Navarro, Rajesh Win 18s Clay Courts Titles; Kenin, Klahn and Johnson Among Those Collecting Champions Trophies on Busy Summer Sunday

The USTA National Clay Court Championships concluded today, with Emma Navarro sweeping the girls 18s title and Neel Rajesh claiming the boys 18s singles title.

Navarro, the No. 5 seed, defeated No. 6 seed Chelsea Kung this morning in Charleston South Carolina, her hometown.  The 17-year-old, who didn't lose a set all week, dominated the final, beating Kung 6-2, 6-2 in a match broadcast on Tennis Channel. The level of play wasn't great, especially at the beginning, and Navarro, who had taken her semifinal match Saturday by a 6-0, 6-0 score, ran up a 5-0 before Kung made it interesting by winning  three of the next four games. But Navarro never looked pressured, played the big points well and closed out the title with a break of serve.

With the singles title, Navarro earned a main draw wild card into next spring's WTA Volvo Car Open, played every year in Charleston.

Later in the day, Navarro and Chloe Beck, the top seeds, won the doubles title without dropping a game.

At the boys 18s in Delray Beach Florida, Neel Rajesh, a No. 33 seed, surprised defending champion and No. 8 seed Axel Nefve 4-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Below are the results from today's singles finals, except for the girls 12s, which was played Saturday. Only one No. 1 seed ended up capturing a gold ball in singles: Rudy Quan in boys 12s. I will update the doubles champions in the Honor Roll section on Monday.

Girls 12s:
Final:
Mia Slama[14] def. Alexia Harmon[4] 6-4, 5-7, 6-2

Girls 14s:
Final:
Clervie Ngounoue def. Vivian Ovrootsky[1] 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

Girls 16s:
Final:
Allura Zamarippa[8] def. Valencia Xu[1] 6-4, 6-3

Girls 18s:
Final:
Emma Navarro[5] def. Chelsea Kung[6] 6-2, 6-2

Boys 12s:
Final:
Rudy Quan[1] def. Lucas Coriaty[6] 6-1, 6-1

Boys 14s:

Final: 

Nicholas Heng[3] def. John Kim[2] 5-7, 6-4, 6-3

Boys 16s:

Final:

Logan Zapp[4] def. Ryan Fishback[2] 6-0, 6-2

Boys 18s:

Final:

Neel Rajesh[33] def. Axel Nefve[8] 4-6, 6-3, 7-6

At the $60,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Berkeley this afternoon, top seed Sonya Kenin defeated No. 2 seed Nicole Gibbs 6-0, 6-4 in the singles final. Gibbs did get a title, with the two-time NCAA champion joining with Asia Muhammad to earn the doubles championship. The unseeded pair, who didn't drop a set all week, defeated top seeds Sabrina Santamaria(USC) and Australia's Ellen Perez(UGA) 6-4, 6-1 in the final. 

Former Texas Longhorn and 2015 NCAA doubles champion Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain won the singles title at the $25,000 Iowa City Futures today, ending the 14-match winning streak of Russian Evgeny Karlovskiy. Glasspool, the No. 6 seed, took the title with a 7-6(2), 7-6(1) decision in the championship match. It's Glasspool's first title of 2018 and his fifth career Pro Circuit singles title.

2010 NCAA singles champion Bradley Klahn won his first ATP Challenger title since 2014 at the $75,000 tournament in Gatineau Canada. Klahn, seeded No. 5, defeated France's unseeded Ugo Humbert 6-3, 7-6(5) in the singles final. He also won the doubles title on Saturday, with Wofford's Robert Galloway. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Darian King of Barbados and Peter Polansky of Canada 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-8 in the final. I spoke to Klahn back in November of 2016 at the Champaign Challenger, when he was very early in his comeback from a second back surgery, for this Tennis Recruiting Network article.

At the women's $25,000 ITF Pro Circuit tournament in Gatineau, recent Vanderbilt graduate Astra Sharma took her second singles title since May, with the unseeded Australian taking out No. 8 seed Victoria Rodrigues of Mexico 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the championship match.

Other former collegians also had big days on the ATP and WTA tours.

Steve Johnson won his fourth ATP title at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport Rhode Island. Johnson, the No. 3 seed, defeated unseeded Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in a match moved up to late morning due to rain in the area.  For more on Johnson's victory, and what it means for his ranking, see this ATP article.

In Gstaad Switzerland, former Arizona State standout Desirae Krawczyk and former Alabama star Alexa Guarachi of Chile won their first WTA doubles title. The unseeded pair defeated unseeded veterans Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland and Lara Arruabarrena of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 in the final. Krawczyk's college coach Sheila McInerney congratulated the pair on twitter:

CONGRATULATIONS to Desirae Krawczyk and her partner Alexa Guarachi for capturing the doubles title at the WTA Ladies Championship Gstaad👍 First WTA title with many more to come😜 CONGRATS Des and Alexa!!! pic.twitter.com/8057OBwBen

— Sheila McInerney (@asu10s_coachmac) July 22, 2018