Fourteen-year-old Texan Tristan Ascenzo broke the dominance of the IMG Academy International Championships at the Junior orange bowlpreventing a sweep by the IMG winners with a win over top seed Mohamed Genidy of Egypt’s Boys 14s this morning in Coral Gables Florida.
Ascenzo, a Dallas native, lost to eventual IMG champion Genidy 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals in Bradenton; Today’s final at the Biltmore Tennis Center was a battle, with Ascenzo emerging victorious 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-2.
The other three champions from 11 days ago in Bradenton captured the Florida version of the Sunshine Double.
Girls 14s champion Ayaka Iwasa didn’t get the top seed at the Junior Orange Bowl, as the other three IMG champions did, but the No. 7 seed came through with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) victory over No. 4 seed Isabella Yan of Canada.
In the boys 12s, Rui He of China, who was unseeded in Bradenton but the top seed in Miami, defeated another American for his title today. After defeating James Borchard in the IMG final and again yesterday in the semifinals, he defeated No. 3 seed Evan Fan 6-2, 6-4 in the championship match.
It was a sweep for China in the 12s and a sweep for top seed Fangiao Zou, who defeated unseeded Xiaoke Li 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 in the singles final and teamed with American Inie Toli to win the doubles title. No. 3 seeds Zou and Toli defeated top seeds Lucy Dupere (USA) and Seungyeo Seo (AUS) 6-2, 6-0 in today’s final, giving Zou three titles in the last 17 days.
Borchard and Fan also joined the club of repeat winners today, with the IMG 12s doubles champions winning the Junior Orange Bowl. The top seeds defeated unseeded Cheng-en Tsai (TPE) and Taigo Nagashima (JPN) 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 in the final.
Genidy finished second in both doubles and singles, with No. 8 seeds Alden Yu and Ilya Sherifali of Canada defeating No. 6 seeds Genidy and partner Evan Giurescu of France 3-6, 6-3, 11-9.
In the 14th girls doubles final played on Tuesday, No. 3 seeds Christina Li and Kyndall Noel of the United States defeated No. 8 seeds Tanvi Pandey (USA) and Srishti Kiran (IND) 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.
The acceptances for the 2026 Australian Open Junior Championships were released todaywith seven American boys and five American girls on the participant lists.
The American boys participating are Jack Kennedy, Keaton Hance, Jack Secord, Gavin Goode, Ryan Cozad, Tanishk Konduri and Roshan Santhosh. The American girls participating are Thea Frodin, Annika Penickova, Welles Newman, Capucine Jauffret and Melije Clarke.
The American boys in qualifying are Vihan Redy, Carel Ngounoue and Mar Latak. Us girls in the qualifier are Nancy Lee, Carrie-anne hoo, Shika Ashar, Jordan Hazlitt, Anatatu and Kori Montoya.
Kennedy and Thijs Boogaard both told me at the Orange Bowl that they won’t play Australia, so I expect them to withdraw before next month’s deadline. ITF World Junior Champion and 2024 AO girls finalist Kristina Penickova had a brace on her left wrist at the Orange Bowl, so she may not be physically ready for the competition to start the new year.
The cutoffs for Australia are not comparable to the other junior slams, with the acceptance list rankings still including those who are not age eligible for Australia. It won’t be until January 5, when those players drop out, that we’ll get a full picture of the strength of the field, but with Ivan Ivanov, Kennedy, Niels McDonald and Boogaard not in or not expected to play, it’s not as good as it could be.
Girls who are eligible but not competing include Penickova, Julieta Pareja, Wimbledon champion Mia Pohankova, Hannah Klugman and Roland Garros champion Lilli Tagger.
The two players from the COSAT wild card play-off who gained entry through the Junior Grand Slam Regional Reserved Exempt Trial are ITF No. 168 Sabrina Balderrama of Venezuela and No. 104 Leonardo Storck Franca of Brazil.
Sophomore Rafael Jodar of the University of Virginia today defeated top student Ten (USC) in group play in the Next generation ATP finals in Saudi Arabia, saving four match points in his 1-4, 4-3(3), 1-4, 4-2, 4-3(4) win. It is the first ATP Top 100 victory for the 19-year-old from Spain. For more information about the competition, see this article by the tournament website.
Nishish Basavareddy (Stanford) defeated Dino Prizmic of Croatia 4-2, 4-3(7), 3-4(3), 4-2. Today’s two other winners are Nicolai Budkov Kjaer from Norway and Alexander Blockx from Belgium.
The group schedule for tomorrow is here.
Reem Abulleil interviews Tien prior to the start of the event this Arabic news functionwhich focuses on the downs and especially the ups of the two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion’s first full year on the ATP Tour.
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