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Sunday, September 18, 2022

Quevedo Wins Cancun $15K; Boulais Takes Title at Champaign $15K; Mmoh Champion at Cary Challenger; Fruhvirtova Sisters Claim WTA and ITF Titles; Impressive Weekend for UGA's Quinn

Unseeded Kaitlin Quevedo, who received entry into the $15,000 ITF Women's World Tennis Tour tournament in Cancun Mexico by virtue of her junior ranking, is now the champion, defeating top seed and WTA 420 Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil 6-4, 6-3 in today's final.

The 16-year-old from Naples Florida had played only one Pro Circuit tournament prior to this week, losing in the first round, but she defeated the No. 5, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds to capture the title. Although she has limited experience in pro events, Quevedo has shown an ability to win this year on the ITF Junior Circuit, where she has three singles titles at the J2 and J3 level, and is at a career high of 47 in the ITF World Junior rankings.

Ohio State senior Justin Boulais finished his week at the $15,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Champaign Illinois on the highest note possible, beating top seed Sekou Bangoura(Florida) 6-1, 6-1 in exactly one hour. Boulais, a 20-year-old Canadian, qualified for the tournament, losing just one set in his seven victories over seven days.

While he's on this run, Boulais has an opportunity to continue it at the Challenger level on his home courts in Columbus. He received a wild card into the main draw, and his first round opponent will be teammate JJ Tracy, who also received a wild card. 

Qualifying began today in Columbus, and will conclude Monday, with two main draw matches also on the schedule.

Michael Mmoh won his first Challenger title in nearly three years today in Cary North Carolina, with the No. 7 seed defeating No. 8 seed Dominik Koepfer(Tulane) of Germany 7-5, 6-3 in the final. Koepfer had defeated top seed Denis Kudla 7-6(5), 6-3 in last night's semifinal. Today, Mmoh led 7-5, 3-0, lost three straight games, but then held, broke and held for the victory. He will move to 133 in the ATP rankings with the title. 

Mmoh was initially in the qualifying for the ATP 250 in San Diego, but couldn't play that since he had advanced to the Cary semifinals. So he will have the week off, while Koepfer is the No. 6 seed in Columbus.

The US qualifiers for San Diego are Emilio Nava, Christopher Eubanks(Georgia Tech) and Mitchell Krueger. 

Given their success the past several years, it was bound to happen, and today it did, with 15-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova and 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova both winning singles titles. 

Brenda's title was, as crazy as it sounds, routine. Seeded No. 2, she won the $25,000 ITF Women's World Tennis Tour tournament in Italy, with unseeded Jessica Pieri retiring trailing 6-4, 2-0 in today's final. It's the fifth consecutive title at the $25K level for Brenda, who started the streak in June, and she has seven titles at the $25K level this year. Already in the WTA Top 200, she will move up when these points are added a week from Monday and is assured of competing in the Australian Open qualifying in January.

Unseeded Linda won the WTA 250 in Chennai India today, coming from 4-1 down in the third to defeat No. 3 seed Magda Linette of Poland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. After winning a title in her first WTA final, Linda is projected to move all the up to 74 in Monday's WTA rankings. For more on Linda's victory in the Chennai final, see this article from the WTA website.

Kalamazoo 18s finalist Ethan Quinn began competition in his collegiate career for the first time this weekend at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens and Georgia's redshirt freshman validated his position as the ITA's top newcomer this season, and then some.

Quinn defeated No. 35 Eliot Spizziri of Texas 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Friday, No. 21 Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg of Virginia 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-4 Saturday and No. 1 Stefan Dostanic of Southern California 6-2, 6-3 today. Quinn, who was not exempted from the Georgia tradition of freshmen shaving their heads, was named the singles champion of the tournament, while teammates Blake Croyder and Britton Johnston were the doubles champions. For more on the final day, see this article from georgiadogs.com.

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