Lahey and Ito Claim ITA All-American Singles Championships; Gauff Wins WTA Title in Austria; Pro Circuit Update

Pepperdine senior Ashley Lahey and Texas senior Yuya Ito captured the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American singles titles tonight in Tulsa Oklahoma, with Lahey defeating North Carolina's Alexa Graham 6-4, 7-5 and Ito taking out Sam Riffice of Florida 6-4, 6-4 in matches televised on ESPNU.

Lahey, seeded No. 12, started the match on fire, rushing out to a 4-0 lead, but Graham worked her way into the set by virtue of winning four deciding points in the next five games. Lahey had set points on deciding points with Graham serving at 2-5 and when she served at 5-3, but Graham won both, only to get broken serving a 4-5.

Lahey, who has played three full years of college tennis while still just 19 years old, was broken in the opening game of the first set, with an unfortunate overrule by the chair umpire overturning a Lahey winner on a deciding point, but she did not let that carry over into the next game, and she broke right back. Lahey, who reached the 2018 NCAA singles final, lost her serve at 2-2, but again broke right back, with Graham finally losing her first deciding point. The third-seeded Graham, a senior, played well in the next four games, but Lahey held on a deciding point to take a 6-5 lead, and Graham went down 15-40 in the final game. Lahey netted a forehand to make it 30-40, and a good serve by Graham sent the match to its final deciding point, which Lahey won with a forehand winner.

Lahey, who won the ITA Oracle Masters in late September and an invitational event last weekend and is undefeated this fall, now has her first major collegiate title and she is the first woman from Pepperdine to earn an All-American singles title.

Ito took a 4-1, two-break lead over Riffice in the opening set, but Riffice, a sophomore, got one back back to keep the set close. Ito, the Most Outstanding Player at this year's NCAA Team Championships, was able to close out the set with a hold, but Riffice began to find his range in the last four games, and he took a 3-0 in the second set, winning two deciding points. Then Ito won two deciding points to get it back to 3-all, and in the crucial eighth game, won another. Riffice was broken in the next game, with Ito playing some world class defense and he closed out the championship on his second match point after going up 40-0.

Ito, who is from Japan, is the first Texas man to win an All-American singles title since Chad Clark accomplished that in 1993.

Both doubles titles went to Ivy League teams, and both came through after dropping the first set to take the championships. Yale's Samantha Martinelli and Jessie Gong became the first players from Yale to win an All-American titles in singles or doubles with their 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 win over Tennessee's Tenika McGiffin and Kaitlin Staines. Neither team was seeded.


Columbia's Jackie Tang and Jack Lin, a No. 5 seed, won the men's doubles title, beating the unseeded Central Florida team of Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Mazzuchi, who qualified into the main draw, 3-6, 6-2, 10-6.

Coco Gauff defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 today to claim her first WTA singles title at the International-level tournament in Linz Austria. The 15-year-old from Florida, who lost in the final round of qualifying but got into the main draw as a lucky loser and beat top seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, is the youngest WTA champion since Nicole Vaidisova won two events in 2004.  For more on Gauff's title, see this article from the WTA website. Gauff and Caty McNally also reached the doubles semifinal in Linz.

There were no American singles champion this week in the four USTA Pro Circuit events, with the two US players that reached the finals falling short of the titles.

At the ATP 100 Challenger in Fairfield California, No. 12 seed Chris O'Connell of Australia defeated top seed Steve Johnson(USC) 6-4, 6-4 in today's final. Johnson had ended the run of wild card Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) in the semifinals with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.  In the doubles final, unseeded Peter Polansky of Canada and Darian King of Barbados defeated No. 4 seeds Sem Verbeek(Pacific) of the Netherlands and Andre Goransson(Cal) of Sweden 6-4, 3-6, 12-10.

Ellie Halbauer reached the final of the $25,000 women's tournament in Hilton Head SC, with the No. 7 seed falling to No. 2 seed Marina Melnikova of Russia 6-3, 6-4.  Former Florida teammates Ingrid Neel and Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan won their second straight USTA Pro Circuit doubles title, with last week's Charleston $60K champions and top seeds beating the unseeded team of Halbauer and Kate Fahey(Michigan) 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

Neither of the $25,000 Oracle Pro Series tournaments in Claremont California, both men's and women's, had Americans in the singles finals. Former Arizona State star Michael Geerts of Belgium, who lost in the final last week in Norman Oklahoma, won the men's title, with the No. 4 seed beating top seed Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.  Former San Diego State Aztecs Milen Ianakiev and Hendrik Jebens of Germany won the doubles title, with the unseeded pair taking down top seeds and former Illinois standouts Ruben Gonzales of the Philippines and Ruan Roelofse of South Africa in an impressively long match tiebreaker 6-4, 3-6, 17-15.

No. 5 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain won the Claremont women's title, beating unseeded Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil 6-1, 6-3 in the final. No. 3 seeds Jacqueline Cako(Arizona State) and Angelina Gabueva of Russia won the doubles title, beating unseeded Hind Abdelouahid(St. Mary's) and Alyssa Tobita(Oregon) 6-3, 6-7(4), 10-4 in the final.