Forbes Defeats Gorzny at Lincoln Challenger; Retirements Abound at Louisville M25; Antonius Advances, First ATP Points for Syed and Columbo at M15 in Rochester; Qualifier Reed Ousts No. 3 Seed at Dallas W35

It didn't take long for Matt Forbes to avenge his loss last month to Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) in the USTA's US Open Collegiate Playoff, with the soon-to-be Ohio State junior defeating playoff champion Gorzny 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska. 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion Forbes, who announced his transfer from Michigan State to Ohio State in May, qualified for the Lincoln main draw with wins over No. 3 seed Alafia Ayeni(Cornell, Kentucky) and wild card Aniss Rafiq(Nebraska) of Morocco. He was slotted into the spot at the top of the draw when Adam Walton(Tennessee),  finalist at last week's ATP Challenger 125 in Newport, withdrew. Forbes will play Jie Cui of China in the second round Thursday.

UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson, who received a wild card into the Lincoln main draw after closing out the SoCal Pro Series with his third consecutive title last week in Rancho Santa Fe, defeated No. 7 seed Remy Bertola of Switzerland 6-1, 6-4 for his first ATP Top 200 victory Tuesday. He is playing fellow wild card JJ Wolf(Ohio State) in the second round tonight.

The heat and humidity at the USTA Pro Circuit M25 in Louisville Kentucky appear to have been a factor in the retirements today of four players, all after at least one set had been played. Five qualifiers have reached the second round, including 19-year-old TCU rising sophomore Maximus Dussault; 20-year-old Alex Frusina(Auburn, Texas A&M); Duke rising sophomore Dylan Long, who beat No. 5 seed Marko Miladinovic(Baylor) of Serbia; Alejandro Moreno(Auburn, Tennessee); and 15-year-old Teodor Davidov.

Wake Forest rising sophomore Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands is the top seed this week, and will face 18-year-old Lev Seidman, a rising UCLA freshman. Rottgering's teammate Luca Pow of Great Britain, will face No. 2 seed Millen Hurrion of Great Britain in the second round.

Michael Antonius is only three days removed from playing in the Wimbledon boys doubles final, but the 16-year-old from Buffalo is already back in action, and picked up a win, today at the M15 in Rochester New York. Seeded No. 2 and a quarterfinalist last year at this event, Antonius defeated Texas's Jonah Braswell 6-3, 6-3 to advance to a second round meeting with Dillon Beckles, a Dartmouth recruit.

Seventeen-year-old wild cards Kayden Colombo and 16-year Syed Sulaimon picked up their first ATP points today, with Sulaimon slated to meet top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Daem, Georgia) next, and Colombo faces No. 8 seed Ilyas Fahim(Virginia Tech). 

Seventeen-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr and 19-year-old qualifier Benjamin Willwerth have also advanced, with Gaines beating No. 5 seed Andrew Delgado(Wake Forest, Georgia) 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2.

The only women's event this week is the W35 in Dallas, which is played indoors. 

YeXin Ma of China is the top seed; she defeated qualifier Thea Rabman(UNC) 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the second round. 

Qualifier Lexington Reed, a rising junior at Texas A&M, defeated No. 3 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 7-5, 6-1, and will play TCU's rising sophomore Jennifer Jackson next.

Nineteen-year-old Christasha McNeil, a rising Texas sophomore, defeated No. 6 seed BoYoung Jeong of Korea 6-1, 6-1 and plays qualifier Maria Kononova(North Texas) next.

Liv Hovde(Duke) and Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State) are the other qualifiers through to the second round. Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma) had her 22-match SoCal Pro Series winning streak (including qualifying) stopped by Veronika Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) in Sunday's Rancho Santa Fe final, but she's begun another one after receiving a special exempt into Dallas. The 22-year-old from Russia will face No. 4 seed Jia-Jing Lu of China in the second round.