Basavareddy, Jovic, Ma and Corwin Claim USTA Pro Circuit Titles; Gauff Wins Beijing 1000 Championship; Leach and Frodin Top Seeds at ITF J300 Pan Am Closed
Americans swept the singles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit this week, although three of four tournaments featured all-USA finals, making a sweep quite likely after the semifinals were completed.
Nishesh Basavareddy won his first Challenger title today with an impressive performance in at the Tiburon 75, emphatically ending his Challenger final losing streak at three. After a disappointing performance in the final a week ago in Charleston, a 6-4, 6-3 loss to lucky loser Edas Butvilas of Lithuania, the unseeded 19-year-old from Indiana brought his best level against former Texas All-American Eliot Spizzirri, taking it 6-1, 6-1 in 62 minutes. The Stanford junior is up to 192 in the ATP live rankings with his first Challenger title; he is not playing next week's Challenger 75 in Fairfield California, where he made his first Challenger final last year.
Iva Jovic won her first W75 title today in Rancho Santa Fe California, running her USTA Pro Circuit winning streak to 10 matches and avenging her loss in February's W35 final to Ena Shibahara of Japan. The unseeded 16-year-old, who won the W35 in Berkeley a week ago, defeated No. 3 seed Shibahara 6-3, 6-3 in today's final. The only set Jovic lost all week was the first won she played, against Victoria Hu(Princeton) in her 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 first round victory. Jovic is now up to 217 in the WTA live rankings.
For more on Jovic's title, see this recap of the final from press aide Steve Pratt.
Lea Ma, the former Georgia All-American, had never been past the quarterfinals of a Pro Circuit tournament, but this week the 23-year-old New Yorker took three steps beyond that, taking the title at the W35 in Redding California. Ma defeated top seed Maria Mateas(Duke) 6-3, 6-2 to record that milestone. Mateas had beaten Texas A&M sophomore Lucciana Perez of Peru in the semifinalis late last night 6-1, 6-0.
The doubles title in Redding was won by Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) and Eryn Cayetano(USC), with the unseeded pair defeating the unseeded team of Clervie Ngounoue and Himeno Sakatsume of Japan 6-2, 6-2 in last night's final.
At the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Ann Arbor, top seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) took the title, beating unseeded Alfredo Perez(Florida) 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in today's final. It's the second Pro Circuit singles titles for the 28-year-old from Wisconsin and his first in four years.
The biggest title for an American was delivered by Coco Gauff, who won her second Masters 1000 title today in Beijing. Gauff, the No. 4 seed, defeated Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1, to put a disappointing US hard court summer behind her. For more on Gauff's title, see this article from the WTA website.
Qualifying is complete and the draws are out for the ITF J300 Pan American Regional Championships in Houston, which I'll be covering in person beginning Monday.
The boys qualifiers: Marcel Latak, Noble Renfrow, Arnav Bhandari, Bullion Sharp, Nicolas Pedraza, Andre Alcantara
The girls qualifiers: Bella Payne, Calla McGill, Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, Joanna Kennedy, Eva Oxford, Sara Shumate
The boys wild cards: Gavin Goode, Juno Pethe, Cal Riggs, Andrew Johnson, Santiago Albarran(MEX) and Gus Grumet.
The girls wild cards: Maya Chen, Jordyn Hazelitt, Sarah Ye, Hannah Ayrault, Kayla Moore and Ahona Chowdhury.
The boys seeds:
1. Jagger Leach2. Cooper Woestendick