Sesko and Efremova Claim Australian Open Junior Singles Titles

The Australian Open Junior Championships concluded Sunday in Melbourne with Ziga Sesko of Slovenia and Ksenia Efremova of France coming through tight battles to earn their first junior slam titles.

In the boys final, No. 7 seed Sesko became the first Slovenia boy to win a junior slam singles title, coming back to defeat No. 4 seed Keaton Hance of the United States 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Hance took the opening set after getting a second break of serve for a 3-2 lead and holding to close out the opening set. Hance was not getting many first serves in but he was returning well and winning rallies behind his second serve.

Sesko picked up his game in the second set, got his forehand under control and came from 0-30 down serving at 1-1 to find a higher level. He continued to serve well, and kept Hance playing defense, with his winner count by the match's end nearly twice that of Hance at 32 to 17.

Sesko finally broke Hance to take a 4-2 lead, but he needed to save a break point serving for the set, which he did with a forehand winner, to close out the second set 6-3.

The third set began with Sesko maintaining his level from the second set, and he broke Hance for a 3-1 lead. Hance held and then broke back, with Sesko playing a rare poor game serving at  3-2, but Hance dropped his next service game at love. Sesko held quickly for a 5-3 lead but Hance wasn't ready to concede, saving two match points in his service game with a forehand winner and a good first serve to put the pressure back on Sesko. 

Sesko was up to the task, starting with an ace and ending with a good first serve that Hance shanked high in the air, with a few seconds passing before it bounced well out and the electronic line calling recorded voice made the call. 

The two 17-year-olds embraced at the net, and the crowd in the Rod Laver Arena was generous in their applause after an entertaining final.

Sesko is the first player traveling with the ITF's Grand Slam Player Development Touring Team to win a junior slam title since Ricardas Berankis in 2007.

In the girls final, which was first up on Rod Laver Arena, No. 3 seed Ksenia Efremova of France prevailed over unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia 6-3, 7-5, with the match a study in contrasting styles.

Statistics don't always tell the story of a match, but in this case provide some insight, although intangibles and physical issues also played a role.

Efremova hit only five winners and made 18 unforced errors, while Tupitsyna struck 21 winners and made 45 unforced errors.

Although Efremova is a year younger, the 16-year-old, born in Russia but now representing France, has much more experience at the highest level of junior tennis. She has been touted as a future star since the 12s, trains at the Mouratoglou Academy and was a quarterfinalist in Melbourne as a 14-year-old in 2024. 

Tupitsyna had not won a match in her only other two junior slam appearances last year, and that may have been a factor in her slow start. She quickly fell behind 4-0, with Efremova simply keeping the rally going long enough for Tupitsyna to miss. 

But Tupitsyna held for 4-1 and began to find her form, with the pace and depth she had displayed all week putting her right back in the set. She got one break back and held a second time for 4-3, even earning a break point in Efremova's next service game. But Efremova, who made 72 percent of her first serves, held her advantage with a good first serve to make it 5-3 and then broke Tupitsyna from 40-15 up to claim the set.

After Tupitsyna took a bathrrom break, she came out firing, taking a 3-0, two-break lead with her power too much for Efremova. But after dropping serve after having a point for a 4-0 lead, Tupitsyna asked for a trainer and went off-court for nine minutes, returning with her left thigh heavily taped. 

She lost the next five games, with the injury obviously affecting her side to side movement, but Efremova couldn't serve out the match at 5-3. Tupitsyna made one last push, holding for 5-all, but Efremova did not panic, winning two key points serving at 30-all to take the 6-5 lead.

The next game also went to 30-all, but Tupitsyna made the error in a 22-shot rally and Efremova took her opportunity to end it on her first chance.

Efremova is just the second French girl to win the Australian Open girls title and the first since Virginie Razzano in 1999. She will rise to No. 1 in the ITF junior rankings with the title.

Hance Faces Sesko in Australian Open Boys Final, Efremova and Tupitsyna Meet for AO Girls Title; Harrison and Skupski Capture Men's Doubles Title in Melbourne; Bender and Gardality Win Les Petits As Doubles Championship

I am planning to do two posts today, this one with a recap of Saturday's single semifinals and doubles finals at the Australian Open Junior Championships, and one much, much later tonight, after the completion of Sunday's singles finals.

For the fourth time in five years, an American boy has reached the Australian Open final, with Keaton Hance joining Bruno Kuzuhara(2022), Learner Tien(2023) and Benjamin Willwerth(2025) after beating No. 8 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.

After a messy win over Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan in the quarterfinals, the fourth-seeded Hance was in notably better form against Nurlanuly, who made 34 unforced errors, while hitting only nine winners. Nurlanuly started well, with a 3-1 lead, but Hance was able to lift his level enough to win five straight games and take the 36-minute set.

Nurlanuly had four double faults in the first set, which didn't help his cause, but even more damaging were the two he had in the first game of the second set, both at deuce. Hance broke after the second and held easily for 2-0, and while Nurlanuly kept within range, he appeared to be physically hampered in the last half of the set, taking an off-court medical timeout before Hance served at 3-2. Hance showed no signs of being bothered by the delay, holding at love for 4-2 and breaking quickly for a 5-2 lead. 

Serving for the final, Hance went down 15-30, but won the next three points, closing out the match with a forehand winner and an ace.

Hance's opponent in the final will be No. 7 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, who beat No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan 6-3, 6-3, in similarly routine fashion. Unlike Hance, who had 10 winners and 22 unforced errors, Sesko was net positive in winners with 26, against 22 unforced errors and faced only one break point.

Neither Sesko nor Hance, both 17, had been beyond the singles quarterfinals of a junior slam until this week, and while Hance is hoping to emulate Kuzuhara, the last American boys champion in Melbourne, Sesko is in unchartered waters for his country as the first Slovenia boy to make a junior slam singles final.

Both Hance and Sesko were 0-1 against their semifinal opponents, with those losses coming at the 2022 ITF World Junior Tennis 14U team competition in the Czech Republic. That is also the same tournament where Hance and Sesko met for the only time, with Sesko winning their match 6-2, 6-0 in the round robin stage.

In the girls semifinals, unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia continued her unexpected run, beating No. 8 seed Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-4.  After getting a break to go up 3-2 in the first set, Frodin lost eight straight games. Down 4-0, Frodin got one of the breaks back and held for 4-3, but couldn't draw even, and Tupisyna held at love earn her spot in the final. The 17-year-old had not won a match in her two previous appearances at junior slams in 2025.

In the only semifinal to go three sets, No. 3 seed Ksenia Efremova of France defeated unseeded Rada Zolotareva of Russia 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. The 16-year-old, who changed her representation from Russia to France earlier in her junior career, is playing her third Australian Open Junior tournament, having reached the quarterfinals in her 2024 debut as a 14-year-old. She also reached the quarterfinals at last year's US Open Junior Championships.

As is the tradition at the Australian Open, the junior finals are played back-to-back on Rod Laver Arena usually before the women's singles final. With the junior tournament ending on a Sunday this year, they will be played prior to the men's final, beginning with the girls final at 8 p.m Saturday in the United States, followed by the boys final.

The girls doubles title was won by top seeds Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova, who beat unseeded Tereza Hermanova and Denisa Zoldakova 6-1, 6-3 in an all-Czech final. The Kovackova sisters now have won two junior slams in a row, after taking the US Open girls doubles title last September. 

The boys doubles title went to the unseeded pair of Connor Doig of South Africa and Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria, who beat the Australian wild card team of Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose 6-3, 6-4 in the final. 

For more on the junior doubles finals, see this article from the Australian Open website.

Christian Harrison and Great Britain's Neal Skupski(LSU) won the men's doubles title, with the No. 6 seeds beating Australian wild cards Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans 7-6(4), 6-4. It's the first slam title for Harrison and the second for Skupski, with this their first major as a team. For more on the final, see this article from the Australian Open website.

No. 4 seeds Elise Mertens of Belgium and Shuai Zhang of China won the women's doubles title, beating No. 7 seeds Anna Danilina(Florida) of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final.

No. 5 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan won the women's singles title, beating No. 1 seed Aryna Savalenka of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

The singles finals are set and the doubles champions have been crowned at Les Petits As, the prestigious 14-and-under tournament in Tarbes France.

Qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland has already won seven matches this week, dropping just one set in the process, with the 13-year-old facing last week's champion in Bolton, No. 16 seed Lyoma Hotelier of Japan, in Sunday's final. 

Mitchell defeated No. 9 seed Luis Bernardo Saraiva of Portugal 6-3, 6-4, while Hotelier beat No. 10 seed Jonas Waelti of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2 for his tenth consecutive win.

Top girls seed Elizavetz Anikina of Estonia defeated No. 5 seed Polina Kashitsyna of Russia 7-6(5), 6-1 to reach the final, where her opponent will be No. 10 seed Aleksandra Karabanova of Russia. Karabanova defeated unseeded compatriot Vasilisa Marchenko 6-1, 6-4 in Saturday's semifinals.

Karabanova won the girls doubles title with Kashitsyna; the No. 4 seeds defeated the unseeded Russian team of Varvara Makarova and Ildana Zaripova 6-3, 7-5 in the final.

The unseeded American team of David Bender and Daniel Gardality won the boys doubles title, beating No. 5 seeds Martin Adamca and Matteo Sanson of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Bender and Gardality took out the No. 4 and No. 7 seeds in the second and quarterfinal rounds.

Live streaming and live scoring can be found here.

Hance and Frodin Reach Australian Open Junior Semifinals, Traralgon Champions Upset in Quarterfinals; Peers Defends AO Mixed Title; Bender and Gardality Advance to Les Petits As Doubles Final; Brady Reaches San Diego W100 Semifinals

Thea Frodin and Keaton Hance both advanced to Saturday's semifinals at the Australian Open Junior Championships, but there was little similarity in the manner they accomplished that acheivement.

Frodin, the No. 8 seed, needed just over an hour to defeat No. 13 seed Mariia Makarova 6-3, 6-0, winning the final nine games of the match.

The 17-year-old from California had 16 winners and 13 unforced errors and never faced a break point despite getting only 45 percent of her first serves in.

Makarova was unable to get back on track after a close first half of the opening set. The 16-year-old from Russia made 23 unforced errors and hit just eight winners, and had only a few game points in those last nine games, when the match was all but decided.

Frodin will face unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia, who battled back to beat Traralgon champion Xinran Sun of China 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. Sun was up 4-2 in the second set and served for the match at 5-4 in the third, but Tupitsyna continued to take aggressive cuts and aim for the lines to earn the biggest win of her junior career.

Frodin needed less time to win her match than it took her boyfriend Hance to claim his first set in his 7-6(7), 6-4 win over No. 11 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan.

Much of that was due to Hance's 51 unforced errors, that saw him go from 2-0 up in the first set to Chen serving for it at 5-4. But despite all the forehand errors, some of which could no doubt be attributed to the speed and consistency of Chen, Hance kept competing, and after saving a set point in that game with a deep ball that handcuffed Chen, broke back. He then lost serve again, but again broke back to send the set into a tiebreaker.

Up 6-5 in the tiebreaker, Hance then lost both of his serves with unforced errors, but he saved a second set point with a perfectly executed volley; on his second set point, he finally ended 75-minute set with a forehand winner.

The second set looked to be firmly in Hance's control when he broke his fellow 17-year-old for a 4-1 lead, but Hance then proceeded to lose his next two service games without earning a game point in either. 

But in Chen's service game, Hance got an opportunity at 30-40 and outlasted Chen in a long rally, with Chen eventually hitting a forehand wide to put Hance up 5-4. Somewhat surprisingly, given the history of the match, Hance closed it out easily, with four first serves, two of his 29 winners and two return errors by Chen.

Hance will face No. 8 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan, who needed nearly three hours to shake unseeded Kai Thompson of Hong Kong 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. Nurlanuly is in his second consecutive junior slam semifinal, after becoming the first player from his country to advance that far at the US Open.

In the bottom half, No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan made his second career junior slam final four, with the Roland Garros semifinalist beat No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(7) in two hours and 45-minutes, saving four match points serving at 5-6 in the third set.

Tabata will face Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, who avenged his two 2025 losses to Traralgon champion Luis Guto Miguel 6-2, 7-6(5). Sesko has not lost a set this week after losing in the third round last week in Traralgon.

Hance and Nurlanuly met for the only time way back in 2022 in the ITF World Junior Tennis team event for 14U players, and that is also the same tournament where Sesko got his win over Tabata in their only other meeting.

Three unseeded teams and one No. 1 team will compete in the doubles finals Saturday.

The Australian wild card team of Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose will face Conner Doig of South Africa and Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria for the boys title.

Top seeds Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic will play for their second straight junior slam doubles title, with the US Open champions facing compatriots Tereza Hermanova and Denisa Zoldakova in the girls doubles final.

In the Australian Open mixed doubles final Friday, wild cards John Peers and Olivia Gadecki of Australia defended their title, beating unseeded Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard of France 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. Peers, a former standout at Middle Tennessee State and Baylor, and Gadecki are the first team to defend a mixed title at the Australian Open since Jana Novotna and Jim Pugh(UCLA) accomplished that in 1988 and 1989. For more on the mixed doubles final, see this article from the ATP website.

The Les Petits As singles semifinals and doubles finals are set, and despite all the chaos the first four days of the tournament, there is still a good chance a seed will win all four events.

Two Swiss boys have advanced to the singles semifinals, with qualifier Richard Mitchell facing No. 9 seed Luis Bernardo Saraiva of Portugal in the top half.

No. 10 seed Jonas Waelti of Switzerland will face last week's champion at Bolton, Lyoma Hotelier of Japan, the No. 16 seed.

Top seed Elizaveta Anikina may have faced her toughest test in the third round against Bolton champion and No. 16 seed Anna Kapanadze of the United States, but Anikina was back to her previous form today, surrending just two games. She will play No. 5 seed Polina Kashitsyna of Russia, who has yet to drop a set in her four wins.

Unseeded Vasilisa Marchenko of Russia will face a third Russian finalist, No. 10 seed Aleksandra Karabanova, after Karabanova defeated unseeded Nadia Poznick, the last American in singles, 6-0, 6-1.

No. 4 seeds Karabanova and Kashitsyna will play for the doubles title against unseeded compatriots Varvara Makarova and Ildana Zaripova. Makarova and Zaripova defeated Poznick and Czech partner Beata Maresova 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals today.

The unseeded American doubles team of Daniel Gardality and David Bender will play for the boys doubles title after beating Hotelier and Reita Yamanaka of Japan 6-2, 6-4 in today's semifinals. They will face No. 5 seeds Martin Adamca and Matteo Sanson of Slovakia in the championship match.

Live streaming and live scoring is available here.

At the W100 in San Diego, former UCLA All-American Jennifer Brady's comeback is proceeding smoothly, with the 30-year-old advancing to the semifinals. 

Brady, who accepted a wild card into her first event since October of 2023, beat No. 3 seed Cadence Brace of Canada, a sophomore at LSU, 7-5, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals. She will play No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva, who beat top seed Louisa Chirico 7-6(7), 6-3.

No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) is through to the semifinals after LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada, the No. 4 seed, retired trailing 5-2 in the first set. Stoiana will face No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik, who needed two hours and 20 minutes to get past 15-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Frodin and Hance Reach Quarterfinals at Australian Open Junior Championships; Poznick Advances in Singles and Doubles at Les Petits As; Karki, Johnson Post Wins at Naples M15; Liutova, Brady Through at W100 San Diego

Seventeen-year-olds Thea Frodin and Keaton Hance begin their final year of ITF Junior Circuit competition with their first junior slam singles quarterfinals after picking up straight-sets victories Thursday at the Australian Open Junior Championships.

Frodin, seeded No. 8, defeated unseeded Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine 6-4, 7-5, while Hance, the No. 4 seed, got past unseeded Simone Massellani of Italy 6-0, 6-4. 

Frodin will face No. 13 seed Mariia Makarova of Russia Friday(tonight in the United States), with Hance's opponent No. 11 seed Kuan-Shou of Taiwan. 

No. 6 seed Xinran Sun of China, last week's Traralgon J300 champion, will play unseeded Ekaterina Tupitsyna in the other quarterfinal in the top half. No. 10 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan faces No. 3 seed Ksenia Efremova of France and No. 11 seed Yushan Shao of China will play unseeded Rada Zolotareva of Russia in the bottom half quarterfinals.

Unseeded Kai Thompson of Hong Kong faces No. 8 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan in the top quarterfinal, with the survivor playing the Hance-Chen winner. 

In the bottom half, No. 5 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany, a TCU signee, will face No. 3 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan and No. 2 seed and Traralgon champion Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil will play No. 7 seed Ziga Sesko of Slovenia.

Miguel and Sesko are the only quarterfinal opponents who have met before, with Miguel beating Sesko twice last year, in the quarterfinals of the J300 in Belgium and the semifinals of the J300 in Canada. Miguel won the title at both events.

There are no Americans left in doubles, which is extremely rare, with at least one American boy claiming the Australian Open doubles title every year from 2022 through 2025, and at least one US girl winning in three of the last four years.

Thursday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Keaton Hance[4] d. Simone Massellani(ITA) 6-0, 6-4

Thea Frodin[8] d. Antonina Sushkova(URK) 6-4, 7-5

Doubles quarterfinals:

Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose[WC](AUS) d. Vihaan Reddy and Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga(COL) 6-2, 6-4

Connor Doig(RSA) and Dimitar Kisimov(BUL) d. Keaton Hance and Tanishk Konduri[4] 7-6(5), 7-6(4) 

Alena and Jana Kovackova[1](CZE) d. Capucine Jauffret and Tahila Kokkinis(AUS) 6-2, 6-2

Mariia Makarova and Rada Zolotareva(RUS) d. Thea Frodin and Anastasija Cvetkovic(SRB)[3] 6-4, 7-5 

Tereza Hermanova and Denisa Zoldakova(CZE) d. Melije Clarke and Nancy Lee 6-4, 6-3

Jessica Pegula lost to Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 7-6(7) in the women's semifinals, ending the string of American women in a slam final at five.

Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski(LSU) of Great Britain will play in the men's doubles final after beating the winners of the last two slams, Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 6-3, 7-6(7).  They will play the Australian wild card team of Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans in Saturday's final. 

The quarterfinals are set for at the Les Petits As in Tarbes France, with unseeded Nadia Poznick the sole American remaining in singles. 

Poznick, a blue chip from Ann Arbor, beat Ania Curuia of Romania 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 today in the third round. No. 16 seed Anna Kapanadze, who won the title last week in Bolton England, played top seed Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia in the only girls match that  featured two seeds, with Anikina rebounding for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win.

No. 15 seed Rex Kulman lost to qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2.

Poznick will face No. 10 seed Aleksandra Karabanova of Russia in the quarterfinals. 

Poznick will play in the doubles semifinals Friday with international partners. Poznick and Beata Maresova of the Czech Republic, who are unseeded, will play the unseeded pair of Varvara Makarova and Ildana Zaripova of Russia in the semifinals.

The unseeded American pair of Daniel Garadality and David Bender have also reached the doubles semifinals, where they will play the unseeded Japanese pair of Reita Yamanaka and Lyoma Hotelier.

Live streaming and live scoring can be found here.

At the M15 this week in Naples Florida, both 18-year-old Ronit Karki and 16-year-old wild card Andrew Johnson have reached the quarterfinals of an ITF men's World Tennis Tour tournament for the first time with wins in the second round today. 

Johnson, who opted to skip the Australian Open Junior this year, defeated qualifier Adam Lynch(Barry) 6-2, 6-1; Lynch had beaten top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) in the first round. Johnson sill play No. 8 seed Will Grant(Florida) Friday.

Stanford signee Karki, who received entry via the iTF's Junior Reserve program, beat No. 4 seed Sebastian Gima of Romania 7-5, 7-5 and will play Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia) in the quarterfinals.

Several notable results from the W100 in San Diego, with 15-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova beating Juliet Pareja 6-2, 6-3 in the first round and then getting a 3-2 first set retirement win over No. 7 seed Arianne Hartono(Ole Miss) of the Netherlands in the second round today. She will face either No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik or qualifier Ema Burgic(Baylor) of Bosnia.

And former UCLA star Jennifer Brady, who had been out for over two years due to injury, has won her first two matches, beating Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the first round and No. 8 seed Kayla Day 6-4, 6-2 in the second round today.  Brady will play either LSU sophomore Cadence Brace of Canada, the No. 3 seed, or wild card Alexis Nguyen, a North Carolina signee, in Fridays' quarterfinals.

Also through to a quarterfinal meeting are No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) and LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada.

Top Seed Kovackova Loses in Third Round of Australian Open Junior Championships; Pegula Through to Women's Semifinals; All Top Eight Boys Seeds Out after Round 2 at Les Petits As; ITA Team Indoor Fields Set, Locations Determined

Top seed Alena Kovackova followed her younger sister Jana, the No. 2 seed, out of the Australian Open Junior Championships Wednesday, losing to No. 13 seed Mariia Makarova 7-6(3), 7-5 in the third round. Kovackova was the only seed to exit Wednesday, when only half of the round of 16 matches were played, but three unseeded players booked their places in a junior slam quarterfinal for the first time: Kai Thompson of Hong Kong, a Central Florida recruit; Ekaterina Tupitsyna and Rada Zolotareva.

The two Americans remaining in singles play their third round matches Thursday(tonight in the US): Thea Frodin and Keaton Hance. The ITF Junior Circuit website has articles about both of them: Frodin is featured here and Hance is featured here.

In Thursday's doubles quarterfinals, five teams featuring Americans are in action.

Thursday's matches featuring Americans:

Third round singles:

Keaton Hance[4] v Simone Massellani(ITA)

Thea Frodin[8] v Antonina Sushkova(URK)

Doubles quarterfinals:

Vihaan Reddy and Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga(COL) v Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose[WC](AUS)

Keaton Hance and Tanishk Konduri[4] v Connor Doig(RSA) and Dimitar Kisimov(BUL)

Capucine Jauffret and Tahila Kokkinis(AUS) v Alena and Jana Kovackova[1](CZE)

Thea Frodin and Anastasija Cvetkovic(SRB)[3] v Mariia Makarova and Rada Zolotareva(RUS)

Melije Clarke and Nancy Lee v Tereza Hermanova and Denisa Zoldakova(CZE)

The only American remaining in the Australian Open men's and women's singles is Jessica Pegula, who beat Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-6(1) in the quarterfinals Wednesday.  She will face Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in Thursday's semifinal.

Ben Shelton(Florida) lost to Jannik Sinner of Italy 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Christian Harrison, playing with Great Britain's Neal Skupski(LSU), is the only American left in doubles. The No. 6 seeds will play No. 3 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in the semifinals Thursday. Granollers and Zeballos are the reigning Roland Garros and US Open doubles champions. 

The chaos continued at Les Petits As Wednesday, with all of the boys top eight seeds now out after the second round. Boys top seed Anastasis Mosaikos of Cyprus lost today to French wild card Timeo Malandain 7-6(3), 7-6(5) and No. 3 seed Rafael Papoian lost to qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

I don't know if they've changed the seeding process this year, but it's been as poor a result from the seeds as I can remember in my two decades of following the tournament in Tarbes.

The top seed in the girls draw, Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia, is still alive; she will face No. 16 seed and Bolton champion Anna Kapanadze of New York in the third round Thursday. There are a total of six seeds left in the girls singles draw, with IMG International and Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion Ayaka Iwasa of Japan, the No. 4 seed, among them.

In addition to Kapanadze, two other Americans have advanced to the third round: No. 15 seed Rex Kulman and unseeded Nadia Poznick.

Live streaming and live scoring is available here.

After a lot of messy weather for the Kickoff Weekend regionals, the fields are finally set for the ITA Division I women's (February 6-10) and men's (February 13-17) Team Indoor Championships next month.

Two of the women's teams who will travel to Illinois did not play a match due to their opponents being unable to complete the trip: Georgia and Texas. The Texas A&M women ended up playing their one match, against Arizona State, at the Hawkins Indoor Center at Baylor. All the men's regional finals were played, but the results from the men's regionals were unprecedented, with three No. 4 seeds advancing and seven hosts failing to qualify.

Kickoff Weekend final match results:

WOMEN:

*North Carolina[1] d. UNC-Charlotte[2] 4-0

*Virginia[1] d. Southern California[2] 4-0

*Tennessee[1] d. Clemson[4] 4-3

*Duke[1] d. South Carolina[3] 4-0

Oklahoma State[2] d. Texas Tech[1]* 4-0

*Georgia[1] advanced to Team Indoor without playing a match

*LSU[1] d. UCLA[2] 4-1

*Auburn[1] d. Florida State[3] 4-0

Vanderbilt[2] d. Michigan[1]* 4-2

*Ohio State[1] d. Iowa[4] 4-0

*Oklahoma[1] v Stanford[2] 4-1

*Texas[1] advanced to Team Indoor without playing a match

*Texas A&M[1] d. Arizona State[2] 4-0

*NC State[1] d. Florida[3] 4-3

*Kickoff host

Northwestern and Illinois, as hosts, receive byes into the 16-team event.

MEN:

Clemson[4] d. Harvard[2] 4-1

*Virginia[1] d. Michigan[2] 4-0

*Mississippi State[1] d. Auburn[2] 4-2

Texas A&M[3] d. Duke[4] 4-2

*Wake Forest[1] d. Vanderbilt[2] 4-0

Florida[2] d. Columbia[1]* 4-2

*Stanford[1] d. Rice[2] 4-0

*Texas[1] d. South Florida[2] 4-0

*Ohio State[1] d. Purdue[2] 4-0

UC Santa Barbara[2] d. UCLA[1]* 4-1

Arizona State[4] d. Princeton[2] 4-3

Central Florida[2] d. Oklahoma[4] 4-3

LSU[4] d. Pepperdine[3] 4-2

*TCU[1] d. Georgia[2] 4-1

*Kickoff host

SMU and Baylor, as hosts, receive byes into the 16-team event.

The two-site format for Team Indoor Championships now in its second year, requires a split of the 16 teams, and today the ITA released the information on who is assigned where:

WOMEN:

Northwestern site:

Auburn

LSU

Georgia

NC State

Northwestern

Oklahoma State

Tennessee 

Virginia

Illinois site:

Duke

Illinois

North Carolina

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Texas

Texas A&M

Vanderbilt

It appears to me, and I know it's early, that the field at Northwestern is loaded with contenders, with the Illinois field less strong overall.

SMU site:

Arizona State

Clemson

Florida

Mississippi State

Ohio State

SMU

Stanford

Virginia

Baylor site:

Baylor

LSU

Texas A&M

TCU

Texas

UCF

UC Santa Barbara

Wake Forest

I think it's unfortunate that all the men's teams from the state of Texas will be in Baylor, as SMU had such good crowds when Texas and Texas A&M played in Dallas last year on the first two days. 

The semifinals and finals will be again be played at Northwestern and SMU.

The latest coaches poll rankings are out, with the Top 10 shown below. Click on the heading for the full list of 25.

Top 10 Teams ITA D-I January 28, 2026

MEN:

First place votes in brackets (not applicable for women), previous ranking in parentheses

1. Wake Forest[13] (1)

2. Virginia (2)

3. Stanford (3)

4. TCU (5)

5. Texas (4)

6. Ohio State (6)

7. Mississippi State (7)

8. Texas A&M (11)

9. Central Florida (12)

10. San Diego (8)

WOMEN:

1. Georgia (1)

2. Texas A&M (2)

3. North Carolina (3)

4. Auburn (4)

5. LSU (5)

6. Oklahoma (6)

7. Duke (8)

8. Oklahoma State (10)

9. NC State (11)

10. Ohio State (12)

Two US Juniors Advance to Round of 16 at Australian Open; Wins By Seeds Scarce at Les Petits As; Four USTA Pro Circuit Events Underway in California and Florida

All three Americans who played their Australian Open quarterfinal matches Tuesday lost, with Iva Jovic, Learner Tien and Coco Gauff seeing their runs ended at the first major of the year. On Wednesday(tonight in the US), at least one American is guaranteed to reach the semifinals in women's singles.

Tuesday's quarterfinal results of Americans:

Aryna Sabalenka[1](BLR) d. Iva Jovic[29] 6-3, 6-0

Elina Svitolina[12](UKR) d. Coco Gauff[3] 6-1, 6-2

Alexander Zverev[3](GER) d. Learner Tien[25] 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-6(3)

Wednesday's quarterfinal matches featuring Americans: 

Jessica Pegula[6] v Amanda Anisimova[4]

Ben Shelton[8] v Jannik Sinner[2]

The results of Americans at the Australian Open Junior Championships were only slightly better Tuesday, with the last two US players in the singles draws No. 8 seed Thea Frodin and No. 4 seed Keaton Hance.

Neither are playing in singles Wednesday, with the cancellation of wheelchair matches Tuesday due to heat pushing half of the third round of singles matches until Thursday.  Several Americans are playing in second round doubles matches Wednesday; Frodin, Capucine Jauffret and Vihaan Reddy advanced to the doubles quarterfinals with their international partners with wins Tuesday.

Top seeds Ryo Tabata of Japan and Yannick Alexandrescou of France lost in the second round to the Japanese team of Hyu Kawanishi and Kanta Watanabe 7-6(7), 6-2; no seeded teams remain in the top half of the boys doubles draw.

Tuesday's second round Australian Open junior matches featuring Americans:

Keaton Hance[4] d. Mark Ceban(GBR) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

Nikita Bilozertsev[6](UKR) d. Vihaan Reddy 4-6, 6-1, 6-4

Ntungamili Raguin[Q](BOT) d. Gavin Goode[15] 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

Thea Frodin[8] d. Anastasia Lizunova(RUS) 7-5, 6-4

The first round of singles concluded today at Les Petits As, and after the two days of singles results, only 10 of the 16 girls seeds and just seven of the 16 boys seeds have advanced.

Two of the boys seeds falling were from the United States, with No. 4 seed Camelot Carnello losing to Bolton finalist Frederick Fabricius of Great Britain 6-3, 6-3 and No. 8 seed David Bender suffering a 7-5, 0-6, 6-0 loss to Loris Da Silva of France,

In the girls draw, No. 2 seed Emilia Henningsenof Denmark lost to qualifier Alessandra Urga of Germany 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.  

Unseeded American Nadia Poznick defeated No. 14 seed Dina Jaoid of Morocco 6-0, 6-0.

Both top seeds in singles, Anastasis Mosaikos of Cyprus and  Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia, did advance to the second round, but Mosaikos and parnter Enzo Brito of Sweden, the top seeds, did not survive in doubles, losing to the Australian team of Christopher Manton and Novak Palombo 6-3, 6-2.  The top seeded team in girls doubles withdrew and the No. 2 seeds in both girls and boys doubles lost, so that competition is wide open.

Live streaming and live scoring is available here.

There are four tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit this week, two at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego and two on opposite sides of the state of Florida.

The first ATP Challenger of the year in the United States is the 100 in San Diego, with Sebastian Korda taking a wild card into tournament after his first round loss to Columbia senior Michael Zheng at the Australian Open. Korda is the top seed, with Rinky Hijikata(North Carolina) of Australia the No. 2 seed.

The other wild card went to Colton Smith(Arizona), who is the No. 7 seed.

Qualifying was completed today, with four Americans advancing to the main draw:  Evan Zhu(UCLA), Felix Corwin(Minnesota), Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) and Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest).  Dostanic will face Hijikata in the first round.

Only three of the six first round matches on Tuesday's schedule have been completed, with SMU junior and NCAA singles finalist Trevor Svajda defeating Micah Braswell(Texas) 6-2, 6-2, Blaise Bicknell(Florida, Tennessee) defeating Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-4, 7-5 and Toby Samuel(South Carolina) of Great Britain beating No. 8 seed Tristan Boyer(Stanford) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

The women's event, also at Barnes, is a W100, with former UCLA star Jennifer Brady beginning her comeback as a wild card. Brady will play former Georgia All-American Katarina Jokic of Serbia later this evening.

Other players receiving wild cards are North Carolina recruit Alexis Nguyen, who saved three match points in her 3-6, 7-6(11), 6-2 first round win today over Catherine Harrison(UCLA),  and 2023 US Open girls champion Katherine Hui(Stanford), who will play No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) in the first round.

Katerina Scott, who was unexpectedly announced as an addition to the University of Tennessee's team last week, will face LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada in the opening round.

Qualifiers include Washington resident and 2025 Bradenton ITF J300 champion Kristina Liutova, who beat Ena Koike of Japan 6-2, 6-3 in the final round of qualifying today in her first W100 competition; Ava Markham(Wisconsin); Jo-Yee Chan (Oregon, San Diego State) and Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State).

Louisa Chirico is the top seed, with Elli Mandlik the No. 2 seed.

The other women's event is a W75 in Vero Beach Florida, where Caroline Dolehide and Whitney Osuigwe are the top seeds. The only American to qualify was Dasha Ivanova.

Wild cards were given to Sachia Vickery; Victoria Hu(Princeton), who will play No. 6 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada; Ellie Schoppe(Furman, Florida State) and Susana Souhrada of El Salvador. Souhrada will face W35 Weston champion Akasha Urhobo in the first round. 

The men's event in Florida is an M15 in Naples, with Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) and Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy the top two seeds. 

Qualifying concluded today with six Americans reaching the main draw: Adam Lynch(Barry), Dakotah Bobo(Southern Miss, LSU), Matthew Segura, 2024 Kalamazoo 16s champion Gus Grumet, Matthew Thomson(Wake Forest) and 16-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr.

Wild cards were given to 16-year-old Andy Johnson, who won his first round match today against Evan Bynoe 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; Hunter Heck(Illinois) and 33-year-old Darian King of Barbados.

2025 Wimbledon boys finalist Ronit Karki received entry via the ITF's junior reserved program, and he won his first round match 6-3, 6-3 today over Fermin Tenti of Argentina.

After he did not elect to make the trip to Australia, I was expecting to see Michael Antonius in this draw as a wild card; he hasn't played since the Orange Bowl. Jordan Lee was overseas last week, where he reached the final of a J200 in Tunisia, which was obviously impacted by bad weather with all the short scoring used.