Reese Brantmeier

Ala defeated Stuyana in their first encounter at the 2024 ITF 1000 Coser Jewelers Tennis Challenge round of 16, 7-5, 6-2, in Pennsylvania.

At that time, Ala was ranked No. 147 while Stuyana was a wildcard primarily competing in the US NCAA.

A Rafa Nadal Academy standout, Ala has grown leaps and bounds since that meeting, now sporting a WTA 500 Washington title and a career-high No. 18 ranking.

Alaa last played an official singles match at the Cincinnati Open where she fell to Amanda Anisimova in the third round, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.

6-3, 4-6, 6-4, last Saturday.

The winner between Alla and Stuyana will face the winner between Ukrainian Oleksandra Olenikova or American Rhys Brantmeier.

Olenikova is ranked No. 46 while the wildcard Brantmeier is No. 425.

Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it.

Uh, she takes on Boses Maniero.

Reese Brantmeier, best player for different spots throughout the course of her career as she takes on Alenkova.

Yeah, like, I will be watching those matches start to finish tomorrow, so I'm certainly gonna be talking about them.

On the men's side, I think Taylor Fritz, too much pace for Darwin Blanch, but it's an American versus American.

Um, Iva Yovic is in here as well as the 14th seed.

The aforementioned Oleksandra Olenikova, who opens against Reese Brantmeier, the college, uh, wild card, is in here as well.

Alexandra Eala, one of the big, uh, stories of this year, she's in this section as well.

Could play Jovic, her friend, in the third round.

Kasakina, Badosa, for those of you still stuck in 2021, there's a matchup for you.

And then this one's just for me personally, like, if there's a match I could convince Daniel Westoff to watch first round of this US Open as we are both burnt to a crisp from our lifetime on the road here this summer, it's Reese Brantmeier's round one matchup at the US Open as she takes on Alja Tomljanovic.

He's sitting next to me and, and he gave me a shake of the head to agree, so that's a Westoff pick.

Gotta throw that one on the list out of respect to our super producer, best in the business, of course, as always.

Um, who's she potentially playing in the second round? Let's have a quick look at this.

Okay, Olinikova, who she lost to on clay earlier this year in Strasbourg, or the American Brantmeier.

I think, therefore, depends on who she plays as the qualifier.

That could be interesting.

So she will have a qualifier, R1 qualifier.

Round two will be against two people's names that are extremely difficult for me to spell.

Uh, Olinikova, although Brantmeier's not too bad, especially as it's a German name.

Let's go for capitals here, shall we? Olinikova or, who was the other one? Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm.

Coming up, a pro tennis player from Whitewater is set to compete in the prestigious US Open in New York, and she finds ways to give back to her hometown.

I got the opportunity to start the Reese Brantmeier Project to raise money to rebuild these tennis courts and bring grassroots tennis back to Whitewater.

That's next from WPR News.

[upbeat music] It's Wisconsin Today.

And I'm Rob Ferret.

[upbeat music] The US Open Tennis Championships begin next week, and Wisconsin will have new representation in the annual tournament in New York.

Reese Brantmeier of Whitewater just finished her collegiate tennis career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a NCAA Division I Women's Singles national title, and now she's qualified for the US Open.

Back home, her nonprofit, Reese Brantmeier Project, has raised over $150,000 to restore community tennis courts in Whitewater, and she continues to support local tennis initiatives in southern Wisconsin.