Tien and Anisimova Win US Open Wild Card Challenge; Kessler and Zheng Claim USTA Pro Circuit Titles Last Week; Fearnley, Cash and Tracy Champions at Lincoln Challenger; Cary NC Challenger 100 Underway

The wild card announcements for the US Open are expected Tuesday, but several players could begin making their plans for New York after results this weekend.

Amanda Anisimova, 22, who lost in tonight's all-American WTA Masters 1000 final in Toronto to No. 3 seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, wasn't in the picture until the Washington DC 500, where she qualified and reached the quarterfinals to take the lead in the race. She has most certainly set a record for the highest number of points in any of these USTA wild races by making the final in Toronto. 

Tien will play in the US Open as a wild card for the third consecutive year, with the 18-year-old receiving the Boys 18s National Champion's wild card the previous two years. Tien, who won the Bloomfield Hills Challenger and reached the semifinals and quarterfinals in the Chicago and Lexington Challengers, was challenged by Nishesh Basavareddy, who had a chance to overtake Tien if he had won the Lincoln Challenger. The 19-year-old Stanford rising junior lost in the semifinals, but did finish second in the race.

The final standings:

MEN
1. Learner Tien -- 109
2. Nishesh Basavareddy -- 74
3. Mitchell Krueger -- 53
T4. Eliot Spizzirri -- 51
T4. Colton Smith -- 51

WOMEN
1. Amanda Anisimova -- 783
2. Alycia Parks -- 133
3. Robin Montgomery -- 110
4. Sophie Chang -- 103
5. Maria Mateas -- 75

On Sunday, Iva Jovic and Matt Forbes earned their wild cards by winning the 18s titles in San Diego and Kalamazoo. Here is the usopen.org article on their championships.

There were no singles titles above the J30 level for Americans in the past two weeks of the ITF Junior Circuit, but check out the seven USA J30 champions on the ITF results page.

All three of the pro events in the United States last week ended with current or former collegians as the champions. In the two USTA Pro Circuit tournaments, former Florida All-American McCartney Kessler and current Columbia rising junior Michael Zheng took the titles. 

Kessler, the No. 5 seed, ended a frustrating week of constant rain at the W100 in Landisville Pennsylvania by avenging her Roland Garros qualifying loss to Olivia Gadecki in the final.  Kessler defeated the unseeded Australian 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 and has cracked the WTA Top 100 in the live rankings. She is playing the W100 in Cary North Carolina this week, and again the No. 5 seed, is scheduled to take on a qualifier in the first round. I imagine she is extremely interested in the forthcoming US Open main draw wild card announcement. The 25-year-old from Georgia lost in the final round of qualifying in New York last year as a wild card.

Doubles were abandoned in Landisville due to all the rain.

Zheng, who has already been announced as the recipient of a men's qualifying wild card at the US Open by virtue of his runner-up finish at the NCAA singles championship, won his first pro title at the $25,000 tournament in Southaven Mississippi, where six Americans made the quarterfinals and all four semifinalist were US collegians. Unseeded, Zheng defeated recent Georgia Tech graduate Andres Martin, the No. 2 seed, 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals and recent Oklahoma State graduate and wild card Tyler Zink 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final. Zink had defeated Stanford rising sophomore Kyle Kang, also unseeded, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the semifinals.

Zheng also captured the doubles title, playing with TCU rising senior Lui Maxted of Great Britain. The unseeded pair defeated Martin and his teammate Keshav Chopra, also unseeded, 6-2, 6-4 in the final. 

Recent TCU graduate Jake Fearnley won his second ATP Challenger title since helping the Horned Frogs secure their first NCAA team title in May yesterday at the 75-level event in Lincoln Nebraska.

The unseeded 23-year-old from Great Britain defeated top seed Chris Eubanks in the second round and No. 5 seed Yunchaokete Bu of China in the semifinals. He faced unseeded Coleman Wong of Hong Kong in the final, and came away with a 6-4, 6-2 win, just his second straight-sets victory of the week. Fearnley is now up to 162 in the ATP live rankings.

2024 NCAA doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy of Ohio State won their first title as a team, beating top seeds Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Luke Johnson(Clemson) of Great Britain 7-6(6), 6-3 in the final. Recent graduates Cash and Tracy, who have already been awarded a US Open main draw wild card, will be competing at the Cincinnati Open this week as wild cards. 

The Cary ATP Challenger 100, which, like the Lincoln Challenger, is not a part of the USTA Pro Circuit, is underway in North Carolina, with the qualifying concluding Sunday. Emilio Nava, the only American to qualify, lost his first round match today.  

Wild cards were given to Cooper Williams, a rising sophomore at Duke, Tristan Boyer(Stanford) and North Carolina State rising senior Braden Shick.  Williams and Shick lost their first round matches, but Boyer picked up the best win by ranking of his career, beating No. 2 seed and ATP No. 77 Alexandre Muller of France 7-6(5), 6-4.  Nishesh Basavareddy received a special exemption into the main draw, as qualifying started the same day as he was playing the semifinals in Lincoln.

MSU Spartan Matt Forbes Claims USTA Boys 18s National Championship in Four Sets; Grumet Comes Back to Earn 16s Crown; Jovic Sweeps 18s National Titles in San Diego

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Kalamazoo MI--

When Matt Forbes decided to join the MSU Spartans last month, neither he, his teammates or his head coach could have imagined he'd be spending one of his first weeks in school playing in the main draw of the US Open.

But after a grueling 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory over No. 8 seed Jack Kennedy as the sun began dropping in the sky over Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium, Forbes earned the USTA 18s National championship, and with it, the coveted wild card into men's singles at the US Open.

Having his teammates there, including NCAA singles semifinalist Ozan Baris, who warmed him up before the match, helped Forbes, who was seeded 20th, ease his understandable nerves.

"It was amazing, they got me through this match mentally," Forbes said. "Especially Ozan, he's helped me a lot on court and off court. That was a big thing, going through the recruiting process. I'm good, but I have some maturing to do. And he went through the same thing, and at Michigan State, I'm not sure he had someone to look up to and talk to. He's helped me a lot, especially the mentality going into the match, telling me to just go for it, believe, don't think about anything, any wild card, just go for it."

Forbes didn't have to play his best in the opening set, with Kennedy making an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors, which he attributed to the 10-to-15 mph winds and the significance of the occasion. 

"The wind and the nerves were definitely there," said the 16-year-old New Yorker, who is coached by Greg Lumpkin and is also getting coaching support from 2014 Kalamazoo 18s champion Noah Rubin, both of whom were in attendance this week. "As the match wore on, the winds slowed down and the nerves settled, but it's the biggest match both of us have played and we both wanted it so much. But I think Matt did a great job today not showing the nerves too much."

Forbes was hoping to win in three sets, but was not expecting it, so he wasn't surprised when Kennedy raised his level and started to use his speed and variety to keep Forbes on defense in the third set.

"I was a bit giddy in the beginning and throughout the match until the end," said Forbes, an 18-year-old from Raleigh North Carolina. "I wanted it to end in three, but I knew it wasn't going to end in three, I knew he was going to get a set or two. He's one of the few juniors out there who won't have many mental lapses."

After Kennedy won the third set, there was a mandatory 10-minute break, and despite the halt of his momentum, he came out strong, breaking Forbes in the opening game and building a 4-2 lead. But Forbes saved two break points to keep Kennedy from serving for the set, then broke in the next game, with a down-the-line backhand winner that Kennedy wasn't convinced had caught the sideline.

Forbes held to take a 5-4 lead despite two double faults; Kennedy held from 0-30 down, then missed his chance to serve for the set a second time when he couldn't convert either break point with Forbes serving at 5-5, 15-40. Kennedy missed a routine second serve return, and Forbes scooped up a return and hit a short angle forehand winner that he promptly apologized for. He held and Kennedy again faced the challenge of holding to stay in the match. He double faulted to give Forbes his first match point, but saved that with a forehand that forced an error, and that scenario repeated on match point number two. Forbes saved three game points in the game, and when he got a third match point, he was able to convert it, with Kennedy hitting a backhand wide to end the three-hour and 20-minute match.

After he loudly congratulated himself while lying on the court near the baseline, Forbes met Kennedy at near the umpire chair, then went to receive hugs from his teammates coaches and his father.

"People have been doubting me, I even doubted myself, so it's nice to prove that I can win a big event like this," Forbes said.

Harry Jadun, the head coach at Michigan State, is delighted to have a Kalamazoo champion heading to East Lansing in a few days. 

"We came close two years ago with Ozan, who finished third, so it was fitting for him to be up in the stands, encouraging him," said Jadun, who received the commitment from Forbes on July 21st. "That's someone Matt looks up to, and I thought that was a special moment for our program, a passing of the torch moment; Matt's a big-time player obviously, Ozan was our first big-time player that put us on a map."

Before he joins Baris and the rest of the team in competition Forbes will take several days off to recover from his first best-of-five match in competition, but he already has selected his preferred opponent in the first round of the US Open later this month.

"I want to play Ben Shelton, that would be amazing," Forbes said of the 2021 18s finalist. "Who knows what will happen, but I just want to face him, he's a big role model of mine. I had a chance to talk to him on my (recruiting) visit to Florida two years ago and he's a great guy. It would be amazing to play against a guy with that high of energy."

Kennedy is also excited about his trip to Flushing Meadows, just 45 minutes from his home, for the men's qualifying.

"It's the best consolation prize I've ever gotten," said Kennedy, who will have two more years to compete in Kalamazoo. "I see myself back here and hopefully holding that trophy. I have the game, and I think it's good getting used to that three out of five match. We'll learn from it, and me and my coach will talk about what we got right and what we got wrong, and we'll be ready back here next year."

The eight-hour finals day started with the 16s final, and it too exceeded three hours, with top seed Gus Grumet coming from 4-0 down in the third set to beat No. 16 seed Arin Pallegar 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-6(2).

Grumet's erratic play in the opening set gave Pallegar two chances to serve for it, at 5-2 and 5-4, but Pallegar didn't earn a set point either time. As frustrating as that might have been, Pallegar regrouped to force the tiebreaker and at 4-all coaxed a couple of errors from Grumet to escape with the first set.

In the second set, Grumet broke Pallegar in the fifth and seventh games, managing to hold his own serve throughout, although often in deuce games.

After the 10-minute break, Pallegar won an eight-deuce game, saving two break points to hold, and when Grumet lost his next two service games to fall behind 4-0, a comeback seemed unlikely.  But after showing some exasperation with his own play and with several of the line calls that went against him, Grumet was able to get back on track mentally, immediately getting one of the breaks back.

"I was really frustrated and that mindset changed," said the 16-year-old from Mill Valley California, the fifth left-hander in the past six years to win the 16s title. "I was like, you know what? there's no point in being frustrated, you can still win this match. I had come from down from a double break in the first set, so I knew I could do it, if I just played more patient, but still went for my shots. I knew I could come back."

That confidence wasn't evident immediately, with Grumet needing to save a break point in the next game, but Pallegar responded with a hold to go up 5-2. Serving for the match at 5-3, Pallegar made every first serve, but that wasn't enough to hold off the newly energized Grumet, who began hitting winners with regularity, breaking at 30-40. Pallegar held to go up 6-5, but Grumet held to force the tiebreaker and ran away with that, going up 5-0 over a visibly discouraged Pallegar and earning the championship with a backhand error by Pallegar.

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The crowd of over 500 was appreciative of the effort of both players, but Grumet said he made a necessary adjustment to counteract their influence.

"For the first set, they were pretty noticeable, I knew there were a lot of people watching," said Grumet, who has now won 20 straight matches, while earning another gold ball to go with his first, from last month's Clay Courts. "But then that sort of faded away. Even closer to the end of the first set, I was focused on myself, looking up at my mom after a point, just being able to stay calm, or at least try to."

Grumet, who is coached by Steve Jackson at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco, often vacations with his family in New York, but this time the trip will be tennis related, having earned a main draw wild card into the US Open Junior Championships. 

"This is a dream come true, to play a junior grand slam," said Grumet, who attends regular school. "It's unbelievable. I didn't think I could achieve this, balance this with school, especially going to a really tough school."

Pallegar, who has two wins over Grumet and warmed up with him throughout the week, felt something change midway through that third set.

"He got settled in and started making more balls," said Pallegar, a 16-year-old from Granite Bay California who is coached by Luke Whalen at the JMG Academy in Sacramento. "I got a little tentative rather than going for my shots as well. I'm sad, but Gus played a good match, so I'll just take this as a good week and build on this for sure."

Pallegar will receive a wild card into the ITF J300 in College Park in two weeks and into the qualifying of a men's $15,000 tournament for making the final.

In the third place matches played Sunday morning, Keaton Hance defeated Rishvanth Krishna 6-2, 6-3 in the 16s, while Trevor Svajda beat Cooper Woestendick 6-4, 6-3 for the bronze ball in the 18s.

In the feed-in finals, Andrew Johnson defeated Ryan Cozad 6-1, 5-7, 10-3 to finish in fifth place in the 16s, and Krish Arora beat Jack Satterfield 6-2, 6-3 to finish fifth in the 18s. Arora will receive a wild card into the US Open Junior championships qualifying for taking fifth place.

Three sportsmanship awards are given out each year at Kalamazoo, with Stiles Brockett winning the Wes Richards Feed-in Award; Gus Gromet receiving the Bobby Kaplan award for 16s, and Jack Satterfield named the winner of the Allen B. Stowe award for 18s.

At the girls 18s Nationals in San Diego, Iva Jovic won both the singles and doubles titles and will receive main draw wild cards at the US Open for both women's events.

Jovic avenged her Indian Wells ITF J300 loss this spring to Valerie Glozman, a rising freshman at Stanford, with a 7-6(6), 6-3 victory in the singles final, then partnered with Tyra Grant to claim the doubles title 6-2, 6-0 over Victoria Osuigwe and Maya Iyengar.  Below is the update from today's action at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.

IVA JOVIC SWEEPS 18S SINGLES AND DOUBLES TITLES ON FINAL DAY OF
2024 USTA BILLIE JEAN KING GIRLS’ 16S AND 18S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Jovic Wins 7-6 (6) 6-3 Thriller over Valerie Glozman to Capture 18s Singles Title 
  

 SAN DIEGO – (August 11, 2024) – Playing spectacular tennis on the final day of the 2024 USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s and 18s National Championships, third-seeded Iva Jovic swept the 18s singles and doubles titles on a warm afternoon at Barnes Tennis Center.

The 16-year-old Jovic from Torrance, Calif., met fifth-seeded Valerie Glozman of Bellevue, Wash., in the singles final and quickly set the tone in the match as she broke Glozman in the opening game with a beautiful cross-court backhand winner on break point.
 
Jovic would go on to build a commanding 4-1 lead in the first set, but Glozman fought back to even the score at 4-4. Jovic went on to win the set in an entertaining tiebreaker that kept fans on the edge of their seats.
 
In the second-set, Jovic scored a critical service break in the seventh game to take a 5-3 lead and then served out the title match for a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory in two-hours and three-minutes.
 
Following the match, Jovic was presented with a USTA gold ball. She will also receive a wild card into the Women’s Singles Main Draw of the 2024 US Open in New York.   
 
“I’m so excited. I didn’t expect it to make this far in the tournament. To know that I’ll be playing in the U.S. Open is just incredible,” Jovic said.

“In the second set, I was just thinking about what a long week it has been, and I was getting really tired, so I had to use my energy and get really focused so that I didn’t have to a play another set,” Jovic added.

Approximately 90 minutes after winning the singles title, Jovic returned to Stadium Court and teamed with Tyra Caterina Grant of Miami Beach, Fla., to win the 18s doubles title with an impressive 6-2, 6-0 victory over seventh-seeded Victoria Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., and Maya Iyengar of Paradise Valley, Ariz.

In addition to being awarded USTA gold balls for winning the National Championship, Jovic and Grant, who captured the Australian and Wimbledon junior doubles titles earlier this year, received a wild card into the Women’s Doubles Main Draw of the upcoming US Open.

Current WTA touring professional Ashlyn Krueger was the last player to win the Girls' 18s singles and doubles titles in the same year. She accomplished the feat in 2021.

Earlier in the day, second-seeded Akasha Urhobo of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was presented the USTA bronze ball for winning the Third-Place singles match. Her opponent, top-seeded Clervie Ngounoue of Orlando, Fla., could not play due to injury.

In the Girls’’ 18s Consolation Singles Final, 16^th-seeded Kristina Penickova of Campbell, Calif., defeated 11^th-seeded Julieta Pareja of Carlsbad, Calif., 6-2, 6-2. (CORRECTION: PAREJA DEFEATED PENICKOVA)

Kennedy Upsets Svajda, Forbes Ousts Woestendick to Reach Kalamazoo 18s Final; NorCal Doubles Partners Grumet and Pallegar Advance to 16s Final; Razeghi and Filin Win 18s Doubles, Cozad and Alvarez Take 16s Title; Top Two Seeds Fall in G18s; US Boys Win ITF 14U Title

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Kalamazoo MI--

Not many people envisioned a Kalamazoo 18s final between No. 8 seed Jack Kennedy and No. 20 seed Matt Forbes. But after eliminating opponents with more impressive Kalamazoo resumes, they will compete for the USTA Boys 18s National Championship and a US Open main draw wild card Sunday at Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium.

The 16-year-old Kennedy, who lost in the quarterfinals last year in the 16s, took out 2023 finalist Trevor Svajda 6-4, 7-6(6) by showing maturity beyond his years in the final four games of the contest on show court 3.

Serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, Kennedy played a poor game, donating four unforced errors to keep the pressure off Svajda. After Svajda held for a 6-5 lead, Kennedy went down 0-40, but Svajda missed a simple volley at the net on the first set point, and Kennedy found his game, winners or forcing errors to send the second set to a tiebreaker.

"Down 0-40 I was feeling a little negative, but I was trying not to show it, especially to Trevor because you don't want to give him much hope," said the 16-year-old from New York. "But I felt the pressure was off a little bit, started to go for my shots and after getting it back to deuce played two really good points to get it back."

Svajda was down 5-1 in the tiebreaker, with one of the points a code violation for hitting a ball out of the stadium, which in USTA rules is assessed without the typical warning that comes first in ITF and ATP matches.

Yet when Svajda, an 18-year-old SMU rising sophomore, fell behind 6-3, Kennedy again fell victim to his nerves, losing four straight points to give Svajda a fourth set point.

"Obviously I was feeling really nervous in those situations, with a spot in the men's US Open on the line," said Kennedy, who is coached by Greg Lumpkin, and has been receiving additional support from 2014 Kalamazoo 18s champion Noah Rubin. "But after I double faulted at 7-all, the emotions just kind of drained out and I finished the match with three really good points. That's something we visualize in training, flushing everything bad out and just resetting."

While Kennedy had experienced notable success on US Hard Courts, making the Indian Wells ITF J300 final in Indian Wells and winning the ITF J300 in San Diego the following week, Forbes has been disappointed with his results this year on the ITF junior circuit.

"It's been a tough year," said the 18-year-old from North Carolina, who defeated No. 4 seed and 2023 16s champion Cooper Woestendick 6-2, 6-1. "I've only won like four ITF matches, I kid you not. One at Wimbledon, but gosh, I haven't won many matches this year, so to have this run, especially right before going to Michigan State, it's really nice."

While Forbes was happy with his play, and with his physical condition after a long, tough quarterfinal Friday with Nikita Filin, he acknowledged that Woestendick had an off day.

"It's unfortunate, I don't think Cooper played his best," said Forbes, who finished fifth in the 18s last year by winning the back draw. "But I'm really happy that I got it."

Forbes was able to put the stakes of today's match aside, with the winner of the semifinals guaranteed at least a qualifying wild card at the US Open.

"I felt like I was really loose," said Forbes, whose move to East Lansing is scheduled for August 20th. "Especially considering the cirumstances. I've been out here just playing to have fun, enjoy myself, because when I enjoy myself, I play my best tennis."

Regardless of the outcome in Sunday's final, Forbes is adamant that the money on the table at the US Open won't affect his decision to attend Michigan State.

"I don't play tennis for the money," said Forbes. "I want to get my education, so I'm going to college, no matter what. Now how long I stay in college, who knows? But I'm going to college and I think I'll enjoy it."

There won't be many surprises in the 16s final between top seed Gus Grumet and No. 16 seed Arin Pallegar, who were doubles partners this week and have been warming up together every day.

Grumet got his first true test from No. 6 seed Keaton Hance, but rebounded from a shaky first set for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.

"He was playing really well and I came out a little bit tight," said the 16-year-old left-hander from San Francisco. "When I went to the bathroom I just told myself I need to come out and hit the ball. You're down a set, you've got to hit through the ball and not care, win or loss, you're already behind."

Grumet said he's gotten a lot of forehand practice this week, as his opponents stayed away from his dangerous backhand.

"He was attacking my forehand, which is most of the time my weaker side," said Grumet, who has now won 19 straight matches, including the ITF J60 in Orlando, the USTA Clay Courts 16s and now six matches in Kalamazoo. "That's what everyone's been doing this tournament and my forehand's been really good, really reliable, and when I get a shot at a backhand, just go for it."

Pallegar ended the improbable run of unseeded Rishvanth Krishna, earning a 6-2, 6-3 victory to reach his first Level 1 final. 

In a previous loss to Krishna, back in 2021, Pallegar was not happy with his approach to the match. 

"When I lost to him, I wasn't going for my shots as much, didn't have a strategy in mind, I was just kind of playing," said the 16-year-old from Sacramento, who is competing in Kalamazoo for a third time this week.  "Today I came in with a good strategy, just decided to go for my shots, just believe in my shots, be positive and that will pull me through."

Pallegar has a win over Grumet early in 2023, and he remains confident that he can avoid the pressure that playing for a US Open Junior wild card could cause.

"I think I need to just block it out," said Pallegar, who trains at JMG Academy. "I need to focus on playing the match the right way and the results will come."

The doubles finals followed the singles semifinals on the cool and breezy afternoon in Southwest Michigan, with the first of the US Open wild cards won by Nikita Filin and Alexander Razeghi in the 18s final. The No. 4 seeds, who had last played together in January of 2023, reunited for this tournament and came away with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over No. 6 seeds Kaylan Bigun and Trevor Svajda.

Bigun served for the second set at 5-3, but after saving a break point at 30-40, he and Svajda dropped the deciding point, which was the turning point of the second set. Razeghi held for 5-all, Svajda droppd serve at 15 and Filin closed out the championship, despite going down 0-30 in his service game. But four points later, with Filin making four first serves, the pair of left-handers claimed the title.

"Winning this tournament is crazy and we were really happy, because we didn't win on our first match point," Razeghi said. "So at 40-30, I wasn't expecting to lose the point, but I knew it was going to be tough, we'd have to work for the point, so when we won it, I was so excited."

"My head was like blank," said Filin. "I couldn't even think the last point, it was just see ball, hit ball. I didn't have any thoughts, just make a first serve."

After such a long hiatus as a team, Filin and Razeghi needed time to find the form that had seen them win the ITF J300 in Lexington and make the Kalamazoo 18s quarterfinals in 2022, but they didn't drop a set en route to the title.

"The first few matches were tough, getting our groove back, but our last three matches are the best doubles we've ever played, in my opinion," Razeghi said. "We weren't going to win, how we were playing, so we talked at dinner about what we needed to do differently. We switched something up and it worked."

"It all came together at the end," Filin said.

As for their trip to New York, travel plans still need to be made, but they have no preference as to who they play in the first round.

"We haven't thought about that yet, but we'll take anyone," said the 18-year-old Filin, who starts his fall semester at Ohio State next week. "Yeah," said Razeghi, and 18-year-old from Houston Texas, who will start his collegiate career at Stanford next month. "It doesn't matter."

After claiming the Wimbledon boys doubles title last month, Razeghi felt even more prepared for this final in Kalamazoo.

"There's still some butterflies, but the experience makes it a little bit easier," Razeghi said. "These tournaments are the same, both really big, so it's crazy to have the opportunity to play in both finals and win both."

While Filin and Razeghi were rekindling a previous doubles relationship, 16s doubles champions Ryan Cozad and Yannik Alvarez continued their long and successful partnership with a Kalamazoo title. The top seeds defeated second seeds Adrien Abarca and Justin Anson 6-4, 6-2 to earn their place in the tournament's 81-year history.

As friends and training partners in Atlanta, Cozad and Alvarez are comfortable in every situation doubles play can offer, with frequent practice the key to their success.

"We have a connection and it's very good for our doubles," said Cozad, who defeated Alvarez in the feed-in semifinals Saturday morning. "We work on our formations, our chemistry."

"I think most juniors just practice singles and from the baseline," Alvarez said. "And practicing doubles helps with your singles game too, your volley and coming in, the touch. It's very important to practice doubles a lot."

Cozad and Alvarez, who, like Razeghi and Filin, didn't lose a set throughout the tournament, are excited to see their names on the board of champions displayed at Stowe Stadium. Naming ATP stars Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka, who won the 18s doubles in 2015, (Fritz also won the 16s doubles in 2013) and Ben Shelton, who won the 18s doubles in 2021, as players they are proud to join on the champions list, Cozad and Alvarez have modest plans for a celebration.

"Probably a Chidk-fil-A milk shake," said Cozad, who chose that as his celebration after the pair won the Orange Bowl 16s last December. "I'll probably just a get a Moe's burrito," Alvarez said.

The singles finals are scheduled for Sunday at 11:30 a.m. for the 16s, with the 18s, which is best-of-five sets, to follow.

The third place singles matches begin at 9:30 a.m., with feed-in finals at 10:30 a.m.

Links to live streaming and live scoring can be found at ustaboys.com.

The top two seeds lost in the semifinals of the USTA National 18s in San Diego, with No. 3 seed Iva Jovic defeating defending champion and No. 1 seed Clervie Ngounoue 6-1, 6-2 and No. 5 seed Valerie Glozman defeating No. 2 seed Akasha Urhobo 6-2, 6-4.

Coverage of Ishika Ashar's win over Nicole Weng in the 16s final today in San Diego can be found here, with comments from Ashar.

The champions were crowned in the 12s and 14s and are listed below:

G12s:

Singles:

Nadia Poznick[1] d. Isha Manchala[2] 6-3, 6-4

Doubles:

Ava Chua and Nadia Poznick d. Capri Butera and Alexandra Hu 2-6, 6-3, 6-3

B12s:

Ishaan Marla[15] d. Rex Kulman 6-0, 6-4

James Borchard and Nathan Lee[2] d. Daniel Gardality and David Bender 6-3, 6-4

B14s:

Singles:

Daniil Berezin[33] d. Tabb Tuck[7] 6-3, 6-1

Doubles:

Gadin Arun and Akshay Mirmira[1] d. Santiago Bisogno and Maddox Iliescu 7-5, 6-0

G14s:

Singles:

Armira Kockinis[17] d. Vibha Gogineni[17] 6-2, 6-2

Doubles:

Elle Groslimond and Vanessa Kruse[10] d. Enya Hamilton and Zoe Young[2] 5-7, 6-3, 6-3

G16s:

Ishika Ashar[17] d. Nicole Weng[9] 7-5, 6-2

Lyla Middleton and Jordyn Hazelitt d. Bella Payne and Sara Shumate[5] 0-6, 7-5, 6-2

The United States boys team won the ITF World Junior Tennis 14U team championship today in Prostejov Czech Republic. The top seeds defeated No. 4 seed Brazil 2-0 to claim the USA's first WJT boys title since 2019 and the seventh overall.

Jordan Lee defeated Henrique Pissetti Vialle 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2 singles, and Michael Antonius clinched the title in a nearly three-hour battle with Lives Eduardo De Carvalho Damazio 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-2.

The US girls, seeded No. 2, lost to No. 1 Czech Republic 2-1. Maggie Sohns put the US in front 1-0 with a 7-6(7), 6-2 win over Laura Chlumska at No. 2 singles, but Jana Kovackova defeated Welles Newman 6-0, 6-4 to tie it. In the deciding doubles, Kovackova and Katerina Zajickova defeated Sohns and Newman 6-4, 6-4 to take the title.

Woestendick Extends Kalamazoo Winning Streak to 12 to Reach 18s Semifinals; Unseeded Krishna Advances to 16s Semifinals; Finals Set for USTA 12s, 14s National Championships; USA Teams Advance to World Junior Tennis 14U Finals

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Kalamazoo MI--

Cooper Woestendick is just 17 years old, but he is already competing in Kalamazoo for the fourth time. It's a place that brings out the best in his tennis, and after winning the 16s title last year, he has now won a dozen straight matches here, reaching the USTA National Boys 18s Championships semifinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 14 seed Mitchell Lee at Stowe Stadium Friday.

"I've had really good success here in the past," said Woestendick, from Olathe Kansas. "I've made the quarters every year, at least, so obviously, I like the courts and I like the conditions."

Last year Woestendick was the No. 2 seed in the 16s, and handled the pressure of being a favorite by claiming all seven of his matches in straight sets; this year he is facing a different kind of pressure, with a US Open men's main draw wild card on the line.

"I think everyone is feeling nerves this year," said the No. 4 seed, currently No. 18 in the ITF world junior rankings. "I can see it more in the 18s than the 16s, because you're playing for a big wild card. We had a couple of big withdrawals; we had Learner(Tien), we had Rudy(Quan), Jagger(Leach) so that opened it up and then we had a ton of upsets. I feel like you can sense the tension. But I've done a good job of not feeling the pressure so far. Tomorrow's going to tough, tough for everyone, because you're playing to get in the US Open. But I've done a good job of mediating my level of play and my opponents level of play. I haven't gone three sets, my closest set has been 6-4, and I did that well last year, so I hope to have the same result."

In today's match against Lee, Woestendick needed five match points and saved three break points to close out the quarterfinal, played in cool and breezy conditions on show court 3.

"It was tough," said Woestendick, who thought he had won on his second match point, but Lee's shot was called good on the far sideline.

"I was up 40-15, and I thought it was wide, but I was probably just nervous and tense and wanted it to be out more than it was," Woestendick said. "There were also some close calls on aces I hit on serves, but that's what happens in this sport. I'm really thankful I got through that game and played through it. That was the most nervous I've been all tournament, so really happy I've gotten through."

Woestendick will face No. 20 seed Matthew Forbes, who defeated No. 18 seed Nikita Filin 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Filin, who had saved seven match points in the fifth round against Adhithya Ganesan Thursday, saved three more serving in the final game, but his inability to get a first serve in eventually cost him. Forbes, who won the 18s feed-in tournament last year, finishing in fifth place, had some local support for the Court 4 match as an incoming freshman at Michigan State.

In the top half, No. 1 seed Trevor Svajda overcame a cramp in his right leg with No. 5 Alex Razeghi serving at 2-3 in the second set. Svajda, who had won the 80-minute first set 7-6(2), stopped play and stood deep behind the court, where a trainer came and gave him advice but did not administer any treatment. Svajda managed to break Razeghi, and after several rallies was moving better, although his serve was not at its usual level. The 2023 18s finalist held for 5-2, then broke Razeghi to close out the two-hour and 17-minute match, giving him time to prepare for his 4:30 doubles semifinal.

Svajda will face No. 8 seed Jack Kennedy, who had the most straightforward quarterfinal win, in the 18s: a 6-3, 6-2 decision over No. 13 seed Cyrus Mahjoob.

In the 16s, the story continues to be unseeded Rishvanth Krishna, who defeated No. 8 seed Andrew Johnson 6-3, 7-5 to reach the semifinals.  The 15-year-old from Irvine California, who has already won six matches, five of them over seeded players, has been waiting for a breakthrough like the one he is having this week.

"All parts of my game are just coming together," said Krishna, whose braces and slender frame leave the impression that he's even younger than 15. "I'm working hard, improving every step of my game and it's finally coming together. It's been a long time and I'm finally relieved that I have my game where I think it should be at."

Krishna, who said he'd never gotten past the second round of a USTA Level 1, had beaten Johnson in the 10s, so wasn't inclined to be intimidated by Johnson's 14s resume, which includes the 14s Junior Orange Bowl, 14s Winter Nationals, 14s Easter Bowl and 16s Clay Courts final, all in the past eight months.

"I was just trying to stay patient, work out the points, wear him down," said Krishna, who has been working with his brother Rithvik, a rising senior who plays at UC-Irvine, crediting him with the success he's had this week. "Part of my game plan was to try to come in and close out more points, and that worked really well today."

Dreaming of a Kalamazoo semifinal was not realistic a week ago, but now a US Open junior wild card, which goes to the winner, is a possibility.

"I do think about it, but then I tell myself, take it one match at a time," said Krishna, who faces No. 16 seed Arin Pallegar in the semifinals. "I played him two years ago and won a really tight match."

Pallegar earned his semifinal spot with a 7-6(5), 3-0 retired win over No. 2 seed Gavin Goode. The first set took an astounding one-hour and 40-minutes to complete, with Goode having two serves up 5-4 in the tiebreaker, but Pallegar crushed a backhand winner for 5-all, then Goode missed a swing volley into the net and sent his return long. When Pallegar went up two breaks in the second set, Goode retired.

It wasn't the only retirement of the day in the 16s, with top seed Gus Grumet advancing when No. 33 seed Adrien Abarca retired trailing 5-0 in the first set. Grumet, who has lost only 16 games in his five victories, will play No. 6 seed Keaton Hance, who defeated No. 14 seed Shaan Patel 7-5, 6-2.

The 16s doubles final will be between the top two seeds: No. 1 Ryan Cozad and Yannik Alvarez and No. 2 seeds Justin Anson and Adrien Abarca. Both advanced in straight sets Friday evening, with Anson and Abarca defeating No. 3 seeds Sutton Severance and Lucas Smith 7-5, 6-2 and Cozad and Alvarez beating No. 12 seeds Noah Bayon and William Freshwater 6-3, 6-3.

Saturday's 18s doubles championship, with a US Open men's doubles wild card on the line, will feature No. 4 seeds Nikita Filin and Alex Razeghi against No. 6 seeds Kaylan Bigun and Trevor Svajda.

Filin and Razeghi defeated No. 5 seeds Ian Mayew and Kase Schinnerer 6-3, 6-3 to close out the evening's play, after Bigun and Svajda had defeated No. 14 seeds Meecah Bigun and Mitchell Lee 7-6(3), 6-3.

Saturday's schedule begins at Stowe Stadium at 9:30 a.m. with the 16s semifinals, followed by the 18s semifinals not before 11 a.m. The 16s doubles final is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., with the 18s doubles final to follow.

Links to live streaming and live scoring can be found at ustaboys.com.

Results from today's USTA Nationals in San Diego, Mobile and Georgia are below, with complete draws available by clicking on the headings:

G14s semifinals:

Vibha Gogineni[17] d. Enya Hamilton[1] 6-1, 7-5

Armira Kockinis[17] d. Tanvi Pandey[17] 6-0, 6-2

G12s semifinals:

Nadia Poznick[1] d. Anna Kapanadze[6] 6-1, 6-2

Isha Manchala[2] d. Sofija Dimitrievic[17] 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 

B14s semifinals:

Daniil Berezin[33] d. Gadin Arun[5] 6-2, 6-4

Tabb Tuck[7] d. Daniel Malacek[33] 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

B12s semifinals:

Ishaan Marla[15] d. Daniel Gardality[1] 6-0, 6-2

Rex Kulman[3] d. James Borchard[2] 6-2, 6-2

G16s semifinals:

Nicole Weng[9] d. Nancy Lee[16] 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3

Ishika Ashar[17] d. Lyla Middleton[14] 6-3, 7-5

G18s quarterfinals:

Clervie Ngounoue[1] d. Alexis Nguyen[15] 6-1, 6-1

Iva Jovic[3] d. Ariana Pursoo[17] 6-0, 6-2

Valerie Glozman[5] d. Tyra Grant[4] 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

Akasha Urhobo[2] d. Mia Slama[17] 6-2, 6-2 

The United States 14U teams at the ITF World Junior Tennis competition in Prostejov Czech Republic both reached Saturday's finals with wins today.

The top-seeded US boys defeated No. 2 seed Spain 2-0, with Jordan Lee beating Toni Escarda Pineiro 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Michael Antonius repeating his Les Petits As finals victory over Izan Banares Lasala 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. They will play No. 4 seed Brazil, who beat Argentina 2-1 in the other semifinal.

The second-seeded US girls defeated No. 3 seed Austria 2-1, with Welles Newman and Maggie Sohns winning the deciding doubles point 6-2, 6-3 over Kara Fronek and Ann Pircher.  Sohns had lost No. 2 singles to Lea Haider-Maurer 6-4, 7-5, but Newman defeated Pircher 7-5, 7-5 at No. 1 singles to send the match to the deciding doubles match.  They will face the top seeds from the Czech Republic, who beat Great Britain 3-0.  The No. 1 singles match in the final will be a rematch of last December's Junior Orange Bowl 14s final, with Jana Kovackova defeating Newman 6-3, 7-6(5).

Links to live scoring and live streaming can be found here.

Filin Saves Seven Match Points to Reach Kalamazoo 18s Quarterfinals; Upset Bug Bites in 16s; Defending Champions Fall in 18s Doubles Quarterfinals; USA Teams Reach Semifinals at ITF 14U Team Event

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Kalamazoo MI--

A day after ousting No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch, No. 18 seed Nikita Filin earned another dramatic victory, saving seven match points in his 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 win over No. 10 seed Adhithya Ganesan in Thursday's fifth round of the USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships.

Ganesan served for the match at 5-4, 40-15 in the second set, but Filin came up big on those two match points in the three-deuce game, then fell behind 6-2 in the tiebreaker, saving all four of those and another with Ganesan serving at 7-6.

"It was kind of lucky," said the 18-year-old from Illinois, who began his freshman year at Ohio State this summer. "The first two I saved, I hit a flush backhand return winner, and then some crazy angle, I don't even know, it didn't seem like I was playing, it was like it was someone else playing, but I'm extremely proud and happy."

After the 10-minute break between the second and third sets, Filin's momentum could have been disrupted, but he came out buoyed by his miraculous survival and earned an early break and was able to hold serve throughout, breaking for a second time to record another upset.

Filin again credited his past two months training with the current and former Ohio State players with his ability to maintain a physical presence throughout the three-hour and 18 minute match.

"Starting the third just felt like going back for 1 p.m. practice after finishing at 11:30," Filin said. "My legs felt fine, it was all execution, and I feel like I could play doubles right now if I needed to. I felt I had the game plan, was there physically and mentally, and he wasn't a little bit; after seven match points, it's tough. I felt he did a good job fighting, not giving it to me, I had to earn it."

In Friday's quarterfinals, Filin will face No. 20 seed Matthew Forbes, who defeated No. 33 seed Sanjeev Chundu 6-3, 6-0.

Top seed Trevor Svajda came through in two sets, beating No. 15 seed Saahith Jayaraman 6-3, 7-6(1) and will play No. 5 seed and 2021 boys 16s champion Alex Razeghi. Razeghi defeated No. 9 seed Alex Frusina 7-6(4), 6-4, avenging his loss to Frusina last September in the final of the ITF J300 in Houston, where both live.

Like Filin, No. 8 seed Jack Kennedy also had to come back from a set down, although he had a less dramatic second set, beating unseeded Andrew Li 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. Kennedy will take on Georgia rising sophomore Cyrus Mahjoob, who advanced when No. 24 seed Noah Johnston retired trailing 7-5, 3-0.

No. 14 seed Mitchell Lee, who ended the run of unseeded John Cross 6-0, 6-4, will play No. 4 seed and last year's 16s champion Cooper Woestendick, who beat No. 33 seed Nicholas Patrick 6-4, 6-4. 

After seven of the top eight seeds made the round of 16 in the 16s division, the upsets surfaced Thursday, with the No. 3, 4, and 5 seeds falling.

Top seed Gus Grumet continued to cruise, beating No. 22 seed David Wu 6-2, 6-1, and will face No. 33 seed Adrien Abarca, who defeated No. 19 seed Gregory Bernadsky 7-6(5), 7-6(1). 

No. 2 seed Gavin Goode defeated No. 12 seed Justin Anson 6-3, 6-2. Goode will play No. 16 seed Arin Pallegar in Friday's quarterfinals after Pallegar came from 6-2, 4-2 down to defeat No. 5 seed Ryan Cozad 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

"I told myself to keep staying physical, keep sticking with the strategy," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the JMG Academy in Sacramento. "Ryan's a good player, so it was really hard, but believing in myself was key."

Pallegar, who turns 17 next month, has been competing in UTR Pro Tennis Tour events and in the 18s, but decided to play in the 16s for the US Open junior wild card that goes to the winner, and the chance to play the top players in the age group. 

The only unseeded player remaining in either the 16s or 18s quarterfinals is Rishvanth Krishna, who defeated No. 4 seed Yannik Alvarez 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

"I didn't expect to be here at all," said the 15-year-old from Irvine California. "I was just hoping to string a few rounds together and I'm just happy to have gotten these wins."

Krishna said his consistency and positive attitude have been responsible for his success this week, but noted another shot helped him earn his fourth consecutive win over a seed.

"I was really happy to serve it out, but I was serving very well," said Krishna, who talked to his brother on the phone during the 10-minute break. "He was watching on the live stream and he told me to just hit deeper, to play my game and you've got this."

Krishna will face another Southern Californian in No. 8 seed Andrew Johnson, who defeated No. 33 seed Gabriel Jessup 6-2, 6-3. 

"He's my friend, but I haven't played him since the 10s," Krishna said. "He's a different player, so it'll be tough."

No. 14 seed Shaan Patel wasn't comfortable when he began the tournament, but he's won every match in straight sets, including today's 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 3 seed Jack Secord.

"I was very, very nervous my first match, but coming and playing against such a high seed, I had no nerves," said the 16-year-old from St. Louis, who returned to competition recently after breaking his hand in a non-tennis injury. "I haven't played this good in a while, but usually when I'm playing good, it's dictating with the forehand and backhand, every now and then change and take a risk. When I was injured, I worked on my chip a lot too, and was mixing in the drop shot a little bit. I'm grinding, but looking to be aggressive at the same time."

Patel's opponent in the quarterfinals is No. 6 seed Keaton Hance, who earned his fourth straight-sets victory with a 6-2, 6-1 decision over No. 9 seed James Quattro.  

The doubles quarterfinals produced the biggest upsets in the 18s division today, with the top two seeds eliminated.

Defending champions and No. 1 seeds Alex Frusina and Adhithya Ganesan were beaten by No. 14 seeds Meecah Bigun and Mitchell Lee 7-6(1), 7-6(8), with Bigun and Lee saving three set points in the tiebreaker. Lee, who won the 16s doubles title in 2022, and Bigun, who reached the quarterfinals with his brother Kaylan last year, will play Kaylan and Trevor Svajda in the semifinals. The No. 6 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Benjamin Willwerth and Noah Johnston 6-4, 6-3.

No. 2 seeds and Australian Open doubles champions Max Exsted and Cooper Woestendick were beaten by No. 5 seeds Kase Schinnerer and Ian Mayew 6-3, 6-3. Mayew and Schinnerer will play No. 4 seeds Nikita Filin and Alex Razeghi, who beat unseeded Jake Kennedy and Drew Hedgecoe 6-4, 6-4, coming from 4-1 down in the second set.

The 16s doubles semifinals will feature three of the four top seeds. No. 1 seeds Ryan Cozad and Yannik Alvarez defeated unseeded Shaan Patel and Joaquin Blanco 7-5, 6-1 and will face No. 12 seeds Noah Bayon and William Freshwater, who beat unseeded Jack Dermenjyan and Noble Renfrow 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.

In the bottom half, No. 2 seeds Adrien Abarca and Justin Anson will play No. 3 seeds Sutton Severance and Lucas Smith, with Abarca and Anson defeating unseeded Sean Grosman and Shaan Majeed 7-6(6), 7-5 and Severance and Smith beating No. 7 seeds Gus Grumet and Arin Pallengar 3-6, 6-4, 12-10.

Full third sets will be played in doubles beginning with Friday's semifinals. All singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals will have lines called by officials, not players, as has been the case in the first five rounds of singles and four rounds of doubles.

Main draw matches begin 9 a.m. at Stowe with three 16s quarterfinals, with 18s quarterfinals not before 10:30. The doubles semifinals are scheduled for 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at Stowe.

For links to live scoring and live streaming, see the ustaboys.com website.

The semifinals are set for the other USTA Nationals, with the exception of the Girls 18s in San Diego, which will play their quarterfinals on Friday. Links to the draws can be found by clicking on the headings below.

Girls 12s semifinals:

Nadia Poznick[1] v Anna Kapanadze[6]

Sofija Dimitrievic[17] v Isha Manchala[2]

Boys 12s semifinals:

Daniel Gardality[1] v Ishaan Marla[15]

Rex Kulman[3] v James Borchard[2]

Girls 14s semifinals:

Enya Hamilton[1] v. Vibha Gogineni[17]

Armira Kockinis[17] v Tanvi Pandey[17]

Boys 14s semifinals:

Gadin Arun[5] v Daniil Berezin[33]

Daniel Malacek[33] v Tabb Tuck

G16s semifinals:

Nicole Weng[9] v Nancy Lee[16]

Ishika Ashar[17] v Lyla Middleton[14]

G18s quarterfinals:

Clervie Ngounoue[1] v Alexis Nguyen[15]

Iva Jovic[3] v Ariana Pursoo[17]

Valerie Glozman[5] v Tyra Grant[4]

Mia Slama[17] v Akasha Urhobo[2]

Both of the USA 14U teams at the ITF World Junior Tennis will compete in the semifinals Friday, with the top-seeded boys defeating Great Britain[3] 2-0 and the No. 2 seeded girls beating Japan[6] 2-1. The boys play Spain[2] in the semifinals, with the girls taking on Austria[3].

Live streaming and live scoring are available here.

Blanch, Bigun and Exsted Ousted in Kalamazoo 18s Fourth Round Action; Top Four Seeds Advance in 16s Singles; USA Teams Reach Quarterfinals of ITF World Junior Tennis 14U Team Event

©Colette Lewis--
Kalamazoo MI--

The rain exited Southwest Michigan on Wednesday, leaving upsets to take center stage at the USTA National 18s and 16s National Championships at Stowe Stadium. 

Sunny skies, low humidity and temperatures in the 60s greeted the 16s players competing in the morning's fourth round, and that draw went mostly to form, with top seed Gus Grumet, No. 2 seed Gavin Goode, No. 3 seed Jack Secord and No. 4 seed Yannik Alvarez all advancing to Thursday's round of 16 in straight sets.

But one top 8 seed was eliminated in the 16s division, with No. 19 seed Gregory Bernadsky getting past No. 7 seed Zavier Augustin 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 in three hours and 17 minutes.

After coming back from 5-2 down in the second set, only to lose it, the 16-year-old from Mason Ohio was able to hold his nerve when he had a 5-2 lead in the third set.

"I really had to stay focused and not let go," said Bernadsky, who struggled with injuries year, and had a cast on his left wrist for two months in the spring. "He held for 5-3 and my quad started cramping up when I was serving up 40-0, so I lost that point, and I thought I had to go for a big serve and a big forehand, and that's exactly what I did. I made a a first serve, plus-one of the forehand and an easy putaway."

Bernadsky was playing with a brace on both ankles, which was due to two to sprains just a couple of weeks before Kalamazoo.

"It kind of discouraged me, and I didn't know if I'd withdraw from the tournament," said Bernadsky, who lives five minutes from the site of the Cincinnati Open. "I came in here with like honestly, two days of training, and I knew I would ramp up as the tournament went on, but this feels great."

Bernadsky will face No. 33 seed Adrien Abarca, who beat No. 28 seed Mason Taube 6-3, 6-3.

Unseeded John Cross came into his match with No. 6 seed Maxwell Exsted full of confidence after taking out No. 19 seed Evan Burnett 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the third round two days ago at Western Michigan. But even he was marveling at his ability to adjust to the pressure of playing on Stowe Stadium's Court 3 against a top seed.

"It's the first time I've every played here," said Cross, who beat Exsted 6-3, 6-3. "Last year I played at Western and then a bunch indoors. Just being here, with the atmosphere, the crowd, every player around me is the top of the top. It's just an honor to be here, and I feel like I fit in. That motivated me and helped me play the best that I could have played."

Cross, an 18-year-old from Newport Beach California, said the form he showed in his win over Burnett continued today against Exsted, ranked No. 29 among ITF juniors. 

"I just felt super clean, felt like I was hitting the ball, playing my A game against Evan," said Cross, who begins his collegiate career at Cal Poly in a few weeks. "My grandpa, who was a very good player, was telling me if I play like that I can fit in with anyone here. So I just carried that motivation and positivity and went out and was able to replicate that."

For all his confidence and success, Cross admitted he had not anticipated this kind of run this week.

"I was coming here looking to win maybe my first two matches, do some damage in the back draw," Cross said. "This is not what where I thought I would be. But I've been putting in the work in practice, so I'm surprised, but not super surprised, because I believe in myself and I've definitely put in the work and have been playing well in practice, so I was ready for a breakout tournament."

Cross will face No. 14 seed Mitchell Lee, who won the longest match of the tournament--three hours and 46 minutes--over No. 28 seed Dominick Mosejczuk 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5).

Leading 4-0 in the final set tiebreaker, Lee lost the next 5 points, but with the match on his racquet, Mosejczuk went up for a first serve and came down cramping. Lee won the point, and Mosejczuk was in obvious distress; after missing his first serve again, he ended up netting a forehand after a lengthy rally, giving Lee a match point. When Mosejczuk's backhand sailed long, Lee celebrated his survival, then immediately went to Mosejczuk's side of the court to offer what aid he could.

Both Mosejczuk and Lee had fourth round doubles matches scheduled for the evening, and they were both still playing those matches as of 9:45 p.m.

The next upset in the 18s came on Court 2, with No. 18 seed Nikita Filin ousting No. 2 seed and 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion Darwin Blanch 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Filin served for the first set at 5-3 and was broken, but immediately broke back to take the set. He did not expect anything other than what Blanch displayed: an elevation of his game.

"I knew Darwin would play some unbelievable shots, so I just had to prepare for that," said the 18-year-old from Illinois, whose pace and depth were giving Blanch difficulty throughout the opening set. "I knew it was going to be a battle going into it. I knew he would step up his level. But I knew if I could hold serve in the third, I would get some more chances."

Up a break in the third, Filin still had to serve it out, and he admitted he had luck on his side, when Blanch played a miraculous defensive shot that should have won him the 30-15 point.

"I was trying to go inside out and it was a total shank," whose shot caught the sideline and left Blanch shaking his head in disbelief. "It was so lucky. After that point, I thought maybe it is meant to be. Maybe it is my time." 

Filin double faulted on the first match point, but hit a big first serve on the second to secure the victory.

Blanch's power is formidable, but with Filin starting at Ohio State in June, and training this summer with the team, it's nothing he hasn't seen in practice the past several months.

"I took a summer class, so I'm able to practice with the team," Filin said. "Everyone's there. JJ(Tracy), Robert(Cash) are still there, Cannon(Kingsley) is there between tournaments, Wolf was with us the first of month, June, so a lot of good hits. So I saw that level every day in practice, today wasn't anything new."

Filin will play No. 10 seed Adhithya Ganesan, one of three rising college sophomores in the round of 16, on Thursday. Ganesan defeated Stiles Brockett(29) 6-4, 6-2.

Following Exsted and Cross on Court 2 were No. 3 seed and Roland Garros boys champion Kaylan Bigun and No. 24 seed Noah Johnston, and again the favorite faced an opponent playing at the top of his game, with Johnston holding firm to claim a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) victory.

Bigun led 4-2 in both tiebreakers, but it was Johnston who simply refused to miss in the final few points of those sets.

"It's hard to ignore the score in a tiebreaker, but it's never over," said the 16-year-old from South Carolina, who was a semifinalist in the 16s last year. "They go up and they go down, as with everything in life, but you have to fight for it, if you want the match, and that's what I tried to do."

Johnston, who, like Bigun, is left-handed, is comfortable at the net and confident in his overheads and he was prepared to make Bigun uncomfortable.

"I gave him a game he did not like," said Johnston. "That was my goal. He could have played better, especially in the big moments, but he's going to bounce back. I believe in him. He's a great kid and a great player."

Johnston said he is not one to look ahead in the draw, and wasn't aware that Bigun was awaiting him in the fourth round until yesterday.  He will face Georgia rising sophomore Cyrus Mahjoob, the No. 13 seed, who saved a match point in his 2-6, 7-6(6). 6-2 win over No 33 seed Alex Feies.

Top seed Trevor Svajda and No. 4 seed Cooper Woestendick avoided the upset bug infecting the three Stowe show courts, with Svajda beating No. 25 seed Kase Schinnerer 6-3, 6-3 and Woestendick defeating No. 23 seed Ian Bracks 6-0, 6-4.

After all the chaos in singles, the fourth round of 18 doubles went to form, with the top four seeds all advancing in to Thursday's quarterfinals in straight sets. 

Defending champions and top seeds Alex Frusina and Ganesan defeated the unseeded team of Blake Anderson and Elliot Wasserman 7-6(5), 6-4; Australian Open boys doubles champions Exsted and Woestendick, the No. 2 seeds, defeated No. 16 seeds Jack Kennedy and Jordan Resnik 6-4, 6-2; No. 3 seeds Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth beat the unseeded team of Nicolas Iantosca and Drew Fishback 6-3, 6-2 and No. 4 seeds Filin and Alexander Razeghi advanced when the unseeded team of Brennon Chow and Ian Miller retired trailing 6-3, 1-0.

Round of 16 matches in both age divisions will begin at 9 a.m. and extend through the afternoon, with all main draw matches at Stowe Stadium. The quarterfinals in both 16s and 18s doubles will be played at Stowe Stadium beginning at 5 p.m.

All matches will be streamed, with links to the streams and live scoring at ustaboys.com.

Both teams from the United States have advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITF World Junior Tennis 14U team championships in Prostejov Czech Republic. The top-seeded boys team of Jordan Lee, Michael Antonius and Teodor Davidov finished at the top of their group, winning all nine of their matches against three opponents. The girls, seeded No. 2, lost to No. 8 Ukraine in round robin play, but finished at the top of the group due to tiebreakers, with three teams (Ukraine and Slovakia) all going 2-1. Raya Kotseva, Welles Newman and Maggie Sohns are representing the United States.

The boys will face No. 3 seed Great Britain in the quarterfinals, because Great Britain finished second in their group to No. 5 seed Japan. 

The girls will face No. 6 seed Japan, who finished second in their group to top seed Czech Republic. 

Links to live streaming and live scoring are available here.