Collegiate Wild Card Gorzny Saves Five Match Points to Win US Open Debut; Frodin Faces Rybakina Tuesday Morning; College Park Boys Champion Roussel Loses in Repentigny J300 Second Round

It's been 14 years since one of the USTA's NCAA collegiate wild cards won a match at the US Open, but that drought ended today in dramatic fashion, with Sebastian Gorzny saving five match points to defeat Raphael Collignon of Belgium 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 7-6(9) to advance to the second round. 

The match took four hours and was played over two days, with Gorzny, who won the USTA's Collegiate US Open Wild Card playoff in June, and Collignon on serve at 3-4 in the third set last night when rain sent the match into a second day. 

Gorzny immediately lost the first two games after the resumption, but took the fourth set and was up a break 3-2 in the fifth, much to the delight of the crowd on Court 11, which was soon at capacity. But the recent University of Texas graduate gave the break right back, and each held without incident until 5-all, when Collignon saved a break point to take a 6-5 lead.

That was nothing compared to the next game, which went to six deuces with Gorzny saving two match points before getting to his first game point, with Collignon making two errors after long, tense rallies in each case.

Gorzny missed a volley to waste his first game point and then his defensive lob went long to give Collignon a third match point, which Gorzny saved with a big first serve.

An unforced error on the backhand resulted in a fourth match point for Collignon, but Gorzny went for the line on an inside out forehand and made it, hit another forehand winner for his third game point and brought the crowd to its feet with an inside in forehand winner to send the match to a 10-point tiebreaker.

Michael Lewis attended the Gorzny press conference and sent along this from Gorzny on that epic game.

"I'm going to have to watch it back," said the 22-year-old from Austin, with an ATP ranking of 731 to Collignon's 38. "I was just staying alive, staying alive, and the crowd was keeping me in it. I was just trying to make one more ball, one more ball, and you know that's just the way tennis goes. I got lucky today, sometimes you don't get lucky. I can't believe I came through there."

It looked bleak when Gorzny lost his two serves to go down 5-2 and worse when Collignon hit a forehand winner to make it 6-2. Then the first double fault from Collignon in the tiebreaker, his 15th in the match, and another the next time he served, made it 7-5 at the second change of ends. Collignon went up 8-5 with a good serve that forced a Gorzny error, only to see Gorzny make an acrobatic stab volley save to keep the point alive, with Collignon missing his backhand reply wide. Gorzny's good first serve made it 8-7, but Collignon could still serve out the match. He missed a routine volley on top of the net for 8-all, but Gorzny made an unforced forehand error to give Collignon his fifth match point. 

But Gorzy again came up with big first serve to save it, and then hit a deep forehand up the middle that caught Collignon by surprise and he netted his reply to give Gorzny his first match point.

When Collignon missed his first serve, some pumped up fans  cheered, and given his two recent double faults, were probably expecting what came next, with his second serve catch the tape for his 17th and final double fault of the match.

Gorzny, who had 12 aces and six double faults, was undoubtedly full of adrenaline during that last set, and particularly in the last two games, but he was able to stick to his game plan.

"Just staying aggressive, getting to net when I can, feeling it, and seeing who's going to crack first," Gorzny said. "That was crazy. Just crazy."

Highlights of the match can be found here.

The last NCAA wild card to win a match at the US Open, men or women, was USC's Steve Johnson, who reached the third round in 2012, after claiming his second NCAA title that May. 

Gorzny's opponent in the second round is 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia, the No. 7 seed.

Gorzny's counterpart, NCAA champion and USTA Collegiate Playoff winner Reese Brantmeier(UNC) will play her first round match against Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine tomorrow. Michael Zheng(Columbia), who received a wild card unrelated to his 2025 NCAA singles title, plays Fabian Marozsan of Hungary tomorrow. 

San Diego USTA National 18s champion Thea Frodin makes her singles main draw debut against No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan at 11 a.m. on the Grandstand.

Qualifiers Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) and Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) are also playing their first round matches Tuesday, with Stoiana facing No. 17 seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines in a night match on Armstrong, and Basavareddy playing qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Court 11 at 11 a.m. Michael Lewis caught up with Basavareddy and coach Dean Goldfine after his final round qualifying win, see this article for more.

Monday's US Open first round results of Americans:

Ben Shelton[8] d. Tallon Griekspoor(NED) 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2

Martin Damm v Frances Tiafoe[11]

Valentin Vacherot[22](MON) d. Aleks Kovacevic 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 

Brandon Nakashima[16] d. Sebastian Baez(ARG) 6-2, 6-1, 6-0

Learner Tien[14] d. Nuno Borges(POR) 6-4, 6-1, 6-2

Alex Michelsen d. Federico Cina[Q](ITA) 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 (postponed from Sunday)

Sebastian Gorzny[WC] d. Raphael Collignon(BEL) 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 76(9) (postponed from Sunday)

Amanda Anismova[10] d. Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-3 

Taylor Townsend d. Maja Chawalinska[20](POL) 6-2, 6-3

Caty McNally d. Anouk Koevermans[Q](NED) 7-5, 6-1

Linda Noskova[6](CZE) d. Katie Volynets 7-5, 6-1

Harriet Dart[Q](GBR) d. Peyton Stearns 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Ann Li[29] d. Antonia Ruzic(CRO) 7-5, 6-1

Sloane Stephens[WC] d. Clara Tauson(DEN) 6-4, 6-1

Emma Navarro[26] d. Lois Boisson(FRA) 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-3 (postponed from Sunday)

Tuesday's US Open first round matches featuring Americans:

Madison Keys[22] v Alina Korneeva(RUS)

Coco Gauff[4] v Zeynep Sonmez(TUR)

Mary Stoiana[Q] v Alexandra Eala[17](PHI)

Thea Frodin[WC] v Elena Rybakina[2](KAZ)

Iva Jovic[14] v Magdalena Frech(POL)

Robin Montgomery[Q] v Maria Sakkari[32](GRE)

Reese Brantmeier[WC] v Oleksandra Oliynykova(UKR)

Taylor Fritz[9] v Darwin Blanch[WC]

Nishesh Basavareddy[Q] v Tristan Schoolkate[Q](AUS)

Michael Zheng[WC] v Fabian Marozsan(HUN)

Zachary Svajda v Daniel Altmaier(GER)

Marcos Giron v Ignacio Buse[32](PER)

College Park J300 champion Felix Roussel played his second round match today at the Repentigny J300 in Canada, falling to No. 11 seed Matteo Gribaldo of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Roussel, who played a singles match for eight consecutive days beginning last Monday in College Park, will now have two days off before US Open Junior Championships qualifying begins Thursday.

No. 16 seed Nancy Lee is through to the quarterfinals in Repentigny after defeating No. 3 sesed Lujza Beviz of Hungary 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-4 today. The other seven Americans play their third round matches Tuesday.