Top Seeds March On at USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, But Two Unseeded Players Reach Round of 16; 18s Doubles Quarterfinals Set for Wednesday

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Kalamazoo MI--

Ford McCollum has played many a tiebreaker in his junior career, including three this week alone prior to Tuesday's fourth round of the USTA Boys 18s National Championships. But the 17-year-old left-hander from Los Angeles had never participated in one that came close to the 36-point tiebreaker he played today on Stowe Stadium's Court 5, which resulted in a 6-4, 7-6(17) victory over No. 16 seed Braeden Gelletich.

McCollum won two tiebreakers Monday night, in another three-hour two-setter, that match finishing under the lights, when he defeated No. 19 seed Nav Dayal 7-6(4), 7-6(3).  With that match concluding at 10 p.m., McCollum was hardly fresh to start Tuesday's match, with the wall of fatigue surfacing late in that epic second set tiebreaker.

"I was physically so dead in the last five points of the breaker," said McCollum, a Princeton recruit who was the third alternate when the initial Kalamazoo acceptances came out last month. "At the 15-all point, he was running me, there was a ball I could have gotten, but I literally couldn't move anymore. I got a little bit lucky that he missed a first ball on the set points he had. But I'm just so happy I got through it, I didn't want to play another set."

Gelletich had six set points to force a third, while McCollum had six match points before he finally forced an error. 

"This week I've been feeling good in breakers, been serving well, holding easily," said McCollum, the 2024 Orange Bowl 16s finalist. "I have the confidence that I'm playing a little bit better than the other guy, believing in my game. This is my fourth one; this one was obviously the craziest one."

McCollum, who is coached by 2004 Kalamazoo 18s doubles champion Phillip Simmonds, let out all his pent up emotions when the two-hour and 58-minute match finally ended.

"I was almost worried that I was going to cramp if I yelled," McCollum said. "But when I won the point, the adrenaline and everything, I couldn't control it."

His run this year to the last 16 makes up for what he considered a disappointing appearance in Kalamazoo last year.

"I had an unfortunate tournament in the 16s last year," said McCollum, the 2024 Orange Bowl Boys 16s finalist. "I lost my second match(third round). So I'm super happy to be in the round of 16, playing well, competing well. I knew I was playing well going into the tournament, but being unseeded is not easy; you never know who you are going to draw. But when I saw my draw, I saw that I had a chance."

Next up for McCollum is No. 2 seed and 2023 Kalamazoo 16s champion Cooper Woestendick, who defeated No. 28 seed Shaan Patel 6-3, 6-3.

Top seed Darwin Blanch was tested again, but got past the fourth round, where he had lost last year, with a 7-5, 6-2 win over No. 31 seed Tanishk Konduri. Blanch faces No. 10 seed Maxwell Exsted for a place in the quarterfinals, after Exsted beat No. 21 seed Gavin Goode 7-5, 7-5.

No. 3 seed and 2024 finalist Jack Kennedy continued to roll through opponents, beating Winston Lee 6-1, 6-4, to set up an all-Cavalier match Wednesday. Kennedy, who has committed to the University of Virginia for next fall, will play No. 14 seed Roy Horovitz, who is a rising sophomore in Charlottesville. Horovitz defeated No. 33 seed James Weber 7-5, 6-4 today, after saving three match points in his 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 win over 2022 Kalamazoo 16s finalist Calvin Baierl, a 33 seed, on Monday.

No. 4 seed Benjamin Willwerth trailed No. 18 seed Dylan Long 4-2 in the opening set, but reeled off five straight games and cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win. Willwerth will play No. 11 seed Maximus Dussault, who beat No. 27 seed Jacob Olar 7-5, 6-2.

2024 Boys 16s champion Gus Grumet was the second Top 16 seed in the 18s division to fall, along with Gelletich, with the No. 12 seed beaten by No. 22 seed Matisse Farzam 6-3, 7-5 today.

The 16s division also features an unseeded player in the round of 16, with Andrej Markovic taking out No. 8 seed and 2025 Easter Bowl 16s finalist Tristan Stratton 6-3, 6-3.  

Markovic is making his debut in Kalamazoo, thanks to a run to the final of an L3 in Scottsdale this winter.

"I was playing ITF tournament when I was 13 and I took a bit of a break from the USTA, so then I couldn't get in to anything, said the 16-year-old, who is coach by former University of Portland star Michail Pervolarakis. "In January I managed to get into our local L3, as last alternate," said Markovic, who lives in Fountain Valley Arizona. "And I won doubles and got singles finalist, and from there I've just kept playing USTA."

Markovic, who has now beaten three seeds in succession, saved match points in his first round win over Dan Horwitz.

"I've been training for this tournament all year, that's been the focus," said Markovic, who has Serbian heritage and visits the country every summer.  "I felt confident going in, but my first match I was down 4-5, 0-40 returning in the third set. I managed to get through that match, and I think that helped my confidence a lot."

Markovic said his strategy against Stratton was to play aggressively from the start.

"I don't want to give too much away, but I started very relaxed, going very big," Markovic said. "I was actually up 5-1 in both sets, but he did a great job fighting back, making it a close match. I've always been more aggressive, it's more fun for me. I think when I was serving for it at 5-1, I was a little too passive and I was letting him dictate the points and that was not how I was winning the match, so at 5-3 I told myself, just do what you do in practice and go for it. And it worked."

Markovic will face No. 16 seed Colin McPeek, who defeated No. 24 seed Lennart Hammangren 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. 

Top seed Michael Antonius, who received a walkover from No. 27 seed Gadin Arun, will play No. 33 seed Kamil Stolarczyk Wednesday. Stolarczyk, a wild card, defeated one of the four Top 16 seeds to fall in the fourth round, taking out No. 14 seed Joseph Lee 6-3, 6-3. No. 31 seed Joseph Nau beat No. 12 seed Shaan Majeed 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 and No. 33 seed Nile Ung beat No. 13 seed Navneet Raghuram 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in just under three hours.

Ung will face No. 2 seed Andrew Johnson, who beat unseeded Joshua Bayete Miller 6-1, 6-3. 

No. 10 seed Jarrid Gaines Jr and No. 30 seed Rowan Qalbani battled on Court 4 for three hours and 51 minutes before Gaines posted a 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-4 victory.

All Wednesday's main draw matches in 16s and 18s will be at Stowe Stadium, beginning at 9 a.m. with 16s singles, followed by 18s singles beginning at noon. The 16s doubles fourth round is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at Stowe, with the 18s doubles quarterfinals in the evening, with the last match scheduled for 6 p.m.

In today's 18s fourth round doubles, the top three seeds won, but No. 4 seeds Ronit Karki and Maximus Dussault fell to No. 9 seeds Nicholas Patrick and James Weber 6-2, 5-7, 10-8. Patrick, the 2023 Kalamazoo 16s doubles champion, and Weber will face No. 8 seeds Justin Lin and Bryan Assi, while top seeds Woestendick and Exsted play No. 10 seeds Jack Kennedy and Jacob Olar. 

In the bottom half, the unseeded team of Noble Renfrom and Theo Hegarty will play No. 3 seeds Keaton Hance and Ryan Cozad. No. 2 seeds Willwerth and Noah Johnston play No. 5 seeds Jack Satterfield and Arnav Bhandari. One of those eight teams will win a wild card entry into the US Open men's doubles. 

The Western Michigan courts will close down tomorrow afternoon when the fifth round of feed-in consolation qualifying matches have concluded.

Links to live streaming and live scoring can be found at ustaboys.com.