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SAN DIEGO, Calif. - A cool and sunny week at the Barnes Tennis Center ended last Saturday with a first ITF J300 title for boys champion Jack Satterfield and a sweep of the girls titles for Kristina Penickova in the second year of the North American Regional Championships in San Diego. No. 5 seed Satterfield ended his career-best week on the ITF Junior Circuit with a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-0 victory over No. 6 seed Jack Secord, while top seed Penickova, a finalist in 2024, took the winner's trophy this year by beating unseeded Raya Kotseva 6-1, 6-1.

Satterfield had made his way through the draw without dropping a set, breaking through to his first ITF J300 final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 8 seed Lachlan Gaskell. Secord's run to his second ITF J300 final was an abbreviated one, receiving a walkover from No. 4 seed Maximus Dussault in the quarterfinals and a retirement from top seed and Australian Open finalist Benjamin Willwerth, who suffered an injury in the first set of the semifinals and retired trailing 5-2.

The championship match was played on Stadium Court, which still featured logos from the recent ATP Challenger 100 played there, and many of the juniors and parents at Barnes for the USTA Level 4 saw similarities between Satterfield and Secord's level and that of the pros.

The first set was a riveting one, although nerves were evident in the opening few games. After Secord held to start the match, the next four games were breaks of serve, with Secord surrendering his second break advantage when broken at love at 3-1. As the jitters subsided, service holds became the norm, with seven holds sending the set to a tiebreaker.

Secord brought his best level to the tiebreaker, hitting three winners and a good first serve to go up 6-3. After 65 minutes of tennis, Satterfield missed a forehand long on Secord's first set point, yet he showed no signs of being discouraged or frustrated.

"At first we were missing some balls we usually don't miss, but at the end it got high level," said Satterfield, who lives and trains in Florida. "In the breaker, he played too good, but I thought if I stayed steady and stayed solid, he was going to break down. I saw he was getting a little tired and I knew he had something wrong with his shin—he's been dealing with it for a couple of weeks—so I knew if I kept grinding away he'd break down, so that's why I stayed confident for the second."

Satterfield credited his first serve with his fast start in the second set, with the 17-year-old taking a 4-0 lead.

"I got so many free points off my serve and my serve and plus-ones," said Satterfield, who is coached by Sukhwa Young at Eric Dobsha Tennis in Tampa. "It's such a game changer when you're starting out 30-0 in every game you serve."

Although Satterfield was broken serving for the second set at 4-0 and 5-2, Secord was unable to put a sustained run together, with the 16-year-old left-hander from Illinois unable to hold serve in the last two sets. As the third set unfolded, Secord gave the impression the right leg injury he had been nursing all week was worsening.

"Definitely when he was sliding back and forth I could see he was a little off balance, a little shaky," said Satterfield, who played excellent defense to prolong many rallies. "My plan was to just keep moving him side to side, and I knew I could go behind him or change direction, and that was working well."

Secord started the third set positively, getting Satterfield in a 0-40 hole in the opening game, but Satterfield won the next five points to hold, then immediately broke Secord, who began to struggle mightily with his forehand.

"I tried to bring it back in the third set, but he got that first game and he had the momentum and it was tough to bounce back," said Secord, who is coached by his grandfather Steve Wild.

"He played well the whole match really. He's tough; you've got to bring it every point with him and he really didn't give me a lapse mentally at all."

Secord was not offering his leg injury as a reason for his decline in level in the final two sets.

"I was struggling with some minor things, nothing crazy," said Secord, who had beaten Satterfield for the Eddie Herr 16s title in 2023. "It wasn't like I couldn't bring my level today. But props to Jack, he played pretty well."

Although he didn't display his top level in the third set, Secord did enjoy having an audience of junior players for the finals.

"I'm glad that they got to watch," Secord said. "It's fun that people would watch me, because I've always watched the older players."

Satterfield confessed that he was motivated by the spectators, which aren't always present at junior finals.

"It was super cool, I really wanted to put on a show and play my best tennis for them," said Satterfield, who will be joining Vanderbilt Commodores in the fall. "With so many matches going on with the L4, I wanted to impress the parents and kids. Hopefully they knew this wasn't an L4 match, but something higher," Satterfield joked.

With the title, Satterfield has secured entry into this summer's junior slams, the objective of nearly every American junior in this two-week Southern California hard court swing.

"That was a massive goal," said Satterfield, who reached the quarterfinals at the Indian Wells J300 the week before San Diego. "If I didn't do well in this tournament, I was going to go to a 200 in Canada to hopefully secure Wimbledon and the French, but now I don't have to go, which I'm so happy about."

The girls final that followed took less time than the first set of the boys championship match, with Penickova at the top of her game. After expressing disappointment with her level after her three-hour 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(4) semifinal win over unseeded Zaire Clarke, Penickova re-calibrated for her first meeting with the 14-year-old Kotseva.

"Definitely today was a lot better," said the 15-year-old from California, who trains with USTA Player Development in Florida. "I was hitting the ball a lot better and I was focused a little better. In the more important moments, I came out on top."

Kotseva also had a 7-6 in the third victory during the week, but it came in her first-round match with lucky loser Calla McGill, who led 6-1 in the tiebreaker before Kotseva snatched a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(9) decision. She then went on to defeat four seeds, three in straight sets, with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 5 seed Capucine Jauffret in the semifinals. Jauffret had upset No. 2 seed Annika Penickova, Kristina's twin, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

Kotseva, who was playing in her first J300 final, did not have a game point in the first set until she had already saved two set points serving at 0-5. She held that game, and had two break points in Penickova's service game, but Penickova held to take the 29-minute first set.

Kotseva began to play better at the close of the first and to start the second set, but Penickova never felt threatened, even as Kotseva's level improved.

"I was just really confident in my game and that I was going to be able to stay in those rallies, outplay her a little bit," said Penickova, who stepped up her serving performance dramatically in the final, both in first serve percentage and pace. "I was confident that I had a better game than her, was willing to stay in the point a little more, so her game wasn't going to bother me as much."

Penickova could see a little of herself a year ago in Kotseva, who at 14 was the same age as Penickova when she lost 6-3, 6-2 to Iva Jovic in the final.

"She's a great player and getting to the finals at her age is amazing," said Penickova, the 2025 Australian Open girls finalist. "Last year was definitely tough against Iva, she's insane, so I'm definitely happy to win it this time."

Kotseva admitted that Penickova's power was too much to overcome.

"Her shots, they have so much power in them it's actually very hard to change the rhythm, even get them back faster," said Kotseva, who is well-versed in that game style. "Her serve is very good and her forehand is incredible. I don't know how she does it."

Kotseva, who won the 14s Easter Bowl last year and the 12s Easter Bowl title the year before, is accustomed to big stages, and wasn't willing to blame the occasion for her slow start.

"There's nerves, but really, I was just excited to play," said Kotseva, who lives and trains in Las Vegas. "She started out very strong and didn't give me any time to change the rhythm, change my attitude. I could have done better, but it's ok, she played great."

DOUBLES

Penickova had already secured the doubles title on Friday afternoon, partnering twin sister Annika, with the Australian Open doubles champions extending their undefeated 2025 season with a second J300 title.

The top seeds were forced to a match tiebreaker twice, including in their 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-7 victory over No. 7 seeds Isabelle DeLuccia and Anita Tu in the final, but their experience and confidence were evident in those key moments.

After losing the first set of the championship match, the Penickovas made several adjustments.

"We were definitely more aggressive and were more active at the net," Kristina said. "I think we started reading them a bit better, adjusting a little in that sense, and started serving better as well, getting more free points with our serves. We played smarter and started to do more damage with our ground strokes as well."

Annika noted that their experience as a team goes much deeper than just matches played together.

"We just know each other really well, we're siblings, and have a little bit of, like, the doubles telepathy," Annika said. "We know what the other is going to do, how they are going to react, what to anticipate, what they're going to hit, so I think that gives us a big advantage. We're just used to it."

The Penickovas, who now have 10 ITF Junior Circuit titles together, insist they don't expect to win every event.

"It's obviously amazing that we can play this well and keep winning, but you do expect to lose at some point," Kristina said. "You don't expect to win every tournament. It's great that we are, but..."

"It's definitely a goal that you have for every tournament and when it's going great, it's going great," finished Annika, the left-hander in the partnership. "You're not surprised by the losses, you accept them and move on, but that hasn't been the case this year so far, so that's good."

Unlike the Penickovas, the boys doubles champions were a newly assembled team, with Michael Antonius and Roshan Santhosh, the No. 6 seeds, defeating No. 5 seeds Simon Caldwell and Gavin Goode 6-4, 7-6(9).

Santhosh reached out to Antonius a few weeks ago, looking for a partner and Antonius was a quick yes.

"I thought we would be a good team," said Antonius, a 15-year-old from New York. "I've seen his hands before and they're just so smooth at the net, with his drop volleys and his lobs, they're unbelievable. We both had the shots, it was just how it would play out."

Santhosh and Antonius had survived a match tiebreaker in the semifinals, defeating unseeded Justin Riley Anson and Tyler Lee 2-6, 6-2, 10-7, so they weren't stressed when Santhosh was unable to serve out the match at 5-3. Goode was broken serving for the set at 6-5, and Santhosh cited that game as a key to their win.

"They stepped it up, and the 6-5 game was the turning point," said Santhosh, a 16-year-old from California. "We played a solid match, but finishing it out got a bit tight at the end, the nerves and all that."

The subsequent tiebreaker was 6-6 at the second change of ends, after Antonius and Santhosh had saved a set point. They earned match points at 7-6 and 8-7, but failed to convert and Caldwell and Goode had another set point, on serve. They lost it, and after a double fault and a backhand wide, Santhosh and Antonius had claimed their first J300 title.

"Knowing we would have another chance (in a match tiebreaker) and that was their final attempt made it so we could play loose," Antonius said. "Sometimes I think it was too loose, at 5-3 maybe too casual, but it helped us in the tiebreaker to play some good shots and to stay solid."

The pair don't have any tournaments together coming up, but hope to join forces again soon.

"If we're playing in the same tournament, we'll probably be playing doubles," Santhosh said. "Our schedules are different right now, but we'll definitely reach out to each other in another tournament," Antonius said.

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at rhiannon@tennisrecruiting.net.