Top four boys seeds advance to ITF J300 Pan Am semifinals; Sohns and Hoo oust second and third seeds to reach the girls’ final four; Kennedy advances to M15 quarterfinals in Lexington

©Colette Lewis 2025–

Spring, Texas–

Three comebacks were needed, but when the boys’ quarterfinals concluded after noon on Thursday at the ITF J300 Pan American Closed Championships, the four top seeds had advanced.

The only quarterfinal in which the winner won the opening set No. 4 seed Andrew Johnson with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 10 seed Tanishk Konduri, a rematch of last Saturday’s Corpus Christi J200 final which Johnson won 7-5, 7-5.

While waiting for the winner of the match between top seed Gavin Goode and unseeded Navneet Raghuram, Johnson was likely anticipating Raghuram, who served for the match at 6-2, 5-4. But sloppy play left them 0-40 behind, and Goode smashed a backhand winner on his second break point to make it 5-all. After that he started to breathe easier and eventually recorded a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory.

“When he was up 5-4, I knew he was going to be a little tight, so I just let him play a lot of balls,” said the 17-year-old left-hander from Raleigh North Carolina. “He got a little nervous, missed a few balls and I started playing a lot better. I played a good service game at 5 level, made a lot of first serves and it just got easier from there.”

Goode extended his game-winning streak to five by holding to start the third set, then won one more by denying Raghuram a hold in a multiple two-game match that lasted more than 15 minutes.

“It was a super long race and after I won it I felt a burst of energy,” Goode said. “It looked like he was cramping a little bit, so it gave me a lot of hope for the third set. I used that as motivation, got him to play a lot more long rallies and he started looking for long points.”

Goode’s winning streak ended at six, when he lost his serve in the next game, but he immediately started a new streak, taking the next four games to close out the win.

Goode’s last tournament before this week was the ATP Challenger 75 in Winston-Salem North Carolina, where he qualified before falling 7-5, 6-1 in the first round to University of Virginia sophomore ATP 309 Rafael Jodar of Spain.

“I thought I played a little more freely in the Challenger Qualifiers because I was playing,” said Goode, who defeated former collegiate Karl Poling, the No. 5 seed, in the first round and Virginia sophomore Jangjun Kim of Korea to qualify. “In the first round (qualifying) I played against a guy who was 600 in the world and I was just happy to be there. But I came into the match and I actually thought I was the better player, playing well and playing freely, compared to today when I felt a lot tighter on the court and felt like I was the person who had something to lose. He played very well in the first set and a half, but when I finally got that second set, that was the whole difference.”

Johnson and Goode have split their two ITF Junior Circuit matches, both on hard courts, with Johnson winning the quarter-finals of the Las Vegas J60 in March 2024 and Goode winning the quarter-finals of the J200 in the Dominican Republic in February this year.

No. 2 seed Ryan Cozad came from a set down for the second straight match to beat unseeded Nikolas Stoot 2-6, 6-0, 6-3. He will face No. 3 seed Michael Antonius, who overtook unseeded Marcel Latak 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3 in a three-hour, 32-minute battle.

Antonius and Latak have played three times in the last two months, with Latak winning in three sets in the Kalamazoo 16s quarterfinals en route to the title, and Antonius winning their first-round match at the J300 in College Park, with Antonius reaching the final. So it was no surprise to anyone familiar with their history when the first set lasted 80 minutes.

“Every time we play it’s a very competitive match,” Antonius said. “The last three times it was three sets and today it was three and a half hours, so I don’t know how much harder it can get.”

Antonius got off to a good start and led 4-1 with a break point to take a 5-1 lead. But he didn’t convert, which he identified as a theme throughout the match.

“The whole game I was struggling to convert the game points,” said the 15-year-old from Buffalo New York, who now trains at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. “The ratio was like this: it took me three game point chances to convert and it cost him one. I had more chances, but if you don’t convert them, what’s the point?”

In the second set, Antonius led by a break at 4-3 and 5-4 but was broken back both times, wasting three set points before breaking Latak again. He was able to hold out on taking the kit after being allowed to take the time he needed to replace his shoes during the changeover.

Although conditions today were not as humid as the first few days, Antonius has to change shoes and clothes frequently due to excessive sweating. Antonius returned drier after the second set of clothing changes and again got off to a good start, breaking Latak in the opening game, and this time he was able to maintain that advantage over a tired Latak.

“I saw that he was getting a little tired,” Antonius said. “I didn’t see any physical problem, just that he was tired. I hit one drop shot and it wasn’t great, but he wasn’t going for it. So I told myself to just let him play. He’s very aggressive, so he’ll continue to hit some winners, but extending the games and the rallies is the best thing I can do to get him going while keeping him on defense. I also served much better in the third set, and it all started going well.” three hours later.”

Antonius and Cozad played in the semi-finals of the ITF J300 in Costa Rica in January this year, with Cozad, who went on to win the title, claiming a 6-2, 6-4 decision.

“He has played some exciting games here, so I am curious to see how he will feel physically,” Antonius said. “I know that too, and everyone at this stage of the tournament is tired. He’s always in Orlando and we always practice together, so I feel like we know each other’s games, so it’s just a matter of who can convert on that.”

While top seed Annika Penickova ended 15-year-old qualifier Sophie Suh’s run 6-2, 6-4, the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds could not join her in the semifinals as they both lost in straight sets.

No. No. 3 seed Capucine Jauffret lost to No. 5 seed Carrie-Anne Hoo 6-4, 6-2 and No. 2 seed Nancy Lee fell to 15-year-old Maggie Sohns, the No. 11 seed.

Sohns, who reached the final of the J200 in Corpus Christi last week, was not completely satisfied with her level but was happy with a victory over Lee after going 0-3 against her on the ITF Junior Circuit in the spring of 2024.

“I’ve known Nancy since we were 10 years old,” Sohns said. “We played in USTA 12-and-under L2s a number of times. I was never very successful; lately I played her in wild card playoffs in November and in May or March around that time.”

Sohns credited her serve with a large part of the success she had today.

“I served really well, which I didn’t do in the past when I played against Nancy,” Sohns said. “Nancy has a very good serve, so I knew I had to bring my best level of serve and return.”

Court 12 is shaded early in the day, with the light and shadows of the towering pine trees providing a challenging backdrop.

“I really think the conditions were tough,” Sohns said. “I don’t think either of us played our best tennis. I played with her on red clay last time and I haven’t practiced with her on hard courts for a long time, but the conditions were tricky with the shadows, and I think that was definitely a factor.”

Despite two weeks of competing in the South Texas heat, Sohns said she is holding up well.

“I don’t want to jinx it, but I feel great,” Sohns said. “I’ve been doing a lot of fitness, and that has helped a lot. I have a little tendonitis in my knee, so working on the small muscles is what really helps me.”

Sohns said she and Hoo also go back several years.

“Again, I’ve known Carrie since I was 10 years old, we’ve played each other a number of times, and the last time I played her was in February,” Sohns said. “I think we know each other’s games pretty well, so I’m excited about the game.”

Penickova will face No. 6 seed and reigning USTA Winter Nationals 18s champion Chukwumelije Clarke, who avenged her College Park first-round loss to No. 13 seed Janae Preston 7-5, 6-3 in August.

The doubles finals are scheduled for Friday afternoon, with championship matches for both boys and girls pitting the No. 1 seed against an unseeded team.

Top girls Pennickova and Jauffret came from behind to beat No. 3 seeds Isabelle DeLuccia 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 in Thursday afternoon’s semifinals. Their opponents in the final are Lucy Oyebog and Lillian Santos, who defeated No. 4 seeds Preston and Zaire Clarke 6-2, 6-4.

Boys top seeds Cozad and Goode, who won the last J300 they played as a team in College Park, defeated unseeded Tyler Lee and Mason Vaughan 6-4, 6-2 to reach the final. The unseeded team of Stoot and Sebastian Bielen prevented all four boys’ singles semifinalists from competing in the doubles final when they defeated No. 2 seeds Antonius and Johnson, last week’s Corpus Christi champions, 7-5, 2-6, 10-4.

The three singles semifinals featuring doubles finalists begin at 9 a.m. Central, with Hoo and Sohns not scheduled until 10:30 a.m. The doubles finals are not before 1 p.m

The 17-year-old from New York defeated No. 6 seed Blu Baker of Great Britain 7-6(6), 7-6(8) in the first round on Wednesday and Alex Kotzen (Columbia, Tenn.) 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 today. He will play No. 3 seed Karl Poling (Princeton, UNC) in Friday’s quarterfinals.