Qualifiers Crawley and Vandecasteele Reach USTA Pro Circuit Finals in Wichita and Los Angeles; Tian Rolls On in LA; Top Seeds Advance in Tulsa and South Bend

The two qualifiers who have reached the finals this week on the USTA Pro Circuit came into this week's tournaments with decidedly different profiles.

Twenty-one-year-old Fiona Crawley may have needed a wild card to get into the qualifying draw at the $25,000 tournament in Wichita, but she won both of the ITA majors last fall, captured this year's NCAA doubles and team titles and was named ITA Player of the Year after her junior year at North Carolina. Crawley defeated former Florida All-American Mccartney Kessler 7-6(6), 6-2 in the semifinals today and will face No. 2 seed Stacey Fung(Washington) of Canada for the title Sunday. Fung, No. 266 in the WTA rankings, beat No. 6 seed Gabriela Lee(Texas Tech) of Romania 6-3, 6-1 today.

The Tar Heels have already claimed one title in Wichita, with rising sophomore Reese Brantmeier and her partner Maria Mateas(Duke), the top seeds, taking the doubles championship with a 6-2, 6-4 win over unseeded Ava Markham(Wisconsin) and Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor/Oklahoma) of Russia. It's the second Pro Circuit title for the 18-year-old Brantmeier, who lost to Crawley in the NCAA doubles final. Mateas now has five doubles titles, all with different partners.

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Quinn Vandecasteele of Oregon, who turns 21 in September, played four of the SoCal Pro Series events last summer, but was unable to get out of qualifying. He played line 2 for the Ducks in singles last season, going 14-7, and played No. 1 doubles the past two years, qualifying for the NCAAs in 2022. He has no ATP ranking at the moment, but after reaching the quarterfinals at the San Diego $15K last week, he will enter the rankings on Monday, and with the points earned this week, will continue to rise.

In what has certainly been a breakout month for the rising junior, Vandecasteele continued to display his improvement at the $15,000 tournament in Los Angeles this week, beating fellow qualifier Ryan Seggerman(Princeton/UNC) 6-1, 6-4 in less than an hour today; he had defeated last week's champion Lorenzo Claverie of Italy in the first round and top seed Nathan Ponwith in the second round. He'll face his third seed of week in the final, with No. 3 seed Omni Kumar advancing to the championship match with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over No. 2 seed Alafia Ayeni(Cornell/Kentucky). 

The doubles title went to No. 3 seeds Eduardo Nava(TCU/Wake Forest) and Nathan Ponwith(Georgia/Arizona State), who beat top seeds Claverie and Nicholas Godsick(Stanford) 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian of China, a rising sophomore at UCLA, will be looking for her fourth title of the month in Sunday's singles final at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Los Angeles. The 19-year-old, seeded No. 5, defeated teammate Kimmi Hance, seeded No. 3, 6-3, 6-1 in today's semifinals for her ninth consecutive win. Tian will face No. 8 seed Jessica Alsola of Canada, a rising junior at Cal, who defeated qualifier Taylor Johnson(UCLA/SMU) 6-4, 6-4. Tian and Alsola didn't play this year in college competition, with Tian playing at line 1 and Alsola primarily in the No. 2 position for the Bears.

Tian, who won the singles and doubles titles last week in San Diego, won her third title of June this afternoon in doubles. Playing with Rinon Okuwaki of Japan this week, the unseeded pair defeated top seeds Maria Fernanda Navarro Oliva(Clemson) of Mexico and Brandy Walker 7-5, 6-3 in the championship match.

The top two seeds have advanced to the final at the men's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Tulsa, with No. 1 Adam Walton of Australia defeating No. 3 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain 6-1, 6-3 to reach his second $25K final since completing his eligibility at Tennessee last May.  Walton will face No. 2 seed Nick Chappell(TCU), who beat No. 6 seed Alfredo Perez(Florida) 7-5, 6-3.

Ozan Baris(Michigan State) and Garrett Johns(Duke) won their second straight doubles title, after winning last week at the Wichita $25K. The unseeded pair defeated former Tar Heels Benjamin Sigouin of Canada and Mac Kiger, the No. 3 seeds, 6-2, 7-5 in today's championship match.

At the men's $15,000 Pro Circuit tournament in South Bend, top seed Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) is through to the final, the tenth Pro Circuit/ITF WTT final of his career. The 28-year-old, who defeated No. 6 seed Blaise Bicknell(Florida/Tennessee) of Jamaica 7-5, 7-6(3), will hope to earn his second title when he faces Ohio State rising senior JJ Tracy. Tracy, who reached the semifinals of the South Bend tournament last year, defeated Axel Nefve(Notre Dame/Florida) 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 to advance to his second career Pro Circuit final.

Andrei Duarte(Georgia State) of Colombia and Ryan Fishback(Virginia Tech) won the doubles title in South Bend, with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Bicknell and John Chin of Jamaica in the final between two unseeded teams. It's the first Pro Circuit title for both Duarte and Fishback.

In today's battle between two American teenagers on the grass in Italy, Ashlyn Krueger once again got the better of Robin Montgomery to reach her first WTA 125 final. 2021 USTA National 18s champion Krueger, who is now 3-0 in pro matches against her frequent doubles partner, came back to post a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 victory. Krueger will face top seed Tatjana Maria of Germany, 16  years her senior, for the title Sunday.