In a fitting conclusion of the Mardy Fish USTA Futures Lake Nona Wild Card event, hosted by the USTA National Campus, No. 2 seed Karl Poling (West Point, N.Y.) narrowly defeated top seed Trent Bryde (Suwanee, Ga.) on Thursday by the final margin of 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

With his triumph, Poling has secured a main draw wild card into the 2018 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, a $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit Futures event held in Vero Beach, Fla., April 24-29. It will be Poling’s third appearance in a USTA Pro Circuit tournament this year, and first in the main draw, after competing in the qualifying draw’s at both the $15,000 event in Sunrise, Fla., and the $125,000 tournament in Dallas, Texas.

The two players were head and shoulders above the competition all week, which they showed once again in the semifinal round earlier in the day. Bryde blitzed past unseeded hopeful Quinn Snyder (Delran, N.J.), losing just a single game in the 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Poling and No. 3 seed Axel Nefve (Boca Raton, Fla.) were locked in a much tighter contest. It was Poling who grasped the upper hand by earning the first set, 6-3, and from there he was able to take control of the match, eventually claiming the win 6-3, 6-1.

In the final, Bryde was the one who raced out to a hot start, just as he had in all of his matches on the week. However, Poling was not deterred by the deficit, hanging in and rallying to force a decisive third frame, which eventually went his way after a lengthy battle.

For more information on the Mardy Fish USTA Futures Lake Nona Wild Card event, click here.