Major Upgrades for the ITF Junior Circuit in the US; Smith’s ITF winning streak reaches 13 in Winston-Salem M25; Three Americans and Andreescu advance to W35 Bradenton Semis; Jovic plays for Hobart Title

As I mentioned earlier this month, I had the opportunity to speak with Dan Holman and Tracy Davies of the USTA about the newly regionalized ITF Junior Circuit here in the United States and the five new J200s, in Las Vegas, Sumter, Nashville, Cincinnati and Delray Beach, that are part of that restructuring.

I wrote this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network about the philosophy behind this restructuring, which will continue in 2027 and 2028, and the financial involvement of the USTA that these J200s represent. The US has lagged behind its global counterparts on that particular level, mainly because that includes hospitality, which obviously increases costs for organizers.

The two J200s on red clay this spring are an interesting development, as are the many J30s and J60s that will adopt the round robin/knockout format introduced by the ITF this year.

Here are the USTAs updated National Junior Calendar 2026.

The semifinals of the USTA Pro Circuit tournaments this week, the M25 in Winston-Salem NC and the W35 in Bradenton Floridawith seven Americans and one former US Open women’s champion.

In North Carolina, last week’s Winston-Salem M25 champion Keegan Smith (UCLA) extended his ITF winning streak to 13 matches with a nearly three-hour 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-5 victory over former Wake Forest No. 1 Stefan Dostanic in today’s quarterfinals.

Fourth-seeded Smith, who won an M15 title in New Zealand last month, will face unseeded Quinn Vandecasteele (Oregon), who defeated qualifier Alex Kotzen (Columbia, Tenn.) 6-3, 7-5. Smith defeated Vandecasteele 6-1, 6-1 in the second round last week.

The top half semifinals feature qualifier Will Grant (Florida) and NC State graduate Braden Shick. Grant defeated Karl Poling (Princeton, UNC) 6-1, 6-2 and Shick defeated Wake Forest freshman Mees Rottgering 7-6 (5), 6-4.

In tonight’s doubles final, last week’s champions Shick and Dan Milavsky (Harvard), the No. 2 seeds, made it two in a row, defeating unseeded Wake Forest teammates Dominick Mosejczuk and Pole Kacper Szymkowiak 6-4, 6-3.

In Bradenton, rain on Thursday forced a majority of competitors to play both the round of 16 and quarterfinals today. 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada, the top seed, was among those who recorded two wins today. She defeated Britain’s Ella McDonald, a recent addition to the LSU roster, 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 16 and No. 8 seed Tatiana Pieri of Italy 6-2, 6-1.

Andreescu’s opponent in Saturday’s semifinals will be No. 6 seed Lea Ma, who beat Rain on Thursday and thus needed just one win today to reach the semifinals. The former Georgia All-American defeated Japan’s Ena Koike 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Andreescu and Ma met at the ITF Juniors in 2014, with Andreescu winning their second round match at the J60 in Atlanta 6-2, 7-6(3).

In the bottom half, No. 5 seed Vivian Wolff (Georgia, UCLA) defeated wildcard Olivia Lincer (UCF, Oklahoma State) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 and No. 3 seed Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden 7-6(1), 6-3. Wolff will play No. 2 seed Hina Inoue, who battled through two long three-setters to reach the semifinals. She defeated Kylie Collins (Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 in the round of 16 and qualifier Shilin Xu of China 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.