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Saturday, November 14, 2020

Montgomery and Parks Reach Orlando $25K Final; Kudla Advances at Cary Challenger; Broadus Wins $18K UTR Tournament; Colak, Slama Claim ITF Junior Circuit Singles Titles

Sixteen-year-old Robin Montgomery will play for her second USTA Pro Circuit title Sunday at the $25,000 tournament at the USTA's National Campus, while 19-year-old qualifier Alycia Parks is aiming for her first Pro Circuit title after both won two matches today.

Due to rain earlier in the week, the quarterfinals and semifinals were both played today, with Montgomery defeating qualifier Hurricane Tyra Black 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 and Hanna Chang 7-6(2), 6-2. Parks advanced to the semifinals when No. 2 seed Katarzyna Kawa of Poland retired at 3-6, 6-3, then defeated Jamie Loeb 6-3, 6-2 to earn a place in her third Pro Circuit final. In March, Montgomery won the $25,000 tournament in Las Vegas back in her first appearance in a Pro Circuit final.

The doubles final was scheduled to be played today, but with Loeb and Parks both playing two singles matches, it was moved to Sunday.

Although rain also was a problem this week at the ATP 80 Challenger in Cary North Carolina, they got back on schedule with two days of indoor play, and today only one singles semifinal match was played. In his quarterfinal win over Brandon Nakashima(Virginia), Mikael Torpegaard(Ohio State) of Denmark tweaked his knee trying to avoid a collision with the umpire's chair and he was unable to take the court a day later against No. 4 seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India.  In the other semifinal, No. 2 seed Denis Kudla and No. 3 seed Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia combined for an exciting and well-played match, with Kudla taking a 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4 victory. At 3-3 in the third set, Kudla entered one of those zones that all tennis players dream about, and he stayed in it until he had secured his second appearance in a Challenger final this year.

In doubles, unseeded Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia and Dennis Novikov(UCLA) claimed the title, beating top seeds Luke Bambridge of Great Britain and Nathaniel Lammons(SMU) 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 in the final.

In addition to the two Pro Circuit tournaments this week, there was also a big UTR women's open event in Austin Texas, with $18,000 in prize money. Pepperdine recruit Savannah Broadus swept both titles, earning $3000 for singles and splitting $1500 with her doubles partner Kelly Williford(Virginia Tech). Broadus, who did not drop a set in either singles or doubles, defeated 15-year-old Liv Hovde 7-5, 6-4 in singles; Broadus and Williford beat Fernanda LabraƱa and Marta Perez Mur (Texas) 7-6(9), 6-4 in the doubles final. 

Ozan Colak and Mia Slama picked up their second singles titles of the past three weeks, with Colak sweeping the titles at the Grade 4 in Turkey and Slama earning her second consecutive title in El Salvador, this one a Grade 5. 

The 16-year-old Colak, the top seed, defeated No. 4 seed Lorenzo Esquici of Brazil 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Colak, who won a Grade 3 title in Turkey at the end of October, partnered with Arda Azkara of Turkey in doubles, with the top seeds beating No. 4 seeds Dragos Nicolae Cazacu of Romania and Aljaz Jeran of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2 in the final. 

No. 6 seed Slama, who won a Grade 4 title last week, extended her winning streak with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 win over unseeded Sarah L'allier of Canada. The 14-year-old from Boca Raton has won ten straight matches since losing in the second round of the Grade 4 in Orlando last month.

Fifteen-year-old Cooper Williams, the No. 7 seed, lost in the boys final to No. 2 seed Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. 

In the girls doubles final, No. 4 seeds Deborah Dominguez Collado of Guatemala and Leah Kuruvilla defeated No. 3 seeds Sage Loudon and Gabriella Soliman 7-5, 6-4. Twins Kaylan and Meecah Bigun won an all-USA boys doubles final between unseeded teams, beating Joseph Phillips and Payton Young 4-6, 6-3, 10-4.

At a Grade 5 in Singapore, Cameron Austin Chang of the US partnered with Matthew Johnstone of Singapore for the boys doubles title. The No. 3 seeds beat No. 2 seeds Nathan Barki and Brendan Hendrata of Indonesia 7-6(4), 6-3 in the final. 

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