need to open college facilities to communities, create new revenue opportunities, build better events, tell more compelling stories, and connect college tennis more deeply with the broader tennis industry.

College tennis can provide an elite pathway to professional tennis, welcome outstanding international athletes, and expand opportunities for American players, all while remaining rooted in education and the campus experience. In doing so, it can continue its decades-long tradition of developing future leaders across a wide range of industries.

The full letter can be found here. 

The latest standings in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge were released today, with Sloane Stephens retaining her narrow lead over Reese Brantmeier after the completion of the third of the five-week window for women, and Jenson Brooksby leading after the men's first week of their five-week window.

2027 Australian Open Wild Card Challenge Standings Update   Orlando, Fla., October 27, 2026 – 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and former world No. 33 Jenson Brooksby are the leaders of the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge after Week 3 of 5 for the women and Week 1 of 5 for the men. Stephens stays atop the women’s leaderboard as the women’s Challenge heads into its final two weeks. She is followed closely by 2026 NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier, who won the W75 Saguenay in Canada over the weekend. The victory marks the biggest title of Brantmeier’s career.   Brooksby holds the top spot in the men’s Challenge after the first week of its five-week window. Brooksby won the Fort Worth ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth, Texas, over the weekend, defeating fellow American Darwin Blanch. The victory marked his first title since the 2025 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship ATP 250 and earned him the fourth Challenger crown of his career. The top of the women’s standings after Week 3 of 5:   Women's Standings (Player's current ranking in parentheses)                                                                  1. Sloane Stephens (115) -- 106                                                                2. Reese Brantmeier (215) -- 95                                                                3. Mary Stoiana (113) -- 72                                                                4. Madison Brengle (178) -- 65                                                                5. Elvina Kalieva (111) -- 61   The top of the men’s standings after Week 1 of 5:    Men's Standings (Player's current ranking in parentheses)                                                                  1. Jenson Brooksby (94) -- 75                                                                2. Darwin Blanch (144) -- 44                                                                3. Martin Damm (105) -- 32                                                                4. Nishesh Basavareddy (131) -- 13                                                                T5. Andre Ilagan (199) -- 12                                                       T5. Aidan Mayo (321) -- 12                                                       T5. Keegan Smith (185) -- 12                                                       T5. Patrick Maloney (774) -- 12

Del Mastro Avenges Orange Bowl Finals Loss, Stratton Takes Boys Title at J100 in Canada; Berezin Wins J60 in Orlando; Champions Crowned at European Masters; Poling Sole American to Advance to Main Draw at Sioux Falls Challenger

Daniela Del Mastro swept the titles at the J100 in Woodbridge Canada and Tristan Stratton claimed his second J100 title of the fall last week, as five Americans joined Jordan Lee as champions on the World Tennis junior circuit.

The fifth-seeded Del Mastro, a 15-year-old from Minnesota, defeated unseeded Priscilla Sirichantho 6-0, 6-0 in the final, which was a rematch of last December's Orange Bowl 16s championship match, which Sirichantho won 6-4, 6-1. It's Del Mastro's second singles title, with her first coming at a J30 in her home state this summer. Del Mastro and Sirichantho teamed up for their first doubles title on the WT junior circuit, with the unseeded pair beating No. 2 seeds Payton Dith of Canada and Sofia Kedrin 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 in the final.

The second-seeded Stratton, who won the J100 in Quebec City in September, moved into the Top 200 in the WT junior rankings with his 6-3, 6-1 win over Antoine Genereux of Canada. The 17-year-old New Yorker did not lose a set in his five victories, with none of his ten sets played any closer than 6-4.

The unseeded team of Sebastian Bielen and Kahven Singh reached the doubles final, losing to No. 3 seeds Kye McDadi and Thomas O'Neill of Canada 7-6(5), 1-6, 10-5.

At the J60 in Orlando, 16-year-old Daniil Berezin won his second career WT junior circuit title, with his first a J60 this summer in New Jersey. The top seed won the all-USA final over No. 3 seed Griffin Goode 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

Berezin fell short of the sweep, with unseeded Antanas Daugis and Rafael Pawar beating Berezin and partner Maddox Bose, the No. 6 seeds, 6-0, 6-2 in the boys doubles final.

No. 7 seed Evija Thoresen, 14, lost in the girls singles final to 17-year-old Amy Gray of Australia, the No. 14 seed, 6-4, 7-6(6). 

Grace Wong and Russia's Daniela Davletshina, who lives in Florida, won the girls doubles title. The unseeded pair beat Eva Haberjan and Ashley Narath, also unseeded, 6-2, 6-1 in the final. 

The two other American singles titles came at the J30 level. In the Dominican Republic, 16-year-old Evan Puente won both titles in the first World Tennis junior circuit tournament he played. With his World Tennis Number providing him with entry, Puente defeated No. 3 seed Miguel Baquero of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 6-0 in the final. 

Puente and 17-year-old Maximus Monogenis won the doubles title, with the unseeded pair defeating the unseeded Canadian team of Lucian Enns and Kamil Mantache 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

At the J30 in Cameroon, 14-year-old Leudeu Hapi Tameghe Paola won her first WT junior singles title, with the No. 3 seed beating top seed Charnelle Fozo of Cameroon 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the final. 

At the J60 in Panama, Luciana Chica won the doubles title, with partner Valeria Cabral Zamora of Mexico. The No. 2 seeds beat top seeds Gabriela Baena of Colombia and Miranda Fernandez Figueroa of Mexico 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final. Chica lost in the girls singles final to Maria Tobon Jimenez of Colombia 7-5, 6-1.

The champions of the European Masters for the 14s and 16s age divisions were decided last week in Monte Carlo, with Mariia Kocherzhenko of Ukraine and Rafael Papoian of Russia claiming the 16s titles and Lydia Panagiotidou of Greece and Blazej Krzysko of Poland capturing the 16s titles. 

Kocherzhenko, who was runner-up to Isha Manchala at the Wimbledon 14s tournament in July, defeated Italy's Olivia Serena Conticello 7-6(5), 6-3 to become Ukraine's first girls champion in the 14s division. Papoian defeated Bruno Dzhenev of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-4 to extend his winning streak to 15 matches.

Panagiotidou beat Zana Peric of Serbia 6-2, 6-3 to earn the first Masters title for a Greek girl; Krzysko's 6-4, 6-1 victory over Mark Jony of Hungary gave Poland its first Junior master champion.

For more on the finals, visit the tournament page at the Tennis Europe website.

The qualifying is complete and the main draw has begun at the ATP Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota, with five of the six Americans playing in the final round of qualifying falling today. The only one to get through is Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC), who beating Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) 7-6(4), 7-6(7).

First round matches are on the schedule for tonight, with the remaining 12 being played on Tuesday. Wild cards were awarded to Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State), who plays top seed Jenson Brooksby tomorrow, Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), and Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas). 

Jordan Lee Claims Boys Title, Xinran Sun Captures Girls Championship at World Tennis Junior Finals; Brantmeier Sweeps Titles at W75 in Canada; Brooksby, Chang Win USTA Pro Circuit Events; Pan Am J300 Photo Gallery

Two 16-year-olds claimed their country's second 2026 World Tennis Junior Finals titles Sunday in Chengdu China, with American Jordan Lee avenging his group play loss to Ziga Sesko of Slovenia in the boys final and Xinran Sun of China defeating Anna Pushkareva of Russia for the third time in the past six weeks to earn the girls title.

Sun's 6-2, 6-0 win over Pushkareva in Thursday's group play proved to be the outlier in their four meetings since July, with the 17-year-old Pushkareva winning the Wimbledon final 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 and Sun claiming the US Open final 6-4, 4-6, 6-0. Today's final, Sun's seventh in her eight junior tournaments played this year, was similar to their match in New York, with Sun taking it 6-3, 5-7(4), 6-1.  Shilin Xu of China won the first World Junior Finals tournament in 2015, back when it was played in April. With this title Sun will lock up the year-end title of World Tennis Girls Junior Champion.

Wimbledon boys champion Lee, the first American to win the Junior Finals title since Brandon Nakashima in 2018, had lost to Australian Open boys champion Sesko 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2 in group play Thursday. Another three-setter looked likely when the 18-year-old Sesko served for the second set in today's final, but Lee won the last four games for a 6-3, 7-5 victory. Lee served well throughout, with seven aces, and made very few unforced errors when it mattered.

Lee will move to No. 2 in the junior rankings when these 1000 points are added, and earned $21,250 in travel grants with his performance this week. Sun, who won all five of her matches, received $23,000.

Lee is, by a few days, the youngest of the nine boys to win the title, with Holger Rune of Denmark also 16 when he won it in 2019. Rune's birthday is April 29, Lee's in May 4 and the this year's tournament started two days earlier this year than it did in 2019.

Sun is not the youngest girl, with Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 15 years old when she won the title in 2017.

Janae Preston, who did not win a match in group play, rebounded to take her two placement matches and finished fifth overall. Keaton Hance finished fourth, after not competing in the match for third place. 

All results can be found here. Replays of matches are available here.

Reese Brantmeier, who turned 22 earlier this month, won the biggest title of her brief pro career today at the W75 in Saguenay Canada. The 2026 University of North Carolina graduate and NCAA singles champion defeated Yuki Naito of Japan 7-6(8), 7-6(7) today to add to the doubles title she won yesterday with former teammate Carson Tanguilig.

Brantmeier, who won a W35 just days after finishing her UNC career, is now up to 217 in the WTA live rankings and will move near the top in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge standings with two weeks left in that race.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth Texas, top seed Jenson Brooksby defeated No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch 6-1, 6-4 to earn his first Challenger title since 2021. Brooksby, who had fallen out of the ATP Top 100 in the past few weeks, is back up to 94 in the live rankings and is the top seed, as a special exempt, in next week's Challenger 100 in Sioux Falls South Dakota. He'll play wild card Bryce Nakashima, a senior at Ohio State, in the first round.

Hanna Chang won the other all-USA final on the USTA Pro Circuit today, with the No. 3 seed beating wild card Jenna DeFalco 6-3, 7-5 at the Bakersfield W35.  It's the 28-year-old Chang's fourth W35 title of the year.

No. 3 seeds Lily Fairclough(USC) and Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) won the doubles title, beating top seeds Ema Burgic(Baylor) of Bosnia and Briana Szabo of Romania 6-2, 6-3 in last night's final.

At the M15 in Ithaca New York, 19-year-old wild card Rodrigo Fernandes of Portugal, a junior at Cornell, won his first singles title on the men's WTT, beating No. 4 seed Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) 6-3, 6-1 in today's final. Fernandes qualified for the NCAA singles tournament when he reached the New England regional final earlier this month.

My latest photo gallery is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, with 54 photos from the J300 Pan American Regional Closed three weeks ago in Spring Texas. All photos were taken by Paul Ballard.

Lee and Sesko Meet for WT Junior Final Boys Title; Sun and Pushkareva Again in Girls Championship Match; McDonald Sweeps Austin W50 Titles; Brantmeier Cruises into Saguenay W75 Singles Final; Brooksby and Blanch Reach Fort Worth Challenger Final

Four of this year's junior slam champions will play for the championship Sunday at the World Tennis Junior Finals in Chengdu China, including American Jordan Lee, who won Wimbledon as a qualifier in July.

The fourth-seeded Lee defeated No. 7 seed Vincent Reisach of Germany 6-2, 7-5 in Saturday's semifinals, and will face No. 6 seed and Australian Open champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, who beat No. 3 seed Keaton Hance 6-4, 6-4 to prevent an all-USA boys final. Lee, 16, and the eighteen-year-old Sesk , the only boy yet to suffer a loss, met just four days ago in group play, with Sesko winning 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2. Lee is the first American boy to reach the final since Brandon Nakashima won the title in 2018. (Due to the pandemic, the event was not held in 2020, 2021 and 2022).

While Sesko and Lee have one recent meeting, top seed Xinran Sun of China and No. 3 seed Anna Pushkareva have three, playing in the Wimbledon final, the US Open final, and in group play this week. Pushkareva won the first, but the 16-year-old Sun has won the last two, including in group play Thursday, when she blitzed the 17-year-old Russian 6-2, 6-0 in less than an hour.

In the nine years of this tournament's existence, two reigning junior slam champions have never met in the final, and this year, that is the case for both the girls and boys.

The boys final is scheduled to beginning at 11:30 tonight in the Eastern time zone of the United States, with the girls final to follow. Live streaming is available, with Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin providing commentary. Live scoring can be found here.

In the rare Saturday finish to a USTA Pro Circuit tournament, qualifier Ella McDonald of Great Britain completed her sweep of the titles at the W50 in Austin, with the LSU junior defeating No. 5 seed Madison Brengle 7-5, 6-1 in the final. McDonald, who won her 16th women's WT doubles title with Kylie Collins yesterday, had claimed three W15 titles in singles, but this is her first singles title since May of 2025.

2025 NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier is on track to sweep the titles this week at the W75 in Saguenay Canada, after breezing past Hiromi Abe of Japan 6-1, 6-3 in 72 minutes. The recent North Carolina graduate won the doubles title with former teammate Carson Tanguilig, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 3 seeds Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands and Michaela Bayerlova(Washington State) of Czechia 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final. Brantmeier will face unseeded Yuki Naito of Japan for the singles title, after Naito defeated Ariana Arseneault of Canada 6-4, 6-4.

Brantmeier is up to 231 in the live WTA rankings after reaching the final, and with no points to defend the rest of the year is looking likely to make the Australian Open women's qualifying in her first year as a professional. And she still has an opportunity to win the USTA's Australian Open wild card, with two more weeks remaining in that race. She is continuing that quest next week in the W75 in Toronto, not in the W100 in New Braunfels Texas.

Connie Ma's run in the California W35s came to an end today in the semifinals of the Bakersfield tournament, with the 23-year-old wild card falling to No. 3 seed Hanna Chang 6-4, 6-2. The 2022 NCAA singles finalist as a freshman at Stanford won her first Pro Circuit title last week's W35 in Redding California.

Chang will face wild card Jenna DeFalco, who at 23 is looking for her first title above the W15 level. DeFalco defeated No. 7 seed Lan Mi(Cal) of China 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

Jack Anthrop will play in his second straight M15 final Sunday, after the fourth-seeded former Ohio State All-American defeated Kentucky junior Rafael Ymer of Sweden, a qualifier, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the Ithaca semifinals. Anthrop, who lost to Theo Papamalamis of Texas A&M in the final of the M15 in Lexington Kentucky last Sunday, will play wild card Rodrigo Fernandes of Portugal, a junior at Cornell, for the title. Fernandes beat Texas junior Oliver Ojakaar of Estonia, a qualifier, 6-4, 6-4 in today's semifinals. 

Ojakaar won't return to Austin empty-handed, winning the doubles title with Nathan Cox(Vanderbilt). Ojakaar and Cox defeated Mans Dahlberg(Virginia) of Sweden and Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 7-5, 7-6(7) in the final.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth Texas, the top two seeds will decide the title, with two Kalamazoo 18s champions squaring off Sunday.

No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch, who won the 2025 18s title and the 2022 16s title in Kalamazoo, defeated qualifier Sander Jong(TCU) of the Netherlands 7-6(5), 6-2 to advance to his third Challenger final. He will face top seed Jenson Brooksby, the 2018 Kalamazoo 18s champion, who reached the 2016 Kalamazoo 16s final. Brooksby lost a 77-minute first set to Gabriel Debru(Illinois, Texas) of France 6-7(14), but rebounded to win the second set 6-3 and the third set 6-2 to reach the final. 

TCU teammates Cooper Woestendick and Albert Pedrico won the doubles title as wild cards, capturing their first Challenger doubles title with a walkover from James Hopper(Case Western, Virginia) of Great Britain and Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) of Japan. 

My Article on Gowda's Michigan Commitment; Lee and Hance Reach Semifinals at Junior Finals; Brantmeier Claims WTA Top 100 Win at W75 in Canada; McDonald and Brengle Advance to W50 Final in Austin; Ma Ends Sharma's Winning Streak

While I was in Houston earlier this month for the World Tennis J300 Pan American Closed Championships, I had an opportunity to interview 17-year-old Thara Gowda about her decision to join the Michigan Wolverines next fall. As the No. 4 girl in the Class of 2027, Gowda obviously had her choice of schools, but the Rochester Hills resident decided to stay in Southeast Michigan, as so many of the area's top girls have done recently. My article today at Tennis Recruiting Network explains not only why she chose Michigan over other top schools, but why she came to the realization that college tennis was the next best step to reach her goal of professional tennis.

The semifinals for the World Tennis Junior Finals were determined with the completion of play Friday in Chengdu, with both Keaton Hance and Jordan Lee qualifying for the knockout round Saturday. 

Hance, the No. 3 seed, beat No. 2 seed Thilo Behrmann of Austria 6-4, 6-4 to finish second in Group B, at 2-1, behind No. 7 seed Vincent Reisach of Germany, who went 3-0.

Lee, the No. 4 seed, defeated top seed Jamie MacKenzie(TCU) of Germany 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to finish second in his group, behind Australian Open boys champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, the No. 5 seed. Lee's only loss was to Sesko, who went 3-0 in Group A.

Hance will play Sesko and Lee will play Reisach in the semifinals, beginning tonight at 10:30 Eastern time.  Sesko beat Hance 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Australian Open boys final in January; Lee beat Reisach 6-3, 6-2 in the Wimbledon boys semifinals in July.

The girls semifinals feature the top three seeds and No. 5 seed Mariia Makarova, with No. 1 Xinran Sun of China playing No. 2 seed Jana Kovackova of Czechia. Sun defeated Kovackova 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the J500 in Milan this spring.

Makarova, who, like Sun, was undefeated in her group, will play fellow Russian and No. 3 seed Anna Pushkarova. They have not played in either WT women's or junior events.

Janae Preston, who lost to Makarova 6-1, 6-2 went 0-3 in group play and will be playing in the 5-8 playoffs against Ksenia Efremova of France Friday.

Live streaming is available, with Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin providing commentary.  Live scoring can be found here.

2025 NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier posted her best win by WTA ranking today at the W75 in Saguenay Canada, with the recent North Carolina graduate defeating top seed and WTA No. 69 Tatjana Maria of Germany 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-3 in just under three hours to advance to the semifinals. Brantmeier will play unseeded Hiromi Abe of Japan, whom she beat in the second round of the W50 in Quebec last week 6-4, 7-6(0). 

There are no seeds remaining in the singles, with Yuki Naito of Japan facing Ariana Arseneault(Georgia, Auburn) of Canada in the semifinal in the bottom half. Arseneault beat Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Brantmeier is also through to the doubles final, with former teammate and 2023 NCAA doubles champion Carson Tanguilig. Brantmeier has already won three WT women's doubles titles this year, including last week's title in Quebec, with Duke freshman Mimi Xu as her partner.

LSU junior Ella McDonald of Great Britain will go for a sweep of the titles at the W50 in Austin Texas Saturday, when the qualifier faces No. 5 seed Madison Brengle for the singles championship. The 21-year-old left-hander defeated Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the biggest final of her career. 

Brengle, 36, beat No. 8 seed Elli Mandlik 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 and will be trying to earn a second W50 title this year. McDonald defeated Brengle in the quarterfinals of W50 in Berkeley California last month 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

McDonald won her 16th women's WTT doubles title today, but her first with Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State). The No. 4 seeds beat unseeded Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) and Canada's Alexandra Vagramov(UCLA) 6-0, 6-1 in today's 53-minute final.

When Connie Ma(Stanford) and Astra Sharma of Australian met in the quarterfinals of the W35 in Bakersfield California today, one of their winning streaks was going to end, and it was Sharma's, with wild card Ma posting the 6-2, 6-3 victory. Ma, last week's champion at the W35 in Redding, has now won eight straight matches, with her last loss coming to Janae Preston in her first tournament back in her return to competitive tennis since her All-American career at Stanford ended in 2025. 

Sharma, an All-American at Vanderbilt, had won 16 matches in a row(including qualifying) with titles at the W15 in Nashville and the W50 in Lexington South Carolina. 

Ma will face No. 3 seed Hanna Chang, who beat Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State) 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. No. 6 seed Lan Mi of China, a former Cal standout, will face the winner of tonight's match between wild card Jenna DeFalco and qualifier Jana Hossam of Egypt, a junior at Florida.

Parity Reigns at World Tennis Junior Finals with Quarterfinalists to be Decided Friday; Secord Reaches First USTA Pro Circuit Quarterfinal at Ithaca M15; Ma Advances at W35 Bakersfield; Four Americans in Fort Worth Challenger Quarterfinals

The World Tennis Junior Finals have seen some upsets in the first two days of group play, but all four groups head into Friday's final day of round robin play in Chengdu China with the exact same scenarios: one defeated player, one winless player and two players with 1-1 records.

The top two finishers in each group will advance to Saturday's semifinals, and No. 3 seed Keaton Hance still has an opportunity to be one of the semifinalists after his 6-0, 6-2 win over Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria Thursday. Hance needs to beat No. 2 seed Thilo Behrmann of Austria, the other player in his group that is 1-1, to move on. 

No. 4 seed Janae Preston lost to No. 2 seed Jana Kovackova of Czechia 6-4, 6-4 and will not advance to the semifinals, even with a win over Group B leader Mariia Makarova of Russia. 

No. 4 seed Jordan Lee lost to No. 5 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2 to fall to 1-1, but he can qualify for the semifinals if he beats top seed Jamie Mackenzie(TCU) of Germany Friday. Sesko and Vincent Reisach of Germany, who is 2-0 in Group B, are assured of advancing regardless of their results Friday.

Top seed Xinran Sun of China is the Group A leader at 2-0, after her emphatic 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 3 seed Anna Pushkareva of Russia. Pushkareva and Sun met in the last two girls slam finals, with Pushkareva winning in three sets at Wimbledon and Sun winning in three sets at the US Open, so a match that one-sided seemed unlikely.

Live streaming begins at 10:30 tonight in the Eastern time zone with the Preston-Makarova match. Live scoring can be found here.

Eighteen-year-old Jack Secord has advanced to his first USTA Pro Circuit quarterfinal at this week's M15 in Ithaca New York. Secord, No. 19 in the WT junior rankings, received entry via the WT Junior Reserved program, with this only his third pro tournament of the year, fourth, if including the US Open men's qualifying. The Stanford recruit defeated 19-year-old Benjamin Willerth, the 2025 Australian Open boys champion, 6-2, 6-3 and will face No. 4 seed Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) in the quarterfinals Friday. 

Anthrop defeated Eli Stephenson, a senior at Kentucky, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in today's second round, his second win over Stephenson in the past six days. Anthrop beat Stephenson last week in the semifinals of the M15 in Lexington Kentucky 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.  Vignesh Gogineni(Yale) is the other American in the quarterfinals, with the No. 6 seed defeating Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 6-3, 6-2. 

At the W50 in Austin Texas, 17-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin lost to No. 5 seed Madison Brengle 7-6(2), 6-3 in today's quarterfinals. Brengle will play No. 8 seed Elli Mandlik, who beat No. 4 seed Barbora Palicova of Czechia 7-6(3), 7-6(4). In the bottom half, LSU junior Ella McDonald of Great Britain, a qualifier, has advanced to the semifinals after beating newly announced Florida recruit Rebecaa Mortensen of Denmark 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. McDonald will play unseeded Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia, who beat No. 3 seed Yeonwoo Ku of Korea 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.

McDonald will also play in the doubles final Friday, with Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State). The No. 4 seeds will play the unseeded team of Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) and Alexandra Vagramov(UCLA) of Canada.

Rain Wednesday pushed many of the Bakersfield California W35 first round matches to today, with all of them now complete, and second round matches underway. Former Stanford All-American Connie Ma continues to post impressive results,  with last week's Redding W35 champion defeating fellow wild card Aspen Schuman 7-6(5), ret. in the first round, and then breezing past No. 5 seed Diletta Cherubini of Italy 6-0, 6-1 in the second round. In Friday's quarterfinals, Ma will play the winner of the second round match this evening between qualifier Astra Sharma(Vanderbilt) of Australia and No. 2 seed Lea Ma(Georgia).

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth Texas, four Americans have advanced to Friday's quarterfinals.

Top seed Jenson Brooksby will play Patrick Maloney(Michigan); Aidan Mayo faces qualifier Sander Jong(TCU) of the Netherlands; No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch, the 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion, will play fellow 19-year-old left-hander Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Wake Forest.

Qualifier Frodin Defeats Top Seed Stephens at Austin W50; Lee Sole US Winner on Opening Day of World Tennis Junior Finals; Texas Signs Former Junior No. 1 Pacheco; USA's Bille Jean King Cup Team Selected; Update for Email Subscribers

Seventeen-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin, the 2026 USTA National 18s champion in San Diego, claimed the best win of her career today at the W50 in Austin Texas, beating top seed and ATP No. 118 Sloane Stephens, the W100 champion in Edmond Oklahoma last week, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. The 2026 Australian Open girls semifinalist will face another seeded veteran Thursday, with No. 5 seed Madison Brengle reaching the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-0 win over former Georgia All-American Mell Reasco of Ecuador. 

Qualifier Rebecca Munk Mortensen of Denmark, who beat No. 2 seed Akasha Urhobo in the first round, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over qualifier Amelie Van Impe of Belgium, a sophomore at SMU. Mortensen signed with the University of Florida for the upcoming spring season, according to this announcement today.

The first matches of the WT Junior Finals are in the books, with Jordan Lee picking up the only victory for an American Wednesday. The Wimbledon boys champion, seeded No. 4, defeated No. 8 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-4, coming from 3-0 down in the second set. Lee's opponent Thursday is No. 5 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, who defeated top seed Jamie Mackenzie(TCU) of Germany 6-4, 6-4. 

No. 3 seed Keaton Hance lost to No. 7 seed Vincent Reisach 6-3, 6-4 and will face No. 6 seed Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria Thursday; Kisimov lost to No. 2 seed Thilo Behrmann of Austria 7-6(8), 7-6(3) Wednesday.

No. 4 seed Janae Preston, the only US girl in the field, lost to No. 7 seed Polina Skliar of Ukraine 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Preston will pay No. 2 seed Jana Kovackova of Czechia, who was also upset in the first day of play, losing to Mariia Makarova of Russia 7-5, 7-6(8).

Top seed and US Open girls champion Xinran Sun of China defeated No. 6 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia 7-6(1), 6-2 and will face rival Anna Pushkareva of Russia, the Wimbledon girls champion and No. 3 seed, who lost to Sun in the US Open final after beating her in the Wimbledon final. 

Live streaming, which begins at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time tonight, with Skliar vs Makarova, can be found here.  Live scoring is available here.

In addition to Mortensen, there was another big collegiate signing announced today, with former World Tennis No. 1 Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico committing to the University of Texas.

The 21-year-old, who reached No. 1 in the world after winning the J500 in Milan in May of 2023, will join the Longhorns for the upcoming spring season, according to today's release. This signing casts doubt on the likelihood that Matej Dodig of Croatia, now 138 in the ATP rankings, will join Texas for the spring season, with his signing announced in July. Dodig has won two Challengers made the finals of three others since that announcement, which said he would join Texas this fall, but he would hardly be the first recruit to change his plans after having success on the Challenger circuit.

The USTA announced its team for the Billie Jean King Cup tie next month against Hungary, which is scheduled for November 21-22 in Delray Beach Florida.

Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Ann Li, Taylor Townsend and Nicole Melichar Martinez will be attempting to return the USA to the field that will play for the 2027 BJK Cup after losing to Belgium in April to get knocked out of the 2026 competition.  The Hungarian team is set to include Anna Bondar, Dalma Galfi, Amarissa Toth, Fanny Stollar and Adrienn Nagy. Bondar is Hungary's only WTA Top 100 singles player.

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Twenty-two More Division I NCAA Singles Berths Filled with Completion of Regionals; Four USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments Again This Week; Stephens Takes Lead in USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Race

The Division I ITA Regional Championships concluded this afternoon, with 10 men and 12 women earning their spots in next month's NCAA singles championships in Athens Georgia. Five men's and six women's doubles teams are also heading to the University of Georgia after claiming regional titles over the past five days.

For the links to all draws in all 26 regional tournaments, visit the ITA's tournament page.

Results from all regionals are below, with the most recent first, with last week's regionals results below the dividing line.

Women's ITA Division I Regional results, with NCAA qualifiers in bold: 

MOUNTAIN:
Sara Akid[1](Utah) d. Allison Isaacs[3](Boise State) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2
Sage Bergeson(BYU) d. Silver Bijlsma(Wyoming) 1-6, 7-6(10), 6-2

Doubles final:
Ema Bubalo and Lera Alexin[2](Colorado) d. Nikol Mircheva and Hudson Hawkins[1](UNLV) 6-3, 7-6(7)

ATLANTIC:

Anastasiia Sorska[9](Maryland) d. Vivian Yang[1](Virginia) 7-5, 6-1

Katie Rolls[2](Virginia) d. Oliwia Orlinska[4](Maryland) 7-6(7), 6-2

Doubles final:

Emma Ghirardato and Diya Challa[3](Maryland) d. Vivian Yang and Alyssa James[1](Virginia) 1-6, 6-1, 10-5

CENTRAL:

Arina Malygina[9](Oklahoma State) d. Xin Tong Wang[9](Wichita State) 6-4, 6-3

Laura Brunkel[9](Oklahoma) d. Alyssa Novoa(Tulsa) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles final:

Sara Shumate and Gloriana Nahum[1](Oklahoma) d. Chloe Noel and Laura Brunkel[5](Oklahoma) 6-0, 6-1

SOUTHWEST:

Ahmani Guichard[9](UCLA) d. Alexia Harmon(Pepperdine) 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3

Lily Taylor[7](Arizona State) d. Sara Svetac[6](Arizona State) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1

Doubles final:

Vessa Turley and Tea Lukic[5](San Diego State) d. Polina Marakhtanova and Koronayashe Rugara(UCLA 4-6, 6-4, 10-7

CAROLINA:

Jana Stojanova(South Carolina) d. Avery Nguyen(North Carolina) 6-2, 602

Lavinia Tanasie[3](NC State) d. Kaitlyn Carnicella[2](South Carolina) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

Doubles final:

Victoria Osuigwe and Roisin Gilheany[1](NC State) d. Tatum Evans and Alanis Hamilton[6](North Carolina) 0-6, 6-0, 10-8

NORTHEAST:

Tsehay Driscoll(Princeton) d. Isabella Chhiv[9](Princeton)4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(2)

Kenzie Nguyen[5](Columbia) d. Pearlie Zhang[9](Princeton) 7-5, 7-6(5)

Doubles final:

Maelie Monfils and Patricia Grigoras[2](Penn State) d. Esha Velaga and Athina Schlepphorst[6](Penn) 6-2, 6-7(3), 10-5

Men's ITA Division I Regional results, with NCAA qualifiers in bold: 

SOUTHEAST:

Julian Alonso[3](Georgia) d. Noah Johnston[9](Georgia) 6-3, 6-1

Maxime Dubouch(Georgia) d. Cooper Johnson(Georgia) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles final:

Wissam Abderrahman and Mohammad Alkotop(UCF) d. Ty Host and Henry Jefferson[1](Florida) 4-6, 6-3, 10-2

NORTHWEST:

Lenn Luemkemann(Cal) d. Nicholas Godsick(Stanford) 6-1, 6-0

Gus Grumet(Stanford) d. Ronit Karki(Stanford) 6-3, 7-5

Doubles final:

Soham Purohit and Jan Chlodnicki[9](Washington) d. Maas Schotanus and Aajun Pandit(Portland State) 6-2, 4-0, ret. inj.

SOUTHWEST:

Lasse Poertner[5](Pepperdine) d. Adrien Berrut[9](San Diego) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2

David Fix[9](Pepperdine) d. Aleksa Pisaric[5](Pepperdine) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles final:

Jan Kobierski and Piotr Siekanowicz[14](San Diego State) d. Aleksa Pisaric and Lasse Poertner[1](Pepperdine) 6-4, 1-6, 10-4

MIDWEST:

Brandon Carpico[14](Ohio State) d. Preston Stearns[3](Ohio State) 6-1, 6-2

Victor Lilov[6](Ohio State) d. Adam Jilly(Illinois) 6-0, 6-2

Doubles final:

Peter Nad and Chase Thompson[7](Notre Dame) d. Adam Jilly and David Bakonyi[6](Illinois) 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-6

NORTHEAST:

Nischal Spurling(Penn) d. Andrew Ena(Columbia) 6-4, 6-1

Landon Ardila[2](Princeton) d. Damir Zhalgasbay[3](Columbia) 7-5, 6-3 

Doubles final:

Andrew Ena and Damir Zhalgasbay[5](Columbia) d. Aaron Sandler and Justin Chung[6](Penn) 6-4, 7-6(2)

========================================

Regionals Results from previous week:

WOMEN

MIDWEST:

Piper Charney[1](Michigan) d. Ariel Madatali(Illinois) 6-1, 6-0

Ekaterina Ivanova[2](Wisconsin) d. Olivia Traynor[6](Michigan) 6-3, 6-3

Third place: 

Olivia Traynor[6](Michigan) d. Ariel Madatali(Illinois) 6-2, 6-3

(Ivanova had already qualified for NCAAs by reaching ITA All-American quarterfinals)

Doubles final:

Piper Charney and Reese Miller[1](Michigan) d. Audrey Spencer and Anna Bennett[9](Ohio State) 6-3, 6-1 

NEW ENGLAND:

Lauren Kettlewell[9](Boston U) d. Kavya Karra[9](Harvard) 7-6(5), 7-5

Stephanie Yakoff[2](Harvard) d. Monika Wojcik(Syracuse) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles final: 

Stephanie Yakoff and Kavya Karra[1](Harvard) d. Peyton Capuano and Michela Moore[2](Dartmouth) 6-3, 6-4

NORTHWEST:

Anna-Marie Weissheim[6](Washington) d. Sofia Daryaie(Saint Mary's) 6-3, 6-2

Alyssa Ahn[2](Stanford) d. Jermine Sherif[9](Washington) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles final:

Nela Jandova and Marina Markina[6](Washington) d. Priya Nelson and Stella Remander[9](Saint Mary's) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8

OHIO VALLEY:

Julia Zhu[3](Kentucky) d. Mariia Dolzhenko(Lipscomb) 6-0, 6-1

Donna Le Roux[9](Kentucky) d. Asuncion Jadue(Kentucky) 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4

Doubles final:

Valeria Ray and Sophia Webster[1](Vanderbilt) d. Sarah Mildren and Alyson Shannon[2](Tennessee) 6-2, 7-6(6)

SOUTHEAST:

Bella Payne[9](Georgia) d. Malwina Rowinska(Florida Atlantic) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 

Emma Dong[6](Georgia) d. Patricija Paukstyte[9](Georgia) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles final:

Emma Dong and Ranah Stoiber[4](Georgia) d. Jantje Tilbuerger and Marta Makarova(UCF) 7-5, 6-0

SOUTHERN:

Ashton Bowers[1](Auburn) d. Addison Lanton[3](LSU) 7-5, 6-4

Alice Battesti(Ole Miss) d. Tegan Bush[9](LSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Doubles final:

Gianna Oboniye and Athina Pitta[2](Mississippi St) d. Andrea Nova and Alice Soulie[4](Ole Miss) 7-5, 7-5

TEXAS:

Divna Ratkovic[3](Rice) d. Alian Zack[5](Baylor) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Sofiia Mykhailets[6](TCU) d. Kori Montoya(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles final:

Sofiia Mykhailets and Cristina Ramos Sierra[9](TCU) d. Na Dong and Ligaya Murray[9](Baylor) 6-4, 6-3

MEN

ATLANTIC:

Andres Santamarta[1](Virginia) d. Stiles Brockett[5](Virginia) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Luca Preda[3](Virginia) d. Jangjun Kim[2](Virginia) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1

Doubles final:

Jangjun Kim and Andres Santamarta[1](Virginia) d. Blake Hilsen and Eyal Shumilov[2](Virginia Tech)

CAROLINA:

Charlie Robertson[9](South Carolina) d. Chris Xu(North Carolina) 6-3, 6-4

Bruno Kuzuhara[8](Clemson) d. Ian Mayew[9](North Carolina) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles final:

Marko Mesarovic and Henrik Bladelius[4](Clemson) d. Cody Benton and Toby Kodat[8](NC State) 6-3, 6-3

CENTRAL:

Johan Rodriguez[1](Oklahoma) d. Tito Chavez[8](Oklahoma) 6-0, 6-4

Luciano Ambrogi[2](Oklahoma) d. Asahi Harazaki[4](Oklahoma) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles final:

Connor Smillie and Brendan Boland[4](Arkansas) d. Tito Chavez and Alejandro Melero[7](Oklahoma)

MOUNTAIN:

NCAA qualifiers:

Dylan Davies(Denver) d. Sep De Visser(Idaho State) 7-6(4), 6-3

Xavier Calvelo[4](Utah State) d. Matthew Upton(Montana) 6-3, 7-5

Doubles final:

Marko Maksimovic and Kemal Karakas[1](UNLV) d. Matthew Upton and Duncan McCall 7-6(4), 6-3

NEW ENGLAND:

Rodrigo Fernandes[1](Cornell) d. Eric Verdes[9](Cornell) 6-2, 6-7(2), 7-5

Rohan Murali[2](Harvard) d. Cezar Papoe[4](Cornell) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles final: 

Rushil Khosia and Rethin Senthil Kumar[2](Cornell) d. Rohan Murali and Kolos Kincses[3](Harvard) 6-3, 6-4

OHIO VALLEY:

Nour Fathalla[5](Purdue) d. Lorenzo Balducci(Purdue) 6-1, 6-3

Kyle McNally[9](Dayton) d. Aryan Saleh(Middle Tenn St) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles final:

Hamza El Amine and Lucas Bazin[13](Louisville) d. Sturle Skigelstrand and Mikkel Zinder(Dayton) 7-5, 7-5

SOUTHERN:

Igor Kudriashov[5](Ole Miss) d. Vlado Jankanj[7](Ole Miss) 7-6(5), 6-4

Niccola Baroni[2](Ole Miss) d. Manel Lazaro[8](Auburn) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

Doubles final:

Igor Kudriashov and Kai Milburn(Ole Miss) d. Aleksander Blus and Theo Hegarty(Alabama) 6-3, 7-6(4)

TEXAS:

Tomasz Berkieta[9](Texas) d. Niksa Arsic(Texas Tech) 6-2, 6-4 

Ilia Snitari[9](Texas A&M) d. Erik Schiessl[9](Baylor) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5)

Doubles final:

Albert Pedrico and Cooper Woestendick[1](TCU) d. Connor Van Schalkwyk and Erik Schiessl[2](Baylor) 6-1, 6-3

Thirty-six of the NCAA's 64 spots in singles and 18 of the NCAA's 32 spots in doubles have now been filled, with the remaining 28 singles entrants determined at the ITA Sectional Championships and the Conference Masters Championships, both of which will be played November 5-8.

For more on who will have a final opportunity to qualify for the NCAAs via the Sectional Championships, see collegetennisranks.com's Championship Tracker page.

The USTA Pro Circuit again has four tournaments this week, with the ATP Challenger 75 in Fort Worth Texas the one providing the most points.

The first round is complete, with eight Americans through to the second round: top seed Jenson Brooksby, Patrick Maloney(Michigan), qualifier Alex Rybakov(TCU), No. 5 seed JJ Wolf(Ohio State), qualifier Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), Aidan Mayo, Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) and No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch.

Half of the seeds lost their first round matches: No. 6 seed Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) to lucky loser Kenta Miyoshi(Illinois) of Japan; No. 3 Braden Shick(NC State), to Texas sophmore Gabriel Debru of France; No. 4 Colton Smith to Mayo; and No. 8 Max Rehberg of Germany to Mees Rottgering(Wake Forest) of the Netherlands.

Wild cards Trevor Svajda(SMU) and Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) both lost, but the third wild card, Austin M25 champion Cosme Rolland de Ravel(TCU) of France beat Ozan Baris(Michigan State) to advance to a meeting with Rottgering.

The other men's event is an M15 in Ithaca New York, with qualifying completed today. Three Americans reached the main draw through qualifying: 19-year-old Connor Plunkett, Drew Van Oderlain and Jonah Braswell(Florida, Texas).

The three junior reserved spots went to Joshua Adamson and Felix Roussel of Canada and Jack Secord. Secord played his first round match today and defeated No. 8 seed Matt Forbes(Michigan State, Ohio State) 7-6(4), 6-4.  Eli Stephenson is showing as a junior exempt on the draw, but that's certainly an ATP Accelerator spot, as Stephenson is 21 years old. 

Wild cards were given to Cornell senior Felipe Pinzon, Cornell junior Rodrigo Fernandes of Portugal, Cornell senior Eric Verdes of Romania and Liam Krall(SMU). Verdes and Fernandes will meet in the first round Wednesday. 

Alec Dekers of the Netherlands in the top seed.

Edmond W100 champion Sloane Stephens is the top seed at the W50 in Austin Texas, which started a day earlier than the standard USTA Pro Circuit women's event. That means the first round was completed today, with Stephens, a wild card, and 17-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin setting up a second round meeting with wins today.

Stephens got by former Pepperdine All-American Ashley Lahey 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, while Frodin beat Oklahoma freshman Reina Goto of Japan 6-3, 6-1.

Luciana Perry, a senior at Ohio State, received a wild card and lost today to No. 4 seed Barbora Palicova of Czechia 6-2, 6-4.  TCU senior Raquel Caballero Chica of Spain, the third wild card, lost to No. 5 seed Madison Brengle 6-0, 7-5. Qualifier Rebecca Munk Mortensen of Denmark beat No. 2 seed Akasha Urhobo 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

The W35 in Bakersfield is on the traditional USTA Pro Circuit women's schedule, with qualifying completed today and just four first round matches complete.

Somehow Astra Sharma is still in qualifying, despite winning her last two tournaments, and she reached the main draw with two routine wins. 

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Kha, a USC recruit, advanced to the main draw, as did 16-year-olds Maggie Sohns and Sophie Suh. The fourth American to qualify was Brandy Walker(Northern Arizona).

Wild cards were awarded to Duke sophomore Aspen Schuman and Redding W35 champion Connie Ma(Stanford) and they will play each other Wednesday. The other wild cards went to Jenna DeFalco and Cal freshman Nika Hurkacz of Poland, the sister of Hubert Hurkacz, currently No. 30 in the ATP rankings. Hurkacz lost to No. 3 seed Hanna Chang in the first round today 6-4, 6-1. 

Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) and Lea Ma(Georgia) are the top two seeds.

After the first two weeks of the women's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, Sloane Stephens has taken the lead, with three more weeks to go. The men's race begins this week and will also extend for five weeks, with the three best results counting.

The current women's Top 5:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)
1. Sloane Stephens (118) -- 100
2. Elvina Kalieva (113) -- 61
3. Julieta Pareja (228) -- 39
4. Annika Penickova (482) -- 37
5. Connie Ma (NR) -- 35