Mosejczuk's Local Knowledge Leads to Biggest Win at US Open Junior Championships; Jovic, Grant and Forbes Extend Stay in New York; Navarro Makes Second Straight Slam Quarterfinal, Fritz and Tiafoe Reach Quarterfinals

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Flushing Meadows NY--

When he first came to the US Open as a child, Dominick Mosejczuk was more interested in getting some relief from the heat than watching tennis, finding the enticement of an indoor tennis game more appealing than pros playing tennis. Trying one of the USTA Smash Zone games, he collected prize after prize, leading to an invitation to lessons at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. 

More than a dozen years later, Mosejczuk earned an even bigger prize with his first junior slam victory, beating No. 7 seed Hayden Jones of Australia 6-3, 7-6(8) in the first round of the US Open Junior Championships.

"I came to the US Open for the first time when I was three years old, and not really liking watching matches, it's so hot, I wanted to go inside in the AC," said the 17-year-old wild card from Queens. "I saw there was a court in there (the American Express Pavilion) I was oh, I want to go play."

"So the game they had, they had prizes all around the court and if you hit the prize you get to keep it," said Mosejczuk, recalling the shirts and towels on offer. "I think it was beginner's luck, because I hit 10 prizes."

Three weeks later, Mosejczuk began lessons at the facility and trained there for more than five years, so when he stepped onto court 4 on a cloudy and humid afternoon for his junior slam debut, he was comfortable.

"I've trained on every single court here," said Mosejczuk, who returned to the National Tennis Center to work with USTA Player Development after several years at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy. "That's why when I was warming up, I felt like it was a hitting session. But then the nerves came in."

Mosejczuk said he fought nerves throughout the match, but his serve saved him as the contest got more and more physical.

"Usually it's my serve and forehand, but I was little bit shaky on the forehand today," said Mosejczuk, who trained for most of the past 12 months at the BTT Academy in Spain and also trains at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. "I felt my serve was really comfortable because my opponent can't affect me in any way. I was really confident using that in the breaker."

Mosejczuk had suffered a mentally and physically painful loss in the fourth round of Kalamazoo last month, losing to Mitchell Lee  7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5) in just under four hours.

"It was a difficult match, cramping at 5-4 in the third set breaker," said Mosejczuk. "It definitely hurt, I think it's still in the back of my head, so it's been really motivating for me. You learn most from when you lose and that one definitely hurt; it wakes me up in the morning, but as much as I hate it, I love it too."

Given that loss, avoiding a third set against Jones was the goal, and Mosejczuk had to save four break points serving at 5-all to give himself that chance.

Jones had the set on his racquet leading 5-4 and serving in the tiebreaker, but he lost both points. Jones saved the first set point with a good forehand, and the second when Mosejczuk missed a backhand volley. But a good serve at 8-all gave Mosejczuk a third match point and he converted it by somehow running down Jones' excellent backhand drop volley to extend the point.

"I don't know how I got there and dug it out," Mosejczuk said. "Definitely a really good win for me, so I'm super excited. Biggest win of my life, for sure."

That's quite a statement coming from the 2023 Orange Bowl 16s champion, but the combination of his win over an ITF Top 10 junior and his connection to the National Tennis Center certainly played a role in that.

Jones was the only Top 8 seed to lose Sunday, but many of the top boys and girls contenders were extended as they began their quest for a junior slam.

Wimbledon boys champion Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, the top seed this week, withstood a determined challenge from 16-year-old qualifier Keaton Hance and several annoyingly minor rain delays to come up with a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory.  Emerson Jones of Australia, a two-time slam finalist this year, was in a similar battle, including the rain disruptions, at the other end of the NTC against qualifier Maya Iyengar before emerging with a 7-5, 7-6(5) win.

Two of the other favorites in the girls draw, 16-year-olds Tyra Grant, seeded No. 2, and Iva Jovic,  seeded No. 3, advanced to the second round in contrasting fashion. Grant needed just 47 minutes to dispatch Mayu Crossley of Japan 6-0, 6-0, after Crossley had taken Grant to three sets at Wimbledon in July. 

"I knew what I had to do," said Grant, who lost in the first round of women's qualifying, but has been in New York ever since, practicing with pros. "I came with a pretty straightforward idea, just be aggressive, and it worked."

Grant, who played in the main draw of women's doubles with Jovic and has advanced to Saturday's quarterfinals of mixed doubles with Aleks Kovacevic, has been keeping busy on the practice court when not playing matches.

"Practicing with the pros, I'm lucky to know a lot of the pros," Grant said. "I hit with (Luidmila) Samsonova, hit with (Alycia) Parks, a bunch of them. Just being used to hitting with them, feeling that kind of ball, that's helped me so much."

Jovic had a straightforward first set, but trailed qualifier Gaia Maduzzi of Italy 5-2 in the second set before coming back for a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory.

Even after beating WTA No. 42 Magda Linette in straight sets last week in the first round, the 2024 San Diego 18s National champion is expecting similar challenges this week in the junior portion of the tournament.

"All of these girls, pretty much the top 10 seeds in the juniors, are all so good," Jovic said. "I think that any one of us, on any given day, can beat Top 50 pros. Just looking back at some of the matches, when Emerson(Jones) beat me at Wimbledon(in the semifinals), the level was just so high, so I'm expecting big battles here in the juniors."

Kalamazoo 18s National champion Matthew Forbes had a similar battle with a qualifier, beating Mika Petkovic of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, less than a week after holding his own against ATP No. 57 Roman Safiullin with his men's main draw wild card.

"It's more physical in the pros," said Forbes, who has started classes at Michigan State, but is currently taking just one class that isn't online. "I played the other day and I thought my body was going to die. I played three sets today, and I feel great, honestly. There is a little bit more expectation--I won Kalamazoo, I had a set point (against Safiullin)--but I have to get used to playing under pressure at some point."

For all the competitive matches, only four seeds lost, and just one in the girls draw, with wild card Annika Penickova defeating No. 12 seed Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile 6-2, 6-3.

In addition to Jones, two other boys seeds lost in the opening round, with Nathan Trouve of France defeating No. 15 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 7-6(5), 7-5 and Noah Johnston closing out the night with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 16 seed Marko Maksimovic of Serbia.

A combination of first and second round singles will be played Monday, as well as doubles.

The girls doubles draw does not feature Jovic and Grant, who are not playing this junior slam, due to their busy week leading up to the junior championships and Grant's mixed doubles success. The top seeds in the girls draw are Iva Ivanova of Bulgaria and Jeline Vandromme of Belgium.  The top seeds in the boys doubles draw are Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic and Rei Sakamoto of Japan.

Sunday's first round results of American juniors:

Emerson Jones[1](AUS) d. Maya Iyengar[Q] 7-5, 7-6(5) 

Annika Penickova[WC] s. Antonia Vergara Rivera[12](CHI) 6-2, 6-3

Rositsa Dencheva[10](BUL) d. Monika Ekstrand[Q] 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(6) 

Wakana Sonobe[7](JPN) d. Kate Fakih[Q] 6-2, 6-2

Christasha McNeil[Q] v Luna Maria Cinalli(ARG) 7-5, 7-6(8)

Kanon Sawashirov[Q](JPN) d. Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-2 

Ishika Ashar[WC] d. Yelyzaveta Kotliar(UKR) 6-4, 6-3

Kaitlyn Rolls[13] d. Olivia Carneiro(BRA) 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-3

Kristina Penickova[9] d. Elizara Yaneva(BUL) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

Teodora Kostovic[4](SRB) d. Julieta Pareja[WC] 6-4, 4-6, 6-0

Tyra Grant[2] d. Mayu Crossley(JPN) 6-0, 6-0     47 min

Iva Jovic[3] d. Gaia Maduzzi[Q](ITA) 6-2, 7-6(2)

Akasha Urhobo[16] d. Laima Vladson(LTU) 6-1, 6-1  (52 min)

Alanis Hamilton[WC] d. Lucia Urbanova(CZE) 7-6(4), 6-3

Valerie Glozman[WC] d. Yuliya Perapekhina(BLR) 6-3, 6-0

Julie Pastikova(CZE) d. Aspen Schuman 4-6, 6-1, 6-0

Malak El Allami(MAR) d. Capucine Jauffret[Q] 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Dominick Mosejczeuk[WC] d. Hayden Jones[7](AUS) 6-3, 7-6(8)

Rafael Jodar[12](ESP) d. Ian Mayew 6-2, 7-6(3) 

Alessandro Battiston[SE] d. Gus Grumet[WC] 6-3, 6-4 

Cooper Woestendick[13] d. William Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE) 6-0, 6-2

Kase Schinnerer[WC] d. Reda Bennani(MAR) 6-3, 3-0 ret.

Matthew Forbes[WC] d. Mika Petkovic[Q](GER) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

Rudy Quan[WC] d. Viktor Frydrych(GBR) 7-5, 6-1

Lorenzo Angelini[SE](ITA) d. Matisse Farzam[WC] 6-3, 6-2

Kaylan Bigun[2] d. Andreas Timini(CYP) 6-4, 6-2

Atakan Karahan(TUR) d. Maxwell Exsted 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(6)

Nicolai Budkov Kjaer[1](NOR) d. Keaton Hance[Q] 7-6(5), 7-5

Henry Bernet(SUI) d. Nikita Filin[WC] 7-6(3), 6-4

Noah Johnston d. Marko Maksimovic[16](SRB) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Max Schoenhaus[14](GER) d. Stiles Brockett[LL] 6-3, 6-2

Monday's first round matches featuring Americans:

Alexander Razeghi v Maxim Mrva[6](CZE)

Jack Kennedy v Mees Rottgering[4](NED)

Benjamin Willwerth[WC] v Theo Papamalamis[8](FRA)

Jagger Leach[9] v Denis Petak[Q](CZE)

Jack Secord[Q] v Oskari Paldanius(FIN)

Anita Tu[WC] v Noemi Basiletti(ITA)

Shannon Lam[WC] v Tereza Krejcova(CZE)

Tuesday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Dominick Mosejczuk[WC] v Petr Brunclik(CZE)

Kaylan Bigun[2] v Karim Bennani[LL](MAR)

Cooper Woestendick[13] v Timofei Derepasko(RUS)

Matthew Forbes[WC] v Nathan Trouve(FRA)

Rudy Quan[WC] v Rafael Jodar[12](ESP)

Ishika Ashar[WC] v Rositsa Dencheva[10](BUL)

Akasha Urhobo[16] v Eliska Tichackova(CZE)

Kristina Penickova[9] v Joy De Zeeuw(NED)

Annika Penickova[WC] v Kanon Sawashiro(JPN)

Kaitlyn Rolls[13] v Mika Stojasavljevic(GBR)

2021 NCAA singles champion Emma Navarro(Virginia) reached her second straight slam quarterfinal today, beating defending champion Coco Gauff 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. According to John Parsons of No-ad No-Problem, it is the first time an NCAA women's singles champion has reached the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Sunday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Emma Navarro[13] d. Coco Gauff[3] 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Frances Tiafoe[20] d. Alexei Popyrin[28](AUS) 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3

Alexander Zverev[4](GER) d. Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

Taylor Fritz[12] d. Casper Ruud[8](NOR) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2

Monday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Jessica Pegula[6] v Diana Shnaider[18](RUS)

Tommy Paul[14] v Jannik Sinner[1](ITA)

Top Seeds Jones and Budkov Kjaer Plus 31 Americans in Action Sunday as US Open Junior Championships Begin; Grant and Kovacevic Advance to Mixed Doubles Quarterfinals; Basiletti and Mrva Claim Repentigny ITF J300 Titles

Sunday will be a busy day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with 40 first round US Open Junior Championships matches on the schedule, 31 of them featuring Americans.

Top seeds Emerson Jones of Australia and Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway are both in action against American qualifiers, with Jones playing Maya Iyengar and Budkov Kjaer facing Keaton Hance.

The two boys who withdrew and were replaced by lucky losers were Trevor Svajda, who has an injury, and Australian Open
finalist Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic, the ITF No. 5. Great Britain's Mingge Xu, who retired in Canada with a 5-2 lead in the first set of her semifinal match, is in the draw.

US Open junior seeds:

GIRLS:
1. Emerson Jones(AUS)
2. Tyra Grant(USA)
3. Iva Jovic[WC](USA)
4. Teodora Kostovic(SRB)
5. Jeline Vandromme(BEL)
6. Hannah Klugman(GBR)
7. Wakana Sonobe(JPN)
8. Mingge Xu(GBR)
9. Kristina Penickova(USA)
10. Rositsa Dencheva(BUL)
11. Iva Ivanova(BUL)
12. Antonia Vergara Rivera(CHI)
13. Kaitlyn Rolls(USA)
14. Sonja Zhiyenbayeva(KAZ)
15. Vendula Valdmannova(CZE)
16. Akasha Urhobo(USA)

Urhobo is seeded via her WTA ranking, which is 313.

BOYS:
1. Nicolai Budov Kjaer(NOR)
2. Kaylan Bigun(USA)
3. Rei Sakamotoa(JPN)
4. Mees Rottgering(NED)
5. Luca Preda(ROU)
6. Maxim Mrva(CZE)
7. Hayden Jones(AUS)
8. Theo Papamalamis(FRA)
9. Jagger Leach(USA)
10. Amir Omakhanov(KAZ)
11. Jangjun Kim(KOR)
12. Rafael Jodar(ESP)
13. Cooper Woestendick(USA)
14. Max Schoenhaus(GER)
15. Miguel Tobon(COL)
16. Marko Maksimovic(SRB)

Sunday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Maya Iyengar[Q] v Emerson Jones[1](AUS) 

Annika Penickova[WC] v Antonia Vergara Rivera[12](CHI)

Monika Ekstrand[Q] v Rositsa Dencheva[10](BUL) 

Kate Fakih[Q] v Wakana Sonobe[7](JPN) 

Christasha McNeil[Q] v Luna Maria Cinalli(ARG) 

Thea Frodin v Kanon Sawashirov[Q](JPN) 

Ishika Ashar[WC] v Yelyzaveta Kotliar(UKR) 

Kaitlyn Rolls[13] v Olivia Carneiro(BRA) 

Kristina Penickova[9] v Elizara Yaneva(BUL) 

Julieta Pareja[WC] v Teodora Kostovic[4](SRB) 

Tyra Grant[2] v Mayu Crossley(JPN) 

Iva Jovic[3] v Gaia Maduzzi[Q](ITA) 

Akasha Urhobo[16] v Laima Vladson(LTU) 

Alanis Hamilton[WC] v Lucia Urbanova(CZE) 

Valerie Glozman[WC] v Yuliya Perapekhina(BLR)

Aspen Schuman v Julie Pastikova(CZE) 

Capucine Jauffret[Q] v Malak El Allami(MAR) 

Dominick Mosejczuk[WC] v Hayden Jones[7](AUS)

Ian Mayew v Rafael Jodar[12](ESP)

Gus Grumet[WC] v Alessandro Battiston[SE]

Cooper Woestendick[13] v William Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE)

Kase Schinnerer[WC] v Reda Bennani(MAR)

Matthew Forbes[WC] v Mika Petkovic[Q](GER)

Rudy Quan[WC] v Viktor Frydrych(GBR)

Matisse Farzam[WC] v Lorenzo Angelini[SE](ITA)

Kaylan Bigun[2] v Andreas Timini(CYP)

Maxwell Exsted v Atakan Karahan(TUR)

Keaton Hance[Q] v Nicolai Budkov Kjaer[1](NOR)

Nikita Filin[WC] v Henry Bernet(SUI)

Noah Johnston v Marko Maksimovic[16](SRB)

Stiles Brockett[LL] v Max Schoenhaus[14](GER)

Bigun and Jovic lost their second round mixed doubles match to No. 4 seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Matt Ebden of Australia 6-2, 6-3, but another wild card team, Tyra Grant and Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois) are through to the quarterfinals, with the pair saving a match point in their 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 win over wild cards Alycia Parks and Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M). Parks and Withrow had beaten No. 2 seeds Erin Routliffe(Alabama) and Michael Venus(Texas,LSU) of New Zealand in the first round. Their opponents in the quarterfinals have not yet been determined.

Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul reached the second week with wins today, with five more Americans in fourth round action on Sunday. Former NC State star Diana Shnaider of Russia, the No. 18 seed, also advanced to the fourth round today with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sara Errani of Italy and will play Pegula on Monday. Nuno Borges of Portugal, the 2019 NCAA singles finalist at Mississippi State, advanced the the fourth round saving three match points 6-7(5), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-0 win over Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic.

Saturday's third round results of Americans:
Jessica Pegula[6] d. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro(ESP) 6-3, 6-3
Liudmila Samsonova[16](RUS) d. Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-1
Tommy Paul[14] d. Gabriel Diallo[Q](CAN) 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(3)

Sunday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:
Emma Navarro[13] v Coco Gauff[3]

Frances Tiafoe[20] v Alexei Popyrin[28](AUS)

Brandon Nakashima v Alexander Zverev[4](GER)

Taylor Fritz[12] v Casper Ruud[8](NOR)

The top seeds made Saturday's finals at the ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada, but they did not take home the trophies. The boys title went to No. 8 seed Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic, who avenged his Australian Open loss to Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.  

Top seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain lost to unseeded Noemi Basiletti of Italy 7-6(2), 6-4, giving the 18-year-old Basiletti the sweep of the Canadian titles and her first ITF J300 singles title.

August Aces; Seven Americans Qualify for US Open Junior Championships; Bigun and Jovic Win First Round of Mixed at USO; Tiafoe Beats Sheldon; Top Seeds Reach Finals at ITF J300 Repentigny

My monthly Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network is up again before the month is quite over, with the 20th US Open Junior Championships that I've covered coming up Sunday requiring an early look at the top performances this month.  Former college players are, as always, a major focus, and this month current college players prominent, with 14-year-old juniors also in the spotlight.

Seven US players qualified for the US Open Junior Championships today at the Cary Leeds Center in the Bronx, and an eighth got in as a lucky loser.

The five girls from the United States, who will join the 14 other American girls already receiving entry, are all seeded.

No. 2 seed Christasha McNeil defeated No. 10 seed and USC freshman Jana Hossam Salah of Egypt 6-2, 6-4; No. 11 seed Monika Ekstrand beat No. 3 seed Hikari Yamamoto of Japan 6-2, 6-3; UCLA freshman Kate Fakih, seeded No. 6, beat Leena Friedman 6-4, 6-2 in one of the two all-American final round qualifying matches; in the other one, No. 7 seed Maya Iyengar defeated 13-year-old Raya Kotseva 6-4, 1-6, 10-7.

Capucine Jauffret, the No. 16 seed, saved two match points in her 7-6(2), 4-6, 12-10 win over No. 4 seed Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden. I know I mention this often, but I believe the junior slams should all have the same format for qualifying and it should be a full third set, which Australia and Roland Garros do. 

The two US boys who qualified, both unseeded, are 16-year-old wild card Keaton Hance, who beat Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar of India 7-5, 6-2 and 15-year-old Jack Secord, who beat wild card Jordan Reznik in an all-US contest. Virginia freshman Stiles Brockett, who lost to No. 14 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil 6-4, 4-6, 10-8, got in as a lucky loser, as did Karim Bennani of Morocco. 

I'm not sure which two boys have withdrawn, but I did notice that Wimbledon champion Nicolas Budkov Kjaer of Norway didn't play either hard court warm-up event. That doesn't mean much, as the very top juniors occasionally skip the warmups, but it is rare to have two lucky losers; in the past five years, the boys main draw has had no lucky losers twice and one lucky loser three times.

The draws will be out Saturday; I will be in transit to New York, but will try to post a link to them on Twitter as soon as I can.

Juniors Iva Jovic and Kaylan Bigun received a wild card into US Open mixed doubles and in their first round today, they advanced over Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine and Max Purcell of Australia 6-4, 6-4 in a tiday 58 minutes. They will play their second round match Saturday against two formidable doubles players, No. 4 seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Matt Ebden of Australia. 

NCAA champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy of Ohio State battled for two hours and 19 minutes with No. 16 seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina in the second round of men's doubles. The wild cards split tiebreakers with Gonzalez and Molteni before finally getting broken with Cash serving at 4-5 down in the third set. Cash and Tracy had only one break chance in the entire match, which they did not convert. Gonzalez and Molteni had a total of three, converting the last one.

The men's third round match everyone had circled once the draw came out, Ben Shelton(Florida) versus Frances Tiafoe, lived up to expectations Friday afternoon. No. 20 seed Tiafoe avenged his quarterfinal loss last year to No. 13 seed Shelton, staying committed to moving forward and volleying well to earn a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 victory. Shelton had 23 aces, including one of 143 mph on set point in the third set tiebreaker, but Tiafoe had 17 more winners than unforced errors, which is a good indication of his level throughout the match. He will likely face No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic in the fourth round Sunday.

Friday's third round results of Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] d. Elina Svitolina[27](UKR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Emma Navarro[13] d. Marta Kostyuk[19](UKR) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Elise Mertens[33](BEL) d. Madison Keys[14] 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 
Donna Vekic[24](CRO) d. Peyton Stearns 7-5, 6-4

Frances Tiafoe[20] d. Ben Shelton[13]  4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3

Brandon Nakashima d. Lorenzo Musetti[18](ITA) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)

Taylor Fritz[13] d. Franciso Comesana(ARG) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

Saturday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Jessica Pegula[6] v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro(ESP)

Ashlyn Krueger v Liudmila Samsonova[16](RUS)

Tommy Paul[14] v Gabriel Diallo[Q](CAN)

The singles finals are set for Saturday at the ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada, outside Montreal, with top seeds Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands and Hannah Klugman of Great Britain hoping to head into the US Open Junior Championships with hard court titles.  

Rottgering, the 2024 Wimbledon boys finalist, defeated No. 8 seed Thomas Faurel of France 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in today's semifinal, and will face No. 2 seed Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic, who beat No. 4 seed Theo Papamalamis of France 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-1.

Rottgering and Mrva played in the second round of the Australian Open this year, with Rottgering winning 6-1, 6-3. 

Top seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain has dropped only seven games in her first four matches, beating No. 5 seed Vittoria Paganetti of Italy 6-1, 6-0 in today's semifinal. She will play another Italian in the final, unseeded Noemi Basiletti, who advanced to the championship match when No. 3 seed Mingge Xu of Great Britain retired up 5-2 in the first. 

I don't know what happened, but that doesn't sound good for her prospects at the US Open, where she would be one of the contenders. She is an Ace this month(see the TRN column above) after winning the singles and doubles titles at a W35 in London.

Basiletti took the doubles title, with Paganetti; the No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seed Reina Goto of Japan and Lea Nilsson of Sweden 6-0, 6-3. Goto and Nilsson advanced to the final with one victory; they received walkovers in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Cozad, Secord Beat Top Seeds at US Open Junior Qualifying, with 16 Americans Through to Final Round; NCAA Champions Cash and Tracy Advance in Men's Doubles; Krueger Posts Two Upsets

The first day of qualifying for the US Open Junior Championships went very well for Americans, with nine girls and seven boys advancing to Friday's final round at the Cary Leeds Center in the Bronx. 

Fifteen-year-olds Ryan Cozad and Jack Secord pulled off the two biggest upsets in the boys draw--and there were many, with nine seeds losing today--taking out the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds.

Wild card Cozad, the Kalamazoo 16s doubles champion, defeated ITF No. 43 and top seed Bryan Hernandez Cortes of Spain 3-6, 6-4 11-9, coming from from 6-3, 4-2 down to take the final four games of the set, and saving a match point in the deciding tiebreaker.

Jack Secord lost in the first round at this week's J300 in Canada, but he had no trouble with No. 2 seed Jan Klimas of the Czech Republic, ranked No. 51 in the ITF junior rankings, earning a 6-4, 6-0 victory.

Other US boys advancing to the second and final round of qualifying are wild cards Jordan Reznik, Krish Arora(Georgia Tech) and Keaton Hance, as well as Ronit Karki and Stiles Brockett. At least one US boys will make the main draw, with Secord facing Reznik.

In contrast to the boys, 14 of the 16 girls seeds advanced to the final round of qualifying, with the two that didn't win beaten by Americans. A total of nine US girls advanced: Mia Slama(NC State)[15], Christasha McNeil[2], Monika Ekstrand, Capucine Jauffret[16], Kate Fakih[6], Leena Friedman, Maya Iyengar[7], Raya Kotseva[WC] and Claire An[8].

Two US girls are guaranteed to make the main draw, with Fakih playing Friedman and Iyengar facing Kotseva.

Live scoring for the junior qualifying is available at usopen.org. 

At Flushing Meadows, 2024 NCAA doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy of Ohio State won their opening men's doubles match, defeating alternates Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan and Samuel Weissborn of Austria 6-3, 6-4. Cash and Tracy were initially drawn against Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan and Sumit Nagal of India, but Nishioka retired early in the fifth set of his first round match in singles and withdrew from doubles as well. Cash and Tracy will play No. 16 seed Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina in the second round.

Former University of Oklahoma stars Ivana and Carmen Corley, who also received a wild card, moved into the second round of women's doubles with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anna Blinkova of Russia. They will play No. 10 seeds Hao-ching Han of Taiwan and Veronica Kudermetova of Russia in the second round.

San Diego champions Iva Jovic and Tyra Grant pushed their veteran opponents Anna Danilina(Florida) of Kazakhstan and Irina Khromacheva of Russia for almost two-and-a-half hours, forcing the 29-year-olds to raise their level to claim a 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-2 victory.

Grant is already through to the second round of mixed doubles with Aleks Kovacevic; wild cards Jovic and Kaylan Bigun are on Friday's schedule for their first round match, against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine and Max Purcell of Australia.

Another wild card team is through to the second round, with the mixed doubles pairing of Ashlyn Krueger and Thai Kwiatkowski(Virginia) beating two-time Wimbledon champions and No. 5 seeds Desirea Krawczyk(Arizona State) and Neal Skupski(LSU) 6-3, 7-5.

Krueger also advanced in singles, reaching the third round of a slam for the first time with a 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 21 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia. 

The 20-year-old Texan, who won the 2021 USTA National 18s titles in singles and doubles, had never won a singles match at a slam until this week.

Thursday's second round results of Americans:
Jannik Sinner[1](ITA) d. Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-0, 6-2
Tomas Machac(CZE) d. Sebastian Korda[16] 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
Tommy Paul[14] d. Max Purcell(AUS) 7-5, 6-0, 1-0 ret.

Jessica Pegula[6] d. Sofia Kenin 7-6(4), 6-3
Sara Errani(ITA) d. Caroline Dolehide 7-5, 7-
Ashlyn Krueger d. Mirra Andreeva[21](RUS) 6-1, 6-4
Anastasia Potapova(RUS) d. Varvara Lepchenko[Q] 6-3, 6-4

Friday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] v Elina Svitolina[27](UKR)
Emma Navarro[13] v Marta Kostyuk[19](UKR)
Madison Keys[14] v Elise Mertens[33](BEL)
Peyton Stearns v Donna Vekic[24](CRO)

Ben Shelton[13] v Frances Tiafoe[20]
Brandon Nakashima v Lorenzo Musetti[18](ITA)
Taylor Fritz[13] v Franciso Comesana(ARG)

ITF J300 College Park Recap, Videos; Jovic Falls Just Short Against Alexandrova at US Open; US Open Junior Qualifying Begins Thursday in the Bronx

If you weren't able to follow my daily coverage of the ITF J300 in College Park last week, my recap of the titles for Teodora Kostovic and future University of Virginia Cavalier Rafael Jodar appears today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Given their dominance last week, they have to be considered among the favorites at the US Open Junior Championships next week, but they both won the Roehampton J300 warmup for Wimbledon last month, and both bowed out in the quarterfinals.

The videos from the boys and girls singles finals are below.

USTA National 18s champion Iva Jovic was one of the major stories of the first day at the US Open, and she was in the spotlight again today in the second round. The 16-year-old from Torrance California battled for three hours and took WTA No. 31 Ekaterina Alexandrov deep into a third set before finally falling 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Jovic, who had beaten WTA No. 41 Magda Linette of Poland Monday without too much difficulty, faced a different challenge in Alexandrova, who hits bigger and is more unpredictable than Linette. The 29-year-old from Russia didn't appear ready for Jovic, who, to be fair, she probably knew nothing about, with Jovic jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Alexandrova got the break back, but was broken serving a 3-4, double faulting at 0-30 and 0-40 to give Jovic the chance to serve out the set. She couldn't do it, but Jovic returned well in the next game and broke Alexandrova for the set.

After five breaks in the first set, there was only one in the second, with Jovic broken serving at 2-3. She then took a medical timeout, possibly due to the heat, and her blood pressure was checked, but she continued and forced Alexandrova to serve out the set with two more holds.

After a 10-minute break under the extreme heat rule in effect, Jovic missed a golden opportunity, six of them in fact, failing to take a 2-0 lead in the third set despite Alexandrova going down 0-40 and facing three ad-outs. Jovic was broken at 2-2, but got the break right back, with Alexandrova not winning a point on serve. It must be said that neither served well--Alexandrova was at exactly 50% and Jovic at 49% for first serves--and that played out as the match approached its conclusion. Jovic lost serve again and Alexandrova held for a 5-3, lead, but she was unable to convert three match points serving for it at 5-4. Jovic again struggled on serve at 5-all, missing 5 of 8 first serves to give Alexandrova a second chance to close it out. Alexandrova played well when she didn't have a match point, but got extremely tight at 40-15, making two unforced errors on match points four and five. Jovic earned a game point, with Alexandrova losing four points in a row, but she came up with a forehand winner  to save it. On match point No. 6, Jovic came up with a great return on a rare Alexandrova first serve, but Alexandrova hit a backhand winner to earn a seventh match point, which she converted when Jovic's backhand return of a second serve went just wide.

Jovic looked, on the ESPN+ stream, bitterly disappointed in the loss, no doubt recognizing that she had opportunities to reach the third round against an opponent not playing her best. But she should be encouraged by her ability to earn those opportunities against a seed at a slam, and will no doubt put the experience to good use in the future.

Jovic and partner Tyra Grant, the San Diego 18s champions, are on the women's doubles schedule for Thursday, and Jovic is expected to play the junior championships, which begin Sunday.

The Kalamazoo 18s champions Nikita Filin and Alex Razeghi played their first round men's doubles match today, losing to Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Skander Mansouri(Wake Forest) of Tunisia 6-4, 6-3.

Grant and Aleks Kovacevic defeated fellow wild cards Learner Tien and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of mixed doubles action today.

Wednesday's second round results of Americans:

Madison Keys[14] d. Maya Joint[Q](AUS) 6-4, 6-0

Coco Gauff[3] d. Tatjana Maria(GER) 6-4, 6-0

Paula Badosa[26](ESP) d. Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-5

Peyton Stearns d. Daria Kasatkina[12](RUS) 6-1, 7-6(3)

Ekaterina Alexandrova[29](RUS) d, Iva Jovic[WC] 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Emma Navarro[13] d. Arantxa Rus(NED) 6-1, 6-1

Frances Tiafoe[20] d. Alexander Shevchenko(KAZ) 6-4, 6-1, 1-0 ret.

Taylor Fritz[12] d. Matteo Berrettini(ITA) 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-1

Ben Shelton[13] d. Roberto Bautista Agut(ESP) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Jiri Lehecka[32](CZE) d. Mitchell Krueger[Q] 6-7(5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5

Brandon Nakashima d. Arthur Cazaux(FRA) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2

Thursday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Alex Michelsen v Jannik Sinner[1](ITA)

Sebastian Korda[16] v Tomas Machac(CZE)

Tommy Paul[14] v Max Purcell(AUS)

Sofia Kenin v Jessica Pegula[6]

Caroline Dolehide v Sara Errani(ITA)

Ashlyn Krueger v Mirra Andreeva[21](RUS)

Varvara Lepchenko[Q] v Anastasia Potapova(RUS)

Qualifying for the US Open Junior Championships begin Thursday at the Cary Leeds Center in the Bronx.

As is often the case, the wild cards that are initially distributed for the qualifying are not necessary, with late withdrawals moving players in on their own. Stiles Brockett, Maximus Dussault and Jack Secord got into qualifying on their own rankings, so their qualifying wild cards went to Ryan Cozad, Jordan Reznik and Rohan Belday. Ronit Karki also got into qualifying on his ranking, 126 at the time the acceptance list was published.

Nancy Lee didn't need her girls wild card, getting into qualifying on her ranking of 142, so Olivia Center, who qualified last year, was given the wild card. Anna Frey also received a wild card, and she was not announced as a wild card recipient earlier in the week, with one reserved. Trinetra Vijayakumar moved into the qualifying draw on her own ranking.

It appears that the special exempts from the J300 in Canada this week will all be used, with Mia Pohankova of Slovakia, who was the first one out of the main draw of the US Open juniors, and Naomi Basiletti of Italy, No. 9 on the qualifying list, making the quarterfinals in Canada, and so unable to compete in the qualifying. Basiletti defeated No. 2 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan in today's third round, Pohankova defeated No. 4 seed Kristina Penickova.  There were two walkovers in the doubles in Canada because the players had to leave for qualifying in New York, which is a bad look for both tournaments. Canada should not allot four days to play three rounds and the US Open should not start the qualifying on Thursday.

The boys special exempts should be the two unseeded Italians in the Canada J300 quarterfinals: Lorenzo Angelini and Alessandro Battison. 

There was one walkover in boys doubles, but that doesn't appear to be related to the US Open qualifying, with both players already in the main draw.

Exactly half of the 32-player field in the girls qualifying draw is from the United States, with nine players from the US in boys qualifying. 

Kalamazoo Champions Shut Out in US Open First Round; Texas A&M's Stoiana and Michigan State's Baris Top ITA Preseason Rankings, Joint No. 1 Among Newcomers

It was a brutal Day Two for wild cards at the US Open with all four Americans who received that means of entry falling in the first round.

2024 Kalamazoo champion Matt Forbes(Michigan State) challenged ATP No. 57 Roman Safiullin of Russia throughout, and never looked out of his league, but was unable to convert a set point serving for the second set at 5-3, and, failing to take that opportunity, eventually was eliminated 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-2. As with all the wild cards, too many unforced errors proved the difference, with Forbes making 66 to Safiullin's 41.

2019 and 2021 Kalamazoo champion Zachary Svajda ran into a player at the top of his game, with No. 30 seed Matteo Arnaldi hitting 37 winners and making only 24 unforced errors in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 romp over the 21-year-old from San Diego.

2022 and 2023 Kalamazoo champion Learner Tien, who received his wild card via the USTA US Open Wild Card Challenge, has faced a seed in each of the past three years, and this time it was No. 24 seed Arthur Fils of France, who earned a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over the 18-year-old from Irvine. 

Tien got off to a terrible start, going down 4-0, but much of that was due to the form Fils showed, not making an unforced error until the fifth game. Tien fought back, and when he held in the second set from 0-40 down at 2-all, he found the level he'd displayed all summer, keeping Fils on defense in the next four games.

But unforced errors, which Tien usually keeps to a minimum, began to multiply, and although he finished with less than Fils, 40 to 52, he had substantially fewer winners, just 11 to Fils 38. Tien continued to fight, even when down 1-5, 0-40, but he saved seven match points before Fils finally closed it out on his serve.

NCAA women's singles champion Alexa Noel also got off to a poor start against Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain, trailing 5-0, and although the second set was more competitive, the University of Miami All-American gave up a break in the fourth game of the second set and Sorribes Tormo made that stand up in a 6-1, 6-3 victory.

So far the 16 wild cards have not fared well, with Girls 18s champion Iva Jovic, Naomi Osaka and Tristan Schoolkate, the Tennis Australia reciprocal, (addition: the French reciprocal Alexandre Muller is also through) winning their first round matches. Wild cards Stan Wawrinka and Bianca Andreescu are playing their first round matches tonight. Note: Wawrinka and Andreescu both lost Tuesday night.

No. 11 seed Danielle Collins(Florida, Virginia) lost to Caroline Dolehide 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, with a first round loss marking the end of her slam career. The two-time NCAA singles champion is expected to continue to compete throughout the remainder of the WTA season, but declined to participate in a retirement ceremony after her loss today.  For more on Collins and her impact on the WTA tour, see this article from the usopen.org.

Today's results and tomorrow's second round matches featuring Americans:

Jannik Sinner[1](ITA) d. Mackenzie McDonald 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2
Alex Michelsen d. Eliot Spizzirri[Q] 6-1, 7-5, 6-3
Arthur Fils[24](FRA) d. Learner Tien[WC] 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Tommy Paul[14] d. Lorenzo Sonego(ITA) 6-4, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
Sebastian Korda[16] d. Corentin Moutet(FRA) 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-0
Alex De Minaur[10](AUS) d. Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
Matteo Arnaldi[30](ITA) d. Zachary Svajda[WC] 6-3, 6-2, 6-1
Roman Safiullin(RUS) d. Matthew Forbes[WC] 6-4, 7-6(0), 6-2

Ashlyn Krueger d. Shuai Zhang(CHN) 0-6, 6-1, 7-5

Caroline Dolehide d. Danielle Collins[11] 1-6, 7-5, 6-4

Sofia Kenin d. Emma Raducanu(GBR) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4

Jessica Pegula[6] d. Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3

Sara Sorribes Tormo(ESP) d. Alexa Noel[WC] 6-1, 6-3 

Anna Bondar(HUN) d. Bernarda Pera 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Anna Kalinskaya[15](RUS) d. Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-2

Karolina Muchova(CZE) d. Katie Volynets 6-3, 7-5

Varvara Lepchenko[Q] d. Brenda Fruhvirtova(CZE) 2-1 ret.

Wednesday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Madison Keys[14] v Maya Joint[Q](AUS)

Coco Gauff[3] v Tatjana Maria(GER)

Taylor Townsend v Paula Badosa[26](ESP)

Peyton Stearns v Daria Kasatkina[12](RUS)

Iva Jovic[WC] v Ekaterina Alexandrova[29](RUS)

Emma Navarro[13] v Arantxa Rus(NED)

Frances Tiafoe[20] v Alexander Shevchenko(KAZ)

Taylor Fritz[12] v Matteo Berrettini(ITA)

Ben Shelton[13] v Roberto Bautista Agut(ESP)

Mitchell Krueger[Q] v Jiri Lehecka[32](CZE)

Brandon Nakashima v Arthur Cazaux(FRA)

 

Kalamazoo 18s doubles champions Nikita Filin and Alex Razeghi play their first round match against Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Skander Mansouri(Wake Forest) of Tunisia Wednesday evening. Tyra Grant and Aleks Kovacevic play Learner Tien and Clervie Ngounoue in the first round of mixed doubles Wednesday night.

The ITA released the preseason rankings for Division I today, and, as always, there are no surprises, with those no longer eligible from the May 2024 final rankings removed, and everyone else moving up.  Stanford's Nishesh Basavareddy, who was not expected to return to school this fall, is not in these preseason rankings, nor is TCU's Jack Pinnington Jones or NCAA champion Filip Planinsek of Alabama. All three are expected to return for the dual match season, but that could change, of course, depending on their results on the Pro Circuit this fall.

The only two women's Top 20 players from last year still eligible but not in the preseason rankings are Alexa Noel, who announced she was turning pro and not using her final year of eligibility, and Alexandra Yepifanova of Stanford. NCAA doubles champions Dasha Vidmanova and Ayesegul Mert are not in the doubles preseason rankings.

The newcomer rankings have been expanded to 20 players this year. The Texas women have four of the top 10, while the UCLA men have two of the top 10.

Maya Joint, who will open play on Arthur Ashe Stadium Wednesday against Madison Keys, is, unsurprisingly, the top women's newcomer, currently 108 in the WTA live rankings. 

She faces the same dilemma as North Carolina's Fiona Crawley, who qualified for the main draw last last year: how to retain her collegiate eligibility when she has earned substantial prize money from her performance at the US Open. In Joint's case, after a first round win, it's $140,000; she talks about the issue, and insists she will attend Texas this fall, in this article.

ITA Division I Preseason Top 10

Women:

1. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

2. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

3. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

4. Connie Ma, Stanford

5. Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State

6. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

7. Rachel Gailis, Florida

8. Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

9. Nicole Khirin, Texas A&M

10. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina

Men:

1. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

2. Michael Zheng, Columbia

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Cooper Williams, Duke

5. Colton Smith, Arizona

6. Radu Papoe, Cornell

7. Gavin Young, Michigan 

8. Karlis Ozolins, Illinois

9. Jack Anthrop, Ohio State

10. Shunsuke Mitsui, Tennessee

Doubles Top 5

Women:

1. Ange Oby Kajuru and Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

2. Mary Stoiana and Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

3. Melodie Collard and Elaine Chervinsky, Virginia

4. Luciana Perry and Sydni Ratliff, Ohio State

5. Maria Sholokhova and Alina Mukhortova, Wisconsin

Men: 

1. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

2. Niels Ratiu and Freddy Blaydes, Georgia

3. Togan Tokac and Giulio Perego, Texas A&M

4. Paul Inchauspe and Filippos Astreinidis, Princeton

5. Maxwell Smith and Noa Vukadin, Clemson

Newcomers Top 10

Women:

1. Maya Joint, Texas

2. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

3. Eszter Meri, Texas

4. Cadence Brace, LSU

5. Aya El Aouni, Central Florida

6. Mio Mushika, San Diego

7. Ashton Bowers, Texas

8. Talia Neilson-Gatenby, Florida

9. Ariana Pursoo, Texas

10. Irina Balus, Duke

Men:

1. Antoine Ghibaudo, Kentucky

2. Peter Benjamin Privara, Harvard

3. Rudy Quan, UCLA

4. Ioannis Xilas, Wake Forest

5. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

6. Niccolo Baroni, Mississippi State

7. David Fix, Pepperdine

8. Walid Ahouda, Central Florida

9. Kaylan Bigun, UCLA

10. Jan Sebesta, Florida State