Zheng Inspired by Wimbledon Collegiate Success; Johns Qualifies in Third Set Tiebreaker; Eubanks Stays Patient in First Round Comeback at Bloomfield Hills ATP Challenger 100

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Bloomfield Hills, MI--

If you were looking for a perfect summer day in Michigan, Monday July 21st should be framed and hung in a museum, with the first day of the Cranbrook Tennis Classic, an ATP Challenger 100, the beneficiary of the partly cloudy skies, light breeze and temperatures in the upper 70s.

I hadn't been to the previous two editions of the event, with it conflicting with Wimbledon, but now that it has moved, I was happy to make the two-and-a-half hour drive from Kalamazoo to see the biggest men's tennis tournament in the state. 

Four main draw singles matches were on Monday's schedule, along with the six final round qualifying matches, so the three courts at the new Cranbrook School eight-court complex were busy all day, with fans circulating between the three for the most exciting matches.

2024 fall NCAA singles champion Michael Zheng, the rising Columbia senior, received a wild card into the main draw, and was the first to move into the second round with a 7-5, 6-2 win over former ITF junior No. 1 Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico.

Pacheco Mendez had two set points with Zheng serving at 4-5, 15-40 in the first set, but Zheng saved the first with a forehand winner and then received an error from Pacheco Mendez on the second; two points later Zheng and pulled even and he broke and held to take the set.

Although Zheng said he was confident he could come back had he lost one of those two points, having the first set end in that fashion turned the momentum permanently in his favor.

"I've had some problems serving to stay in the match down 4-5 a couple of times," Zheng said. "But he also played a pretty good game, hit some good returns. Once I got through that game, I loosened up a little bit. If had won that set, I think physically I could have gotten it in three sets, but it would have been more mental, trying to stay in it. I think he would have fought a little bit harder in the second too, so it would have been closer, more dicey."

Zheng, who told Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin that winning the NCAAs last November and not getting the US Open wild card that traditionally goes to an American singles champion "sucks a little bit."  The 21-year-old from New Jersey, who lost in the final of the US Open wild card playoff last month in Orlando, has to be content with a qualifying wild card, which he got in 2024, as the spring NCAA's singles finalist.  "At the same time, there's nothing I can do at that point. So now I'm just focusing on potentially winning the wild card points race."

Current standings at the halfway point of the six-week window for the US Open wild card:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)
1. Emilio Nava (116) - 50
2. Govind Nanda (340) - 38
3. Patrick Kypson (214) - 31
4. Samir Banerjee (509) - 28
5. Nishesh Basavareddy (112) - 25

Zheng, who has been working with Ruan Roelofse since the end of the school year, said the success of his peers at Wimbledon this year has made it easier to envision a similar run at the US Open.

"To be honest, I was a little bit surprised," Zheng said. "I didn't think (Oliver) Tarvet would do as well as he did on the grass, especially. He usually likes slower courts. But I was super impressed with his run. Credit to their coaching staff at USD, (August) Holmgren and Tarvet have had incredible summers so far. It also gives you that confidence. I was up 3-0 in the third against (Tarvet) and his home courts at USD, so maybe I could have a deep run at the US Open, you never know, maybe play Carlos Alcaraz second round. Once you see all these guys, (top seed) Nishesh(Basavareddy) had been doing really well, it just gives you confidence. These are guys you grew up with in juniors, even in college, and the level's right there I think, at the highest level of college. It's just maintaining that physicality week in week out."

Garrett Johns, who completed his eligibility at Duke in the spring of 2024, defeated Ohio State rising junior Aidan Kim 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(2) to advance to the main draw of a Challenger for the eighth time.

Kim served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but once Johns broke, with Kim's errors a major factor in that critical game, he played with more aggression.

"Even in that game, at 5-4 I was playing not to lose," said the 24-year-old from Georgia. "But after I got that game, I started to play loose after that, and it went my way in the tiebreaker. That's how it goes sometime, just a couple of points here and there."

Johns hopes to continue to play Challengers the rest of the summer, but he started his first full year on the pro tour in January at $15Ks, winning two and making the final of a third in Florida.

"A lot of it is location first," Johns said. "I played a lot in Florida, because I'm training down there. But now that I've been playing a year, full time, now I'm just going to play Challengers, to take that next step. But if it works for a future location, I could do that again."

Johns, who trains with Shariq Khan at Axis tennis in Delray Beach, says the difference in the quality of players at the lowest ITF level and the Challenger level is mostly at the top.

"The top seeded guys here, there's definitely a higher level, but I think anybody can beat anybody out here, a guy who's 700 can beat a guy who's 300," Johns said. "It's small things, and I don't think the level's that much different really."

Johns will face No. 6 seed and Granby champion August Holmgren(San Diego) of Denmark in the first round Tuesday.

Chris Eubanks was the feature attraction today on Stadium Court, with the No. 4 seed coming back to beat Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-3, earning his first victory in four tries over the 32-year-old from Japan. Eubanks, who drew a large crowd for his 3:30 p.m. match, was determined to stay patient.

"I was looking for any opportunity," said the former Georgia Tech star, who didn't face a break point in the match and converted the only one he had with Uchiyama serving at 1-2 in the third. "He was serving really well, I felt I wasn't getting good looks at firsts, or looks at seconds. Things just kind of happen: you lean right on one first serve return, you make good contact on a second, and finally you're applying scoreboard pressure that hasn't really happened in the match...he missed that forehand to get the break. It's one of those matches where you just have to focus on your end of the court so you're not getting super frustrated by not getting any looks on your opponent's serve."

Chris Eubanks with Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets

When Eubanks had served out the match, he was far from finished for the day, with another 15 minutes of selfies and autographs with fans courtside and then doing media with Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets and me.

Eubanks was grateful for all the support he received in his first appearance in Bloomfield Hills.

"It means a lot, playing in the States, seeing young juniors aspiring to play on these courts one day, seeing tennis fans who've been fans for 30, 40 years take in some tennis here," Eubanks said. "We don't get that reception very often on tour, or at Challengers. It's such a warm atmosphere, good crowd today showing a lot of support for me; it's pretty cool, especially being my first time here, it's left a really good impression so far. So hopefully I can stick around a little bit."

Eubanks will face 20-year-old Yi Zhou of China in the second round.

Results - Monday, 21 July 2025
Men's Singles - Round of 32
[WC] Michael Zheng (USA) d Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez (MEX) 75 62
[WC] Andres Martin (USA) d [8] Hady Habib (LBN) 62 62
[4] Christopher Eubanks (USA) d Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 67(3) 76(4) 63
[NG] Yi Zhou (CHN) d Sho Shimabukuro (JPN) 63 57 64

Men's Doubles - Round of 16
Yu Hsiou Hsu (TPE)/Tsung-Hao Huang (TPE) d Kris Van Wyk (RSA)/Tung-Lin Wu (TPE) 30 Retired

Men's Qualifying Singles - Qualifying Round 2
[4] Patrick Maloney (USA) d Ryuki Matsuda (JPN) 63 64
[8] [Alt] Arthur Fery (GBR) d [WC] Kaylan Bigun (USA) 57 64 62
[2] Tung-Lin Wu (TPE) d [WC] Spencer Johnson (USA) 62 62
Tsung-Hao Huang (TPE) d [1] Andres Andrade (ECU) 46 64 64
[3] Aidan Mayo (USA) d [9] Andre Ilagan (USA) 63 46 64
[6] Garrett Johns (USA) d [Alt] Aidan Kim (USA) 36 62 76(2)

ORDER OF PLAY - TUESDAY, 22 JULY 2025
Center Court - start 10:00
Patrick Kypson (USA) vs Alexis Galarneau (CAN)
[5] Eliot Spizzirri (USA) vs [NG] Rei Sakamoto (JPN)
[1] Nishesh Basavareddy (USA) vs Yu Hsiou Hsu (TPE)

Not Before 15:30
[Q] Garrett Johns (USA) vs [6] August Holmgren (DEN)

Court 2 - start 10:00
Rio Noguchi (JPN) vs [2] Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN)
[WC] Nicolas Ian Kotzen (USA) vs [7] Li Tu (AUS)
Alex Bolt (AUS) vs [Q] Arthur Fery (GBR)
[3] Alexander Blockx (BEL) vs [Q] Tsung-Hao Huang (TPE)

Court 3 - start 10:00
[Alt] Nicolas Mejia (COL) vs Yuta Shimizu (JPN)
Mark Lajal (EST) vs Omar Jasika (AUS)
Alibek Kachmazov vs [Q] Aidan Mayo (USA)
[Q] Patrick Maloney (USA) vs [Q] Tung-Lin Wu (TPE)