US Teens Frodin, Newman, Urhobo, Stoot Johnston and Hance Advance in Orlando; Gogineni Ousts Top Seed at East Lansing M25; Blanch Reaches First Challenger Quarterfinal; Longhorns Rapolu and Herea Meet in Austin WTA 125 Quarterfinals

Orlando has proven to be fertile ground for many young Americans this week, with three boys and three girls who are still eligible for junior competition advancing to the quarterfinals in the two USTA Pro Circuit events taking place at the USTA National Campus.

At the W35, 15-year-old qualifier Welles Newman defeated No. 5 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first pro quarterfinal. She'll face top seed Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia Friday. 

Wild card Thea Frodin, 16, also beat a seed today, earning a 7-5 1-6, 6-3 victory over No. 7 Martha Matoula of Greece. She'll play No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia next.

No. 8 seed Akasha Urhobo defeated qualifier Ellie Coleman(Duke) 6-2, 6-1 to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with Georgia sophomore Anastasiia Gureva of Russia, who beat qualifier Lani Chang 6-1, 6-0 in the second round today.

At the M15, Keaton Hance, 17, beat top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to reach his second career quarterfinal at a Pro Circuit event. He will play unseeded Christopher Li(UNC, Tennessee, Ohio State) of Peru Friday.

Seventeen-year-old left-handers Noah Johnston and Nikolas Stoot will meet in the quarterfinals after they picked up wins today. Johnston, a freshman at Georgia, reached his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over qualifier Clement Lemire, a sophomore at Central Florida. Qualifier Stoot, a LSU recruit, hadn't earned an ATP point until this week, but today he defeated No. 4 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the quarterfinals of his third Pro Circuit event.

Johnston has won both of their meetings on the ITF Junior Circuit, and also beat Stoot in the round of 32 at Kalamazoo this year 6-2, 7-5.

The top seed also lost today at the M25 in East Lansing, with Yale senior Vignesh Gogineni beating Patrick Zahraj, ATP No. 241, 6-4, 6-3. He will play Gavin Young(Michigan), who defeated No. 8 seed Enzo Wallart(Kentucky) 6-0, 6-3.

Two Spartans have reached the quarterfinals, senior Ozan Baris defeated Sydney Zick 6-2, 6-1 and will play No. 5 seed Adhithya Ganesan(Florida). Sophomore Matthew Forbes defeated fellow wild card Sasha Colleu(Illinois) of France 6-1, 6-1, with the 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion facing No. 4 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain.

Michigan State head coach Harry Jadun is having a good week, not only due to the success of his players. Jadun and recent MSU grad Max Shelton are through to the semifinals in doubles after a 6-3, 6-3 win today over LSU teammates Erik Arutiunian of Belarus and Andrej Loncarevic of France.

At the W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, 18-year-olds Anna Frey and Aspen Schuman have advanced to the quarterfinals. The unseeded Frey, a North Carolina recruit, beat No. 8 seed Jenna Dean 6-3, 6-2 and will play No. 4 seed Kristina Novak(Oklahoma State) of Slovenia.

The fifth-seeded Schuman, a Duke recruit, defeated Oklahoma freshman Mika Buchnik of Israel 6-4, 6-2 and will face future teammate Irina Balus of Slovakia, the No. 2 seed, in Friday's match.

Last night at the Knoxville Challenger 50, 2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch advanced to his first Challenger quarterfinal, beating No. 8 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-4. Blanch will face No. 2 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain Friday.

Inaki Montes(Virginia) of Spain beat top seed James Trotter 7-6(3), 7-6(6) to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with No. 5 seed Mitchell Krueger.  Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) is the third American in the quarterfinals; he defeated No. 3 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 tonight. 

At the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, University of Texas sophomore Carmen Herea and former Longhorn Malaika Rapolu will play for a spot in the semifinals, after the two wild cards posted straight-sets wins today. Herea, the ITA All-American finalist, beat Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2 and Rapolu defeated Himeno Sakatsume of Japan 6-4, 6-4. 

That match is in the bottom quarter; in the top quarter, No. 1 seed Iva Jovic will play Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), with Stoiana still in the running for the USTA's Australian Open wild card. Elli Mandlik is in the lead in the wild card race, and she is also still alive in Austin, facing No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico next. Zarazua edged Claire Liu, who is now out of the wild card race, 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(4) in a second round match that spanned two days and took three hours and 36 minutes to complete.

USA Teams Continue Dominance at Junior Davis Cup and Junior BJK Cup; Newman, Sohns, Chang Advance at Orlando W35; ITA D-I Conference Masters, Sectionals Begin Thursday with Final NCAA Entrants Decided

The United States teams came into this week's ITF Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup 16-and-under World Finals as the defending champions and No. 1 seeds, and both teams have lived up to those expectations after the completion of group play today in Santiago Chile.

The US girls posted their third straight 3-0 victory, this time over No. 6 seed Poland, with Kristina Penickova defeating Antonina Snochowska 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.

Julieta Pareja followed with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Barbara Kostecka at No. 1 singles to clinch the tie and first place in the group. 

Penickova and Pareja were both on last year's Junior BJK Cup championship team.

Pareja and Annika Penickova won the doubles match, beating Oliwia Sybicka and Snochowska 7-6(3), 6-1

The girls quarterfinals, which will be played Friday, with Thursday a day off:

USA[1] v Japan
Great Britain[7] v Czech Republic[4]

France[3] v Taiwan[8]
Poland[6] v Romania[2]

The US boys also earned a third consecutive 3-0 win, beating No. 5 seed Brazil today. Andrew Johnson beat Livas Eduardo De Carvalho Damazio 6-1, 6-0 in 55 minutes at No. 2 singles for a 1-0 lead. 

Michael Antonius lost the opening set to Leonardo Storck Franca at No. 1 singles, but rebounded for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win, which clinched the tie and eliminated Brazil from the quarterfinals.

Johnson and Jordan Lee won the doubles match over De Carvalho Damazio and Carlos Eduard Lino 6-2, 7-5.

Two of the seeded boys teams--No. 5 Brazil and No. 6 Canada-- did not advance to the quarterfinals.

USA[1] v Spain

Korea[7] v Turkey[8]

Czech Republic[3] v Japan[4]

Germany v France[2]

While the 16-year-old girls are competing in Chile, three girls a year younger are having notable results at the W35 in Orlando.

Qualifier Welles Newman and wild card Maggie Sohns, who were on the 2024 ITF World Junior Tennis team that finished second to the Czech Republic in the 14U team competition, moved into the second round with wins today.

Newman defeated fellow qualifier Panna Bartha of Hungary 6-0, 7-5 and will face No. 5 seed Victoria Hu(Princeton) in Thursday's second round.

Sohns defeated qualifier Sophia Biolay(Central Florida) of France 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 and will face No. 3 seed Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia in the second round.

Qualifier Lani Chang, who doesn't turn 15 until next month, also advanced to the second round, beating Lan Mi(Cal) of China 6-0, 5-7. 6-2. Chang, the daughter of Michael Chang and Amber Liu, often travels with her father, who serves as her primary coach, but he is in France this week with Learner Tien(USC), who he is now coaching. Tien reached the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Metz with a win today.

Chang will play University of Georgia sophomore Anastasiia Gureva of Russia Thursday; Gureva defeated Stanford freshman Monika Ekstrand, the No. 4 seed, 6-0, 6-4 yesterday. Thea Frodin and Akasha Urhobo[8] are the other juniors through to the second round.

The last competitors in this month's NCAA individual championships will be decided this weekend with the ITA's Conference Masters tournament in San Diego, and eight Sectional Championships across the country.

The four semifinalists at the Conference Masters will earn entry into the NCAAs.  The top four men's seeds, all of whom have first round byes, are Michael Zheng(Columbia), Edward Winter(Pepperdine), Emon van Loben Sels(UCLA) and Martin Borisiouk(NC State).

The top four women's seeds, with the top two receiving first round byes, are Ayseguil Mert(Georgia), Mao Mushika(Cal), Vivian Ovrootsky(Arizona State) and Zoie Epps(Louisiana Tech). 

The draws are here. Streaming will be available at the ITA YouTube Channel.

Six singles players and three doubles teams will advance to the NCAAs from each of the Sectional tournaments. 

The top four seeds from each Sectional:

MEN:

East (North Carolina) 

1. Nicolas Kotzen, Columbia

2. Lucas Andrade da Silva, South Carolina

3. Manfredi Graziani, Penn

4. Noa Vukadin, Clemson

South (Georgia)

1. Jack Loutit, Kentucky

2. Arda Azkara, Georgia

3. Corey Craig, Florida State

4. Niccolo Baroni, Mississippi State

Central(Michigan)

1. Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame

2. Cosme Rolland De Ravel, TCU

3. Jack Anthrop, Ohio State

4. Khololwam Montsi, Texas A&M

West(Cal)

1. Dominique Rolland, UC-Santa Barbara

2. Lasse Poertner, Pepperdine

3. Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida, Pepperdine

4. Alex Chang, Stanford

WOMEN:

East(North Carolina)

1. Lavinia Tanasie, NC State

2. Kaitlyn Carnicella, South Carolina

3. Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

4. Victoria Osuigwe, NC State

South(LSU)

1. Valeria Ray, Vanderbilt

2. DJ Bennett, Auburn

3. Leyla Britez Risso, Tennessee

4. Raquel Gonzalez, Miami

Central(Texas A&M)

1. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

2. Lily Jones, Michigan

3. Daianne Hayashida, Iowa

4. Kyoka Kubo, Kansas

West(Washington)

1. Mayu Crossley, UCLA

2. Emilija Tverijonaite, Arizona State

3. Reese Carter, Washington

4. Krisha Mahendran, Southern Cal

Links to all eight draws can be found at the ITA tournament page.

ITF J500 Merida Acceptances; USA Teams Roll in Junior Davis and BJK Cups; Rapolu Beats Parks at WTA 125 in Austin; Baris Upsets Jubb at M25 in East Lansing; Newman, Chang Qualify at Orlando W35; Reddy, Stoot Qualify at Orlando M15

Two more J500s remain this year on the ITF Junior Circuit, both on clay, with Merida Mexico tournament beginning in less than three weeks. The Orange Bowl, beginning December 8th, closes out the year.

The Merida acceptances were released today, with ITF girls No. 1 Kristina Penickova entered, and ITF No. 3 Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain the top player entered in the boys field. No. 6 Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania is the other ITF Top 10 boy entered, while No. 8 Ksenia Efremova of France and No. 10 Alena Kovackova are the other Top 10 girls.

US girls entered: Penickova, Thea Frodin, Annika Penickova, Capucine Jauffret, Melije Clarke, Nancy Lee, Carrie-Anne Hoo, Ishika Ashar, Anita Tu and Kori Montoya. 

The girls main draw cutoff was 114, with the qualifying cutoff 306.

US boys entered: Ronit Karki, Keaton Hance, Noah Johnston, Maximus Dussault, Gavin Goode, Dominick Mosejczuk and Ryan Cozad.

The boys main draw cutoff was 100, with the qualifying cutoff 264.

Day two of the Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup in Santiago Chile is complete, with both US teams, seeded No. 1, advancing by 3-0 scores. 

The boys defeated Slovakia without dropping a set, with Jordan Lee making his singles debut at the No. 2 position and beating Andrej Adamovic 6-3, 6-1. Michael Antonius defeated Leon Sloboda 6-1, 6-2 to clinch the tie, with Antonius and Andrew Johnson winning the doubles match 4-1, retired over Adamovic and Richard Krizan. They play No. 5 seed Brazil, who lost today to Germany 2-1, leaving both Brazil and Germany with 1-1 records. The US finishes at the top of the group with a victory, and are likely to advance to Friday's quarterfinals even if they lose.

The girls blanked Peru, with Kristina Penickova beating Silvana Fajardo 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Julieta Pareja defeating Leticia Alessia Baza 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Kristina and Annika Penickova won the doubles match, beating Bazan and Daniela Gonzalez 6-3, 6-1. Poland, the No. 6 seed, also won today, beating Austria 3-0, so their match with the USA Wednesday will decide only the placement in the group, with both already securing quarterfinal spots.

The first girls seed to suffer a loss was No. 5 Brazil, who was beaten 2-1 by Japan today and must beat No. 2 seed Romania to assure themselves a place in the quarterfinals.

Tennis Channel did provide coverage of one boys and one girls match today on their streaming app. The ITF streaming site blocks those matches in the United States when live, but they are available for replay the next day.

Live scoring, which had several major errors today, in both winners and scores, is available here.

Wild card Malaika Rapolu posted a milestone win today at the WTA 125 in Austin Texas, beating No. 2 seed Alycia Parks 7-5, 6-4. The 22-year-old, who played for the Texas Longhorns from 2020-2024, won her biggest pro title last November at a W50 in Austin, but had never faced a WTA Top 100 player until today's match with No. 61 Parks.  Rapolu will face Himeno Sakasume of Japan in the second round, with no seeds remaining in her quarter.

At the M25 in East Lansing, Michigan State senior Ozan Baris also ousted the No. 2 seed, saving seven match points in a 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) first round win over 2019 NCAA champion Paul Jubb(South Carolina) of Great Britain. Baris trailed 6-3, 5-4, 40-0 and 6-2 in the tiebreaker in the second set, and also was down 4-1 in the third set of the three-hour match.

In qualifying, two Americans advanced: Arizona State recruit Simon Caldwell and Baylor senior Arman Zamani. Main draw wild cards were given to three Spartans, all sophomores: Matt Forbes, Mitchell Sheldon and Vuk Radjenovic of Serbia, along with Illinois freshman Sasha Colleu of France. Sheldon lost 6-3, 7-5 to No. 3 seed Erik Arutiunian of Belarus, a freshman at LSU, while Forbes and Radjenovic play each other Wednesday in the first round and Colleu takes on No. 6 seed Aidan Kim, a junior at Ohio State.

Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany is the top seed, and he advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Nathan Ponwith(Arizona State).

The W35 in Orlando has a significant junior presence, with 14-year-old Lani Chang and 15-year-old Welles Newman among the qualifiers.

The other two Americans qualifying today are Malkia Ngounoue(Kansas) and Ellie Coleman(Duke).

Wild cards were given to 16-year-old Thea Frodin, who won her first round match today over Maria Fernanda Navarro of Mexico 6-3, 6-3, 15-year-old Maggie Sohns, and 18-year-old Georgia recruit Bella Payne. 

Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia is the top seed, with Eva Vedder of the Netherlands the No. 2 seed.

The men also have an event in Orlando that has attracted many juniors, an M15. 

Fifteen-year-old Vihaan Reddy will make his USTA Pro Circuit main draw debut after beating top qualifying seed Alexis Gurmendi(Georgia Gwinnett) 6-2, 1-6, 10-6 today. Seventeen-year-old Nikolas Stoot will also play in his first Pro Circuit main draw after beating Dakotah Bobo(Southern Miss) 6-3, 6-4. The other two Americans advancing to the main draw via qualifying are Matthew Segura and Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia).

Wild cards were given to Max Exsted, Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode, with Keaton Hance and Noah Johnston receiving entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program. Hance and Johnston both won their first round matches today, with Johnston beating No. 8 seed Evan Bynoe 6-3, 7-5 and Hance defeating Stijn Paardekooper 6-3, 6-0.

Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) is the top seed, with Toby Kodat the No. 2 seed.

The women's schedule this week also features a W15 in Lincoln Nebraska, which didn't have much of a qualifying draw, with most qualifiers needing to win only one match. The American qualifying are Kyle McPhillips(UCLA), 17-year-old Karlin Schock and Oregon freshman Virginia Crocker. Melije Clarke, who won the ITF J300 Pan Am title last month received entry via the Junior Reserved program, as did Capucine Jauffret. Jauffret lost to Oklahoma freshman Laura Brunkel of Denmark 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round today.  UNC recruit Anna Frey won her first round match, with Duke recruit Aspen Schuman, the No. 5 seed, in first round action Wednesday.

Oklahoma freshman Edda Mamedova of Russia is the top seed, and the 19-year-old won her first round match today 6-4, 6-1 over Sofia Cohen Perovani of Brazil. Duke sophomore Irina Balus of Slovakia is the No. 2 seed, and she beat Megan Heuser(Illinois) 6-4, 6-3 in first round action today.

There were no wild cards awarded, which I don't ever remember seeing before in a Pro Circuit draw.

US Teams Cruise in Junior Davis Cup, BJK Cup Openers; Manchala, Wong and Stratton Claim J60 Titles; Knoxville Challenger 50 Qualifying Complete; Stoiana Beats Vidmanova at Austin WTA 125; Spizzirri, Mandlik Retake Leads in AO Wild Card Races

The first day of the ITF's Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup in Santiago Chile produced few surprises, with defending champions and No. 1 seeds the United States posting 3-0 wins in the first round of group play.

The US girls defeated Austria, with ITF Junior No. 1 Kristina Penickova, playing No. 2 singles, defeating Lea Haider-Maurer 6-3, 6-1, and Julieta Pareja, playing No. 1 singles, beating Anna Pircher 6-3, 6-2. Kristina and Annika Penickova won the doubles match, beating Kara Fronek and Pircher 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.

They will face Peru, who lost 3-0 today to Poland, on Tuesday.

The US boys blanked Germany with Andrew Johnson beating Jannik Soetebier 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles and Michael Antonius defeating Eric Dylan Mueller 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

Jordan Lee, who was playing in his first match since February, partnered with Johnson for a 6-2, 6-3 win in doubles over Jakob Joggerst and Soetebier.

They will play Slovakia, who lost 2-1 today to Brazil, on Tuesday.

All eight seeded Junior Billie Jean King Cup teams won their opening matches; two Junior Davis Cup seeds lost: Spain defeated No. 6 seed Canada and Egypt defeated No. 8 seed Turkey, both by 2-1 scores.

Links to live scoring and streaming can be found at the ITF Junior website, but I was unable to find a stream that worked for me. The ITF video site is geo-blocked, and although Tennis Channel is supposed to be an option, I could find no reference to any coverage there. Another option is a $4.99 a month subscription to MEGA, a Spanish-language YouTube channel from Chile, which can be found here.

Americans claimed three singles titles last week on the ITF Junior Circuit, all on the J60 level, as well as a J100 doubles title.

At the J60 in Boca Raton Florida, 13-year-old Isha Manchala, playing in just her second ITF event, won the title as a wild card, beating No. 2 seed Lillian Santos 6-4, 6-1 in the final. Manchala, who just won the USA Playoffs for Les Petits As a couple of weeks ago, also defeated top seed Teaghan Jou An Keys. In her debut two weeks ago at the J100 in Rome, Manchala lost to eventual champion Carlota Moreno in the second round.

Unseeded Rose Biria and Emily Morgan won the girls doubles title, beating top seeds Ariana Ikwueme and Great Britain's Athina Schlepphorst 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

The boys champion in Boca Raton was top seed Avner Wong, with the 18-year-old defeating unseeded Robert McAdoo 6-4, 6-2 in the final for his first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit.

The boys doubles title went to No. 5 seeds Tim Kohl and Leo Scheffer of Germany, who defeated No. 3 seeds Joaquin Blanch and Matthew Shapiro 6-4, 7-6(5) in the final.

At the J60 in El Salvador, 16-year-old New Yorker Tristan Stratton won his fourth singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit, all this year. The top seed didn't drop a set in his five victories, beating No. 3 seed Martin Rivadeneira of Ecuador 6-1, 6-2 in the final. 

At the J100 in Mexico, 14-year-olds Emery Combs and Olivia De Los Reyes won their third doubles title in the past six weeks, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 2 seeds Romina Dominguez Garcia of Mexico and Kalista Papadopoulos 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Papadopoulos reached the final in singles too, with the No. 2 seed losing to No. 4 seed Lingling Zhu of China 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

This week's US ITF Junior Circuit tournament is a J60 in Mt. Pleasant South Carolina, Romain Azais of France and Eaden-Zack Harron were the top boys seeds, but both lost today, with Griffin Goode beating Azais 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and McAdoo defeating Harron 6-0, 6-1. Girls top seeds Julia Seversen and Sarah Delgado reached the second round with straight-sets victories.

I'll preview the four lower level USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week tomorrow, but main draw action has begun at the Knoxville Tennessee ATP Challenger 50 and at the WTA 125 in Austin Texas.

In Knoxville, Murphy Cassone, who was a late entrant and therefore forced to play qualifying, advanced to the main draw with a 6-2, 6-0 win today over University of Tennessee senior Alejandro Moreno. Americans Cooper Williams(Harvard, Duke), Keegan Smith(UCLA), Jack Kennedy and Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon), all lost their final round qualifying matches today.

Main draw wild cards were given to Andrew Fenty(Michigan) Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee) and Dominique Rolland(Arizona, UC-Santa Barbara), with Rolland losing to Stefan Kozlov 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-1 this evening. James Trotter(Ohio State) of Japan and Jay Clarke of Great Britain are the top two seeds. 

In Austin, all four qualifiers were Americans: Claire Liu, Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State), Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) and University of Texas freshman Christasha McNeil.

Iva Jovic is the top seed, with Alycia Parks the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were given to Texas alum Malaika Rapolu, Texas sophomore Carmen Herea of Romania and Jennifer Jackson.

Herea, the ITA All-American finalist, defeated Alana Smith(NC State) 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round today.

College tennis fans were treat to yet another meeting between the top players from the past two seasons of college tennis, with Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) facing No. 8 seed Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) in the opening round today. Stoiana and Vidmanova, who had split their four meetings in the 2024-25 dual match season and split their two meeting on the USTA Pro  Circuit, had another battle today, with Stoiana emerging with a 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory. This keeps Stoiana alive in the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Race, with this the final week for the women to collect points.

Elli Mandlik, who reached the semifinals of a W100 in Mexico last week, has retaken the lead from Claire Liu, but the women's race is wide open with 125 points up for grabs in Austin and Mandlik, Liu and Stoiana all entered.

Eliot Spizzirri also moved back into first place with his quarterfinal result at the Challenger 125 in Bratislava last week, but it is looking increasingly likely that he will not need a wild card into the main draw of the Australian Open. After qualifying and winning his first round today at the ATP 250 in Athens, the former Texas All-American is up to 86 in the live rankings. Patrick Kypson is now in second place; he is playing at the Challenger 125 in Helsinki Finland this week.

The men have one more week after this one to collect points in the race.

Women's Standings -- through Week 4 of 5
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Elizabeth Mandlik (202) -- 140
2. Claire Liu (221) -- 117
3. Elvina Kalieva (203) -- 106
4. Anna Rogers (233) -- 95
5. Katie Volynets (89) -- 90
6. Mary Stoiana (327) -- 77

Men's Standings -- through Week 3 of 5
(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Eliot Spizzirri (96) -- 129
2. Patrick Kypson (146) -- 122
3. Martin Damm (173) -- 102
4. Matthew Forbes (929) -- 25
5. Keegan Smith (485) -- 24

Jodar Claims Third Challenger Title on Collegiate Home Courts; Martinez and Nijkamp Win Pro Circuit Titles; Tjen Captures First WTA Title; ITF Junior Davis Cup and BJK Cup Competition Begins Monday

University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain won his third Challenger title since August today at the home of his collegiate team, defeating Martin Damm 6-3, 7-6(2) in the final at the ATP Challenger 75 at the Boar's Head indoor courts in Charlottesville.

Seeded No. 7, Jodar repeated his win over No. 6 seed Damm in the final of the Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska two weeks ago; while that went three sets, the 19-year-old did not drop a set this week. With the title, he moves to 166 in the ATP rankings and into a tie for the eighth and final spot in next month's Next Gen finals. After playing three straight weeks and winning two titles, Jodar is not in the draw at next week's Challenger 50 in Knoxville, with Damm also passing on that event. Jodar is 3-0 in Challenger finals, while Damm is now 0-4.

As Jodar continues to move up in the ATP rankings, it becomes increasingly unlikely that he'll return to compete for the Cavaliers in the spring, but as of now, he is not ruling it out entirely.

The titles at the other two USTA Pro Circuit events went to collegians with ties to Oklahoma.

At the M25 in Harlingen Texas, former Oklahoma All-American Alex Martinez of Spain won his second title at that level, adding a singles title to the doubles title he earned Saturday. The 24-year-old, seeded No. 8, defeated No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the final.  

Oklahoma State sophomore Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands won her second ITF women's World Tennis Tour singles title today at the W15 in Sumter South Carolina. The 19-year-old, who won the Wimbledon girls doubles title in 2022, defeated qualifier Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina) 6-2, 7-5, with all five of Nijkamp's wins this week coming in straight sets. Nijkamp has not yet qualified for the NCAA individual championships, but is expected to play the Sectionals this weekend.

Fiona Crawley(UNC) lost in the final of the W75 in Toronto to No. 3 seed Harriet Dart of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2, and Elvina Kalieva lost in the final of the W100 in Mexico, but two Americans men did pick up titles at the M15 level. 

Former Harvard star Daniel Milavsky, the top seed, won the title at the M15 in Canada, beating qualifier Theo Dean(Yale, Cal) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 for his fourth ITF men's World Tennis Tour singles title. 

Former NC State standout Braden Shick won his first pro title Sunday at the M15 in Japan. The unseeded 23-year-old didn't drop a set all week, defeating top seed Moerani Bouzige of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

The rapid ascent up the WTA rankings continues for former Pepperdine All-American Janice Tjen, with the 23-year-old from Indonesia claiming her first WTA singles title today at the 250 in Chennai India. The fourth-seeded Tjen, who won a WTA 125 in China last month, defeated No. 7 seed Kimberly Birrell of Australia 6-4, 6-3 in the final. She then partnered with former Kentucky star Aldila Sutjiadi, also of Indonesia, for the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Storm Hunter of Australian and Monica Niculescu of Romania 7-5, 6-4. Tjen had won her first WTA doubles title just last week in China with Katarzyna Piter of Poland. Tjen, who started the year at 411 in the WTA singles rankings, is now up to 53 and is now in the Top 100 of the WTA doubles rankings as well, at 85.

The ITF 16-and-under Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup competitions begin tomorrow in Santiago Chile, with the defending championship teams from the United States the top seeds.

Kristina and Annika Penickova and Julieta Pareja are representing the United States in BJK Cup, with Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson and Jordan Lee the Junior Davis Cup team.

The seeded teams:

Junior BJK Cup
1. United States

2. Romania

3. France

4. Czech Republic

5. Brazil

6. Poland

7. Great Britain

8. Taiwan

Poland is the other seeded team in the USA group, along with unseeded Peru and Austria, with Austria first opponent for the Americans in group play Monday. 

Junior Davis Cup

1. United States

2. France

3. Czech Republic

4. Japan

5. Brazil

6. Canada

7. Korea

8. Turkey

Brazil is the other seeded team in the USA group, with Germany and Slovakia the unseeded teams in Group A. The USA plays Germany Monday to start off group play.

The list of players and captains for all 16 teams are available at the ITF Junior site, with the boys here and the girls here.

Damm and Jodar Meet Again for Challenger Title in Charlottesville; Tanguilig and Martinez Eye Sweeps in Sumter and Harlingen; Crawley Reaches W75 Final in Canada; Historic Titles for Pagonis and Çukurluoglu at Tennis Europe Junior Masters

Martin Damm and Rafael Jodar will meet again in a Challenger final, just two weeks after Jodar claimed his second career Challenger title with a 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 victory in the championships match in Lincoln Nebraska.

No. 7 seed Jodar, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, advanced to his third Challenger final with a 6-4, 4-2, retired win over No. 8 seed Johannes Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain this afternoon at the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville. 

No. 6 seed Damm reached his fourth Challenger final with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win over qualifier Mats Rosenkranz of Germany, blasting 21 aces past his fellow left-hander in the second semifinal of the day. Damm is 0-3 in his Challenger final appearances, with this the third in the past two months.

The doubles championship was between two unseeded teams, with Tim Ruehl(Arizona State, TCU) and Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany saving a match point in their 3-6, 7-5, 12-10 win over Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada.

Former Oklahoma All-American Alex Martinez won his first M25 title in June in Tulsa; the 24-year-old from Spain, seeded No. 8, will play for his second Sunday in Harlingen Texas after beating No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain 7-6(6), 5-7, 7-6(6) in a three-hour, one-minute semifinal. Martinez had also beaten Searle in a long first round match last year in a Challenger 125, where Martinez advanced to the quarterfinals.

Martinez will face No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain, who had a much shorter stay on court today, beating qualifier Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 6-0, 6-0 in 71 minutes. Velcz had beaten top seed Adrian Boitan(Baylor) in a three-hour and 36-minute quarterfinal Friday.

Martinez won his fourth ITF men's World Tennis Tour doubles title, all at the M25 level, with partner Abraham Asaba(Monmouth, Virginia Tech) of Ghana. The No. 2 seeds didn't need to play a point in the final, with Mariano Dedura-Palomero(Texas) and Sydney Zick of Germany giving them a walkover.

2024 North Carolina graduate Carson Tanguilig won her first pro title today at the W15 in Sumter South Carolina, in doubles, and will aim for her second Sunday in singles.  Tanguilig, the 2023 NCAA doubles champion (with Fiona Crawley), partnered with former Michigan star Jaedan Brown, defeating 18-year-olds Bella Payne and Sara Shumate 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 in the final. It's also Brown's first pro title.

Tanguilig, a qualifier, reached her first Pro Circuit singles final with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston and will face No. 5 seed Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Oklahoma State for the title. Nijkamp beat 16-year-old Thea Frodin 7-5, 6-1 in today's semifinals.

Tanguilig's former teammate and doubles partner Crawley has advanced to the final of the W75 in Toronto Canada, with the unseeded 23-year-old beating No. 4 seed Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in today. Crawley, who defeated No. 7 seed Kayla Day in the first round and top seed Louisa Chirico in the quarterfinals, will face No. 3 seed Harriet Dart of Great Britain in Sunday's final. 

Crawley also reached today's doubles final, with NC State's 2022 NCAA doubles champion Jaeda Daniel. The unseeded pair lost to No. 4 seeds Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia and Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 6-4, 6-2 in today's final.

Late last month, Tennis Europe held its annual Masters event for the 16s and 14s in Monte Carlo, with Tea Kovacevic of Bosnia and Savva Rybkin of Russia taking the 16s titles.

Kovacevic, 15, defended her title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Maria Valentina Pop of Romania. Rybkin defeated Stan Put of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-3 in the boys final.

Both 14s champions made history for their countries with three-set victories in the finals. Rafael Pagonis of Greece, the European 14s and Wimbledon 14s champion, defeating Max Lorincik of Slovakia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the boys final. Pagonis, the first Greek to win a Masters title, ends his stellar season with a 51-5 record.

Zeliha Nil Cukurluoglu of Turkey is the first player from Turkey to claim a Masters title, beating Emilia Henningsen of Denmark 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

For more on the finals and links to the draws, see the Tennis Europe tournament site.