Chappell Wins First Futures Title in Toronto; USC vs UCLA in Claremont Futures Final; Qualifiers Pegula, Anisimova Reach WTA Finals; Opelka Advances to Second Straight Challenger Final

The third time was a charm for former TCU Nick Chappell, who won the $25,000 Futures in Toronto today with a 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 2 seed and former Texas star Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain. Chappell, who turns 26 next week, had reached two Futures finals at $10,000 tournaments in Israel back in 2016, but this week he cruised to the title, surrendering no more than four games in any set and winning three 6-0 sets. For a player now outside the ATP Top 1000, this is a crucial result, because the points from this final will transfer directly to ATP points come January 2019, which will make entry into the 2019 $25,000 tournaments much easier.

At the $15,000 Claremont Futures in California, Brandon Holt, a junior at USC and No. 3 seed Martin Redlicki, who recently graduated from UCLA, will assume their rivalry after both picked up victories today. Redlicki defeated Oklahoma State sophomore and No. 7 seed Matej Vocel of the Czech Republic 7-6(6), 6-4 and Holt beat Sam Shropshire(Northwestern) 6-2, 6-1. Redlicki is returning to the Claremont final after losing to Karue Sell of Brazil there last year; Holt is making his debut in a Futures final.  Redlicki and Holt played four times last year at the No. 1 line, with Redlicki winning three and one going unfinished.

Two Americans have advanced to the finals of WTA International events after wins Saturday, with 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova beating top seed Shuai Zhang of China 7-6(4), 7-5 in Japan and 24-year-old Jessica Pegula defeating No. 5 seed Sonya Kenin 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in Quebec. Anisimova and Pegula, both qualifiers, will be making their first appearance in a WTA final, with Anisimova facing No. 2 seed Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan and Pegula playing No. 8 seed Pauline Parmentier of France. Regardless of the outcome in the final, Anisimova should break into the WTA Top 100 for the first time.

Reilly Opelka has advanced to an ATP Challenger final for the second week in a row with a win indoors today in rainy Cary North Carolina. Opelka, the No. 4 seed, defeated Kaichi Uchida of Japan 6-3, 6-4 and will face unseeded James Duckworth of Australia in the final of the $50,000+H tournament. Duckworth defeated No. 5 seed Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 6-4 to prevent an all-American final.  Opelka lost in the final of the $150,000+H Challenger last week in Chicago.

The US Davis Cup team stayed alive in their semifinal tie with Croatia Saturday, with Mike Bryan and Ryan Harrison defeating Mate Pavic and Ivan Dodig 7-5, 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) in the longest Davis Cup doubles match (4 hours and 43 minutes) since the tiebreaker was introduced in 1989, according to Davis Cup historian Randy Walker. For more on the match, see this daviscup.com article.