Brengle and Sandgren Claim Pro Circuit Titles; King Wins Futures in Mexico; Former College Stars Claim ATP Doubles Titles; Escobedo Qualifies in Madrid

Tennys Sandgren went from finalist last week to champion this week, while Madison Brengle collected her second straight title today at USTA Pro Circuit events 100 miles apart.

Sandgren avoided a third set tiebreaker and a third set period for the first time in three days at the $75,000 ATP Challenger in Savannah Georgia, beating unseeded Joao Pedro Sorgi of Brazil 6-4, 6-3 in the final.  For Sandgren, who lost in last week's $75,000 Tallahassee Challenger final, it was the second Challenger title of 2017 and the third of his career.  Although Sandgren had clinched the USTA's French Open wild card two days ago, he put an exclamation point on that competition by going on to win the title, and his ATP ranking will move to a career-high around 114, setting him up for a possible main draw berth at Wimbledon as well.  

The doubles title in Savannah went to top seeds Peter Polansky of Canada and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, who defeated No. 3 seeds Luke Bambridge of Great Britain and Mitchell Krueger 4-6, 6-3, 10-1.

Brengle, who won the title at the $60,000 Charlottesville Virginia tournament last Sunday, lost her first set in her streak today, but came back to defeat unseeded Danielle Collins 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.  Collins led the top seed 6-4, 2-0, but Brengle took 10 of the next 11 games and held on for the win. Collins managed to get only 30 percent of her first serves in the final set and was broken all five times she served.  According to this The Post and Courier article, Brengle and Collins have been traveling and training together at IMG and will head back to Bradenton together after today's match.

Alexa Guarachi Mathison of Chile and Emina Bektas won the doubles title, beating 2013 NCAA champions Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria 5-7, 6-3, 10-5. Bektas, the former Michigan star, has now won two $60,000 doubles titles in the past month.  It's first title at that level for Guarachi Mathison, the former Alabama standout, who has won 11 doubles title total since graduating in 2013.

Former Georgia Tech star Kevin King won his first singles Futures title since 2015 at the $15,000 tournament in Villahermosa Mexico, but it wasn't easy for the 26-year-old left-hander. A qualifier, King needed two hours and 21 minutes to defeat No. 4 seed Ivan Endara of Ecuador 7-5, 7-5, adding a singles championship to the doubles title he won on Saturday. Including qualifying, King went 12-0 in the tournament.

At the $15,000 Tampa Futures, No. 2 seed Facundo Mena of Argentina won the title, beating No. 3 seed Kaichi Uchida of Japan 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-0.

There were three ATP doubles finals today and former college stars won two of them.  In Estoril, former LSU standout Michael Venus of New Zealand teamed with Ryan Harrison to beat David Marrero and Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-5, 6-2 in the final.  For Harrison, who turned 25 today, and the 29-year-old Venus, who has concentrated primarily on doubles on the tour, it was their first title as a team, having played together on the Tour just twice prior to this week.  In Munich, 2008 NCAA doubles champion Rob Farah and his partner Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia won their second title of 2017 and their tenth ATP title, beating Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin of France 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Qualifying for the ATP Masters in Madrid concluded today, with Ernesto Escobedo reaching the main draw with a 6-3, 6-2 win over 17-year-old Nicola Kuhn of Spain. Escobedo was featured in a recent Sports Illustrated article here.  Jared Donaldson lost his final round qualifying match to Denis Istomin, but got into the main draw as a lucky loser. Escobedo plays Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the first round, while Donaldson has drawn qualifier Adrian Mannarino of France. Jack Sock, seeded 14th, and Ryan Harrison are the other American men in the draw.  Madrid is a combined event, and there were six American women in the WTA draw, four of whom won their first round matches: Alison Riske, CoCo Vandeweghe, CiCi Bellis and Lauren Davis.  Madison Keys[9] and Christina McHale lost their first round matches.