From Tennis Now | @TennisNow | Monday, January 27, 2025
Photo: Andy Cheung/Getty
Rising American stars will ride winning waves in Delray Beach.
Australian Open breakout stars Your student AND Nishesh Basavareddy are set to play the Delray Beach Open qualifying event as part of Opening Weekend Feb. 7-9 at Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center, the tournament announced.
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Four players will advance from the qualifying draw to the main draw of the ATP 250 which will take place on February 10-16.
Tickets are available at DelrayBeachOpen.com
Tien and Basavareddy, two 19-year-old Americans, electrified the fans in the first Grand Slam of the season.
The left-hander Tien won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw, then won three more matches, including a victory over No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in a fifth-set tiebreak, to become the youngest man to reach in the fourth round of the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal in 2005. Basavareddy earned a wild card into his first Grand Slam main draw, then won his first Grand Slam set against 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic before falling in four sets.
Tien, who finished third at the 2021 USTA National Clay Court Championship for Boys 18 in Delray Beach, will climb roughly 40 spots to crack the world’s top 100 for the first time next week at a projected No. 80. Basavareddy is currently on the doorstep of career number 107.
They will try to join fellow Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the main draw of the Delray Beach Open. Fritz, ranked world no. 4, is two-time defending champion and last year’s runner-up Paul will make his debut in the world Top 10 next week after reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. Check out the initial main draw entry list here.
Other players familiar to Delray Beach tennis fans who will compete in the DBO qualifying rounds include 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Christopher Eubanks and two-time Delray Beach Open semifinalist Mackenzie McDonald.
Delray Beach 2025 Open Qualifying field by numbers so far (two wild cards still to be added to the field):
3 ATP Tour title winners (Christopher Eubanks, Yibing Wu, Taro Daniel)
5 Past Delray Beach Open Main Draw Players (Christopher Eubanks, Mackenzie McDonald, Aleksandar Kovacevic, Taro Daniel, Mitchell Krueger)
4 players who won matches at Australian Open 2025 (Learner Tien, Tristan Boyer, Mitchell Krueger, James Duckworth)
1 NCAA singles champion (Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA, 2016)
7 Americans (Christopher Eubanks, Nishesh Basavareddy, Aleksandar Kovacevic, Learner Tien, Mackenzie McDonald, Tristan Boyer, Mitchell Krueger)
5 players aged 25 or younger (Youngest – Student Tien, 19)
3 players aged 30 or over (oldest – James Duckworth, 33)
