Bradenton ITF J300 Qualifying Completed, Seals Begin Play Monday; First round of the IMG Academy International 12s, 14s, 16s Championships scheduled for Monday; Hance reaches ITF J500 Merida final; Frodin and Penickova win girls’ doubles

Five American girls advanced to the main draw: Amira Kockinis, Yilin Chen and Ana Avarmovic[9]So Moe[4] and top qualifying seed Brooke Wallman.

Being the top seed in qualifying comes with some “what if” questions, and the top seed in the boys qualifying, Agassi Rusher, found himself in the main draw after a late withdrawal. But Wallman could be looking for a silver lining, especially as she won both of her matches on Sunday, beating Puerto Rico’s Siena Schintler 6-3, 6-3 this morning and Aya Manning 6-4, 1-6, 10-5 in the afternoon, both on Stadium Court.

“My coach Ryan (Harrison) told me to focus on preparation,” said the 17-year-old from New York. “Because if I qualified, and luckily I did, I would have some match play on the courts and some of my opponents may not have had that. And I won’t have any first-round jitters.”

After winning the first set against Manning, Wallman found herself in a tough spot in the second set, a break she attributed to a lack of patience.

“She played smart and I forced things,” Wallman said. “I just missed too much and I didn’t play enough heavy spin and my footwork got a bit sloppy. I tried to end the point when I shouldn’t have; I went for the wrong shots at the wrong time. That gave her some confidence and she played a little better than in the first.”

Wallman was able to reset after a bathroom break and took an early lead in the match tiebreak, allowing her to quickly put the poor second set behind her.

“I told myself to concentrate on every ball and not give her anything sloppy,” Wallman said. “If she’s going to win the breaker, it’s going to be because she earned every point, not that I gave it to her. I played smart in the breaker, and I think she played a little worse than in the second set. It gave me a few points early on, which gave me some confidence.”

Wallman recently made a verbal commitment to Texas A&M for the fall of 2027, with her search for the right school being short-lived.

“A&M was the first visit I made, and I thought, what more could I want at a school that they don’t have here?” Wallman said. “And there was just one thing I couldn’t think of, so you know what? This is my school.’

Kori Montoya, a close friend of Wallman, will join the Aggies next fall, which also played a role in her choice.

“I’ll be with one of my friends, and all the coaches, they were just people I thought I could grow a lot with,” Wallman said. “I could tell from the practices I watched that they really enjoyed being there with the girls; it’s not a job for them. And it’s really cool that I can be on a team that allows us to play for the national title.”

Wallman will face No. 8 seed Xinran Sun of China in the first round on Tuesday, with all qualifying matches off on Monday.

Four American boys reached the main draw today with two wins: Noble Renfrow, Safir Azam[9]Kamil Stolarczyk and Tyler Lee.

Lee, who arrived from Southern California on Friday, had only a few hours of practice to adapt to what is admittedly not his favorite surface. But he didn’t drop a set in his three victories, including a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jerald Carroll Sunday morning and a 6-4, 6-1 win over this year’s USTA Clay Courts champion Keshav Muthuvel.

“This is my third tournament ever on clay and before that I think my record on clay was 1-2,” said the 16-year-old from Tustin, California. “It’s pretty hard to find clay courts in California. This tournament almost caught my eye and I think I literally played once in California and that was on red clay too. I knew I had to make the most of my two hours of training.”

Lee is known for embracing the baseline and generating blistering pace, but he said he made adjustments this weekend, especially in his return leg.

“Everyone knows how close I am to the baseline when I come back, especially on the second serve,” Lee said. “But it’s kind of hard on these courts when the ball bounces randomly, so taking a step back has helped me a lot to find my sweet spot. And when I feel comfortable, I can also take my time. I’ve noticed that all the guys do that anyway, and they know more than I do about clay.”

Lee’s opponent on Tuesday is Oliver Sanders of the Czech Republic, who reached the quarterfinals of the J500 in Merida, Mexico this week.

The J300 Bradenton seeds:

BOYS ITF

Forty-one of the 64 first round matches are scheduled for Monday, with the rest on Tuesday; The first round of doubles is scheduled for Tuesday, although there is a chance of rain.