Kenin Wins $50,000 Sacramento Challenger, Takes US Open Wild Card Lead; Sandgren, Kennedy Take Pro Circuit Titles in Godfrey & Evansville; Black Wins Third Straight ITF Grade 4
Congrats to Sofia Kenin on winning her first $50K title in Sacramento & taking the lead in the @usopen WC Challenge pic.twitter.com/rHxQMmNzf1— USTA Pro Circuit (@USTAProCircuit) July 25, 2016
Seventeen-year-old Sonya Kenin won her second career USTA Pro Circuit title last night in at the $50,000 Sacramento tournament, beating No. 2 seed Grace Min 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final. The title boosted Kenin's WTA ranking to a career-high of 247. The unseeded Floridian, who had won her first Pro Circuit title at the $25,000 event in Wesley Chapel Florida in January, also took the lead in the USTA's US Open Wild Card Challenge with only this week's $50,000 tournament in Lexington left in the series. Min and Bellis, second and third in the standings, are in the draw, as is Kenin, with a special exemption. Defending champion Kenin is entered in the USTA Girls 18s Nationals in San Diego next month, but her participation is doubtful if she wins the US Open wild card this week. Below are the current standings for the women's Wild Card Challenge.
Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey defended their doubles title in Sacramento, with the No. 2 seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Chanel Simmonds of South Africa and Jamie Loeb 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
At the $25,000 Futures in Godfrey, Illinois, former Tennessee Volunteer Tennys Sandgren won his third Futures singles title of the year and the 11th of his career. The 25-year-old top seed defeated No. 2 seed Facundo Mena of Argentina 6-0, 6-4 in the final.
Nathan Ponwith, who will be starting college at Georgia next month, and rising Georgia sophomore Emil Reinberg won the doubles title in Godfrey. The unseeded pair defeated Mena and partner Jesus Bandres of Venezuela 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
At the $10,000 women's Pro Circuit tournament in Evansville, Indiana, rising Georgia junior Kennedy Shaffer won the battle of qualifiers, beating former Michigan All-American Emina Bektas 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the final. It's the 19-year-old Shaffer's first Pro Circuit title.
No. 3 seeds Sophie Chang and Alexandra Mueller won the doubles title with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 2 seeds Brynn Boren and Keri Wong.
Fifteen-year-old Hurricane Tyra Black ran her ITF junior winning streak this month to 14 in capturing her third straight singles title. The top-seeded Black, who had won Grade 4s in the Bahamas and Dominican Republic the past two weeks, took the championship in the Grade 4 in Jamaica with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 6 seed Alexandra Tutecky of Canada. Black has now returned to the ITF Top 100, at 85, just two spots short of her career high. The US has 16 girls in the Top 100 this week, with Russia in second place with 9.
Jenna Dean won the doubles title in Jamaica, partnering River Hart of Canada. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Ines Milosevic and Tutecky of Canada 6-1, 6-2 in the final.
The USTA's release on the Clay Court championships was sent out today and is available below.
SEBASTIAN KORDA, ANN LI WIN USTA BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ 18s
NATIONAL CLAY COURT CHAMPIONSHIPS SINGLES TITLES
Korda, Li Earn Wild Cards into 2016 US Open Junior Championships
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., July 25, 2016 – Sixteen-year olds Sebastian Korda (Bradenton, Fla.) and Ann Li (Devon, Pa.) each won singles titles at last week’s USTA Boys’ and Girls’ 18s National Clay Court Championships to earn wild card entries into the 2016 US Open Junior Championships.
Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda and one of a handful of junior boys to train with Ivan Lendl over the last year via a USTA Player Development initiative, defeated fellow Floridian Alexandre Rotsaert, of Boca Raton, 6-4, 6-1, in the Boys’ 18s final at the Delray Beach Tennis Center in Delray Beach, Fla. William Genesen and Zeke Clark, a pair of Tulsa, Okla., natives won the 18s’ doubles title over Jason Legall (Palm Coast, Fla.) and Andrew Fenty (Washington, D.C.), the son of former Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty.
Li, meanwhile, nearly swept the Girls’ 18s singles and doubles titles at The Racquet Club of Memphis in Memphis, Tenn., defeating Delray Beach’s Amanda Meyer, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in the singles final but falling in the doubles final, with Anna Brylin (Short Hills, N.J.), to Elysia Bolton (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) and Abigail Chiu (Austin, Texas), 6-2, 6-2.
In addition to their US Open junior wild card entries, Korda and Li each receive a wild card into a future USTA Pro Circuit event.
Lukas Greif (Evansville, Ind.) and Alexa Noel (Summit, N.J.) won the Boys’ and Girls’ 16s singles titles, each earning a wild card into a future USTA Pro Circuit event.
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