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My article about Junior Practice Partners at ATP Dallas Open; Zheng and Jodar receive BNP Paribas Open Main Draw Wild Cards; Exsted watches Wolf at Naples M15; Three teens advance to W35 Arcadia Semis; Easter Bowl Entry Lists
Tennis

My article about Junior Practice Partners at ATP Dallas Open; Zheng and Jodar receive BNP Paribas Open Main Draw Wild Cards; Exsted watches Wolf at Naples M15; Three teens advance to W35 Arcadia Semis; Easter Bowl Entry Lists

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As I mentioned earlier this month when I wrote about attending the Dallas Open while I was there for the ITA Men’s Indoor Team, I don’t see much professional tennis live. I watch a match here and there at Wimbledon and the US Open, but I’m usually too busy with the juniors to watch much more, so I usually watch pro tennis at the ATP Challenger or WTA 125 level.

While I enjoyed my day at the Dallas Open and wrote about two of the matches I saw here, I was also preparing an article about the local juniors who served as practice partners for the pros. I enjoyed talking to both Eliot Spizzirri and Ethan Quinn about their experiences in that role as juniors, and to four of the juniors who were on site that day to warm up and practice with the pros. I’m not sure I understand what a rite of passage such a role is for juniors, but I hope so this Tennis Recruiting Network article shows the importance of this internship.

The wildcards for the women’s main draw were awarded to Venus Williams, Bianca Andreescu of Canada, Donna Vekic of Croatia, Jennifer Brady (UCLA), Sloane Stephens, Alycia Parks, Katie Volynets and 2025 Roland Garros girls champion Lilli Tagger of Austria.

The men’s qualifying wildcards include five teenagers, the oldest of which is 19-year-old SMU junior Trevor Svajda. Stanford freshman Jagger Leach, 18, received a qualifying wild card to win the ITF J300 Indian Wells title last March; he is joined by reigning Kalamazoo champion Darwin Blanch, 18-year-olds, 16-year-olds Andy Johnson and 15-year-old Izyan Ahmad, who is part of the BNP Paribas-sponsored high performance group at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.

The women’s qualifying wild cards, on the other hand, were given to an older group: Elli Mandlik, 24, Elvina Kalieva, 22, Mary Stoiana (Texas A&M), 22, and teenagers Akasha Urhobo, 19, Julieta Pareja, 17, and Australia’s Emerson Jones, 17. Pareja, like Leach, earned her qualifying wild card as the 2025 ITF J300 Indian Wells champion.

Eighteen-year-old Max Exsted, a first-year at USC, has advanced to his second M15 semifinals this week in Naples, Floridaby defeating No. 8 seed Kaylan Bigun (UCLA) 6-3, 6-3 in their first meeting. Exsted, who reached his first M15 semi-final in December, played for more than four hours yesterday, but that did not translate into any advantage for the 19-year-old Bigun. Exsted plays wild card JJ Wolf (Ohio State), who has had no problems at this level in his first competitive matches in more than a year. Wolf defeated unseeded Evan Bynoe 6-2, 6-1 in today’s quarterfinals. The top half of the quarterfinals features No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia and unseeded John Hallquist Lithen (Ole Miss) of Sweden.

Exsted and Tobon, the top seeds, will play for the doubles title on Saturday against unseeded Adam Jones and Toby Martin of Great Britain.

For the second week in a row, three teenagers advance to the semifinals of a USTA Pro Circuit W35. One of them, 16-year-old Kristina Liutova, won the title in Las Vegas last week; this week in Arcadia CaliforniaLiutova further extended her winning streak by defeating No. 7 seed Haley Giavara (Cal) 7-5, 6-0 today.

Liutova will play 17-year-old qualifier Thea Frodin, who defeated No. 4 seed Hanna Chang 6-4, 6-1 today. They haven’t played in the juniors or on the Pro Circuit. Frodin, a girls Australian Open semifinalist, reached the semifinals of a USTA Pro Circuit W15 last fall but will play in her first semifinal at the W35 level on Saturday.

Top seed Akasha Urhobo defeated No. 5 seed Eryn Cayetano (USC) 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-1 and will play No. 3 seed Lea Ma (Georgia), who defeated No. 6 seed Julieta Pareja, a semifinalist last week, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

The selections for next month USTA National Level 1 Easter Bowl have been published for all four age groups, with the 12s and 14s set to play from Saturday 21st March to Thursday 26th March and the 16s and 18s competing from Tuesday 24th March to Sunday 29th March.

Winter Nationals champion Dimitriy Flyam tops the boys 12s acceptance list, while Summer Yang, the Winter Nationals doubles champion, tops the girls 12s list.

Les Petits Quarter-finalist Nadia Poznick, Bolton and National Indoor Champion Anna Kapanadze and recent ITF J60 Claremont Champion Isha Manchala lead a strong field for Girls 14s, with National Indoor Champion Ishaan Marla topping the list for Boys 14s.

Lennart Hammargren and national indoor champion Eli Kaminski are 1 and 2 on the boys 16 year acceptance list, with national indoor champion Sylvana Jalbert and winter national champion Shristi Selvan in the top two on the girls 16 year list.

Omar Rhazali and Yashwin Krishnakumar led the boys 18s field, while Kalamazoo 16s champion and last year’s Easter Bowl 16s champion Marcel Latak also competed. Tristan Stratton, who defeated Latak in the Easter Bowl 16s final, is also on the acceptance list.

Calla McGill and Ellery Mendell are the top two competitors in the girls’ 18s, with Easter Bowl 16 champion Armira Kockinis keen to add another Easter Bowl title to her CV.

#article #Junior #Practice #Partners #ATP #Dallas #Open #Zheng #Jodar #receive #BNP #Paribas #Open #Main #Draw #Wild #Cards #Exsted #watches #Wolf #Naples #M15 #teens #advance #W35 #Arcadia #Semis #Easter #Bowl #Entry #Lists

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