After a 90-minute delay for rain and lightning, the USTA American Collegiate Player US Open Wild Card Playoffs got underway under the lights at the National Campus in Lake Nona. All four semifinals, played concurrently, had their twists and turns except perhaps No. 2 seed Sebastian Gornzy’s 6-4, 6-2 win over Matt Forbes of Ohio State.
Gorzny got the only break of the first set at 4-all and held for the first set, then extended his streak of games to seven by taking a 4-0 lead in the second set. The recent Texas graduate, who reached Sunday’s final at the M25 in Wichita, told Cracked Racquets Alex Gruskin that he slept in the Atlanta airport Sunday night, but he did get to Orlando Monday and said he got plenty of rest Monday night prior to the match.
Gorzny will play top seed Trevor Svajda of SMU, who came back to defeat Aidan Kim of Ohio State 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3). Svajda lost his break in the third set, but took control in the tiebreaker, which, like the US Open, was to ten points, not seven.
Top seed Reese Brantmeier needed 80 minutes to take the first set from Michigan’s Piper Charney, but the recent North Carolina graduate found her form in the second set to post a 7-5, 6-2 victory. The 2025 NCAA singles champion, who, like Gorzny has had notable success in her first events this month as a pro, will face No. 2 seed Katrina Scott of Tennessee. Scott trailed Ohio State’s Luciana Perry 4-2 in the third set, but won the final four games for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
All four winners have earned a trip to New York, with Thursday’s finalists receiving qualifying wild cards; the winners, of course, are given main draw wild cards.
The doubles semifinals are Wednesday, with all four scheduled for 6 p.m. Reese Brantmeier will be back in action, with Alanis Hamilton, as the defending champions.
Men’s Doubles Semifinals:
[1] Brandon Carpico/Nikita Filin (Ohio State) vs. [4] Greyson Casey/Carter Pate (Northwestern)
[3] Michael Andre/Matteo Antonescu (Indiana) vs. [2] Alex Chang/Alex Razeghi (Stanford)
Women’s Doubles Semifinals:
[1] Reese Brantmeier/Alanis Hamilton (North Carolina) vs. [3] Valeria Ray/Bridget Stammel (Vanderbilt)
[4] Jessica Bernales/Lily Jones (Michigan) vs. [2] DJ Bennett/Ava Esposito (Auburn)
Cracked Racquets will have coverage of the doubles semifinals on their YouTube Channel.
Wimbledon announced its first batch of wild cards, with qualifying beginning next Monday at Roehampton.
Men’s main draw:
Grigor Dimitrov(BUL)
Stan Wawrinka(SUI)
Jacob Fearnley[TCU](GBR)
Arthur Fery[Stanford](GBR)
Jack Pinnington Jones[TCU](GBR)
Toby Samuel[South Carolina](GBR)
TBA
TBA
Women’s main draw:
Maja Chwalinska(POL)
Harriet Dart(GBR)
Katie Swan(GBR)
Alicia Dudeney[Florida](GBR)
Hannah Klugman(GBR)
Mimi Xu(GBR)
Mika Stojsavljevic(GBR)
TBA
As you can see, all four of the British main draw wild cards for men were given to former collegians, while Dudeney is the only former collegian receiving a main draw women’s wild card. Hannah Klugman and Mika Stojsavljevic, who are still eligible for ITF junior competition, received main draw wild cards for the second straight year; Stojsavljevic is also entered in the Wimbledon Junior Championships.
Men’s qualifying:
Mark Ceban(GBR)
Ivan Ivanov(BUL)
Henry Searle(GBR)
Oliver Tarvet[San Diego](GBR)
Johannus Monday[Tennessee](GBR)
TBA
TBA
WC Playoff
WC Playoff
Women’s qualifying:
Daniella Britton(GBR)
Jodie Burrage(GBR)
Lily Miyazaki[Oklahoma)(GBR)
Mia Pohankova(SVK)
TBA
WC Playoff
WC Playoff
WC Playoff
WC Playoff
Ceban and Britton earned their qualifying wild cards by winning the British National 18s titles; Ivanov and Pohankova received qualifying wild cards as the 2025 Wimbledon Junior champions.
The ITA announced its Division I National Award winners today, which are shown below. For some reason, the National Player of the Year awards are not included in these releases, but that award is always given to the player ranked No. 1 at year-end, so it will go to Lucciana Perez of Texas A&M and Dylan Dietrich of Virginia.
ITA/Dunlop Coach of the Year:
Mark Weaver, Texas A&M
ITA Assistant Coach of the Year:
David Secker, NC State
ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship:
Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina
ITA Cissie Leary Sportsmanship:
Sarah Millard, Arkansas State
ITA Rookie of the Year:
Victoria Osuigwe, NC State
ITA Most Improved Player:
Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Appalachian State
ITA Player to Watch:
Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M
ITA Senior Player of the Year:
Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina
ITA/Dunlop Coach of the Year:
Andres Pedroso, Virginia
ITA Assistant Coach of the Year:
Benjamin Becker, Texas
ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship:
Phillip Deaton, Air Force
ITA Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship:
Sebastian Dominko, Notre Dame
ITA Rookie of the Year:
Max Dahlin, Michigan
ITA Most Improved Player:
Duncan Chan, TCU
ITA Player to Watch:
Trevor Svajda, SMU
ITA Senior Player of the Year:
Sebastian Gorzny, Texas
Americans who qualified today in Tulsa are Will Manning(NC State), Ilyas Fahim(Virginia Tech), Maximus Dussault(TCU) and Jonah Braswell(Florida, Texas).
Wild cards were given to Matisse Farzam(Clemson), Axel Nefve(Notre Dame, Florida), JJ Wolf(Ohio State) and Alejandro Jacome Jaramillo(Wichita State). Wolf defeated Nefve 7-6(5), 6-4 in first round action today.
The top seeds are Andres Martin(Georgia Tech), who beat Farzam 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-1, and Braden Shick(NC State). Schick will play his former teammate Manning in the first round Wednesday.
Last week’s champion in Wichita as a wild card, Ozan Baris(Michigan State), received a special exemption into the main draw this week.
At the men’s tournament in Irvine, Americans who qualified today are Aardash Tripathi(UCLA), Karl Lee(UCLA, USC) and Nathan Cox(Vanderbilt).
Wild cards were awarded to Bryce Nakashima Ohio State,
Alexander Guajardo UC Irvine, William Kleege San Diego State
and Kelly Giese(Lubbock Christian, Nebraska).
Three juniors received entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program: Marcel Latak, Tanishk Konduri and Felipe Vazquez of Uruguay. 2025 Kalamazoo 18s finalist Jack Satterfield, a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt, received an ITF junior reserved entry, available to him after finishing 2025 in the Top 30 of the ITF junior rankings. He defeated No. 7 seed Tristan Stringer 6-2, 6-4 in first round action today.
Last week’s champion Kaylan Bigun(UCLA), playing his fourth straight SoCal Pro Series tournament, is the No. 1 seed; Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) is the No. 2 seed.
In the women’s event in Irvine, seven of the eight qualifying are Americans: Maria Aytoyan, Tatum Evans(UNC), Thea Rabman(UNC), 16-year-old Yilin Chen, Kaia Giribalan, Bianca Molnar(Notre Dame) and Simone Kay(USC).
Wild cards were given to Sophia Webster(Vanderbilt), 14-year-old Tanvi Pandey, Camille Allegre and Olivia Center(UCLA).
Junior reserved entries went to Lani Chang and Emery Combs; Combs, 15, defeated No. 6 seed Ingrid Carolina Millan Acosta of Mexico 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in first round action today.
Last week’s finalists in Los Angeles, Kaitlyn Carnicella(Auburn, South Carolina) and Russia’s Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma) received special exempt entries.
The top two seeds are Sofia Shapatava of Georgia, and Stanford rising sophomore Monika Ekstrand.