Two Americans are through to Wednesday's finals of the Junior Orange Bowl in Coral Gables Florida, with Tristan Ascenzo competing in the 14s and Evan Fan in the 12s.Ascenzo gave himself an opportunity to avenge his IMG Academy International semifinal loss to Mohamed Genidy earlier this month, while Fan has stepped up this tournament after a third round exit in Bradenton. Fan has also advanced to
about 2 months ago
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The ITF has released the 2025 year-end junior rankings, with American Kristina Penickova and Bulgaria Ivan Ivanov finishing at the No. 1 spot.Penickova won two junior slam doubles titles this year, and finished as runnerup at the Australian Open Junior Championships, but her biggest singles title in 2025 was the J300 in San Diego, back in March. She barely beat out US Open singles and World
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Fort Lauderdale FL--Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands and Xinran Sun of China closed out a successful green clay swing in South Florida Sunday, becoming the first players from their countries to win prestigious Orange Bowl 18s titles in the tournament's 79th year.Spectators were required to choose which of the six 9 a.m. finals to watch at the newly renovated Jimmy Evert
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Fort Lauderdale FL--Kristina Liutova had let one match point slip by, hitting a backhand wide at 5-3, 40-15 in the third set in her Orange Bowl semifinal match Saturday with No. 6 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia. The second match point ended with a long rally and a mark check on the far sideline by the chair umpire with Cvetkovic pleading that Liutova's ball was wide.
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Fort Lauderdale FL--The Orange Bowl is heading into its championship weekend, but if you missed any of last week's daily coverage of the ITF J300 in Bradenton, you can find my recap of the titles for Jordan Lee and Kristina Liutova today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. A third straight jam-packed day of tennis was on the menu at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center, but when
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Fort Lauderdale FL--Wednesday heat and humidity disappeared Thursday morning, with temperature in the 70s and a light breeze providing perfect conditions for a long day of Orange Bowl competition at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center.When the final match finished under the lights, ten US boys and four US girls had advanced to the round of 16 of the ITF J500, and all the
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Fort Lauderdale, FL--Before I get into the action today at the Orange Bowl, which finally dried out after a day and a half of rain, take a minute to look at my Tennis Recruiting Network article on the 12s, 14s and 16s tournaments at the IMG Academy International Championships last week in Bradenton. These weeks in Florida and Mexico that close out the junior calendar are not
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Fort Lauderdale FL--Sunshine has been in short supply at the Orange Bowl, with play canceled on Monday at 3:30 p.m. due to rain and lightning and Tuesday's matches starting in light drizzle with barely three hours of action on court before heavy rains ended all hope of competition at 1:30 p.m. at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center at Holiday Park.This is my 20th Orange Bowl, and
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Fort Lauderdale FL--In the 20 years I've been attending the Eddie Herr, now known as the IMG Academy International Championships, I've made the trip to the other side of the state for the Orange Bowl Championships. The first six years of my coverage of that event were at Crandon Park's hard courts on Key Biscayne; the next 13 years, the historic event was held at the Veltri
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton FL--Last year Jordan Lee received one of the inaugural Nick Bollettieri trophies presented the IMG Academy International champions after he claimed the Boys 16s title. A year later, on the same court, Lee earned another Bollettieri statuette by defeating unseeded Dimitar Kisimov of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-6(3), capping off a improbable return from injury with a historic
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton FL--When the dense fog cleared and the IMG Academy hard courts dried, the six finals of the IMG Academy lnternational Championships proceeded, with history on the line for the countries of Greece, Venezuela and Egypt. Those three countries had never had a singles champion at the prestigious tournament, formerly known as the Eddie Herr International, and the
about 2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton FL--Before I get into all the action at the IMG Academy International Championships and ITF J300 here in Bradenton, it's that time of month when I highlight the top performances of the previous month by current and former collegians and juniors for the Tennis Recruiting Network. It's another huge international collection of accomplishments, which includes
2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton FL--Jordan Lee had a difficult 2025, with a wrist injury keeping him out of competition for more than eight months. Yet on the green clay courts of the IMG Academy, the 15-year-old wild card is back to winning again, with the 2024 16s champion advancing to the ITF J300 quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-0 thumping of No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland Thursday morning."After
2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton FL--I decided to make the trip to the Legacy Hotel Courts on the West Campus of the IMG Academy, and although only 11 matches were played on the six courts, I was there for more than six hours, with three-setter after three-setter prolonging the second round of the ITF J300.Seven of those 11 matches (No. 4 seed Alan Wazny of Poland got a walkover due to Carel
2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton FL-- Rain has been an infrequent visitor the first week of December at the IMG Academy International Championships and ITF J300 this decade, but a morning shower on Tuesday left the hard courts needing several hours to dry, sending the 12s divisions second round singles matches indoors and postponing the first round of doubles until Wednesday.Because the ITF J300 is
2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025-Bradenton FL--The IMG Academy was buzzing all day Monday with over 500 players, as well as their coaches and families, on site for the first round of singles in the 12s, 14s and 16s divisions and the first day of main draw competition for the ITF J300. It didn't take long for a major upset to be recorded, with ITF No. 93 Alisa Terentyeva of Russia defeating top seed and
2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton Florida--A beautiful day to end the holiday weekend was even more enjoyable for the 16 players who won two matches on the green clay to qualify for the ITF J300 Bradenton main draw, while eight players in the younger age divisions earned their spots in Monday's first round with victories on the hard courts of the IMG Academy. (A list of all 12s, 14s and 16s
2 months ago
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©Colette Lewis 2025--Bradenton FL--This year's qualifying for the ITF J300 at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida is back to being played on the ten green clay courts on the East Campus and the six green clay courts at the IMG Legacy Hotel on the West side of the sprawling sports complex. Last year, the 16s were moved to green clay due to hurricane damage to the hard courts they usually play on,
2 months ago
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The USTA National Indoor Championships began this morning at eight sites across the country, with two rounds of singles scheduled for the four-day tournament, which has 64-player draws.Below are the seeds for all eight divisions, along with a note if they lost a match today, although many have not yet completed their second match of the day. Click on the headers to see the draws.SEEDS:B12s
2 months ago
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Photo by Oxana Melis on Unsplash It's a quiet time in the tennis world, especially here in the United States, and I'll be taking tomorrow off for the Thanksgiving holiday. This lull is the perfect time to thank my sponsors at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, the Southern California Tennis Association Foundation and the John McEnroe Tennis Academy for
2 months ago
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This will be my last update on the Division I early signing period; my previous post, with the first batch of those signing National Letters of Intent, available here.Signings will continue in the coming weeks as programs scramble for recruits who will begin their college careers in January. Many of articles linked to below do distinguish between those starting in spring of 2026 and those who are
2 months ago
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Newly crowned NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier won't have much time to celebrate her victory in yesterday's final, with the North Carolina senior leading the USA team in next month's 18th annual Master'U BNP Paribas university championships in France.Today, the ITA announced the team that will be representing the United States in the eight-team competition which will take place
2 months ago
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Columbia's Michael Zheng etched his name among the greats of college tennis Sunday at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Florida, winning his second straight NCAA men's singles title with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory over SMU's Trevor Svajda.Zheng didn't play particularly well in the first set, but Svajda also did not compete at the level he showed in the three previous matches, with the occasion
2 months ago
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Americans will play for all four NCAA titles Sunday, led by defending champion Michael Zheng of Columbia, who is making history with every win he records at the Division I individual championships this week at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona Florida.For the second straight match, the 21-year-old senior needed a third set to keep his winning streak alive, but he took control after
2 months ago
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Rebounds from first set losses were the theme of the singles quarterfinals Friday at the NCAA Division I Championships in Lake Nona Florida, with five of the eight semifinalists taking that route.Three of the four men's semifinalists posted comebacks, including defending champion Michael Zheng of Columbia, who dropped his first set of the tournament before defeating No. 8 seed Ozan Baris 4-6, 6-3
2 months ago
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