Zheng’s NCAA Singles Title Defense Continues; Brantmeier Lone Seed in the women’s semi-finals; Urhobo reaches Boca Raton W35 singles semifinals, doubles final: Reddy defeats Top Seed Miguel at J300 Zapopan

Three of the four men’s semifinalists made comebacks, including defending champion Michael Zheng of Columbia, who dropped his first set of the tournament before beating No. 8 seed Ozan Baris 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The unseeded Zheng is now on a 10-match winning streak in the NCAA tournament, with his forehand just too much for Baris in the third set after Baris controlled and played the first set flawlessly to take the lead in the rematch of the 2024 NCAA final.

Zheng’s opponent in the semifinals is the only seeded player remaining in the men’s draw: fellow Ivy Leaguer Paul Inchauspe of Princeton. Inchauspe, a junior from France. Inchauspe, who saved match points in his second win over Lucca Iu of UC-Santa Barbara, came from a set down for the third time this week to beat unseeded Luca Pow of Wake Forest 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Zheng and Inchauspe played once in the Ivy League conference game in 2024, but their match remained unfinished.

Saturday’s other men’s semifinal features two unseeded players, with SMU’s Trevor Svajda facing NC State’s Martin Borisiouk. Svajda, a junior, has found his form this week after two three-set wins on Tuesday and Wednesday. He recorded the only easy men’s victory today with a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Petar Jovanovic of Mississippi State, a 9-16 seed. Svajda is the first SMU player to reach the semifinals since 1986.

Borisiouk, who had his 9-16 seed removed when Kentucky’s Jack Loutit was admitted as an alternate, ended the undefeated start to Michigan freshman Max Dahlin’s collegiate career with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

It will be the first meeting between 25-year-old Borisiouk and 19-year-old Svajda.

The women’s semifinals will feature three new faces and one seed: North Carolina’s Reese Brantmeier.

Brantmeier, a 9-16 seed, won a 74-minute first set against No. 2 seed Carmen Herea of ​​Texas, her 5-1 lead evaporating. She saved set points in her 5-6 service game and in the tiebreak, but the 21-year-old senior took control in the second set against an error-prone Herea to post a 7-6(8), 6-0 victory.

She will play Southern Cal sophomore Jana Hossam Salah, who defeated Carolina Gomez Alonzo of Arkansas 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Hossam, who is only 18 years old, will face her first seed of the week when she plays Brantmeier.

In the top half, Cal senior Berta Passola Folch faces Emily Welker of Mississippi in an unexpected semifinal, after Passola Folch defeated Kyoka Kubo of Kansas 7-5, 6-2 and Welker upset No. 4 seed Savannah Dada-Mascoll of Appalachian State.

Welker, a 25-year-old graduate student from Germany, saved a match point on a deuce point serve at 3-5 in the third set, and Dada-Mascoll couldn’t get to the match point serve at 5-4. Welker went up 6-5 by winning another decisive point and breaking Dada-Mascoll to secure her place in the semi-finals. Welker is only the third Ole Miss woman to reach the NCAA semifinals, the latest being 2018 NCAA champion Arianne Hartono. Passola Folch is the first Cal player to reach the semifinals since Lynn Ch, also unseeded, reached the 2014 finals.

With all the chaos in singles, at least in terms of seedings, one of the women’s doubles semifinals will actually feature two teams that were previously seeded.

No. 4 seeds Sophia Webster and Celia-Belle Mohr of Vanderbilt will face No. 2 seeds Roisin Gilheany and Gloriana Nahum of Oklahoma for a spot in the finals.

All four men’s teams were unseeded and no player advanced to either semi-final. Brantmeier and Dahlin both lost in the doubles quarterfinals today.

All four singles semifinals are scheduled for 10 a.m. and all four doubles semifinals are scheduled for 1 p.m.

No. 3 seed Francesa Pace of Italy and No. 2 seed Victoria Hu (Princeton) meet in the lower semifinals after Pace defeated No. 8 seed Rasheeda McAdoo (Georgia Tech) 7-5, 6-4 and Hu defeated Kylie Collins (Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-1, 6-2.

Urhobo and McAdoo will play as a team tomorrow for the second Boca Raton W35 doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds taking on No. 3 seeds Ema Burgic (Baylor) of Bosnia and Anita Sahdiieva (Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine in the final. Urhobo and McAdoo, who won the W35 Boca Raton doubles title in April, defeated unseeded Ingrid Neel (Florida) of Estonia and Abigail Rencheli (NC State) 6-1, 7-5, while Burgic and Sahdiieva defeated top seeds Pace and Martha Matoula of Greece 6-1, 6-3.

In the bottom half of the semifinals, No. 7 seed Maik Steiner (Western Michigan) of Germany will play No. 4 seed Ryan Fishback (Virginia Tech) after Steiner defeated Mario Martinez Serrano (Mississippi State) of Spain 6-4, 7-6 (5) and Fishback defeated Stijn Paardekooper (St. Bonaventure, Utah State) of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-3.

Smith and Evan Bynoe won the doubles title, defeating Mississippi State teammates Niccolo Baroni of Italy and Martinez Serrano 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Neither team was seeded.

Johns defeated No. 7 seed Micah Braswell (Texas) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2), while fifth-seeded Maxted defeated Arizona State senior Mathis Bondaz of France 6-1, 6-3.

Maxted, last fall’s NCAA doubles champion, will play Pranav Kumar (Texas A&M, SMU) in the doubles final on Saturday. The top seeds will face No. 2 seeds Abraham Asaba (Monmouth, Virginia Tech) of Ghana and Alex Martinez (Oklahoma) of Spain.

The girls’ singles final will feature No. 8 seed Maia Burcescu of Romania and No. 2 seed Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic.

Reddy and partner Navneet Raghuram lost to No. 7 seeds Jakub Kusy of Czech Republic and Mustafa Ege Sik of Turkey 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles semi-finals today.