Jodar and Damm to Meet in Lincoln Challenger Final; Rogers Beats Vidmanova to Reach W100 Macon Final; Wolff Escapes Liutova Upset Bid in Bakersfield W35; First Australian Open Junior Wild Cards Earned in South America

The finals are set at the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska, with University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar facing No. 8 seed Martin Damm after both posted straight-sets victories today.

Jodar, who beat top seed Brandon Holt(USC) in last night's quarterfinal 6-0, 7-5 took out No. 4 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-3 today to reach his second ATP Challenger final.

Damm, who saved two match points in his 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) in the quarterfinals yesterday, beat No. 7 seed Johannes Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4 in today's semifinals to reach his third ATP Challenger final.

Damm is seeking his first Challenger title, while Jodar won his only other appearance, this summer at a Challenger 50 in Greece.

The doubles title went to former Tennessee teammates Monday and Australian Pat Harper, with the No. 2 seeds beating the Indian team of DK Suresh(Wake Forest) and Aryan Shah 6-4, 7-5 in today's final.

At the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Macon Georgia, former NC State All-American Anna Rogers has advanced to her biggest final, with the unseeded 27-year-old from Connecticut beating No. 2 seed and 2024 fall NCAA champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) 6-3, 6-4 in today's semifinals. 

Rogers, who had come from a set down in her wins over Louisa Chirico[3], Madison Brengle and Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina), will face top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico for the title. Zarazua beat No. 4 seed Emerson Jones of Australia 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. 

Rogers, who until this week had not won a main draw match since July, going 0-8, is now at a career-high of 247 in the live rankings.

The doubles finals Sunday will feature one current and three former collegians, with Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and Auburn senior Agnella Okutoyi of Kenya facing Akli and former USC All-American Eryn Cayetano for the title.

At the USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Bakersfield California, the run of Kristina Liutova came to end this evening, with top seed Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) saving two set points in the second set to beat the Seattle-based 15-year-old 6-3, 7-6(2). Wolff will play unseeded Marie Weckerle of Luxembourg, who beat Pepperdine freshman Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4. 

The first two wild cards for January's Australian Open Junior Championships have been determined in the playoff tournament held in Argentina for South American players. Sabrina Balderrama of Venezuela, a 16-year-old with current ITF junior ranking 169, won the girls playoff, while Leonardo Storck Franca of Brazil, also 16 years old and with a current ITF junior ranking 111, won the boys playoff. 

ITF J300 Pan Am Recap, Videos; Bender and Manchala Win USA's Les Petits As Qualifying Playoffs; ITA Cup for D-II, D-III, NAIA and JUCO Underway in Rome Georgia

My recap of last week's ITF J300 Pan American Closed Championships in Spring Texas is up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, so if you missed my daily coverage here, it's an opportunity to get caught up on how one of the five J300 ITF Junior Circuit events in the United States played out. Below are videos of all four of the singles finalists. A Tennis Recruiting Network Photo Gallery is coming soon.

The USA Playoffs for qualifying into the Les Petits As 14U tournament next January in Tarbes France concluded today with the finals and third place matches, with the only other placement match that was actually contested deciding fifth place for the girls.

David Bender, the No. 2 seed, defeated Rex Kulman, the No. 1 seed 6-3, 7-6(4) for first place, while Pranav Vignesh beat Daniel Gardality 6-2, 6-2 for third place. 

In the girls competition, Isha Manchala defeated Tara Guhan 6-4, 6-3 for first place, with Anna Kapanadze beating Capri Butera 6-3, 6-4 for third place. Lucy Dupere defeated Evija Thoresen 6-4, 6-1 for fifth place.

The playoff rules state that the top three finishers receive main draw spots, with the fourth only guaranteed a qualifying spot, but this year all four semifinalists from the USA playoffs received entry into the main draw.

The ITA Cup, an annual fall individual tournament for Division II, Division III, NAIA and JUCO players is underway in Rome Georgia, with champions scheduled to be crowned Sunday.

The top seeds in each division:

MEN:

NAIA: Santiago Villarruel, Georgia Gwinnett

D-II: Soeren Grandke, Azusa Pacific

D-III: Advik Mareedu, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

JUCO: Daniel Marincas, Tyler JC

WOMEN:

NAIA: Violet Apisah, Keiser

D-II: Dana Heimen, Barry

D-III: Matia Cristiani, Babson

JUCO: Younsoo Cho, Hillsborough CC

The only No. 1 seed who did not advance to the quarterfinals (semis for JUCO) is Grandke, who lost to Diego Duran of West Florida 7-5, 6-2 today.

Draws, live scoring and live streaming links are available at the ITA Cup tournament page.

Finals for USA Qualifying for Les Petits As Set for Friday; Liutova, Fakih Advance to Bakersfield W35 Quarterfinals; Suresh, Jodar Reach Lincoln Challenger Quarterfinals; Jones, Vidmanova, Akli Win at W100 in Macon; Spizzirri's First ATP Quarterfinal

The eight under-14s who will represent the United States at the prestigious Les Petits As event next January in Tarbes France were decided today at Tropical Park in Miami Florida.

The semifinalists assured themselves no worse than a qualifying wild card, and the two boys and two girls who won the semifinal matches today are already guaranteed a place in the main draw.

Tara Guhan defeated top seed Anna Kapanadze 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals and will face Isha Manchala, who beat No. 2 seed Capri Butera 6-3, 6-3, in Friday's final. Butera and Kapanadze will play for third place Friday, with the winner also guaranteed a main draw wild card.

Top seed Rex Kulman defeated Pranav Vignesh 7-6(2), 3-0 ret. and No. 2 seed David Bender beat Daniel Gardality 6-0, 6-1 to reach the boys final. Vignesh and Gardality will play Friday to determine third place among the boys. 

The boys draw is here; the girls draw is here.

Fifteen-year-old Kristina Liutova lost in the second round at the ITF J200 in Corpus Christi earlier this month, but she had no trouble clearing that hurdle today at the W35 in Bakersfield California. The Seattle-area resident, who beat No. 3 seed Lucciana Perez of Peru, a Texas A&M junior, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round, defeated Solymar Colling(San Diego) 6-4, 6-3 in today's second round to reach her first quarterfinal at the W35 level, although in May, Liutova advanced to the semifinals of a W50. She will play the winner of tonight's match between wild card Luciana Perry, a junior at Ohio State, and No. 5 seed Ella McDonald of Great Britain.

UCLA sophomore Kate Fakih, a qualifier, also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating No. 8 seed Francesca Pace of Italy 6-4, 6-2. Fakih, 18, reached the semifinals in last October's Bakersfield W35.

The quarterfinals are set at the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska, with two current collegians reaching the quarterfinals.  Wake Forest senior DK Suresh of India made his second Challenger quarterfinal, with the first coming in Lexington Kentucky in July, beating former Florida All-American Alfredo Perez 6-4, 7-6(5) Wednesday. He will play No. 4 seed Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), who defeated Stanford senior Samir Banerjee 6-4, 7-6(5).

University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain has now made at least the quarterfinals of his last six Challengers, defeating qualifier Max Wiskandt of Germany 6-4, 6-1 today. 

Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6(1), 6-2 victory over Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) and will play No. 8 seed Martin Damm, who beat San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet 7-5, 7-5. Michael Mmoh defeated No. 3 seed Jack Pinnington Jones 6-3, 7-6(4) and will play No. 7 seed Johannes Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain in the quarterfinals. 

A fifth American will reach the quarterfinals, with top seed Brandon Holt(USC) facing qualifier Keegan Smith(UCLA) tonight.

Seventeen-year-old Emerson Jones of Australia, last year's ITF World Junior Champion, is through to the quarterfinals at the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Macon Georgia, defeating Katherine Sebov of Canada 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in today's second round. She will play No. 7 seed Anastasia Gasanova of Russia on Friday.

Anna Rogers(NC State) defeated wild card Madison Brengle 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and will meet Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) for a place in the semifinals. Akli beat Auburn senior Angella Okutoyi of Kenya, a qualifier, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in today's second round. 2024 fall NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia), the No. 2 seed, beat Kayla Day 6-3, 6-4 and will play qualifier Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia. Khayrutdinova is a senior at Auburn, having transferred from Florida International. She beat former USC All-American Eryn Cayetano 6-1, 6-4 today.

Top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico and No. 8 seed Olivia Gadecki of Australia round out the quarterfinals in Macon.

Two-time ITA Player of the Year Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal today in Brussels Belgium. The 23-year-old beat Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-0 to set up a meeting with No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada. Spizzirri's ATP ranking, which has been between 132 and 105 all summer, is up to a career-high 103 (live ranking) with today's win. Highlights from Spizzirri's win today are available at the ATP website.

Quarterfinals Set in Les Petits As USA Qualifying; Orange Bowl to Host ITF Junior Wheelchair Masters; ITF Introduces Junior Finals Competitors; Sohns and Penickova Advance at W35s; Florida State Seeking Tennis-related PhD Intern

The annual USA Playoffs for the 14U Les Petits As tournament, which is scheduled for the last week of January 2026, is underway this week in Miami, with the quarterfinals now set after today's completion of round robin play. Only one of the boys quarterfinalists is unseeded, Evan Fan, while all eight of the girls seeds advanced to the quarterfinals. 

Quarterfinalists at Les Petits As USA Playoffs:

BOYS:

Rex Kulman[1]
Cavan Donnelly[5]

Pranav Vignesh[2]
Maxwell Smith[6]

David Bender[3]
Nathan Lee[8]

Daniel Gardality[7]
Evan Fan

GIRLS:
Isha Manchala[1]
Lucy Dupere[5]

Anna Kapanadze[2]
Josephine Zhou[8]

Inie Toli[6]
Capri Butera[3]

Tara Guhan[7]
Evija Thoresen[4]

Above are the players who have advanced out of each of the four round robin groups, but the quarterfinal draws have been re-seeded based on the results of the round robin stage, with Kapanadze now at the top of the girls draw, while Kulman retains his top spot in the boys draw. The girls draw is here; the boys draw is here.

Officially, the top three finishers receive direct entry in Les Petits As main draw, but all four have usually been included. If that doesn't happen in 2026, the semifinalists who finish fourth will receive a qualifying wild card.

Last week the ITF announced that its Wheelchair Tennis Junior Masters will move this year to the Orange Bowl from Les Petits As. This means a move from indoor hard courts to green clay, with the tournament scheduled from Thursday December 11 through Sunday December 14. The ITF will also host a development camp the week prior to the Orange Bowl, with wheelchair legend Diede De Groot in attendance to mentor and coach the juniors. See the release for comments from ITF president Dave Haggerty, the USTA's Jo Wallen and De Groot.

The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals begin next week in China, with three Americans participating in the 8-players draws: Kristina Penickova, Jack Kennedy and Benjamin Willwerth. 

The ITF has provided background on all the juniors participating, with the boys article here, and the girls article here.

Penickova has been playing in Asia for several weeks now in advance of this event, reaching the Osaka J500 semifinals, winning the J200 in Korea and now competing in the W35 in Huzhou China. Using the ITF's junior exempt program for entry, Penickova defeated No. 2 seed Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus, the 2021 US Open girls finalist, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the first round. She will face former Michigan standout Amy Zhu in the second round Thursday.

At the W35 in Quebec City Canada, 15-year-old Maggie Sohns claimed her first main draw win in a Pro Circuit tournament, beating Adriana Reami(NC State) 6-2, 6-4 in the first round today. Sohns, a semifinalist at last week's PanAm ITF J300, won two qualifying matches Sunday and Monday. She defeated fellow 15-year-old Scarlett Fagan 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 in the first round and qualified for the main draw with a 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 win over No. 1 qualifying seed Natsuho Arakawa of Japan. Sohns, an upstate New York native, will face No. 5 seed Jasmijn Gimbrere of the Netherlands in the second round Thursday.

Florida State law professor Ryan Rodenberg is seeking another PhD candidate for a fully-funded intern position with a focus on tennis research and teaching. Here is a brief description of the qualifications, with more details available directly from him.

Florida State University: Tennis-Specific PhD/Doctoral Student Position

Starting Fall 2026, Florida State University will offer a fully-funded PhD/doctoral student position for one individual looking to do tennis-specific research and teaching. The position will have both on-court and off-court elements, including co-authorship publication potential. College and professional tennis players are encouraged to apply. All applicants must provide a current GRE score and have earned a masters degree prior to August 2026. The deadline to apply is February 15, 2026. For further details, please contact Ryan Rodenberg, JD/PhD, Florida State University, rrodenberg@fsu.edu

Rodriguez Qualifies for W100 in Macon; Ilagan Beats No. 2 Seed Cassone at Lincoln Challenger; Bakersfield W35 Disrupted by Rain; Mandlik Leads After Week One of USTA Australian Open Women's Wild Card Challenge

Three USTA Pro Circuit events taking place this week, two  one of them a 100-point event, with the women outdoors in Macon Georgia and the men indoors in Lincoln Nebraska.

The qualifying for the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln concluded yesterday, with University of Florida junior Adhithya Ganesan, former University of Michigan All-American Andrew Fenty, former Ohio State All-American Cannon Kingsley and former UCLA All-American Keegan Smith the Americans advancing to the main draw.

Only Smith won his first round match today, beating wild card Jeri Lassila of Finland, a freshman at the University of Nebraska, 6-3, 6-2.  Kingsley was beaten by University of Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain 6-3, 7-5; Fenty lost to Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-3, 6-3 and Ganesan fell in a tough one to Stanford senior Samir Banerjee 7-5, 3-6. 7-6(4). With Ganesan serving at 4-5 in the tiebreaker, Banerjee's shot landed near/on the baseline, with Ganesan trying to half-volley it when the baseline judge called it out. The chair umpire immediately overruled the line judge and awarded the point to Banerjee, ruling that the call came after Ganesan had struck the ball (which did not clear the net) and therefore it could not have disrupted him. Ganesan made an error early in the next point and Banerjee had survived.

Alfredo Perez, a former All-American at Florida, defeated No. 6 seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4 and Andre Ilagan, a former All-American at Hawaii, defeated No. 2 seed Murphy Cassone(Arizona State) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. Cassone has struggled since June, going 6-9 in Challengers, with just one quarterfinal appearance. In contrast, Ilagan is 10-5 in Challengers since the beginning of September and has reached two semifinals, boosting his ATP live ranking to a career-high 354. He will play Andres Martin in the second round.

Brandon Holt, the former USC All-American, is the top seed, and is scheduled to play his first round match against 19-year-old Aryan Shah of India later tonight. 

At the W100 in Macon, three Americans qualified for the main draw today, including University of Georgia recruit Ava Rodriguez, who defeated two Georgia players to qualify. She beat No. 6 seed Anasatasiia Gureva of Russia, a freshman, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round and No. 14 seed Sofia Rojas, a senior 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in today's final round of qualifying.

Mary Lewis(Arizona, Michigan State) and Jessica Failla(USC, Pepperdine) are the other two qualifiers from the USA.

Two of the wild cards met today in one of the four first round matches, with Redding champion Madison Brengle defeating 2024 fall NCAA singles finalist DJ Bennett, a senior at Auburn, 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-3.  The other two wild cards are Ellie Schoppe(Furman, Florida State) and Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech).

The top seed in Macon is Renata Zarazua of Mexico, with 2024 NCAA fall singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) the No. 2 seed. Vidmanova won her first round match today over Olivia Lincer(UCF, Oklahoma State) of Poland 6-3, 6-0. No. 3 seed Louisa Chirico lost to former NC State All-American Anna Rogers 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, with Rogers to face Brengle next.

Storms in California pushed back today's schedule at the W35 in Bakersfield, with one qualifying match not yet complete and the four first round matches on the schedule still in progress tonight.

Americans qualifying for the main draw are UCLA senior Anne Christine Lukemeyer, UCLA sophomore Kate Fakih, UCLA junior Ahmani Guichard, Duke recruit Aspen Schuman and USC senior Emma Charney.

Vivian Wolff(Georgia, UCLA) is the top seed, with Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland the No. 2 seed. Fifteen-year-old Kristina Liutova, the ITF J300 College Park champion, is playing No. 3 seed Lucciana Perez of Peru, a junior at Texas A&M, in the first round tonight.

Wild cards were awarded to Alexis Nguyen, a UNC recruit, Katherine Hui, who did not return to Stanford for her junior year, Ohio State junior Luciana Perry and former Pepperdine All-American Savannah Broadus. 

The first standings in the women's race for the USTA's 2026 Australian Open wild card race were released today, with Elli Mandlik opening up a big lead with her title last week at the W100 in Edmond Oklahoma. 

The top 5 after week 1, with the three best results over the five weeks ending November 9th counting toward a player's total: 

1. Elizabeth Mandlik (211) -- 100
2. Lea Ma (349) -- 23
3. Madison Brengle (477) -- 21
4. Julieta Pareja (339) -- 17
5. Akasha Urhobo (412) -- 14

The players current rankings are in parentheses. 

The men's race begins this week, with the best four results in their five-week window counting toward the total.

Ngounoue Wins Back-to-Back ITF J100s, Stratton, Jalbert, Malacek Claim ITF Junior Circuit Singles Titles; First Wave of Regionals Produces Additional NCAA D-I Qualifiers

Even after Americans swept all four Pan American ITF J300 titles having guaranteeing that result with all singles quarterfinalists and doubles semifinalists from the United States, four other Americans captured titles on the ITF Junior Circuit last week.

Carel Ngounoue of Washington DC won his second consecutive J100 in Ghana, with the 17-year-old top seed beating unseeded Jesse Clarkson of Great Britain 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Ngounoue has now won four J100 titles this year, and ten matches in a row in these last two weeks, with his junior ranking up to 135.

Sixteen-year-old Tristan Stratton of New York won the J60 in Mexico last week, for his third and biggest title of his career, with all of those titles coming this year. Stratton, the No. 2 seed, defeated top seed Guillermo Narcio of Mexico 6-4, 6-0 in the final.

Americans swept the singles titles at the J30 in Canada last week, with 15-year-old Daniel Malacek of Washington earning his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title. The top seed, Malacek beat unseeded Pierre-Olivier Hay of Canada 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 in the final. 

Fifteen-year-old Sylvana Jalbert of Maryland won her first ITF Junior Circuit title without the benefit of a seed, beating the top seed in the quarterfinals and No. 7 seed Renee Huang of Canada 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

At the J200 in Argentina, unseeded Yael Saffar of Florida defeated top seed and ITF No. 26 Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 7-5, 6-4 and advanced to the final, where the 16-year-old lost to No. 3 seed Sofia Meabe of Argentina 7-5, 7-6(4).

The first of the ITA Division I Regionals have concluded today, with more than 20 players earning their spots in next month's NCAA singles championships by reaching the final. Below is the up-to-date list of qualifiers, with rain delaying the second semifinal of the women's Northwest regional.

Chris Halioris of College Tennis Ranks has posted a spread sheet with NCAA qualifiers in both singles and doubles listed; the men's is here and the women's is here. 

More regionals are beginning now; links to all the draws can be found at the ITA Regional Championships page. All Regionals are scheduled to be completed by Tuesday October 21.

NCAA qualifiers as of October 13, 2025

WOMEN:

From All-American Championships:

Valerie Glozman, Stanford

Carmen Herea, Texas

Teah Chavez, Ohio State

Luciana Perry, Ohio State

Tatum Evans, UNC

Emma Charney, USC

Irina Balus, Duke

Reese Brantmeier, UNC

Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State

Piper Charney, Michigan

From Regionals:

Mountain:

Louise Wikander, Denver

Emma Kamper, Utah

Texas:

Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

Darya Schwartzman, Rice

New England:

Serafima Shastova, Syracuse

Stephanie Yakoff, Harvard

Northeast:

Esha Velaga, Penn

Alice Ferlito, Princeton

Northwest:

Alyssa Ahn, Stanford

Naomi Xu, Cal

MEN:

From A-A:

Jay Friend, Arizona

Aidan Kim, Ohio State

Devin Badenhorst, Baylor

Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Ozan Baris, Michigan Sate

Matthew Forbes, Michigan State

Sebastian Gorzny, Texas

Duncan Chan, TCU

Kenta Myoshi, Illinois

From Regionals:

Central:

Luis Alvarez, Oklahoma 

Oscar Lacides, Oklahoma

Atlantic:

Keegan Rice, Virginia

Jangjun Kim, Virginia

Southeast:

Luis Felipe Miguel, Florida State

Hugo Car, South Florida

Southern:

Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State

Ohio Valley:

Pablo Martinez Gomez, Vanderbilt

Sam Landau, Indiana

New England:

Vignesh Gogineni, Yale

Benjamin Privara, Harvard