USTA Pro Circuit Returns This Week with Winston-Salem Challenger 75; ITA Vacates Oklahoma State Women's 2024 National Indoor Title; Alcaraz Wins US Open Men's Title

Now that my Kalamazoo-College Park-US Open stretch has concluded, it's time to take a breath in the next several weeks. I'll be preparing another "Thoughts on" for the US Open, probably next week, with the one I wrote this year on Wimbledon proving to be a popular post.

There isn't a lot to monitor in the interim, with the USTA Pro Circuit on a three-week US Open hiatus, with the women's extending four weeks, with nothing next week.

But there is an ATP Challenger 75 in Winston-Salem this week, with qualifying beginning today.

Wild cards Gavin Goode and Dominick Mosejczuk, both of whom competed in the US Open Junior Championships this week, won their opening qualifying matches today.  Goode, who lives in Raleigh North Carolina, defeated No. 5 seed Karl Poling(Princeton, UNC) 6-2, 6-1, while Wake Forest freshman Dominick Mosejczuk, who was competing in the boys doubles semifinals in New York on Friday, defeated No. 12 seed and TCU sophomore Albert Pedrico of Spain 6-3, 6-1. 

Goode will face University of Virginia sophomore Jangjun Kim of Korea, who beat former Ohio State No. 1 Justin Boulais of Canada and No. 9 seed  4-6, 6-0, 6-3.  Mosejczuk will play No. 4 seed Edward Winter of Australia, a junior at Pepperdine, who beat Florida State senior Corey Craig 6-1, 6-0. Kim used a Junior ATP Accelerator spot for entry, and Craig used a Collegiate ATP Accelerator spot.

Daniel Milavsky(Harvard), Cooper Williams(Harvard, Duke), Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) and Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) are other Americans who have also advanced to the final round of qualifying.

The wild cards for the main draw were given to Luca Pow, a junior at Wake Forest, Emon van Loben Sels, a junior at UCLA, and Patrick Maloney(Michigan). Ohio State junior Aidan Kim is using Collegiate ATP Accelerator entry for the main draw.

Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina is the No. 1 seed, with Murphy Cassone(Arizona State), seeded No. 2. Mitchell Krueger, the No. 3 seed, is the third ATP Top 200 player in the draw.

The ITA announced Friday that its D-I women's operating committee had voted to vacate the 2025 ITA women's National Team Indoor title Oklahoma State won in February of 2024. This was expected after the NCAA settlement with Oklahoma State was announced in July, with the vacation of titles part of that settlement. The full report from the NCAA is here.

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain defeated Jannik Sinner of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the US Open men's final this afternoon, to earn a split of the four major titles this year, just as they had done last year. Alcaraz will take over the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings with the title. For more on the men's final, see this article from usopen.org.