Recent University of Tennessee graduate Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan advanced to his first M25 final with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over 17-year-old wildcard Jack Kennedy, who was seeking his first Pro Circuit final after losing in three M15 semifinals last year. The 23-year-old Mitsui, who has two M15 titles, will face No. 5 seed Keegan Smith, a former UCLA All-American, who defeated wild card Luca Pow, a junior at Wake Forest, 6-2, 7-6(7) in the lower semifinal of the first USTA Pro Circuit tournament of the year in Winston-Salem North Carolina.
Smith, 27, won an M25 title in 2022, when he reached his career-high ATP ranking of 339. The 2019 NCAA doubles champion won three M15 titles last year, the most recent in December in New Zealand, and he could approach that career-high ranking with the title Sunday.
At the first ITF J300 of the year, No. 5 seed Ekaterina Dotsenko of Russia won the girls title, while No. 2 seed Flynn Thomas of Switzerland took the boys championship.
Dotsenko, who only turned 14 in October, won the title at Les Petits As last January and posted a 37-5 record on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2025. She won five titles, two of which were at J100 level, but she was playing in her first J300 this week in New Delhi, India. She didn’t lose a set all week, with the seven matches she lost in today’s 6-4, 6-3 win over unseeded Miku Kitaoka of Japan being the most she lost in any match.
The 17-year-old Thomas, whose only title came at a J100 last year, claimed his first at the J300 level with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 win over No. 5 seed Arnav Paparkar of India. Both Thomas and Papakar will participate in the J300 in Tralragon and the Australian Open Junior Championshipswhich starts at the end of next week.
Defending champion United States lost in the semi-finals of the United Cup on Saturday dropping a 2-1 decision to Poland. Taylor Fritz lost to Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(1), 7-6(2), Gauff even pulled the USA with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Iga Swiatek, but Gauff and Christian Harrison could not continue their winning streak in doubles. They lost to Jan Zielinski (Georgia) and Katarzyna Kawa 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) to seal Poland’s place in the final for the third year in a row. They play against Switzerland, who defeated Belgium 2-1 in the other semi-final.
Brandon Nakashima (Virginia) has advanced to his first ATP final since 2022, when he won his only ATP title in his hometown of San Diego. At the ATP250 in Brisbanethe unseeded 24-year-old defeated Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) 7-6 (4), 6-4 to advance to a third meeting with top seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia. Medvedev defeated Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals.
Marcos Giron was defeated by No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Hong Kong ATP 250.
Jessica Pegula lost to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-0, 6-3 in the semifinals. WTA 500 in Brisbane and Iva Jovic was defeated by Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 7-6(5), 6-2 in the semi-finals of the WTA250 in Auckland.
Three Americans captured the doubles titles in this week’s Challengers. At the 125 in Canberra Australia, No. 3 seeds Mac Kiger (North Carolina) and Reese Stalder (TCU) defeated No. 4 seeds Blake Bayldon and Pat Harper (Tennessee) of Australia 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the final.
In the singles final in Canberra, Next Gen ATP Finals finalist Alexander Blockx defeated Raphael Jodar (Virginia) of Spain 6-4, 6-4.
Benjamin Kittay, a 2024 NCAA doubles finalist while at Michigan, teamed with Colombia’s Nicolas Barrientos (West Florida) to claim the title at the 125 in Bengaluru India. The No. 4 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez of France 7-6(9), 7-5 in the final. Kittay, 22, now has three Challenger doubles titles.
Hannah Klugman, who turns 17 next month, made the decision to leave junior tennis behind after last year’s US Open. She spoke to the LTA about that choice, and a number of other topics this editorial.
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