Kwiatkowski, Redlicki, Sharma Take Pro Circuit Titles; Thirteen US Men Begin Wimbledon Qualifying Monday

Michael Redlicki defeated top seed and defending champion Tommy Paul 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to claim his first USTA Pro Circuit singles title today at the $25,000 Futures in Winston-Salem North Carolina. The 24-year-old left-hander, who finished his MBA at Arkansas at the end of last year, had reached the finals of last week's first $25,000 Futures at Wake Forest, falling in three sets to 2018 NCAA champion Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus.  Redlicki's results the past two weeks will not only boost his current ATP and get him out of Futures qualifying, but will help him next year as well. From my understanding, only ATP points earned in $25,000 finals will convert to ATP points next year; all the other ATP points accumulated this year will become ITF Transition Tour points.

2017 NCAA champion Thai Kwiatkowski won his fourth career Futures title and the first at the $25,000 level with two victories today in Calgary. With rain forcing postponement of the semifinals until today, the 23-year-old Virginia graduate, seeded No. 3, beat top seed Steven Diez of Canada 7-6(2), 6-4 in the first match, then took out unseeded Paul Oosterbaan 6-4, 6-3 in the final. The 22-year-old Oosterbaan, who left the University of Georgia in the middle of his senior season, had not reached a Pro Circuit final before today. He defeated Texas A&M rising sophomore Juan Carlos Aguilar of Bolivia 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in the earlier semifinal match. 

At the $25,000 Women's USTA Pro Circuit event in Baton Rouge, recent Vanderbilt graduate Astra Sharma of Australia picked up her first title at that level and fourth overall, beating Duke recruit and No. 5 seed Maria Mateas 6-2, 6-1. Sharma, the No. 7 seed and the NCAA team championship's Most Outstanding Player last month, lost only one set, back in the second round, in her march to the title.

Gail Brodsky won her first Pro Circuit title since 2015 at the $15,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Victoria British Columbia. The 27-year-old, who now lives in the Pacific Northwest, defeated qualifier Maegan Manasse, a recent Cal graduate, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

TCU rising senior Alex Rybakov is a set away from his second consecutive Futures title, but rain has kept the final of the $15,000 tournament in Rochester from being completed. Rybakov leads unseeded Markos Kalovelonis of Russia 6-1, 3-2.

Wimbledon qualifying begins at Roehampton Monday with the men's first round. Thirteen Americans are in the draw, with two all-US matches on the schedule: 2016 Kalamazoo champion Michael Mmoh against 2014 Kalamazoo champion Noah Rubin and Reilly Opelka against Mitchell Krueger.  Denis Kudla was given a main draw wild card, giving the US 11 men in the main draw before qualifying.  Monday's complete schedule is here.  Monday's first round matches involving US men (in bold):

Christian Harrison v Goncalo Oliveira(POR)
Dennis Novikov v Calvin Hemery[18](FRA)
Christopher Eubanks v Ruben Bemelmans[2](BEL)
Donald Young[21] v Max Purcell(AUS)
Kevin King v Luca Vanni(ITA)
Evan King v Adam Pavlasek[26](CZE)
Stefan Kozlov v Dustin Brown(GER)
Noah Rubin v Michael Mmoh[19]
Mitchell Krueger v Reilly Opelka
Bjorn Fratangelo[14] v Hiroki Moriya(JPN)
Bradley Klahn v Ricardo Ojeda Lara(ESP)