College Park J300 Recap, Videos; Zheng Claims First US Open Main Draw Victory; Junior US Open Wild Cards; 16 Americans Account for Half of Girls Qualifying Spots; Latak Reaches J300 Repentigny Semifinals

My recap of the World Tennis J300 tournament in College Park for Tennis Recruiting Network is available today, which condenses my week-long coverage into one article about the major warmup event for the US Open Junior Championships.

Videos of the singles finals are below; a full replay of both singles finals, with additional coverage of the doubles finals, can be found at the Cracked Racquets YouTube channel.

At the US Open today, there was more rain, but that didn't stop

two-time NCAA champion Michael Zheng from doubling the number of NCAA wild card winners advancing to the second round since 2012, although his wild card was not a result of his November 2025 NCAA singles title. Zheng, who graduated from Columbia in May, decided not to compete in the USTA's US Open Collegiate Playoff (he discusses his reason for skipping it in this conversation I had with him in July) but the fact that he qualified for all three slams this year made him an obvious choice for a US Open main draw wild card.

In the first slam where Zheng was not required to qualify, he easily defeated Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in a first round match that was scheduled for Tuesday but postponed until today due to rain. Zheng's win over Marozsan in the first round at Cincinnati went to a third-set tiebreaker, so the level Zheng brought today, with 33 winners and 17 unforced errors, is a testament to the comfort level he beginning to feel at slams, especially after reaching the third round at Wimbledon.

"Getting to the third round, knowing that I can compete with some of the top players in the world definitely helps," Zheng said in his press conference, attended by Michael Lewis and other reporters. "So I think just having those experiences definitely helped with the nerves, with everything today."

Zheng and Marozsan were playing on Court 10, one of the smaller outer courts at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, but Zheng saw that as an asset.

"Yeah, it was amazing," Zheng said when asked about the atmosphere. "I got, I would say, a solid court, but you know, one of the smaller courts, and I think that just made it better. It was
pretty much packed, and the energy was through the roof, so it was amazing.

"Coach Howie (Endelman) was there, a lot of alums that came out to watch," Zheng said. "But yeah, it just felt like a college tennis match, really. You know, Howie, I think, and his brother, really turned it into a college atmosphere. My teammates came out. They had the, 'let's go, Michael' chants and I'm not sure my opponent was ready for it, but that's just the college tennis atmosphere, and you rarely see so many people come out to college tennis match like today on one court, so to have that energy on one court was super special."

Because the match was postponed until today, Zheng will be back for his second round tomorrow, where he will play lucky loser Yunchaokete Bu of China, who shocked No. 12 seed Rafael Jodar(Virginia) 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in another first round match pushed from Tuesday to today. Many college fans were hoping to see Jodar vs Zheng, which did not happen in Jodar's sole semester at Virginia in 2025, but that will have to wait.

Sebastian Gorzny, the Texas graduate who won the USTA's US Open Collegiate Playoff in Zheng's absence, also got a first round victory Monday, saving five match points to beat Raphael Collignon of Belgium 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(9). He was not as competitive in his second round encounter today with No. 7 seed  Daniil Medvedev, falling 6-1, 6-3, 7-5, but Gorzny was encouraged by the 2021 US Open champion's comments when they shook hands.

"He was really nice. He told me, 'great match,'" Gorzny told Michael Lewis. "He said you have a great game, you should go pro. It was really nice to hear that from him, that he believed I was good enough."

Although Gorzny said he thinks he will have another year of eligibility in college, he is not currently planning to return.

"I'm not going to school in the fall for sure," Gorzny said. "I'll play futures, challengers, I'm planning on pro."

As for his four days at the US Open, Gorzny couldn't be more pleased.  

"It's been amazing. Couldn't have asked for a better experience. Was really struggling last year, then kind of turned it around. Had a decent summer, won the playoff. There's been learning and growing every single week. The first match, couldn't have painted a better first match, no matter how I dreamed of it happening. Today, getting to play on Armstrong, against a Grand Slam champion like Meddy, is just a great experience and something I'll learn from, and keep in the memory bank."

Wednesday's US Open first and second round results of Americans:

Daniil Medvedev[7](RUS) d. Sebastian Gorzny[WC] 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 

Frances Tiafoe[11] d. Rei Sakamoto[Q](JPN) 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-5

Ben Shelton[8] d. Hubert Hurkacz(POL) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5

Alex Michelsen d. Brandon Nakashima[16] 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 

Tommy Paul[20] v Dino Prizmic(CRO)

Michael Zheng[WC] d. Fabian Marozsan(HUN) (rd 1 moved from Tuesday) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2

Zachary Svajda d. Daniel Altmaier(GER)(rd 1 moved from Tuesday) 6-3, 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2

Ignacio Buse[32](PER) d. Marcos Giron 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 6-7(6), 6-1 (rd 1 moved from Tuesday)

Jessica Pegula[3] d. Sofia Kenin[WC] 6-3, 6-1

Marta Kostyuk[11](UKR) d. Sloane Stephens[WC] 6-1, 7-5

Emma Navarro[26] d. Caty McNally 3-6, 6-2, 6-3

Ann Li[29] d. Donna Vekic(CRO) 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4

Taylor Townsend d. Taylah Preston[WC](AUS) 6-1, 6-1

Iva Jovic[14] d. Magdalena Frech(POL) 7-5, 6-3 (rd 1 postponed from Tuesday)

Thursday's US Open second round matches featuring Americans:

Taylor Fritz[9] v Matia Bellucci(ITA)

Learner Tien[14] v Gael Monfils(FRA)

Zachary Svajda v Arthur Gea[LL](FRA)

Michael Zheng[WC] v Yunchaokete Bu[LL](CHN)

Coco Gauff[4] v Paula Badosa(ESP)

Amanda Anisimova[10] v Lilli Tagger(AUS)

Madison Keys[22] v Anna Bondar(HUN)

Iva Jovic[14] v Francesca Jones[Q](GBR)

Americans went 21-20 in first round matches over the past four days, with the men having a 10-8 record and the women 11-12.

With the US Open Junior Championships qualifying beginning tomorrow at Cary Leeds Tennis Center in the Bronx, the USTA has provided me with the main draw wild cards for the US Open Junior Championships, which often change at the last minute when players move into the main draw or receive special exemptions from their performance in Canada.

Boys:

Kamil Stolarcyzk

Safir Azam

Navneet Raghuram

Teodor Davidov

Jerrid Gaines Jr

Matias Reyniak

Kayden Colombo

Mason Vaughan

Girls:

Shristi Selvan

Kristina Penickova

Annika Penickova

Hannah Ayrault

Emery Combs

Allison Wang

Isha Manchala

Thara Gowda

Marcel Latak was expected to receive a main draw wild card given his ranking and his position in qualifying, but he has advanced to the semifinals of the J300 in Repentigny, so he will receive a special exempt entry, freeing up a wild card for Raghuram.

Latak defeated No. 6 seed Simone Massellani of Italy 7-5, 6-3 today and will play No. 5 seed Mark Ceban of Great Britain in the semifinals. Great Britain's Rhys Lawlor, the No. 15 seed, is also in line for a special exemption into the main draw after beating No. 8 seed Kanta Watanabe of Japan 7-6(5), 6-1. He will play No. 7 seed Kai Thompson of Hong Kong, who beat No. 3 seed Tito Chavez 7-6(7), 0-6, 6-1.

Camille Allegre and Canada's Andrea Cabio got a walkover in the doubles semifinal today from No. 5 seeds Daniella Britton, a singles semifinalist from Great Britain, and Anna Pircher of Austria. They are awaiting their opponents, who play later tonight. The unseeded Cabio will play Britton in one girls semifinal; No. 4 seed Antonina Sushkova of Ukraine plays No. 9 seed Hollie Smart in the other girls singles semifinal.

Half of the competitors in the girls qualifying draw for the US Open Junior Championships are Americans, with all 16 first round qualifying matches Thursday featuring a US girl.

Qualifying wild cards were given to the two 14-year-old girls who played on the USA World Tennis team competition in Czechia last month: Nadia Poznick and Anna Kapanadze, while the third member of the team, Wimbledon 14-and-under champion Isha Manchala receiving a main draw wild card. The other girls qualifying wild cards went to Anya Arora, Kathyrn Cragg and Natalie Kha, who won hers as the fifth-place finisher in the 18s in San Diego. The sixth wild card always goes to a Japanese high school player, this year it is Yui Kubota. Five of the 16 US girls in the draw are seeded; Pietra Rivoli of Brazil, No. 69 in the current WT junior rankings, is the top seed.

American boys are much more scarce in US Open Junior qualifying, with only six of the 32 players in the draw from the United States. Five are wild cards: Tomas Laukys, Izyan Ahmad, Daniel Malacek, Zen Uehling and Tyler Lee. The sixth American, in by his ranking, is Agassi Rusher. The Japanese high school wild card is Yoshihiro Sakurai.

College Park J300 champion Felix Roussel of Canada is the top seed in boys qualifying ,with his career-high junior ranking this week at 46. 

Matches begin at 10 a.m. Thursday, with live scoring available on the US Open website.