Participants Named for USTA's US Open Collegiate Wild Card Playoffs; Official D-I All-America Lists; Qualifying Begins Thursday for Roland Garros Junior Championships; Six from US Advance to RG Third Round; ATP Little Rock Challenger Underway

With the NCAA Division I Team Championships now behind us, the focus for the top American players in college tennis turns to the USTA's inaugural US Open Collegiate Wild Card Playoffs. Today's release from the USTA is here:

ORLANDO, Fla., May 28, 2025 – The United States Tennis Association (USTA) today announced the participants that will be competing in the US Open Wild Card Playoffs, set to be held at the USTA National Campus, June 16-18.

 

The new event featuring the top American collegiate players, which was announced earlier this month, will more than double the average number of American collegiate players that earn US Open wild cards this year, with six guaranteed US Open wild card entries up for grabs. The winners of the singles and doubles competitions will earn US Open main draw singles and doubles wild cards, respectively, while the men’s and women’s singles finalists will earn US Open qualifying wild cards.

 

The men’s singles field is headlined by Columbia’s Michael Zheng, who won the NCAA men’s singles title last November, and Michigan State’s Ozan Baris, who lost to Zheng in the NCAA men’s singles final. The women’s singles field will feature Auburn’s DJ Bennett, who was the NCAA women’s singles runner-up in November. All three players automatically qualified for the event based upon their NCAA performance, while the remainder of the field is made up of players selected by a committee of USTA staff, college coaches and an ITA representative.

 

The full fields are below (bolded players automatically qualified):

 

Men’s Singles

Ozan Baris (Michigan State)

Stefan Dostanic (Wake Forest)

Aidan Kim (Ohio State)

Michael Zheng (Columbia)

 

Women’s Singles

DJ Bennett (Auburn)

Valerie Glozman (Stanford)

Amelia Honer (UCSB)

Mary Stoiana (Texas A&M)

 

Men’s Doubles

Benjamin Kittay/Gavin Young (Michigan)

Alex Kotzen/Alejandro Moreno (Tennessee)

Nicolas Kotzen/Michael Zheng (Columbia)

Cooper Williams/Theo Winegar (Duke)

 

Women’s Doubles

DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (Auburn)

Reese Brantmeier/Alanis Hamilton (North Carolina)

Kaitlyn Carnicella/Sarah Hamner/ (South Carolina)

Olivia Center/Kate Fakih (UCLA)

 

Arizona’s Colton Smith was originally included in the field for men’s singles but he declined the invitation.

 

The singles semifinals will be played on Monday followed by the doubles semifinals on Tuesday and all finals will be contested on Wednesday. The event is free and matches will begin each day at 5 p.m. in order to maximize in-person attendance, while all matches will also be streamed on the USTA National Campus website. 

 

Arizona's Colton Smith is notably absent, perhaps believing he can either a) qualify on his own ranking with his results this summer or b) is in line for a main draw wild card regardless, given his current ATP ranking of 162. With this new wild card guaranteed to a collegian, there are only three discretionary wild cards remaining after the two reciprocals for France and Australia, the Kalamazoo champion's and the winner of the US Open Wild Card Challenge this summer. Smith, of course, is eligible for that wild card. 

Also of note in the women's selections is no Reese Brantmeier in singles; the North Carolina star was injured in the NCAA quarterfinals, although she did receive an invitation in doubles with Alanis Hamilton. Michigan's Julia Fliegner, who finished the season at No. 5 in the ITA singles rankings, was passed over in favor of Valerie Glozman of Stanford, No. 10, and Amelia Honer of UC-Santa Barbara, No. 15.

Michigan State's 14th-ranked Ozan Baris, an automatic qualifier, has the lowest the men's ranking; No. 7 Stefan Dostanic of Wake Forest and No. 8 Aidan Kim of Ohio State, are the next two Americans in the ITA rankings, after NCAA champion Zheng at No. 2.

The official ITA lists of those achieving All-America status have been released. I covered the topic last Wednesday when the final rankings of the season were published, but these two lists for men and women have all singles and doubles All-Americans on one page, in alphabetical order by school name.

Links to the lists of junior/community college and NAIA All-Americans, released today, can be found here.

Qualifying for the Roland Garros Junior Championships begins Thursday, with three US boys and two US girls vying for main draw spots: Ronit Karki[4], Matisse Farzam[10], Lachlan Gaskell, Leena Friedman[12] and Capucine Jauffret[15].

Maximus Dussault, who was three out of the main draw when the initial entry list came out, is not in qualifying, so he either moved into the main draw after the withdrawals of Mees Rottgering and Henry Bernet or he has received a special exempt entry, as he has advanced to Thursday's singles semifinals at the J300 in Belgium. (The acceptance list is no longer available on the ITF Junior Circuit site, so I am trying to piece all this together from my notes.)  Jacob Olar is through to the doubles final in Belgium, so is not on Thursday's schedule there; his partner Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico received a regional entry into the Roland Garros main draw, but I'm not sure why their doubles semifinal was played today rather than Friday.

Looking at the draw, I noticed that 13-year-old Daniel Baranes, the 2024 Eddie Herr girls 14s champion who received a wild card into qualifying, is now representing France, after beginning her junior career representing Israel. 

In men's and women's second round singles at Roland Garros, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda, Amanda Anisimova and Bernarda Pera advanced to the third round, joining Ben Shelton, who received a walkover.

Wednesday's second round results of Americans:

Holger Rune[10](DEN) d. Emilio Nava[WC] 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 

Tommy Paul[12] d. Marton Fucsovics(HUN) 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4

Frances Tiafoe[15] d. Pablo Carreno Busta(ESP) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1

Sebastian Korda[23] d. Jenson Brooksby 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(2)

Mariano Navone(ARG) d. Reilly Opelka 6-1, 7-6(1) 6-3

Ben Shelton[13] d. Hugo Gaston(FRA) walkover

Amanda Anisimova[16] d. Viktorija Golubic(SUI) 6-0, 6-2

Bernarda Pera d. Donna Vekic[18](CRO) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3)

Jelena Ostapenko[21](LAT) d. Caroline Dolehide 5-7, 6-3, 6-3

Olga Danilovic(SRB) d. Danielle Collins 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Elena Rybakina[12](KAZ) d. Iva Jovic[WC] 6-3, 6-3

Nine US women are on Thursday's schedule, and just one US man.

Thursday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Ethan Quinn[Q] v Alexander Shevchenko[LL](KAZ)

Ashlyn Krueger v Mirra Andreeva[6](RUS)

Alycia Parks v Elsa Jacquemot[WC](FRA)

Jessica Pegula[3] v Ann Li

Madison Keys[7] v Katie Boulter(GBR)

Sofia Kenin[31] v Victoria Azarenka(BLR)

Hailey Baptiste v Nao Hibino[Q](JPN)

Robin Montgomery v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro(ESP)

Coco Gauff[2] v Tereza Valentova[Q](CZE)

The qualifying and first rounds at the ATP Challenger 75 in Little Rock Arkansas were disrupted by rain over the weekend, but can get back on schedule now after the last of the qualifiers were determined early in the day, and all 16 first round matches are headed for completion, albeit late tonight.

Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), the top seed in qualifying, advanced to the main draw, where he's playing top seed Mitchell Krueger  tonight. Other Americans through to the main draw via qualifying are Stefan Kozlov and recent Harvard graduate Daniel Milavsky. Kozlov defeated No. 7 seed Aziz Dougaz(Florida State) of Tunisia 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the main draw.

Illinois rising senior Kento Miyoshi of Japan advanced to the main draw and won his first round match when No. 5 seed Santiago Rodriguez Taverna of Argentina retired trailing 7-5, 5-1. 

Darwin Blanch received a wild card but withdrew with an illness, so only two were used, with those going to Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee) and Michael Zheng(Columbia). Kotzen lost his first round match today; Zheng beat Christian Langmo(Miami) 6-2, 6-2.  

The most anticipated match of the first round is later tonight, with Virginia rising sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain, using entry via the ATP ITF Junior Accelerator Program, facing No. 2 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada.