Teens Basavareddy, Quan and Svajda Reach Little Rock Challenger Quarterfinals; Singles NCAA Champion Noel, Doubles Champions Cash and Tracy Receive US Open Wild Cards; Rain Leads to Postponed Junior Qualifying Matches at Roland Garros

It's been quite a week for SMU rising sophomore Trevor Svajda and UCLA rising freshman Rudy Quan, with the two 18-year-old Southern Californians making their first ATP Challenger quarterfinals at the 75 in Little Rock with wins today.

Svajda, a wild card, defeated qualifier Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-4, 7-6(5) to advance to a fourth meeting in the past ten months with Nishesh Basavareddy. Basavareddy, 19, defeated qualifier Christian Langmo(Miami) 7-5, 7-5 to reach his fourth Challenger quarterfinal. Svajda defeated Basavareddy in the Kalamazoo 18s semifinals last year 7-6(3), 6-1 and then in the final of the March USTA Pro Circuit $25K in Calabasas 6-4, 6-1. Basavareddy won their most recent encounter, beating Svajda 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the NCAA team championships at the beginning of this month. 

Quan, who defeated Andres Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, his second consecutive win over Andrade this month, after beating him in the quarterfinals of the $15K in Orange Park Florida four weeks ago. Quan's opponent Friday will be Yuta Shimuzu of Japan, who reached the quarterfinals when No. 5 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia retired trailing 6-1 in this evening's match.

In the top half of the draw, top seed Alexis Galarneau(NC State) of Canada will face No. 6 seed Mitchell Krueger and Brandon Holt(USC) will take on No. 8 seed Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida).

Matches can be streamed live, and on demand, at the Challenger TV page on the ATP website, with Mike Cation providing commentary.

The USTA announced today that Americans Alexa Noel(Miami), the NCAA Division I singles champion, and Robert Cash and JJ Tracy(Ohio State), the NCAA Division I doubles champions, have been awarded main draw wild cards into the US Open. For several years now, the USTA had made the NCAA wild card announcement by mid-June; this timing is even better, taking all the "expected" and "traditional" language out of references to these customary, but not guaranteed wild cards. NCAA men's singles finalist Michael Zheng(Columbia) will receive a qualifying wild card, as he did last year. Today's release:

Alexa Noel, Robert Cash and JJ Tracy Awarded US Open Wild Cards; Michael Zheng Receives US Open Qualifying Wild Card

FLUSHING, N.Y., May 30, 2024 -- The USTA today announced that NCAA Division I women's singles champion Alexa Noel and men's doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy will receive main-draw wild cards into those respective competitions at the 2024 US Open. Additionally, Michael Zheng, who reached the men’s singles final, will receive a wild card into qualifying.

Noel (21; Summit, N.J.) defeated Georgia’s Anastasiia Lopata, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the women’s singles final to become the third University of Miami player to win the NCAA women’s singles title. The redshirt junior was the tournament’s No. 8 seed and knocked off the No 1-ranked player in the semifinals. She’ll be returning to the US Open for the first time since 2019 when she received a wild card into the women’s doubles main draw as the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s doubles champion and competed in the US Open Junior Championships.

Cash (23; New Albany, Ohio) and Tracy (21; Hilton Head, S.C.) defeated Florida State’s Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc and Joshua Dous-Karpenschif in the men’s doubles final, winning the decisive match tiebreak to give Ohio State its second consecutive men’s doubles national title. Cash and Tracy were one of the top-ranked doubles teams in the country throughout the season, and helped lead the Buckeyes to a 34-2 record and an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA team championships.

Zheng (20; Montville, N.J.) fell in the men’s singles final against Alabama’s Filip Planinsek in three sets. The Columbia sophomore last competed at the US Open in 2022 as a junior.

“The pathway from college to professional tennis is as strong as ever, and these wild cards reflect the USTA’s continued commitment to supporting our top-performing American collegians at the NCAA Division I level," said USTA Player Development GM Martin Blackman.

Currently there are six American former NCAA singles champions ranked in the ATP and WTA Top 100: Danielle Collins (Virginia; 2014, 2016), Marcos Giron (UCLA; 2014), Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA; 2016), Emma Navarro (Virginia, 2021), Ben Shelton (Florida; 2022), and Peyton Stearns (Texas; 2022).

Rain has been a problem throughout the first week of French Open, and now the junior qualifying is feeling its impact, with three of the eight Americans on the schedule for today's first round of qualifying having their matches postponed until Friday. The main draw doesn't begin until Sunday, so there is an extra day to work with, if necessary, although the second (final) round is currently on Friday's schedule. 

I commend the French federation for mandating full third sets in qualifying, something that the Australia Open also does; I would love to see Wimbledon and the US Open ditch their match tiebreakers for a third set in qualifying, so that all four junior slams are in alignment.

Americans advancing to the final round of qualifying are Christasha McNeil[10], who beat French wild card Victoire Lansaman 6-1, 6-1, Kate Fakih[7], who defeated French wild card Louna Zoppas 6-1, 7-5 and Monika Ekstrand, who beat Gabia Paskauskas[12], an NC State rising freshman from Great Britain, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Claire Ahn lost to top seed Yelyzaveta Kotlia of Ukraine 6-2, 7-6(2) and Kase Schinnerer[7] lost to Virginia's rising freshman Keegan Rice of Canada 7-5, 6-1. Shannon Lam[3], Mia Slama and Noah Johnston had their first round matches postponed until Friday.