Kennedy reaches first M25 semifinal in Winston-Salem; Four US men reach ATP 250 semifinals, Jovic advances in Auckland; Former Executive Director of USTA Florida Arrested

Wild card Jack Kennedy advanced to his fourth USTA Pro Circuit semifinal and his first at the M25 level with a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2 victory over Stefan Dostanic (USC, Wake Forest), the Most Outstanding Player of the 2025 NCAA Team Championships, in Winston-Salem.

Kennedy will face unseeded Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan, a former University of Tennessee All-American, who defeated No. 7 seed and 2025 ITA All-American champion Jay Friend of Japan, a senior at the University of Arizona, 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-3.

Wake Forest junior Luca Pow of Great Britain, who reached the M15 semifinals in Winston-Salem last October, continued his impressive results on his home courts. The 20-year-old wild card defeated No. 6 seed Bor Arnak of Slovenia, a junior at Arizona State, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Pow will face No. 5 seed Keegan Smith, the former UCLA All-American, who defeated No. 3 seed Daniel Milavsky (Harvard) in another three-set comeback, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

In today’s doubles final, No. 2 seeds Milavsky and partner Braden Shick (NC State) won their first title as a team with a 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over unseeded Ryan Colby (USC, Georgia) and Noah Zamora (UC-Irvine). Milavsky, 24, now has seven professional doubles titles and Shick, 22, has four.

At the ITF J300 in New Delhi, IndiaNo. 6 seed Vihaan Reddy lost to No. 5 seed Arnav Papakar of India 6-3, 7-6 (2). Papkar will play No. 2 seed Flynn Thomas of Switzerland in the final. The girls final will be between No. 5 seed Ekaterina Dotsenko of Russia and unseeded Miku Kitaoka of Japan.

There are four tournaments this first week of the 2026 ATP and WTA season (not including the United Cup), and there are a total of six Americans in those eight semifinals, with the ATP 250 in Brisbane, Australia have three.

Alex Michelsen will play the lone remaining seed, No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, while the other semifinal will be between Brandon Nakashima (Virginia) and Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois).

The fourth American man in a semifinal is Marcos Giron (UCLA), who will play No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan at the Hong Kong 250.

Iva Jovic has advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA250 in Aucklandwith the No. 3 seed facing top seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.

And at the WTA 500 in BrisbaneNo. 4 seed Jessica Pegula will play No. 16 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine for a place in the final.

Today’s news of the arrest of former USTA Florida Executive Director Doug Booth in North Carolina over the child abuse allegations came as a shock to me, but that’s because I hadn’t checked into the case USTA’s Safe Play Disciplinary Listwhere his name appears. I am personally Safe Play Certified, but I was not aware of this public list, and I urge all coaches, parents, and players to review it regularly when interacting with a new coach or teacher.