Collins Wins Bethany Beach $25K Title; Mattek-Sands Claims Third Straight Slam Doubles Title; Russell is Singles Champion at ITF Grade 5 in Canada

2014 and 2016 NCAA singles champion Danielle Collins has been on the professional circuit for almost exactly a year, and today the University of Virginia graduate won her second Pro Circuit title since turning pro at the $25,000 tournament in Bethany Beach Delaware.  Collins, the top seed, defeated former Florida teammate Lauren Embree 6-1, 6-0, finishing the tournament by losing just three games in her last two matches.

Collins had reached the finals of two tournaments recently, a $60,000 tournament in Charleston and a $25,000 tournament in Naples, so the Floridian was undoubtedly pleased to win the championship match this time.  The points won't go on until next week, but 23-year-old from St. Petersburg, already 194 in the WTA rankings and into the Wimbledon qualifying draw, should move to around 160 when they are added.  

Collins is on the entry list for the $100,000 grass court tournament beginning June 19th in Ilkley England, where she'll compete in qualifying in preparation for Wimbledon.

Two Americans have qualified for the other grass events coming up this week on the WTA, with Kristie Ahn and Grace Min advancing to the main draw of the WTA's International-level event in Nottingham.  Other Americans in the field in Nottingham are Lauren Davis[4], Shelby Rogers[6], Julia Boserup, Christina McHale and Alison Riske. 

At the joint ATP/WTA event in S'Hertogenbosch the Netherlands, the US women in the draw are CoCo Vandeweghe[4], Madison Brengle and Varvara Lepchenko.  The US men in the the draw are Stefan Kozlov, a wild card, qualifier Dennis Novikov and Ernesto Escobedo.  

At the ATP 250 in Stuttgart, Steve Johnson[5] is the only American in the draw.  Former USC star Yannick Hanfmann of Germany qualified for the main draw and will be looking to add another ATP win to the two he recorded last month in Munich.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands gave the US its third French Open title (Ryan Harrison in men's doubles and Whitney Osuigwe in girls singles) today, partnering with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic to claim a 6-1, 6-2 win over Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua of Australia in the women's doubles final.  It's the third straight slam victory for Mattek-Sands and Safarova, who were the top seeds. For more on their win, see this article from the WTA website. 

At the ITF Grade 5 in Calgary Canada this week, unseeded Conrad Russell won his first ITF singles title.  The 18-year-old from California beat 14-year-old Joshua Lapadat of Canada 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the championship match.  Stefan Leustian and Niroop Vallabhaneni, the No. 3 seeds, beat No. 4 seeds Cleeve Harperand Oscar Yang of Canada 6-3, 6-2 to take the boys doubles title.  Meg Kowalski, playing with Adelaide Lavery of Canada and seeded fourth, lost in the girls doubles final to No. 2 seeds Andreea Craciun of Canada and Risa Fukutoku of Japan 6-2, 0-6, 10-6.

The results are not yet posted for the final matches at the ITF Grade 4 in El Salvador, other than to show Garrett Johns retiring in the boys singles final to Isaac Arevalo of Mexico, and Jenna Dean retiring in the final of the girls doubles.  Blaise Bicknell is in the boys doubles final and Najah Dawson is in the girls singles final.