Sept. 11, 2015
FLUSHING, N.Y. – While the weather was stormy in Nashville Friday afternoon, skies were clear at the U.S. Open for recent grad Gonzales Austin. The Miami native defeated top-seeded Ryan Shane of Virginia for the opportunity to compete against UCLA’s Mackenzie McDonald in Saturday’s American Collegiate Invitational Final.
“Last time we played was a long time ago, last November, and he’s (Ryan Shane) actually added a lot to his game since then. In the first set his movements were much better and he came out hitting a lot of balls and a ton of winners in the first set (13 overall), and there wasn’t much I felt I could do honestly. But in the second set I started making a few more balls and going after my shots a little more so he couldn’t dictate. I knew it was going to be close the whole time, but my game plan was to just stay in there as much as I could.”
Friday’s semifinal started out slow for the fourth-seeded Commodore grad, but despite dropping the first set to Shane, 3-6, Austin rallied to take the semifinal match over the 2015 NCAA singles champion in three, taking two nail biter tiebreaks; 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6).
“Heading into the third set I really didn’t care much about the outcome I just wanted to know that I made the right decisions in the big moments, and that was really important to me. In the breaker I was just thinking that the outcome doesn’t matter, ‘just go out there, go after it, and do what you do’.”
Austin has a fresh opponent in Saturday’s final, which he has never faced in competition. Scheduled to being at 11:00 am CT, “AJ” will take on UCLA junior, Mackenzie McDonald. Named the second seed of the tournament, Macdonald defeated Virginia’s Thai-Son Kwiatkowski in an easy 6-2, 6-2 victory.
“I practiced with him (McDonald) a good bit over the summer, I spent a week with him at a futures tournament in Tulsa. I know him and he’s got a great game and can hit every shot, that’s something that’s pretty rare in players these days. I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m building a lot of confidence here in my game as well.”
The ACI champion earns a main-draw wild card into the 2016 U.S. Open if ranked the player is ranked No. 120 or better by the 2016 U.S. Open entry deadline next summer. If not, the winner will receive a qualifying wild card. In addition, the champion will also receive wild cards into two USTA Pro Circuit events, while the runner-up will earn one wild card.
Semifinal Results
No. 4 Gonzales Austin (graduate, Vanderbilt) def. No. 1 Ryan Shane (Sr., UVA); 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6)
No. 2 Mackenzie McDonald (Jr., UCLA) def. No. 3 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Jr., Virginia); 6-2, 6-2