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Rather than just practicing during the winter break, some of the top college players headed to Florida to compete in a high-level event with an attractive prize.

TCU senior Alex Rybakov and Stanford sophomore Michaela Gordon captured the Blizzard Wild Card Challenge titles on Tuesday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.

Rybakov defeated USC’s Brandon Holt 6-2, 6-1 in the men’s final while Gordon rallied to beat Duke’s Kelly Chen 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the women’s final.

TCU Senior Alex Rybakov Captured the Men's Title
© USTA Player Development

With their victories, the All-Americans earned main draw wild cards into professional events and spots on the 2019 USTA Collegiate National Team.

Rybakov will return to the National Campus for the Orlando Open, a USTA Pro Circuit ATP 80 Challenger event from Dec. 31-Jan. 6. Gordon will compete in a 2019 $60K tournament that will be determined in the future.

“It felt good to win. There are a bunch of really good players at the college level and this tournament showcased a lot of them,” Rybakov said. “It was just a great experience coming here and having the opportunity to play and compete for the wild card and be able to win it.”