Eleven Americans Advance to Final Round of Australian Open Qualifying; Smith Continues Winning Ways at Winston-Salem M25; USTA's Lake Nona Campus Expansion Plans Approved

Twenty-four Americans were in the Australian Open qualifying draws when the week began, and nearly half have made the final round, which begins in a few hours Thursday(tonight in the USA) in Melbourne.

Six of the nine US men and five of the seven US women in action Wednesday in the second round advanced, with Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) having the most dramatic win. Basavareddy, whose ATP ranking plunged after he did not defend his semifinal points at the ATP 250 in Auckland last year at this time, trailed No. 19 seed Sebastian Ofner of Austria 7-1 in the final set tiebreaker.

Ofner, apparently forgetting that all slam tiebreakers now requiring winning 10 points, not seven, celebrated and began walking toward the net for the handshake when the umpire informed him the match was not over. Basavareddy won eight of the next nine points to reach match point, but he was not able to convert that one, and Ofner had match points at 10-9 and 11-10, which he did not convert, with Basavareddy taking the final three points to advance.

Basavareddy won the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card challenge in 2025, allowing him to play the Auckland tournament, which is going on now. Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) is through to the quarterfinals there as qualifier; he defeated No. 8 seed Nuno Borges(Mississippi State) 7-6(6), 6-4 in the second round. The other two Americans in the quarterfinals also were collegiate stars: Marcos Giron(UCLA) and top seed Ben Shelton(Florida).

Wednesday's second round Australian Open qualifying results:

Dusan Lajovic[13](SRB) d. Murphy Cassone 7-5, 6-3

Giulio Zeppieri(ITA) d. Brandon Holt[5] 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 

Nishesh Basavareddy d. Sebastian Ofner[19](AUT) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(11)

Michael Zheng d. Tomas Barrios Vera[4](CHI) 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2

Martin Damm d. Titouan Droguet(FRA) 6-4, 6-3

Mackenzie McDonald[6] d. Hugo Grenier(FRA) 7-6(4), 6-1

Rei Sakamoto(JPN) d. Colton Smith[32] 6-4, 6-4

Tristan Boyer d. Francesco Passaro[27](ITA) 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2

Zachary Svajda[29] d. Jurij Rodionov(AUT) 6-1, 6-4

Sloane Stephens d. Olivia Gadecki 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Lucia Bronzetti[2](ITA) d. Mary Stoiana 7-6(7), 1-6, 6-4

Carol Lee d. Elena Micic[WC](AUS) 6-2, 6-2

Maddison Inglis(AUS) d. Claire Liu 7-6(6) 2-6, 6-4

Taylor Townsend[11] d. Jazmin Ortenzi(ARG) 6-4, 6-4

Whitney Osuigwe d. Lucrezia Stefanini[26](ITA) 7-5, 6-2

Elvina Kalieva d. Ye-Xin Ma(CHN) 6-4, 6-2

Thursday's final round Australian Open qualifying matches featuring Americans:

Michael Zheng v Lukas Klein[28](SVK)

Mackenzie McDonald[6] v Liam Draxl[20](CAN)

Nishesh Basavareddy v George Loffhagen(GBR)

Zachary Svajda[29] v Kimmer Coppejans(BEL)

Tristan Boyer v Yibing Wu(CHN)

Martin Damm v Gilles Arnaud Bailly(BEL)

Sloane Stephens v Lucia Bronzetti[2](ITA)

Elvina Kalieva v Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales(ESP)

Taylor Townsend[11] v Storm Hunter[WC](AUS)

Carol Lee v Linda Fruhvirtova[20](CZE)

Whitney Osuigwe v Nikola Bartunkova[16](CZE)

This week's second M25 in Winston-Salem, has, like the first one, been on an afternoon and evening schedule, so all of the first round matches have not yet finished.

Last week's champion Keegan Smith(UCLA) has extended his winning streak to 11 matches. The 27-year-old from Southern California, who won an M15 in New Zealand last month, defeated wild card Marcel Latak, the reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion, 6-3, 6-2.

Last week's finalist Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) of Japan lost today, falling to former teammate Alex Kotzen(Columbia, Tennessee), a qualifier, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5). 

Wild card Matt Forbes, a sophomore at Michigan State, breezed past No. 7 seed DK Suresh 6-1, 6-1. The Wake Forest senior reached the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger in India last week, that travel may have been a factor. 

Wake Forest newcomer Aryan Shah of India was the top seed, but he was beaten 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 today by surging Wake Forest junior Luca Pow of Great Britain, who reached the semifinals last week, also as a wild card.  No. 2 seed Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) lost Tuesday to Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) 6-3, 6-3 and No. 3 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France lost to Wake Forest freshman Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 Tuesday. That leaves Smith, at No. 4, as the highest seed remaining.

The fourth wild card went to Wake Forest sophomore Charlie Robertson of Great Britain, who lost to Alan Magadan(UT-San Antonio) of Mexico 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Jack Kennedy, a semifinalist last week, lost to Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 Tuesday.

Over a year ago, when the NCAA announced that the USTA's National Campus had been awarded a 10-year big to host the Division I team event beginning in 2028, that announcement was accompanied by a promise by the USTA that improvements to infrastructure would be undertaken. The first step in those improvements, which include six additional indoor courts, with seating for all 12 of the indoor courts, shade for the outdoor courts and permanent scoreboards, came this week, when Orlando's Development Review Committee approved the USTA's plans.

“We are pleased with the outcome of today’s DRC meeting and are looking forward to the next steps in the permitting/approval process as we move toward commencement of construction in Q1 of this year,” USTA National Campus General Manager Joe Wilkerson said. “Our goal is to complete this expansion by

the end of 2027, to support our 10-year commitment to host the NCAA NationalChampionships on our National Campus, commencing in the spring of 2028.”

For more on the plans, see this article from Growthspotter.com.