Coleman Wins J3 Title in Portugal; Three Former NCAA Champions Earn First Round Victories at French Open; Williams Freshman Ekstrand Takes D-III Women's Singles Title, Carleton's Vithoontien is Men's Singles Champion

Duke signee Ellie Coleman won the girls singles title today at the J3 in Portugal, earning the third ITF Junior Circuit singles title of her career. The top-seeded Coleman, who hadn't played since the South American Grade A Banana Bowl in early March, defeated unseeded Nina Vargova of Slovakia 6-0, 7-6(5) in today's final. Coleman is scheduled to play the Roland Garros Junior Championships, which begin a week from today. 

It was a good first day at the French Open for three former NCAA singles champions, with Virginia's Danielle Collins (2014 & 2016) and UCLA's Marcos Giron(2014) and Mackenzie McDonald(2016) picking up victories today.

Giron was trailing No. 16 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria by two sets to one when Dimitrov retired. Giron was down 2-6, 4-6, 1-5, 0-40 before he rebounded for a 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 3-0, retired, victory. 

There are 31 Americans total in the singles draws: 13 men and 18 women. Seven Americans played their first round matches today, 15 are on Monday's schedule, leaving the last nine for Tuesday.

Sunday's French Open first round results of Americans:

Madison Keys[23] d. Oceane Dodin[WC](FRA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Paula Badosa[33](ESP) d. Lauren Davis 62, 76(3)
Veronika Kudermetova[29](RUS) d. Amanda Anisimova 76(5), 61
Danielle Collins d. Xiyu Wang[Q](CHN) 62, 46, 64
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova[31](RUS) d. Christina McHale 64, 61

Marcos Giron d. Grigor Dimitrov[16](BUL) 26, 46, 75, 3-0 ret.
Mackenzie McDonald[Q] d. Emil Ruusuvuori(FIN) 46, 63, 76(4), 63

Monday's French Open first round matches featuring Americans:

Serena Williams[7] v Irina-Camelia Begu(ROU)
Sofia Kenin[4] v Jelena Ostapenko(LAT)
Hailey Baptiste[Q] v Anna Blinkova(RUS)
Shelby Rogers v Rebecca Peterson(SWE)
Madison Brengle v Maria Osorio Serrano[Q](COL)
Jessica Pegula[28] v Lin Zhu(CHN)

Sebastian Korda v Pedro Martinez(ESP)
Tommy Paul v Christopher O’Connell[WC](AUS)
Bjorn Fratangelo[Q] v Cameron Norrie(GBR)
Steve Johnson v Frances Tiafoe
Taylor Fritz[30] v Joao Sousa(POR)
Reilly Opelka[32] v Andrej Martin(SVK)
Sam Querrey v John Isner[31]

The singles champions were decided today at the NCAA Division III Championships in Chattanooga Tennessee, with Erica Ekstrand of Williams winning the women's title and Leo Vithoontien of Carleton claiming the men's title to make history for their programs.

𝕹𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖑 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖕𝖎𝖔𝖓 🎾💨

Leo Vithoontien (@CarletonTennis) def. Boris Sorkin 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to claim the title! #NCAATennis x #D3Tennis pic.twitter.com/jFT1aiTcrV

— ITA (@ITA_Tennis) May 30, 2021

Vithoontien, a senior from Thailand, reached the men's singles final in 2019, losing to Jonathan Jemison of Emory. This year Vithoontien, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 5 seed Boris Sorkin of Tufts 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the final to become the first NCAA champion in Carleton athletics. Sorkin had defeated top seed Ethan Hillis of Washington-St. Louis in the semifinals. 

Ekstrand, a freshman from Santa Monica, defeated Emory's Christina Watson 6-2, 6-3 in the final to become the first woman from Williams to win an NCAA Division III singles title. Ekstrand took out top seed and defending champion Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico of Emory 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals. 

𝒩𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓂𝓅𝒾𝑜𝓃 🏆

Erica Ekstrand def. Christine Watson, 6-2, 6-3 to win the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship!#NCAATennis x #D3Tennis pic.twitter.com/MXz7RccFET

— ITA (@ITA_Tennis) May 30, 2021 

Vithoontien added a second NCAA title to his resume later in the day in men's doubles. After the singles final, he and partner Xander Zuczek won two doubles matches, beating a team from George Fox in the semifinals to reach the finals. In the final, Vithoontien and Zuczek, who were unseeded, defeated unseeded Jeffrey Chen and Adam Tzeng from Brandeis University 6-3, 6-2. A thorough recap, with quotes, is available at the Carleton website.

Emory claimed the women's doubles championship, a result that was guaranteed after the semifinals, with two pairs from the NCAA team champions advancing to the final.  Gonzalez-Rico and Katie Chang defeated teammates Watson and Stephanie Taylor 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 for the title. For more on the impressive results for Emory at the tournament, see this article from their website.