Orlando, Fla. – Junior Kylie Collins and redshirt freshman Anastasiya Komar will begin their campaigns for singles glory in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Singles Championships on Monday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
Collins opens the day at 8 a.m. CT against Ozlem Uslu from Virginia Tech and Komar takes on Stanford’s Angelica Blake at 2:30 p.m. CT.
NCAA Individual Championships
Tournament Homepage (USTA)
Tournament Format
The NCAA Singles Championship features 64 of the best players in division I college tennis seeded by the NCAA based on seasonal performance. The best player from each of the 12 conferences received automatic qualification while the remaining 52 were selected at-large with performance and ranking by the ITA considered. Collins and Komar both received at-large berths. For Komar, she drew a spot as a No. 9-16 seed, which qualified her to earn ITA Singles All-American honors. All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. Singles play begins on Monday, with one round being contested each day until the finals on Saturday, May 27.
In doubles, 32 doubles duos were selected similar to singles: the best doubles duo from each conference automatically received an invitation while the remaining 20 pairs were selected at-large. All doubles teams must have started a minimum of 10 doubles matches, with a minimum of four matches in the spring, in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection. Komar and Collins were selected as a No. 5-8 seed, which meant the duo qualified for ITA Doubles All-American honors. The doubles bracket is set to begin on Tuesday and will play one round each day until the finals on Saturday, May 27.
Kylie Collins vs. Ozlem Uslu
Collins will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship for the second time in her career after making her debut last season while playing at Texas. Last year, Collins made a run to the Round of 16 in the singles championship, which earned her ITA Singles All-American honors in the process.
Collins earned 13 singles wins this season dating back to the fall with eight coming in dual matches. In dual play, four wins came from the No. 1 court and four from the No. 2. The Savannah, Georgia native has been everpresent in the ITA Singles Rankings all season, ranking as high as No. 7 this season and enters this week ranked at No. 39.
Virginia Tech’s Ozlem Uslu, a freshman from Gebze, Turkey, is set to be Collins opponent at 8 a.m. CT on Monday. Uslu posted a 16-7 record playing primarily at the top two singles courts for the Hookies in the competitive ACC conference. Her strongest win of the season came when she upset then-No. 7 Carol Lee of Georgia Tech, which earned her ACC Freshman of the Week honors. She is currently ranked No. 54 by the ITA.
Anastasiya Komar vs. Angelica Blake
Komar will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship for the first time in her career. After missing the 2022 dual season due to an injury, Komar showed her skill this past season with a stellar 33-7 overall record and a 19-2 record in dual matches playing at the No. 1&2 court for the Tigers. She finished conference play with an 11-2 record, which tied her for most singles wins in the SEC and earned her a spot on the All-SEC First Team as a result. Against ranked foes, she has posted a 12-5 record.
Angelica Blake of Stanford will be Komar’s first round opponent at 2:30 p.m. CT on Monday. A senior from Boca Raton, Florida, Blake posted a 33-6 overall record dating back to the fall and a 20-2 dual record playing primarily at the No. 3 spot for the Cardinals. Blake helped the Cardinals to a tremendous team season that included Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles and a run to the semi-finals of the NCAA team tournament. She was named to First Team Pac-12 and is currently ranked No. 44 by the ITA.
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