Juvan Claims ITF Youth Olympic Gold Medal in Girls Singles; Hiltzik, Fratangelo Win Futures, Challenger Titles

Kaja Juvan of Slovenia won the ITF Youth Olympic Games gold medal today in girls singles, defeating Clara Burel of France 7-5, 6-4.  The 17-year-old, who last played a junior event nearly a year ago when she finished as runner-up in the ITF Junior Masters, had already claimed a gold medal in doubles Saturday with Iga Swiatek of Poland. Juvan is the first player to win two gold medals in a Youth Olympic Games event, which have been held every four years since the inaugural edition in 2010.  Hugo Gaston of France, who won the boys singles gold medal and bronze medals in the mixed and boys doubles, is the first player to win three medals in the event.

The boys doubles gold medal went to home favorites and top seeds Sebastian Baez and Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina, who beat unseeded Adrian Andreev of Bulgaria and Rinky Hijikata of Australia 6-4, 6-4. 

The mixed doubles gold medal went to the Japanese pair of Yuki Naito and Naoki Tajima, who beat Nicolas Mejia and Maria Osorio Serrano of Colombia 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

The final medal list:

Boys singles:
Gold: Hugo Gaston, France
Silver: Facundo Diaz Acosta, Argentina
Bronze: Gilbert Soares Klier Junior, Brazil

Girls singles:
Gold: Kaja Juvan, Slovenia
Silver: Clara Burel, France
Bronze: Maria Osorio Serrano, Colombia

Boys doubles:
Gold: Sebastian Baez and Facundo Diaz Acosts, Argentina
Silver: Adrian Andreev, Bulgaria and Rinky Hijikata, Australian
Bronze: Hugo Gaston and Clement Tabur, France

Girls doubles:
Gold: Kaja Juvan, Slovenia and Iga Swiatek, Poland
Silver: Yuki Naito and Naho Sato, Japan
Bronze: Xiyu Wang and Xinyu Wang, China

Mixed doubles:
Gold: Yuki Naito and Naoki Tajima, Japan
Silver: Nicolas Mejia and Maria Osorio Serrano, Colombia
Bronze: Clara Burel and Hugo Gaston, France

The two USTA men's Pro Circuit events concluded today, with Americans taking both titles.

At the $100,000 ATP Challenger in Fairfield California, unseeded Bjorn Fratangelo defeated No. 8 seed Alex Bolt of Australia 6-4, 6-3 to claim his first Challenger title since April of 2016.  The 25-year-old Fratangelo, who didn't drop a set all week and beat top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia in the quarterfinals, is now 3-4 in Challenger finals.

The doubles final in Fairfield was rare in that it did not feature any former collegians. Top seeds Sanchai Ratiwatana of Thailand and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia defeated unseeded Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-0, 7-6(9) in the final.

At the $25,000 Futures in Houston, No. 2 seed Jared Hiltzik(Illinois) defeated top seed Ronnie Schneider(North Carolina) 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-5 to earn his second career singles title on the pro tour.  Schneider and Hiltzik, both 24 years old, were rivals throughout their junior years in the Midwest section; here's my recap of their 2012 final at the USTA Spring National Championships in Mobile, which Schneider won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

UCLA senior Maxime Cressy of France and Nick Meister, a former Bruin, won the doubles title in Houston, with the No. 4 seeds beating No. 2 seeds John-Paul Fruttero(Cal) and Portugal's Bernardo Saraiva(San Francisco) 7-5, 6-3 in the final.  It's Cressy's fifth Futures doubles title this year, while Meister, who was out for 18 months with an injury before returning at the end of June, has now won two Futures doubles titles this fall.