Merida’s acceptances were released todaywith ITF girls No. 1 Kristina Penickova competing, and ITF No. 3 Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain the top player in the boys field. No. 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.
American girls participated: 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, while the qualifying cutoff was 306.
American boys participated: Ronit Karki, Keaton Hance, Noah Johnston, Maximus Dussault, Gavin Goode, Dominick Mosejczuk and Ryan Cozad.
The boys’ main draw cutoff was 100, while the qualifying cutoff was 264.
Day two of the Junior Billie Jean King Cup and Junior Davis Cup in Santiago, Chile is complete, with both American teams seeded No. 1 and advancing 3-0.
The boys defeated Slovakia without dropping a set, with Jordan Lee making his singles debut in second place 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 4-1, pulling away from Adamovic and Richard Krizan. They will play No. 5 seed Brazil, who lost 2-1 to Germany today, leaving both Brazil and Germany with 1-1 records. The US will finish top of the group with a win and will likely advance to Friday’s quarterfinals even if they lose.
The girls defeated Peru, with Kristina Penickova beating Silvana Fajardo 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Julieta Pareja beating 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 against the USA on Wednesday will only decide their group placement, with both already securing a place in the quarter-finals.
The first girls seed to suffer defeat was No. 5 Brazil, who were defeated 2-1 by Japan today and will need to beat No. 2 seed Romania to secure themselves a place in the quarter-finals.
Tennis Channel has coverage of one boys and one girls match on their streaming app today. The ITF streaming site blocks those matches in the United States when they are live, but they can be replayed the next day.
Live scoring is available, with several big mistakes made today, both in the winners and the scores here.
Wild card Malaika Rapolu today recorded a milestone victory over the WTA 125 in Austin, Texasdefeating 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 professional title at a W50 in Austin last November, but had never played against a WTA Top 100 player until today’s match with No. 61 Parks. Rapolu will face Japan’s Himeno Sakasume in the second round with no seeds left in her quarter.
At the M25 in East LansingMichigan 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 victory over 2019 NCAA champion Paul Jubb (South Carolina) of Great Britain. Baris trailed 6-3, 5-4, 40-0, 6-2 in the tiebreak in the second set, and was also trailing 4-1 in the third set of the three-hour match.
Two Americans advanced in qualifying: Simon Caldwell from Arizona State and Baylor senior Arman Zamani. Wild cards into the main event 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 will play each other in the first round on Wednesday and Colleu will face 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 presence among the juniors, 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 against Mexico’s Maria Fernanda Navarro 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.
On the men’s side, there is also an event in Orlando that has attracted many juniors, a M15.
Fifteen-year-old Vihaan Reddy will make his USTA Pro Circuit main draw debut today after defeating top qualifying seed Alexis Gurmendi (Georgia Gwinnett) 6-2, 1-6, 10-6. Seventeen-year-old Nikolas Stoot will also play in his first Pro Circuit main event after defeating Dakotah Bobo (Southern Miss) 6-3, 6-4. The other two Americans who advance to the main draw via qualification are Matthew Segura and Ryan Colby (USC, Georgia).
Wildcards were given to Max Exsted, Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode, with Keaton Hance and Noah Johnston gaining entry through 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 beating Stijn Paardekooper 6-3, 6-0.
Tristan McCormick (Notre Dame, Georgia) is the top seed, with Toby Kodat the No. 2 seed.
This week’s women’s schedule also includes a W15 in Lincoln Nebraskawhich did not have much qualifying, with most qualifiers only needing to win one match. The American qualifier consists of Kyle McPhillips (UCLA), 17-year-old Karlin Schock and Virginia Crocker, a freshman from Oregon. Melije Clarke, who won the ITF J300 Pan Am title last month, gained entry through the Junior Reserved program, as did Capucine Jauffret. Jauffret lost in the first round today to Oklahoma freshman Laura Brunkel of Denmark 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. UNC recruit Anna Frey won her first-round match, while Duke recruit Aspen Schuman, the No. 5 seed, was in first-round action on 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 defeated Megan Heuser (Illinois) 6-4, 6-3 in the first round today.
No wildcards were awarded, which I don’t recall ever seeing in a Pro Circuit draw before.
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