Michigan State junior Ozan Baris has been selected by the USTA to participate in the US Open Wild Card Playoffs, scheduled for June 16 to June 18 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. This new event for collegiate players has more than doubled the average number of collegiate players that can earn US Open wild cards, allowing for there to be six guaranteed wild card entries for the US Open on the table.
Baris, an Okemos Michigan native, was just recently named an ITA All-American for the third consecutive year, making him the only Spartan this year to receive an All-American accolade; he now holds onto three of the seven total All-American honors in MSU program history. He joins Mashiska Washington in singles (2015), Harry Jadun and John Mullane in doubles, and Max Sheldon in doubles (2023, with Baris).
Baris’s commitment and athleticism throughout the season are highlighted by the many awards he achieved throughout it. This season, Baris was the ITA Midwest Regional Single Champion, the first in Spartan history to earn this title. He also won Big-Ten Co-Player of the Week back in October, and earned First Team All-Big Ten accolades this spring as well.
He totaled an impressive 23 singles wins overall this season and added 10 victories in doubles play, helping to lead the Green and White to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, marking the team's second year in a row placing in the tournament and their third program appearance in the tournament overall.
The Spartans ended their 2024-25 season with a 17-10 record, totaling 40 wins through the last two seasons. This is the most MSU wins in back-to-back seasons since 2012-13, which was the first time the Spartans appeared in the national tournament with current head coach Harry Jadun playing as a sophomore student-athlete.
Baris has seen success on the national stage and was the NCAA Individual Championships National Runner-up last fall. He fell to national champion Michael Zheng of Columbia in the title match, but the two are both headliners in the men’s singles field.
Baris and Zheng both automatically qualified for the event as well based on their NCAA performances, while the remainder of the field was made up of players who were selected by a committee of USTA staff, college coaches, and an ITA representative.
The new playoff format will give the winner of the singles and doubles competition an entry into the US Open main draw singles and doubles wild cards. The men’s and women’s singles finalists will earn US Open qualifying wild cards.
Matches will begin at 5 p.m. each day beginning on June 16 with the singles semifinals and then moving into the doubles semifinals on June 17. All finals will be played on June 18, with free admission, as well as being live-streamed on the USTA National Campus website.
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