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Zheng, Bennett headline singles draws at American Collegiate Wild Card Playoffs

Arthur Kapetanakis | June 13, 2025

The draws are out for the American Collegiate Player Wild Card Playoffs, revealing the potential path to the 2025 US Open for a select group of NCAA stars.

 

From June 16-18 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., men’s and women’s singles and doubles wild cards will be earned via four-player or four-team shootouts in each category, with the winners punching their tickets to the US Open main draw. In addition, the men’s and women’s singles finalists will receive US Open qualifying wild cards, bringing the total to six guaranteed wild cards up for grabs—more than double the average awarded to American collegiate players over the past 10 years.

 

Learn more about the USTA Collegiate Player Wild Card Playoffs

In the men’s singles event, top seed Stefan Dostanic (Wake Forest) will open against on fourth seed Ozan Baris (Michigan State), the NCAA men’s singles runner-up in November. Second seed Michael Zheng (Columbia), the reigning NCAA singles champ, will face Aidan Kim (Ohio State) in Monday’s opening round.

 

With players seeded based on their ATP or WTA rankings, world No. 262 Mary Stoiana (Texas A&M) earned the women’s No. 1 seed as the highest-ranked player in either singles draw. The Aggies star was drawn against third seed DJ Bennett (Auburn), the NCAA women’s singles runner-up this past fall. The opposite matchup will see second seed Amelia Honer (UCSB) play fourth seed Valerie Glozman (Stanford).

 

For Bennett, who is also the women’s doubles top seed with Auburn teammate Ava Hrastar, the condensed format has helped to narrow her focus: "It's really just all or nothing,” she told USTA.com. “For me, it’s singles and doubles, so four matches max that I have to play. I'm just going to give it my all and hope for the best.”

DJ Bennett reached the NCAA women's singles final in November. Photo courtesy of Auburn Athletics.

Zheng will also have two chances at a US Open wild card. The junior is the No. 1 seed in the doubles draw alongside Columbia’s Nicholas Kotzen. Seven months after his NCAA men’s singles triumph in Waco, Texas, Zheng is hoping to repeat that success on another big stage.

 

“It’s a chance to prove yourself against some of the other top players in college,” he said of the Playoffs. “I think it's a good opportunity. It's for sure one of the easiest ways to get to the main draw of the US Open: All you have to do is win two matches. Otherwise you're out there grinding for years before you get a chance to play the US Open.”

Columbia's Michael Zheng is the reigning NCAA Division I men's singles champion. Photo courtesy of Columbia Athletics.

Zheng enters in strong form as the newest member of the ATP’s Top 500, a milestone he achieved after reaching his second ATP Challenger Tour final two weeks ago in Little Rock, Ark.

 

Bennett also enters the Playoffs on the heels of success at the pro level, having reached the quarterfinals at the ITF World Tennis Tour W75 and USTA Pro Circuit event last week in Sumter, S.C. After a long season competing for their schools and putting their teams first, both players have excelled in making the transition to individual play.

 

“It's a little bit tough going from [the team environment] for five months straight, and then it kind of just ends all of the sudden and you're kind of on your own,” Bennett reflected. “But this is my third year doing this, so I'm a little bit more used to it.”

 

In some ways, after handling the pressure of competing for their schools, playing for themselves can be freeing: “I would say overall, probably I would feel more pressure in a college match, just because I want to win so badly for my team,” Bennett explained. “I want to win badly for myself as well, but definitely I would put more pressure on myself to win for Auburn.”

“I think you just want to win that extra little bit for the team,” added Zheng. “That puts just a little bit more pressure on you.”

 

Zheng has felt the pressure of playing for a place in the US Open twice before, having competed as a qualifying wild card each of the past two years. He was three sets away from a main-draw berth in 2023, after winning the opening set in his second-round qualifying match. Now he stands four sets shy of a main-draw place in either singles or doubles.

 

Both Zheng and Bennett credit their college experience for allowing them space to develop their game and their physicality while maturing on and off the court. While they each intend to return to school for their senior year—with the ultimate goal of capping their collegiate careers with a team title—their individual ambitions will take center stage this week at the USTA National Campus.

 

The American Collegiate Player Wild Card Playoffs will begin on Monday with the first round of men’s and women’s singles, followed by doubles on Tuesday. The finals in each event will be held Wednesday, with play beginning at 5 p.m. each day. All matches will be streamed live on the USTA National Campus website.

 

Monday

5 p.m. matches

Team USA 1 - (1) Mary Stoiana vs. DJ Bennett

Team USA 2 - (2) Michael Zheng vs. Aidan Kim

 

Followed by matches

Team USA 1 - (1) Stefan Dostanic vs. Ozan Baris

Team USA 2 - (2) Amelia Honer vs. Valerie Glozman

 

Tuesday

5 p.m. matches

Team USA 1 - (1) Nicolas Kotzen/Michael Zheng (Columbia) vs. Nico Godsick/Hudson Rivera (Stanford)

Team USA 2 - (1) DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (Auburn) vs. Kaitlyn Carnicella/Sarah Hamner (South Carolina)

 

Followed by matches

Team USA 1 - (2) Olivia Center/Kate Fakih (UCLA) vs. Reeese Brantmeier/Alanis Hamilton (North Carolina)

Team USA 2 - (2) Cooper Williams/Theo Winegar (Duke) vs. Louis Cloud/Trevor Svajda (Southern Methodist)

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