My monthly column for the Tennis Recruiting Network is up today, highlighting the top performances from juniors, collegians and former collegians. An unlikely double from the 2022 NCAA singles champion, lots of memorable moments for Wake Forest players, past and present, and first pro titles here in the US for two 16-year-olds.
Qualifying for the ITF J300 in Tucson begins Saturday, and the main draw wild cards, revealed today, include ITF junior No. 23 Gavin Goode. Goode has not played a junior event since the Australian Open.
The finals are set for the ITF J200 in Las Vegas, with doubles champions Ryan Cozad and Ford McCollum facing off in the singles final. Top seed Cozad defeated No. 11 seed Felix Roussell 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5), while No. 10 seed McCollum beat unseeded Justin Riley Anson 6-3, 7-5. Cozad and McCollum, the top seeds in doubles, defeated Andrej Markovic and Kahven Singh 6-2, 6-2 in the all-USA final.
The girls final will feature No. 2 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain and No. 5 seed Riyo Yoshia of Japan. Yoshida beat unseeded Armira Kockinis 6-1, 6-4 and Smart defeated unseeded Carlota Moreno 6-2, 6-4 to reach the final. Moreno will travel to Tucson with a trophy however, with she and Sophia Bedacsek, seeded eighth, beating No. 5 seeds Capucine Jauffret and Canada’s Charlize Celebrini 6-3, 6-3 in the girls doubles final.
At the
ITF J300 in Paraguay, Puerto Rico’s Yannik Alvarez won the doubles title and is through to the singles final, his first at the J300 level. Alvarez, the No. 2 seed, defeated unseeded Alvaro Ariel Frutos Alonso of Paraguay 6-3, 6-1 and will face No. 5 seed Damir Zhalgasbay of Kazakhstan in the final. Zhalgasbay, who had beaten top seed Jack Secord in the quarterfinals 3-6, 7-5, 6-0, took out No. 3 seed Emilio Comacho of Ecuador 6-0, 6-4 in today’s semifinal.
Alvarez and John Bothma of South Africa won the doubles title, their first as a team, but the 11th on the ITF Junior Circuit for Alvarez. The No. 3 seeds defeated unseeded Ignacio De Armas of Venezuela and Felipe Vazquez of Uruguay 6-3, 6-4 in today’s final.
The girls singles final will feature top seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina and unseeded Camila Rodero of Chile. In the girls doubles final, No. 2 seeds Maia Ilinca Burcescu of Romania and Alyssa James of Jamaica beat the unseeded team of Ophelia Korpanec Davies and Pavla Sviglerova of Czechia 6-3, 6-3.
Thara Gowda is warming up for the Tucson J300 with a stellar week at the W15 in Trois-Rivieres Canada. After qualifying for her first ITF women’s World Tennis Tour main draw, she is through to the semifinals after beating Canada’s Nadia Lagaev 6-4, 2-6, 6-0. Gowda will face top seed Ariana Arseneault(Georgia, Auburn) of Canada in Saturday’s semifinals. In the bottom half semifinal, No. 4 seed Dasha Ivanova will play No. 7 seed Ana Grubor of Canada.
The Easter Bowl, which begins March 21 in Indian Wells, has announced that adidas will serve as a presenting sponsor this year. FILA took over for adidas in 2022 and was the title sponsor for the past four years, but they bowed out when the company left the US market. Both companies put together a fantastic player party every year; I’ll be interested to see if that will continue this year. A pre-tournament release from Steve Pratt, the longtime Easter Bowl press liaison, is below.
Future of American Junior Tennis Will Once Again Be On
Display During 58th Annual Easter Bowl USTA Spring Nationals
March 21-29, 2026, At Indian Wells Tennis Garden
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (March 6, 2026) – The future of American tennis will once again be on display at the 58th Annual Easter Bowl USTA Spring Nationals Presented by adidas and taking place March 21-29 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, home to the BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 event.
One of the nation’s largest and most prestigious junior tennis tournaments, the Easter Bowl is a USTA Level 1 Spring National Championship in the 18s, 16s, 14s and 12s for both boys and girls with gold, silver and bronze balls handed out for top finishers in all eight singles and doubles divisions.
Current world-ranked No. 27, Irvine’s Learner Tien, played the prestigious Easter Bowl seven times as a junior, dating back to his debut in 2015. In 2019, Tien advanced to the Boys’ 14s singles semifinals and in 2021, he made it to the Boys’ 16s final as a 15-year-old. In his final Easter Bowl match as a 16-year-old playing in the 18s in 2022, Tien competed in the quarterfinals and fell to good friend and training partner Alex Michelsen, who went on to win the title.
Nearly every American men’s and women’s Grand Slam champion since the first tournament began in 1968 has competed in the Easter Bowl, a true pipeline to the professional ranks, including past winners and International Tennis Hall of Famers John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver and Jennifer Capriati. Recent past Easter Bowl champions include current pro stars, Fritz, Jenson Brooksby, Frances Tiafoe, Marcos Giron, Brandon Nakashima, Sofia Kenin, Taylor Townsend, Tommy Paul, Alex Michelsen, Emma Navarro and Iva Jovic, to name a few. Recent Australian Open winner Madison Keys and two-time 2025 Grand Slam finalist Amanda Anismova are also counted among Easter Bowl alumni.
Easter Bowl matches will once again be live-streamed on www.EasterBowl.com with more information to come. To keep up with all the Easter Bowl news, visit the website at www.easterbowl.com.
The iconic junior tournament started by Seena Hamilton in 1968 is considered the Super Bowl of junior tennis. Longtime Easter Bowl Chairman Emeritus Lornie Kuhle took over the event 14 years ago and was responsible for moving it to the Tennis Garden. There are few other junior tennis tournaments in the United States that possess the same rich history as the Easter Bowl. The tournament started in New York City and has been played in Florida, Arizona and California.
The college tennis weekend started out with a bang last night in Waco, with the tenth-ranked Baylor men taking out top-ranked Ohio State 4-2. The Buckeyes took the doubles point, but Baylor got points at lines 3, 1, 4 and 6 to hand the Buckeyes their second loss of the season. For more on the match and the box score, see this article from baylorbears.com.
And 24 hours later, women’s No. 1 Georgia lost a conference match on the road, falling to No. 35 Vanderbilt 4-2. Vanderbilt won the doubles point, then got straight-sets wins at lines 1, 3 and 6, with Georgia getting points at 4 and 5, with only line 2 going three sets. The iOnCourt box score is here.