Quinn, Daavettila Win USTA Pro Circuit Titles in Wichita and San Diego; Tiafoe's Third ATP Title Moves Him into Top Ten

When University of Georgia redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn won the NCAA singles title last month, he had already put together a winning streak of 17 matches dating back to March. The 19-year-old from Fresno added five more this week at the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Wichita Kansas, with the No. 5 seed defeating unseeded Ozan Baris(Michigan State) 6-3, 7-5 in today's final for his second career $25K title.

Quinn, who is currently 507 in the ATP rankings, could move near his career-high of 454 when the 25 points are added a week from Monday. He is scheduled to play the $25K in Tulsa next week, which features many of same competitors in Wichita this week, and is expected to receive a wild card into the next Challenger in the US, in Bloomfield Hills Michigan the first week of July. Baris is also in the main draw in Tulsa.

The other American singles champion this week is Sara Daavettila, the former University of North Carolina All-American. The 25-year-old from Michigan won her first USTA Pro Circuit title today as the top seed at the $15,000 SoCal Pro Series tournament at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, defeating qualifier Chanel Simmonds of South Africa 7-6(3), 7-5 in a two-hour, 17-minute battle.

Qualifier Lorenzo Claverie of Italy took the men's title in San Diego, with the 20-year-old coming back to defeat Blaise Bicknell(Florida/Tennessee) of Jamaica 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. It's the first Pro Circuit singles title for Claverie.

For a complete recap of this week's San Diego men's and women's tournaments, including comments from Daavettila and Claverie, see this article.

At the women's $25,000 tournament in Colorado Springs, former Furman All-American Katarina Kozarov of Serbia defended her title, with the No. 4 seed defeating Allie Kiick 6-4, 6-1 in today's final. Kozarov, who won her first Pro Circuit title last year in Colorado Springs when it was a $15K, now has her second career title, and should break into the WTA Top 400 for the first time when the points are added.

Old Dominion All-American Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, barely a year removed from her last collegiate match, is into the WTA Top 300 after winning the biggest title of her career at the $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Sumter South Carolina. Starodubtseva, seeded No. 8, defeated No. 2 seed Karman Thandi of India 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 in three hours and 32-minutes to claim her second title on the USTA Pro Circuit, both coming this year. Last month Starodubtseva had reached the final of the $60K in Naples Florida as a qualifier, but she will not be in qualifying draws now for that level in the foreseeable future.

Columbia rising sophomore Michael Zheng lost to former ATP No. 4 Kei Nishikori in today's final of the ATP Challenger 75 in Puerto Rico. The 19-year-old from New Jersey looked a bit overwhelmed in the first set, falling behind 5-1, and trailed 5-2 in the second set, but he put pressure on Nishikori in the final half of the second set before the 33-year-old from Japan closed out a 6-2, 7-5 victory. Nishikori had been out with injury for 20 months prior to returning this week as a wild card in Puerto Rico.

The doubles title in Puerto Rico went to top seeds Evan King(Michigan) and Reese Stalder(TCU), who defeated No. 3 seeds Toshihide Matsui(BYU-Hawaii) and Kaito Uesugi of Japan 3-6, 7-5, 11-9 in the final.

For the second straight week, USC rising sophomore Madison Sieg reached the final of a $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event in Portugal. The unseeded 20-year-old lost to former Syracuse All-American Gabriela Knutson of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 in today's final.

2015 Kalamazoo 18s champion Frances Tiafoe won his third ATP title today at the ATP 250 in Stuttgart, saving a match point in his 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(8) win over Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. It's Tiafoe's first title on grass, to go with his hard court win at Delray Beach in 2018 and his clay court win at Houston earlier this year. According to a USTA release today, Tiafoe will move into the ATP Top 10 for the first time Monday, at No. 10, joining No. 8 Taylor Fritz in that elite category. It's the first time since May of 2012 that the US has two men in the Top 10. Then it was Mardy Fish[9] and John Isner(Georgia)[10].

For more on Tiafoe's win today, see this article from the ATP website.