US Girls Fall in Junior Billie Jean King Cup Quarterfinals; Hance, Preston, Combs and Goode Reach USTA Pro Circuit Semifinals; Quarterfinals Set at D-I Sectionals, Conference Masters

After four consecutive years as champions at the Junior Billie Jean King Cup, the US girls will not earn a fifth, with the No. 2 seeds losing to No. 4 seed Japan 2-1 today in the quarterfinals. 

Hannah Ayrault gave the Americans a 1-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Yui Komada at No. 2 singles, but Japan tied it up at No. 1 singles, with Sakino Miyazawa beating Jordyn Hazelitt 6-0, 7-5. The semifinal berth came down to the doubles, which  Miyazawa and Ran Wakana won 6-2, 6-4.

This is the first time since 2007 that the US girls failed to advance to the semifinals (there were several years during that time where the USTA did not send teams). 

The US boys, who were two-time defending champions but did not make it out of the group stage, won their placement match today against Canada 3-0. They will play Morocco in the 9-12 placement group Saturday; the US girls will play Australia in the 5-8 placement group tomorrow.

The Junior BJK Cup semifinals are No. 1 Czechia vs No. 7 Great Britain and No. 4 Japan vs No. 3 Ukraine. 

The Junior Davis Cup finals feature No. 8 France vs No. 4 Japan and No. 7 Czechia vs No. 3 Brazil.

The livestream page, which also includes replays, can be found here. Live scoring is here.

Keaton Hance, who was on the Junior Davis Cup champions team in 2024, has reached the semifinals of the M25 in Harlingen Texas, his first semifinal at that level. The 18-year-old, who reached the Australian Open boys final in January and the semifinals of last month's World Tennis Junior Finals, defeated No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain 6-2, 7-5 today. He will face qualifier Connor Van Schalkwyk of Namibia, a senior at Baylor, Saturday, Van Schalkwyk defeated Samir Banerjee(Stanford) 6-3, 6-4.  In the top half, it will be No. 6 seed Bor Artnak of Slovenia, a junior at Texas A&M, and No. 7 seed Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), the 2024 Roland Garros boys champion. Artnak defeated Hunter Heck(Illinois) 6-2, 7-5 and Bigun beat wild card Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State), 6-3, 7-5.

At the W35 in Orlando, Janae Preston defeated wild card Luciana Perry, a senior at Ohio State, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semifinals. She will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 4 seed Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) and wild card Ashton Bowers, a junior at Auburn. In the bottom half semifinal, No. 3 seed Whitney Osuigwe will play Oklahoma sophomore Evialina Laskevich of Belarus.

Emery Combs extended her winning streak to eight matches at the W15 in Hilton Head, with the 15-year-old from South Carolina saving a match point in her 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-0 win over top seed Kalista Liu(Maryland) of Hong Kong. Combs, who won her first pro titles in sweeping the singles and doubles at the W15 in Sumter, will face unseeded Aya El Aouni(UCF, LSU) of Morocco in the semfinals Saturday. El Aouni beat 18-year-old Juiliana Singeorzan 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.

Fifteen-year-old Lani Chang lost to No. 3 seed Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) 6-3, 7-6(3) and 16-year-old Scarlett Fagan lost to No. 8 seed Jantje Tilbuerger(UCF) of Germany 7-5, 6-1.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Gavin Goode beat top seed Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) 7-5, 6-2 today to advance to the semifinals of the M15 in Hilton Head. Goode will face qualifier William Mirarchi of Italy, while qualifier Max Shelton(Michigan State), will play No. 3 seed Dragos Cazacu(Tennessee, Oklahoma) of Romania in Saturday's semifinals.  Seventeen-year-olds Kayden Colombo and Jerrid Gaines Jr have reached the doubles final, where they will play Leonardo Vega and Brazil's Joaquim Almeida(Liberty).

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville, just one seed remains, former University of Washington All-American Clement Chidekh of France. The No. 5 seed, who has been posting excellent results all fall, defeated top seed Marcos Giron(UCLA) 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semifinals. He'll face unseeded Stefan Kozlov, who beat Braden Shick(NC State) by the same score.

Qualifier Aidan Mayo beat Max Rehberg of Germany 7-6(5), 6-3 and will play Andy Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador in the semifinals. Andrade won his third three set match today, beating Maks Kasnikowski of Poland 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The quarterfinals at the ITA Division I Sectionals and Conference Masters are Saturday, with the winner of each of those matches guaranteed a spot in the NCAA singles draw in Athens Georgia.

Sectional Quarterfinals

MEN:

Central Host: Baylor

Albert Pedrico[1], TCU v Zachary Viiala, Illinois

Devin Badenhorst[3], Baylor v Hank Trondson, Oklahoma State

Alex Okonkowo, Ohio State v Cooper Woestendick[4], TCU

Tito Chavez, Oklahoma v Oliver Ojakaar[2], Texas

East Host: Virginia

Toby Kodat[1], NC State v Yannick Alexandrescou[5], Duke

Justin Chung, Penn v Sean Daryabeigi, South Carolina

Paul Barbier Gazeu[6], South Carolina v Aryan Shah[4], Wake Forest

Adam Bain, Penn v Jangjun Kim[2], Virginia

South Host: Florida State

Marko Milosavljevic, Jacksonville State v Noah Johnston[5], Georgia

Tyler Bowers, Auburn v Andrew Delgado, Georgia

Vlado Jankanj, Mississippi v Eli Stephenson[3], Kentucky

Patrik Munkhammar, Auburn v Azariah Rusher, Florida State

West Host: Arizona State

Rudy Quan[1], UCLA v Marko Maksimovic, UNLV

Vincent Marysko[3], San Diego v. Nathan Trouve[7], USC

Matthias Uwe Kask, Arizona v Ofek Shimanov[4], Arizona State

Adrien Berrut[8], San Diego v Sasha Rozin[2], Arizona

WOMEN:

Central Host: TCU

Lexington Reed[1], Texas A&M v Zoie Epps[5], Oklahoma

Jennifer Jackson, Texas Tech v Alyssa Novoa[5], Tulsa

Salkathip Ounmang, Oklahoma v Veronika Kliuch, Oklahoma State

Chloe Noel, Oklahoma v Sydney Jara, Texas A&M

East Host: Penn

Eugenia Zozaya Menendez, Virginia v Oliwia Orlinska[5], Maryland

Shannon Lam, Virginia v Esha Velaga, Penn

Thea Rabman[5], North Carolina v Maddy Zampardo, North Carolina

Victoria Osuigwe, NC State v Kaitlyn Carnicella, South Carolina

South Host: Tennessee

Seri Nayuki, Georgia Tech v Malwina Rowinska, Florida Atlantic

Hiilani Williams, Indiana v Ranah Stoiber[5], Georgia 

Reese Frank, Purdue v Andrea Nova, Mississippi

Mary Boyce Deatherage, Florida State v Patricija Paukstyte[2], Georgia

West Host: USC

Kate Fakih[1], UCLA v Emily Deming, Georgia

Ziva Falkner, Pepperdine v Daniela Borruel, USC

Alexia Jacobs, Washington v Laura Cilekova, Cal

Vilma Krebs Hyllested, San Diego v Isabella Wong, UC-Santa Barbara

Conference Masters

MEN:

Quarterfinals:

Alberto Altur, North Alabama v Oscar Martinez[5], East Tennessee State

Niksa Arsic[3], Texas Tech v Lorenzo Balducci[5], Purdue

Alkesa Pisaric[5], Pepperdine v Bryan Hernandez Cortes[4], Mississippi State

Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar[5], Cornell v Luca Pow[2], Wake Forest

WOMEN:

Quarterfinals:

Linae Bajraliu[1], Georgia v Anastasiia Grechkina[5], Pepperdine

Sofia Fernandez Figueras, Florida International v Terezia Mikva, Utah State

Nikol Mircheva, UNLV v Kyoka Kubo[4], Kansas

Reese Miller, Michigan v Alexis Nguyen[2], North Carolina