Hance, Emma Win Claremont Titles; Katerina Stewart into Palm Harbor $25,000 Pro Circuit Final

I'm traveling today, so this post will be brief and unfortunately will not contain all the results I would usually update.

The results from the ITF Grade 4 in Claremont are in however. Fifteen-year-old Victoria Emma, who won two Grade 5 titles late last year, claimed her first Grade 4 title today, beating No. 4 seed Hanna Chang 6-1, 2-6, 7-5.   Emma, who reached the 16s semifinals at the Eddie Herr last year, was the No. 10 seed.

Connor Hance, who has played Claremont four times already, despite being only 16, but hasn't played any other ITF events (other than US Open junior qualifying), won the boys title, defeating 15-year-old Alexandre Rotsaert 6-2, 6-2.  Hance and Rotsaert were both unseeded.

Complete draws can be found here.

At the $25,000 Pro Circuit event in Palm Harbor, Florida, qualifier Katerina Stewart reached the final, advancing when Allie Kiick retired trailing 6-1, 1-0.  The 17-year-old Stewart will meet top seed Maryna Zanevska of Ukraine, who beat No. 8 seed Maria Irigoyen of Argentina 6-1, 6-2. Stewart has four $10,000 level titles, but this is her first final at the $25,000 level.

Late last night, UCLA sophomore Mackenzie McDonald reached the semifinals of the $15,000 Futures tournament in Calabasas, defeating former teammate Clay Thompson 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.  He will play No. 2 seed Dennis Novikov, another former Bruin, in one of today's semifinals, with Francis Tiafoe and No. 6 seed Jason Jung in the other semifinal.

At the Miami Open, No. 22 seed John Isner and Jack Sock claimed second round wins, with Isner beating World No. 1 junior Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 6-4, and Sock taking out No. 21 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-6(4), 6-1.  Serena Williams won, beating Monica Niculescu  of Romania 6-3, 6-1, and will play CiCi Bellis in the third round.