Gauff and McNally Claim Second WTA Doubles Title; Stearns Reaches First Pro Circuit Final in Florence $25K; Rybakov Advances at Waco $25K; Cressy Defeats Vesely to Reach Challenger Final in Germany

Coco Gauff and Caty McNally earned their second WTA doubles title today at the WTA International event in Luxembourg. The unseeded pair, who won their first title at the Citi Open this summer and reached the third round at the US Open in September, defeated No. 2 seeds Kaitlyn Christian(USC) and Alexa Guarachi(Alabama) of Chile 6-2, 6-2 in today's final.  Gauff and McNally, the 2018 US Open girls doubles champions, beat top seeds Kristyna Pliskova and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. With the title, Gauff will be around 78 and McNally around 64 in next week's WTA doubles rankings.

Wild card Peyton Stearns, who turned 18 earlier this month, has advanced to her first USTA Pro Circuit final, with No. 5 seed Hanna Chang retiring in today's Florence South Carolina $25K semifinal down 6-3, 1-1. Stearns, who beat Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals, will face another American teenager, Claire Liu, in the final. Liu, the No. 7 seed, beat No. 2 seed Marina Melnikova of Russia, the champion last week at Hilton Head, 6-4, 6-4. Although they are only 18 months apart in age, Stearns and Liu haven't met, with Liu leaving the ITF Junior Circuit just as Stearns was getting the results to play at the top level tournaments.

In the Florence doubles final, No. 2 seeds Emina Bektas(Michigan) and Tara Moore defeated No. 3 seeds Olivia Tjandramulia of Australia and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 7-5, 6-4.

At the USTA Pro Circuit men's tournament in Waco Texas, Alex Rybakov will contend for his second $25K title Sunday after the former TCU star defeated No. 2 seed Jordi Arconada(Texas A&M) 7-6(6),6-3 in today's semifinals. The unseeded Rybakov will face No. 6 seed Michael Geerts of Belgium, who defeated Baylor junior Matias Soto of Chile, a wild card, 7-5, 7-6(4). The 24-year-old Geerts, who played for Arizona State during the 2017-18 season, won last week's $25,000 event in Claremont California.

Geerts fell short in the doubles final, with he and partner Mark Whitehouse of Great Britain losing to No. 3 seeds Jesper De Jong and Ryan Nijboer of the Netherlands 7-6(4), 6-1 in today's championship match.

The women's $25,000 final in Waco will feature qualifier Fernanda Contreras of Mexico and reigning French Open girls champion Leylah Fernandez of Canada. Former Vanderbilt star Contreras, who grew up in Texas, defeated No. 7 seed Anna Danilina(Florida) of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-1 in today's semifinal, while the 17-year-old Fernandez, seeded No. 2, took out No. 4 seed Catherine Harrison(UCLA) 6-1, 6-4.  Neither Contreras, who won her first Pro Circuit singles title in August at a $15K in Cancun, nor Fernandez has come close to losing a set in the main draw this week.

The doubles title went to top seeds Danilina and Vladica Babic(Oklahoma State) of Montenegro, who beat unseeded juniors Savannah Broadus and Vanessa Ong 6-3, 6-2 in today's final. Danilina, who won the previous two doubles titles at the USTA Pro Circuit events with former teammate Ingrid Neel, is now on a 12-match winning streak in doubles.

The last American in the ATP Challenger 80 in Las Vegas lost in today's semifinals, with Ernesto Escobedo falling to No. 5 seed James Duckworth of Australia 6-4, 7-6(5). Escobedo had defeated top seed Steve Johnson in the quarterfinals Friday. Duckworth will face unseeded Vasek Pospisil of Canada for the singles title.

Maxime Cressy, the 2019 NCAA doubles champion at UCLA, has reached the singles final of the ATP Challenger 90 in Germany after taking out top seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals for the best ranking win of his career. Vesely is currently 120 in the ATP rankings. Cressy, the No. 12 seed, will play No. 16 seed Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in the final. Regardless of the result in Sunday's final, Cressy will move into the ATP Top 200 for the first time.