TEMPE, Ariz. – More than a dozen collegians remain in contention into the medal rounds at the 2025 FISU World University Summer Games, the world’s second-largest Olympic sports event behind the Olympic Games, showcasing top student-athletes from around the world.
Held every two years in different cities across the globe, the tournament consists of thousands of athletes from more than 150 countries competing across 25 sports (15 summer and 10 winter). Beginning July 17 at ETUF Tennisanlage in Essen, Germany, the tennis finals are held from July 25-26.
Hundreds of participants entered the Men’s and Women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles draws, and as the tournament comes to a close, a handful of college tennis programs will be represented in the semifinal round beginning Wednesday, July 23.
Florida State’s Jamie Connel (Great Britain), Arizona’s Jay Friend (Japan) and LSU’s Alessio Vasquez (Germany) round out the semis of Men’s singles, while Texas’ Eszter Meri (Slovakia) is the lone collegian from an American college in the Women’s singles semis.
Connel made noise earlier in the week with a huge comeback win by defeating ATP #173 Coleman Wong in the round of 16 in three sets (0-6, 7-6, 7-6). Meri had an impressive win of her own to reach the quarters, beating Alice Robbe, who owns a career-high WTA ranking of #190, in three sets (3-6, 6-1, 6-1).
Two doubles teams have reached the Men’s and Women’s doubles semis in John Gabelic (UNC Greensboro)/Nikola Slavic (Ole Miss) and Ange Oby Kajuru (Oklahoma State) and partner Kanon Yamaguchi, respectively. Gabelic/Slavic will represent Team Sweden, while Kajuru will compete for Team Japan.
The most collegiate representation is evident in the mixed doubles quarterfinals, as three pairs both attend American universities in Grace Piper (USC)/Jamie Connel (Florida State), Angella Okutoyi (Auburn)/Kael Shah (Denison) and Catherine Aulia (Tennessee)/Jeremy Jin (Florida).
Additionally, Jay Friend (Arizona) and partner Natsuki Yoshimoto plus Maria de Liborio Garcia (Auburn) and Pedro Araujo round out the mixed doubles quarters.
In total, more than 40 schools were represented at this summer’s tournament, including Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, USC, UCLA, Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern and more.
For brackets, live stats and results, visit the official 2025 FISU World University Summer Games website. A live stream for the semifinals is available here.
About the FISU World University Summer Games
Bochum, Duisburg, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Hagen, and Berlin are delighted to be hosting the FISU World University Games Summer. From July 16-27 2025, around 8,500 student-athletes and officials from over 150 countries will compete for medals in 18 sports – making this one of the largest multi-sport events in the world in 2025. And there can be few better-placed hosts: in these exceptionally sport-loving locations, the densest university landscape in Europe meets the most sports clubs in Germany.
