Bigun Reaches First ATP Challenger Quarterfinal, Tien Faces Tomic for Spot in Semifinals; ITA Preaseason No. 1s Baris and Zheng Top Fields in Berkeley and Athens as D-I Fall Season Begins

Kaylan Bigun, the Roland Garros boys champion who made the quarterfinals of the other three junior slams this year, received a wild card into this week's ATP Challenger 75 in Las Vegas. Bigun will receive eight entries into Challengers next year via the ATP Accelerator program as a junior slam champion, but for the remainder of this year he will need wild cards, with his ATP ranking barely inside the Top 1000 when this week's tournament began.

The 18-year-old left-hander defeated Govind Nanda(UCLA) 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday for his second main draw victory at an ATP Challenger; today he beat qualifier Patrick Maloney(Michigan) 6-3, 6-4. Bigun had eight aces and faced only two break points in the match, one in each set, and never lost serve.

The break point Bigun saved in the second set came when he was serving for the match at 5-4, after breaking Maloney with a clean forehand winner on his third opportunity in the game. After a couple of forehand errors had Bigun facing a 5-4, 30-40 score, Maloney had his chance, but netted a backhand. After an overhead winner gave Bigun a match point, he didn't make his first serve, but the second was deep to Maloney's backhand and his return went just beyond the baseline.

Bigun, who said at the US Open that his plan was to join UCLA in January, will face his second former Bruin in four days Friday: Karue Sell. The 30-year-old from Brazil saved five match points in his 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(11) win over No. 8 seed Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina to reach his fourth Challenger quarterfinal of the year.

On Thursday, No. 3 seed Learner Tien(USC) defeated former Ohio State All-American Cannon Kingsley 6-3, 6-3 and will face No. 7 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia in the quarterfinals.  The two-time Kalamazoo champion has now reached six Challenger quarterfinals this year.  Tomic, 31, beat 22-year-old Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4 late last night.

The other seeds in the bottom half also advanced to the quarterfinals, with No. 5 seed Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan facing No. 2 seed Denis Kudla.

No. 6 seed Tristan Boyer(Stanford) reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory over wild card Colton Smith(Arizona) today.

Boyer's opponent will be the winner of tonight's match between Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) and qualifier Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon).

While former college players are in pursuit of a Challenger title in Las Vegas, the top two Division I men in the preseason rankings are in action in fall collegiate events.

No. 1 Ozan Baris is the top seed at the Battle in the Bay in Berkeley, and has won his first round match. No. 2 seed Karlis Ozolins of Illinois did not, falling to UC Santa Barbara's Dominque Rolland 6-4, 6-2. Another UC Santa Barbara Gaucho, senior Gianluca Brunkow, beat No. 3 seed Pedro Vives of TCU 7-6(2), 7-5, and No. 13 on the Newcomers preseason ranking, Zoran Ludoski of Arizona, defeated Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois, a No. 5 seed, 6-4, 6-3.  Kalamazoo 18s champion Matthew Forbes lost to No. 4 seed Lui Maxted of TCU 6-2, 6-1.

The women's field in Berkeley is topped by Angie Oby Karjuru of Oklahoma State, No. 5 in the preseason rankings, with NCAA singles finalist Anastasiia Lopata the No. 2 seed. Although the day's first round women's action is not complete, Marcela Lopez of Oklahoma State did post an upset, beating No. 3 seed Amelia Honer of UC-Santa Barbara 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(6).

Preseason No. 2 Michael Zheng of Columbia, the 2024 NCAA singles finalist, is the No. 1 seed in the Red Flight of the Southern Intercollegiates in Athens Georgia. There are only two seeds in the 16-player flight, with Georgia's Thomas Paulsell the other. The Southern Intercollegiates, in its 56th year, will begin with doubles early Friday and concludes on Sunday.  See the tournament central page at georgiadogs.com for streaming and live score and results links.