ITF J300 Bradenton quarterfinals feature two US Wild Cards, all US girls eliminated; Eleven American juniors compete in the semifinals of the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions; Qualifying for Orange Bowl 16s begins Friday; Santamarta signs with Virginia

“After being out for so long, it feels great,” said Lee, who returned to competition last month in Chile as a member of the Junior Davis Cup championship team. “It’s not my life, but tennis is the thing I enjoy most in life, the thing I love to do most. During the time I was away I missed it a lot, but it was important not to rush it.”

Lee admitted he had some jitters as he played his first match at the Junior Davis Cup, but he is not surprised by the form he has shown since his return.

“The first match in Chile was very tough, I was very nervous,” said Lee, whose only loss since returning last month came in the second round of the M15 in Orlando. “But since I finally got back, I didn’t want to waste it being nervous, I just wanted to have fun and enjoy it. I worked a lot of hard to get back.”

Lee had not yet played against Wazny, so did not know what to expect, but was satisfied with his own level.

“I did a really good job of staying solid, I played really well overall,” Lee said. “I don’t really know him, so I don’t know, but I did really well today.”

Lee will face 16-year-old Daniel Jade of France, who defeated wildcard Marcel Latak 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals, but has not given much thought to a second straight title.

“It feels great to be back on these courts, but I’m not really thinking about being a defending champion, a two-peat or something like that,” said Lee, who reached the final of the Eddie Herr 12s in 2021. “I just think about doing my best, using what I have and giving 100 percent.”

Another young American reached the quarterfinals by claiming a decidedly tougher battle, with 16-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr. defeated fellow wildcard Samim Filiz of Turkey 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Filiz answered Gaines’ big first serves well in the first two sets, but Gaines said he raised his level in the third set to reach his first J300 quarterfinal.

Gaines will play unseeded Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia, who won a second straight three-setter, beating doubles partner Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity of Brazil 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(5). Chabalgoity, who had defeated No. 9 seed Michael Antonius in more than three and a half hours on Wednesday, looked exhausted in the late stages of the match but managed to break Bolivar Idarraga while serving for the match at 5-4 and saved two match points at 3-6 down in the final tiebreak before finally succumbing.

No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany also dropped a third-set tiebreak, with Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria taking a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) decision. Mackenzie suffered severe cramps at the end of the match and therefore withdrew from the doubles quarter-final.

Kisimov will face qualifier Tim Vaisman of Israel, who has now won six matches this week after beating Connor Doig of South Africa 6-4, 6-3.

The only two remaining boys seeds will play against each other, with No. 13 seed William Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden facing No. 7 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands. Rejchtman Vinchiguerra defeated Israel’s Dan Brand 7-6(3), 6-3, while Boogaard cruised past No. 12 seed Andy Johnson 6-1, 6-2.

No American girls will advance to the quarterfinals, with wildcard Allison Wang withdrawing due to an abdominal injury ahead of her match with Jamaica’s Alyssa James. No. 16 seed Nancy Lee dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to No. 4 seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina and Anita Tu lost to Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Sushkova trailed 5-2 in the first set before getting back to 5-all, but she recognized the problem and cleared her head during a toilet break after the first set.

“I went to the toilet and told myself to fight and do my best,” said the 17-year-old, who is now training in France. “In the first set my serve was terrible, so many double faults, and it was in my head, so that bathroom break really helped me clear my head.”

Sushkova is playing her first tournament on green clay, but she prefers this to the red clay that is common in Europe.

“I like it because it doesn’t bounce really high like on normal clay,” Sushkova said. “For me it’s very good. I’m an aggressive player, so if the ball doesn’t bounce high, I have less time and I feel it better.”

Sushkova left her home country to train near Nice when Russia invaded Ukraine.

“The first two years I had a really hard time mentally,” said Sushkova, who travels with her French coach. “I used to be at home, with my parents and grandparents. Now my mother stays with me, I only see my father when I come to Ukraine, maybe once a year, so it’s quite tough. But we keep in touch all the time, I call him after every match, I think he was actually watching this match (via live stream). But over time I’m getting better and better in France, and it’s my second home now.”

Sushkova will face James in the quarter-finals, while the other quarter-final features Hollie Smart of Great Britain and No. 5 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia. Smart defeated No. 15 seed Iva Marinkovic of Sweden 6-2, 7-5 and Cvetkovic defeated Tereza Hermanova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The only quarterfinal between two seeds is No. 9 seed Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi of India and No. 4 seed Larray Giudi. Rajeshwaran Revathi defeated No. 6 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the bottom quarter, No. 8 seed Sun defeated unseeded Pavla Sviglerova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1 today, while Liutova defeated 14-year-old Sofiia Bielinska 6-3, 6-2.

Sun-Liutova’s quarterfinal is the only one in which the competitors have previously played on the ITF Junior Circuit.

The doubles semi-finals are scheduled for Friday afternoon.

No. 6 seeds Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia will face No. 4 seeds Michael Antonius and Johnson in the top half; No. 7 seeds Johan Oscar Lien of Norway and Rejchtmann Vinciguerra play two-time junior slam champions Wazny and Oskari Paldanius of Finland.

Unseeded Rira Kosaka and Aoi Watanabe of Japan meet No. 3 seeds Sawashiro and Sun in the girls’ top half semifinals; No. 4 seeds Melije Clarke and Ha Eum Lee of Korea play No. 2 seeds Cvetkovic and Larraya Guidi.

B12s quarter-finals:
Rui He (CHN) d. Yeseong Lee[9] (KOR) 6-3, 6-0
Jobe Dikkenberg[3](AUS) d. Dmitry Flyam[7] (USA) 6-3, 5-7, 10-6

Monchan Kwon[16] (KOR) d. Daichi Fujise (JPN) 2-6, 6-2, 10-1
James Borchard[5] (US) d. Zirui Zhao (CHN) 6-4, 7-5

B14s quarter-finals:
Genida Mohammed[1] (A) D. Siyun Kim[7] (KOR) 6-3, 6-2
Tristan Ascenzo[3] (US) d. Kenshin Sato (JPN) 6-2, 6-0

Wildcards for boys 16 years:

Kush Bhandari

Chase Bowden

Diego Custodio

Alexander Farias

Mark Marcela

Sulaiman Syed

Alexander Totian

Johnny Wolf

Wildcards for girls 16 years:

Audrey Dussault

Genevieve Hayden

Fiona Hu

Kylee Hung

Sofia Kedrin

Evelynn Kwak

Priyanka Tallamraju

The University of Virginia announced today that former ITF World Junior No. 1 and 2024 ITF J300 Bradenton and Orange Bowl Champion Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain will join the team in January. While Rafael Jodar still plans to return to the team for the spring season, that could change if the Spanish sophomore were to achieve notable results at the NextGen ATP Finals or during qualifying for the Australian Open. Santamarta would soften the blow if Jodar decided not to return.