Bookended by the last junior slam of the year and the fifth ITF J500 of 2024, September produced first-time titles for teenagers on both the junior and pro circuits. Division I college tennis crowned its first champions of 2024-25, while current and recently graduated collegians also earned their share of the spotlight as summer turned to fall.
Rafael Jodar
Seeded No. 12 at the US Open Junior Championships last month, Jodar was initially overshadowed by the three junior slam champions in the draw. But he beat them in succession to join that exclusive club. The right-hander from Spain, who turned 18 shortly after the tournament, defeated Roland Garros champion Kaylan Bigun of the United States 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-5 in the quarterfinals, Australian Open champion Rei Sakamoto of Japan 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals and Wimbledon champion and top seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(1) in the final, becoming the third Spanish boy in the past four years to claim the singles title in New York. He is now a career-high 4 in the ITF junior rankings.
Mika Stojsavljevic
The unseeded 15-year-old had a breakout tournament at the US Open Junior Championships, becoming the first British girl to win a junior slam singles title since Heather Watson won the US Open in 2009. Stojsavljevic defeated top seed and two-time slam finalist Emerson Jones of Australia 7-5, 6-4 in the third round, and No. 3 seed Iva Jovic of the United States 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals to set up the championship match with No. 7 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan. Stojsavljevic took it 6-4, 6-4, becoming the youngest US Open girls champion since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2006. She is now No. 8 in the ITF junior rankings.
Mika Buchnik
The 17-year-old from Israel reached the semifinals of the J300 in South Africa, which was not completed due to rain, then had a 20-hour flight to Osaka, Japan for a Tuesday first-round match at the J500 Mayor's Cup. That daunting travel schedule didn't stop Buchnik from claiming her first ITF Junior Circuit title above the J200 level, with four of her six victories coming in three sets, including the final. The first Israeli to claim a J500 title, the ninth-seeded Buchnik defeated No. 10 seed Alana Subasic of Australia 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-2 in the final, boosting her ITF junior ranking to a career-high of 26. (Photo credit: Paul Ballard)
Hoyoung Roh
The 18-year-old from Korea captured his first J500 title last week in Japan, with the No. 8 seed dropping just one set in his six victories in Osaka. That came in his 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 quarterfinal win over top seed and 2024 Australian Open finalist Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic. Roh then defeated No. 6 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals and No. 7 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain 7-6(2), 7-6(3) in the championship match. Roh is now up to a career-high ITF junior ranking of 12.
Alina Korneeva
The 17-year-old Russian was well on her way to the WTA Top 100 last year after winning both the Australian Open and Roland Garros girls singles titles. As high as 128 in February, Korneeva's rapid rise hit a snag in the form of wrist surgery, and she was out until last month. In her first tournament in the comeback, a WTA 250 in Tunisia, she reached the doubles final; in her second tournament, a W100 in Portugal, she captured the title. Unseeded, Korneeva defeated No. 4 seed Anastasia Zakarova of Russia 6-1, 6-4 in the final, with the title moving her WTA ranking up to 228. (Photo credit: Paul Ballard)
Learner Tien
The 18-year-old left-hander from Irvine, California won his second ATP Challenger title last month at the Las Vegas 75, with the No. 3 seed defeating No. 6 Tristan Boyer 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in an all-Southern California final. The two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion, who played one semester at the University of Southern California in 2023, now has a 45-8 record this year despite missing three months with a rib injury. Currently 148 in the ATP rankings, Tien has the highest ranking of any player under the age of 19. (Photo credit: Jon Mulvey/USTA SoCal)
Jake Fearnley
As impressive as Tien has been the past five months, the 23-year-old from Great Britain has had an even more stunning rise. The recent TCU graduate, who helped deliver the Horned Frogs first NCAA team title in May, won two Challenger titles last month, both on indoor hard courts in France. At the Rennes 100, the eighth-seeded Fearnley defeated No. 4 seed Quentin Halys of France 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the final. The following week at the Orleans 125, Fearnley, again seeded eighth, defeated No. 5 seed Harold Mayot of France 6-3, 7-6(5) in the final for his fourth Challenger title in the last four months. With an ATP ranking of 525 when he left Fort Worth for the pro tour, Fearnley is now at 98.
Oliver Tarvet
The junior at the University of San Diego swept the titles at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma last weekend, the first player to capture both singles and doubles since Virginia's Thai Kwiatkowski in 2015. The 20-year-old from Great Britain, seeded No. 3, received a walkover in both the semifinals and finals to claim the first All-American title by a Torero. The second followed shortly thereafter, with Tarvet and Stian Klaassen beating Baylor's Marko Miladinovic and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-5 in a final between two unseeded teams. Tarvet has now earned All-American honors for the season and will compete in both singles and doubles at the NCAAs in November.
Maria Sholokova
The junior from the University of Wisconsin shook up the women's ITA All-American Championships in Cary, North Carolina early on, taking out top seed and defending champion Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M in the second round. The 20-year-old from Russia proved that was no fluke, posting four more victories, with the last a 6-3, 6-3 win over qualifier Elza Tomase of Tennessee that delivered the first All-American Championship title in Badger history. With the title Sholokova earned All-American status for this season, the program's first since 1998. (Photo credit: ITA)
Kari Miller
The recent University of Michigan graduate won her first USTA Pro Circuit title at the Huntsville W15 in August as a qualifier and took her second last month, at the ITF women's World Tennis Tour W35 in the Dominican Republic, via the same path. The 22-year-old from Ann Arbor defeated three of the top five seeds en route to the title, posting a 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory over No. 3 seed Zhibek Kulambayeva of Kazakhstan in the final. An All-American at Michigan in singles and doubles in 2023 and 2024, Miller has improved her WTA ranking from 1082 to 626.
Chris Rodesch
The 23-year-old from Luxembourg claimed two International Tennis Federation men's World Tennis Tour titles last month in Hong Kong, his third and fourth since graduating from the University of Virginia in May. The three-time All-American won the $25,000 tournament unseeded, beating four seeds in his five straight-sets victories, including a 7-5, 6-4 decision over No. 4 seed Alexey Zakharov of Russia in the final. At the $15,000 event the following week, the third-seeded Rodesch defeated top seed Colin Sinclair of Northern Mariana Islands 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final, winning all four tiebreakers he played during the week. Rodesch is now at 456 in the ATP rankings.
Dasha Vidmanova
The University of Georgia senior won her first three ITF women's World Tennis Tour singles titles this summer, with the biggest one, a W35 in the Dominican Republic, coming early last month. Unseeded, the 21-year-old from the Czech Republic defeated No. 1 seed Sahaja Yamalapalli of India 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals and eighth-seeded teammate Alexandra Vecic of Germany 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the final. The 2024 NCAA doubles champion is now at a career-high 484 in the WTA rankings.
Antoine Cornut Chauvinc
The 24-year-old from France, who concluded his All-American career at Florida State last May, won his first ITF men's World Tennis Tour title in nearly four years last month in his home country. After three wins in qualifying at the $25,000+Hospitality tournament in Plaisir, Cornut Chauvinc beat No. 2 seed and former Stanford star Arthur Fery of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals and top seed and former Washington star Clement Chidekh of France 6-4, 1-1, retired in the final. With the title, the 2024 NCAA doubles finalist is at 752 in the ATP rankings.
Iva Jovic
The 16-year-old from Torrance, California captured her second USTA Pro Circuit title last week at the W35 in Berkeley, California. After reaching the semifinals of the US Open Junior Championships last month, on the heels of a first round win in women's singles in New York, the 2024 USTA National 18s champion was riding a wave of success. After saving a match point in her second round win over fellow teenager Ena Koike of Japan in Berkeley, the No. 2 seed advanced in straight sets in her next two matches to face 18-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada, the No. 5 seed. Jovic earned a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory to boost her WTA live ranking to a career-high of 265.
Justin Engel
The teenager from Germany, who turned 17 Tuesday, was 14-10 this year in ITF junior circuit play, but has caught fire this summer, winning four $15,000 tournaments on the ITF men's World Tennis Tour. The fourth came in France last month, when the No. 3 seed defeated top seed Louis Bouquet of France 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to run his winning streak in the WTT to 10. He then won three more matches in qualifying last week at a $25K in Spain before dropping his first-round match. Engel is now 522 in the ATP rankings, the best ranking of any player under the age of 18. (Photo credit: Richard van Loon)
Maxim Mrva
The 17-year-old from the Czech Republic started September with the boys doubles title at the US Open, then went on to claim his first ITF WTT men's title at the $15,000 tournament in his home country. Receiving entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program, Mrva beat top seed Oleg Prihodko of Urkraine 7-5, 0-6, 7-6(6) in the semifinals and No. 6 seed Milos Karol of Slovakia 6-4, 7-5 in the championship match. Currently No. 7 in the ITF junior rankings, Mrva is now 888 in the ATP rankings.
Federico Cina
The 17-year-old from Italy won his first ITF WTT men's singles title last month at the $15,000 tournament in Romania. The 2023 US Open boys semifinalist, who was unseeded, defeated top seed Dan Alexandru Tomescu of Romania 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals, then beat No. 6 seed Ioan Alexandru Chirita of Romania 6-4, 6-0 in the final. Cina, who had reached the final of a $15K in Tunisia in February, is now at a career-high of 704 in the ATP rankings. (Photo credit: Paul Ballard)
Sonja Zhiyenbayeva
The 18-year-old from Kazakhstan won her second ITF women's World Tennis Tour title last week in Madrid, defeating the No. 3 and No. 1 seeds in the quarterfinals and semifinals. In the final, the eighth-seeded Zhiyenbaheva defeated No. 5 seed Alice Gillan of Great Britain 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 to run her record in ITF women's WTT events to 19-6 this year. Currently at a career-high of 16 in the ITF junior rankings, Zhiyenbayeva will break into the WTA Top 700 for the first time when the points are added.
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30-Aug-2024 August Standouts Shine on Hard Courts
The hard courts take center stage in August leading up to the US Open, and many former collegiate stars had great performances that landed them a spot in the Aces column for the month.
31-Jul-2024 Former Collegians Shine on Grass, Clay in July
From grass at Wimbledon and Rhode Island to clay in Sweden, Hungary and Croatia, former collegians had a banner month in July, with milestones for both veterans and newcomers to professional tennis. Wimbledon Junior champions also made the cut.
3-Jul-2024 Success on All Surfaces Produces Aces in June
From the clay of Roland Garros to the hard courts of Southern California and the grass of Europe, great performances from juniors, current collegians and former collegians on all surfaces produced a wide variety of highlights in June.
Colette Lewis
has covered topflight U.S. and international junior
events as a freelance journalist for over a decade.
Her work has appeared in Tennis magazine, the Tennis
Championships magazine and the US Open program. Lewis is active on
Twitter,
and she writes a weekly column right here at TennisRecruiting.net.
She was named
Junior Tennis Champion
for 2016 by Tennis Industry Magazine.
Lewis, based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has seen every National
Championship final played since 1977, and her work on the
tournament's ustaboys.com website
led her to establish
ZooTennis,
where she comments on junior and college tennis daily.
Colette Lewis has covered topflight junior events as a freelance journalist for over a decade.
Read her weekly column, follow her on Twitter, and
and find more of her daily commentary at ZooTennis.
