Wiersholm, Kim Win Dominican Republic J3 Titles, Three US Singles Champions in Cancun, Nicaragua; Volynets Advances to Bonita Springs $100K Final; Former Collegians Claim Two Challenger Doubles Titles; Women's Division I Round of 16 Sunday in Lake Nona
Aidan Kim captured his second consecutive J3 title in the Dominican Republic, and Katja Wiersholm ended the streak of Canadian Victoria Mboko today to give Americans the sweep of the singles titles.
Kim, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Azuma Visaya 6-3, 6-4 to claim his tenth consecutive straight-sets victory in his two weeks in Santo Domingo.
The unseeded Wiersholm ended a similar streak, taking out the 14-year-old Mboko, the No. 6 seed, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5. Mboko, who won the first two J3s in the Dominican Republic this month, had beaten 16-year-old Wiersholm in the first round of the IOSC J1 in San Diego back in March. It's Wiersholm's fourth ITF Junior Circuit singles title, but her first since 2018.
The US also swept the singles titles at this week's J5 in Cancun Mexico, with 16-year-old Jonathan Irwanto and 15-year-old Anya Murthy winning their first ITF Junior Circuit titles. The unseeded Irwanto played last week's Cancun J5 champion, No. 4 seed Leanid Boika, in the final, with Boika retiring after dropping the first set 6-2. Murthy beat fellow US qualifier Addison Comiskey 7-6(3), 6-4 in the final. Neither champion lost a set in their runs to titles.
Taylor Goetz swept the championships at the J5 in Nicaragua, with the 15-year-old from New York winning her first two titles on the ITF Junior Circuit. Goetz and partner Linda Ziets Segura, who were unseeded, won the doubles title with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Paloma Goldsmith Weinreich of Chile and American Elizabeth Tindera, also unseeded. In the singles final, Goetz, the younger sister of the University of Virginia's Ryan Goetz, defeated Yichen Zhao of China 6-2, 6-1. Both were unseeded.Former American collegians swept the doubles titles at the two ATP Challengers this week.
6 comments:
Volynets is ranked 824th in the WTA. 299 is her doubles ranking.
No, 299 is her current singles ranking. Live scoring is showing her up to 232
Congrats to the various winners. Americans are playing in Mexico, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and other locations around the world. It’s amazing that so many locations are able to successfully host tennis events while it is very difficult for the USTA to hold hardly any events in the US. Yes, the USTA has made it clear that tennis is much less
safe than outdoor sports like Golf and Baseball which have numerous events, even some with reasonable amounts of spectators. At least, our juniors have some places to play at the moment.
Volynets is ranked 299 and like Collette said will be a bit higher after her current results. Doesn't appear to have the weapons to get into the money though. You pretty much have to be top 120 or so to make a profit from women's tennis after expenses. One of those players that a top college program would have been the better route. Get that degree and maybe try some pro events along the way.
The reality for pro tennis in most cases the players that make it and stay in the top 50 move up fairly quickly out of challengers and into the top 100 (within a few years). The players that take stay in challengers a long time staying 120 and below are stuck in a bad place where they are not going to make a living and need support, but should realistically move on. This is not unique to tennis, golf is similar with mini-tours. In other sports you don't have to pay expences but they won't usually support you in the minor leagues of sports if you are not advancing. It is never easy to move on with your life with something you put so much time into, but the economics of pro tennis have not changed, there is just a lot more world competition now.
There are several women on tour who do not have huge weapons, if a player has great defense you can certainly have a good career (Kenin, Halep, Woziniaki and a few others)
Weapons come in all forms, not just big serves and forehands. Kenin has always been relentless and mentally tough, her pin point accuracy is also a weapon, especially under pressure. Halep's weapons are her speed and her world class anticipation, its like she knows where each ball is going. Guess I was trying to be nice, but Volynets certainly does not have Kenin's pin point accuracy under pressure or Halep's anticipation.
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