Americans Reach Finals of All Three of This Week's USTA Pro Circuit Events in Florida; US Team Advances to Billie Jean King Cup Finals; Oklahoma State Women Beat Pepperdine

An American is assured of the title at the $15,000 USTA Men's Pro Circuit tournament in Sunrise Florida, while two others are in the finals of the $100,000 tournaments in Sarasota and Palm Harbor Florida.

Wild card Kyle Kang's run came to an end today in Sunrise, with the 17-year-old from California dropping a 7-6(4), 6-1 decision to unseeded Sekou Bangoura, a 30-year-old former Florida Gator. Bangoura will face No. 2 seed Evan Zhu, a 23-year-old former UCLA Bruin, who defeated No. 3 seed Jose Pereira of Brazil 7-5, 6-4. 

The doubles title in Sunrise went to top seeds Alexander Cozbinov(UNLV) of Moldova and Ruan Roelofse(Illinois) of South Africa. They defeated the unseeded team of Alec Deckers of the Netherlands and Alex Knaff(Florida State) of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-4 in today's final.

At the ATP Challenger 100 in Sarasota, No. 3 seed Steve Johnson(USC) improved his record over Denis Kudla, the top seed, to 7-2, after posting a 6-2, 7-5 victory in today's semifinals. Johnson will play No. 5 seed Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia, who defeated Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 7-6(3), 6-1.

In the doubles final, No. 3 seeds Robert Galloway(Wofford) and Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M) defeated No. 2 seeds Nathaniel Lammons(SMU) and Sweden's Andre Goransson(Cal) 6-3, 7-6(3).

Katie Volynets, the No. 8 seed, will play for her second $100,000 singles title in the past year after defeating No. 3 seed Irina Bara of Romania, who she beat to win her first $100,000 title last May in Bonita Springs, 6-3, 6-2 in Palm Harbor. The 20-year-old from Northern California, who won the USTA National 18s title in 2019, will take on No. 5 seed Xiyu Wang of China in the final. Wang defeated lucky loser Louisa Chirico 6-3, 6-2.

photo courtesy Mike Lawrence/USTA

The United States had a 2-0 lead going into today's action with Ukraine at the Billie Jean King Cup qualifying, but needed a doubles victory to secure their spot in the Finals later this year. Dayana Yastremska defeated Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 to make it 2-1 and Katarina Zavatska beat Shelby Rogers by the same score to even it at 2-all. That meant the doubles would decide it, with Yastremska and Lyudmyla Kichenok facing Pegula and Asia Muhammad. Muhammad, who was added to the team when Danielle Collins withdrew, and Pegula, both in the Top 40 of the WTA doubles rankings, came through for the home crowd in Asheville, posting a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory and a 3-2 win for the United States.

The other countries advancing this weekend to the Finals are Italy, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Canada, Spain and Poland. 

Last night the Oklahoma State women came out on the short end of a 4-3 match with No. 2 Oklahoma, but they turned the tables tonight against No. 5 Pepperdine, taking a 4-3 victory over the Waves in Stillwater. Last night's match came down to No. 1 singles, tonight's was decided at No. 6 singles, with No. 12 OSU's Alanna Wolfberg defeating Nikki Redelijk 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(5).  Oklahoma State won the doubles point and got wins at lines 1 and 2 before Wolfberg pulled off her comeback at 6.